cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
FT-NIR Microspectroscopy: A Method for Quantitatively Mapping One-Dimensional Moisture Penetration Into Sugar Glasses

In this methods paper, one-dimensional moisture penetration into thin films of sugar glass exposed to different relative humidity was measured by use of FT-near infrared microspectroscopy working in a spectrum range of wavelength from 1.35 to 2.50 μm. The peak height ratio of characteristic peaks for H—OH (primarily water) and O—H (primarily sugar) bands, respectively, were highly correlated to moisture content for both sucrose and lactose systems and were used for calibration of moisture content. Moisture content along one-dimensional locations was accurately measured using microscopic mapping. Sorption penetration profiles of moisture content vs. penetration depth were obtained. Depending on the sorption time and storage conditions, moisture penetration profiles typically showed a fairly sharp boundary between intact glass in the interior and a high moisture content surface layer, which slowly moved into the sample interior over time. Crystallization was observed to occur at the surface under certain conditions when insufficient inhibitors were present. In these cases, a moisture peak was seen to penetrate into the glass. Microspectroscopic mapping proved to be an excellent technique for studying moisture penetration behavior and kinetics, providing quantitative data for future diffusion modeling.
A flame sheet in the stagnation-point boundary layer of a condensed fuel

Abstract Theoretical calculations are completed for the axisymmetric stagnation-point flow of an oxidizing gas about a fuel body. Conditions are such that a thin diffusion-flame exists in the boundary layer. Curves are given for the flame standoff distance, for the burning rate, for the wall shear, and for profiles of velocity, temperature, and species concentration. It is shown that relative locations of the flame sheet, the stagnation plane, and the position of peak velocity depend on the values of the parameters. Thus, for most cases of the parametric study, the stagnation plane lies on the wall side of the flame sheet, and the location of the peak velocity lies on the free-stream side of the flame sheet. However, for large values of a parameter that can be thought of as the ratio of the flame-standoff distance to the boundary-layer thickness, the peak velocity occurs on the wall side of the flame sheet, and for small values of this parameter, if the value of the transfer number is moderate or high, then the stagnation plane lies on the free-stream side of the flame sheet. For all cases of the present study, an increase in the transfer number increases the blowing rate, decreases the wall shear, and increases the distances from the wall to the locations of the stagnation plane, the flame sheet, and the peak velocity. Cross plots that show the results as functions of normalized free-stream oxidizer mass fraction or of nondimensional heat of vaporization reveal, contrary to expectations, that under suitable conditions the wall shear may increase as wall blowing increases.
I/Q Compensation of Broadband Direct-Conversion Transmitters

The aim of this paper is to propose a compensation strategy that is able to easily identify the model of the In-phase/Quadrature (I/Q) impairments of Radio-Frequency (RF) direct-conversion devices and to efficiently compensate these unwanted effects. In fact, direct-conversion transmitters that integrate analog and digital components introduce a wideband frequency-dependent I/Q mismatch that strongly reduces the upconverter performances. The wider the signal bandwidth or the higher its spectral efficiency, the more severe the I/Q artifacts on the upconverted signal become. The proposed compensation strategy can mitigate these unwanted effects, eliminating I/Q impairments with a very simple hardware architecture. The compensation model adopted here for a generic upconverter device does not assume any hypotheses about signal modulation and system architecture and can be easily adapted to accommodate specific hardware systems or different wireless standards. To show the capabilities of the proposed compensation scheme, an experimental setup has been arranged to emulate system configurations found in direct-conversion RF Integrated Circuits (RFIC) for 3.5/4G applications.
Multi-wavelength top-hat nanosecond Z scans to determine excited-state absorption cross sections of a platinum bipyridyl complex in the visible

We report the results of measurements performed on a particular platinum(II) 4,4'-bis[3-ethyl-1-(2-ethylhexyl)heptyl]-2,2'-bipyridyl complex bearing 2-(benzothiazol-2'-yl)-7-ethynyl-9,9-dihexadecyl-fluorenyl units. A similar complex, identical except for the presence of ethyl groups at the 9-position of the fluorenes and tert-butyl groups at the 4- and 4'- positions of the bipyridine, was recently reported to possess a very high ratio of triplet excited-state absorption to ground-state absorption, a quantity that has long been used as a figure of merit for reverse saturable absorbers; in addition, femtosecond transient difference absorption experiments and picosecond open-aperture Z-scans have shown it to display broad nonlinear absorption throughout the visible spectrum. In this work, we measured the triplet excitedstate absorption cross section at several representative wavelengths between 450 nanometers and 660 nanometers in an open-aperture top-hat Z-scan experiment employing a nanosecond-pulsed tunable optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The open-aperture Z-scan is a highly sensitive single-beam experiment used to measure nonlinear absorption. Since the spatial profile of the OPO beam resembled a cross-pattern, we closed an adjustable iris on the beam to create a top-hat profile. A dynamic five-level model was used to fit the Z-scan data.
Solution structure and molecular determinants of hemoglobin binding of the first NEAT domain of IsdB in Staphylococcus aureus.

The NMR experiments were recorded at Montana State University on a DRX600 Bruker solution NMR spectrometer, purchased in part with funds from the NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) (Grant Number 1S10-RR13878-01), and recently upgraded to an AVANCE III console and cryogenically cooled TCI probe (Grant Number 1S10-RR026659-01). We thank the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (funded through NSF Grant 1156855) for support of REU undergraduate student R.M., and MSU’s Emerging Scholar program for support of under-graduate student R.K.S.-S.
Ectopy and Expectations: Can We Predict Atrial Fibrillation, and Should We Try?

In this issue, Dewland and colleagues evaluated the ability of baseline hourly PAC count to predict incident AF. The editorialists discuss the study and ask whether we should screen for PACs to pre...
Neuroplasticity, neurotransmitters and new directions for treatment of anomia in Alzheimer disease

Background: Anomia is often one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer disease (AD), and progressive language impairment remains a major source of disability throughout the disease course.Aims: This article reviews the potential uses of pharmacological adjuvants to augment neuroplasticity during speech and language therapy.Main Contribution: We begin with a discussion of the nature of anomia in AD from the perspective of classical aphasia models and in terms of a parallel distributed processing model of language. Physiological functions of acetylcholine, norepinephrine and dopamine are reviewed. We consider how pharmacological manipulation of these neurotransmitters in combination with speech and language therapy has the potential to promote maintenance and restoration of the functional connectivity within the lexical, semantic and phonological networks that are the basis of propositional language.Conclusions: AD is a disease of synaptic loss. People with AD are able to reacquire knowledge, and pharmacologica...
Toughening mechanism of rubber-modified polyamides

Abstract Rubber-modified polyamides were probed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), small-angle X-ray scattering and various mechanical tests. TEM studies showed that in tough samples the crystalline orientation in the interparticle region is of a distinctly different character. The lamellae are organized perpendicular to the rubber-matrix interface, while the hydrogen-bonded planes of low slip resistance are aligned parallel to these interfaces. Based on this observation a model is proposed to elucidate the deformation and toughening mechanisms of these materials. Further SEM studies in the stress-whitened regions of both the tensile bars and Izod specimens revealed the evolution of a cavitation process in the rubber particles. The shape and the size of the cavities in tough samples is related to the initial morphology of the matrix.
Evaluating the physical capture method of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism for comparison of soil microbial communities

Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) is a popular method of comparative microbial community analysis which is normally accomplished by tagging terminal restriction fragments (T-RFs) with a fluorescent primer. Here, we evaluate an alternative method of T-RFLP where T-RFs are physically captured using a biotinylated primer and streptavidin-coated beads. This eliminates one of the primary criticisms of T-RFLP, namely that T-RFs cannot be identified by sequence analysis, and also represents an alternative method for collecting T-RFLP profiles. Microbial communities from forest, agricultural, and turf soils were investigated using several sets of primers specific for different microbial groups. The physical capture method of T-RFLP resulted in similar profiles to those generated by fluorescent T-RFLP. The relationships among ecosystem types captured by both methods and revealed by ordination were virtually identical. The total variance in the profiles that was attributed to ecosystem type was approximately equal, or greater, when generated by the physical capture method, depending on the primers used. However, physical capture T-RFLP resolved fewer T-RFs than fluorescent T-RFLP, and this may reduce the sensitivity to changes in non-dominant populations within the community. Direct cloning and sequencing of physical capture T-RFs revealed that most bands were not comprised of sequences related to those in the database that would generate T-RFs of similar size. T-RFs should therefore be identified by sequencing, rather than by comparing the sizes of T-RFs to computer digests of database sequences. Physical capture T-RFLP should be a useful tool to identify T-RFs by sequencing, and for laboratories without economical access to equipment required to perform fluorescent T-RFLP.
Using data visualization to facilitate secure engineering hardening your code through improved next generation softSecVis

Cyber security threats and vulnerabilities are as prevalent today as ever. Security should be designed and built into programs from day one. There are many code analysis and scanners available, but few offer a data visualization view, and little has been written about leveraging data analytics and visualization for the improvement of security posture across a code base. Analyzing large enterprise projects results in both massive data consumed and reported. The need to visualize this data for security, softSecVis, is very real. We examine prior findings, prototypes, and current tools used in software security visualization at the code level. We go on to propose several new methods of visualizing security vulnerabilities.
Reply to “quantum eraser and two-slit interference”

Abstract Following the comment of Gonella [Phys. Lett. A 190 (1994) 126] some points discussed in my paper [Phys. Lett. A 183 (1994) 280] are elaborated on.
Effects of streptozotocin-induced diabetes on feeding stimulated by centrally administered opioid agonists.

The potencies of several opioid agonists are reduced in diabetic animals and in animals made hyperglycemic via injections of glucose. In this report we examined the effects of streptozotocin-induced diabetes on the feeding responses to centrally administered opioid agonists with differing receptor selectivities. The selective mu receptor agonist Tyr-DAla-Gly-(Me)Phe-Gly-ol (DAGO) caused a larger increase in intake in diabetic rats than in controls. In both groups feeding responses were greater on the fourth day of daily injections than on the first day. The delta receptor agonist [D-Ser2,Leu5]-enkephalin-Thr 6 (DSLET) stimulated intake in controls but not in diabetics. However, the elevated baseline and large variability in intake of the diabetics in this experiment prevent drawing a conclusion on diabetes-induced changes in the potency of this peptide. No differences between controls and diabetics were apparent in the feeding responses to U50,488H, a selective kappa receptor agonist. These data suggest that diabetes may differentially affect the classes of opioid receptors or the binding of ligands to these receptors. Opioid agonists and antagonists cause increases and decreases, respectively, in food and water intake, and endogenous opioid peptides are thought to contribute to the regulation of appetite (see I, 2 for reviews). Since some effects of opiates are altered by the glycemic state of the animal, we examined the effects of chemically induced diabetes on the feeding responses to central administration of selective opioid agonists.
An Integrated ecological–economic modeling framework for the sustainable management of oyster farming

Sustainable resource management requires improved understanding of complex ecological processes and the socioeconomic drivers shaping human–environment interactions. To better understand complex interconnections among ecological and economic systems, this study integrates a coastal marine ecosystem model with a model of the associated coastal economy. Through simulations of different ecological and socioeconomic scenarios, the integrated model can be used to generate predictive ecological and economic values for policy analysis, providing an opportunity for more rational and informed debate concerning sustainable marine resource development. To demonstrate utility of this integrated model, it was applied to coastal shellfish aquaculture production in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, US, a coastal ecological–economic system that provides important ecosystem services and contributes to the regional economy.
Adsorption studies on metals and elemental semiconductors XII. Water on p-type germanium powders

Abstract Adsorption studies of water vapor on p-type germanium powders crushed from single crystals indicated that the water molecules chemisorb donor fashion on the oxide-covered surface, and the amount adsorbed increased with increasing p-type doping. A hypothesis was developed that the chemisorption of the water molecules is determined by both sterical factors (a model is proposed) and by electron exchange equilibria. An estimate of the concentration of slow surface states yielded 1.9 to 2.7 × 10 14 cm −2 eV −1 and it was shown that, even at this high dopant concentration, no evidence for a ‘quasi-isolated’ surface could be developed.
Prenatal Care: Limitations and Opportunities

Prenatal care is a venerable tradition in the U.S. health care system and one that deserves critical examination. Inordinate amounts of public and personal resources are expended on a tradition of care that has not proven itself equal to current perinatal prevention challenges. In this article, the evolution of prenatal care is reviewed, its efficacy is critiqued, and efforts at restructuring the content and processes of care are examined. Three promising alternatives to the dominant medical model are described: the comprehensive prenatal care approach illustrated by many publicly funded prenatal clinics, the prenatal empowerment model as exemplified by midwifery care, and the prenatal group model as illustrated by CenteringPregnancy. Nurses are called upon to champion prenatal options for women. JOGNN, 35, 278‐285; 2006. DOI: 10.1111/J.1552‐6909.2006.00039.x
Organizational ethics in residency training: moral conflict with supervising physicians.

It is inevitable that physicians in training will be exposed to behavior by supervising physicians that the trainees find unethical. By nature these events are rare. It is imperative within any residency training program that resident physicians have immediate access to a meaningful review process in cases of moral conflict with supervising physicians. Here, I discuss the reasons why this issue must be recognized and what it entails. Most important, I discuss the procedural steps that are essential for the training program to make this a meaningful safety mechanism in residency training. This issue is central to promoting conscious development of professionalism in clinical training. Physicians in training, especially resident physicians, need to be taught to value and protect their own professional integrity. The responsibility for fulfilling this ethical duty falls on the individual residency programs as well as the administrative organizations that regulate residency training. Thus, ensuring this process of review is an organizational ethical imperative. Availability of this process is fundamental to promoting and ensuring ethical behavior by all participants in residency training.
PSYCHOLOGISM AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SCIENTISTS: A RESPONSE TO GIBSON

Gibson’s paper outlines a new and increasingly popular perspective on the relationship between cognitive psychology and the philosophy of science. Cognitive psychology, Gibson suggests, is conceptually on a par with and is “making the same sort of claims about the human organism” as contemporary philosophy of science (p. 212). He notes the recent trend of philosophers using psychology, sociology and history to explain how science is practiced (i.e. a descriptive account of science) as opposed to using logic and epistemology to explain how science ought to be practiced (i.e. a normative account of science). Gibson argues that psychological research provides direct evidence (p. 214) for these philosophical theories and a basis for enriching them (p. 214). He argues that understanding the “limitations and validity” of scientists’ reasoning can lead to an understanding of the “limitations and validity of the scientific evidence which is generated” (p. 220). Gibson’s approach is consistent with others who have called for a “psychology of science”, which involves the study of the cognitive characteristics of scientists (e.g. Tweney et al., 1981). Proponents of this view are compelled by arguments that epistemology and logic are inadequate methods to justify normative propositions and, consequently, they assume that questions of justification are ultimately answered by cognitive psychological analyses. In this view cognitive psychology and contemporary philosophy of science are not perceived to be distinct disciplines with different methods and g’oals because philosophical questions can be completely reduced to ones requiting cognitive psychological analyses. While epistemology and logic may inform psychological research, it is assumed that the philosopher’s search for normative standards of scientific inquiry will be derived ultimately from fine-grained cognitive explanations of scientists. Tweney et al. (198 1) write: The psychology of science may eventually lead to’prescriptions for better science, to specific analyses of inquiry processes enabling the design of better inquiry, and perhaps, through analyses of scientists’ thinking processes, to better science education. (p.7) The “psychology of science” view of the relationship between cognitive psychology and philosophy of science is a strong version of the thesis of psychologism. I’sychologism tends to “downplay or deny distinctions between
State teacher union strength and student achievement

Abstract A new and very small literature has provided evidence that students have lower test scores in larger school districts and in districts in which the district's teachers union has negotiated a contract that is more favorable to the district's teachers. The teachers’ unions at the state and national levels contribute a great deal of money to candidates for state and federal offices. This gives the unions some influence in passing (defeating) bills that would help (harm) the state's teachers. We introduce two novel measures of the strength of the state-wide teachers union: union dues per teacher and union expenditures per student. These reflect the key role of political influence for state-wide unions. We provide remarkably strong evidence that students in states with strong teachers unions have lower proficiency rates than students in states with weak state-wide teacher unions.
Recent concepts of lipoprotein pathophysiology

Molecular genetic approaches have added greatly to the understanding of the human hyperlipoproteinemias. Studies in mice have added interesting new information. Transgenic mice over-expressing or deficient in various individual proteins important in lipoprotein metabolism have reproduced some dyslipidemias and permitted further pinpointing of the functions of apolipoproteins, lipoprotein receptors, lipid transfer proteins and enzymes. Cross-breeding of mice with single defects has reproduced certain dyslipidemia syndromes and permits examination of the combined etiologic effects of more than one gene.
Characterization of hydroxyapatite deposition on biomimetic polyphosphazenes by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS)

Synthetic bone grafts that promote the natural mineralization process are excellent candidates for the repair and replacement of bone defects. In this study, a series of phosphoester and phosphonic acid containing polyphosphazenes were examined for their ability to mineralize hydroxyapatite (HAp) during exposure to a solution of simulated body fluid (SBF) for a period of four weeks. Although all the polymers showed an initial mineralization response, the amount of deposition and the time scale were dependent upon the side group chemistry of the polymers. After exposure to SBF for one week, all polymers mineralized HAp. After three weeks in SBF, polymers containing phosphoester substituents showed no significant change, with a weight gain of <1%, while polymers containing phosphonic acid substituents underwent a significant increase in the amount of mineralized HAp, with weight gains between 5–10%. The morphology of mineralized features was observed with Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM). However, due to the structural complexity of the mineralized polymers, the identity of the mineralized phase could not be definitively identified using traditional characterization techniques such as energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), or X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), a technique not previously explored for this type of application, successfully reveals details of the chemistry associated with the mineralized phase not possible to achieve with XRD analysis.
Light-weight Detection of Spoofing Attacks in Wireless Networks

Many wireless networks are susceptible to spoofing attacks, whereby an adversary imitates the network identifiers of legitimate devices. Conventionally, assuring the identity of the communicator and thereby detecting an adversarial presence is performed via device authentication. Unfortunately, full-scale authentication is not always desirable as it requires key management and more extensive computations. In this paper we argue that it is desirable to have a functionality complementary to traditional cryptographic authentication that can detect device spoofing with little or no dependency on cryptographic material. To accomplish this, we introduce the notion of forge-resistant relationships associated with transmitted packets, as well as forge-resistant consistency checks, which allow other network entities to detect anomalous activity. We then provide two practical examples of forge-resistant relationships for detecting anomalous network activity: we explore the use of a supplemental identifier field that evolves in time according to a reverse one-way function chain, and the use of signal strength readings for source discrimination. We validate the usefulness of these methods for anomalous "spoofed" traffic scenarios involving multiple sources sharing the same MAC address through experiments conducted on the ORBIT wireless testbed
A Note on Noise and Conversion-Gain Measurements

The development of microwave receivers with a low-gain converter as the first stage has made it desirable that the noise level and the conversion gain be determined independently of the following intermediate-frequency amplifier. Often this converter is a crystal with a conversion gain less than one. This paper discusses some of the general procedures that have been used to measure microwave-converter noise levels and conversion gains.
Watching as an ordinary affect: Care and mothers’ preemption of injury in child supervision

As unintentional injuries continue to be the leading cause of hospitalization and death for toddlers between the ages of 1 and 4, the Centers for Disease Control has argued that child supervision is a key factor in reducing these injuries and fatalities. This article focuses on the affective relationships in the concept of supervision and practice of watching as an injury prevention method. Three parts frame our argument. First, we describe how watching is an ordinary affect. Second, as part of the ethos of caring, watching is embedded in a temporal frame of anticipation and gives rise to an affectsphere of watching and to a parents’ subjectivity as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ supervisors. Third, these affective relationships generate seemingly contradictory outcomes wherein children are expected to gain independence and experience injury. The affective qualities of watching provide a critique of the individualizing forces of supervision and an analysis of subjectivities generated by gender and class.
Competing social tensions in health care.

Members of the board of trustees, officers of the University of Wyoming, members of the faculty, members of the class of 2009, and family and friends of the graduates, it is indeed my honor to be here with you this morning. Thank you as well, Dean Sullivan, for your kind introduction and hospitality
The interaction of discourse, cognition and culture

The kinds of social interaction necessary for the existence of human cultural practices and institutions and the human ability to change and survive depended on at least four (among other) conditions: biological brain evolution, cognition/affective processes, ethnographically-based cultural beliefs and practices, and the kinds of interpersonal relations that motivate or constrain social interaction. Thus human biological and cultural evolution could not have occurred without the interaction of brain processes, cognition/affective mechanisms, language, cultural beliefs, and social organization. No single one of these elements could have emerged without the others. We know little about how the four elements evolved, but can at least speculate about the necessity of each for human development. For example, the kinds of socialization experiences and skills infants acquire gradually to be called competent ‘adults,’ and how adult status begins to fade towards the end of life as adults seek to retain the propert...
Ventricular response to atrial fibrillation: Role of atrioventricular conduction pathways

Irregularity of the ventricular rhythm is a hallmark of patients with atrial fibrillation, yet the genesis of the irregularity is not yet fully understood. The role of the atrioventricular (AV) node in determining the irregularity of the ventricular response to atrial fibrillation was investigated by comparing the frequency distributions of the atrial (AA) and the ventricular (RR) intervals. Atrial electrograms and surface electrocardiographic leads were recorded during sustained atrial fibrillation in 12 patients with conduction over the AV node. The scaling factor (mean RR interval/mean AA interval) quantified the ability of the conduction pathway to scale the atrial input to a slower ventricular response and ranged from 2.55 to 5.92 (mean +/- SD 3.77 +/- 0.92). The coefficient of variation (SD/mean) measured the relative variability of the AA and RR interval distributions. The atrial and ventricular coefficients of variation were not significantly different (0.20 +/- 0.04 versus 0.21 +/- 0.03, p greater than 0.27). Similar recordings were analyzed in six patients with conduction over a accessory AV pathway. The scaling factor ranged from 1.54 to 2.46 (2.02 +/- 0.39) and, as was the case for patients with conduction over the AV node, the atrial and ventricular coefficients of variation did not significantly differ (0.24 +/- 0.08 versus 0.27 +/- 0.10, p greater than 0.6). For both groups of patients, ventricular variability and the maximal RR intervals were predicted by the product of the scaling factor and either atrial variability or maximal AA intervals, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Linking sandwich pairs

Since the development of the calculus of variations there has been interest in finding critical points of functionals. This was intensified by the fact that for many equations arising in practice, the solutions are critical points. In searching for critical points, there is a distinct advantage if the functional G is semibounded. In this case one can find a Palais–Smale (PS) sequence or even a Cerami sequence These sequences produce critical points if they have convergent subsequences. However, there is no clear method of finding critical points of functionals which are not semibounded. Linking subsets do provide such a method. They can produce a PS sequence provided they separate the functional. In the present paper we show that there are pairs of subsets that can produce Cerami-like sequences even though they do not separate the functional. All that is required is that the functional be bounded from above on one of the sets and bounded from below on the other, with no relationship needed between the bounds. This provides a distinct advantage in applications. We apply the method to several situations.
Algorithm for automated selection of application-specific fiber-optic reflectance probes

Several optical techniques and fiber-optic probe systems have been designed to measure the optical properties of tissue. While a wide range of options is often beneficial, it poses a problem to investigators selecting which method to use for their biomedical application of interest. We present a methodology to optimally select a probe that matches the application requirements. Our method is based both on matching a probe's mean sampling depth with the optimal diagnostic depth of the clinical application and on choosing a probe whose interrogation depth and path length is the least sensitive to alterations in the target medium's optical properties. Satisfying these requirements ensures that the selected probe consistently assesses the relevant tissue volume with minimum variability. To aid in probe selection, we have developed a publicly available graphical user interface that takes the desired sampling depth and optical properties of the medium as its inputs and automatically ranks different techniques in their ability to robustly target the desired depth. Techniques investigated include single fiber spectroscopy, differential path length spectroscopy, polarization-gating, elastic light scattering spectroscopy, and diffuse reflectance. The software has been applied to biological case studies.
Building, Testing and Using a General Circulation Model

The following notes are a summary of four lectures given on modeling the general circulation of the atmosphere. Since five or six hours are hardly sufficient to cover everything in general circulation modeling, and since in addition, these notes are a condensation of what was discussed, the reader will have to consult the references at the end of each lecture, to find the details worked out for many of the topics which have been necessarily treated very briefly here. I have not tried to present a complete reference list. However, the references given, plus the references within the references, will give the reader a good working knowledge of the subject.
Dimensions of Parental Engagement in Home Visiting Programs: Exploratory Study

A randomized trial of the multisite evaluation of the Parents as Teachers home visiting program indicated significant attrition from program services and wide variation in participation and involve...
Electric Field Grading Using Thin Film Nonohmic Zinc Oxide

The transient response of thin film non Ohmic zinc oxide is studied to determine if the material would be able to keep up with power system abnormalities such as switching surges and lightning strokes. The transient model is based on a lumped parameter model of the distributed problem. It is found that the maximum electric field seen by the insulator was a function of film thickness, ground capacitance, and the characteristic time of the drive. It does not appear to be affected strongly by the internal capacitance of the film. The switching time of the film, being on the order of a nanosecond, does not appear to have an effect on transients of the time scale of lightning or line switching, indicating satisfactory film performance for sufficient thicknesses.
Optimization of the split-step Fourier method in modeling optical-fiber communications systems

We studied the efficiency of different implementations of the split-step Fourier method for solving the nonlinear Schro/spl uml/dinger equation that employ different step-size selection criteria. We compared the performance of the different implementations for a variety of pulse formats and systems, including higher order solitons, collisions of soliton pulses, a single-channel periodically stationary dispersion-managed soliton system, and chirped return to zero systems with single and multiple channels. We introduce a globally third-order accurate split-step scheme, in which a bound on the local error is used to select the step size. In many cases, this method is the most efficient when compared with commonly used step-size selection criteria, and it is robust for a wide range of systems providing a system-independent rule for choosing the step sizes. We find that a step-size selection method based on limiting the nonlinear phase rotation of each step is not efficient for many optical-fiber transmission systems, although it works well for solitons. We also tested a method that uses a logarithmic step-size distribution to bound the amount of spurious four-wave mixing. This method is as efficient as other second-order schemes in the single-channel dispersion-managed soliton system, while it is not efficient in other cases including multichannel simulations. We find that in most cases, the simple approach in which the step size is held constant is the least efficient of all the methods. Finally, we implemented a method in which the step size is inversely proportional to the largest group velocity difference between channels. This scheme performs best in multichannel optical communications systems for the values of accuracy typically required in most transmission simulations.
The inverse scattering problem in geometrical optics and the design of reflectors

The inverse scattering problem considered here is that of finding the shape of a reflector which produces a prescribed scattered wave. The scattered wave is characterized by its angular pattern, which determines the differential scattering cross section of the reflector. The problem is solved by means of explicit formulas for cylindrical and for rotationally symmetric objects. Plane, cylindrical, and spherical incident waves are considered. The general three dimensional object is also treated. The method of geometrical optics is used throughout.
Suboptimal Production Planning Policies for Closed-Loop System with Uncertain Levels of Demand and Return

Abstract Nowadays, the reverse logistics of products has become an indispensable mechanism to preserve the equilibrium of industrial market. Besides, it can reduce the environment impact related to raw material extraction, and, additionally, it can increase productivity and profitability of a company. This article is concerned with this issue, because it models the production planning problem as a closed-loop system in which returned products are recovered. In this problem, demand for new products and return of used-products are random variables with known probability distributions. Since physical constraints on inventory and production variables are considered, chance-constraints are explicitly introduced into the problem's formulation. A sub-optimal approach is considered, since arriving to an optimal global solution would be either unfeasible or unpractical due to complexities such as randomness and dimensionality. A Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) problem with chance-constraints is provided as an example of sub-optimal production planning policy for a closed-loop system. Thus, it is possible to show the applicability of this strategy in creating production scenarios that help managers to make decisions about the use of company's resources.
Calibration Method for ML Estimation of 3D Interaction Position in a Thick Gamma-Ray Detector

High-energy (> 100 keV) photon detectors are often made thick relative to their lateral resolution in order to improve their photon-detection efficiency. To avoid issues of parallax and increased signal variance that result from random interaction depth, we must determine the 3D interaction position in the imaging detector. With this goal in mind, we examine a method of calibrating response statistics of a thick-detector gamma camera to produce a maximum-likelihood estimate of 3D interaction position. We parameterize the mean detector response as a function of 3D position, and we estimate these parameters by maximizing their likelihood given prior knowledge of the pathlength distribution and a complete list of camera signals for an ensemble of gamma-ray interactions. Furthermore, we describe an iterative method for removing multiple-interaction events from our calibration data and for refining our calibration of the mean detector response to single interactions. We demonstrate this calibration method with simulated gamma-camera data. We then show that the resulting calibration is accurate and can be used to produce unbiased estimates of 3D interaction position.
Rate coefficients for NO formation in energetic N+O2 collisions

Abstract The reaction of energetic N atoms with O 2 is an important source of ro-vibrationally excited NO in the thermosphere. Cross-sections and rate coefficients are calculated using a quantum–classical approach and comparison is made with earlier calculations and with experimental data. Good agreement is obtained with previous theoretical calculations. Satisfactory agreement with experiment is obtained for the thermal rate coefficients at temperatures above 2000 K but the data at lower temperatures suggest that modifications are needed in the details of the potential energy surface of 2 A ′ symmetry.
Hopf bifurcation in a disk-shaped NEMS

Self-sustained mechanical vibrations of a disc-type microfabricated resonator were experimentally observed when a continuous wave (CW) laser beam was focused on the periphery of the disc (for a 40 μm diameter resonator, natural frequency 0.89MHz, the laser power above a 250 W threshold was required). A theoretical model for self-oscillatory behavior has been developed based on FEM analysis of a stress pattern created within the resonator by the focused laser beam. This model accounts for the fact that the amount of absorbed laser light is modulated due to the motion of the resonator through the optical interferometric pattern. Analytical study reveals the presence of a Hopf-type bifurcation with a critical laser power close to the experimentally observed value. Harmonic balance analysis indicates the existence of a stable limit cycle in the phase plane determining the amplitude of self-oscillations.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Vertical velocity from LADCP data

Vertical velocity is important for ocean dynamics on a vast range of scales, from isotropic turbulence to the global overturning circulation, and directly affects transport of biogeochemical tracers. In spite of this importance, vertical-velocity measurements in the ocean are scarce. In an effort to remedy this situation, a new method has been developed to obtain full-depth profiles of vertical velocity from data collected with standard Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (LADCP) systems, such as the ones used during the CLIVAR repeat hydrography sections. Data from LADCP systems, which consist of CTDs and ADCPs lowered on hydrographic wires, are typically processed to obtain full-depth profiles of horizontal velocity. The fundamental difficulty underlying LADCP data processing is that the velocity measurements are relative to the moving instrument package. In order to obtain absolute ocean velocities, the instrument motion must be removed from each ADCP velocity profile. One method for achieving this consists in vertically integrating vertical shear of velocity, which can easily be obtained from LADCP velocity records and is independent of instrument motion, and to reference the resulting baroclinic velocity profiles with external constraints, such as package motion derived from bottom tracking. While this method can, in principle, be applied both to horizontal and to vertical velocity data the resulting uncertainties of ≈3–5 cm·s−1 are larger than the typical signal expected for vertical velocity in the ocean.
Local observation of the absolute phase of a microwave field

We describe a new single-atom nonlinear optics experiment based on self-interference between the positive and negative frequency components of a microwave field, where absolute-phase at an atom's position can be measured in the atomic population.
The race goes to the swift: fitness consequences of variation in sprint performance in juvenile lizards

Locomotor performance is a fundamental link between an animal and its environment. Considerable evidence has accumulated about the biomechanical, physiological and morphological causes of variation in sprint speed and endurance in animals. Yet little information is available about the ecological role of locomotion and its relationship to fitness. This is largely due to the difficulty of acquiring survivorship data in known demographic populations. To address the selective significance of locomotor performance, I estimated the covariation between sprint speed and survivorship of juveniles in a population of the lizard, Urosaurus ornatus. Selection analyses based on mark–recapture data revealed significant directional selection for burst velocity and stride length. Faster lizards with longer stride lengths realized a survival advantage over slower lizards regardless of size. Significant non-linear selection was detected on initial velocity and mean velocity. The selection surface for initial velocity was concave up, hence juveniles with intermediate values for initial velocity had lower fitness. Conversely, the selection surface for mean velocity was concave down, thus juveniles with intermediate values for mean velocity had higher survivorship. I hypothesize that the differences in sprint performance influence prey capture and predator escape. Faster lizards may also select warmer microhabitats during favourable conditions, which may enhance growth rates but entail higher risks of predation.
Atrioventricular valve replacement in patients with a single ventricle

Abstract Background . Significant atrioventricular valve (AVV) insufficiency has been associated with increased mortality and morbidity in patients with single ventricle. Although many patients can be managed with valvuloplasty alone, some patients require AVV replacement. The optimal timing, outcome, and risk factors for AVV replacement in this population have not been described. Methods . We retrospectively reviewed our experience with AVV replacement in patients with single ventricle from January 1984 to August 2000. Outcome variables included mortality and valve-related complications. Results . Seventeen patients required AVV replacement. Prosthetic valve types included: St. Jude's valve in 14, Bjork-Shiley in 1, Hall-Kaster in 1, and Carpentier-Edwards in 1. Valve size ranged from 17 to 33 mm. Median age at valve replacement was 3.0 years (range 7 days to 17.3 years). Of the 16 subjects with normal atrioventricular conduction preoperatively, 7 (44%) developed postoperative complete heart block. Hospital mortality was 29%. Hospital mortality decreased significantly from 56% in 1984 to 1993 to no deaths from 1994 to 2000 ( p = 0.03). Younger age (less than 2 years) at operation was also a risk factor for hospital mortality ( p = 0.03). There were four late deaths in this series and 1 patient underwent heart transplantation. Of the surviving patients, none has required replacement of the prosthetic valve. No patients have had cerebrovascular accident subsequent to AVV replacement. Functional status is New York Heart Association functional class I in 5, class II in 1, and Class III in 1. Conclusions . Atrioventricular valve replacement can be performed in patients with single ventricle with acceptable morbidity and mortality. The development of postoperative complete heart block is common. Survival after AVV replacement has improved in recent years, and intervention before patients develop ventricular dysfunction and atrial arrhythmias may further improve outcome.
Managed Care, Catholic Vision, and the Claims of Justice

There are numerous challenges posed to Roman Catholic health care institutions by recent developments in health care delivery. Some are practical, involving the acceptable limits of accommodation to and collaboration with secular networks of health care delivery. Others, quite often implicated in the first set, are explicitly theological. What does it mean to be a distinctively Roman Catholic health care institution? What are the nature and the scope of Roman Catholic institutional identity? More broadly, what is the moral relevance of themes in Roman Catholic social teaching to the provision of health care? This issue of Christian Bioethics addresses these questions with a spirited exchange among its authors. They offer noticeably different perspectives on the general cogency of Roman Catholic social teaching and different strategic recommendations for Roman Catholic institutions to maintain, or recover, their distinctive presence in health care delivery.
Is strategic behavior by a dominant trader with inside information always optimal

Abstract We consider a price-setting game in which a dominant informed trader sets price, taking into account the reactions of uninformed traders who behave competitively. We show that there are conditions under which the dominant informed trader may prefer to behave competitively, and we also prove a no-trade result.