cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prediction of entropy and dynamic properties of water below the homogeneous nucleation temperature

The behavior of thermodynamic and dynamic properties of liquid water at atmospheric pressure in the temperature range between the lower limit of supercooling (TH ≈ 235 K) and the onset of the glassy state at Tg has been the focus of much research, and many questions remain about the properties of water in this region. Since direct measurements on water in this temperature range remain largely infeasible, we use existing experimental measurements of the entropy, speci2c heat, and enthalpy outside this range to construct a possible form of the entropy in the “di4cult-to-probe” region. Assuming that the entropy is well-de2ned in extreme metastable states, and that there is no intervening discontinuity at atmospheric pressure, we estimate the excess entropy Sex of the liquid over the crystal within relatively narrow limits. We 2nd that our approximate form for Sex shows atypical behavior when compared with other liquids: using a thermodynamic categorization of “strong” and “fragile” liquids, water appears to be fragile on initial cooling below the melting temperature, and strong in the temperature region near the glass transition. This thermodynamic construction can be used, with appropriate reservations, to estimate the behavior of the dynamic properties of water by means of the Adam–Gibbs equation—which relates con2gurational entropy Sconf to dynamic behavior. Although the Adam– Gibbs equation uses Sconf rather than Sex as the control variable, the relation has been used successfully in a number of experimental studies with Sconf replaced by Sex. This is likely a result of a proportionality between Sconf and Sex, which we con2rm for simulations of a model
IFI and ISI in high data rate UWB coherent transceivers

Ultra Wideband (UWB) Systems involve gathering energy from a large number of multipaths. In high data rate UWB, the leakage of these paths among symbols can cause severe inter-symbol interference (ISI) and may degrade receiver performance. A few techniques were presented in the past to improve coherent receiver performance in the presence of ISI . In this paper, ISI is investigated for coherent receivers using PAM and PPM modulation schemes. It is shown with analysis and simulation that in high data rate systems, the overall ISI effect is negligible on the coherent receiver performance. The ISI is also observed in the presence of inter-frame interference (IFI) and similar result is obtained.
Image scrambling using 2-D periodically shift variant filters

Two-dimensional (2-D) periodically shift variant (PSV) digital filters are considered for image scrambling applications. The filters are formulated in the form of a difference equation and a Fornasini-Marchesini (FM) state-space model with periodic coefficients. These PSV models are then represented as shift-invariant systems which are named block difference equation and "Kiok-Neon" model respectively. Invertibility of this model is an important consideration, especially in image scrambling applications. A condition is established for the invertibility of the "Kiok-Neon" model of the 2-D PSV system. Also, the inverse system can be easily computed from the original system.
Preface: Multiphoton Microscopy

Two-photon excitation microscopy (also referred to as multiphoton laser scanning microscopy) has gained increasing popularity during the past few years because of the distinct advantages over single-photon microscopy, which includes increased penetration depth and low out-of-focus photobleaching and photodamage. It allows superior imaging of thick specimen compared to single-photon microscopy, and it excels at imaging live cells either single or within intact tissue. This highly valuable tool has been used with great success to gain important new insights into brain tissue, embryos, whole organs, entire animals, and it has been most useful in numerous other applications.
The Impact of Genome Analyses on Our Understanding of Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria*

The availability of whole-genome sequences for ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) has led to dramatic increases in our understanding of these environmentally important microorganisms. Their genomes are smaller than many other members of the proteobacteria and may indicate genome reductions consistent with their limited lifestyle. The genomes have a surprising level of gene repetition including genes for ammonia catabolism, iron acquisition, and insertion sequences. The gene profiles reveal limited genes for catabolism and transport of complex organic compounds, but complete pathways for some other compounds. This led to the observation of chemolithoheterotrophic growth of Nitrosomonas europaea. Genes for sucrose synthesis/degradation were identified. The core metabolic module of aerobic ammonia oxidation, the extraction of electrons from hydroxylamine to generate proton-motive force and reductant, has evolutionary roots in the denitrification inventory of anaerobic sulfur-dependent bacteria. The extension b...
Inservice education and the six o'clock news

Jack Turner Coordinator of Inservice Education Teacher Corps Project University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon T he demand or need to improve inservice education for school personnel has existed many years. Currently, the demand or need is increasing at an accelerating rate for three reasons. First, with declining enrollments and related reductions in the work force, schools must emphasize developing current human resources over hiring new ones. Second, as the demands for educational reform (e.g., instruction in basic skills, career education, integration of more pluralistic student groups into the mainstream) have grown louder, more schools have attempted to implement new programs that require new attitudes and skils on the part of current staf. Third, traditional practices for organizing inservice education and times of scarce resources have rendered many would-be providers of inservice impotent. In this paper we discuss several issues that deserve consideration in efforts to improve inservice. First, we present and challenge several assumptions currently held by many inservice planners and deliverers. Second, we present our view of effective inservice practices. Finally, we describe what must be done to construct an appropriate inservice system. Throughout, we emphasize that breaking through conceptual and implementation problems requires understanding current relationships among an array of variables that impact on inservice and recognizing the potential synergistic effect that can result from new relationships among those variables.
Charge modulation of scavenging in clouds: Extension of Monte Carlo simulations and initial parameterization

[1] Parameterization has been applied to extended Monte Carlo simulations of the electric charge modulation of aerosol scavenging by droplets, both for particle charges of the same sign as droplets and of opposite sign. Separate parameterizations are given for electro-antiscavenging for small aerosol particles with same-sign charges; electroscavenging for larger particles with same-sign charges; and electroscavenging for opposite-sign particles. A wide range of sizes and charges is treated, together with altitude and humidity variations. The simulations of particle trajectories take Brownian diffusion into account by Monte Carlo perturbations and include the full conducting-sphere electrical force, and phoretic and gravitational forces. For larger particles with larger droplets, the image force causes increases in collision rate coefficients irrespective of the sign of the particle charge, or the amount and sign of the droplet charge, or the degree to which space charge in the cloud is unipolar. Thus, even with little space charge in a cloud, the atmospheric ion production increases the scavenging of larger aerosol particles. With the presence of space charge, the scavenging rate for small particles with high mobility decreases or increases depending on the unipolarity of the space charge. The results are applicable to a wide range of electrical environments associated with clouds and stratified aerosol layers, and are relevant to precipitation and ice-nucleation processes and cloud albedo effects.
Frozen embryos: a life-saving option.

Objective To discuss an additional option for frozen embryos that can be a life-saving alternative. Design Case report and literature review. Setting Academic fertility center. Patient(s) A woman with a previous hysterectomy and frozen embryos who had a daughter afflicted with aplastic anemia. Intervention(s) Four thawed multicell embryos were transfered to the patient's 37-year-old multiparous sister. Main Outcome Measure(s) Alternative disposition of frozen embryos. Result(s) The HLA type of the infant was found to be an exact match for the daughter dying from aplastic anemia. Conclusion(s) The use of frozen embryos to prolong an existing individual's life is an additional ethical option to be considered by couples and individuals with cryopreserved embryos.
Implementation and on-air testing of a 64 kbps wideband HF data waveform

Even with advances in the past two decades, data rates on a single 3 kHz HF channel are, at most, 9.6 kbps with forward error correction. In the digitized battlefield, this sharply limits the number and types of services which can be supported over HF. It is shown that in 12 kHz, a prototype waveform developed to take advantage of wider bandwidth channels can provide data rates of up to 38.4 kbps over a wide range of sky-wave channels. The waveform also includes data rates of 48 and 64 kbps that will be operable on a smaller number of sky-wave channels, but which would be expected to provide reliable communications in surface wave channels. On-air testing of the prototype wideband waveform, implemented as a software upgrade to existing modem hardware, has been undertaken over an 1100 km sky-wave link between Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Dallas, Texas. Tests to date have proven successful operation at 38.4 kbps on this link. When receive diversity has been employed on the link, data rates up to 64 kbps have been successfully used on this sky-wave link.
Dynamic, distributed, secure multicast in active networks

This paper proposes two frameworks for secure multicast on active networks. The frameworks exploit the computational power of active networks to provide the security desired for multicast, while removing drawbacks in traditional approaches, The main security component in the frameworks is the active capability (AC) which replaces the passive session key. The main advantages of using an AC are lack of an asymmetric key pair requirement for authentication, lack of session key modification requirement when a member leaves the group and a highly distributed and scalable key distribution mechanism independent of availability of a group owner.
Assessing the Impact of Real Estate on Target Date Fund Performance

Defined benefit (DB) plans have used direct real estate in their asset allocations for forty years. Defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors are using the shift to asset allocation funds as an opportunity to do the same. We found that if direct properties were added to target date funds over the past four decades, DC participants in these funds would have experienced substantially improved risk-adjusted performance.
State Budget Gaps and State Budget Growth: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

For the past two fiscal cycles, states have grappled with unprecedentedly large budget gaps. By the simple arithmetic of fiscal policy, these gaps can be closed with budget cuts or revenue increases. An important question for the policy maker is: Which of these two courses of action is likely to spur further budget gaps in future years? In this paper, I examine this question by looking at state policies and institutions in the decades preceding the budget gaps. I find that state governments that spent a larger fraction of state income – and had done so for many decades – experienced smaller percentage budget gaps in FY2010. On the other hand, states whose per capita spending levels increased the most over the last two decades had larger percentage budget gaps in FY2010. Furthermore, states whose policies permit economic freedom and states with strict balanced budget requirements experienced smaller budget gaps. Taken together, these results suggest that spending restraint, economic freedom, and institutional rules that ensure a strict balanced budget requirement seem to be a more reliable path to fiscal balance than tax increases.
Alignment Considerations for Optical OAM Detection

We simulated the detection of OAM in the presence of sensor misalignment. Our results indicate that the OAM mode can be detected if the alignment is within a reasonable faction of the overall beam size.
Metabolic correlates of adenosine formation in stimulated guinea pig heart.

Adenosine release into epicardial fluid and coronary effluent of isolated isovolumic guinea pig hearts was examined at baseline and after stimulation with norepinephrine (30 nM) during 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to monitor myocardial metabolism. At baseline flow (9.6 +/- 0.3 ml.min-1.g-1), epicardial and venous adenosine concentrations were 154 +/- 40 and 17 +/- 5 nM, respectively. The phosphorylation potential (log[ATP]/[ADP][Pi]) and the phosphocreatine-inorganic phosphate ratio ([PCr]/[Pi]) were 5.26 +/- 0.04 and 8.5 +/- 0.7, respectively. Norepinephrine increased left ventricular pressure, heart rate, and myocardial O2 consumption rate by approximately 21, 70, and 45%, respectively, and increased epicardial and venous adenosine to 496 +/- 74 and 461 +/- 94 nM, respectively. Log-[ATP]/[ADP][Pi] and [PCr]/[Pi] declined to 4.57 +/- 0.06 and 1.9 +/- 0.3, respectively. Epicardial [AMP] increased from 54 +/- 13 to 123 +/- 24 nM. AMP was not detectable in the venous effluent. Coronary resistance correlated with epicardial and venous [adenosine] (r = 0.86 and 0.90). Epicardial and venous [adenosine] correlated with log[ATP]/[ADP][Pi], [PCr]/[Pi], and cytosolic [AMP]. Hence, interstitial adenosine is linked to cytosolic metabolism and may regulate coronary vascular resistance. Venous adenosine underestimates epicardial adenosine at baseline but more closely approximates epicardial adenosine during norepinephrine infusion.
Partial purification and properties of phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase system from mouse liver microsomes

PE(phosphatidylethanolamine) methyltransferase system converts PE to PC(phosphatidylcholine) through PME(phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine) and PDME(phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine) by stepwise N-methylation using SAM(S-adenosylmethionine) as methyl donor. This enzyme system distributes widely from bacteria to mammalian organs (Bremer, 1969) and was recently found in various mammalian cultured cells in our laboratory (Maeda et al., 1981). We think this pathway could have important roles in the functions of biological membranes as proposed by Hirata and Axelrod (1980), since PE is a major phospholipid of mammalian cell membranes and its conversion to PC within the membranes could affect the environments of integrated membrane proteins, by changing a charge as well as fluidity of the lipid bilayers. The purification of this enzyme system has not, however, been made for over 20 years after its discovery, since the enzyme system is integrated into the membranes and very labile after solubilization. This paper will report solubilization and partial purification of this enzyme system from mouse liver microsomes and further describe some properties of this enzyme system.
Renal Autotransplantation: Current Perspectives

Autotransplantation, with or without an extracorporeal renal operation, has been done 39 times in 37 patients. Indications for the procedure included severe ureteral injury in 4 patients, failed supravesical diversion in 2, renal carcinoma in a solitary kidney in 1, renovascular hypertension in 1 and donor arterial reconstruction before renal transplantation in 29. Success was obtained in all but 2 procedures, both of which involved previously operated kidneys with severe inflammation and adhesions involving the renal pelvis and pedicle. Based on our experience and a review of currently available literature we believe that renal autotransplantation and extracorporeal reconstruction can provide the best solution for patients with severe renovascular and ureteral disease not correctable by conventional operative techniques. The technique can be of particular value in removing centrally located tumors in solitary kidneys and in preparing donor kidneys with abnormal arteries for renal transplantation. The role of autotransplantation in the management of advanced renal trauma and calculus disease is less clear. A long-term comparison of patients treated by extracorporeal nephrolithotomy versus conventional lithotomy techniques will be necessary before a conclusion is reached in these disease categories.
Rethinking Educational Spaces in School Design

Approaches to 21st century school design in the United States fall into five realms of concern: Equity, Security, Community, Creativity, and Empowerment. Each of these realms incorporates different methods of assessing the value that design strategies contribute to educational outcomes. Schools have begun to rethink the role of educational spaces in student physical health, psychological wellbeing, and behavior, as well as how the school campus can become a tool for learning. Despite this, the school building, in its form and structure, remains surprisingly similar to those built during the prior century. As architects, planners, and other design professionals face mounting pressures to create new school designs that contribute to the educational return on investment (ROI), they are faced with the challenges of designing in an educational landscape shifting from the impact of disruptive technologies, on a world with depleting natural resources, and amidst an increasingly globalized economy where students must be prepared to work and live.
Holes stabilize freely falling coins

The free fall of heavy bodies in a viscous fluid medium is a problem of interest to many engineering and scientific disciplines, including the study of unpowered flight and seed dispersal. The falling behaviour of coins and thin discs in particular has been categorized into one of four distinct modes; steady, fluttering, chaotic or tumbling, depending on the moment of inertia and Reynolds number. This paper investigates, through a carefully designed experiment, the falling dynamics of thin discs with central holes. The effects of the central hole on the disc’s motion is characterized for a range of Reynolds number, moments of inertia and inner to outer diameter ratio. By increasing this ratio, that is, the hole size, the disc is found to transition from tumbling to chaotic then fluttering at values of the moment of inertia not predicted by the falling modes of whole discs. This transition from tumbling to fluttering with increased hole size is viewed as a stabilization process. Flow visualization of the wake behind annular discs shows the presence of a vortex ring at the disc’s outer edge, as in the case of whole discs, and an additional counter-rotating vortex ring at the disc’s inner edge. The inner vortex ring is responsible for stabilizing the disc’s falling motion. These findings have significant implications on the development of design principles for engineered robotic systems in free flight, and may shed light on the stability of gliding animals.
Indoor Scene Recognition from RGB-D Images by Learning Scene Bases

In this paper, we propose a RGB-D indoor scene recognition method that has mainly two advantages as compared to existing methods. First, by training object detectors using RGB-D images and recognizing their spatial interrelationships, we not only achieve better object localization accuracy than using RGB images alone, but also obtain details as to how the objects are related to each other in a spatial manner, thus resulting in a more effective high-level feature representation of the scene known as the Objects and Attributes (O&A) representation. Second, we learn class-specific sub-dictionaries that capture the high-order couplings between the objects and attributes. In particular, elastic net regularization and geometric similarity constraint is imposed to increase the discriminative power of the sub-dictionaries. The proposed method is evaluated on two RGB-D datasets, the NYUD dataset and the B3DO dataset. Experiments show that superior scene recognition rate can be obtained using our method.
Fragments of the Past: Archaeology, History, and the Chinese Railroad Workers of North America

Although the labor of the Chinese workers who built the first transcontinental railroad (and other railroads in the western part of the country) was pivotal to the development of the United States, these workers have never received the scholarly attention they deserve. The incredibly rich work of archaeologists who have studied the thousands of pieces of material culture gathered along western rail lines promises to open vibrant new dimensions of historical recovery of this key chapter in the intertwined social, economic, and political histories of China and the United States.
The Relative Effects of Normative and Instrumental Models of Policing on Police Empowerment: Evidence From a Sample of Sub-Saharan African Immigrants:

This study examines the relative impacts of normative and instrumental models of policing on willingness to empower the police in a sample of sub-Saharan African immigrants in the United States. Using data from a survey of 304 Ghanaian immigrants, obligation to obey, procedural justice, effectiveness, and gender predicted police empowerment; legitimacy of Ghana police and risk of sanctioning did not. The results also show that obligation to obey may be distinct from legitimacy. The findings from the current study point to the importance of the process-based model of policing in different geopolitical contexts, including the sub-Saharan African immigrant community in the United States. Specifically, obligation to obey and procedural justice play pivotal roles in engendering willingness to empower the police in the sub-Saharan African immigrant community. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Simulation Modeling and Ergonomic Assessment of Complex Multiworker Physical Processes

Discrete simulation of complex multiworker physical processes, for ergonomic and/or performance analysis, is still relatively undeveloped. Existing approaches typically have taken either a classical simulation view of the problem (focus on activities, resources, and queues: workers treated as machines) or an analytical ergonomics perspective (detailed human modeling and ergonomic assessment for well-defined limited tasks). This paper presents a new way to tackle such problems, based upon elements of both of these approaches. Novel methods are described for modeling complex multiworker physical processes within a traditional discrete-event simulation environment. These methods result in a high-level language for generating activity-based process models quickly and easily, based upon simplified activity representations. Laboratory experiments are used to derive equations that can then be used to generate ergonomic assessments (i.e., relative injury risks) for the most influential activities. By implementing these equations using data generated from a simulation run, estimates of ergonomic consequences can be obtained. To illustrate the approach, it is applied to the panelized residential housing construction process, where multiple workers build houses by moving and installing large heavy prefabricated wall panels. The example illustrates the steps presented and feasibility of the approach.
Characterization of clinical study populations by race and ethnicity in biomedical literature.

OBJECTIVE: The importance of race and ethnicity in biomedical research has long been a subject of debate, recently heightened by data revealed by the completion of the sequencing of the human genome and the mapping of human genetic variation. We aimed to determine whether and how the reporting of race has changed over the last three decades and how the practice may differ given study location, where the journal of publication is based, and decade of publication. DESIGN: We analyzed a sample of studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, and the Canadian Medical Association Journal from 1980 to 2009. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The number of articles that reported race by journal and decade and the descriptors used. RESULTS: Of 1867 articles analyzed, 17.30% reported race. The reporting of race and number of populations reported increased over time for all three journals. In addition, the diversity of race/ethnicity descriptors increased, with increased use of race/ethnicity combinations and nationality of research subjects. CONCLUSION: Though it has increased over the past few decades, the reporting of race/ethnicity of study populations is relatively low, ambiguous and inconsistent, likely influenced by the uncertain relevance of these variables to the study's outcomes, study location, researcher views, and the policies of journals and funding agencies. Thus, due to the inconsistent and ambiguous practice of reporting race/ethnicity, comparison of study outcomes can result in misleading conclusions. Improvements in standardization of terms and new approaches to characterize research participants related to race/ethnicity are imperative. Ethn Dis . 2012 Winter;22(1):96-101.
Facilitative Environments Related to Sexual Orientation Development and Sexual Fluidity in Sexual Minority Young Adults Across Different Gender Identities

ABSTRACTPrevious theories of sexual orientation development and sexual fluidity are limited because they describe these processes separately and represent the experiences of only some sexual orientation subgroups. This study qualitatively examined sexual orientation development and sexual fluidity among 18 young adults, ages 18 to 26 years. Participants reported sexual fluidity in attractions on an online survey and represented a range of gender identities and sexual minority subgroups. Participants completed an in-depth interview about sexual orientation development, sexual orientation identity labels, and interpretations of sexual fluidity. Three categories of themes emerged from participants' narratives and were explored in depth: early indicators of sexual orientation, context of first questioning sexual orientation, and current perceptions of sexual orientation and changes. The facilitative environments model is proposed to provide a conceptual representation of sexual orientation development and sex...
Cluster Analysis of Historical and Modern Hard Red Spring Wheat Cultivars Based on Parentage and HPLC Analysis of Gluten-Forming Proteins

Thirty hard red spring (HRS) wheat cultivars released between 1910 and 2013 were analyzed to determine how they cluster in terms of parentage and HPLC analysis of gliadins and unreduced proteins. Markers for reduced height genes were assessed to determine associations between semidwarfism and protein composition, as well as quality characteristics. In terms of parentage, the clusters formed were grouped according to release year and semidwarfism. Farinograph development time and stability showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences between clusters, indicating improvement of mixing characteristics over time. Flour ash content was significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) between clusters, indicating improved milling quality. The clusters based on the gliadin reverse-phase HPLC peak binary data did not group cultivars according to release year and the semidwarf characteristic. However, cultivars were grouped according to year in the absorbance area based dendrogram. The clusters based on absorbance area of size-exclusion HPLC showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences for release year, the semidwarf characteristic, and farinograph stability. Overall, the results indicate that the introduction of reduced height genes accompanied the improvements of dough mixing and breadmaking quality characteristics, without altering the composition of gliadin proteins over the last 100 years of HRS wheat breeding.
Impact of teacher value orientations on student learning in physical education

Based on the value orientation theory, the purpose of this study was to determine the impact of value orientation incongruence between physical education teachers and an externally designed curriculum on student learning in a concept-based fitness-centered physical education curriculum. Physical education teachers (n = 15) with different value orientations taught an externally designed, standards-based fitness/healthful living curriculum to their middle school students (n = 3,827) in 155 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade intact classes. A pre-post assessment design was used to determine whether student fitness/healthful living knowledge gains differed in terms of teachers’ value orientations. An ANOVA on class means of residual-adjusted knowledge gain scores revealed no statistically significant differences based on value orientations. The evidence suggests that teacher value orientation impact may be mediated by curriculum impact. This finding supports the observation that a well-designed physical education curriculum may minimize the impact of teachers’ diverse value orientations on the curriculum implementation and student learning.
Universal Design in Ambient Intelligent Environments

Ambient Assisted Living is normally how reference is made to Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environments when used to support old people in living independently and remain active, thus contributing to their physical and cognitive well-being (eInclusion). The main purpose of the paper is to show that the house is a particularly difficult environment, due to the variety of activities to be carried out in it and of abilities and preferences of people. Therefore, it is necessary to set up integrated infrastructures able to “reason” about the present status, physical and emotional, of the inhabitants and to offer them suitable support services.
DNS of scalar transfer across an air-water interface during inception and growth of Langmuir circulation

Abstract Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of an initially quiescent coupled air-water interface driven by an air flow with free stream speed of 5 m/s have been conducted. The DNS solves a scalar advection-diffusion equation for dissolved gas (or scalar) concentration in order to determine the impact of the water-side turbulence on scalar transfer from the air side to the water side and subsequent vertical transport in the water column. Two simulations are compared: one with a freely deforming interface and a second one with a flat interface. In the first simulation, the deforming interface evolves in the form of gravity-capillary waves generating aqueous Langmuir turbulence characterized by small-scale (centimeter-scale) Langmuir cells (LCs). The second simulation is characterized by pure shear-driven turbulence in the absences of LCs as the interface is intentionally held flat. It is concluded that the Langmuir turbulence serves to enhance vertical transport of the scalar in the water side and in the process it increases scalar transfer efficiency relative to the shear-dominated turbulence in the flat interface case. Furthermore, transition to Langmuir turbulence was observed to be accompanied by a spike in scalar flux characterized by an order of magnitude increase. These episodic flux increases, if linked to gusts and overall unsteadiness in the wind field, are expected to be an important contributor in determining the long-term average of the air-sea gas fluxes. The effectiveness of popular transfer velocity models, namely the small eddy model and the surface divergence model, in predicting this spike is evaluated via the DNS.
Role of age and injury mechanism on cervical spine injury tolerance from head contact loading.

ABSTRACTObjective: The objective of this study was to determine the influence of age and injury mechanism on cervical spine tolerance to injury from head contact loading using survival analysis.Methods: This study analyzed data from previously conducted experiments using post mortem human subjects (PMHS). Group A tests used the upright intact head–cervical column experimental model. The inferior end of the specimen was fixed, the head was balanced by a mechanical system, and natural lordosis was removed. Specimens were placed on a testing device via a load cell. The piston applied loading at the vertex region. Spinal injuries were identified using medical images. Group B tests used the inverted head–cervical column experimental model. In one study, head–T1 specimens were fixed distally, and C7–T1 joints were oriented anteriorly, preserving lordosis. Torso mass of 16 kg was added to the specimen. In another inverted head–cervical column study, occiput–T2 columns were obtained, an artificial head was attach...
Antecedent Law and Ethics of Aid in Dying

Scholarly discussion of physician aid in dying – physicians actively aiding patients in ending their lives – has noticeably increased in recent years. While conversations and examinations of end-of-life treatment have been ongoing for decades, the antecedent law and ethics of aid in dying that have developed in the United States have recently moved into the spotlight. In this essay, written for a symposium at Quinnipiac School of Law, the author takes his audience on a brief journey through the history of end-of-life decision-making in the U.S., beginning with the early days of the Karen Quinlan case in 1976 and ending in the present day – from the acceptance of allowing terminally ill patients to die without medical intervention to the (very gradual) move toward varying degrees of physician assistance in carrying out patients’ decisions to hasten death. The author addresses some of the most difficult legal questions in this area, such as: • Who has the authority to make decisions about forgoing or continuing treatment when patients lack the capacity to do so? • What standards are decision-makers supposed to use to guide these decisions? • What role do courts play in resolving conflicts over end-of-life decision-making? By revisiting the history of physician aid in dying, researchers and others interested in the subject can gain a better understanding not only of where the law stands today, but also how it got there.
HotSpots: Failure Cascades on Heterogeneous Critical Infrastructure Networks

Critical Infrastructure Systems such as transportation, water and power grid systems are vital to our national security, economy, and public safety. Recent events, like the 2012 hurricane Sandy, show how the interdependencies among different CI networks lead to catastrophic failures among the whole system. Hence, analyzing these CI networks, and modeling failure cascades on them becomes a very important problem. However, traditional models either do not take multiple CIs or the dynamics of the system into account, or model it simplistically. In this paper, we study this problem using a heterogeneous network viewpoint. We first construct heterogeneous CI networks with multiple components using national-level datasets. Then we study novel failure maximization problems on these networks, to compute critical nodes in such systems. We then provide HotSpots, a scalable and effective algorithm for these problems, based on careful transformations. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments on real CIS data from multiple US states, and show that our method HotSpots outperforms non-trivial baselines, gives meaningful results and that our approach gives immediate benefits in providing situational-awareness during large-scale failures.
Amyand’s hernia with acute gangrenous appendicitis and cecal perforation: A case report and review of the literature

Abstract Introduction An Amyand's hernia is a heterogeneous clinical condition defined by the presence of the vermiform appendix within an inguinal hernia sac, which may or may not contain other abdominal contents or pathologic inflammatory changes. Herein we present an exceptionally rare case of an Amyand's hernia containing acute appendicitis and a perforated cecum. Presentation of case A 46-year-old male with a right inguinal hernia of 2–3 year duration presented to our Emergency Department complaining of acute onset abdominal and groin pain. The patient was diagnosed with an incarcerated right inguinal hernia and underwent emergent surgical repair. Intraoperatively a reactive fluid was found within the hernia sac that prompted an exploratory laparotomy for suspected bowel perforation. The hernia was then found to contain an inflamed gangrenous appendix with an inflamed and perforated cecum. An ileocecectomy and enteroenterostomy was performed and the hernia defect was repaired without mesh. Discussion With an estimated incidence of only 1%, Amyand's hernias are rare and lack a clear evidence-based management scheme. Moreover, they can contain a diverse range of pathologic features and presentations that can complicate diagnosis and treatment. To avoid potential morbidity and mortality, the surgeon must consider an Amyand's hernia on his or her differential when operating on inguinal hernias and be aware of the associated presentations, complications, and management schemes. Conclusion There is a paucity of reports describing simultaneous appendicitis and cecal perforation within an Amyand's hernia. In our case, ileocecectomy and Bassini hernia repair with close follow-up led to a favorable outcome.
Risks and Rewards of College Football: Who Would Accept a Scholarship Knowing the Chances of Physical Harm?*

Objective Over the past decade, increased scrutiny has been given to health‐related consequences of participating in American football. This study considers whether the known risk has affected individuals’ willingness to play at the intercollegiate level. Methods Drawing from a survey of 726 adult males, this study uses quantitative experimental vignette methodology to investigate factors associated with the self‐conscious choice to risk brain damage in exchange for a football scholarship. Results Respondents whose mothers’ highest level of education was high school or lower were especially willing to assume the known long‐term risk associated with playing college football, as were African Americans. Conclusions The findings may foreshadow a moral quandary should radical changes to football player safety not occur soon. If the sport's physical risks are acceptable mainly to those from historically disadvantaged backgrounds, it could be difficult for presidents, faculty, and other stakeholders to allow young men to represent their universities in this capacity.
Effects of High and Low Temperature on the Dynamic Performance of the Core Material, Face-sheets and the Sandwich Composite

The performance of sandwich structures is highly affected by the varying environmental temperature during service, especially when they are subjected to blast loading. Typically, sandwich panels consist of polymer based composites (facesheets) and polymer foams (core material), and the properties of its components change substantially under different temperatures. In this paper, high strain rate constitutive behavior of E-glass Vinyl ester composites and CorecellTM M100 foam at different temperatures has been studied. A special temperature control chamber was designed in order to heat or cool the specimen to an assigned temperature. Once the specimen reached the target temperature, it was subjected to high strain rate loading using a SHPB apparatus. Eight different target temperatures were chosen: -40oC, -20oC, 0oC, 22oC, 40oC, 60oC, 80oC and 100oC. The sandwich composites were maintained at the target temperature before being subjected to shock-wave loading using a shock-tube. A high-speed photography system utilizing Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was used to record the real time deformation of the specimen. The results show a significant decrease in flow stress with the increase in the temperature of core material. Significant fiber-matrix delamination was observed in face-sheets at elevated ambient temperatures with little change in the value of compression modulus. For the low temperature environment, the core material shows brittle behavior resulting in core-cracking of the sandwich specimen under blast loading.
Contingent Fees and Tax Compliance

This paper examines the effects of banning contingent fees for tax return preparation services. It develops a principal-agent model in which a taxpayer contracts with a tax practitioner to attempt to resolve tax law uncertainty. The contract must induce the practitioner to do research and take the tax return reporting position that the taxpayer prefers. Analysis of the model shows that banning contingent fees raises the expected fee of the practitioner. The amount of the increase is increasing in the quality of the practitioner. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that holds that contingent fee arrangements will make practitioners more likely to take aggressive tax return positions, we find that practitioners are less likely to be aggressive when contingent fees are allowed.
Current and Future Research Focus on Inspection of Vertical Structures in Oil and Gas Industry

Regular inspection of oil and gas installations are vital for production, maintenance, safety and environmental impact assessment. Due to complex set-up and hazardous operation environment, the inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) operations as considered as an inevitable task in oil and gas industries. Integrating technologies from the field of robotics, sensing and process control will be a decisive step in digitalization of oil and gas industry. The traditional vertical structures inspection system uses rope access, scaffolds, telescopic elevation platforms supported by cranes and manned helicopters. The challenges faced by conventional techniques are the construction of scaffolding, sending inspectors into dangerous and fatal environments, shutdown of plant operations etc. that has financial burden on the plant operating cost. Introduction of robotic technologies such as wall-climbing robots, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and wall-climbing drones, provides a possible solution for these challenges by increasing the efficiency, reducing the risks and lowering the cost of IMR tasks. The current research focus in this field is to automate and improve the inspection and testing capabilities of these systems. This paper presents the state of art of current scenario and future research focus on vertical structure inspection in oil and gas industry.
Facilitating natural succession in a heavily invaded ecosystem

Abstract Invasive plants have major impacts on forest ecosystems. Where invasive species alter successional pathways, a site may reach an alternate stable state in which compositional change is unlikely without management intervention. We conducted a restoration experiment designed to alter the successional factors of site availability, species availability, and species performance to disrupt the stable state of invader dominance. In a field dominated by invasive reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.), we compared two plot preparation methods (late-season site mulching plus Oust® application, vs. late-season Rodeo® application) to increase site availability and reduce Phalaris performance, and planted native trees and shrubs as seeds and as bare root seedlings at three densities to improve native species availability. We monitored Phalaris growth, other herbaceous species establishment, tree survival, and deer browsing (another influence on species performance) for two growing seasons. Although the mulching plus Oust treatment was initially more successful in terms of its ability to increase site availability (as measured by litter percent cover and depth), this pattern reversed in the second year of the experiment. Throughout the experiment, the Rodeo treatment was superior in terms of its ability to decrease Phalaris performance (as measured by cover and height), and in the second year it also improved the performance of herbaceous plants naturally establishing in the plots (as measured by cover). Volunteer herbaceous plant cover averaged 60% in Rodeo-treated plots by the end of the second growing season. The performance of planted, seeded, and naturally-occurring woody plants was similar across the two herbicide treatments. Overall survival of bare root seedlings was 41%; survival was greater than 70% for both swamp white oak and Dutch elm disease-resistant American elm. Deer preferentially browsed on silver maple seedlings, while demonstrating avoidance of American elm, cottonwood, sandbar willow and swamp white oak. Our results suggest that to promote succession in Phalaris-dominated sites, decreasing Phalaris performance is more important than immediately removing thatch. In terms of species availability, we conclude that propagule limitation was occurring for woody plants but not for herbaceous species; natural tree recruitment was very low, so our alteration of tree species availability was critical in terms of promoting succession to floodplain forest. The restoration approach of stimulating natural succession can be applied to other ecosystems, providing a link between successional theory and management practice.
Low-Frequency Noise Reduction in 22FDX®: Impact of Device Geometry and Back Bias

The impact of device geometry, process integration and back bias on Low-Frequency Noise (LFN) performance of 22FDX® thin oxide devices has been investigated. Calibrated TCAD simulations were used to clarify the role of carrier distribution on LFN. More than 20% (30%) gate bias power spectrum density S Vg reduction is demonstrated in thin (thick) oxide devices with an appropriate choice of device construction and bias.
Pure and Applied Nuclear Physics in East and West

THE second conference on the “peaceful atom,” held between September 1 and 13, 1958, was not accompanied by the feverish anticipation of a glimpse into an unknown world to the same extent as was the First Geneva Conference in 1955. For one thing, the public at large had become accustomed to the miracle of nuclear energy and its devices. Moreover, those of us who had looked forward to seeing a “live Russian scientist” before the first conference had become accustomed to the experience from nrumerous occasions in the intervening period. On the whole, the Second Geneva Conference was preceded by somewhat methodical and elaborate preparations involving the scientists and engineers of all countries, in much the same way as are meetings in other fields. Only the presentation of schemes for controlled fusion offered some of the glamor associated with the first conference.
Costs and effectiveness of standard treatments applied to flexible and rigid pavements: case study in Indiana, USA

Highway agencies apply rehabilitation and maintenance treatments to restore pavement condition and to reduce the deterioration rate, thereby extending pavement longevity and ultimately deferring re...
A “Resonance” Method to Decrease Electrode Erosion in Magnetically Rotated Arcs

In many industrial applications of high-current arcs with tubular or ring electrodes, the arc electrode attachments are forced to rotate in order to reduce electrode erosion. A method intended to further reduce electrode erosion is suggested. This goal is achieved by forcing the attachment to drift in the axial direction. The axial arc motion results from the Lorentz force experienced by a radial arc under the influence of an azimuthal magnetic field. This magnetic field could be created by a cable located outside the electrode. It is shown that if the current in the outside cable oscillates with a frequency close to the frequency of the arc rotation, it leads to a continuous arc axial drift. The effect has a resonance characteristic: even a low ac current in the cable causes the arc drift. As a result of the combination of fast arc rotation with a relatively slow axial drift (reversed from time to time), the arc attachment moves within a band of a controllable width. The spread of the electrode heat load over a wider electrode area reduces electrode erosion. Sources of the azimuthal magnetic field other than a cable are suggested.