Homotopy Path Spaces for Families of Admissible Paths

Motivated by the search for universal orbits in geometric control theory and universal topological semigroups over local semigroups in topological groups, particularly Lie groups, we introduce a very general axiomatic notion of “trajectory,” namely a topological space equipped with a family of paths satisfying certain properties that make it what we call an “admissible family.” Considering one-parameter families of these paths as a homotopy allows us to construct a homotopy path space, our main object of consideration. We identify a distinguished subfamily of admissible paths via what we call a selection or partial selection and show how this insures collapses in the homotopy path space structure. We establish sufficient conditions to identify the homotopy path space as the simply connected covering or as residing in the simply connected covering and point out certain of its universal properties in this setting. We close by applying and illustrating our results in the setting of Lie groups and semigroups.     

Trend Assessment by the Innovative-Şen Method

Hydro-meteorological time series may include trend components mostly due to climate change since about three to four decades. Trend detection and identification in a better and refined manner are among the major current research topics in water resources domain. Even though different methodologies can be found for trend detection in literature, two well-known procedures are the Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test and recently innovative-?en trend method, which provides different aspects of the trend. The theoretical basis and application of these two methods are completely different. The MK test gives a holistic monotonic trend without any categorization of the time series into a set of clusters, but the innovative-?en method is based on cluster and provides categorical trend behavior in a given time series. The main purpose of this paper is to provide important differences between these two approaches and their possible similarities. The applications of the two approaches are given for hydro-meteorological records including relative humidity, temperature, precipitation and runoff from Ergene drainage basin in the north-western part of Turkey. It is observed that although MK trend test does not show significant trend almost in all the cases, the innovative-?en approach yields trend categorizations as “very low”, “low”, “medium” “high” and “very high”, which should be taken into consideration in future flood (“very high”) and drought (“very low”) studies.     

Long-term microleakage trends in access cavities conditioned with phosphoric acid and deproteinizing agent for root-canal-treated teeth: an investigation of fluid filtration and microscopy analysis

This study evaluated the long-term microleakage of access cavities conditioned with phosphoric acid and deproteinizing agents for root-canal-treated teeth using fluid filtration and microscopical analysis. Occlusal surfaces of extracted human mandibular premolars (N = 90) were removed leaving a 4 mm coronal length from the cemento-enamel junction. After root canal treatment, the specimens were randomly divided into four experimental groups (n = 21) and the remaining teeth were used for positive control group (n = 6): SB: 35% H₃PO₄ + Adper Single Bond 2; SSB: 35% H₃PO₄ + 5.25% NaOCl + 10% Sodium ascorbate (C₆H₇NaO₆) + Adper Single Bond 2; XP: 35% H₃PO₄₊XP Bond; SXP: 35% H₃PO₄₊5.25% NaOCl + 10% Sodium ascorbate + XP Bond. All cavities were restored with a resin composite (Filtek Z250). After removing the root filling from the apical side, teeth were subjected to fluid filtration test for 1 week, 6 and 12 months followed by ×2500 thermocycling after 1st week and 6th months each. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Dunnet T3 tests (α = 0.05). SEM analyses were carried out after each microleakage evaluation in two random teeth from all groups. Microleakage values in groups SB and XP presented no significant difference in any of the evaluated period (p > 0.05). Microleakage results of SXP (0.01665) group showed significant difference compared to XP (0.03377) and SB (0.03049) groups after 12 months. SSB group (0.00901) showed significantly less microleakage among all other groups (0.01665–0.03377) (p < 0.05). Prior to endodontic treatment, in access cavities, acid etching with 35% H₃PO₄ followed by the application of NaOCl and sodium ascorbate completely destroyed the collagen layer, reducing the microleakage and resin–dentin interface degradation up to 12 months.     

A quasi-static analysis for a class of induced-current EIT systems using discrete coils

A discrete coil EIT system is investigated for the general case of an eccentric circular inhomogeneity. The solution methodology of the forward problem of this system is explained. An optimization procedure using this forward problem solution is developed to find optimum currents that maximize the distinguishability. For an eccentric inhomogeneity problem, it is shown that the coil currents can be optimized to focus the current density in a region of interest. Optimum coil currents under limited peak coil currents constraint and limited total power constraint are obtained. Representative examples that demonstrate the performance of the system are presented.     

Characterization of axenic isolates of Giardia intestinalis established from humans and animals in Germany

A total of 15 isolates of Giardia intestinalis, the first axenic cultures of this organism to be described from Germany, were established in Bonn from faecal cysts obtained from human and animal stool specimens. Measurement of in vitro growth kinetics for 12 of the isolates revealed 3 phenotypes ('rapid', 'medium-rate' and 'slow' growers) characterized by generation times of 9-11 h (5 isolates), 12-15 h (5 isolates) and > or = 18-20 h (2 isolates), respectively. Cloned sublines exhibited growth rates similar to those of the parent isolates. Genetic analyses involving use of the polymerase chain reaction to amplify segments of genes encoding variant-specific surface proteins or the enzyme glutamate dehydrogenase, coupled with the detection of restriction-fragment-length polymorphisms, identified genotypes belonging to three previously described genetic groups. Seven isolates (from humans, a calf and a chinchilla) were typed to genetic group I--a potentially zoonotic genotype belonging to assemblage A, one of two major genetic lineages defined by analysis of G. intestinalis from humans and animals. Six isolates (all from humans) showed identity with the group II genotype--recovered thus far only from humans and also belonging to assemblage A. Two isolates (one from a human, the other from a monkey housed at the Cologne zoo) were classified as assemblage B genotypes. The in vitro growth rates correlated strongly with genotype, group I or group II (assemblage A) genotypes accounting for all of the 'rapid' and 'medium-rate' cultures and both assemblage B isolates being 'slow growers'. The data indicate that genetically based metabolic differences may determine how rapidly G. intestinalis isolates can grow in axenic culture.     

Inverse magnetocaloric effect in ferromagnetic Ni-Mn-Sn alloys

The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in paramagnetic materials has been widely used for attaining very low temperatures by applying a magnetic field isothermally and removing it adiabatically. The effect can also be exploited for room-temperature refrigeration by using giant MCE materials. Here we report on an inverse situation in Ni-Mn-Sn alloys, whereby applying a magnetic field adiabatically, rather than removing it, causes the sample to cool. This has been known to occur in some intermetallic compounds, for which a moderate entropy increase can be induced when a field is applied, thus giving rise to an inverse magnetocaloric effect. However, the entropy change found for some ferromagnetic Ni-Mn-Sn alloys is just as large as that reported for giant MCE materials, but with opposite sign. The giant inverse MCE has its origin in a martensitic phase transformation that modifies the magnetic exchange interactions through the change in the lattice parameters.     

Evaluation of Structural and Optical Properties of Mn-Doped ZnO Thin Films Synthesized by Sol-Gel Technique

Undoped ZnO and Mn-doped ZnO (MZO) films with 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75?mol pct were synthesized onto glass substrates by sol-gel spin-coating technique, and the effects of Mn on structural, morphologic, and optical properties were investigated. The XRD results indicate that the films have wurtzite structure with polycrystalline nature. However, the dominant peak was (002) diffraction peak for all samples; other diffraction peaks with less intensity such as (100), (101), (102), (110), (103), (112), and (004) were observed for the undoped ZnO. The lattice parameter values of MZO thin films were lower than that of the undoped ZnO. Plane stress values indicated that the films had the tensile stress. A decrease in the grain sizes was observed with the increasing Mn mole?percent. The optical transmission values were found to be 82?pct for the undoped ZnO and 80, 78, and 75?pct for the MZO with 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75?mol?pct, respectively, at the wavelength of 405?nm. The optical band gap values decreased from 3.287 to 3.270?eV, the surface roughness values increased from 58.13 to 60.67?nm, Urbach energy values increased??a 18.3-meV difference in Urbach energy was observed??and in addition, the steepness parameters decreased with increasing Mn content from 0 to 0.75?mol?pct.     

Depression in adolescence.

Adolescence is an important developmental period for understanding the nature, course, and treatment of depression. Recent research concerned with depressive mood, syndromes, and disorders during adolescence is reviewed, including investigations of the prevalence, course, risk factors, and prevention and treatment programs for each of these 3 levels of depressive phenomena in adolescence. A broad biopsychosocial perspective on adolescent depression is recommended, and possible directions for future integrative research are proposed. Based on current research and knowledge, implications for research, program, and national policy are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Office laboratory procedures, office economics, patient and parent education, and urinary tract infection

This review updates our readers on four important areas of office practice: office laboratory procedures, office economics, patient and parent education, and urinary tract infection. Michael Aldous reviews the recent literature on office laboratory procedures, which includes a report on the ongoing heated discussion of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, an update of recent studies on new and better rapid streptococcal tests, and improved methods for urinalysis. Rickey Williams provides a report on office economics that includes a discussion of the effects of capitation, how preventive care can be cost effective, and the future prospects for greatly expanded office computerization. Burris Duncan discusses patient and parent education with an in-depth review of the potential economic value of a full implementation of the American Academy of Pediatrics' The Injury Prevention Program, and in addition he chronicles the rapid growth and development of school-based health centers. John Ey reviews the recent literature on urinary tract infections in children, including how we can make the diagnosis, methods for preventing recurrent urinary tract infections, the most effective studies for evaluating the urinary system, and what follow-up is necessary. We hope this review will provide the pediatrician with important information to help in the care of their patients.     

Windows Mobile LiveSD Forensics

More and more often, smartphones are relevant targets of civil and criminal investigations. Currently, there are several tools available to acquire forensic evidence from smartphones. Unfortunately, most of these tools require to connect the smartphone under investigation through a cable to an external device, like a computer or a multimeter. Some tools even require to disassemble the chips from the smartphone board.In this paper, we propose LiveSD Forensics, an on-device live data acquisition solution, to acquire evidence from both the Random-Access Memory (RAM) and the Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) of Windows Mobile Devices.To the best of our knowledge, LiveSD Forensics is the only tool that performs on-device live data acquisition of the RAM and the EEPROM of Windows Mobile Devices. LiveSD Forensics uses a standard SD-Card equipped with tailored code to perform the data acquisition. Compared to other existing tools, LiveSD also generates the smallest memory alteration. Finally, to assess the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, we test LiveSD in a practical scenario, that is retrieving from the RAM the cryptographic key used by a known on-the-fly encryption tool. Results support the quality and effectiveness of our proposal.