America\u27s Need for a Foreign Language Requirement

In lieu of an abstract, below is the article\u27s first paragraph. In the world we live in today, international relations are something that Americans should take extremely seriously. September 11, 2001 completely changed the way Americans see the world and the way the world sees us. Now more than ever, America should be teaching its youth about foreign affairs and governments. The first step in this process would be teaching a foreign language

Charmless B decays at LHCb

The study of charmless b-hadron decays provides information for testing the CKM picture of CP violation in the Standard Model. In addition, as they can proceed through loop diagrams, they are also sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model. A review of recent results from LHCb on charmless b-hadron decays is presented.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, presented at The Second Annual Conference on Large Hadron Collider Physics (LHCP2014), Columbia University, New York, U.S.A June 2-7, 201

Measurements of the relative branching fractions of the B+→ppˉK+B^{+} \to p \bar p K^{+} decay channel including charmonium contributions

The study of the $B^{+}\to p \bar p K^{+}$ decay channel at LHCb offers great opportunities to study different aspects of the Standard Model and possibly Beyond Standard Model physics. In particular it can be interesting not only for the possibility to measure CP asymmetry but also to study possible intermediate resonances. The ratios of the branching fractions of the $B^{+}\to p \bar p K^{+}$ decay channel, of the charmless component with M_{p\bar p} < 2.85\unitm{GeV/}c^{2} and of the charmonium contribution $\eta_{c}$ relative to the $J/\psi$ are presented.Comment: Presented at the 2011 Hadron Collider Physics symposium (HCP-2011), Paris, France, November 14-18 2011, 3 pages, 4 figur

Untersuchungen zur trägerarmen Radiofluorierung nicht-aktivierter Aromaten mit n.c.a. [18F]Fluorid

In vivo imaging with positron emission tomography generally demands radiotracers with a high specific activity. In case of fluorine-18 the required no-carrier-added (n.c.a.) starting material is only available in form of fluoride. This and the short half-life of 109.7 minutes of the radionuclide lead to the demand of special methods for radiosyntheses. The only practical procedure for manufacturing n.c.a. [$^{18}$F]fluoro-compounds is therefore nucleophilic substitution. There is, however, still a lack of effective procedures for the labelling of electron rich aromatic molecules starting from n.c.a. [$^{18}$F]fluoride. A process for n.c.a. radiofluorination of these compounds is offered by the reaction of iodonium compounds as starting materials. In this study modern procedures for the synthesis of iodoniumsalts and -ylides were investigated. Several precursor molecules for the versatile synthetic building block 4-[$^{18}$F]fluoroiodobenzene were synthesised. In this course, a new one- pot procedure for the synthesis of iodoniumylides was developed. Further on, the syntheses of suitable iodonium precursors for two fluorophenoxy-derivatives, which are possible antidepressants, were investigated. Due to their binding profile these compounds can be considered as ligands for the serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) and the norepinephrin reuptake transporter (NET), respectively. The preparation of appropriate iodonium salts proved to be too problematic, while the synthesis of suitable iodoniumylides could be accomplished with satisfactory yields of about 30 % and 40 %, respectively. Both compounds were labelled with n.c.a. [$^{18}$F]fluoride and deprotected to the desired targetcompounds 4-((3-[$^{18}$F]fluorophenoxy)(phenyl)methyl)piperidine and 4-((4-[$^{18}$F]fluorophenoxy)(phenyl)methyl)piperidine in radiochemical yields of about 40 % and 25 %, respectively. Those are now available for preclinical evaluation studies. Furthermore, a process for the palladium catalysed synthesis of $^{18}$F-labelled aromatic molecules was investigated. Initially a suitable reaction protocol was developed for further examination of the dependence of the radiochemical yield on the amount of added carrier. It turned out, however, that the reaction did not proceed without the addition of fluoride-carrier. For the identification of the radioactive products and the determination of the radiochemical yields suitable Chromatographic conditions for the identification of all radioactive products and the determination of their radiochemical yields via HPLC were developed. Furthermore chromatographic conditions for the isolation of the pharmacological relevant n.c.a. [$^{18}$F]fluorophenoxy-derivatives in highest purity were developed

Contextualizing context for synthetic biology--identifying causes of failure of synthetic biological systems.

Despite the efforts that bioengineers have exerted in designing and constructing biological processes that function according to a predetermined set of rules, their operation remains fundamentally circumstantial. The contextual situation in which molecules and single-celled or multi-cellular organisms find themselves shapes the way they interact, respond to the environment and process external information. Since the birth of the field, synthetic biologists have had to grapple with contextual issues, particularly when the molecular and genetic devices inexplicably fail to function as designed when tested in vivo. In this review, we set out to identify and classify the sources of the unexpected divergences between design and actual function of synthetic systems and analyze possible methodologies aimed at controlling, if not preventing, unwanted contextual issues

Fatiguing Effects of Indirect Vibration Stimulation in Upper Limb Muscles- pre, post and during Isometric Contractions Superimposed on Upper Limb Vibration

© 2019 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.Whole-body vibration and upper limb vibration (ULV) continue to gain popularity as exercise intervention for rehabilitation and sports applications. However, the fatiguing effects of indirect vibration stimulation are not yet fully understood. We investigated the effects of ULV stimulation superimposed on fatiguing isometric contractions using a purpose developed upper limb stimulation device. Thirteen healthy volunteers were exposed to both ULV superimposed to fatiguing isometric contractions (V) and isometric contractions alone Control (C). Both Vibration (V) and Control (C) exercises were performed at 80% of the maximum voluntary contractions. The stimulation used was 30 Hz frequency of 0.4 mm amplitude. Surface-electromyographic (EMG) activity of the Biceps Brachii, Triceps Brachii and Flexor Carpi Radialis were measured. EMG amplitude (EMGrms) and mean frequency (MEF) were computed to quantify muscle activity and fatigue levels. All muscles displayed significantly higher reduction in MEFs and a corresponding significant increase in EMGrms with the V than the Control, during fatiguing contractions (p < 0.05). Post vibration, all muscles showed higher levels of MEFs after recovery compared to the control. Our results show that near-maximal isometric fatiguing contractions superimposed on vibration stimulation lead to a higher rate of fatigue development compared to the isometric contraction alone in the upper limb muscles. Results also show higher manifestation of mechanical fatigue post treatment with vibration compared to the control. Vibration superimposed on isometric contraction not only seems to alter the neuromuscular function during fatiguing efforts by inducing higher neuromuscular load but also post vibration treatment.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Training load and injury incidence over one season in adolescent Arab table tennis players : a pilot study

Background: It has been established that injury incidence data and training load in table tennis is somewhat limited. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze and report training load and injury incidence. This was established over a full season in highly trained youth table tennis athletes. We further aimed to establish what variables related to training load have a statistically significant effect on injury in youth table tennis. Methods: Data was collected from eight male adolescent table tennis players of Arabic origin. Training and game time were monitored continuously throughout each training session and match. Heart rate was measured throughout and then subsequently analyzed to quantify internal training load. Results: Players were subjected to an average of 1901 h 33 min ± 44 h 30 min of training time and 140 h 0 min ± 11 h 29 min of game time over the season. Overall injury incidence was 8.3 (95% CI: 4.6 - 12.0), time-loss injuries 4.4 (95% CI: 1.9 - 6.9) and growth conditions 2.0 (95% CI: 0.6 - 3.3) per 1000 hours. Internal training loads quantified via the Edwards training impulse equation were significantly different between training weeks (P = 0.001), with lowest values around competition periods (P < 0.05). For every extra auxiliary unit of relative training load per minute during training, a significant increase (P = 0.014) in injury occurrence was present. Conclusions: Most of the injuries occurred during the first quarter of the year (65%), when training loads were highest. In conclusion, the results of this preliminary study showed that training loads increase during a season until competition period, with relative training load per minute being linked to the likelihood of injuries. The rate of overuse injuries and growth-related conditions were higher than previously reported in adolescents in other racket sports

Thermographic mapping of a complex vernacular settlement: the case study of Casalnuovo District within the Sassi of Matera (Italy)

The research focuses on an abandoned area within the Casalnuovo District, situated in the south of the city, probably the place of the future Demoethnoanthropological Museum. It is known today that the particular shape of the area is made up of settlements mainly in cave. Since the evaluation of the historical buildings conservation state using destructive techniques should be avoided to prevent the integrity of the cultural heritage, the development of non-destructive techniques is very important. For this reason, an appropriate cognitive apparatus has been set up for the entire technical process, first of all making use of infrared thermography

The influence of indoor microclimate on thermal comfort and conservation of artworks: the case study of the Cathedral of Matera (South Italy)

The Matera Cathedral was built in Apulian-Romanesque style in the thirteenth century on the highest spur of the “Civita” that divides “Sassi” district in two parts. The constructive material is the calcareous stone of the Vaglia, extracted from quarries in the area of Matera. The interior is Baroque and presents several artworks. The research had to evaluate the indoor microclimate during and after the restoration works, that also concern the installation of floor heating system to heat the indoor environments. Specifically, we have analyzed the thermal comfort and the effect that the artwork and construction materials inside the Cathedral of Matera have undergone