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5 pags., 5 figs., 1 tab., We report the successful preparation and characterization of active silicon oxynitride thin films with controlled europium (Eu) doping by alternated pulsed laser deposition. The successful Eu doping with a nanostructured dopant distribution, as well as the stoichiometry of the oxynitride film, have been determined by ion beam analysis (RBS). The oxidation state of the incorporated Eu ions has been determined by in-depth x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and it is shown that the Eu ions are in the 2+ state, in contrast to the usual results found in oxide matrices for which the 3+ oxidation state prevails. The Eu-doped films show an intense broadband emission (FWHM >210 nm) associated to the optical transition fd → S of the Eu ions within the amorphous matrix. As expected, the intensity of the emission band increases as the Eu concentration increases, and it is remarkable that the emission shifts towards longer wavelengths. In terms of the chromatic coordinates (CIE) this implies a color tuning from a bluish to orange that enables color tunable emission, and potential white like emission by combining layers with different Eu ions concentration. Therefore, the developed oxynitride films with controlled Eu ions concentration achieved by PLD are promising for the development of color -tailored LED's., This work was partially funded by Spanish grants MINECO/FEDER TEC2015-69916-C2-1-R, MICINN/FEDER RTI2018-096498-B-I00 and PID2021-123190OB-I00, and by the CSIC (Spain) grants PIE202050E195 and AEPP2021-128. I.C. acknowledges the financial support through CSIC scholarship JAE-Pre2011 00578. A.M. acknowledges the financial support through FPI grant BES-2013-062593

Introduction: Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) has become the standard of care for treating complicated type B aortic dissection and descending thoracic aortic aneurysms. There are no large datasets evaluating racial disparities in patients undergoing TEVAR. Hypothesis: There is no difference in outcomes between patients of different ethnicities and race undergoing TEVAR. Methods: We analyzed adult patients who underwent TEVAR for complicated type B aortic dissection or descending thoracic aortic aneurysm. International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, were used to identify patients. We utilized the National Inpatient Sample database, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2017. Appropriate trend weights were used to generate national estimates. Primary outcome measure was in hospital mortality. Predictors of mortality were determined using hierarchical logistic regression and a mixed logistic model was used to account for hospital variations. Excluded patients were less than 18 years old. Results: The study population consisted of 25260 patients. There were 17197 (68.07%) white patients, 4959 (19.66%) black patients, 1462 (5.74%) Hispanic patients and 1642 (6.51%) patients of various other ethnicities and races. Although the Elixhauser comorbidity index was not significantly different between groups, white patients were older, underwent more elective repairs, had lower baseline rates of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and chronic kidney disease. There was no significant difference when comparing in hospital mortality between white (reference group), black (OR 0.86, p=0.46), Hispanic (OR 1.54, p=0.13) or other groups (OR 0.78, p=0.45). Non elective TEVAR (OR 2.23, p Conclusions: While patients of color were older and had more peripheral vascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease racial differences did not predict in hospital mortality.

Relying on a multitude of studies from the college choice literature, I propose an updated model of college going and choice that draws on four conceptual, theoretical, and analytic approaches. With guidance from the economic, sociological, information processing, and combined theories of college choice, I situate my proposed framework within this extant literature to provide some direction and formal conceptualization of the role that signalling and identity play with regard to college access. In addition to understanding students’ identities within typical utility models, this essay also attempts to carefully consider both the explicit and implicit assumptions about valued identity categories (insiders) and those that are less valued (outsiders) in the college going and choice process. Finally, through deliberate examination of how signals are sent to students and the acquisition of signals (credentials) by students, I consider how this relays information about which identities are valued by higher education socially, and by specific institutions in particular. In so doing, I feel that I have laid a foundation for future work that carefully ties philosophical and public good notions back to the college choice process and to higher education’s underlying ethos of service in the public interest.

[EN] A pilot-scale microalgae (Chlorella spp.) and primary sludge anaerobic co-digestion (ACoD) plant was run for one year in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) at 35 °C, 70 d solids retention time and 30 d hydraulic retention time, showing high stability in terms of pH and VFA concentration. The plant achieved a high degree of microalgae and primary sludge substrate degradation, resulting in a methane yield of 370 mLCH4·gVSinf¿1. Nutrient-rich effluent streams (685 mgN·L¿1 and 145 mgP·L¿1 in digestate and 395 mgNH4-N·L¿1 and 37 mgPO4-P·L¿1 in permeate) were obtained, allowing posterior nutrient recovery. Ammonium was recovered from the permeate as ammonia sulphate through a hydrophobic polypropylene hollow fibre membrane contactor, achieving 99% nitrogen recovery efficiency. However, phosphorus recovery through processes such as struvite precipitation was not applied since only 26% of the phosphate was available in the effluent. Composting process of the digestate coming from the ACoD pilot plant was assessed on laboratory-scale Dewar reactors, as was the conventional sludge compost from an industrial WWTP digestion process, obtaining similar values from both. Sanitised (free of Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp.) and stable compost (respirometric index at 37 °C below 0.5 mgO 2 g organic matter¿1·h¿1) was obtained from both sludges., This research work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Projects CTM 2014-54980-C2-1-R and CTM 2014- 54980-C2-2-R) jointly with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which are gratefully acknowledged. It was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation via a pre/doctoral FPI fellowship to the first author (BES-2015-071884, Project CTM 2014- 54980-C2-1-R). Technical support from the Entidad Pública de Saneamiento de Aguas Residuales de la Comunidad Valenciana is also gratefully acknowledged.

Background: Survival data support the use of first-line osimertinib as the standard of care for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, it remains unclear whether upfront osimertinib is superior to sequential first-or second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) followed by osimertinib for all patients. It is impossible to predict which patients are at high risk of progression, and this constitutes a major limitation of the sequential TKI approach. Patients and methods: A total of 830 plasma samples from 228 patients with stage IV, EGFR-positive NSCLC who were treated with first-line TKIs were analysed by digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR). Results: The circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) levels helped to identify patients with significantly improved survival rate, regardless of the treatment. Patients treated with first-or second-generation TKIs (N = 189) with EGFR mutations in plasma at a mutant allele frequency (MAF)

11 pags., 6 figs., Natural photosynthetic photonic nanostructures can show sophisticated light–matter interactions including enhanced light absorption by slow light even for highly pigmented systems. Beyond fundamental biology aspects, these natural nanostructures are very attractive as blueprints for advanced photonic devices. But the soft-matter biomimetic implementations of such nanostructures is challenging due to the low refractive index contrast of most organic photonic structures. Excitonic organic materials with near-zero index (NZI) optical properties allow overcoming these bottlenecks. Here, it is demonstrated that the combination of NZI thin films with photonic multilayers like the ones found in nature enables broadband tunable strong reflectance as well as slow light absorption enhancement and tailored photoluminescence properties in the full VIS spectrum. Moreover, it is shown that this complex optical response is tunable, paving the way toward the development of active devices based on all-polymer and near-zero index materials photonic structures., The work by M.C.A., W.P.W., and M.L.-G. was supported by the “Towards Biomimetic Photosynthetic Photonics” project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 031739) co-funded by FCT and COMPETE2020. C.E.-V., S.N.-S, and I.P.-S. acknowledge financial support from MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Grant No. PID2019-108954RB-I00) and the Xunta de Galicia/FEDER (grant GRC ED431C 2020/09). R.S. acknowledges Grants RTI 2018-096498-B-I00 and PID2021-123190OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF a way of making Europe.”

[EN] This research work proposes an innovative water resource recovery facility (WRRF) for the recovery of energy, nutrients and reclaimed water from sewage, which represents a promising approach towards enhanced circular economy scenarios. To this aim, anaerobic technology, microalgae cultivation, and membrane technology were combined in a dedicated platform. The proposed platform produces a high-quality solid- and coliform-free effluent that can be directly discharged to receiving water bodies identified as sensitive areas. Specifically, the content of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus in the effluent was 45 mg COD.L-1 , 14.9 mg N.L-1 and 0.5 mg P.L-1 , respectively. Harvested solar energy and carbon dioxide biofixation in the form of microalgae biomass allowed remarkable methane yields (399 STP L CH 4.kg(-1) CODinf ) to be achieved, equivalent to theoretical electricity productions of around 0.52 kWh per m 3 of wastewater entering the WRRF. Furthermore, 26.6% of total nitrogen influent load was recovered as ammonium sulphate, while nitrogen and phosphorus were recovered in the biosolids produced (650 +/- 77 mg N.L-1 and 121.0 +/- 7.2 mg P.L-1)., This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Projects CTM2014-54980-C2-1-R and CTM2014-54980-C2-2-R) jointly with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which are gratefully acknowledged. This research was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport via two pre-doctoral FPU fellowships (FPU14/05082 and FPU15/02595) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via two pre-doctoral FPI fellowships (BES-2015-071884, BES-2015-073403) and one Juan de la Cierva contract (FJCI-2014-21616). The authors would also like to acknowledge the support received from Generalitat Valenciana via two VALithornd post-doctoral grants (APOSTD/2014/049 and APOSTD/2016/104) and via the fellowships APOTI/2016/059 and CPI-16-155, as well as the financial aid received from the European Climate KIC association for the 'MAB 2.0' Project (APIN0057_ 2015-3.6-230_ P066-05) and Universitat Politecnica de Valencia via a pre-doctoral FPI fellowship to the seventh author.

Using well-defined notions of region, panel data, and an econometric approach suited to estimating parameter coefficients on time-invariant regressors, this study finds that region is a highly influential factor for state-level public higher education prices even after controlling for other well-known drivers. Additionally, prices track the historical development of higher education in the US. Based on the history of higher education and regional norms, these estimates may be evidence of suboptimal tuition and fee equilibria resulting from implicit gaming. Substantively, a greater awareness of these historical and competitive forces and their effects on the cost of public higher education can be a substantial resource for policy-makers, institutional decision-makers, and researchers alike.

Superposición temporal de la actividad de Lynx rufus y Canis latrans y sus presas potenciales en el Parque Nacional Pico de Orizaba, en México Se cree que el uso diferencial de los recursos, en especial del espacio, la comida y el tiempo, permite la coexistencia de especies del mismo gremio trófico. El tiempo entendido como el patrón de actividad es altamente dinámico. En el Parque Nacional Pico de Orizaba se instalaron 14 cámarastrampa que estuvieron activas durante 12 meses. Se analizaron los patrones de actividad (PA) de las especies mediante histogramas de frecuencia y se calculó el índice de solapamiento (Δ) para determinar la superposición temporal entre dos depredadores, Lynx rufus y Canis latrans y entre los depredadores y sus presas potenciales. Con un esfuerzo de muestreo de 5.110 noches/trampa se obtuvieron 217 registros independientes de L. rufus (45), C. latrans (27) y de ocho especies de presas potenciales (145). Los depredadores fueron catamerales y cuatro presas, nocturnas, principalmente lagomorfos y roedores. La superposición temporal entre ambos depredadores fue Δ = 0,80 y entre estos y sus presas, los valores más altos se encontraron entre C. latrans y los roedores (Δ = 0,80) y entre L. rufus y los lagomorfos (Δ = 0,58), con variaciones entre la estación seca y la de lluvias. Al ser de hábitos catamerales, los depredadores tienen más posibilidades de cazar más presas, en especial las que tienen patrones de actividad variables. Los PA validan la información sobre la variedad de la alimentación y la utilización diferencial de los recursos y las diferencias temporales como estrategias de coexistencia de los depredadores, que se adaptan constantemente a un entorno muy dinámico y cambiante., Species of the same trophic guild are thought to coexist through their differential use of resources, including food, space and time. Time understood as the pattern of activity is highly dynamic. Fourteen camera–traps were set up in the Pico de Orizaba National Park and active for 12 months. Frequency histograms were used to analyze their activity patterns (AP) and a coefficient of overlap (Δ) was used to determine the temporal overlap between two predators, Lynx rufus and Canis latrans, and the predators and their potential prey. A sampling effort of 5,110 traps/night obtained 217 independent records of L. rufus (45), . latrans (27) and eight potential prey species (145). The predators were cathemeral and four potential prey mainly lagomorphs and rodents were nocturnal. The temporal overlap between the predators Δ = 0.80, and the highest overlap between predators and prey were for C. latrans and rodents (Δ = 0.80), and L. rufus and lagomorphs (Δ = 0.58), with differences between the degree of overlap in dry and rainy seasons. The cathemeral habits of the predators likely increase their likelihood of hunting success, particularly for prey with variable activity patterns. The APs support information on dietary breadth and the differential use of resources and temporal differences as strategies for coexisting predators, continually adapting to a highly dynamic and changing environment.

This research work proposes the scale-up evaluation in terms of biological and filtration performance from laboratory to pilot-scale of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) co-digesting raw microalgae and primary sludge. Best operating conditions for this scale-up were energetically and economically assessed based on laboratory results. Economic balance showed 3% higher annual costs when operating a reactor at 100 d solids retention time (SRT) compared to 70 d SRT. Energetic balance showed a 5.5-fold increase in heat demand working at thermophilic temperature comparing to mesophilic. The AnMBR operating conditions were set at 70 d SRT and 35 °C. The pilot-scale and lab-scale co-digesters performed similarly in terms of biogas production and system stability. 154 mLbiogas·d-1·L-1reactor were produced at pilot-scale, corresponding to methane yield of 215 mLCH4·gCODinf-1. AnMBR filtration at both laboratory and pilot-scale showed stability working at permeate fluxes of 4.2-5.8 L·m-2·h-1.

Harvested microalgae Chlorella spp. and primary sludge were co-digested in a laboratory-scale anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) under thermophilic conditions (55 °C). The system was run for 700 days divided into four experimental phases to determine the influence of the organic loading rate on the process performance and the microbial community. The rise in organic loading rate from 0.17 to 0.5 gCOD·L−1·d−1 led to a 35% improvement in methane production. The system reached 69% biodegradability working at 0.5 gCOD·L−1·d−1 and a high solids retention time (70 d), indicating the efficient conversion of biomass into biogas through the AnMBR configuration while avoiding possible inhibition by free ammonia. The thermophilic AnMBR provided a stable microbial community dominated by hydrolytic and fermenter members such as Coprothermobacter, Fervidobacterium and Hydrothermae. Syntrophic oxidisers such as W5 were also key in propionate degradation and produced intermediates for later conversion into methane.

Anaerobic co-digestion of primary sludge and raw microalgae (Scenedesmus and Chlorella) was performed in a lab-scale semi-continuous anaerobic membrane bioreactor to assess the biological performance and identify the microbial community involved in the co-digestion process. The reactor was operated at 35 °C for 440 days, working at a solids retention time of 100 days. The system achieved 73% biodegradability and showed high stability in terms of pH and volatile fatty acids. An enriched microbial community was observed. Of the several phyla, Chloroflexi and Proteobacteria were the most abundant. Cellulose-degraders phyla (Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi and Thermotogae) were detected. Syntrophic microorganisms played an important role in intermediate degradation, enhancing methane production, mainly carried out by Methanosaeta. A nutrient-rich effluent (400 mg NH4-N·L−1 and 29 mg PO4-P·L−1) and digestate (860 mg N·L−1 and 151 mg P·L−1) were obtained. The bio-nutrients released from anaerobic co-digestion could be reused for microalgae cultivation or agricultural applications.

Using well understood regional indicators we seek to understand if and how region influences state expenditures to public higher education. We employ an econometric technique that allows for estimation of parameter estimates on time-invariant regressors (Census divisions) from 1995-1996 through 2007-2008. Additionally, we are able to provide solid evidence that region matters while also including other well-known drivers of state expenditures to public higher education. We conclude that these relationships are often overlooked in higher education economics research, for better or for worse, and hence warrant further investigation since implications exist for future and prospective policy.

In this work, we report on the production of regular (SiGe/SiO

[EN] Microalgae cultivation appears to be a promising technology for treating nutrient-rich effluents from anaerobic membrane bioreactors, as microalgae are able to consume nutrients from sewage without an organic carbon source, although the sulphide formed during the anaerobic treatment does have negative effects on microalgae growth. Short and long-term experiments were carried out on the effects of sulphide on a mixed microalgae culture. The short-term experiments showed that the oxygen production rate (OPR) dropped as sulphide concentration increased: a concentration of 5 mg S L¿1 reduced OPR by 43%, while a concentration of 50 mg S L¿1 came close to completely inhibiting microalgae growth. The long-term experiments revealed that the presence of sulphide in the influent had inhibitory effects at sulphide concentrations above 20 mg S L¿1 in the culture, but not at concentrations below 5 mg S L¿1. These conditions favoured Chlorella growth over that of Scenedesmus., This research work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, CTM2011-28595-C02-01 and CTM2011-28595-C02-02) jointly with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), both of which are gratefully acknowledged. It was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport via a pre doctoral FPU fellowship to author J. Gonzalez-Camejo (FPU14/05082) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via a pre doctoral FPI fellowship to author R. Serna-Garcia (project CTM2014-54980-C2-1-R)

States have responded in a variety of ways to undocumented immigration and its implications for higher education. Some states have allowed undocumented students to seek an affordable college education while others have created barriers. This article highlights the piecemeal legislation that the states have passed in order to respond to the needs of undocumented students; namely, policies allowing undocumented students in-state resident tuition. It also considers the policy impacts on undocumented students and the institutions and faculty that serve them.

Resumen Objetivo Valoracion del componente acetabular no cementado en protesis total de cadera por artrosis secundaria a fractura de cotilo. Material y metodo Estudio prospectivo de 24 pacientes con edad media de 56 anos (rango: 28-77) y seguimiento medio de 8,4 anos (rango: 5-15), que fueron tratados con acetabulo no cementado atornillado. El tiempo medio entre la fractura y la protesis fue de tres anos (rango: 5 meses-14 anos). La fractura habia sido tratada conservadoramente en 15 casos y con fijacion interna en 9 casos. Se realizo valoracion clinica con la escala de Harris y radiografica, con especial interes en el acetabulo. Resultados La escala de Harris media se incremento de 35 puntos (rango: 22-52) a 77 (rango: 45-94). Hubo tres aflojamientos de cotilo, dos con osteolisis que fueron revisados y uno con radiolucencia continua. El vastago femoral preciso revision quirurgica en un caso. Hubo un caso de infeccion profunda y una luxacion tardia postraumatica. La funcion de supervivencia de la artroplastia por cualquier causa a 12 anos fue del 78,4%. Discusion y conclusiones Son escasos los estudios al respecto y todos con pequeno numero de casos. La tasa de fallos acetabulares es superior que la tasa en los casos no traumaticos. La protesis no cementada es un tratamiento adecuado para las secuelas de fractura de cotilo.

En este artículo se presentan dos casos clínicos con una de las enfermedades más frecuentes en la consulta del dermatólogo y del podólogo, las verrugas plantares. En el primer caso se presenta a un paciente masculino de 19 años y el segundo caso se trata de una paciente femenina de 28 años. Esta patología es muy común y es producida por algunos virus de la familia del papiloma humano. Se relaciona con estados de inmunosupresión o estrés sobre todo en niños y en personas adultas por un contagio. En este trabajo se destacan los posibles tratamientos que el podólogo puede dar, tomando en cuenta que el tratamiento debe ajustarse a la estructura, tipo y localización de las verrugas

Objective To evaluate the outcomes of cementless acetabular component for post-traumatic arthritis after acetabular fracture. Material and method A prospective study of twenty-four patients with a mean age of 56 years (range: 28–77) and a follow-up 8.4 years (range: 5–15) treated with cementless total hip arthroplasty. The time from fracture to total hip arthroplasty was 3 years (range: 5 months-14 years). The fracture had been treated conservatively in 15 cases and with internal fixation in 9 cases. A clinical assessment was made using with Harris hip score, along with radiology with special interest in the socket. Results Harris hip score increased from 35 points (range: 22–52) to 77 (range: 45–94). Unstable acetabular fixation was seen in 3 cases, 2 with osteolysis that required revision and 1 with a complete radiolucent line. The stem required revision in 1 case. There was 1 case of deep infection and 1 post-traumatic late dislocation. Survival for any cause at 12 years was 78.4%. Discussion and conclusions There are few studies on this topic, and all with a small number of cases. Acetabular failure rate is higher than routine total hip arthroplasty for non-traumatic osteoarthritis. Cementless total hip arthroplasty is a suitable treatment for post-traumatic arthritis after acetabular fracture.

The early identification and remediation of emotional or behavior disorders are high priorities for early-childhood researchers and are based on the assumption that problems such as school failure can be averted with early screening, prevention, and intervention. Presently, prevalence, severity, and topography of mental health needs among low-income preschoolers and their families have not been well documented. Tools for screening and intervention for behavior problems in preschool children are few and many of those tools have not been studied within diverse Head Start systems. In this study, five instruments of symptoms and functional impairment, completed by teachers and two completed by parents, were obtained on a sample of 1,781 Head Start children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds from the Head Start Mental Health Research Consortium. Clinical cut-off scores were used to identify children who could be considered at relatively serious risk for emotional or behavioral disorders. At-risk classifications using clinical cut-offs at both 1.0 and 1.5 standard deviations for each measure were examined singly and in combination and then compared to the overall sample for age, gender, and ethnicity. Identification of children considered at risk ranged from a low of 1% to a high of 38%, with evidence of differential effects on age, gender, or ethnicity for some individual measures, but these tended to diminish when combinations of symptom and impairment measures were used. Implications for choosing instruments to establish eligibility for emotional or behavioral disorders in preschoolers are discussed.

In this article, we examine policies related to in-state resident tuition and state financial aid policies aimed at undocumented students. To help frame the discussion and spark further debate and research in this area the article seeks to do three things. First, it provides a comprehensive review of state and institutional in-state tuition policies aimed at undocumented students as well as state college or university system responses. Second, it charts the policy landscape for state financial aid access for this population. Third, it examines the numerous implications that such policies engender and highlights the role of the federal government and the proposed Dream Act in mitigating some of these concerns. It closes by underscoring the important financial role played by the critical interaction of state, institutional, and federal policies in making college going a reality for these students while proposing avenues for future study around the issue.

To establish the accuracy of endometrial biopsy with the Cornier pipelle in the diagnosis of endometrial cancer and atypical endometrial hyperplasia in our milieu.We reviewed 1,535 anatomopathologic reports on endometrial biopsies taken from outpatients using the Cornier pipelle between 1997 and 2000, in pre- and postmenopausal patients with abnormal vaginal bleeding. In 168 patients (10.9%), curettage and/or hysterectomy was subsequently carried out. In these cases, the anatomopathologic reports were compared to determine sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and likelihood ratio (LR).Sensitivity was 84.2%, specificity was 99.1%, accuracy was 96.9%, PPV was 94.1%, NPV was 93.7% and LR was 93.5. In 249 cases (16.09%) the material was insufficient for study.We determined that endometrial biopsy taken with the Cornier pipelle is, as we practice it, an accurate method for diagnosis of endometrial cancer and its precursor, atypical hyperplasia.

Metal nanocrystals embedded in dielectric matrices have been the subject of intense research during the last few years as promising candidates for all-optical switching applications. However, the lack of suitable techniques to produce these materials in waveguide configuration has hindered the use of nanocomposites in technological applications. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a recently developed thin film technique that offers a new way to obtain and control the size and shape of the nanocrystals, thus introducing new possibilities to engineer the nonlinear optical parameters of the material. This work reports on the production of Cu nanocrystals embedded in amorphous Al2O3 matrix with a large nonlinear refractive index and a significantly reduced nonlinear absorption. The influence of the metal content and the measuring conditions on the nonlinear response of the nanocomposite films has been also analysed.

Recent developments in the field of fiber optics suggest that in the near future it may be economically feasible to instrument complex structures with fiber optical strain gages. If a method of damage localization and severity estimation were formulated to accept directly the strain data from such devices, the efficiency and effectiveness of fiber optical strain gages could be significantly enhanced. In this paper a method to locate and size structural damage in complex structures with minimal modal strain parameters is presented. A theory of damage localization and severity estimation is formulated in terms of modal strains. A finite element model (FEM) of the structure to be analyzed is developed. Modal strains are calculated for every member of the undamaged structure. Modal strains are also obtained from the structure with simulated damage or from the actual structure in the field. The damage localization formulation is used to localize damage for a variety of damaged scenarios. Finally, the reliability and accuracy of the method is evaluated.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Products obtained from lysis in the cell wall of group A streptococcus have been studied in different growth phases: at the end of the exponential phase and in the stationary one. Endo-beta-N-acetylmuramidase extracted from the culture liquid of Streptomyces levoris 96 has been used for lysis of streptococcus. It is stated that streptococcus cell walls isolated at different growth stages differ in the protein and polysaccharide content. High content of protein in the cell wall of a young culture makes lower the initial rate of the walls' hydrolysis by endo-beta-N-acetylmuramidase. However, with the enzyme penetration into peptidoglycan the rate of hydrolysis of cell walls gets higher and after four-hour incubation the lysis degree of walls of the 16- and 8-hour cultures reaches the equal value (63%). Studies in the protein composition of lysates of the streptococcus cell walls have shown that they contain at least 12 proteins most of which are acid and neutral ones.

Nicaragua has the lowest prevalence of AIDS in Central America. In other countries where AIDS is more prevalent, the first epidemic of asymptomatic infections with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the second of clinical cases of AIDS have been followed by a third epidemic of fear and discrimination. In December 1989 a study was conducted to investigate knowledge and attitudes about AIDS in a sample of 287 adults in Managua. Most of the interviewees had heard of the disease from newspapers and television, and more than 90% understood how HIV was principally transmitted. However, between one-third and one-half the interviewees believed that HIV could be transmitted by causal contact such as kissing (53%) or by mosquito bites (49%). In addition, the majority considered that isolation of HIV-infected persons and control of immigration into the country would be effective measures for preventing the spread of the disease. These results are similar to findings from studies carried out in other countries of Latin America where the HIV and AIDS epidemics started much earlier. This would suggest that the so-called "third epidemic" of discrimination and fear is affecting Nicaragua in advance of the other two.

459 blood donors aged 18-50 years were examined in 1987-1988 in Moscow. Among them, carrier state with respect to beta-hemolytic streptococci was detected in 107 donors (23.3%). The number of carriers gradually decreased with the increase of age of the examined donors. Group C streptococci occurred least of all (6.9%). Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci were isolated in 16.7% of the carriers. The isolation rate of streptococci from blood achieved its maximum in autumn and winter months and did not depend on preceding diseases, unhealthy working conditions, the rhesus factor and, with the exception of group A streptococci, the blood group. Among tonsillectomized donors carrier state with respect to beta-hemolytic streptococci occurred 2.2 times less frequently than among donors who had not undergone tonsillectomy. Carrier state with respect to beta-hemolytic streptococci was accompanied by higher levels of salivary sIgA antibodies to polysaccharide A, serum antibodies to polysaccharide A and circulating polysaccharide A. All beta-hemolytic streptococci were sensitive to erythromycin. All groups of streptococci showed the highest percentage of cultures resistant to gentamicin and tetracycline. In 100% of cases group A streptococci were sensitive to benzylpenicillin, methicillin, ampicillin, erythromycin and lincomycin.