cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transverse-jet shear-layer instabilities. Part 1. Experimental studies

This study provides a detailed exploration of the near-field shear-layer instabilities associated with a gaseous jet injected normally into crossflow, also known as the transverse jet. Jet injection from nozzles which are flush as well as elevated with respect to the tunnel wall are explored experimentally in this study, for jet-to-crossflow velocity ratios R in the range 1 < R ≤ 10 and with jet Reynolds numbers of 2000 and 3000. The results indicate that the nature of the transverse jet instability is significantly different from that of the free jet, and that the instability changes in character as the crossflow velocity is increased. Dominant instability modes are observed to be strengthened, to move closer to the jet orifice, and to increase in frequency as crossflow velocity increases for the regime 3.5 < R ≤ 10. The instabilities also exhibit mode shifting downstream along the jet shear layer for either nozzle configuration at these moderately high values of R. When R is reduced below 3.5 in the flush injection experiments, single-mode instabilities are dramatically strengthened, forming almost immediately within the shear layer in addition to harmonic and subharmonic modes, without any evidence of mode shifting. Under these conditions, the dominant and initial mode frequencies tend to decrease with increasing crossflow. In contrast, the instabilities in the elevated jet experiments are weakened as R is reduced below about 4, probably owing to an increase in the vertical coflow magnitude exterior to the elevated nozzle, until R falls below 1.25, at which point the elevated jet instabilities become remarkably similar to those for the flush injected jet. Low-level jet forcing has no appreciable influence on the shear-layer response when these strong modes are present, in contrast to the significant influence of low-level forcing otherwise. These studies suggest profound differences in transverse-jet shear-layer instabilities, depending on the flow regime, and help to explain differences previously observed in transverse jets controlled by strong forcing.
A New Species of Dixella Dyar & Shannon Meniscus Midge (Diptera: Dixidae)

Abstract. A new species of meniscus midge is reported from western Michigan. Adults of Dixella fraxina Taber appear in spring in tussock sedge, Carex stricta Lamarck, understory of black ash, Fraxinus nigra Marshall, swamp. No new species of this genus have been discovered in the United States in the last 40 years. Dark wing coloration suggests a close relationship to Dixella marginata (Loew) but characters in both sexes distinguish this fly from that species and from its other 18 congeners occurring in the United States, half of which occur in the western and southwestern states.
Developing an SSME Initiative for Instruction and Research at Morgan State University

Service science or service science, management and engineering (SSME) is a growing multi-disciplinary research and academic effort that integrates aspects of established fields like computer science, operations research, engineering, management sciences, business strategy, social and cognitive sciences, and legal sciences. More than 20 major research institutions in the US have adopted SSME as a discipline or program for educating students, but no Historically Black College or University (HBCU) has yet to fully develop and implement this new discipline. This paper will describe an initiative at a HBCU to promote the emerging discipline of Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME) for instruction in the classroom, and a proposed research effort targeted in healthcare delivery systems. This initiative utilizes collaborative learning tools, case studies and research projects to reinforce SSME concepts. The HBCU is also taking the lead in creating an alliance of other HBCUs to promote the discipline of SSME.
Interpersonal trust in cross-functional, geographically distributed work: A longitudinal study

With increasing globalization and the proliferation of communication technologies, more people are working in cross-functional, geographically distributed teams. Although trust is clearly an important ingredient in these collaborations, little is known about the challenges this new work and social environment creates for the development of trust. Different disciplinary perspectives, different regional or national cultures, and the lack of face-to-face interaction when working at a distance raise significant barriers to developing trust between distant co-workers. We, therefore, posit that traditional models of trust need to be adapted to describe the development of trust between cross-functional, geographically distributed partners. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a longitudinal study of architecture, engineering and construction management students engaged in designing and planning a $5 million construction project in distributed teams. Our results suggest that cross-functional, geographically distributed workers may rely on early impressions of perceived trustworthiness when evaluating how their distant partners are delivering on commitments, because reliable information about actual follow-through is lacking or difficult to interpret. Consistent with this, we found that perceived trustworthiness, perceived follow-through and trust were relatively stable over time. We conclude that initial perceptions of trustworthiness are particularly important in cross-functional, geographically distributed work, although research is needed to draw comparisons with traditional work environments. # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Loose source routing as a mechanism for traffic policies

Internet packet delivery policies have been of concern since the earliest times of the Internet, as witnessed by the presence of the Type of Service (ToS) field in the IPv4 header. Efforts continue today with Differentiated Services (DiffServ) and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS). We claim that these approaches have not succeeded because they require, either explicitly or subtly, a network-layer virtual circuit mechanism.In this paper, we describe how adding a form of Loose Source and Record Route (LSRR) capability into the next-generation Internet provides adequate support for transmit and receive policies, including filtering, while avoiding the problems of virtual circuits and the original problems with LSRR in IPv4.
Undiagnosed metabolic dysfunction and sudden infant death syndrome--a case-control study.

Background Decades of research has yielded few clues about causes of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). While some studies have shown a link to inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs), few have examined the link in a large population-based sample. This population-based case–control study assessed the association between undiagnosed IEMs and SIDS. Methods Children born in California during 2005–08 who died from SIDS were obtained from death records and linked to the newborn screening, birth certificate, and hospital discharge databases. Individuals with known chromosomal and neural tube defects, genetic disorders, and non-singleton births were excluded. Five controls were matched to each case on tandem mass spectrometry testing date and lab code. Rates of undiagnosed IEMs were compared between cases and controls using conditional logistic regression adjusting for known confounding factors. Results After adjusting for known confounding factors, SIDS cases had similar risk of having IEMs as controls (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.3, 5.5). Infants who were male, Black, and born preterm had higher risk of SIDS with the highest risk observed for those born preterm [adjusted HR = 1.7, 95% CI 1.3, 2.2]. Younger maternal age at delivery, mother being born in the US, parity after current birth >3, and delayed prenatal care were also significantly associated with higher risk of SIDS. Conclusions While many maternal and infant factors are associated with an increased risk of SIDS, there is no evidence that undiagnosed IEMs are associated with increased risk.
Estimation of the Water Balance Using Observed Soil Water in the Nebraska Sandhills

Analyzing the dynamic hydrologic conditions of the Sandhills is critical for water and range management and sustainability of the sandhills ecosystem as well as for dune stability. There are complex models available to quantify both surface and subsurface hydrological processes. However, we present in this study an application of a relatively simple model to arrive at best estimates of the water balance components. Using the Thornthwaite-Mather model, water balance components were estimated for four automated weather data network weather monitoring stations. Estimated averages of the water balance components suggested that mean annual precipitation of these four sites was only about 420 mm but water loss through plant evapotranspiration (ET) was 861 mm, with potential ET of about 1,214 mm. Our investigation shows that there was surplus of water between December and March and a deficit occurs at the start of the growing season in May and extends through senescence in September–October. This study also sugg...
Biochemistry of Chemosensory Behavior in Prokaryotes and Unicellular Eukaryotes

Chemotaxis, a migratory response to a chemical gradient, serves a variety of purposes among microorganisms by means of a corresponding diversity of chemotactic mechanisms. Even when chemotaxis serves the same end, such as migration toward sources of food, the mechanism and stimulus specificity reflect a given organism’s unique needs. Bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium have a refined chemotactic response to a variety of compounds signaling the presence of sources of carbon and nitrogen (Adler, 1975; Koshland, 1980a; Taylor and Laszlo, 1981). Representative amino acids and sugars are strong attractants for these bacteria (Mesibov and Adler, 1972; Adler et al, 1973). Likewise, Paramecium, which feeds on bacteria, is attracted to various excretion products of bacterial metabolism, such as lactose, acetate, folate, and ammonium ion (for a review of chemotaxis in protozoa, see Van Houten et al, 1981).
Prevention of Mold Growth and Toxin Production through Control of Environmental Conditions.

Environmental conditions influence mold growth and mycotoxin production. Such things as water activity (aw), temperature, pH and atmosphere can strongly affect and profoundly alter patterns of growth and mycotoxin production. Generally, maintenance of low temperatures will prevent aflatoxin production in stored products, whereas other toxins such as penicillic acid, patulin, zearolenone and T-2 toxin may be produced at low temperatures. Toxic Penicillium and Fusarium species are generally more capable of growth at low temperatures than are toxic species of Aspergillus . Temperature interacts with aw to influence mold growth and mycotoxin production. Aflatoxin B1 can be produced at conditions of aw and temperature which are close to the minimum aw and temperature for growth. On the other hand, patulin, penicillic acid and ochratoxin A are produced within a narrower range of aw and temperature, compared with those for growth. In fact, production of patulin and penicillic acid by Penicillium species appears to be confined to high aw values only. In optimal substrates, the minima of aw and temperature for growth and toxin production may be lower than in other substrates. It appears that pH and substrate composition have no great effect on growth of toxic molds, but may have a great influence on toxin production. Presence of CO2 and O2 influences mold growth and mycotoxin production. A 20% level of CO2 in air depresses aflatoxin production and markedly depresses mold growth. Decreasing the O2 concentration of air to 10% depresses aflatoxin production, but only at O2 levels of less than 1% are growth and aflatoxin production completely inhibited. With patulin- and sterigmatocystin-producing molds, concentrations of 40% CO2 depress growth and toxin production, but a level of 90% CO2 is needed to completely inhibit production of these toxins. Decreasing O2 concentration to 2% depresses production of patulin and sterigmatocystin but does not affect fungal growth. Only at levels down to 0.2% are growth and toxin production completely inhibited. Controlled atmospheres with increased CO2 (above 10%) and decreased O2 (2%) can be used to retard mold growth. Exclusion of O2 by vacuum packaging in materials with low O2 permeability will depress or even prevent aflatoxin production. Presence of other microorganisms may also restrict fungal growth and mycotoxin production. Aflatoxin production by Aspergillus flavus in mixed cultures with Aspergillus niger is less than in pure culture. Mixtures of fungi growing in grains and nuts in competition with A. flavus seem to prevent aflatoxin production. Other organisms including Rhizopus nigricans , Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Brevibacterium linens and some lactic acid bacteria have been shown to reduce growth and aflatoxin production by Aspergillus parasiticus . In general, mold growth and mycotoxin production can be prevented by employing various measures based on knowledge of the factors involved. Choice of the measures depends upon the type of product, storage period and available techniques.
Team Dynamics at Initech

Someone wise once said, "A job worth doing is worth doing together." Yet why is it so difficult to work together as a team? This case presents the story of a team whose relationships are strained and deteriorating in a business where teamwork is essential to the success of the business as a whole. Individual team members begin to care less and less about their ongoing employment with the company and this manifests itself through blatant insubordination, lack of focus on team success, and power plays against team leaders. Readers put themselves in the place of the protagonist who recognizes the situation needs addressing. This case is based on real experiences, but the company and team members are disguised. It works well in modules on managing teams and will help students develop an ability to diagnose and design useful interventions for issues that teams encounter.
Limited capacity for renal vasodilatation in anesthetized diabetic rats.

Studies were conducted to determine whether reduced renal blood flow (RBF) exhibited by rats with uncontrolled streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes is attributable to diabetes-induced structural changes in the renal vasculature. Vehicle-treated control rats (CR) and rats that were injected with STZ (STZR) after pretreatment with 3-O-methylglucose (3-OMG), an agent that prevents STZ-induced hyperglycemia, were also studied. Basal values of total RBF (ml.min-1.g kidney wt-1, electromagnetic flow probe), systemic arterial pressure (BP, mmHg), and renal vascular resistance (RVR, BP/RBF) in pentobarbital-anesthetized rats during a control period were 5.4 +/- 0.3 (P less than 0.01 vs. CR), 116 +/- 3, and 21.9 +/- 1.0 (P less than 0.01 vs. CR) in STZR (n = 12) and 8.2 +/- 0.4, 121 +/- 2, and 15.3 +/- 1.0 in CR (n = 11), respectively. Basal values of RBF, BP, and RVR in 3-OMG-pretreated STZR were identical to CR. The relative capacity of STZR and CR kidneys for vasodilatation in situ in response to intrarenal arterial infusions of acetylcholine (ACh) and bradykinin (BK) and systemically administered sodium nitroprusside (NP) was evaluated. The capacity of STZR to exhibit active renal vasodilatation in response to intrarenal arterial ACh and BK was significantly less than that of CR (P less than 0.01). The minimum level to which RVR was suppressed after 50 micrograms NP/kg iv was higher in STZR than in either CR or 3-OMG-pretreated STZR (14.8 +/- 1.5 vs. 9.0 +/- 0.7 and 9.3 +/- 1.5 mmHg.ml-1.min.g kidney wt, respectively; P less than 0.05). This dose of NP exerted effective functional antagonism of renal vasoconstriction induced by exogenous norepinephrine and angiotensin II. These in vivo studies suggest that the elevated RVR in STZR might be attributable in part to structural changes in the renal vasculature that are associated with the diabetic state and limit the capacity for renal vasodilatation. However, there was no difference in pressure-flow relationships between the two groups in maximally dilated isolated kidneys perfused with Krebs buffer containing 5% albumin, and the RBF deficit in STZR kidneys was corrected by perfusion with blood from CR. Thus the decreased RBF exhibited by STRZ in vivo cannot be attributed solely to renal vascular structural changes associated with diabetes. These findings suggest that undefined humoral factors or abnormal interaction of formed blood elements with vessel walls may account for elevated RVR in STZR.
An Investigation of Algae Growth and Water Pollution in Roof Water Tanks of Huangpu District

[Objective] To learn algae growth in the roof water tanks of Huangpu District and the status of water pollution [Methods] 20 roof water tanks of multi-storey buildings were taken as the sample group and another 2 tap water samples as the control group.The observation period was one year.The number and type of algae were analysed in accordance with the factors such as temperature,light intensity,pH,nitrogen-phosphorus ratio,turbidity,oxygen-consumption and water-consumption, etc.[Results] The maximum number of algae cells in the samples was 3 690FL,whereas the minimum cell number was 220/L. Cryptophyta and green algae accounted for 99.5% of the whole algae.[Conclusion] The algae growth and photosynthesis were obviously influenced by some factors such as:water quality from the water factory,regularity of cleanout and disinfection of the water tank and nitrogen-phosphorus ratio;other factors are not so obvious.Algae has polluted the roof water tanks to a less extent.
RDIT: race detection from incomplete traces

We present RDIT, a novel dynamic algorithm to precisely detect data races in multi-threaded programs with incomplete trace information - the presence of missing events. RDIT enhances the Happens-Before algorithm by relaxing the need to collect the full execution trace, while still being precise and maximal i.e, it detects a maximal set of true data races while generating no false positives. Our approach is based on a sound BarrierPair model that abstracts away missing events by capturing the invocation data of their enclosing methods. By making the least conservative abstraction and by formulating maximal thread causality as logical constraints, we can detect a maximal set of true races from the information available.
Antacids and anticholinergics. Thoughts on how and when to use them.

Antacids are especially useful in peptic ulcer disease if the doses are timed to deliver maximum neutralizing effect during the most vulnerable periods of the day. If anticholinergic drugs are to be used at all, doses should be large enough to produce minor side effects.
Classical Analyses of Conditionals

In Chapter 2, we reviewed the evidence favoring each of SDA and RCEA, and we tentatively accepted SDA. In Chapter 3, we considered the formal properties of various possible worlds model theories for conditional logics. Now we will consider the question of the philosophical adequacy of several semantics for subjunctive conditionals, tentatively accepting RCEA.
Probing the interconnections between geo-exploration and information exploration behavior

As increasingly diverse facets of human life - including socializing, exercising, and information-seeking - are mediated by ubiquitous technology, they open the doors for the study of the hitherto under-explored interconnections between them. This work motivates and grounds the use of geo-exploration data to predict the information exploration behavior of users and to support their search. Based on a two-week field study involving 35 participants, we have identified multiple geo-exploration features that have significant associations with a user's information exploration behavior. We also found that the same geo-exploration features could be combined to build predictive models for various facets of an individual's information exploration behavior, and these models performed significantly better than comparable personality-based models.
Robotic football dance team: An engineering Fine-Arts interdisciplinary learning experience

With the increasing focus on the importance of interdisciplinary projects in the academic setting, it still seems as if most of these projects are either collaborations between disciplines in the STEM fields or collaborations between disciplines in the Liberal Arts fields. Despite the fact that they complement each other, a significant barrier still exists between STEM and Liberal Arts students. This paper describes the joint work of three Electrical and Computer Engineering students with one Fine-Arts student on an extracurricular project. In preparation for the robotic football competition, a team of our Engineering students decided to create a robotic dance team to complement the football playing robots. In order to create this team, Engineering students assembled, calibrated, and programmed a team of ten robots. Multiple Fine-Arts student were recruited but only one joined the team to help with the music selection/creation and other aesthetic aspects of the robots. The interdisciplinary nature of the collaboration highlighted the need to knock down some of the barriers between the technical and Fine-Arts disciplines. The team dynamics showed that students from different disciplines need to get out of their respective comfort zones and collaborate for the sake of their projects. The paper includes a full description of the project and a review of the lessons learned from the collaboration.
Women Dancing the Morris in Fletcher and Shakespeare’s The Two Noble Kinsmen, 1613–2015

ABSTRACTThis essay analyses how the morris dance in The Two Noble Kinsmen – a crucial moment in the play’s treatment of gender and class rank – intervenes in seventeenth-century debates about the cultural function of morris dancing and especially of women’s roles within it. The essay considers what morris dancing might have signified at the play’s composition and earliest performances by analysing it alongside its courtly source, seventeenth-century pamphlets and dances inserted in other professional plays, and it examines how modern performances have remade the scene. While the play text empowers its female dancers, most twentieth- and twenty-first-century performances have limited their authority and made the dance into a scene that highlights the oppression of women. Two recent student performances in the USA and New Zealand have reframed the play’s morris as a dance that enables women to embrace playful bawdiness, seek reward, or resist social expectations.
Abstract P3-06-07: Combination of doxorubicin with S1P signaling modulator FTY720 significantly suppressed obesity-associated breast cancer

Background: Obesity is one of the biggest health issues in the US. It has been shown that obesity-associated breast cancer is more aggressive with poor prognosis, which is partly explained by the low-grade inflammation caused by obesity. Recently we have published that sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a signaling lipid mediator, link inflammation and cancer in colitis-associated colon cancer model. We hypothesized that addition of S1P modulator that block S1P signaling thus suppress the effect of obesity-mediated inflammation should enhance anti-cancer effect of doxorubicin, which is a typical anti-cancer drug for breast cancer used as a standard of care. Methods: Female B6.cg- Lep ob (OB/OB) mice fed with high fat diet for 2 weeks prior to implantation of cancer cells were used as an obesity model, and litter mate control mice fed with normal diet were used as a control. 1 x 10 6 murine mammary adenocarcinoma E0771 cells were inoculated into #2 rt. fat pads as previously described (Katsuta et al JSR 2016). 9 days after inoculation, both OB/OB and control mice were randomized into 4 groups in each group; vehicle, Doxorubicin, FTY720 and Combination of Doxorubicin and FTY720. Doxorubicin was administrated by i.p. injection at a dose of 5 mg/kg on Day 0 and 3. FTY720 was administered everyday by gavage at a dose of 1 mg/kg during the entire course. Tumor growths were measured daily by caliper measurements. Tumor weights were measured on 21 days after cell inoculation. Results: The body weight of obesity model was significantly heavier than control mice at the time of cancer cell inoculation (44.1 g vs 19.4 g; p Conclusion: Modification of S1P signaling by FTY720 was shown to enhance the effect of doxorubicin particularly in obese mice, which implicate a novel approach to treat obesity-associated breast cancer. Citation Format: Katsuta E, Takabe K. Combination of doxorubicin with S1P signaling modulator FTY720 significantly suppressed obesity-associated breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-06-07.
Human variation in dark adaptation facility

There is mounting evidence that the military’s emphasis on photopic visual performance standards in the absence of mesopic and scotopic standards is a major oversight. The lack of an individualized mesopic capability represents a scientific knowledge gap that could impact soldier survivability. Data from 24 subjects (who had participated in a project on “Facilitating the transition from bright to dim environments”) have been re-assessed with regard to their individual dark adaptation response variability. A reduced ‘bleaching’ stimulus of 378 foot Lamberts (fL), lasting only 5 minutes, often elicited a rod-cone break in a matter of seconds. The time required for each subject to subsequently detect and identify as many of 10 reduced–intensity light sources was measured. The 2° lighted targets ranged from 0.250 fL to 0.001 fL in luminance. The dark adaptation time to detect the 0.002 fL target was 60.81 +/- 26.9 seconds (mean +/- standard deviation) for the control condition. The clear spectacle lens group took 78.99 +/- 44.34 seconds. Grouped data analysis indicated the lack of a statistically significant difference between the data-sets by t-test (p ≤ 0.06). Yet, there is a difference in the degree of response variability by both grouped data sets, as well as by individual data response variability. Variation between the control and lens-wearing conditions can readily be explained by 8-10% transmission losses from surface reflections, and direct glare interference. Nevertheless, both iterations exhibited a varied facility or speed of dark adaptation, which further varied on the testretest condition, meaning there was no learning effect from the first test to the second one. This same visual sensitivity variability characteristic is duplicated within the realm of visual resolution.
Ethics and Communication

Ethics education aims to train physicians to identify and resolve ethical issues. To address ethical concerns, physicians may need to confront each other. We surveyed medical students to determine if their comfort challenging members of their ward teams about ethical issues varies by specialty and what attributes of students and their teams contributed to that comfort. Compared to other specialties, students felt significantly less comfortable challenging team members about ethical issues on surgery and obstetrics/gynecology. We suggest that ethics education must address the atmosphere on ward teams and give students skills to help them speak out despite their discomfort.
Some Kwa-like features of Djuka syntax

The frequent claim that creole languages on both sides of the Atlantic derive many of their syntactic features from a Kwa source is examined for three construction types in Djuka of Suriname: serial verb constructions, clefting for contrastive focus, and comparative constructions. The Djuka constructions are compared with analogous constructions in Kwa, Voltaic, Benue-Congo, Mande, and Chadic languages, Krio and West African Pidgin English, and non-African languages, both creole and non-creole. The hypothesis of a Kwa source for the clefting constructions in Djuka (and Atlantic creoles generally) is supported in particular by the data on clefting of predicates. The evidence for a Kwa source is much less clear for the serial verb constructions, while that for the comparative constructions falls in between these two. The influence of languages from other families, as well as universals, must still be taken into account, as the data from the non-African languages demonstrate.
Biomechanics of human parietal pleura in uniaxial extension

Tension pneumothorax, a major preventable cause of battlefield death, often arises from chest trauma and is treated by needle decompression to release trapped air from the pleural cavity. Surgical simulation mannequins are often employed to train medical personnel to perform this procedure properly. Accurate reproduction of the mechanical behavior of the parietal pleura, especially in response to needle penetration, is essential to maximize the fidelity of these surgical simulators. To date, however, the design of pleura-simulating material has been largely empirical and based on subjective practitioner feel rather than on the tissue properties, which have remained unknown. In this study, we performed uniaxial extension tests on samples of cadaveric human parietal pleura. We found that the pleura was highly nonlinear and mildly anisotropic, being roughly twice as stiff in the direction parallel to the ribs vs. perpendicular to the ribs (large-strain modulus = 20.44 vs. 11.49MPa). We also did not find significant correlations for most pleural properties with age or BMI, but it must be recognized that the age range (59 ± 9.5 yrs) and BMI range (31 ± 5.3) of the donors in our study was not what one might expect from combatants, and there could be differences for younger, lighter individuals. We found a significantly higher low-strain modulus in the diabetic donors (0.213 vs. 0.100MPa), consistent with the general tendency of tissue to stiffen in diabetes. The nonlinearity and tensile strength should be considered in material design and selection for future surgical simulators.
An unresponsive progressive pustular and crusting dermatitis with acantholysis in nine cats

Background Between 2000 and 2012, nine cats were examined with a visually distinctive, progressive crusting dermatitis that was poorly responsive to all attempted therapies. Objectives Documentation of clinical and histopathological findings of this disease. Animals Nine privately owned cats. Methods Retrospective study. Results Eight neutered males and one (presumably spayed) female ranging in age from two to eight years, presented for a progressive, well-demarcated, crusting dermatitis with variable pruritus of 1.5 months to five years duration. All cats lived in northern California, USA; seven lived within a 30 mile radius. Two males were littermates. Histopathological investigation showed both parakeratotic and orthokeratotic crusts, intraepidermal pustules and superficial folliculitis with rare to frequent acantholytic cells. Bacterial and fungal cultures were performed in six cats: meticillin-susceptible Staphylococcus pseudintermedius was isolated in three cats, two colonies of Trichophyton terrestre and three of Malassezia pachydermatis were isolated from one cat each. Treatment with various antibiotics, antifungal and a variety of immunosuppressive medications did not alter the progressive nature of the skin disease. Conclusions and clinical importance The described disease shares some clinical and histopathological features with pemphigus foliaceus, but the lack of response to treatment, its progressive nature and the possible relatedness of some of the cats set it apart. The aetiology of this acantholytic dermatitis remains unknown.
Design of field-oriented-control-based brushless, self-excited synchronous field-winding machine with combined finite element/rectifier model

In this paper a design and simulation model of a brushless, self-excited field winding machine is presented. The rotor of this machine possesses two windings, a field winding and a “transformer” winding, that are connected through a diode rectifier circuit. Using field-oriented control techniques, an AC magnetic field is generated by the stator windings that is always aligned with the transformer winding. The simulation model combines a finite element model of the machine's magnetic behavior with a nonlinear circuit model of the diode rectifier. Experimental results from a prototype machine are presented, and used to validate the simulation tool.
Social-cultural, traditional beliefs, and health system barriers of hepatitis B screening among Hmong Americans: A case study.

Background The incidence of liver cancer in Hmong Americans is 5 times higher than that of non-Hispanic whites, and there is a low hepatitis B screening rate (24%) among Hmong adults compared with other Asian American populations. The purpose of this study was to examine the Hmong's perceptions on social-cultural determinants, traditional health beliefs, and health care system barriers that influenced community-based hepatitis B screening interventions. Methods A qualitative method was used, integrating a collective case study research design. In-depth interviews were used to collect data from 20 Hmong adults from the greater Sacramento area. A pattern matching analytic technique was used to analyze the data. The main core elements of Culture Care Theory were used to capture the key themes presented by the participants. Results Protecting a family's reputation; fear of doctors, medical procedures, and test results; lack of trust in medical doctors and medical care services; and using Hmong herbal medicines and practicing spiritual healing were identified as social-cultural and traditional health belief barriers to obtaining HBV screening. Health care costs, perceived discrimination, lack of transportation, linguistic discordance, and poor quality of care were identified as barriers to accessing high-quality health care services and obtaining hepatitis B screening. Conclusion Providers, health policy makers, researchers, and community-based organizations will need to work together to develop intervention strategies to address the social-cultural factors, traditional health beliefs, and health care challenges that influence obtaining hepatitis B screening in the Hmong community. Cancer 2018;124:1576-82. © 2018 American Cancer Society.
Weather-based road condition estimation in the era of Internet-of-Vehicles (IoV)

Modern high-end vehicles are equipped with advanced embedded computing elements and wireless connectivity capabilities. All these new features can provide new services, introducing the smart car era. This evolution has created a large network that includes cars as preliminary entities, extending the Internet of Things (IoT) to what is often referred as Internet-of-Vehicles (IoV). Thus, smart cars rise the challenge of efficient utilization of the available computational, sensing and connection potential. This paper presents a systematic methodology for combining different information sources in order to estimate the status of the car and perform specific actions. As a use case, the proposed approach considers the estimation of the road condition utilizing weather information. Specifically, it informs the driver about a recommended (dynamic) speed limit that the car should adapt to.
Distinct homeostatic modulations stabilize reduced postsynaptic receptivity in response to presynaptic DLK signaling

Synapses are constructed with the stability to last a lifetime, yet sufficiently flexible to adapt during injury. Although fundamental pathways that mediate intrinsic responses to neuronal injury have been defined, less is known about how synaptic partners adapt. We have investigated responses in the postsynaptic cell to presynaptic activation of the injury-related Dual Leucine Zipper Kinase pathway at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction. We find that the postsynaptic compartment reduces neurotransmitter receptor levels, thus depressing synaptic strength. Interestingly, this diminished state is stabilized through distinct modulations to two postsynaptic homeostatic signaling systems. First, a retrograde response normally triggered by reduced receptor levels is silenced, preventing a compensatory enhancement in presynaptic neurotransmitter release. However, when global presynaptic release is attenuated, a postsynaptic receptor scaling mechanism persists to adaptively stabilize this diminished neurotransmission state. Thus, the homeostatic set point of synaptic strength is recalibrated to a reduced state as synapses acclimate to injury.
Simulation of heat and mass transfer in molten core/concrete interactions

The heat and mass transfer processes taking place in self-heated pools growing in soluble, gas-releasing solid beds have been investigated. Simulating experiments have been used to examine the effects of power density, pool-to-bed density ratio, and volumetric gas release ratio on the evolution of pool shape. A computer program, UWMCCI, has been developed and used to compare the experimental data to predictions of both gas-film- and gas-bubbling-type heat transfer models. The program has also been used parametrically to compare these two types of models at prototypical gas release rates.
Sigma-1 receptor and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Sigma-1 receptor (Sig-1R, σ1R, also referred to as sigma receptor 1, SigR1) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein that is specifically located at the mitochondria-associated ER membrane (MAM), which interfaces between the ER and mitochondria. At the level of MAM, Sig-1R functions as a molecular chaperone that ensures proper calcium (Ca2+) transfer from the ER to the mitochondria and participates in the ER stress response to accumulation of unfolded proteins. On activation by agonists or in the setting of cell stress, Sig-1R translocates from the MAM to the plasma membrane, where it interacts with a variety of receptors and ion channels, or to the nuclear envelope, where it contributes to regulation of gene transcription.
Exploring college students' sexual and reproductive health literacy

Objective: To assess college students’ sexual and reproductive health (SRH) literacy experiences, specific to contraception use and STI prevention. Participants: In Spring 2015, participants (n = 4...
Daring and deliberation: Virtue, rhetoric, and diplomacy in Thucydides’ account of the Athenian empire

In Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian War, the juxtaposition between the speeches in defense of the Athenian empire and their political effects uncovers critical insights into the need for rh...
Equilibria in Dynamical Systems

We review some basic concepts from classical dynamical systems, including equilibria, phase space, trajectories, basins of attraction, stability, and asymptotic stability. We also highlight some recently introduced concepts of basin size and basin entropy. We present subgradient systems as generalizations of gradient systems and connect the equilibria of these to the minimizers of the objective function underlying the system.
Anaerobic bioprocessing of wastewater-derived duckweed: Maximizing product yields in a biorefinery value cascade.

This study integrated the sugar and carboxylate platforms to enhance duckweed processing in biorefineries. Two or three bioprocesses (ethanol fermentation, acidogenic digestion, and methanogenic digestion) were sequentially integrated to maximize the carbon-to-carbon conversion of wastewater-derived duckweed into bioproducts, through a series of laboratory-scale experiments. Reactors were fed either raw (dried), liquid-hot-water-pretreated, or enzymatically-saccharified duckweed. Subsequently, the target bioproduct was separated from the reactor liquor and the residues further processed. The total bioproduct carbon yield of 0.69 ± 0.07 g per gram of duckweed-C was obtained by sequential acidogenic and methanogenic digestion. Three sequential bioprocesses revealed nearly as high yields (0.66 ± 0.08 g of bioproduct-C per duckweed-C), but caused more gaseous carbon (dioxide) loss. For this three-stage value cascade, yields of each process in conventional units were: 0.186 ± 0.001 g ethanol/g duckweed; 611 ± 64 mg volatile fatty acids as acetic acid/g VS; and 434 ± 0.2 ml methane/g VS.
Adding realism to the Agglomeration Bonus: How endogenous land returns affect habitat fragmentation

Abstract The Agglomeration Bonus has been shown to be a potentially successful policy to reunite fragmented habitat and increase conservation enrollment in laboratory testbed experiments. Yet, one key criticism has been that land prices have been assumed exogenous and fixed in these experiments. In the field, voluntary conservation enrollment by landowners will likely affect the value of the surrounding land. This endogeneity of land values suggests a discrepancy between results from laboratory experiments and true landowner decisions under a given policy. We address this concern by using an experimental design that accounts for the endogenous effect on surrounding land values from habitat conservation based on estimated returns from an actual landscape in eastern Wyoming as a case study. We show that without incorporating endogenous land values, traditional laboratory experiments likely will underestimate the amount of habitat fragmentation resulting from basic conservation policies without Agglomeration Bonuses. We also find that a low-cost Agglomeration Bonus can work to reunite this fragmented habitat, even under endogenous land value conditions. Our research indicates that through voluntary conservation decisions by private landowners, a more cost effective Bonus scheme can create contiguous habitat across privately held land, even when incorporating realistic endogenous land values.
Far-field constant-gradient laser accelerator of electrons in an ion channel

We predict that electrons in an ion channel can gain ultra-relativistic energies by simultaneously interacting with a laser pulse and, counter-intuitively, with a decelerating electric field. The crucial role of the decelerating field is to maintain high-amplitude betatron oscillations, thereby enabling constant rate energy flow to the electrons via the inverse ion channel laser mechanism. Multiple harmonics of the betatron motion can be employed. Injecting electrons into a decelerating phase of a laser wakefield accelerator is one practical implementation of the scheme.
Investing in Iowa: The Life and Times of F. M. Hubbell

Review of: "Investing in Iowa: The Life and Times of F. M. Hubbell," by William B. Friedricks.
Heat related illness among workers in Washington State: A descriptive study using workers' compensation claims, 2006‐2017

Background Heat related illness (HRI) places a significant burden on the health and safety of working populations and its impacts will likely increase with climate change. The aim of this study was to characterize the demographic and occupational characteristics of Washington workers who suffered from HRI from 2006 to 2017 using workers' compensation claims data. Methods We used Washington workers' compensation data linked to weather station data to identify cases of work-related HRI. We utilized Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System codes, International Classification of Diseases 9/10 codes, and medical review to identify accepted and rejected Washington State (WA) workers' compensation claims for HRI from 2006 to 2017. We estimated rates of HRI by industry and evaluated patterns by ambient temperature. Results We detected 918 confirmed Washington workers' compensation HRI claims from 2006 to 2017, 654 were accepted and 264 were rejected. Public Administration had the highest third quarter rate (131.3 per 100 000 full time employees [FTE]), followed by Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting (102.6 per 100 000 FTE). The median maximum daytime temperature was below the Washington heat rule threshold for 45% of the accepted HRI claims. Latinos were estimated to be overrepresented in HRI cases. Conclusion The WA heat rule threshold may not be adequately protecting workers and racial disparities are present in occupational HRI. Employers should take additional precautions to prevent HRI depending on the intensity of heat exposure. States without heat rules and with large industry sectors disproportionately affected by HRI should consider regulations to protect outdoor workers in the face of more frequent and extreme heat waves.
Assessment and Validation of AirMOSS P-Band Root-Zone Soil Moisture Products

The Airborne Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface (AirMOSS) P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) was flown more than 1200 h from August 2012 to September 2015, covering regions of 2500 km2 spread over nine major biomes in North America. The flights, as a part of the NASA AirMOSS Earth Venture Suborbital 1 (EVS-1) mission, collected radar data used to map root-zone soil moisture (RZSM) at 3-arcsec resolution. We previously reported the baseline retrieval algorithm and demonstrated its performance for a semiarid shrubland (Walnut Gulch, AZ, USA); we represented the RZSM profile as a continuous quadratic function and solved a radar scattering nonlinear optimization problem to obtain the unknown polynomial coefficients. In this article, we expand the retrievals to other AirMOSS sites that, in addition to the semiarid shrubland, include grassland and crops (MOISST, OK, USA), woody savanna (Tonzi Ranch, CA, USA), temperate conifer forest (Metolius, OR, USA), and boreal forest (Saskatchewan, Canada). Due to a wide range of land covers, soil types, and soil moisture regimes, we parameterize the forward model and constrain the inverse algorithm for each site separately. We present the full set of retrievals for these sites, validating the results against in situ observations. Error sources and strategies to minimize their effects are discussed. The concept of sensing depth is introduced. We find that the retrieval errors are smallest for the top 25 cm of soil with a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of less than 0.05 m3/m3. The RMSE remains around 0.06 m3/m3 even for depths reaching 45 cm, which is the typical sensing depth for the sites considered. These AirMOSS RZSM products (known as Level-2/3 RZSM, or L2/3-RZSM, products) are the first of their kind in that it is the first time RZSM has been retrieved directly from remote sensing observation.
Chapter 5 – Digital control

Publisher Summary A digital controller can be implemented using a digital signal processing (DSP) chip, microprocessor, or PC. The implementation includes an analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion operation that samples, quantizes, and encodes the analog signal input to produce a binary signal (digital signal) consisting of 0s and 1s. In the last step of the implementation, the digital output signal is converted to an analog control signal using a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter. In a PC implementation, the A/D and D/A converters are on cards that plug into the computer, and the PC is programmed to realize the desired digital control action. One approach to the design of a digital controller is to first design an analog controller given by a transfer function and then construct a digital controller by discretizing-in-time the analog controller to generate the transfer function for the digital controller. The design of the digital controller transfer function is based on the discrete-time closed-loop configuration.