cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Deterministic generators and games for LTL fragments

Deciding infinite two-player games on finite graphs with the winning condition specified by a linear temporal logic (LTL) formula is known to be 2EXPTIME-complete. In this paper, we identify LTL fragments of lower complexity. Solving LTL games typically involves a doubly-exponential translation from LTL formulas to deterministic /spl omega/-automata. First, we show that the longest distance (length of the longest simple path) of the generator is also an important parameter, by giving an O(d log n)-space procedure to solve a Buchi game on a graph with n vertices and longest distance d. Then, for the LTL fragment with only eventualities and conjunctions, we provide a translation to deterministic generators of exponential size and linear longest distance, show both of these bounds to be optimal and prove the corresponding games to be PSPACE-complete. Introducing "next" modalities in this fragment, we provide a translation to deterministic generators that is still of exponential size but also with exponential longest distance, show both bounds to be optimal and prove the corresponding games to be EXPTIME-complete. For the fragment resulting by further adding disjunctions, we provide a translation to deterministic generators of doubly-exponential size and exponential longest distance, show both bounds to be optimal and prove the corresponding games to be EXPSPACE. Finally, we show tightness of the double-exponential bound on the size as well as the longest distance for deterministic generators for LTL, even in the absence of "next" and "until" modalities.
Band Gap Opening of Graphene after UV/Ozone and Oxygen Plasma Treatments

Graphene grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) on nickel subsrate is oxidized by means of oxygen plasma and UV/Ozone treatments to introduce bandgap opening in graphene. The degree of band gap opening is proportional to the degree of oxidation on the graphene. This result is analyzed and confirmed by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy/Spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy measurements. Compared to conventional wet-oxidation methods, oxygen plasma and UV/Ozone treatments do not require harsh chemicals to perform, allow faster oxidation rates, and enable site-specific oxidation. These features make oxygen plasma and UV/Ozone treatments ideal candidates to be implemented in high-throughput fabrication of graphene-based microelectronics.
Exploring College Students' Online Help-Seeking Behavior in a Flipped Classroom with a Web-Based Help-Seeking Tool.

Today’s generation often seeks help from each other in online environments; however, only a few have investigated the role of Internet technologies and the nature of online help-seeking behaviour in collaborative learning environments. This paper presents an educational design research project that examines college students’ online help-seeking behaviour. The context was a large-enrollment science course that implemented a form of blended instruction – the flipped classroom. This paper proposes design guidelines for promoting help-seeking and discusses the application of these principles in the design of a web-based help-seeking tool (EchoLu). The study involved three iterations of implementation to continuously refine the web-based tool, and therefore to better address the help-seeking needs of students in the context. The revisions incorporated between iterations helped improve the embodiment of design principles and led to positive changes in students’ perceptions. The triangulated data revealed students’ interest in information-seeking as an additional form of help-seeking. The results of this study provide insight into the theories that informed the design of EchoLu and the design principles themselves. A new model illustrating processes involved in online help-seeking is discussed, and an emergent principle for online help-seeking is suggested.
Characteristics of hospice care discharges: United States, 1993-94.

Objective This report presents data on hospice care discharges. Numbers and percents of discharges are shown by selected characteristics of the agencies from which the patients were discharged, by selected patient characteristics, by services provided, by types of personnel that provided the services, and by diagnoses of these discharged patients. Methods The data used for this report are from the National Center for Health Statistics' 1994 National Home and Hospice Care Survey. This is an annual survey through which data are collected on the use of hospices and home health care agencies in the United States. Results There were an estimated 328,000 discharges from hospice care from 1,300 hospices and home health agencies in 1993-94. Death was the reason for discharge for 88 percent of the discharges. Fifty-two percent of the discharges were for men, 73 percent were for patients 65 years of age and over, 79 percent were white, 49 percent were married, and 30 percent were widowed. Eighty-three percent of the discharged patients were living in a private or semiprivate residence during their care and 95 percent had a primary caregiver. During the last time service was provided prior to discharge, 67 percent received help from the agency with at least one activity of daily living (ADL), 53 percent with at least one instrumental activity of daily living (IADL), and 30 percent with walking. These discharges had an average of 2.2 diagnoses at admission; 69 percent had a primary diagnosis of a malignant neoplasm; and 8 percent had a primary diagnosis of heart disease.
Integrated anchor and social link predictions across social networks

To enjoy more social network services, users nowadays are usually involved in multiple online social media sites at the same time. Across these social networks, users can be connected by both intranetwork links (i.e., social links) and inter-network links (i.e., anchor links) simultaneously. In this paper, we want to predict the formation of social links among users in the target network as well as anchor links aligning the target network with other external social networks. The problem is formally defined as the "collective link identification" problem. To solve the collective link identification problem, a unified link prediction framework, CLF (Collective Link Fusion) is proposed in this paper, which consists of two phases: step (1) collective link prediction of anchor and social links, and step (2) propagation of predicted links across the partially aligned "probabilistic networks" with collective random walk. Extensive experiments conducted on two real-world partially aligned networks demonstrate that CLF can perform very well in predicting social and anchor links concurrently.
DBC Switch Module for Management of Temperature and Noise in 220-W/in3 Power Assembly

Achieving high power density is a challenge in the presence of stringent specifications on temperature rise and switching noise. Integration of the DBC module with PCB mother board was found to be the right approach to achieve 220-W/in3 power density, 2-kW output power, and 48.9°C junction-temperature rise. The reduced layout inductance (2.89-nH) at the source and the negative coupling between source and drain layout inductances suppressed turn-off noise. The prototyped dc-dc boost converter switched between 400 kHz to 1 MHz without self-turn-on problems and efficiency was 98.4 % by employing DBC switch module.
Carcinogen-DNA and Protein Adducts as Intermediate Biomarkers for Human Chemoprotection Trials

Our rapidly expanding understanding of the progressive processes of carcinogenesis provides opportunities for the identification of molecular biological markers reflecting events from carcinogen exposure through clinical cancer. A joint committee of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council1 has developed a useful conceptual framework for these processes and is shown in an adapted form in Figure 1. This model groups molecular biomarkers into sets reflective of internal dose, biologically effective dose (dose to critical macromolecules), early biological effect, altered structure/function, and clinical disease as well as those reflecting underlying susceptibility factors. In more general terms, molecular biological markers can be considered to fall into broad categories of markers of exposure, biological effect, and susceptibility. Markers of exposure reflect exposure levels to toxic agents, markers of effect indicate a biological response to an exposure, and markers of susceptibility provide information about the inherent sensitivity of an individual to a toxic agent. By definition some of these markers are chemical-agent specific, such as a carcinogen-DNA or protein adduct, while others are biological-process specific, such as the altered expression of an oncogene protein.
Precision enhancement of pavement roughness localization with connected vehicles

Transportation agencies rely on the accurate localization and reporting of roadway anomalies that could pose serious hazards to the traveling public. However, the cost and technical limitations of present methods prevent their scaling to all roadways. Connected vehicles with on-board accelerometers and conventional geospatial position receivers offer an attractive alternative because of their potential to monitor all roadways in real-time. The conventional global positioning system is ubiquitous and essentially free to use but it produces impractically large position errors. This study evaluated the improvement in precision achievable by augmenting the conventional geo-fence system with a standard speed bump or an existing anomaly at a pre-determined position to establish a reference inertial marker. The speed sensor subsequently generates position tags for the remaining inertial samples by computing their path distances relative to the reference position. The error model and a case study using smartphones to emulate connected vehicles revealed that the precision in localization improves from tens of metres to sub-centimetre levels, and the accuracy of measuring localized roughness more than doubles. The research results demonstrate that transportation agencies will benefit from using the connected vehicle method to achieve precision and accuracy levels that are comparable to existing laser-based inertial profilers.
Sensitive and selective detection of alcohols via fluorescence modulation

AbstractReported herein is the selective detection of aliphatic alcohols using cyclodextrin-promoted, proximity-induced fluorescence modulation of a high-quantum yield fluorophore. This fluorescence modulation occurred when the analyte was held in close proximity to the fluorophore via non-covalent cyclodextrin–analyte–fluorophore interactions, and led to unique modulation responses for each analyte, fluorophore and cyclodextrin investigated. These changes in fluorescence were used for the generation of an array using linear discriminant analysis that successfully generated unique pattern identifiers for 99% of the investigated analytes, and could detect alcohols at micromolar concentrations. These results represent a fundamentally new detection approach for these challenging analytes, and have significant potential in the development of novel detection schemes.
Development of Double-cantilever Infrared Focal Plane Arrays: Fabrication and Post-process Curvature Modification

Uncooled double-cantilever microbolometers have the potential of reaching a noise-equivalent temperature difference (NETD) approaching the theoretical limit and thus have gained increasing interest. Each pixel of the device consists of two overlapping bimaterial cantilevers that deflect in opposite directions as their temperature rises due to the absorption of incident infrared radiation. This paper reports recent progress in the development of these double-cantilever focal plane arrays (FPAs), including fabrication and post-process curvature modification.
Pharmacological Effects of Anthranilic Hydroxamic Acid and Certain Other Hydroxamic Acids

SummaryThe hydroxamate of anthranilic acid injected intraperitoneally into rats in a dose of 1.0 mg/g causes anesthesia lasting 10 hours or more. Recovery is apparently complete. One half this dose causes tranquilization and suppression of the conditioned avoidance response. The compound protects mice against twice the lethal dose of strychnine. It merely prolongs the life of animals given metrazol or picrotoxin. A dose of 1.0 g/kg injected intravenously in a dog has no effect on heart rate, EKG or blood pressure and only minor effects on respiration. Equivalent amounts of the hydroxamates of salicylic and benzoic acids have none of the pharmacological effects.Our thanks are due to Mr. W. J. Novick and Dr. E. M. Scarpelli for assistance in this study.
Hyperglycemia Induces Toll-Like Receptor Activity Through Increased Oxidative Stress.

Abstract Hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress and inflammation are central in the genesis of diabetic vascular complications. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a crucial role in promoting inflammatory responses and are known to be activated in diabetic patients. Also in animal models, they have been shown to have a role in the pathogenesis of diabetic vasculopathies. However, the mechanisms underlying this increase in TLR activity in diabetes are not well documented. Since increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) are also produced in various tissues under diabetic conditions, we postulated that ROS act as a potential activator of TLR. Several studies support our hypothesis that hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress appears to be an important factor in promoting TLR activity in monocytes, both microvascular and macrovascular endothelial cells and cardiomyocytes and in animal models. Most importantly, the increase in ROS and TLR activity is ameliorated with antioxidant strategies. Thus, targeting ROS/NADPH ...
The Availability of Substances in Adolescence: Influences in Emerging Adulthood

This study examines the availability of substances in the home during adolescence and its influence on substance use in young adulthood. Data are drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The final sample consisted of approximately 15,000 cases from Waves 1, 3, and 4. Multivariate analyses indicate that the availability of substances in the home affects young adult substance use and substance use in later young adulthood. We also find that the availability of substances in the home during adolescence is associated with an earlier age at first substance use. This study offers further evidence for understanding how the home environment affects substance use behavior among young adults. In this case, exposure to substances in adolescence, and their easy availability, increase the likelihood of substance use in adolescence and increases use in young adulthood.
flow cytometry versus urinary cytology in the evaluation of patients with bladder cancer

AbstractWe compared the roles of urinary cytology and flow cytometry in the evaluation of patients with bladder cancer in clinical practice situations at a large general hospital. Specimens included 105 bladder washings from patients being followed for urothelial carcinomas and 28 control washings from individuals undergoing cystoscopy for other reasons. Flow cytometry and cytology were performed on aliquots of the same specimen in all bladder cancer samples. When carcinoma was present at the time of specimen collection it was detected by positive cytology in 75 per cent and deoxyribonucleic acid aneuploidy in 78 per cent of the cases. Combination of flow cytometry and urinary cytology increased the diagnostic yield to 95 per cent.Flow cytometry was slightly more sensitive than urinary cytology for detection of abnormalities in specimens from noninvasive and untreated tumors but the only statistically significant difference between the 2 procedures occurred among specimens from treated invasive cancers in...
Understanding the effects of a self-directed exercise program on depressive symptoms among adults with arthritis through serial mediation analyses

Abstract The burden of comorbid depression among adults with arthritis is of concern. The purpose of this study is to understand how a self-directed exercise intervention among adults with arthritis exerted its effects on depressive symptoms by performing serial mediation analyses. Methods Participants were randomized to a self-directed exercise program or to self-directed nutrition program (control). Self-reported physical activity, arthritis symptoms (pain, stiffness, fatigue), disability, and depressive symptoms were measured at baseline and 12 weeks. Serial mediation models were conducted to examine the indirect effects of the exercise intervention on changes in depressive symptoms through changes in physical activity and changes in arthritis symptoms/disability (i.e., intervention group→increased physical activity → decreased arthritis symptoms/disability → decreased depressive symptoms). Results A total of 315 participants with complete data were included in these analyses. Results from the serial mediation models found significant indirect effects of the exercise intervention on decreases in depressive symptoms through (1) increases in physical activity and decreases in pain, and (2) increases in physical activity and decreases in disability. There were no significant indirect effects through (1) increases in physical activity and decreases in fatigue, or (2) increases in physical activity and decreases in stiffness. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of physical activity in reducing depressive symptoms, and the means by which it helps (i.e., reducing pain and disability). Understanding these pathways may help researchers design more efficacious interventions.
Avoiding and alleviating guilt through prosocial behavior.

Publisher Summary Prosocial behavior is generally defined as encompassing actions that are voluntary and that specifically benefit another person. Feelings of guilt motivate individuals to engage in prosocial actions that mend, repair, or remedy damaged relationships once transgressions occur. These guilt feelings also help individuals avoid behaviors that threaten or damage relationships. Prosocial behaviors benefit both the victim and the perpetrator in that the victim benefits from reparative acts and both the victim and perpetrator benefit from strengthened social bonds. Expressions of guilt and reparative acts show that the transgressor values the relationship. Such findings have implications for how to facilitate, teach, and promote prosocial behavior in children as well as how to create a social climate that supports prosocial behavior among adults. Recent research demonstrates that feelings of guilt play an important role in the initiation, development, and maintenance of important personal relationships. Although chronic guilt is unhealthy, pre-dispositional guilt may be an indispensible ingredient in a healthy social life.
On the learning benefits of confidence-weighted testing

Taking multiple-choice practice tests with competitive incorrect alternatives can enhance performance on related but different questions appearing on a later cued-recall test (Little et al., Psychol Sci 23:1337-1344, 2012). This benefit of multiple-choice testing, which does not occur when the practice test is a cued-recall test, appears attributable to participants attempting to retrieve not only why the correct alternative is correct but also why the other alternatives are incorrect. The present research was designed to examine whether a confidence-weighted multiple-choice format in which test-takers were allowed to indicate their relative confidence in the correctness of one alternative compared with the others (Bruno, J Econ Educ 20:5-22, 1989; Bruno, Item banking: Interactive testing and self-assessment: Volume 112 of NATO ASI Series, pp. 190-209, 1993) might increase the extent to which participants engaged in such productive retrievals. In two experiments, such confidence-weighted practice tests led to greater benefits in the ability of test-takers to answer new but related questions than did standard multiple-choice practice tests. These results point to ways to make multiple-choice testing a more powerful tool for learning.
Young people’s perceptions of advice about sexual risk taking

AbstractSexual and reproductive health indicators for young people in the USA have improved in recent decades, but teenage pregnancies remain high, and large differences between Whites and non-Whites persist in teenage births, abortions, and the acquisition of sexually transmitted infections. Prior research shows that young people are receptive to communication about sex from parents and friends, but peers have been found to be more influential on sexual risk taking. In this study of 617 young people aged 13–20 years in high-risk neighbourhoods for teenage pregnancy in New Jersey, we asked whether sexually inexperienced young people differed from sexually experienced young people in their level of receptivity to the recommendations from their parents, friends, and others about whether to have sex before marriage and whether to use a condom if sexually active. The results showed that the sexually inexperienced were more receptive to messages from figures of authority in their life than those sexually exper...
Work, worksites, and wellbeing among North American Indian women: a qualitative study

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to understand what factors influenced work-family balance and related health behaviors among a sample of rural North American Indian women. We interviewed 89 women through both in-depth interviews and focus groups across four tribal communities in the American Southwest and Upper Midwest between July 2010 and August 2011. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for emerging themes related to work- family demands placed on women and resources available to cope with those demands. Three prominent themes emerged: structural characteristics (the context of rural reservation life), role stressors (women’s multiple and conflicting roles) and the influence of social support (communal nature of care in the family and institutional support in the workplace). We found that women in participating rural reservation communities often acted as primary caregivers for both immediate and extended family, and often placed the needs of others before themselves. The context of r...
Nurses’ work with interruptions: an objective model for testing interventions

Interruptions experienced by nurses may lead to errors as their focus and attention to multiple patient needs are disrupted. As quantitative models to understand the dynamics of interruptions are lacking, the objective of this study is a model of a nurse’s work with interruptions, generating insights into the onset of interruptions and evaluating suggested interventions. We observed nurses in a US Level I trauma center for 47.3 h, including 259 interruptions (9.1% of total time) across 580 nursing activities. A stochastic, non-stationary, model of a nurse’s work was developed considering source and activity-dependent interruptions, with parameters clustered across similar periods of day. Two interventions emulating ‘do not disturb’ strategies were evaluated, along with a more focused intervention from suggestions that nurses’ phone calls be ‘triaged’. Modeled outcomes included the increase in interruptions in other activities due to deferment and changes to the beneficial/detrimental interruption (B/D) ratio. Across-the-board sequestering of nurses by deferring interruptions during medication increased the B/D ratio 17% (1.35 vs. 1.58), but resulted in an unforeseen 73% (1.04/h vs. 1.80/h) increase in interruptions during direct care. In contrast, the focused intervention (deferring only those interruptions arriving via cell phone during medication and direct care), netted a 31% improvement in the B/D ratio (1.29 vs. 1.69) and with moderated (< 0.13/h) impact on interruptions during other activities. Modeling the dynamics of the onset of interruptions reveals the potentially negative impact of across-the-board interventions, and the advantage of focused interventions anticipating unmet needs before they present as interruptions.
Switch I-dependent allosteric signaling in a G-protein chaperone-B12 enzyme complex.

G-proteins regulate various processes ranging from DNA replication and protein synthesis to cytoskeletal dynamics and cofactor assimilation and serve as models for uncovering strategies deployed for allosteric signal transduction. MeaB is a multifunctional G-protein chaperone, which gates loading of the active 5′-deoxyadenosylcobalamin cofactor onto methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MCM) and precludes loading of inactive cofactor forms. MeaB also safeguards MCM, which uses radical chemistry, against inactivation and rescues MCM inactivated during catalytic turnover by using the GTP-binding energy to offload inactive cofactor. The conserved switch I and II signaling motifs used by G-proteins are predicted to mediate allosteric regulation in response to nucleotide binding and hydrolysis in MeaB. Herein, we targeted conserved residues in the MeaB switch I motif to interrogate the function of this loop. Unexpectedly, the switch I mutations had only modest effects on GTP binding and on GTPase activity and did not perturb stability of the MCM–MeaB complex. However, these mutations disrupted multiple MeaB chaperone functions, including cofactor editing, loading, and offloading. Hence, although residues in the switch I motif are not essential for catalysis, they are important for allosteric regulation. Furthermore, single-particle EM analysis revealed, for the first time, the overall architecture of the MCM–MeaB complex, which exhibits a 2:1 stoichiometry. These EM studies also demonstrate that the complex exhibits considerable conformational flexibility. In conclusion, the switch I element does not significantly stabilize the MCM–MeaB complex or influence the affinity of MeaB for GTP but is required for transducing signals between MeaB and MCM.
Martensite Nucleation in Substitutional Iron Alloys

Nucleation theory is applied to martensite nucleation in substitutional iron alloys. Composition fluctuarions are neglected, and a steady rate of nucleation is predicted for any composition and temperature. The maximum rate of nucleation (as a function of temperature) is shown to be measurable only for an extremefy narrow composition range, being too great or too small outside this range. A number of experimental observations, including completely isothermal transformation in some alloys and composition-dependence of M 8 temperature in others, are compared with the calculated behavior.
Application of a novel new multispectral nanoparticle tracking technique

Fast, reliable, and accurate particle size analysis techniques must meet the demands of evolving industrial and academic research in areas of functionalized nanoparticle synthesis, advanced materials development, and other nanoscale enabled technologies. In this study a new multispectral particle tracking analysis (m-PTA) technique enabled by the ViewSizer™ 3000 (MANTA Instruments, USA) was evaluated using solutions of monomodal and multimodal gold and polystyrene latex nanoparticles, as well as a spark eroded polydisperse 316L stainless steel nanopowder, and large (non-Brownian) borosilicate particles. It was found that m-PTA performed comparably to the DLS in evaluation of monomodal particle size distributions. When measuring bimodal, trimodal and polydisperse solutions, the m-PTA technique overwhelmingly outperformed traditional dynamic light scattering (DLS) in both peak detection and relative particle concentration analysis. It was also observed that the m-PTA technique is less susceptible to large particle overexpression errors. The ViewSizer™ 3000 was also found to be successful in accurately evaluating sizes and concentrations of monomodal and bimodal sinking borosilicate particles.
Mitochondrial Genomes of Anthozoa (Cnidaria)

The complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial (mt) DNA molecules of the sea anemone, Metridium senile , and the sea pansy, Renilla kolikeri , have been analyzed. Both of these anthozoan mtDNAs contain genes for the same thirteen proteins and two rRNAs found in most other metazoan mtDNAs. However, only two and one tRNAs are encoded in M. senile and R. kolikeri mtDNAs, respectively. In M. senile mtDNA, two protein genes each contain a group I intron, and in R. kolikeri mtDNA, an extra gene for a protein with homology to a bacterial mismatch repair protein occurs. In these anthozoan mtDNAs: the only deviation from the standard genetic code is the use of TGA to specify tryptophan; all of the thirteen protein genes begin with ATG codons, and end with a complete codon; the one or two tRNAs that are encoded have a near-standard structure, and encoded s-rRNAs and l-rRNAs are closer in size and secondary structure potential to the homologous E. coli rRNAs than are any other metazoan mt-rRNAs. These observations suggest that almost all of the genetic novelties found in other metazoan mtDNAs arose after the cnidarian ancestral line diverged from the line that is common to all other present day Metazoa.
A refined method for digitally modeling small and complex plant structures in 3D: An example from the grasses (Poaceae).

Premise of the Study A refined procedure is described for modeling small, intricate plant structures using computer-aided design software. The procedure facilitates the study of wind pollination in the family Poaceae and provides virtual biological illustrations for public outreach. Methods and Results Spikelets were fixed in gFAA, dehydrated using ethanol and xylene, embedded in paraffin wax, and then sectioned with a rotary microtome. Images of serial sections were used as a reference for modeling the shape of bracts with splines in a computer-aided design program. Virtual models produced by this method have many potential uses; examples include geometric morphometric analyses and simulations of computational fluid dynamics. Conclusions This protocol is a synthesis of modern biological illustration and engineering technology. Virtual models facilitate quantitative experiments that may address questions about reproductive biology, conditions shaping the form of anatomical support, or the morphological evolution of structures of biomechanical interest.
A Kinetic Model for Predicting Polymeric Neutron Shieldings Lifetime

Polymers are widely used in radioactive material transport/storage casks. Their neutron shielding ability relies mostly on their concentrations in hydrogen atoms which slow down neutrons. However, in-service high temperatures are responsible for H abstraction decreasing polymers shielding capability. Therefore, their long-term properties must be accurately predicted. In this regard, a multi-year R&D program has been set up to elucidate oxidation mechanisms of neutron shielding materials and develop a nonempirical lifetime prediction methodology. This paper deals with accelerated aging tests and modeling of a vinylester based neutron shielding product, commercially known as TN Vyal B™. Samples are exposed to various temperatures up to 160 °C and O2 partial pressure and analyzed using various experimental techniques. Basically, thin free films are fully oxidized while thick samples show the diffusion-limited oxidation (DLO): a superficial layer is oxidized whereas the core is not affected. Therefore, to investigate the long-term properties, it is obvious that DLO phenomenon must be taken into account by coupling both oxidation kinetic and oxygen diffusion. In our case, there is a good agreement between simulated weight losses and oxidation thicknesses. Based on degradation assessment and design temperature of dry storage casks, TN Vyal B™ excellent resistance can be confirmed.
Cardiovascular Parameters in a Swine Model of Normobaric Hypoxia Treated With 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-Furfural (5-HMF)

Introduction The consequences of low partial pressure of O2 include low arterial O2 saturations (SaO2), low blood O2 content (CaO2), elevated mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP), and decreased O2 consumption VO2. 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (5-HMF) binds to the N-terminal valine of hemoglobin (HgB) and increases its affinity to O2. We used an instrumented, sedated swine model to study the effect of 5-HMF on cardiovascular parameters during exposure to acute normobaric hypoxia (NH). Methods Twenty-three sedated and instrumented swine were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups and received equal volume of normal saline (VEH), 20 mg/kg 5-HMF (5-HMF-20) or 40 mg/kg 5-HMF (5-HMF-40). Animals then breathed 10% FiO2 for 120 min. Parameters recorded were Cardiac Output (CO), Mean Arterial Blood Pressure (MAP), Heart Rate (HR), Mean Pulmonary Artery Pressure (PAP), SaO2 and saturation of mixed venous blood (SvO2). The P50 was measured at fixed time intervals prior to and during NH. Results 5-HMF decreased P50. In the first 30 min of NH, treatment with 5-HMF-20 and 5-HMF-40 resulted in a (1) significantly smaller decrement in SaO2 and SvO2, (2) significantly lower HR and CO, and (3) smaller increase in PAP compared to VEH. In the 120 min of NH there was a trend toward improved mortality with 5-HMF treatment. Conclusion 5-HMF treatment decreased P50, improved SaO2, and mitigated increases in PAP in this swine model of NH.
Effect of Bilateral Nephrectomy and Bilateral Ureteral Ligation on Serum Gastrin Levels in the Rat

Serum gastrin activity was determined in rats 48 hr after bilateral nephrectomy or bilateral ureteral ligation. Although both groups of rats became equally azotemic as determined by serum urea nitrogen levels, serum gastrin levels were elevated only in the rats with bilateral nephrectomies, above the levels observed in normal or sham-operated control rats. These data (1) suggest that hypergastrinemia of renal failure is related to the loss of normal functioning renal mass and is not a result of the uremic state per se, and (2) provide additional evidence supporting the role of the kidney as a major site of degradation of endogenous gastrin in the rat.
Lipoprotein apheresis for lipoprotein(a) and cardiovascular disease

Background Elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In the United States, lipoprotein apheresis (LA) therapy is approved for patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. Germany uses LA therapy for patients with an Lp(a) > 60 mg/dL, normal low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, and CVD. LA therapy in this population demonstrated a >70% reduction in CVD events. In the United States, LA is only approved for patients with elevated LDL-C levels, regardless of Lp(a) level. Objective The objective of the study was to evaluate clinical significance of Lp(a) reduction with LA therapy in the United States. Methods A retrospective cohort study at one LA site in the United States evaluated 14 CVD patients with elevated Lp(a) and near normal LDL-C levels. Patient data was analyzed to demonstrate possible clinical benefit in reducing Lp(a) levels with LA to mitigate risk of major adverse cardiovascular events. Results Pre-LA patients’ mean LDL-C and Lp(a) were 80 mg/dL and 138 mg/dL, respectively. LA therapy demonstrated a reduction of mean LDL-C to 29 mg/dL and Lp(a) to 51 mg/dL. These represent a percent reduction of 64% and 63% for LDL-C and Lp(a), respectively. There was a 94% reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events over a mean treatment period of 48 months. Conclusion The treatment of CVD patients with an elevated Lp(a) and near normal LDL-C with LA in a U.S. treatment center demonstrated a significant reduction in future CVD events. LA should be considered for patients in the United States suffering from an elevated Lp(a) and progressive CVD.
Evolution in Local Traffic Impact Assessment Practices

This study evaluates the state of traffic impact assessment (TIA) practice at the local level in North Carolina and the Washington D.C. metro area. Using semistructured interviews and surveys of st...
Neurons in Subcortical Oculomotor Regions Are Vulnerable to Plasma Membrane Damage after Repetitive Diffuse Traumatic Brain Injury in Swine.

Oculomotor deficits, such as insufficiencies in accommodation, convergence, and saccades, are common following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Previous studies in patients with mild TBI attributed th...
Snake Graphs from Triangulated Orbifolds

We give an explicit combinatorial formula for the Laurent expansion of any arc or closed curve on an unpunctured triangulated orbifold. We do this by extending the snake graph construction of Musiker, Schiffler, and Williams to unpunctured orbifolds. In the case of an ordinary arc, this gives a combinatorial proof of positivity to the generalized cluster algebra from this orbifold.
Measuring fluxes of meteor showers with the NASA All-Sky Fireball Network

Abstract We present an algorithm developed to measure the fluxes of major meteor showers as observed in NASA’s All-Sky Fireball Network cameras. Measurements of fluxes from the All-Sky cameras not only improve the Meteoroid Environment Office’s (MEO’s) ability to provide accurate risk assessments from major showers, but also allows the mass distribution of meteoroids within the shower to be constrained. This algorithm accounts for the shower-specific and event-specific exposure time and collecting area of the sky for nights where sufficiently large samples of shower meteors ( ~ 30 or more from the shower) are observed. The fluxes derived from the All-Sky Fireball Network for the 2015 Geminid, 2016 Perseid and Quadrantid, 2017 Orionid, and 2018 Leonid shower peaks are calculated. All five of these shower fluxes show excellent agreement with expectations from independent measurements at different mass and luminosity limits. For four of these five showers, the measured mass indices are significantly shallower than what is currently assumed by the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office’s (MEO’s) annual meteor shower forecast. A direct comparison between forecasted and measured fluxes at limiting masses of ~ 1 g shows good agreement for the three showers for which the observations took place near their peak activity.
Deadlines in the market for lemons

This paper studies finite-horizon bargaining games with interdependent values. A long-lived seller privately learns the quality of an indivisible good. Short-lived buyers make publicly observable offers to the seller successively until the good is sold. In the two-type case, the prices are always low and only the low-quality good is gradually traded in the unique equilibrium. With a continuum of types and linear values, we characterize asymptotic equilibrium outcomes as the time horizon increases to infinity. While the finite-horizon equilibrium dynamics can be different in these two cases, as the time horizon goes to infinity, the equilibrium outcomes in both settings converge to the bargaining impasse identified by Horner and Vieille (Econometrica 77: 29–69, 2009) in the infinite-horizon game.
Retratos, paisagens, botões: O percurso artístico de Sarah Affonso (1899-1983)

In this essay, I interpret Sarah Affono’s artistic career in light of its socio-political context in order to better understand her decision to abandon painting at the end of the 1930s. The different phases of her career change in accordance with the various phases of her country’s cultural politics and it is possible that these phases are more evident in her works due to the fact that she was a woman. Sarah Affonso’s public activity began during the second decade of the Portuguese Republic and it acquired new dimensions under the Estado Novo. While her artistic production does not explicitly reflect this change in government and the new cultural policies that conditioned styles and taste during the 1930s, it is worth recognizing that, with the change in government, new measures were taken that limited women’s freedom and rights.
Analysis of Stable Modes of a Scalable Coupled Oscillator Array

This brief proposes a scalable array of actively coupled oscillators based on vertex-shared expansion of multiple sub-arrays. We analytically prove that as a result of this proposed scaling, the expanded array preserves the stable operating modes of the sub-arrays. In addition, we verify the expected transient and steady-state behaviour of the scaled structure using time-domain simulation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the proposed topology is resilience to element-to-element variation as the dimensions scale. This offers a promising solution for large scale signal distribution in phased arrays.
Extend sustainable new product development to suppliers: cases from the US computer and electronic industry

Since the Brundtland Commission presented the concept of sustainable development in 1987 (WCED, 1987), sustainability has drawn greater attention from both academic researchers and business managers. This study evaluates the association between supplier involvement (SI) and the sustainable new product development (SNPD) process. Literature indicating equivocal results of supplier involvement in the conventional new product development projects and the study of involving suppliers in sustainable new product development has been lacking. Cases from the US computer and electronic industry have been collected and utilised to identify motivations, enablers, barriers, and performance evaluation of sustainable new product development, as well as supplier selection criteria, timing and extent of supplier involvement, and supplier contributions/challenges.
The Frontline of Housing Access: Comparing Criminal Stigma among Landlords and Real Estate Agents in New York

Individuals who have been convicted of a crime and punished with incarceration face difficulties reentering society following their release. They are stigmatized and often isolated from mainstream society, employers are less likely to hire them, and landlords are less willing to rent to them. Stigmatization of offenders is widespread because they are not protected under federal law and thus discrimination laws do not apply. This study focuses on housing and seeks to explore landlord and real estate agent reactions to prospective tenants on parole. Data were collected through phone calls to landlords and real estate agents, such that these housing proprietors believed that they were speaking with someone on parole who had been convicted previously of either drug trafficking, statutory rape, or child molestation. Results indicate that landlords are less willing to consider prospective tenants on parole than real estate agents. Real estate agents appear to respond more to rental market factors, such as the size of the fee they can earn and supply and demand in the rental market. Findings reflect the difficulty of housing for people coming out of prison. Although some have financial resources or social support to secure housing, many do not. Criminal justice policy must address this issue to improve the reintegration of people exiting prison.
The Expected Mass Function for Low Mass Galaxies in a CDM Cosmology: Is There a Problem?

It is well known that the mass function for_halos_ in CDM cosmology is a relatively steep power law for low masses, possibly too steep to be consistent with observations. But how steep is the_galaxy_ mass function? We have analyzed the stellar and gas mass functions of the first massive luminous objects formed in a \Lambda CDM universe, as calculated in the numerical simulation described in Gnedin (2000ab). We found that while the dark matter mass function is steep, the stellar and gas mass functions are flatter for low mass objects. The stellar mass function is consistently flat at the low mass end. Moreover, while the gas mass function follows the dark matter mass function until reionization at z~7, between z=7 and z=4, the gas mass function also flattens considerably at the low mass end. At z=4, the gas and stellar mass functions are fit by a Schechter function with \alpha ~ -1.2 +/- 0.1, significantly shallower than the dark matter halo mass function and consistent with some recent observations. The baryonic mass functions are shallower because (a) the dark matter halo mass function is consistent with the Press-Schechter formulation at low masses n(M) M^-2 and (b) heating/cooling and ionization processes appear to cause baryons to collect in halos with the relationship M_b M_d^4 at low masses. Combining (a) and (b) gives n(M_b) M_b^-5/4, comparable to the simulation results. Thus, the well known observational fact that low mass galaxies are underabundant as compared to expectations from numerical dark matter simulations or Press-Schechter modeling of CDM universes emerges naturally from these results, implying that perhaps no ``new physics'' beyond the standard model is needed.
Nonlinear ultrasonic technique for the characterization of microstructure in additive materials

This study employs nonlinear ultrasonic techniques to track microstructural changes in additively manufactured metals. The second harmonic generation technique based on the transmission of Rayleigh surface waves is used to measure the acoustic nonlinearity parameter, β. Stainless steel specimens are made through three procedures: traditional wrought manufacturing, laser-powder bed fusion, and laser engineered net shaping. The β parameter is measured through successive steps of an annealing heat treatment intended to decrease dislocation density. Dislocation density is known to be sensitive to manufacturing variables. In agreement with fundamental material models for the dislocation-acoustic nonlinearity relationship in the second harmonic generation, β drops in each specimen throughout the heat treatment before recrystallization. Geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) are measured from electron back-scatter diffraction as a quantitative indicator of dislocations; average GND density and β are found to have a statistical correlation coefficient of 0.852 showing the sensitivity of β to dislocations in additively manufactured metals. Moreover, β shows an excellent correlation with hardness, which is a measure of the macroscopic effect of dislocations.
Seller information sharing in online marketplaces

The incorporation of social media applications in online marketplaces has enabled rich information exchange. It is suggested that information sharing among sellers can increase the competitiveness ...
Multiple local hydroxyl groups as a way to improve bond strength and durability in structural adhesives

Polymer chain-extenders with one (AE, i.e., aminoethanol), two (APD, i.e., 2-amino-1,3-propanediol), and three (tris, i.e., 2-amino-2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-propanediol) pendant ethanol groups were us...
Performance on the processing portion of complex working memory span tasks is related to working memory capacity estimates

Individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) have long been known to relate to performance in domains outside of WM, including attentional control, long-term memory, problem-solving, and fluid intelligence to name a few. Complex span WM tasks, composed of a processing component and a storage component, are often used to index WMC in these types of investigations. Capacity estimates are derived from performance on the storage component only, while processing performance is often largely ignored. Here, we explore the relationship between processing performance and WMC in a large dataset for each of three complex span tasks to better characterize how the components of these tasks might be related. We provide evidence that enforcing an 85% or better accuracy criterion for the processing portion of the task results in the removal of a disproportionate number of individuals exhibiting lower WMC estimates. We also find broad support for differences in processing task performance, characterized according to both accuracy and reaction time metrics, as a function of WMC. We suggest that researchers may want to include processing task performance measures, in addition to capacity estimates, in studies using complex span tasks to index WMC. This approach may better characterize the relationships between complex span task performance and performance in disparate domains of cognition.