Dynamical simulations of an externally harmonically driven model granular metamaterial composed of four linearly and nonlinearly coupled granules show that the nonlinear normal mode can be expressed in a linear normal mode orthonormal basis with time dependent complex coefficients. These coefficients form the components of a state vector that spans a 22 dimensional Hilbert space parametrically with time. Local π jumps in the phase of these components occurring periodically are indicative of topological features in the manifold spanned by the geometric phase of the vibrational state of the metamaterial. We demonstrate that these topological features can be exploited to realize high sensitivity mass sensor. The effect of dissipation on sensitivity is also reported. Nonlinear granular metamaterials with very low dissipation could serve as mass sensors with considerable sensitivity to small mass changes via large changes in geometric phase.


In the presence of selection bias the traditional estimators for pseudo panel data models are inconsistent. This paper discusses a method to achieve consistency in static linear pseudo panels in the presence of selection bias and a testing procedure for sample selection bias. The authors' approach uses a bias correction term proportional to the inverse Mills ratio with argument equal to the "normit" of a consistent estimation of the conditional probability of being observed given cohort membership. Monte Carlo analysis shows the test does not reject the null for fixed T at a 5% significance level in finite samples. As a "side effect" the authors utilize the enlarged pseudo panel to provide a GMM consistent estimation of the pseudo panel parameters under rejection of the null and apply the procedure to estimate the rate of return to education in Colombia. JEL C15 C23 C52 I26


Iron is central for growth and metabolism of almost all microbial pathogens, and as such, this element is sequestered by the host innate immune system to restrict microbial growth. Here, we used label-free proteomics to investigate the Pseudomonas aeruginosa iron starvation response, revealing a broad landscape of metabolic and metal homeostasis changes that have not previously been described. We further provide evidence that many of these processes, including twitching motility, are regulated through the iron-responsive PrrF small regulatory RNAs. As such, this study demonstrates the power of proteomics for defining stress responses of microbial pathogens. ABSTRACT Iron is a critical nutrient for most microbial pathogens, and the immune system exploits this requirement by sequestering iron. The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibits a high requirement for iron yet an exquisite ability to overcome iron deprivation during infection. Upon iron starvation, P. aeruginosa induces the expression of several high-affinity iron acquisition systems, as well as the PrrF small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) that mediate an iron-sparing response. Here, we used liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to conduct proteomics of the iron starvation response of P. aeruginosa. Iron starvation increased levels of multiple proteins involved in amino acid catabolism, providing the capacity for iron-independent entry of carbons into the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Proteins involved in sulfur assimilation and cysteine biosynthesis were reduced upon iron starvation, while proteins involved in iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis were increased, highlighting the central role of iron in P. aeruginosa metabolism. Iron starvation also resulted in changes in the expression of several zinc-responsive proteins and increased levels of twitching motility proteins. Subsequent analyses provided evidence for the regulation of many of these proteins via posttranscriptional regulatory events, some of which are dependent upon the PrrF sRNAs. Moreover, we showed that iron-regulated twitching motility is partially dependent upon the prrF locus, highlighting a novel link between the PrrF sRNAs and motility. These findings add to the known impacts of iron starvation in P. aeruginosa and outline potentially novel roles for the PrrF sRNAs in iron homeostasis and pathogenesis. IMPORTANCE Iron is central for growth and metabolism of almost all microbial pathogens, and as such, this element is sequestered by the host innate immune system to restrict microbial growth. Here, we used label-free proteomics to investigate the Pseudomonas aeruginosa iron starvation response, revealing a broad landscape of metabolic and metal homeostasis changes that have not previously been described. We further provide evidence that many of these processes, including twitching motility, are regulated through the iron-responsive PrrF small regulatory RNAs. As such, this study demonstrates the power of proteomics for defining stress responses of microbial pathogens.


The costs of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) reach far beyond the cost of the clinical treatment of the patient. The first impact of the discovery of MDR TB in a population is the need to recognize that all TB patients have the potential of being MDR. Public health measures to prevent the spread of MDR TB, or to control or reverse the problem where spread has already occurred, can be extremely expensive to implement. At the level of the individual patient, the second-line drugs used to treat MDR TB are more expensive, and the remaining first-line drugs will have to be used for a longer time than in drug-susceptible TB. Negative-pressure units add to the costs of treatment, as does the increased nursing intensity required. The cost to the wider economy includes lost productivity and lost tax revenue to the state as well as the cost of supporting the family if the patient is the breadwinner.


Psychedelics represent one of the most promising classes of experimental medicines for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders due to their ability to promote neural plasticity and produce both rapid and sustained therapeutic effects following a single administration. Conventional wisdom holds that peak mystical experiences induced by psychedelics are a critical component of their therapeutic mechanisms of action, though evidence supporting that claim is largely correlational. Here, I present data suggesting that the subjective effects induced by psychedelics may not be necessary to produce long-lasting changes in mood and behavior. Understanding the role of subjective effects in the therapeutic mechanisms of psychedelics will have important implications for both basic neuroscience and for increasing patient access to the next generation of medicines developed as a result of psychedelic research.


This article considers spoken interaction in semi-structured qualitative research interviews, comparing those that are conducted by telephone or face-to-face. It draws upon recent empirical research that illuminated some of the differences that may be observed between these two interview modes. Methodological techniques drawn from Conversation Analysis were used to conduct a systematic and transparent comparison of the interview interactions, focusing on the spoken interactional devices that researcher and interviewee employ in order to pursue and maintain a collaborative and comprehensible dialogue. The article begins with an overview of previous discussion on the interactional effects of the telephone in qualitative interviews. Here, we find that while instructional texts have traditionally advised that the telephone mode is not well-suited to the task of qualitative interviewing – primarily because the lack of face-to-face contact is said to restrict the development of rapport and a 'natural' encounter – researchers giving personal accounts of conducting telephone interviews tend to offer more nuanced or critical reflections on the extent to which the lack of visual cues affects the interaction in practice. Empirical findings are then presented on: formulation and completion, clarification and comprehension, acknowledgement, interviewees' checks on the 'adequacy' of their talk, and the duration of interviews. Key findings were that: completion or formulation of interviewee talk by the researcher was more common in face-to-face interviews; interviewee requests for clarification were slightly more common in telephone interviews; vocalized acknowledgements given by the researcher were less frequent in telephone interviews; interviewee checks on the adequacy of their responses were more common in telephone interviews; and telephone interviews tended to be shorter than those conducted face-to-face. The article discusses possible explanations for the findings that emerge alongside consideration of some potential implications.


If you have ever "lost" citations to a scholarly piece you will appreciate using Zotero, a bibliographic citation management system. It is F*R*E*E if you use Firefox as your browser.


Previous researches on oil price volatility have been done with parametric models of GARCH types. In this work, we model volatility of crude oil price based on GARCH(p,q) by using Neural Network which is one of powerful classes of nonparametric models. The empirical analysis based on crude oil prices in US and China show that the proposed models significantly generate improved forecasting accuracy than the parametric model of normal GARCH(p,q). Among nine different combinations of hybrid models (for p = 1,2,3 and q = 1,2,3), it is found that NN-GARCH(1,1) and NN-GARCH(2,2) perform better than the others in US market whereas, NN-GARCH(1,1) and NN-GARCH(3,1) outperform in Chinese case.


During normal usage components are subject to stresses that while not sufficient to cause fracture cause fatigue, which gradually weakens the component. Linear ultrasonic methods have been shown to be poor at detecting fatigue. However, there is evidence that the accumulation of damage gives the material a nonlinear elastic response that can be probed by ultrasound. By measuring the change in a material's nonlinear properties a measure of the fatigue can be obtained. Several methods of detecting material nonlinearity using acoustic waves have been proposed. The collinear mixing technique is used here. By measuring the velocity change of a probe wave due to the induced stress from a second pump wave, a measure of the nonlinearity is obtained. By generating the probe wave and detecting both waves using laser ultrasound techniques we gain the benefits of high spatial and temporal resolution. This is important when investigating the nonlinear response of a material as there is evidence that the microstructure affects the nonlinear response of a material. The change in nonlinearity over a region of a specimen (aluminium) has been monitored over several fatigue levels to investigate any relation. Early stage results are given with a discussion on the development of the technique.


This study emphasizes the importance of canopy drying time (CDT) after rainfall in a lowland tropical rain forest. In this study, we estimate CDT using sap flow velocities measured by a heat‐pulse method in an emergent tree in a lowland mixed‐dipterocarp forest. Estimated CDT (ECDT) for each rain event has been defined as the time from rainfall cessation to the specific time derived from the difference between diurnal courses of sap flow velocities on a rainy day versus bright days. ECDT could be derived for 22 rain events that were grouped into two types, depending on whether rainfall ceased before or after noon. The ECDTs were distributed more widely and with greater values when rainfall ceased before noon (Type 1) than after noon (Type 2). The ECDTs of both Type 1 and Type 2 decreased with increases in net radiation (Rn) and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) after rainfall. This result shows that ECDT is determined mainly by post‐rainfall evaporation rates. The sap flow velocity as a detector of canopy wetness worked out well because of the specific rainfall characteristics at this site. The practical limitations of the method using sap flow velocities are discussed in relation to rainfall characteristics and time lags between transpirations and sap flow velocities. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Two programs for the design of LC -ladder elliptic filters, which can be implemented on small computers, are presented. The nonconventional method used for the synthesis of LC ladders is first described. Then the approximation using elliptic functions better adapted to the numerical calculations than Jacobi's sn function is sketched. The first part of the first program can be used independently to solve classical elliptic approximation problems, including the calculation of the natural frequencies.


Getting to and from airports and waiting while flights are delayed or rescheduled because of air and ground traffic congestion means increasing costs for users and managers of air facilities. The total cost of using airports includes not only the price of tickets and, in some airports, Unding fees, but also the costs of queueing to passengers and airlines. In other markets the prvilege of using scarce facilities at one9s choosing is paid for through higher prices. A careful analysis of the problem indicates that the pricing system has not been used effectively to help solve airport congestion until such time as expanded airport capacity can be achieved. Regulatory authorities recently thought the solution might be found by rationing the use of airports during peak times on some arbitrary basis. The authors discuss the deficiencies of this rationing policy and propose instead time-and locationdifferentiated pricing systems.


Background. To describe the type and number of emergency care ambulances integrated in the Emergency Medical System in the Spanish autonomous communities and to calculate their relationship with the assigned population.
Material and methods. The official literature of the autonomous communities was reviewed, and the type and number of terrestrial care resources integrated in the Emergency Medical System and population data for 2011 were extracted. Secondary or specialized resources were excluded, and part-time units were computed in proportion to operational time.
Results. A total of 319 Advanced Life Support Units (ALSU) and 1,109.05 Basic Life Support Units (BLSU) were identified, of which 31.9 are provided with nursing staff. The national rate of ambulances by absolute population was 0.86 ALSU (range 0.32 to 1.44) and 2.35 BLSU (range 0.07 to 5.30) per 100,000 inhabitants. The state rate by relative population was estimated at 0.29 (range 1.06 to 30.22) and 0.08 (range 0.94 to 16.03) inhabitants/km2 for ALSU and BLSU respectively, and the national rate by surface was 1,586.2 (range 140.8 to 4204.5) and 456.2 km2 (range 44.1 to 14599.6) for ALSU and BLSU respectively.
Conclusions. There are significant differences in the calculated rates of emergency care resources of autonomous regions over their population and area. No relation was found with the geodemographic idiosyncrasies of each territory. These differences could be caused by heterogeneity in the management of EMS or other factors not considered in this work.


The Unified Modeling Language (UML) provides an environment for modeling complex systems. It supports a variety of diagrams for analyzing, designing, and implementing software systems. During the requirements phase, developers abstract concepts from the application domain and describe what the system is intended to do, not how it will do it. UML was adopted as a standard for OO modeling by the Object Management Group in 1997 and has found use in various software development projects. However, the continued success of any new technology depends a great deal on its usability. To predict the future success of a language like UML it is important to address the issue of usability from the perspective of the users of the language, the software developers. This study reports the results of an empirical study aimed at assessing the usability of UML for developing software requirements. It addresses the dimensions of ease of use, usefulness, and usefulness for communicating requirements to various project stakeholders.


Nowadays, advanced non-small cell lung cancer is still an incurable disease. Recent researches have led to considerable progress in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. This article reviews the main studies on chemotherapy on non-small cell lung cancer and discusses the new therapeutic strategies available to date. Stable disease (SD) is necessary in chemotherapy for tumor. The proportion of population with responders or SD basi- cally maintained similar regardless of regimens. The overall survival after chemotherapy for patients with SD was lower than patients with responders, and higher than patients with progressive disease. Greater benefits could be achieved in patients with effective induction chemotherapy using chemotherapeutic agents for maintenance ther- apy, whereas the benefits were relatively small for patients with SD. It has been found that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status had certain correlation with the efficacy of chemotherapy. First-line chemotherapy has shown advantages in effective rate and progression free survival on EGFR mutant. EGFR mutation produced sig- nificant effects on the efficacy of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients with EGFR mutation had a higher effective rate than wild-type EGFR patients, and patients with responders had a greater benefit in progression free survival from maintenance therapy. However, it is still necessary to carry out more careful and deeper studies and analyses on traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy, to further optimize cytotoxic chemotherapy and to use molecular targeted agents with different mechanisms.


Recent years have seen a dramatic change in the approach towards diagnosing and treating Multiple Myeloma. Newer and more target specific approach to treatment has prolonged the survival for patients with multiple myeloma. The proteasome inhibitors make an important class of anti-myeloma drugs that disrupts the proteolytic machinery of the tumor cells preferentially, enhancing their susceptibility to apoptosis. Bortezomib, in particular has shown significant clinical efficacy in myeloma treatment. It is the most commonly used proteasome inhibitor and has been tested to be effective in prolonging the overall survival in several trials. Its combinations with cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone are the treatment of choice for standard risk patients following the mSMART guidelines. The success with its lower dosage in elderly and its proven efficacious subcutaneous usage makes Bortezomib a useful agent for maximizing patient compliance and minimizing therapy related toxicity and costs. This review discusses several trials where Bortezomib has been used as a single/combination agent for front-line treatment of multiple myeloma.


This article focuses on the analysis of the first decade (2006-2016) of the Human Rights Council (HRC) work. We analyze particularly the relevance of the HRC special sessions in what concerns to the protection of civilians in current non-international armed conflicts (NIAC). The HRC, that replaced the Commission on Human Rights, was established by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 60/251 adopted on 15 March 2006. This institutional reshaping intended to transform the HRC into an action-oriented body, in an attempt to give a more effective and rapid response to global human rights (HR) protection challenges. Following the 2004 Report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, the United Nations General-Secretary Kofi Annan drew attention to the fact that a decisive moment for the United Nations (UN) had began. Kofi Annan highlighted in particular the need to fulfill the aspirations established in the United Nations Charter (UNC), and emphasized in general terms the challenges facing HR protection, particularizing the protection of the civilian population given the complexity of our days armed conflicts. Therefore the HRC appears in this line of institutional restructuring. The special sessions are one of the working methods of the HRC which allows the consideration of gross HR violations that need attention and require an urgent decision-making. The author argues that the analysis of these sessions is particularly relevant, because it allows us, on the one hand to examine which situations were analyzed, and on the other hand the different positions regarding this decision-making method that has not always proved consensual. I also argue that this decision-making procedure reflects some opportunities and faces challenges in trying to deal with the different perspectives of the actors within the HRC.


The A2 Collaboration performs a manifold research program using real photons in the Crystal Ball/TAPS experiment at the MAMI accelerator facility in Mainz. The experiments take advantage of high- intensity unpolarized, linearly or circularly polarized photon beams, and unpolarized or polarized targets. The detector setup provides almost complete coverage in solid angle and is well suited for the detection of multi particle final states. In order to probe the internal structure of the nucleon, the spectrum of baryon resonances is studied via measurements of unpolarized cross sections and various polarization observables in single and double meson photoproduction. The program aiming to determine the scalar and spin polarizabilities of the nucleons with high precision is performed with the Compton scattering experiments. In 2017, the focal plane detector used in the tagging system of the Crystal Ball/TAPS experiment was completely renewed, allowing new measurements with unprecedentedly high precision. This paper presents recent selected results from the A2 Collaboration at MAMI.


Correspondence: R Fernández-Ballesteros Dept of Psychobiology and Health, Autonomous University of Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain Tel +34 91 4975181 Fax +34 91 4975215 Email firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract: The main goal of the present study is to examine to what extent age and cognitive impairment contribute to learning performance (cognitive plasticity, cognitive modifiability, or learning potential). To address this question, participants coming from four studies (Longitudinal Study of Active Aging, age range, 55–75 years, N = 458; Longitudinal Study in the very old [90+], age range, 90–102, N = 188, and Cognitive Plasticity within the Course of Cognitive Impairment, 97 "Normal", 57 mild cognitive impairment [MCI], and 98 Alzheimer's disease [AD] patients) were examined through a measure of verbal learning (developed from Rey). The results show that all age, MCI, and AD groups learned across the five learning trials of that test, but significant differences were found due to age, pathology, and education. The effects of pathology (MCI and AD) can be expressed in a metric of "years of normal decline by age"; specifically, being MCI means suffering an impairment in performance that is equivalent to the decline of a normal individual during 15 years, whereas the impact of AD is equivalent to 22.7 years. Likewise, the improvement associated with about 5 years of education is equivalent to about 1 year less of normal aging. Also, the two pathological groups significantly differed from "normal" groups in the delayed trial of the test. The most dramatic difference is that between the "normal" group and the AD patients, which shows relatively poorer performance for the AD group in the delayed trial than in the first learning trial. The potential role of this unique effect for quick detection purposes of AD is assessed (in the 75–89 years age range, sensitivity and specificity equal 0.813 and 0.917, respectively).


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To evaluate changes in body image and self-esteem in women with gynecologic malignancies who experience chemotherapy-induced alopecia and to examine the effectiveness of a videotape intervention on body image and self-esteem.

DESIGN
A prospective, randomized study.

SETTING
Subjects were accrued from 11 Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) member institutions participating in 14 GOG treatment protocols.

SAMPLE
136 women with chemotherapy-induced alopecia, a mean age of 57.7 years, and advanced disease at study entry.

METHODS
Prior to the first course of chemotherapy, all subjects received standard counseling regarding hair loss. Body image and self-esteem scores were obtained prior to course 1 and 3 and after course 4 of chemotherapy. Prior to course 3, women with grade 2 alopecia were allocated randomly to the videotape intervention or no intervention.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Total body image and self-esteem as measured by the Body Cathexis/Self-Cathexis Scale (BCSCS).

FINDINGS
A small but statistically significant change (p = 0.045) in body image was observed after chemotherapy-induced alopecia, with no change in self-esteem. The videotape did not produce a significant effect on body image score.

CONCLUSIONS
The study results support prior studies that have reported changes in body image as a result of chemotherapy-induced alopecia. The intervention employed (a videotape) was not effective. The BCSCS is a simple and quick measurement for use in future studies

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Chemotherapy-induced alopecia has an adverse effect on body image. Novel interventions are needed to assist women in coping with this consequence of treatment.


ABSTRACT We wanted to examine the cellular locations of four Neurospora crassa proteins that transport calcium. However, the structure and distribution of organelles in live hyphae of N. crassa have not been comprehensively described. Therefore, we made recombinant genes that generate translational fusions of putative organellar marker proteins with green or red fluorescent protein. We observed putative endoplasmic reticulum proteins, encoded by grp-78 and dpm, in the nuclear envelope and associated membranes. Proteins of the vacuolar membrane, encoded by vam-3 and vma-1, were in an interconnected network of small tubules and vesicles near the hyphal tip, while in more distal regions they were in large and small spherical vacuoles. Mitochondria, visualized with tagged ARG-4, were abundant in all regions of the hyphae. Similarly, we tagged the four N. crassa proteins that transport calcium with green or red fluorescent protein to examine their cellular locations. NCA-1 protein, a homolog of the SERCA-type Ca2+-ATPase of animal cells, colocalized with the endoplasmic reticulum markers. The NCA-2 and NCA-3 proteins are homologs of Ca2+-ATPases in the vacuolar membrane in yeast or in the plasma membrane in animal cells. They colocalized with markers in the vacuolar membrane, and they also occurred in the plasma membrane in regions of the hyphae more than 1 mm from the tip. The cax gene encodes a Ca2+/H+ exchange protein found in vacuoles. As expected, the CAX protein localized to the vacuolar compartment. We observed, approximately 50 to 100 μm from the tip, a few spherical organelles that had high amounts of tagged CAX protein and tagged subunits of the vacuolar ATPase (VMA-1 and VMA-5). We suggest that this organelle, not described previously in N. crassa, may have a role in sequestering calcium.


Photocatlytic ZnO nanopowders were synthesized by a novel method referred to as "solution-combustion method (SCM)". They were synthesized using various oxidants and fuels. Single-phase ZnO powders were obtained. The ZnO powder synthesized using Zn(OH)2 and glycine as an oxidant and a fuel at fuel/oxidant ratio of 0.8, showed best powder characteristics such as average grain size of 30 nm and the specific surface area of 120 m2/g. The photocatalytic gold recovery efficiency by this SCM ZnO nanopowders was about 6 fold higher compared to the case by the state of the art commercial TiO2 nanopowders. The purity of recovered gold was about 99.6% in weight% and 98.8% in atomic%. Especially, in this study it was tried to recover gold metal ions from not simulated wastewater but real plating one. This technology is therefore very viable and cost-effective to obtain high purity gold from plating wastewater.


The existing high-cost fund suffers from two inherent flaws: it does not incorporate how much consumers value the services being subsidized, and does not measure the incremental, rather than average, effects of the program. This paper proposes a way to incorporate those factors into the Connect America Fund—the proposed high-cost broadband support program—to enable it to operate more efficiently than the existing high-cost program ever could. In particular, decisions about where to provide subsidies should be based on cost-effectiveness analyses that explicitly take into account not just the cost of providing service but also how much consumers would value the improvement in service the subsidy would bring beyond what is currently available. Incorporating this information requires conducting regular research on consumer willingness-to-pay for different levels of broadband service. This information would be used to help determine what types of service should be subsidized in unserved areas, which areas to fund, and the maximum amount that should be spent on subsidies. Such an approach would help achieve universal service objectives in a way that provides real benefits to citizens, does not enrich particular firms, and limits total spending. * Scott Wallsten is Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute. This paper represents his views only. Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com


It is widely held that most of the oxidation in thermally sprayed coatings occurs on the surface of the droplet after it has flattened. The evidence in this paper suggests that, for the conditions studied here, oxidation of the top surface of flattened droplets is not the dominant oxidation mechanism. In this study, a mild steel wire (AISI 1025) was sprayed using a high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) torch onto copper and aluminum substrates. Ion milling and Auger spectroscopy were used to examine the distribution of oxides within individual splats. Conventional metallographic analysis was also used to study oxide distributions within coatings that were sprayed under the same conditions. An analytical model for oxidation of the exposed surface of a splat is presented. Based on literature data, the model assumes that diffusion of iron through a solid FeO layer is the rate limiting factor in forming the oxide on the top surface of a splat. An FeO layer only a few thousandths of a micron thick is predicted to form on the splat surface as it cools. However, the experimental evidence shows that the oxide layers are typically 100x thicker than the predicted value. These thick, oxide layers are not always observed on the top surface of a splat. Indeed, in some instances the oxide layer is on the bottom, and the metal is on the top. The observed oxide distributions are more consistently explained if most of the oxide formed before the droplets impact the substrate.


Smoking is recognised as a risk factor for human health. It is related to many problems like respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc. Smoking is associated with incidence of gingivitis, periodontitis, epithelial malignancy in the oral cavity. It increases the number and depth of periodontal patients. Loss of tissue strength caused due to harmful compounds like tobacco, increase gingival recession and changes to the oral cavity. Prevalence of moderate and severe diseases are higher in smokers than non-smokers. Smoking affects both gingival epithelium and connective tissue. Density of blood vessels is decreased in smokers. Effect of smoking on vascular status is caused by nicotine compounds. This review was done based on the articles obtained from various platforms like PubMed, PubMed central and Google Scholar. They were collected with a restriction in time basis from 2000-2020. The inclusion criteria were original research papers. In vitro, studied among various conditions and articles that contain pros and cons. Exclusion criteria came into account for review articles, retracted articles and articles of other languages. All the articles are selected based on the effect of smoking on gingival health. Thus, smoking results in various oral health problems like incidence of gingivitis, periodontitis, epithelial malignancy in the oral cavity. It affects gingival recession and changes to the oral mucosa. This review article gives knowledge about the correlation between smoking and health of gingival treatment with various dental problems.


This paper describes a computationally efficient method to simulate mixed-domain systems under the requirements of a system-level framework. The approach is the combined use of Modified Nodal Analysis (MNA) for the representation of a mixed-technology device and piecewise linear (PWL) techniques to overcome the costly numerical evaluation found in conventional circuit or device simulators. This approach makes the simulation computationally fast, as well as more stable when compared with traditional circuit simulation. The PWL solver, based in the frequency domain, is more robust to inconsistencies in initial conditions and impulse changes when compared to integration based solvers in the time domain. The advantage of this method is that the same solver enables the integration of multi-domain devices (e.g., electrical, optical, and mechanical) in the same simulation framework. The use of this technique for the simulation of multi-domain systems has proven to give better performance in simulation time when compared to traditional circuit simulators with a relatively small decrease in the level of accuracy. Comparisons with traditional solvers, such as SPICE, show two to three orders of magnitude speedup with less than 5% relative error. The ability to adjust the level of accuracy, either by varying the sampling rate or the number of regions of operation in the models, allows for both computationally fast and in-depth analysis in the same CAD framework.


Failure of the central/provincial governments to adequately capture local preferences and provide basic services strengthened the case for a new local government system for delivery of public services along with the authority to impose fees, taxes, user charges, etc. to finance these services. The new System aims at transferring political, administrative and fiscal powers1 from higher tiers of the government to lower tiers (Figure 1) in order to bring governments closer to common citizens for greater accountability and better understanding of the needs and preferences of people. National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) was entrusted the task of designing a local government system which presented its first blue print in the form of "Devolution Plan 2000". As a result of this exercise a new Local Government System has been installed in Pakistan on 14th August 2001 after the promulgation of Local Government Ordinance 2001 by all the four Provinces. The new System comprises a District Government or a City District Government and Zila Council in a district, Tehsil Municipal Administration and Tehsil Council in a tehsil (a Town Municipal Administration and Town Council in a town in a city district) and Union Administration and Union Council in a union. Village/Neighbourhood councils provide an interface with the lowest tier of the Local Government (Union Administration) with the community.


OBJECTIVE
RA accelerates bone loss, increasing the risk of osteoporosis (OP) and fracture. DXA imaging has been validated for identifying RA patients at risk of fracture. The objective of this study was to assess the presence of asymptomatic vertebral fractures (VFs) in a cohort of patients with established RA referred for DXA using VF assessment (VFA) technology.

METHODS
We determined the prevalence of VFs in a cohort of RA patients age ≥ 40 years fulfilling the 1987 ACR classification criteria. Two blinded radiologists independently reviewed all VFA scans to determine the presence and severity of VFs using Genant criteria. We compared the prevalence and severity of VFs between RA patients and determined the independent associations of different variables with VFs using multivariable logistic regression.

RESULTS
Six hundred and three subjects fulfilled study inclusion criteria. Thirteen per cent of the entire cohort (77/603) had one or more vertebral deformities identified on VFA imaging: 58% were female with mean age 56 years. The prevalence of OP and osteopenia was 59% and 40%, respectively. The prevalence and severity of VFs showed significant correlation with spine T-scores (r = -0.37, P < 0.001) and femoral T-scores (r = -0.31, P < 0.001). In multivariable analyses VFs were significantly and independently associated with a longer duration of RA, markers of disease activity and severity.

CONCLUSION
VFs were detected on VFA images in 13% of women and men with well-established RA referred for DXA testing. Longer duration and severity of RA disease were independent risk factors for fractures in our study.


In many taxa, social structures are mediated by agonistic interactions and the formation of dominance hierarchies. In crayfish, dominance hierarchies may have evolved as a result sexual selection, allowing dominant males greater access to females, thereby increasing their reproductive success. This work tests the hypothesis that high male investment in dominance interactions may have evolved as a result of intraand/or inter-sexual selection pressures by testing specific predictions in two parts: first, that reproductive males would invest more in agonistic interactions than reproductive females or non-reproductive members of both sexes; and second, that females would prefer odors of dominant males over subordinates, and that dominant males would be either more efficient at mating or be able to mate longer than subordinates. Investment in agonistic interactions was examined in intrasexual pairs of male and female crayfish in both the reproductive and non-reproductive season. As predicted, reproductive males invested more in agonistic interactions overall than reproductive females, while there was no significant difference in investment by non-reproductive males or females. However, no significant difference was found in agonistic investment between reproductive males and nonreproductive males. These data indicate that investment in agonism differs by sex and by reproductive status, and may indicate that dominance interactions are under sexual selection in males. Alternatively, this differential investment may be explained by seasonal changes in the individual costs and benefits of agonism, or by depressed investment by reproductive females. Female odor preference was tested using a y-maze containing control and male treated water. For tests of male mating, time spent in each of three stages of mating was recorded for male-female pairs. Of these tests, the only significant trend produced was that dominant males spent more time associated with the female during and after copulation than subordinates. This may indicate an advantage in fertilization success for males through decreased sperm competition. A pilot study was also conducted testing the predictions that females mated to dominant males invest more in offspring than those mated to subordinates and that such offspring have greater survivability, but no significant conclusions could be drawn from these data.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA detection, viral load quantification, and HCV genotyping are widely used in clinical practice. Recently, the availability of an anticore antigen (Ag) monoclonal antibody allowed development of an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) detecting and quantifying total HCV core Ag in peripheral blood of HCV‐infected patients. The aims of the present study were to investigate the biologic significance of this new marker in HCV infection, to establish the intrinsic performance of the current assay, and to determine its potential utility in the management of HCV‐infected patients. A panel of infected sera calibrated to the World Health Organization International Standard and 657 serum samples from infected patients receiving antiviral treatment were studied. We showed that total HCV core Ag quantification is an accurate, precise, and specific indirect marker of HCV replication. We estimated that 1 pg/mL of total HCV core Ag is equivalent to approximately 8,000 HCV RNA international units (IU)/mL, although minor between‐patient differences may exist. In conclusion, total HCV core Ag quantification can be used in the various indications of viral load monitoring, including the evaluation of baseline viral load before therapy, the assessment of the virologic response to antiviral treatment, and the study of early viral kinetics during therapy. Nevertheless, the total HCV core Ag assay cannot be used as a marker of viral replication for HCV RNA values below 20,000 IU/mL, limiting its use in the monitoring of late events during and after antiviral treatment.


John Saunders Chase (1925-2012) was an African American architect in Houston, Texas. As a student and architect, he broke a color line, becoming the first black graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and later to become the first black registered architect in Texas. Chase went on to establish a career of distinction and to lead an office of almost fifty employees, and was part of a group of architects responsible for the design of the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. But perhaps more interesting than his architecture is his politics, as Chase was an active participant behind the scenes throughout his life, working at first as a conservative Democrat and later gaining influence in civic politics through his connections and participation in a political outfit known as The Group. In many ways, Chase's is a categorical Houston success story; in others, it lays bare the pervasive discriminations, large and small, that splinter society into unjust fragments. Chase navigated this racialized territory with a savvy compass, emerging with a complex story that deserves examination. Chase utilized the politics of respectability as a means of individual uplift for an African American in postwar Houston. Malcolm X identified the ballot or the bullet as the two means available for black advancement. Chase's story, as this essay will show, documents a third path for progress: the billfold.


DVB standards are currently being implemented in various countries, not only in Europe, but also around the world. In order to meet various consumers' demands, the DVB standards support interactive services. Among the interactive broadcasting services, DVB-RCT based on OFDM can be used for interactive broadcasting service in terrestrial broadcasting network. To improve the DVB-RCT system performance, a combining of MIMO signal processing with OFDM is very efficient solution. To detect the received MIMO signal with low complexity, an efficient detection technique with K-best scheme is proposed in this paper. The proposed technique can overcome the limitations of K-best scheme which are performance limitation and high complexity.


The present research was conducted to determine heavy metals in agricultural soils from Çanakkale, Turkey, using a sequential extraction procedure (acid soluble, reducible, oxidizable, and residual) as proposed by the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) of the European Commission. Soil samples were taken from 12 different cultivated sites and analyzed for Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations. The results revealed an order of Mn > Cd > Pb > Co > Ni > Cu > Zn > Cr for the heavy metals based on the sum of the first three fractions (acid soluble + reducible + oxidizable). The relationships between soil properties and each metal fraction were identified through Pearsons's correlation analysis. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to determine the behaviors and similarities of metals in each fraction. While Mn, Pb, and Zn exhibited subjective behaviors in the acid-soluble fraction, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, and Ni exhibited similar behaviors with each other.


Besides the vibrations, passenger discomfort is influenced by various other factors such as, the environmental factors of noise, temperature, humidity and visual stimuli, etc. The discomfort can be measured both subjectively and objectively. Rammohan25 studied the influence of backrest support and handgrip contractions on acute metabolic, respiratory, and cardiovascular responses during exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV). In the present work, discomfort of passengers subjected to whole body random vibrations, environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and noise level variations by assessing their effect on various physiological parameters like, Pulse Rate, Respiration Rate, Galvanic Skin Response, Skin Temperature, Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability and ECG values has been studied. The study was conducted on the three axes vibration simulator developed in the Laboratory, IIT Roorkee, India as a mock-up of a railway vehicle. The simulator room has a controlled temperature and humidity environment and its noise level can also be controlled. A BIOPAC system was used for data acquisition along with various modules for measuring physiological parameters. The mean and standard deviation of physiological parameters, possibly indicating the human comfort or discomforts for the 12 subject is found out. The design of experiment (ANOVA) was employed to quantify the relationships between measured responses and the input factors. The results show that some physiological parameters viz, pulse rate, SKT and HR show variation in vibration condition at 0.6 m/s2. It is also found that all the parameters affected by noise level and temperature show significant variation between no vibration condition and vibration condition.


China is undergoing rapid economic growth and urbanization. On the one hand, in the critical period of the rapid development, the rapid expansion of high-speed railway lines makes more and more various bridges go across the river channel. On the other hand, in our country the traffic density of each river channel is ever increasing, and ships are in large-scale and rapid development stage. The conflict of shipping transport with old bridges or new bridges becomes very prominent. The causes leading to the conflict are due to the factors, such as the geological change in hydrology, bridge design defects, the deficiency of anti-collision measures, shipping mismanagement, bad weather conditions, shipping equipment failure, ship-owner's misjudgments, and so on. By investigating the ship-bridge collision accidents occurring in the bridge construction and operation in China since 2007, this paper analyzes the natural and human factors, studying large or small influence of various factors and their solutions through typical cases. It may be helpful for the bridge design and management across the river channel in the future.


This report sets out the headline findings and key recommendations from a national survey of Special Constables, to seek their views about the representation of Specials. The survey ran from February to March 2017, and had almost 1,100 responses, including responses from every force in England and Wales. The survey is intended to inform future consultation and decisions about models for Special Constable representation. The survey was commissioned and designed under the leadership of ACC Debicki, National Police Chiefs' Council lead for the Special Constabulary, in collaboration with the Home Office and the College of Policing. The survey was developed, managed and analysed by the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice at the University of Northampton. The survey was a long and detailed survey, and there were a large volume of responses. This report of headline findings provides a summary of the key findings across the survey analysis.


This paper presents a descriptive case study of the TAMAM project as a new school reform initiative in the Arab world. The case addresses goals, strategies and assumptions of the project, its distinctive and promising design features, and the cultural and contextual factors critical to its successful implementation. The work adopted grounded theory procedures for collecting and analyzing data. The study provides researchers interested in cross cultural transfer of conceptual knowledge insights into the aspects of widely accepted reform models that need to be emphasized if those western models are to be successfully adapted to the Arab Schools cultural context.


Porous silicon (PSi) nanomaterials have been widely studied as label-free optical biosensors for protein detection. However, these biosensors' performance, specifically in terms of their sensitivity (which is typically in the micromolar range), is insufficient for many applications. Herein, we present a proof-of-concept application of the electrokinetic isotachophoresis (ITP) technique for real-time preconcentration of a target protein on a PSi biosensor. With ITP, a highly concentrated target zone is delivered to the sensing area, where the protein target is captured by immobilized aptamers. The detection of the binding events is conducted in a label-free manner by reflective interferometric Fourier transformation spectroscopy (RIFTS). Up to 1000-fold enhancement in local concentration of the protein target and the biosensor's sensitivity are achieved, with a measured limit of detection of 7.5 nM. Furthermore, the assay is successfully performed in complex media, such as bacteria lysate samples, while the selectivity of the biosensor is retained. The presented assay could be further utilized for other protein targets, and to promote the development of clinically useful PSi biosensors.


This chapter set up to examine the language of 'family' in key policy documents regulating family life in Lithuania. Drawing on theoretical ideas of Ribbens McCarthy the authors look into the ways of framing of family life, identify scripts of 'normal' family, and analyse how these, in turn, sought to portray migrant families as 'troubling'. The research presented here was carried out in January-May 2018 and formed a sub-study of the project 'Global Migration and Lithuanian Family: Family practices, circulation of care and return strategies' (2017–2019) funded by the Lithuanian Research Council. Analysis of the strategic policy documents regulating family life in Lithuania in the period from 1995 to 2018 has revealed that the imagined orders of family life evolve over time, which explains the changes in the language used to describe family lives. The authors have identified the ways of portraying Lithuanian 'family' as 'normal', 'harmonious', and 'sovereign', and examined how legislators 'troubled' migrant families or – in a long run – depicted them as 'sovereign, but silenced' and as 'important, but mysterious'.


Li-TFSI is the most common p-dopant for the hole conductor spiro-MeOTAD in the normal structure (n–i–p) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), which consistently yield the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) albeit at the risk of lower long-term operational stability. Here we successfully replace conventional Li-TFSI with Zn-TFSI2, which not only acts as a highly effective p-dopant but also enhances considerably both the photovoltaic performance and long-term stability. The incorporation of Zn-TFSI2 as a dopant for spiro-MeOTAD leads to an increase by one order in the hole mobility compared to Li-TFSI from 3.78 × 10−3 cm2 V−1 s−1 to 3.83 × 10−2 cm2 V−1 s−1. Furthermore, the device with Zn-TFSI2 showed an 80 mV higher built-in voltage and a bigger recombination resistance than the one with Li-TFSI, which were responsible for the striking increase in both the open-circuit voltage and fill factor, leading to a stabilized PCE of 22.0% for the best cells. Remarkably, the device employing Zn-TFSI2 demonstrated superb photo-stability, showing even a 2% increase in the PCE after 600 h light soaking at the maximum power point (mpp) under full sun, while the PCE of the device with Li-TFSI decreased by 20% under the same conditions. Similarly, the device with Zn-TFSI2 showed better operational stability at 50 °C resulting in a 21% decrease in the PCE after 100 h aging at the mpp under full sun while the Li-TFSI based one showed a 55% decrease. Moreover, the Zn-TFSI2 based device was capable of effectively resisting humidity compared to the one based on Li-TFSI from shelf stability monitoring (R.H. ≥ 40%) in the dark.


In distributed evolutionary algorithms, migration interval is used to decide migration moments. Nevertheless, migration moments predetermined by intervals cannot match the dynamic situation of evolution. In this paper, a scheme of setting the success rate of migration based on subpopulation diversity at each interval is proposed. With the scheme, migration still occurs at intervals, but the probability of immigrants entering the target subpopulation will be determined by the diversity of this subpopulation according to a proposed formula. An analysis shows that the time consumption of our scheme is acceptable. In our experiments, the basement of parallelism is an evolutionary algorithm for the traveling salesman problem. Under different value combinations of parameters for the formula, outcomes for eight benchmark instances of the distributed evolutionary algorithm with the proposed scheme are compared with those of a traditional one, respectively. Results show that the distributed evolutionary algorithm based on our scheme has a significant advantage on solutions especially for high difficulty instances. Moreover, it can be seen that the algorithm with the scheme has the most outstanding performance under three value combinations of above-mentioned parameters for the formula.


A monoclonal antibody (McAb) specific for actin depolymerizing factor (ADF) was prepared. With this and previously prepared anti-cofilin McAb (MAB-22) and other antibodies, the expression of cofilin and ADF in the muscles of dystrophic (NH-413) chicken and dystrophic (C57BL/6J dy/dy) mice was compared with that in normal control animals by immunoblotting and immunocytochemical methods. Since cofilin expression is down-regulated during normal postnatal development of skeletal muscles [Abe et al. (1989) J. Biochem. 106, 696-702], cofilin was detected in the breast (pectoralis) muscle of normal adult chicken and the leg (femoris and tibialis anterior) muscles of normal mice only at a low level. ADF was not detectable in adult skeletal muscles. However, a significant increase of cofilin amount, but not of ADF amount, was observed in these muscles of the dystrophic animals, when the symptom of muscular dystrophy became evident. In order to localize cofilin in individual muscle fibers, serial cryosections of the dystrophic chicken muscle were examined with anti-cofilin antibody (MAB-22). The antibody stained cells of different size in the dystrophic muscle, indicating that cofilin expression was induced in the regenerating muscle cells as well as in the pre-existing myofibers. We suggest that cofilin is involved in disassembly or reorganization of actin in the dystrophic muscle.


The study figured out dynamic interactions between forests and the Malays in Sumatera (i.e. Riau Province), Indonesia. The interactions observed in this study indicate that in many cases human activities resulted in a direct impact on forest degradation, but at the same time some people have fought to protect the forests. This study also revealed that the forest is undeniable natural resources. Even though the forest is susceptible to human activities because it can easily be explored. History had shown from colonial to independence that forest is an important resource to contribute to state foreign exchange, due to business permit issued by the government for companies to manage natural forests. Somehow, that policy impacted on forest degradation quickly. In every period, the pressure to protect forests is always accompanied by the state's policy. The interactions between humans and forests are mostly affected by external factors, including trading natural resources for economic interest.


We consider decision-making problems with contextual information, in which the reward function involves uncertain parameters that can be predicted using covariates. To quantify the uncertainty of the reward, we propose a new parameter uncertainty set based on a supervised learning oracle. We show that the worst/best-case reward over the proposed parameter uncertainty set serves as a confidence bound on the reward by sizing the uncertainty set properly. Based on these results, we develop performance guarantees for robust contextual optimization in the offline setting, and propose data-driven optimistic optimization as a systematic tool for online contextual decision-making with provable performance guarantees.


On wet and windy days, the inclined cables of cable-stayed bridges may experience a large amplitude oscillation known as Rain-Wind-Induced Vibration (RWIV). It has previously been shown by 'in-situ' and wind-tunnel studies that the formation of rain-water accumulations or 'rivulets' at approximately the separation points of the external aerodynamic flow field and the resulting effect that these rivulets have on this field may be one of the primary mechanisms for RWIV. A numerical method has been developed to undertake simulations of certain aspects of RWIV, in particular, rivulet formation and evolution. Specifically a two-dimensional model for the evolution of a thin film of water on the outer surface of a horizontal circular cylinder subject to the pressure and shear forces that result from the external flow field is presented. Numerical simulations of the resulting evolution equation using a bespoke pseudo-spectral solver capture the formation of two-dimensional rivulets, the geometry, location andgrowth rate of which are all in good agreement with previous studies. Examinations of how the distribution and magnitude of aerodynamic loading and the Reynolds number influence the rivulet temporal evolution are undertaken, theresults of which indicate that while all three affect the temporal evolution, the distribution of the loading has the greatest effect.


An ongoing point of contention within political philosophy—particularly among those on the Left—is to what extent, if at all, Marxist theory is useful in addressing certain forms of oppression found under capitalism, such as racist oppression. Leftist critics of orthodox Marxism, prominently including Nancy Fraser, often claim that Marx's critique of capitalism is class-essentialist and unduly narrow and that his theory of exploitation—which these critics allege is the essence of Marx's theory—is inadequate for the purposes of understanding "extra-economic" forms of oppression. I disagree with these critics. Focusing on Fraser, my aim is to show precisely why the critics are wrong and, moreover, to offer at least an outline for a positive account of a Marxist theory of race and racism, particularly as situated within capitalism.


It is known that 40 % of the active working population uses the voice as a working tool, especially those who depend on the voice (telephone operators, receptionists, broadcasters, teachers, etc.), as they in their work require exchange of continuously communicative contents. The voice is the instrument to reveal the thought; it requires a permanent care to change habits that can affect overall health. By the roles at work these professionals are in states of stress, which affects the respiratory, nervous and muscular system, in this scenario it is natural that the vocal structures are affected, causing changes and sometimes damage to the vocal qualities. Objectives : the research focuses on the development of a protocol for the evaluation of vocal disorders. Materials and methods : this article reports the first phase: the development of a diagnostic questionnaire, which aims to identify risk factors which are exposed workers and from it, sort depending on the level of exposure. Results : the questionnaire is divided into four dimensions: personal factors and occupational risks, consolidation and analysis of information, with the results is carried out risk classification of workers according to the data.


The exceptionally large thermal strain in few-micrometers-thick 3C-SiC films on Si(111), causing severe wafer bending and cracking, is demonstrated to be elastically quenched by substrate patterning in finite arrays of Si micro-pillars, sufficiently large in aspect ratio to allow for lateral pillar tilting, both by simulations and by preliminary experiments. In suspended SiC patches, the mechanical problem is addressed by finite element method: both the strain relaxation and the wafer curvature are calculated at different pillar height, array size, and film thickness. Patches as large as required by power electronic devices (500–1000 μm in size) show a remarkable residual strain in the central area, unless the pillar aspect ratio is made sufficiently large to allow peripheral pillars to accommodate the full film retraction. A sublinear relationship between the pillar aspect ratio and the patch size, guaranteeing a minimal curvature radius, as required for wafer processing and micro-crack prevention, is sh...


Background Demographic factors and factors from donors' medical and social history influence the number of organs transplanted per donor. The goal for organ procurement organizations is 4.30 organs transplanted per standard criteria donor. Objective To examine the influence of factors related to donors' demographics and donors' medical and social histories on the number of organs transplanted per donor. Methods The medical and social histories of 772 deceased donors were reviewed to assess demographic factors (eg, age, sex), diseases (eg, heart disease, hepatitis, diabetes, hypertension), and other factors (eg, body mass index, high-risk behavior, alcohol abuse). Statistics were calculated by using MarketSight software. Results Between 2003 and 2007, 2409 organs were recovered and transplanted from 772 donors (number of organs per donor, mean [SD], 3.12 [1.73]) in our designated service area. Some demographic factors (eg, age, sex) were associated with significantly fewer organs transplanted per donor. Other factors from donors' medical and social histories also played a major role, with each added factor significantly decreasing the number of organs transplanted per donor. The number of organs transplanted differed significantly between donors with 0 vs 1, 1 vs 2, and 2 vs 3 or more factors related to their medical and social histories. Conclusion Demographic factors and other factors in donors' medical and social histories significantly reduced the number of organs transplanted per donor. An algorithm that uses all potential demographic factors and factors related to medical and social history nested within each other could be developed to predict number of organs transplanted.


Rationale: Initial reports of case fatality rates (CFRs) among adults with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) are highly variable. Objectives: To examine the CFR of patients with COVID-19 receiving IMV. Methods: Two authors independently searched PubMed, Embase, medRxiv, bioRxiv, the COVID-19 living systematic review, and national registry databases. The primary outcome was the "reported CFR" for patients with confirmed COVID-19 requiring IMV. "Definitive hospital CFR" for patients with outcomes at hospital discharge was also investigated. Finally, CFR was analyzed by patient age, geographic region, and study quality on the basis of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Measurements and Results: Sixty-nine studies were included, describing 57,420 adult patients with COVID-19 who received IMV. Overall reported CFR was estimated as 45% (95% confidence interval [CI], 39–52%). Fifty-four of 69 studies stated whether hospital outcomes were available but provided a definitive hospital outcome on only 13,120 (22.8%) of the total IMV patient population. Among studies in which age-stratified CFR was available, pooled CFR estimates ranged from 47.9% (95% CI, 46.4–49.4%) in younger patients (age ≤40 yr) to 84.4% (95% CI, 83.3–85.4%) in older patients (age >80 yr). CFR was also higher in early COVID-19 epicenters. Overall heterogeneity is high (I2 >90%), with nonsignificant Egger's regression test suggesting no publication bias. Conclusions: Almost half of patients with COVID-19 receiving IMV died based on the reported CFR, but variable CFR reporting methods resulted in a wide range of CFRs between studies. The reported CFR was higher in older patients and in early pandemic epicenters, which may be influenced by limited ICU resources. Reporting of definitive outcomes on all patients would facilitate comparisons between studies. Systematic review registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020186997).


Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed malignancy among women globally. Past MRI studies have linked a high animal fat diet (HAFD) to increased mammary cancer risk in the SV40Tag mouse model of triple-negative breast cancer. Here, serial MRI examines tumor progression and measures the arterial blood volume feeding mammary glands in low fat diet (LFD) or HAFD fed mice. Virgin female C3(1)SV40Tag mice (n = 8), weaned at 3 weeks old, were assigned to an LFD (n = 4, 3.7 kcal/g, 17.2% kcal from vegetable oil) or an HAFD (n = 4, 5.3 kcal/g, 60% kcal from lard) group. From ages 8 to 12 weeks, weekly fast spin echo MR images and time-of-flight (TOF) MR angiography of inguinal mammary glands were acquired at 9.4 T. Following in vivo MRI, mice were sacrificed. Inguinal mammary glands were excised and fixed for ex vivo MRI and histology. Tumor, blood, and mammary gland volumes for each time point were measured from manually traced regions of interest; tumors were classified as invasive by histopathology-blinded observers. Our analysis confirmed a strong correlation between total tumor volume and blood volume in the mammary gland. Tumor growth rates from weeks 8-12 were twice as high in HAFD-fed mice (0.42 ± 0.14/week) as in LFD-fed mice (0.21 ± 0.03/week), p < 0.004. Mammary gland blood volume growth rate was 2.2 times higher in HAFD mice (0.29 ± 0.11/week) compared with LFD mice (0.13 ± 0.06/week), p < 0.02. The mammary gland growth rate of HAFD-fed mice (0.071 ± 0.011/week) was 2.7 times larger than that of LFD-fed mice (0.026 ± 0.009/week), p < 0.01. This is the first non-invasive, in vivo MRI study to demonstrate a strong correlation between an HAFD and increased cancer burden and blood volume in mammary cancer without using contrast agents, strengthening the evidence supporting the adverse effects of an HAFD on mammary cancer. These results support the potential future use of TOF angiography to evaluate vasculature of suspicious lesions.


Tuberculosis, atypical mycobacteria, and fungi are uncommon causes of infectious monarticular arthritis. The importance of these infections relates both to the difficulty in distinguishing them from other infectious and inflammatory arthritides as well as to their increasing incidence. Recently reported cases indicate more common use of newer molecular biological techniques such as polymerase chain reaction to achieve a more rapid and accurate diagnosis.


Brinjal is one of the most delicious vegetable in the world, however it has been attacked by lots of insect pests. Among of them is Amrasca devastans, the brinjal leafhopper. This insect pest affects the brinjal by nourishing on the leaves and cause "hopper bum" which reduce the productivity of yield. The evaluation of selected insecticides under field conditions showed that their potential to control the population of A. devastans. The application of the chemicals showed the significant reduction in population number of A. devastans. Among the three treatments Confidor, Oshin and control/water, both chemical insecticides showed the significant difference to the control treatment but the Confider and Oshin have no significant difference. The results showed the overall mean population number when compared with the other two treatments Oshin and control, Confider gave the most effective control in population number with a mean of 4.58. While the mean population number of A. devastans for Oshin and water was 5.15 and 12.23 respectively. The chemicals insecticide found to be very efficient and cost-saving to control the A. devastans population number.


Systematic regional sampling along the contact zone of the 1.85 Ga age Sudbury Igneous Complex with the Archean Levack Gneiss footwall in the North Range of the Sudbury structure revealed textural, mineralogical, and fluid inclusion systematics of post-Sudbury Igneous Complex hydrothermal processes that affected the various lithologies. At late stages of emplacement of the Sudbury Igneous Complex and formation of magmatic Fe-Ni-Cu sulfide deposits a partial melt from the Levack Gneiss invaded the contact zone. This partial melt is revealed by small microdikes and irregular bodies of granophyric quartz-plagioclase with megacrysts of hornblende, clinopyroxene, and titanite. Plagioclase-hornblende equilibrium was established at 750° to 800°C and 1.10 to 1.55 kbars pressure, corresponding to about a 4- to 6-km depth under lithostatic conditions. F/Cl wt percent ratios around 15 for accessory apatite and hornblende indicate that a Cl-rich fluid phase separated during the crystallization of the footwall granophyre: this is expressed as miarolites. The Cl-rich fluid (50 wt % NaCl equiv salinity) was trapped as primary fluid inclusions in quartz at around 480°C minimum temperature and around 1.1 kbars minimum pressure during supercooling. These inclusions are rich in Ca, Fe, Mn, and K, as well as Na chloride. This fluid may have interacted with earlier primary magmatic sulfide, causing remobilization and reprecipitation of Cu-Ni-platinum-group elements (PGE) in veins and disseminations in the footwall. These veins are parallel to the Sudbury Igneous Complex-footwall contact and are characterized by chalcopyrite, pentlandite, millerite, magnetite, stilpnomelane, ferropyrosmalite, epidote, and chlorite. Michenerite, moncheite, merenskyite, froodite, insizwaite, sobolevskite, gold, and Bi-Ni sulfides are associated with sulfides. Epidote, quartz, actinolite, and chlorite are common in the alteration selvages of the veins. Compositions and assemblages of platinum-group minerals (PGM) indicate their precipitation below 575° to 485°C. Primary, highly saline fluid inclusions (about 40 wt % NaCl equiv) in quartz indicate crystallization at 400° to 480°C and around 1.6 kbars minimum T and P, respectively. Late carbonate-epidote-actinolite-chlorite veins and alteration overprinted the earlier assemblages at about 300° to 400°C, with some bornite, millerite, native silver, and other Bi sulfides. The second stage of hydrothermal activity is characterized by regional carbonic-aqueous (NaCl-CO 2 -CH 4 -H 2 O-type) immiscible fluids that were trapped as secondary inclusions in quartz from various lithologies. No mineralization is related to this stage along the North Range. Boiling of these fluids took place during a pressure drop from lithostatic to hydrostatic conditions during uplift from about a 5- to 6- to a 3- to 4-km depth at 300° to 350°C. High- (20–26 wt % NaCl equiv) and low-salinity (6–12 wt % NaCl equiv) fluids coexisted with different carbonic species contents. The predominant north-south and northwest-southeast orientations of fluid inclusion planes reveal that mobilization of carbonic-aqueous solutions may be related to the northwesterly oriented thrusting in the Sudbury structure during the late stages (1.8–1.7 Ga) of the Penokean orogeny and to predominantly north-south faulting in the North Range. The third stage of fluid mobilization also took place mostly along northerly and northwesterly oriented fractures. Aqueous fluids were Ca-rich brines (20–40 wt % salinity) with temperatures between 150° and 250°C. Some of these fluids also circulated in fractures parallel to the Sudbury Igneous Complex-footwall contact (NE-SW); thus, they locally may have interacted with the earlier sulfide assemblages and are also responsible for formation of late veinlets with chalcopyrite-epidote-quartz-chlorite assemblages. Mobilization of these fluids took place under litho- and hydrostatic conditions at about a 4- to 6-km depth. This hydrothermal activity is related to a regional tectonothermal event during emplacement of northwesterly oriented Sudbury dikes (1.24 Ga). Regional-scale fluid inclusion studies along the North Range highlight the role of multiple hydrothermal processes in the metallogenic evolution of the Sudbury Igneous Complex and especially in the distribution of copper and precious metals in the footwall units.


The article examines administrative law practices at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and is being published as part of an issue of Law & Contemporary Problems on global administrative law. While the OECD is neither a well-known nor well-studied international organization (I worked there from 1990-1992), a number of its activities influence domestic agency action far more than is generally realized. It also provides a wonderful example for the study of global administrative law for the simple reason that it is a hybrid organization. Through its many diverse activities, OECD shares aspects of primarily law-making international bodies such as the EU, primarily standard-setting bodies such as the World Health Organization, and primarily data gathering and research organizations such as the UN Conference on Trade and Development. Perhaps surprisingly, there is no uniform administrative law in the OECD. In managing this constellation of activities, the OECD has chosen largely to decentralize its administrative law down to its subject-specific directorates who develop administrative procedures on an ad hoc basis. Thus in studying administrative law at the OECD, one is effectively studying multiple administrative law systems under one roof. Because the OECD does not garner much attention from scholars or the public, The article commences with a description of the OECD, out the basics of the organization's origins, operations, and examples of its range of activities. Four case studies then examine the OECD's multiple roles and how these bear on the development of the organization's administrative law. The cases range from traditional treaty-making, to consensus development of standards, to quasi-judicial review of the actions of multinational enterprises. Each of these examples relies on different types of administrative mechanisms to address the core concerns of transparency, responsiveness and accountability. The final section explores whether administrative law safeguards should apply to OECD activities that, while not lawmaking themselves, exert important influence on domestic lawmaking and underscores why the OECD has adopted a decentralized model of administrative law.


Top-down modulation from a broader perspective suggests that some effortful control over posterior brain regions occurs. This study examined the extent to which age-related differences in top-down modulation could explain age-related memory decline. The theory of top-down modulation suggests that neural transmission during encoding requires the enhancement of relevant information and suppression of irrelevant information for efficacious neural function. Enhancement of attention to stimuli should be greater under higher task demands. In this study, we compared cortical modulation in a less effortful facial encoding task to cortical modulation in a more effortful facial encoding task. One-hundred-thirty older adults (mean age = 66.43 yrs) and 30 younger adults (mean age = 24.13 yrs) completed 2 tasks of facial encoding using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, and a computer administered test of facial recognition outside the scanning environment. Activity in the fusiform face area was extracted when participants were told to view faces in the first encoding task and remember faces in the second encoding task. An enhancement index reflected the change in neural activity in the fusiform face area moving from the view faces task to the remember faces task. As predicted, levels of neural enhancement in the fusiform face area significantly predicted older and younger adult participants' ability to correctly discriminate between faces they had and had not previously seen. Against predictions, the level of fusiform face area enhancement did not differ between younger and older adults. Thus, differences in enhancement levels are not driving age-related differences in facial recognition discrimination ability. In functional connectivity analysis, the idea that connections between the "top" and "bottom" components of the memory encoding network were examined. Consistent with predictions, the functional connection between right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the fusiform face area related with recognition. Taken together these data suggest that sensory enhancement is a critical component of efficacious memory encoding processes, but top-down enhancement of sensory activity does not adequately explain age-related decrement in memory performance.


The collection of kinematic data with a head-worn sensor is a promising approach for swimming data analysis in the context of athlete support systems. We present a new approach of analyzing these data and describe a system that segments the lanes of a swimming session and classifies the swimming style of each lane. Special emphasis was put on the algorithm efficiency and the analysis of the resource demands to be able to port the implementation to an embedded microcontroller. For developing the system, data of twelve subjects was collected. The data incorporated two different turn styles that mark the end of a lane as well as the four main swimming styles backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. All turns were successfully identified from the turn detection. Our fully automatic swimming style classification reached a classification rate of 95.0%. The results from the resource consumption analysis can be used to support the decision for the embedded target hardware of a head-worn swimming training system.


To support rapid growth, tumors need to synthesize lipids and cholesterol, and stopping production of these metabolites can inhibit tumors. Statins are among the most prescribed and well-tolerated drugs in the world to treat cardiovascular disease by inhibiting cholesterol synthesis. Statins are known to be toxic to cancer cells and have attracted renewed attention because of the increased appreciation of the importance of the regulation of metabolism in tumors. Statins have not progressed beyond clinical trials because some patients significantly benefit, while others do not in a range of cancers. Our strategy is to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of tumor responses to statins and thereby enhance statin toxicity to cancer cells. We have found that combining statins with oxysterols synergistically enhances statin toxicity by 10-fold. Oxysterols are oxidized cholesterol metabolites that naturally occur during cholesterol synthesis. We hypothesize that oxysterols inhibit the expression of cholesterol synthesis through a master regulator of metabolism, SREBP-2, making cells more sensitive to statins. We find that oxysterols enhance statin induced apoptosis and suppress the expression of SREBP-2 along with SREBP-2 targets including HMGCR. We have tested a number of oxysterols that work with a range of efficacies in seven representative ovarian cancer cell lines. P53 status is not a major factor in mediating oxysterol activity. Oxysterols inhibit expression of SREBP-2 leading to lower expression of the statin target, HMGCR, along with lower expression of most of the mevalonate and cholesterol biosynthesis pathways. These observations suggests that the cell's response to statins and not initial expression levels may be most critical to determine which patients may benefit from statin therapy. Current studies are testing the combination in mouse models and evaluating the function and regulation of SREBP-2 in ovarian cancer. In summary, we have discovered an approach to suppress cancer cell's response to statins leading to greatly improved statin efficacy highlighting the importance of the mevalonate and cholesterol pathways in mediating growth and survival.

Citation Format: Cinzia Casella, Alexander S. Brodsky. New approaches to target mevalonate biosynthesis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research: From Concept to Clinic; Sep 18-21, 2013; Miami, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2013;19(19 Suppl):Abstract nr A40.


The in silico simulations and predictions approach in evaluation of pharmacokinetic properties of new chemical entities (NCEs) is fast becoming an acceptable trend in natural products research and drug discovery. This paper focuses on the properties of trolline with respect to its anti-inflammatory and MCF-7 breast cancer cell line growth inhibition effects and an attempt to predict physico-chemical drug-like properties in silico. The compound was isolated for the first time from aerial parts of Mirabilis jalapa and the structure was elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR, FTIR and mass spectroscopic analyses. The compound was screened for anti-inflammatory and anti-MCF-7 cell lines proliferation using chemoluminiscence oxidative burst and MTT assays respectively. Predictions on physico-chemical properties central to oral route drug administration were done using commercial software Admet predictor. Results show anti-inflammatory effects at IC50 concentration of 53.8 µg/ml and 48% mortality of breast cancer cell lines at 50 µM concentration. Predictions suggest moderate solubility of 1.72 to 2.92 mg/ml across pH range of 1.6 to 6.8 in simulated solvent systems and effective jejunal permeability of 5.61 x 10-4 cm/s. The compound was also predicted to be 60% unbound to plasma proteins and an LD50 of 950 mg/kg in rats. The compound, trolline had clinically important bioactive effects, probably possess promising drug-like properties suitable for further high throughput screening.

 Key words: ADMET, anti-inflammatory, in silico prediction, Mirabilis jalapa, NMR, trolline.


This paper deals with multi-echelon integrated purchase, production and distribution planning model in a supply chain system. The manufacturer procures raw material from suppliers then proceed to convert it as finished product, and finally delivers to the distribution centers in order to minimize the total cost of the chain, which faces imprecise and ill-known data, called fuzzy supply, process and demand of customers. The model has been formulated as a fuzzy linear programming model. Here, the triangular fuzzy numbers are considered because the triangular form is the simplest type of fuzzy numbers and gives the most important information about a fuzzy number. The main objective of this paper is to solve fuzzy linear programming problems more efficiently. In order to secularize the fuzzy linear programming model, an evaluation method is used wherein the proposed approach enables the decision maker to obtain alternative decision plans with different degrees of satisfaction. A noteworthy feature of this approach is that it is able to find the membership function of the fuzzy objective value and decision variables which is derived numerically by enumerating different values of ?-cuts of the fuzzy triangular number. Finally, a numerical example is presented to clarify the features of the proposed approach.


During the spring semester of 2010, I have been working on the design of a psychiatric residential treatment facility in Wheelwright, Kentucky as part of the requirements for ID 659, Interior Design Graduate Studio. I am a senior, but was allowed permission to enroll in this class because of my interest in research-based design. The facility will offer therapy services in a home environment for seven adolescents between the ages of ten and seventeen. This paper describes the process that I followed throughout the design process and the specific issues that were addressed in the final solution. The design process involves programming that consists of research on the project type, the establishment of goals and objectives, gathering of relevant information, identification of strategies, space requirements, as well as creating a concept that leads to design development. The following explains how these processes come together to form a design solution unique to the services and mission of Mountain Comprehensive Care Center, an organization providing behavioral healthcare in Eastern Kentucky.


Introduction Living in a rural food desert has been linked to poor dietary habits. Understanding community perspectives about available resources and feasible solutions may inform strategies to improve food access in rural food deserts. The objective of our study was to identify resources and solutions to the food access problems of women in rural, southernmost Illinois. Methods Fourteen focus groups with women (n = 110 participants) in 4 age groups were conducted in a 7-county region as part of a community assessment focused on women's health. We used content analysis with inductive and deductive approaches to explore food access barriers and facilitators. Results Similar to participants in previous studies, participants in our study reported insufficient local food sources, which they believe contributed to poor dietary habits, high food prices, and the need to travel for healthful food. Participants identified existing local activities and resources that help to increase access, such as home and community gardens, food pantries, and public transportation, as well as local solutions, such as improving nutrition education and public transportation options. Conclusion Multilevel and collaborative strategies and policies are needed to address food access barriers in rural communities. At the individual level, education may help residents navigate geographic and economic barriers. Community solutions include collaborative strategies to increase availability of healthful foods through traditional and nontraditional food sources. Policy change is needed to promote local agriculture and distribution of privately grown food. Understanding needs and strengths in rural communities will ensure responsive and effective strategies to improve the rural food environment.


Collaborative Filtering based on similarity suffers from a variety of problems such as sparsity and scalability. In this paper, we propose an ontological model of trust between users on a social network to address the limitations of similarity measure in Collaborative Filtering algorithms. For enhancing the constructed network of users based on trust, we introduce an estimate of a user's trustworthiness called T-index to identify and select neighbors in an effective manner. We employ T-index to store raters of an item in a so-called TopTrustee list which provides information about users who might not be accessible within a predefined maximum path length. An empirical evaluation shows that our solution improves both prediction accuracy and coverage of recommendations collected along few edges that connect users on a social network by exploiting T-index. We also analyze effect of T-index on structure of trust network to justify the results.


Introduction Induction and maintenance of clinical response is a treatment goal for ulcerative colitis (UC). GO-COLITIS (NCT02092285; 2013–004583-56) is a UK phase 4, multicentre, open-label, single-arm trial evaluating the efficacy of golimumab (GLM) in induction and maintenance of clinical response in patients with moderate to severe UC. We report the results of an interim analysis of clinical response at the end of the GLM induction phase. Methods Anti-TNF naive patients (≥18 y) with UC ≥ 3 months and with moderate to severe disease (partial Mayo score 4–9 or Mayo score 6–12) at baseline, Mayo rectal bleeding subscore ≥1, and Mayo endoscopy subscore ≥2 (if full Mayo was used) were included. Patients received SC GLM on day 0 (200 mg) and day 14 (100 mg) during the 6 week induction phase, followed by GLM 50 or 100 mg every 4 weeks during the 48 week maintenance phase with 12 week follow-up, in line with the Summary of Product Characteristics. Clinical response and remission were summarised descriptively at the end of week 6. Clinical response was defined as decrease in partial Mayo score of ≥2 points and ≥30% from baseline, plus either a decrease in rectal bleeding subscore of ≥1 point or an absolute rectal bleeding score ≤1. Patients without scores were considered nonresponders. Clinical remission was defined as partial Mayo score ≤2 and no individual Mayo subscore >1. Results 205 patients were enrolled (mean [range] age, 39.3 [18–79] years; male, n = 123 [60%]). The mean baseline (SD) partial Mayo score was 6.4 (1.4). All patients received one or two doses of induction GLM. Clinical responses occurred in 141/205 patients (response rate, 68.8%; 95% CI, 62.0%–75.1%). Clinical remission occurred in 79/205 patients (remission rate, 38.5%; 95% CI, 31.8%–45.6%). The mean (SD) change from baseline in partial Mayo score (n = 198) was –3.2 (2.4). AEs (any cause) occurred in 37 (18%) patients. Serious AEs occurred in 17 (8%) patients: UC flare/worsening (n = 11), accidental overdose (n = 2), anaphylaxis (n = 1), constipation (n = 1), rectal fissure (n = 1), and respiratory tract infection (n = 1). Eight patients (4%) discontinued due to serious AEs. There were no fatal AEs. Conclusion During the GLM induction phase of GO-COLITIS, 68.8% of patients had a partial Mayo response and were eligible to continue to the 48 week maintenance phase. AEs were consistent with previous observations; no new safety signals were identified. Disclosure of Interest C. Probert Consultant for: Abbvie, MSD, Napp, Takeda, Speaker bureau with: Abbvie, Falk, Ferring, MSD, Shire, Takeda, Conflict with: Abbvie, Falk, MSD, Shire, Takeda, D. Gaya Speaker bureau with: Abbvie, Falk, Ferring, MSD, Shire, Takeda, Vifor, Conflict with: Abbvie, Falk, Ferring, MSD, Shire, Takeda, Vifor, P. Hamlin Speaker bureau with: Abbvie, Ferring, MSD, Takeda, Tillotts, Warner Chilcott, Conflict with: Abbvie, Falk, MSD, Tillotts, P. Irving Grant/research support from: MSD, Takeda, Consultant for: Abbvie, MSD, Takeda, Warner Chilcott, Vifor Pharma. Pharmacosmos, Topivert, Genentech, Hospira, Speaker bureau with: Abbvie, Falk Pharma, Ferring, MSD, Takeda, Warner Chilcott, Johnson and Johnson, Shire, S. Sebastian Grant/research support from: Abbvie, Ferring, Warner Chilcott, Consultant for: Falk Pharma, Ferring, MSD, Takeda, Warner Chilcott, Vifor Pharma, Speaker bureau with: Abbvie, Takeda, Warner Chilcott, G. Gillespie Shareholder of: MSD UK, Conflict with: Employment MSD UK, H. Tate Consultant for: MSD UK, C. Wheeler Shareholder of: MSD UK, Conflict with: Employment MSD UK


An experiment was carried out to examine the effect of variability in computer response time on problem solving in an interactive-graphic environment. Subjects seated at a lightpen-actuated display were required to adjust five parameters to cause a graph plot to lie within an acceptable region; parameter adjustment was achieved by lightpen hits on a light-potentiometer. For a mean response time of 1 s, and a range of 0.2 to 1.8 s, it was found that contrary to a widely held belief, the variability of response time had no effect on the time taken to obtain a solution. The principal effects noted were period effects, demonstrating a change in the subject's strategy and fluency of lightpen use as he worked through three separate attempts at the problem. Some influence of time of day on strategy was in evidence, and there was a suggestion of a degree of correlation between neuroticism and the time taken by the subject to obtain a solution at the first attempt.


The present pure organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials are characterized by heterocyclic molecules containing heavy atoms and carbonyl or sulfonyl groups, and a corresponding great success has been achieved, but few efforts have been made to develop simple and ultralong pure organic RTP emitters without the above groups. Furthermore, homologs and isomers all have the most comparable molecular structure and are more favorable to both the optimization of material properties and the accumulation of structure–property relationships. In the current work, we design and synthesize a series of crystallizable N-alkylcarbazole homologs (Cn) to investigate their phosphorescence properties. It is found that these crystalline powders have ultralong phosphorescence lifetimes of up to 1.2–1.5 s at low temperature, but the RTP lifetimes of C1, C2, and C5 are greatly shortened to 0.4–0.6 s even under degas. In ambient air, the RTP lifetimes of C1, C2 and C5 are further decreased to 200, 23 and 12 ms, respectively, indicating the strong temperature and oxygen sensitivity. In contrast, C3 and C4 can still maintain long RTP lifetimes up to 0.81 and 0.49 s in air, respectively, affording excellent RTP emitters. Single crystal analyses and theoretical calculations reveal that the alkyl chain can affect molecular packing and intersystem crossing, and this work demonstrates that the homolog effect is a useful avenue in manipulating RTP properties and the ambient sensitivity.


We present the fabrication-ready design of a frequency reconfigurable terahertz antenna for photomixers using Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems (NEMS) switches. The proposed antenna is a dipole antenna, where the physical length of the antenna is changed using NEMS switches, which enables high radiation resistance at two different frequencies, namely 320 and 560 GHz. The antenna is designed using HFSS, and it includes and compensates the effects of the NEMS switches, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) bias capacitors, bias resistors, and bias lines for optimum antenna radiation. The simulation results show a high radiation resistance of 190 and 175 Ω at 320 and 560 GHz, respectively, which allows increasing the radiated terahertz power at a wide frequency range.


As outsourcing evolves into a competitive necessity, managers must increasingly contend with the decision about which software development projects to outsource. Although a variety of theories have been invoked to study the initial outsourcing decision, much of this work has relied in isolation on one theoretical perspective. Therefore, the relative importance ascribed by managers to the factors from these theories is poorly understood. The majority of this work also masks interesting insights into outsourcing decisions by focusing on the information technology (IT) function rather than individual projects as the unit of analysis, where many of these decisions occur. In contrast, prior research at the project level has focused on predicting development performance in the postoutsourcing-decision phases of projects. The objective of this study is to examine the relative importance that IT managers ascribe to various factors from three complementary theories—transaction cost economics, agency theory, and knowledge-based theory—as they simultaneously consider them in their project outsourcing decisions. A secondary objective is to assess the cross-cultural robustness (United States versus Japan in this study) of such models in predicting project-level IT outsourcing decisions. We develop and test a multitheoretic model using data on 1,008 project-level decisions collected from 33 Japanese and 55 U.S. managers. Overall, our results provide novel insights into the relative importance that managers ascribe to the factors from these three theories, their complementarities and occasional contradictions, and offer new insights into the differences among U.S. and Japanese IT managers. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.


We introduce blind channel identification and equalization for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system without using a guard interval (GI). Inter-symbol-interference (ISI) is significantly reduced by truncation method. To perform channel identification, Subspace and Maximum Likelihood methods are proposed. To achieve enhanced performance and robustness to channel frequency nulls, receiver diversity and OFDM is combined. The performance of the proposed system is illustrated by computer simulations.


A 0.9V, OSpA, rail-to-rail CMOS operational amplifier designed with weak inversion techniques is presented. Depletion-mode NMOS transistors buffer a bulk-driven PMOS differential pair to realize wide input dynamic range, while the output stage architecture provides symmetric railto-rail output drive through the use of a low voltage translinear control circuit.


In the past, multimode transmission through fibers has not been considered a preferred means of signal propagation due to the intermodal dispersion, which limits the data rate. However, recently, there has been an interest in using different modes as individual channels to increase the overall data rate. However, the challenging task in implementing such a system is that each individual mode has to be excited separately without mixing, and these should remain separated even at the bents and splices, and finally, they need to be collected separately. In this paper, design and optimization of a compact optical mode splitter by introducing a small slot in a silicon nanowire waveguide is demonstrated by employing a full-vectorial finite element method. The authors report here that by creating a slot within a waveguide, the desired coupling length ratio of 1:2 between the fundamental and the second modes can be obtained. The waveguide junctions have also been analyzed by using a rigorous least squares boundary residual method to study power transfer efficiency and effect of fabrication tolerances.