cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Solvation of an excess electron in pyrrolidinium dicyanamide based ionic liquids.

In a recent article [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 20186], we described the nature of the “dry” excess electron in a variety of different ionic liquids. We found that this could delocalize over cations or anions depending on the nature of the ions involved. A second article [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 17528] explored the nature of the “dry to trapped” excess electron transition, the early localization dynamics, and associated spectroscopic signatures in alkylamonium and pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide based ionic liquids. In this study we predicted that the trapped electron localizes on an anion, resulting in fragmentation that is undesirable for photochemical, electrochemical, and radiation chemistry applications. The current work focuses instead on an ionic liquid based on the dicyanamide anion that on a time scale relevant to electron transfer and solvation dynamics does not appear to undergo facile fragmentation. Although electrochemical cathodic and anodic limits were correctly predi...
Analysis of adverse events following immunization from 2009 to 2011 in Guangling District,Yangzhou City,Jiangsu Province

Objective To evaluate the monitoring quality of adverse events following immunization(AEFI) from 2009 to 2 0 11 in Guangling District,Yangzhou City,Jiangsu Province preliminarily.Methods The data of AEFI in Guangling District from 2009 to 2011 were collected through the AEFI information system of China and analyzed by descriptive epidemiological method.Results A total of 24 kinds of vaccine were inoculated from 2009 to 2012 in Guangling District,the accumulative total inoculation doses were732 005,the accumulative total AEFI cases were 388,the reporting rate was 53.7 per 100 000 doses.In seven state indicators of AEFI monitoring system,reporting rate within 48 hours,investigation rate within 48hours,and classification rate were 100.0%.The input rate of questionnaire within 3 days,upload rate of investigation report within 7 days,integrity rate of key project in questionnaire,and report coverage rate in districts were not up to the standard of AEFI during 2009.The input rate of questionnaire within 3 days and upload rate of investigation report within 7 days were increased greatly during 2010,but were not up to the standard of AEFI yet.The completion rate of all indicators of AEFI monitoring system reached 100.0%since2011.Of 388 cases of AEFI,the common adverse reactions were found in 330 cases(85.0%),the main clinical manifestations were fever,red swelling and induration in injection area.The abnormal reactions were found in 50 cases(12.9%),the clinical manifestations were allergic skin rashes(40 cases,80.0%),angioedema(3 cases,6.0%),BCG abscess(2 cases,4.0%),morbilliform rash(2 cases,4.0%),allergic purpura(1 case,2.0%),febrile convulsion(1 case,2.0%),and diarrhea(1 case,2.0%).The coincidental events occurred in 8 cases(2.1%).The top five vaccines associated with reporting rate of AEFI were pneumococcal 7-valent conjugate vaccine(PCV-7,507.9/100 000),23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine(343.2/100 000),poliomyelitis vaccine(monkey kidney cell) oral(166.7/100 000),hemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine(163.8/100 000) and measles and rubella combined vaccine,live(MR,147.1/100 000).The top five vaccines associated with abnormal reactions reporting rate were MR(88.3/100 000),PCV-7(63.5/100 000),influenza vaccine(split virion),inactivated(17.0/100 000),MR(16.9/100 000)and measles vaccine,live(13.7/100 000).Condusions The operation quality of AEFI surveillance system in Guangling District,Yangzhou City improves year by year from 2009 to 2012.The completeness and sensitiveness are well.
History and Diagnosis of Meningiomas

It gave me special pleasure to meet here in person for the first time Professor Klaus J. Zulch, the author of the first edition of the WHO Histological Typing of Tumours of the Central Nervous System.
Motor System I

The somatic motor system includes the neurons in the spinal cord and cranial nerve nuclei within the brainstem that directly innervate striated muscles, the segmental circuitry that controls these motor neurons, and structures in the brainstem, mid- brain, and cerebral cortex that provide descending input to the motor neurons. These components are organized in a hierarchy such that higher levels control lower levels. But there is also a tremendous amount of local control at the different levels that mediates sensory-motor integration.
Impact of computerized cognitive training on working memory, fluid intelligence, and science achievement

Working memory (WM), which includes short-term memory and cognitive control, has been found to be closely related to a wide range of high-level cognitive abilities and academic achievement (Gathercole, Pickering, Knight, & Stegmann, 2004; Kyllonen, 2002). Prior studies showed children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder improved their WM and fluid intelligence (e.g., the ability to understand complex relationships and solve novel problems) through computerized cognitive training (CCT) in a clinical setting (Kingberg, Firssberg, & Westerberg, 2002; Klingberg et al., 2005). This research examined whether regular middle-school students would significantly improve their WM through CCT on WM; and if so, whether increase in WM would lead to improved fluid intelligence and science achievement. Two randomized pretest-posttest control-group experimental studies were conducted to answer these questions. Fifty-two and 37 seventh- and eighth-grader in a summer school and an intermediate middle school in Northern California participated in the pilot and main study, respectively. In both the pilot and main studies, students were randomly assigned into the experimental or control group after being tested on working memory, fluid intelligence, and science achievement. Experimental group students were trained on WM, while control group students took training unrelated to WM. The average number of training days was 13.55 days in the pilot study and 24.65 days in the main study. Students took the same tests at the end of training as at the beginning to examine whether experimental group students improved significantly more than did control group students on measures of working memory, fluid intelligence, and science achievement. Results showed CCT effectively improved regular students' WM in a school setting, with more increase in short-term memory than in cognitive control. No significant improvement was observed right after training in fluid intelligence and science achievement. With more participants, enough time to transfer changes in working memory to fluid intelligence and science achievement, and more training on cognitive control, CCT might significantly improve students' fluid intelligence and science achievement in future studies.
Combinatorial Strategies for Synthesis and Characterization of Alloy Microstructures over Large Compositional Ranges.

The exploration of new alloys with desirable properties has been a long-standing challenge in materials science because of the complex relationship between composition and microstructure. In this Research Article, we demonstrate a combinatorial strategy for the exploration of composition dependence of microstructure. This strategy is comprised of alloy library synthesis followed by high-throughput microstructure characterization. As an example, we synthesized a ternary Au–Cu–Si composition library containing over 1000 individual alloys using combinatorial sputtering. We subsequently melted and resolidified the entire library at controlled cooling rates. We used scanning optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction mapping to explore trends in phase formation and microstructural length scale with composition across the library. The integration of combinatorial synthesis with parallelizable analysis methods provides a efficient method for examining vast compositional ranges. The availability of microstructures ...
The evolving approach to sedation in ventilated patients: a real world perspective

The choice of the right sedative regimen is one of the most important supportive therapies in the treatment of critically ill patients, given mounting evidence that sedation, especially when deep, is associated with worse outcomes including mortality (1-5). The new 2013 Pain Agitation and Delirium (PAD) guidelines from the Society of Critical Care Medicine therefore has specific recommendations with regards to use of sedation in the critically ill—(I) monitor patients for level of sedation; (II) consider an analgesia first approach; (III) if a sedative is required, then a non-benzodiazepine regimen (so propofol or dexmedetomidine) should be used; and (IV) patients should be managed with the lightest level of sedation and undergo daily spontaneous awakening trial (6). These recommendations have been made on the back on numerous important investigations in this last decade, which have brought to light the perils associated with sedation, but have also provided some insights on what best practices should be (2,3,5,7-12). The specific recommendations with regards to non-benzodiazepines choice of sedative medication have been appropriately based on robust randomized controlled trials of benzodiazepines versus either propofol (11) or dexmedetomidine (7,9,12) to determine causal associations, yet the outcomes of these sedatives needed to be studied when the population sample is generalized (without the exclusions enforced in randomized controlled trials) and in real world practices where numerous confounders exist and medications are often co-administered.
Closing global achievement gaps in MOOCs

Advocates for free massive open online courses (MOOCs) have heralded them as vehicles for democratizing education and bridging divides within and across countries ( 1 ). More than 25 million people enrolled in MOOCs between 2012 and 2015, including 39% from less-developed countries (LDCs) ( 2 ). But the educated and affluent in all countries enroll in and complete MOOCs at relatively higher rates ( 3 , 4 ). Judged by completion rates, MOOCs do not spread benefits equitably across global regions. Rather, they reflect prevailing educational disparities between nations (see the first chart) ( 5 ). Although the global achievement gap could be caused by barriers in LDCs, such as less broadband Internet access, formal education, and English proficiency, we explore another potential but underappreciated cause. Members of LDCs may suffer from the cognitive burden of wrestling with feeling unwelcome while trying to learn and, therefore, underperform. This can be exacerbated by social identity threat, which is the fear of being seen as less capable because of one's group ( 6 ). We discuss field experiments with interventions that targeted social identity threat and caused substantial improvements in MOOC persistence and completion rates among learners in LDCs, eliminating the global achievement gap.
Enduring injustice: Memory politics and Namibia’s genocide reparations movement:

This article examines post-colonial memory politics in contemporary Namibia. It analyzes the ways in which ethnic Nama and Herero genocide reparations activists struggle to include Germany’s coloni...
Property-directed k-induction

IC3 and k-induction are commonly used in automated analysis of infinite-state systems. We present a reformulation of IC3 that separates reachability checking from induction reasoning. This makes the algorithm more modular, and allows us to integrate IC3 and k-induction. We call this new method property-directed k-induction (pd-kind). We show that k-induction is more powerful than regular induction, and that, modulo assumptions on the interpolation method, pd-kind is more powerful than k-induction. Moreover, with k-induction as the invariant generation back-end of IC3, the new method can produce more concise invariants. We have implemented the method in the sally model checker. We present empirical results to support its effectiveness.
The Evolution of planetary protection implementation on Mars landed missions

NASA has developed requirements dedicated to the prevention of forward and backward contamination during space exploration. Historically, international agreements provided guidelines to prevent contamination of the Moon and other celestial bodies, as well as the Earth (e.g., sample return missions). The UN Outer Space Treaty was established in 1967 and the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) maintains a planetary protection policy complying with Article IX of this treaty. By avoiding forward contamination, the integrity of scientific exploration is preserved. Planetary Protection mission requirements are levied on missions to control contamination. These requirements are dependent on the science of the mission and on the celestial bodies encountered or targeted along the way. Consequently, categories are assigned to missions, and specific implementation plans are developed to meet the planetary protection requirements. NASA missions have evolved over time with increasingly more demanding scientific objectives and more complex flight systems to achieve those objectives and, thus, planetary protection methods and processes used for implementation have become much more intricate, complicated, and challenging. Here, we will portray the evolution of planetary protection implementation at JPL in several important areas throughout the course of NASA sponsored robotic Mars lander or rover missions, starting from Mars Pathfinder through the beginning of Mars 2020. Highlighted in the discussion will be process changes in planetary protection requirements development and flow down. Development and implementation of new and improved methods used in the reduction of spacecraft bioburden will be discussed as well as approaches and challenges that come along with setting up remote laboratories to perform bioassays. The consequences and forward planning of delays on missions will be highlighted as well as lessons learned on the impact of communication and training in achieving planetary protection requirements. The evolution of methods used for the detection of microbial bioburden on spacecraft hardware will be considered. These methods use standard microbiology as well as the adaptation of advances in biotechnology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Technical approaches developed for the prevention of contamination and recontamination of hardware during Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations will be discussed.
Preparatory meteorological modeling and theoretical analysis for a neighborhood-scale cool roof demonstration

Abstract Replacing dark conventional roofs with more reflective “cool” roofs has been proposed as a method to lower urban air temperatures. Many meteorological studies have simulated potential cool roof air temperature reductions. However, economic and logistical challenges make it difficult to perform the large-scale demonstrations needed to verify these model results. This work assesses whether a neighborhood-scale cool roof demonstration could yield an observable air temperature change. We use both an idealized theoretical framework and a meteorological model to estimate the air temperature reduction that could be induced by increasing roof albedo over ~ 1 km2 area of a city. Both the idealized analysis and model indicate that an air temperature reduction could be detected, with the model indicating a reduction of 0.5 °C and the idealized analysis indicating a larger reduction of 1.3 °C. Follow-on modeling is recommended prior to design of a neighborhood-scale demonstration.
A Review of Nanofluid Synthesis

Stable colloidal suspensions of nanoparticles in solvents are conventionally termed as “nanofluids”. Several controversial reports in the literature on nanofluids explored the anomalous enhancement of their thermophysical properties (such as thermal conductivity). This has generated considerable interest among several research groups in the last three decades leading to thousands of publications on several aspects of nanofluids, spanning fundamental studies to various applications in engineering and life sciences. The popularity of nanofluids is spawned by their ability to deliver tunable material properties based as well as the ease and flexibility afforded by a multitude of nanosynthesis protocols. The material properties of nanofluids are highly sensitive to small variations in the nanosynthesis protocols. The properties of nanofluids can be tuned by varying their size, shape, morphology (surface functionalization), material composition, structure and mass concentration of nanoparticles as well as a variety of techniques for dispersing the chosen nanoparticles in the liquid solvents (which is often overlooked as an important variable in the nanofluids literature). Hence, due diligence is required in implementing the synthesis protocols for achieving nanofluids with the desired functionality and ensuring the stability. Different techniques for synthesizing nanofluids are summarized and the effect of synthesis conditions on the material properties of nanofluids are reviewed in this study. Several examples for a selected set of candidate nanofluids are discussed as well. This also helps to identify the gaps in the literature as well as recent developments on the topic of large-scale synthesis of nanofluids. This need is particularly acute for providing flexibility in scale-up for large volume manufacturing and batch-fabrication capabilities required in several practical applications (e.g., thermal energy storage and power generation). These applications would require tons of nanofluids to be synthesized on a commercial scale, as opposed to several milligram quantities that are typically synthesized in a research laboratory for a scientific study.
A Cause without a Rebel: The Rebranding of Forrest High School

The public perception of academic institutions and their athletic programs are generally considered a prime factor in building their brand image. Maintaining a favorable institutional brand image can have a meaningful effect when conveying messages to key organizational stakeholders. Schools are to seek strategies aimed at generating positive exposure and conveying compelling messages that instill confidence in institutional stakeholders. For secondary schools, the ability to build and maintain a favorable brand image can be quite challenging. Accordingly, various factors can come into play regarding opportunities for building positive institutional brand associations and alleviating negative brand associations. This article addresses branding challenges that were experienced when a divisive school name and visible identity elements proved to be a contentious issue impacting the community. The process leading up to an institutional rebranding is presented, with specific attention to the significance of th...
Method of Images

This chapter focuses on method of images applicable to differential equations with homogeneous boundary conditions and sources present. If the solution to a free space problem is known, then superposition can be used to find a solution in a finite domain with homogeneous boundary conditions. Given a problem with a source present, the free space problem is solved (that is, disregarding the boundary conditions). By superposition, the solution is determined when there are sources at different points, of different strengths. The position and strengths of these sources are chosen so as to obtain the desired boundary conditions. The added sources cannot appear in the physical domain of the problem. Symmetry considerations tend to simplify the process of determining where the sources should go. The chapter also highlights that the method of images is often used to solve Laplace's equation in hydrodynamics and electrostatics.
Steering Crowdsourced Signal Map Construction via Bayesian Compressive Sensing

Mobile crowdsensing with increasing pervasiveness of smartphones has enabled a myriad of applications, including urban-scale signal map monitoring and revision. Despite the importance of its quality, due to the large size of a site to cover, dense crowdsourcing is neither cost-effective nor convenient for crowdsourcing participants, making it critical and challenging to balance between signal quality and crowdsourcing cost. To address this problem, we propose a novel incentive mechanism, BCCS, based on Bayesian Compressive Crowdsensing (BCS). BCCS iteratively determines the spatial grids for crowd-sourcing quality and predicts the remaining unexplored grids for deployment efficiency. BCS returns not only the predicted signal values, but also the confidence intervals for convergence and incentive control. A probabilistic user participation and measurement model is applied for incentive design, which is flexible for crowdsensing deployment. Our extensive evaluation based on two different data sets shows that BCCS achieves much higher prediction accuracy (often by more than 20%) with lower payments to the participants and fewer iterations (often by 30%) than existing solutions.
In-kind benefits and household behavior: The impact of SNAP on food-away-from-home consumption

Abstract Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, provides in-kind benefits that can generally be utilized for Food At Home (FAH) only. According to economic theory, SNAP benefits are fungible with cash for inframarginal households which may allow participants to spend benefits on non-FAH items. However, empirical evidence for this theory is mixed. This paper exploits an underutilized source of state-level variation, the early-2000 s recession, to determine the impact of SNAP participation on household Food Away From Home (FAFH) consumption. In a difference in difference framework, I compare households in high post-recession SNAP growth states to households in low post-recession SNAP growth states. The results show that SNAP participation causes a significant decrease in FAFH expenditure and FAFH’s share of total food expenditure.
Changes in immunoreactivity of allergen-reduced peanuts due to post-enzyme treatment roasting.

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of enzyme treatment and post-enzyme treatment roasting on allergenicity of raw peanut kernels. Raw peanuts were treated by single- and two-enzyme treatments, respectively. Enzyme-treated raw peanuts were dry roasted. Reductions of four major allergens (Ara h 1, 2, 3, and 6) and in vitro allergenicity of peanuts were evaluated. Quantitative measurements show that enzyme treatment of raw peanuts reduced Ara h 1, 2, 3 and 6 in raw peanuts by 99–100%, 95–99%, 35–46% and 85–88%, respectively. Roasting of enzyme-treated peanuts significantly reduced the total soluble protein (P
Using multidimensional topological data analysis to identify traits of hip osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifaceted disease with many variables affecting diagnosis and progression. Topological data analysis (TDA) is a state-of-the-art big data analytics tool that can combine all variables into multidimensional space. TDA is used to simultaneously analyze imaging and gait analysis techniques. PURPOSE To identify biochemical and biomechanical biomarkers able to classify different disease progression phenotypes in subjects with and without radiographic signs of hip OA. STUDY TYPE Longitudinal study for comparison of progressive and nonprogressive subjects. POPULATION In all, 102 subjects with and without radiographic signs of hip osteoarthritis. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE 3T, SPGR 3D MAPSS T1ρ /T2 , intermediate-weighted fat-suppressed fast spin-echo (FSE). ASSESSMENT Multidimensional data analysis including cartilage composition, bone shape, Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) classification of osteoarthritis, scoring hip osteoarthritis with MRI (SHOMRI), hip disability and osteoarthritis outcome score (HOOS). STATISTICAL TESTS Analysis done using TDA, Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) testing, and Benjamini-Hochberg to rank P-value results to correct for multiple comparisons. RESULTS Subjects in the later stages of the disease had an increased SHOMRI score (P < 0.0001), increased KL (P = 0.0012), and older age (P < 0.0001). Subjects in the healthier group showed intact cartilage and less pain. Subjects found between these two groups had a range of symptoms. Analysis of this subgroup identified knee biomechanics (P < 0.0001) as an initial marker of the disease that is noticeable before the morphological progression and degeneration. Further analysis of an OA subgroup with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) showed anterior labral tears to be the most significant marker (P = 0.0017) between those FAI subjects with and without OA symptoms. DATA CONCLUSION The data-driven analysis obtained with TDA proposes new phenotypes of these subjects that partially overlap with the radiographic-based classical disease status classification and also shows the potential for further examination of an early onset biomechanical intervention. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2 Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;48:1046-1058.
Inference Guided Data Exploration

We consider comparing two treatments using a given hypothesis test on the full sample and on all possible subsets, and we separately consider restricting the subsets considered to be those defined based on half-intervals of a covariate. Rather than treating this as a family of hypothesis tests, we instead choose the minimum p-value from the group of hypothesis tests as our test statistic. Simulation is employed to find an approximate critical value to control the type I error for our novel test statistic. These techniques may be used as a rule of thumb for judging the potential significance of a result after a “fishing expedition” has been caried out on a dataset, i.e., a large number of tests of hypothesis were performed on subsets of the data or a subset was selected after inspecting the data. When the technique is restricted to subsets defined based on half-intervals of a covariate, it may be useful as a planned methodology for analyzing an experiment.
Abstract 186: Small-molecule inhibition of cathepsins L and K as potential therapeutics for macrophage-driven breast cancer

Tumor-associated macrophages secrete many factors including proteases and growth factors, which ultimately promote the metastatic phenotype of mammary tumors. Due to their numerous pro-tumor functions, tumor-associated macrophages represent an attractive cell population for stromal-targeted anti-cancer therapies. Interleukin-4 stimulation promotes macrophage differentiation from a baseline M0 state to a more pro-tumorigenic M2 phenotype, which is often associated with increased expression of proteases including the lysosomal cathepsin L. Cathepsin L is important in both macrophage and tumor cell invasion, whereby secreted cathepsin L degrades the extracellular matrix allowing for cell infiltration. M0 to M2 differentiation was not accompanied by an overall increase in the protein expression of cathepsin L, however, secreted cathepsin L was increased in the M2 macrophage population. The present study examined the role of cathepsin L in M0 to M2 differentiation and macrophage-mediated tumor cell invasion using the novel cathepsin L/K inhibitors KGP94 and KGP207 [Dr. Kevin Pinney, Baylor University]. Boyden chamber assays revealed that KGP94 and KGP207 prevented in vitro M2 macrophage invasion and reduced macrophage-stimulated invasion of 4T1 murine breast cancer cells. KGP94 and KGP207 treatment also partially prevented IL-4-stimulated M0 to M2 differentiation of macrophages as determined by a decrease in the IL-4-induced expression of the M2 marker Arginase-1 upon drug treatment. Furthermore, exogenous recombinant cathepsin L partially stimulated the expression of Arginase-1 in M0 macrophages. Together, these data suggest that cathepsin L may play a role in macrophage M0 to M2 differentiation. In summary, the novel cathepsin L/K inhibitors KGP94 and KGP207 altered M0 to M2 differentiation, reduced macrophage invasion, and reduced macrophage-stimulated invasion of breast cancer cells. These data highlight the importance of cathepsin L in macrophage functions and suggest that cathepsin inhibition strategies may be therapeutically beneficial by impairing the progression of tumors, particularly those with high recruitment of M2 macrophages. Citation Format: Samantha S. Dykes, Dietmar W. Siemann. Small-molecule inhibition of cathepsins L and K as potential therapeutics for macrophage-driven breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 186.
Preclinical effect of selinexor (KPT-330), a selective inhibitor of nuclear export, in pediatric rhabdoid tumors.

10552Background: Malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRTs) are rare, aggressive pediatric solid tumors characterized by a 22q11 chromosome rearrangement that inactivates the SMARCB1 gene. Outcomes remain po...
From mechanics to thermodynamics: A relation between the brittleness and the thermal expansivity for polymers

Abstract The isobaric thermal expansivity is an underestimated property. The entire composite structures disintegrate into pieces on heating – without the use of any mechanical force -when the constituents have significantly different expansivities. While one typically tries to relate mechanical properties among themselves and thermodynamic ones among themselves too, we provide an equation relating the linear isobaric expansivity to the brittleness B for a number of polymers with a large variety of chemical structures and consequently with a large variety of properties.
The Futility of Comparative IQ Research

Publisher Summary Intelligence quotient (IQ) can be obtained by the equation MA/CA=IQ, where MA is mental age and CA is chronological age. This chapter discusses the concepts of mental age and IQ, and the operations by which they are measured. It is often argued that true intelligence cannot be measured by the best of tests but, if this is true, then the issue is without empirical content and need not concern one from a scientific point of view. Intelligence is defined as what the intelligence test measures. The chapter explains that this is accepted as the first step and discusses what intelligence tests measure and how they measure it. Environmentalists, that is, the established school authorities, were in effect allowed to define intelligence in the successful approach to mental testing. The first practical stratagem was to select items predictive of progress in school. The second practical stratagem devised by the mental testers was the standardization group. They recognized that American school children at the turn of the century formed a motley group with parents of different social, ethnic, and language groupings. The third practical stratagem employed by the mental testers was to write items designed to yield a direct monotonic relationship to increasing age, which is to say, that an item must be passed by progressively larger numbers of older children.
“Beyond” the Grid of Labor Control: Salvaged, Persisting, and Leaky Assemblages in Colonial Guatemala

Spanish colonial incursions into highland Guatemala encountered a vibrant assemblage of entangled people, places, plants, and things. Colonists sought to marshall this assemblage into various accumulation projects through strategies of colonial control that re-ordered the landscape and its settlements, enabling new forms of surveillance, tracking, subject making, and exploitation of Native communities and laborers. This “grid” of control proved effective in many regards, particularly due to the preservation of the extant assemblage of infrastructure, social relations, and relations of production encountered. Rather than fully disrupt it, colonists accommodated this assemblage and sought to salvage value from its persistence. However, an ambivalence emerged from this dependence on the refracted assemblage of highland Guatemala; an assemblage that remained outside of colonists full control and made the colonial grid a thoroughly leaky one as people and things became or remained entangled in ways that subverted the goals of colonial control and afforded the persistence of Native communities and relations through, between and beyond the violence of colonization.
A study on the filtration efficiency and regeneration capacity of the gasoline particulate filter

Gasoline particulate filters (GPF) are becoming a standard technology in gasoline engines because of the need for compliance with particulate matter (PM) emissions requirement. Generally, GPFs can ...
Long-Run Expectations, Learning and the US Housing Market

In the US housing market, the price-to-rent ratio is volatile and autocorrelated. Returns on housing are positively autocorrelated. The price-to-rent ratio is negatively correlated with future returns and rent growth. Housing returns exhibit time-varying volatility. A benchmark asset pricing model is inconsistent with these facts. A model where prices adjust slowly to their fundamental value and where the agent does not know whether housing fundamentals are trend or difference stationary so has changing beliefs over time, increases the volatility of prices and the autocorrelation of returns. The price-to-rent ratio negatively forecasts returns and rent growth. This model generates time-varying volatility.
Pyroelectric lithium niobate electron emission-based ion-pump

This work presents a compact ion-pump that utilizes pyroelectricity for ionization of ambient molecules. The pyroelectric ionization is realized by heating a lithium niobate (LiNbO3) crystal with low voltage resistive heating (10 V drive voltage, 0.5 W Joule heating) to generate a high voltage across the poled surface of the crystal. Pyroelectrically generated electrons from the polarized surface of the crystal are accelerated using an electric field generated by both the crystal and external titanium (Ti) electrodes biased at ±300 V, which results in the ionization of molecules in the chamber. The low collector current in the pA range ensures that the power consumed due to ionization current is lower than the LiNbO3 heating power. The ionized gas molecules are accelerated toward the Ti collector electrodes where they are implanted owing to large acceleration produced by the collector electrodes. The system is configured as a sputter pump for gettering ions to reduce chamber pressure from the baseline value of 1.4 μTorr with just the external pump to 1.1 μTorr by incorporating the LiNbO3 pump. The proof-of-concept of the pyroelectric pumping mechanism is demonstrated using a 140 cm3 stainless steel vacuum chamber, with supplementary turbomolecular and diaphragm pumps and demonstrates that a 50 s thermal cycling of the crystal is optimal for the ion-pump. Pumping action was measured with a Pirani gauge and a hot cathode ion gauge. Analytical modeling and experimental results for pumping speed calculations showed a good match during high-pressure pumping.
Stimulated emission in vicinity of the critical angle

We have demonstrated amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) propagating along the planar interface between two adjacent dielectrics with slightly different refractive indexes. This emission originates from the leaky mode, fueled by optical gain in the low-index dielectric, that is outcoupled to the high-index dielectric in vicinity of the critical angle for total internal reflection. This led us to the observation of spectacular concentric rings of ASE emission occurring above the low and soft stimulated emission threshold. The results of our study can be used to develop novel miniature low-threshold stimulated emission sources and photonic circuits operating at optical frequencies.
Aparencia e realidade da frente de pesquisa na bibliometría brasileira: urna discordancia dos postulados de Solla Price

Concepts formulated by de Solla Price on «research fronts» are applied to the field of lnformation Sciences in Brazil. There are as many «research fronts» as research lines in the field. The main objective of the work is to identify the «research fronts» in the various subsectors of Bibliometrics in Brazil, comparing the results obtained with a general application of Price's model with those obtained with an application by research lines or subsectors.
LPVIP: A Low-Power ROM-Less ALU for Low-Precision LNS

A new low-precision ALU suitable for a variety of multimedia and DSP applications performs Logarithmic Number System (LNS) additions and most LNS subtractions without using a ROM. An example application is described in which the Low Precision Very Insignificant Power (LPVIP) ALU described here uses fewer gates than an equivalent fixed-point ALU to accomplish a visually similar video output for MPEG decoding. The switching activity of the proposed LNS circuit is an order of magnitude lower than that of a general-purpose fixed-point multiply-accumulate circuit, and about half of the switching activity of a specialized fixed-point video circuit.
High-throughput screening of solid-state catalyst libraries

Combinatorial synthesis methods allow the rapid preparation and processing of large libraries of solid-state materials. The use of these methods, together with the appropriate screening techniques, has recently led to the discovery of materials with promising superconducting1, magnetoresistive2, luminescent3,4,5 and dielectric6 properties. Solid-state catalysts, which play an increasingly important role in the chemical and oil industries7, represent another class of material amenable to combinatorial synthesis. Yet typically, catalyst discovery still involves inefficient trial-and-error processes8,9,10, because catalytic activity is inherently difficult to screen. In contrast to superconductivity, magnetoresistivity and dielectric properties, which can be tested by contact probes, or luminescence, which can be observed directly, the assessment of catalytic activity requires the unambiguous detection of a specific product molecule above a small catalyst site on a large library. Screening by in situ infrared thermography11 and microprobe sampling mass spectrometry12,13 have been suggested, but the first method, while probing activity, provides no information on reaction products, whereas the second is difficult to implement because it requires the transport of minute gas samples from each library site to the detection system. Here I describe the use of laser-induced resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization for sensitive, selective and high-throughput screening of a library of solid-state catalysts that activate the dehydrogenation of cyclohexane to benzene. I show that benzene, the product molecule, can be selectively photoionized in the vicinity of the catalytic sites, and that the detection of the resultant photoions by an array of microelectrodes provides information on the activity of individual sites. Adaptation of this technique for the screening of other catalytic reactions and larger libraries with smaller site size seems feasible, thus opening up the possibility of exploiting combinatorial approaches as an efficient method for the discovery and optimization of solid-state catalysts.
PHOTOPRODUCTION OF RHO MESONS FROM COMPLEX NUCLEI.

I would like to report a recent experiment on ρ meson photo production performed at the DESY 7.5 GeV electron-synchrotron by the DESY-MIT collaboration.1 We made a study of one million ππ events in the ρ mass region from 14 elements, Hydrogen through Uranium. These events are organized into a four dimensional data matrix where the dependencies of the cross-section on mass, on momentum, and on momentum transfer are all explicitly separated. Our resolution is △m = ± 15 MeV, △p = ± 200 MeV/c and △t = ± 0.001 GeV2.
Multiple nuclear gene sequences identify phylogenetic species boundaries in the rapidly radiating clade of Mexican ambystomatid salamanders

Delimiting the boundaries of species involved in radiations is critical to understanding the tempo and mode of lineage formation. Single locus gene trees may or may not reflect the underlying pattern of population divergence and lineage formation, yet they constitute the vast majority of the empirical data in species radiations. In this study we make use of an expressed sequence tag (EST) database to perform nuclear (nDNA) and mitochondrial (mtDNA) genealogical tests of species boundaries in Ambystoma ordinarium, a member of an adaptive radiation of metamorphic and paedomorphic salamanders (the Ambystoma tigrinum complex) that have diversified across terrestrial and aquatic environments. Gene tree comparisons demonstrate extensive nonmonophyly in the mtDNA genealogy of A. ordinarium, while seven of eight independent nuclear loci resolve the species as monophyletic or nearly so, and diagnose it as a well-resolved genealogical species. A differential introgression hypothesis is supported by the observation that western A. ordinarium localities contain mtDNA haplotypes that are identical or minimally diverged from haplotypes sampled from a nearby paedomorphic species, Ambystoma dumerilii, while most nDNA trees place these species in distant phylogenetic positions. These results provide a strong example of how historical introgression can lead to radical differences between gene trees and species histories, even among currently allopatric species with divergent life history adaptations and morphologies. They also demonstrate how EST-based nuclear resources can be used to more fully resolve the phylogenetic history of species radiations.
Neurotensin Induces Presynaptic Depression of D2 Dopamine Autoreceptor-Mediated Neurotransmission in Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons

Increased dopaminergic signaling is a hallmark of severe mesencephalic pathologies such as schizophrenia and psychostimulant abuse. Activity of midbrain dopaminergic neurons is under strict control of inhibitory D2 autoreceptors. Application of the modulatory peptide neurotensin (NT) to midbrain dopaminergic neurons transiently increases activity by decreasing D2 dopamine autoreceptor function, yet little is known about the mechanisms that underlie long-lasting effects. Here, we performed patch-clamp electrophysiology and fast-scan cyclic voltammetry in mouse brain slices to determine the effects of NT on dopamine autoreceptor-mediated neurotransmission. Application of the active peptide fragment NT8–13 produced synaptic depression that exhibited short- and long-term components. Sustained depression of D2 autoreceptor signaling required activation of the type 2 NT receptor and the protein phosphatase calcineurin. NT application increased paired-pulse ratios and decreased extracellular levels of somatodendritic dopamine, consistent with a decrease in presynaptic dopamine release. Surprisingly, we observed that electrically induced long-term depression of dopaminergic neurotransmission that we reported previously was also dependent on type 2 NT receptors and calcineurin. Because electrically induced depression, but not NT-induced depression, was blocked by postsynaptic calcium chelation, our findings suggest that endogenous NT may act through a local circuit to decrease presynaptic dopamine release. The current research provides a mechanism through which augmented NT release can produce a long-lasting increase in membrane excitability of midbrain dopamine neurons. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Whereas plasticity of glutamate synapses in the brain has been studied extensively, demonstrations of plasticity at dopaminergic synapses have been more elusive. By quantifying inhibitory neurotransmission between midbrain dopaminergic neurons in brain slices from mice we have discovered that the modulatory peptide neurotensin can induce a persistent synaptic depression by decreasing dopamine release. This depression of inhibitory synaptic input would be expected to increase excitability of dopaminergic neurons. Induction of the plasticity can be pharmacologically blocked by antagonists of either the protein phosphatase calcineurin or neurotensin receptors, and persists surprisingly long after a brief exposure to the peptide. Since neurotensin–dopamine interactions have been implicated in hyperdopaminergic pathologies, these findings describe a synaptic mechanism that could contribute to addiction and/or schizophrenia.
Monolayer Silane-Coated, Water-Soluble Quantum Dots

A one-step method to produce ≈12 nm hydrodynamic diameter water-soluble CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs), as well as CdS/ZnS, ZnSe/ZnMnS/ZnS, AgInS2 /ZnS, and CuInS2 /ZnS QDs, by ligand exchange with a near-monolayer of organosilane caps is reported. The method cross-links the surface-bound silane ligands such that the samples are stable on the order of months under ambient conditions. Furthermore, the samples may retain a high quantum yield (60%) over this time. Several methods to functionalize aqueous QD dispersions with proteins and fluorescent dyes have been developed with reaction yields as high as 97%.
Saturating and time-optimal feedback controls

The open-loop solution of the soft-constrained time-optimal control problem can be efficiently computed in terms of the controllability Grammian matrix, but a closed-loop implementation was found to be cumbersome. This control was observed to have a saturation property strongly reminiscent of the hard-constrained time-optimal control problem. In this paper, we present a theoretical justification for the observed saturation and propose a modification of the problem statement that gives a suboptimal solution and results in a drastically simpler implementation of the feedback time-optimal soft-constrained control. Moreover, we generalize the proposed approach to generate a family of saturating control laws occupying a middle ground between linear state-feedback and hard-constrained time-optimal controls. For illustration, we consider the simultaneous slewing and vibration suppression of an undamped flexible beam that is reducible to a marginally stable linear system. As an example, we design a simple and elegant feedback control law where the regulation time and control amplitude saturate like the square root of the norm of the state vector.
Dynamic crack nucleation and propagation in polycrystalline aluminum aggregates subjected to large inelastic deformations

The major objective of this work has been to apply a new compatibility-based fracture theory to the investigation of dynamic failure of polycrystalline metals and alloys. To model the nucleation and propagation of failure surfaces at the microstructural scale, under large deformations and dynamic loading conditions, a general fracture criterion based on the integral law of compatibility is used. This new fracture criterion, was coupled with rate-dependent dislocation-density based crystalline plasticity formulations to elucidate the microstructural mechanisms related to the evolution of intergranular and transgranular failure and to understand how grain sizes and strain-rate sensitivity affect aggregate strength, ductility, and dynamic damage tolerance. It is shown that cracks commonly nucleate at triple junctions and at grain boundaries as intergranular cracks, and that slip bands through grains result in transgranular cracks.