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Purpose There is a significant gap between translation of evidence-based benefits of exercise and the adoption of this exercise behavior among persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Health care providers could be the means by which this translational gap is narrowed, but these individuals require support and resources to effectively promote exercise. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate practice models that guide health care providers in delivering exercise promotion in comprehensive MS care. Methods Over a 6-wk period, primary data were collected from health care providers who worked in comprehensive MS care centers across the United States. This study adopted a quality improvement approach, Plan-Do-Study-Act, to evaluate the practice models. We asked health care providers to complete one online survey evaluating the models and thereafter adopted a case study design to evaluate the practice models according to health care provider feedback. Data were collected through one online survey that asked health care providers to rate the practice models, provide reasons for assigning a particular score, and suggest ways to improve the models. Results Health care providers perceived the three practice models as useful resources for promoting exercise within comprehensive MS care, and provided feedback for improving and modifying the models before implementation into practice. Conclusion We are now one step closer toward a tangible, useful resource for promoting exercise in comprehensive MS care and improving the delivery of exercise promotion and consequently overall care among persons with MS within comprehensive care centers.

Purpose Health care providers have highlighted the need for tools and resources that support promotion of exercise behavior within comprehensive multiple sclerosis (MS) care. This study involved a final quality improvement evaluation of exercise promotion models and materials for inclusion within this setting. Methods and materials Our research team distributed a paper-based survey containing Likert scales, open answer questions, and copies of the models for editing. We distributed this survey among health care providers across the United States. We conducted a novel mixed-methods analysis evaluating quantitative, qualitative, and creative data. Results We received completed surveys from 13 health care providers who strongly rated the clarity and applicability of the models and materials, and reported that no major improvements were necessary. The minor improvements were specific per comprehensive MS care center. The feedback indicated that the "Exercise in Medicine" models and materials are guides such that the processes should be integrated into real world practice by amending roles and responsibilities with the team members and structure per comprehensive MS care center. Conclusion This paper presents finalized models and materials for exercise promotion within comprehensive MS care that are ready to be tested for feasibility and efficacy in a clinical trial.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONHealth care providers require support to promote exercise within the context of comprehensive MS care.The practice models in this article provide guides regarding how to promote exercise in this context.Implementing these exercise promotion guides can reduce the burden of neurologists, and ensure patients receive exercise support from appropriate providers.These guides should be implemented within the context of each individual care center, and not as an explicit step by step guide as each care center is unique.

Background Cervical cancer is the second cause leading of malignancy-related death among Mexican women. The present study determined the population-based prevalence of high risk Human Papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection and associated cofactors in female beneficiaries of the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) attending the Program for HPV Screening and Early Detection of Cervical Cancer and registered in the Women’s Cancer Detection System (SIDECAM). Methods In a cross-sectional study, cervical samples from 115,651 female users of the program for HPV screening and early detection of cervical cancer recruited in 23 ISSSTE care centers were analyzed for HR-HPV. Logistic regression analyses, adjusting for potential confounders, were performed to determine the association of HR-HPV infection with sexual health and behavior variables and with positivity to cervical premalignant lesions by cytology. Results The overall prevalence of HR-HPV infection among female ISSSTE beneficiaries in the 2013–2015 period was 13%. A bivariate analysis of relevant variables for HR-HPV infection showed a statistically significant association for age, number of sexual partners, use of hormonal contraceptives and smoking. A statistical association was found between infection by HR-HPV with the use of hormonal contraceptives, number of sexual partners and smoking and association of HPV 16 and other non-16/18 HR-HPV infection with number of lifetime sexual partners and tobacco use adjusted for age, history of hormonal contraception, number of sexual partners and tobacco use with the exception of exposition variable itself. Similarly, an association was found between HR-HPV infection, regardless of the virus genotype, with positivity to cervical premalignant lesions adjusted for age, number of lifetime sexual partners, history of hormonal contraception and tobacco use. Conclusions HR-HPV prevalence in female ISSSTE Women’s Cancer Program users is similar to the population-based prevalence previously reported in Mexican women without cervical alterations. The ISSSTE robust screening and early detection program, based on cytology studies and HPV co-testing, allows us to know the prevalence of HR-HPV infection among female users of the service.

We present an audit of public awareness, freedom of choice and health behavior change relating to high heel wear subsequent to a major public awareness campaign in the summer of 2017. Substantial reductions in workplace high heel wear were found, whereby increasingly those who wear high heels regularly at work have freely chosen to do so, although certain issues of social expectations remain in certain sectors. Largely, freedom of choice has greatly increased in workplaces in line with increased public and employer awareness. However, high heel wear has not substantially reduced in social settings, and progress has not been made with social expectation and explicit requirement to wear high heels at social events.

Endogenous glucocorticoid action is important in the structural and functional maturation of the fetal heart. In fetal mice, although glucocorticoid concentrations are extremely low before E14.5, glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is expressed in the heart from E10.5. To investigate whether activation of cardiac GR prior to E14.5 induces precocious fetal heart maturation, we administered dexamethasone in the drinking water of pregnant dams from E12.5 to E15.5. To test the direct effects of glucocorticoids upon the cardiovascular system we used SMGRKO mice, with Sm22-Cre-mediated disruption of GR in cardiomyocytes and vascular smooth muscle. Contrary to expectations, echocardiography showed no advancement of functional maturation of the fetal heart. Moreover, litter size was decreased 2 days following cessation of antenatal glucocorticoid exposure, irrespective of fetal genotype. The myocardial performance index and E/A wave ratio, markers of fetal heart maturation, were not significantly affected by dexamethasone treatment in either genotype. Dexamethasone treatment transiently decreased the myocardial deceleration index (MDI; a marker of diastolic function), in control fetuses at E15.5, with recovery by E17.5, 2 days after cessation of treatment. MDI was lower in SMGRKO than in control fetuses and was unaffected by dexamethasone. The transient decrease in MDI was associated with repression of cardiac GR in control fetuses following dexamethasone treatment. Measurement of glucocorticoid levels in fetal tissue and hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone (Crh) mRNA levels suggest complex and differential effects of dexamethasone treatment upon the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis between genotypes. These data suggest potentially detrimental and direct effects of antenatal glucocorticoid treatment upon fetal heart function.

This article re-frames the early twentieth-century news partnerships of African-American Pullman porters and the black press as an example of networked journalism that functioned efficiently for decades, well before the Information Age. Networked journalism refers to a twenty-first-century style of reportage that leverages the efforts of many people to tell a story, from local amateurs acting as citizen journalists to professional journalists working for official news outlets. Pullman porters, who served America's wealthy aboard luxury sleeper cars for nearly 100 years, used the railways as an antecedent to computerized social networks. They achieved modern notions of information crowdsourcing and collaborative news editing, which helped shape and convey political thought in the black press after World War I. This historical analysis examines the Pullman porter's alliances with five prominent African-American newspapers from 1914 (at the start of the Great War) to 1939 (the end of the Harlem Renaissance):...

Background Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) covers a spectrum of rare congenital anomalies characterised by a non-apex forming left ventricle and stenosis/atresia of the mitral and aortic valves. Despite many studies, the causes of HLHS remain unclear and there are conflicting views regarding the role of flow, valvar or myocardial abnormalities in its pathogenesis, all of which were proposed prior to the description of the second heart field. Our aim was to re-evaluate the patterns of malformation in HLHS in relation to recognised cardiac progenitor populations, with a view to providing aetiologically useful sub-groupings for genomic studies. Results We examined 78 hearts previously classified as HLHS, with subtypes based on valve patency, and re-categorised them based on their objective ventricular phenotype. Three distinct subgroups could be identified: slit-like left ventricle (24%); miniaturised left ventricle (6%); and thickened left ventricle with endocardial fibroelastosis (EFE; 70%). Slit-like ventricles were always found in combination with aortic atresia and mitral atresia. Miniaturised left ventricles all had normally formed, though smaller aortic and mitral valves. The remaining group were found to have a range of aortic valve malformations associated with thickened left ventricular walls despite being described as either atresia or stenosis. The degree of myocardial thickening was not correlated to the degree of valvar stenosis. Lineage tracing in mice to investigate the progenitor populations that form the parts of the heart disrupted by HLHS showed that whereas Nkx2–5-Cre labelled myocardial and endothelial cells within the left and right ventricles, Mef2c-AHF-Cre, which labels second heart field-derived cells only, was largely restricted to the endocardium and myocardium of the right ventricle. However, like Nkx2–5-Cre, Mef2c-AHF-Cre lineage cells made a significant contribution to the aortic and mitral valves. In contrast, Wnt1-Cre made a major contribution only to the aortic valve. This suggests that discrete cardiac progenitors might be responsible for the patterns of defects observed in the distinct ventricular sub-groups. Conclusions Only the slit-like ventricle grouping was found to map to the current nomenclature: the combination of mitral atresia with aortic atresia. It appears that slit-like and miniature ventricles also form discrete sub-groups. Thus, reclassification of HLHS into subgroups based on ventricular phenotype, might be useful in genetic and developmental studies in investigating the aetiology of this severe malformation syndrome.

PurposeThe paper aims to present the results of a survey of academic libraries about the adoption and perceived impact of Web 2.0 technologies.Design/methodology/approachA total of 67 US academic libraries participated among the members of the Association of Research Libraries.FindingsIt was found that each library was using some form of technology, such as RSS, blogs, social networking sites, wikis and instant messaging. On a Likert‐type scale the participant librarians significantly preferred the advantages of Web 2.0 over its disadvantages. There was a significant positive correlation between the extent of Web 2.0 adoption in libraries and librarians' opinion about their advantages.Originality/valueThe paper is useful for future planning of the use of Web 2.0 technologies in academic libraries.

The development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) following an episode of acute kidney injury (AKI) is an increasingly recognized clinical problem. Inhibition of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) protects renal function in animal models of AKI and has become a viable therapeutic strategy in AKI. However, the impact of TLR4 inhibition on the chronic sequelae of AKI is unknown. Consequently, we examined the chronic effects of TLR4 inhibition in a model of ischemic AKI. Mice with a TLR4-deletion on a C57BL/6 background and wild-type (WT) background control mice (C57BL/6) were subjected to bilateral renal artery clamping for 19 min and reperfusion for up to 6 weeks. Despite the acute protective effect of TLR4 inhibition on renal function (serum creatinine 1.6 ± 0.4 mg/dL TLR4-deletion vs. 2.8 ± 0.3 mg/dL·WT) and rates of tubular apoptosis following ischemic AKI, we found no difference in neutrophil or macrophage infiltration. Furthermore, we observed significant protection from microvascular rarefaction at six weeks following injury with TLR4-deletion, but this did not alter development of fibrosis. In conclusion, we validate the acute protective effect of TLR4 signal inhibition in AKI but demonstrate that this protective effect does not mitigate the sequential fibrogenic response in this model of ischemic AKI.

The use of integration of copper interconnects in semiconductor devices has greatly advanced the development of integrated circuits and has enabled ever higher device densities. Unfortunately the oxides of copper are poorly suited to semiconductor manufacture. As Cu (I) and Cu (II) oxides are not self-limiting they can pose serious issues from a cleaning and queue time management perspective. In both post-etch and post-CMP cleaning applications it is critical that both types of Cu oxide are removed without damage to either Cu or the dielectric. With the most advanced sub 32nm nodes simply removing the oxides is not sufficient; their re-growth must also be prevented using surface passivation.

PurposeThis article aims to present a comprehensive evaluation of user satisfaction and usability concerns related to five of the leading eBook readers including: the Amazon Kindle; the Apple iPad MB292LL/A; Barnes & Noble's Nook BNRV100; Borders' kobo reader N647‐BUS‐S; and the Sony Digital Reader PRs‐950.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on a survey of 81 information studies graduate students, who responded about their ownership of specific readers, their likes and dislikes as well as perceived issues. Additionally, interested respondents were asked to volunteer for an ethnographic journaling study which allowed eight prospective users to live with each of the five eBook readers for a weekend or longer.FindingsThe authors found that the Kindle is the most popular, but regardless of reader the respondents disliked the poor navigation and inability to loan titles in their collection. In addition, the respondents also liked the portability of the readers as well as the ability to have multiple books on a single reader. However, they also identified a major issue: notably, the licensing of titles versus outright ownership. In contrast to some other published reports, the respondents did not value non‐Roman script support or color display.Originality/valueOne of the first comprehensive surveys to analyze the top five eBook readers for user satisfaction and to identify usability concerns.

PurposeThis paper aims to survey the web sites of the academic libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (USA) regarding the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies.Design/methodology/approachThe websites of 100 member academic libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (USA) were surveyed.FindingsAll libraries were found to be using various tools of Web 2.0. Blogs, microblogs, RSS, instant messaging, social networking sites, mashups, podcasts, and vodcasts were widely adopted, while wikis, photo sharing, presentation sharing, virtual worlds, customized webpage and vertical search engines were used less. Libraries were using these tools for sharing news, marketing their services, providing information literacy instruction, providing information about print and digital resources, and soliciting feedback of users.Originality/valueThe paper is useful for future planning of Web 2.0 use in academic libraries.

A vertically and horizontally well-integrated quality improvement team is essential for effective quality data collection and implementation of improvement measures. We outline the quality structure of a large academic pathology department and describe successful projects across multiple divisions made possible by this tightly integrated structure. The physician vice chair for quality organizes departmental quality efforts and provides representation at the hospital level. The department has an independent continuous quality improvement unit and each laboratory of the department has a staff quality improvement representative. Faculty and staff experts have interacted to produce improvements such as accurate container labeling, efficient triage of specimens, and reduction of unnecessary testing. Specialized task forces such as the Courier Task Force are producing concrete recommendations for process improvement. All phases of pathology patient care are represented by faculty and staff who are trained in quality improvement, and each position touches and communicates actively with levels above and below itself. The key to the department’s approach has been the daily attention to quality efforts in all of its activities and the close association of faculty and staff to accomplish the goals of greater efficiency, safety, and cost savings.

The role of mental or formal models in most quantitative research is unquestioned and taken for granted, yet reference researchers have focused little attention on identifying the attributes of sound (i.e., good) models for understanding the reference transaction. The goal of this article is to promote the development of better models for understanding reference service. Based on a case study of reference service presented herein, sound models appear to be those that are clear and simple, comprehensive, convincing, insightful, parsimonious, provocative, well structured, testable, and understandable. In addition, this article identifies the spectrum of undesirable attributes—ambiguity, confusion, or needless complication.

The quest for miniaturization of organic nanostructures is fueled by their possible applications in future nanoscale electronic devices. Here we show how a range of nanostructures of reduced dimensionality of the organic semiconductor PTCDA can be realized on Au(111) by intermixing the latter with hydrogen bonding spacer molecules. The purpose of the spacers is to separate nanounits of pure PTCDA, using hydrogen bonds between the anhydride end of PTCDA and amine groups of the spacers. A highly regular array of potential quantum dots can be realized by this approach.

Objective: To present and discuss the sonographic and clinical findings in one twin of a monochorionic pair affected by amyoplasia. Methods: On ultrasound examination at 21 weeks in a monochorionic twin pregnancy, twin I was smaller, hydropic, with multiple contractures consistent with amyoplasia and oligohydramnios. Twin II was anatomically normal with polyhydramnios. Results: The twins were delivered at 28 weeks’ gestation. The clinical findings were consistent with twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Conclusion: It is postulated that TTTS may be a causative factor in the excessive incidence of amyoplasia in monozygotic twin pregnancy.

The purpose of this article is to reveal the nature and extent of the official English language websites of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the motivating factors for this practice. The main reasons for the relatively large number of English language sites are considered to be the promotion of tourism, a desire for international scientific cooperation, and increased financial dealings. The paper provides information on the English language content of the main Iranian government websites, identifies some of the obstacles to effective access to this content, and argues for improvements in Iranian website design, so that the Iranian government can fully achieve its goals.

Daryl B. Simons is remembered for his hard work, dedication, and perseverance as an hydraulic engineer. This article describes his life and professional contributions to sediment transport, river engineering, and fluvial systems. It also briefly covers his education, teaching, and research activities; and his contributions to the development of research facilities and to the profession of hydraulic engineering. This Forum article portrays Daryl from the professional interactions with the authors in the past five decades.

Palivizumab prophylaxis significantly reduces hospitalization for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease in preterm infants. However, palivizumab is very expensive. Data from a New Zealand cost-effectiveness analysis were considered by representatives of the Infectious Diseases and Immunisation, Fetus and Newborn, and Respiratory Committees of the Paediatric Society of New Zealand. Prophylaxis in all high-risk groups was associated with net cost. The consensus panel recommends that the priority for palivizumab be given to babies discharged on home oxygen with chronic lung disease, followed by babies born at 28 weeks or less gestation.

El presente estudio se diseno con el fin de conocer las condiciones en las que se realiza el control prenatal en la ciudad fronteriza de Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico y de estudiar las posibles asociaciones entre ese tipo de atencion y el resultado neonatal en terminos de peso al nacer, estado de salud del neonato y prematuridad. Se seleccionaron siete hospitales que atienden a personas de diferentes estratos socioeconomicos y entre diciembre de 1993 y marzo de 1994 se entrevisto en ellos a 279 mujeres que cursaban las primeras 24 a 48 horas del puerperio. En la entrevista se recogieron datos sobre nivel socioeconomico; conceptos, actitudes y practicas de las madres respecto de la salud obstetrica; percepcion materna de acceso a los servicios de atencion prenatal; calidad de las consultas de control prenatal (evaluada segun la realizacion de pruebas de sangre y orina y la medicion de la tension arterial y del peso); y antecedentes ginecobstetricos y de salud de la madre. Se elaboro una base de datos con el paquete estadistico SPSS y se exploraron posibles asociaciones entre la atencion prenatal como variable independiente y las diferentes variables dependientes mediante tablas de contingencia y la prueba de Fisher de dos colas.

In the United States, bridge scour technology is discussed primarily in three FHWA publications: Hydraulic Engineering Circular (HEC) 18: Evaluating Scour at Bridges; HEC-2: Stream Stability at Highway Structures; and HEC-23: Bridge Scour and Stream Instability Countermeasures. Together, these documents provide guidance to state highway agencies that is necessary for completing comprehensive scour and stream instability evaluations for the design of new bridges and for repairing existing bridges. Experience has shown that the relationships among the three documents are not always readily apparent, and some scour evaluations have relied primarily on HEC-18. A comprehensive flowchart that illustrates the interrelationship among the three FHWA scour-related documents has been developed. In addition, in 1998, FHWA, TRB, and AASHTO sponsored a scanning review of European practice for bridge scour and stream instability countermeasures. In 1999, ASCE published a compendium of papers on stream stability and scour at highway bridges, and FHWA prepared an annotated bibliography to support revisions to the three HECs. It is anticipated that the flow-chart and the substantial information from the scanning review, the compendium, and the annotated bibliography will be included in the next revisions to HEC-18, HEC-20, and HEC-23. On the basis of information from these sources, a comprehensive approach to bridge scour and stream instability evaluations is outlined, and an overview of planned revisions to the three FHWA HECs is provided.

The reference transaction can be understood as a system and modeled as such. By adopting a problem-solving paradigm other than the one traditionally used in this area (i.e., flowcharting), a systems analysis of the question-answering process can yield new insights. In particular, this article identifies fifteen functional requirements of the process as well as fit criteria to measure success in question negotiation. In addition, the process is graphically illustrated using four diagrams of the reference transaction and provides a top-level perspective of the process.

There is a certain symmetry in being asked to write a commentary on Jesse Shera's summer 1969 JEL article about higher education because he wrote the foreword to my own history of education for librarianship at the University of Chicago entitled The Spirit of Inquiry (Chicago: ALA, 1981). It came about in the following way.As a doctoral student at Indiana in the late 1970s, I had interviewed many former Chicago GLS students including Dr. Shera who was also a former Chicago faculty member, along with his mentor and adviser, Dr. Pierce Butler. Of course, I was hoping my dissertation might make its way into book form and looking ahead to that time, I had talked with my major adviser, Dr. David Kaser, about who I might ask to write the foreword. He concurred that it would a coup if Dr. Shera agreed because Shera was an eminence grise of librarianship, having graduated Yale, worked in the OSS, and served as dean of Case Western's library school. So while I was happily looking forward to finishing my dissertation in early August of 1978, I received an invitation to speak at the Chicago ALA in early June as part of a panel "Report of Recent Historical Research on Specific Developments in American Library History." I hope that nobody has a copy of tape #23 from that conference because you will hear a confident Dr. Shera and a rather timid voice from me; but afterward he did, nevertheless, agree to write that foreword.Note that I can't call him "Jesse" even though he was one of our first LA house guests in 1980, when we had literally just taken possession of our Village Green townhouse and things were still in boxes. Maybe Dr. Shera truly couldn't see (but he certainly seemed able to step aside or over them), so you can understand why I think that he was just being polite about those boxes. Similarly, I do remember well another early AALS (before it was changed to ALISE) conference in the Palmer House in downtown Chicago. In those days, one only had to stand in the lobby of that place and anybody you wanted to see would come wandering in off the streets. One evening a bunch of us were standing around, when one of his many admirers came forward to tell him that she had read everything that he had ever written (which you can see from the appendix of Wright's book which you hold in your hand is nearly 600 items); well, he was polite until they were out of earshot, and he turned to me and said sotte voce: "Either she is a liar or a damned fool!" I know that I greatly miss his witticisms and other public comments at AALS meetings, for which he was justly famous.As you read this 1969 article from Shera's more than 800-item oeuvre, you will see that he had a seemingly prescient ability to know the fads and fancies of our field. Yet, some, if not many of the twelve titles (ok, it grew to twenty-three finally) he listed in 1969 as being useful to under- stand higher education, aren't ones you'd readily reach for today. No doubt, I also risk committing the same heresies, but I asked my UCLA Department of Information Studies colleagues much like he did- Jean-Francois Blanchette, Anne Gilliland, Leah Lievrouw, and Beverly Lynch who responded to my request. …

We present reflectance-anisotropy spectroscopy data for the adsorption of 3-thiophene carboxylic acid on the clean and O(2{times}1)/Cu(110) surfaces, which demonstrates the sensitivity to orientation parallel and perpendicular to the surface. Electronic structure calculations were performed to clarify the bonding and assign RAS transitions. thinsp {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}

The scholarly article is an important part of the scholarly communication process. According to the United States Bureau of the Census, the number of periodicals and newspapers published in the United States has grown most dramatically from about 2,500 titles in 1850 to more than 20,000 by the start of the twentieth century. Ulrich's International Periodical Directory documents this continued growth from 66,000 in 1984 to 145,000 active titles in 1995. Yet, the publication mechanism is not well understood by novice scholars, some corporate researchers, and many librarians. For beginning scholars, the process is a black box: they submit a manuscript, they hear nothing for months, and then they receive a rejection letter out of the blue. Some members of the public seem to believe that scholars write solely for purposes of promotion and tenure and that editors publish too many ideas devoid of comrmon sense. Others believe that new or controversial manuscripts may not see the light of day for various nefarious reasons. Thus, we believe it would be useful to share a graphic representation of the publication process with the library and information science community so that they can more readily understand and explain the situation to others. In particular, we have borrowed the tools of computer systems analysis to build a data flow diagram (fig. 1) of the refereed manuscript editorial review process. The diagram consists of four elements: terminators, data paths, process bubbles, and data stores. Terminators represent external sources and sinks of data. Named data paths show the flow of data between processes, terminators, and data stores. Process bubbles represent subsystems where data are examined and modified and decisions are made. Like filing cabinets, data stores hold data until a process bubble

Designed for librarians, Question Master (QM) (at http://purl.org/net/Question_Master) is a decision-support system automating some of the more routine, fact-type reference questions encountered in libraries. A series of Web pages guides librarians through a set of clarifying questions before making recommendations of an appropriate electronic or relevant print resource from WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog. The goal is to improve the accuracy of reference transactions, which in turn should lead to increased end-user satisfaction. Based on usability studies of QM’s biographical module, this study found that although the system already was easy to use, its usability could be improved in several ways. Its ability to answer questions was 100 percent, with an accuracy rate of 66 percent compared to Weil’s 64 percent accuracy. In addition, QM accuracy was substantially better than most reported studies of real reference environments and certainly better than the Internet results of 20 percent for HotBot and 30 percent for AltaVista.

Research was conducted to develop, test, and evaluate fixed instrumentation that would be both technically and economically feasible for use in measuring maximum scour depth at bridge piers and abutments. A variety of scour-measuring and scour-monitoring methods were tested in the laboratory and in the field, including sounding rods, driven-rod devices, sonic depth finders (fathometers), and buried devices. Two fixed-instrument systems, a low-cost fathometer, and a magnetic slidingcollar device using a driven-rod approach, showed significant promise during initial testing. The project concentrated on installing and testing these two instrument systems under a wide range of bridge substructure geometry, flow, and geomorphic conditions. Both instrument systems met all of the mandatory and many of the desirable criteria established for this research. Cooperative efforts with state highway agencies proved that both systems can be installed with equipment and technical skills normally available to district-level department of transportation maintenance and inspection personnel. The project also provided installation, operation, and fabrication manuals for the low-cost sonic instrument system and magnetic sliding-collar devices.

A 1987 bridge failure in upstate New York, which cost ten lives, resulted in establishing a national (U.S.) program that requires each state to evaluate all their bridges over water for vulnerability offailure from erosion of their foundations (scour). This evaluation is to be carried out by an interdisciplinary team consisting of hydraulic, structural, and geotechnical engineers. This evaluation is in addition to the National Bridge Inspection Program that requires the states to inspect all bridges every two years to determine their structural integrity. To aid the states in the evaluation program two publications were issued, HEC-18 entitled, “Evaluating Scour at Bridges” and HEC-20, “Stream Stability at Highway Structures.” These publications give guidelines for doing the evaluations; give equations and methods for computing scour; suggest a design philosophy that bridges should be designed using the flow for a 100–year return period flood and to withstand the effects of scour from a superfloo...

Provides a reflective essay on the five papers, and notes that the authors each address the intersection of three concepts: information resources, technology, and users. Points out that the social aspect is one of the most important drivers in the provision of reference services.

The spectral resolution of HREELS is determined by both instrumental and sample-related factors. Despite substantial progress in electron optic design, these factors are still a limitation in assigning the vibrational modes of complex molecules and in determining linewidths. To the extent that all spectral features are broadened in the same way and within signal to noise limitations, currently available spectral restoration methods may provide a reliable solution. In principle, the measured elastic peak provides a template for deconvolution of these factors from the observed lineshapes. We compare results of a direct deconvolution method, in which division in the Fourier domain is followed by a linearised maximum entropy filter, with iterative methods based on maximum likelihood, maximum entropy and Bayesian principles involving only multiplication (i.e. convolution) in the Fourier domain. These methods are applicable both to spectra of modest resolution (intrinsic linewidths > > instrumental linewidth) and to high resolution spectra (linewidths ≈ instrumental resolution) in which spectral lineshapes are measurably different. The asymmetry and tailing of the elastic peak, which are critical to restoration of low frequency features, are determined by a number of processes such as multiple scattering, the thermal population of vibrational states, and low energy continuum excitations (e–h pairs, phonons) of the substrate. These factors, as well as practical considerations, are discussed in relation to measuring data for optimal spectral restoration.

In the 1960's Frank Johnson, Chief of the Hydraulics Branch of the Federal Highway Administration, and Regional FHWA Hydraulic Engineers were concerned that State, Federal and Consulting Engineers were not cognizant of the interaction between highway crossings and encroachments and the river environment. As a result, FHWA funded the development of a manual and training course in 1975, which was revised in 1990. In 2001 the manual was revised and issued as FHWA HDS-6. HDS-6 has chapters giving the fundamentals of open channel flow; alluvial channel flow; sediment transport; geomorphology and river morphology; river stabilization and bank protection; scour at bridges; data needs and sources; design considerations; and examples of real design and evaluation problems. There are 646 pages, 231 figures, and 425 references in HDS-6. The course has been given 45 times to over 1,100 highway engineers. This paper summarizes the chapters in HDS6 and the history of the manual and training course.

The current key performance indicators of the pump-probe facility at the Free Electron Laser in Hamburg (FLASH) are described. The temporal and spatial characteristics of both the extreme ultra- violet (XUV) Free Electron Laser and the temporally synchronized optical femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser are determined by measuring two-color above threshold ionization in rare gases. Characteristic sidebands appear in the photoelectron spectrum under the combined action of both radiation fields providing a very sensitive probe for the spatial and temporal overlap of both pulses. The high spatial acceptance of a magnetic bottle electron spectrometer enabled us to obtain single-shot photoelectron spectra and to correct for the inherent time jitter between both light sources, which reduces the temporal resolution when recording spectra in average mode. As an illustration of the first application, experimental results on polarization control in the two-photon two-color ionization of atomic He are presented.

Using a noninvasive, electro-optically based electron bunch arrival time measurement at FLASH (free electron laser in Hamburg) the temporal resolution of two-color pump-probe experiments has been significantly improved. The system determines the relative arrival time of the extended ultraviolet pulse of FLASH and an amplified Ti:sapphire femtosecond-laser pulse at the interaction region better than 90 fs rms. In a benchmarking pump-probe experiment using two-color above threshold ionization of noble gases, an enhancement in the timing resolution by a factor of 4 compared to the uncorrected data is obtained.

The phonon and plasmon excitations of both n- and p-type InSb(100) have been studied using high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS). The effects of structural damage, induced by low energy ion bombardment, on the conduction band plasmon energy has been monitored as a function of post-bombardment annealing temperature. In all cases, the plasmon energy reaches a maximum of between 55 and 75 meV after annealing to ~ 500 K. This indicates the presence of a large excess of free-carriers in the near-surface region probably due to the presence of defect states including Sb vacancies which would act as donor states. By monitoring the plasmon energy as a function of incident electron beam energy, we exploit the potential of the HREELS technique to probe the free-carrier concentration in semiconductors over a depth range of about 200–2000 A. The degree and depth of damage induced by the sputtering process is found to be approximately 800–1000 A into the bulk of the material, corresponding to the formation of an n-type layer in this near-surface region.

The long-range coupling of relatively high energy electrons to dipole fields associated with plasmons and interatomic vibrations has been exploited to investigate the near surface region of semiconductor materials. HREELS experiments on p-type InSb(100), having a severely modified free-carrier concentration in the sub-surface region due to argon ion bombardment and annealing, have been carried out with primary beam energies E0=2–180eV. This has enabled the depth of damage to be estimated as ~1000A and the free-carrier depth profile to be determined. The optical phonons associated with InSb and AI-Sb stretching vibrations in an InSb/In0.66Al0.34Sb heterostructure have also been studied. Theoretical simulations of HREEL spectra, calculated using the dielectric approximation, show that the intensity of the phonon structure is strongly dependent on both the kinetic energy of the incident electrons and the thickness of the InSb capping layer.

Glucocorticoids are routinely administered to pregnant women at risk of pre-term delivery to mature fetal organs and improve neonatal survival. Here, we tested the hypotheses that (i) antenatal glucocorticoid exposure, prior to the normal increase in glucocorticoid levels, will advance fetal heart maturation and (ii) this would depend on maternal GR genotype. Female GR+/- and GR+/+ mice were crossed with GR+/- males to generate GR+/+ and GR+/- fetuses. GR+/- intercrosses also generated GR-/- (glucocorticoid-resistant controls). Dexamethasone (100 µg/kg/day) or vehicle was administered in the drinking water of pregnant dams from E12.5 (n = 3–6/group), 2d prior to the initiation of fetal glucocorticoid production. In utero high frequency ultrasound was performed at E15.5. Dexamethasone treatment of GR+/+ dams did not affect myocardial performance index (MPI), a measure of systolic and diastolic function, in either GR+/- or GR+/+ fetuses. However, compared to vehicle, dexamethasone treatment of GR+/- dams decreased MPI (indicating improved cardiac function) in their GR+/- fetuses (mean ± SEM: vehicle = 0.746 ± 0.020, dex = 0.620 ± 0.028; P

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The structure of the ${\mathrm{Al}}_{70}{\mathrm{Pd}}_{21}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{9}$ surface has been investigated using high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy. From two large fivefold terraces on the surface in a short decorated Fibonacci sequence, atomically resolved surface images have been obtained. One of these terraces carries a rare local configuration in the form of a ring. The location of the corresponding sequence of terminations in the bulk model $\mathcal{M}$ of icosahedral i-AlPdMn based on the three-dimensional tiling ${\mathcal{T}}^{*(2F)}$ of an F phase has been estimated using this ring configuration and the requirement from low-energy electron diffraction work of Gierer et al. that the average atomic density of the terminations is 0.136 atoms per ${\mathrm{\AA{}}}^{2}.$ A termination contains two atomic plane layers separated by a vertical distance of 0.48 \AA{}. The position of the bulk terminations is fixed within the layers of Bergman polytopes in the model $\mathcal{M}:$ they are 4.08 \AA{} in the direction of the bulk from a surface of the most dense Bergman layers. From the coding windows of the top planes in terminations in $\mathcal{M}$ we conclude that a Penrose (P1) tiling is possible on almost all fivefold terraces. The shortest edge of the tiling P1 is either 4.8 or 7.8 \AA{}. The experimentally derived tiling of the surface with the ring configuration has an edge length of $8.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3\mathrm{\AA{}}$ and hence matches the minimal edge length expected from the model.

Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) has been used to produce images of InSb(100) prepared by in situ treatment of several cycles of low-energy argon ion bombardment and annealing. Electron diffraction studies, following annealing to 625 K, show the c(8*2) pattern associated with the In-rich reconstruction also observed during MBE growth. These STM images demonstrate the improved surface ordering with successive cycles resulting in atomically flat terraces over areas of the sample in excess of 1000 AA*1000 AA. The observed reduction of macroscopic morphological defects, such as In droplets, is discussed as a function of surface treatment.