cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Non-Transferable Learning: A New Approach for Model Verification and Authorization.

As Artificial Intelligence as a Service gains popularity, protecting well-trained models as intellectual property is becoming increasingly important. Generally speaking, there are two common protection methods: ownership verification and usage authorization. In this paper, we propose Non-Transferable Learning (NTL), a novel approach that captures the exclusive data representation in the learned model and restricts the model generalization ability to certain domains. This approach provides effective solutions to both model verification and authorization. For ownership verification, watermarking techniques are commonly used but are often vulnerable to sophisticated watermark removal methods. Our NTL-based model verification approach instead provides robust resistance to state-of-the-art watermark removal methods, as shown in extensive experiments for four of such methods over the digits, CIFAR10 & STL10, and VisDA datasets. For usage authorization, prior solutions focus on authorizing specific users to use the model, but authorized users can still apply the model to any data without restriction. Our NTL-based authorization approach instead provides data-centric usage protection by significantly degrading the performance of usage on unauthorized data. Its effectiveness is also shown through experiments on a variety of datasets.
Operating Temperature of Building Applied Photovoltaic Modules in Microclimate

We developed a thermal model based on weather data collected to estimate the operating temperature of Building Applied Photovoltaic System (BAPV) installed in a microclimate at an elevation of 3,333 ft. The impact of vapor pressure along with irradiance, ambient temperature and wind speed on the BAPV operating temperature is presented. We observed that the module temperature tends to decrease as vapor pressure increases. Detailed study of module temperature nonuniformity in the BAPV array shows that the module temperature tends to rise towards the top of the modules.
Utilizing an interprofessional case conference series to teach care transitions in pharmacy and nursing curriculum

Abstract Introduction Safe and effective care transitions require interprofessional collaboration, but there is limited literature on interprofessional strategies to teach care transitions. The objective was to evaluate student pharmacist and nurse readiness for change towards interprofessional collaborative practice during care transitions. Methods Interprofessional teams were instructed to collaborate and provide care for their patient throughout multiple healthcare transitions. Students were asked to complete the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS) 9A/9B, the nine-item set version, prior to implementation of the case conference series and after the activity debrief. Results There was an increase across six items from the ISVS scale for pharmacy students and eight of nine for nursing students. There were significant changes in two of nine items for the pharmacy groups and three of nine in the nursing group. Conclusions An interprofessional case conference series demonstrated a significant increase in student pharmacist and student nurse awareness of the importance of working within a team during care transitions, as well as an appreciation towards their role within the interprofessional team.
Manipulating neural dynamics to tune motion detection

Neurons integrate excitatory and inhibitory signals to produce their outputs, but the role of input timing in this integration remains poorly understood. Motion detection is a paradigmatic example of this integration, since theories of motion detection rely on different delays in visual signals. These delays allow circuits to compare scenes at different times to calculate the direction and speed of motion. It remains untested how response dynamics of individual cell types drive motion detection and velocity sensitivity. Here, we sped up or slowed down specific neuron types in Drosophila9s motion detection circuit by manipulating ion channel expression. Altering the dynamics of individual neurons upstream of motion detectors changed their integrating properties and increased their sensitivity to fast or slow visual motion, exposing distinct roles for dynamics in tuning directional signals. A circuit model constrained by data and anatomy reproduced the observed tuning changes. Together, these results reveal how excitatory and inhibitory dynamics jointly tune a canonical circuit computation.
Sodium Flux during Haemodialysis

Dialysis is aimed at the removal of charged ionic species in the blood that arise from complications in kidney disease. Although the process for the re- moval of urea and other unwanted charged species is understood, the effect of this removal on the net sodium concentration in the blood after treatment is not clear. In this report, we focus on formulating a fundamentally-based model to address this question. We consider the formulation near the membrane at the pore scale in order to determine effective jump conditions in ionic concentrations, electric po- tential and flow rate based on the membrane properties, and in order to determine whether electroneutrality holds within the pore. Secondly, we consider the local blood-cell concentration within one of the fibres and how this varies axially within the dialysis cartridge. Lastly, we consider a simple one-dimensional model of the charged species problem and find that advection transport through the membrane is important for sodium transport, but less pertinent for transport of other cation species.
Cancer and social justice

In the current presentation, as a first-generation Asian-American immigrant, the author discussed the dire inequities of the current cancer prevention and control systems in the U.S. and attempted to analyze the root causes of the problem. The universal concern is that the occurrence of cancer, cancer's behavioral antecedents, (diet, physical activity, and tobacco use), the early detection of cancer, and cancer survivorship all relate inversely to education, income, social class, and white race. In other words, not only are cancer rates higher among lesser educated, poorer, and socially deprived individuals, but the availability and benefits of primary, secondary, and tertiary cancer prevention also are rationed, consciously or subconsciously, by current society within and outside the borders of the U.S. Asian Americans are one of the unrecognized populations among these deprived groups. The objective of this article was to provide a thoughtful perspective on this very real problem and why it persists. Because of the audience at the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training meeting, where the current report was presented, the author tried to avoid a treatise on Asian philosophy and values but could not resist the comment that, in archaic Chinese terms, the public health and health care systems in the U.S. today lack balance and harmony. Cancer 2005. © 2005 American Cancer Society.
Intelligent management support systems

Intelligent Management Support Systems at a Glance Tools and Techniques for Building an Effective Management Support System Modeling in Management Support Systems Unique Features Decision Support and Expert Systems Executive Information Systems Group Support Systems Geographic Information Systems Expert Systems Construction: Putting Theory to Work Fuzzy Logic and Business Applications Its Neural Networks and Their Business Applications Glossary Index
Multi-frequency diffuse optical tomography for cancer detection

Previous work has validated that the accuracy of absorption coefficient can be improved using frequency-domain (FD) DOT measurements with multiple modulation frequencies. In this paper, we investigate the use of multi-frequency FD-DOT to improve the recovery accuracy of scattering coefficient, which is of great interest to cancer study. A new method called the clustered sparsity reconstruction (CSR) is proposed to reconstruct the absorption and scattering coefficients jointly. We conduct numerical simulations for FD-DOT image reconstruction with multi-modulation frequencies. The numerical results show that the recovery accuracy of scattering coefficient can be significantly improved using multi-frequency data and the proposed CSR method. It is interesting to demonstrate that the combination of two modulation frequencies results in the best reconstruction accuracy in terms of contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and root-mean-square error (RMSE), while more number of modulation frequencies does not improve the image quality much.
Unifying past and recent developments in bounded ellipsoid processing

A general class of optimal bounding ellipsoid (OBE) algorithms, including all methods published to date, is unified into a single framework called the unified OBE (UOBE) algorithm. Different instances of UOBE are distinguished by their weighting policies and the criteria for determining optimal weight values. Two new UOBE techniques are introduced within the UOBE framework. >
Photon gating in four-dimensional ultrafast electron microscopy

Ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM) is a pivotal tool for imaging of nanoscale structural dynamics with subparticle resolution on the time scale of atomic motion. Photon-induced near-field electron microscopy (PINEM), a key UEM technique, involves the detection of electrons that have gained energy from a femtosecond optical pulse via photon–electron coupling on nanostructures. PINEM has been applied in various fields of study, from materials science to biological imaging, exploiting the unique spatial, energy, and temporal characteristics of the PINEM electrons gained by interaction with a “single” light pulse. The further potential of photon-gated PINEM electrons in probing ultrafast dynamics of matter and the optical gating of electrons by invoking a “second” optical pulse has previously been proposed and examined theoretically in our group. Here, we experimentally demonstrate this photon-gating technique, and, through diffraction, visualize the phase transition dynamics in vanadium dioxide nanoparticles. With optical gating of PINEM electrons, imaging temporal resolution was improved by a factor of 3 or better, being limited only by the optical pulse widths. This work enables the combination of the high spatial resolution of electron microscopy and the ultrafast temporal response of the optical pulses, which provides a promising approach to attain the resolution of few femtoseconds and attoseconds in UEM.
DNA electrodiffusion in a 2D array of posts

We consider some of the fundamental statistical mechanics of the electrodiffusion of a long polyelectrolyte, DNA, in a microlithographically constructed 2D rectangular array of cylindrical posts. The DNA polymer is shown to be free draining when not hooked on a post, and the mean time to unhook is explicitly calculated and compared to our measurements.
Parametric fault diagnosis for analog systems using functional mapping

We propose a new Simulation-After-Test (SAT) methodology for accurate diagnosis of circuit parameters in large analog circuits. Our methodology is based on constructing a non-linear regression model using prior circuit simulation, which relates a set of measurements to the circuit's internal parameters. First, we give algorithms to select measurements that give all the diagnostic information about the Circuit-Under-Test (CUT). From these selected measurements, we solve for the internal parameters of the circuit using iterative numerical techniques. The methodology has been applied to several mixed-signal test benchmark circuits and has applications in process debugging for mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs) as well troubleshooting and repair of board level systems.
An initial stage model for the sintering of constrained polycrystalline thin films

Abstract A physical model has been developed for the initial stage of sintering of thin constrained polycrystalline films. The model compares the shrinkage of constrained thin films to the shrinkage of unconstrained or free sintering material. It predicts that the volumetric shrinkage of a constrained thin film will be slightly more than the linear shrinkage for the free sintering case, but far less than the volumetric shrinkage for the free sintering case. Model predictions show that the sintering of a constrained film is highly dependent on the ratio of the boundary energy to the surface energy, and on grain growth. The model was used to fit the experimental data of Garino & Bowen, for the sintering of constrained alumina and zinc oxide films ( Garino, T. & Bowen, H. K. , J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 70 (9) (1987) C210–211) .
Attraction of Nantucket Pine Tip Moth Males to the Female Sex Pheromone

Male Rhyacionia frustrana (Comstock) were captured in traps baited with live females and extracts of the abdominal tip of female moths. The tip extracts were more effective than live females, provided the extract was replaced daily. Number of males trapped was affected by the sex ratio of wild moths in the field, temperature, and humidity. Higher temperatures reduced effectiveness of the extract more than that of live females. Flight activity and peak time of attraction occurred later at night in the summer than in the spring.
Conceptualizing smoothness and density as landscape elements in visual resource management

Several dilemmas stand in the way of meeting the goals of visual resource management. The landscape is rich in potential qualities that can be assessed, but the choice of appropriate attributes is more difficult. What is readily measured is not necessarily what is most useful to examine. Furthermore, what is readily discernible from eyelevel photographs may not be readily available as mapped information. Two attributes, smoothness and density, are the focus of the current study. Their choice is based on prior empirical efforts and their promise as qualities that could be translated to mapped (e.g. geographic information system; GIS) form. Though intuitively straightforward, definitions of these concepts in terms that are amenable to computer-based spatial format posed a variety of challenges. The present effort has developed working definitions of these attributes that make them storable in other contexts and by other researchers. Further, an initial exploration of the relationship of these attributes to different landcover types suggests that although each landcover type tends to have its own characteristic range, these attributes also permit meaningful distinctions within these categories.
Migration of Government Information Products to the Internet

Government information traditionally published in printed form is increasingly appearing on federal agency websites. This transition generally results in better access to information. However, these changes raise a variety of bibliographic control and access problems for the Federal Depository Library Program. This article provides an overview of these issues, examines responses to date, and provides the perspective of a government manager on some of the access issues, arguing that rather than fighting the changes librarians need to help the system evolve by embracing proactive solutions.
Chemical beam epitaxial growth of InP using EDMIn and BPE

The effect of the growth temperature on the quality of InP grown by chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) using ethyldimethylindium (EDMIn) and bisphos-phinoethane (BPE) are presented. The growth rate was nearly independent of growth temperature, BPE flow rate, and cracker cell temperature in the range from 700 to 900°C. Smooth and mirror-like surfaces were obtained for all of the samples grown at temperatures above 465°C. All of the InP samples were n-type. As the growth temperature increased, the net carrier concentration decreased and reached a minimum value of 3.2× 1015 cm−3 at 485°C. The electron mobility increased with increasing growth temperature, reaching values of 3630 and 21800 cm2/Vs at 300 and 77K, respectively. The photoluminescence was found to depend strongly on the growth temperature. Excitonic luminescence was detected only for growth temperatures above 465°C. The intensity of the band edge emission is comparable to that of the acceptor related emission for layers grown at 465°C. At 485°C, the band-edge recombination is dominant and the acceptor related emission is barely observable. As the growth temperature increased from 465 to 485°C, the full width at half maximum of the bound exciton peak decreased from 6.8 to 3.5 meV at 14K. This trend was consistent with the decrease in the impurity concentration deduced from the Hall effect measurements.
Paying the Bills Is Not Just Theory: Service Learning about a Living Wage

This article discusses how to combine service learning, and specifically a living wage research project, with radical political economy-based undergraduate economics courses to promote critical thinking, civic engagement, and active learning in students. The authors explore how instructors can integrate service learning into the teaching of political economy. In addition, the article describes the authors’ experiences with living wage projects that they have implemented. The article makes the argument that the combination of experiential learning and political economics enriches the course experience for students significantly, leaving a much more lasting impression on students than a standard economics class.
Cobaltocene-mediated catalytic monooxygenation using holo and heme domain cytochrome P450 BM3.

The feasibility of replacing NADPH with 1,1′-dicarboxycobaltocene in the catalytic cycle of cytochrome P450 BM3 has been explored. Using the holoprotein, the surrogate mediator was observed to reduce both the FAD and FMN in the reductase domain, as well as the iron in the heme domain. In an electrochemical system, the mediator was able to support lauric acid hydroxylation at a rate of 16.5 nmol product/nmol enzyme/minute. Similar electron transfer and catalysis were observed for the heme domain alone in the presence of the metallocene; the turnover rate in this case was 1.8 nmol product/nmol enzyme/minute. Parallel studies under the same conditions using a previously reported cobalt sepulchrate mediator showed that the two systems give similar results for both the holoenzyme and the heme domain.
Real-time confocal microscopy and calcium measurements in heart muscle cells: towards the development of a fluorescence microscope with high temporal and spatial resolution.

Preliminary experiments and characterization of a modified confocal fluorescence microscope have been carried out and are presented in this article. We have made use of commercially available hardware and software (having modified and extended the system) and are continuing the process of making modifications to this system to enable us to carry out investigations in living and mobile cells. We report on identified problems in measuring intracellular calcium in myocardial cells, important lessons that have been learned and new findings regarding myocardial cells. Specifically, we have found that myocardial cellular organelles (e.g. nuclei and mitochondria) are sharply defined unlike images obtained with standard epifluorescence microscopes using intracellular indicators. Furthermore, we show that the organelles can accumulate or largely exclude certain indicators relative to the concentration in the cytosol. Additionally, we have examined the use of the new calcium indicator fluo-3 in contracting heart cells and have more clearly defined certain limitations in its use in this preparation. We are working on modifications of the present equipment to enable the system to work with an ultraviolet laser as a light source. The confocal microscope offers the prospect of extraordinarily good spatial and temporal resolution under specific conditions in heart cells.
Waging Hospitality: Feminist Geopolitics and Tourism in West Belfast Northern Ireland

Many areas of Belfast were considered no-go areas, places where the police had lost jurisdiction, whilst the media designated these neighbourhoods as terrorist enclaves. The urban scars that remain after the signing of the peace agreement, have transformed these marginalised areas into places of hospitality for tourists curious about the past conflict. This paper highlights the interdependent relationship between hospitality and the development of a post-war confidence for a community that had long been stigmatised as a violent enclave. For the purpose of this paper I bring together a feminist geopolitical analysis, with its attention to daily life, with more recent feminist theories of hospitality, observant to issues of inclusiveness. A feminist analysis of this type not only reflects the complicated gender politics of West Belfast, but also exposes a “politics of hospitality” that helps reframe our understandings of security.
Cattle Grazing Toxic Delphinium andersonii in South-Central Idaho

Abstract Anderson larkspur ( Delphinium andersonii A. Gray) is a toxic plant responsible for cattle death losses in the western United States. The objectives of the present study were to determine when cattle consumed Anderson larkspur in relation to plant phenology and toxicity, and to determine if animal age influenced selection of Anderson larkspur. These grazing studies were conducted on semiarid sagebrush rangeland near Picabo, Idaho. Eight 6–7-yr-old mature Angus cows were used in 2008, whereas during 2009, 12 Angus cattle were used, including six yearling heifers and six 4-yr-old cows. The overall density of Anderson larkspur was 2.8 plants · m −2 during 2008, and 4.9 plants · m −2 during 2009. Total toxic alkaloid concentrations in Anderson larkspur plants were near or above 5 mg · g −1 during both studies. During 2008 consumption peaked during the late flower and pod stage of growth. Overall in 2008 cows ate 3% of their bites as larkspur. During 2009 heifers ate about twice as much Anderson larkspur as did mature cows (5.1% of bites vs. 2.9%, respectively). Heifers repeatedly consumed sufficient larkspur that they collapsed; however, no animals were fatally intoxicated. Heifers appeared to become transiently averted to larkspur; however, heifers resumed consumption of D. andersonii after a period of one to several days of low or no consumption. Livestock management to reduce losses to Anderson larkspur should include timed grazing to avoid infested pastures during full flower to pod phenological stages, and grazing with older animals rather than yearling heifers.
Spectroscopic and electrical detection of intermediate phases and chemical bonding self-organizations in (i) dielectric films for semiconductor devices, and (ii) chalcogenide alloys for optical memory devices

Abstract This paper presents a discussion of intermediate phases in thin film materials that have been incorporated into liquid crystal displays, LCDs, and optical memory thin film devices. The formation of intermediate phases in the a-Si3N4:H (a-Si:N:H) alloys used for gate dielectrics in thin film transistors, TFTs, of LCDs, and the a-Ge–Sb–Te (GST) alloys used for read-write optical writing and storage in optical memory discs are qualitatively different than those first addressed by the Boolchand group in Ge–Se bulk glass alloys. In the a-Si:N:H and a-GST thin films, the chemical self-organizations that suppress percolation of strain, involve chemically-ordered bonding arrangements that break bond bending constraints at the four-fold coordinated Si and Ge atoms in a-Si:N:H and a-GST, respectively. In the GST alloys, this results in over-coordinated and under-coordinated atomic constituents, or valence alternation pairs, VAPs, of charged defects. Finally, other technologically important systems in which broken constraints, and/or VAP defects are important in intermediate phase formation include group IVB (Ti, Zr and Hf) Si oxynitride alloys, and hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H).
Thermoelectric Properties of Na x CoO 2 and Prospects for Other Oxide Thermoelectrics

We discuss the thermoelectric properties of Na x CoO2 using the electronic structure, as determined in first principles calculations, and Boltzmann kinetic transport theory. The Fermi energy lies near the top of a manifold of Co t 2g bands. These t 2g bands are separated by a large gap from the higher-lying e g states. Although the large crystal-field splitting implies substantial Co–O hybridization, the bands are narrow. Application of standard Boltzmann transport theory to such a narrow band structure yields high thermopowers in accord with experimental observations, even for high metallic carrier densities. The high thermopowers observed for Na x CoO2 can therefore be explained by standard band theory and do not rely on low dimensionality or correlation effects specific to Co. We also present results for the cubic spinel structure ZnRh2O4. Like Na x CoO2, this compound has very narrow valence bands. We find that if it could be doped with mobile carriers, it would also have a high thermopower, comparable with that of Na x CoO2.
Gap encoding by inferior collicular neurons is altered by minimal changes in signal envelope.

Neural correlates of temporal resolution in the central auditory system are currently under intense investigation. The gap detection paradigm offers a simple, yet important, test of temporal acuity because changes in behavioral gap thresholds have been correlated with deficits in complex stimulus processing, such as speech perception. In gap detection studies, silent gaps are typically shaped by rapid (<1.0 ms) rise/fall (R/F) times, i.e., rapid decreases and increases in sound intensity. However, in nature, the envelopes surrounding silent periods can vary significantly in R/F time. Therefore, we investigated whether changes in the R/F time surrounding the silent gap affect neural processing by inferior collicular (IC) neurons. Gap R/F times were varied between 0.5 and 16 ms and the discharge pattern, response rate, and first spike latency of IC neurons were measured for gap widths up to 100 ms. Neurons were classified into phasic or tonic discharge patterns based on peri-stimulus time histograms elicited to 100 ms noise carriers. The results indicate that (1) minimal gap thresholds increased with R/F time regardless of response type, (2) first spike latency variance increased systematically with R/F time for units which had small first spike standard deviations at short R/F times, and (3) the response rate of some units (called `gap-tuned') changed as a function of both R/F time and gap width. Gap-tuned units responded strongly to a particular gap width only when the envelope of the gap was shaped by a particular R/F time. For gap-tuned units, increases in R/F time shifted the tuning to larger gap widths and also broadened the response profile. These results show that temporal acuity of neurons in the IC, as measured by the gap detection paradigm, is sensitive to the envelope surrounding gaps embedded in noise carriers.
Control and regulation of calcium homeostasis and transport

Ten years ago, the prevalent view of cellular calcium homeostasis was very simple and modeled after the sodium transport scheme. It was accepted that the cytoplasmic calcium activity was low, around 10−6 M, that calcium influx occurs passively down its electrochemical gradient and that calcium efflux is an uphill metabolically dependent process. The implications of this model is that calcium transport is controlled and regulated by the plasma membrane permeability on one hand and by the activity of the calcium pump on the other. Furthermore, the cytoplasmic calcium activity is primarily regulated by events occurring at the plasma membrane. However, in the course of our studies on calcium metabolism and calcium transport in isolated cells, it became obvious that this model was too simple. For instance we discovered an intracellular compartment which is kinetically distinct from the cytoplasmic calcium pool. The magnitude of this compartment can increase or decrease and its calcium turnover rise and fall independently from the cytoplasmic calcium and from the calcium transport across the plasma membrane. On every available evidence, this compartment represents a calcium pool in the cell mitochondria. Then we asked ourselves the following question: Does this mitochondria) calcium pool passively reflect the fluctuations occurring in the cytoplasm and at the plasma membrane? Or, to the contrary, do mitochondria control and regulate cytoplasmic calcium activity and the cell calcium metabolism including calcium transport? Several observations suggested to us that the second possibility was more likely: First, the changes in this compartment often preceded any other cellular effects; and second, the magnitude of the changes was always greater than all other observed alterations. In addition, the calcium transport velocity and capacity of mitochondria is much larger than that of the plasma membrane, and the surface area of the mitochondria inner membrane is 30 to 100 times greater than the plasma membrane surface. Open image in new window Figure 1. Model of cellular calcium distribution and exchange.
Future Directions in Vulnerability to Depression among Youth: Integrating Risk Factors and Processes across Multiple Levels of Analysis

Depression is a developmental phenomenon. Considerable progress has been made in describing the syndrome, establishing its prevalence and features, providing clues as to its etiology, and developing evidence-based treatment and prevention options. Despite considerable headway in distinct lines of vulnerability research, there is an explanatory gap in the field's ability to more comprehensively explain and predict who is likely to become depressed, when, and why. Still, despite clear success in predicting moderate variance for future depression, especially with empirically rigorous methods and designs, the heterogeneous and multi-determined nature of depression suggests that additional etiologies need to be included to advance knowledge on developmental pathways to depression. This paper advocates for a multiple levels of analysis approach to investigating vulnerability to depression across the lifespan and providing a more comprehensive understanding of its etiology. One example of a multiple levels of analysis model of vulnerabilities to depression is provided that integrates the most accessible, observable factors (e.g., cognitive and temperament risks), intermediate processes and endophenotypes (e.g., information-processing biases, biological stress physiology, and neural activation and connectivity), and genetic influences (e.g., candidate genes and epigenetics). Evidence for each of these factors as well as their cross-level integration is provided. Methodological and conceptual considerations important for conducting integrative, multiple levels of depression vulnerability research are discussed. Finally, translational implications for how a multiple levels of analysis perspective may confer additional leverage to reduce the global burden of depression and improve care are considered.
Constitutive modeling and finite element procedure development for stress analysis of prismatic high temperature gas cooled reactor graphite core components

Abstract High temperature gas cooled reactors, such as prismatic and pebble bed reactors, are increasingly becoming popular because of their inherent safety, high temperature process heat output, and high efficiency in nuclear power generation. In prismatic reactors, hexagonal graphite bricks are used as reflectors and fuel bricks. In the reactor environment, graphite bricks experience high temperature and neutron dose. This leads to dimensional changes (swelling and or shrinkage) of these bricks. Irradiation dimensional changes may affect the structural integrity of the individual bricks as well as of the overall core. The present paper presents a generic procedure for stress analysis of prismatic core graphite components using graphite reflector as an example. The procedure is demonstrated through commercially available ABAQUS finite element software using the option of user material subroutine (UMAT). This paper considers General Atomics Gas Turbine-Modular Helium Reactor (GT-MHR) as a bench mark design to perform the time integrated stress analysis of a typical reflector brick considering realistic geometry, flux distribution and realistic irradiation material properties of transversely isotropic H-451 grade graphite.
Changes in sodium-lithium countertransport correlate with changes in triglyceride levels and body mass index over 2 1/2 years of follow-up in Utah.

We have previously reported from a cross-sectional study that plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides, and HDL-C were significantly and independently correlated with Na+−Li+ countertransport. These original participants were rescreened 2 1/2 years later (range of 20–58 months), with lipid, blood pressure, and Na+−Li+ countertransport measurements from both visits on 906 normotensive adults. The correlation found between age-and sex-adjusted triglyceride levels and Na+−Li+ countertransport at visit 1 (r=0.34, p<0.0001) was reconfirmed at visit 2 (r=0.32, p<0.0001). The Na+−Li+ countertransport correlations with HDL-C (r=−0.11, p<0.01) and body mass index (r=0.24, p<0.0001) also remained at visit 2. After 30 months, there were significant increases of triglyceride, body mass index, blood pressure, and Na+−Li+ countertransport levels, and significant decreases of HDL-C and total cholesterol levels, after adjusting the changes in these variables between visit 2 and visit 1 for age, sex, time between the two visits, and the visit 1 level of the variable. Increases in triglycerides, cholesterol, and body mass index were significantly correlated with increases in Na+−Li+ countertransport (r=0.23, r=0.19, and r=0.21, respectively). The correlations of the lipid and lipoprotein changes with Na+−Li+ countertransport changes were independent of body mass index and blood pressure changes. We conclude that increasing plasma triglyceride levels and body mass index are associated with increasing Na+−Li+ countertransport levels in both cross-sectional and longitudinal data.
Optical calibration of the Global Ultraviolet Imager (GUVI)

The Global Ultraviolet Imager of the NASA Thermosphere, Ionosphere, and Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics mission has been calibrated at the Optical Calibration Facility of the Applied Physics Laboratory. This spectrographic imager has a 0.74 degree(s) X 11.6 degree(s) field-of-view, a 140 degree(s) X 11.6 degree(s) field-of-regard and collects data in 176 wavelength bins in the spectral range from 120 - 180 nm. The calibration of this far ultraviolet instrument requires continuously variable wavelengths and angles within a high- vacuum system from the light source to the instrument. An optical calibration facility has been developed providing a bright, uniform, wavelength-selectable, collimated light beam, which is mapped in situ to correct for intensity drifts in the lamp. The facility design and the calibration procedure are discussed.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Non-small cell lung carcinoma: usefulness of unenhanced helical CT of the adrenal glands in an unmonitored environment.

PURPOSE: To evaluate routine non-contrast material-enhanced helical computed tomography (CT) of the adrenal glands in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma to facilitate characterization of adrenal masses detected in an unmonitored environment (i.e., the radiologist on duty did not look at the acquired images before the patient left the scanner). MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred consecutive patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma were referred for CT evaluation of the chest; chest and abdomen; or chest, abdomen, and brain. All underwent unenhanced CT of the adrenal glands before the requested CT examination. The morphologic features, size, and attenuation values of the adrenal masses were calculated. Attenuation values of adrenal masses from prior imaging, if available, were compared with those at follow-up imaging to classify these masses. Variable unit cost increase in obtaining these additional images was estimated. RESULTS: Fifteen adrenal masses were identified in 13 patients. In one pati...
Thermal decomposition of energetic materials 5. High-rate, in situ, thermolysis of two nitrosamine derivatives of RDX by FTIR spectroscopy

Abstract Thermolysis of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitroso-s-triazine (TRDX), C 3 H 6 N 3 (NO) 3 , and hexahydro-1,3-dinitro-5-nitroso-s-triazine (MRDX), C 3 H 6 N 3 (NO 2 ) 2 (NO), was studied by rapid-scan FTIR spectroscopy as a function of heating rate (8–200K s −1 ) and pressure (1–1000 psi, 0.0068–6.8 MPa). The results are compared with those for RDX in order to determine the effect of replacing NO 2 with NO. NN bond homolysis liberating NO is the most effective process with TRDX, but CN bond cleavage becomes more pronounced as the pressure increases. Near its melting point the nitramine portion of MRDX degrades via CN bond fission before the nitrosamine portion degrades. At higher heating rates, both CN and NN bond fission occur. As with RDX and HMX, increasing the pressure forces the decomposition to occur more by heterogeneous condensed phase reactions than by gas-phase reactions. The nitrosamine group appears to be at least as thermally stable if not more stable than the nitramine group. The ir spectra of TRDX, MRDX, and RDX are compared for the solid and melt phases. TRDX has a “premelt” solid-solid phase transition producing a new crystal lattice in which the molecular motion and structure of the molecule are very similar to that in the melt phase.
Dynamics and control of large space structures

An attempt is made to gather data useful to investigators in the fields of large space structure dynamics and control modeling, design and testing. Attention is given to structural dynamics and its relationship to such allied engineering fields as flutter analysis, as well as to problems in the prediction of atmospheric density at orbital altitude. The first challenge posed by large space structure control is the design of control systems with natural frequencies above several major structural frequencies. The establishment of a sufficiently accurate structural model, plant excitation, and shape maintenance, are noted to be additional problems.
Reciprocal learning in teams

Effective teams—the fundraising professional and the volunteer—develop work practices and access knowledge from one another in a unique way, described as reciprocal learning, that enhances their joint performance.
Metabolic cooperation between Sertoli cells and peritubular cells in culture.

Studies were undertaken to examine the mechanisms involved in the cooperation between peritubular cells and Sertoli cells. Sertoli cells were isolated from 16-day-old Wistar rats using trypsin and collagenase treatments. In the first phase of experiments, the Sertoli cells and peritubular cells were grown in parabiotic culture tubes in which a 0.22-μm Millipore filter barrier was placed between the two cell types. This allowed the medium to pass into both chambers while restricting contact between the two cell types. No increase in the secretion of androgen-binding protein was observed under these conditions compared to that in parabiotic chambers that contained only Sertoli cells. In the second phase of experiments, peritubular cells or a continuous cell line (LM cells) were prelabeled with [3H]uridine or [3H]thymidine. Unlabeled Sertoli cells were then added to the cultures of peritubular cells and grown in the presence of 1 mM unlabeled precursor for 2 days. The cells were then fixed, cleared of uninco...
Liver microsomal inorganic pyrophosphate-glucose phosphotransferase and glucose-6-phosphatase. Effects of diabetes and insulin administration on kinetic parameters

1. 1. Alterations in kinetic properties of rat hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase ((D-Gluc-6-P phosphohydrolase, EC 3.1.3.9) and associated PPi-glucose phosphotransferase resulting from alloxan diabetes and insulin treatment of such diabetic animals have been studied. 2. 2. Maximal reaction velocity values extrapolated to infinite substrate concentrations (υmax) and Michaelis constant (Km) values for all substrates were assayed with liver homogenates prepared from eight untreated normal, seven alloxan-diabetic, and seven insulin-treated diabetic animals. Average enzymic activity levels (units/mg liver protein) for the various groups of animals were calculated on the basis of υmax values. 3. 3. All assays were carried out both in the absence of added detergent and with homogenates which had been supplemented with sodium deoxycholate to 0.20% (w/v). 4. 4. As determined either in the presence or absence of detergent, Km values for glucose were not affected significantly by hormonal manipulations. 5. 5. Km values of both Gluc-6-P and PPi increased significantly in diabetes, based on assays carried out in the absence of detergent. These elevations were completely reversed by administration of insulin to diabetic animals, and were not apparent when homogenates prepared from livers of all three groups of animals were supplemented with deoxycholate prior to assay. 6. 6. Most significantly, preliminary treatment of homogenates with the detergent markedly potentiated responses of activity levels, based on extrapolated υmax values, to diabetes. The ratio of Gluc-6-P phosphohydrolase activity level in diabetic animals to activity level in normal animals increased from a value of 1.5, noted in the absence of detergent, to 3.5 based on assays with deoxycholate-supplemented homogenates. Even more dramatic potentiating effects of detergents on the diabetes response were noted with PPi-glucose phosphotransferase. With this activity, the ratio of υmax based activity levels in diabetic animals to νmax-based activity levels in normal animals increased from a statistically insignificant value of 0.90 in the absence of detergent to 4.2 when assessed in the presence of deoxycholate. Administration of insulin to diabetic rats reversed this response of νmax-based activity level values. These observations confirm our previous findings on the potentiating effect of detergent on responses of enzymic activity levels to experimental diabetes, and further, reveal that this effect persists even with substrate levels extrapolated to infinity and hence is not explainable simply on the basis of alterations in affinity of enzyme for substrates under the various experimental conditions. 7. 7. These patterns of effects of diabetes on kinetic parameters of the enzyme, as assessed both in the absence and presence of detergent supplementation of homogenates, closely resemble those previously noted in acutely fasted animals and contrast sharply with glucocorticoid-induced alterations.
PMH15: A RETROSPECTIVE ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF OLANZAPINE VERSUS RISPERIDONE IN THE TREATMENT OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the one-year direct schizophrenia-related treatment costs, mental health care costs and total health care costs for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and initiating therapy with either olanzapine or risperidone. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the integrated medical and pharmacy claims of a large, geographically diverse, commercially insured population was conducted. A previously validated algorithm to identify schizophrenics was used for patient selection. The confirmed schizophrenia patients who began treatment with either olanzapine or risperidone were included. Treatment course and associated schizophrenia-related, mental health care and total health care costs during the subsequent 12-month period were examined using univariate and multivariate methods. RESULTS: Nine hundred eighty-five (985) patients initiated on risperidone and 348 initiated on olanzapine met inclusion criteria. The mean dose was 4.02 and 10.49 for risperidone and olanzapine patients, respectively. Patients taking olanzapine versus risperidone stayed on therapy longer during the 12-month observation period (217 days versus 181 days, p < 0.0001). Although pharmaceutical costs were significantly higher for olanzapine patients, their medical costs were significantly lower than those on risperidone. After adjusting for differences in patient demographics, disease severity and comorbidities, olanzapine patients had significantly lower mental health care costs including drug costs ($1,827 less, p < 0.05) and lower total health care costs ($1,834 less, p < 0.05). The schizophrenia-related costs (including drug costs) were not statistically significantly different, though numerically the risperidone patients incurred $740 more per patient than patients on olanzapine (p = 0.26). CONCLUSIONS: The findings in this study suggest that the initial selection of atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia matters, as olanzapine offset its acquisition cost by reducing medical costs and demonstrated significant mental and total health care cost savings over risperidone.
A novel method for simulating atoms and molecules interacting with ionic surfaces

A new method for computer simulations of atoms and molecules interacting with a moving ionic surface is introduced. This approach is capable of evaluating the long-range Coulomb interaction energy for an ion on the surface and at any position inside a crystal. The main idea is to break down the total Coulomb energy to contributions from different layers in the crystal. The interaction energy of an ion with a layer to which it does not belong can be calculated with a two-dimensional Fourier method. For the interaction of the ion with other ions in the same layer, a quasi-two-dimensional Ewald sum is used to determine the interaction energy. The method is shown to be computationally efficient in evaluating the long-range Coulomb interaction energy of a system consisting of moving surface ions.
The Vietnamese Economy in the 1990s

In the 1980s Vietnam made the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. The critical question now facing Vietnam is whether the remarkable growth rates it has achieved in recent years are sustainable over the long term. Does Vietnam have a viable strategy for long-term growth, and if not, where can it find one, and what does it have to do to implement it? These are the principal questions addressed in this review of recent literature on economic developments in Vietnam.
Electrochemical Behavior of the T1 (Al2CuLi) Intermetallic Compound and Its Role in Localized Corrosion of Al-2% Li-3% Cu Alloys

Abstract The T1, (Al2CuLi) intermetallic compound was synthesized in bulk form for characterization of its electrochemical behavior in chloride solutions by conventional direct current (DC) techniques. Results indicated T1, was active with respect to its microstructural suroundings in artificially aged Aluminum Association (AA) 2090 (UNS A92090) (Al 2.1% Li-2.6% Cu) and preferential dissolution of T1 precipitates strongly influenced localized corrosion behavior of the alloy. Subgrain boundaries in artificially aged AA 2090 were particularly susceptible to localized attack because of high concentrations of T1. The role of T1, in preferential subgrain boundary attack in a chloride-free sulfate solution also was investigated.