cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Combining Data Augmentations for CNN-Based Voice Command Recognition

This paper presents combining two data augmentation methods involving speed perturbation and room impulse response reverberation for the purpose of improving the generalization capability of convolutional neural networks when used for voice command recognition. Speed perturbation generates voice command variations caused by shorter or longer time durations of commands spoken by different speakers. Room impulse response reverberation generates voice command variations caused by reflected sound paths. The combination of these two augmentation methods is presented in this paper by examining a public domain dataset of voice commands. The experimental results based on the performance metric of word error rate indicate the improvement in voice command recognition rates when combining these data augmentation methods relative to using each augmentation method individually.
Can Unions Be Sued for Following the Law

Here is a short summary of the right-to-work movement’s legal strategy in the aftermath of its victory in Janus v. AFSCME: If you can’t kick a man when he’s down, when can you kick him? For within weeks of Janus’s pronouncement that the First Amendment forbids public sector unions to collect agency fees from objecting employees, right-to-work groups filed a flood of class action lawsuits seeking the refund of millions of dollars’ worth of fees that were paid in the years before Janus was even decided, when such fees were indisputably lawful. Commentators have observed that these retroactive refund suits threaten to bankrupt unions around the nation. In Compelled Subsidies and the First Amendment, Professors William Baude and Eugene Volokh argue that “Janus makes it likely” that public sector unions will indeed be liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for refunds of money they collected in years before Janus was even issued. We think otherwise, and this Response explains why. We start in Part I by presenting a vision of the world as it would exist if Baude and Volokh are right. It turns out that imposing financial liability on public sector unions for conduct that was perfectly lawful when it took place (because both state law and judicial precedent authorized the unions to collect fair-share fees) is a kind of maneuver that cannot be neatly confined to the context of union fee refunds. In Part II, we explain why this unsavory state of affairs is hardly necessary. In fact, the law requires otherwise. In particular, we describe three legal arguments that should stop the union-refund suits from getting off the ground: careful application of the doctrine of civil retroactivity; defenses that were available against the most closely analogous tort at common law, including that unions acted in good faith reliance on existing law; and ordinary principles of class action certification.
Beautiful War Games: Transfiguring Genders in Video Game Fancomics

This chapter offers a close reading of dōjinshi fancomics based on the video game Final Fantasy VII in order to argue that the female gaze queers not just male characters but also masculinist ideologies. By analyzing how canonical characterizations and scenarios can yield different meanings than those suggested by the original work when viewed with a female gaze, it demonstrates how Japanese dōjinshi artists are able to queer the source texts by using the tropes and conventions of BL manga. The chapter concludes with a discussion of international manga-style fancomics based on the Legend of Zelda and demonstrates how sexist depictions of femininity within video games are routinely disrupted by female fans who are capable of applying a diverse set of hermeneutic lenses to mainstream narratives.
Organismo y acción situada: mapeando el concepto de affordance

"En el contexto de la comprension de la interaccion organismo-medio ambiente, el concepto de affordance designa las diversas oportunidades para la accion a las que la percepcion de un objeto invita. Cuando miramos un muro, no solo percibimos sus propiedades fisicas brutas (color, tamano, localizacion, etc.), sino tambien ciertas cualidades, como que es escalable, dependiendo del contexto en que tal percepcion ocurra. Dicha nocion de escalabilidad integrada en mi percepcion del muro es una affordance. Durante los ultimos anos, este concepto se ha vuelto popular en diversas disciplinas; sin embargo, no ha estado acompanado de un desarrollo unificado y preciso de su comprension. Este articulo formula y examina algunos de los debates mas fundamentales que rodean el entendimiento actual de dicho concepto. Luego de evaluar criticamente algunas de las ideas mas paradigmaticas dentro de estas discusiones, se proponen algunos desafios que enfrenta el desarrollo del termino para, finalmente, explorar algunas formas en que se pueden afrontar tales desafios."
Love, Laughter, and Special Relationships

Grandparenting children with disabilities often creates special moments of love, joy, and laughter. Most of the grandparents we interviewed talk about wonderful times with all of their grandchildren, and with their grandchildren who have disabilities in particular. Many see grandparenting as one of life’s greatest joys. They emphasize how much mutual love and admiration they have with their grandchildren. Many have a lot of fun and share a lot of laughs. Though they do so to differing degrees, some appreciate how valuable their care work is for their families. A few say that disabilities have brought their families closer together. Nearly all treasure just how close they, and sometimes their partners, are with their grandchildren who have disabilities. They treasure their special relationships.
Local Energy: Spatial Proximity of Energy Providers to Their Power Resources

Ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets have underscored the need for a rapid global transition to decentralized, renewable, and more local energy systems, but distance between resources and energy providers have not been assessed. Using California as a model system, we quantified and compared the extent to which energy providers — publicly owned utilities (POUs), community choice aggregations (CCAs), and cooperatives (co-ops) — contract resources near their energy demands and evaluated these trends across all energy resource types. We found CCAs, on average procure their pooled energy resources further from their service territories than long-standing POUs and co-ops. Nevertheless, on average, a larger percent of CCA’s energy is from renewable resources compared to POUs and co-ops. In an era where interest in local energy generation is growing, this study reveals energy providers source resources far from demand loads and newer providers may face additional and unique barriers to contracting energy locally.
A. Lawrence Kocher y Albert Frey. La tecnificación de la domesticidad itinerante

This paper researches on a group of houses designed by A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey between 1930 and 1939. These houses are analyzed, considering them as “crossroads works” that are the point of confluence between the machine exaltation, the solidity and material stability of the European Modern Movement and the instability, lightness and temporality of residential constructions and the various forms adopted by the tradition of mobile domesticity in North America. The article studies the building technology of each house using original archive material. The paper describes the relevance of these dwellings as a point of confluence of various traditions of different disciplinary fields and also as a point of origin for a new type of American modernity based on its transience: the Ephemeral American Modernity.
Spotlight: Malware Lead Generation at Scale

Malware is one of the key threats to online security today, with applications ranging from phishing mailers to ransomware and trojans. Due to the sheer size and variety of the malware threat, it is impractical to combat it as a whole. Instead, governments and companies have instituted teams dedicated to identifying, prioritizing, and removing specific malware families that directly affect their population or business model. The identification and prioritization of the most disconcerting malware families (known as malware hunting) is a time-consuming activity, accounting for more than 20% of the work hours of a typical threat intelligence researcher, according to our survey. To save this precious resource and amplify the team’s impact on users’ online safety we present Spotlight, a large-scale malware lead-generation framework. Spotlight first sifts through a large malware data set to remove known malware families, based on first and third-party threat intelligence. It then clusters the remaining malware into potentially-undiscovered families, and prioritizes them for further investigation using a score based on their potential business impact. We evaluate Spotlight on 67M malware samples, to show that it can produce top-priority clusters with over 99% purity (i.e., homogeneity), which is higher than simpler approaches and prior work. To showcase Spotlight’s effectiveness, we apply it to ad-fraud malware hunting on real-world data. Using Spotlight’s output, threat intelligence researchers were able to quickly identify three large botnets that perform ad fraud.
Fast AC Steady-State Power Grid Simulation and Optimization Using Prior Knowledge.

Fast and accurate optimization and simulation is widely becoming a necessity for large scale transmission resiliency and planning studies such as N-1 SCOPF, batch contingency solvers, and stochastic power flow. Current commercial tools, however, prioritize speed of convergence over accuracy by relying on initial conditions that are taken from the steady state solution of similar network configurations that are not guaranteed to lie within a convex region of a valid solution. In this paper we introduce a globally convergent algorithm to facilitate fast and accurate AC steady state simulation and optimization based on prior knowledge from similar networks. The approach uses a homotopy method that gradually and efficiently translates a previously known network configuration to the current network configuration. The proposed formulation is highly scalable, and its efficacy is demonstrated for resiliency study and optimization of large networks up to 70k buses.
Starvation-survival patterns of sixteen freshly isolated open-ocean bacteria.

Abstract Sixteen marine isolates from a NORPAX cruise, which were transferred once on medium after initial isolation, survived nutrient deprivation for at least 8 months (longest period test). All but one isolate remained cellularly intact, although their sizes and shapes changed greatly, and all became smaller, decreasing in size from 40 to 79%. Three starvation-survival patterns were demonstrated, namely (i) an initial increase in viable cells followed by a decrease until a constant number was reached, (ii) an increase in viable cells until a constant number was reached, and (iii) a decrease in viable cells until a constant number was reached. One isolate from each starvation-survival pattern was starved for 8 months and then was tested in comparison with 4-month-starved Ant-300 for [14C]glutamic acid uptake, respiration, and incorporation. The response to glutamic acid was rapid and linear in each case. The data indicate that the starvation-survival of Ant-300 is not an anomalous situation and that open ocean bacteria can withstand nutrient deprivation for long periods of time and still retain the capacity for active metabolism, if the nutrients become available.
Advances in separation and concentration of microorganisms from food samples

Abstract: Current methods for detecting bacterial pathogens from foods and the environment are slow. Although newer, more rapid detection techniques have been developed, they have insufficient sensitivity and produce residual matrix-associated inhibitory compounds. The detection of foodborne pathogens could be more rapid if the target cells were separated and concentrated before detection, a procedure known as pre-analytical sample processing. We review sample preparation techniques, focusing on target-specific methods. Unlike non-target-specific separation/concentration methods, these approaches use bioaffinity ligands, preventing co-precipitation of target pathogens with residual matrix components. Bioaffinity ligands such as bacteriophage, phage-derived biomolecules, nucleic acid/peptide aptamers, carbohydrate ligands, antimicrobial peptides and synthetic ligands are described. The use of bioaffinity ligands in pathogen detection is new and requires further development. Such ligands have a future in foodborne pathogen detection and may allow us to substitute culture-based methods with more rapid, yet sensitive non-cultural methods.
Worklife Expectancy of Railroad Workers Based on the Twenty-Fifth Actuarial Valuation Using Both Competing Risks/Multiple Decrement Theory and the Markov Railroad Model

Abstract The U. S. Railroad Retirement Board's Bureau of the Actuary publishes valuations of the retirement plan for railroad workers every three years. The most current report, the Twenty-Fifth Actuarial Valuation, released in August 2012 covers the years 2008-10. We use data on mortality, disability retirements, age retirements, and other final withdrawals contained in the Technical Supplement of this valuation to estimate worklife expectancies (WLE) of railroad workers. There are substantial changes in WLE when compared to WLE based on the Twenty-Third Actuarial Valuation and the Twenty-Fourth Valuation. We identify the sources of these changes. In addition to WLE, we estimate entire probability mass functions and provide summary measures of distributional characteristics of time spent in railroad work. Our main results use a competing risks/multiple decrement model, but we also provide WLE based on the railroad Markov process model and show that the former model is also a Markov model, albeit a differ...
Transonic design in two dimensions

This paper contains a general description of the method of complex extension and its applications to a variety of two-dimensional transonic design problems. The geometry of the complex characteristics in the hodograph plane is explored and the selection of initial paths for analytic continuation into the supersonic zone is illustrated. The paper contains a section which explains how to obtain the solution near infinity for the various design problems and another about choosing initial data. An example of a compressor blade that was designed by this method is used to illustrate the practical significance of this method.
Maximization and Search for Alternatives in Decision Situations With and Without Loss of Options

Maximizing tendency has been associated with greater accumulation of choice alternatives prior to selection of a preference. It is not known whether this search behavior extends to situations in which accumulation of new choice alternatives comes with the potential loss of existing ones. In Study 1, we replicate the original finding of greater accumulation of choice alternatives, using a computer-based laboratory task. We then provide evidence, in Studies 2 and 3, that when potential loss of existing options is incorporated into the task, maximization is associated with less rather than more search for additional options. Maximization components of decision difficulty and alternative search, but not high standards or satisficing, explain this behavior. Other task measures are also collected, but few maximization-related differences are observed. The findings support an interpretation of maximizers as decision makers who are as concerned with the potential loss of existing options as with the loss of undiscovered future ones. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lowland Maya Subsistence and Marine Resources: A Reply

Befu, Harumi, and Leonard Plotnicov 1962 Types of Corporate Unilineal Descent Groups. American Anthropologist 64:313-327. Cochrane, Glynn 1971 Use of the Concept of the "Corporation": A Choice Between Colloquialism or Distortion. American Anthropologist 73:1144-1150. Dahrendorf, Ralf 1959 Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Fortes, Meyer 1953 The Structure of Unilineal Descent Groups. American Anthropologist 55:17-41. Fried, Morton H. 1957 The Classification of Corporate Unilineal Descent Groups. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 87(1):1-29. Goodenough, Ward Hunt 1971 Corporations: Reply to Cochrane. American Anthropologist 73:1150-1152. Leach, Edmund R. 1968 Social Structure: The History of the Concept. In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 14. New York: Macmillan. pp. 482-489. Maine, Sir Henry S. 1931 Ancient Law. London: Oxford University Press. Merton, Robert K. 1968 Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: The Free Press. Nadel, S. F. 1951 The Foundations of Social Anthropology. New York :The Free Press. Weber, Max 1947 The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. A. Henderson and T. Parsons, Trans. New York: The Free Press. 1968 Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. G. Roth and C. Wittich, Eds. New York: Bedminster Press. Wolf, Eric 1955 Types of Latin-American Peasantry: A Preliminary Discussion. American Anthropologist 57:452-471.
A study of the reaction π−p → π−π+n at 16 GeV/c

Abstract We present the analysis of the reaction π−p →π−π+n at 16 GeV/c. The total cross section for this channel was measured to be 0.40 ± 0.08 mb and production cross sections of 52 ± 13 ωb and 38 ± 9 ωb were determined for the ϱo and fo resonances, respectively. A comparison with the one-pion-exchange model of Wolf shows good agreement with our data.
Rickettsia Actin-Based Motility Occurs in Distinct Phases Mediated by Different Actin Nucleators

Many intracellular bacterial pathogens undergo actin-based motility to promote cell-cell spread during infection [1]. For each pathogen, motility was assumed to be driven by a single actin polymerization pathway. Curiously, spotted fever group Rickettsia differ from other pathogens in possessing two actin-polymerizing proteins. RickA, an activator of the host Arp2/3 complex, was initially proposed to drive motility [2, 3]. Sca2, a mimic of host formins [4, 5], was later shown to be required for motility [6]. Whether and how their activities are coordinated has remained unclear. Here, we show that each protein directs an independent mode of Rickettsia parkeri motility at different times during infection. Early after invasion, motility is slow and meandering, generating short, curved actin tails that are enriched with Arp2/3 complex and cofilin. Early motility requires RickA and Arp2/3 complex and is correlated with transient RickA localization to the bacterial pole. Later in infection, motility is faster and directionally persistent, resulting in long, straight actin tails. Late motility is independent of Arp2/3 complex and RickA and requires Sca2, which accumulates at the bacterial pole. Both motility pathways facilitate cell-to-cell spread. The ability to exploit two actin assembly pathways may allow Rickettsia to establish an intracellular niche and spread between diverse cells throughout a prolonged infection.
Otto Rank: Pioneering Ideas for Social Work Theory and Practice

This article examines Otto Rank's psychology and its profound implications for social work knowledge-building and practice. The paper begins with a brief biographical portrait, highlighting the significance of Rank's relationship and eventual break with Freud, and contextualizing the ideas that became the basis for the Functional Approach. We discuss Rank's conception of human functioning in the social environment, his influence on later theories, and a contemporary critique of Rank's ideas. The paper concludes with a discussion of Rank's contributions to the Functional Approach and to social work practice in general.
The Case of Maria Cultural Approaches

This case presentation discusses the many variables involved when treating minority women in the United States. The case of Maria portrays a 21-year-old Portuguese woman who was referred to psychot...
WE‐A‐218‐03: Translating X‐Ray Tube Modulation Parameters between Different CT Scanner Models Using Dose Metrics

Purpose: While auto tube current modulation is an effective dose reduction technique, manufacturer‐specific implementation of the technique leads to inconsistencies between scans obtained on different scanners. This research describes efforts to translate comprehensive scan protocols from a reference CTscanner to progeny scanners by matching x‐ray output using a variable diameter phantom. Methods: The phantom consisted of six cylinders of PMMA with increasingly large diameters, much like a wedding cake. The diameters of the cylinders were 10, 13, 16, 20, 25, and 32 cm. The reference CTscanner was a GE LightSpeed 16; the progeny scanners were a GE LightSpeed VCT and Siemens Definition AS+. The phantom was scanned while varying the tube modulation metric (either noise index or reference mAs). Using custom software, the mAs was determined on a slice‐by‐slice basis and then averaged along the length of each phantom. Two conversion metrics were examined as a way to translate x‐ray output between scanners: (1) CTDIw or (2) air exposure. The modulation metric of the progeny CTscanner that produced the output closest to that of the reference CTscanner was then selected as the optimal metric for each phantom size. The metric was then compared to the ad hoc scan protocols currently used for the progeny scanners.Results: The range of appropriate tube modulation metrics is highly dependent on patient diameter. When applied to patients of varying sizes, tube current modulation may be hitting the maximum or minimum limits. Conclusions: Both CTDIw and air exposure are reasonable conversion metrics to match x‐ray output between CTscanners. While matching x‐ray output is the first step towards standardizing scan protocols across different types of scanners, thorough image quality analysis must be done to ensure that clinical tasks can be performed sufficiently
Biolistic transformation of highly regenerative sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) leaves

Leaves of greenhouse-grown sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) plants that were first screened for high regeneration potential were transformed via particle bombardment with the uidA gene fused to the osmotin or proteinase inhibitor II gene promoter. Stably transformed calli were recovered as early as 7 weeks after bombardment and GUS-positive shoots regenerated 3 months after bombardment. The efficiency of transformation ranged from 0.9% to 3.7%, and stable integration of the uidA gene into the genome was confirmed by Southern blot analysis. The main advantages of direct bombardment of leaves to regenerate transformed sugar beet include (1) a readily available source of highly regenerative target tissue, (2) minimal tissue culture manipulation before and after bombardment, and (3) the overall rapid regeneration of transgenic shoots.
Design and construction of acetyl-CoA overproducing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains

Abstract Saccharomyces cerevisiae has increasingly been engineered as a cell factory for efficient and economic production of fuels and chemicals from renewable resources. Notably, a wide variety of industrially important products are derived from the same precursor metabolite, acetyl-CoA. However, the limited supply of acetyl-CoA in the cytosol, where biosynthesis generally happens, often leads to low titer and yield of the desired products in yeast. In the present work, combined strategies of disrupting competing pathways and introducing heterologous biosynthetic pathways were carried out to increase acetyl-CoA levels by using the CoA-dependent n -butanol production as a reporter. By inactivating ADH1 and ADH4 for ethanol formation and GPD1 and GPD2 for glycerol production, the glycolytic flux was redirected towards acetyl-CoA, resulting in 4-fold improvement in n -butanol production. Subsequent introduction of heterologous acetyl-CoA biosynthetic pathways, including pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), ATP-dependent citrate lyase (ACL), and PDH-bypass, further increased n -butanol production. Recombinant PDHs localized in the cytosol (cytoPDHs) were found to be the most efficient, which increased n -butanol production by additional 3 fold. In total, n -butanol titer and acetyl-CoA concentration were increased more than 12 fold and 3 fold, respectively. By combining the most effective and complementary acetyl-CoA pathways, more than 100 mg/L n -butanol could be produced using high cell density fermentation, which represents the highest titer ever reported in yeast using the clostridial CoA-dependent pathway.
MICROENTERPRISE AS AN EXIT ROUTE FROM POVERTY: Recommendations for Programs and Policy Makers

The objective of this study is to shed light on whether and how microenterprise programs can be used as an economic development strategy to enable low-income people to achieve self-sufficiency thro...
Galanin and bethanechol appear to activate the same inwardly rectifying potassium current in mudpuppy parasympathetic neurons.

Abstract Galanin- and bethanechol-activated whole cell currents were studied in dissociated mudpuppy parasympathetic neurons kept in 12.5 mM KCl. The bethanechol-induced current was reduced when generated during a galanin-induced current. The galanin and bethanechol currents reversed at −45 mV and exhibited inward rectification at more negative potentials. Both the galanin- and bethanechol-induced current relaxations recorded during negative voltage steps were fitted best by two exponentials with the averaged time constant values not significantly different for the galanin and bethanechol currents. We conclude that galanin and bethanechol activate a similar membrane potassium conductance which is different from the background potassium conductance.
Ontogeny of the bizarre: an osteological description of Pipa pipa (Anura: pipidae), with an account of skeletal development in the species.

The adult osteology of the direct-developing pipid frog, Pipa pipa, is described based on cleared-and-stained and dry skeletal specimens. Observations on skeletal development are based on cleared-and-stained embryos and young removed from the backs of preserved females. Osteologically, P.pipa is distinguished from its congeners and other pipid anurans by its large size and peculiar skull, which is extremely depressed and hyperossified. Skulls of the smallest individuals are not significantly different from those of other basal anurans at a similar stage of development; comparisons are made with Bombina orientalis, Discoglossus sardus, Spea bombifrons, Rhinophrynus dorsalis, and Xenopus laevis. The general sequence of chondrification and ossification resembles that of X.laevis; however, there is evidence that the mandible forms earlier in Pipa than in Xenopus. The major allometric transformations that result in the morphologically bizarre skull of adult P.pipa commence after the embryo has resorbed its tail, an event interpreted as marking the end of metamorphic climax in this taxon. In addition, ontogenetic comparisons reveal that the sacrum forms differently in Discoglossus sardus,Silurana tropicalis, and P.pipa. The development of the sphenethmoid region of the skull is the same in P.pipa and X.laevis, and distinctly different from the development of this region of the skull in other non-pipid basal anurans and neobatrachians for which ontogenetic descriptions exist.
High pressure study of n-propylbenzene oxidation

Abstract The high pressure and temperature kinetics of n -propylbenzene oxidation were investigated in the High Pressure Single Pulse Shock Tube at University of Illinois at Chicago. Experiments were performed at nominal reflected shock pressures of 25 and 50 atm, with the temperatures ranging from 838 to 1669 K and for an equivalence ratio of 0.5–1.9. A variety of stable species ranging from aliphatic hydrocarbons to single ring and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were sampled from the shock tube and analyzed using standard gas chromatographic techniques. Within the range of this experimental study, the fuel decay was seen to be insensitive to the changes in pressure. The formation of the intermediates from the fuel were influenced by the concentration of the oxidizer. A detailed chemical kinetic model was developed to simulate the stable species profiles as obtained from the high pressure oxidation experiments. The model provides a satisfactory fit for the consumption of the fuel, oxidizer and the formation of the major aliphatic, mono-aromatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Properties and Crystal Structure of a β-Barrel Folding Mutant

A mutant of a beta-barrel protein, rat intestinal fatty acid binding protein, was predicted to be more stable than the wild-type protein due to a novel hydrogen bond. Equilibrium denaturation studies indicated the opposite: the V60N mutant protein was less stable. The folding transitions followed by CD and fluorescence were reversible and two-state for both mutant and wild-type protein. However, the rates of denaturation and renaturation of V60N were faster. During unfolding, the initial rate was associated with 75-80% of the fluorescence and all of the CD amplitude change. A subsequent rate accounted for the remaining fluorescence change for both proteins; thus the intermediate state lacked secondary structure. During folding, one rate was detected by both fluorescence and CD after an initial burst phase for both wild-type and mutant. An additional slower folding rate was detected by fluorescence for the mutant protein. The structure of the V60N mutant has been obtained and is nearly identical to prior crystal structures of IFABP. Analysis of mean differences in hydrogen bond and van der Waals interactions did not readily account for the stability loss due to the mutation. However, significant average differences of the solvent accessible surface and crystallographic displacement factors suggest entropic destabilization.
Oil-Water Two-Phase Flows in Large-Diameter Pipelines

Two-phase oil-water flows in a 10-cm-dia horizontal pipe have been experimentally investigated to study the effect of surfactant on oil-water distributions. Results show that at input water cut of 20 percent and lower, the water layer velocity is lower than mixed layer velocity up to an input mixture velocity of 1.6 m/s. However, at input water cut of 40 percent and higher, the water layer velocity is lower than the mixed layer velocity up to an input mixture velocity of only 0.8 m/s. Oil and water are much easier to be mixed at the medium input water cuts between 40 and 60 percent. The addition of surfactant enhances the degree of mixing of oil-water flow. With an increase of surfactant concentration, the water layer disappears, oil and water start to mix at lower mixture velocity, and the homogeneous flow pattern was observed at much lower input mixture velocity. Also, the mixed layer occupies a much greater fraction of the pipe. These indicate that corrosion could be reduced at lower input superficial mixture velocity with surfactants in oil-water flows.
High performance size exclusion chromatography in environmental method development. 1. The effect of mobile phase and temperature on the retention of dioxins, furans, and polychlorinated biphenyls

Abstract The thermodynamics of retention for PCBs, dioxins, and furans have been studied for a high performance size exclusion column containing a poly(styrene) stationary phase. The dioxins and furans exhibit a tendency to sorb to this relatively inert surface in the presence of chloroform and dichloromethane. The data indicate that both mobile phase and temperature can be adjusted to improve the separation of these analytes from unwanted matrix components in samples such as sediments, motor oil, and fat. The data also provide some insight into the sorption behavior of these analytes in non-polar solvents.
Evaluation of New Anti-Infective Drugs for the Treatment of Acute Pelvic Infections in Hospitalized Women

This set of guidelines deals with evaluation of anti-infective drugs for treatment of acute pelvic infections in hospitalized women. The clinical entities include infectious complications of cesarean section; elective hysterectomy; and septic, incomplete abortion. Conditions including endomyometritis, cuff cellulitis, pelvic cellulitis, parametritis, phlegmon, and pelvic abscesses may arise due to a variety of bacterial species, both aerobic and anaerobic, that comprise the endogenous flora of the lower reproductive tract. Anaerobic bacteria have assumed particular importance, and therapy should be directed against such organisms. The roles of enterococci, chlamydiae, and mycoplasmas remain uncertain. Culture samples must be obtained under conditions assuring minimal vaginal contamination. Before a new drug may be used for treatment of human pelvic infections, considerable information is necessary about its antimicrobial spectrum as well as its safety and efficacy. Placebo-controlled trials are considered unethical. Historical controls may be used, but concurrent active control comparative trials are preferred. Parenteral administration is recommended for at least the initial 4 days of therapy, but orally administered drugs may be evaluated for completion of longer courses. The expected cure rate is approximately 90%. Uncomplicated infections should be treated for at least 4 days; more complicated infections may require prolonged therapy. Although clinical cure is paramount, microbiologic response must also be taken into account. In the final assessment, outcome will be classified as cure, failure, or indeterminate.
Structure of liquid Al and Al67Mg33alloy: comparison between experiment and simulation

We report data on the structure of liquid Al and an Al67Mg33 alloy obtained from state-of-the-art X-ray diffraction experiments and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. To facilitate a direct comparison between these data, we develop a method to elongate the AIMD pair correlation function in order to obtain reliable AIMD structure factors. The comparison reveals an appreciable level of discrepancy between experimental and AIMD liquid structures, with the latter being consistently more ordered than the former at the same temperature. The discrepancy noted in this study is estimated to have significant implications for simulation-based calculations of liquid transport properties and solid–liquid interface kinetic properties.
Early myoclonic encephalopathy and nonketotic hyperglycinemia

Early myoclonic encephalopathy is an epileptic syndrome with different etiologies. Nonketotic hyperglycinemia is one cause. We describe two cases of early myoclonic encephalopathy, secondary to nonketotic hyperglycinemia, with fatal evolution in the neonatal period. These two cases may better clarify clinical findings that can be associated with impairment of glycine metabolism. Distinguishing features include agenesis of the corpus callosum in patient 1, and weight loss exceeding 10%, associated with metabolic acidosis, in patient 2. The burst-suppression electroencephalography pattern is relatively common in neonatal encephalopathies, and is frequently associated with seizures. Nonketotic hyperglycinemia is an inborn error of metabolism caused by mutations in genes encoding protein in the mitochondrial glycine cleavage system. The neonatal form is a severe, frequently lethal neurologic disease. When associated with electro-clinical features, progressive lethargy and hypotonia occur in the first days of life, progressing to apnea and often death. Prospective treatment with oral sodium benzoate, the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine, and dextromethorphan can favorably modify the early neonatal course of severe nonketotic hyperglycinemia, but does not prevent poor long-term outcomes.
Friction of Undulated Surfaces Coated with MoS2 by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Solid lubricants such as molybdenum disulfide can provide very low friction, but their effectiveness especially in the geometrically constrained sliding pairs is limited by plowing of coated surfaces by wear particles. Even in the presence of solid lubricants wear particles cause higher friction by plowing the interface. To minimize plowing, undulated surfaces with microgrooves perpendicular to the sliding direction can be used to trap wear particles. Smooth and undulated stainless steel surfaces were coated with molybdenum disulfide by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and friction tested. Under identical test conditions, the friction coefficient of coated undulated surfaces is between 20–40 percent lower than that of coated smooth surfaces. The friction coefficient of undulated uncoated surfaces is about 100–350 percent less than that of smooth uncoated surfaces. Moreover, the entrapment of wear particles at the interfaces of geometrically constrained bearings may lead to seizure even when bearing surfaces ...
The effects of instructional set on social skills performance among psychiatric inpatient children

The present investigation examined the extent to which children's social skills performance was influenced by altering the instructional set of the assessment procedures. Thirty-four psychiatric inpatient children, ages 7 to 13, completed behavioral and self-report measures of social skills under three alternative assessment conditions. Initial assessment was conducted under standard instructions. On subsequent assessment occasions, children received instructional sets to perform in a way to convey highly appropriate social behavior (fake-good) or highly inappropriate social behavior (fake-poor). The order of the instructional sets was counterbalanced across children and across alternate forms of the measures. The results indicated significant changes on behavioral role-play performance and knowledge measures as a function of instructional set. Social skills performance under fake-poor and fake-good instructions were consistently lower and higher, respectively, than pretest performance under standard instructions. The implications for identifying social skills deficits in children and evaluating intervention programs are discussed.
Pulsed plasma microthruster applications and techniques.

Pulsed plasma microthruster, discussing solid propellant electrical thruster /SPET/ design, feed system and application for earth synchronous satellite
Possibleπ(h 11 2/3 g 7 2/−1 ) states in144Nd

High spin states of the nucleus144Nd have been studied using the techniques of gamma-ray spectroscopy and the130Te(18O,4n) reaction at 85 MeV. It is suggested that a sequence of states having J=17–24 arises from the coupling of the h 1 2/3 g 7 2−1 proton configuration to the f 7 2/2 and f7/2h9/2 neutron configurations.
Application of molecular markers to assess genetic relationships among accessions of wild oat, Avena sterilis

The Avena sterilis collection in the National Small Grains Collection (NSGC) is an invaluable source of genetic variation to be exploited by oat breeding programs. Prior knowledge of the structure and distribution of genetic variation within the A. sterilis collection would be useful to efficiently screen the collection for valuable traits. To determine genetic structure within a subset of the collection, restriction fragment length polymorphisms were analyzed in a stratified sample of 173 accessions originating in eight countries of Africa and Southwest Asia. Of the 48 probes used for this study 43 detected polymorphism among accessions. The average number of RFLP patterns per probe ranged from 2.9 among Ethiopian accessions to 3.7 among those from Iran. Genetic variation, as measured by genetic distances and polymorphic indexes, was highest in Iran and lowest in Ethiopia. The probability of drawing a genotype from Iran or Iraq that is not present in the more western regions was high, indicating large genetic divergence of the Iran-Iraq accessions from the other regional collections surveyed. Cluster analysis of genetic distances and probabilities of unique genotypes clearly differentiated the eastern region (Iran and Iraq) from the western region (Algeria, Ethiopia, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, and Syria). The western region could be further subdivided into two clusters, an African cluster (Algeria, Ethiopia, and Morocco) and a southwestern Asia cluster (Israel, Lebanon, and Syria). Genetic distances were generally related to but not proportional to geographical distances.
Magnetic susceptibility of iron pyrite (FeS2) between 4.2 and 620 K

Abstract The magnetic susceptibilities (χ) of several natural single crystals of iron pyrite (FeS2) have been measured between 4.2 and 620 K with a force magnetometer. The measured susceptibilities are shown to related to the magnetic impurities present in the samples. For a pure sample, χ = 1.7 × 10−7 emu/g at room temperature, with a small monotonic increase of χ with temperature. The results for a pure sample are interpreted in terms of contributions from diamagnetism and Van Vleck paramagnetism.
Variance reduction: The current state

Abstract Estimation efficiency is an increasingly important issue in the design and analysis of large-scale simulation experiments. This paper surveys recent research on the major variance reduction techniques that have been developed for or adapted to Monte Carlo studies. Current unresolved problems and directions for future research are also discussed.
Consumers' Level of Expectation for Services and the Role of Implicit Service Promises

Abstract This research attempts to understand the relationship among the concepts of consumers' expectations, their predictions about the service, and the affect of implicit service promises on shaping those predictions. The tenability of the popular SERVQUAL and Consumer Expectations of Service models based upon an ideal point standard are examined. A Revised Consumer Expectations Model is proposed where consumers' quality assessments are studied irrespective of preconceived “ideal” expectations. The consumers' level of expectations for service quality will be shown to be guided and shaped, in part, by implicit service cues. Specifically, service employees' dress, presentation, and demeanor serve as the implicit provider cues in this research. Last, the implications of understanding the impact of influencing consumer expectations of service quality prior to consumption of the service will be discussed.
The effect of carbonization heating rate on charcoal and active carbon yields

The thermal decomposition of white oak chips was investigated by pyrolyzing 1-k samples at atmospheric pressure in an electricallyheated batch reactor using five carbonization heating rates from 0.98 to 9.44°C/min, and a maximum temperature of 490°C. The resulting charcoals were then activated with steam in a second batch reactor. Iodine number was used as a measure of the sorptive capacity of the active carbon. Charcoal yields decreased as the carbonization heating rate increased, particularly for rates less than about 4°C/min. Active carbon yields decreased and iodine numbers increased as the severity of gasification increased. For carbonization heating rates greater than about 4°C/min, the active carbon yield for a given iodine number was essentially independent of the heating rate.
Terrestrial Remotely Sensed Imagery in Support of Public Health: New Avenues of Research Using Object-Based Image Analysis

The benefits of terrestrial remote sensing in the environmental sciences are clear across a range of applications, and increasingly remote sensing analyses are being integrated into public health research. This integration has largely been in two areas: first, through the inclusion of continuous remote sensing products such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) or moisture indices to answer large-area questions associated with the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases or other health exposures; and second, through image classification to map discrete landscape patches that provide habitat to disease-vectors or that promote poor health. In this second arena, new improvements in object-based image analysis (or "OBIA") can provide advantages for public health research. Rather than classifying each pixel based on its spectral content alone, the OBIA approach first segments an image into objects, or segments, based on spatially connected pixels with similar spectral properties, and then these objects are classified based on their spectral, spatial and contextual attributes as well as by their interrelations across scales. The approach can lead to increases in classification accuracy, and it can also develop multi-scale topologies between objects that can be utilized to help understand human-disease-health systems. This paper provides a brief review of what has been done in the public health literature with continuous and discrete mapping, and then highlights the key concepts in OBIA that could be more of use to public health researchers interested in integrating remote sensing into their work.
Integrating Anthropology in Medical Education: Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons

An increased awareness of the social determinants of disease and the role of social factors in patient health outcomes may open up opportunities for applied anthropologists in the field of medicine and other health sciences. Recent trends in medical education call for both increasing future physicians' competencies in social and behavioral sciences, as well as teamwork and communication. Cuff and Vanselow (2004:4) noted that:Skills in the behavioral and social sciences are essential for the prevention of many chronic diseases and for effective management of patients with these diseases… In addition good communication skills and the cross-disciplinary education discussed in this report will improve their ability to relate to their colleagues in medicine, as well as other professionals.
Fundamentals of Spark-Plasma Sintering: Applications to Net-Shaping of High Strength Temperature Resistant Components

Spark-plasma sintering (SPS) is an emerging powder consolidating technique which provides significant advantages to the processing of high temperature materials with poor deformability into configurations previously unattainable. Net-shaping capabilities of spark-plasma sintering are analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. Modeling and experimentation are conducted for cylindrical, prismatic, and complex powder specimen shapes. The impact of the “shape factor” on the non-uniformity of temperature, relative density, and grain size spatial distributions is analyzed. The modeling results are compared to the experimentally obtained data on the spark plasma sintering of high strength temperature resistant powder-based materials. The conducted research indicates the promising capabilities and addresses the challenges of spark-plasma sintering of complex-shape parts.
Holding a Place: Parents' Lives Following Removal of Infant Life Support

Abstract There are 34 000 neonatal deaths occurring annually in the United States, many of which occur after removal of life support. The purposes of this grounded theory study were to explore and describe parents' experiences with making the decision to discontinue life support for their critically ill infant and to identify the process that allows them to then move forward with their lives after the infant's death. Data were generated by face-to-face and telephone interviews with a theoretical sample of 15 parents. Three thematic concepts with subthemes emerged: Facing the Decision ( No Real Choice , Time with the Infant ), Life Goes On ( Listen to Your Heart , An Abiding Loss , Not Left Out ), and Lives Forever Changed ( New Perspectives , Preparing to Meet Again ). The substantive theory, The Process of Holding a Place , describes the basic social process parents used to carry their deceased infant forward with them in their daily lives.