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Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are soft, anisotropic materials that exhibit large shape transformations when subjected to various stimuli. Here we demonstrate a facile approach to enhance the out-of-plane work capacity of these materials by an order of magnitude, to nearly 20 J/kg. The enhancement in force output is enabled by the development of a room temperature polymerizable composition used both to prepare individual films, organized via directed self-assembly to retain arrays of topological defect profiles, as well as act as an adhesive to combine the LCE layers. The material actuator is shown to displace a load >2500× heavier than its own weight nearly 0.5 mm. Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCE) exhibit shape transformation when subjected to various stimuli, but the achievable thickness of LCE films is limited. Here the authors demonstrate arbitrarily thick LCE films that are continuous in composition and maintain the director orientation, prescribed into the material.

Following previous results which have shown that some components built using additive manufacturing (3D printing) are compatible with ultra high vacuum, we have adapted the design of a stripline BPM to the requirements of additive manufacturing and built it. We report here on the design adaptation and on its mechanical and electrical performances.

Primary HPV testing is not yet available in many locations. [...]it is an option, screening can be performed through cotesting every five years or cytology alone every three years. Model-Estimated Benefits and Costs of Cervical Cancer Screening Organization Screening recommendation Cancer cases per 1,000 patients Cancer deaths per 1,000 patients Average lifetime pelvic examinations per patient Average lifetime colposcopies per patient American Cancer Society 25 to 65 years of age: primary human papillomavirus testing every 5 years 0.9 0.3 11 1.8 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 21 to 30 years of age: cytology every 3 years 30 to 65 years of age: cotesting every 5 years 1.1 0.3 20 1.6 No screening — 18.9 8.3 — — Some concerns have been raised with the longer screening interval. [...]the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) continues to recommend screening starting at 21 years of age, and expresses concern that delaying screening until age 25 could further reduce screening rates in patients younger than 30 years and worsen health inequities.1 An estimated 130 U.S. patients die from cervical cancer before they reach age 30 each year, making it the second most lethal cancer for patients in this age group.2 Although nearly 50% of adolescents have been vaccinated for HPV, with the highest rates in Black and Hispanic adolescents, the effects of vaccination on cancer incidence and health disparities are not clear.2 ACOG does recognize primary HPV screening as an option in patients 30 years and older.

The Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB e + e − collider is preparing for an upgrade of its vertex detector to cope with an increased luminosity of up to 6 × 10 35 cm −2 s −1 . The new vertex detector (VTX) will consist of six layers of depleted monolithic active pixel sensors (DMAPS), with a total material budget of about 3% of X 0 . The OBELIX chip, developed for this upgrade, is derived from the TJ-Monopix2 sensor and manufactured using the Tower Semiconductor 180 nm CMOS technology. It features a 33 µ m pixel pitch, time-stamping capability with 50 ns resolution, and a dedicated digital periphery compatible with the Belle II trigger system, supporting rates up to 30 kHz. The sensor is designed to operate under the expected background hit rate at the target luminosity, with high radiation tolerance, up to 5 × 10 14 n eq /cm 2 and 1 MGy, while maintaining a power density in the range of 200-300 mW/cm 2 , corresponding to hit rates from a few MHz/cm 2 up to 120 MHz/cm 2 . This paper presents results from laboratory measurements and beam tests performed on TJ-Monopix2 chips, including both not-irradiated and irradiated devices. Particular focus is given to the performance of irradiated sensors as a function of temperature, a key aspect for defining the maximum allowable operating temperature for OBELIX. These studies provide essential input for the thermal design of the VTX cooling system, especially for the innermost layers where power density and hit rates are highest.

When you're in business, it's good to have customers, but do you have customer service in mind when you're developing technology for an e-business Web site? If not, you should, because the place where your work and the customers' experience comes together is where you can make it easy-or hard for customers to do business at a site. If you can understand customer intentions at an e-business site, you can factor them into technology choices and mechanisms that support them. Is it easy for a single-minded customer to find and buy a product, or for a holistic-minded user to do a combination of browsing, learning and shopping? While the marketing people decide what goes on a site and the content developers create the look-and-feel, the front-row seat for data mining is with the technical staff who know what information is available in log files, what profiling can be dynamically processed in the background and indexed into the dynamic generation of HTML, and what performance can be expected from the servers and network to support customer service and make e-business interaction productive.

The number of older people in need of long-term care is increasing, and health-care-associated infections (HAIs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality for residents of long-term care facilities (LTCFs). This study, organised by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), provided data on the incidence of HAIs and related adverse outcomes in LTCFs in European countries, supplementing the available estimates from repeated point prevalence surveys conducted by the ECDC. In this longitudinal, prospective cohort study, we analysed all HAIs collected in a convenience sample of residents from 65 LTCFs (including general nursing homes, residential homes, and mixed facilities) in nine EU or European Economic Area (EEA) countries (Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain) over 12 months. Eligible residents were those expected to stay in the LTCF for at least the entire study period. Data were collected with three questionnaires: an institutional questionnaire, a residents' questionnaire, and an HAI questionnaire. HAIs were defined according to standard ECDC criteria. The primary outcome was HAI incidence. Incidence measures, estimated using generalised estimating equation models to account for sample heterogeneity, were percentages of each type of HAI, numbers of HAIs per 100 LTCF residents (ratio), and numbers of HAIs per 1000 resident-days (incidence rate). HAIs were analysed in 3029 residents of LTCFs between Jan 1–May 4, 2022, and Jan 1–May 12, 2023. The mean age of study participants was 80·9 years (SD 14·6), including 960 (31·7%) men and 2069 (68·3%) women. 3763 HAIs were recorded, with at least one HAI identified in 1717 (57%) of 3029 residents. There were 124·2 HAIs (95% CI 118·6–129·9) per 100 residents and 1·8 HAIs (0·9–3·3) per 1000 resident-days. 160 (4·3% [95% CI 3·9–5·4]) HAIs led to hospitalisation, and 154 (4·5% [2·5–4·8]) were associated with death. Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) were the most frequent type of infection (n=1080, 28·9% [95% CI 27·3–30·5]), including pneumonia (n=279, 7·3% [6·4–8·3]) and other lower RTIs (n=394, 10·7% [9·6–11·8]), followed by urinary tract infections (UTIs; n=743, 18·7% [17·2–20·3]). RTIs showed the highest incidence of mortality (n=85, 2·3% [95% CI 1·8–2·8] of all HAIs). Severe cases of COVID-19 (n=72, 1·9% [95% CI 1·5–2·4] of all HAIs) were less frequent than mild or moderate cases (n=615, 16·0% [14·9–17·1] of all HAIs). This study shows the high incidence of HAIs among LTCF residents in EU or EEA countries, with more than one in two residents experiencing at least one HAI, and with RTIs and UTIs accounting for almost half of all observed HAIs. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Allopurinol hypersensitivity syndrome includes Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis and drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms. It affects about 1 in 1000 patients prescribed allopurinol, and reported mortality is between 20% and 25%. Patients typically present with an exanthem (e.g., morbilliform eruption, erythema multiforme or exfoliative dermatitis), renal impairment, liver injury and eosinophilia. The syndrome may occur within weeks to months of drug exposure, but most cases occur within 8-9 weeks. Populations with high allele frequency include people of Han Chinese (6%-8%), Korean (12%) and Thai (6%-8%) descent. Testing for the allele is widely available in Canada. Population-based studies have shown an 11-fold increased risk of hospital admission for AHS in patients with chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease treated with high doses of allopurinol. Systemic steroids and immunomodulatory therapies may be useful. Specific treatment depends on whether the patient has Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis or drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms. Patients who develop AHS should not be reexposed to allopurinol; however, alternate urate-lowering therapies (e.g., febuxostat) can be considered.