3,033 research outputs found
A New Approach to the Synthesis of Conjugated Polymer: Nanocrystal Composites for Heterojunction Optoelectronics
We report a simple one pot process for the preparation of lead sulphide (PbS)
nanocrystals in the conjugated polymer MEH-PPV, and we demonstrate electronic
coupling between the two components.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, accepted Chem. Comm
Are All These Rules Necessary? Extension Pesticide Programming with a Regulatory Purpose
Indiana\u27s private applicator recertification program includes state-required, pesticide regulatory topics. This article explores the relationship between Indiana private applicators\u27 dual attitudes towards pesticide handling practices and the pesticide regulations that mandate those practices. Newly recertified private applicators in northwest Indiana were surveyed by a mailed questionnaire. Respondents valued responsible pesticide management practices, but were collectively undecided about regulatory oversight of their pesticide handling activities. These results suggest that Extension pesticide safety educators involved in compliance education may improve their training curriculum by including material on the underlying benefits, personal and social, of pesticide regulation
Barriers and facilitators of physical activity, sedentary and sleep behaviours in 3 to 4-year-old children from low-income families : a study protocol
Background: This study will evaluate the barriers and facilitators that families experience in adhering to the 24-hour movement behaviours guidelines as outlined by World Health Organisation (WHO). Methods: The study is a mixed-methods study and will recruit between 20 to 30 low-income families with children aged 3- to 4-years living in Scotland. For the quantitative part, children will be asked to wear an Actigraph (GT3X +) accelerometer to measure physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep. Parents/guardians will be asked to keep an activity diary outlining when their child has had to remove the device (i.e., showering, bathing, swimming) and record the child’s screen time each day. Once the data has been analysed, a unique activity profile chart will be sent out to each family illustrating their child’s 24-hour movement behaviours (i.e., time spent active, time spent sedentary and on screens, time spent sleeping). The activity profile will provide a day-by-day output as well as a weekly average for each of the 24-hour movement behaviours. Qualitative data will be collected using the Asynchronous Remote Communities method (ARC). The ARC involves participants completing activities using an online closed Facebook group. Parents/guardians of 3- to 4-year-old children will be asked to engage in group discussion tasks using the private and closed-group online platform (a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 8 families per discussion group). The quantitative data collated from the questionnaire and activity monitor will be presented through descriptive analysis and after the 6-week asynchronous process is complete, qualitative data will be collated and analysed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive approach to thematic analysis. Discussion: The data collected will provide an understanding of what barriers and facilitators parent’s/guardians’ experience in relation to adhering to the 24-hour movement behaviour guidelines. This could potentially lead to the design and implementation of support and interventions to help families struggling to adhere to the guidelines
Development of a Disease-Specific Version of the EQ-5D-5L for Use in Patients Suffering from Psoriasis: Lessons Learned from a Feasibility Study in the UK
AbstractObjectivesThe EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D) questionnaire is a generic measure widely used for the assessment of health status. Research has suggested that it may be insensitive to the burdens associated with particular conditions. This study was designed to explore the feasibility of developing and valuing a disease-specific “bolt-on” version of the EQ-5D questionnaire for use in psoriasis.MethodsA series of steps were undertaken to develop, test, and evaluate dimensions for a psoriasis-specific version of the EQ-5D questionnaire (hereafter referred to as the EQ-PSO questionnaire). Candidate dimensions were explored through a review of published literature, in-depth qualitative interviews with patients, and consultation with a clinical expert. A psychometric validation exercise was then undertaken to establish how well dimensions functioned. Two dimensions were selected for inclusion in a draft measure alongside the existing EQ-5D questionnaire dimensions: “skin irritation” and “self-confidence.” Last, a time trade-off valuation exercise was conducted with 300 members of the UK general public to derive utilities for health states described by the measure.ResultsThe psychometric analyses indicated that the two new candidate dimensions captured additional variance over and above the existing five dimensions. Data from the valuation exercise were analyzed by using different models. A collapsed random effects model was put forward as a parsimonious and accurate approach. Based on this model, estimated utilities ranged from 0.98 ± 0.02 for state “1111111” to 0.03 ± 0.29 for state “5555555.”ConclusionsThis study has developed the EQ-PSO questionnaire to support future psoriasis research and has informed the development of future bolt-on versions of the EQ-5D questionnaire
Identification of Chloroacetaldehyde Dehydrogenase Involved in 1,2-Dichloroethane Degradation
The degradation of 1,2-dichloroethane and 2-chloroethanol by Xanthobacter autotrophicus GJ10 proceeds via chloroacetaldehyde, a reactive and potentially toxic intermediate. The organism produced at least three different aldehyde dehydrogenases, of which one is plasmid encoded. Two mutants of strain GJ10, designated GJ10M30 and GJ10M41, could no longer grow on 2-chloroethanol and were found to lack the NAD-dependent aldehyde dehydrogenase that is the predominant protein in wild-type cells growing on 2-chloroethanol. Mutant GJ10M30, selected on the basis of its resistance to 1,2-dibromoethane, also had lost haloalkane dehalogenase activity and Hg(2+) resistance, indicating plasmid loss. From a gene bank of strain GJ10, different clones that complemented one of these mutants were isolated. In both transconjugants, the aldehyde dehydrogenase that was absent in the mutants was overexpressed. The enzyme was purified and was a tetrameric protein of 55-kDa subunits. The substrate range was rather broad, with the highest activity measured for acetaldehyde. The K(m) value for chloroacetaldehyde was 160 μM, higher than those for other aldehydes tested. It is concluded that the ability of GJ10 to grow with 2-chloroethanol is due to the high expression level of an aldehyde dehydrogenase with a rather low activity for chloroacetaldehyde
Precision timing of PSR J1012+5307 and strong-field GR tests
We report on the high precision timing analysis of the pulsar-white dwarf
binary PSR J1012+5307. Using 15 years of multi-telescope data from the European
Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) network, a significant measurement of the variation
of the orbital period is obtained. Using this ideal strong-field gravity
laboratory we derive theory independent limits for both the dipole radiation
and the variation of the gravitational constant.Comment: 3 pages, Proceedings of the 12th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General
Relativity (MG 12
Use of in vitro human keratinocyte models to study the effect of cooling on chemotherapy drug-induced cytotoxicity
A highly distressing side-effect of cancer chemotherapy is chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA). Scalp cooling remains the only treatment for CIA, yet there is no experimental evidence to support the cytoprotective capacity of cooling. We have established a series of in vitro models for the culture of human keratinocytes under conditions where they adopt a basal, highly-proliferative phenotype thus resembling the rapidly-dividing sub-population of native hair-matrix keratinocytes. Using a panel of chemotherapy drugs routinely used clinically (docetaxel, doxorubicin and the active metabolite of cyclophosphamide 4-OH-CP), we demonstrate that although these drugs are highly-cytotoxic, cooling can markedly reduce or completely inhibit drug cytotoxicity, in agreement with clinical observations. By contrast, we show that cytotoxicity caused by specific combinatorial drug treatments cannot be adequately attenuated by cooling, supporting data showing that such treatments do not always respond well to cooling clinically. Importantly, we provide evidence that the choice of temperature may be critical in determining the efficacy of cooling in rescuing cells from drug-mediated toxicity. Therefore, despite their reductive nature, these in vitro models have provided experimental evidence for the clinically-reported cytoprotective role of cooling and represent useful tools for future studies on the molecular mechanisms of cooling-mediated cytoprotection
Recent Cases
Civil Procedure--Attorney-Client Privilege-- Privilege Protects Communications Made by Corporate Employee To Secure Legal Advice and a Matter Committed to a Professional Legal Advisor Is Prima Facie Committed To Secure Legal Advice
James S. Hutchinson
attorney-client privilege, the predominance test, legal activities
In summary, courts have not yet resolved how to determine who may qualify as the corporate client for purposes of the attorney-client privilege...
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Constitutional Law-- Confrontation Clause-Admission at Trial of Slain Informant\u27s
Prior Grand Jury Testimony Against Defendants Does Not Violate Confrontation Guarantee Despite Lack of Cross-Examination
James Robert Newson III
Although the trend in the law of evidence is toward greater admissibility of hearsay, the sixth amendment confrontation clause presents a countervailing consideration in the criminal law.
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Constitutional Law-Equal Protection-- Federal Statutes Differentiating Between Sentence Credit for Probation and Parole Time Satisfy Rational Basis Test
Andrew W. Byrd
Since its decision in Bolling v. Sharpe, which invalidated racial segregation in the public schools of the District of Columbia, the Supreme Court has utilized the due process clause of the fifth amendment to prohibit arbitrary discrimination by the federal government in much the same manner that it has employed the fourteenth amendment to limit similar state action.\u27 Through the 1950\u27sand 1960\u27s equal protection cases challenging both state and federal action fell within two distinct analytical categories-those subjected to a rational basis test and those required to withstand strict scrutiny.
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Labor Law-Taft-Hartley Section 301- Union May Be Liable for Sympathy Strike Damages When It Has Failed To Use Reasonable Care To Prevent Spread of Wildcat Strike
Judith Miller Janssen
Citing the national policy of promoting peaceful settlement of labor disputes and avoiding the violence resulting from wildcat strikes in the coal mining industry, the court found that the international union had a duty to prevent the spread of wildcat strikes of the sort that caused the work stoppage at plaintiff\u27s two mines. The court distinguished, however, between the liability of the inter-national union and that of the subdivisions of the union on the basis of ability to control both the underlying and sympathy strikers.
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Uniform Commercial Code--Secured Transactions-- Article Nine Does Not Permit Unsecured Claims To Achieve Secured and Perfected Status by a Post-Bankruptcy Assignment to a Senior Secured Creditor
John Eric Tavss
The instant court\u27s refusal to sanction floating secured parties demonstrates the unwillingness of courts to expand permissible floating arrangements beyond those clearly allowed by the Code.This case further illustrates the struggle that courts face when confronted with the competing principles of floating arrangements, the notice requirements of the Code, and the Bankruptcy Act
Thermal receptivity of free convective flow from a heated vertical surface: linear waves
Numerical techniques are used to study the receptivity to small-amplitude thermal disturbances of the boundary layer flow of air which is induced by a heated vertical flat plate. The fully elliptic nonlinear, time-dependent Navier–Stokes and energy equations are first solved to determine the steady state boundary-layer flow, while a linearised version of the same code is used to determine the stability characteristics. In particular we investigate (i) the ultimate fate of a localised thermal disturbance placed in the region near the leading edge and (ii) the effect of small-scale surface temperature oscillations as means of understanding the stability characteristics of the boundary layer. We show that there is a favoured frequency of excitation for the time-periodic disturbance which maximises the local response in terms of the local rate of heat transfer. However the magnitude of the favoured frequency depends on precisely how far from the leading edge the local response is measured. We also find that the instability is advective in nature and that the response of the boundary layer consists of a starting transient which eventually leaves the computational domain, leaving behind the large-time time-periodic asymptotic state. Our detailed numerical results are compared with those obtained using parallel flow theory
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