cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Editorial - The Dark Side of Virtual Worlds

The Journal of Virtual World Research’s “The Dark Side” issue dives into some fascinating ideas about how evil is represented in the virtual worlds of digital games. This issue includes five articles elaborating on the motivations for evil acts and their outcomes, hostile competitiveness, classification of deviant leisure, how immoral acts are determined, and our ability to thwart these cruel activities in the virtual environments and games.
Chapter 30 – Situated Conceptualization

Two themes about the conceptual system are developed: (1) modal simulations underlie conceptual processing; (2) conceptual representations are situated. The construct of situated conceptualization—a multimodal simulation that supports one specific course of situated action with a particular category instance—integrates these themes. A given concept produces many different situated conceptualizations, each tailored to different instances in different settings. A situated conceptualization creates the experience of “being there” with a category instance in a setting via integrated simulations of objects, settings, actions, and introspections. On recognizing a familiar type of instance, an entrenched situated conceptualization associated with it becomes active, which provides relevant inferences via pattern completion. Supporting empirical evidence from cognitive psychology, social psychology, and cognitive neuroscience is reviewed.
The Strawman at the Pox Party.

In “Pox Parties for Grannies?” Malm and Navin (2020) persuasively argue that it is unjust to permit, let alone promote, avoidable harm to children by knowingly and purposefully not vaccinating them...
Symmetry tuning and high energy coupling for an Al capsule in a Au rugby hohlraum on NIF

Experiments on imploding an Al capsule in a Au rugby hohlraum with up to a 1.5 MJ laser drive were performed on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The capsule diameter was 3.0 mm with ∼1 MJ drive and 3.4 mm with ∼1.5 MJ drive. Effective symmetry tuning by modifying the rugby hohlraum shape was demonstrated, and good shell symmetry was achieved for 3.4 mm capsules at a convergence of ∼10. The nuclear bang time and the shell velocity from simulations agree with experimental data, indicating ∼500 kJ coupling with 1.5 MJ drive or ∼30% efficiency. The peak velocity reached above 300 km/s for a 120 μm-thick Al capsule. The laser backscatter inside the low-gas-filled rugby hohlraum was very low (<4%) at both scales. The high energy coupling allows implosion designs with increased adiabat, which, in turn, increases the tolerance to detrimental effects of instabilities and asymmetries. These encouraging experimental results open new opportunities for both the mainline single-shell scheme and the double-shell design toward ignition.
Earnings Management and Corporate Spin-Offs

InIn this study we examine whether firms manage earnings before pursuing corporate spinoffs. Using a sample of 226 completed spinoffs between 1985 and 2005, we find strong evidence of pre-spinoff earnings management among parent firms involved in non-focus-increasing spinoffs. We also find higher levels of earnings management among parent firms that have a higher level of information asymmetry prior to spinoff announcements. Our regression results show a significant negative relation between income-increasing earnings management and the announcement period returns for non-focus-increasing spinoffs. In addition, a significant positive relation is found between income-increasing earnings management and the announcement period returns for focus-increasing spinoffs. The results suggest that income-increasing earnings management sends out negative signals about non-focus-increasing spinoffs but positive signals about focus-increasing spinoffs.
Pitfalls and challenges in genetic test interpretation: An exploration of genetic professionals experience with interpretation of results

The interpretation of genetic testing results is subject to error. This observational study illustrates examples of pitfalls and challenges in interpretation of genetic testing results as reported by genetics professionals. We surveyed genetics professionals to describe interpretation challenges, the types of variants that were involved, and the reported clinical impact of misconception of a test result. Case studies were then collected from a select group to further explore potential causes of misunderstanding. A total of 83% of survey respondents were aware of at least one instance of genetic test misinterpretation. Both professionals with and without formal training in genetics were challenged by test reports, and variants of unknown significance were most frequently involved. Case submissions revealed that interpretation pitfalls extend beyond variant classification analyses. Inferred challenges in case submissions include lack of genetic counseling, unclear wording of reports, and suboptimal communication among providers. Respondents and case submitters noted that incorrect interpretation can trigger unnecessary follow-up tests and improperly alter clinical management. Further research is needed to validate and quantify large-scale data regarding challenges of genetic results interpretation.
The Weak Underbelly of Business and Human Rights: Reflections on the 8th U.N. Forum on Business and Human Rights

The 8th UN Forum for Business and Human Rights, held at the end of November 2019, was meant to re-center the state within the discourse and practice of human rights based management of global economic activity. This essay considers two significant challenges to that effort. The first touches on the disappearance of small, poor, and developing states, within the construct of state based regulation of business and human rights (Part 1: The Obliteration of the State, or, Does Lesotho Exist?). The second ("'Falling in Love Again:' 'Smart Mixes' and the De-Centering of the State Within Private Compliance Governance Orders") examines the way that new regulatory approaches continue the process of legal privatization and a further de-centering of the state even as it appears to try to the the opposite. The ultimate object of the essay is to suggest the contradictions that now appear more prominently in advancing the international business and human rights project on the basis of its current ordering premises. Whether consciously or not, the leading actors, both public and private, of this enterprise have backed themselves into a corner. The more they assert the principles in favor of national action, the more effectively they appear to manage the privatization of human rights and economic activity in precisely the ways they actually seek to avoid.
Understanding Linear Style Transfer Auto-Encoders

Style transfer auto-encoder has recently been shown to be highly effective in synthesizing images with styles transferred from another image. In this work, we aim to provide an answer to this question by studying a simpler variant of STAE, namely, the linear style transfer auto-encoders (LinSTAEs), where the encoder and decoders are all linear models. We show that the objective function of LinSTAE, under the $\ell_{2}$ loss, affords a simple form, and the optimal solutions reveal the mechanism how the encoder capture joint characteristics from the input and the target domain, and the decoders restore their idiosyncrasies. We further show that at least for the linear case, the cycle reconstruction loss is not necessary - the vanilla LinSTAE objective function is already effective. We use numerical experiments on the synthetic and the MNIST dataset to showcase our findings.
A semidiscrete finite volume formulation for multiprocess watershed simulation

[1] Hydrological processes within the terrestrial water cycle operate over a wide range of time and space scales, and with governing equations that may be a mixture of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and partial differential equations (PDEs). In this paper we propose a unified strategy for the formulation and solution of fully coupled process equations at the watershed and river basin scale. The strategy shows how a system of mixed equations can be locally reduced to ordinary differential equations using the semidiscrete finite volume method (FVM). Domain decomposition partitions the watershed surface onto an unstructured grid, and vertical projection of each element forms a finite volume on which all physical process equations are formed. The projected volume or prism is partitioned into surface and subsurface layers, leading to a fully coupled, local ODE system, referred to as the model “kernel.” The global ODE system is assembled by combining the local ODE system over the domain, and is then solved by a state-of-the-art ODE solver. The unstructured grid, based on Delaunay triangulation, is generated with constraints related to the river network, watershed boundary, elevation contours, vegetation, geology, etc. The underlying geometry and parameter fields are then projected onto the irregular network. The kernel-based formulation simplifies the process of adding or eliminating states, constitutive laws, or closure relations. The strategy is demonstrated for the Shale Hills experimental watershed in central Pennsylvania, and several phenomena are observed: (1) The enslaving principle is shown to be a useful approximation for soil moisture–water table dynamics for shallow soils in upland watersheds; (2) the coupling shows how antecedent moisture (i.e., initial conditions) can amplify peak flows; (3) the coupled equations predict the onset or threshold for upland ephemeral channel flow; and (4) the model shows how microtopographic information controls surface saturation and connectivity of overland flow paths for the Shale Hills site. The open-source code developed in this research is referred to as the Penn State Integrated Hydrologic Model (PIHM).
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation: Pathogenesis and Management

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a clini-copathological syndrome secondary to an underlying disease. Characteristic laboratory abnormalities of DIC should suggest, much like the recognition of fever, anemia, or congestive heart failure, that an inciting disease process must be searched for. The clinical and laboratory consequences of DIC can be ascribed to the unregulated and unbalanced formation of thrombin, the main clot-forming enzyme, and plasmin, the main clot-lysing enzyme. If too much plasmin is formed in relation to thrombin, a hemorrhagic state, which appears in 60 to 75% of patients with deep vein thrombosis, will occur. Alternatively, if too much thrombin is formed in relation to the degree of secondary fibrinolysis, a thrombotic condition, which appears in 25 to 40% of patients with DIC, will become manifest. The diagnosis of DIC is dependent on the presence of an appropriate clinical situation with concurrent laboratory evidence of thrombin and plasmin formation. Thrombin forma...
Educational Software Features that Encourage and Discourage “Gaming the System”

Gaming the system, attempting to succeed in an interactive learning environment by exploiting properties of the system rather than by learning the material (for example, by systematically guessing or abusing hints), is prevalent across many types of educational software. Past research on why students choose to game has focused on student individual differences. Many student individual differences, including attitudes towards mathematics, have been shown to be associated with gaming, but generally with low correlation. In this paper, we investigate how individual differences between learning environments can increase or decrease the probability of gaming. We enumerate ways intelligent tutor lessons vary from each other, and use data mining to discover hypotheses about how differences in software design and content influence the choice to game the system. We discover a set of tutor features that explain 56% of the variance in gaming, over five times the degree of variance explained in any prior study of student individual differences and gaming. These results provide an important step towards developing prescriptions for designing intelligent tutor software that students game significantly less.
Stereochemistry of actinomycin binding to DNA: II. Detailed molecular model of actinomycin-DNA complex and its implications

Abstract The three-dimensional structure of a crystalline complex containing actinomycin D and deoxyguanosine (described in the previous paper) has shed light on the stereochemistry of actinomycin binding to DNA. The phenoxazone ring system on actinomycin intercalates between the base-paired dinucleotide sequence, GpC, while the peptide subunits lie in the narrow groove of the DNA helix and interact with deoxyguanosine residues on opposite chains through specific hydrogen bonds. The binding of actinomycin to DNA demonstrates a general principle which several classes of proteins may utilize in recognizing symmetrically arranged nucleotide sequences on the DNA helix.
Influencia de la microestructura del cobre comercial sobre los procesos de formación de la pátina gris artificial

Commercial copper was submitted to a thermomechanical treatment in order to study its influence on the velocity of artificial green patina formation by immersion as well as on the thickness and adherence of the corrosion product formed on the underlying metal. The thermomechanical treatment enabled us to obtain samples with 9 to 60 μm grain size. These samples were submitted to an accelerated attack by immersion in an electrolytic bath in order to obtain a green patina. On the smallest grain size material it can be observed a patina with high thickness and adherence, smooth texture and homogeneous morphology. From the electrochemical assays it was established that the passivity current decreases for decreasing grain sizes. These results are consistent with the minimal porosity presented by the patina morphology which increase the protecting power. The underlying material did not present localized attack.
Examining how international experiences promote global competency among engineering graduate students

Employers worldwide are seeking engineers who possess a more complete professional skillset that could be useful in the constantly changing globalized economy. For this reason, engineers are expected to have leadership, communication, and teamwork skills, in addition to analytical skills. Furthermore, they are also expected to have attributes of global competency, which would help them thrive in the global workforce. A plethora of information and studies exist on undergraduate students and how institutions are helping students increase their global competency through methods such as international exchange and study abroad programs. Despite these efforts, there is little information on engineering doctoral students and methods for increasing their levels of global competency. Doctoral students are at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation and discoveries, so it is critical that they are trained to work effectively in diverse environments. This study comparatively examines the intercultural experiences of a) engineering Ph.D. students from the U.S. who traveled abroad, and b) international engineering Ph.D. students who traveled to the U.S. Findings indicate that students tended to prepare themselves for travel abroad in various ways, and that negative experiences of domestic students abroad are related to a mismatch between pre-travel expectations and actual experiences. International students more frequently mention cross-cultural differences, and those with greater levels of support tended to report easier adjustments. Findings can be applied toward helping U.S. and international academic institutions identify strategies to develop graduate students' global competency levels.
A versatile congestion control framework for broadband ISDN

ATM networks will be required to carry the traffic with wide range of flow characteristics and performance requirements. These long-haul networks will operate at extremely high transmission and switching speeds and will thus be susceptible to congestion. Preventive congestion control schemes are suited to such networks. One such scheme, called framing strategy, has been suggested by Golestani. It provides loss-free bounded-delay communication. But the scheme is inflexible in terms of accommodating rich mixture of services. In this paper we suggest a highly robust and efficient modified framing strategy. It is a special ease of framing strategy and proves beneficial when a bundle of virtual circuits share a common path from source to destination (in the similar vein as virtual paths). It will provide significant bandwidth savings, permit rich variety of service classes and allocate resources better tailored to these classes. >
A Review of “Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey”

Today's Ordnance Survey of Great Britain is a large, self-financing mapping organization with an annual budget of around $200 million, led by geographer Vanessa Lawrence and employing the most adva...
On Combining Decentralized Reduced Order Estimates

A method is present which allows one to fuse local reduced order estimates into one global reduced order estimate.
Urinary calculi. I. A simple semiquantitative method of analysis.

A simple, rapid method of analysis of urinary calculi is presented which only requires heating the stone at 110°, followed by ashing and the use of suitable equations and certain simple qualitative tests to establish the approximate chemical composition of the calculus.
Pharmacokinetics of Cefamandole in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis

The pharmacokinetics of cefamandole nafate, a new parenteral cephalosporin derivative, were evaluated in 11 patients with chronic renal failure (creatinine clearance less than 5 ml/min), including five patients during hemodialysis, four patients during routine peritoneal dialysis, and two patients during the interdialytic period. Peak serum levels of cefamandole were comparable to those observed in patients with normal renal function. Clearance of the drug during the interdialytic period and during hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis was minimal, with a resultant significant prolongation of serum half-life. The nondialyzability of cefamandole is in contrast with reported studies of cephalothin, where significant reduction of the serum half-life was achieved during hemodialysis but not peritoneal dialysis. The concentration of cefamandole in the peritoneal dialysate after parenteral administration was observed to be bactericidal for many gram-negative pathogens and, with the exception of Streptococcus faecalis , most gram-positive organisms found in bacterial peritonitis in patients with severe renal failure. The present data suggest that if stable bactericidal serum levels of cefamandole are to be maintained during hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, a parenteral loading dose must be administered followed by one-half the loading dose every half-life.
Socioethical issues in Hospital Birth: Troubling Tales from a Canadian Sample

Prior to the writing of this article, a small qualitative Canadian study surveyed prenatal counseling in a hospital setting; through that study, unexpected and disturbing narratives emerged from participants about their labors and deliveries. The absence of prenatal counseling and consent, in some cases, led to psychosocial trauma, perpetuated by false assumptions participants made about the safety of hospital birth. These were findings in a university-college-educated sample that had unique access to excellent health care through a wide variety of quality university teaching hospitals. This sample demonstrated alarming gaps in knowledge about the realities of hospital birth and, more generally, prenatal care in a hospital setting. This article focuses on these hospital birth narratives and discusses them in a sociological and ethical context.The findings point to further study in urban U.S. settings, with a larger, more diversely educated sample, to determine whether these findings are unique to the Cana...
Support for School‐Based Reproductive Health Services Among South Carolina Voters

In 1997 a statewide random digit-dialed telephone survey of 534 South Carolina registered voters was conducted to determine level of support for school-based reproductive health services. Results indicated most voters supported services in secondary schools that would provide students with information and counseling about contraceptive methods and refer students to community-based agencies for abstinence education and counseling. Voters were less supportive of reproductive health services that would diagnose or treat sexually transmitted diseases, test for pregnancy, refer students to community-based agencies for contracep- tives, or make contraceptives available to students at school. Significant associations in support for school-based reproductive health services were reported based on income, personal beliefs, intentions, and outcome expectations regarding sexuality education and contraceptive availability. These data reinforce the need for school-aged youth in South Carolina to have access to reproductive health services within their communities, outside of the school setting. (J Sch Health. 2001;71(2):66-72) School-based clinics and school-linked health centers provide comprehensive medical and mental health screening and treatment for young people on or near school grounds. Over the past 20 years, three types of school- related health centers have evolved. School-based health centers (SBHCs) are located on school grounds and serve only the students of a particular school.' School-linked health centers (SLHCs) are located off school grounds and have a formal relationship with at least one school in their surrounding area.' Campus-linked health centers (CLHCs) are located on school grounds and serve youth from that school as well as students from at least one neighboring
Pattern Fidelity in Nanoimprinted Films using CD-SAXS

The primary measure of process quality in nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is the fidelity of pattern transfer, comparing the dimensions of the imprinted pattern to those of the mold. As a potential next generation lithography, NIL is capable of true nanofabrication, producing patterns of sub-10 nm dimensions. Routine production of nanoscale patterns will require new metrologies capable of non-destructive dimensional measurements of both the mold and the pattern with sub-nm precision. In this article, a rapid, non-destructive technique termed Critical Dimension Small Angle X-ray Scattering (CD-SAXS) is used to measure the cross sectional shape of both a pattern master, or mold, and the resulting imprinted films. CD-SAXS data are used to extract periodicity as well as pattern height, width, and sidewall angles. Films of varying materials are molded by thermal embossed NIL at temperatures both near and far from the bulk glass transition (TG). The polymer systems include a photoresist, representing a mixture of a polymer and small molecular components, and two pure homopolymers. Molding at low temperatures (T-TG 30°C. In addition to obtaining basic dimensions, CD-SAXS data are used to assess the origin of loss in pattern fidelity.© (2005) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Source Apportionment of Individual Carbonaceous Particles Using 14C and Laser Microprobe Mass Spectrometry

An exploratory study of laser microprobe mass spectra of individual atmospheric soot particles has been made in search of a potential combustion source tracer index. A tentative “cluster ratio index” (CRI = C4 −/C2 −) has been found and compared with bulk measurements of 14C in a set of ambient samples exhibiting varying impacts from woodburning and motor vehicle exhaust. A CRI-14C calibration curve resulted, and it led to the conclusion that, at the present level of precision, three particles (or agglomerates) of micrometer size or about 3 pg of carbon would be required for discrimination between the two pure sources. Mixture samples, such as those reported here, would require about 40 times as much. Classification of small set of individual particles from the mixed source ambient samples, suggests preservation of carbonaceous source identity at the single particle level.
The Mean Voter Theorem: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Convergent Equilibrium

Formal models of elections have emphasized the convergence of party leaders towards the centre of the electoral distribution. This paper attempts to resolve the apparent disparity between the formal result and the perception of political divergence by considering a model incorporating valence. Valence can be interpreted as the non-policy basis of political judgement made by the electorate concerning the quality of political contenders. The theorem presented here shows that there is a necessary condition for convergence. The condition involves the difference in party valences and the electoral variance. When the condition fails, the low-valence parties will be forced to adopt policy positions far from the electoral centre. The inference appears to be substantiated by an empirical model of the Israel election in 1996. Copyright 2007, Wiley-Blackwell.
Bedrock benches and boulder bars: Floods in the Burdekin Gorge of Australia

The Burdekin Gorge of northeastern Australia lies within the seasonal tropics and is characterized by high discharge variability. Slackwater sediments and paleostage indicators in the gorge record seven large floods that have occurred during the past 1,200 yrs. These floods range in magnitude from 11,000 to 30,000 m 3 s -1 and are characterized by large downstream variations in hydraulics. The floods generate high values of velocity, boundary shear stress, and stream power per unit area. Downstream fluctuations in these variables help to explain the location of boulder bars, high flood levees, small-scale erosional features in the bedrock, and the formation of inner channels. Boulder bars and flood levees form where shear stress and stream power decrease due to channel widening. Small-scale erosional features, such as potholes and troughs, are best developed at sites of channel constriction and associated increases in shear stress and stream power. The development of the inner channel appears to be controlled by complex interactions between bedrock lithology and structure, and by flow hydraulics. All of the channel features are related to the hydraulics of large floods, which therefore are the dominant controls on many aspects of channel morphology in this bedrock gorge.
Almost strict competitiveness in extensive games

We consider an extension of an almost strictly competitive game, introduced by Aumann (1961), inn-person extensive games by incorporating Selten's subgame perfection. We call it a subgame perfect weakly-almost (SPWA) strictly competitive game, in particular, an SPWA strictly competitive game in strategic form is simply called a WA strictly competitive game. We give some general results on the structure of this class of games. One result gives an easy way to verify almost strict competitiveness of a given extensive game. We show that a two-person weakly unilaterally competitive extensive game, introduced by Kats and Thisse (1992) for normal form games, is SPWA strictly competitive. We remark that some of our main results for SPWA strictly competitive games do not hold for the modification of almost strict competitiveness with trembling-hand perfection.
Issues of definitions and their implications: AIDS and leprosy.

Abstract It is demonstrated how definitions can determine social consequences of impairement and disability. A comparison between leprosy and AIDS provides the basis for the discussion. The United States is the geographic and political arena under consideration. Issues of classification as STD (sexually transmitted disease) or as contagious, communicable disease are relevant. An important factor to predict the social impact is the nomenclature utilized by CDC (Center for Disease Control). CDC represents the government as the official agency to gather and report morbidity and mortality information. Hypotheses to explain stigma on the basis of epidemiological bases are added to the usual sociological concepts or historical considerations. Potential application of the findings are discussed.
Engineering Candida albicans to secrete a host immunomodulatory factor

Gene knockout and transgenic mice are important tools that are widely used to dissect the mammalian hosts' responses to microbial invasion. A novel alternative is to engineer the pathogen itself to secrete host factors that stimulate or suppress specific immune defense mechanisms. Herein, we have described and validated an approach to facilitate the production and export of ectopic host proteins, from the most prevalent human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans. Our strategy utilized a prepropeptide from the C. albicans secreted aspartic proteinase, Sap2p. The prepeptide facilitates entry of Sap2p into the secretory pathway, while the propeptide maintains the protease as an inactive precursor, until proteolytic cleavage in the Golgi apparatus releases the mature protein. The Sap2p prepropeptide coding sequence was linked to that of two mammalian calcium-binding proteins, S100A8 and S100A9, which are associated with symptomatic vaginal candidiasis. The resulting expression constructs were then introduced into C. albicans. While the S100A8 protein is secreted into the growth medium intact, the S100A9 protein is apparently degraded during transit. Nonetheless, culture supernatants from both S100A8 and S100A9 expressing C. albicans strains acted as potent chemoattractants for a macrophage-like cell line and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Thus, the pathogen-derived mammalian proteins possessed the expected biological activity.
Molecular Recognition and Membrane Transport with Mixed-Ligand Borates†

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in the use of boronic acid compounds as artificial receptors for a variety of guest structures.1-6 In particular, boronic acids show a remarkable ability to form reversible, covalent complexes with diol-containing compounds in aqueous solution. This has resulted in the production of a range of molecular devices such as carriers for membrane transport,1 solid supports for chromatography,2 enzyme inhibitors,3 and chemosensors.4,5 While progress in this research area has been rapid, much of the future work is likely to be slowed due to the difficulty in synthesizing the next generation of structurally more-complicated receptors, particularly those with the capability of enantioselective recognition.5 These thoughts have motivated us to consider a new strategy for molecular recognition using boron acids. The strategy is predicated on the ability of boric acid to form reversible, covalent 1:2 mixedligand complexes.7 As shown in Figure 1, one of the borate ligands is considered to be the host, and the other ligand to be the guest. The mixed-ligand borate, 1, is thus the host/guest complex. Compared to the boronic acid approach, this mixedligand borate strategy introduces certain advantages, as well as disadvantages. A significant advantage is the host is no longer a boronic acid, but a bidentate chelating compound which in this study is a diol (Figure 1). This is an attractive feature, from the point of view of synthesis, as the methodology for diol preparation is highly advanced (particularly enantioselective synthesis).8 In addition, diols are generally easier to purify and are more stable than boronic acids. Another advantage is that borate complexation is generally well understood. A number of research groups have conducted careful, long-term studies on borate complexation reactions with a range of chelating compounds.7,9 The most apparent disadvantage is the likelihood of forming non-functional 1:2 borate complexes with both ligands being host or guest compounds. However, as proved by this report, there are a number of applications where this complication should not be disabling. Here, we demonstrate the utility of this new recognition strategy by inducing selective glycoside transport through a liquid organic membrane.10
A highly efficient reduced order electrochemical model for a large format LiMn2O4/Carbon polymer battery for real time applications

Abstract Mechanisms for ion transport, diffusion and intercalation/deintercalation processes in batteries during charging and discharging are described by governing equations that consist of partial differential equations and nonlinear functions. Solving these equations numerically is computational intensive, particularly when the number of cells connected in series and parallel for high power or energy increases, whereas tolerance of errors should be kept under specified limits. Reduction of the computational time is required not only for enabling simulation of the behavior of packs, but also for development of a model capable of running in real time environments, so that new advanced estimation methods for state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) can be developed. In our previous research work, a reduced order model (ROM) was developed using different techniques including polymoninal approximation and residue grouping, which represents the physical behaviors of a battery. However, computational time has not been optimized. In this paper, methods to reduce the computational time are analyzed and employed to reduce the computational time while considering the accuracy. Apart from retaining the residue grouping method for the ion concentration in electrolyte and linearization of the Butler–Volmer equation, the Pade approximation is introduced to simplify the calculation of ion concentration in electrode particles governed by the Fick’s second law. Meanwhile, discretized governing equations for potentials in electrodes and electrolytes are reduced by employing proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). In addition, expressions of the equilibrium potentials for anodes and cathodes are fitted to different order polynomials. The reduced equations are coupled to construct a single cell model for a large format lithium polymer battery that is validated against experimental data. The results show that the ROM proposed can reduce the computational time at least to one-tenth of the models developed previously, while overall accuracies can be maintained.
Electron microprobe imaging for the characterization of polymer matrix composites

Traditionally, image analysis of polymer matrix composite (PMC) materials has been achieved through optical microscopy and, to a lesser extent, scanning electron microscopy. In this study, image analysis using an electron microprobe in backscatter mode is introduced as a method to provide a qualitative comparison of void content and fiber packing in PMC materials. Composite parts were fabricated using a vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process and another process known as the composites pressure resin infusion system (ComPRIS). Voids were observed in the composite specimens fabricated by the VARTM process, where resin infusion is driven by vacuum. No significant voids were observed in the composite specimens fabricated by the ComPRIS process, where resin infusion is driven by pressure. The apparent difference in void content is attributed to the difference in the resin infusion driving force, i.e. vacuum versus pressure. Backscattered electron imaging of samples using an electron microprobe proved to be a suitable technique for imaging PMC surfaces.
Subpixel detection for hyperspectral images using projection pursuit

In this paper, we present a Projection Pursuit (PP) approach to target subpixel detection. Unlike most of developed target detection algorithms that require statistical models such as a linear mixture, the proposed PP is to project a high dimensional data set into a low dimensional data space while retaining desired information of interest. It utilizes a projection index to explore projections of interestingness. In the applications of target detection in hyperspectral imagery, an interesting structure of an image scene is the one caused by man-made targets in a large unknown background. If we assume that a large volume of image background pixels can be modeled by a Gaussian distribution via the central limit theorem, then targets can be viewed as anomalies in an image scene due to the fact that their sizes are relatively small compared to their surroundings. As a result, detecting small targets in an unknown image scene is reduced to finding the outliers or deviations from a Gaussian distribution. It is known that Skewness defined by normalized third moment of the sample distribution measures the asymmetry of the distribution and Kurtosis defined by normalized fourth moment of the sample distribution measures the flatness of the distribution. They both are susceptible to outliers. Since Gaussian distribution is completely determined by its first two moments, their skewness and kurtosis are zero. So, using skewness and kurtosis as a base to design a projection index may be effective for target detection. In order to find an optimal projection index, an evolutionary algorithm is also developed. The hyperspectral image experiments show that the proposed PP method provide an effective means for target subpixel detection.
A Microcomputer-Based Equipment Control and Data Acquisition System for Fission-Reactor Reactivity-Worth Measurements

Material reactivity-worth measurements are one of the major classes of experiments conducted on the Zero Power research reactors (ZPR) at Argonne National Laboratory. These measurements require the monitoring of the position of a servo control element as a sample material is positioned at various locations in a critical reactor configuration. In order to guarantee operational reliability and increase experimental flexibility for these measurements, the obsolete hardware-based control unit has been replaced with a microcomputer based equipment control and data acquisition system. This system is based on an S-100 bus, dual floppy disk computer with custom built cards to interface with the experimental system. To measure reactivity worths, the system accurately positions samples in the reactor core and acquires data on the position of the servo control element. The data are then analyzed to determine statistical adequacy. The paper covers both the hardware and software aspects of the design.
Use of Flow cytometry to identify aCaulobacter4.5 S RNA Temperature-sensitive Mutant Defective in the Cell Cycle

Flow cytometry was used to screen a collection of temperature-sensitive mutants for those blocked at discrete points in the cell cycle with respect to the replicative status of the chromosome. At the non-permissive temperature, one such mutant, LS439, could not initiate new rounds of DNA replication and arrested primarily as cells with two completed chromosomes. Extended incubation at the restrictive temeprature resulted in filament formation. following the shift to the restrictive temperature protein synthesis continued, but at a reduced rate. A 0.2 kb fragment of DNA located immediately upstream of theCaulobacterhomolog of the Escherichia coil dnaX gene was able to completely rescue the temperature-sensitive phenotype of LS439. The 0.2 kb fragment contained a homolog of the bacterial gene encoding 4.5 S RNA. The original point mutation is predicted to disrupt the stem structure in the 4.5 S RNA thus providing a rationale for the genetic basis of the LS439 phenotype.
Quantitative Study of Polymer Conformation and Dynamics by Single-Particle Tracking

We present a new method for analyzing the dynamics of conformational fluctuations of individual flexible polymer molecules. In single-particle tracking (SPT), one end of the polymer molecule is tethered to an immobile substratum. A microsphere attached to the other end serves as an optical marker. The conformational fluctuations of the polymer molecule can be measured by optical microscopy via the motion of the microsphere. The bead-and-spring theory for polymer dynamics is further developed to account for the microsphere, and together the measurement and the theory yield quantitative information about molecular conformations and dynamics under nonperturbing conditions. Applying the method to measurements carried out on DNA molecules provides information complementary to recent studies of single DNA molecules under extensional force. Combining high precision measurements with the theoretical analysis presented here creates a powerful tool for studying conformational dynamics of biological and synthetic macromolecules at the single-molecule level.
Neglect and related disorders

Neglect is a failure to report, respond, or orient to contralateral stimuli that is not caused by an elemental sensorimotor deficit. Subtypes of neglect are distinguished by input (attentional) or output (intentional) demands, the distribution (personal, spatial, and representational), and the means of eliciting the signs (unilateral or bilateral stimuli). In this article we discuss how to assess patients for neglect, the pathophysiology of neglect, and the treatment of neglect.
Visual Observations of Historical Lake Trout Spawning Grounds in Western Lake Huron

Abstract Direct underwater video observations were made of the bottom substrates at 12 spawning grounds formerly used by lake trout Salvelinus namaycush in western Lake Huron to evaluate their present suitability for successful reproduction by lake trout. Nine locations examined north of Saginaw Bay in the northwestern end of the lake are thought to provide the best spawning habitat. The substrate at these sites consisted of angular rough cobble and rubble with relatively deep interstitial spaces (≳0.5 m), small amounts of fine sediments, and little or no periphytic growth. Conditions at the three other sampling locations south of Saginaw Bay seemed much less suitable for successful reproduction based on the reduced area of high-quality substrate, shallow interstitial spaces, high infiltration of fine sediments, and greater periphytic growth.
Development of a Radioimmunoassay for Rat Prolactin and Evaluation of the NIAMD Rat Prolactin Radioimmunoassay12

A double antibody radioimmunoassay was developed using a rabbit antiserum to rat prolactin (9.6 IU/mg) prepared from fresh frozen pituitary glands by (NH4)2SO4 extraction and precipitation followed by extraction and precipitation with ethanol. Further purification by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 yielded prolactin for radioiodination and to serve as the reference standard (45.7 IU/mg). Standard curves were constructed over the range of 0.2–2.0 ng. Radioimmunoassay and pigeon crop sac potency estimates of crude and purified pituitary extracts were in excellent agreement. Rat FSH, LH, TSH and GH did not react in this assay. Plasma prolactin levels in hypophysectomized rats were >2.0 ng/ml. Plasma prolactin levels (ng/ml) in rats with 5-day estrous cycles were: 3 PM diestrus day 1, 3.3; 3 PM diestrus day 2, 4.8; 3 PM diestrus day 3, 9.1; 10 AM proestrus, 3.5; 3 PM proestrus, 44.6; 10 AM estrus, 9.3; 3 PM estrus, 7.5. The rat prolactin radioimmunoassay kit distributed by the National Institute of Arthritis...
Development of adaptive helicopter seat systems for aircrew vibration mitigation

ABSTRACT Helicopter aircrews are exposed to high levels of whole body vibration during flight. This paper presents the results of an investigation of adaptive seat mount approaches to reduce helicopter aircrew whole body vibration levels. A flight test was conducted on a four-blade helicopter and showed that the currently used passive seat systems were not able to provide satisfactory protection to the helicopter aircrew in both front-back and vertical directions. Long-term exposure to the measured whole body vibration environment may cause occupational health issues such as spine and neck strain injuries for aircrew. In order to address this issue, a novel adaptive seat mount concept was developed to mitigate the vibration levels transmitted to the aircrew body. For proof-of-concept demonstration, a miniature modal shaker was properly aligned between the cabin floor and the seat frame to provide adaptive actuation au thority. Adaptive control laws were developed to reduce the vibration transmitted to th e aircrew body, especially the helmet location in order to minimize neck and spine injuries. Closed-loop control test have been conducted on a full-scale helicopter seat with a mannequin configuration and a large mech anical shaker was used to provide re presentative helicopter vibration profiles to the seat frame. Significant vibration reductions to the vertical and front-back vibration modes have been achieved simultaneously, which verified the technical readiness of the adaptive mount approach for full-scale flight test on the vehicle. Keywords: hybrid seat mount, helicopter vibration, active vibration control, smart structures, flight test
Power absorption processes in laser sustained argon plasmas

In this experimental investigation, stable and axisymmetric lasex-sustained plasmas were produced in flowing argon. Energy was provided by the focused beam from a carbon dioxide laser; two different focusing geometries were used. Spatial distributions of absolute radiance from the plasmas, in a narrow wavelength band, were measured. The assumption of axial symmetry, along with the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium, was used to deduce the radial profiles of temperature in the plasmas. From this and a geometric raytrace, the detailed spatial distribution of power absorption was calculated, as well as the radiation lost from the plasmas. In addition to the focusing geometry, the flow velocity, pressure and incident laser power were systematically varried in the experiments. The quantitative results indicate clearly that a perceptive analysis of such lasersustained plasmas must take into consideration the two-dimensionality of both the Bow field and the laser energy distribution in the focused beam.
For-Profit Welfare: Contracts, Conflicts, and the Performance Paradox

This article examines how financial inducements in performance contracts shape the inner workings of a for-profit welfare-to-work training program serving long-term recipients. Our work pays particular attention to how contract requirements shape relationships between manager and line staff and their treatment of clients. We argue that contract design, coupled with bottom-level management efforts to meet contractual obligations, leads to a performance paradox - the same actions taken to achieve contractual results ironically produce negative program practice and poor client outcomes. Thus, rigidly constructed legal agreements between the government and private service providers can distort incentive structures, causing programmatic conflicts between management and staff, and do little to reduce long-term welfare use and diminish recipients' poverty.