cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nanomaterials for the Treatment of Bacterial Biofilms

Treatment of biofilm-associated infections is challenging, requiring the development of new therapeutic strategies. In this viewpoint, we discuss the use of nanoparticle-based systems as active therapeutic agents and as vehicles to transport drugs to the site of infection. These applications require understanding of the surface interactions of nanoparticles with bacteria/biofilms, an aspect that we likewise summarize.
Transient Particulate Emissions from Diesel Buses During the Central Business District Cycle

Particulate emissions from heavy-duty buses were measured in real time under conditions encountered during the standard Central Business District (CBD) driving cycle. The buses tested were equipped with 1994 Detroit Diesel Engine Corporation 6V92-TA engines, and some included after treatment devices on the exhaust. Instantaneous, time-resolved measurements of CO{sub 2} and amorphous carbon concentrations were obtained using an optical extinction technique and compared to simultaneous results obtained using conventional dilution tunnel sampling methods. Good agreement was obtained between the real-time extinction measurements and the diluted CO{sub 2} and cycle-integrated filter measurements. The instantaneous measurements revealed that acceleration transients accounted for roughly 80% of the particulate mass emitted during the cycle but only about 45% of the fuel consumption. More detailed examination of the acceleration periods revealed that in fact, fuel injection transients created the majority of the soot, not simply high load conditions. Sometimes particulates were stored in the exhaust systems for a short time (on the order of one second), which delayed their emissions. Hence, tighter control of fueling rates during transients may significantly reduce vehicle particulate emissions without reduction in peak torque. Finally, the time-resolved measurements of particulate emissions from a bus equipped with a particulate trap demonstratedmore » the need for transient warm-up procedures rather than extended steady-state warm-up intervals prior to the conduction of dilution tunnel tests.« less
Sourcing, Inventory and Agency Relationship

Availability of the right types and amounts of inventory can make or break a business, which leads to the need to reexamine the relationship between the suppliers and the manufacturers when contract negotiation involves how inventory should be dealt with. This paper studies such a relationship in an agency setting when inventory itself becomes an issue in contract design. Because of the presence of inventory in this setting, both the manufacturer and the supplier will determine optimally their corresponding ordering and production policies while in the relationship. For the manufacturer, he will try to minimize the sum of transfer payments to the supplier and his own inventory holding costs. The supplier, on the other hand, will maximize the difference between her monetary utility and her own inventory holding costs. This paper develops the optimal contract design in this setting and explores the implications and limitations.
Intraosseous vascular access: A review

Intraosseous cannulation is an increasingly common means of achieving vascular access for the administration of fluids and medications during the emergent resuscitation of both paediatric and adult patients. Improved tools and techniques for intraosseous vascular access have recently been developed, enabling the healthcare provider to choose from a wide range of devices and insertion sites. Despite its increasing popularity within the adult population, and decades of use in the paediatric population, questions remain regarding the safety and efficacy of intraosseous infusion. Although various potential complications of intraosseous cannulation have been theorized, few serious complications have been reported. This article aims to provide a review of the current literature on intraosseous vascular access, including discussion on the various intraosseous devices currently available in the market, the advantages and disadvantages of intraosseous access compared to conventional vascular access methods, compli...
Exact and Closed Form Solutions for the Quantum Yield, Exciton Diffusion Length, and Lifetime To Reveal the Universal Behaviors of the Photoluminescence of Defective Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

The exact and closed form solutions for the photoluminescence quantum yield (PL QY), effective exciton lifetime, and effective exciton diffusion length were derived for defective single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with randomly and uniformly distributed defects or quenching sites. Asymptotic analysis of the exact and closed form solution not only recovered but also corrected the analytical QY for defective SWCNTs recently derived by Hertel et al. (ACS Nano2010, 4, 7161–7168). Using the exaction solutions, we reanalyzed the length-dependent QYs and exciton lifetimes of fractionated (6, 5) tubes and determined the intrinsic QY η∞0 = 0.106, exciton diffusion length L∞0 = 272 nm, internal quenching site density c = 0.0039 nm–1, exciton diffusion coefficient D = 2.2 cm2/s, radiative lifetime τr = 1.6 ns, and intrinsic exciton lifetime τ = 168 ps. The effects of F4TCNQ doping on the SWCNT PL intensity were quantitatively studied as well. Through numerical studies of the PL QYs of defective SWCNTs, we eluci...
Effect of Long- and Short-Staple Cotton on the Pink Bollworm

Hassanein and Galal (1969) and Watson et al. (1973) have shown the importance of temperature and moisture in terminating diapause of the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders). However, nutrition has yet to be fully considered as a factor. Nutrition has been reported to influence the induction of diapause in this insect. A higher percentage of larvae in diapause was obtained from older bolls rather than in young, immature bolls (Squire 1940, Chapman and Hughes 1941). The relationship of fat content in the larval diet to incidence of diapause was observed by Vanderzant and Reiser (1956) and Bull and Adkisson (1962); larvae feeding on diets with the highest fat content had the highest percentage of diapause.
Solvable Indecomposable Extensions of Two Nilpotent Lie Algebras

A pair of sequences of nilpotent Lie algebras denoted by Nn, 7 and Nn, 16 are introduced. Here, n denotes the dimension of the algebras that are defined for n ≥ 6; the first terms in the sequences are denoted by 6.7 and 6.16, respectively, in the standard list of six-dimensional Lie algebras. For each of them, all possible solvable extensions are constructed so that Nn, 7 and Nn, 16 serve as the nilradical of the corresponding solvable algebras. The construction continues Winternitz’ and colleagues’ program of investigating solvable Lie algebras using special properties rather than trying to extend one dimension at a time.
The Third Cooperation between Kuomintang Party and Chinese Communist Party from the Perspective of the History of Cross-Straits Relations

In December,1949,Kuomindang,the rulling party retreated to Taiwan.Since then,the separation across the straits has come into being.For sixty years,the development of cross-straits relations is not only a struggle between the Kuomindang Party and the Chinese Communist Party,but also a history in which the two parties consolidate the cooperation sticking to one-China policy and firmly opposing to "Taiwan independence".Reviewing the sixty-year relationship between the two parties,we are looking forward to the third cooperation between the two in the new situation of the 21st century.
Practice of Controlling Oxygen Blow-off Rate at Baosteel Branch

Baosteel Branch' s exploration in controlling the oxygen blow-off rate is introduced, together with a brief introduction to the integrated controlling technologies and methods with Baosteel characteristics , such as, increasing oxygen-adjustable users, transporting oxygen at a long distance, making full use of information from the Energy Center, optimizing the temporary shutdown mode for oxygen plants during the period of the regular overhaul for the system.
MO-G-201-03: Deep-Learning Based Prediction of Achievable Dose for Personalizing Inverse Treatment Planning

Purpose: Inverse planning starts with prescribed dose or DVHs. The time/effort spent on obtaining a clinically acceptable plan and, more importantly, the quality of the resultant treatment plan depends critically on the prescription. The present work aims to facilitate the treatment planning workflow by predicting the achievable dose distribution based on a dataset of quality plans designed for past patients. Methods: A novel learning-empowered approach is developed that predicts achievable 3D dose volume for a new patient based on the geometrical features of the contoured anatomical-scan. Two major steps are involved: (1) Feature extraction: To extract a rich set of features resilient to patient and tumor-shape variations, multi-layer convolutional auto-encoders (CAE) are applied separately to structural contours and datasets of isodose distribution. (2) Learning the relation map: From the historical dose and contour features, a predictive model based on multi-task regression is trained, where dose features are linearly correlated with a subset of contour features selected via sparsity regularization. IMRT plans for 115 prostate patients were used to train the models and the final method is tested on additional 10 prostate plans. Dose and contour volumes are rearranged to form a 3D polar grid with (r,ϕ,z) coordinates. Results: A deep-learning based dose prediction model for VMAT/IMRT treatment is established. Our preliminary results using a two-layer linear auto-encoder achieve more than %70 overlap volume between the actual and predicted isodose surfaces associated with V60%, V75%, and V90. Analysis of dose and contour data reveal nonlinear behaviors which we further deploy enhance prediction accuracy. Conclusion: The present work puts forth a novel predictive model for dose volume based on anatomical scan. Deep CAEs extract a subset of representative features that are subsequently used to derive a contour-to-dose relation map. The resultant dose map serves as a prior to facilitate treatment planning.
Oxo Clusters of 5f Elements

The chemistry of the 5f elements has been studied for decades, primarily driven by nuclear security and the nuclear-fuel cycle. A young subset of this field, the synthesis of actinide clusters, is rapidly developing and providing new insight into actinide chemistry and environmental behavior, with possible applications for the nanoscale control of these elements. The electronic character and oxidation states of the actinides strongly influence the types and diversity of structures that may be achieved. Hexavalent actinide clusters in particular have structural variety paralleling that of transition metal polyoxometalates. This is exemplified by uranyl peroxide cage clusters, which have more structural topologies than any other cluster-type examined here. This text provides an update on this still-emerging field, building on previous review articles, with a focus on oxygen-coordinated actinide clusters and the commonalities and trends between them.
A Meta-Analysis Essay on the Environmental Resistance Movement and the Role of its Deniers

The environmental resistance movement, also called the green resistance movement, the ecological resistance movement, or simply environmentalism, is perhaps one of the most discussed and analyzed movements in modern society. As with any resistance movement, it finds places in politics, culture, business, and individual lives, but there are certainly aspects of this particular movement that make it unique. In this analysis, I will bring together current research to make the claim that the environmental resistance movement is unique in the fact that it is, in reality, unopposed. I will analyze the deniers of the scientific basis of environmentalism relating to the role of opposition in resistance movements, rather than as scientific skeptics.
Oh the Insanity: After 124 Years, It Is Time to Amend Mississippi's Slayer Statute to Account for the Insane Slayer

While almost every jurisdiction in the United States addresses slayer inheritance, many states have failed to account for the possibility of a slayer with a mental disability or disorder. Courts in states that do not have a modern slayer statute are left with the potentially unsettling task of applying an outdated slayer statute to a modern insanity fact pattern that was not contemplated by the state legislature when the slayer statute was enacted. For example, Mississippi’s slayer statute has not substantively changed in the 124 years since its original enactment. In a 2015 case, Estate of Armstrong v. Armstrong, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that the state’s slayer statute was inapplicable to killers who were found to be insane at the time of the killing. The court reasoned that an insane person lacks the ability to willfully kill as required by the state’s slayer statute. Considering the Mississippi Supreme Court’s recent decision in Armstrong and its public policy ramifications, this article, the first to analyze the Armstrong case, focuses on Mississippi law and the reasons why the Mississippi legislature must update the state’s slayer statute. This article contends that so called insane slayers should not be allowed to inherit from their victim. First, under Mississippi law, any monetary inheritance received by the insane slayer will be taken by the state to pay for the reasonable cost of care provided during the insane slayer’s involuntary commitment. Second, the insane slayer should not inherit from his or her victim because of the inferred change in the victim’s intent created by the insane slayer’s murderous act. Finally, the precedent set by the Armstrong decision disregards the traditional public policy justifications for slayer statutes. This article concludes with a recommended amendment to the Mississippi slayer statute which would create a mandatory disclaimer on the part of an insane slayer.
It Isn’t Physiologically Possible!

There are many cities in the country that have lost their standing as commercially successful locations. The so called “rust belt,” is replete with many towns and cities which were once prosperous and vital but which deteriorated into poverty and crime. Often such locations have evolved into hotbeds of drug abuse.
Travel and the Built Environment: Insights Using Activity Densities, the Sprawl Index, and Neighborhood Types

There are many ways to evaluate the built environment, including measures of observable individual characteristics (such as activity density), continuous composite measures (such as the sprawl index), and categorically measured variables (such as neighborhood types). However, a systematic comparison of how well each of these three measurement types captures the influence of the built environment on travel behavior has not yet been undertaken. This lack presents a quandary for both researchers and practitioners who seek to quantify and describe the effects of the built environment on travel behavior. This paper assesses whether continuous, composite, or categorical measures provide more information and better-fitting models compared with measures of observable individual characteristics across four travel behaviors: vehicle miles traveled, walk trips, transit trips, and trip length. For each travel variable, four multivariate regression models were estimated with various measures of the built environment: ...
The clinical significance of IgE

Vastly improved knowledge of the role of IgE in mediating immediate hypersensitivity reactions has provided a scientific underpinning for traditional approaches to allergies like ragweed hay fever ...
The Reasons for Living Scale-Military Version: Assessing Protective Factors Against Suicide in a Military Sample.

ABSTRACT Introduction: Military suicide rates have been rising over the past decade and continue to challenge military treatment facilities. Assessing suicide risk and improving treatments are a large part of the mission for clinicians who work with uniformed service members. This study attempts to expand the toolkit of military suicide prevention by focusing on protective factors over risk factors. In 1983, Marsha Linehan published a checklist called the Reasons for Living Scale, which asked subjects to check the reasons they choose to continue living, rather than choosing suicide. The authors of this article hypothesized that military service members may have different or additional reasons to live which may relate to their military service. They created a new version of Linehan's inventory by adding protective factors related to military life. The purpose of these additions was to make the inventory more acceptable and relevant to the military population, as well as to identify whether these items cons...
HLA Class II-Triggered Signaling Cascades Cause Endothelial Cell Proliferation and Migration: Relevance to Antibody-Mediated Transplant Rejection.

Transplant recipients developing donor-specific HLA class II (HLA-II) Abs are at higher risk for Ab-mediated rejection (AMR) and transplant vasculopathy. To understand how HLA-II Abs cause AMR and transplant vasculopathy, we determined the signaling events triggered in vascular endothelial cells (EC) following Ab ligation of HLA-II molecules. HLA-II expression in EC was induced by adenoviral vector expression of CIITA or by pretreatment with TNF-α/IFN-γ. Ab ligation of class II stimulated EC proliferation and migration. Class II Ab also induced activation of key signaling nodes Src, focal adhesion kinase, PI3K, and ERK that regulated downstream targets of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway Akt, p70 ribosomal S6 kinase, and S6 ribosomal protein. Pharmacological inhibitors and small interfering RNA showed the protein kinases Src, focal adhesion kinase, PI3K/Akt, and MEK/ERK regulate class II Ab-stimulated cell proliferation and migration. Treatment with rapalogs for 2 h did not affect HLA-II Ab-induced phosphorylation of ERK; instead, mTOR complex (mTORC)1 targets were dependent on activation of ERK. Importantly, suppression of mTORC2 for 24 h with rapamycin or everolimus or treatment with mTOR active-site inhibitors enhanced HLA-II Ab-stimulated phosphorylation of ERK. Furthermore, knockdown of Rictor with small interfering RNA caused overactivation of ERK while abolishing phosphorylation of Akt Ser 473 induced by class II Ab. These data are different from HLA class I Ab-induced activation of ERK, which is mTORC2-dependent. Our results identify a complex signaling network triggered by HLA-II Ab in EC and indicate that combined ERK and mTORC2 inhibitors may be required to achieve optimal efficacy in controlling HLA-II Ab-mediated AMR.
Cell type specific control of basolateral amygdala plasticity via feedforward inhibition

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) plays a vital role in associating specific sensory stimuli with salient valence information. Excitatory principal neurons (PNs) undergo plastic changes to encode this integrated sensory-valence information; however, local BLA inhibitory interneurons (INs) gate the plasticity of the PNs via feed forward inhibition (FFI). Despite extensive literature implicating parvalbumin expressing (PV+) INs in FFI in cortex and hippocampus, prior anatomical experiments in BLA implicate somatostatin expressing (Sst+) INs in BLA. In the present study, we combined patch clamp electrophysiology with chemogenetics, unsupervised cluster analysis, and predictive modeling and found that a previously unreported subpopulation of fast-spiking Sst+ INs mediate BLA FFI and gate plasticity.
Digestive stability and transport of equol by Caco-2 cells

Equol has been reported to have greater estrogenic activity and antioxidant capacity than its soy isoflavonoid precursor daidzein. However, only 30 50% of humans have intestinal microflora capable of converting daidzein to equol. This suggests that dietary supplementation of equol may represent a useful strategy to provide all individuals with the health-promoting benefits of this metabolite. Here we characterized the digestive stability and bioaccessibility of equol, as well as its uptake and efflux by differentiated Caco-2 cells. Bovine milk (3.3% fat) supplemented with equol (160 μg) was subjected to simulated gastric and small intestinal digestion and the aqueous (bioaccessible) fraction was isolated from digesta by centrifugation and filtration (0.2 μm). Recovery of equol following simulated digestion was 106% ± 6%. Equol efficiently (≥ 93%) partitioned into the aqueous fraction of chyme regardless of the amount of bile extract present. Monolayers of Caco-2 cells (12 – 15 days post confluent) attached to culture dishes were incubated with 2.5 to 20 μM equol to characterize uptake. After 4 h, cellular content of equol was proportional to the medium concentration (r2 = 0.99) and represented 5 to 7% of the starting amount of equol. Intracellular equol was present as the un-conjugated form. Maximum accumulation was observed within 1 h of exposure and cellular equol content continually declined after 4 h as phase II conjugates of equol were excreted into the medium. In conclusion, equol is stable during simulated digestion, partitions into the bioaccessible fraction of chyme, and is rapidly taken up by Caco-2 cells and metabolized to phase II conjugates that are excreted. Supported by USDA IFAFS ABSTRACT
Bowen Resonance Fluorescence Lines of OIII in Planetary Nebulae

New and published line intensities are used to test the role of the pumping of the Bowen Lines of O III by absorption of the O1 and O3 lines and population by Charge Exchange. Although general agreement is obtained, noticeable deviations from theory exist.
Rumination, Brooding, and Reflection: Prospective Associations with Suicide Ideation and Suicide Attempts

Objective Rumination is often cited as a risk factor for suicide, yet few studies of rumination have utilized clinical samples, and no studies have examined its prospective association with suicide attempts. The purpose of this study was to examine concurrent and prospective associations of brooding and reflection (the two components of rumination) with suicide ideation and suicide attempts among a high-risk clinical sample. Method Participants were 286 adolescents and young adults (77% Caucasian, 59% female) aged 13-25 seeking psychiatric emergency services. A majority (71%) were presenting with a primary complaint of suicide ideation or recent suicide attempt. Participants completed a baseline assessment at the index visit; 226 participants (79%) completed a 4-month follow-up assessment of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Results Brooding was associated with lifetime history of one or more suicide attempts, but not concurrent suicide ideation. Reflection was not associated with lifetime suicide attempts or concurrent suicide ideation. Furthermore, prospective associations of brooding and reflection with suicide ideation and suicide attempts were weak-to-small in magnitude and statistically nonsignificant. Conclusions Rumination appears to have a limited association with suicide-related outcomes within a high-risk clinical sample. Additional longitudinal studies utilizing clinical samples are critically needed to better understand these associations.
Moderate-severe primary graft dysfunction after pediatric heart transplantation.

BACKGROUND PGD is a complication after heart transplantation (OHT) and a significant cause of mortality, particularly in infant recipients. Lack of standardized definition of PGD in the pediatric population makes the prevalence and magnitude of impact unclear. METHODS ISHLT PGD consensus guidelines, which include inotrope scores and need for MCS, were applied retrospectively to 208 pediatric OHT recipients from a single institution from 1/2005-5/2016. PGD was defined as: moderate PGD-inotrope score >10 on postoperative day 1 (24-48 hours), and severe PGD-MCS within 24 hours (in the absence of detectable rejection). RESULTS PGD occurred in 34 patients (16.3%); 14 of which had severe PGD (6.7%). Multivariate risk factors for PGD included CPB time (OR 10.3/10 min, 95% 10.05, 10.2, P = 0.03), Fontan palliation (OR 1.9, 95% 1.2, 3.97), and PCM (OR 5.65, 95% 1.52, 22.4); but not age, weight, ischemic time, or donor characteristics. Upon sub-analysis excluding patients with PCM, increased CPB was a significant multivariate risk factor (OR 10.09, 95% 9.89, 10.12, P = 0.003). Patients with PGD had decreased discharge survival compared to those without PGD (85% vs 96%, P < 0.01). Severe PGD was associated with the poorest 1-year survival (57% vs 91% without PGD, P = 0.04). CONCLUSION Patients with prolonged CPB are potentially at risk for developing PGD. Neither infant recipients nor donor characteristics were associated with an increased risk of PGD in the current era.
Visibility and order at the Salt Lake City Main Public Library: commonplaces, deviant publics, and the rhetorical criticism of neoliberalism’s geographies

ABSTRACTI analyze the Salt Lake City Main Public Library (SLCMPL) through archival work, textual analysis, and field methods. Through attention to the site’s mechanisms of emergence, its relationsh...
Routes to singlet exciton fission in rubrene crystals and amorphous films

By using wavelength-tunable, low fluence picosecond pulses at a 1 kHz repetition rate in a transient grating pump and probe configuration, we show that photoexcitation to higher vibrational levels leads to slower singlet exciton fission rates in rubrene. After the 1 ps photoexcitation, the initial growth of the triplet exciton population is exponential, with its time-constant systematically varying from 2.5 ± 0.7 ps to 40 ± 15 ps as the excitation photon energy is increased from the lowest to the third main vibrational band in the vibrational progression of rubrene’s absorption spectrum. We also determine that short-pulse-induced fluorescence in amorphous rubrene films deposited by molecular beam epitaxy in high vacuum decays as a single exponential with a lifetime of 15.2 ns, close to rubrene’s radiative lifetime for molecules in solution. This shows that singlet fission is non-existent in fully amorphous rubrene films, despite the close molecular packing, which indicates that in these films there is no short range molecular order matching the molecular arrangement in orthorhombic rubrene crystals.
Proton pump inhibitors reduce phlebotomy burden in patients with HFE-related hemochromatosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may reduce iron absorption and serum ferritin levels in patients with homeostatic iron regulator (HFE)-related hemochromatosis, reducing the need for frequent phlebotomies. Our study aimed to perform for the first time a meta-analysis of existing observational and randomized controlled studies to ascertain the overall effect of PPI use in patients with HFE-related hemochromatosis. METHODS Studies in adults reporting the outcomes of PPIs use in hereditary hemochromatosis patients from Medline, Embase, Scopus and Google Scholar databases from inception to December 2019 were systematically searched. The study outcomes were the serum ferritin levels and annual requirement for phlebotomies. Pooled mean difference, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained by the random-effects model. Forrest plots were constructed to show the summary pooled estimate. Heterogeneity was assessed by using I2 measure of inconsistency. RESULTS Following an initial search of 202 manuscripts, a total of three studies involving 68 patients with hemochromatosis (34 in the PPIs group and 34 in the placebo or non-PPI group) were included. A minimum duration of PPI use was 1 year. Patients who received PPIs therapy did not have a statistically significant lower serum ferritin levels (mean difference: -18.86, 95% CI: -60.44, 22.72, P = 0.37, I2 = 88%) but required significantly less sessions of phlebotomies annually (mean difference: -3.10, 95% CI: -4.46, -3.08, P < 0.00001, I2 = 93%). No publication bias was found on Egger (P = 0.94) or Begg (P = 0.98) tests. CONCLUSION PPIs can be used as an adjuvant therapy to reduce phlebotomy burden in patients with HFE-related hemochromatosis.
Vortex dynamics of a low aspect ratio cantilevered cylinder immersed in a boundary layer

The flow physics associated with the interaction of a low aspect ratio, cantilevered cylindrical pin with a flow over a flat plate was investigated experimentally using oil visualizations and stereoscopic particle image velocimetry. The interactions of the vortical structures were explored for laminar, transitional and turbulent incoming boundary layers, where the flow's sensitivity to the pin's aspect ratio and its relative submergence within the boundary layer was studied. The surrounding flow is highly sensitive to subtle changes in these parameters (both are order 1) due to strong dependence between the flow over the pin's free end and its wake. These flow structures are heavily influenced by competing mechanisms of self-induction and shear flow due to outer fluid entrainment and the proximity to the wall. In particular, the observed vortical features exhibit strong inter-dependencies in the near wake. For a turbulent boundary layer, the resultant ‘arch-like’ structure is observed to be slightly stretched in the axial direction. Whereas, under laminar inflow conditions, the reduced shear and turbulence intensity facilitate a wider wake and a stronger downwash from the leeward edge, resulting in a concave ‘M-shaped’ vortex, affecting the formation and evolution of the trailing vortex pair. In addition, larger aspect ratios result in an increased magnitude of downwash into the wake, which re-energizes the near-wall flow. Whereas, for lower aspect ratios, the level of interaction between vortical features decreases due to a reduced downwash and weaker shear. These flow characteristics are discussed in detail in the paper.
Multi-rate Attention Based GRU Model for Engagement Prediction

Engagement detection is essential in many areas such as driver attention tracking, employee engagement monitoring, and student engagement evaluation. In this paper, we propose a novel approach using attention based hybrid deep models for the 8th Emotion Recognition in the Wild (EmotiW 2020) Grand Challenge in the category of engagement prediction in the wild EMOTIW2020. The task aims to predict the engagement intensity of subjects in videos, and the subjects are students watching educational videos from Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). To complete the task, we propose a hybrid deep model based on multi-rate and multi-instance attention. The novelty of the proposed model can be summarized in three aspects: (a) an attention based Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) deep network, (b) heuristic multi-rate processing on video based data, and (c) a rigorous and accurate ensemble model. Experimental results on the validation set and test set show that our method makes promising improvements, achieving a competitively low MSE of 0.0541 on the test set, improving on the baseline results by 64%. The proposed model won the first place in the engagement prediction in the wild challenge.
Utilizing multimodal analgesia to evaluate postoperative analgesic requirements in kidney transplant recipients.

The use of non-opioid analgesics following surgery has proven beneficial in managing pain and decreasing adverse outcomes following surgery. Data assessing outcomes related to opioid use is limited in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). We evaluated the effectiveness of implementing a reduced to no opioid use protocol in KTRs. This retrospective cohort study included adult KTRs between January 2017 and July 2019 with a multimodal analgesic protocol (MAP), focused on limiting opioids, implemented in August 2018. We compared analgesic requirements in morphine milligram equivalents (MME) during transplant admissions between the MAP cohort and traditional cohort. There were 217 KTRs who met the criteria. Inpatient opioid use was significantly reduced in the MAP cohort (16.5 ± 19.2 MME/day vs 24.7 ± 19.7 MME/day; P <.05) with no significant difference in pain scores. No use of opioids within six months of discharge was significantly increased in the MAP cohort (50% vs 7%; P <.001), and there were no reported deaths at six months in either cohort. The use of multimodal analgesia is beneficial in KTRs to provide adequate pain control with limited to no exposure of opioids during admission or at discharge.
Fake Science and Folklore: Simms' Engagement with Phrenology

William Gilmore Simms was convinced that phrenology is a “doctrine” upon which “much of human happiness, and the education of mankind depend.” Indeed, it is essential to the improved formation or cultivation of our species. “(W)ithout Phrenology, the true means of human education must ever be, in great part, wanting to our hands.” Paradoxically then, for Simms, although we are creatures of “Destiny” we can at one and the same time decide not be such creatures if only we learn to accept phrenology’s case that we can be none other than true creatures of Destiny.
Role of diffusion in crystallization of hard-sphere colloids

Vital for a variety of industries, colloids also serve as an excellent model to probe phase transitions at the individual particle level. Despite extensive studies, origins of the glass transition in hard-sphere colloids discovered about 30 y ago remain elusive. Results of our numerical simulations and asymptotic analysis suggest that cessation of long-time particle diffusivity does not suppress crystallization of a metastable liquid-phase hard-sphere colloid. Once a crystallite forms, its growth is then controlled by the particle diffusion in the depletion zone surrounding the crystallite. Using simulations, we evaluate the solid-liquid interface mobility from data on colloidal crystallization in terrestrial and microgravity experiments and demonstrate that there is no drastic difference between the respective mobility values. The insight into the effect of vanishing particle mobility and particle sedimentation on crystallization of colloids will help engineer colloidal materials with controllable structure.
Dyad Routines for Mechanisms

MATLAB functions are developed for position, velocity, and acceleration of dyads and kinematic links. The dynamics of mechanisms with one and two dyads are analyzed. For force analysis D’Alembert principle is employed.
Compression Tests of Curved Panels with Circular Hole Reinforced with Circular Doubler Plates

A set of 14 panel specimens was tested in compression to determine the effect of sheet curvature on the strain distribution around a circular hole in the sheet. Specimens with no reinforcement around the hole and specimens with doubler plate reinforcement of the hole were included. The radius of curvature of the sheet ranged from 10 in. to infinity. Identical specimens were tested with and without reinforcement in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the reinforcement. For the unreinforced specimens, it was found that the plane stress theory for flat sheet predicted the mid-thickness strain distribution within the errors of observations. For the specimens with reinforcements, the plane stress theory gave strains that , in the vicinity of the hole, were lower than those observed at the extreme fiber of the sheet and higher than those observed at the extreme fiber of the reinforcement. This was attributed to the fact that the reinforcement was not integral with the sheet and did not carry its share of the load. This is borne out further by the observation that the shortening of the hole diameter was essentially the same for panels with and without reinforcements.
Publishing in Scientific Journals

This chapter deals with the complexities in publishing a thesis or report in a scientific journal. The most common publication forum for written communication with other scientists is the scientific journal. Technology may change the forms of the communication, but the primary report remains essential for the information transfer among scientists. Contributions to the journal literature can go far in building professional reputation. In selecting the journal to which to submit the work, the circulation and the probable interval between submission and publication of the journal should be considered. Some journals are distributed worldwide, and the articles may be abstracted by national or international services and databanks. Many journals provide information in a footnote on the time from the receipt of the initial manuscript to its publication. This period can be measured at least in months, and often publication is well over a year or more from the time the editor receives the manuscript. Many publishers require, prefer, or accept electronic submission. They furnish guidelines for submitting the paper electronically through the Internet, or by submitting a diskette. They may want a hard copy of the manuscript, and the editor may require three or more copies of the paper for reviews.
Application of Rough Sets and Neural Networks to Forecasting University Facility and Administrative Cost Recovery

This paper presents a novel approach to financial time series analysis and prediction. It is mainly devoted to the problem of forecasting university facility and administrative cost recovery. However, it can also be used in other areas of a similar nature. The methodology incorporates a two-stage hybrid mechanism for selection of prediction-relevant features and for forecasting based on this selected sub-space of attributes. The first module of the methodology employs the theory of rough sets (RS) while the second part is based upon artificial neural networks (ANN).
Moisture-Induced Alumina Scale Spallation: The Hydrogen Factor

For some time the oxidation community has been concerned with interfacial spallation of protective alumina scales, not just upon immediate cool down, but as a time-delayed phenomenon. Moisture-induced delayed spallation (MIDS) and desktop spallation (DTS) of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) refer to this process. It is most apparent for relatively adherent alumina scales that have survived initial cool down in a dry environment, have built up considerable thickness and strain energy, and have been somewhat damaged, such as by cyclic oxidation cracking. Indeed, a "sensitive zone" can be described that maximizes the observed effect as a function of all the relevant factors. Moisture has been postulated to serve as a source of interfacial hydrogen embrittlement. Hydrogen is derived from reaction with aluminum in the alloy at an exposed interface. The purpose of this monograph is to trace the close analogy of this phenomenon to other hydrogen-induced effects, such as embrittlement of aluminides and blistering of alloys and anodic alumina films. A formalized, top-down, logic-tree structure is presented as a guide to this discussion. A theoretical basis for interfacial weakening by hydrogen is first cited, as are demonstrations of hydrogen detection as a reaction product or interfacial species. Further support is provided by critical experiments that recreate the moisture effect, but by isolating hydrogen from other potential causative factors. These experiments include tests in H 2-containing atmospheres or cathodic hydrogen charging. Accordingly, they strongly indicate that interfacial hydrogen, derived from moisture, is the key chemical species accounting for delayed alumina scale spallation.
A single-chip lossless data compressor

This paper describes a single-chip compressor implementing a combined LZSS and Huffman compression algorithm. The chip uses a 512-byte on-chip CAM/SRAM for storing the most recent characters which the incoming string is compared against and referenced to. The reference entries are then Huffman coded using a transposition implementation. The chip in 1.2 /spl mu/m CMOS is 0.9 cm/sup 2/ with a clock speed of 40 ns. With a compression ratio of above 2.1, it performs compression/decompression at a rate of 32 bytes per 33 clock cycles.
Pre-service Teachers’ Understanding of the Nature of Science through Socio-scientific Inquiry

Abstract: This study explored the ways in which pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) understanding of the nature of science (NOS) emerged in their experience of a socio-scientific inquiry-based (SSI) experience. In this study, an undergraduate science course with structured collaboration on a SSI-based inquiry between PSTs and campus scientists was intertwined with their changing conceptions of NOS. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected and progressively analyzed to illuminate changes in twenty-four PSTs’ understanding of the nature of science throughout the experience. Results indicated that that PSTs experienced substantial growth in the targeted understandings of NOS. However, findings also revealed some aspects of NOS for which several of the PSTs continued to hold uninformed conceptions. Insights from this study that add to the on-going discussions about the relationship of SSI and NOS include 1) the importance of inquiry and 2) NOS understanding as linked to PSTs perception of inclusion in the process of SSI investigations.
The Effects of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Combined Mild Traumatic Brain Injury/Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on Returning Veterans

Abstract United States veterans of the Iraqi (Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF]) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom [OEF]) conflicts have frequently returned from deployment after sustaining mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and enduring stressful events resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A large number of returning service members have been diagnosed with both a history of mTBI and current PTSD. Substantial literature exists on the neuropsychological factors associated with mTBI and PTSD occurring separately; far less research has explored the combined effects of PTSD and mTBI. The current study employed neuropsychological and psychological measures in a sample of 251 OIF/OEF veterans to determine whether participants with a history of mTBI and current PTSD (mTBI+PTSD) have poorer cognitive and psychological outcomes than participants with mTBI only (mTBI-o), PTSD only (PTSD-o), or veteran controls (VC), when groups are comparable on intelligence quotient, education, and age. The m...
Electron wavefunction penetration into gate dielectric and interface scattering-an alternative to surface roughness scattering model

A quantum mechanical (QM) simulator was used to determine the amount of carrier wavefunction penetration into gate dielectric. The amount of penetration affects the inversion charge density Q/sub inv/, inversion charge centroid, and most importantly carrier mobility. It is shown that interface scattering due to wavefunction penetration is in better agreement with the universal mobility data than the surface roughness scattering mechanism. The interface scattering allows the extension of the universal mobility model from SiO/sub 2/ to high-K gate dielectrics.
Comparison and selection of magnetic materials for coupled inductor used in interleaved three-level multi-phase DC-DC converters

The coupled inductor can reduce the large inductor current ripple in the interleaved multiphase three-level converter, while keeping the benefits of interleaving. The design of coupled inductor is different from conventional two-level converters. This paper analyzes the flux in a new structure of the coupled inductor for three-level converter, and proposes a detailed design method to select proper core material, like amorphous or nano-crystalline, to achieve the minimum volume or weight. The choice isn't only related to frequency, but also the converter's voltage and current specifications. Amorphous and nano-crystalline materials are compared, and the material selection guideline is given at the end of this paper.
Error and patient safety: Ethical analysis of cases in occupational and physical therapy practice

Compared to other health care professions such as medicine, nursing and pharmacy, few studies have been conducted to examine the nature of practice errors in occupational and physical therapy. In an ongoing study to determine root causes, typographies and impact of occupational and physical therapy error on patients, focus group interviews have been conducted across the United States. A substantial number of harmful practice errors and/or other patient safety events (deviations or accidents) have been identified. Often these events have had moral dimensions that troubled the therapist involved. In this article, six of these transcribed cases are analyzed, using predominant bioethical theories, ethical principles and professional codes of ethics. The cases and their analyses are intended to be exemplary, improving the readers’ ability to discern and critically address similar such events. Several patient safety strategies are suggested that might have prevented the events described in these cases.
Spontaneous intracranial hypotension mimicking aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE: An excruciating headache of instantaneous onset is known as a thunderclap headache. A subarachnoid hemorrhage is the prototypical cause, but other serious disorders may also present with a thunderclap headache, including cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, carotid artery dissection, and pituitary apoplexy. We report a group of patients with thunderclap headaches as the initial manifestation of spontaneous intracranial hypotension caused by a spinal cerebrospinal fluid leak. METHODS: Among 28 patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension due to a documented spinal cerebrospinal fluid leak, four (14%) initially experienced an excruciating headaches of instantaneous onset. RESULTS: The mean age of the four patients (two men and two women) was 35 years (range, 24-45 yr). Nuchal rigidity was present in the three patients who sought early medical attention, and they underwent emergency computed tomographic scanning, lumbar puncture, and cerebral angiography to rule out an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. The delay between the onset of headache and diagnosis of intracranial hypotension ranged from 4 days to 5 weeks. A fourth patient did not seek medical attention until 1 month after the ictus. CONCLUSION: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension should be included in the differential diagnosis of thunderclap headache, even when meningismus is present.
Should somatostatin or gabexate be given for prophylaxis of pancreatitis in patients undergoing ERCP

Should somatostatin or gabexate be given for prophylaxis of pancreatitis in patients undergoing ERCP?
Rapid and Sensitive Mapping of Long-Range Connections In Vitro Using Flavoprotein Autofluorescence Imaging Combined With Laser Photostimulation

We investigated the use of flavoprotein autofluorescence (FA) as a tool to map long-range neural connections and combined FA with laser-uncaging of glutamate to facilitate rapid long-range mapping in vitro. Using the somatosensory thalamocortical slice, we determined that the spatial resolution of FA is ≥100–200 μm and that the sensitivity for detecting thalamocortical synaptic activity approximates that of whole cell recording. Blockade of ionotropic glutamate receptors with DNQX and AP5 abolished cortical responses to electrical thalamic stimulation. The combination of FA with photostimulation using caged glutamate revealed robust long-distance connectivity patterns that could be readily assessed in slices from the somatosensory, auditory, and visual systems that contained thalamocortical, corticothalamic, or corticocortical connections. We mapped the projection from theventral posterior nucleus of thalamus (VPM) to the primary somatosensory cortex-barrel field and confirmed topography that had been previously described using more laborious methods. We also produced a novel map of the projections from the VPM to the thalamic reticular nucleus, showing precise topography along the dorsoventral axis. Importantly, only about 30 s were needed to generate the connectivity map (six stimulus locations). These data suggest that FA is a sensitive tool for exploring and measuring connectivity and, when coupled with glutamate photostimulation, can rapidly map long-range projections in a single animal.