cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mass Incarceration, Meet COVID-19

Author(s): Dolovich, Sharon | Abstract: With the global pandemic still unfolding, we are only beginning to make sense of the overall impact of COVID-19 on the people who live and work inside American prisons and jails, and of what effect, if any, the pandemic will have on the nation’s continued commitment to mass incarceration under unduly harsh conditions. In this Essay, I take stock of where things now stand. I also consider how we got to this point, and how penal policy would need to change if we are to prevent another round of needless suffering and death when the next pandemic hits. Part I explains why the incarcerated face an elevated risk of infection and potentially fatal complications from COVID-19. Part II describes the measures various corrections administrators took at the start of the pandemic to try to limit viral spread inside jails and prisons, and why, however well-intentioned, these measures were insufficient to bring the virus under control. Part III addresses the steps taken by public officials at all levels to reduce the number of people in custody and offers initial thoughts as to why, after a concerted push for releases on the part of many public actors in the first months of the pandemic, these efforts had already considerably slowed by the latter part of May 2020. (Here, the focus is primarily, though not exclusively, on the federal courts’ nonresponse to urgent petitions from incarcerated plaintiffs.) Part IV draws on the work of the UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project. It explores what the data shows regarding infection rates and COVID deaths in custody, describes the limits of the available data, and explains why the impact on people in jails and prisons is likely even greater than the official numbers suggest. Part V zeroes in on the culture of secrecy that American corrections administrators have long been empowered to cultivate regarding what goes on behind bars. It argues that this culture has exacerbated the threat COVID poses to the incarcerated as well as to staff, that such secrecy is at odds with the imperatives of a public institution, and that we need to replace the reigning default posture of concealment with an ethos of transparency. This Essay concludes with a call for a broad normative reorientation toward assessing carceral policy through a public health lens.
Association of Proportional Recovery After Stroke With Health-Related Quality of Life.

Background and purpose No data exists on whether proportional recovery (PR) is associated with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) domains. We evaluated whether PR was associated with domain-specific HRQOL scores at 3 months after ischemic stroke. Methods This prospective cohort study enrolled patients with ischemic stroke between January 2017 and June 2018. Impaired strength was assessed using the Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity (range, 0-66 points) and Motricity Index (range, 0-100 points) during index hospitalization and 3 months. Both measures are well-validated and reliable in patients with stroke to assesses motor functioning. PR (defined as 70% of difference between initial score and maximum possible recovery) was calculated from the initial measurements. HRQOL was measured using Neuro-QOL domains: upper extremity, depression, and cognition domains. PR was evaluated with HRQOL domains using binomial logistic regression. Results Final analysis included 84 patients (mean age 67.8±16.4 years; 44% male; 51.2% White). For both Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity and Motricity Index, the PR threshold was met for 48.8% of patients. Failure to meet Motricity Index PR was only associated with increased odds of HRQOL depression impairment (adjusted odds ratio, 11.8 [95% CI, 1.23-112.7]). Failure to meet Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity PR threshold was not associated with HRQOL impairment after adjustment. Conclusions Our findings suggest that reaching the PR threshold provides poor discrimination of HRQOL. Despite not meeting expected PR thresholds, patients can still maintain un-impaired HRQOL, suggesting other factors play a role in preserved HRQOL.
Ocular Myasthenia Gravis – How Effective is Low Dose Prednisone Long Term? (1441)

Objective: NA Background: Ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) therapy should address three issues – restoration of normal binocular vision. prevention of deterioration to generalize MG (GMG), and avoiding significant adverse effects of treatment. Prior studies suggest that moderate dose followed by low dose daily prednisone can accomplish this for at least two year. Long term issues however, have not been addressed. We hypothesize that OMG patients who had been treated or required daily low dose prednisone ( Design/Methods: Chart review of OMG patients managed in one Neuro-Ophthalmology service who did not develop GMG within 2 years (previously reported) with longer than 3 years follow up were evaluated. We evaluated the average daily prednisone dose, additional immunomodulatory therapies, whether diplopia in primary and downgaze remained, ocular motility exam (at the last visit), and whether GMG developed after 2 years. Results: 106 patients (30 women, 76 men, age 56.6± 19.3) were followed for 8.4 ± 5.2 years. 87 (83%) required chronic prednisone, approximately 5.2 ± 8.4 mg daily dose. 41 (39%) had prednisone failure requiring additional therapy (azathioprine, mycophenolate, plasmapheresis, IVIG, rituximab, cyclosporine). GMG developed in 13/106 (12.3%) of patients at average 7.7 ± 8.2 years (yearly incidence 2.4%). At the last evaluation, 84% had no or limited diplopia or vision blocking ptosis. Conclusions: Low dose prednisone remains an adequate therapy to control OMG in the majority of patients, but a significant minority have underlying medical issues or fail therapy, requiring additional immunosuppressive therapies. Conversion to GMG remains low on low dose prednisone and / or other immunosuppressive agents. Prednisone remains the main therapy for OMG but it is not a cure or ultimate panacea. Disclosure: Dr. Verma has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kupersmith has nothing to disclose.
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect road crashes and crash outcomes in Alabama?

With the rising number of cases and deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic, nations and local governments, including many across the U.S., imposed travel restrictions on their citizens. This travel restriction order led to a significant reduction in traffic volumes and a generally lower exposure to crashes. However, recent preliminary statistics in the US suggest an increase in fatal crashes over the period of lockdown in comparison to the same period in previous years. This study sought to investigate how the pandemic affected road crashes and crash outcomes in Alabama. Daily vehicle miles traveled and crashes were obtained and explored. To understand the factors associated with crash outcomes, four crash-severity models were developed: (1) Single-vehicle (SV) crashes prior to lockdown order (Normal times SV); (2) multi-vehicle (MV) crashes prior to lockdown order (Normal times MV); (3) Single-vehicle crashes after lockdown order (COVID times SV); and (4) Multi-vehicle crashes after lockdown order (COVID times MV). The models were developed using the first 28 weeks of crashes recorded in 2020. The findings of the study reveal that although traffic volumes and vehicle miles traveled had significantly dropped during the lockdown, there was an increase in the total number of crashes and major injury crashes compared to the period prior to the lockdown order, with speeding, DUI, and weekends accounting for a significant proportion of these crashes. These observations provide useful lessons for road safety improvements during extreme events that may require statewide lockdown, as has been done with the COVID-19 pandemic. Traffic management around shopping areas and other areas that may experience increased traffic volumes provide opportunities for road safety stakeholders to reduce the occurrence of crashes in the weeks leading to an announcement of any future statewide or local lockdowns. Additionally, increased law enforcement efforts can help to reduce risky driving activities as traffic volumes decrease.
Micro-Foundations of Platform Ecosystems

The popularity of digital platform ecosystems has soared due, at least in part, to how they empower individual complementors to interact and transact with each other. Many studies investigate their...
U-Parameter Design: Feedback System Design with Guaranteed Robust Stability

We propose here an extension of the Q-parameter design technique developed by Youla, Jabr and Bongiorno [1], and Desoer, Liu, Murray, and Saeks [2] for the design of nominally stable closed-loop systems. The basic idea behind the Q-parameter approach is the characterization of all compensators, which guarantee closed-loop stability for a nominal plant, in terms of a compensator parameter Q(s), where Q(s) is an arbitrary stable function. Here stable is taken to be BIBO stable, i.e., Q(s) is proper and all its poles have negative real parts. This free parameter function, Q(s), is then used to design a nominally optimal system, or to meet other design objectives. Boyd et al. [3] exploit this parameterization to develop computer-aided design software which permits the minimization of a performance measure, while simultaneously meeting a set of additional deisgn specifications. The key point is that with Q-parameterization many design specifications reduce to convex constraints on the Q(s) function space, and by further parameterization of Q(s), the optimal design problem can be reduced to a convex programming in a finite dimensional space. However, the Q-parameterization approach only guarantees stability of a fixed “nominal” plant. No robustness of the solution is assured for plant uncertainties. To provide for the design of closed-loop systems which are guaranteed to be robustly stable, we propose a “U-parameterization” of the compensator in terms of an arbitrary strongly bounded real (SBR) function, U(s).
WE-EF-BRA-01: A Dual-Use Optical Tomography System for Small Animal Radiation Research Platform (SARRP)

Purpose: We develop a novel dual-use configuration for a tri-modality, CBCT/bioluminescence tomography(BLT)/fluorescence tomography(FT), imaging system with the SARRP that can function as a standalone system for longitudinal imaging research and on-board the SARRP to guide irradiation. BLT provides radiation guidance for soft tissue target, while FT offers functional information allowing mechanistic investigations. Methods: The optical assembly includes CCD camera, lens, filter wheel, 3-way mirrors, scanning fiber system and light-tight enclosure. The rotating mirror system directs the optical signal from the animal surface to the camera at multiple projection over 180 degree. The fiber-laser system serves as the external light source for the FT application. Multiple filters are used for multispectral imaging to enhance localization accuracy using BLT. SARRP CBCT provides anatomical information and geometric mesh for BLT/FT reconstruction. To facilitate dual use, the 3-way mirror system is cantilevered in front of the camera. The entire optical assembly is driven by a 1D linear stage to dock onto an independent mouse support bed for standalone application. After completion of on-board optical imaging, the system is retracted from the SARRP to allow irradiation of the mouse. Results: A tissue-simulating phantom and a mouse model with a luminescence light source are used to demonstrate the function of the dual-use optical system. Feasibility data have been obtained based on a manual-docking prototype. The center of mass of light source determined in living mouse with on-board BLT is within 1±0.2mm of that with CBCT. The performance of the motorized system is expected to be the same and will be presented. Conclusion: We anticipate the motorized dual use system provide significant efficiency gain over our manual docking and off-line system. By also supporting off-line longitudinal studies independent of the SARRP, the dual-use system is a highly efficient and cost-effective platform to facilitate optical imaging for pre-clinical radiation research. The work is supported by NIH R01CA158100 and Xstrahl Ltd. Drs. John Wong and Iulian Iordachita receive royalty payment from a licensing agreement between Xstrahl Ltd and Johns Hopkins University. John Wong also has a consultant agreement with Xstrahl Ltd.
Assessing the health information needs of the emergency preparedness and management community

Thirty four professionals who are part of a community of practice in the field of health related emergency response management provided information about the sources of information that they currently use the most, as well as their unmet information needs, and the kinds of information systems tools they would like to have. This professional community relies heavily on the Web, but they report severe information overload, in terms of not easily being able to find the kinds of information they want, amid the deluge of information that is there. In particular, they would find a system that uses social tagging and social recommender system features to be very useful for accessing relevant documents in the “gray literature”. We suggest that services such as these will be increasingly important for professional communities in general.
Two Finger Caging: Squeezing and Stretching

This paper studies the problem of placing two point fingers to cage a mobile rigid body in a Euclidean space of arbitrary dimension. (To cage an object is to arrange obstacles so that all motions of the mobile body are bounded). This paper shows that if a compact connected contractible object is caged by two points, then it is either stretching caged or squeezing caged or both, where stretching caged means the body is trapped even if the point fingers are given the freedom of moving apart, and squeezing caged means the the body is trapped even if the fingers are given the freedom of moving closer. This result generalizes a previous result by Vahedi and van der Stappen [18] which applied to two points trapping a polygon in the plane. Our use of a topological approach led to the generalization, and may lead to further generalizations and insights.
To Re(label), or Not To Re(label)

One of the most popular uses of crowdsourcing is to provide training data for supervised machine learning algorithms. Since human annotators often make errors, requesters commonly ask multiple workers to label each example. But is this strategy always the most cost effective use of crowdsourced workers? We argue "No" --- often classifiers can achieve higher accuracies when trained with noisy "unilabeled" data. However, in some cases relabeling is extremely important. We discuss three factors that may make relabeling an effective strategy: classifier expressiveness, worker accuracy, and budget.
Alterations to influenza virus hemagglutinin cytoplasmic tail modulate virus infectivity.

Abstract The influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) contains a cytoplasmic domain that consists of 10 to 11 amino acids, of which five residues have sequence identity for 10 of 13 HA subtypes. To investigate properties of these conserved residues, oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis was performed, using an HA cDNA of influenza virus A/Udorn/72 (H3N2) to substitute the conserved cysteine residues with other residues, to delete the three C-terminal conserved residues, or to remove the entire cytoplasmic domain. The altered HAs were expressed in eukaryotic cells, and the rates of intracellular transport were examined. It was found that substitution of either conserved cysteine residue within the cytoplasmic domain did not affect the rate of intracellular transport, whereas deletion of residues within the C-terminal domain resulted in delayed cell surface expression. All the altered HAs were biologically active in hemadsorption and fusion assays. To investigate whether the wild-type HA and HAs with altered cytoplasmic tails could complement the influenza virus temperature-sensitive transport-defective HA mutant A/WSN/33 ts61S, the HA cDNAs were expressed by using a transient expression system and released virus was assayed by plaque analysis. The wild-type HA expression resulted in a release of approximately 10(3) PFU of virus per ml. Antibody neutralization of complemented virus indicated that the infectivity was due to incorporation of wild-type H3 HA into ts61S virions. Sucrose density gradient analysis of released virions showed that each of the HA cytoplasmic domain mutants was incorporated into virus particles. Virions containing HAs with substitution of the cysteine residues in the cytoplasmic domain were found to be infectious. However, no infectivity could be detected from virions containing HAs that had deletions in their cytoplasmic domains. Possible roles of the HA cytoplasmic domain in forming protein-protein interactions in virions and their involvement in the initiation of the infection process in cells are discussed.
A four port traveling wave mixer/amplifier using single gate MESFETs

Analysis and test data are presented for a four-port traveling wave nonlinear amplifier that is simultaneously used as a three-port mixer and as an amplifier for either the signal or local oscillator input. The three-port mixer is unique in itself as the signal and local oscillator are fed to different ports instead of having to be combined and fed to one input port. Concurrent operation as an amplifier with a transmission feedback path enables the four-port device to be used as a self-oscillating mixer. >
Floating-point ADC optimized for acquisition of deterministic signals

This paper presents a high-speed floating-point analog-to-digital converter in the framework of deterministic signal acquisition systems. The proposed circuit allows quantization of large dynamics signals, while keeping a low relative error. FP-ADC precision characteristics are analyzed in the context of exponential decay signals acquisition.
Basophils and Eosinophils

1 Basic Biology 2 Cell Trafficking 3 Cell Function 4 Immunomodulatory Capabilities 5 Basophilia and Eosinophilia as Disease Markers 6 Role in Infectious Diseases Keywords: basophils and eosinophils; basophils and eosinophils-leukocytes with large cytoplasmic granules from CD34+ progenitor cells; May–Grunwald stain of human peripheral blood basophil; basophil adhesion; cell trafficking-basophils and eosinophil trafficking to inflammation sites through multistep process; basophil and eosinophil adhesion molecules and chemotaxis factors; IgE-mediated activation; immunomodulatory capabilities
Essential spectrum and heat kernel

Abstract Upper bounds are derived for the large time behavior of the heat kernel on Riemannian manifolds whose essential spectrum has a positive lower bound. Applications include a relative signature theorem and the construction of bounded harmonic functions.
Diffusivity of oxygen in jadeite and diopside melts at high pressures

Abstract The diffusivity of oxygen was determined in melts of Jadeite (NaAlSi2O6) and diopside (CaMgSi2O6) compositions using diffusion couples with 18O as a tracer. In the Jadeite melt, the diffusivity of oxygen increases from 6.87 −0.25 +0.28 × 10 −10 cm 2 / sec at 5 Kb to 1.32 ± 0.08 × 10 −9 cm 2 / sec at 20 Kb at constant temperature (1400°C), whereas in the diopside melt at 1650°C, the diffusivity decreases from 7.30 −0.18 0.29 × 10 −7 cm 2 / sec at 10 Kb to 5.28 −0.55 +0.60 × 10 −7 cm 2 / sec at 17 Kb. These results demonstrate that the diffusivity is inversely correlated with the viscosity of the melt. For the jadeite melt, in particular, the inverse correlation is very well approximated by the Eyring equation using the diameter of oxygen ions as a unit distance of translation, suggesting that the viscous flow is rate-limited by the diffusion of individual oxygen ions. In the diopside melt, the activation volume is slightly greater than the molar volume of oxygen ion, indicating that the individual oxygen ion is the diffusion unit. The negative activation volume obtained for the jadeite melt is interpreted as the volume decrease associated with a diffusive jump of an oxygen ion due to local collapse of the network structure.
Trojan, Hilda, and Cybele asteroids: New lightcurve observations and analysis

Lightcurve observations of 23 Trojan, Hilda, and Cybele asteroids are presently subjected to a correction procedure for multiple-aspect lightcurves, followed by a quantitative, bias-corrected analysis of lightcurve amplitude distributions for all published data on these asteroids. While the largest Trojans are found to have a higher mean-lightcurve amplitude than their low-albedo, main-belt counterparts, the smaller Trojans and all Hildas and Cybeles display lightcurve properties resembling main-belt objects. Only the largest Trojans have retained their initial forms after subsequent collisional evolution; 90 km may accordingly represent a transitional magnitude between primordial objects and collision fragments.
Polycarbonates Derived from Glucose via an Organocatalytic Approach

An organocatalyzed ring-opening polymerization methodology was developed for the preparation of polycarbonates derived from glucose as a natural product starting material. The cyclic 4,6-carbonate monomer of glucose having the 1, 2, and 3 positions methyl-protected was prepared in three steps from a commercially available glucose derivative, and the structure was confirmed by means of NMR and IR spectroscopies, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (MS), and single-crystal X-ray analysis. Polymerization of the monomer, initiated by 4-methylbenzyl alcohol in the presence of 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene as the organocatalyst, proceeded effectively in a controlled fashion to afford the polycarbonate with a tunable degree of polymerization, narrow molecular weight distribution, and well-defined end groups, as confirmed by a combination of NMR spectroscopy, gel-permeation chromatography, and MALDI-TOF MS. A distribution of head-to-head, head-to-tail, and tail-to-tail regiochemistries was determined ...
Hole injection and surface state effects at gallium arsenide electrodes

Abstract We report capacitance and luminescence measurements at gallium arsenide electrodes in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte that indicate the injection of holes on cathodic polarization. The steady-state potential-current relations and photoeffects are reviewed critically. We show that the assumption of hole injection is equally plausible to that of electron extraction provided the surface recombination velocity is fast compared to the bulk diffusion and recombination process. In addition to the space charge there is a substantial surface charge of the type commonly observed at III–V semiconductor surfaces.
Vascular endothelial growth factor and angiopoietins in focal cerebral ischemia

Abstract A growing body of evidence indicates that vascular growth factors and their receptors are activated after stroke, and these factors may contribute to ischemic cell damage and to angiogenesis during recovery from stroke. In this review, we focus on recent evidence for roles of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiopoietin 1 (Ang 1) in blood–brain barrier (BBB) leakage and angiogenesis after focal cerebral ischemia.
Synthesis of Carbon-Linked Bis(chromium carbene) Complexes, Bis(azapenams), and Bis(dioxotetraazacyclotetradecadienes)

Carbon-linked bis(chromium carbene) complexes were synthesized by the bis-alkylation of 1,n-alkyl bis(triflates). Photolysis with N-protected imidazolines followed by deprotection and acid-catalyzed dimerization produced bis(dioxotetraazacyclododecadienes) linked by five- or six-carbon aliphatic chains.
Multiple data structuring

Possibilities of working with data possessing several structures are discussed. Such work is shown to require development of language support tools.
An image-based approach to interactive crease extraction and rendering

Abstract Ridge and valley manifolds are receiving a growing attention in visualization research due to their ability to reveal the shapes of salient structures in numerical datasets across scientific, engineering, and medical applications. However, the methods proposed to date for their extraction in the visualization and image analysis literature are computationally expensive and typically applied in an offline setting. This setup does not properly support a userdriven exploration, which often requires control over various parameters tuned to filter false positives and spurious artifacts and highlight the most significant structures. This paper presents a GPU-based adaptive technique for crease extraction and visualization across scales. Our method combines a scale-space analysis of the data in pre-processing with a ray casting approach supporting a robust and efficient one-dimensional numerical search, and an image-based rendering strategy. This general framework achieves high-quality crease surface representations at interactive frame rates. Results are proposed for analytical, medical, and computational datasets.
Relationships between catch in pheromone-baited traps and larval density of the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

Larval densities and catch of adult male Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) in pheromone-baited covered funnel traps in the same year were highly correlated. Such traps avoid saturation problems associated with conventional sticky traps. Release of marked males resulted in recapture rates of up to 21% in covered funnel traps. The findings suggest that non-saturating pheromone-baited traps could be used to monitor population densities and trends of the spruce budworm.
Extravascular transport in normal and tumor tissues

The transport characteristics of the normal and tumor tissue extravascular space provide the basis for the determination of the optimal dosage and schedule regimes of various pharmacological agents in detection and treatment of cancer. In order for the drug to reach the cellular space where most therapeutic action takes place, several transport steps must first occur: (1) tissue perfusion; (2) permeation across the capillary wall; (3) transport through interstitial space; and (4) transport across the cell membrane. Any of these steps including intracellular events such as metabolism can be the rate-limiting step to uptake of the drug, and these rate-limiting steps may be different in normal and tumor tissues. This review examines these transport limitations, first from an experimental point of view and then from a modeling point of view. Various types of experimental tumor models which have been used in animals to represent human tumors are discussed. Then, mathematical models of extravascular transport are discussed from the prespective of two approaches: compartmental and distributed. Compartmental models lump one or more sections of a tissue or body into a "compartment" to describe the time course of disposition of a substance. These models contain "effective" parameters which represent the entire compartment. Distributed models consider the structural and morphological aspects of the tissue to determine the transport properties of that tissue. These distributed models describe both the temporal and spatial distribution of a substance in tissues. Each of these modeling techniques is described in detail with applications for cancer detection and treatment in mind.
Decomposition of diethyl chlorophosphate in the presence of metal halides

Abstract Reactions of diethyl chlorophosphate (DECP) with hydrated metal tri- and tetra-chlorides at elevated temperatures lead to dechlorination of DECP and precipitation of polynuclear diethoxyphosphato (DEP) metal complexes. These complexes were fully characterized on the basis of analytical and spectral studies; identical M(DEP)n complexes were also obtained during reactions of triethyl phosphate with the same metal chlorides [M  Al(III), Ti(II(), Cr(III), Fe(III), Th(IV), U(IV)] at elevated temperatures. Reactions of DECP with anhydrous MCln [M  Al(III), Ti(III), Fe(III), Yb(III), Th(IV), U(IV)], under strictly anhydrous conditions, lead to deethylation of DECP and precipitation of ethoxychlorophosphato (ECP) metal complexes. These compounds are unstable and only analyses of their dechlorination products could be obtained. These analyses are clearly indicative of the presence of one ethyl group per coordinated phosphoryl ligand. Furthermore, IR evidence (vP00, asymmetric and symmetric, and vPCl) obtained on freshly prepared M(ECP)n complexes are definitely in favor of the presence of the ECP ligand in these compounds. The possible mechanisms of the reactions reported are discussed.
Synthesis of New Polyolefin Elastomers, Poly(ethylene-ter-propylene-ter- p-methylstyrene) and Poly(ethylene-ter-1-octene-ter-p-methylstyrene), Using Metallocene Catalysts with Constrained Ligand Geometry

This paper discusses two new polyolefin elastomers, i.e., poly(ethylene-ter-propylene-ter-p-methylstyrene) (EP-p-MS) and poly(ethylene-ter-1-octene-ter-p-methylstyrene) (EO-p-MS), containing “reactive” p-methylstyrene (p-MS) groups. Both terpolymers, with a broad range of terpolymer composition, high molecular weight, narrow molecular weight, and composition distributions, have been prepared by using [C5Me4(SiMe2NtBu)]TiCl2 metallocene catalyst with constrained ligand geometry. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results show no detectable melting point (Tm) in both terpolymers containing less than 70 mol % ethylene units. The sharp glass transition temperature (Tg) with flat base line in each DSC curve indicates homogeneous terpolymer microstructures. In general, the Tg of EP-p-MS is very sensitive to the terpolymer composition (ethylene/propylene ratio and p-MS content). In the compositions with the ideal ethylene/propylene ratio ∼ 55/45, Tg is almost proportional to the content of p-MS. Only with t...
Microstructural and domain effects in epitaxial CoFe2O4 films on MgO with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Abstract CoFe 2 O 4 (CFO) epitaxial thin films of various thicknesses were grown on MgO substrates using the pulsed electron-beam deposition technique. The films have excellent in-plane coherence with the substrate, exhibit layer-by-layer growth and have well-defined thickness fringes in x-ray diffraction measurements. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements indicate that misfit dislocations form in thicker films and the critical thickness for the dislocation formation is estimated. Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CFO due to epitaxial in-plane tensile strain from the substrate was found. A stripe-like domain structure in the demagnetized state is demonstrated using magnetic force microscopy (MFM), in agreement with previous predictions. Coercivity increased in thicker films, which is explained by domain wall pinning due to misfit dislocations at the CFO/MgO interface.
Deposit feeding in selected deep-sea and shallow-water benthic foraminifera

Ultrastructural evidence for deposit feeding in two deep-sea foraminifera, Globobulimina pacifica and Uvigerina peregrina, is presented and compared with results on Ammonia beccarii, a common nearshore dweller. In all three taxa, food vacuoles are common in the last chamber and contain numerous aggregates of sediment and organic detritus. Within aggregates, bacteria are often found surrounded by a sheath of sediment particles generally bound by bacterial exopolymers. In actively-feeding individuals of A. beccarii, food vacuoles along the distal edge of the cytoplast contain live bacteria associated with sediment aggregates as well. Bacteria do not occur in the cell's interior, although hollow sheaths of sediment and detritus do persist. This indicates that the digestion of bacteria may occur very near the distal margin of the cytoplast in this species. Likewise, sediment aggregates both with and without bacteria occur in food vacuoles of the deep-sea species examined. All three species ingest relatively large volumes of organic detritus associated with sediments, although the role of this material in the diet of foraminifera is uncertain. These results suggest that the deep-sea and shallow-water species examined feed on bacteria by deposit feeding and ingest bacterial cells, in addition to relatively large volumes of associated sediment and organic detritus.
Association of Optimism-Pessimism With Quality of Life in Patients With Head and Neck and Thyroid Cancers

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between optimism-pessimism and quality of life (QOL) in survivors of head and neck and thyroid cancers. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between 1963 and 2000, 190 patients completed both the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), used to assess explanatory style (optimism-pessimism), and either the 12-Item or 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12 or SF-36), used to assess QOL. The MMPIs were completed an average of 13.4 years before the QOL assessment. The QOL measures were completed an average of 12.5 years after cancer diagnosis. Patients were divided into quartiles based on their MMPI Optimism-Pessimism scale score. Analysis was performed for all patients, those with head and neck cancer, and those with thyroid cancer. Adjustments were made for age, sex, and disease stage. RESULTS For all 190 patients, optimism was associated with a higher QOL on both the mental and the physical component scales and 6 of 8 subscales of the SF-12 and SF-36. For patients with head and neck cancer, optimism was associated with higher QOL on 3 subscales but neither component scale. For patients with thyroid cancer, optimism was associated with higher QOL on both component scales and 6 subscales. After adjusting for age, sex, and disease stage, optimism was not associated with QOL in the head and neck cancer group. CONCLUSIONS Optimism was associated with a higher QOL in survivors of thyroid cancer compared with survivors of head and neck cancer. After adjusting for age, sex, and disease stage, optimism was not associated with QOL for survivors of head and neck cancer. Optimism was more associated with the mental rather than physical QOL subscales.
Cavopulmonary anastomotic aneurysm: A complication in pulsatile pulmonary arteries

An aneurysm of a left superior vena cava developed after anastomosis to the left pulmonary artery during repair of an atrioventricular septal defect with a persistent left superior vena cava entering directly into the left atrium. We believe this implies caution should be used in accepting the recent suggestion of using a bidirectional cavopulmonary connection to a pulsatile pulmonary arterial circuit as a way of allowing anatomic correction of atrioventricular septal defect with a small right ventricle.
Empirical Bayes stock market portfolios

We exhibit a compound sequential Bayes portfolio selection algorithm based solely on the past which not only lives off market fluctuations but follows the drift as well. In fact, this sequential portfolio performs as well (up to first order terms in the exponent) as the optimal portfolio based on advance knowledge of the n-period empirical distribution of the market. Moreover, to first order in the exponent, the capital resulting from this portfolio will be no less than the best of the available stocks. This is a result that holds for every sample sequence. Thus bull markets and bear markets can not fool the investor into over-committing or under-committing his capital to the risky alternatives available to him. The goal is accomplished by a choice of portfolio which is robust with respect to futures that may differ drastically from the past.
Effect of Surface Modification on the Dielectric Properties of BaTiO3 Nanocrystals

We present the first direct comparison of the dielectric properties of organically modified BaTiO(3) nanocrystals with unmodified BaTiO(3) nanocrystals. Well-defined 6 nm BaTiO(3) nanocrystals were functionalized with n-hexylphosphonic acid (HPA) to give a surface coverage of 2.4 phosphonate groups/nm(2). Chemisorption of HPA to the oxide surface occurs mainly via tridentate bonding of the deprotonated phosphonate, as determined by (31)P MAS NMR, FT-IR, and XPS spectroscopies. The HPA-modified BaTiO(3) (HPA-BaTiO(3)) nanocrystals possess improved dielectric properties, as demonstrated by decreased sensitivity to temperature and frequency for both the dielectric constant and dielectric loss. HPA-BaTiO(3) had a much lower dielectric loss than unmodified BaTiO(3), which also indicates an improvement in the dielectric quality of the material. Such improvements are of potential importance for the fabrication of high energy density nanocomposites.
Trends and Treatment Models in Emergency Psychiatry

National trends that are changing the practice ofemergency psychiatry include the rapid growth in the number of psychiatric emergency services, the relationship between privatization of psychiatric care and increased emergency visits, and the growing specialized populations visiting psychiatric emergency services. To meet the challenges posed by the increasing numbers of homeless mentally ill persons, children, and dual diagnosis patients who seek emergency services, the psychiatric emergency field is developing innovative program models such as outreach teams, psychiatric diversion beds, and crisis follow-up care. This column reviews trends in the field and outlines some of these models.
Nonstationary stochastic gold‐mining: A time‐sequential tactical‐allocation problem

This paper presents an extension of gold-mining problems formulated in earlier work by R. Bellman and J. Kadane. Bellman assumes there are two gold mines labeled A and B, respectively, each with a known initial amount of gold. There is one delicate gold-mining machine which can be used to excavate one mine per day. Associated with mine A is a known constant return rate and a known constant probability of breakdown. There is also a return rate and probability of breakdown for mine B. Bellman solves the problem of finding a sequential decision procedure to maximize the expected amount of gold obtained before breakdown of the machine. Kadane extends the problem by assuming that there are several mines and that there are sequences of constants such that the jth constant for each mine represents the return rate for the jth excavation of that mine. He also assumes that the probability of breakdown during the jth excavation of a mine depends on j. We extend these results by assuming that the return rates are random variables with known joint distribution and by allowing the probability of breakdown to be a function of previous observations on the return rates. We show that under certain regularity conditions on the joint distributions of the random variables, the optimal policy is: at each stage always select a mine which has maximal conditional expected return per unit risk. This gold-mining problem is also a formulation of the problem of time-sequential tactical allocation of bombers to targets. Several examples illustrating these results are presented.
Identical novel A5(B3') botulinum neurotoxin gene arrangements isolated from widely disparate geographical and patient sources suggest their independent origins.

Recently, Carter et al. ([1][1]) reported the characterization of a second strain of Clostridium botulinum whose toxin gene complex arrangement consisted of the novel subtype A5(B3′) that was earlier reported by Dover et al. ([2][2]). (The “B3′” indicates that a partial gene for botulinum
Optical Scattering Properties of Saturn's Ring. II

Abstract Further analysis of visual (V) wavelength photometric function data for Saturn's ring is presented. Evidence indicating both that primary scattering dominates, and that mutual shadowing is an irrelevant concept, is reviewed. Simple anisotropic scattering radiative transfer models are used to define the probable ranges in the single scattering albedo, and in the general shape of the scattering phase function of the individual particles. Limitations on the mean perpendicular optical thickness of the ring are also obtained. Results indicate that the ring particles are highly efficient back-scatterers of visual radiation. Macroscopic particles account for the basic shape of the scattering phase function. Based on an infinite optical thickness for the ring, a minimum single scattering albedo ≈0.75 is found. Use of conservative scattering leads to a minimum optical thickness ≈0.7. The analysis is consistent with the ring particles being centimeter-size pieces of ice.
Suppression of MMP-2 attenuates TNF-α induced NF-κB activation and leads to JNK mediated cell death in glioma

Background Abrogation of apoptosis for prolonged cell survival is essential in cancer progression. In our previous studies, we showed the MMP-2 downregulation induced apoptosis in cancer cell lines. Here, we attempt to investigate the exact molecular mechanism of how MMP-2 depletion leads to apoptosis in glioma xenograft cell lines.
Apparent lowering of energy levels as measured by Orbach relaxation rates

Abstract Discrepancies are noted among the reported excited state energies of rare-earth ions as measured optically and by electron spin-lattice relaxation techniques. A simple modification to the Orbach relaxation mechanism, involving widths of excited states, seems to account for the data.
ANAESTHESIA FOR PORTOCAVAL BYPASS IN PATIENTS WITH METABOLIC DISEASES

SUMMARY The biochemical lesions of the glycogen storage diseases and of familial hyperlipidaemia are discussed and the anaesthetic management of patients with these conditions, for the procedure of portocaval bypass, is described.
Time of Flight Position-Sensitive X-Ray Detection

A new method for recording beam-foil time-of-flight data is described. A stationary, side-window, position-senstive proportional counter, oriented with anode wire parallel to the ion beam, views the decay in flight of excited ions through a Soller slit x-ray collimator. In contrast to the standard method, the exciter foil, placed within or upstream from the field of view, is not moved during the acquisition of a decay curve. Each point on the anode acts like an independent detector seeing a unique segment of the ion beam. The correspondence between the downstream distance at which an ion decays and the position along the anode at which the x-ray is detected makes a pulse-height spectrum of position pulses equivalent to a time-of-flight decay curve. Thus an entire decay curve can now be acquired without moving the foil. Increased efficiency is the most significant improvement over the standard method in which the radiation detector views only a small segment of the flight path at any one time. Experiments using translating foils are subject to a spurious dependence of x-ray intensity on foil position if the foil is non-uniform (or non-uniformly aged) and wobbles as it moves. This effect is eliminated here. Foil aging effects which influence excitation rates and introduce a slowly varying time dependence of the x-ray intensity are automatically normalized by this multichannel technique. The application of this method to metastable x-ray emitting states of low-Z ions will be discussed.
Coal-Fired Heaters for CCGT Cogeneration Service

This paper discusses a current research and development program whose object is to advance the technical readiness of large, coal-fired heaters to supply the input to closed-cycle gas turbine cogeneration systems. Such closed-cycle systems become increasingly attractive as energy cost increase. The gas turbine working fluid is completely isolated from the products of coal combustion, thus avoiding corrosion and erosion of the gas turbine system. Additionally, the nature of the thermodynamic cycles is frequently such as to afford substantial savings in coal input requirements as compared to steam turbine based systems producing equivalent process heat and power. This paper describes three fired heater concepts that are under development for CCGT service. The organization of the research and development program, and the development needs of the fired heaters that are to be satisfied by the R&D program, are discussed.Copyright © 1981 by ASME
Analyzing the structure of expert knowledge

Knowledge is either explicit or tacit. The elicitation, codification, storage, and distribution of tacit knowledge are extremely challenging tasks that require innovative methods and techniques. This paper reports the results of a study in which the tacit knowledge of domain experts was elicited, represented, and analyzed for validity. The subjects were a group of instructors and students at a USPS training school whose memory structures were analyzed for evidence of two common characteristics of expertise: holistic perception and use of abstract concepts. No evidence of either characteristic was found in the more experienced instructor group but, when the subjects were regrouped based on observed performance, the cognitive models of the high performers contained structural evidence of both characteristics. This finding led to the conclusion that experience alone is not an indicator of expertise. Other factors, such as the cognitive ability to correctly structure those experiences, must also be present.
Increase in Procedures Performed at Dermatology Office Visits from 1995 to 2001

Background Over the past few decades, dermatologists have expanded the scope of their practice to include many surgical and cosmetic procedures in response to the development and demand for new procedures. Objective To examine the trend from 1995 in the proportion of dermatology visits associated with procedures to determine if there has been an increase in the number of procedures performed. Methods Data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were used to look at the proportion and types of dermatology visits associated with procedures performed during the years 1995 to 2001. Results There has been a progressive increase in the number of dermatology visits with procedures, occurring in 29.8% of visits in 1995 and 40.0% of visits in 2001. The top procedures performed are that of excision and destruction, including cryotherapy, electrodesiccation and curettage, and biopsies. Conclusion The number of dermatology visits associated with procedures has increased since 1995. With the numerous new procedures and techniques that have emerged and continue to develop in our field, we expect that dermatologists will continue to be providers of medical, as well as surgical, care for the skin. THE CENTER FOR DERMATOLOGY RESEARCH IS FUNDED BY A GRANT FROM GALDERMA LABORATORIES, PLC.
A fourth generation neutrino with a standard Higgs scalar solves both the solar neutrino and dark matter problems

Abstract Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) can solve both the solar neutrino and dark matter problems. In this paper we show that a fourth generation Dirac neutrino with mass between 4–10 GeV, in conjunction with the standard, albeit light , Higgs with mass of order 400 MeV, is a candidate WIMP. We describe both the astrophysical and particle physics consequences of this new WIMP.
Detection of linear trends in process mean

In this paper, we develop a process control approach to detect linear trends in the process mean. A statistic based on the deviation between the target mean and the expected mean of the process is used in the development of the new approach. The statistic is shown to have a chi-square distribution. The approach is described and its performance is compared with cumulative sum (CUSUM), exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA), Shewhart, and generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) charts in detecting linear trends in the process mean. The results indicate that proposed approach is effective in detecting small to large trends. We also investigate the run length properties of the proposed approach under linear trends and compare its values with simulation results. Finally, we analyse the performance of the proposed approach in detecting the time when a drift occurs in the process and compare it with CUSUM and EWMA estimators. The results show that the proposed approach is more effective in detecting drift time ...