“If You Are Old Enough to Die for Your Country, You Should Be Able to Get a Pinch of Snuff”: Views of Tobacco 21 Among Appalachian Youth

Background: Multiple strategies have been utilized in attempts to decrease the prevalence of youth tobacco use. One strategy, raising the minimum legal sale age (MLSA) of tobacco products to 21, known as Tobacco 21, has recently gained popularity. Tobacco 21 legislation targets youth tobacco use by obstructing two main sources of youth tobacco products: stores and older friends. Although these sources are the most common for youth across the nation, regional differences have not been explored. Further, youth perspectives about raising the tobacco MLSA have not been considered. Youth may help identify potential challenges to implementing tobacco control measures, as well as suggest alternatives for intervention, thus helping to shape successful tobacco control policies. Study Aim: This study aimed to 1) examine youth perspectives on raising the tobacco minimum legal sale age to 21 and 2) identify common sources of tobacco products among middle and high school students living in rural, low-income Appalachian communities. Methods: A cross-sectional survey about perceptions and use of tobacco products was conducted with students in the Appalachian regions of Kentucky and North Carolina (N=426). Questions were asked concerning perspectives on the effect of Tobacco 21 implementation. Descriptive statistics characterized participants by Tobacco 21 perspectives. Participants were given the opportunity to further expand upon their opinions in an open-ended format. Results: The majority (58.7%) of participants responded that the same number of youth would use tobacco if the legal purchase age were raised, followed by responses that fewer would use (28.9%) and more would use (12.4%). Significant differences emerged based on tobacco use status (p\u3c.05), friends’ tobacco use (p\u3c.001), and whether participants identified family members as sources of youth tobacco products (p=.047). When given the opportunity to expand upon their views concerning the implementation of Tobacco 21 laws in their communities, many respondents cited poor enforcement of tobacco MLSAs at stores, continued access to tobacco products from family members and friends, and the overall abundance of tobacco in their communities as potential barriers to the successful implementation. Conclusion: Fewer than one-third of participants believed that Tobacco 21 legislation would succeed in reducing the prevalence of youth tobacco use. Perspectives on the effect of Tobacco 21 legislation were related to personal tobacco use, exposure to tobacco users, and beliefs that family members provide tobacco products to youth. Open-ended responses identify potential obstacles in implementing Tobacco 21 legislation in Appalachia. Future research should attempt to include youth perspectives when designing and implementing tobacco control policies and examine family members as sources of tobacco products for youth

{TOCH}: {S}patio-Temporal Object Correspondence to Hand for Motion Refinement

We present TOCH, a method for refining incorrect 3D hand-object interaction sequences using a data prior. Existing hand trackers, especially those that rely on very few cameras, often produce visually unrealistic results with hand-object intersection or missing contacts. Although correcting such errors requires reasoning about temporal aspects of interaction, most previous work focus on static grasps and contacts. The core of our method are TOCH fields, a novel spatio-temporal representation for modeling correspondences between hands and objects during interaction. The key component is a point-wise object-centric representation which encodes the hand position relative to the object. Leveraging this novel representation, we learn a latent manifold of plausible TOCH fields with a temporal denoising auto-encoder. Experiments demonstrate that TOCH outperforms state-of-the-art (SOTA) 3D hand-object interaction models, which are limited to static grasps and contacts. More importantly, our method produces smooth interactions even before and after contact. Using a single trained TOCH model, we quantitatively and qualitatively demonstrate its usefulness for 1) correcting erroneous reconstruction results from off-the-shelf RGB/RGB-D hand-object reconstruction methods, 2) de-noising, and 3) grasp transfer across objects. We will release our code and trained model on our project page at http://virtualhumans.mpi-inf.mpg.de/toch

Current Status of Radioisotope Applications in Defence

Reviews the current status of radioisotope applications in Defence- R&D Establishments, Defence Inspectorates, Ordnance Factories, Public Sector Undertakings under the Defence Ministry, Army, Navy and Air Force Establishments and Military Hospitals. It also lists the users of film badge service in Defence. Training programmes in radioisotope applications in Defence conducted by DRDO organisations have also been highlighted

TOCH: Spatio-Temporal Object Correspondence to Hand for Motion Refinement

We present TOCH, a method for refining incorrect 3D hand-object interaction sequences using a data prior. Existing hand trackers, especially those that rely on very few cameras, often produce visually unrealistic results with hand-object intersection or missing contacts. Although correcting such errors requires reasoning about temporal aspects of interaction, most previous work focus on static grasps and contacts. The core of our method are TOCH fields, a novel spatio-temporal representation for modeling correspondences between hands and objects during interaction. The key component is a point-wise object-centric representation which encodes the hand position relative to the object. Leveraging this novel representation, we learn a latent manifold of plausible TOCH fields with a temporal denoising auto-encoder. Experiments demonstrate that TOCH outperforms state-of-the-art (SOTA) 3D hand-object interaction models, which are limited to static grasps and contacts. More importantly, our method produces smooth interactions even before and after contact. Using a single trained TOCH model, we quantitatively and qualitatively demonstrate its usefulness for 1) correcting erroneous reconstruction results from off-the-shelf RGB/RGB-D hand-object reconstruction methods, 2) de-noising, and 3) grasp transfer across objects. We will release our code and trained model on our project page at http://virtualhumans.mpi-inf.mpg.de/toch

Knockdown of Aminopeptidase-N from Helicoverpa armigera Larvae and in Transfected Sf21 Cells by RNA Interference Reveals Its Functional Interaction with Bacillus thuringiensis Insecticidal Protein Cry1Ac

Aminopeptidase-N (APN) and cadherin proteins located at the midgut epithelium of Helicoverpa armigera have been implicated as receptors for the Cry1A subfamily of insecticidal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis. Ligand blot analysis with heterologously expressed and purified H. armigera Bt receptor with three closely related Cry1A proteins tentatively identified HaAPN1 as an interacting ligand. However, to date there is no direct evidence of APN being a functional receptor to Cry1Ac in H. armigera. Sf21 insect cells expressing HaAPN1 displayed aberrant cell morphology upon overlaying with Cry1Ac protein. Down-regulating expression of HaAPN1 by RNA interference using double-stranded RNA correlated with a corresponding reduction in the sensitivity of HaAPN1-expressing cells to Cry1Ac protein. This clearly establishes that insect cells expressing the receptor recruit sensitivity to the insecticidal protein Cry1Ac, and their susceptibility is directly dependent on the amount of HaAPN1 protein expressed. Most importantly, silencing of HaAPN1 in H. armigera in vivo by RNA interference resulted in reduced transcript levels and a corresponding decrease in the susceptibility of larvae to Cry1Ac. BIAcore analysis of HaAPN1/Cry1Ac interaction further established HaAPN1 as a ligand for Cry1Ac. This is the first functional demonstration of insect aminopeptidase-N of H. armigera being a receptor of Cry1Ac protein of B. thuringiensis

Circular Patch Antenna with Defected Ground for UWB Communication with WLAN Band Rejection

The design and performance of coplanar waveguide fed modified circular patch antenna for possible application in ultra wideband communication systems with band rejection for upper wireless local area network band (5.15 GHz - 5.85 GHz) is reported. This antenna is designed on glass epoxy FR4 substrate having size 30 mm × 20 mm × 1.59 mm. The coplanar waveguide fed circular patch antenna is modified by introducing L shaped slits in ground plane and U shaped slot in patch and performance analysis of antenna is simulated by applying CST microwave studio simulation software. Different designed antennas were tested with available experimental facilities. The developed end product shows a nice matching with feed network at frequencies 2.62 GHz, 3.94 GHz and 8.50 GHz and provides 10.38 GHz (3.33 GHz - 13.71 GHz) impedance bandwidth with wireless local area network 5.5 GHz (4.74 GHz - 6.15 GHz) band rejection. The co and cross polar patterns in elevation and azimuth planes at two frequencies namely 2.62 GHz and 3.94 GHz are obtained which dictate that co-polar patterns are significantly better than cross polar patterns. The simulated peak gain of antenna is close to 3.86 dBi and gain variation with frequency shows a sharp gain decrease in the frequency range 4.74 GHz to 6.15 GHz.

Use of CR 39 Films for Evaluation of Shielding Efficacy of Materials against Fast Neutrons

CR-39 films have been used for evaluation of neutron shielding of metal alloys, different types of rubbers, sand polymers, etc. These films have been chosen because of their ability to record fast neutrons from 200 keV-10 MeV and their insensitivity to gamma radiations. Tenth value layer (TVL) for the materials studied varies from 10.5 to 28.6 cm. In addition, the values of TVL have also been computed for standard material, such as Al, steel, etc. Using neutron removal cross-section data, the results have been compared with those of experimentally determined values. The results seem to be in agreement within approximate 10 per cent variation

Viable thermionic emission from graphene-covered metals

Thermionic emission from monolayer graphene grown on representative transition metals, Ir and Ru, is characterized by low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM). Work functions were determined from the temperature dependence of the emission current and from the electron energy spectrum of emitted electrons. The high-temperature work function of the strongly interacting system graphene/Ru(0001) is sufficiently low, 3.3 \pm 0.1 eV, to have technological potential for large-area emitters that are spatially uniform, efficient, and chemically inert. The thermionic work functions of the less strongly interacting system graphene/Ir(111) are over 1 eV larger and vary substantially (0.4 eV) between graphene orientations rotated by 30{\deg}.Comment: Published in Applied Physics Letter

A Preliminary Study to Understand How Mainstream Accessibility and Digital Assistive Technologies Reaches People in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries

Accessibility to mainstream digital devices and the use of Digital Assistive Technologies (Digital AT) facilitates participation and improves function and independece of people with disabilities in these regions. However, mainstream access is not fully realised in LMICs and there are multiple barriers in the way for the uptake and use of Digital AT. Through a thematic analysis of interviews with eight expert professionals in the domain of provisioning Digital AT and its related services in LMICs, we discuss five steps or barriers for the uptake and use of Digital AT and have identified three practical strategies that have shown evidence to overcome these barriers. Developers of Digital AT will find these insights useful and the same will provide an understanding of the market to business strategists to deliver pathways to better accessibility services and new Digital AT