cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modeling growth and rotation of porphyroblasts and inclusion trails

Abstract Trails of mineral inclusions within metamorphic porphyroblasts can provide useful kinematic information, but interpretation of these structures is plagued by ambiguity. Spiral trails or differences in orientation between internal and external foliations can be interpreted as reflecting either differential rotation of the porphyroblast and cleavage during growth, or as static overgrowth upon earlier foliations. These contrasting interpretations have conflicting implications for the behavior of deforming rocks. This paper presents a computer program which uses previously published descriptions of the behavior of structural elements to simulate the growth and rotation of porphyroblasts and cleavages. This program models synkinematic porphyroblast growth as a series of steps of growth and rotation. The porphyroblast is considered to be a rigid inclusion in a viscous matrix. As it grows it includes one of three model foliations. Foliation may be the plane of maximum finite strain, maximum infinitesimal strain, or a preexisting passive marker. Both the finite and passive foliations may rotate as deformation proceeds. The program incorporates different growth laws in order to simulate growth in different metamorphic conditions. The porphyroblast may grow by adding fixed increments of radius, surface area, or volume. Porphyroblasts may be equant or elongate. Resultant inclusion trails are complex because of the variable relative rates of rotation of inclusions and cleavage. Different growth laws cause the curvature of trails to be distributed differently within the porphyroblast. In some cases foliations are generated which could easily be interpreted as an included crenulation cleavage; other cases give an apparent sense of rotation opposite to the actual rotation.
Morpho Butterfly-Inspired Spectral Emissivity of Metallic Microstructures for Radiative Cooling

Radiative cooling offers unique capabilities of controlling surface temperature and improving the energy efficiency of various systems ranging from buildings to micro-devices and personal clothing using re-emission of heat via the atmospheric transmission spectrum in the spectral range of $8-14~{\mu }\text{m}$. Control of the spectral emissivity profile results in control of the thermal behavior of the surfaces. Tailoring the emissivity profile to match the atmospheric transmission spectrum results in radiative cooling of surfaces. Here we investigate the use of bio-inspired designs for radiative cooling applications. Our simulations of Morpho butterfly-inspired branched microstructures (micro-trees, briefly) based on rigorous coupled wave analysis offer optimally-designed micro-trees that act as perfect reflectors of incident solar radiation, while acting as near-black bodies within the atmospheric transmission spectrum. The structural periodicities result in an emissivity below 0.2 between $1~{\mu }\mathrm {m}$ and $6~{\mu }\mathrm {m}$, reducing adverse effects of solar heating. Meanwhile the emissivity remains above 0.7 for $8-14~{\mu }\mathrm {m}$, offering an increased opportunity for radiative cooling. The use of typically hot metallic surfaces, with very low emissivity values, results in radiative cooled metallic micro-trees with spectral-selective emissivity. The surface temperature of metallic micro-trees is roughly 9–10 K lower than bare metallic surfaces, aided by an increased cooling power of roughly $140~\mathrm {W}/\mathrm {m} ^{2}$. The spectral selectivity of these structures is attained by the tunable morphology of the structures themselves. The bio-inspired micro-trees present opportunities for passive radiative cooling, with their structural flexibility and spectral tuning opening the field for broad thermal management applications.
A 4GHz Instantaneous Bandwidth Low Squint Phased Array Using Sub-Harmonic ILO Based Channelization

This paper presents a wideband channelized phased array receiver that uses sub-harmonic injection locked oscillators. The combination of channelization and sub-harmonic injection locking synchronizes the center of the sub-bands so beam squinting is reduced by the number of bands. Channelization additionally, reduces the performance requirements for the ADCs by reducing their speed requirement and also by reducing the SNR requirements due to a reduction in PAPR. The two-band prototype design realized in 65nm GP CMOS is centered at 9GHz, provides 4GHz instantaneous bandwidth, reduces beam-squinting by half (i.e., for 2 channels), consumes 31.75mW/antenna and occupies 2.7mm2 of chip area.
Expanding Hearts and Minds? Evaluation of an Ecumenical Educational Program on Immigration:

The persistence of xenophobia and nativism in the United States has encouraged groups and organizations in the civil society to promote mutual understanding and collaboration between immigrants and...
Mass fainting in Cambodian garment factories

Abstract A mysterious phenomenon has plagued factories in Cambodia for years. In 2017, there were more than 1600 cases of factory workers in Cambodia fainting in various incidents. In 2018, a single incident resulted in more than 200 workers at a shoe factory simultaneously fainting at the workplace. So far, investigations from various organizations have documented various potential causes of the mass faintings. As much as the investigations give insight into possible contributing factors, none have looked at the problem as a whole. Rather, each group sees the issue through their own lens based on their area of interest or scope of work. Looking for “the” single cause of mass fainting ignores the insight that there may be many component causes. By considering the problem more holistically, it may be possible to identify several potential leverage points for intervention.
The Effects of Engaging in Rapport-Building Behaviors on Productivity and Discretionary Effort

A commonly held belief among business professionals is that rapport-building activities in the workplace can enhance organizational outcomes and employee satisfaction. However, limited research has...
How cations affect the electric double layer and the rates and selectivity of electrocatalytic processes

Electrocatalysis is central to the production of renewable fuels and high-value commodity chemicals. The electrolyte and the electrode together determine the catalytic properties of the liquid/solid interface. In particular, the cations of the electrolyte can greatly change the rates and reaction selectivity of many electrocatalytic processes. For this reason, the careful choice of the cation is an essential step in the design of catalytic interfaces with high selectivity for desired high-value products. To make such a judicious choice, it is critical to understand where in the electric double layer the cations reside and the various distinct mechanistic impacts they can have on the electrocatalytic process of interest. In this perspective, we review recent advances in the understanding of the electric double layer with a particular focus on the interfacial distribution of cations and the cations' hydration states in the vicinity of the electrode under various experimental conditions. Furthermore, we summarize the different ways in which cations can alter the rates and selectivity of chemical processes at electrified interfaces and identify possible future areas of research in this field.
Critically Accommodating “Illegality”: Anticipatory Losses within Mixed-Status Immigrant Families

“Illegality” presents multidimensional barriers resulting in diverse losses. Using autoethnography, I outline the similarities among my interlocking experiences of managing the threat of forced fam...
Metabolic engineering of β-oxidation to leverage thioesterases for production of 2-heptanone, 2-nonanone and 2-undecanone.

Abstract Medium-chain length methyl ketones are potential blending fuels due to their cetane numbers and low melting temperatures. Biomanufacturing offers the potential to produce these molecules from renewable resources such as lignocellulosic biomass. In this work, we designed and tested metabolic pathways in Escherichia coli to specifically produce 2-heptanone, 2-nonanone and 2-undecanone. We achieved substantial production of each ketone by introducing chain-length specific acyl-ACP thioesterases, blocking the β-oxidation cycle at an advantageous reaction, and introducing active β-ketoacyl-CoA thioesterases. Using a bioprospecting approach, we identified fifteen homologs of E. coli β-ketoacyl-CoA thioesterase (FadM) and evaluated the in vivo activity of each against various chain length substrates. The FadM variant from Providencia sneebia produced the most 2-heptanone, 2-nonanone, and 2-undecanone, suggesting it has the highest activity on the corresponding β-ketoacyl-CoA substrates. We tested enzyme variants, including acyl-CoA oxidases, thiolases, and bi-functional 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydratases to maximize conversion of fatty acids to β-keto acyl-CoAs for 2-heptanone, 2-nonanone, and 2-undecanone production. In order to address the issue of product loss during fermentation, we applied a 20% (v/v) dodecane layer in the bioreactor and built an external water cooling condenser connecting to the bioreactor heat-transferring condenser coupling to the condenser. Using these modifications, we were able to generate up to 4.4 g/L total medium-chain length methyl ketones.
Sport Motivation as a Possible Indicator of Concussion Reporting Intentions Among Young Athletes.

OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship between sport motivation and intentions to report concussion symptoms among young adult athletes. DESIGN Cross-sectional study (level of evidence: 3). SUBJECTS One thousand three hundred five young adult athletes of various sports and levels of competitiveness from the Survey Sampling International panel. METHODS Data were collected through an online survey. Ordinary least squares regression was used to examine the relationship between motivation and reporting intentions controlling for competitiveness and perceived risk of injury. RESULTS Athletes who play their sport for self-regulated (autonomous) reasons have higher intentions to seek care for concussion-like symptoms, whereas those who play to achieve gains external to the sport or avoid punishment (controlled motivation) have lower intentions. A one-point increase in autonomous motivation was associated with an 11.5-point increase in reporting intention (t = 6.629, P < 0.001), whereas a one-point increase in controlled motivation was associated with an 8.1-point decrease in reporting intention (t = -4.562, P < 0.001). Betas from the model suggested that autonomous motivation had a stronger effect than controlled motivation (0.226 vs -0.163). CONCLUSIONS Innovation in care, concussion education, and cultivation of team culture supportive of autonomous motivation could increase concussion reporting. Measuring sport motivation may reveal which athletes require more proactive attention to ensure symptoms are not concealed. Furthermore, messages to reinforce autonomous motivation may increase willingness to report.
Amifampridine to treat Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome

Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) is a presynaptic autoimmune disabling neuromuscular disease caused by antibodies against presynaptic voltage-gated calcium channels. It reduces the quantal release of acetylcholine (Ach), causing muscle weakness, reduced or absent reflex and dysautonomia. About half of LEMS patients have associated small cell lung cancer. For symptomatic treatment, amifampridine (3,4-diaminopyridine [3,4-DAP]) is ideal because it increases the release of Ach at the presynaptic membrane. Since the first use of 3,4-DAP in LEMS patients in the 1980s, 136 LEMS patients were treated with amifampridines in the open-label studies and 208 patients in the eight randomized studies. These studies showed that amifampridine is the most effective drug for symptomatic treatment in LEMS. Now, 3,4-DAPP (3,4-DAP phosphate) is approved for adult LEMS patients and 3,4-DAP for pediatric patients. The recommended dose is 80 mg a day, divided 3 or 4 times a day. Side effects are usually mild, and the most frequently reported are paresthesia.
Fully integrated CMOS tunable power amplifier using reconfigurable input/interstage/output matching networks

This paper presents a two-stage tunable power amplifier (PA) fully-integrated in 130 nm CMOS process. This multi-band PA consists of reconfigurable input, interstage, and output matching networks in order to tune the center frequency in use. The proposed tunable power amplifier enables three different bands with center frequency of 900 MHz, 1450 MHz, and 1900 MHz. By switching these bands, the designed power amplifier covers frequency range of 700 MHz–2200 MHz known as Long-Term Evolution mobile network. As a result, the proposed tunable power amplifier obtains small-signal gain (S21) of 27.8 dB/29.4 dB/28.6 dB, saturated output power (Psat) of 22.4 dBm/23.0 dBm/23.2 dBm, and power added efficiency of 21.0%/23.7%/25.0% at three targeted frequency bands, respectively. The proposed fully-integrated triple-band power amplifier chip layout occupies an area of 2.25 mm2 including bond pads.
Analyzing Meteorological and Chemical Conditions for Two High Ozone Events Over the New York City and Long Island Region

This study investigated ozone (O 3 ) formation conditions during two high O 3 events in July of 2018 over the New York City metropolitan and Long Island area using surface meteorological observations, surface concentration measurements of O 3 , NO 2 , CO and PM 2.5 , and tropospheric column CO, HCHO, NO 2 from TROPOMI satellite measurements. We found that both events are associated with high temperature with maximum temperature above 31 °C. However, TROPOMI data showed high tropospheric column CO and HCHO, low NO 2 and large HCHO/NO 2 ratios over the study area in Event 1; while the opposite is seen in Event 2, with lower CO and HCHO, higher NO 2 and lower HCHO/NO 2 ratios over the study area. Precursor conditions which formed the high O 3 differed. For Event 1, it was the fire-induced smoke (VOCs) that contributed to the high spike of ground-level O 3 , and most of the study area was a NOx-limited or a transitional regime. For Event 2, it was more like a normal high NO 2 event, which resulted in a more widespread VOC-limited regime.
MASS-FIX for the detection of monoclonal proteins and light chain N-glycosylation in routine clinical practice: a cross-sectional study of 6315 patients

Immunoenrichment-based matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), termed MASS-FIX, offers several advantages over immunofixation for the detection and isotyping of serum monoclonal protein, including superior sensitivity and specificity, the ability to differentiate therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, and the rapid identification of light chain (LC) N-glycosylation. We identified 6315 patients with MASS-FIX performed at our institution since 2018. Of these, 4118 patients (65%) with a wide array of plasma cell disorders (PCD), including rare monoclonal gammopathies of clinical significance, had a positive MASS-FIX. Two-hundred twenty-one (5%) of the MASS-FIX positive patients had evidence of LC N-glycosylation, which was more commonly identified in IgM heavy chain isotype, kappa LC isotype, and in diagnoses of immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis and cold agglutinin disease (CAD) compared to other PCD. This cross-sectional study describes the largest cohort of patients to undergo MASS-FIX in routine clinical practice. Our findings demonstrate the widespread utility of this assay, and confirm that LC N-glycosylation should prompt suspicion for AL amyloidosis and CAD in the appropriate clinical context.
Optimal Artificial Neural Network Model For Prediction of Oil and Gas Pipelines Defect Length

Magnetic flux leakage (MFL) signals are used for estimating not only the size, but also the shape of the faults causes by deteriorating metal that makes the oil and gas pipelines. Such defects, such as rust, which, if left undetected and poorly handled, may have devastating effects, both in terms of environmental degradation and loss of life, and also millions of dollars in repair costs to be incurred by the ownership firms. Algorithms focused on machine learning have demonstrated the ability to solve the issue by identifying and measuring the size and shape of such defects effectively. In particular, artificial neural networks (ANN) have shown great potential to generate high precision results. In this article, the optimization of ANN was carried out by using noisy and noiseless measurements of MFL signals. ANN optimization was conducted for the training function (12 separate training functions), the hidden neurons numbered between 1 and 100, and hidden layers numbered between 1 and 10. The output was calculated by root mean square (RMSE) error. It has been found that gradient descent momentum (GDM) and gradient descent (GD) exhibit bad performance outcomes than all other studied training functions, whereas all other studied training algorithms showed equal and comparable performance outcomes. The highest output outcomes have been found in the range of 1, 10 and 20 to 35 with regard to the number of hidden neurons. Network output deteriorates as the number of hidden neurons deviates from the optimal range observed. With regard to the optimal number of hidden layers, it has been observed that ANN yields better output results with 1,2,5 and 8 hidden layers for noiseless MFL signals and the best results with 1,2,5 and 7 hidden layers are observed for noisy datasets. To evaluate the oil and gas pipeline defects, the optimal inferred parameter range may be used to train the ANN model for improved performance outcomes.
Dynamic Stochastic Demand Response With Energy Storage

We consider a power system with an independent system operator (ISO), and distributed aggregators who have energy storage and purchase energy from the ISO to serve their customers. All the entities in the system are foresighted : each aggregator seeks to minimize its own long-term payments for energy purchase and operational costs of energy storage by deciding how much energy to buy from the ISO, and the ISO seeks to minimize the long-term total cost of the system (e.g., energy generation costs and the aggregators’ costs) by dispatching the energy production among the generators. The decision making of the foresighted entities is complicated for two reasons. First, the information is decentralized among the entities, namely each entity does not know the others’ states. Second, an aggregator’s current decision affects its future costs due to the coupling introduced by the energy storage. We propose a design framework in which the ISO provides each aggregator with a conjectured future price, and each aggregator distributively minimizes its own long-term cost based on its conjectured price as well as its locally-available information. We prove that the proposed framework can achieve the social optimum despite being decentralized and involving complex coupling. Simulation results show that the proposed foresighted demand side management achieves significant reduction in the total cost, compared to the optimal myopic demand side management (up to 60% reduction), and the foresighted demand side management based on the Lyapunov optimization framework (up to 30% reduction).
Increased Mouse Survival by 16,16-Dimethyl Prostaglandin E2 Pretreatment and/or Bone Marrow Transplantation after Supra-Lethal Whole Body Irradiation

There is increasing interest in treating tumors with higher doses of radiation or chemotherapy than normal tissues can withstand. The two organs at the highest risk for acute toxicity during systemic treatment are the hematopoietic system and the intestinal mucosa (1). Several studies have shown that many leukotrienes and prostaglandins, including 16,16-dimethyl prostaglandin E2 (dmPGE2), are radioprotective (2). DmPGE2 has been shown to protect the intestinal mucosa as measured by microcolony assays (3), the hematopoietic system as measured by endogenous spleen colony assays (4) and increase overall survival after total body irradiation (TBI) (5). Several intensive treatment protocols for cancer therapy utilize autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) to allow otherwise lethal doses of chemotherapy or radiation to be given. It was therefore of interest to see if the combination of prostaglandins and BMT could protect mice from even higher doses of TBI.
Expansion of the kinetic model of differentiation in Dictyostelium discoideum.

Abstract The kinetic model of carbohydrate metabolism during differentiation in Dictyostelium discoideum has been refined and expanded. A new program designed to simulate long term metabolic changes is briefly described. The model consists of a metabolic map, initial metabolite concentrations, enzyme kinetic expressions and constants, enzyme activation functions, and time functions giving independent metabolite concentrations. Output of the model must be consistent with metabolite accumulation patterns observed during differentiation and with flux values determined in vivo. The specific activity of enzymes in vivo and changes in this activity as a function of differentiation are taken as unknowns in the analysis and are calculated or predicted based upon parameters assumed to be valid.
Legislative Bipartisanship: Explaining Variation in Cross-Party Coalition Building Activity in the 99 State Legislative Chambers

While an extensive literature is devoted to the antecedents and consequences of party polarization and gridlock, almost no attention has been devoted to the individual legislator level foundations of these aggregate level phenomena. Here I examine the factors that determine the extent to which individual legislators spend time forming cross-party rather than within-party coalitions — coalition building bipartisanship. It is such individual actions shaped by institutions, elections, and citizen and elite preferences that determine collective outcomes, including party polarization and gridlock. Using a national survey of over 3000 state legislators, I find the time a legislator devotes to cross-party versus same party coalition building is determined by political context, such as divided versus unified government, and by features of institutional design, namely supermajority requirements, and leadership professionalization — the former increases bipartisanship while the latter decreases it. A legislator's behavior is also strongly influenced by ideology — moderates engage in more cross-party coalition building than more extreme members. The effect of ideology is an individual, not chamber level, effect — the magnitude of the ideological divide between the parties is relatively insignificant in determining individual behavior. Partisan political context is also a key determinant of the time a legislator devotes to cross rather than within party coalition building. Of course, members of the minority in a chamber engage in the most bipartisan activity — a member of the minority cannot succeed legislatively without being part of a bipartisan coalition. Members of the majority in a divided government state are also motivated to spend more time on bipartisan coalition building. And each responds differently to the majority party's margin of control in the chamber — increasing the majority party's margin of control decreases the bipartisanship of majority members while it increases that of minority members.
Choosing Law, Giving Justice

In this brief essay the author observes that a methodological intervention in the decision of a case, however appealing the methodology, can cause a failure of justice. For example, the reasonableness of a choice of law in 20th century thinking ultimately hinged on the nature of the contacts between the case and a place. Indeed, law chosen in the absence of such contacts would be held unconstitutional, now as then. However, law can be unjust as applied in a particular case, even if the application is constitutional. It is suggested that in the 21st century (as in the past) justice-seeking judges can and will find paths to justice through ordinary processes of construction and interpretation, no matter what methodological theories are in fashion.
Renin-Angiotensin System Blocker Fetopathy.

Chronic hypertension in pregnant women is associated with significant maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality, and is thought to complicate approximately 5% of the 4 million pregnancies in the US annually.1 Pregnant women with chronic hypertension are at risk for developing adverse complications, such as maternal preeclampsia, stroke, renal failure, and death.2 In addition, adverse fetal outcomes, such as intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth, and death, are more likely among pregnant women with chronic hypertension than those without. For example, in one study, the risk of cardiac congenital malformations was increased in pregnancies of women with both treated (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.4-1.9) and untreated hypertension (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.7).3 The prevalence of chronic hypertension (7.7%) and use of antihypertensive agents (4.2%) in women of childbearing age (20-44 years) is relatively low.4 However, among those who use antihypertensive agents, the use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) (44%) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) (20.4%) is prevalent and greater than that of diuretics (47.9%), thus, increasing the potential risk of inadvertent first trimester exposure of the fetus.4 Given the recent changes in hypertensive guideline recommendations5 and the prevalence of underlying risk factors in the general population, such as chronic kidney disease and diabetes,1 the potential for exposure of a fetus to ACEIs or ARBs during the first trimester is substantial among women of child-bearing age with chronic hypertension, diabetes, or kidney disease.
Probabilistic identification of high‐frequency radar backscatter from the ground and ionosphere based on spectral characteristics

[1] We present an analysis of the spectral characteristics of 1-hop HF radar ground scatter and - and 1-hop ionospheric scatter as measured by the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network. Our objective is to determine criteria that separate signals scattered from the ground and the ionosphere. We find that for both ground scatter and ionospheric scatter that the probability density function of backscatter Doppler velocity decreases exponentially with velocity, but with significantly different e-folding velocities for the two types of backscatter. We use this observation to separate the total probability density of Doppler velocity and spectral width into two component distributions. This process yields the posterior probability that a signal of given Doppler velocity and spectral width is ground scatter. The resulting criterion for classification of a particular signal as ground scatter, v < 33.1 m/s + 0.139w − (0.00133 s/m)w2, significantly reduces the probability that a signal will be erroneously classified as ionospheric scatter, while only moderately increasing the probability that an ionospheric scatter signal will be erroneously classified as ground scatter. Finally, we validate the ground scatter probability function by demonstrating that the backscatter virtual height increases as expected with increasing probability of ground scatter.
High frequency solid state devices [microwave and mm-wave devices]

In this paper are described solid state devices which have wide applications as RF sources and amplifiers in microwave and millimeter-wave systems. Active devices can be fabricated using a variety of diode and transistor structures, and these devices are widely used in a variety of commercial and military applications. Device development has been closely linked to advances in semiconductor materials growth and processing technology and many devices for mm-wave application are only possible due to the precise nanoscale dimension control afforded by advanced materials growth technology, such as molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) and organo-metallic chemical vapor deposition (OMCVD). Fine line lithography techniques, such as electron-beam lithography, permit the definition of nanoscale device dimensions. Advanced materials technology has also provided the ability to fabricate heterostructures that permit the advantages of multiple material layers to be optimized for device applications. High performance diodes and transistors are now available for use from UHF into the mm-wave spectrum, approaching THz frequencies.
Alice Sat Here

In this paper, we describe Alice Sat Here, a telerobotic installation in which participants in physical space and cyberspace are afforded extended means of interaction. Using live video served to the World Wide Web, telerobotic camera control (pan and tilt controlled remotely over the Web), and a wheeled electric throne driven by gallery visitors, Alice Sat Here becomes an interface at the intersection of physical space and cyberspace. By designing an installation as a physical metaphor for the Web, we hope to sensitize the public to the dynamics at work on the Web (surveillance, control), and to challenge the collective imagination of the kinds of experiences the Web can offer.
Gesture classification with machine learning using Kinect sensor data

We present approaches for gesture classification and gesture segmentation by using machine learning on the Kinect sensor's data stream. Our work involved three phases. Firstly we developed gesture classification from a known vocabulary of gestures in an edited data stream. Secondly we extended those techniques to detect and classify a gesture in an unedited stream which also captures random movements. Thirdly, we apply rules to filter out movements that were not intentional gestures and yet resembled certain gestures in our vocabulary.
A decade of surprises for tRNA nuclear–cytoplasmic dynamics

The biosynthesis of tRNA was previously thought to occur solely in the nucleus, with tRNA functioning only in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. However, recent publications have reported that pre-tRNA splicing can occur in the cytoplasm, that aminoacylation can occur in the nucleus and that tRNA can travel in a retrograde direction from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. Moreover, the subcellular distribution of tRNA seems to serve unanticipated functions in diverse processes, including response to nutrient availability, DNA repair and HIV replication.
Diffractive optics technology for projection displays

Diffractive optics represents a new and fundamental optical manufacturing technology that has tremendous potential in both the government and commercial sectors. Diffractive optics technology provides system designers with new and exciting degrees of freedom for the design and optimization of precision optical systems. Using diffractive optics one can: provide color correction for projection systems using a single, economical refractive material; create aspheric wavefronts without using aspheric surfaces; eliminate the need for exotic (and expensive) flint-type materials; produce high-performance, high-numerical-aperture, lightweight optical elements; produce high performance microlens arrays; construct custom diffusers for beam homogenization and beam shaping; convert Gaussian beams to a square- aperture, flat-top beam profile, create novel polarization components and narrowband filters; athermalize optical systems; and reduce the weight, complexity and cost of optical systems--all of which are important for projection display systems. In this paper, we describe several features of diffractive optical elements that are useful for projection display applications.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Optimum micro-optical parametric oscillators based on third-order nonlinearity

We show that optimum designs of optical parametric oscillators require different pump and signal/idler coupling, suggesting novel microphotonic geometries. Normalized models with linear/nonlinear loss show that Si can oscillate at 1550nm below certain free-carrier-to-cavity-photon-lifetime ratios.
Learning opportunities from group discussions: warrants become the objects of debate

In the mathematics education literature, there is currently a debate about the mechanisms by which group discussion can contribute to mathematical learning and under what conditions this learning is likely to occur. In this paper, we contribute to this debate by illustrating three learning opportunities that group discussions can create. In analyzing a videotaped episode of eight middle school students discussing a statistical problem, we observed that these students frequently challenged the arguments that their colleagues presented. These challenges invited students to be explicit about what mathematical principles, or warrants, they were implicitly using as a basis for their mathematical claims, in some cases recognize the modes of reasoning they were using were invalid and reject these modes of reasoning, and in other cases, attempt to provide deductive support to justify why their modes of reasoning were appropriate. We then describe what social and environmental conditions allowed the discussion analyzed in this paper to occur.
Influence of tillage and method of metam sodium application on distribution and survival of Verticillium dahliae in the soil and the development of verticillium wilt of potato

The effect of plowing and deep-rip tillage, in combination with chemigation or shank injection of metam sodium, onVerticillium dahliae populations and disease development was assessed in two fields with differing soil types and potato rotations. Soil samples were collected on a geo-referenced basis at depths of 0 to 10 cm and 10 to 20 cm before tillage, after tillage, after chemical application, and before planting and assayed for the presence of the pathogen. Propagules ofV. dahliae were detected at 140 of 141 sites sampled prior to tillage. Most (74.4% in heavy, sandy loam; 63.1% in light, loamy sand) were concentrated in upper 10 cm of the soil profile. Plowing redistributed inoculum vertically while deep-rip tillage did not. In the non-chemical treated areas of both fields, theVerticillium population reached a maximum between 25 July and 8 August before declining to near pre-tillage levels. Overall, the population generally was lower in the field with heavy soil, higher organic matter content, and a 3-year crop rotation. Metam sodium appeared to be most effective when shank injected, as the levels of inoculum in both fields declined by 60% to 80% following this application method. Chemigation was ineffective in the lighter soil, but the inoculum density in the deep-rip tillage area of the field with the heavier soil declined by nearly 20% in the upper and 60% in the lower strata following this treatment. The number ofV. dahliae propagules at the 10- to 20-cm depth in the plowed area of the same field was reduced by 25% following chemigation, but remained unchanged in the upper strata. Wilt was reduced in both fields by as much as 50% with shank injection of metam sodium with concomitant increases in total yield, marketable yield and gross income. Increases in total yield were significant (P<0.05) for the main effect of chemical, in the plowed area of the field with the heavier soil type following shank injection. These data suggest that growers might benefit from altering their tillage and chemical application practices as part of an integrated approach to managing Verticillium wilt.
Performance Prediction of a Sub-Slab Heat Exchanger for Geothermal Heat Pumps

A large portion of the installation cost of a ground-coupled heat pump system is for the excavation necessary for ground coil placement. One possible method of reducing this cost is to place the ground coils beneath the slab floor of the building. This configuration of ground coil placement has not been specifically addressed in previous research. Freezing of the soil must be avoided in such a system. To simulate the temperature response of the surrounding soil to heat pump operation, a computer model was developed which incorporates line source theory in the form of a system of rings. The fluid temperature change along the length of the coil was used to determine the distribution of the ground load throughout the ring system. The model includes an adiabatic upper boundary, seasonal soil temperature variation, and thermal interference throughout the system. This model was used to explore the effects of pipe spacing and flow direction on soil temperature response under various load conditions. Using these results, the minimum soil temperature over a season was predicted. Based on these results, design recommendations for ground coil installation are provided based on available area, soil type, heat extraction rate, depth of coil beneath the slabmore » floor, and depth of slab floor below grade. These include recommendations for spacing between pipe loops, flow direction, and a method to determine whether this type of system is feasible for installation in a particular location.« less
Optical interferometry for measurement of Rayleigh and dilatational waves

Abstract Two-beam optical interferometry provides a highly sensitive new technique for the measurement of both Rayleigh waves and dilatational waves. A new optical arrangement overcomes previous objections to interferometry by its differential nature. The acoustically perturbed surface need not be exceptionally flat and the specimen need not be exactly aligned. The technique can be used to measure the phase and amplitude of Rayleigh waves to within a fraction of a wavelength from a discontinuity on any fully or partly reflecting surface. Dilatational waves are measureable in any transparent medium.
The effects of acid treatment and calcium ions on the solubility of concanavalin A

The effects of acid treatment (which removes Mn and Ca ions) and Ca(2+) ions on the solubility of jack-bean-meal concanavalin A were investigated using two techniques: the sitting drop technique and the microcolumn technique. It was found that the solubility of concanavalin A varied with the protein preparation procedures and with measurement techniques. Addition of Ca(2+) resulted in greatly lowered solubilities compared with the acid treated protein. The sitting drop solubilities for the recalcified protein agreed better with those reported by Mikol and Giege (1989) than with solubilities determined from column data.
Prediction rules to identify patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci upon hospital admission

Background In 2003, the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) recommended surveillance cultures upon hospital admission for patients at high risk for carriage of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The aim of this study was to assess the validity of factors from past medical history in defining patients at high risk for subsequent positive cultures with VRE or MRSA upon hospital admission. Methods Subjects were adult inpatients admitted to nonintensive care wards of the index hospital during 2001-2002. Cases had MRSA or VRE positive clinical cultures within 48 hours of hospital admission. Patients with previous history of MRSA or VRE were excluded. Results Nineteen thousand three hundred ninety-nine patients were included, with 273 cases of VRE or MRSA. Previous admission within 1 year of current admission had a sensitivity of 56.8% and a specificity of 88.4% for predicting a case of MRSA or VRE. Individually, the sensitivity and specificity for admission within the past year were 50.5% and 88.4%, respectively, for MRSA and 76.9% and 88.4%, respectively, for VRE. Conclusions Patients with a previous hospital admission represent a high-risk population for positive culture for VRE and MRSA and may be a group of which active surveillance is indicated.
Feedback control based cache reliability enhancement for emerging multicores

Focusing on data reliability, we propose a control theory centric approach designed to improve transient error resilience in shared caches of emerging multicores while satisfying performance goals. The proposed scheme takes, as input, two quality of service (QoS) specifications: performance QoS and reliability QoS. The first of these indicates the minimum workload-wide cache (L2) hit rate value acceptable, whereas the second one captures the reliability bound on an application basis, with the help of a metric called the Reads-with-Replica (RwR). We present an extensive experimental evaluation of the proposed scheme on various workloads formed using the applications from the SPEC2006 benchmark suite. The proposed scheme is able to satisfy, in most of the tested cases, both performance and reliability QoS targets, by successfully modulating the total size of the data replication area and partitioning of this area among the co-runner applications. The collected results also show that our scheme achieves consistent improvements under different values of the major simulation parameters.
The effects of IL2Rγ knockout on depression and contextual memory

Interleukin (IL)-2Rγ shows robust upregulation in neuroinflammatory states associated with clinical depression. We tested the hypothesis that mice lacking IL2Rγ would have decreased depressive-like behavior. Contrary to this expectation, these knockout mice showed increased immobility in both the Porsolt forced swimming and Nomura water wheel tests. By comparison, the auditory fear conditioning test showed increased retention of contextual freezing. Thus, intact IL2Rγ combats depressive-like behavior.
Susceptibility of hippocampal neurons to mechanically induced injury.

Experimental models of traumatic cortical brain injury in rodents reveal that specific regions of the hippocampus (e.g., CA3 and hilar subfields) are severely injured despite their distance from the initial insult. Hippocampal neurons may be intrinsically more vulnerable to mechanical insult than cortical neurons due to increased NMDA receptor densities and lower energy capacities, as evidenced by increased susceptibility to ischemic insults. The selective vulnerability of hippocampal neurons was evaluated using an in vitro model of TBI in which either primary rat cortical or hippocampal neurons (E17) seeded onto silicone substrates were subjected to graded levels of mechanical stretch. Although cortical neurons exhibited significantly longer increases in stretch-induced membrane permeability, injury of hippocampal neurons resulted in larger increases in intracellular free calcium concentration [Ca(2+)](i) and cell death. [ATP](i) deficits due to stretch were apparent by 60 min after injury in cortical neurons but recovered by 24 h, whereas significant deficits in [ATP](i) were not observed in hippocampal neurons until 24 h after injury. MK801 pretreatment decreased the stretch-induced [Ca(2+)](i) transients in both hippocampal and cortical cultures, thereby negating the regional specificity. However, MK801 pretreatment did not improve hippocampal viability and paradoxically, significantly increased cell death among cortical neurons. As the hippocampus is the primary brain region responsible for the memory deficits and epileptic seizures associated with TBI, understanding why this region is selectively damaged could lead to the development of more accurate mechanical tolerances as well as effective pharmaceutical agents.
Evaluation of communication competence in patients with closed head injury

Twenty closed head injured (CHI) and 15 control subjects (non-CHI) were selected from a hospital population and evaluated after all CHI subjects were alert and conscious. The test battery included an audiometric evaluation and 21 subtests of intelligence, verbal expressive and receptive language, articulation, auditory and visual short-term memory, oral agility, automatic speech, writing, reading, and simple mathematics. The CHI subjects performed significantly less well than the control group on all subtests except articulation and five of the subtests of reading, writing, and mathematics. Additionally, the less severely involved CHI subjects performed significantly better than the more severely involved CHI subjects on the subtest, Automatized Sequences, and, to a lesser degree, Oral Agility. The implications are that CHI has an immediate generalized effect upon the cerebral mechanisms subserving intelligence, speech, language, memory, and specific writing, reading, and arithmetic skills and that the differences seen in automatic speech and oral-motor skills appear to be dependent upon the severity of the traumatic head injury. I recommend that all CHI patients undergo assessment for communication competence regardless of the level of severity of the trauma.
Feedback design method review and comparison [RHIC accelerator]

Different methods for feedback designs are compared. These includes classical proportional integral derivative state variable based methods like pole placement, linear quadratic regulator, H infinity and /spl mu/-analysis. These methods are then applied for the design and analysis of the RHIC phase and radial loop, yielding a performance, stability and robustness comparison.
The Effects of Writing on Memory for a Forensically Relevant Event

The current study examined the effects of writing on memory for a forensically relevant event. Participants (N = 99) viewed a crime video and either wrote about what happened in the video, drew about the video as a retrieval control, or wrote about their favorite summer vacation for 20 minutes as a no-retrieval control for 3 consecutive days beginning the day after they viewed the video. All participants received the same memory interview 2 weeks later. Participants who wrote about the video recalled significantly more correct ideas than those in the drawing control and those in the no-retrieval control condition. There was a small but significant increase in the number of recall errors in the writing condition compared to the two control conditions. However, the percent increase in correct recall in the writing condition remained almost identical in an analysis that took both correct and incorrect information into account. Although the amount of correct information recalled increased substantially in the...