Numerous studies have demonstrated that genetic and environmental factors interact to influence alcohol problems. Yet prior research has primarily focused on samples of European descent and little is known about gene–environment interactions in relation to alcohol problems in non-European populations. In this study, we examined whether and how genetic risk for alcohol problems and peer deviance and interpersonal traumatic events independently and interactively influence trajectories of alcohol use disorder symptoms in a sample of African American students across the college years (N = 1,119; Mage = 18.44 years). Data were drawn from the Spit for Science study where participants completed multiple online surveys throughout college and provided a saliva sample for genotyping. Multilevel growth curve analyses indicated that alcohol dependence genome-wide polygenic risk scores did not predict trajectory of alcohol use disorder symptoms, while family history of alcohol problems was associated with alcohol use disorder symptoms at the start of college but not with the rate of change in symptoms over time. Peer deviance and interpersonal traumatic events were associated with more alcohol use disorder symptoms across college years. Neither alcohol dependence genome-wide polygenic risk scores nor family history of alcohol problems moderated the effects of these environmental risk factors on alcohol use disorder symptoms. Our findings indicated that peer deviance and experience of interpersonal traumatic events are salient risk factors that elevate risk for alcohol problems among African American college students. Family history of alcohol problems could be a useful indicator of genetic risk for alcohol problems. Gene identification efforts with much larger samples of African descent are needed to better characterize genetic risk for alcohol use disorders, in order to better understand gene–environment interaction processes in this understudied population.

The Arcminute Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver (Acbar) is a multifrequency millimeter-wave receiver optimized for observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect in clusters of galaxies. Acbar was installed on the 2.1 m Viper telescope at the South Pole in January 2001 and the results presented here incorporate data through July 2002. The power spectrum of the CMB at 150 GHz over the range ℓ = 150 — 3000 measured by Acbar is presented along with estimates for the values of the cosmological parameters within the context of ΛCDM models. The inclusion of ΩΛ greatly improves the fit to the power spectrum. Three-frequency images of the SZ decrement/increment are also presented for the galaxy cluster 1E0657–67.

Recently, compact and high-resolution camera modules with auto-focusing (AF) function have been integrated into cell phones in order to capture sharp photographs. Consumer demands AF camera modules in cell phones to have high performance with low cost. Accordingly, the present study proposes a new electromagnetic design of miniature AF voice coil motor (VCM) actuator with closed-loop control for cell phone camera modules to satisfy the requirements. The structure of the proposed AF VCM actuators was designed by using simulation methods. The performance of the proposed AF VCM actuators was demonstrated by a laboratory-built prototype. The experimental results have shown that the proposed AF VCM actuator has excellent performance with lower power consumption, higher positioning repeatability, and lower cost, when compared to previous AF VCM actuators with open-loop control or closed-loop control.

The warm white light emission from the MOS capacitor containing the Zr-doped HfO2 high-k thin film on a p-type Si wafer under various post deposition annealing temperatures has been investigated. The light intensity is affected by the annealing temperature and the magnitude of the stress voltage. The annealing temperature changes the defect density and the physical thickness of the high-k stack. The high stress voltage induces the strong light emission because of the passage of a large current through the conductive path. The broad band emission spectrum covers the visible and near IR wavelength range with a large color rendering index. This new light emission device has a very long lifetime of > 1,000 hours at the atmosphere without a protection layer. The device is made of the IC compatible material and fabrication process, which favors the application over a wide range of products.

Hospital employees with suspected adenoviral conjunctivitis underwent evaluation and testing with real-time polymerase chain reaction. Viral conjunctivitis was suspected in 307 (59%) of 518 employees with eye complaints; adenovirus was detected in 4% (22 of 518). Four employees had genotypes consistent with epidemic keratoconjunctivitis. This algorithm minimizes productivity loss compared with clinical diagnosis.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;35(6):728–731

Transcritical flow of a stratified fluid past a broad localised topographic obstacle is studied analytically in the framework of the forced extended Korteweg–de Vries, or Gardner, equation. We consider both possible signs for the cubic nonlinear term in the Gardner equation corresponding to different fluid density stratification profiles. We identify the range of the input parameters: the oncoming flow speed (the Froude number) and the topographic amplitude, for which the obstacle supports a stationary localised hydraulic transition from the subcritical flow upstream to the supercritical flow downstream. Such a localised transcritical flow is resolved back into the equilibrium flow state away from the obstacle with the aid of unsteady coherent nonlinear wave structures propagating upstream and downstream. Along with the regular, cnoidal undular bores occurring in the analogous problem for the single-layer flow modelled by the forced Korteweg–de Vries equation, the transcritical internal wave flows support a diverse family of upstream and downstream wave structures, including kinks, rarefaction waves, classical undular bores, reversed and trigonometric undular bores, which we describe using the recent development of the nonlinear modulation theory for the (unforced) Gardner equation. The predictions of the developed analytic construction are confirmed by direct numerical simulations of the forced Gardner equation for a broad range of input parameters.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

The effect of shape memory alloy (SMA) on the postbuckling behavior of rectangular cross-ply and angle-ply plates by varying the SMA fiber spacing was investigated using the Finite Element Method. The formulation of the location-dependent linear, nonlinear stiffness matrices due to non-homogeneous material properties and the temperature-dependent recovery stress stiffness matrix were derived. Numerical results show that the increase of SMA fiber volume fraction and prestrain may generate more recovery stress, and increase the stiffness of SMA reinforced composite laminate. Therefore, the postbuckling deflections of the plate may be decreased significantly. The buckling mode that plate will buckle into is dependent on the fiber orientation of the angle-ply laminates. When the SMA fibers are concentrated in the center of the plate, the postbuckling deflections of the plate will be decreased considerably.

The aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a useful clinical index to assess the aortic compliance and cardiovascular risk in a noninvasive manner. In this research, our previously developed axial velocity profile method (Yu et al., [11]) was modified to be more user-friendly and applied to the study of PWV of diabetic patients for the first time, using phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) technique to analyze the spatial and temporal profiles of the axial velocity along the descending aorta for measurement of the aortic PWV. The PWV results from healthy volunteers and diabetic patients were studied and compared. It is shown that the PWV of diabetic patients is much higher than that of health volunteers, the aortic compliance of diabetic patients is substantially worse than that of health volunteers. These results are in good agreement with early studies using different measurement techniques of PWV. The axial velocity profile method is again validated and proven to be a useful tool of long-term prognosis for patients with diabetes mellitus or hypertension.

Background: The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (CERAD-NAB) offers information on the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and gives a profile of cognitive functioning. This study explores the effects of age, education and gender on participants' performance on eight subtests in the Chinese-Cantonese version of the CERAD-NAB.

Methods: The original English version of the CERAD-NAB was translated and content-validated into a Chinese-Cantonese version to suit the Hong Kong Chinese population. The battery was administered to 187 healthy volunteers aged 60 to 94 years. Participants were excluded if they had neurological, medical or psychiatric disorders (including dementia). Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses were performed to assess the relative contribution of the demographic variables to the scores on each subtest.

Results: The Cantonese version of CERAD-NAB was shown to have good content validity and excellent inter-rater reliability. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that performances on seven and four out of eight subtests in the CERAD-NAB were significantly influenced by education level and age, respectively. Age and education had significant effects on participants' performance on many tests. Gender also showed a significant effect on one subtest.

Conclusions: The preliminary data will serve as an initial phase for clinical interpretation of the CERAD-NAB for Cantonese-speaking Chinese elders.

Superconducting TI-Ba-Ca-Cu-O(TBCCO) films with zero resistance temperatures above 100K have been prepared on (001)MgO single-crystal substrates by the combination techniques of spray pyrolysis and Tl-diffusion. The as-sprayed Ba-Ca-Cu-O films and the sintered TBCCO superconducting bulks were wrapped in Au foil and heated in oxygen at temperatures ranging from 890 to 920°C and cooled to room temperature by furnace cooling. Highly c-axis oriented superconducting films were obtained and their average thicknesses were about 5-10 μm. The characteristics of TBCCO films by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and electrical property are discussed.

A nonlinear and time dependent finite element analysis was performed on two surface mounted electronic devices subjected to thermal cycling. Constitutive equations accounting for both plasticity and creep for 37Pb/63Sn and 90Pb/10Sn solders were assumed and implemented in a finite element program ABAQUS with the aid of a user subroutine. The FE results of 37Pb/63Sn solder joints were in reasonably good agreement with the experimental data by Hall [19]. In the case of 9OPb/1OSn solder in a multilayered transistor stack, the FE results showed the existence of strong peel stress near the free edge of the joint, in addition to the anticipated shear stress. The effect of such peel stress on the crack initiation and growth as a result of thermal cycling was discussed, together with the singular behavior of both shear and peel stresses near the free edge.

Amorphous SiNx:H thin films were prepared by plasma-enhanced CVD process. The effects of preparation conditions on the optical properties, compositions, and deposition rates of a-SiNx:H films were systematically studied by means of spectrophotometer, ellipsometer, and infrared spectroscopy measurements. It has been found that the refractive indices decrease with increasing the NH3 gas flow rate and the rf power, and increase with increasing the electrode spacing. Conversely, the deposition rates increase with increasing the NH3 gas flow rate and the rf power, and decrease with increasing the electrode spacing. There was no obvious effect of substrate temperatures ranging from 250 to 320°C on the optical properties and deposition rates of a-SiNx :H films. The decrease of the refractive index and the increase of the deposition rate were due to the increase of the nitrogen composition x occurring in the a-SiNx:H films. Refractive indices n and extinction coefficients k of a-SiNx:H films can be varied from n = 3.6 and k = 0.1 for x = 0 (pure a-Si:H) to n = 1.8 and k = 0 for x = 1.33 (pure a-Si3 N4:H) at the wavelength of 633 nm.

Transmission election microscopy studies show that nitrogen doping changes the misfit dislocation structure in ZnSe films and decreases the density of threading dislocations. There appears to be a critical N doping concentration of ∼ 1.5 × 1018/cm3 above which the density of threading dislocations increases again. Samples with high N doping concentrations (> 1019/cm3 ) also show compensation or decrease in the carrier density of the films. Our TEM observations show that N doping can produce low energy nucleation sites for the 60° misfit dislocations at or close to the ZnSe/GaAs interface.