Variables Assemblage

Variables Assemblage focuses on everyday urban objects that are ubiquitous and non-descript. These objects are embedded parts and foundations of cities that have specific functions. These objects possess no significant characteristics, but they are structural elements in their everyday urban environment, and the relationship between the objects and the environment is reciprocal. Through examining and transforming these objects, their presence and new contexts in Variables Assemblage interact in new and different ways according to the viewers understanding and perception of these objects. This transformation considers the inherent quality of insignificant everyday objects, ones perception of them, and their relation to their environment

Work-Related Perceptions, Injuries, and Musculoskeletal Symptoms: Comparison Between U.S.-Educated and Foreign-Educated Nurses.

Immigrants account for a significant proportion of the nursing workforce in the United States (U.S.). Although different cultural backgrounds may affect immigrant nurses' perceptions of work and occupational health risks, little research has been conducted. Defining immigrant nurses as those who received initial nursing education in foreign countries, this study examined the differences in work-related perceptions and experiences of musculoskeletal (MS) symptoms and injuries between U.S.-educated and foreign-educated nurses. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional study using a statewide random sample of 419 California registered nurses. Foreign-educated nurses reported a more positive safety climate (p = .017) and perceived their jobs as less demanding (p = .008) than did U.S.-educated nurses. The prevalence of work-related MS symptoms was significantly lower in foreign-educated nurses than in U.S.-educated nurses (p = .044), but the difference was not significant in the multivariable analyses. Positive safety climate was significantly associated with a decreased risk of work-related MS symptoms and injuries, and this relationship was greater among U.S.-educated nurses than among foreign-educated nurses. Our findings suggest that immigrant nurses may have different perceptions about safety climate and job demand, which may modify their occupational health risks

THE EFFECTS OF GREEN HOTEL PRACTICES ON HOTEL IMAGE, VISIT INTENTION, AND WORD-OF-MOUTH: FOCUSING ON THE MODERATING ROLES OF CONSUMER ENVIRONMENTAL WORLDVIEWS

The objective of this study is to empirically examine the effects of hotel green practices on the image of firms, visit intention, and word-of-mouth. In addition, this study examines the moderating effect of an environmental worldview regarding green hotel attributes and image, and visit intention. A self-administrated survey will be conducted to collect data. For data analysis, simple descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and SEM will be utilized to confirm causal relationships among projected constructs. The results of this study will help hoteliers and hotel developers to understand what green hotel attributes are important and necessary to build favorable hotel images, and help researchers to develop future research projects relating to environmental hotel attributes and consumer behaviors.&nbsp

Parenting style and older children's and young adolescents' dietary intake and nutritional status

While parenting style and its relevant dimensions have long been studied in the area of child development, studies on the effects of perceived parenting behaviors on childrenâÂÂs/adolescentsâ nutritional health status have been largely neglected. The present study examined whether perceived parenting style and its dimensions are associated with older childrenâÂÂs/young adolescentsâ health outcomes, including self-concept, eating behaviors, physical activity behaviors, energy and nutrient intake, and body measurements. This study placed a distinct emphasis on gender differences by exploring the effects of maternal and paternal parenting behaviors on male versus female subjectsâ health outcomes in separate analyses. In addition, this study extended the investigation of the roles family meal behaviors play in an environment in which general parenting behaviors exert their impact on childrenâÂÂs/adolescentsâ health. Sources of insight from nutrition, psychology, and sociology contributed to this holistic examination of childrenâÂÂs/adolescentsâ health. The study subjects included 123 children (9-11 years old) and 106 adolescents (13-15 years old). Data were obtained through survey questionnaires, dietary recall and records, and anthropometry. Various statistical methods were employed in this study, including multiple regression analysis, cluster analysis, factor analysis, and path analysis. Findings of this study confirmed that an authoritative style is more desirable for study subjectsâ health outcomes, compared with a non-authoritative style. Generally, maternal/paternal nurturing appeared to be desirable, but maternal/paternal control was an undesirable predictor of youth health, while the subjectsâ age (9-11 versus 13-15 years) and gender played critical roles in the associations. Family meal behaviors appeared to be significant predictors of youth health outcomes. Findings from path analysis suggested that the effects of maternal/paternal nurturing/control on the subjectsâ health outcomes are mediated by family meal behaviors. Perception that family dinner meals are family rituals turned out to be the most important mediator of the relationship between maternal/paternal nurturing and the subjectsâ health outcomes. Of interest, lack of food pressure by parents appeared to be detrimental to eating behaviors and essential nutrient intake of study subjects. Finally, this study showed that fathers play positive roles in improving male/female subjectsâ as well as childrenâÂÂs/adolescentsâ health outcomes, especially their physical activity behaviors and self-concept

Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Coated with Galactose-Carrying Polymer for Hepatocyte Targeting

Our goal is to develop the functionalized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) demonstrating the capacities to be delivered in liver specifically and to be dispersed in physiological environment stably. For this purpose, SPIONs were coated with polyvinylbenzyl-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-D-gluconamide (PVLA) having galactose moieties to be recognized by asialoglycoprotein receptors (ASGP-R) on hepatocytes. For use as a control, we also prepared SPIONs coordinated with 2-pyrrolidone. The sizes, size distribution, structure, and coating of the nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electrophoretic light scattering spectrophotometer (ELS), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), respectively. Intracellular uptake of the PVLA-coated SPIONs was visualized by confocal laser scanning microscopy, and their hepatocyte-specific delivery was also investigated through magnetic resonance (MR) images of rat liver. MRI experimental results indicated that the PVLA-coated SPIONs possess the more specific accumulation property in liver compared with control, which suggests their potential utility as liver-targeting MRI contrast agent

Enhanced terahertz conductivity in ultra-thin gold film deposited onto (3-mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane (MPTMS)-coated Si substrates

Various material properties change considerably when material is thinned down to nanometer thicknesses. Accordingly, researchers have been trying to obtain homogeneous thin films with nanometer thickness but depositing homogeneous few nanometers thick gold film is challenging as it tends to form islands rather than homogenous film. Recently, studies have revealed that treating the substrate with an organic buffer, (3-mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) enables deposition of ultra-thin gold film having thickness as low as 5 nm. Different aspects of MPTMS treatment for ultrathin gold films like its effect on the structure and optical properties at visible wavelengths have been investigated. However, the effect of the MPTMS treatment on electrical conductivity of ultra-thin gold film at terahertz frequency remains unexplored. Here, we measure the complex conductivity of nanometer-thick gold films deposited onto an MPTMS-coated silicon substrate using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. Following the MPTMS treatment of the substrate, the conductivity of the films was found to increase compared to those deposited onto uncoated substrate for gold films having the thickness less than 11 nm. We observed 5-fold enhancement in the conductivity for a 7 nm-thick gold film. We also demonstrate the fabrication of nanoslot-antenna arrays in 8.2-nm-thick gold films. The nanoslot-antenna with MPTMS coating has resonance at around 0.5 THz with an electric field enhancement of 44, whereas the nanoslot-antenna without MPTMS coating does not show resonant properties. Our results demonstrate that gold films deposited onto MPTMS-coated silicon substrates are promising advanced materials for fabricating ultra-thin terahertz plasmonic devices

Genotypic Characterization of Vibrio vulnificus Clinical Isolates in Korea

AbstractObjectivesVibrio vunificus is known to cause septicemia and severe wound infections in patients with chronic liver diseases or an immuno-compromised condition. We carried out the molecular characterization of V. vulnificus isolates from human Vibrio septicemia cases based on pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using NotI and SfiI.Methods and ResultsPFGE was used to characterize a total of 78 strains from clinical cases after NotI or SfiI digestion. The geographical distribution of PFGE patterns for the strains from the southern part of Korea, a high-risk region for Vibrio septicemia, indicated that the isolates from southeastern Korea showed a comparatively higher degree of homology than those from southwestern Korea.ConclusionsWe report the genetic distribution of V. vulnficus isolated from Vibrio septicemia cases during 2000–2004 in Korea. This method has potential use as a subspecies-typing tool for V. vulnificus strains isolated from distant geographic regions