cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Statistical Characterizations for Tensile Properties of Co-polymer Aramid Fibers: Loading Rate Effects

High strength polymer fibers such as poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA), and poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole), (PBO) have been used for ballistic body armors. In addition to these para-oriented fibers, copolymer aramid fibers are being considered. Although mechanical properties of these fibers measured under quasi-static loading conditions are reported to be excellent, fiber tensile properties measured at comparable loading conditions for ballistic impact are rarely reported. In this study, we measure single fiber tensile properties at high rate loading conditions by clamping a fiber to the grips of a mini Kolsky bar, and investigate their statistical distributions as well as fiber morphologies.
Modeling and analysis of piezoelectric cantilever-pendulum system for multi-directional energy harvesting:

Piezoelectric cantilevers are widely used in vibration energy harvesting. Simple cantilever-based harvesters are mostly unidirectional. In this article, we develop a cantilever-pendulum system that...
Characteristics of Typhoon Disturbance on Evergreen Broad-leaf Forest at Tiantong National Forest Park

Investigation and analysis on characteristics of windthrows and gap damaged by two typhoons in 2005 in evergreen broad-leaf forest at Tiantong National Forest Park demonstrated that Castanopsis fargesii and Schima superba took the most part of the 111 windthrows belonging to 19 species, and uprooting occupied the most part of them by the path and gully in the park. Most windthrows had D.B.H of 10-30cm, and height of 10-20m. Small gaps were dominant after disturbance among the 10 gaps in the forest, the larger ones concentrated by the gully.
A Comparative Study on Models of the Writing Process

The studies on models of the writing process can be divided into the stage model, the cognitive process model, the socialinteractive model, and the socialcognitive model. Based on behaviorism and structuralism, the stage model challenges the rhetorical tradition in writing studies and regards writing as a linear process. Influenced by cognitive psychology and postbehaviorism, the cognitive process model considers writing as a problemsolving process and attempts to reveal the internal mechanism of the writing process. The socialinteractive model, from the angle of social constructivism, goes beyond the notion of writing as individual activities and emphasizes the shared social features of the writing process, whereas the social cognitive model highlights the internal factors and the external environment of the writing process within the framework of functionalism and communicative theories. Having different hypotheses on the formation of "meaning", these models reveal both advantages and disadvantages when expounding different aspects of the writing process. They are interrelated and compatible to each other.
Modeling a Large Number of Agents by Types: Models as Large Random Decomposable Structures

This paper introduces methods, based on decomposable random combinatorial analysis, to model a large number of interacting agents. This paper also discusses a largely ignored possibility in the mainstream economic literature that hitherto unknown types of agents may enter the models at some future time. We apply the notion of holding times, and introduce the results of the one- and two-parameter inductive methods of Ewens, Pitman and Zabell to economic literature. More specifically, we use the notion of exchangeable random partitions of a finite set to produce a simple rule of sucession, that is, the expressions for the probabilties for entries by new or known types, conditional on the observed data. Then Ewens equilibrium distriution for the sizes of clusters is introduced, and its use to examine market behavior is sketched, especially when a few types of agents are dominant. We suggest that the approaches of this paper and the notion of holding times are relevant to agent-based simulations because holding times can be used to randomly select agents that “act” first.
Electromagnetic coupling and array packing induce exchange of dominance on complex modes in 3D periodic arrays of spheres with large permittivity

We investigate the effect on wave propagation of array packing and electromagnetic coupling between spheres in a three-dimensional (3D) lattice of microspheres with large permittivity that exhibit strong magnetic polarizability. We report on the complex wavenumber of Bloch waves in the lattice when each sphere is assumed to possess both electric and magnetic dipoles and full electromagnetic coupling is accounted for. While for small material-filling fractions we always determine one dominant mode with low attenuation constant, the same does not happen for large filling fractions, when electromagnetic coupling is included. In the latter case we peculiarly observe two dominant modes with low attenuation constant, dominant in different frequency ranges. The filling fraction threshold for which two dominant modes appear varies for different metamaterial constituents, as proven by considering spheres made by either titanium dioxide or lead telluride. As further confirmation of our findings, we retrieve the complex propagation constant of the dominant mode(s) via a field fitting procedure employing two sets of waves (direct and reflected) pertaining to two distinct modes, strengthening the presence of the two distinct dominant modes for increasing filling fractions. However, given that one mode only, with transverse polarization, at any given frequency, is dominant and able to propagate inside the lattice, we are able to accurately treat the metamaterial that is known to exhibit artificial magnetism as a homogeneous material with effective parameters, such as the refractive index. Results clearly show that the account of both electric and magnetic scattering processes in evaluating all electromagnetic intersphere couplings is essential for a proper description of the electromagnetic propagation in lattices.
Excitation of the B Π g 3 states of N 2 by electron impact

Radiative lifetime measurements of 13 vibrational levels of the $B^{3}\ensuremath{\Pi}_{g}$ state of ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$ have been obtained at 50 eV incident electron energy and 30 mTorr ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$ gas pressure using a 50-\ensuremath{\mu}sec electron excitation pulse. Two radiative decay components with lifetimes of approximately 5 and 25 \ensuremath{\mu}sec are observed in each case. The short-lived component is identified as the contribution from direct excitation of the $B^{3}\ensuremath{\Pi}_{g}$ state. The long-lived cascade contribution is observed to decrease from 37% of the total $B^{3}\ensuremath{\Pi}_{g}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}A^{3}\ensuremath{\Sigma}_{u}^{+}({v}^{\ensuremath{'}}, {v}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}})$ radiation for the ${v}^{\ensuremath{'}}=0$ vibrational level to 15% for the ${v}^{\ensuremath{'}}=12$ level and is consistent with theoretical predictions by Cartwright et al.
Lamotrigine-Induced Skin Rash

Five of 68 consecutive children treated for epilepsy with lamotrigine developed a skin rash, one a Stevens-Johnson syndrome, in a report from Dalhousie University, and IWK Children’s Hospital, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Fuzzy Knights and Knaves

Puzzles about knights, who only make true statements, and knaves, who only make false statements, have long been a mainstay of classical logic. They are valuable not just as recreational puzzles, b...
Training Patterns and Lifetime Career Achievements of US Academic Cardiothoracic Surgeons

We aimed to investigate the impact of taking dedicated time for research (DTR) during training and/or getting a PhD on subsequent career achievements of US academic cardiothoracic surgeons. Online resources (institutional Web sites, CTSNet, Scopus, NIH RePORTER) were queried to collect training information (timing of medical school/residency/fellowship graduation, DTR, PhD) and academic metrics (publications, citations, research funding) for 694 academic cardiothoracic surgeons practicing at 56 premiere US institutions. Excluding missing data, 464 (75 %) surgeons took DTR and 156 (25 %) did not; 629 (91 %) were MD only and 65 (9 %) also had a PhD. DTR was associated with higher number of ongoing publications (~5.6/year vs. ~3.8/year), with no difference for accrued number of total citations. History of DTR was more prevalent among surgeons with versus without NIH funding (87 vs. 71 %; p < 0.001), but no difference was seen across academic ranks and among those who were division/department chiefs. No overall increase in publications/citations, academic rank advancement, NIH funding, or leadership roles was found for those with a PhD. Among cardiothoracic surgeons, devoting time during the training years exclusively to research might be associated with higher career-long academic productivity in terms of annual number new publications and ability to get NIH funding, but without significant impact in terms of academic rank or institutional role advancement. No significant difference was found between those with versus without a PhD in terms of career-long number of publications/citations, academic rank, NIH funding, or leadership role, even though sample size might have been insufficient to identify any such potential difference.
Using Poverty Simulation for College Students: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation

This paper speaks to the potential for simulation and experience-based educational programs in delivering changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, as well as the utility of mixed-methods approaches to program evaluation. The authors discuss a mixed-methods study which evaluates the impact of a poverty simulation program on college students at three Midwestern universities. Findings suggest multiple benefits of the experience, including changes in attitudes and beliefs about how serious the experience of poverty can be, an understanding that poverty is complex and can be caused by multiple factors, and a decrease in their biases and stereotypes about people in poverty. Qualitative findings corroborate these data.
Mixing Enhancement in Serpentine Micromixers with a Non-Rectangular Cross-Section.

In this numerical study, a new type of serpentine micromixer involving mixing units with a non-rectangular cross-section is investigated. Similar to other serpentine/spiral shaped micromixers, the design exploits the formation of transversal vortices (Dean flows) in pressure-driven systems, associated with the centrifugal forces experienced by the fluid as it is confined to move along curved geometries. In contrast with other previous designs, though, the use of non-rectangular cross-sections that change orientation between mixing units is exploited to control the center of rotation of the transversal flows formed. The associated extensional flows that thus develop between the mixing segments complement the existent rotational flows, leading to a more complex fluid motion. The fluid flow characteristics and associated mixing are determined numerically from computational solutions to Navier–Stokes equations and the concentration-diffusion equation. It is found that the performance of the investigated mixers exceeds that of simple serpentine channels with a more consistent behavior at low and high Reynolds numbers. An analysis of the mixing quality using an entropic mixing index indicates that maximum mixing can be achieved at Reynolds numbers as small as 20 in less than four serpentine mixing units.
DIRECT CAROTID ARTERY ACCESS FOR CORONARY INTERVENTION

Severe peripheral arterial disease can limit options for coronary revascularization when surgical bypass is not an option and medical therapy fails to control angina. A 58-year-old woman with history of severe peripheral arterial disease (PAD), coronary artery disease with unstable angina and
Modeling brain imaging data with neuronal assembly dynamics

Brain imaging methods, such as positron emission tomography (PET), are widely used to measure functional activity in human subjects. These methods provide data simultaneously about activity in many areas of the brain while a subject performs a cognitive task. Imaging studies in which regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) is used as an index of neural activity typically are designed for identifying regions of brain that are involved in specific aspects of cognitive tasks, but the question of how these areas interact as a dynamic network to produce such data is poorly understood (Horwitz and Sporns, 1994). The goal of this work is to better understand how neuronal dynamics relate to rCBF imaging data.
The Interfacial Chemistry of Grignard Reagent Formation: Reactions of Clean Mg(0001) Surfaces

The Grignard reagent, RMgX, where R is a hydrocarbon group and X is a halogen, is one of the more important and versatile reagents for organic synthesis [1]. It is formed in a heterogeneous reaction between magnesium and an organic halide in an appropriate organic solvent [2, 3, 4, 5] $$ {\rm{RX + Mg}} \to {\rm{RMgX + RR + Mg}}{{\rm{X}}_{\rm{2}}}{\rm{ + other by - products}} $$ (1)
Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of Short-Term Cloud Feedback on Global and Local Interannual Climate Fluctuations from A-Train Observations

AbstractObservations from multiple sensors on the NASA Aqua satellite are used to estimate the temporal and spatial variability of short-term cloud responses (CR) and cloud feedbacks λ for differen...
Screen Printed HF RFID Antennas on Polyethylene Terephthalate Film

The performance of printed radio frequency identification (RFID) antennas is highly dependent on the electrical conductivity of the conducting tracks forming the antennas. In this paper, screen printed high frequency (HF) RFID antennas on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film are reported, with the focus on the optimization of the post-processing procedures for the improvement of the conductivity of the screen printed conductive tracks. The electrical conductivity of the printed conductive tracks is significantly affected by the ink post printing processing conditions. The results show that drying the ink at ambient temperature, followed by heat treatment provides the optimum conductivity. This treatment also offers the highest quality factors for the screen printed HF RFID antennas. It was also found that pre-drying at 60 °C followed by heat treatment achieves similar results with less processing time. The findings provide a low cost solution for screen printing high performance HF RFID antennas on plastic films.
Gender Development in African American Youth

Using the organizing framework of Ruble, Martin, and Berenbaum (2006), we summarized literature on gender development in African American youth within six content areas: biological/categorical sex, activities and interests, personal-social attributes, social relationships, styles and symbols, and values regarding gender. Results with African Americans were compared with what is known about gender processes in other U.S. racial groups, and gaps in the literature were noted. Finally, we summarized the literature on socialization influences on gender development in African American youth, focusing particularly on parents and media. Our review shows that gender, along with race, plays a significant role in the development of African American youth, with many of these processes similar to what is found in youth of other racial/ethnic groups. Contextual factors such as family structure and racial context are important to take into account to best understand individual differences in the gender development of Bl...
11 IBM ON THE GLOBAL STAGE

When we and other progressive firms do something new, its effect spreads and changes the character of an area of the economy. Little by little, our example spreads over a wide area. — French IBM Manager, 1960 1 When World War II ended, IBM picked up the pieces of its worldwide operations. In a staff meeting, Thomas J. Watson Sr. declared the company's performance outside the United States "nothing short of a disgrace." 2 Tom Watson Jr. thought demand was strong; it was just that IBM could not deliver products because of shortages in supply. IBM took the quick step of sending equipment no longer needed by the U.S. military in Europe to its local factories for refurbishing. The stratagem worked and also provided employment for European IBM veterans returning to the company. Watson Jr. recalled that "with a few hours' work and a new coat of paint, those machines were something they could sell." 3 But the "Old Man" wanted more, so he poured resources into Europe, reestablishing offices and contacts with customers.
Experiences at the End of Life From the Perspective of Bereaved Parents: Results of a Qualitative Focus Group Study.

Background:Palliative care principles are known to support the experiences of children and their families throughout the illness trajectory. However, there is little knowledge of the parental perce...
Fronto-parietal, cingulo-opercular and striatal contributions to learning and implementing control policies

Efficient task performance requires co-ordination of internal cognitive processes by implementing control policies adapted to the dynamic structure of task demands. The cognitive and neural basis of control policy implementation remains poorly characterized, in part because it is typically confounded with implementing new stimulus-response rules. To disambiguate these processes, we asked participants to perform multiple novel variants of a working memory control task. Each variant had a unique, novel sequential trial structure, but all shared common stimulus-response rules, enabling us to test control policy implementation separate from rule learning. Behaviorally, we found evidence for two adaptive processes tied to control policy implementation. One process was reflected in slower responses on the first trial with a novel sequential trial structure, followed by rapid speeding on subsequent trials. A second process was reflected in the diminishing size of the first trial cost as participants accommodated different variants of the task over many blocks. Using fMRI, we observed that the striatum and a cingulo-opercular cortical network increased activity to the first trial, tracking the fast adjustment. This pattern of activity dissociated these regions from a fronto-parietal network including dorsolateral PFC, inferior frontal junction, inferior parietal sulcus, and rostrolateral PFC, which showed a slower decline in activity across trials, mirroring findings in rule implementation studies, but in the absence of rule implementation demands. Our results reveal two adaptive processes underlying the implementation of efficient, generalizable control policies, and suggest a broader account of the role of a cortico-striatal network in control policy implementation.
Robotic Surgery in Total Joint Arthroplasty: A Survey of the AAHKS Membership to Understand the Utilization, Motivations, and Perceptions of Total Joint Surgeons.

Abstract Background In the past decade, the popularity of robot arm assistance in total joint arthroplasty has outpaced the reporting of long-term data. This study aimed to understand the motivations for use and perceptions of the technology among total joint surgeons. Methods An online survey was distributed to the membership of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons. The questions were asked for respondent’s motivations for utilization of the technology, perceptions regarding outcomes and training, and personal characteristics that may have influenced responses. Results Increased precision was the primary reason for users (73.1%) to utilize robot arm assistance in total joint procedures. Nonusers were just as likely to consider adopting the technology because of increase precision and marketing (P = .590). Nonclinical reasons such as marketing, administrative pressure, and peer pressure were primary motivators for 19.7% of users of the technology. Respondents regardless of financial interest and use of the technology felt that robot arm assistance increased operative time (76.5%) and was not more cost-effective than traditional methods (78.7%). Most American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons members felt that 20-40 surgical cases were needed to become competent with the technique (54.1%). A unique finding of this study is that a larger proportion of orthopedic surgeons considered themselves “innovators” or “early adopters,” based on Roger's diffusion of innovations, than was expected for the general population. Conclusion This study demonstrates that the decision to adopt robot arm assistance in total joint arthroplasty is multifactorial and may have a significant contribution from nonclinical factors and inherent surgeon characteristics. Continued evaluation of surgeon perceptions will be valuable as new evidence emerges regarding long-term outcomes.
Threat or thrill? the neural mechanisms underlying the development of anxiety and risk taking in adolescence

Anxiety is common in adolescence and has been linked to a plethora of negative outcomes across development. While previous studies of anxiety have focused on threat sensitivity, less work has considered the concurrent development of threat- and reward-related neural circuitry and how these circuits interact and compete during puberty to influence typical adolescent behaviors such as increased risk taking and exploration. The current review integrates relevant findings from clinical and developmental neuroimaging studies to paint a multidimensional picture of adolescent-onset anxiety against the backdrop of typical adolescent development. Ultimately, this paper argues that longitudinal neuroimaging studies tracking approach and avoidance motivations across development are needed to fully understand the mechanisms underlying the development of anxiety in adolescence and to identify and provide effective interventions for at-risk youth.
How Does Supernet Help in Neural Architecture Search

Weight sharing, as an approach to speed up architecture performance estimation has received wide attention. Instead of training each architecture separately, weight sharing builds a supernet that assembles all the architectures as its submodels. However, there has been debate over whether the NAS process actually benefits from weight sharing, due to the gap between supernet optimization and the objective of NAS. To further understand the effect of weight sharing on NAS, we conduct a comprehensive analysis on five search spaces, including NAS-Bench-101, NAS-Bench-201, DARTS-CIFAR10, DARTS-PTB, and ProxylessNAS. We find that weight sharing works well on some search spaces but fails on others. Taking a step forward, we further identified biases accounting for such phenomenon and the capacity of weight sharing. Our work is expected to inspire future NAS researchers to better leverage the power of weight sharing.
Experiments and numerical simulations of chemical enhanced oil recovery in fractured carbonate rocks

Abstract Secondary oil recovery from naturally fractured, oil wet carbonate reservoirs is challenging due to high permeability fractures and unfavorable capillary forces. A series of new tertiary surfactant coreflood experiments in fractured oil wet limestone cores were performed in which surfactants lowered the IFT and formed viscous microemulsions upon mixing with crude oil and brine. The viscous microemulsions cause favorable transverse pressure gradients that result in increased oil recovery. The effects of surfactant slug size, salinity and injection rate were investigated experimentally. In all cases, the injected surfactant solutions recovered significantly more oil than waterflooding. Numerical simulations were used to interpret the experimental results. The experimental oil recovery and pressure drop data were matched by reducing the fluid mobility in the fracture. A new experiment verified that a viscous phase formed in the fracture, which resulted in a significant improvement in oil recovery.
Insights from Immigrant and Refugee Youth on Resilience through Sport Participation during Adaption to a New Country

The purpose of the study was to explore the resilience of immigrant and refugee youth through sport participation as they adapt to a new country. A purposive sample of 15 immigrant and refugee yout...
Deep Learning Assisted Mechanotyping of Individual Cells Through Repeated Deformations and Relaxations in Undulating Channels

Mechanical properties of cells are important features that are tightly regulated, and are dictated by various pathologies. Deformability cytometry allows for the characterization of mechanical properties of hundreds of cells per second, opening the way to differentiating cells via mechanotyping. A remaining challenge for detecting and classifying rare sub-populations is the creation of a combined experimental and analysis protocol that would assure classification accuracy approaching 100%. In order to maximize the accuracy, we designed a microfluidic channel that subjects each cell to repeated deformations and relaxations. We also track the shape dynamics of individual cells with high time resolution, and apply sequence-based deep learning models for feature extraction. HL60 cells with and without treatment with cytochalasin D (cytoD), a reagent previously shown to perturb the actin network, were used as a model system to understand the classification potential of our approach. Multiple recurrent and convolutional neural network architectures were trained using time sequences of cell shapes, and shown to achieve high classification accuracy based on cytoskeletal properties alone. The best model classified the two sub-populations of HL60 cells with an accuracy of 95%. This work establishes the application of sequence-based deep learning models to dynamic deformability cytometry.
Influence of Tall Fescue Epichloë endophytes on Rhizosphere Soil Microbiome

Tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire) often forms a symbiotic relationship with fungal endophytes (Epichloe coenophiala), which provides increased plant performance and greater tolerance to environmental stress compared to endophyte-free tall fescue. Whether this enhanced performance of tall fescue exclusively results from the grass-fungus symbiosis, or this symbiosis additionally results in the recruitment of soil microbes in the rhizosphere that in turn promote plant growth, remain a question. We investigated the soil bacterial and fungal community composition in iron-rich soil in the southeastern USA, and possible community shifts in soil microbial populations based on endophyte infection in tall fescue by analyzing the 16s rRNA gene and ITS specific region. Our data revealed that plant-available phosphorus (P) was significantly (p < 0.05) influenced by endophyte infection in tall fescue. While the prominent soil bacterial phyla were similar, a clear fungal community shift was observed between endophyte-infected (E+) and endophyte-free (E-) tall fescue soil at the phylum level. Moreover, compared to E- soil, E+ soil showed a greater fungal diversity at the genus level. Our results, thus, indicate a possible three-way interaction between tall fescue, fungal endophyte, and soil fungal communities resulting in improved tall fescue performance.
Gigabit Indoor Free-Space Optical Communication Enhanced by Dynamic Beam Control

We present an indoor free space, line-of-sight optical communication system with gigabit bandwidth using an ultra-low power VCSEL diode, which is enhanced by dynamic beam steering and beam shaping for rapid user acquisition.
Correlations and Energy Cascades in Magnetized Turbulence

Many terrestrial and astrophysical plasmas encompass very large dynamical ranges in space and time, which are not accessible by direct numerical simulations. Thus, idealized sub-volumes are often used to study small-scale effects including the dynamics of magnetized turbulence. One significant aspect of the dynamics of the turbulent cascade is the transfer of energy from the large to small scales. In this work, we present a new shell-to-shell energy transfer analysis framework for understanding cascades of energy within compressible magnetized turbulence. We demonstrate the viability of this framework through application to a series of isothermal subsonic and supersonic magnetized turbulence simulations and utilize results from this analysis to establish benchmarks in the non-linear regime for cross-code comparison. We further utilize these simulations to study how the autocorrelation time and normalization of the large-scale driving systematically change properties of the turbulence. In general, we show that shorter autocorrelation times require more power in the acceleration field. More power in the acceleration field results in more power in compressive modes that weaken the anti-correlation between density and magnetic field strength. We examine how these results can impact a range of diagnostics relevant for a range of terrestrial and astrophysical applications.
Abstract 2000: Evaluation of Follow-Up Echocardiographic Assessment after Percutaneous Placement of the WATCHMAN Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion System for Embolic Protection in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

Background: Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Studies have revealed that the left atrial appendage (LAA) is the most common site for thrombi development. Although chronic anticoagulation with warfarin therapy is effective in decreasing events, there are numerous drug and dietary interactions and associated bleeding risks. The WATCHMAN LAA occluder device is an innovative device designed to prevent the embolization of thrombi that may form in the LAA. PROTECT AF is a multicenter, prospective randomized study enrolling patients with non-valvular, persistent, or permanent AF. Methods: Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE) was performed at baseline, implant, 45 day, 6 month, and 12month intervals. During implantation, TEE provided guidance for device placement and event monitoring. Subsequent follow-up imaging provided LAA and device anatomic and functional characteristics. All echo analysis was performed at a central core echo lab. Functional measurement of the LAA included pulsed and tissue dopper velocity imaging. Additional images of cardiac structure was also routinely evaluated including pulmonary veins and valvular competency. Results: To date 94 of 96 patients have been successfully implanted with the WATCHMAN device. 161 baseline, procedural, and follow-up TEEs were evaluated. At baseline, mean LAA velocity was 38.9±19cm/sec which decreased to 26.9±21cm/sec at 45 days (p Conclusions: TEE helps to identify baseline, procedural and follow-up characteristics after device implantation. Further study will determine whether the WATCHMAN device is a potential effective alternative to chronic anticoagulation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.
Proton relaxation times in 7LiCl and 6LiCl solutions

Measurements of the proton spin-lattice relaxation times have been made as a function of concentration and temperature in aqueous solutions of 7LiCl and 6LiCl. The difference in the relaxation times for two isotopic solutions of the same concentration and temperature is small, corresponding to a difference n reciprocal relaxation times of 0·004 sec-1. c at 25°c, where c is the molarity of the solutions. This value decreases with increasing temperature. It is shown that the difference in relaxation times arises solely from the magnetic dipole interaction between the 7Li ion nucleus and water protons. The concept of a long-lived, rigid hydrated complex around the Li ion is shown to be inconsistent with the results.
Cancer of the thyroid in women of childbearing age.

Abstract 1. 1. Current concepts of the nature, diagnosis, and treatment of thyroid cancer have been reviewed. 2. 2. A series of 217 cases of thyroid carcinoma in women of childbearing age has been presented. 3. 3. The role of the obstetrician and gynecologist in the early diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer is discussed.
Marker-less tracking for AR: a learning-based approach

Estimating the pose of a camera (virtual or real) in which some augmentation takes place is one of the most important parts of an augmented reality (AR) system. Availability of powerful processors and fast frame grabber shave made vision-based trackers commonly used due to their accuracy as well as flexibility and ease of use. Current vision-based trackers are based on tracking of markers. The use of markers increases robustness and reduces computational requirements. However, their use can be very complicated, as they require certain maintenance. Direct use of scene features for tracking, therefore, is desirable. To this end, we describe a general system that tracks the position and orientation of a camera observing a scene without any visual markers. Our method is base don a two-stage process. In the first stage, a set of features is learned with the help of an external tracking system while in action. The second stage uses these learned features for camera tracking when the system in thefirst stage decides that it is possible to do so. The system is very general so that it can employ any available feature tracking and pose estimation system for learning and tracking. We experimentally demonstrate the viability of the method in real-life examples.
Using diffuse field interferometry for structural and material characterization in complex aircraft structures

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems often rely on propagating elastic waves through complex structures, which can result in the formation of diffuse-fields. Diffuse fields fill the whole structure with energy and are characterized by energy equi-partition among all propagation modes. Due to their apparent complexity, diffuse-fields are not commonly used by conventional SHM systems. However, recent theoretical and experimental studies have demonstrated that the local Green's functions (GF) can be estimated from the cross-correlation of diffuse wavefields recorded between points of a sensor grid and generated by sources located remotely from the monitoring area. The Diffuse Field Interferometry (DFI) concept yields the GF between all measured points (e.g. nominal response of the structure), effectively transforming each measurement point into a virtual source. The resulting local GFs provide detailed information on the dynamic behavior of the material/structure under investigation. In this work, Green's functions are estimated experimentally from DFI using full-field measurements obtained with a scanning laser vibrometer.
Idiosyncratic Return Volatility and Price Informativeness: Evidence from Stock Splits

Whether higher idiosyncratic return volatility means more or less informative stock prices is an ongoing debate. All the existing literature relies on cross-sectional evidence, which makes it hard to isolate the effects of price informativeness on idiosyncratic volatility from other effects. I circumvent this problem by investigating how price informativeness and idiosyncratic volatility change for the same firm around stock splits. I find a strong negative relation between the change in idiosyncratic volatility and the change in the stock ownership by the more sophisticated institutional investors (especially short-term investors, independent investors, and transient investors, who are the most sophisticated among institutional investors). There is also a negative relation between the change in idiosyncratic volatility and the change in five other commonly used price informativeness measures. Overall, I find that an increase in price informativeness is associated with a decrease in idiosyncratic volatility.
Influenza immunization in pregnancy: overcoming patient and health care provider barriers

Seasonal influenza imparts disproportionate morbidity and death to pregnant women. Immunization against influenza is the most effective intervention to mitigate the burden of influenza disease during pregnancy; nevertheless, immunization rates remain suboptimal in this patient population. Therefore, there is a clear need for strategies to optimize influenza vaccination among pregnant women. We reviewed potential patient and health care provider barriers to influenza immunization and propose effective strategies for overcoming them.
Dose-Dependent Cytokinetic Changes Following 1-β-D-Arabinofuranosylcytosine and Hydroxyurea In L1210 and S-180 In Vivo

DNA synthesis inhibition and recovery in L1210 and S-180 ascites tumors following 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (Ara-C) and hydroxyurea (HU) were measured autoradiographically as a basis for optimizing drug schedules. Tumor bearing mice, 10(6) cells day 0, were treated on day 4 with 20, 200 or 2000 mg/kg Ara-C or 50, 300 or 1800 mg/kg HU. At various intervals following drug, [3H]thymidine was administered i.p. and mice were killed 1 hr later. Tumor cells were analyzed for labeling index (LI) and grain count (GC) to determine the percentage of cells in S phase and the distribution of DNA synthesis rates among the labeled cells, respectively. Following each dose of HU, DNA synthesis was inhibited completely. Recovery of LI was rapid and approached control values by 6 hr. Following each dose of Ara-C, DNA synthesis was inhibited completely for at least 6 hr. Recovery of LI was first noted 6 hr following 20 mg/kg Ara-C and 9 hr following 200 mg/kg. Following both doses the LI reached 100% of the control value by 26 hr. GC analysis indicated that following Ara-C treatment, DNA synthesis was reinitiated first with cells with low GC from 6 to 12 hr followed by cells with increasing GC from 12 to 20 hr. The labeling intensity reached control values by 20 hr and an 'overshoot' occurred by 26 hr. These data suggest that the recovery of DNA synthesis rate is a gradual process. Survival data for mice receiving two doses of Ara-C indicated that the optimal interval for retreatment following the lower dose of Ara-C occurred by 6 hr as compared to 12--16 hr for the higher dose. These times coincided in both instances with recovery of LI to 33--50% of control values. Early recovery of LI may be the best method currently available for estimating the optimal time for retreatment with an S phase specific drug.
A method to evaluate the Sachs formula

A rule-based method for evaluating the Sachs formula is introduced. For simple molecules, such as linear chains and monocycles, the Sachs formula can be evaluated by directly using the rules. For complex molecular systems, the Sachs formula can be evaluated by first breaking up the molecule into constituent pieces of sufficient simplicity so that data for them are available in the data base and then constructing the molecule from the known data by adding all pieces together, one at a time, via a series of binary rules. The method changes the way of evaluating the Sachs formula from a trial-and-error-type numerical search to a purely algebraic manipulation and thus tremendously reduces the computing times. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 65: 19–36, 1997
Decentralized foresighted energy purchase and procurement with renewable generation and energy storage

We study a power system with one independent system operator (ISO) who procures energy from energy generators, and decentralized aggregators who purchase energy from the ISO to serve their customers. With the penetration of renewable energy generation, the aggregators are adopting energy storage to deal with the high volatility in supply and prices. In the presence of energy storage, it is beneficial for all the entities (i.e. the ISO and aggregators) to make foresighted decisions (i.e. energy procurement decisions by the ISO and energy purchase decisions by the aggregators) to minimize their long-term costs. However, the optimal foresighted decision making is complicated mainly because the information required to make optimal decisions is decentralized among the entities. We propose a design framework in which the ISO provides each aggregator with a conjectured future price, and each aggregator distributively minimizes its own long-term cost based on its conjectured price as well as its local information. The proposed framework can achieve the social optimum despite the decentralized information among the entities. Simulation results demonstrate significant reduction in the total cost by the proposed foresighted energy purchase and procurement (EPP), compared to the optimal myopic EPP (up to 60% reduction), and the foresighted EPP based on the Lyapunov optimization framework (up to 30% reduction).
INTERACTIVE TO INDEPENDENT LITERACY: A MODEL FOR DESIGNING LITERACY GOALS FOR CHILDREN WITH ATYPICAL COMMUNICATION

Few models appropriately or adequately describe the literacy development experiences of children with atypical communication development, such as those with language impairment or severe disabilities. In this paper, the Interactive-to-Independent Model of literacy development is presented, influenced primarily by Vygotsky's seminal theories of development through social engagement and interaction. The Interactive-to-Independent Model can be used by teachers and speech-language pathologists as a foundation for designing literacy goals and interventions for children with atypical and/or more severe levels of communication impairment. Two case studies are presented, outlining the literacy goals for a child with mild to moderate mental retardation and a child with autism.
Effect of orthophosphate on the dissolution kinetics of biogenic magnesian calcites

The dissolution behavior of two biogenic Mg-calcites, the echinoid, Tripneustes (12 mol% MgCO3), and the red alga, Neogoniolithon (18 mol% MgCO3 plus brucite), was studied using free-drift methods in distilled water and phosphate-spiked solutions at 25°C and PCO2 = 1 atm. Small concentrations of phosphate strongly inhibit dissolution rates. Inhibition increases with increased phosphate levels and with approach toward saturation. Near saturation, dissolution rates are reduced by 103 by the presence of 0.6 μmol adsorbed-P/m2. The magnitude of phosphate inhibition is similar to that observed for low-Mg calcite, and like calcite, the mechanism of inhibition is probably by adsorption of P at surface kink sites. Phosphate appears to inhibit removal of Mg and Ca equally during Mg-calcite dissolution. Rates of brucite dissolution are unaffected by phosphate. Mg-calcites containing >8.5 mol% MgCO3 should be thermodynamically unstable relative to aragonite in most natural waters. Recent work, however, shows that in contrast to its effect on the behavior of Mg-calcites. phosphate does not inhibit aragonite dissolution. The presence of phosphate might thus reverse the relative stability of these two minerals during diagenesis of shallow marine carbonate sediments.
Alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient in the assessment of acute pulmonary embolism.

Purpose The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the utility of the alveolar-arterial (A-a) oxygen gradient in the diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) among patients who participated in the Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis (PIOPED). Methods Pulmonary embolism was diagnosed (n=280) or excluded (n=499) by angiography in all patients. Patients were then categorized as (1) the entire cohort, (2) no prior cardiopulmonary disease and no prior PE, and (3) no prior PE or deep venous thrombosis. Normal values of the A-a gradient were defined in three ways: (1) values ≤20 mm Hg; (2) values ≤age/4+4; and (3) values based on age from the literature. Results When a normal A-a gradient was defined as ≤20 mm Hg, 11 to 14% of patients with PE in the three categories of patients had a normal A-a gradient. When the equation age/4+4 was used, 8 to 10% of patients with PE in the three categories of patients had a normal A-a gradient. With age-related values from the literature, 20 to 23% of patients with PE in the three categories of patients had a normal A-a gradient. The A-a gradient was normal in comparable percentages of patients who did not have PE. Conclusion Normal values of the A-a gradient did not exclude the diagnosis of acute PE.
Dexamethasone increases plasma free dopamine in man

Abstract In man, unconjugated plasma DA is normally undetectable or present in minute amounts. Twelve medication-free volunteers received a 1 mg dose of dexamethasone which produced pronounced increases of plasma free DA but not of other catecholamines. Mean plasma free dopamine levels after dexamethasone at 8 a.m. (155 ± 102 pg/ml) and 4 p.m. (163 ± 70 pg/ml) were significantly higher (p
On the convergence of successive approximations in dynamic programming with non-zero terminal reward

This paper considers the convergence of the finite-horizon optimal value functions of dynamic programming to the infinite-horizon optimal value function, when there is a non-zero terminal-reward function. The model and methods follow closely these used by Schal in a recent paper, in which a terminal reward of zero was assumed. We first present convergence conditions that are direct extensions of Schal's, then related conditions in which the terminal-reward function is an upper or lower bound for the infinite-horizon optimal value function. Some applications to problems in queueing control are mentioned briefly. We also comment on the relation between our conditions and the more restrictive conditions of strongly convergent and contractive models, and present a very general result concerning uniqueness of the solution to the infinite-horizon optimality equation.
A holistic analysis of circuit timing variations in 3D-ICs with thermal and TSV-induced stress considerations

In 3D ICs, TSV-induced thermal residual stress impacts transistor mobilities due to the piezoresistive effect. This phenomenon is coupled with other temperature effects on transistor parameters that are seen even in the absence of TSVs. In this paper, analytical models are developed to holistically represent the effect of thermally-induced variations on circuit timing. The analysis is based on a semianalytic formulation that is demonstrated to accurately capture the biaxial nature of TSV stress and its effect on delay.
Parotid duct injuries

Treatment of parotid duct injuries varies with the anatomic location and the type of injury involved. The duct may be injured by sharp or blunt facial trauma. Moderate to severe facial swelling or clear drainage shortly after injury in the region of the parotid gland or its duct should alert the clinician to this potential problem. The anatomic considerations, as well as a variety of techniques to treat these injuries, are presented. A case involving a particularly resistant chronic ductal injury, with an extraoral fistula and its eventual cure, is presented. A second case of a lacerated duct which was diagnosed and treated primarily is presented as a contrast.
Conventional and enhanced plaque neutralization assay for polio antibody

HEp-2 cells were more suitable as a cell substrate than Vero cells for plaque assay of wild or attenuated strains of poliovirus. Polio antibody titration by plaque neutralization was on the average 3.4 to 4.8 times more sensitive than antibody titration by virus CPE assay. The most pronounced effect on virus neutralization was achieved by extending the time of serum-virus interaction. Incubating the virus-antiserum mixture for 20 h instead of 1 h at 36 degrees C increased antibody titer to all three poliovirus types about 11- to 28-fold. Potentiation of poliovirus neutralization by heterologous antiglobulin was considerably less effective than with other virus-antibody systems. The virus plaque neutralization technique described should be capable of measuring minute amounts of antibody as required in special circumstances.