cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Generation of Sinusoidal Voltage (Current)-Controlled Oscillators for Integrated Circuits

Sinusoidal oscillators with large tuning range and small harmonic distortion offer various applications in integrated electronics. In this paper a method of generating sinusoidal voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO) and/or current-controlled oscillators suitable for integrated circuits is presented. Each oscillator circuit contains two fixed resistances, two fixed capacitances, and amplifiers. It is shown that one amplifier can be used to confine the natural frequencies of the circuit on the j axis of the complex frequency plane, and the other amplifier (or amplifiers) can be used to effectively increase or decrease the RC time constant and hence change the oscillation frequencies.
Incidence of complications following colectomy with mesenteric closure versus no mesenteric closure: does it really matter?

Background There remains strong opinion but very little data to support the way that the resultant mesenteric defect is handled following colectomy. Despite case reports of internal hernias and subsequent bowel obstruction requiring operative intervention, no larger series have evaluated this question. Materials and Methods Retrospective review of elective right and left/sigmoid colectomies during the period from 2004 to 2007. Patients were stratified by the method of handling the mesenteric defect (open versus closed), with the primary endpoint of complications potentially directly attributable to the closure or failure to close the mesenteric defect. Preoperative and intraoperative risk factors were also analyzed as covariables. Results One hundred thirty-three patients (76 male; 57 female; mean age 59 ± 15 years) with a median follow-up of 39.5 mo were identified. Thirty-six percent underwent a right hemicolectomy, 33% sigmoidectomy, 11% left hemicolectomy, 9% low anterior resection, and 5% ileocectomy. Overall, 24% of the surgeries were done laparoscopically and 52% had their mesenteric defect closed. The overall complication rate was 27.8% and eight patients (6%) developed a postoperative complication near the mesenteric defect (anastomotic leakage or small bowel obstruction). By multivariate analysis, mesenteric defect closure was the only significant factor identified with the development of complications near the mesenteric defect (OR = 5.5; 95% CI 1.069–28.524, P = 0.041). No other preoperative or intraoperative factors were found to have an impact on the complication rate. Conclusion Closure of the mesenteric defect was associated with a higher rate of complications, and demonstrated no benefit in abdominal colectomy.
The mortared towers of central Greece: an Attic supplement

This study is a description and discussion of all known examples of mortar-and-rubble towers in Attica, extending P. Lock's survey of central Greece in BSA 81 (1986). Attic towers of this type are generally free-standing and located in places of agricultural rather than strategic importance. In this, as well as in the lack of pretension in their architectural form, they conform to the mortared towers of Boiotia studied by Lock, and reinforce his conclusion that they functioned primarily as fortified residences of Frankish lords. Ceramic evidence from various sites, and the evidence of the ‘tower house’ of medieval western Europe, strengthen the arguments for date and function. Included in the discussion are possible Turkish towers and other pre-modern structures such as windmills and monastery towers.
Why are there so few effective treatments for pigmentary disorders of the skin

Pigmentary disorders are a global problem. Dyspigmentation in the form of either hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation is often psychologically devastating, particularly to patients with darker ski...
Robust estimation of foreground in surveillance videos by sparse error estimation

Frames of videos with static background and dynamic foreground can be viewed as samples of signals that vary slowly in time with sparse corruption caused by foreground objects. We cast background subtraction as a signal estimation problem, where the error sparsity is enforced through minimization of the L1 norm of the difference between the processed frame and estimated background subspace, as an approximation to the underlying L0 norm minimization structure. Our work provides a novel framework for background subtraction with the added benefit of easy integration of local discriminative information (e.g. gradient, texture, motion field etc.) for improved robustness. We show that the proposed method is able to overcome various difficulties frequently encountered in real application settings, and is competitive with the state of the art.
Comprehensive Look at Blood Transfusion Utilization in Total Joint Arthroplasty at a Single Academic Medical Center under a Single Surgeon

The utilization of autologous and allogeneic transfusions in total joint arthroplasties was to characterize patients who may benefit from giving preoperative blood donations. We conducted a retrospective chart review of 525 patients to document preoperative hematocrit, estimated blood loss, length of stay, transfusions, and medical comorbidities. Results of our review showed that total hip arthroplasty revision (THA-R) had the highest prevalence of transfusions (60%) followed by total hip arthroplasty (THA, 53%), total knee arthroplasty-revision (TKA-R, 33%), and total knee arthroplasty (TKA, 23%). There was significant waste of autologous donations: 92% of TKA patients, 64% of THA, and 33% of THA-R patients wasted on average 1.527, 1.321, and 1.5 autologous units, respectively. Pre-operative hematocrit was the strongest predictor of future transfusion need across all procedures, and primary THA had additional predictors in age and gender.
A new, unusual castorid (Rodentia) from the earliest Miocene of Nebraska

Migmacastor procumbodens, gen. et sp. nov. is described from the late Arikareean of Nebraska based on a nearly complete skull. The new taxon exhibits various incisal specializations (e.g., incisors...
Reporting of Demographics, Methodology, and Ethical Procedures in Journals in Pediatric and Child Psychology

Objective: To identify potential problems in methodology reporting that may limit research interpretations and generalization. Methods: We examined the rates at which articles in four major journals publishing research in pediatric, clinical child, and child psychology report 18 important demographic, methodological, and ethical information variables, such as participants’ gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and consent and assent procedures. Results: Overall, participants’ ages, genders, and ethnicity were reported at moderate to high rates, whereas socioeconomic status was reported less often. Reports of research methodology frequently did not include information on how and where participants were recruited, the participation/consent rates, or attrition rates. Consent and assent procedures were not frequently described. Conclusions: There is wide variability in articles reporting key demographic, methodological, and ethical procedure information. Necessary information about characteristics of participation samples, important for drawing conclusions, is lacking in the flagship journals serving the child psychology field.
Renal cell carcinoma: Children’s hospital Boston experience

Abstract Objectives To review our experience to better define pediatric renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Pediatric RCC is rare, and recent data suggest it may be a unique disease. Methods A retrospective review was conducted of hospital and pathology records from 1965 to 2003. Patients with RCC were identified, and the clinical and pathologic data were extracted. Results Since 1965, 11 patients with RCC were treated, accounting for 3% of all renal tumors. In the first 20 years, 191 patients with renal tumor were treated, of whom 3 had RCC. In the most recent 15 years, 172 patients with renal tumor were treated, of whom 8 had RCC. The mean age at presentation was 14.7 years (range 9 to 17 years), with a female predominance (2.7:1). The clinical signs and symptoms included hematuria in 36%, flank pain in 27%, and an abdominal mass in 9%; 36% were discovered incidentally. Of the 11 RCC tumors, 45% were papillary and 55% were clear cell carcinoma. Papillary tumors presented at a worse stage and displayed more aggressive clinical behavior. Of 10 patients with available follow-up data, 6 had no evidence of RCC, 1 had died of other causes, 2 had died of metastatic RCC, and 1 was alive with recurrent RCC at a mean follow-up of 4.9 years. Conclusions The clinical presentation, pathologic characteristics, and clinical behavior of pediatric RCC are different than those for adult RCC. A possible increasing incidence of RCC in children would parallel an increased incidence in adults. Our findings warrant additional and coordinated efforts to better characterize RCC in children.
Ranking the carcinogenic potential of chemical mixtures : the integral search system and its use in evaluating hazardous waste sites

(1994). Ranking the Carcinogenic Potential of Chemical Mixtures: The Integral Search System and its use in Evaluating Hazardous Waste Sites. Drug Metabolism Reviews: Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 685-715.
From a theoretical framework of human exposure and dose assessment to computational system implementation: The Modeling ENvironment for TOtal Risk Studies (MENTOR)

Georgopoulos and Lioy (1994) presented a theoretical framework for exposure analysis, incorporating multiple levels of empirical and mechanistic information while characterizing/reducing uncertainties. The present review summarizes efforts towards implementing that framework, through the development of a mechanistic source-to-dose Modeling ENvironment for TOtal Risks studies (MENTOR), a computational toolbox that provides various modeling and data analysis tools to facilitate assessment of cumulative and aggregate (multipathway) exposures to contaminant mixtures. MENTOR adopts a “Person Oriented Modeling” (POM) approach that can be applied to either specific individuals or to populations/subpopulations of interest; the latter is accomplished by defining samples of “virtual” individuals that statistically reproduce the physiological, demographic, etc., attributes of the populations studied. MENTOR implementations currently incorporate and expand USEPA's SHEDS (Stochastic Human Exposure and Dose Simulation)...
Time to menopause in relation to PBBs, PCBs, and smoking.

Objectives:Because halogenated biphenyl exposure is suspected to disrupt endocrine function, we assessed time to menopause in women aged 24 years and older who were exposed orally to polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (n = 874). We also examined smoking in relation to menopause. Methods: To define menopausal status, women were interviewed in 1997 and asked whether they had had any menstrual periods in the previous year, why their menstrual periods had stopped (e.g. surgery), and age at their last menstrual period. Serum PBB and PCB taken at enrollment (1976–1978) into the Michigan PBB registry was used as the measure of halogenated biphenyl exposure. Women whose menopause occurred before their PBB exposure were excluded. Proportional hazard modeling was used to analyze the “risk” for menopause in relation to exposure. Premenopausal women contributed person-time until their interview date, at which time they were censored. Results: We did not find an association between either PBB or PCB exposure and time to menopause. Women who were current smokers had a shorter time to menopause than never smokers (menopause ratio 2.02, 95% C.I. 1.21–3.37). Time to menopause was shortest among women who reported started smoking when they were <18 years of age, smoked at least 20 cigarettes per day, or had at least 10 pack-years of smoking. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
Impact of high power and angle of incidence on prism corrections for visual field loss

Prism distortions and spurious reflections are not usually considered when prescribing prisms to compensate for visual field loss due to homonymous hemianopia. Distortions and reflections in the high power Fresnel prisms used in peripheral prism placement can be considerable, and the simplifying assumption that prism deflection power is independent of angle of incidence into the prisms results in substantial errors. We analyze the effects of high prism power and incidence angle on the field expansion, size of the apical scotomas, and image compression/expansion. We analyze and illustrate the effects of reflections within the Fresnel prisms, primarily due to reflections at the bases, and secondarily due to surface reflections. The strength and location of these effects differs materially depending on whether the serrated prismatic surface is placed toward or away from the eye, and this affects the contribution of the reflections to visual confusion, diplopia, false alarms, and loss of contrast. We conclude with suggestions for controlling and mitigating these effects in clinical practice.
Making cultures: building things & building communities

Cultures of making, customization and repair have gained recent visibility within the CSCW literature due to the alternative framings of design and use they present. This panel brings together scholars across human-computer interaction, interaction design, information studies, and science and technology studies to examine the forms of social organization and technological production that come from maker and repair collectives.
Sample and Population Diagram - A Teaching Tool

Summary This article describes a simple, yet effective way to introduce and also review the concepts of ‘sample’ and ‘population’ using a Sample and Population Diagram.
The role of c-Src in integrin (α6β4) dependent translational control

Integrin α6β4 contributes to cancer progression by stimulating transcription as well as translation of cancer related genes. Our previous study demonstrated that α6β4 stimulates translation initiation of survival factors such as VEGF by activating mTOR pathway. However, the immediate early signaling events that link α6β4 to mTOR activation needs to be defined. In the current studies, we demonstrated that c-Src is an immediate early signaling molecule that acts upstream of α6β4 dependent mTOR activation and subsequent translation of VEGF in MDA-MB-435/β4 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cells. m7GTP-Sepharose–binding assay revealed that Src activity is required to form eIF4F complex which is necessary for Cap-dependent translation in α6β4 expressing human cancer cells. Overall, our studies suggest that integrin β4 and c-Src activation is important early signaling events to lead mTOR activation and cap-dependent translation of VEGF.
Angiotensin II-induced vascular smooth muscle cell hypertrophy: PDGF A-chain mediates the increase in cell size.

We report here that angiotensin II-mediated hypertrophy of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) exhibits PDGF A-chain-dependent and -independent pathways. Secretion of PDGF A-chain is required for the increase in cell size, but not for the increase in protein synthesis. Angiotensin II stimulates a hypertrophic growth response in VSMC characterized by increases in cell size and protein synthesis, but not cell number. Because angiotensin II-stimulated VSMC hypertrophy has been associated with increased PDGF A-chain expression, we studied its role in the hypertrophic response by inhibiting PDGF A-chain expression with hydrocortisone or anti-PDGF antibody. Hydrocortisone (1 microM for 48 h) inhibited basal protein synthesis by 47%, but angiotensin II-stimulated protein synthesis was enhanced (111% increase after hydrocortisone treatment vs. 25% increase in control). In contrast, hypertrophy, as measured by cell size, was completely inhibited. Although hydrocortisone had no effect on early growth signals stimulated by angiotensin II (e.g., activation of protein kinase C, stimulation of Na+/H+ exchange, and c-fos and c-myc expression), it significantly decreased angiotensin II-stimulated secretion of PDGF-like material into the medium from 0.4 to 0.1 ng/ml/24 h (p < 0.01). However, the time course for PDGF secretion (maximal at 16-24 h) was significantly slower than the time course for angiotensin II-stimulated protein synthesis (maximal at 4-12 h). To block the action of PDGF A-chain selectively, VSMC were treated with anti-PDGF A-chain antibody. The antibody completely inhibited the angiotensin II-stimulated increase in cell size, but it had no significant effect on protein synthesis at early times (< 8 h). These findings demonstrate two pathways involved in angiotensin II-stimulated VSMC hypertrophy: an increase in cell size dependent on PDGF A-chain and an increase in protein synthesis independent of PDGF A-chain.
Testing a Symmetrical Model of Caregiving Outcomes During Recovery from Heart Attacks

This study focused on predictors of psychological distress among caregivers to elderly patients with heart disease using a symmetrical model of caregiving stress. Based on a 1-year longitudinal study of 104 caregiver-care receiver dyads, findings indicate that caregivers continue to face challenges a year after the initial heart attack. Psychological distress of the recovering heart patient plays an important role in predicting caregiver psychological distress. In contrast, patient cardiac symptoms and functional limitations showed no effects. Among caregiver characteristics, physical health, prior psychological distress, and caregiver burden were significant predictors of caregiver psychological distress. Finally, caregiving hours displayed an unexpected negative direct effect on caregiver distress. However, the indirect effect of caregiving hours on distress (via burden) was in the expected positive direction. These data support the usefulness of symmetrical models that consider characteristics of both ...
Deformation due to a pressurized horizontal circular crack in an elastic half-space, with applications to volcano geodesy

We consider deformation due to sill-like magma intrusions using a model of a horizontal circular crack in a semi-infinite elastic solid. We present exact expressions for vertical and horizontal displacements of the free surface of a half-space, and calculate surface displacements for a special case of a uniformly pressurized crack. We derive expressions for other observable geophysical parameters, such as the volume of a surface uplift/subsidence, and the corresponding volume change due to fluid injection/withdrawal at depth. We demonstrate that for essentially oblate (i.e. sill-like) source geometries the volume change at the source always equals the volume of the displaced material at the surface of a half-space. Our solutions compare favourably to a number of previously published approximate models. Surface deformation due to a ‘point’ crack (that is, a crack with a large depth-to-radius ratio) differs appreciably from that due to an isotropic point source (‘Mogi model’). Geodetic inversions that employ only one component of deformation (either vertical or horizontal) are unlikely to resolve the overall geometry of subsurface deformation sources even in a simplest case of axisymmetric deformation. Measurements of a complete vector displacement field at the Earth's surface may help to constrain the depth and morphology of active magma reservoirs. However, our results indicate that differences in surface displacements due to various axisymmetric sources may be subtle. In particular, the sill-like and pluton-like magma chambers may give rise to differences in the ratio of maximum horizontal displacements to maximum vertical displacements (a parameter that is most indicative of the source geometry) that are less than 30 per cent. Given measurement errors in geodetic data, such differences may be hard to distinguish.
Hormonal Modulation of Singing: Hormonal Modulation of the Songbird Brain and Singing Behavior

During the past three decades research on the hormonal control of singing has fundamentally altered our basic concepts about how hormones modulate brain function and activate behavior. Exciting discoveries first documented in songbird brains have since been documented in a wide variety of vertebrate species, including humans. Circulating hormones organize sexual dimorphisms in brain structure during development, activate changes in brain structure during adulthood, and modulate the addition of new neurons in the adult brain. The brain has proved to be the primary source of estrogens in general circulation in adult male finches. Studies of the hormonal modulation of singing are complicated by multiple sites of hormone production, multiple sites of hormone action, hormone metabolism by different tissues, the involvement of a variety of hormones, and the effects of social context. This chapter provides a brief review of these topics, as well as a brief overview of techniques used to study endocrine mechanisms controlling behavior.
Imagining Can Heighten or Lower the Perceived Likelihood of Contracting a Disease The Mediating Effect of Ease of Imagery

Prior research has demonstrated that imagining hypothetical future events may render those events subjectively more likely. The suggestion has been made that this effect is due to the increased availability in memory of the events imagined. To test directly this explanation in a health context, the present study examined the effects of both ease and difficulty of imagining contracting a disease on subjects' beliefs that the event would occur. Subjects were asked to imagine contracting a disease described either as having certain easy-to-imagine symptoms or difficult-to-imagine symptoms. Following this, subjects rated their ease of imagination and estimated the likelihood of contracting the disease. The results revealed that judgments of ease or difficulty of imagination paralleled judgments of the likelihood of contracting the disease. Those subjects who rated the disease as easy-to-imagine judged the disease as more likely to occur, whereas those who experienced difficulty in imagining the disease rated ...
Sequencing and De Novo Transcriptome Assembly of Brachypodium sylvaticum (Poaceae)

Premise of the study: We report the de novo assembly and characterization of the transcriptomes of Brachypodium sylvaticum (slender false-brome) accessions from native populations of Spain and Greece, and an invasive population west of Corvallis, Oregon, USA. Methods and Results: More than 350 million sequence reads from the mRNA libraries prepared from three B. sylvaticum genotypes were assembled into 120,091 (Corvallis), 104,950 (Spain), and 177,682 (Greece) transcript contigs. In comparison with the B. distachyon Bd21 reference genome and GenBank protein sequences, we estimate >90% exome coverage for B. sylvaticum. The transcripts were assigned Gene Ontology and InterPro annotations. Brachypodium sylvaticum sequence reads aligned against the Bd21 genome revealed 394,654 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and >20,000 simple sequence repeat (SSR) DNA sites. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report of transcriptome sequencing of invasive plant species with a closely related sequenced re...
Incoherent Feedforward Control Governs Adaptation of Activated Ras in a Eukaryotic Chemotaxis Pathway

Adaptation in signaling systems, during which the output returns to a fixed baseline after a change in the input, often involves negative feedback loops and plays a crucial role in eukaryotic chemotaxis. We determined the dynamical response to a uniform change in chemoattractant concentration of a eukaryotic chemotaxis pathway immediately downstream from G protein–coupled receptors. The response of an activated Ras showed near-perfect adaptation, leading us to attempt to fit the results using mathematical models for the two possible simple network topologies that can provide perfect adaptation. Only the incoherent feedforward network accurately described the experimental results. This analysis revealed that adaptation in this Ras pathway is achieved through the proportional activation of upstream components and not through negative feedback loops. Furthermore, these results are consistent with a local excitation, global inhibition mechanism for gradient sensing, possibly with a Ras guanosine triphosphatase–activating protein acting as a global inhibitor.
Feasibility and efficacy of a mass switch from latanoprost to bimatoprost in glaucoma patients in a prepaid Health Maintenance Organization.

Objective To assess the feasibility of an automatic switch of a large number of patients with glaucoma or suspicion of glaucoma from latanoprost to bimatoprost, and to compare the efficacy of the 2 prostaglandin analogs before and after the switch. Design Retrospective nonrandomized comparison. Participants Forty-three thousand four hundred forty-one California patients and 538 patients at one Southern California clinical facility of a nationwide prepaid health maintenance organization (HMO) who were on either prostaglandin between March 2002 and December 2003 (21 months). Methods Beginning in April 2002, patients on latanoprost were systemically switched to bimatoprost by the HMO pharmacy service after obtaining approval from the entire ophthalmology staff. Part 1: computerized dispensing records of California patients were retrieved. Part 2: medical records of patients at one clinical facility were reviewed. Main Outcome Measures Rates of switching or switching back from one prostaglandin to another, intraocular pressure (IOP) control, and intolerability. Results Part 1: 17847 patients initially received latanoprost. Of them, 84.8% were switched from latanoprost to bimatoprost, and 13.0% were switched back to latanoprost. Twenty-five thousand five hundred ninety-four patients were started on bimatoprost without previous experience with latanoprost. Of them, 8.6% were later switched to latanoprost use instead. Patients who had previous experience with latanoprost had a statistically significantly higher rate of switching back to latanoprost after a period of bimatoprost use when compared with those who had no prior experience with latanoprost (13.0% vs. 8.6%, respectively; P P = 0.001). Forty-one patients (13.3%) had a decrease of >3 mmHg of IOP. The statistical significance of the IOP reduction after the switch remains in the monotherapy group ( P = 0.005) but not in the multitherapy group ( P = 0.058). Thirty-three patients (10.7%) who were switched from latanoprost to bimatoprost discontinued bimatoprost and resumed latanoprost. Conclusion A systematic pharmacy-level switch from latanoprost to bimatoprost in a nationwide HMO achieved a high switch rate, with little switching back. There was a small but statistically significant reduction in mean IOP after the switch. An appreciable proportion of patients switched had a clinically significant reduction of IOP.
van der Waals interaction energies between non-planar bodies

The van der Waals interaction energies between non-planar geometries are obtained without the assumption that the distance between two non-planar bodies is much smaller than radii of the non-planar bodies. Based on atomto-body van der Waals energies, we calculate body-to-body van der Waals interaction energies for several non-planar geometries. Using the continuum approach, we discuss the van der Waals interactions in two-dimensional carbon nanotubes and C60 molecules.
Chemical amplification in the design of dry developing resist materials

A new resist system is described which undergoes spontaneous relief image formation. The resist is formulated from end capped poly(phthaladehyde), PPA, and a cationic photoinitiator such as a diaryliodonium or triarylsulfonium metal halide. The extreme sensitivity of the resist is the result of designing for chemical amplification. The desired amplification results from the fact that photolysis of the sensitizer generates acid which catalyzes main chain cleavage of the polyaldehyde. The uncapped polymer is thermodynamically unstable with respect to reversion to monomer at room temperature so a single acid catalyzed scission results in complete depolymerization to volatile monomer. A single radiochemical event is thereby amplified in the sense that it produces an enormous number of subsequent chemical transformations. PPA/onium salt resist films are so sensitive that exposure to low doses of e-beam, X-ray or ultraviolet radiation results in complete self development without post-exposure processing of any kind. The exposed area simply vaporizes.
Heat strain imposed by personal protective ensembles: quantitative analysis using a thermoregulation model

The objective of this paper is to study the effects of personal protective equipment (PPE) and specific PPE layers, defined as thermal/evaporative resistances and the mass, on heat strain during physical activity. A stepwise thermal manikin testing and modeling approach was used to analyze a PPE ensemble with four layers: uniform, ballistic protection, chemical protective clothing, and mask and gloves. The PPE was tested on a thermal manikin, starting with the uniform, then adding an additional layer in each step. Wearing PPE increases the metabolic rates [Formula: see text], thus [Formula: see text] were adjusted according to the mass of each of four configurations. A human thermoregulatory model was used to predict endurance time for each configuration at fixed [Formula: see text] and at its mass adjusted [Formula: see text]. Reductions in endurance time due to resistances, and due to mass, were separately determined using predicted results. Fractional contributions of PPE's thermal/evaporative resistances by layer show that the ballistic protection and the chemical protective clothing layers contribute about 20 %, respectively. Wearing the ballistic protection over the uniform reduced endurance time from 146 to 75 min, with 31 min of the decrement due to the additional resistances of the ballistic protection, and 40 min due to increased [Formula: see text] associated with the additional mass. Effects of mass on heat strain are of a similar magnitude relative to effects of increased resistances. Reducing resistances and mass can both significantly alleviate heat strain.
Design and optimization considerations for thermoelectric devices

Abstract The performance of a real thermoelectric power generation (TEPG) device designed to extract waste heat from the exhaust system of vehicles and to directly convert the recovered exhaust energy into electricity was studied under various driving conditions using a proposed thermoelectric (TE) model in the current work. The proposed model was formulated from the first law of thermodynamics and Ohm’s law and from a control volume that represents the TEPG system such that the temperature-dependent material properties of and the spatial-dependent heat flow through the thermoelement can be taken into account in the TEPG performance calculation. The temperature of the fluids, the temperatures at the top and the bottom of the TE modules, and the output power of the device were firstly calculated for the actual TEPG device using the proposed model in combination with the energy conservation equations for the fluids flowing through the heat exchangers. The results agree well with the experimental measurements and other model predictions. The model was then used to probe the effects of a broad design and operating parameters on the TEPG device performance. The results demonstrated strong inter-dependency of the TE module design, the heat exchanger design, the flow arrangement, the flow rates, and the operating conditions, which need to be considered systematically in TEPG device optimization. Finally, an optimal module fill factor of 0.35 was found for the given TEPG and heat exchanger design, which will generate about average 8.1% more output power under a broad vehicle driving conditions with the material usage less than half of that used by the original module design with a fill factor of 0.7704.
/sup 12/C(p, pn)/sup 11/C cross section at 800 MeV

The /sup 12/C(p, pn)/sup 11/C reaction cross section has been measured at 800 MeV by the method of activation analysis. The value of 32.0 +- 1.0 mb is about 8% greater than the normally used interpolated value of Cumming. (AIP)
MOVPE Growth and Doping of ZnTe Using Tertiarybutylphosphine as the Metalorganic Doping Precursor

ZnTe has gained attention as a promising material for short wavelength optoelectronic applications. Unlike ZnSe, ZnTe can be doped p-type but not n-type. There are few reports detailing the growth and doping of ZnTe films through the MOVPE technique. We present growth and doping studies for ZnTe formed through low pressure MOVPE. Dimethylzinctriethylamine and diisopropyltelluride were chosen as the metalorganic precursors. Growth studies were carried out on both GaAs (100) and GaSb (100) substrates. Growth morphology was very sensitive to both the lattice mismatch and the initial surface preparation. This is particularly evident on the GaSb substrates. ZnTe growth temperatures ranged from 340 to 420°C, and growth rates of up to 1 μm/hour were achieved. ZnTe was found to be readily doped using tertiarybutylphosphine, with p-type concentrations ranging from 4×1016 cm−3 to 2x1019 cm−3, and corresponding room temperature hole mobilities between 55 and 12 cm2/V-sec. Tertiarybutylphosphine was also observed to significantly improve the surface morphology for growths on GaSb substrates.
Arc-jet test and analysis of Orbiter TPS inter-tile heating in high pressure gradient flow

During entry of the Space Shuttle Orbiter, the convective heating within inter-tile gaps of the Thermal Protection System (TPS) material produces elevated tile sidewall temperatures in regions of high surface pressure gradient. Arc-jet tests have been conducted recently to obtain a measure of the gap heating down the TPS tile sidewalls at test conditions representative of Orbiter flight environments. The object of this paper is to present the gap heating correlations that were developed from a thermal analysis for 3-D curved and flat TPS tile segments. Predictions of gap sidewall temperature were obtained within 30 F of test data on both Wing Glove and Double Wedge models. Derived heating ratios were obtained for a range of test conditions (pressure, pressure gradient, enthalpy, boundary layer thickness, gap width, surface temperature, etc.). The results of the study, which showed that heating ratios varied with the pressure gradient times the square root of the surface pressure, are being used to provide an assessment of gap filler requirements on Orbiter forward fuselage/chine and wing glove regions.
Seeking punctuation clarity—that is, the proper use of the hyphen and dashes—for publishing in Autophagy

As an editor, and in this case I mean as a person who, along with the assistant editor, proofreads the final text of submitted manuscripts to help ensure uniformity, clarity and adherence to a stan...
Structural Aspects of Iodine-Containing Low-Dimensional Materials

This chapter concerns the structural aspects of iodine-containing low-dimensional solids with particular emphasis on the arrangement of the iodine atoms. Many of the solids under consideration are cation radical salts with a high anisotropic conductivity. An impressive variety of cations occurs, ranging from transition metal complexes like Ni(dpg)2, Ni(bqd)2 and Pd(bqd)2 (dpg = diphenylglyoxime; bqd = 1,2-benzoquinonedigly-oxime) to organic molecules like tetrathiotetracene, trimesic acid, and perylene. Most known phases are binary, but multicomponent systems such as TMA+TCNQ2/3−(I3 −)1/3 (TMA = trimethylammonium, N(CH3)3H+; TCNQ = 7,7,8,8-tetracyano-p-quinodimethane) and K2Bz9I9·CHCl3(Bz = benzophenone) offer further variation in structural and physical properties. Though the conductivity process is frequently electronic, it appears predominantly ionic in the alkali-iodine-benzophenone complexes.1
Spatial Predicates Evaluation in the Geohash Domain Using Reconfigurable Hardware

As location sensing devices are becoming ubiquitous, overwhelming amounts of data are being produced by the Internet-of-Things-That-Move. Though analyzing this data presents significant business opportunities, new techniques are needed to attain adequate levels of processing performance. One example is the recently introduced geohash geographical coordinate system that is mainly used for indexing. While geohash codes provide useful inherent properties such as hierarchical and variable-precision coding, traditional spatial algorithms operate on data represented using the conventional latitude/longitude geographical coordinate system, and as such do not take advantage of geohash coding. This paper tackles the evaluation of spatial predicates on geometries defined in the geohash domain, as an alternative to the standard Dimensionally Extended Nine-Intersection Model (DE-9IM). We present the first hardware architecture to efficiently evaluate "contain" and "touch" (internal, external, corner) relations between streams of pairs of geohash codes, in a high throughput (no stall) fashion. Employing FPGAs for exploiting the bit-level granularity of geohash codes, experimental results show (end-to-end) speedup of more than 20X and 90X over highly optimized single-threaded DE-9IM implementations of the contain and touch predicates, respectively. Furthermore, the PCIe-bound FPGA-based solution outperforms a geohash-based multithreaded CPU implementation by &#x2248;1.8X (touch predicate) while using minimal FPGA resources.
Sacubitril/Valsartan (Entresto) for Heart Failure

Sacubitril/valsartan provides a small mortality benefit and decreases heart failure–related hospitalizations over and above an ACE inhibitor. It may be used in place of an ACE inhibitor in patients receiving optimal doses of guideline-directed medical therapy that includes ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, and aldosterone antagonists.
Rehabilitation Services Use and Patient-Reported Outcomes Among Older Adults in the United States

Abstract Objective To characterize rehabilitation service use among community-dwelling older adults in the United States by identifying predictors of rehabilitation utilization, patient-reported functional improvement, and rehabilitation goal attainment. Design Cross-sectional analysis of the 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study, which used an age-stratified, multistage sampling design and oversampled blacks and the oldest old (≥85y). Setting Standardized, in-person home interviews and physical performance testing. Participants Nationally representative sample of community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries (N=7487) aged ≥65 years. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Rehabilitation services use (physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy) across all settings in the last year, patient-reported functional improvement, and patient-reported rehabilitation goal attainment. Results Twenty percent of older adults reported rehabilitation use in the last year. In a multivariable model, rehabilitation use was significantly lower among blacks and higher among those with higher education, chronic medical conditions, pain, history of falls, and severe limitations in physical performance. Overall, 72% reported functional improvement during rehabilitation, and 75% reported meeting their goals by discharge. Improved function was associated with longer duration of rehabilitation. A significantly lower percentage of older adults with bothersome pain and severe physical limitations reported meeting rehabilitation goals. Conclusions Most older adults who received rehabilitation reported functional improvement and meeting rehabilitation goals. However, social disparities were evident with lower rehabilitation utilization among blacks and those with less education. Importantly, functional improvement and goal attainment did not vary by demographics or diagnoses. Longer duration of rehabilitation and improved pain management may be necessary for functional improvement and goal attainment.
Promoting a breast cancer screening clinic for underserved women: a community collaboration.

Objective: To increase breast cancer (BC)awareness, screening services, and educationfor local underserved women.Design: Mayo Clinic launched a twice-month-ly, half-day outreach breast clinic composed of3 women physicians, a nurse and medicalinterpreters.Setting: Community Adult Literacy LearningCenter in Rochester, Minnesota.Patients: Underserved women from immi-grant and minority backgrounds in Rochester.Interventions: The clinic offered clinical breastexaminations,breastimaging,follow-upappoint-ments, assistance in accessing government paidhealth coverage programs, educational classes,transportation vouchers, and follow-up surveys.Main Outcome Measures: We assessed thenumber of patients seen, number of mammo-grams, breast sonograms, number of patientsdiagnosed with BC, number of interpreters,quantity of transportation vouchers and resultsof follow-up surveys.Results: Between December 1, 2005 and July31, 2009 there were 177 patient visits (includ-ing 46 follow-up visits) provided to 131 womenon 58 days spent in the clinic. One hundredthirteen women (86.3%) had mammograms,sonograms, or both. Screening identified onewoman with a diagnosis of breast cancer, 5 withsymptomatic breast cysts and 3 women whounderwent breast biopsy after a suspiciouslesion was identified with breast imaging. Onehundred and twenty women required aninterpreter for the initial examination andmammogram visit. Transportation voucherswere used by 51 women. All follow-up surveysindicated overall satisfaction with the breastclinic, services and screening procedures.Conclusions: For effective breast screening ofunderserved in a community setting, it isimportant to address racial/ethnic background,socioeconomic status, English language profi-ciency, and access to health care in general.(Ethn Dis. 2010;20:463–466)Key Words: Access, Barriers, Breast Cancer,Language, Prevention, Screening
Diminishing-cues retrieval practice: A memory-enhancing technique that works when regular testing doesn't.

Retrieval practice has been shown to be a highly effective tool for enhancing memory, a fact that has led to major changes to educational practice and technology. However, when initial learning is poor, initial retrieval practice is unlikely to be successful and long-term benefits of retrieval practice are compromised or nonexistent. Here, we investigate the benefit of a scaffolded retrieval technique called diminishing-cues retrieval practice (Finley, Benjamin, Hays, Bjork, & Kornell, Journal of Memory and Language, 64, 289–298, 2011). Under learning conditions that favored a strong testing effect, diminishing cues and standard retrieval practice both enhanced memory performance relative to restudy. Critically, under learning conditions where standard retrieval practice was not helpful, diminishing cues enhanced memory performance substantially. These experiments demonstrate that diminishing-cues retrieval practice can widen the range of conditions under which testing can benefit memory, and so can serve as a model for the broader application of testing-based techniques for enhancing learning.
OpSecure: A Secure Unidirectional Optical Channel for Implantable Medical Devices

Implantable medical devices (IMDs) are opening up new opportunities for holistic healthcare by enabling continuous monitoring and treatment of various medical conditions, leading to an ever-improving quality of life for patients. Integration of radio frequency (RF) modules in IMDs has provided wireless connectivity and facilitated access to on-device data and post-deployment tuning of essential therapy. However, this has also made IMDs susceptible to various security attacks. Several lightweight encryption mechanisms have been developed to prevent well-known attacks, e.g., integrity attacks that send malicious commands to the device, on IMDs. However, lack of a secure key exchange protocol (that enables the exchange of the encryption key while maintaining its confidentiality) and the immaturity of already-in-use wakeup protocols (that are used to turn on the RF module before an authorized data transmission) are two fundamental challenges that must be addressed to ensure the security of wireless-enabled IMDs. In this paper, we introduce OpSecure, an optical secure communication channel between an IMD and an external device, e.g., a smartphone. OpSecure enables an intrinsically user-perceptible unidirectional data transmission, suitable for physically-secure communication with minimal size and energy overheads. Based on OpSecure, we design and implement two protocols: (i) a low-power wakeup protocol that is resilient against remote battery-draining attacks, and (ii) a secure key exchange protocol to share the encryption key between the IMD and the external device. We evaluate the two protocols using a human body model.
Mission planning for a multi-robot team with a solar-powered charging station

This paper presents a mission planning problem for a cooperative team of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), which includes multiple rovers and a solar-powered mobile charging station. The team is required to start at an initial point and visit a series of objective points before arriving at the final point selected from the set of objective points, where the UGVs will be charged from the solar-powered mobile charging station. This mission is represented as a multi-Hamiltonian Path Problem (mHPP). In order to effectively coordinate the team, an understanding of the mission environment is first obtained by generating a scalar field representation of the solar insolation of the environment from a visual-spectrum image. Then, a cascaded heuristic optimization algorithm, using modified genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization, is used to generate a time-optimized mission plan for the team of UGVs, which guides each UGV to its assigned objective points and then rendezvous at the final charging location while guaranteeing compliance with the net energy gain constraint. The feasibility and efficiency of the proposed algorithm are verified using an experimental testbed and constructed indoor simulation environments.
Beliefs About Suicide Acceptability in the United States: How Do They Affect Suicide Mortality?

Objectives Societies develop cultural scripts to understand suicide and define conditions under which the act is acceptable. Prior empirical work suggests that such attitudes are important in understanding some forms of suicidal behavior among adolescents and high-risk populations. This study examines whether expressions of suicide acceptability under different circumstances are predictive of subsequent death by suicide in the general U.S. adult population and whether the effects differ over the life course. Method The study uses 1978-2010 General Social Survey data linked to the National Death Index through 2014 (n = 31,838). Cox survival models identify risk factors for suicide mortality, including attitudinal and cohort effects. Results Expressions of suicide acceptability are predictive of subsequent death by suicide-in some cases associated with a twofold increase in risk. Attitudes elevate the suicide hazard among older (>55 years) adults but not among younger (ages 33-54) adults. Fully-adjusted models reveal that the effects of attitudes toward suicide acceptability on suicide mortality are strongest for social circumstances (family dishonor; bankruptcy). Discussion Results point to the role of cultural factors and social attitudes in suicide. There may be utility in measuring attitudes in assessments of suicide risk.
Corporate Governance, Agility, and Survival

Most corporate research has focused on (i) dimensions of governance that are relatively easy to measure (e.g., ownership structure, boards of directors, and executive compensation) and (ii) the rol...
Mastering the grammar

In order to unlock the full power of ggplot2, you’ll need to master the underlying grammar. By understanding the grammar, and how its components fit together, you can create a wider range of visualizations, combine multiple sources of data, and customise to your heart’s content.