cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sequential Problems in Decentralized Detection With Communication

Sequential problems in decentralized detection are considered. Peripheral sensors make repeated noisy observations of a binary hypothesis. At each time, a peripheral sensor has to decide whether to stop and send a final binary message to a coordinating sensor/fusion center or to continue taking costly measurements. The coordinating sensor's operation is explored under two different scenarios. In the first scenario, the coordinating sensor waits to receive the final message from each of the peripheral sensors and then starts taking costly measurements of its own. The coordinating sensor is then faced with a stopping problem on whether to stop and declare a decision on the hypothesis or to continue taking measurements. In the second scenario, the coordinating sensor starts taking measurements from the beginning, without waiting for the final messages from the peripheral sensors. At any time, the coordinating sensor has to decide whether to stop and declare a decision on the hypothesis or to continue to take more measurements and wait for the peripheral sensors to send their final message. Parametric characterization of optimal policies for the peripheral and the coordinating sensors are obtained under both scenarios. A sequential methodology for finding the optimal policies is presented.
Effect of Carboxylic Acid Content on the Acute Toxicity of Oil Sands Naphthenic Acids

Fractions of methylated naphthenic acids (NAs) isolated from oil sands process-affected water were collected utilizing Kugelrohr distillation and analyzed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. 1H NMR analysis revealed that the ratio of methyl ester hydrogen atoms to remaining aliphatic hydrogen atoms increased from 0.130 to 0.214, from the lowest to the greatest molecular weight (MW) fractions, respectively, indicating that the carboxylic acid content increased with greater MW. Acute toxicity assays with exposure to monocarboxyl NA-like surrogates demonstrated that toxicity increased with increasing MW (D. magna LC50 values of 10 ± 1.3 mM and 0.59 ± 0.20 mM for the respective lowest and highest MW NA-like surrogates); however, with the addition of a second carboxylic acid moiety, the toxicity was significantly reduced (D. magna LC50 values of 10 ± 1.3 mM and 27 ± 2.2 mM for the respective monocarboxyl and dicarboxyl NA-like surrogates of similar MW). Increased carboxylic acid content...
NOIMISOTHERMAL MODEL OF SINGLE SCREW EXTRUSION OF GENERALIZED NEWTONIAN FLUIDS

Abstract A nonisothermal model of Ike single screw extrusion processing of generalized Newtonian fluids is presented. Various temperature dependent forms of a generalized Newtonian fluid constitutive equation representing the Herschel-Bulkley fluid and its simplifications, including Bingham plastic, power law of Ostwald-de Waele, and Newtonian fluids, are applicable. The model includes the generally ignored transverse convection terms of the equation of energy. The importance of keeping the transverse convection terms in the analysis is demonstrated by applying the model and comparing findings to experimental results involving the transverse flow temperature distributions in single screw extruders, available in the literature. The numerical instabilities, arising principally from the convection terms, generally encountered in high-Peclet-number extrusion flows, could be eliminated by the use of the streamline upwind / Petrov-Galerkin formulation. The model is sufficiently general to accommodate Navier's w...
REE diffusion in calcite

Chemical diffusion of four rare-earth elements (La, Nd, Dy and Yb) has been measured in natural calcite under anhydrous conditions, using rare-earth carbonate powders as the source of diffusants. Experiments were run in sealed silica capsules along with finely ground calcite to ensure stability of the single-crystal samples during diffusion anneals. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) was used to measure diffusion profiles. The following Arrhenius relations were obtained over the temperature range 600–850°C: DLa =2.6×10−14 exp(−147±14 kJ mol−1/RT) m2 s−1, DNd =2.4×10−14 exp(−150±13 kJ mol−1/RT) m2 s−1, DDy =2.9×10−14 exp(−145±25 kJ mol−1/RT) m2 s−1, DYb =3.9×10−12 exp(−186±23 kJ mol−1/RT) m2 s−1. In contrast to previous findings for refractory silicates (e.g. zircon), differences in transport rates among the REE are not pronounced over the range of temperature conditions investigated in this study. Diffusion of the REE is significantly slower than diffusion of the divalent cations Sr and Pb and slower than transport of Ca and C at temperatures above ∼650°C. Fine-scale zoning and isotopic and REE chemical signatures may be retained in calcites under many conditions if diffusion is the dominant process affecting alteration.
Basic Principles of Magnetic Resonance Imaging

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/17-1-12451 The basic concepts which are necessary to understand the physical principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) imaging are presented. It is intended as a primer for the physicians or scientists who are addressing the topic of NMR for the first time. The basis of the NMR phenomena is described with introduction of the concepts of magnetic moment, magnetic resonance, net magnetic moment of an object, NMR excitation and NMR emission. The equipment necessary to observe these NMR properties is summarized as well as the procedures for basic NMR experiments. The major scanning methods are reviewed, and the principles of technique are discussed. With major emphasis on repeated free induction decay (RFTD) which yields proton image density, inversion-recovery (IRJ) which yields images weighted by tissue T-values, spin-echo (SE) which yields images weighted by tissue T{ values. Clinical applications of NMR imaging will be presented. Absence of known biological hazard, lack of moving parts, absence of ionizing radiation, and ability to measure multiple tissue parameters makes NMR the study of choice in many clinical situations particularly in early cancer diagnosis and in pathologic changes in the broad spectrum of disease within the brain. NMR's ability to create detailed tomographic images in any plane, with both anatomic detail and tissue specificity is revolutionizing diagnostic imaging. It has additional advantage of measuring metabolic processes in vivo which has great impact in understanding health and disease.
Evidence of the instability of flux gradients in irreversible superconductors

Abstract It is shown that the internal field gradients present during the initial magnetization of an“irreversible” superconductor are to great extent, and in some cases completely, destroyed when the external field is removed and reapplied.
Metabolic Oligosaccharide Engineering: Implications for Selectin-Mediated Adhesion and Leukocyte Extravasation

Metabolic oligosaccharide engineering is an emerging technology wherein non-natural monosaccharide analogs are exogenously supplied to living cells and are biosynthetically incorporated into cell surface glycans. A recently reported application of this methodology employs fluorinated analogs of ManNAc, GlcNAc, and GalNAc to modulate selectin-mediated adhesion associated with leukocyte extravasation and cancer cell metastasis. This monograph outlines possible mechanisms underlying the altered adhesion observed in analog-treated cells; these range from the most straightforward explanation (e.g., structural changes to the selectin ligands ablate interaction with their receptors) to the alternative mechanism where the analogs inhibit or otherwise perturb ligand production to more indirect mechanisms (e.g., changes to the biophysical properties of the selectin binding partner, the nanoenviroment of the binding partners, or the entire cell surface).
Effects of the polychlorinated biphenyl Aroclor ® 1254 on the American oyster Crassostrea virginica

Young oysters (Crassostrea virginica) were continuously exposed to Aroclor® 1254, a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), in flowing, unfiltered seawater. Growth rate (height and in-water weight) was significantly reduced (α=0.05) in oysters exposed to 5 μg/l (ppb) for 24 weeks. Growth rate was not affected in oysters exposed to 1 ppb for 30 weeks. Mortality was not significant in exposed and control groups. In oysters exposed to 5 ppb, greatest PCB residue (whole body) was 425 mg/kg (ppm), 85,000x the concentration in the water, and less than 0.3 ppm was retained after 28 weeks depuration in PCB-free water. In oysters exposed to 1 ppb, greatest residue was 101 ppm, 101,000x the concentration in the water, and less than 0.2 ppm was retained after 12 weeks depuration. Examination of oysters exposed to 5 ppb of this PCB for pathogenesis revealed atrophy of digestive diverticular epithelium and degeneration of vesicular connective tissues concomitant with leukocytic infiltration, but tissue recovery seemed excellent after 12 weeks depuration.
A progress report on recent rare muon decay experiments at the los alamos meson physics facility

Abstract A search has been performed for the decays μ → eee, μ → e γ , and μ → eγγ with a sensitivity in the branching ratios at the level of 10 −10 . The experiment used a separated, 26 MeV/c μ + beam with an average intensity of 300kHz. A total of 2.2 × 10 11 muon decays were examined for the present result. The detector for the experiment Is the Crystal Box, which consists of a cylindrical drift chamber surrounded by 396 NaI(T1) crystals. A layer of scintillation counters in front of the crystals provided timing for electrons and a veto for photons. The energy resolution for electrons and photons is ≈6% (FWHM). The position resolution of the drift chamber is 350 μm leading to a vertex cut with a rejection of 10 3 for μ → eee. The timing resolution is ≈300 ps from the scintillators and ~1 ns from the crystals. No candidate for μ → eee has been found, yielding an upper limit for the branching ratio of B μ 3e −10 (90% C.L.).
Magnetic structures of iron germanides

The structures of phases in the Fe-Ge system were studied by means of neutron and X-ray diffraction. The Fe1 + yGe phase of the hexagonal B82 type has a canted ferrimagnetic structure with magnetic unit cell identical to the chemical one. The Fe atoms in 2(a) sites form one sublattice, Fe I, with parallel spin directions, while those, Fe II, in 2(d) sites form Fe II-Ge-Fe II chains with spin directions canted 28° from the Fe I spin direction and 56° from adjacent Fe II chains. The spin directions lie in the basal plane. Magnetic moments at 25°C were μI = 1.30 μβ and μII = 1.10 μβ. No long-range antiferromagnetic structure was found for the phase FeGe with hexagonal B35-type crystal structure according to neutron diffraction patterns down to 80°K. The FeGe2 phase was found to be antiferromagnetic. The limits of the phase field for Fe1 + yGe were established.
JMF: Java measurement framework: language-supported runtime integrity measurement

Runtime integrity measurement systems provide the capability to observe the runtime state of a process and to determine whether or not it is acceptable. Existing software systems tend to forgo integrity checks altogether or to enlist static mechanisms (e.g., assertions) to detect unacceptable process states at runtime. A large and growing base of malicious software necessitates more sophisticated handling of threats to process integrity.In this paper, we describe an approach to runtime integrity measurement we call the Java Measurement Framework (JMF) that presents a new way to define and check runtime integrity policies. We define a policy language based on Java that provides an accessible way to write integrity policies and we describe a periodic, dynamic measurer that obtains snapshots of process state, which are evaluated with respect to a policy by an appraiser. With full process state available to the appraiser, policies can express rich relationships between multiple objects, thereby detecting abnormalities in an application's data structures. Our framework may be used to detect a powerful adversary who has the capability to modify both the runtime bytecode and data structures of Java applications. We show that our prototype implementation in Java has acceptable overhead and that it can be used to detect runtime integrity violations in several real Java programs.
A novel interpretation of Capon’s method in beam space

The paper introduces and provides a simple proof of an interesting matrix inversion identity involving subspaces. Using this identity, new insights and interpretations are provided about beam space-based adaptive beamformers and the generalized sidelobe canceller. In addition, system performance measures and losses in terms of the achievable SINR and deflection coefficient can be interpreted and predicted in beam space using the framework of subspaces.
Monolithic architectures for image processing and compression

Programmable IC architectures for image processing applications are reviewed. Chip sets that can be used for image and video compression and for traditional image processing systems like computer-vision systems, chip designs that can handle all three of the major multimedia compression, decompression, and transmission standards, ICs for generic image processing, and uniprocessor and multiprocessor image processing chips are discussed. Requirements for graphics architectures and image processing are outlined. >
Strain-path analyses for arbitrary three-dimensional penetrometers

A numerical technique has been implemented to perform strain path analyses for arbitrary three-dimensional (3D) penetrometers. The technique is based on that developed in aeronautical engineering for the calculation of incompressible potential flows about arbitrary 3D, non-lifting bodies. It uses a source-density distribution on the surface of the body and solves for the distribution necessary to make the normal component of fluid velocity zero on the boundary. The surface of a 3D body is approximated by a series of plane quadrilaterals, and the integral equation for the source density is replaced by a set of linear algebraic equations which are then solved for the source densities on the quadrilaterals. The displacements and strains are eventually derived based on these source densities. A series of strain-path analyses have been performed for cone and flat dilatometer penetrations. Results show that the soil responses to these two types of penetrometers are fundamentally different.
Efficient parallel algorithms for image template matching on hypercube SIMD machines

Efficient parallel algorithms developed on hypercube SIMD (single-instruction multiple data-stream) machines for image template matching are presented. Most of these parallel algorithms are asymptotically optimal in their time complexities. These results improve the known bounds in the literature. >
Glycosidases of normal human donor cornea

Although there have been reports of glycosidases in various ocular tissues, there are very few quantitative data concerning human corneal glycosidases. In this study, the pH optima, apparent Km, and Vmax values were determined for seven glycosidases of human donor corneas obtained from an eye bank. In terms of micromoles of substrate cleaved per milligram of protein per hour, the enzymatic activity of the glycosidases was in the following order of decreasing magnitude: β-galactosaminidase, β-glucosaminidase, β-galactosidase, β-glucuronidase, α-mannosidase, α-fucosidase, α-glucosidase. The pH optima of the enzymes ranged from 3.4 to 5.7.
Structural Modal Identification Through High Speed Camera Video: Motion Magnification

Video cameras offer the unique capability of collecting high density spatial data from a distant scene of interest. They could be employed as remote monitoring or inspection sensors because of their commonplace use, simplicity, and relatively low cost. The difficulty is in interpreting the video data into a usable format that is familiar to engineers such as displacement. A methodology called motion magnification, developed for visualizing exaggerated versions of small displacements, is extended to modal identification in structures. Experiments in a laboratory setting on a cantilever beam were performed to verify the method against accelerometer and laser vibrometer measurements. Motion magnification is used for modal analysis of cantilever beams to visualize mode shapes and calculate mode shape curvature as a basis for damage detection. Suggestions for applications of this methodology and challenges in real-world implementations are given.
Left ventricular device implantation for advanced cardiac amyloidosis

The purpose of this study was to analyze the post-hospital outcomes in patients with senile or familial cardiac amyloidosis treated with left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. From December 1, 2008 to May 31, 2012, a total of 9 patients underwent LVAD placement for heart failure secondary to amyloidosis. Prior to LVAD placement, all patients were New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class IV and had a significantly decreased cardiac index (mean 1.93 liters/min/m(2) [1.64 to 2.36]). All patients tolerated LVAD implantation well. Post-operatively, 2 patients died prior to hospital discharge. Three patients died since discharge with a median survival of 13.7 months. Four patients remained alive with a follow-up of 16-24 months. The most common adverse event since placement has been gastrointestinal bleeding (3 of 9 patients). Firm conclusions cannot be drawn from our investigation, but the present observations suggest LVAD implantation is technically feasible for patients with severe heart failure due to advanced cardiac amyloidosis.
The sphericity measure for cellular speaker verification

This paper provides a description of the properties of the symmetric sphericity measure between two Gaussian classes, and presents experimental results of its use in the context of text independent speaker verification, performed on cellular speech. A novel geometric interpretation of the sphericity measure is presented, emphasizing its robustness to variations in scaling in feature space compared to other distortion measures, along with an associated score normalization procedure. The experimental results clearly indicate the superiority of this method over the prevailing likelihood ratio approach, motivating further use of the sphericity measure in a multi-component modeling scheme. In addition, the direct use of this method with single Gaussian models is computationally extremely simple, and may provide acceptable performance in certain cases.
From virtual to actual mobility: Assessing the benefits of active locomotion through an immersive virtual environment using a motorized wheelchair

As we move around, in a real or virtual environment, the process of keeping track of where we are, in relation to the portions of the environment that are out of view, is referred to as spatial updating. Studies have shown that in the real world, when we use real walking to get around, this process is both effortless and automatic, but that in virtual environments, when purely virtual methods of locomotion are used, the accuracy and ease of spatial updating is significantly diminished. In this paper, we present the results of an experiment intended to assess the impact, on spatial updating performance, of enabling people to physically move about in an immersive virtual environment using a motorized wheelchair. This study is motivated by an interest in probing the potential of re-directed driving as an alternative method for enabling people to effectively explore a relatively larger virtual space while physically moving about in a smaller actual space. A total of 24 participants in our within-subjects experiment traveled through a 24' wide circularly symmetric virtual room, searching the contents of 16 randomly positioned and oriented boxes to locate 8 hidden targets, using each of the following four locomotion methods: real walking (R), virtual translation with real rotation by standing and using a body-worn joystick (S), real driving in a motorized wheelchair (W), and virtual translation with real rotation by sitting in a swivel chair and using a joystick mounted on one of its arms (J). We computed four measures of search efficiency: total distance traveled, total number of targets revisited, proportion of perfect trials, and total search time. Overall, we found that performance was significantly better with real walking than with either of the virtual travel methods, consistent with most previous findings, and that performance with the wheelchair was intermediate. These results suggest some advantage in enabling actual, as opposed to purely virtual, translational movement in a locomotion interface, and lend support to the potential viability of a re-directed driving implementation.
Pesticide concentration patterns in agricultural drainage networks in the lake Erie Basin

This paper presents information on pesticide concentrations in Lake Erie tributaries draining agricultural watersheds, information distilled from data sets spanning nearly a decade and including up to 750 samples per tributary. Pesticide concentrations are strongly skewed and approximately lognormal. Average concentrations in tributaries are correlated with the amount applied in the basin, but with important secondary effects from chemical properties and modes of application of the pesticides. During runoff of storm events following application, concentrations rise rapidly, peak about the time of peak discharge, and decline slowly thereafter. These patterns do not match those for nutrients, major ions, or sediment, indicating a different pathway from the fields for pesticides. On an annual basis, elevated monthly average concentrations are usually observed from May to August, and low concentrations are present during the rest of the year. Monthly average concentrations of atrazine and alachlor generally exceed maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) in at least one month following application, but those of other herbicides do not. Annual averages are below MCLs for all compounds. No long-term trends are apparent. Comparisons of patterns in large and small tributaries show that small tributaries have higher maximum concentrations, more frequent concentrations below detection limit, and fewer intermediate concentrations. Smaller tributaries have more strongly skewed distributions and much greater temporal variability in concentrations than do larger rivers.
Do Habitat Corridors Influence Animal Dispersal and Colonization in Estuarine Systems

Studies investigating animal response to habitat in marine systems have mainly focused on habitat preference and complexity. This study is one of the first to investigate the affect of benthic habitat corridors and their characteristics on dispersal and colonization by estuarine macrofuana. In this study, mark-recapture field experiments using artificial seagrass units (ASUs) assessed the effects of seagrass corridors, interpatch distance (5 m vs. 10 m), and the ratio of corridor width to patch width (0.5 m:1 m vs. 0.25 m:1 m) on dispersal of two benthic organisms: the highly mobile grass shrimp, Palaemonetes sp., and the less mobile bay scallop, Argopecten irradians, in two estuarine systems in southeastern North Carolina (NC). The presence of a seagrass corridor, interpatch distance, and corridor width to patch width ratios did not significantly affect shrimp or scallop dispersal to receiver patches. Bay scallop dispersal to receiver patches was significantly higher at one site (Drum Shoals) with relatively high flow, compared to a second site (Middle Marsh) with lower flow. We then examined colonization of estuarine macrofauna to seagrass patches with and without corridors to determine which, if any, taxonomic groups respond positively to corridors at scales of 10 m and over 1 month. Colonization of estuarine macrofauna to seagrass patches was enhanced in the presence of corridors at a relatively large interpatch distance (10 m), which was statistically significant for relatively slow moving polychaete worms. Thus, although benthic habitat corridors may facilitate dispersal of relatively slow moving estuarine animals between otherwise isolated seagrass patches, several common seagrass fauna such as grass shrimp and bay scallops apparently use water currents to rapidly disperse across the seagrass/sand landscape.
Why so different? Examining the methodologies used in two old growth forest mapping projects

In 1990, two different projects simultaneously mapped old growth in National Forests in the northern spotted owl region in the Pacific Northwest. The two projects used significantly different technology and techniques, and found amounts of old growth acreage that differed by a factor of two. This paper investigates the procedures used in each project to determine the sources of the differing results, using four of the forests mapped as a case study. The project carried out by Pacific Meridian Resources (PMR) for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) used Landsat TM imagery and sophisticated image processing techniques, whereas The Wilderness Society project relied primarily on photo-interpretation but also used Landsat MSS imagery. The USFS project quantitatively mapped different size and structure classes, but The Wilderness Society's project attempted to qualitatively categorize several variations of old growth. The projects operated under tremendous deadline pressure, had vastly different budgets, used very different hardware and software systems and had very different techniques for ground truth and accuracy assessment. Thus, despite the fact that their goals were identical these factors caused significantly different results.
Ensuring Trust Online through the Wisdom of Crowd

People read online reviews and are influenced by others’ opinions when making purchase decisions. The magnificent power of crowd is further enhanced with User Generated Content (UGC) websites and social media platforms where users can easily access the information about users’ choices and decisions. The online reviews and feedbacks work as a supplementary information source for consumers and are commonly considered as valuable information. Ensuring trust and maintaining popularity has a big impact on the future sales of businesses. Therefore, it is important for businesses to stay on the top of popularity indices. When consumers face intricate decisions or complicated options, they tend to imitate others’ decisions. We study the components of popularity and trust, using hotel data downloaded from TripAdvisor. The findings show that the popularity of a business is positively related to the size of the crowd that followed the business and the level of satisfaction the crowd has towards the business.
Optimum space-time transmission for a high K factor wireless channel with partial channel knowledge: Invited Papers

We study the optimum transmission scheme that maximizes ergodic capacity of a 2 × 1 multiple-input single-output (MISO) system, when the channel knowledge at the transmitter is characterized by a known gain ratio and a known probability density function (PDF) of the phase shift between antennas. Such a channel scenario can arise in a forward link at the base station when there is a single direct path propagation. We show that the optimum transmit solution is beamforming on the mean value of the phase shift with unequal power input to the antennas. When the phase is completely unknown, the solution reduces to a single antenna transmission. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Non-foster circuit matching of a near-field resonant parasitic, electrically small antenna

The impedance bandwidth of a near-field resonant parasitic (NFRP) element of an electrically small, metamaterial-inspired Egyptian Axe Dipole (EAD) antenna, can be altered significantly by embedding a non-Foster circuit element into it. The frequency agile behavior of the reactance component internal to the NFRP element of an EAD antenna with a center frequency of 300 MHz is established and a negative impedance converter (NIC) circuit is designed to mimic this behavior. Several other non-Foster circuits have been considered for the NIC implementation and will be discussed in our presentation. A Linvill-based design of the requisite NIC, which contains 4 bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), is presented here. ANSYS HFSS was used for the antenna simulation results; Agilent ADS was used for the circuit simulations. The co-designed, optimized results show an increase in the EAD fractional impedance bandwidth from 0.9% to 46.0%, a factor of over 50 times improvement.
Transport, Deposition and Removal of Fine Particles - Biomedical Applications

In many biomedical, environmental, and industrial applications, small particle transport, deposition, and resuspension play a critical role. Pollutant transport and deposition in the respiratory passages, cardiovascular flows, pollutant transport in buildings and in cities, fluidized bed combustors, and fuel spray in internal combustion engines are but a few examples. Understanding motions of small particles suspended in a gas or liquid has received considerable attention in the past few decades due to its significance in numerous scientific and industrial applications. Natural and man-made aerosols and colloids consist of a variety of solid and liquid particles suspended in a gas or liquid. Understanding the kinetics of particle dispersion and deposition in different passages has attracted considerable attention due to its importance in numerous industrial processes.63 Reviews of the earlier experimental and modeling works on aerosols and particle transport and deposition processes were provided by Levich,171 Fuchs,109 Mercer,198 Twomey,267 Hinds,134 Spurny,250 Seinfeld,241 and Vincent,269 among others. Extensive reviews of turbulent diffusion were provided by Levich171 and Hinze.135 Tchen260 was the first investigator who modified the Basset-Boussinesq-Oseen (BBO) equation and applied it to study motions of small particles in a turbulent flow. Corrsin and Lumley65 pointed out some inconsistencies of Tchen’s modifications. Csanady69 showed that the inertia effect on particle dispersion in the atmosphere is negligible, but the crossing trajectory effect is appreciable. Ahmadi1 and Ahmadi and Goldschmidt2 studied the effect of the Basset term on the particle diffusivity. Maxey and Riley187 obtained a corrected version of the BBO equation, which includes the Faxen102 correction for unsteady spatially varying Stokes flows. Experimental studies of diffusion and dispersion of particles in turbulent flows were carried out by a number of researchers. A detailed experimental study on turbulent diffusivity was reported by Snyder and Lumley.246 Calabrese and Middleman33 and, Arnason12 measured the dispersion of particles in a fully developed turbulent
Predicting State Investment in Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services, 2000–2011

Although state use of Medicaid home- and community-based services (HCBS) to provide long-term services and supports to older adults and individuals with physical disabilities continues to increase, progress is uneven across states. We used generalized linear models to examine state factors associated with increased allocation of Medicaid dollars to HCBS for the period 2000 to 2011. We observed enhanced growth in states that began the period with limited investment in HCBS, as reflected in significant year trends among these states. The political environment appeared to be an important influence on states' investment for states with limited initial allocation to HCBS, as was housing affordability, a policy amenable variable. There continues to be wide variation in states' relative investment, calling for additional policy attention and research.
A Qualitative Method to Determine How Textbooks Portray Scientific Methodology

One key aspect of scientific literacy is to have a clear understanding of how scientists work. Understanding how scientists work, or scientific methodology, is an essential part of scientific literacy and the public understanding of science in general. Research indicates that a large majority of Americans do not understand how scientists work. Some argue that science textbooks are one source of this misunderstanding. Although it is impossible to attribute the public’s inaccurate views of scientific methodology to only textbooks, textbooks still serve as a resource for the standard science classroom. Several studies have looked at how science textbooks represent the nature of science and, more specifically, scientific methodology. However, the majority of this research has utilized quantitative methods for their analyses. In other words, much of this research tends to focus on whether, not how, textbooks present scientific methodology. To address this gap in the literature, this study developed a qualitative method to evaluate how textbooks present scientific methodology. In this chapter, I describe the methods used to develop an instrument to look at the quality of a textbook’s presentation of scientific methodology.
C1INH Is A Novel Inhibitor Of Human Pulmonary Endothelial Cell Barrier Dysfunction

RATIONALE: The C1 inhibitor (C1INH) is an extracellular serine protease inhibitor involved in complement and coagulation pathways and provides protection against vascular leakiness through mechanisms that are not completely understood. We explored potential targets of C1INH including hyaluronic acid binding protein 2 (HABP2), a serine protease that induces pulmonary endothelial cell (EC) barrier disruption, a hallmark of acute lung injury (ALI). METHODS: Human pulmonary microvascular EC were used for in vitro examination of C1INH and HABP2 regulation of barrier function using trans-endothelial electrical resistance (TER). Male C57BL/6J mice (8-10 weeks, Jackson Laboratories, Bar Harbor, ME) were treated with intratracheal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 2.5 mg/kg) for 24 hours to induce ALI with pulmonary vascular hyper-permeability as determined by murine lung immunohistochemistry and bronchoalveolar lavage total protein concentration. In some cases, liposome-encapsulated HABP2 overexpression vector was intravenously administered and mice were assessed after 5 days for ALI parameters. RESULTS: Immunoprecipitation and Western Blot analysis of human pulmonary vascular endothelial cell media revealed that HABP2 forms an complex with C1INH. This complex formation was inhibited by treatment with the barrier-disrupting agent, LPS. Furthermore, in vitro challenging EC with LPS and/or low molecular weight hyaluronan (LMW–HA, ~2,500 Da) reduced C1INH and increased HABP2 protein expression. In contrast, the EC barrier enhancing agent, high molecular weight hyaluronan (HMW–HA, ~1 million Da), had an opposite effect on C1INH and HABP2 expression in EC. Importantly, overexpression of C1INH attenuated HABP2, LPS and LMW–HA-induced EC barrier disruption, while augmenting HMW–HA-mediated EC barrier enhancement. In accordance with our results, LPS–induced in vitro acute lung injury (ALI) in mice inhibited complex formation between C1INH and HABP2, allowing for activated HABP2 to be in vivo expressed. In addition, intratracheal LPS challenge downregulated C1INH and upregulated HABP2 protein expression in mouse lung homogenates. In vivo overexpression of HABP2 in the mouse vasculature induced pulmonary vascular hyper-permeability and ALI. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that HABP2 is a target for C1INH both and . Further, C1INH inhibits agonist–mediated in vitro in vivo endothelial cell barrier disruption and may be a potential therapeutic agent for the vascular leakiness observed in ALI.
Controversial salt report peppered with uncertainty.

A recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) assessment ([ 1 ][1]) provoked controversy by concluding that there is a lack of evidence for health benefits of reducing sodium intake to the very low levels recommended by some authoritative groups (“Report reignites battle over low-salt diets,” K.
Bridge-based sensing of NOx and SO2 emissions from ocean-going ships

Abstract As emissions from nonroad mobile sources face increased regulatory scrutiny, a surprisingly few number of real-world, in-use measurements exist for these sources. This paper reports the first use of an open-path Remote Sensing Device (RSD) to measure emissions from ocean-going ships, including cruise ships. This noninvasive technique measured NOx and SO2 emission factors from 16 individually identified ocean-going ships as they passed under the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, B.C. and their exhaust plumes passed through the sensing beam of the RSD on a bridge directly above. Ship NOx emissions generally agreed with previous studies showing no emissions trends across vessel type. Ship SO2 emissions were reasonable based on expected Environmental Control Area fuel sulfur requirements and corresponded to 0.4–2.4% sulfur in the fuels. This method's specificity of individual vessel SO2 measurements suggests that this technique could be used as a tool to detect high sulfur fuel use in vessels.
Design and development of planar reconfigurable motion generators

ABSTRACTThis article presents the concept of a new class of mechanical devices for multi-phase motion generation tasks. Reconfigurable Motion Generators are a new class of mechanical devices that are designed for a specific part family and their associated motion generation tasks. The research endeavors to realize a novel concept for Reconfigurable Motion Generators (RMGs) for multi-phase planar motion generation. Reconfigurable Motion Generators are capable of configuration changes according to variations in the motion generation requirements. Thus, Reconfigurable Motion Generators bridge the gap between the relative high flexibility and high cost of totally flexible devices (e.g., industrial robots) and the low flexibility and low cost of fully dedicated devices (e.g., cams and linkages). This paper introduces the concept of Reconfigurable Motion Generators that may be deployed in various automated manufacturing environments involving multi-phase motion generation tasks. The development, manufacturing, ...
Scalable location-based security in wireless networks

This dissertation presents a location-based approach to wireless security. It differs from current solutions in that it uses information about the physical location of clients to leverage physical security measures instead of relying on long-term secrets such as passwords and private keys. Our approach adapts to the wireless scenario an intuitive security model that is effective and already commonplace in wired LANs. We show that it addresses three problems with current solutions. First is the inability of network administrators to define geographical boundaries for wireless coverage. While access to Ethernet ports can be controlled by locking them inside buildings, wireless links extend connectivity beyond physical boundaries, making networks reachable to users across the street or in nearby buildings, therefore more vulnerable to attacks. We show that our services allow networks to provide connectivity to clients located within the intended service area (SA). Moreover, we show that malicious devices located outside the SA either need to get physically close to it---running afoul of physical security measures---or are faced with impractical hardware demands. The second problem is the lack of proper accountability. Without additional mechanisms, wireless networks are unable to accurately locate and securely identify traffic sources because clients are no longer physically connected to network ports. Even with user authentication and cryptographic packet protection, some link-layer services still rely on MAC addresses to identify clients, making networks vulnerable to denial-of-service attacks that are both effective and easy to implement. We show that our services allow wireless devices to be distinguished and located accurately, making misbehaving clients again physically exposed and accountable for their acts. Finally, most solutions that increase security to acceptable levels incur substantial management costs. Unlike these, our approach is to improve security in a cost-effective manner. Our architecture takes advantage of higher numbers of access points not only to improve accuracy but also to configure itself autonomously, with minimal operator participation. We use extensive measurements in a real setting to show that such automatic calibration provides for accurate services while also allowing networks to scale to large numbers of access points.
SU-F-P-35: A Multi-Institutional Plan Quality Checking Tool Built On Oncospace: A Shared Radiation Oncology Database System

Purpose: Late toxicity from radiation to critical structures limits the possible dose in Radiation Therapy. Perfectly conformal treatment of a target is not realizable, so the clinician must accept a certain level of collateral radiation to nearby OARs. But how much? General guidelines exist for healthy tissue sparing which guide RT treatment planning, but are these guidelines good enough to create the optimal plan given the individualized patient anatomy? We propose a means to evaluate the planned dose level to an OAR using a multi-institutional data-store of previously treated patients, so a clinician might reconsider planning objectives. Methods: The tool is built on Oncospace, a federated data-store system, which consists of planning data import, web based analysis tools, and a database containing:1) DVHs: dose by percent volume delivered to each ROI for each patient previously treated and included in the database.2) Overlap Volume Histograms (OVHs): Anatomical measure defined as the percent volume of an ROI within a given distance to target structures.Clinicians know what OARs are important to spare. For any ROI, Oncospace knows for which patients’ anatomy that ROI was harder to plan in the past (the OVH is less). The planned dose should be close to the least dose of previous patients. The tool displays the dose those OARs were subjected to, and the clinician can make a determination about the planning objectives used.Multiple institutions contribute to the Oncospace Consortium, and their DVH and OVH data are combined and color coded in the output. Results: The Oncospace website provides a plan quality display tool which identifies harder to treat patients, and graphically displays the dose delivered to them for comparison with the proposed plan. Conclusion: The Oncospace Consortium manages a data-store of previously treated patients which can be used for quality checking new plans. Grant funding by Elekta.
Analysis of a stochastic approximation algorithm for computing quasi-stationary distributions

We study the convergence properties of a Monte Carlo estimator proposed in the physics literature to compute the quasi-stationary distribution on a transient set of a Markov chain (see De Oliveira and Dickman (2005), (2006), and Dickman and Vidigal (2002)). Using the theory of stochastic approximations we verify the consistency of the estimator and obtain an associated central limit theorem. We provide an example showing that convergence might occur very slowly if a certain eigenvalue condition is violated. We alleviate this problem using an easy-to-implement projection step combined with averaging.
The Carbohydrate Lectin Receptor Dectin-1 Mediates the Immune Response to Exserohilum rostratum

Dematiaceous molds are found ubiquitously in the environment and cause a wide spectrum of human disease, including infections associated with high rates of mortality. Despite this, the mechanism of the innate immune response has been less well studied, although it is key in the clearance of fungal pathogens. Here, we focus on Exserohilum rostratum, a dematiaceous mold that caused 753 infections during a multistate outbreak due to injection of contaminated methylprednisolone. We show that macrophages are incapable of phagocytosing Exserohilum Despite a lack of phagocytosis, macrophage production of tumor necrosis factor alpha is triggered by hyphae but not spores and depends upon Dectin-1, a C-type lectin receptor. Dectin-1 is specifically recruited to the macrophage-hyphal interface but not the macrophage-spore interface due to differences in carbohydrate antigen expression between these two fungal forms. Corticosteroid and antifungal therapy perturb this response, resulting in decreased cytokine production. In vivo soft tissue infection in wild-type mice demonstrated that Exserohilum provokes robust neutrophilic and granulomatous inflammation capable of thwarting fungal growth. However, coadministration of methylprednisolone acetate results in robust hyphal tissue invasion and a significant reduction in immune cell recruitment. Our results suggest that Dectin-1 is crucial for macrophage recognition and the macrophage response to Exserohilum and that corticosteroids potently attenuate the immune response to this pathogen.
Uranium-238 Resonance Self-Indication Capture Measurements

Neutron self-indication measurements simulating 238U capture in reactors have been carried out over the energy range from 3 eV to 3 keV using shielding samples at 77, 293, and 873 K. The data have ...
Recent Health Care Use and Medicaid Entry of Medicare Beneficiaries

Purpose of the Study To examine the relationship between Medicaid entry and recent health care use among Medicare beneficiaries. Design and Methods We identified Medicare beneficiaries without full Medicaid or use of hospital or nursing home services in 2008 (N = 2,163,387). A discrete survival analysis estimated beneficiaries' monthly likelihood of entry into the full Medicaid program between January 2009 and June 2010. Results During the 18-month study period, Medicaid entry occurred for 1.1% and 3.7% of beneficiaries who aged into Medicare or originally qualified for Medicare due to disability, respectively. Among beneficiaries who aged into Medicare, 49% of new Medicaid participants had no use of inpatient, skilled nursing facility, or nursing home services during the study period. Individuals who recently used inpatient, skilled nursing facility or nursing home services had monthly rates of 1.9, 14.0, and 38.1 new Medicaid participants per 1,000 beneficiaries, respectively, compared with 0.4 new Medicaid participants per 1,000 beneficiaries with no recent use of these services. Implications Although recent health care use predicted greater likelihood of Medicaid entry, half of new Medicaid participants used no hospital or nursing home care during the study period. These patterns should be considered when designing and evaluating interventions to reform health care delivery for dual-eligible beneficiaries.
Stimuli-Responsive Self-Immolative Polymer Nanofiber Membranes Formed by Coaxial Electrospinning

The first self-immolative polymer (SIP) nanofiber membrane is demonstrated in this report, in which the immolation can be triggered by external stimulus. Electrospun SIP/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers provide depolymerization that is ∼25 times quicker and more responsive (i.e., immolation) than that of a cast film in the triggering condition. Depolymerization of SIP in the SIP/PAN blended fiber membrane results in the transition of the surface properties from hydrophobic (∼110°) to hygroscopic (∼0°). Triggered release of encapsulated functional molecules was demonstrated using coaxially electrospun fiber membrane made of a SIP/PAN blend sheath and polyvinylpyrrolidone/dye core. Coaxial fibers with the SIP/PAN sheath provide minimal release of the encapsulated material in nontriggering solution, while it releases the encapsulated material instantly when the triggering condition is met. Its versatility has been strengthened compared to that of non-SIP coaxial fibers that provide no triggering reaction by ex...