cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Annealing effects on the crystallinity of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and its carbon fiber composite

The degree of crystallinity of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been measured using both the density gradient technique (DGT) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The difference in results between the methods was shown to depend on crystallization taking place during the heating scan in the DSC. By freezing the sample at different stages of the DSC thermogram and measuring its crystallinity in the density gradient column, the existence of induced crystallization for PEEK was established. Though this induced crystallization is not visible in the DSC thermogram, it must be taken into account when comparing the degree of crystallinity measured by the two methods. The induced crystallization was in turn interpreted as a result of an increase in crystal perfection that is also commonly observed during the initial stages of the annealing process. Accordingly, the effect of annealing on the crystallinity was also investigated. DSC scans on annealed samples exhibited a small endothermic peak at approximately 10°C above the annealing temperature. This peak was observed in both neat PEEK and its carbon fiber-reinforced composite. Annealed PEEK shows, therefore, two melting transitions, a low one which depends on the annealing temperature and a high one which is independent of annealing temperature conditions. Collectively, the results of this study demonstrate that processing conditions and morphological features must be considered in characterizing semicrystalline-based matrix polymers for high performance composites.
Response Surface Methodologies for Low-Boom Supersonic Aircraft Design using Equivalent Area Distributions

The use of response surface models (also known as surrogate models) to describe the performance of aerospace systems within a given design space is by now fairly well established in the MDO community. Despite such widespread use, surrogate-based optimization techniques can incur signicant computational expense when high-dimensional spaces must be modeled. In this paper we describe an adaptive, constrained optimization methodology that is based on (a) Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), (b) the use of gradient information, inexpensively obtained via adjoint methods throughout the design space, (c) an adaptive sampling technique based on the notion of expected improvement, and (d) the treatment of nonlinear constraints (within the adaptive sampling loop) so that the number of unnecessary infeasible samples is signicantly reduced. The methodology is demonstrated using a number of analytic examples as well as with CFD-based low-boom airfoil and aircraft design problems using constraints based on target equivalent area distributions. This work is part of a larger eort (jointly with Lockheed Martin) to develop a multidisciplinary analysis and optimization framework for the high-delity design of lowboom supersonic aircraft within the NASA N+2 Supersonics eort.
Neutrons and Gamma Rays from the Alpha-Particle Bombardment of Be 9 , B 10 , B 11 , C 13 , and O 18

Excitation curves at 0° and 90° were studied for neutrons and γ rays produced in bombardment of thin targets of Be9, B10, B11, C13, and O18 by α particles with energies of from 1.8 to 5.3 Mev. Resonances were observed in the Be9(α, n)C12 reaction at bombarding energies of 1.9, 2.3, 2.6, 3.98, 4.4, and 5.0 Mev. The C13(α, n)O16 reaction showed resonances at 2.09, 2.25, 2.42, 2.605, 2.69, 2.775, 2.825, 3.09, 3.33, 3.42, 3.67, 3.73, 4.125, 4.42, 4.50, 4.63, 4.75, and 5.05 Mev. The B10(α, n)N13 excitation curve has resonances at 2.16, 2.25, 2.90, 4.53, 4.85, and 5.36 Mev, while the γ-ray yield from the B10(α, pγ)C13 reaction showed all these as well as resonances at 3.6 and 3.95 Mev. The B11(α, n)C13 reaction has resonances at bombarding energies of 2.06, 2.60, 2.93, 2.97, 3.23, 3.54, 3.72, 3.92, 4.25, 4.34, and 5.00 Mev. The O18(α, n)Ne21 reaction was studied with a thicker target (90-130 kev). Resonances in the neutron yield were resolved at 2.21, 2.47, 2.57, 2.72, 2.94, 3.24, 3.63, 3.91, 4.12, 4.22, 4.33, 4.52, and 4.82 Mev. Cross sections and widths of the resonances in the various reactions were determined.
A scoring system to predict postoperative medical complications in high-risk patients undergoing elective thoracic and lumbar arthrodesis.

Abstract Background Context Various surgical factors affect the incidence of postoperative medical complications following elective spinal arthrodesis. Because of the inter-relatedness of these factors, it is difficult for clinicians to accurately risk-stratify individual patients. Purpose Our goal was to develop a scoring system that predicts the rate of major medical complications in patients with significant preoperative medical comorbidities, as a function of the four perioperative parameters that are most closely associated with the invasiveness of the surgical intervention. Study Design/Setting This study used level 2, Prognostic Retrospective Study. Patient Sample The patient sample consisted of 281 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) scores of 3–4 who underwent elective thoracic, lumbar, or thoracolumbar fusion surgeries from 2007 to 2011. Outcome Measures Physiologic risk factors, number of levels fused, complications, operative time, intraoperative fluids, and estimate blood loss were the outcome measures of this study. Methods Risk factors were recorded, and patients who suffered major medical complications within the 30-day postoperative period were identified. We used chi-square tests to identify factors that affect the medical complication rate. These factors were ranked and scored by quartiles. The quartile scores were combined to form a single composite score. We determined the major medical complication rate for each composite score, and divided the cohort into quartiles again based on score. A Pearson linear regression analysis was used to compare the incidence of complications to the score. Results The number of fused levels, operative time, volume of intraoperative fluids, and estimated blood loss influenced the complication rate of patients with ASA scores of 3–4. The quartile ranking of each of the four predictive factors was added, and the sum became the composite score. This score predicted the complication rate in a linear fashion ranging from 7.6% for the lowest risk group to 34.7% for the highest group (r=0.998, p Conclusions Taken together, the four factors, though not independent of one another, proved to be strongly predictive of the major medical complication rate. This score can be used to guide medical management of thoracic and lumbar spinal arthrodesis patients with preexisting medical comorbidities.
Feeding Practices and Nutrient Intakes Among Elite Show Jumpers

The objective of this study was to quantify feed and macronutrient intake, as well as generate information regarding nutritional concerns, in 34 elite-show jumper horses. All feed was weighed and used to determine digestible energy (DE), crude protein (CP), Ca, and P amounts offered to the horses daily. Questions to the horse's representative generated information regarding nutrition-related concerns, such as colic or gastric ulcers. Total feed intake averaged 14.9 ± 2.8 kg and was fed at 2.8 ± 0.5% of body weight (BW) on an as-fed basis. The DE offered met 119 ± 4.8% of the National Research Council (NRC) (2007) requirements for a horse at heavy work or 94.2 ± 17% of recommendations for very heavy work. Crude protein offered was also between these two classifications of workload. When expressed on a per kilogram BW basis, DE in the offered diet was 62.5 ± 11.4 kcal/kg BW and CP was 2.0 ± 0.5 g/kg BW. Ca in the diets offered more than two times the NRC requirements, while the diets only contained on average 87% of the NRC P requirements. Nutrition-related concerns were low, in part due to the widespread preventative use of ulcer medications and joint supplements (or injections). Colic concern was also low in this group of horses, despite frequent travel and sudden changes to new feeds. This study highlights a need for horse representatives to be mindful of feed selection when traveling to different venues where different feeds are available.
MODEL STUDIES OF THE DYNAMICS OF AN LSM MOORED IN WAVES

Presented in this report are the results of model tests performed to determine the motions of a moored LSM (Landing Ship Medium) and the associated mooring cable forces when subjected to the action of uniform periodic water waves. Details are given of the design and construction of the 1:60 scale model LSM and the dynamic balancing of the model. Principles of the designs of the model mooring cables and of the meter for measuring the cable forces are also presented. The use of the laboratory equipment, such as the wave-towing tank, the model basin, the photography equipment, and the force and wave height meters are described, and the testing procedure is outlined. The data are presented in terms of the prototype in graphical form. Resonance conditions in the surging and heaving motions and the associated high cable forces, are shown to exist for some initial cable tensions within the range of wave periods normal encountered in many ocean areas. The effect of a roll damping device is shown.
Neutron Scattering Studies of C61H2

We report neutron diffraction measurements of orientational ordering, and inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the inter- and intra-molecular excitations, for the 6:5 an-nulene isomer (Cs symmetry) of C61H2. We confirm previous x-ray measurements[1] which have shown that above 290K this isomer has an fee structure, with the molecules orienta-tionally disordered such that the methylene groups preferentially occupy “octahedral” sites. Below 290K, the diffraction pattern can be indexed on a simple cubic lattice, in direct analogy with the orientational ordering transition of COO- The observed low energy dynamics reflect this behavior. A peak corresponding to molecular librations is observed below the transition, at ~2.5meV, while above the transition the peak collapses into a quasielastic line characteristic of rotational diffusion. The intramolecular spectra show several pronounced peaks. The assignments of these modes are discussed.
Marriage and Relationship Satisfaction of Physicians

Abstract Social science research and popular writings suggest that physicians' work places them at risk for dissatisfaction in marriage and personal relationships. Job demands, the service ethic associated with medicine, and medical communication styles that clash with those most effective in personal life all are identified as potential risks to physicians' satisfaction in personal-life relationships. Furthermore, job stresses associated with medical work might create a contagion effect, with negative affect generated by work-related stresses brought into personal life. Some writers suggest that women doctors risk dissatisfaction in personal relationships more so than men, since women often have more responsibility in home life and men married or involved with women with busy careers might experience relative deprivation, compared with men with nonemployed wives. Using regression analyses of interview data from young women and men doctors who entered practice within the last four years, no gender differe...
Numerical Investigation of Parametric and Off-Design Performance Analysis and Simulation for Airbreathing Engines at Hypersonic Velocities

he Airbreathing Engine Analysis and Simulation tool (ABREAST) is a GUI based tool being developed in Matlab. ABREAST can analyze many engine configurations including Pre-Cooled Turbojet, Turbojet, Afterburning Turbojet, Ramjet, Scramjet and other turbine based cycle engines. ABREAST is being written in Matlab since it is architecture neutral, programs can easily be distributed and deployed in any platform for execution. ABREAST is an engineering tool for comprehensive engine cycle analysis for Parametric and Off Design Point analysis. To properly assess the advantages and disadvantages of various engines, airbreathing or rocket propulsion, an engine performance tool like ABREAST is required. ABREAST is capable of modeling engine performance effects that will subsequently be propagated throughout the conceptual design process via trajectory analysis, weight assessment, fuel balance calculations, thermal environment, life cycle, etc. For a given engine configuration, ABREAST generates engine thrust and Isp as a function of altitude and Mach number for each operating mode of the engine. For maximum thrust, additional fuel can be burned after the turbine. This thrust augmentation decreases fuel efficiency while it certainly increases the specific thrust up to a fifty percent. Afterburning Turbojet Engine configuration is modeled and studied for parametric and off design analysis. ABREAST can be executed as a stand-alone component and also from the web. The plots can be accessed from a GUI that ABREAST generates. This paper describes the current status in the development of the ABREAST project, charts have been drawn for comparison with various industry standard codes for data validations and the results have been successful. The validations show good correlation between the codes and verify that the tool works as expected.
The rhetoric of “responsible fishing”: Notions of human rights and sustainability in the European Union's bilateral fishing agreements with developing states

Over the past two decades, European Union rhetoric has communicated a desire to take on a normative power role in advancing human rights and sustainable development approaches in the context of global fisheries policy. Officials have propagated an image of a “new Europe,” committed to promoting good maritime governance and ensuring responsible fishing worldwide as part of its global responsibility to human rights and sustainable development. These normative principles have at times been framed as an integral part of the European Union's legal and political identity. In practice, however, the European Union's bilateral fishing agreements with developing states have come short of European Union aspirations, facing criticism for hindering rather than aiding local development. This paper explores the bilateral agreements from an international law perspective, engaging in grounded theory, discourse analysis, and a detailed case study on European Union-Senegal fishing relations. For the European Union, the article raises questions about conflicts between national and supranational fishing goals and about the challenges these conflicts present to its goal of normative leadership. More generally, the study suggests implications for enacting international law principles on the ground, as well as for the inherent power dynamics of post-colonial relations.
Systemic Transgression and Cultural Rewriting in Pynchon's Fiction

Zoyd eyeballed himself in the mirror behind the bar, gave his hair a shake, turned, poised, then screaming ran empty-minded at the window and went crashing through. He knew the instant he hit that something was funny. There was hardly any impact, and it all felt and sounded different, no spring or resonance, no volume, only a sort of fine, dulled splintering … On the Tube, Zoyd came blasting out the window, along with the dubbed-in-sounds now of real glass breaking.
Adding Career Biographies and Career Narratives to Career Interest Inventories

This study with 20 adults explored adding career biographies and career narrative writing to the career interest assessment report process. Participants reported that biographies and narratives helped them identify themes to consider how their career plans fit their personal lifestyle, meaning making, and values. This study offers 1 way to incorporate narratives and story to explore the self and self-in-context to activate meaning-making processes in career interest assessment reports. Until career interest assessment reports include career biographies and a process for writing career narratives, only career counselors can offer this type of service to clients.
The association between variant alleles of GSTM1 and GSTT1 and lung cancer risk: a nested case-control study in Washington County, Maryland

B14 Background: Polymorphic GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes regulate the detoxification of tobacco-related carcinogens and may play a role in lung carcinogenesis. Extensive studies have investigated the association between GSTM1 and GSTT1 and lung cancer risk. However, traditional genotyping assays were unable to discriminate between homozygous wild-type +/+ and heterozygous +/0 individuals and phenotypic differences in enzymatic activity associated with these genotypes may modulate lung cancer risk. In this study, we used a recently developed genotyping assay to investigate the associations between copy number variant alleles of GSTM1 and GSTT1 and lung cancer risk. > Methods: We conducted a case-control study nested in a well-characterized, community-based cohort. First-time diagnoses of lung cancer (n=137) were matched to cancer-free controls (n=441) on age, gender, and cigarette smoking history. DNA obtained from blood samples provided at baseline was genotyped using real-time PCR-based assay. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate Odds Ratios (ORs) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs). > Results: Compared to those with the GSTM1 homozygous wild-type 0/0, the relative odds of lung cancer increased from 1.49 (95% CI: 0.66-3.40) to 1.80 (95% CI: 0.81-4.01) for the GSTM1 +/0 and 0/0 genotypes, respectively (p-value for trend: 0.13). When stratified by smoking intensity, the risk associations were primarily concentrated among lighter smokers (OR: 3.25; 95% CI: 0.93-11.34 for ≥1 variant GSTM1 alleles). The results for GSTT1 were null. > Conclusions: Additional variant alleles of GSTM1 were not strongly associated with the risk of lung cancer overall, but the risks were more pronounced among lighter cigarette smokers. GSTM1 variant alleles may have a more discernable impact on lung cancer susceptibility under circumstances when the dose of exposure to carcinogens is less. The results for GSTM1 suggest that new genotyping assays that classify those heterozygous from those homozygous for variant alleles will allow the role of GSTs in lung carcinogenesis to be more precisely characterized.
CRISPR/Cas9 Editing of the Mutant Huntingtin Allele In Vitro and In Vivo

Huntington disease (HD) is a fatal dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by CAG repeat expansion (>36 repeats) within the first exon of the huntingtin gene. Although mutant huntingtin (mHTT) is ubiquitously expressed, the brain shows robust and early degeneration. Current RNA interference-based approaches for lowering mHTT expression have been efficacious in mouse models, but basal mutant protein levels are still detected. To fully mitigate expression from the mutant allele, we hypothesize that allele-specific genome editing can occur via prevalent promoter-resident SNPs in heterozygosity with the mutant allele. Here, we identified SNPs that either cause or destroy PAM motifs critical for CRISPR-selective editing of one allele versus the other in cells from HD patients and in a transgenic HD model harboring the human allele.
ArgTrust: decision making with information from sources of varying trustworthiness

This work aims to support decision making in situations where sources of information are of varying trustworthiness. Formal argumentation is used to capture the relationships between such information sources and conclusions drawn from them. A prototype implementation is demonstrated, applied to a problem from military decision making.
Oxalate-Promoted Trace Metal Release from Crystalline Iron Oxides under Aerobic Conditions

Iron oxides are common in soils and sediments and bind trace metals, such as nickel, through adsorption and structural incorporation. Recent work has shown that incorporated metals can be released during recrystallization catalyzed by aqueous Fe(II), which is generally stable only under anoxic conditions. This paper investigates the effects of the organic acid oxalate on the fate of nickel substituted into goethite and hematite to evaluate potential nonredox pathways of iron oxide recrystallization. Nickel-substituted hematite and goethite were synthesized and then reacted with 1 mM oxalate at pH 3–7 for ≤15 days. At all pH values, the presence of oxalate led to substantial nonstoichiometric release of nickel into solution compared to oxalate-free systems, with the extent of release increasing with decreasing pH. The rate of nickel release also increased with increasing oxalate surface coverage, and nonstoichiometric release of nickel was observed even under conditions producing no net mineral dissolution...
Rh-promoted mixed oxides for “low-temperature” methane partial oxidation in the absence of gaseous oxidants

Compared to conventional reforming, chemical looping reforming (CLR), which partially oxidizes methane in the absence of gaseous oxidants such as steam or oxygen, offers a simpler and potentially more efficient route for syngas generation. This is achieved by cyclic removal and replenishment of active lattice oxygen in oxygen carrier particles, a.k.a. redox catalysts. With redox catalysts being at the heart of CLR, their activity and selectivity are crucial for the CLR performance. While many redox catalysts have been developed, their activities toward methane partial oxidation (POx), especially at relatively low temperatures, are often limited due to the high activation energy for the migration and removal of lattice oxygen. Moreover, syngas selectivity is often less than ideal due to the non-selective nature of the surfaces for many oxides. To address these limitations, we investigated the effects of promoting the catalytic activity of oxide surfaces for two redox catalysts: CaMnO3 and LaCeO3. Our findings indicate that promoting mixed oxides with a small amount of Rh can lower the onset temperature of methane POx by as much as 300 °C (0.5 wt% Rh loading). Over 93% syngas selectivity and 7.9 mmol of syngas per gram of redox catalyst were obtained for a highly stable, Rh promoted CaMnO3 at 600 °C, making it a promising redox catalyst for methane POx under a cyclic redox scheme.
Abscisic Acid Modulates Seed Germination via ABA INSENSITIVE5-Mediated PHOSPHATE1.

The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) controls many developmental and physiological processes. Here, we report that PHOSPHATE1 (PHO1) participates in ABA-mediated seed germination and early seedling development. The transcription of PHO1 was obviously enhanced during seed germination and early seedling development and repressed by exogenous ABA. The pho1 mutants (pho1-2, pho1-4, and pho1-5) showed ABA-hypersensitive phenotypes, whereas the PHO1-overexpressing lines were ABA-insensitive during seed germination and early seedling development. The expression of PHO1 was repressed in the ABI5-overexpressing line and elevated in the abi5 mutant, and ABI5 can bind to the PHO1 promoter in vitro and in vivo, indicating that ABI5 directly down-regulated PHO1 expression. Disruption of PHO1 abolished the ABA-insensitive germination phenotypes of abi5 mutant, demonstrating that PHO1 was epistatic to ABI5. Together, these data demonstrate that PHO1 is involved in ABA-mediated seed germination and early seedling development and transcriptionally regulated by ABI5.
Role of metabolic hormones and inflammation in the association between obesity and somatic depression

Depression is nearly twice as prevalent among obese versus lean adults. Obesity is marked by chronic inflammation and metabolic dysregulation, both of which have been independently associated with depression. However, their role in depression-obesity comorbidity remains poorly characterized. Presently, we investigated β2-adrenergic-receptor-mediated inflammation control (“BARIC”) and metabolic parameters (leptin and insulin resistance, IR) in the obesity and depressive symptoms relationship among 129 men (48.8%) and women (51.2%) aged 18–65. Somatic depression scores (Beck Depression Inventory; BDI) were higher in individuals with inflammation dysregulation (β = −0.14, se = 0.07, p = 0.047) or elevated IR (β = 0.28, se = 0.11, p = 0.014), after adjusting for age, race, gender, and body mass index (BMI), but not in individuals with elevated serum leptin (β = −0.02, se = 0.12, p = 0.89). Multivariate regression models indicated that increasing BMI had smaller effects on somatic depression among individuals with elevated IR (β = −0.18, se = 0.07, p = 0.019), and somewhat smaller effects among individuals with elevated inflammation (β = 0.11, se = 0.06, p = 0.096). Our results suggest that dysregulated inflammation control and subclinical IR are associated with depressive mood beyond the effects of obesity alone. Furthermore, insulin dysregulation may represent a greater risk factor for depressive symptoms in lean versus obese individuals. The inflammation-metabolic-regulation interplay warrants further investigation in depression-obesity comorbidity.
Workplace Ethics: Issues for Human Service Professionals in the New Millennium

Human service professionals must navigate terrain laden with ethical obstacles. The values of the human services frequently come in conflict with the goals of the management of work organizations, which generally are productivity and profit. Human service professionals therefore need to have a clear conceptual framework that can serve as a guide when making complex ethical decisions and when confronting ethical dilemmas. Key to success in this regard will be the ability to blend organizational sophistication with an understanding of the ethical theory of “the common good.” In the end, what will be critical is the willingness to bind oneself to such a normative discipline of morality that underscores the principles of advocacy and equity.
A COMPARISON OF THE ALCAN PLAN WITH THE METHANOL APPROACH FOR PRUDHOE BAY NATURAL GAS

Publisher Summary The utilization of Prudhoe Bay natural gas occupies the attention of both industry and government in the United States and Canada. The Alcan plan to build a 4800-mile long, 48-in diameter pipeline was endorsed in principle first by the Canadian government and then by that of the United States. For political and environmental reason, it was chosen over the Arctic Gas and El Paso plans, both of which were more thoroughly designed and evaluated transportation systems. There is considerable doubt as to whether the Alcan plan is the best way to bring Prudhoe Bay natural gas to market. It certainly has not undergone the extended engineering, environmental, and economic studies that the other two plans did. The published costs for it are climbing rapidly with time as the costs did for the Alyeska oil pipeline and the Arctic Gas and El Paso plans. There is every reason to believe that its eventual cost would not be too different from the Arctic Gas plan because the total distances and the terrain crossed by both are quite similar.
Regional blood flow during cross-clamping of the thoracic aorta and infusion of sodium nitroprusside.

Labeled microspheres, 15 μm in diameter, were used to determine cardiac output and regional blood flow response to cross-clamping of the midthoracic aorta and subsequent sodium nitroprusside (SNP) infusion in 11 dogs. During aortic cross-clamping, mean arterial pressure above the occlusion (MAPa) increased 30% to 35%, mean arterial pressure below the occlusion (MAPb) decreased 87%, cardiac index decreased 12% to 14%, left atrial pressure (LAP) doubled, and renal and spinal cord (lower part) blood flows decreased substantially (85% to 94%). SNP infusion returned MAPa to baseline values, decreased MAPb by half, and substantially and further decreased renal blood flow (to 3% to 5% of baseline values). Myocardial and cerebral blood flows increased substantially (up to 250% to 400%). An increase in preload (fluid load) was accompanied by an increase in LAP, cardiac index, and myocardial blood flow only but not in renal or spinal cord flow. There was a strong association between cortical renal blood flow and MAPb (r2 = 0.92; p
Deep Sub-Surface Eddies in the Gulf of Mexico

The study is focused on the analysis of the kinematic structure and dynamics of eddy currents that develop in sub-surface layers of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM); that is, eddy currents that do not have a clear surface signature. Such eddies have a weak surface expression and therefore are difficult to detect and monitor based on remote sensing data. Although in the past studies of such eddies received certain attention, our understanding of their characteristics, generation mechanisms, and dynamics remains poor, due to the lack of direct measurements and process-oriented modeling studies. In our study, we use publicly available current profile data, collected in the GOM to meet the requirements of data collection associated with the regulations imposed by the US government, in combination with the surface drifter data used to describe the oceanographic context behind the measurements and results from the HYCOM, Mercator, and TOPS hydrodynamic models. The results of our analyses show that, for the most part, these sub-surface events appear to correspond with the presence of cyclonic eddies. The surface signature of the eddies is usually weak, but the near-surface drifting buoys do pick up the circulation. Also, in some cases, the maps of surface currents reveal the presence of a Loop Current Eddy in the vicinity of a deep sub-surface flow, suggesting frontal instabilities that lead to the development of meso-scale (mostly cold-core) features along frontal boundaries as a plausible eddy generation mechanism. Our comparison of model data with observations, for the periods of the occurrence of deep subsurface flows, did not reveal any signatures of deep sub-surface flows in the outputs of the hydrodynamic models. Moreover, screening of the model data for the presence of deep sub-surface flows with a weak surface expression did not turn up even a single such case, suggesting that the models do not have the right physics to resolve deep subsurface flows. The latter result emphasizes the timeliness of the study for a better understanding of flow dynamics in the GOM.
Mass Manufacturing of Self-Actuating Robots: Integrating Sensors and Actuators Using Flexible Electronics

Currently, the manufacturing of self-actuating and self-sensing robots requires non-standard manufacturing techniques and assembly steps to integrate electrical and mechanical systems. In this work, we developed a novel manufacturing technique, where such robots can be produced at a flexible electronics factory. We developed the technique using standard industrial machines, processes, and materials. Using a lamination process, we were able to integrate air pouches or shape memory alloy (SMA) inside a polyamide-based flexible circuit to produce bending actuators. The bend angle of the actuators is sensed with a chain of inertial measurement units integrated on the actuator. Air-pouch actuators can produce a force of a 2.24N, and a maximum bend angle of 74 degrees. To demonstrate, we manufactured a five-legged robot with the developed actuators and bend sensors, with all the supporting electronics (e.g., microcontrollers, radio) directly integrated into the flexible printed circuit. Such robots are flat and lightweight (15 grams) and thus conveniently compact for transportation and storage. We believe that our technique can allow inexpensive and fast prototyping and deployment of self-actuating and self-sensing robots.
Purification of Platelets from Mouse Blood

Platelets are purified from whole blood to study their functional properties, which should be free from red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), and plasma proteins. We describe here purification of platelets from mouse blood using three-fold more iohexol gradient medium relative to blood sample volume and centrifugation in a swinging bucket rotor at 400 x g for 20 min at 20 °C. The recovery/yield of the purified platelets were 18.2-38.5%, and the purified platelets were in a resting state, which did not contain any significant number of RBC and WBC. The purified platelets treated with thrombin showed up to 93% activation, indicating their viability. We confirmed that the purified platelets are sufficiently pure using flow cytometric and microscopic evaluation. These platelets can be used for gene expression, activation, granule release, aggregation, and adhesion assays. This method can be used for purification of platelets from the blood of other species as well.
Advance Healthcare Planning

Advancing age is associated with increased morbidity and the need for complex medical decision-making. This process of decision-making becomes even more challenging when it pertains to end-of-life situations. Older adults are vulnerable to illnesses that can result in a loss of decision-making capacity and thereby limit their ability to participate in their healthcare decision-making. However, older adults can make their healthcare wishes and treatment preferences known in advance through a process called advance healthcare planning. Advance health care planning focuses on planning for future healthcare of individuals and to guide their families and healthcare professionals to provide care in accordance with the individual’s values and belief systems in an event that the individual loses their decisional capacity. This chapter reviews information regarding advance healthcare planning including its benefits and limitations.
P63 Evaluation of an Intervention to Promote Healthful Beverages Through the Provision of Free Recipe Cards at Grocery Stores

Objective To examine consumers’ use and perceptions of healthful beverage recipe cards distributed at grocery stores as part of a campaign to reduce sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) eligible households. Use of Theory or Research Point-of-purchase interventions have been used previously to effectively promote more healthful choices and shows promise here as a means to reduce SSB intake. Target Audience Consumers who shop at grocery stores located in or near low-income communities in Nevada. Program Description Partnerships with SNAP-approved grocery retailers (n = 18) resulted in store displays featuring free recipes for healthful, low-cost beverages. Evaluation Methods For four months, displays were stocked with recipe cards inviting consumers to complete an online survey (anticipating sample of 250). The 45-item survey instrument, administered using Survio, assessed consumers’ experiences and opinions. Respondents received a $10 e-gift card. Results During the study period, approximately 20,730 recipe cards were distributed and 238 surveys were completed. Most respondents had taken the recipe card(s) from a store located 15 minutes or less from home (70%), in an urban county (89%), where they usually shop (83%). The reasons most often endorsed for taking a card were interest in a new recipe (47%), the cards were free (47%) and/or a desire to make healthy drinks (44%). Those who had prepared the recipe (90%), were satisfied with the beverage as noted by a mean rating of 4.14 ± 1.02 measured using a five-point scale with 1 = very dissatisfied and 5 = very satisfied. A majority strongly agreed/agreed that the instructions were simple (95%), the ingredients were items they already buy (71%), and the recipes made healthy drinks more convenient (79%). Few found the ingredients too costly (11%) or noted important information missing (13%). Conclusions Partnerships with SNAP-approved retailers facilitated the distribution of healthful beverage recipes that were positively perceived by consumers. This point-of-purchase strategy has the potential to reduce SSB intake among persons in SNAP-Ed eligible households.
Becoming an Includer: Attaining Identity Holism from Manifesting Inclusion

People spend much of their lives being only part of who they are. Being who you are is inextricably tied not only to internal self-definitions, but also to others' perceptions and behaviors that va...
Experimental study on the nonlinear behavior of bearing-type semi-rigid connections

Abstract This paper investigates the effects of bearing-type deformations on the nonlinear response of beam-to-column bolted connections. To experimentally investigate these effects, a set of top-and-seat angle semi-rigid steel connections with the same size of wide flange beam but different angle sizes and beam bolt numbers were tested under monotonic and cyclic loadings. Using image processing techniques, the connection rotation and the beam horizontal displacement were measured and the contribution of slip at the contact surfaces to the overall connection rotational was measured. Bearing-type deformations increased overall connection flexibility and energy dissipation capacity in a manner that cannot be neglected in nonlinear analysis. Under monotonic loading, the test results revealed that the slip between the beam flanges and the angle legs dominated the bearing-type deformations and the ultimate connection rotation increased up to 19%. In cyclic loading tests, the bearing-type deformations increased the pinching behavior, added up to 41% to the energy dissipation capacity of the connections in the last cycles, and up to 35% to the ultimate connection rotation.
Improved Visual Focus of Attention Estimation and Prosodic Features for Analyzing Group Interactions

Collaborative group tasks require efficient and productive verbal and non-verbal interactions among the participants. Studying such interaction patterns could help groups perform more efficiently, but the detection and measurement of human behavior is challenging since it is inherently multimodal and changes on a millisecond time frame. In this paper, we present a method to study groups performing a collaborative decision-making task using non-verbal behavioral cues. First, we present a novel algorithm to estimate the visual focus of attention (VFOA) of participants using frontal cameras. The algorithm can be used in various group settings, and performs with a state-of-the-art accuracy of 90%. Secondly, we present prosodic features for non-verbal speech analysis. These features are commonly used in speech/music classification tasks, but are rarely used in human group interaction analysis. We validate our algorithms on a multimodal dataset of 14 group meetings with 45 participants, and show that a combination of VFOA-based visual metrics and prosodic-feature-based metrics can predict emergent group leaders with 64% accuracy and dominant contributors with 86% accuracy. We also report our findings on the correlations between the non-verbal behavioral metrics with gender, emotional intelligence, and the Big 5 personality traits.
A Compiler Infrastructure for FPGA and ASIC Development.

This whitepaper proposes a unified framework for hardware design tools to ease the development and inter-operability of said tools. By creating a large ecosystem of hardware development tools across vendors, academia, and the open source community, we hope to significantly increase much need productivity in hardware design.
What Is “Chinese” Food? Historicizing the Concept of Culinary Regionalism

When discussing Chinese food in the People’s Republic of China, the concept of culinary regionalism appears everywhere. Scholarly and popular accounts alike systematically list the same four (eight...
In vitro and in vivo evaluation of the antimalarial MMV665831 and structural analogs.

Abstract Antimalarial candidates possessing novel mechanisms of action are needed to control drug resistant Plasmodium falciparum. We were drawn to Malaria Box compound 1 (MMV665831) by virtue of its excellent in vitro potency, and twelve analogs were prepared to probe its structure–activity relationship. Modulation of the diethyl amino group was fruitful, producing compound 25, which was twice as potent as 1 against cultured parasites. Efforts were made to modify the phenolic Mannich base functionality of 1, to prevent formation of a reactive quinone methide. Homologated analog 28 had reduced potency relative to 1, but still inhibited growth with EC50 ≤ 200 nM. Thus, the antimalarial activity of 1 does not derive from quinone methide formation. Chemical stability studies on dimethyl analog 2 showed remarkable hydrolytic stability of both the phenolic Mannich base and ethyl ester moieties, and 1 was evaluated for in vivo efficacy in P. berghei-infected mice (40 mg/kg, oral). Unfortunately, no reduction in parasitemia was seen relative to control. These results are discussed in the context of measured plasma and hepatocyte stabilities, with reference to structurally-related, orally-efficacious antimalarials.
An Introduction to the Codex Cruz-Badianus

In 1929, Charles Upson Clark (1875–1960), a history Professor at Columbia University, carrying out bibliographic research for the Smithsonian Institution on the early history of the Americas in the Vatican Library, came across a remarkable illustrated Latin manuscript from 1552 entitled Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis (Little Book of Indian Medicinal Herbs). In the same year, Lynn Thorndike, Columbia Professor of Medieval Science and Alchemy, noted its existence in Cardinal Francesco Barberini’s catalogue of Vatican manuscripts, and Giuseppe Gabrielli (1872–1942), librarian at the Royal Academy of the Lincei, published a note on the Windsor copy. The 1552 manuscript, now generally referred to as the Codex Cruz-Badianus, was a revelation, spreading new light on botanical and medicinal knowledge of the indigenous peoples of Mexico known today as Nahuans or Aztecs. It was to have a major impact on the history of Aztec culture in sixteenth-century New Spain.
Inhibition of iNOS augments cutaneous endothelial NO-dependent vasodilation in prehypertensive non-Hispanic Whites and in non-Hispanic Blacks

Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is typically upregulated in conditions of increased oxidative stress and may have detrimental effects on the vasculature. Endothelial nitric oxide (NO), which...
Poly-Enrich: Count-based Methods for Gene Set Enrichment Testing with Genomic Regions and Updates to ChIP-Enrich

Gene set enrichment (GSE) testing enhances the biological interpretation of ChIP-seq data and other large sets of genomic regions. Our group has previously introduced two GSE methods for genomic regions: ChIP-Enrich for narrow regions and Broad-Enrich for broad genomic regions, such as histone modifications. Here, we introduce new methods and extensions that more appropriately analyze sets of genomic regions with vastly different properties. First, we introduce Poly-Enrich, which models the number of peaks assigned to a gene using a generalized additive model with a negative binomial family to determine gene set enrichment, while adjusting for locus length (#bps associated with each gene). This is the first method that controls for locus length while accounting for the number of peaks per gene and variability among genes. We also introduce a flexible weighting approach to incorporate region scores, a hybrid enrichment approach, and support for new gene set databases and reference genomes/species. As opposed to ChIP-Enrich, Poly-Enrich works well even when nearly all genes have a peak. To illustrate this, we used Poly-Enrich to characterize the pathways and types of genic regions (introns, promoters, etc) enriched with different families of repetitive elements. By comparing ChIP-Enrich and Poly-Enrich results from ENCODE ChIP-seq data, we found that the optimal test depends more on the pathway being regulated than on the transcription factor or other properties of the dataset. Using known transcription factor functions, we discovered clusters of related biological processes consistently better modeled with either the binary score method (ChIP-Enrich) or count based method (Poly-Enrich). This suggests that the regulation of certain processes is more often modified by multiple binding events (count-based), while others tend to require only one (binary). Our new hybrid method handles this by automatically choosing the optimal method, with correct FDR-adjustment.
Urban Areas Create Refugia for Odonates in a Semi-Arid Region

In western Texas, most wetlands are fed from precipitation runoff, making them sensitive to drought regimes, anthropogenic land-use activities in their surrounding watersheds, and the interactive effect between these two factors. We surveyed adult odonates in 133 wetlands (49 in grassland settings, 56 in cropland, and 28 in urban areas) in western Texas from 2003–2020; 33 species were recorded. Most species were widespread generalists, but urban wetlands had the highest species richness, as well as the most unique species of any of the three wetland types. Non-metric, multidimensional scaling ordination revealed that the odonate community in urban wetlands was distinctly different in composition than the odonates in non-urban wetlands. Urban wetlands were smaller in surface area than the other wetland types, but because they were fed from more consistently available urban runoff rather than seasonal precipitation, they had longer hydroperiods, particularly during a multi-year drought when wetlands in other land-cover contexts were dry. This anthropogenically enhanced water supply was associated with higher odonate richness despite presumably impaired water quality, indicating that consistent and prolonged presence of water in this semi-arid region was more important than the presence of native land cover within which the wetland existed. Compared to wetlands in the regional grassland landscape matrix, wetlands in agricultural and urban areas differed in hydroperiod, and presumably also in water quality; these effects translated to differences in the regional odonate assemblage by surrounding land-use type, with the highest richness at urban playas. Odonates in human environments may thus benefit through the creation of a more reliably available wetland habitat in an otherwise dry region.
Global Protection Corporation: Message from the Middle

A middle manager at a large company is unable to get her engineering customers and corporate bosses to see eye to eye on a public relations decision, and now her corporate boss seems to have totally misinterpreted her intentions. Suitable for MBA or executive education classes, this field case is a composite of actual experiences and fabricated elements. The case addresses a scarcity of material on the unique dilemmas faced by middle managers. Excerpt UVA-OB-1001 Rev. Mar. 31, 2014 GLOBAL PROTECTION CORPORATION: MESSAGE FROM THE MIDDLE “I think it is high time you slow down and consider your role and responsibilities in this organization.” The moment she read the first line of her corporate boss's e-mail, Amanda Barnard, communications manager for integrated services at Global Protection Corporation, knew she was in trouble. She had suspected that her original e-mail might stir the pot, but she had not been prepared for the boiling water in which she found herself. The business was on the brink of a major technology launch, and it was her job to make the world aware of it. Yet she was unable to get her engineering customers and corporate bosses to see eye to eye on taking the announcement public, and now her corporate boss seemed to have totally misinterpreted her intentions. As middle management, wasn't she supposed to route visions to a more concrete destination, to draw a clear roadmap? What did he think she was doing wrong? Why couldn't he appreciate her role and position? Global Protection Corporation . . .