cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Urinary Sediment Images Segmentation Based on Efficient Gabor flters

Urinary sediments are very important to help diagnose diseases such as kidney inflammation, urethra inflammation, bladder inflammation and so on. Gabor filter is a widely used feature extraction method, especially in image texture analysis. The selection of optimal filter parameters is usually problematic and unclear. This paper present a improved and robust method, algorithm based on efficient Gabor filters in combination with simulated annealing and K-means clustering, for urinary sediment segmentation. And the method presented are consist of two steps: first, using multi-channel Gabor-filters to extract the features of the urinary sediment from the microimages; second, segment the urinary sediment image by simulated annealing and K-means clustering. The experiment results show that the method can segment the urinary sediment images effectively and precisely.
ENVIRONMENT-BASED DESIGN (EBD)

This paper summarizes a design methodology — Environment Based Design (EBD) — developed over the last two decades. The EBD stems from the observation that design aims to change an existing environment to a desired one by generating a new artefact. Design starts from the environment, functions for the environment, and brings changes to the environment. This environment changing process implies the recursive evolution of design problems, design knowledge, and design solutions. Three basic activities are included in the EBD: environment analysis, conflict identification, and solution generation. In introducing the EBD, four major requirements for an effective design methodology are firstly formulated from the perspective of the nature of design, cognitive model of design, and the driving force underlying design. The mathematical, semantic and algorithmic foundations of the EBD are then presented to define methods and procedures for solving a design problem. Experimental validation and industrial applications are summarized to show the effectiveness of the EBD. Future research questions are also given in the paper.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes

I’m writing a book called “Renaissance vision from spectacles to telescopes”. The book treats the early development, diffusion, commerce, and artistic representation of eyeglasses from their invention ca. 1286 to the discovery of the telescope ca. 1600.
Economic Analysis of Planting Dates to Manage European Corn Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) with Bt Corn

Planting dates of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt) corn were adjusted to determine the utility in managing European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hubner). Transgenic Bt (events 176 and Bt11) corn and non-Bt corn were planted at three different times to use the early- and late-planted corn as a potential trap crop for ovipositing European corn borer moths. Grain moisture and yields were recorded to determine the economic benefits of Bt corn planted on the different dates, based on European corn borer populations and corn damage data collected before harvest. Data were recorded from three locations in southwestern, central, and northeastern Iowa for three summers (1996–1998). Economic benefits are discussed in relation to EILs and yield results. Adjusting the planting dates of Bt and non-Bt corn provided variable economic differences among planting dates in northern Iowa; however, greater economic benefits were realized when Bt corn was planted late during the planting sequence in central and southwestern Iowa. These results suggest that planting corn should be conducted in a timely manner and, if delayed or required to plant late, planting Bt corn would likely provide greater economic benefits. Although yield and economic variability were high, using Bt corn in combination with planting date adjustments may be a viable option for managing European corn borer.
Establishing functional concepts vital for design by analogy

Student designers and professionals alike have difficulty accessing appropriate analogies for design problems. Recognizing the advantages of Design-by-Analogy (DbA), the Design-Analogy Performance Parameter System (D-APPS) tool was developed to include a library of analogy entries and a matching algorithm. These components are combined into the Design Repository & Analogy Computation via Unit-Language Analysis (DRACULA) software package that maps functions across domains in order to present analogies to designers as initiated through engineering performance metrics and critical functions. Most tools developed for DbA emphasize the searching by function feature. Since analogies are based on more than function, DRACULA incorporates both performance and function for the user to identify relevant analogous solutions. Prior to exposing engineering students to this tool, we investigated their ability to use analogies when crossing domains. During this process, we identified three function concepts to be vital for students to effectively use analogies across domains: reoccurring functions, critical functions, and mapping functions. The results establish a better understanding of the information that students utilize in order to formulate appropriate and creative analogous design solutions.
Characterizing, modeling, and improving the QoE of mobile devices with low battery level

Mobile users always require an excellent user experience which is the top challenge faced by today's mobile device designers and producers. Mobile devices are battery constrained, thus developing energy-saving techniques to extend the battery life is critical in terms of the user experience. Since the discrepancy between the device energy and battery energy consumption is becoming large when the battery is approaching to depleted, the battery energy-savings mechanisms (instead of the previously explored device energy-saving mechanisms) that target at the low battery level are highly desirable. Besides the battery life, mobile users demand a good system responsiveness, which is also an essential component in the user experience. In this paper, we mainly focus on the mobile devices with the low battery level. We first introduce the concept of Quality of Experience (QoE), which quantitatively combines the two major factors (i.e., the battery life, and performance) into an integrated metric. We then characterize the QoE by capturing various users' psychological changes during the low battery phase, which affect the users' preference on battery life or performance. We further explore a QoE model that includes the online battery and performance models. Finally, we propose a QoE-aware frequency governor which dynamically changes the CPU frequency to achieve the optimal QoE at the low battery phase for different users at different environments. Our experiment results show that our QoE-aware frequency governor improves the QoE significantly.
Optimal Placement for a Limited-Support Binary Sensor

We present an optimal strategy for placement of a binary sensor based on maximizing the mutual information between the distribution of possible target locations, the sensor footprint, and probability of sensor errors. The result replaces the direct computation of information gradients by a sensor coverage criterion, which can greatly reduce computation. Contributions include closed-form expressions for the optimal sensor placement and a proposed control algorithm for a mobile sensor. The approach is validated with multiple experiments using a quadrotor UAV conducting a search task.
Methods and bounds for waveform parameter estimation with a misspecified model

Parameter estimation for phase modulated signals is an important area of research as it is applicable to many areas ranging from radar signal processing to gravity wave detection. However, in many of these applications, the phase model required to accurately characterize the phenomenology is either unknown or too complex to accurately estimate the parameters. The recently derived misspecified Cramer-Rao bound is expanded and applied to phase modulated signals. This bound is then used to gain insight into the performance of ionospheric profile estimation.
Preference-aware integration of temporal data

A complete description of an entity is rarely contained in a single data source, but rather, it is often distributed across different data sources. Applications based on personal electronic health records, sentiment analysis, and financial records all illustrate that significant value can be derived from integrated, consistent, and queryable profiles of entities from different sources. Even more so, such integrated profiles are considerably enhanced if temporal information from different sources is carefully accounted for.We develop a simple and yet versatile operator, called prawn, that is typically called as a final step of an entity integration workflow. Prawn is capable of consistently integrating and resolving temporal conflicts in data that may contain multiple dimensions of time based on a set of preference rules specified by a user (hence the name prawn for preference-aware union). In the event that not all conflicts can be resolved through preferences, one can enumerate each possible consistent interpretation of the result returned by prawn at a given time point through a polynomial-delay algorithm. In addition to providing algorithms for implementing prawn, we study and establish several desirable properties of prawn. First, prawn produces the same temporally integrated outcome, modulo representation of time, regardless of the order in which data sources are integrated. Second, prawn can be customized to integrate temporal data for different applications by specifying application-specific preference rules. Third, we show experimentally that our implementation of prawn is feasible on both "small" and "big" data platforms in that it is efficient in both storage and execution time. Finally, we demonstrate a fundamental advantage of prawn: we illustrate that standard query languages can be immediately used to pose useful temporal queries over the integrated and resolved entity repository.
Arab American women's lived experience with early-stage breast cancer diagnosis and surgical treatment

Background Currently, limited literature addresses Arab American women's responses to the impact of breast cancer and its treatments. Objective The objective of the study was to understand the experience of being diagnosed with and undergoing surgical treatment for early-stage breast cancer among Arab American women. Methods A qualitative interpretive phenomenological research design was used for this study. A purposive sample of 10 Arab American women who were surgically treated for early-stage breast cancer in the United States was recruited. Data were collected using individual interviews and analyzed using the Heideggerian hermeneutical methodology. Results Arab American women accepted breast cancer diagnosis as something in God's hands that they had no control over. Although they were content with God's will, the women believed that the diagnosis was a challenge that they should confront. The women confronted this challenge by accessing the healthcare system for treatment, putting trust in their physicians, participating when able in treatment decisions, using religious practices for coping, maintaining a positive attitude toward the diagnosis and the treatment, and seeking information. Conclusion Arab American women's fatalistic beliefs did not prevent them from seeking care and desiring treatment information and options when diagnosed with breast cancer. Implications for practice It is important that healthcare providers encourage patients to express meanings they attribute to their illness to provide them with appropriate supportive interventions. They should also individually assess patients' decision-making preferences, invite them to participate in decision making, and provide them with tailored means necessary for such participation without making any assumptions based on patients' ethnic/cultural background.
Planning Foreign Policy Systematically Mathematical Foreign Policy Planning

An approach to planning foreign policy systematically is presented. It is seen as an appropriate planning aid in situations where some form of goals can be stated, the subject matter is “well understood,” and potential disturbances in the patterns of interrelationship between variables are identifiable. After placing this approach in the context of other planning and decision-making arguments and schemes, an example dealing with choosing a foreign assistance policy is offered to illustrate steps involved in mathematical planning. Those steps are goal setting and weighting, establishing normatively set constraints, relating variables, determining initial conditions, and numerical evaluation of alternative policies. In the foreign assistance example, computer simulation is employed to accomplish the final step.
Unmanned Vehicle Operations: Countering Imperfect Information in an Adversarial Environment

Command and Control (C 2 ) decisions must of necessity be based on imperfect knowledge of the battlespace. With the advent of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), the pace at which decision points arise will increase. This necessitates the development of automated C 2 tools for use in the decision-making process. Estimation and control in the presence of purely random input noise is well-understood, and produces excellent results. In the context of C 2 decisions, one most consider observations contaminated by both random noise and adversarially induced \noise". Consequently, zero-sum, discrete, stochastic games under imperfect observations are considered here. Machinery has recently been developed which allows one to solve such problems. The theory is summarized. For problems in the class considered here, the resulting algorithms are computationally feasible. The method is applied on a small game testbed. The behavior of the resulting controls are discussed. An alternate (naive) approach is to apply the optimal state feedback game controls to the maximum likelihood state. This alternate approach is susceptible to deception by the opponent. It is shown that the improvements in using the robust approach range from small to tremendous depending on certain factors.
HSCT Education: Bridging the Gap

Topic Significance & Study Purpose/Background/ Rationale: In 2014 the HSCT program at the academic medical center became a member of the NMDP. This brought the challenge of ensuring that those whowould be trusted to care for these patients have the proper knowledge and skill base to be successful. A review of strategies was undertaken to effectively meet the educational needs of staff caring for HSCT patients across settings. Methods, Intervention, & Analysis: The leadership team, in conjunction with the HSCT staff, identified an opportunity to enhance knowledge among staff nurses in both the inpatient and ambulatory care setting. The goal: prepare staff to care for this complex patient population and to improve relationships between inpatient and ambulatory nurses and to enhance continuity of care. A multi-disciplinary education plan was created involving various venues and formats to address these goals. Initially a multi-day intensive educational offering was provided in collaboration with an external expert. These sessions covered topics from diseases treated by HSCT, indications for each type of transplant, and the basics of HLA typing. Internal experts including nurses and pharmacists offered additional sessions, focusing on care of the allogeneic transplant patient. An HSCT physician offers informal bi-weekly sessions that address just-in-time clinical issues. Finally in an effort to support staff preparing for the bone marrow transplant certified nurse exam (BMTCN) a study group is offered on a monthly basis. Findings & Interpretation: Approximately 75% of staff have attended the sessions with ongoing session being offered to meet the needs of new staff and those who did not participate in the initial sessions. Feedback from staff has been positive: “These sessions were great” and “It was really neat to meet the outpatient nurses.” Discussion & Implications: In addition to increasing knowledge and confidence of nurses, this program has increased communication and cohesiveness among the nursing staff. This program will be continued and expanded to meet the needs of nurses throughout the organization caring for HSCT patients.
Abstract 19: Soluble RAGE modestly inversely associated with liver cancer risk in male Finnish smokers.

Laboratory experiments suggest that activation of receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) contributes to liver injury and blockade of RAGE with soluble RAGE (sRAGE) may mitigate the effects of RAGE activation. Epidemiologic studies examining sRAGE and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in relation to liver cancer are sparse. Within a cohort of 29,133 Finnish male smokers who completed questionnaires and donated blood samples between 1985-1988, we conducted a case-cohort study examining the associations between serum concentrations of sRAGE or Ne-(carboxymethyl)-lysine (CML)-AGE, the most abundant AGE in humans, in association with liver cancer. During follow-up that began 5 years after enrollment through April 2006, 145 liver cancer cases occurred. Serum levels of sRAGE, CML-AGE, glucose and insulin were measured in cases and 485 randomly sampled cohort participants. Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) were also measured. Weighted Cox proportional hazards regression was used to calculate relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Multivariate models were adjusted for age, years of smoking, and body mass index. Among subcohort participants, carbohydrate and sucrose intake increased across increasing tertiles of serum sRAGE (P-values ≤0.01). After adjusting for age, BMI and years of smoking, serum sRAGE concentration was inversely associated with liver cancer risk [continuous RR (95% CI): 0.86 (0.75-0.99), P-value=0.04]. Unexpectedly, serum CML concentration was also inversely associated with liver cancer risk [continuous RR (95% CI): 0.74(0.65-0.84), P-value <0.0001]. Further adjustment for serum glucose and insulin did not change the associations. The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) titers measured on 135 cases were 0.75% and 13%, respectively and 3% for hepatitis C exposure (anti-HCV). Exclusion of cases with chronic HBV or HCV did not change our results. Our results support the hypothesis that sRAGE is inversely associated with liver cancer. The findings need confirmation, particularly in populations that include women and non-smokers. Citation Format: Kristin A. Moy, Li Jiao, Neal D. Freedman, Stephanie J. Weinstein, Rashmi Sinha, Jarmo Virtamo, Demetrius Albanes, Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon. Soluble RAGE modestly inversely associated with liver cancer risk in male Finnish smokers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Post-GWAS Horizons in Molecular Epidemiology: Digging Deeper into the Environment; 2012 Nov 11-14; Hollywood, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2012;21(11 Suppl):Abstract nr 19.
Subject Specific Computational Models of the Knee to Predict Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury

Knee joint is a complex joint involving multiple interactions between cartilage, bone, muscles, ligaments, tendons and neural control. Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is one ligament in the knee joint that frequently gets injured during various sports or recreational activities. ACL injuries are common in college level and professional athletes especially in females and the injury rate is growing in epidemic proportions despite significant increase in the research focusing on neuromuscular and proprioceptive training programs. Most ACL injuries lead to surgical reconstruction followed by a lengthy rehabilitation program impacting the health and performance of the athlete. Furthermore, the athlete is still at the risk of early onset of osteoarthritis. Regardless of the gender disparity in the ACL injury rates, a clear understanding of the underlying injury mechanisms is required in order to reduce the incidence of these injuries. Computational modeling is a resourceful and cost effective tool to investigate the biomechanics of the knee. The aim of this study was twofold. The first aim was to develop subject specific computational models of the knee joint and the second aim to gain an improved understanding of the ACL injury mechanisms using the subject specific models. We used a quasi-static, multi-body modeling approach and developed MRI based tibio-femoral computational knee joint models. Experimental joint laxity and combined loading data was obtained using five cadaveric knee specimens and a state-of-the-art
Should nutritional status be assessed routinely prior to cardiac operation

One hundred consecutive adult patients undergoing cardiac operations at a single institution were evaluated preoperatively with regard to their nutritional status. Anthropometric, biochemical, and immunologic characteristics were evaluated in addition to cardiac biopsy specimens to determine right atrial glycogen concentration. Although some positive anthropometric, biochemical, and cell-mediated immunity characteristics were observed to have "statistically significant" correlations with morbidity and mortality for the group as a whole, nearly all of the values remained near or at normal limits. Lighter weight men with a smaller arm muscle circumference and lower concentration of total body fat had more complications than their heavier counterparts. Serum transferrin and cell-mediated immunity also formed weakly positive statistical correlations. Anthropometric correlations in women were of no value. Myocardial glycogen concentrations did not correlate with postoperative morbidity and mortality. Because nearly all of the patients had arteriosclerotic heart disease, the series as a whole may have been skewed toward a group with values too close to normal to differentiate them adequately. It is concluded that routine nutritional assessment is of no value in guiding nutritional management for individual patients, although when patients are analyzed as a group, interesting epidemiologic observations can be made.
Alkaline phosphatase of the serum in experimental lathyrism of the white rat.

SummaryNo significant changes in the concentration of alkaline phosphatase of the serum were observed in rats in which experimental lathyrism was produced by feeding diets containing 50% of sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) seed. This does not confirm the observations of Rudra and Bhattacharya in which the phosphatase values were markedly increased in human lathyrism.
Cochlear microphonics generated by microwave pulses.

ABSTRACTOscillations at 50 kHz have been recorded from the round window of guinea pigs during irradiation by 9l8-MHz pulsed microwaves. The oscillations promptly follow the stimulus, outlast it by about 200 μsec and measure to 50 μV in amplitude. They precede the auditory nerve’s response and disappear with death. They are interpreted to be a cochlear microphonic and hence to demonstrate that the microwave auditory effect, in the guinea pig at least, is accompanied by a mechanical disturbance of the hair cells of the cochlea.
Forensic and Ethical Issues

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the forensic and ethical issues involving the aged, which encompass all of the ones that can be faced by any other adult. However, their frequency and complexity may be greater, reflecting age-dependent differences in the prevalence of important psychiatric and medical conditions that are the substrate for these legal and ethical concerns. Advancing age invariably results in a progressive loss of functional capacity of all biological systems. Old age is associated with an increasing likelihood of the specific degenerative changes within the central nervous system characteristic of dementia. Other body systems are also exposed to an accelerating risk of malfunction and disease, which can then directly or indirectly—through therapeutic intervention—give rise to organic mental syndromes. Functional psychiatric disorders develop anew in later life. The appearance of these mental and neuropsychiatric disturbances in the geriatric population plays a significant role in generating forensic and ethical concerns. The chapter presents an identification of the three critical themes that can clarify the legal and ethical analysis of the myriad problems found in a geriatric population at risk for mental, physical, and neuropsychiatric illnesses. By identifying the underlying themes of competency, consent, or confidentiality, a variety of common dilemmas can be framed and analyzed to suggest a reasonable resolution. In that vein, serious attention to the forensic and ethical domains will enhance clinical efficacy and personal satisfaction in working with this age group.
Outreach at Washington State University: a case study in costs and attendance

Making effective and efficient use of outreach resources can be difficult for student groups in smaller rural communities. Washington State University's OSA/SPIE student chapter desires well attended yet cost-effective ways to educate and inform the public. We designed outreach activities focused on three different funding levels: low upfront cost, moderate continuing costs, and high upfront cost with low continuing costs. By featuring our activities at well attended events, such as a pre-football game event, or by advertising a headlining activity, such as a laser maze, we take advantage of large crowds to create a relaxed learning atmosphere. Moreover, participants enjoy casual learning while waiting for a main event. Choosing a particular funding level and associating with well-attended events makes outreach easier. While there are still many challenges to outreach, such as motivating volunteers or designing outreach programs, we hope overcoming two large obstacles will lead to future outreach success.
Mitosis Is Not Required for Coordinated Changes in Iron Metabolism and High-Level Globin Gene Transcription in Erythropoietin-Responsive CD34+ Cells.

Within the erythroid lineage, erythropoietin (EPO) responsiveness is manifested by cell division and growth as well as specific changes in heme and globin production that ultimately result in the production of erythrocytes. However, the nascent relationship between EPO-associated mitosis and globin gene regulation has not been fully defined. In this study, cultured adult human CD34+ cells from peripheral blood were used to investigate early cellular responses to erythropoietin in the context of mitosis. Matched cultures were performed in replicate using human cells from at least two healthy adults. To detect mitosis, one million cells were labeled with 2uM carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinamidyl ester (CFSE). The CFSE-labeled cells were then cultured in the presence [EPO(+)] or absence [EPO(−)] of 4U/mL EPO, and analyzed using flow cytometry. No cell divisions were detected in either condition during the first 24 hours in culture, and multiple cell divisions were noted on subsequent culture days only in the EPO(+) cultures. Remarkably, dual-staining with CFSE and CD71 revealed a small ( 90% of those cells. These novel results suggest that the frequency and levels of gamma-globin transcripts are quite low at the earliest stages of an EPO response among adult human CD34+ cells. However, it is clearly demonstrated that the cells can increase their capacity to import iron and transcribe beta-globin mRNA at very high levels prior to their first EPO-dependent cell division.
Technological Change in the Public Sector

How does technological change affect the social organization of the workplace and, in particular, labor-management relations? This question is now being widely addressed by researchers, who are studying a variety of workplace contexts.1 Most of this research deals with the private sector of the American economy, however the same question may be posed about the public sector generally and specific services within it.
Cysteine Proteases Of Hookworm Necator Americanus As Virulence Factors And Implications For Future Drug Design: A Bioinformatics-Based Study

Human hookworm Necator Americanus causes iron deficiency anemia, as the parasite ingests blood from the gastrointestinal tract of its human host. The virulence factors of this blood feeding nematode have not been researched extensively. This bioinformatics based study focuses on eight of the cathepsin B like cysteine proteases (CPs) of the worm, which could have immense pathogenic potential. The role of the individual CPs remain vaguely determined except for CP3 which has been shown to act as globinase in the hemoglobin degradation pathway. In this study, the cysteine proteases were subjected to predictive molecular characterizations viz: probability of extracellular secretion to the interface between pathogen and host, ability for hemoglobin degradation, and/or interaction with host plasma proteins. CP1- CP6, which harbored the active site cysteine were also observed to have N terminal signal peptide for extracellular localization, and were relevantly predicted to be secretory. Amongst these, CP2 and CP3 showed the presence of hemoglobinase motif derived in this study that could be a prerequisite for globin or hemoglobin degradation. Active site correlation of the secretory CPs with human pKal that cleaves high molecular weight kininogen (HMWK) to prevent platelet activation is suggestive of the involvement of hookworm CPs in preventing the formation of blood clots via this pathway. NA CP1, CP2, CP3, CP5 and CP6 were predicted to bind heparin, which is the glycosaminoglycan molecule that has been demonstrated to aid the functionality of other cysteine proteases like human cathepsin B and cruzain. Heparin docked onto the NA CPs at the C terminal domain, away from the active site, similar to what has been shown for heparin binding to cathepsin B, and cruzain that cleaves HMWK. These observations therefore lead to the hypothesis that the functions of the hookworm CPs, which would probably include blood clot prevention, could be assisted by heparin. This study underscores the potential of synthetic heparin analogs as molecular treatment for hookworm infection, which could have implications for future drug design
Double plane-wave reverse-time migration

We develop a new time-domain reverse-time migration method called double plane-wave reverse-time migration that uses plane-wave transformed gathers. Original shot gathers with appropriate data acquisition geometry are double slant stacked into the double plane-wave domain with minimal slant stacking artefacts. The range of plane-wave components needed for migration can be determined by estimating the maximum time dips present in shot gathers. This reduces the total number of input traces for migration and increases migration efficiency. Unlike the pre-stack shot-profile reverse-time migration where the number of forward propagations is proportional to the number of shots, the number of forward propagations needed for the proposed method remains constant and is relatively small even for large seismic datasets. Therefore, the proposed method can improve the efficiency of the migration and be suitable for migrating large datasets. Double plane-wave reverse-time migration can be performed for selected plane-wave components to obtain subsurface interfaces with different dips, which makes the migration method target oriented. This feature also makes the method a useful tool for migration velocity analysis. For example, we are able to promptly obtain trial images with nearly horizontal interfaces and adjust velocity models according to common image gathers. Seismic signal coming from steeply dipping interfaces can be included into the migration to build images with more detailed structures and higher spatial resolution as better velocity models become available. Illumination compensation imaging conditions for the proposed method are also introduced to obtain images with balanced amplitudes.
Cohering a pulse train in magnetron oscillator

The goal of this research is to sample and process the measured data which has been collected mono-statically using a Marine Radar. This class of Radar is commonly used aboard vessels for obstacle avoidance and situational awareness. Therefore, marine radars use non-coherent radio wave signals, and hence, are inherently incompatible for imaging applications. In this research, non-coherent signals are made by cohering transmit and scattered waveforms. These “pseudo-coherent” waveforms can be used for many purposes, such as Tomography. In general, the aim of this research is provide coherent technology using affordable marine radars.
Gap Junctions and Heart Development

The function of gap junctions in propagation of the cardiac action potential is one of the best characterized roles for intercellular communication. Comprehending the part played by cell-to-cell dialogue in embryological processes, including development of the heart, has proven to be a more complex problem. Nonetheless, research at the conjunction of cardiac development and gap junctions is a diverse and fast-moving arena. Significant recent advances have resulted from mutational analysis or transgenic alterations of the genes encoding the subunits which comprise the gap junction channel-the connexin proteins (1-3). Such work has directly linked proper gap junction gene function to normal cardiac organogenesis and also implicated altered intercellular communication in certain congenital abnormalities of the heart. Of further interest is the suggestion that alteration to coupling patterns in the diseased mature heart may result from pathological reiteration of developmental processes involved in the cellular organization of gap junctions (4,5). Such insight may be clinically relevant, as disruptions to myocyte coupling patterns have been implicated in the genesis of arrhythmias and other disturbances of cardiac conduction (see chapter 8).
Resting State fMRI in Rodents

Resting state functional MRI (fMRI) and functional connectivity are widely applied in humans to examine the role of brain networks in normal function and dysfunction. A similar approach can be taken in rodents, either to obtain translational measures in models of brain disorders or to more carefully examine the neurophysiological underpinnings of the networks. A protocol for resting state functional connectivity in the anesthetized rat, from animal setup to data acquisition to possible pipelines for data analysis, is described. © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Laser-Plasma Coupling with Ignition-Scale Targets: New Regimes and Frontiers on the National Ignition Facility

It is very exciting that the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is now operational and being used to irradiate ignition-scale hohlraums. As discussed in the last Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics on the topic of laser-plasma interactions in 2005, laser plasma physics faces its biggest challenge ever on NIF. Excellent temporal and spatial control of the laser energy deposition is required for highly convergent implosions, while many new regimes are being accessed. These new regimes include much larger plasmas and laser beam spots, many crossing laser beams, and interaction physics in highly shaped laser pulses. Furthermore, it is key that a broad range of plasma conditions be accurately modelled in the design codes in order that the laser plasma interactions be correctly modelled. Indeed, all these new regimes have proved to be significant challenges and to require new and ongoing understanding. There are many fascinating trade-offs. For example, crossing beam effects both provide a convenient tool to quickly provide the laser beam balance needed for moresymmetric implosions but also enhance the stimulated scattering of the incident laser light. The impact of these new coupling regimes in recent NIF experiments is discussed, and the ongoing understanding outlined.
Outwardly opening solenoid injector for homogenous Gasoline engines with direct injection

ABSTRACT Downsizing and the introduction of direct injection have generated a lot of progress of the Gasoline engine towards Diesel engine CO2 emissions. Besides the advantages of Gasoline engines in terms of tail pipe emissions and its well-known cost advantages, the use of a turbo charger is also generating the fun to drive due to the high low end torque known from turbo charged Diesel engines. The future demanding targets for fuel economy up to 2020 will create additional challenges for Gasoline engines, and in particular for GDi engines, due to the currently proposed particulate numbers (PN) targets. The new European legislation Euro 6 proposes a target for Gasoline engines similar to the current PN regulation for Diesel engines. In order to preserve the cost advantage of the Gasoline over the Diesel engines it is necessary to find cost effective solutions without additional after-treatment systems. To this end Delphi has developed the Multec 20HI outwardly opening injector based upon the Multec 20 injector for lean stratified applications [ 1 ]. The Multec 20HI uses a solenoid driven actuator concept in combination to a reduced valve diameter in order to maintain the advantages in spray atomization and mixture preparation of the outwardly opening nozzle while allowing substantial simplifications in the injector design. This paper discusses control strategies and fuel system component requirements particularly in support of reducing particulate emissions. On the control side, injection timing and injection splitting are important parameters, especially under catalyst heating, engine warm-up and high-load conditions. On the component side, mixture formation in regard to evaporation rate and penetration is a key factor.
Pilot Qualitative Study of Informal Teachers in Interprofessional Collaboration and Practice.

Abstract Context Nonphysician members of the interprofessional palliative care team often participate in teaching physicians and others in the context of workplace learning due to the interprofessional collaborative nature of the specialty. Objectives This pilot study examines the beliefs of the nonphysician members of the interprofessional team about teaching physicians-in-training, the disciplinary training and expertise that informs their teaching, and approaches to teaching in the workplace. Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Initial open coding by two researchers identified the codes, and then the constant comparative method was used to find patterns by axial coding, categories, and themes within the data. Results Of the 10 health care professionals involved with palliative medical education at one academic medical center, six enrolled in the pilot. Those who participated included chaplains, nurses, a social worker, and a physician assistant. Three major themes were identified from the informal teachers: 1) using professional identity as a foundation for teaching, 2) teaching through experiential learning or debriefing, and 3) teaching to perceived gaps in physician training. Conclusion Nonphysician members of the interprofessional team interacted with physicians-in-training guided by their discipline-based skills and perspectives on patient care. They directed their informal teaching toward perceived educational gaps using reflection and debriefing. Future studies could explore the educational roles of health care professionals across diverse institutions and specialties.
PARS: Using Augmented 360-Degree Panoramas of Reality for Construction Safety Training.

Improving the hazard-identification skills of construction workers is a vital step towards preventing accidents in the increasingly complex working conditions of construction jobsites. Training the construction workforce to recognize hazards therefore plays a central role in preparing workers to actively understand safety-related risks and make assertive safety decisions. Considering the inadequacies of traditional safety-training methods (e.g., passive lectures, videos, demonstrations), researchers have employed advanced visualization techniques such as virtual reality technologies to enable users to actively improve their hazard-identification skills in a safe and controlled environment. However, current virtual reality techniques sacrifice realism and demand high computational costs to reproduce real environments. Augmented 360-degree panoramas of reality offers an innovative alternative that creates low-cost, simple-to-capture, true-to-reality representations of the actual construction jobsite within which trainees may practice identifying hazards. This proof-of-concept study developed and evaluated a platform using augmented 360-degree panoramas of reality (PARS) for safety-training applications to enhance trainees’ hazard-identification skills for four types of sample hazards. Thirty subjects participated in a usability test that evaluated the PARS training platform and its augmented 360-degree images captured from real construction jobsites. The usability reviews demonstrate that the trainees found the platform and augmentations advantageously to learning hazard identification. The results of this study will foreseeably help researchers in developing engaging training platforms to improve the hazard-identification skills of workers.
Host Star Driven Photochemistry in Exoplanet Atmospheres

Photochemical reactions often dominate over collision-based equilibrium chemistry at atmospheric pressures less than 1 mbar, corresponding to about 0.1% of the Earth’s surface pressure and heights above 60 km for Earth-like rocky planets.
The Basic Storage Model

The models described in this chapter give rise to continuous time stochastic processes that are analogous to sums of independent and identically distributed random variables. We begin by describing models for two apparently different situations.
Concussions in the National Basketball Association: Analysis of Incidence, Return to Play, and Performance From 1999 to 2018.

Background:The effect of concussions on professional athletes has been investigated in many sports. However, few studies have evaluated concussions in National Basketball Association (NBA) players....
Personal Computing: A Primer

A computer is an electronic device that accepts, stores, and processes the data and returns the result as output. Personal computer (PC) has become an integral part of everyday life. It gives us access to sources of knowledge. Personal computing is part of the total computing activity of businesses. The PC has come of age with many software packages available for users at affordable prices. This paper provides a primer on personal computing.
Clinical relevance of splenic nodules or heterogeneous splenic parenchyma assessed by cytologic evaluation of fine-needle samples in 125 dogs (2011-2015).

Background Splenic nodules and heterogeneous parenchyma are seen frequently in abdominal ultrasound examinations of dogs, but the clinical importance of these lesions remains unclear. Objectives To determine whether specific ultrasonographic findings correlate with clinically relevant cytologic diagnoses and determine what sonographic features are correlated with these diagnoses. Another objective was to develop a scoring rubric to help clinicians make decisions on whether or not certain ultasonographic findings of the spleen warrant evaluation by fine-needle cytology. Animals One-hundred twenty-five adult client-owned dogs with ultrasonographically identified splenic nodules, heterogeneous parenchyma, or both. Methods Medical records were retrospectively searched for ultrasound-guided splenic fine-needle cytology reports. Ultrasonographic images were assessed for nodule number, size, echogenicity and distal enhancement, degree of splenic heterogeneity, and peritoneal fluid. Dogs were divided into 2 groups: those with clinically important or clinically irrelevant cytologic findings. Potentially useful and discriminatory ultrasonographic findings were identified by statistical analysis, and the most useful findings were used to generate the scoring rubric. Results The clinically important group included 25 of 125 dogs (22 malignancies, 3 suppurative inflammation). Splenic nodules 1-2 cm in diameter, peritoneal fluid, and >1 targetoid nodule were associated with clinically important cytologic findings. Receiver operator characteristic analysis showed that the scoring rubric was useful for identifying dogs in the clinically important group. Conclusions and clinical importance Splenic fine-needle cytologic findings identified a clinically relevant diagnosis in 20% of dogs, and larger nodule size, number of targetoid lesions, and presence of peritoneal fluid increase the likelihood of detection of clinically important disease.
‘The body is our masterpiece’: learning to transform in Lima’s tambores music

In this article I discuss the use of rehearsal drills among the tambores musicians of Villa El Salvador (VES), an underprivileged yet emerging district of Lima, Peru that was built and populated by...
Production and fuel properties of iso-olefins with controlled molecular structure and obtained from butene oligomerization

Abstract The ability to control the molecular structure (e.g., degree of branching) of iso-olefins produced from oligomerizing light olefins is a valuable tool for tuning the final compositions of hydrocarbon fuels and targeting specific fuel properties. In this study, we demonstrated that the degree of branching of iso-olefins obtained from butene oligomerization can be controlled by tuning process conditions (i.e., temperature, weight hourly space velocity [WHSV], nature of butene feedstock) and by choosing the proper catalyst (i.e., Amberlyst-36 vs. Y/ZSM-22). We produced three types of iso-olefin mixtures: 1) a methyl-heptenes rich (74 wt%) mixture,2) dimethyl-hexenes rich (80–96 wt%) mixtures, and 3) highly branched (i.e., ≥3 methyl substitutions) iso-olefins rich (>50 wt%) mixtures. While dimethyl-hexenes are preferentially formed at lower temperatures (60–100 °C) and WHSV (i.e., 2 hr−1), methyl-heptenes are favorably produced at higher temperatures (>100 °C) and WHSVs (i.e., 7 hr−1) over Amberlyst-36. The use of either 1-butene or 2-butene as feedstock resulted in liquid products with similar branching because facile intramolecular isomerization occurs prior to oligomerization. The use of isobutylene feedstock forms a more branched olefin product. For each type of iso-olefins mixture, we determined fuel properties including research octane number (RON), motor octane number (MON), and octane sensitivity (S), which is the difference between RON and MON. We found that not only RON and MON but also S values increased with the degree of branching of these complex mixtures of iso-olefins. The highest RON of 99.7 and S value of 9.3 were obtained for a mixture of highly branched iso-olefins.
Sn0.24WO3 hexagonal tungsten bronze prepared via the metal chloride route

Abstract We report the synthesis of Sn0.24WO3 single crystals via an alternative, less well-known, solid-state synthetic approach that involves the use of tin chloride as a starting material. The compound adopts an unusual variant of the hexagonal tungsten bronze structure in space group P6/mmm (a ​= ​7.4264(7) A and c ​= ​3.7843(4) A) with a previously unreported distribution of Sn cations, disordered over two distinct sites in the tunnels. Sn0.24WO3 shows no signs of superconductivity down to 170 ​mK and exhibits weakly-metallic conducting behavior.
Compassion Fatigue Among the Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Assault Workforce: Enhancing Organizational Practice:

Gaps in knowledge related to occupational stress among the intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual assault (SA) workforce remain. This study examined associations between key risk factors for oc...