cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Growth of magnesium diboride films on 2 inch diameter copper discs by hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition

Magnesium diboride (MgB2) coating is a potential candidate to replace bulk niobium (Nb) for superconducting radio frequency cavities due to the appealing superconducting properties of MgB2. MgB2 coating on copper may allow cavity operation near 20–25 K as a result of the high transition temperature (T c) of MgB2 and excellent thermal conductivity of Cu. We have grown MgB2 films on 2 inch diameter Cu discs by hybrid physical–chemical vapor deposition for radio frequency characterization. Structural and elemental analyses showed a uniform MgB2 coating on top of a Mg–Cu alloy layer with occasional intrusion of Mg–Cu alloy regions. High T c values of around 37 K and high critical current density (J c) on the order of 107 A cm−2 at zero field were observed. Radio frequency measurements at 11.4 GHz confirmed a high T c and showed a quality factor (Q 0) much higher than for Cu and close to that of Nb.
Use of Vegetable-Based Cutting Fluids for Sustainable Machining

Cutting fluids are popularly used in machining to reduce cutting forces, temperatures and thus prolong the tool life. However, cutting fluids are complex compounds containing different ingredients some of which are toxic. Constant exposure to these fluids causes severe health hazards to the workers. Further, the disposal of the cutting fluids adds to the cost due to the required chemical treatment. Hence, the concept of using minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) has come into picture. Further, to make the fluids more benign, vegetable-based compounds are being used to replace the toxic ingredients. This is done in different levels, i.e., either only the mineral oil in the fluid is replaced by vegetable oil or even the emulsifier is replaced by a vegetable alternative. The present chapter discusses MQL and vegetable-based cutting fluids for sustainable machining. Results obtained during the application of vegetable oils are presented.
APG/7 - Application Program Generator for the IBM System/7

Abstract APG/7 is one of the most recent “general-purpose” software products for the IBM System/7 computing system for sensor based applications. It includes two major components: (1) The fill-in-the-blanks facility for defining and generation of a nucleus of system programs, and (2) The APG/7 Language, a PL/I subset with sensor based extensions. These components are briefly outlined. The organizing of programs, and tasking are summarized. It is concluded, that APG/7 represents a substantial improvement over similar earlier IBM-products like PROSPRO and PPCP, both for the IBM 1800 process control computer.
The Effect of Conspiratorial Thinking and Motivated Reasoning on Belief in Election Fraud

Belief in electoral fraud has received heightened attention due to elite rhetoric and controversial voter identification (ID) laws. Using a two-wave national survey administered before and after the 2012 election, we examine the individual-level correlates of belief in a range of election-related conspiracy theories. Our data show that partisanship affects the timing and content of belief in election-related conspiracy theories, but a general disposition toward conspiratorial thinking strongly influences those beliefs. Support for voter ID laws, in contrast, appears to be driven largely by party identification through elite-mass linkages. Our analysis suggests that belief in election fraud is a common and predictable consequence of both underlying conspiratorial thinking and motivated partisan reasoning.
Improving Asthma Outcomes in the Digital Era: A Systematic Review

Lack of adherence remains a major cause of poor asthma outcomes. Technology-based interventions to promote adherence to asthma controller medications are emerging. This systematic review aimed to evaluate digital interventions to improve adherence to asthma controller medications and clinical outcomes. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, this review identified studies using medication electronic monitoring devices (EMDs), mobile applications including smartphone applications (SPAs) or MP3 players, web-based portals, and multimodal interventions to improve asthma outcomes. Of the 25 interventions identified, 23 resulted in a positive outcome within the limits of the study. Two of the three EMDs, zero of the five mobile applications, zero of the 11 web portals, and three of the seven multimodal interventions showed objectively measured improvement in controller medication adherence. Studies featuring EMD technology alone or as part of a multimodal intervention demonstrate promise in improving controller medication adherence. SPA technology both alone and in combination with other digital interventions demonstrates improvements in asthma control and quality of life. Future studies are needed to isolate the most efficacious component(s) of these interventions.
Doctors as workers: work-hour regulations and interns' perceptions of responsibility, quality of care, and training.

Objective: To study residents’ perceptions of their responsibility for patients, the quality of patient care, and their learning experiences in light of new work-hour regulations.
A New Approach to the Preparation of 2‐Substituted Tetrahydrofurans with α‐syn Selectivity.

Trimethylsilyl ketene (II) is coupled with the benzyloxybutanal (I) in the presence of boron trifluoride etherate to give the propiolactones (III) which are desilylated and alkylated to form the diastereomeric methyl derivatives (V).
Answer to Iancu's SEP Policy Call Is in Plain Sight

In December 2018, Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim withdrew from the joint 2013 DOJ/PTO statement on patents and standards. PTO Director Andrei Iancu recently announced that he’s searching for a balanced approach to the issue. I write that the compromise is sitting in front of us: the 2013 statement itself.
Quantifying Pain Associated With Rib Fractures.

Abstract Introduction Rib fractures are a major problem in trauma patients, and the associated pain is not well understood. Measuring total pain experience, duration, and intensity could facilitate comparisons of treatments. This study was intended to evaluate the feasibility of quantifying pain over the course of an admission and identify factors associated with increased pain experience in adults with rib fractures. Methods Patients admitted to a level I trauma center with rib fractures between 2015 and 2017 were included. Maximum pain score (verbal or nonverbal) was captured for each hospital day. Total pain was defined as the sum of the area under the curve (AUC) of the max pain scores plotted against time. A general linear model was used to determine demographic, injury, and clinical predictors of the pain AUC. Results We identified 3713 patients. Increased pain experienced (greater AUC) was associated with age group 40-59 y compared with 18-39 y (B = 6.1, P = 0.002); Injury Severity Score 9-14 (B = 11.5, P Conclusions This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring patients' total pain experience over the duration of their admission. Pain is a subjective but relevant measure of patients' experience. Our study identifies a number of predictive factors, some expected and some unexpected. Increased overall experience pain following fixation may be the result of severe pain before intervention.
The Role of Culture in Effective Intervention Design, Implementation, and Research: Its Universal Importance

This special issue on Promoting Health Equity through Rigorous, Culturally Informed Intervention Science: Innovations with Indigenous Populations in the United States is a welcome addition to the growing recognition that culture is fundamental to effective intervention design, implementation, and research, in this instance among Indigenous peoples of North America and the Pacific. The articles herein summarize some of the priorities, findings, and lessons learned through work conducted by researchers in the National Institutes of Health Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) consortium. The lessons learned encourage rethinking of the epistemological imperatives of our science; recognizing the rich, important variation in the lived experience of Indigenous peoples; and a greater appreciation for the critical role this experience plays in conceptualizing, designing, and operationalizing effective interventions. In this regard, the authors return us to a nearly 3 decades' old, but largely unrealized commitment by the National Institutes of Health to the thoughtful inclusion of underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in its sponsored research as a means of improving the clinical and implementation sciences. The findings summarized in this special issue demonstrate the value of such efforts and fit well within existing paradigms that emphasize the importance of culture for maximizing the relevance and impact of this work. Yet the remaining challenge is to promote this agenda in ways that invite others to contribute in equally deliberate and informed ways, and thereby advance the field at large.
Photoemission Electron Microscopy

Photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) is a cathode lens electron microscopy technique. This specialized electron microscopy technique excels in studying the morphology, electronic and chemical properties and the magnetic structure of surfaces and thin film materials with nanometer-scale spatial resolution. In this chapter, we describe X-PEEM instrumentation and a typical X-PEEM optical system, discuss aberrations that limit the optical performance of X-PEEM microscopes, describe contrast mechanisms, and present several examples that cover some of the common use cases for X-PEEM, in particular the magnetic and time-resolved microscopy of nanostructures.
Three Audacious Goals for Reinventing an Academic Medical Center

The transformation of academic medicine from a multitude of poorly coordinated islands of excellence into reliable systems of care and learning is feasible today.
Direct Regio‐ and Diastereoselective Synthesis of δ ‐Lactams from Acrylamides and Unactivated Alkenes Initiated by Rh III ‐Catalyzed C−H Activation

We report a RhIII -catalyzed regio- and diastereoselective synthesis of δ-lactams from readily available acrylamide derivatives and unactivated alkenes. The reaction provides a rapid route to a diverse set of δ-lactams in good yield and stereoselectivity, which serve as useful building blocks for substituted piperidines. The regioselectivity of the reaction with unactivated terminal alkene is significantly improved by using Cpt ligand on the RhIII catalyst. The synthetic utility of the reaction is demonstrated by the preparation of a potential drug candidate containing a trisubstituted piperidine moiety. Mechanistic studies show that the reversibility of the C-H activation depends on the choice of Cp ligand on the RhIII catalyst. The irreversible C-H activation is observed and becomes turnover-limiting with [Cpt RhCl2 ]2 as catalyst.
Preclinical Toxicology of rQNestin34.5v.2: An Oncolytic Herpes Virus with Transcriptional Regulation of the ICP34.5 Neurovirulence Gene

rQNestin34.5v.2 is an oncolytic herpes simplex virus 1 (oHSV) that retains expression of the neurovirulent ICP34.5 gene under glioma-selective transcriptional regulation. To prepare an investigational new drug (IND) application, we performed toxicology and efficacy studies of rQNestin34.5v.2 in mice in the presence or absence of the immunomodulating drug cyclophosphamide (CPA). ICP34.5 allows HSV1 to survive interferon and improves viral replication by dephosphorylation of the eIF-2α translation factor. rQNestin34.5v.2 dephosphorylated eIF-2α in human glioma cells, but not in human normal cells, resulting in significantly higher cytotoxicity and viral replication in the former compared to the latter. In vivo toxicity of rQNestin34.5v.2 was compared with that of wild-type F strain in immunocompetent BALB/c mice and athymic mice by multiple routes of administration in the presence or absence of CPA. A likely no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) dose for intracranial rQNestin34.5v.2 was estimated, justifying a phase 1 clinical trial in recurrent glioma patients (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03152318), after successful submission of an IND.
Quasi-experimental Designs

Quasi-experiments are used to test hypotheses about the effects of manipulable treatments but lack the process of random assignment that occurs with true experiments. Consequently, researchers must be particularly concerned with reducing threats to the validity of causal inferences. Quasi-experiments can be thought of as a collection of design elements aimed at reducing threats to validity. A number of threats to validity and basic quasi-experimental designs are discussed. Keywords: threats to validity; nonequivalent control group designs; interrupted time-series designs; regression discontinuity designs
11 – Biodegradation of oil hydrocarbons and its implications for source identification

Publisher Summary Biodegradation puts a major impact on the composition of petroleum products and crude oils. This chapter discusses the fundamentals of hydrocarbon biodegradation, especially of liquid fossil fuels, and attempts to bring together the conclusions from two rather disparate areas of research. One is from the community of microbiologists and environmental scientists studying biodegradation in the laboratory and the field. The other is from the community of geochemists studying petroleum in reservoirs. Significant routes for hydrocarbons to leave the biosphere are combustion and photochemical oxidation. Photo oxidation is a very important process in the atmosphere, and while it does convert aromatic compounds in slicks to oxygenated species, it accounts for relatively little loss of nonvolatile hydrocarbons. Oxygen is both an essential reactant in the initial activation of hydrocarbons under aerobic conditions and the terminal electron acceptor for microbial growth. Most natural petroleum contains only trace amounts of alkenes. A few crude oils contain minor amounts from radiolysis, but alkenes can be quite abundant in refined products such as gasoline.
Venice’s secret service: organizing intelligence in the renaissance: by Ioanna Iordanou, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2019, 288 pp., $US 40.00 (hardback), ISBN 9780198791317.

Few books constitute a serious study of intelligence with a deep analysis of its place in diplomacy and economic statecraft. Even rarer are books that undertake such a study in consort with rich hi...
Mitigating Biases in Multimodal Personality Assessment

As algorithmic decision making systems are increasingly used in high-stake scenarios, concerns have risen about the potential unfairness of these decisions to certain social groups. Despite its importance, the bias and fairness of multimodal systems are not thoroughly studied. In this work, we focus on the multimodal systems designed for apparent personality assessment and hirability prediction. We use the First Impression dataset as a case study to investigate the biases in such systems. We provide detailed analyses on the biases from different modalities and data fusion strategies. Our analyses reveal that different modalities show various patterns of biases and data fusion process also introduces additional biases to the model. To mitigate the biases, we develop and evaluate two different debiasing approaches based on data balancing and adversarial learning. Experimental results show that both approaches can reduce the biases in model outcomes without sacrificing much performance. Our debiasing strategies can be deployed in real-world multimodal systems to provide fairer outcomes.
Walking with Shadows: Jude Dibia and Olumide Makanjuola in Conversation with Lindsey Green-Simms

In 2005 Jude Dibia published the ground-breaking novel Walking with Shadows, the first West African novel to feature a gay protagonist. Dibia’s widely acclaimed book tells the story of Adrian Ebele...
Comparison of Inverse Kinematics Algorithms for Digital Twin Industry 4.0 Applications

This paper presents two Inverse Kinematics (IK) algorithms that are used for digital twin Augmented Reality (AR) applications. The first algorithm is a simple Inverse Kinematics (IK) Unity code that considers up to 9 points on the human body to model the motion. The second algorithm is the BIO IK that can consider up to 38 points. The performance of the algorithms is compared with data obtained by a Motion Capture (MoCap) measurement system. The metric of accuracy was used to quantify the performance evaluation and was modeled as the error of the position of the modeled joints of a human avatar with those measured by the MoCap system. It is observed that the obtained accuracy of the position increases with the number of points that is considered by the IK algorithm. For the purpose of this investigation, a MoCap system based on 13 cameras and 38 markers on the human body was used to measure the location of the joints of a human operator performing specific motions. The motion of lifting was the epicenter of the investigation that causes the larger amount of accidents in typical manufacturing facilities. The application of this research falls within the concepts of Digital Twin (DT) in Industry 4.0 scenarios.
The Global Domain of the Dollar: Eight Questions

Since the late 1950s, the rest of the world has come to use the dollar to an extent that justifies speaking of the dollar’s global domain. The rest of the world denominates much debt in U.S. dollars, extending U.S. monetary policy’s sway. In addition, in outstanding foreign exchange deals, the rest of the world has undertaken to pay still more in U.S. dollars: off-balance-sheet dollar debts buried in footnotes. Consistent with the scale of dollar debt, most of the world economic activity takes place in countries with currencies tied to or relatively stable against the dollar, forming a dollar zone much larger than the euro zone. Even though the dollar assets of the world (minus the United States) exceed dollar liabilities, corporate sector dollar debts seem to make dollar appreciation akin to a global tightening of credit. Since the 1960s, claims that the dollar’s global role suffers from instability and confers great benefits on the U.S. economy have attracted much support. However, evidence that demand for dollars from official reserve managers forces unsustainable U.S. current account or fiscal deficits is not strong. The so-called exorbitant privilege is small or shared. In 2008 and again in 2020, the Federal Reserve demonstrated a willingness and capacity to backstop the global domain of the dollar. Politics could constrain the Fed’s ability to backstop the growing share of the domain of the dollar accounted for by countries that are not on such friendly terms with the U.S.
The Correction of Phase Unwrapping Errors in Sequences of Multi-Temporal Differential SAR Interferograms

In this work, the theoretical foundations of a method to identify and routinely correct the phase unwrapping errors affecting a sequence of time-redundant sequence of differential SAR (DInSAR) interferograms are presented and discussed. Although the proposed method has principally been developed to work with differential SAR interferograms that form a triangle-shaped network in the temporal/perpendicular baseline plane, as originally exploited by Extended Minimum Cost Flow (EMF) phase unwrapping (PhU) technique, it may simply be adapted to work with any network of time-redundant interferograms. The fundamental idea is to exploit the phase inconsistencies of triples of (already) unwrapped sequence of interferograms, prior to the application of any inversion for the generation of surface displacement time-series, to independently identify, for every SAR pixels, the 2π-multiple integers corrections to be applied to the unwrapped phases for adjusting the time-inconsistent phase unwrapping errors. This goal is achieved by solving a simple and computationally efficient network-based minimum-cost-flow optimization problem. Some preliminarily experimental results, which have been obtained by processing a sequence of Cosmo-SkyMed (CSK) SAR images collected over the California bay area, are presented.
Key Mechanistic Features of the Silver(I)-Mediated Deconstructive Fluorination of Cyclic Amines: Multistate Reactivity versus Single-Electron Transfer.

Density functional calculations have provided evidence that a Ag(I)-mediated deconstructive fluorination of N-benzoylated cyclic amines (LH) with Selectfluor [(F-TEDA)(BF4)2] begins with an association of the reactants to form a singlet state adduct {[(LH)-Ag]-[F-TEDA]2+}. The subsequent formation of an iminium ion intermediate, [L+-Ag]-HF-[TEDA]+, is, formally, a Ag(I)-mediated hydride abstraction event that occurs in two steps: (a) a formal oxidative addition (OA) of [F-TEDA]2+ to the Ag(I) center that is attended by an electron transfer (ET) from the substrate (LH) to the Ag center (i.e., OA + ET, this process can also be referred to as a F-atom coupled electron transfer), followed by (b) H-atom abstraction from LH by the Ag-coordinated F atom. The overall process involves lower-lying singlet and triplet electronic states of several intermediates. Therefore, we formally refer to this reaction as a two-state reactivity (TSR) event. The C-C bond cleavage/fluorination of the resulting hemiaminal intermediate via a ring-opening pathway has also been determined to be a TSR event. A competing deformylative fluorination initiated by hemiaminal to aldehyde equilibration involving formyl H-atom abstraction by a TEDA2+ radical dication, decarbonylation, and fluorination of the resulting alkyl radical by another equivalent of Selectfluor may also be operative in the latter step.
Dimensions of Software Evolution

Software evolution is usually considered in terms of corrections, improvements and enhancements. While helpful, this approach does not take into account the fundamental dimensions of wellengineered software systems (the domains, experience, and process) and how they themselves evolve and affect the evolution of systems for which they are the context. Each dimension is discussed and provided with examples to illustrate its various aspects and to summarize how evolution in that dimension affects system evolution. This holistic approach provides a deep understanding of evolution and how evolution might be effectively managed.
0049 Within-person predictors of same day alcohol and prescription opioid use among youth presenting to an urban emergency department

Statement of purpose To use longitudinal data collected from youth presenting to an urban emergency department to determine predictors of within-person changes in alcohol and prescription opioid same day use frequency. Methods/Approach Research assistants recruited youth age 14–24 reporting past-six-month substance use into the Flint Youth Injury study from 11/2009–9/2011 (n=599; 349 violently-injured at baseline). Participants self-administered validated measures of alcohol use severity, cannabis use severity, mental health symptoms, social support/influences, and violent injury at baseline and four biannual follow-ups. In addition, participants completed Time Line Follow Back calendars (baseline: 30-days; follow-ups: 90-days) which allowed ascertainment of same day use of alcohol and prescription opioids. We calculated the prevalence of same day alcohol and prescription opioid at each follow-up, and used negative binomial regression with person-level fixed effects to isolate within-person predictor effects on same-day use frequency. Results Between 2.0% (baseline) and 5.7% (18-month follow-up) of youth reported same-day use of alcohol and prescription opioids across follow-ups, with 19.9% reporting same-day use in at least one follow-up. Within-person increases in alcohol use severity, cannabis use severity, and depression and anxiety symptoms all corresponded to increases in same day alcohol and prescription opioid use frequency. Increased exposure to positive peer influences, and decreased exposure to delinquent peers, both coincided with lower same day alcohol and prescription opioid use frequency. Conclusions Same day use of alcohol and prescription opioids is common in this population, and within-person changes are predictable. Interrupting worsening trajectories of substance use severity and mental health symptoms, and enhancing social support and reducing delinquent peer exposures, may reduce same day use frequency. Significance Co-use of alcohol and prescription opioids dramatically increases acute risks (e.g., overdose) associated with each; understanding within-person predictors of same day use may point to catalysts for behavior change.
On the central path of semidefinite optimization: Degree and worst-case convergence rate

In this paper, we investigate the complexity of the central path of semidefinite optimization through the lens of real algebraic geometry. To that end, we propose an algorithm to compute real univariate representations describing the central path and its limit point, where the limit point is described by taking the limit of central solutions, as bounded points in the field of algebraic Puiseux series. As a result, we derive an upper bound $2^{O(m+n^2)}$ on the degree of the Zariski closure of the central path and a complexity bound $O(m+n^2)2^{(m+n^2)}$ for describing the limit point, where $m$ and $n$ denote the number of affine constraints and size of the symmetric matrix, respectively. Furthermore, by the application of the quantifier elimination to the real univariate representations, we provide an upper bound $O(\mu^{1/\gamma})$, with $\gamma=2^{O(m+n^2)}$, on the worst-case convergence rate of the central path.
Traveling-Wave Tube Efficiency Enhancement

Traveling-wave tubes (TWT's) are used to amplify microwave communication signals on virtually all NASA and commercial spacecraft. Because TWT's are a primary power user, increasing their power efficiency is important for reducing spacecraft weight and cost. NASA Glenn Research Center has played a major role in increasing TWT efficiency over the last thirty years. In particular, two types of efficiency optimization algorithms have been developed for coupled-cavity TWT's. The first is the phase-adjusted taper which was used to increase the RF power from 420 to 1000 watts and the RF efficiency from 9.6% to 22.6% for a Ka-band (29.5 GHz) TWT. This was a record efficiency at this frequency level. The second is an optimization algorithm based on simulated annealing. This improved algorithm is more general and can be used to optimize efficiency over a frequency bandwidth and to provide a robust design for very high frequency TWT's in which dimensional tolerance variations are significant.
Illness Behaviour and Disability

The recent crisis in the administration of the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program in the United States highlights the failure of social scientists in general and economists in particular to influence the development of public policy in this crucial area. Perhaps the DI experience is only one of many illustrations of how difficult it is to have complex human conditions responded to by welfare decisions which are attuned to individual circumstances yet are explicit, predictable, challengeable and politically palatable (Bolderson, 1985).
Hope in a Time of Cholera

What are the internal conditions or mental states that may facilitate the moving on with life? How does one explain that some, after undergoing severe trauma, fail to go on with productive and creative lives while others do?
Impediments to the Used Consumer Software Business

Computer software is a huge, worldwide industry, one in which the United States has become the dominant force. The maturation of the software industry has led to dramatic productivity gains, permitting businesses and individuals to accomplish more work with less effort. The industry's growth has depended, and will continue to depend, in large part on the ability of software producers to prevent broad, unauthorized use of their products. Well-developed markets exist for used copies of copyrightable subject matter such as books, musical recordings, and movies. Yet there is no organized market for used computer software, even though it can be, and often is, copyrighted. This paper explores the various legal and operational challenges that entrepreneurs would encounter in launching a used consumer software business. Part I of this paper describes various aspects of the U.S. software industry, including the history of the legal protection of software intellectual property, to provide background for the rest of the paper. Although several methods of legal protection are available for software, this paper focuses primarily on copyright. Part II examines markets for used copyrighted works in general. Part III analyzes the legal challenges a used software business would face, and Part IV examines business challenges including possible responses by software producers to a successful used software business. Substantial impediments to entering the used software market would make it a risky business venture, particularly if done in a manner that does not honor software producers' license agreements. Even if such a business were to litigate successfully the complex and unsettled legal issues, any substantial market success would likely provoke reactions from software producers that could thwart the business and hamper its growth prospects. Entrepreneurs must evaluate each of these obstacles carefully before investing in starting such a business.
Electronic branching ratio of the lepton

Using data accumulated by the CLEO I detector operating at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have measured the ratio {ital R}={Gamma}({tau}{r arrow}{ital e}{bar {nu}}{sub {ital e}}{nu}{sub {tau}})/{Gamma}{sub 1}, where {Gamma}{sub 1} is the {tau} decay rate to final states with one charged particle. We find {ital R}=0.2231{plus minus}0.0044{plus minus}0.0073 where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. Together with the measured topological one-charged-particle branching fraction, this yields the branching fraction of the {tau} lepton to electrons, {ital B}{sub {ital e}}=0.192{plus minus}0.004{plus minus}0.006.
A Stewart Platform-Based System for Ankle Telerehabilitation

The “Rutgers Ankle” is a Stewart platform-type haptic interface designed for use in rehabilitation. The system supplies six-DOF resistive forces in response to virtual reality-based exercises running on a host PC. The Stewart platform uses double-acting pneumatic cylinders, linear potentiometers as position sensors, and a six-DOF force sensor. The Rutgers Ankle controller contains an embedded Pentium board, pneumatic solenoid valves, valve controllers, and associated signal conditioning electronics. Communication with the host PC is over a standard RS232 line. The platform movement and output forces are transparently recorded by the host PC in a database. This database can be accessed remotely over the Internet. Thus, the Rutgers Ankle Orthopedic Rehabilitation Interface will allow patients to exercise at home while being monitored remotely by therapists. A prototype was constructed, and proof-of-concept trials were conducted at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The results indicate that the system works well as a diagnostic tool. The subjective evaluation by patients was very positive. Further medical trials are needed before the system clinical efficacy in rehabilitation can be established.
Isolation and structure of the human cancer cell growth inhibitory cyclic decapeptides phakellistatins 7, 8 and 91,2

Abstract Phakellistatins 7–9 respresent the first cancer cell growth inhibitory (P388 ED50 3.0, 2.9 and 4.1 μg/mL respectively) cyclic decapeptides. Each was isolated from the Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk) marine sponge Phakellia costata. The Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk) marine sponge Phakellia costata has been found to contain (10−5 and 10−6% yields) three cancer cell line active (P388 ED50 3.0, 2.9 and 4.1 μg/mL respectively) cyclic decapeptides named phakellistatins 7 (1), 8 (2) and 9 (3). Phakellistatins 7–9 represent the first cancer cell growth inhibitory cyclic decapeptides isolated from a marine sponge.
Distance running: Organization of a medical team

There has been a dramatic increase in endurance race participation, which has led to the need for medical coverage during these events. Organization and preparation for the event are essential to providing thorough medical coverage. The medical director coordinates medical coverage and works closely with the race director to develop a safe and efficient race plan. Education of staff and participants is done before race day, as well as during the event. Triage and prompt treatment of injuries are the major components of race day activities. This chapter discusses the needs and development of medical coverage for an endurance event. It also describes commonly seen injuries and their initial treatment. Finally, it gives suggestions for staff and participant education.
Comparison of Three Programs of Progressive Resistance Exercise

Abstract Eighty male subjects of college age were subjected to the quadriceps (left) lift in isotonic fashion. The 80 were separated into three groups. Each group used a specific variation of progressive resistance exercise for an eight-week period. Initial and final measurements were taken on muscular circumference and strength. Data were statistically treated by analysis of variance. All three methods showed significant strength gains that were not significantly different from each other. Only the DeLorme-Watkins technique had significant circumferential gain. The traditional bulk and traditional strength methods had no significant circumferential gain.
Host range, replicative, and cytopathic properties of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 are determined by very few amino acid changes in tat and gp120.

Abstract Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates display differences in a variety of in vitro biological properties, including the ability to infect different cell types, the kinetics of replication, and cytopathicity in the infected cells. Studies with isolates obtained from the same individual over time have shown that these in vitro properties of the viral isolates correlate with pathogenicity in the host. The later isolates, recovered when disease has developed, display a wider cellular host range, replicate rapidly and to high titers in the infected cells, and induce syncytia in these cells. In the present studies, the genomic determinants of these biological properties were defined with recombinant viruses generated between two HIV-1 isolates recovered sequentially from the same individual. The results show that the rate of HIV-1 replication in the HUT 78 T-cell line is controlled by the first coding exon of tat. Infection of T-cell and monocytic cell lines is determined by two specific regions in the envelope gp120, one of which also confers the ability of an isolate to induce syncytia. Amino acid sequence comparison of the regions identified revealed minor differences between the two viral isolates: 2 amino acids in the tat gene product and 10 and 12 amino acids in the two regions of envelope gp120. These data suggest that small changes in the tat and env proteins can have dramatic effects on the pathogenic potential of HIV-1.
Rotorcraft aerial robot-challenges and solutions

The Georgia Tech Aerial Robotics Team has been working on autonomous control of an unmanned aerial vehicle for three years as both a research project and a competition entry. The three annual International Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Competitions (1991-93) have attracted university teams from across the country as well as from Europe, Canada, and Asia. At the third annual competition in June 1993, the Georgia Tech system was awarded first place for demonstrating completely autonomous flight including a safe landing. This success is a result of overcoming numerous challenges faced white creating a guided automatic flight control system for a small unmanned vehicle. The 1993 entry was refined through early and consistent test flights and the application of lessons learned from previous years. The Georgia Tech Aerial Robotics System (GTARS) features an on-board flight control computer, a six axis sensor suite, an off-board mission planning station, a vision tracking system, and a modified model helicopter of conventional configuration. Other features of the system include remote pilot control with safety override switch, two way telemetry data link, and a tethered autonomous sub-vehicle. >
Ostrich breeding and the Kenyan legislative council, 1907-1915

Recently it was my privilege to examine the minutes of the Legislative Council, or LEGCO, of the East African Protectorate. This council began its deliberations in August 1907 and after a long series of historical developments eventually evolved into the present legislature of the Republic of Kenya. When I first approached the minutes for the earliest years of LEGCO'S existence, it was with many questions in my mind as well as something of the excitement with which one might open a new mystery story. Granted that this first council was entirely appointed or nominated; granted there were only Europeans sitting on it; granted the official majority prevented the unofficial members from determining policy. Granting all that, this LEGCO was a small step forward from rule by the Governor and Executive Council only. With the addition of elected members after World War I, a gradual expansion of the institution could take place until Mr. Kenyatta could take his seat as Prime Minister. What did those first members want in the way of legislation? What did the LEGCO, the proto-ancestor of the present-day Kenya National Assembly, regard as important business in 1907? With these and other questions in my mind, I read with some surprise that one of the first bills proposed and eventually passed in the LEGCO was an ordinance to provide licensing for ostrich farmers. I was not prepared for anything so exotic as this and read this bill and its subsequent amendments with keen interest.
Plasma diagnostics of non-equilibrium atmospheric plasma jets

Intensive development and biomedical application of non-equilibrium atmospheric plasma jet (NEAPJ) facilitates rapid growth of the plasma medicine field. Non-equilibrium atmospheric plasmas are utilized for sterilization, disinfection, cancer treatment, drug delivery, dermatology, wound healing, etc. The NEAPJ facility utilized at the George Washington University (GWU) demonstrated efficacy for treatment of various cancer types (lung, bladder, breast, head, neck, brain and skin). In this work we review recent advances of the research conducted at GWU concerned with the development of diagnostic tools for NEAPJ.
EPIC Simulations of Bright Companions to Neptune's Great Dark Spots

Abstract We present a three-dimensional model of the bright companion clouds associated with Neptune's Great Dark Spots (GDSs). Our results support the hypothesis that the bright companions of the southern-hemisphere GDS discovered in 1989 and of the northern-hemisphere GDS discovered in 1994 are methane clouds that form at or just below the tropopause and that they are caused by lifting in a manner analogous to the formation of orographic clouds. We vary the vertical position of the GDS and find that the companion cloud is a robust feature except when the anticyclone itself does not survive. When a GDS is started with its top in the stratosphere it drifts much too rapidly toward the equator and quickly disperses. On the other hand, if its top is well below the tropopause there is a tendency for the companion clouds to be too large. Hence the top of a GDS is probably at the tropopause. Along an open streamline that threads a bright companion, the typical pressure and temperature drops are about 3 mb and 1K, respectively, corresponding to a lift of about half a kilometer or 4% of the pressure scale height, and the relative horizontal wind speed is about 45 m s −1 eastward through the cloud.
Three-dimensional particle tracking using micro-particle image velocimetry hardware

A method for tracking the three-dimensional position and computing the three velocity components of a micro-particle using information encoded in the ring structure of the particle image is introduced. The proposed technique can be employed in most existing micro-particle image velocimetry systems without any additional hardware and details of the optical train are not required. The technique utilizes a set of calibration images of a particle at various known distances from the focal plane (in the out-of-plane direction) in order to create a calibration curve. The calibration curve, which relates the radius of the outermost ring to the distance of the particle from focus is used to deduce the out-of-plane location of particles in experimental images. From successive images the particle's velocity is computed. The in-plane particle velocity is deduced from traditional particle tracking methods.
A turning point in the us inertial confinement fusion program

The goal of the US ICF Program is to obtain a high-yield (100 to 1000 MJ) and high-gain (about 100) thermonuclear fusion capability in the laboratory. It has long been recognized that before such a laboratory facility is constructed, it must be demonstrated that laboratory conditions can be created that will, with high probability, lead to high gain if a driver of sufficient energy is built and that such a facility can be built at reasonable cost. Thus, the two major aspects of the US program address target physics and driver development. Four main driver candidates are actively being pursued: solid state lasers (principally Nd:glass), KrF gas lasers, light ion beams (Li ions accelerated by ion diodes), and heavy ion beams )A /approximately/200, accelerated by linear induction accelerator). The target physics aspect of the program is further divided into indirect and direct drive targets. In indirect drive targets the driver beams are aimed at a material near the capsule to generate x-rays, which then are absorbed in the fusion capsule ablator to produce the implosion. In direct-drive targets, the driver beams are aimed at the surface of the capsule. However, even in this case it should be recognized that themore » beam energy is deposited in the plasma surrounding the capsule, then transported to the ablation surface by electrons. Experimental target physics results recently obtained, principally for indirect-drive targets, have led to high confidence that a suitably-shaped 10 MJ pulse is sufficient to achieve high-gain and yields of 100 to 1000 MJ will result. 7 figs.« less
A Little Hyponatremic

Losing a parent in childhood isn't just the loss of the parent you knew; it's also the melancholy vacuum of the future you might have had. This was the measure that choreographed my life, and at th...
Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene lake-level fluctuations in the Lahontan Basin, Nevada: Implications for the distribution of archaeological sites

The Great Basin of the western U.S. contains a rich record of Late Pleistocene and Holocene lake-level fluctuations as well as an extensive record of human occupation during the same time frame. We compare spatial-temporal relationships between these records in the Lahontan basin to consider whether lake-level fluctuations across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition controlled distribution of archaeological sites. We use the reasonably well-dated archaeological record from caves and rockshelters as well as results from new pedestrian surveys to investigate this problem. Although lake levels probably reached maximum elevations of about 1230–1235 m in the different subbasins of Lahontan during the Younger Dryas (YD) period, the duration that the lakes occupied the highest levels was brief. Paleoindian and Early Archaic archaeological sites are concentrated on somewhat lower and slightly younger shorelines (_1220–1225 m) that also date from the Younger Dryas period. This study suggests that Paleoindians often concentrated their activities adjacent to large lakes and wetland resources soon after they first entered the Great Basin. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Multigrid CHOMP with Local Smoothing

The Covariant Hamiltonian Optimization and Motion Planning (CHOMP) algorithm has found many recent applications in robotics research, such as legged locomotion and mobile manipulation. Although integrating kinematic constraints into CHOMP has been investigated, prior work in this area has proven to be slow for trajectories with a large number of constraints. In this paper, we present Multigrid CHOMP with Local Smoothing, an algorithm which improves the runtime of CHOMP under constraints, without significantly reducing optimality. The effectiveness of this algorithm is demonstrated on two simulated problems, and on a physical HUBO+ humanoid robot, in the context of door opening. We demonstrate order-of-magnitude or higher speedups over the original constrained CHOMP algorithm, while achieving within 2% of the performance of the original algorithm on the underlying objective function.
Convergence and Consistency of Regularized Boosting With Weakly Dependent Observations

This paper studies the statistical convergence and consistency of regularized boosting methods, where the samples need not be independent and identically distributed but can come from stationary weakly dependent sequences. Consistency is proven for the composite classifiers that result from a regularization achieved by restricting the 1-norm of the base classifiers' weights. The less restrictive nature of sampling considered here is manifested in the consistency result through a generalized condition on the growth of the regularization parameter. The weaker the sample dependence, the faster the regularization parameter is allowed to grow with increasing sample size. A consistency result is also provided for data-dependent choices of the regularization parameter.
The effect of buffer size on pages accessed in random files

Prior works, for estimating the number of pages (blocks) accessed from secondary memory to retrieve a certain number of records for a query, have ignored the effect of main memory buffer size. While this may not cause any adverse impact for special cases, in most cases the impact of buffer sizes will be to increase the number of page accesses. This paper describes the reasons for the impact due to a limited buffer size and develops new expressions for the number of pages accessed. The accuracy of the expressions is evaluated by simulation modeling; and the effects of limited buffer size are discussed. Analytical works in database analysis and design should use the new expressions: especially when the effect of the buffer size is significant.
The angiopoietin-Tie2 signaling axis in the vascular leakage of systemic inflammation

The ability of small blood vessels to undergo rapid, reversible morphological changes is essential for the adaptive response to tissue injury or local infection. A canonical feature of this response is transient hyperpermeability. However, when leakiness is profound or persistent, adverse consequences accrue to the host, including organ dysfunction and shock. A growing body of literature identifies the Tie2 receptor, a transmembrane tyrosine kinase highly enriched in the endothelium, as an important regulator of vascular barrier function in health and in disease. The principal ligands of Tie2, Angiopoietins 1 and 2, exert opposite effects on this receptor in the context of inflammation. This review will focus on recent studies that have illuminated novel aspects of the exquisitely controlled Tie2 signaling axis while proposing unanswered questions and future directions for this field of study.