cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Century of Aerospace Electrical Power Technology

HE evolution of the aerospace technology is marked by a series of technology achievements across the spectrum of the engineering disciplines, and one of the more interesting stories in the history of the aerospace industry relates to the development of electrical power systems for aircraft and spacecraft. The research and development effort leading to today’ s systems has spanned 10 decades and has continued through world wars and economic depressions. It was dependent on a marriage of ideas from virtually all e elds of engineering: electrical, mechanical, materials, industrial, chemical, computer, and aerospace. It has achieved a remarkable state of technology even though it was never as prominent as the developments in propulsion systems, as elegant as breakthroughs in avionics, or as intensely studied as structures and aerodynamics. It has always been the “ other” system, one that everyone assumed would be there at the appropriate time. And it was. The evolution of aerospace electrical power systems from the early days of powered e ight through today is marked by a combination of serendipity, insight, innovation, and hard work. In this paper we will recall some of the early dife culties faced by aircraft designers, the processes through which they addressed the challenges, and how they went about creating the technology breakthroughs leading to today’ s aircraft and spacecraft electrical systems. At various points in the review, we pause to probe more deeply into the key technologies of that day to give the reader a better appreciation of the ingenuity of the early engineers who created this technology. Such a review could not hope to cover all of the topics of relevance or of interest, and so a subjective selection has been imposed, hopefully one that does not do too great an injustice to aerospace power history or to those who created it. The story is presented in two parts: e rst, the development of aircraft systems and, then, spacecraft systems. This is done, as the reader will see, because of the differences in the constraints, operational environments, and demands on the two systems. In one important aspect, however, they do share at least one common trait: not surprisingly, each benee ted from an opportunity to harvest existing technologies until the demand for power exceeded the ability
Metabolism of β-Phenethylbiguanide

Carbon-14 labeled β-phenethylbiguanide (phenformin) was administered orally to male Sprague-Dawley rats. The radioactive material excreted in the urine was isolated and analyzed. The metabolic products were divided into “weak” and “strong” base components by their behavior on acidic ion-exchange resins. Chromatographic and spectroscopic evidence confirms the structure of the strong base fraction to be ρ-hydroxy-β-phenethylbiguanide. This hitherto unreported biguanide has been prepared synthetically for comparative purposes. The weak base metabolite has been shown to be the glucuronic acid conjugate of the phenolic biguanide. This fact was determined by acid hydrolysis to ρ-hydroxy-β-phenethylbiguanide and glucuronic acid. The more specific hydrolysis by β-glucuronidase confirmed the conjugate structure. The hydroxylated β-phenethylbiguanide along with its glucuronide conjugate were found to be present in the urine in approximately equal amounts. These two compounds seem to be the major metabolic products of β-phenethylbiguanide.
CUSTOMER PARTICIPATION IN CREATING SITE BRAND LOYALTY

Abstract This article explores the development of an e-business marketing model that capitalizes on customer participation and the likely consequences of such efforts, principally site brand loyalty. A conceptual model illustrates how consumers’ goals in visiting a website (task or experiential) affect their propensity to be site brand loyal and how characteristics of the site, including personalization and community, are related to brand loyalty. The model also shows that creating site brand loyalty leads to predictable affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes from customers, such as repeat visits to and patronage of the site, fewer intentions to defect to competitors, and more favorable attitudes toward the site. Case studies of corporate websites provide empirical evidence to support the model. The paper concludes by suggesting that customer participation in the e-business model fundamentally changes the way brands are developed. That is, producers no longer create an image for a brand and pass it on to the consumer; instead, the producer and consumer are interactively creating the e-business brand.
Ex vivo expansion of non-MHC-restricted cytotoxic effector cells as adoptive immunotherapy for myeloma.

BackgroundPBMC can be expanded ex vivo into aggressive cytotoxic effector cells (CEC) comprising T, NK and NKT cells. We identified the phenotype, cytotoxicity and mechanisms of killing of these CEC.MethodsCY- and G-CSF-mobilized PBMC from myeloma patients were placed in Aim-V serum-free medium, IL-2 (50 IU/mL) and OKT-3 (50 ng/mL). Cytotoxicity was evaluated by selectively blocking the TCR, MHC class I or NKG2D receptor.ResultsThe CEC expanded three-fold by day 7 and aggressively lysed myeloma cells (41.9%) compared with day 0 (4%; P=0.012). CD8+ CD56+ NKT cells performed the majority of lysis. The CD8+ cells greatly increased NKG2D expression during culture (P=0.005). Cytotoxicity correlated with target NKG2D ligand expression (P=0.0002). Blocking the TCR or MHC class I did not affect cytotoxicity (P>0.22). CD8+ cell-mediated lysis dropped 48% when the NKG2D receptor was blocked. Day 7 CEC aggressively lysed myeloma cells in an MHC- and non-MHC-restricted fashion, through the NKG2D receptor.DiscussionBe...
Calcium Ions Positively Modulate Follicle-Stimulating Hormone- and Exogenous Cyclic 3′,5′-Adenosine Monophosphate-Driven Transcription of the P450scc Gene in Porcine Granulosa Cells

Given the evident modulation of FSH-induced steroidogenesis by Ca2+ in granulosa cells, we here test the hypothesis that Ca2+ controls expression of the enzymatically rate-limiting cytochrome P450scc (CYP11A) gene. To test this postulate, we quantitated the ability of Ca2+ to regulate: 1) transcriptional activity of a transiently transfected luciferase reporter gene driven by a 2.32-kb 5′-upstream fragment of the porcine P450scc gene promoter region; and 2) accumulation of endogenous P450scc transcripts in primary monolayer cultures of porcine granulosa cells. To this end, granulosa cells were stimulated for 4 h with FSH (15 ng/ml, NIDDK-oFSH-20) or 8-Bromo-cAMP (8 Br-cAMP, 1 mm) in serum-free medium containing either 1.8 mm Ca2+ or no added Ca2+ with 100 μm EGTA or 100 μm CoCl2. In the presence of extracellular Ca2+, FSH and 8 Br-cAMP stimulated expression of the transfected P450scc promoter-reporter fusion construct by 5.6 ± 1.1 and 3.6 ± 0.67-fold, respectively over Ca2+-containing unstimulated control...
A vision-based grasping system for unfamiliar planar objects

This paper describes a vision based robotic system for grasping unfamiliar planar objects with a parallel jaw gripper. The input to the grasp synthesis system consists of projected edge data from a single camera video system calibrated to a planar working surface. A simple search procedure is used to find an acceptable grasp. Our grasp analysis metric is the required squeezing force, computed using an approximation of the rigid body equilibrium conditions. The resulting analysis conditions are formulated as a linear program and solved using the simplex method. A Zebra-ZERO robot arm with a parallel-jaw gripper is used to execute the chosen grasp. In a simple test of the system, it successfully grasped and lifted 10 of 14 test objects. >
Program Assessment in Technical Communication: A Work in Progress

A basic set of common competencies in technical communication would both ensure the continuity of professional practice and unify the perspectives of undergraduate programs. The problematic issue facing technical communication educators is that of developing these basic competencies and then assessing the program and its learners to determine if they are being developed. Through identification of these competencies and evaluation to determine if our graduates have acquired them, technical communication programs can achieve a measure of unity on which to build a platform of well educated professionals with common knowledge, skills and abilities. This paper will discuss an assessment model that identifies and measures these basic competencies.
CTPLAN: A Planning-based Approach To Automatically Detecting Flaws In Concurrent Algorithms

Development of correct algorithms for the synchronization of concurrently executing processes can be a difficult task. Most concurrent program debuggers have been developed in order to assist, the programmer once an error has appeared. This paper takes an alternate approach of attempting to discover the presence of possibly undetected flaws. This approach is embodied in a prototype system (CTPLAN) that may be used to develop tests for common flaws in concurrent programs. To illustrate our methodology, CTPLAN has been used to detect errors in several algorithms, most notably the incorrect simplification of Dekker's algorithm described in [Hym66]. CTPLAN can in principle be used to detect indeterminacy, deadlock, livelock, violation of mutual exclusion, unfairness, and starvation.
Constructivism about Practical Reasons

Philosophers commonly wonder what a constructivist theory as applied to practical reasons might look like. For the methods or procedures of reasoning familiar from moral constructivism do not clearly apply generally, to all practical reasons. The paper argues that procedural specification is not necessary, so long as our aims are not first-order but explanatory. We can seek to explain how there could be facts of the matter about reasons for action without saying what reasons we have. Explanatory constructivism must assume constructive “norms of practical reasoning” which yield particular truths without assuming them. But philosophers often mistakenly assume that only “formal” norms of reasoning could fulfill this role. The paper describes a further possibility: norms of reasoning can be “situation-specific” and yet retain truth-independent authority. Though we might doubt whether such norms can be independently defended, we should not doubt the possibility or coherence of constructivism about practical reasons.
Bayesian reference analysis for exponential power regression models

We develop Bayesian reference analyses for linear regression models when the errors follow an exponential power distribution. Specifically, we obtain explicit expressions for reference priors for all the six possible orderings of the model parameters and show that, associated with these six parameters orderings, there are only two reference priors. Further, we show that both of these reference priors lead to proper posterior distributions. Furthermore, we show that the proposed reference Bayesian analyses compare favorably to an analysis based on a competing noninformative prior. Finally, we illustrate these Bayesian reference analyses for exponential power regression models with applications to two datasets. The first application analyzes per capita spending in public schools in the United States. The second application studies the relationship between sold home videos versus profits at the box office. 62F15; 62F35; 62J05
Characterizing convergence speed for consensus seeking over dynamically switching directed random networks

Characterizing convergence speed is one of the important research challenges in the design of distributed consensus algorithms for networked multi-agent systems. In this paper, we consider a group of agents that communicate via a dynamically switching directed random network. Each link in the network, which represents the directed information flow between any ordered pair of agents, could be subject to failure with certain probability. Hence we model the information flow using dynamic random digraphs. We characterize the convergence speed for the distributed discrete-time consensus algorithm over a variety of random networks with arbitrary weights. In particular, we propose the per-step (mean square) convergence factor as a measure of the convergence speed and derive the exact value for this factor. Numerical examples are also given to illustrate our theoretical results.
Methionine sulfoxide reductases and virulence of bacterial pathogens

Oxidation of methionine (Met) residues in proteins by reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen intermediates results in altered protein structures, which subsequently affect their functions. Oxidized Met (Met-O) residues are reduced to Met by the methionine sulfoxide reductase (Msr) system, which includes mainly MsrA and MsrB. MsrA and MsrB show no sequence and structural identity with each other but both reduce methionine sulfoxides. MsrA is specific to the reduction of methionine-S-sulfoxide, whereas MsrB is specific to the reduction of methionine-R-sulfoxide. Genes encoding the enzymes MsrA and MsrB exist in most living organisms including bacteria. In recent times, absence of these enzymes has been implicated in the virulence of bacterial pathogens. In particular, pathogens deficient in Msr have been reported to have reduced ability to adhere with eukaryotic cells, to survive inside hosts and to resist in vitro oxidative stress. Bacterial proteins that are susceptible to Met oxidation, in the absence of Msr, have also been identified. This review discusses the current knowledge on the role of Msr in bacterial virulence.
Medulloblastoma Growth Inhibition by Hedgehog Pathway Blockade

Constitutive Hedgehog (Hh) pathway activity is associated with initiation of neoplasia, but its role in the continued growth of established tumors is unclear. Here, we investigate the therapeutic efficacy of the Hh pathway antagonist cyclopamine in preclinical models of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Cyclopamine treatment of murine medulloblastoma cells blocked proliferation in vitro and induced changes in gene expression consistent with initiation of neuronal differentiation and loss of neuronal stem cell-like character. This compound also caused regression of murine tumor allografts in vivo and induced rapid death of cells from freshly resected human medulloblastomas, but not from other brain tumors, thus establishing a specific role for Hh pathway activity in medulloblastoma growth.
Heat Transfer of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide in Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger Geometries

The increasing importance of improving efficiency and reducing capital costs has lead to significant work studying advanced Brayton cycles for high temperature energy conversion. Using compact, highly efficient, diffusion-bonded heat exchangers for the recuperators, has been a noteworthy improvement in the design of advanced carbon dioxide Brayton Cycles. These heat exchangers will operate near the pseudocritical point of carbon dioxide, making use of the drastic variation of the thermo-physical properties. This paper focuses on the experimental measurements of heat transfer under cooling conditions, as well as pressure drop characteristics within a prototypic printed circuit heat exchanger. Studies utilize type-316 stainless steel, nine channel, semi-circular test section, and supercritical carbon dioxide serves as the working fluid throughout all experiments. The test section channels have a hydraulic diameter of 1.16mm and a length of 0.5m. The mini-channels are fabricated using current chemical etching technology, emulating techniques used in current diffusion bonded printed circuit heat exchanger manufacturing. Local heat transfer values were determined using measured wall temperatures and heat fluxes over a large set of experimental parameters that varied system pressure, inlet temperature, and mass flux. Experimentally determined heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop data are compared to correlations and earlier data available in literature. Modeling predictions using the CFD package FLUENT are included to supplement experimental data. All nine channels were modeled using known inlet conditions and measured wall temperatures as boundary conditions. The FLUENT results show excellent agreement in total power removal for the near pseudocritical region, as well as regions where carbon dioxide is a high or low density fluid.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Coverage Denied: Excluding Bad Risks, Ineciency, and Pooling in Insurance

Models of insurance with adverse selection predict that only the best risks| those least likely to suer a loss|are uninsured, a prediction at odds with coverage denials for pre-existing conditions. They also typically assume that insurance provision is costless: the only cost is claims payment. We introduce costly insurance provision into a standard monopoly insurance model with adverse selection. We show that with loading or a xed cost of claims processing, the insurer denies coverage only to those likely to be the worst risks. We also show that loading overturns three classic textbook properties of monopoly pricing models: no one is pooled with the highest consumer type; the highest type gets an ecient contract; and all other types get contracts distorted downwards from their ecient contracts. Indeed all types can be pooled on a single contract. Finally we show that both loading and a xed claims cost do not aect qualitative properties of (Rothschild-Stiglitz) competitive equilibrium (when it exists), so these costs generate potentially testable implications of competitive vs monopoly insurance: for example, no competitive equilibrium can be pooling.
Women's response to fetal choroid plexus cysts detected by prenatal ultrasound

To determine maternal responses to detection of a minor structural variant, the choroid plexus cyst (CPC), in their fetus on prenatal ultrasound. We interviewed 34 pregnant women with an isolated CPC detected on mid-pregnancy ultrasound about their objective experience at diagnosis, emotional response and subsequent reactions. Audiotaped, transcribed responses were evaluated by two independent raters and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. All women reported negative emotional responses including shock, distress, fear and decreased attachment, despite counseling by 82% of providers that the CPC was probably benign. Three women underwent amniocentesis purely for reassurance after CPC detection. Most (79%) sought information beyond what their physician provided, frequently on the internet. One half of women reported that intense negative responses were temporary. However, weeks after diagnosis, 62% continued to believe that the CPC presented some danger to their baby. Detection of CPC prenatally can evoke profound, negative maternal emotional responses despite accurate provider counseling. Practitioners should consider these responses when counseling parents about these and other structural variants of unclear functional significance. The Thomas Wilson Sanitarium for the Children of Baltimore City.
Changes in coal composition during air oxidation at 200–250 °C

Air oxidation of two bituminous coals and a lignite was carried out in a fluidized bed reactor at 200–250 °C. The gaseous products were analysed by gas chromatography and solid samples were titrated to determine carboxylic and total acidity and were subjected to ^(13)C n.m.r. spectrometry to determine the fraction of aromatic carbon. Elemental composition, heating value and ash content were also determined. During the first few hours oxidation-induced devolatilization proceeded simultaneously with oxidation. Oxidation of the high volatile bituminous coal for 12 h at 200 °C raised the carboxylic groups from 0.37 to 2.1 meq g^(−1) and the total acidity from 1.5 to 5.3 meq g^(−1). The acidic groups seem to be largely distinct from oxygenated groups that are precursors to CO and CO_2 products. Oxidation of the same coal at 200 °C consumed aromatic as well as aliphatic carbon at relative amounts 1:3 to 1:4.
culture, genuine and spurious: the politics of Indianness in the Vaupés, Colombia

In this article I use Edward Sapir's (1924) famous phrase as a theme to explore how Tukanoans of Colombia's Northwest Amazon are learning to change their notions of their own history and culture to achieve a better fit with received wisdom about Indianness. Situated in a highly politicized context, this process involves local and national Indian rights organizations and sympathetic international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). I also briefly address the issue of ethnographic authority—the confrontation between anthropological and native visions of indigenous culture and history. [Northwest Amazon, indigenous mobilizing, identity politics, construction of culture, ethnic nationalism]
Personal Hardiness as the Basis for Resilience

Together, the hardiness attitudes and strategies facilitate resilience under stress. The hardy attitudes are the 3Cs of commitment, control, and challenge. No matter how bad things get, challenge helps you realize that life is naturally stressful, commitment helps you stay involved with what is going on around you, and control helps you try to turn it to your advantage. This courage helps you engage in the hardy strategies of problem-solving coping, socially-supportive interactions, and beneficial self-care. Our 12-year longitudinal study at Illinois Bell Telephone showed that the higher were managers in personality hardiness; the better was their performance, and health after the disruptive deregulation of the telephone industry they experienced. These findings led to the Hardiness Model.
Population Health: Closing Gaps in Care Around the Globe.

![Figure][1] One of the most frequent and compelling questions I have gotten as President-Elect of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) is: “What are you going to do as President?” It is a logical question—of course people want to know the direction the next leader is going to
Applying the Use-It-Or-Lose-It Philosophy to the Lifetime Gift Tax Exemption

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (the Act) fundamentally transforms the estate planning landscape by repealing the estate tax (at least temporarily) and maintaining the gift tax. On one hand, Congress repealed the estate tax on the pretext of fostering intergenerational transfers between family members and eliminating double taxation. On the other hand, Congress maintained the gift tax as a mechanism to preserve the integrity of the progressive rate structure of the income tax system. This report argues that Congress made a grave tactical error insofar as the Act permits a $1 million gift tax exemption. As a general rule of thumb, our culture is one that exploits tax benefits and loopholes. The use of the gift tax exemption promises to be no exception to this general rule; undoubtedly, taxpayers will look for every angle to capitalize on the use of this exemption. Congress should not be surprised: after all, taxpayers will be doing nothing more than simply embracing the age-old use-it-or-lose-it philosophy.
PREDICTING EMPLOYERS' SATISFACTION WITH NEWCOMERS' KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

Summary.-The present study examined the relationship between ratings by 133 representatives of business and industry of new employees' successful communication on the job and the employers' satisfaction with new employees' knowledge, skills, and abilities. Analysis supported the hypothesis, showing the importance of personal characteristics, i.e., ability to communicate successfully on the job, when investigating person-situation fit and organizational behavior. The successful assimilation of new employees into the workplace has been suggested as influencing organizational behavior (Schneider, 1987) as well as the well-being of the organization (Taylor, 1911). Following Schneider's (1987) arguments, this success depends partially upon what attributes the newcomer already possesses. This study examined the relationship between newcomers' ability to communicate on the job and employers1 satisfaction with newcomers' knowledge, skills, and abilities. Business and industry representatives (N = 133) from a large midwestern city voluntarily completed an anonymous 14-item questionnaire (via public mail system) designed to assess various aspects of the new employees' assimilation into the organization, i.e., training needs, value of educational preparation, etc. Business and industry representatives were identified by their participation on higher educational advisory committees. More specifically, these business and industry personnel represented employers encompassing business and office technology, engineering, and health and human services occupations. Employers' satisfaction (M = 3.29, SD = .98) and employees' communication (M = 3.14, SD = 1.05) were each assessed by a single item, i.e., "Over-all, I am satisfied with the knowledge, skds, and abihties our new employees possess" and "For the most part, new employees can successfully communicate (either verbally and/or in writing) with little or no training from us," respectively. Response format was a 5-point scale (1 =strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).
Medical considerations in the care of elderly patients with hip fractures.

IN SHARP contrast to the attitude of a few years back, hip nailing in aged people suffering from various medical disabilities has become accepted surgical practice. Penicillin, carefully controlled anesthesia, the use of blood and standard physiologic fluids, refinements of surgical technic and early ambulation have permitted feats of major surgery previously believed impossible, especially in the aged. In the cases of hip fracture, traction or a plaster spica was used by choice under the impression that operation was too great a risk in this age group. This attitude is now reversed, and nailing is performed to avoid the many . . .
Steady Isothermal Gas Mass Flow Rate in a Microscale Tube from Continuum to Free-Molecular Conditions

The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method of molecular gas dynamics is used to simulate the steady flow of an ideal gas through a long thin isothermal microscale tube connecting two infinite reservoirs at different pressures. The tube wall is at the reservoir temperature, and molecules reflect from the walls according to the Maxwell model (i.e., a linear combination of specular reflections and diffuse reflections at the wall temperature). The computed mass flow rates approach the known expressions in the near-continuum and free-molecular regimes and agree reasonably with recent experimental measurements in microscale tubes and channels. Approximate closed-form expressions for the mass flow rate and the pressure profile along the tube are developed and are in reasonable agreement with the DSMC results in all regimes and for all values of the accommodation coefficient.
Morphology Dependence of the Lithium Storage Capability and Rate Performance of Amorphous TiO2 Electrodes

Amorphous TiO2 film electrodes of controllable and reproducible nanostructure and porosity were grown via evaporation of titanium in an oxygen ambient (i.e., reactive ballistic deposition (RBD)). The cyclability, rate capability, and Coulombic capacity of the electrodes depended on their morphology and porosity, which varied with the angle of incidence of the evaporated titanium. When films are deposited via evaporation at a glancing angle of 80° with respect to surface normal, nanocolumnar arrays with high internal porosity, high surface area, and optimal pore size and connectivity can be prepared. The optimized films deposited at 80° exhibit a reversible lithium capacity of ∼285 mA h g−1 at a low cycling rate (0.2 C) and maintain a reversible capacity near 200 mA h g−1 at rates as high as 5 C. About 70% of the theoretical capacity (235 mA h g−1) was retained with indiscernible capacity decay after 100 cycles at 1 C. The total charge stored in the TiO2 RBD films involves both surface capacitive and diffu...
Cumin, Camels, and Caravans: A Spice Odyssey

This is a book steeped in many stories. Much like the spices that the book follows, each story lends a specific flavor, a unique taste that reflects their particular substances, which inflect the b...
Current aspects of the surgical management of tuberculosis.

With the current increase in the incidence of drug-resistant organisms causing tuberculosis, there is an increasing number of adults with mycobacterial disease requiring surgical consideration. The technical difficulties associated with resection for tuberculous disease dictate a posterolateral approach to thoracotomy.
Should oral steroids be the primary treatment for allergic fungal sinusitis

A case of Allergic Fungal Sinusitis successfully controlled with oral corticosteroids followed by endoscopic sinus surgery is presented. The clinical diagnosis of AFS is emphasized. Endoscopic sinus surgery is preferable to open sinus techniques since the underlying mucosal disease is reversible. A prospective study is needed to determine the most appropriate treatment for this unique clinical disorder.
Prediction of clean mohair, fiber diameter, vegetable matter, and medullated fiber with near-infrared spectroscopy.

Four experiments were conducted in three separate years to test the utility of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to predict the clean mohair content of Angora goat fleece. Mohair fleece samples were obtained each year from yearling billies at the conclusion of the Angora Goat Performance Test conducted at the Texas A&M University Research Station, Sonora. In Exp. 1 (n = 293) and Exp. 2 (n = 256), fleeces were scanned with a Pacific Scientific (Silver Spring, MD) near-infrared spectrometer fitted with a fiber-optic probe, and calibrations were developed for clean mohair content. In Exp. 3, 59 mohair fleeces collected at the Texas A&M Research Station in San Angelo were sampled four times each. Each sample was scanned with the same spectrometer in reflectance mode fitted with a transport mechanism. This mechanism allowed the instrument to scan a 15-cm2 segment of the fleece sample. Conventional procedures to determine reference values for mohair yield, vegetable matter content, fiber diameter, and percentage of medullated and kemp fibers were conducted. Prediction equations were developed that related NIR spectra to reference values for yield and diameter parameters and were used to predict mohair characteristics for each fleece sample. The predicted and reference values were subjected to a simple analysis of variance to determine variation within and across samples. In Exp. 1, mohair base was related to NIR spectra with R2 = .46 and standard error of calibration (SEC) = 2.84%. In Exp. 2, similar repeatability errors for mohair base could be obtained for both reference- and NIRS-derived values. Fiber diameter and medullated fibers were poorly related to NIR spectra. When samples were scanned using the transport mechanism (Exp. 3), R2 and SEC were .82 and 1.19% for mohair base and .93 and .98 microm for fiber diameter, respectively. The CV for mohair base and diameter were 1.0 and 1.4%, whereas those for predicted mohair base and diameter were 1.4 and 3.4%, respectively. The increased variation within samples for predicted values represents sampling error and lack of fit between NIRS and the laboratory determined values. When the samples from Exp. 1 and 2 were rescanned with the NIRS transport (Exp. 4), R2 and SEC were .79 and 2.03% for mohair base and .52 and 3.49 microm for fiber diameter. The fiber optic probe would facilitate real-time analysis on the shearing floor, but our data indicate that the spectral limitations so far are too severe. A large sample device such as the transport gave excellent results for predicting mohair base and fiber diameter.
National Ignition Facility Science Applications

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is the latest in a series of large-scale pulsed fusion lasers that was the result of 50 years of work in the US Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Program. The NIF is directed toward providing an experimental user facility that supports high energy density (HED) science activities in fundamental science and thermonuclear burn in a laboratory environment. This was accomplished by thousands of people who contributed the technical ideas and innovations over several generations of scientists and engineers at LLNL and other ICF laboratories, such as the Univ. of Rochester LLE, Sandia Natl. Lab., Los Alamos Natl. Lab., and the Naval Research Lab., as well as a broad set of industrial partners. Topics of this talk will include: laser development history and overview of NIF, summary results of ignition on NIF to date, other science applications enabled by HED capabilities of NIF, and the underlying laser technologies that are enabling applications of lasers to industrial and scientific applications.
An analysis on secrecy capacity of the Hoyt-Hoyt fading channel

In this paper, the information-theoretic secrecy of the Hoyt fading channel is investigated. The analytical formulae of the outage probability of secrecy capacity in the regime of high SNR and the probability of strictly positive secrecy capacity are derived. Both are in terms of the hypergeometric function of two variables (i.e., Appell's function). Profile examples are illustrated.
People-First Language, Equity, and Inclusion: How Do We Say It, and Why Does It Matter?

The evolution of language speaks to our values as a society and our understanding of each other as humans making contributions to society. Using people-first language demonstrates a respect for the personhood of people with disabilities, but often professionals are at a loss as to which words to use. This primer shares the ideology behind people-first language and includes a step-by-step guide to using people-first language for IDEA disability categories.Subscribe to LDMJ
Preference for Signaled Shock: A Well Established and Reliable Phenomenon

In a recent article which appeared in this journal, Biederman and Furedy (1976) have challenged the validity of many studies dealing with signaled and unsignaled shock schedules. The merits of Biederman and Furedy’s arguments are discussed here. Furedy and Biederman have been both careless and selective in their reporting of research. A careful reading of the existing literature is sufficient to counter the criticisms of the studies they have reported.
Learning Temporal State of Diabetes Patients via Combining Behavioral and Demographic Data

Diabetes is a serious disease affecting a large number of people. Although there is no cure for diabetes, it can be managed. Especially, with advances in sensor technology, lots of data may lead to the improvement of diabetes management, if properly mined. However, there usually exists noise or errors in the observed behavioral data which poses challenges in extracting meaningful knowledge. To overcome this challenge, we learn the latent state which represents the patient's condition. Such states should be inferred from the behavioral data but unknown a priori. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to capture the trajectory of latent states for patients from behavioral data while exploiting their demographic differences and similarities to other patients. We conduct a hypothesis test to illustrate the importance of the demographic data in diabetes management, and validate that each behavioral feature follows an exponential or a Gaussian distribution. Integrating these aspects, we use a Demographic feature restricted hidden Markov model (DfrHMM) to estimate the trajectory of latent states by integrating the demographic and behavioral data. In DfrHMM, the latent state is mainly determined by the previous state and the demographic features in a nonlinear way. Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques are used for model parameter estimation. Experiments on synthetic and real datasets show that DfrHMM is effective in diabetes management.
Perceived Facilitators and Barriers to Local Health Department Workers' Participation in Infectious Disease Emergency Responses.

Context Local health departments play a key role in emergency preparedness and respond to a wide range of threats including infectious diseases such as seasonal influenza, tuberculosis, H1N1, Ebola virus disease, and Zika virus disease. To successfully respond to an infectious disease outbreak, local health departments depend upon the participation of their workforce; yet, studies indicate that sizable numbers of workers would not participate in such a response. The reasons why local health department workers participate, or fail to participate, in infectious disease responses are not well understood. Objective To understand why local health department workers are willing, or not willing, to report to work during an infectious disease response. Design From April 2015 to January 2016, we conducted 28 semistructured interviews with local health department directors, preparedness staff, and nonpreparedness staff. Setting Interviews were conducted with individuals throughout the United States. Participants We interviewed 28 individuals across 3 groups: local health department directors (n = 8), preparedness staff (n = 10), and nonpreparedness staff (n = 10). Main outcome measures Individuals' descriptions of why local health department workers are willing, or not willing, to report to work during an infectious disease response. Results Factors that facilitate willingness to respond to an infectious disease emergency included availability of vaccines and personal protective equipment; flexible work schedule and childcare arrangements; information sharing via local health department trainings; and perceived commitments to one's job and community. Factors that hinder willingness to respond to an infectious disease emergency included potential disease exposure for oneself and one's family; logistical considerations for care of children, the elderly, and pets; and perceptions about one's role during an infectious disease response. Conclusion Our findings highlight opportunities for local health departments to revisit their internal policies and engage in strategies likely to promote willingness to respond among their staff. As LHDs face the persistent threat of infectious diseases, they must account for response willingness when planning for and fielding emergency responses. Our findings highlight opportunities for local health departments to revisit their internal policies and engage in strategies likely to promote response willingness to infectious disease emergencies among their staff.
The Effect of Atorvastatin on Vascular Function and Structure in Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Clinical Trial.

Purpose: Many adult survivors of childhood cancer are at high-risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Cancer therapy may cause damage to the vascular endothelium, thereby initiating atherosclero...
Invitation to Complex Analysis. By Ralph Philip Boas

(1989). Invitation to Complex Analysis. By Ralph Philip Boas. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 96, No. 4, pp. 376-378.
Imprecise temporal associations and decision support systems

Abstract The quick and pervasive infiltration of decision support systems, artificial intelligence, and data mining in consumer electronics and everyday life in general has been significant in recent years. Fields such as UX have been facilitating the integration of such technologies into software and hardware, but the back-end processing is still based on binary foundations. This article describes an approach to mining for imprecise temporal associations among events in data streams, taking into account the very natural concept of approximation. This type of association analysis is likely to lead to more meaningful and actionable decision support systems.
1606b Environmental sampling and human biomonitoring for hazardous drugs: implications for worker health and risk of harm

The DNA damaging effects of treatment with hazardous, anti-cancer drugs (HD) resulting in therapy- related leukaemia and other cancers have been recognised for more than thirty years. Health concerns for cancer caregivers handling these drugs has also been raised as scores of environmental monitoring studies documented drug contaminated work areas including some linking these results to drug levels in workers’ urine, documenting drug uptake. Biomarkers of cytogenetic effect have also been examined, including chromosomal damage and micronuclei frequency, both of which may be prognostic of an increased cancer risk, suggesting they are potentially meaningful markers of effect. Importantly, dose-related excesses in ‘signature’ chromosomal aberrations typically seen in patients treated with specific anti-cancer drug classes have recently been reported in workers, even while ‘using’ safe handling practices. Beyond the cancer risk, acute effects such as skin disorders and respiratory compromise from allergic sensitisation have also long been described in workers, as has reproductive loss, reflecting the experience of treated patients and the drugs’ known mechanisms of action. Of the 184 drugs on the 2014 NIOSH HD list, about 80% are classified as harmful to reproduction. In the most recent large, epidemiology study on this topic, investigators found a statistically significant two-fold increased risk of spontaneous abortion in nurses reporting first-trimester HD exposure. While safe drug handling practices have been promoted since the 1980s, concern has persisted that the risk has not been fully addressed. The findings above amplify that concern and suggest that biologically important exposure and health risks persist for oncology workers. This presentation will review the evidence documenting hazardous drug exposure and will argue the need to enforce safe handling as the standard of practice in clinical oncology.
Device Access Abstractions for Resilient Information Architecture Platform for Smart Grid

This letter presents an overview of design mechanisms to abstract device access protocols in the resilient information architecture platform for smart grid, a middleware for developing distributed smart grid applications. These mechanisms are required to decouple the application functionality from the specifics of the device mechanisms built by the device vendors.
Abstract WP224: Etiology of Lesions with Restricted Diffusion in the Corpus Callosum

Background: Infarction of the corpus callosum (CC) is a rare event that has been poorly described in the literature. Multiple non-vascular lesions may also cause restricted diffusion in the CC on MRI, leading to diagnostic uncertainty. We sought to identify the etiology of lesions with diffusion restriction in the CC, hypothesizing they were often due to a non-vascular etiology and, in cases of infarct, that the mechanism of stroke would often be atypical. Methods: CC lesions with diffusion restriction on MRI were identified in the radiology database at our institution over a 10 year period using the search terms “callosum,” “diffusion,” and “restricted/restriction”. Known trauma, brain tumor, and/or post-surgical cases were excluded. Radiographic and clinical features were independently reviewed by two investigators to determine the etiology of the lesion and the underlying mechanism. Vascular and non-vascular cases were compared. Results: One hundred and twenty one cases were reviewed. Of these, 67% were stroke and 33% were non-vascular. Lesions were present in the genu in 26%, body in 30%, and splenium in 63% of cases; 17% had lesions in multiple territories and 5% in all territories. Additional lesions with restricted diffusion were found outside of the CC in 80% of cases. Atypical mechanisms of stroke such as vasculitis or hypercoaguable state were most common (37% of stroke cases), followed by cardioembolic (28%), cryptogenic (22%), large vessel (7%), and multiple causes (5%). The most common non-vascular etiology was demyelination (35%). Patients with a non-vascular lesion were younger, (46 years vs 56 years, p=0.0036), more often had lesions in multiple CC segments, 25% vs 12% (p=0.078), less often had additional lesions outside the CC (68% vs 86%, p=0.014) and were less likely to have vascular risk factors including hypertension (24% vs 76%, p=0.02), diabetes (19% vs 81%, p=0.06), and atrial fibrillation (7% vs 93%, p=0.03). Conclusions: Diffusion restriction in the CC is due to a non-vascular cause in one third of cases. In cases of stroke, atypical etiologies are common. Clinical and imaging characteristics can help distinguish stroke from non-vascular lesions in the CC.
Moral and Ethical Issues in Laparoscopy and Advanced Surgical Technologies

The first major revolution in surgery since the origins of surgery as we know it today (the Golden Era of Surgery in the late 1800s) occurred approximately 100 years after the seminal changes in medicine: Laparoscopic surgery was “born” in the late 1980s to early 1990s. This was a painful “birth,” with an unfettered enthusiasm to begin new procedures without proper training and credentials, resulting in an initial significant increase in complications, which led to a major public awareness of “patient safety.” Following on its heels came the explosion of many variations of what was then recognized as minimally invasive surgery (MIS), with the introduction of numerous “new” types of MIS, including robotic surgery, natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), and single port laparoscopic surgery (SILS) to mention a few. There are further advanced technologies in the laboratory to extend the surgeon’s capabilities. However, the moral and ethical implications of these new technologies and patient safety have yet to be deeply addressed, not only for the near term, but also for their broader, long-term impact.
Diabetes Training for Dietitians: Needs Assessment, Program Description, and Effects on Knowledge and Problem Solving

Abstract Recent changes in management and medical nutrition therapy for diabetes mellitus. have produced a need to retrain many practicing dietitians. To meet this need, a multidisciplinary group experienced in medical nutrition therapy and educational methods used a formal needs-assessment process to design a new training program. Sugar is Not a Poison (SNAP): The Dietitian's New Role in Diabetes Management is a 21/2-day program that uses written text, didactic presentation, and exercises that simulate patient encounters to accomplish 12 learning objectives. Program evaluations show high levels of participant satisfaction. Mean (±standard deviation) scores on pre- and posttests of knowledge and problem solving were 69±13% and 86±9%, respectively ( P J Am Diet Assoc. 2000; 100:225-228.