cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the Displacement of Corresponding Energy Levels of C 13 and N 13

It is investigated to what extent the change in boundary conditions at the nuclear surface due to Coulomb wave function distortion in the external region can explain the relative displacement of the first excited states of ${\mathrm{C}}^{13}$ and ${\mathrm{N}}^{13}$. It is found that the calculated displacement is in the right direction and of a sufficiently large magnitude, but rather sensitively dependent on the definition of nuclear radius.
Conductive Polymer Binder-Enabled Cycling of Pure Tin Nanoparticle Composite Anode Electrodes for a Lithium-Ion Battery

Author(s): Xun, S; Song, X; Battaglia, V; Liu, G | Abstract: Pure tin (Sn) nanoparticles can be cycled in stable and high gravimetric capacity (g500 mAh/g) with a polyfluorene-type conductive polymer binder in composite electrodes. Crystalline Sn nanoparticles (l150 nanometers, nm) were used as anode materials in this study. The average diameter of Sn secondary particles is 270 nm, calculated based on BET surface area. The composite electrodes contain a conductive polymer binder that constitutes 2% to 10% of the material, without any conductive additives (e.g., acetylene black). The electrode containing the 5% conductive binder showed the best cycling performance, with a reversible capacity of 510 mAh/g. Crystallinity of Sn particles gradually degrades during cycling, and pulverization of particles was observed after long-term cycling, leading to the capacity fade. The conductive polymer binder shows advantages over other conventional binders, such as Poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) binders, because it can provide electrical conductivity and strong adhesion during Sn volume change. © 2013 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.
The application of spintronic devices in magnetic bio-sensing

Recently integrated magnetic/spintronic device microarrays have demonstrated great potentials in both biomedical research and practices. In this work, we discuss the physical mechanisms of three types of spintronic devices for magnetic signal sensing, including giant magnetoresistance (GMR) spin valve sensors, tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) sensors and our newly proposed spintronic memristor sensors. The DNA hybridization detection with magnetic nanoparticle labels is used as the case study to depict the corresponding magnetic and circuit design tradeoffs for different spintronic devices.
Glycogen storage in normal and wing-mutant strains of Drosophila melanogaster

Total body weight, total glycogen content and the percentage of body weight attributable to stored glycogen were measured in wild-type and two wing-mutant strains of 0-2-day-old (immature) and 5-7-day-old (mature) Drosophila melanogaster. Wild-type and wing mutant strains did not differ significantly in any of the measured parameters at 0-2 days of age. By 5-7 days of age, significant increases in glycogen content and glycogen percent had occurred in both wild-type and wing-mutant strains. Likewise, by 5-7 days of age, total body weight had increased significantly in the mature wild-type and vestigial strains but not in apterous flies. Mature wild-type flies displayed significantly greater total body glycogen content and glycogen percent when compared with the mature apterous and vestigial wing-mutant strains.
Interaction between wave- and tide-generated processes at the mouth of a microtidal estuary: Matanzas River, Florida (U.S.A.)

Abstract The zone of transition between the wave-dominated open coast and tide-dominated mouth of estuaries is complicated. A time-series study of wave parameters, longshore currents and tidal parameters at the mouth of an estuary on the northeast coast of Florida has demonstrated that tidal influence on nearshore processes is modest and localized. Tidal currents are nearly undetectable less than 0.5 km from the estuary mouth along the open coast. Tidal currents reach 80 cm/s in the throat of the main ebb channel but immediately seaward of the terminal lobe of the ebb delta the tidal component is barely detectable with longshore currents predominating. Lateral flood channels adjacent to the estuary mouth show that tidal currents are significant and dominate longshore currents near low-tide stage, but are suppressed by longshore currents near high tide. Weather patterns may have an important effect on tidal processes at the estuary mouth because they control wave impingement and therefore longshore current speed and direction. Longshore currents may reinforce or suppress tidal currents, particularly in lateral flood channels.
Pressure-flow analysis of micturition: a reappraisal.

Abstract Thirty-one patients undergoing urodynamic evaluation had pressure flow analysis consisting of uroflowmetry with and without the presence of an intraurethral catheter to measure simultaneous intravesical pressure. The effect of the intraurethral catheter on flow rates, voided volumes, and calculated resistance was determined. The validity of quantitating urethral resistance while actually introducing additional resistance is questioned and an alternate method suggested.
High Performance ZnO Nanowire FET with ITO Contacts

Nanowire FETs based on a ZnO channel, a SiO2 gate-dielectric and ITO source-drain contacts are reported. The 55 mS/mm transconductance and other performance parameters are the best reported for any ZnO-based FET. The results demonstrate that high-performance ZnO NW FETs can be fabricated by conventional processes without special gate dielectrics or surface layers.
Fluorescence-based nucleic acid detection and microarrays

Abstract Recent analytical innovations for nucleic acid detection have revolutionized the biological sciences. Single nucleic acid sequence detection methods have been expanded to incorporate multiplexed detection strategies. A variety of nucleic acid detection formats are now available that can address high throughput genomic interrogation. Many of these parallel detection platforms or arrays, employ fluorescence as the signaling method. Fluorescence-based assays offer many advantages, including increased sensitivity, safety and multiplexing capabilities, as well as the ability to measure multiple fluorescence properties. Multiplexed microarray platforms provide parallel detection capabilities capable of measuring thousands of simultaneous responses. This review will discuss both single target detection and microarray applications with a focus on gene expression and pathogenic microorganism (PM) detection.
Expression profiling of the Arabidopsis ferric chelate reductase (FRO) gene family reveals differential regulation by iron and copper

The Arabidopsis FRO2 gene encodes the iron deficiency-inducible ferric chelate reductase responsible for reduction of iron at the root surface; subsequent transport of iron across the plasma membrane is carried out by a ferrous iron transporter (IRT1). Genome annotation has identified seven additional FRO family members in the Arabidopsis genome. We used real-time RT-PCR to examine the expression of each FRO gene in different tissues and in response to iron and copper limitation. FRO2 and FRO5 are primarily expressed in roots while FRO8 is primarily expressed in shoots. FRO6 and FRO7 show high expression in all the green parts of the plant. FRO3 is expressed at high levels in roots and shoots, and expression of FRO3 is elevated in roots and shoots of iron-deficient plants. Interestingly, when plants are Cu-limited, the expression of FRO6 in shoot tissues is reduced. Expression of FRO3 is induced in roots and shoots by Cu-limitation. While it is known that FRO2 is expressed at high levels in the outer layers of iron-deficient roots, histochemical staining of FRO3-GUS plants revealed that FRO3 is predominantly expressed in the vascular cylinder of roots. Together our results suggest that FRO family members function in metal ion homeostasis in a variety of locations in the plant.
Indications and contraindications for thoracic epidural analgesia in multiply injured patients

Summary Background and objectives Rib fractures are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have demonstrated a significant reduction in pneumonia and duration of mechanical ventilation with epidural analgesia (EA) following multiple rib fractures. There remains controversy regarding the appropriate indications and contraindications for EA in multiply injured patients. We sought to determine the factors underlying the decision to use or not to use EA in these patients. Methods A survey was sent to the directors of pain management services at all American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT) designated Level I trauma centers in the U.S. The survey queried their opinion regarding the appropriateness of 33 contraindications and eight indications for EA after rib fractures. Results The response rate was 43% (81/188). Ninety-five percent of responding centers indicated that EA is used after rib fractures, but only 15% had guidelines defining the indications and contraindications. There was general agreement (>80%) regarding the indications for EA but disagreement regarding the contraindications. Contraindications were categorised based on the degree of agreement of respondents. The areas of greatest controversy involved minor spine injuries and minor coagulopathy. Conclusions There is wide variability regarding contraindications employed for thoracic epidural analgesia following rib fractures. These data support the need for evidenced based guidelines to define the use of EA in the multiply injured patient.
Semianalytical methods in stochastic groundwater transport

Abstract In this article, semianalytical solutions of groundwater stochastic partial differential equations are used to build mathematical models to investigate the effect of erratic physical parameters on the dependent variables. Semianalytical solutions of random equations appear to exhibit many of the same advantages as semianalytical solutions of deterministic equations. They offer a higher degree of stability and accuracy and easier computational algorithms with respect to fully numerical solutions, while allowing the inclusion of irregular geometrical domains and less complex mathematics than analytical solutions. It is also observed that the Neumann expansion used to approximate the stochastic equation allows the consideration of higher parameter variances than the ones restricted to conventional small perturbation techniques.
FlowMenu: combining command, text, and data entry

We present a new kind of marking menu that was developed for use with a pen device on display surfaces such as large, high resolution, wall-mounted displays. It integrates capabilities of previously separate mechanisms such as marking menus and Quikwriting, and facilitates the entry of multiple commands. While using this menu, the pen never has to leave the active surface so that consecutive menu selections, data entry (text and parameters) and direct manipulation tasks can be integrated fluidly.
The kinetics of structural relaxation of a metallic glass

Abstract The change in viscosity of a Pd 82 Si 18 glass during isothermal annealing has been measured in the temperature range of 424–537 K for times up to 325 h. It was observed that the viscosity increased linearly with time and that the rate of increase exhibited an Arrhenius-type temperature dependence with an activation energy of 31 ± 2 kJ/mole. The isoconfigurational viscosity exhibited an activation energy of 192 ± 17 kJ/mole for all states measured in this temperature range. The kinetics of the viscosity changes are explained quantitatively by a new model for structural relaxation, based on an extension of the free volume model for flow.
Structural Determinants of the Anti-HIV Activity of a CCR5 Antagonist Derived from Toxoplasma gondii

The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii possesses a protein, cyclophilin-18 (C-18), which binds to the chemokine receptor CCR5, induces interleukin-12 production from murine dendritic cells, and inhibits fusion and infectivity of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) R5 viruses by co-receptor antagonism. Site-directed mutagenesis was employed to identify the domains in C-18 responsible for its CCR5 binding and antiviral functions. To do so we focused on amino acid differences with Plasmodium falciparum cyclophilin, which, although 53% identical with C-18, has minimal binding activity for CCR5, and we generated 22 mutants with substitutions in the regions of non-homology located on the putative surface of the molecule. Two mutations situated on the face of C-18, predicted to be involved in its interaction with the ligand cyclosporin A, were shown to be critical for CCR5-binding and the inhibition of HIV-1 fusion and infectivity. In contrast, four mutations in C-18 specifically designed to abolish the peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans-isomerase activity of the protein failed to inactivate its CCR5 binding and HIV inhibitory activities. Interleukin-12 induction by C-18, on the other hand, was abrogated by mutations effecting either the CCR5 binding or enzymatic function of the molecule. These findings shed light on the structural basis of the molecular mimicry of the chemokine function by a pathogen-derived protein and provide a basis for further modification of C-18 into an antiviral agent.
Microinjection of naltrexone into the central, but not the basolateral, amygdala blocks the anxiolytic effects of diazepam in the plus maze.

Microinjection of Naltrexone into the Central, but not the Basolateral, Amygdala Blocks the Anxiolytic Effects of Diazepam in the Plus Maze
The Degrees-of-Freedom of the $K$ -User Gaussian Interference Channel Is Discontinuous at Rational Channel Coefficients

The degrees-of-freedom of a K-user Gaussian interference channel (GIC) has been defined to be the multiple of (1/2)log 2 P at which the maximum sum of achievable rates grows with increasing power P. In this paper, we establish that the degrees-of-freedom of three or more user, real, scalar GICs, viewed as a function of the channel coefficients, is discontinuous at points where all of the coefficients are nonzero rational numbers. More specifically, for all K > 2, we find a class of K-user GICs that is dense in the GIC parameter space for which K/2 degrees-of-freedom are exactly achievable, and we show that the degrees-of-freedom for any GIC with nonzero rational coefficients is strictly smaller than K/2. These results are proved using new connections with number theory and additive combinatorics.
Postcolonial American Studies

The heightened climate of xenophobia and compulsory patriotism, as well as the rallying together behind "Western" values by many intellectuals in the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11, makes painfully clear the necessity of interrogating US culture through the lens of postcolonial studies. Repeated invocations of differences between our civilization and their barbarity, entreaties for a "new imperialism," and calls for reinstating a nineteenthcentury type of colonialism, now with the US replacing Britain and France, are ample proof that the suitability of postcolonial theory to the study of US culture should no longer be a subject of debate.' Hardt and Negri's postulation of the contemporary world as the age of unlocalized, nonimperialist empire is surely being tested (xiv, 134). Nevertheless, although the present moment might warrant a postcolonial understanding of US literature and culture, the relevance of postcolonial analyses to American studies has not always been clear. After all, the master-texts of American studies were consolidating American exceptionalism at the very moment that radical anticolonialist treatises questioning the humanity and universality of modernity were being written by Third World intellectuals such as Aim6 C6saire, Frantz Fanon, and George Lamming. Edward Said's Orientalism (1978) is widely credited for having inaugurated the field of postcolonial studies, and with Homi K. Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, Benita Parry, Ranajit Guha, and the subaltern studies scholars, the major questions of postcolonial studies were laid out. These questions included the analysis of Western texts as colonial discourse, the investigation of representations of the colonized, the study of forms of resistance to colonization in the literature of the formerly colonized, and issues of neocolonialism, comprador natives, and subaltern representation. Yet despite revisionist histories such as R. W. Van Alstyne's The Rising American Empire (1960) and Carl Eblen's The First and Second American Empires (1967), and later works such as Richard Drinnon's Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire Building (1980), which demonstrated imperialism as central to national identity from the beginning, much of American studies remained remarkably insular, thus reinforcing
IGBT high frequency operation

IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) devices have been designed into low frequency (<20 kHz) power controls for many types of equipment. This equipment includes: high voltage applications such as 120 V to 440 V motor controls; AC power line conditioning; and automotive ignition systems. It can be quite disconcerting to have an IGBT power control design that generates radio frequency interference (RFI) at RF power levels to penetrate nearby electronic systems. These RF oscillations affect the reliability of the IGBT if they become self-sustaining. The cause of the RF oscillations is due to the IGBT design and to the IGBT driver circuit. IGBT simulation models and actual lab test results suggest that IGBT models may not accurately compute the IGBT's RF characteristics. Methods to minimize RF oscillations for IGBT power designs include careful PCB layout and gate driver design.
A Counselor and Change: Reminiscences and Resolutions.

Counselors are becoming more aware of the importance of working with large systems to bring about change that will influence individuals. Working as a school counselor, the author attempted to bring about change. His methods resulted in some dramatic occurrences and encouraged him to spend considerable time reflecting on his behavior and developing guidelines for wiser future action. In this article he relates some of his early experiences as a young school counselor and suggests guidelines for bringing about change.
The many roads to essential genes.

Summary Antibiotics target functions that are required for bacterial growth and survival. As genetic tools for studying Mycobacterium tuberculosis continue to improve we are increasingly able to identify genes that encode these important effectors. Here we review the strategies that have been used to identify and validate essential genes in mycobacteria and look forward to possible future advances. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Enabling view-dependent progressive volume visualization on the grid

We present a method for enabling progressive client-server volume visualization of data from the computing grid. Rendering is performed on clients, while servers on the grid provide wavelet-compressed volume data.
Peptide-based hydrogen sulphide-releasing gels

An aromatic peptide amphiphile was designed for delivery of the signaling gas H2S. The peptide self-assembled in water into nanofibers that gelled upon charge screening. The non-toxic gel slowly released H2S over 15 hours, and the presence of H2S in endothelial cells was verified using a fluorescent H2S probe.
Altered relationship between electrophysiological response to errors and gray matter volumes in an extended network for error-processing in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder

Pediatric patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) show an increased electrophysiological response to errors that is thought to be localized to the posterior medial prefrontal cortex (pMFC). However, the relation of this response, the error-related negativity (ERN), to underlying brain structures remains unknown. In an examination of 20 pediatric OCD patients and 20 healthy youth, we found that more negative ERN amplitude was correlated with lower gray matter (GM) density in pMFC and orbital frontal cortex. The association of the ERN with pMFC gray matter volume was driven by the patient group. In addition, a group difference in the association of ERN with gray matter in right insula was observed, showing an association of these measures in healthy youth (more negative ERN amplitude was associated with lower GM density in insula), but not in patients. These findings provide preliminary evidence linking gray matter volumes in an extended network for error processing to the ERN, and suggest that structural alterations in this network may underlie exaggeration of the ERN in pediatric OCD.
Acute and chronic toxicity of imidazolium-based ionic liquids on Daphnia magna

Room-temperature ionic liquids (ILs) are considered to be green chemicals that may replace volatile organic solvents currently used by industry. However, IL effects on aquatic organisms and ecosystems are currently unknown. We studied the acute effects of imidazolium-based ILs on survival of the crustacean Daphnia magna and their chronic effects on number of first-brood neonates, total number of neonates, and average brood size. Lethal concentrations of imidazolium ILs with various anions (X-) ranged from a median lethal concentration (LC50) of 8.03 to 19.91 mg L(-1), whereas salts with a sodium cation (Na+ X-) were more than an order of magnitude higher (NaPF6 LC50, 9,344.81 mg L(-1); NaBF4 LC50, 4765.75 mg L(-1)). Thus, toxicity appeared to be related to the imidazolium cation and not to the various anions (e.g., Cl-, Br-, PF6-, and BF4-). The toxicity of imidazolium-based ILs is comparable to that of chemicals currently used in manufacturing and disinfection processes (e.g., ammonia and phenol), indicating that these green chemicals may be more harmful to aquatic organisms than current volatile organic solvents. We conducted 21-d chronic bioassays of individual D. magna exposed to nonlethal IL concentrations at constant food-resource levels. Daphnia magna produced significantly fewer total neonates, first-brood neonates, and average neonates when exposed to lower concentrations (0.3 mg L(-1)) of imidazolium-based ILs than in the presence of Na-based salts at higher concentrations (400 mg L(-1)). Such reductions in the reproductive output of Daphnia populations could cascade through natural freshwater ecosystems. The present study provides baseline information needed to assess the potential hazard that some ILs may pose should they be released into freshwater ecosystems.
Hash, don't cache: fast packet forwarding for enterprise edge routers

As forwarding tables and link speeds continue to grow, fast packet forwarding becomes increasingly challenging for enterprise edge routers. Simply building routers with ever larger amounts of ever faster memory is not appealing, since high-speed memory is both expensive and power hungry. Instead, we believe future enterprise routers should leverage a hierarchical memory architecture consisting of a small, fast memory and a large, slow memory. However, the conventional approach of caching popular forwarding-table entries in the fast memory does not perform well in practice, especially under worst-case workloads with a wide range of destination IP addresses. Instead, the small memory could be used to store one Bloom filter of the address blocks associated with each outgoing link. In this paper, we present techniques to make the use of Bloom filters practical for enterprise edge routers, including optimizing the sizes of Bloom filters with limited fast memory, handling routing changes and dynamically tuning Bloom filter sizes using counting Bloom filters in slow memory, and handling the small number of false positives. Our evaluation shows that our scheme works well with less than 1 MB of fast memory.
Data layout transformation exploiting memory-level parallelism in structured grid many-core applications

We present automatic data layout transformation as an effective compiler performance optimization for memory-bound structured grid applications. Structured grid applications include stencil codes and other code structures using a dense, regular grid as the primary data structure. Fluid dynamics and heat distribution, which both solve partial differential equations on a discretized representation of space, are representative of many important structured grid applications. Using the information available through variable-length array syntax, standardized in C99 and other modern languages, we have enabled automatic data layout transformations for structured grid codes with dynamically allocated arrays. We also present how a tool can guide these transformations to statically choose a good layout given a model of the memory system, using a modern GPU as an example. A transformed layout that distributes concurrent memory requests among parallel memory system components provides substantial speedup for structured grid applications by improving their achieved memory-level parallelism. Even with the overhead of more complex address calculations, we observe up to 560% performance increases over the language-defined layout, and a 7% performance gain in the worst case, in which the language-defined layout and access pattern is already well-vectorizable by the underlying hardware.
Riparian forest communities and their role in nutrient conservation in an agricultural watershed

Riparian forests situated adjacent to agricultural uplands were studied to test the hypothesis that riparian forests intercept and utilize nutrients lost from these uplands. Production rates, tissue nutrient concentrations, and nutrient accretion rates of woody plants were compared between sites that were contiguous to agricultural areas (test sites) and sites that were separated from agricultural areas by grass buffer zones (reference sites). Net primary production was 10,344 kg ha–1yr–1, but trees within a riparian forest that received runoff directly from a pigpen (test site) had production rates that were 2.5 times higher than the average for all other sites. Above ground forest nutrient accretion rates were also highest at the pigpen test site. Woody plants in test site forests had, on the average, higher branch wood and leaf nutrient concentrations than plants in reference site forests. The data provide evidence that riparian forest communities within agricultural environments absorb and retain nutrients lost from agricultural uplands. As such they are important components of agricultural ecosystems helping to maintain acceptable stream water quality. It is suggested that ecologically sound agricultural practice should include longterm maintenance of natural riparian vegetation zones within agricultural areas.
Using Multimedia and Hypermedia to Promote Intercultural Education and an Appreciation for Pedagogical and Student Diversity

Intercultural communication and education are important topics that are gaining prominence in many fields of study. In this article, a multimedia and hypermedia tool is presented that has demonstrated important successes in promoting intercultural education and an appreciation for pedagogical and student diversity. The article begins with an introduction to the need for this type of research with overview questions provided from a reading of Clifford Geertz. The technological tool is then presented and research data is provided to support its integration. The article ends with a call for more research.
Constructing irregular surfaces to enclose macromolecular complexes for mesoscale modeling using the discrete surface charge optimization (DISCO) algorithm.

Salt-mediated electrostatics interactions play an essential role in biomolecular structures and dynamics. Because macromolecular systems modeled at atomic resolution contain thousands of solute atoms, the electrostatic computations constitute an expensive part of the force and energy calculations. Implicit solvent models are one way to simplify the model and associated calculations, but they are generally used in combination with standard atomic models for the solute. To approximate electrostatics interactions in models on the polymer level (e.g., supercoiled DNA) that are simulated over long times (e.g., milliseconds) using Brownian dynamics, Beard and Schlick have developed the DiSCO (Discrete Surface Charge Optimization) algorithm. DiSCO represents a macromolecular complex by a few hundred discrete charges on a surface enclosing the system modeled by the Debye-Huckel (screened Coulombic) approximation to the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, and treats the salt solution as continuum solvation. DiSCO can represent the nucleosome core particle (12,000 atoms), for example, by 353 discrete surface charges distributed on the surfaces of a large disk for the nucleosome core particle and a slender cylinder for the histone tail; the charges are optimized with respect to the Poisson-Boltzmann solution for the electric field, yielding a 5.5% residual. Because regular surfaces enclosing macromolecules are not sufficiently general and may be suboptimal for certain systems, we develop a general method to construct irregular models tailored to the geometry of macromolecules. We also compare charge optimization based on both the electric field and electrostatic potential refinement. Results indicate that irregular surfaces can lead to a more accurate approximation (lower residuals), and the refinement in terms of the electric field is more robust. We also show that surface smoothing for irregular models is important, that the charge optimization (by the TNPACK minimizer) is efficient and does not depend on the initial assigned values, and that the residual is acceptable when the distance to the model surface is close to, or larger than, the Debye length. We illustrate applications of DiSCO's model-building procedure to chromatin folding and supercoiled DNA bound to Hin and Fis proteins. DiSCO is generally applicable to other interesting macromolecular systems for which mesoscale models are appropriate, to yield a resolution between the all-atom representative and the polymer level.
Probing the smoking-suicide association: do smoking policy interventions affect suicide risk?

INTRODUCTION: Smokers exhibit elevated risk for suicide, but it is unknown whether smoking interventions reduce suicide risk. We examined whether state-level policy interventions-increases in cigarette excise taxes and strengthening of smoke-free air laws-corresponded to reduction in suicide risk during the 1990s and early 2000s. We also examined whether the magnitude of such reductions correlated with individuals' predicted probability of smoking, as would be expected if the associations stemmed from changes in smoking behavior. METHODS: We paired individual-level data on suicide deaths from the U.S. Multiple Cause of Death files, years 1990-2004, with living population data from the same period. These were linked with state data on cigarette excise taxes and smoke-free air policies. Utilizing a quasiexperimental analytical approach, we estimated the association between changes in policy and suicide risk. To examine whether associations correlated with individuals' probability of smoking, we used external survey data to derive a predicted probability of smoking function from demographic variables, which was then used to stratify the population by predicted smoking prevalence. RESULTS: Cigarette excise taxes, smoke-free air policies, and an index combining the two policies all exhibited protective associations with suicide. The associations were strongest in segments of the population where predicted smoking prevalence was the highest and weaker in segments of the population where predicted smoking prevalence was the lowest, suggesting that the protective associations were related to changes in smoking behavior. CONCLUSION: These results provide support for the proposition that population interventions for smoking could reduce risk for suicide. Language: en
Elevated Waves Erode the Western End of the Recently Completed Sand Berm on Dauphin Island, Alabama (U.S.A)

Abstract Dauphin island is a microtidal barrier island located approximately 8.0 km offshore from southwestern Alabama (U.S.A.). Morphological changes to the island, brought about by passing tropical storms and hurricanes, have been noted since it was first settled in 1699. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina (a Category 3 hurricane) made landfall approximately 117 km west of Dauphin Island. Despite the extended distance, the storm impacted the island with waves that completely overwashed and flattened most of the western low-lying areas. The hurricane also segmented Dauphin Island into two distinct barrier islands, the undeveloped Dauphin Island West, and the residentially developed Dauphin Island East. Immediately following the storm, the Town of Dauphin Island recognized the need to take action to protect low-lying residential property on the western segment of Dauphin Island East. Sand berm construction began on January 29, 2007. The 6.4-km-long berm is to provide sufficient time to allow the Town o...
Parks and Stadiums Until 1960

Before they were ballparks, they were “baseball grounds,” and since people seem naturally to be drawn to watching sports played at a high level of skill, those who sponsored the game soon got the idea of fencing off the grounds “for the sole purpose of keeping freeloaders from viewing the game,” as Michael Benson writes in his encyclopedic Ballparks of North America (1989).1
Comparison of ICl- and IBr-based plasma chemistries for inductively coupled plasma etching of GaN, InN and AlN

A parametric study of the etch characteristics of GaN, AIN and InN has been earned out with IC1/Ar and IBr/Ar chemistries in an Inductively Coupled Plasma discharge. The etch rates of InN and AIN were relatively independent of plasma composition, while GaN showed increased etch rates with interhalogen concentration. Etch rates for all materials increased with increasing rf chuck power, indicating that higher ion bombardment energies are more efficient in enhancing sputter resorption of etch products. The etch rates increased for source powers up to 500 W and remained relatively thereafter for all materials, while GaN and InN showed maximum etch rates with increasing pressure. The etched GaN showed extremely smooth surfaces, which were somewhat better with IBr/Ar than with IC1/Ar. Maximum selectivities of- 14 for InN over GaN and >25 for InN over AIN were obtained with both chemistries.
Assessing the Helpfulness of One Parenting Assistance Helpline

This study examined the services provided by one statewide warmline established to assist parents and caregivers of children from birth through adolescence. Warmlines offer telephone-based, non-crisis support for individuals experiencing diverse issues that include parenting questions and concerns. The University of Alabama Child Development Resources collaborated with the Alabama State Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention to institute the Parenting Assistance Line to provide information and support to parents and caregivers of children, age birth through adolescence. Overall, the staff of the Parenting Assistance Line responded to 9487 calls during the 6 years of data reported here. Through a secondary data analysis of calls to the Parenting Assistance Line from June 2007 to July 2013, this study describes the concerns of callers in relation to the ages of the children about whom they are calling and also evaluates the perceptions of the helpfulness of the information and support provided by the warmline. We found that frequently calls involved parent support and parental stress for parents and caregivers of children from infancy through adolescence. The findings suggest that telephone assistance lines offer a viable choice for parents and caregivers seeking affordable and accessible resources when stressed by the responsibilities of caring for children and adolescents and/or seeking information related to parenting issues. The study identified the limitations of research involving secondary data collected for purposes other than research that program administrators and evaluators should consider when planning and implementing services of this nature.
Visible and IR fibre amplifiers and laser - applications and status

The reduced non-radiative transition rates evident in rare-earth doped fluorozirconate fibres increase the probabilities of radiative events from high-lying energy states. These states may be populated by multistep excited-state absorption of pump photons, a process which readily occurs because of increased lifetimes (relative to silicate and phosphate glasses) of intermediate levels, and spectrally-broad and sometimes overlapping ESA features. Lasing transitions from the blue region to nearly 3 microns are accessed in the preferred low-loss fibre geometry. Novel pumping schemes can be adopted using diode-laser, solid-state or fibre-laser compatible wavelengths to make visible up-conversion lasers or efficient fibre amplifiers for the largely under-used spectral region between 750nm and 1200nm.
Empirical Model of Nymphal Development for the Migratory Grasshopper, Melanoplus sanguinipes (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

A new function was empirically derived to describe nymphal development of the migratory grasshopper Melanoplus sanguinipes (F.). This nonlinear equation was to fit to a large data set from the literature and compared with two previously proposed nonlinear models and the commonly used degree-day linear model. The functions were also compared in their ability to predict development under conditions of alternating temperatures, including temperatures that would often occur in the field. Although all models fit the data well at intermediate temperatures, the new model was shown to be preferable to the other models in the high- and low-temperature range.
Management of thyroid incidentalomas encountered by anesthesiologists and pain physicians.

Abstract Unexpected, asymptomatic thyroid lesions incidentally discovered during unrelated diagnostic or therapeutic interventions are called thyroid incidentalomas (TIs). These lesions are extremely common, creating a clinical problem that most anesthesiologists and pain specialists are unfamiliar with. Ultrasonography (US), which allows high-quality real-time visualization of tissues during brachial plexus block, stellate ganglion block, central vascular access, and other interventions, is the imaging modality of choice of many anesthesiologists and pain medicine specialists for therapeutic interventions on the neck. The increasing number of US procedures performed on the neck will eventually result in an upsurge of anesthesiologists and pain specialists encountering a TI. Interventionalists are responsible for acquiring optimal images, accurate needle positioning during interventions, and storage and appropriate labeling of the obtained images. Ignoring the TI or disclosing the presence of a “tumor” can substantially affect the patient’s well-being. In this literature review, we discuss 2 clinical cases of incidentalomas, summarize the current evidence-based strategies, and provide readers with practical guidelines—possibly applicable to other abnormal findings—for the management of incidentally found thyroid lesions.
The endoscopist’s role in the diagnosis and management of pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal malignancies with little improvement in survival over the past several decades in spite of advances in imaging, risk factor identification, surgical technique and chemotherapy. This disappointing outcome is mainly due to failures to make an early diagnosis. In fact, the majority of the patients present with inoperable advanced stages of the disease. Though some of the new tumor markers are promising, we are still in search of the one that has a high sensitivity and accuracy, yet is inexpensive and easy to obtain. The paradigm of management has shifted from up-front surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy to neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by surgery, especially for borderline resectable cancers and even for some resectable cancers. In this article, we will critically assess the limitations of tumor markers and review the advancements in endoscopic techniques in the management of pancreatic cancer.
WRINKLED1 Rescues Feedback Inhibition of Fatty Acid Synthesis in Hydroxylase-Expressing Seeds

Previous attempts at engineering Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) to produce seed oils containing hydroxy fatty acids (HFA) have resulted in low yields of HFA compared with the native castor (Ricinus communis) plant and caused undesirable effects, including reduced total oil content. Recent studies have led to an understanding of problems involved in the accumulation of HFA in oils of transgenic plants, which include metabolic bottlenecks and a decrease in the rate of fatty acid synthesis. Focusing on engineering the triacylglycerol assembly mechanisms led to modest increases in the HFA content of seed oil, but much room for improvement still remains. We hypothesized that engineering fatty acid synthesis in the plastids to increase flux would facilitate enhanced total incorporation of fatty acids, including HFA, into seed oil. The transcription factor WRINKLED1 (WRI1) positively regulates the expression of genes involved in fatty acid synthesis and controls seed oil levels. We overexpressed Arabidopsis WRI1 in seeds of a transgenic line expressing the castor fatty acid hydroxylase. The proportion of HFA in the oil, the total HFA per seed, and the total oil content of seeds increased to an average of 20.9%, 1.26 µg, and 32.2%, respectively, across five independent lines, compared with 17.6%, 0.83 µg, and 27.9%, respectively, for isogenic segregants. WRI1 and WRI1-regulated genes involved in fatty acid synthesis were up-regulated, providing for a corresponding increase in the rate of fatty acid synthesis.
Hybrid inverse problems and redundant systems of partial differential equations

Hybrid inverse problems are mathematical descriptions of coupled-physics (also called multi-waves) imaging modalities that aim to combine high resolution with high contrast. The solution of a high-resolution inverse problem, a first step that is not considered in this paper, provides internal information combining unknown parameters and solutions of differential equations. In several settings, the internal information and the differential equations may be described as a redundant system of nonlinear partial differential equations. We propose a framework to analyze the uniqueness and stability properties of such systems. We consider the case when the linearization of the redundant system is elliptic and with boundary conditions satisfying the Lopatinskii conditions. General theories of elliptic systems then allow us to construct a parametrix for such systems and derive optimal stability estimates. The injectivity of the nonlinear problem or its linearization is not guaranteed by the ellipticity condition. We revisit unique continuation principles, such as the Holmgren theorem and the uniqueness theorem of Calderon, in the context of redundant elliptic systems of equations. The theory is applied to the case of power density measurements, which are internal functionals of the form $\gamma|\nabla u|^2$ where $\gamma$ is an unknown parameter and $u$ is the solution to the elliptic equation $\nabla\cdot\gamma\nabla u=0$ on a bounded domain with appropriate boundary conditions.
“Same Room, Safe Place” The Need for Professional Safe Sleep Unity Grows at the Expense of Families

There are many different professional stances on safe sleep and then there is the reality of caring for a newborn. There is a debate among professionals regarding safe sleep recommendations. The co...
Transparency of graphene and other direct-gap two-dimensional materials

The optical properties of graphene are among its remarkable characteristics. Measurements have found that the opacity of a single graphene layer for infrared and visible light is simply equal to $\ensuremath{\pi}$ times the fine-structure constant. Explanations of this beautiful relation have tended to view it as a consequence of the material's Dirac-like band structure. However, in this paper the authors emphasize that the interband absorption rate must be treated by using the underlying nonrelativistic Hamiltonian, not the quasimomentum state label of the bands. They employ both a straightforward model and a tight-binding calculation to show that the opacity of graphene follows not from its celebrated linear dispersion relation but from the fact that it is a two-dimensional material. The same characteristic is therefore present in semiconductor membranes (as revealed by recent experiments) and other two-dimensional systems. This work focuses attention on the universality that reduced dimensionality bestows on optical absorption.
Adenocarcinoma of the urachus.

AbstractDuring the last 50 years 8 patients with adenocarcinoma of the urachus were managed at our hospital. The various modalities of therapy included radiation therapy, transurethral resection, segmental resection of the bladder and total cystectomy. A retrospective analysis of these cases is presented, including the histologic patterns, sites of spread and survival according to therapy.
The Literate Economist: A Brief History of Economics

(1996). The Literate Economist: A Brief History of Economics. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 895-897.
Mathematical modeling of the dynamic behavior of an integrated photo-bioelectrochemical system for simultaneous wastewater treatment and bioenergy recovery

Abstract An integrated photo-bioelectrochemical (IPB) system is innovative through integrating microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with algal bioreactors for simultaneous organics degradation, nutrient removal, and bioenergy production. A mathematical model has been developed for simulating and understanding the performance of the IPB system. The model inputs include influent COD (chemical oxygen demand), NH4+-N, total phosphorus, external resistance and flow rate, while the outputs include the biomass growth, COD degradation, nutrient removal, and electricity generation. The determination of unknown model parameters was assisted with sensitivity analysis. Satisfactory model fitting and validation was achieved, with low root-mean-square error of 5.6% and 0.2%, respectively, for biomass concentration and current generation under varied COD input. The simulated results suggested that the organic input and flow rate had more significant impacts on the growth of algal biomass than other input factors, while COD, flow rate and external resistance were of importance for current generation. The optimal condition for improving this particular IPB system was predicted to have a COD concentration above 150 mg L−1 and the flow rate at 0.1 mL min−1. This IPB model is the first attempt of the kind for the optimization of an integrated bioprocess of electrochemical reactions and algal growth.