cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Synthesis of δ-eicosanolactone and δ-docosanolactone directly from meadowfoam oil

δ-Eicosanolactone and δ-docosanolactone were synthesized directly from the triacylglycerides of meadowfoam (Limnanthes) oil. Perchloric and sulfuric acids were used in stoichiometric quantities (0.5–4.0 mol equiv) to cyclize triglyceride to δ-lactone. When the reactions were run in the absence of solvent at 40°C, δ-lactone yields ranged from 17–75% where δ/γ ratios ranged from 6∶1 to 10.4.∶1. Sulfuric and perchloric acids gave similar yields for their individually optimized reactions. Perchloric acid-catalyzed reactions required less acid to produce similar amounts of δ-lactone (HClO4 at 2.0 mol equiv gave 73% yield vs. H2SO4, which gave 75% yield at 2.5 mol equiv). The use of polar nonparticipating solvents during the reaction had little impact on δ-lactone formation or δ/γ ratio. Higher perchoric acid concentrations provided higher δ-lactone yields with δ/γ ratios remaining nearly constant. The effect of sulfuric acid on δ-lactone yield and δ/γ ratio was more direct; higher acid concentration improved, both. Both crystallization and short path distillation improved δ-lactone quality but short path distillation gave, higher recovered yields. The δ-lactones were converted to their corresponding 5-hydroxy acids in the same reaction vessel, separated, and cyclized back to δ-lactones upon heating under vacuum. This provided a convenient method for δ-lactone purification.
A Review of Planetary Boundary Layer Parameterization Schemes and Their Sensitivity in Simulating Southeastern U.S. Cold Season Severe Weather Environments

AbstractThe representation of turbulent mixing within the lower troposphere is needed to accurately portray the vertical thermodynamic and kinematic profiles of the atmosphere in mesoscale model forecasts. For mesoscale models, turbulence is mostly a subgrid-scale process, but its presence in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) can directly modulate a simulation’s depiction of mass fields relevant for forecast problems. The primary goal of this work is to review the various parameterization schemes that the Weather Research and Forecasting Model employs in its depiction of turbulent mixing (PBL schemes) in general, and is followed by an application to a severe weather environment. Each scheme represents mixing on a local and/or nonlocal basis. Local schemes only consider immediately adjacent vertical levels in the model, whereas nonlocal schemes can consider a deeper layer covering multiple levels in representing the effects of vertical mixing through the PBL. As an application, a pair of cold season sever...
Search templates for stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds

Several earth-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors are actively pursuing the quest for placing observational constraints on models that predict the behavior of a variety of astrophysical and cosmological sources. These sources span a wide gamut, ranging from hydrodynamic instabilities in neutron stars (such as $\mathrm{r}$-modes) to particle production in the early Universe. Signals from a subset of these sources are expected to appear in these detectors as stochastic GW backgrounds (SGWBs). The detection of these backgrounds will help us in characterizing their sources. Accounting for these backgrounds will also be required by some detectors, such as the proposed space-based detector LISA, so that they can detect other GW signals. Here, we formulate the problem of constructing a bank of search templates that discretely span the parameter space of a generic SGWB. We apply it to the specific case of a class of cosmological SGWBs, known as the broken power-law models. We derive how the template density varies in their three-dimensional parameter space and show that for the LIGO 4 km detector pair, with LIGO-I sensitivities, a few hundred templates will suffice to detect such a background while incurring a loss in signal-to-noise ratio of no more than 3%.
An algebraic theory of strong power in negatively connected exchange networks

Various extensions of the model are proposed to deal with a wider variety of conditions than are normally examined in experiments on exchange networks. With little or no modification, the model can predict power when exchange relations are unequal in value, when positions vary in the number of exchanges in which they can participate, and when three or more participants are required for a transaction to occur. A structural and algebraic theory of power in negatively connected exchange networks can be deduced from a few simple and plausible assumptions about how individuals make decisions. The model generates a set of equations. A typology of exchange networks follows from characteristics of the solution to these equations. There are four possibilities: the equations have a unique solution in which some positions have all the power; the equations have a unique solution in which all positions have equal power; the equations have an infinity of solutions, in which case power is undetermined by structural cons...
Fluvial erosion of physically modeled abrasion-dominated slot canyons

Abstract Abrasion-dominated fluvial erosion generates slot canyons in massive bedrock with intricately undulating walls. Flows in slot canyons are unusual in that the walls comprise a significant portion of the wetted perimeter of the flow during geomorphically effective floods. In Wire Pass, Utah, the upper Paria River incises through massive, crossbedded Navajo Sandstone. Incision in Wire Pass and related slots occurs only during flash floods; paleoflood debris indicates that the width/depth ratios of these flows are at times as low as 1:1. Submeter resolution field mapping of a 20-m length of Wire Pass shows that the wall morphology is a complicated combination of in-phase (meander-like) and out-of-phase (pinch and swell) undulations. In order to investigate evolution of slot canyons and the influence of their wall shapes on flow dynamics, we recorded the evolution of four distinct canyon wall morphologies in a 2.4 m flume box at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. In a substrate consisting of ∼ 3:2 mixtures of F110 sand and Plaster of Paris, we molded canyons with in-phase and out-of-phase undulations, and wide (6.5 cm) and narrow (4 cm) straight initial wall profiles. Discharges ranged from 1.4 L/s to 2.9 L/s, and wall and bed morphology were measured at 5 h intervals at 0.5 cm resolution. Results show efficient back-eddy erosion in the undulating canyon walls and related erosional bedforms in all channels created by vortices in the flow. Maximum filaments of velocity are depressed and asymmetric, and the implied shear stress distribution varied in space and time on the channel beds. Flow width/depth ratios strongly influence the flow structure and distribution of shear stress in a slot and appear to be a factor in dictating whether a bedrock channel widens its walls or incises its bed.
Topology of force networks in compressed granular media

Using numerical simulations, we investigate the evolution of the structure of force networks in slowly compressed model granular materials in two spatial dimensions. We quantify the global properties of the force networks using the zeroth Betti number B0, which is a topological invariant. We find that B0 can distinguish among force networks in systems with frictionlessvs. frictional disks and varying size distributions. In particular, we show that 1) the force networks in systems composed of frictionless, monodisperse disks di!er significantly from those in systems with frictional, polydisperse disks and we isolate the e!ect (friction, polydispersity) leading to the di!erences; 2) the structural properties of force networks change as the system passes through the jamming transition; and 3) the force network continues to evolve as the system is compressed above jamming,e.g., the size of connected clusters with forces larger than a given threshold decreases significantly with increasing packing fraction. Copyright c !EPLA, 2012
Changes in the organization of the lipid bilayer of the plasma membrane during spermatogenesis and epididymal maturation.

Ram, bull, and mouse sperm cells were stained with several fluorescent membrane probes. In contrast to nonspecific probes, merocyanine 540 (MC540), which displays preferential binding to loosely packed phospholipids in model membranes, was specifically localized to the anterior portion of the head and the midpiece of mature sperm. To establish when during development this distinctive staining pattern was acquired, germ cells from prepubescent and adult mouse testes as well as sperm from the caput, corpus, and cauda epididymides were isolated and examined. Localized staining with MC540 was not observed until sperm reached the corpus epididymidis, where those cells with a completely translocated (i.e., distally located) cytoplasmic droplet fluoresced. Likewise, when sperm were stained with fluoresceinated concanavalin A (fl-ConA), a localized pattern of fluorescence with lectin restricted to the anterior portion of the head was not observed until the corpus epididymidis was reached. However, in contrast to MC540 staining, only a fraction of sperm with completely translocated droplets exhibited this localized staining with fl-ConA, the remainder exhibiting diffuse fluorescence over the entire cell as seen on caput epididymal sperm. These developmental changes in staining patterns are specific to murine cells, since no change in the pattern of staining by either MC540 or fl-ConA was seen on epididymal sperm of the ram. These results are discussed with respect to: 1) species-to-species differences in sperm membrane features; and 2) the hypothesis that domains of loosely packed lipids may be involved in the regionalization of membrane proteins that occurs during sperm development.
Belief, ethnicity, and nationalism

On the basis of a continuing study sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace, this essay addresses the role of religious and related forms of belief in the formation and mobilization of ethnic identity and nationalism. It is particularly concerned with the relationship of ethnic conflict to intolerance and discrimination, as defined by human rights standards. Drawing upon the work of Max Weber, and giving examples from case studies of Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Tibet, the essay proposes a partial explanation of the sources of intolerance.
The Solubility and Diffusivity of Fluorine in Solid Copper from Electrochemical Measurements

The solubility and diffusivity of fluorine in solid copper were determined electrochemically using the double solid-state cell $$Ni + NiF_2 \left| {CaF_2 } \right|Cu\left| {CaF_2 } \right|Ni + NiF_2 .$$ In the temperature range 757 to 920°C, the diffusivity of fluorine in solid copper was found to be $$D_F \left( {{{cm^2 } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{cm^2 } s}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} s}} \right) = 9.32 \times 10^{ - 2} \exp \left( {\frac{{ - 98,910 {J \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {J {mole}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {mole}}}} {{RT}}} \right).$$ . The results obtained for the dissolution of fluorine as atoms in solid copper showed large scatter. However, the equilibrium dissolution of fluorine follows Sieverts’ law. Above the melting point (770°C) of CuF2, the mean solubility of fluorine in solid copper, for the equilibrium Cu(s)+ CuF2(l), follows the relationship $$N_F^s (atom fraction) = 0.98 \exp \left( {\frac{{ - 79,500 {J \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {J {mole}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {mole}}}} {{RT}}} \right).$$
The effects of contralateral noise on reaction time to monaural stimuli

Experiment I measured reaction time (RT) to monaural tones of six frequencies presented along with white noise to the contralateral ear. RT with the hand ipsilateral to the stimulus was an average of 9.63 msec faster than RT with the contralateral hand. Contralateral RT was significantly affected by the stimulus frequency. Experiment II measured ipsilateral and contralateral RT to monaural tones with and without contralateral noise. Noise-on results agreed with the results of Experiment I, while noise-off results showed no difference between ipsilateral and contralateral RT. No right-ear advantage was found. The ipsilateral-contralateral RT difference found with noise on is interpreted as being due to callosal transmission time as well as other factors. The finding of no right-ear advantage is discussed in relation to other studies which did report a right-ear advantage.
Does mitigating pain decrease the risk of infection? The interactions between nociception and immune function

Abstract Recent studies suggest that analgesic interventions may influence immune function and the development of infection in neonates. Although substantial literature exists for the bidirectional relationship between nociception and immune pathways, there is a paucity of rigorous research linking nociception and immune function with the incidence of infection. This article presents the best available evidence for the interactions between nociception, immune function and the development of infection. Rigorous research is urgently needed to determine if anesthetic and analgesic regimens can influence immunomodulation or boost immune function significantly to avert infection.
Determination of peak positions and areas from wide‐scan XPS spectra

It has been found that by taking transforms of both Gaussian and Lorentzian line shapes into polynomial representations, it is possible in many instances to determine peak position, peak intensity and the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) from wide-scan XPS spectra that have a low number of data points per electron-volt. This approach was tested with several samples, ranging from an insulator, Al 2 O 3 , to an excellent conductor, sputter-cleaned gold. Several data sets were constructed from narrow-scan spectra with points selected about 1 eV apart to simulate wide-scan spectra
Design and Analysis of an Optical Communications Processor

We present an Optical Interface Message Processor (OPTIMP) that exploits the high bandwidth, parallelism, multidimensional capability, and high storage density offered by optics. Switching and routing functions are performed in the optical domain and thus OPTIMP does not suffer from the optical/electronic conversion bottleneck associated with current fiber optics networks. The source-destination (SD) information from a message is first converted to the spatial domain. The routing table stores all SD codes and the corresponding control codes for setting the switching network, The routing table is searched in parallel and control signals corresponding to the matched SD code are readout to configure the network. The optical implementation is based on S-SEED array technology. The power requirements and performance of OPTIMP based on the current technology are analyzed.
A comparative second harmonic study of Cu(111) in UHV and in solution

Abstract : This paper provides important new information about the surface properties of a copper single crystal electrode as examined by surface optical second harmonic (SH) generation. The unique aspect of the work is that SH response from the Cu(111) electrode surface was examined and compared with identical studies performed on this surface in ultra-high vacuum. The results provide compelling evidence for the existence of surface oxides even under conditions where one might expect the electrode surface to be oxide free.
A workload-based analysis of software aging, and rejuvenation

We present a hierarchical model for the analysis of proactive fault management in the presence of system resource leaks. At the low level of the model hierarchy is a degradation model in which we use a nonhomogeneous Markov chain to establish an explicit connection between resource leaks, and the failure rate. With the degradation model, we prove that the failure rate is asymptotically constant in the absence of resource leaks, and it is increasing as leaks occur & accumulate, which confirms the resource leaks as an aging source. The proactive fault management (PFM) is modeled at the higher level as a semi-Markov process. The PFM model takes as input the degradation analysis from the low-level model, and allows us to determine optimal rejuvenation schedules with respect to various system measures.
Continuous and switched-capacitor multiphase oscillators

This paper presents novel designs of multiphase oscillators. These oscillators generate n symmetric signals, i.e., equal in amplitude and equally spaced in phase, which have a wide range of applications in communications and signal processing. First, multiphase oscillators based on active sequence discriminators (SD's) are proposed. Then multiphase oscillators based on the SD and two-integrator-loop circuits containing only capacitors, switches, and op amps are derived. In addition to the fact that these switched-capacitor oscillators (SCO's) are easily constructed in IC form using MOS technology, they are shown to possess other attractive features. The input to the switched-capacitor (SC) circuit is a clock and the output is a sampled-and-held sinusoid of a frequency that is related to the clock frequency by an arbitrarily chosen capacitor ratio. The oscillation frequency follows linearly a continuously varying clock. Thus there is no need to vary any of the oscillator components to change the oscillation frequency. Ultralow oscillation frequencies can be generated using practical component values. The harmonic content can be made very small by increasing the number of samples in each oscillation cycle. Also, the amplitude stabilization and control circuitry with excellent settling properties are presented. It is shown that the complexity of the amplitude stabilization circuitry does not increase with the number of oscillator phases in the SD oscillator design. Experimental results using both the continuous and SC realizations are given which are in agreement with the theory presented.
Present Status of Italian Studies in the United States and Canada

The first survey of Italian studies at the college level was conducted in the fall of 1923 and published by Alexander Green in 1924 in The Modern Language Journal (9:33-39). The list included 118 colleges and 1 junior college with a total enrollment of 3451 students of Italian of which 2357 were enrolled in beginners courses. An additional group of 40 colleges offered Italian on alternate years or only occasionally but had no enrollments to report for the year 1923-24. A summary of this survey appears in the first column of Table 2. The figures for the years 1960, 1963, 1965, and 1968, occupying the 4 middle columns of Table 2, are taken from the surveys conducted 507
Surveillance of Washington OSHA Exposure Data to Identify Uncharacterized or Emerging Occupational Health Hazards

Chemical substance exposure data from the Washington State Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) program were reviewed to determine if inspections conducted as a result of a report of a hazard from a complainant or referent may alert the agency to uncharacterized or emerging health hazards. Exposure and other electronically stored data from 6890 health inspection reports conducted between April 2003 and August 2008 were extracted from agency records. A total of 515 (7%) inspections with one or more personal airborne chemical substance samples were identified for further study. Inspections by report of a hazard and by targeting were compared for the following: number of inspections, number and percentage of inspections with workers exposed to substances above an agency's permissible exposure limit, types of industries inspected, and number and type of chemical substances assessed. Report of a hazard inspections documented work sites with worker overexposure at the same rate as agency targete...
Job Search and Mobility in Developing Countries. Theory and Policy Implications

Abstract A labor market model is developed in which the formal sector is characterized by search frictions whereas the informal sector is competitive. We show that there exists a unique steady-state equilibrium in this dual economy. We then consider different policies financed by a tax on firms' profits. We find that reducing the unemployment benefit or the firms' entry cost in the formal sector induces higher job creation and formal employment, reduces the size of the informal sector but has an ambiguous effect on wages. We also find that an employment/wage subsidy policy and a hiring subsidy policy have different implications. In particular, the former increases the size of the informal sector while the latter decreases it.
Five Careers and Eight Airplanes: An Oral History of John Geyman, MD

Each generation has an obligation to remind succeeding ones about the people, ideas, and events that have gotten us to this point. This essay and an accompanying oral history trace the origins of family medicine through the life of someone who helped found it—John P. Geyman, MD. He is one of the most published family physicians in the United States. In addition to being a rural family physician, he was one of the first residency directors in family medicine and the first editor of the discipline’s first academic journal. His career weaves 4 themes together in interesting and creative ways: commitment to the work of clinical practice, a sense of responsibility for strengthening clinical education, a belief that clinical care should be based on science and delivered within a rational system of health care, and a love of flying. His story also exemplifies the generation of general practitioners who started family medicine but who retained both a personal understanding of the complex nature of independent practice and a reliance on community.
Social Change in the Salience of Death among Adults in America: A Projective Assessment

The relationship between the salience of death and decade, sex, age, and education is explored through a nationally representative, random sample of 1,428 respondents in 1957 and 1976. A thematic apperceptive procedure is utilized and stories are coded for reference to death. An attempt is made to validate the death variable with selected variables from a research questionnaire. A significant historical increase in concerns about death is found, although the change is strongest among women and the young. Implications for psychological research both current and past are discussed.
A rapidly convergent iterative solution of the non-LTE line radiation transfer problem

Abstract An iterative scheme has been developed for the solution of the non-LTE line radiation transfer problem. The method uses an approximate operator that is deliberately chosen to be local so that it can be easily extended to multidimensional geometry. The difference between the formal and approximate solutions is used as a driving term for the iterations. In one-dimensional, semiinfinite and free-standing slabs, the technique is found to be very fast, robust, and applicable to a large class of problems.
Reward versus cost token systems: an analysis of the effects on students and teacher

The effects of reward and cost token procedures on the social and academic behavior of two groups of elementary special-education students were assessed using a reversal design. Behavioral observations of three target subjects in each group revealed that both procedures were about equally effective in reducing rule violations and off-task behavior. Records kept on the daily arithmetic performance of all subjects showed that output doubled in both groups during the token phases, although accuracy remained unchanged. When students were allowed to choose either contingency, no pattern of preference was established. Small differences were found in teacher behavior: the reward procedure led to an increase in approval comments but cost procedures produced no changes in teacher behavior.
Promotion Reactance: The Role of Effort-Reward Congruity

Incentives may simultaneously entice consumers and arouse reactance. It is proposed that consumers reaffirm their autonomy by choosing rewards that are congruent with the promoted consumption effort (choosing reward x over reward y , given effort x ). Such congruity allows consumers to construe their behavior as intrinsically motivated rather than externally induced, because the effort is its own reward. Supporting this conceptualization, the results indicate that preferences for effort-congruent rewards are attenuated among consumers with lower psychological reactance, after a reactance-reduction manipulation, when rewards are independent of personal effort, and when rewards are a by-product rather than the intention of effort.
Generic Invertibility of Multidimensional FIR Filter Banks and MIMO Systems

In this paper, we study the invertibility of M-variate Laurent polynomial N times P matrices. Such matrices represent multidimensional systems in various settings such as filter banks, multiple-input multiple-output systems, and multirate systems. Given an N times P Laurent polynomial matrix H(z1, ..., zM) of degree at most k, we want to find a P times N Laurent polynomial left inverse matrix G(z) of H(z) such that G(z)H(z) = J. We provide computable conditions to test the invertibility and propose algorithms to find a particular inverse. The main result of this paper is to prove that H(z) is generically invertible when N - P ges M; whereas when N - P < M, then H(z) is generically noninvertible. As a result, we propose an algorithm to find a particular inverse of a Laurent polynomial matrix that is faster than current algorithms known to us.
A Heterogeneous Cache Distribution with Reconfigurable Interconnect

Current trends in multicore research suggest that hundreds of cores will be integrated on a single chip in the near future for increased performance. This new trend presents a set of challenges, one of which is cache distribution among the cores. Network on chip with homogeneous cache distribution among the routers has become mainstream in literature. In this paper, we propose having a heterogeneous distribution of cache blocks to routers. The heterogeneity and the appropriate scheduling by the OS will help to reduce network hops by placing more cache blocks closer to the cores executing data intensive applications. We show that this distribution reduces cache access overhead by as much as 20% percent. Furthermore, we also propose reconfigurable heterogeneous cache architecture for multi-threaded workloads. In this scheme, cache blocks are reassigned to routers based on data needs. A constructive heuristic has been presented which gives the optimal cache configuration and page coloring for each workload. We show that this approach can effectively reduce cache access time by as much as 61% percent.
A numerical solution of the layered media Green's function for the MPIE in the time domain

Layered media Green's functions in the frequency domain have been extensively studied previously. Interest has increased in the evaluation of the layered media Green's functions in the time domain, to be subsequently used for time domain integral equations (TDIEs). This is because of critical time-domain applications including the analysis of transients in high speed digital interconnects and for analyzing wideband microstrip antennas. In using time domain layered Green's functions in conjuction with TDIEs, it is necessary to compute the layered medium Green's function for many source-to-field distances /spl rho/ and time intervals t. In this paper, a numerical solution of the layered media Green's function in the time domain for the mixed potential integral equation (MPIE) is reported. The particular case where the source and field points are on the top layer is presented. The method is applicable to multi-layered structures and to both lossless and lossy media. The technique also computes the Green's function for many /spl rho/ and t values simultaneously.
Affine registration: a comparison of several programs

Several registration programs with an affine model for the displacement field were tested on various 2D and 3D MRI of the same modality. The following programs were considered: AIR 3.0 (Woods, J. Comp. Assist. Tomogr, 22(1): 139-152, 1998), COCGV (Ostuni, JMRI, 7(2): 410-415, 1997), FLIRT (Jenkinson, Med. Image Analysis, 5(2): 143-156, 2001), Intramodal Registration (Thevenaz, IEEE Trans. Image Proc., 7(1): 27-41, 1998), SPM (Friston, Human Brain Mapping, 2: 165-189, 1995), and Patch Algorithm (Zhilkin, MRI 18(9): 1143-1150, 2000). Although some of these programs can perform multimodal registration, none was used in such a mode. This paper attempts a fair comparison of the performance of the Patch Algorithm with other programs. However, different settings of the programs' parameters may further improve the quality of the registration and/or change execution speed. The registered images, the CPU time required to perform the registration, and the error between the registered and reference images, are presented. Most of the programs give comparable accuracies of registration, but their execution times vary considerably. In general the AIR and Patch Algorithm require the least time. The Patch Algorithm can be easily parallelizable on a multi-processor computer.
Biomechanics of sliding transfer: feasibility of FES assistance

Triceps stimulation can restore arm reaching function to individuals with C5/C6 SCI In this study, we investigate the feasibility of expanding the use of FES triceps stimulation to assist sliding transfers. The feasibility is based on comparisons made between moments used at the shoulder and elbow during a sliding transfer, and those known amounts of residual shoulder function and realizable FES stimulated elbow moment. Results of preliminary tests in able-bodied subjects show a common strategy of pulling with the leading limb and pushing with the trailing limb. The asymmetry was greater for weak transfers than for normal transfers. Able-bodied subjects used greater elbow extension moments than have been measured during triceps stimulation in individuals with SCI.
Protocols for Objects with Multiple RFID Tags

Security/privacy issues are of paramount importance for widespread acceptance and use of RFID tags. Over the past few years, researchers have addressed this issue through lightweight cryptographic means. A majority of existing literature in this area consider communication between a single-tagged object and a single reader or owner of this tag. There are instances where either or both of these may not be valid. For example, an object could have multiple disparate embedded tags in each of its component parts or several identical tags could have been affixed to this object for improving its read rate accuracy. Similarly, several readers (or, owners) may simultaneously have the necessary privilege, keys, etc. to be able to read (or, own) a tagged object as happens with vendor management inventory. In the multiple-tagged object scenario, objects gain and lose tags over time as components are added or removed from the object of interest. We consider the multiple-tagged object scenario and present cryptographic protocols for tag updates. We then present ownership transfer protocols for the multiple-tagged object scenario. We also provide a brief security analysis of the presented protocols.
Selecting Developmental Surveillance and Screening Tools

1. Dennis Drotar, PhD* 2. Terry Stancin, PhD† 3. Paul H. Dworkin, MD‡ 4. Laura Sices, MD§ 5. Susan Wood** 1. *Professor of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 2. †Professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Psychology, Case Western Reserve University and Metro Health Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio 3. ‡Professor of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Conn 4. §Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass 5. **Coordinator, Division of Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics, Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio The importance of surveillance and screening for developmental problems in primary care has been well recognized in scholarly reviews and practice guidelines. (1) The need for early detection of developmental problems in infants and young children in primary pediatric care settings stems from the high prevalence of such problems and the potential for early intervention for the child and family. Frequent longitudinal contact with young children and their families at critical times in their early development provides pediatricians and other practitioners with important opportunities to conduct developmental surveillance and screening to detect clinically significant developmental problems and institute early intervention. (1)(2)(3)(4) Early identification and referral to early intervention programs can ameliorate the negative consequences of developmental problems on children, families, and society. (3) However, studies have indicated consistently that many infants and young children who have clinically significant developmental delays are not detected in pediatric primary care. (1)(3)(4) As a consequence, critical opportunities for early intervention for young children who are at risk for developmental problems may be lost. (2)(5)(6)(7) To address this need, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) developed a policy statement for identifying infants and young children who have developmental delays and disorders. (8) This statement is a significant advance in the clinical application of developmental screening in several respects. One is the recommendation to address parental concerns about development as one of several health topics in routine pediatric preventive care visits throughout the first 5 years after birth. Developmental surveillance, defined as a flexible, longitudinal, continuous, and cumulative process, is recommended for inclusion at every pediatric visit. The five components of developmental surveillance described in the AAP statement include: 1) eliciting and attending to the parent's concerns about his …
An improved upper bound on the performance of convolutional codes over quasistatic fading channels

This paper presents an improved upper bound on the performance of convolutional codes over quasistatic fading channels (QSFC). The bound uses a combination of a classical union bound when the fading channel is in a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) state together with a new upper bound for the low SNR state. This new analytical technique produces bounds which are usually about 1 dB tighter than existing bounds. The new approach is applied to both convolutional and turbo codes as well as serially concatenated convolutional/turbo and space time block codes.
Does Involvement in Healthy Eating Among University Students Differ Based on Exercise Status and Reasons for Exercise

Background. Unhealthy nutritional habits are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the US. Research indicates that regular physical activity can influence dietary habits of adults. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine whether university students’ involvement in healthy eating differed based on current exercise status and reported reasons for exercising. Methods. A sample of 204 university students completed a 22-item survey on healthy eating and physical activity. Results. Less than 10% met all Food Guide recommendations. The leading barriers to healthy eating were time, convenience and healthy food availability. Less than half exercised on four or more days each week. The leading reasons for exercising were to improve appearance, improve health and lose weight. Being physically active did not have a significant effect on healthy eating, nor did specific reason for exercising. Discussion. Most students did not eat healthy and their physical activity levels did not significantly affect their nutritional habits. Increased awareness campaigns are warranted. Conclusions. Strategies other than physical activity promotion are needed to positively impact students’ healthy eating behaviors. Students should continue to be educated about healthy nutrition and ways to reduce perceived barriers to healthy eating.
Quantitative determination of asbestos in soils, contaminated sites, in earth and rock excavation and non-hazardous waste to be sent for recovery

Asbestos in different environmental matrices is an important question for environmentalÂ andÂ human health; chemical, mineralogical and morphological properties that characterize asbestos, cause some difficulties in its correct quantitative determination, so asbestosÂ mustÂ have a specific specialized approach . The growing need to enable recycling techniques, reuse of waste materials from the perspective of saving resources and reducing consumption of raw materials, leading to the treatment and recovery of waste and aggregates, in particular those from demolition.The asbestos presence or asbestos-containing materials obviously undermines the goal of recovery and can lead to serious health problems. In this article, divided into two separate paragraphs, we intend to highlight the analytic problems, about the quantitative determination of asbestos in soils, contaminated sites, in earth and rock excavation and non-hazardous waste to be sentfor recovery. We also do reasoned proposals in order to achieve changes in the legislation itself.
Turning Two Blind Eyes: The EPA's Failure to Consider Costs and Health Disbenefits in Revising the Ozone Standard

This Article critiques the EPA’s refusal to consider economic impacts and health disbenefits in revising the ozone standard on both policy and legal grounds. For each of these two factors, it is first argued that consideration of the factor is necessary for rational decision-making. Second, the EPA’s argument that the Clean Air Act precludes the Agency from considering each factor is shown to be untrue, and indeed is inconsistent with the statutory languages and objectives. Part I briefly summarizes the EPA’s decision to revise the ozone standard. Part II examines the policy and legal flaws in the EPA’s decision not to consider costs, while Part III addresses parallel flaws in the EPA’s refusal to consider the health disbenefits of the revised ozone standard.
In Their Own Hand: An Analysis of Holographic Wills and Homemade Willmaking

Holographic wills - wills that are handwritten and unwitnessed - are traditionally thought of as a risky, do it yourself brand of estate planning. In the author's view, this is wrong. Using two years' of probate records from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this Article demonstrates that holographs are an indispensable tool for testators who are either unwilling or unable to commission a traditional will. Homemade testaments provide a low-cost alternative to intestacy, improve the overall quantity of will-making, function as a safety-net for testators who fall suddenly ill, and rarely result in litigation. The triumph of holographic wills also suggests, strongly, that state legislatures should consider reducing the number of requirements necessary to create a formal, attorney-authored will.
Relieving the fermentation inhibition enables high electron recovery from landfill leachate in a microbial electrolysis cell

The energy value of the organic matter in landfill leachate can be captured with a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC), which oxidizes organic compounds at an anode and generates H2 gas at a cathode. Due to the low biodegradability of the organic matter in landfill leachate, MEC performance typically is characterized by low current density (j), coulombic efficiency (CE), coulombic recovery (CR), and organic-matter removal. Here, we evaluated whether or not Fenton oxidation of landfill leachate could enhance MEC performance compared to control MEC fed with raw leachate. Fenton pre-treatment significantly improved the leachate's biodegradability, leading to much higher MEC performance: 52 ± 10% BOD5 removal, 29 ± 3% CE, and 1.42 ± 0.27 A m−2 as j, compared to 3 ± 0.3% BOD5 removal, 1.8 ± 0.5% CE, and 0.11 ± 0.06 A m−2 as j for the raw leachate. This higher performance of the MEC fed treated leachate was associated with an ∼5-fold increase in the biofilm accumulation compared to the control MEC. Acetate-spike experiments in the control MEC revealed that inhibition of fermentation, not anode respiration, was the main factor causing poor COD removal and current density with raw leachate. The microbial community in the biofilm anode with treated leachate was enriched in anode-respiring Geobacteraceae: ∼40% of the sequences, compared to only ∼20% for MEC fed with raw leachate. Bacterioidetes, Firmicutes, Spirochaetes, and Actinobacteria were among the other abundant phyla of fermenting bacteria in the biofilm anode fed with treated leachate. This study provides proof-of-concept that Fenton oxidation of landfill leachate enhanced MEC performance by accelerating fermentation, allowing more biofilm accumulation, and establishing a syntrophic relationship between fermenters and anode-respiring bacteria (ARB).
INFLUENCE OF NITROGEN RATE AND FOLIAR FERTILIZATION ON YIELD, QUALITY, AND LEAF CHEMISTRY IN BURLEY TOBACCO

Many burley tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) producers are convinced that additions of nitrogen (N) rates greater than those recommended by university Extension services will result in increased yield and income. Some producers apply foliar fertilizer with other management operations to increase yield and quality of burley tobacco, but these results have not been confirmed by research. Concerns with excessive N additions include improper curing, elevated levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines, undesirable burning characteristics of the cured leaf, unnecessary fertilizer costs, and negative impacts to environmental quality. A field study was conducted at Lexington, KY and Springfield, TN from 2000 to 2002 to determine the effects of 3 N rates (200, 250, and 300 lb/acre) and 3 foliar fertilizer products on yield and quality on burley tobacco leaf. Nitrogenous leaf compounds were measured only at the Kentucky location. Results from this study indicate that there was no significant yield or quality advantage i...
Global Engagement at UC Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley, has a long and rich tradition of scholarly interactions with the worldwide academic community that span the time from her establishment in 1868 to the present. Coordination of these many interactions and activities is currently vested in the campus’s Global Engagement Office (GEO), to facilitate and coordinate all such activities, from the pursuit of individual research collaborations to multi-lateral institutional alliances.
BELIEFS ABOUT COMPLEXITY AND VARIABILITY OF HUMAN NATURE AND PARANORMAL BELIEFS

It was thought that the complexity and variability of a person's views of human nature might be related to the kinds of paranormal beliefs subscribed to. According to Wrightsman ( 1974, p. 4 5 ) , complexity and Variability are belief dimensions reflecting that, respectively ( 1 ) persons are complicated and difficult to understand and ( 2 ) persons are different in their basic natures. It was thought that less complex and variable beliefs about human nature might be associated with less complex paranormal beliefs, such as Superstition, Spiritualism, and Witchcraft. Further, it was thought that greater Complexity and Variability might be related to more complex paranormal beliefs such as Psi. The 28 items of the Complexity and Variability subscales from the Philosophies of Human Nature Scale (Wrightsman, 1974) and the Paranormal Belief Scale (Tobacyk & Milford, 1983) were given to 89 male and 74 female college students of an intact class whose mean age was 19.2 yr. (SD = 1.7). Scoring for Wrightsman's items was changed from + 3 to -3 to G to 1. For Complexity, mean scores and SDs were 57.3 and 10.2 and for Variability, 44.4 and 12.1. Generally, these predictions were not supported. Neither Complexity nor Variability showed significant correlations with any of the paranormal dimensions. Two nonsignificant trends showed weak relationships between greater Complexity and Psi Belief ( r = .13, p < .08) and between less Variability and Traditional Religious Belief ( I . = -.14, p < .06). All other correlations ranged from -.07 to .06. It appears that beliefs about the Complexity and Variability of human nature are not related to paranormal beliefs.
Assessment of the amorphous "solubility" of a group of diverse drugs using new experimental and theoretical approaches.

The supersaturation potential of poorly water-soluble compounds is of interest in the context of solubility enhancing formulations for enhanced bioavailability. In this regard, the amorphous “solubility”, i.e., the maximum increase in solution concentration that can be obtained relative to the crystalline form, is an important parameter, albeit a very difficult one to evaluate experimentally. The goal of the current study was to develop new approaches to determine the amorphous “solubility” and to compare the experimental values to theoretical predictions. A group of six diverse model compounds was evaluated using the solvent exchange method to generate an amorphous phase in situ, determining the concentration at which the amorphous material was formed. The theoretical estimation of the amorphous “solubility” was based on the thermal properties of the crystalline and amorphous phases, the crystalline solubility, and the estimated concentration of water in the water-saturated amorphous phase. The formation...
Highly Efficient Synthesis of Graphene Nanocomposites

Graphene consists of a monolayer of sp2 bonded carbon atoms and has attracted considerable interest over recent years due to its extreme mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. Graphene nanocomposites have naturally begun to be studied to capitalize upon these properties. A range of complex chemical and physical processing methods have been devised that achieve isolated graphene sheets that attempt to prevent aggregation. Here we demonstrate that the simple casting of a polymer solution containing dispersed graphene oxide, followed by thermal reduction, can produce well-isolated monolayer reduced-graphene oxide. The presence of single layer reduced-graphene oxide is quantitatively demonstrated through transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction studies and the reduction is verified by thermogravimetric, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, infrared spectrum, and electrical conductivity studies. These findings provide a simple, environmentally benign and commercially viable...
Strain Relief in InxGa1-xAs/GaAs Multiple Layer Systems

In a recent paper[l] we presented the notion of a “critical composition” of In x Ga 1−x As (x=0.18) which when exceeded results in threading dislocation evolution in In x Ga 1−x As (x ≥ 0.18) material grown on GaAs. For In x Ga 1−x As compositions below x=0.18, threading dislocation evolution occurs in the GaAs substrate material but not in the In x Ga 1−x As epitaxial layer material, this phenomenon being attributed to a yield strength mismatch in favor of In x Ga 1−x As at the epilayer growth temperature. In this paper we describe recent results concerning an extension of this work to the study of strain relief in multiple layer systems. It was found that large x (x-0.5) In x Ga 1−x As/GaAs layers can be grown having extremely low dislocation densities ( 4 /cm 2 ) by step increasing the In x Ga 1−x As composition at a series of In x Ga 1−x As/In y Ga 1-y As heterointerfaces such that a “critical composition difference” is not exceeded at each heterointerface. High resolution x-ray diffraction analysis was used to determine the extent of relaxation in each layer of these multilayer systems. As evidenced by cross-sectional TEM analysis, dislocations propagate only in the underlying material at each heterointerface for suitably selected compositional differences which results in the top In x Ga 1−x As layer in such multiple layer schemes having a low dislocation density. It is to be noted that conventional methods for blocking dislocations such as strained layer superlattices and compositionally graded layers were not employed in our multilayer systems.