Unconventional modes of microtubule nucleation exist in the moss cytoplasm, representing a broader spectrum of nucleation mechanisms in plants. The mechanism underlying microtubule (MT) generation in plants has been primarily studied using the cortical MT array, in which fixed-angled branching nucleation and katanin-dependent MT severing predominate. However, little is known about MT generation in the endoplasm. Here, we explored the mechanism of endoplasmic MT generation in protonemal cells of Physcomitrella patens. We developed an assay that utilizes flow cell and oblique illumination fluorescence microscopy, which allowed visualization and quantification of individual MT dynamics. MT severing was infrequently observed, and disruption of katanin did not severely affect MT generation. Branching nucleation was observed, but it showed markedly variable branch angles and was occasionally accompanied by the transport of nucleated MTs. Cytoplasmic nucleation at seemingly random locations was most frequently observed and predominated when depolymerized MTs were regrown. The MT nucleator γ-tubulin was detected at the majority of the nucleation sites, at which a single MT was generated in random directions. When γ-tubulin was knocked down, MT generation was significantly delayed in the regrowth assay. However, nucleation occurred at a normal frequency in steady state, suggesting the presence of a γ-tubulin-independent backup mechanism. Thus, endoplasmic MTs in this cell type are generated in a less ordered manner, showing a broader spectrum of nucleation mechanisms in plants.


Oral contraception is effective, convenient, and reversible. For most women it is also remarkably safe. Some people involved in family planning go further and imply that the oral contraceptive pill is almost free of risk. This creates an illusion that is shattered whenever adverse effects—however rare—are brought to light. In October 1995 the Committee on Safety of Medicines in the United Kingdom warned that oral contraceptives containing desogestrel or gestodene carried a small increase in risk of venous thromboembolism compared with older preparations. The chaos that followed in Britain (and a few other countries) may have stemmed partly from an illusion of absolute safety, as well as from the publicity triggered by the warning.

The committee's announcement was followed by the publication of four well designed studies that gave a consistent picture: women using third generation oral contraceptives containing desogestrel or gestodene had about twice the risk of venous thromboembolism of women using preparations containing levonorgestrel.1 In the four years that have followed, a plethora of articles, reviews, and symposiums have implied that these reports were flawed and that reanalyses or new studies show no differences in the risk of …


This work aims to study the usability of infrared thermography in swimming for the purpose of quantifying the influence of the swimming style on the cartographies of cutaneous temperatures of a swimmer. Only one subject took part in the experimental protocol, who was to accomplish a 4 × 100 m 4 medley. Thermal acquisitions followed by one period of recovery with return to thermal balance were carried out between particular strokes. IR thermography made it possible to discuss the influence of the swimming style on the distributions of cutaneous temperatures in various body zones. This process seems to be completely adaptable to the development of future statistical studies.


A new isolate of hepatitis A virus (HAV), CY-145, was isolated from stool specimens obtained from cynomolgus macaques naturally infected with this agent. Sequence analysis of the capsid region of the genome indicated that this virus differed from other sequenced HAV strains by about 20% at the nucleotide level and 7% at the amino acid level. Two amino acid residues (residues 70 of VP3 and 102 of VP1), previously identified as constituting an immunodominant site and conserved in all sequenced HAVs, were changed in the CY-145 virus. Sequence analysis of a second cynomolgus HAV isolate (CY-55), which came from a different geographical location, showed the same amino acid replacement at these two sites. In addition both isolates had an amino acid substitution at the VP3-VP1 cleavage site. These data suggest that the cynomolgus HAV differs genetically and antigenically from all other sequenced HAVs.


Objective: Timing of post-radical prostatectomy (RP) radiotherapy (RT) in patients with high risk prostate cancer continues to be debated. This is a retrospective review aiming to evaluate the influence of pre-RT prostate specific antigen (PSA) values on postprostatectomy RT outcomes in one Australian center.
Method: Eligible patients were treated at the Royal Adelaide Hospital between January 2004 and December 2013, excluding those with nodal or distant metastatic disease pre-RT, or those who received neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy pre-RT. The primary endpoint of biochemical failure-free survival (bFFS) was defined as time from RP to date of biochemical failure (bF). Covariates of Gleason score, post-RP PSA, and pre-RT PSA were further analysed in relation to bFFS.
Results: 103 of 122 patients underwent final analysis (8 were excluded for the above reasons; 11 had missing data). Median follow-up from RP was 60 months. Kaplan-Meier (KM) estimates of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5-year survival probabilities were 93.5%, 83.4%, 82.4%, 76.6% and 71% respectively. There was no statistically significant correlation between bFFS and pathological T-stage (p=0.1), surgical margin involvement (p=0.7), or RT total dose (p=0.8). Analysis based on KM survival distributions and log-rank tests suggest that pathological Gleason score may have some influence on bFFS (p=0.04). Doubling the pre-RT PSA whilst holding all other factors and covariates constant, increases the hazard of bF at a particular time-point by approximately 19% on average.
Conclusion: This single-institution retrospective study provides reasonable evidence for influence of pre-RT PSA on post-RP RT outcomes, arguing for earlier referral for RT.


Observations are presented of the phenomenon of the enhancement in electron density and temperature that is caused by a powerful pump wave at a frequency near the fifth gyrofrequency. The observations show that the apparent enhancement in electron density extending over a wide altitude range and the enhancement in electron temperature around the reflection altitude occur as a function of pump frequency. Additionally, the plasma line spectra show unusual behavior as a function of pump frequency. In conclusion, the upper hybrid wave resonance excited by the pump wave plays a dominating role and leads to the enhancement in electron temperature at the upper hybrid altitude. The phenomenon of apparent enhancement in electron density does not correspond to the true enhancement in electron density, this may be due to some mechanism that preferentially involves the plasma transport process and leads to the strong backscatter of radar wave along the magnetic line, which remains to be determined.


The development of oxytocin (OT) sensitivity in the parturient uterus is associated with increases in myometrial OT receptor concentration, gap junction formation, and prostaglandin (PG) production. To investigate whether PGs mediate these responses, we measured OT responsiveness, OT receptor concentrations, and gap junction formations in uteri of Day 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 pregnant and Day 2 postpartum rats. Inhibition of endogenous PG synthesis was produced by infusion of naproxen sodium delivered by an implanted osmotic pump. Naproxen treatment, but not placebo treatment, markedly attenuated in vitro uterine PGE2, PGF2 alpha, and PGI2 releases, suppressed OT responsiveness, and prolonged gestation. The increase of OT receptor concentration that normally occurred on Day 23 term pregnancy was delayed to Day 24. Co-administration of PGF2 alpha reversed the suppressive effects of naproxen. Naproxen treatment did not significantly affect gap junction formations on Day 23 but appeared to delay both the onset and disappearance of gap junction formations. PGF2 alpha co-administration with naproxen also had no apparent effect on gap junction development. The inhibition of OT receptor formation but not gap junction formation on Day 23 in the presence of naproxen indicates that these two events are controlled independently. Furthermore, the failure of naproxen-treated rats to deliver at term suggests that gap junction formation in the absence of an increase in OT receptors is insufficient to initiate labor. It appears that increases in both OT receptor concentrations and gap junction densities may be required for labor.


The synthesis of link-stabilized proteoglycan aggregates by rabbit articular chondrocytes was investigated by [35S]sulphate labelling of primary monolayer cultures maintained for up to 21 days. (1) At all culture times the cells secreted a high-molecular-weight cartilage-type proteoglycan monomer of which 75%-80% formed aggregates with hyaluronic acid. (2) At 2 days of culture all of the aggregates were in link-stabilized form, but by 21 days only 5% were link-stabilized, as shown by displacement of monomers from the aggregate by hyaluronic acid oligosaccharides. (3) The addition of purified link protein to 21-day culture medium increased the proportion of link-stable aggregate from 5% to 70%. (4) Analysis of [3H]serine-labelled proteoglycan aggregates in the medium showed a marked decrease with culture time in the ratio of 3H-labelled link protein to 3H-labelled core protein present. The results suggest that the secretion of proteoglycan monomers and link protein by articular chondrocytes changes independently during prolonged monolayer culture.


This article contributes to reimagining a 'new generation' of accountability. It draws on country studies and a workshop organised by ActionAid International. The studies highlight the need for further clarifying roles between development actors, the importance of allowing sufficient time for organisational and relational changes and strengthened accountability, the continuing significance of meaningful participation and the need to recognise power in accountability relationships and practices. The author proposes making accountability a central driver in a development actor's theory of change, which would give the organisation a resilient spine as well as flexibility and manoeuvrability. A new relationship between accountability and monitoring and evaluation is also proposed. Such a conceptualisation of accountability provides the clarity and simplicity needed to leapfrog the myriad initiatives created in response to donor pressures for accountability and the measurement focus that currently grips the development sector.


Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) enroll the majority of Latinx undergraduate students and constitute the second-largest institutional type in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (D1). Yet, little is known about the role intercollegiate athletics play in fostering educational outcomes for Latinx students at HSIs. Under the guise of Latinx critical race theory, this qualitative study examined how HSIs operate both the federal designation and NCAA D1 membership in relation to athletic participation and completion outcomes for Latinx student-athletes. Document analysis was utilized to disaggregate data from various reports to identify the HSI-D1 institutions and their Latinx athletes' participation, and graduation rates. These findings were then compared to the overall NCAA D1 averages. Among the findings, Latinx student-athletes graduated at higher rates than non-athletes from the HSI-D1s. However, as an aggregate, these institutions had below average graduation rates of Latinx students and student-athletes in comparison to the national rates across NCAA D1 membership. Furthermore, HSI-D1s provided limited athletic participation opportunities for Latinx athletes. The study concluded with the implications of findings and recommendations for future studies.


The reduced basis element method is a new approach for approximating the solution of problems described by partial differential equations. The method takes its roots in domain decomposition methods and reduced basis discretizations [8, 16, 17], and its applications extend to, for example, control and optimization problems. The basic idea is to first decompose the computational domain into a series of subdomains that are similar to a few reference domains (or generic computational parts). Associated with each reference domain are precomputed solutions corresponding to the same governing partial differential equation, but solved for different choices of some underlying parameter. In this work, the parameters are representing the geometric shape associated with a computational part. The approximation corresponding to a new shape is then taken to be a linear combination of the precomputed solutions, mapped from the reference domain for the part to the actual domain. We extend earlier work [14, 15] in this direction to solve incompressible fluid flow problems governed by the steady Stokes equations. Particular focus is given to constructing the basis functions, to the mapping of the velocity fields, to satisfying the inf-sup condition, and to " gluing " the local solutions together in the multidomain case [4]. We also demonstrate an algorithm for choosing the most efficient precomputed solutions. Two-dimensional examples are presented for pipes, bifurcations, and couplings of pipes and bifurcations in order to simulate hierarchical flow systems.


Utilizing high-resolution remote sensing images for earth observation has become the common method of land use monitoring. It requires great human participation when dealing with traditional image interpretation, which is inefficient and difficult to guarantee the accuracy. At present, the artificial intelligent method such as deep learning has a large number of advantages in the aspect of image recognition. By means of a large amount of remote sensing image samples and deep neural network models, we can rapidly decipher the objects of interest such as buildings, etc. Whether in terms of efficiency or accuracy, deep learning method is more preponderant. This paper explains the research of deep learning method by a great mount of remote sensing image samples and verifies the feasibility of building extraction via experiments.


Ceria () was used to scavenge free radicals which attack the membrane in the polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) circumstance and to increase the duration of the membrane. In order to improve the electrochemical, mechanical and electrocatalytic characteristics, engineering plastic of the sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK) as polymer matrix was prepared in the sulfonation reaction of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and the organic-inorganic blended composite membranes were prepared by sol-gel casting method with loading the highly dispersed ceria and cesium-substituted phophomolybdic acid(Cs-MoPA) with cross-linking agent contents of 0.01mL. In conclusion, CL-SPEEK/-MoPA/ceria(1%) membrane showed the optimum results such as 0.1095S/cm of proton conductivity at , 2.906meq./g-dry-membrane of ion exchange capacity and mechanical characteristics, and 49.73MPa of tensile strength which were better than Nafion 117 membrane.


Steganography is a science that considers the method to hide information in the cover media. The direct purpose is the communication with the secret information. The methods can be classified based on the cover media and secret message type. The cover media can be audio, video, image or even text message. Similarly, the secret message can be images, audio, video and text messages. The challenge here is to cover the secret information properly without degrading the cover media, without noticing and with security. The proposed steganography algorithm based on color histograms for data embedding into Video clips directly, where each pixel in each video frame is divided in two parts, the number of bits which will be embedded in the right part are counted in the left part of the pixel. This algorithm is characterized by the ability of hiding larger size of data and the ability of extracting the written text without errors, besides it gives a high level of authentication to guarantee integrity of the video/images before being extracted. Furthermore, the data were embedded inside the video/images randomly which gave the video/images a higher security and resistance against extraction by attackers.


Introduction Patient complexity needs to be understood to match resources to need in palliative care (Pask et al. 2018). A future increase in need for these services means alternative models of care should be considered (Etkind et al. 2017). Pilgrims Hospice is unique in having three IPUs run by a single organisation covering a distinct geographical area. This set up enabled the implementation of a stand-alone nurse directed unit taking less medically complex patients alongside traditionally staffed IPUs. Aims The project aimed to answer the following: Can we identify medical complexity prior to admission? Do nurse directed beds in a stand–alone unit improve use of resources produce similar outcome and satisfaction. Methods Data were collected from routine activity figures surveys of staff and service users' thematic analysis of operational meetings and a focus group of staff at a strategic level. Tools were utilised to measure complexity and level of need (Gannon 2017). Results The findings supported using resources more efficiently and for the nursing team to be empowered and developed. Concerns related to: Travel time when patients not admitted to the closest unit. Inefficient use of beds A perceived need for a full multidisciplinary team including medicine Delay in death certificate completion The medical complexity tool appeared unreliable as a triage tool Conclusions The concept received support from participants. However we were unable to effectively answer the questions posed for a mixture of system data collection and methodological reasons. For nurse directed beds to be successful a different approach is required. References . Pask S, Pinto C, Bristowe K, van Vliet L, Nicholson C, Evans C, George R, Bailey K, Davies J, Guo P, Daveson B, Higginson IJ, Murtagh FEM. A framework for complexity in palliative care: A qualitative study with patients family carers and professionals. Palliative Medicine2018;32(6):1078–1090. . Etkind SN, Bone AE, Gomes B, Lovell N, Evans CJ, Higginson IJ. How many people will need palliative care in 2040? Past trends future projections and implications for services. BMC Medicine2017;15:102. Available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-017-0860-2 . Gannon C. P-82 what level of medical input do hospice inpatients need and does this correspond to their need for specialist nursing input? A service evaluation in a UK hospice. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care2017;7(Suppl 1). Available at https://www.pah.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/pah_jm_A0_medical_input_poster.pdf (Accessed: 25 May 2018)


The introduction of wavelength division multiplexing into the access network is a potentially attractive alternative upgrade strategy to increasing the bit rate of passive optical networks (PON). A number of different methods have been proposed to implement a multi-wavelength PON and hence a careful assignment needs to be made of the most cost effective, both in the short term and for future increases in capacity. One key issue is the use of dynamic allocation of wavelengths, which allows the reconfiguration of the network in response to network demand. A model has been produced to simulate demand patterns on a PON, in order to quantify the benefits of dynamic assignment.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to find out the association between eating breakfast, breakfast patterns, and the metabolic syndrome.

METHODS
We used the fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2009. A total of 16,734 subjects were included. Breakfast dietary patterns were extracted by factor analysis. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between breakfast consumption, breakfast dietary patterns, and the metabolic syndrome.

RESULTS
We found that breakfast consumption itself reduced the risk of the metabolic syndrome (odds ratio=0.82, 95% confidence interval=0.69-0.98). We identified two breakfast dietary patterns: the traditional Korean pattern and the dairy-cereal pattern. The dairy-cereal pattern was associated with a reduction in the risk of the metabolic syndrome among breakfast consumers. Compared to no breakfast consumption, the strongest traditional Korean pattern and the highest quartiles for the dairy-cereal pattern were associated with a reduced risk of the metabolic syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS
Breakfast consumption is associated with the metabolic syndrome. Not all breakfast consumption patterns are associated with a reduced risk of having the metabolic syndrome. In particular, eating either a dairy-cereal breakfast or high energy and fiber breakfast are associated with a reduced risk of the metabolic syndrome.


The present doctoral thesis studies the association between pre-colonial institutions and long-run development in Latin America. The thesis is organised as follows:
 Chapter 1 places the motivation of the thesis by underlying relevant contributions in the literature on long-run development. I then set out the main objective of the thesis, followed by a brief outline of it.
 In Chapter 2, I study the effects of pre-colonial institutions on present-day socioeconomic outcomes for Latin America. The main thesis of this chapter is that more advanced pre-colonial institutions relate to better socioeconomic outcomes today - principally, but not only, through their effects on the Amerindian population. I test such hypothesis with a dataset of 324 sub-national administrative units covering all mainland Latin American countries. The extensive range of controls covers factors such as climate, location, natural resources, colonial activities and pre-colonial characteristics - plus country fixed effects. Results strongly support the main thesis.
 In Chapter 3, I further analyse the association between pre-colonial institutions and present-day economic development in Latin America by using the historical ethnic homelands as my main unit of analysis. The main hypothesis is that ethnic homelands inhabited by more advanced ethnic groups -as measured by their levels of institutional complexity- relate to better economic development today. To track these long-run effects, I construct a new dataset by digitising historiographical maps allowing me to pinpoint the geospatial location of ethnic homelands as of the XVI century. As a result, 375 ethnic homelands are created. I then capture the levels of economic development at the ethnic homeland level by making use of alternative economic measures --satellite light density data. After controlling for country-specific characteristics and applying a large battery of geographical, locational, and historical factors, I found that the effects of pre-colonial institutions relate to a higher light density --as a proxy for economic activity- in ethnic homelands where more advanced ethnic groups lived.
 In Chapter 4, I explore a mechanism linking the persistence of pre-colonial institutions in Latin America over the long-run: Colonial and post-colonial strategies along with the ethnic political capacity worked in tandem allowing larger Amerindian groups to "support" the new political systems in ways that would benefit their respective ethnic groups as well as the population at large. This mechanism may have allowed the effects of pre-colonial institutions to influence socioeconomic development outcomes up to today. To shed lights on this mechanism, I combine the index of pre-colonial institutions prepared for the second chapter of the present thesis with individual-level survey data on people's attitudes. By controlling for key observable and unobservable country-specific characteristics, the main empirical results show that areas with a history of more advanced pre-colonial institutions increase the probability of individuals supporting present-day political institutions.
 Finally, in Chapter 5, I summarise the main findings of the thesis, and emphasise the key weaknesses of the study as well as potential avenues for future research.


In this article, we explore methodological difficulties related to proving racial profiling, specifically in the context of §287(g) and Secure Communities enforcement. How it is that critical immigration researchers understand racial profiling as the object of their research, and how might they go about substantiating racial profiling in the field? Can racial profiling be made a straightforward object of problematization and, if not, why? We are particularly interested in how racial profiling can be so self-evidently at the core of programs like §287(g) and Secure Communities and yet how racialized law enforcement decisions and tactics are so often inscrutable—and difficult to prove—in the context of routine police work. Building on original fieldwork findings and data on roadblocks by §287(g) and Secure Communities agencies in central North Carolina, we dissect the differences between racially discrepant police work and racial profiling, and argue that chasing the "gold standard" of racial profiling risks leaving racially discrepant policing on the table as an apparently unproblematic, and perhaps even defensible, outcome of policing. As such, we argue that critical scholars should leave aside the problem of proving racial profiling and instead refocus on the problem of racially discrepant policing.


This guide was created to aid the health sciences students at Lone Star College-Kingwood navigate the databases related to pharmacology.


The establishment of the World Trade Organization and the growing movement toward a global free trade system present new opportunities for the United States and its citizens. Yet despite being one of the driving forces behind this push toward free trade and the removal of all barriers with respect to the trading of goods, the United States continues to take much more of a protectionist stances with regard to its labor market. This approach creates a system where goods move freely across borders but workers cannot. This article examines this conflict between U.S. trade and immigration law and policy and asks whether the United States could apply some of the principles underlying its free trade policy to its immigration law in a way that benefits the U.S. economy and its workers. Specifically, the author looks at the controversy surrounding the H-1B visa program for non-immigrants and the U.S. treatment of foreign skilled workers. The authors reviews some of the lessons of free trade principles, including the benefits of increased competition and innovation, and examines whether foreign skilled workers can provide similar benefits to the U.S. economy and to U.S. workers. Finally, the author proposes a more open approach to foreign workers, one in which U.S. workers can achieve significant gains.


ABSTRACT Although there is substantial evidence that type IV pili purified from diarrhea-associated Aeromonas species (designated Bfp for bundle-forming pilus) are intestinal colonization factors (S. M. Kirov, L. A. O'Donovan, and K. Sanderson, Infect. Immun. 67:5447–5454, 1999), nothing is known regarding the function of a second family of Aeromonas type IV pili (designated Tap for type IV Aeromonas pilus), identified following the cloning of a pilus biogenesis gene cluster tapABCD. Related pilus gene clusters are widely conserved among gram-negative bacteria, but their significance for virulence has been controversial. To investigate the role of Tap pili in Aeromonas pathogenesis, mutants ofAeromonas strains (a fish isolate of A. hydrophila and a human dysenteric isolate of A. veronii bv. sobria) were prepared by insertional inactivation of the tapA gene which encodes the type IV pilus subunit protein, TapA. Exotoxic activities were unaffected by the mutation intapA. Inactivation of tapA had no effect on the bacterial adherence of these two isolates to HEp-2 cells. For theA. veronii bv. sobria isolate, adhesion to Henle 407 intestinal cells and to human intestinal tissue was also unaffected. There was no significant effect on the duration of colonization or incidence of diarrhea when the A. veronii bv. sobria strain was tested in the removable intestinal tie adult rabbit diarrhea model or on its ability to colonize infant mice. Evidence was obtained that demonstrated that TapA was expressed by both Aeromonasspecies and was present on the cell surface, although if assembled into pili this pilus type appears to be an uncommon one under standard bacterial growth conditions. Further studies into factors which may influence Tap expression are required, but the present study suggests that Tap pili may not be as significant as Bfp pili forAeromonas intestinal colonization.


Differentiated vulvar intrapeithelial neoplasia (dVIN) is an human papillomavirus (HPV)–independent precursor of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and the aim of this study was to better characterize its natural history. Cases of dVIN were identified from the pathology archives. Outcomes of patients with dVIN only, without associated invasive SCC, were compared with a cohort of patients with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion [HSIL(VIN3)]. Eighteen patients diagnosed with dVIN with adjacent invasive SCC (SCC/dVIN) and 7 patients with dVIN only, without invasive carcinoma, were identified. Mean age in both cohorts was 75 yr. All lesions but 1 were unifocal. In 35% of SCC/dVIN cases the surgical resection margins were positive for SCC, with 75% and 60% having margins positive for dVIN in the SCC/dVIN and dVIN-only cohorts, respectively. In total, 23/25 women with dVIN only or dVIN/SCC, for whom there was follow-up information, experienced either progression to or recurrence of invasive SCC, respectively, at a median of 1.1 yr, including all but 1 case of dVIN only, where the median time of progression to invasive SCC was 1.9 yr. A total of 22/25 women died of disease with a median overall survival of 3.4 yr. The outcome (i.e. progression to invasive carcinoma) of patients with dVIN only was significantly worse than that of a comparison group of 18 patients with HSIL(VIN3) (progression-free survival log-rank, P<0.001; disease-specific survival, P=0.04; overall survival, P=0.01). Six of 7 patients with dVIN only developed invasive carcinoma on follow-up, compared with 0 of 18 patients with HSIL(VIN3). The diagnosis of dVIN indicates the presence of a high-risk human papillomavirus–negative precursor of invasive SCC. These patients are likely to progress to invasive carcinoma over a relatively short period, at which point their prognosis is guarded.


Abstract. Nowadays, small size UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) have reached a level of practical reliability and functionality that enables this technology to enter the geomatics market as an additional platform for spatial data acquisition. Though one could imagine a wide variety of interesting sensors to be mounted on such a device, here we will focus on photogrammetric applications using digital cameras. In praxis, UAV-based photogrammetry will only be accepted if it a) provides the required accuracy and an additional value and b) if it is competitive in terms of economic application compared to other measurement technologies. While a) was already proven by the scientific community and results were published comprehensively during the last decade, b) still has to be verified under real conditions. For this purpose, a test data set representing a realistic scenario provided by ETH Zurich was used to investigate cost effectiveness and to identify weak points in the processing chain that require further development. Our investigations are limited to UAVs carrying digital consumer cameras, for larger UAVs equipped with medium format cameras the situation has to be considered as significantly different. Image data was acquired during flights using a microdrones MD4-1000 quadrocopter equipped with an Olympus PE-1 digital compact camera. From these images, a subset of 5 images was selected for processing in order to register the effort of time required for the whole production chain of photogrammetric products. We see the potential of mini UAV-based photogrammetry mainly in smaller areas, up to a size of ca. 100 hectares. Larger areas can be efficiently covered by small airplanes with few images, reducing processing effort drastically. In case of smaller areas of a few hectares only, it depends more on the products required. UAVs can be an enhancement or alternative to GNSS measurements, terrestrial laser scanning and ground based photogrammetry. We selected the above mentioned test data from a project featuring an area of interest within the practical range for mini UAVs. While flight planning and flight operation are already quite efficient processes, the bottlenecks identified are mainly related to image processing. Although we used specific software for image processing, the identified gaps in the processing chain today are valid for most commercial photogrammetric software systems on the market. An outlook proposing improvements for a practicable workflow applicable in projects in private economy will be given.


BACKGROUND
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) became a global epidemic in 2003. Comprehensive information on 1-year outcomes and health care utilization is lacking. Research conducted during the SARS outbreak may help inform research planning for future public health emergencies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the 1-year outcomes in survivors of SARS and their family caregivers.

METHOD
The study was prospective and observational. We evaluated 117 SARS survivors from Toronto, Ontario. Patients were interviewed and underwent physical examination, pulmonary function testing, chest radiography, a 6-minute-walk test, quality-of-life measures, and self-report of health care utilization. At 1 year, informal caregivers were identified for a survey on caregiver burden.

RESULTS
The enrolled survivors of SARS were young (median age, 42 years), and most were women (67%) and health care workers (65%). At 1 year after hospital discharge, pulmonary function measures were in the normal range, but 18% of patients had a significant reduction in distance walked in 6 minutes. The Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) domains were 0.3 to 1.0 SD below normal at 1 year. Of the patients, 17% had not returned to work by 1 year. Fifty-one patients required 668 visits to psychiatry or psychology practitioners. During the SARS epidemic, informal caregivers reported a decline of 1.6 SD below normal on the mental component score of the SF-36.

CONCLUSIONS
Most SARS survivors had good physical recovery from their illness, but some patients and their caregivers reported a significant reduction in mental health 1 year later. Strategies to ameliorate the psychological burden of an epidemic on the patient and family caregiver should be considered as part of future pandemic planning.


As the incidence of twin gestation increases, it is important to consider the maternal risks associated with carrying multiples. Compared with singleton gestation, there are increased risks to the mother during the antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum periods. Certain pregnancy complications are more likely to occur during a twin gestation, including preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders, antepartum hospitalization for preterm labor or abnormal bleeding, nutritional deficiencies, cesarean delivery, and postpartum hemorrhage. Women carrying twins may benefit from early education regarding these issues, close maternal monitoring as well as physical therapy sessions, and nutrition counseling during their pregnancies.


Do senators respond to the preferences of their state's median voter or only to the preferences of their co-partisans? We develop an approach for distinguishing between general and partisan responsiveness, and we develop a method for estimating statelevel public opinion broken down by partisanship. We use these estimates to study responsiveness in the context of Senate confirmation votes on Supreme Court nominees. We find that senators more heavily weight their partisan base when casting such roll call votes. Indeed, when their state median voter and party median voter disagree, senators strongly favor the latter. This has significant implications for the study of legislative responsiveness, the role of public opinion in shaping the personnel of the nation's highest court, and the degree to which we should expect the Supreme Court to be counter-majoritarian. The methodological approach developed in the paper greatly expands the scope of sub-state opinion estimation, and incorporates full uncertainty surrounding our opinion estimates. It can be applied elsewhere to estimate opinion by state and partisan group, or by many other typologies, so as to study other important questions of democratic responsiveness and performance.


Table of Contents I. THE GROWING THREAT TO CONFIDENTIAL LEGAL RECORDS II. OBSTACLES TO DATA SECURITY AT LAW FIRMS A. Invisibility of the Theft B. Differential Motivation C. Security Is Expensive and Inconvenient D. Cultural Obstacles III. CURRENT RULES ON DATA SECURITY A. Legislation B. Professional Standards on Safeguarding Client Information C. Professional Standards on Disclosure of Data Theft IV. METHODS OF IMPROVING CYBERSECURITY AT LAW FIRMS A. Government-Mandated Defensive Measures B. Liability Regimes and Private Causes of Action C. Professional Standards Requiring Basic Security Practices D. Professional Standards Requiring Disclosure of Data Theft E. System of Accreditation or Certification for Information Security V. CONCLUSION I. THE GROWING THREAT TO CONFIDENTIAL LEGAL RECORDS Cyberattacks are increasingly targeting lawyers, and the legal profession must respond more energetically to the threat than it has to date. Recent years have seen a substantial increase in both hacking and industrial espionage conducted online, at tremendous cost to the victims and the national economy. (1) U.S. officials estimate that American companies lost $50 billion in 2009 alone due to cyber-espionage, (2) and some analysts estimate that the worldwide losses due to hacking exceed $1 trillion. (3) The Director of the FBI believes that "the cyber-threat ... will be the number one threat to the country" in the future, surpassing even terrorism. (4) The increasing number of data theft and espionage incidents in cyberspace has been widely reported, (5) and law firms have become particularly attractive targets. one data security company reports that 10% of the advanced cyberattacks it investigated in the past 18 months were targeted at law firms. (6) The risks to law firms are increasing for several reasons. First, computer-savvy intruders are drawn by the quantity and quality of documents available in law offices, routinely including investment plans, negotiation positions, business strategies, descriptions of technical secrets, and due diligence material on financing, transactions, and mergers. (7) Infiltrating attorneys' computer systems is an optimal method of obtaining sensitive material because "[l]aw firms have a tremendous concentration of really critical, private information," explains Bradford Bleier of the FBI's cyber division. (8) Large law firms routinely hold privileged and sensitive documents worth millions of dollars to foreign intelligence services. (9) Second, law firms often have worse data security than their clients. "It's possible the information comes from a very secure source, a company with very good security. Then it goes to a law firm, and who knows what kind of security they are going to have," says Lucy Thompson, chair of the American Bar Association's Section of Science and Technology Law. (10) Third, data thieves may choose law firms as targets in order to filter out low-value material. Large corporations routinely store so much digital data that an intruder may have trouble sorting the wheat from the chaff; however, a corporation's outside counsel receives and stores a much smaller set of documents, carefully selected for their importance and relevance. (11) Clients depend upon attorneys to keep their secrets. In order to obtain legal advice, a client will often have to reveal valuable data, future plans, harmful evidence, and embarrassing facts. If the client cannot trust that the information will remain private, he or she may hesitate to obtain legal advice at all. Thus, there is a longstanding professional tradition that people should be able to seek legal advice with confidence that their secrets will not be exposed. (12) Today poor data security is eroding that confidence. In 2011, the hacker collective "Anonymous" stole law firm files concerning the defense of a U. …


PURPOSE
To determine the impact of multipurpose exercise training on bone, body composition, blood lipids, physical fitness, and menopausal symptoms in early postmenopausal women with osteopenia.

METHODS
Forty-eight fully compliant (more than two sessions per week for 38 months) women (55.1 +/- 3.3 yr) without any medication or illness affecting bone metabolism took part in the exercise training (EG); 30 women (55.5 +/- 3.0 yr) served as the nontraining control group (CG). Both groups were individually supplemented with calcium and vitamin D. Bone mineral density (BMD) at various sites (lumbar spine, hip, forearm, calcaneus) was measured by dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and quantitative ultrasound (QUS). Maximal isometric and dynamic strength, maximal oxygen consumption (VO(2max)), CHD risk factors (blood lipids, body composition), and menopausal symptoms were determined.

RESULTS
After 38 months, significant differences between EG and CG were observed for the BMD at the lumbar spine (0.7% vs -3.0%) and the femoral neck (-0.7% vs -2.6%), body composition (waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio), blood lipids (total cholesterol, triglycerides), and menopausal symptoms (insomnia, migraines, mood changes). Maximal isometric strength increased significantly by 10-36% in the EG, whereas, with one exception, changes in the CG were all negative. One-repetition maximum increased significantly at all sites measured (15-43%, P < 0.001). VO(2max) of the EG increased throughout the study with a significant 13.9 +/- 15.6% net increase after 3 yr. No significant changes after 3 yr could be observed in the CG.

CONCLUSIONS
Our mixed high-intensity exercise program effectively compensates for most negative changes related to the menopausal transition.


HD 129333 is a remarkable young, nearby solar-type G star which offers a unique opportunity of studying the properties of the Sun at a time very shortly after in arrived on the main sequence. Its space motion suggest that it is a member of the Pleiades moving group, with an age of approximately 70 Myr; its lithium abundance is consistent with this. HD 129333 has the highest level of Ca II emission of any G star which is not a member of a close binary. Our observations in 1983 showed it to have low-amplitude (5%) light variations implying a rotation period of about 2.7 days, or about 10 times faster than the Sun. Modeling of the photometric variations on the assumption that they are due to starspots yields a spot temperature about 500 K cooler than the photosphere, and a coverage of about 6% of the stellar surface area. ROSAT observations in 1990 revealed the star to be an X-ray source, with an X-ray luminosity in the 0.2 to 2.4 keV range about 300 times that of the Sun. We have used International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) observations in conjuction with ground-based photometry to examine the magnetic activity of this star. The IUE emission-line fluxes reveal a level of chromospheric activity 3 to 20 times greater than the Sun's. The transition-region activity is 20 to 100 times that of the Sun. The activity level of HD 129333 is consistent with the Skumanich law relating activity to age, and with the rotation-activity relation, although it may be near saturation level. This star can yield valuable information about the magnetic dynamo of the young Sun, as well as about stellar dynamos in general. The 1988 IUE observations covered four phases of its rotational cycle. A phase dependence of the Mg II h and k emission flux suggests a close association of chromospheric plages with starspot regions at that time. Systematic variations in the mean brightness of HD 129333 between 1983 and 1993, and in the UV emission fluxes, indicate the presence of an activity cycle of an estimated 12 years' duration. HD 129333 is the first solar-type star other than RS CVn binaries for which luminosity variations provide evidence for a spot cycle. Unlike the Sun, which is brighter at activity maximum HD 129333 appears to be fainter when more heavily spotted. Although evolutionary models for the Sun suggest that it was about 30% less luminous at age 70 Myr, they give no information about the UV flux. Accordingly, we have used the 1988 IUE observations of HD 129333 to construct a model spectrum of the infant Sun, which can be used to provide a quantitative estimate of the UV flux in the early solar system.


Unsupervised classification has emerged as a common method for mapping the land cover of large areas with satellite data. Typically, clusters generated by an unsupervised algorithm, such as the K-means, are merged and labelled using a combination of manual and automated methods. Topographic shadows found in areas of high relief, particularly in areas with low sun angles, increase the complexity of land cover classification, as a single land cover class may have very different spectral responses in shadowed and nonshadowed areas of the image. Methods to increase classification accuracies in areas with severe topographic shadows are required for Canadian large area land cover mapping projects. In a standard supervised classification, increases in land cover map classification accuracy have been obtained by including topographic attributes as inputs to the classification algorithm. In this study we investigate the potential of such data as a means to increase the accuracy of an unsupervised land cover classification in a high-relief area in central British Columbia, Canada. Separate datasets were used in cluster labelling and accuracy assessment. Four classification trials were completed: (i) using a standard approach without the addition of topographic attributes, (ii) using elevation data as an additional input to (i), (iii) prestratifying the image into shadow and nonshadow areas prior to clustering, and (iv) combining the methods used in (ii) and (iii). The latter provided the highest level of overall attribute accuracy at 80.1%, with a 95% confidence interval of 73.6%–88.6%. This is an improvement over the standard approach, which produced an overall attribute accuracy of 68.7%, with a 95% confidence interval of 59.8%–77.6%. We concluded that the prestratification of an image into areas of shadow and nonshadow prior to clustering in conjunction with the use of elevation data as an input to the clustering process is a practical method to increase classification accuracy in areas of high relief where topographic shadow is problematic.


ABSTRACT Indonesia has a tradition in recruiting a particular 'species' of policy entrepreneur, mentioned in the present article as Academic Administrative Entrepreneurs (AAEs). AAE is defined as a university professor who is employed into public office due to their expertise in specific policy areas and their access to various forms of knowledge, social, and political capital. AAEs investigated in this study were instrumental in leading and managing national administrative reform policy in post-authoritarian Indonesia (1998-onwards). This article explores how AAEs start and initiate the reform agenda, identifies what resources they invest, challenges and barriers they encountered, and their effectiveness in leading and managing change. Based on a series of interviews with AAEs and their colleagues, it is observed that AAEs are qualified to be identified as a policy entrepreneurs as they meet essential elements required where the balance of knowledge, political and social capital and good timing in relation to the political salience of their expertise enable them influence processes of administrative reform. However, they tended to be more effective on incremental change which contains little political risk where it is noted that the context of transition to democracy works as an important antecedent condition of their effectiveness.


Current types of axial excitation tool have been shown to produce beneficial results — in terms of load transfer to the bit, general reductions in string friction and reductions in drill dysfunctions — such as stick slip.The positioning of such tools to achieve optimum benefit is therefore extremely important — in order to maximize the axial excitation to the areas of the string that require a reduction in friction, and also to minimize the axial excitation to the surface and to sensitive string tools (such as MWD) — where damage may occur.This paper describes a string model that allows the position of axial excitation tools to be assessed — in terms of the string response — both locally and remotely from the tool.The model breaks the string down in to springs and masses — with 10 nodes in the upper string; and 5 nodes in the BHA. Additional components can also be added to the string — such as shock tools, jars and accelerators — in terms of mass and stiffness.The equations of motion are used to connect the nodes in terms of differential equations.The model is Mathcad based, and as a result, executes very quickly — so allowing comparative studies to be carried out with relative ease.Data input into the model is also achieved quickly.The speed with which the model can be used lends itself to fine tuning input data.The model has been compared with and ANSYS spring mass model, and good agreement has been reached.Additionally, the model allows more than one axial excitation tool to be added to the string — in order to gauge the benefits of such a configuration.Damping can also be varied at different locations in the string model.The results from this model have been used to compare with field test data — derived from a string with instrumentation tool located at various points in the string.The results show that good agreement can be reached between the model and the field test results, however, careful consideration needs to be taken of the damping assumed in the model.The model can, never the less, be used for comparative studies — i.e. tool location, number of tools and optimum frequencies.Further work is recommended in comparing model results with field test results — in order to get a better understanding of the effect of damping.The damping model could be improved in the model presented here, or alternatively, the lessons learned here could be merged into an existing string model.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


A study was conducted on the presence of Cryptosporidium sp in 47 Cuban adult patients infected by HIV in different infective stages in order to assess for the first time its prevalence in this group. The parasite was found in 18 patients (38.3%), of whom 18 (44.7%) were asymptomatic. The most frequent symptoms were aqueous diarrhea, fever, abdominal colics, asthemia and weight loss. Emphasis is placed on the frequently asymptomatic nature of these infections, which could be an important reservoir for nosocomial transmission of this disease among individuals with immunological disregulations.


The purpose of this qualitative case study was to help identify administrators' perceptions of effective teaching in rural Northwest Missouri in secondary public schools in order to increase teacher and administrator effectiveness. Current members of the Northwest chapter of the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals participated in surveys, interviews, and a focus group to collect data to find common themes and trends. These methodologies indicated effective teaching is rooted in establishing relationships, high student/teacher engagement, student growth in content, high critical thinking, good classroom management skills, and the use of well-rounded classroom observation feedback. ADMINISTRATORS' PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS


On the basis of both a conventional relativistic nuclear fluid dynamical model and a two-fluid generalization that takes into account the interpenetration of the target and projectile upon contact, we calculate collisions between heavy nuclei moving at relativistic speeds. This is done by solving the relevant equations of motion numerically in three spatial dimensions by use of particle-in-cell finite-differer.:e computing techniques. We study the effect of incorporating a density isomer, or quasistable state, in the nuclear equation of state at three times normal nuclear density, as well as the effect of doubling rhe nuclear compressibility coefficient. For tke reaction 26Ne + faall at a laboratory bollbar~ing energy per nucleon of 393 MeV, the calculated distributions in energy and angle of outgoing charged particles are compared with recent experimental data both integrated over all impact parameters and for nearly central collisiots. Our colloquium on drops and bubbles has hroura~t togttheipeople in such diverse disciplines as astrophysics, fluid dynamics, and nuclear physics, working with physical systems ranging in size from stars through water drops to atomic nuclei. Having already heard from astrophysicists and fluid dynamiciscs, it ic time now to turn our attention from some of the largest objects in the universe to some of ?he smallest. An atomic nucleus, with diameter about lo-'' ui and mass about kg, is ,bout 10' times as dense as water. Discovered irr 1911 by Sir Srnest Rutherford, it is to lowest order a collection of positively charged protons r;ilrf uncharged neutrons held tightly together by short-range nuclear forces. As first suggested by Yiels Bohr in 1936, a nucleus behaves in some respects like a uniformly charged drop of liquid with surface tension. The liquid-drop model has been widely used to explain the breakup of a heavy nucleus into two smaller fragments in the process of nuclear fission, as well as to explain many features associated with collisions between two nuclei. Until recently, the bombarding energy in such collisions has been fairly low, with the result that the nuclear density remains close. to its equilibrium value and the excitazion energy is relatively low. However, a few years ago acceierators were developed that can accelerate heavy nuclei to relativistic speeds, and we are now beginning to explore what happens when nuclei become highly compressed and excited. The collision of heavy nuclei at high energy is extremely complicated, lying solrewhere in between two limiting possibilities that have been used to describe it. At one extreme, the process could be dominated by a series of collisions between individual particles making up the nuclei or prociidced in the reaction. This first limit, which would be realized if the particle m a n free path were much longer than the nuclear force range, has been studied in terns of micrn~copic approaches such as the relativistic intranuclear cascade, where the ba,sic input is experimentally measured two-particle cross section~.l-~ At the other extreme, the process could be dominated by coherent collective-field effects, resembling instead the collision of two drops of nuclear fluid. This second limit would be realized if there are mcny degrees of freedom, sufficient time during the collision to establish local equilibrium, and a short mean free path for stopping a particle. In relativistic nuclear collisions of the type consifered here, the first two conditions are satisfied moderately well whereas the last condi'rion is more uncertain. Estimates based on collisions between two particles in free srace give relatively long mean free paths, but the mean free path could be reduced signsficantly inside a nuclear medium because of many-body effects or a nuclear phase transition.' This second limit has been studied by several different groups around the world in terms of fluid dynamical models, where the basic input is the nuclear equation of state. We will be concentrating here on recent work perform,-.d at Los Alamos within this a p p r o a ~ h . ~ ~ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19820015579 2019-12-20T11:16:03+00:00Z


This paper proposes an assessment of the links between freight trip generation (FTG) rates and accessibility. First, the paper overviews the background, sets the context and motivates the research. Second, it presents the proposed methodology, which combines an FTG model, two accessibility indicators and a linear regression analysis to assess the relationships between freight trip demand and a set of socio-demographic variables including accessibility. The FTG modelling framework, adapted from previous works, allows estimating the number of freight trips with a small amount of standard data, even when no surveyed data is available. The two gravity accessibility indexes, one potential and one exponential, are defined in the continuity of recent freight accessibility works. To those indicators, a set of sociodemographic variables, including population, area or a zone (or density), are introduced. The relationships between FTG and all those variables are assessed via standard linear regression methods completed by the verification of the corresponding linear relationship hypotheses. Third, the framework is applied to the urban area of Lyon (France), where no urban goods survey data is available. Results show that potential accessibility seems to have a better correlation to FTG and could be a good decision support indicator when combined with the population as an explanatory variable. The population can be added to accessibility as an explanatory variable, the resulting models with two variables have a slightly lower accuracy but remains close to that of models with only accessibility as an explanatory variable. This work remains exploratory and finishes by proposing practical implications and further development lines.


This paper presents a comprehensive study of the formation of surface relief gratings in a series of photoresponsive molecular glasses. Holographic experiments were performed on films of the azobenzene-containing molecular glasses. Seven relevant polarization configurations of the writing beams were systematically applied, and simultaneously the diffraction efficiency was monitored during the process of inscription. The temporal evolution of the diffraction efficiency can be precisely simulated with a model which takes both the surface relief and the phase grating in the volume into account. From the measured diffraction efficiencies, the modulation heights can be directly calculated and they were independently confirmed by atomic force microscopy. We found that all experimental results can be explained with the gradient force model, and we suggest that the grating heights generated with different writing polarizations can be ascribed to the varying strengths of the gradient force. For materials with different substituents at the azobenzene chromophore, the optical susceptibility at the writing laser wavelength and, therefore, the gradient force varies. By applying the most efficient polarization configuration in combination with the best material, we were able to reach modulation heights of up to 600 nm, which is a factor of 2 higher than modulations usually reported for azobenzene-containing polymers.


It is well known that it is challenging to train deep neural networks and recurrent neural networks for tasks that exhibit long term dependencies. The vanishing or exploding gradient problem is a well known issue associated with these challenges. One approach to addressing vanishing and exploding gradients is to use either soft or hard constraints on weight matrices so as to encourage or enforce orthogonality. Orthogonal matrices preserve gradient norm during backpropagation and may therefore be a desirable property. This paper explores issues with optimization convergence, speed and gradient stability when encouraging or enforcing orthogonality. To perform this analysis, we propose a weight matrix factorization and parameterization strategy through which we can bound matrix norms and therein control the degree of expansivity induced during backpropagation. We find that hard constraints on orthogonality can negatively affect the speed of convergence and model performance.


Professor David Carment reviews the controversy surrounding the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill which was introduced into the Federal Parliament on 13 October 2005 and which gives the Commonwealth Government the power to establish a nuclear waste dump on one of three sites in the NT. The Bill gives the Federal Government the power to override the united front provided by the NT's Labour Government and Liberal opposition to the dump, as well as relevant Aboriginal heritage legislation and the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, and it also gives the Minister significant discretionary powers allowing to do anything further 'necessary or incidentally required' to ensure the establishment of the dump and the transport of waste to it. However, he says opposition to the dump in the NT was overstated by its Government, and argues the focus on 'Territory Rights' was 'quixotic'.


Sterile filtration is considered as a final step in processing pharmaceutical grade plasmid DNA. During the development of filtration process, fundamental understanding on the mechanism of fouling and the DNA degradation is critical to improve filtration performance. This study focuses on the fouling and degradation of large plasmid DNA (> 20 kb) in sterilising grade filters. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was applied to investigate the mechanism of fouling of pGEc47 plasmid DNA (56 kb) in sterile filter. The investigation contributes to the fundamental understanding of the behaviour of large plasmid molecules during filtration through 0.22 µm membrane. The SEM images suggested that the fouling was due to entrapment of plasmids on the surface of membrane that created meshes of plasmids DNA. The severe form of the superposition of DNA meshes blocked the entrance of pores and restricted the passage of other incoming plasmid molecules. The observations of cross sections of the membrane showed that after filtration with 200 µg of plasmid, the blockage of internal pores was detected. Quantitative analysis of the progression of fouling using digital image processing technique suggested that the transition of fouling occurred. During filtration of 50 µg plasmid, the blockage was due to superposition of DNA molecules. However, after filtration of 200 µg plasmid, complete blockage of the pores was observed. In order to understand the blockage of membrane by plasmid DNA, the mechanism of fouling of pQR150 (20 kb) and pGEc47 (56 kb) plasmids during constant pressure filtration inside 0.22 µm PVDF membrane is experimentally investigated. The decline of filtrate flux as function of time is analysed using the framework of classical and combined blocking models (Bolton et al., 2006). The results for both plasmids indicate a transition between fouling mechanisms. Initially, during early part of the filtration, the intermediate blocking model provided the best fit of the experimental results suggesting that fouling of the membrane was mainly caused by deposition of particles onto its surface. Afterwards, the result trends were best captured by the standard blocking model indicating that internal fouling of membrane was the dominant fouling mechanism. A study of the transmission (Cf /C0) of both plasmids shows a significant reduction of plasmid transmission which coincides with the transition of the fouling mechanism from intermediate to standard blocking. The study elucidates the applicability of filtration blocking model to explain the fouling behaviour of large plasmid DNA during sterile filtration. The loss of plasmid is also related to the degradation of supercoiled (SC) plasmid to other topologies such as open circular and linear DNA. The degradation is correlated to fluid stresses in bioprocessing equipments that may contribute to the breakage of the phosphodiester bond between bases in the double-helical structure of DNA. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was carried out to estimate the magnitude of elongational strain rate inside 0.22 µm polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane which is a critical for plasmid DNA degradation. The results were compared with the critical elongational strain rate for DNA breakage and the experimental data that correlates with the loss of 20 kb plasmid DNA. Two approaches have been developed to determine the strain rates inside the membrane, which are the macro- and micro-scale models. During the filtration of plasmid at 5 and 8 psi transmembrane pressures, the macro-scale model estimated the average elongational strain rates up to 1x103 s-1. Furthermore, the micro-scale model detected wide range of local elongational strain rates up to 1x105 s-1. However, local elongational strain rates below ~4x103 s-1 were detected in most of regions of the membrane, which is below the critical elongational strain rate for DNA breakage.


The European Union (EU) has set quite an ambitious goal for biofuels contribution to the makeup of the renewable energy mix in the next decades. While substantial efforts have been made to develop the technologies for the transformation of biomass into biofuels, it is still uncertain to what extent the EU will be able to generate the biomass needed to meet its targets without compromising domestic food security. Using a bottom‐up approach, this review addresses one of the key elements: the potential availability of land for non‐food crops in the EU. The assessment is based on a land allocation model, which calculates surplus land that would be available for non‐food crops after satisfying food and feed demands. Projections of future agriculture productivity and changes in population are the most important parameters of the modeling applied for two future scenarios established for the years 2020 and 2030. The total area potentially available for non‐food crops in the EU‐27 (excluding Cyprus and Malta) is estimated to be 13.2 million ha in the current situation, with fallow land the largest contributor. In scenarios 2020 and 2030, additional land would be released from food and fodder crops, resulting in total land potential of 20.5 million ha in 2020 and 26.2 million ha in 2030. Results presented on a regional basis indicate potential locations for biomass transformation plants in terms of feedstock production. A set of non‐food crops can be recommended for the diverse climate and agronomic conditions of the entire EU area. © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd


This paper describes how Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations have undergone unequivocal development in air transportation over the last decade. This development has been exemplified by a 45 percent rate in passenger traffic, which is comparable to that of the United States during the same period. This paper assesses the development of air transportation and its role in the transportation system in twenty five SSA countries from 1990 through 2006. The paper uses the number and quality of airports in 2006 and the1990-2004 progress in air transport performance as represented by the number of passengers and quantity of cargo handled by air ports and transported by air carriers and the number of aircraft departure. Based on the examination of these factors three groups of countries in SSA have been identified: countries with high growth rates, low growth rates, and negative growth rates in air transportation. The overall division of countries into these groups was based on the average growth rate in the performance factors (i.e., number of passengers, quantity of freight and aircraft departure). Eight countries have been classified into either high growth rate, low growth rate, or negative growth rate consistently in all of the factors. Noting that the relationship between air craft departure and air cargo is statistically insignificant, regression results indicate that in the twenty five countries of interest, an average increase of 141 passengers and 8,000 tons per kilometer result in an increase of one aircraft departure.


AFM based nanomanipulation is still hindered by large spatial uncertainties encountered in tip positioning caused by PZT nonlinearity and thermal drift. In this paper, a landmark based positioning method is proposed to solve these problems. Its pivotal idea is that the tip position is described in a feature based landmark coordinate instead of length based Descartes coordinate. During manipulation, the landmarks selected from surface features, which is sensed through the new developed local scan method, acts as coordinate reference for tip localization. In this way, the positioning error aroused from PZT nonlinearity and thermal drift can be effectively suppressed. The details about landmark selecting, sensing, identifying will be discussed. Experiments of nanoparticle manipulation are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.


Recent research on the relationship between standards and teachers' practice suggests that teachers are unlikely to make changes to practice without extensive opportunities for learning about standards with colleagues. This article extends this line of research, using a comparative case study of three high-poverty urban schools to examine the nature of teachers' collaborative work around the Common Core State Standards and the conditions that support this work. It argues that collaborative practices that encourage joint examination of instruction and student learning against standards support teachers in noticing and attending to differences between their current practice and standards. In addition, it examines the role of teachers' instructional knowledge and principals' leadership in supporting teachers' collaboration around standards.


Abstract Theorizing within evolutionary economic geography on regional branching of industries has so far been depicted as evolving through routine replication among different economic actors that hold various degrees of relatedness. Methodologically, related variety and unrelated variety have been studied quantitatively, treating relatedness between economic agents as pre-defined industrial classifications. This represents a need for a complementary qualitative and in-depth understanding of how knowledge is re-combined in various settings. Based on a qualitative case study in the publishing industry, whose technological platforms and business models are currently facing severe challenges associated with digitization, this paper seeks to improve our understanding of how knowledge is re-combined and re-applied in various ways. The paper explores and discusses how this industry branches out into new activities, and reflects upon the channels through which these processes unfold. How is the old and the new in the economy bridged? How is the relationship between specialization and diversification played out? In this sense, the paper seeks to contribute to improving our understanding of the epistemic micro-foundations for regional branching and economic development.


The Opequon watershed is located in northern Virginia (VA) and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia (WV). In both states, Opequon Creek is classified as impaired based on violations of bacteria, benthic and biologic standards. Both VA and WV are using Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plans to improve water quality within Opequon Creek. However, these TMDL plans are at different stages with VA being completed and WV still in progress. As part of the TMDL process in VA, this research is based on a contingent valuation survey which was developed to measure the expected monetary benefits of TMDL implementation throughout the Opequon watershed. On the basis of log-likelihood tests of grouped tobit models to explain willingness-to-pay (WTP) for watershed clean-up, VA, WV, and VA riparian landowner respondents were found to consist of different populations. Riparian landowners had the highest median annual WTP at $64, VA respondents the next highest ($49), and WV the lowest ($32). These medians were found to be statistically different from each other. When valuing out-of-state clean-up, however, VA and WV respondents were found to be similar populations with a one-time median WTP of $28. Results show that the TMDL process did impact VA respondent WTP for in-state clean-up.


Commercial forestry is recognized for both its economic contribution as well as its , . environmental impact. Of particular con~~~, is the soil erosion and sedimentation of watercourses associated with forestry plantations. Environmental laws regulate many of the activities of the forestry sector. It is critical that the forestry sector ensure that its operations are compliant with the legal requirements that govern its use of natural resources. In pursuing legal compliance it is necessary to ensure that erosion control strategies are developed so as to ensure the positive effects of any interventions are optimised. The identification of areas that are particularly at risk to erosion or contribute to sediment delivery is an essential component in prioritising areas for management interventions. Establishing the erosion potential for commercial forestry areas is readily accomplished through the application of existing models. Process based erosion models generally have greater data requirements than the empirically derived USLE-based models. Given the paucity of data available, the latter approach was adopted. Two methods of topographic sub-factor derivation were investigated, those associated with the RUSLE (Renard, Foster, Weesies & McCool1991) and the Unit Stream Power method presented by Moore and Burch (1986). Since no existing methods identifying delivery risk areas existed, a method was developed based on principles and factors identified in the literature. Additionally, methods for identifying topographic assets, in terms of sediment attenuation, were developed. From these models three indices were derived; sediment supply, delivery risk and sediment attenuation. Thereafter, the mean Sediment Supply Index was divided by stream length for small catchments defined within the landscape to derive an index of sediment loading to streams. This index is used to identify priorities for management intervention across the landscape. The mean slope and sediment supply is used to develop buffer width recommendations for the streams draining the catchments, using a method developed by Karssies and Prosser (2001). Using the three indices in conjunction it is possible to make on-site and off-site erosion control recommendations as well as identify and exploit any natural features that can be utilized in erosion control.


ABSTRACT Almost all children in Sweden spend at least some part of their early childhood in organized childcare, primarily in the form of preschools. About 10% of all preschools in Sweden are parent cooperatives, which make the childcare area an anomaly in the Swedish welfare state; no other service area has such a significant proportion of cooperative service providers. The parent cooperatives are initiated by the parents themselves, they are social enterprises created from the bottom-up. Why do parents decide to start a parent cooperative preschool in a welfare state where childcare is considered a social right and a responsibility for the state? This article will explore several different motives for starting parent cooperatives in Sweden, with special attention to the role of the public sector and political decisions. The findings are based on an extensive empiric study performed between the years 2003 and 2007.


Abstract In the past two decades, the insights in the causes and development of valgus leg deformities as well as the options for treatment with corrective osteotomies have dramatically changed. New definitions for deformity analysis and planning for corrections have better defined the patients suitable for femoral valgus deformity corrections. Biomechanical research on new osteotomy methods and stability of plate fixation have provided scientific background for the development of improved surgical techniques that are more accurate, safer, and provide for quicker rehabilitation and bone healing. This article provides an overview of the basic principles behind the correction of femoral valgus deformity. Both the analysis and planning of femoral valgus deformity correction as well as the results of systematic clinical reviews are provided. The current recommended surgical technique of biplanar medial closing-wedge supracondylar osteotomy is explained, and the first clinical results are reported. Finally, the authors describe some of the future directions and needs for treatment optimization of patients with femoral valgus deformity.


Background and aims
The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of CO2 laser irradiation in comparison with sandblasting (Sb), hydrofluoric acid (Hf) and silane coupling agent (Si) on shear bond strength (SBS) of resin cement to CAD/CAM ceramics bonded to dentin.

Material and Methods
Forty-eight (CAD/CAM) ceramic discs were prepared and grouped by material, i.e. lithium disilicate (Emax CAD) and zirconia ceramic (Emax ZirCAD), distributed into four different groups: group A, lithium disilicate (Li) CO2/HF/Si; group B, Li: HF/Si; group C, zirconia (Zr) CO2/Sb/Si; group D, Zr: Sb/Si.

Results
It was shown significant difference between irradiated and non-irradiated groups in terms of shear bond strength for zirconia ceramics (p value = 0.039).

Conclusion
CO2 laser irradiation increases shear bond strength for both CAD/CAM ceramics bonded to dentin.


COLD is a major naturally occurring stress that usually causes complex symptoms and severe yield loss in crops. R-loops function in various cellular processes, including development and stress responses, in plants. However, how R-loops function in COLD responses is largely unknown in COLD susceptible crops like rice (Oryza sativa L.). We conducted DRIP-Seq along with other omics data (RNA-Seq, DNase-Seq and ChIP-Seq) in rice with or without COLD treatment. COLD treatment caused R-loop reprogramming across the genome. COLD-biased R-loops had higher GC content and novel motifs for the binding of distinct transcription factors (TFs). Moreover, R-loops can directly/indirectly modulate the transcription of a subset of COLD-responsive genes, which can be mediated by R-loop overlapping TF-centered or cis-regulatory element-related regulatory networks and lncRNAs, accounting for c. 60% of COLD-induced expression of differential genes in rice, which is different from the findings in Arabidopsis. We validated two R-loop loci with contrasting (negative/positive) roles in the regulation of two individual COLD-responsive gene expression, as potential targets for enhanced COLD resistance. Our study provides detailed evidence showing functions of R-loop reprogramming during COLD responses and provides some potential R-loop loci for genetic and epigenetic manipulation toward breeding of rice varieties with enhanced COLD tolerance.


Deformable objects play an important role in many applications, such as animation and simulation. Effective computation with deformable surfaces can be achieved through the use of dynamic meshes. In this paper, we introduce a framework for constructing and maintaining a time-varying adapted mesh structure that conforms to the underlying deformable surface. The adaptation function employs error metrics based on stochastic sampling. Our scheme combines normal and tangential geometric correction with refinement and simplification resolution control. Furthermore, it applies to both parametric and implicit surface descriptions. As the result, we obtain a simple and efficient general scheme that can be used for a wide range of computations


In this paper we propose an automatic protein family expansion approach for recruitment of new members among the protein-coding genes in newly sequenced genomes. The criteria for adding a new member to a family depends on the structure of each individual family versus being globally uniform. The detection of a threshold in the ROC space of all sorted iterative profile sets defines the alignments selection criteria for each family. Furthermore, the statistical estimation of most-frequent optimal sorting criteria generates the optimal filtering strategy in a learning-parameter set for profile-based homology search.


Cu thin films were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering on Si substrate, and the resistivities change by adjusting its sputtering parameters. It is found that the changes of the sputtering power and substrate temperature and working pressure can affect significantly the Cu film resistivity (ρ). The Cu films resistivity decreases with the increasing of sputtering power. As the substrate temperature "structure zone model" effect, the Cu film resistivity decreases when the substrate temperature was less than 150°C. The resistivities (ρ) begin to increase gradually at various temperatures ranging from 150°C to 300°C, but the rate of increase is not significant. The resistivity abnormal increases when the substrate temperature was 400°C. The Cu films resistivity increases with argon working gas pressure ranging from 0.15 Pa to 2 Pa.


BACKGROUND
Hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a significant clinical issue. Several classifications have been proposed to categorize these reactions, including the current European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology/European Network for Drug Allergy (EAACI/ENDA) classification. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of this classification in a real-world clinical setting.

METHODS
We conducted a national multicenter study involving patients from nine hospitals in four major urban centers in Turkey. All patients had a suggestive clinical history of hypersensitivity reactions to NSAIDs. Researchers collected data using a structured form and classified reactions based on the EAACI/ENDA classification. Oral provocation tests with several NSAIDs were performed using a single-blind challenge per EAACI/ENDA guidelines.

RESULTS
Our retrospective study included 966 adult patients with a history of hypersensitivity to NSAIDs. The most common triggers were Acetylsalicylic Acid (ASA), paracetamol, and metamizole. The most prevalent acute NSAID hypersensitivity group was NSAID-induced urticaria/angioedema (NIUA) (34.3%). However, 17.3% of patients did not fit neatly into the current EAACI/ENDA classification. Notably, patients with underlying asthma or allergic rhinoconjunctivitis exhibited unusual reactions, such as urticaria and/or angioedema induced by multiple chemical groups of NSAIDs, blended mixed reactions, and isolated periorbital angioedema in response to multiple chemical groups of NSAIDs.

CONCLUSIONS
While the EAACI/ENDA classification system stratifies NSAID-induced hypersensitivity reactions into five distinct endotypes or phenotypes, it may not fully capture the diversity of these reactions. Our findings suggest a need for further research to refine this classification system and better accommodate patients with atypical presentations.


One of the major effects of globalization is the heavy migration all over the world in the past two to three decades. For different purposes related to job, studies, security, religious freedom or other social reasons, millions of people are moving on a yearly basis from a country or continent to another. Students in need of better quality or maybe cheaper higher education are traveling to foreign lands and staying there for four, six, eight, or even more years. They learn from and with people of different cultures, religion, race, and worldviews. Given that globalization has pushed the phenomenon of diversity on most university campuses, it is important for higher education institutions to promote and guarantee equity, diversity, and inclusiveness for all students without distinction of culture, gender, religion, or race. The current study is a survey of the climate of higher education in several higher education institutions with considerable number of international students in the Luzon region of the Philippines. The study aimed at investigating the discriminatory practices that are common in schools that hosts international students. Results revealed that, even though there are areas where international students expressed feeling discriminated against, the climate in higher education institutions is positive for most international students. Keywords: Higher education, social studies, international students, discrimination,quantitative research, survey, Luzon, Philippines, Asia


When components of the mature pollen grain of Brassica oleracea are applied to the cuticularised surfaces of the stigmatic papilla, a number of changes can take place in the architecture of the subjacent cell wall. Treatment of the papillar surface with isolated pollen coating evokes a rapid and extensive expansion of the outer of the two stigmatic wall layers. This response occurs within 4 h but is restricted to those regions where no callose is formed and where the coating exhibits a characteristic increase in electron opacity. This study establishes that the coating alone is responsible for initiating the expansion of the outer wall, which is considered to be an essential step preceding penetration of the stigma surface by the pollen tube. Vesicle-like inclusions, some staining intensely, occasionally occur in regions of the wall expanded by isolated coating, sometimes fusing to form a subcuticular 'boundary layer'. These structures are not observed under compatible grains in vivo and their presence is regarded as artefaetual. However, close examination of the plasma membrane at sites beneath areas of expanded cell wall reveals membrane-bound structures resembling the vesicles being generated by the cytoplasm and moving into the apoplast. These data indicate that signals from the coating initiate the loosening of the wall matrix by stimulating an unusual form of localized secretion which appears to be an essential prerequisite for stigmatic penetration. Isolated pollen coating contaminated with fragments of the grain itself engender a very different response, including the formation of densely-staining vesicles accompanied by extensive accumulations of callose; wall expansion never occurs under these circumstances. Self-pollinations in B. oleracea are frequently accompanied by the synthesis of stigmatic callose, the presence of which has, in the past, been interpreted as forming a structural barrier to incompatible pollen tubes. However, callose elicited both by self-pollinations and coating supplemented by killed grains is independent of protein synthesis and occurs in the presence of the phosphatase inhibitor, okadaic acid. Since both these inhibitors also overcome self-incompatibility (SI) in B. oleracea, these data strongly suggest that callose synthesis is unrelated to the operation of SI, and it is proposed that callose, when formed, is elicited by molecules released from the necrotic pollen protoplast. Interestingly, isolated pollen coating of self- and cross-genotypes does not readily elicit callose. The significance of these changes in the stigmatic wall is discussed in the perspective of current views on pollination and self-incompatibility in Brassica.


IN THIS ISSUE of theArchives, Kirchman et al have examined, by immunocytochemical techniques, trichoepithelioma (TE) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) neoplasms for the presence of CD34 antigen. Positive staining was noted in all of the TE and none of the BCC specimens. These interesting results raise several questions of a clinical and biological nature. First, will this technique become a useful adjunct in the clinical dermatopathology laboratory? The vast majority of TEs and BCCs will no doubt continue to be well diagnosed using standard hematoxyin-eosin-staining methods and well-established histologic criteria. 1,2 What about less common situations that involve, as the authors suggest, ''small punch biopsies or... difficult diagnostic cases?'' Although the results of the present study are unequivocal, all specimens were diagnosed on the basis of histologic criteria prior to inclusion in the study. No growths of a ''gray-zone'' nature were analyzed. Examination of a specimen in which both


Objective : To compare the effect of agility and perturbation training with conventional exercises and conventional exercises alone in improving functional status in physically active individuals with knee osteoarthritis Materials and Method : This study is to be conducted with 60 physically active subjects of knee osteoarthritis and were randomly assigned into two equal groups (experimental and control group).The pre-test measurements is taken for both the groups with WOMAC SCALE and TIMED GET UP AND GO TEST. Then group A (experimental group) allotted for agility and perturbation training and group B (control group) allotted for conventional exercise for the period of 6 weeks. After the end of 6 weeks post-test measurements taken as similar to the pre-test measurement and the result obtained are compared. Out come measures : Western Ontario McMaster University Scale Timed get Up and go Test Result : Result of the study concluded that there is a significant difference in both the groups. However, the agility and perturbation group showed much significant differences in improving the functional status of OA subjects as compared with the control group. Conclusion : According to the results of present study agility and perturbation exercises significantly improving the functional status of OA subjects as compared with the control group. Adding agility and perturbation training techniques to exercise programs has a significant effect on knee stability and general function in older individuals with knee OA as observed for younger, athletic individuals.


In this paper, the implementation of a high quality integrated data reconstruction model and algorithm has been proposed, especially for medical applications. Patients' Information acquired at the sending end and reconstructed at the receiving end by using a technique that would be high quality for the signal reconstruction process. A method is proposed in which the reconstruction of data like ECG, audio and other patients' vital parameters that are acquired in the time-domain and operated in the frequency-domain. Further the data will be reconstructed in the time-domain from the frequency domain where high quality data is required. In this particular case, high quality ensures the distortion less and noiseless recovered baseband signal. This would usually require the application of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) return the data to the spatial domain. The simulation is performed using Matlab. The Composite baseband signal has been generated by developing a program as well as by acquiring to the workspace. The feature of the method is that it can achieve high-quality integrated data reconstruction and can be associated easily with spatial domain.


A testing method for precision force measurement using a small pendulum based on the levitation mass method (LMM) has been developed. In this method, the force acting on the material to be tested is measured using an optical interferometer. In this paper, a collision test of the spring and the pendulum is performed. As the result of the test, the maximum force on the spring was evaluated as approximately 0.533 N. To demonstrate the performance of the developed instrument, the impact responses of the pendulum are accurately evaluated. The possible applications of the developed method are also discussed.


The progress made by the national government in consolidating its fiscal position between 2002 and 2006 proved unsustainable as its revenue effort started to go down once again in 2007 after a brief improvement in 2005-2007. With the more expansionary stance taken by the government in 2009 as part of its effort to shield the economy from the effects of the global financial and economic crisis of 2008/9, the national government fiscal deficit jumped to 3.9% of GDP in 2009 and national government debt started to rise when measured relative to GDP. Clearly, turning around the national government`s fiscal health should be high on the policy agenda. In previous episodes of fiscal consolidation, the easiest way to address the fiscal imbalance is by cutting expenditures. However, this option does not appear to be consistent with the government`s avowed commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and inclusive growth. After estimating the budgetary requirements of achieving the MDGs and inclusive growth, this paper shows that national government revenues need to increase from 14.3% of GDP in 2009-2010 to 17.5%-17.9% in 2012-2016 if fiscal consolidation were to be achieved while providing the fiscal space for the much needed basic social services and infrastructure. The Aquino administration has repeatedly said that the much needed revenue increases will be derived solely from improvements in tax administration rather than from the imposition of new taxes or increases in the rate of imposition of existing taxes. The record of the BIR and BOC in increasing their revenue effort through improvements in tax administration does not inspire optimism, however. This study also cautions that tax administration improvements do not happen overnight primarily because the installation and operationalization of system-wide changes take time. Thus, it argues that there is a need for government to consider the imposition of new tax measures if fiscal consolidation is to be achieved without sacrificing the financing of MDGs and inclusive growth. The least distortionary options in this regard include: (i) the restructuring of excise tax on sin products, (ii) the rationalization of fiscal incentives, and (iii) reforming the road user charge. In addition, the government should also consider the simplification of tax structure by reducing the number of rates at which various taxes are levied or by reducing the number of taxpayers/transactions/types of income which are exempt from any given tax.


Scene labeling is a challenging computer vision task. It requires the use of both local discriminative features and global context information. We adopt a deep recurrent convolutional neural network (RCNN) for this task, which is originally proposed for object recognition. Different from traditional convolutional neural networks (CNN), this model has intra-layer recurrent connections in the convolutional layers. Therefore each convolutional layer becomes a two-dimensional recurrent neural network. The units receive constant feed-forward inputs from the previous layer and recurrent inputs from their neighborhoods. While recurrent iterations proceed, the region of context captured by each unit expands. In this way, feature extraction and context modulation are seamlessly integrated, which is different from typical methods that entail separate modules for the two steps. To further utilize the context, a multi-scale RCNN is proposed. Over two benchmark datasets, Standford Background and Sift Flow, the model outperforms many state-of-the-art models in accuracy and efficiency.


Fredric Jameson's reading of Wal-Mart as a figure of a postcapitalism-to-come is exemplary of the market logic that value is produced outside production in distribution and consumption. Through his dialectics of ambivalence, Jameson produces an analysis that empties the social relations of their class content by making social transformation into an affective and spontaneous action. In this sense, Jameson's celebrated reading of Wal-Mart is indicative of the general reading of global capitalism on the "radical" Left today, which spiritualizes Marx's materialist dialectic by emphasizing form over content and turns theory into crisis management on behalf of the ruling class.


We present first results on power cycling of 6.5 kV SiC PiN-diodes mounted into a molded package. The geometry of this lateral package was designed to fulfill the specifications of the electrical isolation and the creepage distances in the high voltage region of 6.5 kV. To evaluate the suitability of this package we used high voltage SiC PiN-diodes. The diodes were soldered onto a copper lead frame, wire bonded and covered by molding compound. The packaged diodes were characterized by electrical measurements before and during a power cycling test with a temperature swing of 90 K. These results showed long term stable behavior of the I-V characteristics of the diodes as well as the suitability of the package for high temperature and high voltage application of SiC devices.