A DRAM (dynamic RAM) with an on-chip cache, called the cache DRAM, has been proposed and fabricated. It is a hierarchical RAM containing a 1-Mb DRAM for the main memory and an 8-kb SRAM (static RAM) for cache memory. It uses a 1.2- mu m CMOS technology. Suitable for no-wait-state memory access in low-end workstations and personal computers, the chip also serves high-end systems as a secondary cache scheme. It is shown how the cache DRAM bridges the gap in speed between high-performance microprocessor units and existing DRAMs. The cache DRAM concept is explained, and its architecture is presented. The error checking and correction scheme used to improve the cache DRAM's reliability is described. Performance results for an experimental device are reported.<<ETX>>


We worked out a position paper on cardiac-computed tomography (CCT) endorsed by the Working Group on CCT and Nuclear Cardiology of the Italian Society of Cardiology. The CCT clinical indications were discussed and formulated according to the following two modalities: a brief paragraph dedicated to each indication, with the description of clinical usefulness of different indications; and each indication was rated by the technical panel for appropriateness, using a score assessing whether the use of CCT for each indication is appropriate, uncertain, or inappropriate. All conventional CCT clinical indications, regarding coronary and noncoronary evaluation, were discussed and rated. Moreover, we wrote specific sections regarding the newest CCT applications, such as stress perfusion computed tomography, noninvasive evaluation of fractional flow reserve, and CCT use in athletes. The present study has the following two main objectives: because the diagnostic performance of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is strictly dependent on adequate technology and local expertise, we strove to provide clinical recommendations on CCTA that may help Italian physicians involved with this diagnostic tool; and to give an update on new indications of CCTA, such as its use for safely discharging patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes from the emergency department, and latest clinical results that have been made possible by the remarkable technology developments of the scanners.


Although communication is often cited as a contributor to organisational accidents, complexities of the communication context are still understudied. In training materials and some investigative reports, communication is often presented as an equipment issue or as a simple skill that can be picked up on the job. However, interviews with operational and managerial professionals in wildland firefighting reveal 10 simplifications in guidance about radio communication that do not match the complexities experienced by firefighters in the fire environment. Borrowing language from high-reliability organising theory, this study encourages the fire community to cultivate a 'reluctance to simplify' how communication is understood and taught, starting with introductory training. The study recommends a move away from the old information transfer model for communication and towards an ecology of meanings model for communication.


Determination of the total sodium metabisulphide level of shrimps sold in Istanbul In this study; total sulphite resude amounts of shrimps sold at the local markets were analyzed to com- pare with the tolerable daily intake amounts published by FAO/WHO and also the study aimed to de- termine how public health got affected by the amounts of chemicals used by retailers. Throughout the study sodium metabisulphide resude analysis of the shrimps sold in Istanbul was determined and evaluated statistically. According to the results of this study, residues of total sulphite in shrimps were determined lower than the limit levels established by Europe Union and Turkish Nutritional Codex and Seafood Regulations. While this value was determined in raw edible material and cooked edible material as 36.00-350.00 mg/kg, 8.80-281.23 mg/kg respectively, sodium metabisulphide residue amounts were found higher than the limit values in only 2 samples of the total 36 samples. The products can be consumed safely according to the results of our study. It is vital to commence educational programs on preservative usage.


Momordica charantia or bitter melon is traditionally used as an antidiabetic agent in Asia, Africa, and South America. Recent studies indicate that bitter melon can also lower plasma lipids and VLDL in diabetic animal models as well as animals fed a high-fat diet, suggesting an effect on lipoprotein metabolism. The aim of this study was to delineate the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the lipid-lowering properties of bitter melon and regulation of apolipoprotein B (apoB). Human hepatoma cells, HepG2, treated with bitter melon juice (BMJ) for 24 h reduced apoB secretion with and without the addition of lipids (P 0.05). However, BMJ did not increase apoB secretion in cells treated with N-acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-norleucinal, indicating a lack of effect on the proteasomal degradation pathway. BMJ reduced the secretion of new triglycerides (P 0.05) and decreased microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) mRNA expression, suggesting that lipid bioavailability and lipidation of lipoprotein assembly are likely involved in decreased apoB secretion. Interestingly, BMJ increased the nuclear translocation of the mature form of sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c, P 0.05), involved in MTP secretion. Our data suggest that BMJ is a potent inhibitor of apoB secretion and TG synthesis and secretion that may be involved in the plasma lipidand VLDL-lowering effects observed in animal studies. J. Nutr. 135:


This article presents and discusses student assignments reflecting on the documentary film If a Tree Falls, written as part of the Business Ethics and Sustainability course at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. This article follows two lines of inquiry. First, it challenges mainstream environmental education, supporting critical pedagogy and ecopedagogy. These pedagogies, which advocate pedagogy for radical change, offer a distinct and valuable contribution to sustainability education, enabling students to critically examine normative assumptions, and learn about ethical relativity, and citizenship engagement from environmentalists. The discussion of "lessons of radical environmentalism" is pertinent to the question of what types of actions are likely to achieve the widely acceptable long-term societal change. While this article focuses on student reflection on a film about radical environmentalism, this article also discusses many forms of activism and raises the question of what can be considered effective activism and active citizenship in the context of the philosophy of (environmental or sustainability) education in connection didactics and curriculum studies. Second, this article argues for the need for reformed democracy and inclusive pluralism that recognizes the needs of nonhuman species, ecocentrism, and deep ecology. The connection between these two purposes is expressed in the design of the student assignment: It is described as a case study, which employs critical pedagogy and ecopedagogy.


2 Proliferative signaling by the IL-2R can occur through two distinct pathways, one mediated by Stat5 and one by the adaptor protein Shc. Although Stat5 induces T cell proliferation by serving as a transcription factor, the mechanism of proliferative signaling by Shc is poorly defined. We examined the roles of two major signaling pathways downstream of Shc, the p44/p42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (extracellular signal-related kinase (Erk)) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathways, in promitogenic gene induction and proliferation in the IL-2-dependent T cell line CTLL-2. Using IL-2R mutants and specific pharmacologic inhibitors, we found that the PI3K, but not Erk, pathway is required for maximal induction of c -myc , cyclin D2 , cyclin D3 , cyclin E , and bcl-x L by Shc. To test whether the PI3K pathway is sufficient for proliferative signaling, a tamoxifen-regulated form of PI3K (mp110*ER) was expressed in CTLL-2 cells. Activation of the PI3K pathway through mp110*ER failed to up-regulate expression of the c -myc , cyclin D2 , cyclin D3 , cyclin E , bcl-2 , or bcl-x L genes or down-regulate expression of p27 Kip1 , even when coactivated with the Janus kinases (Jak) or the Raf/Erk pathway. Moreover, mp110*ER induced modest levels of thymidine incorporation without subsequent cell division. Although insufficient for mitogenesis, mp110*ER enhanced Stat5-mediated proliferative signaling through a mechanism independent of Stat5 transcriptional activity. Thus, in addition to serving a necessary, but insufficient role in Shc-mediated promitogenic gene expression, the PI3K pathway contributes to T cell proliferation by potentiating mitogenic


The design of green fluorescent protein (GFP) chromophore labeled, CO2 responsive vesicles that can mimic the breathing of jellyfish is described. The vesicles were obtained via the self-assembly of a di-block copolymer bearing a hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) segment and a hydrophobic, CO2 responsive poly((diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDEAEMA) segment, with a GFP chromophore between the two blocks. Like the breathing of a jellyfish, the vesicles' size and fluorescence changed significantly upon exposure to CO2, as confirmed by morphology observation and fluorescence measurements. Further analysis suggested that the "breathing" of the vesicles is reversible under a continuous CO2/N2 gas flow. The "breathing" behavior of the fluorescent vesicles was also directly observable under a confocal microscope.


Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax have varying transmission dynamics that are informed by molecular epidemiology. This study aimed to determine the complexity of infection and genetic diversity of P. vivax and P. falciparum throughout Papua New Guinea (PNG) to evaluate transmission dynamics across the country. In 2008-2009, a nationwide malaria indicator survey collected 8,936 samples from all 16 endemic provinces of PNG. Of these, 892 positive P. vivax samples were genotyped at PvMS16 and PvmspF3, and 758 positive P. falciparum samples were genotyped at Pfmsp2. The data were analyzed for multiplicity of infection (MOI) and genetic diversity. Overall, P. vivax had higher polyclonality (71%) and mean MOI (2.32) than P. falciparum (20%, 1.39). These measures were significantly associated with prevalence for P. falciparum but not for P. vivax. The genetic diversity of P. vivax (PvMS16: expected heterozygosity = 0.95, 0.85-0.98; PvMsp1F3: 0.78, 0.66-0.89) was higher and less variable than that of P. falciparum (Pfmsp2: 0.89, 0.65-0.97). Significant associations of MOI with allelic richness (rho = 0.69, P = 0.009) and expected heterozygosity (rho = 0.87, P < 0.001) were observed for P. falciparum. Conversely, genetic diversity was not correlated with polyclonality nor mean MOI for P. vivax. The results demonstrate higher complexity of infection and genetic diversity of P. vivax across the country. Although P. falciparum shows a strong association of these parameters with prevalence, a lack of association was observed for P. vivax and is consistent with higher potential for outcrossing of this species.


Let $A$ be a unital $C^{*}$-algebra of real rank zero and $B$ be a unital semisimple complex Banach algebra. We characterize linear maps from $A$ onto $B$ that compress different essential spectral sets such as the (left, right) essential spectrum, the semi-Fredholm spectrum, and the Weyl spectrum. Essentially spectrally bounded linear mapping from $A$ onto $B$ are also characterized.


Boosting algorithms have been widely used to tackle a plethora of problems. Among them, cost-sensitive classification stands out as one of the scenarios in which Boosting is most frequently applied in practice. In the last few years, a lot of approaches have been proposed in the literature to provide standard AdaBoost with asymmetric capabilities, each with a different focus. However, for the researcher, these algorithms shape a confusing heap with diffuse differences and properties, lacking a unified framework to jointly compare, classify, analyze and discuss the approaches on a common basis. Motivated by the preeminent role of AdaBoost in the Viola-Jones framework for object detection in images, a markedly asymmetric learning problem, in this thesis we try to untangle the different Cost-Sensitive AdaBoost alternatives presented in the literature, demystifying some preconceptions and making novel proposals (Cost- Generalized AdaBoost and AdaBoostDB) with a full theoretical derivation. We try to classify, analyze, compare and discuss this family of algorithms in order to build a general framework unifying them. Our final goal is, thus, being able to find a definitive scheme to translate any cost-sensitive learning problem to the AdaBoost framework while shedding light on which algorithm ensures the best performance and formal guarantees.


When tracking a maneuvering target by multiple passive sensors, two problems need to be considered, one is the nonlinear problem, another is the maneuvering problem. Taking these into account, a Gaussian filter (GF) for nonlinear Bayesian estimation is introduced based on a deterministic sample selection scheme, which can solve the nonlinear problem better than the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and the Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). Then, a new maneuvering target tracking algorithm is proposed based on the GF and Interacting Multiple Mode (IMM), called IMM-GF method in this paper. Simulation results show that the proposed method has better performance than the IMM-EKF and IMM-UKF in tracking a maneuvering target for multiple passive sensors.


Stress is a biologically ubiquitous factor that, when perceived uncontrollable by humans and animals, can have lingering adverse effects on brain and cognitive functions. We have previously reported that rats that experienced inescapable-unpredictable stress subsequently exhibited decreased stability of firing rates of place cells in the CA1 hippocampus, accompanied by impairments in CA1 long-term synaptic potentiation and spatial memory consolidation. Because the elevated level of glucocorticoid hormones and the heightened amygdalar activity have been implicated in the emergence of stress effects on the hippocampus, we investigated whether administration of corticosterone and electrical stimulation of the amygdala can produce stress-like alterations on hippocampal place cells. To do so, male Long–Evans rats chronically implanted with tetrodes in the hippocampus and stimulating electrodes in the amygdala were placed on a novel arena to forage for randomly dispersed food pellets while CA1 place cells were monitored across two recording sessions. Between sessions, animals received either corticosterone injection or amygdalar stimulation. We found that amygdalar stimulation reliably evoked distress behaviors and subsequently reduced the pixel-by-pixel correlation of place maps across sessions, while corticosterone administration did not. Also, the firing rates of place cells between preamygdalar and postamygdalar stimulation recording sessions were pronouncedly different, whereas those between precorticosterone and postcorticosterone injection recording sessions were not. These results suggest that the heightened amygdalar activity, but not the elevated level of corticosterone per se, reduces the stability of spatial representation in the hippocampus by altering the firing rates of place cells in a manner similar to behavioral stress.


Introduction. Medical education programs have increasingly included compulsory research skills components but rarely include explicit academic literacy instruction for medical research. This article presents results from a project that developed methods of bridging the gap between textbook literacy and scientific literacy in a setting where English coexists with the local language. Methods. A paper-based, revised version of a validated self-report instrument (32 questions) designed to assess readers' metacognitive awareness and perceived use of academic reading strategies was used to collect information about medical students' awareness of reading strategies in English for academic purposes. Results. Students reported a total overall average of 3.25 (scale 1–5) for reading strategy use, falling within a medium range for usage. They reported using problem-solving reading strategies to the greatest extent (3.76), with global reading strategies (3.29) being second, and support reading strategies (2.85) to the least extent. Based on the data, a curricular intervention was designed to support critical reading of empirical literature in English. Conclusion. The results from this study suggest the need for inclusion of focused training on academic and scientific literacy, in particular, strategy instruction in relation to foreign language reading comprehension skills in medical school curricula.


Summary Betrixaban is an oral direct inhibitor of factor Xa (FXa) being developed for the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Its antithrombotic effects had not been previously tested in patients. This exploratory clinical trial in the US and Canada randomized 215 patients undergoing elective total knee replacement (TKR) in a 2:2:1 ratio to receive post-operative betrixaban 15 mg or 40 mg p.o. bid or enoxaparin 30 mg s.c. q12h, respectively, for 10–14 days. The betrixaban dosage was blinded, but enoxaparin was not. Primary efficacy outcome was the incidence of VTE, consisting of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) on mandatory unilateral (operated leg) venography, symptomatic proximal DVT, or pulmonary embolism (PE) through Day 10–14. Safety outcomes included major and clinically significant non-major bleeds through 48 h after treatment. All efficacy and bleeding outcomes were adjudicated by a blinded independent central adjudication committee. Of 214 treated patients, 175 (82%) were evaluable for primary efficacy. VTE incidence was 14/70 (20%; 95% CI: 11, 31) for betrixaban 15 mg, 10/65 (15%; 95% CI: 8, 27) for betrixaban 40 mg, and 4/40 (10%; 95% CI: 3, 24) for enoxaparin. No bleeds were reported for betrixaban 15 mg, 2 (2.4%) clinically significant non-major bleeds with betrixaban 40 mg, and one (2.3%) major and two (4.6%) clinically significant non-major bleeds with enoxaparin. A dose- and concentration-dependent effect of betrixaban on inhibition of thrombin generation and anti-Xa levels was observed. Betrixaban demonstrated antithrombotic activity and appeared well tolerated in knee replacement patients at the doses studied.


Teaching web development in Computer Science undergraduate courses is a difficult task. Often, there is a gap between the students' experiences and the reality in the industry. As a consequence, the students are not always well-prepared once they get the degree. This gap is due to several reasons, such as the complexity of the assignments, the working environment, the frameworks used and the time-frame constraints. In this paper, we report on a case study on how we taught web application development using extreme tutoring and in an apprenticeship manner. The assumption was to take two real web applications as basis for practical teaching. We present the different issues that we faced: the setup of the development framework, the heterogeneity of human resources and the volatility of the environment. We describe how the process evolved positively. The students became independent, and implemented two applications. We conclude with the lessons learned.


Paclitaxel-induced myalgias and arthralgias occur in a significant fraction of patients receiving therapy with this taxane, potentially impairing physical function and quality of life. Paclitaxel-induced myalgias and arthralgias are related to individual doses; associations with the cumulative dose and infusion duration are less clear. Identification of risk factors for myalgias and arthralgias could distinguish a group of patients at greater risk, leading to minimization of myalgias and arthralgias through the use of preventive therapies. Optimal pharmacologic treatment and possibilities for the prevention of myalgias and arthralgias associated with paclitaxel are unclear, partially due to the small number of patients treated with any one medication. The effectiveness of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is the most frequently documented pharmacologic intervention, although no clear choice exists for patients who fail to respond to NSAIDs. However, the increasing use of weekly paclitaxel could necessitate daily administration of NSAIDs for myalgias and arthralgias and leave patients at risk for adverse effects. This concern may also limit the use of corticosteroids for the prevention and treatment of paclitaxel-induced myalgias and arthralgias. Data from case reports suggest that gabapentin (Neurontin), glutamine, and, potentially, antihistamines (e.g., fexofenadine [Allegra]) could be used to treat and/or prevent myalgias and arthralgias. Given the safety profile of these medications, considerable enthusiasm exists for evaluating their effectiveness in the prevention and treatment of paclitaxel myalgias and arthralgias, particularly in the setting of weekly paclitaxel administration.


The protein A encoding gene spa of four Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from bovine clinical mastitis was amplified by PCR and sequenced. The four strains were selected after an initial screening of spa gene of 41 strains isolated from mastitic cows and were subjected to detailed investigations. According to the sequencing results the spa gene of three strains (M1, M2, M3) appeared with gene segments encoding five (E, D, A, B and C) and four (E, A, B and C) IgG binding domains for two (M1, M3) and one (M2) strain, respectively and with gene segments encoding four, two and two repeats of the octapeptide Xr-repeats for the strains M1, M2 and M3, respectively. For the remaining Staph. aureus strain (M4) gene segments encoding IgG binding domains E, D and A and a new domain BC with a size of 219 bp could be observed. The BC domain appears, with a deletion of a 123 bp segment from the border region between both domains, as fused domain of both previously characterized domains. The Xr-region of this strain had 11 octapeptide repeats.


The crystal structures of four homologous cis-alicyclic β-amino acids present a new recurring layer pattern of hydrogen bonds. This pattern was derived from two one-dimensional patterns observed in related alicyclic 2-hydroxycarboxylic acid structures. Its robustness is demonstrated by the isostructurality of the four crystals. The hydrogen bonds arrange the molecules in bilayers in the solid phase. The pattern was stressed by variations of the molecules, i.e., by the introduction of a double bond, by the change between stereoisomers, and by the replacement of the simple alicyclic ring with a bicyclic one. These variations gradually weaken the correspondence of the actual structure to the original design.


This study was done in Nyando, Kenya to model maize production under different climate scenarios and project the yields up to 2030 and 2050 using Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) under rain fed conditions. Three maize varieties were used; Katumani Comp B as early maturing variety, Hybrid 511 as a medium maturing variety and Hybrid 614 as a late maturing variety. Global coupled model Hadley Centre Global Environment Model version 2 (HadGEM2-ES) under representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 was used to downscale Nyando's climate data for the years 2030 and 2050. Past climate data for 53 years and current data was obtained from Kisumu Meteorological station while crop growth and farm management data was obtained from 70 farmers in Nyando. Results showed a decrease in yields across the years from 2015, 2030 and 2050 under both RCP 4.5 and 8.5. Average simulated yields for 2015 were 2519 kg ha-1 while projected yields under RCP 4.5 were 2212 and 2081 kg ha-1 in 2030 and 2050 respectively.  Average yield projections under RCP 8.5 were 2184 and 1806 kg ha-1 for the years 2030 and 2050 consecutively. The study found out that temperatures will increase and rainfall duration will reduce. In addition, Katumani Comp B maize variety was not very much affected by these changes in temperatures and rainfall compared to H511 and H614.

 Key words: Climate change, Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), global coupled models, maize yield.


Benzotriazole (BTz) containing polymers have recently emerged in organic electronic applications and they are increasingly attracting a great deal of attention. These polymers are reviewed from a general perspective in terms of their potential use in three main fields, electrochromics (ECs), organic solar cells (OSCs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). In order to have a better insight into the properties of these polymers, they were compared with similar polymers. Good solubility, optical and electronic properties and synthetic availability make them multipurpose materials. They combine many desired properties in polymers and their use in different device applications is examined in detail.


Psychologists are interested in self-compassion and its effects on our biopsychological well-being. A common method found throughout much research in assessing this is through heart rate variability. In the present study, we attempt to see whether or not self-compassion has an impact on one's heart rate variability as a higher HRV indicates one is better able to adapt to stress. Self-compassion was measured beforehand through an online self-compassion survey that contained subscales measuring neuroticism. We also tested to see if social isolation would have an impact on HRV. Social isolation was implemented through a computer program game titled CyberBall , in which the researchers programmed the "game" to include or exclude the participants. There were two groups in the study with one starting in the isolation condition and ending in the non-isolation condition and the other starting in the non-isolation condition and ending in the isolation condition. Participants' HRV was measured while they played CyberBall . We hypothesized that a lower heart rate variability would be produced during the isolation condition. We unfortunately found no significant change in HRV predicted by this hypothesis. However, our second hypothesis predicted that the more neurotic a participant was, the lower the heart rate variability would be. Results supported this hypothesis and suggest that neuroticism is an important variable when analyzing heart rate variability.


The role of oxaliplatin in the therapy for advanced colorectal carcinoma. Preclinical models and numerous phase I to III trials have demonstrated the efficacy of oxaliplatin (l-OHP) for colorectal carcinoma. In previously untreated patients, response rates with l-OHP plus 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin (5-FU/LV) have been shown to be more than twice as high as compared with 5-FU/LV alone, and progression-free intervals have been significantly increased. Nevertheless, overall-survival was similar in both treatment arms, that was possibly due to the cross-over-design of these studies. Moreover, the combination regimens with l-OHP and 5-FU/LV often have shown activity in 5-FU-resistant or 5-FU- refractory patients. Furthermore, treatment of previously unresectable liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma with l-OHP in combination with 5-FU/LV has provided promising results. Dose-limiting toxicity is a peripheral sensory neuropathy, that was found to be mostly completely reversible within a few months. Gastrointestinal toxicities have been demonstrated to be mild. Compared to other anticancer drugs currently used in the treatment for colorectal carcinoma, l-OHP not only shows a different mechanism of action but displays synergistic anti-tumor activity as well as minimal hematologic toxicity making this agent interesting for combination chemotherapy protocols. In conclusion, the development of l-OHP has essentially increased the therapeutical possibilities of treatment for colorectal carcinoma.


BACKGROUND
Young women attending university are at substantial risk for being sexually assaulted, primarily by male acquaintances, but effective strategies to reduce this risk remain elusive.

METHODS
We randomly assigned first-year female students at three universities in Canada to the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act Sexual Assault Resistance program (resistance group) or to a session providing access to brochures on sexual assault, as was common university practice (control group). The resistance program consists of four 3-hour units in which information is provided and skills are taught and practiced, with the goal of being able to assess risk from acquaintances, overcome emotional barriers in acknowledging danger, and engage in effective verbal and physical self-defense. The primary outcome was completed rape, as measured by the Sexual Experiences Survey-Short Form Victimization, during 1 year of follow-up.

RESULTS
A total of 451 women were assigned to the resistance group and 442 women to the control group. Of the women assigned to the resistance group, 91% attended at least three of the four units. The 1-year risk of completed rape was significantly lower in the resistance group than in the control group (5.2% vs. 9.8%; relative risk reduction, 46.3% [95% confidence interval, 6.8 to 69.1]; P=0.02). The 1-year risk of attempted rape was also significantly lower in the resistance group (3.4% vs. 9.3%, P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
A rigorously designed and executed sexual assault resistance program was successful in decreasing the occurrence of rape, attempted rape, and other forms of victimization among first-year university women. (Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the University of Windsor; SARE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01338428.).


SUMMARY We propose a low-memory-bandwidth, high-efficiency VLSI architecture for 60-k word real-time continuous speech recognition. Our architecture includes a cache architecture using the locality of speech recognition, beam pruning using a dynamic threshold, two-stage language model searching, a parallel Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) architecture based on the mixture level and frame level, a parallel Viterbi architecture, and pipeline operation between Viterbi transition and GMM processing. Results show that our architecture achieves 88.24% required frequency reduction (66.74 MHz) and 84.04% memory bandwidth reduction (549.91 MB/s) for real-time 60-k word continuous speech recognition.


There are few studies examining the impacts of groundwater quality on residential property values. Using a unique dataset of groundwater well tests, we link residential transactions to home-specific contamination levels and undertake a hedonic analysis of homes in Lake County, Florida; where groundwater pollution concerns stem primarily from agricultural runoff. We find that testing and contamination yield a 2% to 6% depreciation, an effect that diminishes after the situation is resolved. Focusing specifically on nitrogen-based contamination, we find prices decline mainly at concentrations above the regulatory health standard, suggesting up to a 15% deprecation at levels twice the standard.


Reproduction of L5178Y leukemic cells in culture was inhibited by 10-5M 4- N -hydroxy-2'-deoxycytidine. Thymidine and deoxyuridine specifically protected the cells from growth inhibition. In whole cell incubations in vitro thymidine-3H incorporation into DNA-thymine was slightly stimulated, whereas deoxycytidine-3H, deoxyuridine-3H, and formate-14C incorporation into acid-soluble thymidylate nucleotides and DNA-thymine was markedly inhibited by 4- N -hydroxy-2'-deoxycytidine. Thymidylate synthetase activity from partially purified extracts of E. coli and cell-free preparations of sonically disrupted L5178Y leukemic cells was competitively inhibited by 4- N -hydroxy-2'-deoxycytidylic acid.

Studies in which L5178Y leukemic cells were incubated in vitro with 4- N -hydroxy-2'-deoxycytidine-3H demonstrated that the analog was phosphorylated to the monophosphate. Although 4- N -hydroxy-2'-deoxycytidine did not inhibit phosphorylation of thymidine-3H, deoxyuridine-3H, or deoxycytidine-3H in vitro , the phosphorylation of 4- N -hydroxy-2'-deoxycytidine-3H in this system was inhibited by thymidine and deoxyuridine. These experiments indicate that 4- N -hydroxy-2'-deoxycytidine is a functional analog of deoxyuridine that is phosphorylated to 4- N -hydroxy-2'-deoxycytidylic acid, and produces its cellular effects through inhibition of the biosynthesis of thymidylic acid.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We are grateful to Dr. G. A. Fischer for his help with L5178Y growth experiments and to Miss Judith Pascale and Dr. William H. Darrow for their excellent technical assistance. This research was supported by Grant No. CA 08236 from the United States Public Health Service.


It is shown that the self inductance of a wire loop may be written as a curve integral akin to the Neumann formula for the mutual inductance of two wire loops. The only difference is that contributions where the two integration variables get too close to each other must be excluded from the curve integral and evaluated in detail. The contributions of these excluded segments depend on the distribution of the current in the cross section of the wire. They add to a simple constant proportional to the wire length. The error of the new expression is of first order in the wire radius if there are sharp corners and of second order in the wire radius for smooth wire loops.


Excess precipitation in Midwest agricultural production areas is often removed artificially via subsurface drainage systems that intercept and divert it to surface waters. Nitrogen (N), either applied as fertilizer or manure or derived from soil organic matter, can be carried as nitrate with the excess water in quantities that may have deleterious effects downstream. A field study was initiated in 1989 in Pocahontas County, Iowa, on 0.05 ha plots of glacially derived clay loams. The objective of this three-phase study was to determine the effect of N application rate on NO3-N concentration and loss in a corn-soybean rotation over a wide range of weather conditions. Nitrogen-rate treatment phases with five seasons each (six for phase II) were imposed on subsurface-drained, continuous-flow-monitored plots over a 16-year period. Phase I N rates ranged from 0 to 168 kg N ha-1 in 56 kg N ha-1 increments. Separate plots were used for each crop in phase I, and significant NO3-N concentration differences were not observed between corn or soybean plots; this led to combining both crops in a split-plot configuration for phases II and III to study system effects. Phase II N rates ranged from 45 to 179 kg N ha-1 in 45 kg N ha-1 increments. Phase III was limited to two rates, 168 and 252 kg N ha-1. Average yearly flow-weighted NO3-N concentrations ranged from 3.9 mg L-1 (45 kg N ha-1, 1995) to 28.7 mg L-1 (252 kg N ha-1, 2001). Average flow-weighted NO3-N concentrations (in mg L-1) ranked by N rate were: 23.4 (252), 13.2 (179), 15.5 (168), 11.9 (134), 11.7 (112), 8.1 (90), 9.5 (56), 5.7 (45), and 8.9 (0). Losses were precipitation dependent and were reflective of individual seasons and rates imposed. Average flow-weighted NO3-N losses (kg ha-1) ranked by N rate and by phase were: 58 (168), 68 (112), 48 (56), 50 (no N) for phase I; 8 (179), 15 (134), 19 (90), 7 (45) for phase II; and 49 (252), 32 (168) for phase III. Results indicate that concentrations generally increased with rate; the effect on losses was variable due to disparity in drainage volumes among years. Corn yield during all periods showed a strong correlation between N rate and yield. As N rate increased, yield increased. It should be noted that at least 50% of the years showed limited yield response to N application above the next to the highest rates. To achieve average NO3-N concentrations less than 10 mg L-1 (USEPA drinking water standard) in subsurface drainage at this site, N application rates would need to be less than 112 kg N ha-1. Rates currently recommended for this area range from 112 to 168 kg N ha-1. Results from this study have significant implications for N fertilizer management and subsurface drainage NO3-N loss to surface waters in the state, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico.


INTRODUCTION
Menorrhagia limits normal activities, and causes anaemia in two thirds of women with objective menorrhagia (loss of 80 mL blood per cycle). Prostaglandin disorders may be associated with idiopathic menorrhagia, and with heavy bleeding due to fibroids, adenomyosis, or use of intrauterine devices (IUDs). Fibroids have been found in 10% of women with menorrhagia overall, and in 40% of women with severe menorrhagia; but half of women having a hysterectomy for menorrhagia are found to have a normal uterus.

METHODS AND OUTCOMES
We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of medical treatments for menorrhagia? What are the effects of surgical treatments for menorrhagia? What are the effects of endometrial thinning before endometrial destruction in treating menorrhagia? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to October 2007 (BMJ Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically; please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

RESULTS
We found 39 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.

CONCLUSIONS
In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following medical interventions: combined pill, danazol, etamsylate, gonadorelin analogues, intrauterine progesterone, non-steroidal inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), progestogens, and the following surgical interventions: dilatation and curretage, endometrial destruction, and hysterectomy.


The "measurement problem" of quantum mechanics, and the "hard problem" of cognitive science are the most profound open problems of the two research fields, and certainly among the deepest of all unsettled conundrums in contemporary science in general. Occasionally, scientists from both fields have suggested some sort of interconnectedness of the two problems. Here we revisit the main motives behind such expectations and try to put them on more formal grounds. We argue not only that such a relation exists, but that it also bears strong implications both for the interpretations of quantum mechanics and for our understanding of consciousness. The paper consists of three parts. In the first part, we formulate a "no-go-theorem" stating that a brain, functioning solely on the principles of classical physics, cannot have any greater ability to induce subjective experience than a process of writing (printing) a certain sequence of digits. The goal is to show, with an attempt to mathematical rigor, why the physicalist standpoint based on classical physics is not likely to ever explain the phenomenon of consciousness - justifying the tendency to look beyond the physics of the 19th century. In the second part, we aim to establish a clear relation, with a sort of correspondence mapping, between attitudes towards the hard problem and interpretations of quantum mechanics. Then we discuss these connections in the light of the no-go theorem, pointing out that the existence of subjective experience might differentiate between otherwise experimentally indistinguishable interpretations. Finally, the third part is an attempt to illustrate how quantum mechanics could take us closer to the solution of the hard problem and break the constraints set by the no-go theorem.


Introduction Student-athletes face numerous challenges across their competitive season. Although mood states have been previously studied, little is known about adaptations in other psychological responses, specifically cognition. The purpose of this study was to characterize cognitive function, mood, sleep, and stress responses at select time points of a season in collegiate rowers. It was hypothesized that during baseline, typical training, and recovery, athletes would show positive mental health profiles, in contrast to decreases in cognition with increases in negative mood and measurements of stress during peak training. Methods Male and female Division I rowers (N = 43) and healthy controls (N = 23) were enrolled and assessed at baseline, typical training, peak training, and recovery. At each time point, measures of cognitive performance (Stroop color-naming task), academic and exercise load, perceived cognitive deficits, mood states, sleep, and stress (via self-report and salivary cortisol) were recorded. Results Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant group–time interactions for perceived exercise load, cognitive deficits, mood states, and perceived stress (P < 0.05). For athletes during peak training, the perception of cognitive deficits was positively correlated with mood disturbance (r = 0.54, P < 0.05) and perceived stress (r = 0.55, P < 0.05) and negatively correlated with response accuracy during incongruent Stroop trials (r = −0.38, P < 0.05). Cognitive performance did not change over the course of the season for either group. Cortisol and sleepiness changed over the course of the season but no significant interactions were observed. Conclusion These results demonstrate that various psychological responses change over the course of a season, but they also highlight adaptation indicative of cognitive resilience among student-athletes.


The integrated simulation model for microstructural design of Fe-C alloy using the phase-field method and the homogenization method is proposed. First, the phase-field simulation is performed to simulate the morphological change of the grain boundary ferrite to Widmanstätten ferrite. Then, in order to clarify the effects of the morphology of the ferrite phase on the micro- and macroscopic mechanical properties, the finite element analysis based on the homogenization method is conducted with the representative volume element obtained from the phase-field simulation. This numerical approach provides a powerful tool to investigate systematically the micro and macroscopic mechanical behavior with the morphological change of the ferrite phase in the Fe-C alloy.


Queer theories have received criticism for their ethnocentrism and their lack of careful attention to the lived realities of transsexual and transgendered people. A forum is being established through the publication of transgender theorists' work, where transgender theorists may rework 'queer', but how well does this reworking address concerns about ethnocentrism? For some 'transpeople' it is important to maintain traditional cultural values by resisting identification with (contemporary western) medical discourses on transsexuality. How might queer and transgender theorising inform and be informed by the discursive pathways being carved out by people for whom medicalised understandings of gender may be deemed culturally inappropriate? I illustrate the points made in this paper by drawing from interviews with gender liminal people who live in New Zealand and who belong to cultures indigenous to the South Pacific. Whilst wholeheartedly supporting the efforts of transgenderists to challenge medical constructions of transsexuality, one of the purposes of this paper is to critique the way perspectives of whiteness echo, largely unacknowledged, through transgender theorising and to thus inspire more critical thinking about the racialised aspects of transsexual bodies and transgendered ways of being.


Motivation: The dynamic development of telecommunication technology and linked with it social change, created new conditions for economy functioning. They are related with change in the state role and its regulation ability. Digital economy is a global phenomenon that is regulated locally. From the point of view of economic sciences, understanding the currently existing principles of its functioning, both in the context of opportunities as well as threats, is the basis for effective research and modelling. This gives an opportunity for verify previous economic theories under new circumstances. This is a starting point for research on the new economic reality. Aim: The aim of this article is to review theories of digital economy regulation as well as the existing solutions to the problem of regulation of this global phenomenon. Based on the collected material, an attempt was made to identify the direction of digital economy development and the possibility of its regulation. Results: Currently existing solutions in terms of digital economy regulation may be considered as insufficient. Based on the Bitcoin case, it can be stated that the global approach to the digital economy is inconsistent. In general, there is also lack of coherent approach to the regulation of new economic phenomena. Considering the dynamic technology development and the high probability of further market innovations, it seems necessary to search for flexible solutions and theories specific to digital economy.


This paper; a scenario-based teaching case study, aims to introduce students in a Cybersecurity Risk Management course to advanced quantitative risk assessment techniques. The case study utilizes a fictitious company for which a risk assessment is underway. Assuming the role of the Cybersecurity Risk Team of the company, students are tasked with determining the risk exposure the company faces from a threat scenario against one of its mission-critical information resources. Specifically, the students are required to (1) quantify the monetary losses that could result from a threat scenario, (2) compute the inherited risk exposure from the threat scenario, (3) compute the residual risk given the implantation of certain security controls, and (4) compute the rate of return on the security controls. The case study holds the promise of enhancing the overall learning of the students and boosting their marketability as future cybersecurity professionals.


In 1882 Major-General Pitt-Rivers published the paper read by him the previous year before the British Association at York, on the Earthworks of the Yorkshire Wolds, with a map illustrating the district referred to.

The accompanying map is drawn to show the mass of entrenchments, lying further to the West and South, untouched by the paper above mentioned. By his excavations in the earthwork, commonly called Danes Dike, at Flamborough, Major-General Pitt-Rivers has established the fact that that famous entrenchment was constructed by a people who used flint weapons, and apparently had no knowledge of bronze. He expresses an opinion that the tumuli and entrenchments on the Wolds are of a similar age; but, quoting Canon Greenwell's authority, he goes on to observe that the tumuli were raised by a people in the early bronze phase of civilization, as bronze knife-daggers and celts of an early type had been found in them. This may be true of some other area, but not of the one before you, which contains some 300 British barrows, opened by Mr. J. R. Mortimer, in none of which was any bronze found.

The tumuli and entrenchments were doubtless to a certain extent contemporaneous, though instances can be pointed out where an entrenchment has evidently been diverted for the purpose of avoiding a tumulus. If, therefore, any preference as to age must be given, it should be in favour of the tumuli.

The entrenchments are not all of the same kind; some are merely tracks running ...


Reactive direct current (DC) sputtered ZnO:Al films were prepared using the plasma emission monitoring (PEM) system. Films were deposited using PEM setpoints ranging from 50 to 80%. Transmittance and reflectance of the films were measured by using the UV-VIS-NIR Lambda 900 double beam spectrophotometer. The sheet resistance was measured using the four-point probe. Films optical spectra were fitted with the Drude model to determine their charge carrier concentration, mobility and the alternating current (AC) resistivity. The highest values of mobility and charge carrier concentration were 8.31cm 2 /Vs and 2.14 x 10 21cm-3 respectively. The lowest value of the AC resistivity was given by the ZnO:Al film with the highest value of the product (Nμ) of charge carrier concentration (N) and mobility (μ). The DC and AC resistivity were of the same orders of magnitude. The optical bandgap was found to increase with the increase in charge carrier concentration. A linear variation of N 2/3 with the optical bandgap, which concurs with the Burstein-Moss shift theory, was obtained. Keywords: ZnO:Al, PEM, Drude model, transmittance, reflectance, sputtering.


The RNA S7 encoding serogroup-specific antigen VP7 of bluetongue virus (BTV) was cloned and inserted into pBAD/Thio TOPO vector. The recombinant plasmid was identified by restriction analysis, PCR and sequence. The results of SDS-PAGE and Western immunoblotting revealed that the VP7 was expressed in E coli LGM194 in a high level and the recombinant fusion protein with a molecular mass of approximately 54.5 kDa. Competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA) indicated that the expressed BTV VP7 was similar in antigenicity to that of the native virus as revealed by its reactivity with monoclonal antibody (MAb) specific to BTV. The availability of a reliable BTV recombinant VP7 could enhance our existing assay for detection of BTV-specific antibodies. The performance of the c-ELISA and agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) were compared using 3657 animal field sera from herds in China and animal imported. The purified recombinant VP7 antigen is highly immunogenic and has been shown in a c-ELISA to be reactive with antisera of 24 BTV serotypes (1 to 24). No cross-reactivities were detected between BTV and EHDV in c-ELISA tests. The data indicated that VP7 is a highly conserved protein amongst BTV serotypes. The c-ELISA tests indicate that the recombinant VP7 is useful as a diagnostic reagent for serological tests of BTV.


There is much difference among the amorphous substances of different coal ashes, the important basis for their utilization. The micromorphology and content of the amorphous substances were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and chemical method respectively, and the 28d compressive strength ratio was also used to characterize their contribution to the cement-coal ashes system. The results show that the amorphous substances of BFBC/CFBC ashes are irregular and loose textured, which are significantly different from those of PC fly ashes that are spherical and compact. The content and the pozzolanic activity of the amorphous substance of BFBC ashes are greater than that of PC fly ashes.


Visual content description has been attracting broad research attention in multimedia community because it deeply uncovers intrinsic semantic facet of visual data. Most existing approaches formulate visual captioning as machine translation task (i.e., from vision to language) via a top-down paradigm with global attention, which ignores to distinguish visual and non-visual parts during word generation. In this work, we propose a novel adaptive attention strategy for visual captioning, which can selectively attend to salient visual content based on linguistic knowledge. Specifically, we design a key control unit, termed visual gate, to adaptively decide "when" and "what" the language generator attend to during the word generation process. We map all the preceding outputs of language generator into a latent space to derive the representation of sentence structures, which assists the "visual gate" to choose appropriate attention timing. Meanwhile, we employ a bottom-up workflow to learn a pool of semantic attributes for serving as the propositional attention resources. We evaluate the proposed approach on two commonly-used benchmarks, i.e., MSCOCO and MSVD. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our proposed approach compared to several state-of-the-art methods.


Furfural is one of the one of pollutants in refinery industrial wastewaters. In this study advanced oxidation process using UV/H2O2 was investigated for furfural degradation in synthetic wastewater. The results from the experimental work showed that the degradation of furfural decreases as its concentration increases, reaching 100% at 50mg/l furfural concentration and increasing the concentration of H2O2 from 250 to 500 mg/l increased furfural removal from 40 to 60%.The degradation of furfural reached 100% after 90 min exposure time using two UV lamps, where it reached 60% using one lamp after 240 min exposure time. The rate of furfural degradation k increased at the pH and initial concentration of furfural decreased, but different H2O2concentrations indicated no significant effects on the reaction rate. UV/H2O2 process is effective for furfural degradation in wastewater at neutral pH where the disposal of such effluents will be within the environmental limitations.


The expression of the 100-kDa mosquitocidal toxin (Mtx) during vegetative growth and sporulation in nine different mosquito-larvicidal strains of Bacillus sphaericus has been analyzed. In five out of the nine strains the 100-kDa toxin was found to be expressed predominantly in the vegetative phase of growth, and in all nine strains the level of the toxin in sporulated cells was very low or undetectable. Strains in four out of the six DNA homology groups of B. sphaericus produced intracellular and extracellular proteases, which degraded the 100-kDa toxin, during sporulation. The 100-kDa toxin gene was expressed by using its native promoter on a multicopy number plasmid in B. sphaericus 1693 (protease negative) and B. sphaericus 13052 (protease positive). High levels of the 100-kDa toxin were produced in vegetative cells of both strains as well as in sporulated cells of protease-negative strain 1693, which is in contrast to the low levels of the 100-kDa toxin produced in sporulated cells of protease-positive strain 13052. Thus, the small amount of the 100-kDa toxin in sporulated cells of the nine mosquito-larvicidal strains is probably due to degradation of the 100-kDa toxin synthesized during vegetative growth by a protease(s) produced during sporulation. B. sphaericus 1693 transformed with the 100-kDa toxin gene was as toxic to mosquito larvae during both vegetative growth and sporulation as the natural high-toxicity strains of sporulated B. sphaericus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Avascular necrosis of the hips occurred in two patients after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. One had been receiving steroid therapy for prophylaxis of graft-versus-host disease, the other for the treatment of this condition. This complication has been reported infrequently, but the incidence could be as high as 10% in long-term survivors of bone marrow transplantation. While other drugs and irradiation may also contribute to this condition, it is likely that steroids are the major cause. An awareness of this risk should encourage minimizing the use of steroid therapy after bone marrow transplantation.


The response of entry and exit to adverse supply shocks, such as COVID-19, is amplified by nominal rigidities. This leads to further amplification in the response of aggregate demand. Firms' inability to adjust their prices induces further changes in profitability that engender additional entry-exit dynamics. These changes in net entry, in turn, amplify the initial response to the shock by generating additional curvature in the relationship between the shock and aggregate demand. Even in our baseline model with efficient equilibrium entry, this entry-exit multiplier triggers a substantial magnification of the welfare losses due to a negative shock through these second-order effects. Nominal rigidities may also induce a first-order effect when entry is no longer efficient. Our model highlights how the addition of endogenous entry to a benchmark New Keynesian model radically changes the consequences of nominal rigidities. We focus on the amplification of aggregate demand to supply shocks, but also highlight other key divergences that can potentially resolve some empirical discrepancies associated with the workhorse New-Keynesian model.


The pursuit of environmental sustainability implies dramatic transformation of modern society in order to bring about a more benign interaction between human and natural systems. It is now widely recognized that this paradigm shift would require the restructuring of society in order to deal with increasingly complex environmental problems and the current high rates at which natural resources are being depleted. These changes need to be made quickly, say within the next 50 years, since the world's population in 2050 would be between 10 and 12 billion. Examples of breathtakingly rapid societal change in the past include the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom and the Meiji Restoration in Japan. The direction of change, however, was a move away from the relatively close (though not necessarily harmonious) relationship between humans and nature found in rural societies to one characterized by distance and isolation in the new factories and industrial towns. Meanwhile, pollution problems, which have always been associated with urbanity, became more widespread and intensified. Related to this, the notions of environmentalism began to take shape in both countries during these periods. In the United Kingdom, the roots of environmentalism are intertwined with the Romantic Movement that sought to conserve the natural beauty of the land and cultural heritage of the nation. In Japan, the Meiji Restoration witnessed the emergence of new social movements backed by intellectuals fighting for popular rights and against development. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.


The hypothesis of this paper is alcohol consumption will decrease when a country experiences a recession. We have used data covering the yearly consumption (in litres per capita) of alcohol from the World Health Organization (2015), combined with yearly & quarterly GDP data from the OECD website (2015) to firstly identify years where there have been more than 2 periods of negative growth (recession), and to compare these data sets to see if any relationship exists. We have used correlation analysis between the financial data and the consumption data, as well as scatter graphs to see if there is a high correlation (0.7) or a trend, for 3 countries that have experienced a recession over the last 15 years (US, Finland & Greece). What we found is that some types of alcohol did appear to show both positive and negative relationships to GDP or recession but this relationship differed between countries. There are other factors that must be considered including cultural relationship to alcohol in different locations, as well as any government or social programs.


The use of calcium-phosphate casein on hypomineralized molars (molar incisor hypomineralization, MIH) has been proposed but not clinically investigated. Qualitative and quantitative effects of supplementation with a calcium-phosphate casein product on MIH molars were monitored over a period of three years. Molar replicas, minimally invasive biopsies and their SEM microphotographs, plus ESEM/EDX semi-quantitative peaks of elements present in affected enamel were evaluated. Mineralization, morphology, and porosity appeared markedly improved, with calcium and phosphate levels reaching almost normal levels at three years' follow-up. The hypothesis tested was rejected, since calcium-phosphate casein improved enamel morphology in vivo.


This paper presents a reversible or lossless watermarking algorithm for images without using a location map in most cases. This algorithm employs prediction errors to embed data into an image. A sorting technique is used to record the prediction errors based on magnitude of its local variance. Using sorted prediction errors and, if needed, though rarely, a reduced size location map allows us to embed more data into the image with less distortion. The performance of the proposed reversible watermarking scheme is evaluated using different images and compared with four methods: those of Kamstra and Heijmans, Thodi and Rodriguez, and Lee et al. The results clearly indicate that the proposed scheme can embed more data with less distortion.


During the high-level opening session, John Bell, European Commission Director, Directorate General Research & Innovation, European Commission, and Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director praised the cooperation between the EC and ESA, in the context of the Earth System Science Arrangement. They confirmed their willingness to advance towards a better coordination and integration of EC and ESA activities in Polar research. The European Union has been funding a significant number of Polar projects as part of the Framework programmes for Research and Innovation. In 2015, the funding of the EU-PolarNet project was instrumental as it enables stakeholders to coordinate activities across Europe. EU-PolarNet has delivered a number of key outputs among which the Integrated European Research Programme (EPRP). This report is the result of a process involving many players identifying key research and knowledge gaps, feeding into European Commission's policy making. The launch of the new EU-PolarNet 2 project during the conference showed the willingness of the EU to sustain these coordination efforts. EU-PolarNet 2 will play a key role to reinforce the science to policy interface and to increase coordination of polar research activities at European level, with a better understanding of what is done at national level. EU-PolarNet 2 will also lead the coordination of the EU Polar Cluster in close cooperation with the ESA Polaractivities. The EU Polar Cluster, launched in 2016, has been extending in terms of number of projects (21 projects and 2 initiatives) and it confirmed its objective to reinforce cooperation across projects on a number of areas of common interest. Transnational cooperation of all involved actors (researchers and stakeholders) and European-wide coordination of Polar research efforts are decisively important, particularly in tackling major societal challenges such as climate change. Scientific knowledge has to be appropriately disseminated to inform policymakers with a high level of expertise and to support evidence-based policy making. The projects from the ESA Polar Cluster confirmed the need to work closer with the EU funded projects. This is fully supported by ESA, which launched a call for tender to facilitate innovative scientific developments through collaborative research and networking opportunities in the Polar research domain and in particular between the ESA and EU Polar Clusters.


Low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) requirements demand wind-power plants to remain connected to the network in presence of grid-voltage dips. Most dips present positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence components. Hence, regulators based on symmetrical components are well suited to control grid-connected converters. A neutral-point-clamped topology has been considered as an active front end of a distributed power-generation system, following the trend of increasing power and voltage levels in wind-power systems. Three different current controllers based on symmetrical components and linear quadratic regulator have been considered. The performance of each controller is evaluated on LVRT requirement fulfillment, grid-current balancing, maximum grid-current value control, and oscillating power flow. Simulation and experimental results show that all three controllers meet LVRT requirements, although different system performance is found for each control approach. Therefore, controller selection depends on the system constraints and the type of preferred performance features.


Rett syndrome (RTT) is one of the most frequent neurodevelopmental disorders affecting almost exclusively females. It is characterised by normal development until 6-18 months followed by a more or less rapid decline of acquired functions mainly of the higher brain functions, such as communicative speech and purposeful hand use. Mutations in the MECP2 gene have been described in RTT patients world wide.1–4 Along with classical RTT females, several RTT variants, like the preserved speech variant, congenital RTT, and a patient with an Angelman syndrome-like phenotype, have been reported to carry mutations in the MECP2 gene.4–8 RTT has been considered an X linked dominant disease lethal in males. This assumption was supported by the small number of affected RTT males and by a lethal knock out mouse model.9 Recently, however, two independent groups have shown that nullizygous male and heterozygous female knock out mice are viable.10,11 This finding strongly questions the hypothesis of male lethality of the RTT trait. Our recently published findings about a very high percentage of paternal origin of the mutation in the MECP2 gene in sporadic cases of RTT provide a simple explanation for the scarcity of affected males.12 Meanwhile, there has been a series of reports describing mutations in the MECP2 gene of males. The affected males can be divided into two groups according to the type of their mutation. The first group carries mutations in the MECP2 gene either already described in RTT females or mutations of unquestionable pathological value (frameshift mutations or nonsense mutations).5–16 All these patients are characterised by early onset of the disease and a severe encephalopathy. A subgroup are males with a 47,XXY karyotype who present with the typical RTT symptoms. The second group includes patients carrying mutations inherited from their …


A simple chemosensor, namely, ethyl 5-(isonicotinoylimino)methyl-2,4-dimethyl-pyrrole-3-carboxylate (1), was synthesized and characterized. Probe 1 exhibited great selectivity when used as an off–on fluorescent sensor for Zn2+. Moreover, 1 can be used as a colorimetric probe for the detection of Cu2+ in semiaqueous media. The putative binding mechanism of 1 with its target analytes was confirmed through UV-Vis absorption analysis, fluorescence measurements, mass spectroscopy, 1H NMR analysis, and density functional theory calculations. In addition, the resulting 1 + Cu2+ complex can be used as a colorimetric sensor for pyrophosphate. Probe 1 is successfully applied in monitoring intracellular Zn2+ in the glioma cell line U251.


Toll-like receptor-8 agonists could be promising candidates for vaccine adjuvants, especially for neonatal vaccines. In this study, we established reliable models and explored valuable information which could explain the known experimental facts at the molecular level. Firstly, we divided the whole dataset into four splits and obtained many dependable models based on the simplified molecular input line entry system (SMILES). Secondly, the whole dataset was divided into three splits and other reliable comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA) models were established. Thirdly, we validated the prediction ability of these models using various validation methods for the test set. Lastly, for a better understanding of the binding modes between agonists and Toll-like receptor-8, molecular docking was applied to reveal the structural factors that impact the activity of agonists towards Toll-like receptor-8. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulation was employed to further validate the docking results. The results obtained from molecular modeling support each other, which not only provides models to predict the activities of agonists but also leads to a better understanding of the essential features that should be considered when designing novel agonists with desired activities.


The patency of aorto-coronary by-pass grafts was evaluated to be 90 per cent four weeks after the operation, and between 75 and 85 per cent after one year. One of the most important factors responsible for the occlusion of the grafts in the early post-operative period is thrombosis. Thus, postoperative anticoagulant therapy is theoretically fully justified. However, few studies have been performed concerning the effectiveness of such treatment in clinical practice and the results are divergent because of varying methodologies. Nevertheless, Gohlke et al. have demonstrated the real benefit on the patency of grafts, especially in the case of initially low flow in the graft. The authors emphasize the problems which have not been resolved concerning the practical modalities of anti-coagulant therapy and outline their indications following aorto-coronary by-pass grafts.


This paper presents the application of a laser displacement meter for direct multi-purpose sensing of milling tool conditions. Using a laser displacement meter, a laser beam is projected onto the cutting tool and subsequently reflected. The intensity as well as the angle of the reflected beam are measured. The signals are interpreted for identification of tool geometry, tool whirling, or vibration. Signal processing and analysis depend on the application. A prototype system has been developed to demonstrate the feasibility of various applications, namely, (1) tool setting evaluation, (2) in-process measurement of milling cutter geometry and detection of tool failure, (3) continuous monitoring of milling cutter deterioration, (4) detection and measurement of chatter in milling, (5) measurement of milling tool bending and (6) thermal expansion.


This paper examines the attempts of the international community to build democratic political systems in post-conflict countries, focusing on the "transitional governance" approach of the United Nations to working with domestic political factions to establish democratic institutions in Cambodia (1992–93), East Timor (1999–2002) and Afghanistan (2002–04). The transitional process is intended to develop local institutions and administrative and political capacity, while attempting not to reify the static balance of power in place at the end of the conflict. The idea of transitional governance may be seen as a pragmatic stepping-stone in a democracy-building process. It defers to elected representatives all-important decisions about the specific institutional architecture of democracy, including the question of what forms of power-sharing make sense given the domestic political context. The transitional governance process appears to be fairly effective in the initiation phase of the democracy-building process: administering a peace settlement through to a first national election and facilitating the writing of a constitution. Yet democratic consolidation after the transition point has been stunted to some extent in each of the countries considered. The very mechanisms of transitional governance – particularly the designation of a semisovereign body to act as a UN counterpart – act at cross-purposes to the impulse to allow a dynamic democracy-building process to take root.


Introduction Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a re-emerging mosquito transmitted alphavirus of global concern. Neutralizing antibodies and antibody Fc-effector functions have been shown to reduce CHIKV disease and infection in animals. However, the ability to improve the therapeutic activity of CHIKV-specific polyclonal IgG by enhancing Fc-effector functions through modulation of IgG subclass and glycoforms remains unknown. Here, we evaluated the protective efficacy of CHIKV-immune IgG enriched for binding to Fc-gamma receptor IIIa (FcγRIIIa) to select for IgG with enhanced Fc effector functions. Methods Total IgG was isolated from CHIKV-immune convalescent donors with and without additional purification by FcγRIIIa affinity chromatography. The enriched IgG was characterized in biophysical and biological assays and assessed for therapeutic efficacy during CHIKV infection in mice. Results FcγRIIIa-column purification enriched for afucosylated IgG glycoforms. In vitro characterization showed the enriched CHIKV-immune IgG had enhanced human FcγRIIIa and mouse FcγRIV affinity and FcγR-mediated effector function without reducing virus neutralization in cellular assays. When administered as post-exposure therapy in mice, CHIKV-immune IgG enriched in afucosylated glycoforms promoted reduction in viral load. Discussion Our study provides evidence that, in mice, increasing Fc engagement of FcγRs on effector cells, by leveraging FcγRIIIa-affinity chromatography, enhanced the antiviral activity of CHIKV-immune IgG and reveals a path to produce more effective therapeutics against these and potentially other emerging viruses.


Fuzzy models of the Takagi-Sugeno type enable representation of a wide class of nonlinear models. Conditions about their stabilization can be derived systematically. Usually these conditions are written as linear matrix inequality (LMI) problems. In this paper, we use a collection of properties concerning matrices to extend the area of solutions involving the feedback control laws. We will work out with continuous fuzzy models, and supply results about the stabilization, the regulator problem, and also Hinfin control. Solutions based on a reduced number of decision variables, implying a reduced number of LMI conditions, are also proposed. We show that a good tradeoff can been obtained.


The purpose of this study is to compare the seismic behaviors of interior post-tensioned (PT) and reinforced concrete (RC) flat plate slab-column connections designed to resist only gravity loads. In general, flat plate systems have been used to support gravity loads, which should be constructed with lateral system such as shear walls or moment frames. Flat plate systems should retain the ability to undergo the lateral drift associated with the lateral system without loss of gravity load carrying capacity. Although these systems are common, relatively little experimental study has been conducted to assess actual behavior under lateral loads. Therefore, this study was undertaken to assess the seismic performance of two PT and one RC slab-column interior connection under high gravity loads. This study observed that PT connections had a better seismic performance than corresponding RC connections in terms strength, deformability, energy absorption.


INTRODUCTION Emergency powers have a long and tainted history in the United Kingdom, particularly in Northern Ireland, where their use and abuse have been especially troublesome. Emergency is no new phenomena to Northern Ireland; it predates the current period of political instability in the jurisdiction and finds its foundation in the very creation of the state.(1) The state's existence as a separate political entity stems from the partition of the island of Ireland in the early 1920s.(2) This partition was precipitated by Northern Ireland's Protestant majority, who were militarily and ideologically opposed to being subsumed into the new Irish Catholic state then emerging from a colonial war of independence with Britain.(3) From the time of the state's creation, the use of emergency powers became synonymous with the maintenance of security and the political status quo. The primary emergency laws currently in force in the jurisdiction are the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1991(4) (EPA), and its counterpart, the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989(5) (PTA). The EPA operates only in Northern Ireland, while the PTA operates throughout the entire United Kingdom, but both statutes "are designed to obtain convictions in cases involving those suspected of paramilitary activity, based on confessions obtained through prolonged detention and intense interrogation."(6) The EPA evolved from legislation initially passed in 1973.(7) The 1973 legislation repealed the Special Powers Act,(8) an act perceived by the Catholic minority as symbolic of the dominance and undemocratic nature of the state, but it also paradoxically reenacted many of the same provisions that the Special Powers Act had contained.(9) A 1975 review of the EPA by the government-sponsored Gardiner Committee(10) saw some minor adjustments in the legislation, which by 1978 was consolidated with its 1973 parent act into one piece of legislation, the 1978 EPA.(11) In 1984, another government-sponsored review recommended significant adjustment and expansion of the emergency powers.(12) In 1987, the EPA was further expanded by the incorporation of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1987,(13) which operated in conjunction with the EPA of 1978.(14) The most recent version of the EPA, introduced in 1991, consolidated earlier legislation, created new offenses, and brought into the EPA's domain provisions of the PTA, which were applied only in Northern Ireland.(15) In June 1995, the United Kingdom renewed the EPA, despite the unequivocal movement of paramilitary organizations to non-violent for-me of political activism.(16) Then, in December 1995, the government brought forward the renewal date of the EPA by three months.(17) By bringing the legislation quietly before the House of Commons for its first reading in the week before Christmas vacation, the bill was ensured minimal publicity and debate (as many members of parliament had already departed for the holidays). No nongovernmental human rights organizations were informed of its impending early appearance on the legislative calendar in the month of January.(18) In January 1996, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced that the EPA would be renewed for two more years, with the extension commencing in August 1996.(19) In addition, the legislation moved a significant number of wide-ranging provisions concerning racketeering into the ordinary criminal law.(20) The PTA was enacted in 1974, following the killing of twenty-one people in bombings in Birmingham pubs during November 1974.(21) It was derived from two earlier pieces of legislation: the 1973 EPA legislation(22) and the Prevention of Violence (Temporary Provisions) Act 1939,(23) which had been enacted for use against an earlier campaign by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).(24) Although the PTA was originally intended to expire after only six months, it has endured to the present. …


Background Failure to treat autoimmune diseases with leukocyte-targeted therapies, candidates locally residing stromal cells as possible therapeutic intervention in chronic disease management. Phenotypical changes associated with the acquisition of lymphoid-like features has been described in stroma of chronic disease and cancer. gp38, marker of lymph node stromal cell, has been used to identify and isolate stromal cells that acquire in ectopic organs the capability to support lymphoid chemokines (CKs)/cytokine production and lymphocyte compartmentalization (1). Objectives Dissect the molecules and mechanisms regulating differentiation of resident stromal towards gp38+lymphoid like phenotype. Methods We designed an inducible model of ectopic lymphoneogenesis in salivary glands to evaluate the dynamics of stromal cell activation. Salivary glands of C57BL/6 mice wild type and knockout mice (IL-22, IL22R, RAG, LTbR) were cannulated with adenovirus and sacrificed at different time points post cannulation (p.c.). Immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, RT-PCR and ELISA were used to evaluate the dynamic of acquisition of lymphoid features. Results WT mice stromal cells display early acquisition of lymphoid features, up-regulating gp38 already at 3hours pc. Peak of this activation was observed at day5 with significant increase in the percentage of gp38+ lymphoid like stromal cells (LLSc), this increase is maintained between day8-15 pc. However, full acquisition of lymphoid phenotype, indicated by high levels of lymphoid CKs/cytokine expression was observed by day8-15 pc. This correlates with full maturation of the lymphoid aggregates in terms of T/B cell segregation and FDC formation. Of interest, RAG and LTbR KO mice showed normal degree of stromal cell activation in the early phases (2-5days p.c.) but a dramatic decrease in the percentage of LLSc by day15. However, these KOs exhibited a defect in full lymphoid conversion of stromal cells shown by significant decrease in CKs/cytokine expression and aggregates disorganization, suggesting that the full maturation of stromal cells require lymphocyte-derived signals such as lymphotoxin. Surprisingly in IL-22 and IL-22R KOs lack of gp38 up-regulation at day5 and 8 pc was observed, with significant decrease in LLSc percentage and this defect was attributed to defective LLSc proliferation. This quantitative defect in LLSc translated to severe impairment in local overexpression of the lymphoid CKs/cytokines both at protein and mRNA level. Accordingly, IL-22KO mice showed small, disorganized aggregates, defects in the antiviral response and abrogation of the antinuclear antibody production. Conclusions Our study provides the first in vivo evidence that IL-22 plays a critical role in aquisition and expansion of lymphoid like stromal cell during inflammation. This first phase is followed by full conversion of the stromal cells to a lymphoid-like phenotype and requires lymphotoxin beta provided lymphocytes. This data support the role of stroma as "malignant soil" in chronic conditions and strongly suggests the need for a dual therapeutic approach aimed to target both leukocyte and stroma to achieve disease control. References Peduto et al., J Immunol, 2009. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The second-order accurate FDTD technique at the dielectric interface is applied into the subgridding method. The second-order accuracy of the tangential electric fields at the interface can be implemented and the accuracy of the subgridding algorithm is improved. Numerical simulations of dielectric resonators are carried out and the better accuracy is shown in the proposed method than the standard FDTD methods.


Introduction Homelessness is a societal problem with public health implications. The U.S rate of homelessness is 17.7/10,000. Nightly, 5 50 000 persons experience homelessness, 6.5% under the age of 18 years. Homelessness is associated with greater engagement in high-risk sexual behaviour. Less is known about sexually transmitted infections (STI) among the homeless. Methods We systematically identified peer-reviewed articles, published 2000–2016, which reported STI bio-specimen testing and rates among homeless persons in the US. Articles (n=9) were grouped by age (e.g. youth=5; adults=4); STI rates and correlate factors were described by gender. Results Across STIs, rates varied from 0.4%–17% among homeless youth (n=5), and 0.9%–52.5% among homeless adults (n=4). Rates for chlamydia (CT) were similar for youth (4.2%–11.6%)%) and adults (4.6%–10.8). For gonorrhoea, the highest rates for youth (0.4%–9.9%) were double those for adults (0.9%–4.1%)%). STI rates also varied by age and gender. CT was highest among young females (6.45%–11.0%%); followed by adult females (6.7%); then young males (4.73%–4.8%). Rates of HSV-2 (5.52%–11.85%%), HBV (1.42%–17%) and trichomoniasis (2.3%) were reported only in studies on youth. HCV varied among youth (3.77%–12%)%) and adults (9.8%–52.5%%), with rates highest among homeless adult men. Composite STI rates were most often reported for adults (16.4%–40.7%%), with highest rates among adult women who experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) (25.9%–40.7%)%).For youth, longer periods of homelessness were associated with high-risk sexual behaviours. Peer social networks had protective and risk effects on sexual behaviour. For adults, frequency and length of homelessness, incarceration history, substance use, injection drug use (IDU), and IPV were associated with having an STI. Conclusion STI rates among homeless persons varied by age and gender. There is a need for more complete STI data on homeless youth and adults. Such data can aid in understanding STI risk while homeless and how best to develop tailored prevention strategies.


We investigated whether a dragon the size of the ones seen the HBO show "Game of Thrones" (specically Drogon) would actually be able to y in the real world. We estimated Drogon's mass to be roughly 1.26*10^6kg, whereas the lift generated by his wings would be about 3.29*10^6N when taking off from stationary, and thus would not be able to take off as his weight is roughly afactor of 4 greater than generated lift. He would, however be able to take off if he ran or jumped at a suffcient speed.


Abstract Immuno-oncology has rapidly grown in the last thirty years, and immunotherapeutic agents are now approved to treat many disparate cancers. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are employed to augment cytotoxic anti-cancer activity by inhibiting negative regulatory elements of the immune system. Modulating the immune system to target neoplasms has improved survivability of numerous cancers in many individuals, but forecasting outcomes post therapy is difficult due to insufficient predictive biomarkers. Recently, the tumor and gastrointestinal microbiome and immune milieu have been investigated as predictors and influencers of cancer immune therapy. In this review, we discuss: (1) ways to measure the microbiome including relevant bioinformatic analyses, (2) recent developments in animal studies and human clinical trials utilizing gut microbial composition and function as biomarkers of cancer immune therapy response and toxicity, and (3) using prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics, antibiotics, and fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) to modulate immune therapy. We discuss the respective benefits of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene and shotgun metagenomic sequencing including important considerations in obtaining samples and in designing and interpreting human and animal microbiome studies. We then focus on studies discussing the differences in response to ICIs in relation to the microbiome and inflammatory mediators. ICIs cause colitis in up to 25% of individuals, and colitis is often refractory to common immunosuppressive medications. Researchers have measured microbiota composition prior to ICI therapy and correlated baseline microbiota composition with efficacy and colitis. Certain bacterial taxa that appear to enhance therapeutic benefit are also implicated in increased susceptibility to colitis, alluding to a delicate balance between pro-inflammatory tumor killing and anti-inflammatory protection from colitis. Pre-clinical and clinical models have trialed probiotic administration, e.g. Bifidobacterium spp. or FMT, to treat colitis when immune suppressive agents fail. We are excited about the future of modulating the microbiome to predict and influence cancer outcomes. Furthermore, novel therapies employed for other illnesses including bacteriophage and genetically-engineered microbes can be adapted in the future to promote increased advancements in cancer treatment and side effect management.


Objectives. People with polyarthritis experience through their disease most of the time more fatigue than healthy people. That has often great impact at quality of life. Because of fatigue, personal goals can't always be achieved. The recent study therefore focuses on the impact of goal management strategies on severity of fatigue, impact of fatigue and coping with fatigue. Aim of the study is to find out whether there are goal management strategies that can help people with polyarthritis to limit their fatigue and therefore improve their quality of life.
Method. 331 people with polyarthritis from a hospital in Enschede have participated in the questionnaire. For the study people had to fill in the TenFlex, GAS and VAS fatigue at baseline, after 6 months and after one year. Through these questionnaires the goal management strategies 'goal maintenance', 'goal adjustment', 'goal reengagement' and 'goal disengagement' and severity of fatigue, impact of fatigue en coping with fatigue are measured.
Results. The results show that goal management strategies are associated with aspects of fatigue. They explain 6% to 10% of the variance of aspects of fatigue. Severity of fatigue can be explained through 'goal adjustment' and 'goal reengagement'. People who adjust their goals are less fatigued than people who do not. If people use the strategy 'goal reengagement' more often, they experience more fatigue. Impact of fatigue and coping with fatigue can only be explained through 'goal adjustment'. The more often people adjust their goals the less impact has fatigue on their life and the better they can cope with fatigue. Further remain severity and impact of fatigue and coping with fatigue stable over a year. There is also no interaction effect with the goal management strategies.
Conclusion. The study shows that it may be helpful for people with polyarthritis to learn how to adjust goals. Thereby it may be that severity of fatigue and impact of fatigue will decrease and coping with fatigue will improve which can lead to a better quality of life.


Quality control of welded joints is an important step before commissioning of various types of metal structures. The main obstacles to the commissioning of such facilities are the areas where the welded joint deviates from acceptable defective standards. The defects of welded joints include non-welded, foreign inclusions, cracks, pores, etc. The article describes an approach to the detection of the main types of defects of welded joints using a combination of convolutional neural networks and support vector machine methods. Convolutional neural networks are used for primary classification. The support vector machine is used to accurately define defect boundaries. As a preprocessing in our work, we use the methods of morphological filtration. A series of experiments confirms the high efficiency of the proposed method in comparison with pure CNN method for detecting defects.


Sitophilus oryzae (L.), S. granarius (L.), Tribolium castaneum (Hbst.), Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.), Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), Tenebroides mauritanicus (L.), and Cryptolestes pusillus (Schon.) transmitted Salmonella montevideo from wheat contaminated with 10(6) organisms/g to clean wheat. The insects were fed on the contaminated grain for 21 days and were then transferred to clean grain and allowed to feed for 21 days. They were subsequently transferred to two more samples of clean wheat. All species carried S. montevideo into the initial sample of clean wheat but not into a second or third sample. Progeny of the original insects that developed in the contaminated wheat exhibited less ability than the original adults to contaminate clean wheat. Data indicated that few S. montevideo could be carried by the stored-product insects in large masses of grain.


For many years the dangers of obesity have been extensively proclaimed in medical and lay publications. Current concepts regarding the role of fat metabolism in the etiology of cardiovascular disease underline the perils of excessive body weight. Accordingly, a reduction diet is often prescribed by the physician as part of the treatment of a wide range of ills, malnutrition excepted. The admonition—"lose 15 or 20 pounds"—reverberates in the ears of many a portly patient. Moreover, the desirability of the "streamlined" appearance is insistently stressed by the dictators of high fashion and their talented hucksters. Modern supermarkets feature whole departments devoted to "dietary foods" on behalf of their calorieconscious consumers. It is readily apparent, in the face of this veritatble avalanche of propaganda, that many patients are struggling to reduce their body weight. A considerable proportion of these dieters, during a short-lived period of enthusiastic forbearance, may succeed in losing 15


The JRF's recent public consultation revealed a strong sense of unease about some of the changes shaping British society. This Viewpoint continues the discussion about modern 'social evils' on the theme of 'distrusting and fearful society'. Anna Minton argues that the cause of growing fear and distrust is visible physical inequality and segregation in the environment, combined with a commercially driven media with a vested interest in promoting fear. Key points


Smartphone use among parents is rising sharply, as they seek connectedness with partners, friends and work during the sometimes detached times of parenthood. Since parents increasingly use smartphones while interacting with their children, there is growing research about the implications of parental smartphone for parent-child interactions. However, previous reviews have not examined whether the effects of parental smartphone use on parent-child interactions vary depending on children's age. Additionally, no systematic review has summarized the potential benefits of parents' smartphone use for parent-child interactions. Therefore, the goals of this systematic review were (1) to explore the role of children's age in the link between parental smartphone use and parent-child interactions and (2) to summarize potential benefits of parental smartphone use for parent-child interactions. Following PRISMA guidelines, a total of k = 21 papers met all eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Results gest noteworthy effects of parental smartphone use on parent-child interactions across all age groups, but the foci and outcomes of the studies differed between them. Benefits were mostly perceived when people where relaxed and enjoying themselves, but only a few studies have focused on the potential positive impact of parental smartphone use on parent-child interactions. The review provides an overview about future areas of research to explore how smartphone changes family interactions. Families have to find adequate ways of dealing with new technology in everyday life, which inevitably affects the nature of their daily interactions.


Slot waveguides based on TiO2 nanowires are numerically analyzed in the visible spectrum. The modal properties and the sensing capabilities of a conventional slot waveguide are investigated at an operating wavelength of 635 nm. Furthermore, a novel slot waveguide configuration called Layer-slot (L-slot) is proposed and discussed. The numerical results show that L-slot waveguides permit to achieve field confinement and sensing properties with values comparable with conventional slot waveguide, but with a strongly simplified fabrication process.


of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor Landon R. Grace. No. of pages in text. (136) Bismaleimide (BMI) is a polymeric thermoset material that is suitable for high temperature structural and electrical applications, particularly when used as a matrix in fiber-reinforced composites for radar-protecting structures (radomes) on commercial and military aircraft. In this role, BMI's high service temperature and high strength-to-weight ratio are of significant importance in supersonic aircraft. A main disadvantage of this material is the propensity to absorb environmental and aircraft related fluids in many applications, even in hot, dry environments. Moisture absorption has been known to be a deleterious factor in the service life of aircraft structures, especially in the case of dielectric property degradation. In this thesis, the effects of hygrothermal aging conditions and elevated temperatures on quartz-fiber-reinforced bismaleimide specimens were investigated via a split-post dielectric resonant technique at X-band (10 GHz), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and flexural strength assessments. Furthermore, BMI/quartz moisture absorption kinetics were modeled by the three-dimensional hindered diffusion model (3D HDM) and its one-dimensional version of the Langmuir-type absorption model. These methods utilize least square regression to recover composite diffusivities, equilibrium moisture content, and molecular binding and unbinding probabilities with an error of less than 1%. In split-post dielectric experiments, a 1% increase in contaminant content by weight resulted in a 7.8%, 4.5%, and 2.5% increase in relative permittivity of the material due to water, deicing fluid, and propylene glycol, respectively. A more significant impact was seen in the material's loss tangent, where a 1% increase in contaminant content by weight is responsible for a 378.5%, 592.99%, and 441.49% increase in loss tangent due to the aforementioned fluids, respectively. Since water is the most ubiquitous, a simple desorption method was performed and it was found that relative permittivity and loss tangent increase were reversed, relative to the initial moisture content. Exposure to temperatures at approximately 60% of Tg (316°C) coupled with relatively low moisture content (1.21%) and cyclical (1 Hz) flexural strain on the order of 10 were sufficient to induce fiber-matrix debond. This debond was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and was associated with a discrete decrease in flexural strength of up to 26%. The sensitivity of the DMA to the fiber-matrix interface integrity provides a beneficial tool for assessing the effects of thermal and moisture conditions on the onset of fiber-matrix debond, which can be detrimental to radomes in operation.