cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Simulation of a Time-Varying Distributed Cathode in a Linear Format Crossed-Field Amplifier

The effects of a temporally modulated, distributed cathode in a linear format crossed-field amplifier (CFA) are simulated in VSim and analyzed. A linear format, 150 MHz, low power (100 W), moderate gain (7 dB), meander line CFA is used as the basis for the simulation model. This paper describes simulations with different time-varying distributed cathodes in which electron injection is modulated at the RF both in-phase and out-of-phase with the RF input. At low RF input power, the modulated electron injection dominates the operation. Injecting in-phase with the RF input shows gain increases from 23 dB at 150 mA to 32 dB at 1 A for low cathode modulation power (<0.1 W). The CFA efficiency increased from 2%–4% to 20%–24% using the electron modulation. The simulation shows distinct cylindrically shaped electron bunches as opposed to spokes because of the synchronous injection. These results suggest that for high power magnetrons electron modulation could improve gain.
Lectures on Free Lattices

These lectures notes present the theory of free lattices, assuming only a basic understanding of lattice theory. They begin with Whitman’s solution to the word problem and his canonical form. The well known consequences of these are given as well as several lesser known consequences, such as the continuity of free lattices, the existence of a fixed point free unary polynomial on a free lattice, and the fact that finite sub-lattices of a free lattice satisfy a nontrivial lattice equation. The theory of covers in free lattices is developed and some of the consequences explored. Tschantz’s Theorem and a new characterization of semisingular elements are discussed and some important consequences of these results are given such as the existence of dense maximal chains in intervals of a free lattice.
Rheological implications of embedded active matter in colloidal gels

Colloidal gels represent an important class of soft matter, in which networks formed due to strong, short-range interactions display solid-like mechanical properties, such as a finite low-frequency elastic modulus. Here we examine the effect of embedded active colloids on the linear viscoelastic moduli of fractal cluster colloidal gels. We find that the autonomous, out-of-equilibrium dynamics of active colloids incorporated into the colloidal network decreases gel elasticity, in contrast to observed stiffening effects of myosin motors in actin networks. Fractal cluster gels are formed by the well-known mechanism of aggregating polystyrene colloids through addition of divalent electrolyte. Active Janus particles with a platinum hemisphere are created from the same polystyrene colloids and homogeneously embedded in the gels at dilute concentration at the time of aggregation. Upon addition of hydrogen peroxide – a fuel that drives the diffusiophoretic motion of the embedded Janus particles – the microdynamics and mechanical rheology change in proportion to the concentration of hydrogen peroxide and the number of active colloids. We propose a theoretical explanation of this effect in which the decrease in modulus is mediated by active motion-induced softening of the inter-particle attraction. Furthermore, we characterize the failure of the fluctuation–dissipation theorem in the active gels by identifying a discrepancy between the frequency-dependent macroscopic viscoelastic moduli and the values predicted by microrheology from measurement of the gel microdynamics. These findings support efforts to engineer gels for autonomous function by tuning the microscopic dynamics of embedded active particles. Such reconfigurable gels, with multi-state mechanical properties, could find application in materials such as paints and coatings, pharmaceuticals, self-healing materials, and soft robotics.
Promoting zero-emissions vehicles using robust multi-period tradable credit scheme

Abstract This study designs a robust multi-period tradable credit scheme (TCS) to incentivize travelers to shift from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) to zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs) over a long-term planning horizon to reduce vehicular emissions. The need for robust design arises because of uncertainty in forecasting travel demand over a planning horizon in the order of several years. The robust multi-period TCS design is formulated as a bi-level model. In the upper level, the central authority (CA) determines the TCS parameters (credit allocation and charging schemes) by vehicle type to minimize the worst-case vehicular emissions rate, i.e. the maximum vehicular emissions rate under the possible travel demand scenarios. The upper-level model is a mixed-integer nonlinear program. In the lower level, travelers minimize their generalized travel costs under the TCS parameters obtained in the upper level. These parameters are used to determine the vehicle type choice, between ICEVs and ZEVs, using a binomial logit function, and influence route selection based on the difference in credits charged on links for these two vehicle types. The lower-level model is a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints. The bi-level model is solved using a cutting plane method. Numerical experiments illustrate that the incentive to shift to ZEVs is fostered by allocating more credits and charging fewer credits to ZEV travelers compared to ICEV travelers. Further, the proposed TCS design reduces volatility in the realized vehicular emissions rates under different travel demand scenarios compared to a TCS design that does not consider demand uncertainty.
Real-Time Surface Deformation Recovery from Stereo Videos

Tissue deformation during the surgery may significantly decrease the accuracy of surgical navigation systems. In this paper, we propose an approach to estimate the deformation of tissue surface from stereo videos in real-time, which is capable of handling occlusion, smooth surface and fast deformation. We first use a stereo matching method to extract depth information from stereo video frames and generate the tissue template, and then estimate the deformation of the obtained template by minimizing ICP, ORB feature matching and as-rigid-as-possible (ARAP) costs. The main novelties are twofold: (1) Due to non-rigid deformation, feature matching outliers are difficult to be removed by traditional RANSAC methods; therefore we propose a novel 1-point RANSAC and reweighting method to preselect matching inliers, which handles smooth surfaces and fast deformations. (2) We propose a novel ARAP cost function based on dense connections between the control points to achieve better smoothing performance with limited number of iterations. Algorithms are designed and implemented for GPU parallel computing. Experiments on ex- and in vivo data showed that this approach works at an update rate of 15 Hz with an accuracy of less than 2.5 mm on a NVIDIA Titan X GPU.
Best Practices For Geotechnical Site Characterization: Have We Regressed from Decades Past?

The objective of a geotechnical site-characterization program is to determine soil and rock stratigraphy, in-situ pore water pressure conditions, and soil and rock properties for analysis and design of geotechnical engineering infrastructure. It is best conducted using an integrated approach that combines various geo-disciplines to describe, evaluate, and determine expected site characteristics. The extensive advancement of tools and procedures in recent decades provides an opportunity to execute effective and thorough site-characterization programs routinely in practice. Yet, this is often not the case, and some may argue that today’s state-of-practice has regressed in recent decades. While contractual structures and budget restrictions may contribute to this lower level and quality of characterization, the technical knowledge and pragmatic strategies available are not always implemented.
The study of transcarotid artery revascularization under local versus general anesthesia with results from the Society for Vascular Surgery Vascular Quality Initiative.

ObjectiveThe primary purpose of this study was to examine any potential difference in clinical outcomes between transcarotid artery revascularization performed under local anesthesia compared with ...
Triple-Frequency GNSS Cycle Slip Detection Performance in the Presence of Diffractive Ionosphere Scintillation

Ionosphere scintillation is notorious for causing some of the most severe disturbances in GNSS measurements. This phenomenon occurs when radio signals that propagate through ionosphere plasma irregularities exhibit strong phase and amplitude fluctuations. Scintillation near the equator, in particular, is associated with diffractive signal fluctuations that contain deep fades in signal amplitude and associated fast phase changes and cycle slips. Ionosphere diffraction-induced cycle slips challenge traditional methods of cycle slip mitigation, which all assume cycle slips occur instantaneously between measurement epochs and do not account for large phase measurement fluctuations. In this work, we present an example of strong diffractive scintillation affecting a triple-frequency GPS satellite. We apply detrending to ionosphere-free phase combinations of very high-rate (100 Hz) carrier phase measurements and use these to manually estimate cycle slip amplitudes. We then look at single-epoch time-differenced cycle slip correction algorithm from [1] and quantify its effectiveness when applied to strong equatorial scintillation that exhibits diffraction. Ultimately, this work serves to document how cycle slip algorithms behave and what are their limits under degraded-signal conditions such as during diffractive ionosphere scintillation.
Amount and type of physical activity as predictors of growth in executive functions, attentional control, and social self-control across 4 years of elementary school.

This paper used a nationally representative sample of children from the United States to examine the extent to which physical activity and sports participation may promote growth in children's executive functions (EFs), attention, and social self-control over time. Using data from the ECLS-K:2011 (N = 18,174), findings indicated that regular physical activity predicted growth in EFs and attention from 3rd to 4th grade (βs = 0.03-0.05) but not from kindergarten to 1st grade. After controlling for the frequency of physical activity, participation in group sports predicted increases in EFs, attention, and social self-control during both periods (βs = 0.02-0.04). Though modest in size, the findings suggest that encouraging children to engage in more frequent and more team-based activity will benefit the development of their EFs and related skills, and especially so for children in middle childhood.
The Targeting of Native Proteins to the Endoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Degradation (ERAD) Pathway: An Expanding Repertoire of Regulated Substrates

All proteins are subject to quality control processes during or soon after their synthesis, and these cellular quality control pathways play critical roles in maintaining homeostasis in the cell and in organism health. Protein quality control is particularly vital for those polypeptides that enter the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Approximately one-quarter to one-third of all proteins synthesized in eukaryotic cells access the ER because they are destined for transport to the extracellular space, because they represent integral membrane proteins, or because they reside within one of the many compartments of the secretory pathway. However, proteins that mature inefficiently are subject to ER-associated degradation (ERAD), a multi-step pathway involving the chaperone-mediated selection, ubiquitination, and extraction (or “retrotranslocation”) of protein substrates from the ER. Ultimately, these substrates are degraded by the cytosolic proteasome. Interestingly, there is an increasing number of native enzymes and metabolite and solute transporters that are also targeted for ERAD. While some of these proteins may transiently misfold, the ERAD pathway also provides a route to rapidly and quantitatively downregulate the levels and thus the activities of a variety of proteins that mature or reside in the ER.
Some viral diseases associated with cow-calf production.

Published with the approval of the Director, as Paper No. 43-20, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station. Presented at the COW-CALF SEMINAR, December 8, 1973, Kansas State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Manhattan, Kansas.
Regulatory effects of dioxin-like and non-dioxin-like PCBs and other AhR ligands on the antioxidant enzymes paraoxonase 1/2/3

Paraoxonase 1 (PON1), an antioxidant enzyme, is believed to play a critical role in many diseases, including cancer. PCBs are widespread environmental contaminants known to induce oxidative stress and cancer and to produce changes in gene expression of various pro-oxidant and antioxidant enzymes. Thus, it appeared of interest to explore whether PCBs may modulate the activity and/or gene expression of PON1 as well. In this study, we compared the effects of dioxin-like and non-dioxin-like PCBs and of various aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligands on PON1 regulation and activity in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. Our results demonstrate that (i) the non-dioxin-like PCB154, PCB155, and PCB184 significantly reduced liver and serum PON1 activities, but only in male rats; (ii) the non-dioxin-like PCB153, the most abundant PCB in many matrices, did not affect PON1 messenger RNA (mRNA) level in the liver but significantly decreased serum PON1 activity in male rats; (iii) PCB126, an AhR ligand and dioxin-like PCB, increased both PON1 activities and gene expression; and (iv) even though three tested AhR ligands induced CYP1A in several tissues to a similar extent, they displayed differential effects on the three PONs and AhR, i.e., PCB126 was an efficacious inducer of PON1, PON2, PON3, and AhR in the liver, while 3-methylcholantrene induced liver AhR and lung PON3, and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), the most potent AhR agonist, increased only PON3 in the lung, at the doses and exposure times used in these studies. These results show that PCBs may have an effect on the antioxidant protection by paraoxonases in exposed populations and that regulation of gene expression through AhR is highly diverse.
An Implementation and Evaluation of the Refined Triggering Graph Method for Active Rule Termination Analysis

This paper describes the implementation of the Refined Triggering Graph (RTG) method for active rule termination analysis. The RTG method has been defined in the context of an active, deductive, object-oriented database language known as CDOL (Comprehensive, Declarative, Object Language). The RTG method studies the contents of rule pairs and rule cycles in a triggering graph and tests for: 1) the successful unification of one rule's action with another rule's triggering event, and 2) the satisfiability of active rule conditions, asking if it is possible for the condition of a triggered rule to evaluate to true in the context of the triggering rule's condition. If the analysis can provably demonstrate that one rule cannot trigger another rule, the directed vector connecting the two rules in a basic triggering graph can be removed, thus refining the triggering graph. Two important aspects in the implementation of the method include the development of a satisfiability algorithm for CDOL conditions and conditions and the extension of the RTG method with knowledge of the rule execution semantics. The effectiveness of the approach within the context of the sample application is also addressed.
Structure and functional properties of chemically modified horse hemoglobin. I. Determination of the functional properties.

Abstract Several N-substituted maleimides have been reacted with horse oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin. The physical and functional properties of the resulting derivatives have been determined. These derivatives can be divided into two classes. One class comprises hemoglobins whose properties are only slightly altered from those of native hemoglobin. The other class consists of hemoglobins that have lost all co-operative interactions and show no change in properties which are normally sensitive to the presence or absence of ligand. The properties of the resulting derivatives are dependent not only on the nature of the modifying reagent but also on the ligand state of the hemoglobin used in the reaction.
Orbital Solutions for WZ Sagittae During Quiescence

WZ Sagittae was one of the first cataclysmic variables shown to be a binary system (Kraft 1961) from spectroscopic observations. Krzeminski (1962) found that WZ Sge was an eclipsing binary with an 81 min 38 s orbital period. Krzeminski and Kraft (1964, hereafter KK) in the first of many comprehensive analyses of the WZ Sge system to appear in the literature stated “a lower limit to certain detection of orbital velocity changes for the double emission feature is 2K = 75 km s-1.” Interpreted as an upper limit to Kj of 37.5 kms 1 this fundamental result has remained untested for two decades, although interpretations and observations of WZ Sge have led to a vast literature. Despite the lack of a well determined orbital velocity, WZ Sge is one of the most thoroughly studied cataclysmic variables. The photometric properties during quiescence have been thoroughly studied and discussed (Robinson, et al.1978; Fabian, et al.1978; Ritter and Schroder 1979), although a consensus on model parameters has remained elusive. Results of spectroscopic observations are presented here which were obtained seven months after the 1978 outburst of WZ Sge. The primary result is a substantial upward revision for the orbital velocity amplitude of the primary component. The higher velocity allows solutions for the component masses in which the secondary (M2. ~1 M0) is resident on the zero-age main sequence while the white dwarf mass remains under the Chandrasekhar limit (M1 ~1.1 M⊙).
Learning from data with bounded inconsistency

When no single concept definition in the description language can distinguish between all the positive examples and all the negative examples, the data are said to be inconsistent with respect to the concept description language. In such cases no learner will be able to find a description classifying all instances correctly. In general, learning systems must generate reasonable results even when there is no concept definition consistent with all the data.
Single Case Research Methodology : Applications in Special Education and Behavioral Sciences

Chapter 1 Applied Research in Education and Behavioral Sciences, David L. Gast & Jennifer R. Ledford Chapter 2 Scientific Research in Educational and Clinical Settings, David L. Gast & James W. Tawney Chapter 3 Ethical Principles and Practices in Research, Linda Mechling, David L. Gast, & Justin Lane Chapter 4 Writing Tasks: Literature Reviews, Research Proposals, and Final Reports, Mark Wolery & Kathleen L. Lane Chapter 5 Scientific Research in Educational and Clinical Settings, David L. Gast & Jennifer R. Ledford Chapter 6 Replication, David L. Gast Chapter 7 Dependent Measures and Measurement Systems, Kevin Ayres & Jennifer R. Ledford Chapter 8 Visual Representation of Data, Amy D. Spriggs, Justin Lane, & David L. Gast Chapter 9 Visual Analysis of Graphic Data, David L. Gast & Amy D. Spriggs Chapter 10 Withdrawal and Reversal Designs, David L. Gast & Dianna H. Baekey Chapter 11 Multiple Baseline and Multiple Probe Designs, David L. Gast, Blair P. Lloyd, & Jennifer R. Ledford Chapter 12 Comparative and Other Designs, Mark Wolery, David L. Gast, & Jennifer R. Ledford Chapter 13 Combination and Other Designs, Jennifer R. Ledford & David L. Gast Chapter 14 Controversial and Critical Issues in Single Case Research, Jennifer R. Ledford, Mark Wolery, & David L. Gast
Developing a New Computer-Aided Clinical Decision Support System for Prediction of Successful Postcardioversion Patients with Persistent Atrial Fibrillation

We propose a new algorithm to predict the outcome of direct-current electric (DCE) cardioversion for atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. AF is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and DCE cardioversion is a noninvasive treatment to end AF and return the patient to sinus rhythm (SR). Unfortunately, there is a high risk of AF recurrence in persistent AF patients; hence clinically it is important to predict the DCE outcome in order to avoid the procedure's side effects. This study develops a feature extraction and classification framework to predict AF recurrence patients from the underlying structure of atrial activity (AA). A multiresolution signal decomposition technique, based on matching pursuit (MP), was used to project the AA over a dictionary of wavelets. Seven novel features were derived from the decompositions and were employed in a quadratic discrimination analysis classification to predict the success of post-DCE cardioversion in 40 patients with persistent AF. The proposed algorithm achieved 100% sensitivity and 95% specificity, indicating that the proposed computational approach captures detailed structural information about the underlying AA and could provide reliable information for effective management of AF.
Robust volumetric shape descriptor

This paper introduces a volume-based shape descriptor that is robust with respect to changes in pose and topology. We use modified shape distributions of [OFCD02] in conjunction with the interior distances and barycentroid potential that are based on barycentric coordinates [RLF09]. In our approach, shape distributions are aggregated throughout the entire volume contained within the shape thus capturing information conveyed by the volumes of shapes. Since interior distances and barycentroid potential are practically insensitive to various poses/deformations and to non-pervasive topological changes (addition of small handles), our shape descriptor inherits such insensitivity as well. In addition, if any other modes of information (e.g. electrostatic potential within the protein volume) are available, they can be easily incorporated into the descriptor as additional dimensions in the histograms. Our descriptor has a connection to an existing surface based shape descriptor, the Global Point Signatures (GPS) [Rus07]. We use this connection to fairly examine the value of volumetric information for shape retrieval.We find that while, theoretically, strict isometry invariance requires concentrating on the intrinsic surface properties alone, yet, practically, pose insensitive shape retrieval still can be achieved/enhanced using volumetric information.
Microminiature Refrigerators for Joule-Thomson Cooling of Electronic Chips and Devices

The speed, reliability and, noise characteristics of most semiconductor devices improve with cooling to cryogenic temperatures. In addition, certain unique capabilities become available at these temperatures through the use of superconducting electronics. We discuss progress in the development of the technology for the selective or “spot cooling” of devices and individual chips using microminiature Joule-Thomson refrigerators for the lower temperature range. Likewise we discuss the recent development of circuit board coolers for higher temperature applications for the cooling of CMOS, PALs, SRAM and DRAM devices, using related, compressed vapor refrigerators with higher refrigeration capacity than the low temperature, J-T refrigerators.
DOLFFEN: Discovery Oriented Lab For First-Year Engineers

The DOLFFEN project is a school and NSF sponsored effort to develop a hands-on laboratory course that will: (1) Instill same excitement and interest in students with respect to true experimentation and (2) Remedy in some degree the vast well of ignorance modern students have about the way real devices anal systems work, what they are made of, and (3) Demonstrate how technological artifacts exploit scientific principles to create useful devices and systems. From the point of view of educational philosophy, the course is constructivist in the sense that what students learn is a product of their exploration and inferences they draw from their results. There is no received wisdom and no theory to be validated. The lab writeups studiously avoid imperative sentences and primarily consist of questions to be answered by experiment. This approach is a deliberate attack on the formulaic, prescriptive lab protocols to which most undergraduate labs have sunk and which have been the cause of students' contempt for what parses as experimentation on our campuses. For the faculty, the approach is a tradeoff between coverage, depth, contact with the theory or base of knowledge and conveying the real sense of exploration or discovery that makes laboratory work so pleasurable and important. The tradeoff is like the one we make when we choose to prepare a dinner from a new recipe in the newspaper as opposed to irradiating a TV dinner. The latter is neat, predictable and convenient but not very tasty. The former is risky usually disappointing in some respects but always exciting and educational. In this paper some example experiments are described and results from a pilot of offering are given. The early results are encouraging and some lessons about student interests and capabilities have been learned.
A Highly Reliable and Cost Effective 16nm Planar NAND Cell Technology

A 2D 16nm planar NAND cell technology is described with good cell to cell interference and reliability that can be used in a wide variety of applications. This second generation planar cell uses a high-K dielectric stack and a thin poly floating gate to maintain the needed gate coupling ratio and reduce adjacent cell interference. The technology includes select gates with the same planar structure as the cell. This select gate architecture simplifies the manufacturing of this NAND technology.
Differentiation of vegetable oils and determination of sunflower oil oxidation using a surface acoustic wave sensing device

Abstract A small portable electronic sensing device, utilizing the principle of surface acoustic wave (SAW), was used to differentiate between olive and sunflower oils of various brands. The oils were oxidized to determine if the sensing device could distinguish between fresh and oxidized oils. Good results were obtained, when adjusted total peak signal magnitude and sensor frequencies were plotted against oxidation time. The R2 value of the sunflower oils was better than that of the olive oils. Hence, they were considered for analysis by headspace solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS) for comparison of results between the two methods (SAW sensing device (SSD) and SPME-GC/MS). SPME-GC/MS showed the presence of a number of compounds in the oils. However, acetic acid showed a consistent increase in terms of area count as compared to other compounds of the oils. Hence it was considered for a plot of response versus time. Pearson’s correlation was calculated using MINITAB statistical software. A high correlation was observed when responses from both methods were calculated. This led us to conclude that SSD could prove to be a valuable tool in quality control measurements in food industry.
Slow Bragg solitons in nonlinear periodic structures.

We show that a new class of optical solitons is possible in nonlinear periodic structures. These waves can propagate undistorted even though their power spectra lie well within the frequency band gap of the periodic structure and even though their carrier frequency is very close to the Bragg resonance. Analysis shows that these Bragg solitons can exhibit velocities which are orders of magnitude lower than the speed of light in the unperturbed medium.
Congenital surfactant protein B deficiency--emphasis on imaging.

Background and objectives. Surfactant protein B deficiency has become increasingly recognized as a cause of severe prolonged respiratory distress. Little has been written about the imaging appearance and the role of imaging in diagnosis. Materials and methods. Three newborn infants with severe respiratory distress exhibited prolonged diffuse pulmonary opacification radiographically. Results. Diffuse ground-glass opacity and markedly prominent interlobular septa suggesting alveolar proteinosis were present on early thin-section chest computed tomographic (CT) images. Fibrotic changes with prominent interlobular septal thickening were present on a later CT. Surfactant protein B deficiency was confirmed by alveolar lavage and peripheral blood DNA analysis. Conclusion. Thin-section chest CT imaging contributes important information when this diagnosis is considered.
Spherical harmonic expansion of the photon angular distribution in the laboratory frame for photon emission by a rapidly moving source

Abstract Analysis of photon emission by a rapidly moving source requires making a relativistic transformation between the moving frame of reference and the laboratory frame of reference in which the photon detectors are located. Use of the exact relativistic transformation requires numerical integration over finite-sized detector geometries, a procedure which is inconvenient as well as not being conducive to making rotational transformations between different orientations of the coordinate systems. A spherical harmonic expansion of the photon angular distribution in the laboratory frame facilitates rotational transformations between coordinate systems during the data analysis as well as integration over the photon detector geometry. In this paper a relativistic transformation is derived that directly relates the spherical harmonic expansion of the photon distribution in the moving frame to the spherical harmonic expansion in the laboratory frame. The transformation involves an expansion to second order in β which is accurate to ≤ 0.1 % when β ≤ 0.1 and ≤ 1 % when β ≤ 0.2 . The usefulness of this spherical harmonic expansion becomes marginal for β ≈ 0.3 when the second order expansion errors become several percent.
A discussion of long-term numerical solutions of the Jupiter-Saturn-Sun system

A detailed discussion of recent numerical studies concerning the stability of the Jupiter-Saturn-Sun system is presented.
Boson-fermion coherence in a spherically symmetric harmonic trap

We consider the photoassociation of a low-density gas of quantum-degenerate trapped fermionic atoms into bosonic molecules in a spherically symmetric harmonic potential. For a dilute system and the photoassociation coupling energy small compared to the level separation of the trap, only those fermions in the single shell with Fermi energy are coupled to the bosonic molecular field. Introducing a collective pseudospin operator formalism we show that this system can then be mapped onto the Tavis-Cummings Hamiltonian of quantum optics, with an additional pairing interaction. By exact diagonalization of the Hamiltonian, we examine the ground state and low excitations of the Bose-Fermi system, and study the dynamics of the coherent coupling between atoms and molecules. In a semiclassical description of the system, the pairing interaction between fermions is shown to result in a self-trapping transition in the photoassociation, with a sudden suppression of the coherent oscillations between atoms and molecules. We also show that the full quantum dynamics of the system is dominated by quantum fluctuations in the vicinity of the self-trapping solution.
Differential thermal analysis of Hg1−xMnxTe alloys in the x=0–0.3 range

Understanding the experimental conditions necessary for the development of radial and axial compositional homogeneity in directionally solidified Hg(0.89)Mn(0.11)Te(MMT) crystals has been difficult due to the lack of segregation coefficient data on the Hg(1-x)Mn(x)Te alloy system in the X = 0 to 0.3 composition range. Determining segregation coefficient data from the available Hg(1-x)Mn(x)Te alloy phase equilibria data is not practical due to discrepancies in the shape of the reported solidus and liquidus curves in the X = 0 to 0.3 range. To resolve these discrepancies and to obtain segregation coefficient data which can be used to understand homogeneity in directionally solidified MMT crystals, the solidus and liquidus temperatures of seven Hg(1-x)Mn(x)Te alloys in the X = 0 to 0.3 range were determined using differential thermal analysis (DTA). The Hg(1-x)Mn(x)Te phase diagram constructed for the X = 0 to 0.3 range of this alloy system from the DTA measurements clarifies the shape of the solidus and liquidus curves in this range. The segregation coefficient for the Hg(1-x)Mn(x)Te system was found to vary from 5 to 4.4 as the solidus composition increased from 0-30 atomic percent MnTe. This information will be useful in the analysis of axial and radial homogeneity of directionally solidified MMT crystals.
Children and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Opportunities and Challenges in an Evolving System

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), passed in 2010, focused primarily on the problems of adults, but the changes in payment for and delivery of care it fosters will likely impact the health care of children. The evolving epidemiology of pediatric illness in the United States has resulted in a relatively small population of medically fragile children dispersed through the country and a large population of children with developmental and behavioral health issues who experience wide degrees of health disparities. Review of previous efforts to change the health care system reveals specific innovations in child health delivery that have been designed to address issues of child health. The ACA is complex and contains some language that improves access to care, quality of care, and the particular needs of the pediatric workforce. Most of the payment models and delivery systems proposed in the ACA, however, were not designed with the needs of children in mind and will need to be adapted to address their needs. To assure that the needs of children are met as systems evolve, child health professionals within and outside academe will need to focus their efforts in clinical care, research, education, and advocacy to incorporate child health programs into changing systems and to prevent unintended harm to systems designed to care for children.
Sex-role socialization and employment realities: Implications for vocational interest measures

Abstract Methods for reporting vocational interests which do and do not reflect sex-role stereotypes are examined. Interest inventory validation procedures based on the prediction of occupational preference and group membership are shown to favor inventories providing scores that reflect past sex-role stereotypes and current employment inequities. Reporting and validation procedures minimizing these shortcomings are suggested. These procedures, which are supported by past practice and recent research, result in similar interest score distributions for men and women. Finally, career counseling problems arising from the confounding of reports of human interests with current employment realities are discussed.
Finite element computation of turbulent flows

Abstract After reviewing briefly the major alternatives in the mathematical modelling of turbulent flows, this paper combines the kinetic energy-dissipation ( k − ϵ ) turbulent flow model and a mean flow model in a Galerkin finite element model applicable to incompressible turbulent two-dimensional flows with recirculation. Application of this model to examination of flow and particle settling in a rectangular sedimentation basin is presented; this approach completely determines the non-uniform velocity field and also resolves much uncertainty about the choice of values for both the eddy viscosity and the turbulent transport coefficients for settling. Finally, the expected directions of future research work in finite element simulation of turbulent flows are delineated.
Interaction between Gastric and Upper Small Intestinal Hormones in the Regulation of Hunger and Satiety: Ghrelin and Cholecystokinin Take the Central Stage

Several peptides are produced and released from endocrine cells scattered within the gastric oxyntic and the small intestinal mucosa. These peptide hormones are crucially involved in the regulation of gastrointestinal functions and food intake by conveying their information to central regulatory sites located in the brainstem as well as in the forebrain, such as hypothalamic nuclei. So far, ghrelin is the only known hormone that is peripherally produced in gastric X/A-like cells and centrally acting to stimulate food intake, whereas the suppression of feeding seems to be much more redundantly controlled by a number of gut peptides. Cholecystokinin produced in the duodenum is a well established anorexigenic hormone that interacts with ghrelin to modulate food intake indicating a regulatory network located at the first site of contact with nutrients in the stomach and upper small intestine. In addition, a number of peptides including leptin, urocortin 2, amylin and glucagon-like peptide 1 interact synergistically with CCK to potentiate its satiety signaling effect. New developments have led to the identification of additional peptides in X/A-like cells either derived from the pro-ghrelin gene by alternative splicing and posttranslational processing (obestatin) or a distinct gene (nucleobindin2/nesfatin-1) which have been investigated for their influence on food intake.
Modification of the cardiovascular response to enkephalin by preoptic-hypothalamic periventricular lesions

Summary The cardiovascular effects of central and peripheral injection of [D-Ala 2 ]-methionine-enkephalin were examined in rats with electrolytic lesions of anteroventral third ventricle periventricular tissue (AV3V). Sham-operated rats demonstrated a biphasic increase in blood pressure and a tachycardia after intracerebroventricular injection and an increase in blood pressure following intravenous injection. AV3V-lesions blunted the initial component of the central pressor response but did not affect the peripheral response. The AV3V region appears to mediate a portion of the blood pressure response to central enkephalin. The cardiovascular effects of enkephalin are complex and are probably mediated by more than one locus in the central nervous system. Intracerebroventricular (icv) and intravenous (iv) injections of the methionine-enkephalin analogue [D-Ala 2 ]-met-enkephalin (DAME) increase blood pressure in conscious rats (Rockhold, Crofton and Share, 1981). However, the central nervous system sites upon which enkephalins act to cause cardiovascular changes are not yet defined. A circumventricular organ, the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT), is of particular interest in this regard. The OVLT contains neuronal elements which demonstrate enkephalin-like immunoreactivity (Finley, Maderdrut and Petrusz, 1980) and electrolytic lesions of periventricular tissue of the antero-ventral third ventricle (AV3V) region (which includes the OVLT) abolish the pressor response to icv administration of another peptide hormone, angiotensin II (Bealer, Phillips, Johnson and Schmid, 1979). Such data suggest that the AV3V region may play a role in enkephalin-induced cardiovascular changes. The present investigation examines cardiovascular effects following icv and iv administration of DAME in sham-operated and AV3V-lesioned rats.
Sexual selection and sex differences in mathematical abilities.

The principles of sexual selection were used as an organizing framework for interpreting cross-national patterns of sex differences in mathematical abilities. Cross-national studies suggest that there are no sex differences in biologically primary mathematical abilities, that is, for those mathematical abilities that are found in all cultures as well as in nonhuman primates, and show moderate heritability estimates. Sex differences in several biologically secondary mathematical domains (i.e., those that emerge primarily in school) are found throughout the industrialized world. In particular, males consistently outperform females in the solving of mathematical word problems and geometry. Sexual selection and any associated proximate mechanisms (e.g., sex hormones) influence these sex differences in mathematical performance indirectly. First, sexual selection resulted in greater elaboration in males than in females of the neurocognitive systems that support navigation in three-dimensional space. Knowledge implicit in these systems reflects an understanding of basic Euclidean geometry, and may thus be one source of the male advantage in geometry. Males also use more readily than females these spatial systems in problem-solving situations, which provides them with an advantage in solving word problems and geometry. In addition, sex differences in social styles and interests, which also appear to be related in part to sexual selection, result in sex differences in engagement iii mathematics-related activities, thus further increasing the male advantage in certain mathematical domains. A model that integrates these biological influences with sociocultural influences on the sex differences in mathematical performance is presented in this article.
Molecular Cloning and Functional Expression of the Human Gallbladder Cholecystokinin A Receptor

Through binding to cholecystokinin (CCK) A receptors, CCK is an important physiologic regulator of both gallbladder contraction and pancreatic enzyme secretion. In this work, we have used a combination of hybridization screening of a cDNA library and polymerase chain reaction to clone a 2.1 kb cDNA which encodes the human gallbladder CCKA receptor. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame encoding a 428 amino acid protein, with seven putative transmembrane domains and a high degree of homology with the rat CCKA receptor. COS cells transfected with this cDNA clone bound CCK-8 and L-364,718 with high affinities appropriate for the CCKA receptor, and exhibited a transient increase in intracellular calcium in response to CCK. This should provide an important resource for the analysis of the role of this receptor in human physiology and pathophysiology.
The House Goes to Work: Select and Standing Committees in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1789-1828

Most references to the committee procedures employed by the early House of Representatives note the widespread use of select committees, but very little is known about their diversity, membership and activities. This article examines the use of select and standing committees in a sample of five congressional sessions. Select committees with standing committee features are found to have been used from at least the Fifth Congress. Select committees are also found to have been used to accommodate the interests of members to investigate topics of local and particular interest, although their ability to get bills passed by the House was limited. The article concludes with an assessment of the changed nature of the House following the development of standing committees by 1828.
Probability methods for the fracture of composite materials

Abstract The reliability calculation for a composite material may be performed using a variety of approximation methods. These methods are broadly divided into fast probability integration (FPI) methods of either first or second order, and the Monte Carlo-based simulation methods. Using the Tsai-Hill and Tsai-Wu failure criteria as examples, these methods are described and illustrated. The methods are compared for accuracy, difficulty of implementation, and sensitivity to uncertainty in the parameters of the strength (or stress) distributions. The two methods of choice for speed, accuracy and innate conservatism are: importance sampling simulation, and the FPI rotational parabaloid. Under most conditions, the results of a linear approximation are also acceptable.
Are the occasional aneuploid cells in peripheral blood cultures significant

Cytogenetic results of 1,500 consecutive clinical cases from a young population were analyzed for rare cells with hypermodality (greater than or equal to 47 chromosomes) or hypomodality (less than or equal to 45 chromosomes). Such instances of non-modal chromosome gains or losses were random relative to referral diagnosis or modal karyotype. However, chromosome loss was correlated with size, smaller chromosomes being lost more frequently (correlation coefficient = 0.794). Sex chromosome gain or loss in vitro was of particular interest since mosaicism in vivo is frequently found in patients presenting with manifestations of Turner or Klinefelter syndrome. Cases with a referral diagnosis of sex chromosome abnormality showed no increased gain or loss of an X or Y chromosome when compared to other types of clinical cases. Our analyses suggest that when one non-modal cell is found with a gain or loss of a chromosome relevant to the referral diagnosis, then the results on a count of 40 cells should differentiate in vitro artifact from probable in vivo mosaicism with 95% degree of confidence.
Revisiting the role of spike afterhyperpolarization and spike threshold in motoneuron current-frequency gain

The relationship between synaptic or injecting input level and firing rate is an important metric to characterize neuron input-output dynamics. In this study, we examine two long-held, but never validated, assumptions in the “algebraic summation of afterhyperpolarization” theory, which explains how firing rate varies with input (typically referred to as input current-frequency modulation or “F-I gain”). In the theory, the afterhyperpolarizations themselves, along with spike threshold, were assumed constant. That is, whereas they were central concepts in the theory, they were not included in any feedback loops, wherein they could both affect and be affected by firing rate. We performed intracellular recordings from spinal motoneurons in the adult cat to determine whether F-I gain correlates with the afterhyperpolarization and/or spike threshold. We observe that the afterhyperpolarization does indeed appear to be out of the F-I gain mechanism loop, and thus that original assumption holds. However, the presented experimental evidence indicates that the spike threshold appears to be in the loop. That is, spike threshold variation associated with input correlates with F-I gain. We present an extension to the original theory, which explains the F-I gain experimental correlations.
The continued salience of religious voting in the United States, Germany, and Great Britain

Conventional wisdom on party systems in advanced industrial democracies holds that modern electorates are dealigned and that social cleavages no longer structure party politics. Recent work on class cleavages has challenged this stylized fact. The analysis performed here extends this criticism to the religious-secular cleavage. Using path analysis and comparing the current electorates of the United States, Germany, and Great Britain with the early 1960s, this paper demonstrates that the religious-secular cleavage remains or has become a significant predictor of conservative vote choice. While the effects of the religious-secular cleavage on vote choice have become largely indirect, the total of the direct and indirect effects is substantial and equivalent to the effects of class and status.