cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Growth and kojic acid production byAspergillus flavus growing on peanut oil

A procedure was described for the quantitative study of oil and fatty acid utilization by fungi.Aspergillus flavus was demonstrated to grow well when peanut oil, or various components of peanut oil, were supplied as single sources of carbon. The effect of various environmental factors on growth and kojic acid production byA. flavus was studied. It was concluded that the most reliable index of growth was the production of lipid-free mycelium. Measurements of total mycelial dry weight proved to be an unreliable index of growth because they included varying quantities of oil absorbed but not metabolized. Optimum conditions for oil utilization and growth were: initial pH, 5.0 to 9.0; temperature, 20 to 40°C; substrate-oil concentration, 3.4% or higher; and surface area to volume ratio, 0.56 (50 ml. of media in 125-ml. flasks). Optimum conditions for kojic acid production were: pH, 7.0 to 8.0; temperature, 30 to 35°C; substrate-oil concentration, 3.5%; and surface area to volume ratio, 0.56. Kojic acid was not synthesized when inorganic salts were supplied as single nitrogen sources. Nitrogen sources suitable for kojic acid synthesis were : yeast extract, casein, peptone, alanine, tryptophan, glutamic acid, and to a lesser degree proline. Other commonly used amino acids and amides were not suitable for acid synthesis, although certain ones supported good growth. The addition of KH2PO4 to the medium inhibited acid production and to a lesser degree inhibited growth.
A Digitized Spark Chamber for Gamma Ray Astronomy

A digitized spark chamber has been developed for balloon borne and satellite gamma ray astronomy. The detector is a multi-array wire, plate chamber utilizing magnetic cores for buffer storage and magnetic tape for data logging. The high voltage system consists of a set of gas krytrons triggered by avalanche transistor pulsers. Track information is stored in parallel into a ferrite core array mounted to the chamber face and buffered via a linear select memory system into a sixteen track sub miniature tape recorder for bulk storage. Also included is a 16 channel rate meter and house keeping multiplexer which interleaves data with track information onto the tape recorder. The package is designed to operate for long periods of time on a single charge of neon-helium gas in a free balloon environment.
Implications for the Alcohol/Drug Education Specialist Working with Children of Alcoholics: A Review of the Literature from 1988 to 1992:

This article reviews the scientific literature on children of alcoholics (COAs) from 1988 to 1992. First the publications were divided into two classifications: practitioner-oriented and research-oriented literature. Each practitioner-oriented article was evaluated on the following criteria: program description, theoretical model, recommendations substantiated by research, behavioral indicators of COAs, suggestions for intervening, and resource lists. For each of the research-oriented articles, the variables measured, sample source, sample size, and number of COAs in the sample are listed. Additionally, those articles are evaluated for research design, instruments, and analytical techniques. Reviews of early research in this area identified severe methodological limitations across the majority of articles. However, results of this more recent review indicate that research on COAs no longer suffers from previously common methodological weaknesses and sampling biases. The research-based literature also indi...
SU‐FF‐T‐582: Delivery Angle Dependency On Treatment Plan Quality for Whole Breast Radiotherapy Using Helical Tomotherapy

Purpose: To characterize the effect of delivery angle (DA) on target dose homogeneity and coverage as well as normal tissue sparing for whole breast treatments using helical tomotherapy. Method and materials: Tomotherapy treatment plans (TomoTherapy Inc, Madison WI) were generated for three sets of patients with varying breast sizes: small ( 1601cc). All patients presented with left‐sided breast cancer. For each patient, three tomotherapy plans were created with different DAs. Pinnacle3 (Philips Medical, Fitchburg WI) treatment planning system was used to segment the PTV, critical structures, and blocking structures. Blocking structures were created to allow radiation delivery from 180°, 210°, and 240° relative to conventional tangent beam geometry. Treatment plans were prescribed 50.0Gy to 95% of the PTV for 25 fractions. A directional block was used for the blocking structures. Plans were compared based on target homogeneity (HI) and conformity (CN) and dose to critical structures. Results: Percent differences between the average CN of each DA was less than 0.5%. The 180‐degree DA produced the least homogenous dose distributions with an average HI of 0.0654 while the 240‐degree DA produced the most homogenous with an average HI of 0.0531. Regarding contra lateral breast dose, the 180‐degree DA limited the D2% and V10Gy. The 240‐degree DA reduced the dose to the heart and ipsilateral lung.Treatment time decreased as the DA increased. Conclusion: By using a 210‐degree DA, the sparing of the contra lateral breast increases dramatically while not substantially impacting the dosimetric quality of the PTV and dose sparing of the heart, and lung for all of the patients studied. This study indicates that the 210‐degree DA may be an optimal DA when considering all treatment planning goals and may serve to be beneficial during the beam angle selection process of topotherapy.
The Energy Innovation Imperative: Addressing Oil Dependence, Climate Change, and Other 21st Century Energy Challenges

resources in a global or absolute sense is not one of them. The world may be running out of cheaply extractable and reliably deliverable conventional oil and natural gas, insofar as (a) these energy forms may continue (with some ups and downs) to get more costly and less reliable over time and (b) it is unclear for how much longer the rate at which they are extracted can be increased to meet rising global demand. But energy resources of other types are immensely larger and capable in principle of being expanded to multiples of today’s use rates of oil and gas combined: there is 5 to 10 times as much coal as conventional oil and gas; there is 5 10 times as much oil shale and unconventional gas as coal; the energy potential of uranium and thorium resources is larger still; and harnessing even a small percentage of the solar energy flow reaching Earth’s land surface could meet multiples of today’s world energy demand. The energy issue is difficult not because of any impending exhaustion of global resources, then, but for more complicated reasons. The first of these is the multiplicity and diversity of the economic, environmental, and security aims that energy strategy must serve, many of them in tension with each other (see box, following page). The desire to limit costs is often at odds with the aims of increasing reliability, reducing vulnerability, and improving environmental performance. The historically low costs of oil, natural gas, and many hydropower projects are not likely to be matched by the more abundant fossil, nuclear, and renewable alternatives. Expanding domestic oil production in order to limit imports eventually encounters not only rising marginal costs but
Active Control of Four-Bar Tensegrity-Membrane Systems

Tensegrity-membrane systems are deployable structures that can be utilized in space applications such as solar sails and radar systems. This work addresses the control design for four-bar tensegrity-membrane systems. The tendons act as actuators, and the system can be controlled by changing the rest-lengths of the tendons. Lagrange’s method is used to model the system, and the equations of motion are expressed as a set of differential-algebraic equations (DAE). For control design, the equations of motion of the system in the DAE form are converted into the form of second order ordinary differential equations based on coordinate partitioning and coordinate mapping. Since the number of control inputs is less than the number of state variables, these systems can be classified as underactuated nonlinear systems. The collocated partial feedback linearization (PFL) technique is implemented to design a nonlinear controller. Simulation results of the closed-loop system under initial perturbation are presented, and the performance of the controller is discussed.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Marriage in the Short Stories of Chekhov

In his article "Marriage in the Short Stories of Chekhov" Mark Richard Purves explores Anton Chekhov's often occurring depiction of marriage. Purves posits that Chekhov's depiction of the experience of marriage raises important ontological questions about the core features of family life such as what it means to be a husband, what it means to be a wife, and the degree of relatedness between them. Chekhov elaborates on what he sees as matrimony's central antinomy, namely that the wedding of one individual to another produces loneliness, an absence of intimacy, and a kind of alienation so acute it causes love itself to cool in a relationship pulled apart by the asymmetries of social status and personal likes and dislikes. Mark Richard Purves, "Marriage in the Short Stories of Chekhov" page 2 of 9 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 16.3 (2014): Thematic Cluster Love, Sexualities, and Marriage in Literature
A collocation method for solving integral equations

A collocation method is formulated and justified for numerical solution of the Fredholm second-kind integral equations. As an application the Lippmann-Schwinger equation is considered. The results obtained provide an error estimate and a justification of the limiting procedure used in the earlier papers by the author, dealing with many-body scattering problems in the case of small scatterers, and with creating materials with a desired refraction coefficient: Ramm, A.G. 'Many-body wave scattering by small bodies and applications', J. Math. Phys., Vol. 48, No. 10, 103-511; Ramm, A.G. (2008) 'Wave scattering by many small particles embedded in a medium', Phys. Lett. A, Vol. 372, No. 17, (2008), pp.3064-3070
Diagnostic methods in pulmonary embolism.

Abstract Diagnosing pulmonary embolism (PE) is challenging since clinical signs and symptoms are non-specific. The diagnostic tests available for demonstrating PE all have their drawbacks and are often costly and consume considerable amounts of resources. Simple tools that have become available in the last several years include clinical prediction rules and d -dimer testing. Assessment of the clinical probability, combined with a d -dimer test, can limit the need for additional diagnostic tests by 30%. For outpatients with a normal, sensitive ELISA d -dimer test and a low-to-moderate clinical probability, PE can safely be ruled out. Pulmonary angiography, though still the gold standard, is rarely used nowadays because of its invasiveness, its high costs and limited availability, and the declining experience of radiologists with the technique. Two imaging techniques – lung scintigraphy and helical CT – are the diagnostic methods of choice. A normal perfusion lung scan can safely exclude PE. However, 55–65% of patients have indeterminate lung scan results, making additional imaging tests necessary. Helical CT is increasingly being used as the first-line test because it can directly visualize a thromboembolus, it can suggest an alternative diagnosis, and there is excellent inter-observer agreement. A normal helical CT, followed by compression ultrasonography of the leg veins, can safely rule out PE. Finally, the safety of withholding anticoagulant treatment from patients with a normal multi-row detector helical CT as the sole test has not yet been demonstrated.
MY collection is bigger than yours: Tales from the handcrafter's stash

ABSTRACTThose who create domestic arts and handcrafts are quite familiar with the term “stash” and may even have one (or more). While it is not a reference to addictive drugs (or is it?), questions regarding the stash illuminate the themes that exist within the stash and the “lifeworlds” of the collectors of the stash. The present paper focuses on the material culture, specifically the meaning and role of the stash in the lives of handcrafters. Through extensive participant observation and communication with a range of handcrafters (e.g. knitters, crocheters, quilters), we explore the many layers of stashes in handcrafters' lives. This exploration contextualizes the handcrafter in relation to their stash. Handcrafters collectively refer to their collections as “stash,” hoard whatever they collect over time, find un/official support groups to support their habits, and together strategize hiding places and storage. Collecting, hoarding, and hiding stash is quite normal for crafters, yet such acts are often ...
Formation and Stabilization of Fluorescent Gold Nanoclusters Using Small Molecules

Biological molecular imaging and sensing requires fluorophores that are not only stable and bright, but also small enough to allow the unencumbered observation of the movement of proteins. Toward this goal, we have studied the formation of fluorescent metallic gold nanoclusters stabilized by small molecule ligands. The morpholine and piperazine backbones of Good’s buffers were used to template fluorescent clusters, through a process of etching of nanoparticles first formed in the reaction. The clusters are found to be subnanometer sized, with nanosecond fluorescence lifetimes and as bright, or brighter, than the commercial dye norharmane.
HIGH SPEED SYNTHESIZERS FOR SATELLITE APPLICATION

High-speed wide-band microwave synthesizers are required for many frequency-hopped satellite communication systems. These synthesizers must be of high-reliability design, of compact size, and light weight, in addition to having low DC power requirements. This paper describes a space-flight qualified synthesizer system which meets these requirements and provides operational redundancy. The circuit technology utilized to implement an indirect synthesis technique using a VCO and phase-locked loop is described, together with circuitry for fast frequency switching, fine frequency tuning and control. The performance of major components is discussed in addition to overall synthesizer system performance.
A process model to study the impact of role variables on turnover intentions of information systems personnel

Abstract The rapid evolution and spread of information systems (IS) technology has created a major set of managerial challenges. The high level of turnover among IS professionals has necessitated the development of strategies which will allow organizations to manage the IS human resources effectively. In the literature very little attention has been paid to this area. In this paper we present a process model based on system dynamics to study the turnover problem among IS professionals.
Optimal determination of the vapor pressure critical exponent

Correlations producing thermodynamic property tables employ the concepts of scaling with increasing frequency in the vapor-liquid critical region. One of the important concepts is that the vapor pressure equation should provide infinite curvature and finite slope ψc at the critical point. The vapor pressure critical exponent θ describes the divergent curvature in a power law expression. This paper provides an extensive study of θ. We have determined an optimal value of θ by two general approaches: a curve fit method (CFM) which employs least-squares analyses, and a numerical derivative method (NDM). The CFM is interpolative but requires a vapor pressure equation, while the NDM is extrapolative but is independent of the vapor pressure equation. The vapor pressure equations, which satisfy scaling concepts most closely, exhibit a very flat minima for the CFM. As a result, the values of θ which provide reasonable correlations vary over an appreciable range (depending upon the compound, form of the equation, and the temperature range). The NDM did not present any particular difficulties. Our overall weighted average for θ is 0.199 with a standard deviation of 0.052, while the overall numerical average was 0.225 with a standard deviation of 0.045; the final recommended value of θ is 0.22 ± 0.04.
Pegylated-IFNα2a for HIV/hepatitis C virus coinfected patients: out with the old, in with the new

Introduction: Liver disease is a major burden in patients co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV). From the time of its approval, pegylated-IFNα-2a (pegIFN-α2a) has played a major role in treatment of HCV in HIV/HCV co-infection. Areas covered: This article briefly summarizes the epidemiology of HCV/HIV co-infection, the pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic properties of pegIFN-α2a. Results from clinical trials investigating therapies containing pegIFN-α2a for HIV/HCV co-infected patients will be discussed with a focus on efficacy and safety. Expert opinion: PegIFN-α2a has improved rates of sustained virologic response for co-infected patients. In combination with direct-acting antivirals (DAA), the disparity between mono- and co-infected patients is beginning to disappear. For the first time, IFN-free regimens are available in clinical practice. It is unlikely that pegIFN-α2a will continue to be a critical component in treatments for HCV in the general co-infected population.
Enhanced surface and interface magnetism of bcc Ni overlayers on Fe(001).

The surface and interface magnetism of metastable bcc Ni as an overlayer on Fe(001)---originally synthesized by Heinrich et al.$mdash---is investigated using the highly precise total-energy full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave method. Two systems---a monolayer (1Ni/Fe) and a bilayer (2Ni/Fe) coverage on Fe(001)---are investigated and compared. The Ni-Fe interlayer spacings are found to be relaxed downward by 2.5% and 4% for 1Ni/Fe and 2Ni/Fe, respectively. The effect of the Ni-Fe hybridization on the electronic and magnetic properties is examined. In both overlayer systems the magnetic moments at the interface Ni and Fe sites are enhanced relative to their corresponding bulk values. The magnetic moment (0.69${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}}_{\mathit{B}}$) of the surface Ni atom of 2Ni/Fe is found to be reduced from that (0.86${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}}_{\mathit{B}}$) of the surface Ni atom on 1Ni/Fe. A manifestation of the moment enhancement at the interface Fe site is a positive contribution to the hyperfine field from the valence electrons.
Green WLANs: On-Demand WLAN Infrastructures

Enterprise wireless local area networks (WLANs) that consist of a high-density of hundreds to thousands of access points (APs) are being deployed rapidly in corporate offices and university campuses. The primary purpose of these deployments is to satisfy user demands for high bandwidth, mobility, and reliability. However, our recent study of two such WLANs showed that these networks are rarely used at their peak capacity, and the majority of their resources are frequently idle. In this paper, we bring to attention that a large fraction of idle WLAN resources results in significant energy losses. Thousands of WLANs world-wide collectively compound this problem, while raising serious concerns about the energy losses that will occur in the future. In response to this compelling problem, we propose the adoption of resource on-demand (RoD) strategies for WLANs. RoD strategies power on or off WLAN APs dynamically, based on the volume and location of user demand. As a specific solution, we propose SEAR, a practical and elegant RoD strategy for high-density WLANs. We implement SEAR on two wireless networks to show that SEAR is easy to integrate in current WLANs, while it ensures no adverse impact on end-user connectivity and performance. In our experiments, SEAR reduces power consumption to 46%. Using our results we discuss several interesting problems that open future directions of research in RoD WLANs.
Self-stabilizing ARQ on channels with bounded memory or bounded delay

It is shown that implementing self-stabilizing versions of standard ARQ (automatic-repeat-request) protocols, such as stop-and-wait or go-back-n, would require knowledge of a bound on the maximum delay or maximum memory of the communication channel involved. An alternative approach to self-stabilizing ARQ that incorporates a delay or memory bound directly as part of the communication model is given. Two ARQ protocols are presented that self-stabilize by using one bit of overhead in each transmitted message. The protocols operate exactly like standard stop-and-wait ARQ except that when a fault places them in an incorrect (unsafe) state, the additional bit in the protocol messages allows automatic recovery. >
Compassion for the Young Experiencing the Trauma of Death

Educators demonstrate compassionate caregiving to students who experience traumatic loss from violence, natural causes, and health issues. Theorists raise critical issues about caregiving pedagogies, specifically the potentially limiting public displays of mourning in schools. This essay analyzes such theories in relation to three traumatic case studies: a teacher’s response to a student’s death caused by physical conditions, a student teacher’s response to the violent death of a high school student, and experiences by counselors who participated in a camp for youth whose siblings were diagnosed with terminal illness. Guiding research questions include: What are the salutogenic factors that affect youth who are engaged with trauma? How do teachers and counselors integrate the cognitive, behavioral, experiential, and spiritual aspects of well-being? The research provides a critical analysis of camp and school based responses to grief.
Minimizing life cycle cost for subsonic commercial aircraft

The inclusion of life cycle cost (LCC) as early as possible in the conceptual design process is necessary because of the strong impact early design effort has on the total cost of an aircraft program. Considering LCC for military aircraft is the current industry standard; for commercial aircraft it is also necessary to weigh the merit of decreases in operating costs against increases in acquisition cost and vice versa. A methodology has been developed that makes it possible to identify an aircraft concept that will meet the mission requirements and have the lowest LCC. The methodology consists of an LCC module composed of elements to calculate RDTE however, the models chosen permit alternatives to be treated consistently so that relative comparisons are valid. Provision is made in the methodology for sensitivities to advanced technologies to also be investigated. The conceptual design system is applied to short-, medium-, and medium-to-long range subsonic commercial airplanes. The aircraft are optimized for minimum gross weight, fuel burned, acquisition cost, and DOC to show that different concepts result when LCC is considered. Sensitivities of the aircraft to economic and technology variables are illustrated.
How to Tie Everyday Work to Strategy

The paper describes how Harvard Business School's Knowledge and Library Services (KLS) leveraged the collective knowledge of its employees in formulating, implementing, and evaluating strategy. The organisation was faced with major, disruptive changes in its environment and needed the diverse knowledge and full engagement of all employees to make a series of strategic shifts. The shifts included integrating KLS products and services with the Harvard Business School research and course development process, developing global scope in information resources and expertise, and trading its role as the guardian of books and buildings for the organiser of the School's priority information assets. In order to achieve that, KLS launched the Environmental Scan Program, relying on employees' insights aggregated through social tagging, trend analysis and internal prediction markets tracking emerging trends. KLS also created processes for the collective assessment of strategy and a faster way of turning ideas into new products and services. The paper concludes with an assessment of the approach, pointing to a difficult balance between emergent and collective dimensions of strategy process with its formal, structured facets.
Late Quaternary vegetation and climate history near Little Lake, central Coast Range, Oregon

Pollen and plant macrofossils recovered from Little Lake, Oregon, provide the first record of late Quaternary climate and vegetation changes in Oregon9s central Coast Range. The pollen data suggest that the period from ca. 42 000 to 24 770 yr B.P. featured an open forest of western white pine, western hemlock, and fir. The inferred climate was cooler and wetter than today. The full-glacial period was characterized by a parkland of spruce, lodgepole pine, and mountain hemlock, which suggests that the climate was colder and possibly drier than today. The Oregon Coast Range was not a glacial refugium for temperate conifers as has been proposed. By 16 000 yr B.P. the pollen and plant macrofossil data suggest the development of a montane forest composed of pine, fir, western hemlock, and mountain hemlock. Temperate taxa were present in the vegetation at 13 500 yr B.P. during a period of climatic amelioration. A reversal in this warming trend may have occurred between 11 000 and 10 500 yr B.P., when pine, western and mountain hemlock, and spruce were slightly more abundant. Early Holocene forests featured Douglas fir, red alder, and bracken fern, implying more severe summer drought and more frequent fires. After 5600 yr B.P., Douglas fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar dominated the record, marking the introduction of the present-day cool, moist climate; however, during the past 2800 yr, increased Douglas fir and decreased cedar suggest the possibility of reduced effective moisture at Little Lake.
Multivariable MRAC using Nussbaum gains for aircraft with abrupt damages

This paper derives a stable multivariable model reference adaptive control (MRAC) scheme for systems with abrupt parameter variations (which may cause uncertain sign changes in the system?s high frequency gain matrix), motivated by the application to in-flight aircraft systems with damages. Such sign changes are illustrated by an aircraft model with asymmetric abrupt damages, and their uncertainty is handled by a Nussbaum gain based adaptive control design to control the aircraft for both healthy and post-damage situations, by adapting controller parameters autonomously after the damages occur, for which the knowledge of time instants, structures and values of the damages is not required. A piecewise continuous Lyapunov function is utilized to prove the desired system stability and tracking properties in the presence of damages.
Sex Differences in the Games Children Play

The world of play and games has been relegated to a minor position in the study of childhood socialization. This study accords a more important role in the socialization process to the games children play. It asks: are there sex differences in the organization of children's playtime activities? A large body of new empirical data on the leisure patterns of fifth-grade schoolchildren suggests six important differences. After describing these differences, the author speculates on their possible consequences. It is suggested that play and games contribute to the preservation of traditional sex-role divisions in society by equipping boys with the social skills needed for occupational careers while equipping girls with the social skills better suited for family careers.
Message Diffusion in Unstructured Overlay Networks

Many unstructured overlay-based peer-to-peer (P2P) applications require techniques that can effectively send messages to various topological regions of the overlay. While searching in unstructured P2P networks has been widely studied in literature, the problem of diffusing messages to various parts of an arbitrary overlay network has received surprisingly little research attention. In this paper we analyze the message diffusion problem and make two technical contributions towards addressing it. First, we propose a novel message propagation technique called the cluster resilient random walk (CRW). While the CRW technique preserves the overall framework of random walks, at each step of message forwarding, it favors the neighbors that are more likely to send the message deeper into the network. Second, in order to ensure effective message diffusion in networks with small cuts, we introduce a unique message fission technique in which messages are split when they reach peers connecting two or more topological regions of the network. Our experiments show that the proposed technique are very effective in diffusing messages across overlay networks of various topologies.
Brodalumab-an IL-17RA monoclonal antibody for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

Introduction: IL-17 is a growing target for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Brodalumab is a fully human anti-IL-17RA monoclonal antibody that has been investigated in a range of disease including psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and asthma.Areas covered: This review aims to summarize up-to-date pharmacological properties of brodalumab and the clinical efficacy and safety data presented in clinical trials. The focus of this review will be on psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis although we will briefly touch on the other indications in which the drug has been studied as we feel it adds to our understanding of the IL-17 pathway and highlights areas where research is still needed.Expert opinion: Brodalumab has shown good efficacy in psoriasis in small but extended studies with a moderate effect on psoriatic arthritis. Brodalumab studies are clearly negative in rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. The data are equivocal i...
Relationship Characteristics and Sexual Practices of African American Adolescent Girls Who Desire Pregnancy

This study examined associations between African American adolescent girls' desire to become pregnant and their sexual and relationship practices. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to detect significant associations between pregnancy desire and the assessed correlates. Of 522 participants (14 to 18 years old), 67 (12.8%) were pregnant and were thus excluded from this analysis. Of the remaining 455 adolescents, 107 (23.6%) expressed some desire to be pregnant at the time of assessment. Adolescents who desired pregnancy were significantly more likely to report having had sex with a casual partner and to use contraception inconsistently. Factors involving an adolescent girl's relationship with her partner (e.g., being in a relationship, length of relationship, time spent with boyfriend, or satisfaction with boyfriend) were not significantly associated with the desire for pregnancy. Effective pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention programs for female adolescents should address their level of pregnancy desire.
Structure of Hydrogen in Microcrystalline and Amorphous Silicon: an NMR Comparison

Hydrogen NMR data on three microcrystalline silicon samples grown by plasma decomposition using different H2/SiH4 gas ratios are examined. A decrease of the total atomic percent hydrogen content from 12 at.% to 6 at.% is seen as the gas ratio is reduced from 98/1 to 20/1. 20 to 40% of this total hydrogen content is determined to be non-bonded molecular hydrogen. In addition, evidence for SiH2 units is seen in the spectrum.
Imaging of Bezold's abscess.

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to describe the CT findings in patients with Bezold's abscesses. CONCLUSION: Bezold's abscesses are rare complications of mastoiditis. In our series most were seen in adults and were associated with a history of cholesteatoma and mastoidectomy. CT of the neck and temporal bone can help the surgeon determine appropriate treatment.
Risk Minimization for a Filtering Micromovement Model of Asset Price

Abstract The classical option hedging problems have mostly been studied under continuous-time or equally spaced discrete-time models, which ignore two important components in the actual price: random trading times and market microstructure noise. In this paper, we study optimal hedging strategies for European derivatives based on a filtering micromovement model of asset prices with the two commonly ignored characteristics. We employ the local risk-minimization criterion to develop optimal hedging strategies under full information. Then, we project the hedging strategies on the observed information to obtain hedging strategies under partial information. Furthermore, we develop a related nonlinear filtering technique under the minimal martingale measure for the computation of such hedging strategies.
Lumped and distributed scaling of MESFETs

In power amplifier applications, it is very common to scaleup large MESFETs at the output from smaller MESFET devices that are easily measured and characterized. A systematic procedure is given to predict the small-signal performance of large devices from the measured and well-characterized elementary cells. The emphasis is on the distributed scaling and the method is compared with lumped scaling. Manifold distribution effects and other parasitics (such as airbridges, distribution of via holes) are accounted for. The prediction using distributed scaling showed good agreement with measured results. >
Industrial Pollution and Environmental Health in Rural China: Risk, Uncertainty and Individualization*

After more than three decades of extremely rapid industrial growth, China faces an environmental public health crisis. In this article, I examine pollution in the rural industrial sector and its implications for community health. Drawing on recent ethnographic research in an industrial township in rural Sichuan, including interviews with government officials, environmental regulators, industrial workers and local residents, I explore how community members understand the linkages between air and water pollution from nearby factories and their health and well-being. The article has two main goals. The first is to examine the various ways in which uncertainty about pollution sources, about the severity of pollution levels and about the links between pollution and human health shapes villagers’ experiences of pollution on a day-to-day basis. The second goal is to examine the rising trend of “individualization” taking place in China today and explore how this process is related to people’s experiences of toxic exposure. I consider the implications of this trend for how social scientists should approach the study of environmental illness in contemporary China.
Hierarchical clustering for unstructured volumetric scalar fields

We present a method to represent unstructured scalar fields at multiple levels of detail. Using a parallelizable classification algorithm to build a cluster hierarchy, we generate a multiresolution representation of a given volumetric scalar data set. The method uses principal component analysis (PCA) for cluster generation and a fitting technique based on radial basis functions (RBFs). Once the cluster hierarchy has been generated, we utilize a variety of techniques for extracting different levels of detail. The main strength of this work is its generality. Regardless of grid type, this method can be applied to any discrete scalar field representation, even one given as a "point cloud".
Lateral depletion-mode thyristors in SOI substrates

The LDMT (lateral depletion-mode thyristor), a new type of lateral MOS-controlled thyristor, is presented. This device is fabricated in a SOI (silicon-on-insulator) substrate, and uses the substrate as back-gate to turn off the thyristor action. The LDMT achieves turn-off via MMCI (MOS-controlled current interruption), whereby the displacement current of an MOS capacitor is used to interrupt the thyristor's current flow. This device is shown to have a maximum controllable current, in current implementations, which is 8.3 times its holding current. Its switching speed has been measured at less than 600 ns. The authors describe the LDMT and the MCCI mechanism, present experimental results, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this device. >
Cambro‐Ordovician palaeomagnetic and geochronologic data from southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: revision of the Gondwana apparent polar wander path

SUMMARY We present new palaeomagnetic and isotopic data from the southern Victoria Land region of the Transantarctic Mountains in East Antarctica that constrain the palaeogeographic position of this region during the Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician. A new pole has been determined from a dioritic intrusion at Killer Ridge (40Ar/39Ar biotite age of 499±3 Ma) and hornblende diorite dykes at Mt. Loke (21°E, 7°S, A95=8°, N=6 VGPs). The new Killer Ridge/Mt. Loke pole is indistinguishable from Gondwana Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician poles. Previously reported palaeomagnetic poles from southern Victoria Land have new isotopic age constraints that place them in the Late Cambrian rather than the Early Ordovician. Based upon the new palaeomagnetic and isotopic data, new Gondwana Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician mean poles have been calculated.
A Pentatricopeptide Repeat Protein Facilitates the trans-Splicing of the Maize Chloroplast rps12 Pre-mRNA

The pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) is a degenerate 35–amino acid repeat motif that is widely distributed among eukaryotes. Genetic, biochemical, and bioinformatic data suggest that many PPR proteins influence specific posttranscriptional steps in mitochondrial or chloroplast gene expression and that they may typically bind RNA. However, biological functions have been determined for only a few PPR proteins, and with few exceptions, substrate RNAs are unknown. To gain insight into the functions and substrates of the PPR protein family, we characterized the maize (Zea mays) nuclear gene ppr4, which encodes a chloroplast-targeted protein harboring both a PPR tract and an RNA recognition motif. Microarray analysis of RNA that coimmunoprecipitates with PPR4 showed that PPR4 is associated in vivo with the first intron of the plastid rps12 pre-mRNA, a group II intron that is transcribed in segments and spliced in trans. ppr4 mutants were recovered through a reverse-genetic screen and shown to be defective for rps12 trans-splicing. The observations that PPR4 is associated in vivo with rps12-intron 1 and that it is also required for its splicing demonstrate that PPR4 is an rps12 trans-splicing factor. These findings add trans-splicing to the list of RNA-related functions associated with PPR proteins and suggest that plastid group II trans-splicing is performed by different machineries in vascular plants and algae.
Expand Positive Learning Opportunities and Results

The first item on the National Agenda for Achieving Better Outcomes for Children and Youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance revolves around creating positive environments through the creation of ...
Are replication studies possible in qualitative second/foreign language classroom research? A call for comparative re-production research

A widely accepted orthodoxy is that it is impossible to do replication studies within qualitative research paradigms. Ontologically and epistemologically speaking, such a view is largely correct. However, in this paper, I propose that what I call comparative re-production research—that is, the empirical study of qualitative phenomena that occur in one context, which are then shown also to obtain in another—is a well-attested practice in ethnomethodological conversation analysis (CA). By extension, I further argue that researchers who do research on second and foreign language (L2) classrooms inspired by the conversation analysis-for-second-language acquisition movement should engage in comparative re-production research in order to make broad statements about the generality or prototypicality of the qualitative organization of particular practices across languages, cultures and institutional contexts.
Simulation-Based Optimization with Stochastic Approximation Using Common Random Numbers

The method of Common Random Numbers is a technique used to reduce the variance of difference estimates in simulation optimization problems. These differences are commonly used to estimate gradients of objective functions as part of the process of determining optimal values for parameters of a simulated system. Asymptotic results exist which show that using the Common Random Numbers method in the iterative Finite Difference Stochastic Approximation optimization algorithm (FDSA) can increase the optimal rate of convergence of the algorithm from the typical rate of k-1/3 to the faster k-1/2, where k is the algorithm's iteration number. Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA) is a newer and often much more efficient optimization algorithm, and we will show that this algorithm, too, converges faster when the Common Random Numbers method is used. We will also provide multivariate asymptotic covariance matrices for both the SPSA and FDSA errors.
The Appointment and Instruction of S. P. G. Missionaries

From the opening of the eighteenth century to the close of the Revolution the cause and interests of the Church of England were promoted in the American colonies mainly by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. During this period that organization, commonly known as the S. P. G., employed in the colonies a total of three hundred different missionaries. These men were settled throughout the thirteen colonies, but because of the privileged position occupied by the church in Virginia and Maryland, the distribution was by no means equalized.
Life History and Laboratory Rearing of Pseudometapterus umbrosus (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) with Descriptions of Immatures Stages

The life history of the emesine reduviid Pseudometapterus umbrosus (Blatchley) was studied in southern Illinois from February 1999 to November 2000, and the immature stages were described. The bug also was reared from egg to adult under controlled laboratory conditions. This univoltine species occurred on the rock faces of sandstone bluffs often in association with plants and spider webs. Adults and nymphs preyed primarily on small flies. Adults overwintered within fallen leaves on the bluff outcroppings, emerged in early April, and began feeding and reproducing shortly thereafter. Eggs were found from early May to late October and were deposited on the leaves and stems of Heuchera parviflora Bartling. Nymphs were found from early June to early September. New adults appeared in mid-July and remained active until early October. This species was reared in the laboratory on adult Drosophila sp. at 26 ± 3.0°C under a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h. The incubation period averaged 13.25 d; eyespots appeared in ≈7 d. The five stadia averaged 11.86, 11.77, 12.44, 15.35, and 18.88 d, respectively. The instars can be distinguished by differences in several anatomical features including body length and width.
Failure to Obtain Computed Tomography Imaging in Head Trauma: A Review of Relevant Case Law.

Objectives The objectives were to describe lawsuits against providers for failing to order head computed tomography (CT) in cases of head trauma and to determine the potential effects of available clinical decision rules (CDRs) on each lawsuit. Methods The authors collected jury verdicts, settlements, and court opinions regarding alleged malpractice for failure to order head CT in the setting of head trauma from 1972 through February 2014 from an online legal research tool (WestlawNext). Data were abstracted onto a standardized data form. The performance of five CDRs was evaluated. Results Sixty relevant cases were identified (52 adult, eight children). Of 48 cases with known outcomes, providers were found negligent in 10 cases (six adult, four pediatric), settled in 11 cases (nine adult, two pediatric), and were found not liable in 27 cases. In all 10 cases in which providers were found negligent, every applicable CDR studied would have indicated the need for head CT. In all eight cases involving children, the applicable CDR would have suggested the need for head CT or observation. Conclusions A review of legal cases reported in a major online legal research system revealed 60 lawsuits in which providers were sued for failing to order head CTs in cases of head trauma. In all cases in which providers were found negligent, CT imaging or observation would have been indicated by every applicable CDR.
Images in vascular medicine. Severe vasovagal event following attempted intubation in a patient with bilateral retropharyngeal carotid arteries.

A 69-year-old female developed severe bradycardia and hypotension following attempted endotracheal intubation for a scheduled varicose vein ligation and stripping procedure. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) imaging of the neck performed to denote the etiology of the vasovagal event demonstrated bilateral retropharyngeal internal carotid arteries (ICAs). Panel A shows an axial view of the close proximity of both ICAs posterior to the pharynx and anterior to the C3 vertebral body. There is bilateral convexity of the pharynx due to the presence of both ICAs in the retropharyngeal space. Panel B shows a three-dimensional reconstructed CTA coronal image of both carotid arteries ascending in a medial course prior to entering the skull base. Panel C shows a sagittal CTA image with the ICA in close proximity to the cervical vertebrae. The estimated prevalence of retropharyngeal ICAs is between 2% and 3%.1 The carotid arteries are embryologically derived from the third aortic arch and dorsal aorta.
Optically pumped DBR-free semiconductor disk lasers

We report high power distributed Bragg reflector (DBR)-free semiconductor disk lasers. With active regions lifted off and bonded to various transparent heatspreaders, the high thermal impedance and narrow bandwidth of DBRs are mitigated. For a strained InGaAs multi-quantum-well sample bonded to a single-crystalline chemical-vapor deposited diamond, a maximum CW output power of 2.5 W and a record 78 nm tuning range centered at λ≈1160 nm was achieved. Laser operation using a total internal reflection geometry is also demonstrated. Furthermore, analysis for power scaling, based on thermal management, is presented.
Exposure to the Elite Narrative: Explaining Pakistani Public Opinion and American Drone Attacks

This paper is an analysis of the sources of Pakistani public opinion toward American drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan. An examination of Pakistani opinion toward the drones show two clear patterns: A slim majority of Pakistanis know about the drone strikes but that number is growing over time. Also, those Pakistanis who know about the drone strikes are very opposed to them. We argue that the rather limited knowledge of the drone strikes is not for lack of an elite discourse about drone attacks but because of the relatively low levels of political cognitive mobilization in a population with very low levels of education. But given the almost universal condemnation of drone strikes from all strata of Pakistani political and societal elites, we argue that it is to be expected that those who have absorbed a good deal of information about the strikes will be greatly opposed to the attacks. In other words, in an informational environment such as Pakistan has been for the last few years, to have heard about drone strikes is to have been exposed to nearly unanimous elite criticism of drone strikes with an extremely limited counter-narrative. Thus, we argue that the more a Pakistani has heard of drone strikes in Pakistan, the more likely she is to oppose them. This hypothesis is tested in a Heckman analysis, which confirms our supposition.