A ridged lithium niobate electrooptical (EO) modulator with low driving voltage and reduced size is proposed. In particular, the electrodes of the proposed device are extended to the sidewalls of the ridge slopes to make the electric and optical fields much more overlapped than those reported. For a more detailed simulation, the electric and optical fields involved in the overlap integral are numerically calculated rather than by using approximate analytic solutions. Experimental results show that the half-wave voltage is reduced by at least 15% in comparison to that of an EO modulator without extended electrode configuration. As both the electrode length and gap are decreased, the device sizes can be reduced by about 18%.


fMRI has established itself as the main research tool in neuroscience and brain cognitive research. The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a non‐human primate model of increasing interest in biomedical research. However, commercial MRI coils for marmosets are not generally available. The present work describes the design and construction of a four‐channel receive‐only surface RF coil array with excellent signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) specifically optimized for fMRI experiments in awake marmosets in response to somatosensory stimulation. The array was designed as part of a helmet‐based head restraint system used to prevent motion during the scans. High SNR was obtained by building the coil array using a thin and flexible substrate glued to the inner surface of the restraint helmet, so as to minimize the distance between the array elements and the somatosensory cortex. Decoupling between coil elements was achieved by partial geometrical overlapping and by connecting them to home‐built low‐input‐impedance preamplifiers. In vivo images show excellent coverage of the brain cortical surface with high sensitivity near the somatosensory cortex. Embedding the coil elements within the restraint helmet allowed fMRI data in response to somatosensory stimulation to be collected with high sensitivity and reproducibility in conscious, awake marmosets. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.


Over the last few years it has become clear that mitochondria are not only the powerhouses of the cells, having their sole function in producing ATP. Proteome-analyses of mitochondria from different organisms and organs revealed that more than 1000 proteins are localized in and or on the mitochondria. This by far exceeds the number of proteins required for classical mitochondrial functions, e.g. the respiratory chain, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, fatty acid oxidation and apoptosis. This suggests that many of these proteins have other, as yet unknown functions. We identified Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (TERT), an enzyme that, in the nucleus, protects telomeres, the ends of the chromosomes, against shortening, also in the mitochondria. However, up to now only (TERT) deficient cells and mice or TERT overexpressing cells were used to study nuclear and mitochondrial functions of TERT. In this context, we demonstrated that reduction of endogenous TERT leads to increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the cytosol as well as in the mitochondria. To analyze now specifically the functions of mitochondrial TERT, we isolated TERT deficient fibroblasts and transduced them with lentiviruses containing mitochondrially targeted TERT. We first validated these newly generated cells for transgene insertion and expression. Next, we analyzed compartment specific ROS production and apoptosis in the cells. We observed a reduction specifically in the levels of mitochondrial, but not cytosolic ROS. Moreover, apoptosis induction was significantly reduced in these cells compared to TERT deficient cells as well as cells containing endogenous TERT. Thus, mitochondrial TERT specifically reduces mitochondrially produced ROS and protects cells against apoptosis. In comparison to nuclear TERT, which has the main function to prolong telomeres, mitochondrial TERT specifically protects mitochondria from damage. Currently, we are creating mice that carry mitochondrially targeted TERT on an otherwise TERT deficient background for in vivo experiments.


This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the relevant topics linked to the various aspects of cyber crime and focuses on the circumstances in India as developing countries. The paper contains four main topics. After an introduction (1st topic), it provides an overview of the phenomena of cyber crime and its causes (2nd topic). It followed descriptions of kinds of cyber crimes are committed in India and explanations as to why they have might be committed. An overview of the legal instruments over cyber crime is also provided in it (3rd topic). It continues with an analysis of different case laws with regard to cyber crime, its procedural law, digital evidence (4th topic).


reticular neurones.5 There is now known to exist in the reticular formation a collection of noradrenergic neurones with widespread afferent connections from both somatic and visceral sources. These neurones send axones upwards to the hypothalamus and neurohypophysis and downwards to the sympathetic outflow in the lateral columns of the spinal cord.6 It is when bacterial toxins gain access to the diencephalon that their most severe and widespread peripheral effects occur. The late James Reilly's claim to fame will most probably rest on his demonstration that all bacterial toxins, despite their specific antigenic properties, produce virtually the same acute non-specific pathological lesions through a common affinity for sympathetic nervous tissue, which reach their maximum intensity on entering the blood stream and reaching the central nervous system.7 Such affinity was vividly illustrated in Reilly's laboratory by Guy Tardieu, who by intraventricular injection of 0 005 g of typhoid endotoxin into dogs produced an immediate typhoid state, accompanied by fever, loss of weight, albuminuria, and raised blood urea, together with "abundant liquid diarrhoea."8 This abundant liquid diarrhoea must surely be the result of centrally induced vascular or endocrine activity, or both. It is reasonable to suggest, therefore, that the ability of chlorpromazine to reduce similar symptoms in patients with cholera is more likely to be related to a central than a peripheral action. D A BUXTON HOPKIN


Distribution, habitat use and survival of transplanted Columbian sharp-tailed grouse in the Tobacco Plains, Montana were studied from April, 1990 to August, 1991. For transplant purposes, 12 grouse (5 female and 7 male) were trapped on dancing grounds near Douglas Lake, British Columbia, Canada during spring, 1990. In April, 1991, trapping of 4 female and 2 male grouse for transplant occurred on the Sand Creek Wildlife Management Area in southeast Idaho while 3 additional males were transplanted from Douglas Lake. Minimum annual survival of transplanted grouse in the Tobacco Plains is relatively high (47%). High survival is possibly due to 2 factors: (1) topography and habitat characteristics that discourage dispersal and (2) the presence of limited but relatively good habitat. Two of 18 radio-equipped grouse dispersed out of the study area, while 2 others survived in the area for over 590 days. A negative correlation in distances moved between consecutive relocations and length of survival was seen in radio-equipped grouse in this study. Data collected during this study showed the importance of habitat associated with the Dancing Prairie Preserve. Three of 5 females transplanted in 1990 attempted to nest after being released. Nesting and brood rearing sites were characterized bymore » dense grass cover with an average effective height {ge}20 cm. Shrub cover was associated only with brood rearing sites. Overall habitat use by transplanted Columbian Sharp-tailed grouse showed an apparent avoidance of agricultural land and use of other habitat types in proportion to their availability.« less


The present study explored the effect of reading texts in an electronic learning environment for 46 adult second language learners of Dutch with different proficiency levels. The reading materials were selected dynamically, based on the "fit" between the vocabulary proficiency of individual students and the relative difficulty of the texts. Text difficulty was determined on the basis of the relative proportion of words unknown to the learner (lemma coverage). The texts were analyzed, selected and presented online, accompanied by a personalized electronic dictionary with words that were assumed to be unknown to the reader. The vocabulary learned implicitly while reading was measured in a pretest - treatment - posttest design. The learners read three texts, with lemma coverages of 92%, 90% and 85%, respectively. The relation between dictionary use and word retention was also examined.The study revealed an average word-learning improvement of 32,5%, with no differences between texts with a 92%, 90% or 85% lemma coverage. With respect to dictionary use, the learners looked up an average of 8.0 words. Two-thirds of these words were known to them; they looked up only one-third of the unknown words. We found there was a relation between dictionary use and the retention of unknown words. We concluded that the method we propose for an automated adaptive selection of reading texts and individualized dictionaries ensures that learners of different proficiency levels receive linguistic input that is best suited to their abilities.


Second place winner of poster presentations in the Social Science section at the 12th Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Forum (URCAF) held at the Rhatigan Student Center , Wichita State University, April 3, 2012


AIM
To assess: (1) frequency and clinical relevance of gluten sensitive enteropathy (GSE) detected by serology in a mass screening program; (2) sensitivity of antitransglutaminase (tTGA) and antiendomysium antibodies (EmA); and (3) adherence to gluten-free diet (GFD) and follow-up.

METHODS
One thousand, eight hundred and sixty-eight subjects recruited from an occupational health department underwent analysis for tTGA and EmA and, if positive, duodenal biopsy, DQ2/DQ8 genotyping, clinical feature recording, blood tests, and densitometry were performed. Since > 98% of individuals had tTGA < 2 U/mL, this value was established as the cut-off limit of normality and was considered positive when confirmed twice in the same sample. Adherence to a GFD and follow up were registered.

RESULTS
Twenty-six (1.39%) subjects had positive tTGA and/or EmA, and 21 underwent biopsy: six Marsh III (one IIIa, four IIIb, one IIIc), nine Marsh I and six Marsh 0 (frequency of GSE 1:125). The sensitivity of EmA for GSE was 46.6% (11.1% for Marsh I, 100% for Marsh III), while for tTGA, it was 93.3% (88.8% for Marsh I, 100% for Marsh III). All 15 patients with abnormal histology had clinical features related to GSE. Marsh I and III subjects had more abdominal pain than Marsh 0 (P = 0.029), and a similar trend was observed for distension and diarrhea. No differences in the percentage of osteopenia were found between Marsh I and III (P = 0.608). Adherence to follow-up was 69.2%. Of 15 GSE patients, 66.7% followed a GFD with 80% responding to it.

CONCLUSION
GSE in the general population is frequent and clinically relevant, irrespective of histological severity. tTGA is the marker of choice. Mass screening programs are useful in identifying patients who can benefit from GFD and follow-up.


Abstract. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) is NASA's first satellite dedicated to monitoring CO2 from space and could provide novel insight into CO2 fluxes across the globe. However, one continuing challenge is the development of a robust retrieval algorithm: an estimate of atmospheric CO2 from satellite observations of near-infrared radiation. The OCO-2 retrievals have undergone multiple updates since the satellite's launch, and the retrieval algorithm is now on its ninth version. Some of these retrieval updates, particularly version 8, led to marked changes in the CO2 observations, changes of 0.5 ppm or more. In this study, we evaluate the extent to which current OCO-2 observations can constrain monthly CO2 sources and sinks from the biosphere, and we particularly focus on how this constraint has evolved with improvements to the OCO-2 retrieval algorithm. We find that improvements in the CO2 retrieval are having a potentially transformative effect on satellite-based estimates of the global biospheric carbon balance. The version 7 OCO-2 retrievals formed the basis of early inverse modeling studies using OCO-2 data; these observations are best equipped to constrain the biospheric carbon balance across only continental or hemispheric regions. By contrast, newer versions of the retrieval algorithm yield a far more detailed constraint, and we are able to constrain CO2 budgets for seven global biome-based regions, particularly during the Northern Hemisphere summer when biospheric CO2 uptake is greatest. Improvements to the OCO-2 observations have had the largest impact on glint-mode observations, and we also find the largest improvements in the terrestrial CO2 flux constraint when we include both nadir and glint data.


Last year's editorial described a new format for the PDF version of articles published in Section E of Acta Crystallographica, due for introduction in March 2007. We are pleased that the transition to this new format from the previous one went very smoothly. At the same time, enhanced HTML and PDF supplements became available, providing full details of submitted structural results in a convenient and attractive form. Overall the change has led to a significantly shorter average length for published articles (1.6 instead of 2.5 pages), a small reduction in the average time from submission to publication (from 0.9 to 0.8 months), and a reduction in the average cost of publication of articles. This last factor was one reason for changing the publication format, following a decision by the IUCr Executive Committee to move the journal's operation and distribution from a subscription basis to an open-access model – the first journal of the IUCr to take this step. The intention was to keep the open-access fee, charged to authors, as low as possible. This has been achieved successfully, with a standard fee of only USD 150, when the open-access charges of most scientific journals for full research papers are in the thousands of dollars. The resulting combination of free access to the journal for all readers, a low charge to authors, a range of generous discounts from the standard fee and the high quality of the publication package provided by the journal is proving very attractive, and the drying up of submissions predicted by some observers following this major change has not occurred: over 100 papers were submitted in the first three weeks of 2008, equivalent to an annual rate approaching half of that reached in 2006 when there were no charges to authors and the journal was using the previous longer format. For full information on the open-access mechanism, including available discounts, see the journal web site at http://journals.iucr.org/e/, where links can also be found to the updated Notes for Authors and other information and services for authors and readers. These include the free software publCIF, which provides excellent and easy-to-use facilities for turning a raw CIF from a refinement program into a suitable submission for the IUCr journals.

As a result of these changes, 2007 was a very challenging year, especially for the IUCr editorial staff in Chester, to whom we express our heartfelt thanks; we hope they will find 2008 a little easier as a result of their hard work. A continuing growth in manuscript submissions, and particularly the huge surge of papers submitted just before the change to open access, also put considerable strain on our team of Co-editors, and we are grateful to them for their extra efforts and patience, as well as to a number of Section C Co-editors who accepted a short-term extra allocation of papers from Section E to spread this burden. Table 1 ▶ below illustrates well what a difficult time this was for all concerned. Indeed, the flood of submissions in November was so great that the decision had to be taken, reluctantly, to close the submission system for a few days near the end of the month, as it was becoming impossible to handle all the submissions.

Table 1

Papers submitted in each month of 2007.

The total number of papers published in 2007 was 5181, compared with 3991 in 2006 and 2887 in 2005. Of these, 61% described organic, 36% metal-organic and 3% inorganic structures. 49% of papers had the main correspondence author in China, 8% in India, 6% in the USA, 5% in Germany, 4% in the UK, 3% in Malaysia, 3% in Turkey, and smaller percentages in other countries. 17% of submitted papers were withdrawn or rejected for various reasons. The journal's official impact factor stayed almost the same as the previous year, at 0.567; it will be interesting to see if there is a significant increase in this as a result of the potentially wider readership resulting from open access.

Professors S. Ohba and M. R. M. da Silva retired as Co-editors during the last year, and we thank them for their service to the journal. The current year will bring some significant changes in personnel. Both the founding Section Editors will be retiring from this role at the International Crystallography Congress in Osaka in August, and the task of appointing successors is currently underway. We expect that there may also be a small number of changes to the Co-editorial board; details will be given in a future editorial.

Among the most common changes made by Co-editors and Section Editors in the handling of manuscripts and proofs are corrections to references for computer software used in the control of diffractometers, data processing, structure solution and refinement, and the production of graphics and publication material. For many of the most commonly used programs there are standard references, either to a description in a published journal article or to a program writer or distributor; in some cases, citation of the standard reference in publications is a condition of use of the software. For convenience we provide below a list of standard references for many of these programs, which should generally be used in submissions to this journal. These will be incorporated in publCIF so that they may be readily inserted by users of that program in preparing a CIF for publication. Note that version numbers should not be given for programs. Alternative addresses of regional offices of commercial firms may also be given instead of those provided below. The list is not exhaustive.

ABSCOR:

Higashi, T. (1995). ABSCOR. Rigaku Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.

APEX, APEX2, SMART, SAINT, SAINT-Plus:

Bruker (2007). Program name(s). Bruker AXS Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA. [Older versions (pre-1997) should refer to Siemens Analytical X-ray Instruments Inc. instead of Bruker AXS.]

CAD-4 Software:

Enraf–Nonius (1989). CAD-4 Software (or CAD-4 EXPRESS). Enraf–Nonius, Delft, The Netherlands.

Cambridge Structural Database:

Allen, F. R. (2002). Acta Cryst. B58, 380–388.

CAMERON:

Watkin, D. J., Prout, C. K. & Pearce, L. J. (1996). CAMERON. Chemical Crystallography Laboratory, Oxford, England.

CrysAlis CCD, CrysAlis RED and associated programs:

Oxford Diffraction (2006). Program name(s). Oxford Diffraction Ltd, Abingdon, England.

CRYSTALS:

Betteridge, P. W., Carruthers, J. R., Cooper, R. I., Prout, K. & Watkin, D. J. (2003). J. Appl. Cryst. 36, 1487.

COLLECT:

Nonius [or Hooft, R. W. W.] (1998). COLLECT. Nonius BV, Delft, The Netherlands.

DENZO/SCALEPACK:

Otwinowski, Z. & Minor, W. (1997). Methods in Enzymology, Vol. 276, Macromolecular Crystallography, Part A, edited by C. W. Carter Jr & R. M. Sweet, pp. 307–326. New York: Academic Press.

DIAMOND:

Brandenburg, K. [or Brandenburg, K. & Putz, H., or Brandenburg, K. & Berndt, M.] (1999). DIAMOND. Crystal Impact GbR, Bonn, Germany.

DIF4 and REDU4:

Stoe & Cie (1991). Program name(s). Stoe & Cie, Darmstadt, Germany.

DIRAX:

Duisenberg, A. J. M. (1992). J. Appl. Cryst. 25, 92–96.

enCIFer:

Allen, F. H., Johnson, O., Shields, G. P., Smith, B. R. & Towler, M. (2004). J. Appl. Cryst. 37, 335–338.

EVALCCD:

Duisenberg, A. J. M., Kroon-Batenburg, L. M. J. & Schreurs, A. M. M. (2003). J. Appl. Cryst. 36, 220–229.

JANA2000:

Petřicek, V. & Dusek, M. (2000). JANA2000. Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.

Mercury:

Macrae, C. F., Edgington, P. R., McCabe, P., Pidcock, E., Shields, G. P., Taylor, R., Towler, M. & van de Streek, J. (2006). J. Appl. Cryst. 39, 453–457.

Mogul:

Bruno, I. J., Cole, J. C., Kessler, M., Luo, J., Motherwell, W. D. S., Purkis, L. H., Smith, B. R., Taylor, R., Cooper, R. I., Harris, S. E. & Orpen, A. G. (2004). J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci. 44, 2133–2144.

ORTEPII:

Johnson, C. K. (1976). ORTEPII. Report ORNL-5138. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, USA.

ORTEPIII:

Burnett, M. N. & Johnson, C. K. (1996). ORTEPIII. Report ORNL-6895. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, USA.

ORTEP-3:

Farrugia, L. J. (1997). J. Appl. Cryst. 30, 565.

PARST:

Nardelli, M. (1995). J. Appl. Cryst. 28, 659.

PLATON:

Spek, A. L. (2003). J. Appl. Cryst. 36, 7–13.

PROCESS:

Rigaku (1996). PROCESS. Rigaku Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.

PROCESS-AUTO:

Rigaku (1998). PROCESS-AUTO. Rigaku Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.

publCIF:

Westrip, S. P. (2008). publCIF. In preparation.

SADABS, TWINABS:

Bruker (2001). Program name. Bruker AXS Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

or

Sheldrick, G. M. (1996). Program name. University of Gottingen, Germany.

All programs beginning with SHELX:

Sheldrick, G. M. (2008). Acta Cryst. A64, 112–122.

SIR92:

Altomare, A., Cascarano, G., Giacovazzo, C., Guagliardi, A., Burla, M. C., Polidori, G. & Camalli, M. (1994). J. Appl. Cryst. 27, 435.

SIR97:

Altomare, A., Burla, M. C., Camalli, M., Cascarano, G. L., Giacovazzo, C., Guagliardi, A., Moliterni, A. G. G., Polidori, G. & Spagna, R. (1999). J. Appl. Cryst. 32, 115–119.

SIR2002:

Burla, M. C., Camalli, M., Carrozzini, B., Cascarano, G. L., Giacovazzo, C., Polidori, G. & Spagna, R. (2003). J. Appl. Cryst. 36, 1103.

TEXSAN:

Molecular Structure Corporation & Rigaku (2000). TEXSAN. MSC, The Woodlands, Texas, USA, and Rigaku Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.

WinGX:

Farrugia, L. J. (1999). J. Appl. Cryst. 32, 837–838.

X-AREA, X-RED, X-RED32, X-SHAPE:

Stoe & Cie (2002). Program name(s). Stoe & Cie, Darmstadt, Germany.

XCAD4:

Harms, K. & Wocadlo, S. (1995). XCAD4. University of Marburg, Germany.

XSCANS:

Siemens (1994). XSCANS. Siemens Analytical X-ray Instruments Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

X-SEED:

Barbour, L. J. (2001). J. Supramol. Chem. 1, 189–191.


We assessed the potential value of hydrologic forecasting improvements for a snow-dominated highelevation hydropower system in the Sierra Nevada of California, using a hydropower optimization model. To mimic different forecasting skill levels for inflow time series, rest-of-year inflows from regression-based forecasts were blended in different proportions with representative inflows from a spatially distributed hydrologic model. The statistical approach mimics the simpler, historical forecasting approach that is still widely used. Revenue was calculated using historical electricity prices, with perfect price foresight assumed. With current infrastructure and operations, perfect hydrologic forecasts increased annual hydropower revenue by $0.14 to $1.6 million, with lower values in dry years and higher values in wet years, or about $0.8 million (1.2%) on average, representing overall willingness-to-pay for perfect information. A second sensitivity analysis found a wider range of annual revenue gain or loss using different skill levels in snow measurement in the regression-based forecast, mimicking expected declines in skill as the climate warms and historical snow measurements no longer represent current conditions. The value of perfect forecasts was insensitive to storage capacity for small and large reservoirs, relative to average inflow, and modestly sensitive to storage capacity with medium (current) reservoir storage. The value of forecasts was highly sensitive to powerhouse capacity, particularly for the range of capacities in the northern Sierra Nevada. The approach can be extended to multireservoir, multipurpose systems to help guide investments in forecasting.


The purpose of this research is to develop advance conducting material blended with metal oxides that held both conducting and antimicrobial properties and due to this, applicable in many biomedical fields. The synthesis of nanoparticles of copper oxide (CuO) is performed by the chemical co-precipitation method and the synthesis of pure polyaniline (PANI) and PANI-CuO nanocomposites were performed by using in-situ chemical oxidative synthesis. The structural analysis was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Ultraviolet – Visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectrometry. The peaks obtained in spectra validate the fabrication of desired materials. The average particle size of synthesized materials was calculated using the Debye Scherrer formula, which was found in the nanoscale range. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images explored the morphology of CuO and PANI-CuO composite. The direct current (DC) conductivity measurement of samples was performed by the four-probe method for various temperatures. The values showed an increase of electrical conductivity in the composite as compared to PANI and supported the metallic nature of the composite. The antibacterial activity of composites was performed by disk diffusion method using Bacillus subtilis (Gram + ve bacteria) and Escherichia coli (Gram–ve bacteria) and the results are encouraging.


Prior to this paper, all small simple groups were known to be efficient, but the status of four of their covering groups was unknown. Nice, efficient presentations are provided in this paper for all of these groups, resolving the previously unknown cases. The authors' presentations are better than those that were previously available, in terms of both length and computational properties. In many cases, these presentations have minimal possible length. The results presented here are based on major amounts of computation. Substantial use is made of systems for computational group theory and, in particular, of computer implementations of coset enumeration. To assist in reducing the number of relators, theorems are provided to enable the amalgamation of power relations in certain presentations. The paper concludes with a selection of unsolved problems about efficient presentations for simple groups and their covers.


BACKGROUND
Imported fire ants (IFA) represent a potential anaphylactic risk to IFA-sensitized individuals.

OBJECTIVE
We examined the prevalence of allergic sensitization to IFA, yellow jacket venom (YJV), and peanut in an adult population from an IFA-infested region, Augusta, Georgia.

METHODS
Specific IgE to IFA, YJV, and peanut were determined by using the Pharmacia UniCAP assay in 200 random blood donors from an Augusta blood bank. These results were compared with specific IgE to identical allergens in a random sample of blood donors from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (OKC), a nonendemic region for IFA.

RESULTS
Prevalence of IFA-specific IgE (17%) in the Augusta population was significantly higher than to YJV (10%, P =.04) or peanut (7.5%, P =.004). The majority of individuals who had significant IgE to IFA (> or =0.35 kIU/L) did not have IgE to YJV (24/34 = 71%). YJV caused significantly more inhibition of IgE binding to a YJV solid phase than to an IFA solid phase when the 10 dual-positive sera were analyzed (58% vs 11%, P =.005). The prevalence of IFA-specific IgE in adults from Augusta was higher than in OKC (17% vs 2%, P =.0002). YJV-specific IgE was also more prevalent in Augusta compared with OKC (10% vs 6.0%, P =.04), whereas no difference was demonstrated for peanut-specific IgE (7.5% vs 6.5%, P =.6).

CONCLUSIONS
Allergic specific IgE to IFA is 1.7 times more common in adults living in an endemic area than specific IgE for other allergens associated with potentially fatal anaphylaxis. This suggests that IFA may pose the greatest risk of anaphylaxis for adults residing in IFA-endemic regions.


Nomad Technology (Innoprot [Innovative Technologies in Biological Systems], Derio, Spain), a novel tool for multiplexing high-throughput cell-based G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) assays, is described in this work. This new technology comprises a family of fluorescent biosensors called Nomad Biosensors that allow for the measurement of responses mediated by G proteins through their interactions with second-messenger transduction proteins. GPCRs are one of the largest protein families of receptors in eukaryotes, and their signaling mediates important physiological processes within cells. Thus, GPCRs are associated with a wide variety of diseases, and considered major targets in therapeutic research. Nomad constitutes a novel tool for unraveling the mechanism of GPCR signal transduction by simultaneously tracing different pathways. GPCR activation changes the structural folding of the biosensor and promotes its vesicularization, as well as an increase in the fluorescence intensity. Based on this technology, the MPXNomad cellular model was developed to discriminate between the Ca2+-mediated pathway and the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)–mediated pathway. To validate this model, endothelin receptor B (ETBR) was coexpressed into the MPXNomad cell line and assessed with a specific agonist, an antagonist, and a chemical library of compounds. Nomad Technology optimizes the identification of novel GPCR ligands and enables the testing of large numbers of compounds.


Background Thromboelastograph (TEG) has been recently introduced into obstetric care so that coagulation failure can be promptly treated. It is useful in massive obstetric haemorrhage (MOH) and DIC secondary to pre-eclampsia or sepsis. The University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) follow an algorithm for the prescription of blood products based on TEG result. The RCOG or UHL currently do not include use of TEG in their guideline for massive obstetric haemorrhage or PPH. Methods 10 patient case notes were reviewed from January 2010 to December 2010. The notes were selected randomly from those known to have had a TEG. We evaluated whether the TEG result influenced the blood products given to the patient. Results Of the 10 case notes analysed, the majority had TEG investigation performed because of massive obstetric haemorrhage and two because of suspected DIC secondary to pre-eclampsia. In all cases, TEG helped identify those who needed rapid transfusion of blood products and aided further definitive management. TEG result was only abnormal in blood loss of >2500mls. The TEG algorithm was followed in 50% of abnormal results. Documentation regarding the use of TEG was consistently poor. Conclusions TEG is an invaluable investigation in PPH, especially in patients with blood loss >2500mls or DIC. The clinical condition of the patient remains central and explains why occasionally blood products were not given despite abnormal TEG. We aim to implement guidelines for the use of TEG in PPH >1500mls and a sticker for the patient notes to aid better documentation.


This volume collects a series of essays that I have written over the last decade on businesses that create value by providing products that enable two or more different types of customers to get together, find each other, and exchange value. Part I presents background pieces on the economics of multi-sided platforms and industries in which these platforms are common. Part II examines the antitrust economics of two-sided markets including defining the difficult problem of defining the boundaries of competition. Part III comprises several papers that apply two-sided market analysis to web-based businesses. Part IV does the same for payment cards which is the industry that attracted much of the early two-sided analysis - in part because this framework was helpful for understanding the hotly debated issue of interchange fees. Part V collects several article and book chapters on software platforms. These platforms have become especially important in the last several years because they are now the basis for revolutionary developments with mobile devices (e.g. the iPhone and Android), social networking (Facebook in particular), and payments (PayPalX). The essays are published as originally written (usually, in fact, whatever version could be made freely available). The book itself consists of a series of urls (website addresses) that enable the reader to download these papers.


Noise detection-based median filters have been widely adopted to reduce salt and pepper noise in images. However, since noise pixel is not detected accurately, it is likely to blur the fringe of image under the high noise density. In this paper, we propose an algorithm of salt and pepper noise filter which is based on GA-BP algorithm noise detector to remove the salt and pepper noise in images. The algorithm firstly detect the location of noise pixels by using optimized GA-BP network,then,it introduce edge-preserving function and PRP algorithm to solve the objective function of extreme value further to realize the image denoising. Compared with the traditional algorithms, experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has an evident improvement, and have good characters of generalization, robust and self-adaptive.


Purpose to discuss the fitting tips and tricks of challenging cases of keratoconus with a special design of RGP lens namely Rose K2 lens

Methods The study was carried on 52 keratoconic eyes fitted with Rose K2 lens. They were topographically classified into low cones, small steep cones, early cones, advanced cones and toric cones. The appropriate lens parameters were selected accordingly. Successful fitting was evaluated by lens position, movement, fluorescein pattern, visual acuity, residual astigmatism, patient comfort, maximum wearing time per day and corneal integrity.

Results The keratoconic eyes were successfully fitted as follow: lenses with bigger diameter and considerably flatter base curve than normal were used to fit the low cones, lenses with flatter base curve, minimum diameter and maximum edge lift were used in small steep cones. Keeping the lens as small as possible and considerably steeper base curve than normal were used in advanced cones. Early cones were fitted with larger diameter lenses with decreased edge lift. Toric or astigmatic corneas were fitted acceptably either by reducing the overall diameter of the lens or using toric RGP lens. With the previous lens parameters, most of patients (96%) tolerated their lenses with maximum wearing time per day 11± 2.5 hours. No corneal staining or abrasion was encountered in studied eyes. Lenses were centrally positioned with adequate movement and acceptable fluorescein pattern. Best corrected visual acuity was significantly increased compared to the baseline visual acuity with significantly decreased astigmatism.

Conclusion Patients with keratoconic corneas are sometimes challenging to fit and time consuming, but if well fitted with appropriate lens parameters, they appreciate the benefits provided by their contact lenses i


SIR,-The news article on Porton International' was misleading and contained some important inaccuracies. Mr Peter Marsh says that the herpes vaccine developed by Dr Skinner of Birmingham University took much longer than expected to progress through clinical trials in the United States and that the trials have now been abandoned. Both statements are inaccurate and misleading. As readers will be aware genital herpes is a complex condition and there are several aspects of the disease that can be addressed by the product developed by Dr Skinner. Initially Porton intended to concentrate on the use of the product as a vaccine to prevent or mitigate initial infection. But after an analysis of the scientific and commercial potential of the product and discussion with all the parties concerned in the development programme it was decided that it should be evaluated as a treatment to alleviate the condition in patients with herpes. Having taken this decision well structured double blind clinical trials for this indication were set up in the United States at three centres, and these have been carried out to the highest standards. While it can be argued that had we proceeded with trials for prevention of the infection they would have been completed earlier these trials were conducted in the fastest time possible consistent with trial design, patient recruitment, and the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration. Mr Marsh says that Porton has taken a decision to abandon the trials. This is untrue. The trials have been completed on time, fully analysed, and a preliminary indication of the results made public in a letter to shareholders on 19 April. The aim of clinical trials is to conduct objective experiments to establish whether a particular treatment is beneficial or not. Inevitably not every trial will produce a positive result in terms of showing clinical benefits. But well conducted trials can have immense value scientifically, and we believe that this is the case with our herpes trials. Though we are disappointed by the lack of clinical efficacy, we are proud to have carried out this work and supported an idea derived in a British university. Far from having abandoned this project we are still considering ways in which it can be brought to the market for the benefit of patients and their consorts. JOHN V BURKE


Multi-agent systems are employed to model complex systems, which can be decomposed into several interacting pieces called agents. In such systems, agents exist, evolve and interact within an environment. In this report we present a language for the speci cation of such environments. This Environment Speci cation Language (ESL), as we call it, de nes both structural and dynamic aspects of environments. Structurally, ESL connects agents by a social network, in which the link between agents is speci ed as the capability that one agent has to act upon another. Dynamically, ESL provides operations that can be composed together in order to create a number of di erent environmental situations and to respond appropriately to agents' actions. These features are founded on a mathematical model that we provide and that de nes rigorously what constitutes an environment. Formality is achieved by employing the πcalculus process algebra in order to give the semantics of this model. This allows, in particular, a simple characterization of the evolution of the environment structure. Moreover, owing to this formal semantics, it is possible to perform formal analyses on environments thus described. For the sake of illustration, a concrete example of environment speci cation using ESL is also given.


Bureaucratic reform Determination of laws and regulations with the aim that a more orderly, non-overlapping, and conducive agreement. Environmental regulation, governance and governance of forest natural resources consists of one factor that needs attention, because the exploitation of wood using machine technology will produce in a relatively short time. At the level of existing legal instruments overlapping authorities are also not in harmony with regulations because at the ministerial level related to legal products that do not provide space for customary law communities governing customary forests More are responsible for instruments made unilaterally by realizing indigenous peoples to register his right to the ministry, even though the customary community living in his environment asked him not to trust his customary rights because customary rights had existed since before they were issued not announced but carried out naturally by generations. Legal instruments that are not participatory against indigenous peoples will result in customary forest management systems that are not well organized, so that the community will be provoked by community needs in this case primary industrial timber entrepreneurs who receive timber forest products from indigenous peoples will be exploited using unsupported responsibilities The impact of disharmony regulations on the collection of timber forest products at the central and regional levels is not responsible for the community to utilize their own customary forests and the environment and forests will increase shrinkage and carrying capacity of the world's lungs is not optimal.


In a grid investigation, dinoflagellate cysts were collected from sediments in Xiamen Western Harbor in May of 2000,from which five species of cysts were identified: Alexandrium tamarensis, A. minutum, Lingulodinium polyedra,Gonyaulax scrippsae and Gymnodinium catenatum, account for about 21% in the species composition. The quantitative analysis of the sediments shows that the number of dinoflagellate cysts varies from 51 to 256 cysts/g of sediment, the highest value (>200 cysts/g) being recorded at the stations of the central part of the bay, while the lowest (<100 cysts/g) at the bay mouth. A good linear relationship is found between cyst amount and fine-grained sediments. Complex physiognomies on the seabed, topographty in the bay and weak water exchange are the main factors not only in cyst accumulation but also in their distribution pattern, and have resulted in the difference in cyst densities between the inner bay and the outer bay in the harbor.


In Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner, the Court of Justice of the European Union found that national security surveillance by foreign countries undermines the privacy rights of Europeans. In so finding, the Court struck down the most important data transfer mechanism between the European Union and the United States. Much more than just derailing the EU-US Safe Harbor arrangement, this could spell the demise for every legal mechanism used to transfer data out of Europe, with significant implications on global trade. Already, a challenge to standard contractual clauses has been brought before the Court of Justice. Existing adequacy determinations for transfers to other countries could also be at risk, as it is doubtful that the European Commission explored government access when approving them. In the early 2000s, Canada gained adequate status on the basis of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), an omnibus privacy law designed to keep pace with Europe and assure access to its market. But PIPEDA focused only on the data handling practices of Canada's private sector, without limitations on national security access. Now it too seems vulnerable to the same attack. This article looks at Canada as a test case for the resilience of the other existing adequacy regimes. By exploring the national security apparatus in Canada, this article examines the new test for adequacy that flows from the Schrems ruling.


Steel sheet-pilings are one of the most common types of quay walls used in the construction of ports and harbors facilities, especially for berths of small crafts which have small dimensions and capacity. Due to the growing market of marine traffic around the world, an increasing number of these berths are required to be upgraded to meet the requirements of permanently growing dimensions and capacity of vessels. Several methods can be used to increase the load-carrying capacity of steel sheet-piling walls. The use of additional anchored tie rods grouted into the backfill soil and arranged along the exposed wall height is one of the most appropriate solutions adopted for rehabilitation and upgrading of the existing quay wall.  An extensive parametric study through the finite element program, PLAXIS, version 8.2 was carried out to investigate the enhancement of using grouted anchors technique on the load response of sheet-piling quay wall. The influence of sheet-pile wall geometry, grout-ties area, inclination and location, length of grout, dredging depth and backfill soil angle of internal friction to enhance this type of walls are analyzed and the results are presented.

 Key words: Anchor, grouting-ties, harbor, marine, quay wall, sheet pile, retaining wall.


The surge of research in the field of multiple intelligences since it was introduced by Howard Gardner in 1983 and the encouraging results based on these research show that the Theory of Multiple Intelligences is gaining importance in improving the academic performance of students in various disciplines. There is an increasing number of research which applies the Theory of Multiple Intelligences in the teaching of English. However, at present there is no quantitative research in Malaysia applying the Theory of Multiple Intelligences to developing writing skills in ESL. As writing is a complex skill, most of the time getting ESL students to write is an uphill task. The fear for writing maybe due to the many problems that ESL writers faced which include difficulty in generating ideas, visualizing ideas, arranging ideas,lack of vocabulary and cohesion and coherence in writing. With this in mind, the research was developed based on the three theories namely, the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Gardner, 1983), Triarchic Theory (Sternberg, 1985) and the Vygotsky Learning Theory (Vygotsky, 1986). This study which involves a group of Form One students was conducted to determine the effect of multiple intelligences instruction and strategies on their writing ability. Five intelligences related to writing were identified: interpersonal intelligence, visualspatial intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, verbal-linguistic intelligence,and intrapersonal intelligence. The Malaysian Multiple Intelligences Test for Adolescents (MAMIT) was administered to the students to identify the intelligence(s) that the students had developed more highly. The experimental class, which comprised 28 students was then divided into groups of five. Students with different intelligences were assigned to each group. Each group consisted of students with different profiles of the five intelligences related to writing. The experimental class was given training for two months while the control class was taught in the usual way using the normal curriculum and no particular additional method was used with these students. The two-month training was divided into two parts. In the first part, which was the Intelligence-Focused Lessons, students were given a specific training programme of teaching which strongly encouraged the development of the five intelligences related to writing. In the second part, which was the 5-in-1 Lesson, students were taught the five multiple intelligences strategies related to writing. The five strategies were brainstorming, topic-word association, mind-mapping, rank-ordering, and metacognition. Students were then asked to apply these strategies in their writing. Two essays, one narrative and another expository, were given to the students before and after the training. The control group was also given the same essay topics as the experimental group. The difference between the two groups was that the experimental group went through the two phases of multiple intelligences training while the control group did not. The scoring of the essays was done using the Six-Trait Analytic Writing Rubric, which consisted of Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency and Conventions. The scores were analyzed using Paired Samples t-test and MANOVA. The results show that there is a significant improvement in the essays of students in the post-test compared to those in the pre-test. There is also improvement in the six rubrics analyzed. Both the experimental group and the control group show improvement as they were exposed to English lessons during the two months. The difference is, the experimental group shows great improvement which, it is concluded, is highly likely to be attributed to the multiple intelligences instruction and strategies. A retention test was carried out with the two groups after a month and significant improvement was detected in the experimental group. The results of the study support the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which implies that students should be exposed to multiple ways of learning according to their needs and abilities. In a classroom, teachers should recognize that students have different interests and needs and teaching instruction should be varied to suit them. This research shows that given, first, exposure to a variety of methods relating to multiple intelligences and second, encouragement to develop appropriate strategies related to the process approach to writing, it is possible for learners to improve their writing ability significantly in the six traits measured and this can be retained at least for a month.


The article by Vermeulen et al 1 proposes guidelines for the use of albumin, nonprotein colloid, and crystalloid solutions for various clinical indications. Unfortunately, the report contains a dangerous flaw in the guidelines listed in Table 4. Under the listing for plasmapheresis, the table states that albumin and crystalloid solutions are "appropriate" for large-volume plasma exchange. However, in the case of microangiopathic syndromes such as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and hemolytic uremic syndrome, plasma is the replacement fluid of choice for large-volume plasmapheresis. 2,3 Substitution of albumin or crystalloid may have life-threatening consequences for patients with these diseases and would be inappropriate. Although the authors may not have intended this interpretation, an obvious concern is that the guidelines in Table 4 might be used to exclude appropriate replacement fluids for plasma exchange, resulting in a fatal outcome for severely ill patients. To avoid this problem, alternative therapeutic options need to be


The flow properties and dynamical behavior of fluid in a nanochannel were investigated by nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. First of all, the locale distribution of molecules in the channel is found to be strongly inhomogeneous compared to the bulk fluid. In the vicinity of the wall, portion of the fluid molecules are absorbed on the surface of wall due to the strong interaction of the atoms between the wall and liquid, so that the fluid density in the contact region would be much larger than one of the bulk fluid. But in the other region, the local density value approaches one of the bulk fluids with the increasing distance from the wall. This oscillatory behavior of density resulted in different motion behavior of molecules in the different region of nanochannel. The molecular behavior in the interfacial region is remarkably different from those of fluid atoms in the center of channel and wall atoms, which posses both the motion properties of bulk liquids and a solid atom. At the molecular level, macroscopic continuum hypothesis failed, that is, the results predicted by the Navier-Stoke equations deviate from the simulation data adopted by molecular dynamics simulation. In the paper, the velocity profiles for the channels with different width were plotted, which demonstrated that the time-averaged velocity profiles was not quadratic when the channel width was less than 10 molecular diameters. But on the other cases, the velocity profiles will agree well with the analytical solution based on the NS theory. The molecular dynamics simulation method can withdraw the important microscopical information from the simulation process, which benefit to analyze the flow mechanism at such length scale channel.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


Two decades ago the Supreme Court interpreted the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 as proclaiming a "national policy favoring arbitration." Since then the Court has significantly federalized commercial arbitration. The essay outlines a blueprint of "arbitration federalism" - preemption principles under the judicially-revitalized FAA - that permits states a collaborative role in advancing the Supreme Court's national policy favoring commercial arbitration. At the blueprint's center lies the strong preemptive core of the FAA, which the Supreme Court has used to strike down state laws that undermine the validity of commercial arbitration agreements; states can at most mimic the federal pro-arbitration standards. Beyond this core, however, lies a murky boundary where the FAA speaks, but without the same clarity and force as in the legislation's provisions on enforceability and arbitrability, implicating a state role to provide guidance consistent with the pro-arbitration rules of the FAA. Beyond this boundary, in a large penumbra mostly involving the arbitral process, the FAA is silent. State law has great promise to specify default procedural rules, limited only by the FAA's pro-arbitration imperative. State arbitration rules, particularly when cast as default rules from which parties can opt out, offer wide hope: the efficient filling of gaps left in parties' agreements, economical specification of cumbersome terms, instructive experimentation among the states, and sensitivity to specific commercial practices. The January 2001 promulgation of the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act (RUAA) by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) portends a new era in state involvement in the arbitration process. The essay reviews and critiques RUAA's attempt to rationalize the arbitration process, measuring it against the Supreme Court's preemption blueprint. It lays out considerations for state legislative drafters and state judges who will be responsible for formulating a new state role in the revamped "arbitration federalism."


BACKGROUND: Because there can be no delay in providing identification wristbands to newborns, some hospitals assign newborns temporary first names such as Babyboy or Babygirl. These nondistinct naming conventions result in a large number of patients with similar identifiers in NICUs. To determine the level of risk associated with nondistinct naming conventions, we performed an intervention study to evaluate if assigning distinct first names at birth would result in a reduction in wrong-patient errors. METHODS: We conducted a 2-year before/after implementation study to examine the effect of a distinct naming convention that incorporates the mother's first name into the newborn's first name (eg, Wendysgirl) on the incidence of wrong-patient errors. We used the Retract-and-Reorder (RAR) tool, an established, automated tool for detecting the outcome of wrong-patient electronic orders. The RAR tool identifies orders placed on a patient that are retracted within 10 minutes and then placed by the same clinician on a different patient within the next 10 minutes. RESULTS: The reduction in RAR events post- versus preintervention was 36.3%. After accounting for clusters of orders within order sessions, the odds ratio of an RAR event post- versus preintervention was 0.64 (95% confidence interval: 0.42–0.97). CONCLUSIONS: The study results suggest that nondistinct naming conventions are associated with an increased risk of wrong-patient errors and that this risk can be mitigated by changing to a more distinct naming convention.


Measles virus IgM antibodies virus was assayed for in 270 sera from children aged 5 months to 8 years attending Yusuf Dantsoho Memorial Hospital, Kaduna, Northern Nigeria, using ELISA. Out of the 270 sera, 192(71.1%) tested positive to measles IgM and 78(28.9%) negative. The sample distribution was 137 from males, with 101(37.4%) positive and 133 from females with 91(33.7%) positive. Those aged 5 months to 2 years had the highest prevalence with a value of 86(31.9%) positive, followed by ages 3 to 5 years with 79(29.3%) positive and the least 6 to 8 years with 27(10.0%) positive. Chi square analysis of the result indicated that ineffective vaccination as a major cause of measles in these area of study with significant at P= ( Keywords: Measles, IgM antibodies, children, vaccination, ELISA, Nigeria


Network interfaces that contain a programmable processor offer much flexibility, which so far has mainly been used to optimize message passing libraries. We show that high performance gains can be achieved by implementing support for application-specific shared data structures on the network interface processors. As a case study, we have implemented shared transposition tables on a Myrinet network, using customized software that runs partly on the network processor and partly on the host. The customized software greatly reduces the overhead of interactions between the network interface and the host. Also, the software exploits application semantics to obtain a simple and efficient communication protocol. Performance measurements indicate that applications that run application-specific code on the network interface are up to 2.5 times as fast as those that use generic message-passing software.


Fabricating Quartz Quartz is used industrially as an abrasive, as an inert glassy material, or for high-quality crystals in microelectronics. It is also valued for its piezoelectronic properties. However, it is hard to grow quartz as a patterned material or to integrate it into nanostructured devices. Carretero-Genevrier et al. (p. 827; see the Perspective by Brinker and Clem) have developed a method for preparing oriented epitaxial thin films of polycrystalline α-quartz on single-crystal silicon substrates using ambient pressure and temperatures below 1000°C. Different processing conditions can be used to fabricate quartz films with a variety of pore sizes or as a dense nonporous α-quartz film. Porous and dense piezoelectric films of α-quartz crystals are epitaxially grown on silicon substrates. [Also see Perspective by Brinker and Clem] Piezoelectric nanostructured quartz films of high resonance frequencies are needed for microelectronic devices; however, synthesis methods have been frustrated by the inhomogeneous crystal growth, crystal twinning, and loss of nanofeatures upon crystallization. We report the epitaxial growth of nanostructured polycrystalline quartz films on silicon [Si(100)] substrates via the solution deposition and gelation of amorphous silica thin films, followed by thermal treatment. Key to the process is the combined use of either a strontium (Sr2+) or barium (Ba2+) catalyst with an amphiphilic molecular template. The silica nanostructure constructed by cooperative self-assembly permits homogeneous distribution of the cations, which are responsible for the crystallization of quartz. The low mismatch between the silicon and α-quartz cell parameters selects this particular polymorph, inducing epitaxial growth.


The cementing of English political control over Cornwall and the British of the south-west in the tenth century falls between the creation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms between the sixth and seventh centuries, and the burst of English expansionism at the expense of the Welsh, Scots and Irish that occupied the two centuries following the Norman Conquest of England. Consequently, the absorption of Cornwall into the English state tends to be a rather neglected subject. This article provides some redress of this neglect and examines, through a consideration of not just the historical narratives but also charters and manumissions, the way in which the kings of the English and their agents extended royal control over Cornwall between the late ninth century and the mid-eleventh. These processes, while making Cornwall part of the new kingdom of the English, also allowed the maintenance of a highly distinctive local identity well into the later medieval period and beyond.


Importance
Telemedicine has been shown to have had reduced uptake among historically marginalized populations within multiple medical specialties during the COVID-19 pandemic. An evaluation of health disparities among patients receiving ophthalmic telemedical care during the pandemic is needed.

Objective
To evaluate disparities in the delivery of ophthalmic telemedicine at Massachusetts Eye and Ear (MEE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This retrospective, cross-sectional study analyzed clinical visits at a single tertiary eye care center (MEE) from January 1 to December 31, 2020. Patients who had ophthalmology and optometry clinical visits at the MEE during the study period were included.

Exposures
Telemedicine vs in-person clinical encounters.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Variables associated with use of ophthalmic telemedicine during the study period.

Results
A total of 2262 telemedicine ophthalmic encounters for 1911 patients were included in the analysis. The median age of the patients was 61 (interquartile range, 43-72) years, and 1179 (61.70%) were women. With regard to race and ethnicity, 87 patients (4.55%) identified as Asian; 128 (6.70%), as Black or African American; 23 (1.20%), as Hispanic or Latino; and 1455 (76.14%), as White. On multivariate analysis, factors associated with decreased receipt of telemedical care included male sex (odds ratio [OR], 0.86; 95% CI, 0.77-0.96), Black race (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.56-0.86), not speaking English (OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.48-0.81), educational level of high school or less (OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.71-0.97), and age (OR per year of age, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.989-0.998). When comparing telephone- and video-based telemedicine visits, decreased participation in video-based visits was associated with age (OR per year of age, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.98), educational level of high school or less (OR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.29-0.99), being unemployed (OR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.12-0.68), being retired (OR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.10-0.42), or having a disability (OR, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.04-0.23).

Conclusions and Relevance
The findings of this cross-sectional study, though limited to retrospective data from a single university-based practice, suggest that historically marginalized populations were less likely to receive ophthalmic telemedical care compared with in-person care during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Understanding the causes of these disparities might help those who need access to virtual care.


A large part of the electric power demand of commercial ports is particularly flexible. Nowadays, the most significant flexible loads of a commercial port are the refrigerated containers, known as reefers, and the shore-side electric power supplies for ships. Moreover, ports usually have a great potential for local energy generation from renewable energy sources. The real-time control of the numerous port flexible loads is difficult to be achieved with conventional control systems. Multi-agent systems (MAS) have been proved to be very efficient in complex systems and, as it is shown in this paper, they can also be effective for large ports. In this paper, a real-time distributed demand response system using MAS with hierarchical structure is proposed for extensively electrified large ports. The proposed control system ensures real-time limitation of ship emissions, and the reduction of operation cost and fast power variations caused by local wind parks. To achieve the above, the electric power demands of in-port reefers and shore-to-ship power supplies are suitably controlled. A fuzzy-logic-based system is exploited to estimate reefers' desired utilization factor and integrated to the developed MAS. The efficiency of the proposed method is evaluated by detailed simulations of a realistic case study of a large commercial port.


The power of the federal courts to remedy injuries caused by constitutional violations is a fundamental assumption of our constitutional scheme. The Supreme Court's equal protection decisions of the past generation illustrate the extent to which we take this power completely for granted. When confronted with a statute that denies a litigant's fifth or fourteenth amendment right to equal treatment, the Court has rarely limited itself to a simple declaration that the statute is unconstitutional. Such declarations, rather, have been routinely accompanied by awards of often substantial relief to the persons injured by the unconstitutional inequality. The author analyzes Heckler v. Matthews as it informs this area of law.


A central concern of the Grain & Graze research, development and extension program has been improving the management of the feedbase on mixed farms through addressing 'feed gaps' – times of year during which the supply of forage is insufficient to meet livestock demand. In this review, we use the available data on pasture growth and quality, supplemented by modelling results, to describe the characteristic timing of feed gaps across the Australian cereal-livestock zone. Feedbase interventions studied during the Grain & Graze program have mainly addressed the supply side of the feed balance equation. We review these studies, paying particular attention to the time scale of the variability in the feed balance that each intervention is intended to address. We conclude that grazing of cereals (either dual-purpose or forage crops) is the most promising means of alleviating winter feed gaps in regions where they are important. Reducing feed gaps in summer by relying on unpredictable summer rainfall events will increase year-to-year variability in forage production and will therefore require more flexible livestock management systems to exploit it. The use of forage shrubs offers a practical tool for increasing the predictability of summer and autumn feed supply, but given their moderate capacity for providing additional metabolisable energy it remains important to carefully manage livestock over autumn and to manage the herbaceous inter-row pasture. Feed gaps mainly arise from an interaction between biology and economics. We find, however, that the options studied in the Grain & Graze program for addressing feed gaps require either greater complexity in pasture and grazing management or more opportunistic livestock trading; they therefore come at a cost to the manager's limited decision-making time. Times with feed gaps are also times when particular natural resource management risks (especially erosion) need to be managed. Supply-side interventions to relieve feed gaps will generally use more soil water, which will often have positive effects on natural resource management outcomes.


Use of hazardous reagents is common in most of the reported synthesis of molecules of various interests. Hazardous reagents at a manufacturing scale pose a great challenge in terms of handling, operation and workups. These reagents are unsafe and found to have proven toxicity (in the majority of the cases). If not avoided, these reagents will defy the purpose of Green Chemistry and sustainability in organic synthesis. In this chapter, the synthesis of raloxifene, [6-Hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-benzothiophen-3-yl]{4-[2-(piperidin-1-yl)eth-oxy] phenyl}methanone hydrochloride 1, an estrogen agonist/antagonist commonly considered as a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), will be discussed considering the evolving trends of switching the usage of hazardous to less hazardous reagents. Raloxifene impedes the re-sorption of bone by reducing the biochemical markers of bone turnover in the premenopausal women thereby helping in the management of osteoporasis. Raloxifene hydrochloride also lowers the chances of developing a certain type of breast cancer (invasive breast cancer) in post-menopausal women.


Background Nonbiologic Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (nbDMARDs) and anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNFs) have been used in AS patients who do not respond adequately to non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs). However, concerns exist regarding the risk of serious infections1. Objectives To assess the risk of serious infections associated with nbDMARDs or anti-TNF use in an AS cohort. Methods We assembled a cohort of potential AS patients identified from hospitalization discharge diagnoses or physician visit billing claims, using ICD-9 code 720 or ICD10 code M45. Patients were required to have two or more ICD codes and at least one anti-TNF or nbDMARD exposure between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2011. Cohort entry was defined as the date of the first of these prescriptions and analysis was restricted to individuals who had not used anti-TNF drugs prior to cohort entry. Patients were excluded if they were not covered by the Quebec drug plan 1 year before the first prescription of nbDMARDs and/or an anti-TNF agent. We used Cox regression with the following three time-varying drug exposure categories: 1) nbDMARDs, 2) anti-TNF agents alone or in combination with nbDMARDs, and 3) neither drug. Models were adjusted for baseline patient sociodemographics, co-morbidity, prior health service use, and time-dependent use of NSAIDs, and corticosteroids. Current time-dependent corticosteroids dose was standardized according to the Defined Daily Dose (DDD) system. The outcome, first occurrence of an infection requiring hospitalization, was identified from hospitalization discharge diagnoses (primary or non-primary). Results We studied 714 AS patients; 469 (65.7%) were men, with a mean age of 50.3 (standard deviation 14.1) years at cohort entry. During this period, 57 cases of serious infections occurred, for an incidence rate of 3.07/100 PY. The median time from cohort entry to serious infection was 2.1 years. The incidence of serious infection was 4.12/100 PY in patients exposed to nbDMARDs alone, 2.44/100 PY in the anti-TNF +/- nbDMARDs group, and 2.25/100 PY in unexposed patients. Age, prior health service use, and use of corticosteroids in the previous year were associated with increased risk of infection in our multivariate analysis. The 95% confidence intervals, CIs, for the adjusted hazard ratios (HR) of infection (with the unexposed group as comparator) were wide and overlapping for both anti-TNF+/- nbDMARDs (HR=1.05; 95% CI 0.45-2.45) and nbDMARDs alone (HR=1.77; 95% CI 0.78-4.02). Conclusions We present novel findings demonstrating that the risk of serious infection in AS is 3% per year. In the current analyses, we were unable to draw definitive conclusions regarding the whether serious infections in AS are higher with anti-TNF or nbDMARDs use, versus non-use. However, older age, prior health service use, and use of corticosteroids appear to be important risk factors for serious infection in AS. References Grijalva CG et al. (2011). Initiation of tumor necrosis factor-α antagonists and the risk of hospitalization for infection in patients with autoimmune diseases. JAMA. 306(21):2331-9. Acknowledgements Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Disclosure of Interest None declared


Personal safety in a community is an important issue. In particular, females and children are more vulnerable to violent and/or sexual attacks. In this project, we utilize smart phones and wireless networking techniques to provide a rescue-seeking mechanism for people under attack. When a user encounters an assault, by simply shaking the smart phone, iMace will not only produce high-pitch alarms to fend off the attacker but also quickly notify friends and law enforcement the location and even the snapshot of the attack. Such a fast response to attacks can eventually lead to a safer and better community.


In spatial statistics, data are often collected at different spatial resolutions. Often, it is of interest to (a) carry out multivariate analysis when variables are sampled at different locations, (b) model data collected at misaligned areas, or (c) unravel common latent factors by jointly modelling point and areal data. In this paper, we establish a linkage between the generalized spatial fusion model framework and the various change‐of‐support problems, and we outline how the framework can be adapted in these situations. Moreover, we propose an efficient fusion model implementation by exploiting advantages of nearest neighbour Gaussian process and the Stan modelling language. Our simulation shows that the computational efficiency is several times higher in the new implementation compared with original implementation. We illustrate the performance gain in practice using a case study, which models daily precipitation in Switzerland based on rain gauge and radar data.


We evaluate the merits of the "supply-side" view under which inflation results from sectoral shocks, and compare it with the "classical" view in which inflation results from aggregate factors such as variations in money growth. Using a panel VAR methodology applied to data for 13 GECD countries, we find support for a multi-shock view of inflation: supply-side shocks are statistically significant determinants of inflation, even after taking into account aggregate demand factors. While oil prices are the dominant supply-side influence, other measures such as the skewness of relative price changes are important as well. At short horizons, an innovation to skewness leads to an increase in inflation of 0.5 percentage points. As suggested by the classical view, money growth plays an increasingly important role as the time horizon lengthens.


The focus of this study is one of the frequently emerging topics of social science research: the investigation of metropolitan ethnic communities. The socio-political-media-cultural changes of recent decades (globalization, mediatization, digitization) have completely transformed the phenomenon of metropolitan migration; new questions and problems have been raised for social scientists, politicians, and various social groups, which have encouraged them to apply new approaches. The study showcases the new perspectives and methodological possibilities of research into metropolitan ethnic communities, one of which is digitization and the other is collaborativity. The novelty of posing this question is methodological. The study describes how knowledge generated by ethnic communities can be gathered with their help, then organized and reused in urban planning processes.  It involves at the same time urban researchers, social scientists studying ethnic groups, and urban planners. The empirical background of this study is anthropological fieldwork undertaken in the Hungarian diaspora in Berlin.


Research on life stress in bipolar disorder largely fails to account for the possibility of a dynamic relationship between psychosocial stress and episode initiation. The kindling hypothesis (Post, 1992) states that over the course of recurrent affective disorders, there is a weakening temporal relationship between major life stress and episode initiation that could reflect either a progressive sensitization or progressive autonomy to life stress. The present study involved a comprehensive and precise examination of the kindling hypothesis in 102 participants with bipolar II disorder that allowed for a direct comparison of sensitization and autonomy models. Polarity-specific tests were conducted across the continuum of event severity with respect to impact and frequency of life events. Hypotheses were polarity- and event-valence specific and were based on the stress sensitization model. Results were only partially consistent with the sensitization model: Individuals with more prior mood episodes had an increased frequency of minor negative events before depression and of minor positive events before hypomania. However, the number of past episodes did not moderate relationships between life events and time until prospective onset of mood episodes. These results are more consistent with a sensitization than an autonomy model, but several predictions of the sensitization model were not supported. Methodological strengths, limitations, and implications are discussed regarding putative changes in stress reactivity that may occur with repeated exposure to mood episodes in bipolar II disorder.


This book provides an essential resource for researchers and practitioners in the area of networked learning. Networked learning is learning in which information and communication technology is used to promote connections: between one learner and other learners; between learners and tutors and between a learning community and its learning resources. Informed by theory this book provides insights into the growing area of educational practice that is covered by the term networked learning. The collection is written in a way that is accessible and useful for both researchers and practitioners. Written by experienced European researchers the chapters in this collection represent a major contribution to the development of a body of research evidence in the field. The collection is the outcome of a research team that was funded by the European Union as part of the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence. The range of topics and the theoretical development of ideas in the collection demonstrate the vibrancy of the research community that has developed in the area of networked learning. Whilst the chapters are always rooted in practice they also contribute to a complex understanding of the changes that are taking place in education at a time when digital networks have become an essential part of the learning environment. This volume will prove valuable for those working in higher education and professional development.


Mantis shrimps (Stomatopoda Latreille, 1817) are marine predatory crustaceans of the group Hoplocarida Calman, 1904 with an interesting, though incompletely known, evolutionary history. Here we introduce a new species of fossil mantis shrimps, Ostenosculda teruzzii n. gen., n. sp. from the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) limestone formation of Osteno (Northern Italy). We present distinctive features that characterize the specimens as a new species, such as a unique arrangement of maxillipeds 2-5 (maxilliped 2 is the major raptorial appendage). We also present a phylogenetic systematic interpretation of the species based on the available features of morphology and body organisation. The unusual arrangement of the maxillipeds appears to represent a plesiomorphic condition relative to extant mantis shrimps: the maxillipeds are arranged in an almost straight anterior-posterior line, with rather large distances between them. This contrasts with extant forms and slightly younger fossils of about 150 million years old lithographic limestones (Late Jurassic) where further anterior maxillipeds are inserting far laterally and further posterior ones more medially, with very small distances between the next posterior ones. The herein studied specimens are the first of their kind to be confirmed for this period and geographical region and further close gaps in our understanding of the evolution of mantis shrimps.


This paper details an experiment with how the process of writing, specifically writing fictional narratives, can take my queries into teacher subjectivity in unexpected directions, into what St. Pierre (2011) called the post-qualitative landscape. Building on the idea of writing as inquiry (Richardson, 1994), I produce fictional texts that expand the boundaries of traditional qualitative research and push the limits of what counts as knowledge. Specifically, as a former high school teacher, I question conventional constructs of teacher by writing her as me/not me, as fiction in search of a truth. Such methodological experiments work to develop epistemological elasticity and to resist movements toward a normative science that defines itself in opposition to artful expression.


Chronic wounds are one of the secondary health complications that develop in individuals who have poorly managed diabetes mellitus. This is often associated with delays in the wound healing process, resulting from long-term uncontrolled blood glucose levels. As such, an appropriate therapeutic approach would be maintaining blood glucose concentration within normal ranges, but this can be quite challenging to achieve. Consequently, diabetic ulcers usually require special medical care to prevent complications such as sepsis, amputation, and deformities, which often develop in these patients. Although several conventional wound dressings, such as hydrogels, gauze, films, and foams, are employed in the treatment of such chronic wounds, nanofibrous scaffolds have gained the attention of researchers because of their flexibility, ability to load a variety of bioactive compounds as single entities or combinations, and large surface area to volume ratio, which provides a biomimetic environment for cell proliferation relative to conventional dressings. Here, we present the current trends on the versatility of nanofibrous scaffolds as novel platforms for the incorporation of bioactive agents suitable for the enhancement of diabetic wound healing.


This SIPRI Fact Sheet presents data from the SIPRI Multilateral Peace Operations Database to illuminate some of the most significant developments in peace operations in Africa in 2009 as well as trends over the decade since 2000. It includes statistical data on numbers and type of peacekeeping personnel, the organizations and countries mounting operations and deploying personnel, along with maps of peace operations that were active during 2009.


Mercury (Hg) is a serious environmental pollution threat to the planet. The accumulation of Hg in plants disrupts many cellular-level functions and inhibits growth and development, but the mechanism is not fully understood. To gain more insight into the cellular response to Hg, we performed a large-scale analysis of the rice transcriptome during Hg stress. Genes induced with short-term exposure represented functional categories of cell-wall formation, chemical detoxification, secondary metabolism, signal transduction and abiotic stress response. Moreover, Hg stress upregulated several genes involved in aromatic amino acids (Phe and Trp) and increased the level of free Phe and Trp content. Exogenous application of Phe and Trp to rice roots enhanced tolerance to Hg and effectively reduced Hg-induced production of reactive oxygen species. Hg induced calcium accumulation and activated mitogen-activated protein kinase. Further characterization of the Hg-responsive genes we identified may be helpful for better understanding the mechanisms of Hg in plants.


Turbulence is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature, and it is well known that turbulence couples energy input to dissipation by cascade processes. Plasma turbulence play a critical role in tokamak confinement. Magnetized plasma turbulence is quasi 2D, anisotropic, wave like and two fluid (i.e. electrons and ions) in structure. Thus, weakly collisional plasma turbulence can mediate electron and ion energy transfer. The issue of anomalous electron and ion energy coupling is particularly important for low collisionality, electron heated plasmas, such as ITER. In this work, we reconsider the classic problem of turbulent heating and energy transfer pathways in drift wave turbulence. The total turbulent heating, composed of quasilinear electron cooling, quasilinear ion heating, nonlinear ion heating and zonal flow frictional heating, is analyzed. In Chapter 2, the electron and ion energy exchange via linear wave and particle resonance will be computed. To address net heating, we show the turbulent heating in an annulus arises due to a wave energy flux differential across this region. We show this net heating is proportional to the Reynolds work on the zonal flow. Zonal flow friction heats ions, thus the turbulence and zonal flow interaction enters as an important energy transfer channel. Since zonal flows are nonlinearly generated, it follows that we should apply weak turbulence theory to calculate the nonlinear ion turbulent heating via the virtual mode resonance in the electron drift wave turbulence, which will be discussed in Chapter 3. We defines a new collisionless turbulent energy transfer channel through nonlinear Landau damping in the electron and ion energy coupling process. The result shows that nonlinear ion heating can exceed quasilinear ion heating, so that nonlinear heating becomes the principal collisionless wave energy dissipation channel in electron drift wave turbulence. This follows since the beat mode resonates with the bulk of the ion distribution, in contrast to the linear resonance which is located on the tail. This result also suggests that zonal flow shearing is not necessarily the only saturation mechanism of importance, especially for very low collisionality. This observation brings a new perspective on electron heat transport where ions, play a role as an energy sink in a collisionless plasma, such as ITER. In addition, it is shown that the electron turbulent energy transfer to ions in a collisionless plasma can be the same order as electron heat transport losses. Thus, it is necessary to consider the influence of collisionless energy transfer to determine the total energy budget in ITER


OBJECTIVE
Hallux valgus has a detrimental impact on health-related quality of life. Education is crucial for the management of all musculoskeletal conditions, although no previous research has evaluated the sources and quality of education accessed by patients with hallux valgus. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the perceptions and attitudes of individuals with hallux valgus, including their educational experiences.

METHODS
A qualitative descriptive design was employed to gather data from individuals diagnosed with painful hallux valgus. Semi-structured interviews explored the perceptions, attitudes and educational experiences of participants. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using the Framework Method. Respondent validation was used to ensure the rigour of the study findings.

RESULTS
Ten participants were interviewed, ages 26-72. Data analysis revealed five themes including the impact of hallux valgus, coping with hallux valgus, cause of hallux valgus, health professional support and education received. Hallux valgus was associated with a negative impact on health-related quality of life. Participants described a lack of high quality, accurate and reliable educational resources, and a variable experience with health professionals, which was often characterised by a lack of engagement and commitment and an overemphasis of referrals for specialist opinion.

CONCLUSION
Hallux valgus has a negative influence on well-being, including physical, mental, and social impacts. Health professionals should be responsive to patient needs and strive to implement person-centred care when indicated. There is also a need for the development of high-quality educational resources to help people with hallux valgus make informed decisions about their condition.


One important part of generating code for DSP processors is to make good use of the address generation unit (AGU). In this paper we divide the code generation into three parts: (1) scheduling, (2) address register assignment, and (3) storage layout. The goal is to nd out if solving these three subproblems as one big integrated problem gives better results compared to when scheduling or address register assignment is solved separately. We present optimal dynamic programming algorithms for both integrated and non-integrated code generation for DSP processors. In our experiments we nd that integrationis benecial when the AGU has 1 or 2 address registers; for the other cases existing heuristics are near optimal. We also nd that integrating address register assignment and storage layout gives slightly better results than integrating scheduling and storage layout. I.e. address register assignment is more important than scheduling.


We analyze two-candidate elections in which voters are uncertain about the realization of a state variable that affects the utility of all voters. Each voter has noisy private information about the state variable. We show that the fraction of voters whose vote depends on their private information goes to zero as the size of the electorate goes to infinity. Nevertheless, elections fully aggregate information in the sense that the chosen candidate would not change if all private information were common knowledge. Equilibrium voting behavior is to a large extent determined by the electoral rule, i.e., if a candidate is required to get at least x percent of the vote in order to win the election, then in equilibrium this candidate gets very close to x percent of the vote with probability close to one. Finally, if the distribution from which preferences are drawn is uncertain, then elections will generally not satisfy full information equivalence and the fraction of voters who take informative action does not converge to zero.


We present the first glacier‐wide detailed measurement of basal effective pressure and related observations including bed separation to elucidate the role of water in sliding. The hard bedded glacier instrumented in our study exhibited two phases of accelerated sliding motion apparently driven by separate mechanisms. The first acceleration phase (up to 5 fold increase in speed) was closely tied to an increase in bed separation. The faster second phase (up to 9 fold increase in speed) was related to an unusually high level of connectivity of subglacial waters. We infer the first mode was related to cavity opening and the second mode was related to reduced ice contact with the bed. Glacier sliding over a hard bed is typically represented by sliding laws that include the effective basal pressure, but neither sliding phase was accompanied by a simultaneous decrease in local or regional effective pressure.


Objective: Mental illness accounts for 12% of the global burden of disease with a reported 1 in 5 Malaysians suffering from a psychological disorder. Sufferers have been long plagued by stigma, which results in social isolation, low-self-esteem, lower opportunities for employment, housing, and ability to achieve life goals. This essay aims to suggest strategies to overcome such stigma in the local setting. Methods: Literature search was conducted through PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) and Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com.my). Data obtained was compiled as an opinion piece. Results: The factors contributing to stigma in Malaysia include a lack of public knowledge, language and cultural influences, inaccurate media portrayal, doctors' attitudes towards the field of psychiatry, and psychiatrists themselves. Stigma can be tackled in four areas: society, media, medical education, and the field of psychiatry. Firstly, psychiatric terminology can be adapted to local languages and cultural beliefs in order to avoid misconceptions. Secondly, public education is more effective if focused to targeted key groups. The media is crucial in influencing the public mind-set, and needs to be creatively engaged. Thirdly, more positive medical practitioner attitudes to mental illness can be moulded through early psychiatric postings during medical school. Finally, psychiatrists play a role in correcting misconceptions, avoiding misdiagnosis and ineffective treatments. Cultural competency leads to better management of patients by awareness towards socio-cultural and religious influences. Conclusion: A multifaceted, united coalition of effort is needed in order to tackle stigma in different contexts, and will require concerted leadership from different parties. Please click PDF below to download the full paper...


From the common-sense viewpoint, if a person who weighs around 100 kilograms gains one more kilogram, his weight is still around 100 kilograms. Alas, not so in traditional fuzzy arithmetic. In this paper, we propose a modification of fuzzy arithmetic which does have this property. We gain the desired property, but there is no free lunch - we have to lose two important properties of the traditional fuzzy arithmetic: first, addition is no longer always associative; second, addition is no longer always easily computable.


Ilmenite was reduced through microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition with continuously flowing hydrogen and methane gas. The reduction products were analyzed by XRD and SEM technology, and the component products were TiO 2 -Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) composite powders. The reduction process was in good agreement with the Jander equation. Compared with other reduction process by kinetics analysis, microwave plasma could significantly facilitate the reduction process at low temperature.


This research consisted of two topics: 1) geographic predictive models of karst features and 2), a petrographic study examining the lithology of the study area. The study area is a privately owned ranch in the Gypsum Hills of Barber County, Kansas and is known to have karst features. Two predictive models for karst features were utilized. Previously identified features, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery aided in the creation of these predictive models. These predictability models also used the ESRI ArcMap software platform. The data for these models consists of slope, aspect, nearest neighbor elevation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), land cover/land use, distance to geomorphic features, surface geology, and other attributes calculated in ArcMap. Other software platforms were also used in the creation of these models (Microcomputer Digital Elevation Models (MicroDEM), System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA) GIS and Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI) for imagery analysis). To test these models, features were identified using the sink-fill function in ArcMap on hillshade layers generated from LiDAR data. Field validation of these models successfully identified 52% of the validation points as having karst features, as well as 12 additional points in high probability areas that were visited. A total of 38 additional points (a 51% increase in the karst database) were added to the karst inventory for the property. Understanding the distribution and occurrence of karst features will help landowners mitigate risk such as collapse leading to structural damage and aquifer contamination. Although this model focused on Barber County, Kansas, the techniques and approaches used by these two models may be useful in creating future predictive models in other karst areas. The petrographic portion of this research identified two geologic sedimentary facies using petrographic thin sections from various karst features. The two facies were: 1) Algal Mat and 2) Peloidal. These facies are very close to one another spatially when plotted by sample location within the property. The relative elevation of these facies places the Algal Mat facies below the Peloidal facies. This suggests that there are multiple facies that control karst feature formation as opposed to only the basal carbonates suggested by previous studies.


OBJECTIVE
Mental illness and cognitive functioning may be independently associated with nursing home use. We investigated the strength of the association between baseline (1998) psychiatric history, eight-year cognitive function trajectories, and prospective incidence of nursing home use over a ten-year period while accounting for relevant covariates in U.S. adults aged 65 and older. We hypothesized that self-reported baseline history of psychiatric, emotional or nervous problems would be associated with greater risk of nursing home use, and that cognition trajectories with the greatest decline would be associated with subsequent higher risk of nursing home use.

METHODS
We used eight waves (1998-2016) of Health and Retirement Study data for adults aged 65 years and older. Latent class mixture modeling identified four distinct cognitive function trajectory classes (1998-2006): low-declining, medium-declining, medium-stable, high-declining. Participants from the 1998 wave (N = 5628) were classified into these four classes. Competing risks regression analysis modeled the sub-hazard of nursing home use between 2006 and 2016 as a function of baseline psychiatric history and cognitive function trajectories.

RESULTS
Psychiatric history was independently associated with greater risk of nursing home use (SHR 1.26, 95% CI 1.06-1.51, p<.01), net the effects of life course variables. Further, "low declining" (SHR 2.255, 95% CI 1.70-2.99, p<.001) and "medium declining" (2.103, 95% CI 1.69-2.61, p<.001) trajectories predicted increased risk of nursing home use.

DISCUSSION
Evidence of these associations can be used to educate policymakers and providers about the need for appropriate psychiatric training for staff in community-based and residential long-term care programs.


Abstract. We investigate the global response of the geospace plasma environment to an interplanetary (IP) shock at ~02:24 UT on 28 May 2008 from multiple THEMIS spacecraft observations in the magnetosheath (THEMIS B and C), the mid-afternoon magnetosphere (THEMIS A), and the dusk magnetosphere (THEMIS D and E). The interaction of the transmitted IP shock with the magnetosphere has global effects. Consequently, it can affect geospace plasma significantly. After interacting with the bow shock, the IP shock transmitted a fast shock and a discontinuity which propagated through the magnetosheath toward the Earth at speeds of 301 km s−1 and 137 km s−1, respectively. THEMIS A observations indicate that the IP shock changed the properties of a plasmaspheric plume significantly. The plasmaspheric plume density increased rapidly from 10 to 100 cm−3 in 4 min and the ion distribution changed from an isotropic to a strongly anisotropic distribution. Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves observed by THEMIS A are most likely excited by the anisotropic ion distributions caused by the IP shock impact. THEMIS A, but not D or E, observed a plasmaspheric plume in the dayside magnetosphere. Multiple spacecraft observations indicate that the dawn-side edge of the plasmaspheric plume was located between THEMIS A and D (or E).