cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Species-resolved imaging and gated photon counting Spectroscopy of laser ablation plume dynamics During krf- and arf-laser pld of amorphous diamond films

Gated photon counting spectroscopy and species-resolved ICCD photography have been applied to study the weak plasma luminescence which occurs following the propagation of the initial ablation plume in vacuum and during the ‘rebound’ of the plume with a substrate during pulsed laser deposition of amorphous diamond. These time- and spatially-resolved spectroscopic techniques were required in order to investigate notable differences between amorphous diamond-like carbon films formed by pulsed laser deposition from ArF (193 nm) and KrF (248 nm) irradiation of pyrolytic graphite in vacuum. Three principal regions of plume emission have been characterized: (1) a bright luminescent ball (v ∼3-5 cm/(μ.s) displaying nearly entirely C+ emission which appears to result from laser interaction with the initial ejecta, (2) a spherical ball of emission (v ∼1 cm/μs) displaying neutral carbon atomic emission lines and, at early times, jets of excited C2, and (3) a well-defined region of broadband emission (v ∼ 0.3 cm/μs) near the target surface first containing emission bands from C2, then weak, continuum emission thought to result from C3 and higher clusters and/or blackbody emission from hot clusters or nanoparticles. For both lasers, the measurements reveal an explosive interaction within the plume which results in a variety of new gas dynamic observations in vacuum:. These include (a) generation of instabilities or jets, (b) confinement of a residual part of the plume near the pellet surface, (c) cluster formation in the collisional, confined regions of the plume, and (d) reflection of the confined region backward to splash and redeposit on the pellet surface. Evidence for gas-phase formation of these clusters in vacuum is indicated from the dynamic evolution of the same cluster bands observed during the collision of the plume with the substrate surface during film growth. Addition of background gases strongly enhances the third (cluster) component, in accordance with plume-splitting phenomena. The combination of sensitive imaging and photon-counting diagnostic techniques permit an understanding of the importance of gas dynamic effects, such as clustering, on the time-of-flight distributions of species arriving during the deposition of thin films in both vacuum and background gases.
Absorption of Herbicides From the Rat Lung

To investigate the absorption of some herbicide compounds from the rat lung, 0.1 ml of a solution of compound (0.01 to 10 millimolar) in Krebs-Ringer phosphate solution (pH 7.4) was administered to anesthetized animals by way of a catheter introduced through a tight-fitting tracheal cannula. After various times, lungs were assayed for unabsorbed compound. The times, in minutes, necessary for 50% absorption were: 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), 1.4; 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), 1.7; 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (amitrole), 2.0; and diquat, 51. Comparison of absorption rates with concentrations, molecular weights, and lipoid solubilities of the compounds suggested that the results are consistent with the idea that absorption occurs by diffusion across a lipoid-pore type membrane.
Examples of nonclassical feedback control problems

We consider a control system with “nonclassical” dynamics: ẋ = f(t, x, u, Dxu), where the right hand side depends also on the first order partial derivatives of the feedback control function. Given a probability distribution on the initial data, we seek a feedback u = u(t, x) which minimizes the expected value of a cost functional. Various relaxed formulations of this problem are introduced. In particular, three specific examples are studied, showing the equivalence or non-equivalence of these approximations.
A review of the genus Omalus Panzer in North America (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae).

The biology and systematics of Omalus are briefly summarized. Several previously unused taxonomic features are discussed, and these are incorporated into a key to the 17 Nearctic species treated here. New species described are: Omalus downeyi , O . granti , O . trilobatus . and 0 . butleri , from western North America; O . telfordi , ranging from Texas to California; O . krombeini , from California and Arizona; and O . macswaini , Nearctic in its distribution. The other 10 species are briefly diagnosed, their distributions summarized, and their relationships discussed. Five of these are transferred into Omalus from other genera; one species, 0. janus (Hald.) ( = Elampus coruscans Norton, = E. purpuratus Prov., = Omalus semicircularis Aaron) is elevated from synonymy; and two European species are newly recorded from North America, with resulting new synonymy, viz. O. aeneus (F.) ( = O. laeviventris Cress., = O. diversus Aaron) and O. auratus (L.) (= Hedychrum sinuosum Say).
Dobutamine-Atropine Stress Echocardiography for Risk Stratification in Patients with Chronic Left Ventricular Dysfunction

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the prognostic value of sustained improvement, scar and inducible ischemia with or without viability in patients with chronic left ventricular dysfunction (LVD).Backgroun...
Pathology, Distribution, Morphological and Genetic Identity of Deladenus proximus (Tylenchida: Neotylenchidae) a Parasitic Nematode of the Woodwasp, Sirex nigricornis in the Eastern United States

Abstract The woodwasp, Sirex nigricornis (Hymenoptera: Siricidae), is solitary and utilizes a symbiotic fungus to extract nourishment from pine trees to feed its larvae. The woodwasp has a brief adult life, but the larvae develop for 1–3 years in the tree xylem. Infections with the nematode Deladenus proximus have been documented in the native woodwasp, S. nigricornis in the eastern United States and Canada. These nematodes appear to sterilize female woodwasps; however, the extent of the pathology and other aspects of the biology of D. proximus remain unknown. In this study we examined the effects of D. proximus on S. nigricornis using fresh – not preserved – specimens. Between 2009 and 2012, a total of 1639 woodwasps were examined for internal nematodes from emerging sites in Illinois, Louisiana and South Carolina. From this total, only 112 individuals were infected with the nematode D. proximus , with varying prevalence across localities and years. Nematodes were found inside every egg of infected females, as well as the hemocoel and the mycangia. Morphometric analyses of mycetophagous reared adult nematodes suggest that a single species is present in localities from Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, New York and South Carolina. The screening of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 ( cox1 ) of these organisms is consistent with this pattern in that all of these individuals belong to a single clade. Deladenus proximus appears to be an efficient sterilizer, yet its prevalence is relatively low. Experimental infections of the invasive Sirex noctilio are recommended to test the viability of using this nematode as a biological control agent.
Transient film condensation on a vertical surface in a porous medium

Analyse mathematique du probleme transitoire de la croissance de la couche mince de condensat et des caracteristiques associees du transfert de chaleur dans un milieu poreux adjacent a une plaque verticale dont la temperature est brusquement abaissee au-dessous de la temperature de saturation correspondante a sa pression
Using duality to implicitize and find cusps and inflection points of Bézier curves

A planar algebraic curve C has an implicit equation and a tangential equation. The tangential equation defines a dual curve to C. Starting with a parametrization of C, we find a parametrization of the dual curve, and the tangential equation and implicit equation of C in a novel way. We also find equations whose roots are the parameter values of the cusps and inflection points of C. Methods include polar reciprocation and the theory of envelopes.
Developing Water and Marginalising Israel/Palestinian Peace: A Critical Examination of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal Feasibility Study Process

Efforts to 'save' the Dead Sea have been globalised through the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal feasibility study process facilitated by the World Bank. In claiming a 'peace dividend' as one 'intangible benefit' of programme development and problem solving, the canal initiative has established the relevance of peace discourse as a basis for critiquing the process. This article critically examines phase one of the feasibility study process and its implications for regional peacebuilding in the light of a claimed 'peace dividend', assessing the practices of regional integration, knowledge construction and stakeholder participation.
Phenotypic analysis of EcR-A mutants suggests that EcR isoforms have unique functions during Drosophila development

The steroid hormone ecdysone triggers transitions between developmental stages in Drosophila by acting through a heterodimer consisting of the EcR and USP nuclear receptors. The EcR gene encodes three protein isoforms (EcR-A, EcR-B1, and EcR-B2) that have unique amino termini but that contain a common carboxy-terminal region including DNA-binding and ligand-binding domains. EcR-A and EcR-B1 are expressed in a spatially complementary pattern at the onset of metamorphosis, suggesting that specific responses to ecdysone involve distinct EcR isoforms. Here, we describe phenotypes of EcR-A specific deletion mutants isolated using transposon mutagenesis. Western blot analysis shows that each of these mutants completely lacks EcR-A protein, while the EcR-B1 protein is still present. The EcR112 strain has a deletion of EcR-A specific non-coding and regulatory sequences but retains the coding exons, while the EcR139 strain has a deletion of EcR-A specific protein coding exons but retains the regulatory region. In these mutants, the developmental progression of most internal tissues that normally express EcR-B1 is unaffected by the lack of EcR-A. Surprisingly, however, we found that one larval tissue, the salivary gland, fails to degenerate even though EcR-B1 is the predominant isoform. This result may indicate that the low levels of EcR-A in this tissue are in fact required. We identified yet another type of mutation, the EcR94 deletion, that removes the EcR-A specific protein coding exons as well as the introns between the EcR-A and EcR-B transcription start sites. This deletion places the EcR-A regulatory region adjacent to the EcR-B transcription start site. While EcR112 and EcR139 mutant animals die during mid and late pupal development, respectively, EcR94 mutants arrest prior to pupariation. EcR-A mutant phenotypes and lethal phases differ from those of EcR-B mutants, suggesting that the EcR isoforms have distinct developmental functions.
Scaling tape-recording areal densities to 100 Gb/in 2

We examine the issue of scaling magnetic tape-recording to higher areal densities, focusing on the challenges of achieving 100 Gb/in2 in the linear tape format. The current highest achieved areal density demonstrations of 6.7 Gb/in2 in the linear tape and 23.0 Gb/in2 in the helical scan format provide a reference for this assessment. We argue that controlling the head-tape interaction is key to achieving high linear density, whereas track-following and reel-to-reel servomechanisms as well as transverse dimensional stability are key for achieving high track density. We envision that advancements in media, data-detection techniques, reel-to-reel control, and lateral motion control will enable much higher areal densities. An achievable goal is a linear density of 800 Kb/in and a track pitch of 0.2 µm, resulting in an areal density of 100 Gb/in2.
DO MELANIN- OR CAROTENOID-PIGMENTED PLUMAGE ORNAMENTS SIGNAL CONDITION AND PREDICT PAIRING SUCCESS IN THE KENTUCKY WARBLER?

Abstract Yellow and red feathers pigmented by carotenoids can signal a bird's condition and are important to both female choice and male-male competition. Melanin-based ornaments are thought to be less effective than carotenoid ornaments as indicators of condition, though their signal function is still relatively unstudied. We examined both carotenoid and melanin-pigmented feather ornaments in a single species, the Kentucky Warbler (Oporornis formosus). Both males and females of this species have melanin-pigmented ornamentation (black crown, black face) and carotenoid-pigmented ornamentation (lemon-yellow undersides). Melanin-pigmented plumage patches were larger in males than females, and males had brighter breast plumage, with a larger ultraviolet component, than females. Among males in the wild, individuals in better condition had more extensive black caps and faces, but not brighter-yellow breasts. Males with larger black caps were more likely to attract mates. This work demonstrates that, in a specie...
Perception-action development from infants to adults: perceiving affordances for reaching through openings.

Perceiving possibilities for action—affordances—requires sensitivity, accuracy, and consistency. In the current study, we tested children of different ages (16-month-olds to 7-year-olds) and adults to examine the development of affordance perception for reaching through openings of various sizes. Using a psychophysical procedure, we estimated individual affordance functions to characterize participants’ actual ability to fit their hand through openings and individual decision functions to characterize attempts to reach. Decisions were less accurate in younger children (16-month-olds to 5-year-olds); they were more likely to attempt impossible openings and to touch openings prior to refusing, suggesting a slow developmental trend in learning to perceive affordances for fitting through openings. However, analyses of multiple outcome measures revealed that the youngest participants were equally consistent in their decision making as the oldest ones and that every age group showed sensitivity to changes in the environment by scaling their attempts to opening size.
Explicit Reading Comprehension Instruction in Elementary Classrooms: Teacher Use of Reading Comprehension Strategies

The purpose of this observational study was to identify the frequency of reading comprehension instruction in elementary classrooms. Additional objectives were to determine which reading comprehension instructional strategies were most employed by teachers in elementary classrooms. In 3,000 minutes of direct classroom observation in 20 first- through fifth-grade classrooms, a total of 751 minutes (or 25% of instructional time) was allotted for reading comprehension instruction. The highest amount of reading comprehension instruction occurred in 4th-grade classrooms, with the least amount occurring in 3rd grade. Question answering, summarization, and predicting/prior knowledge were the most frequently occurring reading comprehension strategies. Finally, implications for teachers' professional development and training are provided.
The Accountability Paradox in an Age of Reinvention: The Perennial Problem of Preserving Character and Judgment

The rapidly expanding literature on accountability reveals a centrally important paradox: Responsible interpretation and application of external accountability demands depends on the cultivation of the virtues that support good administrative judgment, but the institutions and mechanisms that are used to communicate these external standards, and that monitor compliance with them, often threaten the very qualities that support responsible judgment. Consulting a rich and varied literature, this paradox is explored as it emerges in both the more familiar compliance-based accountability processes and the less well-understood performance-based processes associated with reinvention and the new public management.
Using case-based reasoning as a reinforcement learning framework for optimisation with changing criteria

Practical optimization problems such as job-shop scheduling often involve optimization criteria that change over time. Repair-based frameworks have been identified as flexible computational paradigms for difficult combinatorial optimization problems. Since the control problem of repair-based optimization is severe, reinforcement learning (RL) techniques can be potentially helpful. However, some of the fundamental assumptions made by traditional RL algorithms are not valid for repair-based optimization. Case-based reasoning compensates for some of the limitations of traditional RL approaches. We present a case-based reasoning RL approach, implemented in the C/sub A/B/sub I/NS system, for repair-based optimization. We chose job-shop scheduling as the testbed for our approach. Our experimental results show that C/sub A/B/sub I/NS is able to effectively solve problems with changing optimization criteria which are not known to the system and only exist implicitly in a extensional manner in the case base.
Effect of Interface Microrelief on Optical, Electrical and Photoelectric Characteristics of Heteroepitaxial AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs Structures

We have investigated the dependence of optical, photoelectric and electrical characteristics of heteroepitaxial AlxGa1-x As/GaAs structures on active interface microrelief morphology. Experimental study of heterostructures included analysis of surface microrelief parameters by AFM techniques, measurements of specular and diffuse reflection spectra, the dark and light current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and spectra of the short-circuit photocurrent. Investigation showed that advantages of optical and recombination properties of an anisotropically etched GaAs surface may be remained in AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs heterostructures at a suitable choice of processing regimes. To explain reduction of the open circuit voltage (VOC) in some heterostructures with textured interface a theoretical analysis has been made for VOC dependence on the nonuniformity of doping with impurity atoms caused by interface roughness
The versatile integrator of surface atmospheric processes: Part 2: evaluation of three topography-based runoff schemes

Three different schemes of topography-based runoff production [versatile integrator of surface atmospheric processes (VISA)-TOP1, VISA-TOP2, and VISA-TOP3] are described for a land-surface model (LSM) developed for use with a general circulation model (GCM). The schemes’ sensitivities to some key parameters are assessed for two catchments using data sets developed for the Project for Intercomparison of Land-Surface Parameterization Schemes (PILPS) Phase 2e. VISA-TOP1 differs from VISA-TOP2 only in how to treat oversaturated soil water from the soil layers. In VISA-TOP1, the oversaturated soil water is thrown out of the soil column; hence, it no longer plays a role in the ensuing soil water budgets. In VISA-TOP2, this oversaturated soil water is recharged back to the unsaturated soil layers above the water table; hence, it continues to involve in the water budgets. Unlike VISA-TOP1 and VISA-TOP2, VISA-TOP3 relaxes its dependence on the topographic parameters. The oversaturated soil water is treated the same in both VISA-TOP2 and VISA-TOP3. All three models reproduce the daily and seasonal cycles of streamflow provided that different values of the saturated hydraulic conductivity decay factor are used. The decay factor controls the timing and partitioning of subsurface runoff. In both VISA-TOP1 and VISA-TOP2, an anisotropic parameter explaining different hydraulic conductivities in the vertical and horizontal directions is critical for using the topographic index in the land-surface model. In the VISA-TOP2 scheme, the topography-controlled subsurface runoff is dominant because the oversaturated water is recharged to upper unsaturated soil layers to raise the water table. The water budgets in all these schemes show dramatically different responses to the decay factor, indicating that the calibrated parameters and the model formulations should not be separated. D 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Survey of Patients Referred to a University Cancer Center for Benign Hematology: Quality Measures and Patient Understanding.

Referral to outpatient clinics in a cancer center for benign hematologic diseases seems to increase psychological stress and anxiety among patients, who may perceive that they are being referred for evaluation of a cancer diagnosis.
A review of canine inherited bleeding disorders: biochemical and molecular strategies for disease characterization and carrier detection

Many different inherited bleeding disorders have been identified in dogs, defined on the basis of quantitative, functional, or structural defects in specific hemostatic proteins or pathways. Most of these disorders are caused by single-gene defects and biochemical assays provide an accurate measure of disease phenotype. Phenotypic disease classifications, however, are often genetically heterogeneous. Protein-based carrier detection assays are fast, inexpensive, and do not require specific identification of causative mutations. The limitations of these tests arise from variable "overlap" regions between carrier and clear dogs, influencing positive and negative predictive values of carrier detection tests within breed populations. Molecular diagnostic techniques enhance the accuracy of carrier detection, providing their clinical application takes into account the molecular heterogeneity underlying naturally occurring hemostatic defects in dogs.
History of Recommendations to the public about dietary fat

Recommendations to Americans concerning dietary fat and heart disease began to appear in the late 1950s. This followed the publications of Gofman et al. (1950) and Keys (1953) relating to techniques for separating plasma lipoprotein fractions and the epidemiologic correlations between dietary fat, serum cholesterol and heart disease, respectively. Advice to the public after 40 years is similar to that given originally, namely, to reduce total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol intake, although cholesterol intake per se is not correlated strongly with cholesterolemia. Newer players on the heart disease stage are homocysteinemia, chlamydia infection and cytomegalovirus. These findings, when amplified, may alter the thrust of medical and dietary advice. In the meantime, since 1950, deaths from all causes in the U.S. (per 100,000, age-adjusted) have fallen by 40% and deaths from heart disease and stroke have fallen by 53 and 70%, respectively.
Managing Ambivalent Prejudices Smart-but-Cold and Warm-but-Dumb Stereotypes

Not all biases are equivalent, and not all biases are uniformly negative. Two fundamental dimensions differentiate stereotyped groups in cultures across the globe: status predicts perceived competence, and cooperation predicts perceived warmth. Crossing the competence and warmth dimensions, two combinations produce ambivalent prejudices: pitied groups (often traditional women or older people) appear warm but incompetent, and envied groups (often nontraditional women or outsider entrepreneurs) appear competent but cold. Case studies in ambivalent sexism, heterosexism, racism, anti-immigrant biases, ageism, and classism illustrate both the dynamics and the management of these complex but knowable prejudices.
Cyclic GMP/cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase system prevents excitotoxicity in an immortalized oligodendroglial cell line

Previously, we have demonstrated that excitotoxicity of oligodendrocyte-like cells (OLC), differentiated from immortalized rat O-2A progenitor cells (CG-4 cells), is prevented by cyclic AMP-elevating agents. We now report that some agents that elevate cyclic GMP prevent OLC excitotoxicity. Kainate-induced injury was prevented by cyclic GMP analogues (8-bromo-cyclic GMP and dibutyryl cyclic GMP), a guanylate cyclase activator [atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP)], and phosphodiesterase inhibitors [3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX), ibudilast, propentofylline, and rolipram]. When both forskolin and 8-bromo-cyclic GMP were added, kainate-induced injury was additively prevented. There was a strong positive correlation between suppression of kainate-induced Ca2+ influx and prevention of injury by these chemicals. The measurement of intracellular cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP by radioimmunoassay demonstrated the following: an increase of cyclic GMP with treatment with 8-bromo-cyclic GMP, dibutyryl cyclic GMP, and ANP; an increase of cyclic AMP with treatment with ibudilast and rolipram; and an increase of both cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP with treatment with IBMX and propentofylline. Kainate-induced Ca2+ influx was decreased by 8-(4-chlorophenylthiol)-guanosine-3',5'-monophosphate, an activator of cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), or okadaic acid, an inhibitor of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A. RT-PCR and westem blotting of OLC demonstrated transcription of PKG II gene and translation of PKG Ibeta mRNA, but no translation of PKG Ialpha mRNA. Therefore, we concluded that the cyclic GMP/PKG system prevents OLC excitotoxicity.
Determination of the variability of fMRI responses using deconvolution analysis

It is currently assumed that fMRI time-points are stationary i.e., signal characteristics do not change over time. In this study, time-varying signal characteristics of fMRI signal response were investigated using impulse response function. Substantial variation in the activation map was obtained for bilateral finger tapping paradigm. The proposed method can be extended to study variation between different experiments, and can also be used to detect habituations, or learning effects.
A framework for acuity-based, individualized patient scheduling

We consider scheduling finite numbers of patients for visits to a medical clinic throughout a workday. Use of individual patient acuity level indicators in the scheduling process is explored to accomodate fluctuations in service requirements. These acuity classifications can be used by schedulers to enable more efficient, individualized service. After analyzing sojourn time behavior for patient populations with arbitrary deterministic arrivals and Erlang service time distributions in a queueing setup, we motivate and develop a Markov model suitable to account for general time-varying service time distributions in the scheduling process. The significance of this work is that it provides a mathematical basis for the analysis of acuity-based scheduling rules currently applied and proven effective in healthcare. This provides a foundation from which to develop and validate new scheduling rules in individualized medicine. The linkage to the proposed Markov model permits the conversion of particular scheduling questions into Markov Decision Problems.
Using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis to Measure Construct Validity of the Traits, Aptitudes, and Behaviors Scale (TABS).

This study evaluated the construct validity of the Traits, Aptitudes, and Behaviors Scale (TABS). Data for this study were collected from two separate school districts across three different academic years in the Southeastern United States. Of the total sample (N = 2,330), 64.6% of the children were identified as African American, 29.0% as Caucasian, and 6.4% had no or other racial category specified. A two-step process was used to assess evidence of construct validity in the TABS. The first step was to identify an optimal factor structure using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) techniques. The second step was to confirm the structure using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) methods. Results point to a one-factor solution as the optimal factor structure for the TABS EFA sample; however, CFA showed mixed results for model fit. Despite these limitations, results of this study suggest that the TABS might help reduce teacher bias during the referral/nomination process of gifted children. Although the TABS fac...
Effect of Ethanol on Sulfobromophthalein and Indocyanine Green Metabolism in Isolated Perfused Rat Liver

SummaryPerfusion of the rat liver in vitro with concentrations of ethanol ranging from 25 to 250 mM in a medium of diluted rat blood was found to interfere with bile flow and with excretion of sulfobromophthalein (BSP) and indocyanine green (ICG). This impairment of excretion could not be related to interference with removal from the blood, since this was found to proceed normally during the course of the perfusion. Impaired excretion of these foreign dyes also could not solely be the results of impaired conjugation, since ICG does not require conjugation while BSP does. It was inferred that ethanol interferes with transport into the bile of its constituents, at concentrations similar to those that can be attained in vivo. The effect of ethanol on bile flow and dye excretion appears to be biphasic in that a low concentration of ethanol (5 mmoles/liter) appeared to increase the flow of bile and both excretion and clearance of BSP.The authors are grateful to Mrs. A. Harinasuta for technical assistance and t...
A constricted tube with mechanical seal for anaerobic fermentation tests

reduce that difficulty to a minimum and at the same time contribute to a proper understanding of the test itself. After trying mercury as a seal in the Smith fermentation tube, which fails on account of its germicidal action, and sand, which works but is troublesome, it was decided to combine the principle of the constricted tube (Hall,1 1915) with that of the fermentation tube so as to use a mechanical seal.
Optical Communications through Turbulent Media

The performance of an intensity-modulated direct-detected optical communications link is degraded in turbulent media by spatial and temporal distortions of the signal. We discuss how to characterize and mitigate these losses. Article not available.
Methanobacterium Dominates Biocathodic Archaeal Communities in Methanogenic Microbial Electrolysis Cells

Methane is the primary end product from cathodic current in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) in the absence of methanogenic inhibitors, but little is known about the archaeal communities that develop in these systems. MECs containing cathodes made from different materials (carbon brushes, or plain graphite blocks or blocks coated with carbon black and platinum, stainless steel, nickel, ferrihydrite, magnetite, iron sulfide, or molybdenum disulfide) were inoculated with anaerobic digester sludge and acclimated at a set potential of −600 mV (versus a standard hydrogen electrode). The archaeal communities on all cathodes, except those coated with platinum, were predominated by Methanobacterium (median 97% of archaea). Cathodes with platinum contained mainly archaea most similar to Methanobrevibacter. Neither of these methanogens were abundant (<0.1% of archaea) in the inoculum, and therefore their high abundance on the cathode resulted from selective enrichment. In contrast, bacterial communities on the c...
Time Series Analysis and Forecast of Mortality Rate in Chengdu

Objective To analyze and forecast the dynamic trend of mortality rate in Chengdu by time series. And to build a time series model and evaluate its predictive effect. Methods ACF and PACF analysis were used to identify the model. The model parameter was estimated by least square method. Statistics of Box-Ljung was used to evaluate the degree of fitness of ARIMA mode1, and the average relative errors of prediction were used as indexes to evaluate the predictive effect. Results The multiple seasonal ARIMA(0,1,1)(0,1,1)12 model showed the average relative errors reached 8.50%. The morality rate descended gradually after 2000, and the forecast showed that the mortality rate would decrease continually in the next 2 years. Conclusion The fitness of time series analysis and forecast model is good,so it can be used to analyze the regularity of disease or death variation and forecast its future tendency.
Using Anchors to Estimate Clinical State without Labeled Data.

We present a novel framework for learning to estimate and predict clinical state variables without labeled data. The resulting models can used for electronic phenotyping, triggering clinical decision support, and cohort selection. The framework relies on key observations which we characterize and term “anchor variables”. By specifying anchor variables, an expert encodes a certain amount of domain knowledge about the problem while the rest of learning proceeds in an unsupervised manner. The ability to build anchors upon standardized ontologies and the framework’s ability to learn from unlabeled data promote generalizability across institutions. We additionally develop a user interface to enable experts to choose anchor variables in an informed manner. The framework is applied to electronic medical record-based phenotyping to enable real-time decision support in the emergency department. We validate the learned models using a prospectively gathered set of gold-standard responses from emergency physicians for nine clinically relevant variables.
Thermal and structural investigation of tubular supercritical carbon dioxide power tower receivers

Abstract Advanced power cycle systems with supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO 2 ) as the working fluid provide high power conversion efficiency because of high temperatures attained and are being explored for integration with concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. In a CSP plant, the working fluid flows in a series of tube bundles located on top of a tall receiver. As the working fluid flows in the receiver tubes, the working fluid absorbs the solar energy reflected by a large array of the mirrors onto the receiver surface. With sCO 2 as the working fluid, the tubes should withstand high pressures (∼25 MPa) and high temperatures (>650 °C) without any structural damage for at least 30 years of operation. At these high pressure and high temperature conditions, failure by creep damage due to thermal stress is a critical issue in tubular power receivers and behooves careful evaluation of contemporary designs. The present study analyzes the performance of cylindrical tubular receivers for various operating and design conditions through systematic numerical studies. The results from the coupled flow-structural simulations are used to find design and operational envelopes for tubular power receivers that satisfy the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot requirements of lifetime >10,000 cycles and 100,000 h and exit HTF temperature >650 °C.
The successful PhoneSat wifi experiment on the Soarex-8 flight

On the 7th July 2015 at 06:15 AM EDT a Terrier/Black Brant sounding rocket left the Earth from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island in Virginia. On its 10-minute sojourn across the sky and into the sea it carried the 8th Sub-Orbital Aerodynamic Reentry Experiment (Soarex-8) payload. A description of some of the experimental elements on this payload were presented in last year's paper. The elements described (the exobrake, ZigBee wireless sensor net, and Iridium short message communications) were all successful. Another Soarex-8 experiment is described herein: the successful demonstration of point-to-point IEEE 802.11 (wifi) communications from space. We believe this set a new distance record for wifi as well as being the highest wifi-to-ground link, transmitting from the edge of space. Soarex-8 reached an apogee of 334 km (206 mi). During the flight we sent low frame rate video to a ground station at NASA Wallops Flight Facility from payload ejection until loss-of-signal when Soarex-8 passed over the horizon. The Soarex-8 team did not intend to achieve records in this endeavor. We were attempting to establish a very low cost method to downlink high speed data from small spacecraft. We will repeat this experiment as part of a future small spacecraft launch from the International Space Station in the near future. We will then send low frame rate video from orbit. This paper presents the methodology, process and interfaces of the long haul wifi experiment. We discuss an innovative space camera designed at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) and the camera/wifi interface. We describe the onboard system, power requirements, hardware specifications, interface to the rest of the Soarex-8 payload and hardware integration. Flight software was written to circumvent the handshaking requirement of wifi links and deal with the image stream from the camera. We describe the ground system including the software and how we were able to use existing antenna at Wallops to track and downlink the wifi signal. Finally we present our plans for future orbital and suborbital flights.
Embryology of the Parathyroid Glands

The parathyroid glands are essential for regulating calcium homeostasis in the body. The genetic programs that control parathyroid fate specification, morphogenesis, differentiation, and survival are only beginning to be delineated, but are all centered around a key transcription factor, GCM2. Mutations in the Gcm2 gene as well as in several other genes involved in parathyroid organogenesis have been found to cause parathyroid disorders in humans. Therefore, understanding the normal development of the parathyroid will provide insight into the origins of parathyroid disorders.
Increasing the Reliability of Crowdsourcing Evaluations Using Online Quality Assessment

Manual annotations and transcriptions have an ever-increasing importance in areas such as behavioral signal processing, image processing, computer vision, and speech signal processing. Conventionally, this metadata has been collected through manual annotations by experts. With the advent of crowdsourcing services, the scientific community has begun to crowdsource many tasks that researchers deem tedious, but can be easily completed by many human annotators. While crowdsourcing is a cheaper and more efficient approach, the quality of the annotations becomes a limitation in many cases. This paper investigates the use of reference sets with predetermined ground-truth to monitor annotators’ accuracy and fatigue, all in real-time. The reference set includes evaluations that are identical in form to the relevant questions that are collected, so annotators are blind to whether or not they are being graded on performance on a specific question. We explore these ideas on the emotional annotation of the MSP-IMPROV database. We present promising results which suggest that our system is suitable for collecting accurate annotations.
Radiogenic neutron yield calculations for low-background experiments

Abstract Nuclear recoil backgrounds are one of the most dangerous backgrounds for many dark matter experiments. A primary source of nuclear recoils is radiogenic neutrons produced in the detector material itself. These neutrons result from fission and ( α , n ) reactions originating from uranium and thorium contamination. In this paper, we discuss neutron yields from these sources. We compile a list of ( α , n ) yields for many materials common in low-background detectors, calculated using NeuCBOT (Neutron Calculator Based On TALYS ), a new tool introduced in this paper, available at https://github.com/shawest/neucbot . These calculations are compared to computations made using data compilations and SOURCES-4C .
The impact of mixed solvents on the complexation thermodynamics of Eu(III) by simple carboxylate and amino carboxylate ligands

Abstract To gain insight on the role of mixed solvents on the thermodynamic driving forces for the complexation between trivalent f-elements and organic ligands, solution phase thermodynamic parameters were determined for Eu(III) complexation with 2-hydroxyisobutyric acid (HIBA) and 2-aminoisobutyric acid (AIBA) in mixed methanol (MeOH)-water and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF)-water solvents. Included in this study were the determination of mixed solvent autoprotolysis constants (pK s ) as well as the thermodynamic formation constants: log β, ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS, for ligand protonation and Eu(III)-ligand complexation utilizing potentiometry and calorimetry techniques. The results presented are conditional thermodynamic values determined at an ionic strength of 1.0 M NaClO 4 and a temperature of 298 K. It was found that moving from an aqueous solution to a binary aqueous-organic solvent affected all solution equilibria to some degree and that the extent of change depended on both the type of mixed solvent and the ligand in each study. The ability to understand and predict these changes in thermodynamic values as a function of solvent composition provides important information about the chemistry of the trivalent f-elements.
Strategies for Promoting High-Quality Care and Personal Resilience in Palliative Care.

Clinicians’ moral distress can be reduced by incorporating core components of palliative care into research, education, and ethical practice environments.
Braddock's March: How the Man Sent to Seize a Continent Changed American History by Thomas E. Crocker

The defeat of General Edward Braddock on the banks of the Monongahela River in July of 1755 remains one of the most devastating defeats of Anglo American arms on the continent of North America. It was also entirely unexpected. So confident had Philadelphians been that the city had already prepared a fireworks display in anticipation of Braddock’s certain victory. The unimaginable defeat has proven so mystifying that modern historians have perpetually sought to comprehend what occurred on that hot July day. Thomas E. Crocker’s Braddock’s March: How the Man Sent to Seize a Continent Changed American History represents a new installment in the franchise. Although the author does tell the story of Braddock’s ill-fated endeavor, Crocker’s analysis focuses, as the title clearly indicates, on the longer-lasting effects of the campaign.
Phase 2 study evaluating the combination of sorafenib and temsirolimus in the treatment of radioactive iodine-refractory thyroid cancer.

Background Patients with recurrent and/or metastatic, radioactive iodine-refractory thyroid carcinoma have limited treatment options. Sorafenib, an oral kinase inhibitor, is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of radioactive iodine-refractory thyroid carcinoma, although it demonstrated low response rates (12.2%) as a single agent in the first-line setting. The objective of the current study was to determine whether adding the mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor temsirolimus to sorafenib could improve on these results. Methods In this single-institution, phase 2 study, 36 patients with metastatic, radioactive iodine-refractory thyroid carcinoma of follicular origin received treatment with the combination of oral sorafenib (200 mg twice daily) and intravenous temsirolimus (25 mg weekly). The receipt of prior systemic treatment with cytotoxic chemotherapy and targeted therapy, including sorafenib, was permitted. The primary endpoint was the radiographic response rate. Results The best response was a partial response in 8 patients (22%), stable disease in 21 (58%), and progressive disease in 1 (3%). Six patients were not evaluable for a response. Patients who had received any prior systemic treatment had a response rate of 10% compared with 38% of those who had not received prior systemic treatment. One of 2 patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer had an objective response. The progression-free survival rate at 1 year was 30.5%. The most common grade 3 and 4 toxicities associated with sorafenib and temsirolimus included hyperglycemia, fatigue, anemia, and oral mucositis. Conclusions Sorafenib and temsirolimus appear to be an active combination in patients with radioactive iodine-refractory thyroid carcinoma, especially in patients who received no prior treatment compared with historic data from single-agent sorafenib. Activity is also observed in patients who previously received sorafenib. This regimen warrants further investigation. Cancer 2017;123:4114-4121. © 2017 American Cancer Society.
The cost and value of glioblastoma therapy.

Malignant brain tumors account for 1.4% of the total cancer cases, with glioblastoma (GBM) being the most common in adults, with approximately 17,000 new cases per year in the United States [1]. Pa...
Thermodynamics of CoBH ternary solid solutions

Abstract Solubility isobars for H in CoB binary solvents containing up to 0.1 at.% B have been determined in the temperature range 920–1430 K. The solubility data yield values for the partial molar thermodynamic functions of the dissolved H-atoms which manifest a strong long-range HB repulsive interactions.
MCL-1 keeps a charming home for thymocytes.

In this issue of Blood, Jain et al use a conditional knockout mouse model to demonstrate that MCL-1 expression in thymic epithelial cells (TECs) is important for medullary epithelial cell survival, maintenance of thymic architecture, and support of thymocyte differentiation.
Migration and Implications for Global Citizenship Education: Tensions and Perspectives

Any consideration of global citizenship education in the Twenty-first century is incomplete without an examination of migration as part and parcel of the contemporary world. Globally, communities are becoming more heterogeneous than in recent decades due to migration; this has implications for global citizenship education. In this chapter, we consider global citizenship education in the context of migration at both the societal and curricular level, and consider the tensions between globalism and nationalism, the ethnic and citizenship communities, and hybridity of identity and citizenship practices. We then recommend research on the ways new global citizenship education initiatives are intertwined with migration.
More on Relativistic Particle Models

In this chapter we justify the choice of free matter-particle models described in §§1.16, 1.17. The argument is based on classifying the first-order natural bundles over spacetimes, i.e., representations of the isochronous Lorentz group, and then using analogy with the nonrelativistic case.
Preparation of Highly Dispersed Gold on Titanium and Magnesium Oxide

Abstract Gold could be highly dispersed on titanium oxide and magnesium oxide in their aqueous dispersion containing Mg citrate. The mean diameter of gold particles are smaller than 5nm. These gold catalysts are active for the oxidation of CO even at a temperature below 0°C. On magnesia support, Mg citrate acts not as a reducing agent but as a sticking agent which blocks the coagulation of gold particles. On titania support dispersed in neutral solution Mg2+ ions instead of citrate ions are mainly adsorbed. It is likely that Mg2+ ion suppresses the transformation of amorphous titania to anatase during calcination and prevent gold particles from coagulation caused by earthquake effect.
The Once and Future Privileges or Immunities Clause

On the eve of oral arguments in McDonald v. City of Chicago, we urged the Supreme Court to apply the right to arms against the states through the Privileges or Immunities Clause. And, we explained, the Court could do so without setting out aimlessly into the undiscovered country of untethered and unbounded unenumerated rights — by adapting the principles of Washington v. Glucksberg (1997). By only considering rights that are “deeply rooted” in our nation’s traditions, the Privileges or Immunities Clause could be cabined within the appropriate scope of historical practice without the flood waters rushing in. Alas, the Court didn’t take our bait — though curiously neither the majority nor dissenting opinions grappled with the privileges-or-immunities dimension. This follow-up article will take stock of the last decade. First, what is the status of the ongoing restoration of what was lost in Slaughterhouse? Second, has McDonald changed anything? Third, how should this project more effectively advance? Part I charts the birth and premature demise of the Privilege or Immunities Clause following the Slaughter-House Cases. Part II explores how McDonald v. Chicago had the potential to revive the Clause, but failed — or only succeeded in a necessary but solo concurring vote. Part III surveys how the lower courts have considered the Clause in the wake of McDonald: the courts continue to provide some judicial protection for the “right to travel,” but all other rights — including the liberty of contract — continue to be disregarded. Part IV forecasts a possible future for the Privileges or Immunities Clause in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Timbs v. Indiana.