cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Student Teaching: perceptions of supervisory meetings

Abstract The purpose of this study was to compare subjective accounts of supervisory meetings from the respective viewpoints of student teachers, cooperating teachers, and university supervisors; and to examine changes in these viewpoints over the course of the first semester of student teaching. Participants were 25 student teachers, their cooperating teachers, and eight university supervisors who completed protocols at the conclusion of each of three supervisory meetings held at approximately equal intervals during the first semester. Responses to the protocols reflected participants' interpretation of the topics and accomplishments of each meeting. Results revealed three distinct perspectives depending upon the sensitivities and concerns of participants. Student teachers perceived that more time was spent discussing their shortcomings than did the other two groups. The nature of topics discussed was also related to the sequence of the meeting. As the semester progressed, participants perceived that les...
Differential scanning calorimetric assessment of high purity

Abstract The value and limitations of differential scanning calorimetry in the assessment of high-purity substances has been examined. In favorable cases, good agreement has been secured for polycyclic hydrocarbons between DSC purity values and GC assay values. For some halogenated benzoic acids, used as microanalytical reference standards, good agreement has been obtained between DSC purity values and acid—base titration results. DSC studies on cholesterol and urea, which have limited thermal stability, are presented. With the available instrument and technique, the practical upper limit of absolute DSC purity values may be 99.95 mole%, although higher numerical values can be obtained. Because the DSC technique is “blind” to equilibrium solid solution formation, DSC values should not be used as a sole criterion of purity; this recommendation is of special importance for compounds purified by fractional solidification processes.
Computer software for critical thinking

Abstract Critical thinking involves a process of understanding data, analysis and criticism. Two computer programs, SEEN and ORGANIZE, illustrate how such a complex process can be modelled without making it reductively simple. Both programs build on the notion that simply asking good questions may be valuable to a learner in critical thinking. Open-ended questions are individualized according to the student's interest and task; the model is flexible, allowing movement and a choice of activities. Instead of providing predetermined answers, the programs encourage people to serve as models and responders and support the learner's growing ability to criticise herself and edit her work. ORGANIZE is a pre-writing program that asks the writer to define Basic Terms that are then inserted in segments on Development, on Audience Analysis to anticipate audience needs, on Argument, and on Approaches. SEEN is a program to help students learn actively: seeing more in what they observe and read, forming hypotheses based on their personal response, and then sharing those ideas with other students for comment and review. The original program helps students analyze a character in literature, but a shell program allows a teacher to load other tutorials (for example, reviewing historical cause and effect, or analyzing stylistic characteristics of an art work) or create their own.
Military Expenditures, Health, and Education: Bedfellows or Antagonists in Third World Development?

Whether military expenditure, health, and education are strange bed-fellows, antagonists, or complementary to modernization, economic development and the physical quality of life are the major questions addressed in this paper. Fundamental military roles in underdeveloped countries are discussed; and empirical cross-national analyses of aggregate data from the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), the World Bank, and world political and social indicators, are used to test competing hypotheses. Educational expenditures as related to human capital formation and the percentage of labor force in industry are found to be the best allies in predicting economic development. Other findings indicate that military expenditures are adversarial (or antagonistic) to health and the physical quality of life. The theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.
Three-Dimensional CFD-Population Balance Simulation of a Chemical Vapor Synthesis Reactor for Aluminum Nanopowder: Nucleation, Surface Growth, and Coagulation

A chemical vapor synthesis (CVS) process for synthesizing aluminum nanopowder as a reactant for various hydrogen-storage materials was simulated using a mathematical technique that combines computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the population balance model. In this process, aluminum powder is produced by reacting aluminum chloride with magnesium in the vapor phase. The CFD model solves the three-dimensional (3-D) turbulent governing equations of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and chemical kinetics in a multiphase domain. The population balance model incorporates nucleation, surface growth, and coagulation. The nucleation rate is computed using an expression from the classical nucleation theory. The growth rate is obtained by the combined effect of vapor condensation and coagulation. A comparison of the model predictions with the available experimental data showed good agreement under different operating conditions without the need of adjustable parameters. According to the results, the final particle size is determined by particle coagulation in this particular CVS process. The new model proposed in this article can be applied to other similar systems with confidence even without the need of any experimental data and can be used for scale-up of the process.
Determinants of cysteine pKa values in creatine kinase and α1‐antitrypsin

The structural determinants of the unusually low pKa values of Cys282 in human creatine kinase and Cys232 in α1-antitrypsin were studied computationally. We have demonstrated that hydrogen bonding to the cysteine residue is the prime determinant for both proteins. In the case of creatine kinase, the hydrogen bond donors are a serine side chain and an amide NH-group, while in α1-antitrypsin the donor is an amide NH. Each hydrogen bond lowers the pKa by between 0.8 and 1.5 pH units. The 1.1-unit lowering due to the Ser284–Cys282 hydrogen bond is in good agreement with the 1.2-unit difference between the Cys282 pKa value of wild-type and the S284A mutant of creatine kinase. Proteins 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Analysis of self-stabilizing clock synchronization by means of stochastic Petri nets

A model for analyzing a FCS (fault-tolerant clock synchronization) system of the type supported by a statistical self-diagnosis is described. Once a self-diagnosis scheme is integrated into an FCS design, the problem of controlling and measuring the system's self-stability arises. A stochastic Petri net (SPN) model is constructed to derive the self-stability measures of such FCS systems. An example is given to demonstrate the entire modeling and analyzing procedure. The mapping from SPN model to Markov model shown in an example can be automated by using an SPN software package. The results show that the SPN model is an excellent tool for obtaining self-stability measures and that several important system features, such as synchronization and parallelism, can be modeled using the SPN method in a much clearer manner than they can be modeled using other available tools. >
Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis: a case report and review of the literature

Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis is one form of Periodic Paralysis, a rare group of disorders that can cause of sudden onset weakness. A case of a 29 year old male is presented here. The patient presented with sudden onset paralysis of his extremities. Laboratory evaluation revealed a markedly low potassium level. The patient's paralysis resolved upon repletion of his low potassium and he was discharged with no neurologic deficits. An association with thyroid disease is well established and further workup revealed Grave's disease in this patient. Although rare, Periodic Paralysis must differentiated from other causes of weakness and paralysis so that the proper treatment can be initiated quickly.
Naturally Occurring Anti-M Antibodies in One Member of Fraternal Twins

Naturally occurring anti-M antibodies were found in the serum of a five-month-old Negro twin as revealed by a discrepancy between the cell blood group and the reverse blood group. The corresponding twin did not possess this antibody. There was no apparent cause for its presence, although it was of interest that the mother was type MN. The possibility is discussed that transfer of maternal red cells to the fetus occurred and that the M agglutinogen persisted in the infant following birth until the time that it was able to respond by forming anti-M antibodies.
Generalized Hilbert transform and its applications in geophysics

The Hilbert transform (HT) has been used in seismic data processing and interpretation for many years. A well-known application of HT is seismic complex-trace analysis using instantaneous phase, frequency, and amplitude (Taner et al. 1979). We present a new generalized Hilbert transform (GHT), which has many advantages over the traditional HT—particularly robustness to noise and variety of applications.
UTSAF: a multi-agent-based framework for supporting military-based distributed interactive simulations in 3D virtual environments

A military-based distributed interactive simulation (DIS) such as ModSAF has been used for many years. Several problems of the DIS-based simulation to support a large and heterogeneous virtual simulation environments have been discovered. To solve these problems, we propose an architectural multi-agent-based framework to support a large military-based simulation with 3D visualization using inexpensive game simulators. several software agents are used to support interoperability between DIS-based military simulation nodes and unreal tournament game simulators. A software agent is used to reduce DIS traffic to efficiently utilize network bandwidth. It also performs protocol conversion between DIS protocol and a game engine protocol. Additionally, using a multi-agent system, our work is easily expandable to support several network environments and also to support agent-based intelligent operations. Our main contribution is twofold. We use multi-agent system which is scalable to support our framework. In addition, our framework builds a simulation bridge that enables affordable high-quality 3D viewer node using affordable game simulations for military simulations.
Discriminatively estimated discrete, parametric and smoothed-discrete duration models for speech recognition

Duration of phonemic segments provide important cues for distinguishing words in languages such as Arabic. Recently, we proposed a discriminatively estimated joint acoustic, duration and language model for large vocabulary speech recognition [1]. In that work, we found simple discrete models to be effective for modeling duration, albeit they were neither smoothed nor parsimonious. These limitations are addressed here with two alternative models - parametric and smoothed-discrete models. Unlike previous work on parametric duration model, we estimate their parameters discriminatively and derive an analytical expression for estimating the parameters of a log-normal distribution using a recent approach [2]. On a large vocabulary Arabic task, we empirically evaluated different segmental units and durations models. Our results show bigrams of clustered states modeled with smoothed-discrete duration models are relatively more accurate and efficient than other models considered.
Temporal geomapping of pediatric surgeons in the United States.

Abstract Background Several studies have addressed the issue of manpower needs in pediatric surgery. The number of training programs has multiplied dramatically over the past decade. The distribution of surgeons is more significant than the absolute change in numbers—are major metropolitan areas seeing a more dramatic increase than less populated areas? To evaluate the geographic and demographic changes associated with this increase, we used choropleth and geomapping techniques to evaluate the change in number and distribution of American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) members (and by proxy, pediatric surgeons) in the United States over the past decade. Materials and Methods Data regarding membership were obtained from APSA. In 1996, management companies changed, and accurate data for initial year of membership were only available after 1996. Online sources (www.services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/home and www.mapresso.com) were used for data analysis. Results There was a 175% increase in the number of APSA members over the past decade. The geographic distribution parallels the state population to some extent but is uneven. The number of APSA members by state over time is displayed in color density maps. Predictions of prior manpower studies were generally accurate. Conclusion The number of pediatric surgeons in the United States has rapidly increased in the past decade, with no sign of diminution in this trend. Increases in the number of surgeons correlates with state population, indicating a tendency for surgeons to reside in more densely populated areas, as expected. Areas with a disproportionately high or low number of surgeons can be identified via choropleth mapping.
Lobbying, dup activities and welfare: A response to Tullock☆

Professor Tullock (1981), in trying to understand the results in my (1981) paper on lobbying and welfare, has raised issues that require further clarification and analysis. For brevity’s sake, I shall concentrate here on the essentials, leaving minor remarks of Tullock’s aside. (1) The specific case of lobbying which I addressed originally was tariffseeking by pr,otectionist lobbies: so that the tariff would be endogenous. I then showed that one could not argue, in this instance, that an exogenouslyspecified tariff at x”/, was necessarily welfare-superior to an endogenous tariff at x0%.’ All other forms of lobbying were excluded, of course. (2) Tullock argues that this result obtains because he and Krueger (1974) think, whereas I do not, that tariff rcvcnucs can be wasted. As it happens. Krueger (1974) made no such assumption. She explicitly compared. in her analysis of the specific cast of premium-seeking for import quotas aIrcad> in place, quotas (with such premium-seeking) with tariffs that had no corresponding revenue-seeking or, for that matter, any waste resulting from the government directly expending the tariff revenue. Bhagwati and Srinivasan (1980) were the first to introduce the revenue-seeking concept and to argue that it was wholly inappropriate for Krueger to compare tariffs and quotas on the assumption that the latter gave rise to fill premium-seeking whereas the former gave rise to zero revenue-seeking!
Contextual factors explain risk-seeking preferences in rhesus monkeys.

In contrast to humans and most other animals, rhesus macaques strongly prefer risky rewards to safe ones with similar expected value. Why macaques prefer risk while other animals typically avoid it remains puzzling and challenges the idea that monkeys provide a model for human economic behavior. Here we argue that monkeys’ risk-seeking preferences are neither mysterious nor unique. Risk-seeking in macaques is possibly induced by specific elements of the tasks that have been used to measure their risk preferences. The most important of these elements are (1) very small stakes, (2) serially repeated gambles with short delays between trials, and (3) task parameters that are learned through experience, not described verbally. Together, we hypothesize that these features will readily induce risk-seeking in monkeys, humans, and rats. Thus, elements of task design that are often ignored when comparing studies of risk attitudes can easily overwhelm basal risk preferences. More broadly, these results highlight the fundamental importance of understanding the psychological basis of economic decisions in interpreting preference data and corresponding neural measures.
Trophic ecology of a nonnative population of suckermouth catfish ( Hypostomus plecostomus ) in a central Texas spring-fed stream

Introduced suckermouth catfishes (Family Loricariidae) are now established in a number of spring-influenced streams in North America but their impacts on native biota are not well documented. Purposes of this study were to quantify gut contents of the loricariid Hypostomus plecostomus from the San Marcos River in central Texas and to evaluate the role of H. plecostomus in the San Marcos River food web using stable isotope analysis. Gut content analysis indicated that H. plecostomus (N=36) pri- marily consumed amorphous detritus (87% in bio- volume), filamentous red algae (5.4%), and picoplankton (4.1%). Macrophytes, macroinverte- brates, and fish eggs were not found in gut contents. Stable isotopes demonstrate that H. plecostomus occupies a trophic position indicative of an herbivore and likely utilizes detritus of algal origin. The results from our study suggest that large populations of H. plecostomus in the San Marcos River may directly compete with several native herbivorous fishes and may be disrupting trophic flows and nutrient cycling in spring-influenced streams of central and west Texas.
Interdependence of climate, soil, and vegetation as constrained by the Budyko curve

[1] The Budyko curve is an empirical relation among evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration and precipitation observed across a variety of landscapes and biomes around the world. Using data from more than three hundred catchments and a simple water balance model, the Budyko curve is inverted to explore the ecohydrological controls of the soil water balance. Comparing the results across catchments reveals that aboveground transpiration efficiency and belowground rooting structure have adapted to the dryness index and the phase lag between peak seasonal radiation and precipitation. The vertical and/or lateral extent of the rooting zone exhibits a maximum in semi-arid catchments or when peak radiation and precipitation are out of phase. This demonstrates plant strategies in Mediterranean climates in order to cope with water stress: the deeper rooting structure buffers the phase difference between precipitation and radiation. Results from this study can be used to constrain land-surface parameterizations in ungauged basins or general circulation models.
INTEREST RATE VOLATILITY, CONTAGION AND CONVERGENCE: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE CASES OF ARGENTINA, CHILE AND MEXICO

(1998). Interest Rate Volatility, Contagion and Convergence: An Empirical Investigation of the Cases of Argentina, Chile and Mexico. Journal of Applied Economics: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 55-86.
Society doesn't exist

This paper considers three versions of the claim that society doesn’t existence in order to investigate the problem of the idea of the social in social media. It identifies a convergence between the claims that society doesn’t exist and the social media we have. Yet it notes a disjunction between the media we have and the arguments of net critics and activists who say the problem is centralization and that what we need is individual control. Against this position, the paper argues for the relation between dispersion and centralization and the political potential manifest in centralization insofar as it makes apparent the social relations between people at the core of production.
CONCERNING THE SPECIFICITY AND NATURE OF THE PHENOMENON OF LOCAL SKIN REACTIVITY TO VARIOUS BACTERIAL FILTRATES

The specifcity and the nature of the phenomenon of local skin reactivity to various microorganisms have been studied. It has been shown that the skin preparatory and reacting factors of various biologically and serologically unrelated microorganisms are able to substitute for each other, provided they have the power of eliciting the phenomenon for themselves. Additional evidence has been brought concerning the antigenic specificity of the factors eliciting the phenomenon. A variety of nonbacterial substances which are able to increase the permeability of capillaries, elicit inflammation and "block" the reticulo-endothelial cells; failed to induce the state of local skin reactivity to B. typhosus culture filtrate. Non-bacterial protein substances (crystalline egg albumin and normal horse serum) failed to reproduce the phenomenon. It was not possible to obtain passive transfer of the local skin reactivity. Various conditions influencing the potency of the bacterial culture filtrates have been pointed out. The essential nature of the phenomenon has been discussed together with its significance in relationship to disease.
Phase I Trial of the Antivascular Agent Combretastatin A4 Phosphate on a 5-Day Schedule to Patients With Cancer: Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evidence for Altered Tumor Blood Flow

Purpose: Combretastatin A4 (CA4) phosphate (CA4P) inhibits microtubule polymerization and is toxic to proliferating endothelial cells in vitro. It causes reversible vascular shutdown in established tumors in vivo, consistent with an antivascular mechanism of action. The present study investigated escalating doses of CA4P administered intravenously to patients with advanced cancer. Patients and Methods: Patients with solid malignancies and good performance status received CA4P as a 10-minute infusion daily for 5 days repeated every 3 weeks. Pharmacokinetic sampling was performed during cycle 1. Patients receiving ≥ 52 mg/m2/d had serial dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) studies to measure changes in tumor perfusion with CA4P treatment. Results: Thirty-seven patients received 133 treatment cycles. CA4P dose levels ranged from 6 mg/m2 to 75 mg/m2 daily. Severe pain at sites of known tumor was dose limiting at 75 mg/m2. Dose-limiting cardiopulmonary toxicity (syncope and dyspnea o...
A Case Study on the Impact of Web-based Technology in a Simulation Analysis Course

A case study is presented on the use of web-based technol ogy to transition from a lecture-based delivery system to an online/multimedia technology delivery system at the University of Oklahoma's School of Industrial Engineer ing. Coupling web and multimedia technology with a pyramid approach to a simulation course sequence, the goal is to provide both undergraduate and graduate stu dents with strong simulation skills in both modeling and analysis. Web-based technology is used to provide course access to non-traditional students, to re-enforce prerequi site knowledge, and to support learning statistical con cepts. The approach has been successful at (i) generating two types of graduates, the simulation modeler and the simulation analyst/consultant, (ii) increasing the reten tion of non-traditional students (industrial engineering students with full-time jobs and other engineering majors without strong statistical backgrounds), and (iii) gradu ating two non-traditional students in the School's master's deg...
Immunohistochemical Analysis of Phosphotyrosine Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Autocrine Signaling Pathways in Head and Neck Cancers and Metastatic Lymph Nodes

Purpose: To determine the effect of tyrosine-phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (pSTAT3) immunoexpression on survival in two independent cohorts of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) and to evaluate pSTAT3, transforming growth factor-α (TGF-α), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) expression in matched tumor and lymph node metastases in one of these cohorts. Experimental Technique: Immunostaining for pSTAT3, TGF-α, EGFR, and GRPR was done in two SCCHN cohorts (cohort 1, 61 tumors; cohort 2, 69 paired primary tumors and lymph node metastases). Semiquantitative scores derived from the product of staining intensity (scale 0-3) score and percentage of positive tumor cells were correlated with clinical outcome. Results: Immunoexpression of pSTAT3 did not correlate with clinical outcome in either cohort (cohort 1, P = 0.914; cohort 2, P = 0.312). In cohort 2, TGF-α and EGFR expression in the primary tumors showed some association with decreased disease-free survival ( P = 0.0306 and P = 0.0985, respectively). Both pSTAT3 and EGFR showed a correlation of expression between tumor and matched lymph node metastasis ( P P = 0.0046, respectively). In addition, the expression of EGFR and GRPR in the primary tumors correlated with TGF-α expression in paired nodal metastases ( P = 0.0043 and P = 0.0268, respectively). In the nodal metastases, TGF-α expression correlated with EGFR expression ( P = 0.0069). In primary tumors, GRPR expression correlated with TGF-α and EGFR expression ( P = 0.0378 and P = 0.0026, respectively). Conclusions: These findings support an autocrine signaling pathway involving TGF-α, EGFR, and pSTAT3 in metastatic SCCHN as well as transactivation of EGFR by GRPR via TGF-α, but fails to identify an independent prognostic role for pSTAT3 immunoexpression.
An overview of recent results on the identification of sparse channels using random probes

In this paper, we collect and discuss some of the recent theoretical results on channel identification using a random probe sequence. These results are part of the body of work known as compressive sampling, a rapidly developing field whose central message is that sparse vectors can be recovered from a set of “random” underdetermined measurements. In the context of channel estimation, if the channel's impulse response is sparse, then it can be estimated by exciting the channel with a random probing sequence and then taking a relatively small number of samples of the output. We also overview recent results in multiple channel estimation that show the channel responses in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system can be efficiently estimated by exciting all of the inputs with independent random probing signals simultaneously.
Geometric Brownian Motion and the Efficient Market Hypothesis

This book is about the nature of stock prices and its attendant consequences in terms of risk and money management. What we know today is the culmination of many years of observation and profound insight by many influential thinkers. It is rightfully so that there should be such devotion to the subject for understanding the mysteries of the ups and downs of stock prices has far reaching consequences. We will encounter many such examples in this text.
Activation of hERG3 channel stimulates autophagy and promotes cellular senescence in melanoma

Ion channels play a major factor in maintaining cellular homeostasis but very little is known about the role of these proteins in cancer biology. In this work we have discovered that, the Kv11.3 (hERG3) a plasma-membrane potassium channel plays a critical role in the regulation of autophagy in a cancer cell model. We have found that pharmacologic stimulation of the Kv11.3 channel with a small molecule activator, NS1643 induced autophagy via activation of an AMPK-dependent signaling pathway in melanoma cell line. In addition, we have found that NS1643 produced a strong inhibition of cell proliferation by activating a cellular senescence program. Furthermore, inhibition of autophagy via siRNA targeting AMPK or treatment with hydroxychloroquine an autophagy inhibitor activates apoptosis in NS1643-treated cells. Thus, we propose that, Kv11.3 is a novel mediator of autophagy, autophagy can be a survival mechanism contributing to cellular senescence, and that use of a combinatorial pharmacologic approach of Kv11.3 activator with inhibitors of autophagy represents a novel therapeutic approach against melanoma.
(P)-Tetra-μ3-iodido-tetra­kis[(cyclo­hexyl­diphenyl­phosphine-κP)silver(I)]

The title compound, [Ag4I4(C18H21P)4], has a tetra­meric structure, with the Ag and I atoms alternating in a distorted cubane-like AgI core and with cyclo­hexyl­diphenyl­phosphine ligands capping the Ag corners. Each face is distorted, such that the average Ag⋯Ag atomic separation is shorter than the average I⋯I atomic separation by about 1 A. Two symmetry-unique but structurally similar tetra­mers of the same enanti­omer are each located on a twofold rotation axis, which can be assigned the same helicity, suggesting spontaneous resolution. Three phenyl groups are each disordered over two positions; the site occupancy ratios are between ca 2:1 and 4:1.
Cortical Commissural Connections in Primates

In their basic features, the corpus callosum and anterior commissure are typical of the mammalian order. In development, they display a massive overproduction of axons that are subsequently pruned. Myelinization is very slow, into the 20th year in humans, and a significant percentage of axons remain unmyelinated in adults. Connections between striate cortices are absent, and many other areas remain acallosal. The individual variance in this acallosal pattern is large, as is that (c. twofold) for the size of the callosum itself, complicating or negating efforts to correlate size or shape with behavior. The most secure evolutionary feature is that callosal size is inversely proportional to brain volume. Larger brains thus having fewer cross-connections, and necessarily requiring longer, hence slower, pathways, it becomes most efficient for each hemisphere to rely on intrahemispheric processing, hence hemispheric specialization. Nevertheless, interhemispheric communication is highly reliable, so that, for instance, even with restricted pathways the amygdala in one hemisphere is in continuous contact with visual events in the other. A similar proficiency prevails in the sharing of memory traces. Subcortical exchange is possible, one of the more unique features putatively being the propensity to form a unified memory trace from disparate inputs to the two hemispheres.
Case 30-2016

A 63-year-old woman with bipolar disorder and a history of cancer was admitted for electroconvulsive therapy. Chest CT revealed a new invasive breast cancer. The patient initially declined surgery and cancelled appointments. Management decisions were made.
Field and laboratory studies of corrosion inhibiting lubricants for gold-plated connectors

Field and laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the performance of several families of lubricant coatings which are relatively unknown in the contact field and for which few technical data are available. These coatings conform to two existing military standards-MIL-C-81309 and MIL-C-87177A. The net electrical performance of these materials on electrical connectors having porous gold coatings was evaluated in field exposures conducted over a 1-year period at nine relatively severe sites, both indoors and sheltered outdoors, within the United States. The studies were designed to evaluate net benefits, if any, arising from the potentially offsetting effects of corrosion inhibition and dust. Supporting laboratory studies were conducted to further evaluate coating characteristics and performance. The results of this work showed large differences in performance among materials conforming to existing specifications. This ranged from extremely good net performance, to virtually no net effect, to even apparent increases in corrosion. It was concluded, however, that among the best lubricants, there is a very large net benefit. This new class of materials appears to provide extreme corrosion protection to a degree which cannot be matched by "conventional" lubricants. Field and laboratory studies have indicated no known engineering risk associated with the use of these materials over a broad range of environmental conditions.
Heterogeneous Ketone Hydrodeoxygenation for the Production of Fuels and Feedstocks from Biomass

In this work, we describe a simple, heterogeneous catalytic system for the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of 5-nonanone and 2,5-hexanedione, which we use as model compounds for more complex biomass-derived molecules. We present the stepwise reduction of ketones by using supported metal and solid acid catalysts to identify the intermediates en route to hydrocarbons. Although monoketone HDO can be achieved rapidly using moderate conditions (Ni/SiO2.Al2O3, HZSM-5, 200 °C, 1.38 MPa H2, 1 h), quantitative γ-polyketone HDO requires higher pressures and longer reaction times (Pd/Al2O3, HZSM-5, 2.76 MPa H2, 5 h), although these are more facile conditions than have been reported previously for γ-polyketone HDO. Stepwise HDO of the γ-polyketone shows the reaction pathway occurs through ring-closure to a saturated tetrahydrofuran species intermediate, which requires increased H2 pressure to ring-open and subsequently to fully HDO. This work allows for further understanding of bio-derived molecule defunctionalization mechanisms, and ultimately aids in the promotion of biomass as a feedstock for fuels and chemicals.
Unified Synthesis of Right Halves of Halichondrins A–C

The right halves of halichondrins A–C were synthesized by coupling the common C20–C37 building block 9 with the C1–C19 building blocks 10a–c, respectively. Catalytic, asymmetric Ni/Cr-mediated coupling was used for three C–C bond formations. For all cases, the stereochemistry was controlled with the Cr catalyst prepared from the chiral sulfonamide identified via the toolbox approach. For (3 + 4)-, (6 + 7)-, and (9 + 10)-couplings, the stereoselectivity of 28:1, >40:1, and ∼20:1 was achieved by the Cr catalysts prepared from (S)-H, (S)-I, and (R)-L, respectively. Unlike the first and second couplings, the third coupling used the structurally complex nucleophile. It was demonstrated that the coupling efficiency was excellent even with the electrophile/nucleophile molar ratio = 1.0/1.1. In addition, the third coupling was achieved with the substrate bearing a free hydroxyl group. The products obtained in the Ni/Cr-mediated couplings were converted to the right halves of halichondrins A–C in excellent overall...
Beyond Abdominal Pain: Pain Beliefs, Pain Affect, and Distress as Determinants of Quality of Life in Patients With Chronic Pancreatitis.

GOALS To assess the relationship between pain, psychological processes, and quality of life (QOL) in chronic pancreatitis (CP). BACKGROUND CP is a progressive inflammatory disorder of the pancreas characteristically resulting in abdominal pain and impairing QOL. Pain due to CP is poorly understood and frequently difficult to treat. This pain has historically been understood as a peripheral process originating from the pancreas itself, but a growing body of literature is revealing an important role offered by central influences. Viewed through the perspective of the biopsychosocial model of illness, cognitive variables strongly influence QOL. However, there is little understanding of variables that influence QOL in CP. STUDY Patients with CP from the University of Alabama at Birmingham were administered a 165-question test battery which was comprised of questionnaires evaluating pain beliefs, disease-specific QOL, psychological distress, pain sensation, pain affect, and long-term suffering. RESULTS Sixty-eight subjects completed the question battery between February 28, 2011 and January 16, 2014. Almost all (91.2%) reported taking pain medication. QOL was significantly associated with reported levels of pain intensity (r=-0.52, P<0.01) as well as perceived self-blame. CONCLUSIONS The significant predictors of QOL impairment in CP are pain intensity and perceived self-blame for pain. Further research is needed to elucidate this relationship while also evaluating the effectiveness of systematic modification of these variables in an attempt to improve pain and QOL in CP.
Ablation rates and surface ultrastructure of 193 nm excimer laser keratectomies.

PURPOSE To determine whether photorefractive keratectomy can be performed at lower energies than are currently employed in clinical trials. METHODS Fresh pig corneas were ablated using a clinical excimer laser to study the effects of various energy densities (100-200 mJ/cm2) and beam diameters on ablation rates and on the surface ultrastructure of the ablated cornea. RESULTS A 20-mJ increase in energy density was associated with a 0.03 micron per pulse increase in the ablation rate. A nearly linear increase in the pseudomembrane thickness occurred with increasing energy densities (r2 = 0.83) or decreasing ablation area diameter (r2 = 0.86). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that fluences less than those currently used in clinical trials (160-180 mJ) are capable of ablating tissue while producing thinner electron-dense pseudomembranes on the corneal surface. The relationship between pseudomembrane thickness and clinical factors such as reepithelialization and postoperative haze remains to be determined. Operating at lower fluences does have the advantages of allowing larger diameter ablations, reducing possible shockwave damage, and reducing the maintenance requirements for the laser.
Wearable sensors capture differences in muscle activity and gait patterns during daily activity in patients recovering from ACL reconstruction

We examine leg motion and quadriceps muscle activation patterns during free-living activity in a cross-sectional sample of patients recovering from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using wearable sensors. Analysis suggests that this technology is feasible, and captures expected differences in daily muscle activity between the affected and contralateral limbs within and across patients and, during gait, differences in muscle activation patterns and kinematics across patients associated with recovery progress. Results point toward the need for future studies to explore these indicators of rehabilitation progress longitudinally in patients recovering from ACL reconstruction.
Rules of the Road and Electric Traffic Controllers: Making A Virtual Utility Feasible

A virtual utility is defined as an entity that operates and manages multilateral transactions in an electric power system yet owns no transmission. Interaction among multiple virtual utilities using the same transmission grid will have an effect on transmission losses in the system and on the security of one party to another as a result of network congestion. Means for formally measuring and quantifying these interactions are presented. The effect of these interactions in various time frames is discussed, and rules for translating the knowledge about losses and security into rules for the road are presented.
Radiochemotherapy and hyperthermia in the treatment of rectal cancer.

We evaluated the use of regional hyperthermia with radio-chemotherapy in a phase I/II study on locally advanced rectal carcinomas. Thirty-four patients with primary advanced (stage T3/T4) rectal carcinomas (24 patients) or recurring rectal carcinomas (6 patients) were treated using preoperative radio-chemo-thermotherapy. Initial tumour staging was carried out clinically (degree of fixation) and using endorectal ultrasonography and CT. Radiotherapy was carried out with the patient prone (on a belly board) at 5 x 1.8 Gy per week up to 45 Gy at the reference point. 5-Fluorouracil (300–500 mg/m2) was administered with low-dose leucovorin (50 mg) on days 1–5 and 22–26. Patients were treated with regional hyperthermia each week prior to radiotherapy, using the Sigma-60 ring of the BSD-2000 system. Temperature/position curves and temperature/time curves were recorded via endocavitary catheters (tumour contact, bladder, vagina). Following endosonographic and clinical restaging, the operation was carried out 4–6 weeks after the end of preoperative therapy. In cases where tumours were unresectable, a boost of up to 60 Gy was given. Twenty-three of the 34 patients (68%) proved to be curatively resectable. Of these patients, 70% were downstaged endosonographically during preoperative therapy. The actuarial survival rates among these patients were 85% (primary rectal cancer) and 60% (recurrences) at 30 months. All in all, the preoperative multimodal therapy was well tolerated, and premature termination was necessary in only two cases. The quality of temperature distribution (T 90, cum min T 90 > 40.5°C) depends on the power level and relative power density. The response (particularly downstaging) correlates significantly with the quality parameters of the temperature distributions. This regimen proved practical and effective, with encouraging downstaging rates and local control rates.
Initiation of Labor

The extraordinary hormonal and physical changes that occur in the pregnant subject and her uterus are the ultimate expression of the wonders of adaptation. Pregnancy brings a complete turnabout of the hormonal status of the individual with the appearance of the placenta, a new, large, and potent endocrine organ that secretes a number of new hormones and metabolizes others produced by the patient or her conceptus. In addition, the physical changes of a growing uterus—a potent, contractile, hollow viscus receiving a large proportion of the cardiac output to supply the enlarged vascular bed (IVS)—constitute constant threats to interruption of the growing conceptus. Why pregnancy terminates at a given stage, and what triggers labor are fundamental biologic problems that, so far, have not been solved (an equally monumental problem, possibly closely related, is why the conceptus—a partial homograft—is not rejected by the maternal organism).
Higher Order Elements and Element Enhancement by Combined Regular and Hypersingular Boundary Integral Equations

The direct, collocation boundary element method is used with both the regular and tangent derivative equation to formulate boundary elements with additional degrees of freedom. Use of the tangent derivative equation allows collocation at the same nodes as the regular constraint equation when the derivatives are continuous at the collocation points. Nonconforming elements with degrees of freedom corresponding to tangent derivatives of the primary function are introduced into both equations through Hermitian shape functions. The formulation is given for potential problems in two dimensions with a verification example.
Exercise Your Kynurenines to Fight Depression

Kynurenines, the major degradative products of the essential amino acid tryptophan, may play critical roles in the pathophysiology of depressive disorders. In 2014, Agudelo and colleagues reported that exercise indirectly modulates the metabolism of kynurenines in skeletal muscle, which in turn influences the brain and enhances resilience to depression.
Influenza Mandates and Religious Accommodation: Avoiding Legal Pitfalls:

Influenza mandates in health care institutions are recommended by professional associations as an effective way to prevent the contraction of influenza by patients from health care workers. Health care institutions with such mandates must operate within civil rights frameworks. A recent set of cases against health care institutions with influenza mandates reveals the liabilities posed by federal law that protects employees from religious discrimination. This article examines this legal framework and draws important lessons from this litigation for health care institutions. We argue counterintuitively that providing religious exemptions from influenza mandates may expose health care institutions to more liability than not providing a formal exemption.
Extreme Personalities at Work and in Life

Contemporary personality taxonomies cast personality traits as ranging from the maladaptive (e.g., low conscientiousness) to adaptive (e.g., high conscientiousness) levels. Despite philosophical an...
ICON: Incast Congestion Control using Packet Pacing in Datacenter Networks

Datacenters host a mix of applications which generate qualitatively distinct traffic patterns and impose varying network objectives. Online, user-facing applications generate many-to-one, incast traffic of mostly short flows, which are sensitive to tail of Flow Completion Times (FCT). Data analytics applications generate all-to-all traffic (e.g., Web search) of mostly short flows that saturate network bisection and the job completions require all flows to complete. Background applications (e.g., MapReduce) generate large flows and are throughput sensitive due to the sheer amount of data that they transfer over the network. While datacenter fabric provides good bisection bandwidth to handle all-to-all traffic, incast traffic is bottle-necked at edge switches and causes queue buildup at the port connected to the receiver. Because datacenter switches use shallow buffers to reduce cost and latency, the queue buildup problem is further exacerbated as the shallow buffers easily overflow causing packet drops and expensive TCP timeouts. To address these issues we propose ICON, a novel scheme which reduces incast-induced packet loss by setting a fine-grained control over sending rate by pacing traffic. We propose two variants: an application agnostic version that simply paces packet smoothly over round trip time (RTT) and an application aware version that paces packets based on application knowledge (e.g., incast degree). Compared to existing state-of-the-art congestion control schemes, ICON achieves 77% lower 99th percentile flow completion times for short flows and 18% higher throughput for long flows on average. Further, ICON drastically reduces 99th percentile packet drops by a factor of about 3 on average.
The Ninther, a Technique for Low-Effort Robust (Resistant) Location in Large Samples

The ninther, a median of medians, has a number of desirable features as a constituent part of procedures to summarize a large number of values: it reduces the number of values by a factor of nine; it tends to shed the influence of “wild” values (unless they are clustered together fairly tightly); its Gaussian efficiency is 55% (its stretched-tail efficiency is higher); it can be computed with no arithmetic operations and an average of about 1.1 comparisons per input data value. Various specific uses are suggested.
Sex and the Developing Brain: Sexual Differentiation of the Brain. Akira Matsumoto (Ed.). 1999. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press LLC. 323 pp., $99.95.

Sexual Differentiation of the Brain will appeal primarily to researchers with specific interest in neuroendocrinological contributions to the sexual dimorphism of brain structures and neuropathways, predominantly in nonhumans . Collectively, the 16 chapters provide comprehensive review of our current understanding of the effects of hormonal steroids and their metabolites on brain development and the manner in which this correlates with specific behavioral functions. The clinician interested in furthering an understanding of sexually differentiated cognitive functioning or behavioral patterns in humans , may perceive discussion in many chapters as esoteric at best, or less charitably, as irrelevant. It is assumed that the reader has a prerequisite understanding of basic genetic and hormonal influences on brain development and subsequent behavioral manifestation. Although these issues are clarified by reference or associated discussion in several chapters, an introductory overview by the editor would have been beneficial. Similarly, the editor would have facilitated the reader's effort by organizing chapters according to findings of brain sexual dimorphism in humans versus “primitive” species, by clarifying the relevance of examining other species and/or by focusing attention to parallels in anatomical findings or in associated behavior.