cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Versatile Family of Partial-Resonance Inductive-AC-Link Universal Converters

In this paper, a new class of bidirectional partial-resonance power converters is presented. The proposed family can be configured to interface single- or multi-port dc, single- or multi-phase ac systems at input-side and/or output-side. The proposed family offers a very modular structure, which can lead to cost reduction from a common designed module. In this converter, which accomplishes power conversion in a single stage, a small inductor placed in series with the input and output switch-bridges forms the link. This small link inductor is responsible for transferring power between different ports of the system. The proposed topologies can operate in buck, boost, and buck–boost modes of operation to step up and/or step down the voltage. In buck–boost mode of operation, the converter is controlled such that the power is entirely transferred through the link inductor; whereas, in buck or boost modes of operation only a fraction of the power is transferred through the link inductor, and the remaining power is directly transferred from input phases to the output phases. Galvanic isolation, which is typically a prominent factor contributing to power density of a converter, can be provided by means of a compact and lightweight single-phase high-frequency transformer added to the link. In comparison with earlier generations of partial-resonance inductive-link power converters, in the proposed converter, the level of link peak current and consequently power-loss, as well as voltage and current stress of switches are dramatically decreased. A very small film capacitor can be placed in parallel with the link inductor to facilitate zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) operation for all the switches/diodes. Apart from increasing the overall efficiency, minimized dv/dt stress and improvement in power density are achieved by adding the link capacitor. The proposed converter employs four-quadrant switches, i.e., bidirectional-conducting bidirectional-blocking switches, and charges the link inductor in both positive and negative directions in each cycle. In view of this, better utilization of the link inductor and lower total harmonic distortion (THD) are offered. Furthermore, two distinct switching algorithms are developed for the proposed family of converters. In this paper, the detailed behavior of the proposed family is investigated analytically, and simulation and experimental results are presented to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed converter. A low-power proof-of-concept prototype with input voltage of 59 V/161 V, load voltage of 178 V/73.5 V, maximum switching frequency of 4.9 kHz/3.65 kHz at 215 W/450 W in a step-up/step-down operation is considered for the experimental verification.
Ectomycorrhizal Effect on Host Plant Response to Drought Stress

Ectomycorrhizal symbiosis affects the water relations and drought resistance of woody landscape trees and shrubs in the families Pinaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae, and others. It has frequently been observed that host plants mycorrhizal with drought-adapted fungi exhibit improved growth and survival during drought and more rapid recovery after rewatering than non-mycorrhizal plants or plants mycorrhizal with fungi not adapted to dry sites. Relatively few studies have addressed the effect of mycorrhizae on the physiological response of host plants to drought stress. It is suggested that some fungi confer drought tolerance to their host, while others confer drought avoidance. Possible mechanisms by which mycorrhizae influence host water relations are discussed.
Mixing and CP Violation in Decays of Charm Mesons

The phenomenon of mixing in neutral meson systems has now been observed in all flavours, but only in the past year in the D0 system. The standard model anticipated that, for the charm sector, the mixing rate would be small, and also that CP violation, either in mixing or in direct decay, would be below the present levels of observability. It is hoped that further study of these phenomena might reveal signs of new physics. A review of recently available, experimental results is given.
Association of sickle cell trait with measures of cognitive function and dementia in African Americans

Abstract Objective The incidence and prevalence of cognitive decline and dementia are significantly higher among African Americans compared with non-Hispanic Whites. The aim of this study was to determine whether inheritance of the sickle cell trait (SCT) i.e. heterozygosity for the sickle cell mutation increases the risk of cognitive decline or dementia Among African Americans. Methods We studied African American participants enrolled in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. SCT genotype at baseline and outcome data from cognitive assessments at visits 2, 4 and 5, and an MRI performed at visit 5 were analyzed for the association between SCT and risk of cognitive impairment and/or dementia. Results There was no significant difference in risk factors profile between participants with SCT (N = 176) and those without SCT (N = 2532). SCT was not independently associated with a higher prevalence of global or domain-specific cognitive impairment at baseline or with more rapid cognitive decline. Participants with SCT had slightly lower incidence of dementia (HR = 0.63 [0.38, 1.05]). On the other hand, SCT seems to interact with the apolipoprotein E e4 risk allele resulting in poor performance on digit symbol substitution test at baseline (z-score = −0.08, Pinteraction = 0.05) and over time (z-score = −0.12, Pinteraction = 0.04); and with diabetes mellitus leading to a moderately increased risk of dementia (HR = 2.06 [0.89, 4.78], Pinteraction = 0.01). Conclusions SCT was not an independent risk factor for prevalence or incidence of cognitive decline or dementia, although it may interact with and modify other putative risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia.
Changes in Cross-Sectional Area and Signal Intensity of Healing ACLs and ACL Grafts in the First Two Years After Surgery:

Objectives:The quality of a repaired anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or reconstructed graft is typically quantified by evaluating knee, lower extremity or subject performance. However, magnetic re...
Macrosomic Newborns Delivered at Term after Labor among Nondiabetic Women: Maternal and Neonatal Morbidities

Objective This study aimed to compare morbidities among nonmacrosomic versus macrosomic singleton live births of nondiabetic women who labored. Study Design This retrospective study utilized the 2003 revision of U.S. birth certificate data of singleton live births (2011–2013) at 37 to 41 weeks who labored. The primary outcomes were composite maternal and neonatal morbidities (CMM and CNM, respectively). We compared these outcomes by birth weight, 2,500 to 3,999 g (group 1; reference), 4,000 to 4,449 g (group 2), and 4,500 to 5,999 g (group 3). We used multivariable Poisson regression analyses to examine the association between birth weight groups and the outcomes. Results Among 6,691,338 live births, 92.0% were in group 1, 7.1% in group 2, and 0.9% in group 3. The overall CMM and CNM rates were 4.4 and 6.8 per 1,000 live births, respectively. Compared with group 1, the risk of CMM was significantly higher in group 2 (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] = 1.50; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.44–1.56) and group 3 (aRR = 2.00; 95% CI: 1.82–2.19). Likewise, the risk of CNM was significantly higher in group 2 (aRR = 1.38; 95% CI: 1.33–1.43) and group 3 (aRR = 2.57; 95% CI: 2.40–2.75) than in group 1. Conclusion Nondiabetic women who labor with a macrosomic newborns have a significantly higher rate of adverse outcomes than nonmacrosomic.
Creating Team Cohesion and Sport Identity

This article describes three strategies to emphasize identity creation and team cohesion. The strategies can be employed in one session by coaches of all competitive levels with minimal resources a...
Stereotactic Radiosurgery to More Than 10 Brain Metastases: Evidence to Support the Role of Radiosurgery for Ideal Hippocampal Sparing in the Treatment of Multiple Brain Metastases.

Background Brain metastases are a common occurrence, with literature supporting the treatment of a limited number of brain metastases with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), as opposed to whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT). Less well understood is the role of SRS in patients with ≥10 brain metastases. Methods Patients treated with SRS to ≥10 brain metastases without concurrent WBRT between March 1999 and December 2016 were reviewed. Analysis was performed for overall survival, treated lesion freedom from progression (FFP), freedom from new metastases (FFNMs), and adverse radiation effect. Hippocampal volumes were retrospectively generated in patients treated with up-front SRS for evaluation of dose volume metrics. Results A total of 143 patients were identified with 75 patients having up-front SRS and 68 patients being treated as salvage therapy after prior WBRT. The median number of lesions per patient was 13 (interquartile range [IQR], 11–17). Median total volume of treatment was 4.1 cm3 (IQR, 2.0–9.9 cm3). The median 12-month FFP for up-front and salvage treatment was 96.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 95.5–98.1) and 83.6% (95% CI, 79.9–87.5), respectively (P Conclusions Excellent rates of local control can be achieved when treating patients with >10 intracranial metastases either in the up-front or salvage setting. Hippocampal sparing is readily achievable with expected high rates of new metastatic lesions in treated patients.
Cadmium: Mitigation strategies to reduce dietary exposure

Cadmium has long been recognized as an environmental contaminant that poses risks to human health. Cadmium is of concern since nearly everyone in the general population is exposed to the metal through the food supply and the ability of the element to accumulate in the body over a lifetime. In support of the United States Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Toxic Element Working Group's efforts to reduce the risks associated with elements in food, this review sought to identify current or new mitigation efforts that have the potential to reduce exposures of cadmium throughout the food supply chain. Cadmium contamination of foods can occur at various stages, including agronomic production, processing, and consumer preparation for consumption. The presence of cadmium in food is variable and dependent on the geographical location, the bioavailability of cadmium from the soil, crop genetics, agronomic practices used, and postharvest operations. Although there are multiple points in the food supply system for foods to be contaminated and mitigations to be applied, a key step to reducing cadmium in the diet is to reduce or prevent initial uptake by plants consumed as food or feed crops. Due to complex interactions of soil chemistry, plant genetics, and agronomic practices, additional research is needed. Support for field-based experimentation and testing is needed to inform risk modeling and to develop practical farm-specific management strategies. This study can also assist the FDA in determining where to focus resources so that research and regulatory efforts can have the greatest impact on reducing cadmium exposures from the food supply. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The presence of cadmium in food is highly variable and highly dependent on the geographical location, the bioavailability of cadmium from the soil, crop genetics, and agronomic practices used. This study can assist the FDA in determining where to focus resources so that research and regulatory efforts can have the greatest impact on reducing cadmium exposures from the food supply.
Optimal Energy Management of Microgrids using Sampling-Based Model Predictive Control Considering PV Generation Forecast and Real-time Pricing

This paper presents a novel control solution capable of handling the intermittent nature of solar power generation by optimally managing an energy storage system and an HVAC responsive load under a real-time price scheme. The proposed solution controls the charging and discharging operations of an energy storage system (ESS) and the duty cycle of an HVAC system with the objective of minimizing the estimated incurred energy costs. The model makes use of forecasted load and PV generation, along with real-time price information, and generates a graph of control actions that can be traversed to find the optimal path that the system needs to take in order to minimize incurred costs. Simulations are presented to compare the proposed method with two baseline power control schemes based on predefined charge and discharge operations and a hysteresis control of the HVAC. Simulations show that the proposed control solution achieves substantial cost savings when compared with the baselines.
Faith, violence, and phronesis: narrative identity, rhetorical symbolism, and ritual embodiment in religious communities

This contribution explores the question to what extent religious narratives can move the adherents of religious communities to violence or teach wisdom and compassion, drawing on Ricoeur’s work on narrative, ethics, and biblical interpretation. It lays out Ricoeur’s account of narrative identity, urging him to connect his account of phronesis more fully with his analysis of threefold mimesis in his earlier work. It considers his biblical hermeneutics in light of this work on identity and moral action and suggests that bringing these various dimensions of his work together more fully than he himself does would provide a more substantive account of how identity is shaped in religious contexts. It might on the one hand help us to understand more fully a turn to fundamentalism or religious violence and on the other hand draw more clearly on the phronetic resources within religious traditions, especially as they are expressed in ritual behavior, to combat violence and teach wisdom and compassion.
Charting the life course: Emerging opportunities to advance scientific approaches using life course research

Life course research embraces the complexity of health and disease development, tackling the extensive interactions between genetics and environment. This interdisciplinary blueprint, or theoretical framework, offers a structure for research ideas and specifies relationships between related factors. Traditionally, methodological approaches attempt to reduce the complexity of these dynamic interactions and decompose health into component parts, ignoring the complex reciprocal interaction of factors that shape health over time. New methods that match the epistemological foundation of the life course framework are needed to fully explore adaptive, multilevel, and reciprocal interactions between individuals and their environment. The focus of this article is to (1) delineate the differences between lifespan and life course research, (2) articulate the importance of complex systems science as a methodological framework in the life course research toolbox to guide our research questions, (3) raise key questions that can be asked within the clinical and translational science domain utilizing this framework, and (4) provide recommendations for life course research implementation, charting the way forward. Recent advances in computational analytics, computer science, and data collection could be used to approximate, measure, and analyze the intertwining and dynamic nature of genetic and environmental factors involved in health development.
Hypothermia Post-Cardiac Arrest

The lack of blood flow to the brain during a cardiac arrest can cause irreparable damage; consequently, after restoring normal rhythm and circulation, patients can end up with a beating heart in a brain-dead or a severely damaged body. Thus, preservation of the brain from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy has assumed paramount importance post-cardiac arrest. In this chapter, the author discusses the history of hypothermia for brain preservation since ancient times, the mechanisms of neuroprotection, temporal trends in therapeutic hypothermia use in the USA, and survival in non-shockable and inhospital cardiac arrest as well as outcome assessment.
Doctor as murderer

News p 331 Harold Shipman, a general practitioner from Greater Manchester, has been convicted of murdering 15 of his patients. Inevitably, his conviction raises serious concerns for clinicians, patients, and society. How could such crimes go undetected? What lessons can be learnt and can similar murders by doctors be prevented in future? Serial killers in health care like Shipman and Beverly Allitt are particularly shocking because they damage the trust that exists between clinicians and their patients. In 1993 Allitt, a nurse working on a paediatric ward, was convicted of murdering four children, attempting to murder three, and causing grievous bodily harm to six.1 Like many singlehanded doctors, Harold Shipman had over 3000 patients in his care. His patients seemed to like him. Until the suspicions began to gather that eventually led to his prosecution, few concerns were raised about his clinical competence. Evidence emerged that he had falsified the notes of some of his patients, but this was not incompetent record keeping: rather, it was done to conceal his crimes. In 1976 Shipman was convicted of several offences relating to the misuse of pethidine, and this conviction was reported to the General Medical Council. Shipman sought treatment and no further action was taken. This conviction adds to all the other concerns raised, although no evidence of recent drug misuse has been presented. Moroever, it important not to appear to conclude that drug misusers turn into serial killers. Since the 1970s new procedures have …
Effect of Credit on Small Ruminant Production in Delta State, Nigeria: Implications for Sustainable Development

The study examined the effect of credit on sheep and goat production in Delta State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were the identification of the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers as they affect their access to credit, the sources and volume of credit available to these farmers, areas of sheep and goat development that accessed credit was applied and effect of credit on output and income. Data were obtained with the aid of pre-tested questionnaire administered to 360 sheep and goat farmers. The multi-stage sampling procedure was employed, involving both purposive and simple random sampling techniques. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, mean scores, and the logit model. The findings were that sheep and goat production was dominated by males (58%) as against 42% females. Majority of the respondents fell within the age bracket of 51-60 years and were all married, 76.1% of the respondents had one form of education or the other with mean family size of 6, mean farming experience of 19 years and 20 years for the credit beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries respectively. An annual mean income of N 121,050.46 was recorded for credit beneficiaries as against N 29,316.96 for non-beneficiaries of credit with mean annual difference of N 91,733 which was significant at 5% level. Majority of the credit beneficiaries (60%) invested the accessed funds on feeds, veterinary services, provision of modern pens for their stock as well as the purchase of better breeds of animals. The Logit analysis showed that gender (0.763) and education (0.538) had the probability of increasing access to credit, while the effects of credit on production for those that had access to credit were: increase in stock population, acquisition of more animals, improvement in infrastructures for their stocks as well as increase in income resulting from increased sales. Mobilization of sheep and goat farmers into economic groups is recommended to enhance access to technologies and credit for sustainable production and empowerment of farmers.
Quantifying the impact of an electronic drag force on defect production from high-energy displacement cascades in α-zirconium

Abstract Molecular dynamics displacement cascade simulations with PKA energies up to 40 keV at 600 K have been performed to investigate the impact of electronic energy losses in α-zirconium. The following data sets are compared: 1) displacement cascades performed with nuclear stopping only and 2) displacement cascades with simultaneous nuclear and electronic stopping. Electronic energy losses are modeled by a drag force with strength proportional to the energy-dependent electronic stopping power using the intrinsic “fix electron/stopping” command in LAMMPS. Consistent with typical characteristics of cascade defect generation, the production efficiency of Frenkel pairs falls below 20% of the NRT-predicted value for high PKA energies, defect clustering increases with PKA energy, and two distinct power-law regimes of the form N F = A ( E p ) m correlate the surviving number of Frenkel pairs; the separate power-law fits describe defect production prior to and following sub-cascade formation. When implemented, electronic energy losses account for a 10–20% reduction in surviving Frenkel pairs for high-energy PKAs. The energy loss method implemented in LAMMPS results in nuclear damage energies comparable with the values predicted by SRIM using the full-cascade option, and represents a user-friendly method to incorporate ionization losses in molecular dynamics simulations.
Heterogeneous frailty and the expression of linear enamel hypoplasia in a genealogical population

Objectives Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is a common skeletal marker of physiological stress (e.g., malnutrition or illness) that is studied within and across populations, without reference to familial risk. We examine LEH prevalence in a population with known genealogical relationships to determine the potential influence of genetic heritability and shared environment. Methods LEH data of 239 individuals from a single population were recorded from the Ohio State University Menegaz-Bock collection dental casts. All individuals were of known age, sex, and genealogy. Narrow-sense heritability estimates were obtained for LEH presence and count data from all unworn, fully erupted teeth (excluding third molars) using SOLAR (v.8.1.1). Age, sex, and age-sex interaction were included as covariates. Models were re-run with a household effect variable. Results LEH persists across generations in this study population with moderate, significant heritability estimates for presence in four teeth, and count in four teeth (three teeth were significant for both). When a household effect variable was added, no residual heritability remained for LEH count on any tooth. There was no significant household effect for three of the four teeth that had significant heritability estimates for LEH presence. Age was a significant covariate. Further analyses with birth year data revealed a secular trend toward less LEH. Conclusions This study provides evidence for familial risk of LEH (genetic and environmental) that has consequences for the broad use of this skeletal marker of stress. These results have repercussions for archaeological assemblages, or population health studies, where genetic relatives and household groups might be heavily represented.
Epidemiology and risk factors for stroke in young individuals: implications for prevention.

Purpose of review Summarize and examine the epidemiology, etiologies, risk factors, and treatment of stroke among young adults and highlight the importance of early recognition, treatment, and primordial prevention of risk factors that lead to stroke. Recent findings Incidence of stroke, predominantly ischemic, among young adults has increased over the past two decades. This parallels an increase in traditional risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and use of tobacco, and use of illicit substances among young stroke patients. Compared to older patients, there is a much higher proportion of intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhage in young adults. The cause of ischemic stroke in young adults is also more diverse compared to older adults with 1/3rd classified as stroke of undetermined etiology due to inadequate effort or time spent on investigating these diverse and rare etiologies. Young premature Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease patients have suboptimal secondary prevention care compared to older patients with lower use of antiplatelets and statin therapy and lower adherence to statins. Summary Among young patients, time-critical diagnosis and management remain challenging, due to atypical stroke presentations, vast etiologies, statin hesitancy, and provider clinical inertia. Early recognition and aggressive risk profile modification along with primary and secondary prevention therapy optimization are imperative to reduce the burden of stroke among young adults and save potential disability-adjusted life years.
Disruptor of telomeric silencing 1-like promotes ovarian cancer tumor growth by stimulating pro-tumorigenic metabolic pathways and blocking apoptosis

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecological malignancy-related deaths. Current therapies for ovarian cancer do not provide meaningful and sustainable clinical benefits, highlighting the need for new therapies. We show that the histone H3K79 methyltransferase disruptor of telomeric silencing 1-like (DOT1L) is overexpressed in ovarian cancer and that a higher level of DOT1L expression correlates with shorter progression-free and overall survival (OS). Pharmacological inhibition of DOT1L (EPZ-5676, EPZ004777, and SGC0946) or genetic inhibition of DOT1L attenuates the growth of ovarian cancer cells in cell culture and in a mouse xenograft model of ovarian cancer. Transcriptome-wide mRNA expression profiling shows that DOT1L inhibition results in the downregulation of genes involved in cellular biosynthesis pathways and the upregulation of proapoptotic genes. Consistent with the results of transcriptome analysis, the unbiased large-scale metabolomic analysis showed reduced levels of several metabolites of the amino acid and nucleotide biosynthesis pathways after DOT1L inhibition. DOT1L inhibition also resulted in the upregulation of the NKG2D ligand ULBP1 and subsequent increase in natural killer (NK) cell-mediated ovarian cancer eradication. Collectively, our results demonstrate that DOT1L promotes ovarian cancer tumor growth by regulating apoptotic and metabolic pathways as well as NK cell-mediated eradication of ovarian cancer and identifies DOT1L as a new pharmacological target for ovarian cancer therapy.
Predicting Adolescent Electronic Cigarette Use: Differences by Never, Ever, and Current Users.

Objective Rising rates of adolescent electronic cigarette (ECIG) use is concerning because it can lead to adverse health outcomes and increased risk behavior. There are known predictors of ever versus never ECIG use, but less are known about risk factors for ever versus current use of ECIGs. Problem behavior theory (PBT) was used to evaluate possible risk factors for different ECIG use status. Methods Participants were 573 high school students who completed questionnaires measuring ECIG use, as well as constructs within the Social Environment, Perceived Environment, Personality, and Behavior domains of PBT. Multinomial logistic regression was used to evaluate how predictor variables differentiated between participants who reported (a) never use, (b) ever ECIG use, or (c) current ECIG use. Results Adolescents were more likely to endorse ever ECIG use than never use if they reported peer ECIG use, perceived more benefits and fewer costs (e.g., health) of ECIG use, higher extraversion, alcohol and cigarette use (never vs. ever vs. past 30 days), or attended a school with a higher percentage of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Adolescents were more likely to report current ECIG use than ever ECIG use if they perceived fewer costs of ECIG use or used cannabis in their lifetime (yes/no). Conclusions PBT variables differentiated between ever ECIG use and never ECIG use. However, these variables did not differentiate between ever and current ECIG use. Identifying unique risk factors for current versus ever ECIG use is important to understanding persistent ECIG use and subsequent targeted prevention and intervention programs.
The Heterojunction with Light

As an example of the thin heterojunction polycrystalline solar cell, the CdS/Cu2S cell is chosen. The current voltage characteristic is computed. Space charge effects in the heterojunction are discussed. The influence of electron traps in CdS is shown. The influence of a field enhanced depletion of hole traps is experimentally demonstrated. The influence of field quenching is computed. The Frenkel-Poole effect is identified. Experimental results of kinetic effects of the solar cell characteristics are shown. A Voltage drop kinetic method is introduced. The influence of interface recombination is calculated. Boundary conditions at the interface are introduced. The quality factors A and B are introduced and measured. Lessons learned from the CdS/Cu2S solar cell.
A Parallel Computing Framework for Finding the Supported Solutions to a Biobjective Network Optimization Problem

Solving multi-objective combinatorial optimization problems can quickly become computationally challenging when applied to large networks generated from big data. Present-day first-rate Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) solvers have parallelism built-in to take advantage of multicore architectures; but specialized network optimization algorithms that can often solve graph problems more efficiently than a general MIP solver are typically programmed serially. Thus, these network algorithm implementations do not take full advantage of modern multicore computer capabilities. Many parallel computing languages include a fork/join framework into their concurrency packages that allow for simple conversion of recursive serial algorithms to operate in parallel without having to use complicated low-level message-passing interfaces. Fork/join is particularly well suited to divide and conquer algorithms such as Non-Inferior Set Estimation (NISE) method for computing the supported Pareto front of a multi-objective optimization problem. This work develops a simple general parallel NISE (pNISE) implementation using the Java 7 concurrency tools, and then offers results from a specific implementation of solving a bi-objective shortest path problem. The results indicate that this method is capable of sizeable speed-ups on both small-scale personal computers as well as large-scale shared memory supercomputers. Finally, other network problems suitable to this method are discussed, including multi-objective variants of the minimum spanning tree problem, transportation problem, assignment problem, maximum flow problem, and the minimum-cost flow problem. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Identification of a Packed Distillation Column for Control Via Artificial Neural Networks

Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) have been used by several researchers for the purpose of nonlinear system identification. In this study, we address some of the issues associated with developing dynamic models of nonlinear chemical processes using ANN from the viewpoint of eventually using the ANN model for model prdictive control. Specifically, we look at the sufficiency of the training set for modeling of a highly nonlinear MIMO process, a packed distillation column. An ANN model of the packed column gives comparable (and sometimes superior) performance to a simplified first principles model when used for model predictive control.
Microstructural factors influencing critical-current densities of high-temperature superconductors

Microstructural defects are the primary determining factors for the values of critical current densities in superconductors. A review is made to assess, (1) what would be the maximum achievable critical-current density in the oxide superconductors if nearly ideal pinning sites were introduced? and (2) what types of pinning defects are currently introduced in these superconductors and how effective are these in pinning the vortices? Only the case where the applied field is parallel to the c-axis is considered here.
Photodetection with silicon pyramidal microdischarge devices

The performance of Si microdischarge photodetectors has been characterized in detail in the visible and near-infrared with near-atmospheric Ne plasmas. This new hybrid semiconductor/plasma detector offers the potential for integration with other Si-based optoelectronic devices.
Modernist Reform and Independence Movements: Central Asian Muslims and Koreans in Comparative Historical Perspective, 1850–1940

This article makes initial observations on various historical relations and analogical comparisons between the Central Asian Muslim and Korean modernist reform and independence movements from 1850 to 1940. It presents a more nuanced and integrated understanding of Asian and world history as it took shape across “the long 19th century” while also laying ground work for further research. It introduces newly translated Kazakh and Turkish source material, particularly that of Ibrai Altinsarin, the Kazakh modernist educator, and Abdurreshid Ibrahim, the Turkic-Tatar advocate of Japanese-led Pan-Islamic and Pan-Asian cooperation. The essay follows a historical, rather than analogical approach, placing each movement respectively in its broader shared Asian and world historical context, leaving the reader to discern points of comparison and contrast. It argues first that certain Central Asian and Korean reform and independence leaders not only were aware of and sympathetic toward one another’s predicaments, but encountered one another, particularly in Russian Asia, Manchuria, Japan, and even Korea. Second, both came under the direct influence of a significant number of the same sources, particularly Meiji Japan.
Cell surface beta-1,4-galactosyltransferase-I activates G protein-dependent exocytotic signaling

ZP3 is a protein in the mammalian egg coat (zona pellucida) that binds sperm and stimulates acrosomal exocytosis, enabling sperm to penetrate the zona pellucida. The nature of the ZP3 receptor/s on sperm is a matter of considerable debate, but most evidence suggests that ZP3 binds to beta-1,4-galactosyltransferase-I (GalTase) on the sperm surface. It has been suggested that ZP3 induces the acrosome reaction by crosslinking GalTase, activating a heterotrimeric G protein. In this regard, acrosomal exocytosis is sensitive to pertussis toxin and the GalTase cytoplasmic domain can precipitate G(i) from sperm lysates. Sperm from mice that overexpress GalTase bind more soluble ZP3 and show accelerated G protein activation, whereas sperm from mice with a targeted deletion in GalTase have markedly less ability to bind soluble ZP3, undergo the ZP3-induced acrosome reaction, and penetrate the zona pellucida. We have examined the ability of GalTase to function as a ZP3 receptor and to activate heterotrimeric G proteins using Xenopus laevis oocytes as a heterologous expression system. Oocytes that express GalTase bound ZP3 but did not bind other zona pellucida glycoproteins. After oocyte maturation, ZP3 or GalTase antibodies were able to trigger cortical granule exocytosis and activation of GalTase-expressing eggs. Pertussis toxin inhibited GalTase-induced egg activation. Consistent with G protein activation, both ZP3 and anti-GalTase antibodies increased GTP-gamma[(35)S] binding as well as GTPase activity in membranes from eggs expressing GalTase. Finally, mutagenesis of a putative G protein activation motif within the GalTase cytoplasmic domain eliminated G protein activation in response to ZP3 or anti-GalTase antibodies. These results demonstrate directly that GalTase functions as a ZP3 receptor and following aggregation, is capable of activating pertussis toxin-sensitive G proteins leading to exocytosis.
Friction factors in tidal channels with differing bed roughness

Abstract During 1965–1966 a field program was conducted within six tidal channels in Puget Sound, Washington, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The purpose of the program was to investigate the logarithmic nature of the velocity distribution within 1.5 m of the bed, and the frictional influence that different bed configurations have upon the adjacent fluid. Measurements were made of the velocity distribution, bed configuration, and sediment textural characteristics in each of the channels. Velocity data were collected continuously for periods of several to 20 h. The bed configuration in the study areas varied from rocks and gravel to small ripples and sand deformed into irregular roughness patterns. Generally the flow within a channel can be divided into two categories conforming to “hydrodynamically rough” and “hydrodynamically transitional” flow conditions. This division is based on a significant decrease in the dispersion of the drag coefficient as the Reynolds number increased. The boundary between transitional and rough flow seems to be qualitatively related to the geometry of the bed, with the more complex beds becoming fully rough at higher Reynolds number than more simple roughness patterns. By grouping all data, a mean and 95% confidence limit was assigned to the drag coefficient, which represents a more or less average value for the shallow marine environment regardless of bed configuration and flow conditions. The grouped data are also divided into two regions (transitional and rough) according to a roughness Reynolds number, with representative values of the drag coefficient assigned to each region.
Tau assembly: the dominant role of PHF6 (VQIVYK) in microtubule binding region repeat R3.

Self-aggregation of the microtubule-binding protein Tau reduces its functionality and is tightly associated with Tau-related diseases, termed tauopathies. Tau aggregation is also strongly associated with two nucleating six-residue segments, namely PHF6 (VQIVYK) and PHF6* (VQIINK). In this paper, using experiments and computational modeling, we study the self-assembly of individual and binary mixtures of Tau fragments containing PHF6* (R2/wt; 273GKVQIINKKLDL284) and PHF6 (R3/wt; 306VQIVYKPVDLSK317) and a mutant R2/ΔK280 associated with a neurodegenerative tauopathy. The initial stage of aggregation is probed by ion-mobility mass spectrometry, the kinetics of aggregation monitored with Thioflavin T assays, and the morphology of aggregates visualized by transmission electron microscopy. Insights into the structure of early aggregates and the factors stabilizing the aggregates are obtained from replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations. Our data suggest that R3/wt has a much stronger aggregation propens...
Physiologic indirect response models characterize diverse types of pharmacodynamic effects

A family of four basic physiologic indirect response models has been proposed to account for the pharmacodynamics of drugs that act by way of inhibition or stimulation of the production or loss of endogenous substances or mediators. Such models were applied previously to account for the anticoagulant effects of warfarin, adrenal suppression by corticosteroids, cell trafficking effects of corticosteroids, antipyretic effects of ibuprofen, and aldose reductase inhibition. Additional responses that can be readily characterized with such models include muscular contraction from pyridostigmine, diuresis from furosemide, bronchodilation from terbutaline, prolactin secretion after cimetidine, and potassium suppression by terbutaline. This report shows that indirect response models, rather than "link" or "hypothetical effect compartment" models, may be more appropriate for diverse drugs when time lags exist between plasma or biophase drug concentrations and the time course of pharmacodynamic responses.
Supervision by Doctoral Students: A Study of Supervisee Satisfaction and Self-Efficacy, and Comparison with Faculty Supervision Outcomes

Satisfaction with supervision and perceived self-efficacy scores reported by master's-level supervisees across seven Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)-accredited counseling programs were analyzed. Supervisees of doctoral students reported a mean satisfaction score of 26.94 (“good to excellent”) on a range of possible scores from 8 (low) to 32 (high) and a mean self-efficacy score of 173.00 (“slightly to moderately agree that they have confidence in performing various counseling activities”) on a scale of 37 (low) to 222 (high). Supervisees of doctoral students reported significantly higher satisfaction with supervision and perceived self-efficacy than supervisees of faculty. Supervisee age did not significantly influence supervision outcomes.
Frequencies of mutagen-induced coincident mitotic recombination at unlinked loci in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract Frequencies of coincident genetic events were measured in strain D7 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This diploid strain permits the detection of mitotic gene conversion involving the trp5-12 and trp5-27 alleles, mitotic crossing-over and gene conversion leading to the expression of the ade2-40 and ade2-119 alleles as red and pink colonies, and reversion of the ilv1-92 allele. The three genes are on different chromosomes, and one might expect that coincident (simultaneous) genetic alterations at two loci would occur at frequencies predicted by those of the single alterations acting as independent events. Contrary to this expectation, we observed that ade2 recombinants induced by bleomycin, β-propiolactone, and ultraviolet radiation occur more frequently among trp5 convertants than among total colonies. This excess among trp5 recombinants indicates that double recombinants are more common than expected for independent events. No similar enrichment was found among Ilv+ revertants. The possibility of an artifact in which haploid yeasts that mimic mitotic recombinants are generated by a low frequency of cryptic meiosis has been excluded. Several hypotheses that can explain the elevated incidence of coincident mitotic recombination have been evaluated, but the cause remains uncertain. Most evidence suggests that the excess is ascribable to a subset of the population being in a recombination-prone state.
Predicting Health Care Utilization Among Latinos Health Locus of Control Beliefs or Access Factors

There are two competing research explanations to account for Latinos' underutilization of health services relative to non-Latino Whites in the United States. One hypothesis examines the impact of health locus of control (HLOC) beliefs, while the other focuses on the role of access factors on health care use. To date, the relative strength of HLOC beliefs in explaining Latinos' use of health care services in the context of access factors is inconclusive. This study, therefore, tests and compares both explanations. We analyzed data from the 2007 Pew Hispanic Healthcare Survey, a nationally representative survey of 4,013 Latino adults. HLOC beliefs had a statistically significant but weak impact on health care use after accounting for access factors. Having continuous health insurance coverage and a usual place of care to go when sick or in need of health advice were much more influential in predicting health care use than HLOC beliefs. This study suggests that disparities in health care service use among Latinos are much more an issue of access than it is an issue of HLOC beliefs. Implications for public health research and intervention efforts that aim to reduce health disparities in health care use are discussed.
Embryonic and larval development and early behavior in grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella: implications for recruitment in rivers.

With recent findings of grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella in tributaries of the Great Lakes, information on developmental rate and larval behavior is critical to efforts to assess the potential for establishment within the tributaries of that region. In laboratory experiments, grass carp were spawned and eggs and larvae reared at two temperature treatments, one “cold” and one “warm”, and tracked for developmental rate, egg size, and behavior. Developmental rate was quantified using Yi’s (1988) developmental stages and the cumulative thermal units method. Grass carp had a thermal minimum of 13.5°C for embryonic stages and 13.3°C for larval stages. Egg size was related to temperature and maternal size, with the largest eggs coming from the largest females, and eggs were generally larger in warmer treatments. Young grass carp larvae exhibited upward and downward swimming interspersed with long periods of lying on the bottom. Swimming capacity increased with ontogeny, and larvae were capable of horizontal swimming and position holding with gas bladder emergence. Developmental rates, behavior, and egg attributes can be used in combination with physical parameters of a river to assess the risk that grass carp are capable of reproduction and recruitment in rivers.
Min-cut program decomposition for thread-level speculation

With billion-transistor chips on the horizon, single-chip multiprocessors (CMPs) are likely to become commodity components. Speculative CMPs use hardware to enforce dependence, allowing the compiler to improve performance by speculating on ambiguous dependences without absolute guarantees of independence. The compiler is responsible for decomposing a sequential program into speculatively parallel threads, while considering multiple performance overheads related to data dependence, load imbalance, and thread prediction. Although the decomposition problem lends itself to a min-cut-based approach, the overheads depend on the thread size, requiring the edge weights to be changed as the algorithm progresses. The changing weights make our approach different from graph-theoretic solutions to the general problem of task scheduling. One recent work uses a set of heuristics, each targeting a specific overhead in isolation, and gives precedence to thread prediction, without comparing the performance of the threads resulting from each heuristic. By contrast, our method uses a sequence of balanced min-cuts that give equal consideration to all the overheads, and adjusts the edge weights after every cut. This method achieves an (geometric) average speedup of 74% for floating-point programs and 23% for integer programs on a four-processor chip, improving on the 52% and 13% achieved by the previous heuristics.
Editing site recognition and nucleotide insertion are separable processes in Physarum mitochondria.

Insertional RNA editing in Physarum polycephalum is a complex process involving the specific addition of non-templated nucleotides to nascent mitochondrial transcripts. Since all four ribonucleotides are substrates for the editing activity(s), both the site of insertion and the identity of the nucleotide to be added at a particular position must be specified, but the signals for these events have yet to be elucidated. Here we report the occurrence of sporadic errors in RNAs synthesized in vitro. These mistakes, which include omission of encoded nucleotides as well as misinsertions, occur only on templates that support editing. The pattern of these misediting events indicates that editing site recognition and nucleotide addition are separable events, and that the recognition step involves features of the mitochondrial template that are required for editing. The larger deletions lack all templated nucleotides between editing sites, suggesting that the transcription/editing apparatus can ‘jump’ from one insertion site to another, perhaps mediated by interactions with editing determinants, while smaller omissions most likely reflect misalignment of the transcript upon resumption of templated RNA synthesis.
Handling of urine by cloaca and ureter in chickens.

Abstract 1. 1. The contribution of the cloaca to salt and water transfer was studied by comparison of urine collected directly from one kidney with urine collected simultaneously from the other kidney after passage through the ureter and cloaca. 2. 2. The only process observed in the cloaca-ureter area was passive absorption of water from urine hypotonic to plasma. 3. 3. Within the limits of the method no movements of ions against the concentration gradient occurred. 4. 4. The cloaca appears to have no active role in salt and water transport in chickens. 5. 5. Mannitol reduced glomerular filtration rate and salt and water output by the kidney connected to the cloaca by the ureter as opposed to osmotic diuresis induced in the cannulated kidney.