cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sniping and other high-risk smoking practices among homeless youth.

Abstract Background This study of homeless youth uses quantitative data to estimate the prevalence of high-risk smoking practices (obtaining or using cigarettes in a way that increase exposure to toxins and/or susceptibility to infectious diseases) and identify characteristics associated in particular with sniping (smoking discarded cigarettes), and qualitative data to describe why and how homeless youth engage in sniping. Methods A probability sample of 292 homeless youth smokers in Los Angeles County completed a self-administered survey, and a separate convenience sample of 27 homeless youth who were lifetime smokers participated in focus groups. Survey participants reported on background characteristics, smoking cognitions, and high-risk smoking practices. Focus group participants described how they obtained cigarettes and responses relevant to sniping were coded. Results Survey results indicated that nearly all youth engaged in at least one high-risk smoking practice, with three-quarters having sniped cigarettes in the past 30 days. Sniping was more frequent among youth with less negative smoking attitudes ( b = −0.29, 95% CI = −0.55 to −0.04, p = 0.02), greater nicotine dependence ( b = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.00 to 0.23, p = 0.046), lower income ( b = −0.05, 95% CI = −0.09 to −0.01, p = 0.02), and more severe drug abuse ( b = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.04, 0.26, p = 0.01). Focus groups data indicated that youth snipe because it provides cheap and easy access to tobacco, and use specific strategies to mitigate the perceived health risks of sniping. Conclusions Sniping and other high-risk smoking practices deserve further attention among homeless youth, particularly those already facing greater health threats due to factors such as nicotine dependence, lower income, and drug abuse.
Cognition, Motivation, and Supreme Court Decision Making

Most scholars admit that cognition and motivation are important for understanding decision making. Yet, few incorporate them when examining institutional actors. In this paper, I ask how do cognition and motivation shape judicial decision making? I propose a theory of a justice’s cognitive reasoning style that accounts for the complexity of thought and argue that it shapes the degree that ideology influences votes conditionally based upon the motivational basis of the opinion and author’s group status (majority vs. minority). I use content analysis data from Supreme Court opinions spanning 25 terms to test hypotheses within this framework. I find that when majority opinions exhibit a complex reasoning style, ideology’s influence on voting is attenuated, but not for dissenters. Moreover, this paper illustrates how motivation dramatically shapes how cognition influences the ideology-vote relationship, demonstrating that it can either enhance ideology’s influence or negate its influence altogether.
Articulating middle-class culture, consumption, and postsocialism

Over the past decade, there has been a renewed and growing interest in exploring the formation of the middle-classes and middle-class culture among anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists. Several studies have focused on the rise of the new middle-classes spurred by Asia's rapid economic expansion (see Fernandes 2006; Goodman 2008; Lett 1998; Liechty 2003; Zhang 2010, for example). Researchers on other regions have also begun to explore the emergent middle classes in the context of neoliberalism and economic restructuring. Jennifer Patico's fresh and fascinating ethnography on consumption, value, and middle-class making in Russia is an important contribution to this on-going conversation in at least two ways. First, it extends this discussion to a postsocialist context by demonstrating how the making of a middle-class is very much contingent upon a specific time and space. As such, history and locality are essential to the articulation of middle classes. Second, it makes a compelling theoretical argument that connects class specific subject-making to the logics of value and everyday consumption practices. Although many studies have shown that middle-class culture cannot be fully understood without examining consumption and consumerism, Patico's book is one of the few that makes a serious effort to theorize this linkage by taking into account discourses and practices of ordinary Russian people and by addressing larger anthropological concerns of value, morality, and social change. Patico's ethnography is situated in postsocialist Saint Petersburg where she carried out long-term field research in the late 1990s within a particular social group?public school teachers who grew up under Soviet modernity and now face a very different condition of post-Soviet life. This is an interesting choice because most studies on the middle-classes elsewhere have largely focused on relatively prosperous groups with upward mobility?for example, private entrepreneurs and professionals who enjoy more consuming power and in some places serve as an
Spatiotemporal data mining with cellular automata

In this paper, we describe a cellular automata model for predicting biological spatiotemporal dynamics in an imagery data flow. The Bayesian probability-based algorithm is used to estimate the algal formation in a two-dimensional space. The dynamics of the cellular artificial life is described with diffusion, transport, collision and deformation. We tested the model with the historical data, including parameters, such as time, position and temperature.
Pharmacological Elevation of Circulating Bioactive Phosphosphingolipids Enhances Myocardial Recovery After Acute Infarction

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) triggers mobilization of bone marrow (BM)-derived stem/progenitor cells (BMSPCs) through poorly understood processes. Recently, we postulated a major role for bioactive lipids such as sphingosine-1 phosphate (S1P) in mobilization of BMSPCs into the peripheral blood (PB). We hypothesized that elevating S1P levels after AMI could augment BMSPC mobilization and enhance cardiac recovery after AMI. After AMI, elevating bioactive lipid levels was achieved by treating mice with the S1P lyase inhibitor tetrahydroxybutylimidazole (THI) for 3 days (starting at day 4 after AMI) to differentiate between stem cell mobilization and the known effects of S1P on myocardial ischemic pre- and postconditioning. Cardiac function was assessed using echocardiography, and myocardial scar size evolution was examined using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. PB S1P and BMSPCs peaked at 5 days after AMI and returned to baseline levels within 10 days (p < .05 for 5 days vs. baseline). Elevated S1P paralleled a significant increase in circulating BMSPCs (p < .05 vs. controls). We observed a greater than twofold increase in plasma S1P and circulating BMSPCs after THI treatment. Mechanistically, enhanced BMSPC mobilization was associated with significant increases in angiogenesis, BM cell homing, cardiomyocytes, and c-Kit cell proliferation in THI-treated mice. Mice treated with THI demonstrated better recovery of cardiac functional parameters and a reduction in scar size. Pharmacological elevation of plasma bioactive lipids after AMI could contribute to BMSPC mobilization and could represent an attractive strategy for enhancing myocardial recovery and improving BMSC targeting.
Functioning outcomes for abused immigrant women and their children 4 months after initiating intervention

OBJECTIVE: To measure the impact of shelter intervention and protection orders on the mental health functioning, resiliency, and further abuse of documented and undocumented immigrant women and their children in Houston, Texas, United States. METHODS: A prospective cohort study initiated in 2011 examined a subsample of 106 immigrant mothers, primarily from Mexico and Central America, and evaluated their functioning with a battery of 13 well-established instruments as they accessed either shelter or justice services; followed-up was conducted 4 months later to measure improvement. Data were analyzed with a series of repeated measures 2 x 2 x 2 factorial analysis of variance tests. RESULTS: Large effect size improvements were observed in abused immigrant women’s mental health, resiliency, and safety, regardless of whether the intervention accessed was safe shelter or justice services, and regardless of duration of shelter stay and whether or not a protection order was issued. Similarly, large effect size improvements were observed in child functioning, independent of which type of intervention, the duration of shelter stay, or the issuance of a protection order. CONCLUSIONS: Accessing protective services has the potential to improve the health of immigrant women and their children, regardless of documentation status. Global policy for improved access and acceptability of shelter and justice services is essential to promote immigrant women’s safety and to maximize functioning of women and children.
Nursing academic administration: who will take on the challenge?

To address the shortage of qualified candidates interested in nursing academic administration, this study explored factors that influence nursing faculty to pursue administrative positions. Nursing academic administrators and full-time faculty from randomly selected accredited nursing programs in private colleges and universities in the United States participated in this study. Administrators completed the Leadership Practices Inventory–Self and a recruitment questionnaire, whereas faculty completed the Leadership Practices Inventory–Observer and a career aspiration questionnaire. Most faculty respondents (63%) indicated that they would not consider a position with greater administrative responsibility. Respondents identified workload and conflict-related issues as factors likely to discourage their pursuit of administration. Respondents identified additional challenge/variety of work, opportunity to influence organizational climate for change, opportunity to facilitate faculty growth and development, and mix of administration with teaching as likely to encourage their pursuit of administration. Faculty interest in a position with greater administrative responsibility was significantly increased for those who had completed additional course work beyond their highest degree. Practice recommendations included making leadership development opportunities available for faculty interested in administration, exploring methods to manage workload and conflict, and exploring methods to maximize factors identified as likely to encourage the pursuit of academic administration.
Culture, conventions and colonial constructs of rurality in south–north horticultural trades

Abstract This paper draws on comparative social history and convention theory to examine current transformations in the contemporary “Anglophone” and “Francophone” fresh vegetable trades between Africa and Europe. In the 1990s both British and later French supermarkets adopted codes defining standards of food safety, agricultural best practice and, in the UK, “ethical trade.” As conventions, these standards represent corporate efforts not only to assure but also profit from an increasingly comprehensive notion of food quality. These standards also promise to drive changes in retailers’ international fresh produce supply chains, but not uniformly. Comparative historical analysis of French and English conventions, as they apply to African fresh produce commodity chains, provides insight into the interplay between place, culture, and national and international political economies.
CD4 and CD8 T cells with high intracellular glutathione levels are selectively lost as the HIV infection progresses

Maintenance of intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels has been implicated in blocking cytokine-stimulated HIV replication in vitro, in both acute and latent infection models. We demonstrate here that subsets of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells differ substantially in mean GSH levels, as measured on a cell-by-cell basis with the fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS): B cells have the lowest GSH levels; T cells are intermediate; and monocytes and macrophages have the highest levels. Furthermore, GSH levels subdivide the CD4 and CD8 T cell subsets into two classes each: high- and low-GSH cells, which cannot be distinguished by cell size or by currently known surface markers. Significantly, the high-GSH T cells are selectively depleted early during the HIV infection, and are effectively missing in all ARC and AIDS patients.
Diagram makers or classical neurologists? The interactions of aphasiology and its history.

This essay sets out to examine some aspects of the interaction between a scientific dis-cipline and its history. The study of the history of medicine has more than heuristic and didactic purposes; it can help physicians settle contemporaneous controversies. In scientific debates, history writing plays an important role in the process of discipline formation. This essay explores the ways in which the study of historical figures helped shape the clinical theories of Henry Head and Norman Geschwind and examines their reassessments of the contributions of earlier participants in the field of aphasiology. Although Head and Geschwind worked in different eras, they were both very interested in the history of neurology. By relying on neglected writings of earlier neurologists to explain their clinical findings and to support their own theories of aphasia, they used history to enrich their own clinical work. They turned to history writing to convince their peers about the validity of their claims. Head delegitimized the localizationist approach to aphasia by showing that the localizationists had used faulty methodology; at the same time he legitimized his approach by establishing a connection with John Hughlings-Jackson. Geschwind used historical writings to deny the existence of a conflict between the holists and the views of Carl Wernicke and the other classical neurologists whose ideas he was resurrecting. History writing plays an important role in the definition of all sciences-aphasiology is no exception.
Crystal anisotropy and spin-polarized photoluminescence of ordered Ga x In 1-x P

Two-color up-conversion time-resolved photoluminescence and time-resolved absorption are used to study spin relaxation of near-resonant heavy-hole excitons in spontaneously ordered Ga{sub x}In{sub 1{minus}x}P. The photoluminescence anisotropy is studied as a function of crystal direction, revealing a strong dependence on the light orientation with respect to the ordering axis. The maximum observed polarization is 0.8, and indicates that the polarization is near unity shortly after excitation. The carrier spin-relaxation time is 150 ps. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}
Children of alcoholic parents: health, growth, mental development and psychopathology until school age Results from a prospective longitudinal study of children from the general population

Of 640 women who paid their first visit to the two maternal welfare centres in a new Stockholm suburb during one prospective year, 532 (85%) were interviewed with regard to 41 stress factors forming a "life stress score" (LSS). The interviews were supplemented with data from hospital, social welfare and police records concerning the expectant mother and the father. The 532 mothers were divided into three groups according to the degree of psychosocial stress (group 1 (n = 194) without psychosocial stress; group 2 (n = 171) with severe psychosocial stress; and group 3 (n = 167) in an intermediate group). In group 2, there were 23 mothers and 51 fathers in 64 families known to suffer from alcoholism/heavy drinking at the time of the first interview and these comprised our study group. The pregnancies and deliveries in the families were investigated with prospective methods. There were 497 liveborn children of whom 54 were born into families known for alcoholism/heavy drinking. The physical health and development of the children was followed by prospective data from the child welfare centers. Data concerning psychological development and psychiatric health of the child were obtained by interviewing the mother and evaluating the child during visits at home at one and four years of age. At one year of age, 452 of the children (226 boys, 226 girls) and at four to five years of age, 412 of the children (202 boys, 210 girls), were evaluated using the Griffiths' Development Scales. Findings from these evaluations form the basis for comparison of development of children from alcoholic/heavy drinking parents with all other children. For 388 children, data were available from all examinations up to the end of the fourth year, including 38 children (12 boys, 26 girls) in the study group and 350 other children (183 boys, 167 girls). The present findings indicate that children of alcoholic parents in the general population who were followed from pregnancy up to the end of their fourth year have a higher risk of pre- and postnatal death, and have poorer mental development and more symptoms of a psychopathological child psychiatric nature (DSM-III) than other children. Differences related to physical development during infant years disappeared during the observation time. With regard to mental development over a longer period, it appears that factors related to the parent's addictions and the child's sex (i.e. male child) are more important than pediatric risk factors in the form of a score of reduced optimality.
Fundamental Properties of Belt Nip Twister for Yarn Texturing

Two parameters twist efficiency and yarn delivery speed ratio were adopted to clear the properties of the twisting and the yarn delivery of a blet nip twister to get a satisfactory twisting condition.Although these parameters varied . with twister condition (B/Y ratio and intersecting angle of the belt), the relationship between the detwisting tension/twisting tension ratio and the yarn delivery speed ration is approximately on a master curve. And then, when the yarn delivery speed ratio was equal to one, the B/Y ratio was given by : (1/ (1+e)) · (1/cos (θ/2)) where, e : elongation ratio of untwisting, θ : intersecting angle of the belt.
GFAP immunoreactivity in trigeminal ganglion satellite cells after tooth injury in rats

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a member of a heterogeneous group of intermediate filaments in glial cells of both the central and peripheral nervous systems. We demonstrate here that satellite cells in the trigeminal ganglion (TG) increase immunoreactivity (IR) for GFAP in response to dental injury. The satellite cell reaction was most often confined to the somatotopic region of the ganglion that corresponded to the zone of damage in the periphery, although in some cases it was seen to spread out from a focal center in the maxillary region to neighboring zones corresponding to cell bodies that innervate other tissues such as the cornea. We used two methods to demonstrate that the increase in satellite cell GFAP-IR was site specific and injury related. First, by altering the site of the pulp exposure from the maxillary molars to the mandibular molars, we could change the site of satellite cell reaction in the TG. Second, we used combined retrograde transport of DiI from the molar pulp and GFAP immunofluorescence to show direct correspondence between neurons that innervate the molars and neurons that are encircled by GFAP-IR satellite cells. The satellite cell GFAP-IR was seen at 3 and 7 days, the longest time point examined here. This GFAP response in satellite cells around injured sensory neurons will be a useful tool in future studies of mechanisms in trigeminal pain and neuron-support cell interactions. We conclude that a GFAP-IR satellite cell reaction is induced in TG by an injury to the molar pulp in a site specific manner at 3-7 days.
Design of a clinical vein contrast enhancing projector

A clinical study has been initiated to compare an experimental IR device, the Vein Contrast Enhancer (VCE), with standard techniques for finding veins for venipuncture. The aims of this proposal are 1) to evaluate the performance of the VCE in a clinical setting, specifically by comparing its sensitivity of detection with existing vein-finding techniques used by experienced nurses or phlebotomists, 2) to study its usefulness in subjects who are obese, who have difficult venous access or thrombosed veins, or whose veins are not visible or difficult to palpate, and 3) to show that it performs as well on subjects with darkly pigmented skin as on subjects with lightly pigmented skin. The VCE will first be studied in adult subjects, and then in pediatric subjects. The study has begun with a LCD-monitor-based VCE device for which the phlebotomist will view the patient anatomy both directly and on an enlarged, contrast-enhanced, monitor image. Following the monitor-based study, a prototype compact projector-based VCE device will be built and tested. This device will project a contrast-enhanced image of the veins onto the subject's skin, so that the phlebotomist will be able simultaneously to view the patient's anatomy and to see an enhanced vein image.
The Chemistry of Esters of Leuco Vat Dyes VI–The Supposed Production of Semiquinone Esters

Evidence is presented disproving the previously suggested formation of stable semiquinone esters during the oxidation of the sulphuric acid esters of leuco vat dyes (1). Under appropriate conditions it appears most likely that the leuco compound which may be produced by hydrolysis of the original ester will disproportionate to yield the vat dye and a compound at a lower oxidation level than the leuco compound.
Deficient repair of chemical adducts in α DNA of monkey cells

Abstract We have examined excision repair of DNA damage in the highly repeated α DNA sequence of cultured African green monkey cells. Irradiation of cells with 254 nm ultraviolet light resulted in the same frequency of pyrimidine dimers in α DNA and the bulk of the DNA. The rate and extent of pyrimidine dimer removal, as judged by measurement of repair synthesis, was also similar for α DNA and bulk DNA. In cells treated with furocoumarins and long-wavelength ultraviolet light, however, repair synthesis in α DNA was only 30% of that in bulk DNA, although it followed the same time course. We found that this reduced repair was not caused by different initial amounts of furocoumarin damage or by different sizes of repair patches, as we found these to be similar in the two DNA species. Direct quantification demonstrated that fewer furocoumarin adducts were removed from α DNA than from bulk DNA. In cells treated with another chemical DNA-damaging agent, N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene, repair synthesis in α DNA was 60% of that in bulk DNA. These results show that the repair of different kinds of DNA damage can be affected to different extents by some property of this tandemly repeated heterochromatic DNA. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration in primate cells of differential repair of cellular DNA sequences.
Efficient Coupling of Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation Flexible Bodies With an Existing Multibody Dynamics Code

A couple of issues are identified in the process to embed absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) flexible bodies in an existing multibody dynamics code. (1) The generalized coordinates of ANCF must be solved together with those of the rest of the mechanism in a combined system of the equations of motion. (2) The various constraints, joints, and forces elements supported in the multibody dynamics code must be extended to the ANCF flexible bodies without major code restructuring. This paper describes two novel techniques that were devised to solve these issues. The first is the idea of interface triad. We will demonstrate how to construct the interface triad such that all exiting constraints, joints, and forces elements are automatically supported. The second idea is to represent the equations of motion of the ANCF body as a user-defined subroutine element representing a set of implicit general state equations subroutine (GSESUB). By treating each ANCF body modularly as a user-defined subroutine, not only all existing integration options of its host solver, e.g., HHT or DAE index-1, 2, and 3, etc., are automatically supported, but also the existing features such as parallel computing and sparse matrix solution of the existing multibody dynamics software are supported with minimum programming. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and the success of these two techniques.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Reframing the Study of Policy Implementation: Lived Experience as Politics

This policy implementation study examines the experiences of four elementary school principals using photomethods. We employ Ranciere and Merleau-Ponty’s theorizations on democracy and making sense to understand the lived policy experiences of school principals and these individual’s potential for practicing democratic politics. At its heart, implementation by local actors is a political undertaking. Our results indicate implementation is a spatially inhabited practice involving negotiation and strategy, where local actor’s experiences moderate and appropriate policy. Thus, we point out that attention to these spatially inhabited practices requires a fundamental shift in the frameworks and methodologies deployed in the investigation of policy implementation.
Retail-based loyalty card programmes and CRM concepts: an empirical study

Through both theoretical and empirical methods, a market survey was done on the potential use of loyalty card programmes in the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area that focused on supermarket and retailer-based loyalty card programmes, resulting in 200 completed questionnaires among web-enabled professionals. Statistical analyses, via regressions, paired tests and chi-square revealed many layers of complexity, especially concerning the comparative success of loyalty card programmes between supermarkets and more durable goods-based retailers, with supermarket programmes being more successful in their focused marketing attempts compared to the relative market saturation of durable goods retailers. Recommendations for customer relationship management and their overall improvement of business planning and operations are made.
Formation of graphite fibre-polypyrrole coatings by aqueous electrochemical polymerization

Abstract The aqueous electrochemically initiated polymerization of pyrrole has been successfully performed on graphite fibres from a solution containing the monomer and toluene-4-sulfonic acid sodium salt. The effects of the initial monomer concentration, supporting electrolyte concentration and applied voltage on the rate of electropolymerization of pyrrole have been investigated in an attempt to ascertain the optimum conditions for the process. The rate of electropolymerization of pyrrole increased with the initial monomer concentration and the applied voltage up to the peak oxidation potential of pyrrole, ∼ 1.5 V, beyond which a significant decrease in the rate occurred. Increasing the concentration of toluene-4-sulfonic acid sodium salt from 0.05 to 0.10 M had little impact on the rate of electropolymerization. However, a sharp increase in the rate occurred when the electrolyte concentration was raised to 0.5 M. The morphology of the electropolymerized pyrrole is highly porous and grainy. The individual single graphite fibre filament is completely covered with polypyrrole after about 30 s of electropolymerization.
Rebound excitation and the rhythmic activity of the ventrobasal complex of the thalamus

Summary (1) Membrane potential changes of 18 thalamocortical relay (TCR) cells of the ventrobasal complex of the cat thalamus were recorded intracellularly during rhythmic thalamic activities under moderate barbiturate anesthesia. (2) A single cutaneous stimulus evoked an initial EPSP followed by a long-lasting IPSP. On the late declining phase of the IPSP, clustered rapidly rising depolarizations (RDs) were seen to generate a burst of spike potentials. The cluster of depolarizations was often followed by an IPSP, and another cycle of IPSPs and RDs with bursts of spikes was repeated. Similar rhythmic activities of TCR cells and clusters of RDs were also evoked by a single cortical stimulus. Spontaneous occurence of RDs was observed. (3) The temporal correlation between the occurrence of RDs and that of the spike potentials was noted. (4) Chloride ions were injected into the TCR cell through the recording microelectrode to eliminate the membrane hyperpolarization which would initiate the postanodal exaltation. After inversion of the IPSPs, RDs remained in the similar phase of rebound excitation to that before the reversal of the IPSPs. (5) It is concluded that excitatory inputs to TCR cells play an important role for the generation of the rhythmic discharges of TCR cells.
The Effects of a Diet Containing Gibberellic Acid on the Growth and Food Consumption of Periplaneta americana L.

Gibberellic acid has been employed in modifying the natural growth habit of plants. One can foresee the possible consumption of treated plant material by insects. This study was undertaken to determine the effects of ingested gibberellic acid on the American cockroach ( Periplaneta americana L.).
SO(4) symmetry of the Hubbard model and its experimental consequences

The one band Hubbard model on a bi-partite lattice possess a global SO(4) symmetry group which is a direct product of the spin SU(2) and the pseudospin SU(2) symmetry group. Recently, the group theorectical consequence of this symmetry property has been investigated systematically. It is shown that this symmetry property can be used to reduce the complexity of diagonalizing the Hubbard Hamiltonian, and classify all the eigenstates according to the representation of the SO(4) group. It also leads to an exact one-to-one corespondence of the eigenstates at half-filling to that away from half-filling. Most importantly however, it is shown that this symmetry property leads to a direct experimental prediction for the high Tc superconductivity. If the high Tc superconductivity is correctly described by the Hubbard model, then the SO(4) symmetry dictates the existence of a collective mode that only appears below the superconducting transition temperature. Such a mode can be detected in an electron energy loss experiment as a sharp resonance feature. The location of the peak measure the parameters in the Hubbard model, the intensity is proportional to the superconducting order parameter and the width measures the departure of the Hubbard model from reality.
Optical fluorescence from chromium ions in sapphire: A probe of the image stress

Abstract The concentration dependent frequency shift of the fluorescence from chromium ions in sapphire is shown to be a direct probe of the image stress produced by the chromium substituting for the smaller aluminium ions in sapphire. Our analysis is based on a comparison of the frequency shift produced when the volume of a sapphire crystal is changed by an external pressure to that produced by a concentration of substitutional solute. The volumetric strain sensed by the fluorescing chromium ion when the lattice is expanded by substitutional solute is approximately one-third of that determined from X-ray lattice parameter measurements, in accord with the Eshelby analysis of the strain field due to a concentration of elastic defects in a finite body.
Heat pipe-assisted melting of a phase change material

Abstract Heat pipe-assisted melting of a phase change material (PCM) housed within a vertical cylindrical enclosure is simulated and is compared to melting induced by heating from an isothermal surface, or with a solid rod or a hollow tube. A parametric study reveals that the heat pipe-assisted melting rates are significantly higher than those associated with the rod or tube, and approach the maximum attainable rates associated with the isothermal surface. Melting rates are enhanced as either the condenser length or the diameter of the heat pipe is increased. The heat pipe is particularly effective in augmenting melting in configurations involving PCM heating from above.
Decomposed selected mapping for peak-to-average power ratio reduction in MIMO-OFDM systems

To reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of multiple input multiple output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM), a decomposed individual selected mapping (D-ISLM) algorithm is proposed in this paper. The real and imaginary part of the transmitted signals are treated separately, thereby, a sufficiently large number of alternative transmit signals are provided, and the significant PAPR reduction performance can be obtained with the same computational complexity as conventional SLM. Moreover, a decomposed concurrent selected mapping (D-CSLM) is proposed to reduce the side information furtherlly. Simulations results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the conventional SLM algorithm in MIMO-OFDM systems.
Divided attention interferes with fulfilling activity-based intentions

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of divided attention on activity-based prospective memory. After establishing a goal to fulfill an intention upon completion of an ongoing activity, successful completion of the intention generally suffered when attention was being devoted to an additional task (Experiment 1). Forming an implementation intention at encoding ameliorated the negative effects of divided attention (Experiment 2). The results from the present experiments demonstrate that activity-based prospective memory is susceptible to distraction and that implementing encoding strategies that enhance prospective memory performance can reduce this interference. The current work raises interesting questions about the similarities and differences between event- and activity-based prospective memories.
Implementing High Performance Remote Method Invocation in CCA

We report our effort in engineering a high performance remote method invocation (RMI) mechanism for the Common Component Architecture (CCA). This mechanism provides a highly efficient and easy-to-use mechanism for distributed computing in CCA, enabling CCA applications to effectively leverage parallel systems to accelerate computations. This work is built on the previous work of Babel RMI. Babel is a high performance language interoperability tool that is used in CCA for scientific application writers to share, reuse, and compose applications from software components written in different programming languages. Babel provides a transparent and flexible RMI framework for distributed computing. However, the existing Babel RMI implementation is built on top of TCP and does not provide the level of performance required to distribute fine-grained tasks. We observed that the main reason the TCP based RMI does not perform well is because it does not utilize the high performance interconnect hardware on a cluster efficiently. We have implemented a high performance RMI protocol, HPCRMI. HPCRMI achieves low latency by building on top of a low-level portable communication library, Aggregated Remote Message Copy Interface (ARMCI), and minimizing communication for each RMI call. Our design allows a RMI operation to be completed by only two RDMA operations. We also aggressively optimize our system to reduce copying. In this paper, we discuss the design and our experimental evaluation of this protocol. Our experimental results show that our protocol can improve RMI performance by an order of magnitude.
Ultrahigh-resolution (1+1) photoionization spectroscopy of Kr I: Hyperfine structures, isotope shifts, and lifetimes for the n=5,6,7 4p5ns Rydberg levels.

High-resolution measurements of the hyperfine structures and isotope shifts are reported for Kr i n=5,6,7 4${p}^{5}$ns Rydberg levels, obtained using an extreme-ultraviolet laser with a bandwidth of 210 MHz in a resonant two-photon-ionization scheme. Use of known ${\mathrm{I}}_{2}$ frequencies yields an improved absolute calibration of the Kr energy levels by more than one order of magnitude. The nuclear quadrupole hyperfine structure indicates that the 4${p}^{5}$6s and 4${p}^{5}$7s states are described by a pure jj-coupling scheme, whereas the 4${p}^{5}$5s states depart from a pure jj-coupling scheme by 0.37(6)%. The magnetic hyperfine structure shows that the 4${p}^{5}$ns states are mixed with 4${p}^{5}$n'd states. The isotope shifts can be described as pure mass effects within the precision of our experiment. For the 4${p}^{5}$6s and 4${p}^{5}$7s states, lifetimes were determined that differ markedly from theoretical literature values.
Diabolical conical intersections

In the Born-Oppenheimer approximation for molecular dynamics as generalized by Born and Huang, nuclei move on multiple potential-energy surfaces corresponding to different electronic states. These surfaces may intersect at a point in the nuclear coordinates with the topology of a double cone. These conical intersections have important consequences for the dynamics. When an adiabatic electronic wave function is transported around a closed loop in nuclear coordinate space that encloses a conical intersection point, it acquires an additional geometric, or Berry, phase. The Schr\"odinger equation for nuclear motion must be modified accordingly. A conical intersection also permits efficient nonadiabatic transitions between potential-energy surfaces. Most examples of the geometric phase in molecular dynamics have been in situations in which a molecular point-group symmetry required the electronic degeneracy and the consequent conical intersection. Similarly, it has been commonly assumed that the conical intersections facilitating nonadiabatic transitions were largely symmetry driven. However, conical intersections also occur in the absence of any symmetry considerations. This review discusses computational tools for finding and characterizing the conical intersections in such systems. Because these purely accidental intersections are difficult to anticipate, they may occur more frequently than previously thought and in unexpected situations, making the geometric phase effect and the occurrence of efficient nonadiabatic transitions more commonplace phenomena. [S0034-6861(96)00404-7]
Effect of BLI–Type Inlet Distortion on Turbofan Engine Performance

Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI) is currently being researched as a potential method to improve efficiency and decrease emissions for the next generation of commercial aircraft. While re-energizing the boundary layer formed over the fuselage of an aircraft has many system level benefits, ingesting the low velocity boundary layer flow through a serpentine inlet into a turbofan engine adversely affects the performance of the engine. This work reports an experimental investigation of the effects of a BLI-type distortion on a turbofan engine’s performance. A modified JT15D-1 turbofan engine was used in this study. Inlet flow distortion was created by a layered wire mesh distortion screen designed to create a total pressure distortion profile at the aerodynamic interface plane (AIP) similar to NASA’s Inlet A boundary layer ingesting inlet flow profile. Results of this investigation showed a 15.5% decrease in stream thrust and a 14% increase in TSFC in the presence of BLI-type distortion. The presence of the distortion screen resulted in a 24% increase in mass-averaged entropy production along the entire fan flow path compared to the non-distorted test.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
The Cerebellum and Emotional Experience

While the role of the cerebellum in motor coordination is widely accepted, the notion that it is involved in emotion has only recently gained popularity. To date, functional neuroimaging has not been used in combination with lesion studies to elucidate the role of the cerebellum in the processing of emotional material. We examined six participants with cerebellar stroke and nine age and education matched healthy volunteers. In addition to a complete neuropsychological, neurologic, and psychiatric examination, participants underwent [15O]water positron emission tomography (PET) while responding to emotion-evoking visual stimuli. Cerebellar lesions were associated with reduced pleasant experience in response to happiness-evoking stimuli. Stroke patients reported an unpleasant experience to frightening stimuli similar to healthy controls, yet showed significantly lower activity in the right ventral lateral and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, amygdala, thalamus, and retrosplenial cingulate gyrus. Frightening stimuli led to increased activity in the ventral medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, pulvinar, and insular cortex. This suggests that alternate neural circuitry became responsible for maintaining the evolutionarily critical fear response after cerebellar damage.
Radiofrequency and microwave tumor ablation in patients with implanted cardiac devices: is it safe?

Abstract Purpose To identify malfunction of implanted cardiac devices during or after thermal ablation of tumors in lung, kidney, liver or bone, using radiofrequency (RF) or microwave (MW) energy. Materials and methods After providing written consent, 19 patients (15 men and 4 women; mean age 78 years) with pacemakers or pacemaker/defibrillators underwent 22 CT image-guided percutaneous RF or MW ablation of a variety of tumors. Before and after each procedure, cardiac devices were interrogated and reprogrammed by a trained cardiac electrophysiology fellow. Possible pacer malfunctions included abnormalities on electrocardiographic (EKG) monitoring and alterations in device settings. Our institutional review board approved this Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant study. Informed consent for participation in this retrospective study was deemed unnecessary by our review board. Results During 20 of 22 sessions, no abnormalities were identified in continuous, EKG tracings or pacemaker functions. However, in two sessions significant changes, occurred in pacemaker parameters: inhibition of pacing during RF application in one, session and resetting of mode by RF energy in another session. These changes did not, result in hemodynamic instability of either patient. MW ablation was not associated with, any malfunction. In all 22 sessions, pacemakers were undamaged and successfully reset to original parameters. Conclusion RF or MW ablation of tumors in liver, kidney, bone and lung can be performed safely in patients with permanent intra-cardiac devices, but careful planning between radiology and cardiology is essential to avoid adverse outcomes.
GSR conditioning at a long CS-US interval mediated by S’s counting behavior

When S counted during each 5.0 sec. interval between the external CS and US, extinction GSRs occurred shortly after the end of counting but not shortly after the CS. Discussion suggests trace conditioning of startle, alimentary, heart beat and inspiration cycles may be mediated by analogous orienting responses and reflexes.
Perspectives from a developed nation.

Summary: Epilepsy is the most common serious neurologic disorder, affecting 350,000 people in the United Kingdom. There are five neurologists per 1,000,000 population, which is better than in India but much lower than in other developed nations. Thus, a patient's day-to-day prescribing, supervision, and support depends on primary care. In the U.K., patients are entitled to register with a genereal practitioner (GP), who has an average of 1,841 patients. Seventy-eight percent of patients will consult their GP annually. Patients in the U.K. find that GPs are accessible and have good communication skills. There is, however, inadequate time in short consultations to provide the quality of care suggested by the latest review of services for patients with epilepsy (CSAG). This is further complicated by the heterogeneous and stigmatising nature of the condition. An improvement in the process of care in the primary-care setting can result from three important strategies: appropriately trained practice nurses running practice nurse-led clinics; structured management of care, possible because of the unique system of registration, which facilitates audit, prescription monitoring, and recall; and, finally, improved teamwork and communication based on protocols locally agreed upon between primary and secondary care. The future will tell whether these initiatives will improve the outcomes of care.
Endothelium-dependent vasorelaxations in response to aggregating platelets are impaired in reversed vein grafts

The endothelium releases factor(s) that are potent vasodilators and inhibitors of platelet aggregation. Experiments were performed to determine whether the endothelium-dependent responses to aggregating platelets are altered in vein grafts. Segments of jugular veins were grafted in the reverse position into the carotid arteries in 16 rabbits. After 4 weeks the patent grafts (14 of 16) were removed, and the endothelium-dependent responses were examined in vitro. In control veins aggregating platelets, adenosine diphosphate, and serotonin caused endothelium-dependent relaxations. The platelet-induced relaxations were attenuated by apyrase (adenosine diphosphatase and adenosine triphosphatase) but not by methiothepin (serotonergic blocker). In vein grafts, endothelium-dependent relaxations in response to aggregating platelets were absent, and only contractions that could be attenuated by methiothepin were observed. In vein grafts, endothelium-dependent relaxations in response to adenosine diphosphate were reduced, and only endothelium-independent contractions were observed in response to serotonin. These contractions were attenuated by methiothepin. These results suggest that (1) the endothelium exerts an inhibitory effects mediated mainly by adenosine diphosphate in response to aggregating platelets in rabbit jugular veins and (2) endothelium-dependent relaxations in response to aggregating platelets are impaired in vein grafts because of reduced endothelium-independent contractions in response to serotonin. This impairment of endothelium-dependent responses in vein grafts may contribute to failure of the grafts.
Simple low-frequency beam pickup

Detection of the field induced by a beam outside of the beam pipe can be used as a beam diagnostic. Wires placed in longitudinal slots in the outside wall of the beam pipe can be used as a beam pickup. This has a very small beam-coupling impedance and avoids complications of having a feedthrough. The signal can be reasonably high at low frequencies. We present a field waveform at the outer side of a beam pipe, obtained as a result of calculations and measurements. We calculate the beam-coupling impedance due to a long longitudinal slot in the resistive wall and the signal induced in a wire placed in such a slot and shielded by a thin screen from the beam. These results should be relevant for impedance calculations of the slot in an antechamber and for slots in the PEP-II distributed ion pump screens. The design of the low-frequency beam position monitor is very simple. It can be used in storage rings, synchrotron light sources, and free electron lasers, like LINAC coherent light source.
Curved finite elements and shell theories with particular reference to the buckling of a circular arch

The choice of strain-displacement relations to fomulate curved finite elements for the geometrically nonlinear analysis of deep thin shells of general shape is discussed. It is clearly demonstrated on a simple arch problem how the strain-displacement relations can affect the buckling pressure and it is concuded that inconsistent expressions should be avoided.