cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
To Establish a Fact

Those of you who know me personally are aware of the special relationship which has existed between Maxwell Finland and myself since I first came to the Thorndike in June 1942 and also will appreciate the sense of elation with which I accepted the Committee's nomination to serve as the Maxwell Finland Lecturer at this year's annual meeting. The resultant euphoria was rudely shattered on the third of September by an accident which resulted in my being grounded and thus unable to be physically present at this meeting. Consequently my eldest son, Dr. Ronald E. Feldman, will present the remarks which I have prepared for the occasion. I have always been intrigued by the difficulties with which biological science moves from point A to point B. Even the apparent shortest distances seem interminably complicated by variables whose definition requires endless experimentation, frequently of the most complex kind. Often in small group teaching, I have reached for a nearby textbook, opened it at random, and read aloud the first declarative statement which comes into view. This I usually follow with the questions, "What do you think it took to permit this statement?" "Has it really been established?" After a brief, quiet interval, a lively discussion usually follows. One such statement, the identification of toxoplasma antibody activator, with which I personally have had 30 years of involvement, has now reached the point of definition, so that I believe it to be an appropriate illustration of the more general problem just mentioned. Let me give you another relevant example. The textbook [1] which my class used in our course in bacteriology was a new, encyclopedic volume
Postschool Services and Postschool Outcomes for Individuals With Mild Intellectual Disability

Understanding the relationship between services and outcomes is important for students with disabilities. While research exists regarding relationships between services and supports provided in sch...
Digital Standpoints: Debating Gendered Violence and Racial Exclusions in the Feminist Counterpublic

In this study, we integrate counterpublic sphere theory and feminist standpoint theory to examine the discursive labor and debates shaped by the hashtags #YesAllWomen and #YesAllWhiteWomen. We iden...
Comparative cradle-to-gate energy assessment of indium phosphide and cadmium selenide quantum dot displays

Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals (2–10 nm) with tunable band gaps and desirable luminescence properties. QDs have created great interest in consumer electronics, photovoltaics, and chemical and/or biological sensor applications. For example, QDs absorb short wavelength light and emit light with a desired wavelength, making them ideal for LCD displays. QDs are just beginning to be used in mass-produced displays, including products such as televisions, tablets, and smartphones. The most widely applied QD composition—a CdSe core metalloid complex (CdQD)—faces increasing environmental and regulatory scrutiny because cadmium and selenium nanomaterials pose uncertain human health and environmental risks. As a result, some manufacturers have introduced InP-based (InQD) displays, which have been shown to be less toxic than CdQDs. However, instead of basing environmental decisions on material hazard alone, it is important to take a more holistic approach to avoid unintended consequences. This paper presents a comparative cradle-to-gate life cycle environmental assessment of CdQD- and InQD-enabled displays. In this study, we compare the cumulative energy demand (CED), also referred to as the primary energy consumption, of colloidally synthesized CdSe and InP multishell QDs, and their subsequent incorporation in different display types. Additionally, we compare the CED for the two competing commercially available QD display technologies: on-surface and on-edge. Lastly, we estimate the energy repercussion of large-scale adoption of each of the production pathways for QD display manufacture. The results show that InP QD-enabled displays are far more energy intensive than the CdSe QD displays, and this difference becomes further amplified when large-scale adoption is considered. Our study highlights that life cycle thinking is essential for recognizing opportunities to advance QD production along environmentally sustainable pathways, which is critical information for researchers, QD display manufacturers, and regulatory agencies.
Clostridium difficile disease: Diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatment update

Clostridium difficile infections are the leading cause of health care-associated infectious diarrhea, posing a significant risk for both medical and surgical patients. Because of the significant morbidity and mortality associated with C difficile infections, knowledge of the epidemiology of C difficile in combination with a high index of suspicion and susceptible patient populations (including surgical, postcolectomy, and inflammatory bowel disease patients) is warranted. C difficile infections present with a wide spectrum of disease, ranging from mild diarrhea to fulminant colitis or small bowel enteritis and recurrent C difficile infections. Early implementation of medical and operative treatment strategies for C difficile infections is imperative for optimal patient outcomes. National and international guidelines recommend early operative consultation and total abdominal colectomy with end ileostomy and preservation of rectum. Diverting loop ileostomy and colonic lavage followed by intravenous metronidazole and intracolonic vancomycin administered via the efferent limb of the ileostomy should be considered as an alternative to total colectomy in selected patients. New and emerging strategies for C difficile infection treatment include monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, probiotics, biotherapeutics, and new antibiotics. A successful C difficile prevention and eradication program requires a multidisciplinary approach that includes early disease recognition, implementation of guidelines for monitoring adherence to environmental control, judicious hand hygiene, evidence-based treatment and management strategies, and a focused antibiotic stewardship program. Surgeons are an important part of the clinical team in the management of C difficile infection prevention and treatment.
Military Officer Aptitude in the All-Volunteer Force:

We show a statistically significant and quantitatively meaningful decline in the aptitude of commissioned officers in the marine corp from 1980 to 2014 as measured by their scores on the General Classification Test. This result contrasts with the widely studied increase in the quality of enlisted personnel since 1973 when conscription ended. As a possible cause for this decline, we focus on the fact that, during this period, marine officers had to have a 4-year college degree and there has been an expansion of the pool of young Americans in college. To corroborate this hypothesis, we show that there has been a similar decline in scores on the Armed Forces Qualification Test for responders to the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth among college graduates but not for the overall set of respondents.
ATUS-Commuting: Stata Code to Calculate Commuting Time in the American Time Use Survey

The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) provides extensive information on how Americans spend their time, and has been of particular interest to economists, sociologists, and other researchers. Researchers have sought to study commuting behavior using the ATUS, but its stock time use measures do not measure commuting satisfactorily. This package provides Stata code to implement the previously described trip tour methodology, constructing an appropriate measure of commuting from ATUS activity-level files.
Correction to: electronic cigarette use behaviors and motivations among smokers and non-smokers.

After publication of the article [1], it has been brought to our attention that there is a funding acknowledgement missing. The authors would also like to include “Dr. Michael Joseph Blaha is funded by the American Heart Association Tobacco Regulatory Center, funding number: 1P50HL120163”.
VIDEO: Rethinking "Mural Thickening:" Vasculitis or Aortic Dissection?

OBJECTIVE The objective of this video article is to provide education about the similarities and differences between vasculitis and rare, acute aortic pathologic findings so that an appropriate diagnosis can be made in a timely manner, especially for patients with life-threatening aortic pathologic findings. CONCLUSION Although they are rare, acute aortic pathologic findings, such as aortic dissection and intramural hematoma, can have radiographic characteristics similar to those of vasculitis, which can make it challenging to discern between these vastly different diagnoses without the use of properly timed imaging studies.
HLA-DQ polymorphism analyzed by sequential restriction endonuclease DNA digestion.

A direct, physical correspondence between certain Pst I-generated genomic DNA fragments and Taq I-generated fragments, revealed with HLA-DQαor -DQ β gene probes, has been demonstrated. As an immediate consequence, the nature of the DQ and DX hybridized genes contained in the fragments was established. Taq I-generated DQ allelic forms which associate with serologically defined DRl1 DR2, and DRw6 specificities were also proven to be sensu stricto “splits” of the Pst I-generated allelic form associated with all three DR specificities.
Effect of a smoking cessation educational intervention on knowledge and confidence of pharmacy students versus community leaders.

Background: Training programs of various intensities and durations have been implemented to assist healthcare providers and students in leading smokers in a quit attempt. While some training programs have been developed to help community leaders provide these services, the focus for community leaders has been to assist with recruitment efforts. Objective: The objective of this study was to compare knowledge and confidence of students and community members before and after a smoking cessation educational intervention. Methods: After approval from the institutional review board, pharmacy students and community members were recruited for two-hour educational interventions. Topics covered included smoking health risks, benefits of quitting, behavioral, cognitive, and stress-management techniques, smoking cessation medications, and how to start a formal class. Pre- and post-intervention survey instruments were given to all participants with comparisons made via Student’s or Paired T-tests, as appropriate. Results: Knowledge scores increased significantly (p<0.05) after the educational intervention for pharmacy students (n=30) and community members (n=8). Confidence scores increased significantly for pharmacy students (p<0.05), but not for community members. Pharmacy students had significantly greater knowledge score changes (53.7%, pre-intervention; 81.8%, post-intervention; p<0.05) versus community members (32.1%, pre-intervention; 50.1%, post-intervention; p<0.05). When comparing individual confidence questions, only scores evaluating the change in confidence for providing counseling were higher for students versus community members (2.13 vs. 1.8, respectively; p<0.05). Conclusions: Pharmacy students and community leaders exhibited increased knowledge after a smoking cessation educational intervention, and pharmacy students had increased confidence scores. All confidence scores did not change significantly for community members. Developing coalitions between healthcare providers and community leaders, focusing on the roles of each, may be productive in initiating smoking cessation programs.
Achieving ultra hard refractory multi-principal element alloys via mechanical alloying

Abstract Mechanical alloying was employed to produce a nanostructured Mo25Nb25Ta25W25 multi-principal element alloy (MPEA) with enhanced mechanical properties. Overall, a 400% increase in hardness was achieved, as compared to similar cast alloys, via mechanical alloying and optimized long-term annealing treatments. Furthermore, advanced characterization, including aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, was conducted to elucidate processing-structure-property relationships in which it was determined that, although the introduction of impurities via mechanical alloying is common and thought to be deleterious, impurities can lead to an impressive enhancement of mechanical properties. More specifically, in this study, Fe and N impurities resulted in the formation of nanoscale, ceramic secondary phases. The observed strengthening was attributed, at least in part, to the ceramic impurity phases. Overall, we suggest that a deliberate doping strategy may be employed in the future to tailor MPEA chemistry and thereby achieve superior mechanical properties.
Could Charge and Mass be Universals

Many issues in metaphysics and philosophy of science concern the status, significance, or theoretical role of properties such as charge and mass. This paper is about the surprising differences in metaphysical character between mass and charge properties. It develops a novel, three-fold analysis of color charge, and it shows that the same analysis for electric charge is degenerate. Additionally, the formalism for mass raises a different set of considerations for its metaphysical status. Since mass, color charge, and electric charge have these differences, metaphysicians and philosophers of science must reevaluate the ways in which they are accustomed to appealing to these properties.
Microcomputed tomography evaluation of cement shrinkage under zirconia versus lithium disilicate veneers.

Abstract Statement of problem Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) technology and the improved translucency of recently developed high-strength monolithic zirconia could make them clinically acceptable for veneers if bonding to zirconia was as predictable as to glass-ceramics. Few studies have compared how resin cements behave between glass-ceramic and zirconia veneers before and after polymerization. Purpose The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the volumetric polymerization shrinkage of resin cement, marginal discrepancy, and cement thickness before and after polymerization for glass-ceramic and zirconia veneers with light-polymerizing resin cement. Material and methods Ten lithium disilicate veneers and 10 zirconia veneers were fabricated with a CAD-CAM workflow on extracted human maxillary anterior teeth with intact enamel surfaces. Zirconia veneers were treated with airborne-particle abrasion, and lithium disilicate veneers were etched with 5% hydrofluoric acid. All specimens were treated with ceramic primer and cemented with a light-polymerized resin cement. All specimens were scanned before and after resin cement polymerization by microcomputed tomography. The data were processed by the Amira software program to compare polymerization volumetric shrinkage, cement thickness, and marginal discrepancy. The data were compared by using a t test and analysis of variance (α=.05). Two bonded veneers were loaded in a mastication simulator for 400 000 cycles to investigate the effect of cyclic fatigue loading. Results Mean volumetric polymerization shrinkage was 4.2 ±0.8% for the lithium disilicate group and 6.4 ±3.5% for the zirconia group. No significant difference was found for volumetric shrinkage between materials (P=.132). The mean ±standard deviations of the marginal discrepancies before and after polymerization were 178 ±41 μm and 158 ±37 μm for lithium disilicate and 115 ±33 μm and 107 ±32 μm for zirconia. A smaller marginal discrepancy was found for both materials after polymerization (P=.011) and for zirconia compared with lithium disilicate (P=.004). The mean ±standard deviation cement thickness values before and after polymerization were 157 ±27 μm and 147 ±27 μm for lithium disilicate and 162 ±53 μm and 147 ±52 μm for zirconia. Smaller cement thickness was found after polymerization (P Conclusions The difference in the volumetric polymerization shrinkage of cement between lithium disilicate and zirconia veneers was not statistically significant. Polymerization shrinkage resulted in smaller marginal discrepancy and cement thickness for both veneer materials.
Variability in sulfur isotope records of Phanerozoic seawater sulfate

The δ³⁴S of seawater sulfate reflects processes operating at the nexus of sulfur, carbon, and oxygen cycles. However, knowledge of past seawater sulfate δ³⁴S values must be derived from proxy materials that are impacted differently by depositional and postdepositional processes. We produced new time series estimates for the δ³⁴S value of seawater sulfate by combining 6,710 published data from three sedimentary archives—marine barite, evaporites, and carbonate‐associated sulfate—with updated age constraints on the deposits. Robust features in multiple records capture temporal trends in the δ³⁴S value of seawater and its interplay with other Phanerozoic geochemical and stratigraphic trends. However, high‐frequency discordances indicate that each record is differentially prone to depositional biases and diagenetic overprints. The amount of noise, quantified from the variograms of each record, increases with age for all δ³⁴S proxies, indicating that postdepositional processes obscure detailed knowledge of seawater sulfate's δ³⁴S value deeper in time.
The C-terminal actin binding domain of talin forms an asymmetric catch bond with F-actin

Focal adhesions (FAs) are large, integrin-based adhesion complexes that link cells to the extracellular matrix (ECM). Previous work demonstrates that FAs form only when and where they are necessary to transmit force between the cellular cytoskeleton and the ECM, but how this occurs remains poorly understood. Talin is a 270 kDa adapter protein that links integrins to filamentous (F)-actin and recruits additional components during FA assembly in a force-dependent manner. Cell biological and developmental data demonstrate that the third, and C-terminal, F-actin binding site (ABS3) of talin is required for normal FA formation. However, ABS3 binds F-actin only weakly in in vitro, biochemical assays. We used a single-molecule optical trap assay to examine how and whether ABS3 binds F-actin under physiologically relevant, pN mechanical loads. We find that ABS3 forms a directional catch bond with F-actin when force is applied towards the pointed end of the actin filament, with binding lifetimes more than 100-fold longer than when force is applied towards the barbed end. Long-lived bonds to F-actin under load require the ABS3 C-terminal dimerization domain, whose cleavage is known to regulate focal adhesion turnover. Our results support a mechanism in which talin ABS3 preferentially binds and orients actin filaments with barbed ends facing the cell periphery, thus nucleating long-range order in the actin cytoskeleton. We suggest that talin ABS3 may function as a molecular AND gate that allows FA growth only when sufficient integrin density, F-actin polarization, and mechanical tension are simultaneously present.
Dots Versus Density: the Impact of Crime Mapping Techniques on Perception of Safety, Police Performance and Neighbourhood Quality

President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing advised law enforcement agencies to ‘[e]stablish a culture of transparency and accountability in order to build public trust and legitimacy’ (2...
Public vs physician views of liability for artificial intelligence in health care

The growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care has raised questions about who should be held liable for medical errors that result from care delivered jointly by physicians and algorithms. In this survey study comparing views of physicians and the U.S. public, we find that the public is significantly more likely to believe that physicians should be held responsible when an error occurs during care delivered with medical AI, though the majority of both physicians and the public hold this view (66.0% vs 57.3%; P = .020). Physicians are more likely than the public to believe that vendors (43.8% vs 32.9%; P = .004) and healthcare organizations should be liable for AI-related medical errors (29.2% vs 22.6%; P = .05). Views of medical liability did not differ by clinical specialty. Among the general public, younger people are more likely to hold nearly all parties liable.
A p53-dependent translational program directs tissue-selective phenotypes in a model of ribosomopathies.

Summary In ribosomopathies, perturbed expression of ribosome components leads to tissue-specific phenotypes. What accounts for such tissue-selective manifestations as a result of mutations in the ribosome, a ubiquitous cellular machine, has remained a mystery. Combining mouse genetics and in vivo ribosome profiling, we observe limb-patterning phenotypes in ribosomal protein (RP) haploinsufficient embryos, and we uncover selective translational changes of transcripts that controlling limb development. Surprisingly, both loss of p53, which is activated by RP haploinsufficiency, and augmented protein synthesis rescue these phenotypes. These findings are explained by the finding that p53 functions as a master regulator of protein synthesis, at least in part, through transcriptional activation of 4E-BP1. 4E-BP1, a key translational regulator, in turn, facilitates selective changes in the translatome downstream of p53, and this thereby explains how RP haploinsufficiency may elicit specificity to gene expression. These results provide an integrative model to help understand how in vivo tissue-specific phenotypes emerge in ribosomopathies.
The Role of Harm and Evil in Criminal Law: A Study in Legislative Deception?

What is the role of the occurrence of harm or evil in criminal law? What should it be? Answers to these questions commonly use the distinction between what is called an objective and a subjective view of criminality. To oversimplify, the objective view maintains that the occurrence of the harm or evil defined by the offense is highly relevant. The subjectivist view maintains that such harm or evil is irrelevant; only the actor's culpable state of mind regarding the occurrence of the harm or evil is important. The labels tend to overstate a rather subtle distinction. The objectivist or harmful consequences view is not so objective as to require that the harm or evil of the offense actually occur in order to impose liability. The objectivist imposes liability for inchoate conduct, as for example, when the actor comes close to bringing about a real offense harm or evil. The subjectivist view, in turn, is not so subjective as to only require a culpable state of mind. An intention alone is insufficient for liability; some act is required to prove the actor's willingness to act upon, to externalize, his or her subjective culpability. And, while the occurrence of the harm or evil may not be important to the subjectivist, the nature of the harm or evil intended or risked is important to determine the degree of the actor's culpability. Intending to cause death is more serious than intending to trip. The primary difference between the two views, then, is the role of resulting harm or evil. The objectivist thinks it central, the subjectivist thinks it marginal. The different perspectives also have been labelled as the difference between traditionalists and modernists. Common law is said to embody the traditional objective view of criminality, where the gravamen of an offense is its resulting harm or evil. The modernist subjective view of criminality, in contrast, focuses upon the actor's culpable state of mind toward bringing about the offense harm or evil, without regard for whether the harm or evil actually occurs. As currently expressed, these are distinctions that in many important respects obscures rather than sharpens the points of dispute in criminal law debate.
Dietary Factors and Immunological Consequences

The lipid sphingosine 1-phosphate acts through cell surface receptors expressed on the surface of lymphocytes. In his Perspective, Hla discusses how the degradative action of sphingosine 1-phosphate lyase in tissues helps establish the steep vascular gradient of this lipid. Inhibition of the lyase by dietary factors disrupts the gradient, reducing T cell trafficking and thereby supressing immunity.
Tree Structures in Immunology

An important component of the behavior of cell populations is often associated with branching processes in time, physical space, or more abstract configuration spaces. Several examples are presented, arising from studies in mathematical immunology. First is simple stem cell proliferation, with the hemopoietic stem cell as prototype, to introduce concepts, theorems, and approximations. Extension to multitype branching is then considered, as in macrophage production, with the analysis restricted to that of population moments. A further area of application is that of somatic mutations contributing to the fine scale diversity of antibody production, which is modeled to accommodate the machinery developed above. Finally, the immune network is introduced as an example in which branching in species space may capture a fair amount of the phenomenology.
Detailed kinetic modeling of autoignition chemistry

The development of detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms for analysis of autoignition and knocking of hydrocarbon fuels is described. In particular, kinetic processes of concern for the oxidation of complex hydrocarbon fuel molecules are emphasized. The wide ranges of temperature and pressure which are encountered by end gases in automobile engine combustion chambers result in extreme demands on reaction mechanisms which are intended to describe knocking conditions and predict rates of combustion and ignition. The reactions and chemical species which are most important in each temperature and pressure regime are discussed, and the validation of these reaction mechanisms through comparison with idealized experimental results is described. 53 refs., 8 figs., 5 tabs.
Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian Societies; Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing; Was ist ein Schamane?/What is a Shaman? Shamans, Healers, and Medicine Men from a Western Point of View

Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian Societies. Linda H. Connor and Geoffrey Samuel. eds. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey, 2001. xiii. 283 pp. Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing. Michael Winkelman. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey, 2000. 336 pp. Was ist ein Schamane?/What is. Shaman? Shamans, Healers, and Medicine Men from. Western Point of View. Amelie Schenk and Christian Ratsch. eds. Berlin: Society for Ethnomedicine, Curare/ Sonderband, 1999. 260 pp.
Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vpu protein is an oligomeric type I integral membrane protein.

Abstract The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vpu protein is a 16-kDa phosphoprotein which enhances the efficiency of virion production and induces rapid degradation of CD4, the cellular receptor for human immunodeficiency virus. The topology of membrane-inserted Vpu was investigated by using in vitro-synthesized Vpu cotranslationally inserted into canine microsomal membranes. Proteolytic digestion and immunoprecipitation studies revealed that Vpu was a type I integral membrane protein, with the hydrophilic domain projecting from the cytoplasmic membrane face. In addition, several high-molecular-weight proteins containing Vpu were identified by chemical cross-linking. Such complexes also formed when wild-type Vpu and a Tat-Vpu fusion protein were coexpressed. Subsequent analysis by one- and two-dimensional electrophoresis revealed that these high-molecular-weight complexes consisted of homo-oligomers of Vpu. These findings indicate that Vpu is a type I integral membrane protein capable of multimerization.
Does future home networking look Blue

Three potential home networking technologies are examined. The three networking technologies examined are Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA) version 2.0, Home Radio Frequency (HomeRF) version 2.0, and the Bluetooth/sup TM/ wireless technology versions 1.0B and 1.1. HomePNA is a wired solution designed to work on current power and phone lines. HomeRF and Bluetooth are wireless solutions. HomeRF uses a combination of IEEE 802.11 and DECT technologies to achieve both reserved and free time/space for data transport. The Bluetooth wireless technology is a complete Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) stack of protocols and specifically designed profiles to implement certain applications.
Improving coherent atomic vapor optical buffers

We report on a theoretical study of the influence of incoherent optical pumping and beam profiling on slow light propagation in three-level atomic vapor. The pumping reduces the residual unwanted absorption of the signal while destroying the atomic coherence and increasing the group velocity of light. We show that the pumping enhances the resulting group delay for a certain range of parameters. We also examine changing the cross section of the beam of light along the propagation direction by, e.g., focusing the beam, for the purpose of maintaining the drive intensity to effectively counter its absorption.
"Inclusion" of information on mainstreaming in undergraduate music education curricula.

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher training programs in music education to provide an overview of course offerings in Special Education available to Music Education majors. One Research Category 1, one state-funded regional, and one private institution were randomly chosen from each state when available. All schools offering a degree in music therapy were included for a total of 171 schools with usable data. Catalogues were examined to determine (a) existence of a course in special education for music education majors, (b) department through which course was offered (nonmusic content or music content specific), (c) required or elective status of course, (d) course title and credit hours, and (e) reference to mainstreaming in music methods course descriptions. The first three areas were compared by (a) category of school, (b) universities offering music therapy and those not, (c) MENC Region. Results revealed that 74% of schools had a course in special education available with 86% of these requiring at least one course with a total of 140 courses available. 110 were nonmusic content specific while 30 were music content specific. Eighty-nine percent of the nonmusic content courses were required, while only 43% of the content specific courses were required. Information was further broken down as indicated above.
Axial ratio dependence of the stability of self-interstitials in HCP structures

We investigate the effect of the axial ratio (c/a) on the stability of self-interstitial atoms (SIAs) in hexagonal close-packed crystal structures, using hcp-zirconium as a prototype, through density functional theory based ab initio calculations. The axial ratio is found to dominate the relative stability of SIAs over volumetric strains. We observe that below the ideal value of 1.633, the basal octahedral configuration is the most stable. Above the ideal value, the off-plane SIAs are more stable than in-plane ones.
Membrane-moderated stripping process for removing VOCs from water in a composite hollow fiber module

Abstract The “stripmeation” process for removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from water has been introduced and studied. An aqueous solution of the VOC is passed through the bores of hydrophobic microporous polypropylene hollow fibers having a plasma polymerized silicone coating on the fiber outside diameter; a vacuum is maintained on the shell side of the fiber. The VOC is stripped into the gas-filled pores of the hydrophobic substrate, permeates through the nonporous silicone skin and is recovered by condensation of the shell-side permeate stream. Removal of trichloroethylene (TCE) present in a concentration range 200–1040 ppm has been studied at 25°C. Process performance has been obtained over a range of flow rates. The observed TCE permeation and removal behavior has been modeled using a resistances-in-series approach; the two important resistances are the tube-side aqueous boundary layer resistance and the vapor permeation resistance of TCE through the silicone coating. Employing the known Graetz solution for the tube-side flow and the measured vapor permeation resistance of TCE, values of the overall TCE mass-transfer coefficient have been obtained. These values compare well with the experimental values. The conventional pervaporation process where the liquid feed solution is in contact with the nonporous silicone membrane has also been studied by passing the feed on the shell side. The tube-side feed-based operation performs much better than the shell-side based operation.
Directed conjunctival biopsy and impact of histologic sectioning methodology on the diagnosis of ocular sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis is an idiopathic, multi-system, granulomatous disease with well-described ocular manifestations. However, other uveitic etiologies can manifest in a similar fashion, and ocular disease may precede systemic manifestations. Definitive diagnosis requires histologic confirmation of non-caseating granulomatous inflammation. This study reports the diagnostic yield of directed biopsy of conjunctival follicles in patients with uveitis suspected to be secondary to sarcoidosis, and compares an institutional standard tissue sectioning method to a multi-plane technique. A retrospective analysis was performed of all patients who underwent directed conjunctival biopsy for suspected ocular sarcoidosis. A total of eight patients were identified; all were females. Directed conjunctival biopsy was positive in three of seven patients using standard histologic processing method, a yield of 43%. Using the multi-plane technique increased the cumulative yield to 63%. Directed conjunctival biopsy is a minimally invasive, cost-effective, and moderately high yield method of diagnosing ocular sarcoidosis. Using a multi-plane sectioning method may increase biopsy yield when standard sectioning techniques are negative.
Cathode Erosion due to Evaporation in Plasma Arc Cutting Systems

Erosion of a hafnium cathode in Plasma Arc Cutting torch using oxygen as plasma gas is considered. It is shown that approximately 0.001 fraction of the evaporated particles participate in a net erosion, the rest of the evaporated particles return back to the cathode after spending some time in a near-cathode plasma. Along with erosion rate, the suggested equations allow one to the calculate current density at the cathode, the cathode temperature inside the arc attachment and the electron temperature at the cathode-plasma boundary. Comparison of the obtained values with the available information on these parameters shows a reasonable agreement.
Perinatal hyperoxia exposure impairs hypoxia-induced depolarization in rat carotid body glomus cells

Chronic post-natal hyperoxia reduces the hypoxic ventilatory response by reducing the carotid body sensitivity to acute hypoxia as demonstrated by a reduced afferent nerve response, reduced calcium response of carotid body glomus cells and reduced catecholamine secretion in response to acute hypoxia. The present study examined whether hyperoxia alters the electrophysiological characteristics of glomus cells. Rats were treated with hyperoxia for 1 week starting at P1 or P7 and for 2 weeks starting at P1 followed by harvesting and dissociation of their carotid bodies for whole cell, perforated-patch recording. As compared to glomus cells from normoxia animals, hyperoxia treated cells showed a significant reduction in the magnitude of depolarization in response to hypoxia and anoxia, despite little change in the depolarizing response to 20 mM K(+). Resting cell membrane potential in glomus cells from rats exposed to hyperoxia from P1 to P15 and studied at P15 was slightly depolarized compared to other treatment groups and normoxia-treated cells, but conductance normalized to cell size was not different among groups. We conclude that postnatal hyperoxia impairs carotid chemoreceptor hypoxia transduction at a step between hypoxia sensing and membrane depolarization. This occurs without a major change in baseline electrophysiological characteristics, suggesting altered signaling or alterations in the relative abundance of different leak channel isoforms.
Sensitive Ground Relay Protection for 6900-Volt Motors on a High-Resistance Grounded Chemical Plant Distribution System

In a large chemical plant built in 1946, a 6900-volt ungrounded primary distribution system was installed initially. After approximately ten years of operation, in which the plant electrical load had increased to approximately twice its original value, it was decided to convert to high-resistance grounding on the 6900-volt system. Shortly after the installation of the high-resistance grounding system, a number of large (700 to 2250 hp) induction motors were installed in the plant. The addition of these motors and their associated surge protection capacitors made it necessary to increase the capacity of the 6900-volt high-resistance grounding bank. The increase in this grounding bank capacity, and the corresponding increase in the maximum 6900-volt ground fault current to approximately 30 amperes, resulted in the need to develop a relaying system which was sensitive enough to protect the large 6900-volt induction motors adequately for ground faults. A number of relay schemes employing both conventional electromechanical and static relays were investigated. A relaying scheme which protects these 6900-volt motors for ground faults as low as approximately 1 ampere was developed and installed at this plant to supplement the normal complement of relays which had originally been installed on the motors.
Distinct modes of winter arctic sea ice motion and their associations with surface wind variability

Using monthly mean sea ice velocity data obtained from the International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP) for the period of 1979–1998 and the monthly mean NCEP/NCAR re-analysis dataset (1960–2002), we investigated the spatiotemporal evolution of the leading sea ice motion mode (based on a complex correlation matrix constructed of normalized sea ice motion velocity) and their association with sea level pressure (SLP) and the predominant modes of surface wind field variability. The results indicate that the leading winter sea ice motion mode’s spatial evolution is characterized by two alternating and distinct sea ice modes, or their linear combination. One mode (M1) shows a nearly closed cyclonic or anti-cyclonic circulation anomaly in the Arctic Basin and its marginal seas, resembling to a large extent the response of sea ice motion to the Arctic Oscillation (AO), as many previous studies have revealed. The other mode (M2) displays a coherent cyclonic or anti-cyclonic circulation anomaly with its center close to the Laptev Sea, which has not been identified in previous observational studies. In fact, M1 and M2 respectively reflect the responses of sea ice motion to two predominant modes of winter surface wind variability north of 70°N, which well correspond, with slight differences, to the first two modes of EOF analysis of winter monthly mean SLP north of 70°N. These slight differences in SLP anomalies lead to a difference of M2 from the response of sea ice motion to the dipole anomaly. Although the AO significantly influences sea ice motion, it is not crucial for the existence of M1. The new sea ice motion mode (M2) has the largest variance and clearly differs from the response of winter monthly mean sea ice motion to the dipole anomaly in SLP fields, and corresponding SLP anomalies also show differences compared to the dipole anomaly. This study indicates that in the Arctic Basin and its marginal seas, slight differences in SLP anomaly patterns can force distinctly different sea ice motion anomalies.
Attributional processes in rheumatoid arthritis patients

In a study of 92 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, we examined patients' beliefs about the causes of their illness, disease flares, and disease remissions, and about the selective incidence of the disease. Numerous self-report measures were used to elucidate the patients' attitudes and perceptions; the tendency of patients to present themselves in socially desirable ways was taken into account and was found not to influence the study results. The causes for the illness that were most frequently cited by patients were heredity (34.7%), autoimmune factor (24.4%), personal behaviors (22.8%), and psychological stress (22.8%). Patients who were more actively searching for the causes of the illness and who continued to ask “Why me?” reported greater functional problems and a greater sense of helplessness. The most frequently cited causes for symptom flares were psychological stress (45.5%), changes in weather (34.0%), and excessive physical activity (34.1%). Symptom remissions were most frequently believed to be related to medication changes (49.4%) and the absence of psychological stress (21.0%). Several of these causal beliefs were related to perceptions of helplessness and the illness' predictability and to health care providers' assessments of disease severity and patients' psycho-social adjustment.
Surface adsorption of colloidal brushes at good solvents conditions.

Monte Carlo simulations are presented for a minimal model of one spherical colloidal particle as it interacts with one attractive flat substrate. The colloidal particle is decorated by either 6 or 14 grafted polymer chains. The chains are always rather short, with their radius of gyration, estimated at infinite dilution in good solvent conditions, never larger than the spherical colloid diameter. Although all simulations are conducted under “good-solvent” conditions for the grafted polymer chains, we find that small changes in the polymer segment – polymer segment energetic interaction parameter can lead to significantly different scenarios. When the Lennard-Jones attraction is weak, 0.12 kBT, increasing the polymer length decreases the likelihood of colloidal adsorption, as expected. On the contrary, when the attraction is 0.18 kBT, increasing the length of the grafted polymer chains promotes the adsorption of the colloidal brush onto the surface. When the Lennard-Jones energetic parameter that describes...
Using line shape to precisely determine recoil-free fraction: Application to tungsten

The analytic description of Mossbauer line shape based on the Fourier-transform method [1] makes it possible to precisely determine the recoil-free fraction,f, of a single absorber over a wide temperature range with a single measurement at each temperature. Most measurements of recoil-free fraction have been done with a Lorentzian representation of the Mossbauer line with semi empirical correction factors of uncertain precision. Our method, based on line shape rather than area, is exact for absorbers of any thickness, limited only by the number of terms taken in the expansion. In fact, our exact line-shape description makes it advantageous to use very thick absorbers. As an example, we report values for an absorber of effective thickness 12. The resonance thickness number of the absorber is an intrinsic parameter, so that a fit yields this quantity directly. The correlations that arise between certain variables may be reduced by fitting, simultaneously and with known constraints, spectra taken with different absorbers or with one absorber at various temperatures. Using this technique, we report precise values forf(T) in tungsten using the 46.5 keV transition in183W atT=297 K and 1067 K; these values are 0.300±0.009 and 0.0123±0.0002, respectively.
Particle Identification in High Energy Collisions at RHIC

This article provides a technical introduction to the study of collider physics by focusing on the concept of particle identification (PID). Through a general overview of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Pioneering High Energy Nuclear Interaction Experiment (PHENIX), the author discusses the role of Vanderbilt University researchers in collaborative work at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. After explaining the concept of event reconstruction and centrality with graphical images of experimental results, the author outlines the time-of-flight method of particle identification in high energy physics. A final presentation of the design concept for the Multi-Gap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) integrates the more traditional foundations of theoretical physics with the next generation of physics experimentation in the field.
Tight analytic surfaces

A SMOOTH immersion of a compact surfacef:M + RN is said to be ti&t if it minimizes the total absolute curvature among all immersions of M. EquivalentlyJis tight if it satisfies the so-called two-piece property, i.e., if the preimage of a hyperplane in RN decomposes M into at most two components. Notice that the second definition makes sense for topological immersions and even continuous maps. Our main result is the following theorem:
Electrochemical reduction of tetraalkylammonium tetrafluoroborates at carbon cathodes in dimethylformamide

Abstract The tetraethylammonium or tetra-n-butylammonium cation can be reduced at a glassy carbon cathode in dimethylformamide to form an ethyl or n-butyl carbanion. Abstraction of a proton from either (a) residual water present in the solvent-supporting electrolyte system or (b) the parent tetraalkylammonium cation by an electrogenerated ethyl or n-butyl carbanion yields ethane or n-butane respectively. Each of these proton transfer reactions gives rise to a base-initiated Hofmann elimination in which a tetraalkylammonium cation decomposes to afford an alkene and a trialkylamine: on the one hand, the hydroxide ion resulting from the deprotonation of water by an electrogenerated alkyl carbanion attacks a tetraalkylammonium cation; on the other hand, the Hofmann elimination is a direct consequence of the deprotonation of a tetraalkylammonium cation by an alkyl carbanion. Our studies indicate that the tetraalkylammonium cation undergoes a more facile Hofmann elimination than does the tetra-n-butylammonium cation; we attribute this difference to the size of the alkyl group, which affects the ease with which the proton (to be removed from the β carbon atom) can achieve an antiperiplanar arrangement with the leaving group (trialkylamine on the α carbon atom).
Immunological and reproductive health assessment in herring gulls and black‐crowned night herons in the Hudson–Raritan Estuary

Previous studies have shown inexplicable declines in breeding waterbirds within western New York/New Jersey Harbor between 1996 and 2002 and elevated polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) eggs. The present study assessed associations between immune function, prefledgling survival, and selected organochlorine compounds and metals in herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) in lower New York Harbor during 2003. In pipping gull embryos, lymphoid cells were counted in the thymus and bursa of Fabricius (sites of T and B lymphocyte maturation, respectively). The phytohemagglutinin (PHA) skin response assessed T cell function in gull and heron chicks. Lymphocyte proliferation was measured in vitro in adult and prefledgling gulls. Reference data came from the Great Lakes and Bay of Fundy. Survival of prefledgling gulls was poor, with only 0.68 and 0.5 chicks per nest surviving to three and four weeks after hatch, respectively. Developing lymphoid cells were reduced 51% in the thymus and 42% in the bursa of gull embryos from New York Harbor. In vitro lymphocyte assays demonstrated reduced spontaneous proliferation, reduced T cell mitogen-induced proliferation, and increased B cell mitogen-induced proliferation in gull chicks from New York Harbor. The PHA skin response was suppressed 70 to 80% in gull and heron chicks. Strong negative correlations (r = –0.95 to –0.98) between the PHA response and dioxins and PCBs in gull livers was strong evidence suggesting that these chemicals contribute significantly to immunosuppression in New York Harbor waterbirds. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2013;32:548–561. © 2012 SETAC