cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Spatial and temporal variability of perfluoroalkyl substances in the Laurentian Great Lakes

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of fluorinated organic chemicals that have been used in industrial and consumer applications since the 1950s. PFAS are resistant to chemical and biological degradation and are ubiquitous in the environment, including in water, sediment, and biota in the Laurentian Great Lakes. This critical review evaluates the spatial and temporal variability of commonly studied perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFSAs) and perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) in the Great Lakes by synthesizing data collected in water, surface sediment, sediment cores, lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), and herring gull (Larus argentatus) eggs. The lowest PFAS concentrations in all matrices are detected in Lake Superior, which is located in the most pristine region of the Great Lakes Basin. In contrast, higher concentrations are observed in Lakes Erie and Ontario, which are more impacted by industrial activity and wastewater discharge. The distribution of individual PFAS compounds also varies across the lakes in response to changes in PFAS sources, with higher proportions of PFSAs in the eastern lakes. Sediment and biota are enriched in long chain PFSAs and PFCAs relative to concentrations in the water column, as expected based on predicted partitioning behavior. Sediment cores and bioarchives consistently demonstrate that PFAS concentrations increased in the Great Lakes from the initial time points until the early 2000s. The available data indicate that PFOS and PFOA concentrations decline after this period in the upper Great Lakes, but are stable in Lake Ontario. However, these trends depend on the lake, the individual compound, and the organism considered.
Effects of Length of Vasopressors Infusion on Mortality.

Background There has been a myriad of studies into the physiology of vasopressors and the survival benefit of vasopressor initiation in cases of septic shock. The aim of the Effects of Length of Vasopressors Infusion on Mortality (ELVI-Mortality) study is to observe a relationship between the length of vasopressor infusion and mortality in the intensive care unit. Methods This was a single-center, retrospective, matched-cohort study that collected data from Arrowhead Regional Medical Center's electronic medical records (EMR; MediTech, MA, US) using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) coding and a chart reviewing the past five years. Patients were on norepinephrine, phenylephrine, or epinephrine. Two patient groups were compared. The first group encompassed those with vasopressor infusion less than 48 hours in duration, whereas the second group included those with vasopressor infusion greater than 48 hours. Results A total of 193 patients were diagnosed as having septic shock. Participant data were obtained for 163 patients (84.4%). Of the 106 patients who had a vasopressor duration of less than 48 hours, 32 patients (30.2%) expired. Of the 57 patients that had more than 48 hours of vasopressor infusion, 18 patients (31.6%) expired. Conclusions There was no statistically significant increase in mortality in patients with vasopressor infusion greater than 48 hours as compared to less than 48 hours.
Stereographic analog application in implant-supported complete rehabilitation: A dental technique.

Abstract This article describes the application of stereographic analogs in complete mouth rehabilitation with implant-supported prostheses. The interarch restorative space and immobile support provided by dental implants allow the fabrication of a recording apparatus for the analysis of mandibular movement. An implant-supported fixed detachable recording apparatus was fabricated, and a stereographic tracing made to reproduce the patient's mandibular border movements.
Surface-modified nanoparticle transport evaluated in a multistage model of ovarian cancer.

e18057Background: A novel multi-stage model composed of ovarian cancer (SKOV-3) and fibroblast (MRC-5) cells was developed to provide a physiologically relevant in vitro platform to assess nanopart...
Differential effects of glutamate N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonists on risky choice as assessed in the risky decision task

Risky choice can be measured using the risky decision task (RDT). In the RDT, animals choose between a large, risky option that is paired with probabilistic foot shock and a small, safe option that is never paired with shock. To date, studies examining the neurochemical basis of decision-making in the RDT have focused primarily on the dopaminergic system but have not focused on the glutamatergic system, which has been implicated in risky decision-making. Because glutamate is known to play a critical role in decision-making, we wanted to determine the contribution of the glutamatergic system to performance in the RDT. In the experiment, 32 rats (16 male; 16 female) were tested in the RDT. The probability of receiving a foot shock increased across the session (ascending schedule) for half of the rats but decreased across the session (descending schedule) for half of the rats. Following training, rats received injections of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor competitive antagonist CGS 19755 (0, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0 mg/kg; s.c.) and the GluN2B-selective antagonist Ro 63-1908 (0, 0.1, 0.3, 1.0 mg/kg; s.c.). CGS 19755 (2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg) increased risky choice in males and females trained on the ascending schedule. Ro 63-1908 (1.0 mg/kg) decreased risky choice, but only in male rats trained on the ascending schedule. Although NMDA receptor antagonists differentially alter risky choice in the RDT, the current results show that NMDA receptors are an important mediator of decision-making involving probabilistic delivery of positive punishment.
Identification of haplotypes of Cacopsylla citrisuga from Yunnan Province based on mitochondria COI sequence

【Objective】To characterize genetic diversity levels of Cacopsylla citrisuga Yang Li collected from two regions of Yunnan Province. 【Method】The samples of C. citrisuga from Ruili city and Shiping county were identified by the gene barcoding of the mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I( COI).The phylogenetic tree and genetic distance were obtained.【Result and conclusion】Two haplotypes of C.citrisuga,C1 and C2 were identified. C1 was the only haplotype of the populations from Ruili city,while C1 and C2 both existed in the population from Shiping county. Unlike other previous studies of insects,the COI-based genetic diversity of C. citrisuga was extremely low,with the maximum sequence divergence being only 0. 16%. The COI fragment can be used to distinguish C. citrisuga from the other four Cacopsylla species successfully.
Honey, I Shrunk The Actor: A Case Study on Preserving Performance with Smaller Actors in Actor-Critic RL

Actors and critics in actor-critic reinforcement learning algorithms are functionally separate, yet they often use the same network architectures. This case study explores the performance impact of network sizes when considering actor and critic architectures independently. By relaxing the assumption of architectural symmetry, it is often possible for smaller actors to achieve comparable policy performance to their symmetric counterparts. Our experiments show up to 99% reduction in the number of network weights with an average reduction of 77% over multiple actor-critic algorithms on 9 independent tasks. Given that reducing actor complexity results in a direct reduction of run-time inference cost, we believe configurations of actors and critics are aspects of actor-critic design that deserve to be considered independently, particularly in resource-constrained applications or when deploying multiple actors simultaneously.
Solution of the Neutron Transport Equation on Unstructured Grids Using the Parallel Block Jacobi-Integral Transport Matrix Method via the Novel Green’s Function ITMM Construction Algorithm on Massively Parallel Computer Systems

The Parallel Block Jacobi (PBJ) spatial domain decomposition is well suited for implementation on massively parallel computers to solve the neutron transport equation on unstructured grids due to t...
When the Quest for the Best Pays Off: How Maximising Entrepreneurs Improve Performance by Creating Entrepreneurial and Market Oriented Businesses:

New research in the behavioural sciences has identified that some individuals consistently strive to make the best choice through extensive information search (maximisers), while others are incline...
An economic analysis of market design: Local energy markets for energy and grid services

Abstract The convergence of digital and distributed energy resource (DER) innovation is creating the potential for a more decentralized electricity distribution system, including local energy markets (LEMs) for local coordination of consumption and production. Using market processes to coordinate physical and economic flows enables parties to benefit from reducing congestion, with prices as the decentralized coordination signals (control signals in an engineering sense). Digitization of the distribution grid facilitates these opportunities, including opportunities for DERs to provide grid services including voltage management, system reserves, and frequency support through LEMs. This chapter synthesizes exchange theory, transaction cost economics, mechanism design, and auction theory into an economic framework to suggest market design principles for why and how LEMs enable DERs to provide energy and grid services in a decentralized architecture. It then provides a brief analysis of the institutional context in the United States, and how the institutional diversity and experimentation in the United States may affect LEM development and adoption.
Kilometer-Long Optical Fiber Sensor for Real-Time Railroad Infrastructure Monitoring to Ensure Safe Train Operation

This study is aimed to develop a real-time safety monitoring of kilometer-long joint rails using a distributed fiber optic sensor. The sensor measures the distribution of Brillouin frequency shift along its length with pulse pre-pump Brillouin optical time domain analysis (PPP-BOTDA). The measurement distance and spatial resolution can be up to 25 km and 2 cm, respectively. The fiber optic sensor was first characterized and calibrated for distributed strain and temperature measurement, and then instrumented on a small-scale joint rail-like specimen in laboratory. The specimen was loaded at room temperature, and its strain distribution along the sensor was measured using a Neubrescope with high accuracy and spatial resolution. Given a gage length, the joint open change was determined and visibly identified from the measured strain distribution. Finally, an implementation plan of distributed sensors on a railway is introduced, including sensor deployment, sensor repair when broken, and cost analysis. The gage length at a crack is an important parameter in sensor deployment and investigated using finite element analysis. The results indicate that the distributed sensor can be used successfully to monitor the strain and temperature distributions in joint rails.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Automaticity, resources, and memory: theoretical controversies and practical implications

This article describes a theoretical controversy over the nature of automaticity and suggests implications of the controversy for the design of training programs. One side of the controversy describes automaticity in terms of processing resources, in that automatic processes require little or no resources. The other side describes automaticity as a memory phenomenon dependent on direct-access, single-step retrieval from memory. The two sides differ in their ability to account for four basic questions about automaticity: (1) why automatic processing has the properties it does; (2) how automaticity is learned; (3) how the properties of automaticity emerge with practice, and (4) why consistency of practice is so important to the development of automaticity. The memory view provides better answers than the resource view, particularly for questions about training. Training is an important practical issue, and implications of the memory view for training are spelled out in some detail.
Fusion method for physical systems based on physical laws

Considers a physical system described by a set of parameters. Each parameter is either measured by a number of sensors or estimated by a set of computer programs that use sensor measurements. As a result, the resultant parameter values could be widely varying. We propose a fusion method that combines the measurements and estimators based on the physical laws that relate the parameters. In comparison with the traditional fusion problems, there is no training set that provides the actual parameter values. Furthermore, since every parameter is measured or estimated, there are no parameters whose actual values are known. We propose a fuser based on the least violation of the physical laws that relate the parameters. Under certain smoothness conditions on the physical law, we show the asymptotic convergence of our method, and also derive distribution-free performance bounds based on finite samples. We illustrate the effectiveness of this method for a practical problem of fusing well-log data in methane hydrate exploration. For this problem, the data fusion method resulted in an order-of-magnitude improvement in the accuracy compared to the best set of estimators for the key parameter of porosity.
Shock temperature measurements in ammonia

Our first shock temperature measurements on a cryogenic target are reported for NH3. A new fast optical pyrometer and a cryogenic specimen holder for liquid NH3 were developed to measure shock temperatures of 4400 and 3600 K at pressures of 61 and 48 GPa. These conditions correspond to those in the ice layers in Uranus and Neptune. The shock temperature data are in reasonable agreement with an an equation of state based on an intermolecular potential derived from NH3 Hugoniot data.
Improvement of DNA adenylation using T4 DNA ligase with a template strand and a strategically mismatched acceptor strand

DNA with a 5'-adenylpyrophosphoryl cap (5'-adenylated DNA; AppDNA) is an activated form of DNA that is the biochemical intermediate of the reactions catalyzed by DNA ligase, RNA ligase, polynucleotide kinase, and other nucleic acid modifying enzymes. 5'-Adenylated DNA is also useful for in vitro selection experiments. Efficient preparation of 5'-adenylated DNA is therefore desirable for several biochemical applications. Here we have developed a DNA adenylation procedure that uses T4 DNA ligase and is more reliable than a previously reported approach that used the 5'-phosphorylated donor DNA substrate to be adenylated, a DNA template, and ATP but no acceptor strand. Our improved DNA adenylation procedure uses the above components as well as an acceptor strand that has a strategically chosen C-T acceptor-template mismatch directly adjacent to the adenylation site. This mismatch permits adenylation of the donor DNA substrate but largely suppresses subsequent ligation of the donor with the acceptor, as assayed on nine different DNA substrates that collectively have all four DNA nucleotides represented at each of the first two positions. The new DNA adenylation procedure is successful using either laboratory-prepared or commercial T4 DNA ligase and works well on the preparative (2 nmol) scale for all nine of the test DNA substrates.
Noninvasive 3D elasticity mapping using phase-stabilized optical coherence elastography

We demonstrate a novel method for noninvasive elasticity mapping in three dimensions using phase stabilized swept source optical coherence elastography (PhS-SSOCE). By calculating the velocity in all radial directions from the origin of the induced shear wave, a volumetric elasticity map of the sample was generated. Due to the submicrometer spatial sensitivity of PhS-SSOCE, the loading force and the induced deformation amplitude can be minimal, thus preserving the structure and function of delicate tissues such as the cornea and sclera of the eye. Tissue mimicking agar phantoms were utilized for proof of concept testing and the results show that this method can noninvasively provide a three dimensional estimation of sample elasticity.
Repeated Polysomnograms After Antiinflammatory Therapy of Mild Pediatric OSA

We read the recent article in CHEST (July 2014) by Kheirandish-Gozal et al 1 with great interest. Over the past 2 decades, there have been several publications on the use of antiinfl ammatory medications for the treatment of mild OSA in children. Taken together, they provide increasingly compelling evidence that, at least for a select subset of patients, our medical fi eld may need to undergo a paradigm shift from a surgical to a medical approach for the treatment of this relatively common condition.
Development and testing the elder concerns about memory scale

This article describes the development and testing of an instrument to measure elders' concerns about their memory. The content validity was assessed using a panel of experts. Internal consistency reliability and criterion-related and predictive validity were evaluated using three samples of community-based elders. This brief paper-and-pencil instrument should be helpful to nurse clinicians in numerous settings for assessing the magnitude of elder clients' concern and in planning appropriate interventions to address their distress.
A Numerical Study of the Warm Rain Process in Orographic Clouds

Abstract A technique for numerical simulation of a stationary, two-dimensional laminar flow process is described. Based on this technique, a model for warm rain microphysics in an orographic cloud was developed. The model includes condensation, coalescence and sedimentation. The coalescence process depletes the cloud droplets, causing the supersaturation ratio to rise and may cause additional cloud condensation nuclei to activate. The model predicts the initial shape of droplet spectra fairly well for large drops compared with the field observations. There was a discrepancy, however, between the predicted and observed droplet spectra. It was found that the observed coalescence rate was much faster than the calculated rate. The implications are discussed.
Three-dimensional spin-lock magnetic resonance imaging of the shoulder joint at 3 T: initial experience.

This was a pilot study which aimed to assess the feasibility of 3D-spin-lock (3D-T1ρ) MRI of the shoulder joint and to establish baseline values of healthy humeral and glenoid cartilages in vivo. Four asymptomatic volunteers [mean age 31 years (range 29–36 years)] were recruited. A 3.0 T scanner, employing a four-channel, phased-array, shoulder, radio-frequency (RF) coil was used. Three-dimensional T1ρ-weighted images were acquired with a 3D gradient-echo (GRE) sequence with T1ρ magnetization preparation. In order to a construct T1ρ map, we acquired four 3D-T1ρ-weighted images with spin-locking length (TSL) values of 2 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, and 30 ms. The glenoid and humeral cartilage were segmented manually at each slice of the 3D images. We performed additional regional analysis by dividing the cartilage into anterior/posterior and superior/inferior regions. The global average T1ρ value of the shoulder cartilages varied from 37.9 ms to 48.5 ms and from 32.4 ms to 36.9 ms for humeral and glenoid cartilages, respectively. In the humeral cartilage, the average regional T1ρ values varied from 35.9 ms to 52.2 ms; 54.4 ms to 69.0 ms; 39.1 ms to 49.3 ms and 34.6 ms to 57.2 ms for the anterior–superior, anterior–inferior , posterior–superior and posterior–inferior regions, respectively. In the glenoid cartilage, the values varied from 31.3 ms to 40.8 ms; 34.1 ms to 35.3 ms; 26.7 ms to 37.2 ms and 32.8 ms to 35.7 ms for the same regions, respectively. We demonstrated that 3D-T1ρ MRI of the shoulder can be performed on a 3 T clinical scanner within specific absorption rate (SAR) limits, and we present baseline values for healthy patients which may be useful for quantitative comparison with diseased shoulders.
INSPECTOR: A Computer Vision System that Learns to Inspect Parts

A computer vision inspection system has been developed that learns the difference between good and bad parts by being shown several identified good and bad parts. The model, formed during the training session, contains identifying points which are used for locating parts and inspection tests which apply only to pertinent regions of the part. Using the model, the system can distinguish between good parts and bad parts with an arbitrary number of defects. It can also learn to classify parts if it is shown the different parts during the training session. Examples of INSPECTOR inspecting industrial parts are shown.
Effect of the hydrophilic size on the structural phases of aqueous nonionic gemini surfactant solutions.

Aggregate structures of aqueous nonionic Gemini surfactant solutions, α,α‘-[2,4,7,9-tetramethyl-5-decyne-4,7-diyl]bis[ω-hydroxyl-polyoxyethylene] with three different length polyoxyethylenes (i.e., 10, 20, and 30 ethylene oxide monomers, denoted from now on as S-10, S-20, and S-30, respectively), are investigated using small angle neutron scattering, dynamic light scattering, and fluorescence spectroscopy. For S-10 at low surfactant concentrations (Cs 40 nm, are found to coexist with monomers. At intermediate Cs (0.9 2 wt %) results in a pure micellar phase with little or no clusters present. S-20 and S-30 mixtures, on the other hand, differ from S-10 in that irrespective of surfactant concentration, large clusters and small monomers/dimers are found to coexist, while there is ...
Summary: let's pay attention to attention.

(2000). Summary: Let's Pay Attention to Attention. The Journal of General Psychology: Vol. 127, No. 1, pp. 100-111.
Space-time-frequency moment densities

The frequency operator, Ω equivalent to i (partial derivative) δ/δt, is not necessarily Hermitian when acting on nonstationary signals. Central moment densities of Ω and its conjugate, temporal operator Τ, are proportional to the real parts of local central moments derived from the Wigner distribution. A nonrelativistic space-time-frequency Wigner distribution forms the backdrop and motivation for the present investigation.
On multiple‐delay output feedback stabilization of LTI plants

We develop a control methodology for linear time-invariant plants that uses multiple delayed observations in feedback. Using the special coordinate basis, we show that multiple-delay controllers can always be designed to stabilize minimum-phase plants, and identify a class of non-minimum-phase plants that can be stabilized using these controllers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ON A SYSTEMATIC DESIGN PROCEDURE FOR SINGLE COMPONENT WATER UTILIZATION SYSTEMS IN PROCESS PLANTS

This paper presents a robust methodology to obtain an optimal design of the single component water/wastewater allocation problem in process plants. The method uses a concentration grid water allocation procedure to obtain preliminary optimal structures. A merging procedure provides the final structures. The use of different water allocation strategies shows that the problem has several alternative solutions.
Abnormalities in the biosynthesis of type III procollagen in cultured skin fibroblasts from two patients with multiple aneurysms.

Abstract We examined the synthesis of collagenous proteins by cultured skin fibroblasts taken from 14 patients with an abdominal aortic aneurysm and either an aneurysm at a second site (8 patients) or a first order relative with an abdominal aortic aneurysm (6 patients). Fibroblasts were labeled with [3H] proline and, following pepsin digestion of media proteins, the ratio of type I/III collagen was examined by denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). With the exception of two patients, the ratio of type I/III collagen in the media of fibroblasts from aneurysm patients was similar to control values (6 controls). In two of the patients, the type I/III collagen ratio was >3 standard deviations from the mean of both control ratios and those of other aneurysm patients. mRNA levels coding for type III procollagen, however, were normal in both patients. Patient # 1 (ME) showed reduced type III procollagen on SDS-PAGE analysis of intracellular proteins. Intracellular and media type III procollagen levels were normal in patient # 2 (HR), but media type III collagen was reduced by over 50% after digestion with a combination of trypsin and α-chymotrypsin for 5 minutes at 36 °C. Control type III collagen was only reduced after digestion at 39 °c. These data suggest an altered thermal stability of the type III collagen trimer synthesized by this patient, probably due to a mutation in the amino acid sequence. The data presented in this paper suggest that some forms of common abdominal aortic aneurysms may be caused by mutations in the gene coding for type III procollagen.
Refining Learned Repertoire for Percussion Instruments in an Elementary Setting

The purpose of this study was to examine teaching effectiveness in an elementary music setting using student achievement as a dependent measure. Because Orff Schulwerk instruction is one of the most prevalent pedagogies in elementary music education, this study examined the rehearsal strategies of recognized Orff Schulwerk teachers as they worked to refine learned repertoire for percussion instruments. Eight instructors and their upper elementary students were videotaped in four regular rehearsals each. Systematic analyses of rehearsal frames in which teachers were working to improve student performance revealed fast teacher pacing and a predominance of instructional directives that were procedural (e.g., where to begin playing) rather than musical (e.g., how to perform more accurately or expressively). The majority of students' performance problems were related to precision, often caused by rushing the underlying pulse. Instructional targets were most often related to technique. Students successfully acc...
Predicting Permanency Intentions Among Kinship Caregivers

This study examines kinship caregivers’ (n = 830) experiences and their perceptions of the children (n = 1,339) in their care in order to predict permanency intent. Permanency intent is a caregiver’s expressed intent to adopt the child in his or her care or to provide permanent, legal guardianship. The results of this study reveal that most caregivers’ permanency choice is guardianship and not adoption. However, binary logistic regression results uncovered six factors (i.e., thorough explanation of case plans, decreases in caregiver emotional stress, decreases in child depression, child lack of communication with birth parent, caregiver providing care for a sibling group, decreases in run-away behavior) that predict that a caregiver will adopt the child in his or her care. Policy, practice, and research implications are noted.
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor and Substance P Antagonist Enhancement of Natural Killer Cell Innate Immunity in Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Background Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in innate immunity and are involved in the host defense against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This study examines the potential role of three underlying regulatory systems that have been under investigation in central nervous system research as well as immune and viral research: serotonin, neurokinin, and glucocorticoid systems. Methods Fifty-one HIV-seropositive subjects were recruited to achieve a representative sample of depressed and nondepressed women. The effects of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), a substance P (SP) antagonist, and a glucocorticoid antagonist on NK cell function were assessed in a series of ex vivo experiments of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from each HIV-seropositive subject. Results Natural killer cell cytolytic activity was significantly increased by the SSRI citalopram and by the substance P antagonist CP-96345 relative to control conditions; the glucocorticoid antagonist, RU486, showed no effect on NK cytotoxicity. Our results suggest that the effects of the three agents did not differ as a function of depression. Conclusions Our findings provide evidence that NK cell function in HIV infection may be enhanced by serotonin reuptake inhibition and by substance P antagonism. It remains to be determined if HIV-related impairment in not only NK cytolytic activity but also NK noncytolytic activity can be improved by an SSRI or an SP antagonist. Clinical studies are warranted to address these questions and the potential roles of serotonergic agents and SP antagonists in improving NK cell immunity, delaying HIV disease progression, and extending survival with HIV infection.
Implementation of an analogical reasoning system on a parallel recirculating computer architecture

Analogical reasoning systems can be used to increase the efficiency of planning, infer missing structure in test cases, and classify cases across domains. However, analogical reasoning can be computationally expensive. We describe an approach for implementing the SAGE™ analogical reasoning system on a parallel recirculating computer architecture.1 2
Contact and knowledge as predictors of attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disabilities

Understanding attitudes that may lead to barriers to equality can help enhance social inclusion and quality of life for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The current study examined multidimensional attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disabilities. We expected that those with more knowledge and greater quantity and quality of contact with people with intellectual disabilities would have more positive attitudes toward this social group. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that greater knowledge and quantity of contact were unrelated to attitudes. Greater quality of contact, however, was associated with more positive attitudes. These findings add support to previous findings that positive experiences may lead to less intergroup anxiety, less hostility, and less avoidance of outgroups.
Lagrange Multiplier Method for Convex Programs

The problem of minimizing a convex function that is subject to the constraint that a number of other convex functions be nonpositive can be treated by the Lagrange multiplier method. Such a treatment was revived by Kuhn and Tucker and further studied by many other scientists. These studies led to an associated maximizing problem on the Lagrange function. The aim of this note is to give a short elementary proof that the infimum of the first problem is equal to the supremum of the second problem. To carry this out it is necessary to relax the constraints of the first (or the second) problem so that the constraints are enforced only in the limit. This relaxation of constraints is not necessary should prescribing upper bounds to all the convex functions define a bounded set of points in the domain of the functions. The domain of the functions can be n-dimensional space or a reflexive Banach space.
Asymptotic Cramer-Rao bounds for Morlet wavelet filter bank transforms of FM signals

Wavelet filter banks are potentially useful tools for analyzing and extracting information from frequency modulated (FM) signals in noise. Chief among the advantages of such filter banks is the tendency of wavelet transforms to concentrate signal energy while simultaneously dispersing noise energy over the time-frequency plane, thus raising the effective signal to noise ratio of filtered signals. Over the past decade, much effort has gone into devising new algorithms to extract the relevant information from transformed signals while identifying and discarding the transformed noise. Therefore, estimates of the ultimate performance bounds on such algorithms would serve as valuable benchmarks in the process of choosing optimal algorithms for given signal classes. Discussed here is the specific case of FM signals analyzed by Morlet wavelet filter banks. By making use of the stationary phase approximation of the Morlet transform, and assuming that the measured signals are well resolved digitally, the asymptotic form of the Fisher Information Matrix is derived. From this, Cramer-Rao bounds are analytically derived for simple cases.
Overview of the Literature on Pre-Retirement Planning for Women

This article provides an overview and a synthesis of academic and popular press literature on pre-retirement planning for women. Despite an exhaustive literature search, existing research in this area continues to be sparse. It is unfortunate that the popular press continues to ignore the dramatic need to alert and inform women of their need to engage in early planning for Ule later years. Specific attention is devoted herein to the articulation of current economic, social and public policies, as well as healUlconcerns-all needing further empirical examination. h addition, current "state-of-the-art" information is given about developing educational programs for women prior to retirement.
Defects and defect reduction processing in semiconductor heterostructures

Defects such as dislocations and interfaces play a crucial role in the performance of heterostructure devices. The full potential of GaAs on Si heterostructures can only be realized by controlling the defect density. The nature of misfit dislocations at the heterointerface has been studied and a mechanism for the formation of 60° and 90° misfit dislocations has been proposed. Threading dislocations in the epilayer are the most prominent defects and their density has to be controlled to fully utilize the properties of semiconductor heterostructures. Various processes to reduce defect densities in the epilayers have been discussed and in particular, the use of strained layer superlattices to reduce the threading dislocation density has been presented in this paper. Several superlattice structures have been used to reduce the density of threading dislocations in the GaAs epilayer. In this study, we have optimized the use of strained layer superlattices with respect to the position, period and number to reduce and control the dislocation density. The use of strained layer superlattices in conjunction with rapid thermal annealing was found to be the most effective method in reducing threading dislocation density. Transmission electron microscopy has been used to study the dislocation density reduction and the interaction of threading dislocations with the strained layers.
Catheter Abalation for AF : Past, Present and Future.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained tachyarrhythmia encountered by physicians. The prevalence of AF in patients over the age of 65 is approximately 6%, and approaches 10% in patients over the age of 85.1 As the median age of the population in the United States becomes older, the epidemiologic burden of AF in this country will likely increase. Currently approximately 2.2 million people in the United States have AF.1 AF, while typically not a life-threatening arrhythmia per se, is associated with increased risk of stroke,2 heart failure, and increased mortality. The stroke risk in patients with AF, for instance, is increased between 5and 7-fold compared to similar patients without AF. 3, 4
Nonlinear Vibrations of a Delaminated Beam

In this paper, dynamic behavior of a delaminated composite beam is studied. In particular, the effects of nonlinearity due to restriction on the axial stretch of the delaminated segments and nonlin...
Kalman Filtering Applied to Statistical Forecasting

This paper describes the use of the Kalman Filter in a certain ciass of forecasting problems. The time series is assumed to be modeled as a time varying mean with additive noise. The mean of the time series is assumed to be a linear combination of known functions. The coefficients appearing in the linear combination are unknown. Under such assumptions, the time series can be described as a linear system with the state vector of the system being the unknown parameters and present value of the mean of the process. The Kalman Filter can be used under these circumstances to obtain an “optimal” estimate of the state vector. One of the distinct advantages of the Kalman Filter is that time varying coefficients can be permitted in the model. Examples using the Kalman Filter in forecasting are presented.
Low Frequency Rf Heating with a Helical Coupler in a Hot Electron Plasma

A magnetic mirror (mirror ratio 2.38:1) containing ECRH generated hydrogen plasma, with a density of 5 x 1010 cm-3 with cold electron temperature of 11 eV, was used to study propagation of an artificially launched wave varying as ej(?t + m? - kz) at approximately the ion cyclotron frequency. The wave was transmitted between two similar internally placed helically wound antennas separated by 11 wavelengths. The coupling between them was enhanced by as much as 50 times in the presence of plasma. The m = 1 left-handed component was cut off when ? > ?ci. Electron temperatures could be increased by more than 2 times with the m = 1 mode, presumably due to ion heating. Little pump-out was observed.
Refining the Measure and Dimensions of Social Values of Older People (SVOP).

Older persons are living longer and healthier and, thus, are capable of being more productive and less dependent. Despite this trend, young people persistently hold the age-old negative stereotypes about older persons. The goals of this study were to develop a valid, reliable measure of social values of older people and to assess its utility as predictor to career choice by social work students. The data were collected from 204 social work students enrolled in a southeastern university. Based on the original 13-item aging opinion instrument (Kafer, Rakowski, & Lachman, 1980), the social values of older people (SVOP) scale was modified by changing linguistic expression and adding several items relevant to social value of older people. At the initial screening stage, the internal consistency of the newly created 20-items SVOP scale was found to be acceptable (alpha = .80). But, item analyses identified several deviant items to the overall scale. The exploratory factor analysis with trimmed 16 items produced...
Anionic polymerization of butadiene and styrene

Abstract : A kinetic study was made of the polymerization of butadiene and styrene in an aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent with the use of butyllithium as an initiator. It is shown that the anomalous behavior in the initiation reaction exhibited by isoprene under these conditions is also found for these two monomers. These monomers give a sigmoidal rate curve in the initiation reaction in cyclohexane solution, and the reaction appears to be auto-catalytic. The propagation reactions were studied also, and the results compared with the rather discordant sets of data published by other authors. (Author)
Interpreting the pattern of volcano eruptions: Intelligent system for tephra layer correlation

The overall goal of the research presented in this paper is to design an intelligent system to aid geologists in processing complex rock characteristics for interpreting eruption patterns, and thereby to aid eruption forecasting for volcanic chains and fields. The objective of this paper is to describe application of data fusion techniques to designing an intelligent system. The processing of geological data described in this paper includes both a hybrid classifier for recognition of tephra layers utilizing lithostratigraphic tephra characteristics and clustering of geochemical features aimed at defining the size and position of potential zones of partial melt in volcanic regions. Special attention is paid to the description of a new evidential method of combining several clustering results. The method of fusion of several clustering results is not specific to geochemical data and can be used in other applications.
Synthesis of (S)-(-)-β-cuparenone and (S)-(-)-cuparene

Abstract A short and efficient synthesis of the title compounds is described. (S)-(−)-β-Cuparenone was prepared in 31% yield from p-tolualdehyde and mesityl oxide in eight steps. Absolute stereochemistry was established by means of a diastereoselective cyclopropanation using (R,R)-hydrobenzoin as a recoverable auxiliary.
Injuries in the 1987 National Amateur Volleyball Tournament

In a prospective study of injuries in the 1987 United States Volleyball Association's national tournament, we found 154 injuries in 1520 participants during 7812 hours of play. The injury rate in this study was 1.97/100 hours of play. Before the tournament, the participants' history was taken, and during the week of participation, records were kept of every player who presented with an injury. Players ranged in age from 17 to 60 and competed in five age/gender groups. Females had an injury rate of 2.3 and males had an injury rate of 1.7. The highest injury rate was seen in the men's open division, ages 17 to 35 (2.7), and the lowest rate was seen in the men's Golden Masters, ages 46 and up (1.5). Seventy-nine percent of the injuries occurred during the tournament and 21% were considered to be chronic injuries with an acute exacerbation. The upper extremities accounted for 20% of the injuries. The ankle (17.6%), low back (14.2%), and knee (11%) were the most common injury sites. Strains (36%) and sprains (28%) were the most frequent types of injury. Only eight (5.2%) injuries resulted in more than 5 days of time loss. Two of these injuries involved the knee and two others required surgery. It is likely that in studies relying upon retrospective methods, fewer of the less severe injuries are found, thereby leading to an overestimation of the percentages of knee and ankle injuries and the proportion of severe injuries. The clinician contemplating providing care for a high-level tournament should expect a preponderance of minor injuries occurring in a variety of anatomical locations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Brief announcement: application-sensitive QoS scheduling in storage servers

The growing popularity of multi-tenant, cloud-based computing platforms is driving research into new QoS models that permit flexible sharing of the underlying infrastructure. In this paper, we re-examine the use of the commonly-used proportional-share model for resource allocation, in the context of modern heterogeneous, multi-tiered storage systems. We highlight the limitations of a conventional proportional sharing approach to resource allocation, and describe a new allocation model that provides strong isolation between clients. This improves the performance characteristics from the viewpoints of both the clients and the service provider.
Personality Mediation of Genetic Effects on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Personality traits may be viable candidates for mediators of the relationship between genetic risk and ADHD. Participants were 578 children (331 boys; 320 children with ADHD) between the ages of six and 18. Parents and teachers completed a comprehensive, multi-stage diagnostic procedure to assess ADHD and comorbid disorders. Mother completed the California Q-Sort to assess child Big Five personality traits. Children provided buccal samples of DNA which were assayed for selected markers on DRD4, DAT1, and ADRA2A. An additive genetic risk composite was associated with ADHD symptoms and maladaptive personality traits; maladaptive personality traits were associated with ADHD symptoms. Low conscientiousness and high neuroticism partially mediated the relationship between genetic risk and ADHD symptoms. Mediation effects for conscientiousness were specific to inattentive symptoms; effects for neuroticism generalized to all disruptive behaviors. High neuroticism and low conscientiousness may be useful as early markers for children at risk for ADHD.
Contrasting high field strength element contents of continental flood basalts from plume versus reactivated-arc sources

Published geochemical data pertaining to global continental flood basalts (CFBs) indicate that there are two contrasting distributions of high field strength elements (HFSEs) plotted on silicate Earth-normalized spider diagrams. Most CFBs plot close to a standard oceanic island basalt (OIB) line and are the product of magma from a mantle plume head mixed to varying degrees with magma from other sources. The compositional diversity of the OIB-like basalts is consistent with the interaction of plume heads with diverse mantle layers during gradual emergence followed by plume-tail magmatism along hotspot tracks. On the other hand, at least three CFBs, including those in the Central Atlantic magmatic province, the Siberian Traps, and the Lesotho basalt province of South Africa, plot close to a standard arc-basalt line. These arclike basalts contain virtually the same average HFSE contents. The much lower HFSE contents of the arclike CFBs are consistent with a sudden reactivation of dormant arc or backarc sources trapped under continental-plate sutures.
Gesture-oriented data sharing

Recently, Natural User Interface (NUI) devices have emerged as viable tools for business task completion and information exchange. When introduced into a collaborative environment, new security implications arise as the traditional relationships between users and devices change. Unique variables are introduced such as gesture patterns, spatial location, and more. Security policies would need to reflect the relationships between not only users and devices, but also these new modalities. This paper describes an extensible platform developed to foster collaboration through natural user interfaces. It also discusses specific components that have opened research avenues into workflow semantics studies and persistent authentication mechanisms for such environments.
Evaluation of Direct and Indirect Techniques for Measuring Absorption Efficiencies of Sea Urchins (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) Using Prepared Feeds

Measurement of absorption efficiencies is essential for evaluating feeds for the culture of marine invertebrates. There are currently several direct and indirect techuiques that may be used for measuring absorption efficiencies in sea urchins. Three of these methods were evaluated and compared. Based on this evaluation, the conditions under which each technique should be used are reviewed. Direct measures require complete fecal collection and should not be used for estimating absorption efficiency. Ash can be used as a marker to estimate absorption efficiencies under most circumstances, but absorption efficiencies tend to be overestimated as the inorganic fraction decreases slightly with passage through the gut. Chromic oxide can only be used as a marker for estimating absorption efficiencies when complete fecal collection is made, as it may pass through the gut at a different rate than the rest of the egesta.
Incomplete Professionalization: The Case of Pharmacy

Sociologists have given a little attention to those occupations which have attempted to become professions, but to some greater or lesser degree have failed. The present paper, employing a Hughesian approach to occupations and work, analyzes pharmacy as an occupation which has taken on some, but not all, of the characteristics commonly ascribed to the professions. Consideration is directed to the factors of recruitment, symbolic social objects, and the achievement of mandate within pharmacy. It is concluded that pharmacy has achieved a state of incomplete professionalization and the sinmilar ties to other occupations such as librarianship, optometry, and chiropractory are discussed.
The electron specific heat of a two-dimensional crystal

Abstract The electronic specific heat of a two-dimensional, square lattice crystal is determined by considering only electron-ion core interactions represented by a sinusoidal-like potential. Two electrons per lattice site are assumed to be under the influence of the potential. The Green's function equation of motion technique is employed in the second quantized formulation, with the approximation that the allowed linear momenta are restricted to two Brillouin zones. The result shows a specific heat variation with temperature, characteristics of an intrinsic semi-conductor or metal, dependent upon the well-depth of the potential.