STUDY OBJECTIVES
It has been hypothesized that sleep deprivation represents an oxidative challenge for the brain and that sleep may have a protective role against oxidative damage. This study was designed to test this hypothesis by measuring in rats the effects of sleep loss on markers of oxidative stress (oxidant production and antioxidant enzyme activities) as well as on markers of cellular oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation).

DESIGN
The analyses were performed in the brain and in peripheral tissues (liver and skeletal muscle), after short-term sleep deprivation (8 hours), after long-term sleep deprivation (3-14 days), and during recovery sleep after 1 week of sleep loss. Short-term sleep deprivation was performed by gentle handling; long-term sleep deprivation was performed using the disk-over-water method.

SETTING
Sleep research laboratory at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS
Adult male Wistar Kyoto rats (n = 69) implanted for polygraphic (electroencephalogram, electromyogram) recording.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
Aliquots of brain, liver, or skeletal muscle homogenate were used to assess oxidant production, superoxide dismutase activity, lipid peroxidation, and protein oxidation. No evidence of oxidative damage was observed at the lipid and/or at the protein level in long-term sleep-deprived animals relative to their yoked controls, nor in the cerebral cortex or in peripheral tissues. Also, no consistent change in antioxidant enzymatic activities was found after prolonged sleep deprivation, nor was any evidence of increased oxidant production in the brain or in peripheral tissues.

CONCLUSION
The available data do not support the assumption that prolonged wakefulness may cause oxidative damage, nor that it can represent an oxidative stress for the brain or for peripheral tissue such as liver and skeletal muscle.


The paper presents a comparison of several traffic models in order to investigate their adequacy to approximate the behaviour of actual traffic in a single server queue under realistic working conditions. Hence, considering queueing systems with finite buffers, models parsimoniously fitting the long range dependence (LRD) property are compared to intrinsically short range dependent models and to flexible ones, capturing both LRD and short range dependence (SRD). The paper highlights an optimistic queueing behaviour evaluated by means of models capturing only LRD property, when realistic buffer sizes are considered and a strong SRD correlation component is present. The simulation results point out that the circulant modulated Poisson processes (CMPP) and fractional autoregressive integrated moving average (p,d,0) (f-ARIMA(p,d,0)) are suitable models to estimate the performance of the queueing system under heavy load conditions. On the contrary, when the system works under low-medium load conditions, the relevance of the marginal distribution to queueing performance and the inaccuracy of the CMPP model on fitting this statistic in the case of actual traffic data lead to a reduction of the accuracy of this model on system performance evaluation.


It is not clear how the age-related changes in sleep are related to performance and subjective sleepiness at different time of the day. The aim of the present study was to study work shift related interactions of age with sleep-wakefulness, performance, and social life. A representative sample of aircraft maintenance workers in a continuous three-shift system was studied by a questionnaire (n = 275) and an on-site field (n = 49) study. In the field study, sleep length and quality and different ratings of social and other activities were studied with an actigraphy and a Pocket PC diary during 15 consecutive days. Subjective sleepiness (KSS) and vigilance performance (PVT) were registered at work. Although the shift type influenced the sleep, subjective sleepiness, performance, and social life, age was distinctly related only to shift-related changes in the amount of sleep, subjective sleepiness, and psychomotor vigilance. Night shifts were related with shorter sleep, decreased performance, and increased sleepiness. Although subjective sleepiness was greatest among the youngest (25–34 years) age group during the morning and the night shifts, the increase of performance lapses was higher among the middle-aged (35–49 years) and senior (50–58 years) groups during the night shifts compared to the youngest age group. According to the questionnaire, older shiftworkers also tended to perceive more frequently that subjective sleepiness decreases their work performance during the morning and night shifts. The results indicate of no direct link between age-related differences in subjective sleepiness and performance at night work. The shorter day sleep after the night shifts and higher deterioration of subjective and objective performance according to age urge on development of shift schedules aiming at lower fatigue levels during the night shifts.


The Advanced Photon Source is now in its fifth year of routine beam production. The EPICS-based [1] control system has entered the phase in its life cycle where new control algorithms must be implemented under increasingly stringent operational and reliability requirements. The sheer volume of the control system ({approx}270,000 records, {approx}145 VME-based input-output controllers (IOCs), and {approx}7,000,000 lines of EPICS ASCII configuration code), presents a daunting challenge for code maintenance. The present work describes a relational database that provides an integrated view of the interacting components of the entire APS control system, including the IOC low-level logic, the physical wiring documentation, and high-level client applications. The database is extracted (booted) from the same operational CVS repository as that used to load the active IOCs. It provides site-wide decision support facilities to inspect and trace control flow and to identify client (e.g., user interface) programs involved at any selected point in the front-end logic. The relational database forms a basis for generalized documentation of global control logic and its connection with both the physical I/O and with external high-level applications.


Methods: Adults with obesity (N = 75) completed a baseline functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan before entering a WL intervention (ie,3-month diet and physical activity [PA] program). We conducted an exploratory analysis to identify the contributions of baseline brain activation, adherence behavior patterns, and the associated connections to WL at the conclusion of a 3-month WL intervention. Food cue-reactivity brain regions were functionally identified using fMRI to index brain activation to food vs nonfood cues. Food consumption, PA, and class attendance were collected weekly during the 3-month intervention. Results: The left middle frontal gyrus (L-MFG, BA 46) and right middle frontal gyrus (R-MFG; BA 9) were positively activated when viewing food compared with nonfood images. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping was used to investigate a hypothesized path model and revealed the following significant paths: (1) attendance to 3-month WL, (2) R-MFG to attendance, and (3) indirect effects of R-MFG through attendance on WL. Conclusion: Findings suggest that brain activation to appetitive food cues predicts future WL through mediating session attendance, diet, and PA. This study contrib-utes to the growing evidence of the importance of food cue reactivity and self-regulation brain regions and their impact on WL outcomes.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of the Fitbit wireless activity tracker in assessing energy expenditure (EE) for different activities.

METHODS
Twenty participants (10 males, 10 females) wore the Fitbit Classic wireless activity tracker on the hip and the Oxycon Mobile portable metabolic system (criterion). Participants performed walking and running trials on a treadmill and a simulated free-living activity routine. Paired t tests were used to test for differences between estimated (Fitbit) and criterion (Oxycon) kcals for each of the activities.

RESULTS
Mean bias for estimated energy expenditure for all activities was -4.5 ± 1.0 kcals/6 min (95% limits of agreement: -25.2 to 15.8 kcals/6 min). The Fitbit significantly underestimated EE for cycling, laundry, raking, treadmill (TM) 3 mph at 5% grade, ascent/descent stairs, and TM 4 mph at 5% grade, and significantly overestimated EE for carrying groceries. Energy expenditure estimated by the Fitbit was not significantly different than EE calculated from the Oxycon Mobile for 9 activities.

CONCLUSION
The Fitbit worn on the hip significantly underestimates EE of activities. The variability in underestimation of EE for the different activities may be problematic for weight loss management applications since accurate EE estimates are important for tracking/monitoring energy deficit.


The main fraction (about 75%) of the mucilage extracted from seeds of Linum usitatissimum which consists of arabino-xylans (AX) has been studied in dilute and semidilute regimes by SEC/MALLS analysis and rheology, respectively. It has been found that AX contains 3 populations of about 5 000 000 g mol(-1) (less than 10%), 1 000 000 g mol(-1) (about 40%), and 200 000 g mol(-1) (about 50%). We have also observed a great retention of polymer during the filtration procedure, which is much pronounced as the AX concentration increases. This evidences the presence of large aggregates in the solution. The retention can be greatly diminished if the filtration is conducted under higher temperature. Aggregation could result from the establishment of intermolecular associations via hydrogen bonds. This hypothesis seems to be confirmed by the two higher populations in molar masses which present a random coil conformation consistent with a low degree of branching. Rheological measurements, conducted at 20 g L(-1), have confirmed the association tendency leading to pseudo gels behavior. Viscoelastic properties have been evidenced by time-temperature master curves of dynamic spectra. Such master curves have also been established with addition of chaotropic (i.e., KSCN) and lyotropic (i.e., NaCl) salts. It has been shown that intermolecular associations are greatly diminished under chaotropic salts influence. This has been also confirmed by SEC/MALLS analysis. These results point out the role of hydrogen bonds in the organization of the AX system.


When the pocket in die and mould is machined by high speed milling (HSM), the cutting forces increase and vibration fluctuates at the pocket corner because of the sudden change of cutting direction in general. It will cause serious wear and possible breakage of cutting tool, and poor quality of parts. By means of experiments, the cutting forces and vibration at the pocket corner with different HSM conditions are measured. The results show that the sharper pocket corner, higher cutting speeds, larger feed rate per tooth and radial depth of cut, will result in increasing of cutting forces and vibration amplitude. Thus, it will lead to be unstable during the process of high speed milling pocket corner.


The growing population and increasing demand for surface transportation have highlighted the importance of maintaining safe and reliable civil infrastructures for daily use. Among all civil infrastructures, bridges are one of the most important elements in the transportation system. As such, to prevent any failures caused by aging and environmental impacts, bridges require periodic inspections. This becomes even more critical due to climate change and its effect on bridges, especially in the coastal regions. Most of the inspections conducted incorporate the visual type of evaluation due to its simplicity. However, with the current developments in new technologies, there is a need for more advanced techniques of structural health monitoring (SHM) methods to be incorporated in the maintenance programs for more accurate and efficient surveys. In this paper, non-destructive testing (NDT) methods applicable to steel bridges are reviewed, with a focus on methods applicable to local damage detection. Moreover, the methodology, advantages and disadvantages, and up-to-date research on NDT methods are presented. Furthermore, the application of novel NDT techniques using innovative sensors, drones, and robots for the rapid and efficient assessment of damages on small and large scales is emphasized. This study is deemed necessary as it compiles in one place the available information regarding NDT methods for in-service steel bridges. Access to such information is critical for researchers who intend to work on new or improved NDT techniques.


The influence of the variables soda (0.5-3.0%), hydrogen peroxide (1.0-6.0%) and time (1-5 h) in the bleaching of soda pulp of empty fruit bunches (EFB) from oil-palm, on the properties of bleached pulps, was studied. Polynomial and neural fuzzy models reproduced the results of brightness, kappa number, and viscosity of the pulps with errors less than 10%. By the simulation of the bleaching of pulp, using the polynomial and neural fuzzy models, it was possible to find optimal values of operating variables, so that the properties of bleached pulps differed only slightly from their best values and yet it was possible to save chemical reagents, energy, and plant size, operating with lower values of operating variables. Thus, operating with 1.13% soda concentration and 2.25% hydrogen peroxide concentration for 3 hours, a pulp with a brightness of 75.1% (8.1% below the maximum) and a viscosity of 740 mL/g (10.4% less than the maximum value), was obtained.


Abstract. The recent mass destructions of monuments in Iraq cannot be monitored with the terrestrial survey methodologies, for obvious reasons of safety. For the same reasons, it's not advisable the use of classical aerial photogrammetry, so it was obvious to think to the use of multispectral Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. Nowadays VHR satellite images resolutions are very near airborne photogrammetrical images and usually they are acquired in multispectral mode. The combination of the various bands of the images is called pan-sharpening and it can be carried on using different algorithms and strategies. The correct pansharpening methodology, for a specific image, must be chosen considering the specific multispectral characteristics of the satellite used and the particular application. In this paper a first definition of guidelines for the use of VHR multispectral imagery to detect monument destruction in unsafe area, is reported. The proposed methodology, agreed with UNESCO and soon to be used in Libya for the coastal area, has produced a first report delivered to the Iraqi authorities. Some of the most evident examples are reported to show the possible capabilities of identification of damages using VHR images.


Summary: In order to study the genetic control of chitinolytic activity in Streptomyces, chitinase genes were cloned from S. lividans TK64 into the multicopy plasmid pIJ702 and their expression monitored in their natural host by measuring increases in chitinase productivity. Four independent clones were obtained, and the plasmids named pEMJ1, pEMJ5, pEMJ7 and pEMJ8. Restriction endonuclease digestion showed that although two of the plasmids (pEMJ7 and pEMJ8) shared a common DNA fragment, there were no substantial similarities between the inserts of plasmids pEMJ1, pEMJ5 and pEMJ7. This was confirmed by DNA-DNA hybridization studies. Four chitinases (A, B, C, and D) were identified, with molecular masses of 36, 46, 65, and 41 kDa, respectively. Production of chitinases A and B was specified by the plasmids pEMJ1 and pEMJ5, respectively. Genes for the other two chitinases (C and D) were carried by plasmid pEMJ7. Although significant differences were observed between chitinases A, B, and C in terms of optimum pH for activity and mode of digestion of substrates, chitinases C and D were very similar in these respects. Cloned genes were also expressed in S. coelicolor M130 and in Escherichia coli.


In the bullfrog cornea, the relationships between the rates of aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis and active Cl and Na transport were studied. In NaCl Ringer (glucose-free), the short-circuit current (SCC) declined much more slowly under aerobic than under anaerobic conditions. The aerobic lactate effluxes in glucose-free and glucose-rich NaCl Ringer were 0.08 and 0.23 micromol/h.cm2, respectively. The transition to anoxia caused these values to increase significantly and was accompanied by depletion of endogenous glycogen in glucose-free Ringer. In Na2SO4 Ringer, amphotericin B (10(-5) M) stimulation of the aerobic SCC was not dependent on the presence of glucose but under anoxia, SCC stimulation required glucose. In Na2SO4 (glucose-rich) Ringer, amphotericin B stimulated the aerobic lactate efflux from 0.26 to 0.36 mumol/h.cm2 and anoxia increased it to 0.55 micromol/h.cm2. In NaCl Ringer, the addition of either 0.5 mM adenosine or 1 mM ATP with 26 mM glucose restored the anaerobic-inhibited SCC and lactate efflux of glucose-depleted corneas. The results show that the reactions of glycolysis are a sufficient energy source for supporting active Na and Cl transport.


This 'For Debate' paper starts by recognizing the growing trend towards considering alcohol dependence as a chronic relapsing disorder. We argue that the adoption of this model results from focusing on those in treatment for alcohol dependence rather than considering the larger number of people in the general population who meet criteria for alcohol dependence at some point in their lives. The majority of the general population who ever experience alcohol dependence do not behave as though they have a chronic relapsing disorder: they do not seek treatment, resolve their dependence themselves and do not relapse repeatedly. We suggest that caution is therefore needed in using the chronic relapsing disorder label. Our primary concerns are that this formulation privileges biological aspects of dependence to the detriment of psychological and social contributions, it inhibits much-needed developments in understanding alcohol dependence and leads to inefficient distributions of public health and clinical care resources for alcohol dependence. We invite debate on this issue.


This paper gives an introduction to a continuing study detailing the process and development of using both experimental and Finite Element Analysis to characterise the acoustic response of a Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) laminate plate provided by a guitar manufacturer. The results show that there is a strong correlation between both the experimental and simulated data which gives the author a strong standing for further work in this area.


Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) coated with glucose (Glc-SPIONs) were prepared by a new approach called Metal Vapor Synthesis (MVS) and their morphological/structural features were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering. TEM analysis revealed the presence of small roundish crystalline iron oxide nanoparticles in the organic amorphous phase of glucose, The particles were distributed in a narrow range (1.5 nm—3.5 nm) with a mean diameter of 2.7 nm. The hydrodynamic mean diameter of the Glc-SPIONs, was 15.5 nm. From 4 mg/mL onwards, there was a constant level of positive contrast in a T1-weighted sequence. In vitro experiments were performed in three cell lines: pancreatic cancer (PSN-1), human thyroid cancer (BCPAP), and human embryonic kidney non-tumor cells. We evaluated GLUT1 expression in each cell line and demonstrated that the exposure time and concentration of the Glc-SPIONs we used did not affect cell viability. PSN-1 cells were the most effective at internalizing Glc-SPIONs. Although significantly higher than the control cells, a lower Fe content was detected BCPAP cells treated with Glc-SPIONs. To confirm the involvement of GLUT1 in Glc-SPIONs internalization, cellular uptake experiments were also conducted by pre-treating cancer cells with specific GLUT1 inhibitors, All the inhibitors reduced the cancer cell uptake of Glc-SPIONs In vivo tests were performed on mice inoculated with Lewis lung carcinoma. Mice were treated with a single i.v. injection of Glc-SPION and our results showed a great bioavailability to the malignant tissue by the i.v. administration of Glc-SPIONs. Glc-SPIONs were efficiently eliminated by the kidney. To the best of our knowledge, our study demonstrates for the first time that Glc-SPIONs prepared with MVS can be electively internalized by tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo by exploiting one of the most universal metabolic anomalies of cancer.


Aim: The primary aim of this study was to develop a valid, reliable scale that identified and explored the core competencies of disaster nursing, nurses' roles, and the barriers to developing disaster nursing management in Saudi Arabia. Background: Nurses must have the essential skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be ready, able, and more willing to respond to any type of disaster. This study is significant for several reasons. First, the current literature does not explore disaster nursing in Saudi Arabia; thus, this study will be the initial step in creating a body of literature on the subject for that country. Second, this study will be the first to provide evidence to employers, nurse educators, researchers, government officials and emergency services about the roles, essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for disaster nursing in Saudi Arabia. Finally, the research is expected to inform clinical leadership in this advanced practice area. Design: This research was based on a pragmatic paradigm that permitted the use of the sequential methods approach that was selected for the study design. This study design had two phases. First, the quantitative phase involved three stages: pre-pilot, pilot, and national. The aim of the pre-pilot study was to generate items of questioners and then validate and test the stability of the scale through testing and retesting. The pilot study deleted redundant items, summarised the data into small sets, and produced a new scale using principal component analysis (PCA). The national study aimed to identify the core competencies, roles, and barriers inherent in disaster nursing, as well as the strength of the dimensionality of the constructs of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the second phase, the meanings of the most important findings from the national study were elaborated upon to develop better understanding of them. Results: In the pre-pilot study, a new scale was developed and its psychometric properties measured. The relevant literature generated 93 items that were valid in terms of both face and content validity and that were stable over time. The pilot study, in which 132 emergency nurses participated, resulted in 49 of the 93 items being deleted as redundant, and the remaining 44 items being summarised into three factors: core competencies; barriers and roles with good to excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas ranging from 0.86‒0.98). The most important core competencies for nurses in disaster nursing were found to be planning, communication, ethics, and triaging. The most important roles for nurses were in education and drilling, with a lesser role in planning. The main barriers to developing disaster management in Saudi Arabia were found to be research, education, qualification, and resources. The national study included 833 nurses as participants. Data were summarised into four factors: knowledge; barriers; roles and skills that also had excellent high reliability (ranging from 0.86‒0.98). In addition, these four factors had good construct validity, as CFA indicated a goodness of fit for all factors. Similar to the results of the pilot study, the national study found the most important core competencies to be planning, communication, and ethics. The most important roles were participating in education and drills. The most important barriers were education, research, qualification, and resources. Conclusions: This study has implications for developing and improving disaster planning. Recommendations included the following: 1) emphasising the identified core competencies in all disaster planning; 2) instituting drill plans; 3) recognizing the importance of the purpose and content of disaster plans; 4) addressing the identified communication, ethical, and cultural issues in all disaster planning; 5) involving emergency nurses in disaster planning; 6) planning for decontamination; and 7) improving disaster planning, since it was found to be a barrier to developing disaster nursing in Saudi Arabia.


The article is dedicated to the attitude of the great world religions (Judaism, Christianity,
Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism) to the world of finance, including
banking. The issue of usury plays a key role together with the evolution of
ethical aspects related to obtaining compensation for money lending. The analysis
is focused on the other aspects of banking activities, such as saving, investing, and
institutional development of the banking sector as well. The author underlines the
far-reaching convergence between religions in this area, in spite of the considerable
variation in historical and geographical conditions of their formation. The importance
of cultural (religious) differences, including the nuances or more fundamental
aspects, has a significant impact on bank management in different regions.
For successful development, large multinational corporations have to take into consideration
the abovementioned circumstances, regardless of globalization processes.


Object:Photo shifts the dialogue about modernist photography from an emphasis on the subject and the image to the actual photographic object, created by a certain artist at a particular time and present today in its unique physicality. This shift is especially significant for a study of the period during which photography developed a distinctive formal language. A growing awareness of the rarity of images made between the two world wars has altered historians considerations, encouraging new approaches privileging the originality of each work and the density of references each contains. This richly illustrated publication culminates a four-year collaborative research endeavor between The Museum of Modern Arts Departments of Photography and Conservation, and nearly 30 visiting scholars, on the material and aesthetic evolution of avant-garde photography in the early twentieth century. The 341 modernist photographs known as The Thomas Walther Collection, a major museum acquisition made in 2001, is presented in its entirety, establishing a new standard of depth for the medium. Essays by curators, researchers, and conservators consider the history of collecting from this era to the present and how deepening knowledge has shifted the perspective on the medium; the material facts of the Walther pictures as a baseline for understanding the development of photographic materials in this era; and how the intellectual formation of the writers of critical photographic publications of the era and the societal and cultural pressures of that historical moment inflected the photographys sense of its own history. Together with thematic, object-based case studies of groups of pictures that demonstrate new approaches in specific, divergent examples, these contributions reanimate the dialogue on this formative era in photography.


The capability of processing and digesting raw data is one of the key features of a human-like artificial intelligence system. For instance, real-time machine translation should be able to process and understand spoken natural language, and autonomous driving relies on the comprehension of visual inputs. Representation learning is a class of machine learning techniques that autonomously learn to derive latent features from raw data. These new features are expected to represent the data instances in a vector space that facilitates the machine learning task. This thesis studies two specific data situations that require efficient representation learning: knowledge graph data and high dimensional sequences.
In the first part of this thesis, we first review multiple relational learning models based on tensor decomposition for knowledge graphs. We point out that relational learning is in fact a means of learning representations through one-hot mapping of entities. Furthermore, we generalize this mapping function to consume a feature vector that encodes all known facts about each entity. It enables the relational model to derive the latent representation instantly for a new entity, without having to re-train the tensor decomposition.
In the second part, we focus on learning representations from high dimensional sequential data. Sequential data often pose the challenge that they are of variable lengths. Electronic health records, for instance, could consist of clinical event data that have been collected at subsequent time steps. But each patient may have a medical history of variable length. We apply recurrent neural networks to produce fixed-size latent representations from the raw feature sequences of various lengths. By exposing a prediction model to these learned representations instead of the raw features, we can predict the therapy prescriptions more accurately as a means of clinical decision support. We further propose Tensor-Train recurrent neural networks. We give a detailed introduction to the technique of tensorizing and decomposing large weight matrices into a few smaller tensors. We demonstrate the specific algorithms to perform the forward-pass and the back-propagation in this setting.
Then we apply this approach to the input-to-hidden weight matrix in recurrent neural networks. This novel architecture can process extremely high dimensional sequential features such as video data. The model also provides a promising solution to processing sequential features with high sparsity. This is, for instance, the case with electronic health records, since they are often of categorical nature and have to be binary-coded. We incorporate a statistical survival model with this representation learning model, which shows superior prediction quality.


Quality in the tourism and hospitality industry involves consistent delivery of products and guest services according to expected standards. Delivering quality service is one of the major challenges the hospitality managers will be facing in the following years as it is an essential condition for success in the emerging, keenly competitive, global hospitality markets. There are various tools that measure and improve quality service, as well as mechanisms for quality recognition in the tourism and hospitality industry. The managers should identify, record and weigh up the impacts of cost-profit and be in a position to prioritise towards a quality improvement process for their own property. The present study shows that tourism stakeholders perceive quality service in a hotel as value for money, a comfortable room, friendly staff and tasty food. Moreover, the survey shows that there is always room for further improvement of the hospitality services. Other results of the survey reveal that the most important factors for a hotel's future are guest satisfaction, guest retention and word of mouth advertising. Aiming at excellence and profitability, the outcomes of the survey suggest focus on quality service; retention of existing guests by exceeding their expectations; continuous quality improvement; employment, regular training and empowerment of service-oriented staff; search for best practices through benchmarking; and, finally, pursuit of quality accreditation through the various schemes, such as the eco-labels, ISO and the EU Foundation for Quality Management.


Huge amounts of data are stored in linear files. This is also the case for biological data. Biological proteins are sequences of amino acids. The quantities of data in these fields tend to increase year on year. For this reason efficient string-matching algorithms should be used which use minimal computer storage and which minimize the searching response time. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm called BRBMH algorithm which offers improved number of comparison and elapsed searching time when compared to the well-known algorithms such as BF, KMP, BM, BMH, KR, ZT, QS, BR, FS, SSABS, TVSBS, ZTBMH and BRFS algorithms. The experimental results show that the new algorithm is faster and perform fewer numbers of comparisons than other compared algorithms for any length of alphabets and patterns. So the proposed algorithm is applicable for searching protein sequence databases as well as in any other string searching applications.


Using harvestable energy in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) has gained considerable popularity recently. However, how to utilize the unstable power supply to achieve quality performance is still a challenge. In this paper, we propose a Weight-Optimized Source Rate Optimization (WOSRO) approach which allows the WSN system to adaptively control source coding rates by choosing the most valuable data packets to transmit. In this approach, the packet selection strategy is optimized by considering multimedia distortion reduction, energy cost, energy neutrality constraint and power saving efficiency. Simulation results show that the proposed data packet selecting strategy significantly improves data transmission quality by exploring harvesting-storage energy neutrality and multimedia data packet importance.


Abstract: The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma is increasing in many countries. The estimated number of new cases annually is over 500,000, and the yearly incidence comprises between 2.5 and 7% of patients with liver cirrhosis. The incidence varies between different geographic areas, being higher in developing areas; males are predominantly affected, with a 2:3 male/female ratio. The heterogeneous geographic distribution reflects the epidemiologic impact of the main etiologic factors and environmental risk, which are the hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) viruses. The percentage of cases of hepatocellular carcinoma attributable to HBV worldwide is 52.3% and is higher in Asia where the seroprevalence of HBsAg in the population is high. However, the vaccination campaign against this virus in some eastern countries has tended to lower the incidence of new cases of hepatocellular carcinoma. The percentage of cases of hepatocellular carcinoma attributable to HCV is 25%, and it is more prevalent in Japan, Spain, and Italy where the association between hepatocellular carcinoma and antibodies to HCV ranges between 50 and 70%. In most cases hepatocellular carcinoma develops in cirrhotic livers, where the persistent proliferation of liver cells represents the key factor of progression to hepatocellular carcinoma independent of the etiology. Another minor risk factor is aflatoxin B1 consumption, which is responsible for most cases of hepatocellular carcinoma in Africa, where the consumption of contaminated foods is common. Other known risk factors are some hereditary diseases, such as hemochromatosis, porphyria cutanea tarda, hereditary tyrosinemia, and α1 anti‐trypsin deficiency. The natural history of hepatocellular carcinoma is heterogeneous and is influenced by nodule dimension, the mono‐ or plurifocality of lesions at diagnosis, the growth rate of the tumor, and the stage of the underlying cirrhosis. Available data to date suggest that tumor growth in a cirrhotic liver is variable and that the time in which a lesion in undetectable until it becomes 2 cm is between 4 and 12 months. Therefore, the suggested interval for surveillance screening with ultrasound in patients with liver cirrhosis has been set at 6 months. Patients who should benefit from screening programs are those who would be treated with curative therapy if diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma. Thus, the ideal target population should be limited to Child‐Pugh's class A cirrhotic patients without significant comorbidity.


A major challenge in the development of efficient magnetoelectric nanocomposites is the adequate control of the interfaces, in order to avoid the formation of undesirable interphases and to ensure an optimal strain mediated coupling. In this work we used a combination of low-cost impregnation and electrodeposition processes within the ordered nanochannels of a porous anodic alumina template, to elaborate CoFe2O4–PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 core/shell nanocable arrays with high interfacial areas between the ferroelectric and the magnetic phases. We have shown in this way that the thermal annealing steps required for phase's crystallization and oxidation of metallic CoFe2 into spinel CoFe2O4 are critical with respect to interdiffusion phenomena through the interfaces. The impact of the processing temperature on the morphological and structural features of the nanocables was then discussed. We demonstrated that an optimization of process variables in the synthesis of CoFe2O4–PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 nanocables allows a significant improvement in their microstructure and ensures the chemical integrity of the two-phase materials, an important concern when seeking for enhanced multiferroic properties.


Background Epidemiological research has reported strong links between trauma-related hospitalisation and future risks of fatal and nonfatal adverse outcomes. However, some important research questions remain unanswered, including association with hospitalisation occurring specifically during childhood, longer-term follow-up from mid-adolescence through the earlier stages of adulthood, assessment of self-harm versus violence risks in the same study population, and absolute risk estimation. To reduce risk in young people, clinicians and public health experts require a better knowledge of subsequent pathways for individuals who experience trauma-related hospitalisation during childhood. Methods This national cohort study examined n=1,087,672 persons born in Denmark 1977–1997 with complete linkage to national psychiatric, general hospital and crime registers. Survival analyses (© SAS Institute Inc.) was used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for self-harm, violent criminality, interpersonal violence injury, and all-cause mortality between 15th and 35th birthdays among cohort members with and without trauma-related hospitalisation prior to 15th birthday. Accounting for competing risks, cumulative incidence percentage values were estimated to age 35. Estimates were stratified by gender and by reason for hospitalisation during childhood: self-harm, interpersonal violence or accident. Results Risk for each adverse outcome assessed was raised among young persons who experienced trauma-related hospitalisation at least once during childhood. Confounding by parental socioeconomic status, measured according to income, educational attainment and employment status, explained little of these risk elevations. Individuals hospitalised during childhood following self-harm or interpersonal violence had much higher risks for self-harm and violent criminality aged 15–35 years. Some particularly high cumulative incidence values were observed: subsequent violent offending in males hospitalised following interpersonal violence during childhood, 25.0% (95% CI 21.2–28.9); later self-harm in females hospitalised following interpersonal violence, 18.3% (95% CI 13.5–23.6) and following self-harm during childhood, 21.4% (95% CI 19.8–23.1). More frequent trauma-related hospitalisations, and hospitalisations for multiple trauma types at such an early age, conferred marked risk elevations through young adulthood. Conclusion Although not all episodes of self-harm and interpersonal violence in the community are routinely captured via hospital records, trauma-related hospitalisation during upbringing may be a clinically useful marker for familial dysfunction and childhood distress that subsequently predicts internalised and externalised destructive behaviours among youths and young adults. Comprehensive national guidelines are needed to tackle the multifaceted vulnerabilities of children hospitalised for injuries or poisonings.Healthcare, social services and educational workers must provide particularly robust support to children hospitalised following self-harm or interpersonal violence, and those who experience multiple trauma-related hospitalisations during upbringing.


With a focus on both the fitness and cost of subset selection, we study stochastic local search (SLS) heuristics in this paper. In particular, we consider subset selection problems where the cost of fitness function evaluation needs to be accounted for. Here, cost can be fitness evaluation's computation time or energy cost. We propose and study an SLS method, SLS4CFF, tailored to such problems. SLS4CFF ("SLS for costly fitness functions") is an amalgamation of several existing heuristics. We develop a homogeneous Markov chain model that explicitly represents both fitness and cost of subset selection with SLS4CFF. This Markov chain, which can be lumped or compressed for certain fitness and cost functions, enables us to better understand and analyze hyperparameter optimization in a principled manner, via expected hitting times. Studies with synthetic and real-world problems improve the understanding of SLS and demonstrate the importance of cost-awareness.


Work-integrated Learning (WIL), where the theory and practice of work are integrated through various activities in the curricula, provides several benefits to stakeholders if designed and implemented correctly. This study explored the views of undergraduate students and academics in relation to the potential implementation of a Work-integrated Learning program in the undergraduate degrees of a business school at a regional university through the lens of stakeholder theory. A total of 50 students and 24 academics participated in the study. The findings suggest students and academics hold different views to the effectiveness of on-campus and off-campus WIL activities, structure of a WIL program, importance of WIL components and the ideal number of hours of work placements to achieve work-ready knowledge and skills. These findings have implications for the development and implementation of WIL for business school educators and university policy makers.


The surface degradation of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) pultruded rods when embedded in concrete castings and subjected to environmental conditioning is discussed in this paper. Investigation of the degradation of the GFRP rods were performed using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Unidirectionally reinforced pultruded rods (6.3- and 12.7-mm diameters) containing E-glass fibers in polyester and vinylester matrices were conditioned at standard laboratory conditions (21 C, 65% relative humidity) or submerged in aqueous solutions (tap water) at 80 C for durations of 14 and 84 days. Observations of the surfaces and cross-sections of the rods by optical microscopy and SEM revealed a variety of degradation phenomena. Embedded hygrothermally conditioned rods were found to have developed surface blisters of different sizes and depths. SEM studies of the surface revealed degradation of the polymer matrix material and exposure and degradation of the fibers close to the surface of the rods. The rods with the vinylester resin matrix showed less extensive degradation than those with the polyester resin matrix; however, the degradation characteristics of the two types of rods appear to be similar.


This paper introduces a model seeking to explain the discretionary write-downs, write-offs, and other restructuring provisions reported by managers. The model comprises a firm, a manager, and a financial market. The firm is about to be restructured. The manager has some private information about the likelihood of success of his restructuring action. The manager may recognise all or part of the expenditure associated with his future restructuring action by reporting a discretionary restructuring provision. The manager chooses whether or not to report a provision, recognising the impact of the provision on his compensation. The paper shows how, under certain conditions, the manager may credibly communicate his private information to investors through his provision policy. Testable implications are consistent with the empirical evidence reported by Strong and Meyer (1987), Elliott and Shaw (1988), and Zucca and Campbell (1992).


Aim at the demand of analytical automation of sampling pretreatment, we designed an automatic sampling system which used ARM9 for microprocessor. The system designed in this paper is based on the processor of S3C2440 and the Windows CE operating system, and completed the work of programming in Visual Studio 2005. It uses stepping motors and precision pump as implementing agencies, and TA8435H as the stepping motor's driver, uses LCD touch screen as human-computer interface. We accomplished software development in a customized Windows CE6.0 operating system. The paper mainly makes the detailed introduction to this system's hardware platform design and software design based on WINCE embedded operation system.


This paper examines how
the LGBT movement has prioritised identity politics and human rights discourse
to gain legal equality and non-discrimination in employment and social policy in
many parts of the world. The legalist approach taken so far has marginalised
more radical possibilities of resistance by rendering diverse identities and
intersectionality invisible. Furthermore, it has also given ammunition to
counter mobilisation led by the religious right and cultural nationalism to
dictate terms of the debate leading to political and judicial backlash. In this
context, historical examination of the LGBT movement in comparison with civil
rights movement and local case-studies gives three trajectories of 'lost'
possibilities, a new context and significance. These possibilities are (i)
limiting the forces of counter mobilisation to set the agenda for LGBT
politics, (ii) reframing LGBT identity issues by expanding priorities, and, (iii)
returning to every day politics of resistance to question normativity. This
paper argues that such a revitalisation allows grassroots to be organically
connected with agenda setting and enables a critique of macro-institutions
through micro politics. Such a development has potential to usher a new age of
LGBT resistance beyond legalism.


In spite of the many advantages of integral imaging, its narrow viewing angle has been a disadvantage. We propose a method to enhance the viewing angle of integral imaging by opening and shutting each lens in the array (i.e., the elemental lenses) sequentially. We prove our idea by using a mask that has a pattern of an on-off vertical array of apertures. Moving the mask prevents the aliasing of a neighboring lens. Thus image overlap or image flipping is reduced and the viewing angle of the system is increased.


SUMMARY: The physical condition of soil is improved by adding readily decomposable organic material. Microbial cells and metabolic products affect soil structure by binding loose soil particles into water-stable aggregates. Experimentally, the relative aggregating power of pure cultures of micro-organisms was as follows: fungi>actinomycetes and a few gum-forming bacteria>many gum-producing bacteria>yeasts, proactinomycetes, and many bacteria; the last three groups did not improve aggregation. Fungal hyphae entangled soil particles into stable aggregates; weaker crumbs were formed by the frailer threads of actinomycetes. A few bacterial strains produced gums capable of glueing soil into water-stable aggregates, but the majority of bacterial slimes were almost useless because they remained water-soluble after drying. The cementing properties of these gums was not improved by treatment with H or Ca ions. Bacterial gums stabilized the aggregates produced from completely dispersed soils and kaolin, but not those formed with bentonite or ferric hydroxide. The pH value of the soil played a very minor part in influencing the aggregation produced by pure cultures of micro-organisms or even by soil inoculum. Mixed cultures of fungi or of actinomycetes gave slightly better aggregation than pure cultures, but neither capsulated nor non-capsulated bacteria in mixtures gave better results than single strains. More complex mixtures containing fungi, actinomycetes and bacteria gave good aggregation when all micro-organisms wrere compatible, but poor results when antagonistic bacteria inhibited the growth of either fungi or actinomycetes. The fair aggregation obtained with soil inoculum was reproduced in the laboratory by inoculating sterilized soil with complex mixtures of micro-organisms. A study was made of the relative merits of glucose, starch, blood, yeast, fungal mycelium, straw, clover and farmyard manure for encouraging aggregation by mixtures of fungi, actinomycetes and bacteria. Aggregates bound by mycelia did not last long because the hyphae were decomposed by bacteria. The temporary improvement of soil structure after the addition of organic materials can be partly explained by the action of microbes, but the permanent crumb structure of many soils must be due mainly to other causes.


Cryopreservation of teak (Tectona grandis l.f) seeds. Teak (Tectona grandis L.f) is a tropical tree of commercial value due to the high demand of its high-quality wood and rapid growth. Genetic improvement programs for this species have resulted in seeds of better quality and, at the same time, improvement in the quality of plantations. To preserve genetic diversity and guarantee the raw material for improvement programs and for future reproduction, seeds are kept under conventional seed banks conditions with temperature ranging between 4 and –20oC. However, there are other means to conserve this valuable germplasm. Cryopreservation is the storage of plant material in liquid nitrogen (NL, -196oC) and its major advantage is the conservation for indefinite periods of time, under high genetic stability conditions. Survival and regeneration of plants after seed freezing in liquid nitrogen (LN) were evaluated in this work, using the dessiccation and rapid freezing technique. The methodology was tested both, in seeds isolated from endocarps (seeds) asin seeds inside endocarps (seeds with endocarps), with germination rates, after thawing and 28 days in culture, of 84% and 70% respectively. resUmen


Purpose

In the context of the energy-led refurbishment of traditionally constructed non-domestic buildings, the purpose of this study was to identify the attributes that professionals consider to be important in the selection of energy performance improvement measures (EPIMs) and to establish their relative importance.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire-based Delphi exercise was carried out to draw up a set of attributes agreed among a small panel of experts. Subsequently, a paired comparison questionnaire was completed by the experts to establish the relative importance ascribed to the attributes.

Findings

In total, 22 assessment attributes, relevant to different stages in the building's life cycle, were agreed as important by the expert panel. Measures fell into one of three broad groups, expressed on a weighting scale of 0-100, such that the sum of the weights of all 22 measures was 100. Measures of relatively high importance (7-9 per cent) included capital cost, potential energy and carbon savings, financial payback and impact on the building's vapor permeability. Measures of medium importance (4-5 per cent) were impact on internal air movement, loss of significant original building fabric, impact on internal layout, appearance and occupant comfort, environmental impact and availability of grants or subsidies. Eight further measures were ranked of low importance (2-3 per cent).

Originality/value

This paper is the first attempt to draw up a ranking order of the attributes of EPIMs applicable to non-domestic buildings. It confirms that more attributes must be considered by professionals with decision-making responsibility than merely cost, energy performance and payback on investment and suggests that policy instruments targeting or incentivizing a single or a restricted range of attributes risk failure to deliver the desired improvements.


Introduction Although cost-utility models are often used to estimate the value of treatments for metastatic cancer, limited information is available on the utility of common treatment modalities. Bisphosphonate treatment for bone metastases is frequently administered via intravenous infusion, while a newer treatment is administered as a subcutaneous injection. This study estimated the impact of these treatment modalities on health state preference. Methods Participants from the UK general population completed time trade-off interviews to assess the utility of health state vignettes. Respondents first rated a health state representing cancer with bone metastases. Subsequent health states added descriptions of treatment modalities (ie, injection or infusion) to this basic health state. The two treatment modalities were presented with and without chemotherapy, and infusion characteristics were varied by duration (30 minutes or 2 hours) and renal monitoring. Results A total of 121 participants completed the interviews (52.1% female, 76.9% white). Cancer with bone metastases had a mean utility of 0.40 on a standard utility scale (1 = full health; 0 = dead). The injection, 30-minute infusion, and 2-hour infusion had mean disutilities of −0.004, −0.02, and −0.04, respectively. The mean disutility of the 30-minute infusion was greater with renal monitoring than without. Chemotherapy was associated with substantial disutility (−0.17). When added to health states with chemotherapy, the mean disutilities of injection, 30-minute infusion, and 2-hour infusion were −0.02, −0.03, and −0.04, respectively. The disutility associated with injection was significantly lower than the disutility of the 30-minute and 2-hour infusions (P < 0.05), regardless of chemotherapy status. Conclusion Respondents perceived an inconvenience with each type of treatment modality, but injections were preferred over infusions. The resulting utilities may be used in cost-utility models examining the value of treatments for the prevention of skeletal-related events in patients with bone metastases.


In recent years most Nordic nuclear power plants have implemented so called human performance programmes. Typically human performance programmes apply human performance tools (HU tools) to maximize failure free operations by preventing and/or catching human errors. Despite the prominence of human performance programmes, there is little scientific literature on the premises behind the HU programmes. Also, the concrete beneficial effects from using HU tools in nuclear power plants remain elusive. This document describes the results of a Nordic research project HUMAX which aims at providing knowledge of the impacts of the HU programmes and to support implementation of effective HU tools. The focus is especially on maintenance activities. In 2013 and 2014 HUMAX project carried out three case studies in Nordic nuclear power plant maintenance. Furthermore HUMAX disseminated an international survey to human performance experts around the world to gain insights into the motives underlying the human performance programmes and the benefits received. The results show that HU tools are introduced as error prevention techniques and it is believed that reducing the number of human errors improves nuclear safety. However, the study suggests that it may be difficult to prove measurable improvements in nuclear safety indicators. The benefits of HU tools included other than directly nuclear safety related benefits such as decreased number of occupational safety incidents and less rework. There was a general fairly positive attitude towards the use of HU tools amongst the maintenance personnel when the tools were seen as supporting the quality of work rather than as controlling methods. If not carefully planned, HU tools may complicate and slow down work processes and cause frustration among workers. A risk that task execution becomes mechanistic and HU tools dampen workers' self-initiative was reported. In order to facilitate mindful use of the tools it is crucial that the implementation process starts by thorough discussion on why, how and when each of the tools should be used in the unique cultural context. HU tools should not be used for compensating system problems, such as poor working conditions. The results of the study have been summarised in a set of recommendations to support the HU programme implementation process.


Copy number alterations are driving forces of tumour development and the emergence of intra-tumour heterogeneity. A comprehensive picture of these genomic aberrations is therefore essential for the development of personalised and precise cancer diagnostics and therapies. Single-cell sequencing offers the highest resolution for copy number profiling down to the level of individual cells. Recent high-throughput protocols allow for the processing of hundreds of cells through shallow whole-genome DNA sequencing. The resulting low read-depth data poses substantial statistical and computational challenges to the identification of copy number alterations. We developed SCICoNE, a statistical model and MCMC algorithm tailored to single-cell copy number profiling from shallow whole-genome DNA sequencing data. SCICoNE reconstructs the history of copy number events in the tumour and uses these evolutionary relationships to identify the copy number profiles of the individual cells. We show the accuracy of this approach in evaluations on simulated data and demonstrate its practicability in applications to a xenograft breast cancer sample.


Abstract Objective.—Accurate reports of energy expenditure (EE) during prolonged mountaineering activity are sparse. The purpose of this study was to estimate EE during a winter ultraendurance climbing race and individual mountaineering activities in Mont Blanc, France. Methods.—Seven days before the race, resting metabolic rate (RMR) and maximal oxygen consumption (Vo2max) were measured in 10 experienced male climbers (30.0 ± 0.9 years). Three days before (reference period) and during the race, heart rate (HR) was recorded for estimation of total daily EE (TDEE), and the type and duration of all activities were collected through questionnaires. Total DEE was calculated by adding DEE during sleep (DEE sleep), sedentary (DEE sedentary), and during exercise (DEE exercise). Daily energy expenditure during exercise was determined through assumption of the rectilinear relationship between heart rate (HR) and Vo2. Anthropometric measurements were performed 7 days before, just before, and immediately after the race. Results.—Total time of the race averaged approximately 29 hours and 29 minutes, including 11 hours and 24 minutes in the hut, plus 18 hours and 5 minutes dedicated to climbing. During the race, TDEE was 43.6 ± 1.2 MJ·d−1. Energy expenditures for cross-country skiing and alpine climbing were similar (57.3 ± 2.1 kJ·min−1 and 54.0 ± 2.9 kJ·min−1, respectively). An energy deficit of 33.5 ± 2.3 MJ resulted after the race, with a mean weight loss of 1.52 ± 0.31 kg (P < .001). Conclusions.—Experienced climbers expended a high level of energy during a winter ultraendurance alpine climbing race at moderate altitude under high degrees of difficulty and risk exposure. These results provide comparative data on the energy cost of the main mountaineering activities during a race: cross-country skiing and alpine climbing.


Although it is no longer legal to deny women the right to work simply because they are women, an employer can still require women conform to gender-based appearance norms in order to keep their jobs. In some industries, lipstick, foundation, mascara, and blush remain essential components of a woman's professional uniform. In these industries, men are spared the obligation of cosmetic upkeep, because only women must don face-paint to appear comfortably recognizable to customers.Why this differential dress-code is not considered discrimination on the basis of sex under Title VII is the mystery. The textual force of anti-discrimination law would seem to bar such obvious gender-based distinctions, but biases emerge in the law's application. The cognitive mechanisms at work in this area continue to blind judges to the gendered nature of employers' demands. The status quo bias, the representative heuristic, and framing influence the drive to limit the reach of anti-discrimination law. Social science evidence suggests that we resist change, leading judges to privilege gender biased rules under the guise of social and cultural norms. The courts' intuitive - and unsupported - finding that gendered dress is not related to equal employment opportunities is undercut by studies showing that gender-based appearance rules set us up for prejudicial judgments. Judges also rely heavily on their ability to creatively frame their policy decisions. Rulings permit gender-based dress requirements by emphasizing that a dress code exists for all workers, even though the content dramatically differs for each sex. This framing masks the gendered assumptions that drive the court's policy preferences. This article identifies the cognitive biases lurking beneath the waterline of judicial decision-making and discusses their role in producing decisions at odds with Title VII's goal of eradicating employment discrimination. Exposing the unconscious linkages that gender still evokes - both in terms of how we expect men and women to look - and how we expect them to act - should lead judges to sounder applications of Title VII law in the appearance-code cases.


The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated processes of labour transition from industrial work to the informal economy, which have always characterized the life of the working poor. Exploring urban-to-rural labour transitions through a feminist political economy lens and adopting a life-cycle approach to labour and social reproduction, this paper analyses the post-industrial livelihoods and experiences of former Indian garment workers leaving the National Capital Region and moving back to Bihar. Emphasis is placed on workers' reasons for leaving the industry and their current employment and reproductive strategies. Findings are based on a sample of 50 former workers, identified in urban industrial hamlets and traced back to their place of origin. Respondents' experiences are analysed based on semi-quantitative questionnaires and life histories. Findings reveal that upon leaving the factory, workers find alternative informal employment through caste or social networks while using land as safety net. Farming and informal work are not alternative but rather complementary income and work strategies. By adopting a life-cycle approach to studying labour transitions across formal and informal employment domains, this analysis contributes to policy debates on decent work.


Numerous major holidays celebrate socially gathering in person. However, in major holidays that happened during the pandemic, desires to nurture relationships and maintain holiday traditions often conflicted with physical distancing and other measures to protect against COVID-19. The current research sought to understand well-being during American Thanksgiving in 2020, which happened eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, after months of physical distancing and stay-at-home orders. American Thanksgiving is a major holiday not limited to any religion. We asked 404 American adults how they spent Thanksgiving Day and to report on their experiences of that day. Predictors of well-being that we drew from self-determination theory were satisfaction of the fundamental needs for social connection (relatedness), for doing what one really wants (autonomy), and for feeling effective (competence). The predictors of well-being that we drew from regulatory focus theory were a focus on growth (promotion), and a focus on security (prevention). We found that feeling socially connected and focusing on growth related most strongly to well-being. Additionally, participants who saw even one other person face-to-face reported significantly higher relatedness satisfaction, promotion focus, and well-being than those who did not. Our research could help construct persuasive messages that encourage nurturing close relationships at major holidays while remaining safe against the virus.


Adolescent Depression and Suicidality in the USA: A Look at YRBS Profiles and Health Risk Behaviors as Predictors in the Past 10 Years Bryan Cheng Depressed mood is one of the most common of all psychiatric symptoms occurring in children and adolescents. Population studies suggest a point prevalence of between 10 to 15% of children and adolescents having symptoms of depression. Further, depressed adolescents are also significantly more apt to demonstrate suicidal ideation accompanied by a concomitant sense of helplessness and hopelessness. The overall aim of the study was to identify and characterize profiles of depression and suicidal behavior within the adolescents of the USA in the past 10 years. This study utilized epidemiological, cross-sectional, data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), a biennial census that monitors six types of health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth. Latent classes of the indicators were generated utilizing latent class regression modeling. Predictors were then regressed on class membership in a multinomial logistic regression simultaneously to assess significance. Finally, a juxtaposition of the profiles and significant predictors followed to allow for observation of differences in number of profiles and other qualities (i.e., proportions of sample in each class, etc.) as well as to visualize and note "carryover" predictors across the past 10 years. Findings revealed a relatively stable pattern of profiles and predictors over the years with the exception of 2015. In the analysis of demographic variables, membership of the "lowrisk non-depressed" class was consistently or more frequently associated with being male, older, not of an ethnic minority, and non-ethnically bi-or multiracial, across all time points. Three clusters of behaviors and factors emerged as significant predictors of depressed mood and suicidality. The first cluster consisted of typical adolescent risk behaviors that includes delinquent behaviors (i.e., fight, weapon carrying, or use of over-the-counter drugs), smoking, alcohol use, as well as consensual (non-violent) sexual activity. The second cluster of predictors that was significant consisted of experiences of traumatic events such as bullying, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence. Finally, a third cluster that showed significance consisted of selfdestructive behavior such as the use of illicit or hard drugs and maladaptive dieting, restricting or purging behavior. Several protective factors such as having sufficient physical activity and getting at least 8 hours of sleep daily also emerged as significant. Limitations to the YRBS and this study were discussed, and recommendations that tie to the implications of the findings were proposed. Future directions for research were also presented in light of the limitations of the study.


Abstract : The rise in the capability and lethality of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) historically has been paralleled by an increase in the complexity of the command and control of these systems. This trend has continued with the command and control of the current fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles such as the Predator and Global Hawk. The control of these vehicles falls on the extremes on the manual vs autonomous spectrum. As the missions tasked to these vehicles increase in complexity and lethality, operators will increasingly require the ability to tailor the amount of control exercised over the vehicle. Maneuver Based Control (MBC) offers the potential to give future UCAV operators the ability to vary the autonomy of the vehicle against the amount of control they exercise over UCAV systems. The objective of this research is to validate the concept of Maneuver Based Control (MBC). This is accomplished under the umbrella of a conceptual UCAV mission. Particular attention is paid to the ability of this control scheme to increase operator situational awareness while decreasing the overall operator workload and required piloting skill. In addition, the ability to MBC to ensure effective control integrity over the vehicle is examined; ensuring that what vehicle does in response to a user's input is not divorced from the flight characteristics of vehicle.


There is clear evidence that drug and alcohol dependence is associated with neurocognitive impairments (Kiluk, Nich & Carroll, 2011; Kramer, Kopyciok, Richter, Rodriguez-Fornells & Munte, 2011; Sofuoglu, Sugarman & Carroll, 2010; Umut et al., 2016). This is pertinent to the rehabilitation of prisoners with a history of drug and/or alcohol dependence, which is prevalent in this population.

In this dissertation, two studies were conducted. Study 1 examined cognitive and executive functioning of 115 WA prisoners with a history of drug and alcohol dependence using a battery of neuropsychometric tests. As prior research has demonstrated that age of first use, number of substances used, frequency and total years of drug use may predict levels of neurocognitive impairments, these variables were factored in to understand if they predict performance on cognitive and executive measures. The prisoner group scored significantly lower than the normative population in the domains of attention, working memory, immediate interference susceptibility, cognitive flexibility, inhibition, abstract reasoning and problem solving. Moreover, 70% of prisoners scored within the clinically impaired range on a measure of speed of processing, and 29.6% of the sample also scored at a clinically impaired level on a measure of memory consolidation (the ability to convert information from short term memory into long-term memory).

Cognitive impairments have been linked with treatment outcomes, with research indicating that low self-efficacy has been associated with treatment outcome in previous literature (Adamson, Sellman & Frampton, 2009; Kelly & Greene, 2014; Randall et al., 2003). As Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is used in the rehabilitation of prisoners and has been shown to improve self-efficacy, Study 2 examined changes in self-reported self-efficacy before and after the completion of a cognitive skills building program 'Think First' in a subsample of 52 participants taken from the original sample. Processing speed and memory consolidation were analysed to understand their predictive nature on prisoners' self-reported self-efficacy, as they play a major role in learning, interpreting and applying new information.

Results demonstrated that prisoners with neurocognitive impairments in the cognitive domains of processing speed and memory consolidation self-reported positive shifts in the following areas after engaging in a cognitive skills program: attitude towards offending, perception of problem solving ability and specifically social problem solving, perceived self-efficacy, cognitive decision-making ability without impulsivity, and ability to stop and think before acting out (motor impulsivity). Additionally, speed of processing was found to be a predictor of reported self-efficacy; with higher scores on measures of processing speed associated with higher scores in self-reported self-efficacy post intervention. However, memory consolidation (as measured by RAVLT) did not significantly predict self-efficacy.
Findings from this dissertation provide important information which can be utilized by Corrective Services to inform prisoner allocation into therapeutic and psychoeducational programs, in accordance with the Risk-Need-Responsivity principle. It also provides clinicians responsible for delivering such programs with an understanding of the level of cognitive function prevalent within this population and how this may be taken into account when tailoring future offender rehabilitation programs to better meet individuals' needs, and maximize benefit to both prisoners and the wider community.


The well-known gap between relative CPU speeds and storage bandwidth results in the need for new strategies for managing I/O demands. In large-scale MPI applications, collective I/O has long been an effective way to achieve higher I/O rates, but it poses two constraints. First, although overlapping collective I/O and computation represents the next logical step toward a faster time to solution, MPI's existing collective I/O API provides only limited support for doing so. Second, collective routines (both for I/O and communication) impose a synchronization cost in addition to a communication cost. The upcoming MPI 3.1 standard will provide a new set of nonblocking collective I/O operations to satisfy the need of applications. We present here initial work on the implementation of MPI nonblocking collective I/O operations in the MPICH MPI library. Our implementation begins with the extended two-phase algorithm used in ROMIO's collective I/O implementation. We then utilize a state machine and the extended generalized request interface to maintain the progress of nonblocking collective I/O operations. The evaluation results indicate that our implementation performs as well as blocking collective I/O in terms of I/O bandwidth and is capable of overlapping I/O and other operations. We believe that our implementation can help users try nonblocking collective I/O operations in their applications.


©2020 Türkiye Spor Hekimleri Derneği. Tüm hakları saklıdır. ABSTRACT Objective: Lower extremity stress injuries cause moderate to severe functional restrictions that frequently preclude attendance in sports, recreational and occupational activities involving vigorous, repetitive lower limb training. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relation between diagnosis and symptom duration and exercise periods in cases with bilateral stress injuries diagnosed by physical examination and radionuclide imaging. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five patients pre-diagnosed with bilateral stress injuries, aged between 19 and 35 years (3 female, 22 male) were enrolled in this study. Patient anamnesis, demographic information, the time span of painful period, duration of exercise per week, bones scans and SPECT/CT findings were evaluated. Stress injury groups were identified as bilateral shin splints (SS), bilateral stress fractures (SF), shin splint and stress fractures (SS+SF) according to their uptake properties on three phase bone scan (TPBS) and SPECT/CT images and physical examination findings. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the groups according to age, and duration of symptoms (χ2 = 3,327, p=0,344). Conclusion: Bilateral stress injury is a rare condition in military personnel and athletes. Duration of exercise seems to be the major risk factor for the stress injury development.


: Conformational properties of the molecules of angiotensin II and some of its analogs are analysed with regard to the quantitative characteristics of their biological activities. Connections between low-energy conformations of angiotensin II and its biological functions are established. The hormone's spatial structures plausible in terms of interactions with the specific receptors located in smooth muscles and adrenal cortex tissues have been identified.


This thesis presents the author's work on the design and development of novel antenna capable of electronic beamsteering1 for various wireless applications. Such antennas aim to change the direction of their radiation patterns and directivities, electronically and dynamically, in a fast and efficient manner without the need of mechanical aid. In particular, Metamaterials (MM) and, more specifically, Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSS), are introduced as base materials on novel beamsteering antenna designs. When these are structured as a transmitarray, i.e. a structure positioned in the near-field of a directive radiating element, such "artificial" materials allow to control the direction of the propagating electromagnetic wave providing the desired beamsteering capability. The innovative work developed in this Ph.D. yielded to the fabrication of two FSSinspired transmitarray antenna prototypes with Two-Dimensional (2D) beamsteering capability using a single Radio Frequency (RF) front-end. Following mathematical workout and proper model validation using a full-wave electromagnetic simulator, the transmitarrays have experimentally been characterised in terms of their beamsteering capability and finally tested under several real-case scenarios. The use transmitarrays in novel antenna beamsteering is attractive to many wireless applications, specially in the scope of the 5th Generation (of mobile network) (5G) and novel hybrid transmission schemes such as Spatial Diversity (SD) and Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) with beamsteering. The reduction of the RF fronted burden associated to the use of a single radiation element, instead of many elements as used in other beamsteering techniques, the reduced implementation costs and the compact and light weight form factors, opens a new window for the deployment of transmitarray antennas in several top-notch wireless applications. This is considered to be a leap contribution to the antennas' community with practical relevance to emerging industries in this field. 1Also spelled as "beam steering". ix This page is intentionally left blank.


Although it is exciting to witness the culmination of decades of drug policy advocacy and clinical research, the psychedelic science movement struggles with many of the same social issues that plague healthcare in general. The healing properties of plant medicines and their derivatives were originally brought to Western consciousness by indigenous cultures from all over the world. These practices are now being adapted to Western models of healthcare, in part, to achieve governmental approval as medical treatments. The current models of psychedelic psychotherapy being utilized in clinical trials are resource-intensive and therefore likely to remain out of reach for the socioeconomically disadvantaged if approved as medical treatments. Moreover, people of color and women are uncommon in leadership positions in the psychedelic research community, and few people of color are included as research participants in psychedelic studies. This piece introduces a special issue with a focus on issues of diversity, equity, and accessibility in psychedelic medicine.


Erosional remnants of the Miocene Strzelin Volcanic Field in SW Poland were studied in terms of volcanology, petrology and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope geochemistry with the aim to identify the reasons for compositional variability of monogenetic volcanoes. The obtained data suggest that a heterogeneous mantle peridotite (with mixed DM/HIMU signature) was the dominant source of magmas. Partial melting and segregation of magmas in diapirically rising asthenosphere occurred within the garnet stability field. The source heterogeneity was the basic cause that controlled the compositional variability of the primary magmas, and also influenced the subsequent differentiation processes and eruptive styles. On the surface, additional role was played by variable environments (i.e. phreatomagmatic eruptions in water-saturated environments). More fertile mantle domains, with prevailing HIMU component, released melts deeper, at lower degrees of partial melting and small magma batches were formed. These nephelinitic magmas underwent only limited fractional crystallization en route to the surface and erupted with low explosivity as lava flows. In contrast, less fertile mantle domains, dominated by the DM component, released melts at higher degrees of partial melting at a shallower depth. This resulted in a more sustained magma supply that further enhanced the development of shallow-level magmatic systems, with more advanced and complex differentiation: larger degrees of fractional crystallization as well as replenishment by new batches of primitive magma. The resulting basaltic and trachybasaltic volcanoes showed a greater diversity of eruptive styles, including effusive and variably explosive eruptions.


We describe the design, deployment, and experience with a wireless sensor network for high-fidelity monitoring of electrical usage in buildings. A network of 38 mote-class AC meters, 6 light sensors, and 1 vibration sensor is used to determine and audit the energy envelope of an active laboratory. Classic WSN issues of coverage, aggregation, sampling, and inference are shown to appear in a novel form in this context. The fundamental structuring principle is the underlying load tree, and a variety of techniques are described to disambiguate loads within this structure. Utilizing contextual metadata, this information is recomposed in terms of its spatial, functional, and individual projections. This suggests a path to broad use of WSN technology in energy and environmental domains.


Malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, has a high propensity for metastatic spread and is notoriously chemotherapy-resistant. Cordycepin, the active component of Cordyceps spp., has been identified to have anti-metastatic effect on tumor progression and thus possesses pharmacological and therapeutic potentials. However, the mechanisms of anti-metastatic effects of cordycepin at cellular levels remain elusive. We analyzed the effect of cordycepin on human melanoma miRNA expression profiles by miRNAarray and found that miR-33b was upregulated in highly-metastatic melanoma cell lines following cordycepin exposure. Cordycepin-mediated miR-33b expression was dependent on LXR-RXR heterodimer activation. miR-33b directly binds to HMGA2, Twist1 and ZEB1 3′-UTR to suppress their expression. The negative correlations between miR-33b levels and HMGA2, Twist1 or ZEB1 expression were detected in 72 patient melanoma tissue samples. By targeting HMGA2 and Twist1, miR-33b attenuated melanoma migration and invasiveness upon cordycepin exposure. miR-33b knockdown or ZEB1 overexpression reverted cordycepin-mediated mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET), triggering the expression of N-cadherin. In spontaneous metastasis models, cordycepin suppressed tumor metastasis without altering primary tumor growth. We showed for the first time that targeting miRNA by cordycepin indicates a new mechanism of cordycepin-induced suppression of tumor metastasis and miR-33b/HMGA2/Twist1/ZEB1 axis plays critical roles in regulating melanoma dissemination.


The adsorption and photolysis of the herbicide bensulfuron-methyl [2-(4, 6-dimethoxypyrimidm-2-carbamoylsulfamoyl)-o-toluic acid methyl ester] on homoionic Na+-, Ca2+- and Fe3+-montmorillonite and kaolinite clays were studied. The Freundlich adsorption coefficient, Kf, measured from isotherms on clays followed the order Na+ < Ca2+ < Fe3+. Montmorillonite showed a greater adsorptive capacity than kaolinite. Analysis of Fourier transform infrared spectra of bensulfuron-methyl adsorbed on clay suggested probable bonding interactions between bensulfuron-methyl and homoionic clays. The photolysis rate of herbicide adsorbed on homoionic clay surfaces was quite slow to its free state and decreased in the order Na+ > Ca2+ > Fe3+, indicating that adsorption may have prevented photolysis.


The gigantic M w 9.0 11 March 2011 Tohoku‐oki earthquake suddenly changed the overriding inland area to an extensional stress regime and triggered massive seismic swarms in the coastal region. The largest earthquake of M w 6.6 struck southern Fukushima on 11 April 2011 and ruptured two previously mapped faults, the northwest (NW)‐trending Yunodake fault and the north‐northwest (NNW)‐trending Itozawa fault. Clear 15‐km‐long and 14‐km‐long surface ruptures appeared along both faults, respectively, exhibiting a predominantly normal sense of slip, down to the west. The maximum vertical offset on the Yunodake fault is ∼0.8  m, whereas that on the Itozawa fault is ∼2.1  m. The Itozawa fault rupture is in part marked by uphill‐facing scarps, which is discordant with the large‐scale topography but consistent with saddled ridges and ponded alluvium. The Yunodake fault, which bounds a Neogene half‐graben structure juxtaposing Mesozoic metamorphic rocks against Neogene sedimentary rocks, shows left‐lateral deflections of streams. Seismological data and interviews of local residents revealed that the two subparallel faults ruptured simultaneously. Based on the location of its hypocenter, we, however, interpret that the Itozawa rupture was primary and then triggered normal faulting on the Yunodake fault under the heightened Coulomb stress caused by the preceding Tohoku‐oki earthquake. Our paleoseismic trench across the Itozawa fault exposed evidence for a penultimate earthquake that occurred sometime between 12,620 and 17,410 cal yr B.P. There is no evidence that the Itozawa fault ruptured during or immediately after the A.D. 869 Jogan earthquake, which is believed to be the penultimate giant megathrust earthquake along the Japan trench.


The binding phase of cementitious materials, calcium–silicate–hydrates, can be described as nanogranular and as an inorganic hydrogel. Similar to other hydrated "soft matter," the water confined within the nanoto microscale pores of such cementitious materials plays a crucial role in the structure and properties of cement pastes. When compared to organic hydrogels, non-stoichiometric calcium–silicate–hydrates (C–S–H) are relatively robust against changes in humidity and temperature. However, under extreme physical environments, changes in the amount, and location, and physical state of water can limit damage tolerance and sustainability of otherwise stiff and strong cementitious macrostructures. Here, we employed Grand Canonical Monte-Carlo and Molecular Dynamics simulations to investigate the effect of temperature on the water content within and between C–S–H grains constituting the cement microstructure, and on the associated physical and mechanical properties of this material. We found water content within grains decreased with increasing relative temperature up to T/T* 1⁄4 2 (where T* is the transition temperature at which the bulk liquid and gas are in equilibrium for a given pressure), and that C–S–H grains densified with attendant increases in heat capacity, stiffness, and hardness. Although intragranular cohesion increased monotonically with increasing relative temperature over this range, intergranular cohesion increased up to a relative temperature of T/T* 1⁄4 1.1 and then decreased at higher relative temperatures. This finding suggests a rationale for the decreased mechanical performance of cement paste and concrete at high relative temperatures, and supports previous claims of peak hardness in C–S–H at an intermediate relative temperature between 1 and 2.61. Further, these atomistic simulations underscore the important role of confined water in modulating the structure and properties of calcium–silicate–hydrates upon exposure to extreme environments.


The continued growth of the semiconductor manufacturing industry has been due, in large part, to improved lithographic resolution and overlay across increasingly larger chip areas. Optical lithography continues to be the mainstream technology for the industry with extensions of optical lithography being employed to support 180 nm product and process development. While the industry momentum is behind optical extensions to 130 nm, the key challenge will be maintaining an adequate and affordable process latitude (depth of focus/exposure window) necessary for 10% post-etch critical dimension (CD) control. This paper addresses a number of direct and immediate benefits to the lithographic process yield at SEMATECH. The yield enhancement of the MicraScan III deep-ultraviolet (DUV) step-and-scan lithography system is a result of specific utilization of a set of flexible and reliable wafer back surface preclean processes developed on the SEZ Spin-Processor Model 203, configured for processing of 200 mm diameter wafers.


The SABRE project has been initiated under the EU's Horizon 2020 programme for development of blade morphing technologies for helicopter rotors. The project targets reductions in fuel burn and NOx emissions of upto 5-10% through the use of morphing rotor blades. A new design tool for rotorcraft, HOPLITE, is being developed to investigate the effects of rotor morphing on engine emissions and fuel burn. HOPLITE uses low-fidelity models for quick and reasonably accurate force and power calculations for major components of the vehicle. The main rotor is modelled using the Blade Element Method, and accounts for changes in blade shape due to rotor morphing and other geometrical modifications. Additionally, a robust fuselage parameterization method, and an equation based engine model have been incorporated in HOPLITE to include the impact of rotor morphing on the design of the helicopter as a whole. The main argument behind the development of HOPLITE is to combine various low-fidelity methods, such that quick design assessments can be performed for various purposes, and, simultaneously, have sufficient fidelity to capture changes in blade shape due to rotor morphing. Actuator disk models can perform a quick analysis, but are unable to match the required level of fidelity. In comparison, traditional CFD simulations or experimental campaigns will be cost and time intensive. Hence, there is a need for a new tool. Due to a multidisciplinary and modular approach used by HOPLITE, it can be used for a wide range of tasks, such as design space exploration and optimization. Furthermore, it can be used in conjuction with high fidelity methods. This paper describes the current work done towards the development of various modules of the tool, theoretical aspects of engine, fuselage and rotor modelling, and initial results obtained during development and testing of individual modules. Theoretical aspects of conceptual design capabilities of the tool have also been briefly described in this paper. Future work will involve development and integration of conceptual design functions in HOPLITE for conventional helicopters, and expansion of these algorithms to non-conventional rotorcraft designs.


Through research by design, this thesis develops a place-specific approach to rural market towns based on an in-depth mapping of place and the integration of new buildings into historic town fabrics.
Market towns in the Welsh Marches are used as a location for this exploration. In many cases, these towns have a high historical and cultural value, but face challenges of affordability, changing demographic needs and a decline in services provision that threaten their survival.
Neither large enough to attract urban regeneration funding nor small enough to be independently resilient, market towns find themselves in an in-between position, leaving town councils with limited resources to enable change. Despite emphasising placemaking and distinctiveness, planning policy often fails to engage with the nature of place and the nuances that make these towns unique.
Through design- and practice-based research, critical factors in successful small town placemaking are identified and a place-specific alternative to current development strategies is proposed. An operational framework for design is developed through first-hand experience of Luigi Snozzi's involvement in the Swiss town of Monte Carasso and a critique of its application to the English context, developed through literature and precedent studies. This is tested through series of sequential design studies in Ludlow and Ruthin. The objective of these investigations is
to refine the framework and test its applicability for architects and designers working in market towns.
The research demonstrates that by combining elements of European morphological and English picturesque traditions of placemaking, a holistic design framework founded on an in-depth reading of place can be an effective tool for designers. The resulting design approach suggests the growth and evolution of sustainable rural towns should be as much spatial as it is economic and political and identifies a positive role for the architect in enhancing the experience of living and working in contemporary market towns.


ABSTRACT Given the fundamental change in political landscape of current higher education in England, it is timely to (re)consider the purpose of university sport and its fit with national sports policy. This research investigates the purpose of university sport; how university sport fits with national sport strategies, if at all; and whether universities and sport policy are capitalising on Higher Education (HE) sport. An interpretivistic public policy analysis was carried out using eight semi-structured interviews with senior leaders of sport within universities in one region of the north of England. In addition, documentary analysis was examined. Outcomes illustrate the changed landscape for university sport in England with the key purpose of sport focusing on wider student experience; to engage students in sport and contribute to enhancing student recruitment, retention, satisfaction, mental health and graduate employability. However, there were mixed views as to whether senior university leaders were fully aware of the extent of the role of sport. Strategic drivers were more internal than external although universities recognised the value of working in a symbiotic relationship with internal and external stakeholders. Recommendations are offered for university leaders and sport policy makers on how to better capitalise on sport in England and beyond.


Despite the richness of the literature about minority stress and negative psychological outcomes and growing attention on lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) people of color, few studies have examined the intersection of multiple identities of Asian American lesbian and bisexual women (AA LBW). Thus, the purpose of this study was to provide an understanding of the experiences of 50 AA LBW. More specifically, this study explored challenges, coping strategies, and positive aspects of being an AA LBW through the lens of intersectionality. Qualitative analyses revealed three overarching domains concerning day-to-day challenges faced by AA LBW: living as AA sexual minority women in the context of Asian culture, experiencing heterosexism and bisexism, and living with multiple minority identities. In terms of AA LBW's coping strategies used for dealing with these challenges, three overarching domains were identified: dealing with stigma and prejudice, empowerment strategies, and engaging in a variety of resilience processes. Lastly, two domains of positive aspects about being an AA LBW were identified: socio-cultural sources of strength and insight into and empathy for self and others. Corresponding themes (a total of 33 themes), two of which included subthemes, are also described, and interpretation is provided in light of the relevant


Occluding junctions of mammary epithelial cells in nonproliferating primary culture occasionally display an atypical pattern of intramembrane strands oriented predominantly perpendicular, instead of roughly parallel, to the apical border of the junction. To test whether the orienting influence was a centripetal cytoskeletal tension often observed in epithelial sheets on fixed substrates, we seeded cells at low density; this allows them to spread maximally while forming a barely confluent pavement. The result was a fourfold increase in the percentage of junctions with the strongly aligned, atypical pattern. Closely similar configurations were observed as the earliest detectable effect of chelation of extracellular Ca++, which induced pronounced centripetal contraction of the cell body. Externally imposed tension, applied so as to stretch cells in one direction only, affected the positions of strands in stretched junctions as might be predicted, by flattening their undulations, increasing their alignment parallel to the apical border. Thus mechanical tension alone, whether inherent in the cytoskeleton or imposed on the cell surface by exogenous force, can cause coordinate lateral displacement of macromolecular assemblies within the membranes of both joined cells.


As an engineering material derived from renewable resources, wood possesses excellent mechanical properties in view of its light weight but also has some disadvantages such as low dimensional stability upon moisture changes and low durability against biological attack. Polymerization of hydrophobic monomers in the cell wall is one of the potential approaches to improve the dimensional stability of wood. A major challenge is to insert hydrophobic monomers into the hydrophilic environment of the cell walls, without increasing the bulk density of the material due to lumen filling. Here, we report on an innovative and simple method to insert styrene monomers into tosylated cell walls (i.e. –OH groups from natural wood polymers are reacted with tosyl chloride) and carry out free radical polymerization under relatively mild conditions, generating low wood weight gains. In-depth SEM and confocal Raman microscopy analysis are applied to reveal the distribution of the polystyrene in the cell walls and the lumen. The embedding of polystyrene in wood results in reduced water uptake by the wood cell walls, a significant increase in dimensional stability, as well as slightly improved mechanical properties measured by nanoindentation.