System-on-chip (SoC) plays a key role in building various embedded systems. With the advance of SoC technology, the complexity of SoC is sharply increasing. In addition, there is a great industry demand on technologies for producing reusable SoC components. However, conventional SoC approaches focus largely on designing the lower-level details of SoC at hardware level without going through model-level engineering. They also do not address the reusability issues of SoC. In this paper, we propose a solution framework for producing reusable SoC in a cost-effective way by adopting model-level engineering such as domain analysis, variability analysis, and component design. We first identify the three dimensions of reusing SoC, and analyze eight different cases of reusing SoC. Then, we present software engineering techniques that can be effectively utilized in developing reusing SoC. Finally, we define a methodology for a most demanding case. The key contribution of our research lies on three folds; identifying dimensions and feasible cases of reusing SoC, identifying effective software engineering techniques for developing reusable SoC, and defining a reuse-focused methodology of SoC


Skepticism in surgery is a healthy philosophy. It leads to the questioning of principles that might formerly have been regarded as absolute and sacrosanct. Especially is such skepticism commendable if it leads to the modification of a form of treatment toward a less invasive alternative, provided always that the ensuing result is at least as good as that which previously had been obtained. The anatomy of the spleen is well known to surgeons. As well known is its propensity for injury in abdominothoracic trauma, its peculiar vulnerability in its immediate relationship to the overlying three ribs, and the sometimes catastrophic hemorrhage following laceration. Equally widespread is the certain knowledge that splenectomy is the treatment of choice. "Once the diagnosis is made or even highly suspected, laparotomy is indicated." 1 This teaching is universal and generally accepted. However, at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, it has not been our


Consumer Internet of Things (IoT) applications are largely built through end-user programming in the form of event-action rules. Although end-user tools help simplify the building of IoT applications to a large extent, there are still challenges in developing expressive applications in a simple yet correct fashion. In this context, we propose a formal development framework based on the Web of Things specification. An application is defined using a composition language that allows users to compose the basic event-action rules to express complex scenarios. It is transformed into a formal specification that serves as the input for formal analysis, where the application is checked for functional and quantitative properties at design time using model checking techniques. Once the application is validated, it can be deployed and the rules are executed following the composition language semantics. We have implemented these proposals in a tool built on top of the Mozilla WebThings platform. The steps from design to deployment were validated on real-world applications.


An experiment was conducted to exploit the immune-modulation effect of trivalent chromium (Cr) for augmenting immunity against peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in dwarf black Bengal goats (Capra hircus). The goats (n = 6 per treatment group) either received a basal diet devoid of supplemental Cr (control) or were supplemented with 0.5 mg Cr as chromic chloride (+Cr) for 60 days. Live weight gain and feed conversion efficiency improved (P < 0.05) in the +Cr dietary group. Supplemental Cr did not affect the total number of monocytes, eosinophils and basophils (P > 0.1) although total leukocytes increased (P < 0.05) and the ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes narrowed down (P < 0.05) in the +Cr dietary group. The effect of Cr supplementation on variables of the intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) was inconclusive. Compared to the control group, the basal concentration of glucose (P < 0.05) and insulin (P < 0.001) was higher, clearance rate was slower (P < 0.05) and serum half-life was greater (P < 0.05) in the +Cr dietary group during the IVGTT. Over the duration of the experiment, serum concentration of insulin increased (P < 0.001) and that of cortisol decreased (P < 0.01) in the +Cr group, which also showed a relatively higher primary antibody (Ab) response against PPR on days 10 (P < 0.01) and 20 (P < 0.05) post-vaccination. In conclusion, the experiment indicated that supplementation of Cr as CrCl3, in the diet of non-stressed goats, may improve primary Ab response against PPR and help confer an augmented immunity to the disease besides promoting growth and feed conversion.


Twelve patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and their caregivers were interviewed with the SEIQoL. The SEIQoL measures quality of life by taking into account the relevant determinants for a particular individual. The subject rates 5 areas in life most important to the quality of life. The relative contribution of each area to the overall quality of life is then calculated with a multiple regression analysis programme developed for the purpose. Next the SEIQoL Index score, validity and reliability are computed. One patient was unable to complete the interview. The remaining (8 women, 3 men, mean age 71.3 years) had a mean SEIQoL Index score of 79.9 (median: 85.4), which is comparable to healthy Dutch elderly. The caregivers (10 spouses, 2 daughters; mean age 67.4 years), on the other hand, had a lower SEIQoL Index score: 62.2 (median: 63.8). Validity and reliability were good for both groups. Thus, caregivers in this pilot study experienced a lower quality of life than AD patients and healthy Dutch elderly. The SEIQoL allows quantitative measurement of completely individualised quality of life for AD patients and their caregivers.


Abstract MIMO wireless communication systems with channel state estimation, in which 2 to 4 transmit-receive antenna pairs are employed, are simulated. The channel estimation is fulfilled by the orthogonal pilot signal approach, where the Walsh Hadamard-ordered sequences are commonly used for piloting. The signal is modulated by applying the quaternary phase shift keying method. Maximum 250 000 packets are transmitted through flat-fading Rayleigh channels, to which white Gaussian noise is added. Based on simulating 10 subcases of the frame length and number of pilot symbols per frame, it is ascertained that pilot symbol orthogonal sequences in 2×2 to 4×4 MIMO systems can be improved by substituting Walsh functions with partially unsymmetrical binary functions constituting the eight known orthogonal bases. The benefit is that the bit-error rate is substantially decreased, especially for 2×2 MIMO systems. Considering three cases of the pilot signal de-orthogonalization caused by two indefinite and definite pilot sequence symbol errors, the relative decrement varies from 0.123 % to 14.7 %. However, the decrement becomes less significant as the number of transmit-receive antenna pairs is increased.


The Wigner function is a useful tool for exploring the transition between quantum and classical dynamics, as well as the behavior of quantum chaotic systems. Evolving the Wigner function for open systems has proved challenging however; a variety of methods have been devised but suffer from being cumbersome and resource intensive. Here we present an efficient fast-Fourier method for evolving the Wigner function, that has a complexity of $O(N\log N)$ where $N$ is the size of the array storing the Wigner function. The efficiency, stability, and simplicity of this method allows us to simulate open system dynamics previously thought to be prohibitively expensive. As a demonstration we simulate the dynamics of both one-particle and two-particle systems under various environmental interactions. For a single particle we also compare the resulting evolution with that of the classical Fokker-Planck and Koopman-von Neumann equations, and show that the environmental interactions induce the quantum-to-classical transition as expected. In the case of two interacting particles we show that an environment interacting with one of the particles leads to the loss of coherence of the other.


The magnetic properties of Cu1 - xCox alloy films prepared by electrodeposition technique were investigated by Alternating Gradient Force Magnetometer. The magnetization curves of Cu0.94Co0.06, Cu0.87Co0.13 and Cu0.74Co0.26 films were easily saturated while the other Cu1 - xCox samples with x= 0.17, 0.19 and 0.21 had more inclined magnetization curves. The saturation magnetization value of Cu1 - xCox film increased with increasing Co content in the film. The minimum values of the ratio of remanence to magnetization and the coercive field were determined in the Cu0.81Co0.19 alloy film among the others. The ferromagnetic order in the Cu1 - xCox films was between 2.5-29%.


Rad51 is the key enzyme for homologous recombination, an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for the repair of DNA damage and the generation of genetic diversity. Given the observation that many tumors become resistant to radiation therapy and DNA-damaging chemotherapeutics and also that tumor cell populations can acquire a high number of genetic alterations and then expand clonally, dysfunction of the mammalian Rad51 recombinase could play a major role in the multistep process of tumorigenesis. The data we present provide further strong support for this hypothesis. Using anti-Rad51 immunofluorescence staining, widely different tumor cell lines displayed increased numbers of nuclei with focally concentrated Rad51 protein compared with nonmalignant control cell lines. These nuclear foci are thought to represent a repairosome-type assembly of Rad51 and other proteins required for recombinational DNA repair. By Western blot analyses, the net amount of Rad51 protein was increased 2–7-fold in all tested tumor cell lines. Inhibition of de novo protein synthesis by cycloheximide treatment showed a similar half-life of Rad51 protein in normal and tumor cells. Fluorescence in situ hybridization experiments did not detect Rad51 gene amplifications in tumors. Because Northern blot analysis demonstrated highly elevated Rad51 mRNA levels, we conclude that the increases in Rad51 protein and nuclear foci formation in tumor cells are the result of transcriptional up-regulation.


OBJECTIVES To determine if the Integrated Community-Based Health Systems-Strengthening (ICBHSS) initiative was effective in expanding health coverage, improving care quality, and reducing child mortality in Togo. METHODS Population-representative cross-sectional household surveys adapted from the Demographic Household Survey and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys were conducted at baseline (2015) and then annually (2016–2020) in 4 ICBHSS catchment sites in Kara, Togo. The primary outcome was under-5 mortality, with health service coverage and health-seeking behavior as secondary outcomes. Costing analyses were calculated by using "top-down" methodology with audited financial statements and programmatic data. RESULTS There were 10 022 household surveys completed from 2015 to 2020. At baseline (2015), under-5 mortality was 51.1 per 1000 live births (95% confidence interval [CI]: 35.5–66.8), and at the study end period (2020), under-5 mortality was 35.8 (95% CI: 23.4–48.2). From 2015 to 2020, home-based treatment by a community health worker increased from 24.1% (95% CI: 21.9%–26.4%) to 45.7% (95% CI: 43.3%–48.2%), and respondents reporting prenatal care in the first trimester likewise increased (37.5% to 50.1%). Among respondents who sought care for a child with fever, presenting for care within 1 day increased from 51.9% (95% CI: 47.1%–56.6%) in 2015 to 80.3% (95% CI: 74.6%–85.0%) in 2020. The estimated annual additional intervention cost was $8.84 per person. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that the ICBHSS initiative, a bundle of evidence-based interventions implemented with a community-based strategy, improves care access and quality and was associated with reduction in child mortality.


PURPOSE We wanted to describe how primary care clinicians care for patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS We undertook a cross-sectional study of 95 primary care clinicians and 822 of their established patients with type 2 diabetes from 4 practice-based, primary care research networks in the United States. Clinicians were surveyed about their training and practice. Patients completed a self-administered questionnaire about their care, and medical records were reviewed for complications, treatment, and diabetes-control indicators. RESULTS Participating clinicians (average age, 45.7 years) saw an average of 32.6 adult patients with diabetes per month. Patients (average age, 59.7 years) reported a mean duration of diabetes of 9.1 years, with 34.3% having had the disease more than 10 years. Nearly one half (47.5%) of the patients had at least 1 diabetes-related complication, and 60.8% reported a body mass index greater than 30. Mean glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level was 7.6% (SD 1.73), and 40.5% of patients had values <7%. Only 35.3% of patients had adequate blood pressure control (<130/85 mm Hg), and only 43.7% had low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels <100 mg/dL. Only 7.0% of patients met all 3 control targets. Multilevel models showed that patient ethnicity, practice type, involvement of midlevel clinicians, and treatment were associated with HbA1c level; patient age, education level, and practice type were associated with blood pressure control; and patient ethnicity was associated with LDL-C control. CONCLUSIONS Only modest numbers of patients achieve established targets of diabetes control. Reengineering primary care practice may be necessary to substantially improve care.


Sea anemones (order Actiniaria) are among the most diverse and successful members of the anthozoan subclass Hexacorallia, occupying benthic marine habitats across all depths and latitudes. Actiniaria comprises approximately 1,200 species of solitary and skeleton-less polyps and lacks any anatomical synapomorphy. Although monophyly is anticipated based on higher-level molecular phylogenies of Cnidaria, to date, monophyly has not been explicitly tested and at least some hypotheses on the diversification of Hexacorallia have suggested that actiniarians are para- or poly-phyletic. Published phylogenies have demonstrated the inadequacy of existing morphological-based classifications within Actiniaria. Superfamilial groups and most families and genera that have been rigorously studied are not monophyletic, indicating conflict with the current hierarchical classification. We test the monophyly of Actiniaria using two nuclear and three mitochondrial genes with multiple analytical methods. These analyses are the first to include representatives of all three currently-recognized suborders within Actiniaria. We do not recover Actiniaria as a monophyletic clade: the deep-sea anemone Boloceroides daphneae, previously included within the infraorder Boloceroidaria, is resolved outside of Actiniaria in several of the analyses. We erect a new genus and family for B. daphneae, and rank this taxon incerti ordinis. Based on our comprehensive phylogeny, we propose a new formal higher-level classification for Actiniaria composed of only two suborders, Anenthemonae and Enthemonae. Suborder Anenthemonae includes actiniarians with a unique arrangement of mesenteries (members of Edwardsiidae and former suborder Endocoelantheae). Suborder Enthemonae includes actiniarians with the typical arrangement of mesenteries for actiniarians (members of former suborders Protantheae, Ptychodacteae, and Nynantheae and subgroups therein). We also erect subgroups within these two newly-erected suborders. Although some relationships among these newly-defined groups are still ambiguous, morphological and molecular results are consistent enough to proceed with a new higher-level classification and to discuss the putative functional and evolutionary significance of several morphological attributes within Actiniaria.


This paper aims to link two fields of research which have come to form separate lines of inquiry: the sociology of moralisation and studies on class identity. Expanding on recent papers by Young (2009, 2011) and others, the paper argues that the concepts of ressentiment and respectability can be used to connect moralisation processes and the formation of class identities. This is explored through a case study of the social reaction in Britain to white working-class youths labelled 'chavs'. It is demonstrated that chavs are constructed through moralising discourses and practices, which have some elements of a moral panic. Moreover, moralisation is performative in constructing class identities: chavs have been cast as a 'non-respectable' white working-class 'folk devil' against whom 'respectable' middle-class and working-class people distinguish and identify themselves as morally righteous. Moralising social reactions are here to an important extent triggered by feelings of ressentiment. This is a dialectical process where respectability and ressentiment are tied, not only to the social control of certain non-respectable working-class others, but also to the moral self-governance of the moralisers.


Summary
Cryptic coloration may evolve in response to selective pressure imposed by predators, yet effective intraspecific communication may require some level of detectability. This creates a tension between the benefits of sexually selected visual traits and the predatory costs imposed by greater conspicuousness, and little is known about how this tension may be ameliorated in highly cryptic species.
We explore these competing demands in the false garden mantid Pseudomantis albofimbriata, a colour-blind and seemingly cryptic insect. We use reflectance spectrometry and receptor-noise modelling to characterize the conspicuousness of mantid body regions in the visual systems of mates (mantids), as well as potential predators (birds) and prey (bees). We then use condition manipulation and conspecific choice tests to further explore the colour traits of interest.
Based on visual modelling, we find that male mantids are inconspicuous to conspecifics, prey and predators – that is, they are chromatically and achromatically cryptic. In contrast, female mantids are chromatically cryptic to all potential receivers, but their abdomens are achromatically conspicuous. Our food manipulation experiment shows that females in good condition (and therefore with more eggs) have brighter abdomens than females in poor condition. Choice assays show male mantids are consistently attracted to females bearing brighter abdomens.
Our results reveal brightness-mediated sexual signalling in a colour-blind and classically cryptic insect. By communicating in the only visual channel available to them, female mantids are conspicuously signalling their quality to mates, while potentially minimizing their conspicuousness to predators and prey. Furthermore, by signalling with only a single body region, female mantids are apparently using coincident disruptive coloration to further decrease detectability to potential eavesdroppers.
Our data reveal a novel example of the way in which the trade-off between sexual selection for conspicuousness and natural selection for crypsis may be mediated in a visual signalling system. Such signals may be common in apparently cryptic species, and this study once again demonstrates the importance of analysing visual signals beyond the capacity of human vision.


We prove the Harnack inequality and boundary Harnack principle for the absolute value of a one-dimensional recurrent subordinate Brownian motion killed upon hitting 0, when 0 is regular for itself and the Laplace exponent of the subordinator satisfies certain global scaling conditions. Using the conditional gauge theorem for symmetric Hunt processes we prove that the Green function of this process killed outside of some interval $(a,b)$ is comparable to the Green function of the corresponding killed subordinate Brownian motion. We also consider several properties of the compensated resolvent kernel $h$, which is harmonic for our process on $(0,\infty )$.


Event notification services, or alerting services, are used in various applications such as digital libraries, stock tickers, traffic control, or facility management. However, to our knowledge, a common semantics of events in event notification services has not been defined so far. In this paper, we propose a parameterized event algebra which describes the semantics of composite events for event notification systems. We define the event operators that form composite events and we introduce parameters for event instance selection and event instance consumption. These parameters serve as a support for handling duplicates in both primitive and composite events. The event algebra is exemplified in the domain of transportation logistics.


This study aims to gain an understanding on how researchers leave their mark on archaeological records and to discuss what this have meant for the production of archaeological knowledge. This was done by studying archival records from two archaeological excavations of boat graves in Valsgarde, which was held in 1936 and 1950. Starting with the relation between creator/researcher and records made the idea was to contribute with a study of the relationship between records and creator. The theories being used for analyzing this was intersectionality combined with Donna Haraways situated knowledges, where created interacting categories in the material was analyzed in relation to each researcher. Both researchers material where further discussed whis this in mind. The main method used was qualitative content analysis, wich were also combined with a quantitative method of the number of records created with the same content. Through these methods interacting categoriers was found in the archaeological documentation. The created interacting categories in one material consisted of documentation of archaeological remains in situ, documentation of single finds and documentation of archaeological stratigraphy. Further three interacting categories of documentation after excavation, of weapons and single finds was found in the same material. In comparision, the other records consisted of interacting categories of documentation of archaeological remains in situ, documentation of the contex of the findings and documentation of archaeological stratigraphy. This showed how the reseachers in the studied records have left their marks on the archaeological documentation of each boat grave. The researches had desicive impact on the produced knowledge that was based on their findings, since the records that were created were created were influenced by each researcher. This is a two years master's thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.


Until recently, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission factor methodology, based on simple empirical relationships, has been used to estimate carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fluxes for regional and national inventories. However, the 2005 USEPA greenhouse gas inventory includes estimates of N2O emissions from cultivated soils derived from simulations using DAYCENT, a process-based biogeochemical model. DAYCENT simulated major U.S. crops at county-level resolution and IPCC emission factor methodology was used to estimate emissions for the approximately 14% of cropped land not simulated by DAYCENT. The methodology used to combine DAYCENT simulations and IPCC methodology to estimate direct and indirect N2O emissions is described in detail. Nitrous oxide emissions from simulations of presettlement native vegetation were subtracted from cropped soil N2O to isolate anthropogenic emissions. Meteorological data required to drive DAYCENT were acquired from DAYMET, an algorithm that uses weather station data and accounts for topography to predict daily temperature and precipitation at 1-km2 resolution. Soils data were acquired from the State Soil Geographic Database (STATSGO). Weather data and dominant soil texture class that lie closest to the geographical center of the largest cluster of cropped land in each county were used to drive DAYCENT. Land management information was implemented at the agricultural-economic region level, as defined by the Agricultural Sector Model. Maps of model-simulated county-level crop yields were compared with yields estimated by the USDA for quality control. Combining results from DAYCENT simulations of major crops and IPCC methodology for remaining cropland yielded estimates of approximately 109 and approximately 70 Tg CO2 equivalents for direct and indirect, respectively, mean annual anthropogenic N2O emissions for 1990-2003.


A quick rebound for Antarctic crust Earth's crust deforms under the load of glaciers and ice sheets. When these masses are removed, the crust rebounds at a time scale determined by the viscosity of the upper mantle. Using GPS, Barletta et al. found that the viscosity of the mantle under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is much lower than expected. This means that as ice is lost, the crust rebounds much faster than previously expected. Although estimates of total ice loss have to be revised upward, the surprising finding indicates that the ice sheet may stabilize against catastrophic collapse. Science, this issue p. 1335 A new viscosity model requires a much lower viscosity under the Amundsen Sea Embayment, stabilizing the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The marine portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) in the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) accounts for one-fourth of the cryospheric contribution to global sea-level rise and is vulnerable to catastrophic collapse. The bedrock response to ice mass loss, glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA), was thought to occur on a time scale of 10,000 years. We used new GPS measurements, which show a rapid (41 millimeters per year) uplift of the ASE, to estimate the viscosity of the mantle underneath. We found a much lower viscosity (4 × 1018 pascal-second) than global average, and this shortens the GIA response time scale to decades up to a century. Our finding requires an upward revision of ice mass loss from gravity data of 10% and increases the potential stability of the WAIS against catastrophic collapse.


This paper describes an enantioselective synthesis of gamma-butyrolactones, using the N-tolyl-substituted oxazolidinone-containing ketone as catalyst and Oxone as oxidant via a sequential asymmetric epoxidation of benzylidenecyclopropanes, ring expansion, and Baeyer-Villiger oxidation. Up to 91% ee was obtained. Optically active cyclobutanones can also be obtained by suppressing the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation with use of more ketone catalyst and less Oxone.


Pendent nests of the wasp Microstigmus comes from Costa Rica contained up to 18 adults each. Ovarian dissection indicates that there is reproductive dominance (division of labor) among females from the same nest, without apparent external morphological differences. Evidence for parental care and cooperation in provisioning and defense also identify this as the first social sphecid wasp.


Increasingly, a wide range of in-situ sensors are being instrumented on additive manufacturing (AM) machines. These sensors collect a variety of data that is used to monitor process performance and part quality. The amount, type, and speed of the collected data are unprecedented. Consequently, several data-related, standards issues are impeding the use of both data analytics and tool integration. Those issues include registration, curation, organization, storage, and management. This paper focuses on registration. It proposes the use of meta-data as a foundation for new interface and exchange standards. Standards that will facilitate the use of several types of in-situ sensors that monitor laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) processes. The paper also includes an example data model that captures the properties and relationships among those meta-data. The data elements in that model provide industrial users with the capabilities and formats to capture, exchange, and share L-PBF process data.


Potable water reuse is a viable option for communities with extreme water scarcity. Improvements in measurement capabilities and greater occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) have made the investigation of the removal of CECs through advanced treatment facilities essential for further reuse considerations. Reverse osmosis (RO) has been demonstrated to remove many CECs, but poor removal has been observed for many low molecular weight (MW), neutral organic compounds. With the availability of many RO membrane products on the market, it is increasingly important to be able to predict organics rejection through different products without detailed information about the RO membrane's properties or structure. This laboratory-scale study investigated the rejection of low-MW, neutral organics, boron, and sodium chloride by six RO membrane products. The experimental results were used to develop a correlation between the removal of organics and boron. If the rejection of boron and a neutral organic through one reference membrane is available, then the rejection of that organic through any other membrane product can be estimated using the rejection of boron through that membrane.


To obviate the drawbacks of prosthetic devices and in search of a better substitute for diseased heart valves a technique of using autologous fascia lata grafts attached to a support frame was developed. The technique of preparing mounted fascia lata grafts is briefly outlined and their surgical implantation into the mitral, tricuspid, and aortic areas is described. Since April 1969, 83 fascial grafts have been inserted into 76 patients with very good immediate and short-term results. Ten patients succumbed within the operative period. None of these deaths was due to failure of the graft per se. Thromboembolic manifestations have been completely absent although anticoagulants were not used. All sixty-six survivors are very much improved. Data concerning the structure and function of fascia are presented and the experimental and clinical use of fascia lata in extracardiac and cardiac surgery is reviewed. The use of autologous, living, fascia lata valves is considered to be a better approach for heart valve replacement because autologous fascia maintains its structure unchanged after transplantation and, being under mechanical stimulation, it retains its functional properties.


The spallation of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) is promoted by thermally grown oxide (TGO). To improve TBCs, it is very important to understand the influence of TGO on the spalling stress. In this study ,the TBCs were oxidized at 1373 K for four diferent periods: 0, 500,1000 and 2000 h. The distribution of the in-plane stress in oxidized TBCs, s1, was obtained by repeating the X-ray stress measurement with low energy X-rays after successive removal of the surface layer. The distribution of the out-of-plane stress, s1− s3, was measured with hard synchrotron X-rays, because high energry X-rays have a large penetration depth. From the results by the low and high energy Xrays, the spalling stress in the oxidized TBCs, s3, was evaluated. The evaluated value of the spalling stress for the oxidized TBC was a small tension beneath the surface, but steeply increased near the interface between the top and bond coating. This large tensile stress near the interface is responsible for the spalling of the top coating.


An efficient, low cost, and stable bi-functional electrocatalyst consisting of N, Fe, and S multi-doped nanoporous carbon was produced by a green and facile one-step pyrolysis of sewage sludge under NH3 conditions. The as-synthesized multi-doped electrocatalyst shows excellent electrocatalytic activities for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in both alkaline and acid media, which compares favorably with the commercial 20% Pt/C catalyst. The electrocatalyst also exhibits superior oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance with favorable stability. The hierarchically porous structure, favorable surface area, and unique N, Fe, and S multi-doped carbon framework stem from the particular composition of sewage sludge and the NH3 atmosphere is responsible for the excellent catalytic efficiency of the as-synthesized electrocatalyst. This development offers a straightforward environment-compatible route for synthesizing attractive bi-functional electrocatalyst materials as promising candidates for fuel cells directly from a type of pollutant.


Disruption of microvascular blood flow is a common cause of tissue hypoxia in disease, yet no therapies are available that directly target the microvasculature to improve tissue oxygenation. Red blood cells (RBCs) autoregulate blood flow through S‐nitroso‐hemoglobin (SNO‐Hb)‐mediated export of nitric oxide (NO) bioactivity. We therefore tested the idea that pharmacological enhancement of RBCs using the S‐nitrosylating agent ethyl nitrite (ENO) may provide a novel approach to improve tissue oxygenation. Serial ENO dosing was carried out in sheep (1–400 ppm) and humans (1–100 ppm) at normoxia and at reduced fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2). ENO increased RBC SNO‐Hb levels, corrected hypoxia‐induced deficits in tissue oxygenation, and improved measures of oxygen utilization in both species. No adverse effects or safety concerns were identified. Inasmuch as impaired oxygenation is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, ENO may have widespread therapeutic utility, providing a first‐in‐class agent targeting the microvasculature.


Two models to predict the microstructural evolution and post-weld properties of friction stir welds in aerospace aluminium alloys are presented. The first model is a develop- ment of an existing semi-empirical method for the prediction of hardness profiles after welding, calibrated using isothermal hardness data. Post-weld natural ageing is accounted for, and a new method that predicts natural ageing kinetics is introduced. Once calibrated, the model is shown to accurately predict weld hardness profiles. However, this model does not explicitly predict the microstructure and therefore cannot readily be extended to model other properties. It can also only be applied to alloys welded in peak or overaged conditions. The second model aims to explicitly predict the heterogeneous precipitate distributions obtained after welding for any initial condition. It is based on classical kinetic theory and the numerical framework of Kampmann and Wagner. Multiple nucleation sites and multiple phases are accounted for. This model provides detailed microstructural information required for prediction of complex properties.


Consultant Editor Jenny Tagney RN, PhD, NFESC Cardiology Nurse Consultant, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust Acting Editor Aysha Mendes email@example.com Editorial Manager Jolene Menezes firstname.lastname@example.com Display Sales Executive Barry Maguire firstname.lastname@example.com Group Classified/ Product News Manager Rachel McElhinney firstname.lastname@example.com Circulation Director Sally Boettcher firstname.lastname@example.com Production Manager Jon Redmayne Production Assistant Larry Oakes Associate Publisher Julie Smith Publishing Director Anthony Kerr Managing Director Jon Benson Chief Executive Officer Ben Allen


Although Surrealism is usually associated with the 1920s and 1930s, it remained a vital force in Paris throughout the postwar period. This important book offers the first detailed account in English of the trajectory of the French Surrealists in the 1950s and 1960s, giving particular emphasis to the significance of myth for the group in its reception of science fiction and its engagement with fantastic art. Offering new readings of the art and writings of the later generation of Surrealists, Gavin Parkinson demonstrates how they were connected to the larger cultural and political debates of the time. Whereas earlier Surrealist art and writing drew on psychoanalytic practices, younger Surrealists engaged with contemporary issues, ideas, and themes of the period of the Cold War and Algerian War (1954-62), such as parapsychology, space travel, fantastic art, increasing consumerism in Europe, emerging avant-gardes such as Nouveau Realisme, and the rise of the whole genre of conspiracy theory, from Nazi occultism to flying saucers. Futures of Surrealism offers a unique perspective on this brave new world.


Networked manufacturing becomes an important manufacturing method for modern manufacturing enterprises. With the wide adoption of service-oriented architecture and cloud manufacturing, manufacturing enterprises and organisations publish their manufacturing capability, such as resources, processes and knowledge as manufacturing services. A rapidly growing manufacturing service ecosystem can be observed nowadays, which brings the information overload problem for the service selection. Thus, how to organise these services and how to recommend the reputable services become two important issues for the manufacturing service retrieval and reuse. In this paper, the service cluster method WSTPCluster, which develops the topic model based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation, is employed to cluster services into specific domains. As the service ecosystem can be modelled as a heterogeneous service network, a unified reputation propagation method URPM is proposed to calculate the reputation of services and to distinguish the reputable services in each domain. Combining WSTPCluster and URPM, domain-aware reputable service recommendation method is introduced to recommend the high reputable services in each domain for the consumers. Experiments show that this method brings a better performance both in the recommendation accuracy and in the long tail recommendation.


Chronic childhood disease brings psychological challenges for families and carers as well as the children. Roger Bradford explores how they cope with these challenges, the psychological and social factors that influence outcomes and the ways in which the delivery of services can be improved to promote adjustment. Drawing on concepts from health psychology and family therapy, the author proposes a multi-level model of care which takes into account the child, the family and the wider care system and how they interrelate and influence each other.


Stakeholder participation is becoming increasingly important in water resources management. In participatory processes, stakeholders contribute by putting forward their own perspective, and they benefit by enhancing their understanding of the factors involved in decision making. A diversity of modeling tools can be used to facilitate participatory processes. Bayesian networks are well suited to this task for a variety of reasons, including their ability to structure discussions and visual appeal. This research focuses on developing and testing a set of evaluation criteria for public participation. The advantages and limitations of these criteria are discussed in the light of a specific participatory modeling initiative. Modeling work was conducted in the Upper Guadiana Basin in central Spain, where uncontrolled groundwater extraction is responsible for wetland degradation and conflicts between farmers, water authorities, and environmentalists. Finding adequate solutions to the problem is urgent because the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive requires all aquatic ecosystems to be in a "good ecological state" within a relatively short time frame. Stakeholder evaluation highlights the potential of Bayesian networks to support public participation processes.


The recent financial crisis and the ongoing sovereign debt crisis have put the spotlight on the traditionally secretive and opaque hedge fund industry. Widespread financial losses have provoked popular suspicion against hedge funds, which are viewed as speculators that destabilize the financial system. Adhering to the pattern of crisis-driven financial regulation, the European Union has enacted legislation that is expected to radically transform the hedge fund industry in Europe. While it may seem at first glance that only the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive and its complex and burdensome requirements for hedge funds and their managers is expected to directly impact the hedge fund industry, the effect of the Short Selling Regulation and the Proposal for a Financial Transaction Tax will be equally devastating for hedge funds by curtailing their investment techniques and market operations. This article argues that the European Union has engaged in a crisis-driven regulatory spree and that this regulatory overhaul is founded on perceptions and popular beliefs rather than actual evidence. In regulating hedge funds, the E. U. has moved forward with regulating not only hedge funds and their managers, but also their investment techniques and market operations. The cumulative impact of the E. U.'s regulatory spree is expected to be a sharp increase in costs for hedge funds operating in Europe and a decline in investor returns with negative consequences for European investors and markets. Thus the term "embattled" hedge funds.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relative impact of brand communication on brand equity through social media as compared to traditional media. In a juxtaposition of different industries it aims at: investigating whether both communication instruments have an impact on consumer-based brand equity; comparing the effect sizes of these two communication instruments; and separating the effects of firm-created and user-generated social media communication. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 393 data sets from three different industries, namely tourism, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals, were generated using a standardized online-survey. Structural equation modeling was used in the analysis of the data obtained to investigate the interplay of social media and traditional media in general, as well as in an examination of industry-specific differences. Findings - The results of the empirical study show that both traditional communications and social media communications have a significant impact on brand equity. While traditional media has a stronger impact on brand awareness, social media communications strongly influence brand image. Firm-created social media communication is shown to have an important impact on functional brand image, while user-generated social media communication exerts a major influence on hedonic brand image. Furthermore, the present study highlights significant differences between the industries under investigation. Originality/value - The research described in this paper is pioneering in that it juxtaposes the impacts of social media and traditional media on brand equity – a topic of increasing interest to firms in the era of Facebook and Twitter but so far largely uninvestigated. Moreover, the differentiation between firm-created and user-generated social media communication, which is gaining increasingly in importance, as companies see their brand marketing power devolve to the consumer through social media platforms, offers valuable insights to marketing practitioners and academics.


Financing Agreement (Social Investment Fund III Project) between the Republic of Armenia and the International Development Association (with schedules, appendix and International Development Association General Conditions for Credits and Grants, dated 1 July 2005). Yerevan, 1 November 2006


Epidemiological studies have consistently yielded evidence that healthful nutrition and lifestyle are independently important in the prevention of cancer. Evidence was further established by the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research (2007). The internet technology via e-mail and website has been identified as an important channel for health communication and promotion. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of 10-week email-linked website intervention on cancer-related nutrition and lifestyle risk factors among employees of a public university. Ten faculties were randomized to an intervention or control group. The intervention group received weekly emails with hypertext links to a website, http://www.nutrihealth-upm.com, for downloading educational modules for 10 consecutive weeks and individualized phone calls whilst the control group received no weekly emails. Ten educational modules were developed in accordance with the international guidelines for cancer prevention in the Malay language. Employees who were systematically sampled in the selected faculties were recruited with informed consent (n=339). Baseline and post-intervention cancer related nutrition and lifestyle assessments were conducted by using a reliable self-administered questionnaire. Study groups (Intervention, I=134; Control, C=126) completed all assessment at baseline, immediately after intervention (T1), and at 3 months post-intervention (T2). There were no significant baseline differences between the intervention and control groups for any of the socio-demographic and economic, nutrition and lifestyle risk factors (high dietary fat, low fruit and vegetable intake, smoking, alcohol consumption and low physical activity), and psychosocial variables except for perceived benefits for reducing fat intake, and increasing fruit and vegetable intake. At T2, a significant small increase in serving size for fruit and vegetable, total physical activity and walking was observed in the intervention group. A significant improvement in dietary vegetable intake was similarly observed in the control group, but not for physical activity. No significant change on the anthropometric measurements (body weight, waist and hip circumferences, body mass index, and waist-hip ratio) was observed. In addition, the results showed a significant positive change (p<.05) for the total knowledge and subscales (diet, physical activity, weight management, and lifestyle), perception on health status and cancer risk, and psychosocial factors (self-efficacy, perceived benefits and perceived barriers) for dietary fat, fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity in the intervention group at T1 and T2. However, the change in knowledge and change in psychosocial factors did not significantly correlate with each other as well as with the change in nutrition and lifestyle risk factors. In conclusion, effectiveness of this email-linked website intervention in improving cancer-related knowledge, perception and psychosocial factors may implicate employees to modify health behaviour risk factors although additional elements such as environment and social support are needed to bring about such a positive move. The use of the internet as a means to educate the general public about disease prevention should be maximized as it is a potential avenue for health communication and is increasingly accessible to the adult population.


The bidirectional texture function (BTF) is a 6D function that can describe textures arising from both spatially-variant surface reflectance and surface mesostructures. In this paper, we present an algorithm for synthesizing the BTF on an arbitrary surface from a sample BTF. A main challenge in surface BTF synthesis is the requirement of a consistent mesostructure on the surface, and to achieve that we must handle the large amount of data in a BTF sample. Our algorithm performs BTF synthesis based on surface textons, which extract essential information from the sample BTF to facilitate the synthesis. We also describe a general search strategy, called the k-coherent search, for fast BTF synthesis using surface textons. A BTF synthesized using our algorithm not only looks similar to the BTF sample in all viewing/lighthing conditions but also exhibits a consistent mesostructure when viewing and lighting directions change. Moreover, the synthesized BTF fits the target surface naturally and seamlessly. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm with sample BTFs from various sources, including those measured from real-world textures.


Challenges in Emerging Research on Luxury Destinations
Since the end of the Cold War, many of the economies in the world have proceeded with market reforms and integrated into the world economy by spurring domestic free enterprise, promoting openness to foreign direct investments and intensifying international trade. All these have resulted in a general uplift of income levels and dynamic changes in many destinations such as Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City to name a few. Over the last two decades, there has been sporadic but steady growth of literature focusing on luxury consumption and destination development. This brief editorial examines challenges of conducting research on luxury destinations while exploring opportunities for research in three key areas: travel consumption patterns, destination policies, and comparative studies.


Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) affects > 60,000 people in the United States annually, and ~ 30% of RCC patients have multiple metastases at the time of diagnosis. Metastatic RCC (mRCC) is incurable, with a median survival time of only 18 months. Immune-based interventions (e.g., interferon (IFN) and interleukin (IL)-2) induce durable responses in a fraction of mRCC patients, and multikinase inhibitors (e.g., sunitinib or sorafenib) or anti-VEGF receptor monoclonal antibodies (mAb) are largely palliative, as complete remissions are rare. Such shortcomings in current therapies for mRCC patients provide the rationale for the development of novel treatment protocols. A key component in the preclinical testing of new therapies for mRCC is a suitable animal model. Beneficial features that recapitulate the human condition include a primary renal tumor, renal tumor metastases, and an intact immune system to investigate any therapy-driven immune effector responses and the formation of tumor-induced immunosuppressive factors. This report describes an orthotopic mRCC mouse model that has all of these features. We describe an intrarenal implantation technique using the mouse renal adenocarcinoma cell line Renca, followed by the assessment of tumor growth in the kidney (primary site) and lungs (metastatic site).


The novel H1N1 influenza virus that emerged in humans in Mexico in early 2009 and transmitted efficiently in the human population with global spread was declared a pandemic strain. The introduction of different avian and human influenza virus genes into swine influenza viruses often result in viruses of increased fitness for pigs that occasionally transmit to humans. The novel virus affecting humans is derived from a North American swine influenza virus that has acquired two gene segments (Neuraminidase and Matrix ) from the European swine lineages. This reassortant appears to have increased fitness in humans. The potential for increased virulence in humans and of further reassortment between the novel H1N1 influenza virus and oseltamivir resistant seasonal H1N1 or with highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza stresses the need for urgent pandemic planning. Keywords: Pandemic, swine, influenza, virus, preparedness.


For a given state space and admissible heuristic function h there is always a tie-breaking strategy for which A* expands the minimum number of states [Dechter and Pearl, 1985]. We say that these strategies have optimal expansion. Although such a strategy always exists it may depend on the instance, and we currently do not know a tie-breaker that always guarantees optimal expansion. In this paper, we study tie-breaking strategies for A*. We analyze common strategies from the literature and prove that they do not have optimal expansion. We propose a novel tie-breaking strategy using cost adaptation that has always optimal expansion. We experimentally analyze the performance of A* using several tie-breaking strategies on domains from the IPC and zero-cost domains. Our best strategy solves significantly more instances than the standard method in the literature and more than the previous state-of-the-art strategy. Our analysis improves the understanding of how to develop effective tie-breaking strategies and our results also improve the state-of-the-art of tie-breaking strategies for A*.


In the prospect of employing 10 Gigabit Ethernet as networking technology for online systems and offline data analysis centers of High Energy Physics experiments, we performed a series of measurements on the performance of 10 Gigabit Ethernet, using the network interface cards mounted on the PCI-Express bus of commodity PCs both as transmitters and receivers. In real operating conditions, the achievable maximum transfer rate through a network link is not only limited by the capacity of the link itself, but also by that of the memory and peripheral buses and by the ability of the CPUs and of the Operating System to handle packet processing and interrupts raised by the network interface cards in due time. Besides the TCP and UDP maximum data transfer throughputs, we also measured the CPU loads of the sender/receiver processes and of the interrupt and soft-interrupt handlers as a function of the packet size, either using standard or ¿jumbo¿ Ethernet frames. In addition, we also performed the same measurements by simultaneously reading data from Fibre Channel links and forwarding them through a 10 Gigabit Ethernet link, hence emulating the behavior of a disk server in a Storage Area Network exporting data to client machines via 10 Gigabit Ethernet.


In fractal image compression the encoding step is computationally expensive. We present a new technique for reducing the computational complexity. It is lossless, i.e., it does not sacrifice any image quality for the sake of the speedup. It is based on a codebook coherence characteristic to fractal image compression and leads to a novel application of the fast Fourier transform-based convolution. The method provides a new conceptual view of fractal image compression. This paper focuses on the implementation issues and presents the first empirical experiments analyzing the performance benefits of the convolution approach to fractal image compression depending on image size, range size, and codebook size. The results show acceleration factors for large ranges up to 23 (larger factors possible), outperforming all other currently known lossless acceleration methods for such range sizes.


Interprofessional practice is an integral part of improving the increasingly complex healthcare system. Communication and coordination between professional groups across settings is necessary for effective and efficient chronic disease management, population health, and transitions of care, all of which are important for public health. While the concept of teamwork is not new to healthcare, the specifics of how to carry out team-based care in different organizational contexts are largely unknown. This study explores context, mechanisms, and outcomes of interprofessional practice across a range of settings.

Chapter 1 is a rapid realist review of interprofessional models in the emergency department. It details common contexts for interprofessional practice, such as regulatory changes, management quality improvement initiatives, and professional association guidelines. The study also describes interventions and mechanisms associated with interprofessional practice, including empowering members of the clinical team to share decision making, formalizing communication to reduce uncertainty, and utilizing electronic monitoring to improve efficiency. Finally, it identifies potential outcomes, such as cost, process improvement, and patient health outcomes.

Chapter 2 is a qualitative study of the role of and context for advanced practice providers (APPs) in hospital medicine at two hospitals. This study describes the organizational context for implementing APPs, which include cost pressures and physician shortages. The study also details three different models of APPs in hospital medicine and associated perceived outcomes.

Chapter 3 is a quantitative study of the differences between APP and physician providers of e-visits. The study finds that patients of APPs tend to be younger, single and higher income. It also finds that APPs tend to prescribe more drugs per patient than physicians, which could have cost and quality implications.


Sentiment analysis is one of the most fundamental tasks in Natural Language Processing. Popular languages like English, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin, and also Indian languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Tamil have seen a significant amount of work in this area. However, the Marathi language which is the third most popular language in India still lags behind due to the absence of proper datasets. In this paper, we present the first major publicly available Marathi Sentiment Analysis Dataset - L3CubeMahaSent. It is curated using tweets extracted from various Maharashtrian personalities' Twitter accounts. Our dataset consists of ~16,000 distinct tweets classified in three broad classes viz. positive, negative, and neutral. We also present the guidelines using which we annotated the tweets. Finally, we present the statistics of our dataset and baseline classification results using CNN, LSTM, ULMFiT, and BERT based models.


An InP L3 photonic crystal cavity on a suspended membrane has a characteristic time of ~ 1 μs, which is 5.4× slower than the thermal cavity lifetime. To explain this mismatch, we use a lumped circuit model containing not only the cavity temperature, but also an average temperature of the membrane. Comparison of this model to a 1D COMSOL simulation, results in a thermal time constant of the membrane that is 7.9× slower than the thermal cavity lifetime, and slows down the transient response. The membrane behaves similar to other membrane cavity types.


Holocaust on Your Plate, a campaign launched in 2003 by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), is a controversial example of the exploitation of significant historical images. PETA's use of concentration camp photographs to mirror the current conditions of factory farms and slaughterhouses has attracted negative attention from the Anti-Defamation League, the Canadian Jewish Congress and many Holocaust survivors, organizations, writers, artists and museums. Since this promotion began, the following statement by Manuel Prutschi, the national director of community relations for the Canadian Jewish Congress has pervaded the debate: "to equate what is truly one of the most monumental crimes in the history of mankind to the abusive treatment of animals is totally unconscionable." Detractors' moral and ethical criticism has not challenged PETA's overall crusade against cruelty to animals but it has targeted their analogous presentation using Holocaust imagery. Prutschi's sentiments reflect the convictions of many who view the Holocaust as an incomparable circumstance in history for which there are boundaries to its discourse and its imagery. To transgress these boundaries, to jeopardize the integrity of Holocaust remembrance is, in the opinion of many, "unconscionable." In displaying side-by-side photographic messages on billboards, in exhibitions (now touring Europe) and on the Internet, PETA's objective is to heighten public awareness of animal cruelty and to inspire action for its cause. However, the use of these momentous images of human suffering alongside those of chicken coops and slaughtered farm yard animals divisively capitalizes on viewers' recognition of and response to the atrocious conditions that humans suffered and that are documented within these historical photographs. In its presentation of the ostensibly barbarous conditions during the Holocaust, the exhibition utilizes the public's response to these well-recognized photographs in order to enhance their analogy that the atrocious conditions imposed on humans by humans during WWII are equal to the treatment of animals by the food industry today. Supporters of PETA's campaign justify their juxtaposition of these images; yet, the opposition holds that the analogy is grossly over simplified and that the photo ensemble is exemplary of the way in which such usage compromises the integrity of original photos and what they represent. As regards the level of exploitation that these images have reached via several forms of traditional media and new media, this controversial campaign calls attention to the degree to which an image's integrity can be disseminated in the face of even the most ethical considerations of our time. It forces us to consider our relationship to images that are not only deliberately arranged and placed out of context to voice alternate messages, this controversy asks us to consider what becomes of such images once they enter the digital realm and are unleashed into cyber space. PETA's use of Holocaust images alone is not unprecedented. For nearly sixty years, the public has viewed photos of the Holocaust in incongruous associations through a variety of media. Since the end of World War II, images of Holocaust atrocities have had an important part in what is termed, bearing witness. As accurate records of an event that affected an entire people and the world, their role is to authenticate personal and historical experiences and provide access to this event for following generations. Under the auspice of bearing witness to the Holocaust, the obligation of survivors, groups, and institutions such as the Jewish Anti-Defamation League and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is to preserve the integrity of Holocaust discourse and its artifacts. Subsequently, Holocaust images hold the position of both memorializing the past and having import for the future. However, media's and institutions' incessant display of the same photographs of Nazi death camps or heaped corpses has made an impression that causes the images to be seen as icons of terror and atrocity rather than as specific records of an authentic moment in time. …


This chapter of FEMINIST JUDGMENTS: REWRITTEN OPINIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT (Linda Berger, Bridget Crawford & Kathy Stanchi, eds. 2016) provides commentary on Lucinda Finley's rewritten majority opinion in Geduldig v. Aiello, 417 U.S. 484 (1974). This commentary chapter complements the rewritten opinion, providing background material, analysis of the feminist judgment, and reflections on the implications of the feminist judgment for what the law of sex equality could have been. In Geduldig, the United States Supreme Court infamously held that pregnancy discrimination is not sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Geduldig decision upheld a California state disability insurance program that denied benefits for pregnancy-related disability, while granting benefits for virtually every other disabling event ranging from prostatectomies to cosmetic surgery. Despite sustained criticism, the Geduldig decision has never been explicitly overruled and continues to constrain women's access to substantive equality and reproductive liberty. Lucinda Finley's feminist judgment responds to the faulty formalist logic of the original opinion in several important, distinctively feminist ways. Finley's feminist judgment reaches beyond the formal appearance of justice and seeks substantive fairness for women in the public sphere. The landscape of sex equality law would look dramatically different if the Court had adopted Lucinda Finley's feminist judgment—a tantalizing possibility since the intellectual foundations for this feminist judgment existed at the time.


Meadows of the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica are threatened in the Mediter- ranean due to a general deterioration of the light environment that becomes critical when light irradiance is insufficient to meet the carbon requirements of the system. Here, we conduct a 3 wk, in situ shading experiment (8 levels plus controls) to determine the threshold of irradiance for bal- anced metabolism in a shallow P. oceanica meadow and further assess the recovery of the system 1 wk later. Reduced light irradiance decreased the net community production of the meadow, which may turn negative (i.e. respiration exceeded gross community primary production) under 338 μE m −2 s −1 . Shading throughout the experiment did not appear to cause sustained physiologi- cal damage to the system since values of net community production after the cessation of shading were similar to pre-experimental, ambient levels. Sediment acid volatile sulfide pools ranged between 0.002 and 0.058 mol m −2 across shading treatments, and the highest pools were observed in the most shaded sediments. At high light impairment, meristematic cell divisions were low, and carbohydrate content in young rhizomes decreased throughout the experiment. Eight days after the cessation of shading, reduced rhizome carbohydrate stores and elevated sediment sulfide lev- els still persisted in the previously intensively shaded areas. The present study provides evidence of resistance and resilience of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica to light impairment for short (3 wk) periods of time. Although the compensation irradiance of the system varied by ~2-fold, it provides a quantitative estimate of the irradiance threshold at which seagrass meadows may shift from being coastal carbon sinks to CO2 sources.


The new government in Myanmar in 2016 faced many of its predecessor's challenges; however, some progress was made in policy reversals and legislative reform. Although the government hosted a major ethnic peace conference, violence erupted again in Rakhine State as community tensions transformed into armed conflict. The country experienced more flooding, an earthquake, and a slowing economy locked into falling commodity prices.


Aim: To assess the benefits of comprehensive oral care in improving the psychological well-being of young adult smokers and tobacco chewers. Materials and Methods: A prospective, clinical study of 60 young adult smokers/tobacco chewers or both were carried out. This study was conducted to assess the psychological well-being at the first dental visit, and then after the completion of comprehensive oral care using Bradburn scale of psychological well-being (Affect Balance Scale). Comprehensive oral care included oral prophylaxis, simple restorative care, preventive procedures, and health education. Health education was given before the appointment, during the stage of diagnosis and treatment planning, in the operatory during the various stages of treatment. Results: A total of 60 males were participated in this clinical study, with a minimum age of 18 years to the maximum age of 25 years. A total of 20 (33.3%) were using both smokeless and smoking tobacco. The majority of them were school educated (74%) and semi-skilled (86%). The overall oral hygiene status was fair. The mean decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) ranged from 0 to 9. The Bradburn scale of psychological well-being score was 1.55 ± 2.54 at the first visit to the dentist and after completing the comprehensive oral care there was an improvement in the score (3.20 ± 1.29). This was statistically significant. Conclusion: This study findings showed improvement in the psychological well-being of young adult smokers and tobacco chewers after the completion of comprehensive oral care.


This dissertation is about the way people _should_ and _do_ make medical choices. It defends the claim that medical decisions should be made by groups of persons acting together, not by individuals acting alone. I begin by arguing that prominent models of medical decision-making are problematic, because they fail to be both _descriptively_ and _normatively_ adequate, which I argue any account of choice in medicine should be. The remainder of the work articulates a model that meets these two criteria. First, I justify an account of the uniquely medical context my model is designed to apply to by distinguishing _two basic aims of medicine:_ (i) to fully understand patients in personal and scientific terms; and, (ii) to intervene upon patients' health states in ways that are consistent with this understanding. Then, I take two chapters to develop a descriptive account of medical decision-making. In them, I introduce a close study of the case of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer decision-making, which I argue shows choices are made by groups of interacting persons over extended spatiotemporal and social dimensions. So, I appeal to the theory of _distributed cognition_ to describe this collection of persons processing information together when making choices. Having defended a descriptive account of medical choice, I then take two more chapters to propose a normative account, based on a modified version of Rawlsian reflective equilibrium that I call _medical reflective equilibrium._ On my account, medical choices should be made by searching for, selecting, and integrating the right kind and amount of information, which requires considering sufficient information to meet the basic aims of medicine. Given that the basic aims are defined in terms of an epistemic distinction between _subjective_ and _objective_ knowledge, I argue that performing the medical reflective equilibrium procedure adequately requires multiple participants in decision-making. Consequently, I conclude that medical choices are and should be social.


Despite the significant economic, innovative and social contributions of home-based self-employment, it is an under-researched and under-theorised area. We address this gap by drawing from established entrepreneurial theory to propose and validate a more complete theoretical model that combines personal, household and employment influences. We validate our proposed model by drawing on quantitative data from a large-scale, longitudinal, UK-based, social studies dataset. Our validated model demonstrates how and why antecedent and current household and employment factors, but not personal factors, associated with being home-based interact and provide constitutive affordances that result in a setting for self-employment that is unique in more fundamental ways than simply the home location of the business. Despite being responsible for some of the world's most innovative and successful businesses, home-based businesses are often denigrated as lacking ambition or growth potential. The results of our analysis vindicate the choices of the home-based self-employed, by demonstrating that basing a business in the home is a rational choice based on an intersection of household and employment characteristics. The data used in this study predates the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is expected that home-based self-employment will grow significantly following the pandemic in response to increasing acceptance of home-working. It therefore behoves entrepreneurship scholars to have a robust understanding of this previously overlooked type of self-employment if we are to be able to provide guidance to policymakers and self-employment support services.


Ahmad Hilal, Saiful Manan , in paper use servo motor as a CCTV driver to see monitoring equipment and conditions of patients in the icu room explain thatservo motor is a motor with a closed feedback system in which the position of the motor will be communicated back to the control circuit in the servo motor, servo motor is able to work both directions (clockwise and belawanan clockwise) in which the direction and angle of the rotor movement can controlled only by providing PWM signal duty cycle settings on the control pin. In the servo motor function of this type is only capable of moving in either direction (CW and CCW) with respective deflection angle reaches 90 ° so that the total deflection angle of the center - right -kiri adalah180 °. Part of the servo motors consist of a potentiometer which functions as a regulator of the servo movement of a large pulse is given, the internal gear serves as a torque amplifier dc servo motors, dc motors as the driving part that converts electrical energy into motion, as well as a control circuit servo motor driver function to process the data input pulses into motion. Servo motors used to drive the CCTV, in order to see the health of the patient monitoring devices as instructed. The servo motor voltage of 5 volts dc power supply from PC. Servo motor movements influenced the input pulse, to round to the right then it takes the pulse of more than 1,5ms, for the leftist movement takes the pulse of less than 1,5ms and at the center position or silence takes input pulse of 1.5 ms with a delay of 20 ms. Servo motors work processes in order to move that the serial data input from the PC, the serial data into the ATMEGA 8 for processing, so that the serial data is converted into binary data through IC74595 as servo motor driver, to output one of IC74595, the servo motor can move, because inflows along with pulses to the servo motor control circuit. Keywords: DC servo motors, Power Supply, IC74595, ATMEGA 8


Background: Hepatitis B infection is a serious blood-borne disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) which attacks the liver. It is the most common serious liver infection in the world and the virus is considered the major public health problem globally.
Objective: The aim of this study was to clarify the current situation regarding hepatitis B virus vaccination, and to evaluate the attitude and preventive measures against HBV such as related vaccination and use of barrier techniques among Iranian dentists.
Material and Methods: A confidential, self-administered questionnaire was distributed among two regional congresses including three hundred fifty dentists. The obtained data was entered to the personal computer using the Epi Info computer program after which it was transferred to the SPSS, version 15, and the program for analysis right after. Univar ate analyses were performed using Chi-Square test. T-test was also used wherever appropriate.
Result: One hundred sixty eight of the respondents had their complete vaccination series, giving an immunization rate of 48.1%. 11 (3.1%) respondents had incomplete vaccination and 171(48.8%) had absolutely no vaccination at all (Fig. 1). Reasons for none-vaccinated group included: high cost (7.2%), insensitivity and ignorance to the risks (45.8), non-availability of vaccines (19.5%), inertia (22%), pregnancy (1.2%) and fear of complication (2.4%). 97.5% of the dentists reported routine use of gloves and 70.6% routine use of masks. 61.3% of the respondents also reported using protective garment constantly and 44.4% of dentists reported routine use of eye wear.
Conclusion: It is essential to improve rate of hepatitis B vaccination among Iranian dentists and to encourage regular use of barrier techniques


Two chimeric helper proviruses were derived from the provirus of the ecotropic Moloney murine leukemia virus by replacing the 5'long terminal repeat and adjacent proviral sequences with the mouse metallothionein I promoter. One of these chimeric proviruses was designed to express the gag-pol genes of the virus, whereas the other was designed to express only the env gene. When transfected into NIH 3T3 cells, these helper proviruses failed to generate competent virus but did express Zn2+-inducible trans-acting viral functions needed to assemble infectious vectors. One helper cell line (clone 32) supported vector assembly at levels comparable to those supported by the Psi-2 and PA317 cell lines transfected with the same vector. Defective proviruses which carry the neomycin phosphotransferase gene and which lack overlapping sequence homology with the 5' end of the chimeric helper proviruses could be transfected into the helper cell line without generation of replication-competent virus. Mass cultures of transfected helper cells produced titers of about 10(4) G418r CFU/ml, whereas individual clones produced titers between 0 and 2.6 X 10(4) CFU/ml. In contrast, defective proviruses which share homologous overlapping viral sequences with the 5' end of the chimeric helper proviruses readily generated infectious virus when transfected into the helper cell line. The deletion of multiple cis-acting functions from the helper provirus and elimination of sequence homology overlapping at the 5' ends of helper and vector proviruses both contribute to the increased genetic stability of this system.


Introduction Myasthenia gravis (MG), a rare neuromuscular disease, is often initially treated using acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Patients who do not respond adequately depend on the use of corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive medication, but these may have serious side effects. Clinical observations suggest that ephedrine can diminish, postpone or even prevent the need for immunosuppressive therapy when added to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors or low-dose prednisone. In the Netherlands, ephedrine is not licensed for MG nor is reimbursement guaranteed. MG is a rare condition, and ephedrine might be indicated only in a subset of patients. Thus, randomised controlled trials comparing large groups are difficult to conduct. We, therefore, aim to aggregate data from a small series of n-of-1 trials (also known as single patient trials) to assess the effect of ephedrine as add-on treatment for MG. Methods and analysis Single-centre, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised, multiple crossover n-of-1 studies in 4 adult patients with generalised MG who show inadequate improvement on pyridostigmine and/or immunosuppressive drugs. Each n-of-1 trial has 3 cycles of two 5-day intervention periods. Treatment: 25 mg ephedrine or placebo, twice daily. Main outcome measure: Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis (QMG) test. Statistical analysis: fixed effects linear model for QMG for all patients combined. Secondary outcome measures: Clinical: effects on MG-Composite and MG-Activities of Daily Living (MG-ADL) scales; QMG at individual level; adverse events. Acceptability of trial design: number of patients eligible and enrolled; number of treatment cycles completed; patients' and caregivers' experiences. Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Leiden University Medical Center, No. P14.108. Results of the trial will be reported in a peer-reviewed publication. Regulatory stakeholders will comment on the suitability of the trial for market authorisation and reimbursement purposes. Trial registration number This study is registered under EudraCT number 2014-001355-23, protocol no. 40960, V.1.0, registration date 27 March 2014.


The quantification of internal (i.e., the physical stress imposed on the athlete) and external (i.e., distance covered) training load is viewed as essential to determine whether an athlete is adapting to a training programme, whilst minimising the risk of injury and overreaching. Although research has established correlations between internal measures of training load (i.e., session rating of perceived exertion [s-RPE] vs. summated heart rate zone method; Borrensen & Lambert, 2008, International Journal of Sports physiologi and performance, 3, 16-30) limited research exists comparing internal and external methods in team sports. The aim of this study was to establish the accuracy of s-RPE to quantify internal and external training load in adolescent rugby and hockey. Following institutional ethics approval, 22 youth sport (rugby & hockey) athletes were monitored across 125 training sessions (64 rugby & 61 hockey). External training load was monitored using a microtechnology unit to determine total distance and PlayerLoad, whilst internal loads were monitored using heart rate (summated heart rate zones) and s-RPE. Pearson correlation coefficients and 90% confidence intervals were calculated. Fishers r to z transformation compared the correlations between rugby and hockey. For summated HR zones and s-RPE, a large correlation (r=0.58, 90% CI: 0.43-0.70) was found for rugby with a very large correlation (r=0.75 90% CI: 0.64 to 0.83) for hockey. In rugby, large correlations were found between s-RPE and PlayerLoad (r= 0.64, 90% CI: 0.50 to 0.75), and total distance (r= 0.66 90% CI: 0.52 to 0.76). In hockey, large and moderate correlations were found between s-RPE and PlayerLoad (r= 0.55 90% CI: 0.39 to 0.69) and total distance (r= 0.42, 90% CI: 0.23 to 0.58) respectively. No significant differences were found between the correlations of internal and external measures between sports. The large and moderate correlations found between measures of total distance & PlayerLoad to s-RPE appear to support the theory that the individuals internal load is influenced by the external load they are exposed to highlighting the need for future research within this area. Furthermore, the large correlations found between s-RPE and the summated heart rate zones method highlights the potential for s-RPE to be used as an efficient technique in quantifying internal training load within adolescent rugby and hockey athletes. This suggests coaches can confidently monitor the internal training load of their athletes using s-RPE methods when HR technology is not available.


Only a small fraction of genes deposited to databases have been experimentally characterised. The majority of proteins have their function assigned automatically, which can result in erroneous annotations. The reliability of current annotations in public databases is largely unknown; experimental attempts to validate the accuracy within individual enzyme classes are lacking. In this study we performed an overview of functional annotations to the BRENDA enzyme database. We first applied a high-throughput experimental platform to verify functional annotations to an enzyme class of S-2-hydroxyacid oxidases (EC 22.214.171.124). We chose 122 representative sequences of the class and screened them for their predicted function. Based on the experimental results, predicted domain architecture and similarity to previously characterised S-2-hydroxyacid oxidases, we inferred that at least 78% of sequences in the enzyme class are misannotated. We experimentally confirmed four alternative activities among the misannotated sequences and showed that misannotation in the enzyme class increased over time. Finally, we performed a computational analysis of annotations to all enzyme classes in the BRENDA database, and showed that nearly 18% of all sequences are annotated to an enzyme class while sharing no similarity or domain architecture to experimentally characterised representatives. We showed that even well-studied enzyme classes of industrial relevance are affected by the problem of functional misannotation.


Asphalt concrete consists of compacted granular aggregates mixed with viscoelastic asphalt cement. The predictive phenomenological models had limited success in explaining the origin and propagation of pavement distresses like rutting and fatigue cracking. However, considerable movement and rotation of aggregates under repeated heavy traffic loads have been observed, but the effects of binding characteristics and overall behavior of asphalt concrete are not well understood. The current test methods to evaluate the suitability of asphalt concrete are not performance based, hence based on those test method asphalt concrete considered to be good may rut. This research describes the initial attempt to model the behavior of asphalt concrete under repeated loads using Discrete Element Method (DEM). The current use of DEM has been limited to modeling of dry contacts of particles and failure criterion is governed by Mohr-Coulomb type failure law. A microscopic model (TRUBAL), which is an example of the above models, is modified to incorporate the binder, asphalt cement. The rheological analog of viscoelastic asphalt cement is represented by a spring and a dashpot. Two sets of spring-dashpot combinations were placed in shear and normal directions, either before and after particles contact to simulate the shear and normal forces at different stages of contacts. A series of numerical simulations were conducted under different loading conditions to observe the stress-strain behavior and movement of particles. The results will then be compared with physical tests to select proper microscopic parameters and to determine the limitations for reliable predictions. In this paper simulation studies were performed to understand the behavior of actual pavements under real traffic conditions to observe the motion of particles and the stress-strain behavior. Then several different types of loads to different test specimens will be applied to mimic the observed particle motions and stress-strain behaviors to design a performance based test procedure for rutting. For the covering abstract of the proceedings see IRRD 864230.


The self-portraits of Vincent van Gogh are examined in the context of his tragic life experience, ending in psychosis and suicide. The self-portraits are seen as repeated and unresolved efforts at self-exploration and self-definition in an attempt to add a sense of continuity and cohesion to a fragile and fragmented self-experience. The portraits are painted in mirror perspective; Vincent's search for identity is thus seen as mediated by the dynamics of the mirroring phenomenon. Further implications are explored in terms of processes of projection and introjection and their role in self-consolidation.


1. It has been shown that Russell viper venom in the presence of lipoid cofactor can clot hemophilia A plasma, hemophilia B plasma and proconvertin deficient plasma within 5 seconds. It is unable to clot proaccelerin deficient plasma rapidly. Thus the clotting behavior of venom-lipoid is similar to convertin. 2. A rapid presumptive test for hypoproconvertinemia is simply to do a Quick clotting time with brain thromboplastin and then with viper venom. Proconvertin deficient plasma will give a prolonged brain thromboplastin time but a normal venom time. Prothrombin or proaccelerin deficient plasma will give long clotting times with both agents. 3. The observation that Russell viper venom acts independently of the proconvertin content of plasma explains the differences between the venom and brain thromboplastins. It also explains the failure of venom to measure the full effect of dicumarol administration.


In this paper I explore a specific historical moment in the cultural politics of feminism between 1973 and 1984, a decade that saw the emergence of feminist arts practice, exhibition and art-writing in Britain and, not incidentally, shaped my own attachment to the women's movement. How were maternal bodies represented within feminist arts practice? Whose bodies, and in which places? What did maternal artworks try to make visible, and what maternal affects did they invoke? I examine three bodies of work that expose the tensions involved in making the maternal visible in the context of feminism: Hackney Flashers,  Who's holding the Baby?  (1978), Mary Kelly, Antepartum , (1973), and  Post-Partum Document  (1973-79), and Catherine Elwes,  With Child , (1983). Each of these works opened up an important space in the exploration of the politics of reproduction, although it should be recognised that this was still primarily the white maternal body. I shall argue that they were framed and contested in particular ways: in left wing publications that still prioritised class over gender; in institutions of art exhibition and criticism that were hostile to maternal art, particularly by feminist artists, and in feminist critiques of essentialism that rejected direct imaging of the maternal body.


Background There is no consensus as to whether HLA-B27 homozygosity influences the clinical features of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). We already reported that HLA-B27 homozygosity has no influence on clinical and functional disability in AS. However, we did not assess spinal bony progression at that time, further radiographic study was needed to evaluate the influence of HLA-B27 on bony ankylosis. Objectives To evaluate the influence of homozygosity for HLA-B27 on the radiographic damage in AS Methods A total of 368 AS patients with positive HLA-B27 status from the Observation Study of Korean spondyloArthropathy Registry (OSKAR) cohort were recruited for this study. HLA-B27 positive patients out of all AS patients were assessed for whether they had homozygosity or heterozygosity for HLA-B27. First, all data were stratified in relation to the carrier state of positive HLA-B27 for cross-sectional survey. Then we compared the radiographic damage score between groups. Second, we evaluated collected clinical and radiographic parameters at two different time points. Then we compared radiographic progression between groups. To use the mSASSS, cervical and lumbar spinal radiographs were examined by two experienced bone and joint radiologists (S. Lee, K.B. Joo). Results The agreement between the two readers regarding mSASSS was very good: ICC coefficient 0.70 (95% CI 0.60–0.81). The mean age (SD) of the AS patients was 37.0 (9.2) years, and the mean disease duration (SD) was 15.6 (9.1) years. Of these patients, 34.5% (127 patients) had HLA-B27 homozygosity. The mean mSASSS unit (SEM) was not significantly different between groups (homozygosity 28.57±4.12 vs heterozygosity 23.34±3.44, P = 0.344) on cross-sectional survey. When it comes to radiographic progression between groups over 5 years, there was no significant difference in spite of adjusting for confounding variable (homozygosity 4.98±0.98 vs heterozygosity 4.21±0.82, P = 0.562). Conclusions The carrier state of positive HLA-B27 plays no role in determining the radiographic progression in AS. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic and debilitating disease whose prevalence continues
to rise inexorably. Type 2 diabetes is usually preceded by a condition called prediabetes,
which is characterised by impaired glucose regulation. Those with prediabetes have a
significantly increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with normal
glucose control and therefore represent a key population in the prevention of type 2
diabetes.
Physical inactivity is thought to be one of the key factors driving the increasing prevalence
of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes and consequently forms a pivotal focus of initiatives
aimed at their prevention. The principal aims of this thesis were to: 1) conduct a systematic review investigating the
effectiveness of lifestyle and physical activity interventions at promoting physical activity
in individuals with prediabetes and the effect of physical activity change on the risk of
developing diabetes; 2) investigate the effect of walking activity on markers of chronic low
grade inflammation; and 3) design and evaluate with objectively measured endpoints a
physical activity intervention for adults at risk of developing type 2 diabetes that is suitable
for implementation in a health care or community setting if found to be effective. The main findings are listed in the order of the stated aims. 1) Due to the dearth of
controlled exercise training studies in those with prediabetes and the absence of evidence
that previous diabetes prevention programmes have been successful at initiating clinically
significant increases in physical activity, the evidence for the efficacy of physical activity
behaviour change at prevention or delaying the progression to type 2 diabetes in those with
prediabetes is equivocal. 2) Walking at levels that are consistent with the current physical
activity recommendations is associated with reduced chronic low-grade inflammation, independent of other forms of physical activity. 3) The PREPARE programme, developed
after a review of health behaviour theory and the current health care climate, is a theorydriven,
group-based structured education programme designed to promote increased
walking activity in individuals with prediabetes in a health care setting. A randomized
controlled trial was conducted to test two versions of the PREPARE programme, a standard
version and a pedometer version, against control conditions (advice leaflet). The standard
version encouraged participants to set time-based goals based on generic exercise
recommendations, whereas the pedometer version enabled participants to set personalized
steps-per-day goals and to objectively self-monitor their daily physical activity levels using
a pedometer. One hundred and three individuals were recruited to the study and follow-up
was conducted at 3,6 and 12 months. At 12 months both intervention conditions were
successful at achieving significant increases in objectively measured ambulatory activity;
compared to the control group, those who received the pedometer version of the PREPARE
programme increased their ambulatory activity by 1952 steps per day (95% CI 953 to
2951) and those who received the standard version by 1480 steps per day (95% CI 436 to
2522). However, significant improvements in glucose tolerance were only seen in the
pedometer group, where 2-h glucose levels decreased by -0.94 mmol/l (95% Cl -1.79 to -
0.10) compared to control conditions, despite no significant change in body weight or waist circumference. This thesis has identified important limitations in the current evidence linking physical
activity to the prevention of type 2 diabetes in those with prediabetes and has addressed
several of these limitations by developing a theory-driven structured education programme
which was shown to be successful at promoting physical activity and improving glucose
tolerance in those with prediabetes to levels that are equal to or greater than previous multifactor
diabetes prevention programmes. This is likely to have important implications for
future diabetes prevention trials and clinical practice in the United Kingdom.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the use of serum neuron-specific enolase (S-NSE) level as a noninvasive predictor of CNS injury irreversibility in comatose cardiac arrest survivors.

METHODS
An observational, prospective clinical study was performed in a community hospital ED and intensive care unit. All cardiac arrest survivors (n = 52) with impaired neurologic status admitted between February 1994 and May 1995 were followed until return of consciousness (1) or death due to CNS failure (0). Serum samples for S-NSE determination (ng/mL) using the radioimmunoassay technique were obtained 24 hours after cardiac arrest. Data were analyzed using stepwise logistic regression with dichotomized predictors to validate the correlation between S-NSE (X) and outcome (Y), where X = 0 if < or = median and 1 if > median S-NSE level. Adjustment was made for the following variables: glucose level on admission, total epinephrine dose used before return of spontaneous circulation, and best Glasgow Coma Scale score on admission. These data were all available in 34 cases. In 16 cases, CSF enzymes at 48 hours postarrest were obtained and compared with S-NSE.

RESULTS
The logistic equation determining the influence of S-NSE (X) on outcome (Y) was: Y = 0.606-1.785X (odds ratio = 6; p = 0.020). There was no confounding effect of the other variables related to survival. The mean S-NSE value for all the patients was 34 (7.9-188). All the patients recovering consciousness (n = 15) had an S-NSE mean +/- SEM value of 17.5 +/- 2.4, with a maximum of 47.

CONCLUSION
These data support the conclusion that measurement of S-NSE at 24 hours post-cardiac arrest may supplement clinical assessment of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy after cardiac arrest.


Allometric equations for estimating above and belowground biomass of lodgepole pine have been developed in Alberta, Canada, southeastern British Columbia, southeastern WY, and in Washington and Oregon (Johnstone 1971; Comeau and Kimmins 1989; Pearson et al. 1984; Gholz et al. 1979, respectively). More recently, allometric equations for young lodgepole pine saplings have also been developed in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) for aboveground biomass by Turner et al. (2004), and for belowground biomass by Litton et al. (2003). However, because of variability in latitude, growing conditions, substrate and climate, existing equations that predict biomass for mature lodgepole pine trees are not appropriate for use in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), and new allometric equations specific for the GYE are needed. In this study, we will develop new allometric equations for predicting above- and belowground biomass in mature lodgepole pine forests of the GYE.


This brief investigation reports copolymerizing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) with a durable bacterial cell wall component, peptidoglycan (PTG). PHAs are biodegradable polymers produced by some bacteria, but the environmental advantage is offset by the time, energy, and solvent use to separation PHAs from cell residues, including PTG. Here, a PHA was copolymerized with PTG (10, 25 wt%). Thermal stability and moisture uptake of the resulting polyesteramide showed copolymers absorbed up to 60% more moisture than the PHA but at 25 wt% peptidoglycan the onset of decomposition increased by nearly 125 °C. Less PTG in PHA gave lesser increases. The results suggest that useful materials might be produced with less rigorous purification strategies for bacterially produced PHAs.