Distributed electricity generation technologies have increasing applications worldwide in various sectors due to their environmental and economic benefits. In the present study the use of these technologies in hotel industry is investigated. Various distributed electricity technologies, including co-generation of heat and power systems, are examined. Some of them are using renewable energies like solar energy, wind energy and biomass for electricity generation. Others are related with various co-generation systems including fuel cells. Many hotels require almost equal amounts of heat and electricity in their daily operations. Co-generation technologies have the advantage that they can cover almost all of their requirements in both electricity and heat. Some distributed electricity generation technologies including solar photovoltaic energy, co-generation systems, wind turbines and fuel cells are already used in hotels. Their energy efficiency varies in the range of 10% to 90%. Technologies using renewable energies generate carbon-free electricity while others fueled by natural gas generate electricity with low carbon impacts. Each technology has advantages and drawbacks while the possibility of using each technology depends on hotel's characteristics as well as on the local availability of renewable energy sources. The results of the present study are important in hotel industry since they indicate the possibility of using the environmentally friendly distributed electricity generation technologies for covering their electricity as well as, in some cases, their heating requirements reducing their carbon footprint due to energy use and increasing their energy and environmental sustainability.


OBJECTIVE
This article reviews surgical treatments for Parkinson's disease, emphasizing aspects pertinent to family physicians: rationale for and description of surgeries, patient selection issues, and outcome expectations.

QUALITY OF EVIDENCE
No published series describes long-term follow up of a randomized controlled study of any surgery for Parkinson's disease. Some reports, however, describe thorough but brief follow up of functioning in small numbers of patients following surgery. MEDLINE articles were identified using Parkinson's disease, surgery, pallidotomy, thalamotomy, stimulation, grafting, and transplantation as search words. Articles chosen for this paper described patients with systematic follow up using accepted validated rating scales.

MAIN MESSAGE
Reported series show impressive improvements to patients undergoing lesioning, stimulation, and grafting surgery for Parkinson's disease. These patients are typically severely disabled but highly selected, and follow up is brief. Stereotactic lesioning (pallidotomy and thalamotomy), deep brain stimulation (thalamic, and elsewhere) and grafting (striatal) can be performed safely, but results vary greatly among centres.

CONCLUSIONS
Certain Parkinson's disease patients might benefit from surgery. Ideal candidates for pallidotomy experience motor fluctuations with disabling levodopa-induced dyskinesias. Tremors resistant to antiparkinsonian medications sometimes respond to thalamotomy or thalamic stimulation. Other parkinsonian syndromes, dementias, and difficulties with gait and balance respond poorly to unilateral pallidotomy. Bilateral deep brain stimulation procedures could benefit "midline" dysfunction.


We describe two patients with acute myeloid leukemia successfully treated with anti-CD20 antibody for pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) following ABO-mismatched allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). PRCA following HSCT is associated with major ABO incompatibility between donor and recipient and is due to an inhibition of donor erythroid precursors by residual host isoagglutinins. The first patient developed PRCA resistant to several treatment options including donor-derived leukocyte infusions (DLI), high-dose erythropoietin (EPO), and rapid tapering of cyclosporin A (CsA). This patient also received anti-viral therapy as CMV and parvovirus B19 infections were regarded as additional causes of PRCA. Due to a loss of donor chimerism, he underwent second HSCT, but PRCA still persisted. He showed no evidence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Finally he was administered anti-CD20 antibody (rituximab) at a dose of 150/m2 and PRCA resolved in a short period of time. The case was complicated by life-threatening pulmonary aspergillosis with septic shock, successfully treated with anti-fungal therapy. The second case concerns a patient, who revealed PRCA after major ABO-incompatible HSCT from his brother. Considering our experience with the previously described patient, he proceeded to rituximab at a dose of 150/m2 as first line treatment. We observed rapid recovery from PRCA without any side effects. We conclude that rituximab seems to be a promising therapeutic option in patients with PRCA after ABO-mismatched HSCT, in whom conventional treatment fails.


Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) is one of the leading biocompatible and biodegradable polymers. However, the mechanical property of PCL is relatively poor as compared with that of polyolefins, which has limited the active applications of PCL as an industrial material. In this study, to enhance the mechanical property of PCL, cellulose nanofibers (C-NF) with high mechanical property, were employed as reinforcement materials for PCL. The C-NF were fabricated via the electrospinning of cellulose acetate (CA) followed by the subsequent saponification of the CA nanofibers. For the enhancement of the mechanical property of the PCL composite, the compatibility of C-NF and PCL was investigated: the surface modification of the C-NF was introduced by the ring-opening polymerization of the ε-caprolactone on the C-NF surface (C-NF-g-PCL). The polymerization was confirmed by the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Tensile testing was performed to examine the mechanical properties of the C-NF/PCL and the C-NF-g-PCL/PCL. At the fiber concentration of 10 wt%, the Young's modulus of PCL compounded with neat C-NF increased by 85% as compared with that of pure PCL, while, compounded with C-NF-g-PCL, the increase was 114%. The fracture surface of the composites was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). From the SEM images, it was confirmed that the interfacial compatibility between PCL and C-NF was improved by the surface modification. The results demonstrated that the effective surface modification of C-NF contributed to the enhancement of the mechanical property of PCL.


Previous models relating the Snake River plain and Columbia River Basalt (northwest United States) to the Yellowstone plume have not taken into account the effects of the subducted Farallon and Juan de Fuca plates. Not only did subduction shield the surface from mantle plume activity, but it deflected the plume in the direction of plate motion. A variety of geophysical and geologic evidence suggests that the plume penetrated the subducted slab at ∼17.5 Ma, causing eruption of the Columbia River Basalt. The plate boundary then migrated over the plume, and the Yellowstone plume has recovered to a more nearly vertical conduit, forming the Snake River plain and Yellowstone plateau.


We previously showed that select agents (methotrexate or Vitamin D), when administered as a preconditioning regimen, are capable of promoting cellular differentiation of epithelial cancer cells while simultaneously enhancing the efficacy of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT). In solid tumors, pretreatment with Vitamin D simultaneously promotes cellular differentiation and leads to selective accumulation of target porphyrins (mainly protoporphyrin IX, PpIX) within diseased tissue. However, questions of whether or not the effects upon cellular differentiation are inexorably linked to PpIX accumulation, and whether these effects might occur in hyperproliferative noncancerous tissues, have remained unanswered. In this paper, we reasoned that psoriasis, a human skin disease in which abnormal cellular proliferation and differentiation plays a major role, could serve as a useful model to test the effects of pro-differentiating agents upon PpIX levels in a non-neoplastic setting. In particular, Vitamin D, a treatment for psoriasis that restores (increases) differentiation, might increase PpIX levels in psoriatic lesions and facilitate their responsiveness to ALA-PDT. This concept was tested in a pilot study of 7 patients with bilaterally-matched psoriatic plaques. A regimen in which calcipotriol 0.005% ointment was applied for 3 days prior to ALA-PDT with blue light, led to preferential increases in PpIX (~130%), and reductions in thickness, redness, scaling, and itching in the pretreated plaques. The results suggest that a larger clinical trial is warranted to confirm a role for combination treatments with Vitamin D and ALA-PDT for psoriasis.


This work presents the results of the estimation of a soybean exportation function for Brazil, in the period between 1980 and 2001. The dynamics of the exportations were specifically analysed with focus on the 90s, due to the higher degree of economic opening of that decade, and the impacts of the fluctuating exchange rate over the determinants of the exports of this sector. The model proposed to estimate the exportation fuction of the soybeans was the Error Correction Model, which fit well to the variables that were specified and returned the expected relationships among the estimated parameters. The elasticities obtained were high and significant, which indicated that the exports react to variations in external price, internal price and internal revenue. The exchange rate also feratured a positive and significant elasticity, showing that the recurrent devaluations in this period of fluctuating exchange rates incentivated the brazilian soybean exportations.


Conclusions: This study shows an association between maternal anxiety in pregnancy and increased uterine artery resistance index, that may explain associations between uterine artery blood flow disorders in pregnant women exposed to stress and fetal intrauterine growth retardation, tissue and organ differentiational disorders et al. Summarizing we can state that chronic stress damages placental barrier in mother-fetus system.


Abstract Past anthropogenic activity has led to the destruction or alteration of Carolina bay wetlands throughout the southeastern United States. Presently, urban development, combined with a 2001 ruling by the US Supreme Court relaxing protection of isolated wetlands, poses an increasing threat to these and other isolated wetland systems; however, little information exists on the importance of these wetland systems to birds. We compared breeding and wintering bird communities of upland pine (Pinus spp.) forests with and without Carolina bays. Estimated species richness was greater in pine forests with Carolina bays than without during the winter (31.7 ± 1.3 [mean ± SE] vs. 26.9 ± 1.2; P = 0.027), but not in the breeding season (27.9 ± 2.2 vs. 26.3 ± 2.2; P = 0.644). Total relative abundance did not differ between pine forests with Carolina bays and those without in either the breeding (148.0 ± 16.0 vs. 129.4 ± 10.4 birds/40 ha; P = 0.675) or winter (253.0 ± 36.4 vs. 148.8 ± 15.1 birds/40 ha; P = 0.100) seasons. However, 23 species, 43% of which were wetland-dependent, were observed only in pine forests with bays during the breeding season, and 20 species, 30% of which were wetland-dependent, were observed only in such sites during winter. In contrast, only 6 and 1 species were observed only in pine forests without bays during the breeding and winter seasons, respectively, indicating that few species were negatively affected by the presence of bays. Thus, Carolina bays appear to enrich the avifauna of pine forests in the southeastern United States.


We have completed a paleomagnetic reconnaissance study of sedimentary and volcanic extrusive rocks collected from two major tectonic zones in northeastern Russia. Paleomagnetic sites were sampled within the fault-bounded structural units of the Khatyrka and Maynitsky superterranes and an overlap sequence of the Khatyrka superterrane. These sampling localities were chosen to allow both within-site and between-site fold tests. Stepwise thermal demagnetization within the temperature range 200–640°C showed a characteristic linear demagnetization path between thermal demagnetization steps of 400°C and 530°C. For thermal steps above 550°C, the magnetic intensity of many samples began to increase rapidly with magnetic directions, which were random between heating steps, suggesting the formation of new magnetic phases in these samples. Paleomagnetic samples collected from basalts and sediments of the Khatyrka superterrane and basalts and gabbros of the Maynitsky superterrane pass fold tests and show significant poleward motion of these superterranes since the formation of their rocks. The observed paleomagnetic paleolatitudes between 24°N or S and 32°N or S can be compared with expected paleolatitudes of 57°N to 79°N. Paleomagnetic results from sites collected from overlapping Senonian rocks pass a fold test at the 99% confidence level and give a pole position not significantly different from that expected from the apparent polar wander path for the Eurasia or North America plates, suggesting that these sedimentary units overlapping the Khatyrka superterrane were deposited along the ancient northeast margin of the Eurasian plate. The declination, in stratigraphie coordinates, shows a maximum clockwise rotation of about 20° when compared with the Eurasian APWP.


Hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) hibernate in their shallow natal nests where temperatures occasionally fall below -10 C during cold winters. Because the thermal limit of freeze tolerance in this species is approximately -4 C, hatchlings rely on supercooling to survive exposure to extreme cold. We investigated the influence of environmental ice nuclei on susceptibility to inoculative freezing in hatchling C. picta indigenous to the Sandhills of west-central Nebraska. In the absence of external ice nuclei, hatchlings cooled to -14.6 1.9 C (mean s.e.m.; N=5) before spontaneously freezing. Supercooling capacity varied markedly among turtles cooled in physical contact with sandy soil collected from nesting locales or samples of the native soil to which water-binding agents (clay or peat) had been added, despite the fact that all substrata contained the same amount of moisture (7.5 % moisture, w/w). The temperature of crystallization (Tc) of turtles exposed to frozen native soil was -1.6 0.4 C (N=5), whereas turtles exposed to frozen soil/clay and soil/peat mixtures supercooled extensively (mean Tc values approximately -13 C). Hatchlings cooled in contact with drier (less than or equal to 4 % moisture) native soil also supercooled extensively. Thus, inoculative freezing is promoted by exposure to sandy soils containing abundant moisture and little clay or organic matter. Soil collected at turtle nesting locales in mid and late winter contained variable amounts of moisture (4-15 % w/w) and organic matter (1-3 % w/w). In addition to ice, the soil at turtle nesting locales may harbor inorganic and organic ice nuclei that may also seed the freezing of hatchlings. Bulk samples of native soil, which were autoclaved to destroy any organic nuclei, nucleated aqueous solutions at approximately -7 C (Tc range -6.1 to -8.2 C). Non-autoclaved samples contained water-extractable, presumably organic, ice nuclei (Tc range -4.4 to -5.3 C). Ice nuclei of both classes varied in potency among turtle nesting locales. Interaction with ice nuclei in the winter microenvironment determines whether hatchling C. picta remain supercooled or freeze and may ultimately account for differential mortality in nests at a given locale and for variation in winter survival rates among populations.


In this work, bulk-micromachined {111}-oriented silicon mirrors at 54.7 degree(s) have been fabricated in 20 wt% KOH solution at various temperatures and characterized with single mode fibers (10/125 and 5/125). In fabricating the mirrors, the etch rate of the (100) silicon surface was widely changed from 5.3 micrometers /hr to 73 micrometers /hr as the processing temperatures were varied from 40 degree(s)C to 80 degree(s)C. In spite of the tremendous variation of etch rate, the measured reflectivities of the mirrors showed fairly stable values of 63.7 - 58% at 1330 nm and 55.4 - 57.7% at 1550 nm respectively. This paper describes the silicon mirror processing conditions, measured reflectivities, reflected beam profiles, and a prototype integrated optical I/O coupler with the realized mirrors. The results obtained from this work show that optical I/O couplers with 54.7 degree(s) mirrors on conventional (100)-oriented silicon wafers are feasible, envisaging a synchronized optical clock distribution system as well as a distributed remote optical sensing system with low manufacturing cost.


The Akali struggle from 1920 to 1925 was the result of the formation of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). The SGPC is known as the 'parliament of Sikhs'. The SGPC has occupied a very important place in the Sikh history as well as in the regional and national history. A good number of scholars, at various points of time, have discussed and tried to analyze the formation and working of the SGPC. They have explained its evolution and transition through various phases. Herein, most of the available works on this arena are summarized to review the birth and genesis of the SGPC, the Gurdwara Reform Movement, Gurdwara Act of 1925 and early stage of the SGPC written by different authors in English and Punjabi.


In 2012 on the large-scale thermalphysic PSB-VVER facility modelling of three different type accidents is executed:- Guillotine rupture of the pipeline on a reactor inlet;- A small leak from "the cold" pipeline;- Rupture of pressurizer surge line.In experiments work of passive safety systems of new projects of NPP with RU VVER in the conditions of loss of all sources of an alternating current was modelled.The purpose of experiments was research of influence of new passive safety systems on a temperature condition of a fuel cladding. On the basis of the received experimental data verification of the Russian system codes TRAP-KS, KORSAR/GP and SOCRAT is executed.In paper the basic results of researches are presented.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Abstract Bovine somatotropin (BST), a new technology capable of enhancing a cow's ability to produce milk by 7-23 percent, is expected to be available for commercial use soon. Ex ante survey procedures are used to determine the potential effect of BST on the size distribution of dairy farms in the Southeast. Results of logit analysis indicate a positive link between farm size and (1) farmers' knowledge of BST and (2) intentions to adopt early, suggesting BST will not be scale neutral. An estimated "price elasticity" of -1.8 to -2.1 indicates an elastic demand for the input Price, therefore, may be an effective instrument for attenuating the scale bias.


Abstract. This study examined the performance of a low-cost ceramic candle filter system (CCFS) for point of use (POU) drinking water treatment in the village of Hobeni, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. CCFSs were distributed in Hobeni and a survey was carried out among their users. The performance of 51 CCFSs was evaluated by dip slides and related to human factors. Already after two-thirds of their specified lifetime, none of the distributed CCFSs produced water without distinct contamination, and more than one-third even deteriorated in hygienic water quality. Besides the water source (springs were preferable compared to river or rain water), a high water throughput was the dominant reason for poor CCFS performance. A stepwise laboratory test documented the negative effects of repeated loading and ambient field temperatures. These findings suggest that not every CCFS type per se guarantees improved drinking water security and that the efficiency of low-cost systems should continuously be monitored. For this purpose, dip slides were found to be a cost-efficient alternative to standard laboratory tests. They consistently underestimated microbial counts but can be used by laypersons and hence by the users themselves to assess critical contamination of their filter systems.


In this paper, we consider a system where multiple low-power sensors communicate timely information about a random process to a sink. The sensors share orthogonal subchannels to transmit such information in the form of status update packets. Freshness of the sensors' information at the sink is characterized by the Age of Information (AoI), and the sensors can control the sampling policy by deciding whether to take a sample or not. We formulate an optimization problem to minimize the time average total transmit power of sensors by jointly optimizing the sampling action of each sensor, the transmit power allocation, and the subchannel assignment under the constraints on the maximum time average AoI and maximum power of each sensor. To solve the optimization problem, we use the Lyapunov drift-plus-penalty method. Numerical results show the performance of the proposed algorithm versus the different parameters of the system.


In high-end microprocessors, control-logic timing can gate the cycle time, but control logic is specified late and changes often. Custom design is too time consuming for con- trol implementation, and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-like methods have difficulty achieving the required per- formance/area targets. In this paper, we describe C5M, a new layout system for high-performance control logic which has been successfully used in the design of a recent 400 MHz IBM proces- sor. Results from this design are used to show that C5M achieves near custom quality with high productivity and predictability.


Geopolymer requires an alkaline activator to induce it pozzolanic property and to accelerate the geopolymerisation process. The geopolymerisation process occurs due to the mixing of fly ash, sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide as the alkaline activator, which produces aluminosilicate gel that acts as a binder. As such, the ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator and Na2SiO3/NaOH play an important role in obtaining desirable compressive strength; the concentration of NaOH used in this study was 12 M. Different ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0) and Na2SiO3/NaOH (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0) were investigated in order to determine the maximum compressive strength. The alkaline activator was mixed with fly ash with different ratio as mentioned above and the samples were cured at 70°C for 24 hours and tested on the seventh day. The maximum compressive strength was obtained when the ratios of fly ash to alkaline activator and Na2SiO3/NaOH were 2.0 and 2.5 with compressive strength 73.86 MPa.


This paper presents a template-based vision system to detect and classify the nonuniformaties that appear on the semiconductor wafer surfaces. Design goals include detection of flaws and correlation of defect features based on semiconductor industry expert's knowledge. The die pattern is generated and kept as the reference beforehand from the experts in the semiconductor industry. The system is capable of identifying the defects on the wafers after die sawing. Each unique defect structure is defined as an object. Objects are grouped into user-defined categories such as chipping, metallization peel off, silicon dust contamination, etc., after die sawing and micro-crack, scratch, ink dot being washed off, bridging, etc., from the wafer. This paper also describes the vision system in terms of its hardware modules, as well as the image processing algorithms utilized to perform the functions.


The aim of this paper is to present a non-linear statistical model to fit and forecast the signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) in two-tier heterogeneous cellular networks which consist of macrocells and femtocells. Since in these networks the number and locations of femtocell base stations (FBS) are variable, SINR forecasting can be useful in some areas such as power control and handover management. So far, linear autoregressive (AR) models have commonly been used in forecasting the received signal strength (rss) in macrocellular networks. However, AR modelling results in high mean square error (MSE) when data are non-linear. This paper focuses on SINR which takes into account signal strength, interference and noise effects. Moreover, macro-femto cellular network is considered. The F-test results show that the SINR data are non-linear, leading to use non-linear models instead of AR model. A non-linear logistic smooth threshold AR (LSTAR) model is utilised to model and forecast the SINR data. Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K-S) test demonstrates that LSTAR provides good fitness to the SINR samples. The results indicate that LSTAR model achieves much better performance in modelling and forecasting of SINR data than the AR model.


Purpose of review Accurate assessment of dietary intake in interventional trials is the key to evaluate changes in dietary behaviour and compliance. We evaluated the use of dietary assessment tools in randomized trials on diet-based interventions in pregnancy by a systematic review. Recent findings We updated our previous search (until January 2012) on trials of diet and lifestyle interventions in pregnancy using Medline and EMBASE up to December 2015. Two independent reviewers undertook study selection and data extraction. We assessed the characteristics of dietary assessment tools, the timing and frequency of use and any validation undertaken. Two-thirds (39/58, 67%) of the included studies used some form of tools to assess dietary intake. Multiple days' food diaries were the most commonly used (23/39, 59%). Three studies (3/39, 8%) validated the used tools in a pregnant population. Three studies (3/39, 8%) prespecified the criteria for adherence to the intervention. The use of dietary assessment tools was not associated with study quality, year of publication, journal impact factor, type of journal and the study sample size. Summary Although self-reporting dietary assessment tools are widely used in interventional dietary trials in pregnancy, the quality and applicability of existing tools are low.


©The Korean Association of Child Studies This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Corresponding Author: Jihyun Sung, Assosiate Professor, Department of Child Psychology and Education, Sungkyunkwan University, 25-2 Sungkyunkwan-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea E-mail: email@example.com M. A., Student, Department of Child Psychology & Education, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea Associate Professor, Department of Child Psychology & Education, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea DaYeon Cho, Jihyun Sung


To what extent genetic variability influences gene expression in human primary tissues is a critical question in molecular genetics. Work investigating this phenomenon is not only interesting biologically, but also has the potential to provide mechanistic insight into traits, including disease. The past decade has seen tremendous progress in this field, and this thesis includes a description of work that spanned from the relatively early stages of this type of work, to current, more refined efforts. This work sought to ask three questions: first, are eQTL detectable in brain tissues using whole genome methods; second, are eQTL measurably different in different parts of the brain; and third, does the investigation of eQTL in a particular neuronal cell type offer significant advantages over similar studies in tissue with a mixed cellular composition. In the first part of this work, I present a pilot study aimed at assessing the feasibility of eQTL detection in brain tissue. This study showed that the use of genome wide genotyping and expression arrays revealed a number of significant eQTL, and that in general, when genetic variability was associated with expression, the genetic locus and the expressed transcript were physically close. This work was then expanded to assess eQTL in multiple brain regions, with an attempt to assess whether eQTL were measurably different between distinct brain regions. In this work, tissue from cerebral frontal cortex, cerebral temporal cortex, caudal pons, and cerebellum was used. The analysis showed that there are region-specific eQTL, but that many of the strongest eQTL were present in multiple tissues. Lastly, I show using data from laser capture microdissected Purkinje cells that additional cell-type specific eQTL may be found that are not revealed when performing eQTL in heterogeneous tissue containing this cell type. In summary this work initially revealed the feasibility of eQTL work in human brain, showed that eQTL were measurably different, but generally similar across varied brain tissues, and showed that there are likely several advantages in pursuing single cell type work in tandem with whole tissue efforts.


Ultrasound assessment of ovarian volume, follicular size, and uterine growth was undertaken in 40 normal premenarcheal girls aged 6 months to 14 years. Ovarian follicles were detected from 6 months of age and increased in size and number, so that after the age of 8.5 years there was a progressive increase in the incidence of 'megalocystic' appearance. Eight girls with idiopathic precocious puberty had large megalocystic ovaries which regressed on treatment with gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogue. These findings contrasted with those seen in two prepubertal patients with hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism in whom the natural sequence of ovarian development was greatly accelerated by pulsatile administration of native gonadotrophin releasing hormone.


Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most frequent diagnosis in physician offices among children 1-4 years of age. Viruses that cause upper respiratory tract infections (i.e., respiratory syncytial virus [RSV], influenza virus, parainfluenza virus [PIV], and others) play an important role in the development of AOM. Prevention of infections with these viral pathogens likely would reduce the incidence of AOM. In three previous studies, influenza virus vaccines showed 30-36% efficacy against the development of AOM. Vaccines to prevent infections with RSV and PIV type 3 are undergoing clinical testing at this time. The three major bacterial pathogens causing AOM are Streptococcus pneumoniae, nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi), and Moraxella catarrhalis. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, licensed in the United States in 2000, was shown in two pivotal trials to reduce the incidence of all causes of AOM by 6%, pneumococcal AOM by 34%, and pneumococcal AOM caused by serotypes contained in the vaccine by 57%. Currently, vaccines against NTHi and M. catarrhalis are under development.


Abstract This paper deals with the development of a one-dimensional steady-state stratospheric aerosol model and the subsequent perturbations caused by including the expected space shuttle particulate effluents in the model. Two approaches to the basic modeling effort have been made: in one, enough simplifying assumptions were introduced so that a more or less exact solution to the descriptive equations could be obtained; in the other, very few simplifications were made and a computer technique was used to solve the equations. The most complete form of the model contains the effects of sedimentation, diffusion, particle growth and coagulation. The results indicate that the model is capable of describing many aspects of the stratospheric aerosol layer, such as size distribution and the vertical profile of particles >0.3 μm diameter.


The nature of dark matter is one of the enduring mysteries of modern physics. For more than eight decades there has been evidence for a mysterious invisible substance that constitutes most of the matter in the universe, "dark matter''. While there are many possible particle physics candidates for this elusive substance, one of the most popular is the axion. Originally introduced to resolve the absence of charge-parity violation in the Strong force (the Strong CP Problem), the axion is a light pseudo-scalar arising from the breaking of a high energy global symmetry. Axions would be produced non-thermally in the early universe, providing the correct density of dark matter. Due to the lightness of axions, they have a unique phenomenology and so require dedicated experiments to detect. Much of the well motivated parameter space is yet to be explored, meaning that novel ideas are needed to push forward the search for axions.

We study the underlying theory of dielectric haloscopes, a new way to detect dark matter axions. When an interface between different dielectric media is inside a magnetic field, the oscillating axion field acts as a source of electromagnetic waves, which emerge in both directions perpendicular to the surface. The emission rate can be boosted by multiple layers judiciously placed to achieve constructive interference and by a large transverse area. Starting from the axion-modified Maxwell equations, we calculate the efficiency of this new dielectric haloscope approach. We do both a classical calculation and a quantum calculation of the produced power. The classical calculation is based on transfer matrices, solving for the electric field throughout the system. The quantum calculation uses conventional first-order perturbative calculation of the transition probability between a quantised axion state and the photon state, which is distorted in the presence of the dielectric media, resulting in an overlap integral. Both methods agree on the produced power in electromagnetic radiation. With dielectric haloscopes one could potentially search the unexplored high-frequency range of 10-100 GHz (axion mass 40-400 mueV), where traditional cavity resonators have difficulties reaching the required volume.

We also describe non-zero velocity effects for axion-photon mixing in a magnetic field and for the phenomenon of photon emission from interfaces between different dielectric media. As velocity effects are only important when the haloscope is larger than about 20% of the axion de Broglie wavelength, for the planned MADMAX experiment with 80 dielectric disks the velocity dependence can safely be neglected. However, an augmented MADMAX or a second generation experiment would be directionally sensitive to the axion velocity, and thus a sensitive measure of axion astrophysics.


Improper practices of land use/ land cover (LULC) are deteriorating watershed conditions. Remote sensing and GIS tools were used to study LULC dynamics using GEOMOD Model and predict the future LULC scenario for years 2015 and 2020, in terms of magnitude and direction, based on past trend in Phewa Lake watershed, Kaski district, Nepal. Due to the proximate and underlying causes, land use and land cover change has become the main challenge of the present world The analysis of LULC pattern during 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010 using satellite-derived maps has shown that the biophysical and socio-economic drivers including slope, road network and settlements proximity have influenced the spatial pattern of the watershed LULC. These lead to an accretive linear growth of Medium to Fairly Dense Forest, Open Forest, Waste Land and Built-up Land but decrease in other LULC classes. Annual rates of increase from 1995 to 2010 in Medium to Fairly Dense Forest, Open Forest, Waste Land and Built-up land were 75.15, 32.7, 10.14 and 24.2 ha/ year respectively, while the rates decrease in Dense Forest, Terrace Agriculture, Valley Agriculture and Bush/Scrub land were 42.58, 58.17, 27.46 and 2.48 ha/year respectively. The predicted LULC scenario for 2015 and 2020, with reasonably good accuracy would provide useful inputs to the LULC planners for effective management of the watershed. The study is a maiden attempt that revealed the expansion of Waste and Built-up Land, which is the main driving force for loss of Agriculture Land and Grass Land, and an increase in Medium to Fairly Dense Forest and Open Forest leading to decrease in Dense Forest and Bush/Scrub Land in the watershed. The Himalayan Physics Vol. 6 & 7, April 2017 (65-72)


Using observational data on consumer carryout bag usage, we measure the effects of Disposable Bag Policies on bag demand. Our results show that plastic bag bans with paper bag fees eliminate use of disposable plastic bags and increase use of reusable bags. However, we find significant and undesired increases in paper bag demand. We compare our results to a study on bag fees and conclude the types of bags stores choose to sell in lieu of disposable plastic bags, as well as the price of alternatives, impact whether bans are more successful than fees in discouraging disposable bag demand.


The resistance to herpes virus encephalitis which develops with age was studied in mice using fluorescent antibody staining. Adult mice remained susceptible to intracerebral inoculation, and the infection of the central nervous system was identical with that found in immature mice. A "barrier" to the spread of virus inoculated extraneurally developed with maturation, and the limitation of spread appeared to coincide with the infection of peritoneal and tissue macrophages. In vitro, suckling and adult mouse macrophages were infected with equal ease. However, suckling mouse macrophages infected other cells in contact with them, while infected adult mouse macrophages did not. Studies failed to reveal the nature of this change in macrophages which developed with age. The role of macrophages in the pathogenesis of herpes virus encephalitis is discussed. The hypothesis is made that an alteration in the macrophages of the maturing mouse plays an important role in its development of resistance to herpes virus encephalitis.


Survival of 16,838 potential embryos was determined by counting corpora lutea and fetuses at 50 d of gestation for 1,081 litters by 225 sires. These data, coded as 1 or 0 depending on whether an ovulation was represented by a fetus, were used to estimate direct and maternal additive genetic variances and their covariance for embryonic survival. Data were from fist-parity gilts of a Large White-Landrace composite population subdivided into two lines, one selected for an index of ovulation rate and embryonic survival for seven generations and a contemporary control line. Variance components were obtained by ANOVA and expectations of covariances among relatives and by derivative-free restricted maximum likelihood (Din in an animal model. As a trait of the embryo, heritability of direct effects obtained with ANOVA was 3.8%, heritability of maternal effects was 1.5%, and the genetic correlation between them was-.51. After adjustment of embryonic swival for ovulation rate, lower estimates of each parameter were obtained with ANOVA. Heritability of embryonic survival as a trait of the dam was 9 to 10%. Estimates of heritability of both direct and maternal effects obtained with DFREML were < 1% and the genetic correlation between them was-.64. When survival of embryos from only those dams with 15 or more ovulations was analyzed, heritability of maternal effects was 4.4%. Estimates of common environmental effects on embryonic survival ranged from 5 to 7%.


This study investigates the effects of Government-Linked Investment Companies (GLICs) and state ownership on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure using a sample of 190 Malaysian listed companies over the period 2009 to 2014. The results of Weighted Least Squares (WLS) show that GLICs and state ownership are negatively associated with CSR disclosure, thereby indicating that an increase in the level of GLICs and state-owned shares in a company leads to a reduction in the level of CSR disclosure. This study provides evidence to policymakers that the role of government is supported in promoting GLICs to integrate and implement CSR policies. Furthermore, it provides evidence to shareholders, managers and investors that GLICs and state ownership disclose less voluntary information – both voluntary non-financial and CSR information. This study contributes to the literature concerning the impact of finance and corporate governance through the examination of the impact of GLICs and state ownership on CSR disclosure in Malaysia.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure, Government-Linked Investment Companies, State Ownership, Malaysia
JEL Classification: G30, G38


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Stretching (that is, interventions that apply tension to soft tissues) induces increases in the extensibility of soft tissues, and is therefore widely administered to increase joint mobility and reverse contractures. However, it is not clear whether the effects of stretching are lasting. A systematic review was conducted to determine if stretching (either self-administered, administered manually by therapists or by some external device such as a splint) produces lasting increases in the mobility of joints not directly affected by surgery, trauma or disease processes.

METHOD
In order to determine the lasting effects of stretching, only studies that measured joint range of motion (ROM) at least one day after the cessation of stretching were included. MEDLINE (from 1966 to June 2000), EMBASE (from 1988 to June 2000), the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register and PEDro databases were searched, and citation tracking was used to identify randomized studies that met the inclusion criteria. Each study was rated by two independent assessors on the PEDro scale, which rated trials according to criteria such as concealed allocation, blinding and intention-to-treat analysis.

RESULTS
Thirteen studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. All examined the effect of stretching (median number of stretch sessions = eight) on joint ROM in healthy subjects without functionally significant contractures. Four studies were of 'moderate' quality and the remaining nine were of 'poor' quality. The 'moderate' quality studies suggest that regular stretching increases joint ROM (mean increase in ROM = 8 degrees; 95% CI 6 degrees to 9 degrees) for more than one day after cessation of stretching and possibly that the effects of stretching are greater in muscle groups with limited extensibility.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of four 'moderate' quality studies show a convincing effect of stretching in people without functionally significant contracture. These findings require verification with high-quality studies. Lasting effects of intensive stretching programmes (for example, stretching applied for more than six weeks or for more than 20 minutes a day) or of stretching on people with functionally significant contracture have not yet been investigated with randomized studies.


The Constant Rank condition for feasible points of nonlinear programming problems was defined by Janin in [1]. In that paper the author proved that the condition was a first order constraint qualification. In this work we prove that the Janin Constant Rank condition is, in addition, a second order constraint qualification. We also define other second order constraint qualifications.


Internet of Things (IoT) devices are mostly areas constrained and operate on a limited battery supply and therefore have tight energy budgets. Lightweight cryptography (LWC) such as PRESENT-80 allows for minimal area usage and low energy for secure operations. However, CMOS implemented LWCs are vulnerable to side-channel attacks such as Correlation Power Analysis (CPA). Adiabatic Logic is an emerging circuit design technique that can reduce energy consumption and be CPA resistant. Many existing adiabatic logic families use a 4-phase clocking scheme which pays a large area penalty. Thus, in this paper, we propose 2-EE-SPFAL, a 2-phase clocking scheme implementation of an existing adiabatic family known as EE-SPFAL. We explore 2-phase sinusoidal waves in terms of energy efficiency and security. To demonstrate energy savings and security against CPA attacks we construct one round of PRESENT-80 in both CMOS and 2-EE-SPFAL. Simulations were conducted using 45nm technology in Cadence Spectre. At 12.5MHz, our results show an average energy saving of 50% between CMOS and 2-EE-SPFAL. Furthermore, we performed a CPA attack on both the CMOS and 2-EE-SPFAL implementation and determined that the CMOS key could be retrieved while the adiabatic key was kept hidden.


The transient climate response (TCR) is one way to measure the sensitivity of the Earth's climate to an increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases. The TCR, defined to be the warming after 70 years of a 1% per year increase in CO2, cannot be directly measured, but it can be estimated using observed temperatures over the 20th century and model-derived estimates of radiative forcing. Using a 100-member ensemble of a fully coupled global climate model (MPI-ESM1.1), we find that internal variability contributes significant uncertainty in observational estimates of TCR, with TCR values from the historical ensemble ranging from 1.34 to 1.94 K, compared to the model's true TCR of 1.81 K. This spread can be attributed entirely to internal variability. A majority of the variability observed in the TCR is due to heat transport in the oceans — ensemble members that transport more heat to the deep ocean have lower TCRs. Another key factor is variability in sea ice, which regulates the amount of solar energy that is reflected back to space. Together, these two factors explain most of the variability observed in the TCR. Due to the observed effects of internal variability, estimates of the TCR from the historical record could deviate significantly from the climate system's true value.


Summary The Karakoram Highway has been constructed through extremely difficult high arid mountainous terrain characterized by long, steep slopes, highly fractured and heavily weathered rocks, extensive areas of debris accumulation and locally high rates of geomorphological activity. The problems for road construction imposed by difficulties of access and remoteness have been compounded by rockslope instability, debris flows, river and meltwater surges, and fluctuating glacier snouts. As a consequence, the employment of sophisticated engineering techniques was abandoned in favour of widespread blasting and an extended period of labour-intensive maintenance. This paper is concerned with an 147 km stretch of the Highway and essentially subdivides into two parts. The first part describes the terrain conditions and main hazards posed to road construction, and includes a geomorphological assessment of the chosen alignment. The second section presents the results of a detailed survey of 128.8 km of the Highway in terms of the patterns of disruption experienced during the first three years of its life, and the distribution of a variety of hazards which will continue to endanger the road. This survey clearly reveals the importance of a good appreciation of geomorphological processes to highway engineering in arid mountains, as well as indicating the potential for geomorphological inputs to highway design.


Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a biologically and clinically heterogeneous multisystem disorder that a ff ects one-quarter of the global adult population and causes substantial social and economic implications. They may present as isolated hepatic steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, hepatic fi brosis, cirrhosis, liver cancer, end-stage liver disease, and death. There is limited literature describing the national prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of NAFLD in the US population. The primary outcome of the study was to evaluate the concurrent prevalence and lifestyle diseases among NAFLD. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study using the NHANES database from 2015-to 2018 was conducted. The datasets were downloaded from the NHANES web site and combined using SAS software (Version 9.4). Proper weighting procedures for weighting multiple years of NHANES data were employed for this study. We included participants that aged $ 18 years and had completed data from the NHANES questionnaires. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the prevalence and epidemiology of NAFLD and the association of NAFLD with lifestyle disorders Results: Ofthetotal255,968samplesize,thetotalnumberofpeopleidenti fi edwithNAFLDwas717(0.26%).NAFLDwasmoreprevalentinolder(median:62years),males,MexicanAmericanandotherHispanics,andinthosewithmedian householdincome . $100,000.PeoplewithNAFLDhadahigherprevalenceoddsofhavingDiabetesMellitus(OR:10.40,95%CI:10.37-10.42p , , , Conclusion: People with NAFLD had a higher association of having lifestyle disorders including diabetes, obesity, depression, hypersomnia, low dietary fi bre intake, and a sedentary lifestyle. Cancer was also found to be higher among people with NAFLD. Our study summarises the epidemiological characteristics of NAFLD in the US population. Early identi fi cation and risk mitigation strategies with active lifestyle might reduce the burden of NAFLD associated disorders.


Fused quartz powder (size<0.04mm) was used as raw material, nano-Y2O3, nano-CeO2 and nano-La2O3 (size<0.08μm) were dividedly used as additives with dosage of 2% each. Fused quartz ceramic materials were sintered in reduction atmosphere at 1300°C, 1350°C and 1400°C for 1h. The effect of rare earth nano-oxides on sintering and crystallization of the fused quartz ceramic were researched by measurements of apparent porosity, bending strength and thermal expansion rate, and analyses of XRD and SEM. The results showed that additives nano-Y2O3, nano-CeO2and nano-La2O3 had obvious effect of inhibiting crystallization of fused quartz, and the samples added nano-Y2O3 and nano-La2O3 were better. Sample added nano-Y2O3 had least thermal expansion rate. Sample added nano-La2O3 had higher bending strength, and it showed that nano-La2O3 had better effect on sintering of fused quartz ceramic. It can be deduced that nano-La2O3 plays the excellent role as the crystallization inhibitor of fused quartz materials.


and Implications The University Compost Facility opened late in 2008 and now has completed two full years of operation. This report is for the 12-month period of November 1, 2009 through October 31, 2010. The facility receives manure and biomass from several ISU facilities: the Dairy Farm, Animal Science Teaching Farms, including the horse barns, Campus Services (yard and greenhouse waste), ISU Dining (food waste), Ag Engineering/Agronomy Farm, BioCentury Research Farm, Plant Introduction Station, Reiman Gardens, Horticulture Station, and others. A total of 8,245 tons were received in the 12-month period (Table 1). About 77% of the incoming material came from the Dairy Farm. The facility generated compost and amended soil primarily for campus use. A total of 5,495 tons was outgoing from the facility (Table 1), of which 2,234 tons was low quality compost or manure that was applied to cropland in spring 2010. The severe winter prevented this material from composting completely. The primary product of the facility was amended soil; approximately 2,751 tons of amended soil was generated. Amended soil is a blend of compost, soil and sand. The ISU Compost Facility continues to serve a unique and vital role in assisting ISU be "greener" and more sustainable. The staff continues to learn how to improve the management of the compost to benefit the university.


Rigour can be reductionist or inclusive. To learn about and understand conditions of complexity, emergence, nonlinearity and unpredictability, the inclusive rigour of mixed methods has been a step in the right direction. From analysis of mixed methods and participatory approaches and methods, this article postulates canons for inclusive rigour for research and evaluation for complexity: eclectic methodological pluralism; improvisation and innovation; adaptive iteration; triangulation; plural perspectives; optimal ignorance and appropriate imprecision; and being open, alert and inquisitive. Inclusive rigour is inherent in participatory methods and approaches, visualisations, group-visual synergy, the democracy of the ground and participatory statistics. Transparent reflexivity, personal behaviour and attitudes, and good facilitation are fundamental. Fully inclusive rigour for complexity demands many personal, institutional and professional revolutions.


Economic research in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has achieved its greatest recognition in periods when agriculture and farmers have experienced stress and change. In 1922 the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE) was set up in the Department to help rind solutions to the disastrous post-World War I drop in farm prices. After BAE's solutions proved politically unacceptable, the Bureau focused mainly on economic analyses and market studies, and it handled most of USDA's work on standards, grades, crop and livestock estimates, foreign agriculture, and some other subjects. BAE's position reached a high point in the 1930's when its data and economic analysis formed the basis for major New Deal programs and policies. It was given responsibility for general planning in 1939. During World War II, it served war agencies as well as USDA, but afterward its influence declined because of effective opposition to some of its activities, including program planning. With its dissolution in 1953, economic research was divided between two USDA agencies and removed from policy planning. In 1961, the Economic Research Service was established. Currently, it supplies basic economic data, evaluates policy when asked to do so, and provides prompt answers to pressing economic questions.


The purpose of this report is to show that customized component second‐toe transfers may improve functional and aesthetic outcomes following bone, soft tissue, and joint destruction of traumatically injured digits. A 22‐year‐old male sustained a planer injury resulting in loss of the distal volar soft tissues of the middle, ring, and small fingers, along with variable destruction of middle phalanges and distal interphalangeal joints. Simultaneous vascularized second‐toe transfers were performed with customized joint and pulp reconstruction of middle and small fingers. The ring finger was salvaged using non‐vascularized autologous bone graft and acellular dermal matrix. The patient had an uncomplicated postoperative course. Five‐year strength, sensory and patient reported outcomes represent overall satisfactory results. Strength testing revealed the injured hand to perform within 90% strength of the uninjured side. Sensory outcomes showed present but diminished sensory perception in each of the injured digits. The patient's upper extremity function, physical health, quality of life, and foot health were overall acceptable, and he returned to using his hand for typing, writing, weight‐lifting, and woodworking.


arana, Brazil. arana, Brazil. arana, Brazil. arana, Brazil. Pesquisa Veterinaria Brasileira, 24(1):23-26. Laboratorio de Patologia Veterinaria, Centro Universitario de Maringa, Av. Guedner 1610, Jd. Aclimacao, Maringa, PR 87050-390, Brazil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com A retrospective study of cattle slaughtered in northern Parana during 2000 was performed to determine the prevalence and geographical distribution of bovine eurytrematosis (BE), as identified by the Federal Inspection Service (SIF). The cattle was from different regions of the State of Parana; all regions had cattle parasitized by Eurytrema spp. BE was identified in 12.1% (12,534/103,411) of the total number of cattle inspected. Prevalence of animals parasitized by Eurytrema spp varied from 8.3% (Region G, Sao Joao do Caiua, 1,069/12,914) to 40.5% (Region R, Ponta Grossa, 225/555). BE was more prevalent during the month of March (1.6) and markedly reduced during May (-2). A possible seasonal predominance of BE was identified: comparatively fewer cases occurred from April to August, while there was a peak from December to March. The study indicates that bovine eurytrematosis is hypoendemic and occurs in almost all geographical regions of the State of Parana. The prevalence within this State is variable and may be directly related to factors of the biological cycle of the trematode, particularities of each region, and environmental conditions.


The research aimed to find the differences burnout inclusion teacher based on earnings and employee status. This research used quantitative approach. This type of research was comparative research which compared two variables. A sampling technique of this research was random sampling. The samples are 69 respondents inclusion teacher at Duren Sawit District. The research scale was adapted by Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) that contains 25 items in the three dimensions. Those dimensions are emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal achievement. Data analysis techniques of this research were independent sample t-test and variance analysis with SPSS 16 version. The result of this research shows that there are significant difference burnout inclusion teachers based on earnings and employee status. This research is useful for government in educational policy to increase the inclusion teacher's incentive.


Concurrent thermal design with analysis of different aspects is critical to the current trend to reduce costs and time-to-market. Computer models are used with increasing frequency in the electronics industry to predict thermal performance of heat sinks and systems. Thermal performance plays a governing role in design optimization with significant considerations for assembly and compactness constraints. Design aspects for a 744 W dissipation electronics unit are presented in this paper. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for three-dimensional forced convection with parameter sensitivity results were performed to design an optimized heat sink. Results from these CFD simulations were combined with a thermal network to predict maximum heat sink temperatures. Stress analysis was performed to optimize the rigidity of the front grille while minimizing flow impedance. Agreement to within 10% of experimental results was obtained for the optimized system thermal performance. The optimized design meets the thermal specifications in a compact space at low cost and is easy to manufacture.


This paper deals with a fundamental aspect in the control of grid-connected power converters, i.e., the detection of the positive-sequence component at fundamental frequency of the utility voltage under unbalanced and distorted conditions. Accurate and fast detection of this voltage component under grid faults is essential to keep the control over the power exchange with the grid avoiding to trip the converter protections and allowing the ride-through of the transient fault. In this paper, the systematic use of well known techniques conducts to a new positive-sequence voltage detection system which exhibits a fast, precise, and frequency-adaptive response under faulty grid conditions. Three fundamental functional blocks make up the proposed detector, these are: i) the quadrature-signals generator (QSG), ii) the positive-sequence calculator (PSC), and iii) the phase-locked loop (PLL). A key innovation of the proposed system is the use of a dual second order generalized integrator (DSOGI) to implement the QSG. For this reason, the proposed positive-sequence detector is called DSOGI-PLL. A detailed study of the DSOGI-PLL and verification by simulation are performed in this paper. From the obtained results, it can be concluded that the DSOGI-PLL is a very suitable technique for characterizing the positive-sequence voltage under grid faults.


Transistors are constructed using chemical vapor-deposited graphene on mechanically flexible polyimide and incorporate a low-temperature atomic-layer-deposited gate dielectric. Three-micrometer gate length transistors with Vds = 2.0 V have a drive current of >; 0.3 A/mm with a transconductance of >; 3 mS/mm. The peak hole and electron mobilities are 295 and 106 cm2/V · s, respectively. Subsequent to repeated flexing, the ambipolar characteristics and extremely low gate leakage remain intact with <; 15% reduction in the peak carrier mobility. Good agreement is obtained between the measured mobility and a physically based empirical model and is consistent with the mobility limited by impurity levels and surface roughness. Using graphene-on-polyimide transistors, radio-frequency functionalities, including signal amplification and phase shifting, are demonstrated, and routes for performance improvement are discussed. The results are important for the development of graphene-based electronics on mechanically flexible substrates.


Hyponatremia is associated with poor prognosis in left heart failure and liver disease. Its prognostic role in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is not well defined. We investigated the association between hyponatremia and one-year mortality in two large cohorts of PAH. This study is a secondary analysis evaluating the association between hyponatremia and one-year mortality in patients treated with subcutaneous treprostinil (cohort 1). The results are validated using a PAH registry at a tertiary referral center (cohort 2). Eight-hundred and twenty patients were enrolled in cohort 1 (mean age = 47 ± 14 years) and 791 in cohort 2 (mean age = 55 ± 15 years). Sodium level is negatively correlated with mean right atrial pressure (r = −0.09, P = 0.018; r = −0.089, P = 0.015 in cohorts 1 and 2, respectively). In unadjusted analyses of cohort 1, the sodium level (as a continuous variable) is associated with one-year mortality (hazard ratio = 0.94; P = 0.035). Hyponatremia loses its significance (as a continuous variable and when dichotomized at ≤ 137 mmol/L; P = 0.12) when adjusted for functional class (FC), which is identified as the variable whose presence turns the effect of sodium level into non-significant. Secondary analyses using a cut-off value of < 135 mmol/L showed similar results. These results are validated in cohort 2. Although the sample size for patients with sodium < 130 mmol/L is small (n = 31), severe hyponatremia is associated with higher overall mortality (47% versus 23%; P = 0.01), even when adjusting for age, FC, and baseline 6-min walk distance (P < 0.001). Although baseline hyponatremia is associated with one-year mortality, it loses its significance when adjusted for FC.


Human recombinant interleukin 2 produced by Escherichia coli gives rise to oligomeric forms that are stable to complete denaturation. The appearance of these forms is preceded by the formation of oligomers sensitive to reduction. These processes depend on the cell status and seem to be associated with aggregation of the reaction product.


Abstract. Considering the critical role of trajectory data in Big Data era for dynamic geographical processes, human behaviour analysis and meteorological prediction, trajectory clustering has attracted growing attention. Many literatures have discussed the spatiot emporal clustering method of simple trajectories (i.e., has no branches, e.g. vehicle trajectories), yet there are few researches for clustering complex trajectories (i.e., has at least one split and/or merger and/or split -merger branch, e.g. ocean eddy trajectories, rainstorm trajectories). For addressing this issue, we propose a Process-Oriented Spatiotemporal Clustering Method (POSCM) for clustering complex trajectory data. The POSCM includes three parts: the first uses the semantic of process-sequence-state to represent the complex trajectories; the second proposes a Hierarchical Similarity Measurement Method (HSMM) to get the similarity between any two complex trajectories; in the last step, the complex trajectories clustering pattern is extracted through density-based clustering algorithm. Experiments on simulated trajectories are used to evaluate the POSCM and demonstrate the advantage by comparing against that of the VF2 algorithm. The POSCM is applied to the sea surface temperature abnormal variations trajectories from January 1950 to December 2017 in the Pacific Ocean. As shown in this case study, some new mined spatiotemporal patterns can provide new references for understanding the behaviours of marine abnormal variations under the background of the global change.


Retirement is a unique phenomenon experienced by an individual who works very formal. One marker of retirement is lost in many aspects, including income, activities, identit themselves and friends as a source of support. For individuals who do not have the preparation, retirement is a burden that can give psychosocial implications not only to him but also to the family and society. Therefore it is necessary that there is a program that can help workers prepare yourself both before and after retirement.


The registration policy for domain names on the Internet began simply enough: first come, first served. This policy worked fine until recently when the number of commercial forces-addresses ending with ".com"-skyrocketed. In just the past year, .com registrations have shot up from 18,000 to more than 82,000. As a result, disputes have mushroomed between companies with registered names and those holding trademarks to the same names. Network Solutions, a private corporation funded by the National Science Foundation to manage the Internet registry for domain names, got caught in the middle of the fracas. Although e-mail is today's most efficient means of communication, this very efficiency could become a liability. A case is discussed which highlights the importance of e-mail records as evidence in court actions. Computer companies, perhaps more than others, are subject to key personnel being lured away by competitors. This competition stems from the great value attached to technical skills. It is usually legal to attempt to hire a competitor's employees. Accordingly, "raiding" other companies' employees is permissible, as unfair as it might seem to the victim company. Although raiding is legal, restrictions on trade secret misappropriation still apply. To maximize protection, companies susceptible to losing employees to competitors should implement the methods discussed in this article.


The pressurized water reactor operates in the nucleate boiling regime. The transition from nucleate boiling to the film boiling accompanied by severe reduction of the heat transfer capability can result, however, in a boiling crisis that in the long run can cause fuel cladding melting. Therefore, it is very important to predict and monitor the departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) to prevent fuel clad melting and control the boiling crisis. In this study, the minimum DNB ratio (MDNBR) is predicted based on support vector regression (SVR) model using a number of measured signals from the reactor coolant system. SVR models are trained using a training data set and verified against test data set, which does not include training data. The SVR models have been applied to the first cycle of the Yonggwang 3 nuclear power plant. The estimation accuracy of the MDNBR was high enough to be used in DNB monitoring. Also, SVR model provides larger MDNBR values as compared to the existing core operation limit supervisory system, which allows greater operation margin.


Unlike most modernist fiction, Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage not only recognizes but celebrates silence as a strength in life and literature alike. Richardson's silence is one which enables, communicates, and reveals truth. It speaks in a way words never can; '[r]eal speech can only come from complete silence', as Miriam concludes (III, 389). This article explores the role silence plays in Pilgrimage. Starting by exploring the author's philosophy of silence as it is represented and discussed in her writings, the paper will then proceed to examine the relation of silence to the poetics Miriam develops over the course of the novel-sequence. To Miriam, silence in literature, like silence between people, represents experiences that move beyond words, and speaks to the reader's intuition through an act of recognition. (Less)


Using the caustic method, we identify the member stars of five dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies of the Milky Way, the smallest dark matter (DM) dominated systems in the Universe. After our interloper rejection, we compute line-of-sight velocity dispersion profiles that are substantially smoother than previous results. Moreover, two dSphs have line-of-sight velocity dispersions 20% smaller than previous calculations suggested. Our Jeans modelling confirms that the DM content interior to 300 pc is roughly constant with satellite luminosity. Finally, if we assume that MOND provides the true law of gravity, our identification of interlopers implies that four dSphs have mass-to-light ratios in agreement with stellar population synthesis models, whereas Carina still has a mass-to-light ratio a factor of two too large and remains a problem for MOND.


The crystallization of modeling methods around the Transformer architecture has been a boon for practitioners. Simple, well-motivated architectural variations can transfer across tasks and scale, increasing the impact of modeling research. However, with the emergence of state-of-the-art 100B+ parameters models, large language models are increasingly expensive to accurately design and train. Notably, it can be difficult to evaluate how modeling decisions may impact emergent capabilities, given that these capabilities arise mainly from sheer scale alone. In the process of building BLOOM--the Big Science Large Open-science Open-access Multilingual language model--our goal is to identify an architecture and training setup that makes the best use of our 1,000,000 A100-GPU-hours budget. Specifically, we perform an ablation study at the billion-parameter scale comparing different modeling practices and their impact on zero-shot generalization. In addition, we study the impact of various popular pre-training corpora on zero-shot generalization. We also study the performance of a multilingual model and how it compares to the English-only one. Finally, we consider the scaling behaviour of Transformers to choose the target model size, shape, and training setup. All our models and code are open-sourced at https://huggingface.co/bigscience .


ABSTRACT A previous study clustered home occupants into archetypes with a questionnaire. This study uses qualitative methods to strengthen those previously-found archetypes with data pertaining to the participants' home experiences. Focus groups were carried out where generative activities were conducted involving the generation of collages. The first activity dealt with the expression of 'meaning of energy use at home' and the second one with the 'ideal home experience'. Analyses were done with content and thematic analysis. Codes were drawn from the data and were assimilated through an affinity diagram. The diagram produced two categories: building themes and human themes, along with five sub-categories (home, financial, energy, psychological, and behavioural aspects). The outcome shows that each archetype expresses needs and meanings of an ideal home experience and energy use differently from each other. The results provide evidence that generative techniques can be used in energy research. In this case, to validate and substantiate the quantitative archetypes previously produced with a questionnaire. Interpretive knowledge in energy research allows for a better understanding of occupants' differing behavioural patterns in regards to energy use and comfort. It allows customizing interventions to the archetypes' specific needs to decrease energy consumption while maintaining comfort.


This article seeks to analyze changes in the forex market in India and to explain the behaviour of the rupee in the nineties when India moved from a fixed to a f loating exchange rate. The analysis attempts to identify the underlying economic forces that are submerged under an interventionist market structure. The exchange rate is determined in the more slowly adjusting output markets in the long run and in volatile asset markets in the short run. The long run equilibrium exchange rate is seen to be determined by a version of the purchasing power parity condition. In the short run, the real exchange rate deviates from that determined by real interest parity due to risk. As long as pressures are not extreme, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is able to intervene effectively to influence the exchange rate. Its policy of 'keeping the rupee in line with fundamentals' has usually amounted to preventing a nominal appreciation of the rupee so that it does not effectively turn into a real appreciation. Other than attempting to keep exports competitive, the Reserve Bank has intervened to reduce volatility in forex markets. More recently, indirect intervention using interest rates has also played an increasingly important role in the RBI's foreign exchange policy.


Abstract Euhedral crystals ofcomplexly zoned niobian titanite (up to 0.3 mm) are enclosed in hedenbergite (Hd53-81Di15-43Jh3-5) and quartz from a hedenbergite vein skarn at Kamenné doly near Písek, Czech Republic. They are associated with minor clinozoisite-epidote (Ps3-22), calcite, plagioclase (An95), scapolite (Me80-82), scheelite, pyrrhotite, fluorapatite, arsenopyrite, native bismuth and Bi,Te-minerals. The following textural and compositional subtypes were recognized: (I) Nb-rich titanite, (II) Nb-moderate titanite in the central zone, (III) Nb-poor, Sn-enriched titanite and (IV) Nb-poor, Al,F-rich titanite in the outer zone. The substitution Al(Nb,Ta)Ti-2 is dominant in subtypes I and II, the titanite subtype I being characterized by elevated contents of Al ≤0.257 atoms per formula unit (a.p.f.u.), Nb (≤0.161 a.p.f.u.) and Ta (≤0.037 a.p.f.u.). Amounts of Al, Nb and Ta in subtype II are smaller and more variable. The minor substitution SnTi-1 occurs chiefly in titanite subtype III with a content of Sn ≤0.039 a.p.f.u.. The substitution Al(F,OH)(TiO)-1 is typical for titanite subtype IV exhibiting elevated contents of Al (≤0.221 a.p.f.u.), F (≤0.196 a.p.f.u.) and Fe (≤0.039 a.p.f.u.). The negative relationship of substitutions Al(F,OH)(TiO)-1 vs. SnTi-1 and Al(Nb,Ta)Ti-2 is constrained chiefly by crystal structure rather than by the composition of parent medium alone. Textural relations suggest that the Nb-moderate titanite in the core zone and entire outer zone are products off luids-induced dissolution-reprecipitation processes. The studied niobian titanite represents a new F-enriched type from a medium-grade, calc-silicate rock.


Egg producers in the EU had more than a decade to adapt to Directive 1999/74/EC which prohibits keeping laying hens in battery cages after 2012. Meanwhile, numerous studies have been conducted in order to assess the socio-economic implications of this ban and to evaluate consumers' willingness to support improvement in layer welfare by paying a higher price for eggs produced in alternative systems. The adoption of such regulations in Serbia with the implementation timeframe of less than two years, and without any assessment of consumers' willingness to pay a higher price for eggs from alternative systems, places the burden of animal welfare on producers. Considering the overall difficult financial situation of egg producers, this poses a risk that a large number of egg producers in Serbia will leave the sector after 2012.


A porous alumina with cylindrical pores was fabricated by unidirectional solidification under hydrogen gas flow (0.1 MPa) using alumina feed rods doped with silica, calcia or sodium oxide. The additives in the feed rods strongly affect the formation of porous structure during the solidification. The porosity increases with increasing silica content. The increase of porosity is enhanced by further addition of sodium oxide. The addition of calcia to the feed rod is effective on the homogenization of pore distribution. The porous alumina with 1mol%CaO and 20mol%SiO2 additives showed 50% porosity and homogeneous pores distribution.


Using a dicarboxylic ester bithiophene (DCBT) co-monomer, electron-withdrawing ester groups are introduced on the two central thiophene rings of an alternating donor–acceptor polymer (PDPP4T) consisting of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) and quaterthiophene (4T) to increase the oxidation potential and reduce the photon energy loss in solar cells. To counteract the increased solubility of the PDPPDCBT polymers owing to the ester side chains, linear instead of branched side chains were used on the DPP monomer. The length of the ester side chains was varied to study their effect on the optoelectronic properties, morphology and photovoltaic performance of these polymers in bulk-heterojunction blends with PC71BM as acceptor. The molecular weight of PDPPDCBT is limited, because the bisstannyl-DPP monomer could not be completely purified from mono-functional analogues. By using a non-stoichiometric monomer ratio or a branching unit, the molecular weights were improved to ∼35 kDa. A maximum power conversion efficiency of PCE = 5.7% was obtained. Compared to the parent PDPP4T (PCE 7.0%), the photon energy loss for the best PDPPDCBT was reduced from 0.79 to 0.76 eV, but the photon-to-electron quantum efficiency was reduced, as a consequence of a too coarse phase separation, as studied with two-dimensional grazing-incidence X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy.


ABSTRACT This study aims to provide more insight in the complex and dynamic relationships between interrogation techniques, changes in suspects' statements and the presence of a lawyer. In doing so, it shows the importance of taking into account the conditions under which interrogation techniques can elicit statements from suspects. Based on a Dutch sample of 168 police interviews of suspects in homicide cases structural equation modelling is used to analyse (1) the extent to which interrogation techniques mediate suspects changing their statement and (2) the extent to which the presence of a lawyer moderates the relationship between interrogation techniques and suspects changing their statement. The results show that manipulative interrogation techniques mediate the changing statement of silent suspects compared to suspects who give a statement on personal matters or deny only during interviews without a lawyer. Based on the findings it can be concluded that the presence of a lawyer can change the dynamics of police interviews of suspects. This is an important conclusion given the European developments in strengthening the safeguards of the rights of suspects in police custody. The presence of a lawyer might contribute to reducing false confessions, avoid tunnel vision, and prevent miscarriages of justice.


Introduction : Evaluation of quality of web pages from the users' viewpoints is useful in its design and development. This study was performed to evaluate of the quality of Ilam website from the users' viewpoints. Materials & Method s: The statistical population of this descriptive analytical study included 1300 staff of the university in 2014. Overall, 297 volunteers are selected by using Cochran's formula and random sampling method. Data collection was performed with the WebQual checklist. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (one-sample t-test) were used in SPSS, version 16. Findings : According to the findings, the mean scores of benefit, ease of use, attractiveness, and interactiveness were 3.35, 3.79, 3.26, and 3.36, respectively, which are significantly different from 3 considered as the benchmark. Discussion & Conclusions : The results showed that Ilam University of Medical Sciences website is in a good condition with respect to benefit, easy to use, attractiveness, and interaction. However, website administrators can further enhance the quality of the website in all these dimensions.


The articles published in this volume aim to contribute to the art historical debates on the role of visual culture within medieval rituals and how the latter were experienced bodily. The studies focus on the essential importance of movement within medieval religious practice and its impact on production, conception, perception, and use of artistic objects and architecture in the Middle Ages. At their core is the moving body, individual or collective, which enters into dialogue with the surrounding architectural or urban space, artefacts, and images, thus awakening their sacred potential with each and every step. Shifting attention to the movement of the worshipers and the objects themsleves, this book wishes to instigate further discussion on various medieval visual cultures


We showed previously that fructooligosaccharides (FOS) decrease the resistance to salmonella infection in rats. However, the mechanism responsible for this effect is unclear. Therefore, we examined whether dietary FOS affects intestinal permeability before and after infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis. Male Wistar rats were fed restricted quantities of a purified diet that mimicked the composition of a Western human diet. The diet was supplemented with 60 g/kg cellulose (control) or 60 g/kg FOS and with 4 mmol/kg of the intestinal permeability marker chromium EDTA (CrEDTA) (n = 8 or 10). After an adaptation period of 2 wk, rats were orally infected with 10(8) colony-forming units (cfu) of S. enteritidis. Mucin concentrations in intestinal contents and mucosa were measured fluorimetrically, as markers of mucosal irritation. Intestinal permeability was determined by measuring urinary CrEDTA excretion. Translocation of salmonella was quantified by analysis of urinary nitric oxide metabolites with time. Before infection, FOS increased mucosal lactobacilli and enterobacteria in cecum and colon, but not in the ileum. However, FOS increased cytotoxicity of fecal water and intestinal permeability. Moreover, FOS increased fecal mucin excretion and mucin concentrations in cecal and colonic contents, and in cecal mucosa before infection. After infection, mucin excretion and intestinal permeability in the FOS groups increased even further in contrast to the control group. In addition, FOS increased translocation of salmonella to extraintestinal sites. Thus, FOS impairs the intestinal barrier in rats, as indicated by higher intestinal permeability. Whether these results can be extrapolated to humans requires further investigation.


Transient flow in a water bath contained in a cylindrical vessel, being initially at rest and then suddenly set in rotation, was investigated experimantally and numerically. This flow field is a model for molten metal flow in the rotating reactor of materials processing systems. Two different boundary conditions were imposed on the bath surface: solid wall and free surface. Because the Ekman boundary layer developing on the bottom wall (and on the top wall in the former case) became unstable, the flow in the bath was neither purely laminar nor fully turbulent in the course of flow establishment. As one of simplified calculation methods, the kinematic viscosity of liquid was increased artificially in the laminar calculation so that the calculated transient velocity profiles best fitted the presently measured velocity profiles in the water bath with the top wall. This method could approximate the transient velocity profiles in the bath with free surface as well. The flow establishment time in the presence of the top wall became half the value for the free surface.


Adaptive Case Management (ACM) has emerged as a key BPM technology for supporting the unstructured business process. A key problem in ACM is that case schemas need to be changed to best fit the case at hand. Such changes are ad hoc, and may result in schemas that do not reflect the intended logic or properties. This article presents a formal approach for reasoning about which properties of a case schema are preserved after a modification, and describes change operations that are guaranteed to preserve certain properties. The approach supports reasoning about rollbacks. The Case Management model used here is a variant of the Guard-Stage-Milestone model for declarative business artifacts. A real-life example illustrates applicability.


Background Neurodevelopmental conditions commonly coexist in children, but compared to adults, childhood multimorbidity attracts less attention in research and clinical practice. We previously reported that children treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression have more school absences and exclusions, additional support needs, poorer attainment, and increased unemployment. They are also more likely to have coexisting conditions, including autism and intellectual disability. We investigated prevalence of neurodevelopmental multimorbidity (≥2 conditions) among Scottish schoolchildren and their educational outcomes compared to peers. Methods and findings We retrospectively linked 6 Scotland-wide databases to analyse 766,244 children (390,290 [50.9%] boys; 375,954 [49.1%] girls) aged 4 to 19 years (mean = 10.9) attending Scottish schools between 2009 and 2013. Children were distributed across all deprivation quintiles (most to least deprived: 22.7%, 20.1%, 19.3%, 19.5%, 18.4%). The majority (96.2%) were white ethnicity. We ascertained autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disabilities from records of additional support needs and ADHD and depression through relevant encashed prescriptions. We identified neurodevelopmental multimorbidity (≥2 of these conditions) in 4,789 (0.6%) children, with ASD and intellectual disability the most common combination. On adjusting for sociodemographic (sex, age, ethnicity, deprivation) and maternity (maternal age, maternal smoking, sex-gestation–specific birth weight centile, gestational age, 5-minute Apgar score, mode of delivery, parity) factors, multimorbidity was associated with increased school absenteeism and exclusion, unemployment, and poorer exam attainment. Significant dose relationships were evident between number of conditions (0, 1, ≥2) and the last 3 outcomes. Compared to children with no conditions, children with 1 condition, and children with 2 or more conditions, had more absenteeism (1 condition adjusted incidence rate ratio [IRR] 1.28, 95% CI 1.27–1.30, p < 0.001 and 2 or more conditions adjusted IRR 1.23, 95% CI 1.20–1.28, p < 0.001), greater exclusion (adjusted IRR 2.37, 95% CI 2.25–2.48, p < 0.001 and adjusted IRR 3.04, 95% CI 2.74–3.38, p < 0.001), poorer attainment (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.92, 95% CI 3.63–4.23, p < 0.001 and adjusted OR 12.07, 95% CI 9.15–15.94, p < 0.001), and increased unemployment (adjusted OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.49–1.66, p < 0.001 and adjusted OR 2.11, 95% CI 1.83–2.45, p < 0.001). Associations remained after further adjustment for comorbid physical conditions and additional support needs. Coexisting depression was the strongest driver of absenteeism and coexisting ADHD the strongest driver of exclusion. Absence of formal primary care diagnoses was a limitation since ascertaining depression and ADHD from prescriptions omitted affected children receiving alternative or no treatment and some antidepressants can be prescribed for other indications. Conclusions Structuring clinical practice and training around single conditions may disadvantage children with neurodevelopmental multimorbidity, who we observed had significantly poorer educational outcomes compared to children with 1 condition and no conditions.


CHILDREN WITH LANGUAGE-BASED LEARNING disorders show impaired processing of speech in challenging listening environments, suggesting a noise-exclusion deficit. Musical expertise induces neuroplastic changes throughout the nervous system, including sharpening of early sensory processing, improved linguistic ability, working memory, and source segregation——skills known to be crucial for speech in noise perception. Here we argue for the usefulness of music as an auditory training approach to improve speech perception in noise in individuals with broad noise-exclusion deficits.


The size of Germanium (Ge) Quantum Dots (GQD's) in Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) can be tailored, using different techniques like sputtering, laser ablation and sol gel. Similarly the absorption range of Ge may also be broadened in visible and NIR range. We report the use of Ge QD's to sensitize meso-porous TiO2 film to make quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSC) for the next generation photovoltaics. Ge -TiO2 nano-porous thin films were deposited using rf- planer magnetron sputtering using various ranges of rf-power, Argon pressure and substrate temperature. The fabricated films with various Ge concentrations were studied using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), High Angle Annular Dark Field Imaging (HAADF) and UV-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-VIS).In the thin film meso-structure the Ge dots were embedded in the TiO2 matrix. The average particle size of Ge quantum dots was determined by HAADF. The solar cell performance has been checked using sun simulator. Experimental ways to improve cell performance are discussed.


The Mesozoic to present evolution of the central Atlantic realm is interpreted as a two-stage tectonomagmatic scenario involving long-lived asymmetric mantle upwelling phenomena and magmatism within its eastern margin. The first, a pre-drift tholeiitic stage of Triassic-Jurassic age, resulted from the interaction between several elements: (1) a thinned, weakened corridor along the collapsed southern branch of the Variscan belt between eastern North America and western North Africa; (2) a central Atlantic plume located in the triple junction between Africa, North America, and South America; (3) a progressive asymmetric continental breakup between northwest Africa and North America characterized by detachment systems; and (4) a highly thinned European realm pervaded by rift-type basins that we interpret as a large thin-spot-type domain. These conditions would have induced north-northeast–directed large-scale sublithospheric plume channeling from the central Atlantic plume site to the European large thin-spot, leading to widespread early tholeiitic magmatism (Triassic-Jurrassic) within a giant irregular zone of ∼3000 × 4000 km. Plume activity and chaneling continued afterward during a Cretaceous to present second tectonomagmatic stage (passive margin alkaline stage) leading to the onset of alkaline magmatism along a general north-northeast trend in the eastern Atlantic margin (Late Cretaceous) and Europe (Paleocene–Oligocene). As a whole, a north-northeasst–directed propagating magmatic vector can be defined from the Mesozoic to the present.


We present active electrostatic MEMS gas valves for Micro-Gas-Analyzer (MGA) flow control. These unique valves enable extremely low dead volume, highly integrated flow control chips for the MGA application, and potentially others (e.g., propulsion, pneumatic, and thermodynamic microsystems). We have demonstrated low leak rates ( <; 0.025 sccm, <; 0.0025 sccm on a similar passive valve design), high operating pressures 6.9×105 N/m2 (100 psig), a high-pressure record for valves of this size and type, and high flow rates (>; 25 sccm) using control voltages on the order of 100 V. The valve designs presented eliminate charge build-up issues associated with insulating materials and are closely tied to a base-lined microfabrication process (SUMMiT), allowing mass production. Using this process, which incorporates only CMOS compatible materials, eliminates outgassing and absorption problems inherent to microvalve designs that incorporate elastomers or organic bonding layers, and reduces contamination when the valve is part of the chemical analysis flowpath. The results obtained indicate that even higher performance level valves (>; 1.4 × 106 N/m2 or 200 psig operating pressure, at similar control voltage, flow rates, and leak rates) are possible.


In order to achieve broadband and unidirectional radiation, a planar printed antenna based on closely spaced loading method is proposed and fabricated. This antenna consists of a printed rectangular loop with two gaps and a metallic strip. The rectangular loop has a good direction but has a drawback of narrow band. According to the closely spaced loading theory, the impedance at the upper frequency will decrease when a metallic strip is placed at the maximum radiation direction of the rectangular loop. This improves the impedance matching. A new resonant frequency point is induced. Meanwhile, the resonant frequency point can be changed by modifying the length of the metallic strip. The impedance matching between the two resonant peaks (One peak is determined by the rectangular loop, the other is determined by the metallic strip) is improved by changing the length and the position of the metallic strip. Thus the impedance bandwidth is greatly expanded. Experimental results show good performance of the proposed antenna. It has a 40.7% measured bandwidth, ranging from 2.29 to 3.46 GHz. The measured front-to-back (F/B) ratio of the proposed antenna is larger than 10 dB in the whole frequency band.


Recently prop-based interfaces in combination with two-handed interaction techniques have become increasingly popular. Passive real-world props augment interaction through tactile feedback and often lead to more intuitive interaction. The Cubic Mouse is a new, 3D input device based on the prop idea. It consists of a cube-shaped box with three perpendicular rods passing through its center. We use a six-degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) tracker embedded in the Cubic Mouse to track the device's position and orientation. The rods can be pushed and pulled, allowing the constrained input of three degrees of freedom. The 6-DOF Cubic Mouse, also allows rotation of the rods, which adds another three DOF. Altogether, we have a total of 12 analog degrees of freedom available with the Cubic Mouse, six DOF through the tracking and another six through the rods. In addition, the Cubic Mouse has application-programmable control buttons. We present a variety of interaction techniques developed around the Cubic Mouse, which we have implemented in various application prototypes. Our geo-scientific visualization system allows the exploration of data from the oil and gas industry in local and distributed virtual environments. With our automotive partners, we're developing a system for steering and visualizing crash simulations. Other application areas include medical visualization and terrain visualization.


Species of the genus Macrococcus are widespread commensals of animals but are becoming increasingly recognised as veterinary pathogens. They can encode methicillin resistance and are implicated in its spread to the closely-related, but more pathogenic, staphylococci. In this study we have identified 33 isolates of methicillin-resistant Macrococcus caseolyticus from bovine bulk tank milk from England and Wales. These isolates were characterised to provide insight into the molecular epidemiology of M. caseolyticus and to discern the genetic basis for their methicillin resistance. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by Vitek2 and disc diffusion. Isolates were whole-genome sequenced to evaluate phylogenetic relationships and the presence of methicillin resistance determinants, mecA–D. All 33 isolates were phenotypically methicillin-resistant according to cefoxitin disc diffusion, cefoxitin Etest and oxacillin resistance assessed by Vitek2. In contrast only a single isolate was resistant in the Vitek2 cefoxitin screen. Twenty-seven isolates were positive for mecD and six were positive for mecB. mecA and mecC were not detected. The results of phylogenetic analysis indicated that these methicillin-resistant isolates represented a heterogeneous population with both mecB and mecD found in diverse isolates. Isolates had a widespread distribution across the sampled region. Taken together with the role of M. caseolyticus in veterinary infections, including bovine mastitis, and in the potential spread of methicillin resistance to more pathogenic staphylococci, this work highlights the need to better understand their epidemiology and for increased awareness among veterinary microbiology laboratories.


ABSTRACT Recombinant adenoviral vectors have been widely used for gene therapy applications and as vaccine vehicles for treating infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus disease. The innate immune response to adenoviruses represents the most significant hurdle in clinical application of adenoviral vectors for gene therapy, but it is an attractive feature for vaccine development. How adenovirus activates innate immunity remains largely unknown. Here we showed that adenovirus elicited innate immune response through the induction of high levels of type I interferons (IFNs) by both plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and non-pDCs such as conventional DCs and macrophages. The innate immune recognition of adenovirus by pDCs was mediated by Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) and was dependent on MyD88, whereas that by non-pDCs was TLR independent through cytosolic sensing of adenoviral DNA. Furthermore, type I IFNs were pivotal in innate and adaptive immune responses to adenovirus in vivo, and type I IFN blockade diminished immune responses, resulting in more stable transgene expression and reduction of inflammation. These findings indicate that adenovirus activates innate immunity by its DNA through TLR-dependent and -independent pathways in a cell type-specific fashion, and they highlight a critical role for type I IFNs in innate and adaptive immune responses to adenoviral vectors. Our results that suggest strategies to interfere with type I IFN pathway may improve the outcome of adenovirus-mediated gene therapy, whereas approaches to activate the type I IFN pathway may enhance vaccine potency.