Generation of relativistic electron bunches in plasma synchrotron Gyrac-X for hard x-ray production

Experiment performed on plasma synchrotron Gyrac-X operating on synchrotron gyromagnetic autoresonance (SGA) is described. Gyrac-X is a compact plasma x-ray source in which kinetic energy of relativistic electrons obtained under SGA converts into x-ray by falling e-bunches on to a heavy metal target. The plasma synchrotron acts in a regime of a magnetic field pulse packet under constant level of microwave power. Experiments and numerical modeling of the process showed that such a regime allowed obtaining dense short lived relativistic electron bunches with average electron energy of 500 keV – 4.5 MeV. Parameters of the relativistic electron bunch (energy, density and volume) and dynamics of the electron bunches can be controlled by varying the parameters of the SGA process. Possibilities of x-ray intensity increase are also discussed

Interactive effects between paylean™ (Ractopamine HCl) and dietary lysine on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics and tissue accretion

A total of 432 pigs were used to evaluate the effects of Paylean and dietary lysine on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics and tissue accretion. The 12 dietary treatments included Paylean (0, 4.5, and 9.0 g/ton) and 4 levels of lysine. For pigs fed no Paylean, lysine levels were 0.60, 0.80, 1.00, and 1.20%. For pigs fed 4.5 or 9.0 g/ton of Paylean, lysine levels were 0.80, 1.00, 1.20, and 1.40%. The results indicate that pigs fed Paylean need at least 1.0% dietary lysine to optimize growth, carcass parameters, and tissue accretion

Oral shedding of herpesviruses in HIV-infected patients with varying degrees of immune status

Objective: Herpesvirus shedding in the oral cavity was analyzed to determine if presence in the oral compartment correlates with systemic changes in HIV-associated immune deficiency as measured by CD4 + cell counts, plasma HIV viral load and presence of AIDS-defining events. Design: A5254 is a multicenter, cross-sectional, single-visit study to evaluate oral complications of HIV/AIDS and determine the association between clinical appearance, herpesvirus shedding, and immune status as ascertained by CD4 + cell count and HIV viral load. In total, 307 HIV-infected individuals were evaluated and throat wash collected. Methods: Fisher's exact test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to assess the association between presence of herpesviruses and the state of immunodeficiency as stratified by a combination of CD4 + cell count and HIV viral load. Relationship between pathogens and HIV viral load in plasma was modeled by logistic regression. Results: The presence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) and herpes simplex virus-1 in throat wash was associated with decreased CD4 + cell counts. By contrast, Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and Epstein-Barr virus were similarly detectable across all levels of CD4 + cell counts. One unit increase in log 10 (HIV viral load) was associated with 1.31 times higher odds of detecting CMV in throat wash when controlling for oral candidiasis, CD4 + cell count, and sites (95% confidence interval 1.04-1.65, P=0.02). Conclusion: Oral CMV shedding was significantly higher in highly immunocompromised HIV + participants. Our finding supports the recommendations to start antiretroviral therapy independent of CD4 + cell count as this may have the added benefit to lower the risk of herpesvirus transmission among persons infected with HIV and their partners

An Outcome Evaluation of the Implementation of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program in Hong Kong

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) with a sample of Chinese parents of children with early onset conduct related problems in Hong Kong. The participants consisted of 91 parents whose children attended maternal and child health centers and child assessment centers for service, and were between three to seven years old. Participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (TP) and a waitlist control group (WL. There was no significant difference in pre-intervention measures between the two groups. However, at post intervention, participants in the TP group reported significantly lower levels of child behavior problems, lower dysfunctional parenting styles, and higher parent sense of competence, compared to the WL group. Implications of these findings for the use of Triple P with families of Chinese descent are discussed

Towards good practice guidelines for the contour method of residual stress measurement

Accurate measurement of residual stress in metallic components using the contour method relies on the achievement of a good quality cut, on the appropriate measurement of the deformed cut surface and on the robust analysis of the measured data. There is currently no published standard or code of practice for the contour method. As a first step towards such a standard, this study draws on research investigations addressing the three main steps in the method: how best to cut the specimens; how to measure the deformation contour of the cut surface; and how to analyse the data. Good practice guidance is provided throughout the text accompanied by more detailed observations and advice tabulated in Appendi

The Challenges of Creativity in Software Organizations

Part 1: Creating ValueInternational audienceManaging creativity has proven to be one of the most important drivers in software development and use. The continuous changing market environment drives companies like Google, SAS Institute and LEGO to focus on creativity as an increasing necessity when competing through sustained innovations. However, creativity in the information systems (IS) environment is a challenge for most organizations that is primarily caused by not knowing how to strategize creative processes in relation to IS strategies, thus, causing companies to act ad hoc in their creative endeavors. In this paper, we address the organizational challenges of creativity in software organizations. Grounded in a previous literature review and a rigorous selection process, we identify and present a model of seven important factors for creativity in software organizations. From these factors, we identify 21 challenges that software organizations experience when embarking on creative endeavors and transfer them into a comprehensive framework. Using an interpretive research study, we further study the framework by analyzing how the challenges are integrated in 27 software organizations. Practitioners can use this study to gain a deeper understanding of creativity in their own business while researchers can use the framework to gain insight while conducting interpretive field studies of managing creativity

Structural and morphological analysis of zinc incorporated non-stoichiometric hydroxyapatite nano powders

ABSTRACT In this study, Zn incorporated non-stoichiometric hydroxyapatite (nHAp) was synthesized via precipitation method and effect of the incorporation of Zn (fraction: 2, 4, 6 and 8 mol-%) on the microstructure of nHAp was studied by XRD, FTIR analysis and SEM-EDS techniques. The formation of nHAp was confirmed by XRD and FTIR those showed that no secondary phase was formed through the Zn incorporation. The SEM studies also revealed that particles were formed in nano-metric size (30-60 nm). It was found that crystallite and particle size of Zn incorporated nHAp gradually decreased up to 6 mol-%, and started to increase while the Zn fraction reached up to the 8 mol-% and hence the morphology of the aggregated products was also changed. It can be concluded that the incorporation of Zn cations cause to form nHAp phase. Furthermore, the nHAp microstructure has deviated from stoichiometric condition by incorporation of more Zn cations

Integrating sequence and array data to create an improved 1000 Genomes Project haplotype reference panel

A major use of the 1000 Genomes Project (1000GP) data is genotype imputation in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we develop a method to estimate haplotypes from low-coverage sequencing data that can take advantage of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray genotypes on the same samples. First the SNP array data are phased to build a backbone (or 'scaffold') of haplotypes across each chromosome. We then phase the sequence data 'onto' this haplotype scaffold. This approach can take advantage of relatedness between sequenced and non-sequenced samples to improve accuracy. We use this method to create a new 1000GP haplotype reference set for use by the human genetic community. Using a set of validation genotypes at SNP and bi-allelic indels we show that these haplotypes have lower genotype discordance and improved imputation performance into downstream GWAS samples, especially at low-frequency variants. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved