cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thermodynamic Properties of Dilute Solutions of Hydrogen in Glassy PD.80SI.20

Equilibrium vapor pressures of dilute solutions of hydrogen in glassy Pd.80Si.20 have been measured from 10–90 C and at hydrogen pressures P of 1–100 torr. Under these conditions the ratio of hydrogen to alloy, x as determined by a volumetric method, reaches a maximum value of 0.0070. Over this range of x, the system exhibits a positive deviation from Sieverts’ Law; isotherms were analyzed in terms of Lacher’s modified statistical mechanical theory of hydrogen in palladium. The data were used to calculate relative partial molar enthalpies, excess entropies, and excess free energies for the formation of the solid solutions. The thermodynamic properties were found to vary with hydrogen content over the composition range studied.
TWO-D: The USF Beginner's Two-Dimensional Programming System

A programming system, permitting the user to think 100% that he is programming with flowchart symbols, is described. This description includes the TWO-D syntax, the user's view-point, the CRT-terminal output, the overall structure of the simply-designed programming system, the file structure used, some design decisions faced, and the flowchart of the supervisory program.
Spontaneous and induced production of endogenous type-C RNA virus from a clonal line of spontaneously transformed BALB/3T3

This report describes the different levels of expression of the endogenous type-C viral genome in a spontaneously transformed, tumor-producing clone (S16) derived from the BALB/3T3 murine cell line. Four of nine subclones of S16 were found to continuously release high titers of endogenous virus. Five other S16 subclones were virus-nonproducers, but could be readily induced with 5′-bromodeoxyuridine to release large quantities of the endogenous virus. The transformed subclones were much more readily induced to produce virus compared to the parent BALB/3T3 cell line. All virus-producing subclones and one non-virus-producing subclone contained considerably larger quantites of the major group-specific antigens of the mouse type-C viruses than did the untransformed BALB/3T3 cells themselves. Kinetics of induction of type-C virus was studied in two clones that did not spontaneously release virus. Extracellular viral polymerase could be detected within 24 h of BrdU application; it increased exponentially over a thousand-fold range during the next 48 h, and then slowly declined. Thus, the probability of expression of the endogenous type-C viral genome is increased in spontaneously transformed BALB/3T3 cells.
Quantization distortion in block transform-compressed data

Summary form only givem; substantially as follows. The JPEG image compression standard is an example of a block transform-based compression scheme; the image is systematically subdivided into blocks that are individually transformed, quantized, and encoded. The compression is achieved by quantizing the transformed data, reducing the data entropy and thus facilitating efficient encoding. Block transform compression schemes exhibit sharp discontinuities at data block boundaries: this phenomenon is a visible manifestation of the compression quantization distortion. For example, in compression algorithms such as JPEG these blocking effects manifest themselves visually as discontinuities between adjacent 8/spl times/8 pixel image blocks. In general the distortion characteristics of block transform-based compression techniques are understandable in terms of the properties of the transform basis functions and the transform coefficient quantization error. In particular, the blocking effects exhibited by JPEG are explained by two simple observations demonstrated in this work: a disproportionate fraction of the total quantization error accumulates on block edge pixels; and the quantization errors among pixels within a compression block are highly correlated, while the quantization errors between pixels in separate blocks are uncorrelated. A generic model of block transform compression quantization noise is introduced, applied to synthesized and real one and two dimensional data using the DCT as the transform basis, and results of the model are shown to predict distortion patterns observed in data compressed with JPEG.
Stem responses to damage: the evolutionary ecology of Quercus species in contrasting fire regimes.

Summary • The ability of tree stems to recover from damage is critical for tree survival and may explain species distributions across disturbance regimes. Two primary responses to stem damage, decay compartmentalization and wound closure, act in concert to limit decay and pathogen spread. A previous study demonstrated a tradeoff between wound responses that varied with anatomical traits, but its wide taxonomic range made it hard to analyze responses in an evolutionary context. • Here, we tested the stem wound responses of 13 species of Quercus inhabiting three habitats across a gradient of fire intensity. We also quantified anatomical and structural traits and phylogenetic position, in order to assess the relative contributions of ecological adaptation and phylogenetic history in determining traits. • Xylem anatomical traits were phylogenetically constrained, while phloem traits and damage responses varied with habitat. Across habitats, hammock and sandhill species closed bark wounds effectively, whereas scrub species limited the spread of xylem decay. There was a tradeoff between wound closure and decay compartmentalization within the white+live oaks. • The fact that some wound response traits are phylogenetically constrained while others respond to ecological pressures suggests that damage responses integrate mechanisms operating at several levels within plants.
Estimation of HDL cholesteryl ester kinetic parameters in the cebus monkey, an animal species with high plasma cholesteryl ester transfer activity.

Abstract We studied the kinetic parameters of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesteryl esters in the cebus monkey, an animal species with high plasma cholesteryl ester transfer activity. HDL were radiolabeled with cholesteryl [1- 14 C]oleate and intravenously administered to 4 cebus monkeys. The calculated fractional catabolic rate (FCR) of the HDL cholesteryl esters was 0.081 ± 0.002 (mean ± SD) h −1 and the calculated residence time was 12.3 ± 0.3 h. The production or disposal rate of plasma HDL cholesteryl esters was 34.3 ± 4.5 μmol/h. The radiolabeled cholesteryl esters were rapidly transferred from the HDL to the very low and low density lipoproteins (VLDL + LDL) and the amount of tracer in the VLDL + LDL had already reached a maximum at 3.5 ± 0.7 h after tracer administration. The estimated fraction of VLDL + LDL cholesteryl esters derived from the HDL was 0.77 ± 0.06. We also used radiolabeled [1,2- 3 H(N))cholesteryl palmityl ether to trace HDL cholesteryl esters, but the ether tracer was more slowly cleared from the plasma and less readily transferred between plasma lipoproteins than the ester tracer.
Passive beamforming enhancements in relation to active-passive data fusion

One goal of active-passive data fusion is to combine the complementary information provided by active and passive sonar sensors to better perform signal processing. Here, investigation is restricted to passive direction of arrival tracking of a single target of interest in the presence of high SNR interferers. Prior information, available in a Bayesian framework, is used to increase track accuracy and decrease computational demand. Comparisons are made to a conventional approach that uses no prior information.
Postural changes in respiratory function

Changes in body position alters the functional residual capacity (FRC). Most anesthetics reduce FRC in the recumbent but not sitting position. Inspired gas distribution in anesthesia-paralyzed subjects whose lungs are mechanically ventilated, is different from that in the awake state in all but the prone position. The function of the diaphragm is altered by postural changes. The pattern of motion of the diaphragm is different during mechanical ventilation than during spontaneous breathing. Also the end-expiratory shape is affected by induction of anesthesia, but this shape change contributes little to the reduction of FRC. The distribution of pulmonary blood flow is determined not only by gravity, but also by an intrinsic non-gravity dependent factor. These two factors can be additive in some positions but opposing in others.
Beets, Bacteria, and Blood Flow A Lesson of Three Bs

Angiogenesis and its regulation is a crucial physiological response to chronic tissue ischemia causing increased microvessel growth along with collateral arteriolar remodeling to restore blood flow to deprived tissues.1 Vascular occlusion, as seen in coronary and peripheral artery disease, often progresses to chronic tissue ischemia without effective vascular remodeling responses.2 Thus, therapeutic revascularization has an important role to play in the management of patients with coronary or peripheral artery disease to facilitate ischemic tissue reperfusion and limit cellular injury and loss.3 Unfortunately, successful realization of therapeutic angiogenesis remains elusive despite numerous experimental and clinical studies. Article see p 1983 Nitric oxide (NO) regulates several important vascular responses in chronic tissue ischemia, including angiogenesis, vasodilation, anti-inflammation, and apoptosis, to name a few.4,5 Potentiation of NO augments therapeutic angiogenesis6; however, the activity of nitric oxide synthase enzymes and its cofactors are compromised during ischemia.7 Despite that fact, several studies indicate that NO metabolites nitrite (NO 2 − ) and nitrate (NO 3 − ), once considered to be inert by-products of NO, can be chemically reduced back to NO in ischemic tissues through multiple reduction mechanisms.8 In this way, the nitrate/nitrite/NO pathway may serve as an alternative (perhaps …
Chemical analyses of variable regions of heavy and light chains of cold agglutinins.

. The variable regions of cold agglutinins with anti-I and anti-Pr specificities were investigated by N-terminal amino acid sequencing and by analyses of pyrrolidone-carboxylic acid-blocked peptides after digestion of polypeptide chains with Nargase. Results showed that the heavy chains of four IgM anti-I cold agglutinins are exclusively VHI subgroups and their light chains are exclusively VKII subgroup. In contrast, the light chains of two cold agglutinins with anti-Pr specificity are not VKII, while their heavy chains are not restricted to a single subgroup. The amino acid sequences at the first hypervariable region of light chains (positions 25–35) are similar in two of the four anti-I cold agglutinins. These sequences are different from that of the light chain of another cold agglutinin with anti-Pr specificity. These results support the concept that only antibodies with the same specificity can share similar primary structure at their antigen combining sites.
Online moving camera background subtraction

Recently several methods for background subtraction from moving camera were proposed. They use bottom up cues to segment video frames into foreground and background regions. Due to this lack of explicit models, they can easily fail to detect a foreground object when such cues are ambiguous in certain parts of the video. This becomes even more challenging when videos need to be processed online. We present a method which enables learning of pixel based models for foreground and background regions and, in addition, segments each frame in an online framework. The method uses long term trajectories along with a Bayesian filtering framework to estimate motion and appearance models. We compare our method to previous approaches and show results on challenging video sequences.
Holocene and Latest Pleistocene Oblique Dextral Faulting on the Southern Inyo Mountains Fault, Owens Lake Basin, California

The Inyo Mountains fault (imf) is a more or less continuous range-front fault system, with discontinuous late Quaternary activity, at the western base of the Inyo Mountains in Owens Valley, California. The southern section of the imf trends ∼N20°–40° W for at least 12 km at the base of and within the range front near Keeler in Owens Lake basin. The southern imf cuts across a relict early Pliocene alluvial fan complex, which has formed shutter ridges and northeast-facing scarps, and which has dextrally offset, well-developed drainages indicating long-term activity. Numerous fault scarps along the mapped trace are northeast-facing, mountain-side down, and developed in both bedrock and younger alluvium, indicating latest Quaternary activity. Latest Quaternary multiple- and single-event scarps that cut alluvium range in height from 0.5 to 3.0 m. The penultimate event on the southern imf is bracketed between 13,310 and 10,590 cal years b.p., based on radiocarbon dates from faulted alluvium and fissure-fill stratigraphy exposed in a natural wash cut. Evidence of the most recent event is found at many sites along the mapped fault, and, in particular, is seen in an ∼0.5-m northeast-facing scarp and several right-stepping en echelon ∼0.5-m-deep depressions that pond fine sediment on a younger than 13,310 cal years b.p. alluvial fan. A channel that crosses transverse to this scarp is dextrally offset 2.3 ± 0.8 m, providing a poorly constrained oblique slip rate of 0.1–0.3 m/k.y. The identified tectonic geomorphology and sense of displacement demonstrate that the southern imf accommodates predominately dextral slip and should be integrated into kinematic fault models of strain distribution in Owens Valley.
Temperature Stability in Yttrium-Gadolinium-Aluminum-Iron Garnets

The gadolinium-substituted yttrium-iron garnets have a compensation point of the magnetization (a temperature below the Curie point where the magnetization goes rapidly to zero). The temperature at which this compensation point occurs is determined primarily by the gadolinium content but may be further repositioned by the substitution of aluminum for iron. By proper control of these compensation points by ionic substitutions, microwave garnet materials may be produced having magnetizations which are temperature independent. The microwave properties of the following compositions were investigated: for x= 0 to 0.5 and w= 0 to 0.3. The magnetizations of these materials were studied from—195°C to the Curie temperature. This series of substitutions resulted in materials with magnetizations of 800 to 300 gauss, which vary no more than ±50 gauss over a 120°C temperature range encompassing—40° to +40°C. The line-width of these temperature-stable materials is less than 120 oe at room temperature. These materials are useful in many temperature-stable microwave components including low-frequency circulators.
Travel Time for Waves Moving Over a Sloping Bottom

Herein an analytical equation is developed to predict travel time of individual small amplitude waves as they move over a sloping bottom. The derivation presented assumes that a wave train exists from deep water to the beach.
The Paradox of the Money Pump: A Resolution

The Paradox of the Money Pump, introduced by Carlos Rodriguez at the 1986 MAXENT Workshop, can be quietly resolved by a Bayesian analysis of the Envelope Game. Everything derives from the prior probability distribution for the total purse, that is, the sum of the checks in both envelopes. It turns out that the Money Pump can indeed operate -but only when the expectation-value of the total purse is infinite. In that case, the expected cost to the sponsor of the game is infinite, and there is no fair price that can be charged for admission to the game as a player.
On Line Pulmonary Testing Utilizing a Portable Microcomputer

The extent of the functional changes resulting from pulmonary disease as well as the detection of lung parenchymal and airway disorders are routinely evaluated and quantitated through pulmonary function testing. Computers are being used for on line pulmonary function testing in an increasing number of laboratories as such testing lends itself particularly well to computer data collection, calculation, and control. The instruments utilized in pulmonary laboratories have in general some form of electronic output for a recording device, thus allowing them to be connected either directly or through a linear amplifier to an analog to digital board, which in turn can be interfaced with a digital computer. Moreover, computers themselves can be interfaced and can either share a common data base or peripherals, or one can pass along information from one to the other.
Optimal incentive design for distributed stabilizing control of nonlinear dynamic networks

In many dynamic networks, control authorities seek for heterogeneous and even partially conflicting subobjectives. The misaligned interests threaten reliability of dynamic networks and degrade their operating performance. In this paper, we focus on design and analysis of mechanisms where a system operator provides a reward to incentivize control authorities to implement distributed stabilizing controllers. The proposed mechanisms are based on a bidding scheme where the bid of each control authority is represented by a newly derived local stability index. The mechanism induces a non-cooperative game between local control authorities while minimizing disclosures of their private information. By perturbing the game, we design an optimal incentive mechanism where the system operator can ensure network-wide stability and simultaneously maximize a social welfare while minimizing the reward size and perturbations.
Computationally Complete

The revamped Books Department kicks off its debut with a review of Rubin Landau's new book from Princeton University Press, "A First Course in Scientific Computing: Symbolic, Graphic, and Numeric Modeling Using Maple, Java, Mathematica, and Fortran90."
The rise of ecosystem ecology and its applications to environmental challenges

Before the 1970s, different disciplines had their own narrow perspectives of what ecologists and natural resource managers now call “ecosystems” and landscapes. For example, in these earlier days ecologists studied and measured things they could see, touch, count, weigh, or map. Ecologists speculated about plant succession and animal dynamics. Rangeland and pasture scientists and managers were concerned with forage and animal production. Foresters studied board feet (or meters) of timber, tree reproduction, and harvesting techniques from forest stands. Hydrologists studied millimeters of precipitation, water yield from watersheds, and the effects of various manipulations on water yield. Each of these disciplines mostly measured livings things above ground or water. Ecosystems were viewed as “black boxes”, if recognized at all. These disciplinary perspectives or “silo” views of systems meant little collaboration among scientific specialties. Ecology as a discipline was changing during the 1950s and 1960s. E. P. Odum and his brother H. T. Odum were beginning to conceptualize energy flow in “ecosystems”, and H. T. Odum was formulating early ideas about “systems ecology” (Odum, 1971). F. H. Bormann and G. E. Likens were formulating ideas about forested watersheds as “ecosystems” (Likens et al., 1977). This was the same period when “systems theory” was being developed by von Bertalanffy (1968), Forrester (1968), George van Dyne, Bernard Patten, Jerry Olson (Coleman, 2010), and others. The latter three introduced a new scientific paradigm: systems ecology (systems ecology is an interdisciplinary field of ecology, taking a holistic approach to the study of ecological systems). It can be seen as an application of general systems theory to ecology that contributed heavily to ecosystem science as we know it today (Fig. 1). Also, in the late 1960s and early 1970s period, a new public and institutional awareness of compelling environmental problems was emerging worldwide. The need for interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving was becoming recognized. The stage was set for the initiation of the new problem-solving paradigm, ecosystem science – the right science at the right time.
Manubrial stress fractures diagnosed on MRI: report of two cases and review of the literature

In contrast to widely-reported sternal insufficiency fractures, stress fractures of the sternum from overuse are extremely rare. Of the 5 cases of sternal stress fracture published in the English-language medical literature, 3 were in the sternal body and only 2 were in the manubrium. We describe two cases of manubrial stress fracture related to golf and weightlifting, and present the first report of the MR findings of this injury. In each of these cases, the onset of pain was atraumatic, insidious, and associated with increased frequency of athletic activity. Imaging was obtained because of clinical diagnostic uncertainty. On MRI, each patient had a sagittally oriented stress fracture of the lateral manubrium adjacent to the first rib synchondrosis. Both patients had resolution of pain after a period of rest, with subsequent successful return to their respective activities. One patient had a follow-up MRI, which showed resolution of the manubrial marrow edema and fracture line. Based on the sternal anatomy and MR findings, we hypothesize that this rare injury might be caused by repetitive torque of the muscle forces on the first costal cartilage and manubrium, and propose that MRI might be an effective means of diagnosing manubrial stress fracture.
Liberalism and Open Borders: The Argument of Joseph Carens:

Joseph Carens’ argument for open borders is evaluated in this article and concludes that it rests upon an unelaborated conception of liberalism that he does not himself defend. This raises the ques...
Controlled heat flux measurement across a closing nanoscale gap and its comparison to theory

We present here a controlled measurement of heat flux across a closing gap that is initially less than 10 nm wide between two solid surfaces at different temperatures. The measured heat transfer is compared with our published theoretical analyses of this phenomenon that show thermal radiation dominates the heat transfer for gaps wider than about 1–2 nm, but phonon conduction dominates between 1 and 2 nm and contact. The experiments employ a thermal actuator mounted on a rocking base block for coarse positioning that supplies Joule heating to an embedded element to cause thermal expansion of a localized region for less than 10 nm spacing control, together with an embedded near-surface resistive temperature sensor to measure its temperature change due to the heat flux across the gap. The measured results are in general agreement with the theoretical predictions, and they also agree with common sense expectations. This paper not only shows nano-scale heat transfer measurement across a closing gap, it also le...
The board of directors and agency accountability.

The demand for greater accountability in the social service arena has forced those responsible for funding and operating programs to look for more efficient ways to evaluate them. The board of dire...
Shoes and Shoe Corrections

The components required in a shoe, the proper fitting of shoes, the types of shoes to be used by normal children, and the use of corrections in shoes for specific deformities are described.
MO-C-BRB-05: Medical Physics - Adding Value in Industry

With the profound changes currently occurring in medicine, the role of the medical physicist cannot stagnate, but must evolve to meet the challenges and opportunities that are presented. Medical physicists must understand these changes and establish themselves not only as relevant but as leaders in this new environment. We must increase our presence in clinical settings such as tumor boards, patient rounds, and the development of new diagnosis, imaging, and treatment techniques. By establishing ourselves as competent scientists, we can and must participate in the development of technologies through research, teaching, and clinical implementation. As medical physicists we must define our roles and value to our physician colleagues, patients, referring physicians, and senior administrators. We cannot afford to be viewed solely as quality assurance technologists, but need to move forward in step with medical and practice advances, becoming recognized as having a leadership role in providing quality research, technological development, and quality patient care. In this session, four leaders in medical research and healthcare will discuss their observations on how medical physicists have contributed to advancements in healthcare and opportunities to continue leadership in providing quality medicine through the applications of physics to research, education, and clinical practice. Learning Objectives: 1.Understand the changes in the healthcare environment and how medical physicists can contribute to improving patient care. 2.Learn how medical physicists are currently leading research efforts to improve clinical imaging and diagnosis. 3.Understand the role of medical physicists in developing new technology and leading its translation into clinical care.
Eyelid and Nasolacrimal Disease

An understanding of normal structure and function of the equine eyelid is essential to make an accurate diagnosis and appropriately treat equine eyelid diseases. Entropion, eyelid trauma, neoplasia, and nasolacrimal disorders are reviewed. Methods of diagnosis and treatment are presented.
The Physical and Behavioral Indicators of Elder Mistreatment and Neglect

Mistreatment (intentional or otherwise) by caregivers affects roughly 10 % of adults 60 years and older, and such mistreatment can be a contributor to emergency department and hospital admissions and a cause of psychiatric as well as physical morbidity. The on-call psychiatrist, along with other members of the healthcare team, must be alert to clues of abuse, frequently from caretakers for the geriatric patient. When suspected, screening for abuse can be facilitated by standardized questionnaires. Further history taking about suspected abuse requires a skilled interviewing technique using thoughtfully formed, non-threatening, open-ended questions that can progressively focus on specific types of abuse. Many jurisdictions require reporting of suspected abuse to the local health authority, but such reporting is not a substitute for addressing the abuse during the hospitalization through patient and caregiver counseling and the development of a discharge plan that includes referrals as needed to community agencies and engages the participation of the primary-care clinician in its ongoing management. For further discussion of the consulting psychiatrist’s role in the forensic examination and management of suspected physical abuse and sexual trauma, see Chap. 14.
The Bucky and Zeus-2D Computer Codes for Simulating High Energy Density ICF Plasmas

BUCKY and ZEUS-2D are two radiation hydrodynamics codes under development at the University of Wisconsin for the simulation of the behavior of high energy density plasmas found in ICF targets and target chambers. The ZEUS-2D code was originally developed at the National Center for Super-computer Applications. BUCKY is a 1-D Lagrangian code which models many physical phenomena. Verification of these models in BUCKY with experiments is in progress. ZEUS-2D is a 2-D Eulerian radiation magnetohydrodynamics code written for astrophysical applications. It contains relatively simple radiation physics models which are being enhanced by implementing models from the BUCKY code. 13 refs., 3 figs.
Hardware-software codesign of RSA for optimal performance vs. flexibility trade-off

Public-key cryptosystems such as RSA have been widely used to secure digital data in many commercial systems. Modular arithmetic on large operands used during modular exponentiation makes RSA computationally challenging. Traditionally, software implementations of these algorithms provided the highest flexibility but lacked performance. On the contrary, custom hardware accelerators provided the highest performance but lacked flexibility and adaptability to changing algorithms, parameters, and key sizes. In this paper, we present a hardware/software codesign of RSA cryptosystem that improves performance, while retaining flexibility. We adopted Xilinx Zynq-7000 SoC platform, which integrates a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processing system along with Xilinx programmable logic. The software part of our implementation is based on RELIC library (Efficient Library for Cryptography). The performance vs. flexibility trade-off is investigated, and the speed-up of our codesign implementation vs. the purely software implementation of RSA on the same platform is reported. Our results show a speedup of up to 57 times when compared with the software implementation for 2048-bit operand size. We also propose a generic model for HW/SW codesign focused on flexibility with comparable performance to existing HW/SW implementations.
ESCHERICHIA COLI 0157 | Detection by Latex Agglutination Techniques

This chapter describes the use of latex agglutination procedures to assist in identifying Escherichia coli O157 isolates recovered by cultural methods.
Continuous Casting of Asymmetric Tubular Reverse Osmosis Membranes

The advantages of tubular reverse osmosis module configurations for desalination primarily result from the large (typically 0.2 to 1 inch in diameter) characteristic fluid flow cross section and its uniformity in the flow direction. These inherent characteristics of the tubular module yield, with proper design, advantages of minimal fouling tendency, higher fractional recovery operation, and ease of physical in situ cleaning of the membrane surface in comparison with the performance of module geometries characterized by much smaller fluid flow cross sections and flow paths that are both exceedingly tortuous and contain many flow regions of stagnation and relative quiescence. From a cost-to-manufacture standpoint, full exploitation of the tubular module’s operational advantages will accrue as the cost for casting uniform, high performance tubular membrane is reduced to a level as close to the cost of polymer itself as is possible. Since, in the case of cellulose acetate, approximately 1/64 pound of polymer is required to produce one square foot of membrane 8 mils thick[1], then the cost of polymer is slightly greater than 1 cent per square foot of membrane or less than 1/10 of a cent per gallon/day of permeate flow capacity. The differential between this base cost, to which must be added the comparable cost of the other casting solution ingredients, and the cost of tubular membranes cast in the usual batch manner[2] is significant.
La Violeta: Making the Transparent Opaque in Violeta Parra’s Work

This essay proposes to understand the overall production of Violeta Parra as a single work composed using multiple practices and behaviors that the artist embraced during her lifetime. This single work, in turn, demands a reading that exceeds the traditional accounts that pair Parra with Chilean folklore and with a national essence. In response, this essay proposes exploring Parra’s work in general, and her visual components in particular, as manifestations of the “opacity” defined by Edouard Glissant. This allows for an unfixed meaning, one dependent on the relation of the work with its outside rather than one that adheres in its alleged root.
Space-Filling Designs for Computer Experiments

In this chapter and the next, we discuss how to select inputs at which to compute the output of a computer experiment to achieve specific goals. The inputs we select constitute our “experimental design.” The region corresponding to the values of the inputs over which we wish to study or model the response is the experimental region. A point in this region corresponds to a specific set of values of the inputs. Thus, an experimental design is a specification of points in the experimental region at which we wish to compute the response.
Detectors in Active Interrogation

Similar to passive measurements, active interrogation relies on the use of radiation detectors to measure and isolate the characteristic signatures of sought materials. While almost all advances in radiation detectors used in passive measurements can also improve the performance of active interrogation systems, there are some key differences in the desired characteristics between the two types of measurements that affect the choice and optimization of the detectors. This chapter brings up those distinctions while also providing a broad introduction to various detector types that could find use in active interrogation.
HELPING STUDENTS MAKE THE TRANSTITIONS BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE

The transition from high school to college canbe very difficult for many students. At the University ofPittsburgh, we have a system of courses and academiccounseling that is designed to address these issues and helpwith this transition. One major component of our program isa process to help the freshman cope with academic failure.This paper discusses an approach to address the emotionalissues that the freshmen students endure due to theiracademic failure. It was determined through this researchthat the freshmen engineering students must adjust theirunrealistic, preconceived academic expectations transferredfrom high school, as well as accept academic failure andlearn to react in a positive manner to their classroomperformance.Index Terms ⎯ Freshman Retention, Academic failure.
Health-Care Provider Personal Religious Preferences and Their Perspectives on Advance Care Planning With Patients.

Objective:To understand how health-care providers’ (HCPs) religious preferences influence their willingness to undertake advance care planning (ACP) with patients and their acceptance of other HCP’...
FAST COMPUTER CONTROL FOR DUPLEX DOPPLER AND B-MODE ULTRASONOGRAPHY

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the use of fast computer control for duplex Doppler and B-mode ultrasonography. While in the process of designing a computer controlled system, certain questions have to be asked so that all the objectives of the project can be met. The most important item to attack when the design is in the conceptual stage is to identify all the goals of the system. The chapter presents a project that is currently being undertaken to image a blood vessel and then to find the cross-sectional blood velocity profile through the vessel. After the basic machine was defined in the study described in the chapter, a table was drawn up to determine what hardware interfaces were needed. Processing in the computer does not need any special I/O devices, but there is need for about 48 kilobytes of memory. Because of the single Unibus structure of the PDP-11, all devices can be thought of as memory locations. Any time the program needs information from an outside device, that interfaced is addressed and the information is transferred.
Curcumin, but not curcumin-glucuronide, inhibits Smad signaling in TGFβ-dependent bone metastatic breast cancer cells and is enriched in bone compared to other tissues

Breast cancer (BCa) bone metastases (BMETs) drive osteolysis via a feed-forward loop involving tumoral secretion of osteolytic factors (e.g., PTHrP) induced by bone-matrix-derived growth factors (e.g., TGFβ). In prior experiments, turmeric-derived curcumin inhibited in vivo BMET progression and in vitro TGFβ/Smad-signaling in a TGFβ-stimulated PTHrP-dependent human xenograft BCa BMET model (MDA-SA cells). However, it is unclear whether curcumin or curcumin-glucuronide mediates in vivo protection since curcumin-glucuronide is the primary circulating metabolite in rodents and in humans. Thus, effects of curcumin vs. curcumin-glucuronide on Smad-dependent TGFβ signaling were compared in a series of BCa cell lines forming TGFβ-dependent BMET in murine models, and tissue-specific metabolism of curcumin in mice was examined by LC-MS. While curcumin inhibited TGFβ-receptor-mediated Smad2/3 phosphorylation in all BCa cells studied (human MDA-SA, MDA-1833, MDA-2287 and murine 4T1 cells), curcumin-glucuronide did not. Similarly, curcumin, but not curcumin-glucuronide, blocked TGFβ-stimulated secretion of PTHrP from MDA-SA and 4T1 cells. Because the predominant serum metabolite, curcumin-glucuronide, lacked bioactivity, we examined tissue-specific metabolism of curcumin in mice. Compared to serum and other organs, free curcumin (both absolute and percentage of total) was significantly increased in bone, which was also a rich source of enzymatic deglucuronidation activity. Thus, curcumin, and not curcumin-glucuronide, appears to inhibit bone-tropic BCa cell TGFβ-signaling and to undergo site-specific activation (deconjugation) within the bone microenvironment. These findings suggest that circulating curcumin-glucuronide may act as a prodrug that preferentially targets bone, a process that may contribute to the bone-protective effects of curcumin and other highly glucuronidated dietary polyphenols.
Special Considerations for Diagnosing and Treating the Classical Singer

Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe strategies for optimizing clinical service for the population of classical singers. Conclusion The term professional voice users is used to denote ...
Use of Balanced Steady-State Free Precession Sequences in Evaluation of Drop Metastases.

Recently, an overseas colleague had reached out to us, having trouble implementing the sequences suggested by Buch et al[1][1] for their patients in pediatric oncology. We believe that the issue was rooted in some inaccuracies relating to the sequences described in the article. We are writing this
Unsustainable vs. Sustainable Hunting for Food in Gabon: Modeling Short- and Long-Term Gains and Losses

Today, rural people continue to consume wild animals (aquatic and terrestrial) because they are often cheaper and more available than farmed livestock and fish. In many places where the meat from wild animals is an important source of food and income for poor rural families, the capture, consumption or trade of wild animals is illegal and remains within the informal sector and outside of national accounting and regulatory systems. Few studies exist to help policy makers and wildlife managers develop and implement systems designed to halt unsustainable hunting, prevent species loss, and maintain, over the long term, flows of wildlife available to people as a source of food and income. This paper uses empirical data from a tropical forest area in Gabon within a heuristic simulation model to explore how hunter capture rates would need to change over time to halt unsustainable hunting and to maximize the nutritional and economic value of wildlife as a source of food and income over the long term. Results show that sustainable hunting of wildlife populations that are at or near 50% of carrying capacity (0.5K) generates more biomass available for consumption and income generation over 25 years than either hunting to maintain current population densities or continuing to hunt unsustainably. Unsustainable hunting generates more biomass than sustainable hunting but only for the first 1 to 3 years after which offtake dwindles rapidly. Achieving sustainable hunting will require that hunters reduce their offtake for 3-13 years until depleted populations recover, which may be unlikely unless they have access to alternative sources of food and income.
Teaching Toward Justice: Reflections on Collaboration, Engagement, and Social Action in Uncertain Times

Recent societal and political shifts have underscored the need for higher education programs to examine and reflect on the ways in which they address equity and social justice. As teacher-educators...
Barriers and facilitators to obesity prevention dissemination and implementation efforts in the childcare centre setting from the provider perspective.

BACKGROUND It has been established that the childcare centre (CCC) is a setting suitable for healthy weight promotion efforts. As the field advances, it is important to understand the barriers and facilitators to early childhood obesity prevention implementation and dissemination efforts from the CCC providers' perspective. This is especially true among those who serve low-income and diverse populations to maximize scalability success. METHODS Focus groups were held in English or Spanish with CCC providers across six CCCs who implemented healthy caregivers-healthy children (HC2), an early childhood healthy weight promotion programme targeting 2- to 5-year-olds from low-resource backgrounds. Centres represented both rural and urban environments. Focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded. A thematic analysis that combined a deductive and inductive approach was conducted. Codes were analysed using Dedoose to identify general themes and subthemes. RESULTS CCC providers stated that (a) children understood the nutritional benefits of healthy foods; (b) improved cognitive development as a result of HC2; (c) parents were barriers to HC2 implementation efforts, particularly in terms of cooperative healthy lifestyle efforts; and (d) modelling healthy eating and making healthy CCC environmental changes facilitated HC2 implementation. Overall, HC2 was well received by CCC teachers, and they shared creative classroom HC2 adaptions and improvements. CONCLUSIONS CCC providers can provide valuable insight to guide early childhood healthy weight promotion programme dissemination and implementation efforts. Although they value the implementation of HC2 programme in their classroom settings, they perceive parents as somewhat obstructive. This information is critical to informing future healthy weight promotion efforts in this setting, especially among low-resource families. It is important to continue to include the CCC provider viewpoint in future obesity prevention efforts to maximize scalability and sustainability efforts.
Assessing the Impact of a Rapidly Scaled Virtual Urgent Care in New York City During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract Background The coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic quickly challenged New York City health care systems. Telemedicine has been suggested to manage acute complaints and divert patients from in-person care. Objectives The objective of this study was to describe and assess the impact of a rapidly scaled virtual urgent care platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of all patients who presented to a virtual urgent care platform over 1 month during the COVID-19 pandemic surge. We described scaling our telemedicine urgent care capacity, described patient clinical characteristics, assessed for emergency department (ED) referrals, and analyzed postvisit surveys. Results During the study period, a total of 17,730 patients were seen via virtual urgent care; 454 (2.56%) were referred to an ED. The most frequent diagnoses were COVID-19 related or upper respiratory symptoms. Geospatial analysis indicated a wide catchment area. There were 251 providers onboarded to the platform; at peak, 62 providers supplied 364 h of coverage in 1 day. The average patient satisfaction score was 4.4/5. There were 2668 patients (15.05%) who responded to the postvisit survey; 1236 (49.35%) would have sought care in an ED (11.86%) or in-person urgent care (37.49%). Conclusions A virtual urgent care platform was scaled to manage a volume of more than 800 patients a day across a large catchment area during the pandemic surge. About half of the patients would otherwise have presented to an ED or urgent care in person. Virtual urgent care is an option for appropriate patients while minimizing in-person visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Suppressive myeloid cells are expanded by biliary tract cancer-derived cytokines in vitro and associate with aggressive disease

BTC is an aggressive disease exacerbated by inflammation and immune suppression. Expansion of immunosuppressive cells occurs in biliary tract cancer (BTC), yet the role of BTC-derived cytokines in this process is unclear. Activated signalling pathways and cytokine production were evaluated in a panel of human BTC cell lines. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were cultured with BTC supernatants, with and without cytokine neutralising antibodies, and analysed by flow cytometry or immunoblot. A human BTC tissue microarray (TMA, n = 69) was stained for IL-6, GM-CSF, and CD33+S100a9+ cells and correlated with clinical outcomes. Immunomodulatory factors (IL-6, GM-CSF, MCP-1) were present in BTC supernatants. BTC supernatants expanded CD33dimCD11b+HLA-DRlow/− myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) from human PBMCs. Neutralisation of IL-6 and GM-CSF in BTC supernatants inhibited activation of STAT3/5, respectively, in PBMCs, with heterogeneous effects on MDSC expansion in vitro. Staining of a BTC TMA revealed a positive correlation between IL-6 and GM-CSF, with each cytokine and more CD33+S100a9+ cells. Increased CD33+S100a9+ staining positively correlated with higher tumour grade, differentiation and the presence of satellite lesions. BTC-derived factors promote suppressive myeloid cell expansion, and higher numbers of CD33+S100a9+ cells in resectable BTC tumours correlates with more aggressive disease.
Synchrotron and optical probing of mixed lead halide perovskites for photovoltaics

The methylammonium lead iodide CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) perovskites have attracted a lot of attention as a possible absorber material for thin film solar cells due to their bandgap energy, high optical absorption coefficients and low-cost solution-processing deposition approaches. MAPbI3 perovskite solar cells have evolved with transformative potential with laboratory efficiencies greater than 20%. Perovskite absorber materials are very inexpensive to synthesize and simple to manufacture, making them an extremely commercially viable option. Perovskites of compositional variations ABX3 can yield a range of crystal structures, phases and stabilities. The Goldschmidt’s Tolerance Factor is a reliable figure of merit or empirical index to forecast the formation of preferred and stable structures and phases with ABX3 mixed halide perovskite tolerance factors in the range of 0.9 to 1. Here, we probe perovskites of compositional variations ABX3 with tolerance factors in the range of 0.9 to 1.0, and a large effective ionic radius greater than 200 pm. We report on the structural and optical properties of these perovskites. Photovoltaic (PV) devices were fabricated using these high tolerance factor perovskites. We report we have achieved power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) greater than 21% using the high tolerance factor perovskites investigated. The high tolerance perovskites were also characterized using synchrotron X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) II at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). XANES was used to probe the electronic structure of the high tolerance factor perovskites investigated.
Expedited Mitra clip: Rapid evaluation, treatment, and discharge in the COVID-19 era.

Undertreatment of patients with severe mitral regurgitation (MR) has been exaggerated during the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Expedited workup and shortened post-procedural hospital stay after percutaneous mitral valve repair (PMVR) would be incredibly helpful to relieve the constrain in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic and immediately afterward. We report a patient who underwent PMVR with a simplified pre-operative workup, a shortened hospital stay, and expedited discharge.
Eosinophilic, Mastocytic, and Histiocytic Diseases of the Gastrointestinal Tract

Primary eosinophilic, mastocytic, and histiocytic disorders of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract comprise a spectrum of poorly understood and rare entities. Despite their extremely low prevalence in the general population, these diagnoses are commonly considered in the differential diagnosis when evaluating GI biopsies in daily practice. Surgical pathologists will often encounter biopsies with a prominence of one or more of these cell types. The question that then arises is whether the patient actually has one of these rare disorders or the findings are a secondary manifestation of mucosal injury due to an unrelated etiology. The aim of this chapter is to provide a pragmatic approach to interpretation of GI biopsies when faced with an inflammatory process with prominence of these cell types and to highlight our evolving understanding of these disorders that affects clinical practice.