s, 11th AAP 2018, Malaysia The Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society | Volume 18 | Supplement 1 | October 2018 S31 Results: 85 patients were treated with four implants, 10 patients with five implants, 20 patients with six implants and one patient with seven implants. Regarding implants length and diameter, the majority of implants in present study were moderate or long length (96.1% implants were 10-18mm) and regular platform (94.6% implants were 3.754.3mm). Our results demonstrated that immediate-loading implant treatment for complete edentulous maxilla showed adequate clinical result even in long-term prognosis in Asian population (10-year cumulative implant survival rate was 94.8%). Log-rank tests showed that cumulative implant survival rate was significantly higher in female than male (p=0.007). Furthermore, multilevel mixed-effects parametric survival analysis revealed that sex, implant length and region of implant placement might be significant outcome predictors for immediate loading implants in the fully edentulous maxilla. Conclusion: Immediate-loading implant treatment of completely edentulous maxilla has an acceptable 10-year cumulative implant survival rate in the Asian population and we should pay consideration to sex, implant length and region of implant placement in the immediateloading implant treatment in fully edentulous maxilla. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.244645 OSNC6: Assessment of the Level of Gum Lines of Filipino: A Basis for Anterior Fixed Partial Denture Material Selection Vivian Carlos, Frederick Guanzon, Consuelo Hebron, Nancy Garcia T Centro Escolar Unuversity, Manila, Philippines This study determined the average level of gum line of Filipinos and corresponding fixed partial denture material that could satisfy esthetic requirement. Materials and Methods: Descriptive method utilizing both observation and survey were conducted. Observation of participants at fullest smile to determine the level of gum lines were performed. The level of gum lines were assessed below, above and in level with the intercommisure line. Verbal query regarding age of participants was also done. The average level of gum line was used as a basis for appropriating material for anterior fixed partial denture. Results: There were two thousand fifty one participants, one thousand five hundred sixty six (76.35%) were female and four hundred eighty five (23.65%) were male with an age range of 18 to 37 years. Assessment of both female and male at fullest smile revealed that one thousand five hundred sixty two (76.16%) have gum line below the intercommisure line, three hundred two (14.72%) have gum line in level with the intercommisure line and one hundred eighty seven (9.12%) have gum line above the intercommisure line. Discussion: With wider array of materials to choose from, clinical judgment plays an important role in providing the best restoration for varying clinical conditions. Understanding that the level of gum line has a significant effect on esthetics, the use of metal ceramic for anterior fixed partial denture despite of its time-tested durability should be limited to those with gum line located above the intercommisure line. Metal ceramics although tooth colored had an opaque layer along cervical area, impaired translucency and gray shadow shade effect could causes esthetic problem. For those with gum line located below and in level with the intercommisure line an esthetically superior all ceramics either pressed or fully sintered is best. Conclusion: With three hundred two (14.72%) of participants having gum lines in level with the intercommisure line and one thousand five hundred sixty two (76.16%) below the intercommisure line showing cervical third of anterior prosthesis at fullest smile, all ceramics instead of metal ceramics is the most appropriate material for anterior fixed partial denture of Filipinos. For the remaining one hundred eighty seven (9.12%) whose gum lines were above the intercommisure line, metal ceramic and all ceramics may be used without compromising esthetics. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.244646 OSNC7: Influence of Abutment Material on Stress Distribution Around Maxillary Anterior Implants Parthasarathy Natarajan1, Angel Mary Elias2 1Reader, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Porur, Chennai, India 2Royal Dental College, Kerala, India. Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the combined influence of alveolar bone density, abutment material and occlusal forces on stress distribution around maxillary anterior implants in order to reduce the marginal bone loss and facial marginal recession for an optimal esthetic outcome. Materials and Methods: A 3D Finite Element Model of a maxillary anterior single implant was generated from the CT image of the patient. Nine comparative groups were Abstracts, 11th AAP 2018, Malaysias, 11th AAP 2018, Malaysia S32 The Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society | Volume 18 | Supplement 1 | October 2018 formed in D2 and D3 bone respectively. Three different abutment materials titanium, zirconia and PEEK (Poly-EtherEther Ketone) were used. External loads of 100N, 175N and 250N were applied in the vertical and oblique direction and the stress values were obtained from the labial aspect of the crestal bone. Results: The highest Von Mises stress values were seen in the D3 bone when compared to the D2 bone. On vertical and oblique load of 100N, 175N and 250 N there was generalized higher stress values when PEEK was used as an abutment material. In all the groups, the stress values were greater on application of oblique load compared to vertical load and the stress increased for every increase of 75N. Conclusion: The result of our study suggests that titanium and zirconia distribute the stresses in a more homogenous manner compared to the PEEK abutment. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.244647 OSNC8: The 2-Dimensional Effects of Salvadora Persica (Miswak) Mechanical Brushing on Denture Base Material Wan Nor Syariza Wan Ali, Muhammad Saufi Sapon, Nabihah Rosdi Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Introduction: Salvadora Persica (Miswak) was proven to have multiple benefits to oral tissues. The antimicrobial effects of miswak towards intraoral microbes can reduce the prevalence of denture induced stomatitis when used by denture wearers. Dentures need to be cleaned to maintain its aesthetics and prevent candida growth. However, inappropriate selection of denture cleaning aids might compromise the properties of the poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) denture base material and its longevity. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the 2-dimensional mechanical brushing effect of miswak, toothbrush and toothbrush with toothpaste on PMMA denture base material. Methods: Nine PMMA samples sized 2x2x0.5cm were prepared by using the standard denture base preparation protocols. All samples were sent for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as baseline record. Toothbrushing simulator was used to simulate mechanical brushing of the PMMA samples and they were brushed for 17,800 and 53,400 strokes to simulate one and three years of mechanical brushing using miswak, soft toothbrush and soft toothbrush with toothpaste. The samples were sent for SEM images after the brushing. Results: Images of the SEM micrographs were interpreted descriptively. The brushed samples demonstrated series of 2-dimensional grooves in a long axis of the specimen with the most prominent effect was noted on sample brushed with toothbrush and toothpaste and the least grooves on sample brushed using Miswak. Conclusion: After three years of mechanical brushing, Miswak presented with the least 2-dimensional abrasive effect on PMMA denture base material compared to the other cleaning methods. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.244648 OSNC9: The Effectiveness of Nigella sativa in Elimination of Candida Albicans Denture Biofilms A Pilot Study Nur Atikah Mustafa, Noor Ilyani Othman, Siti Nur Atiqah Mohd Kandis, Nurul Surhana Mohd Daud Faculty of Dentistry, UiTM Sg Buloh Campus, Jalan Hospital, 47000 Sg Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia Aim: Nigella sativa, one of traditional herbs widely used as supplement, traditional medicine and personal hygiene products. Recently, natural based herbs have become an alternative material used for denture cleansing, thus this study is conducted to identify the efficacy of Nigella sativa on elimination of Candida albicans biofilm from denture base polymer. Materials and Methods: Thirty sterilized disc shape (10 x 2) mm heat cured denture base polymers (PMMA) were fabricated and divided into three groups (n=10): Group A was immersed in distilled water, Group B was coated within Candida albicans suspension for 24 hours, then Group C had the same procedure as group B, followed by immersion with Nigella sativa seeds extract for 1 hour. Results: The One-way ANOVA test has revealed that mean number of colony forming unit in Group C was significantly reduced (1.20±10-1) as compared to Group B (5.24±10-1), p< 0.01. Following 24hour immersion in candida suspension, the number of colony forming was increased in group B when compare to Group A, with mean of CFU values p<0.01. However, the results showed there was no significant different between the Group A and Group C, with p>0.01. Further analysis comparing the mean growth scores of each group using post-hoc Dunnet T3 test shows the same results.


ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 12 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Potassium fertilization is often ignored in cereal-based cropping systems assuming sufficient K reserves in the alluvial soils of north-western India. However, the responses to K have now widely reported due to continuous mining and little additions through external sources. Little known on the effects of integrated K management on soil biological properties and yield performance of corn grown in sequence with wheat. A field experiment was conducted during 2010-2012 to find out the performance of corn (Zea mays L.)–wheat (Triticum aestvum L. emend Fiori & Paol.) cropping system with K fertilization through muriate of potash and farmyard manure (FYM) at New Delhi, India. The experiment was laid out in the randomized block design with seven treatments replicated thrice. Results revealed that treatment applied with 90 kg K supplemented 60 kg K through MOP and 30 Kg K through FYM significantly increase grain yield (100.9% and 99.3%) and stover yield (45.8% and 33.6%) during 2010 and 2011 respectively in the corn crop. A positive correlation observed between yield and soil biological properties, viz., bacterial population, actinomycetes, cellulose degrading bacteria, phosphorus solubilizing bacteria, potassium solubilizing bacteria, dehydrogenase activity, phosphatase activity, fluorescein diacetate and β-glucosidase. It concluded that application of FYM could be an alternative option for sustainable management of agricultural land and restore its fertility compared to the use of K fertilizers. K e y w o r d s Integrated potassium management, Soil biological properties, Corn, Corn-wheat cropping system Accepted: 15 November 2018 Available Online: 10 December 2018 Article Info Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(12): 1855-1866


The Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary Classopollis pollen "spike" in Patagonia, Argentina, is viewed as a singular event with no coeval analog anywhere else in the world. Review of global palynological records, however, reveals that similar K/Pg boundary Classopollis spikes involving monotaxial C. classoides (Pflug) Pocock and Jansonius assemblages have previously been reported from the Colorado Basin, Argentina, as well as the Tarim Basin, China, suggesting that this was a global phenomenon. The presence of this morphotaxon in the Danian strata of western North America has previously been interpreted as evidence of reworking from older, pre-Turonian (i.e., Triassic through Early Cretaceous) sediments during the Laramide orogeny. This hypothesis appears supported by the results of contemporary detrital zircon studies coupled with the physical degradation of pollen. However, the interpretation that all Danian examples of this pollen, particularly those from coal deposits, have been reworked from much older sediments is questioned on the basis of this review. Within this context, assorted hypotheses regarding the enigmatic coup de grâce of Classopollis-producing Cheirolepidiaceae are also considered, particularly the hypotheses that the ecologic distribution of Cheirolepidiaceae retracted to include xeric, upland habitats (e.g., the Rocky Mountains) or brackish-water, physiologically dry habitats (e.g., the margin of the Cannonball Sea) during the Late Cretaceous and Danian.


The concept and definition of "religious freedom" is increasingly being called into question, as is governmental promotion of international religious freedom. But neither proponents nor critics are entitled to blanket benefit of the doubt, and the "field" of religious freedom studies is relatively underdeveloped when it comes to basic empirical data and the testing of falsifiable hypotheses. The Fall 2013 issue of The Review of Faith & International Affairs presents a diverse array of original studies that help to fill some of the gaps in the existing literature and point up directions for future research.


Abstract: The Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is threatened throughout its range and assessed as nationally vulnerable in Pakistan. Habitat degradation and loss, illegal exploitation, and human–bear conflict are key threats to the species, but there is a lack of empirical knowledge regarding its occurrence in Pakistan. In 2012, we conducted a sign survey study to classify Asiatic black bear presence in a little studied and isolated region of the Kashmiri Mountains in Azad, Jammu and Kashmir, northern Pakistan. We compared bear presence in 5 habitat types (agriculture, forest, pasture, plantation, and scrubland) across an elevational range of 910 to 2,990 m. We used hierarchical logistic regression analysis to identify whether elevation, habitat and/or the interaction between the two explained bear presence in the region. Type of bear sign was significantly associated with some habitats, although claw marks were not associated with any habitat type. The strongest positive predictor of bear presence was the interaction between elevation and forest habitat, with greater presence (37.5%) in forest habitat at higher elevations between 1,890 and 2,855 m. The predicted likelihood of bears occurring in agriculture, plantation, and scrubland habitats was always <10%, regardless of elevation, and >30% in forest habitat. Our findings contribute to the national understanding of black bear presence and we provide recommendations for actions that support effective conservation management of the species in Pakistan.


The article presents data on prevalence of urological cancer in Kalmykia by environmental zones and among males and females. In 1998 urological cancer accounted for 18.6% of all cancer cases. Urinary system cancer occurred in 6.8% of all cancer cases in the republic in 1997, prostatic cancer was encountered in 31.7%. In the recent decade prostatic cancer morbidity has risen from 6.9 to 16.9 per 100000, while the rate of advanced cases of urological cancer decreased. Transrectal ultrasonic investigation, puncture biopsy of the prostate, assay for PSA are among available diagnostic methods.


Objective: In the United States, Hispanic patients tend to present with similar risk profiles to non-Hispanic black (NHB) patients but experience better outcomes for chronic conditions and elective operations, similar to those of non-Hispanic white (NHW) patients—a phenomenon known as the "Hispanic Paradox." The finding is thought to be the result of selective migration among foreign-born Hispanic patients, making it theoretically less likely to occur when care is urgent. The objective of this study is to determine whether the "Hispanic Paradox" exists in emergency situations requiring operative emergency general surgery (EGS) care. Methods: Age-specific differences (pediatric/adult/older adult) in mortality, major morbidity, and unplanned readmission at ≤30, 90, 180, and 365 days among NHW, NHB, and Hispanic patients from three US states with large Hispanic populations were assessed using survival analysis. Data were abstracted from state inpatient claims from 2007 to 2015. Models accounted for clustering of patients within hospitals and states and potential confounding associated with operation type, diagnosis, patient demographics (age, admission year, gender, Charlson Comorbidity Index, income, and insurance), and hospital-level factors (operative volume, rurality, teaching status, and registered nurses (RNs)/bed). Results: Relative to Hispanic patients, adult NHB and NHW EGS patients fared significantly worse (e.g., ≤365-day mortality hazard ratios (HR) [95% CI]: 1.74 [1.72–1.76], 1.25 [1.24–1.26]). The trend persisted for pediatric (HR [95% CI]: 1.57 [1.50–1.64]) and older adult (1.31 [1.30–1.32]) NHB patients. In contrast, when comparing pediatric NHW vs Hispanic patients, no significant differences in EGS outcomes were found. Among older adults, the apparent protective influence of the Hispanic Paradox waned, pointing to marginally better outcomes among NHW patients aged ≥65 years (HR [95% CI]: 0.94 [0.93–0.95]). Identical patterns were found in major morbidity and unplanned readmission. Differences were most pronounced in adult patients from more ethnically diverse Hispanic states (e.g., Florida vs California) and were markedly reduced by access to insurance. Conclusion: Outcomes similar to or better than outcomes of US NHW patients were found among US Hispanic patients for EGS. Our findings provide evidence that the "Hispanic Paradox" exists under emergent conditions in contrast to expectations and that its effects appear to decrease with age.


Objectives: To determine whether post-injury treatment with erythropoietin provides lower mortality rates and improved Glasgow Outcome Scales in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were searched through PUBMED, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, and www.googlescholar.com. The reference list of a systematic review was also searched. Results: Four RCTs comparing erythropoietin and placebo, regardless of dose, dosing regimen, and route of administration were reviewed. Data analysis showed that mortality rates for the erythropoietin group (OR 0.63, CI 0.43, 0.93) was significantly lower compared to the placebo group. However, there was no significant difference in the Glasgow Outcome Scales of TBI patients given erythropoietin compared to placebo. Conclusion: Post-injury treatment with erythropoietin, regardless of dose, dosing regimen, and route of administration yielded lower mortality rates in patients with traumatic brain injury but had no significant effect on Glasgow Outcome Scales. It is recommended that further large scale randomized controlled trials be performed in order to fully establish the safety and support the efficacy of erythropoietin administration in patients with traumatic brain injury.


A new strategy for enantioselective synthesis of azacyclic molecules in which dynamic kinetic equilibration of diastereomeric iminium ions precedes a stereochemistry-determining sigmatropic rearrangement is reported. The method is illustrated by the synthesis, in high enantiomeric purity (generally 95-99% ee), of a variety of 1-azabicyclic molecules containing angular allyl or 3-substituted 2-propenyl side chains adjacent to nitrogen and up to three stereogenic centers. In these products, the size of the carbocyclic ring is varied widely (5-12 membered); however, useful yields are obtained in forming 1-azabicyclic products containing only fused pyrrolidine and piperidine rings. Chirality transfer from substituents at carbons 1 and 2 of the 3-butenylamine fragment of the starting material is investigated, with methyl and phenyl substituents at the allylic position shown to provide exquisite stereocontrol (generally 98-99% chirality transfer). An attractive feature of the method is the ability to carry out the key transformation in the absence of solvent. Illustrated also is the high yielding conversion of four such products to a new family of bicyclic β-amino acids of high enantiomeric purity.


Wireless LANs (WLANs) have been widely deployed as edge access networks that provide the important service of Internet access to wireless devices. Therefore, performance of end-to-end connections to/from such WLANs is of great importance. The advent of Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) technology is expected to play a key role in improving wireless communication. With DSA capability, WLANs opportunistically access licensed channels in order to improve spectrum-usage efficiency and provide better network performance. In this paper, we identify the key issues that impact end-to-end connection performance when a DSA-enabled WLAN is integrated with the wired cloud. We propose a new network management framework, called DSASync, to mitigate the identified performance issues. DSASync achieves this objective by managing the connections at the transport layer as a third-party supervisor and targets both TCP streams and UDP flows. DSASync requires no modifications to the network infrastructure or the existing network stack and protocols while ensuring transport protocol (TCP or UDP) semantics to be obeyed. It mainly consists of a combination of buffering and traffic-shaping algorithms to minimize the adverse side-effects of DSA on active connections. DSASync is evaluated using a prototype implementation and deployment in a testbed. The results show significant improvement in end-to-end connection performance, with substantial gains on QoS metrics like goodput, delay, and jitter. Thus, DSASync is a promising step toward applying DSA technology in consumer WLANs.


Backfilling enables complete or around ninety percent extraction of coal from the seam and then filling the mine voids with mill tailings; sand or excavated stones etc. which provides additional ground support by constraining lateral deformation of surrounding coal pillars and roof. However the overall feasibility of the backfill operation with different materials has to be studied in detail. The objective of this project is to evaluate the suitability of using pond-ash as backfill material over fly ash and sand in respect to shrinkage of the stowed area. The shrinkage study is done with the help of numerical modeling in FLAC of a mine KTK-5 where pond-ash stowing is going to be implemented. The physical properties like bulk modulus, shear modulus, cohesion, friction angle etc. were also found out through experiments which are required during the numerical modeling. Moreover an effort has also been made to develop comprehensive flow model using CFD and then use the model for predicting pressure drop, volume fraction etc. A 20m pipe with diameter of 20cm is modeled, through which flow is conducted where modeling and meshing is done using ANSYS Fluent. High viscosity fly and pond ash slurry with different concentrations up to 70% by weight of pond ash is passed and for each concentration different velocities are used and pressure drops is calculated. MDD ranges from 1.07gm/cc to 1.27gm/cc. With increase in compaction energy MDD increases due to the closer packing of pond ash particles and OMC decreases from 38% to 28% approx. which might be due to the increase in moisture content leading to less friction between the particles and promoting compact packing with increase in compaction which in turn decreases voids and increase saturation limit. The settling rate for the sample is found to be around 30% with water-liquid (phase1) and pond-ash (phase2). Velocity of 3.5m/s of the paste are optimum with respect to pressure drop. The FLAC simulation yields factor of safety (FOS) after excavation of one pillar with no fill to be 1.5 whereas with pond ash fill it is 2.7. Similarly FOS after stowing with pond ash in the voids of two pillars was found to be 2.5 whereas without fill it was 1.2. After excavation of two and half pillars FOS was calculated to be 1.9 with pond ash fill and 1.0 without fill.


Article history: Received 25 March 2015 Received in revised form 29 January 2016 Accepted 23 April 2016 Available online xxxx Servitization involvesmanufacturers developing service offerings to grow revenue and profit. Advanced services, in particular, can facilitate a more service-focused organization and impact customers' business processes significantly. However, approaches to servitization are often discussed solely from the manufacturer's perspective; overlooking the role of other network actors. Adopting a multi-actor perspective, this study investigates manufacturer, intermediary and customer perspectives to identify complementary and competing capabilities within a manufacturer's downstream network, required for advanced services. Interviews were conducted with 24 senior executives in 19 UK-based manufacturers, intermediaries and customers across multiple sectors. The study identified six key business activities, within which advanced services capabilities were grouped. The unique and critical capabilities for advanced services for each actorwere identified as follows:manufacturers; the need to balance product and service innovation, developing customer-focused through-life service methodologies and having distinct, yet synergistic product and service cultures; intermediaries, the coordination and integration of third party products/services; customers, co-creating innovation and having processes supporting service outsourcing. The study is unique in highlighting the distinct roles of different actors in the provision of advanced services and shows that they can only be developed and delivered by the combination of complex interconnected capabilities found within a network. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


CONTEXT
Children and adults with psychopathic traits and conduct or oppositional defiant disorder demonstrate poor decision making and are impaired in reversal learning. However, the neural basis of this impairment has not previously been investigated. Furthermore, despite high comorbidity of psychopathic traits and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, to our knowledge, no research has attempted to distinguish neural correlates of childhood psychopathic traits and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the neural regions that underlie the reversal learning impairments in children with psychopathic traits plus conduct or oppositional defiant disorder.

DESIGN
Case-control study.

SETTING
Government clinical research institute.

PARTICIPANTS
Forty-two adolescents aged 10 to 17 years: 14 with psychopathic traits and oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder, 14 with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder only, and 14 healthy controls.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Blood oxygenation level-dependent signal as measured via functional magnetic resonance imaging during a probabilistic reversal task.

RESULTS
Children with psychopathic traits showed abnormal responses within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area 10) during punished reversal errors compared with children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and healthy children (P < .05 corrected for multiple comparisons).

CONCLUSIONS
To our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence of abnormal ventromedial prefrontal cortex responsiveness in children with psychopathic traits and demonstrates this dysfunction was not attributable to comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. These findings suggest that reversal learning impairments in patients with developmental psychopathic traits relate to abnormal processing of reinforcement information.


DIVORCE is generally recognized as a disruptive, stressful experience for affected children. 1-3 It is less clear, however, that divorce is a direct cause of psychopathological disturbance in children. With an increasing number of children experiencing divorce, clarification of the relevance of divorce to child psychiatry is in order. To this end, this paper is a report of impressions of divorce gained from the perspective of child psychiatrists working in a family court and in a child psychiatry clinic. Before proceeding to the substance of this study, several orienting considerations are in order. From the statistical standpoint, the divorce rate in the United States has been increasing steadily, although not dramatically, over the last 25 years. The national average was 2.0 divorces per thousand population in 1940, 2.6/1,000 in 1950, and 2.8/1,000 in 1968. 4 The facts, also, indicate that divorce is a


Written primarily from the perspective of counseling psychology rather than clinical psychology or social work, Rural Mental Health summarizes the current status of rural mental health and examines ways to improve its delivery. Chapters are grouped into four broad sections addressing introductory considerations relevant to rural mental health needs, modalities of rural mental health service delivery, specific populations and issues in rural mental health, and a short concluding chapter that addresses future considerations. Social workers and human service workers who may be attracted by the title should note that none of the 52 contributing authors holds the MSW credential, although some of the suggestions for improving the delivery of rural mental health services embrace concepts resembling wrap-around systems of care and community capacity building.


The ring A conformations of 4, 4-dimethyl-3-keto steroids can be classified into various geometries on the basis of their torsion angle sign sequence (TASS) of the ring; however, only three were predicted to be possible from theoretical considerations; i.e., C, FB3, and T1 (T2 also occurs in the case of 5-enes) (for details, see the text). They were actually observed by X-ray analyses. The ring A conformation is so flexible that it can readily changes from chair to T1 when a remote structural change such as introduction of an 8β-methyl occurs. Corresponding to this conformational change, the circular dichroism (CD) spectrum of the compound changes its sign from negative to positive. Ring A can also equilibrate in solution with various contributions of chair and T1 conformations depending on their relative energy difference. This equilibrium is greatly affected by remote changes in the structure and also by the solvent, and is sensitively reflected in the CD spectrum which, more or less, shows a double-humped character. The typical double-humped CD spectra of some compounds can thus be well explained. Those compounds should have FC to FB3 conformations at ring A.


The aim of the research is to analyze the food safety policy in the European Union and the strength of the legal and regulatory framework that covers the entire food production chain "from the field to the table". The legal framework refers to feed and animal health, protection and care of animals, veterinary examinations, animal health measures, plant health checks, preparation and hygiene of food products. For the preparation of this paper, a descriptive method, analysis and synthesis technique, as well as analysis of the content of laws in the field of food safety policy in the European Union were used. The findings show that the food safety policy in the European Union is based on the principles of an integrated approach; primary responsibility, traceability of food, and its ingredients, transparency and risk analysis. The Republic of Serbia has adopted many amendments to the laws on food safety, plant protection products, plant health, as well as plant nutrition products and soil improvers, which are aimed at further harmonization with the acquis communautaire.


Purpose of this work is to increase the production efficiency in agricultural field by developing a mobile autonomous robot which has the capability of processing and monitoring field operations like spraying remedies for precision farming, fertilization, disease diagnosis, yield analysis, soil analysis and other agricultural activities. Here, major constraints are reliability and durability against field conditions versus lowering unit cost of robot for high volume manufacturing. Another design goal is using domestic resources for carrier platform, circuit boards etc. or integrating common production parts with designed or domestically available parts. Other aims of the work are all devices on the network will be able to communicate over Environmental Agriculture Informatics Applied Research Center (TARBIL) cloud services and application software will be able to transfer data to farmers' mobile devices, tractors and farming vehicles. Thus, it is aimed to decrease co-invested enterprises costs to minimum level. This work is separated into two main stages. The first stage: Integration of drivers, actuators, control system, communication system, energy management system, task management system and sensors on a suitable platform according to these criteria. The second stage: Integration of task management with TARBIL system.


The international literature has shown that self-perceived problematic pornography use is often related to lower levels of relationship satisfaction, as well as to higher levels of negative body image and depression. In this study, 158 Italian gay (65.8%) and bisexual (34.2%) men reported on their body image, Internet pornography use, and indicators of their individual and relational well-being. We hypothesized that individuals who report higher levels of relationship dissatisfaction, negative body image, and with higher self-perceived problematic pornography use would also present higher levels of depression. As predicted, relationship satisfaction was inversely related to male body image, self-perceived problematic pornography use, and depression. We also hypothesized the direct and indirect effects of depression on self-perceived problematic pornography use, through the mediating variable of relationship satisfaction. As predicted, depression, via relationship satisfaction, was related to self-perceived problematic pornography use. Implications for future research and policies are discussed.


Human resource departments have been chartered with the responsibility of protecting the intangible assets of their companies. It is the knowledge and skills of the workers that establish the true strategic advantage in any firm. In order to retain intangible assets of human capital, HR managers must respond to both the employee's personal and professional needs. Since the mid-1900s workers have been faced with the challenge of work/life balance. Most HR departments have responded to this demand by creating flexible staffing schedules when the position's tasks allowed. The goal of this paper is to present the ways HR has served as a strategic partner in retaining employees through transitional periods of their lives while increasing productivity and innovation across the entire organization. This is seen through the implementation of flexible policies and how these policies can be expanded to further meet current business needs. Today, HR departments are faced with the retirement of Baby Boomers, the mindset of Millennials, and the economic pressures to reduce costs. After analyzing research done in the field of HR and current business trends, we believe the next strategic step for HR is the implementation of internal contingent workforce pools to ease the generational transition from Baby Boomers to Millennials. Comments Suggested Citation Burr, M. & McGraw, A. (2011, December 4). Changing demands: the workforce of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Cornell HR Review. Retrieved [insert date] from Cornell University, ILR School site: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/chrr/30 Required Publisher Statement Copyright by the Cornell HR Review. This article is reproduced here by special permission from the publisher. To view the original version of this article, and to see current articles, visit cornellhrreview.org. This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/chrr/30


Allee effects can cause populations to decline due to decreasing population growth rates with decreasing density and play a major role in population dynamics. Mate‐finding failure, a common mechanism contributing to demographic Allee effects, is usually difficult to demonstrate because of the arduous nature of sampling individuals at very low densities. In a rising outbreak of the eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), we used caged and tethered virgin females in traps to measure mating success over population densities ranging from deep endemic to outbreak conditions. We found that mating success increased with increasing population density, and that at endemic population densities, females experienced difficulties attracting males and mating, demonstrating for the first time a mate‐finding Allee effect in the spruce budworm. The relationship between population density and mating success is nonlinear. As population density increased, the proportion of mated females eventually reached a plateau and mating success was not 100% even at the highest moth densities, probably due to female reluctance to mate and perhaps interference competition by males for access to females. Both laboratory‐reared and wild females were equally effective in synthesizing pheromone, attracting males, and mating. Our results strongly suggest that a mate‐finding Allee effect is involved in maintaining low‐density spruce budworm populations below an Allee threshold where they fail to grow. Factors such as changes in predation pressure and immigration could help populations overcome this Allee threshold.


This research was carried out to monitor and investigate the gas sensing effects on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by a systematic study of the variations in the electrical resistance as sensor signal induced by adsorption of CO2 and CH4 gaseous molecules. The CNTs were synthesized by Floating Catalyst Chemical Vapor Deposition (FC-CVD) method on quartz substrate under benzene bubble at temperature of 700°C. Then, they were tested for gas sensing applications operating at room temperature. Upon exposure to gaseous molecules, the electrical resistance of CNTs dramatically increased for both CO2 and CH4 gases with short response time and high sensitivity. It was also observed that the CNTs device behaves as a p-type semiconductor when exposed to gaseous molecules. In addition, the recovery of the sensors and mechanism of gas sensing procedure are discussed.


The 'NAFASSY' (NAtional FAcility for Superconducting SYstems) facility is designed to test wound conductor samples under high-field conditions at variable temperatures. Due to its unique features, it is reasonable to assume that in the near future NAFASSY will have a preeminent role at the international level in the qualification of long coiled cables in operative conditions. The magnetic system consists of a large warm bore background solenoid, made up of three series-connected grading sections obtained by winding three different Nb3Sn Cable-in-Conduit Conductors. Thanks to the financial support of the Italian Ministry for University and Research the low-field coil is currently under production. The design has been properly modified to allow the system to operate also as a stand-alone facility, with an inner bore diameter of 1144 mm. This magnet is able to provide about 7 T on its axis and about 8 T close to the insert inner radius, giving the possibility of performing a test relevant for large-sized NbTi or medium-field Nb3Sn conductors. The detailed design of the 8 T magnet, including the electro-magnetic, structural and thermo-hydraulic analysis, is here reported, as well as the production status.


The emergence and recent developments of the smart home have been briefly introduced in this review. Initial developments of smart homes comprised of computer-based housing to support elderly and challenged persons at home during daily living through the automatic monitoring of the usage of home infra structures. In light of the rapid growth of the aging society, which has created what might be regarded as a longevity crisis, healthcare is also one of the most serious and worldwide issues to address. From this background, the smart home with health care management has rapidly been pushed into the spotlight.


A form of power-sharing, territorial autonomy is essential for managing separatism. Indonesia provides two non-Western cases to illuminate what makes autonomy work. In Aceh, autonomy helped to overcome conflict and can be regarded as successful, while in Papua, autonomy has failed, evident in continued unrest. Within the same country, the same institutional response to violent separatism has generated divergent self-government outcomes. Why has autonomy succeeded in Aceh, but failed in Papua? Utilizing within-case and temporal comparisons, we suggest that the content of autonomy may be less important than the process through which it unfolds. The powers granted to Aceh and Papua are similar, although how self-government was negotiated and whom it empowered varied. Early in Aceh and in Papua, autonomy was essentially imposed, empowering corrupt leaders, and sidelining dissidents. Aceh's ultimately successful autonomy was negotiated and saw popular former rebels take the reins of self-government.


Abstract : Samples of iron containing 0.07 weight % nitrogen or 0.015 weight % carbon have been given treatments similar to those used in cold work peak (CWP) measurements and examined by transmission electron microscopy. It was observed that the unusual and non-reproducible behavior of the carbon CWP can be explained by a strong tendency for carbon to form grain boundary precipitates at temperatures below those used for CWP measurements. These precipitates dissolved at the temperatures used in the CWP measurements. There was no evidence for nitrogen precipitation at grain boundaries. There was no indication of precipitation along dislocations in either carburized or nitrided samples given treatments similar to those of CWP measurements. Although it is possible that sub-electronmicroscopic clustering had occurred, this observation supports the theories of the CWP that are based on continuous atmospheres rather than on individual precipitates. (Author)


The paper describes a recent review of Library and Information Management courses offered by the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, and the resulting program of curriculum renewal and expansion. This program aimed to address concerns over the long-term sustainability of the courses and respond to an increasingly converging professional landscape. The courses were redesigned in a way that allowed them to maintain their relevance to the School's established librarianship market, while at the same time develop a significant application to other information fields. This was achieved by essentially turning the curriculum on its head. Instead of a library focussed core with electives in other information areas, the new curriculum offers core subjects that cover the information-people-technology nexus in generic fashion and provides a foundation for a wide range of specialisations. This transformation represents what could be described as a move from a traditional Library and Information Studies (LIS) approach to a broader Information Studies (IS) orientation, accommodating advanced areas of study in specific fields, including Librarianship (L). The paper goes on to discuss key issues concerning the implementation of the course redesigns, and the results of their implementation to date.


Algorithmic fairness has gained prominence due to societal and regulatory concerns about biases in Machine Learning models. Common group fairness metrics like Equalized Odds for classification or Demographic Parity for both classification and regression are widely used and a host of computationally advantageous post-processing methods have been developed around them. However, these metrics often limit users from incorporating domain knowledge. Despite meeting traditional fairness criteria, they can obscure issues related to intersectional fairness and even replicate unwanted intra-group biases in the resulting fair solution. To avoid this narrow perspective, we extend the concept of Demographic Parity to incorporate distributional properties in the predictions, allowing expert knowledge to be used in the fair solution. We illustrate the use of this new metric through a practical example of wages, and develop a parametric method that efficiently addresses practical challenges like limited training data and constraints on total spending, offering a robust solution for real-life applications.


With the evolution of information technology, E-learning has spread rapidly. Traditional E-learning has proved not fit requirement of modern education, new trend of developing the adaptive and customized E-learning system draws more and more attentions from researchers and practitioners. In this paper, we proposed an E-learning system which can provide adaptive content according to different situations of user. To achieve the adaptive E-learning system, two new technologies have been adopted by the system: learning object and domain ontology. Using these two technologies the system can provide intelligent learning content based on the user's context, knowledge's context. The paper also presents a scenario to demonstrate the step of production of adaptive learning content.


Abstract. In this work, a recently proposed nonlocal theory of bending is
used in the analysis of eigenfrequencies of single-walled carbon nanotubes
(SWCNTs). The nanotube vibration is analyzed in the form of a homogenized
continuum. Classical treatment where a nanotube is approximated by standard
beam theory, is replaced by the more sophisticated nonlocal method of
material interactions where a nonlocal parameter is used. The
eigenfrequencies are computed by the combination of analytical as well as
numerical methods for four different carbon nanotube (CNT) supports. Various
types of supports are considered for the analysis: fixed–simply supported,
fixed–free, simply–simply supported and fixed–fixed. Due to the huge
amount of computed data, only outcomes of eigenfrequency computations for the
nanobeams of armchair type with fixed and simply supported ends, and
different nonlocal parameters are represented in the form of graphs at the
end of the article. The study shows how the nanotube eigenfrequencies depend
on nonlocal parameters as well as on the length and diameter of CNTs. The
obtained results are in good agreement with the results published in papers
which were gained by different procedures.


[1] We develop a model of fault strength loss resulting from phase change at asperity contacts due to flash heating that considers a distribution of contact sizes and nonsteady state evolution of fault strength with displacement. Laboratory faulting experiments conducted at high sliding velocities, which show dramatic strength reduction below the threshold for bulk melting, are well fit by the model. The predicted slip speed for the onset of weakening is in the range of 0.05 to 2 m/s, qualitatively consistent with the limited published observations. For this model, earthquake stress drops and effective shear fracture energy should be linearly pressure-dependent, whereas the onset speed may be pressure-independent or weakly pressure-dependent. On the basis of the theory, flash weakening is expected to produce large dynamic stress drops, small effective shear fracture energy, and undershoot. Estimates of the threshold slip speed, stress drop, and fracture energy are uncertain due to poor knowledge of the average contact dimension, shear zone thickness and gouge particle size at seismogenic depths.


Jamming is a well-known reliability threat for mass-market wireless networks. With the rise of safety-critical applications this is likely to become a constraining issue in the future. Thus, the design of accurate jamming detection algorithms becomes important to react to ongoing jamming attacks. With respect to experimental work, jamming detection has been mainly studied for sensor networks. However, many safety-critical applications are also likely to run over 802.11-based networks where the proposed approaches do not carry over. In this paper we present a jamming detection approach for 802.11 networks. It uses metrics that are accessible through standard device drivers and performs detection via machine learning. While it allows for stand-alone operation, it also enables cooperative detection. We experimentally show that our approach achieves remarkably high detection rates in indoor and mobile outdoor scenarios even under challenging link conditions.


The increasing number of accidents involving chemical spills demands development of not only feasible emergency strategies, but also a consistent framework to protect the environment and prevent accidents. This can be possible only by a sound understanding of the environmental impact of spills and their potential long-term effects. Furthermore, the impact assessment of chemical spills can not be done disregarding the spatial-temporal pattern of previous exposures reciprocally influenced by both chemical and environmental properties. In this context, the thesis proposes a general framework to quantify the cumulative effects of chemical spills at any given point of a certain area based on a "present" history of exposure coupled with chemical and environmental properties designated as relevant to predict possible pictures o f future exposure and estimate in advance potential alarming levels of pollution. To achieve this purpose, the following objectives are set up. The first objective is to develop a four-dimensional model to simulate a single-spill event based on certain assumptions about chemical and soil characteristics. The second objective is to develop an algorithm to assess the cumulative effects of chemical spills on a selected area using the model for a single-spill event while taking into account the effects of those spills of the spatial-temporal zone adjacent to the study area.


The "thirty-year crisis" of capitalism, which encompassed two world wars and the Great Depression, was followed by a period that some economists call the Golden Age of capitalism. Today, however, capitalism is once again enmeshed in a crisis that portends far-reaching consequences. I am not referring here to the mere phenomenon of the generally slower average growth that has marked the system since the mid-1970s. Rather, I am talking specifically of the crisis that started with the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble in 2007-8 and which, far from abating, is only becoming more pronounced.… The Western media often give the impression that the capitalist world is slowly emerging from this crisis. Since the Eurozone continues to be mired in stagnation, this impression derives entirely from the experience of the United States, where there has been talk of raising the interest rate on the grounds that the crisis is over, and inflation is now the new threat.… To claim…that the United States is experiencing a full recovery is, in terms of working class well-being and economic security, wrong. And if we consider the rest of the world, especially recent developments in the "emerging economies," the situation is much worse.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


Abstract. We present a new correction scheme for filter-based absorption photometers based on a constrained two-stream (CTS) radiative transfer model and experimental calibrations. The two-stream model was initialized using experimentally accessible optical parameters of the filter. Experimental calibrations were taken from the literature and from dedicated experiments for the present manuscript. Uncertainties in the model and calibration experiments are discussed and uncertainties for retrieval of absorption coefficients are derived. For single-scattering albedos lower than 0.8, the new CTS method and also other correction schemes suffer from the uncertainty in calibration experiments, with an uncertainty of about 20% in the absorption coefficient. For high single-scattering albedos, the CTS correction significantly reduces errors. At a single-scattering albedo of about 0.98 the error can be reduced to 30%, whereas errors using the Bond correction (Bond et al., 1999) are up to 100%. The correction scheme was tested using data from an independent experiment. The tests confirm the modeled performance of the correction scheme when comparing the CTS method to other established correction methods.


Objective. The diagnostic values of antiproteinase 3 and antimyeloperoxidase tests using antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are well established. Our study determined whether an increase in ANCA level was a predictor of disease flareup. Methods. Our study included 126 patients with ANCA-associated renal vasculitis treated at 9 nephrology centers in Japan. The relationship between increased ANCA levels and relapse was assessed using time-dependent multivariate Cox regression models adjusted for clinically relevant factors. The outcome of interest was the time from remission to first relapse. Results. During the observation period [median 41 mos, interquartile range (IQR) 23–66 mos], 118 patients (95.8%) achieved remission at least once. After achieving remission, 34 patients relapsed (21.7%). Time-dependent multivariate Cox regression models revealed that lung involvement (adjusted HR 2.29, 95% CI 1.13–4.65, p = 0.022) and increased ANCA levels (adjusted HR 17.4, 95% CI 8.42–36.0, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with relapse. The median time from ANCA level increase to relapse was 0.6 months (IQR 0–2.1 mos). Conclusion. In our study, an increase in ANCA level during remission was associated with a risk of disease relapse. A rise in ANCA level may be useful for guiding treatment decisions in appropriate subsets of patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis.


Images may have elements containing text and a bounding box associated with them, for example, text identified via optical character recognition on a computer screen image, or a natural image with labeled objects. We present an end-to-end trainable architecture to incorporate the information from these elements and the image to segment/identify the part of the image a natural language expression is referring to. We calculate an embedding for each element and then project it onto the corresponding location (i.e., the associated bounding box) of the image feature map. We show that this architecture gives an improvement in resolving referring expressions, over only using the image, and other methods that incorporate the element information. We demonstrate experimental results on the referring expression datasets based on COCO, and on a webpage image referring expression dataset that we developed.


The history of the development of the important anticancer drug taxol (1) is briefly described, and recent studies of its chemistry and tubulin-binding conformation are then presented. Topics discussed include side chain attachment to baccatin III (3a), the effect of oxygenation of the taxane ring system on bioactivity, the importance of the oxetane ring for bioactivity, the synthesis of a C-6/C-4 bridged analogue, and the conformation of the side chain when taxol is bound in a complex with polymerized tubulin.


Moderate and measured takes on cyber security threats are swamped by the recent flood of research and policy positions in the cyber research field offering hyperbolic perspectives based on limited observations. This skewed perspective suggests constant cyber disasters that are confronting humanity constantly. The general tone of the debate argues that cyber war is already upon us and our future will only witness more cyber doom. However, these hyperbolic perspectives are being countered by empirical investigations that produce the opposite of what is to be expected. It is generally observed that limited cyber engagements throughout the geopolitical system are the dominant form of interaction. Our task here is to offer a different path forward. We first posit what can be known about cyber security interactions with data as well as what cannot. Where is the water's edge in cyber security research? We then examine the known works in the field that utilize data and evidence to examine cyber security processes. Finally, we conclude with an offering of what types of studies need to be done in the future to move the field forward, away from the prognostication and generalizations so typical in the discourse in this constantly changing and growing field.


This thesis has explored the use of pulmonary function tests, sleep studies, volitional and nonvolitional respiratory muscle strength assessment techniques in the evaluation of patients with neuromuscular diseases. I have particularly concentrated on patients with myotonic dystrophy and motor neurone disease, which comprised the largest group of patients apart from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, referred for assessment to Glasgow Respiratory units with expertise in non-invasive ventilation. In a group of 20 myotonic dystrophy (MyD) and 5 subjects with MND, I went on to establish that spirometry remains a useful basic tool. Supplemented with mouth pressures, we can derive useful information regarding global respiratory muscle strength. Additional routine evaluation of static lung volumes and diffusion capacity did not add in useful information that would be useful in routine clinical care. It is well known that sleep worsens respiratory failure. The use of screening sleep studies in assessing patients with neuromuscular diseases remains debatable. 25 subjects with MyD and 12 with MND were studied. Routine sleep studies did not seem to add any useful information that could not be predicted from the daytime pulmonary function tests apart from 12% of MyD patients where it was useful in identifying nocturnal respiratory disturbance. However it is debatable whether treating these abnormalities affects prognosis in the long term. There has been significant contribution to our understanding of respiratory muscle strength in various circumstances such as in children and intensive care setting with the introduction of magnetic phrenic nerve stimulation technique. After establishing the methodology at the laboratory, in a group of 10 patients with myotonic dystrophy, we found this to be useful in providing nonvolitional diaphragm strength. It would be immensely useful in this group as mouth pressures are frequently reduced due to facial muscle weakness. We showed that underestimation of respiratory muscle strength using volitional methods is common in MyD [Mean (sd) Sniff Pdi of 67.1(30.7)cm H2O vs bilateral Tw Pdi of 17.1(9.4) cm H2O]. BAMPS was also a useful daytime marker of nocturnal respiratory disturbances and low Tw Pdi identified 75% (3 out of 4) subjects with sleep related breathing disorder during daytime. Repeat volitional and nonvolitional tests 4-6 months' apart confirmed stable respiratory muscle strength. Lastly, I studied patients with motor neurone disease. This group had severe respiratory muscle weakness even at the outset with marked symptoms. Non-invasive ventilation improved symptoms in its users. Interestingly, we found that the inspiratory and expiratory positive airway pressures required for these patients were significantly lower compared to patients with hypventilation due to obesity and post-polio syndromes.


Cu3Ge is one of the best alternatives to Cu for contacts/ interconnections in microelectronics industry, owing to its thermal stability up to 450 °C [1, 2] and low bulk resistivity (~8 + 2 μΩ cm) over a large Ge composition range of 25-35 at.% [1, 3]. The out diffusion of Cu is suppressed [4], such that diffusion barrier is no longer needed and the service life of interconnects can be improved considerably. In addition, Cu3Ge remains stable against oxidation in air up to ∼500 °C [4, 5]. Consequently, Cu3Ge has been considered superior to Cu as contacts/ interconnections for integrated circuit devices. Despite the remarkable progress, the reported Cu3Ge films were frequently polycrystalline with excess Ge. Epitaxial Cu3Ge film is highly desired owing to reduced diffusion paths and possibly lower electrical resistivity. Therefore can epitaxial Cu3Ge thin film be fabricated and what are its electrical properties? Here, we present the fabrication of epitaxial Cu3Ge thin film and its work function, characterized by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). The average work function of epitaxial Cu3Ge thin film is measured to be ~4.47+ 0.02 eV, rendering it a desirable mid-gap gate metal to be used for CMOS devices because it requires minimal and symmetric channel implants even at linewidths below 0.5μm [6].


A new interpretation for the wavelet analysis is reported, which can is viewed as an information processing technique. It was recently proposed that every basic wavelet could be associated with a proper probability density, allowing defining the entropy of a wavelet. Introducing now the concept of wavelet mutual information between a signal and an analysing wavelet fulfils the foundations of a wavelet information theory (WIT). Both continuous and discrete time signals are considered. Finally, we showed how to compute the information provided by a multiresolution analysis by means of the inhomogeneous wavelet expansion. Highlighting ideas behind the WIT are presented.


Repetition of advertising is a ubiquitous and accepted facet of our consumption environment. Marketers repeat their messages because repeated exposure to the message, up to a certain point, leads to favourable impressions of the brand. This observation is based on the findings reported in several advertising studies. However, a surprisingly large number of published studies also fail to find such an effect of ad repetition. In this paper, we investigate the cause for this observation by examining variables that characterize the every-day settings in which consumers encounter these messages. Findings from two studies suggest that the effect of ad repetition on judgment is observed when the ad message receives two complementary types of elaboration – relational elaboration, which facilitates the generation of a comparison referent, and item-specific elaboration, which foster the representation of the message information in memory. When the ad context or the ad execution (e.g., ad copy) does not facilitate these two types of elaboration, the effect of ad repetition is not observed. These findings also clarify an important distinction between the amount of message elaboration and the type of elaboration it receives. The paper concludes by offering a "juke-box" model of advertising persuasion, which describes how these two dimensions of message elaboration, the amount and type, interact to produce persuasion.


Abstract The future direction of technology development depends on the relative yearly rate of functional performance improvement of different technologies. We use patent data to identify accurate and reliable predictors of this rate for 30 technologies. We illustrate how patent-based predictors should be normalized to correct for possible confounding factors introduced by changing patenting dynamics. We test the accuracy and reliability of various predictors by means of a Monte Carlo cross-validation exercise. We find that a measure of the centrality of domains' patented inventions in the overall US patent citation network is an accurate and highly reliable predictor of improvement rates.


Surface terrain information is needed to economically site new or relocate existing infrastructure facilities and make final design plans. Field surveying and photogrammetric mapping are the methods most widely used to acquire these data. However, these methods are time- and resource-intensive, as significant data collection and reduction are needed to provide the level of detail necessary for facility location and design. Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) is a relatively new alternative technology for obtaining terrain information more efficiently. With LIDAR, data can be collected under a variety of environmental conditions, including low sun angle, cloudy skies, and even darkness, resulting in expanded windows for data collection. Although less accurate than photogrammetric mapping, LIDAR can help expedite the highway location and design process by providing designers with preliminary terrain information earlier in the process. Presented is a proposed methodology for using LIDAR in conjunction with photogrammetric mapping to speed up highway location and design activities, including estimates of time and cost savings.


Abstract Harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica (Hahn) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is a widespread pest that feeds on a variety of brassicaceous crops and other plants.To understand olfactory cues that mediate host-finding, and their possible utility in pest management, we deployed aggregation pheromone (mixed murgantiols = 10,11-epoxy-1-bisabolen-3-ols) and/or isothiocyanate (ITC) host plant volatiles with potted host plants and nonhost soybean, in field choice bioassays. Adults of both sexes were strongly attracted (10–31×) to collard host plants baited with pheromone lures, compared with unbaited collards, as were nymphs. Collard plants baited with lures containing allyl and/or benzyl-ITC showed a 1.3× and 1.9× increase in attractiveness, respectively, neither differing by life-stage nor sex; multiple lures showed additive attraction. Nonhost soybean, baited with pheromone lure, was 4.6–7.5× more attractive to adults than unbaited collard; conversely, baited collard was 124× more attractive than unbaited soybean. The stark difference in observed effect of pheromone lure between unpoisoned plants, and those poisoned with imidacloprid, indicated that attraction was underestimated by circa-daily counts of unpoisoned plants, presumably because if not poisoned, bugs rapidly abandoned the baited nonhost soybean plant. Results indicate that harlequin bugs can be misled to encounter and feed on nonhosts by their aggregation pheromone, but additional means may be needed to retain them. Attraction to hosts is increased both by the aggregation pheromone, and at least two host plant volatiles, allyl and benzyl-ITC. These results contribute to our knowledge of host finding in harlequin bug, and to possible trapping and trap cropping schemes for pest management.


Text representation has a critical impact on the accuracy of text classifiers which is imperative to be strengthened. On the other hand, the question of how the state-of-the-art embeddings outperform previous approaches cannot be well explained. To advance text representation and better understand the internal mechanism, we propose a novel end-to-end framework named Ensemble Framework for Text Embedding (EFTE), which weightedly combines diverse embeddings and simultaneously represents sentences' and tokens' features in a more reasonable way. According to the experimental results in sentiment classification, our proposed embedding apparently improves the effectiveness compared to six single embeddings. Moreover, the importance of each embedding in terms of EFTE integration and how different embeddings influence the results by classification are discussed.


Abstract In this paper I criticise Axel Honneth's reactualization of reification as a concept in critical theory in his 2005 Tanner Lectures and argue that he ultimately fails on his own terms. His account is based on two premises: (1) reification is to be taken literally rather than metaphorically, and (2) it is not conceived of as a moral injury but as a social pathology. Honneth concludes that reification is "forgetfulness of recognition", more specifically, of antecedent recognition, an emphatic and engaged relationship with oneself, others and the world, which precedes any more concrete relationship both genetically and categorially. I argue against this conception of reification on two grounds. (1) The two premises of Honneth's account cannot be squared with one another. It is not possible to literally take a person as a thing without this being a recognisable moral injury, and, therefore, I suggest that there are no cases of literal reification. (2) Honneth's account is essentially ahistorical, because it is based on an anthropological model of recognition that tacitly equates reification with autism. In conclusion, I suggest that any successful account of reification must (i) take reification metaphorically and (ii) offer a social-historical account of the origin(s) of reification.


Summary

1. In order to develop an effective biological control technique, the influence of mechanical and pathogen treatments on performance and nutrient storage of the weed creeping thistle Cirsium arvense was studied over a 2-year period. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effect of a combination of cutting and application of the rust Puccinia punctiformis as a possible biocontrol organism on thistles.

2. We conducted a complete two-factorial design using potted plants, with the application of the rust and cutting of thistles as the treatment factors. Treatments were applied once every year in June.

3. Inoculation reduced above-ground biomass in the first year. First year cutting reduced the number of thistle shoots, but stimulated compensatory growth with an increased growth rate and biomass. Only a second year cutting treatment significantly reduced above- and below-ground biomass, despite an increased growth rate.

4. The number of flower heads was strongly reduced by both cutting and combined treatments. The proportion of fertile flower heads was increased by cutting, whereas the combination treatment strongly reduced it.

5. Analysing storage nutrients, starch concentrations did not differ among treatments. Cutting reduced sugar concentrations, but pathogen infection tended to increase concentrations, resulting in significant interaction effects. Cutting also reduced below-ground carbon concentrations, but the carbon : nitrogen ratio was not influenced.

6. Synthesis and applications. The traditional mechanical technique of cutting was shown to be effective in reducing plant reproductive success and concentration of storage nutrients. Additional infection with a plant pathogen further restricted sexual reproduction, indicating that combined treatments may be more effective for biological control of perennial weed species. Whilst further studies are needed to establish P. punctiformis as a mycoherbicide, some synergism between repeated cutting and rust inoculation indicates that there is potential for a biological approach to the control of creeping thistle.


Purpose: to minimize the influence of ranger and patient setup uncertainties in intensity‐modulated proton therapy (IMPT), thus achieving the goal of "what you see is what you get" results in IMPT. Methods: A new efficient optimization scheme, which uses memory‐distributed parallelization on a multi‐processor system, is devised. Our method minimizes the possible hot spots in target volumes by penalizing not only underdosing but also overdosing in the target volumes in the objective function. Range and setup uncertainties are considered simultaneously with some simplifications. The optimization is done using the L‐BFGS method and parallelized with beamlet domain decomposition. Our approach is essentially not restrained by the memory available at one computing node and can easily be expanded to address more demanding problems in the future. Results: Compared with conventional treatment plans optimized based on planning target volumes (PTVs), our method yields plans that are considerably less sensitive to range and setup uncertainties and provides better protection for organs at risk. After robust optimization, the dose distribution is static to the CTV regardless of range and/or setup uncertainties, therefore reducing the sensitivity of the CTV coverage. This unique characteristic allows that the dose distribution is not necessarily conformal inside the whole volume of PTV, but rather a much smaller volume enclosing the CTV. Better normal tissue protection is thus accomplished by underdosing the margin of the PTV while not compromising the CTV coverage. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the importance of robust optimization and challenge the effectiveness of the use of PTV to account for uncertainties in IMPT planning. Actually we can get some benefits rather than impediments from the sensitive dose distribution to uncertainties of IMPT. Thus, ideally all IMPT plans should be robustly optimized and our approach has great potential to make previously unreliable IMPT plans reliable.


In dealing with custody disputes especially, mediation is generally considered as a process more humane than the confrontational approach taken in the adversarial system, (Pearson and Thoennes 1989). Mediation is claimed to not only avoid adversary settlement procedures, but also to be a "family-friendly" intervention program employed in helping post-separating families deal with divorce and conflict (Emery et al. 2005).The focus of mediation is encouraging the parties to solve their conflict amicably. Moreover, according to Vincent (1996, p.264), in mediation involving custody disputes, the decision about the children"s future is shifted to their parent: the people who know them best. Other commentators, including Menkel-Meadow (1991) and Sander (1984), also maintain that the informal and flexible nature of the mediation process enables the parties to address issues that might not be raised in a more formal dispute settlement approach. In fact, rather than restricting the decision making process to legal matters, mediation accommodates to the prospective needs and interest of the parties, leading to a whole and more satisfactory resolution in most cases. Thus, the paper will focus on the use of mediation in custody disputes looking at the nature of mediation, its advantages and disadvantages; and its challenges and future in Malaysia.


The aim of this study was to quantify the levels of transmitted radiation arising from the use of intra-oral dental x-ray equipment and scattered radiation arising from the use of both intra-oral and panoramic x-ray equipment. Levels of scattered radiation were measured at 1 m from a phantom, using an ion chamber with a volume of 1800 cm3. Transmitted radiation was measured using both (i) a phantom and dose–area product (DAP) meter and (ii) a patient and a 1800 cm3 ion chamber. For intra-oral radiography the patient study gave a maximum transmission of 1.80% (range 0.04–1.80%, mean 0.26%) and the phantom study gave a maximum transmission of 6% (range 2–6%, mean 5%). The maximum scattered radiation, per unit DAP, was 5.5 nGy (mGy cm2)−1 at 70 kVp and a distance of 1 m. For panoramic radiography the maximum scattered radiation was 9.3 nGy (mGy cm2)−1 at 80 kVp and a distance of 1 m. Dose values are presented to enable the calculation of adequate protective measures for dental radiography rooms. Previous studies have used a phantom and measured radiation doses at 1 m from the phantom to determine the radiation dose transmitted through a patient, whereas this study uses both patient and phantom measurements together with a large-area dosemeter, positioned to capture the entire x-ray beam, to ensure that more realistic dose measurements can be made.


Laser heating in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) is a common method for studying material behavior at high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. It has been previously proven that during continuous wave (CW) laser heating of a sample, carbon of the diamond anvils is mobilized, and its diffusion into the sample can lead to undesirable chemical reactions, which, if not detected, may cause misinterpretations of the results of the experiment. Minimizing the heating time with the use of a pulsed laser (PL) is thought to reduce the risk of possible carbon contamination of the sample; however, this has not been proven experimentally. Here, we report the results of our comparative study of the effect of pulsed and continuous wave (CW) laser heating on the mobilization of carbon and its chemical interaction with iron in a diamond anvil cell. Using X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy, Synchrotron Mossbauer Source spectroscopy, and Synchrotron X-ray diffraction, we examined iron samples that were laser heated in DACs in various pressure transmitting media (neon, argon, and potassium chloride). According to our results, the use of the PL heating does not prevent the sample from carbon contamination. A reaction between carbon and iron happens within a few seconds even at moderate temperatures. We found that one analytical technique was generally insufficient to fully characterize the phase composition of the laser-heated samples.Laser heating in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) is a common method for studying material behavior at high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. It has been previously proven that during continuous wave (CW) laser heating of a sample, carbon of the diamond anvils is mobilized, and its diffusion into the sample can lead to undesirable chemical reactions, which, if not detected, may cause misinterpretations of the results of the experiment. Minimizing the heating time with the use of a pulsed laser (PL) is thought to reduce the risk of possible carbon contamination of the sample; however, this has not been proven experimentally. Here, we report the results of our comparative study of the effect of pulsed and continuous wave (CW) laser heating on the mobilization of carbon and its chemical interaction with iron in a diamond anvil cell. Using X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy, Synchrotron Mossbauer Source spectroscopy, and Synchrotron X-ray diffraction, we examined iron samples that were laser ...


Background Primary health centers (PHCs) represent the first tier of the Indian health care system, providing a range of essential outpatient services to people living in the rural, suburban, and hard-to-reach areas. Diversion of health care resources for containing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly undermined the accessibility and availability of essential health services. Under these circumstances, the preparedness of PHCs in providing safe patient-centered care and meeting the current health needs of the population while preventing further transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection is crucial. Objective The aim of this study was to determine the primary health care facility preparedness toward the provision of safe outpatient services during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study among supervisors and managers of primary health care facilities attached to medical colleges and institutions in India. A list of 60 faculties involved in the management and supervision of PHCs affiliated with the community medicine departments of medical colleges and institutes across India was compiled from an accessible private organization member database. We collected the data through a rapid survey from April 24 to 30, 2020, using a Google Forms online digital questionnaire that evaluated preparedness parameters based on self-assessment by the participants. The preparedness domains assessed were infrastructure availability, health worker safety, and patient care. Results A total of 51 faculties responded to the survey. Each medical college and institution had on average a total of 2.94 (SD 1.7) PHCs under its jurisdiction. Infrastructural and infection control deficits at the PHC were reported in terms of limited physical space and queuing capacity, lack of separate entry and exit gates (n=25, 49%), inadequate ventilation (n=29, 57%), and negligible airborne infection control measures (n=38, 75.5%). N95 masks were available at 26 (50.9%) sites. Infection prevention and control measures were also suboptimal with inadequate facilities for handwashing and hand hygiene reported in 23.5% (n=12) and 27.4% (n=14) of sites, respectively. The operation of outpatient services, particularly related to maternal and child health, was significantly disrupted (P<.001) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions Existing PHC facilities in India providing outpatient services are constrained in their functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic due to weak infrastructure contributing to suboptimal patient safety and infection control measures. Furthermore, there is a need for effective planning, communication, and coordination between the centralized health policy makers and health managers working at primary health care facilities to ensure overall preparedness during public health emergencies.


The crystal structure of a low-water (0.16 wt% OH) grossular has been refined at 20 K by single-crystal time-of-flight neutron-diffraction methods. Comparisons with the room temperature structure indicate that between 298 and 20 K, the silicate tetrahedron undergoes a small rigid-body rotation that results in an increase in the y parameter of oxygen. The mechanism of thermal expansion is significantly different from that at high temperature
where the tetrahedra do not rotate and changes in the structure reflect only unit-cell expansion.


Overexpression of synthetic genes depletes cellular resources, particularly ribosomes, which leads to lower expression of other synthetic genes and decreased growth rate. These burden effects can be detrimental to genetic circuit performance and hinders the process of modularly composing genetic circuits to create complex biomolecular systems with novel functions. No solution exists that allows the expression of any gene to a desired level without hindering the expression level of all other genes and growth rate. Here, we engineer an actuator that upregulates ribosome production. The key component of the actuator is a genetic cassette that expresses the hydrolysis domain of the SpoT enzyme (SpoTH) in a cell strain with elevated basal levels of ppGpp. We demonstrate that our actuator is capable of increasing protein production rates (proxy for free ribosomes) by over 150% and growth rate by over 80%. We use the actuator to engineer a feedforward controller, in which SpoTH is co-expressed with a target gene. Expressing the target gene without SpoTH purges the expression of a constitutive gene by more than 80% and cellular growth rate by 40%. By contrast, with SPOTH, the feedforward controller can be tuned to guarantee less than 10% change in the expression of a constitutive gene while keeping the expression of a the target gene at any desired level without any decrease in growth rate (however growth can increase by ≈ 40%). Alternatively, the feedforward controller can be tuned to guarantee less than 10% deviations in growth rate while also providing 30% higher expression of a constitutive gene relative to the case of expressing the target gene without SpoTH. Therefore, this solution allows desired target gene overexpression without burden, which is instrumental for predictable composition of genetic circuits.


This paper examines the economical analysis of producing essential oil from leafy part of Eucalyptus citriodora plant using steam distillation technology. The specific objectives were to examine the viability or otherwise of this method of producing essential oil in terms of net profit generated, return on investment and pay back period. The data used in this study were obtained from series of test-run carried out on the fabricated essential oil pilot plant and other input costs were based on the current market price available in Zaria Area Council, Kaduna State. The results showed that the total estimated cost of the pilot plant (direct fixed cost) with capacity to produce 0.864 litres/hour of crude essential oil was N1,453,493:00 and annual operating cost (AOC) of N 4,026,492:00. The plant is expected to produce 840 litres of distilled essential oil per annum with expected annual selling price of N6,300,000:00 and profit after tax (PAT) of N1, 818,806.00 at 20% tax rate. The return on investment (ROI) was 125%, internal rate of return (IRR) of 29.64% and pay back period (PBP) of 0.75 years. From the profitability analysis and measure of return on investment carried out based on the various assumptions and projections made, it was quite obvious that the production of essential oil using steam distillation technology is highly profitable which should be attractive to potential investors.


This article considers the dichotomy of originals and copies in the specific context of photographs of objects that recreate an existing work of art or a documentary photograph. The examples span the period from the mid-nineteenth century to contemporary photographic practices. The traditional legal regulation of such copies is unsatisfactory compared with more recent theoretical approaches, as those proposed here. These approaches encompass the two modes of photographic copies after recreated realities: they simultaneously preserve identities and create original alterations.


This paper explores the benefits of competition control treatments in establishing plantations now and into the next rotation, -More is known about the economic outcome of woody control treatments than about herbaceous. control; thus, the former are given the most attention. But the early growth benefits of herbaceous weed control treatments are also reviewed, with the appropriate application methods and possible innovations. Application methods are explained, with emphasis on ideas leading to possible establishment savings,


This study focuses on two highly successful AIDS plays, Tony Kushner's Angels in America and Jonathan Larson's Rent. These plays were performed in London in 1994 and 1998 respectively and revived in 2007. Both plays are key examples of American theatrical representations of AIDS performed on the London stage. This thesis examines how these plays represented AIDs on the London stage. Secondly the reception of these American AIDS plays is considered when staged in London is considered. Finally the longer term significance of performing these texts, both in terms of depictions of AIDS and the wider stylistic elements in relation to the theatrical landscape is also examined. Through reflection on the reception of these plays, they are considered for their significance of their depiction of AIDS and place within London theatre. It is examined how, through the use of political, medical and emotional ties, these plays successfully depicted AIDS when transposed to the British stage. In these successful depictions of AIDS, and in their overall press reception, these plays developed a significant place in the London theatrical landscape. Using archival records and press responses, the performance of these plays in their original production and in revival is considered in relation to the original productions and the revived versions in London. The consideration of live, performed versions of these texts is of central importance, and further theoretical consideration is built around the nature of a performance text. In using archival records, elements of the productions and performance are considered in a manner that is not possible if only using the published, written version of the play. These plays are considered as significant works on AIDS that transposed successfully to the London theatrical landscape, making Angels and Rent not only but successful and important parts of the British theatrical landscape.


Resource-based livelihoods are uncertain and potentially unstable due to variability over time, including seasonal variation: this instability threatens marginalised populations who may fall into poverty. However, empirical understanding of trajectories of household well-being and poverty is limited. Here, we present a new household-level model of poverty dynamics based on agents and coping strategies–the Household Economy And Poverty trajectory (HEAP) model. HEAP is based on established economic and social insights into poverty dynamics, with a demonstration of the model calibrated with a qualitative and quantitative household survey in coastal Bangladesh. Economic activity in Bangladesh is highly dependent on natural resources; poverty is widespread; and there is high variability in ecosystem services at multiple temporal scales. The results show that long-term decreases in poverty are predicated more on the stability of, and returns from, livelihoods rather than their diversification. Access to natural resources and ecosystem service benefits are positively correlated with stable income and multidimensional well-being. Households that remain in poverty are those who experience high seasonality of income and are involved in small scale enterprises. Hence, seasonal variability in income places significant limits on natural resources providing routes out of poverty. Further, projected economic trends to 2030 lead to an increase in well-being and a reduction in poverty for most simulated household types.


Introduction The appropriate operative management of a macroscopically normal appendix at diagnostic laparoscopy for Right Iliac Fossa (RIF) pain remains controversial. Advocates for appendicectomy state that removal of microscopic inflammation or faecoliths may resolve symptoms and prevent future episodes. Those who leave the appendix in situbelieve microscopic inflammation is not clinically significant. We aim to establish the accuracy of intra-operative assessment of the appendix to inform this debate. Method A prospective observational study was undertaken between February 2012 and December 2013. Patients aged ≥18 years presenting with RIF pain with suspected Acute Appendicitis (AA) were recruited. Operative notes were compared with histological findings to assess the diagnostic accuracy of intra-operative assessment at appendicectomy. The histological criterion for AA was transmural inflammation. Results 74 participants were recruited (35% male), median age 33 (range 18–84). 31 patients underwent appendicectomy with a negative appendicectomy (NA) rate of 32% (10/31). 26 (83.9%) were started laparoscopically, 3 of which were converted to open (11.5%). Intra-operative assessment reported 10 normal appendices, two of which revealed AA on histological assessment. 2 out of 21 intra-operative diagnoses of AA were considered histologically normal. 4 cases were described as perforated in the operation note, however, histological assessment failed to report perforation in all cases. The sensitivity and specificity of macroscopic assessment of all forms of AA was 90.5% (19/21) and 80% (8/10), respectively. Conclusion Even in our relatively small study 2 cases of AA would have been missed by macroscopic assessment and could have been erroneously left in situ. Our study supports the argument for routine excision of macroscopically normal appendices at surgery for RIF pain when no other pathology is found. Conversely, perforation was under reported on histological assessment and is therefore an important element of the operative assessment. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


Author(s): York, Emily | Advisor(s): Hartouni, Valerie | Abstract: This dissertation analyzes the sociotechnical practices through which nanoengineering is produced as a new disciplinary and professional site of "innovation for the benefit of society." I argue that innovation constitutes a rationalizing discourse that serves to justify the establishment of a field, department, and major. Additionally, it serves as an organizing logic that constitutes the nanoengineer as an inherently ethical actor, and nanoengineering as a benefactor of a universalized consumer-subject. I contribute an empirically grounded feminist science studies perspective on how material and discursive practices of innovation rationalize, define, and justify a new scientific discipline; how moral and ethical reasoning is figured within technical practices and pedagogies; and how sociocultural, historical, political, and technical imaginaries figure and are themselves refigured in the constitution of nanoengineering. My analysis is based on an ethnography I conducted from 2010-2014 of one of the world's first nanoengineering departments and its new undergraduate nanoengineering major, located at the University of California, San Diego. This included observing most of the undergraduate courses; conducting 85 interviews with faculty, students, and administrators; observing a nanoengineering laboratory; participating in department meetings and events; collaborating with the department to produce a new department newsletter; and analyzing the media used in the department and curriculum. More specifically, my dissertation chapters examine how popular culture is enrolled in the consolidation of a new discipline; how a particular ethos, with a moral stance and value positions, gets taught in the context of technical education; how liberal and neoliberal logics of rational individualism, autonomy, and the invisible hand get worked into the material and discursive practices of self-assembly in the nanoengineering laboratory; how the institutional goal of producing human capital manifests in the undergraduate major in the form of entrepreneurialism; how translational research as a paradigm of innovation becomes the right tool for the job of aligning nanoengineering's commitments to innovation and utility with the institutional imperative to produce intellectual capital; and how the higher-ed science classroom is an important site for considering the ethics and politics of knowledge production. I present my work in both prose and graphic novel style narrative illustration.


Purpose. Lack of physical activity is associated with increased risk of overweight and cardiovascular disease, conditions associated with lower socioeconomic status (SES). Associations between activity levels of urban youth and limited access to safe recreation areas in their neighborhoods of residence were investigated. Design. Analyses of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, a multilevel longitudinal study of families and communities, are reported. Setting. Chicago, Illinois. Subjects. Individual-level data were obtained from 1378 youth 11 to 16 years old and caregivers living in 80 neighborhood clusters. Neighborhood-level data were collected from 8782 community residents and videotapes of 15,141 block faces. Measures. Parental estimates of hours youth spent in recreational programming were used to estimate physical activity. A scale of residents' assessment of neighborhood safety for children's play was created; disorder measures came from videotaped observations. Results. Physical activity averaged 2.7 hours/week (SD = 5.0), varying significantly across neighborhoods. Using hierarchical linear regression, SES, age, and male gender, but not body mass index, were independently associated with physical activity. Lower neighborhood safety and social disorder were significantly associated with less activity, controlling for demographics. Conclusions. One mechanism for reduced physical activity among youth may be the influence of unsafe neighborhoods. Neighborhood interventions to increase safety and reduce disorder may be efficacious in increasing physical activity, thereby reducing risk of overweight and cardiovascular disease.


Author(s): Gamble, Lynn | Abstract: Remains of house structures, refuse heaps, and activity areas within a coastal Chumash village are examined in this paper in order to describe the internal organization at a Late Period archaeological site in southern California. Methods of analysis include visual inspection of the distribution of artifact types and features, contingency tests, and examination of graphs resulting from standardization and other processes. All feature types are described in detail. Then, with the aid of ethnographic analogy and the use of historic records, activity areas are delineated. Activities that occurred within houses are distinguished from those that took place outside houses. In addition, specific activity loci are defined, such as basketmaking areas.Knowledge about the relationships among artifacts and features within a site is important in understanding the uses of artifacts. The distribution of different artifact types often indicates the locations and types of activities that occurred at a site. Although houses in the Chumash area have been excavated, little is known about the organization of activities within houses. Archaeological evidence from the Pitas Point site, located in the Santa Barbara Channel region, offers an excellent source of data for addressing these problems.Using the available data, I will attempt to demonstrate that there was a non-random distribution of artifact types at the Pitas Point site. Certain areas excavated are believed to be inside house structures on the basis of stratigraphic evidence. It is proposed that there are expectable differences between the types of artifacts occurring within as opposed to outside these structures. By using simple quantitative statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, this hypothesis will be tested. Once the range of activities performed inside house structures has been determined, features within these structures such as hearths or clusters of tarring pebbles will be identified. Ethnographic and historic data in conjunction with the archaeological record will be used to suggest the types of activities that took place at the site. Other activities described in the ethnographic record undoubtedly occurred at the Pitas Point site, but will not be discussed until more data have been examined.


Abstract Fumonisin B1 (FB1), B2 (FB2) and B3 (FB3), production of Aspergillus Section Nigri isolates obtained from dried fig samples were investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The fumonisin (FUM) positive strains were investigated for ochratoxin A (OTA) production in fig paste, as well. Additionally, the growth rate and lag phase of these strains were determined. Almost 13% of total isolates (10/133 strains) produced FB2, however none of the isolates produced FB1 and FB3 in the culture medium. All FB2 positive strains in medium also produced FB2 in the fig paste. None of the fumonisin positive strains produced OTA in culture medium and fig paste. The mean growth rate of all FUM-producing strains were faster at 30 °C than 25 °C in the culture medium.