cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pedagogical implications in the thermal analysis of uniform annular fins: Alternative analytic solutions by series

The dimensionless temperature along annular fins of uniform thickness and constant physical properties is governed by an ordinary differential equation of second order with variable coefficients, called the modified Bessel equation of zero order. This educational article addresses two alternative computational procedures of approximate nature for solving this modified Bessel equation: (a) the Frobenius method, and (b) the power series method coupled with a curve fit. Approximate temperature distributions of good quality have been obtained with available symbolic algebra software such as Maple or Mathematica on a personal computer. The primary specification when designing annular fins of uniform thickness is the amount of heat transfer from a tube to the surrounding fluid. These calculations are traditionally done with the help of a fin efficiency diagram. The fin efficiencies can be computed approximately by integration or by differentiation via the Frobenius and power series methods as well. Students of heat transfer courses can benefit from these two alternative computational procedures that seek to circumvent the use and operations with Bessel functions and still produce approximate analytic results of good caliber. A course on ordinary differential equations is the only mathematical background that students need to have to implement these computational techniques. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 6: 31–40, 1998
Paramedian forehead flap reconstruction for nasal defects.

Background. The paramedian forehead flap is the ultimate reconstructive method for repair of extensive nasal defects. Changes in technique have resulted in the evolution of the modern-day forehead flap, which is a streamlined, efficient, reliable flap that can be counted on to provide superior function and cosmesis in the reconstruction of large nasal defects. Objective. Consistent success in the execution of a forehead flap hinges on a careful stepwise approach to the defect, the patient, and the surgical technique. Characterization of these steps was undertaken to assist the surgeon in achieving consistent post- operative results. Methods. The process of executing a paramedian forehead flap beginning with preoperative assessment through the intraoperative procedure and culminating in the postoperative care is elucidated and discussed. Results. Through thoughtful planning and correct execution of technique, very large nasal defects are reconstructed, with excellent functional and esthetic results. Specific examples illustrate the range of approaches that can be used to address a variety of nasal tissue loss. Conclusion. With careful attention to the reconstruction of all components of a nasal defect, a forehead flap can restore virtually any large nasal defect with excellent functional and cosmetic results. The skill sets that help optimize the process of nasal reconstruction are important to acquire. With careful planning and surgical finesse, forehead flaps can often result in nearly imperceptible restoration of the nose.
Characterization of the mouse A3 adenosine receptor gene: exon/intron organization and promoter activity.

Abstract In a previous study, we reported the expression of A3 adenosine receptor mRNA in rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and demonstrated that its levels affect the intracellular concentration of cAMP. In the current study, we isolated the mouse A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR) gene, characterized its structure, and defined its promoter activity in VSMC. The mouse A3AR gene fragment available to us has 3 kb of coding sequences, composed of two exons separated by a single intron, and 2.3 kb of 5′ noncoding region. The promoter region lacks “TATA” and “CAAT” boxes, but contains an initiator consensus sequence. In accordance with Northern blot analysis of A3AR mRNA, transient transfection experiments showed that the promoter activity of this fragment was significant in VSMC and astrocytes and high in mast cells. The characterization of the mouse A3 adenosine receptor gene and insight into its promoter region will allow further studies to determine the physiological importance of its transcriptional regulation in different tissues.
Aggregation and interaction issues in statistical modeling of spatiotemporal processes

The intention of this short paper is to bring some important statistical issues concerning spatiotemporal stratification, aggregation, and interaction to a community that might otherwise be unaware of them. While no comprehensiveness is claimed, the problems presented occur quite commonly in the analysis of spatiotemporal data.
Discounting of Life-Saving and Other Nonmonetary Effects

Cost-effectiveness analysts generally assume that preferences over time are such that streams of monetary and nonmonetary program effects can be reduced to one discounted sum of monetary costs and another of effects. It is known that if the nonmonetary effects can be cashed out in a way that does not vary with time, then the rates of discount for monetary and nonmonetary effects have to be equal. This paper presents a more compelling argument for the equality of those rates when hard to monetize benefits such as life-saving are involved. It shows that if the ability to produce the nonmonetary effect does not diminish too quickly over time, failure to discount benefits implies that programs are always improved by delay. In general, discounting benefits and costs at different rates can lead to peculiar results.
Digital control algorithms for multi-degree-of-freedom microgravity isolation systems

Abstract Two general methodologies have been developed to design digital controllers for multi-degree-of-freedom microgravity isolation systems such that the desired transmissibility matrix is achieved. The absolute accelerations and relative displacements are used as feedback signals. Absolute acceleration signals are used to provide proportional damping in the system whereas relative displacement signals are used to achieve the desired transmissibility. In the first method, the closed-form expression of the controller transfer function metrix for the relative displacement feedback is obtained directly in the Z -domain. The controller transfer function matrix is first obtained in the S -domain and then discretized in the second method. The discrete-time controller transfer function matrices and numerical results are presented for a three-degree-of-freedom system with attractive electromagnetic actuators.
Hsc70 Chaperones Clathrin and Primes It to Interact with Vesicle Membranes

When Hsc70 uncoats clathrin-coated vesicles in an auxilin- and ATP-dependent reaction, a single round of rapid uncoating occurs followed by very slow steady-state uncoating. We now show that this biphasic time course occurs because Hsc70 sequentially forms two types of complex with the dissociated clathrin triskelions. The first round of clathrin uncoating is driven by formation of a pre-steady-state assembly protein (AP)-clathrin-Hsc70-ADP complex. Then, following exchange of ADP with ATP, a steady-state AP-clathrin-Hsc70-ATP complex forms that ties up Hsc70, preventing further uncoating. This steady-state complex forms only during uncoating in the presence of APs; in the absence of APs, Hsc70 rapidly dissociates from the uncoated clathrin and continues to carry out uncoating. Whether it is complexed with ATP or ADP, the steady-state complex has very different properties from the pre-steady-state complex in that it cannot be immunoprecipitated by anti-clathrin antibodies and is readily dissociated by fast protein liquid chromatography. Remarkably, when the steady-state complex is incubated with uncoated vesicle membranes in ATP, the pre-steady-state complex reforms, suggesting that the clathrin triskelions in the steady-state complex rebind to the membranes and are again uncoated by Hsc70. We propose that Hsc70 not only uncoats clathrin but also chaperones it to prevent it from inappropriately polymerizing in the cell cytosol and primes it to reform clathrin-coated pits.
A Novel Synthesis of 3-Amido-5-phenyl-benzazepin-2-one via an Intramolecular Amidoalkylation

Abstract A synthesis of N-(8-Methyl-2-oxo-5-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-benz[b]azepin-3-yl)-benzamide 2 via an intramolecular amidoalkylation is described.
Hurricane wind hazard assessment for a rapidly warming climate scenario

Abstract Although there is still much debate as to the causes, it is generally accepted in the scientific community that the climate is changing. The IPCC (2007) Fourth Assessment Report states that warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and that this warming has likely influenced observed changes in many physical systems at the global scale. In order to meet target safety and performances levels when designing structures and infrastructure systems in the future, it is essential that current design codes and standards adapt to reflect global climate change. With the trend toward performance-based engineering, for US coastal regions, along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, this means a quantitative assessment of climate change impact on hurricane hazard performance levels is needed. This study couples a projected climate change scenario with state-of-the-art probabilistic event-based simulation procedures to assess the hurricane wind hazard under a worst-case climate change scenario. The hurricane wind hazard is defined herein using the hurricane intensity (maximum wind speed) and hurricane size (radius to maximum wind speed). Through Monte Carlo simulation, 10,000 years of hurricane events, under the current (2012) and future (2100) climate conditions, were generated. The hurricane intensity distribution and the joint distribution of hurricane intensity and size, under current and future climate scenarios, were then compared.
A Search for Emission Features in Io's Extended Cloud

If sputtering provides the sodium in Io's extended cloud, then other elements abundant in Io's surface layer should also be present in this cloud. The paper presents spectra in the range from 3100 A to 8700 A of a portion of this cloud where Io's scattered continuum is weak, but where the sodium emission is still strong. Aluminum and calcium are found to be underabundant relative to sodium. Upper limits are set to some other cosmically abundant elements. In addition the 10,830 A feature was detected over various parts of the cloud, but it had an intensity comparable to that observed elsewhere in the night sky. There is no indication that helium emission brighter than 200 rayleighs occurs from the cloud itself.
Cooling/heating module for tissue chambers and solutions: theoretical considerations and practical design.

Abstract We provide a theoretical framework for the estimation of the performance of a modular cooling/heating device for tissue baths. The framework can be adapted to other designs using Peltier elements for cooling and heating. The design employs a Peltier as a heat pump and a flat heat pipe to transport heat to or from a ‘remote’ site. In the cooling mode heat from the hot side of the Peltier is removed by a heat sink cooled by a fan. The small cross section of the heat pipe permits cooling/heating of tissue chambers on microscope stages or in locations where it would be impractical to mount a Peltier element. The faces of the heat pipe can be used to pre-cool/heat solutions using a simple capillary heat exchanger.
Racial/Ethnic and Gender Differences in Individual Workplace Injury Risk Trajectories: 1988–1998

Objectives. I examined workplace injury risk over time and across racial/ethnic and gender groups to observe patterns of change and to understand how occupational characteristics and job mobility influence these changes.Methods. I used hierarchical generalized linear models to estimate individual workplace injury and illness risk over time (“trajectories”) for a cohort of American workers who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1988–1998).Results. Significant temporal variation in injury risk was observed across racial/ethnic and gender groups. At baseline, White men had a high risk of injury relative to the other groups and experienced the greatest decline over time. Latino men demonstrated a pattern of lower injury risk across time compared with White men. Among both Latinos and non-Latino Whites, women had lower odds of injury than did men. Non-Latino Black women's injury risk was similar to Black men's and greater than that for both Latino and non-Latino White women. Occupationa...
Parallel electric fields inferred during a pulsating aurora

Abstract. A sounding rocket, equipped to study pulsating aurora launched from Poker Flat, Alaska on 13 March 1997 at 10:20:31 UT, measured electron precipitation over the range ~10 eV to 500 keV covering pitch-angles from 0 to 180°. Data show electrons with energies
Male songbirds provide indirect parental care by guarding females during incubation

Across many taxa, guarding of fertile mates is a widespread tactic that enhances paternity assurance. However, guarding of mates can also occur during the nonfertile period, and the fitness benefits of this behavior are unclear. Male songbirds, for example, sometimes guard nonfertile females during foraging recesses from incubation. We hypothesized that guarding postreproductive mates may have important, but unrecognized, benefits by enhancing female foraging efficiency, thereby increasing time spent incubating eggs. We tested the hypothesis in 2 songbird species by examining female behavior during natural and experimentally induced absences of males. Male absence caused increased vigilance in foraging females that decreased their efficiency and resulted in less time spent incubating eggs. Male guarding of nonfertile females can thus provide a previously unrecognized form of indirect parental care. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.
Rethinking Global Environmental Governance to Deal with Climate Change: The Multiple Logics of Global Collective Action

From the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threatening climate change to depleted fisheries in the world’s oceans and the spread of persistent organic pesticides bioaccumulating across the food chain, a particularly challenging set of transboundary global environmental problems has emerged—defined by the need for a worldwide policy response. While the logic of collective action at a scope that corresponds to the scale of the public good to be provided is well understood in theory (Mancur Olson 1965; Henry N. Butler and Jonathan R. Macey 1996), the practice of good environmental governance at the supranational scale lags behind. The need to manage interdependence, and thus the economic logic for policy coordination in the context of problems such as climate change, is clear. Where natural resource consumption or pollution harms spill across national boundaries and affect neighboring countries or the shared resources of the global commons, the “super-externalities” that emerge present a special policy challenge (Andre Dua and Esty 1997). Absent a collaborative response that draws all harm-causers and harm-bearers into a regime that internalizes these externalities and provides an appropriate degree of global-scale environmental protection, a tragedy of the commons will likely unfold (Garrett Hardin 1968; E. Donald Elliott, Bruce A. Ackerman, and John C. Millian 1985). Pollution-causing activities will be conducted at an inefficiently large scale and open-access resources, such as the atmosphere, will be overexploited. But a successful response to climate change and other international environmental problems requires more than good economic theory. Legal, policy, ethical, and institutional underpinnings must also be established for effective global environmental governance. In this paper, Rethinking Global Environmental Governance to Deal with Climate Change: The Multiple Logics of Global Collective Action
Epidemiology of animal exposures presenting to emergency departments.

ObjectivesTo describe the epidemiology of emergency department mammalian animal exposures and to compare adult and pediatric exposure characteristics. MethodsThis was a prospective case series of patients presenting with animal exposure–related complaints from July 1996 to July 1998. Eleven university-affiliated, geographically diverse, urban emergency departments (EMERGEncy ID NET) participated. ResultsA total of 1,631 exposures (80.5%) were from dogs, 267 (13.2%) from cats, 88 (4.3%) from rodents or rabbits, 18 (0.9%) from raccoons and wild carnivores, eight (0.4%) from livestock, nine (0.4%) from monkeys, and five (0.2%) from bats. Compared with adults, children were more likely to be bitten by dogs (odds ratio [OR], 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.2 to 3.8) or hamsters, gerbils, and rabbits (OR, 2.6; 95% CI = 0.79 to 9.2); to be bitten on the head, neck, or face (OR, 6.7; 95% CI = 5.2 to 8.6); and to be petting or playing with the animal at the time of exposure (OR, 2.6; 95% CI = 2.1 to 3.3). ConclusionsAnimal exposures are a common source of injury seen in the emergency department. These findings have potentially important public health implications in terms of emphasizing the need to effectively implement education programs for parents and children.
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World. London: Verso, 2001. 464 pp. $27.00 cloth

Three great global droughts, in 1876-1879, 1889-1891, and 1896-1900, afflicted much of the most populous part of the tropical world in the late nineteenth century. These droughts were the result of what we can now recognize as a more or less regular succession of mega-climatic events known as El Nino. These phenomena occurred previously, notably in the late eighteenth century, but the late nineteenth century events were extraordinarily severe, and death by starvation and disease was on a staggering, unprecedented scale. Estimates of the number who perished range from thirty-one million to sixty-one million people. The sheer magnitude of what can rightly be called a holocaust of non-Western peoples has generally been obscured by a persistent metropolitan perspective, by the social distance from mass suffering of colonial administrative elites and by historians incurious about, or dismissive of, such “cycles of Cathay.” It is a signal service of this impressive, eloquent study that the dimension of this human suffering on a global scale has been both exposed and foregrounded in the operation of late-Victorian formal and informal imperialisms.
Brain organization and the origin of insects: an assessment

Within the Arthropoda, morphologies of neurons, the organization of neurons within neuropils and the occurrence of neuropils can be highly conserved and provide robust characters for phylogenetic analyses. The present paper reviews some features of insect and crustacean brains that speak against an entomostracan origin of the insects, contrary to received opinion. Neural organization in brain centres, comprising olfactory pathways, optic lobes and a central neuropil that is thought to play a cardinal role in multi-joint movement, support affinities between insects and malacostracan crustaceans.
Parallel Ray Tracing Using the Message Passing Interface

Ray-tracing software is available for lens design and for general optical systems modeling. It tends to be designed to run on a single processor and can be very time consuming if the number of rays traced is large. Previously, multiple digital signal processors (DSPs) have been used to perform such simulations. This approach is attractive because DSPs are inexpensive, and the time saved through parallel processing can be significant. In this paper, we report a nearly linear relationship between the number of processors, and the rate of ray tracing with as many as 839 processors operating in parallel on the Naval Research Laboratory's Cray XD-1 computer with the Message Passing Interface (MPI). In going from 1 to 839 processors, we achieved an efficiency of 97.9% and a normalized ray-tracing rate of in a system with 22 planar surfaces, two paraboloid reflectors, and one hyperboloid refractor. The need for a load-balancing software was obviated by the use of a prime number of processors.
Work in progress — Social barriers and supports to underrepresented minorities' success in STEM fields

The present study builds upon previous research by exploring social barriers that limit URMs' success-not just Black and Latino men-as well as social supports that enable the success of those who succeed academically in STEM fields. For the purposes of this study, “success” is defined as (a) persisting in college as a STEM major and (b) maintaining a 3.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA). The primary methods of data collection were semi-structured one-on-one and group interviews with 38 URMs majoring in STEM. Three major themes were identified as barriers: (a) Negative perceptions/stereotypes of people of color (b) Lack of same-race peers in classes/labs and (c) Negative interactions in the classroom. Two themes were identified as supports: (a) URM faculty who served as mentors/conduits and (b) sociocultural and spiritual resources. Findings hold significant promise for future practice, policy, and research.
Redox-dependent solubility of technetium in low activity waste glass

Abstract The solubility of technetium was measured in a Hanford low activity waste (LAW) glass simulant, to investigate the extent that technetium solubility controls the incorporation of technetium into LAW glass. A series of LAW glass samples, spiked with 500–6000 ppm of Tc as potassium pertechnetate, were melted at 1000 °C in sealed fused quartz ampoules. Technetium solubility was determined in the quenched bulk glass to be 2000–2800 ppm, with slightly reducing conditions due to choice of milling media resulting in reductant contamination and higher solubility. The chemical form of technetium obtained by X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy is mainly isolated, octahedrally-coordinated Tc(IV), with a minority of Tc(VII) in some glasses and TcO 2 in two glasses. The concentration and speciation of technetium depends on glass redox and amount of technetium added. Salts formed at the top of higher technetium loaded glasses during the melt. The results of this study show that technetium solubility should not be a factor in technetium retention during melting of Hanford LAW glass.
In Vivo Ventricular Gene Delivery of a β-Adrenergic Receptor Kinase Inhibitor to the Failing Heart Reverses Cardiac Dysfunction

Background—Genetic manipulation to reverse molecular abnormalities associated with dysfunctional myocardium may provide novel treatment. This study aimed to determine the feasibility and functional consequences of in vivo β-adrenergic receptor kinase (βARK1) inhibition in a model of chronic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction after myocardial infarction (MI). Methods and Results—Rabbits underwent ligation of the left circumflex (LCx) marginal artery and implantation of sonomicrometric crystals. Baseline cardiac physiology was studied 3 weeks after MI; 5×1011 viral particles of adenovirus was percutaneously delivered through the LCx. Animals received transgenes encoding a peptide inhibitor of βARK1 (Adeno-βARKct) or an empty virus (EV) as control. One week after gene delivery, global LV and regional systolic function were measured again to assess gene treatment. Adeno-βARKct delivery to the failing heart through the LCx resulted in chamber-specific expression of the βARKct. Baseline in vivo LV systolic perfo...
Stimulus-Response Reliability of Biological Networks

If a network of cells is repeatedly driven by the same sustained, complex signal, will it give the same response each time? A system whose response is reproducible across repeated trials is said to be reliable. Reliability is of interest in, e.g., computational neuroscience because the degree to which a neuronal network is reliable constrains its ability to encode information via precise temporal patterns of spikes. This chapter reviews a body of work aimed at discovering network conditions and dynamical mechanisms that can affect the reliability of a network. A number of results are surveyed here, including a general condition for reliability and studies of specific mechanisms for reliable and unreliable behavior in concrete models. This work relies on qualitative arguments using random dynamical systems theory, in combination with systematic numerical simulations.
Bonding of Plastic Teeth to Heat-Cured Denture Base Resins

One of the primary advantages of plastic teeth is their ability to bond chemically to the denture base resin, thereby providing better retention than can be obtained by the mechanical bonding of porcelain teeth. Occasionally, however, failures have been observed in which plastic teeth break loose from the denture, indicating that chemical bonding does not always occur. An examination of some of these teeth under a microscope revealed the absence of a chemical bond as evidenced by the smooth glossy surfaces of the teeth and walls of the socket, although the de­ tail of the surfaces of the teeth repro­ duced in the socket showed that the teeth had been in intimate contact with the denture base resin. The most probable explanation for this type of failure was the presence of a for­ eign material which adhered to the tooth surfaces and prevented bonding. Such a material could be (1) wax absorbed into the surfaces of the teeth during waxing, or (2) a trace of wax remaining as a residue on the surfaces of the teeth after the boiling-out procedure. In order to investigate the possibility that the pres­ ence of such a foreign material might be the primary cause for the failure of plas­ tic teeth to bond to the denture base resin, experiments were conducted on the bond­ ing characteristics of teeth which had never been in contact with wax and teeth which had been waxed up, with the wax removed by the standard tech­ nics used in the preparation of a denture. Samples of all the brands of plastic teeth currently on the market (Table 1) were used in this investigation.
Aging, place, and technology: toward improving access and wellness in older populations.

Objective: To review the range of promising technologies (e.g., smart phones, remote monitoring devices) designed to enhance aging in place; identify challenges for implementation of those technologies; and recommend ways to improve access to technologies in older populations. Method: A narrative review of research, practice, and policies from multiple fields, including information science, gerontology, engineering, housing and social services, health care and public health. Results: Despite a wide range of emerging and current technologies, there are significant challenges for implementation, including an uneven evidence base, economic barriers, and educational and ergonomic issues that adversely affect many older adults. Discussion: Recommendations for future development and adoption include improving the evidence base through field-testing of “packages” of devices in diverse populations of older adults; development of innovative funding mechanisms involving multidisciplinary teams, older adults, and ca...
The Relation of Vasectomy to the Risk of Cancer

We previously reported a strong positive association between vasectomy and the risk of prostatic cancer that arose in multiple comparisons made within data collected from 1976 to 1988 in an ongoing hospital-based surveillance study of many exposures and diseases. We have reassessed this association with data collected in the surveillance study during 1988-1992 from a new set of patients (355 cases of prostatic cancer and 2,048 controls with nonmalignant conditions). Because some studies have reported increased relative risks of lung cancer and testicular cancer in vasectomized men, we also used the surveillance database (4,126 men with various cancers, 7,027 men with nonmalignant conditions) to assess the relation of vasectomy to the risk of these and other cancers. In the newly collected data, the multivariate relative risk estimate for prostatic cancer in vasectomized men was 1.2 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.6-2.7). For lung cancer and testicular cancer, the relative risk estimates were 1.3 (95% CI 0.8-2.1) and 0.8 (95% CI 0.4-1.9), respectively; for lung cancer occurring > or = 15 years after vasectomy, the relative risk estimate was 1.9 but it was not statistically significant (95% CI 0.7-5.0). For pancreatic cancer, the relative risk estimate was 1.8 (95% CI 1.0-3.1). For each of the other cancers considered--malignant melanoma, large bowel cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, and other cancers--the relative risk estimate was 1.3 or less and compatible with a value of 1.0. The present data provide little support for an association of vasectomy with the risk of prostatic cancer or other cancers. In addition, the data from two sets of cases of prostatic cancer and controls interviewed consecutively illustrate that increased relative risks detected in screening for statistically significant associations may tend to have an upward bias and to be lower in subsequent data.
On the streamwise vortices in trailing edge modified supersonic jets

In our previous work, an aspect ratio 3 rectangular nozzle with design Mach number 2 was used to investigate the effects of trailing edge modifications on mixing enhancement at the fully expanded jet Mach numbers 1.75,2.0, and 2.5. The investigation of mixing and interaction between mixing layers and vortices was performed by the laser sheet illumination technique. Substantial mixing enhancement was achieved with no thrust penalty in underexpanded flow regimes. However, mixing enhancement was not significant in the other flow regimes. In the present work, the investigation of major source of streamwise vorticity was carried out through surface flow visualizations and wall pressure measurements. In the underexpanded flow regime, a pair of streamwise vortices generated by each modified trailing edge. The major source of streamwise vorticity was determined to be the spanwise surface pressure gradient on the modification. On the other hand, in the overexpanded flow regime, the major source of streamwise vorticity was unclear, not only due to the complex natures of the flow, including flow separation within the nozzle, but also due to unidentifiable vortices.
Transparent Shading Device as Daylighting System

Most shading device systems installed in windows or glass walls are used only for protection from overheating and glare, neglecting other possible functions, such as increasing the daylight level in the space or collecting solar energy. The blinds are usually made of opaque or translucent materials, and if they are partially or completely closed, a direct view to the outside is blocked. A balance between a sufficient amount of daylight and protection from overheating of the space in summer is not often achieved due to inappropriate control of the blinds’ tilt angle. This paper explains research that had the purpose to study daylighting performance of a transparent shading device as part of a window system. The objective of the research was to propose a new design of transparent shading device with improved daylighting performance. A new shading device system has the triangular cross section of the blinds. Application of the clear plastic and silver reflective coating as the materials for the new blinds utilizes the principles of optical physics in the design. A case study was performed to analyze daylighting performance of the new transparent shading device system, an existing opaque system, and a patented transparent system. Daylighting performances of the three shading device systems were compared to select the system with the best performance. The paper presents results of daylighting simulation of the three systems installed in the curtain wall at a proposed office building located in Roanoke, Virginia. The output of simulation is actual values of illuminance and luminance in the space obtained by the application of the different shading device systems. Comparison of the daylighting performance for the three shading device systems showed that the new system seemed to provide the highest level of daylight in the space, given the limitations of this study. Being made of transparent material, the new shading device system also provides transparency of the window/curtain wall.
Growth and Differentiation of Daphnia Mana Es in vitro.

In the course of some ultra-centrifuging experiments there arose the need of rearing the parthenogenetic eggs of Cladocera in vitro. A review of the literature revealed no record of the successful growth of eggs of this group of animals outside the brood-chamber of the mother. We have succeeded in rearing the eggs of Daphnia magna in tissue culture slides and inasmuch as the embryos are transparent, this enabled us to make observations on some of the sequence of events in the course of the development of the embryos without the necessity of staining and sectioning.A number of different media were used in an endeavor to grow Daphnia magna eggs in vitro. A modified Ringer's solution utilized successfully for physiological work on isolated organs of Cladocera by Levy,1 proved injurious to the eggs. The growth of eggs in a medium consisting of the fluid obtained from the brood-chamber of animals in which there were developing eggs showed no advantage over a simpler medium consisting of sterile pond water. Thi...
A TENTATIVE DISCUSSION ON DETECTION TECHNOLOGY OF COAL SEAM GOAF IN A TUNNEL

This paper first describes the adverse effect of coal seam goaf in tunnel on tunnel construction and operation,and then compares advantages and disadvantages of various geophysical technologies in the light of specific work space of the tunnel.GPR technology which has a strong anti-interference capability and high efficiency is adopted to detect the coal seam goaf.Combined with several engineering examples,this paper analyzes the coal seam goaf detection in high risk tunnel by using GPR technology,and verifies the validity and accuracy of GPR.
Automated Assessment of Surgical Skills Using Frequency Analysis

We present an automated framework for visual assessment of the expertise level of surgeons using the OSATS Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills criteria. Video analysis techniques for extracting motion quality via frequency coefficients are introduced. The framework is tested on videos of medical students with different expertise levels performing basic surgical tasks in a surgical training lab setting. We demonstrate that transforming the sequential time data into frequency components effectively extracts the useful information differentiating between different skill levels of the surgeons. The results show significant performance improvements using DFT and DCT coefficients over known state-of-the-art techniques.
Pattern Recognition with Optics

Publisher Summary This chapter addresses some of the basic architectures, techniques, and algorithms that have been applied to pattern recognition. There are two approaches in the optical implementation of pattern recognition the correlation approach and the neural net approach. In the correlation approach, there are two frequently used architectures: the Vander Lugt correlator (VLC) and the joint-transform correlator (JTC). The pros and cons of each approach are discussed in this chapter. Due to the availability of phase-modulating spatial light modulators (SLMs), phase-encoded inputs to a JTC are relatively convenient to implement. The JTC has higher space-bandwidth product, lower carrier frequency, higher index modulation, and suitability for real-time implementation, but also displays inefficient use of illumination and a required larger transform lens, stringent spatial coherence, and small size of the joint-transform spectrum. By continually updating two sequential input scenes that display side-by-side at the input domain of a JTC, it is possible to track a moving target. Recent advances in photorefractive (PR) materials have stimulated interest in phase-conjugate correlators for pattern recognition. Although SLMs can be used to display complex spatial filters, current state-of-the-art SLMs is low-resolution and low-capacity devices. Neural networks can also be used for pattern recognition.
Singlet Fission via an Excimer-Like Intermediate in 3,6-Bis(thiophen-2-yl)diketopyrrolopyrrole Derivatives

Singlet fission (SF) in polycrystalline thin films of four 3,6-bis(thiophen-2-yl)diketopyrrolopyrrole (TDPP) chromophores with methyl (Me), n-hexyl (C6), triethylene glycol (TEG), and 2-ethylhexyl (EH) substituents at the 2,5-positions is found to involve an intermediate excimer-like state. The four different substituents yield four distinct intermolecular packing geometries, resulting in variable intermolecular charge transfer (CT) interactions in the solid. SF from the excimer state of Me, C6, TEG, and EH takes place in τSF = 22, 336, 195, and 1200 ps, respectively, to give triplet yields of 200%, 110%, 110%, and 70%, respectively. The transient spectra of the excimer-like state and its energetic proximity to the lowest excited singlet state in these derivatives suggests that this state may be the multiexciton 1(T1T1) state that precedes formation of the uncorrelated triplet excitons. The excimer decay rates correlate well with the SF efficiencies and the degree of intermolecular donor–acceptor interact...
Image Processing and Analysis of PET and Hybrid PET Imaging

PET imaging is a main diagnostic modality of different diseases including cancer. In the particular case of cancer, PET is widely used for staging of disease progression, identification of the treatment gross tumor volume, monitoring of disease, as well as prediction of outcomes and personalization of treatment regimens. Among the arsenal of different functional imaging modalities, PET has benefited from early adoption of quantitative image analysis starting from simple standard uptake value (SUV) normalization to more advanced extraction of complex imaging uptake patterns, thanks chiefly to the application of sophisticated image processing algorithms. In this chapter, we discuss the application of image processing techniques to PET imaging with special focus on the oncological radiotherapy domain starting from basic feature extraction to application in target definition using image segmentation/registration and more recent image-based outcome modeling in the radiomics field. We further extend the discussion into hybrid anatomical functional combinations of PET/CT and PET/MR multimodalities.
Modeling Touch and Palpation Using Autoregressive Models

Objective: The human haptic system uses a set of reproducible and subconscious hand maneuvers to identify objects. Similar subconscious maneuvers are used during medical palpation for screening and diagnosis. The goal of this work was to develop a mathematical model that can be used to describe medical palpation techniques. Methods: Palpation data were measured using a two-dimensional array of force sensors. A novel algorithm for estimating the hand position from force data was developed. The hand position data were then modeled using multivariate autoregressive models. Analysis of these models provided palpation direction and frequency as well as palpation type. The models were tested and validated using three different data sets: simulated data, a simplified experiment in which participant followed a known pattern, and breast simulator palpation data. Results: Simulated data showed that the minimal error in estimating palpation direction and frequency is achieved when the sampling frequency is five to ten times the palpation frequency. The classification accuracy was $99\%$ for the simplified experiment and $73\%$ for the breast simulator data. Conclusion: Proper palpation is one of the vital components of many hands-on clinical examinations. In this study, an algorithm for characterizing medical palpation was developed. The algorithm measured palpation frequency and direction for the first time and provided classification of palpation type. Significance: These newly developed models can be used for quantifying and assessing clinical technique, and consequently, lead to improved performance in palpation-based exams. Furthermore, they provide a general tool for the study of human haptics.
Pancreatic metastasis from an osseous solitary fibrous tumour

A 73-year-old man presented with a right-sided chest wall mass that showed an epitheloid neoplasm with mild cytologic atypia on core needle biopsy. He underwent surgical resection, and final pathology revealed solitary fibrous tumour/hemangiopericytoma with negative margins. Three years after surgical resection, the patient presented with fatigue, abdominal pain, weight loss and mildly elevated liver function tests. Further workup revealed a 1.2 cm hypervascular mass in the neck of the pancreas. This case report summarises the surgical treatment and outcomes for a patient who presented with this rare tumour.
Values and worries of ovarian cancer patients

Abstract Introduction Older women with ovarian cancer (OC) are less likely to receive guideline concordant treatment. Differences in values and worries about treatment may explain why. Methods Women with OC in 2013–2015 were surveyed about values and worries at the time of initial treatment. Existing values (11 item, e.g., maintaining quality of life) and worries (12 items, e.g., treatment side effects) scales were adapted based on OC literature. Responses were very/somewhat/a little/not at all important or worried. Principal Component Analyses (PCA) identified groups of values and worries that best explained scales' variation. We examined proportions reporting very/somewhat important/worried on ≥1 item in each component by age (older ≥65years, younger Results Of 170 respondents, 42.3% were older. PCA components for values were: functional well-being (3 survey items, proportion of variance explained [PoVE] 26.3%), length of life and sexual functioning (3 items, PoVE 20.1%), attitudes (3 items, PoVE 14.2%), and not becoming a burden (2 items, PoVE 13.7%). PCA components for worries were: economic (4 items, PoVE 27.2%), uncertainty (6 items, PoVE 26.0%), and family impact (2 items, PoVE 16.3%). Older women were less likely to indicate very/somewhat worried to ≥1 item in the economic (51.4% vs 72.4%, p =0.006), uncertainty (80.6% vs. 98.0%, p =0.001), and family impact component (55.6% vs. 70.4%, p =0.03). No other age differences were found. Conclusions While worry during OC treatment decision-making may differ across age groups, values do not. Research should assess how differences in worry might affect OC medical decision-making for older and younger women.
Composite Conical Shells

Conical shells of isotropic materials were treated in Chapter 5 earlier. In that chapter the classical theory was used, and no thermoelastic considerations were included.
Exploiting probabilistic relationships between action concepts for complex event classification

Videos of complex events are difficult to represent solely as bags of low level features. Increasingly, supervised concepts or attributes are being employed as the intermediate representation of such videos. We propose a probabilistic framework that models the conditional relationships between the concepts and events and devise an approximate yet tractable solution to infer the posterior distribution to perform event classification. Using noisy outputs of pre-trained concept detectors, we learn semantic and visual dependencies between event and concept pairs. The co-occurrence between concept pairs is also learned as a marginal over training samples. The proposed method then employs the learned prior, as well as the probabilities of occurrence of specific concepts in a test video to infer the probability of each event using weighted average one-dependence estimation. The evaluation shows that our method improves event classification compared to recent literature on the TRECVID data set.
Post-silking Factor Consequences for N Efficiency Changes Over 38 Years of Commercial Maize Hybrids

Hybrid selection in maize (Zea mays L.) over the decades has increased post-silking dry matter (PostDM) and nitrogen (PostN) accumulation, often with an accompanying increase in one or more N use efficiency (NUE) metrics such as partial factor productivity (PFP), N conversion efficiency (NCE), and N internal efficiency (NIE). More certainty on the underlying mechanisms of how PostDM and PostN changes over time have contributed to NUE gains or losses in modern-era hybrids can only be realized by directly comparing hybrids of different eras in the context of production-system-relevant management systems. A two-year and two-location field study was conducted in Indiana with two N rates (55 and 220 kg N ha-1), three plant densities (54,000, 79,000, and 104,000 plants ha-1) and eight commercial hybrids that were released by a single seed company from 1967 to 2005. The main treatment effects of N rate, density, and hybrid dominated the PostDM and PostN responses, and there were no significant two-way or three-way interactions. Total dry matter at maturity gains averaged 80 kg ha-1 year-1 of hybrid release when averaged over locations, plant densities and N rates. Total N contents at maturity increased 0.68 kg ha-1 year-1, primarily due to annual increases in grain N content (0.8 kg ha-1 year-1). Post-silking N uptake rate increased 0.44 kg ha-1 year-1 for these era hybrids in more favorable production site-years. Slopes of grain N concentration increases per unit PostN gain were similar for all hybrids. Gains in average PFP over time were considerably higher at the low N rate (0.9 kg ha-1 year-1) than at the high N rate (0.3 kg kg-1 year-1). Hybrid gains in NIE were evident from 1967 to 1994, but not thereafter. The low N rate and higher plant densities also increased relative NIE and NCE values, but without hybrid interactions. There was no consistent trend of NIE or NCE gains in these hybrids primarily because grain and whole-plant N concentrations didn't decline over the decades at either N rate, and because NIE and NCE were often plant-density dependent.
Uncertainty-Related Example Explaining Why Calculus Is Useful: Example of the Mean Value Theorem

Students learn better when they understand why they need to learn the specific material, why this material is useful in their own discipline. In this chapter, we show how to explain usefulness of simple calculus results to engineering and science students – on the example of such a seemingly theoretical result as the Mean Value Theorem. It turns out that this result is very useful in problems with interval uncertainty.