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Observation of Polarization-Dependent Changes in Higher Order Mode Responses as a Function of Transverse Beam Position in TESLA-Type Cavities at FAST Higher-order modes (HOMs) in superconducting rf cavities present problems for an electron bunch traversing the cavity in the form of long-range wakefields from previous bunches. These may dilute the emittance of the macropulse average, especially with low emittance beams at facilities such as the European X-ray Free-electron Laser (XFEL) and the upgraded Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS-II). Here we present observations of HOMs driven by the beam at the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology (FAST) facility. The FAST facility features two independent TESLA-type cavities (CC1 and CC2) after a photocath-ode rf gun followed by an 8-cavity cryomodule. The HOM signals were acquired from cavities using bandpass filters of 1.75 ± 0.15 GHz, 2.5 ± 0.2 GHz, and 3.25 ± 0.2 GHz and recorded using an 8-GHz, 20 GSa/s oscilloscope. The frequency resolution obtained is sufficient to separate polarization components of many of the HOMs. These HOM signals were captured from CC1 and cavities 1 and 8 of the cryomodule for various initial trajectories through the cavities, and we observe correlations between trajectory, HOM signals, and which polarization component of a mode is affected.

Death and dying in contemporary society: an evaluation of current attitudes and the rituals associated with death and dying and their relevance to recent understandings of health and healing. This paper develops a model which is intended to help nurses and other health professionals in the understanding of contemporary views regarding death and dying and the associated issues of health and healing. The author contends that in the first half of the 20th century, society lost sight of the importance of rituals associated with death and dying and of the need for appropriate death education. Consequently patients and professionals alike found themselves unable to cope with the inevitability of death. Fear supplanted hope, and the health and well-being of society was deleteriously influenced. During the second half of the century, there has been a proliferation of thanatology research and literature. Health professionals are realizing the inadequacy of their knowledge of an issue which fundamentally and unavoidably affects everyone including themselves. The holistic approach to health care has been recognized by many researchers as being essential to health and healing, and therefore death and dying have to be addressed. Often nurses are the professionals left to deal with the patients' grief and anger, and it is therefore critical that they are conversant with the contemporary parallel issues of death and dying and health and healing. The author also firmly believes that before nurses can help people to overcome the fear of death and to optimize their lives, it is essential to examine the traditions of other cultures as well as personal experiences and coping mechanisms, before an understanding of other people's fears and beliefs concerning death and dying can be reached.

Optimal Control of PMSG Based Wind Energy Conversion System using State-Dependent DRE Generation of electricity from wind is becoming more economical and popular with improved system design with modern control techniques. To capture energy from the inherently variable wind source and converting it into good quality electricity need to use advanced techniques in equipment and control . Since all the subsystems involved in the generation of electricity from wind are highly nonlinear, optimal control using linear models and linear techniques will not be effective. This paper presents a closed loop optimal control for a PMSG based wind energy conversion system using State Dependent Differential Riccati Equation. A suboptimal control is obtained for the non-linear system through differential Riccati equation, which is solved by converting in to linear Lyapunov equation by change of variables in the finite-horizon. The effectiveness of the technique is verified by simulating on MATLAB platform.

Improving Chinese-English patent machine translation using sentence segmentation This paper presents a method using sentence segmentation to improve the performance of Chinese-English patent machine translation. In this method, long Chinese sentence was segmented into separated short sentences using some features from the Hierarchical Network of Concepts theory (HNC theory). Some semantic features are introduced, including main verb of CSC (Eg), main verb of CSP (Egp), long NPs and conjunctions. The main purpose of segmentation algorithm is to detect if one CSC can or cannot be a separate sentence. The segmentation method was integrated with a rule-base MT system. The sequence of these short translations was adjusted and the different ways of expressions in both Chinese and English languages also were in consideration. From the result of the experiments, we can see that the performance of the Chinese-English patent translation was improved effectively. Our method had been integrated into an online patent MT system running in SIPO.

Influences of potential oil and gas development and future climate on Sage-grouse declines and redistribution. Multiple environmental stressors impact wildlife populations, but we often know little about their cumulative and combined influences on population outcomes. We generally know more about past effects than potential future impacts, and direct influences such as changes of habitat footprints than indirect, long-term responses in behavior, distribution, or abundance. Yet, an understanding of all these components is needed to plan for future landscapes that include human activities and wildlife. We developed a case study to assess how spatially explicit individual-based modeling could be used to evaluate future population outcomes of gradual landscape change from multiple stressors. For Greater Sage-grouse in southwest Wyoming, USA, we projected oil and gas development footprints and climate-induced vegetation changes 50 years into the future. Using a time-series of planned oil and gas development and predicted climate-induced changes in vegetation, we recalculated habitat selection maps to dynamically modify future habitat quantity, quality, and configuration. We simulated long-term Sage-grouse responses to habitat change by allowing individuals to adjust to shifts in habitat availability and quality. The use of spatially explicit individual-based modeling offered a useful means of evaluating delayed indirect impacts of landscape change on wildlife population outcomes. The inclusion of movement and demographic responses to oil and gas infrastructure resulted in substantive changes in distribution and abundance when cumulated over several decades and throughout the regional population. When combined, additive development and climate-induced vegetation changes reduced abundance by up to half of the original size. In our example, the consideration of only a single population stressor the final possible population size by as much as 50%. Multiple stressors and their cumulative impacts need to be broadly considered through space and time to avoid underestimating the impacts of multiple gradual changes and overestimating the ability of populations to withstand change.

Comparison of Resin Composite and Biodentine Cervical Marginal Elevation on the Marginal Gap of Two Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacture Endocrown Materials: In Vitro Study Objective: This study is the impact of resin composite and bio dentine cervical marginal elevation on vertical marginal gap using two CAD/CAM endo-crowns. Materials and Methods: 32 molars were employed, separated into two main groups: Group R, which included 16 molar teeth elevated distally with resin composite each; and Group B, which included 16 molar teeth elevated distally with dentine. The prepared teeth were then restored using endo-crown restorations. There were 2 equal subgroups for each main group (Vita MarkII and Lava Ultimate endo-crowns; n = 8). The samples underwent thermocycling (TC) after the restorations were bonded using dual-cure resin cement. A digital microscope was used to measure the vertical marginal gap. Results: A significant difference in the vertical marginal gap following thermocycling in all groups, except for the Resin composite. The polymer-based group demonstrated better marginal adaptation than other groups. The marginal accuracy produced by the marginal elevation approach, which involves placing a composite filling and dentine in the proximal box before the insertion of ceramic indirect restorations, is comparable to those of ceramics implanted in dentine without margin elevation. Conclusion: The margin elevation technique ensures that the margins created with these materials are as precise as those placed directly in dentin.

Mothers' emotional reactions to crying pose risk for subsequent attachment insecurity. Links between maternal emotional reactions to crying (anger and anxiety) and infant attachment security were examined in 119 mother-infant dyads. Mothers rated the intensity of their emotional responses to videotapes of crying infants prenatally. Maternal sensitivity was observed during infant exposure to emotion eliciting tasks at six and 16 months postpartum and mothers' self-reported on their responses to their infant's negative emotions at 16 months. Infant attachment security was assessed using the Strange Situation at 16 months postpartum. Results indicated that observed sensitivity was associated with fewer avoidant and resistant behaviors and prenatal maternal anger and anxiety in response to infant crying predicted the developing attachment system independent of observed sensitivity, but in different ways. Maternal anxiety in response to crying was positively associated with resistant behaviors as a direct effect. Maternal anger in response to crying was associated with avoidant behaviors indirectly through mothers' self-reported punitive and minimizing responses to infant distress at 16 months. Theoretical, applied, and methodological implications are discussed.

Autonomous Corrective Action in Consensus Tracking Algorithms with Unknown Delays Consensus tracking problem with constant heterogeneous communication and input delays is studied for double-integrator systems. Contrary to previous works on this topic where the delays are known a priori, this paper studies the convergence of agents to a general desired trajectory when the delays are not known in advance. To solve the tracking problem, we formulate a switching control protocol that consists of a coupled single-integrator estimator and a decentralized tracking controller for an individual agent. We present a delay observer design for each individual agent to determine the respective input delays when these are not known a priori. The communication delays are obtained from the time-stamp on the received data. Exact tracking or bounded tracking with unknown constant delays is possible with the aid of presented autonomous corrective action. Simulation results are performed to validate the efficacy of the proposed autonomous corrective action while guaranteeing consensus tracking.

175 Maternal Diet and Type 2 Diabetes in the Offspring It is over twenty years since epidemiological studies revealed that there was a relationship between patterns of early growth and risk of developing type 2 diabetes in later life. Studies of identical twins, individuals who were in utero during periods of famine and animal models have provided strong evidence that the early environment, including early nutrition, plays an important role in mediating this relationship. The concept of “early life programming” is therefore widely accepted. However the mechanisms by which a phenomenon that occurs in early life can have long-term effects on the function of a cell and therefore metabolism of an organism many years later are still emerging. These include: Permanent structural changes in an organ due to exposure to suboptimal levels of essential hormones or nutrients. Permanent effects on regulation of cellular ageing through increases in oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction leading to DNA damage and telomere shortening. Persistent alterations in epigenetic modifications (including DNA methylation, histone modifications and miRNAs) leading to changes in gene expression. Several transcription factors have been shown to be susceptible to programmed changes in gene expression through such epigenetic mechanisms. These are conceptually attractive targets of programmed epigenetic regulation, as through regulation of their expression a network of other genes will be regulated. Further understanding of the extent and nature of these programming mechanisms could enable the development of preventative and intervention strategies to combat the burden of diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

[Electroejaculation and lower motor neuron lesion: a report of cases]. Semen was obtained by transrectal electrostimulation from two spinal injured men who had not ejaculated since their injuries. Vibratory stimulation was unsuccessful. Side effect-pain, was reported in one of the patient. A silicone catheter was used to tamponade the bladder neck and antegrade ejaculations were collected with no incidences of urine contamination and no sperm were seen in post ejaculatory urine.

Publications Received for Review who will arrange for the copies to be sent to them. At the same time, he will inform them about the expected length of the review as well as other technical details, and suggest a date for submitting the manuscripts. The time allotted for preparing reviews will on principle be kept as short as possible in order to enable Phonetica to fulfill its obligation of keeping its readers up to date with publications in the field of speech science. Readers are also welcome to suggest any other book in our field for review in Phonetica , over and above the ones named in the list of received publications. Professor Niebuhr will then take the necessary steps to obtain copies from the publishing firms.

In vitro chemosensitivity to gemcitabine, oxaliplatin and zoledronic acid predicts treatment response in metastatic gastric cancer. Individual response of disseminated cancer to chemotherapy is unpredictable. In vitro chemotherapy-induced apoptosis can be measured and might be a method to evaluate in vivo activity of tested drugs. In this report, tumor cells of a patient with signet cell carcinoma of the stomach and diffuse bone marrow infiltration were cultured and tested for in vitro chemosensitivity. The drugs gemcitabine, oxaliplatin and zoledronic acid were found to induce in vitro tumor cell apoptosis synergistically, and subsequently were used as combination chemotherapy regimen. An initially existing disseminated intravascular coagulopathy quickly resolved and after 6 months of treatment on ongoing complete response was induced, thus confirming the results of in vitro chemosensitivity testing.

Numerical modelling of meso-scale finish machining with finite edge radius tools Finite edge radius plays a significant role in finish machining processes when the undeformed chip thickness is often less than a few hundred microns and comparable to the size of the cutting edge. At suboptimal cutting speeds, edge radius tools may induce deeper subsurface plastic deformation, increase microhardness through work-hardening and mostly due to the ploughing of the cutting edge. Once tool edge radius, tool geometry and cutting conditions are optimised, finish machining can produce superior surface properties than surfaces generated by grinding and polishing. In this paper, an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE)-based numerical modelling is employed. The Johnson-Cook (J-C) plasticity model is used to describe the work material behaviour. A detailed friction modelling at the tool-chip interface is also carried. Numerical modelling revealed stress and temperature fields induced by the finite edge radius cutting edge on the machined subsurface.

Improved Dissolution of Albendazole from High Drug Loaded Ternary Solid Dispersion: Formulation and Characterization Bioavailability of a poorly water-soluble drug, e.g., widely used anthelmintic drug Albendazole (ABZ), is very low and thus, to obtain an optimized therapeutic efficacy, the aqueous solubility of such drugs needs to be enhanced. The objective of this study was to develop an effective high drug-loaded solid dispersion (SD) of ABZ with two biocompatible drug carriers, namely Soluplus® and Ludiflash® to improve its physicochemical characteristics. Equilibrium solubility study was performed to choose the optimum polymer ratio among the formulations and it showed up to 50-fold enhanced solubility compared to crystalline ABZ in water. X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) studies of SD-ABZ showed reduced crystallinity of ABZ in the SD. The polymeric carriers, notably Soluplus®, are thought to play a key role in the reduction of crystallinity and molecular polydispersity of ABZ. The dissolution studies in water showed improved dissolution of SD-ABZ compared to crystalline ABZ, with a quick onset of drug release followed by gradual dissolution. However, due to high drug-loading and retention of crystalline ABZ in the sample, the dissolution behavior was not as expected, and may require further studies to optimize the SD-ABZ formulation. Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. 20(2): 149-158, 2021 (December)

T2 estimates in healthy and diseased brain tissue: a comparison using various MR pulse sequences. Fourteen patients and five healthy individuals underwent magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to determine an effective multiple spin echo pulse sequence for estimating T2. Lesions examined included infarction, glioma, multiple sclerosis, and acute hematoma. A pulse repetition time (TR) of 1,500 msec and echo delays (TEs) of 25, 50, 75, and 100 msec were used. Computed T2 images were derived from all four echoes, the first two echoes, and the first and fourth echoes. T2 values were obtained from specific brain locales using region-of-interest analysis. Use of either the first two echoes or the first and fourth in the T2 fit provided T2 estimates which closely correlated with that of the four-echo analysis. The noise level in T2 maps constructed from the 25- and 100-msec echoes was modestly (typically 10%) higher than that from four echoes; noise level from the 25- and 50-msec echoes was markedly higher, typically 60%. This behavior is remarkably consistent with that predicted from theory. All 19 subjects displayed consistent relative T2 values for specific brain structures; in 13, the absolute T2 values fell within a limited range. Despite the high sensitivity of T2 images, their specificity in the detection of most brain disease appears limited except in acute intracerebral hematoma, which exhibited a decreased T2 relaxation time using high-field-strength MR imaging.

Does Size Matter? Knowledge-Based Development of Second-Order City-Regions in Finland Abstract Achieving knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) depends profoundly on not only encouraging the development of economic activities, but also strengthening the societal, environmental and governance bases of city-regions. In recent years, a number of global city-regions have been investigated from the angle of this multidimensional perspective, which has provided a new comprehension of the development processes of primate city-regions. However, there is a knowledge gap in understanding how KBUD works in the second-order city-region (SOCR) context. This warrants more attention as SOCRs potentially help secure balanced development and territorial cohesion. This paper aims to empirically investigate KBUD performances of SOCRs in order to generate new insights. An assessment framework is utilised in the Finnish context, where the findings provide a nationally bench-marked snapshot of the degree of achievements of SOCRs based on numerous KBUD performance areas. The results shed light on the unique Finnish urban and regional development process, and provide lessons for other SOCRs.

Acute intermittent porphyria presenting with posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome: A case report Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is an inborn error caused due to inherited deficiency of porphobilinogen (PBG) deaminase leading to increased levels of aminolevulinic acid and PBG. AIP is rarely associated with posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). This association is important because drugs used in the management of seizures may worsen an attack of AIP. We report the case of a 10-year-old male child with AIP, who presented with encephalopathy and transient blindness of cerebral origin.

Secondary medical prevention in patients with peripheral arterial disease - prescriptions of vascular surgeons and medical doctors (angiologists) in a multidisciplinary vascular centre. BACKGROUND We compared medical secondary prevention in patients with peripheral arterial disease stage II (Fontaine) located in the femoro-popliteal artery managed by vascular surgeons and medical doctors / angiologists in our multidisciplinary vascular center. PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrospectively analyzed demission protocols of in-hospital treatments between 01.01.2007 and 20.06.2008. RESULTS We surveyed 264 patients (54.2 % women; mean age 67.52 +/- 8.98 yrs), 179 (67.8 %) primarily treated by medical doctors / angiologists and 85 (32.2 %) primarily managed by vascular surgeons. Medical doctors / angiologists treated more women (n = 109) than men (n = 34), (p = 0.002) and documented smoking and diabetes mellitus more often (p < 0.001) than vascular surgeons. Besides, patients had similar cardiovascular risk profiles and concomitant diseases, vascular surgeons prescribed 5.47 +/- 2.26 drugs, medical doctors / angiologists 6.37 +/- 2.67 (p = 0.005). Overall, 239 (90.5 %) patients were on aspirin, 180 (68.2 %) on clopidogrel, and 18 (6.9 %) on oral anticoagulants. Significantly more patients treated by medical doctors / angiologists received clopidogrel (169 versus 11; p < 0.001), significantly more surgical patients received oral anticoagulants (11 versus 7; p = 0.016). The number of patients without prescriptions for any antithrombotic therapy was 6 (6.9 %) in patients treated by vascular surgeons and 0 (0 %) in patients managed by medical doctors / angiologists (p = 0.001). Prescription-rates of beta-blockers, ACE-inhibitors, Angiotensin II-antangonists, calcium channel blockers, and diuretics were statistically not different between the two disciplines, but statins were prescribed significantly more often by medical doctors / angiologists (139 versus 49; p < 0001). With the exceptions of Clopidogrel (women > men) and diuretics (men > women) we observed no gender-specific prescriptions. CONCLUSIONS We observed high prescriptions rates of secondary medical prevention in patients primarily treated by medical doctors / angiologists and vascular surgeons. We believe that this result is highly influenced by our multidisciplinary approach. Nevertheless, efforts have to be made to raise vascular surgeons awareness of statin use and complete prescription of antithrombotic and antiplatelet drugs.

Default and Credit Constraint in General equilibrium We study an economy where infinitely living agents face uninsurable shocks and are allowed default on their debt. After having defaulted, agents are excluded from the economy. We present a equilibrium definition allowing for both credit constraints and default inequilibrium. Indeed, existing theories introduce either default of credit constraint in general equilibrium, but never both. We prove that the optimal allocation includes both credit constraints and default, while the market allocation is associated with too much credit and too many default in equilibrium.

A study of indoor positioning based on UWB base-station configurations Indoor positioning has become an important topic for the researchers in science and business with the growing need of position acquisition for the public in indoor environment. Given the rise of wireless communication applications nowadays, many wireless positioning methods have been under tests for indoor positioning. UWB is specifically promising in complicated indoor environments because of its high resolution, better penetrating and resistance of interference. In this paper, we studied the effects of base-station configurations on indoor positioning accuracy via UWB. The majority of work in this paper is simulated by the CST software. We ran simulation for 6–10 GHz in the UWB with 4 types of base station configuration (eight BSs, cuboid shape: four BSs, Y shape: four BSs and L shape: 3 BSs). Specific positioning application methods are based on estimations of TOA. Two methods are exploited in this paper for TOA estimation. One is based on the waveforms of signals transmitted and received, and another is through CIR peak detector. Both methods have produced acceptable results. Our positioning accuracy was within 1–4 cm, and GDOP was then used for testing the rationality of the configurations engaged.

Transformative Learning, Affect, and Reciprocal Care in Community Engagement Drawing on interviews with writing teachers, this article highlights some of the affective responses that may arise for students, community partners, and teachers when we situate our pedagogies in public sites beyond the classroom. I analyze a teacher-narrated moment of student distress to demonstrate how theories of transformative learning might help us productively theorize affect in service-learning and community-based education. To conclude, I offer a reciprocal model of care that employs tenets of feminist pedagogy, such as transparency and decentering of authority, and that acknowledges the valid emotions students, teachers, and community members may experience. I call for community literacy practitioners to see the power of all participants to both give and receive care in transformative education.

Academic Voice Reimag(in)ed: Interest and Design in Artwork and Three Dimensional Artefacts Abstract Although ‘voice’ is a contested concept used in many different ways, it is often used to indicate degrees of authorial agency and, as such, is useful for exploring interest and design in artwork and three dimensional artefacts. This paper investigates the semiotic signifiers of voice in artwork, arguing that the notion of materiality is crucial for understanding voice in designed three dimensional artefacts. The methodological approach is multimodal social semiotics where meaning is seen to be made through the selection and configuration of modes in texts and through the interest of the sign-maker in a particular context. This position paper focuses on authorial engagement as realized through semiotic choices, and explores the relationship between creativity and constraints in sign-making. It also investigates ways in which voice is constructed intertextually through citation in artwork. It argues that in designed artefacts, citation takes the form of explicit or implicit negotiation with authoritative conventions, and it is also realised through sensory and connotative provenance. The overall aim is to find apt semiotic terms to talk about voice across modes, genres and domains. Identifying these semiotic tools and signifiers of voice may be useful in a number of domains, including the pedagogical where voice often instantiates the negotiation between students’ lifeworlds and the new ideas, contexts and genres they encounter.

Studies of Systems : the ENTERPRICE Model Traffic Information Centres (TICs) have acquired strategic role in the system approach adopted for traffic and mobility services management in the Trans European Transport Network. TIC systems allow collecting information from a variety of sources, processing such information, distributing this and additional added-value information to a large number of users of the transportation systems, using a number of different channels This paper describes the use of intelligent technologies for traffic information management adopted within the EU project ENTERPRICE, which has developed and evaluated the MObility and Traffic Information Centre (MOTIC) architecture, an open European architecture for a regional traffic information, mobility management and supervision centre. The use of intelligent techniques in the context of a MOTIC is related to three main issues: (1) the integration of data and information of different transport modes coming from different sources in the transport network, (2) the provision of added-value information services for travellers, to be operated and offered to the users by the relevant service operators and (3) the provision of a strategic traffic management “shell” for traffic managers and planners, including tools for scenario simulation and analysis, strategy planning and dissemination to local information/control centres and operators.

Fourteen weeks of treatment with Viscofiber increased fasting levels of glucagon-like peptide-1 and peptide-YY. Fermentable dietary fiber has been shown to cause fat loss and to increase peptide-YY (PYY) and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) levels in rodents. In single meal tests, humans have an increase in PYY and GLP-1 to dietary fiber, but the response of these hormones to longer-term treatment is not known. Viscofiber (Cevena Bioproducts Inc., Edmonton, AB, Canada) is a high-viscosity fermentable dietary fiber made by a proprietary process from oats and barley. Seven healthy overweight and obese subjects were treated with a calorie-restricted diet, a lifestyle change program, and 4 g of Viscofiber/day for 16 weeks. Hunger, satiety, PYY, and GLP-1 were measured before and 1 hour after a standard meal test before and at week 14 of the study. Hunger and satiety were measured by Visual Analog Scales. PYY and GLP-1 were measured by radioimmunoassay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. Weight was reduced 3.07 +/- 3.13 kg (P < .05) over the 16 weeks. Fasting PYY increased 8.67 +/- 6.62 pg/mL (P < .05) and fasting GLP-1 increased 2.67 +/- 0.84 pmol/L (P < .01) at 14 weeks compared to baseline. Satiety increased 1.78 +/- 1.43 cm (P < .01) at the 1-hour post-meal time point on week 14 compared to the study baseline. We conclude that 14 weeks of treatment with Viscofiber at 4 g/day along with a lifestyle change program and diet causes weight loss and increases fasting PYY, fasting GLP-1, and satiety at 1 hour following a standard meal, which extends the single meal test observations in humans.

The adiabatic flame temperature and laminar flame speed of methane premixed flames at varying pressures This paper studies the influence of equivalence ratio, pressure and initial temperature on adiabatic flame temperature and laminar flame speed of methane-air mixture. The results indicate that adiabatic flame temperature is weakly correlated with pressure. The adiabatic flame temperature increases only by about 50?C as a result of 30 bar pressure increase. The flame speed is inversely proportional to pressure. The maximum adiabatic flame temperature and flame speed occur at the stoichiometric ratio, ?=1. The percent increase in the flame speed was about 400% when the initial temperature of the mixture is increased from 25?C to 425?C.

Structural changes in the cytoplasmic domain of phospholamban by phosphorylation at Ser16: a molecular dynamics study. Phospholamban is a 52-residue integral membrane protein that regulates the activity of the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump in cardiac muscle. Its inhibitory action is relieved when phospholamban is phosphorylated at Ser16 by cAMP-dependent protein kinase. To computationally explore all possible conformations of the phosphorylated form, and thereby to understand the structural effects of phosphorylation, replica-exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) was applied to the cytoplasmic domain that includes Ser16. The simulations showed that (i) without phosphorylation, the region from Lys3 to Ser16 takes all alpha-helical conformations; (ii) when phosphorylated, the alpha-helix is partially unwound in the C-terminal part (from Ser10 to Ala15) resulting in less extended conformations; (iii) the phosphate at Ser16 forms salt bridges with Arg9, Arg13, and/or Arg14; and (iv) the salt bridges with Arg13 and Arg14 distort the alpha-helix and induce unwinding of the C-terminal part. We then applied conventional all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to the full-length phospholamban in the phospholipid bilayer. The results were consistent with those obtained with REMD simulations, suggesting that the transmembrane part of phospholamban and the lipid bilayer itself have only minor effects on the conformational changes in the cytoplasmic domain. The distortions caused by the salt bridges involving the phosphate at Ser16 readily explain the relief of the inhibitory effect of phospholamban by phosphorylation, as they will substantially reduce the population of all helical conformations, which are presumably required for the binding to the calcium pump. This will also be the mechanism for releasing the phosphorylated phospholamban from kinase.

Stability of the liberal order, moral learning, and constitutional choice: an unresolved tension in James Buchanan’s political economy Buchanan mentions at several points in his oeuvre the necessary role for a constitutional attitude. This attitude is both explanatory and evaluative; it explains why citizens value liberty but also highlights one of the necessary conditions for the stability of a free society. We argue that Buchanan’s idea of a ‘constitutional attitude’ is extremely relevant, though underdeveloped. Firstly, it remains an open question what exactly a constitutional attitude means in practice and it is unclear what kind of institutions would foster it. Secondly, we believe that the success of his constitutional political economy project depends on some account of moral learning. Although Buchanan stresses the individual aspect of the process of self-constitution, he doesn’t take sufficient account of how the institutional environment and our social relationships structure this process. We discuss to what extent a broadly neo-Aristotelian account of moral learning can provide a more robust foundation for Buchanan’s ideas.

Intergenerational equity and dual discounting Abstract Dual discounting is a new approach under consideration for use in environmental cost–benefit analysis. This paper updates the literature on this subject and subjects it to the assessment of an international panel of experts on environmental discounting by means of a Delphi study. Subsequently, a case study provides some findings deriving from the practical application of this strategy as the choice of discounting scenario in the economic evaluation of a plant for the desalination of irrigation return water, aimed at halting the degradation of a wetland. There are theoretical and practical reasons to support the use of this discounting approach in relation to projects with intergenerational impact, where the environmental effects are considerable in relation to market effects. Although still under investigation, the dual discounting approach appears to provide an appropriate methodological platform enabling the quantification of the degree of intergenerational equity implicit in the project.

Energetically optimized pharmacophore modeling to identify dual negative allosteric modulators against group I mGluRs in neurodegenerative diseases Abstract Glutamate is the key neurotransmitter in human brain that regulates the important functions such as learning, memory and cognition. Abnormal regulation of glutamate leads to various neurodegenerative disorders. To regulate the glutamate signaling pathway we have employed a computational technique called energetically optimized pharmacophore model. We selected four-point pharmacophore (HRRR) based on the glide energy scores and screened the eMolecules database having more than 10 million compounds to find the potential dual negative allosteric modulators for both mGluR1 and mGluR5. The pharmacokinetic properties were calculated to filter out the unwanted molecules. Further, molecular docking, enrichment calculations and molecular dynamics simulations were executed. Finally, the top two compounds (1080734, 22696638) selected from the screened database could be potent dual negative allosteric modulators for the targeted proteins mGluR1 and mGluR5. AbbreviationsCNS central nervous systemGPCR G-protein coupled receptormGluR metabotropic glutamate receptorIFD induced fit dockingPOPC palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholineVFT Venus flytrap domainRMSD root mean square deviationRMSF root mean square fluctuation7TM seven transmembrane Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Perspective—Electrolyte Design for Aqueous Batteries: From Ultra-High Concentration to Low Concentration？ High voltage aqueous Li-ion batteries have the potential for sustainable large-scale energy storage due to their intrinsic advantages of safety, low cost, as well as environmental friendliness. “Water-in-salt” electrolytes have significantly enhanced the energy density of aqueous Li-ion batteries by extending the aqueous electrolyte stability window to 3.0 V. However, the cathodic limit and salt concentration need to be reduced, enabling to operate low cost LiMn2O4/Li4Ti5O12 cells. In addition, gravimetric energy density of LiMn2O4/Li4Ti5O12, self-discharge rate, and operation temperature range remain rarely studied. This perspective aims to briefly summarize the opportunity and challenges of aqueous batteries for practical applications.

Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Probiotics for Primary Prevention: No Clinical Effects of Lactobacillus GG Supplementation BACKGROUND. The value of probiotics for primary prevention is controversial. Published trials vary considerably in study design and the applied probiotics, thereby limiting comparability of the results. OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this trial was to study the preventive effect of the probiotic Lactobacillus GG on the development of atopic dermatitis. METHODS. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled prospective trial, 105 pregnant women from families with ≥1 member (mother, father, or child) with an atopic disease were randomly assigned to receive either the probiotic Lactobacillus GG (American Type Culture Collection 53103; 5 × 109 colony-forming units of Lactobacillus GG twice daily) or placebo. Ninety-four families (89.5%) completed the trial. The supplementation period started 4 to 6 weeks before expected delivery, followed by a postnatal period of 6 months. The primary end point was the occurrence of atopic dermatitis at the age of 2 years. Secondary outcomes were severity of atopic dermatitis, recurrent episodes of wheezing bronchitis, and allergic sensitization at the age of 2 years. RESULTS. Atopic dermatitis was diagnosed in 14 (28%) of 50 in the Lactobacillus GG group and in 12 (27.3%) of 44 in the placebo group. The risk of atopic dermatitis in children on probiotics relative to placebo was 0.96 (confidence interval 0.38–2.33). Severity of atopic dermatitis was comparable between the 2 groups. Notably, children with recurrent (≥5) episodes of wheezing bronchitis were more frequent in the Lactobacillus GG group (26%; n = 13), as compared with the placebo group (9.1%; n = 4). No difference was observed between both groups in total immunoglobulin E concentrations or numbers of specific sensitization to inhalant allergens. CONCLUSIONS. Supplementation with Lactobacillus GG during pregnancy and early infancy neither reduced the incidence of atopic dermatitis nor altered the severity of atopic dermatitis in affected children but was associated with an increased rate of recurrent episodes of wheezing bronchitis. Therefore, Lactobacillus GG cannot be generally recommended for primary prevention.

Oltipraz inhibits liver X receptor‐alpha‐dependent lipogenic gene induction and hepatic steatosis via AMPK‐S6K1 pathway Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is closely associated with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. This study investigated the role of S6K1 in LXRalpha activation and the effects of oltipraz on LXRalpha‐dependent lipogenesis in hepatocytes and high‐fat diet animal model. Oltipraz prevented the ability of T0901317 to activate SREBP‐1c, inhibiting its own mRNA and protein induction. The inhibition of S6K1 by oltipraz contributes to the repression of SREBP‐1c induction, whereas S6K1 activation antagonized this inhibitory effect. AMPK, whose activation leads to S6K1 inhibition, contributes to inhibit the induction of SREBP‐1c by T0901317. Oltipraz impaired T0901317‐induced CYP7A1 transactivation. Moreover, S6K1 and AMPK oppositely regulate LXRalpha activity through their phosphorylations at different residues. S6K1 inhibition antagonized CYP7A1 induction promoted by AMPK inhibition, whereas AMPK activation abrogated S6K1‐dependent CYP7A1 induction, supporting the opposing role of S6K1 and AMPK in LXR activity. Consistently, oltipraz inhibited hepatic triglyceride accumulation and lipogenic gene induction in mice. Our findings showing the role of AMPK‐S6K1 pathway in LXRalpha activity and S6K1‐dependent inhibition of LXRalpha‐induced lipogenic gene transactivation by oltipraz led to the identification of S6K1 as an attractive target for intervention in hepatic steatosis.

A Comprehensive Taxonomy of Argumentative Thesis Statements: A Preliminary Pilot Study Although it is universally acknowledged that argumentative texts constitute the core of academic discourse and that their production is the most difficult task for students to master, there is hardly any research available on the pivotal component of argumentative texts: the thesis statement. This paper presents a preliminary pilot study whose aim was to propose a comprehensive taxonomy of argumentative thesis statements, to test the taxonomy on argumentative essays, to investigate student preferences for argumentative thesis statement types, and to attempt to explain the relationship between thesis type selection and the prompt given to students in the essay writing task. For the purposes of the investigation, a subsection (N = 225) of the Hungarian Corpus of Learner English was selected and their thesis statements coded independently by two coders with the help of a codebook following a coder training. The results showed that the proposed taxonomy is suitable for the identification and categorisation of argumentative thesis statements, but they also revealed weaknesses in the codebook that need to be addressed. The findings provided insights into student preferences concerning argumentative thesis statement types with two thesis types (Simple policy and Causal theses) emerging as the most frequent. It was also found that in the investigated sample there is no relationship between the prompt and the argumentative thesis types. The proposed taxonomy is recommended for use in the writing classroom in order to familiarise students with the diversity of argumentative thesis statement options.

Image Adaptive Watermarking Technique for Digital Phone Digital watermarking has been proposed as a solution to the problem of copyright protection of digital images in digital phone camera. There are two important issues that watermarking algorithms need to address. First, watermarking schemes are required to provide trustworthy evidence for protecting rightful ownership. Second, good watermarking schemes should satisfy the requirement of robustness and resist distortions due to common image manipulations. This paper presents a blind image watermarking scheme for camera phone. This method is based on singular value decomposition (SVD) and wavelet decomposition. Analysis and experimental results show that the proposed watermarking method performs well in security and robustness of digital phone camera

A Method for Finding Link Hijacking Based on Modified PageRank Algorithms As the search result ranking is getting important for attracting visitors and profits, more and more people are now trying to mislead search engines in order to get higher ranking. Since link-based ranking algorithm is one of the most important tools for current search engines, web spammers are making an significant effort to manipulate links structure of web, namely, link spamming. Link hijacking is one technique of link spamming. By hijacking links from normal sites to target spam sites, spammers can make search engines believe that normal sites endorse spam sites. In this paper, we propose a link analysis technique for finding link-hijacked sites using modified PageRank algorithms. We performed experiments on our large scale Japanese web archive and evaluated the accuracy of our method. Keyword Link analysis, Web spam, Information retrieval

An observational assessment of change in two groups of behaviourally disturbed boys. SUMMARY Two groups of 5–7-year-old behaviourally disturbed boys involved in a group therapy programme were observed on several occasions near the beginning and near the end of the programme. Observers recorded occurrences of aggressive, prosocial and imitative behaviours. In both groups and for all but one individual the ratio of prosocial to aggressive behaviours increased over the two observation periods. The rate of imitation remained stable. It is suggested that observational techniques may be quite useful in assessing the effectiveness of therapy in promoting changes in social behaviour and social process.

[Study on the influencing factor of cultivating mungbean sprouts rich in chromium]. Getting organic chromium by cultivating chromium-enriched mungbean sprouts was studied. Chromium content in mung-bean sprouts was determined and the growth performance was observed under different conditions. The result showed that the optimal condition of cultivating chromium-enriched mungbean sprouts was soaking mungbean seeds in 40 mg/kg chromium solution about 24 hours, then cultivating under 25 degrees C for 5 days. The supernatant of chromium-enriched mungbean sprouts and normal mungbean sprouts were tested by scanning with ultraviolet spectrometry within the range of 200-320 nm wavelength. It is found that a characteristic ultraviolet absorption peak appears at 257 nm, and its optical density is descended with the increasing of chromium in the chromium-enriched mung-bean sprouts.

Influence of COVID-19 on asymmetric cost behavior and intellectual capital efficiency: a comparison of Australian and Chinese listed firms ABSTRACT This study examines whether intellectual capital efficiency affects the asymmetric cost behavior of managers and whether such influences were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and China. The sample consists of Australian and Chinese-listed firms from 2018 to 2021. The results found that intellectual capital efficiency increases the cost stickiness in general for both countries. However, the degree of cost stickiness caused by intellectual capital efficiency is significantly more pronounced in Australia than in China. When Chinese firms have government connections, the degree of cost stickiness caused by the intellectual capital efficiency increases and the significant difference in cost stickiness between China and Australia ceases. In addition, this study found that COVID-19 affected the degree of cost stickiness in China more profoundly than in Australia. This study presents important implications for external stakeholders to assess a firm’s cost behavior by considering a firm’s intellectual capital efficiency as the determinant of asymmetric cost behavior.

Comparative Analysis of Fault Detection for HVDC Transmission System Using Wavelet Transform Based on Standard Deviation Electrical losses and capital cost are two important factors for an efficient transmission of electrical power from generation station to load center. High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) for its high power carrying capacity is the most suitable option to transmit electrical power leading to low electrical losses and capital cost of the system. However, there is possibility of severe AC and DC faults because of its high power transmission capacity. Fault penetration is more severe in HVDC system due to the power electronics based converters and proper protection is required for the power converters and HVDC transformers owing to their high capital cost. In this work, a simple time-frequency analysis technique is proposed for the identification of HVDC faults using MATLAB/Simulink software. The simulation results show that the most efficient mother Wavelet Transform (WT) based on the standard deviation occurs at the 6th level of decomposition of fault signal to detect the DC fault, symmetrical and asymmetrical faults.

Differential Diagnosis of rSr’ Pattern in Leads V1‐V2. Comprehensive Review and Proposed Algorithm One of the more frequent dilemmas in ECG interpretation is the differential diagnosis of an rSr’ pattern in leads V1‐V2. We often face this finding in asymptomatic and otherwise healthy individuals and the causes may vary from benign nonpathological variants to severe or life‐threatening heart diseases, such as Brugada syndrome or arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. In other cases, a normal variant of rSr’ pattern can be misinterpreted as pathological after the occurrence of certain clinical events such as cardiac arrest or syncope of unknown cause. In this review we analyze in detail all the possible conditions, both benign and pathological that may explain the presence of this electrocardiographic pattern. We also propose a simple electrocardiographic algorithm for differential diagnosis.

Jacques Ellul’s Concern With The Amorality Of Contemporary Communications In the very complex issues now surrounding mass media ethics, communication scholars will have to cooperate internationally and support each other in providing analysis and guidelines. Jacques Ellul, the French social philosopher, adds something crucial to our discussion of media ethics by demonstrating why modern communications are fundamentally impervious to all moral considerations. He contributes the notion "la technique" to contemporary research as our most determinative phenomenon at present. By understanding this stimulating concept and applying it to communications, we gain a significant perspective on the moral condition of media systems today. This essay demonstrates especially how EHuI can illumine the American situation, though his principles extend in their broadest sense to Western nations as a whole.

Keyword Augmented Retrieval: Novel framework for Information Retrieval integrated with speech interface Retrieving answers in a quick and low cost manner without hallucinations from a combination of structured and unstructured data using Language models is a major hurdle. This is what prevents employment of Language models in knowledge retrieval automation. This becomes accentuated when one wants to integrate a speech interface on top of a text based knowledge retrieval system. Besides, for commercial search and chat-bot applications, complete reliance on commercial large language models (LLMs) like GPT 3.5 etc. can be very costly. In the present study, the authors have addressed the aforementioned problem by first developing a keyword based search framework which augments discovery of the context from the document to be provided to the LLM. The keywords in turn are generated by a relatively smaller LLM and cached for comparison with keywords generated by the same smaller LLM against the query raised. This significantly reduces time and cost to find the context within documents. Once the context is set, a larger LLM uses that to provide answers based on a prompt tailored for Q&A. This research work demonstrates that use of keywords in context identification reduces the overall inference time and cost of information retrieval. Given this reduction in inference time and cost with the keyword augmented retrieval framework, a speech based interface for user input and response readout was integrated. This allowed a seamless interaction with the language model.

Assessing patient dependence in Alzheimer's disease. BACKGROUND While cognitive and functional deficits are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), loss of social function (and the dependence this implies) is also critical, especially in early stages of disease. Little attention has been directed to this facet of dementing disease. We describe a scale for assessing dependency in AD and present a baseline profile of dependency in a cohort of AD patients. METHODS In a study of the predictors of the course of AD, 233 patients in early stages of disease (modified MMS > or = 30) were assessed. Psychometric properties of the dependence scale were established. To validate the scale, dependence scores at baseline were correlated with a series of measures assessing cognition and function. The course of dependency over 18 months of follow-up was also analyzed. RESULTS The scale shows adequate reliability (test-retest, intraclass correlation). Dependence stage was related to other measures of disease severity. Scalogram analysis shows that the dependence scale is consistent with the course of functional loss established for dementing disease. Prospective data indicate sensitivity of the scale to disease progression. CONCLUSION Dependency is a distinct, measurable component of dementing disease and should be considered an important outcome in studies of AD.

Anmerkungen und Betrachtungen zur Schulstatistik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland School statistics in the Federal Republic are carried out under the responsibility of the Länder. There are regional school statistics mainly for administrative purposes and there are, at the federal level, standardised school statistics for the purposes of educational policy coordination between the Länder (Standing Conference of Ministers of Education, Science and Culture/KMK) or long-term educational outline planning (Bund-Länder-Commission for Educational Planning/BLK). The programmes of the standardised school statistics are defined by the KMK which takes account of the data requirements of the BLK and the Federal Ministry of Education and Science. Since about 1960 continuous cooperation has been achieved between the KMK and the statistical authorities. In the following 15 years the statistical programmes have been considerably extended, refined and increasingly adapted to the needs of educational policy and planning, the latter having been strongly promoted by investigations of financial and manpower needs in education (KMK) and by the calculations preceding the General Plan for Education (BLK). Definitions, classification systems and keys of the school statistics system at regional and at federal level should now be thoroughly tested and if necessary be revised.

Generosity, fairness, trust and time: the performance of therapeutic community residents in economics experiments Purpose Therapeutic communities (TCs) assume that residents are capable of working together to overcome substance abuse and criminal behavior. Economic games allow us to study the potential of cooperative behavior in TC residents. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze results from a sample of 85 corrections-based TC residents and a comparison group of 45 individuals drawn from the general population who participated in five well-known economic experiments – the dictator game, the ultimatum game, the trust game, risk attitude elicitation and time preference elicitation. Findings TC residents keep less money in the dictator game and return more in the trust game, and prefer short-term rewards in the time preference elicitation. In the ultimatum game, nearly half of all residents refuse offers that are either too low or too high. Research limitations/implications While the study involves a sample from one TC and a comparison group, the results suggest that residents are at least comparable to the general public in generosity and appear willing on average to repay trust. A substantial minority may have difficulty accepting help. Practical implications Rapid peer feedback is of value. Residents will be willing to offer help to peers. The TC environment may explain residents’ tendency to return money in the trust game. Residents who refuse to accept offers that are either too low or too high in the ultimatum game may also have difficulty in accepting help from peers. Social implications Economic games may help to clarify guidelines for TC clinical practice. Originality/value This is the first use of economic games with TC residents.

Model-Centric Volumetric Point Cloud Attributes Point clouds have recently gained interest, especially for real-time applications and for 3D-scanned material, such as is used in autonomous driving, architecture, and engineering, to model real estate for renovation or display. Point clouds are associated with geometry information and attributes such as color. Be the color unique or direction-dependent (in the case of plenoptic point clouds), it reflects the colors observed by cameras displaced around the object. Hence, not only are the viewing references assumed, but the illumination spectrum and illumination geometry is also implicit. We propose a model-centric description of the 3D object, that is independent of the illumination and of the position of the cameras. We want to be able to describe the objects themselves such that, at a later stage, the rendering of the model may decide where to place illumination, from which it may calculate the image viewed by a given camera. We want to be able to describe transparent or translucid objects, mirrors, fishbowls, fog and smoke. Volumetric clouds may allow us to describe the air, however ``empty'', and introduce air particles, in a manner independent of the viewer position. For that, we rely on some eletromagnetic properties to arrive at seven attributes per voxel that would describe the material and its color or transparency. Three attributes are for the transmissivity of each color, three are for the attenuation of each color, and another attribute is for diffuseness. These attributes give information about the object to the renderer, with whom lies the decision on how to render and depict each object.

Sub-MeV dark matter detection with bilayer graphene The light dark matter mass regime has emerged as the next frontier in the direct detection experiment due to the lack of any detection signal in the higher mass range. In this paper, we propose a new detector material, a bilayer stack of graphene to detect sub-MeV dark matter. Its voltage-tunable low energy sub-eV electronic band gap makes it an excellent choice for the detector material of a light dark matter search experiment. We compute its dielectric function using the random phase approximation and estimate the projected sensitivity for sub-MeV dark matter-electron scattering and sub-eV dark matter absorption. We show that a bilayer graphene dark matter detector can have competitive sensitivity as other candidate target materials, like a superconductor, but with a tunable threshold energy in this mass regime. The dark matter scattering rate in bilayer graphene is also characterized by a daily modulation from the rotation of the Earth which may help us mitigate the backgrounds in a future experiment. We also outline a detector design concept and provide noise estimates that can be followed to set up an experiment in the future. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Characterizing noise in daily GPS position time series with overlapping Hadamard variance and maximum likelihood estimation We assess the noise characteristics of daily position time series (Jet Propulsion Laboratory global solutions) from 12 International GNSS Service sites located in China, using both overlapping Hadamard variance (OHVAR) and maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). The result shows that OHVAR is computationally cheap, and the dominate power-law noise inferred is in good agreement with the ones inferred by comparing MLE values. However, OHVAR is insufficient to assess the long-period noise characteristics [e.g., random walk noise (RW)]. From the MLE analysis, the RW contribution is likely to be present in 14% of the time series, while the noise of most sites are characterized by a combination of white and flicker (or power law) noise (i.e., FL + WH or PL + WH). Moreover, sites near the northern crest of the equatorial ionization anomaly have larger amplitudes of WH in the vertical component, while no clear latitude dependency is observed in FL amplitudes.

A Wideband Two-Way Digital Doherty Transmitter in 40nm CMOS A 40nm CMOS wideband digital Cartesian push-pull inverted Doherty operating in class-E is presented. Wideband Doherty operation is achieved over a 1.9-to-3GHz frequency band, using an off-chip power combining network. The fully digital transmitter (DTX) provides 25.3dBm peak power with a drain/DTX line-up efficiency (DE/SE) of 58.7%/44.9%, respectively, at 2.4GHz. When operated with a 160MHz 256-QAM OFDM signal, it achieves 46.1%/32.7% average DE/SE, with an ACLR and EVM better than −40.6dBc and −33.9dB, respectively, using a simple memory-less digital pre-distortion (DPD).

Impulsivity, suicidality, and emotional dysregulation in women having borderline personality disorder with and without substance dependence Objective The objective of this article is to detect differences between women having borderline personality disorder (BPD) with and without substance dependence regarding impulsivity, suicide, and emotional dysregulation. Patients and methods A total of 40 women with BPD [diagnosed by structural clinical interview for DSM (SCID) II] were compared with 40 women diagnosed as having BPD with substance dependence (diagnosed by SCID I and SCID II) attending the outpatient clinic in our university hospital using BPD severity index, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale. Results BPD with substance dependence women were more impulsive than those without substance dependence, but there were no difference between both groups regarding suicide and emotional dysregulation. Conclusion The findings of the study have clinical implications for management of women with BPD.

Reassessment of Beijing’s economic and military aid to Hanoi’s War, 1964–75 ABSTRACT Although China’s assistance to North Vietnam was substantial, playing a vital role in Hanoi’s war against the United States, this policy was made based on Beijing’s strategic calculation and ideological conviction rather than on Hanoi’s needs. The Chinese leadership attempted to use aid to influence Hanoi’s approach to the war, but achieved almost no effect. Instead, Beijing’s manipulation made Hanoi suspicious about the Chinese leadership’s real intentions in Indochina, and Beijing’s effort to help Hanoi against the United States was arguably its biggest, unexpected foreign policy failure in the Cold War.

An Improved Concatenation Scheme of Polar Codes With Reed–Solomon Codes An improved Reed–Solomon (RS)-polar code concatenation scheme with a threshold is proposed. It applies successive cancellation list and hard-decision decoding based on the low-complexity chase algorithm. A new multiplicity assignment module is proposed to make it possible to realize the RS-polar code concatenation and facilitate hardware decoder design. The proposed scheme achieves high decoding performance, low decoding complexity, and short latency. The simulation results show that the improved concatenation scheme gives a coding gain reaching about 0.4 dB compared with the traditional RS-polar scheme. Moreover, it can reduce the average number of RS codewords to be decoded in a concatenated code by 65% and decrease the decoding latency by 50% when the signal-to-noise ratio is 1.75 dB.

UHF RFID Tag Response Measurements Using a Do-It-Yourself Platform and Components Off-the-Shelf In this article, we present cost-effective techniques to assess UHF RFID performance for real world applications. This includes a positioner, based on stepper motors and braided fishing lines, which can position a tag in 3-D space. In combination with inventory meta data like RSSI and phase, we previously showed its use for a variety of measurements, e.g., the influence of tag-distance to materials and other tags. In this work, we extend its range of applications by the investigation of polarization sensitive ground reflections and as reference for tag localization estimations. For the measurements themselves, we use a commercial off-the-shelf R420 Impinj reader, which we control via LLRP commands, implemented in Python. Using a low-cost RTL-SDR, we observed the communication between reader and tag and found out that the tag is responding for lower powers than the reader was able to detect it.

Acquisition and generalization of action effects Three experiments studied the acquisition of action-contingent events (action effects). In a first, acquisition phase participants performed free-choice reactions with each keypress leading to the presentation of either a particular category word (e.g., animal or furniture) or an exemplar word (e.g., dog or chair). In the test phase, choice responses were made to category or exemplar words by using a word-key mapping that was either compatible or incompatible with the key-word mapping during acquisition. Compatible mapping produced better performance than incompatible mapping if the words in the practice and the test phase were the same (e.g., animal M animal), if they had a subordinate-superordinate relationship (e.g., dog M animal), belonged to the same category (e.g., dog M cat), or referred to visually related concepts (e.g., orange M circle). The findings support the assumption that action effects are acquired and integrated with the accompanying action automatically, so that perceiving the effect leads to the priming of the associated response. And, most importantly, they demonstrate that effect acquisition generalizes to other, feature-overlapping events.

Polarizability effects in molecular dynamics simulations of the graphene-water interface. The importance of including the polarizability of both water and graphene in molecular dynamics simulations of the water/graphene system was quantified. A thin film of either rigid single point charge extended (SPC/E) water or polarizable simple 4-site water model with Drude polarizability (SWM4_DP) water on non-polarizable and polarizable graphene surfaces was simulated. The graphene surface was either maintained neutral or charged, positively and negatively. The results suggest that SPC∕E and SWM4_DP water models yield very similar predictions for the water structural properties on neutral non-polarizable graphene, although they yield slightly different dynamical properties of interfacial water on neutral non-polarizable graphene. More pronounced were the differences obtained when graphene was modeled with a polarizable force field. In particular, the polarizability of graphene was found to enhance the number of interfacial SWM4_DP water molecules pointing one of their OH bonds towards the neutral surface. Despite this structural difference, the dynamical properties predicted for the interfacial SWM4_DP water were found to be independent on polarizability as long as the polarizability of a carbon atom is smaller than α = 0.878 A. On charged graphene surfaces, the effect of polarizability of graphene on structural properties and some dynamical properties of SWM4_DP water is negligible because electrostatic forces due to surface charge dominate polarization forces, as expected. For all cases, our results suggest that the hydrogen bond network is insensitive to the polarizability of both water and graphene. Understanding how these effects will determine the accumulation of ions near neutral or charged graphene could have important implications for applications in the fields of energy storage and water desalination.

Artificial bee colony algorithm based automatic generation control in two-area non-reheat thermal power system using SMES In modern real world power system is very complex and uncertainties of parameters are controlled is a huge task of the problem due to continuous power demand variations. The proper balance between power demand and generation is much essential of the system. Automatic generation control (AGC) is a vital role to maintain the steady state frequency and tie-line power interchange values under normal and step load perturbations in the system. In this proposed work to design a optimal controllers for AGC to improve the dynamic performance and reliability of the system. The optimum gains of the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller are optimized using a artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm employing an integral time absolute error (ITAE) criterion. Superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES) unit is incorporated in the proposed system to further improve the dynamic performance. The superiority of this proposed approach is compared with existing published method such as Loci map based chaotic optimization algorithm (LOCA) tuned PID controller for the system of two area non-reheat thermal power system. It is observed that the ABC tuned PID controller is better performers in terms of settling time, peak overshoot, undershoot in frequency and tie line power deviation as compared to the LOCA based PID controller.

[Mortality of dilated myocardiopathies as a function of continuation of alcohol drinking. Multivariate analysis concerning 236 patients]. A retrospective study was conducted in 236 consecutive patients with dilated cardiomyopathy to determine the characteristics of the disease in heavy alcohol drinkers (n = 110) and to study its outcome, using a Cox model, according to whether the patients were abstainers (n = 49) or continued to indulge drinking (n = 61). At the time of diagnosis, pulmonary pressures were higher in heavy drinkers than in abstainers. During a mean follow-up period of 39 +/- 27 months, 80 patients died of heart disease, viz.: 46 out of 127 non-alcoholic patients (36.2 per cent), 31 out of 61 heavy drinkers (50.8 per cent) and 3 out of 49 patients who had given up alcohol (6.12 per cent). Thus, independently of other parameters, abstinence is a highly significant (P less than 0.001) factor of favourable prognosis in dilated cardiomyopathy.

Virological response and resistance profiles after 18 to 30 months of first- or second-/third-line antiretroviral treatment: a cross-sectional evaluation in HIV type 1-infected children living in the Central African Republic. A total of 242 HIV-1-infected children were followed up at the Complexe Pédiatrique of Bangui, Central African Republic, including 165 receiving antiretroviral treatment in first- (n=150) or second-/third-line (n=15) regimens. They were prospectively included in a study, in 2009, to assess their virological status and prevalence of antiretroviral drug-resistance mutations in cases of virological failure, according to revised 2010 WHO criteria (e.g., HIV-1 RNA >3.7 log(10) copies/ml). Detectable plasma HIV-1 RNA was observed in 53% of children under first-line treatment, and virological failure was diagnosed in 40%, which was associated in 85% of cases with viruses harboring at least one drug-resistance mutation to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) or nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI), and in 36% of cases with at least one major drug-resistance mutation to NRTI or NNRTI when excluding the M184V mutation. Overall, the proportion of children receiving a first-line regimen for a median of 18 months with virological failure associated with drug-resistance mutations, and thus eligible for a second-line treatment, was estimated at 34% of the whole cohort. In children under second-/third-line therapy, virological failure occurred in 47%, plus at least one major drug-resistance mutation to NRTI or NNRTI, though less commonly to protease inhibitors. Taken together, these findings argue in favor of the urgent need to improve distribution of pediatric antiretroviral drugs in the Central African Republic, to increase adherence by treated children, and to offer adequate HIV biological monitoring.

Anti-Cancer Drug HMBA Acts as an Adjuvant during Intracellular Bacterial Infections by Inducing Type I IFN through STING The anti-proliferative agent hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA) belongs to a class of hybrid bipolar compounds developed more than 30 y ago for their ability to induce terminal differentiation of transformed cells. Recently, HMBA has also been shown to trigger HIV transcription from latently infected cells, via a CDK9/HMBA inducible protein-1 dependent process. However, the effect of HMBA on the immune response has not been explored. We observed that pretreatment of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells with HMBA led to a markedly increased production of IL-12 and IFN-γ, but not of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8 upon subsequent infection with Burkholderia pseudomallei and Salmonella enterica. HMBA treatment was also associated with better intracellular bacterial control. HMBA significantly improved IL-12p70 production from CD14+ monocytes during infection partly via the induction of type I IFN in these cells, which primed an increased transcription of the p35 subunit of IL-12p70 during infection. HMBA also increased early type I IFN transcription in human monocytic and epithelial cell lines, but this was surprisingly independent of its previously reported effects on positive transcription elongation factor b and HMBA inducible protein-1. Instead, the effect of HMBA was downstream of a calcium influx, and required the pattern recognition receptor and adaptor STING but not cGAS. Our work therefore links the STING-IRF3 axis to enhanced IL-12 production and intracellular bacterial control in primary monocytes. This raises the possibility that HMBA or related small molecules may be explored as therapeutic adjuvants to improve disease outcomes during intracellular bacterial infections.

Environmental Enrichment for Australian Mammals Many of Australia's nocturnal mammals are rare or endangered in the wild. The behavioural integrity of captive populations of endangered species can be maintained through the application of environmental enrichment techniques. This study investigated the effectiveness of feeding enrichment in promoting behavioural diversity, enclosure usage and species-typical behaviours in the ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) and the yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis). Animals were observed for 300 min day-1 over three consecutive time periods: baseline (12 non-consecutive days); enrichment: (12 consecutive days); and post-enrichment: (12 non-consecutive days). The use of a live insect dispenser decreased grooming and increased out-of-sight and social behaviour in the ghost bat. Artificial gum trees promoted species-typical behaviours in the yellow-bellied glider. Enrichment for nocturnal mammals had variable results and different welfare implications for these animals.

Incidence Estimates of Perinatal Arterial Ischemic Stroke in Preterm- and Term-Born Infants: A National Capture-Recapture Calculation Corrected Surveillance Study Introduction: Data on valid incidence estimates of perinatal arterial ischemic stroke (PAIS) are scarce. This analysis aims to determine incidence of PAIS in term- and preterm-born infants and to investigate clinical differences related to prematurity. Methods: This surveillance study (2015–2017) in all German paediatric hospital estimated incidences for MRI-confirmed PAIS in term and preterm infants. To correct for under-reporting, we performed capture-recapture-calculations (CRC) in the most populous federal state and extrapolated nationwide. Differences in clinical presentation in term- and preterm-born infants were assessed. Results: 126 term- and 19 preterm-born infants with PAIS were reported. CRC corrected incidence of PAIS was 22 (95% confidence interval [CI] 17, 27) per 100,000 live births. Stratified by prematurity, the incidence was 32 (95% CI 15, 49) per 100,000 in preterm-born infants and 21 (95% CI 16, 26) per 100,000 term-born infants (significant difference p = 0.001). In symptomatic cases only (n = 120 term born, n = 12 preterm born), incidences did not differ. Risk factor patterns were similar, but number of risk factors in preterm babies was elevated (mean 3.8 vs. 2.9; p = 0.01) and median age at diagnosis was increased (5 vs. 3 days; p = 0.04). Clinical seizures were observed in 88% (106/120) of symptomatic term infants compared to 33% (4/12) in preterm-born infants (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: PAIS incidence rates in Germany, extrapolated from estimates for completeness of reporting in the largest federal state, were within the range of other population-based studies. As a novel finding, we detected symptomatic PAIS in preterm-born infants to be as common as in term-born infants although their symptoms were often unspecific.

Transgender in modern olympic sports: problems and ways of their solution Background. In recent years, there have been active disputes and disagreements among international sports leaders, including representatives of the International Olympic Committee, about the possibility of including transgender athletes in the number of participants in the Olympic Games. Objective of the review: to analyze of the modern scientific literature data to substantiate the possibility of admitting transgender women to participate in the women’s competitions of the Olympic Games. Review results indicate that the number of transgender candidates for participation in sports of higher achievements may be caused by the increase in the transgender population in the world. Currently, there is no significant scientific evidence on the biological benefits that hinder the integrity of transgender women’s competition in women’s sports. There is also no evidence that transgender women who have opted for testosterone suppression (e.g. hormone therapy to confirm sex and/or surgical removal of the sex glands) retain an indefinite advantage over cisgender athletes. To be more precise, current evidence suggests that any biological benefits of transgender women in athletic performance do not fall outside the range that is observed among cisgender female athletes after testosterone suppression. However, experts disagree in the field of medicine about the morphofunctional differences of transgender female athletes and cisgender female athletes, society’s rejection of female athletes after transgender transition, the indecision of International Olympic Committee representatives in solving this problem in women’s sports relevant and extremely painful for healthy women, sportswomen, for the development of sports in general and women’s sports in particular.Our further research will be aimed at expanding the study of the conceptual foundations of combining two key areas of research - medico-biological and socio-cultural, with integration into the practice of sports as one of the actual issues of our time that require a theoretically justified and practically proven solution.

Traveller Recurrence and Inter- versus Intratraveller Speed Variability: Analysis with Bluetooth Data This paper proposes a linear mixed model of route speed distributions that separates the variability into an intertraveller component, consistent across days and time intervals for each recurrent traveller, and an intratraveller component representing uncertainty. The intratraveller variability corresponds to travel time uncertainty, while the total variability is typically captured by empirical measurements and used in travel time reliability assessments. The intratraveller and the total variability differ if there are systematic differences in speed between different recurrent travellers. The paper also investigates to what degree vehicles traversing a route during the morning or evening peak over multiple days are recurrent travellers. Using data from Bluetooth and Wifi sensors on 26 routes in Stockholm, Sweden, over a three-month period, we find that the traveller recurrence is higher towards the city in the morning peak and out from the city in the afternoon. Model estimation results show that the relative intratraveller variability is also significantly higher in the commute direction (towards the city in the morning and out from the city in the afternoon) and on routes with high congestion levels. The relations revealed in this paper may be used to estimate the relevant intratraveller variance based on the total variance and readily available route attributes. Without this correction, the costs associated with travel time variability may be overestimated.

The ambiguity function of a linear signal space and its application to maximum-likelihood range/Doppler estimation The concept of the ambiguity function (AF) is extended to linear signal spaces. Some properties of the AF of a linear signal space, its relations with other space representations, and the results obtained for some specific signal spaces are discussed. It is shown that the AF of a signal space describes the performance of the maximum likelihood (ML) range/Doppler estimator for a slowly fluctuating point target when a series of orthogonal signal pulses are transmitted. This multipulse estimator is more accurate than a conventional signal-pulse estimator since the AF of a linear signal space may have arbitrarily good thumbtack shape.<<ETX>>

Influence of carbon monoxide leaks on the measurement error of total haemoglobin mass Abstract Total haemoglobin mass (Hbmass) can be assessed with low measurement error using carbon monoxide (CO) rebreathing. However, variability in measurement error of Hbmass has been reported across laboratories and it has previously been suggested that CO leaks contribute to this variability. As a result of employing a standardized leak monitoring procedure using two CO detectors, we were able to retrospectively examine the impact of CO leaks on Hbmass values from past test-retest studies in our laboratory using the optimized CO rebreathing method. Test-retest data were collected to determine measurement error, with subjects tested twice within 5 days. Test-retest data were placed into separate categories based on magnitude and duration of CO leak observed during one of the two tests. The No Leak category contained test-retest data in which no leak occurred during either test. The Minor Leak category contained test-retest data in which one of the tests had a CO leak of magnitude less than 30 ppm and less than 5 seconds duration, whereas the Major Leak category included test-retest data in which a leak greater than this magnitude or duration occurred. Measurement error was lowest in the No Leak category (1.9%; 95%CI: 1.6–2.3%; n = 56), approximately doubled in the Minor Leaks category (3.6%; 95%CI: 2.6–6.1%; n = 13), and dramatically increased in the Major Leaks category (9.3%; 95%CI: 6.3–17.6%; n = 10). We recommend careful monitoring of potential CO leaks using multiple detectors. To minimize measurement error, tests in which any CO leak is detected should be excluded.

The observation of self-channeling of a relativistically-intense laser pulse in an underdense plasma Four spatial/spectral imaging diagnostics show relativistic self-channeling of a 25 TW, 1 ps laser pulse limited only by the length of the gas-jet target. Collective scattering of a probe beam provides a spectrally-resolved image of large-amplitude plasma waves indicating an intensity >10/sup 18/ W/cm/sup 2/ at 4 mm from the laser focus.

Analysis of Temperature and Thermal Stress Distribution on KDP Crystal Wire Saw Slicing Temperature variation of KDP crystal is an important reason for its cracking. A finite element model was constructed to analyze temperature and thermal stress distribution of KDP crystal during wire saw slicing. The results showed that the highest temperature of the crystal which was located on the sawing kerf remained stable during slicing. The temperature inside the crystal rose slowly at the start of the slicing, and then tended steady with the continued increase of sawing depth. Because of the good cooling condition during the sawing process, the overall rise in temperature was small, and the maximum thermal stress on the sawing kerf was less than the tensile strength of KDP crystal, so temperature variation during slicing had little effect on crystal cracking.

Treatment of urinary incontinence in the elderly. The most common and most difficult type of urinary incontinence in older people is associated with a low-capacity neurogenic bladder. Patients with cerebrovascular disease are particularly affected. A basic consideration in treatment is provision of adequate facilities for the patient to empty his bladder regularly and quickly. Regulation of fluid intake and use of various drugs may be beneficial. An indwelling catheter may be the best alternative for intractable incontinence, even with the hazard of inevitable infection.

The K computer: user-friendly. The News & Analysis article “Utility sacrificed for speed, supercomputer critics say” (D. Normile, 5 October, p. [26][1]) discussed our project, the Japanese 10-petaflops supercomputer (or “K computer”). Some criticisms reported in the article were based on misunderstandings, which I would like to clarify. Contrary to the title “utility sacrificed for speed,” I am confident that the K computer is the most user-friendly among the world's top-ranking supercomputers. In designing it, we focused not only on peak performance but also on sustained performance on real applications in a wide range of science and engineering fields. For example, the memory and network bandwidth per performance ([ 1 ][2]), which are key factors for application efficiency, are much better than those of IBM Sequoia (BlueGene/Q) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ([ 2 ][3]) or Cray Titan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory ([ 3 ][4], [ 4 ][5]). We have also adopted the widely used standard programming model (MPI/openMP) as in BlueGene/Q. The K computer demonstrated an extraordinary level of stability for one of the world's largest-scale systems; the overall system comprised of 88,128 CPUs ran without a single failure for 29.5 hours. All these features (high bandwidth, standard software environment, and high reliability) require extra hardware and software costs, which decrease the peak performance possible for a given cost. Thus, we are proud to say that in reality, we sacrificed speed for utility in the K computer design. ![Figure][6] Supercomputer. Japan's K computer contains 864 watercooled cabinets. CREDIT: D. NORMILE/ SCIENCE In the article, Jun Makino implied that we did not explore the design sufficiently. The truth is that we accepted proposals on architecture from academia and industry in the design process. In the selection of benchmark applications, we paid special attention to the parallelizability (i.e., the marginal number of processors that minimize an execution time of an application) of the algorithms we used, which is strongly related to optimal supercomputer architecture. Performance was never the only criterion: Some proposals were retracted, and others judged as infeasible due to their weak developmental systems. I am confident that we explored various architectural possibilities, taking into consideration their relations to algorithms. Takafumi Matsui said that the project was designed just to serve the computer industry. This is not the case. Of the total project cost of $1.4 billion, $500 million was devoted to software development for life sciences and nanoscience, in addition to buildings and facilities. We recognize that the project's main goal was the development of the supercomputer, with the goal of broad application in science and engineering. Is this a bad thing? It would be if no one wanted to use our computer. The good news, as the article noted, is that many users have applied to use the K computer. Its true value will soon be proved. 1. [↵][7] 1. Riken , K Computer ([www.aics.riken.jp/en/][8]). 2. [↵][9] IBM, Blue Gene ( ). 3. [↵][10] 1. Cray , Cray XK7 ([www.cray.com/Products/XK/XK7.aspx][11]). 4. [↵][12] 1. Nvidia , Tesla GPU Accelerators for Servers ([www.nvidia.com/object/tesla-servers.html][13]). [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.338.6103.26 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #ref-3 [5]: #ref-4 [6]: pending:yes [7]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1 in text" [8]: http://www.aics.riken.jp/en/ [9]: #xref-ref-2-1 "View reference 2 in text" [10]: #xref-ref-3-1 "View reference 3 in text" [11]: http://www.cray.com/Products/XK/XK7.aspx [12]: #xref-ref-4-1 "View reference 4 in text" [13]: http://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla-servers.html

Incidence and predictors of postoperative ischemic stroke after coronary artery bypass grafting Data on the incidence and outcomes of ischemic stroke in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in the current era are limited. The goal of this study was to examine contemporary trends, predictors, and outcomes of ischemic stroke following CABG in a large nationally representative database over a 12‐year‐period.

Formation of Microgrooving on C110 Casing Steel After Sulfide Stress Cracking Test NACE TM0177 is a commonly used materials qualification standard specifying how sulfide stress cracking (SSC) tests must be conducted and interpreted to verify the suitability of material application in sour service. This standard specifies through the so-called method A test (a tensile uniaxial environmental cracking test) that a material could be considered acceptable for sour service as long as no failure is evidenced after 720 h of exposure, and no initiation of environmental cracking is observed on the reduced length of the specimen after macrographic observations. After cross-sectional observations, so-called “microgrooves” can sometimes be evidenced on the surfaces of nonfailed specimens. Such features can hardly be interpreted as SSC crack initiation sites considering their shape and depth. Experience, however, shows that the formation of these microgrooves appears to be dependent on test conditions and type of load. This paper presents the results of investigations on the parameters influencing the microgroove formation on C110 steel after the method A uniaxial tensile SSC test. Test parameters influencing the groove formation are studied, and the results suggest that grooving is not SSC initiation for the testing conditions used in this work.

Comparison between one-session psychological treatment and benzodiazepine in dental phobia. To compare the effects of a single session of psychological treatment and acute administration of benzodiazepine, 50 dental phobic patients were allocated either to psychological treatment, benzodiazepine, or no treatment for anxiety. Psychological treatment consisted of stress management training and imaginal exposure to phobic stimuli with homework assignments. Benzodiazepine was administered 30 min before dental treatment. Both treatment conditions led to less anxiety during dental surgery than did the control condition. Phobic patients in the benzodiazepine condition showed a relapse after dental treatment, whereas those in the psychological treatment condition showed further improvement until the follow-up 2 months later. Of the latter group, 70% continued dental treatment; only 20% and 10% returned in the benzodiazepine and control conditions, respectively.

Metabolic fate of pitavastatin, a new inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase--effect of cMOAT deficiency on hepatobiliary excretion in rats and of mdr1a/b gene disruption on tissue distribution in mice. Pitavastatin is a potent competitive inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase. In the current study, to elucidate the hepatobiliary excretion of pitavastatin, we investigated the plasma concentration and biliary excretion of (14)C-pitavastatin in EHBR. We also evaluated the distribution of pitavastatin in mdr1a/b knockout mice by whole body autoradiography and quantitative radioassay. In view of the widespread clinical use of pitavastatin and the importance of drug-drug interaction, the inhibitory effect on Pgp-mediated activation of ATPase was also investigated. No marked difference was observed in the plasma concentration and biliary excretion of radioactivity between SDR and EHBR after dosing of (14)C-pitavastatin. Little radioactive transfer into the brain was detected in mdr1a/b knockout mice and the ATPase activity of human Pgp was negligible in the presence of pitavastatin. Moreover, no inhibitory effect on the Pgp-mediated activation of ATPase by verapamil was found in the presence of pitavastatin over a wide concentration range. These results indicated that a cMOAT and Pgp-mediated transport mechanism did not play a major role in the distribution of pitavastatin.

Tapered Photonic Crystal Microcavities Embedded in Photonic Wire Waveguides With Large Resonance Quality-Factor and High Transmission We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a microcavity that exhibits simultaneously high transmission and large resonance quality-factor (Q-factor). This microcavity is formed by a single-row photonic crystal (PhC) embedded in a 500-nm-wide photonic wire waveguide - and is based on silicon-on-insulator. A normalized transmission of 85%, together with a Q-factor of 18 500, have been achieved experimentally through the use of carefully designed tapering on both sides of each of the hole-type PhC mirrors that form the microcavity. We have also demonstrated reasonably accurate control of the cavity resonance frequency. Simulation of the device using a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain approach shows good agreement with the experimental results.

Finnish Ecosystem Observatory (FEO) - operationalizing remote sensing analyses for threatened habitats and biodiversity monitoring Biodiversity crisis calls for better knowledge of the status of biodiversity, but also drivers and pressures behind the ecosystem change and the vulnerability of habitats. There is growing demand for the biodiversity data for decision-making on national, regional and global scales. However, the operationalized biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring systems which can integrate remote sensing, in situ and modelling data are still rare despite of that there are good co-operation initiatives such as Australian TERN and US NEON in place. In Finland, we have launched the Finnish Ecosystem Observatory (FEO) as a reaction to such a need to upgrade and modernize biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring schemes. We have started a development of national research and monitoring infrastructure/platform which can integrate different data types and provide timely data and knowledge for various decision-making purposes. In this short paper, we describe three case studies as examples of different data types and different monitoring needs: i) habitat mapping for large area, ii) hydrological condition of aapa mires, and iii) automated Aspen mapping for boreal forests. We will evaluate the possibilities to operationalize the production of such data sets in a long-term as well as the challenges and bottlenecks related either to data, processing or applicability. Finally, we will also discuss how FEO and similar kind of biodiversity monitoring platforms could be further developed, and how the network of such observatories could co-operate in the future.

Epidemiologic Study and Containment of a Nosocomial Outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in a Medical Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan Objective. We conducted an epidemiologic investigation at the beginning of a nosocomial outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) to clarify the dynamics of SARS transmission, the magnitude of the SARS outbreak, and the impact of the outbreak on the community. Methods. We identified all potential cases of nosocomially acquired SARS, linked them to the most likely infection source, and described the hospital containment measures. Setting. A 2,300-bed medical center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Results. A total of 55 cases of SARS were identified, and 227 hospital workers were quarantined. The index patient and neighboring patients were isolated. A chest physician team reviewed medical charts and chest radiographs and monitored the development of SARS in patients staying in the ward. The presence of underlying lung disease and immunocompromise in some patients made the diagnosis of SARS difficult. Some cases of SARS were diagnosed after the patients had died. Medical personnel were infected only if they cared for patients with unrecognized SARS, and caretakers played important roles in transmission of SARS to family members. As the number of cases of nosocomial SARS increased, the hospital closed the affected ward and expedited construction of negative-pressure rooms on other vacated floors for patient cohorting, and the last case in the hospital was identified 1 week later. Conclusions. Timely recognition of SARS is extremely important. However, given the limitations of SARS testing, possible loss of epidemic links, and the nonspecific clinical presentations in hospitalized patients, it is very important to establish cohorts of persons with low, medium, and high likelihoods of SARS acquisition. Rapid closure of affected wards may minimize the impact on hospital operations. Establishment of hospitals dedicated to appropriate treatment of patients with SARS might minimize the impact of the disease in future epidemics.

Influence of Mucoid Coating on Clearance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Lungs Pulmonary infection with mucoid strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in present in the majority of cystic fibrosis patients with chronic lung disease. It has been postulated that this mucoid coating may act to decrease lung clearance of Pseudomonas by limiting access of phagocytes, antibodies, and antibiotics to the bacteria. To determine whether mucoid coating of Pseudomonas might decrease intrapulmonary killing, groups of guinea pigs were infected with intrabronchial instillations of equivalent numbers of mucoid and nonmucoid Pseudomonas. For this study, mucoid strains of Pseudomonas were obtained from cystic fibrosis sputa and passaged on blood agar plates to obtain their nonmucoid revertants. Animals were then sacrificed at timed intervals after infection, and quantitative cultures were performed on lung homogenates. In all cases, mucoid challenge strains retained their mucoid morphology after passage in guinea pig lungs. No difference in killing of mucoid and nonmucoid Pseudomonas could be detected at 6, 24, or 48 h after lung infection. Further challenge studies used guinea pigs that were either prevaccinated with lipopolysaccharide P. aeruginosa vaccine or else treated with tobramycin sulfate after infection. Nonvaccinated or untreated controls had reduced intrapulmonary killing of Pseudomonas compared with vaccinees or treated groups (P < 0.02 and P < 0.01, respectively). However, there were no differences in pulmonary killing of mucoid and nonmucoid Pseudomonas in the presence of either specific antibodies or antibiotic. We conclude from these studies that mucoid coating of Pseudomonas does not selectively impede mechanisms of intrapulmonary killing in guinea pig lungs.

Highly stereoselective epoxidation with H2O2 catalyzed by electron-rich aminopyridine manganese catalysts. Fast, efficient, and highly stereoselective epoxidation with H2O2 is reached by manganese coordination complexes with e-rich aminopyridine tetradentate ligands. It is shown that the electronic properties of these catalysts vary systematically with the stereoselectivity of the O-atom transfer event and exert fine control over the activation of hydrogen peroxide, reducing the amount of carboxylic acid co-catalyst necessary for efficient operation.

Cardiac beta-adrenoceptors during normal growth of male and female rats. 1 A binding assay involving (-)-[3H]dihydroalprenolol (DHA) and KCl-washed cardiac membranes were used to assess the numbers and affinities of beta-adrenoceptors in hearts from male and female rats varying in age from about 2 weeks to 18 months. 2 Although female rats grow more slowly and attain lower adult weights than male rats, heart weights increased in approximate proportion to body weight with little sex difference. 3 As heart weight increased about three fold, beta-receptors increased three fold. Since the number of myocardial cells is believed to be nearly constant during postnatal growth, the numbers of receptors/cell presumably increases similarly. 4 As heart weight increased, the number of beta-receptors per g of tissue decreased according to the equation: total pmol/g = 4.33 - 1.43 x heart weight, equally in males and females. 5 Dissociation constants for DHA (2 to 4 nM) remained the same, and equal, in male and female rats during their growth. 6 An excellent correlation was found between the decline in beta-receptors/g tissue during growth and the decline in the area of the external sarcolemma/g tissue. The data suggest that the number of receptors per unit area remains constant during growth, and thus that cell surface area is a major factor determining normal numbers of receptors per cardiocyte.

Effect of electrode surface roughness on the electrical impedance of ionic polymer–metal composites In this paper, we study the effect of electrode surface roughness on the electrochemical response of ionic polymer–metal composites (IPMCs) subjected to a time-varying voltage input. We use the linearized Poisson–Nernst–Planck model to describe the dynamics of the electric potential and mobile counterions’ concentration within the polymer. We derive a closed form solution of the three-dimensional boundary value problem by employing the method of matched asymptotic expansions. Specifically, the polymer region is decomposed into a bulk region, where mainly diffusive phenomena take place, and boundary layers in proximity of the polymer–electrode interfaces, where charge storage develops as a function of the electrode surface roughness. Leading order solutions are derived and matched on account of electric potential, counterions’ concentration, and counterions’ flux continuity. We find that IPMC charge storage is greatly enhanced by the increase in effective electrode surface area. On the other hand, bulk diffusion phenomena remain largely independent of the microscopic topography of the electrode. Thus, the hypothesis of rough electrodes is found to be very well suited in interpreting the anomalous values of IPMC capacitance which scales linearly with the electrode’s actual surface area.

Forecasting with Panel Data This paper gives a brief survey of forecasting with panel data. Starting with a simple error component regression and surveying best linear unbiased prediction under various assumptions of the disturbance term. This includes various ARMA models as well as spatial autoregressive models. The paper also surveys how these forecasts have been used in panal data applications, running horse races between heterogeneous and homogeneous panel data models using out of sample forecasts.

On the study of the semantics of the animal style: The functional purpose of the artistic bronze of proto-circassians This article discusses the possibility of deciphering the Koban-Scythian animal style artifacts in terms of the transfer of information about the functional purpose of the object on the basis of the Circassian language. According to the materials of the archaeology and linguistics of the studied subjects and drawings with the use of the dictionary meanings of the Kabardino-Circassian language.

1973 Annual Meeting Notices one was teaching courses in a prison, this would be fairly well known throughout the institution.) But in five of the eleven, one respondent said that this was now present in the institution, while the other respondent said that it had never been considered as an option! In fourteen institutions there was a disagreement between the two respondents over whether or not the institution had "programs to prepare or assist new students by summer readiness skills centers, developmental programs, peer tutors, or counselors." In two institutions, one respondent said, "We have adopted this within the last two years," and the other respondent said, "We have never formally considered it." In seventeen institutions there was a discrepancy between the respondents on whether or not the institution had instituted "organizational changes (clusters, interdisciplinary departments, special instructional groupings, and new offices)". In four institutions, the differences were those of one respondent saying, "We have adopted it within the last two years," and the other saying, "We have never formally considered it." These errors, taken as a totality, seem to us to be of a prodigiously high magnitude. These "factual" data raise some doubts about the validity of data reporting in such systems as HEGIS and many of the other data-reporting systems developed through the U.S. Office of Education, HEW, regional accrediting associations, etc. (Indeed, in another study in which we had opportunity to compare HEGIS data with the data from the same institutions on the same categories, a large number of discrepancies emerged.) The institutions reporting to us with two questionnaires per institution seem to be a random collection of institutions in terms of our sample criteria. They represent small institutions as well as large, public and private; institutions that offer the Associate in Arts degree as well as others that offer the Ph.D. degree; some on the semester plan, some on the quarter plan, etc. The number of discrepancies per institution seems to vary in an unsystematic way and has no relationship to institutional size or type of control. A fair number of articles in the past several years have been critical of the broad-scale use of questionnaire research in higher education, but most of these criticisms have been directed at the inordinate load that is placed on local campus staff to provide the information. It has not been suggested before that the survey information itself may be false. However, the assumption appears untenable that data from an institution, even if it is in number form, can be accepted as prima facie truths. A corroboration system whereby one set of data on an institution is linked to an independently derived set appears in order. It is true that 25 institutions out of 1,863 are not very many, but we have to remember that the 25 were not selected by us in any way and represent a relatively "normal" sampling of institutions within the total. They are not the worst in terms of budgeting, size, location in the country, etc. Indeed, six of the 25 have between 5,000 and 40,000 students enrolled. Persons wishing to crossvalidate our findings may want to compare information from HEGIS categories that overlap data categories in other reporting systems, such as the WICHE system.

Time-parallel algorithms for simulation of multiple access protocols We present time-parallel algorithms for parallel simulation of multiple access protocols for medium access-in particular slotted Aloha and slotted p-persistent CSMA. Two mechanisms are presented-regeneration point-based and fix up-based. Aloha is simulated using both mechanisms and CSMA is simulated using only the first mechanism. An analytical technique is developed to predict speedup for the regeneration point-based scheme for slotted Aloha. Speedup values obtained from the analytical technique are found to be in good agreement with those obtained from simulations. In general, it is observed that any mechanism that reduces the number of backlogged packets has good parallel performance regardless of the protocol simulated or the mechanism used to parallelize the simulation.

Resounding the great divide: theorising music in everyday life at the end of life Abstract Music in contexts of death and dying is an important but often-overlooked aspect of music in everyday life. In this article I develop an ecological perspective for end of life experience that takes account of the temporal-cultural complexity of being gravely ill and, by implication, being well. This perspective views wellness and illness as inextricably linked and relationally determined. To develop these ideas I use auto-ethnographic examples from a case study of ‘everyday’ musical interaction in a domestic context of death and dying over a three-year period. I suggest that this domestic musical praxis illuminates the cultural and situational figuration of end of life experience, in particular how situations, moods and social ties can be refigured and transfigured, although not without potential uncertainty and risk. I conclude that music opens up opportunities for action and social relation at end of life. Music is a dynamic medium for the collective performance of what it means to be well or ill, and what it means (and can mean) to be alive, dying or dead.

The alcohol-impaired dentist: an educational challenge. A cross-sectional survey of 370 dental practitioners, a 74% response rate, was conducted and data collected. Prevailing attitudes within the dental profession toward the alcohol abuser and the role of peer intervention were recorded. Data collectively indicated a need for further strengthening educational efforts and the need for further development of a peer-assistance network.

Dynamic Power Allocation for Downlink NOMA Dynamic Power Allocation for Downlink Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) is a critical research area in wireless communication systems. This study focuses on implementing and evaluating dynamic power allocation strategies in the context of downlink NOMA. We compare the performance of dynamic power allocation with fixed power allocation schemes to assess their impact on system throughput, interference management, and overall efficiency. Through extensive simulations and analysis in this paper using MATLAB, we demonstrate a comparison between dynamic power allocation and fixed power allocation, and the advantages of dynamic power allocation in adapting to changing channel conditions and user requirements, leading to improved system performance. Our results show the data rate and outage probability which provides valuable insights into the benefits of dynamic power allocation in downlink NOMA systems and highlight the importance of adaptive power management techniques in enhancing wireless communication networks.

Public School Music Teachers' Perceptions of the Effect of Certain Competencies on Pupil Learning A list of competencies was developed and rated by 201 public school music teachers. Fifty-one competencies were classified as musical, and 59 were identified as teaching competencies. General music, instrumental, and choral teachers rated the competencies in terms of their effect on pupil learning. Competencies were ranked on the basis of the mean rating. The highest rated musical competencies required aural skills to detect errors in performance; the lowest ratings were given for competencies in accompanying. Teaching competencies, which received the highest ratings, were connected with evaluation of the music program or of self; those competencies receiving the lowest ratings were related to evaluation of pupils. The three groups of teachers gave significantly different ratings to 45.1% of the musical competencies and to 25.4% of the teaching competencies.

Maximizing Design Accommodations for Composite User Populations: Methodology Applicable to Mixed Male and Female Populations Methods for maximizing the accommodation of composite user populations in designs, with fixed limit constraints, are delineated. Initially, the probability density function (PDF) for a composite user population, derived from a mix of subpopulations, is characterized in terms of subpopulation PDF's and methods of estimating univariate and multivariate PDF's given. Subsequently, necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for maximizing fixed limit accommodation are given in terms of the accommodation ranges and composite PDF. Motivating examples and discussion are in terms of mixes of male and female subpopulation.

Nonlinear Superconducting Magnetoelectric Effect A supercurrent flow can induce a nonvanishing spin magnetization in noncentrosymmetric superconductors with spin-orbit interaction. Often known as the non-dissipative magnetoelectric effect, these are most commonly found at linear order in supercurrent flow. Here, we argue that a nonlinear superconducting magnetoelectric effect (NSM) can naturally manifest in altermagnet/superconductor (ALM/SC) heterostructures: NSM manifests as a spin polarization generated as a second-order response to a driving supercurrent. Strikingly, we find NSM is the leading order magnetization response in ALM/SC heterostructures and survives even in the presence of centrosymmetry; $C_4 \mathcal{T}$ symmetry in altermagnets zeroes both the equilibrium magnetization as well as out-of-plane linear magnetoelectric response. This renders NSM a powerful electric and non-dissipative means of controlling magnetization in ALM/SC heterostructures, a promising platform for superconducting spintronics.

Roles of heme iron-coordinating histidine residues of human hemopexin expressed in baculovirus-infected insect cells. Hemopexin (Hx), the major heme-binding plasma glycoprotein, scavenges circulating heme and performs an antioxidant function. In the present study, human Hx was expressed in a baculovirus system and its presumed essential His residues were mutated to Thr as a means of investigating their participation in heme binding. The recombinant Hx proteins were purified by sequential chromatography on Con A-agarose and SP-Sepharose. The purified recombinant wild-type Hx retained its heme binding. The binding constant for heme was considerably reduced, however, suggesting that glycosylation contributes critically to the heme binding property of Hx. Mutation either at His-127 or at His-56 plus His-127, but not at His-56 per se, reduced the affinity for heme by an order of magnitude relative to wild-type Hx. It is concluded that His-127 contributes to the high affinity for heme. We recorded proton NMR spectra to investigate the possibility that the degree of high-spin content is increased by deletion of an axial His-iron coordination. 1H NMR data indicate that each of the single-mutant heme-Hx complexes is predominantly low-spin, perhaps owing to coordination of the heme iron by the Thr side-chain oxygen or water oxygen coordinating to the iron.

Video Face Recognition on Invariable Moment There are three limitations in video face recognition. Firstly, face does not lie in image center, secondly, the size of face is bigger or smaller than those in the facial database, and lastly it exists possibly rotation in the face. In order to overcome these drawback caused by the above factors, the paper presents a novel method based on invariable moment that chooses candidate faces using principle. If number of candidate faces is more than one, we reconstruct face that has not been recognized using invariable moment and compare it with candidate faces to accomplish recognition. The experimentations show that the method can solve the insufficiencies in the certain extent and suppress refusal recognition in the video face recognition.

Rigidification Dramatically Improves Inhibitor Selectivity for RAF Kinases. One effective means to achieve inhibitor specificity for RAF kinases, an important family of cancer drug targets, has been to target the monomeric inactive state conformation of the kinase domain, which, unlike most other kinases, can accommodate sulfonamide-containing drugs such as vemurafenib and dabrafenib because of the presence of a unique pocket specific to inactive RAF kinases. We previously reported an alternate strategy whereby rigidification of a nonselective pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine-based inhibitor through ring closure afforded moderate but appreciable increases in selectivity for RAF kinases. Here, we show that a further application of the rigidification strategy to a different pyrazolopyrimidine-based scaffold dramatically improved selectivity for RAF kinases. Crystal structure analysis confirmed our inhibitor design hypothesis revealing that 2l engages an active-like state conformation of BRAF normally associated with poorly discriminating inhibitors. When screened against a panel of distinct cancer cell lines, the optimized inhibitor 2l primarily inhibited the proliferation of the expected BRAFV600E-harboring cell lines consistent with its kinome selectivity profile. These results suggest that rigidification could be a general and powerful strategy for enhancing inhibitor selectivity against protein kinases, which may open up therapeutic opportunities not afforded by other approaches.

Inverse-Covariance-Intersection-Based Distributed Estimation and Application in Wireless Sensor Network In a sensor network, estimation performance may degrade when unknown correlations among local estimates are not addressed carefully. This article presents a novel distributed estimation algorithm based on inverse covariance intersection for effectively solving the cross correlation and dynamic state estimation problems in a wireless sensor network. The intermediate results of a set of consensus filters running in parallel are utilized to realize a global fusion of estimates, which involves all agents' local estimates and improves the estimation accuracy. Meanwhile, the global consistency of the proposed algorithm can be guaranteed theoretically since the fusion process considers all local estimates jointly and in a unified way. Furthermore, besides the asymptotic performance, the boundedness and consistency of the fused estimate can be achieved under finite iterations, which demonstrates its robustness and potential in practical applications. A cooperative target tracking problem illustrates the performance of the proposed algorithm.

586 GLYCOLYTIC ENZYME DEFICIENCY IN NEONATAL GRANULOCYTES Newborn infants are known to be particularly susceptible to infections. Various contributing factors have been implicated including defective chemotaxis and phagocytosis of their neutrophils. The energy required for these two neutrophil functions is derived from A.T.P. produced from glycolysis. Decreased granulocyte glycolytic enzyme activity may impair chemotaxis and phagocytosis due to decreased energy supply. Eight granulocyte glycolytic enzymes were studied in 15 adults and 15 full-term newborns. Placental cord blood was drawn immediately after the delivery of placentae, and granulocytes were isolated within 20 minutes of delivery by Ficoll Hypaque centrifugation. Venous blood from adult volunteers was processed at the same time. The activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, enolase, and phosphofructokinase was significantly lower in cord-blood granulocytes compared to that of the adult volunteers (P < 0.01). Phosphoglycerate kinase activity was also lower in cord blood (0.01 < P < 0.05). The activity of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase, hexokinase, and glucose phosphate isomerase were lower in cord blood but not to a significant level. Whether the decreased activity of these glycolytic enzymes contributes to the previously reported impaired phagocytosis and chemotaxis and hence the increased susceptibility to infections is open to question.

Timely redistribution of information for epidemiological surveillance and alert: the experience from the French communicable diseases network Since 1984 the French Communicable Disease Network (FCDN) collects and analyses epidemiological information obtained online from a team of "Sentinel General Practitioners" (SGPs). It redistributes this information in the form of standardised weekly incidence estimates. These weekly estimates now appear on the Internet and are the basis for issuing alerts of influenza epidemics. We postulate that day to day estimations would be highly desirable to achieve timely detection of the actual onset of the epidemic, a need dramatically underscored by the emergence of bioterrorism. The present paper suggests the feasibility of reconstructing daily epidemiological information using local smoothing with a suitable spline function to obtain short latency alert messages.

1852 PROSTAGLANDIN (PG) SYNTHESIS INHIBITORS AND LUNG DEVELOPMENT IN FETAL SHEEP Before delivery in fetal sheep tracheal fluid production decreases and surfactant content of lung increases. This occurs as plasma Cortisol and PGE2 concentrations increase. As PGE2 infusions decrease tracheal fluid production and increase cortisol concentration, the increase in PGE2 concentration before delivery may contribute to the above changes. To test this hypothesis, we suppressed PG production by continuously infusing Meclofenamate (0.8 mg/kg/h), a PG synthesis inhibitor, into 5 fetal sheep (Mec) for 5-13d until delivery (133 to 150d gest). We infused solvent into 4 controls (Con) for 5-11d (131 to 146d gest). Both groups had similar daily HR, BP, pH, PO2, and PCO2.Meclofenamate infusion decreased PGE2 concentration, but in both groups, tracheal fluid production and Cortisol concentration were similar. Surfactant content of lungs of Mec were lower than of Con (P= 0.1). Birthweight and lung weight were the same in both groups. We conclude that normal lung growth and the changes in tracheal fluid production and cortisol concentration before delivery are not dependent on high plasma PGE2 concentrations. (Supported by USPHS HL27356, Pulmonary SCOR, and ALA fellowship.)

Optimization of Injection Molding Process by using different types of Conformal Cooling Channels This paper objects to deliver a brief summary on different types of Conformal cooling channel designs available for injection molding process, Also, the conformal cooling channel plays very important role in plastic injection process of injection molding by improving its efficiency and quality thus, reducing the whole cycle time of production. A comparative study of different conformal cooling channels like Series and parallel Conformal cooling channel, square section conformal cooling channel (SSCCC), Spiral cooling channel, Scaffold conformal cooling channel, array of baffle conformal cooling channel, micro cooling channel and their effects on injection molding based manufacturing process are shown. Study related to the performance analysis of different conformal cooling channels is done by using “Autodesk moldflow Advisor”. This paper presents a succinct review of recent progress in Conformal cooling channels.

Lactarius guangdongensis sp. nov. (Russulaceae, Russulales), a species of Lactarius sect. Deliciosi growing with a vulnerable five-needle pine, Pinus kwangtungensis Lactarius sect. Deliciosi is a group of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms showing high host specificity with trees of Pinaceae and more rarely Fagales. A new species of this section, L. guangdongensis, is described from South China. This new species has the smallest basidiocarps (pileus 1–3 cm) in the section. The pure orange basidiocarps with faint greenish discoloration are similar to those of Abies-associated L. abieticola and L. laeticolor and Pinus-associated L. vividus. The subdistant lamellae and absence of pleuromacrocystidia can be used as valid characters for this species. It grows with Chinese national protected plant Pinus kwangtungensis and might be one of the very few species that form symbiosis with five-needle pines. Phylogenetic analyses of the ITS region and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (gpd) show that L. guangdongensis clearly diversified from its relatives and look-alikes and probably represents an early diverging lineage in the section. Molecular and morphological characters provided in this study will be useful for in situ and ex situ conservation of P. kwangtungensis in the future.

The Effectiveness of Parenting Interventions on Psychosocial Adjustment in Parents of Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes: A Meta-Analysis. AIMS Parenting interventions in this review refer to supportive parenting training provided for parents or primary caregivers of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The review aimed to synthesize evidence about parenting interventions in parents or caregivers of children and adolescents with T1DM, and to evaluate the effect of interventions in reducing parents' or caregivers' psychological distress, helping them share diabetes management responsibility, seek social support, and improve their quality of life. METHODS We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane, and Web of Science from January 1978 to October 2018. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing an intervention group of parenting programs with a control group of usual care were included. The primary outcomes were stress, family responsibility and conflict, and social support. Secondary outcomes included other psychological index and quality of life. Pooled effect sizes of weighted mean difference (WMD) were calculated. RESULTS A total of 17 RCTs with 962 participants met the inclusion criteria. Findings of the meta-analysis showed parenting interventions could significantly reduce parents' depression (WMD = -5.78, 95% CI: -6.23 to -5.33, I2  = 0%) and distress (WMD = -5.28, 95% CI: -10.31 to -.25, I2  = 0%), and help them ask for positive social support (WMD = .83, 95% CI: .03 to 1.64, I2  = 0%). No beneficial changes of other outcomes were found. LINKING EVIDENCE TO ACTION Parents of children and adolescents with T1DM need support from the multidisciplinary team in health care, especially in mental health, family management of childhood diabetes, and social support. Parenting interventions may help parents reduce psychological distress and depression and assist them to ask for social support. Future research should include well-designed RCTs with large samples, appropriate measures with clear definitions, objective assessment, and separation of effects on mothers and fathers.