Endoscopic mucosal healing is a key treatment target in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of this study was to investigate small bowel (SB) mucosal healing using video capsule endoscopy (VCE) in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) following, 24 weeks of adalimumab therapy.

 In this prospective study, moderate to severe SB involvement CD patients were enrolled, defined by a Lewis score on VCE at diagnosis >, 790 in at least one tertile. All patients were treated with adalimumab monotherapy at the standard dosing for CD for, 24 weeks prior to undertaking the follow-up second VCE. The primary outcome was the endoscopic healing defined as a Lewis score (LS) <, 350, whereas partial response was defined as a >, 50% decrease from baseline in LS. Secondary outcomes included the remission in the clinical symptoms (Harvey Bradshaw Index, HBI <, 4) and biomarkers (fecal calprotectin, FC <, 200 ug/g, and c-reactive protein, CRP <, 5 mg/l).

 A total of, 59 CD patients were screened at McGill University Health Centre between November, 2011 and October, 2021;, 15 patients were met the eligibility criteria and were enrolled. The median age at inclusion was, 46 years (IQR, 28–51), 8 patients (53.3%) had ankylosing spondylitis. The most frequent locations of CD on VCE findings were the proximal-mid ileum (93.3%) and jejunum (73.3%). Primary outcome; complete endoscopic healing was observed in, 8 patients (53.3%, p=0.002, OR for remission = 2.14, 95%CI:, 1.25–3.68), and partial response in an additional, 5 patients (33.3%) after, 24 weeks. The median total Lewis score was decreased significantly compared to the baseline (1,912 vs., 337, p=0.0005). Secondary outcomes; the HBI at baseline was elevated (>, 4) in, 11 patients. Post-treatment HBI was consistent with clinical remission in all cases (11/15 vs., 0/15, p <0.0001 OR clinical remission = 0.27,95%CI:0.12–0.62). Nine patients who had baseline CRP elevation had achieved normal CRP after treatment, and the median CRP was significantly decreased from, 7.3 mg/L (1.8 -18.0) to, 1.6 mg/L (IQR, 1.0 –, 3.2), p=0.025. However, there were no significant changes in FC pre-and post-treatment. In addition, baseline VCE demonstrated ulcerated SB strictures in, 3 patients, 2 had non-ulcerated strictures on the second VCE. No capsule retention or other adverse events were observed.

 Adalimumab led to significant improvement of small intestinal endoscopic healing in Crohn's disease, with, 53% achieving complete healing.


A bleeding diathesis in a case of IgA myeloma was found to be associated with at least two abnormalities in the hemostatic mechanism. Both were related to the presence of the abnormal myeloma protein and improved with plasmapheresis and with response to tryptophane mustard therapy. The first abnormality stems from interference with fibrinogen polymerization and is responsible for prolonging the clotting time, acting as an anticoagulant on addition of the patient's serum to normal blood, and giving rise to the gelification phenomenon noted on clotting. This abnormality is partially, but not completely, corrected by calcium; it has previously been described in other patients with multiple myeloma. The second abnormality results from coating of collagen (as well as other surfaces) by the abnormal protein and causes the prolonged bleeding time and poor in vivo adhesion of platelets. This abnormality has not been previously described and appears to be partially responsible for the patient's bleeding.


From an historical aspect, there are or have been 215 species and 62 families of terrestrial vertebrates found in the environs of Utah Lake. The classes Amphibia and Reptilia are represented by 4 species in 3 families and 12 species in 4 families, respectively. The class Aves has the highest numbers of species and families. The birds are represented by 152 species and 39 families. There are 47 species of mammals found within 16 families. Three additional species of reptiles have been reported to one of us by the Division of Wildlife Resources personnel as occurring in the environs of Utah Lake, but these are not recorded in the literature and have not been verified by us.


In this paper, following J. Franks' work on Lyapunov graphs of nonsingular Smale flows on S3, we study Lyapunov graphs of nonsingular Smale flows on S1 ×S2. More precisely, we determine necessary and sufficient conditions on an abstract Lyapunov graph to be associated with a nonsingular Smale flow on S1 × S2. We also study the singular type vertices in Lyapunov graphs of nonsingular Smale flows on 3-manifolds.


A study of large solar storms in the equinox periods of solar cycles 23 & 24 is presented to quantify their effects on the total electron content (TEC) in the ionosphere. We study the dependence of TEC over the contiguous US on various storm parameters, including the onset time of the storm, the duration of the storm, its intensity, and the rate of change of the ring current response. These parameters are inferred autonomously and compared to TEC values obtained from the CORS network of GPS stations. To quantify the effects we examine the difference between the storm-time TEC value and an average from 5 quiet days during the same month. These values are studied over a grid with 1 deg x 1 deg spatial resolution in latitude and longitude over the US sector. Correlations between storm parameters and the quantified delta TEC values are studied using machine learning techniques to identify the most important controlling variables. The weights inferred by the algorithm for each input variable show their importance to the resultant TEC change. The results of this work are compared to recent TEC studies to investigate the effects of large storms on the distribution of ionospheric density over large spatial and temporal scales. Quantification of Effect of Solar Storms on TEC over U.S. sector Using Machine Learning


Objective: Traditionally in the United Kingdom, children with severe and profound hearing loss have been fitted with linear, analog hearing aids. Fast-acting, wide-dynamic-range compression (WDRC) has been shown to give better discrimination of speech than linear amplification for moderately hearing-impaired young adults. For severe and profound hearing losses, higher compression ratios are needed. The resultant distortion of the temporal envelope and reduced modulation depth may offset improvements in audibility offered by WDRC. In this study, speech recognition and discrimination were assessed for severely and profoundly hearing-impaired children, using three different amplification strategies, including WDRC. Design: Fifteen children (ages 7 to 15 yr) with severe and profound hearing loss were fitted bilaterally with high-power, multichannel compression hearing aids, incorporating one of three different amplification strategies: linear with peak clipping, linear with compression limiting, or WDRC. Output responses were matched to Desired Sensation Level (DSL i/o) targets. The children wore hearing aids programmed with each of the amplification strategies in turn, for at least 1 wk, in a counterbalanced order across children. After using a particular amplification strategy for at least 1 wk, speech perception tests were carried out. Results: Speech scores on closed-set testing for the profound group showed significant benefit for WDRC over the other two algorithms. None of the other results showed a statistically significant effect of algorithm on speech performance. Conclusions: WDRC amplification sometimes led to better performance than linear amplification with peak clipping or output limiting, and it never led to poorer performance. Therefore, it appears to be safe to use well-designed WDRC for hearing-impaired children with severe or profound hearing loss.


Macroscopic dark matter (macros) are a broad class of alternative candidates to particle dark matter. These candidates would transfer energy primarily through elastic scattering, and this linear energy deposition would produce observable signals if a macro were to pass through the atmosphere. We produce constraints for low mass macros from the null observation of bolides formed by a passing macro, across two extensive networks of cameras built originally to observe meteorites. The parameter space that could be probed with planned upgrades to the existing array of cameras in one of these networks still currently in use, the Desert Fireball Network in Australia, is estimated.


The statistical analysis of infrastructure metrics comes with several specific challenges, including the fairly large volume of unstructured metrics from a large set of independent data sources. Hadoop and Spark provide an ideal environment in particular for the first steps of skimming rapidly through hundreds of TB of low relevance data to find and extract the much smaller data volume that is relevant for statistical analysis and modelling. This presentation will describe the new Hadoop service at CERN and the use of several of its components for high throughput data aggregation and ad-hoc pattern searches. We will describe the hardware setup used, the service structure with a small set of decoupled clusters and the first experience with co-hosting different applications and performing software upgrades. We will further detail the common infrastructure used for data extraction and preparation from continuous monitoring and database input sources.


The high cost of large-scale, high-coverage whole-genome sequencing has limited its application in genomics and genetics research. The common approach has been to impute whole-genome sequence variants obtained from a few individuals for a larger population of interest individually genotyped using SNP chip. An alternative involves low-coverage whole-genome sequencing (lcWGS) of all individuals in the larger population, followed by imputation to sequence resolution. To overcome limitations of processing lcWGS data and meeting specific genotype imputation requirements, we developed AGIDB (https://agidb.pro), a website comprising tools and database with an unprecedented sample size and comprehensive variant decoding for animals. AGIDB integrates whole-genome sequencing and chip data from 17 360 and 174 945 individuals, respectively, across 89 species to identify over one billion variants, totaling a massive 688.57 TB of processed data. AGIDB focuses on integrating multiple genotype imputation scenarios. It also provides user-friendly searching and data analysis modules that enable comprehensive annotation of genetic variants for specific populations. To meet a wide range of research requirements, AGIDB offers downloadable reference panels for each species in addition to its extensive dataset, variant decoding and utility tools. We hope that AGIDB will become a key foundational resource in genetics and breeding, providing robust support to researchers.


The consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (1993) have been felt most strongly in product liability cases. Many of those cases have centered on 'toxic tort' claims - arising from exposure to minerals and chemicals, and from ingestion or injection of therapeutic toxins. Courts have shown a pattern of engaging in a mechanical and rigid application of the rudimentary four factors suggested by the Supreme Court to evaluate the reliability of the opinions asserted by experts regarding causation of disease. Courts' reductionist reliance on the 'Daubert factors' (testability, peer review, known error rates, general acceptance) are a failure of governance. The central wisdom of Daubert is that law, not science governs, and that law must make an independent judgment regarding the sufficiency of evidence. But law can properly carry out that assessment only if it gives to science and scientists a full measure of recognition of their expertise and their methods. Scientific conclusions are reached by reasoning from the best available data, not by wooden use of the four part Daubert checklist - which itself lacks coherence. Thus, as practiced, post-Daubert, courts often replace the Frye general acceptance test, rejected as too 'austere' by Justice Blackmun, with a truncated, pidgin evaluation of scientific evidence. Courts' awkward, formulaic vision is particularly apparent in their handling of epidemiologic evidence, of which a far too narrow and arithmetic view is taken. The essential power of modern epidemiology and toxicology is that they are practical arts, combining knowledge from many disciplines and seeking to review it in a systematic way. Brian MacMahon and Thomas F. Pugh, two authorities on epidemiologic methods put it this way: "While epidemiologic information is at times derived from a much wider spectrum of biologic and medical disciplines, these three - clinical medicine, pathology and biostatistics - have almost universal application in epidemiology. Indeed, epidemiology may be thought of as the joint application of the three in the search for further understanding of disease etiology." The requirement of some courts that statistical epidemiological evidence must be produced in order to prove that something causes injury or disease presents great dangers for the plaintiff. The ability to construct an effective narrative through epidemiology is much obstructed by courts' treatment of epidemiology as a branch of statistics which makes decisions about causes based on 'odds ratios' and other numerical devices. Images of dice tumbling across the table are among the least appealing bases for judgment to jurors. Jurors are much more likely to agree with Albert Einstein that He does not play dice with the universe and to accept causal explanations derived from biologically coherent explanations of the evidence that a particular substance or condition probably plays a role in causing human disease or injury. In trying to prove causation of disease plaintiffs' lawyers confront our conservative scientific culture which sustains a conservative judicial attitude about the kind of scientific evidence needed to show that a substance is toxic and that it actually injured the plaintiff. Courts should adopt the approach of epidemiologist and philosopher of science Mervyn Susser: "The philosophy of causal inference reaches deep into abstractions. Applied in clinical (practice), however, it yields some practical benefits. For clinicians, inference is a constant and every day activity. In going about their business of diagnosis and treatment, clinicians are constantly making logical inferences, that is to say, drawing conclusions from a set of facts and premises...This logic (of causal inference) enables the contemporary clinician, in dealings with patients, to shift from charismatic priest-like authority to the authority of tried knowledge and of rational predictions founded on explicit models of causal relationships." In the end, observes Susser, judiciousness matters most. A discussion of these issues is followed by an example - application of a fuller, more flexible approach to causal inference in assessing the evidence for a causal relationship between a particular disease - kidney cancer - and exposure to asbestos.


Twelve exploratory wells were drilled in Alaskan waters in 1983. No discoveries were announced discoveries as all the wells were suspended or plugged and abandoned. Main industry interest continued to be in the North Slope and Beaufort Sea areas of the state. The most costly wildcat well in North American history was drilled unsuccessfully in the Beaufort Sea. OCS lease sales in the Norton basin and St. George basin of the Bering Sea dominated leasing activity.


Previous research has revealed that newcomer women are disproportionately affected by gender-biased barriers in open source software (OSS) projects. However, this research has focused mainly on social/cultural factors, neglecting the software tools and infrastructure. To shed light on how OSS tools and infrastructure might factor into OSS barriers to entry, we conducted two studies: (1) a field study with five teams of software professionals, who worked through five use cases to analyze the tools and infrastructure used in their OSS projects; and (2) a diary study with 22 newcomers (9 women and 13 men) to investigate whether the barriers matched the ones identified by the software professionals. The field study produced a bleak result: software professionals found gender biases in 73 percent of all the newcomer barriers they identified. Further, the diary study confirmed these results: Women newcomers encountered gender biases in 63 percent of barriers they faced. Fortunately, many kinds of barriers and biases revealed in these studies could potentially be ameliorated through changes to the OSS software environments and tools.


Online services are playing critical roles in almost all aspects of users' life. Users usually have multiple online identities (IDs) in different online services. In order to fuse the separated user data in multiple services for better business intelligence, it is critical for service providers to link online IDs belonging to the same user. On the other hand, the popularity of mobile networks and GPS-equipped smart devices have provided a generic way to link IDs, i.e., utilizing the mobility traces of IDs. However, linking IDs based on their mobility traces has been a challenging problem due to the highly heterogeneous, incomplete and noisy mobility data across services. In this paper, we propose DPLink, an end-to-end deep learning based framework, to complete the user identity linkage task for heterogeneous mobility data collected from different services with different properties. DPLink is made up by a feature extractor including a location encoder and a trajectory encoder to extract representative features from trajectory and a comparator to compare and decide whether to link two trajectories as the same user. Particularly, we propose a pre-training strategy with a simple task to train the DPLink model to overcome the training difficulties introduced by the highly heterogeneous nature of different source mobility data. Besides, we introduce a multi-modal embedding network and a co-attention mechanism in DPLink to deal with the low-quality problem of mobility data. By conducting extensive experiments on two real-life ground-truth mobility datasets with eight baselines, we demonstrate that DPLink outperforms the state-of-the-art solutions by more than 15 percent in terms of hit-precision. Moreover, it is expandable to add external geographical context data and works stably with heterogeneous noisy mobility traces.


The quadratic shortest path problem is the problem of finding a path in a directed graph such that the sum of interaction costs over all pairs of arcs on the path is minimized. We derive several semidefinite programming relaxations for the quadratic shortest path problem with a matrix variable of order $m+1$, where $m$ is the number of arcs in the graph. We use the alternating direction method of multipliers to solve the semidefinite programming relaxations. Numerical results show that our bounds are currently the strongest bounds for the quadratic shortest path problem.
We also present computational results on solving the quadratic shortest path problem using a branch and bound algorithm. Our algorithm computes a semidefinite programming bound in each node of the search tree, and solves instances with up to 1300 arcs in less than an hour (!).


Traditional approaches to computer-aided learning have tended to minimize the role of the local teacher, despite their experience and close knowledge of their students' learning needs. A new approach to producing educational materials focuses on the construction of 'learning objects', storing these in 'digital repositories' and allowing for reuse in a variety of contexts. This paper reviews these basic concepts and provides information on their current state of development. It is also argued that whilst these new technologies offer tremendous potential benefits, more regard must now be paid to underlying pedagogical structures. This requires more explicit consideration of the types of learner activity and the social context within which the learning is situated.


In an effort to identify the factors that affect the reactivity of nitrogen mustards, we prepared two phosphoramide mustard derivatives in interaction with DNA. The activity of these drugs was compared to that of cyclophosphamide and phosphoramide mustard. The effect of drug interaction on DNA aggregation and condensation was investigated in aqueous solution under physiological conditions, using a constant DNA concentration (6.25 mM) and various ligand/polynucleotide (phosphate) ratios of 1/160, 1/80, 1/40, 1/20, 1/10, 1/5, 1/2, and 1/1. Fourier transform infrared, two-dimensional infrared (2D IR), and ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectroscopic methods were used to determine the ligand binding modes, the binding constants, and the stability of the drug–DNA complexes in aqueous solution. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations followed by a natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis, Fukui functions, electron localization functions (ELF), generalized valence bond (GVB) calculations, and quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) were used to find the relationship between the structure and reactivity of phosphoramide mustard derivatives. Together with these methods, docking studies were applied to understand the features that dominate the molecular orbitals, charges, and other binding parameters. Theoretical results that coincided with the experimental values were obtained under similar conditions of pH and temperature. The results showed that the reactivity of these compounds is controlled by the frontier molecular orbitals, as well as the factors affecting them, such as negative hyperconjugation.


Contamination of cereals with Fusarium species is one of the major sources of mycotoxin contamination in food and feed. Despite great progress in plant breeding, a complete resistance to Fusarium species has not yet been achieved. Visual scoring of disease symptoms combined with the determination of mycotoxins are common approaches to identify new Fusarium tolerant lines, but these methods are only indirect and therefore of limited use to determine the level of resistance against Fusarium spp. Aiming at a rapid and sensitive quantification method for trichothecene and fumonisin producing Fusarium species in maize, a multiplex qPCR assay was developed. This method enables high-throughput screening of a large number of samples for Fusarium infection in a relatively short time due to simultaneous quantification of the mycotoxin-related genes tri5 and fum1. The multiplex method was applied to 24 maize field samples. All these were analyzed for the trichothecenes deoxynivalenol (DON), DON-3-glucoside (D3G), nivalenol (NIV), 3-acetyl-DON (3-ADON), T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS) and neosolaniol (NEO) and the fumonisins fumonisin B1 (FB1), fumonisin B2 (FB2) and fumonisin B3 (FB3) by LC-MS/MS and for the mycotoxin producers by the new qPCR multiplex assay. The assay was found to be specific for fumonisin as well as for trichothecene producing Fusarium species. The limit of quantification was found to be 0.32 pg per μl for both Fusarium strains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the use of a multiplex qPCR for the quantification of trichothecene and fumonisin producing Fusarium species.


Antimicrobial resistance is a major problem
in the management of infectious diseases. African indigenous functional
food-plants such as Chenopodium album and Solanum nigrum may constitute
important sources of phytochemical constituents for the synthesis of
antimicrobial compounds against infectious organisms. The objective of this
study was to determine the antimicrobial pro- perties of Chenopodium album and Solanum
nigrum-leaves used as functional food-plants in the O.R. Tambo district
municipality of South Africa. Organic and aqueous solvent-extracts of C. album
and S. nigrum were tested against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213), Pseudomonas
aeruginosa (ATCC127853), Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6051), Escherichia coli
(25922) and Enterococcus faecalis (51299) using standard microbiological
techniques. Ciprofloxacin was included in all the experimental runs as positive
control antibiotic. The aqueous extracts of both plants were the most active
with zones of inhibition diameters ranging from 0 mm - 20 mm and minimum
inhibitory concentration (MIC50) values ranging from 0.63 mg/mL - 10 mg/mL. The
positive control antibiotic was highly active with zones of inhibition
diameters ranging from 17 mm - 31 mm and MIC50 values from 0.0003 mg/mL - 0.0005mg/mL
for all the bacteria tested. Both extracts were bactericidal with minimum
bactericidal concentration (MBC) ranges from 2.5mg/mL - 20mg/mL. From the results,
it can be concluded that both plants possess compounds with antimicrobial properties,
thus validating scientifically their use in traditional medicine. However, more
studies to document the respective plant-principles responsible for
antimicrobial activity of these plants would shed more light on their
functional properties.


This paper studies the changes in income experienced by older women when their husbands die. The data used are the Retirement History Survey. The six waves of this survey provide information on roughly 1300 women who became widowed during the ten year period of the survey, 1960-1979. The findings indicate that about one third of new widows experience a substantial reduction (25 percent or greater) in their living standards when their husbands die. The reduction in living standard associated with the husband's death is more severe for younger widows and widows with greater income pre-widowhood. Couples could insure against severe reductions in income of widows by purchasing more life insurance. These findings lead, therefore, to the conclusion reached in previous studies by the authors and other researchers, namely that many couples fail to purchase enough life insurance to prevent a sharp drop in the wife's consumption if her husband dies. This conclusion raises the question of the role of the government in requiring the purchase of life insurance by couples, through the social security system's survivor insurance. The strong and uniform evidence on the pattern and level of life insurance purchases has implications for the scale of social security survivor benefits and the appropriate mix of total social security benefits between survivor and nonsurvivor benefits.


This manuscript focuses on the rearrangement of the structure of the photovoltaic (PV) array under different shading conditions. It aims to analyze the mismatch power losses (MPLs) due to irregular illumination over PV array (PVA). The impact of partial irradiance not only affects the electrical power but also causes multiple peaks in the P-V and I-V curves. The formulation of the best PVA configuration (PVAC) to achieve maximum output even under partial shading conditions is the deciding factor for the topologies considered. To aid the maximum power extraction, a new SuDoKu PVAC is designed like hyper SuDoKu (HS). This new structure is compared with the already existing PVACs such as bridge link, honey comb, series parallel, total cross-tied, and SuDoKu in the effect of considerable cases of shadowing. MATLAB/SIMULINK is used for the designing and computer based modeling of all these PVACs is considered in this work. The evaluation of these arrangements has been done by keeping several performance factors as the deciding pivot points. These factors include MPL, efficiency, global maximum power point (GMPP), and fill factor (FF). The results obtained through this document suggest that the HS arrangement proposed here gives the best outcome for each shading condition. The proposed HS structural arrangement of PVA deals with significantly superior GMPP, FF and efficiency while maintaining minimum MPL in comparison to the other arrangements.


New geochronologic data show that Jurassic dikes in the western Mojave Desert and Eastern Transverse Ranges are part of the Independence dike swarm of eastern California .These occurrences extend the length of the dike swarm to more than 500 km. U/Pb zircon concordia intercept ages for dikes near Stoddard Well in the western Mojave Desert and Big Wash in the Eagle Mountains are identical within analytical uncertainties to 148 Ma zircon ages for Independence dikes north of the Garlock fault. Recognition of this widespread magmatic and tectonic event with a restricted age has important ramifications. (1) Crosscutting relations between the dikes and pre-Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks help establish relative ages. (2) Persistence of dikes across several inferred terrane boundaries constrains terrane accretion ages. (3) The dike rocks represent magmatic processes in a wide range of wall-rock settings. (4) The dikes are structural markers that record translations and rotationsof crustal flakes. (5) Regional persistence and dilational emplacement of the Independence dike swarm suggest that it is the last extension in a series of alternating extensional and compressional events during the Jurassic. The tectonic regime responsible for the Independence dikes may be related to arc-normal extension, changes in plate motions, or oblique subduction with left-lateral shear.


An integral computer model/program AusEvol Pro was developed to describe the evolution of steel microstructure during thermomechanical processing (hot rolling, forging), as well as subsequent heat treatment (normalization, tempering), and to evaluate the final mechanical properties (yield stress, tensile stress, elongation), hardness and impact toughness. The program implements a set of physically based models that allow quantitative description of all significant processes of steel structure formation with account of the effects of chemical composition both during thermomechanical processing and heat treatment. Calculations of the final mechanical properties are carried out using the developed models that take into account all physically meaningful contributions. The models created are verified both on the extensive database of our own experimental studies and on reliable data from literature for steels of various chemical compositions.


Background ProFouND is an EC funded initiative dedicated to the dissemination and implementation of best practice in falls prevention across Europe (12 countries). ProFouND has led annual falls prevention campaigns; collated a free access resources library; an online app to distribute tailored, best practice guidance, available in various languages; a cascade model training programme for exercise trainers across 10 countries and an "ICT for Falls Network" has been implemented to promote the development and adoption of novel ICT. Description of the problem Ensuring that robust research evidence is widely implemented is a key outcome for all healthcare researchers, however it is well established that there can be long delays in the translation of knowledge into practice. The objective of this work is to accelerate the impact and dissemination of evidence based falls prevention research through use of ICT technology, European wide collaboration and campaigning. Methods This presentation will describe effective strategies using ICT technologies, free access resources, media tools and context specific targeted campaigning to raise awareness of best evidence in falls prevention and to facilitate widespread implementation. ProFouND consortium partners and multi-sectorial stakeholders based throughout the regions (118) were invited to take part in a series of dissemination activities. Resources and information can be found at ProFouND.eu.com Results In this paper, we contribute to the narrative evidence-base by outlining key benefits, challenges and mechanisms that may enable effective implementation of research evidence relevant to other contexts. Following a comprehensive survey of all partners and associate partners (including EIP AHA), engagement from the 12 participating countries was largely achieved, particularly in areas with dedicated personnel. This resulted in widespread dissemination through public engagement events, television, radio and multi-sectorial stakeholders, health websites, social media and NGO uptake and coverage. Conclusions An understanding of methods to increase effective dissemination and implementation of robust evidence can ensure that effort is put to best use to improve public health knowledge in areas such as falls prevention. With relatively small investments of time and resources we conclude that ICT technologies for the dissemination of research are worthwhile and offer great potential in raising awareness, widening access and increasing engagement with best evidence falls prevention resources.


Human-robot interaction technology, used to command a robot or to acquire information from a robot, is defined as the communication method between humans and the robot. Human-robot interaction consists of the input facility, environment display, intuitive command and reaction, and the architecture of the interface program. This research focuses on the framework of the interface program that contains the controls, communication architecture and robot mark-up languages. The application that builds the intelligent user interface uses the functions: plug-and-play for robot peripherals; self-diagnosis; and multimodal sensor fusion. This research proposes the robotpsilas architecture to make the decision based on the robotpsilas level of autonomy. Our intelligent user interface system consists of ultrasonic, position sensitive detector (PSD), and DC motors. We verify operation of the intelligent user interface for the human-robot interaction through evaluating a scenario: the remote control of the mobile robotpsilas navigation in an environment containing obstacles.


This electronic document is a "live" template. The various components of your paper [title, text, heads, etc.] are already defined on the style sheet, as illustrated by the portions given in this document. A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a distributed information processing system with the capabilities of sensing, wireless communication and data processing. Individual sensor modules of such a network sense the environment, perform data processing locally and cooperate with other sensors via communication. One very important issue in the deployment of a wireless sensor network is the problem of optimizing energy consumption as these networks may be deployed in places where energy supply are not readily available such as in a seaport container terminal and they are required to work with a long lifespan. The main objective of our research is to develop an algorithm for controlling the power consumption of sensor modules in a wireless sensor network for mobile object tracking. The algorithm determines the actions of an individual sensor module to enter a low power state to conserve energy while maintaining its functionality to track objects and to optimize the lifespan of the entire sensor network by reducing overall power consumption. A control framework and corresponding algorithms for controlling the actions of a sensor is designed and experimentation is done to show its efficiency in controlling power consumption of a sensor network.


Urban region profiling can benefit urban analytics. Although existing studies have made great efforts to learn urban region representation from multi-source urban data, there are still three limitations: (1) Most related methods focused merely on global-level inter-region relations while overlooking local-level geographical contextual signals and intra-region information; (2) Most previous works failed to develop an effective yet integrated fusion module which can deeply fuse multi-graph correlations; (3) State-of-the-art methods do not perform well in regions with high variance socioeconomic attributes. To address these challenges, we propose a multi-graph representative learning framework, called Region2Vec, for urban region profiling. Specifically, except that human mobility is encoded for inter-region relations, geographic neighborhood is introduced for capturing geographical contextual information while POI side information is adopted for representing intra-region information by knowledge graph. Then, graphs are used to capture accessibility, vicinity, and functionality correlations among regions. To consider the discriminative properties of multiple graphs, an encoder-decoder multi-graph fusion module is further proposed to jointly learn comprehensive representations. Experiments on real-world datasets show that Region2Vec can be employed in three applications and outperforms all state-of-the-art baselines. Particularly, Region2Vec has better performance than previous studies in regions with high variance socioeconomic attributes.


The surgical approach to chin for esthetical purpose can be isolated or in a combination with other treatments like maxillomandibular surgery. Both possibilities include sliding genioplasty or implants of autologous or alloplastic materials. In this article, the authors present their new technique, the Pyramid Chin Augmentation.In January 2020, a 40-year-old male patient came to authors' observation asking for a great augmentation in the sagittal dimension of the chin, a better pronunciation of mandibular angles and of his cheekbones. The surgical treatment consisted in three different procedures at the same time: a chin wing osteotomy, a Pyramid Chin Augmentation and zygomatic PEEK custom-made malar implants. The pyramid was created on the body of the chin wing with a cortical bone graft from the oblique line of the ascending ramus of the mandible. The harvested bone was cut into strips of rectangular shape gradually shorter to be superimposed on the wing forming a pyramid. A fixation with 2 screws was performed and then was necessary to smoothen the edges of the bone layers.The result immediately after the end of the surgery was in line with the set goals. The mandibular angles were more prominent, the chin was more sagittal pronounced, and there was no evidence of depression in the symphysial region.The Pyramid Chin Augmentation Technique can be a valid tool in chin augmentation surgery and can also represent an effective procedure in the finishing touch of other facial surgery techniques.


There have been many complaints in recent years that nursing research has not developed as fully as it should have, together with a suggested explanation that this is largely due to a lack of success in obtaining funding. This lack of success has been attributed to a domination of funding bodies by doctors, who, it is claimed, do not understand or value nursing research. We have examined such claims in two ways. First, a brief historical overview shows that, although there is still a way to go, nursing research has, in recent years, produced useful information, and that this refutes the idea that it is completely undeveloped. Second, a report on a case study on the progress of 217 grant applications to a regional R&D office in the UK challenges the suggested explanation. The limited number of funded proposals from nurses was not due to medical prejudice. Rather it was due to very few nurses putting forward proposals and to many of those proposals being withdrawn voluntarily, usually after the receipt of insensitively-worded referees' commentaries. When nursing proposals were pursued vigorously, they received higher scientific ratings than medical-led proposals, and were, proportionately, more likely to gain funding.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are used to obtain information from the surrounding areas and collected data is reported to the base station through wireless links. In certain scenarios ongoing transmissions within the network need to be concealed so that no information is leaked beyond a vulnerable area. Such a concealment effort necessitates transmit ranges of radios to be limited. However, limiting transmit ranges results in sub-optimal routing patterns within the network, which results in lower network lifetime. In this paper, through a Linear Programming (LP) framework, we analyze lifetime limits of WSNs improving contextual privacy by transmit range control.


The anti-seismic behavior of RC frame with buckling restrained braces (BRBs) subjected to severe earthquake action in seismic region was investigated in this paper. A design process of the buckling restrained braces used for stiffness-deficiency concrete frame structures was given, the design of the buckling restrained braces was conducted for a common frame structure, the layout of these braces in it was given by taking an actual engineering for illustrations, and the static analysis and time-history dynamic analysis were also performed. The results of computation showed that the use of buckling restrained braces has led to several functional improvements, such as the increase in structure stiffness, reduction of story displacement, and improved energy dissipation ability when compared with the frame without such braces. Analysis results showed further that RC frame with BRBs could absorb and dissipate seismic energy more effectively, improving anti-seismic performance of the framed structure.


This research aims to study the production process on the white oyster
mushroom farming. So that researchers can analyze the risk of physical,
economic, and factors - factors that affect the production of white oyster
mushroom, and know the efforts to overcome these problems. The analysis used
the descriptive analysis, multiple linear regression, f test, and risk analysis. The
most effective method is used to measure the impact of risk is Value at Risk.Hasil
study of white oyster mushroom business in the village district wadungasih
Buduran shows Kumbung area, Total Baglog, Watering Frequency and Labor is a
factor - a very influential factor in the production of oyster mushroom farm in
white with proved it using linear regression analysis with significant results.
production of mushrooms in oyster mushroom farms have the risk of failure by
44.4% and economic risks experienced by farmers during the years 2011-2012,
the lack of production revenue of Rp, 10,419,732, resulting in production of
mushrooms at risk is quite high. Constraints faced by farmers who fungus in the
village Wadungasih.diantaranya availability of capital and lack of motivation. To
overcome this, the farmers have to pay attention to the material Pertu
mushrooms where the possibility of pests such as mice, or in kumbung stabils
temperature that can affect the growth of fungi, to avoid the failure of farmers to
be more noticed.
Keywords: Farming, White Oyster Mushroom, and Risk


The design, modeling, simulation, and testing of a landing gear system that enables a UAV to perch on an object or surface is presented here. The working principle of the landing gear is inspired by the anatomy of birds that grasp and perch as tendons in their legs and feet are tensioned. In a similar fashion, as the UAV sets down on a structure, its weight tensions a cable which actuates opposing, flexible, multi-segment feet to enclose the target. To analyze the grasping capability of the design, a hybrid empirical–computational model is developed that can be used to simulate the kinematics of the system as it grasps objects of various cross-sectional shapes and sizes. The model relates the curvature of the feet to the displacement and tension of the cable tendon. These quantities are then related to the weight of the UAV through the leg geometry. It also evaluates enclosure and calculates contact forces to quantitatively characterize the grasp. Results demonstrate how the model can be used by designers to determine how a UAV can perch upon a structure of a given shape and size. If perched, the minimum weight required to maintain its position is calculated. A prototype system was fabricated, analyzed, and tested on a radio-controlled hexacopter. Experiments show that the landing gear enables the hexacopter to land, perch, and takeoff from a variety of objects. Finally, we begin to investigate the scalability of the concept with a smaller, lighter design.


The notion of the genus of a quadratic form is generalized to vertex operator algebras. We define it as the modular braided tensor category associated to a suitable vertex operator algebra together with the central charge. Statements similar as known for quadratic forms are formulated. We further explain how extension problems for vertex operator algebras can be described in terms of the associated modular braided tensor category.


A limited supply of oyster shell for restoration practices has prompted investigations of alternative substrates used in construction of artificial oyster reefs. The success of oyster reef restoration projects is increasingly focused not only on oyster densities, but also on habitat provisioning for associated fauna. A subtidal oyster reef complex (0.24 km2) was restored in the Mission‐Aransas Estuary, Texas, U.S.A., in July 2013 using replicated mounds of concrete, limestone, river rock, and oyster shell substrates. Oyster and reef‐associated fauna characteristics were quantified quarterly for 15 months, using sampling trays that were deployed 3 months after construction. The highest densities of oyster spat occurred 9 months after tray deployment (July 2014, 1,264/m2), whereas juvenile oyster densities increased throughout the study period to 283/m2. Concrete (1,022/m2) and limestone (939/m2) supported the highest number of oysters over all dates. Oyster shell (1,533/m2) and concrete (1,047/m2) substrates supported the highest densities of associated motile fauna. Faunal diversity (Hill's N1) did not vary by substrate material, but did show seasonal variation. A simple benefit–cost ratio was used to indicate the localized monetary value for each of the substrates. Oyster shell and concrete substrates returned the highest benefit–cost ratio for motile fauna, while concrete yielded the highest benefit–cost ratio for oyster abundance. Incorporating benefit–cost ratios in restoration planning will allow practitioners to better integrate substrate‐specific ecological values with economic considerations and project goals to maximize return on restoration investments.


Purpose In today's digital world, text messaging is one of the most widely used ways that people stay connected. Although it is reported that people with aphasia experience difficulties with texting, little information is available about how they actually do text. This study reports texting behaviors, such as the number and type of messages sent and contacts individuals with aphasia have. The relationships between texting behaviors and aphasia severity, including writing impairments, and social connectedness are explored. Method Twenty participants were sampled from an ongoing randomized clinical trial investigating an electronic writing treatment for aphasia (Clinical Trials Identifier: NCT03773419). Participants provided consent for researchers to view and analyze texts sent and received over a 7-day period immediately prior to the assessment. Participants' text messages were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded. Results Over the 7-day period, the number of contacts with whom participants texted ranged from one to 18. The mean number of text messages exchanged was 40.3 (SD = 48.24), with participants sending an average of 15.4 (SD = 23.45) texts and receiving an average of 24.9 (SD = 29.44) texts. Participants varied in the types of texts sent; some had a larger proportion of initiated texts, while others drafted more responses, either simple or elaborative in nature. There was no correlation between the total number of texting exchanges and the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised Aphasia Quotient (rs = .13, p = . 29) or the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised Writing subtest (rs = .05, p = .42). There was also no correlation between the total number of texting exchanges and scores on measures of social connectedness. Conclusions Texting behaviors of individuals with aphasia are widely variable. Demographics, severity of aphasia and writing, and social connectedness may not predict texting behaviors. Therefore, it is clinically important to explore the unique texting abilities and preferences of each individual to meet their communication and social participation goals. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14669664.


Abstract Angular discretization errors inherent in the discrete ordinates method are a major problem, especially for localized source problems and problems with strongly absorbing media or large-volume void regions, where angular discretization errors would be totally unacceptable. This paper proposes a regional angular adaptive algorithm together with a goal-oriented error estimate to solve the SN equations. Standard angular adaptive refinement techniques are based on estimated local errors. We compare an interpolated angular flux value against a calculated value to generate local errors. The adaptive quadrature sets can be created by subdividing a spherical quadrilateral into four spherical subquadrilaterals that have positive weights and can be locally refined. Techniques for mapping angular fluxes from one quadrature set to another are developed to transfer angular fluxes on the interfaces of different spatial regions. To provide a better detector response, local errors are weighted by the importance of a given angular region toward the computational goal, providing an appropriate goal-oriented angular adaptivity. First collision source methods are employed to improve adjoint flux calculation accuracy. We tested the performance and accuracy of the proposed goal-oriented regional angular adaptive algorithm within the ARES code for a number of benchmark problems and present the results of a one-region test model and the Kobayashi benchmark problems. The reduction of angular number is at least one order of magnitude for adaptive refinement. The benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed goal-oriented adaptive refinement can achieve the same level of accuracy as the SN method, which has significantly higher computation cost. Thus, adaptive refinement is a viable approach for investigating difficult particle radiation transport problems.


Renal artery aneurysm is a relatively uncommon condition that is usually detected incidentally after an imaging workup. A renal artery aneurysm is defined as a dilated segment of renal artery that exceeds twice the diameter of a normal renal artery. Symptomatic renal artery aneurysms can cause hypertension, pain, hematuria, and renal infarction. Asymptomatic renal artery aneurysms may seem benign, but the potential for rupture and fistulization increases with size. In this report we describe the treatment strategy of saccular renal artey aneurysm in a 47-year-old man who presented with flank pain.


Monitoring data (1999 to 2012) and data from a 2 wk field study at a seasonally strat- ified station in the Aarhus Bight near the Danish coast were used to demonstrate that the vertical distribution of photosynthesis influences both water column oxygen conditions and the fate of the organic material produced. The primary production (PP) occurring below the surface layer, i.e. in the pycnocline-bottom layer (PBL), is shown to contribute significantly to total PP. Oxygen concen- trations in the PBL are shown to correlate significantly with the deep primary production (DPP) as well as with salinity, phosphate loading, wind and transparency in the surface layer. The phyto- plankton communities detected in the surface layer and PBL during the field study were very dif- ferent. Large cells, especially Ceratium spp., dominated in the PBL, while small diatoms, mainly Proboscis alata, dominated in surface waters. On the basis of chlorophyll-normalised photo - synthetic parameters and variable fluorescence, it is shown that the 2 populations were physio - logically distinct. The population in the PBL was photosynthetically active and adapted/ acclimated to lower light than the population in the surface layer. Sinking rates (based on sedi- ment trap collections) of carbon and nitrogen were highest in the PBL. Lyngsgaard et al. (2014; Limnol Oceanogr 59:1679�1690) have demonstrated that the vertical distribution of PP in this region is influenced by anthropogenic nutrient loading. Thus, the present study indicates that eutrophication effects may include changes in the structure of planktonic food webs and element cycling in the water column, both brought about through an altered vertical distribution of PP.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study is to compare the degree and patterning of inter- and intra-individual metameric variation in South African australopiths, early Homo and modern humans. Metameric variation likely reflects developmental and taxonomical issues, and could also be used to infer ecological and functional adaptations. However, its patterning along the early hominin postcanine dentition, particularly among South African fossil hominins, remains unexplored.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Using microfocus X-ray computed tomography (µXCT) and geometric morphometric tools, we studied the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) morphology and we investigated the intra- and inter-individual EDJ metameric variation among eight australopiths and two early Homo specimens from South Africa, as well as 32 modern humans.

RESULTS
Along post-canine dentition, shape changes between metameres represented by relative positions and height of dentine horns, outlines of the EDJ occlusal table are reported in modern and fossil taxa. Comparisons of EDJ mean shapes and multivariate analyses reveal substantial variation in the direction and magnitude of metameric shape changes among taxa, but some common trends can be found. In modern humans, both the direction and magnitude of metameric shape change show increased variability in M2 -M3 compared to M1 -M2 . Fossil specimens are clustered together showing similar magnitudes of shape change. Along M2 -M3 , the lengths of their metameric vectors are not as variable as those of modern humans, but they display considerable variability in the direction of shape change.

CONCLUSION
The distalward increase of metameric variation along the modern human molar row is consistent with the odontogenetic models of molar row structure (inhibitory cascade model). Though much remains to be tested, the variable trends and magnitudes in metamerism in fossil hominins reported here, together with differences in the scale of shape change between modern humans and fossil hominins may provide valuable information regarding functional morphology and developmental processes in fossil species.


SUMMARY

This review considers strategies for control of eyespot (Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides) in winter wheat and winter barley in the UK. Varietal resistance to eyespot may take the form of direct resistance to the growth of the pathogen in the stem base or of indirect tolerance to eyespot through resistance to lodging. The French variety Cappelle-Desprez has been a source of resistance for most UK wheat varieties and a new source of resistance in wild goat grass has been discovered recently. Use of fungicides for control of eyespot increased rapidly after the introduction of the highly effective MBC fungicides in the 1970s, but has decreased recently because UK populations of P. herpotrichoides are now predominantly resistant to MBC fungicides and alternative fungicides are more expensive. Historically, cultural methods, especially crop rotation, have been important in the control of eyespot. The importance of cultural control of eyespot is now increasing because more non-cereal break crops are being grown and fungicide use is declining.


The report summarizes research to Quantify the Value of Hydropower in the Electric Grid. This 3-year DOE study focused on defining value of hydropower assets in a changing electric grid. Methods are described for valuation and planning of pumped storage and conventional hydropower. The project team conducted plant case studies, electric system modeling, market analysis, cost data gathering, and evaluations of operating strategies and constraints. Five other reports detailing these research results are available a project website, www.epri.com/hydrogrid. With increasing deployment of wind and solar renewable generation, many owners, operators, and developers of hydropower have recognized the opportunity to provide more flexibility and ancillary services to the electric grid. To quantify value of services, this study focused on the Western Electric Coordinating Council region. A security-constrained, unit commitment and economic dispatch model was used to quantify the role of hydropower for several future energy scenarios up to 2020. This hourly production simulation considered transmission requirements to deliver energy, including future expansion plans. Both energy and ancillary service values were considered. Addressing specifically the quantification of pumped storage value, no single value stream dominated predicted plant contributions in various energy futures. Modeling confirmed that service value depends greatly on location and on competition with other available grid support resources. In this summary, ten different value streams related to hydropower are described. These fell into three categories; operational improvements, new technologies, and electricity market opportunities. Of these ten, the study was able to quantify a monetary value in six by applying both present day and future scenarios for operating the electric grid. This study confirmed that hydropower resources across the United States contribute significantly to operation of the grid in terms of energy, capacity, and ancillary services. Many potential improvements to existing hydropower plants were found to be cost-effective. Pumped storage is the most likely form of large new hydro asset expansions in the U.S. however, justifying investments in new pumped storage plants remains very challenging with current electricity market economics. Even over a wide range of possible energy futures, up to 2020, no energy future was found to bring quantifiable revenues sufficient to cover estimated costs of plant construction. Value streams not quantified in this study may provide a different cost-benefit balance and an economic tipping point for hydro. Future studies are essential in the quest to quantify the full potential value. Additional research should consider the value of services provided by advanced storage hydropower and pumped storage at smaller time steps for integration of variable renewable resources, and should include all possible value streams such as capacity value and portfolio benefits i.e.; reducing cycling on traditional generation.


Large two-dimensional arrays of vertical cavity semiconductor lasers, unlike similar one-dimensional arrays, exhibit a single lasing mode because of their immunity to defects and inhomogeneities. Both experiments and theoretical study of the coherence of the arrays verified this improved performance and attributed it to possible bypass routes for the propagation of phase information in the two-dimensional structure, which ensured the locking of remote array elements even in the presence of defects.


Changes are evolving that are impacting the U.S. nitrogen fertilizer industry. Changes in crops, increased demand, reductions in natural gas prices, and spatial competition among producers and imports are affecting the nitrogen fertilizer industry. A spatial competition model of the United States fertilizer sector was developed to determine the likely future spatial distribution of production and flows for nitrogen fertilizer. The model minimizes production and shipping costs from plants and imports to demand areas. A base model of 2010-12 was developed and a future case was modeled representative of 2018. The most valuable (lowest cost) origins for US processing are primarily in Louisiana, followed by others states with low natural gas prices. Shadow prices indicate several locations in Wyoming, Iowa, Georgia, Louisiana, Nebraska, Kansas, and North Dakota would be positive. Not all of proposed plants would be viable and if forced to operate at 75% of capacity or more only a few of the new plants including those located in Louisiana, Iowa and North Dakota would be viable.


Riedel's thyroiditis is a rare disorder of unknown etiology and may be seen isolated or as a part of multifocal fibrosclerosis. It is important to distinguish Riedel's thyroiditis from thyroid carcinoma. Reports about imaging features of Riedel's thyroiditis are limited in the radiologic literature. We describe herein CT and MR imaging features of Riedel's thyroiditis in a case of multifocal fibrosclerosis with previously unreported radiologic observations.


Geophysical data and sampling of the Golo Basin (East Corsica margin) provide the opportunity to study mass balance in a single drainage system over the last 130 kyr, by comparing deposited sediments in the sink and the maximum eroded volume in the source using total denudation proxies. Evaluation of the solid sediments deposited offshore and careful integration of uncertainties from the age model and physical properties allow us to constrain three periods of sedimentation during the last climatic cycle. The peak of sedimentation initiated during Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 3 (ca. 45 ka) and lasted until late in MIS 2 (ca. 18 ka). This correlates with Mediterranean Sea palaeoclimatic records and the glaciation in high altitude Corsica. The yield of solid sediment into the Golo Basin drops in the observed present day Mediterranean basins (gauging stations), whereas the palaeo‐denudation estimate derived from the sediments over the last glacial period is one to ten times higher than that predicted using cosmogenic or thermochronometer estimates of exhumation. The catchment‐wide denudation rate calculated from deposited solid sediment ranges from 47 to 219 mm kyr−1, which is higher than the estimate from palaeosurface ablation in the proximal part of the source (9–140 mm kyr−1) and lower than the distal, narrow, incised channel of the Golo River (160–475 mm kyr−1). This mismatch raises questions about the investigation of denudation at millennial‐time scale (kyr) and at higher integrating times (Myr) as a reliable tool for determining the effect of climate change on mountain building and on sedimentary basin models.


Empowering Women in the Workplace details a cross-section of current concerns regarding women in the workplace which are relevant to employee assistance professionals and other human service professionals. Women researchers, academicians, and employee assistance professionals have compiled their current concerns of working women. The book illuminates these dilemmas and how far away equity in the work role is, while avoiding stereotypical conclusions by presenting exploratory and descriptive data in areas too infrequently investigated. Each chapter contains themes on economic disparity, stress and role strain, victimization and the silence that seeks to hide it, cultural ignorance or avoidance of women's and families'needs, and strong, powerful hopes for the future.Empowering Women in the Workplace is the first book of its kind in the field of occupational social work. The focus is broad and comprehensive and discusses topics insufficiently researched in occupational social work literature. This book also addresses how to effect clinical and institutional change. It offers examples that help professionals become more aware of the need for training, with several chapters providing specific training ideas. It is a guidebook for planning for women and women's families, with immediate as well as longterm interests in mind. Empowering Women in the Workplace introduces the usefulness of research, including relevant information gained from large research studies. Chapters fall into the following topics: Women and Families: A new look at role conflict and stress as analyzed in two separate studies on single parenting and dual-career/dual-earner mothers. A comprehensive fact-filled look at the importance of child care options and the effects of family relocation. Women and Their Current Status: The needs of older women facing retirement are discussed, including an assessment of their financial and social risks. African-American women EAP professionals evaluate the needs of their African-American female clients who still face closed doors of opportunity. An exploratory study on workplace violence against women is also presented. Women as EAP Clients: The needs of lesbian women employees and women survivors of sexual abuse are explored and discussed. Ideas for prevention, identification, and assistance for female AIDS victims are offered. Women as Employee Assistance Professionals: Betty Reddy, a female pioneer in the employee assistance field shares her memoirs of her career and the early involvement of women in the organizations which direct the profession.Empowering Women in the Workplace introduces concepts and applies methods to a variety of client and client/company conflicts that initiate the beginner and inform the expert occupational worker, human service professional, academician, and researcher.


Cytokine-inducible SH2-containing protein (CIS) is a critical negative regulator of IL-15 signaling in natural killer (NK) cells and is encoded by CISH gene in human. Recent studies in a murine model demonstrate that CIS is a potent inhibitory checkpoint in NK cell-mediated tumor immunity. However, it is unclear if CIS similarly regulates human NK cell-mediated anti-tumor activity. Unlike CTLA-4 and PD1 that are expressed at the cell surface and can be blocked by antibody-mediated therapy, CIS is expressed intracellularly. Therefore, we deleted CISH gene in human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCS) using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and characterized the CISH-knockout iPSC lines. Our study demonstrates that CISH does not regulate maintenance of undifferentiated human pluripotent stem cells. We then derived NK cells from these gene-modified iPSCs using a two-stage in vitro hematopoietic-lymphoid differentiation protocol developed by our group. Initial hematopoietic differentiation of the iPSCs was unaffected by CISH deletion. However, deletion of CISH in iPSCs markedly delayed the second stage of in vitro NK cell differentiation. Specifically, whereas NK cell differentiation was typically fully complete with >90% NK cells after 4 weeks using WT iPSCs, the CISH-/- iPSC- cells only produced ~10% CD45+CD56+ NK cells at 4 weeks, though by 5 weeks these cultures were >80% NK cells. The CISH-/- iPSC-derived NK cells demonstrated typical NK surface maker expression, including CD94, CD16, NKG2D, NKp44, NKp46, FasL, and KIRs. Initial studies demonstrated that CISH-/- human iPSC-derived NK cells had significantly reduced ability to expand in vitro with evidence of NK cell exhaustion, including increased TIM-3 expression, decreased IFN-γ production and decreased cytotoxicity. RNA-seq analysis also confirmed that expression of exhaustion-related genes, including TIM3, CTLA4, and 2B4, were all significantly increased in CISH-/- NK cells. Interestingly, mass cytometric (CyTOF) analysis of CISH-/- NK cells with a panel of 36 phenotypic and functional NK cell markers identified an exhausted sub-population (increased expression of exhaustion marker TIM3 and inhibitory receptors such as ILT2 and Siglec7, as well as decreased proliferation marker Ki67). Importantly, this exhaustion could be rescued by co-culturing CISH-/- NK cells with Notch ligand-expressing OP9-DL4 stromal cells, leading to production of fully functionally mature NK cells. The CISH-/- NK cells stimulated by Notch maintained better expansion and improved cytotoxic function with low concentrations of either IL15 or IL2 compared to WT-iPSC-derived NK cells. CISH-/- NK cells demonstrate increased cytotoxic activity against leukemia cell lines K562 and MOLM-13 cells in vitro. Moreover, single-cell cytokine response analysis of CISH-/- NK cells after Notch stimulation showed >10 fold enrichment of polyfunctional cell subsets with effector cytokine production (Granzyme B, IFN-γ, MIP-1α, Perforin, TNF-α) compared with WT NK cells or NK cells from peripheral blood. In a MOLM-13 xenograft model, CISH-/- NK cells displayed significantly increased persistence in peripheral blood in comparison with WT NK cells (CISH-/- NK cells 6.81 ± 0.85 % vs WT NK cells 2.05 ± 0.25 N=5). More importantly, CISH-/- NK cells show significantly better control of tumor progression in the MOLM-13 xenograft model compared with WT NK cells. Together, these studies demonstrate CISH plays a key role to regulate NK cell activation-induced exhaustion and that Notch activation prevents this exhaustion to enable production of functionally hyperactive NK cells.

 Guan: Vivace: Equity Ownership. Malmberg:Fate Therapeutics Inc.: Consultancy, Research Funding. Kaufman:Fate Therapeutics: Consultancy, Research Funding.


Motivated by applications to the theory of error-correcting codes, we give an algorithmic method for computing a generating set for the ideal generated by $\beta$-graded polynomials vanishing on a subset of a simplicial complete toric variety $X$ over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$, parameterized by rational functions, where $\beta$ is a $d\times r$ matrix whose columns generate a subsemigroup $\mathbb{N}\beta$ of $\mathbb{N}^d$. We also give a method for computing the vanishing ideal of the set of $\mathbb{F}_q$-rational points of $X$. When $\beta=[w_1 \cdots w_r]$ is a row matrix corresponding to a numerical semigroup $\mathbb{N}\beta=\langle w_1,\dots,w_r \rangle$, $X$ is a weighted projective space and generators of its vanishing ideal is given using generators of defining (toric) ideals of numerical semigroup rings corresponding to semigroups generated by subsets of $\{w_1,\dots,w_r\}$.


The Double 11 shopping festival has become the largest and most prevalent national shopping festival in China. However, research empirically exploring consumer experience based on the interaction between merchants and online customers in the context of Double 11 is limited. Therefore, this study attempts to empirically test a comprehensive model of the relationship between antecedents and consequents of online customer experience (OCE). Data from 451 valid samples were obtained using an online survey. The research model is assessed using partial least squares analysis. Results suggest that perceived information credibility and familiarity as antecedents of OCE positively influence two dimensions of OCE, that is, cognitive and affective experiences. As the consequence of the OCE model, customers' behavioral intention is positively affected by cognitive and affective experiences. The study makes contributions toward new knowledge and understanding of how e-retailers can provide effective online experiences for customers.


This is a supplementary material for the following research paper: Tutun, S., Chou, C. A., & Caniyilmaz, E. (2015). A new forecasting framework for volatile behavior in net electricity consumption: A case study in Turkey. Energy, 93, 2406-2422. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544215014322 This dataset is the first collected electricity data as monthly data instead of annual data for forecasting of electricity energy in Turkey. The dataset of electricity in Turkey is used to forecast the net electricity consumption. The necessary data, including each variable and covering a period of 35 years (as monthly), is collected from the TEIAS (Turkish electricity transmission company). As independent factors, the transmitted energy, gross generation, imports, and exports, which have high efficiency. In order to make a better analysis of Turkey's situation, it is necessary to review indicators such as imports, gross generation, exports and transmitted energy. Finally, this dataset can be used efficiently for future energy forecasting analysis because it has more observations and preprocessed for forecasting.


Background
Globally, many technological innovations have been introduced for universal health coverage by increasing accessibility. mHealth ( mobile phone based health ) shows potentiality in improving maternal health service delivery with the help of communication between health care providers and beneficiaries. With the fastest growing mobile market over the last five years in low income setting (LIS) like Sub-Saharan Africa, Government and development partners are being encouraged to use mHealth. This study aims to see recurrent challenges from the program experiences of maternal health care (MHC)-focused mHealth initiatives from Ghana as country case study and how they address those challenges and secondly, supplemented by mHealth experiences in other LIS.
Methods
Qualitative data was collected mainly from 11 key informant interviews (KIIs) of senior officials of Ghana Health service, development organizations, government facility based health care providers- physician, community health nurse, ICT personnel, e-health specialist, Health MIS analyst and academic searchers.
Interviews were face to face and via skype. Findings from Ghana were supplemented by literature review. Data was analysed via thematic analysis and stakeholder analysis was done to see their respective position for overcoming challenges using mHealth.
Results
Lack of national data ownership & non-sustainable plan for the skilled health force from the MOH, financial and double work burden of community health workers (CHWs), conflict of interest among collaborative partners & inter government departments, incomplete & inconsistent reporting due to distorted mobile network & data bundle and internet disruption, poor infrastructure of electricity and finally, business promotion strategy of telecommunication industries were the key challenges found in Ghana. Though they adapt some local strategies to minimize the acute problem, but like other low income settings, Ghana could not produce adequate scientific research evidences using primary data source.
Conclusions:
Ghana has many similar challenges to other low income settings; however, they adapt their own strategies to overcome. To increase utilization rate of maternal care, mHealth has been tested by different organizations in Ghana. To expand/scale up, high level negotiation & coordination among the profitable industries and government is necessary especially in staff development. Furthermore, more mHealth field research is expected before developing sustainable plan. Keywords: mHealth, Ghana, Maternal Care, Low income setting (LIS)


To examine the effects of long-term elevation of plasma gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP), the responses to parenteral (PA) or enteral (EA) alimentation were studied in consciousrats with duodenal and venous cannulae. A weight-maintaining liquid diet (84% as glucose, 16% as amino acids) was infused at a constant rate for 6 days by either route, and daily blood samples were taken. A subset of animals receiving PA also received porcine GIP with the infusate (PA plus GIP; plateau plasma immunoreactive GIP, IRGIP, 610 ± 120 pg/ml). With PA, plasma IRGIPdid not change from basal levels, whereas with EA IRGIP rose to virtual plateau levels (mean 530 ±110 pg/ml). In the steady state, plasma immunoreactive insulin (IRI) was significantly lower with EA (mean, 153 ± 5 μU/ml) than with PA (mean, 226 ± 15 μU/ml), which in turn was lower than with PA plus GIP (mean, 375 ± 23 μU/ml, P < 0.001 by ANOVA). A similar ranking of plasma glucose levels occurred in the steady state, with means of 113 ± 7 (EA), 126 ± 3 (PA), and 184 ± 9 (PA plus GIP) mg/dl (P < 0.001 by ANOVA). To assess the response to transient hyperglycemia in the steady state, an intravenous glucose bolus was given to each group on the fifth day. Peak plasma IRI levels did not differ among the three groups; however, the glucose disappearance rate was significantly slower with PA plus GIP compared with either EA or PA. Assuming that porcine GIP did not stimulate glucose production, this peptide appeared to induce hyperinsulinemia with insulin resistance during parenteral alimentation. The contrasting features of relatively low glucose and insulin levels during enteral alimentation associated with high levels of endogenous IRGIP in the blood suggest either (1) that the findings depend on variations of GIP or its actions in the different species, or (2) that mechanisms originating in the intestine act to preserve insulin sensitivity during absorption of nutrients from the gut under physiologic conditions.


Mycobacterium sherrisii is a new species of opportunistic, slow-growing, non-tuberculous Mycobacterium closely related to Mycobacterium simiae that can currently be identified with the sequence of 16S rARN gene and the heat-shock protein 65. Few cases of patients infected by this Mycobacterium have been reported and all of them were associated with human immunodeficiency virus or other immunosuppressive conditions. Clinical management is complex, because there is not a clear correlation between the in vitro antibiotic susceptibility testing and the patient's clinical outcome.


"There is many slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." Palladas THE 91st Congress of the United States, whose stormy existence came to a loquacious end on Dec 31, 1970, passed several major bills of immediate concern to psychiatrists. Having been duly signed by President Nixon, these acts are now law. In the following, five of these statutes will be summarized. Then, an attempt will be made to estimate the extent to which one can expect them to be implemented. There are significant barriers to the full implementation of programs which, ironically perhaps, only a few months ago were thought important enough to warrant congressional and Presidential initiatives. Community Mental Health Centers Amendments of 1970 (Public Law 91-211, S 2523) Title I of this statute extends the grant program for construction of community mental health centers for three years. In addition, it sets the maximum federal share for areas designated


Several laboratory column percolators were operated in order to study the bioremediation potential of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)-contaminated soils. The columns contained either soil artificially amended with specific PAH mixtures or contaminated soil from a site in Karlsruhe, Germany. In all cases, biodegradative processes led to the elimination of the original contaminants. This, however, was accompanied by a marked increase in genotoxic activity of the column effluents as determined by the MutatoxTM assay. Genotoxicity was practically abolished, however, when a surfactant was added to the percolating fluids. While in some cases the changes in genotoxicity were paralleled by toxicity (MicrotoxTM) data, in others the trend was opposite.

It is concluded that when degradation is incomplete, the potential exists for toxicity and genotoxicity enhancement, with the latter hazard not always predictable by short-term toxicity assays. Routine genotoxicity monitoring is thus advocated for bioremediation projects; the MutatoxTM assay appears to be a convenient tool for this purpose. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc..


In this article we propose using small area estimators to improve the estimates of both the small and large area parameters. When the objective is to estimate parameters at both levels accurately, optimality is achieved by a mixed sample design of fixed and proportional allocations. In the mixed sample design, once a sample size has been determined, one fraction of it is distributed proportionally among the different small areas while the rest is evenly distributed among them. We use Monte Carlo simulations to assess the performance of the direct estimator and two composite covariant-free small area estimators, for different sample sizes and different sample distributions. Performance is measured in terms of Mean Squared Errors (MSE) of both small and large area parameters. It is found that the adoption of small area composite estimators open the possibility of 1) reducing sample size when precision is given, or 2) improving precision for a given sample size.


All students deserve one year's progress for one year's work, no matter where they start (Hattie, 2015, p.3). One in five will start school behind in learning in Australia this year and the major cause of this is their socioeconomic background (Cairney, 2016 as cited in Joyner, 2016). Often times when we think of personalised learning we think only of this group of students who are below average. However, this is not the only gap in Australian schooling (Hattie, 2015a). This article will explore the position that personalised learning is for all students. Further the article will pose that to have true personalised learning for all students, parents' input needs to be valued and facilitated.


We describe an organism that constituted 20% or more of the bacterial population in the colons of pigs experimentally infected with Treponema hyodysenteriae. This organism was not found in clinically normal pigs. Because this organism had properties different from those of any previously described taxon, we propose that it be regarded as a new species, Acetivibrio ethanolgignens. The isolates of A. ethanolgignens were obligately anaerobic, gram-negative, nonsporeforming, motile, slightly curved rods with lateral flagella that emanated from the concave sides of the cells and formed fascicles. A. ethanolgignens differs from other species in the genus Acetivibrio principally in its inability to degrade cellulose or ferment cellobiose, its production of ethanol as a major fermentation product, and its possession of multiple flagella. The guanine-plus-cytosine content of its deoxyribonucleic acid is 40 mol%. The type strain is 77–6, a culture of which has been deposited in the American Type Culture Collection under the number ATCC 33324. We also emend the description of the genus Acetivibrio to include bacteria with multiple flagella.


In this thesis, we address specific efforts towards developing the precise aspect of ultrashort laser pulse measurement in the context of biomedical research. The motivation for pursuing these new developments was triggered by the vision of developing fundamental tools that will enable to control matter by means of light with exquisite precision with the added difficulty of being next to biological samples which are extremely sensitive and fragile. For this, light matter interaction needs to be extremely well controlled to avoid undesired effects, like cell damage due to the high peak intensity values of ultrashort laser pulses, as well as promoting specific physical processes like two-photon fluorescence excitation of a desired fluorophore embedded in some biochemical environment. We focus in the two major bottlenecks regarding ultrashort laser pulse measurements for multiphoton microscopy, that aim for developing (1) new techniques for full characterization of ultrashort pulses under different experimental conditions and (2) new material with specific nonlinear properties that enable to obtain ultrashort pulse measurements that properly catch the temporal shape of light and at the same time can be readily found in biomedical lab, specially cost effective, non fragile and non-toxic. Combination of these two complementary strategies provides a new ground where it is possible to characterise an ultrashort pulse at the sample plane of a multiphoton microscope in a regular biomedical research facility.
Importantly, we approach ultrashort pulse characterisation by developing a different theoretical framework to the state-of-the-art and we propose few initial experiments that preliminary support our theoretical statements in the form of new optical techniques. These findings are then experimentally tested under different conditions, such different optical setups and different pulsed regimes in order to evaluate the feasibility of the tools to measure ultrashort pulses in conditions that were prohibitive at the time this thesis was started. The scope of this thesis outlines the potential of such techniques, but further efforts shall be addressed to assess feasibility, robustness and further limitations.


Production of coal seam gas (CSG), or coal bed methane, requires large-scale depressurisation of a target formation by extracting groundwater, which, in turn, has the potential to affect overlying and underlying aquifers. This leads to wide-ranging stakeholder concerns around the impacts on groundwater assets such as water supply bores, groundwater-dependent ecosystems and connected watercourses. Around 2010, the CSG industry in Queensland, Australia grew rapidly with the expansion of operations in the Surat and Bowen basins by multiple operators. This particularly raised concerns about the cumulative effects, because the target coal seams are part of the Great Artesian Basin – one of the world's largest aquifers. To respond to this challenge, an innovative framework was developed to provide for an independent cumulative impact assessment and to set up arrangements for managing those impacts. This chapter describes the main thrust of that framework.


Exposure to 70% N2O evokes a robust antinociceptive effect in C57BL/6 (B6) but not in DBA/2 (D2) inbred mice. This study was conducted to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) in the mouse genome that might determine responsiveness to N2O. Offspring from the F2 generation bred from B6 and D2 progenitors exhibited a broad range of responsiveness to N2O antinociception as determined by the acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction test. QTL analysis was then used to dissect this continuous trait distribution into component loci, and to map them to broad chromosomal regions. To this end, 24 spleens were collected from each of the following four groups: male and female F2mice responding to 70% N2O in oxygen with 100% response (high-responders); and male and female F2 mice responding with 0% response (low-responders). Genomic DNA was extracted from the spleens and genotyped with simple sequence length polymorphism MapPairs markers. Findings were combined with findings from the earlier QTL analysis from BXD recombinant inbred mice [Brain Res 725 (1996) 23]. Combined results revealed two significant QTL that influence responsiveness to nitrous oxide on proximal chromosome 2 and distal chromosome 5, and one suggestive QTL on midchromosome 18. The chromosome 2 QTL was evident only in males. A significant interaction was found between a locus on chromosome 6 and another on chromosome 13 with a substantial effect on N2O antinociception.


ABSTRACT Lecacheux, S.; Bonnardot, F.; Rousseau, M.; Paris F.; Pedreros, R.; Nicolae Lerma, A.; Quetelard, H., and Barbary, D., 2018. Probabilistic forecast of coastal waves for flood warning applications at Reunion Island (Indian Ocean). In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 776–780. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. La Reunion being a small isolated island, the coastal impacts of tropical cyclones transiting nearby are tightly related to the relative position of the track, wind intensity and size. Thus, the forecast of cyclone-induced waves should be conducted in a probabilistic manner. Using ensemble track and intensity forecasts of Bonnardot and Quetelard (2016), the approach presented here relies on two steps: (1) Considering that the use of parametric models leads to an underestimation of wave heights distant from the cyclone eye, the forecasted vortex is bogused into the large-scale wind field provided by ECMWF's IFS model for each track and time step. A short simulation is conducted with Meso-NH model at 8 km resolution so that it can create realistic wind and pressure fields well balanced with the large-scale conditions (2) A combination of a two-way nested Wavewatch 3 modelling framework enables to compute the waves associated to each track from 10 km to 300 m resolution at the coast. Results extracted at 50 m depth are presented as exceedance values and probabilities of exceedance of wave heights for different coastal segments and thresholds. The comparison with measurements and simulations performed with Best-Track data show that probabilistic wave forecasts performed with the ensemble sets of Bonnardot and Quetelard (2016) upgrade the precision and the level of information provided compared to the deterministic method. Nevertheless, the study also points out that the size and shape parameters of the cyclones should be considered in the ensemble generation method to produce more accurate wave forecast.


The solution-phase synthesis of organic compounds as mixtures rather than in individual pure form offers efficiency advantages that are negated by the difficulty in separating and identifying the components of the final mixture. Here, a strategy for mixture synthesis that addresses these separation and identification problems is presented. A series of organic substrates was tagged with a series of fluorous tags of increasing fluorine content. The compounds were then mixed, and multistep reactions were conducted to make enantiomers or analogs of the natural product mappicine. The resulting tagged products were then demixed by fluorous chromatography (eluting in order of increasing fluorine content) to provide the individual pure components of the mixture, which were detagged to release the final products.


A 15 month longitudinal study of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in 178 Gambian mothers and their babies was undertaken. Twenty five (14%) of the babies were congenitally infected despite the fact that 87% of their mothers were antibody positive to the virus. Two of the 25 congenitally infected infants had evidence of severe neurological damage; skin sepsis was also a prominent feature in congenitally infected infants. The other children soon became infected. At 6 months of age, 53% of the infants were shedding virus either in urine or saliva. By the age of 12 months 86% of the infants had serological evidence of CMV infection. Preliminary evidence suggests that sibling to sibling infection in crowded compounds might be a major route of transmission.


This article seeks to illustrate egg donation's incompletely commodified status through an analysis of two cases of first impression, highlighting the tensions that arise from attempts to reconcile egg donation's reality as a robust commercial industry with the nonmarket norms that traditionally underlie reproduction. Antitrust and taxation litigation may seem unlikely sources for guidance in navigating the tensions in egg donation's uncertain place between the worlds of gift and market exchange. Nonetheless, this litigation forces an explicit consideration of how egg donation is perceived, talked about, and operationalized, and where along the gift-market spectrum it fits. These cases also engage familiar questions of commodification, coercion, and exploitation, which are surprisingly central litigation issues.


A 29-year-old medical student suffered from vasovagal syncope triggered by blood and blood-related procedures, such as injections and injuries. Fainting was preceded by prodromal symptoms like light-headedness and altered vision. The patient consulted the Syncope Unit at the Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and received instructions on how to apply counterpressure manoeuvres. He was also successfully treated with psychological deconditioning, which consisted of desensitisation through exposure in vivo and cognitive behavioural therapy. Emotionally triggered vasovagal syncope is predominantly seen in young people and can lead to serious complications. It can be treated with simple interventions like drinking water and performing counterpressure manoeuvres. Psychological deconditioning is an effective additional therapy


Abstract The microstructural and mechanical properties, mainly the hardness, tensile properties and impact toughness of two phase Al–20 wt-%Zn alloy subjected to severe plastic deformation via equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) up to two passes, were studied. High cycle fatigue behaviour of ECAP processed alloy was investigated for the first time. The ECAP almost completely eliminated the as cast dendritic microstructure including casting defects such as microporosities and formed a refined microstructure consisting of elongated microconstituents, aluminium rich α and zinc rich α+η eutectoid phases. As a result of this microstructural change, the tensile response, impact toughness and fatigue performance of the alloy improved significantly. The rates of increase in endurance limit and impact toughness after ECAP are 89 and 122% respectively. In addition, a relationship represented by an equation between the stress amplitude σa and number of cycles to failure N values was determined to express the fatigue behaviour of the alloy in all states. It was also observed that the nature of fatigue fracture characteristics of the as cast Al–20 wt-%Zn alloy changed after ECAP.


ii Abstract [Context] Interdisciplinary healthcare teams (IHTs) include practitioners from different disciplines who collaborate for providing care to patients. IHTs often follow clinical workflows composed of tasks that must be executed by practitioners with specific capabilities. The membership in an IHT can however evolve over time for a given patient. [Problem] Existing Business Process Management (BPM) suites and their workflow execution engines are designed for supporting and monitoring general workflows, but they are insufficient in supporting the allocation of tasks to the most suitable practitioners during the execution of healthcare workflows in a dynamic context. [Methodology] Using Design Science Research, this thesis builds on top of an existing semantic layer, which includes an ontology defining IHT team concepts and relationships that are used to reason automatically about team dynamics, in order to add dynamic team management to BPM suites. It does so by proposing and designing middleware (including a generic interface) that enables the semantic layer to command the BPM suite to allocate suitable practitioners to tasks during the execution of clinical workflows. The design and implementation of this middleware are discussed, and the latter is tested on a commercial BPM suite for two realistic clinical processes. [Results] The proof-of-concept implementation demonstrates the feasibility of using middleware with a generic interface to add support for IHT executing BPM suite when managing a patient. In addition, the thesis also demonstrates that the ontology used in the semantic layer is minimal, that is, all of its concepts and relationships are necessary for the required team functionalities (usually absent from BPM tools) to work properly.


Child development is inextricably linked to, and shaped by, the diversity of human biology, experience, society, and culture. Understanding and investigating this diversity is essential to building a comprehensive knowledge base in the developmental sciences. Integrative developmental science must reflect diversity in the individuals and communities it studies, in the policies and practices it addresses, and in the scientific workforce it engages and trains. SRCD embraces a commitment to and support for diversity in all its forms.


Taking the case of migratory flows between Romania and Italy as a case study, this article investigates the ways in which spaces of economic transnationalism emerge and are reproduced over time. While the article finds that the role of the state in regulating the flow of money, people and goods across borders remains significant, it nevertheless provides evidence that state authority is systematically challenged by private actors even in the case of migration phenomena with a remarkably short history such as that of Romanians in Italy. Particularly interesting in this respect are labor recruiting networks in which informal headhunter operations, public officials and mobile manufacturing firms interact in surprising ways. While economic forms of transnationalism are the main focus of this investigation, the ways in which transnational capital and labor flows facilitated the symbolic reaffirmation of social institutions in the sending locality are also investigated.


Thermally sprayed Al2O3-TiO2 ceramic coatings provide exceptional hardness and corrosion and wear resistance, but the high velocities at which they are applied result in an inherently porous structure that requires some type of remediation. This study evaluates the effectiveness of ultrasonic aluminum phosphate sealing treatments on plasma sprayed Al2O3-40TiO2 ceramic coatings. The sealants were applied with and without ultrasonication (20-40 kHz) and were assessed using SEM/EDX analysis, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Test data indicate that optimum sealing, corresponding to the highest values of corrosion protection and erosion resistance, are achieved under ultrasonication at 30 kHz for 5 hours.


Private placement life insurance (PPLI) policies are custom-written life insurance or annuity contracts that receive the preferential tax treatment afforded most life insurance products. This tax-free status, as well as the owner's ability to designate an investment manager, has made PPLIs an attractive way to invest in traditionally tax-inefficient assets such as hedge funds. The Internal Revenue Service, however, disapproves when variable annuity or life insurance contracts are used primarily as investment vehicles and has shown its displeasure in the form of lawsuits and rule revisions that attempt to end the practice. In 2005, the IRS struck down a key provision of the internal revenue code that allowed investors to gain exposure to hedge funds through PPLIs. This raised the question of whether PPLIs are still a viable way for investors to gain tax-preferred exposure to hedge funds. The article explores this question and concludes that PPLIs can, with limitations, still be used to gain tax-preferred exposure to hedge funds.