cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aliasing effects in direct digital adaptive control of plants with High-Frequency Dynamics and Disturbances

In this paper we consider sampled-data adaptive control in the presence of aliasing, due to either the high-frequency free response of the plant, or the high-frequency content in the disturbances. In particular, we present a numerical investigation of retrospective cost adaptive control (RCAC) applied to sampled-data command-following and disturbance-rejection problems, and investigate the performance of RCAC in the presence of aliasing. It is shown that RCAC is able to stabilize the plant despite the high-frequency dynamics, unless the controllability of unstable modes is not lost due to sampling. However, the intersample command-following performance may be nonzero due to aliasing of disturbances.
The Effects of Curing Temperature On Deformation and Fracture Toughness in Thin Films of Larc™ Rp46 Polyimide

A processing-property relationship was studied by varying the final cure temperature for thin films of LaRC™ RP46 polyimide, a new PMR-15-like material. This new material incorporates a low toxicit...
Diagnosis of Mondor’s Disease in the Emergency Department with Bedside Ultrasound

Mondor's disease is a rare condition characterized by a superficial thrombophlebitis that can occur in the thoracoabdominal and genital areas. Findings with ultrasound in penile Mondor's disease are readily measurable: a noncompressible penile vein without flow and absence of tears of the corpus cavernosum or tunica albuginea, hematoma, or evidence of fracture of the penis. We present a case of Mondor's disease, diagnosed with bedside ultrasound, in the emergency department. Ultrasonography is readily available within the emergency department, and we suggest its use in aiding diagnosis of genitourinary disorders such as Mondor's disease.
Effect of Breed, Sex and Tissues on Concentrations of Macrominerals in Goat Meat

Macromineral concentrations in liver, Longissimus dorsi (LD) and Biceps femoris (BF) muscles of doelings and bucks from 2 breeds of goat were determined to study effects of breed, sex, tissue and their interactions on the levels of P, S, K, Ca, Mg and Na in caprine meat. Effects of breed and sex were minimal, but breed x sex interaction had significant influence on levels of K and Mg. Tissue effect was most prominant except for S content. Liver had significantly greater P, Ca and Na contents than skeletal muscles, whereas the former had slightly lower S and significantly lower K and Mg than the latter. Correlations among the levels of the minerals for the liver were different from those for the skeletal muscles.
The discrete X-ray source population in M31

Results of an analysis of the complete set of Einstein imaging observations of M31 are reported. One-hundred-eight individual X-ray sources are detected, with (0.2-4.0 keV) luminosities ranging from 5 x 10 exp 36 ergs/s to above 10 exp 38 ergs/s at the distance of M31. Fourteen of these sources are luminous enough to perform a spectral fit of the X-ray data. Fourteen sources are found to vary between Einstein observations, in addition to the two sources already reported by Collura, Reale, and Peres (1990). Contrary to earlier reports, no substantial difference is found between the luminosity distributions of X-ray sources in the bulge and in the disk. Contour maps of the X-ray emission in the central region is presented, and the radial distribution of the surface brightness is compared with the optical profiles. It is inferred that the disk is relatively underluminous in X-rays, relative to the stellar content. The spatial distribution of bulge sources is compared with that of optical novae and with emission-like images of the bulge. These comparisons constrain models of the formation of low-mass X-ray binaries.
Meld: Modeling Peptide-Protein Interactions

We have recently developed Meld, a framework to Model with limited data. This framework combines sparse information coming from different experimental, bioinformatics and even evolution sources into a physics based methodology. The physics are implemented through an atomistic force field. An improved version of a hybrid Hamiltonian/temperature replica exchange [1] procedure allows us to handle the limited data along with the physics in a fashion that obeys detail balance. After our initial use in the CASP experiment (critical assessment of structure prediction) to predict the structures of proteins, we are now interested in showing how this procedure can help us to correctly model cases in which small peptides are interacting with proteins. This procedure has the advantage of having both peptide and protein as flexible units. Input data is introduced in the calculation as restraints. A naive approach in which all the restraints are imposed at the same time would be a failure. Therefore, we allow for errors in the data by enforcing only a fraction of those restraints. We allow the physics to decide which restraints are the most compatible with the system. In this way, the conformational space is greatly reduced, and in combination with 100x improvements in sampling efficiency coming from GPU, allows us to converge into possible solutions. After our calculation is done, clustering methods allow us to identify the candidate docking regions. We plan to combine the top clustering solutions with all atom free energy methods based on confinement techniques [2] to identify the most likely binding site.1. Sugita, Y., A. Kitao, and Y. Okamoto, “Multidimensional replica-exchange method for free-energy calculations”. Journal of Chemical Physics, 113(15): p. 6042-6051 (2000).2. Tyka, M., Clarke, R. and Sessions, R. An efficient, path-independent method for free-energy calculation, J. Phys. Chem. B,110, p. 17212-17220 (2006).
Siloxane zwitterions: Synthesis and surface properties of crosslinked polymers

The aminoalkoxysilanes, γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and N-aminoethyl-γ-ainopropyl-trimethoxysilane, were chemically modified by ring-opening addition of γ-propanesultone. Surfaces coated with polymers from these new monomers have, at the surface, zwitterionic functions of sulfobetaines which are attached to the polymeric siloxane backbone. They showed good wettability, with critical surface tensions as high as 50 dynes/cm.
Radioprotection of tumor and normal tissues by thiophosphate compounds.

The efficacy of the radioprotective thiophosphate compounds WR638 (sodium hydrogen S-[2 aminoethyl] phosphorothioate) and WR2721 (S-2-[3-amino-propylamino] ethyl phosphorothioate) was determined for a wide range of normal tissue and tumor endpoints. Dose-modifying factors (D.M.F.) were obtained for mouse skin, small intestine, bone marrow, esophagus, lung, and kidney. D.M.F. values were also obtained for the P-388 leukemia, the EMT-6 mouse mammary carcinoma assayed in vitro, and the EMT-6 mammary carcinoma assaysed for cure. The D.M.F. values obtained for normal tissue ranged from 1.2 for lung to 3 for bone marrow CFU's. The D.M.F. values for tumor ranged from 1.3 for cure of the EMT-6 carcinoma to 2.2 for mean survival time in the P-388 leukemia. There appears to be a decreasing dose-modifying factor as a function of increasing dose in both tumor and normal tissue systems. The degree of protection afforded tumors appears to relate to their vascularization and their anoxic cell component. Although the D.M.F. obtained for cure of the solid EMT-6 carcinoma would appear to be lower than for normal tissues with single doses, the data presently available do not allow one to predict that such a beneficial effect would occur with the multiple small doses used clinically.
Principles and application of educational counseling used in progressive audiologic tinnitus management

Exposure to loud sounds is a common cause and exacerbater of tinnitus - a troubling auditory symptom that affects millions of people worldwide. Clinical research at the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research has resulted in a clinical model of tinnitus management referred to as Progressive Audiologic Tinnitus Management (PATM). The model involves five hierarchical levels of management: Triage, Audiologic Evaluation, Group Education, Tinnitus Evaluation, and Individualized Management. Counseling by audiologists and, as needed, mental health providers, is a key component of PATM. This style of counseling focuses less on didactic informational counseling; instead, counseling is used for facilitating patients' learning to adjust to the disturbing auditory symptom by successfully employing tools from two powerful skillsets for self-management of chronic tinnitus - the therapeutic uses of sound and techniques from cognitive-behavioral psychology. This article provides an overview of the methods of counseling used with PATM and provides details concerning the overarching principles of collaborative adult learning that are believed to be most important in facilitating self-management by patients who complain of tinnitus.
Local response and surface properties of premixed flames during interactions with Kármán vortex streets

Premixed flames interacting with Karman vortex streets have been experimentally investigated, in which local flame responses consistent with the results of stretched laminar flame theories are observed in that the OH LIF intensity increases when the local flame curvature becomes positive (negative) for thermodiffusively unstable (stable) flames. Departure of the peak OH LIF intensity for hydrogen flames ranges from 20% to 150% of the value at zero flame curvature for flame curvature ranging from −1.5 to 0.7 mm−1, while for propane/air flames the variation is within ±20% of the value at zero curvature. Variation in the averaged peak OH LIF intensity is nearly linear with respect to the variation in flame curvature from −1.2 to 0.8 mm−1. The flame area during interactions with Karman vortex streets increases as a relatively weak function of the vortex velocity, while the vortex size affects the flame area increase in that smaller vortices are found to be less effective in generating flame area. The effect of Lewis number on the flame front is to enhance (suppress) the amplitude of the wrinkles generated by vortices for thermodiffusively unstable (stable) flames, thus resulting in larger (smaller) flame area. The flame curvature pdfs for flames interacting with Karman vortex streets exhibit a bias toward positive flame curvature due to the large area of positively-curved flame elements that develop downstream along the V-flame. A decrease in vortex size tends to increase the flame curvature and thus broaden the pdfs, while the vortex velocity and Lewis number have relatively small effects on the flame curvature pdfs. The flame orientation distribution is peaked near the normal direction of flame propagation for small vortex velocity, while an increase in vortex velocity results in broadening of the flame orientation distribution and a shift toward larger flame angle due to the increased distortions in the flame front and increases in the effective flame propagation speed, respectively.
Enhanced harmonic emission from a “complex” undulator

Abstract The traditional scheme for generating harmonic emission from FELs requires a large ( K > 1 ) undulator field to cause a sizable zeroth-order axial modulation in the electron trajectory. We propose a different concept based on the observation that the electron bunching in the nonlinear state has various harmonics. These bunches can be coupled into growing harmonic radiation fields using appropriately phased sections of undulators. An example is to use a right-polarized helical undulator in conjunction with sections of a left-polarized helical undulator; the phasing, field strength, and section length of the left-polarized elements can be optimized for a given harmonic. The two undulators can have concentric windings and several sections can be used. The first left-polarized element is located where the fundamental radiation is intense but not fully saturated, so the nonlinear bunching is sustained without the fundamental depriving the electrons of most of their free energy. Although the overall undulator is more complex, it is not difficult to build and operates at low field ( K ≈ 0.3 ). We will present numerical studies illustrating the potential for harmonic generation using our millimeter wavelength FEL facility.
The separation of morphine from codeine by means of ion exchange.

Morphine can be separated from codeine by a strongly basic, quaternary amine-type anion exchanger. The morphine base, due to its phenolic structure, exchanges with the resin while the codeine base does not. Codeine is washed through the column with the solvent and is determined by titration. Morphine is then qualitatively removed from the column with dilute acid and determined spectrophotometrically.
Photoassisted gold deposition of titanium dioxide

Abstract Samples of gold decomposed on TiO2 powder were prepared by two methods: the dispersion of a gold chloride solution followed by thermal decomposition, and the photodecomposition of gold chloride. The addition of gold to all samples increased their photocatalytic activity. This increase was optimized and compared for these two preparative methods.
Three distinct F-actin binding sites in the Dictyostelium discoideum 34,000 dalton actin bundling protein.

The Dictyostelium 34 kDa protein is an actin bundling protein composed of 295 amino acids. However, the region(s) of the molecule that bind actin filaments is (are) unknown. Studies of the cosedimentation of 125I-34 kDa protein and F-actin show that the 34 kDa protein binds to F-actin with positive cooperativity and Hill coefficients of 1.9 and 3.0, for filaments 4.9 μm and 0.6 μm, respectively. The Hill coefficient is larger for short filaments that are more efficiently bundled than long filaments, suggesting that one of the binding sites is used in interfilament contacts or contributes to filament orientation within the bundle. Three distinct actin binding sites were identified using a synthetic peptide, protein truncations, and a novel epitope library screening method. The ability to bind actin was assessed by 125I-F-actin overlays under denaturing and nondenaturing conditions, cosedimentation, viscometry, and pyrene-labeled actin disassembly. The three actin binding domains were identified as amino ac...
The Wavelength- and Temperature-Dependence of the Fluorescence Efficiency and of the Primary Photochemical Yield in Hexafluoroacetone Vapour

The measurement of the fluorescence and photochemical yields of hexafluoroacetone previously made at 3130 angstrom and at room temperature is extended to various other wavelengths and temperatures. Relative fluorescence yields at room temperature increase with decrease of excitation energy. This wavelength dependence is smaller at higher concentrations. The yields increase with concentration eventually converging almost to a single value. On the other hand, the photochemical yields measured show the opposite trends with respect to variations in concentration and excitation energy. As concentration increases they also converge to a value almost identical with that at 3130 angstrom. The temperature effect on the fluorescence yield is also opposite to the one on the photolysis at 3130 angstrom. The fluorescence decreases with increase in temperature, the variation being much bigger at higher concentrations. The intensity distribution of the fluorescence band is independent of temperature. It seems difficult to interpret the observed temperature dependence for fluorescence quenching and for dissociation at infinite concentration on the basis of a single excited state. Two modes of dissociation are postulated arising respectively from low and from high vibrational levels of different electronic states.
Prognostic Role of Cell Cycle and Proliferative Biomarkers in Patients with Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Purpose: Cell cycle regulatory molecules are implicated in various stages of carcinogenesis. In this proof of principle study we systematically evaluate the association of aberrant expression of cell cycle regulators and proliferative markers and their effect on oncologic outcomes of patients with clear cell renal carcinoma.Materials and Methods: Immunohistochemistry for Cyclin D, Cyclin E, p16, p21, p27, p53, p57 and Ki67 was performed on tissue microarray constructs of 452 patients treated with extirpative therapy for clear cell renal cell carcinoma between 1997 and 2010. Clinical and pathological data elements were collected. A prognostic marker score was defined as unfavorable if more than 4 biomarkers were altered. The relationship between marker score and pathological features and oncologic outcomes was evaluated.Results: Median age was 57 years (range 17 to 85) and median followup was 24 months (range 6 to 150). An unfavorable marker score was found in 55 (12.2%) patients and was associated with ad...
Desire, Youth, and Realism in Tamil Cinema

This article first examines representations of women's desire in Tamil cinema, from highly implicit and non-transgressive representations of desire in an older movie to linguistically explicit and transgressive representations of desire in a recent hit movie. We then examine how such contemporary filmic representations are related to what we call a mode of realist spectatorship, and how this mode of spectatorship is linked to a particular social group (male youth) and to film form. We argue that the emergence of this mode of spectatorship, the films associated with it, and their connection to male youth are due to changes in the film market and to differential socialization by generation. Finally, we argue for realism in film as holding when film form and spectatorship are highly calibrated in the following way: some set of filmic representations are evaluated by viewers and filmmakers through culturally mediated classifications of "real" and "unreal" which are operationalized truth-functionally in events of evaluation; such representations presuppose these classifications, and by virtue of regular presupposition can entail an experience of "reality" for viewers.
Regulation of serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 in lactating rats.

To characterize further the mechanism(s) underlying the increased serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] concentration associated with lactation in the rat, we examined hormone biosynthesis [i.e., renal 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1 alpha-hydroxylase (1 alpha-hydroxylase) activity] and hormone disappearance in groups of lactating Holtzman rats and age- and sex-matched nonlactating controls. 1 alpha-Hydroxylase activity was significantly greater in kidneys from lactating rats (4.0 +/- 0.42 fmol.mg-1.min-1) on a basal diet than in those from nonmated females (1.4 +/- 0.08 fmol.mg-1.min-1), an increment sufficient to account for the observed fourfold elevation of 1,25(OH)2D3 in the dams. The increase occurs despite the lower serum 1,25(OH)2D3 levels in lactating than in nonlactating rats at 12 and 24 h after a bolus injection of 1,25(OH)2D3 (2 ng/g body wt). Elevation of serum 1,25(OH)2D3 is not a requisite consequence of lactation, however, because dams receiving supplemental calcium from food (1.6%) and water (0.3%) exhibited no increase of either serum 1,25(OH)2D3 or 1 alpha-hydroxylase activity compared with controls. In contrast, lactating rats that received a diet with only 0.1% calcium had 5-fold higher serum 1,25(OH)2D3 levels and 20-fold higher 1 alpha-hydroxylase activity than nonlactating rats on the same diet. We conclude that other factors in conjunction with lactation, but not the lactating state per se, promote the changes in 1,25(OH)2D3 metabolism observed.
A Stimulus-Driven Approach to Object Identity and Location Processing in the Human Brain

Abstract The primate visual system is considered to be segregated into ventral and dorsal streams specialized for processing object identity and location, respectively. We reexamined the dorsal/ventral model using a stimulus-driven approach to object identity and location processing. While looking at repeated presentations of a standard object at a standard location, subjects monitored for any infrequent "oddball" changes in object identity, location, or identity and location (conjunction). While the identity and location oddballs preferentially activated ventral and dorsal brain regions respectively, each oddball type activated both pathways. Furthermore, all oddball types recruited the lateral temporal cortex and the temporo-parietal junction. These findings suggest that a strict dorsal/ventral dual-stream model does not fully account for the perception of novel objects in space.
Studies on Amebo‐flagellates, I. The General Morphology and Mastigonts of Trimastigamoeba philippinensis Whitmore 1911

SYNOPSIS. Trimastigamoeba philippinensis Whitmore 1911 from Florida was cultured in the laboratory at 22 to 25° C. on a modified Bunting's agar medium overlaid or not with Neff's ameba-saline. Studies of its general morphology, transition from ameboid to flagellate phase and vice versa, encystment, and excystment were made. In general, Whitmore's observations are confirmed, except for his conclusions concerning the number of flagella and whether or not there is a rhizoplast. The flagellate phase has two mastigonts, each composed of a pair of flagella attached to a basal granule (blepharoplast). Intermediate stages in the development of the mastigonts may have caused Whitmore to decide that a tri-flagellar phase was the usual condition. The two mastigonts are not at any time attached to one another, nor to the nucleus, nor is there any evidence of a rhizoplast or rhizostyle. In the flagellate phase the bases of the mastigonts are closely surrounded by an anterior, gullet-like invagination, posterior to which the blepharoplasts rest adjacent to the nucleus. The four flagella extend 20 to 25 μ beyond the anterior limit of the pocket. Detailed descriptions of the morphologies of the ameboid and flagellate phases are given to supplement the morphology described by Whitmore. Possible affinities to other amebo-flagellates are discussed. It is concluded that the organism is generically and specifically distinct; and while its name is erroneously descriptive of its flagellate phase, it is taxonomically valid.
FROM MYTHOS TO LOGOS: POLITICAL AESTHETICS AND LIMINAL POETICS IN ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING’S CASA GUIDI WINDOWS

@FP = CHARLES DICKENS ADAMANTLY DECLARES he will not indulge in “any grave examination into the government or misgovernment of any portion” of Italy, because “that beautiful land” requires only aesthetic reflections that “have ever a fanciful and idle air” (1); and John Ruskin relentlessly insists on turning attention away from the action in the Italian streets and inward toward the motionless stones of buildings, because Venice, “Queen of Marble and of Mud,” has no political dimension (“Stones of Venice” 9: xxix). Elizabeth Barrett Browning, by contrast, masterfully tackles the problem of the emerging nation’s political image in Victorian England. These comments by prominent Victorian men of letters reflect the conventional British formulation of Italy through the nineteenth century “as the locus of the feminine and silent properties of space, painting, nature, and the body — a place outside of history where temporal motion had ceased” (Bailey 94).1 Indeed, a commonplace implicit in the British definition of pre-national Italy is the idea of la bella Italia as apolitical and even ahistorical. But from 1815 onwards, as Italians became increasingly dissatisfied under their new Austrian rulers, the British equation between Italy and art, Italy and beauty, became increasingly out of touch with the Italian republican movement.2
Lophanthera, a genus of Malpighiaceae new to Central America.

Lophanthera hammelii sp. nov. is described, illustrated, and compared to the other four species of the genus. The distribution of all five species is mapped and discussed, and the chromosome number ofL. lactescens (n=6) is proposed as the likeliest base-number for the family Malpighiaceae.
Guide to the Best DoD HPCMP Systems for Executing AERO and AVUS

*Benchmarking comparisons based on synthetics such as LINPACK provide insights into the extents of the performance space, but rarely reveal enough information to ascertain an architecture’s performance on an actual application. Therefore, this paper provides performance and scalability analysis for two computational fluid dynamics codes, AERO and AVUS, on nine different supercomputer architectures within the High Performance Computing Modernization Program. Of the currently available architectures, the IBM P4+ and the HP SC45 are determined to be best-suited for AERO and AVUS, respectively.
Hybrid WDM - OTDM technologies using semiconductor optical amplifiers for networking, instrumentation and signal processing

Summary form only given. This work combines the benefits of both time and frequency domains for optical signal processing applications using semiconductor optical amplifier technology. Specifically, this approach exploits the parallelism provided by wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) approaches and also relies on the high speed single channels rates offered by optical time division multiplexing (OTDM) technologies. This unique marriage of WDM and OTDM is exemplified in 3 important application areas: (1) high performance optical links, (2) novel optical sampling architectures and (3) the realization of an optical arbitrary waveform generator. The resulting key benefit of this approach is that one can realize cost effective, high performance, state-of the-art optical information systems without requiring the performance limits of a pure WDM or OTDM approach.
The state of the email address

Electronic mail is an unquestionably vital component of the Internet infrastructure. While the general perception of email is that it "just works," surprisingly little data is available to substantiate this claim. While SMTP is a mature technology of over twenty years, the architecture is increasingly strained by both normal and unsolicited load. In this paper we seek to provide a greater understanding of the behavior of Internet email as a system using active measurement.In order to survey a significant, diverse, and representative set of Internet SMTP servers, to which we have no administrative access, we develop a testing methodology that provides an email "traceroute" mechanism. Using this mechanism, we measure email loss, latency, and errors over the course of a month to popular, random, and Fortune 500 domains. Our initial results are quite unexpected and include non-trivial loss rates, latencies longer than days, and significant and surprising errors. While we present plausible explanations for some of these phenomena, there are several that we cannot, as of yet, explain. By better understanding Internet protocols which lack explicit end-to-end connection semantics, our eventual hope is to derive guidelines for designing future networks and more reliable email systems.
Reaction Kinetics, Stress And Microstructure In Titanium-Copper-Titanium Thin Films

Interdiffusion, reactions and microstructure in Ti-Cu-Ti trilayer thin films deposited on silicon wafers have been investigated by Rutherford backscattering, and cross-sectional TEM techniques in the temperature range of 350 to 500 °C. The formation of intcrmetallic compounds was found to be symmetric at both interfaces in Ti-Cu-Ti film package. TiCu compound formed first at low temperature and was followed by TiCu3 at higher temperatures. The stress in Ti-Cu film has also been measured in-situ as functions of both temperature and annealing time by thin fused quartz bending-cantilever beam technique. The stress in metallic Ti-Cu film couple on fused quartz was tensile. The stress increased as both annealing time and temperature increased and followed a parabolic relationship with time due to the growth of the intermetallic compound TiCu3. It was possible to calculate stress in the TiCu3 layer from the changes of stress in the bilayer thin film. The stress in TiCu3 was computed to be at about 3 times larger than the stress in the unreacted Ti-Cu thin film couple.
Thickness and Uniformity Modeling of the Deposition of Shape Memory Polymers for Information Storage Applications

Shape memory polymers are of interest as high-capacity information storage media. This research seeks to understand the effects of processing conditions on the following candidate polymers: diethylene glycol dimethacrylate (DEGDMA), tertbutyl acrylate (tBA), and bisphenol. Full factorial experiments were performed using three input factors: spin speed, spin time, and nitrogen flow rate. A total of ten experiments were conducted. The measured responses were film thickness, uniformity, hardness and modulus of the materials. Analysis of variance revealed that all input parameters were significant with respect to the film thickness. The full factorial experiments were augmented to a central composite face (CCF) design to enable response surface modeling. Neural network models were developed to examine relationships between the spin speed and thickness of spin coated films. The average predictability of the model was better than 2% for training and less than 15% in testing. This research is expected to aid in understanding the use of these materials in information storage.
Photochemistry of type I acid-soluble calf skin collagen: dependence on excitation wavelength.

— Although previous studies have demonstrated that the predominant photochemistry of type I collagen under 254 nm irradiation may be attributed either to direct absorption by tyrosine/phenylalanine or to peptide bonds, direct collagen photochemistry via solar UV wavelengths is much more likely to involve several age- and tissue-related photolabile collagen fluorophores that absorb in the latter region. In this study, we compare and contrast results obtained from irradiation of a commercial preparation of acid-soluble calf skin type I collagen in solution with UVC (primarily 254 nm), UVA (335–400nm) and broad-band solar-simulating radiation (SSR; 290^1–00nm). Excitation spectroscopy and analysis of photochemically induced disappearance of fluorescence (fluorescence fading) indicates that this preparation has at least four photolabile fluorescent chromophores. In addition to tyrosine and L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, our sample contains two other fluorophores. Chromophore I, with emission maximum at 360 nm, appears to be derived from interacting aromatic moieties in close mutual proximity. Chromophore II, with broad emission at430–435 nm, may be composed of one or more age-related molecules. Collagen fluorescence fading kinetics are sensitive to excitation wavelength and to conformation. Under UVC, chromophore I fluorescence disappears with second-order kinetics, indicating a reaction between two proximal like molecules. Adherence to second-order kinetics is abrogated by prior denaturation of the collagen sample. A new broad, weak fluorescence band at400–420 nm, attributable to dityrosine, forms under UVC, but not under solar radiation. This band is photolabile to UVA and UVB wavelengths. Amino acid analysis indicates significant destruction of aromatic amino acids under UVC, but not under UVA or SSR. When properly understood, collagen fluorescence fading phenomena may act as a sensitive molecular probe of structure, conformation and reactivity.
A new buoy for oceanographie and spill response applications

In 1995 the government of the state of Texas through the Texas General Lands Office (TGLO), began a proactive program of current monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico to support its oil spill trajectory modeling efforts. Texas A&M University's Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG) was contracted to develop and operate a near real time observing system to provide this valuable data. The use of historical currents in spill response models had been shown over the years to be unreliable and unable to account for shifts in local environmental forces. After fourteen years of operation, the Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS) is still providing data to support TGLO's mandate of oil spill trajectory modeling and response at up to 8 TGLO sponsored locations and 2 industry sponsored locations off the coast of Texas. The TABS system has been used for decision making purposes in over 30 spill events since 1995. Since the inception of TABS a diverse fleet of buoys have been developed with the capability to provide high quality oceanographie data that supports not only the TGLO mandate of near surface currents, but can also provide meteorological, biological, chemical and directional wave data for research, education, search and rescue (SAR), fisheries etc. In recent years, the increasing high cost of oil has prompted the oil industry to transport heavier grades (specific gravity > 1.024) of oil which when spilled leave little or no surface expression. In 2005, the DBL-152 spill discharged 70,000 barrels of heavy fuel oil into the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. With no surface expression to guide them, and only near surface current information available, trajectory modeling and cleanup of the spill was difficult, time consuming and very expensive. A TABS II buoy equipped with a Doppler profiler and meteorological sensors was later deployed at the spill site to provide local real time data. A deployment ship equipped with crane, winch and open deck space was required along with trained technicians to deploy, test and configure the buoy for operation. It was determined then that a small, lightweight, preconfigured buoy which could be deployed by any ship of opportunity at the spill location would be extremely useful and cost effective. In September 2008, GERG was funded to design a small lightweight buoy to provide real time current profiles or near surface currents, meteorological, and directional wave data.
Knowledge acquisition for expert systems in accounting and financial problem domains

Since the mid-1980s, expert systems have been developed for a variety of problems in accounting and finance. The most commonly cited problems in developing these systems are the unavailability of the experts and knowledge engineers and difficulties with the rule extraction process. Within the field of artificial intelligence, this has been called the 'knowledge acquisition' (KA) problem and has been identified as a major bottleneck in the expert system development process. Recent empirical research reveals that certain KA techniques are significantly more efficient than others in helping to extract certain types of knowledge within specific problem domains. This paper presents a mapping between these empirical studies and a generic taxonomy of expert system problem domains. To accomplish this, we first examine the range of problem domains and suggest a mapping of accounting and finance tasks to a generic problem domain taxonomy. We then identify and describe the most prominent KA techniques employed in developing expert systems in accounting and finance. After examining and summarizing the existing empirical KA work, we conclude by showing how the empirical KA research in the various problem domains can be used to provide guidance to developers of expert systems in the fields of accounting and finance.
Preliminary Evidence for the Integrated Systems Using Telemedicine.

Abstract Background: Autism affects as many as 1 in 68 children in the United States. Early identification and access to intervention services promote improved outcomes for children with autism and other developmental delays. Children living in rural and underserved areas have limited access to such services and are diagnosed later than those living more suburban and urban areas. Our Integrated Systems Using Telemedicine (ISUT) Model uses a cost-effective method for families to access diagnostic and other specialty care through telemedicine. This model links families, trained early intervention providers and educators, and university-based medical professionals. Materials and Methods: We trained autism diagnostic teams throughout the state who completed diagnostic measures and connected to university medical center teams for final diagnosis of autism and coexisting conditions. We gathered preliminary data to measure the impact of the ISUT model on access to services, potential cost savings for families, a...
Indigenous Media: Linking the Local, Translocal, Global and Virtual

Indigenous cultures are, by their very nature, etched upon the land. Aboriginal cultural knowledge is mapped upon and situated in very specific places in the local geographic landscape, and cultural narratives are frequently ritually inscribed upon these places—even if those inscriptions are invisible to cultural outsiders. Indigenous cultures exist in all regions of the globe, in spite of the fact that, for various cultural political reasons, they may not all be labeled as such because of the particular histories of conquest and colonialism they have endured.
Training-time optimization of a budgeted booster

We consider the problem of feature-efficient prediction - a setting where features have costs and the learner is limited by a budget constraint on the total cost of the features it can examine in test time. We focus on solving this problem with boosting by optimizing the choice of base learners in the training phase and stopping the boosting process when the learner's budget runs out. We experimentally show that our method improves upon the boosting approach AdaBoostRS [Reyzin, 2011] and in many cases also outperforms the recent algorithm SpeedBoost [Grubb and Bagnell, 2012]. We provide a theoretical justication for our optimization method via the margin bound. We also experimentally show that our method outperforms pruned decision trees, a natural budgeted classifier.
Thermal Control of Interfaces for Microelectronic Packaging

The continuous miniaturization of electronic devices places an ever-increasing importance on the thermal management of electronic systems and its subcomponents. The increased power densities and heat generation, due to the miniaturization of the device line features, may lead to higher operating temperatures and greater warpage between the silicon device and its organic carrier. The higher operating temperature may result from the degradation of the overall thermal performance. These additive effects will also lead to an increasing number of thermally induced failures, which will be further magnified when future microelectronic packaging incorporates flip-chip technology. The higher operating temperatures within microelectronic systems result from inadequate dissipation of the heat generated, while the warpage effect is caused by the mismatch between the thermal coefficients of expansion (ICE) induced by thermal stresses. Often these high temperatures result from the thermal resistance between subcomponents, such as between the contacting surfaces of laminated printed circuit boards, device/epoxy cement and heat spreader (i.e., finned heat sink or heat pipe), and any other metallic or non-metallic interstitial material employed between contacting interfaces. Published experimental data of potential coatings, adhesives, and elastomeric gaskets is presented that can improve the thermal contact conductance of contacting surfaces within microelectronic systems. In addition, recommendations for future analytical and experimental studies of the mnechanistic principles, which control thermal performance of interstitial materials, are discussed for non-uniform pressure distribution.
Rainbow Coalitions in Four Big Cities: San Antonio, Denver, Chicago and Philadelphia

The election of black and Latino mayors in big cities during the past five years has provided the opportunity to critically examine the role of minority mobilization and coalitions. The focus of this study is on the election of four minority mayors, Henry Cisneros in San Antonio in 1981, Federico Pena in Denver, Harold Washington in Chicago, and Wilson Goode in Philadelphia, all in 1983. The pioneering study by Browning, Marshall, and Tabb (1984) highlights the significance of minority mayoral elections in the context of the struggle for political equality. We have placed our analysis in the context of the three central questions underscored in their theory of political incorporation: How open are urban political systems to minorities? How does minority political incorporation occur? Does political incorporation make a difference for minority interests? Although the four cities we examine are different in some respects from the Northern California cities covered by Browning, Marshall, and Tabb, their findings are generally applicable with modifications.ChicagoHow open is the system? Machine politics have dominated Chicago for over fifty years with decidedly mixed results for the city's black population. Black political power remained disproportionally small and subordinate throughout the machine's existence. Thus, Harold Washington's election in 1983 marked a structural transformation of the electoral system as well as a political coming of age for blacks. Washington inherited a city council divided along ideological and racial lines. Although Washington could not command a majority of the city council when he was first elected, the 1986 council races left him with an even split. Of the 50 council seats, 25 represent liberal votes and 25 are identified with the more conservative Democratic party machine, 16 are black and 4 are Latino. Washington, as mayor, holds the deciding vote.
Gravity Load Collapse and Vulnerability of Existing Buildings

Vertical collapse performance of existing multi-story buildings has been investigated through field experiments and computational simulations. Four reinforced concrete (RC), two masonry, and three steel frame buildings have been tested in recent years. During the experiments, single or multiple first-story columns were physically removed from the buildings, which were demolished immediately after the experiments. Due to lack of full-scale building test data, the data produced in this research has been a valuable addition to the state of knowledge on gravity collapse of buildings. The main goal of field experiments was to simulate the structural dynamic and static response of buildings that may experience collapse after sudden loss of column(s) due to, say column shear failure in a reinforced concrete building. Another objective was to investigate how the internal forces are redistributed within the building after each column is removed. In this study, twoand three-dimensional models of the buildings were used to simulate the building performance and collapse potential. Computational models and simulations were examined and compared to the experimental data from the field tests. It is noted that the current nonlinear modeling and progressive collapse assessment guidelines (GSA 2013) use nonlinear analysis parameters found in the seismic assessment of existing buildings (ASCE/SEI 41, 2013), e.g., performance limit states and m-factors to evaluate nonlinear performance. This study showed robustness of existing buildings and contribution of different structural components to collapse resistance.
Affecting Personality Characteristics: Role Playing, Hypnosis, and Psychotherapy

This chapter discusses the different techniques to affect personalities. The role playing is used to stimulate their creativity or to overcome their blocks or difficulties with the creative process. However, there are no systematic studies of how role playing actually affected creativity in real-life situations; there is research evidence that it can have positive effects as measured by test criteria. Moreover, hypnosis can be used as a technique to explore certain effects and relationships that occur in the creative process. It has been used as a psychotherapeutic technique to help persons overcome their intrapsychic blocks and difficulties. As some of these blocks might also be related to a person's difficulties with creativity, it is assumed that under these conditions where the problems are cleared up, there will be indirect positive effects of hypnosis on creativity. At present, there is anecdotal material regarding the effects of hypnosis on creativity but there are no large-scale studies of such effects. Similarly, although hypnosis has been used to produce effects on the psychometric tests of creativity, these same effects have also been produced by role playing.
Electro-optic field measurement at a needle tip and streamer initiation in nitrobenezene

In consideration of initiation of prebreakdown phenomena in liquids one assumes that charge injection processes heat and vaporize the liquid giving rise to an ionized gas or plasma phase. The plasma then acts like a conductor and a process continues whereby the streamer grows across the gap. This paper serves to support this initiation picture in that it provides an estimate of the electric field, amount of injected charge, and joule heating in the vicinity of a needle tip which is the cathode in a needle-sphere electrode geometry. Kerr-effect electro-optical observations of the impulse field in the vicinity of the tip show a distortion from the geometrical field due to charge injection from the tip prior to any streamer development. The injected charge is not distributed evenly over the surface of the tip, but appears to reside mainly in a relatively narrow channel. Estimates reveal that the injected charge densities are on the order of 100 μC/cm3. The streamer initiates where this charge-injection channel touches the needle tip.
Viability of dodecahedrane-forming radical polycyclizations

The results of density functional theory calculations on thiyl radical-promoted polycyclization to form dodecahedrane are described. On the basis of these results, the proposed polycyclization is predicted to be both highly exergonic and fast. These results showcase the potential power of radical polycyclization reactions in constructing complex molecular architectures.
Accurate finite element simulation of stresses for stationary dynamic cracks under impact loading

The numerical technique for wave propagation problems recently developed in our papers has been applied to the accurate modeling of stresses in the vicinity of crack tips and the dynamic stress intensity factor (DSIF) for stationary cracks. The numerical technique includes the linear finite elements with reduced dispersion as well as the two-stage time-integration approach that quantifies and filters spurious high-frequency oscillations. Several benchmark problems for stationary cracks at impact loadings have been solved. The accuracy of the stress calculation in the vicinity of the crack tips and the DSIF can be significantly increased by the application of the finite elements with reduced dispersion. Surprisingly, even without a special treatment of singularities at crack tips, the linear finite elements with reduced dispersion (with no crack tip enrichment functions) yield much more accurate results than the XFEM with the special crack tip enrichment functions on comparable meshes. It is also interesting to mention that for the calculation of the DSIF by the finite elements with reduced dispersion there is no necessity in the filtering stage at impact loading (the spurious oscillations in the DSIF are small and decrease with mesh refinement). HighlightsAccurate numerical results for stresses and DSIFs for stationary cracks.Reduced dispersion technique yields very accurate results for DSIFs.Filtering spurious oscillations in stresses and DSIF under impact loading.