cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Design and Economic Evaluation of an Advanced Tight-Lattice Core for the IRIS Integral Primary System Reactor

An 8-yr core design for an epithermal, water-cooled reactor has been developed based upon assessments of nuclear reactor physics, thermal hydraulics, and economics. An integral-vessel configuration is adopted, and self-supporting wire-wrap fuel is employed for the tight lattice of the epithermal core. A streaming path is incorporated in each assembly to ensure a negative void coefficient. A whole-core simulation of the tight core with the stochastic, continuous-energy, transport code MCNP shows a negative void coefficient for the whole cycle during normal operating conditions. Analysis of in-core, flow-induced vibrations indicates that the design has a greater margin to fluid-elastic instability than a standard pressurized water reactor, allowing for higher coolant mass flux and improved safety. Enhanced flow mixing and thermal margins are also achieved, and the VIPRE™ code for subchannel thermal-hydraulic analysis has been used to calculate the critical heat flux (CHF) by means of a wire-wrap CHF correlation specifically introduced in the source code. The combination of increased fuel enrichment (∼14 wt% 235 U, still below the proliferation-resistant limit of 20 wt% 235 U), relatively low core-average discharge burnup (70 MWd/kg HM), and very long core life (8 yr) lead to high lifetime-levelized fuel cycle unit cost [in mills/kW·h(electric)]. However, both operation and maintenance (O&M) and capital-related expenditures strongly benefit from the higher electric output per unit volume, which yields quite small lifetime-levelized capital and O&M unit costs for the overall plant. Financing requirements are included, and an estimate is provided for the lifetime-levelized total unit cost of the epithermal core, which is ∼16% lower than that of a more open-lattice thermal spectrum core, fitting into the same core envelope and with a 4-yr lifetime.
Early determination of benefit or futility in treating NSCLC using the LCSS 3-Item Global Index (3-IGI).

9086Background: Early assessment of the effect of treatment for advanced NSCLC can prevent unnecessary exposure to toxic and costly therapy while aiding in decision making to change treatment if ne...
Marijuana medicalization and motor vehicle fatalities: a synthetic control group approach

This paper reports a quasi-experimental evaluation of California’s 1996 medical marijuana law (MML), known as Proposition 215, on statewide motor vehicle fatalities between 1996 and 2015. To infer the causal impact of California’s MML enactment on statewide motor vehicle fatalities, we construct a synthetic control group for California (i.e., California had it NOT enacted MMLs) as a weighted sum of annual traffic fatality time series from a donor pool of untreated (no MML) states. The post-MML difference between California and its constructed counterfactual reflects the net effect of MMLs on statewide traffic fatalities. The synthetic control group design avoids the problematic homogeneity assumptions intrinsic to panel regression models, which have been employed in prominent studies of this topic. California’s 1996 MML appears to have produced a large, sustained decrease in statewide motor vehicle fatalities amounting to an annual reduction between 588 and 900 vehicle fatalities. This finding is consistent across a wide range of model specifications and donor pool restrictions. In-sample placebo test results suggest that the estimated intervention effect is unlikely to be a spurious artifact and the “leave-one-out” sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the effect is not being driven by an individual or ensemble of influential donor pool states. Our focus on California as a case study limits our ability to generalize our estimate of the MML intervention on motor vehicle fatalities in California to other MML states; however, state-level MML interventions have major differences in their policy dimensions that seem unlikely to “average out” through aggregation.
Authentic and Social Justice Leadership: A Case Study of an Exemplary Principal along the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Few researchers have sought to merge authentic and social justice leadership or investigate how each can be applied together to address the current school reform and social justice challenges assoc...
Proximal algorithms for constrained composite optimization, with applications to solving low-rank SDPs

We study a family of (potentially non-convex) constrained optimization problems with convex composite structure. Through a novel analysis of non-smooth geometry, we show that proximal-type algorithms applied to exact penalty formulations of such problems exhibit local linear convergence under a quadratic growth condition, which the compositional structure we consider ensures. The main application of our results is to low-rank semidefinite optimization with Burer-Monteiro factorizations. We precisely identify the conditions for quadratic growth in the factorized problem via structures in the semidefinite problem, which could be of independent interest for understanding matrix factorization.
24 Economic Demography

The linkages between population and the economy vary greatly over the demographic transition. Many countries, mostly high income countries, are near the end of the transition and experiencing population aging and declining population growth. This raises concerns about economic stagnation and about the viability of intergenerational transfers systems: family support systems, public pension programs, and health care systems. Many countries, particularly in Africa, are still at relatively early stages of the demographic transition. Their populations are relatively young and experiencing rapid growth. Of great interest is the influence of population dynamics as an increase in the share of the working-age population and related changes has led to new opportunities for economic development referred to as demographic dividends. Economics research also addresses how changes in the economy influence demographic outcomes, fertility, mortality, and migration, which are addressed more extensively in other handbook chapters.
Three-dimensional Fe3O4/N-graphene sponge as an efficient organosulfide host for high-performance lithium-organosulfur batteries

Abstract The rapid capacity decay and unclear mechanism for the capacity fade limit the practical application of lithium-organosulfur batteries. Herein, we employ dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) as a model compound to investigate the capacity fading mechanism and propose a solution to improve its cycling stability. Our results reveal that both DMTS and its discharge products (e.g., LiSCH3, LiSSCH3) are soluble in the electrolyte, leading to severe active material migration and loss, which becomes the predominant capacity fading mechanism. A three-dimensional nitrogen-doped graphene sponge decorated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles (3DFNG) is designed as a host for DMTS, which effectively confine the active material, enabling a specific capacity of 822 mA h g−1 at C/10 rate and good cycling stability for 500 cycles with a capacity decay of as low as 0.09% per cycle. This work is expected to open up a promising direction to realize highly efficient hosts for lithium-organosulfur batteries.
Biological Control of Food‐Challenging Microorganisms

This chapter provides an overview of current and emerging methods of food preservation using live microorganisms and biologically derived substances. This field of study is rapidly evolving, as interest in so-called “natural” and “organic” products has grown exponentially among the public in the past 25 years. Biological methods of preservation are of particular interest, again, due to their natural/biological origins and safety compared with commonly used chemical preservatives and physical treatments. Broadly speaking, biological preservatives can be divided into several distinct groups: (i) live microorganisms, (ii) plant derivatives, (iii) proteinaceous compounds of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic origins, and (iv) bacteriophages. Each group presents its own set of pros and cons, which must be carefully considered and balanced for every individual food application. The safety of biopreservatives is paramount and is the final basis on which a treatment may be chosen for application in the food industry, regardless of the efficacy demonstrated in laboratory studies. Impact on the quality of food is also a concern, as any loss of quality will result in an undesirable product. Quality concerns can be addressed through various techniques aimed at decreasing the amount of preservatives needed while increasing efficacy. These include novel modes of delivery, as well as synergistically acting combination treatments, both of which show promise.
Costs and cost-effectiveness analyses of mCARE strategies for promoting care seeking of maternal and newborn health services in rural Bangladesh.

OBJECTIVE We examined the incremental cost-effectiveness between two mHealth programs, implemented from 2011 to 2015 in rural Bangladesh: (1) Comprehensive mCARE package as an intervention group and (2) Basic mCARE package as a control group. METHODS Both programs included a core package of census enumeration and pregnancy surveillance provided by an established cadre of digitally enabled community health workers (CHWs). In the comprehensive mCARE package, short message service (SMS) and home visit reminders were additionally sent to pregnant women (n = 610) and CHWs (n = 70) to promote the pregnant women's care-seeking of essential maternal and newborn care services. Economic costs were assessed from a program perspective inclusive of development, start-up, and implementation phases. Effects were calculated as disability adjusted life years (DALYs) and the number of newborn deaths averted. For comparative purposes, we normalized our evaluation to estimate total costs and total newborn deaths averted per 1 million people in a community for both groups. Uncertainty was assessed using probabilistic sensitivity analyses with Monte Carlo simulation. RESULTS The addition of SMS and home visit reminders based on a mobile phone-facilitated pregnancy surveillance system was highly cost effective at a cost per DALY averted of $31 (95% uncertainty range: $19-81). The comprehensive mCARE program had at least 88% probability of being highly cost-effective as compared to the basic mCARE program based on the threshold of Bangladesh's GDP per capita. CONCLUSION mHealth strategies such as SMS and home visit reminders on a well-established pregnancy surveillance system may improve service utilization and program cost-effectiveness in low-resource settings.
The Biology of General Anesthesia from Paramecium to Primate

General anesthesia serves a critically important function in the clinical care of human patients. However, the anesthetized state has foundational implications for biology because anesthetic drugs are effective in organisms ranging from paramecia, to plants, to primates. Although unconsciousness is typically considered the cardinal feature of general anesthesia, this endpoint is only strictly applicable to a select subset of organisms that are susceptible to being anesthetized. We review the behavioral endpoints of general anesthetics across species and propose the isolation of an organism from its environment — both in terms of the afferent arm of sensation and the efferent arm of action — as a generalizable definition. We also consider the various targets and putative mechanisms of general anesthetics across biology and identify key substrates that are conserved, including cytoskeletal elements, ion channels, mitochondria, and functionally coupled electrical or neural activity. We conclude with a unifying framework related to network function and suggest that general anesthetics — from single cells to complex brains — create inefficiency and enhance modularity, leading to the dissociation of functions both within an organism and between the organism and its surroundings. Collectively, we demonstrate that general anesthesia is not restricted to the domain of modern medicine but has broad biological relevance with wide-ranging implications for a diverse array of species.
Identifying hypertension in pregnancy using electronic medical records: The importance of blood pressure values.

Abstract Objective To incorporate blood pressure (BP), diagnoses codes, and medication fills from electronic medical records (EMR) to identify pregnant women with hypertension. Study design A retrospective cohort study of singleton pregnancies at three US integrated health delivery systems during 2005–2014. Main outcome measures Women were considered hypertensive if they had any of the following: (1) ≥2 high BPs (≥140/90 mmHg) within 30 days during pregnancy (High BP); (2) an antihypertensive medication fill in the 120 days before pregnancy and a hypertension diagnosis from 1 year prior to pregnancy through 20 weeks gestation (Treated Chronic Hypertension); or (3) a high BP, a hypertension diagnosis, and a prescription fill within 7 days during pregnancy (Rapid Treatment). We described characteristics of these pregnancies and conducted medical record review to understand hypertension presence and severity. Results Of 566,624 pregnancies, 27,049 (4.8%) met our hypertension case definition: 24,140 (89.2%) with High BP, 5,409 (20.0%) with Treated Chronic Hypertension, and 5,363 (19.8%) with Rapid Treatment (not mutually exclusive). Of hypertensive pregnancies, 19,298 (71.3%) received a diagnosis, 9,762 (36.1%) received treatment and 11,226 (41.5%) had a BP ≥ 160/110. In a random sample (n = 55) of the 7,559 pregnancies meeting the High BP criterion with no hypertension diagnosis, clinical statements about hypertension were found in medical records for 58% of them. Conclusion Incorporating EMR BP identified many pregnant women with hypertension who would have been missed by using diagnosis codes alone. Future studies should seek to incorporate BP to study treatment and outcomes of hypertension in pregnancy.
A Factor Analytic Study of Three Teacher Belief Scales.

Recognition of the foundational nature of beliefs in attitude formation and change has resulted in the development of several instruments used to measure teachers' beliefs about parents and adminis...
Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccine for Preventing Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza Hospitalizations in Immunocompromised Adults

ABSTRACT Background Yearly influenza immunization is recommended for immunocompromised (IC) individuals, although immune responses are lower than that for the non-immunocompromised and the data on vaccine effectiveness (VE) in the IC is scarce. We evaluated VE against influenza-associated hospitalization among IC adults. Methods We analyzed data from adults ≥ 18 years hospitalized with acute respiratory illness (ARI) during the 2017-2018 influenza season at 10 hospitals in the United States. IC adults were identified using pre-specified case-definitions, utilizing electronic medical record data. VE was evaluated with a test-negative case-control design using multivariate logistic regression with PCR-confirmed influenza as the outcome and vaccination status as the exposure, adjusting for age, enrolling site, illness onset date, race, days from onset to specimen collection, self-reported health, and self-reported hospitalizations. Results Of 3,524 adults hospitalized with ARI, 1,210 (34.3%) had an immunocompromising condition. IC adults were more likely to be vaccinated than non-IC (69.5% vs 65.2%), and less likely to have influenza (22% vs 27.8%). The mean age did not differ among IC and non-IC (61.4 vs 60.8 years old). The overall VE against influenza hospitalization, including immunocompetent adults, was 33% (95% CI, 21% to 44%). VE among IC vs non-IC adults was lower at 5% (−29% to 31%) vs. 41% (27% to 52%) (p Conclusions VE in one influenza season was very low among IC individuals. Future efforts should include evaluation of VE among the different immunocompromising conditions and whether enhanced vaccines improve the suboptimal effectiveness among the immunocompromised.
Pre-Existing Immunity to Oncolytic Virus Potentiates Its Immunotherapeutic Efficacy

Anti-viral immunity presents a major hurdle for systemically-administered oncolytic viruses (OV). Intratumoral OV therapy has a potential to overcome this problem through activation of anti-tumor immune response, with local and abscopal effects. However, the effects of anti-viral immunity in such a setting are still not well defined. Using Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) as a model, we explore the effects of pre-existing anti-viral immunity on therapeutic efficacy in syngeneic mouse tumor models. Unexpectedly, we find that while pre-existing immunity to NDV limits its replication in tumors, tumor clearance, abscopal effects and survival are not compromised and, on the contrary, are superior in NDV-immunized mice, both in a setting of NDV monotherapy and in combination with systemic CTLA-4 blockade. These findings demonstrate that pre-existing immunity to NDV may increase its therapeutic efficacy through potentiation of systemic anti-tumor immunity, which provides clinical rationale for repeated therapeutic dosing and prompts investigation of such effects with other OVs.
Novel Interpretable Tissue-Specific and Multi-Tissue Transcriptomic Clocks to Infer Aging Mechanisms

1. Abstract Aging is characterized as a progressive decline in fitness that ultimately results in death. We set out to build both tissue-specific and multi-tissue transcriptomic clocks to make global tissue age predictions in individuals from GTEx. Existing work in the field primarily uses epigenetic clocks as predictors of age, but these models have known issues and are significantly less interpretable than their transcriptomic counterparts. Due to their transcriptomic nature, we can use these models to directly infer mechanisms of aging from their features. Linear regression remains the current standard analysis technique, but we improved upon its baseline performance with modern techniques, exploring both XGBoost and MLPs. We also experimented with using deconvolved cell data for predictions, which account for cellular composition and reduce signal distortion from rare cell types. Since it is known that the heterogeneity of cell types in particular tissues can lead to noise in these models, we proposed using deconvolution as a potential remedy for this problem. Our results found that MLPs are not well suited for the task due to a lack of training data, but the use of XGBoost is effective at improving the baseline performance of predictions of existing tissue-specific clocks. These models allowed us to directly compute genes most important to age prediction in our models, and we showed that multiple genes found have been independently identified elsewhere to show evidence of correlation with age. Given the small size of our datasets, we were unable to make conclusive determinations about multi-tissue predictors, but preliminary results suggest that the technique shows promise and is worthy of future investigation. Likewise, given our limited deconvolved cell data, we did not currently observe strong results, but we again note that this is an area in need of further investigation. By improving upon the performance of existing models, we demonstrated that a novel machine learning technique, XGBoost, can be an effective technique to further our understanding of aging mechanisms by extraction of the most relevant genes found in those models. This is significant because the genetic causes of aging are still not fully understood, and research in the field of aging is lacking in comparison to other domains. As the problem of identifying tissues that age at different rates is of specific interest, our tissue-specific models potentially have other applications in this domain, including informing pathologies in tissues that are found to be aging faster, or analyzing how people with similar ages can have vastly different tissue ages. An extended technical presentation of this work can be found here, and a highly simplified non-technical overview presentation can be found here.
Challenges in the Highly Selective [3 + 1]-Cycloaddition of an Enoldiazoacetamide to Form a Donor-Acceptor Cis-Cyclobutenecarboxamide.

A substituted donor–acceptor cyclobutenecarboxamide is synthesized with modest enantiocontrol through a chiral copper(I) complex catalyzed [3 + 1]-cycloaddition reaction of α-acyl diphenylsulfur ylides with 3-siloxy-2-diazo-3-butenamides. With a methyl substituent on the 4-position of the 3-butenamide, the cis-vicinal-3,4-disubstituted cyclobutenecarboxamide is formed with >20:1 diastereocontrol. Donor-acceptor 3-methyl-2-siloxycyclopropenecarboxamide is rapidly formed from the reactant enoldiazoamide and undergoes catalytic ring opening to give only the Z-γ-substituted metallo-enolcarbene. Elimination from 3-siloxy-2-diazo-3-pentenamide to form the conjugated 3-siloxy-2,4-pentadienamide is competitive but minimized at low temperature.
Venture Capital Investment in Orthopaedics: Has the Landscape Changed over the Past Two Decades (2000-2019)?

Background. Innovations in orthopaedic technologies often require significant funding. Although an increasing trend has been observed for third-party investments in other medical fields, no study h...
Reflections on Person-Centered Group Therapy from Clients in Opioid Treatment

Opioid misuse and opioid related deaths continue to affect families and communities across the United States. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) combines the use of medications and counseling to t...
Absentee Parents in Disney Feature-length Animated Movies: What are Children Watching?

Globally, Disney animated films integrate education into entertainment for families with children. This study uses the Social Capital Theory as the framework to support its focus on parental attention to children’s developmental learning needs. This exploratory study examines how Disney animated movies over the last eight decades portraited parents in the life of the leading child characters. With three inclusion criteria (figure-length, animated, and at least one child being the protagonist), we found 155 films for the general audience released between 1937 and 2020. We read relevant website-posted plots and themes of each selected movie from three major informational websites. Data included the leading child, parents or parental figures, and the central theme of the movie. Most of these 155 stories (n = 97, 61.3%) did not mention the child’s biological parents. Half of the 48 parental-presence films projected life in a single-headed family and the main characters' heroic image. The movies released during 2000–2020 showed a higher parental presence than the previous seven vicennial periods. Findings show that families could use Disney animated movies illustrating fantasy and reality. Parents can engage children in discussions about friendship and family relationships after watching a movie. If children continue consuming Disney movies, parental involvement is needed to facilitate discussions of real-life learning to help children develop communication skills.
Modern tools and methods in undergraduate astronautics education

Summary form only given as follows. This paper discusses the evolution of the "Space Mechanics" course at the Prescott Campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). This course is evolving from a traditional lecture format to one with a mix of lecture, problem solving, computer use and inquiry. The increased power of computers, enhanced software interfaces, multimedia teaching tools, and students who are comfortable with computers has made it possible to teach a more practical undergraduate astrodynamics course. The "Space Mechanics" course at ERAU-Prescott is being restructured utilizing computing tools to enhance understanding of basic astrodynamic concepts and applications. After learning the basic concepts behind the two-body problem and refreshing their programming/computer skills, the students are introduced to several software packages to spur their interest in the subject and enhance their understanding of the basic fundamentals. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) astrodynamics packages are introduced to the students in addition to other educational tools. Satellite ToolKit (STK) is used early in the semester to reinforce concepts involving the two boat problem and whet the students appetite for more advanced topics. Additionally, the students are introduced to "canned" computer programs to solve problems beyond their programming ability. By the end of the semester, the students have a better understanding of astrodynamics as it relates to spacecraft mission design.
Alignment-Based Recognition of Shape Outlines

We present a 2D shape recognition and classification method based on matching shape outlines. The correspondence between outlines (curves) is based on a notion of an alignment curve and on a measure of similarity between the intrinsic properties of the curve, namely, length and curvature, and is found by an efficient dynamic-programming method. The correspondence is used to find a similarity measure which is used in a recognition system. We explore the strengths and weaknesses of the outline-based representation by examining the effectiveness of the recognition system on a variety of examples.
Analysis of dyadic data: a guideline applied to erectile dysfunction.

Rationale Research on relationships often does not refer to a single person but rather to two persons. Nonetheless, such data has been often analysed by examining individuals in isolation, which falls short of capturing their truly interpersonal and non-independent nature. Aims and objectives This paper highlights and illustrates some analytic tools for such dyadic data that are essential for theories about dyadic relationships to be tested adequately. Methods The methodology is applied to clinical trial data from male patients treated for their erectile dysfunction and data from their partners with respect to treatment satisfaction. Multi-level modelling was used to analyse the data. Results The approaches outlined allow researchers to assess both individual effects and companion effects (e.g. of baseline intercourse satisfaction on subsequent treatment satisfaction), role of participant (e.g. patient or partner) or treatment condition (e.g. test or placebo) on outcome (e.g. treatment satisfaction), and differences on individual and companion effects when couples differ on important variables (e.g. differences on the individual and companion effects of baseline intercourse satisfaction on treatment satisfaction when couples differ with respect to treatment condition). Conclusion Researchers are encouraged to consider implementing dyadic data analysis in their own work.
Millimeter-Wave CMOS Voltage-Controlled Oscillators

The design of millimeter-wave CMOS voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) is reviewed. A low parasitic cross-coupled transistor layout is developed, and used to demonstrate a 140-GHz fundamental mode VCO in 90-nm CMOS and a 192-GHz push-push VCO in 130-nm CMOS. These are the circuits with the highest fundamental and harmonic operating frequencies achieved in silicon integrated circuits
The properties of undulator radiation

A new generation of synchrotron radiation light sources covering the VUV, soft x-ray, and hard x-ray spectral regions is under construction in several countries. These sources are designed specifically to use periodic magnetic undulators and low-emittance electron or positron beams to produce high-brightness near-diffraction-limited synchrotron radiation beams. Some of the novel features of the new sources are discussed, along with the characteristics of the radiation produced, with emphasis on the Advanced Light Source, a third-generation 1.5 GeV storage ring optimized for undulator use. A review of the properties of undulator radiation is presented, followed by a discussion of some of the unique challenges being faced by the builders and users of the new undulator sources. These include difficult mechanical and magnetic tolerance limits, a complex interaction with the storage ring, high x-ray beam power, partial coherence, harmonics, optics contamination, and the unusual spectral and angular properties of undulator radiation.
A Loop Parallelization Algorithm for HPF Compilers

This paper presents a formalized loop parallelization algorithm for effectively extracting parallelism from data to be allocated to processors with array decomposition directives, in languages such as High Performance Fortran (HPF). We define a communication dependence vector that shows data dependence among processors, and use it in our algorithm to formalize and unify the detection of vector prefetch communication and vector pipeline communication for loop parallelization. The paper also presents a method, based on our algorithm for generating vector communications. We implemented the algorithm in our HPF compiler and carried out experiments with two applications on an IBM RS/6000 Scalable POWERparallel System.
Improving the Evidence Base for LGBT Cultural Competence Training for Professional Psychologists: Commentary on “Quality LGBT Health Education: A Review of Key Reports and Webinars”

Matza, Sloan, and Kauth (this volume) reviewed published reports on how psychologists can work successfully with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clients to improve their physical and mental health. The authors identified core themes and used those themes as the criteria by which to evaluate available “webinar” self-study programs focused on LGBT health. In this commentary, I commend them on their interesting and important work, briefly raise some potential issues with the use of webinars (or any self-study programs) to increase skills in working with LGBT clients (or, really, members of any sociocultural group), and then suggest a three-step research agenda that could be useful for answering the open questions in the field of LGBT cultural competence training.
Some New Methods for Space Shielding Calculations

Some new, simple methods of limited but quite useful accuracy for use in space shielding calculations are described. The energy dissipation by protons isotropically incident on a plane slab is solved analytically. Energy and angular distributions of the bremsstrahlung emitted by electrons incident either normally or isotropically on thick targets are calculated using a semi-classical cross-section and electron distributions for an infinite medium. The results are compared with experiment and with calculations by Berger. The energy dissipation of electrons from a plane perpendicular source is calculated by an age equation model and compared with the accurate calculations of Spencer.
Application of high‐field NMR spectroscopy for characterization and quantitation of submilligram quantities of isolated natural products

We have investigated and compared a number of sample conditions on different NMR platforms in the search of maximum SNR and optimal experiment time efficiency for structure elucidation and quantitation of natural products. Using restricted volume 3 mm Shigemi microcell assembly in conjunction with a 900 MHz NMR spectrometer equipped with a 5 mm carbon-sensitive inverse cryoprobe, it was possible to achieve a substantial increase in SNR (46-fold) as compared with a conventional room temperature 400 MHz instrument. Switching from standard 5 mm NMR tube to 3 mm Shigemi microcell assembly typically improved SNR by threefold on either 600 or 900 MHz cryoplatform. A quantitation method that relies on a calibrated residual protonated NMR solvent signal as internal standard was developed using the same hardware setup and restricted sample volume tubes. Linearity of the method spans over 3 orders of magnitude, from low microgram to milligram quantities. We successfully applied this method to quantify a low micrgram sample of paclitaxel, verified by a UV/VIS quantitation measurement.
Broadband resonant wireless power transfer using a metamaterial resonator embedded with non-foster impedance circuitry

Wireless and wearable implantable biomedical devices are ushering in a new paradigm in health care and medicine with potential to improve health outcomes at reduced cost and improved quality of life. Magneto-inductive telemetry is widely used for wireless power and data transfer. The typical inductive telemetry core consists of a pair of antenna/coils placed coaxially in space, one inside the device and one placed externally as part of the reader/interrogator. The external coil typically transmits data, which is also harvested for its power and regulated to power up the implant circuitry. One of the most important design criteria is to maximize the coupling between external and implanted coil.
Computer Diagnosis of Pneumoconiosis

The advent of increased government involvement in occupational health maintenance with compensation for affected individuals is requiring new approaches to medical decision making. One aspect of this involvement will perhaps include the automatic mass diagnostic screening of medical films for the detection of a specffic abnormality with an occupational etiology. The results of two complementary approaches for performing diagnostic screening for presence and profusion of coal worker's pneumoconiosis from the routine posterior-anterior chest radiograph are presented. The first is a digital approach utilizing the measurement of image texture, while the second uses hybrid optical-digital methods involving the optical Fourier tramsform. Both approaches yielded classification results comparable to experienced radiologists.
Abstract 4388: Combination therapy with anti-CTLA-4 plus leuprolide acetate in the pre-surgical setting of patients with regional, high-risk prostate cancer

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Anti-CTLA-4 is a monoclonal antibody (Ipilimumab or Yervoy, Bristol-Myers Squibb) that was recently FDA-approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. Since anti-CTLA-4 targets a T cell specific molecule, as opposed to a tumor-specific molecule, it is being tested for therapeutic efficacy in multiple malignancies, including prostate cancer. In addition, since anti-CTLA-4 enhances anti-tumor T cell responses by blocking an inhibitory signal on activated T cells, it has been postulated that traditional therapies that lead to tumor cell death, thereby releasing tumor antigens to prime and potentially activate T cell responses, can be used in combination with CTLA-4 blockade to sustain activated T cell responses and enhance anti-tumor immune responses. Pre-clinical mouse models have shown this to be true. To determine the impact of combination therapy on human immune responses, we designed a pre-surgical clinical trial with a hormonal agent consisting of leuprolide acetate, a standard agent that has therapeutic efficacy against prostate cancer, plus anti-CTLA-4 (ipilimumab), in the setting of patients with regional, high-risk prostate cancer. As of October 2011, we have treated 4 out of a planned 20 patients on trial. Patients receive one injection of leuprolide acetate (Lupron, Tap Pharmaceuticals) at a dose of 22.5 mg on week 0 and ipilimumab at 10 mg/kg/dose on weeks 1 and 4. Patients then undergo surgery at week 8. Tumor tissues are collected prior to any therapy and then at the time of surgery. Blood is collected throughout the study prior to each therapeutic intervention and after surgery. Immunologic analyses are ongoing on all collected patients’ samples. These data will be compared to those obtained from previously completed trials consisting of a trial whereby patients were treated with ipilimumab monotherapy and a trial whereby patients were treated with hormonal therapy prior to surgery. Our preliminary data indicate that combination therapy impacts T cell responses including a measurable increase in the frequency of T cells expressing the inducible costimulator (ICOS) molecule. In addition, four patients have completed the trial, including surgery, without any serious adverse events related to the combination therapy. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4388. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4388
Rapid, Non-Mechanical, Damage Free Figuring Of Optical Surfaces Using Plasma Assisted Chemical Etching (PACE): Part Ii Theory & Process Control

We describe an application of Plasma Assisted Chemical Etching (PACE) to rapid and controllable figuring and smoothing of optical surfaces without mechanical contact. This removes the usual constraints on the design of optical elements imposed by mechanical pro-cesses, such as substrate deformation, edge distortion and subsurface damage or contamination. This process employs a process originally developed to pattern microelectronic circuits by ion enhanced chemical etching of a solid (Si02, Si, Al, Au, etc.) through a relatively nonerodeable photolithographically patterned mask1,-2. The PACE process shapes the optical surface by removing material in a small area under a confined reactive gas plasma (a "puck") moved over this surface. Rates of removal of such processes in microelectronic applications are as high as 10 pm per minute and are very accurately controllable and repeatable. The removal "footprint" of PACE may be varied during the process and it inherently smooths or polishes while exposing a virgin surface free of process generated contamination and subsurface damage. It can operate in two modes: (1) in "contact" with the plasma, where the chemical reaction is driven by the kinetic energy given up at the reacting surface by short lived species such as ions; and (2) downstream of the plasma, by the stored energy freed at the surface by longer lived species such as excited metastable neutrals. Since control of this process is so important to this application, we sketch the generic physics and chemi hi stry1,2 of the PACE figuring and smoothing process, identifying the quantitative relations between the plasma and chemical parameters that control it:rf power density reactive gas pressure reactive gas flow the reactor surface temperatures and the pertinent transport chemistry.
Optimal polarimetric processing of SAR imagery

The Advanced Detection Technology Program has as one objective the application of fully polarimetric, high-resolution radar data to the detection, discrimination, and classification of stationary targets. In support of this program, the Advanced Detection Technology Sensor (ADTS), a fully polarimetric, 35-GHz SAR with 1 ft by 1 ft resolution was developed. In April of 1989, the ADTS gathered target and clutter data near Stockbridge, NY. Data from this collection is being used to investigate optimal polarimetric processing techniques. This paper summarizes the results of a recent study of an optimal polarimetric method for reducing speckle in SAR imagery.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Hierarchically Structured Functional Porous Silica and Composite Produced by Evaporation-Induced Self-Assembly

Abstract Recently so-called soft lithography approaches [Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 37 (1998) 550] have been combined with surfactant [Adv. Mater. 9 (1997) 811, Nature 390 (1997) 674] and particulate [Science 282 (1998) 2244] templating procedures to create oxides with multiple levels of structural order. But the materials thus formed have been limited primarily to oxides with no specific functionality, and the associated processing times have ranged from hours to days. Using self-assembling inks we have combined evaporation-induced (silica/surfactant) self-assembly [Adv. Mater. 11 (1999) 579] with rapid prototyping techniques like micro-pen lithography [Science 283 (1999) 661, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 542 (1999) 159], ink-jet printing [Adv. Mater. 11 (1999) 734, Mat. Sci. Eng. C5 (1998) 289], and dip coating on micro-contact printed substrates to form hierarchically organized structures in seconds. By co-condensation of tetrafunctional silanes (Si(OR)4) with tri-functional organosilanes ((RO)3SiR′) [Chem. Commun. (1999) 1367, Chem. Commun. (1997) 1769, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 119 (1997) 4090] or bridged silsesquioxanes (RO)3Si–R′–Si(OR)3) or by inclusion of organic additives, we have selectively derivatized the silica framework with functional R′ ligands or molecules. The rapid-prototyping procedures we describe are simple, employ readily available equipment, and provide a link between computer-aided design and self-assembled functional nanostructures. We expect that the ability to form arbitrary functional designs on arbitrary surfaces will be of practical importance for directly writing sensor arrays and fluidic or photonic systems.
Renewed debate over postnatal oogenesis in the mammalian ovary.

The central dogma of female reproductive biology has long held that oogenesis ceases prior to birth in mammals. During the first half of the last century, there was much debate about whether this was the case or whether oogenesis continued in the postnatal ovary. A report in 1951 effectively put an end to this debate and laid the foundation for the dogma. A new paper by Johnson et al. (2004)1 resurrects the debate over whether postnatal oogenesis occurs in the mammalian ovary. If confirmed, this would have tremendous impact on issues related to female fertility and reproductive longevity. BioEssays 26:829–832, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Agent Orange Toxicity: a Quantitative Perspective:

1 The minimum toxic dose of tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) for man has been calculated from monkey and human data to be 0.1 ?g kg-1.2 The amount of TCDD which man takes in from his environment is about 1/2050 of that present in one square metre of his immediate environment.3 The average concentration of TCDD present in Vietnam immediately after spraying Agent Orange was 8 ?g m-2.4 A soldier directly sprayed would attain an internal body concentration of 7 × 10-5?g kg-1 or 1/1750 of the minimum toxic dose; soldiers moving through previously sprayed areas would ingest much less.5 These quantitative aspects indicate that the dioxin sprayed with Agent Orange in Vietnam cannot have caused systemic illnesses in Vietnam veterans or birth defects in their children.
Pad-Bake Reactions: Part II: A New Pad-Bake Reaction of Cellulose and Aqueous Solutions of Anhydride-Ammonia

A new anhydride/ammonia-cellulose reaction has been developed. It has led to a fast, simple, pad-hake process for modifying cellulose. The structure of the modified reaction product is presumed to ...
Binding of calcium to casein; influence of pH and calcium and phosphate concentrations.

Abstract The binding of calcium to casein has been determined, both by analysis of the aggregated casein and by equilibrium dialysis. Values for maximum amount of calcium bound and dissociation pK values are reported for pH 7.0 and compared with values in the literature. Calcium is not bound to casein at pH 5, but binding does occur and increases as the pH is raised. The increase in binding parallels the increase in net negative charge of the casein, as well as the degree of ionization of a substituted phosphoric acid up to about pH 7. The time that the calcium caseinate aggregates are permitted to form does not affect the calcium binding. Aggregates formed at higher temperature in part redissolve at lower temperatures, but the binding of calcium per unit weight of aggregate is unchanged. In casein systems containing both calcium and phosphate, binding of the latter occurs only above pH 6, and simultaneously the binding of calcium increases greatly. The isoelectric point (maximum precipitation) of casein is not changed in the presence of calcium chloride.
The engineer's part

This first wallberg lecture inaugurates a continuous series of Lectures instituted by the University of Toronto to perpetuate the name of Emil Andrew Wallberg, Canadian engineer, industrialist, and philanthropist. Mr. Wallberg's achievements were associated particularly with the promotional and industrial aspects of engineering.
Properties of doped II–VI films and superlattices grown by photoassisted molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract A new film growth technique, photoassisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE), has been used to prepare substitutionally doped II–VI semiconductor compounds. This epitaxial growth technique differs from conventional MBE in that the substrate is illuminated during the entire film growth process. We have used this new technique to prepare conducting layers of CdTe and CdMnTe. In our experiments, the output from an argon ion laser is used as the source of illumination. In and Sb were employed as n-type and p-type dopants, respectively. Conducting n-type CdMnTe: In-CdTe superlattices have also been grown along with doped CdMnTe: Sb-CdTe structures. The structural, electrical, and optical properties of the conducting epilayers were investigated by means of double crystal X-ray diffraction, Van der Pauw Hall effect measurements, and low temperature photoluminescence.
Shape isomeric states in heavy nuclei

Abstract The trend for the occurrence of secondary minima (shape isomers) in the potential-energy surface is discussed for an extended region of heavy nuclei. The calculations reported are based on a modified oscillator potential, and a renormalization of the average behaviour of the total energy to that of the liquid-drop model is performed. The regions treated are the actinide region, the rare-earth region along the stability line, and a region of neutron deficient isotopes of elements in the Pb region.
Bid-response models for customised pricing

In this paper, we study pricing situations where a firm provides a price quote in the presence of uncertainty in the preferences of the buyer and the competitive landscape. We introduce two customised-pricing bid-response models (CPBRMs) used in practice, which can be developed from the historical information available to the firm based on previous bidding opportunities. We show how these models may be used to exploit the differences in the market segments to generate optimal price quotes given the characteristics of the current bid opportunity. We also describe the process of evaluating competing models using an industry data set as a test bed to measure the model fit. Finally, we test the models on the industry data set to compare their performance and estimate the per cent improvement in expected profits that may be possible from their use.
Termination of ventricular tachycardia with bursts of rapid ventricular pacing

Bursts of rapid ventricular pacing used during 573 episodes of ventricular tachycardia in 23 patients terminated 5 12 episodes (89 percent), with burst rates averaging 56 beats/min above the ventricular tachycardia rate, for 5 to 10 captures. Tachycardia was accelerated by pacing bursts to rates below 300 beats/min in 16 episodes (3 percent); 10 of these terminated spontaneously or responded to further bursts. Acceleration of heart rate to more than 300 beats/min or ventricular fibrillation occurred six times (1 percent), each episode requiring direct current cardioversion. Pacing bursts had no effect in 38 instances (7 percent), mostly in patients with terminal cardiogenic shock. Implantable pacemakers delivering bursts of rapid ventricular pacing were placed in two patients who have used these units at home. No deaths were associated with bursts of rapid ventricular pacing, which is an effective, rapid, pleasant alternative to repeated direct current cardioversion and a useful tool during electrophysiologic testing in patients with recurrent tachycardia.
Development of human mast cells from their progenitors

Abstract Two types of human mast cells, which are morphologically similar to skin mast cells and lung mast cells, repectively, can be developed from pluripotent stem cells under different culture conditions. The major growth factor for mast-cell development is c-kit ligand, which induces mastocytosis in vivo . However, this cytokine is not sufficient for full maturation of the cells.