cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anisotropic Seeded Growth of Cu–M (M = Au, Pt, or Pd) Bimetallic Nanorods with Tunable Optical and Catalytic Properties

A general strategy to synthesize Cu–M (M = Au, Pt, or Pd) bimetallic nanorods has been demonstrated based on a seeded co-reduction method. In this approach, noble metal nanoparticles serve as seeds, and newly reduced Cu atoms are subsequently nucleated on one side of the seeds, resulting in Janus nanoparticles with an M-rich and a Cu-rich portion. The elongation of the particles originates from the site-specific deposition of Cu clusters on the Cu-rich side of these Janus nanoparticles by retarding reduction kinetics of Cu through galvanic replacement. Using this approach, Cu–M alloyed nanorods can be conveniently synthesized with tunable composition, crystal structure, and aspect ratio. These nanorods have also been demonstrated as a unique system for investigation of the structural and compositional effects on their optical and catalytic properties.
Interpreting Chemical Neurotransmission in Vivo: Techniques, Time Scales, and Theories

Monitoring neurotransmitter levels is a major research strategy for determining the functions of neuronal systems, specifically the ascending neuromodulator systems. In this Viewpoint, we consider the impact of different methods for recording extracellular neurotransmitter levels in vivo on theories concerning the signaling mode(s) and functions of these neuronal systems. As exemplified by evidence from experiments using different methods to measure acetylcholine (ACh) signaling, both neuromodulatory and deterministic functions have been attributed to cholinergic activity. Technical and experimental advances now allow determination of the validity of such dual-signaling theories.
Influence of sex on the transplantability of mouse mammary tumors.

SummaryA significant sex difference in incidence of tumor takes appeared when a known quantity of viable mammary adenocarcinoma cells in a dbrB tumor cell suspension was inioculated subcutaneously into dba mice, where males were more susceptible than females under similar conditions. This sex difference was not noted when a Marsh-Simpson mammary adenocarcinoma tumor cell suspension was inoculated into Marsh mice.
EcoRacer: Game-based optimal electric vehicle design and driver control using human players

We investigate the cost and benefit of crowdsourcing solutions to an NP-complete powertrain design and control problem. Specifically, we cast this optimization problem as an online competition, and received 2391 game plays by 124 anonymous players during the first week from the launch. We compare the performance of human players against that of the Efficient Global Optimization (EGO) algorithm. We show that while only a small portion of human players can outperform the algorithm in long term, players tend to formulate good heuristics early on, from where good solutions can be extracted and used to constrain the solution space. Incorporating this constraint into the search enhances the efficiency of the algorithm, even for problem settings different from the game. These findings indicate that human computation is promising in solving comprehensible and computationally hard optimal design and control problems.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Typology of Travelers Based on Their Annual Intercity Travel Patterns Developed from 2013 Longitudinal Survey of Overnight Travel

The ability to forecast and to plan proactively for intercity travel patterns is a critical topic for many metropolitan areas. This paper sets forth, for use in travel demand modeling, a new typology of travelers on the basis of their annual intercity travel patterns. The typology was developed by using the 2013 Longitudinal Survey of Overnight Travel, which provided a year’s data and addressed the nonroutine nature of these long-distance trips. Annual summaries of intercity trips were compared, and travelers were categorized into six distinct segments by using the K-means cluster analysis. Each group clearly demonstrated a unique relationship with intercity travel and mode choices. A comparison of the typology with commonly used demographic variables highlighted the fact that such a characterization provided a deeper understanding of traveler preferences and biases than simply using demographics. The distribution of respondent demographics was relatively similar across each cluster and highlighted the ne...
Mapping Life – Quality Assessment of Novice vs. Expert Georeferencers

The majority of the world’s billions of biodiversity specimens are tucked away in museum cabinets with only minimal, if any, digital records of the information they contain. Global efforts to digitize specimens are underway, yet the scale of the task is daunting. Fortunately, many activities associated with digitization do not require extensive training and could benefit from the involvement of citizen science participants. However, the quality of the data generated in this way is not well understood. With two experiments presented here, we examine the efficacy of citizen science participants in georeferencing specimen collection localities. In the absence of an online citizen science georeferencing platform and community, students served as a proxy for the larger citizen science population. At Tulane University and Florida State University, undergraduate students and experts used the GEOLocate platform to georeference fish and plant specimen localities, respectively. Our results provide a first-approximation of what can be expected from citizen science participants with minimal georeferencing training as a benchmark for future innovations. After outliers were removed, the range between student and expert georeferenced points was
Irvine H. Page lecture 1983. The future of clinical investigation.

The author discusses the decline of physician involvement in clinical investigation and describes programs established by the National Institutes of Health to encourage more participation in such research by M.D.-degree holders.
Hybrid Monte Carlo/Deterministic Methods for Accelerating Active Interrogation Modeling

The potential for smuggling special nuclear material (SNM) into the United States is a major concern to homeland security, so federal agencies are investigating a variety of preventive measures, including detection and interdiction of SNM during transport. One approach for SNM detection, called active interrogation, uses a radiation source, such as a beam of neutrons or photons, to scan cargo containers and detect the products of induced fissions. In realistic cargo transport scenarios, the process of inducing and detecting fissions in SNM is difficult due to the presence of various and potentially thick materials between the radiation source and the SNM, and the practical limitations on radiation source strength and detection capabilities. Therefore, computer simulations are being used, along with experimental measurements, in efforts to design effective active interrogation detection systems. The computer simulations mostly consist of simulating radiation transport from the source to the detector region(s). Although the Monte Carlo method is predominantly used for these simulations, difficulties persist related to calculating statistically meaningful detector responses in practical computing times, thereby limiting their usefulness for design and evaluation of practical active interrogation systems. In previous work, the benefits of hybrid methods that use the results of approximate deterministic transport more » calculations to accelerate high-fidelity Monte Carlo simulations have been demonstrated for source-detector type problems. In this work, the hybrid methods are applied and evaluated for three example active interrogation problems. Additionally, a new approach is presented that uses multiple goal-based importance functions depending on a particle s relevance to the ultimate goal of the simulation. Results from the examples demonstrate that the application of hybrid methods to active interrogation problems dramatically increases their calculational efficiency. « less
Chemical Sensors for Environmental Monitoring and Homeland Security

This article provides the basic concepts and classifications of chemical sensors and emphasizes the application of chemical sensors in the domains of environmental monitoring and homeland security. Chemical sensors have been comprehensively applied in the areas including chemical process, pharmaceutical, food, biomedical, environmental, security, industrial safety, clinical, indoor monitoring, etc. In terms of environmental monitoring, the article discusses two types of chemical sensors: Metal-oxide-based gas sensor systems and electrochemical mixed potential based gas sensor systems. For use in homeland security applications, electrochemical systems are described as promising due to their high selectivity, portability, a wide linear range, minimal space and power requirements combined with their ability to lower the deployment cost of sensors using mass production.
Liver lesions in B6C3F1 mice: the National Toxicology Program, experience and position

The spectrum of hepatocellular proliferative lesions in B6C3F1 (C57BL/6N X C3H/HeN MTV-) mice used in National Toxicology Program (NTP) two-year carcinogenicity studies includes foci of cellular alteration, adenoma, carcinoma, and hepatoblastoma. The diagnosis of hepatocellular hyperplasia is reserved for those non-neoplastic proliferative lesions which are believed to occur secondary to necrosis or a degenerative process in the liver. Diagnostic criteria, similar to those previously published, are used during the NTP peer review of these lesions. Incidences of liver tumors in control mice have been established from the NTP database and the frequency of enhanced liver tumor responses in treated mice has been determined based on 278 two-year carcinogenicity studies. Although alternative rodent strains are being examined, at the present time there is no acceptable alternative to the B6C3F1 mouse for NTP carcinogenicity studies. Interim sacrifices and "stop" studies are incorporated into two-year studies to gain knowledge about the biological behavior of mouse liver neoplasia. Also, data are being gathered relative to the pattern of oncogene activation in spontaneous and chemically induced liver tumors in B6C3F1 mice.
Conserved linkage among sea urchin homologs of genes encoded in the vertebrate MHC region

The echinoderms, along with their sistergroup the hemichordates, form an outgroup to the chordates within the deuterostomes. As such, they offer a potentially valuable source of information from which to infer the primitive state of chordate chromosomal organization. As part of an ongoing Sea Urchin Genome Project we have constructed Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) and P1 Artificial Chromosome (PAC) libraries from the purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus). We have isolated a number of sea urchin genes that have vertebrate homologs encoded in the MHC locus. BAC and PAC clones that contain these genes have been identified and are being characterized. Two complement factor genes, an S. purpuratus C3/4/5 homolog and a Bf/C2 homolog, are both encoded within a single 140 kb BAC clone insert. We have also found convincing evidence for linkage between S. purpuratus homologs of Notch and a PBX homeodomain transcription factor, vertebrate homologs of which are encoded in close proximity within the MHC class III region. These observations suggest a remarkable conservation of large scale synteny within the deuterostomes, and may lead to the identification of divergent sea urchin relatives of vertebrate class I or II MHC genes.
The G4Foam Experiment: global climate impacts of regional ocean albedo modification

Abstract. Reducing insolation has been proposed as a geoengineering response to global warming. Here we present the results of climate model simulations of a unique Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project Testbed experiment to investigate the benefits and risks of a scheme that would brighten certain oceanic regions. The National Center for Atmospheric Research CESM CAM4-Chem global climate model was modified to simulate a scheme in which the albedo of the ocean surface is increased over the subtropical ocean gyres in the Southern Hemisphere. In theory, this could be accomplished using a stable, nondispersive foam, comprised of tiny, highly reflective microbubbles. Such a foam has been developed under idealized conditions, although deployment at a large scale is presently infeasible. We conducted three ensemble members of a simulation (G4Foam) from 2020 through to 2069 in which the albedo of the ocean surface is set to 0.15 (an increase of 150 %) over the three subtropical ocean gyres in the Southern Hemisphere, against a background of the RCP6.0 (representative concentration pathway resulting in +6 W m−2 radiative forcing by 2100) scenario. After 2069, geoengineering is ceased, and the simulation is run for an additional 20 years. Global mean surface temperature in G4Foam is 0.6 K lower than RCP6.0, with statistically significant cooling relative to RCP6.0 south of 30° N. There is an increase in rainfall over land, most pronouncedly in the tropics during the June–July–August season, relative to both G4SSA (specified stratospheric aerosols) and RCP6.0. Heavily populated and highly cultivated regions throughout the tropics, including the Sahel, southern Asia, the Maritime Continent, Central America, and much of the Amazon experience a statistically significant increase in precipitation minus evaporation. The temperature response to the relatively modest global average forcing of −1.5 W m−2 is amplified through a series of positive cloud feedbacks, in which more shortwave radiation is reflected. The precipitation response is primarily the result of the intensification of the southern Hadley cell, as its mean position migrates northward and away from the Equator in response to the asymmetric cooling.
Examination of Turkey Eggs, Poults and Brooder House Facilities for Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni was not isolated from fertile turkey eggs or from newly-hatched poults. The organism was present in 16 to 76% of fecal swabs of 15-to 19-day old turkeys from two commercial brooder facilities, and was isolated from litter and drinking water. Extensive cleaning of a brooder house and application of new litter seemed to exclude litter, water, feed and grit as initial sources of contamination. Newly-hatched poults could be raised in a Campylobacter -free environment for 19 to 21 d without evidence of this organism in fecal swabs.
Fibonacci, Lucas, and a Game of Chance

A simple game of chance is introduced, where it is shown that each player's winning probability is a ratio of Fibonacci and Lucas numbers.
Lentigo maligna melanoma with a history of cosmetic treatment: Prevalence, surgical outcomes and considerations

Introduction Lentigo maligna (LM) is melanoma in situ on sun-damaged skin and presents diagnostic challenges due to overlapping features with benign pigmented lesions. Cosmetic treatments may be inadvertently performed on LM. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of LM with prior cosmetic treatment, and evaluate surgical outcomes. Study Design and Methods Retrospective review of biopsy-proven LM presenting over a 10-year-period (2006–2015). Prior cosmetic treatment and biopsies were recorded. Records were reviewed for demographic data, clinical characteristics, and surgical outcomes. Results 37/503 (7.4%) patients with LM reported prior cosmetic therapy. Most (95%) were on the head and neck; mean size 1.9 cm. Most patients reported cryotherapy (73%), followed by laser (29.7%), topical bleaching agents (18.9%), and electrodessication, and/or curettage (5.3%). Ten patients (27%) received two or more modalities. Eight patients (21.6%) reported prior benign biopsies. Six patients (16%) had invasive disease, two on initial biopsy and 4/34 (11.7%) upstaged upon excision. Average margin for clearance was 9.1 mm. Conclusion Prior cosmetic treatment of LM is not uncommon, and may delay diagnosis and obscure borders, resulting in wider surgical margins. Clinicians should consider a biopsy confirming the benign nature of equivocal lesions prior to cosmetic treatment. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Disclosure Stress, Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms Among Cisgender Bisexual Youth

Bisexual youth are at elevated risk for depression compared to lesbians and gay men. Research on bisexual stigma suggests these youth are uniquely vulnerable to stress related to sexual identity disclosure. Depression associated with this stress may be buffered by social support from parents and friends. We examined the differential influence of social support from parents and friends (Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale) on the relation between disclosure stress (LGBTQ Coming Out Stress Scale) and depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) and differences by gender in a sample of cisgender bisexual youth (n = 383) using structural equation modeling. Parental support buffered the association between stressful disclosure to family and depressive symptoms, especially for bisexual men; bisexual women seemed not to benefit from such support when disclosure stress was high. This nuanced examination elucidates the ways family members and clinicians can best support bisexual youth sexual identity disclosure.
Genetic code expansion: Synthetases pick up the PACE.

Phage-assisted evolution can rapidly improve the efficiency and substrate specificity of orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Furthermore, the crystal structure of the pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase N-terminal domain reveals the basis for these improvements and provides a structural rationale for orthogonality.
Venous Physiology and Pathophysiology

Veins are essentially tubes with valves that function as passive conduits for blood flow. Venous valve function ensures unidirectional flow, emptying of venous compartments, physiologic drainage, and flow of blood from the superficial to deep system. Normal valve closure also produces dynamic fracturing of the gravitational hydrostatic pressure and is essential for proper function of the peripheral muscle pumps. Chronic venous disease produces hemodynamic disturbances which result in the inability of valves, pumps, and conduits in the venous system to maintain a normal venous pressure and normal flow. These disturbances are primarily caused by venous reflux, obstruction, or a combination of both.
The Federal Audit of Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Implants: Lessons Learned

The federal government has investigated a large number of institutions regarding concerns that implantable cardioverter-defibrillator procedures were performed in violation of the criteria set forth in a National Coverage Determination. We describe our experience and responses to such an audit, as well as the to complexities and nuances of practicing evidence-based medicine in the setting of heavy regulatory oversight.
Gateway Bodies: Serial Form, Genre, and White Femininity in Imported Crime TV

In this article, I study transnational crime TV through a key recurring textual element—serial narrative—to understand how it creates terms of transnational legibility in a major import market, the...
Emergency medical service personnel injury and fatality in the United States

Introduction: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel comprise an intricate part of the public safety net in the US. The purpose of this study was to synthesize data sources to understand the major workplace dangers facing EMS providers. Methods: This study examined four data sources: The BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), Firefighter Fatalities and Statistics from USFA, and the EMS Voluntary Event Notification Tool (E.V.E.N.T.). Characteristics of the most common causes of injury and fatalities were described and compared. Results: SOII reports covered 13 years and 64,780 nonfatal reported cases. COFI covered 12 years and 149 fatalities. 111 fatalities from the USFA dataset who had been identified as EMS in some manner in their rank between 2003-2016 were inspected. 21 cases where a firefighter died in the course of providing EMS/patient care were also identified and discussed. All events submitted to E.V.E.N.T. were read and categorized. 214 events were identified as near-miss EMS provider injuries and included in the study. Conclusions: The biggest mortal threat to private EMS personnel is vehicular incidents. Among firefighters/EMTs Heart Attacks was the most common nature of death. The biggest nonfatal concerns are violence, slips, trips, and falls, and overexertion in addition to vehicular incidents. Most violent events were the result of a patient with a Temporarily Altered Mental Status. There is clearly a need for further research to develop evidence-based methods and policies to reduce injury and death in EMS personnel from an agency level.
Using nitrogen isotope ratios to assess terrestrial ecosystems at regional and global scales

Advances in technology have made extensive surveys of 15N natural abundances in terrestrial ecosystems feasible at the regional and even global scale within the last decade. To date, such surveys have included measurements of plant (typically foliage) or soil δ15N. Correlations between plant δ15N and measures of N saturation have been reported in regional surveys of both Europe and North America, with plant tissue δ15N values increasing under N saturating conditions. Global analyses have shown positive relationships between both soil and foliar δ15N values and mean annual temperature and negative relationships between δ15N values and precipitation. Several factors can drive variations in plant and soil 15N natural abundances, thereby presenting challenges to the use of 15N for inferring nitrogen cycling patterns across large scales. These include: (1) prior land-use, which may leave long-lasting (decades to centuries) imprints on soil and hence plant δ15N; (2) variability in δ15N among species within a given site, which can mask patterns across sites; (3) mycorrhizal associations, which may fractionate strongly under certain conditions; (4) effects of climate, especially precipitation regime, which may influence the value of and temporal variability in plant δ15N. Despite these complicating factors, δ15N surveys at large scales may provide insight into N cycling patterns and processes controlling these patterns in terrestrial ecosystems; maps of δ15N in precipitation may also provide a useful tool for interpreting some patterns in terrestrial ecosystem N dynamics.
Action Recognition by Motion Trajectory Decomposition

Recognition of human actions in a video acquired by a moving camera typically requires standard preprocessing steps such as motion compensation, moving object detection and object tracking. The errors from the motion compensation step propagate to the object detection stage, resulting in miss-detections, which further complicates the tracking stage, resulting in cluttered and incorrect tracks. Therefore, action recognition from a moving camera is considered very challenging. In this chapter, we discuss an approach which does not follow the standard steps, and accordingly avoids the aforementioned difculties. The approach is based on Lagrangian particle trajectories which are a set of dense trajectories obtained by advecting optical flow over time, thus capturing the ensemble motions of a scene. This is done in frames of unaligned video, and no object detection is required. Consequently, in order to handle the moving camera, a low-rank trajectory decomposition approach is employed, where the trajectories are decomposed into their camera-induced and object-induced components. Having obtained the relevant object motion trajectories, a compact set of chaotic invariant features are computed, which captures the characteristics of the trajectories. Finally, a SVM is employed to learn and recognize the human actions using the computed motion features.
Coronary Calcium Screening

Because coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most frequent cause of death in industrialized nations (1) and the available tools for prediction of CAD onset are imperfect, there is a need for new methods to screen apparently healthy individuals to identify those at increased risk. Current risk prediction of CAD is based on the patient’s age and sex as well as on the presence and extent of established, modifiable coronary risk factors such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and cigarette smoking. Risk prediction algorithms such as the Framingham Heart Study coronary risk score have been shown feasible and valid for CAD risk prediction in the United States population (2). As a consequence, those traditional risk factors and/or risk-factor algorithms have been incorporated into treatment guidelines for hyperlipidemia (3) and hypertension.(4). However, coronary risk scores can explain only 70% of the overall risk for CAD and are more sensitive than specific. Consequently, there is need to develop new strategies to identify patients at high risk, specifically among patients who appear to be at intermediate (i.e., 6–20% 10-yr risk) or low risk according to traditional risk factors (5,6).
Quantum Sine-Gordon Equation and Quantum Solitons in Two Space-Time Dimensions

First a warning: The main emphasis of the “International School of Mathematical Physics, 1975” at Erice was clearly on renormalized perturbation theory in the framework of renormalizable quantum field theories which, one hopes, may be relevant for the physics (not only the mathematics) of quantized fields and elementary particles. Participants of this school wanted to learn something non-trivial about: ultraviolet renormalization, infrared power counting, the strong adiabatic limit (i.e. the construction of the scattering matrix), composite fields, Yang-Mills theories, etc. In my lectures, however, I study mainly the construction and the detailed properties of a new model of a self-interacting, relativistic scalar Bose field in two space- time dimensions: the quantum sine-Gordon equation (≡ s-G theory).
Accurate Small-Signal Modeling of Resonant Converter Based on Perturbation on the State Plane

Resonant converters operate the switching frequency close to the resonant frequency to achieve soft switching. However, this also posts a great challenge on the small-signal modeling. Based on the fundamental approximation, E. Yang develops the first small-signal equivalent circuit model. Recently, the authors propose a simpler model based on the average concept on a rotating state plane. The assumptions of the two models are shown to be equivalent. This implies the two approaches are applicable only when there is an effective bandpass filter. However, the resonant tank in more popular resonant converters such as LLC converter does not behave like a good band-pass filter. Therefore, this paper aims at providing a more accurate small-signal modeling. It is based on perturbation on the state plane and describing function method. Using the series resonant converter (SRC) as an example, the model shows a perfect match to a simulation result. Based on the fact that the system poles can be captured by the natural response, a simplified, yet accurate, second-order model for an SRC is provided. All the small-signal dynamic are well-explained using the proposed model. The proposed modeling and simplification methods show a promising extension to model the LLC converter.
Construction of solutions of the critical SQG equation in bounded domains

Abstract We consider the critical dissipative SQG equation in bounded domains, with the square root of the Dirichlet Laplacian dissipation. We construct global bounded interior Lipschitz solutions from arbitrary large bounded interior Lipschitz initial data.
Description and assessment of a neurosurgery shadowing and research program: A paradigm for early and sustained exposure to academic neurosurgery

Objective To describe and assess the educational value of a functional neurosurgery clinical shadowing and research tutorial for pre-medical trainees. Design Program participants observed functional neurosurgery procedures and conducted basic science and clinical research in neurosurgery fields. Former participants completed a brief online survey to evaluate their perspectives and experiences throughout the tutorial. Setting Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Participants 15 pre-medical and post-baccalaureate trainees participated in the tutorial. All former tutorial participants were emailed. Results 11/15 former participants responded to the survey. Survey results suggest that the tutorial program increased participants' understanding of and interest in neurosurgery and related fields in neuroscience. Conclusions The functional neurosurgery medical tutorial provides valuable clinical and research exposure in neurosurgery fields for pre-medical trainees. Our work is a preliminary step in addressing the crucial challenge of training the next generation of neurosurgeon-scientists by providing a pedagogical paradigm for development of formal experiences that integrate original scientific research with clinical neurosurgery exposure.
Deep Learning and Data Sampling with Imbalanced Big Data

This study evaluates the use of deep learning and data sampling on a class-imbalanced Big Data problem, i.e. Medicare fraud detection. Medicare offers affordable health insurance to the elderly population and serves more than 15% of the United States population. To increase transparency and help reduce fraud, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have made several data sets publicly available for analysis. Our research group has conducted several studies using CMS data and traditional machine learning algorithms (non-deep learning), but challenges associated with severe class imbalance leave room for improvement. These previous studies serve as baselines as we employ deep neural networks with various data-sampling techniques to determine the efficacy of deep learning in addressing class imbalance. Random over-sampling (ROS), random under-sampling (RUS), and combinations of the two (ROS-RUS) are applied to study how varying levels of class imbalance impact model training and performance. Classwise performance is maximized by identifying optimal decision thresholds, and a strong linear relationship between minority class size and optimal threshold is observed. Results show that ROS significantly outperforms RUS, combining RUS and ROS both maximizes performance and efficiency with a 4 x speedup in training time, and the default threshold of 0.5 is never optimal when training data is imbalanced. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to provide statistical results comparing ROS, RUS, and ROS-RUS deep learning methods across a range of class distributions. Additional contributions include a unique analysis of thresholding as it relates to the minority class size and state-of-the-art performance on the given fraud detection task.
Smokeless tobacco treatment: Measures, interventions, recommendations, and future directions

Abstract There are almost 9 million regular smokeless tobacco (ST) users in the United States. Because ST products, manufacturing methods, distribution, use patterns, regulations, and research differ by country, this chapter focuses on interventions in the United States and is limited to studies in adults. The challenges of measuring use and dependence are discussed, and tools appropriate to particular forms of ST products and conditions of use are assessed. The various behavioral and pharmacological interventions for which reliable data exist are evaluated, and recommendations for intervention methods and research are offered. In general, research has yielded good evidence and support for several methods, with some outcomes exceeding those for smoking cessation. However, refinement of existing methods and delivery systems is needed, as well as innovation in methods. Future directions in which studies and therapeutic applications might go are projected.
Test Procedures for High Level Architecture Interface Specification

Abstract : This document contains test procedures for the High Level Architecture (HLA) Interface Specification, v1. 3. Section I discusses the terminology used, the organization of the procedures, and how the procedures are defined.
Internal Oil Flow of Transformer Based on Multiphysics Coupling Characteristic Analysis

The misoperation of gas protection in transformer out-of-zone faults will seriously affect the security and stability level of power system. In this paper, the oil flow characteristics in transformer under different operating conditions are analyzed by multi-physical field coupling simulation. The principle of common gas protection relays and their causes of misoperation are analyzed. A numerical simulation model of multi-physical field inside transformer is established. The inner core and winding of transformer are modeled and simulated by ANSYS Maxwell 3D and ANSYS Fluent software. The variation of multiphysical field in normal operation, out-of-zone fault and in-zone fault of transformer is obtained. The changes of magnetic field and electromagnetic stress, oil flow and outlet pressure of inner winding and core of transformer are analyzed. This study provides a new basis for formulating measures to improve the reliability of gas protection operation.
Using Sound to Create and Detect Occlusion of an Unseen Sound Source

In contrast to experimental settings, the environment within which we perceive and act contains clutter (objects other than the target of perception and/or action). While numerous empirical investi...
Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University

A review of Matt Brim's Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University. Duke University Press, 2020.
Evaluating the Conditionality of External Development Assistance Programs

This chapter evaluates the conditionality of development assistance in terms of its intended and unintended consequences. The chapter provides conceptual perspectives from the game theory, the public choice, the fiscal federalism, the political economy, the new institutional economics, and the new public management literature on the design of external assistance and its potential impacts. It shows how neglect of these conceptual considerations in the past resulted in the lack of effectiveness of aid conditionality and the waste of such assistance. It highlights the emerging consensus by the development assistance community on both the instruments of development finance and the associated conditions. It also briefly notes the progress, or lack thereof, for practice to conform to the emerging consensus. It cites examples where an inappropriate design of conditionality led to adverse consequences for project and program outcomes. Finally, the chapter provides lessons on major issues in the conditionality of development assistance.
Pivot and Persist: A Technical Report on Adapting an Existing Multi-Institutional Bootcamp to a Hybrid Platform

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted most in-person simulation training, including established simulation-based medical bootcamps. These sessions are important for the preparation of new trainees to think critically about common clinical scenarios, practice technical skills, and optimize leadership, teamwork, and communication. Having the opportunity to hone these skills in a safe environment is instrumental for the development of trainees' confidence and professional identity formation, and may contribute to patient safety. When the annual New England/Mid-Atlantic regional first-year neonatology fellows' bootcamp was jeopardized by COVID restrictions, we implemented a novel approach to adapt the existing in-person format and curriculum for large-scale hybrid delivery. The resultant two-day session was well-received by both participants and facilitators. Important lessons from this experience, including adaptions to the curriculum, schedule, simulation interface and hybrid platform, are relevant to educators seeking to conduct large-scale virtual simulation-based educational sessions.
Counterfactual scorekeeping

Orthodoxy has it that counterfactuals cannot be treated as strict conditionals. But there is a loophole: if the strictness is a function of context then maybe they can be so treated. I argue for a loophole analysis that treats ‘would’-counterfactuals as strict conditionals that are duals to ‘might’- counterfactuals. Most of the work lies in getting straight about the interaction between context and semantic value. I treat it as a general feature of the dynamics of conversational score.
One-step sonochemical synthesis of NiMn-LDH for supercapacitors and overall water splitting

Transition metals are attracting numerous interests for their substantial applications in supercapacitors and as non-noble metal electrocatalyst for overall water splitting. Herein, the NiMn layer double hydroxide (NiMn-LDH) is developed using the sonochemical route at different reaction times, which act as a multifunctional electrode for supercapacitors and overall water splitting. The capacitance of layer double hydroxide (LDH) synthesized at 4 h (NiMn-LDH-4 h) of reaction time was found to be 527 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, with 91.2% capacitance retention after 5,000 cycles at 2 A g−1 in 6 M KOH. For hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, the NiMn-LDH-4 h electrode exhibits a standard of 10 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 120 mV and 296 mV, respectively, in 1 M KOH. Moreover, fabricated NiMn-LDH-4 h||NiMn-LDH-4 h electrolyzer for overall water splitting benchmarks 10 mA cm−2 at 1.6 V. The superior electrochemical properties of the NiMn-LDH electrodes might be attributed to quick diffusion paths and enhanced redox reaction of NiMn-LDH nanosheets because of the high surface area.
Modification to axial tracking for mobile magnetic microspheres

Abstract Three-dimensional particle tracking is a routine experimental procedure for various biophysical applications including magnetic tweezers. A common method for tracking the axial position of particles involves the analysis of diffraction rings whose pattern depends sensitively on the axial position of the bead relative to the focal plane. To infer the axial position, the observed rings are compared with reference images of a bead at known axial positions. Often the precision or accuracy of these algorithms is measured on immobilized beads over a limited axial range, whereas many experiments are performed using freely mobile beads. This inconsistency raises the possibility of incorrect estimates of experimental uncertainty. By manipulating magnetic beads in a bidirectional magnetic tweezer setup, we evaluated the error associated with tracking mobile magnetic beads and found that the error of tracking a moving magnetic bead increases by almost an order of magnitude compared with the error of tracking a stationary bead. We found that this additional error can be ameliorated by excluding the center-most region of the diffraction ring pattern from tracking analysis. Evaluation of the limitations of a tracking algorithm is essential for understanding the error associated with a measurement. These findings promise to bring increased resolution to three-dimensional bead tracking of magnetic microspheres.
Japan as Economic Hegemon

Historically, the question how the world should be governed in the absence of a world government has been answered by the rise of a hegemonic power from among major nation-states engaged in anarchic competition for global leadership. But if a hegemonic power rises, it also falls when its ability to lead is spent. Thus the rise and fall of a hegemonic power spell a cycle, and there have been a few such hegemonic cycles in history since the beginning of the nation-state era circa 1500 A.D.: i.e., the world has been led, in chronological order, by the United Provinces, the United Kingdom and the United States (Wallerstein 1984). For some years, U.S. hegemony has been thought to be in decline, giving rise to a variety of speculations about the next hegemon to succeed the United States.
SU‐E‐T‐752: Three‐Dimensional Carcinogenic Maps Induced by Photons and Protons

Purpose: Evaluate the excess relative risk (ERR) induced by photons and protons in each voxel of the lung, and display it as a three-dimensional map, known as the ERRM (i.e. excess relative risk map) along with the dose distribution map. In addition, we also study the effect of variations in the linear energy transfer (LET) distribution on ERRM for a given proton plan. Methods: The excess relative risk due to radiation is estimated using the initiation-inactivation-proliferation formalism. This framework accounts for three biological phenomenon: mutation induction, cell kill and proliferation. Cell kill and mutation induction are taken as a function of LET using experimental data. LET distributions are calculated using a Monte Carlo algorithm. ERR is then estimated for each voxel in the organ, and displayed as a three dimensional carcinogenic map. Results: The differences in the ERR’s between photons and protons is seen from the three-dimensional ERR map. In addition, we also varied the LET of a proton plan and observed the differences in the corresponding ERR maps demonstrating variations in the ERR maps depend on features of a proton plan. Additionally, our results suggest that any two proton plans that have the same integral dose does not necessarily imply identical ERR maps, and these changes are due to the variations in the LET distribution map. Conclusion: Clinically, it is important to have a three dimensional display of biological end points. This study is an effort to introduce 3D ERR maps into the treatment planning workflow for certain sites such as pediatric head and neck tumors.
Osteoporosis and Older Women

Osteoporosis, a metabolic bone disorder, affects four times as many women as men. Each year 1.3 million fractures, primarily of the vertebra, hip, and wrist can be attributed to osteoporosis. Risk factors for the development of this disease include age, sex, body build, family history, race, loss of estrogen, calcium deficiency, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and the excessive use of alcohol. Three common approaches used in the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis are hormone replacement therapies, nutrition interventions. and exercise programs. These strategies are aimed at maintaining or stabilizing bone mass and preventing further loss. Living with osteoporosis presents older women with a variety of physical, psychological, and social challenges. To maintain a productive and healthy lifestyle, older women must recognize their physical limitations and make adjustments in their daily lives to cope successfully with these changes.
Performance measurements of Motorola's implementation of MAP

The authors present performance measurements for data transfer services at the CASE (common application service elements), transport, and datalink layers of Motorola's implementation of the Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP) for a range of message sizes. They compare the performance results of using a stop-and-wait vs. a sliding window protocol, and find that the sliding window permits a 40% speedup. The observe that end-to-end latency exceeds transmission delay by a factor of 25 for 1000-byte messages, thereby making all network access, transmission, and propagation delays negligible when compared to protocol processing. They show that the throughput of CASE and transport is basically linear with message size whereas the throughput of datalink is not. They identify the bottlenecks which constrain total system throughput at each layer. >
T cell lymphomatoid contact dermatitis: a challenging case and review of the literature

Lymphomatoid contact dermatitis is a pseudolymphoma with clinical and histological features of allergic contact dermatitis and cutaneous T cell lymphoma. Incorrect diagnosis may lead to unnecessary testing, unnecessary treatment, or patient harm. The objective of this study is to present a case to demonstrate the diagnostic challenge and overlap between allergic contact dermatitis and cutaneous T cell lymphoma in a patient with lymphomatoid contact dermatitis caused by methylchoroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone and paraben mix, and to review the existing literature in order to summarize the demographics, clinical features, allergens and treatments reported for lymphomatoid contact dermatitis. A search of major scientific databases was conducted for English-language articles reporting cases of lymphomatoid contact dermatitis or additional synonymous search headings. Nineteen articles with a total of 23 patients were analysed. Lymphomatoid contact dermatitis was more common in men, with an average age of 58.5 years. Fourteen unique allergens were identified and confirmed by patch testing. However, no single test or study was diagnostic of lymphomatoid contact dermatitis. Allergen avoidance was the most useful management tool, but selected patients required topical or systemic immunosuppression. In conclusion, without specific diagnostic features, evaluation for lymphomatoid contact dermatitis should include a thorough history and examination, patch testing, and biopsy with immunohistochemistry and clonality studies.
Effect of pH and ionic strength on μ- and m-calpain inhibition by calpastatin

The objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which pH and ionic strength influence mu- and m-calpain activity and the inhibition of calpains by calpastatin. Calpastatin, mu-calpain, and m-calpain were purified from at-death porcine semimembranosus. Mu-calpain or m-calpain (0.45 U) were incubated with the calpain substrate Suc-Leu-Leu-Val-Tyr-7-amino-4-methyl coumarin in the presence of calpastatin (0, 0.15, or 0.30 U of calpain inhibitory activity) under the following pH and ionic strength conditions: pH 7.5 and 165 mM NaCl or 295 mM NaCl; pH 6.5 and 165 mM NaCl or 295 mM NaCl; and pH 6.0 and 165 mM NaCl or 295 mM NaCl. The reactions were initiated with addition of 100 microM (mu-calpain) or 1 mM CaCl2 (m-calpain), and calpain activity was recorded at 30 and 60 min. Mu-calpain had the greatest (P < 0.01) activity at pH 6.5 at each ionic strength. Higher ionic strength decreased mu-calpain activity (P < 0.01) at all pH conditions. Inhibition percent of mu-calpain by calpastatin was not affected by pH; however, it was influenced by ionic strength. Inhibition of mu-calpain by calpastatin was higher (P < 0.01) at 295 mM NaCl than at 165 mM NaCl when 0.3 units of calpastatin were included in the assay. Activity of m-calpain was greater (P < 0.01) at pH 7.5 than at pH 6.5. m-Calpain activity was not detected at pH 6.0. Inhibition of m-calpain was greater (P < 0.01) when 0.15 and 0.3 U calpastatin were added at pH 6.5 than 7.5 at 165 mM NaCl, whereas percentage inhibition of m-calpain was greater (P < 0.01) at 295 mM than 165 mM NaCl at pH 7.5 and 6.5. These observations provide new evidence that defines further the influence of pH decline and increased ionic strength on mu-calpain, m-calpain, and calpastatin activity, thereby helping to more accurately define a role for these enzymes in the process of postmortem tenderization.
Income inequality and aggregate saving : the cross-country evidence

The authors empirically review and analyze the link between income distribution and aggregate savings. Recent research has focused on the impact of income inequality and growth. Less attention has been paid to the link between inequality and savings. Once the conventional representative-agent framework is abandoned, consumption theory brings out channels through which income inequality can affect aggregate saving. The authors present new econometric evidence on the link between saving and inequality using new data on income distribution for a large cross-country sample. The results provide no evidence that income inequality affects aggregate saving across countries. This conclusion holds for both industrial and developing countries and is open to changes in measures of saving, in income distribution indicators, and in functional forms.