cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Application of VSC Based DC Distribution Network and Key Technology

Due to the continuous development of distributed energy and energy storage systems, the VSC based DC and AC-DC hybrid distribution networks have been developed rapidly in recent years. Compared with the traditional AC distribution network, DC distribution network can remove the power conversion links in power supply, storage, and end loads, reducing the complexity and cost of the access system, improving the network efficiency and power quality. This paper introduces several VSC based DC distribution network projects to be implemented in China. The key technologies proposed, including AC/DC conversion, control and protection, fault isolation and restore, and DC transformer, are analyzed together with their technical challenges. This paper also explains the development trends of several DC distribution network related subjects such as DC voltage level, key equipment development, rapid protection & isolating fault, and regional coordinated control etc.
Polymers Containing Non-Covalently Bound Cyclodextrins

We summarize and review the formation, characterization, behaviors, and possible uses of polymers that are threaded through, but only partially covered by cyclodextrins (CDs), which we call non-stoichiometric polymer–CD inclusion compounds (ICs) or non-stoichiometric (n-s) polymer–CD ICs. Emphasis is placed on comparison of the behaviors of unthreaded neat polymers with those that are threaded through and partially covered by CDs. These comparisons lead to several suggested uses for (n-s) polymer–CD ICs.
Ultrasonic encapsulation of cinnamon flavor to impart heat stability for baking applications

Abstract The objective of this study was to enhance the heat stability of cinnamon flavor by ultrasonication-assisted microencapsulation and reduce the interaction of encapsulated cinnamaldehyde with yeast for baking applications. Microcapsules were formed by ultrasonication-induced cross-linking of chitosan and pectin. Cinnamaldehyde, the principal component of cinnamon essential oil, was incorporated with carrier oil into the cross-linked capsules. Capsule formation was verified using infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The formulation was spray dried and heated to determine the stability of the flavor at baking temperatures (150–250 °C). Gas chromatography was utilized to quantify the remaining cinnamaldehyde in the heated samples. Compared to pure cinnamaldehyde and the unsonicated formulation, the ultrasonicated microcapsules exhibited significantly higher cinnamaldehyde retention at high temperatures (>150°C). Yeast growth studies were also performed in which Saccharomyces cerevisiae displayed less growth inhibition when subjected to encapsulated cinnamaldehyde versus pure cinnamaldehyde of the same concentration.
Parental Mental Health Associated With Child Overweight and Obesity, Examined Within Rural and Urban Settings, Stratified by Income

Purpose Rural areas experience greater childhood obesity compared with urban areas. Differences in reported physical activity and dietary intake do not fully explain the disparity. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between parental mental health and childhood obesity within urban and rural areas. Methods We used data from the National Survey of Children's Health, 2016, subset to children age 10-17 with available weight data. We stratified the sample by rural and urban settings and examined whether maternal or paternal mental health was associated with child overweight or obesity, accounting for income stratum (low-income: ≤200% federal poverty line; high-income: >200% federal poverty line). We used multivariable analyses to test if associations remained after including covariates of food security, physical activity, and screen time. Findings For the 14,733 children 10-17 years of age in our sample, family income but not rurality was associated with overweight or obesity. Among high-income families, positive mental health of either the mother or the father was associated with lower odds of overweight or obesity. In multivariable models, the association between positive maternal mental health and lower odds of child overweight/obesity persisted after adjustment for family food security, child physical activity, and child screen time. For paternal mental health, the association was not significant after adjusting for these covariates. Conclusions After stratification by income, there were no differences in childhood overweight/obesity by rurality. Both maternal and paternal mental health are associated with children's weight, though only the maternal association remains after adjusting for covariates.
Towards Adaptive Anomaly Detection in Buildings with Deep Reinforcement Learning

In this paper, we present early results on the use of deep reinforcement learning (DRL) for maximizing anomaly detection performance in buildings. We conjecture that DRL can improve performance by exploring the entire parameter space for all sensors, individually. Many anomaly detection algorithms are designed to use a single parameter for ease of use, however there are usually many parameter values that are pre-set, a priori. We hypothesize that a single threshold cannot work well for all sensors and propose the use of DRL to explore the entire parameter space. We use a deterministic policy gradient algorithm - Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG)[4] - and use a building-specific anomaly detection algorithm, Strip, Bind, and Search (SBS) [2]. We find that while the maximum performance achieved by both approaches is similar, the DRL-based approach is significantly less biased, more consistent - up to 3x smaller standard deviation across individual sensor scores.
Effectiveness and Safety of Direct Oral Anticoagulants versus Warfarin in Obese Patients with Acute Venous Thromboembolism.

Study objective Studies on the use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in obese patients are limited. Current guidelines advise against DOAC use in patients with a body weight more than 120 kg or body mass index higher than 40 kg/m2 . Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of DOACs versus warfarin for the treatment of acute venous thromboembolism (VTE) in obese patients. Design Retrospective matched cohort study. Setting Integrated delivery system of 40 academic, community, and specialty hospitals. Patients A total of 1840 adults with a primary admission diagnosis of acute VTE who received a DOAC (apixaban, dabigatran, or rivaroxaban [632 patients] or warfarin [1208 patients]) while hospitalized between January 1, 2011, and October 1, 2015, and who had a body weight more than 100 kg and less than 300 kg, were included. Patients in the warfarin group were matched in a 2:1 ratio to patients who received a DOAC based on history of VTE, chronic kidney disease, race, and age. Measurements and main results The primary outcome was recurrence of VTE within 12 months of the index admission date. Secondary outcomes included occurrence of pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) events separately within the study time frame, as well as bleeding within 12 months of the index admission date. No significant difference in the recurrence of VTE was observed between patients who received a DOAC compared with those who received warfarin (6.5% vs 6.4%, p=0.93). Likewise, no significant differences in the occurrence of PE and DVT were seen between the DOAC- and warfarin-treated patients (3.7% vs 3.8%, p=0.94, and 3% vs 3.5%, p=0.56, respectively). Bleeding occurred in 1.7% and 1.2% of patients in the DOAC and warfarin groups, respectively (p=0.31). Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the largest clinical study to date showing that patients with obesity can be treated effectively and safely with a DOAC compared with warfarin for acute VTE. Thus DOACs should be considered a reasonable alternative to warfarin for treatment of acute VTE in obese patients.
Chapter 4 – Virus Replication

To continue the chain of infection, a virus must undergo the process of replication to create new, infectious virions that are able to infect other cells of the body or subsequent hosts. After gaining entry into the body, a virus makes physical contact with and crosses the plasma membrane of a target cell. Inside, it releases and replicates its genome while facilitating the manufacture of its proteins by host ribosomes. How this is carried out depends upon the type of viral nucleic acid. Virus particles are assembled from these newly synthesized biological molecules and become infectious virions. Finally, the virions are released from the cell to continue the process of infection.
Examining the link between facial affect recognition and violent offending: A comparison between web-recruited volunteers with histories of violent and non-violent offending.

Background The link between facial affect recognition and criminal justice involvement has been extensively researched, yet there are virtually no data on the capacity for facial affect recognition in post-incar+cerated individuals, and the results of many studies are limited due to a narrow focus on psychopathy rather than offence category. Aims To test the first hypothesis that individuals reporting a history of a violent offence would show a deficit in facial affect recognition and the second hypothesis that the violent offender's deficit would be exclusive to recognition of negative expressions, not affecting positive or neutral expressions. Method Post-incarcerated individuals (N = 298) were recruited online through Qualtrics and completed questionnaires assessing their criminal justice background and demographics. They completed measures of facial affect recognition, anxiety and depression, and components of aggression. Results A logistic regression, including sex, ethnicity, age and years of education and depression/anxiety scores, indicated that committing a violent offence was independently associated with lower facial affect recognition scores as well as male gender and a trait-based propensity towards physical aggression, but no other co-variable. These data provided no evidence that this deficit was specific to negative emotions. Conclusions and implications for future research/practice Our study is one of the first to examine facial affect recognition in a post-incarcerated sample. It suggests that deficits in facial affect recognition, already well documented among violent prisoners, persist. While acknowledging that these may be relatively fixed characteristics, this study also suggests that, for these people, nothing happening during their imprisonment was touching this. Improving capacity in facial affect recognition should be considered as a target of intervention for violent offenders, developing or revising in-prison programmes as required.
The History and Politics of Infertility Treatment in the United States

The Pursuit of Parenthood: Reproductive Technology From Test-Tube Babies to Uterus Transplants presents the story of infertility treatment from the 1940s to the present. This is the third book abou...
Improving Students' Study Habits and Course Performance with a "Learning How to Learn" Assignment.

How can instructors help students adopt effective learning strategies? In this study, students in a large introductory psychology class completed a “learning how to learn” assignment in which they ...
Index to new names and combinations in J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 14(1), 2020

Arceuthobium abietinum subsp. grandae Kenaley, subsp. nov.—33Arceuthobium abietinum subsp. mathiasenii Kenaley, subsp. nov.—32Dasykothon Poinar & K.L. Chambers, gen. nov.—66Dasykothon leptomiscus Poinar & K.L. Chambers, sp. nov.—66Galearis rotundifolia f. angustifolia (J. Rousseau) P.M. Br., comb. nov.—14Galearis rotundifolia f. beckettii (Boivin) P.M. Br., comb. nov.—15Galearis rotundifolia f. immaculata (W. Mazurski & Laur. P. Johnson) P.M. Br , comb. nov.—15Galearis rotundifolia f. lineata (Mousley) P.M. Br , comb. nov.—15Galearis rotundifolia f. rosea (P.M. Br.) P.M. Br., comb. nov.—15Galearis rotundifolia f. wardii (P.M. Br.) P.M. Br., comb. nov.—15Heteranthera missouriensis C.N. Horn, sp. nov.—2Heteranthera pauciflora C.N. Horn, sp. nov.—3Monardella odoratissima subsp. franciscana (Elmer) Brunell, comb. nov.—11Monardella odoratissima subsp. obispoensis (Hoover ex Jeps.) Brunell, comb. nov.—11Monardella odoratissima subsp. villosa (Benth.) Brunell, comb. & stat. nov.—11Orthochilus ecristatus f. flavus (P.M. Br.) P.M. Br., comb. nov.—16Orthochilus ecristatus f. purpureus (P.M. Br.) P.M. Br , comb. nov.—16Phantophlebia Poinar & K.L. Chambers, gen. nov.—74Phantophlebia dicycla Poinar & K.L. Chambers, sp. nov.—74Sidalcea asprella subsp. elegans (Greene) Halse, comb. nov.—9Sidalcea asprella subsp. virgata (Howell) Halse, comb. nov.—9Thymolepis K.L. Chambers & Poinar, gen. nov.—58Thymolepis toxandra K.L. Chambers & Poinar, sp. nov.—58
Fully automated ordering and labeling of ICA components

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a brain imaging technique which provides detailed insights into brain function and its disruption in various brain disorders. fMRI data can be analyzed using data-driven or region-of-interest based methods. The data-driven analysis of brain activity maps involves several steps, the first of which is identifying whether the maps capture what might be interpreted as intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs) or artifacts. This is followed by linking the ICNs to known anatomical and/or functional parcellations. Optionally, as in the study of functional network connectivity (FNC), rearranging the connectivity graph is also necessary for systematic interpretation. Here we present a toolbox that automates all these processes under minimal or no supervision with high accuracy. We provide a pretrained cross-validated elastic-net regularized general linear model for the noisecloud toolbox to separate the ICNs from artifacts. We include several well-known anatomical and functional parcellations from which researchers can choose to label the activity maps. Finally, we integrate a method for maximizing the within-domain modularity to generate a more systematically structured FNC matrix. We improve upon and integrate existing techniques and new methods to design this toolbox which can take care of all the above needs. Specifically, we show that our pretrained model achieves 89% accuracy and 100% precision at classifying ICNs from artifacts in a validation dataset. Researchers are generating brain imaging data and analyzing brain activity at an ever-increasing rate. The Autolabeller toolbox can help automate such analyses for faster and reproducible research.
The Rumen Epithelial Microbiota: Possible Gatekeepers of the Rumen Epithelium and Its Potential Contributions to Epithelial Barrier Function and Animal Health and Performance

Ruminants are characterized by their unique mode of digesting cellulose-rich plant material in their forestomach, the rumen, which is densely populated by diverse microorganisms that are crucial for the breakdown of plant material. Among ruminal microbial communities, the microorganisms in the rumen fluid or attached to feed particles have attracted considerable research interest. However, comparatively less is known about the microorganisms attached to the rumen epithelium. Generally, the tissue lining the gastrointestinal tract serves the dual role of absorbing nutrients while preventing the infiltration of unwanted compounds and molecules as well as microorganisms. The rumen epithelium fulfills critical physiological functions for the ruminant host in energy absorption, metabolism, and nutrient transport. Essential host metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids, ammonia, urea, and minerals, are exchanged across the rumen wall, thereby exposing the rumen epithelial microbiota to these nutrients. The integrity of the gastrointestinal barrier is central to animal health and productivity. The integrity of the rumen epithelium can be compromised by high ruminal microbial fermentation activity resulting in decreased rumen pH or by stress conditions such as heat stress or feed restriction. It is important to keep in mind that feeding strategies in cattle have changed over the last decades in favor of energy- and nutrient-rich concentrates instead of fiber-rich forages. These dietary shifts support high milk yields and growth rates but raised concerns regarding a possibly compromised rumen function. This paper will provide an overview of the composition of rumen epithelial microbial communities under physiological and disease conditions and will provide insights into the knowledge about the function and in situ activity of rumen epithelial microorganisms and their relevance for animal health and production. Given that an impaired intestinal barrier will negatively affect economically significant phenotypes, a better understanding of rumen wall microbiota is urgently needed.
Is Affirmative Action Still Necessary? Analysis of Minority-Working Adults’ Perceptions

This study analyzes the perceptions protected class employees in terms of the affirmative action in employment. Utilizing a sample of 151 protected class working adults, data analysis provided mixed support to the stated hypotheses which suggested that affirmative action had eliminated most discriminatory practices in corporate America. The results of this study answer the question of this study asserting the necessity of the affirmative action. Introduction: This study investigated the perceptions of protected class persons (working audits) in terms of the affirmative action. It was found that the surveyed employees supported the continuity of the affirmative action for employee working in private and public organizations in US organizations. Results and Findings: “All results must be developed according to the above research questions and the developed hypotheses. Based on the outcomes, state the hypothesis and mention if it was supported or not. The results below are NOT acceptable. This paper can NOT be published unless the results can be shown as answers (positive or negative) to the 8-tested hypotheses. The results must referred to in Tables (e.g., Table 1 and the title of the Table below) A total of (n=) 151 surveys were successfully completed and use for this study. There were 124 females and 27 males involved.
Turning Research into Art: The Process

When research becomes art, there are inherent personal and professional challenges. In this chapter, Laura Apol describes how she became personally attached to the young people who were part of the writing workshop she co-facilitated in Rwanda and how a sense of commitment to the work and the participants permeated the undertaking, leading her to write as a means of exploring and expressing aspects of her experience. Apol shares her early writing, which she characterizes as having been written primarily for herself, to demonstrate how poetry became a way of listening deeply, of better understanding herself and others, of processing her own learning, and of responding meaningfully to the trauma of survivors of the genocide against the Tutsi.
Numerical Methods Applied to Subsurface Hydrology

Numerical methods, as shall be described in this book, are merely tools used to enable one to replace differential equations governing the subsurface processes with approximation sets of algebraic equations or matrix equations, which are subsequently solved using the methods of linear algebra and requiring the manipulation of computers (Fig. 2.1). If the differential equations were solved exactly by analytic procedures, the solution would appear as some combination of mathematical functions. Subsequent interest in the value of the solution at various locations within a domain of interest would require that the functions be evaluated. Often, when the functions are of a complex form, the computer must be used to determine the values of the function at the points of interest. In many cases the analytical solution will be in terms of an infinite series or some transcendental functions that can be evaluated only approximately. Nevertheless, it is often possible to control the accuracy of the evaluation by careful use of the computer. The steps outlined above do require some facility with number manipulation on the computer and do yield an approximate value of the solution at points of interest. However, the actual steps involve numerical evaluation of an analytical solution to a differential equation rather than numerical solution to the differential equation. The differences between these concepts is the presence of an exact analytical expression as an intermediate step in the former case and the use of an approximation to the differential equation in the latter case.
Comparing Information Diffusion Structure in Weblogs and Microblogs.

To better understand and characterize the emerging social medium of microblogging we conducted a comparison between Twitter and a weblog network for their respective information diffusion structures. We found systematic differences between the two social media in their contribution, navigation, and interactive structural patterns. Findings revealed the unique role and characteristics of microblogs in the social media design space. Implications are discussed.
CONSTRUCTION CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Cost estimate and durations for construction work packages are input by a user-oriented language. The program assembles the activities into a network and computes the monthly cash flow requirements. Different escalation rates may be given for each work package, and simple or compound interest on funds during construction may be used. Activities affected by weather conditions are automatically lengthened if they fall in the winter. Estimates of the uncertainty in costs and durations may be input, and the program calculates the resulting uncertainty in the project milestone completion dates and the cash flow projections. If limitations on the total cash flow in any period are imposed, the program automatically reschedules the project to meet the restrictions with the least delay in completion date. Application of the program to a coal-fired power plant is illustrated, and the effects of various cash flow limitations on project duration, interest, escalation, and total cost are compared.
Trends in manufacturing test methods and their implications

Driven by market applications in the areas of computing, networking, storage, optical, wireless, portable, and consumer electronics, semiconductor chips today are as diverse as ever. Confluence of multiple applications and rapid integration has also driven the heterogeneity of chips. Test methods have evolved with the products. However, the basic goals in testing remain the same: quality of product, recurring and non-recurring costs and time to market. In this paper we try to catalog some commonly used test methods, identify their associated DFT requirements and trends in terms of tester requirements. Given the diversity of semiconductors chips today such as various PLDs, volatile and non-volatile memories, analog, mixed signal, FPGA, ASIC, SOC, MEMs and processors, it is impossible for a paper of this nature to be fully comprehensive. So we limit our focus on processor, ASIC and SOCs.
Integral functionals, normal integrands and measurable selections

Abstract : A fundamental notion in many areas of mathematics, including optimal control, stochastic programming, and the study of partial differential equations, is that of an integral functional. By this is meant an expression of the form If(x) = integral over S of f(s,x(s))mu(DS), x is a member of X where X is a linear space of measurable functions defined on a measure space (S, A, mu) and having values in a linear space E. This paper provides a thorough treatment of the properties of such functionals in the case of E = R to the n-th power, including properties of continuity convexity and duality.
MTCache: transparent mid-tier database caching in SQL server

Many applications today run in a multitier environment with browser-based clients, midtier (application) servers and a backend database server. Midtier database caching attempts to improve system throughput and scalability by offloading part of the database workload to intermediate database servers that partially replicate data from the backend server. The fact that some queries are offloaded to an intermediate server should be completely transparent to applications - one of the key distinctions between caching and replication. MTCache is a prototype midtier database caching solution for SQL server that achieves this transparency. It builds on SQL server's support for materialized views, distributed queries and replication. We describe MTCache and report experimental results on the TPC-W benchmark. The experiments show that a significant part of the query workload can be offloaded to cache servers, resulting in greatly improved scale-out on the read-dominated workloads of the benchmark. Replication overhead was small with an average replication delay of less than two seconds.
Fuzzy Rule-Based Framework for Medical Record Validation

Data cleaning is an important part of the knowledge discovery process. The principal causes of data anomalies include incomplete information, absence of a unique identifier across multiple databases, inconsistent data, existence of data entry errors and logically incorrect data. This situation is further exacerbated while integrating data from multiple, disparate data sources. Since data quality is directly related with the quality of services in data-driven applications, such as medical informatics, a reliable data cleaning solution, which allows rapid and precise detection of invalid data, is needed. Most existing data cleaning solutions are domain specific, time-consuming and do not easily accommodate logical validations. In this paper, we propose a Fuzzy rule-based framework, which is domain independent, flexible and easily accommodates physical as well as logical validations. We have implemented existing cleaning strategies (i.e. Sorted Neighborhood Method), and enhanced them by using state-of-the-art algorithms (i.e. Rete, Bigram). As proof-of-concept, our prototype system was applied to real patient data. Experimental results illustrate that our framework is extensible and allows rapid detection of invalid data with high precision.
Bayesian methods for system reliability and community detection

Bayesian methods are valuable for their natural incorporation of prior information and their practical convenience for modeling and estimation. This dissertation develops flexible Bayesian parametric methods for system reliability and Bayesian nonparametric models for community detection. The Bayesian parametric models proposed allow the assessment of system reliability for multicomponent systems simultaneously. We start with a model that considers lifetime data at every component. Then we generalize to a unified framework with heterogeneous information. We demonstrate this unified methodology with pass/fail, lifetime, and degradation data at both the system level and the component level. Further, we propose a Bayesian melding approach to combine prior information from multiple levels. For community detection, we propose a series of statistical models based on Bayesian nonparametric techniques. These statistical models provide a natural approach for identifying communities in networks using only data on edges. We take advantage of the Bayesian nonparametric approach to include an important feature in our models: the number of communities is an implied parameter of the model, which is therefore inferred during estimation. We also introduce an “Erdős Renyi” group for those nodes that do not belong to communities. Other important aspects of this series of models include increasing flexibility of modeling probabilities for edge presence, linking these probabilities to community sizes, and obtaining communities from posterior samples under a decision theory framework. When presenting our models, we discuss model selection and model checking, which are necessary considerations when applying statistical approaches to real problems.
A Survey on Streaming Algorithms for Massive Graphs

Streaming is an important paradigm for handling massive graphs that are too large to fit in the main memory. In the streaming computational model, algorithms are restricted to use much less space than they would need to store the input. Furthermore, the input is accessed in a sequential fashion, therefore, can be viewed as a stream of data elements. The restriction limits the model and yet, algorithms exist for many graph problems in the streaming model. We survey a set of algorithms that compute graph statistics, matching and distance in a graph, and random walks. These are basic graph problems and the algorithms that compute them may be used as building blocks in graph-data management and mining.
Photon retinue and infra-red divergence problem in quantum electrodynamics

This paper is a careful study of the infra-red divergence problem in quantum electrodynamics. It is found that the conventional treatments of this problem are not consistent with the concept of the photon as a real physical object and it is held here that the problem is a physical one rather than merely one of computational technique. By taking into account the cohesive photon retinue induced by the electron, it is shown that, for any definite number of soft-photon emissions, the cross-sections are always divergence-free. The precise physical significance of the photon retinue in connection with experimental measurement is also discussed.
Correcting cuboid corruption for action recognition in complex environment

The success of recognizing periodic actions in single-person-simple-background datasets, such as Weizmann and KTH, has created a need for more difficult datasets to push the performance of action recognition systems. We identify the significant weakness in systems based on popular descriptors by creating a synthetic dataset using Weizmann dataset. Experiments show that introducing complex backgrounds, stationary or dynamic, into the video causes a significant degradation in recognition performance. Moreover, this degradation cannot be fixed by fine-tuning the system or selecting better interest points. Instead, we show that the problem lies at the cuboid level and must be addressed by modifying cuboids.
Understanding the Experience of Time Scarcity Linking Consumer Time-Personality and Marketplace Behavior

In this study we examine the concept of time scarcity in relation to individuals’ time-personalities. That is, we propose that when individuals experience high levels of time scarcity, they are lik...
An unusual reaction of 1,6-anhydroaldohexopyranose derivatives leading to glycals

Abstract Treatment of a solution of the 2-O-(N,N-dimethylsulfamoyl) derivative 3 of the levoglucosenone-derived carbocycle 1 in liquid ammonia at −40 to −50° with sodium metal gave 73% of the glycal derivative 4 instead of the expected 2-deoxy derivative (2) of 1. Under the same conditions, the 2-O-(N,N-dimethylsulfamoyl) derivatives of 1,6-anhydro-3,4-dideoxy-4-C-methyl-β- d -ribo- and -arabino-hexopyranoses gave, after acetylation, 70% of 6-O-acetyl-1,5-anhydro-2,3,4-trideoxy-4-C-methyl- d -erythro-hex-1-enitol. In contrast, the 2-(N,N-dimethyl-sulfamates) obtained from 1,6-anhydro-3,4-O-isopropylidene-β- d -galacto- and -talo-pyranose gave 6-O-acetyl-1,5-anhydro-2-deoxy-3,4-O-isopropylidene- d -lyxo-hex-1-enitol in only low yields; the oxy substituent at C-3 may interfere with the reaction leading to the glycal.
A UHF Wind Profiler for the Boundary Layer: Brief Description and Initial Results

Abstract In this paper we describe a boundary layer radar recently developed at NOAA's Aeronomy Laboratory. This radar extends wind profiler technology by using a small, relatively inexpensive radar to provide continuous, high-resolution wind measurements in the first few kilometers of the atmosphere. Although the radar was developed for use in a “hybrid” mode with existing 50 MHz profilers in the tropical Pacific, the system can equally well be a stand-alone device to study boundary layer problems.
Sites of origin and rostrocaudal concentration gradients of GABA in cerebrospinal fluid

GABA in Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) appears to have a central origin because contamination of CSF with GABA from peripheral sources does not appreciably occur with intact blood-brain/CSF barriers. Further refinement of its contributing sources in lumbar CSF is crucial for clinical interpretations. Sequential lumbar CSF aliquots were obtained from neurologic patients. CSF samples assayed by the radioreceptor method had 202 ± 23, 243 ± 37 and 298 ± 35 pmol GABA/ml (SE) in the 8th, 24th and 40th ml fractions, respectively. The mean GABA concentrations in the 8th and 40th ml of CSF were significantly different (p<0.05). Similarly, the GABA content in CSF samples assayed by the ion-exchange/fluorometric method had a mean 2% increase per additional ml collected after the initial aliquot. Since low lumbar CSF GABA levels have been demonstrated in neurologic disorders associated with deficiences in brain GABA, lumbar CSF GABA appears to reflect brain GABA content. However, bulbar/spinal degenerative disorders may also lower lumbar CSF GABA content.
Posterior pericardial approach for ascending aorta-to-descending aorta bypass through a median sternotomy

Abstract Background . Bypass grafting for repeat operation or complex forms of descending aortic disease is an alternative approach to decrease potential complications of anatomic repair. Methods . Between December 1985 and February 1998, 17 patients (13 men, 4 women; mean age, 47.6 ± 18.5 years) underwent ascending aorta-to-descending aorta bypass through a median sternotomy and posterior pericardial approach. Indications for operation were coarctation or recoarctation of aorta in 8 patients, Takayasu's aortitis in 2, prosthetic aortic valve stenosis associated with coarctation of aorta, complex descending aortic arch aneurysm, reoperation for chronic descending aortic dissection, long-segment stenosis of descending aorta, acquired coarctation after repair of traumatic transection of descending aorta, severe aortic atherosclerosis, and false aneurysm of descending aorta after repair of coarctation in 1 patient each. Concomitant procedures were performed in 12 patients. Results . No early or late mortality has occurred. Follow-up was 100% complete and extended to 12 years (mean, 2.7 ± 3.3 years). No late graft-related complications have occurred; 1 patient had successful repair of perivalvular leak after mitral valve replacement, and 1 patient had replacement of lower descending and abdominal aorta. Conclusions . Exposure of the descending aorta through the posterior pericardium for ascending aorta–descending aorta bypass is a safe alternative and particularly useful when simultaneous intracardiac repair is necessary.
Barriers to Vaccinating the Elderly With H1N1 Vaccine

Abstract Introduction The development of a monovalent 2009 H1N1 influenza (swine flu) vaccine for the 2009–2010 season prompted a nationwide campaign of vaccination. The authors assessed the frequency of influenza vaccine usage among 3858 elderly patients with their practice and the most common barriers to receiving vaccine. Methods The authors calculated the usage of seasonal and 2009 H1N1 vaccines among seniors with their university practice and surveyed a cohort of 64 patients to determine whether they had received the 2009 H1N1 vaccine and their reasons for not receiving it. Results Of the 555 elderly vaccinated with seasonal influenza vaccine, only 18% were vaccinated with 2009 H1N1 vaccine. Among the survey cohort, 72% had not received the 2009 H1N1 vaccine; 39% of them offered no reason for refusing and 22% stated they were unaware of the need for it. Conclusions Acceptance rates of seasonal influenza vaccine among elderly were low, and a significant proportion did not receive the 2009 H1N1 vaccine because it was unclear that they should receive it. Unambiguous education of patients and physicians is needed to achieve high rates of influenza vaccination among the elderly.
Myokymia, neuromyotonia, dermatomyositis, and voltage-gated K+ channel antibodies.

A young woman presented with facial myokymia in association with dermatomyositis. There was no evidence of peripheral neuropathy. Needle electromyography showed prominent myokymic discharges and brief neuromyotonic discharges in addition to many small-amplitude, short-duration motor unit potentials. Myokymia and dermatomyositis both responded to immunosuppressive treatment. The presence of antibodies to voltage-gated potassium channels and the association with dermatomyositis indicated an autoimmune cause for myokymia, which may have been due to reversible peripheral nerve hyperexcitability. Muscle Nerve 27: 757–760, 2003
Ferroelectric-Assisted Dual-Switching Speed DRAM–Flash Hybrid Memory

This paper presents a novel one-transistor low-voltage DRAM-Flash hybrid memory. The proposed device integrates ferroelectric thin film and nonvolatile charge injection, and demonstrates two modes of operations: 1) a fast (10-100 ns) DRAM mode with ~ 103 s of retention, associated with ferroelectric switching, and 2) a slower (0.1-1 ms) Flash mode with long retention time, from charge tunneling into the floating nodes. The time evolution of the electric field in the ferroelectric and the tunnel oxide is shown to naturally establish the two-step mechanism during the program operation. The complementary characteristics of ferroelectric switching and gate-charge injection enable low-voltage program/erase (±8 V), reasonable memory window (0.8 V), and long retention time. Devices were fabricated with the lead zirconatetitanate thin film as the ferroelectric layer and Au nanocrystals for gate-injected electron storage. Pulsed programming measurements were also performed to distinguish the memory window obtained from the two mechanisms in DRAM and Flash operations.
Some conditions for sustained oscillations in biochemical chains with feedback inhibition

A chain ofn reactions is considered in which the last substance inhibits the production of the first with degreep, p being the order of the inhibition. Maintained oscillations are possible for certain values of the parameters under the following conditions: (1) If there is no time delay, then there must be at least three compartments (n=3) and either the degree of inhibition is sufficiently large (p>8 forn=3) or there must be enzymatic removal from the first compartment, in which casep≥1. (2) If there are time delays, but there is no enzymatic removal, the degree of the inhibition must be greater than or equal to 2 for any value ofn. (3) If there is a time delay in addition to enzymatic removal, one compartment with simple first order inhibition is sufficient. Conditions on the parameters necessary for maintained oscillations are given for many of the cases discussed.
Yields of occlusion bodies from Heliothis virescens(Lepidoptera:Noctuidae)and Helicoverpa(Heliothis) zea(Lepidoptera:Noctuidae)larvae fed wild or recombinant strains of baculoviruses

Larvae of Helicoverpa zea and Heliothis virescens fed recombinant strains of two nucleopolyhedroviruses (AcMNPV, HzSNPV), genetically engineered to express two different scorpion toxins, produced significantly Lower numbers (ca. 4 to 10-fold lower) of occlusion bodies than larvae infected with the wild strain of these viruses. Lower yields of occlusion bodies were a manifestation of early larval paralysis caused by the toxin-expressing recombinant strains.
Gravity at sea

Abstract This is a review article on the types of gravity-measuring instruments used or tested at sea since 1903, on the various extraneous accelerations that affect sea measurements, and on results obtained in several gravity surveys using one type of meter. Free-air gravity anomaly maps are included of: (1) the Gulf of Mexico; (2) a strip west of the coast from northern California to the southern tip of Alaska; and (3) north of Hawaii. Hypothetical crustal and subcrustal sections, consistent with gravity anomalies and seismic refraction data, are included for selected regions.
Nociceptin in vitro biotransformation in human blood

In vitro biotransformation of a newly sequenced neuropeptide of 17 amino acid residues, named nociceptin and orphanin FQ by two separate research groups, was studied in human blood using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. Processing was carried out in freshly drawn blood incubated at 37 degrees C for various time periods. It was found that cleavage at peptide linkage Phe1-Gly2 was the predominant biotransformation pathway. Nociceptin (2-17) was the major biotransformation product. Further processing also occurred with the formation of a variety of minor biotransformation products. Cleavages at basic amino acid residues were observed, although these were not major biotransformation pathways found under these in vitro experimental conditions. Biotransformation of nociceptin followed a similar pattern to that of another neuropeptide, the endogenous opioid dynorphin A(1-17), but it appeared that nociceptin was more resistant to biotransformation in human blood in vitro than dynorphin A(1-17).
Proposal for an ultrasensitive spintronic strain and stress sensor

We propose a spintronic strain/stress sensor capable of sensing strain with a sensitivity of ~10−13 Hz−1/2 at room temperature with an active sensing area of ~1 cm2 and power dissipation of ~1 W. This device measures stress or strain by monitoring the change in the spin-polarized current in a parallel array of free-standing nanowire spin valves when the array is subjected to compressive or tensile stress along the wires' length. Such a sensor can be fabricated using a variety of techniques involving nanolithography, self-assembly and epitaxial growth.
Instrumentation Reliability Study for Future Waste Repository Sites

In evaluating the reliability of instruments for waste repository applications, we found geotechnical instruments to be the least reliable. Geotechnical instruments measure the engineering aspects of geology, geophysics, and hydrology. Systems were designed with off-the-shelf instrumentation which was designed for short-term, ambient temperature measurements. Reliability problems developed when these off-the-shelf instruments were used in long-term high-temperature DOE experiments. The Stripa, Climax, and Avery Island DOE experiments had identical instrumentation failures with this off-the-shelf design approach. The DOE experimenters, working with instrument manufacturers, have been successful in obtaining more reliable instruments. However, issues must still be addressed if high reliability is to be achieved at future high-level waste repository sites.
Evaluation of a passive sampler for volatile organic compounds at ppb concentrations, varying temperatures, and humidities with 24-h exposures. 1. Description and characterization of exposure chamber system

A dynamic exposure chamber was constructed to evaluate the performance of the 3M 3520 organic vapor monitor when exposed during 24 h to combined test atmospheres of benzene, 1,3-butadiene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, 1,3-dichlorobenzene, methylene chloride, styrene, tetrachloroethylene, and toluene at target concentrations of 10, 20, and 200 {micro}g/m{sup 3} in combination with temperatures of 10, 25, and 40 C and relative humidities of 12, 50, and 90%. These conditions are generally representative of the range of community air environments, both indoor and outdoor. The system consists of five distinct units: (1) dilution air delivery, (2) humidification, (3) VOC generation and delivery, (4) mixing chamber, and (5) exposure chamber. High-emission permeation tubes were utilized to generate the target VOCs. Both the target temperatures and humidities were achieved and maintained for multiple consecutive days. The variation of the temperature in the exposure chamber was controlled within {+-}1 C, while relative humidity was controlled within {+-}1.5% at 12% RH, {+-}2% at 50% RH, and {+-}3% at 90% RH. Under constant preset temperatures and stable nitrogen flow through the VOC generation unit, various temporal patterns of permeation rates were observed over time. The lifetimes and permeation rates of the tubes differed by compound, lengthmore » of the tube, and manufacturer.« less
Spectrin and calmodulin in spreading mouse blastomeres

The role of spectrin and its association with calmodulin in spreading mouse blastomeres was investigated. Embryonic spectrin binds 125I-calmodulin in a calcium-dependent fashion in the blot overlay technique. Double-labeling experiments show coordinate redistribution of spectrin and calmodulin in blastomeres preparing to undergo active spreading movement. At this stage cortical spectrin staining is lost from the region of cell-substrate contact and spectrin and calmodulin become concentrated in two structures closely associated with the contacted region: a group of spherical bodies located on the cytoplasmic side of the cortical layer and a subcortical ring that marks the perimeter of the contacted region. The localization pattern of spectrin and calmodulin is also coordinated with that of actin and myosin. The results suggest that spectrin plays a role in the spreading of blastomeres and that this function may involve linkage of spectrin, calmodulin, and the cortical contractile apparatus.
Some remarks on nonstandard theory of classes

In the paper, we discuss several hitherto open problems concerning classes in nonstandard set theory.
Relating Static Energy to Potential Temperature: A Caution

Abstract The relationship between dry static energy and potential temperature, cpθ = cpT + gz, is exact for an adiabatic temperature profile, and extremely close to exact for an isothermal profile. Even though it is extremely accurate, its use in atmospheres with nonadiabatic temperature profiles can lead to significant errors when comparing the entropies of isolated atmospheric layers. Use of the relation in this context leads to the incorrect conclusion that an adiabatic temperature profile has greater entropy than an isothermal profile for the same static energy. The relation fails in this application because of the extreme sensitivity of the column-integrated entropy to temperature.
Incidental encoding of numerosity in visual long-term memory

The visual system can readily extract numerosity information from brief experiences. This numerical perception is characterized by diminishing accuracy as numerosity increases, and impaired discrimination for similar quantities and large magnitudes. Here we assess whether these properties apply more broadly to numerosity in visual long-term memory. In surprise memory tests, we observed: Remarkable accuracy in estimating the number of repetitions of an exemplar image (Experiment 1a), that this accuracy decreased but remained high when estimating over categories (Experiments 1b and 1c), that numerical discrimination from memory exhibited psychophysical distance and size effects (Experiment 2), that these effects may derive from stored representations rather than post hoc approximation (Experiment 3a), and that they can reflect total elapsed experience in addition to discrete counts (Experiment 3b). Similar to how numerosity is readily extracted during visual perception, our results suggest that numerosity i...