cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Homoconjugation on Ultrafast Dynamics in Cyclohexa-1,4-diene

The influence of homoconjugation on ultrafast dynamics of cyclohexa-1,4-diene was investigated by time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy in comparison with cyclohexene. While little influence is seen on excited states, both molecules exhibit clearly different ground state dynamics.
Quasi-periodic Time Spectral Method for Aeroelastic Flutter Analysis

A recently developed quasi-periodic time spectral method is applied to the demanding problem of aeroelastic flutter. Both a standard time-implicit method and a quasi-periodic time spectral method are developed that take into account the coupling among the three fundamental aspects of computational aeroelastic calculations: unsteady flow equations, time dependent structural response to aerodynamics loads, and dynamically moving meshes. These two methods are then compared in order to demonstrate the capability of the quasi-periodic time spectral method to solve aeroelastic flutter problems. Finally, it is demonstrated that the quasi-periodic time spectral method can be used to solve aeroelastic flutter problems.
Behavioral Bases and Habitual Domains of Decision Making

Through the last seven chapters we have studied the fundamental concepts and techniques for decision making with multiple criteria. It is time for us to pause and ask ourselves two questions: (i) Can we apply the techniques to handle our own important problems? I.e., can we use the techniques to help solve the problem of buying a good house, choosing a good job, improving our career, becoming happier and more successful in working with other people and businesses? (ii) Can we sell our techniques to help other people? (I.e., can we help solve other people’s nontrivial problems—career selection, conflict resolution; can we solve “product design,” distribution and marketing planning problems for a corporation?)
Hypopharyngeal pharyngoplasty procedure in the rehabilitation of swallow in patients with vagal paralysis

Pharyngeal paralysis in patients with high vagal paralysis (HVP) is a problem that can be devastating. The hypopharyngeal pharyngoplasty procedure is an adjunctive static procedure designed to address some of the difficulties with swallow seen in these patients. The procedure can be used acutely in patients with HVP to avoid gastrostomy tube dependence, or it can be done late in patients with persistent dysphagia. The purpose of this article is to delineate the indications for this procedure and the technical aspects of performing the procedure. The procedure partially corrects the aspiration and dysphagia in patients after HVP by reshaping the hypopharyngeal anatomy to promote better bolus transit, thereby improving cervical dysphagia. Because it is a static procedure, its indications in patients with complex swallow dysfunction should be well understood in consideration of the many other surgeries that have been proposed in patients with swallow dysfunction.
Efficiency of Different Vegetative Restoration Settings Deployed on Wastelands of Zijinshan Gold-copper Mine in Fujian Province

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of different vegetative restoration settings on mining wasteland.Vegetation species,quantity,coverage,species diversity and biomass were surveyed by standard plots on different treatments deployed on the mining wasteland of Zijinshan gold-copper mine in Fujian Province.The results showed that the number of vegetation species was rapidly increased at almost all the treatments,and the species number of the herb layer were significantly greater than the control after 5 year restoration.Species quantity at Pinus massoniana +Lespedeza bicolor+ Vetiveria zizanioides+ local flood turf(mode B) was the most.There was 25 species of those.Diversity index at Liquidambar formosana + local beach turf(mode D) and Eucalyptus robusta + local flood turf(mode E) were bigger than others,these two vegetation allocation modes could rapidly increased the species diversity of the community.The vegetation coverage also increased greatly.There were above 85% apart from Pinus massoniana+Lespedeza bicolor(mode A).The biomass of herb layer at Pinus massoniana +Lespedeza bicolor+ Vetiveria zizanioides+ local beach turf(mode B) was the largest,it was 15.81 times to the control.The treatments of Pinus massoniana+Lespedeza bicolor+Vetiveria zizanioides+local beach turf(B),Liquidambar formosana+local beach turf(D) and Eucalyptus+local beach turf(E) performed considerably better than the other ones and therefore can be promoted for larger areas in the vegetation restoration of the mining wasteland.
Expression of vacuolar H(+)-ATPase in mouse osteoclasts during in vitro differentiation.

Osteoclasts express high levels of a vacuolar H(+)-adenosinetriphosphatase (H(+)-ATPase) on the ruffled membrane which they employ to dissolve bone mineral by acidifying their site of attachment on bone. The factors that control amplification of H(+)-ATPase during osteoclast differentiation are poorly understood. We examined the expression of vacuolar H(+)-ATPase in a cell culture system in which mouse spleen cells can be induced to differentiate into osteoclasts by coculture with a mouse bone marrow stromal cell line. We found that the coculture system produced active osteoclasts, identified as multinucleated cells with staining for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase activity that formed genuine resorption pits in bone. These cells developed high levels of H(+)-ATPase expression in culture, and omission of dexamethasone or 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 from the coculture system each partially suppressed the expression of H(+)-ATPase. The results demonstrate that the spleen and PA6 cell coculture system...
Reperfusion injury after temporary coronary occlusion.

In 24 anesthetized open-chest dogs, we examined the time course of changes in contractile function, diastolic muscle stiffness (sonomicrometry), tissue water content, and ultrastructure after 1 hour of occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery and after 2 hours of unmodified reperfusion. One hour of occlusion of the left anterior descending artery replaced active shortening with passive bulging (21.4% ± 2.9% versus -5.9% ± 0.9%, p
The relationship between approval-based contingent self-esteem and conformity is influenced by sex and task difficulty

Abstract Individuals are often faced with the pressure to alter their behaviors or attitudes in order to conform. Researchers have used self-esteem level to explain such conformity but have failed to account for other aspects of self-esteem. The present study examined how approval-based contingent self-esteem (i.e., basing feelings of self-worth on the approval of others) moderates the association between self-esteem level and the tendency to conform. Participants (N = 126) reported their self-esteem level and approval-based contingent self-esteem before completing an online conformity task that varied in difficulty. The results of the study showed that approval-based contingent self-esteem and sex moderated the association between self-esteem level and conformity in ways that were not always predicted. For example, men with approval-based contingent high self-esteem conformed more often on moderately difficult items than men who possessed non-contingent high self-esteem. These results suggest the possibility that different motivations may underlie the tendency to conform as task difficulty changes.
A Framework for Approaching Soviet Multi-Objective Programming

This chapter discusses the framework for approaching Soviet multi-objective programming. Western research on problems involving multiple objectives generally draws a line between those methods that focus primarily on generating candidate solutions and those oriented toward structuring the decision-making process so that a final preferred alternative will be rationally chosen from the set of candidate solutions. The chapter discusses the two subfields of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM), as identified by Steuer in 1986: (1) multi-attribute decision analysis, which he described as the most often applicable to problems with a small number of alternatives in an environment of uncertainty, and (2) multi-objective mathematical programming, which was described as most often being applied to deterministic problems in which the number of feasible alternatives is large.
THE SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIALISM or THE THEORY OF THE STATE

An the preceding chapters it has been demonstrated that socialism as a social system implying a redistribution of property titles away from user-owners and contractors to nonuser-owners and noncontractors necessarily involves a reduction in the production of wealth, since the use and contracting of resources are costly activities whose performance is made even more costly as compared with alternatives available to actors. Secondly, such a system cannot be defended as a fair or just social order from a moral point of view because to argue so, in fact to argue at all, in favor or against anything, be it a moral, nonmoral, empirical, or logico-analytical position, necessarily presupposes the validity of the first-use-first-own rule of the natural theory of property and capitalism, as otherwise no one could survive and then say, or possibly agree on, anything as an independent physical unit.
Efficient Genetic Algorithm Encoding for Large-Scale Multi-objective Resource Allocation

Efficiently managing large-scale computing systems presents many challenging problems for system administrators. Such environments often consist of hundreds of thousands of processors, execute workloads with millions of tasks, and consume enormous amounts of energy. These sizes are going to further increase as the first exascale machines come online within the next decade. To effectively utilize such resources (in terms of both performance and energy consumption), it is imperative to design techniques to quickly and intelligently schedule tasks to machines. Further complicating matters is the heterogeneous nature most large-scale systems exhibit. Certain tasks may be more suited to run on certain architectures than others. Future schedulers need to be able to exploit this heterogeneity to produce task/machine mappings that are both energy efficient and achieve high performance. Genetic algorithms have successfully been applied to the task scheduling problem, but most implementations rely on a "task-based" structure that is linearly dependent on the number of tasks in the problem, making them infeasible for large-scale systems. In this paper, a new structure is presented that is highly scalable in terms of problem size, solution quality, and execution time. This new structure is compared to the existing task-based structure using a multi-objective genetic algorithm via a simulation study for a few example systems.
Integrating Music into Math in a Virtual Reality Game: Learning Fractions

The purpose of this study was to investigate future teachers' experiences and perceptions of using a virtual reality game for elementary math education. The virtual reality game was designed and developed to integrate a musical activity beat-making into the math learning of fractions. Five math education major students participated in this study. Participants' perceptions, experiences, and interactions regarding the game were examined through observation, screen recording, survey, and interviews. A thematic analysis found three major themes: Transformative presentation of fractions via musical concepts, integration of music into math to enhance learner motivation, and learning-constructive game design features. The findings showed that the concept of fractions is effectively represented via beat-making in the virtual reality game. The study also illustrated that musical term clarification and adaptive, haptic manipulation are salient design features that influence game-based learning.
Interdependence between Collective Thermal Fluctuations and Elastic and Viscous Properties in Model Lipid Bilayers

Lipid membranes undergo an array of conformational and dynamic transitions, ranging from individual lipid motions to undulations of micron-sized patches of the membrane. However, the dynamics at intermediate length scales are largely unexplored due to experimental challenges in accessing the appropriate length and time scales. Over the past several years our group has used neutron spin echo spectroscopy (NSE) to provide unique insights into these elusive dynamics in model lipid bilayers, measuring collective bending and thickness fluctuations. These thermally induced collective membrane fluctuations are controlled by elastic and viscous properties of the membranes. It has long been known that the bending fluctuations are characterized by the bending modulus, κ, of the membranes and the motion is damped by the viscosity of solvent, η. By contrast, according to a recent theory proposed by Bingham, Smye and Olmsted, the collective thickness fluctuations are characterized by the bilayer area compressibility modulus, KA, which is damped by the membrane and solvent viscosities, μ and η, respectively. Therefore, by measuring these two collective membrane fluctuations the membrane's elastic and viscous parameters can be evaluated. Here we use this novel method to determine these characteristic parameters of lipid bilayers from neutron scattering data for a couple of simple saturated phosphatidylcholine bilayers. The estimated values are κ ∼ 10−19 J, KA ∼ 0.3 to 0.4 N/m, and μ ∼ 10 nPa s m, which are all consistent with literature values.
Prostaglandins, Thromboxane and Leukotrienes in the Control of Mesangial Function

Mesangial cells are intercapillary cells of the kidney glomerulus, serving both smooth muscle and immune effector functions (1–3). Since the first report of contraction of cultured rat mesangial cells by the vasoactive peptides, angiotensin II (ANG II) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) (2,4), considerable interest focused on the hypothesis that mesangial cells may regulate glomerular blood flow and filtration in synergism with afferent and efferent resistances, by altering capillary surface area and hence the ultrafiltration coefficient, Kf (5,6). Changes of capillary surface area might result from mechanical stretching and constriction of vessel walls by surrounding mesangial cells or intraglomerular shunting of blood flow as a result of segmental occlusion of certain loops. Although no definitive evidence of such function has been provided thus far, a number of observations link the mesangial cell to a regulatory role on glomerular hemodynamics, including reports of selective changes of Kf upon induction of glomerular immune injury (7) or infusion of vasoactive agents (8–10). Further support to the concept of mechanical properties of the mesangium comes from studies in freshly isolated rat and human glomeruli, which are rapidly contracted by ANG II, as evaluated by different techniques (11,12).
U. S. Grain Exports: Transportation and Pricing Systems

Exports of grains from the U.S. in 1979 were 4.6 billion bushels (121.1 million tonnes) and are projected at 6 billion bushels (157.9 million tonnes) by 1985. Over half of these will flow through the Gulf Ports. The problems involved in moving these volumes through the ports are primarily logistical in matching origin and destination capacities and timing. Water transport is a major link in the market chain. Its further expansion is limited by physical capacity and the introduction of competitive rail rates. Logistical problems can be resolved by vertical integration by exporters into assembly and transportation, or by changing policies and regulations that presently reduce competition and efficiency. The actions most likely to reduce logistical problems and improve market performance include equalizing subsidies among modes, transferring the ownership of transportation right-of-ways to public bodies, and reducing regulations that restrict the responsiveness of a free market to changes in demand and supply.
The Conduct of Contemplation and the Gestural Ethics of Interpretation in Walter Benjamin’s "Epistemo-Critical Prologue"

This essay is a close reading of the “Epistemo-Critical Prologue” of Walter Benjamin’s The Origin of German Tragic Drama as a methodological proposal. A comparative reading of the English translation with the German original reveals a sustained reflection on the gestural rhythm of interpretation that the translation obscures. The question of interpretation is an ethical question for Benjamin and for this reason the essay argues against Giorgio Agamben’s idea of gesture as “the communication of communicability,” an idea derived from a reading of Benjamin’s “Critique of Violence.” Hence, the larger issue at stake is how the interpretive gesture is to be defined with respect to violence and what role spatialization and choreography play in the Trauerspiel book’s chapters as extensions of the halting or intermittent gesture of the Prologue in a secularized vision of history.
Insight into the neuroendocrine basis of signal evolution: a case study in foot-flagging frogs

A hallmark of sexual selection is the evolution of elaborate male sexual signals. Yet, how the physiology of an animal changes to support a new or modified signal is a question that has remained largely unanswered. Androgens are important in regulating male reproductive behavior, therefore, selection for particular signals may drive the evolution of increased androgenic sensitivity in the neuro-motor systems underlying their production. Studies of the neuroendocrine mechanisms of anuran sexual signaling provide evidence to support this idea. Here, we highlight two such cases: first, a large body of work in Xenopus frogs demonstrates that sexually dimorphic androgen receptor (AR) expression in the laryngeal nerves and muscles underlies sexually dimorphic vocal behavior, and second, our own work showing that the recent evolution of a hind limb signal (known as the “foot flag”) in Staurois parvus is accompanied by a dramatic increase in androgenic sensitivity of the thigh muscles that control limb movement. Together, these examples illustrate that the evolutionary modification or gain of a sexual signal is linked with a novel pattern of AR expression in the tissues that support it. We suggest that such co-evolution of AR expression and sex-specific or species-specific signaling behavior exists across vertebrates.
Robot ropes for disaster response operations

In disaster relief operations, lives can depend on timely location and safe removal of trapped and often injured people within damaged infrastructure (collapsed buildings, etc.). Further, these operations must be carried out without further collapsing structures within the environment. An emerging class of rope-like continuous backbone “continuum” robots provides new capabilities to address these critical operational problems. Continuum robots, also known as “robot trunks and tentacles”, can bend continuously along their structure, and are highly compliant. These features allow continuum robots to gently penetrate into congested spaces, navigating within complex and a priori unknown obstacle fields. This allows them to safely deploy sensors into collapsed structures, such as within debris in collapsed buildings, to assess conditions and potentially identify survivors. The further ability of these robots to use their bodies to perform whole arm grasping, wrapping safely around environmental objects, offers the possibility of using them as “active ropes” to gently pull victims out of such environments, while avoiding generation of large forces which might further collapse already damaged structures. We have developed a nine degree of freedom pneumatically actuated continuum robot, and deployed it to inspect within rubble piles and to gently grasp and retrieve human surrogates (dummies). Broader application of these kinds of “robot ropes” include remote inspection operations in Space and nuclear environments, as well as a variety of minimally invasive medical procedures.
A pilot IPE workshop integrating OT, pharmacy, PT, and PA programs

Abstract Background and purpose This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of an interprofessional education (IPE) experience. Educational activity and setting The IPE experience included 53 student learners from occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant programs at the University of the Sciences (USciences). This experience used an icebreaker activity and a stroke case-based activity as the activities within the workshop. The core faculty utilized the jigsaw technique to increase student confidence with uni-profession and interprofessional discussions of the patient case. Learners were asked to evaluate their perceptions of the IPE learning experience. Findings Results from a summative quality improvement evaluation indicated that learners had positive perceptions of this curricular innovation. Discussion This pilot IPE workshop illustrates the possibilities for collaboration among health professional programs at USciences, a private health sciences university without an affiliated medical center. Summary Discussion of the process to create, implement, and evaluate this pilot IPE activity is imperative due to increased expectations within professional accrediting guidelines in regards to IPE.
Characteristics associated with family money management for persons with psychiatric disorders.

Background: Persons with psychiatric disorders (PD) commonly have their money officially or unofficially managed by others, with money managers most commonly being family members.Aims: (i) Identify...
Teacher Twitter Chats: Gender Differences in Participants' Contributions

AbstractGender differences in participation were examined across four Twitter chats for social studies teachers. Analyses drawing on mixed methods revealed that while there was parity across most k...
Recognizing maternal mental health disorders: beyond postpartum depression

Purpose of review Maternal mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression, are one of the most common obstetric complications, presenting in pregnancy and postpartum. Recent findings Maternal mental health disorders are associated with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Screening women in pregnancy and postpartum for mental health disorders is key to early identification and treatment of anxiety and depression in the perinatal population. Although universal screening is now recommended by numerous professional organizations, rates of screening are low and often not performed with a validated screening instrument. Although clinical assessment is important, it is insufficient to identify maternal mental health disorders. As symptoms may change throughout pregnancy, screening for anxiety and depression should be done at multiple time points in pregnancy, including intake and postpartum. In addition, it is important to complete a mental health history on intake to identify women who are either at risk for, or experiencing, anxiety and depression. All screening programmes must be accompanied by a protocol to respond to a positive screen to ensure appropriate follow-up and treatment. Summary Identification and treatment of maternal mental health disorders has important implications for maternal and child health. Obstetric providers should screen all women using a validated screening instrument and have systems in place to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment.
The Global Epidemiology of Mental and Substance Use Disorders

This chapter examines cross-national comparisons of mental and substance use disorders which are the major causes of disability worldwide. Such cross-national comparisons may elucidate the links between mental illness and the multiplicity of circumstances in which people around the world are born, grow up, live, work, and grow older, as well as the different systems of care that are available to deal with their illnesses over the course of their lives.
"It doesn't win you friends": Understanding Accessibility in Collaborative Writing for People with Vision Impairments

Collaborative writing tools have become ubiquitous in today's world and are used widely in many professional organizations and academic settings. Yet, we know little about how ability-diverse teams, such as those involving people with and without vision impairments, make use of collaborative writing tools. We report on interviews with 20 academics and professionals who are blind or visually impaired and perform collaborative writing with sighted colleagues. Our findings reveal that people with vision impairments perform collaborative writing activities through four interconnected processes, which include learning an ecosystem of (in)accessible tools, adapting to complexities of collaborative features, balancing the cost and benefit of accessibility, and navigating power dynamics within organizations. We discuss how our analysis contributes to theories of accessibility in collaboration and offers practical insights for future collaborative system design.
High‐fat diet–induced alterations to gut microbiota and gut‐derived lipoteichoic acid contributes to the development of enteric neuropathy

Background High-fat diet, microbial alterations and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are thought to cause enteric diabetic neuropathy and intestinal dysmotility. However, the role of the gut microbiota, lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from Gram-positive bacteria and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the development of diabetic enteric neuropathy and intestinal dysmotility is not well understood. Our aim was to examine the role of the gut microbiota, LTA and SCFAs in the development of diabetic enteric neuropathy and intestinal dysmotility. Methods We fed germ-free (GF) and conventionally raised (CR) mice either a high-fat (HFD) or standard chow diet (SCD) for 8 weeks. We analyzed the microbial community composition in CR mice using 16S rRNA sequencing and damage to myenteric neurons using immunohistochemistry. We also studied the effects of LPS, LTA, and SCFAs on duodenal muscularis externa contractions and myenteric neurons using cultured preparations. Key results High-fat diet ingestion reduced the total number and the number of nitrergic myenteric neurons per ganglion in the duodenum of CR but not in GF-HFD mice. GF mice had fewer neurons per ganglion compared with CR mice. CR mice fed a HFD had increased abundance of Gram-positive bacteria. LTA and LPS did not affect the frequency of duodenal muscularis contractions after 24 hours of cultured but reduced the density of nitrergic myenteric neurons and increased oxidative stress and TNFα production in myenteric ganglia. SCFAs did not affect muscularis contractions or injure myenteric neurons. Conclusions & inferences Gut microbial alterations induced increase in Gram-positive bacterial LTA may contribute to enteric neuropathy.
Instruments of immolation: Giorgio Agamben and the Eucharistic reformations of the sixteenth century:

Throughout the Homo Sacer series, Giorgio Agamben takes seriously the political and philosophical significance of Christian ritual in his archaeology of Western political discourse. In Opus Dei, Ag...
Series Voltage Compensator for Differential Power Processing

Differential power processing (DPP) has been proved effective in many applications. This paper presents a Series Voltage Compensator (SVC) with partial power processing to compensate for the voltage difference between a variable dc bus voltage and a regulated load voltage required by the DPP system. The SVC is connected in series between the variable dc bus and the DPP system. It regulates the input voltage while only processing a fraction of the overall power. A variety of SVC topologies are compared and their performance limits are studied, providing insights into the power rating design and regulation range selection of SVC topologies. To validate the principles of the SVC, a buck-derived SVC is designed and applied to a 10-port MAC-DPP converter. The buck-derived SVC can efficiently convert an input voltage ranging from 50 V to 85 V into a regulated 50 V and feed it to the DPP system. It achieved 98.8% peak system efficiency while converting 55 V into 50 V.
Plantation Roads and the Impositions of Infrastructure: An Archaeology of Movement at Good Hope Estate, Jamaica

Studies of plantation surveillance have provided important understandings of the material dimensions of elite power and control over enslaved people. These studies have emphasized inter-visibility ...
AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF STIRLING'S METHOD IN BANACH SPACES

The method of nondiscrete mathematical induction is applied to Stirling's method. The method yields a very simple proof of the convergence and error estimates which are generally better than those given in the literature.
Identifying synergies and antagonisms between plant defense traits in Asclepias syriaca

Abstract As a general rule, plants defend against herbivores with multiple traits. The defense synergy hypothesis posits that some traits are more potent when co-expressed with others, compared to their independent potency. However, this hypothesis has rarely been tested outside of synergies within a class of particular phytochemicals, and seldom under field conditions. We tested for synergies between multiple defense traits of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) by assaying the performance of two specialist herbivores on plants in natural populations. We employed both standard regression and exploratory analysis using a novel application of Random Forests that allowed us to detect synergies between defense traits. In hypothesis testing, we found the first empirical evidence for a previously hypothesized synergy between one pair of co-expressed defense traits (latex and cardenolides), but not another (latex and trichomes). When exploring all potential interactions between pairs of traits we found eight synergies and five antagonisms in predicting herbivore performance. Half of the identified synergies involved carbon, which is the basis of several defenses including chemical and physical barriers to feeding, and also essential nutrients. Our findings suggest that defense synergies could explain co-expression of latex and cardenolides in milkweeds. This synergy may be common among the diverse plant species that employ latex as a defense. Future studies should test carbon-based synergies, which our work suggests are prevalent, as well as the other synergies identified in our exploratory analysis. Our analytic approach provides a general, flexible framework for more broadly discovering and predicting the coexpression of traits through their synergistic function.
The method of quartz damage recovery in the photomask repair process

As the pattern size became gradually smaller, the defect detectability of the photomask inspection tool was more improved. For these reasons, we have to repair various defects more precisely. By improving the mask yield through the repair process, we can reduce the cost of mask fabrication. In this study, we studied the defect called quartz damage which distorts the AIMSTM (Arial Image Measurement System) intensity of the repaired pattern and causes the scrap of the photomask. The quartz damage is generally observed when the abnormal defects like particles were repaired in the poor repairing condition. The quartz damage occasionally results in repair errors and affects the AIMS intensity. Currently there is no clear solution for recovering the quartz damage. As a result, it is very difficult to get the high quality photomask if the quartz damage is generated on the photomask. Therefore, it is important to find a method of recovering the quartz damage for producing the high quality photomask. In this paper, we demonstrated that the quartz damage can be recovered through the TEOS (Tetraethoxysilane) gas deposition. Also we investigated the effect on the recovery of the quartz damage of various parameters such as the type and the depth of the quartz damage as well as the repair conditions of the TEOS gas deposition.
Neuroimaging in Clinical Trials

Neuroimaging plays a vital role when designing a clinical trial to study tumors, degenerative diseases, stroke, and autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system. Standardization of diagnostic criteria and analysis techniques to report severity of disease serve as objective criteria to judge outcome in these studies. This chapter will review the main imaging tools used when designing a neuroimaging clinical trial and the diagnostic and measurement criteria used to evaluate investigations in neuro-oncology, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease. This chapter will also provide a brief review of these pathologies to provide a better understanding of the topics most commonly investigated with neuroimaging.
Globalization, Political Islam, and Moderation: The Case of Muslim Democratic Parties

In this article, I examine the rising significance of a moderate kind of Islamist party emerging in the Middle East in recent years—Muslim democratic parties—and, the factors underlying their electoral success. In this, the manuscript takes a closer look at an important constituency of Islamist parties, the small and medium business owners ( smes). Briefly, I argue that smes’ support underlies the success of moderate Muslim democratic parties as opposed to more conservative Islamist parties, and what determines smes’ support for a moderate party is the change in their political preferences. The change in smepreferences, I show, is due to the form that economic liberalization takes, whether economic liberalization is more inclusive (what I call competitive liberalization) or exclusive/selective (what I call crony liberalization). Empirically, I rely on original field interviews I conducted with party officials and business owners in Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey. I also integrate primary sources such as party publications into the analysis.
Far-field synthesis of the excitation currents of a spherical array

The authors simplify the mathematical relation existing between the far-zone electric field and the element currents of a typical spherical array. This would prove important in designing spherical arrays. In order to demonstrate the method described in a system identification, a 31-element array of conducting coaxial loops lying on a sphere of radius 24.25 /spl lambda/ carrying /spl phi/' directed current was considered. >
Visual Considerations of Man, the Vehicle, and the Highway

THE SUBJECTS FURNISHED FOR THIS DOCUMENT BY HSRI ARE: VISION, SENSES, PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT: SKILLED PERFORMANCE, LEARNING, COGNITION/INFORMATION PROCESSING: PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR COORDINATION, BEHAVIORAL FACTORS: HUMAN ENGINEERING, DISCIPLINES: ACCIDENT.
Developmental Learning Communities

Research over the past two decades has emphasized the importance of learning communities: self-organizing groups of learners who work together on authentic tasks, describing, explaining, listening to, and interpreting one another’s ideas. Learning communities often structure their learning by scaffolding embedded both in the activities and in the tools of the community (Bruner, 1960).
A New Approach to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Intravascular Lymphoma

In intravascular lymphoma (IVL) tumor cells are initially restricted to vascular lumina. Neurological syndromes predominate and are caused by ischemia as well as tumor infiltration into the nervous system. Ante mortem diagnosis is challenging and frequently impossible. Chemotherapy is effective if started prior to ischemic damage. Over a three Year period, we have diagnosed IVL in seven patients. Tissue diagnosis could be accomplished in only three cases. For those in whom tissue diagnosis failed we based our diagnosis on clinical presentation, typical magnetic resonance imaging findings, spinal fluid cytopathology, and molecular analyses. Six patients were treated with methotrexate chemotherapy alone or in combination with CHOP. Three patients are in complete remission 9–20 months after initial diagnosis. Another patient achieved a partial response. Two patients died due to progressive disease shortly after initiation of treatment. Grade III toxicity was observed in only 4 of 61 cycles. Based on a small retrospective series of patients, we conclude that methotrexate is a well tolerated and effective agent for the treatment of IVL.
Characterization of a dual-polarization microstrip phased array antenna for weather sensing applications

The effect of mutual coupling in the modeling of an 8×8 microstrip patch array antenna is presented. The antenna is modeled using embedded individual element patterns, and embedded 4-element image patterns to examine the effects of mutual coupling on the array performance. The measurement results validate the accuracy of the simulation results.
Response to Letter by Yamada et al Regarding "Differentiation of Papillary Muscle From Fascicular and Mitral Annular Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients With and Without Structural Heart Disease".

We thank Yamada et al1 for their interest in our recent article. We wish to address the points raised by their letter. First, Yamada et al raise concerns about the location of the left anterior fascicle as depicted in Figures 1, 3, and 5. It should be pointed out that Figures 1 and 5 represent purely schematic depictions of the fascicular, papillary, and annular anatomy. To compress 3-dimensional anatomy into a 2-dimensional figure, we arbitrarily placed the left anterior fascicle along the septal aspect of the annular ring. Although the left anterior fascicle courses anteriorly and laterally after branching from the left bundle, we intentionally elected not to mark …
Bleustein-gulyaev waves in piezoelectromagnetic materials

An exact solution of the three-dimensional equations of piezoelectromagnetism is obtained. The solution represents a generalized version of the well-known Bleustein-Gulyaev surface waves in piezoelectric ceramics.
Crystal structure of 4-chloro-2-iodo­aniline

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C6H5ClIN, the amino group engages in N—H⋯N hydrogen bonding, creating [100] chains. A Cl⋯I contact is observed [3.7850 (16) A]. The parallel planes of neigbouring mol­ecules reveal highly offset π-stacking characterized by a centroid–centroid distance of 4.154 (1), a centroid-to-plane distance of 3.553 (3) and ring-offset slippage of 2.151 (6) A.
Unsaturated fatty acids promote bioaccessibility and basolateral secretion of carotenoids and α-tocopherol by Caco-2 cells

Bioavailability of carotenoids and tocopherols from foods is determined by the efficiency of transfer from food/meal to mixed micelles during digestion, incorporation into chylomicrons for trans-epithelial transport to lymphatic/blood system, and distribution to target tissues. Fats and oils are important factors for facilitating the absorption of lipophilic compounds. However, dietary fats and oils are composed of various types of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids which may differentially impact the bioavailability of carotenoids and tocopherols from foods. We have investigated the effects of several common commercial lipids on bioavailability using an in vitro digestion model and Caco-2 human intestinal cells. Meals consisted of mixed salad vegetables containing a single test lipid. Micellarization and cellular uptake of β-carotene (βC) and lycopene (LYC) during small intestinal digestion was increased by lipids rich in unsaturated fatty acids: soybean oil > olive > canola > butter. In contrast, type of lipid minimally affected the bioaccessibility of lutein (LUT) and zeaxanthin (ZEA). To examine the influence of type of dietary triglyceride on uptake and basolateral secretion of carotenoids, Caco-2 cells grown on Transwell membranes were incubated with micellar mixtures of fatty acids (1.0 mM) mimicking the types and ratio of saturated to unsaturated (mono- + poly-unsaturated) fatty acids (FA) present in butter (70 : 30), olive oil (7 : 93) and soybean oil (11 : 89). Cells were exposed to micelles containing βC, LUT, α-tocopherol (α-TC) and a mixture of test fatty acids. Uptake and basolateral secretion of βC, LUT and α-TC were greater in cells pre-treated with mixtures enriched in unsaturated compared to saturated FA and these effects were mediated by increased assembly and secretion of chylomicrons. These results suggest that dietary fats/oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids promote carotenoid and α-TC bioavailability by enhancing their micellarization during digestion and intestinal transport.
Electron radiative self-energy of highly stripped heavy atoms

Abstract A new algorithm is presented for the evaluation of the electron radiative self-energy in heavy atoms, for which Zα is not a perturbative expansion parameter. The algorithm for hydrogenic ions is presented in detail. The terms to be evaluated numerically are finite, free of spurious gauge dependent parts, and are not in the form of a subtraction. The extension to many electron ions is also discussed.
Constraints on core collapse from the black hole mass function

We model the observed black hole mass function under the assumption that black hole formation is controlled by the compactness of the stellar core at the time of collapse. Low compactness stars are more likely to explode as supernovae and produce neutron stars, while high compactness stars are more likely to be failed supernovae that produce black holes with the mass of the helium core of the star. Using three sequences of stellar models and marginalizing over a model for the completeness of the black hole mass function, we find that the compactness xi(2.5) above which 50% of core collapses produce black holes is xi(2.5)=0.24 (0.15 < xi(2.5) < 0.37) at 90% confidence). While models with a sharp transition between successful and failed explosions are always the most likely, the width of the transition between the minimum compactness for black hole formation and the compactness above which all core collapses produce black holes is not well constrained. The models also predict that f=0.18 (0.09 < f < 0.39) of core collapses fail assuming a minimum mass for core collapse of 8Msun. We tested four other criteria for black hole formation based on xi(2.0) and xi(3.0), the compactnesses at enclosed masses of 2.0 or 3.0 rather than 2.5Msun, the mass of the iron core, and the mass inside the oxygen burning shell. We found that xi(2.0) works as well as xi(2.5), while the compactness xi(3.0) works significantly worse, as does using the iron core mass or the mass enclosed by the oxygen burning shell. As expected from the high compactness of 20-25Msun stars, black hole formation in this mass range provides a natural explanation of the red supergiant problem.
Open thoracoabdominal aortic repair for chronic type B dissection

Objectives Advances in endovascular surgery have brought into question the role of open operative treatment of chronic thoracoabdominal aortic dissection. In this context, we evaluated our experience with open repair of this condition using a single operative technique. Methods From January 1986 to January 2014, 69 patients with chronic thoracoabdominal aortic dissection underwent open repair using total cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA). The degree of repair was as follows: Crawford extent I, 13 patients (19%), Crawford extent II, 41 patients (59%), and Crawford extent III, 15 patients (22%). Thirty patients (43%) had Marfan or Loeys-Dietz syndrome. Fifty-three patients (77%) had previous operations on the thoracic or abdominal aorta. Results The 30-day mortality rate was 5.8% (4 patients). Stroke occurred in 2 (3%) of 66 operative survivors, and spinal cord ischemic injury in 4 (6%). Temporary dialysis for new-onset renal failure was required in 4.5% of hospital survivors and tracheostomy in 10.6%. Survival after 1, 5, and 10 years was 87%, 65%, and 40%, respectively. Eighteen patients (26%) required a total of 20 subsequent operations on the thoracic or abdominal aorta of whom 15 had Marfan or Loeys-Dietz syndrome. Three of these procedures were for contiguous distal aortic disease and 10 were for patch aneurysms of the intercostal or visceral/renal arteries. Conclusions Open thoracoabdominal aortic repair for chronic dissection using CPB and HCA can be accomplished with mortality and morbidity rates that are comparable with those reported for endovascular or hybrid techniques. Open repair should remain a viable and primary option for the management of this condition until the long-term effectiveness of alternative methods of treatment is clearly established.
How does information asymmetry affect the division of gains in mergers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the implications of the target valuation uncertainty on the wealth distribution between the target and acquirer firms in successful mergers. The paper specifically analyzes the division of the total dollar gains between the two parties and also whether the target and/or the acquirer experience a positive/negative gain in mergers when valuation of the target company is more uncertain.Design/methodology/approach – The analyses contrast the implications of the uncertainty in three well‐known merger hypotheses; the market‐for‐corporate‐control, hubris and synergy.Findings – The results are supportive of the implications of the synergy hypothesis. As target valuation uncertainty decreases, it is more likely that both parties experience positive gains from the transaction although more of the gains from the merger significantly shift towards the target company.Originality/value – Results suggest that both parties are bargaining on the synergy gains and the targe...
Retinoic acid-induced CD38 antigen promotes leukemia cells attachment and interferon -γ/interleukin -1β -dependent apoptosis of endothelial cells : Implications in the etiology of retinoic acid syndrome

Abstract All- trans retinoic acid (RA) treatment of patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) induces complete remission in more than 90% of the cases. Although RA therapy is well tolerated, about 25% of APL patients develop a potentially fatal condition called retinoic acid syndrome (RAS). Molecular mechanisms underlying the development of RAS pathogenesis, especially those that result in the damage of endothelial cells remain elusive. In the present study, we found that RA treatment induces the expression of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in peripheral blast cells from APL patients. IFN-γ and IL-1β also exerted synergistic effect in driving human umbilical cord endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human lung microvascular endothelial cells (HLMVECs) into apoptosis. RA also upregulated the expression of CD38, an ectoenzyme responsible for the generation of the calcium messenger cyclic ADP-ribose. Importantly, RA-induced CD38 expression promoted strong attachment of leukemia cells to endothelial cells, and incubation of endothelial cells with either high concentration (100 ng/ml) of IFN-γ alone or low concentration of IL-1β and IFN-γ (10 ng/ml, each) induced strong apoptotic responses as revealed by caspase-8 activation and DNA fragmentation. Our results suggest that these RA-induced events could contribute to the development of RAS pathogenesis in patients with APL.
Storage capacity and water use in the 21 water-resource regions of the United States geological survey

Abstract The development of reservoir storage capacity has been most closely connected to water demand for irrigation purposes. But water demand for this purpose is relatively elastic, while that for other uses is much less so. A model estimated here suggests also a positive relation between the price of irrigation water and an aggregate comprising mainly urban water use. As the pressure of rising demand against a relatively constant supply drives water prices upward, irrigation is thus likely to suffer in comparison to urban demand, and this should free up existing storage capacity for alternative uses. By implication, water managers should take this eventuality into account when formulating water resource strategies to meet future water needs.