An apparatus has been constructed, similar to that of G. Hertz[3], making use of the difference in the thermal velocities of molecules of different weight to separate the isotopes of a gas. The problems of design and their solution are discussed in detail. Data are given to show the separation and equilibrium time of apparatus of several types, when used to separate mixtures of various initial concentrations of hydrogen and nitrogen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and carbon dioxide and argon. Mass spectrometer measurements on the end-products of a separation process performed on the neon isotopes, with an apparatus containing fourteen mercury diffusion pumps, show the separation to be the same as for mixtures of carbon dioxide and argon, for which the mass ratio, 44:40, is the same as the 22:20 ratio of the neon isotopes. Separation processes performed with an apparatus of twenty-four pumps on carbon dioxide-argon mixtures reveal that the separation factor--i. e., the ratio of the relative abundance of the heavy gas at one end of the system to its relative abundance at the other end, when equilibrium has been reached--and the equilibrium time are practically independent of the initial mixing ratio of the components. Hertz' approximate theory of the diffusion apparatus is extended to permit the calculation of the "enrichment factor"--i. e., the ratio of the relative abundance of the heavy gas at the "heavy" end of the system, after equilibrium is reached, to its relative abundance in the gas initially admitted to the system. The effects of impurities, viscosity, pressure gradients in the system, and insufficient pumping speed are discussed quantitatively. Work done on methane, to concentrate C13, and on nitrogen, to concentrate N15, is described. Photographs of the band spectra of C2, CN, and N2 are given which show isotope bends of sufficient intensity to make possible quantitative mass measurements on the rare isotopes C13 and N15. Methane has been produced containing 16% of C13, and nitrogen gas has been produced containing 3.3% of N15, instead of the 1% and 0.3% in the respective normal gases.


Poisons of topoisomerase II (TOP2) kill cancer cells by preventing religation of intermediate DNA breaks during the enzymatic process and thus by accumulating enzyme–drug–DNA complexes called TOP2 cleavage-complex (TOP2cc). F14512 is a highly cytotoxic polyamine-vectorized TOP2 inhibitor derived from etoposide and currently in clinical trials. It was shown in vitro that F14512 has acquired DNA-binding properties and that the stability of TOP2cc was strongly increased. Paradoxically, at equitoxic concentrations in cells, F14512 induced less DNA breaks than etoposide. Here, we directly compared etoposide and F14512 for their rates of TOP2cc production and resolution in human cells. We report that targeting of TOP2α and not TOP2β impacts cell killing by F14512, contrary to etoposide that kills cells through targeting both isoforms. Then, we show that despite being more cytotoxic, F14512 is less efficient than etoposide at producing TOP2α cleavage-complex (TOP2αcc) in cells. Finally, we report that compared with TOP2αcc mediated by etoposide, those generated by F14512 persist longer in the genome, are not dependent on TDP2 for cleaning break ends from TOP2α, are channeled to a larger extent to resection-based repair processes relying on CtIP and BRCA1 and promote RAD51 recruitment to damaged chromatin. In addition to the addressing of F14512 to the polyamine transport system, the properties uncovered here would be particularly valuable for a therapeutic usage of this new anticancer compound. More generally, the concept of increasing drug cytotoxicity by switching the repair mode of the induced DNA lesions via addition of a DNA-binding moiety deserves further developments. Mol Cancer Ther; 16(10); 2166–77. ©2017 AACR.


Abstract Background : For a definitive diagnosis in many oncological, inflammatory and infectious diseases histological examination is required. Non-palpable lesions detected with PET/CT scanning that cannot be localized with conventional imaging methods can be localized and excised using FDG-probe guided surgery. We describe the application of FDG-probe guided surgery in 9 patients. Methods : The application of FDG-probe guided surgery used in 9 consecutive patients with oncological and infectious diseases is described. Four hours before surgery, 3.5 MBq/Kg body weight FDG was intravenously administered after which a FDG-PET-scan was performed to confirm the FDG-avid lesion(s). The lesions with highest activity were detected with the FDG-probe and the lesions were subsequently excised and sent for histopathological examination. Results : In all of the 9 cases the target lesion was successfully identified and subsequently removed. When multiple and/or macroscopically normal lymph nodes were found, the use of the FDG-probe allowed selection of the PET-avid lymph nodes for resection. Conclusion : FDG-probe guided surgery is a relatively simple surgical technique to identify and excise FDG-accumu-lating suspicious lesions in oncological, inflammatory and infectious diseases.


Objective: The aim of this analysis was to determine the results of excision and primary closure of pilonidal sinus disease. Study Design: A Prospective Study. Place and Duration: In the Surgical department of PIMS Hospital Islamabad for the one-year duration from May 2018 to May 2019. Methodology: Eighty cases were included for excision with primary closure. Individuals having recurrent pilonidal sinus disease and with acute pilonidal sinus, abscess were excluded from the analysis. All subjects were operated in prone position under general anaesthesia. To clean the sinus tract; Methylene blue dye was injected. Postoperative complications and recurrence were recorded. All patients were followed at the outpatient department for three months and then every three months. Results: Eighty patients who met the criteria of inclusion were underwent surgery. 68 were male of the 80 patients, the female was 12, and 34 years was the mean age. Six days was the mean hospital stay and three weeks was the average duration when patients return to their work. From 80 patients; 10 (12.5%) had wound infection and 3 from them had minor wound infection. The seroma formation was noted in 5 (6.25%) which was aspirated. Only 6 patients had a recurrence, representing a 7.5% overall recurrence rate. Conclusion: It is concluded that pilonidal sinus disease primary closure and excision are related to early wound healing, short hospital stay, reduced chance of recurrence and rapid return to work.


The commenter refers to the paper by Wong-Sideris (ibid. vol.3, p.115-21 (1992)) claiming that the original Albus CMAC (or binary CMAC) is capable of learning an arbitrary multivariate lookup table, the linear optimization process is strictly positive definite, and that the basis functions are linearly independent, given sufficient training data. In recent work by Brown et al. (1994), however, it has been proved that the multivariate binary CMAC is unable to learn certain multivariate lookup tables and the number of such orthogonal functions increases exponentially as the generalization parameter is increased. A simple 2D orthogonal function is presented as a counterexample to the original theory. It is also demonstrated that the basis functions are-always linearly dependent, both for the univariate and the multivariate case, and hence the linear optimization process is only positive semi-definite and there always exists an infinite number of possible optimal weight vectors.


Highlighting the research process, Library services, and Web based tools, this guide's purpose is to make doing research a more meaningful and less daunting academic experience for LaGuardia's Honor Conference Students.


Cerebellum is known as little brain and mainly controls and coordinates the movements of the body. It is the second largest part of the brain. The degeneration to the cerebellum results in cerebellar atrophy, which seriously alters the body movements, gait and speech. The ataxic gait also known as cerebellar ataxia is a cardinal symptom of the problem. In this case report, a 54-year-old male came to the OPD complaining of ataxic gait and scanning speech, which was diagnosed as cerebellar atrophy. Ayurvedic treatment mainly comprising of Abhrakabhasma along with Mahakalyanaka ghrita was given to the patient for a period of 50 days and found remarkable improvement in symptoms. The symptoms were assessed using Scale for the assessment and rating of ataxia (SARA), before and after the treatment i.e., on Day 0 and Day 101. The patient's total score changed from 29 to 4 after the treatment. The patient was almost completely recovered within a period of 101 days. No adverse drug reactions were reported during the entire course of treatment. This case report focuses on the effect of Ayurvedic medicines in the management of Cerebellar ataxia as well as Cerebellar atrophy.


This study investigated the contribution of cultural values on students' drop out in secondary schools in Kisarawe District, Tanzania. The study adopted mainly qualitative research design with simple frequencies and percentages. Convenience and judgmental sampling were used to obtain 204 respondents targeted in this study. Data were analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistics. Majority of the respondents (54.1 per cent) viewed the extent of drop out problem at the district as very high. Majority of the respondents viewed poor class performance, low parents awareness on the importance of education, and provision of child care facilities, as among the common and general causes of students drop out in the area. Majority of the respondents agreed that pregnancy, childhood marriage, initiation ceremonies, and puberty as among the socio-cultural related factors which contribute to students drop out in the area. Various ways can be used to reduce and eliminate drop out problem due to cultural factors including avoiding outdated traditions like women circumcision and educating parents on the importance of education for their children. Both cultural and non cultural related factors lead to drop out problem. Various recommendation are given including having outreach efforts which consider targeting women who were married before age 18 as potentially in need of assistance. Parents should be convicted for accepting their children who drop out of school. Village by-laws about dropout have to be introduced to ensure that pupils who are out of school have legal actions taken against them.


As wearable devices move toward the face (i.e. smart earbuds, glasses), there is an increasing need to facilitate intuitive interactions with these devices. Current sensing techniques can already detect many mouth-based gestures; however, users' preferences of these gestures are not fully understood. In this paper, we investigate the design space and usability of mouth-based microgestures. We first conducted brainstorming sessions (N=16) and compiled an extensive set of 86 user-defined gestures. Then, with an online survey (N=50), we assessed the physical and mental demand of our gesture set and identified a subset of 14 gestures that can be performed easily and naturally. Finally, we conducted a remote Wizard-of-Oz usability study (N=11) mapping gestures to various daily smartphone operations under a sitting and walking context. From these studies, we develop a taxonomy for mouth gestures, finalize a practical gesture set for common applications, and provide design guidelines for future mouth-based gesture interactions.


Context. Prior studies have found racial differences in the use of invasive procedures and in cancer survival. Objective. To assess the influence of race on the treatment and survival of patients with distal esophageal cancer. Design. Retrospective cohort study. Setting. All Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Patients. One thousand two hundred ninety white and 231 black male veterans with a new diagnosis of distal esophageal cancer during 1993 to 1997. Main Outcome Measures. Utilization of surgical resection, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and survival. Results. Black patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma were less likely to undergo surgery (OR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.30–0.96) but had similar odds of undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Black patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were less likely to undergo surgical resection (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.29–0.70), but were more likely to undergo radiation therapy (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.21–2.47) and chemotherapy (OR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.19–2.54). Mortality was increased for black patients with SCC (adjusted risk ratio 1.33; 95% CI, 1.10–1.61) but not adenocarcinoma. Among those veterans who underwent surgical resection (n = 502), similar results were found. Conclusions. Black veterans with distal SCC are less likely than white veterans to undergo surgical resection, whereas the use of radiation therapy and chemotherapy, as well as mortality, is increased. Black patients with distal esophageal adenocarcinoma have lower odds of undergoing surgical resection but have similar utilization of radiation therapy and chemotherapy and similar survival. Despite the presence of an equal access medical system, treatment and outcomes differ for black and white veterans with distal esophageal cancer.


The food-borne pathogene Listeria monocytogenes has been considered a significant threat to human health worldwide. It mainly infects individuals suffering insuffecint immunity such as pregnant women. During pregnancy, L. monocytogenes is capable of causing a serious damage to the mother and the fetus. It can spread to different organs including the placenta via adaptation to interacellular lifestyle. To maintain pregnancy, the levels of the hormones progesterone and β-estradiol increase and reduction in hormone levels was proposed to be associated with fetal death and abortion. The objectives of this project therefore were to investigate the role of pregnancy hormones on the growth and virulence of L. monocytogenes, and to identify bacterial genes with possible roles in binding to pregnancy hormones. It was obsereved that the growth of L. monocytogenes in the presence of progesterone under anaerobic condition was affected by the action of the hormone and the effect was dose/time-dependent of exposure as increasing concentrations showed greater effect on the bacterial growth. Interestingly, bacterial growth was restored within 24 h of exposure to the hormone. In parallel, a Tn917-LTV3 insertion library was constructed and a number of mutants isolated that had reduced growth in the presence of β-estradiol were identified. However, reduction in growth was not microbiologically significant. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis was performed to identify listerial genes with possible role in hormones degradation. It was observed that L. monocytogenes encodes for a protein that is possibly involved in steroid degradation; therefore, gene expression and a clear-deletion mutant were performed to test this hypothesis. This revealed no significant role of this protein in the growth restoration observed in the presence of progesterone. Also, the deleted gene was investigated of its ability to reduce NADPH in the presence of a possible substrate (progesterone, β-estradiol). This showed that this gene could possess an enzymatic activity toward pregnancy hormones. An attempt to purify this protein for further investigation was performed and protein expression in a soluble form was unsuccessful. The findings presented in this thesis represent an important view when considering the relation between pregnancy hormones and L. monocytogenes; however, further investigations of hormone-degrading proteins from L. monocytogenes are needed. This knowledge may form the basis of a therapy to protect pregnant individuals.


ABSTRACT This research article is the first of its kind to consider the financial inclusion, which is constructed using the depth, access and efficiency of the financial institutions and markets, and various aspects of tourism development such as business tourism spending, direct tourism contribution, domestic tourism spending, total internal tourism expenses, leisure tourism spending and total tourism contribution. Given the growing importance of financial inclusion in the recent time, this article is designed to investigate the role of financial inclusion on various dimensions of tourism development across the panels of 24 advanced and 21 emerging economies around the world, using yearly data from 1995 to 2016. Given the presence of cross-sectional dependence in the data series, we employ Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator as it is a robust technique to handle this issue in the estimation. The evidences show that financial inclusion has a significant positive impact on various aspects of tourism development across the panels. The results also suggest that the impact is more in emerging economies than that of advanced economies. Hence, this article offers numerous policy and practical suggestions for sustainable tourism management.


Environmental Infrastructure in the Gaza Strip (GS) is a multidisciplinary sector
related to provision of basic services of water supply, waste water, storm water
drainage and solid waste disposal. The emerging institutions of the Palestinian
National Authority (PNA) are facing problems managing the poor physical facilities
of the environmental infrastructure. The thesis assesses the current status of the
environmental infrastructure in the GS within the context of designing a conceptual,
sustainable and integrated Environmental Infrastructure Management Model
(EIMM). This is the core of the research, which aims at making a contribution
towards understanding and assessing Environmental Infrastructure Management
(EIM) including the links to, and mandates of, the institutions involved in EIM tasks.
In this context, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is introduced as a vital
integrating element for EIM institutions.
The lack of quantitative data on EIM in GS represents a major constraint, and
therefore a well structured questionnaire was adopted for data collection. Reviews of
the institutional set up of EIM in the UK, Israel, Jordan and GS were undertaken. To
facilitate comparison among EIM systems, a Hybrid Comparative Technique (HCT)
was developed aiming at highlighting strengths and weaknesses of the existing
EIMM in GS, compared with other well established models elsewhere, to streamline
institutional setup in GS.
The quantitative information from the questionnaire is placed as triangulation
alongside the qualitative data from the literature review to give further insight into
the issues being studied. A SWOT analysis under different and political scenarios
was the outcome of evaluating the performance of the new EIMM. The study
showed that the EIM institutions in GS do not have clear mandates where roles and
responsibilities overlap. New central Institutions are needed including central water,
solid waste and GIS facilities. Privatization, human resource development, and
customer satisfaction should all be considered.


Objectives: Spinal fusion is often complicated by high blood loss and the clinically observed phenomenon of increased bleeding times throughout the case. Although the pathophysiology of this phenomenon involves hyperfibrinolysis and occurs to a lesser extent in the presence of antifibrinolytics (e.g. TXA), we hypothesize that perioperative changes in platelet function also contribute to this continued observation.
Methods: Blood samples were acquired from patients undergoing posterior spinal fusion for correcting scoliosis (5 neuromuscular, 3 idiopathic ). Samples were obtained immediately before the procedure, at 2, 4, and 6 hours post-incision, and the subsequent morning (POD1). Platelet activation in response to stimulation with an intravascular agonist, thrombin, and an extravascular agonist, convulxin, was measured by flow cytometry. Activation of the fibrin-binding integrin glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GpIIb/IIIa) was reported by PAC-1 binding and expression of the alpha-granule component P-selectin was reported by CD62p binding. CBCs and Thromboelastography (TEG) were performed on samples in parallel. Estimated blood loss (EBL) was calculated using a hematocrit-based analysis of red cell mass.
Results:All 5 neuromuscular patients exhibited a marked and progressive decline in platelet count and activity throughout surgery and early postoperative period. Reductions were most notable for thrombin-stimulated GpIIb/IIIa activation (Th PAC1) at 4 hrs (mean 41.7%, p=0.0056) and 6 hrs (50.9%, p=0.0096). Similar trends in mean reductions were observed for thrombin stimulated P- selectin expression (Th P-Selectin) at 6 hrs (22.5%, p=0.0112) and on POD1 (39.2%, p=0.0274). Patients with idiopathic scoliosis demonstrated significant reductions in convulxin-stimulated GpIIb/IIIa activation (32.8%, p=0.0087) and P-selectin expression (35.1%, p=0.0147) at 2 hrs, which recovered to or increased beyond baseline thereafter.
These trends also manifested on TEG for all neuromuscular patients as the average time to maximum clot strength increased by 48.8% at 6 hrs (p=0.0058).
Furthermore, platelet activity correlated with the calculated EBL for all 8 patients (Th PAC1 at 4 hrs R= -0.673, p=0.146 and 6 hrs: R= -0.623, p=0.099; Th P-Selectin at 6 hrs: R= -0.694 p = 0.056 and POD1: R= -0.713, p=0.047). EBL also significantly correlated with reductions in platelet count at 6 hrs (R= -0.919, p=0.010) and absolute platelet count on POD1 (R= -0.858, p=0.006).
Conclusions: We have observed a progressive reduction in platelet activation and fibrin-dependent clot formation throughout scoliosis surgery, particularly in patients with neuromuscular disease. High endothelial injury related to achieving surgical exposure may account for the early drop in response to the extravascular collagen receptor agonist, convulxin. Measures associated with secondary hemostasis, such as the thrombin-stimulated platelet activation and time to maximum clot strength, both demonstrated exhaustion towards the post-operative period. These data suggest that surgically-induced disruption in platelet function may be a key component of the coagulopathic phenomenon described and closely associated with blood loss.


Two neurohypophyseal peptides (vasopressin or antidiuretic hormone and oxytocin) belong to a family of peptides that are broadly widespread in the animal kingdom. These peptides are already found in unicellular species and differently distributed in hydra. Schematically, basic peptides related to vasopressin can be distinguished from neutral peptides related to oxytocin. Phylogenetic evolution of these two peptides shows that basic compounds are usually implicated in water metabolism regulation, but also through their central way of action, in important behaviour connected with survival of mankind (alertness, memorization, cardiovascular acceleration...) although neutral compounds are implicated in reproductive functions (carriage of spermatozoids in female genital tractus, expulsion phase of delivery, milk ejection reflex). Concerning behaviour, these compounds demonstrate properties favouring between subjects relationship (maternal behaviour settlement, including in birds, building of social links). Neuropsychiatric disturbances leading to an excess or a deficit of the central production of one of the groups of these neuropeptides could then be explained on basis of these general conclusions.


Thromboembolism from a venous source continues to be of clinical significance with an annual incidence of 300,000 to 600,000 cases. These episodes of pulmonary embolism result in at least 50,000 deaths per year despite the use of effective prophylaxis and availability of noninvasive techniques to establish early diagnosis and treatment of thrombotic events. The main treatment modality continues to be effective anticoagulation, but this treatment may fail to control thromboembolism in 5% to 10% of patients, and anticoagulants have been associated with a mortality rate of up to 15%.


In this paper we consider flat and open universe models containing a mixture of cold matter (dust) and radiation interacting only through gravity, with the aim of studying their stability with respect to linear scalar perturbations. To this end we consider the perturbed universe as a dynamical system, described by coupled differential equations for a gauge-invariant perturbation variable and a relevant background variable. The phase-space analysis of this dynamical system shows that flat dust-radiation models are unstable, and open models structurally unstable, with respect to adiabatic perturbations. For flat models, there are actually three different regimes of evolution for the perturbations, depending on their wavelength and the transition scale from one regime to the other is determined by a critical wavenumber for the perturbations, kEC (an invariant of the model). We find that kEC < kJE (the Jeans wavenumber at equidensity of matter and radiation), implying that there are perturbations which decay even if their wavelength at equidensity is larger than the corresponding Jeans scale. We also briefly discuss metric and curvature perturbations. We believe that this analysis gives a clearer idea of the stability properties of realistic universe models than the standard one based on the Jeans scale, despite our simplifying assumptions.


Anisotropic materials have been widely applied in practical engineering problems of interest. In the paper, the anisotropic heat transfer behaviors are analyzed using the proposed hybrid finite element model with Green's function kernel. In the established weak integral hybrid functional, the element internal field being approximated with the combination of Green's function satisfies a priori the governing partial differential equation and the independent frame field is assumed to link the internal field. As a result, the solving linear system of equations with boundary integrals only is obtained and the constructed elements show anisotropic feature. Two numerical examples are given to show the convergence and accuracy of the proposed approach, and the effect of ply angle of orthotropic material principal direction on the temperature distribution is discussed to investigate heat transfer mechanism in anisotropic materials.


The expression of major histocompatibility antigens class II (MHC II) in renal diseases has been studied extensively in the tubulo-interstitial compartment, while there are few articles about their expression in the glomeruli. In this series, glomerular expression of HLA DR DP DQ is evaluated in a total of 62 cases of pyelonephritis, glomerulonephritis, tubulointerstitial nephritis and systemic diseases with renal manifestations in order to identify their relationship with disease status and renal scarring. Formaline fixed paraffin embedded tissue sections from renal biopsy and nefrectomy specimens were stained by an antibody against HLA DR DP DQ by the streptavidin biotin method. Autopsy kidneys were used as control tissues. In order to understand the significance of glomerular HLA DR DP DQ expression in renal tissues, the results were correlated with glomerular sclerosis, interstitial fibrosis, tubular atrophy and interstitial inflammation by Spearman and Pearson correlation tests. Disease groups were compared with Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests in independent samples. Increased expression was identified in cases with chronic pyelonephritis and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis compared with autopsy kidneys. On the other hand, when all the cases were considered, no correlation was found between glomerular HLA expression and glomerular sclerosis (p=0.458, r=-0.104), tubular atrophy (p=0.9, r=0.018) interstitial fibrosis (p=0.725, r=-0.049) and inflammation (p=0.987, r= 0.002). As there are few cases in each disease category, it is hard to reach definite conclusions about the different nature of HLA class II antigen expression in renal diseases. But their effect on renal scarring is not indicated by this study.


ABSTRACT This paper addresses 'the biggest lie on the internet' with an empirical investigation of privacy policy (PP) and terms of service (TOS) policy reading behavior. An experimental survey (N = 543) assessed the extent to which individuals ignored PP and TOS when joining a fictitious social networking service (SNS), NameDrop. Results reveal 74% skipped PP, selecting the 'quick join' clickwrap. Average adult reading speed (250–280 words per minute), suggests PP should have taken 29–32 minutes and TOS 15–17 minutes to read. For those that didn't select the clickwrap, average PP reading time was 73 seconds. All participants were presented the TOS and had an average reading time of 51 seconds. Most participants agreed to the policies, 97% to PP and 93% to TOS, with decliners reading PP 30 seconds longer and TOS 90 seconds longer. A regression analysis identifies information overload as a significant negative predictor of reading TOS upon sign up, when TOS changes, and when PP changes. Qualitative findings suggest that participants view policies as nuisance, ignoring them to pursue the ends of digital production, without being inhibited by the means. Implications are revealed as 98% missed NameDrop TOS 'gotcha clauses' about data sharing with the NSA and employers, and about providing a first-born child as payment for SNS access.


The Energy Systems Laboratory at Texas A&M University is currently studying ways to make improvements in thermal comfort at the Terminal E building at DFW airport. Airport terminal building HVAC systems are generally known to consume large amounts of energy to provide an environment that is comfortable for the employees and travelers. Wind direction, the shape and orientation of the building with respect to the prevailing wind can have a deleterious effect on the HVAC system ability to provide the comfort levels that people have become accustomed to in public buildings. Airport terminal buildings, such as the one in this study, built before the current energy awareness that is prevalent today have many problems associated with air infiltration primarily due to openings in the building structure to permit a smooth flow of passengers and luggage toward their destination. Entry ways that allow for easy egress generally use sliding door vestibules that are self closing based on sensors and timers to provide the building user an unimpeded path into and out of the building. During peak traffic periods, these doors are open for relatively long periods of time and can cause significant loss of building pressure. If the shape of the terminal building is such that the gate doors to the aircraft are opposing the egress entryways, air flows can develop within the building that blow across the width of the building, causing drafts that can either be cold or hot based on the outside air temperature. The shape of the building in this study is C-shaped with the opening of the "C" facing toward the West. Weather data will be analyzed along with hot and cold calls within the terminal building to correlate the effect of wind direction on indoor thermal comfort. Unwanted air infiltration flow pathways will be identified using smoke testers and analyzed with efforts to reduce entry into the building envelope


PeiW (UniProtKB Q7LYX0) and PeiP (UniProtKB Q77WJ4) are the two major pseudomurein endoisopeptidases (Pei) that are known to cleave pseudomurein cell-wall sacculi of the members of the methanogenic orders Methanobacteriales and Methanopyrales. Both enzymes, originating from prophages specific for some methanogenic archaeal species, hydrolyze the (Ala)Lys bond of the peptide linker between adjacent pseudomurein layers. Because lysozyme is not able to cleave the pseudomurein cell wall, the enzymes are used in protoplast preparation and in DNA isolation from pseudomurein cell-wall-containing methanogens. Moreover, PeiW increases the probe permeability ratio and enables fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and catalyzed reporter deposition (CARD-) FISH experiments to be performed on these methanogens.


We analyze the relationship between financial development and inter-industry resource allocation in the short- and long-run. We suggest that in the long-run, economies with high rates of financial development will devote relatively more resources to industries with a 'natural' reliance on outside finance due to a comparative advantage in these industries. By contrast, in the short-run we argue that financial development facilitates the reallocation of resources to industries with good growth opportunities, regardless of their reliance on outside finance. To test these predictions, we use a measure of industry-level 'technological' financial dependence based on the earlier work of Rajan and Zingales (1998), and develop new proxies for shocks to (short run) industry growth opportunities. We find differential effects of these measures on industry growth and composition in countries with different levels of financial development. We obtain results that are consistent with financially developed economies specializing in 'financially dependent' industries in the long-run, and allocating resources to industries with high growth opportunities in the short-run.


Flexible printed circuit board (PCB), which is used for folder and slide type cellular phones, consists of flexible copper clad laminate (FCCL) and cover layer. Through it an electric current is applied to liquid crystal display (LCD) from the main board of cellular phone. In thin Cu foils of flexible PCB fatigue cracks due to repeated bending motion generate and propagate, and they cause a short circuit. Fatigue behavior of thin Cu foils being used for flexible PCB must be evaluated and confirmed to resolve this problem. It is based on findings by several researches that the mechanical properties of thin film materials differ from those of their bulk counterparts. Thin film properties have been investigated over the last years; however fatigue behavior of thin films has not yet been studied as thoroughly as monotonic behavior. In this study fatigue properties of thin Cu foils for the application in flexible PCB are obtained. Fatigue testing was performed for two kinds of Cu foils that were made by rolling and electrochemical procedures respectively. Differences of fabrications in fatigue behavior of thin foils were distinguished. Especially for rolled Cu foils, effects of rolling directions in fatigue properties were evaluated.


Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to substantially alter the manner in which products of the future are engineered. Currently there are many applications of VR during the product engineering process from design and analysis through to process planning, assembly, machining and shop floor layout. VR takes a multitude of forms, including immersive, desktop, augmented, and is rapidly developing as a tool that can be used in the engineering of products. This paper looks at the use of immersive VR as a tool for analysing both design and manufacturing product engineering activities in a series of research projects involving assembly planning and cable harness design. It focuses particularly on the use of the non-intrusive logging of users in such environments as a means to obtaining a rich data source for activity analysis and its potential within computer integrated manufacturing environments as a means of providing downstream engineering data.


We systematically study the indirect interaction between a magnon mode and a cavity photon mode mediated by travelling photons of a waveguide. From a general Hamiltonian, we derive the effective coupling strength between two separated modes, and obtain the theoretical expression of system's transmission. Accordingly, we design an experimental set-up consisting of a shield cavity photon mode, microstrip line and a magnon system to test our theoretical predictions. From measured transmission spectra, indirect interaction, as well as mode hybridization, between two modes can be observed. All experimental observations support our theoretical predictions. In this work, we clarify the mechanism of travelling photon mediated interactions between two separate modes. Even without spatial mode overlap, two separated modes can still couple with each other through their correlated dissipations into a mutual travelling photon bus. This conclusion may help us understand the recently discovered dissipative coupling effect in cavity magnonics systems. Additionally, the physics and technique developed in this work may benefit us in designing new hybrid systems based on the waveguide magnonics. gradient memory architecture 16 , single magnon detection 17 , non-local spin current manipulation 18 , cavity polariton logic


This paper discusses the latest model and theoretical understanding around the concept of organisational resilience as it relates to organisational readiness to handle and manage complex socio-technical system fluctuations. The five key principles of organisational mindfulness are discussed along with what is seen as a nexus between the five principles and modern era complex system leadership theory. Suggestions are offered on how to enhance the collective mindfulness principles through strategic leadership efforts across the workforce, with a view to enabling organisations to become more resilient.


We report on the design and fabrication of carbon nanotube (CNT) vias based on a hybrid metal/CNT technology. The CNTs were integrated on a 4 inch Si wafer platform using conventional semiconductor processes. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes were grown vertically aligned on a copper based metal line. Via holes were prepared using a single damascene process. By employing a substratebased selective deactivation of the catalyst, CNT growth was restricted to the vias. Following this process scheme, the impact of post-CNT growth procedures, like chemical mechanical planarization and sample annealing, were investigated and electrically evaluated using conductive atomic force microscopy and current-voltage (I-V) characterization. Probing 440 individual structures, the resistance of two series-connected 5 μm vias were determined to be (800 ± 60) after chemical mechanical planarization. By obtaining the I-V characteristics of single CNTs within an individual via, we found that the measured resistance is determined by the contact resistance of the CNT-metal interface. Two mechanisms were found to be relevant here. First partial oxidation of the metal interface during processing, and secondly, stress-induced voiding caused by the high temperatures during the CNT growth process. Changes in the integration scheme to reduce the overall CNT via resistance are proposed. © 2012 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/2.027206jss] All rights reserved.


Dramatic morphogenetic processes underpin nearly every step of nervous system development, from initial neuronal migration and axon guidance to synaptogenesis. Underlying this morphogenesis are dynamic rearrangements of cytoskeletal architecture. Here we discuss the roles of the actin cytoskeleton in the development of presynaptic terminals, from the elaboration of terminal arbors to the recruitment of presynaptic vesicles and active zone components. The studies discussed here underscore the importance of actin regulation at every step in neuronal circuit assembly.


The prostanoid thromboxane A2 has been implicated to contribute to the pathogenesis of many cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension. To study the role of vascular thromboxane-prostanoid (TP) receptors in blood pressure regulation, we generated mice with cell-specific deletion of TP receptors in smooth muscle using Cre/Loxp technology. We crossed the KISM22&agr;-Cre transgenic mouse line expressing Cre recombinase in smooth muscle cells with a mouse line bearing a conditional allele of the Tbxa2r gene (Tp flox ). In KISM22&agr;-Cre + Tp flox/flox (TP-SMKO) mice, TP receptors were efficiently deleted from vascular smooth muscle cells. In TP-SMKOs, acute vasoconstrictor responses to the TP agonist U46619 were attenuated to a similar extent in both the peripheral and renal circulations. Yet, acute vascular responses to angiotensin II were unaffected at baseline and after chronic angiotensin II administration. Infusion of high-dose U46619 caused circulatory collapse and death in a majority of control mice but had negligible hemodynamic effects in TP-SMKOs, which were completely protected from U46619-induced sudden death. Baseline blood pressures were normal in TP-SMKOs. However, the absence of TP receptors in vascular smooth muscle cells was associated with significant attenuation of angiotensin II–induced hypertension and diminished vascular remodeling. This was also associated with reduced urinary thromboxane production after chronic angiotensin II. Thus, TP receptors in vascular smooth muscle cells play a major role in mediating the actions of thromboxane A2 in TP agonist-induced shock, hypertension, and vascular remodeling of the aorta.


Complex mineralogical, geochemical, and geological-structural characteristics of a rare collection stone of violet color, phyolithite, in the southwestern part of the Kola Peninsula. This is a metasomatic rock formed under the conditions of brittle deformations on gabbro-anorthosites of the Paleoproterozoic Kolvitskiy rock mass. As a result of potassium metasomatosis, the plagioclase of the initial rocks was replaced by a fine -grained mica aggregate of muscovite-phengite composition with inclusions of Va-aluminoseladonite (up to 20-30 microns). Ba-aluminoseladonite contains 6.6-10.5 % by weight of BaO. Manganese is the only chromophore that accumulates in the rock during metasomatosis. It is manganese that provides the purple-violet color of pseudomorphs of mica according to anorthite. The phyolithites is depleted by REE and has a positive Eu-anomaly. The phyolithites are confined to the areas of fracturing of the north-eastern strike, located in the zone of dynamic influence of the north-western closure of the Onega-Kandalaksha rift of the Riphean age. Other formations (injection conglomerates and lamproites) are also associated with the formation of this structure, which owe their origin to an intense fluid flow.


Academic life for students was filled with stress and strain. Physical activity, on the other hand, may help people manage their stress levels. Sports students, as all known, are physically active. However, many factors influence perceived academic stress, such as body weight, the semester in question, and gender. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influence perceived academic stress among sports students during online learning. 217 sports students (84=male, 133=female) are involved. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) – Long Form questionnaire was measured students' level of physical activity participation and the Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PASS) questionnaire used to measure academic stress. Other's variables are measured in demographic profiles. Data were analysed using multiple linear regression to investigate the factors that influence perceived academic stress among sports students during online learning. From the study, 77.40% (n=168) of the students were highly involved in physical activity and the students agreed the perceived academic stress was high for the workload given during online learning, following pressure of perform, academic self-perception and time restraints. The results of the regression indicated the predictor explained 2.6% of the variance (F (1, 215) = 5.73, p=0.018, with an R2 of 0.026). It was found that stay during online learning significantly predicted perceived academic stress (β = .16, p<.001), as did agreeableness (β = -.36, p>=0.018). In conclusion, the data imply that, while many factors influence perceived academic stress, the results in this study were non-significant. Only stay during online learning yielded significant results out of the five parameters indicated.


Recently recognized forms of uveitis include intraocular inflammations that occur during or following one of several emerging infectious diseases: chikungunya fever, dengue, Zika virus disease and Ebola virus disease. Anterior, intermediate, posterior and pan‐uveitis have been described in individuals infected with chikungunya virus. Persons who contract dengue or Zika viruses also may develop different types of uveitis in the course of the infection: maculopathy is a common manifestation of dengue eye disease, and Zika eye disease may cause hypertensive anterior uveitis or mimic a white dot syndrome. Up to one‐third of Ebola survivors develop aggressive uveitis, which is frequently associated with vision loss and complicated by cataract. There are no specific anti‐viral drugs for these forms of uveitis, and thus treatment is largely supportive. In this article, we summarize the systemic infectious diseases and virology, and describe the clinical presentations, outcomes and management of emerging viral forms of uveitis.


Through its ability to interact with proteins, heparan sulfate (HS) fulfills a large variety of functions. Protein binding depends on the level of HS sulfation and epimerization which are cell specific and dynamically regulated. Characterization of this molecule, however, has been restricted to oligosaccharide fragments available in large amount for structural investigation or to sulfate distribution through compositional analysis. Here we developed a (1)H-(13)C 2D NMR-based approach, directly performed on HS isolated from (13)C-labeled cells. By integrating the peak volumes measured at different chemical shifts, this non-destructive analysis allows us to determine both the sulfation and the iduronic/glucuronic profiles of the polysaccharide. Applied to wild-type and N-deacetylase/N-sulfotransferase-deficient fibroblasts as well as to epithelial cells differentiation, it also gives insights into the functional relationships existing between HS biosynthetic enzymes. This approach should be of significant interest to better understand HS changes that occur through physiologic regulations or during pathological development.


We report the first observation, to the best of our knowledge, of electron spin transients in single negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV−) centers, contained within optically trapped nanodiamonds, in both atmospheric pressure and low vacuum. It is shown that, after an initial exposure to low vacuum, the trapped nanodiamonds remain at temperatures near room temperature even in low vacuum. Furthermore, the transverse coherence time of the NV− center spin, measured to be T2=101.4  ns, is robust over the range of trapping powers considered in this study.


The study of letter writing is at the heart of the historical-sociolinguistic enterprise. Private letters, in particular, offer an unprecedented view on language history. This book presents an in-depth study of the language of letters focussing on a unique collection of Dutch private letters from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which comprises letters from the lower, middle and upper ranks, written by men as well as women.The monograph discusses the key issues of formulaic language and the degree of orality of private letters, it questions the importance of letter-writing manuals, and reveals remarkable patterns of social, regional and gender variation in a wide range of linguistic features. Arguing for writing experience as an important factor in historical linguistics generally, the book offers numerous new perspectives on the history of Dutch.The book is of interest to a wide readership, ranging from scholars of historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, Germanic linguistics, sociology and social history to (advanced) graduate and postgraduate students in courses on language variation and change. The e-book edition of this title is made available as Open Access under a CC BY-NC-ND license.


The power industry in China has grown significantly over the past decade, spurring the adoption of system-wide automatic voltage control (AVC) technology to meet stricter requirements for security and economical power system operation. To cope with the rapidly developing and frequently changing Chinese power grid, an AVC scheme based on adaptive zone division is introduced in this paper. Logically, this type of system has a three-level hierarchical structure, but, here, both secondary voltage control (SVC) and tertiary voltage control (TVC) are implemented via software at the same control center. The control zones are no longer fixed but are reconfigured online and updated in accordance with variations in the grid structure. The technical details of these procedures are presented here. The implementation of TVC (which is based on an online reactive optimal power flow) and SVC are also discussed, together with some technical details on improvements to their reliability and robustness. Some results obtained from field-site applications based on similar-days testing rather than simulations are employed to evaluate the performance and improvements of the AVC system. This system has been installed at over 20 control centers in China.


In e-commerce warehouses, online retailers increase their efficiency by using a mixed-shelves (or scattered storage) concept, where unit loads are purposefully broken down into single items, which are individually stored in multiple locations. Irrespective of the stock keeping units a customer jointly orders, this storage strategy increases the likelihood that somewhere in the warehouse the items of the requested stock keeping units will be in close vicinity, which may significantly reduce an order picker's unproductive walking time. This paper optimizes picker routing through such mixed-shelves warehouses. Specifically, we introduce a generic exact algorithmic framework that covers a multitude of picking policies, independently of the underlying picking zone layout, and is suitable for real-time applications. This framework embeds a bidirectional layered graph algorithm that provides the best known performance for the simple picking problem with a single depot and no further attributes. We compare three different real-world e-commerce warehouse settings that differ slightly in their application of scattered storage and in their picking policies. Based on these, we derive additional layouts and settings that yield further managerial insights. Our results reveal that the right combination of drop-off points, dynamic batching, the utilization of picking carts, and the picking zone layout can greatly improve the picking performance. In particular, some combinations of policies yield efficiency increases of more than 30% compared with standard policies currently used in practice. This paper was accepted by Chung Piaw Teo, optimization.


Many developed countries screen for Group B Strep (GBS); however, the UK employs a Risk Based approach for selecting mothers to receive intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP). There is pressure for screening from one-sided arguments in the UK press, despite the Risk Based approach continuing to be justifiable at the national level. However, a detailed consideration of GBS epidemiology by Public Health England in 2013 describes wide variation in the rate of GBS infection within English regions. If local incidence was to exceed a threshold for the viability of a screening programme, or the risk factors used to select mothers are no longer appropriate, then a change in policy at the local level may be indicated. The primary aim of this project was to establish the incidence of early onset (EOGBS) at our level 2 NICU (Royal United Hospitals Bath). Our secondary aim was to look in detail at the risk factors present in each of the EOGBS cases. Data was pulled from all recorded invasive GBS cases over a seven year period (2006 to 2012). The incidence of EOGBS was 0.62/1000 births. Only 30% of recorded cases met the Risk Based criteria to receive IAP, and less than half of these cases were recorded as actually receiving the IAP. A considerable 38% of GBS cases presented with no risk factors at all. More research into the appropriateness of some of the 'risks' used in this approach and more guidance as to the threshold for screening initiation is needed.


The Australian-United States Free Trade Agreement expanded the access rights provisions, including the technological protection measures (TPM) and anti-circumvention prohibitions in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), to address the unauthorised distribution of copyrighted content, colloquially referred to as piracy. Copyright users object to these "paracopyright" principles being implemented as criminal penalties and restrictive Digital Rights Management (DRM). Evidence that piracy has persisted despite the implementation of TPMs raises the question of the effectiveness of copyright as a control of piracy. The thesis examines through empirical methodologies the effectiveness of the access rights provisions of the Act that are required in light of persistent circumvention and piracy.

To address this, a case study using video game console modification was undertaken as its functions highlight the issue of access restriction and cultural acceptance of DRM circumvention to access content illegally. More significantly, while console modification is defined by the video game industry as a gateway into piracy, video-gamers argue that it allows interoperable software and privately copied games to be accessed without restriction. A series of interviews and focus groups, comprising video game industry professionals and gamers, were conducted to highlight these opposing perspectives.

The thesis found copyright as law is powerless in light of the cultural norms developed by internet users which accept console modification and piracy as a convention. The economic factors such as the high price of video games in Australia and technological advances in console modification and DRM mean a multifaceted approach to the re-adjustment is required. The thesis makes recommendations to achieve an acceptable re-adjustment through the recognition of cultural norms, and the introduction of business models that provide user-friendly solutions in accessing content.


A lectin has been isolated from potato (Solanum tuberosum) fruits by affinity adsorption on to glutaraldehyde-fixed erythrocytes and elution with oligomers of N-acetylglucosamine. The characteristics of the lectin resemble those of the potato tuber lectin and other closely related lectins from solanaceous plants.


The present study serves as an exploratory investigation of the role of social class in responses to the threat of future debt. Previous work has shown that individuals of high and low subjective social class differ in the ways that they respond to a broad range of threats and uncertainties about the future. Across three studies, we found that lower social class individuals expect more future debt and suffer greater attendant stress than higher class individuals (Study 1). We found that experimental manipulations of debt salience increased stress for lower class and not for higher class individuals (Studies 2-3). Likewise, we found that higher class individuals experienced higher affect balance and perceptions of personal control when the possibility of future debt was made salient, specifically as a function of decreased fatalism about future debt (Study 3). These three studies reveal yet another situation in which individuals of lower and higher social class respond differently to threat, and serve as an important step toward understanding the psychological ramifications of rising debt in the United States.


The 'youth in agriculture problem' makes up part of a growing set of 'youth in development' issues occupying the minds of aid practitioners and bilateral and multilateral donors. Aid agendas seek to enhance youth participation in policy processes and mainstream youth‐related goals on health, education, employment and governance into development policies. Yet, these agendas routinely ignore national youth policies (NYPs), which in many African countries have been in place for well over a decade. This article demonstrates how NYPs in Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia express distinct policy visions, identifications and imaginations of the youth ' problematique ', and particular philosophies of intervention. It argues that while their substantive content may well be subject to dialogue and reform, NYPs also express conceptualisations of the policy process and roles for knowledge, evidence and collective action that sit uneasily with new donor agendas, and are less amenable to change.


This research is about what incentives (other than increase in salaries) can be used to motivate the
teachers of the Riha Community School to improve work satisfaction and achievements. To find these
incentives, the following (sub) research questions are discussed: 1. How does the Yuvalok staff score
at the motivational (task and knowledge), social and contextual characteristics and the Volunteers
Function Inventory (VFI) motives? 2. Which characteristic(s) has/ (have) potential for improvement?
3a. What are the possibilities to improve the motivation of the staff? 3b. Can Yuvalok afford these
alternatives?
To find an answer on the first question, questionnaires based on the Work Design
Questionnaire by Morgeson & Humpfrey (2006) are used, combined with the VFI of Clary (1998). The
second question will be answered by using interviews with a sample of the teachers. Question three a.
and b. are respectively answered by focus group discussions and interviews with the management.
It is not possible to give a detailed and accurate characterization of the job based on the
questionnaires. In the content of the work a list of low and high scoring characteristics can be made,
but the differences are too small to draw clear conclusions. Remarkable is the high presence of
variety (both in the task and in the skills) and the autonomy to choose work methods. On the other
side, there is little social interaction, both with contacts outside the organization and among the
teachers about the relationship between each other's work (interdependence). Also the work context
characteristics are considerably lower, which is not really surprising in a context of developing
country. The data from the questionnaires combined with results of the interviews, leads to the
conclusion that interdependence needs the most attention, followed by interaction outside the
organization and the variety of the equipment that is used. Also, there seems to be a potential
improvement when it comes to communication between the staff and the management. However,
this theme is missing in the used theory, so it is probably a so-called unknown characteristic.
Within the current constraints of the organization, the interdependence between the
teachers' work and especially the communication about that interdependence can be stimulated by:
organizing professional meetings with groups split by subject, senior teachers coupled to junior or
new teachers by means of a buddy system and by writing carryover documents by the teachers.
The used equipment can be made more varied by making more use of the existing equipment
available in the building. This can be tried by an 'equipment used list' recorded by teachers and
through bringing in external knowledge. As soon as new funds come, specially appointed persons can
take care of the library and the games, but for now it is important that it is clearly formulated who is
responsible.
The interaction outside Yuvalok can be improved by using the existing network of the
teachers and involve them in showing people around when it comes to the necessary fund raising
contacts. To improve the contact that adds to the primary process parents meetings, more regular
home visits or a community worker can be used to improve the contacts with parents.
Communication with other schools about teaching can be created by envoys and joining interschool
competitions in different fields.
Communication to the management can be improved by putting an item to discuss ideas for
the management on the agenda during meetings, by reserving time during appraisal meetings and by
creating a suggestion box.


As economic growth shift and the boundary of business cooperative innovation expand, industry-university-institute cooperation has become increasingly important for high-tech industry to adapt to more dynamic and flexible network which can help break through the innovation barrier and get heterogeneous resources. The present study aims to explore the structure of cooperative innovation network applying social network analysis, based on a sample of 218 organizations of strategic emerging in Shanghai, China include corporations,universities and institutes. It measures interaction relationship from the view of structural equivalence, combined with the multidimensional scaling method to describe the structure and characteristics of the whole network and transform cooperative innovation relations to the location colleges and universities, research institutes have greatest power of resource allocation in industry-university-institute cooperation innovation network. The results show The research results show differences in the struct (i)the whole net appears as decentralized and different types of organization distribution gathered at different levels at the space spatial map.(ii) Colleges and universities, research institutes have greatest power of resource allocation in industryuniversity-institute cooperation innovation network,


The handoff, that is when the user move, quickly, and from within the large scope of the WLAN into smaller and shorter range of Bluetooth range of services, then leave the Bluetooth range of services to another WLAN range of services. At this time the vertical short period of time will cause a number of frequently handoff times, resulting in decreased system efficiency, service quality also followed in case of fall. In the study that this is the main interest of using NS2 tool for future situations handoff, the final simulation results will advise the client mobile executive should be an opportunity to avoid the repeated. Because Bluetooth is increasingly common situation, the costs borne by the user, or not need to cost less. If the number of times within a short time the vertical handoff frequently, it will affect the entire service, number of handoff more times greater the impact.


: Respiratory-related deaths are one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality every year in the developed world. Previous research outlines that greenhouse gas emission levels have a negative effect on respiratory health and can cause worsening of symptoms. This study examines the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on respiratory disease related mortality in Ireland from 2007-2017 using Statbank data from Central Statistics Office, Ireland. Analysis shows that over the last decade, while greenhouse gases emissions in Ireland have reduced by 1.1%, respiratory disease related mortality has increased on an average by 2.1%. Results indicate that greenhouse gas emissions have no significant relationship (p>0.05) with deaths as a result of respiratory diseases, indi-cating that the increasing levels of respiratory disease related mortality in Ireland cannot be attributed to greenhouse gas emissions.


Multimetallic nanocatalysts with a controlled structure can provide enhanced catalytic activity and durability by exploiting electronic, geometric, and strain effects. Herein, we report the synthesis of a novel ternary nanocatalyst based on Mo doped PtNi dendritic nanowires (Mo-PtNi DNW) and its bifunctional application in the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) at the anode and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode for direct methanol fuel cells. An unprecedented Mo-PtNi DNW structure can combine multiple structural attributes of the 1D nanowire morphology and dendritic surfaces. In the MOR, Mo-PtNi DNW exhibits superior activity to Pt/C and Mo doped Pt dendritic nanowires (Mo-Pt DNW), and excellent durability. Furthermore, Mo-PtNi DNW demonstrates excellent activity and durability for the ORR. This work highlights the important role of compositional and structural control in nanocatalysts for boosting catalytic performances.


To obtain novel intermediate temperature alloy solders with melting temperature of 400~600°C, (Ag-Cu28)-25Sn alloy ribbons were prepared by high frequency induction melting and melt spinning at different quenching linear speed. The effect of the development of solidification structure on melting properties and microhardness of the ribbons were investigated. The XRD results show that the as-prepared alloy ribbons have the same phase composition as the master alloy, which consists of Ag4Sn and Cu3Sn. With the quenching linear speed increasing, the solidification structures are refined and change from dendritic crystals to uniform granular crystals. As the quenching linear speed increases up to 32.25m/s, the grain size of the alloy ribbon has a distribution ranging from submicron to about 2μm. The DSC results indicate that the melting properties of alloy ribbons strongly depend on the solidification structure, and the melting temperature of alloy ribbons decreases with the quenching linear speed increasing. The lowest liquidus points of the alloy ribbon prepared at linear speed of 32.25m/s are located at 473.6°C and 524.7°C, respectively. The refined solidification structure notably increases the microhardness of the alloy ribbons, and the largest hardness value of 396HV is obtained for the alloy ribbon prepared at linear speed of 32.25m/s, which increases 27.0% compared with the master alloy.


For 20 years, the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) has offered a graduate-level course on Biomedical Signal and Image Processing (HST582J). This course takes a practical, hands-on approach to learning about signal processing and physiological signals through the application of digital signal processing methods to biomedical problems. It is by all accounts a successful course, with steadily increasing enrollment and high student satisfaction. In recent years, we have instituted a number of changes in the course, motivated by our awareness of new pedagogical strategies and assessment techniques. The purpose of this article is to use HST582J as a case study, demonstrating how incremental changes can improve an already successful course and ensure that hands-on exercises are not only fun and interesting but also achieve the desired learning objectives.


Three strains of marine microalgae ( Schizochytrium sp., Navicula sp., and Grammatophora sp.) and a mix of three probiotic bacteria ( Lactobacillus spp . ) were evaluated as diet to feed white shrimp ( Penaeus vannamei ) larvae. These species were cultivated outdoors without temperature or light control. Chaetoceros muelleri was cultivated under standard techniques and used as control. Penaeus vanammei larvae were stocked at densities of 175 naupli l -1 in 70 l experimental units. The microalgae concentration was maintained between 70000 and 125000 cells ml -1 and the probiotic at 114 x 103 UFC l -1 . Shrimp larvae were stocked at nauplii stage V and maintained up to Mysis I; the histochemical activity in the digestive system of larvae, as well as the respective bromatological composition was evaluated at the end of the experiment. The best survivals were observed in trials conducted with Chaetoceros muelleri as control (61.6%), the mix of Grammatophora sp. and Schizochytrium sp. with probiotics (58.3%), and the mix of Grammatophora sp. and Schizochytrium sp. (55.8%). A mortality of near 100% was observed with single Navicula sp. without probiotics. There was no clear relation found between histochemical activity and bromatological composition in the digestive system of shrimps. However, these results suggest that the use of Grammatophora sp.+ Schizochytrium sp. cultured outdoors to feed P. vannamei larvae is feasible.


Purpose: Intraoperative identification of rectal cancer (RC) can be challenging, especially because of fibrosis after treatment with preoperative chemo- and radiotherapy (CRT). Tumor-targeted fluorescence imaging can enhance the contrast between tumor and normal tissue during surgery. Promising targets for RC imaging are carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and the tyrosine-kinase receptor Met (c-Met). The effect of CRT on their expression determines their applicability for imaging. Therefore, we investigated whether CRT modifies expression patterns in tumors, lymph node (LN) metastases and adjacent normal rectal tissues. Patients and methods: Preoperative biopsies, primary tumor specimens and metastatic LNs were collected from 38 RC patients who did not receive CRT (cohort 1) and 34 patients who did (cohort 2). CEA, EpCAM and c-Met expression was determined using immunohistochemical staining and was semiquantified by a total immunostaining score (TIS), consisting of the percentage and intensity of stained tumor cells (0–12). Results: In both cohorts CEA, EpCAM and c-Met were significantly highly expressed in . 60% of tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal epithelium (T/N ratio, P , 0.01). EpCAM showed the most homogenous expression in tumors, whereas CEA showed the highest T/N ratio. Most importantly, CEA and EpCAM expression did not significantly change in normal or neoplastic RC tissue after CRT, whereas levels of c-Met changed ( P = 0.02). Tissues of eight patients with a pathological complete response after CRT showed expression of all biomarkers with TIS close to normal epithelium. Conclusion: Histological evaluation shows that CEA, EpCAM and c-Met are suitable targets for RC imaging, because all three are significantly enhanced in cancer tissue from primary tumors or LN metastases compared with normal adjacent tissue. Furthermore, the expression of CEA and EpCAM is not significantly changed after CRT. These data underscore the applicability of c-Met and especially, CEA and EpCAM as targets for image-guided RC surgery, both before and after CRT.


Electrical capacitance tomography system is useful for obtain information about the spatial distribution of a mixture of dielectric materials inside a vessel. This research is aimed to obtain real-time monitoring on the composition for liquid mixture in conveying pipeline. ECT is a non-invasive, non-intrusive and non-destructive technique that can measure the flow level inside a pipeline. In order to increase the image resolution and result accurately of current tomography research, a study on 16 electrodes sensor ECT system has been developed. The developed system has the mobility to be assembled and moved from a pipeline to another. The intelligent on-board mobility sensor technique is never been applied on ECT system, it is a new technique and investigation of ECT system. The system however can be assembled in different diameter sizes of pipeline. and numbers of electrodes sensor can be reduced due to different size of pipeline without redesign the electrodes sensor. In order to reduce the cost of an ECT system, Universal Serial Bus technology (USB) has been used as the data transferring method. The final target of a tomography system is to control process and output of the pipeline and therefore a very high speed measurement and data transferring method is required to monitor the materials flow inside the pipeline. In this case, a high speed data processing rate data acquisition system and a high speed data reconstruction and image display system have been developed. As the result, a microcontroller that support full-speed USB data transfer rate has been designed as the centralization control unit. The reconstruction image process in the PC was written using programming platform Visual Basic 6.0. The information obtained in the PC can be reconstructed using linear back projection algorithm. In order to improve data result, iterative algorithm has been implemented in this system in order to obtain a precise image of the flow in the pipeline.


The tremendous growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web over the last ten years has revolutionized communication in the United States. A great deal of information is available to assist in patient education and medical decision making. The field of performing arts medicine represents only a small portion of the web, but the relevant sites provide much helpful material. Bibliographic sites lead the researcher to further print resources. Many of the organizations concerned with performing arts medicine have web sites describing their history, goals, and services. Sites maintained by individuals, universities, and associations cover the field in general, as well as specific topics such as repetitive strain injuries, related computer and typing injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, and hearing loss. Performing arts medicine is a highly interdisciplinary field and the collaborative nature of the Internet is well suited to this diverse, geographically dispersed population.


This article revisits the theoretical junctions of anthropology and psychoanalysis, two of the impossible disciplines, and explores the potential for re-interpreting key anthropological questions from the psychoanalytic perspective, focusing mainly on the work of Jacques Lacan and his followers. Over the years, there have been many attempts to fuse ideas from both disciplines. This co-operation began with Freud and continues on the basic conceptual level to this day, and is (rightfully) rejected by most of the anthropological community. In contrast, attempts to revaluate some fundamental constants of anthropological theory from the Lacanian perspective have been scarce and lacking the effort or courage to outline the binding points of the two overlapping fields of knowledge. This article tries to do exactly that: to outline the scope of the interrelationship and to identify important areas, such as subjectivity and its relation to the social reality and vice versa, methodology and epistemology, where Lacan's 'return to Freud' can offer new insights into old problems.


Individuals working for change in environmental health face some challenges that best practices can help navigate. Environmental health is becoming a much more important area of focus as expanding knowledge increasingly links everyday environmental exposures with a higher risk of disease. These exposures can be from a variety of substances including common everyday chemicals, pollution, heavy metals, and other substances. The focus of this project is to identify through an interdisciplinary lens some of the unique challenges and best practices in Environmental Health using conversational interviews, observations, and all forms of published information from geographically diverse individuals and organizations. The challenges discussed underscore the difficulty that many characteristics of environmental health are not necessarily visible and tangible to many people and individuals must rely on changing belief, perceptions, and behavior in order to effect change. This is as challenging as trying to get someone to quit smoking or exercise more. Those working in environmental health find their work to be more difficult due to public disputes over health effects, as well as the validity of the scientific findings. Overall, individuals working in the area of environmental health can benefit from understanding the basics of health-related models and communication, as well as the way people process information and make decisions. Some crucial best practices identified focus on the areas of credibility, education, communication, and involvement.


Convergent tectonics between continental crustal blocks result in deep burial and anatexis of supracrustal rocks. Anatectic and/or mantle-derived melts combine to form a melt-weakened zone in the thickened lower crust. The accumulation of melt eventually leads to crustal failure along melt-lubricated shear zones. Rapid (>1 mm/yr vertical component) movements of large crustal blocks result. We refer to these crustal displacements as tectonic surges. The melt-lubricated shears are characterized by the close association of sheared country rocks with foliated or massive igneous sills and plutons. Rocks that formed at different crustal levels are juxtaposed across these shear zones. One result of surges with large lateral component of movement is metamorphic inversion with high-pressure and high-temperature metamorphic rocks structurally over lower pressure and temperature assemblages. Large and rapid vertical surges may displace crust containing abundant melt and may result in high T/P (including granulite facies) metamorphism and preservation of metamorphic textures caused by rapid decompression.


Approximate solutions result in lower complexity and expense compared toexact solutions, by tolerating a limited distortion. This thesis in centered on twoprimary problems: synchronization and computation. We will seek approximatesolutions for these two problems throughout the thesis.The first part of the thesis in concerned with approximation in file synchronization. File synchronization plays an important role in data sharing applications where several users own edited versions of an original file and they need to synch their files with the original one. Previous works have studied bounds and algorithms for exact reconstruction, where the goal is to exactly synchronize the copies of the original file. In contrast, a more challenging scenario is where the copies may not need to be perfectly synched, i.e. it suffices to reconstruct them within a pre-defined distance, in some notion. In this part, we address approximate synchronization from an information-theoretic viewpoint. The model we employ for edition is via a binary deletion channel. Transmitter owns a binary file, which can be the representation of any type of data including text, image, video, etc., and feeds it to the deletion channel. Receiver obtains an edited version of the string and approximately reconstructs the main sequence along with extra information receives from the transmitter.In this thesis, we study the approximate synchronization problem, a more relaxed scenario in which the final reconstructed file does not need to be identicalto the original file. We study the case when a binary file undergoes deletion errors with some small deletion rate (so that the total number of deletions is linear in file length). We derive an upper bound on the optimal rate of information that the transmitter (owner of the original file) needs to provide to the receiver (owner of the edited file) to allow the receiver to reconstruct the original file to within a predefined target distortion.The second part of the thesis focuses on approximate in computation, and Hamming distance calculation as a specific type of computation. Performing computation inside the memory unit (and not fetching data to the processing unit) introduces several benefits, e.g. energy and time saving, avoiding bottleneck congestion. Memristors are introduced as the memory units storing data in the resistive arrays. Computation in the memory in performed by measuring the resistance of the resistive elements, each representing one 0/1 bit. However, noisy measurements challenge the addressed scheme proposed before. We explicitly take the effect of noise into the consideration. Confidence bounds quantitatively show how accurate one can perform the computation in the noisy setup compared to the noise-free scenario. With respect to the context of the problem, we model the noise in two different approaches. One is bit-flipping noise, in which resistive components are read in a way similar to a binary symmetric channel with certain error probability. Secondly, a Gaussian model is considered for the noise in which the output of the measurement will be a continuous random variable. We provide confidence bounds for this two noise models and two single and multiple measurements settings.


Real-time display of processed Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FDOCT) images is important for applications that require instant feedback of image information, for example, systems developed for rapid screening or image-guided surgery. However, the computational requirements for high-speed FDOCT image processing usually exceeds the capabilities of most computers and therefore display rates rarely match acquisition rates for most devices. We have designed and developed an image processing system, including hardware based upon a field programmable gated array, firmware, and software that enables real-time display of processed images at rapid line rates. The system was designed to be extremely flexible and inserted in-line between any FDOCT detector and any Camera Link frame grabber. Two versions were developed for spectrometer-based and swept source-based FDOCT systems, the latter having an additional custom high-speed digitizer on the front end but using all the capabilities and features of the former. The system was tested in humans and monkeys using an adaptive optics retinal imager, in zebrafish using a dual-beam Doppler instrument, and in human tissue using a swept source microscope. A display frame rate of 27 fps for fully processed FDOCT images (1024 axial pixels x 512 lateral A-scans) was achieved in the spectrometer-based systems.


One of the central questions in the theory of deep learning is to understand how neural networks learn hierarchical features. The ability of deep networks to extract salient features is crucial to both their outstanding generalization ability and the modern deep learning paradigm of pretraining and finetuneing. However, this feature learning process remains poorly understood from a theoretical perspective, with existing analyses largely restricted to two-layer networks. In this work we show that three-layer neural networks have provably richer feature learning capabilities than two-layer networks. We analyze the features learned by a three-layer network trained with layer-wise gradient descent, and present a general purpose theorem which upper bounds the sample complexity and width needed to achieve low test error when the target has specific hierarchical structure. We instantiate our framework in specific statistical learning settings -- single-index models and functions of quadratic features -- and show that in the latter setting three-layer networks obtain a sample complexity improvement over all existing guarantees for two-layer networks. Crucially, this sample complexity improvement relies on the ability of three-layer networks to efficiently learn nonlinear features. We then establish a concrete optimization-based depth separation by constructing a function which is efficiently learnable via gradient descent on a three-layer network, yet cannot be learned efficiently by a two-layer network. Our work makes progress towards understanding the provable benefit of three-layer neural networks over two-layer networks in the feature learning regime.


1.Tethered flying locusts ( Locusta migratoria ) make correctional steering movements with the abdomen when stimulated with a moving artificial horizon and integrated wind jet, simulating deviation from a straight course. 2.Neurones in the metathoracic and first abdominal neuromeres of the metathoracic ganglion have been characterized morphologically and physiologically. The selective stimulation of these cells causes movements of the abdomen. 3.One group of neurones responds directionally to visually perceived horizon movements and is excited by wind on the head. Some of these neurones are rhythmically activated at the flight frequency while others receive tonic drive from the flight oscillator. Electrical depolarization results in bending of the abdomen; the direction of this movement is always compatible with compensatory steering. 4.Interneurones which are active during the expiration phase of ventilation also contribute to the posture of the abdomen in flight. They are not visually responsive but their selective inhibition at the onset of flight activity helps to bring the abdomen into flight posture. Some of these interneurones are modulated at the flight frequency. 5.The efficiency of cooperation between different sets of interneurones inproducing behavioural patterns and the signficance of single neurone stimulation are discussed. Note: Present address and address for offprint requests: Department of Biology, B-002, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.


As blockchain technology and cryptocurrency become increasingly mainstream, ever-increasing energy costs required to maintain the computational power running these decentralized platforms create a market for more energy-efficient hardware. Photonic cryptographic hash functions, which use photonic integrated circuits to accelerate computation, promise energy efficiency for verifying transactions and mining in a cryptonetwork. Like many analog computing approaches, however, current proposals for photonic cryptographic hash functions that promise similar security guarantees as Bitcoin are susceptible to systematic error, so multiple devices may not reach a consensus on computation despite high numerical precision (associated with low photodetector noise). In this paper, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that a more general family of robust discrete analog cryptographic hash functions, which we introduce as LightHash, leverages integer matrix-vector operations on photonic mesh networks of interferometers. The difficulty of LightHash can be adjusted to be sufficiently tolerant to systematic error (calibration error, loss error, coupling error, and phase error) and preserve inherent security guarantees present in the Bitcoin protocol. Finally, going beyond our proof-of-concept, we define a ``photonic advantage'' criterion and justify how recent developments in CMOS optoelectronics (including analog-digital conversion) provably achieve such advantage for robust and digitally-verifiable photonic computing and ultimately generate a new market for decentralized photonic technology.


We study fair scheduling with quality of service (QoS) support for wireless ad hoc networks. Two types of flows are considered: best effort and guaranteed flows. The goal is to satisfy the minimum bandwidth requirements of guaranteed flows and to provide a fair share of residual bandwidth to all flows. We compare timestamp-based and credit-based mechanisms, and evaluate the feasibility of all existing fair scheduling schemes of these two types of mechanisms for multimedia wireless multihop networks. We suggest a flow weight calculation scheme for existing timestamp-based mechanisms to support both best effort and guaranteed flows, and propose a credit-based mechanism called credit-based slot allocation protocol (CSAP) for fair scheduling with QoS support. For comparison purposes, several metrics are defined to evaluate the performances of these two kinds of mechanisms. The simulation results show that CSAP outperforms the other approaches in terms of meeting the minimum requirements of guaranteed flows, fairly sharing the residual bandwidth among all flows, and improving overall system throughput.


The present study was conducted to describe the developmental skills of a national sample of infants and toddlers at entry into early intervention services. Caregivers were asked about their child's skills during a telephone interview. Summary values were derived from descriptions of motor, communication, independence, and cognitive skills. More children were reported with less than age-expected communication skills compared to other domains. Skill acquisition was related to select child and family characteristics. Among those entering early intervention between the ages of 12 and 32 months, 17.5% were reported to have near age-level skill in all domains and 50.3% were reported not to be near age level in any domain.


ABSTRACT The Western blot (WB) assay is the most widely accepted confirmatory assay for the detection of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). However, indeterminate WB reactivity to HIV-1 proteins may occur in individuals who do not appear to be infected with HIV. The profiles of WB reactivity among Ethiopians are hardly known. Here, we describe the profiles of indeterminate WB reactivity in Ethiopians with discordant screening assays. Between 1996 and 2000, a total of 12,124 specimens were tested for HIV-1 antibodies. Overall, 1,437 (11.9%) were positive for HIV-1 antibody. Ninety-one (≈0.8%) gave equivocal results because of discordant results among the various screening assays and indeterminate WB profiles by the American Red Cross (ARC) criteria. Most (30.4%) of these indeterminate WB results were due to p24 reactivity. However, 12 samples (13.2%) displayed reactivity to p24 and gp41 or to p24 and gp120/160 proteins (positive by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] criteria). Only two samples (2.2%) were reactive to both env glycoproteins gp41 and gp120/160 (positive by the World Health Organization [WHO] criteria). Of 31 WB assays initially indeterminate by the ARC criteria and with follow-up samples, 29 (93.5%) became negative when retested subsequently while 2 (6.5%) remained indeterminate for more than a year and were thus considered negative. Using CDC and WHO criteria, 6 (19.4%) and 2 (6.5%), respectively, of these WB assays would have been considered falsely positive. In addition, 17 indeterminate samples were negative when assessed by a nucleic acid-based amplification assay for HIV-1 viremia. In general, there was 97.8% concordance between the ARC and WHO criteria and 85.7% concordance between the ARC and CDC criteria for an indeterminate WB result. The ARC criteria best met the specified objectives for diagnosis in our setting.


The aim of the paper is the recognition and evaluation of demand for medical information among patients suffering from breast cancer. The research was conducted among 120 women with diagnosed breast cancer in the Oncological Surgery Clinic of the Independent Public Research Hospital No 1 in Lublin, the Oncological Clinic of the Independent Public Research Hospital No 1 in Lublin and the Rehabilitation Centre with the Rehabilitation Clinic at the Lublin Oncology Centre. The research included women from the Club of Women after Mastectomy "Amazons", the Club "Amazons" at the Complex of Specialist Clinics in Ostrowiec Świetokrzyski and the Club "Amazons" in Radom. Research showed that the demand for medical information among women with diagnosed breast cancer is very high. Respondents want to know all the information concerning the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis (93%). They also expect that the doctor will give them medical information concerning further consequences of cancer and its influence on future health and life (78%). Most of the respondents expect to receive information concerning medicaments which should be taken (77%) and the essence of the conducted treatment (93%). The research analysis showed that women with diagnosed breast cancer expect that the doctor will give them reliable and real medical information. Patients want the doctor to present them the probable course of the cancer (85%) and all the possible side effects connected with it (89%).


Marian Anderson's 1955 Metropolitan Opera debut promised to be a pivotal moment that would create a level playing field for African American singers in U.S. opera. But an examination of Anderson's career, as well as those of later African American opera stars, reveals that their operatic engagements were often limited to marginalized characters. In attempt to understand this situation, this essay looks to the history of African Americans singing classical music from the mid-nineteenth through early twentieth centuries. Early classical singers' careers and reception, even certain operatic repertoire, suggest that African American classical voices are heard through a complex filter constituted by perceptions of slaves' voices, burlesque opera and minstrel shows, resulting in claims that blackness produces peculiar vocal timbres. This article, a case study of listening as a cultural-historical process, posits that perceptual sediments deposited during the abolitionist era continued to shape reception of African American operatic voices throughout later centuries.


Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is a fast-developing biomedical imaging technology suitable for in vivo imaging. PAT in spherical or circular geometry gives good image resolution yet is slow or expensive in signal acquisition and image formation. Reducing the number of detection angles can ameliorate such issues, usually at the expense of image quality. This paper introduces a deconvolution-based algorithm that models the imaging process as a linear and shift-invariant system. As demonstrated by the in vivo experiment, this algorithm not only runs much faster than the back-projection algorithm but also shows stronger robustness in that it provides better image quality when detection angles are sparse. Therefore, this algorithm promises to enable real-time PAT in circular geometry.


Finite element simulation is utilized in an aluminum alloy 2014 butt weld with the three kinds of welding processes, namely the filler wire Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding, the laser welding and laser-TIG hybrid welding. The simulated results are in good agreement with the weld cross sections for the TIG and the laser welding, and basically in agreement with that for the laser-TIG hybrid welding using the actual welding parameters. Furthermore, the simulated results shown that the longitudinal residual stresses after welding are the largest for the laser welding and the laser-TIG hybrid welding, the maximum of which are approximate to 300MPa and are 1.2 times of that for the TIG welding. However, the residual stresses would be relatively decreased by backing molten with TIG welding and preheating before welding; the maximum longitudinal residual stresses for the laser welding and the laser-TIG hybrid welding could be decreased remarkably by about 50%.


Do crises make people more prosocial? And what role does communication play in promoting such attitudes and behavior? These answers matter for post-crisis economic recovery as social capital has been linked to growth. We leverage the incidence of Covid-19 --a multifaceted global crisis-- and using a representative panel of US residents, surveyed in April and October 2020, we explore how a) pandemic-induced economic and health anxiety map to prosocial inclinations and behavior, and b) whether communication (and what types) can foster social capital formation. We find that individual exposure to the economic and health consequences of the pandemic had no effect on prosocial inclinations and social capital; but perceived economic vulnerability reduced trust in government and respect for authority and increased preferences for redistribution. Yet information about the aggregate economic consequences of Covid-19 fosters social capital build-up (e.g., altruism, giving, patience) and prosocial preferences. In contrast, information about the health costs of the pandemic has the opposite effect; it greatly reduces interpersonal trust. These information effects also map into policy preferences beyond the Covid-19 crisis. Our findings are consistent with cultural accounts on the determinants of Americans' prosocial inclinations and preferences.


A collaborative project in the Northeast region of the United States explored the potential for community-based data collection and analysis to help address the scarcity of social science data on the fishing industry and fishing communities. Community panels were established in six fishing ports in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Each panel was comprised of 10 to 12 individuals, a cross section of harvesters, processors, shoreside business owners, and other members of the fishing communities. The panels identified issues of concern to their ports, and with the help of coordinators and the principal investigators, gathered data through interviews and focus group meetings, then drafted and reviewed reports. The project was successful in addressing topics of immediate concern in the region such as the impacts of changes in fishery management plans, particularly on fishing industry infrastructure. Although more time consuming than data collection by a sole applied anthropologist, the collaboration between social scientists and community stakeholders led to the incorporation of local knowledge that might otherwise have been missed. Furthermore, participants in the project learned about each other's values and goals. Such information is significant, an important aspect in negotiating decisions that will affect the future.


Subjective experience is transformed into objective reality for societal members through cultural idea systems that can be represented with theory and data models. A theory model shows relationships and their logical implications that structure a cultural idea system. A data model expresses patterning found in ethnographic observations regarding the behavioral implementation of cultural idea systems. An example of this duality for modeling cultural idea systems is illustrated with Arabic proverbs that structurally link friend and enemy as concepts through a culturally defined computational system. Computational systems also generate new concepts, as will be illustrated through a theory model for the structure of a kinship terminology system. This examples accounts for what otherwise appears to be an anomaly in the terminology thereby illustrating the constructive role that modeling of cultural constructs can play in ethnographic research. Language is … a symbolic, intersubjective, self-referential system of signs we use to structure a meaningful existence among ourselves. (Hustvedt 2009, p. 23)