cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Efficient identification of critical stresses in structures subject to dynamic loads

Optimum structural design problems generally employ constraints which are parametric in terms of space and time variables. A parametric constraint may be replaced by equivalent critical point constraints at its local minima for optimization applications. In complex structures, accurate identification of such critical points is computationally expensive due to the cost of finite element analyses. Three techniques are described for efficiently and accurately identifying critical points for space- and time-dependent parametric constraints. An adaptive search technique and a spline interpolation technique are developed for exactly known response. A least squares spline approximation is suggested for noisy behavior. A helicopter tail-boom structure subjected to transient loading is used as an example to demonstrate the techniques described. All three techniques are shown to be computationally efficient for critical point identification and the least squares approximation also removes noise from the data. The case of multiple constraints per element is shown to be particularly suited to the use of spline techniques.
Theory and observation of optical guiding in a free-electron laser.

Optical guiding in a Raman free-electron laser (FEL) is studied theoretically and experimentally. Two complimentary theoretical approaches to the problem of optical guiding in a waveguide containing a filamentary electron beam are given and shown to be in good agreement with each other in the exponential gain regime. Evidence for optical guiding of 2-mm-wavelength radiation along the electron beam in the Columbia University FEL is obtained experimentally by analysis of spatial ``ring-down'' data of the optical wave profile and compared with numerical simulations. These data are presented for the exponential gain regime. A similar experiment at signal saturation conditions shows a much less well-defined ring-down. We give plausible experimental as well as theoretical arguments why the ring-down pattern is less well defined. Based on the observations presented in this paper, it is not possible to validate optical guiding at saturation.
Experimental verification of attitude control techniques for slew maneuvers of flexible spacecraft

This paper presents experimental verification of modern and classical control laws on flexible spacecraft structures. The Flexible Spacecraft Simulator at the Naval Postgraduate School is designed to test a variety of control theory on a two-dimensional representation of an antenna at the end of a low-frequency astromast. The Simulator represents motion about the pitch axis and is restricted to rotatation only. Control laws are implemented through a momentum wheel mounted on the rigid main body. Feedback is obtained through a rotary variable differential transformer (RVDT) which senses the body's rotation angle and a rate-gyro giving body rate. The analytical model contains the linearized equations of motion accounting for the flexible dynamics. Slewing maneuvers are conducted for positioning the main body by using proportionalderivative (PD), torque profiles and optimal controllers. No active control is applied to the flexible structure. A new technique for state estimation is developed for the optimal controller since the standard estimation methods prove to be unsatisfactory. In all cases, the experimental results are in close agreement with the analytical predictions.
The Triumph of Marxist Approaches in South African Social and Labour History

Marxism has evolved as the dominant intellectual perspective in South Africa, replacing South African liberalism, because liberalism has failed to acknowledge the connection between capitalism and apartheid. But the emergent Marxist paradigm was divided into two distinct poles: the "structuralists" and the "social historians." The tension between these two alternative perspectives has pervaded a number of sub-fields, including studies of rural relations, labour and social movements, and class and culture. The works of Charles Van Onselen and Belinda Bozzoli are treated in considerable detail because they represent the "social historical" perspective. Both the "structuralist" and "social historical" variants are analyzed in terms of their historical methods.
The uncatalyzed conjugate addition reaction of 2-(1-dioxolan-2-yl)-ethylmagnesium bromide with cyclic α,β-enones

Abstract The in situ acetal-containing Grignard reagent 1 reacts with cyclic enones at −78°C to yield the product of conjugate addition in the absence of copper(I) salts.
An Examination of Prototyping and Design Outcome

The building of prototypes is an important part of the product design and development process. This paper examines factors in prototyping, including part count and time spent on design and fabrication activity, and their correlations with design outcome. The research questions asked: Do simpler prototypes mean a more successful design? Does more prototyping lead to better designs? Does the amount of time spent on a project, both overall and on different activities over a project cycle, relate to design success? One of the main findings of this study is that prototypes with fewer parts correlate with better design outcome, as do prototypes that have fewer parts added to them over the course of development. This paper also finds that committing more time to a project is not necessarily associated with a successful design outcome.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
The Dimerization of Cyclobutadiene. An ab Initio CASSCF Theoretical Study

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations have been performed on the dimerization of cyclobutadiene using the 3-21G and 6-31G* basis sets. Complete active space SCF calculations with an 8-electron 8-orbital active space were carried out. The anti dimerization occurs by either synchronous concerted or asynchronous concerted pathways with nearly identical activation energies. The syn dimerization is highly favored, and this reaction is predicted to have a negative activation energy. There is no synchronous concerted pathway. The stationary points on the syn dimerization surface consist of a degenerate stationary point which can collapse directly to the product in four different ways or collapse to the transition state for the Cope rearrangement.
Definite descriptions and existence attribution

The hierarchical analysis of existence attribution is Fregean in its endorsement of senses, understood as guises. Furthermore, the hierarchical analysis makes an essential use of the Russellian analysis (9′) as a means to understand what it is for a sense to present a given entity (cf. biconditional (11) above). The hierarchical analysis, on the other hand, is more general than the Russellian one and hence - in accordance with natural language usage - allows for a wider range of applications.
Empirical basis and Forensic Application of Affective and Predatory Violence

The objective of this paper is to address the empirical basis and forensic application of a bimodal theory of violence. The definitions of affective and predatory violence, the relevant animal and clinical research, and the current empirical evidence in neurochemistry, neuropsychology and psychophysiology are reviewed. Forensic evidence for the relevance of this bimodal theory is investigated. An appropriate methodology for data gathering, and two observational measures along with one self-report measure are explicated. Integration of this bimodal theory into forensic practice is suggested. Affective and predatory modes of violence represent an empirically valid bimodal theory of violence, find application in forensic psychiatry, and scientifically deepen the understanding of discrete violent acts for both retrospective and prospective psychiatric and psychological investigations. This bimodal theory of violence should have a place in forensic psychiatric practice.
Fatigue of copper-zinc alloys at 100°K

Abstract Fatigue tests were conducted to determine the S-N diagrams for a series of copper-zinc alloys at 100°K. An attempt was made to relate the endurance limit behavior to both stacking fault energy and yield strength. No obvious relation to either quantity was found except in the long life region (106 cycles or greater), and this exception may be fortuitous. It is suggested that the work hardening rate is dependent on stacking fault energy, and that this may be a dominant factor in short life fatigue.
Characterization of a new sulfhydryl group reagent: 6,6′-Diselenobis-(3-Nitrobenzoic acid), a selenium analog of Ellman's reagent

Abstract A new reagent, 6,6′-diselenobis-(3-nitrobenzoic acid) (DSNB) has been synthesized and is shown to be useful for quantitative estimation of sulfhydryl groups in proteins. This reagent, which is a selenium analog of Ellman's reagent, reacts specifically and quantitatively with thiol groups of proteins to yield a selenenyl sulfide and the dianion of 3-nitro-6-selenobenzoic acid. The molar absorption coefficient of the chromophoric dianion is 10,000 at 432 nm in dilute aqueous solutions. The titration can best be performed at pH 8.20 where >98% of 3-nitro-6-selenobenzoic acid is in the form of the intensely colored dianion. Sulfhydryl content determinations by this reagent of reduced and denatured ribonuclease, reduced and denatured lysozyme, native papain, and native and denatured thymidylate synthetase are compared with those from corresponding 5,5′-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) titrations. The reagent was found to inactivate thymidylate synthetase, an enzyme with essential sulfhydryl groups. Unlike DTNB which undergoes alkaline decomposition of pH values greater than 9, DSNB was found to be stable to hydrolysis, even in 0.05 m NaOH.
Dietary Factors Influencing Calcium Assimilation*: XIV. The Influence of Mineral Acids and Sugar on the Calcium Metabolism of Milking Cows

Summary In this paper data are presented on the influence of cerelose (glucose) and mineral acid (HCl) on the absorption of calcium by the milking cow. 1.There was no consistent and favorable influence on calcium assimilation in dairy cows through the daily addition of 3 pounds of cerelose (glucose) to a standard ration of hay, silage, cereal grains, and cereal grain concentrates. 2.The daily ingestion of 115 or 230 cc. of 40 per cent HCl increased the calcium excretion in the urine with a greater net loss of calcium to the animal than when no acid was fed. The calcium absorption from the intestine was slightly improved through the use of mineral acid. 3.What factor in green plant tissue operates in securing for the cow a better utilization of the calcium in the green plant tissue or added calcium salts is not solved by the technique used in the above experiments.
Solvent perturbation of the allosteric regulation of aspartate transcarbamylase

Abstract Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase) catalyzes the first committed step in pyrimidine biosynthesis, the condensation of aspartate and carbamyl phosphate. ATCase is positively allosterically regulated by ATP and negatively regulated by CTP. We have used mild solvent perturbation to gain global molecular information about the mechanism of heterotropic allostery. The [NaCl], temperature, and osmotic pressure dependence of the enzymatic activity of ATCase has been examined in the presence and absence of allosteric effectors. The results indicate that: 1) Regulation of aspartate binding by CTP appears to involve a unique set of electrostatic interactions not involved in enzyme function in the presence of ATP or in the absence of effectors. 2) Aspartate binding is enthalpically driven in the presence and absence of allosteric effectors. 3) The apparent enthalpy and entropy of aspartate binding (Δ H , Δ S ), and activation energy of catalysis ( E a ) are substantially altered in the presence of CTP but not ATP. 4) The change in hydration of ATCase upon substrate binding is the same in the presence and absence of allosteric effectors. 5) The linkage between heterotropic and homotropic allostery is different for ATP and CTP.
On-line crystallinity measurement using laser Raman spectrometer and neural network

Abstract A neural network is configured and trained to measure the polymer crytallinity in real time and non-intrusive manner. After the training, input to the neural network becomes the laser Raman spectrum at selected ferquencies and the output from the network is the current crystallinity of polymer. In order to train the neural network, a training data set is constructed where the crystallinities corresponding to a given set of Raman spectra are pre-determined by the small angle light scattering (SALS) methodology. The technique is applied to measure the crystallinity of low-density thin polyethylene (LDPE) film. A typical sampling period for the determination of the crystallinity is around 12 s. The technique is compared to the principal component analysis that uses the same input data for calibration.
Tumour localization of uroporphyrin isomers I and III and their correlation to albumin and serum protein binding.

We were the first to report the superiority of uroporphyrin I (UROP I) as a tumour localizer when compared to haematoporphyrin derivative (HPD). In this study, we compared both isomers of UROP, i.e. I and III, in a KHJJ mammary carcinoma mouse model. Six and 18 h after UROP administration, the tumour, skin and gut porphyrin (P) content was quantitated. Tumour UROP I levels were always at least 50% higher than UROP III in tumour, whereas both isomers were barely detectable in the skin and gastrointestinal tract. We then explored the possibility that tumour P uptake might relate in part to the affinity of circulating P to mouse serum proteins (MSP), in particular, the major binding protein constituent, albumin. Copro-P III, deutero-P 2,4 disulphonic acid (DP), proto-P IX (PP) and heptacarboxylic P I (Hepta I) which in our mouse tumour model do not localize in malignant tissue, were compared to UROP I and III. The P was mixed with 0.775 μM human serum albumin (HSA) at different molar ratios (HSA:P range 2–8) and the unbound P concentration quantitated using an Amicon CF-25 membrane cone with centrifugation. The percentage free P was significantly higher for UROP I (92–98%) than III (82–95%) and significantly more than that observed with non-tumour localizing P studied. Similar data were obtained with MSP. This is consistent with the notion that enhanced uptake and retention (particularly UROP I) by malignant neoplastic tissue might reflect a higher affinity for UROP by tumour constituents than by circulating proteins. We conclude, (i) that serum proteins, particularly albumin, may play a significant role in governing the localization of P in tissues and, (ii) UROP clinically is ideally suited as a diagnostic marker of pre- or early mucosal malignancy as minimal retention by skin and gut would increase fluorescence specificity and diminish photocutaneous side effects.
Context modeling with the stochastic segment model

An approach for context modeling in continuous speech recognition for models based on multivariate Gaussian distributions, specifically, the stochastic segment model, is described. Robust context models are obtained by typing distribution parameters across different classes of context. Experimental results in phoneme and word recognition are comparable to those achieved with discrete hidden Markov models using mixture distributions. >
Evaluation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Coupled-Ocean Atmospheric Response Experiment (NOAA/COARE) air-sea gas transfer parameterization using GasEx data

[1] During the two recent GasEx field experiments, direct covariance measurements of air-sea carbon dioxide fluxes were obtained over the open ocean. Concurrently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Coupled-Ocean Atmospheric Response Experiment air-sea gas transfer parameterization was developed to predict gas transfer velocities from measurements of the bulk state of the sea surface and atmosphere. The model output is combined with measurements of the mean air and sea surface carbon dioxide fugacities to provide estimates of the air-sea CO2 flux, and the model is then tuned to the GasEx-1998 data set. Because of differences in the local environment and possibly because of weaknesses in the model, some discrepancies are observed between the predicted fluxes from the GasEx-1998 and GasEx-2001 cases. To provide an estimate of the contribution to the air-sea flux of gas due to wave-breaking processes, the whitecap and bubble parameterizations are removed from the model output. These results show that moderate (approximately 15 m s−1) wind speed breaking wave gas transfer processes account for a fourfold increase in the flux over the modeled interfacial processes.
Slide immunoenzymatic assay for immunoglobulin isotype (SIA-Ig).

Abstract A simple method is described for rapid determination of immunoglobulin class and subclass in an assortment of samples based on the slide immunoenzymatic assay (SIA-Ig). Each circle on a multi-circle glass slide is coated with anti-immunoglobulin class or subclass antibody. For each isotype to be assayed a circle is coated with its specific anti-isotype. The coated circles are incubated with sample containing the immunoglobulin(s) of unknown isotype and are then washed. The slide is then incubated with enzymelabeled anti-immunoglobulin and washed again. Finally, enzyme substrate is deposited onto the circles. Color appears within a few minutes only on the circle where the unknown was bound specifically by its corresponding anti-isotype antibody. The method reveals correctly the isotype of the constituents of complex mixtures, such as serum, as well as that of the only component of samples containing a single molecular species of immunoglobulin (e.g., monoclonal antibodies). The method is simple, reliable, gives results in
98: Voice frequency during normal and retarded growth, and during androgen treatment

We have measured basal, lowest and highest voice frequency (BF, LF, HF), using a simple method, in (1) 372 normal subjects: children and adolescents at ages 6, 8 and 10 years and at the different pubic hair stages (PH), and adults; (2) 71 children with different types of growth failure, and (3) 48 boys with delayed growth and maturation and 31 girls with Turner's syndrome, during fluoxymesterone treatment. BF fell in boys between ages 8 and 10 years (from 259 to 247Hz), but not in girls (253Hz). LF fell between ages 6 and 10 years in boys (from 234 to 203Hz) and girls (from 230 to 218 Hz), and a sex difference appeared. In puberty, a gradual fall of BF and LF occurred parallel to PH development, both in boys (to 100, 90Hz) and girls (to 213, 180Hz). An abnormally high BF was observed in 3 of 12 hyposomatotropic children, 4 of 7 children with Mulibrey nanism, and 2 of 9 children with other prenatal growth failure. Boys with delayed maturation had subnormal BF at PH 1 prior to treatment. At PH 2, fluoxymesterone (0.135mg/kg/day) treated boys had lower BF than untreated boys. Girls with Turner's syndrome also had slightly subnormal BF for PH after fluoxymesterone (0.10mg/kg/day). The voice effect was individually variable. In some cases androgen was discontinued because of voice change and a recovery was observed. The method is useful in the clinical characterization of growth failure and stage of puberty. It is particularly recommended for voice monitoring during androgen treatment when a change is undesirable.
Shifts in the microbial community composition of Gulf Coast beaches following beach oiling

Microorganisms associated with coastal sands serve as a natural biofilter, providing essential nutrient recycling in nearshore environments and acting to maintain coastal ecosystem health. Anthropogenic stressors often impact these ecosystems, but little is known about whether these disturbances can be identified through microbial community change. The blowout of the Macondo Prospect reservoir on April 20, 2010, which released oil hydrocarbons into the Gulf of Mexico, presented an opportunity to examine whether microbial community composition might provide a sensitive measure of ecosystem disturbance. Samples were collected on four occasions, beginning in mid-June, during initial beach oiling, until mid-November from surface sand and surf zone waters at seven beaches stretching from Bay St. Louis, MS to St. George Island, FL USA. Oil hydrocarbon measurements and NOAA shoreline assessments indicated little to no impact on the two most eastern beaches (controls). Sequence comparisons of bacterial ribosomal RNA gene hypervariable regions isolated from beach sands located to the east and west of Mobile Bay in Alabama demonstrated that regional drivers account for markedly different bacterial communities. Individual beaches had unique community signatures that persisted over time and exhibited spatial relationships, where community similarity decreased as horizontal distance between samples increased from one to hundreds of meters. In contrast, sequence analyses detected larger temporal and less spatial variation among the water samples. Superimposed upon these beach community distance and time relationships, was increased variability in bacterial community composition from oil hydrocarbon contaminated sands. The increased variability was observed among the core, resident, and transient community members, indicating the occurrence of community-wide impacts rather than solely an overprinting of oil hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria onto otherwise relatively stable sand population structures. Among sequences classified to genus, Alcanivorax, Alteromonas, Marinobacter, Winogradskyella, and Zeaxanthinibacter exhibited the largest relative abundance increases in oiled sands.
Parallel Performance Modeling using a Genetic Programming-based Error Correction Procedure

Performance models of high performance computing (HPC) applications are important for several reasons. First, they provide insight to designers of HPC systems on the role of subsystems such as the processor or the network in determining application performance. Second, they allow HPC centers more accurately to target procurements to resource requirements. Third, they can be used to identify application performance bottlenecks and to provide insights about scalability issues. The suitability of a performance model, however, for a particular performance investigation is a function of both the accuracy and the cost of the model. A semi-empirical model previously published by the authors for an astrophysics application was shown to be inaccurate when predicting communication cost for large numbers of processors. It is hypothesized that this deficiency is due to the inability of the model adequately to capture communication contention (threshold effects) as well as other unmodeled components such as noise and I/O contention. In this paper we present a new approach to capture these unknown features to improve the predictive capabilities of the model. This approach uses a systematic model error-correction procedure that uses evolutionary algorithms to find an error correction term to augment the eXisting model. Four variations of this procedure were investigated and all were shown to produce better results than the original model. Successful cross-platform application of this approach showed that it adequately captures machine dependent characteristics. This approach was then successfully demonstrated for a second application, further showing its versatility.
Whole words and decoding for short-term learning: comparisons on a "talking-computer" system.

Abstract Low-and average-ability readers in first and second grade studied a list of 36 words using a “talking-computer” system. The system highlighted and simultaneously pronounced orthographic units in the words when the children touched the words with a light pen. During two training sessions, the computer presented four groups of 9 words each, one group as whole words, one in syllabic units, one in subsyllabic units, and one as single grapheme-phoneme units. All children learned the least words with single grapheme-phoneme units, having had the greatest difficulty blending the units into words during training. The other presentation units did not differ significantly from each other for most students on post-testing. However, the low first-grade readers learned fewer words segmented and presented by subsyllables than by syllable or word units, but only for multisyllabic words. Monosyllabic words were blended and learned as easily with onset-rime segmentation as with whole word units, for all children.
Transitional features of benign and malignant oncocytic tumors: Report of two cases

(Editorial Comment: Malignant oncocytoma is rarely encountered. The authors carefully and clearly detail techniques to distinguish the more common benign oncocytoma from its malignant cousin.) Oncocytic tumors arise almost exclusively in the parotid glands of individuals over the age of 50 years and tend to occur more frequently in males. They are rare, accounting for less than 1% of all salivary gland neoplasms and usually present as an indolent, often multilobulated, solid mass in the superficial lobe of the parotid. l Although nearly always benign, an extremely rare malignant variety exists with only 30 documented cases in the world’s medical literature.2-4 Benign oncocytomas may be classified as solitary or multinodular. Approximately 7% of benign oncocytomas are bilateral.2 Histologically, they consist of large polyhedral or round cells known as oncocytes.3 Typical oncocytes have an eosinophilic, pink, granular cytoplasm and a centrally placed nucleus with prominent nucleoli. They generally do not show nuclear atypia or a high mitotic rate, even in those tumors destined to metastasize.4 Occasionally, benign oncocytomas are made up of clear cells reminiscent of elements seen in some low-grade salivary gland malignancies.’ Oncocytomas may exist in solid sheets or parallel columns, or adopt alveolar or ductlike configurations. Often, they have a variable pattern in the same tumor. In the multinodular variety, separate groups of oncocytes could undergo hyperplasia or may lose encapsulation and develop islands of tumor in an initially solitary 0ncocytoma.l
Automatic Extrinsic Calibration of Vision and Lidar by Maximizing Mutual Information

This paper reports on an algorithm for automatic, targetless, extrinsic calibration of a lidar and optical camera system based upon the maximization of mutual information between the sensor-measured surface intensities. The proposed method is completely data-driven and does not require any fiducial calibration targets-making in situ calibration easy. We calculate the Cramer-Rao lower bound CRLB of the estimated calibration parameter variance, and we show experimentally that the sample variance of the estimated parameters empirically approaches the CRLB when the amount of data used for calibration is sufficiently large. Furthermore, we compare the calibration results to independent ground-truth where available and observe that the mean error empirically approaches zero as the amount of data used for calibration is increased, thereby suggesting that the proposed estimator is a minimum variance unbiased estimate of the calibration parameters. Experimental results are presented for three different lidar-camera systems: i a three-dimensional 3D lidar and omnidirectional camera, ii a 3D time-of-flight sensor and monocular camera, and iii a 2D lidar and monocular camera.
Validity of Low Magnetic Reynolds Number Formulation of Magnetofluiddynamics

*† ‡ Validity of low magnetic Reynolds number approximation has been evaluated by conducting numerical experimentation with both the full magnetofluiddynamic (MFD) formulation and the low magnetic Reynolds number formulation. MFD equations in their classical form and under low magnetic Reynolds number approximation are presented and numerically solved using four-stage modified Runge-Kutta scheme augmented with the Total Variation Diminishing model in post-processing stage. An attempt has been made to compare the results obtained by the two available approaches. The results obtained from low magnetic number approximation compare well with the results obtained by solving the full MFD equations for low ranges of magnetic Reynolds number.
Workshop - building reflective team skills with a T-Group

ABET criteria require that engineering graduates have the ability to "function on multidisciplinary teams" and "communicate effectively". An important component of these skills is the ability to reflect on one's personal actions and the dynamics occurring within the group. This workshop is intended to provide participants with a practical exercise that can help students become more self-reflective and aware of group dynamics, while demonstrating the use of the "virtual facilitator" system to improve group dialogue. The workshop will engage the participants in a self- directed learning exercise modeled after T-Groups. This exercise will help participants: 1) Become aware of their own patterns of behavior 2) Learn about the impact of their behavior on others 3) Evaluate the impact of others' behavior on one's self 4) Become more effective in interpersonal interactions During the exercise participants may use a computationally intelligent "virtual facilitator". It can be used in student exercises or project teams to help students learn communication skills. This workshop will be of interest to engineering educators who desire to incorporate learner-centered approaches to learning but have found that their students need to gain awareness of team dynamics. It will be of particular interest to those open to non-traditional methods.
Surface scattering in three dimensions: an accelerated high-order solver

We present a new algorithm for the numerical solution of problems of acoustic scattering by surfaces in threedimensional space. This algorithm evaluates scattered fields through fast, highorder, ac...
Using the TOSRA to Assess High School Students' Attitudes toward Science after Competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition: An Exploratory Study.

This study examined high school students’ attitudes toward science after participating in a robotics competition. Specifically, this study used the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA) to measure students’ attitudes toward science in seven categories: Social Implications of Science, Normality of Scientists, Attitude toward Scientific Inquiry, Adoption of Scientific Attitudes, Enjoyment of Science Lessons, Leisure Interest in Science, and Career Interest in Science. Results indicate that students who participated in the robotic competition had a more positive attitude toward science and science related areas in four of the seven categories examined: Social Implications of Science, Normality of Scientists, Attitude toward Scientific Inquiry, and Adoption of Scientific Attitudes. Implications of results on students’ attitudes are discussed.
Pulmonary Sequestration with Aneurysmal Anomalous Systemic Artery

Although pulmonary sequestrations are usually supplied by a large anomalous systemic artery, no previous report of aneurysmal change in this artery has been described. Our patient demonstrated a large aneurysm of the distal systemic artery which was filled with organized thrombus. Although both trauma and cystic medial necrosis could have been causative agents, both were ruled out and the etiology of this aneurysm formation remains speculative.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall... Are the Freer Countries More Pacific?

This analysis compares the incidence of war involvement by countries with comparatively more and less political freedom. It examines the proposition that political freedom promotes peace, as suggested by R. J. Rummel, in its monadic form. Its results indicate that this proposition tends to be contradicted or unsupported, if we focus only on monadic relationships, if we refer to wars from a more distant past, if we include wars of an extrasystemic nature (i.e., colonial and imperialist wars) or if we assess political freedom cross-sectionally (i.e., comparing a country's political conditions with those of its contemporaries). On the other hand, it is suggested that this proposition tends to be confirmed, if we focus only on dyadic relationships, if we refer to the more recent past, if we exclude extrasystemic wars, or if we assess political freedom longitudinally for each country (i.e., comparing a country's freedom status in terms of its own present or past political conditions). Thus some of the discrepa...
Modeling temporal relationships in large scale clinical associations

Objective We describe an approach for modeling temporal relationships in a large scale association analysis of electronic health record data. The addition of temporal information can inform hypothesis generation and help to explain the relationships. We applied this approach on a dataset containing 41.2 million timestamped International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes from 1.6 million patients. Methods We performed two independent analyses including a pairwise association analysis using a χ 2 test and a temporal analysis using a binomial test. Data were visualized using network diagrams and reviewed for clinical significance. Results We found nearly 400 000 highly associated pairs of ICD-9 codes with varying numbers of strong temporal associations ranging from ≥ 1d ay to≥10 years apart. Most of the findings were not considered clinically novel, although some, such as an association between Helicobacter pylori infection and diabetes, have recently been reported in the literature. The temporal analysis in our large cohort, however, revealed that diabetes usually preceded the diagnoses of H pylori, raising questions about possible cause and effect. Discussion Such analyses have significant limitations, some of which are due to known problems with ICD-9 codes and others to potentially incomplete data even at a health system level. Nevertheless, large scale association analyses with temporal modeling can help provide a mechanism for novel discovery in support of hypothesis generation. Conclusions Temporal relationships can provide an additional layer of meaning in identifying and interpreting clinical associations.
What bilingual poets can do: Re-visioning English education for biliteracy

This paper describes a bilingual-bidialectal poetry writing programme set up in a community library in the southeastern United States for multi-age learners. The authors explore the use of poetry as a vehicle for biliteracy development. The analysis draws on observations of the students’ engagement with poetry both in terms of their writing and the teachers’ responses. The paper discusses how poetry can inform a critical, multicultural approach to developing biliteracy in students of all ages and degrees of competence in written English. The authors theorise the role that poetry can play in creating positive learning environments for such students.
Socioeconomic differences in road traffic injuries

We greatly appreciate the attention brought to the growing problem of road traffic injuries in your journal and especially welcome the focus on socioeconomic differentials in the distribution of such injuries.1,2 However, we feel that the impact of road traffic injuries is far greater in the developing world and feel the need to raise the following issues for consideration by colleagues around the world.
On High-Assurance Scientific Workflows

Scientific Workflow Management Systems (S-WFMS), such as Kepler, have proven to be an important tools in scientific problem solving. Interestingly, S-WFMS fault-tolerance and failure recovery is still an open topic. It often involves classic fault-tolerance mechanisms, such as alternative versions and rollback with re-runs, reliance on the fault-tolerance capabilities provided by subcomponents and lower layers such as schedulers, Grid and cloud resources, or the underlying operating systems. When failures occur at the underlying layers, a workflow system sees this as failed steps in the process, but frequently without additional detail. This limits S-WFMS' ability to recover from failures. We describe a light weight end-to-end S-WFMS fault-tolerance framework, developed to handle failure patterns that occur in some real-life scientific workflows. Capabilities and limitations of the framework are discussed and assessed using simulations. The results show that the solution considerably increase workflow reliability and execution time stability.
The right to practice medicine without repercussions: ethical issues in times of political strife

This commentary examines the incursion on the neutrality of medical personnel now taking place as part of the human rights crises in Bahrain and Syria, and the ethical dilemmas which these incursions place not only in front of physicians practicing in those nations, but in front of the international community as a whole. In Bahrain, physicians have recently received harsh prison terms, apparently for treating demonstrators who clashed with government forces. In Syria, physicians are under the same political pressure to avoid treating political demonstrators or to act as informants against their own patients, turning them in to government authorities. This pressure has been severe, to the point that some physicians have become complicit in the abuse of patients who were also political demonstrators. This paper posits that physicians in certain countries in the Middle East during the “Arab Spring,” specifically Syria and Bahrain, are being used as both political pawns and political weapons in clear violation of Geneva Convention and World Medical Association guidelines, and that this puts them into the most extreme sort of “dual loyalty” dilemma. They are being forced to choose between their own safety and well-being and that of their patients – a negative sum scenario wherein there is no optimal choice. As such, an international call for a United Nations inquiry must be made in order to protect the neutrality of medical care and personnel during times of armed conflict.
The Gradual Increase of Responsibility Model for coaching teachers

Purpose – This collective case study investigated the ways in which coaching supports teacher change. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to consider what types of feedback are best at what times in the coaching process and how coaching supports teachers’ application of learning to differing contexts. Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted over an 18-month period in three settings: a university reading clinic and two schools. Participants were a coach and two in-service teachers enrolled in a literacy specialist master’s degree program. This qualitative study included observational field notes, interviews, lesson plans, and teacher reflections as primary data sources. Findings – Findings suggest a model for coaching that acknowledges the learner’s previous knowledge and experience and continuously gauges support to stay within the ever-escalating zone of proximal development. Specific coaching moves that vary by degree of scaffolding are identified, namely: modeling, recommending, as...
In a single-blind, matched group design: branched-chain amino acid supplementation and resistance training maintains lean body mass during a caloric restricted diet

Athletes and active adults many times have the goal of improving/maintaining fitness while losing weight and this is best achieved by caloric restriction in combination with exercise. However, this poses a risk for lean tissue loss, which can limit performance. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) supplement, in conjunction with heavy resistance training and a carbohydrate caloric-restricted “cut diet” on body composition and muscle fitness. Seventeen resistance-trained males (21–28 years of age) were randomized to a BCAA group (n = 9) or a carbohydrate (CHO) group (n = 8) who both received their respective supplement during the 8 weeks of a prescribed body building style resistance training protocol. Subjects were prescribed a hypocaloric diet (based upon pre-intervention analysis) that was to be followed during the study. The BCAA group lost fat mass (−0.05 ± 0.08 kg;p < .05) and maintained lean mass, while the CHO group lost lean mass (−0.90 ± 0.06 kg; p < .05) and body mass (−2.3 ± 0.7 kg; p < .05). Both groups increased 1RM squat, but the increase in the BCAA group (15.1 ± 2.2 kg; p < .05)was greater (P < 0.05) than the CHO group. The BCAA group increased 1RM bench press (7.1 ± 1.6 kg; P < 0.05), while the CHO group decreased strength (−3.7 ± 2.3 kg; P < 0.05). The only change in muscular endurance was an increase in repetitions to fatigue (5.3 ± 0.2; p < .05) in the CHO group. These results show that BCAA supplementation in trained individuals performing resistance training while on a hypocaloric diet can maintain lean mass and preserve skeletal muscle performance while losing fat mass.
Atomic persistence for SCM with a non-intrusive backend controller

Non-volatile byte-addressable memory has the potential to revolutionize system architecture by providing instruction-grained direct access to vast amounts of persistent data. We describe a non-intrusive memory controller that uses backend operations for achieving lightweight failure atomicity. By moving synchronous persistent memory operations to the background, the performance overheads are minimized. Our solution avoids costly software intervention by decoupling isolation and concurrency-driven atomicity from failure atomicity and durability, and does not require changes to the front-end cache hierarchy. Two implementation alternatives — one using a hardware structure, and the other extending the memory controller with a firmware managed volatile space — are described. Our results show the performance is significantly better than traditional approaches.
Biology and Control of a Pecan Serpentine Leaf Miner, Nepticula juglandifoliella

Larvae of Nepticula juglandifoliella Clemens make narrow serpentine mines in the upper surface of pecan foliage. In Georgia they mine leaves from July until November and complete 4 generations. Information on biology, damage, and control of this lepidopterous leaf miner is presented.
Structural and chemical evolution of the SOFC anode La 0.30Sr0.70Fe0.70Cr0.30O 3-δ upon reduction and oxidation: An in situ neutron diffraction study

Although some perovskite oxides have been shown to be stable solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anodes, the actual crystal structure of these materials under operating conditions is largely unknown. In this paper, the structural evolution of the SOFC anode La0.30Sr0.70Fe0.70Cr0.30O3−δ was studied at 800 and 900 °C (similar to SOFC operating temperatures) in progressively reducing and oxidizing environments. The perovskite was shown to be stable down to a pO2 of 10−20 atm at 800 °C and a pO2 of 10−18 atm at 900 °C, at which point a spinel phase formed. Further reduction led to the formation of Fe metal. The phase separation of La0.30Sr0.70Fe0.70Cr0.30O3−δ was also shown to be completely reversible with an increase in the partial oxygen pressure and reoxidation of the sample.
A coupled finite element cellular automaton model to predict thermal history and grain morphology of Ti-6Al-4V during direct metal deposition (DMD)

Abstract In this paper, a predictive model based on a cellular automaton (CA)-finite element (FE) method has been developed to simulate thermal history and microstructure evolution during metal solidification for a laser-based additive manufacturing process. The macroscopic FE calculation was designed to update the temperature field and simulate a high cooling rate. In the microscopic CA model, heterogeneous nucleation sites, preferential growth orientation, and dendritic grain growth were simulated. The CA model was able to show the entrapment of neighboring cells and the relationship between undercooling and the grain growth rate. The model predicted the dendritic grain size, and morphological evolution during the solidification phase of the deposition process. The grain morphology result has been validated by the experiment.
Mechanisms of hypoxic vasodilation in ferret pulmonary arteries

To investigate the mechanism of hypoxic pulmonary vasodilation we measured isometric tension in rings from ferret third- to fifth-generation intrapulmonary arteries mounted in organ baths (37 degrees C, 28% O2-5% CO2). After precontraction with phenylephrine (PE), hypoxia caused a brief transient vasoconstriction followed by marked vasodilation. Endothelial denudation did not affect the steady-state response. In vessels without endothelium, inhibition of cyclooxygenase and nitric oxide synthase had no effect on the response to hypoxia. Inhibition of ATP-dependent K+ channels (KATP) with glibenclamide, linogliride, or tolbutamide had no effect on normoxic tone before PE or the vasoconstrictor response to PE but inhibited hypoxic vasodilation. Inhibition of Ca(2+)-activated K+ (KCa) channels with charybdotoxin potentiated the vasoconstrictor response to PE but had no effect on hypoxic vasodilation. The nonspecific K(+)-channel inhibitor tetraethyl-ammonium (TEA) potentiated the response to PE and inhibited hypoxic vasodilation. Glibenclamide plus TEA inhibited hypoxic vasodilation more than either agent alone, suggesting that TEA inhibited the KATP-channel independent vasodilation. These results suggest that in isolated ferret pulmonary arteries hypoxia causes vasodilation partially by activating smooth muscle KATP channels. Activation of a TEA-sensitive channel that is not a KATP or KCa channel may also contribute to hypoxic vasodilation.
"Why would anybody do this?": Understanding Older Adults' Motivations and Challenges in Crowd Work

Diversifying participation in crowd work can benefit the worker and requester. Increasing numbers of older adults are online, but little is known about their awareness of or how they engage in mainstream crowd work. Through an online survey with 505 seniors, we found that most have never heard of crowd work but would be motivated to complete tasks by earning money or working on interesting or stimulating tasks. We follow up results from the survey with interviews and observations of 14 older adults completing crowd work tasks. While our survey data suggests that financial incentives are encouraging, in-depth interviews reveal that a combination of personal and social incentives may be stronger drivers of participation, but only if older adults can overcome accessibility issues and understand the purpose of crowd work. This paper contributes insights into how crowdsourcing sites could better engage seniors and other users.
Double connections in total anomalous pulmonary venous connection.

Three infants who underwent operation for total anomalous pulmonary venous connection had unobstructed drainage of all the pulmonary veins to both the coronary sinus and left vertical vein. In one patient the anatomy was demonstrated preoperatively and complete correction accomplished without difficulty, but in two patients the second connection was discovered only at postoperative reinvestigation. Arbitrary classification of total anomalous pulmonary venous connection into cardiac, supracardiac, intracardiac, and mixed types does not lend itself to description of such lesions and may obscure their clinical importance. For these less common variants of total anomalous pulmonary venous connection, a more detailed and precise definition of morphology facilitates accurate surgical repair.