cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Experimental and computational study of particle formation kinetics in UF6 hydrolysis

The formation and growth of UO2F2 particles by gas-phase UF6 hydrolysis remains of interest to actinide chemistry researchers. The total number concentration of the UO2F2 aerosol particles that can be produced in the reaction is regulated primarily by the availability of water molecules under our reactor conditions. An increase in water molecule concentration corresponds with a higher amount and larger size of UO2F2 aerosol particles produced. The growth rates of aerosol particles appear to approach a single number in the range of [0.05 ± 0.03–0.08 ± 0.04] (nm s−1), as the molar ratio of water to UF6 decreases below 1. The size of primary particles produced from the UF6 hydrolysis under water-deprived conditions was estimated to be 3.6 ± 0.4 nm. As the molar ratio became greater than 1.7, the size of primary particles increased with increased availability of water molecules. The primary particle model developed in this work predicted a size range for the UO2F2 primary particles similar to that estimated based on the data from gas-phase UF6 hydrolysis experiments. This result suggests that the volume-driven coalescence process assumption used in the derivation of the primary particle model was reasonable. The ability to precisely control the availability of water molecules and reaction time could lead to the production of nearly monodispersed aerosol particles. This finding has significant implications in the engineering and manufacturing of fuel powder materials and possibly the future development and deployment of environmental sampling apparatus.
Toward a Neurocognitive Understanding of the Algorithms That Underlie Metamemory Judgments

Abstract. Neurocognitive research on metamemory thus far has mostly focused on localizing brain regions that track metacognitive judgments and distinguishing metacognitive processing from primary c...
Management of Advanced Prostate Cancer in Clinical Practice: Real-World Answers to Challenging Dilemmas

Advanced prostate cancer is a continuum of states distinguished by the presence or absence of metastasis and sensitivity or resistance to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Therapeutic options for this disease continue to rapidly evolve, making it a challenge to apply results of clinical trial data to daily patient management. One question relevant to providers is whether molecular biomarkers predictive of response or resistance to therapies are available to guide clinical treatment decisions. Other salient topics include the timing of therapy initiation in patients with biochemical recurrence, treatment approach in low-volume versus high-volume metastatic castrate-sensitive prostate cancer, types of agents available beyond ADT, and timing of their use in men with nonmetastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer as well as whether sequencing of therapies in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer matters. Additionally, familiarity with emerging treatment strategies is important. This review addresses the gray areas and challenging questions in advanced prostate cancer management that frequently arise in clinical practice.
Intra-Organizational Networks, Inter-Organizational Networks, and the Impact of Central Inventors: A Longitudinal Study of Pharmaceutical Firms

This paper proposes that a mechanism through which a firm's location in the interorganizational network influences the firm's internal innovation activities is by modifying the amount of information flowing within the firm. Exploring a firm's internal innovation activities, I hypothesized that structural centrality of an inventor in the intra-firm co-inventing network is associated with her impact on her firm's innovation activities in an inverted-U shape relation. I further hypothesized that this relationship is moderated by the firm's centrality and span of structural holes in the inter-firm network. I found strong support for these hypotheses in a longitudinal study of eight large pharmaceutical firms. The findings in this paper, apart from having managerial implications, have implications for research on alliances, network studies, and innovation processes.
The Inappropriate Imposition of Court-Ordered Mediation in Will Contests

Following the successful implementation of court-ordered mediation programs in divorce and family law cases, similar programs are being adopted to mandate the use of mediation in other areas of litigation. Complex emotional and personal issues can easily transform inheritance into a destructive process, and an increasing number of courts are ordering probate disputes and will contests to mediation. The freedom of the individual to designate his heirs is a foundational norm that permeates doctrine in the law of wills, and as a result, the idea of testator intent has reached near-mythical stature. Conversely, mediation shapes settlement without rigid deference to legal rules and often marginalizes the intent of the testator as an impediment to reaching agreement. Because the approach taken in mediation directly conflicts with the legal rules applied by the courts adjudicating those same cases, a legitimate question is raised as to whether or not instituting court-ordered mediation programs that mandate mediation in will contest cases is appropriate. The contention of this Article is not that mediation is inappropriately used by the parties to a will contest case, but instead that court-ordered mediation is inappropriate. Mandatory mediation imposes an obstruction on the right of access to the courts that is inappropriately imposed when the process contravenes the substantive law of the case. This Article proposes an easily-implemented legislative solution that resolves the conflict between law and process.
The EU-Rural Development Policy in Austria

The Common Agricultural Policy of the EU influences the agriculture in production but also in different functions as there are the Junction of resource protection, recreation, landscape diversity and spatial structuring. Especially in a comparison of regions on both side of the farmer Iron Curtain the effects of a different agricultural policy can be observed, illustrated on the example of Austria/Hungary. Austria concentrates on the rural development with already 65% of the subsidies in the second pillar of the CAP with a lot of different measures. The largest parts of it go to the environmental measures and to the measures for less favored areas.
Four Common Late-Life Cognitive Trajectories Patterns Associate with Replicable Underlying Neuropathologies.

Background Late-life cognitive function is heterogeneous, ranging from no decline to severe dementia. Prior studies of cognitive trajectories have tended to focus on a single measure of global cognition or individual tests scores, rather than considering longitudinal performance on multiple tests simultaneously. Objective The current study aimed to examine cognitive trajectories from two independent datasets to assess whether similar patterns might describe longitudinal cognition in the decade preceding death, as well as what participant characteristics were associated with trajectory membership. Methods Data were drawn from autopsied longitudinally followed participants of two cohorts (total N = 1,346), community-based cohort at the University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (n = 365) and National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (n = 981). We used group-based multi-trajectory models (GBMTM) to identify cognitive trajectories over the decade before death using Mini-Mental State Exam, Logical Memory-Immediate, and Animal Naming performance. Multinomial logistic and Random Forest analyses assessed characteristics associated with trajectory groups. Results GBMTM identified four similar cognitive trajectories in each dataset. In multinomial models, death age, Braak neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) stage, TDP-43, and α-synuclein were associated with declining trajectories. Random Forest results suggested the most important trajectory predictors were Braak NFT stage, cerebral atrophy, death age, and brain weight. Multiple pathologies were most common in trajectories with moderate or accelerated decline. Conclusion Cognitive trajectories associated strongly with neuropathology, particularly Braak NFT stage. High frequency of multiple pathologies in trajectories with cognitive decline suggests dementia treatment and prevention efforts must consider multiple diseases simultaneously.
Water-Soluble Gold(III)-Metformin Complex Alters Mitochondrial Bioenergetics in Breast Cancer Cells.

Chemical control of mitochondrial dynamics and bioenergetics can unravel fundamental biological mechanisms and therapeutics for several diseases including, diabetes and cancer. We synthesized stable, water-soluble gold(III) complexes (Auraformin) supported by biguanide metformin or phenylmetformin for efficacious inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. The new compounds were characterized following the reaction of [C N]-cyclometalated gold(III) compounds with respective biguanides. Auraformin is solution stable in a physiologically relevant environment. We show that auraformin decreases mitochondrial respiration efficiently in comparison to the clinically used metformin by 100-fold. The compound displays significant mitochondrial uptake and induces antiproliferative activity in the micromolar range. Our results shed light on the development of new scaffolds as improved inhibitors of mitochondrial respiration.
Blinded body part sensation training may promote acquisition of related tacts for private events1

Q (1) Can children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn to tact sensations (e.g. feels prickly, rough, and soft) across various body parts?(2) Will the newly acquired tacts generalize to untra...
Ventilation measurements using fast-helical free-breathing computed tomography.

Purpose To examine the use of multiple fast-helical free breathing CT (FHFBCT) scans for ventilation measurement METHODS: Ten patients were scanned 25 times in alternating directions using a FHFBCT protocol. Simultaneously, an abdominal pneumatic bellows was used as a real-time breathing surrogate. Regions-of-interest (ROIs) were selected from the upper right lungs of each patient for analysis. The ROIs were first registered using a published registration technique (pTV). A subsequent followup registration employed an objective function with two terms, a ventilation-adjusted Hounsfield Unit difference and a conservation-of-mass term labeled ΔΓ that denoted the difference between the deformation Jacobian and the tissue density ratio. The ventilations were calculated voxel-by-voxel as the slope of a first-order fit of the Jacobian as a function of the breathing amplitude. Results The ventilations of the 10 patients showed different patterns and magnitudes. The average ventilation calculated from the DVFs of the pTV and secondary registration were nearly identical, but the standard deviation of the voxel-to-voxel differences were approximately 0.1. The mean of the 90th percentile values of ΔΓ were reduced from 0.153 to 0.079 between the pTV and secondary registration, implying first that the secondary registration improved the conservation-of-mass criterion by almost 50% and that on average the correspondence between the Jacobian and density ratios as demonstrated by ΔΓ were less than 0.1. This improvement occurred in spite of the average of the 90th percentile changes in the DVF magnitudes being only 0.58 mm. Conclusions This work introduces the use of multiple free-breathing CT scans for free-breathing ventilation measurements. The approach has some benefits over the traditional use of 4DCT or breath-hold scans. The benefit over 4DCT is that FHFBCT does not have sorting artifacts. The benefits over breath-hold scans include the relatively small motion induced by quiet respiration versus deep-inspiration breath hold and the potential for characterizing dynamic breathing processes that disappear during breath hold. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Preparation and Implantation of Electrodes for Electrically Kindling VGAT-Cre Mice to Generate a Model for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

It was discovered that electrical kindling of VGAT-Cre mice led to the spontaneous motor and electrographic seizures. A recent paper focused on how unique VGAT-Cre mice were used in developing spontaneous recurring seizures (SRS) after kindling and a likely mechanism - insertion of Cre into the VGAT gene - disrupted its expression and reduced GABAergic tone. The present study extends these observations to a larger cohort of mice, focusing on key issues such as how long the SRS continues after kindling and the effect of the animal's sex and age. This report describes the protocols for the following key steps: making headsets with hippocampal depth electrodes for electrical stimulation and for reading the electroencephalogram; surgery to affix the headset securely on the mouse's skull so that it does not fall off; and key details of the electrical kindling protocol such as duration of the pulse, frequency of train, duration of train, and amount of current injected. The kindling protocol is robust in that it reliably leads to epilepsy in most VGAT-Cre mice, providing a new model to test for novel antiepileptogenic drugs.
Application of iron oxide nanoparticles to control the release of minocycline for the treatment of glioblastoma.

Background: The utilization of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) to control minocycline release rates from poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) scaffolds fabricated from an easy/economical technique is...
Do Patterns and Types of Negative Affect During Hospitalization Predict Short-Term Post-Discharge Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors?

We still have little understanding of short-term predictors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). Prior research links increased negative affect to STBs, but the vast majority of earlier work is limited by measuring negative affect at one time point and aiming to predict STBs months or years in the future. Recently, intensive longitudinal studies have shown that negative affect is associated with suicidal thoughts over relatively short, clinically useful time periods; however, the specific patterns and types of negative affect that predict STBs remain unclear. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data from psychiatric inpatients hospitalized for suicide risk (n = 83), this study sought to test whether the patterns (means and variability) of two types of negative affect (anxiety/agitation and shame/self-hatred, which were derived from a larger EMA battery) during hospitalization predict STBs in the 4 weeks after discharge: an extremely high-risk time for suicidal behavior. The mean—but not the variability—of both anxiety/agitation and shame/self-hatred during hospitalization predicted the number of days with suicidal thoughts after discharge. The mean and the variability of shame/self-hatred—but not anxiety/agitation—predicted post-discharge suicide attempt. We discuss implications for assessment and treatment of suicidal individuals and propose key directions for future research.
All's Well that Ends Well: The Importance of Full and Effective Closure in Lawyer-Client Relationships

This Article addresses a subject that has not received serious academic attention in law or in clinical scholarship: how lawyers should end their relationships with clients. As human beings, we intuitively understand the importance of endings in relationships, and lawyerclient relationships often impact both the lawyer and the client. Despite the amount of attention paid to other aspects of client interviewing and counseling, such as how to conduct an effective initial client interview, there is relatively little literature on how to achieve effective closure. This Article draws on research from the therapeutic professional field about how to effectively end professional relationships. Going beyond the minimal ethical considerations about how to end the lawyer-client business relationship, it derives a three-step model that can be used by practitioners and by clinical professors preparing their students for ending meetings with clients to help bring effective closure to the emotional and relational aspects of the representation.
GaAs integrated circuit fabrication at Motorola

Compound Semiconductor (CS-1) is Motorola's first production-oriented gallium-arsenide integrated-circuit fabrication facility. Initiated in the Fall of 1990, CS-1 is a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility designed to support the growing internal Motorola needs for GaAs ICs for consumer products. The authors overview current CS-1 process flows, low-cost processing methodologies, online production monitoring, and fast cycle time capabilities. >
Fate of dichlobenil in the River Ivel. 2: Effects of dichlobenil residues on hydroponically grown lettuce

Following claims that dichlobenil in river water had caused damage to lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in 1995, a series of trials were carried out to assess the effects of dichlobenil on lettuce grown using hydroponic techniques under glass. Plants grown in three inch pots of soil-based compost and watered with dichlobenil solution at concentrations up to 300 000 ng/l showed no differences in growth compared to the untreated controls. Plants grown in peat-based compost in a static nutrient solution showed a phytotoxic reaction when dichlobenil concentrations reached 100 000 ng/1 or greater. Trials on plants grown using a dynamic nutrient film technique indicated that under glasshouse conditions, dichlobenil solutions as low as 10 ng/1 could adversley affect the development of lettuce plants.
Age Differences in Children's Ability to Model Motor Behavior

Abstract In order to investigate the effects of modeling behavior for seven- and nine-year-old children, 30 seven-year-old and 30 nine-year-old females were randomly assigned within age level to three groups. These groups differed according to whether a model was presented at the beginning, midway, or not at all during 12 trials on the stabilometer. Both age groups were found to be similar in performance in the no model condition and, for both age groups, the beginning model condition was found to facilitate performance. However, the introduction of the model after six trials had a detrimental effect on the performance of younger children but facilitated older children's performance. These findings were interpreted in light of a likely increase in the processing capacity of nine year olds as well as an increase in the number of movement schemes that were previously stored in the older girls.
CONCEPTS FOR REPRESENTING MUNDANE REALITY IN PLANS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the scripts, because theory requires a good foundation at the script level. The simplest relevant conceptual script content includes the puuposeful transactional activities of social actors, such as communication with others, enlisting the help of others, and a set of specifications of the realities constraining the possibilities of action–knowledge of transportation and communication systems, the necessary properties of objects, etc. The major type of script is a plan, specified by the actor, the goal state, and the sequence of intended steps to reach the goal. With the aid of conceptual dependency formalism, a small set of primitive act concepts is sufficient to represent almost any describable event. Acts as steps-in-plans have two special features distinguishing them from acts as events-in-reality. Both features stem from the intentionality of plans. First, the reason why low-level primitives such as GRASP are not the most useful components in the cognition of plans is that for human actors they are usually not problematic—they are taken for granted by both planner and observer. The second consideration is closely related to the first. Acts as steps-in-plans are characterized by their intended effects rather than by their physical nature.
Power Distribution Engineering: Fundamentals and Applications

PREFACE UTILITY DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM DESIGN AND CHARACTERISTICS 1 Introduction Design Overhead vs. Underground Grounding Load and Fault Characteristics Questions TRANSFORMERS AND REGULATORS Transformers Distribution Transformer Connections Regulators Questions APPLICATION OF CAPACITORS FOR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS 64 Fundamentals Voltage Rise and Voltage Drop Losses Questions DISTRIBUTION OVERCURRENT PROTECTION Introduction Characteristics of Devices Coordination of Devices Questions SURGE ARRESTERS CharaC't:eristics of Lightning System Overvoltage Silicon Carbide vs. MOV Arresters Classes of Arresters Arrester Selection Insulation Coordination Traveling Waves Line Protection Induced Strikes Reference Questions DISTRIBUTION RELIABILITY Introduction Fundamentals Power Quality Factors Affecting Reliability Reference Questions POWER QUALITY FUNDAMENTALS Introduction Definitions Voltage Quality Sensitive Loads Power Line Conditioning Electromagnetic Fields Stray Voltage Reference Questions DISTRIBUTION ECONOMICS Introduction Time Value of Money Annual Carrying Charge Definition of Terms Economic Evaluations Reference- Questions INDEX
A Comparison of Conjoint Methods When There Are Many Attributes

This paper compares several methods of performing conjoint analysis when there is a large number of attributes. National parks were described in terms of 17 attributes and 56 levels. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four groups and each person responded to a calibration questionnaire that allowed the estimation of one of the following conjoint analysis models: full profile, ACA, individual-level hybrid, or full profile on the person's eight stated most important attributes. Validations were performed in terms of individual choices and aggregate choice shares. Reliabilities were assessed on both ratings and choices. Surprisingly even with a large number of attributes, the full profile method consistently validated best. Second was a full profile model estimated on the respondent's stated eight most important attributes. ACA and individual hybrid conjoint analysis performed similarly, but worse than these two methods on most measures. Validation differences were more strongly related to differences in attribute importances than desirabilities for levels within an attribute. It appears that these respondents were not able to accurately report self-explicated importances with a large number of attributes.
Role of the ocean in the global mercury cycle

[1] Air-sea exchange of mercury (Hg) is a critical part of the global Hg cycle as it determines, to a large degree, the response time of the biosphere to changes in mercury inputs. Recent measurements have demonstrated that the cycling of Hg between the ocean and atmosphere is complex, principally because of the enhanced oxidation of elemental Hg (Hgo), and the formation of reactive gaseous Hg (RGHg) in the marine boundary layer. We estimate that the dry deposition of RGHg to the ocean, which has not been previously considered in global budgets, is 35% of the total Hg input to the ocean. A further reevaluation of the global Hg cycle suggests that there is a net transfer of Hg from the terrestrial environment to the ocean and that the deep ocean Hg concentration is increasing by a few percent per year. Similarly, anthropogenic inputs on land have increased Hg on the Earth's surface layer with accumulation in the terrestrial environment accounting for nearly 80% of the net input from man's activities. Dry deposition of RGHg is important for the terrestrial realm but because of its relatively short residence time in the atmosphere, it is the oxidation of Hgo over the ocean, rather than RGHg transport offshore, which is primarily contributing to oceanic RGHg deposition.
Cardiovascular protection with sildenafil following chronic inhibition of nitric oxide synthase

During the past 18 years, sildenafil has evolved from a potential anti-angina drug to an on-demand treatment for erectile dysfunction and more recently to a new orally active treatment for pulmonary hypertension. Recent studies suggest that the drug has powerful cardioprotective effect against ischemia/reperfusion injury, doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy and anti-hypertensive effect induced by chronic inhibition of nitric oxide synthase in animals. Based on several recent basic and clinical studies, it is clear that sildenafil and other clinically approved type-5 phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors including vardenafil and tadalafil will eventually be developed for several cardiovascular indications including essential hypertension, endothelial dysfunction, ischemia/reperfusion injury, myocardial infarction, ventricular remodeling and heart failure.
An Experimental Study of Marangoni Convection in Confined and Volatile Binary Liquids: The Effect of Noncondensables

Marangoni convection in a liquid layer subject to a horizontal temperature gradient due to variations in the surface tension at the liquid-vapor interface and confined in a rectangular enclosure is a basic problem of heat transfer and fluid mechanics, with applications in evaporative cooling. In general, surface tension increases as temperature decreases, giving rise to thermocapillary stresses that drive liquid coolant away from hot regions. In a volatile binary-fluid mixture, however, the two components can be chosen so that the surface tension of the mixture increases as temperature increases due to differential evaporation, giving rise to solutocapillary stresses that can drive liquid instead towards hot regions, and hence oppose the thermocapillary stresses.It is of course well-known that noncondensables suppress phase change. Yet there have been few, if any studies of how noncondensables affect the Marangoni convection of volatile binary fluids in a confined geometry, where evaporation and condensation must balance. An experimental study was therefore performed of Marangoni convection in a layer of methanol-water (MeOH-H2O) mixture confined in a sealed rectangular cuvette. The cuvette was symmetrically heated on one end and cooled on the other end using Peltier devices, giving temperature differences of ∼6 °C over a horizontal distance of 4.9 cm, and two-dimensional, two-component particle-image velocimetry (2D-2C PIV) was used to measure the velocity fields in this steady flow. The study focuses on convection in liquid layers with a depth of ∼0.3 cm (vs. a test cell height of 1 cm), and how this flow is affected by changes in the relative concentration of noncondensables (i.e., air) in the gas space above the liquid. The results suggest that changing the concentration of noncondensables, which also has a marked effect on the pressure, in the gas space, can be used to “adjust” the relative importance of solutocapillary and thermocapillary stresses.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Be Physically Active Each Day. How Can We Know

For the first time in its five versions, Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans contains an apparently nondietary guideline recommending physical activity. Although new as a separate guideline, physical activity has been included in the weight guideline of previous versions. The current version recognizes the importance of physical activity to health beyond its effect on weight maintenance. The purpose of this paper is to examine what data are available or required to evaluate the level of physical activity in the population, particularly in light of current recommendations. The physical activity sections of several national surveys that assess individual behavior or activity-related policies are described. Surveillance of physical activity as a risk factor for chronic disease is critical because physical inactivity is highly prevalent, strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality, costly and preventable. Determinants of physical activity behavior are also considered. These determinants are potentially important factors for surveillance and are critical components for planning successful interventions.
AMMONIUM PERCHLORATE LINEAR PYROLYSIS BY CONVECTIVE SURFACE HEATING

Abstract : Ammonium perchlorate (AP) specimens were exposed to various levels of convective surface heating at one atmosphere ambient pressure. Surface regression rates were measured and, simultaneously, surface temperatures were determined by measuring the infrared emission near 3.1 microns. These data represent the first AP linear-pyrolysis characteristics obtained by means of convective surface heating. Previously, linear pyrolysis was obtained by pressing specimens against heated plates (solid and porous) and heated wire meshes. The subject data agree with some, and disagree with other, of these previous data. The usefulness of convective surface heating and radiometric techniques are evaluated. It is demonstrated that preliminary experiments are required to support their use in linear pyrolysis studies. According to the evaluation, previous radiometric work dealing with surface decomposition is open to substantial question. It is concluded that the subject techniques are viable and offer experimental compliments to other methods, but that none of the current techniques are without substantial shortcomings. Means of incorporation of AP linear pyrolysis results into theoretical models of the propellant deflagration process are discussed.
In Vivo Tibiofemoral Contact Kinematics and Contact Forces During Dynamic Weight-Bearing Activities Following Total Knee Arthroplasty

Accurate knowledge of in vivo articular contact kinematics and contact forces is required to quantitatively understand factors limiting life of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) implants, such as polyethylene component wear and implant loosening [1]. Determination of in vivo tibiofemoral contact forces has been a challenging issue in biomechanics. Historically, instrumented tibial implants have been used to measure tibiofemoral forces in vitro [2] and computational models involving inverse dynamic optimization have been used to estimate joint forces in vivo [3]. Recently, D’Lima et al. reported the first in vivo measurement of 6DOF tibiofemoral forces via an instrumented implant in a TKA patient [4]. However this technique does not provide a direct estimation of tibiofemoral contact forces in the medial and lateral compartments. Recently, a dual fluoroscopic imaging system has been used to accurately determine tibiofemoral contact locations on the medial and lateral tibial polyethylene surfaces [5]. The objective of this study was to combine the dual fluoroscope technique and the instrumented TKAs to determine the dynamic 3D articular contact kinematics and contact forces on the medial and lateral tibial polyethylene surfaces during functional activities.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Mitochondrial generation of free radicals and hypoxic signaling

Most reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated in cells by the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Mitochondrial ROS production is modulated largely by the rate of electron flow through respiratory chain complexes. Recently, it has become clear that under hypoxic conditions, the mitochondrial respiratory chain also produces nitric oxide (NO), which can generate other reactive nitrogen species (RNS). Although excess ROS and RNS can lead to oxidative and nitrosative stress, moderate to low levels of both function in cellular signaling pathways. Especially important are the roles of these mitochondrially generated free radicals in hypoxic signaling pathways, which have important implications for cancer, inflammation and a variety of other diseases.
Liveness detection via oculomotor plant characteristics: Attack of mechanical replicas

A novel approach that performs liveness detection for biometric modalities that use eye movement signal for person identification is proposed and evaluated. Liveness detection is done via estimation and analysis of the internal non-visible anatomical structure of the human eye termed Oculomotor Plant Characteristics (OPC). At this stage of its development the OPC approach targets prevention of spoof attacks that are generated by the accurate mechanical replicas of the human eye. We generalize and test two classes of such eye replicas via their mathematical representations. Specifically, we investigate following classes of replicas: a) those that are built using default OPC values specified by the research literature, and b) those that are built from the OPC specific to an individual. The results that involved processing live data from 32 individuals over four recording sessions and their eye replicas indicate relatively high theoretical resistance of the OPC liveness detection method to the mechanical attack that impersonates an authentic user.
Nonlinear Trajectory Control of Multi-body Aerial Manipulators

This paper studies trajectory control of aerial vehicles equipped with robotic manipulators. The proposed approach employs free-flying multi-body dynamics modeling and backstepping control to develop stabilizing control laws for a class of underactuated aerial systems. Two control methods are developed: coordinate-based and coordinate-free which are both generally applicable to aerial manipulation tasks. A simulated hexrotor vehicle equipped with a simple manipulator is employed to demonstrate the proposed techniques.
Soluble aluminum in marine and fresh water by gas-liquid chromatography.

Abstract The feasibility of determining the extractable aluminum contents of natural waters, with particular emphasis on sea water, by gas-liquid partition chromatography has been demonstrated. The metal is chelated with trifluoroacetylacetone, extracted into toluene and injected into the Chromatograph using direct on-column injection. Under optimized instrumental conditions, better than picogram quantities of aluminum as the trifluoroacetylacetone complex may be detected.
Carpal tunnel syndrome in children.

Abstract Background Carpal tunnel syndrome or median neuropathy at the wrist is a rare condition in children. Of the reported patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, mucopolysaccharidoses and the mucolipidoses are the most common causes. Patients We report 13 patients between the ages of 2 and 17 years of age with carpal tunnel syndrome. Results Mucopolysaccharidoses was the cause in one child. In other children, trauma to the median nerve, malformations of the wrist, brachial plexopathy, obesity, inherited susceptibility to pressure palsies (PMP 22 gene deletion), and family history of median neuropathy at the wrist were identified. All patients had hand pain, numbness, and paresthesias in their hands. The nerve conduction studies showed prolongation of median sensory nerve latency and distal motor latency in median nerve. Conclusions Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs in children and a variety of risk factors predispose to its occurrence.
Downstream effects of dams on channel geometry and bottomland vegetation: Regional patterns in the Great Plains

The response of rivers and riparian forests to upstream dams shows a regional pattern related to physiographic and climatic factors that influence channel geometry. We carried out a spatial analysis of the response of channel geometry to 35 dams in the Great Plains and Central Lowlands, USA. The principal response of a braided channel to an upstream dam is channel-narrowing, and the principal response of a meandering channel is a reduction in channel migration rate. Prior to water management, braided channels were most common in the southwestern Plains where sand is abundant, whereas meandering channels were most common in the northern and eastern Plains. The dominant response to upstream dams has been channel-narrowing in the southwestern Plains (e.g., six of nine cases in the High Plains) and reduction in migration rate in the north and east (e.g., all of twelve cases in the Missouri Plateau and Western Lake Regions). Channel-narrowing is associated with a burst of establishment of native and exotic woody riparian pioneer species on the former channel bed. In contrast, reduction in channel migration rate is associated with a decrease in reproduction of woody riparian pioneers. Thus, riparian pioneer forests along large rivers in the southwestern Plains have temporarily increased following dam construction while such forests in the north and east have decreased. These patterns explain apparent contradictions in conclusions of studies that focused on single rivers or small regions and provide a framework for predicting effects of dams on large rivers in the Great Plains and elsewhere. These conclusions are valid only for large rivers. A spatial analysis of channel width along 286 streams ranging in mean annual discharge from 0.004 to 1370 cubic meters per second did not produce the same clear regional pattern, in part because the channel geometries of small and large streams are affected differently by a sandy watershed.
Signatures of non-homogeneous mixing in disease outbreaks

Despite their simplifying assumptions, simple SEIR (susceptible-exposed-infectious-removed)-type models for a homogeneously mixing fully susceptible population continue to provide useful insight and predictive capability. However, non-homogeneous mixing models such as those for outbreaks in social networks are often believed to provide better predictions of the benefits of various mitigation strategies such as isolation or vaccination. In practice, it is rarely known to what extent a SEIR-type model will adequately describe a given population. Therefore, our goal here is to evaluate possible retrospective signatures of non-homogeneous mixing or non-SEIR-type behavior. Each signature evaluated here is a measure of the goodness of fit of a SEIR-type model curve to the actual epidemic curve. For example, the extents of agreement between the final outbreak size and predictions of the final outbreak size based on reproduction number estimates arising from fitting various portions of the epidemic curve are possible signatures. On the basis of simulated outbreaks, we conclude that such signatures can detect non-SEIR-type behavior in some but not all of the social structures considered. The simulation study confirms that these signatures indicate non-SEIR-type behavior in a real 1918 influenza outbreak in Geneva.
Faith and Its Application to the Practice of Social Work

While previous studies investigated the level of spirituality and religiosity of social workers, it is unclear how these beliefs influence choice of social work as a career and subsequent interactions with clients. Current findings of a qualitative study of 20 geriatric social workers suggest an intertwining of the values of social work, such as social justice and client empowerment with private religious and spiritual beliefs. In dealing with the rigors of the profession, these beliefs were used as a source of support and grounding for social workers and were rarely discussed with clients.
Latent semantic analysis: A theory of the psychology of language and mind

In a recent article in Discourse Processes (Vol. 25, Nos. 2 & 3, 1998), Landauer, Foltz, and Laham described a computational model called Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) and summarized its successful simulations of a variety of human performance phenomena that depend on word and passage meaning. Subsequent articles in the same special issue of Discourse Processes reported details of several of these studies. Charles Perfetti (1998), in a commentary, agreed that LSA is a useful research tool but argued that it should not be regarded as a plausible theory of mind because it is based on learning from co‐occurrence data. In this response, I show why this objection lacks merit, and I clarify what LSA has to offer. LSA does not handle all aspects of language processing, but it offers a biologically and psychologically plausible mechanistic explanation of the acquisition, induction, and representation of verbal meaning.
Invited paper Observation of plasma shielding by measuring transmitted and reflected laser pulse temporal profiles

Mass ablation rate increases with laser power density following a power law dependence and a significant change occurs at 0.3 GW/cm $^2$ . A reflected laser temporal profile was measured from a brass sample. When the power density is greater than 0.3 GW/cm $^2$ +, the temporal profile changes. The transmitted laser-pulse temporal profile through a glass sample also was measured. When the power density is greater than 0.3 GW/cm $^2$ , the later part of laser pulse becomes truncated. The power density at which the laser temporal profile changes for each case is same as the power density that the mass ablation rate coefficient changes. The ablated mass can absorb incoming laser radiation through inverse Bremsstrahlung. The mass becomes thermally ionized and opaque to the incident radiation, preventing laser light from reaching the surface. A model based on thermal evaporation and inverse Bremsstrahlung absorption was developed. Calculations show that plasma shielding occurs at approximately 0.3 GW/cm $^2$ . The experiments and model suggest that the significant change observed in mass ablation rate coefficient is caused by plasma shielding.
Value-Added Assessment of Teacher Preparation: An Illustration of Emerging Technology.

Broad-based empirical outcomes assessment is an increasingly evident part of governmental services and this trend is particularly apparent in education. The clearest manifestation of this trend in education has been the advent of high-stakes broad-based testing and accountability programs in K-12 education. Although this assessment regime has not yet been used to assess the efficacy of teacher preparation programs, the data management capacity and statistical technology is now emerging to make this possible. This article presents data from the 1st year of a pilot study examining the methodological and practical issues involved in implementing a value-added assessment of teacher preparation based on a massive multivariate longitudinal database. The pilot data are discussed in relation to the literature pertaining to value-added assessments in K-12 education. Selected research needs and practical concerns related to the use of value-added models for the assessment of teacher preparation are discussed.
Gambling on second opinions: How seeking a second opinion can impact your primary advisor’s advice

Second opinions have been advocated as an antidote to bias in advice when primary advisors have conflicts of interest. However, in three experiments, we demonstrate that, unless advisors fear that ...
New chemistry in the design of chemically amplified positive resists

The quest for high performance positive deep-UV resist is a significant challenge. In this paper we discuss a new approach to chemically amplified positive resists involving the use of a new and versatile class of polymeric dissolution inhibitors. Methacrylate terpolymers originally designed as chemically amplified positive resists for printed circuit board technology have been found to form stable, one-phase mixtures with a variety of phenolic resins. These new dissolution inhibitors based on MMA-TBMA-MAA terpolymers have unusual and useful properties, including excellent optical transmission at 248 nm, high glass transition temperatures, and dissolution inhibition/promotion power which can be tailored to accommodate the dissolution properties of the particular phenolic resin being used.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Neuroanatomical Profiles of Deafness in the Context of Native Language Experience

The study of congenitally deaf adult humans provides an opportunity to examine neuroanatomical plasticity resulting from altered sensory experience. However, attributing the source of the brain's structural variance in the deaf is complicated by the fact that deaf individuals also differ in their language experiences (e.g., sign vs spoken), which likely influence brain anatomy independently. Although the majority of deaf individuals in the United States are born to hearing parents and are exposed to English, not American Sign Language (ASL) as their first language, most studies on deafness have been conducted with deaf native users of ASL (deaf signers). This raises the question of whether observations made in deaf signers can be generalized. Using a factorial design, we compared gray (GMV) and white (WMV) matter volume in deaf and hearing native users of ASL, as well as deaf and hearing native users of English. Main effects analysis of sensory experience revealed less GMV in the deaf groups combined (compared with hearing groups combined) in early visual areas and less WMV in a left early auditory region. The interaction of sensory experience and language experience revealed that deaf native users of English had fewer areas of anatomical differences than did deaf native users of ASL (each compared with their hearing counterparts). For deaf users of ASL specifically, WMV differences resided in language areas such as the left superior temporal and inferior frontal regions. Our results demonstrate that cortical plasticity resulting from deafness depends on language experience and that findings from native signers cannot be generalized.
Analog time-reversed ultrasonically encoded light focusing inside scattering media with a 33,000× optical power gain

Recent breakthrough in wavefront engineering shows great promises in controlling light propagation inside scattering media. At present, the digital approaches enjoy high gain, while their speeds are slow because of high data throughputs. In contrast, the analog approaches are intrinsically fast but suffer from poor efficiencies and small gains. Further improvements in both speed and gain are necessary to advance the existing technologies toward real-world applications. Here, we report analog time-reversal of acousto-optically tagged photons with a flux amplification of over 33,000 times (45 dB) at a target location inside scattering media. Such a substantial power gain enhancement is achieved when the temporal width of the time-reversed photon packet is squeezed below the carrier-recombination-limited hologram decay time in a photorefractive crystal. Despite a focusing energy gain below unity, the unprecedented power gain is expected to enable new optical imaging, sensing, manipulation and treatment applications.
Historical Snow Cover Variability in the Great Plains Region of the Usa: 1910 Through to 1993

The duration of seasonal (September–May) snow cover over the central and northern Great Plains region of the USA has varied considerably during this past century. Annual and decadal fluctuations are embedded in a statistically significant trend toward greater seasonal snow cover, from 29 days in the early part of the century to 38 days in recent decades. The variability of snow cover duration also increased throughout the century, exhibiting the largest changes in a north-west-trending zone bisecting the region. Seasonal snowfall, temperature, and precipitation show fluctuations similar to those of snow cover; however, only snowfall has increased significantly since 1910. A post-1970 shift toward longer autumn (September–November) snow cover duration and shorter spring (March–May) duration has been accompanied by decreases in autumn maximum and minimum temperatures and increases in spring minimum temperatures. The reliance on snow cover for hydrological and agricultural purposes in this part of the country, the sensitivity of the boundary layer climate to snow cover conditions in the Plains, and the projections by global climate models for this region to become warmer and dryer as a result of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, necessitate increased study and hence a better understanding of the variability of snow cover over the Plains.
Ultrasonic therapy for psoriasis

Ultrasound waves are routinely used in various fields of medicine. Ultrasonic cleaning involves the therapeutic application of ultrasound via an aqueous medium. Low frequency ultrasonic debridement and cleaning may be beneficial in the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis. The mechanism of action is unclear, but may be related to the stable cavitational effects induced by ultrasonic energy.