cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multi-objective parallel robotic dispensing planogram optimisation using association rule mining and evolutionary algorithms

This research addresses a medication planogram optimisation problem for robotic dispensing systems (RDSs) in mail-order pharmacy automation (MOPA) facilities. A MOPA is used by a high-throughput fu...
Development of the psychotherapy supervisor: review of and reflections on 30 years of theory and research.

The psychotherapy supervisor’s development (i.e., the unfolding process of growth in being and becoming a supervisor) has long been considered a substantive issue in clinical supervision. Theory an...
Nursery Rearing and Biobehavioral Organization

Nursery rearing provides many benefits to the scientist, such as easy access to animals; greater uniformity in rearing conditions involving temperature, diet, social conditions, etc.; and reduced exposure to pathogens that might affect research results. A number of studies focusing on both behavioral and physiological processes, however, have suggested that nursery-raised animals differ from animals raised in a richer social and physical environment. Differences have been found for behavioral measures (Champoux et al., 1991), immunological measures (Lubach et al., 1995), hematological measures (Shannon et al., 1998). Many of these data are reviewed elsewhere in this volume (see Chapters 5, 9, and 12).
Modulation of Neuronal Death by the Transcription Factor E2F1 in Experimental Stroke

Since cultured neurons which are deficient in the transcription factor E2F1 display a resistance to a wide variety of insults, studies were undertaken to see if this resistance extended to a cerebral ischemic insult. Following 2 h of left middle cerebral artery occlusion and 1 d of reperfusion a 33% smaller infarct (p <0.05) was observed by 2,3,5 triphenyltetrazolium staining in the brains of E2F1-null animals compared to E2F1 and littermate mice. No differences in physiological parameters or cerebrovasculature were observed in the three groups of animals. A milder ischemic insult produced by 20 min of MCA occlusion and 7 d of reperfusion produced a greater difference in the E2F1-null animals with a 71% smaller infarct (p<0.001) compared to littermate controls. A decrease in ischemic injury in E2F1-null mice was also observed by immunohistochemical monitoring of the neuronal-specific MAP2 cytoskeletal protein and TUNEL staining. Finally a battery of six tests of motor function showed both E2F1 and -/littermates were similarly impaired at 1 d of reperfusion, but by 7 d the E2F1 -/mice improved significantly better compared to the wild type mice (p < 0.01) and ended up only slightly impaired by that time. It is concluded that the transcription factor E2F1 does modulate neuronal viability in brain after cerebral ischemia.
Efficient reinforcement learning with relocatable action models

Realistic domains for learning possess regularities that make it possible to generalize experience across related states. This paper explores an environment-modeling framework that represents transitions as state-independent outcomes that are common to all states that share the same type. We analyze a set of novel learning problems that arise in this framework, providing lower and upper bounds. We single out one particular variant of practical interest and provide an efficient algorithm and experimental results in both simulated and robotic environments.
Fungal Plant Pathogens Associated with Emerging Crops in North America: A Challenge for Plant Health Professionals

“Emerging crops” is a term typically applied to ethnic food plants or to plants used in traditional or ethnic medicine, some of which are becoming viable niche markets in North America. Information...
Payer Applications of FHIR

Earlier we discussed how the Utah Health Information Network (UHIN) began as a secure, standards-based approach to exchange health insurance claims information. Today, the interaction between health care providers and payers is often retrospective when it could be done in real time. It is often episodic and it could be a far more efficient process if provider and payer information systems were able to share data electronically. This is yet another opportunity for interoperability and payers have begun to appreciate and act on the potential of FHIR to transform their business processes, particularly as they connect with providers.
Health Career Academy: Addition of a Surgical Case-Based Learning Curriculum Captures the Interest of High School Students.

OBJECTIVE The Health Career Academy (HCA) is a national program which provides a structure to introduce underserved high school students to healthcare careers. Utilizing the HCA framework, we adapted the curriculum to emphasize surgical cases and invited physicians to enrich the learning experience. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Medical students adapted a surgical case-based learning (CBL) curriculum at a local high school serving students from a primarily ethnic minority and low-income community (61% Black, 20% Hispanic; 58% free or reduced lunch). Each grade level received a minimum of ten, 90-minute CBL sessions. Expert faculty lecturers supplemented lessons. Medical student volunteers and 10th and 11th grade students completed postsemester surveys. RESULTS Over four semesters, HCA held 44 sessions, with 81 students graduating from the program. A total of 66% of sessions featured at least one faculty volunteer. A total of 36 students in 10th and 11th grade and 15 medical student volunteers completed postparticipation surveys. A total of 46.2% of 11th grade students previously participated in the 10th grade curriculum. On a scale of 1 to 4, students rated HCA highly in its overview of career options (mean 3.61, [SD 0.5]) and instilling understanding of patient care (3.78 [0.42]). Students enjoyed learning about career paths (3.61 [0.50]) and health topics (3.83 [0.39]). Of 10th and 11th grade students, 100% considered a healthcare career, with 34.8% of 10th and 61.5% of 11th grade students expressing interest in pursuing a surgical specialty. After volunteering, medical students felt like better educators (4.47 [0.64]) and were more likely to pursue teaching roles (4.2 [0.86]). CONCLUSIONS The Duke HCA chapter implemented the HCA program featuring CBL sessions emphasizing surgical cases. This program engaged minority students and potentially contributed to student interest in surgical careers. It helped to prepare medical students for future teaching roles. An interactive, surgery-focused program may increase the number of minority youth interested in pursuing health careers.
Increasing the resolution of the Laser-Induced Forward Transfer using flow-focusing (Conference Presentation)

Drop-on-demand jet-based printing and deposition techniques benefit from increased printing resolution compared to inkjet printing. In this study, we present two sets of methods to improve the printing resolution and decrease the laser transfer threshold energy for blister-actuated laser-induced forward transfer (BA-LIFT). In one technique, we examine the steady meniscus formation by fabricating micrometer-sized holes onto the solid polyimide thin film substrate which hosts the donor liquid ink film to be printed. Due to the micrometer size of holes, surface tension effects are enhanced, a steady meniscus is formed at the air-ink interface, and the resulting focused jets are thinner and faster than regular jets. In the other set of techniques, we examine the transient meniscus formation by using Faraday waves to induce a transient meniscus at the air-ink interface. We show that focused jets may have different features compared to regular jets depending on the focusing method. We demonstrate experimentally and computationally that steady and transient meniscus formation enable jetting at lower laser pulse energies and leads to the ejection of smaller droplets.
Modular Enzyme- and Light-Based Activation of Cyclopropene–Tetrazine Ligation

We describe a modular activation strategy for cyclopropene-tetrazine ligation. This activation strategy uses chemically diverse enzyme- or photolabile protecting groups as cyclopropene reactivity cages. The linkages between the caging groups and cyclopropene are through carbamates, thus permitting the application of diverse cages to allow bioorthogonal reactivity by administering enzymes or light.
Chronic Nicotine Exposure Alters Uninjured Tendon Vascularity and Viscoelasticity.

Background:Although nicotine and tobacco use are well established to have adverse health effects, the effects on tendons are less well understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the e...
ABELIAN -DIVISION FIELDS OF ELLIPTIC CURVES AND BRAUER GROUPS OF PRODUCT KUMMER & ABELIAN SURFACES

Let be a principal homogeneous space of an abelian surface, or a K3 surface, over a finitely generated extension of . In 2008, Skorobogatov and Zarhin showed that the Brauer group modulo algebraic classes is finite. We study this quotient for the family of surfaces that are geometrically isomorphic to a product of isogenous non-CM elliptic curves, as well as the related family of geometrically Kummer surfaces; both families can be characterized by their geometric Neron–Severi lattices. Over a field of characteristic , we prove that the existence of a strong uniform bound on the size of the odd torsion of is equivalent to the existence of a strong uniform bound on integers for which there exist non-CM elliptic curves with abelian -division fields. Using the same methods we show that, for a fixed prime , a number field of fixed degree , and a fixed discriminant of the geometric Neron–Severi lattice, is bounded by a constant that depends only on , , and the discriminant.
Disability Among the Latinx Population: Epidemiology and Empowerment Interventions

The significant increase in the Latinx population in the USA has also resulted in an increase in Latinx persons with disabilities. This chapter provides an overview of the prevalence and the most common types of disability in the Latinx population and a review of the health care status and barriers to health care experienced by Latinx persons. Empowerment-based interventions to address some of the barriers are also discussed here. We close the chapter with a discussion of implications for future research.
The Face of Mental Health: Kevin Love and Hegemonic Masculinity in the NBA:

While public discussion about mental illness has become increasingly common in the United States, previous research has found that having a mental illness diagnosis is assumed to be incompatible wi...
Practical Methods for Semi-automated Peer Grading in a Classroom Setting

Peer grading, in which students grade each other's work, can provide an educational opportunity for students and reduce grading effort for instructors. A variety of methods have been proposed for synthesizing peer-assigned grades into accurate submission grades. However, when the assumptions behind these methods are not met, they may underperform a simple baseline of averaging the peer grades. We introduce SABTXT, which improves over previous work through two mechanisms. First, SABTXT uses a limited amount of historical instructor ground truth to model and correct for each peer's grading bias. Secondly, SABTXT models the thoroughness of a peer review based on its textual content, and puts more weight on the more thorough peer reviews when computing submission grades. In our experiments with over ten thousand peer reviews collected over four courses, we show that SABTXT outperforms existing approaches on our collected data, and achieves a mean squared error that is 6% lower than the strongest baseline on average.
Spontaneously supersaturated nucleation strategy for high reproducible and efficient perovskite solar cells

Abstract High-quality perovskite films are predominantly prepared by anti-solvent assisted spin-coating method. However, small device size and narrow operation window limit their applications in practical and scalable production. Here, a spontaneously supersaturated nucleation strategy is developed to fabricate high-quality perovskite films without any antisolvents. The rapid precipitation behavior of the precursor solutions could be triggered by the volatilization of methylamine ethanol at the initial film formation stage, forming uniform and compact intermediate phase films. Mirror-like large area (10 cm × 10 cm) methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI3) perovskite films with micrometer-sized grains can be achieved by phase transition via annealing. The average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.4% is achieved for 0.1 cm2 perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The 1 cm2 device shows a PCE of 17.57% and retains 96.8% after aging for 39 days in the air with a relative humidity of 5–30%. The perovskite module based on the perovskite films prepared by our strategy exhibits a PCE of 13.13%. The perovskite film fabrication method developed in this work shows high reproducibility of the fabrication process due to the spontaneous nucleation process. Meanwhile, it also exhibits significant potential in the application of scalable solution processing deposition techniques toward the commercialization of PSCs.
A delocalized cobaltoviologen with seven reversibly accessible redox states and highly tunable electrochromic behaviour

CoII mediates electronic coupling between two N-Me-pyridinium-terpyridine ligands that are related to redox-active N,N-dialkyl-4,4′-bipyridinium dications (viologens). Borderline Class II/III electronic delocalization imparts the cobaltoviologen complex with distinct electronic properties (e.g., 7 accessible redox states) relative to those of viologens, leading to enhanced electrochromism.
Ionic Liquid Clusters Generated from Electrospray Thrusters: Cold Ion Spectroscopic Signatures of Size-Dependent Acid-Base Interactions.

We determine the intramolecular distortions at play in the 2-hydroxyethylhydrazinium nitrate (HEHN) ionic liquid (IL) propellant, which presents the interesting case that the HEH+ cation has multiple sites (i.e., hydroxy, primary amine, and secondary ammonium groups) available for H-bonding with the nitrate anion. These interactions are quantified by analyzing the vibrational band patterns displayed by cold cationic clusters, (HEH+)n(NO3-)n-1, n = 2-6, which are obtained using IR photodissociation of the cryogenically cooled, mass-selected ions. The strong interaction involving partial proton transfer of the acidic N-H proton in HEH+ cation to the nitrate anion is strongly enhanced in the ternary n = 2 cluster but is suppressed with increasing cluster size. The cluster spectra recover the bands displayed by the bulk liquid by n = 5, thus establishing the minimum domain required to capture this aspect of macroscopic behavior.
Navigation by judgment: why and when top-down management of foreign aid doesn’t work: by Dan Honig, New York, NY, Oxford University press, 2018, 263 pp., $ 41.95 (hardcover), ISBN 9780190672454

Navigation by Judgment attempts to address a vital and incessant question for the International development sector: should international development organizations (IDOs) be driven through top manag...
Ophthalmic Images of Blur and Blurred Ophthalmic Images: Fuzzy Pictures in Scientific Practice

Fuzziness or blur in images deserves critical attention as a subject and resource in scientific research practices and clinical interventions. I discuss how the project of engaging blur in vision optics is embedded in a constellation of different mathematical and pictorial tools, with different standards and purposes, investigative and clinical, often inseparable. An expression of this is the various kinds of pictures of blurred vision, many of which do appear blurred, and their different and shifting roles and uses. Their use runs against the commitment to sharpness as an ideal of, for instance, scientific representation, reasoning and decision-making. Judgments and effective standards of visual precision, or sharpness, are always relative. Different kinds of images include hand drawings, analogical and digital photographs, and computer visualizations. I show how, historically, they have been introduced in an ongoing project of simulation that begins with so-called artificial models, artificial visual aberrations, and photographic simulations and experiments. Computer simulations followed suit, each with their one specific condition. I also show how the different kinds of pictures, like the roles and goals they serve, do not always arise to replace others but instead develop different relations to others and introduce new uses. In the new pictorial regime, research and clinical practice rely on a combination of drawings, different kinds of photographs, and computer visualizations. The simulations and the pictures, I show, play a number of roles: providing illustration and classification, prediction, potential explanations (a deeper level of classification), exploration, testing, evidence for or against explanatory hypotheses, evidence for or against the effectiveness of research tests and techniques, evidence for or against the reliability of diagnostic tests, and the effectiveness of corrective treatments and tracking the evolution of conditions and treatments. My analysis contradicts and supplements a number of other accounts of the significance of images in terms of their content and use. A central issue I focus on, more salient than in the application of mathematics of fuzzy-set theory, is the central interest in the phenomenon of blur in visual experience prompts pervasive and endemic considerations of subjectivity and objectivity. Different relations and tensions between standards of subjectivity and objectivity play a key role in the evolution of research and clinical intervention. This aspect finds expression in the interpretation, production, and use of pictures.
Measurement of urinary pesticide biomarkers among Latina farmworkers in southwestern Idaho.

Background Women who work in agriculture may have greater risk of pesticide exposure than men who share this occupation. Despite an increase in the fraction of the agricultural workforce comprised by women, few studies have characterized pesticide exposure in the USA with a focus on among these workers. Objective This pilot study aimed to describe pesticide exposure in a cohort of Latina farmworkers in farming communities in southwestern Idaho. Methods We collected urine samples from 29 Latina farmworkers, which were analyzed for 11 pesticide biomarkers. We evaluated the effect of pesticide spray season on urinary biomarker levels, and explored the effect of self-reported status as a pesticide handler on measured exposures. Results No significant differences were found between biomarker levels in samples collected during the nonspray and spray seasons. We observed 11 extreme outlying values in samples collected during the pesticide spray season. The most extreme outlying values (MDA: 51.7 ng/mL; 3-PBA: 11.8 ng/mL; trans-DCCA: 23.4 ng/mL; and 2,4-D: 31.1 ng/mL) were all provided during the spray season by women who reported loading, mixing or applying pesticides. Conclusions These results provide suggestive evidence that Latina farmworkers who handle pesticides during the spray season may be at an increased risk of exposure to organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides, as well as the herbicide 2,4-D. We recommend that future research into pesticide exposures among farmworkers should include particular focus on this group.
A cross-sectional analysis of muscle density and physical function in head and neck cancer patients.

e18597Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a debilitating disease that affects tens of thousands each year and both the disease and its treatment can cause long-term morbidity. HNC patients wi...
Family Treatment for Bipolar Disorder and Substance Abuse in Late Adolescence

The initial onset of bipolar disorder occurs in childhood or adolescence in about 50% of patients. Early-onset forms of the disorder have a poorer prognosis than adult-onset forms and are frequently characterized by comorbid substance abuse. Clinical trials research suggests that family psychoeducational approaches are effective adjuncts to medication in stabilizing the symptoms of bipolar disorder in adults and youth, although their efficacy in patients with comorbid substance use disorders has not been systematically investigated. This article describes the family-focused treatment (FFT) of a late adolescent with bipolar disorder and polysubstance dependence. The treatment of this patient and family required adapting FFT to consider the family's structure, dysfunctional alliance patterns, and unresolved conflicts from early in the family's history. The case illustrates the importance of conducting manual-based behavioral family treatments with a psychotherapeutic attitude, including addressing unstated emotional conflicts and resistances that may impede progress.
Noninvasive and alternative management of chronic low back pain (efficacy and outcomes).

Objectives The goal of this article is to provide a thorough literature review of available noninvasive and alternative treatment options for chronic low back pain. In particular, the efficacy of each therapy is evaluated and pertinent outcomes are described. Materials and Methods A comprehensive search for available literature was done through PubMed and Cochrane data base for topics discussed in this paper. Results Relevant current and past references were reviewed and presented to reflect the efficacy of each therapy and related outcomes. Conclusions There are a wide variety of noninvasive and alternative therapies for the treatment of chronic low back pain. Those with the strongest evidence in the literature for good efficacy and outcomes include exercise therapy with supervised physical therapy, multidisciplinary biopsychosocial rehabilitation, and acupuncture. Therapies with fair evidence or moderately supported by literature include yoga, back schools, thermal modalities, acupressure, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Those therapies with poor evidence or little to no literature support include manipulation, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, low-level laser therapy, reflexology, biofeedback, progressive relaxation, hypnosis, and aromatherapy. Providers delivering care for patients with chronic low back pain must carefully evaluate these available treatment options related to their efficacy or lack thereof as well as relevant outcomes.
A fast and accurate algorithm for ℓ 1 minimization problems in compressive sampling

An accurate and efficient algorithm for solving the constrained l 1-norm minimization problem is highly needed and is crucial for the success of sparse signal recovery in compressive sampling. We tackle the constrained l 1-norm minimization problem by reformulating it via an indicator function which describes the constraints. The resulting model is solved efficiently and accurately by using an elegant proximity operator-based algorithm. Numerical experiments show that the proposed algorithm performs well for sparse signals with magnitudes over a high dynamic range. Furthermore, it performs significantly better than the well-known algorithm NESTA (a shorthand for Nesterov’s algorithm) and DADM (dual alternating direction method) in terms of the quality of restored signals and the computational complexity measured in the CPU-time consumed.
Parallelization of the WASH123D code-Phase I: 2-dimensional overland and 3-dimensional subsurface flows

The parallel WASH123D, which is supported by the DoD CHSSI (Department of Defense Common High Performance Computing Software Support Initiative), is designed to solve watershed problems on scalable computing systems. WASH123D is a first-principle, physics-based model to compute water flow and/or contaminant and sediment transport within a watershed system. In the WASH123D model, a watershed is conceptualized as a coupled system of one-dimensional (1-D) channel network, two-dimensional (2-D) overland regime, and three-dimensional (3-D) subsurface media. It aims to address the environmental issues concerning both water quantity and quality. To reach numerical solutions with reasonable and tolerable computer time for simulations that embrace large meshes, numerical algorithm improvement and code parallelization are two essential tasks. Mathematically, 1-D channel flow and 2-D overland flow are described with the St. Venant equations, which are solved with either the Semi-Lagrangian or the Eulerian finite element method. The 3-D subsurface flow is governed by the modified Richards equation, which is solved with the Eulerian finite element method. The contaminant transport and sediment transport equations, which are solved with the Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element method, are derived based on the mass conservation principle. A parallel in-element particle-tracking algorithm for unsteady flow is applied to backtrack fictitious particles from global nodes to determine the so-called Lagrangian values when the Semi-Lagrangian or the Lagrangian-Eulerian method is used. This paper addresses the parallelization of such a complex numerical model. In phase I, tasks including data structure and software design, software tool development, as well as tool integration are accomplished. The 2- and 3-D flow modules are expected to be employed in the production stage.
High resolution microscopy reveals claudin-18 as a basolateral and not a tight junction-associated protein in stomach (1111.6)

Background: Claudin-18 (Cldn18) is the most highly expressed tight junction protein in the stomach. Cldn18, however, also localizes to the basolateral membrane of gastric epithelial cells. We aimed to determine whether cldn18 is actually a tight junction protein using high resolution microscopy techniques. Methods: Immunostaining for cldn18 and for ZO-1, a well-established protein that is limited to tight junctions, was done on sections from mouse stomach. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) was used to examine the high resolution 3-D pattern of cldn18 and ZO-1 localization in parietal and chief cells. Results: 3-D SIM data revealed that cldn18 is solely a basolateral membrane-associated cldn that runs in discontinuous anastomosing bundles along the basolateral membrane (in a basket-like configuration) to completely enclose parietal cells. Although still present, the discontinuous bundles of cldn18 are spaced further apart in chief cells. ZO-1 in parietal cells localizes to a shallow cleft bounded by...
Disparity-compensated total-variation minimization for compressed-sensed multiview image reconstruction

Compressed sensing (CS) is the theory and practice of sub-Nyquist sampling of sparse signals of interest. Perfect reconstruction may then be possible with much fewer than the Nyquist required number of data. In this paper, we consider a distributed multi-view imaging system where each camera at a different location performs independent compressed sensing acquisition of the target scene. At the decoder, we propose a disparity-compensated total-variation (TV) minimization algorithm to jointly reconstruct the multiple views. Experimental results show that the proposed joint decoding algorithm outperforms significantly independent-view decoding as well as disparity-compensated residue-view reconstruction algorithm.
An Adaptive Value-Based Scheduler andIts RT-Linux Implementation

In dynamic real-time systems, value-based scheduling aims to achieve graceful degradation during overloads, in addition to maintaining a high schedulability during normal and underloads. The objective of this paper is twofold: (1) to propose an adaptive value-based scheduler for multiprocessor real-time systems aimed at maintaining a high system value with less deadline misses, and (2) to present the implementation of the proposed scheduler in a Linux based real-time operating system, RT-Linux, which in its current form does not employ a notion of task value. We evaluate the performance of the proposed scheduler in terms of two performance metrics, namely, "value ratio" and "success ratio" through both simulation and implementation.
Infant animal model of pulmonary mycotoxicosis induced by Stachybotrys chartarum.

In recent years cases of often fatal pulmonary hemorrhage in infants have been associated with water damaged homes and the toxigenic fungusStachybotrys chartarum. The fungal spores contain mycotoxins which could be injurious to the rapidly developing lung. In order to understand the developmental pathophysiology of this disease we developed an infant rat model of stachybotrytoxicosis describing the effects of fungal spores on survival, growth, histopathology of the lung and respiration. Conidia ofS. chartarum were instilled intratracheally (1.0–8.0 × 105/gm wt.) in 4-dold Sprague-Dawley rat pups. Two control groups received either sterile PBS or a suspension of spores extensively extracted with ethanol to remove toxins. Lethal dose response was determined (LD50 = 2.7 × 105 spores/gm wt.). All dead pups had extensively hemorrhagic lungs. Growth of surviving animals was impaired in a dose-dependent manner. Changes of pulmonary function parameters in rats treated with 1.1 × 105 spores/g were consistent with an increased respiratory resistance. Histology of lungs revealed fresh hemorrhage, sparse hemosiderin-laden macrophages, and evidence of inflammation including thickened alveolar septa infiltrated by lymphocytes and mononuclear cells and intra-alveolar macrophages. Significant increases (p = 0.001) in numbers of macrophages (2-fold), lymphocytes (5-fold) and neutrophils (7-fold) were found in BAL fluid. Hemoglobin was elevated 2-fold (p = 0.004). Proinflammatory mediator IL-1β increased more than 6-fold and TNF-α30-fold (p = 0.001). Extracted spores had a minimal effect on all examined parameters in BAL fluid indicating that mycotoxins are primarily responsible for the hemorrhagic and inflammatory response.
Gating Deficit Heritability and Correlation With Increased Clinical Severity in Schizophrenia Patients With Positive Family History.

Objective:The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia Family Study evaluated 12 primary and other supplementary neurocognitive and neurophysiological endophenotypes in schizophrenia probands and their families. Previous analyses of prepulse inhibition (PPI) and P50 gating measures in this sample revealed heritability estimates that were lower than expected based on earlier family studies. Here the authors investigated whether gating measures were more heritable in multiply affected families with a positive family history compared with families with only a single affected proband (singleton).Method:A total of 296 nuclear families consisting of a schizophrenia proband, at least one unaffected sibling, and both parents underwent a comprehensive endophenotype and clinical characterization. The Family Interview for Genetic Studies was administered to all participants and used to obtain convergent psychiatric symptom information for additional first-degree relatives. Among the families, 97 were multiply aff...
Smoking Cessation and Electronic Cigarette Use among Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Objectives(1) Investigate electronic cigarette (e-cig) use among head and neck (HN) cancer patients; (2) define quit methods, success, motivations, and barriers to smoking cessation; and (3) determine the impact of e-cig use in smoking cessation.Study DesignCross-sectional study.SettingTertiary care center.MethodsAn in-office survey was administered to HN cancer patients ≥19 years of age with past/present tobacco use. Patient demographics were collected. Quit methods, success, and motivations/barriers were surveyed. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test was used to correlate alcohol use and cessation. Independent variables associated with cessation were studied with Fisher’s exact test and Student’s t test. Subgroup analysis was performed for e-cig users.ResultsOf 110 eligible patients, 106 (96%) enrolled (83% male, 82% Caucasian), of whom 69 (65%) successfully quit. Age of first tobacco use did not differ between the smoking and cessation groups (P = .14), nor did hazardous drinking (30% smoking ...
Silver-assisted copper wire bonding using solid-state processes

The copper (Cu) wire has become a new alternative of wires in advanced packaging technology. In this research, we selected large Cu wires to develop a new bonding process based on solid-state process. Upon thorough investigation, we chose silver (Ag) as the bonding medium between Cu wires and silicon (Si) chips, for its ductility and superior physical properties. The end of Cu wires is cut and polished at an angle to form a flat bonding surface. This surface is plated with 50um thick Ag, following annealing to make it more ductile to facilitate solid-state bonding. For demonstration, Cu substrates and Si chips were used. Other chips such as SiC can be used too. The bonding was performed at 300°C with 1,000psi (6.9MPa) pressure in 0.1 torr vacuum for a few minutes. This pressure is less than 1/10 of what used in industrial thermo-compression processes. The breaking force of resulting wire-bonds was evaluated by pull test. For 1mm Cu wire-bonds on Si chips, the average breaking force is 17kg. The fracture surfaces were examined and analyzed in details. The limit on the operating temperature is the eutectic temperature of the Ag-Cu system, 780°C. Our target operating temperature is 350°C for 1,000 hours, still being verified. At this temperature, no encapsulating material or mounding compound is available on the market to reinforce the wire-bonds, except lead-containing glass. Most likely, the wire-bond has to stand as it is. Accordingly, high breaking force is an essential requirement.
Genetic transfer in trypanosomes. II. Genetic transformation in Trypanosoma equiperdum.

Abstract Nucleic acid extractions were made of normal, akinetoplastic, and two different drug-resistant strains of Trypanosoma equiperdum. Experiments were conducted on nucleic acid-mediated genetic transformation between donor and recipient trypanosomes. While a heightened percentage of akinetoplastic trypanosomes could be observed if normal flagellates were exposed to nucleic acid preparations from the akinetoplastic donor strain, in no instance was there any evidence for transformation of drug-resistance. Because the presence or absence of a typical kinetoplast in trypanosomes appears of questionable value for demonstration of genetic transformation, the results obtained are best interpreted as evidence against transformation in these trypanosomes.
A Mouse Model of Rhabdomyosarcoma Originating from the Adipocyte Lineage

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is an aggressive skeletal muscle-lineage tumor composed of malignant myoblasts that fail to exit the cell cycle and are blocked from fusing into syncytial muscle. Rhabdomyosarcoma includes two histolopathologic subtypes: alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, driven by the fusion protein PAX3-FOXO1 or PAX7-FOXO1, and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS), which is genetically heterogeneous. Here, we show that adipocyte-restricted activation of Sonic hedgehog signaling through expression of a constitutively active Smoothened allele in mice gives rise to aggressive skeletal muscle tumors that display the histologic and molecular characteristics of human ERMS with high penetrance. Our findings suggest that adipocyte progenitors can be a cell of origin for Sonic hedgehog-driven ERMS, showing that RMS can originate from nonskeletal muscle precursors.
Growth of metamorphic GaAsP solar cells on GaP

In this work, we demonstrate metamorphic GaAs x P 1−x /GaP solar cells grown by molecular beam epitaxy for potential dual-junction integration with Si. We investigate the appropriate substrate orientation and growth conditions necessary to obtain smooth surface morphology with high open-circuit voltage (V oc ). Growing nearly identical GaAs x P 1−x /GaP (x=0.65±0.01) cells at three different substrate temperatures allowed us to investigate the dislocation dynamics in the graded buffer, revealing that we are not in the ideal glide-limited regime. We expect this is due to thread interactions with morphological defects. To satisfy the design requirements of the ideal dual-junction device, we grew 1.71 eV GaAs 0.73 P 0.27 /GaP cells, attaining a high V oc of 1.15 V. With increased short-circuit current through the addition of a window layer and antireflection coating, the GaAs x P 1−x cells presented here cascaded with Si could reach efficiencies as high as 30%.
Interleukin I potentiates agonist-induced secretion of β-endorphin in anterior pituitary cells

Summary Interleukin 1 (IL-1) has been shown to potentiate the release of β-endorphin induced by secretagogues, including corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) and phorbol ester (TPA), in the mouse AtT-20 pituitary tumor cell line ( Fagarasan et al., PNAS, 1989, 86, 2070–2073 ). In cultured rat anterior pituitary cells, pretreatment with IL-1 caused only a small increase in β-endorphin release but significantly potentiated CRF- and vasopressin-stimulated β-endorphin secretion. Vasopressin stimulates the secretion of β-endorphin in normal pituitary cells but not in AtT-20 cells. However, treatment of AtT-20 cells with IL-1 induced the expression of vasopressin-mediated β-endorphin release; this effect of Il-1 was reduced after depletion of protein kinase C by prolonged treatment with TPA. The enhancement of CRF-stimulated β-endorphin release by IL-1 was also reduced in AtT-20 cells after depletion of protein kinase C, and after treatment with staurosporine. These findings indicate that treatment with IL-1 amplifies receptor-mediated responses to the major physiological secretagogues in normal corticotrophs, and intiates a secretory response to vasopressin in AtT-20 cells.
Tumor–Stromal Interactions in Medulloblastoma

Placental growth factor and its receptor, neuropilin 1, are expressed by medulloblastomas and are potential targets for treatment; antibodies against these proteins are being studied in clinical trials for the purpose of treating other solid tumors.
Constraining effects of examples in a creative generation task

In three experiments we tested the conformity hypothesis--that subjects' ideas would conform to examples they had been shown--by using a creative generation paradigm in which subjects imagined and sketched new exemplars of experimenter-defined categories. Designs made by subjects who had first seen three examples of ideas were compared with those of control subjects, who received no examples. In all three experiments, the designs of subjects who had seen the examples were more likely to contain features of the examples. This conformity effect did not significantly decrease in Experiment 2, when a 23-min task was interpolated between viewing the examples and generating related ideas. The hypothesis that the observed conformity effects may have been caused by subjects' assumptions that they should try to generate ideas similar to the examples was refuted in Experiment 3; explicitly instructing subjects to create ideas that were very different from the examples did not decrease conformity to the examples, and instructing them to conform to the examples significantly increased conformity. The results show that recent experience can lead to unintentional conformity, constraining the generation of creative ideas.
Semi-Formal Verification at IBM

Summary form only given. This talk focuses on the IBM internal (semi-)formal verification toolset SixthSense. We first provide a high-level overview of the SixthSense tool, developed to perform functional verification as well as sequential equivalence checking. We introduce the various synergistic transformation and verification engines it encompasses, encapsulated within a novel transformation-based verification framework. We have found this algorithmic synergy critical to enabling core semi-formal search algorithms to identify the most complex and deep bugs, as well as to enabling the completion of difficult correctness proofs. We additionally discuss various industrial applications of this toolset, from lighter-weight assertion and constraint-based verification to comprehensive block or unit-level reference model style of verification to silicon-failure recreation efforts
An Evaluation of a Local Exhaust Ventilation Control System for a Foundry Casting-Cleaning Operation

A study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a local exhaust ventilation system for a foundry casting-cleaning operation in which a worker cleaned gray iron castings using a variety of handheld chipping and grinding tools. The operation originally had an exhaust system consisting only of an exhaust duct terminating approximately 1 m (3 ft) above the floor and 2 m (6 ft) from the casting-cleaning workstation. An earlier evaluation of this original control system found time-weighted average exposures to respirable silica ranging from 124 to 160 μg/m3. The local exhaust ventilation system evaluated in this present study consisted of a downdraft booth outfitted with a turntable for manipulating the castings. The modified local exhaust ventilation system was installed at this facility and connected to the existing plant exhaust ventilation system through the original ductwork. A direct-reading instrument was used to measure the operator's respirable aerosol exposure concentrations during a single day...
The effect of varying thickness on the buckling of orthotropic plates

Although stability failure of constant thickness plates is a fairly well understood problem, buckling ofplates with varying thickness has seen little research. This is not a common problem, but buckling of varying thickness plates does occur, as in the case of Advanced Grid Stiffened structures. These structures are characterized by lattices of rigidly connected rib stiffeners. While real-world Advanced Grid Stiffened structure ribs are modeled as orthotropic plates, they often have complex cross-sections (i.e., varying thickness). Unfortunately, failure analysis techniques for these ribs have been limited to rectangular cross-sections. To address this shortcoming, a buckling theory is presented for orthotropic plates of varying thickness. Orthotropic plates with both linear and hourglass thickness variations are considered. These are common grid structure cross-section geometries resulting from existing manufacturing processes. For both geometries, results are given that allow designers to predict how these plates will behave, relative to a constant thickness plate, for a variety of material properties and plate aspect ratios.
THE WELL-CONNECTED MICROPHONE: MICROPHONES AND INPUT CIRCUITS

ABSTRACT This paper describes the effect that placing a transformer between a microphone and the following electrical input has on a signal. Proper application is discussed and the results from improper application are illustrated. A brief glossary of technical terms is included.
Inhibition of succinate dehydrogenase by nitroacetate and by the toxic antibiotic nitraminoacetate.

Summary Nitraminoacetate and the nitronate of nitroacetate are effective inhibitors of beef heart succinate dehydrogenase, respectively binding about 17 and 6.6 times more tightly than succinate at pH 8.0 and 25° as judged by the K m /K i ratios. Unlike the case of the suicide inactivator 3-nitropropionate, these compounds are freely reversible inhibitors. The toxicity of nitraminoacetate, an antibiotic elaborated by Streptomyces noursei , may be secondary to the inhibition of the Krebs cycle at the succinate dehydrogenase reaction, and the nitramino group may prove useful as a carboxylate analog for other enzymes.
An alternative model for early Tertiary absolute plate motions

The absolute plate motions for early Tertiary time are reconsidered. The no-net-torque determination of Solomon and others indicated absolute plate motions at 55 m.y. ago that were considerably different from the present motions. To test whether these motions are truly characteristic of early Tertiary time or merely a consequence of uncertainties, an alternative model for the relative motions is considered. A single major change is made in the relative motions scheme: Antarctica is treated as two plates. The role of Antarctica is particularly important in the relative motion scheme because it is the sole link between the large Pacific Ocean plates and the other, largely continental plates. Although this relative plate motion model for early Tertiary time does not yield absolute motions that are compatible with those of the present, there are considerable differences from Solomon and others' determination. Thus, past relative plate motions must be further constrained to give absolute motions that can confidently be compared to the present set and used in testing hypotheses about driving forces.
Interactions and dynamics of benzene on Cu{111} at low temperature

We have used ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy to study the structure and dynamics of benzene on Cu{111} at low coverage and low temperature. We find that at 77 K adsorbed benzene molecules preferentially form two-dimensional (2D) solid structures along Cu substrate step edges while benzene molecules on terraces move freely across the surface as a 2D molecular gas. At the interface between the 2D solid and 2D gas phases we observe lateral diffusion, 2D adsorption, and 2D desorption. The motion of the benzene is detected by observing the partial and transient occupation of preferred adsorption sites at the interface. The outward growth of the 2D benzene solid is assisted by the modulations in the local density of states due to Cu{111} surface state electrons scattered from step edges and from the tightly bound benzene molecules. These modulations in the local density of states strongly influence the binding and dynamics of the benzene molecules and are also imaged using the scanning tunneling microscope. The relative strengths of the interactions at various step and terrace sites due to nanometer-scale variations in the surface electronic structure are discussed and the resulting benzene overlayer structures described.
Model predictive control-based power dispatch for distribution system considering plug-in electric vehicle uncertainty

Abstract As an important component of Smart Grid, advanced plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are drawing much more attention because of their high energy efficiency, low carbon and noise pollution, and low operational cost. Unlike other controllable loads, PEVs can be connected with the distribution system anytime and anywhere according to the customers’ preference. The uncertain parameters (e.g., charging time, initial battery state-of-charge, start/end time) associated with PEV charging make it difficult to predict the charging load. Therefore, the inherent uncertainty and variability of the PEV charging load have complicated the operations of distribution systems. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a model predictive control (MPC)-based power dispatch approach. The proposed objective functions minimize the operational cost while accommodating the PEV charging uncertainty. Case studies are performed on a modified IEEE 37-bus test feeder. The numerical simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed MPC-based power dispatch scheme.
Air-gap fiber-optic ammonia gas sensor

A novel fiber-optic gas sensing arrangement based on an air-gap design is evaluated. In this arrangement, a small gap of air separates the internal solution from the sample. In addition, a second air-gap separates the internal solution from a fiber-optic probe which measures the fluorescence of the internal solution. A series of gas sensors for ammonia is used to investigate several critical design parameters. The length of the air-gap between the internal solution and the fiber-optic probe affects the magnitude of response. The length of the air-gap separating the internal and sample solutions has minimal effect on either magnitude or rate of response. As with membrane-type gas sensors, thickness of the internal solution and concentration of the indicator dye are the most important sensor parameters to consider when designing a fiber-optic gas sensor.