An Interactive Family Tourism Decision Model

To establish an interactive model reflecting how children’s involvement in family tourism decisions interacts with internal and external factors, this study examines the interrelationships between children’s individual characteristics (tourism knowledge and tourism attachment), parental characteristics (socio- and concept-orientation family communication patterns), and children’s influence on family tourism decision making (initiation and search/decision stages) using structural equation modeling. Results reveal that tourism knowledge and socio- and concept-orientation patterns are positively related to children’s influence on both decision stages. Specifically, tourism knowledge mediates relationships between socio- and concept-orientation patterns and children’s influence on the initiation stage; tourism attachment mediates the relationship between the concept-orientation pattern and children’s influence on the initiation stage. Lastly, theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.

Quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiography

Quantitative imaging using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) could provide objective tools for the detection and characterization of diabetic retinopathy (DR). In this study, an operator combining the second derivative and Gaussian multiscale convolution is applied to identify the retinal orientation at each pixel in the OCTA image. We quantified the pattern of retinal vascular orientation and developed three novel quantitative metrics including vessel preferred orientation, vessel anisotropy, and vessel area. Each of eight 45º sectors of the circular disk centered at the macular region was defined as the region of interest. Significant sectoral differences were observed in the preferred orientation (p < 0.0001) and vessel area (p < 0.0001) in the 34 healthy subjects, whereas vessel anisotropy did not demonstrate a significant difference among the eight sectors (p = 0.054). Differential retinal microvascular orientation patterns were observed between healthy controls (n = 34) and the DR subjects (n = 7). The vessel area characterized from the vascular orientation pattern was shown to be strongly correlated with the traditionally reported vessel density (Pearson R > 0.97, p < 0.0001). With three metrics calculated from the vascular orientation pattern simultaneously and sectorally, our quantitative assessment for retinal microvasculature provides more information than vessel density alone and thereby may enhance the detection of DR. These preliminary results suggest the feasibility and advantage of our vessel orientation-based quantitative approach using OCTA to characterize DR-associated changes in retinal microvasculature.

Acoustoelectronic nanotweezers enable dynamic and large-scale control of nanomaterials

The ability to precisely manipulate nano-objects on a large scale can enable the fabrication of materials and devices with tunable optical, electromagnetic, and mechanical properties. However, the dynamic, parallel manipulation of nanoscale colloids and materials remains a significant challenge. Here, we demonstrate acoustoelectronic nanotweezers, which combine the precision and robustness afforded by electronic tweezers with versatility and large-field dynamic control granted by acoustic tweezing techniques, to enable the massively parallel manipulation of sub-100 nm objects with excellent versatility and controllability. Using this approach, we demonstrated the complex patterning of various nanoparticles (e.g., DNAs, exosomes, ~3 nm graphene flakes, ~6 nm quantum dots, ~3.5 nm proteins, and ~1.4 nm dextran), fabricated macroscopic materials with nano-textures, and performed high-resolution, single nanoparticle manipulation. Various nanomanipulation functions, including transportation, concentration, orientation, pattern-overlaying, and sorting, have also been achieved using a simple device configuration. Altogether, acoustoelectronic nanotweezers overcome existing limitations in nano-manipulation and hold great potential for a variety of applications in the fields of electronics, optics, condensed matter physics, metamaterials, and biomedicine.

Association of Morphological Characteristics of Palatal Rugae Pattern with Dental Malocclusion in Himachal Population

Introduction: Palatal rugae used for the evaluation of dental movements and as a landmark in the superimposition of dental cast for orthodontic purpose as it is a stable point. So, the aims and objectives of our study is to investigate the association of morphological characteristics of palatal rugae with dental malocclusion in Himachali population. Materials and methods: 90 subjects divided into three groups (n=30 each) on the basis of Angle’s classification. Palatal rugae were marked on dental casts and evaluated for length, pattern and orientation. Obtained measurements were then statistically analysed. Conclusion: Primary palatal rugae’s length was found more in Class II followed by Class III and Class I malocclusion. Among the pattern of the primary palatal rugae, curved pattern were more evident on both right and left sides of all malocclusion groups. Horizontal directed orientation is more predominant on the right side and posteriorly directed on the left side of the first primary palatine rugae. Keywords: Rugae, Malocclusion, orientation pattern, length, morphology.

A mechanism with severing near barbed ends and annealing explains structure and dynamics of dendritic actin networks

Single molecule imaging has shown that part of actin disassembles within a few seconds after incorporation into the dendritic filament network in lamellipodia, suggestive of frequent destabilization near barbed ends. To investigate the mechanisms behind network remodeling, we created a stochastic model with polymerization, depolymerization, branching, capping, uncapping, severing, oligomer diffusion, annealing, and debranching. We find that filament severing, enhanced near barbed ends, can explain the single molecule actin lifetime distribution, if oligomer fragments reanneal to free ends with rate constants comparable to in vitro measurements. The same mechanism leads to actin networks consistent with measured filament, end, and branch concentrations. These networks undergo structural remodeling, leading to longer filaments away from the leading edge, at the +/- 35$^o$ orientation pattern. Imaging of actin speckle lifetimes at sub-second resolution verifies frequent disassembly of newly-assembled actin. We thus propose a unified mechanism that fits a diverse set of basic lamellipodia phenomenology.

Orientation of Gothic-Mudéjar Churches in Southern Spain

Most of the earliest new churches built in Andalusia (southern Spain) following the thirteenth-century Christian Reconquista occupied the sites of former mosques. In some cases, these churches incorporated pre-existing architectonic elements – particularly minarets, which were converted into bell towers – or took some inspiration from Islamic architecture, creating a combination of Gothic style and elements from Muslim architecture known as Gothic-Mudéjar. This paper analyses the orientation pattern of a group of 68 Gothic-Mudéjar churches built in the cities of re-conquered Andalusia up to the early fifteenth century, and the normalised frequency distribution of azimuths is compared with published data for the qibla (the direction toward which Muslims turn to pray) observed at a group of 82 Andalusian mosques. Results confirm that a large number of churches were oriented via a 90° anticlockwise rotation from orientation to the qibla after placing the apse in the former eastern wall of the mosque. It is further argued, based on the histogram and a distinctive peak around 84°, that the architects aligned these churches to sunrise over the local horizon for 25th March according to the Julian calendar, the date of the canonical equinox. This practice reflects Church teaching and a medieval foundation-stone rite involving a dawn vigil, and the built structures reflect the limited technical capacity of the church builders. The method of orientation would also have created a precedent for the alignment of some later churches in southern Spain dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption to sunrise on 15th August, the Feast of the Assumption.

Quantifying the Pattern of Retinal Vascular Orientation in Diabetic Retinopathy Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

Quantitative imaging using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) could provide objective tools for the detection and characterization of diabetic retinopathy (DR). In this study, we developed a novel quantitative approach using OCTA images to delineate the vessel orientation pattern of a specific region of interest, which is an orientation distribution curve depicting the probability of vessels at each angle from 0 to 360 degrees. Three quantitative metrics including vessel preferred orientation, vessel anisotropy and vessel mass were extracted from the orientation pattern and analyzed in each of eight 45° sectors at the macula. Differential retinal microvascular orientation patterns were observed between three healthy subjects and three subjects with DR. Greater variability of vessel preferred orientation (p<0.001) and vessel mass (p<0.001) was exhibited among subjects with DR than healthy in eight sectors. In the nasal-superior sector, there was a significant difference between healthy and DR subjects in preferred orientation and vessel anisotropy. The vessel mass characterized from the vascular orientation pattern was shown to be strongly correlated with the traditionally reported vessel density (p<0.00001). These preliminary results suggest the feasibility and advantage of our vessel orientation-based quantitative approach using OCTA to characterize DR-associated changes in retinal microvasculature.