cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prediction of the Free Energy of Dilute Aqueous Methane, Ethane, and Propane at Temperatures from 600 to 1200 °C and Densities from 0 to 1 g cm-3 Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations of united atom Lennard-Jones model for methane, ethane, and propane in TIP3P water have been used to estimate the chemical potentials of aqueous methane, ethane, and propane from 600 to 1200 °C and densities from 0 to 1 g cm-3. Errors in the simulation itself are negligible. Estimates of the errors in the predictions due to the inadequacy of the models show that this method of prediction gives reasonable accuracy. The calculations are not sensitive to the dipole moment of the water molecule or to the well depth (e) of the water−methane interaction. The diameter (σ) of the water−methane interaction is the most important parameter. The present predictions for methane are compared with a variety of other methods from the literature. An equation with seven adjustable parameters is presented which fits all of the simulation results as a function of temperature, density of water, and number of carbon atoms. This equation should allow reasonable extrapolations to predict the proper...
Spinodal decomposition of a crystal surface.

A phenomenological equation of motion for an unstable planar crystalline interface is derived and used to describe the early stages of hill and valley formation. We calculate the critical wave number for the growth of instabilities and the scattering structure function. Predictions for the temperature dependence of the width-to-length ratio and the front propagation velocity in Si are presented. The importance of an elastic interaction on the domain formation process is demonstrated and shown to explain existing experiments. Elastic interactions are also found to modify the decay rate of perturbations of stable surfaces at arbitrarily long wavelengths.
The poisson transform initial value theorem

An initial value theorem for the Poisson transform is derived. Extension is made to the initial value of derivatives, examples are given, and applications described.
Managing a two-bottleneck job shop with a two-machine flow shop algorithm

Abstract This work studies the possibility of using three new sequencing rules in a simple hybrid assembly shop with two bottleneck machines in order to study the conjecture that a job shop may be characterized by its bottleneck structure. A simulation model for a nine-machine job shop is developed and used to compare these rules. The total makespan is the performance measure. The study is made under a combination of three different factors. The effect of the bottleneck machines location is also studied. The results show that some job shops can be managed by simply managing the bottleneck machines, that the three new rules can be used to manage a job shop with two bottlenecks, and that the location of the bottleneck machines is of importance. The results indicate new management rules may be inferred for job shops by studying the application of single and multiple machine flow shop scheduling theory.
Sphere packings and local environments in Penrose tilings

Packings of spheres placed on vertices of two- or three-dimensional Penrose tilings arise in various models of glassy or ``quasicrystal'' metals. Such packings are described, with particular attention to the packing fractions and coordination numbers: In particular, one of the three-dimensional packings attains a packing fraction close to that of random close packing. The frequencies of various local environments are also enumerated. Relations between the tiling and density-wave pictures of icosahedral structures are clarified.
Correction for anisotropic off-resonance decoupling effects in CPMAS of moderate susceptibility materials

Abstract A simple decoupling method is presented which partially corrects for anisotropic off-resonance decoupling effects in magic-angle-spinning NMR spectra (CPMAS) of magnetically inhomogeneous materials. This scheme is both simpler, and more effective than previously proposed broad band decoupling methods, and is applicable to 13 C CPMAS of soils and related materials.
δ-Aminolevulinic acid synthase of Euglena gracilis: Physical and kinetic properties

Abstract Physical and kinetic properties of δ-aminolevulinic acid synthase from wild-type and aplastidic strains of Euglena gracilis have been determined. Michaelis constants for glycine, succinyl-CoA and pyridoxal phosphate are 8.5 × 10 −3 m , 2.5 × 10 −5 m , and 2.9 × 10 −6 m , respectively. Optimum reaction pH is 7.8, and maximal product yield during a 30-min incubation occurs at 40 °C. Activity in frozen cell extracts remains constant for 5 days, then falls slowly to one-third of the initial value after 3 months. Enzyme activity rapidly declines irreversibly in the absence of pyridoxal phosphate. Agarose gel chromatography of the native enzyme yields a single band of activity at an elution volume corresponding to a molecular weight of 138,000. δ-Aminolevulinic acid synthase obtained from green wild-type strain Z cells is identical in its physical properties to that obtained from white aplastidic mutant strain W 14 ZNalL cells.
Nature of hydrous zirconia and sulfated hydrous zirconia

Abstract The structure of crystalline hydrous zirconias and their methods of formation are described. A mechanism for the hydrolytic polymerization of Zr IV to obtain the several forms of hydrous oxide is presented. The method by which sulfate ion binds to the surface of zirconia particles is explored. It is concluded that the superacidity of sulfated zirconia arises from the presence of isolated bisulfate groups acting in conjunction with strong adjacent Lewis acid sites. Thus, both Bronsted and Lewis acid sites are present in sulfated oxides.
Gene expression profiling in pediatric rheumatic disease: what have we learned? What can we learn?

PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW Gene expression profiling is emerging as a promising methodology in pediatric rheumatology research. There is considerable interest in using this technology as the basis for diagnostic assays. This review will summarize the new knowledge. RECENT FINDINGS Most gene expression studies of children have been exploratory in nature. However, preliminary gene expression studies in juvenile dermatomyositis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and chronic forms of arthritis demonstrate both the promise and limits of this technology. It seems likely that gene expression profiling will significantly enhance our understanding of the immunopathology of childhood-onset rheumatic diseases; however, considerable impediments must be overcome before these assays move into the clinical arena. SUMMARY Gene expression profiling carries considerable potential to provide novel insights into the rheumatic diseases of childhood. Future developments will determine whether these technologies provide new clinical diagnostic or prognostic tools.
Effects of chronic oral administration of erythrosine in the Mongolian gerbil

Abstract Approximately equal numbers of male and female Mongolian gerbils, Meriones unguiculatus , were given erythrosine (FD & C Red No. 3) by diet and by oral intubation. In the dietary study, four groups evenly divided by sex were treated for 105 wk at levels of 0, 1, 2 or 4%. In the intubation study, four groups were intubated by stomach tube twice weekly for 97 wk with an aqueous solution at levels of 0, 200, 750 or 900 mg/kg. Clinical effects of dietary administration were depression of the haematocrit value, leucocyte count, reticulocyte count and haemoglobin level, and a dose-related loss of weight, ranging from mild in groups fed 1% to marked in groups fed 4%. The dietary study also showed that dose-related changes occurred in the thyroid of animals fed the 1–4% diets. These changes were characterized by the enlargement, with increased storage of colloid, of a majority of the follicles, associated with less prominent but consistent foci of very small follicles (microfollicles) and, in a few animals, focal hyperplasia and intraluminal and interstitial leucocytic infiltration. Although there was a slight increase in follicular size in the thyroids of gerbils given 900 and 750 mg/kg by intubation, a definite effect similar to that in the dietary study was not found. Evaluation of the effect on the liver was complicated by the presence in the controls of multiple granulomas composed primarily of epithelioid cells surrounded by lymphocytes. Although special diagnostic procedures, including stains for micro-organisms, failed to identify the cause, a microbial aetiology was suspected, as this is most common for this type of lesion. In both studies, there was more granulomatosis in the controls than in the treated animals, but in the intubation study there was no evidence of a relation to dose.
Loss of Activity of Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Insecticides in Soil as Measured Against the Eye Gnat, Hippelates collusor

The long-term effectiveness of DDT, endrin, lindane, dieldrin, aldrin and Shell Development Company Compound SD-4402 (1,3,4,5,6,7,8,8-oetachloro-3a-4,7,7a-tetrahydro-4, 7-methanophthalan) in soil was studied under controlled conditions against the eye gnat, Hippelates collusor (Townsend). Several lots of Coachella fine sand containing 0.15% organic matter dry weight basis Were treated with sprays of each toxicant and stored in gallon mayonnaise jars in a glasshouse, maintained at 88±2° F. The moisture content of the soil was maintained at 11% to 12% of the dry weight of the soil. The dosage of each material was adjusted to the initial LD90 level of activity. The activity of the toxicants was determined by bioassaying lots of the treated soil against the gnat at 3-month intervals. No loss of activity was detected for DDT, endrin and lindane, 9 months after storage. Dieldrin also did not show loss of activity 12 months after start of the storage period under the test conditions. Aldrin and compound SD-4402 manifested appreciable loss of activity 3 months after start of the storage period. After the 3-month storage period 53% of aldrin and 40% of compound SD-4402 were not accounted for. The magnitude of loss of aldrin further increased on storage and was determined to be 77% after a period of 9 months of storage and 70% after 12 months of storage. The loss of activity of compound SD-4402 increased rapidly from after the 3-month to the 6-month interval of storage and was determined to be 72% after a period of 6 months of storage. No further increase in loss of this material and of aldrin could be detected with the bioassay method used in these studies.
Altered Myelination of the Hippocampal Formation in Subjects with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

Myelination of the frontal and temporal lobes occurs at a similar time period as symptom onset in schizophrenia. To assess this potential relationship, we compared myelination and oligodendrocyte numbers in the hippocampal formation of controls and matched subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The levels and distribution of the myelin marker myelin basic protein (MBP) and the oligodendrocyte marker adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) were measured using immunocytochemistry. MBP immunoreactivity (IR) was increased in several hippocampal subregions of control females versus control males. Female subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder exhibited decreased myelination in the hippocampal formation while male subjects with bipolar disorder showed increased MBP levels in the superior medullary lamina. In contrast, the number of APC immunoreactive cells did not differ in any disorder or region. Our results demonstrate an interaction between gender, mental illness, and myelination, and may be related to cognitive deficits seen in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Miniature Inverted-Repeat Transposable Element Identification and Genetic Marker Development in Agrostis

Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) is an important species to the turfgrass industry because of its adaptation for use in high quality turf stands such as golf course putting greens, tees, and fairways. Creeping bentgrass is a highly outcrossing allotetraploid, making genetic marker development difficult. Genetic markers anchored to miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) were developed in Agrostis that could be used in genetic linkage mapping, quantitative trait loci studies, or diversity analyses. The FindMITE software program identified 495 candidate M ITEs from 16,122 Agrostis DNA sequences. There was evidence of transposition in 79 of the candidate MITEs based on MITE insertional polymorphisms. Genetic markers were developed by MITE-display, a modified amplified fragment length polymorphism technique that anchors amplified fragments to MITEs. Four MITE-display primer combinations were tested on a creeping bentgrass experimental mapping population and 139 polymorphic markers were developed with a polymorphic information content of 0.33. Twenty-eight of the polymorphic genetic markers segregated normally. MITE-display genetic markers are a new class of genetic markers for studies of the Agrostis genome. These genetic markers target transposable elements and provide an easy method of identifying allelic variation between Agrostis accessions that may be used for diversity studies or genetic linkage map development.
Schools as Clinics: Learning About Practice in Practice

The Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut is committed to the intentionality of interweaving course work and practice in its 5-year teacher preparation program, the Integrated Bachelor's and Master's program. It offers a wide range of field experiences to teacher candidates. Teacher candidates enter the program at the beginning of their junior year and complete the program after they finish their 5th-year postgraduate master's degree studies. This article describes the program requirements and experiences. In essence, it intends to provide an illustration of the interwoven teacher education curriculum as promoted by Darling-Hammond and other scholars.
Communications: Gentamicin Concentrations in Toadfish and Goldfish Serum

Abstract Previous work in our laboratory has demonstrated that goldfish Carassius auratus produce new nephrons in response to gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity. The oyster toadfish Opsanus tau, however, does not undergo nephron neogenesis. To explore possible reasons for the differences in the formation of new nephrons, we evaluated the elimination of gentamicin from the serum of both species. Fish (20 toadfish and 20 goldfish) were given intramuscular injections of 3.5 mg gentamicin/kg of body weight or an equal volume of sterile water. Blood samples were taken by venipuncture from goldfish at days 1, 2, 3, and 4 postinjection and from toadfish at days 1, 2, 7, 14, 28, and 49 postinjection. Gentamicin levels were measured in serum via a competitive binding immunoassay. Gentamicin levels in serum declined rapidly in goldfish, reaching near baseline levels 4 d after the injection, with a half-life of 49.6 h for the β component. Toadfish had a much longer gentamicin retention time with a half-life of 602 h ...
DRIVING WHILE BLACK: EFFECTS OF RACE, ETHNICITY, AND GENDER ON CITIZEN SELF‐REPORTS OF TRAFFIC STOPS AND POLICE ACTIONS*

Are African-American men, compared with white men, more likely to report being stopped by police for traffic law violations? Are African-American men and Hispanic drivers less likely to report that police had a legitimate reason for the stop and less likely to report that police acted properly? This study answers these questions using citizen self-reports of their traffic stop encounters with the police. Net of other important explanatory variables, the data indicate that police make traffic stops for Driving While Black and male. In addition, African-American and Hispanic drivers are less likely to report that police had a legitimate reason for the stop and are less likely to report that police acted properly. The study also discusses the validity of citizen self-report data and outlines an agenda for future research.
Calculation of water/air stopping-power ratios using EGS4 with explicit treatment of electron-positron differences.

Using the EGS4 Monte Carlo simulation program, a general purpose code has been written to calculate Bragg–Gray and Spencer–Attix stopping‐power ratios for use in radiation dosimetry. The stopping‐power ratios can be calculated in any material in any region in a general cylindrical geometry with a large number of source geometries possible. The calculations take into account for the first time the differences between the stopping powers and the inelastic scattering of positrons and electrons. The results show that previous calculations ignoring these effects were accurate. The present results agree, typically within 0.1%, with the Spencer–Attix water‐to‐air stopping‐power ratios for broad parallel beams of electrons given in the AAPM and IAEA protocols except at the surface where the present calculations follow the buildup of secondary electrons in more detail and see a 2% reduction in the stopping‐power ratios.
Phonon localization and transport in disordered systems

Abstract We suggest that the internal structure of glasses and amorphous materials is such that a mobility edge exists for lattice vibrations which we term ωc, below which energy the vibrational excitations are extended (phonons), and above which the vibrational excitations are localized. The energy width of the crossover region between these two extremes undoubtably connected with the temperature width of the plateau in the thermal conductivity, exhibited by nearly every glass or amorphous material. At the high temperature end of the plateau, the thermal conductivity κ(T) rises with increasing temperature. We attribute this increase to phonon assisted localized vibrational state hopping, associated with lattice anharmonicity. Comparing our calculated value for κ with experiment, the anharmonic coupling between extended and localized vibrational states is nearly an order of magnitude larger than for extended states alone. This value gives an excellent approximation to the temperature dependence of the velocity of sound arising from the same hopping mechanism. Recent theoretical modelling with a one dimensional Cantor set shows why this might be reasonable. Observations of anomalously long lifetimes for high energy lattice vibrations in a-Si and a-Si:H are consistent with this model.
An Overview of STAR Experimental Results

Abstract With large acceptance and excellent particle identification, STAR is one of the best mid-rapidity collider experiments for studying high-energy nuclear collisions. The STAR experiment provides full information on initial conditions, properties of the hot and dense medium as well as the properties at freeze-out. In Au+Au collisions at s N N = 200 GeV , STAR's focus is on the nature of the sQGP produced at RHIC. In order to explore the properties of the QCD phase diagram, since 2010, the experiment has collected sizable data sets of Au+Au collisions at the lower collision energy region where the net-baryon density is large. At the 2014 Quark Matter Conference, the STAR experiment made 16 presentations that cover physics topics including collective dynamics, electromagnetic probes, heavy-flavor, initial state physics, jets, QCD phase diagram, thermodynamics and hadron chemistry, and future experimental facilities, upgrades, and instrumentation [1] . In this overview we will highlight a few results from the STAR experiment, especially those from the recent measurements of the RHIC beam energy scan program. At the end, instead of a summary, we will discuss STAR's near future physics programs at RHIC.
Flexural behavior of visible light-cured composites as a function of temperature under water immersion test conditions

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of temperature on the flexural behavior for four visible light-cured hybrid composite materials. Methods. Light-cured samples were post-cured for 24 h at 37°C in 100% relative humidity prior to testing. Flexural tests were performed at the following water immersion temperatures: 5, 15, 25, 37, 45 and 55° C, as well as in the dry condition which served as control. The following flexural property parameters were obtained as a function of test temperature: flexural strength, σfs, flexural modulus, Efs, flexural stress at 0.06% total offset strain, σ0.06% (yield stress), and the total displacement at fracture, δfs. Statistically significant differences (p<0.01) in flexural parameters were noted for all the materials as a function of test temperature. Results. The yield stress, σ0.06% was found to be most sensitive to thermomechanical changes. The results of this study indicate significant softening due to temperature under wet immersion test conditions for all materials. The temperature range at which two of the materials show significant reduction in yield stress compare well with “Wet Tg” values obtained by dynamic thermal mechanical analysis (Culbertson et al., 1990; 1991). Significance. The effect of damage accumulation on surface or subsurface microstructure due to transient thermomechanical loads needs to be taken into account in the correlation of in vitro and in vivo wear or creep behavior.
EXPERIMENTAL AND QUANTUM CHEMICAL STUDIES OF 2-PHOSPHINYLPHENOL DERIVATIVES

Carbon-oxygen bonds ortho to a phosphoryl group in triarylphosphine oxides undergo cleavage when the oxides are either fused with potassium hydroxide or treated with potassium tert-butoxide in refluxing toluene, presumably through a nucleophilic addition-elimination mechanism. Thus, bis(2-hydroxyphenyl)phenylphosphine oxide is produced along with the expected 2-phenoxyphenyl(phenyl)phosphinic acid from 10-phenyl-10H-phenoxaphosphine 10-oxide. The latter starting material is also produced, together with bis(2-hydroxyphenyl)phenylphosphine oxide, when bis(2-methoxyphenyl)phenylphosphine oxide is fused with potassium hydroxide. Fusion of bis(2-methoxyphenyl)phenylphosphine oxide with sodium hydroxide, however, yields 2-hydroxyphenyl(phenyl)phosphinic acid. Ab initio quantum chemical studies confirm that the downfield 31P chemical shift that is observed in 2-phosphinylphenols is due to hydrogen bonding to the phosphoryl group.
Negative mood regulation expectancies, coping, and depressive symptoms among American nurses.

(1999). Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies, Coping, and Depressive Symptoms Among American Nurses. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 139, No. 4, pp. 540-543.
Electronic and elastic mode locking in charge density wave conductors

Abstract Mode locking phenomena are investigated in the charge density wave (CDW) materials NbSe3 and TaS3. The joint application of ac and dc electric fields results in free running and mode locked solutions for the CDW drift velocity, with associated ac-induced dynamic coherence lengths ξD(ac) on the order of several hundred microns. The electronic response couples directly to the elastic properties of the crystal, with corresponding free running and mode locked solutions for the velocity of sound. Phase slip center-induced discontinuities in the CDW phase velocity lead to mode locked solutions with period doubling routes to chaos, and noisy precursor effects at bifurcation points. These results are discussed in terms of simple models of CDW domain synchronization, and internal CDW dynamics.
Digital micromirror device imaging bar for hard copy

Texas Instruments has pursued the development of a Spatial Light Modulator called the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) for a number of years. The device is applicable in both display and hard copy applications. This paper discusses the progress that has been made on a DMD imaging subsystem for high speed, high quality electrophotographic printing. An architecture and method of manufacture have been developed for a monolithic silicon area array DMD suitable for imaging across an A3 page (297 mm) at 600 dots per inch. The device and optical characteristics will be discussed in the context of an experimental testbed.
A multi-modes charge-pump based high efficiency wide input range DC-DC converter

A high efficiency charge-pump based wide input range DC-DC converter is proposed. The first stage is a multi-modes charge-pump and the second stage is a synchronous buck converter. The charge-pump is unregulated and adaptively switches between 1x, 0.5x, and 0.33x modes according to input voltage. It does the rough voltage conversion while buck converter does the fine voltage regulation. As they exhibit different efficiency tendency within the same input range, the total efficiency can get improved by combining them, especially at high input voltage. Detailed theoretical efficiency analysis and comparison between multi-modes charge-pump and synchronous Buck are given in this paper. The control benefits brought by the two-stage solution of wide input range DC-DC converter are also analyzed. A 10W prototype is built to verify the benefits of proposed solution. Experiment results show that the highest efficiency improvement is 7% at heavy load and 16% at light load.
Preference of cabbage white butterflies and honey bees for nectar that contains amino acids

Amino acids occur in most floral nectars but their role in pollinator attraction is relatively unstudied. Nectars of butterfly-pollinated flower tend to have higher concentrations of amino acids than do flowers pollinated by bees and many other animals, suggesting that amino acids are important attractants of butterflies to flowers. In order to determine whether amino acids are important in attracting butterflies and bees, we tested the preference of cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae) and honey bees (Apis mellifera) by allowing them to feed from artificial flowers containing sugar-only or sugar-amino acid mimics ofLantana camara nectar. Honey bees and female cabbage white butterflies consumed more sugar-amino acid nectar than sugar-only nectar. In addition, female cabbage white butterflies visited artificial flowers containing sugar-amino acid nectars more frequently than flowers containing sugar-only nectars; honey bees spent more time consuming the sugar-amino acid nectar. Male cabbage white butterflies did not discriminate between the two nectars. These results support the hypothesis that the amino acids of nectar contribute to pollinator attraction and/or feeding.
Syngas production from catalytic partial oxidation of n-butane: Comparison between incipient wetness and sol-gel prepared Pt/Al2O3

Catalytic partial oxidation (CPO) of n-butane under autothermal condition was studied over both incipient wetness (IW) and sol−gel (SG) prepared Pt/Al2O3 catalysts. These catalysts gave different r...
Relationship between pre- and postmorbid psychological stress in schizophrenics.

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between preschizophrenic (childhood, adolescence) problems patients had encountered and the pattern of difficulties facing patients in their adult years. The population consisted of 516 chronic and 125 acute schizophrenics and 95 normal individuals. The instrument used to assess the level of earlier and later difficulty was the Social Stress and Functionability Inventory for Psychotic Disorders. Results demonstrated that schizophrenics encountered more problems in their youth, adolescence and their adult years compared to the normals. Also, both chronic and acute schizophrenics showed a high degree of continuity between earlier and later types of difficulties.
A universe without weak interactions

A universe without weak interactions is constructed that undergoes big-bang nucleosynthesis, matter domination, structure formation, and star formation. The stars in this universe are able to burn for billions of years, synthesize elements up to iron, and undergo supernova explosions, dispersing heavy elements into the interstellar medium. These definitive claims are supported by a detailed analysis where this hypothetical ``weakless universe'' is matched to our Universe by simultaneously adjusting standard model and cosmological parameters. For instance, chemistry and nuclear physics are essentially unchanged. The apparent habitability of the weakless universe suggests that the anthropic principle does not determine the scale of electroweak breaking, or even require that it be smaller than the Planck scale, so long as technically natural parameters may be suitably adjusted. Whether the multiparameter adjustment is realized or probable is dependent on the ultraviolet completion, such as the string landscape. Considering a similar analysis for the cosmological constant, however, we argue that no adjustments of other parameters are able to allow the cosmological constant to raise up even remotely close to the Planck scale while obtaining macroscopic structure. The fine-tuning problems associated with the electroweak breaking scale and the cosmological constant therefore appear to be qualitatively different from the perspective of obtaining a habitable universe.
Jail Pedagogy: Liberatory Education Inside A California Juvenile Detention Facility

Approximately 2 million juveniles are arrested each year. Half are sentenced to serve terms of incarceration. Although many scholars have written about teaching in detention facilities, few directly address how prisoners are being taught. This research explores the experiences, teaching philosophy, and practices of correctional educators. To learn what is taking place within these classrooms, I interviewed and observed instructors in 3 male juvenile detention facilities in California over the course of 15 months. Semistructured qualitative interviews looked in depth at their teaching techniques, finding that these teachers adopted a humanistic and liberatory approach to teaching behind the walls of juvenile detention facilities.
Interactions of Nonaqueous Solvents with Textile Fibers Part VIII: Mechanism of Dye Diffusion in Solvent-Treated Polyester Yarns

Investigation of the temperature dependence of the coefficients of diffusion for dye in untreated and solvent-treated polyester yarns has shown that solvent treatments that increase dyeability do n...
Strategies to Improve Long-Term Outcome in Stage IIIB Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Multimodality Treatment Including Dose-Intensive Induction and High-Dose Chemotherapy

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare clinicopathologic entity with a poor prognosis, lagging far behind any other form of nonmetastatic breast cancer. Since the advent of systemic chemotherapy over 35 years ago, only minimal progress has been made in long-term outcome. Although multiple randomized trials of high-dose chemotherapy and autologous progenitor cell transplantation (ASCT) for the treatment of breast cancer have yielded disappointing results, these data are not necessarily relevant to IBC, a distinct clinical and pathologic entity. Therefore, the optimal multimodality therapy for IBC is not well established, and remains unsatisfactory. We treated 21 women with nonmetastatic IBC with a multimodality strategy including high-dose melphalan (Mel)/etoposide and ASCT. The treatment was overall tolerated with acceptable morbidity, and no post-ASCT 100-day mortality. With a median potential follow-up of approximately 8 years, the estimated progression-free survival (PFS), event-free survival (EFS), and overall survival (OS) at 6 years from on-study date are: 67%, 55%, and 69%, respectively. These results from a small phase II study are among the most promising of mature outcome data for IBC. They strongly suggest, along with results of several already published phase II trials, that ASCT could play a significant role in the first line treatment of IBC.
Design, fabrication and real-time neural network control of a three degrees of freedom nano-positioner

Summary form only given as follows. A nano-metric precision three degrees of freedom (DOF) positioner is designed and fabricated. Actuation is based on piezo-electric stack actuators. Capacitive gap sensors with less than 1.0 nanometer resolution are used for position feedback. In order to design a proper closed loop controller, the open loop characteristics of the nano-positioner (hysteresis, static stiffness, drift, frequency response, and the coupling effects) are experimentally investigated. A CMAC neural network control algorithm was applied in order to provide online learning and better tracking capability compared to a standard PID control algorithm. The closed loop controller was implemented using C language on a DSP based PC bus board. The learning CMAC control provides significantly better tracking accuracy and robustness against hysteresis and drift effects.
Incidence of sudden cardiac death in a young active population.

Background Little is known about the burden of sudden cardiac death (SCD) among active, presumably healthy persons. We investigated the incidence of SCD among US male career firefighters. Methods and Results All on‐duty SCDs among US male career firefighters between 1998 and 2012 were identified from the US Fire Administration and the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health databases. Age‐specific incidence rates (IRs) of SCD with 95% CIs were computed. A joinpoint model was fitted to analyze the trend in IR and to help estimate the annual percentage change of SCD rates over the years. The effects of seasonality were assessed through a Poisson regression model. We identified 182 SCDs; based on 99 available autopsy reports, the leading underlying cause of death was coronary heart disease (79%). The overall IR was 18.1 SCDs per 100 000 person‐years. The age‐specific IRs of SCD ranged between 3.8 (for those aged 18 to 24 years) and 45.2 (for those aged 55 to 64 years) per 100 000 person‐years. The annual rate of SCD steadily declined over time (annual percentage change −3.9%, 95% CI −5.8 to −2.0). SCD events were more frequent during January (peak‐to‐low ratio 1.70; 95% CI 1.09 to 2.65). In addition, the IR was 3 times higher during high‐risk duties compared with low‐risk duties. IRs among firefighters were lower than those observed among the US general population and US military personnel. Conclusions SCD risk in this active working population is overestimated using statistics from the general population. To address public health questions among these subpopulations, more specific studies of active adults should be conducted.
Parallelizing tightly nested loops

Presents a new technique to parallelize nested loops at the statement level. It transforms sequential nested loops, either vectorizable or not, into parallel ones. Previously, the wavefront method was used to parallelize non-vectorizable nested loops. However, in order to reduce the complexity of parallelization, the wavefront method regards an iteration as an unbreakable scheduling unit and draws parallelism through iteration overlapping. The technique takes a statement rather than an iteration as the scheduling unit and exploits parallelism by overlapping the statements in all dimensions. In the paper, the authors show how this finer grain parallelization can be achieved with reasonable computational complexity, and the effectiveness of the resulting method in exploiting parallelism. >
Uncertainty in hydrologic modeling: Toward an integrated data assimilation framework

[1] Despite significant recent developments in computational power and distributed hydrologic modeling, the issue of how to adequately address the uncertainty associated with hydrological predictions remains a critical and challenging one. This issue needs to be properly addressed for hydrological modeling to realize its maximum practical potential in environmental decision-making processes. Arguably, the key to properly addressing hydrologic uncertainty is to understand, quantify, and reduce uncertainty involved in hydrologic modeling in a cohesive, systematic manner. Although general principles and techniques on addressing hydrologic uncertainty are emerging in the literature, there exist no well-accepted guidelines about how to actually implement these principles and techniques in various hydrologic settings in an integrated manner. This paper reviews, in relevant detail, the common data assimilation methods that have been used in hydrologic modeling to address problems of state estimation, parameter estimation, and system identification. In particular, the paper discusses concepts, methods, and issues involved in hydrologic data assimilation from a systems perspective. An integrated hierarchical framework is proposed for pursuing hydrologic data assimilation in several progressive steps to maximally reduce uncertainty in hydrologic predictions.
Federalism, U.S. Style

The closest thing we in the United States have to what the British and Canadians call devolution is federalism: the sharing of power between the states and the federal government.
Hormonal dependence of tail regeneration in the lizard Anolis carolinensis

Removal of the pars distalis several days before the amputation of the tail in Anolis carolinensis delays blastema formation and virtually abolishes tail regeneration. Hypophysectomy on, or several days after, tail amputation does not delay blastema formation but tail growth is largely abolished. If lizards are hypophysectomized after the blastema has formed and the tail has begun to elongate, the rate of tail regeneration is greatly reduced within a few days. Injection of a combination of adenohypophysial hormones (growth hormone, prolactin, gonadotropin, and thyrotropin) restored tail regeneration to near normal levels in hypophysectomized lizards. A quantitative relationship was evident between the amount of pars distalis removed and the rate of tail regeneration. However, there was no apparent relationship between the region of the gland removed and regeneration, indicating that tail regeneration is probably dependent on a combination of several pituitary hormones.
An Experimental Study of Acoustic Vibration Effects in Optical Fiber Current Sensors

This paper presents experimental results comparing the susceptibility of two different optical fiber current sensors to environmental acoustic vibrations. Of the two sensors that are tested, one employs a uni-directional current detection scheme, and the other a bi-directional in-line Sagnac interferometer. Acoustic vibrations are applied to various optical components of the two different types of current sensors.
Immune activation is associated with reduced skeletal muscle mass and physical function in chronic heart failure

Abstract Background Chronic heart failure is characterized by immune activation and increased circulating levels of cytokines. Whether humoral factors contribute to the peripheral manifestations of the heart failure syndrome, such as muscle atrophy and reduced physical work capacity, however, is not clear. Methods We measured circulating cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6)), their soluble receptors (sTNF-α RII, IL-6sR), markers of immune activation (C-reactive protein (CRP)), muscle mass, aerobic capacity and muscle strength in 10 patients with heart failure (mean±S.E.; 63±3 years) and 11 controls (70±3 years). Results Heart failure patients exhibited decreased aerobic capacity ( P P P ≤0.05 to P r -values: −0.436 to −0.545; P P r -values: −0.438 to −0.443; P r -values: −0.579 to −0.751; P P r -values: −0.440 to −0.674; P P r -values: −0.646 to −0.673; P Conclusions Our results suggest that circulating cytokines are related to both skeletal muscle mass and physical function. These findings provide further evidence to support the hypothesis that immune activation contributes to skeletal muscle atrophy and reduced functional capacity in heart failure patients.
Processor-Level Selective Replication

We propose a processor-level technique called selective replication, by which the application can choose where in its application stream and to what degree it requires replication. Recent work on static analysis and fault-injection-based experiments on applications reveals that certain variables in the application are critical to its crash- and hang-free execution. If it can be ensured that only the computation of these variables is error-free, then a high degree of crash/hang coverage can be achieved at a low performance overhead to the application. The selective replication technique provides an ideal platform for validating this claim. The technique is compared against complete duplication as provided in current architecture-level techniques. The results show that with about 59% less overhead than full duplication, selective replication detects 97% of the data errors and 87% of the instruction errors that were covered by full duplication. It also reduces the detection of errors benign to the final outcome of the application by 17.8% as compared to full duplication.
Study of Turbulent Natural Convection in Vertical Storage Tubes for Supercritical Thermal Energy Storage

Heat transfer to storage fluid is a critical subject for any thermal energy storage system. The poor thermal conductivity of the storage medium may lead to insufficient heat transfer and may impair the functionality of the system. Supercritical thermal energy storage systems benefit from turbulent natural convection that dominates the heat transfer mechanism and compensates for the low thermal conductivity of the storage fluids. A computational model is validated and adopted to study the buoyancy-driven flow in vertical storage tubes and the effect of the aspect ratio of the vertical storage tubes on the charge time is investigated.
Design and Implementation of a Wide-bandwidth Digitally Controlled 16-phase Converter

In this paper we present design and implementation of a 16-phase digitally controlled converter with 1.56 MHz per-phase switching frequency, 25 MHz sampling rate, and the closed-loop bandwidth of approximately 1 MHz. The experimental system includes 16 buck converters, a digital multi-phase modulator and a digital controller implemented on an FPGA. Direct digital design of the compensator is based on a multi-level converter model. A preorder arrangement of phases is used to minimize the output ripple. A zero-error-bin approach addresses the effects of phase-mismatches and sub-harmonic ripples on the stability of the wide-bandwidth controller. Simulation and experimental results show that very wide bandwidth operation and very fast transient responses are feasible even in the presence of significant phase mismatches
Neoadjuvant chemoradiation for localized adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

Background: The use of neoadjuvant preoperative chemoradiotherapy CRT for pancreatic cancer has been advocated for its potential ability to optimize patient selection for surgical resection and to downstage locally advanced tumors. This article reports our experience with neoadjuvant CRT for localized pancreatic cancer.
Submitting to Defeat Social Anxiety, Dominance Threat, and Decrements in Testosterone

Although theory suggests a link between social anxiety and social dominance, direct empirical evidence for this link is limited. The present experiment tested the hypothesis that socially anxious individuals, particularly men, would respond to a social-dominance threat by exhibiting decrements in their testosterone levels, an endocrinological change that typically reflects pronounced social submission in humans and other animals. Participants were randomly assigned to either win or lose a rigged face-to-face competition with a confederate. Although no zero-order relationship between social anxiety and level of testosterone was observed, testosterone levels showed a pronounced drop among socially anxious men who lost the competition. No significant changes were observed in nonanxious men or in women. This research provides novel insight into the nature and consequences of social anxiety, and also illustrates the utility of integrating social psychological theory with endocrinological approaches to psychological science.
Technology, International Stratification, and the Politics of Growth

The politics of stratification are part of the history of interdependence within and between human communities. Primitive or primordial interdependence concerns reciprocal reli ance among kith and kin or within face-to-face societies. Feudo-imperial interdependence includes both feudal relations in single societies and imperial relations between societies. These are based on exploitation and hierarchy. Mature interdependence comes with egalitarianism and a rational division of labor based on equity under modern conditions.While technology helped to demoralize individual Western societies, it also consoli dated Western control of other societies. The internal democratization of the West coin cided with the stratification of the world under Western dominion.How can the Third World escape this dominion? One approach is that of disengage ment ; another is that of counterpenetration.The West's Achilles' heel is its need of energy from the Third World. This need could make the West at least responsive to Third ...
A mechatronic sensing system for vehicle guidance and control

Magnetic sensing is used for control and guidance in intelligent transportation systems (ITS). This includes vehicle applications such as lane-keeping in intelligent cruise control as well as driver assistance in highway maintenance functions such as snow removal. This paper presents a new mechatronic magnetic sensing system for ITS. The new system has several advantages both in terms of its hardware design and its underlying reference detection algorithms, providing a significant improvement in performance, maintainability, and upgradability over existing systems. It is a mechatronic system in that it combines mechanical position sensing with electronics implementation of the hardware and the underlying algorithms.
Fashioning the Playboy: Messages of Style and Masculinity in the Pages of Playboy Magazine, 1953–1963

(2000). Fashioning the Playboy: Messages of Style and Masculinity in the Pages of Playboy Magazine, 1953–1963. Fashion Theory: Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 447-466.
Marital-Skills Training

Social-learning perspectives on the development of positive and negative marital-interactive styles are presented. The implications of social-learning principles to the evolution of training objectives are discussed. Couples require appropriate preparation prior to the employment of assessment and training procedures. How the trainer explains the rationale for training and develops a collaborative relationship with both spouses are presented. Assessment for marital-skills training consists of obtaining infor- mation on how the spouses evaluate each other, as well as trainer observations of their marital-interactive behavior. The uses of marital inventories, spouse-observational procedures, and behavioral observations by the trainer are discussed. Training consists of helping spouses resolve marital problems through the use of corrective feedback from the trainer, and coaching in more effective interactive behaviors. Illustrations of the processes are made, using a case example. In order to maintain the effects of training, additional marital skills are often required. The couples are instructed in the use of spouse monitoring, and in positive reinforcement strategies which can be applied at home.
THE KEYHOLE OR THE MANHOLE? WHAT INTERNISTS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MINIMALLY INVASIVE CABG

New alternatives to standard coronary artery bypass surgery reduce the incision size from 30 cm to 8 cm, presenting a less traumatic surgical option for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. Two minimally invasive techniques and patient selection criteria are summarized.