cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Argon diffusion domains in K-feldspar II: kinetic properties of MH-10

Viewing K-feldspars as containing a discrete distribution of diffusion domain sizes reconciles otherwise disconsonant features common in their 40Ar/39Ar age spectra and Arrhenius plots but raises a fundamental question. What are the features in K-feldspar that endow it with this behavior? We report here the results of two different kinds of experiments that help isolate the nature of the responsible diffusion properties. To assess the thermal stability of the diffusion domains during laboratory treatment, MH-10 K-feldspar was step-heated to 850°C, removed from the furnace and split. One split was reirradiated and the other returned to the furnace and completely degassed. Following re-irradiation, the original heating schedule was used to degas the second aliquot. Apart from the first 5% of gas released, the diffusion properties show little change relative to the original result but, it appears, the physical character of a portion of the smallest domain has been altered. Results of duplicate step-heating experiments of samples treated at 750°C, 950°C and 1100°C prior to irradiation are consistent with the conclusions of the double irradiation experiment. In a second series of experiments, sized aggregates of MH-10 K-feldspar were analyzed by the 40Ar/39Ar step-heating method. The resultant log(r/r o) plots reveal that the largest domain is annihilated when the particle size is reduced to about 50 μm. From this result we infer that the largest diffusion domain size is between 60 and about 130 μm in diameter. This estimate, together with knowledge of the relative domain size distribution obtained from modeling the log(r/r o) plot, sets the size of the smallest domain to be less than about 1 μm. Microstructural examination of MH-10 K-feldspar identifies sub-grain features that correspond in size to our independent estimates for the largest and smallest diffusion domains. These results strongly support the view that low-temperature K-feldspars contain a distribution of diffusion length scales that are well approximated as discrete domain sizes and that laboratory heating below the onset of melting does not significatly affect the ability to obtain thermal reconstructions from the 40Ar/39Ar systematics.
A High Current, Short Pulse, RF Synchronized Electron Gun for the Stanford Linear Accelerator

For the generation of intense single and multiple bunches of electrons (>8 nc per bunch) for accelerator studies at SLAC, a high peak current photoemission electron gun has been developed. A gallium arsenide photocathode is illuminated by the optical beam from a frequency doubled, actively mode-locked and Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The mode-locked optical pulses are of variable, sub-nanosecond width and occur with a spacing of 8.4 nsec, synchronized with the 2856 MHz accelerator rf. The gun is designed to be space charge limited at 15 A and 200 kV, although emission of 60 A was obtained with a 57 kV test structure, corresponding to a current density of 180 A/cm2. With the proper choice of laser wavelength, the electron beam may be 40% longitudinally polarized.
Political Ideas in the Romantic Age: Their Rise and Influence on Modern Thought – By Isaiah Berlin

Later described as the “torso” of all prior and future work, scholars of history, philosophy, political science, and literature from 1760–1830 should know Isaiah Berlin's perspectives on Romantic t...
A Photochemical Sequence for Oxidation of Alcohols to Carbonyl Compounds

Abstract In the early nineteen sixties the photochemical reactions of three esters of pyruvic acid were reported1,2 (equation 1). The products from these reactions suggested that pyruvate formation followed by photochemical reaction could be a new technique for oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds. At the time, the forcing conditions necessary for esterification of pyruvic acid3 would have discouraged further consideration of pyruvate photolysis as a part of a mild oxidation process. The recent report of a facile synthesis of the acid chloride of pyruvic acid4 raised the possibility that the esterification-photoreaction sequence for oxidation could become a useful synthetic tool. This new reaction sequence now has been investigated for a series of alcohols and found to be a promising oxidation pathway.
Loss of Tsc2 in Radial Glia Models the Brain Pathology of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex in the Mouse

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant, tumor predisposition disorder characterized by significant neurodevelopmental brain lesions, such as tubers and subependymal nodules. The neuropathology of TSC is often associated with seizures and intellectual disability. To learn about the developmental perturbations that lead to these brain lesions, we created a mouse model that selectively deletes the Tsc2 gene from radial glial progenitor cells in the developing cerebral cortex and hippocampus. These Tsc2 mutant mice were severely runted, developed post-natal megalencephaly and died between 3 and 4 weeks of age. Analysis of brain pathology demonstrated cortical and hippocampal lamination defects, hippocampal heterotopias, enlarged dysplastic neurons and glia, abnormal myelination and an astrocytosis. These histologic abnormalities were accompanied by activation of the mTORC1 pathway as assessed by increased phosphorylated S6 in brain lysates and tissue sections. Developmental analysis demonstrated that loss of Tsc2 increased the subventricular Tbr2-positive basal cell progenitor pool at the expense of early born Tbr1-positive post-mitotic neurons. These results establish the novel concept that loss of function of Tsc2 in radial glial progenitors is one initiating event in the development of TSC brain lesions as well as underscore the importance of Tsc2 in the regulation of neural progenitor pools. Given the similarities between the mouse and the human TSC lesions, this model will be useful in further understanding TSC brain pathophysiology, testing potential therapies and identifying other genetic pathways that are altered in TSC.
FFT based fast architecture & algorithm for discrete wavelet transforms

Summary form only given. A non-recursive (unlike classical dyadic decomposition) and fast Fourier transform based architecture for computing discrete wavelet transforms (DWT) of a one dimensional sequence is presented. The DWT coefficients at all resolutions can be generated simultaneously without waiting for generation of coefficients at a lower octave level. This architecture is faster than architectures proposed so far for DWT decomposition (which are implementations based on recursion) and can be fully pipelined. The complexity of the control circuits for this architecture is much lower as compared to implementation of recursive methods. Consider the computation of the DWT (four octaves) of a sequence. Recursive dyadic decomposition can be converted to a non-recursive method as shown. We can move all the decimators shown to the extreme right (towards output end) and have a single filter and a single decimator in each path. We note that a decimator (of factor k) when so moved across a filter of length L will increase the length of the filter by a factor of k. Thus we will get first octave DWT coefficients by convolving input sequence with a filter of length L and decimating the output by a factor of 2.
Electrical properties of normal and dysgenic mouse skeletal muscle in culture.

Electrical properties of normal and dysgenic mouse skeletal muscle were studied by intracellular recording from embryonic cells developing in vitro. Passive membrane constants were determined from records of transmembrane potential responses to hyperpolarizing pulses of current using two types of analyses, assuming the tubes to be finite cylinders: the off transient and steady state analyses. The following properties of normal and dysgenic fibers were also studied. (a) membrane potentials (b) acetylcholine sensitivity (c) α-Bungarotoxin binding and (d) maximum rate of rise, overshoot and one-half fall time of the action potential. Rare electrotonic coupling between fibroblasts and myotubes was noted. An anomalous type of rectification Was observed in some fibers in which the transmembrane potential responses possessed under and overshoots. These responses may have affected the values of membrane constants as derived by the off transient analysis. In all parameters studied, including membrane constants derived by the steady state analysis, the cultured mouse cells resembled adult denervated mammalian muscle rather than innervated muscle. There were no differences between normal and dysgenic fibers with respect to any of the parameters studied. Dysgenic fibers did not contract although they displayed passive and active membrane properties like those in normal, non-dysgenic fibers.
Fluxless Bonding of Silicon to Ag–Copper Using In–Ag With Two UBM Designs

A fluxless process of bonding silicon to Ag-cladded copper using electroplated In-Ag multilayer structure is developed. The Ag cladding on the copper substrate is a stress buffer to deal with the large mismatch in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between semiconductors such as Si (3 ppm/degC) and Cu (17 ppm/degC). To manufacture Ag on copper substrate, two techniques are developed. The first is an electroplating process to fabricate a thick Ag layer. The second technique is a novel laminating process that bonds Ag foil directly on Cu substrate. On Si chips, two underbump metallurgy (UBM) structures are designed, Si/Cr/Au and Si/Cr/Ni/Au. To produce a solder layer, Si chips are electroplated with In followed by thin Ag. The thin Ag cap layer prevents oxidation of the inner In region. To achieve a fluxless feature, the bonding process is performed in a vacuum environment (50 mtorrs) to suppress indium oxidation. Compared to bonding in air, the oxygen content is reduced by a factor of 15 200. Using Cr/Au UBM structure, the silicon chip was detached from Cu substrate. The broken interface lies between Si/Cr and Ag2In IMC on Cu substrate. Using a new UBM design of Si/Cr/Ni/Au, high-quality joints are produced that comprise of three distinct layers of In7Ni3, Ag2In , and Ag. Microstructure and composition of the joints are studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).
Effect of a myocardial volume overload on lactate transport in skeletal muscle sarcolemmal vesicles

This study sought to determine the effect of a myocardial volume overload (MVO) on sarcolemmal (SL) lactate (La−) transport and the aerobic profile of skeletal muscle. SL vesicles were obtained fro...
Spinal Effects of Head-down Tilting

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two methods of inversion therapy and four common exercise positions on the shape of the low back. We studied 25 healthy subjects in six exercise positions: 1) inverted with lower limbs extended (ILLE), 2) standing, 3) supine, 4) inverted with lower limbs flexed (ILLF), 5) sitting, and 6) hooklying. A manual measurement system was used to determine low back contours (LBCs) from S2 upward for 19 cm at 1-cm intervals. Contour data were reduced to mean contour values (MCVs). Results showed that the standing and sitting positions produced the largest and smallest MCVs, respectively ( p < .01). The ILLF MCV was smaller ( p < .05) than both supine MCVs but not appreciably different from the ILLE MCV. The ILLE and ILLF positions significantly reduced ( p < .01) MCVs compared with the standing position. Neither position decreased the MCV as much as the sitting position. These results support the use of inversion therapy to reduce the depth of the LBC when sitting is inappropriate.
Control of Proliferation and Cancer Growth by the Hippo Signaling Pathway

The control of cell division is essential for normal development and the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. Abnormal cell proliferation is associated with multiple pathological states, including cancer. Although the Hippo/YAP signaling pathway was initially thought to control organ size and growth, increasing evidence indicates that this pathway also plays a major role in the control of proliferation independent of organ size control. In particular, accumulating evidence indicates that the Hippo/YAP signaling pathway functionally interacts with multiple other cellular pathways and serves as a central node in the regulation of cell division, especially in cancer cells. Here, recent observations are highlighted that connect Hippo/YAP signaling to transcription, the basic cell-cycle machinery, and the control of cell division. Furthermore, the oncogenic and tumor-suppressive attributes of YAP/TAZ are reviewed, which emphasizes the relevance of the Hippo pathway in cancer.
Patterns of failure and outcomes in anal adenocarcinoma

13503 Background: Adenocarcinoma of the anal canal is a rare malignancy with an aggressive natural history. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcomes of a multidisciplinary approach in ...
Ethical issues in diagnosing and treating Alzheimer disease

Many unique ethical issues arise when diagnosing and treating Alzheimer disease (AD). This article discusses several core ethical dilemmas that arise for psychiatrists during different stages of AD, focusing particularly on areas of consensus and controversy. Issues addressed include screening, genetic testing, and discussions of advance directives during early stages; telling soft and even outright lies during middle and late stages; and withholding life-preserving interventions during the last stage of AD when death is imminent. While there is overwhelming ethical consensus that psychiatrists should be fully honest and respect patient autonomy as much as possible during the early stages of disease, there is more controversy regarding the extent to which psychiatrists should do this during the later stages of disease. Possible, optimal approaches to resolving these ethical issues are presented.
Becoming Jane: The Making and Unmaking of Hanford's Nuclear Body

This article examines the politics of permissible exposure in American nuclear remediation. At its heart is Washington State’s Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the nation’s largest and most expensive n...
NMR Restrained Protein Structure Calculations in Implicit Water/Membrane Environments

The aqueous and lipid membrane environments that make up the intra- and extra-cellular compartments of biological organisms are critical for supporting the structural and functional integrity of both soluble proteins and membrane proteins. NMR spectroscopy enables characterization of the structures of both types of proteins in their respective, near-native environments. However, most NMR structures are not calculated in physically realistic environments and de novo structure calculations in explicit solvent or explicit lipids are computationally expensive. Traditionally, NMR structures are calculated with a simplified repulsive term to prevent atom clashing. Such treatment accelerates the calculation but sacrifices non-bonded interactions. To facilitate NMR structure calculations in natural environments we are developing a computationally practical implicit solvent and membrane potential for Xplor-NIH. Here we show that this potential affords significant improvements in the conformational quality, accuracy and precision of the calculated structures. Further, it provides correct embedding of membrane proteins in lipid bilayers, as well as physically meaningful insights about residue-residue and protein-membrane interactions. We also describe extensions of the potential to bicelle and micelle sample environments as well as various membrane systems.This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (GM 110658; GM 100265; EB002031; CA 179087; CA 030199).
Abstract A71: Isolation of aglycons and glycosides from Scutellaria baicalensis and exploration of responsible constituents on human breast cancer chemoprevention

Numerous effective anticancer drugs have been developed from botanical sources. Although the anticancer properties of Scutellaria baicalensis extract (SbE) have been reported, in some of our studies, SbE did not inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells significantly. In certain concentrations, it increased cancer cell growth. To identify the active anticancer constituents in SbE, we isolated a baicalin‐knockout fraction (SbF1) and a baicalin‐fraction (SbF3). We evaluated the anti‐breast cancer activities of the fractions and their constituents on human breast cancer MCF‐7 cells. Using a Waters 2960 high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) instrument and a Phenomenex Prodigy ODS(2) column, we determined the contents in the extract and fractions: scutellarin, baicalin, baicalein and wogonin. The antiproliferative effects were assayed using the modified trichrome stain (MTS) method. The active properties of the fraction/constituents on the cancer cell cycle and on apoptosis were evaluated using a BD FACScan flow cytometer. A one‐way ANOVA was used to measure statistical significance. HPLC data showed that the content of scutellarin, baicalin, baicalein and wogonin in SbE were 0.03, 15.67, 5.19 and 1.42%, respectively. The major constituents of SbF1 are the aglycons, baicalein (40.54%) and wogonin (12.35%). SbF3 contains only the glycoside baicalin (16.68%). SbF1 showed a significant antiproliferative effect. Treatment with 100 g/ml of SbF1 for 72 h inhibited MCF‐7 cell growth by 81.6% (P Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(1 Suppl):A71.
Bandelet transformation based image registration

Perfect image registration is an unsolved challenge that has been attempted in a multitude of different ways. This paper presents an approach for single-modal, multi-view registration of aerial imagery data that uses bandelets in the preprocessing phase to extract key geometric features and limit the amount of details in the image that must be considered during the feature matching process. Applying the bandelet decomposition on both the reference and target images before feature extraction will limit the control point selection process to only those points with the most relevant geometric data. The approach uses a multi-scale approach to estimate a transformation that converges to an optimal solution as well as reduce the computation time for real-time image registration. The bandelet basis also provides for a more effective feature (e.g. corner) detection and extraction method because it determines the geometric flow and allows for shifted patches in the orthogonal direction of the geometric flow. Theoretically the bandelet results in less false positives and better detection rates than existing methods. The Bandelet-based Image Registration (BIR) method has applications in image fusion, change detection, object recognition, autonomous navigation, and target tracking.
Después de la larga noche: narrativa paraguaya contemporánea

Recent Paraguayan narrative shows a close and explicit relationship between literature and its surrounding socio-political reaity. Notably, the use of history as a recourse, specifically traumatic historical moments such as wars and dictatorships, is central to the novels of the last decades. This article presents three different but complementary perspectives that show how Paraguayan narrative has addressed its own history, and the ways in which this approach has progressed in recent years to reflect a greater opening and more explicit criticism. First, I analyze two instances of the so-called Historical Novel: Caballero written by Rodriguez Alcala during the last years of Stroessner’s dictatorship, and Un viento negro by Gonzalez Delvalle, published in 2012. Secondly, I study two novels by Augusto Roa Bastos (probably the most famous of all Paraguayan writers), that have been labeled novels of “exile after the exile”: El Fiscal and Contravida. Here I focus on the difference between writings inside and outside Paraguay, noting that this distinction characterizes much of the country’s literary production during the 20th century. Finally, I briefly examine three novels –one written in the 1980s, and the other two at the beginning of this century– that seem not to make any reference to the dictatorship or to any war. I argue, however, that they do so surreptitiously, while conforming to relevant tendencies in recent Paraguayan literary production.
VARIABLE STRUCTURE CONTROL OF TIME-DELAY INDEFINITE DIMENSIONAL SYSTEMS

In Banach space, the variable structure control of time-delay indefinite dimensional systems are studied. The stability of sliding mode, the reaching conditions of sliding mode and general control forms are suggested. Finally, a variable structure control example of distributed parameter system is considered.
Whole Grain Intake and Mortality From All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

Background—Current findings on associations between whole grain (WG) intake and mortality are inconsistent and have not been summarized by meta-analysis. Methods and Results—We searched for prospective cohort studies reporting associations between WG intake and mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer through February 2016 in Medline, Embase, and clinicaltrials.gov, and we further included unpublished results from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III and NHANES 1999 to 2004. Fourteen studies were eligible for analysis, which included 786 076 participants, 97 867 total deaths, 23 957 CVD deaths, and 37 492 cancer deaths. Pooled relative risks comparing extreme WG categories (high versus low) were 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80–0.88; P<0.001; I2=74%; Pheterogeneity<0.001) for total mortality, 0.82 (95% CI, 0.79–0.85; P<0.001; I2=0%; Pheterogeneity=0.53) for CVD mortality, and 0.88 (95% CI, 0.83–0.94; P<0.001; I2=54%; Pheterogeneity=0.02) for canc...
Pathogenesis and Management of Dialysis Access Infections

Infections related to dialysis access devices are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in dialysis dependent end-stage renal disease patients. Catheter related blood stream infections and their related complications in hemodialysis, and peritonitis in peritoneal dialysis are a significant threat to the continued use of the respective dialysis access devices. They lead to interruption of regular dialysis, increased hospitalization rates and health care costs for their management. The incidence of infectious complications can be decreased as the factors that confer an increased risk of such access device infections are potentially modifiable. This chapter discusses the epidemiology, pathogenesis, risk factors, clinical manifestations, treatment and prevention of both hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis access device related infectious complications.
Chemical Engineering: Energy Balances for Reacting Systems

Introduction The chemical reactor is the heart of most industrial processes, although the reactor may represent only about 10 percent of the total capital cost; this is because the output from the reactor defines everything else that must be done downstream, particularly the separation processes. Similarly, if we wish to think about cellular rather than industrial processes, it is the chemical reactions that enable the cell or the organ to carry out its essential functions. We saw in Chapters 7 through 9 how a chemical reactor is integrated into simple processes, and we explored economic issues such as the trade-off between capital and operating costs. That discussion was limited, however, because we assumed in every case that the rate constants were fixed numbers. In doing so, we ignored one of the “handles” that the chemical engineer – or, in the case of an organism, evolution – has available to promote efficiency. Chemical reaction rates are highly temperature dependent, and precise temperature control can be critical in both the design and functioning of a reactor. Chemical reaction engineering is a broad subject, and it typically occupies at least one full course in an undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum. We introduce some basic ideas here for completeness, but we are only touching on one of the foundations of the chemical engineering profession. We restrict ourselves throughout this chapter to liquid systems, as before, in order to simplify some of the analysis while retaining the essential features, and we address only well-mixed reactor configurations.
Randomized Controlled Trial of Antiseptic Hand Hygiene Methods in an Outpatient Surgery Clinic.

Introduction Outpatient wound care plays an integral part in any plastic surgery practice. However, compliance with hand hygiene measures has shown to be low, due to skin irritation and lack of time. The objective of this trial was to determine whether single-use, long-acting antiseptics can be as effective as standard multiple-use hand hygiene methods in an outpatient surgical setting. Materials and methods A prospective, randomized controlled trial was performed in the authors' outpatient plastic surgery clinic at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ to compare the efficacy of an ethyl alcohol-based sanitizer (Avagard D Instant Hand Aniseptic, 3M Health Care, St. Paul, MN), a benzalkonium chloride-based sanitizer (Soft & Shield, Bioderm Technologies, Inc, Trenton, NJ, distributed by NAPP Technologies, Hackensack, NJ ), and soap and- water handwashing. Subjects included clinic personnel, who were followed throughout the course of a 3-hour clinic session with hourly hand bacterial counts taken. Results During the course of the trial, 95 subjects completed the clinic session utilizing 1 of the hand hygiene methods (36 ethyl alcohol-based sanitizer, 38 benzalkonium chloride-based sanitizer, and 21 soap-and-water handwashing). There was no difference between hand bacterial counts using the different methods at 4 hourly time points (P greater than 0.05). Hand bacterial counts increased significantly over the 3-hour clinic session with the ethyl alcohol-based sanitizer (9.24 to 21.90 CFU, P less than 0.05), benzalkonium chloride-based sanitizer (6.69 to 21.59 CFU, P less than 0.05), and soap-and-water handwashing (8.43 to 22.75 CFU, P less than 0.05). Conclusion There does not appear to be any difference in efficacy between single-use, long-acting sanitizer, and standard multiple-use hand hygiene methods. Hand bacterial counts increased significantly over the course of the 3-hour clinic session regardless of the hand hygiene measure used. Hand condition of subjects was improved with the ethyl alcohol-based sanitizer and the benzalkonium chloride-based sanitizer compared with soap-and-water handwashing.
The role of emotion regulation in the experience of menstrual symptoms and perceived control over anxiety-related events across the menstrual cycle

Hormonal variation throughout the menstrual cycle is posited to impact various physical and mental health symptoms; however, this is not observed in all women and mechanisms are not well understood. Difficulty in emotion regulation may elucidate differences that women experience in physical and mental health functioning between menstrual phases. We examined the moderating role of difficulty in emotion regulation in the relation between menstrual phase and menstrual symptom severity and perceived control over anxiety-related events, in healthy, regularly menstruating women. The participants were 37 women (Mage = 26.5, SD = 9.6). A series of regression analyses were used to examine whether individual differences in emotion regulation difficulties moderate the relation between menstrual phase and our outcomes, severity of menstrual symptoms and perceived control over anxiety-related events, using a within-subjects design. The analyses revealed that difficulty in emotion regulation significantly moderated the relation between menstrual phase and perceived control over anxiety-related events (β = -0.42, p < .05), but not menstrual symptom severity. Women who reported higher emotion regulation difficulty experienced greater differences in perceived control over anxiety-related events between menstrual phases. Specifically, women with lower difficulty in emotion regulation report greater increase in control over anxiety during the late luteal phase compared to women with higher emotion regulation difficulty. Difficulty in emotion regulation may play an important role in understanding differences in menstrual phase-associated impairments, thereby informing the development of targeted interventions for vulnerable women.
Simulation of Human Wayfinding Uncertainties: Operationalizing a Wandering Disutility Function

This study focuses on design and implementation of an agent-based simulation model that replicates spatially disoriented walking behavior caused by decline in cognitive abilities, similar to conditions experienced by Alzheimer’s patients. Results of this simulation will be used to investigate potential correlations between observable spatial patterns in walking trajectories and levels of cognitive impairment in dementia patients. Review of literature on human wayfinding behavior provides a set of operational parameters to employ in an agent-based model. The proposed mechanism of replicating spatial disorientation in this study relies on stochastic modeling of uncertainties in (1) traveled distance, (2) direction of travel toward the destination, and (3) location of landmarks in the environment. Additionally, a proposed measure of aggregate wayfinding disutility is introduced to regulate the start of spatially disoriented walking episodes in agents.
Modeling Real Estate for School District Identification

The affiliated school district of a real estate property is often a crucial concern. How to automate the identification of residential homes located in a favorable educational environment, however, is largely unexplored until now. The availability of heterogeneous estate-related data offers a great opportunity for this task. Nevertheless, it is such heterogeneity that poses significant challenges to their amalgamation in a unified fashion. To this end, we develop G-LRMM model to integrate digital price, textual comments, and geographical location information together. The proposed approach is able to capture the in-depth interaction among multi-type data greatly. The evaluation on the dataset of Beijing property market justifies the benefits of our approach over baselines. The further comparison among different components is also conducted and demonstrates their important roles. Moreover, the proposed model can offer useful insights into modeling heterogeneous data sources.
Occlusal development in children of African American descent. Types of terminal plane relationships in the primary dentition.

OBJECTIVE To compare the types and depths of the terminal plane relationships (mesial step, distal step, and flush) in the primary dentitions of African American (AA) and European (E) children. MATERIALS AND METHODS A convenience sample of 189 African American children (103 males and 86 females) was compared to a historical sample of 61 European children (39 males and 22 females, age range 2.1 to 5.2 years, mean age of 4.1 years). Plaster dental casts were analyzed for both samples. Terminal plane depth (TPD) was defined as the anteroposterior distance (APD) between the distal surfaces of the maxillary and mandibular second primary molars of dental casts registered in centric occlusion. Sample differences were evaluated using a 2-sample independent group t-test. RESULTS Eighty-nine percent of African American children and 63% of European children exhibited a mesial step terminal plane. The average APD of the mesial step in African American children was 1.29 mm compared to 1.13 mm in European children, but this was not statistically significant (P = .18). The samples differed significantly (P = .001) in the average APD distal step relationship (AA, 1.08 mm vs E, 2.26 mm). The prevalence of distal step relationships was lower in African American children (5%) compared to European children (16%). African American children had a lower prevalence of flush terminal plane (6%) compared to European children (21%). CONCLUSIONS In African American children as in European children, a mesial step, rather than a flush terminal plane, is the norm for the completed primary dentition.
Thinking Without Method

The author relies on Deleuze’s critique of the dogmatic image of thought to produce the conditions under which new concepts are created. Putting together a network of concepts such as the outside, ...
Impact of switching frequency and edge rates on common-mode current in MVDC microgrids

Recently, a formalized approach was derived to construct common-mode equivalent circuit models (CEMs) of complex power systems. In this paper, an initial focus is on the validation of the approach using Purdue's reduced-scale naval dc microgrid (PDCM). As part of the validation, techniques to characterize the measured and simulated CM performance in the frequency domain are highlighted. Subsequently, Fourier analysis is used to derive analytical expressions for the CM voltages of the PDCM converters that are valid for arbitrary ramp rates and switching frequency. The CM voltages are then used in tandem within the CEM to consider the impact that wide-bandgap (WBG) devices have on the CM behavior of the testbed.
Microbiological Safety of Unpasteurized Fruit and Vegetable Juices Sold in Juice Bars and Small Retail Outlets

Abstract Unpasteurized juice has gained considerable popularity mainly due to the demand for more freshlike foods that have not been subjected to processing methods that may lead to loss of flavor and vitamins. These juices, such as traditional commercial juices, are minimally processed and may not be subjected to heat pasteurization. Consequently, these juices have a shorter shelf life compared with traditional juice products and are sold in juice bars or retail stores. Juice retailers that sell directly to consumers are not covered by Juice Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) regulations. Under Juice HACCP regulations, juice processors are required to identify chemical, physical, and microbiological hazards that could possibly contaminate the product. Juice processors must prevent, reduce, or eliminate these hazards and achieve a 5-log reduction in the number of potential pathogens in the final juice product. Juices that have not been processed to achieve a 5-log reduction in the number of potential pathogens must include a warning label stating that, “this product has not been pasteurized and, therefore, may contain harmful bacteria which can cause serious illness in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems.” Despite all the perceived benefits associated with unpasteurized juices, these products may be vehicles for pathogenic microorganisms due to the lack of processing and antimicrobials typically added to pasteurized juice. To circumvent the adverse affects of heat treated juices, research has been conducted that evaluates nonthermal interventions. These nonthermal interventions include high pressure processing, ultraviolet light, pulsed light, pulsed electric field, supercritical carbon dioxide, and ozone. In addition, the use of natural antimicrobials has gained in popularity.
David farmerʼs body of work: A retrospective and prospective view

David Farmerʼs work is too often misunderstood, perhaps because of the truly imaginative metaphors that he employs for expressing it, and the seemingly paradoxical prescriptions that it leads to at the level of practical action. This problem is helped by elaborating the grounding in which his work is at least implicitly set (namely, Traditionalism in American public administration) and by considering its congruence and compatibilities with the best of such contemporary organization theory as Demingʼs approach to organizational and management practice. With such clarified understanding, it becomes obvious that his work opens the way to a truly new 21st century model of public administration both in theory and in application.
Efficient infrastructure damage detection and localization using wireless sensor networks, with cluster generation for monitoring damage progression

Structural health monitoring (SHM) involves the development of strategies to assess the condition of instrumented engineering structures. One of the most critical applications of SHM systems is civil infrastructure. For this application, it is particularly important that SHM systems be inexpensive and easy to deploy, since the maintenance of infrastructure is often inadequately funded. Wireless sensor networks (WSN) can be very useful toward this end. We present an efficient WSN-based SHM algorithm for detecting, localizing, and monitoring the progression of damage in infrastructure applications. The algorithm utilizes a novel vibration-based pattern matching technique that is very well suited for low-power WSN nodes. During a training phase, a body of reference patterns is formed from vibrations observed at sensor nodes distributed throughout the structure. During the operational phase, observed patterns are compared to the reference patterns to determine if a match exists. Through the use of an innovative distributed algorithm, a time complexity of O(logN) is achieved for the matching process. If a match does not exist, potential damage is indicated and the reference pattern closest to the observed pattern is determined using Euclidean distance. The difference between the two patterns indicates the sensor nodes at which potential damage exists. Clusters are then formed around these sensor nodes in order to monitor the progression of local damage. Simulations are performed in MATLAB for a typical bridge deployment in order to determine the degree of overlapping that occurs as clusters are generated in response to potential damage. The simulations indicate that overlapping increases gracefully as the number of nodes experiencing damage increases.
Improving Breast Cancer Survivors’ Psychological Outcomes and Quality of Life: Alternatives to Traditional Psychotherapy

Breast cancer survivors (BCS) often experience psychological problems and lowered quality of life (QOL). While helpful, psychotherapy is often costly and inaccessible. This review aims to provide practitioners with the latest information on empirically tested interventions among BCS that may be used in lieu of, or in addition to, traditional psychotherapy. Recent developments in cancer-related psychological interventions include a focus on facilitating emotional disclosure (e.g., expressive writing), enhancing close relationships (e.g., couples-based interventions), and increasing feasibility and accessibility via online and computer-based intervention programs. These alternatives to psychotherapy offer a number of benefits including cost-effectiveness, personalized adaptability, and ease of implementation. Utilizing these interventions as alternatives or supplements to traditional psychotherapy may offer BCS an opportunity to increase their QOL, improve psychosocial outcomes, and find meaning in their cancer experience. Choosing the appropriate intervention requires understanding the unique circumstances for each survivor and their family.
Development of quantitative comparative cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assays for environmental hazardous chemicals

Mammalian cell asays can provide toxicological information that may be more relevant to human risk asessment than commonly used microbial tests. Rapid, semi-automated, quantitative mammalian cell cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assays were developed to analyze drinking water disinfection by-products (DBPs). These assays employ 96-well microplates; selected DBPs were analyzed with cultured Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The concentration of the DBPs that repressed 50% of CHO cell growth with a 72 h exposure was calculated as the %C1/2 value. Using these values the rank order (from highest to lowest cytotoxicity) was bromonitromethane, dibromonitromethane, tribromonitromethane, bromoacetic acid, dibromoacetic acid, and tribromoacetic acid. Genotoxicity analyses of the DBPs were conducted using the single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay. This assay detects genomic DNA damage at the level of the individual nucleus. Using SCGE genotoxic potency the rank order was bromoacetic acid> dibromonitromethane>>bromonitromethane>dibromoacetic acid>tribromoacetic acid. The relative cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of these agents were compared with Salmonella typhimurium . Studies of specific DBPs in mammalian cell systems are important to compare the toxicity of these hazardous water contaminants. Such knowledge is necessary for risk assessment and to assist in the formulation of public regulatory policies that protect the environment and the public health.
Extremal Principle in Variational Analysis

It is well known that the convex separation principle plays a fundamental role in many aspects of nonlinear analysis, optimization, and their applications. Actually the whole convex analysis revolves around using separation theorems for convex sets. In problems with nonconvex data separation theorems are applied to convex approximations. This is a conventional way to derive necessary optimality conditions in constrained optimization: first build tangential convex approximations of the problem data around an optimal solution in primal spaces and then apply convex separation theorems to get supporting elements in dual spaces (Lagrange multipliers, adjoint arcs, prices, etc.). For problems of nonsmooth optimization this approach inevitably leads to the usage of convex sets of normals and subgradients, whose calculus is also based on convex separation theorems.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor Therapy

New, more effective antiretroviral therapeutic agents (1 and promise from HIV vaccine studies (2) have not yet prevented the AIDS epidemic’s global spread. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), in combinations termed highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), are cornerstones of AIDS therapy in the developed world. Biochemical, cell biological, and clinical features intertwine to amplify the DNA polymerase-γ hypothesis (3) into a mitochondrial dysfunction hypothesis (4) that focuses on the effects on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication and intramitochondrial and intracellular processing of NRTIs (5) . During the past decade or longer, it has become increasingly reasonable to link organelle (i.e., mitochondrial) toxicity to NRTI therapy and to consider that the mechanisms operative in the pathogenesis of NRTI toxicity are interrelated with the mitochondria. Early observations were based on in vitro experiments (6) , animal experiments confirmed those findings in vivo (7, 8, 9) , and clinical correlations were found in AIDS patients (4,10)
Small is big: functionally partitioned file caching in virtualized environments

File cache management is among the most important factors affecting the performance of a cloud computing system. To achieve higher economies of scale, virtual machines are often overcommitted, which creates high memory pressure. Thus it is essential to eliminate duplicate data in the host and guest caches to boost performance. Existing cache deduplication solutions are based on complex algorithms, or incur high runtime overhead, and therefore are not widely applicable. In this paper we present a simple and lightweight mechanism based on functional partitioning. In our mechanism, the responsibility of each cache becomes smaller: the host only caches data in base images and a VM guest only caches its own "private data", which is generated after the VM has started. As a result, the overall effective cache size becomes bigger. Our method requires very small change to existing software (15 lines of new/modified code) to achieves big performance improvements - more than 40% performance gains in high memory pressure settings.
Connectivity of Primate Reward Centers

There are many regions of the brain that contain cells that respond to reward. However, the cortical–basal ganglial circuit is the main system that processes information about reward detection, anticipation, value, and predictability that is necessary for the development of appropriate goal-directed behaviors. The key structures are the anterior cingulate cortex, the orbital prefrontal cortex, the ventral striatum, the medial temporal lobe, and the midbrain dopamine neurons. Together, the connections among these areas form a complex neural network that underlies incentive-based learning.
Evaluating changes in water institutions: methodological issues at the micro and meso levels

Institutions (formal rules) governing water allocation and use are often critical to a nation's development and prosperity. It is often necessary to change water institutions as economic, physical and political circumstance change. In this paper, a framework is presented to help understand the potential and need for change in water institutions. The pressure for institutional change can be analyzed at the micro level, in terms of the incentives for individuals to organize in order to influence the structure of rules governing water. Economic incentives and interest-group politics combine to produce changes that may or may not be efficient. Change in water institutions can also be evaluated at the meso level, where the structure and sequencing of actual change is at issue. The concepts of nesting, path dependency and institutional transaction costs are particularly useful in understanding this level of change. The concepts presented can help economists evaluate the pressure for, and obstacles to, institutional change in a particular country. These insights may be used by those interested in adapting and designing water institutions that yield improvements in the use of water resources.
Barriers to Degree Completion for College Students With Foster Care Histories: Results From a 10-Year Longitudinal Study:

Youth who were in foster care as adolescents make up a small but highly vulnerable subpopulation of the college student body. This article analyzes secondary data collected from one of the most com...
Role of particles in the rheology of solid-stabilized high internal phase emulsions.

Abstract Hypothesis The presence of colloidal particles on fluid interfaces can have a significant impact on the rheology of solid-stabilized high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs). Experiments Using dynamic oscillatory rheometry and confocal microscopy, we investigate a broad array of solid-stabilized HIPEs formulated along four different compositional trajectories in their ternary state diagram, using particles of three different sizes and two different surface chemistries. Findings We unveil three important consequences of the use of particles, in lieu of surfactants, on the rheology of HIPEs. First, particle excluded volume interactions take a pronounced role in the transition to solid-like rheology due to crowding. An effective dispersed phase volume fraction, taking into account the particle three-phase contact angle, must be defined to account for the dependence of the mixture’s rheology on its composition. Second, weak, chemistry-dependent attractive colloidal interactions through the continuous phase result in a finite elastic modulus at low effective dispersed phase volume fractions. Third, we observe a secondary rise in the mixture’s elastic modulus at increasingly high dispersed-to-continuous-phase volumetric ratios. We postulate these interactions stem from attractive lateral capillary interactions between the particles, due to thinning of the continuous fluid film between faceted droplets.
The degree-wise effect of a second step for a random walk on a graph

In this paper we consider the degree-wise effect of a second step for a random walk on a graph. We prove that under the configuration model, for any fixed degree sequence the probability of exceeding a given degree threshold is smaller after two steps than after one. This builds on recent work of Kramer et al. (2016) regarding the friendship paradox under random walks.
“In Love at First Sight Completely, Hopelessly, and Forever with Chinese Art”: The Eugene and Agnes Meyer Collection of Chinese Art at the Freer Gallery of Art

The Agnes and Eugene Meyer collection of Chinese bronzes, paintings, and sculptures came to the Freer Gallery of Art through Agnes Meyer's donations in the 1960s, her bequest in 1971—the largest si...