cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Investigating structure property relations of poly (p-phenylene terephthalamide) fibers via reactive molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract We modeled poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) fibers in realistic size and structure and used Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations with the ReaxFF reactive force field to investigate response to tensile deformation at extreme values. We constructed PPTA fibers in three forms: fully crystalline, fully unordered and core-shell structured with core and shell regions consisting of unordered and crystalline chains. The tensile deformation applied quasi-statically up to 15% strain. We calculated the average tensile modulus of fully unordered and crystalline fibers as 192 GPa and 289 GPa, indicating that crystallinity significantly increases this modulus. We introduced defects in the form of nitrogen vacancies with densities up to 5% and formulated an empirical equation to predict tensile modulus of the fiber based on defect density and crystallinity of the fiber. During the simulation, we observed domains in the crystalline region of fibers and failure of fibers started with breaking of chains located at these domain boundaries. As such, in this paper we present the first realistic-scale fully reactive molecular dynamics simulations of structure and failure in high performance fibers.
An Artificial Neural Network based Approach to Electric Demand Response Implementation

This paper proposes an artificial neural network based approach to implement electric demand response (DR) programs. In order to maintain the continuous electricity supply, the total generated power must meet the load demand with spinning reserves for unforeseen contingencies. If a power system fails to satisfy all or part of its loads, then load curtailments cannot be avoided. However, load curtailments can be reduced or even avoided by implementing DR programs. The effectiveness of DR programs to reduce/avoid load curtailments depends on efficient and accurate identification of appropriate hourly loads for DR programs. In this work, a feed-forward artificial neural network approach is used to classify system hourly loads based on customers’ potential participation in DR programs as well as to identify the effective periods of participation. In addition, a mathematical model based on the demand-price elasticity, incentives, and penalties is developed to calculate interruptible/curtailable loads for DR programs. The proposed method is demonstrated on the IEEE reliability test system. The results of the case study show that the proposed method is effective in identifying appropriate hourly loads to implement DR programs.
Loneliness in Primary Care Patients: A Prevalence Study.

PURPOSE Loneliness has important health consequences. Little is known, however, about loneliness in primary care patient populations. This study describes the prevalence of loneliness in patients presenting for primary care and associations with self-reported demographic factors, health care utilization, and health-related quality of life. METHODS We conducted cross-sectional surveys of adults presenting for routine care to outpatient primary care practices in 2 diverse practice-based research networks. The 3-item University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale was utilized to determine loneliness. RESULTS The prevalence of loneliness was 20% (246/1,235). Loneliness prevalence was inversely associated with age (P CONCLUSIONS Our findings demonstrate that loneliness is common in primary care patients and is associated with adverse health consequences including poorer health status and greater health care utilization. Further work is needed to understand the value of screening for and using interventions to treat loneliness in primary care.
The sui generis Sydney Brenner.

Sydney Brenner died on April 5, 2019, at age 92. His fame arose from three domains in which he operated with uncommon intellectual vibrancy. First were his prescient ideas and breakthrough experiments that defined the DNA genetic code and how the information it contains is transmitted into proteins. Second, in a later career, he developed a model organism, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans , to determine how the cells of an animal descend, one by one, along pathways of increasing specialization. Last was his beguiling skill as an intellectual sharpshooter, often surprising colleagues by the immediacy of his “take” of a problem, even ones somewhat beyond his ken. He always was very swift to the core point and instant with a wise reply. Sydney Brenner, 1927–2019. Image courtesy of Science Photo Library/James King-Holmes. Even though most of Brenner’s career was about the gene, it is to be emphasized that he was a keen biologist from the start. As an undergraduate at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa’s top university, he strayed from his premedical curriculum and became adept at looking at various protozoa and culturing them in the laboratory. He also got keen about meiosis and wrote a brief report in Nature on the high frequency of multipolar spindles, a biological oddity he found in the sperm of the South African jumping shrew, Elephantulus (1). Captivated by chromosomes and genes at this early stage, he then read publications of Cyril Hinshelwood at Oxford, a chemist turned bacteriologist. Winning a scholarship to attend Oxford, it was with Hinshelwood that Brenner’s fascination with the gene was catalyzed into full action. There, he did important work on how phages can go into transient dormancy. It seems likely that in doing these experiments, he came to perceive that DNA can be active or silent, a … [↵][1]1Email: thoru.pederson{at}umassmed.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Comparative Effectiveness of Transurethral Prostate Procedures at Enabling Urologic Medication Discontinuation: A Retrospective Analysis.

ABSTRACT Objective To test the hypothesis that transurethral prostate procedures (TUPPs) eliminating tissue result in greater medication discontinuation and lower de novo initiation rates than procedures inducing tissue necrosis. Methods Retrospective review of all men undergoing first time TUPPs at a large tertiary center from 2001 to 2016 was completed. Procedure type and urologic medication use before, 3-12 months after, and greater than 12 months after TUPP were analyzed with simple open prostatectomy as a comparator. Tissue-eliminating TUPPs included transurethral resection of the prostate and laser prostatectomy. Tissue-necrosing procedures included microwave therapy (transurethral microwave therapy) and radiofrequency ablation (transurethral needle ablation), which were grouped in analyses. Medication types were 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (5ARI), alpha blockers, anticholinergics, and beta-3 agonists (B3A). Results A total 5150 TUPPs were analyzed. Preoperative medication use significantly varied across TUPPs for 5ARI (P Conclusion Tissue-eliminating benign prostatic hyperplasia procedures were associated with better medication discontinuation, resumption, and de novo initiation rates compared to tissue-necrosing benign prostatic hyperplasia procedures.
An in silico model of LINE-1-mediated neoplastic evolution

Motivation Recent research has uncovered roles for transposable elements (TEs) in multiple evolutionary processes, ranging from somatic evolution in cancer to putatively adaptive germline evolution across species. Most models of TE population dynamics, however, have not incorporated actual genome sequence data. The effect of site integration preferences of specific TEs on evolutionary outcomes and the effects of different selection regimes on TE dynamics in a specific genome are unknown. We present a stochastic model of LINE-1 (L1) transposition in human cancer. This system was chosen because the transposition of L1 elements is well understood, the population dynamics of cancer tumors has been modeled extensively, and the role of L1 elements in cancer progression has garnered interest in recent years. Results Our model predicts that L1 retrotransposition (RT) can play either advantageous or deleterious roles in tumor progression, depending on the initial lesion size, L1 insertion rate and tumor driver genes. Small changes in the RT rate or set of driver tumor-suppressor genes (TSGs) were observed to alter the dynamics of tumorigenesis. We found high variation in the density of L1 target sites across human protein-coding genes. We also present an analysis, across three cancer types, of the frequency of homozygous TSG disruption in wild-type hosts compared to those with an inherited driver allele. Availability and implementation Source code is available at https://github.com/atallah-lab/neoplastic-evolution. Contact jlebien@uno.edu. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Atlanto-occipital distraction injuries in survivors: craniometrics and associated ligamentous, spinal cord, and blunt cerebrovascular injury

Newer classification systems for upper cervical spine trauma now include ligamentous injury in addition to fracture and dislocation patterns. Assessment of associated ligamentous injury, spinal cord injury (SCI), and blunt cerebrovascular injuries (BCVI) in patients with atlanto-occipital distraction injuries (AODI) are critical for management. We aim to determine the incidence of ligamentous injury, SCI, and BCVI in patients with AODI and assess how craniometrics perform in diagnosis of AODI. We performed an IRB-approved retrospective analysis of 35 cases of diagnosed AODI over a period of 8 years. Imaging was analyzed by two experienced neuroradiologists for craniometric measurements, ligamentous injury, SCI, and BCVI. Craniometric measurements were compared to 35 age-matched controls with normal atlanto-occipital joint. Out of 35 patients diagnosed with AODI, 27 were adults and 8 belonged to pediatric age group. The mean age of presentation was 29.4 years with a male/female ratio of 22:13. The basion-dental interval (70.4%) and the combined condylar sum (74.1%) were the most sensitive craniometric measurements for diagnosis of AODI. Alar ligament (83%) and the tectorial membrane (89%) injuries were most commonly injured ligaments. Three adult patients sustained SCI and 10 patients had BCVI. Majority of BCVI involved the internal carotid artery followed by the vertebral artery. The combination of craniometric indices with assessment of ligamentous injuries provides higher diagnostic accuracy for AODI. Alar ligament and tectorial membrane injuries have high association with AODI. There is high association of SCI and BCVI in AODI survivors.
Preventive Health in the Adult Solid Organ Transplant Recipient

There are unique considerations in the preventive medical care of solid organ transplant recipients due to the increased risk of systemic disease in the context of chronic immunosuppressive medication and associated behavioral health diagnoses related to the process of organ transplantation. It is important that primary care providers are aware of these risks in order to provide individualized, patient-centered care as well as to support population-based care for solid organ transplant recipients. In this chapter, we review important considerations in preventive care for solid organ transplant recipients. We highlight screening recommendations for conditions that are leading causes of mortality in solid organ transplant recipients such as cancer and cardiovascular disease as well as conditions that lead to significant morbidity, such as diabetes and osteoporosis. We also discuss specific considerations for pregnancy and contraception, immunizations, and travel medicine. Finally, we review incidence and screening recommendations for behavioral health diagnoses and substance use.
Quantitative Molecular Imaging of Breast Microcalcification Composition using Photon-Counting Spectral Computed Tomography

Abstract Mammographic screening for breast cancer is unable to distinguish molecular differences between hydroxyapatite (HA) microcalcifications (μcals) that are associated with malignancy and calcium oxalate (CaOx) μcals that are benign. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate quantitative material decomposition of model breast μcals of clinically-relevant composition and size using spectral photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT). Model μcals composed of HA, CaOx, and dicalcium phosphate (DCP) were treated as materials containing spatially coincident elemental compositions of calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and oxygen (O). Elemental decomposition was performed using constrained maximum-likelihood estimation in the image domain. Images were acquired with a commercial, preclinical PCCT system (MARS Bioimaging) with five energy bins selected to maximize counts at low photon energies and spectral differences between Ca and P. Elemental concentrations of Ca and P within the each μcal composition were accurately identified and quantified with a root-mean-squared error 0.9. The mole fraction of P, P/(Ca+P), was able to discriminate all three μcal compositions with AUC > 0.8 for μcals 2 mm in size. The overall accuracy for the classification of μcal types and quantification of P was robust against different assumptions in the elemental decomposition calibration, but quantification of Ca was improved with assumptions that most accurately accounted for the molar volume of each element within μcal compositions. Thus, PCCT enabled quantitative molecular imaging of breast μcal composition, which is not possible with current clinical molecular imaging modalities.
Soft Topological Metamaterials with Pronounced Polar Elasticity in Mechanical and Dynamic Behaviors

We realize soft topological mechanical metamaterials with pronounced polar elastic responses (i.e., softer on one edge than the other) in both the quasistatic and dynamic regimes. Numerical simulations and experimental results confirm the presence of directional dependence in metamaterial response at low and high strain rates, despite the use of lossy elastomer as bulk media. The metamaterials exhibit means to tailor the location of topologically protected uniaxial mechanical stiffnesses by virtue of both loading orientation and geometric changes to the lattice architecture. High-speed video recordings show strong topologically protected asymmetric wave propagation for the soft metamaterials subjected to impact. The results indicate a class of metamaterial architectures possessing polar elastic behavior and confirm the persistence of the response in lossy media.
Novel Glutamine Antagonist JHU395 Suppresses MYC-Driven Medulloblastoma Growth and Induces Apoptosis

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. Amplification of c-MYC is a hallmark of a subset of poor-prognosis medulloblastoma. MYC upregulates glutamine metabolism across many types of cancer. We modified the naturally occurring glutamine antagonist 6-diazo-5-oxo-l-norleucine (DON) by adding 2 promoeities to increase its lipophilicity and brain penetration creating the prodrug isopropyl 6-diazo-5-oxo-2-(((phenyl (pivaloyloxy) methoxy) - carbonyl) amino) hexanoate, termed JHU395. This prodrug was shown to have a 10-fold improved CSF-to-plasma ratio and brain-to-plasma ratio relative to DON. We hypothesized that JHU395 would have superior cell penetration compared with DON and would effectively and more potently kill MYC-expressing medulloblastoma. JHU395 treatment caused decreased growth and increased apoptosis in multiple human high-MYC medulloblastoma cell lines at lower concentrations than DON. Parenteral administration of JHU395 in Nu/Nu mice led to the accumulation of micromolar concentrations of DON in brain. Treatment of mice bearing orthotopic xenografts of human MYC-amplified medulloblastoma with JHU395 increased median survival from 26 to 45 days compared with vehicle control mice (p < 0.001 by log-rank test). These data provide preclinical justification for the ongoing development and testing of brain-targeted DON prodrugs for use in medulloblastoma.
Association of patient-reported outcomes with hospitalization risk in atrial fibrillation.

Background Patient-reported outcomes in atrial fibrillation (AF) are increasingly used to evaluate treatment efficacy and as endpoints in clinical trials. Few studies have related patient-reported outcomes in AF to clinical events and outcomes. We examined the association between patient-reported outcomes and hospitalization risk in individuals with AF receiving care at a regional healthcare system. Methods and results We related the AF Effect on QualiTy of Life (AFEQT), a validated measure (range 0-100) with higher scores indicating superior AF-specific patient-reported outcomes, to hospitalization events in a cohort with prevalent AF. We determined incidence rates for hospitalization events (all-cause, cardiac-, or AF-related) across quartiles of AFEQT scores. We used the Andersen-Gill method to account for multiple hospitalization events per individual and compared the risks of hospitalization across AFEQT quartiles in multivariable-adjusted models. In 339 individuals with AF (age 72.3 ± 10.1 years; 43% women) followed for median 2.6 years (range 0-3.4 years), we observed 417 total hospitalization events. We identified increased incidence rates of hospitalization with progressively decreased AFEQT quartile. Relative to those in the highest AFEQT quartile, individuals in the lowest AFEQT quartile had 3-fold greater risk of all-cause hospitalization (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.67-6.57, p < 0.001) and 5-fold greater risk of cardiac hospitalization (95% CI 1.66-13.80, p = 0.004). Conclusions We identified a progressive association between patient-reported outcomes in AF and risk of hospitalization events. Our results underscore the relevance of patient-reported outcomes to clinical adversity and prognosis in AF.
Optimization of urban land cover classification using an improved Elephant Herding Optimization algorithm and random forest classifier

This paper aims to provide a novel approach for improving urban land cover classification accuracy, which combines the Elephant Herding Optimization (EHO) algorithm as a meta-heuristic optimization...
Mental Health Concerns Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic on Twitter in the UK

Abstract Background Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health-related symptoms (such as depression and anxiety) have been actively mentioned on social media. Objective In this study, we aimed to monitor mental health concerns on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK), and assess the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health concerns of Twitter users. Methods We collected COVID-19 and mental health-related tweets from the UK between March 5, 2020 and January 31, 2021 through the Twitter Streaming API. We conducted topic modeling using Latent Dirichlet Allocation model to examine discussions about mental health concerns. Deep learning algorithms including Face++ were used to infer the demographic characteristics (age and gender) of Twitter users who expressed mental health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results We showed a positive correlation between COVID-19-related mental health concerns on Twitter and the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Geographic analysis showed that populated urban areas have a higher proportion of Twitter users with mental health concerns compared to England as a whole. Topic modeling showed that general concerns, COVID-19 skeptics, and Death toll were the top topics discussed in mental health-related tweets. Demographic analysis showed that middle-aged and older adults might be more likely to suffer from mental health issues or express their mental health concerns on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic has noticeable effects on mental health concerns on Twitter in the UK, which varied among demographic and geographic groups.
Juvenile xanthogranulomas in Asian children.

Juvenile xanthogranuloma (JXG) is the most common non-Langerhans cell histiocytic disorder. It can rarely be associated with systemic involvement. There is a paucity of literature on JXG in Asian children. We aim to describe the epidemiology, clinical features, systemic associations, histological features and outcome of a cohort of Asian children with JXG, and review the literature on the condition. We retrospectively reviewed the demographic, clinical and histological data of patients less than 16 years of age, diagnosed with JXG at our tertiary pediatric hospital between January 2002 and April 2019. A total of 147 children with JXG were identified, with a slight male preponderance of 53.1%. The median age of the onset was 15.5 months, with 69.4% presenting before 2 years of age. There was no racial predilection. The most frequently involved site was the head and neck region (44.2%). The majority of patients (76.2%) presented with a solitary lesion. Spontaneous resolution was documented in 57.7% of our patients with mean duration to resolution of 18.8 months. The proportion and speed of resolution did not differ in children with single or multiple lesions. No ophthalmologic complications were detected in our study cohort. JXG in children is generally limited to the skin and is rarely associated with systemic involvement, including the eye. Unless clinically indicated, the results from our study does not support routine screening for juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, eye or systemic complications, even in the setting of multiple cutaneous JXGs.
Parallel operation of CartaBlanca on shared and distributed memory computers: Research Articles

We describe the parallel performance of the pure Java CartaBlanca code on heat transfer and multiphase fluid flow problems. CartaBlanca is designed for parallel computations on partitioned unstructured meshes. It uses Java's thread facility to manage computations on each of the mesh partitions. Inter-partition communications are handled by two compact objects for node-by-node communication along partition boundaries and for global reduction calculations across the entire mesh. For distributed calculations, the JavaParty package from the University of Karlsruhe is demonstrated to work with CartaBlanca. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Partially Distributed Emergency Teams: Considerations of Decision Support for Virtual Communities of Practice

Emergency situations often require cross-organisational response and planning by groups that are geographically distant from one another. Increasingly, individuals and these groups are leveraging technology to support a variety of communication and decision-making needs. This is creating an opportunity for groups, who traditionally worked in face-to-face environments, to accomplish these same tasks remotely using electronic communications resulting in new group dynamics. These groups, known as partially distributed emergency teams (PDETs), are managing crises, working together as a team of geographically dispersed collocated groups. This forms a flatter organisation which supports greater collaboration. Technology can be used to support creative ways that replace and enhance the gaps that are left from the transition of a F2F environment to a virtual one. There are underexplored methods that can be further developed to support virtual communities of practice communication and decision-making needs. We identify these gaps and suggest strategies to help build and nurture these communities. We conclude the chapter by describing the strength of online citizen participation and describe how using a global population can change the way some decision- making efforts can be enabled and enhanced.
Policy Operation in a PBNM System

This chapter describes how policies are used in a policy-based network management (PBNM) system. It addresses basic communication issues, including how policies are organized, assigned, coordinated, and distributed. Basic management issues are also discussed in the chapter. Publish–subscribe systems are simple and efficient, and enable different PBNM components to seamlessly communicate with one another. They also optimize communications among components. Publish–subscribe systems rely on adaptation and/or mediation to interface with other systems. The chapter also focuses on understanding how policies are applied, and the effect of applying policies to a system. Policy operation involves four main factors—authorization, refrain, obligation, and delegation. Physical and logical resources must be present to evaluate and execute the policy. Policies can be designed to be coordinated, so that the application of a set of policies achieves the desired behavior.
Optimization of asynchronous volume replication protocol

To keep data consistency on backup volume, traditional asynchronous volume replication protocol has to transmit every block changed on the Primary to the Backup and keep block update order during replication. This paper presents an enhanced asynchronous volume replication protocol, which can decrease the number of blocks required to be transmitted and updated to the Backup during replication. The enhancement is especially useful when network bandwidth is a major consideration. Analysis shows that in most cases the new protocol can keep the same data consistency as traditional protocols.
Physician assessment of patient motivation: influence on disposition for follow-up care.

Abstract This study of 3,318 outpatient visits evaluated the influence of the physician-assessed level of patient motivation on the level of physician involvement in follow-up care. Data collected included patient demographics, health risk factors, physician-assessed level of patient motivation, and the disposition for follow-up care (return office visit or self-care). Physicians more frequently scheduled patients for a return office visit, regardless of assessed level of patient motivation, when they presented with a traditional biomedical problem. Patients with health promotion-disease prevention problems were more frequently relegated to self-care; patients physicians judged to be poorly motivated were four times as likely to be relegated to self-care. We discuss the implications of physician overuse of self-care strategies on the health status of poorly motivated patients. Factors influencing such physician behavior may include prior unrewarding experiences with poorly motivated patients, perceived lack of skill in affecting behavior change, time constraints, lack of reimbursement for preventive care services, and the actual process of physician education and professional socialization.
Nobel lecture. The photosynthetic reaction centre from the purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas viridis

In our lectures we first describe the history and methods of membrane protein crystallization, before we show how the structure of the photosynthetic reaction centre from the purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas viridis was solved. Then the structure of this membrane protein complex is correlated with its function as a light-driven electron pump across the photosynthetic membrane. Finally we draw conclusions on the structure of the photosystem II reaction centre from plants and discuss the aspects of membrane protein structure. Sections 1 (crystallization), 4 (conclusions on the structure of photosystem II reaction centre and evolutionary aspects) and 5 (aspects of membrane protein structure) were presented and written by H.M., Sections 2 (determination of the structure) and 3 (structure and function) by J.D. We have arranged the paper in this way in order to facilitate continuous reading.
Assessing range accuracy for bearings-only geolocation using optimal logarithmic spiral sensor path trajectories

In this paper, we develop a procedure for evaluating the performance of a single moving sensor system to estimate the range to a stationary emitter based on the discrete-time collection of bearing measurements along the trajectory travelled. We describe a numerical procedure to calculate the range p.d.f. from a chosen trajectory assuming a constant quality for the bearing measurements and use this procedure to evaluate the range root mean-square error as a function of the distance travelled. The logarithmic spiral family of trajectories is of particular interest, both from the standpoint of optimal control where such paths are derived, and from experimental biology, where large birds of prey are observed to travel in such paths in their search for food. Our performance analysis of these scenarios indicates why pitch angles less than 45° are to be preferred when a balanced range estimation performance throughout the trajectory is desired.
A Self-adaptive Auto-scaling Method for Scientific Applications on HPC Environments and Clouds

High intensive computation applications can usually take days to months to nish an execution. During this time, it is common to have variations of the available resources when considering that such hardware is usually shared among a plurality of researchers/departments within an organization. On the other hand, High Performance Clusters can take advantage of Cloud Computing bursting techniques for the execution of applications together with on-premise resources. In order to meet deadlines, high intensive computational applications can use the Cloud to boost their performance when they are data and task parallel. This article presents an ongoing work towards the use of extended resources of an HPC execution platform together with Cloud. We propose an unied view of such heterogeneous environments and a method that monitors, predicts the application execution time, and dynamically shifts part of the domain { previously running in local HPC hardware { to be computed in the Cloud, meeting then a specic deadline. The method is exemplied along with a seismic application that, at runtime, adapts itself to move part of the processing to the Cloud (in a movement called bursting) and also auto-scales (the moved part) over cloud nodes. Our preliminary results show that there is an expected overhead for performing this movement and for synchronizing results, but the outcomes demonstrate it is an important feature for meeting deadlines in the case an on-premise cluster is overloaded or cannot provide the capacity needed for a particular project.
Glucose intolerance and impaired insulin release following 6-hydroxydopamine administration to intact rats.

The effect of systemic administration of 6-hydroxydopamine to rats on glucose tolerance and insulin release in vivo, and insulin release in vitro, has been determined. Rats given SO mg⁄kg of 6-hydroxydopamine exhibited marked glucose intolerance 2, 4 and 6 weeks after injection. This was associated with markedly increased basal insulin levels and reduced insulin release in response to glucose in vivo at all times tested. Islets from pancreases removed from treated rats 1 month after injection exhibited diminished insulin release when tested with glucose in a perifusion system; both primary and secondary components of the biphasic insulin response to glucose were reduced in comparison with islets from untreated animals. (Endocrinology 94: 1072, 1974)
Self-Management Perceptions and Practices: A Structural Equations Analysis

Self-management has many potential benefits for organizations. However, application of self-management to organizational settings has been hampered by lack of theoretical frameworks for self-management specifically applied to work settings and by a corresponding dearth of psychometrically sound measures. This paper presents results of structural equations modeling of measures of self-management anchored in a revised version of the Brief and Aldag (1981) model of the self in organizational behavior. Using confirmatory factor analysis procedures (CFA), two a priori measures of self-management are examined. Results point to two relatively distinct facets of self-management, each of them composed of four relatively independent subscales. Finally, a structural model evidencing a pervasive set of relationships between self-management perceptions and self-management practices is provided. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Intensive Care Unit Delirium

Once considered a benign iatrogenic consequence of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, ICU delirium is now recognized as a prominent disorder that negatively affects patient morbidity and mortality. The primary goal in the detection and treatment of ICU delirium is to ensure the safety of the patient and caregiver(s). Most critically ill patients possess 1 or more risk factors for the development of delirium; therefore, interventions that target delirium assessment and prevention are essential. This article highlights some of the recent data that have emerged regarding ICU delirium, including its definition, incidence, risk factors, diagnostic tools, and treatment.
A simple model for ordering in adsorbed layers

Order-disorder phase transitions in adsorbed and confined fluids with directional interactions are studied using lattice density functional theory. A new model is developed that is capable of predicting both order-disorder and condensation phase transitions. For systems with weak interactions, the results of this model are compared with both lattice Monte Carlo simulation data and simple isotherm theories that are commonly used to fit experimental data. The results show that these simple isotherms are incapable of duplicating complex behaviour exhibited by anisotropic molecules. When sufficiently strong interactions are present, confined fluids with directional interactions may spontaneously form ordered structures. It is shown that the ordering predicted by this model can result in the assembly of long chains. Such ordering has been observed experimentally in magnetorheological fluids in a magnetic field. It is shown that the orientation of the chains predicted by this model can be controlled by adjustin...
Effect of order in Ti3Al particles and of temperature on the deformation behavior of age-hardened TiAl alloys

Abstract The mechanical properties between room temperature and 600 °C of TiAl alloys, hardened by the ordered and coherent Ti 3 Al particles, were correlated to the microscopic deformation behavior. With increasing deformation temperature the yield stress and the elongation to fracture increased, passed through maximum and then decreased. The yield stress increase from about 490 MN m −2 at room temperature to a maximum value of 760 MN m −2 at 300 °C was shown to be associated with an increased ability of the sheared particles to re-order as the deformation temperature was raised. At lower deformation temperatures the dislocations moved in pairs, whereas at higher temperatures they moved individually. With additional increase of the deformation temperature a further transition in the dislocation-particle interaction occurred. The slip distribution changed from an inhomogeneous dislocation configuration to a homogeneous distribution. This transition mechanism was attributed to the decrease of the CRSS for various slip systems so that at elevated deformation temperatures cross slip became facilitated, resulting in pronounced macroscopic ductility. Investigations of the fracture surfaces disclosed that, once the cracks were initiated, they propagated with increasing deformation temperature in a transcrystalline, subsequently in an intercrystalline manner, only to return again to a transcrystalline course, thus giving rise to a ductile, dimple type of fracture mode. This change in fracture mode was correlated to the change in slip mode with rising deformation temperature.
Nature of the Interaction between a Peptidolipid Langmuir Monolayer and Paraoxon in the Subphase

Surface potential and Infrared Reflection−absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS) measurements have been used to investigate the interaction between a peptidolipid (stearoyl−Phe−Trp−Ser−His−Glu) Langmuir monolayer and paraoxon aqueous solution as subphase. The molecular recognition in this system involved π−π interactions between the nitrobenzene group of paraoxon and aromatic groups in the peptidolipid. Of particular importance was the dependence of the surface potential on the concentration of paraoxon. Effects were practically negligible for 1.0 × 10-5 and 1.0 × 10-6 M paraoxon concentrations, but the Langmuir monolayer surface potential dropped due to the interaction with paraoxon at a concentration equal or higher than 1.0 × 10-4 M. At 1.5 × 10-3 M, the surface potential−area (ΔV−A) isotherm for the peptidolipid displayed an unusual shape, with an almost constant, near-zero surface potential during the monolayer compression. This was interpreted on the basis of IRRAS results as being due to reorientation of ...
Properties of alkaliphilic halophiles

Microorganisms capable of growth under highly alkaline conditions have been isolated from natural habitats. The isolation process utilized pH levels of 9.7 to 11.0, salts of 4.0 to 5.0%, temperatures of 45–50°C, and anaerobic conditions. Four isolates are described as gram-positive, spore-forming, motile, catalase-positive rods. This indicates that they are in the genusBacillus. The culture characteristics of these and two other isolates were evaluated. All six strains tolerated up to 11.0% salts in the growth medium. The purpose of this study was to evaluate these microorganisms for their potential use in combination with an alkaline flood for enhanced oil recovery. Useful products in in situ microbial-enhanced oil recovery include gases, surfactants, polymers and acids. The best gas producer wasBacillus strain ACP-1 which evolved an average of 2.11 ml gas per ml medium in 96 h.Bacillus strain ACP-1 reduced the surface tension of the growth medium from 50.3 mN/m to an average of 44.1 mN/m. Another aspect of this research project included investigation of the movement of these microbes through a porous medium. Various synthetic surfactants were found to improve movement through a porous system, while other surfactants improved gas production.
Objective–Oriented Sequential Sampling for Simulation Based Robust Design Considering Multiple Sources of Uncertainty

Sequential sampling strategies have been developed for managing complexity when using computationally expensive computer simulations in engineering design. However, much of the literature has focused on objective-oriented sequential sampling methods for deterministic optimization. These methods cannot be directly applied to robust design which must account for uncontrollable variations in certain input variables (i.e., noise variables). Obtaining a robust design that is insensitive to variations in the noise variables is more challenging. Even though methods exist for sequential sampling in design under uncertainty, the majority of the existing literature does not systematically take into account the interpolation uncertainty that results from limitations on the number of simulation runs, the effect of which is inherently more severe than in deterministic design. In this paper, we develop a systematic objective-oriented sequential sampling approach to robust design with consideration of both noise variable uncertainty and interpolation uncertainty. The method uses Gaussian processes to model the costly simulator and quantify the interpolation uncertainty within a robust design objective. We examine several criteria, including our own proposed criteria, for sampling the design and noise variables and provide insight into their performance behaviors. We show that for both of the examples considered in this paper the proposed sequential algorithm is more efficient in finding the robust design solution than a one-shot space filling design.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
A novel approach to micro-sample X-ray powder diffraction using nylon loops

A novel method for sample mounting to obtain powder diffraction from very small amounts of samples (ranging from micrograms down to a few nanograms), by using a combination of multiwire area detector, three-circle diffractometer, monochromatic Cu Kα radiation and 10 µm nylon loops, has been developed. This method exploits customary single-crystal approaches to collect the powder diffraction pattern, which overcomes many of the limitations of conventional powder X-ray diffraction.
Surface characterization of novel plasma-polymerized primers for rubber-to-metal bonding

Thin (750 A) plasma-polymerized films of acetylene were deposited onto polished steel substrates in an inductively coupled r.f. reactor. The films were characterized by XPS, FTIR spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) immediately after deposition and after aging in the atmosphere. The FTIR spectra of the as-deposited films were characterized by bands related to mono- and disubstituted acetylene groups and by bands related to methyl and methylene groups. During exposure to the atmosphere, bands related to acetylenic groups decreased in intensity while new bands due to carbonyl groups appeared. When XPS spectra were obtained from films that were exposed to the atmosphere, new components assigned to oxidation products were observed in the C 1s spectra that were not observed for as-deposited films, verifying that oxidation had occurred. Numerous peaks related to aromatic structures were observed in positive SIMS spectra of as-deposited films. Results obtained from AES showed that the plasma-polymerized films were continuous and that the oxide on the substrate surface was partially reduced during deposition. Plasma-polymerized acetylene films were excellent primers for rubber-to-steel bonding. Miniature lap joints were prepared by using rubber as an «adhesive» to bond together pairs of polished steel adherends primed with plasma-polymerized acetylene films. The force required to break the as-prepared joints was ∼ 2000 N for a bonded area of 64 mm 2 and failure was 100% cohesive in the rubber. Similar results were obtained for joints prepared using polished brass substrates. Because of the complexity of reactions between rubber and the plasma-polymerized primer, a model «rubber» consisting of a mixture of squalene, zinc oxide, carbon black, sulfur, stearic acid cobalt naphthenate, N,N- dicyclohexylbenzothiazole sulfenamide and diaryl-p-diphenyleneamine was used to simulate the cross-linking reaction. The results obtained using XPS, SIMS, AES and FTIR showed that sulfur diffused through the primer to form a layer of sulfide at the primer/substrate interface. Zinc and cobalt sulfides and pertiomercaptides, which formed at the interface between squalene and the plasma-polymerized acetylene primer, catalyzed the reaction between squalene and the primer. Cross-links between squalene and the primer were mostly mono-sulfidic, although some evidence for di- and trisulfidic cross-links was observed
Army Hardman: Its Origin, Evaluation, Implementation to Date

The HARDMAN Comparability Methodology was developed by the Navy to estimate human resource requirements during the early phases of weapon system development. The Army has modified the system to support its own needs in this area. Four real system applications in the Army and an evaluation by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory indicated that it is useful, useable, and reasonably credible, and provides a near-term solution to the Army s needs. An Army Guide is under development.
Meridional (north-south) motions of the solar wind

The steady state hydrodynamic equations which describe the solar wind flow are linearized and used to study the spatial behavior of zonal pressure perturbations. Such perturbations produce meridional (north-south) motions in the solar wind. To simplify the spatial dependence of the zero-order variables and to take advantage of the supersonic regime, the analysis is restricted to heliocentric distances greater than 0.1 AU (astronomical unit). A simplified problem involving a north-south magnetic field asymmetry is also treated. The emphasis of the paper is to determine what pressure perturbations are required at the inner boundary (0.1 AU) to produce at earth north-south deviations from radial flow of 1° to 3°.
Surface and Volume Photoelectric Emission from Barium

Spectral sensitivity measurements between 5000 and 2300A have been made on barium surfaces prepared by fractional distillation in a gettered vacuum. The resulting yields are compared with those predicted by Mitchell's square-top barrier theory which is here modified to a form that facilitates comparison with experimental data. From 5000 to 3000A relative values of the observed yields are in good agreement with the modified theory. At 2967A there is an abrupt rise in the experimental curve which continues to the limit of the measurements. This is attributed to the onset of the volume photoelectric effect. The theoretical threshold for the volume effect calculated from the rough formulae of Tamm and Schubin agrees well with the experimental value.
Anchoring in lie detection revisited

Previous research has shown that the human lie detector tends to interpret messages as truthful rather than as deceptive (the truthfulness bias) and to infer attitudes congruent with the content of the (sometimes deceptive) messages (over-attribution). It was hypothesized that these effects are moderated by the extent to which receivers are anchored to the verbal content of the message; that is, receivers might form an early impression of the content and fail to adjust this impression sufficiently even if the message appears false. In the present study, receivers either judged the truthfulness of the message first and the sender's attitude second, or judged the sender's attitude first and truthfulness second, or judged only the sender's attitude. We proposed that having to judge truthfulness first would interfere with the role of the verbal content as an anchor for the receiver's impression. Consistent with this rationale, the results showed that both truthfulness bias and overattribution diminished when receivers judged truthfulness first compared to when receivers judged attitudes first or judged only attitudes.
The role of protein synthesis during the labile phases of memory: revisiting the skepticism

Despite the fact that extensive evidence supports the view that phases of de novo protein synthesis are necessary for memory formation and maintenance, doubts are still raised. Skeptics generally argue that amnesia and the disruption of long-term synaptic plasticity are caused by “non-specific effects” of the reagents or approaches used to disrupt protein synthesis. This paper attempts to clarify some of these issues by reviewing, discussing and providing results addressing some of the major critiques that argue against the idea that de novo protein synthesis is necessary for the stabilization of long-term memory.
PIN versus PN homojunctions in GaInAsSb 2.0-2.5 micron mesa photodiodes

The performances of a pin versus a pn structure from GaInAsSb materials operating at room temperature are compared both from a theoretical point of view and experimentally. Theoretically, it is found in materials limited by generation-recombination currents, pn junctions have a higher D* than pin junctions. The thinner depletion region of pn junctions results in a lower responsivity but a higher dynamic resistance, giving an overall higher D* compared to a pin structure. A series of five p+pn+ Ga0.80In0.20As0.18Sb0.82 detector structures latticed matched to GaSb substrates and with 2.37 μm cut off wavelength were grown by molecular beam epitaxy and processed into variable size mesa photodiodes. Only the doping of the absorbing (p) region was varied from sample to sample, starting with nominally undoped (~1x1016 cm-3 pbackground doping due to native defects) and increasing the doping until a p+n+ structure was attained. Room temperature dynamic resistance-area product R0A was measured for each sample. A simple method is presented and used to disentangle perimeter from areal leakage currents. All five samples had comparable R0A's. Maximum measured R0A was 30 Ω-cm2 in the largest mesas. Extracted R0A's in the zero perimeter/area limit were about ~50 Ω-cm2 (20-100 Ω-cm2) for all samples. Within uncertainty, no clear trend was seen. Tentative explanations are proposed.