cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Adults with cystic fibrosis have deficits in bone structure and strength at the distal tibia despite similar size and measuring standard and relative sites.

Abstract Individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) have lower bone mineral density (BMD) by DXA and are at higher risk of fracture than healthy controls. However, the 2-dimensional measurement of areal BMD (aBMD) provided by DXA is influenced by bone size and the true extent of the bone deficit is unclear. Our objective was to use high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) and individual trabecula segmentation (ITS) analysis to compare volumetric BMD (vBMD), microarchitecture and estimated strength at the distal radius and tibia in 26 young adults with CF and 26 controls matched for age, gender, and race. To assess the effect of limb length and minimize the confounding effects of size on HR-pQCT outcomes, we scanned participants at both the standard fixed HR-pQCT measurement sites and at a subject-specific relative site that varied according to limb length. CF participants did not differ significantly in age, height, weight, or BMI from controls. Ulnar and tibial lengths were 9 mm shorter in CF patients, though differences were not significant. CF patients had significantly lower BMI-adjusted aBMD by DXA at the lumbar spine (8.9%, p
Abstract 16165: Addition of Pericardial Delayed Hyper-enhancement by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Increases the Diagnostic Ability of Current Guidelines to Diagnose Recurrence Among Patients With Chronic Recurrent Pericarditis

Background: Current guidelines recommend diagnosing recurrence based on chest pain, pericardial rub, EKG changes and new/worsening pericardial effusion. We hypothesized that quantified pericardial ...
Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Burr Orbital Motion in Rotational Atherectomy with Particle Image Velocimetry Validation

Rotational atherectomy (RA) uses a high-speed rotating burr introduced via a catheter through the artery to remove hardened atherosclerotic plaque. Current clinical RA technique lacks consensus on burr size and rotational speed. The rotating burr orbits inside the artery due to the fluid force of the blood. Different from a common RA technique of upsizing burrs for larger luminal gain, a small burr can orbit to treat a large lumen. A 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to simulate the burr motion and study the fluid flow and force in RA. A particle image velocimetry experiment was conducted to measure and validate the flow field including the radial and axial velocities and a pair of counter-rotating vortices near the burr equator in CFD. The hydraulic force on the burr and the contact force between the burr and the arterial wall were estimated by CFD. The contact force can be reduced by using smaller burr and lower rotational speed. Utilizing the small burr orbital motion has the potential to be an improved RA technique.
Phosphorus and Nitrogen in Lake Water and Sediments

Phosphorus and nitrogen are the two elements most likely to limit phytoplankton growth. Detailed information on the concentrations, vertical distributions, and chemical fractions of these elements is therefore useful in interpreting average phytoplankton abundances and seasonal changes in abundance. We present here an overview of the phosphorus and nitrogen chemistry that can be referenced in later chapters dealing with phytoplankton.
Demographic and behavioral predictors of trichomonas vaginalis infection among pregnant women

There is little available information on the demographic and behavioral factors associated with Trichomonas vaginalis in pregnant women. Among 13,816 women from six urban clinic centers, the prevalence rate by culture at mid-pregnancy was 12.6%. Women colonized with T vaginalis were significantly more likely to be black, cigarette smokers, unmarried, and less educated (all P less than .01). Several behavioral factors associated with T vaginalis included greater numbers of sexual partners both lifetime and in the last year, 5 years or more of sexual activity, and a history of gonorrhea (all P less than .01). Trichomonas vaginalis-colonized women were less sexually active in the preceding month compared with uncolonized women (P less than .01). Women using either barrier or oral contraception in the 6 months before becoming pregnant were far less likely to be colonized (P less than .01). Other factors such as age, gravidity, income level, age at first coitus, and use of antibiotics, alcohol, or douche during pregnancy were not independently associated with T vaginalis colonization. Because many of the factors predictive of increased risk of colonization have also been shown to be associated with adverse pregnancy outcome, they should be considered in assessing the association of T vaginalis with adverse pregnancy outcome.
Mammals of Illinois and the Midwest: Ecological and Conservation Issues for Human-Dominated Landscapes

In this chapter, we address how mammals have been affected by changes in midwestern landscapes over time, using Illinois as an example of extreme habitat disturbance. We will outline the key events which took place since the advent of European settlers, including an in-depth look at the last four decades, when land use changes have accelerated and anthropogenic disturbances have become even more dramatic.
A prospective on energy and environmental science

This Editorial commemorates the first decade of Energy & Environmental Science (EES), reviewing its remarkable success as well as outlook for the future. In the past ten years, EES filled a void by fostering research and development in energy and environmental science. The success of EES can be attributed to several factors: at initiation, EES was the only high-profile journal to rapidly publish only the highest quality energy-related research; a growing global community of vibrant energy researchers who initiated Gordon Research Conferences, international meetings, etc.; energy research becoming important in the eyes of the public, due to high oil prices and environmental issues; a generation of scientists, especially junior researchers and students, eager to embrace the challenge of a transition to net-zero emissions energy systems; increased funding for energy research internationally as well as in the U.S. at the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. EES became the preferred option to publish high-quality, high-impact energy research, with success reflected by a record-setting impact factor for a full-featured journal.
Scalable nanomanufacturing of inkjet-printed wearable energy storage devices

The economic production and integration of nanomaterial-based wearable energy storage devices with mechanically-compliable form factors and reliable performance will usher in exciting opportunities in emerging technologies such as consumer electronics, pervasive computing, human–machine interface, robotics, and the Internet of Things. Despite the increased interests and efforts in nanotechnology-enabled flexible energy storage devices, reducing the manufacturing and integration costs while continuously improving the performance at the device and system level remains a major technological challenge. The inkjet printing process has emerged as a potential economic method for nanomanufacturing printed electronics, sensors, and energy devices. Nevertheless, there have been few reports reviewing the scalable nanomanufacturing of inkjet printed wearable energy storage devices. To fill this gap, here we review the recent advances in inkjet printed flexible energy storage technologies. We will provide an in-depth discussion focusing on the materials, manufacturing process integration, and performance issues in designing and implementing the inkjet printing of wearable energy storage devices. We have also compiled a comprehensive list of the reported device technologies with the corresponding processing factors and performance metrics. Finally, we will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with related topics. The rapid and exciting progress achieved in many emerging and traditional disciplines is expected to lead to more theoretical and experimental advances that would ultimately enable the scalable nanomanufacturing of inkjet printed wearable energy storage devices.
Due Diligence Hard Law Remedies for MNC Labor Chain Workers

This paper discusses the appropriateness of making due diligence a binding obligation for human rights and labor rights. It examines the evolution of traditional soft law into hard law, with recent domestic legislation imposing civil liability for failure, and discusses “due diligence” standards, processes, and remedies. It evaluates whether non-binding due diligence without the potential for legally enforceable “domestic hard law” remedies is adequate and concludes with a call for exploring obligations of legally binding due diligence with flexible remedies. This would make Multinational Corporations (MNCs) responsible for results that provide protection of the labor standards of the global labor supply workers. The author concludes and proposes that while all the current approaches, such as soft law, dialogue, transparency laws, reforms to improve labor protection laws and enforcement, should proceed expeditiously, the most effective remedy is for governments to legislatively mandate an expanded due diligence requirement and, as in recent French legislation, provide liability with enforceable remedies for failure to comply.
The representative heuristic and catastrophe-related risk behaviors

Building on the work by Volkman-Wise Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 51, 267–290 (2015) and Dumm et al. (The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, 42, 117–139 (2017), we examine behavioral aspects of risk through the representative heuristic’s impact on catastrophe-related probability assessment and insurance demand of Florida homeowners. The representative heuristic models individuals as underweighting prior probabilities and overweighting posterior probabilities, thereby overweighting the probability of a loss from a disaster after a disaster occurs. Using data for homeowners’ insurance purchases through Florida’s residual market over a time period (2003-2008) that includes a sub-period of many losses (2004-2005) and sub-period of few catastrophic losses (2003, 2006-2008), we find increases in demand at the individual policyholder level for coverage following losses. Also consistent with the representative heuristic, we find that the effect attenuates as the losses fade from memory. That is, the effect of losses on demand is much higher for more recent losses. We also are able to parameterize the representative heuristic model showing that individual policy holders overweight the probability of another catastrophic event occurring by nearly 50%, after one has occurred.
Toward dynamic phenotypes and the scalable measurement of human behavior

Precision psychiatry demands the rapid, efficient, and temporally dense collection of large scale and multi-omic data across diverse samples, for better diagnosis and treatment of dynamic clinical phenomena. To achieve this, we need approaches for measuring behavior that are readily scalable, both across participants and over time. Efforts to quantify behavior at scale are impeded by the fact that our methods for measuring human behavior are typically developed and validated for single time-point assessment, in highly controlled settings, and with relatively homogeneous samples. As a result, when taken to scale, these measures often suffer from poor reliability, generalizability, and participant engagement. In this review, we attempt to bridge the gap between gold standard behavioral measurements in the lab or clinic and the large-scale, high frequency assessments needed for precision psychiatry. To do this, we introduce and integrate two frameworks for the translation and validation of behavioral measurements. First, borrowing principles from computer science, we lay out an approach for iterative task development that can optimize behavioral measures based on psychometric, accessibility, and engagement criteria. Second, we advocate for a participatory research framework (e.g., citizen science) that can accelerate task development as well as make large-scale behavioral research more equitable and feasible. Finally, we suggest opportunities enabled by scalable behavioral research to move beyond single time-point assessment and toward dynamic models of behavior that more closely match clinical phenomena.
DNA Methylation Age Is More Closely Associated With Infection Risk Than Chronological Age in Kidney Transplant Recipients.

Older kidney transplant recipients demonstrate increased rates of infection but decreased rates of rejection compared with younger recipients, suggesting that older transplant patients are functionally overimmunosuppressed. We hypothesized that this is a consequence of reduction in immunological activity due to biological aging and that an immune biological age, as determined by DNA methylation (DNAm), would be associated more strongly with incidence of infection than chronological age. Methods DNAm analysis was performed on peripheral blood mononuclear cell collected from 60 kidney transplant recipients representing older (≥age 60 y) and younger (aged 30-59 y) patients 3 months after transplantation. DNAm age was calculated based on methylation status of a panel of CpG sites, which have been previously identified as indicative of biological age. Results Correlation was seen between chronological and DNAm age; however, there were many patients with significant differences (either acceleration or slowing) between DNAm age and chronological age. A statistically significant association was seen between increased DNAm age and incidence of infection in the first year after kidney transplantation, whereas no significant association was seen between chronological age and infection. Conclusions Assessment of DNAm age holds promise as an approach for patient evaluation and individualization of immune suppression regimens. This analysis may provide insights into the immunological mechanism behind increased incidence of infection observed in older transplant patients. The ability to measure biological age would allow for patient risk stratification and individualization of immunosuppression, improving outcomes for the growing numbers of older patients undergoing kidney transplantation.
From Niches to Riches: The Anatomy of the Long Tail

Dozens of markets of all types are in the early stages of a revolution as the Internet and related technologies vastly expand the variety of products that can be produced, promoted and purchased. Although this revolution is based on a simple set of economic and technological drivers, the authors argue that its implications are far-reaching for managers, consumers and the economy as a whole. This article looks at what has been dubbed the ?Long Tail? phenomenon, examining how customers derive value from an important characteristic of Internet markets: the ability of online merchants to help consumers locate, evaluate and purchase a far wider range of products than they can typically buy via the traditional brick-and-mortar channels. The article examines the Long Tail from both the supply side and the demand side and identifies several key drivers. On the supply side, the authors point out how e-tailers? expanded, centralized warehousing allows for more offerings, thus making it possible for them to cater to more varied tastes. On the demand side, tools such as search engines, recommender software and sampling tools are allowing customers to find products outside of their geographic area. The authors also look toward the future to discuss second order amplified effects of Long Tail, including the growth of markets serving smaller niches.
Imagining the New Community: The Writing Center’s Hidden Antagonisms after the Neoliberal Turn

This paper reimagines writing center labor’s place within the university’s production of knowledge after neoliberalism. This positioning of writing center labor reveals parallels and affinities with the “feminized” characteristics of service sector labor, a type of work which has proliferated after deindustrialization. While I explore dimensions of writing center work that this positioning reveals, important limits to these parallels emerge, and within and beyond these descriptive limits I advocate redefinitions of writing center labor. Accordingly, I assert that this work escapes economic measure while embodying an ethos that is antithetical to the neoliberal imaginary’s individualist assumptions. The constantly shifting, emergent identities of students and tutors, alongside the writing center’s activation of the feminist care ethic through social production, are what characterize this challenge to forces shaping the university in the context of neoliberalism.
Psychological sense of community and oral health problems among older Chinese Americans: Family reunification matters

Abstract Background: To further understand social determinants of oral health, this study examined the relationship between psychological sense of community (PSoC) and oral health problems and investigated whether the relationship would vary by family reunification status among foreign-born older Chinese Americans. Methods: Data came from the Population-Based Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (PINE) collected between 2011 and 2013. The PINE study is considered representative of the aging Chinese population in the greater Chicago area. The working sample included 2,981 foreign-born, community-dwelling Chinese Americans aged 60 or older. Stepwise logistic regressions with interaction terms were conducted. Results: Stronger PSoC was associated with a 3% lower likelihood of reporting oral health problems (OR= 0.97; CI= 0.96, 0.98). The strength of the relationship between PSoC and oral health problems varied by family reunification status (OR= 1.06; CI= 1.02, 1.09). For individual components of PSoC, stronger influence was associated with a 16% lower likelihood of reporting oral health problems (OR= 0.84; CI= 0.81, 0.87). Only the relationship between needs fulfillment and oral health problems varied by family reunification status (OR= 1.21; CI= 1.08, 1.36). Conclusions: Interventions need to consider community belonging and reasons for immigration to promote oral health in this growing population.
Association of the neutrophil to eosinophil ratio with response to immunotherapy-based combinations in metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

341Background: Neutrophilia is known to be associated with worse prognosis in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC); however, less is known about the role of eosinophils in the response to immunot...
INTRINSIC MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC ANISOTROPY OF AMORPHOUS ALLOYS Fe_(1-x)(Si, B)_x

The magnetic moment and the magnetostriction decrease slightly withthe increase of totel Si + B content. A maximum of the Curie temperature appears atabout 25 at.-% of Si + B. The magnetic anisotropy is uninfluential by the content ofSi + B, but much influence by the demagnetization effect of streak. A qualitativeexplanation of the experimental phenomenon seems to be noted by aid of the elec-tron transition and structure model of amorphous alloy.
Modeling of Climate Change and Aquifer Recharge and Water Levels

Groundwater recharge is impacted by climate change mainly through available water (precipitation—evapotranspiration). Local groundwater recharge may be controlled to a greater degree by the seasonality, intensity, and duration of rainfall events, and soil and surficial rock properties. Land use and land cover changes, either natural or anthropogenic, can also impact recharge rates. Modeling climate change impacts on groundwater has often been performed using the “top-down” approach starting with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions scenarios and GCMs. The GCM simulation results are then downscaled to provide greater geographic spatial resolution. Precipitation and temperature data are next inputted into a hydrologic model that partitions precipitation between evapotranspiration (ET), runoff, and aquifer recharge. Finally, recharge data are inputted into a groundwater flow model, which is used to evaluate changes in aquifer water levels and discharge. Solute-transport modeling is performed to simulate salinity changes. The top-down approach tends to not be practicable in the applied water management realm because of very high technical (and thus financial) resources requirements and its chain of uncertainty. Published modeling studies of the impacts of climate change on groundwater recharge provide insights on the range of available approaches, limitations of modeling strategies, and the potential extent of climate impacts.
The Orchestra Model

Technology is now almost always implemented with extensive software that enables humans to interact with machines, at least in very limited contexts. We commonly talk about human and machine agents (HMA). Human-computer interaction was traditionally thought as a person facing a computer in a one-to-one relation. Today, there are HMA networked societies as defined by Minsky (The society of mind, 1985) (i.e., an agent being a society of agents). Human modeling, often commonly regarded in the information processing sense (Newell and Simon, Human problem solving, 1972; Wickens, Engineering psychology and human performance, 1992), progressively migrated towards multi-agent organization modeling where cognition is distributed (Hutchins, Cognitive Sci, 19: 265–288, 1995).
Purification and Properties of C55-Isoprenylpyrophosphate Phosphatase from Micrococcus lysodeikticus

Abstract C55-Isoprenyl pyrophosphate phosphatase has been partially purified from Micrococcus lysodeikticus. Four purification steps consisting of the preparation of membrane particles, solubilization of the enzyme from the particles, and purification via ion exchange chromatography are described. Some of the kinetic properties of this enzyme are reported.
A runtime data mapping scheme for irregular problems

In scalable multiprocessor systems, high performance demands that computational load be balanced evenly among processors and that interprocessor communication be limited as much as possible. In this paper, the authors study the problem of automatically choosing data distributions for irregular problems. Irregular problems are programs where the data access pattern cannot be determined during compilation. The authors describe a method by which data arrays can be automatically mapped at runtime. The mapping is based on the computational patterns in one or more user-specified loops. A distributed memory compiler generates code that, at runtime, generates a distributed data structure to represent the computational pattern of the chosen loop. This computational pattern is used to determine how data arrays are to be partitioned. The compiler generates code to pass the distributed data structure to a partitioner. The work described is being pursued in the context of the CRPC Fortran D project. >
Changes in c-fos mRNA expression in rat brain during odor discrimination learning: differential involvement of hippocampal subfields CA1 and CA3

Levels of c-fos mRNA were measured with in situ hybridization to test for behaviorally dependent changes in neuronal activity in three subdivisions of hippocampus and in components of the olfactory and visual systems. In rats that performed a well-learned nose-poke response for water reward, c-fos mRNA levels were broadly increased, relative to values in home cage-control rats, in visual cortex, superior colliculus, olfactory bulb, and, to comparable levels, regions CA3 and CA1 of hippocampus; hybridization was not increased in the dentate gyrus. In rats first trained on the nose-poke behavior and then required to discriminate between two odors for water reward, the increase in c-fos mRNA was generally not as great and was more regionally differentiated. Thus, in olfactory bulb, hybridization was more greatly elevated in lateral than medial fields, thereby exhibiting regional activation corresponding to the topographic representation of the predominant odor sampled in the discrimination task. In hippocampus of odor-discrimination rats, c-fos mRNA levels were far greater in the region CA3 than region CA1, but remained at cage control values in stratum granulosum. Interestingly, c-fos mRNA levels in each hippocampal subdivision were highly correlated with levels in other regions (e.g., visual cortex) for home cage controls but not for rats in the two behavioral groups. Thus, c-fos mRNA levels in cage-control rats appeared to be regulated by some generalized factor acting throughout much of the brain (e.g., arousal), while odor-discrimination performance changed the pattern of expression within hippocampus, and allowed for a differentiated response by olfactory regions to emerge. These findings suggest that hippocampus possesses multiple modes of functioning and makes contributions to behavior that vary according to task demands.
Relaxation Techniques for the Simulation of VLSI Circuits

1 - Introduction.- Section 1.1 - Simulation For IC Design.- Section 1.2 - Circuit Simulation.- Section 1.3 - Standard Circuit Simulators.- Section 1.4 - Relaxation-Based Circuit Simulators.- Section 1.5 - Notation.- 2 - The Circuit Simulation Problem.- Section 2.1 - Formulation of the Equations.- Section2.1.1 - Branch Equations.- Section 2.1.2 - KCL and KVL.- Section 2.1.3 - Nodal Analysis.- Section 2.1.4 - Extending The Nodal Analysis Technique.- Section 2.2 - Mathematical Properties of the Equations.- Section 2.2.1 - Existence of Solutions.- Section 2.2.2 - Diagonal Dominance and the Capacitance Matrix.- Section 2.2.3 - Resistor-and-Grounded-Capacitor (RGC) Networks.- Section 2.3 - Numerical Integration Properties.- Section 2.3.1 - Consistency, Stability, and Convergence.- Section 2.3.2 - Stiffness and A-Stability.- Section 2.3.3 - Charge Conservation.- Section 2.3.4 - Domain of Dependence.- 3 - Numerical Techniques.- Section 3.1 - Numerical Integration in General-Purpose Simulators.- Section 3.2 - Properties of Multistep Integration Methods.- Section 3.3 - Relaxation Decomposition.- Section 3.4 - Semi-Implicit Numerical Integration Methods.- Section 3.5 - Relaxation Versus Semi-Implicit Integration.- 4 - Waveform Relaxation.- Section 4.1 - The Basic WR Algorithm.- Section 4.2 - Convergence Proof for the Basic WR Algorithm.- Section 4.3 - Waveform Relaxation-Newton Methods.- Section 4.4 - Nonstationary WR Algorithms.- 5 - Accelerating WR Convergence.- Section 5.1 - Uniformity of WR Convergence.- Section 5.2 - Partitioning Large Systems.- Section 5.3 - Ordering the Equations.- 6 - Discretized WR Algorithms.- Section 6.1 - The Global-Timestep Case.- Section 6.2 - Fixed Global-Timestep WR Convergence Theorem.- Section 6.3 - The Multirate WR Convergence Theorem.- 7 - The Implementation of WR.- Section 7.1 - Partitioning Mos Circuits.- Section 7.2 - Ordering the Subsystem Computation.- Section 7.3 - Computation of the Subsystem Waveforms.- Section 7.4 - Window Size Determination.- Section 7.5 - Partial Waveform Convergence.- Section 7.6 - Experimental Results.- 8 - Parallel WR Algorithms.- Section 8.1 - An Overview of the Shared-Memory Computer.- Section 8.2 - Mixed Seidel/Jacobi Parallel WR Algorithm.- Section 8.3 - Timepoint-Pipelining WR Algorithm.- Section 8.4 - Parallel Algorithm Test Results.- References.
Bargaining Power in Sequential Contracting

Bargaining power affects the terms of trade negotiated between agents in the economy. When multiple players with interrelated payoffs negotiate contracts, the outcome of each negotiation depends on all the players' bargaining powers. In a model in which a buyer negotiates in sequence with two sellers, we find that the first seller's payoff is increasing in its own bargaining power and increasing in the second seller's bargaining power, while the second seller's payoff is decreasing in the first seller's bargaining power and, in some environments, also decreasing in its own bargaining power. We also find that when the sellers compete for the right to negotiate first, the buyer's payoff is increasing in its own bargaining power with respect to the efficient seller, but decreasing in its own bargaining power with respect to the inefficient seller. We characterize when contracts contain termination or breakup fees and when these fees are paid in equilibrium.
Safety and effectiveness of continuation antidepressant versus mood stabilizer monotherapy for relapse-prevention of bipolar II depression: A randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, prospective study.

Objective Compare the safety and effectiveness of continuation antidepressant versus mood stabilizer monotherapy for preventing depressive relapse in bipolar II disorder.
Kinetics of sickle hemoglobin polymerization: II. A double nucleation mechanism

A double nucleation mechanism for the polymerization of sickle hemoglobin is described. The mechanism accounts for all of the major kinetic observations: the appearance of a delay, the high concentration dependence of the delay time, and the stochastic behavior of slowly polymerizing samples in small volumes. The mechanism postulates that there are two pathways for polymer formation: polymerization is initiated by homogeneous nucleation in the solution phase, followed by nucleation of additional polymers on the surface of existing ones. This second pathway is called heterogeneous nucleation. Since the surface of polymers is continuously increasing with time, heterogeneous nucleation provides a mechanism for the extreme autocatalysis that is manifested as an apparent delay in the kinetic progress curves. In this mechanism, each spherulitic domain of polymers is considered to be initiated by a single homogeneous nucleation event. The mechanism explains the irreproducibility of the delay time for single domain formation as arising from stochastic fluctuations in the time at which the homogeneous nucleus for the first polymer is formed. Integration of the linearized rate equations that describe this model results in a simple kinetic form: A[cosh(Bt)-1] (Bishop & Ferrone, 1984). In the accompanying paper (Ferrone et al., 1985) it was shown that the initial 10 to 15% of progress curves, with delay times varying from a few milliseconds to over 10(5) seconds, is well fit by this equation. In this paper, we present an approximate statistical thermodynamic treatment of the equilibrium nucleation processes that shows how the nucleus sizes and nucleation equilibrium constants depend on monomer concentration. The equilibrium model results in expressions for B and B2A as a function of monomer concentration in terms of five adjustable parameters: the bimolecular addition rate of a monomer to the growing aggregate, the fraction of polymerized monomers that serve as heterogeneous nucleation sites, the free energy of intermolecular bonding within the polymer, and two parameters that describe the free energy change as a function of size for the bonding of the heterogeneous nucleus to a polymer surface. This model provides an excellent fit to the data for B and B2A as a function of concentration using physically reasonable parameters. The model also correctly predicts the time regime in which stochastic behavior is observed for polymerization in small volumes.
Characteristics of dielectric elastomers and fabrication of dielectric elastomer actuators for artificial muscle applications

Electroactive polymers have been studied for artificial muscle applications in last decades. One of the EAP materials, 3M VHB acrylic tapes, have shown been outstanding electromechanical coupling performance. The scope of this study is to understand the electromechanical properties of VHB acrylic material. In addition, the research explores new practical designs of soft actuators. The basic designs employ directional planar stiffeners that act as geometric constraints. The utilization of these stiffeners provides the ability to tailor the planar deformation into many three dimensional deformed shapes. In the first part of this work, the material nonlinear mechanical response is characterized using a pre-stretched planar configuration with different bi-axial stretch ratios. Also, unequal biaxial stretch ratios were also investigated. During the course of deformation, high resolution images of the deformed state were in situ captured. The images were analyzed by digital image correlation technique to evaluate the in-plane finite strain components. The measurements are used to calibrate a Neo-Hookean based material model that couples the applied electrical field to the actuator mechanical deformation. The material model is built into a user-material subroutine with the ABAQUS commercial finite element package. The numerical model is used to optimize different geometrical feature, electrode layup and stacking sequence for the actuator in order to attain a prescribed deformation pattern. The developed framework will aid in designing and optimizing the EAPs actuator configurations for general 3D prescribed deformation configuration. In the second part of our work, we presented a new actuator design featuring a freestanding configuration without the constraints of pre-stretch. By using different configuration of stiffener reinforcement, the proposed design presented various complex three dimensional
Biochemical and Serological Characteristics of Natural 9-O-Acetyl GD3 from Human Melanoma and Bovine Buttermilk and Chemically O-Acetylated GD3

Because its expression appears to be largely restricted to human melanomas, 9-O-acetyl-GD3 is a candidate antigen for vaccine construction. Searching for potential sources, we compared chemically O-acetylated calf brain GD3 and 9-O-acetyl-GD3 extracted from bovine buttermilk with 9-O-acetyl-GD3 from human melanoma. Three fractions (F1-F3) of chemically O-acetylated GD3 differed in the number and position of O-acetyl groups. O-Acetylation sites were the lactose portion in F1 and lactose as well as sialic acid in F2 and F3. Natural (melanoma- or buttermilk-derived) 9-O-acetyl-GD3 was O-acetylated solely on the sialic acid moiety. While F1 was not reactive with monoclonal antibodies against 9-O-acetyl-GD3, F2 and F3 were as reactive as the natural products. Immunization with the natural products induced high-titer antibodies against natural 9-O-acetyl-GD3 as well as F2 and F3. In contrast, mice immunized with the synthetic fractions produced antibodies only against the immunogen but not against natural 9-O-acetyl-GD3. Only immunization with the natural products induced production of antibodies reactive with surface antigens of melanoma cells expressing 9-O-acetyl-GD3. The findings suggest (a) that C-9 of the subterminal sialic acid is the site of chemical O-acetylation in F2 and F3, as opposed to C-9 of the terminal sialic acid in the natural products; (b) that O-acetylation of both the terminal and subterminal sialic acid moieties of GD3 results in recognition by three murine monoclonal antibodies (D1.1, ME 311, and Jones) reactive with human melanoma cells; (c) that O-acetylation of the terminal sialic acid is critical, on the other hand, for inducing an immune response against melanoma 9-O-acetyl-GD3; and (d) that O-acetyl GD3 from bovine buttermilk can substitute as immunogen for inducing an immune response against human melanoma cell surface antigens in the mouse.
Antenna circuit model for time-domain transient analysis

When pulse-generating circuits excite antennas, the antenna often plays a major role in determining the characteristics of the radiated signal. Defining an equivalent electrical circuit for the antenna allows the simulation of the antenna's transient behavior. This type of simulation, carried out with circuit analysis software, generates time-domain currents at different points on the antenna structure. From these currents, the time-domain radiated electric field can be calculated. This paper describes a procedure for developing a distributed RLC circuit model for a monopole antenna above a ground plane. The results from the modeling are compared to measurements of antenna current and radiated electric field.
Habit, Health, and Happiness

The notion of habit figures prominently in theories of health-related behavior and in efforts to encourage people to develop consistency and regularity in the healthful behavior of daily life. The consensus definition of habit as automatic and mindless behavior, however, presents three logical and philosophical problems. First, this definition of habit is at odds with the way most of our theories of health behavior try to employ the notion. Second, the behaviors of concern to most health, exercise, and sport psychologists are not the kinds of behaviors to which this definition of habit applies easily, if at all. Third, the kind of mindless behavior suggested by this definition may be conducive to enhancing physical health and athletic performance, but it may be inconsistent with the essential elements of happiness or subjective well-being according to Eastern philosophies such as Taoism and Buddhism, and according to the growing research on the psychology of happiness.
Early postpartum discharge.

The importance of prenatal preparation and education, written instructions, identification of essential equipment, and home follow-up for early postpartum/neonatal discharge are reviewed. These principles may be applied in both hospital and birth center settings, or in any setting in which the option of early postpartum discharge exists for healthy mothers and their infants.
Suspended silicon slotted microring resonators with ultra-high optical quality

ABSTRACT We propose and demonstrate a unique suspended slot-waveguide structure supported by a thin slab to realizehigh-quality air-clad silicon slotted microring resonators (SMRs) on the silicon-on-insulator platform, based on afabrication process consisting of two-step electron beam lithography and inductively-coupled-plasma reactive-ion-etching. Our SMRs can achieve an intrinsic optical quality factor (Q) above 10 5 operating at the telecom band,which is the highest value for silicon SMRs reported to date. The demonstrated high-quality air-clad silicon SMRsenable great potential for broad applications in biosensing, nonlinear photonics, and cavity optomechanics.Keywords: Integrated optics devices, silicon photonics, silicon-on-insulator (SOI), optical waveguides, microres-onators, microstructure fabrication 1. INTRODUCTION Recently, the so-called slot waveguides have attracted great deal of research interest and have found broad appli-cations ranging from optical signal processing,
Generation of Free Radicals During Cold Injury and Rewarming

Abstract : Cold injury is often associated with irreversible cell damage. The present study examines the mechanism of such injury. New Zealand white rabbits were anesthetized with ketamine and xylazine, and then ventilated. The femoral artery and vein were exposed. A continuous display of electrocardiogram was obtained. One leg was cooled with a freezing mixture up to 0C, which was followed by rewarming; the other leg served as control. Blood samples were withdrawn from the femoral artery for analysis of creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and malonaldehyde (MDA). At the end, salicylate was injected through the femoral vein to trap any hydroxyl radical (OH) formed. Rabbits were immediately sacrificed, and biopsies were withdrawn and frozen at liquid Nitrogen temperature to analyze OH. Local blood flow in the cold-exposed leg was reduced significantly, suggesting that cold injury was associated with ischemic insult. CK and LDH were increased after cold exposure, then increased further during rewarming. MDA formation followed a similar pattern. OH generated after cooling increased significantly upon rewarming. These results indicate that rewarming is associated with an episode of ischemia/perfusion, with simultaneous generation of free radicals which, at least in part, may be responsible for cellular injury associated with rewarming. Keywords: Hypothermia. (AW)
Structure of synaptic relations in the larval central nervous systems of the blowfly and mealworm

Abstract The neuropiles of the larval central nervous systems of the blowfly, Sarcophaga bullata, and the mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, were examined by electron microscopy. The nerve fibres are often in naked apposition to one another without intervening glial elements. The nerves contain typical organelles, e.g. neurotubules, mitochondria, neurosecretory droplets, and synaptic vesicles. Two types of synaptic vesicles are distinguished: one of 300 to 400 A diameter with electron-transparent core, the other of 500 to 700 A with electron-dense core. Synaptic sites between nerve fibres may be identified by the presence of synaptic vesicles at synaptic foci in association with a thickening of the plasma membrane and the presence of a synaptic cleft about 200 A wide.
The relations between the linear and bilinear atmospheric tidal fields in geometric height and in log-pressure coordinates

The relationships between the linearized meteorological variables as expressed in geometric height and in log-pressure coordinates are derived from the assumptions of classical atmospheric tidal theory. While the horizontal velocity components are the same to first-order in the two coordinate systems, a linearized vertical velocity differencew′-H0ω′ occurs because of the periodic vertical displacement of the constant pressure surfaces due to time-dependent, hydrostatic density perturbations; a linearized temperature differenceT′-τ′ also results when these displacements occur in the presence of a zero-order vertical gradient of temperature. Both of these differences can be expressed in terms of the tidal geopotential field. For a given tidal mode, both differences are generally proportional to the square root of the ratio of the tidal mode's equivalent depth and the atmospheric scale height; the temperature difference is also proportional to the background temperature lapse rate. It is further shown that the two classical tidal vertical structure equations commonly derived in their respective geometric height and log-pressure coordinate systems are in fact identical to first-orderas long as the same thermotidal forcing function is used. Expressions for the zonal-mean components of the tidal bilinear fluxes, formed by zonally averaging the product of two longitudinally varying, linearized tidal fields, are also derived for the two coordinate systems. For the bilinear fields the largest relative differences (a few tens of percent) are for the tidal zonal-mean forcing per unit mass of the zonal wind. For Earth and Mars, differences between the tidal vertical velocity fields are generally less than 25% but may be significantly larger in the Martian atmosphere during one of its episodic planetary-scale dust storms. Tidal temperature differences are generally smaller.
Resonant Nonlinear Control Circuits

The resonant type of nonlinear circuit containing a resistance, a condenser, and a saturable-core reactor is finding a number of applications in the various engineering fields,1 and an analytical treatment has here been developed to add to the understanding of the behavior of such circuits. Certain features of the superposition of a d-c magnetizing force on the reactor are discussed. A method of increasing the sensitivity of this d-c controlled circuit, with a mathematical analysis for the criteria of stability and amplification is given. Finally, a specific application of the circuits discussed to a sensitive and stable power controlling device is described.
Nonlinear feedback shift registers via nonlinear evolution

Methods for the forward and exact inverse computation of digital data are developed using reversible fully discrete nonlinear evolution equations. Some elementary examples are presented. A special case of the evolution equation presented here reduces to well-known linear feedback shift registers (LFSRs). LFSRs and various nonlinear versions (NLFSRs) have been studied and used in a variety of applications.
THERMOLUMINESCENCE OF ALUMINA.

Results of measurements of thermoluminescence for γ-irradiated pure, and magnesia-doped alumina ceramics are presented. A self-consistent method of glow curve analysis led to results differing from those previously reported in the literature, with smaller trapping energies and realistic attempt-frequency factors.
Residential Property Values, the CBD, and Multiple Nodes: Further Analysis:

In this paper, a hedonic regression model of house prices in Los Angeles County is tested with use of 1970 and 1980 data on dwelling characteristics, neighborhood variables, and measures of accessibility to the central business district and subcenter nodes. Many of the coefficient estimates on the dwelling traits and neighborhood variables are robust, and where coefficients change there are obvious explanations. The most dramatic finding is that the distance to the CBD, with a weak but statistically significant influence in 1970, had no influence by 1980, and its declining role was paralleled by a rise in the spatial pull of several of the subcenters in the region. The tests reveal how the polycentricity of the Los Angeles region evolved during the 1970s.
Glass transition and crystallization of amorphous Ni–Ti–Zr thin films by combinatorial nano-calorimetry

The glass transition and devitrification of Ni–Ti–Zr thin films were analyzed as a function of composition using a high-throughput array of nano-calorimeters. The 290 nm thin-film samples were heated to 900 °C at a rate of approximately 15 × 103 K s–1, resulting in nanocrystalline grains and non-equilibrium phases. The calorimetry scans reveal the glass transition, as well as a multi-stage crystallization process. Features of the calorimetry traces correlate one-to-one with the resulting crystal phases, as determined by X-ray diffraction.
Evidence for an Imino Intermediate in the DNA Polymerase β Deoxyribose Phosphate Excision Reaction

A recent study demonstrated that rat DNA polymerase β (β-pol) releases 5′-deoxyribose phosphate (dRP) termini from preincised apurinic/apyrimidinic DNA, a substrate generated during certain types of base excision repair. This catalytic activity resides within the amino-terminal, 8-kDa domain of β-pol and occurs via β-elimination as opposed to hydrolysis (Matsumoto, Y., and Kim, K. (1995) Science 269, 699-702). The latter finding suggested that the dRP excision reaction might proceed via an imine intermediate. In order to test this hypothesis, we attempted to trap β-pol on preincised apurinic/apyrimidinic DNA using NaBH4 as the reducing agent. Both 8-kDa domain-DNA and intact β-pol-DNA complexes were detected and identified by autoradiography coupled to immunoblotting. Our results indicate that the chemical mechanism of the β-pol dRpase reaction does proceed through an imine enzyme-DNA intermediate and that the active site residue responsible for dRP release must therefore contain a primary amine.
Generating an interpretation tree from a CAD model for 3D-object recognition in bin-picking tasks

This article describes a method to generate 3D-object recognition algorithms from a geometrical model for bin-picking tasks. Given a 3D solid model of an object, we first generate apparent shapes of an object under various viewer directions. Those apparent shapes are then classified into groups (representative attitudes) based on dominant visible faces and other features. Based on the grouping, recognition algorithms are generated in the form of an interpretation tree. The interpretation tree consists of two parts: the first part for classifying a target region in an image into one of the shape groups, and the second part for determining the precise attitude of the object within that group. We have developed a set of rules to find out what appropriate features are to be used in what order to generate an efficient and reliable interpretation tree. Features used in the interpretation tree include inertia of a region, relationship to the neighboring regions, position and orientation of edges, and extended Gaussian images. This method has been applied in a task for bin-picking objects that include both planar and cylindrical surfaces. As sensory data, we have used surface orientations from photometric stereo, depth from binocular stereo using oriented-region matching, and edges from an intensity image.