cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Operating Experience With a Multijet Gas Turbine-Generator

This paper is intended to cover the operating experiences of the Gas Turbine Generating Unit at the Sewaren Generating Station of the Public Service Electric and Gas Company. This gas turbine is powered with eight aircraft-type jet engines and is rated at 140,000 kw. It completed two years of service in November 1967 and has accumulated more than 1600 hr of service. The problems and experiences associated with the unit in this period are reviewed.Copyright © 1968 by ASME
A la cima sobre los hombros del diablo

To the Top on the Shoulders of the Devil is a comprehensive narrative history of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, from its unofficial emergence as part of a liberal guerrilla ef...
Hyperthermal Growth of N,N′-Ditridecylperylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic Diimide on Self-Assembled Monolayers: Adsorption Dynamics and Sub- and Multilayer Thin Film Growth

We have examined the nucleation, growth, and dynamics of the adsorption of N,N′-ditridecylperylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI-C13) on SiO2 surfaces modified by self-assembled monolayer...
Preliminary Exploration for the Relationship of Morning Blood Pressure Surge With Fasting Blood Glucose and Blood Lipids

Objective: To explore the risk factor for morning blood pressure surge(MBPS) and to provide the relevant principle for prevention and treatment in such patients. Methods: We enrolled 280 patients who received 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring(ABPM) in our hospital from January to June 2011. The patient included 161 male, 119 female with the age of(19-79) years, no one had antihypertensive medication. According to 75% of the average MBPS value, the patients were divided into 2 groups as MBPS group, the patients with MBPS ≥ 28.4 mmHg, n=69 and non-MBPS group, the patients with MBPS 28.4 mmHg, n=211. We studied the relationship between MBPS and hypertension, fasting blood glucose(FBG) and blood lipids. Results: Compared with non-MBPS group, the MBPS group had higher FBG level and more hypertension patients, P=0.005 or P=0.002. The 24-hour ABPM presented that day-time systolic blood pressure(SBP) and the mean arterial pressure(MAP) were higher in MBPS group, P0.05, while night-time SBP, diastolic blood pressure(DBP) and MAP were lower in MBPS group, P0.05. With adjusted age, gender and BMI, the patients with hypertension, impaired FBG and high blood lipids had 1.596 times(OR=2.596; 95%CI: 1.392-4.841), 1.381 times(OR=2.381; 95%CI: 1.304-4.347) and 0.904 times(OR=1.904; 95%CI: 0.866-4.190) of increased risk for suffering from MBPS, respectively. Conclusion: The patients with hypertension and impaired FBG had the higher risk for exaggerated MBPS.
How Do Preservice Teachers View Tenure and Accountability

AbstractLittle research has examined preservice teachers’ views on tenure and accountability. This study used a 35-item survey to investigate 89 preservice teachers’ attitudes toward both. Most valued tenure and recognized the importance of ensuring teacher quality. Fewer than one third saw mentoring or collaboration as ways to improve their teaching—surprising in an apprenticeship program. The authors argue for better alignment between teacher preparation and inservice accountability measures, and the importance of inservice mentoring and feedback.
Professional dietetic education in the U.S.

From the very beginning, the evolution of the profession of dietetics and the development of high educational standards for practitioners have gone hand in hand.
Multiscale and multiresolution modeling of shales and their flow and morphological properties

The need for more accessible energy resources makes shale formations increasingly important. Characterization of such low-permeability formations is complicated, due to the presence of multiscale features, and defies conventional methods. High-quality 3D imaging may be an ultimate solution for revealing the complexities of such porous media, but acquiring them is costly and time consuming. High-quality 2D images, on the other hand, are widely available. A novel three-step, multiscale, multiresolution reconstruction method is presented that directly uses 2D images in order to develop 3D models of shales. It uses a high-resolution 2D image representing the small-scale features to reproduce the nanopores and their network, a large scale, low-resolution 2D image to create the larger-scale characteristics, and generates stochastic realizations of the porous formation. The method is used to develop a model for a shale system for which the full 3D image is available and its properties can be computed. The predictions of the reconstructed models are in excellent agreement with the data. The method is, however, quite general and can be used for reconstructing models of other important heterogeneous materials and media. Two biological examples and from materials science are also reconstructed to demonstrate the generality of the method.
Studies to Improve The Performance of Electrochemical Detection for Microchip Electrophoresis

Strategies to improve the performance of electrochemical (EC) detection for microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) are described. Contributions to band broadening from the electrochemical detector and analyte adsorption in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) -based microchips were investigated.
Scheme for Hydrotreatment of Fluid Catalytic Cracking Decant Oil with Reduced Hydrogen Consumption and High Needle Coke Yield upon Carbonization

Two decant oils with different sulfur contents and their vacuum distillation fractions were hydrotreated in a fixed-bed flow reactor to produce a feed with sufficiently low sulfur content for needle coke production. Products from hydrotreatment were subsequently carbonized in a tubing bomb reactor to characterize the carbonaceous mesophase development seen in the resulting semicoke. Although the purpose of the hydrotreatment is to reduce sulfur content, hydrogenation of aromatic compounds also takes place during the treatment, thus increasing the hydrogen consumption. Modest hydrogenation of decant oil from the hydrotreatment improved the mesophase development but resulted in a significant decrease of the semicoke yield upon carbonization of the treated product. As a remedy to conserve hydrogen during hydrotreatment and achieve higher coke yields in the subsequent carbonization, only the middle fraction from vacuum distillation of the decant oil was hydrotreated and blended back with the vacuum bottoms to...
Agricultural Investment in Ethiopia: Undermining National Sovereignty or Tool for State Building?

The media discourse on recent agricultural investments — frequently referred to as the ‘global land grab’ — has been quick to label these deals as ‘neo-colonial’, implying that these kinds of investments undermine national sovereignty. For the most part, the emerging academic literature on the ‘land grab’ has not critically examined this assumption. This article draws on the literature on state building and agrarian relations in Africa to construct a framework that can be used to analyse the impact of agricultural investment on state–society relations and state sovereignty. The article then uses this framework to examine the case of Ethiopia, illustrating how the Ethiopian state has directed investors to peripheral lowlands and, in doing so, has enhanced, rather than diminished, state sovereignty. As such, while the erosion of sovereignty is certainly one possible outcome of agricultural investment, it is by no means the only one, and is an assumption that should be subjected to critical analysis.
Splenic artery aneurysm rupture in pregnancy.

Abstract Case presentation A pregnant woman at 22 + 5/7 weeks gestation presented to the emergency department (ED) from an outpatient clinic, hypotensive after experiencing a syncopal episode. On arrival to the ER she was tachycardic, tachypneic and complaining of abdominal pain. A bedside FAST was performed and noted free fluid in the abdomen. Subsequent CT obtained noted the rare but life-threatening diagnosis of ruptured splenic artery aneurysm that resulted in emergent transfer to the operating room with OB/GYN and general surgery. The patient underwent emergent splenectomy and endovascular repair with vascular surgery, as well as massive transfusion and was transferred to the ICU post-operatively. The patient made a complete recovery and was discharged home on day four of her hospital stay. She underwent an uncomplicated cesarean section at 37 + 1 weeks ( Fig. 1 , Fig. 2 , Fig. 3 , Fig. 4 ). Discussion Rare but baring a high mortality rate, splenic artery aneurysm should be on the differential of any pregnant woman with abdominal pain, especially in the setting of hemodynamic instability. Prompt recognition, early involvement of OB/GYN and vascular surgery as well as rapid surgical intervention is needed for stabilization. These patients may require large amounts of blood for transfusion and it is important to acquire labs including a type and cross to avoid delays in resuscitation. Over 100 cases of SAA in pregnancy have been reported, but a minority reported both maternal and fetal survival.
Pump-probe method for investigating laser ablation and optical damage threshold mechanisms in optical materials

The method developed for investigating laser-surface interactions by measuring the ratio of ablation threshold fluence for a pair of picosecond or subpicosecond laser pulses to the single-pulse ablation threshold, was applied to ZnS (wurtzite)and to the borosilicate glass BK-7. Each sample was exposed to 1000 pulse pairs of 580-nm dye laser radiation. For ZnS, linear absorption was found to be the cause of the cumulative optical damage mechanism; the linear absorption is probably caused by defects states (such as color centers) near the surface. The nonlinear behavior of BK-7 suggests that avalanche ionization could be the damage mechanism. Results for both materials show that intrinsic multiphoton absorption mechanisms may not be significant indicators of optical damage mechanisms even when they lead to very high free-carrier densities and energy absorption.
Review: La Villa by Bartolomeo Taegio, Thomas E. Beck

Bartolomeo Taegio and Thomas E. Beck. La Villa . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011, 298 pp., 6 b/w illus. $65, ISBN 9780812243178. Thomas Beck’s critical edition of Bartolomeo Taegio’s La Villa is an important addition to the body of published primary sources of landscape architectural theory. Beck offers the first English translation of a well-known Italian treatise that was first published in 1559 in Milan by Francesco Moscheni. The book presents a broad picture of the advantages of rural life in sixteenth-century Lombardy in the form of a dialogue between two gentlemen, Vitauro and Partenio. Vitauro, in whose voice we recognize Taegio’s own, maintains the superiority of rural life compared to urban life. He tries to persuade Partenio to leave Milan and settle in the country. One of the benefits, Vitauro argues, of living in the countryside is the pursuit of otium , or honorable leisure, which involves indulging in reading and writing and engaging in learned conversations without any of the distractions that are typical of the urban environment. The dialectic of rural otium and urban negotium was certainly not new at the time Taegio was writing. Fifteen years earlier it was the dominating theme of another work on villa life published in Venice, Alberto Lollio’s Lettera…nella quale … egli celebra la villa e lauda molto l’agricoltura . Taegio, however, as Beck points out in the introduction, distances himself from both his contemporaries and predecessors by separating the villa from its agricultural context, as when he makes Vitauro “defer the discussion of agriculture to a more convenient occasion” (22). Unlike other contemporary contributors to villa literature, such as Giuseppe Falcone and Agostino …
THE FINANCIAL CHALLENGES AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSTRAINS IN OWNERSHIP OF PRIVATE MEDIA INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA

Private ownership in the media industry is over a long period of time has been solely a government venture and as such the monopoly of owner ownership of such business has been a government idea until recently with private individuals venturing into the industry as a business venture and opening up a keg of challenges confronting the ownership of such business. This study adopt the survey research method, using questionnaire and sampled the staff of AIT. The study findings reveal inadequate funding and financing of private media stations and finally recommended that adverts and a friendly democratic environment will encourage private ownership of the media industry in Nigeria.
Chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer: Emerging concepts (Review)

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal types of cancer in the world. The incidence of pancreatic cancer increases each year with no significant decrease in mortality. Pancreatic cancer is a complex disease, and this complexity is partly attributed to late diagnosis, an aggressive phenotype, environmental factors and lack of effective treatment options. Surgical resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for early stage cancer, whereas gemcitabine is the standard first line therapy for patients with advanced stage disease. Treatment regimens comprising folinic acid, 5-fluorouracil, irinotecan, oxaliplatin and nab-paclitaxel have demonstrated modest effects in improving median survival rates. A number of other chemotherapeutics are currently undergoing clinical trials as components of combination therapies with gemcitabine. An increasing number of novel molecular targets and cellular pathways are being identified, which highlights the complexity of this disease. The development of chemoresistance to gemcitabine is multifactorial and there exists an interplay between pancreatic cancer cells, the tumor microenvironment and cancer stem cells. These components appear to be governed by a complex network of non-coding RNAs such as micro RNAs and long non-coding RNAs. In the present study, studies describing previous research on the understanding of the factors associated with the development of chemoresistance to gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer are reviewed. A comprehensive understanding of the multiple pathways of chemoresistance is key to develop next generation therapeutics to pancreatic cancer.
To Adapt or Not to Adapt: Sex-Specific and Age-Dependent Adaptation of the Mitochondrial Lon Protease in D. Melanogaster

Mitochondria are central to cellular metabolism. However, an inevitable trade-off is electron leakage, and the resultant generation of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), from the electron transport chain (ETC). To minimize the accumulation of oxidative damage, mitochondria utilize reducing enzymes and repair systems to maintain function, and proteolysis to remove damaged internal proteins. A key mitochondrial-matrix proteolytic enzyme is the nuclear-encoded Lon protease: an ATP-stimulated protein that degrades oxidized proteins. Prior cell culture studies have shown Lon is a stress response protein as measured by its rapidly increased synthesis following exposure to multiple forms of stress: e.g. H2O2, heat shock, and serum starvation. Due to Lon’s role in the maintenance of the mitochondrial proteome, our aim was to study Lon function and stress-responsiveness during aging in the model organism, D. melanogaster. Upon H2O2 stress, females, but not males are capable of adaptation. Females show increased Lon protein expression and activity, which is lost with age. In contrast, males, regardless age or H2O2 pretreatment, show no change in Lon protein expression or activity. These sex-specific differences in stress responsiveness appear to be attributable to expression (or lack of expression) of the mitochondrial Lon protease. In addition, females translate three unique Lon protein isoforms, whereas only two are present in the males. Importantly, sex-specific expression of the Lon protein isoforms was also observed in mammalian tissues, suggesting a possible conservation of sex-specific Lon regulation. To assess Lon’s involvement in the male and female adaptive differences, males were transformed into ‘pseudo-females’ through over-expression of the female-specific Transformer (TraF) splicing factor. Pseudo-females recapitulated the female-specific Lon protein isoforms and H2O2 adaptation. Our findings suggest the use of D. melanogaster as a model for sex-specific stress adaptation regulated by the Lon protease, with potential implications for understanding sexual-dimorphism in disease.
Abstract 84: Group V Secretory Phospholipase A2 Enhances the Progression of Angiotensin II-Induced Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms but Confers Protection Against Angiotensin II-Induced Cardiac Fibrosis in ApoE-Deficient Mice

Objective— Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) and heart failure are complex life-threatening diseases whose etiology is not completely understood. We recently reported that deficiency of group X secretory phospholipase A2 (GX sPLA2) reduces abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation in apoE -/- mice infused with angiotensin II. In this study, we investigated whether deficiency of a related enzyme, GV sPLA2, also protects mice from experimental AAA. The impact of GV sPLA2 deficiency on Ang II-induced cardiac fibrosis was also assessed. Methods and results— ApoE -/- mice and apoE -/- mice lacking GV sPLA2 (GV DKO) were infused with 1000 ng/kg/min Ang II for up to 28 days. Increases in systolic blood pressure, urinary prostanoids, and plasma aldosterone were similar in apoE -/- and GV DKO mice after Ang II infusion. The incidence of aortic rupture in Ang II-infused GV DKO mice (10%) was significantly lower compared to apoE -/- mice (30%). Although the overall incidence of AAA in GV DKO mice (∼81.25%) and apoE -/- mice (100%) was similar, the mean percent increase in maximal luminal diameter of abdominal aortas was significantly smaller in GV DKO mice (68.5±7.7%) compared to apoE -/- mice (92.6±8.3%). Deficiency of GV sPLA2 resulted in increased Ang II-induced cardiac fibrosis that was most pronounced in perivascular regions. Perivascular collagen, visualized by picrosirius red staining, was associated with increased TUNEL staining and increased immunopositivity for macrophage and myofibroblast cells and NOX-2 and NOX-4. Conclusion— Our findings indicate that GV sPLA2 modulates pathological responses to Ang II, with different outcomes for AAA and cardiac fibrosis. These data have important implications for sPLA2 inhibitors that are currently being developed for clinical use.
Enhanced Operator Function Model (EOFM): A Task Analytic Modeling Formalism for Including Human Behavior in the Verification of Complex Systems

The enhanced operator function model (EOFM) is a task analytic modeling formalism that allows human behavior to be included in larger formal system models to support the formal verification of human interactive systems. EOFM is an expressive formalism that captures the behavior of individual humans or, with the EOFM with communications (EOFMC) extension, teams of humans as a collection of tasks, each composed representing a hierarchy of activities and actions. Further, EOFM has a formal semantics and associated translator that allow its represented behavior to be automatically translated into a model checking formalism for use in larger system verification. EOFM supports a number of features that enable analysts to use model checking to investigate human-automation and human-human interaction. Translator variants support the development of different task models with methods for accounting for erroneous human behaviors and miscommunications, the creation of specification properties, and the automated design of human-machine interfaces. This chapter provides an overview of EOFM, its language, its formal semantics and translation, and analysis features. It addresses the different ways that EOFM has been used to evaluate human behavior in human-interactive systems. We demonstrate some of the capabilities of EOFM by using it to evaluate the air traffic control case study. Finally, we discuss future directions of EOFM and its supported analyses.
Chapter 2 – Fragile X Syndrome Genetics

The discovery of the FMR1 gene and its associated unstable CGG trinucleotide repeat mutation in May of 1991 marked a watershed moment in genetics. Along with the subsequent recognition of expansion of unstable repetitive elements as causative mutations in dozens of additional human genetic disorders, the molecular basis for fragile X syndrome provided long-sought answers for genetic questions that had defied explanation for many decades. That this fundamental discovery of a genetic principle occurred through study of a human condition reflects the intriguing specificity of the phenomenon, one that is so far unknown in the other animal species that have typically been used to define our understanding of genetic principles. While many questions remain regarding repetitive DNA sequences and their contributions to normal and abnormal phenotypic variation, remarkable progress in the intervening years has led to a rich understanding of the biology of FMR1 and fragile X syndrome, allowing consideration of rationally designed therapeutic interventions in this common condition of intellectual disability.
Indexing recruitment for source populations contributing to mixed fisheries by incorporating age in genetic stock identification models

We describe a methodology for estimating relative recruitments for source populations (sources) contributing to mixed fisheries by incorporating age into genetic stock identification models. The ap...
Abstract 15625: Insulin Receptor Substrates (IRS) Regulate the Bioenergetic and Hypertrophic Response of the Heart to Exercise Training

To test the hypothesis that insulin receptor substrate (IRS) isoforms mediate the cardiac growth and metabolic adaptations that follow exercise training, mice with cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of either IRS1 (CIRS1KO) or IRS2 (CIRS2KO) were subjected to swim training (Ex). At 12 weeks of age, heart weight-to-tibia length ratios (HW/TL) were reduced by 12.5% (p
Electronic and Optical Properties of Two-Dimensional GaN from First-Principles.

GaN is an important commercial semiconductor for solid-state lighting applications. Atomically thin GaN, a recently synthesized two-dimensional material, is of particular interest because the extreme quantum confinement enables additional control of its light-emitting properties. We performed first-principles calculations based on density functional and many-body perturbation theory to investigate the electronic, optical, and excitonic properties of monolayer and bilayer 2D GaN as a function of strain. Our results demonstrate that light emission from monolayer 2D GaN is blueshifted into the deep ultraviolet range, which is promising for sterilization and water-purification applications. Light emission from bilayer 2D GaN occurs at similar wavelength to its bulk counterpart, due to the cancellation of the effect of quantum confinement on the optical gap by the quantum-confined Stark shift. Polarized light emission at room temperature is possible via uniaxial in-plane strain, which is desirable for energy-e...
Capturing Social Networking Privacy Preferences

Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace thrive on the exchange of personal content such as pictures and activities. These sites are discovering that people's privacy preferences are very rich and diverse. In theory, providing users with more expressive settings to specify their privacy policies would not only enable them to better articulate their preferences, but could also lead to greater user burden. In this article, we evaluate to what extent providing users with default policies can help alleviate some of this burden. Our research is conducted in the context of location-sharing applications, where users are expected to specify conditions under which they are willing to let others see their locations. We define canonical policies that attempt to abstract away user-specific elements such as a user's default schedule, or canonical places, such as "work" and "home." We learn a set of default policies from this data using decision-tree and clustering algorithms. We examine trade-offs between the complexity / understandability of default policies made available to users, and the accuracy with which they capture the ground truth preferences of our user population. Specifically, we present results obtained using data collected from 30 users of location-enabled phones over a period of one week. They suggest that providing users with a small number of canonical default policies to choose from can help reduce user burden when it comes to customizing the rich privacy settings they seem to require.
Factors Associated With Surgery Clerkship Performance and Subsequent USMLE Step Scores

Purpose We conducted an in-depth empirical investigation to achieve a better understanding of the surgery clerkship from multiple perspectives, including the influence of clerkship sequence on performance, the relationship between self-logged work hours and performance, as well as the association between surgery clerkship performance with subsequent USMLE Step exams’ scores. Method The study cohort consisted of medical students graduating between 2015 and 2018 (n = 687). The primary measures of interest were clerkship sequence (internal medicine clerkship before or after surgery clerkship), self-logged work hours during surgery clerkship, surgery NBME subject exam score, surgery clerkship overall grade, and Step 1, Step 2 CK, and Step 3 exam scores. We reported the descriptive statistics and conducted correlation analysis, stepwise linear regression analysis, and variable selection analysis of logistic regression to answer the research questions. Results Students who completed internal medicine clerkship prior to surgery clerkship had better performance on surgery subject exam. The subject exam score explained an additional 28% of the variance of the Step 2 CK score, and the clerkship overall score accounted for an additional 24% of the variance after the MCAT scores and undergraduate GPA were controlled. Conclusion Our finding suggests that the clerkship sequence does matter when it comes to performance on the surgery NBME subject exam. Performance on the surgery subject exam is predictive of subsequent performance on future USMLE Step exams.
A Place to Call Home: Defining the Legal Significance of the Sanctuary Campus Movement

The sanctuary campus movement ignited following the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. The movement has given rise to questions about the protections available to undocumented immigrants in the United States, with specific emphasis placed on the vulnerability of undocumented students. The movement joins a list of sanctuary initiatives, such as the sanctuary city movement of the 1980s, which was plagued by negative rhetoric that taints the political discourse surrounding sanctuary campuses. Despite the humanitarian nature of the sanctuary campus movement, its legal impact on undocumented students remains uncertain while politicians and right-wing conservatives oppose it as a violation of federal law. This Note analyzes the legal barriers currently facing the sanctuary campus movement, examines current immigration and privacy laws affecting the movement, and discusses ways sanctuary campuses can fill in the gaps left by such laws in order to improve protections for undocumented students.
Laser cooling by sawtooth-wave adiabatic passage

We provide a theoretical analysis for a recently demonstrated cooling method. Two-level particles undergo successive adiabatic transfers upon interaction with counterpropagating laser beams that are repeatedly swept over the transition frequency. We show that particles with narrow linewidth transitions can be cooled to near the recoil limit. This cooling mechanism has a reduced reliance on spontaneous emission compared to Doppler cooling, and hence shows promise for application to systems lacking closed cycling transitions, such as molecules.
HEURISTIC PROBLEM-SOLVING PROGRAMS

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on Heuristic problem-solving programs. It discusses three problem solving programs with some pretension to generality, the General Problem Solver (GPS) of Newell, Simon, and their co-workers, a program of one's own called the Fortran Deductive System (FDS), and a robot guidance program called STRIPS, which has been developed at Stanford Research Institute. The GPS is a classic artificial intelligence program which introduced many of the basic concepts of heuristic problem solving. The FDS is an extension of certain mechanisms in GPS, while STRIPS attempts to use plans in problem solving. The GPS is perhaps the most famous program in the history of artificial intelligence. The initial motivation for the GPS was an interesting mixture of computer science and psychology. From a computer science point of view, GPS was a logical generalization of the computer programs that had been written to solve problems in specific content areas, such as the propositional calculus, plane geometry and integral calculus. From the psychological point of view, GPS was proposed as a model of the information-processing characteristics of the mind.
Oxygen diffusivity and permeation through polymers at elevated temperature

Abstract Oxygen permeability (P), diffusivity (D) and solubility (S) properties are representative of gaseous diffusion in polymers and required for the understanding of polymer physics driven phenomena as well as the quantification of mass transport or polymer degradation processes when diffusion limited oxidation effects result in spatially dependent oxidation behavior. Precise P, D, S characterization data for O2 in polymeric materials at elevated temperatures have not been reported due to instrumental challenges and competitive reactively driven oxygen loss (oxidation reactions), although estimations have been accomplished from indirect measurements of oxidation depths when analyzed with theoretical degradation models. This study offers an overview on experimental approaches which have been applied to the characterization of a range of thin polymer films. As an overview, the O2 permeation features of three epoxy thermo-set materials, polyimides (Kapton and bismaleimides), and polypropylene for 25–140 °C were investigated with time-dependent flux measurements and yield permeation data which so far have not been available in the literature. Arrhenius plots of P for two epoxies (828/D230 and 828/D400) show the influence of the glass transition temperature, and intriguingly a transition originates mostly through noticeable changes in S but not D. Multiple material behaviors demonstrating the influence of reactive oxygen loss are discussed. Polymer oxidation chemistry will often interfere with physical permeation measurements at elevated temperatures, in conflict with perhaps the expectation for simple non-reactive O2 transport. Misleading data may result unless the underlying reactive oxidative loss is considered and compensated for, or permeation data are compared at multiple O2 partial pressures to validate non-reactive experimental conditions.
Homophone Identification and Merging for Code-switched Speech Recognition.

Code-switching or mixing is the use of multiple languages in a single utterance or conversation. Borrowing occurs when a word from a foreign language becomes part of the vocabulary of a language. In multilingual societies, switching/mixing and borrowing are not always clearly distinguishable. Due to this, transcription of code-switched and borrowed words is often not standardized, and leads to the presence of homophones in the training data. In this work, we automatically identify and disambiguate homophones in code-switched data to improve recognition of code-switched speech. We use a WX-based common pronunciation scheme for both languages being mixed and unify the homophones during training, which results in a lower word error rate for systems built using this data. We also extend this framework to propose a metric for code-switched speech recognition that takes into account homophones in both languages while calculating WER, which can help provide a more accurate picture of errors the ASR system makes on code-switched speech.
Coordinative Voltage Control Strategy with Multiple Resources for Distribution Systems of High PV Penetration

This paper presents an optimal voltage control methodology with coordination among different voltage-regulating resources, including controllable loads, distributed energy resources such as energy storage and photovoltaics (PV), and utility voltage-regulating devices such as voltage regulators and capacitors. The proposed methodology could effectively tackle the overvoltage and voltage regulation device distortion problems brought by high penetrations of PV to improve grid operation reliability. A voltage-load sensitivity matrix and voltage-regulator sensitivity matrix are used to deploy the resources along the feeder to achieve the control objectives. Mixed-integer nonlinear programming is used to solve the formulated optimization control problem. The methodology has been tested on the IEEE 123-feeder test system, and the results demonstrate that the proposed approach could improve the voltage profile of distribution system operation.
A Defense of Universal Principles in Biomedical Ethics

The four principles of biomedical ethics are widely used in the world for bioethical deliberation. These theoretical guides are useful for the analysis and resolution of particularly complex ethical controversies arising in clinical and biomedical fields. This chapter develops an analysis of the basic universal principles, the common universal morality, and some characteristics of each principle. Then it discusses some problems posed by critics who have provided alternative frameworks of principles that are nonuniversal. Finally, it shows how universal moral principles are connected to human rights, how rules and rights are specified to become detailed and practical for certain moralities, and how these ideas are connected with problems of justification in bioethics and biolaw.
Integration of mCare and T2 Mood Tracker: Illustrating mHealth Usability Testing

Military operational requirements potentially limit access to behavioral health care for service members. Although mobile technology solutions are increasingly viable, a secure method for mobile data exchange between patients and providers has yet to be adopted in military health care. Usability testing is the industry standard prior to implementing new technology. This paper demonstrates usability testing on a secure data exchange system between mCare and T2 Mood Tracker. Sixteen civilian providers in an outpatient behavioral health clinic tested the mCare Provider Portal, and nine uniformed proxy patients tested the Mood Tracker app. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was used as an outcome measure, which is composed of usability and learnability sub-factors. Proxy patients rated the mobile app as acceptable on the SUS, with average usability and above average learnability. Providers had less favorable views of the mCare Provider Portal, which they rated as marginal across all domains. Participants expressed enthusiasm about the potential of the provider web portal/patient smartphone app system, but had concerns about technical difficulties and ethical issues when exchanging data electronically. The results suggest a willingness to use technology to share data between patients and providers, but also a need for refinement of system usability before full-scale implementation.
Salt-sensitive increase in macrophages in the kidneys of Dahl SS rats

Studies of Dahl salt-sensitive (SS) rats have shown that renal CD3+ T cells and ED-1+ macrophages are involved in the development of salt-sensitive hypertension and renal damage. The present study ...
Role of Oxygen Vacancies in Nanostructured Metal-Oxide Gas Sensors: A Review

Abstract Investigations into the mechanisms governing the behavior of metal oxide gas sensors continue to be of great interest. Oxygen vacancies are a ubiquitous defect in this class of materials and their characteristics can be affected by synthesis, processing and operating parameters. The primary role of oxygen vacancies in modifying sensing performance cited in the gas sensing literature is based on a modulation of the amount of surface adsorbed oxygen or alternatively, the baseline resistance. Unfortunately, this generalized description does not provide a complete representation of the role of oxygen vacancies that would aid in more a fundamental understanding of their role in gas sensing. To this end, an attempt is made to distinguish between the role of surface and bulk oxygen vacancies where emphasis on proper characterization is first highlighted. The influence of surface oxygen vacancies on factors affecting adsorption, such as surface structure, are examined to gain understanding on improved sensing performance. The effect of bulk oxygen vacancy concentration and distribution on sensing are also discussed. Finally, the importance of these concepts within the context of doped and heterostructured gas sensors are then briefly discussed.
Expressions for the 14 O(α,p) 17 F and 17 F(p,γ) 18 Ne astrophysical reaction rates

The ${}^{14}\mathrm{O}(\ensuremath{\alpha}{,p)}^{17}$F and ${}^{17}\mathrm{F}(p,\ensuremath{\gamma}{)}^{18}$Ne astrophysical reaction rates are needed to determine the breakout conditions from the hot CNO cycle into the rapid proton capture process in hot stellar environments. We have examined recent indirect experimental measurements of these reactions and generated analytical expressions for the reaction rates as a function of temperature. We also present a correction to the previously reported calculation of the ${}^{17}\mathrm{F}(p,\ensuremath{\gamma})$ rate.
Zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is a restriction factor for replication of modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) in human cells

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) is an approved smallpox vaccine and a promising vaccine vector for other pathogens as well as for cancer therapeutics with more than 200 current or completed clinical trials. MVA was derived by passaging the parental Ankara vaccine virus hundreds of times in chick embryo fibroblasts during which it lost the ability to replicate in human and most other mammalian cells. Although this replication deficiency is an important safety feature, the genetic basis of the host restriction is not understood. Here, an unbiased human genome-wide RNAi screen in human A549 cells revealed that the zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP), previously shown to inhibit certain RNA viruses, is a host restriction factor for MVA, a DNA virus. Additional studies demonstrated enhanced MVA replication in several human cell lines following knockdown of ZAP. Furthermore, CRISPR-Cas9 knockout of ZAP in human A549 cells increased MVA replication and spread by more than one log but had no effect on a non-attenuated strain of vaccinia virus. The intact viral C16 protein, which had been disrupted in MVA, antagonized ZAP by binding and sequestering the protein in cytoplasmic punctate structures. Studies aimed at exploring the mechanism by which ZAP restricts MVA replication in the absence of C16 showed that knockout of ZAP had no discernible effect on viral DNA or individual mRNA or protein species as determined by droplet digital polymerase chain reaction, deep RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry, respectively. Instead, inactivation of ZAP reduced the number of aberrant, dense, spherical particles that typically form in MVA-infected human cells, suggesting that ZAP has a novel role in interfering with a late step in the assembly of infectious MVA virions in the absence of the C16 protein.
Challenges and Solutions to Passive Rectification in Multi-MHz Frequency Capacitive Wireless Power Transfer Systems for Electric Vehicle Charging

This paper presents challenges and solutions to implementing a passive rectifier in a high-frequency capacitive wireless power transfer (WPT) system suitable for electric vehicle (EV) charging. For this study, a prototype 13.56-MHz 12-cm air-gap capacitive WPT system utilizing 22-cm diameter coupling plates is designed, built and tested. The system is first tested in dc-to-high-frequency ac mode with a resistive load. In this mode the prototype system transfers 895 W at an efficiency of 93%. The prototype is then evaluated in dc-to-dc mode with a full-bridge passive rectifier. In this mode the power transfer and efficiency are severely reduced. It is found that this degradation is partly due to detuning of the system’s resonant frequency, caused by the parasitic output capacitance of the rectifier diodes. To retune the system, its operating frequency is changed to 13.28 MHz, allowing the performance to be partially recovered, but only up to 533 W at an efficiency of 69%. The remainder of the degradation is found to be due to the rectifier’s capacitance unfavorably changing the gain and reactive compensation of the L-section matching network that connects the coupling plates to the rectifier. This paper introduces the use of an appropriate-valued inductor in parallel with the rectifier to nullify the effects of its parasitic capacitance. Incorporating this inductor, the system is able to operate at the original 13.56-MHz frequency and transmits 774 W of power at an efficiency of 81%.
Boromycin Has Potent Anti-Toxoplasma and Anti-Cryptosporidium Activity.

Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium parvum, members of the phylum Apicomplexa, are significant pathogens of both humans and animals worldwide for which new and effective therapeutics are needed. Here, we describe the activity of the antibiotic boromycin against Toxoplasma and Cryptosporidium Boromycin potently inhibited intracellular proliferation of both T. gondii and C. parvum at half-maximal effective concentrations (EC50) of 2.27 nM and 4.99 nM, respectively. Treatment of extracellular T. gondii tachyzoites with 25 nM boromycin for 30 min suppressed 84% of parasite growth, but T. gondii tachyzoite invasion into host cells was not affected by boromycin. Immunofluorescence of boromycin-treated T. gondii showed loss of morphologically intact parasites with randomly distributed surface antigens inside the parasitophorous vacuoles. Boromycin exhibited a high selectivity for the parasites over their host cells. These results suggest that boromycin is a promising new drug candidate for treating toxoplasmosis and cryptosporidiosis.
Building a circuit through correlated spontaneous neuronal activity in the developing vertebrate and invertebrate visual systems

During the development of the vertebrate nervous systems, genetic programs assemble an immature circuit that is subsequently refined by neuronal activity evoked by external stimuli. However, prior to sensory experience, the intrinsic property of the developing nervous system also triggers correlated network-level neuronal activity, with retinal waves in the developing vertebrate retina being the best documented example. Spontaneous activity has also been found in the visual system of Drosophila Here, we compare the spontaneous activity of the developing visual system between mammalian and Drosophila and suggest that Drosophila is an emerging model for mechanistic and functional studies of correlated spontaneous activity.
Flight in Drosophila : III. Aerodynamic Characteristics of Fly Wing Sand Wing Models

1. The variation of the lift and drag of fruit-fly wings with angle of attack and velocity was compared with that of thin plates. 2. High drag and low ratios of lift to drag characterized these airfoils, the primary difference being the absence of stalling in the fly wings. 3. Flow photographs and determinations of stall point on thin plates suggested that the fly wing behaves as if encountering a Reynolds number below the actual value. 4. At positive angles of attack camber improved the aerodynamic characteristics of fly wings; at negative angles uncambered wings were superior. 5. The structural basis for the performance of fly wings and the relationship of their characteristics to their opening conditions are discussed.
Management of Digital Emboli, Vasospasm, and Ischemia

Unilateral digital ischemia is one of the most common presenting problems in patients with arterial TOS, leading to numbness, tingling, cold and painful sensations, cyanotic or pale discoloration, delayed capillary refill in the fingers, and non-healing fingertip ulceration. Diagnostic evaluation requires differentiation between proximal and distal arterial sources of thromboembolism, localized digital artery occlusion, and primary vasospasm (Raynaud’s disease). Digital emboli typically accompany arterial TOS as a result of mural thrombus formed within an area of aneurysmal degeneration in the subclavian (or axillary) arteries. While there are a variety of medical treatments to help reduce local symptoms of digital ischemia and vasospasm, definitive management depends on surgical control of the proximal source of thromboembolism. Additional interventions, such as thromboembolectomy, intra-arterial infusion of thrombolytic agents and/or vasodilators, cervical sympathectomy or periarterial digital sympathectomy, and injections of botulinum toxin to the hand, are all valuable adjuncts toward achieving optimal outcomes.
Pest-removal services provided by birds on small organic farms in northern California

A B S T R A C T Many studies have established that birds may provide a pest removal service on farms, although few studies have taken place in temperate row crop agriculture. Wildlife-friendly agricultural practices such as organic farming and the use of hedgerows can in turn provide needed habitat for birds in developed landscapes. In this study, we examined how pest removal provided by birds varies within and between “wildlife-friendly” organic row-crop farms in northern California, USA. We used point counts to assess bird diversity on 29 small organic farms and simulated lepidopteran pest outbreaks on each farm using sentinel pest experiments. We measured how the probability of pest removal varied with local habitat characteristics within the farm, and with bird diversity parameters between farms. We also used exclosure experiments to determine whether birds provide a significant pest removal service in organic row-crop agriculture. In the sentinel pest experiments, birds depredated between 0 and 80% of caterpillar presentation stations within 7 h, with a mean of 24% depredation per farm; the probability of pest removal was higher in areas close to uncultivated shrubby field margins (“hedgerows”). There was only weak evidence that the probability of pest removal was higher on farms with higher avian insectivore richness, and no evidence that pest removal varied with species diversity or abundance. Exclosure experiments on kale crops showed no significant effects of bird exclosure treatment on arthropod abundance or crop yield. However, natural caterpillar densities were relatively low during the exclosure experiment (approximately one caterpillar/m 2 ). These results suggest that birds may be more helpful in responding to pest outbreaks than in controlling pests at non-irruptive densities on organic row crop farms in this study system. The prevention of pest outbreaks is an essential ecosystem service on any farm, and the rapid response of birds to pest outbreak conditions is an indicator of resiliency in the agroecosystem. Therefore, the retention of uncultivated shrubby field margins in this system may benefit both birds and farmers.