cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Increasing Distribution Grid Hosting Capacity through Optimal Network Reconfiguration

The increasing trend of distributed generation deployment in distribution grids requires constant upgrades in the existing infrastructure to increase grid hosting capacity. In principle, it should be possible to increase the grid hosting capacity by reconfiguring the network via changing the status of tie and sectionalizing switches already installed in the distribution grid. The reconfiguration is desirable as it takes advantage of existing network architecture without the need for additional upgrades and investments in the network. This paper presents a method for maximizing distribution grid hosting capacity through such reconfiguration. Unlike classical iterative and time-consuming methods, the proposed method is based on a linearized power flow model which is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming problem with appropriate radiality constraints. The result is a near-instantaneous and robust computation of optimal reconfiguration for maximizing grid hosting capacity. The proposed method is tested and validated on the IEEE 33-bus distribution test system.
Cardiac Arrest in Pregnancy

Abstract Advanced cardiac life support and resuscitation is largely similar between pregnant and nonpregnant adults. In pregnancy, defibrillation is performed for ventrical tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation using the same guidelines as in the nonpregnant state. Antiarrhythmic medications, such as epinephrine, are also given using the same guidelines. Modifications to resuscitation during pregnancy include the need for left lateral displacement of the uterus and the performance of an emergency cesarean if there is not return of spontaneous circulation within 5 minutes.
Toward Fewer Images: The Work of Alexander Kluge

Structured across five thematic sections that are further subdivided into ten chapters, Philipp Ekardt’s comprehensive monograph addresses Alexander Kluge’s diverse body of work: the collaborative ...
In x Ga 1-x N Alloys Grown by Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy (PAMBE) with Growth Rates Up to $1.3\ \boldsymbol{\mu} \mathbf{m}/\mathbf{hr}$

In this work In x Ga 1-x N films were grown with growth rates up to $1.30\ \mu \mathrm{m}/\text{hr}$ enabled by large active nitrogen fluxes up to $3.5\ \mu \mathrm{m}/\text{hr}$ while maintaining high quality crystal structure and surface morphology. At growth temperatures of 550 and 600°C compositions up to In 0.22 Ga 0.78 N were achieved. Minor In incorporation was observed at 700°C, and further optimization of growth parameters is expected to yield moderate In incorporation at this temperature.
Optimal Mass Transport for Robust Texture Analysis

The emerging field of radiomics, which consists of transforming standard-of-care images to quantifiable scalar statistics, endeavors to reveal the information hidden in these macroscopic images. This field of research has found different applications ranging from phenotyping and tumor classification to outcome prediction and treatment planning. Texture analysis, which often consists of reducing spatial texture matrices to summary scalar features, has been shown to be important in many of the latter applications. However, as pointed out in many studies, some of the derived texture statistics are strongly correlated and tend to contribute redundant information; and are also sensitive to the parameters used in their computation, e.g., the number of gray intensity levels. In the present study, we propose first to consider texture matrices, with an emphasis on gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), as a non-parametric multivariate objects. The proposed modeling approach avoids evaluating redundant and strongly correlated features and also prevents the feature processing steps. Then, via the Wasserstein distance from optimal mass transport theory, we propose to compare these spatial objects to identify computerized tomography slices with dental artifacts in head and neck cancer. We demonstrate the robustness of the proposed classification approach with respect to the GLCM extraction parameters and the size of the training set. Comparisons with the random forest classifier, which is constructed on scalar texture features, demonstrates the efficiency and robustness of the proposed algorithm.
Major element mobility during serpentinization, oxidation and weathering of mantle peridotite at low temperatures

Mantle peridotite in Wadi Fins in eastern Oman exhibits three concentric alteration zones with oxide and sulfide mineralogy recording gradients in fO2 and fS2 (fugacity) of more than 20 orders of m...
vgets: A command to estimate general-to-specific VARs, Granger causality, steady-state effects, and cumulative impulse–responses:

Vector autoregression (VAR) estimation is a vital tool in economic studies. VARs, however, can be dimensionally cumbersome and overparameterized. The vgets command allows for a general-to-specific ...
A Role of the Heme Degradation Pathway in Shaping Prostate Inflammatory Responses and Lipid Metabolism

The molecular mechanisms of prostate inflammation are unclear. We hypothesized that heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX1; HO-1), an enzyme responsible for degradation of heme to carbon monoxide, bilirubin, and iron, is an important regulator of inflammation and epithelial responses in the prostate. Injection of non-uropathogenic Escherichia coli (MG1655 strain) or phosphate-buffered saline into the urethra of mice led to increased numbers of CD45+ leukocytes and mitotic markers (phosphorylated histone H3 and phosphorylated ERK1/2) in the prostate glands. Leukocyte infiltration was elevated in the prostates harvested from mice lacking HO-1 in myeloid compartment. Conversely, exogenous carbon monoxide (250 ppm) increased IL-1β levels and suppressed cell proliferation in the prostates. Carbon monoxide did not affect the number of infiltrating CD45+ cells in the prostates of E. coli- or phosphate-buffered saline-treated mice. Interestingly, immunomodulatory effects of HO-1 and/or carbon monoxide correlated with early induction of the long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase 1 (ACSL1). ACSL1 levels were elevated in response to E. coli treatment, and macrophage-expressed ACSL1 was in part required for controlling of IL-1β expression and prostate cancer cell colony growth in soft agar. These results suggest that HO-1 and/or carbon monoxide might play a distinctive role in modulating prostate inflammation, cell proliferation, and IL-1β levels in part via an ACSL1-mediated pathway.
Modeling Organizational Culture with Workplace Experiences Shared on Glassdoor

Organizational culture (OC) encompasses the underlying beliefs, values, and practices that are unique to an organization. However, OC is inherently subjective and a coarse construct, and therefore challenging to quantify. Alternatively, self-initiated workplace reviews on online platforms like Glassdoor provide the opportunity to leverage the richness of language to understand OC. In as much, first, we use multiple job descriptors to operationalize OC as a word vector representation. We validate this construct with language used in 650k different Glassdoor reviews. Next, we propose a methodology to apply our construct on Glassdoor reviews to quantify the OC of employees by sector. We validate our measure of OC on a dataset of 341 employees by providing empirical evidence that it helps explain job performance. We discuss the implications of our work in guiding tailored interventions and designing tools for improving employee functioning.
Servant-Leadership and Community: Humanistic Perspectives from Pope John XXIII and Robert K. Greenleaf

The aim of this paper is to show the relationship between John XXIII and Robert K. Greenleaf’s understanding of leadership. By taking into consideration Greenleaf’s theory of servant-leadership – from conceptualization to model development (Eva et al. 2019) – and Larry Spears’ (1995) influential rubric of ten servant-leadership characteristics, we will show how servant-leadership theory goes in line with that of John XXIII when both are based on a notion of the common good and human dignity.
The Promise of Research to Advance Smart Decarceration

This paper describes the concept of “Smart Decarceration” and introduces the special issue of Criminal Justice and Behavior entitled “Research to Advance Smart Decarceration Policies, Programs, and...
Methods for Laser-Induced Fluorescence Imaging of Solute Plumes at the Darcy Scale in Quasi-Two-Dimensional, Refractive Index-Matched Porous Media

A spectrum of environmental, industrial, and biomedical processes depends on solute plume spreading in laminar flows within porous media. The literature includes a number of approaches to model solute movement in this context, but fewer techniques are reported to measure it experimentally. To address this gap, this study describes novel experimental methods that permit measurement of solute plume spreading at the Darcy scale using laser-induced fluorescence in a 50 cm × 50 cm × 4 cm quasi-two-dimensional apparatus filled with refractive index-matched porous media. Fluorescence is provided by Rhodamine dye; refractive index matching is provided by borosilicate glass in glycerin. The depth-averaged porosity distribution of the porous media is determined using a novel optical method, whose results are used to investigate solute transport in two spatiotemporally varying flow fields, (1) a push–pull pumping sequence and (2) a sequence to induce stretching and folding of the solute plume. Quantitative analysis of replicate experiments reveals an extraordinary degree of reproducibility based on spatial moments, reactor ratio, and correlation coefficient.
COVID-19 Detection Using Recorded Coughs in the 2021 DiCOVA Challenge

COVID-19 has resulted in over 100 million infections and caused worldwide lock downs due to its high transmission rate and limited testing options. Current diagnostic tests can be expensive, limited in availability, time-intensive and require risky in-person appointments. It has been established that symptomatic COVID-19 seriously impairs normal functioning of the respiratory system, thus affecting the coughing acoustics. The 2021 DiCOVA Challenge @ INTERSPEECH was designed to find scientific and engineering insights to the question by enabling participants to analyze an acoustic dataset gathered from COVID-19 positive and non-COVID-19 individuals. In this report we describe our participation in the Challenge (Track 1). We achieved 82.37% AUC ROC on the blind test outperforming the Challenge's baseline of 69.85%.
Irredentism American Style? An Examination of Texan Secession and Accession and Its Implications for the Modern World

In this article, the author explores the affective and strategic factors influencing US-Texan relations during the period surrounding Texas’ secession from Mexico and its subsequent annexation by t...
The Power of Using Novel Nanopore Sequencing Technology for Diagnosis, Genomic and Pathological Studies of Covid-19

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), originally identified in December 2019 Wuhan, China, has propagated to worldwide pandemic, causing many cases of death and morbidity. Since the development of COVID-19 vaccines is still under experimental stages without public access, different types of testing and detection ensuring rapid and accurate results are urgently required to prevent delaying isolation of infected patients. The traditional diagnostic and analytical methods of COVID-19 relied heavily on nucleic acid and antibody-antigen methods but are subject to assembly bias, restricted by reading length, showed some false positive/negative results and had a long turnaround time. Hence, three styles of nanopore sequencing techniques as complementary tools for COVID-19 diagnosis and analysis are introduced. The long-read nanopore sequencing technology has been adopted in metagenomic and pathological studies of virosphere including SARS-CoV-2 recently by either metagenomically, directly or indirectly sequencing the viral genomic RNA of SARS-CoV-2 in real-time to detect infected specimens for early isolation and treatment, to investigate the transmission and evolutionary routes of SARS-CoV-2 as well as its pathogenicity and epidemiology. In this article, the Nanopore-Based Metagenomic Sequencing, Direct RNA Nanopore Sequencing (DRS), and Nanopore Targeted Sequencing (NTS) become the main focus of the novel COVID-19 detecting analytical methods in sequencing platforms, which are discussed in comparison with other traditional and popular diagnostic methods. Finally, different types of nanopore sequencing platforms that are developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) due to various purposes and demands in viral genomic research are briefly discussed.
Women in AI: Barriers and Solutions

The inclusion of women into the development and implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the world is critical. The underrepresentation and lack of representation of women results in lower quality AI products. The AI consumer group is very diverse and the lack of diversity within the AI leadership and workforce creates a crisis within the AI industry. Additionally, because AI is fast-paced and has a high societal impact, not addressing this disparity has the potential to increase stereotypes, underrepresentation, and discrimination in career fields everywhere. This paper discusses the importance of women in the AI field, the barriers that they face, and a few solutions to eliminate gender-discrimination and gender-inequality for women of all ages. Women may experience increased discrimination in fields of underrepresentation, and this can discourage their desire to purse these career paths. The workplace needs to be aware of these struggles, provide resources for both men and women to address this, and invest in support for women to encourage their participation. As an emerging industry, the AI industry has an opportunity to address this gender gap before it becomes more pervasive and ingrained into the culture of AI. Together, we can have a significant impact on the future of AI, the community, and the products that consumers use.
Probably Approximately Correct Learning in Adversarial Environments with Temporal Logic Specifications

Reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms have been used to learn how to implement tasks in uncertain and partially unknown environments. In practice, environments are usually uncontrolled and may affect task performance in an adversarial way. In this paper, we model the interaction between an RL agent and its potentially adversarial environment as a turn-based zero-sum stochastic game. The task requirements are represented both qualitatively as a linear temporal logic specification, and quantitatively as a reward function. For each case in which the specification is realizable and can be equivalently transformed into a deterministic Buchi automaton, we show that there always exists a memoryless almost-sure winning strategy that is epsilon-optimal for the discountedd sum objective for any arbitrary positive epsilon. We propose a probably approximately correct (PAC) learning algorithm that learns such a strategy efficiently in an online manner with a priori unknown reward functions and unknown transition distributions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first result on PAC learning in stochastic games with independent quantitative and qualitative objectives.
‘Who does he think he is: Jesus?’ J. M. Coetzee's Last Confession in Summertime

With the publication of The Death of Jesus (2019), following The Childhood of Jesus (2013) and The Schooldays of Jesus (2016), J. M. Coetzee's Jesus novels are a completed trilogy. Baffling to revi...
Cryogenic Fluid Storage Technology Development: Recent and Planned Efforts at NASA

Recent technology development work conducted at NASA in the area of Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM) storage is highlighted, including summary results, key impacts, and ongoing efforts. Thermodynamic vent system (TVS) ground test results are shown for hydrogen, methane, and oxygen. Joule-Thomson (J-T) device tests related to clogging in hydrogen are summarized, along with the absence of clogging in oxygen and methane tests. Confirmation of analytical relations and bonding techniques for broad area cooling (BAC) concepts based on tube-to-tank tests are presented. Results of two-phase lumped-parameter computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models are highlighted, including validation of the model with hydrogen self pressurization test data. These models were used to simulate Altair representative methane and oxygen tanks subjected to 210 days of lunar surface storage. Engineering analysis tools being developed to support system level trades and vehicle propulsion system designs are also cited. Finally, prioritized technology development risks identified for Constellation cryogenic propulsion systems are presented, and future efforts to address those risks are discussed.
PWR Fuel Deposit Analysis at a B&W Plant with a 24 Month Fuel Cycle

The paper presents the crud analysis of a twice-burned fuel deposit using the AREVA crud sampling method in a domestic B&W PWR. The patented AREVA sampling method allowed the separation of deposit flakes that retain all the characteristics of unperturbed crud deposition.
Finding information in an era of abundance: Towards a collaborative tagging environment in government

Collaboration and information sharing among government organizations is becoming increasingly important for promoting efficiency and productivity as well as for enhancing citizen services. With Internet connectivity widely available and with the ease-of-use of social media tools, citizens actively participate in producing content. However, the abundance of content causes another problem for governments - the difficulty of determining what truly useful and relevant information is to be shared for mission critical tasks and to produce better citizen services. Information resources, such as data, documents, multimedia objects and services stored in different agencies and produced by citizens need to be easily discovered and shared. We propose a data model of rich social tags and a Citizen-Government collaborative tagging environment} where governments and citizens can collaboratively annotate the resources, thus facilitating collaboration responsiveness through accessibility to information. The collaborative annotations capture not only the semantics but also the pragmatic and social aspects related to the resources, such as who, when, where, how and for what related tasks the resources are shared. The benefits of the a rich tag data model emphasizing the relationships of a tag to semantic, social, pragmatic and contextual reference frames include the ability to filter, discover and search new and dynamic as well as hidden resources, to navigate between resources in a search by traversing semantic relationships, and to recommend the most relevant government information even when distributed over different agencies. A distributed architecture of a government collaborative tagging system is proposed and tag-based search and recommendations are illustrated.
Vertical stratification of subsurface microbial community composition across geological formations at the Hanford Site

The microbial diversity in subsurface sediments at the Hanford Site's 300 Area in southeastern Washington State was investigated by analyzing 21 samples recovered from depths that ranged from 9 to 52 m. Approximately 8000 non-chimeric Bacterial and Archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences were analyzed across geological strata that contain a natural redox transition zone. These strata included the oxic coarse-grained Hanford formation, fine-grained oxic and anoxic Ringold Formation sediments, and the weathered basalt group. We detected 1233 and 120 unique bacterial and archaeal OTUs (Operational Taxonomic Units, defined at the 97% identity level). Microbial community structure and richness varied substantially across the different geological strata. Bacterial OTU richness (based upon Chao1 estimator) was highest (>700) in the upper Hanford formation, and declined to about 120 at the bottom of the Hanford formation. Just above the Ringold oxic-anoxic transition zone, richness was about 325 and declined to less than 50 in the deeper reduced zones. The Bacterial community in the oxic Hanford and Ringold Formations contained members of 9 major well-recognized phyla as well 30 as unusually high proportions of 3 candidate divisions (GAL15, NC10, and SPAM). The deeper Ringold strata were characterized by low OTU richness and a very highmore » preponderance (ca. 90%) of Proteobacteria. The study has greatly expanded the intralineage phylogenetic diversity within some major divisions. These subsurface sediments have been shown to contain a large number of phylogenetically novel microbes, with substantial heterogeneities between sediment samples from the same geological formation.« less
DIETARY EFFECTS ON GENE EXPRESSION IN MAMMARY TUMORIGENESIS

Although a large number of epidemiological studies in humans1–6 and dietary experiments in rats7–14 and in mice15–19 have been published on the relationship of dietary fat to breast cancer incidence, this important health question has not been resolved and has become instead increasingly controversial. Animal studies have strongly suggested that there is a mammary tumor promoting effect of diets high in total fat (approximately 20% fat by weight or 40% fat in calories, which is similar to the American diet) as compared to diets low in total fat (approximately 5% fat by weight or 10% fat in calories, which is similar to the Japanese diet)20. In the animal studies, diets with a greater proportion of unsaturated fats (specifically corn oil) were more effective than diets rich in saturated fats in increasing mammary tumor incidence and/or reducing the latent period of mammary tumor appearance21–23. The epidemiological data in humans have been for the most part based on comparison of breast cancer incidence and fat consumption in different countries worldwide5. Recently, however, two prospective epidemiological studies24,25 involving a large cohort of women have suggested a lack of evidence for a relationship between a high fat diet and human breast cancer for middle-aged and post- menopausal women. These studies did not, however, rule out that dietary fat may have an effect during childhood and adolescence. Also, differences in breast cancer risk due to a low fat diet may be manifested only at fat levels far below what is considered low fat in a Western diet.
Recognition of voiceless fricatives by normal and hearing-impaired subjects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the sufficient perceptual cues used in the recognition of four voiceless fricative consonants [s, f, θ, ∫] followed by the same vowel [i:] in normal-hea...
Hirschsprung Disease Is Linked to Defects in Neural Crest Stem Cell Function

Genes associated with Hirschsprung disease, a failure to form enteric ganglia in the hindgut, were highly up-regulated in gut neural crest stem cells relative to whole-fetus RNA. One of these genes, the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) receptor Ret, was necessary for neural crest stem cell migration in the gut. GDNF promoted the migration of neural crest stem cells in culture but did not affect their survival or proliferation. Gene expression profiling, combined with reverse genetics and analyses of stem cell function, suggests that Hirschsprung disease is caused by defects in neural crest stem cell function.
A product location framework for mobile commerce environment

Recent advances in wireless networking, mobile technologies, and applications have led to the emergence of mobile commerce. As many of these applications require location tracking of products, users, and services, support for location management has become a major issue in m-commerce. Although some progress has been made in adding location support in business to consumer (B2C) m-commerce, very little work has been done towards addressing these issues in the business to business (B2B) environment. In this paper, we discuss location management and present a new location-aware framework for B2B m-commerce environment.
A TECHNIQUE FOR MEASURING THE SOUND OF A MOVING TIRE

Abstract A measurement and analysis technique has been developed to determine the narrow band spectra and the radiation patterns of the sound emitted by a moving tire. The sound is measured by a semicircular array of stationary microphones as the tire passes by the array and is recorded on a multi-channel tape recorder. In the analysis procedure corrections are made for effects associated with a moving sound source, such as the non-stationarity of the signal due to the time-dependent transmission path and the Doppler frequency shifts. In this way the power spectra and the radiation pattern of the sound signal are determined as if the receiver were moving with the tire at a fixed distance. A relationship between the Doppler effect and the frequency resolution associated with the finite Fourier transform is presented. This relation is used as a basis for the Doppler correction procedure.
Primate Coloration: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Color plays a significant role in the ecology and behavior of many animal species, including in food detection and foraging, intraspecific signaling, predator detection, and camouflage. However, understanding the role of color in the lives of animals offers many challenges, as animal coloration sits at the boundary between chemistry (the chemical basis and properties of colors exhibited and encountered), physics (the composition and structure of light, and physical patterns of reflection and absorption), and numerous aspects of animal biology. As such, color and its perception are at the interface between an animal’s behavioral and sensory ecology and the wider physical environment. Primates are the most colorful group of mammals, and many species display striking sexual dimorphism in pelage, facial, and anogenital skin coloration. The range of colors exhibited by primates of diverse taxa suggests the importance of color in primate behavior and social signaling, but empirical studies of primate color were rare until relatively recently. Primate coloration research has lagged behind work conducted on other taxa such as fish, birds, insects, and reptiles in the number of studies of adaptive function, as well as in the sophistication of the methods used to overcome the inherent problems of color quantification, and in the appreciation of differences in the sensory systems with which animals detect and interpret color. The limited ability to conduct controlled experiments on primates, and the obstacles of studying colorful primates that often live in wet, dark forests (making the use of photographic equipment difficult), have provided further challenges to color research in this group. Int J Primatol (2009) 30:749–751 DOI 10.1007/s10764-009-9381-y
Multimodal imaging guidance for laser ablation in tracheal stenosis.

Author(s): Murgu, Septimiu D; Colt, Henri G; Mukai, David; Brenner, Matt | Abstract: Objective/hypothesisLaser-induced damage of tracheal wall microstructures might contribute to recurrence after bronchoscopic treatment of tracheal strictures. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how multimodal imaging using white light bronchoscopy (WLB), endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) might identify in vivo airway wall changes before and resulting from Nd:YAG laser ablation and dilation of tracheal stenosis.Study designCase study.MethodsCommercially available WLB, high frequency EBUS using a 20-MHz radial probe and time-domain, frontal imaging OCT systems were used to characterize the extent, morphology, and airway wall microstructures at the area of hypertrophic fibrotic tissue formation before, during and after treatment of postintubation tracheal stenosis.ResultsWLB revealed the location of a complex, extensive, severe stricture. EBUS showed a homogeneous layer overlying a hyperechogenic layer corresponding to disrupted cartilage. OCT showed a homogeneous light backscattering layer and absence of layered microstructures, confirming absence in close proximity of normal airway wall. After laser ablation, OCT of charred tissue showed high backscattering and shadowing artifacts. OCT of noncharred tissue showed a thinner, homogeneous, light backscattering layer. EBUS showed thinner but persistent hypertrophic tissue suggesting incomplete treatment. WLB revealed improved airway patency postprocedure and recurrence 3 weeks later.ConclusionsEBUS identified cartilage disruption and residual hypertrophic tissue, the evidence of which might contribute to recurrence. OCT revealed homogeneous light backscaterring representing persistent noncharred hypertrophic tissues but it did not visualize cartilage disruption. Future studies are warranted to confirm whether these technologies can help guide bronchoscopic treatments.
Improving learning effectiveness with hands-on design labs and course projects for the operating model of a pipelined processor

In teaching Computer Organization and Architecture courses, one of the major topics that reflect the techniques of high-performance processors is the analysis and design of high-performance pipelined processors. It covers three interrelated areas: computer architecture, computer organization and implementation. In the context of computer architecture, a pipelined processor works on the principle of exploiting instruction-level parallelism inside the pipeline and exploiting thread-level parallelism among multiple concurrently operating pipelines of a superscalar processor. During the study of computer organization and implementation, students often find it is difficult to understand (1) the operation of an instruction pipeline in its complicated space-time relationships of running an instruction stream over multiple stages of the pipeline, (2) the extensive existence of various types of data and control hazards among instructions, and (3) the distributed control mechanism of handling variable latencies of operations. To help students overcome these difficulties, we designed and developed a series of laboratory activities that were put together into a course project for the design and implementation of an operating model of a pipelined processor. Our multi-year experiences show that these activities and the course project significantly improved students' hands-on experience and understanding of the principle of operation of computer pipelines.
Circadian rhythm disruption in a mouse model of Rett syndrome circadian disruption in RTT

Disturbances in the sleep/wake cycle are prevalent in patients with Rett syndrome (RTT). We sought to determine whether the circadian system is disrupted in a RTT model, Mecp2(-/y) mice. We found that MeCP2 mutants showed decreased strength and precision of daily rhythms of activity coupled with extremely fragmented sleep. The central circadian clock (suprachiasmatic nucleus) exhibited significant reduction in the number of neurons expressing vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) as well as compromised spontaneous neural activity. The molecular clockwork was disrupted both centrally in the SCN and in peripheral organs, indicating a general disorganization of the circadian system. Disruption of the molecular clockwork was observed in fibroblasts of RTT patients. Finally, MeCP2 mutant mice were vulnerable to circadian disruption as chronic jet lag accelerated mortality. Our finds suggest an integral role of MeCP2 in the circadian timing system and provides a possible mechanistic explanation for the sleep/wake distrubances observed in RTT patients. The work raises the possibility that RTT patients may benefit from a temporally structured environment.
Dynamic internal gradients control and direct electric currents within nanostructured materials

Switchable nanomaterials--materials that can change their properties and/or function in response to external stimuli-have potential applications in electronics, sensing and catalysis. Previous efforts to develop such materials have predominately used molecular switches that can modulate their properties by means of conformational changes. Here, we show that electrical conductance through films of gold nanoparticles coated with a monolayer of charged ligands can be controlled by dynamic, long-range gradients of both mobile counterions surrounding the nanoparticles and conduction electrons on the nanoparticle cores. The internal gradients and the electric fields they create are easily reconfigurable, and can be set up in such a way that electric currents through the nanoparticles can be modulated, blocked or even deflected so that they only pass through select regions of the material. The nanoion/counterion hybrids combine the properties of electronic conductors with those of ionic gels/polymers, are easy to process by solution-casting and, by controlling the internal gradients, can be reconfigured into different electronic elements (current rectifiers, switches and diodes).
A new twist on gyroscopic sensing: body rotations lead to torsion in flapping, flexing insect wings

Insects perform fast rotational manoeuvres during flight. While two insect orders use flapping halteres (specialized organs evolved from wings) to detect body dynamics, it is unknown how other insects detect rotational motions. Like halteres, insect wings experience gyroscopic forces when they are flapped and rotated and recent evidence suggests that wings might indeed mediate reflexes to body rotations. But, can gyroscopic forces be detected using only changes in the structural dynamics of a flapping, flexing insect wing? We built computational and robotic models to rotate a flapping wing about an axis orthogonal to flapping. We recorded high-speed video of the model wing, which had a flexural stiffness similar to the wing of the Manduca sexta hawkmoth, while flapping it at the wingbeat frequency of Manduca (25 Hz). We compared the three-dimensional structural dynamics of the wing with and without a 3 Hz, 10° rotation about the yaw axis. Our computational model revealed that body rotation induces a new dynamic mode: torsion. We verified our result by measuring wing tip displacement, shear strain and normal strain of the robotic wing. The strains we observed could stimulate an insect's mechanoreceptors and trigger reflexive responses to body rotations.
Exclusive production of the X(3872) in B meson decay

If the recently discovered charmoniumlike state $X(3872)$ is a loosely bound $S$-wave molecule of the charm mesons ${D}^{0}{\overline{D}}^{*0}$ or ${D}^{*0}{\overline{D}}^{0}$, it can be produced through the weak decay of the $B$ meson into ${D}^{0}{\overline{D}}^{*0}K$ or ${D}^{*0}{\overline{D}}^{0}K$ followed by the coalescence of the charm mesons at a long-distance scale set by the scattering length of the charm mesons. The long-distance factors in the amplitude for the decay $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}XK$ are determined by the binding energy of $X$, while the short-distance factors are essentially determined by the amplitudes for $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{D}^{0}{\overline{D}}^{*0}K$ and $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{D}^{*0}{\overline{D}}^{0}K$ near the thresholds for the charm mesons. We obtain a crude determination of the short-distance amplitudes by analyzing data from the BABAR Collaboration on the branching fractions for $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\overline{D}}^{(*)}{D}^{(*)}K$ using a factorization assumption, heavy-quark symmetry, and isospin symmetry. The resulting order-of-magnitude estimate of the branching fraction for ${B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}X{K}^{+}$ is compatible with observations provided that $J/\ensuremath{\psi}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ is a major decay mode of the $X$. The branching fraction for ${B}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}X{K}^{0}$ is predicted to be suppressed by more than an order of magnitude compared to that for ${B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}X{K}^{+}$.
Reference Stress Based Assessment for Creep-Fatigue Life Under Multiaxial Condition

The reference stress method has been developed to assess the service life for many components under creep condition. However, in order to use the reference stress as a representative stress to assess the creep fatigue life, some modifications are needed. The σd approach based on reference stress, used in RCC-MR, is one of the most common method to assess creep fatigue crack incubation. The aim of this paper is to develop a novel model based on reference stress and the σd approach to estimate the life subjected to creep-fatigue interaction under multiaxial condition for defect free structures. Three kinds of circumferentially notched bar specimens were used in order to examine the creep-fatigue interaction under multiaxial conditions. Finite element analyses were conducted to develop a simplified life assessment method and to calculate the creep fatigue damage in the test specimens. The predicted creep fatigue lives are in good agreement with the experimental results using notched bar specimens of 316H stainless steel.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Morbidity and mortality following breast cancer surgery in women: national benchmarks for standards of care.

The cornerstone of breast cancer management is surgical. The complication rate following breast surgical procedures is considered to be low. The mortality of breast surgical procedures is reportedly less than 1%.1 Surprisingly, the literature is sparse concerning the perioperative mortality and morbidity following breast cancer surgery. The few available reports are retrospective in nature and limited by small sample size.2–6 Complications, more frequently associated with general surgical procedures and prolonged hospital stays, such as cardiopulmonary and cerebrovascular accidents, have infrequently been investigated in patients following breast surgery, albeit secondary to their rare occurrence. The most frequently cited complications are related to wound infection and seroma formation. Incidence rates for postoperative wound infections are variable and range from 3% to 19%.3 Surgical wound infections following breast surgery are not uncommon and can result in further medical and surgical interventions, which may warrant prolonged hospitalization and outpatient follow-up. Moreover, compromise of the cosmetic outcome and psychologic burden of a surgical site infection after breast surgery are important considerations, which support the need for further clinical inquiry. The objective of the current study was to investigate the 30-day morbidity and mortality rates following breast cancer surgery in women and define significant predictors of adverse outcomes and their relative importance.
Mitochondrial Replacement Therapies Can Circumvent mtDNA-Based Disease Transmission

Mitochondrial DNA diseases are relatively common, sometimes devastating, and transmitted exclusively through the egg to children of carrier mothers. A study in Cell by Wang et al. (2014) adds the exciting possibility of a new therapy for preventing mitochondrial disease transmission predicated on the use of polar body genomes in mice.
The use of functionally graded materials to eliminate or control thermal deformation

Many thin structural components such as beams, plates, and shells experience a through-thickness temperature variation. This temperature variation can produce thermal deformation containing both an in-plane expansion component as well as an out-of-plane (bending) curvature component. If we wish to minimize the thermal deformation of a component or to match it to the thermal deformation of another component, we can accomplish this by using a composite whose fibers have a negative axial thermal expansion coefficient. By varying the fiber volume fraction within a symmetric laminated beam to create a functionally graded material (FGM), certain thermal deformations can be controlled or tailored. Specifically, a beam can be designed which does not curve under a steady-state through-thickness temperature variation. This result is independent of the actual temperature values, within the limitation of constant material properties of the constituents. The beam can also be designed to match or eliminate an in-plane expansion coefficient, or to match a desired axial stiffness. Combining two fiber types to create a hybrid FGM can offer desirable increases in axial and bending stiffness while still retaining the useful thermal deformation behavior.
ASYMPTOTIC OPTIMALITY IN BAYESIAN CHANGEPOINT DETECTION PROBLEMS UNDER GLOBAL FALSE ALARM PROBABILITY CONSTRAINT

In the 1960s Shiryaev developed the Bayesian theory of changepoint detection in independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) sequences. In Shiryaev's classical setting the goal is to minimize an average delay to detection under the constraint imposed on the average probability of false alarm. Recently, Tartakovsky and Veeravalli (Theory Probab. Appl., 49 (2005), pp. 458-497) developed a general Bayesian asymptotic changepoint detection theory (in the classical setting) that is not limited to a restrictive i.i.d. assumption. It was proved that Shiryaev's detection procedure is asymptotically optimal under traditional average false alarm probability constraint, assuming that this probability is small. In the present paper, we consider a less conventional approach where the constraint is imposed on the global, supremum false alarm probability. An asymptotically optimal Bayesian change detection procedure is proposed and thoroughly evaluated for both i.i.d. and non- i.i.d. models when the global false alarm probability approaches zero.
Orientation development and relaxation in injection molding of amorphous polymers

Orientation development in amorphous polymer melts being vitrified in an injection molding process is described. Predictions of orientation development are based on the argument that the stress-optical laws are valid in the molten stare and birefringence values appropriate to the stress levels at the time of vitrification remain. This theory is compared to birefringence distributions determined in injection molded parts.
The ecological basis of boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) management

Abstract The boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boheman), generally considered to be native to Mexico or Central America, spread into the southern United States of America in the late 1800s and seriously threatened the cotton industry. As there were no effective alternatives, pest control specialists studied the insect's ecology and advocated cultural practices that would disrupt its environment and maximize the benefits of natural biological and environmental controls. An ecologically orientated pest management scheme founded on cultural practices emerged well before suitable chemical control technology became available and allowed farmers to live with the weevil problem. Despite the ingenuity of the early management scheme, it frequently did not provide satisfactory boll weevil control gauged by present standards. Control of the pest thus shifted largely from an ecological to a chemical approach as effective synthetic organic insecticides became available after World War II. The chemical approach was successful for a number of years, but problems of insecticide-resistant strains of pests, secondary pest outbreaks, environmental quality, and increased costs of the insecticides have forced pest control specialists to re-emphasize the nonchemical techniques used widely against the boll weevil before World War II and to revive the ecological approach to weevil management. This article examines boll weevil ecology as related to management of the insect and reviews the status and prospects of ecologically-based weevil management techniques in the United States.
The effects of the arms race on health and human services

Abstract Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the houses of its children… Dwight D. Eisenhower (1). The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without. Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 18, 1953
On a “central inequality” in the theory of input-output systems

In the stability and sensitivity theory of general, nonlinear input-output systems we encounter a certain inequality concerning solely the nominal system that plays a central role in the whole theory. In particular, this “central inequality,” combined with other assumptions, implies (a) stability of the nominal system, (b) robustness, and (c) insensitivity of the input-output system. This paper presents conditions equivalent to this central inequality, and a further result on the stability-robustness problem.
Emergent literacy intervention for vulnerable preschoolers: relative effects of two approaches.

This study determined the relative efficacy of an experimental explicit emergent literacy intervention program for preschoolers experiencing multiple risk factors. Using an alternating treatment re...
Measured lifetimes of metastable levels of Mn X, Mn XI, Mn XII, and Mn XIII ions

An ion storage technique, based on the capture of metastable multiply charged ions from an external ion source into a Kingdon ion trap, has been used to measure the lifetimes of eight metastable levels of Mn ions with ${3s}^{2}{3p}^{k}$ configurations, $k=1--4.$ Although several lifetime calculations exist, some of the transition wavelengths have not been previously observed in any source. The lifetimes range from 1.5--35 ms. A measurement precision as good as 0.9% was obtained in favorable cases. The measured lifetimes are $\ensuremath{\tau}(\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{}X, {3s}^{2}{3p}^{4}{}^{1}{S}_{0})=2.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3,$ $\ensuremath{\tau}(\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{}X, {3s}^{2}{3p}^{4}{}^{1}{D}_{2})=18.02\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.16,$ $\ensuremath{\tau}(\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{}\mathrm{XI}, {3s}^{2}{3p}^{3}{}^{2}{P}_{3/2})=3.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2,$ $\ensuremath{\tau}(\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{}\mathrm{XI}, {3s}^{2}{3p}^{3}{}^{2}{P}_{1/2})=6.17\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.29,$ $\ensuremath{\tau}(\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{}\mathrm{XI}, {3s}^{2}{3p}^{3}{}^{2}{D}_{3/2})=35.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.43,$ $\ensuremath{\tau}(\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{}\mathrm{XII}, {3s}^{2}{3p}^{2}{}^{1}{S}_{0})=1.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2,$ $\ensuremath{\tau}(\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{}\mathrm{XII}, {3s}^{2}{3p}^{2}{}^{1}{D}_{2})=11.16\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.10,$ and $\ensuremath{\tau}(\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{}\mathrm{XIII},{3s}^{2}3p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2})=31.32\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.82\mathrm{ms}.$ These results are compared with the existing theoretical calculations, which have estimated uncertainties no better than 25%.
A NEW FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR PRICING OF BOND OPTIONS UNDER TIME INHOMOGENEOUS AFFINE TERM STRUCTURE MODELS OF INTEREST RATES

In this paper we propose a new finite element method for pricing of bond options under time inhomogeneous one-factor affine models of short interest rates: the Hull–White model and the extended CIR model. The stability and weak convergence are established. Numerical results are presented to examine the method and to compare the calibrated models.
The use of inverse gas chromatography to study surface thermal oxidation of polypropylene

Abstract Thermo-oxidative effects on the surface energy of polypropylene were measured by inverse gas chromatography as a function of exposure time and temperature. Unaltered polypropylene had a surface energy of 33 mJ/m 2 . Oxidized polypropylene, after exposure to air at temperatures of 100 °C and 110 °C, had a range of maximum surface energies from 38 to 41 mJ/m 2 . Comparisons between FTIR carbonyl peak growth and the surface energy showed that both methods detect oxidation, though the increase in surface energy is detected before the carbonyl peak growth is noticeable. The work of adhesion predicted by the surface free energies obtained in this work between a coated calcium carbonate and polypropylene changes by 10% due to the oxidation of the polymer at 110 °C.