cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Entanglement Networks of 1, 2-Polybutadiene Cross-Linked in States of Strain: XV. Simple Extension Special Case Comparison of the CKF Theory to Swelling Equilibrium Data

Linear 1, 2-polybutadiene is cross-linked near its glass transition temperature by γ irradiation while strained in simple extension with a stretch ratio λo. After release, the sample retracts to a state of ease (λs). From λo, λs, and stress-strain measurements in extension from the state of ease, the network strand concentrations terminated by trapped entanglements (νN) and by cross-links (νX) can be calculated. In this type of configuration the resulting cross-link networks traps the entanglements originally present. In addition the forces associated with the crosslinks and the trapped entanglements act in opposite directions in the equilibrium state of ease. The CKF Strain Energy Function for simple extension, previously denoted as the Three Constant Two Network Mooney-Rivlin Model, produced consistent results if the stress-strain relations for the trapped entanglement network are described by the CKF coefficients C1N and C2N while those for the cross-link network are neo-Hookean in character and described by the CKF coefficient C1X only. Young’s modulus was calculated indirectly from swelling measurements in n-heptane and found to be similar in magnitude to that derived from stress-strain measurements in extension from the state of ease for two such networks, although the deviations from neo-Hookean elasticity were not taken into account at that time. Also, it was noted that the swelling was anisotropic, being greater in the direction of original stretch than in the other two directions.
Three-dimensional Imaging on Confocal and Wide-field Microscopes

The conventional (wide-field) light microscope accepts light from planes above and below the plane of focus. This lack of depth discrimination is the main limitation of the wide-field microscope for 3D imaging. The confocal microscope rejects this out-of-focus light with the confocal pinhole and provides greater resolution than the wide-field microscope. This depth discrimination of the confocal microscope makes it attractive for 3D optical sectioning microscopy. This advantage of the confocal microscope is balanced by inherent signal losses from the confocal pinhole (see also Chapter 2: Pinhole) and by the use of detectors in current commercial confocal microscopes that have substantially lower quantum efficiency than the cooled CCD cameras used in wide-field digital imaging microscopes. These additional losses of current commercial confocal instruments are especially important in 3D fluorescence imaging of single cells.
Is the Internal Revenue Code Void for Vagueness? A Look at Some Economic, Legal and Ethical Issues

Anyone who has ever had to fill out a fairly complicated federal income tax return without having the benefit of having passed the CPA exam or without having completed a masters degree in taxation might easily ask himself the question - "Is the Internal Revenue Code void for vagueness?" The temptation may very well be to say yes, but the answer to that question is much more complicated than that. This paper looks at the void for vagueness doctrine, then examines some of the problems with the current Internal Revenue Code to see if the void for vagueness doctrine is - or should be - applicable.
The antioxidant activity of nanoemulsions based on lipids and peptides from Spirulina sp. LEB18

Abstract Nanoemulsions present several advantages over macroemulsions, since they guarantee characteristics of compounds such as greater bioavailability, kinetic stability, besides facilitating the transport of compounds of interest. The incorporation of biopeptides into nanoemulsions makes its applicability viable in several areas such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and foods. Linked to this, the use of microalgal lipids rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids such as the oil phase in a nanoemulsion, gets attractive when one consults data of its benefits to human health. The objective of this study was to develop lipid-based nanoemulsions extracted from de microalga Spirulina sp. LEB18, with incorporation of biopeptides obtained from this same microalga, evaluating its nanoemulsions antioxidant activity. Distilled water and Tween® 80 surfactant were used as the aqueous phase and as microalgal lipid oil phase, a solvent mixture of chloroform-methanol (2:1) and biopeptides was used. The nanoemulsions presented mean droplet diameter at the range of 222.9 ± 3.4 to 466.9 ± 5.3 nm, remaining constant over the period analyzed (14 d). Moreover, all nanoemulsions presented antioxidant activity and electrostatic stability, having zeta potential values below −30 mV. It was also possible to observe that lipids from Spirulina sp. LEB18 presented stabilizing capacity, acting as biosurfactant.
The infant with bilateral skull fractures: diagnostic considerations in consultation with a child abuse pediatrician.

Abstract: Bilateral skull fractures in infancy may result from accidental or abusive injury. Consultation with a child abuse pediatrician may assist with determining the likelihood of accident or abuse. Diagnostic considerations for the infant with bilateral skull fractures are reviewed, including single impact, double impact, and compression mechanisms of injury, as well as the possibility of accessory sutures as skull fracture mimics, Illustrative cases exemplify the evaluative process, including obtaining a detailed history, assessing for the presence or absence of additional physical or radiographic signs of injury, screening for psychosocial risk, and obtaining three-dimensional reconstruction of CT bone images. An understanding of plausible mechanisms of injury that can result in bilateral skull fractures in infancy can assist with making an accurate determination of likelihood of accident or abuse.
“We’ve Always Done it that Way,” An Exploration of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Curricular Decisions

Making curricular decisions about critical content is fundamental to the operation of any academic unit in an institution with teaching responsibilities. The literature provides a wealth of information about how instructors plan for instruction and assessment but does not detail how instructors identify core concepts. This work in progress explores curricular decision-making from the instructor’s perspective within the context of large-scale programmatic change in an Electrical and Computer Engineering department. We thematically analyzed existing data from a Content Representation (CoRe) instrument used to capture instructor pedagogical content knowledge and teaching strategies for big ideas in a curriculum. The emergent themes for teaching the big ideas concerning the faculty member’s perceptions of student attitudes were: instructors valuing systems thinking (but not seeing it in students) and appreciating versatility/adaptability, as well as seeing students struggling with the value of concrete vs. abstract, and having a low tolerance for ambiguity. Teaching strategies were dominantly instructor-centered. This work in progress builds upon what is known about curricular decision-making while offering insights about faculty perceptions of content knowledge and strategies for teaching it.
Attrition in an undergraduate program in allied health education

The present study compared the characteristics of allied health professionals who completed a bachelor's degree program in allied health education with those who failed to complete the program, in order to develop recommendations for a retention program. The data base included all graduates and dropouts for the period September 1972 to August 1986. Analyses indicated that alumni and those who dropped out were remarkedly similar with regard to demographic characteristics such as age, sex, ethnicity, and prior academic achievement. Fifty percent of the dropouts occurred within the first semester, although attrition continued to occur over a five-year period. The reasons for dropping out were varied, and few were recorded for academic reasons. It was concluded that adult allied health professionals pose difficult problems for retention because motivation and commitment variables appear more important than academic ability or social/academic integration factors. These findings were consistent with research on attrition in higher education, and with the literature on adult learning.
Parental gentle encouragement promotes shy toddlers’ regulation in social contexts

Abstract Gentle encouragement to approach appears to reduce risk for anxiety and is commonly incorporated into parenting interventions for inhibited preschoolers, yet little is known regarding whether gentle encouragement facilitates in-the-moment regulation as shy or inhibited children face social novelty, particularly during the toddler period. The current study used a sample of 55 temperamentally shy toddlers (21–24 months old) to examine toddler regulation in novel social contexts in relation to parental gentle encouragement to engage. Contexts included low-threat social novelty (i.e., a clown and puppets) and moderately threatening social novelty (i.e., strangers). Using an experimental design, parents were randomly assigned to provide behaviors thought to represent gentle encouragement: warm responsiveness to toddler fear and encouragement of toddler autonomy, prompt to engage, both warmth and prompt, or remaining uninvolved (no-encouragement control). Relative to toddlers in the no-encouragement control condition, toddlers whose parents were instructed to provide warmth showed less fear and more engagement in moderately threatening social contexts, and toddlers whose parents were instructed to provide both warmth and prompts showed greater suppression of respiratory sinus arrhythmia in low-threat social contexts. Findings suggest that parental gentle encouragement may promote regulated responses in social contexts in shy toddlers. Encouragement of toddler autonomy and warm responsiveness to toddlers in particular may help shy toddlers to engage with, rather than withdraw from, new people.
Modular High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor short term thermal response to flow and reactivity transients

The research reported here has been conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Division of Regulatory Applications of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. The short-term thermal response of the Modular High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR) is analyzed for a range of flow and reactivity transients. These transients include loss of forced circulation without scram, spurious withdrawal of a control rod group, moisture ingress, control rod and control rod group ejections, and a rapid core cooling event. For each event analyzed, an event description, a discussion of the analysis approach and assumptions, and results are presented. When possible, results of these analyses are compared with those presented by the designers in the MHTGR Preliminary Safety Information Document and in the MHTGR Probabilistic Risk Assessment. The importance of inherent safety features is illustrated, and conclusions are presented regarding the safety performance of the MHTGR. Recommendations are made for a more in-depth examination of MHTGR response for some of the analyzed transients. The coupled heat transfer-neutron kinetics model is described in detail in Appendix A.
Increased cochlear radiation dose predicts delayed hearing loss following both stereotactic radiosurgery and fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for vestibular schwannoma

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (fSRT) are noninvasive therapies for vestibular schwannomas providing excellent tumor control. However, delayed hearing loss after radiation therapy remains an issue. One potential target to for improving hearing rates is limiting radiation exposure to the cochlea. We retrospectively reviewed 100 patients undergoing either SRS with 12 Gy (n = 43) or fSRT with 50 Gy over 28 fractions (n = 57) for vestibular schwannoma. Univariate and multivariate analysis were carried out to identify predictors of hearing loss as measured by the Gardner Robertson scale after radiation therapy. Deterioration of hearing occurred in 30% of patients with SRS and 26% with fSRT. The overall long term (> 2 year) progression rates were 20% for SRS and 16% for fSRT. Patients with a decrease in their Gardner Robertson hearing score and those that loss serviceable hearing had significantly higher average minimal doses to the cochlea in both SRS and fSRT cohorts. ROC analysis showed that a cut off of 5 Gy and 35 Gy, for SRS and fSRT respectively, predicted hearing loss with high sensitivity/specificity. Our data suggests the minimal dose of radiation that the cochlear volume is exposed to is a predictor of delayed hearing loss after either SRS or fSRT. A threshold of 5 Gy/35 Gy may lead to improved hearing preservation after radiotherapy. Further prospective multi center studies can further elucidate this mechanism.
Impact of daily yoga-based exercise on pain, catastrophizing, and sleep amongst individuals with fibromyalgia

Background Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic widespread pain disorder characterized by negative affect, sleep disturbance, and fatigue. This uncontrolled pilot study investigated the efficacy of daily yoga-based exercise to improve FM symptoms and explored baseline phenotypic characteristics associated with the greatest benefit. Methods FM patients (n=46, with 36 completers) reported psychosocial functioning and a range of FM symptoms using validated instruments before and after participation in Satyananda yoga, which included weekly in-person pain-tailored group classes for 6 weeks and daily home yoga video practice. Results Changes in FM symptoms from pre- to post-yoga were variable amongst participants. Group means for pain decreased, as reported by average daily diary and Brief Pain Inventory, with greater home practice minutes associated with a greater decrease in pain. Average daily ratings of sleep and fatigue improved. Pain catastrophizing was decreased overall, with greater change correlated to a decrease in FM symptoms. We did not observe any group mean changes in actigraphy sleep efficiency, Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System-anxiety and the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire. Multilevel Modeling analysis revealed a significant interaction between anxiety and catastrophizing for end-study sleep efficiency, fatigue, and pain, such that patients with higher baseline catastrophizing and lower baseline anxiety reported less pain and fatigue, and higher sleep efficiency after the sixth week of yoga practice. Conclusion This pilot study suggests that yoga may reduce pain and catastrophizing, as well as improve sleep, but these changes were modest across study participants. Greater uptake of home yoga practice as well as a phenotype of higher baseline catastrophizing combined with lower baseline anxiety were associated with greater impact. Future randomized, controlled trials comparing different types of yoga or exercise will allow determination of the most effective treatments for FM and allow closer targeting to the patients who will benefit most from them.
Adverse childhood experience patterns, major depressive disorder, and substance use disorder in older adults

AbstractObjectives: This article investigates distinct patterns of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in a representative sample of US older adults, and how the ACEs patterns relate to major depr...
Simultaneous edited MRS of GABA, glutathione, and ethanol

The aim of this work was to develop simultaneous edited MRS of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutathione (GSH), and ethanol (EtOH) using Hadamard encoding and reconstruction of MEGA-edited spectroscopy (HERMES) at 3T. Density-matrix simulations of HERMES were carried out and compared with phantom experiments. In vivo experiments were performed in six healthy volunteers about 30 min after alcohol consumption. Simulations of HERMES showed GABA-, GSH-, and EtOH-edited spectra with low levels of crosstalk and excellent agreement with phantom spectra. In vivo experiments showed well edited GABA signals at 3.0 ppm, GSH at 2.95 ppm, and EtOH at 1.18 ppm in the respective Hadamard combination spectra. Measured integral ratios were 0.082 ± 0.012 for GABA/Cr, 0.037 ± 0.006 for GSH/Cr, and 0.305 ± 0.129 for EtOH/Cr. Simulated, phantom, and in vivo measurements of HERMES show excellent separation of GABA-, GSH-, and EtOH-edited signals with negligible levels of crosstalk. HERMES allows a threefold acceleration of editing while maintaining spectral quality compared with sequentially acquired MEGA-PRESS measurements.
Locally Informed Simulation to Predict Hospital Capacity Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic challenges hospital leaders to make timely, critical decisions about clinical operations and allocation of resources. This discrete-time epidemic simulation using a SIR (susce...
A new 4D lattice FIR digital filter

This paper presents a new four–dimensional (4D) lattice structured digital filter, having a minimal number of delay elements. This filter, besides having a minimal number of delay elements, also has an absolutely minimal state–space vector. The new finite impulse response (FIR) digital filter is characterized by a lattice structure having alternate delay element orientation. Furthermore, the transfer function coefficients of the proposed 4D filter are complements of the conventional lattice filters. The results of this paper are directly applicable to one–dimensional (1D) lattice digital filters. 4D and two–dimensional (2D) low–order examples are provided to show the features of the circuit and state–space realization structures.
Proteogenomic analysis of melanoma brain metastases from distinct anatomical sites identifies pathways of metastatic progression

Melanoma brain metastases (MBM) portend a grim prognosis and can occur in up to 40% of melanoma patients. Genomic characterization of brain metastases has been previously carried out to identify potential mutational drivers. However, to date a comprehensive multi-omics approach has yet to be used to analyze brain metastases. In this case report, we present an unbiased proteogenomics analyses of a patient’s primary skin cancer and three brain metastases from distinct anatomic locations. We performed molecular profiling comprised of a targeted DNA panel and full transcriptome as well as proteomics using mass spectrometry. Phylogeny demonstrated that all MBMs shared a SMARCA4 mutation and deletion of 12q. Proteogenomics identified multiple pathways upregulated in the MBMs compared to the primary tumor. The protein, PIK3CG, was present in many of these pathways and had increased gene expression in metastatic melanoma tissue from the cancer genome atlas data. Proteomics demonstrated PIK3CG levels were significantly increased in all 3 MBMs and this finding was further validated by immunohistochemistry. In summary, this case report highlights the potential role of proteogenomics in identifying pathways involved in metastatic tumor progression. Furthermore, our multi-omics approach can be considered to aid in precision oncology efforts and provide avenues for therapeutic innovation.
Photolysis of the herbicide dicamba in aqueous solutions and on corn ( Zea mays) epicuticular waxes

Dicamba, 3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid, has been used in agriculture as an herbicide for over fifty years, and has seen an increase in use in the past decade due to the development of glyphosate resistant weeds and soybeans genetically modified to resist dicamba. Despite the previous use of dicamba, many questions remain regarding its environmental fate, especially the new commercial formulations used on genetically modified crops. Here, the photolysis of dicamba, including the commercial formulation Diablo®, is examined in aqueous solutions of varying water quality and on the surface of corn epicuticular waxes. Dicamba is stable to hydrolysis but degrades under UV light. The photolytic half-life for dicamba photolysis in aqueous solutions at pH 7 irradiated with Rayonet UVB lamps (280-340 nm) was t1/2 = 43.3 min (0.72 hours), in aqueous solutions at pH 7 in a Q-Sun solar simulator (λ > 300 nm) was t1/2 = 13.4 hours, and on epicuticular waxes irradiated in the Q-Sun solar simulator was t1/2 = 105 hours. Experiments with adjuvants, compounds added into the commercial formulations of dicamba, led to increases in rate constants for both aqueous and wax experiments. In addition to kinetic rate constants, photoproducts were tentatively assigned for the aqueous solution experiments. This work deepens the knowledge of the environmental fate of dicamba including the role surfactants play in chemical reactions and in providing new applications of current methods to examine the photolysis of chemicals sorbed to surfaces.
Correction to "Understanding Multi-Ion Transport Mechanisms in Bipolar Membranes".

Author(s): Bui, Justin C; Digdaya, Ibadillah; Xiang, Chengxiang; Bell, Alexis T; Weber, Adam Z | Abstract: In the original version of this article, when equations were referenced within the main text, the numbering was offset by 2. For instance, when eq 1 was referenced, it was incorrectly referred to as eq 3. When eq 16 was referenced, it was incorrectly referenced as eq 18, and so on and so forth for all other references to the equations in the main text. The correct equation referencing is shown below for all instances:n.
A Nested Two-Stage Clustering Method for Structured Temporal Sequence Data

Mining patterns of temporal sequence data is an important problem across many disciplines. Under appropriate preprocessing procedures, a structured temporal sequence can be organized into a probability measure or a time series representation, which grants a potential to reveal distinctive temporal pattern characteristics. In this paper, we propose a nested two-stage clustering method that integrates optimal transport and the dynamic time warping distances to learn the distributional and dynamic shape-based dissimilarity at the respective stage. The proposed clustering algorithm preserves both the distribution and shape patterns present in the data, which are critical for the datasets composed of structured temporal sequences. The effectiveness of the method is tested against existing agglomerative and K-shape-based clustering algorithms on Monte Carlo simulated synthetic datasets, and the performance is compared through various cluster validation metrics. Furthermore, we apply the developed method to real-world datasets from three domains: temporal dietary records, online retail sales, and smart meter energy profiles. The expressiveness of the cluster and subcluster centroid patterns shows significant promise of our method for structured temporal sequence data mining.
Variable Selection Approaches in High-Dimensional Space

Technological advancements in different fields such as molecular, imaging, and other laboratory tests have led to high-dimensional statistical problems. Variable selection in high-dimensional space is a critical step to identify a parsimonious model and improve the estimation accuracy of predictive models. The penalized likelihood approach has been extensively utilized to perform simultaneous variable selection and parameter estimation for the last decades. In this chapter, we present a brief review of the penalized likelihood approaches, with emphasis on the statistical properties and implementations for different outcomes with high-dimensional covariates. We also introduce independent screening procedures in ultra-high-dimensional variable selection. We then applied these selection methods to a high-dimensional setting in patients with a time-to-event outcome. We end the chapter with a brief review of high-dimensional inference.
Spectral Analyses of Solar Photospheric Fluctuations. III. Bi-Dimensional Power, Coherence and Phase Spectra of Deep-Seated Radial Velocity and Photometric Fluctuations

Fluctuations measured from a time sequence of high-resolution, high-dispersion Sacramento Peak Observatory spectrograms and previously analyzed by computing one-dimensional temporal and spatial spectra (Edmonds et al., 1965), are re-analyzed using bi-dimensional (temporal and spatial) power, coherence and phase spectra computed by fast-Fourier-transform techniques. The fluctuations measured are radial velocity for the FeI 5049.83, CrI 5051.91 and CI 5052.16 spectral lines, continuum brightness, and equivalent width and central intensity of the CI line. The bidimensional spectra, particularly those of coherence and phase, allow isolating different components of the fluctuations to a degree not possible in the one-dimensional analyses.
Synthesis for Human-in-the-Loop Control Systems

Several control systems in safety-critical applications involve the interaction of an autonomous controller with one or more human operators. Examples include pilots interacting with an autopilot system in an aircraft, and a driver interacting with automated driver-assistance features in an automobile. The correctness of such systems depends not only on the autonomous controller, but also on the actions of the human controller. In this paper, we present a formalism for human-in-the-loop (HuIL) control systems. Particularly, we focus on the problem of synthesizing a semi-autonomous controller from high-level temporal specifications that expect occasional human intervention for correct operation. We present an algorithm for this problem, and demonstrate its operation on problems related to driver assistance in automobiles.
Looking for a Leader: A Primer for the Dean Search Committee Chair

The task of chairing a dean search committee can be daunting. Despite the fact that competent performance of the task may affect the success of the search and, in turn, have an effect on the fortunes of the law school, the existing literature provides little guidance to search committee chairs. This Article addresses that shortage of information by providing an account of how one dean search chair carried out the task. While by no means a roadmap or how-to guide, this Article does illustrate how the search committee chair at one law school analyzed and addressed the issues arising in a dean search.
Effect of α-difluoromethylornithine on polyamine and DNA synthesis in regenerating rat liver: Reversal of inhibition of DNA synthesis by putrescine

Abstract The possibility that α-difluoromethylornithine, a specific, irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase could be used to prevent the rise in hepatic putrescine and spermidine content following partial hepatectomy was tested. Administration of α-difluoromethylornithine at a dose of 400 mg/kg every 4 h reduced hepatic putrescine to
Mood-Stabilizing Agents

Mood-stabilizing treatments include a variety of types of medicinal agents with important applications in the treatment of bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder patients. Recent estimates indicate that the prevalence of these illnesses exceeds that of the psychotic disorders, with lifetime estimates ranging from approximately 1% for type I bipolar disorder (with mania) to several percent if all forms of bipolar disorder (including type II with hypomania and mainly recurrent depression).
An asymmetry of the electron foreshock due to the strahl

[1] We investigate statistically the dependence of electron foreshock Langmuir wave activity on the properties of the upstream electron distribution function, using wave and electron measurements from the Wind spacecraft. We find that the presence of a strong strahl beam in the upstream solar wind leads to a significant increase in the occurrence of Langmuir wave activity in the sunward wing of the electron foreshock, generating an asymmetry in the foreshock between the sunward and anti-sunward wings. This asymmetry of electrostatic wave occurrence is likely to be reflected in the radio emission properties of the two foreshock wings. The mechanism behind the asymmetry was first postulated in the context of the Venus foreshock, and may be relevant to recent observations of Langmuir wave activity in solar wind magnetic holes. Furthermore, the likely absence of a strahl-related enhancement at fast forward interplanetary shocks points out a key difference between the physics of electron acceleration at interplanetary shocks and bow shocks.
Role of Ras-dependent ERK activation in phorbol ester-induced endothelial cell barrier dysfunction

The treatment of endothelial cell monolayers with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), a direct protein kinase C (PKC) activator, leads to disruption of endothelial cell monolayer integrity and i...
In Memorium: Swamy Laxminarayan [1939–2005].

Swamy Narasimha Laxminarayan, known to his many friends and colleagues as Swamy, passed away on September 29, 2005. He was one of the most prominent biomedical engineers on the international scene, and contributed immensely to the globalization of this new field.
Enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the rat brain using a stereotaetic device with a small head coil: Technical note

A stereotactic device (SDM) was developed for performing consistent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the rat brain. The SDM was developed by adapting a radiofrequency transmit/receive head coil of 4.4 cm inner diameter (quadrature birdcage head coil), and utilizing partial acrylic construction for the positioning elements. The small head coil provides improved resolution and accuracy of the image, while the stereotactic holder permits repeatable and accurate imaging of identified brain structures. This system provides several advantages over existing experimental MRI devices. The SDM ensures that the head is always placed in the center of the coil in a uniform fashion. Standardized positioning of the skull optimizes image quality and provides a consistent orientation of the brain. In addition, a widely-utilized coordinate system described by Paxinos and Watson can be employed to assist in the identification of structures and to facilitate surgical planning. The SDM is compatible with a recently-developed stereotactic device for radiosurgery with the Gamma Knife, thus permitting the planning and performance of experimental radiosurgery using the same coordinate system. The SDM also provides the ability to perform MRI and radiosurgery at different times, thus avoiding the need for prolonged anesthesia during an experimental study. Finally, the SDM allows repeated MRI of the same, identifiable positions in the brain during longitudinal experimental studies. The utility of this device is demonstrated here by examining the time course of cerebral damage that evolved within a radiosurgical focus after gamma irradiation.
Chalcogenide glass fibers for remote spectroscopic chemical sensing

Chalcogenide optical fiber sensors for the measurement of chemical species are reported. An unclad chalcogenide glass fiber was used to collect evanescently excited spectral signals in the mid-IR region from both liquid and gaseous species. Important design parameters for evanescent field sensing have been investigated for their impact on sensitivity.
On the Optimum Production Quantity when Rejects Obey the Binomial

Abstract A model for the profit of a production run of attribute (accept, reject) parts is developed when the following conditions exist: a minimum number of acceptable parts must be made, parts are not stocked, setup cost is substantial, overproduction is unprofitable, inspection is post-production and 100 percent, and the strategy variable is the number of parts to be scheduled. The optimum number of parts to maximize expected profit is found, a simple rule to approximate the optimum is developed, and a numerical example is given.
Current liver biopsy practices for suspected parenchymal liver diseases in the United States: the evolving role of radiologists

Current liver biopsy practices for suspected parenchymal liver diseases in the United States: the evolving role of radiologists
Community Lost and Found: Satisfaction and Collective Efficacy Among Relocated Public Housing Residents

Over the past several decades, many public housing residents have relocated out of impoverished central city developments through a variety of programs aimed to deconcentrate poverty. This article explores factors that contribute to relocated public housing residents' satisfaction and collective efficacy in their new residence. Results from interviews with relocated public housing residents in the Southwest indicate that perceptions of the quality of the new neighborhood are associated with residents' sense of satisfaction and collective efficacy. The article concludes with suggestions for better formulating relocation policies to increase the likelihood that residents will feel integrated postrelocation.
Plug-and-play brain-computer interface keyboard performance

The Multi-purpose BCI Output Device (MBOD), emulates a USB keyboard and/or mouse, as well as producing switch closures, thus allowing BCI2000 to output to various assistive technology (AT) devices. The MBOD should allow researchers easy access to the many advantages of commercial AT in addition to providing continuity of service for patients. The systems keyboard interface was tested in three environments (one dedicated AT device, one computer program, and within BCI2000 itself). All subjects were able to type in all three environments with comparable accuracy.
Phonon modes in spontaneously ordered GaInP 2 studied by micro-Raman scattering measurements

We have performed micro-Raman-scattering experiments on ordered ${\mathrm{GaInP}}_{2}$ alloy samples in three different geometries where the phonon wave vector is either parallel or perpendicular to the ordering axis of the crystal. By comparing results from the (1\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}11) backscattering and right-angle scattering measurements with the ${C}_{3v}$ symmetry of the crystal, we found that the recently discovered peaks at 205 and 354 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ in the Raman spectra of ordered alloys are due to longitudinal-phonon modes with ${A}_{1}$ symmetry in these geometries. In the (110) backscattering geometry, selection-rule forbidden longitudinal-phonon modes appear in the Raman spectra measured in parallel polarizations. Possible mechanisms for this selection-rule violation are discussed.
Direct Detection of Dark Matter Debris Flows

Tidal stripping of dark matter from subhalos falling into the Milky Way produces narrow, cold tidal streams as well as more spatially extended ``debris flows'' in the form of shells, sheets, and plumes. Here we focus on the debris flow in the Via Lactea II simulation, and show that this incompletely phase-mixed material exhibits distinctive high velocity behavior. Unlike tidal streams, which may not necessarily intersect the Earth's location, debris flow is spatially uniform at 8 kpc and thus guaranteed to be present in the dark matter flux incident on direct detection experiments. At Earth-frame speeds greater than 450 km/s, debris flow comprises more than half of the dark matter at the Sun's location, and up to 80% at even higher speeds. Therefore, debris flow is most important for experiments that are particularly sensitive to the high speed tail of the dark matter distribution, such as searches for light or inelastic dark matter or experiments with directional sensitivity. We show that debris flow yields a distinctive recoil energy spectrum and a broadening of the distribution of incidence direction.
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease: MR imaging evaluation using current techniques.

Purpose: To determine the MR imaging findings of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease using current imaging techniques. Materials and Methods: We reviewed our five-year experience with MR imaging of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) to determine the spectrum of appearance of kidney disease, the occurrence of cysts in other abdominal organs, the size and number of cysts in the kidneys and other organs, and the association with other benign or malignant disease. Thirty patients (17 men and 13 women, age range 30 to 88 years old) with ADPKD were included in this study. All patients were examined by MR imaging including T2-weighted single-shot echo-train spin-echo and pre- and post-gadolinium chelate spoiled gradient-echo imaging. Results: All kidneys were involved with multiple, varying sized cysts scattered throughout the parenchyma. Giant renal cysts (>8 cm) were associated with pain in the only two patients who possessed them. Hemorrhage in renal cysts was observed in all kidneys with a heterogeneous pattern of involvement on non-contrast T1- and T2-weighted images, reflecting hemorrhage of varying age. The mean kidney size for the right kidney was 17.4 cm in length, 10.3 cm in transverse, and 9.4 cm in antero-posterior diameter (AP); and for the left kidney, 15.9 cm in the length, 9.3 cm in the transverse, and 9.3 cm in AP diameter. Other organs involved included the liver (22 patients), the pancreas (three patients), with two of the above-mentioned patients having both liver and pancreas cysts, and the spleen (one patient) who had both liver and splenic cysts. Massive liver involvement with large cysts was associated with abdominal pain. Malignant disease was present in five patients, including two patients with renal cell carcinoma, one with bladder cancer, one with lung cancer, and one patient with anal adenocarcinoma. Comparison of pre- and post-contrast T1-weighted images was essential to detect renal cancer. Conclusion: All kidneys in patients with ADPKD had extensive, varying-sized cysts and in all cases some cysts showed evidence of hemorrhage. The liver was the second most common organ to be involved with cystic disease, in 73% of patients. Large cysts in the kidneys and liver were associated with abdominal pain. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2003;18:210–215. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Estimating the mortality rate of hepatitis C using multiple data sources

The New York State hospital discharge database and the multiple cause-of-death file were used to estimate the mortality rate of hepatitis C in New York State excluding New York City in 1997. The mortality rate with hepatitis C was severely underestimated when each data source was used alone. Applying the capture recapture method using the hospital discharge database and the multiple cause-of-death file appears to be an efficient method to estimate the mortality rate with hepatitis C.
The structural pervasiveness of estrogenic activity.

A remarkably wide variety of chemical structures, produced both by nature and by man, have estrogenic activity. While the molecular details of this structural perva? siveness of estrogenic activity are not known, it is less surprising if one considers that assays for estrogenic activity are extremely sensitive and can operate over a potency range of 10 million, that most estrogens share the common structural motif of a phenol or the functional equiva? lent of a phenol, and that most estrogens are lipophilic and thus can be resistant to metabolism and undergo bioconcentration. Evaluating the effect and potential risk of this structurally pervasive estrogenic activ? ity is a complex issue, and a number of factors should be considered: a) while excessive and aberrant exposure of humans and animals to estrogens may be detrimen? tal, a certain degree of exposure to natural estrogens from both endogenous and exogenous natural sources is unavoidable; b) estrogens from various sources may have beneficial as well as undesirable effects; c) their action may be selective on certain target sites; and d) they may have other nonestrogenic toxic or beneficial effects. Thus, one must be aware of the widespread potential for compounds to have estrogenic activity, and one must evaluate individually whether the activity of each of these estro? genic substances and our exposure to
An evaluation of colonoscopy surveillance guidelines: are we actually adhering to the guidelines?

Abstract Background National guidelines put forth by the American Cancer Society, the US Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer, and the American College of Gastroenterology provide recommendations regarding colorectal cancer screening and follow-up surveillance. Practice patterns may differ from these guidelines. This study analyzes the concordance between a tertiary equal access system and national guidelines for colorectal cancer and polyp surveillance. Methods We performed a retrospective database review of all patients at a single institution undergoing screening colonoscopy from 2010 to 2011. Patient demographics, indication for colonoscopy, pathologic findings, and follow-up recommendations documented by the provider were analyzed. Multivariate analysis was performed in an attempt to identify predictors of discordant recommendations. Results One thousand four hundred twenty patients were identified (mean age, 54.3 ± 7.7 years, 48.6% women). The gastroenterology service performed the majority of colonoscopies (87.2%) compared with the surgery service (11.6%). The major indications were routine screening (84.4%) and a strong family history of colorectal cancer (12.2%). The adenoma detection rate for the entire cohort was 27.4%. Other pathologic conditions identified included hyperplastic polyps (16%), lymphoid aggregates (3.5%), and invasive adenocarcinoma (0.1%). Overall, follow-up recommendations correlated with established guidelines in 97% of cases. By multivariate analysis, only the final pathologic finding of lymphoid aggregates was associated with discordant recommendations (odds ratio [OR], 4.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.64 to 12.99; P = .004). When comparing discordant recommendations between specialties, there was a statistically significant difference between gastroenterology (1.6%) and surgery (7.6%) ( P P = .37). Conclusions Overall, surveillance recommendations correlated well with current national guidelines. Concordance rates were higher with gastroenterologists in this cohort. Alterations based on final pathologic examination and individual cases remain clinically important.
Effect of band bending and band offset in the transport of minority carriers across the ordered/disordered interface of a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cell

The transport of photogenerated minority carriers (photocarriers) across the heterointerface of amorphous silicon (a-Si) and crystalline silicon (c-Si) in a-Si/c-Si heterostructure solar cell is shown in this work to critically depend on the non-Maxwellian energy distribution function of those carriers impinging on the heterointerface. A theoretical model is presented that integrates the effect of the high electric field inversion region upon energy distribution function of the impinging carriers with the transmission probability of those carriers across the heterointerface. The transport of the photocarriers across the high electric field inversion region is simulated by the full solution of the Boltzmann transport equation by Monte Carlo technique while the transmission probability of carriers across the heterointerface is calculated through the percolation path technique. The results are discussed under two different condition of band bending; strongly inverted and weakly inverted c-Si surface. The results comparing different conditions of band bending show that the energy distribution of the carriers impinging on the heterointerface is non-Maxwellian and the integrated photocarrier collection increases with the strength of the inversion field since the carrier population is weighted towards higher energy where the transmission probability through the barrier is higher. Thus we demonstrate that hot carriers play an important role in heterostructure cell operation.
Resistance, Reproduction, Both, or Neither: Exploring the Influence of Early Childhood Professional Development Specialists on the Field of Early Childhood

This article details the findings from a qualitative study that explored the ways individuals who work with early childhood education (ECE) practitioners in professional development settings influenced those practitioners’ understandings of early childhood policy and early childhood systems. Defined as individuals who work in the professional development and early childhood policy, the professional development specialists in this study influenced ECE practitioners in ways that caused a shift in their thinking about ECE policy as well as their conceptualization of ECE systems.
ADDITIONS TO THE FLORA OF THE KAIJENDE HIGHLANDS, PAPUA NEW GUINEA: OCCURRENCE RECORDS, SYNONYMIES, AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW TAXA

The new taxa Cypholophus treubii var. aciculata (Urticaceae), Polyosma rampae (Polyosmaceae) and Psychotria apiculata var. altigena (Rubiaceae) are described from montane environments in the Kaijende Highlands of Papua New Guinea. A supplementary description is provided for Solanum nolense (Solanaceae), previously known only from a fruiting collection. Synonymies are suggested for species in Cypholophus, Psychotria, and Rubus (Rosaceae).
DISC: a domain-interaction based programming model with support for heterogeneous execution

Several emerging trends are pointing to increasing heterogeneity among nodes and/or cores in HPC systems. Existing programming models, especially for distributed memory execution, typically have been designed to facilitate high performance on homogeneous systems. This paper describes a programming model and an associated runtime system we have developed to address the above need. The main concepts in the programming model are that of a domain and interactions between the domain elements. We explain how stencil computations, unstructured grid computations, and molecular dynamics applications can be expressed using these simple concepts. We show how interprocess communication can be handled efficiently at runtime just from the knowledge of domain interaction, for different types of applications. Subsequently, we develop techniques for the runtime system to automatically partition and re-partition the work among heterogeneous processors or nodes.
ACTION DISCOVERY FOR SINGLE AND MULTI-AGENT REINFORCEMENT LEARNING

The design of reinforcement learning solutions to many problems artificially constrain the action set available to an agent, in order to limit the exploration/sample complexity. While exploring, if an agent can discover new actions that can break through the constraints of its basic/atomic action set, then the quality of the learned decision policy could improve. On the flipside, considering all possible non-atomic actions might explode the exploration complexity. We present a novel heuristic solution to this dilemma, and empirically evaluate it in grid navigation tasks. In particular, we show that both the solution quality and the sample complexity improve significantly when basic reinforcement learning is coupled with action discovery. Our approach relies on reducing the number of decision points, which is particularly suited for multiagent coordination learning, since agents tend to learn more easily with fewer coordination problems (CPs). To demonstrate this we extend action discovery to multi-agent reinforcement learning. We show that Joint Action Learners (JALs) indeed learn coordination policies of higher quality with lower sample complexity when coupled with action discovery, in a multi-agent box-pushing task.
New placement prediction and mitigation techniques for local routing congestion

Local routing congestion is becoming increasingly important as complex design rules make local pin access the bottle-neck for modern designs and routers. Since congestion analysis based on global routing does not model these effects, routability-driven placement and physical synthesis fail to alleviate local congestion. This work models routing congestion at the placement level in order to apply local congestion mitigation. We propose a local congestion metric that computes a "routing-difficulty" score for every cell in the design library. To disperse local congestion, we apply a suite of detailed placement techniques called MILOR (Movement, cell Inflation and Legalization, and Optimization within a Row). Experimental results show that our techniques can significantly improve routing quality on real industry designs from 65, 45, and 32 nanometer technologies.