cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Donor cell-finite element descriptions of wire-duct precipitator fields, charges and efficiencies

Computations of electric field and charge density structures and resultant efficiencies in wire-duct electrostatic precipitators are described. The computational method is based upon the finite-element method as a means for computing the potential and electric field for a known charge distribution and a donor cell method that imposes conservation of charge in integral form as a means for computing charge densities for a known field structure, with iterative convergence to self-consistent solutions. The solution region is discretized by the Delaunay algorithm. This division simultaneously provides the triangles needed for the finite-element method and the Voronoi polygons over which charge conservation is imposed. Thus, a natural geometric interface is established between the finite-element method and the donor cell description. Results are shown in models that include the time-averaged effect of turbulence through a diffusivity coefficient, bipolar ionic species modeling back ionization, and the effects of particulate and ionic space charge. >
Utilization of Hypofractionated and Conventional Breast Radiotherapy in the State of Utah

Efficacy of hypofractionated (HF) radiotherapy (RT) in breast cancer has recently been established by randomized trials. We report patterns of care in Utah to identify how patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics may influence prescription patterns. Data from 1,588 patients from nine facilities with 18 providers were retrospectively collected. Conventionally fractionated (CF) RT was defined as >19 fractions with fractions 200cGy. Partial breast irradiation (PBI) was defined as external beam RT to 3850cGy in 10 fractions. Patients considered eligible for HF were >45 years with breast separation <25 cm and tumor size <2cm with negative nodes and margins. Analysis utilized Wilcoxon Rank Sum Tests and logistic regression. Of all patients, 83.2% received CF, 12% received HF, and 4.7% received PBI. Based on recent published guidelines, 53.5% of patients were eligible for HF. There were no significant differences with respect to laterality, tissue separation, or medical comorbidities. Calculated odds ratios (OR) for increased use of HF included age (OR 1.05, p<0.001) and lower cancer stage (OR 3.75, p=0.002). Use of HF strongly correlated with increased age, number of miles traveled to clinic (47.8 vs. 21), lower grade, less aggressive surgery, and less chemotherapy. HF RT utilization is increasing over time but only in a segment of eligible patients. We report on changes in practice patterns after recent publication of randomized trial data in an effort to bring awareness to underutilization of HF, and intend to track how this changes over time.
Semi‐implicit schemes for transient Navier–Stokes equations and eddy viscosity models

This study presents two computational schemes for the numerical approximation of solutions to eddy viscosity models as well as transient Navier–Stokes equations. The eddy viscosity model is one example of a class of Large Eddy Simulation models, which are used to simulate turbulent flow. The first approximation scheme is a first order single step method that treats the nonlinear term using a semi-implicit discretization. The second scheme employs a two step approach that applies a Crank–Nicolson method for the nonlinear term while also retaining the semi-implicit treatment used in the first scheme. A finite element approximation is used in the spatial discretization of the partial differential equations. The convergence analysis for both schemes is discussed in detail, and numerical results are given for two test problems one of which is the two dimensional flow around a cylinder. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2009
Conjugate schema and basis representation of crossover and mutation operators

In genetic search algorithms and optimization routines, the representation of the mutation and crossover operators are typically defaulted to the canonical basis. We show that this can be influential in the usefulness of the search algorithm. We then pose the question of how to find a basis for which the search algorithm is most useful. The conjugate schema is introduced as a general mathematical construct and is shown to separate a function into smaller dimensional functions whose sum is the original function. It is shown that conjugate schema, when used on a test suite of functions, improves the performance of the search algorithm on 10 out of 12 of these functions. Finally, a rigorous but abbreviated mathematical derivation is given in the appendices.
Blocking Sirtuin 1 and 2 Inhibits Renal Interstitial Fibroblast Activation and Attenuates Renal Interstitial Fibrosis in Obstructive Nephropathy

Our recent studies revealed that blocking class I/II histone deacetylases (HDACs) inhibits renal interstitial fibroblast activation and proliferation and alleviates development of renal fibrosis. However, the effect of class III HDAC, particularly sirtuin 1 and 2 (SIRT1 and SIRT2), inhibition on renal fibrogenesis remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that both SIRT1 and SIRT2 were expressed in cultured renal interstitial fibroblasts (NRK-49F). Exposure of NRK-49F to sirtinol, a selective inhibitor of SIRT1/2, or EX527 (6-chloro-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-carbazole-1-carboxamide), an inhibitor for SIRT1, resulted in reduced expression of fibroblast activation markers (α-smooth muscle actin, fibronectin, and collagen I) as well as proliferation markers (proliferating cell nuclear antigen, cyclin D1, cyclin E) in dose- and time-dependent manners. Treatment with a SIRT2 inhibitor, AGK2 (2-cyano-3-[5-(2,5-dichlorophenyl)-2-furanyl]-N-5-quinolinyl-2-propenamide), also dose- and time-dependently inhibited renal fibroblast activation and, to a lesser extent, cell proliferation. Furthermore, silencing of either SIRT1 or SIRT2 by small interfering RNA exhibited similar inhibitory effects. In a mouse model of obstructive nephropathy, administration of sirtinol attenuated deposition of collagen fibrils as well as reduced expression of α-smooth muscle actin, collagen I, and fibronectin in the injured kidney. SIRT1/2 inhibition–mediated antifibrotic effects are associated with dephosphorylation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), platelet-derived growth factor receptor-β (PDGFRβ), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3. Thus, SIRT1/2 activity may contribute to renal fibroblast activation and proliferation as well as renal fibrogenesis through activation of at least EGFR and PDGFRβ signaling. Blocking SIRT1/2 activation may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of chronic kidney disease.
Fibroblast-Derived Extracellular Matrices: An Alternative Cell Culture System That Increases Metastatic Cellular Properties

Poor survival rates from lung cancer can largely be attributed to metastatic cells that invade and spread throughout the body. The tumor microenvironment (TME) is composed of multiple cell types, as well as non-cellular components. The TME plays a critical role in the development of metastatic cancers by providing migratory cues and changing the properties of the tumor cells. The Extracellular Matrix (ECM), a main component of the TME, has been shown to change composition during tumor progression, contributing to cancer cell invasion and survival away from the primary cancer site. Although the ECM is well-known to influence the fate of tumor progression, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that are affected by the cancer cell-ECM interactions. It is imperative that these mechanisms are elucidated in order to properly understand and prevent lung cancer dissemination. However, common in vitro studies do not incorporate these interactions into everyday cell culture assays. We have adopted a model that examines decellularized human fibroblast-derived ECM as a 3-dimensional substrate for growth of lung adenocarcinoma cell lines. Here, we have characterized the effect of fibroblast-derived matrices on the properties of various lung-derived epithelial cell lines, including cancerous and non-transformed cells. This work highlights the significance of the cell-ECM interaction and its requirement for incorporation into in vitro experiments. Implementation of a fibroblast-derived ECM as an in vitro technique will provide researchers with an important factor to manipulate to better recreate and study the TME.
Return to Sport After Articular Cartilage Repair in Athletes' Knees: A Systematic Review

Purpose To perform a systematic review of cartilage repair in athletes' knees to (1) determine which (if any) of the most commonly implemented surgical techniques help athletes return to competition, (2) identify which patient- or defect-specific characteristics significantly affect return to sport, and (3) evaluate the methodologic quality of available literature. Methods A systematic review of multiple databases was performed. Return to preinjury level of sport was defined as the ability to play in the same or greater level (i.e., league or division) of competition after surgery. Study methodologic quality for all studies analyzed in this review was evaluated with the Coleman Methodology Score. Results Systematic review of 1,278 abstracts identified 20 level I-IV studies for inclusion but only 1 randomized controlled trial. Twenty studies (1,117 subjects) were included. Subjects (n = 970) underwent 1 of 4 surgeries (microfracture [n = 529], autologous chondrocyte implantation [ACI, n = 259], osteochondral autograft [n = 139], or osteochondral allograft [n = 43]), and 147 were control patients. The rate of return to sports was greatest after osteochondral autograft transplantation (89%) followed by osteochondral allograft, ACI, and microfracture (88%, 84%, and 75%, respectively). Osteochondral autograft transplantation and ACI had statistically significantly greater rates of return to sports compared with microfracture ( P P Conclusions Athletes may return to sports participation after microfracture, ACI, osteochondral autograft, or osteochondral allograft, but microfracture patients were least likely to return to sports. The athletes who had a better prognosis after surgery were younger, had a shorter preoperative duration of symptoms, underwent no previous surgical interventions, participated in a more rigorous rehabilitation protocol, and had smaller cartilage defects. Level of Evidence Level IV, systematic review of Level I-IV studies.
The Life Cycle Assessment for a Sustainable Georgia Food Hub

A food hub (USDA) is “a business or organization that is actively coordinating the aggregation, distribution and marketing of source-identified locally or regionally grown food products,” sourced from primarily smallto mid-sized producers to wholesalers, retailers, institutional buyers, or consumers at a central location. A food hub can also act as a central facility providing knowledge and technical support to its grower community. Georgia recognizes a dozen aggregation hubs that have a minimum of five farms (sources) plus one viable wholesale market. Sustainability has three components – economic/profitability, societal well-being/quality of life, and environmental quality/enhancement. The challenges to developing a business case for sustainability are two-fold: forecasting and calculating benefits and costs for a hundred-year investment plan, and gauging the system-wide effects of sustainability investments in a life cycle assessment (LCA). A LCA is system-oriented because it attempts to integrate environmental requirements into each stage of the product development and marketing process so that total impacts caused by the entire system can be reduced. The LCA normally follows three distinct steps: an inventory analysis that identifies materials and energy resources and their flow patterns; an impact analysis of qualitative and quantitative assessments of the consequences to the environment; and an improvement analysis that contemplates actions that can be taken to improve upon current conditions. The inventory analysis requires cooperation by all participants (farmers, markets, aggregation/distribution facility) to provide relevant, verifiable and quantifiable data on all processes, equipment, structures, labor, and land to quantify the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) contribution and sequestration (capture) to derive annual net carbon values (the impact assessment). The improvement analysis can be relevant and useful, especially if the net annual carbon is near carbon neutrality, as management strategy adjustments could be made without knowingly reducing product quality. A price-based and an energy-based carbon footprint were derived for each facility using timeseries and cross-sectional analysis for two Georgia food hubs (goat meat and purple hull peas food hubs). Carbon emission totals were calculated for each food hub by resource use and time Stegelin Journal of Food Distribution Research March 2014 Volume 45, Issue 1 60 . involved, and then converted into total CO2e’s for the aggregation and distribution facility, only. Farmer and marketer collaborators in each food hub were unwilling to complete the inventory questionnaire. The calculated net carbon footprints for the two food hubs were: Food Hub Carbon Contribution Carbon Sequestered Net Carbon -------------------------------MT CO2e/year-------------------------------Goat Meat 2,173 157 2,016 Hull Peas 1,733 125 1,608
Cardiac Stim1 Silencing Impairs Adaptive Hypertrophy and Promotes Heart Failure Through Inactivation of mTORC2/Akt Signaling.

Background—Stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) is a dynamic calcium signal transducer implicated in hypertrophic growth of cardiomyocytes. STIM1 is thought to act as an initiator of cardiac hypertrophic response at the level of the sarcolemma, but the pathways underpinning this effect have not been examined. Methods and Results—To determine the mechanistic role of STIM1 in cardiac hypertrophy and during the transition to heart failure, we manipulated STIM1 expression in mice cardiomyocytes by using in vivo gene delivery of specific short hairpin RNAs. In 3 different models, we found that Stim1 silencing prevents the development of pressure overload–induced hypertrophy but also reverses preestablished cardiac hypertrophy. Reduction in STIM1 expression promoted a rapid transition to heart failure. We further showed that Stim1 silencing resulted in enhanced activity of the antihypertrophic and proapoptotic GSK-3β molecule. Pharmacological inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 was sufficient to reverse ...
Physical Barriers, Task Characteristics, and Interaction Activity in Research and Development Firms

This research is based on a Ph.D. dissertation completed at Stanford University. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the members of my committee, Jeffrey Pfeffer (Chair), Harold Leavitt, and Jerry Porras. Gerald Salancik and three anonymous ASQ reviewers provided substantial help with earlier drafts of this paper. I would also like to thank Jai Ghorpade, Mark Butler, and Sanford Ehrlich. A field study was used to examine the common belief that barriers around offices are desirable because they reduce interaction, thus allowing more time for accomplishing tasks. If this were true, we would expect to find more interaction in offices with fewer barriers. The opposite was found in the field study conducted in two high-technology firms. Partition height, number of partitions, and the use of a door or a secretary were all positively associated with one or more forms of interaction activity. A desk positioned away from the office entrance was the only barrier found to be negatively associated with interaction. These relationships were independent of variables representing task characteristics, job type, work experience, demographic characteristics and sociability.'
Optimization of Orifice Geometry for Cross-Flow Mixing in a Cylindrical Duct

Mixing of gaseous jets in a cross-flow has significant applications in engineering, one example of which is the dilution zone of a gas turbine combustor. Despite years of study, the design of jet injection in combustors is largely based on practical experience. A series of experiments was undertaken to delineate the optimal mixer orifice geometry. A cross-flow to core-flow momentum-flux ratio of 40 and a mass flow ratio of 2.5 were selected as representative of an advanced design. An experimental test matrix was designed around three variables: the number of orifices, the orifice aspect ratio (long-to-short dimension), and the orifice angle. A regression analysis was performed on the data to arrive at an interpolating equation that predicted the mixing performance of orifice geometry combinations within the range of the test matrix parameters. Results indicate that mixture uniformity is a non-linear function of the number of orifices, the orifice aspect ratio, and the orifice angle. Optimum mixing occurs when the asymptotic mean jet trajectories are in the range of 0.35 less than r/R less than 0.5 (where r = 0 is at the mixer wall) at z/R = 1.0. At the optimum number of orifices, the difference between shallow-angled slots with large aspect ratios and round holes is minimal and either approach will lead to good mixing performance. At the optimum number of orifices, it appears possible to have two local optimums where one corresponds to an aspect ratio of 1.0 and the other to a high aspect ratio.
Assessing Icon Appropriateness and Icon Discriminability with a Paired-Comparison Testing Procedure:

Traditional methods of evaluating icon comprehension and discriminability have relied on a sequence of multiple screening tests to measure various aspects of icon meaning, image content, and the user's perception of the icon. The most frequently used procedures have been the icon appropriateness test to determine the best conceptual design from a group of icon candidates, followed by the icon matching test to ensure that individual icons are not confused with others in a set. This paper describes an automated paired-comparison test procedure that provides reliable measures of both icon appropriateness and icon discriminability using the same test method with a single metric. The procedure was validated in two experiments involving the design and evaluation of two different mouse-pointer icons. In Experiment 1, the procedure was used as an icon screening test to determine the most appropriate and meaningful icon that best represented each concept from two different sets of proposed icon variants. In Experi...
Primary health care workers' views of motivating factors at individual, community and organizational levels: a qualitative study from Nasarawa and Ondo states, Nigeria.

Background Current efforts to motivate primary health workers in Nigeria focus on better financial incentives, and the role of other motivating factors has received less attention. The aim of this study is to explore individual and organizational determinants, their interactions and effects on motivation. Methods Exploratory qualitative research, involving semi-structured interviews with 29 primary health workers (doctors, nurses, midwives and community health workers), was conducted in Nasarawa and Ondo states in Nigeria. Nine key informant interviews were conducted with government officials. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and coded. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify common themes, as well as unique narratives. Results Results from this study suggest that health workers are motivated by individual (vocation, religion, humanity and self-efficacy) and organizational (monetary incentives, good working environment) factors and community recognition. Supervision and leadership provided by the officer in charge as compared with that by external agencies appeared to have a positive effect on motivation. Conclusions Policy makers and donor agencies should take into account a broader range of factors while designing strategies to motivate the health workforce. The study also underscores how officer in charges with enhanced skills are likely to motivate health workers by creating a more supportive environment.
Contacts to Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu Oxide Superconducting Thin Films

With the discovery of high TC superconducting materials like Yttrium Barium Copper oxide, Bismuth Strontium Calcium Copper oxide and Thallium Calcium Barium Copper oxide, tremendous interest has developed over the past two years in understanding these materials as well as utilizing them in a variety of applications. The thin films of these materials are expected to play an important role in the area of microelectronics, especially for interconnects in integrated circuits, Josephson junctions, magnetic field sensors and optical detectors. The problems involved in the development of thin films are more complex than that encountered in bulk materials l,2. The properties of thin filmsdepend on the deposition method, deposition conditions and substrate material. Various deposition techniques have been developed which include coevaporation, R.F. and D.C. sputtering, Laser ablation, sol-gel method and molecular beam epitaxy. High TC films have been developed on a variety of substrates like strontium titanate,zirconium oxide, masgnesium oxide, silicon dioxide and saphire3,4,5 Most of the work reported so far is characterizing the thin films for transition temperature, critical current density and critical magnetic field. The structural charactrizations are performed by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.
INVESTIGATION REPORT ON DISINFECTION EFFECT OF TABLEWARE IN COUNTY TOWNS OF HAIYAN

Objective To analyze the current status of disinfection effect of tableware in county towns of Haiyan,discuss basic disinfection hygiene management of catering industry,and improve food-borne diseases prevention and control ability.Methods Quality of sanitary disinfection in tableware of catering establishments,school canteens and tableware disinfection station in county towns of Haiyan were monitored and analyzed by retrospective survey.Results 5 209 tableware were detected from 2008 to 2010,and coliform over standard rate was 10.04%.Catering units scale was smaller,the disinfection quality was poorer,small catering units tableware coliform over standard rate was 17.43%.Conclusion Quality of tableware disinfection situation was not optimistic in Haiyan,especially tableware disinfection management and monitoring of small catering units needed to be strengthened to improve the health level of tableware disinfection.
Wind Power Smoothing Control Strategy of Battery Energy Storage System

Wind power has the characteristics of randomness and fluctuation. In order to reduce the bad influence of wind power fluctuation on the power grid, as well as variation of wind power fluctuation per minute, the smoothing control was usded for the wind power with a first order low pass filter and battery energy storage system. The suitable smoothing time constant was selected according to the smoothing effect of the wind power, the relationship between energy storage capacity and smoothing time constants was analyzed, and the suitable smoothing time constant of energy storage was chosen according to the smoothing rate of energy storage, which could provide the reference for the wind power smoothing control of wind farm with energy storage system.
Craniofacial Width Dimensions

Abstract No Abstract Available. This paper is based on a portion of the M.D.S. thesis submitted to the University of Adelaide, South Australla.
Site and extent of starch and neutral detergent fiber digestion as affected by source of calcium and level of corn.

Five steers (385 kg) fitted with permanent abomasal cannulae were used to compare Ca source (limestone or dicalcium phosphate) and corn level on site and extent of digestion. Diets contained 50, 70 or 90% corn, with corn silage and supplement to provide .70% Ca from either limestone or dicalcium phosphate. Limestone did not affect ruminal digestion, but postruminal starch and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestion were higher (P less than .05) for limestone compared with dicalcium phosphate, which suggests that starch utilization may be increased postruminally by a compound with buffering capacity. As a percentage of total starch intake, total tract and ruminal starch digestion increased (linear, P less than .01) while postruminal starch digestion decreased (linear, P less than .01) with corn level. Neutral detergent fiber digested in the rumen decreased (linear, P less than .01) and postruminal NDF digestion increased (linear, P less than .01) when level of corn in the diet increased. Effects of corn level were not different when organic matter and starch intake were included as covariates.
Search for excited quarks in pp» collisions ats =1.8 TeV

If quarks are composite particles then excited states are expected. We have searched in pp\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{} collisions for excited quarks (${\mathit{q}}^{\mathrm{*}}$) which decay to common quarks by emitting a W boson (${\mathit{q}}^{\mathrm{*}}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}qW) or a photon (${\mathit{q}}^{\mathrm{*}}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}q\ensuremath{\gamma}). The simplest model of excited quarks has been excluded for mass ${\mathit{M}}^{\mathrm{*}}$540 GeV/${\mathit{c}}^{2}$ at 95% confidence level.
Development of Predictive Models for the Degradation of Halogenated Disinfection Byproducts during the UV/H2O2 Advanced Oxidation Process.

Previous research has demonstrated that the reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) used to purify municipal wastewater to potable quality have difficulty removing low molecular weight halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and industrial chemicals. Because of the wide range of chemical characteristics of these DBPs, this study developed methods to predict their degradation within the UV/H2O2 AOP via UV direct photolysis and hydroxyl radical (•OH) reaction, so that DBPs most likely to pass through the AOP could be predicted. Among 26 trihalomethanes, haloacetonitriles, haloacetaldehydes, halonitromethanes and haloacetamides, direct photolysis rate constants (254 nm) varied by ∼3 orders of magnitude, with rate constants increasing with Br and I substitution. Quantum yields varied little (0.12–0.59 mol/Einstein), such that rate constants were driven by the orders of magnitude variation in molar extinction coefficients. Quantum chemical calculations indicated a strong correlation between ...
An analogue of Springer fibers in certain wonderful compactifications

We investigate the topological structure of a cellular decomposition of the fixed locus of a unipotent operator of regular Jordan type acting on the wonderful compactification of the variety of complete quadrics and the variety of complete skew forms. The Poincare polynomial is computed in each case and the poset of cell closures under inclusion is described in the complete quadrics case.
Evaluating EHR Data Availability for Cohort Selection in Retrospective Studies

Electronic health record (EHR) systems store longitudinal medical data that allows for retrospective studies in healthcare. An ideal EHR would clearly designate when patient data starts and ends, allowing maximal data utility in retrospective studies. However, with differences in EHR implementation, and patients receiving treatment across many healthcare systems, timelines for reliable longitudinal medical data are often unclear, and retrospective studies include suboptimal data. To better identify reliable EHR data for retrospective studies, we built metrics to restrict and weight data based on availability. Our metrics measure the rise and persistence of three different datatypes in an EHR: billing codes, medication events, and tumor registry diagnoses. We implemented our metrics in a generalized cohort creation heuristic to select cohorts with reliable data. We applied our heuristic to select a cohort of stage I-III breast cancer patients at Vanderbilt University Medical Venter (VUMC) for a retrospective study on five-year adjuvant endocrine therapy adherence. Recent clinical trials report five-year adherence at 85%, but studies in the general patient population report lower five-year adherence rates. With our heuristic, we determined a five-year adherence rate bounded between 55% and 78%.
Local mandate improves equity of paid sick leave coverage: Seattle's experience.

Paid sick leave allows workers to take time off work for personal or family health needs, improving health and potentially limiting infectious diseases. The U.S. has no national sick leave mandate, and many American workers - particularly those at lower income levels - have no right to paid time off for their own or family members’ health needs. This article reports on outcomes of a local mandate, the City of Seattle Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance, which requires certain employers to provide paid sick leave to eligible workers. Survey collectors contacted a stratified random sample of Seattle employers before the Ordinance went into effect and one year later. Pre- and post- analysis draws on responses to survey items by 345 employers who were subject to the paid sick leave mandate. Awareness of the policy and provision of paid leave grew significantly over the year after the Ordinance was enacted. More employers offered leave to full-time workers (80.8 to 93.9%, p < .001) and part-time workers (47.1 to 66.7%, p < .001) with particularly large increases in the hospitality sector, which includes food workers (coverage of any hospitality employee: 27.5 to 85.0%, p < .001). Absent a federal policy, local paid sick time mandates can increase paid sick leave coverage, an important social determinant of health.
Radar detection of buried targets in coastal environments

Coastal soils offer a number of challenges in electromagnetic remote sensing applications. They are highly saline owing to their constant contact with salt water resulting in high values for the real and imaginary parts of their permittivity. Due to this fact, it is desirable to model these properties and determine how they will affect the detection and location of targets buried in coastal soil environments. We examined the propagation of a plane wave with three different incidence angles on a cubic perfect electric conductor (PEC) target contained within an semi-infinite dielectric material with the same properties as the soil. This response was then compared to that of a baseline target with no dielectric surrounding it and a dielectric mimicking dry sandy soil. The results show that the signal is both highly reflected at the surface of the wet coastal soil, and significantly attenuated as it propagates through the wet soil dielectric. The results of our modeling and simulation studies over a wide range of conditions (e.g. frequency, soil salinity, burial depth, etc.) are presented and trade-offs examined in order to develop a cognitive radar system for enhancing target detection and clutter suppression.
The Cenozoic magmatism of East-Africa: Part I — Flood basalts and pulsed magmatism

Abstract Cenozoic magmatism in East Africa results from the interplay between lithospheric extension and material upwelling from the African Large Low Shear Velocity Province (LLSVP). The modern focusing of East African magmatism into oceanic spreading centers and continental rifts highlights the modern control of lithospheric thinning in magma generation processes, however the widespread, and volumetrically significant flood basalt events of the Eocene to Early Miocene suggest a significant role for material upwelling from the African LLSVP. The slow relative motion of the African plate during the Cenozoic has resulted in significant spatial overlap in lavas derived from different magmatic events. This complexity is being resolved with enhanced geochronological precision and a focus on the geochemical characteristics of the volcanic products. It is now apparent that there are three distinct pulses of basaltic volcanism, followed by either bimodal lavas or silicic volcanic products during this period: (A) Eocene Initial Phase from 45 to 34 Ma. This is a period of dominantly basaltic volcanism focused in Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya (Turkana). (B) Oligocene Traps phase from ~ 33.9 to 27 Ma. This period coincides with a significant increase in the aerial extent of volcanism with broadly age equivalent 1 to 2 km thick sequences of dominantly basalt centered on the NW Ethiopian Plateau and Yemen, (C) Early Miocene resurgence phase from ~ 26.9 to 22 Ma. This resurgence in basaltic volcanism is seen throughout the region at ca. 24–23 Ma, but is less volumetrically significant than the prior two basaltic pulses. With our developing understanding of the persistence of LLSVP anomalies within the mantle, I propose that the three basaltic pulses are ostensibly manifestations of the same plume–lithosphere interaction, requiring revision to the duration, magmatic extent, and magma volume of the African–Arabian Large Igneous Province.
Beliefs, Behaviors, and Contexts of Adolescent Caffeine Use: A Focus Group Study.

Background: Caffeinated products are widely available to adolescents, and consumption of caffeine products—energy drinks and coffee in particular—is on the rise in this age group (Branum, Rossen, &...
From mundane medicines to euphorigenic drugs: How pharmaceutical pleasures are initiated, foregrounded, and made durable.

Abstract Background Examining how pharmaceuticals are used to induce pleasure presents a unique opportunity for analyzing not only how pleasure is assembled and experienced through distinct consumption practices but also how mundane medicines can become euphorigenic substances. Methods Drawing on qualitative research on the non-medical use of prescription drugs by young adults in the United States, this paper utilizes Actor–Network Theory (ANT) to examine how prescription medicines come to produce pleasure. Results Our research found an indeterminacy of experience as individuals were initiated into prescription drug pleasures. We also found that euphorigenic effects coalesce and are foregrounded through subsequent use, and that pleasure and other forms of gratification are made durable through repeated and deliberate pharmaceutical consumption. Conclusion Understanding how individuals are socialized into pharmaceutical pleasure, and how assemblages act to constitute the euphorigenic potential of pharmaceutical misuse, may allow for more context-appropriate intervention efforts. We suggest that the euphorigenic properties ascribed to prescription drugs are not inherent in their pharmaceutical formulations, but instead emerge through interactions within networks of heterogeneous actants.
Interdisciplinary Care Model Independently Decreases Use of Critical Care Services After Corrective Surgery for Adult Degenerative Scoliosis

Objective Interdisciplinary management of elderly patients requiring spine surgery has been shown to improve short- and long-term outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine whether an interdisciplinary team approach mitigates use of intensive care unit (ICU) resources. Methods A unique comanagement model for elderly patients undergoing lumbar fusion surgery was implemented at a major academic medical center. The Peri-operative Optimization of Senior Health Program (POSH) was launched with the aim of improving outcomes in elderly patients (>65 years old) undergoing complex lumbar spine surgery. In this model, a geriatrician evaluates elderly patients preoperatively, comanages daily throughout hospital course, and coordinates multidisciplinary rehabilitation, along with the neurosurgical team. We retrospectively reviewed the first 100 cases after the initiation of the POSH protocol and compared them with the immediately preceding 25 cases to assess the rates of ICU transfer and independent predictors of ICU admission. Results A total of 125 patients undergoing lumbar decompression and fusion surgery were enrolled in this pilot program. Baseline characteristics and intraoperative variables, as well as number of fusion levels and duration of surgery, were similar between both cohorts. There was a significant difference in the use of ICU services (ICU admission rates) between both cohorts, with the non-POSH cohort having a 3-fold increase compared with the POSH cohort (P Conclusions Our study suggests that an interdisciplinary comanagement model between geriatrics and neurosurgery is independently associated with reduced use of critical care services.
Investigating Undergraduates' Perceptions of Science in Courses Taught Using the CREATE Strategy.

Many science educators agree that 21st century students need to develop mature scientific thinking skills. Unsurprisingly, students’ and experts’ perceptions about the nature of scientific knowledge differ. Moreover, students’ naive and entrenched epistemologies can preclude their development toward “thinking like scientists.” Novel teaching approaches that guide students toward more mature perceptions may be needed to support their development of scientific thinking skills. To address such issues, physics educators developed the Colorado Learning Attitudes About Science Survey (CLASS), subsequently adapted for chemistry and biology. These surveys are “designed to compare novice and expert perceptions about the content and structure of a specific discipline; the source of knowledge about that discipline, including connection of the discipline to the real world; and problem-solving approaches” (Semsar et al., CBE Life Sci. Educ. 10:268–278; p 269). We used CLASS-Bio to track students’ perceptions of science in separate first-year and upper-level CREATE (Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret the data, Think of the next Experiment) electives, hypothesizing that perceptions would become significantly more expert-like across a semester. Both first-year and upper-level cohorts made significant expert-like shifts. Students also made significant critical thinking gains in CREATE courses. Our findings of more mature, expert-like perceptions of science post-course contrast with those of previous studies, where students’ thinking became significantly less expert-like across a term of introductory instruction and changed little in upper-level biology electives. Augmenting traditional biology curricula with CREATE courses could be an economical way to help undergraduates develop more mature views of science.
In-wheel motors roll again

AT THE END of the 19th century, Ferdinand Porsche in Vienna and Joseph Ledwinka and Fred Newman in Chicago attached an electric motor to each wheel of their horseless carriages to provide power simply, efficiently, and controllably. These automotive pioneers hardly expected that electric propulsion would soon wither and that ever more complex hardware would be developed to transform the output from a centrally mounted internal combustion engine into torque at the wheels. But that's what happened.
The Measurement of Body Composition

Measurement of the body’s composition is more complex than the measurement of body size. Although studies of height and weight provide valuable information in understanding growth processes, both provide only dimensional data. Height is a linear measurement, while weight is a measure of body mass; as such they provide limited information about body composition. Hence, much effort has been expended in quantifying the body’s composition in vivo (Brožek and Henschel, 1961; Brožek, 1963a, 1965; Garn, 1961, 1963; National Academy of Sciences, 1968; Bergner and Lushbaugh, 1967; Malina, 1969; Forbes, 1978). This report offers an overview of selected methods for measuring body composition, with specific emphasis on those used in growth studies.
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome Due to Promethazine

ABSTRACT:A 42-year-old man came to our emergency room hyperthermic (oral temperature, 42.4°C), diaphoretic, and delirious. Other findings included labile blood pressure, sinus tachycardia (heart rate, 138/min), tachypnea (respiratory rate 34/min), muscle rigidity, and incontinence. Two days earlier,
Innocent and Innocuous: The Case Against Animal Research

Animal research is a challenging issue for the animal advocate because of what, besides animal well-being, is considered to be at stake, namely, human health. This article seeks to vindicate the antivivisectionist position. The standard defense of animal research as promoting the overwhelming good of human health is refuted on both factual and logical, or normative-theoretical, grounds. The author then attempts to clinch the case by arguing that animal research violates a deontic principle. However, this principle falls to counterexample. The author concludes, nevertheless, that the principle retains force as a presumption that the current state of affairs fails to overthrow. This does suggest, though, that the antivivisection movement would be well advised to keep ahead of the curve. The author proposes it do so by emulating the vegan movement against animal agriculture with the active promotion of alternatives to animal research.
A Universe of Atoms: Symmetry, Unity, Gravity, and the Problem of “Missing Mass”

In the zany film Bowfinger, actor Eddie Murphy, in the role of a neurotic film star whose mental state is becoming increasingly unhinged by encounters with strange people who keep following him, tries to regain self-control by frantically repeating over and over again his psychiatrist’s mantra: “Keep it together!” Mr. Murphy did not realize it, of course, but those three words summarize in the tersest way possible the principal task of theoretical physicists who study either the smallest building blocks of matter or the largest structures of the cosmos.
ACTIVE SLIDES AND FLOWS IN UNDERCONSOLIDATED MARINE SEDIMENTS ON THE SLOPES OF THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA.

On the continental shelves off large deltas, rapid progradation and deposition result in highly underconsolidated marine sediments. These deposits, which are often also rich in interstitial methane gas, can be subject to widespread and active mass movement downslope. For example, the submarine slopes of the Mississippi River delta are affected by a variety of sediment instability processes. Geologic and geophysical surveys using side-scan sonar, subbottom profilers, and precision depth recorders have been completed for the entire subaqueous delta. Survey lines were spaced at 240-m intervals, and water depths ranged from 5 m to 20 m. Bottom morphology, including sediment deformations indicative of instability, has been mapped at a scale of 1:12,000, and large-area, scale-corrected sonar mosaics have been constructed. The features identified include collapse depressions, bottleneck slides, shallow rotational slides, mudflow gullies, overlapping mudflow lobes, and a wide variety of faults. The slides and mudflows are extremely active, and movement rates of several hundred metres per year have been recorded. Damage to offshore oil and gas pipelines and platforms has occurred. Also, the concept of slow, continuous deltaic progradation must be modified to include the effects of these processes. For example, on the shelf, normal settling of suspended clays averages only a few millimetres per year, whereas at the front of the delta slope more than 30 m of sediment has been deposited by mudflows and slides since 1875.
Chronic Disease and Sleep Architecture

This chapter details the pattern of sleep disturbances associated with chronic medical conditions. It illustrates the disturbances in sleep architecture manifested by a number of medical conditions as detailed by EEG or polysomnography. Sleep disturbances are common with a number of medical conditions and abnormal health states may also lead to primary sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, or restless legs syndrome. Disturbances in sleep architecture caused by pharmaceuticals used in the management of chronic medical conditions are also described. Understanding the complex interaction between sleep, medical disease and medications may have important implications in 24/7 approach to clinical disease management.
Boundary Value Problems of Mathematical Physics

The goal of this final chapter is to show how the boundary value problems of mathematical physics can be solved by the methods of the preceding chapters. This will be done by solving a variety of specific problems that illustrate the principal types of problems that were formulated in Chapter 7. Additional applications are developed in the Exercises. The primary solution method is Fourier’s method of separation of variables and the associated Sturm-Liouville theory of Chapter 8.
Hurricane Trajectory and Irregular Bedrock Topography as Drivers of Washover Fan Geomorphology on an Isolated Carbonate Platform

ABSTRACT Mattheus, C.R. and Yovichin, R.D., III, 2018. Hurricane trajectory and irregular bedrock topography as drivers of washover fan geomorphology on an isolated carbonate platform. Although washover fan geomorphology is widely studied along sandy passive continental margins, little is known about rocky carbonate platform analogs. This paper addresses the multidecadal evolution of a compound washover fan complex on San Salvador Island, an isolated and hurricane impact–prone Bahamian carbonate platform. Its geomorphic development is assessed from pre– and post–Hurricane Joaquin topographic measurements, historic aerial photographs, ground-penetrating radar imagery, and sediment cores. Survey information provides insight into event-based surficial processes, while subsurface mapping and aerial photography offers a window into past events. Hurricane Frances left the fan largely unmodified in 2004, whereas the comparably strong Hurricane Joaquin was affiliated with heavy scouring of the fan apex and extens...
Complexity classes

This material was written for Chapter 27 of the CRC Handbook of Algorithms and Theory of Computation, edited by Mikhail Atallah.
Probing and quantifying cathode charge heterogeneity in Li ion batteries

Increasing the energy density and cycle life has been a continuing effort to improve lithium ion batteries. Beyond designing new materials, improving the utilization of current materials is a critical step towards this effort. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the battery materials and electrodes, the redox reactions take place non-uniformly at all length scales ranging from single particles, to multiple particles, and to battery electrodes. Such non-uniformity, often called charge heterogeneity, negatively impacts the battery performance. Significant efforts have been made to homogenize the charge distribution at all length scales to eliminate the local over-charge or over-discharge, and to improve the contribution of individual active particles to the overall capacity. The multiscale charge heterogeneity can be caused by many factors, including the intrinsic properties of battery particles, battery electrode formulation, electrochemical protocols, and external environment such as temperature. In this review, we provide a comprehensive discussion of the current research frontier in probing and quantifying the charge heterogeneity in intercalating lithium ion cathode materials and electrodes. First, we discuss the particle-level charge heterogeneity. The charge heterogeneity at this length scale is associated with ion reaction mechanisms such as solid solution and phase separation, structural defects such as grain boundaries, and morphological features such as facet termination. Second, we discuss the electrode-level heterogeneity that is mostly influenced by the electrode characteristics such as electrode porosity and tortuosity. These characteristics determine the ion and electron conducting pathways, which is the underlying mechanism for governing the redox propagation in electrodes. Third, the review also provides an in-depth analysis of the factors that govern the charge heterogeneity and summarizes the current efforts to eliminate the heterogeneity. Last but not least, studying the charge heterogeneity involves the use of advanced spectroscopic imaging techniques; thus we also discuss the working principles of these techniques throughout the review. In summary, the review highlights how the charge heterogeneity is probed and quantified using various sample environments and sheds light on the potential methods to mitigate or even eliminate the charge heterogeneity for improving battery performance.