cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Phase behavior of continuous-space systems: A supervised machine learning approach

The phase behavior of complex fluids is a challenging problem for molecular simulations. Supervised machine learning (ML) methods have shown potential for identifying the phase boundaries of lattice models. In this work, we extend these ML methods to continuous-space systems. We propose a convolutional neural network model that utilizes grid-interpolated coordinates of molecules as input data of ML and optimizes the search for phase transitions with different filter sizes. We test the method for the phase diagram of two off-lattice models, namely, the Widom–Rowlinson model and a symmetric freely jointed polymer blend, for which results are available from standard molecular simulations techniques. The ML results show good agreement with results of previous simulation studies with the added advantage that there is no critical slowing down. We find that understanding intermediate structures near a phase transition and including them in the training set is important to obtain the phase boundary near the critical point. The method is quite general and easy to implement and could find wide application to study the phase behavior of complex fluids.
Cannabis Use Disorder and Its Treatment

Scientific advances and clinical epidemiology provide clear evidence of cannabis’ potential for addiction and adverse psychosocial and health consequences, yet skepticism about its addictive potential remains, and perceived risk of its potential for harm continues to decrease. Indeed, treatment seeking for cannabis use disorder (CUD) comprises a substantial proportion of all substance use treatment admissions. This chapter is focused on cannabis’ potential for misuse and addiction and reviews what is known about behavioral and pharmacological interventions for cannabis use reduction or cessation. Behavioral treatments, brief interventions, and digital health interventions have demonstrated efficacy, although there remains much room for continued improvement in outcomes. Unfortunately, a growing body of research has yet to identify an effective pharmacotherapy, and no medications are currently approved by the FDA for treating CUD. Continued efforts to identify and increase access to effective interventions for misuse and CUD are imperative to the public health considering the loosening of cannabis laws for both therapeutic and recreational use, the burgeoning of cannabis industry, and societal and cultural trends toward acceptance of cannabis use. The field will continue to benefit from efforts to develop innovative treatments that leverage scientific and technological advances and that better tailor interventions to individuals or subgroups of cannabis users.
Pediatric discard risk index for predicting pediatric liver allograft discard.

BACKGROUND Of the 600 pediatric candidates added to the liver waiting list annually, 100 will remain waiting while over 100 liver allografts are discarded, often for subjective reasons. METHODS We created a risk index to predict discard to better optimize donor supply. We used the UNOS database to retrospectively analyze 17 367 deceased donors (≤18 years old) through univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Deceased donor clinical characteristics and laboratory values were independent variables with discard being the dependent variable in the analysis. Significant univariate factors (P-value 10 mg/dL, and alanine transaminase (ALT) ≥500 IU/L. The pDSRI has a C-statistic of 0.846 for the training set and 0.840 for the validation set. CONCLUSION The pDSRI uses 11 significant risk factors, including elevated liver function tests, donor demographics, and donor risk/type to accurately predict risk of pediatric liver allograft discard and serve as a tool that may maximize donor yield.
Driven to Drink: Managerial Control, Work-Related Rick Factors, and Employee Problem Drinking

Using a sample of blue-collar workers and drawing from managerial control theory, we derived and tested an integrative model of employee drinking behavior focusing on four key sets of work-related risk factors: (1) workplace culture, (2) alienation, (3) stress, and (4) policy enforcement. Our results suggest that perceived permissive drinking norms are the strongest direct predictor of employee problem drinking. Such norms also both mediate and moderate the effects of stress and policy enforcement variables on problem drinking, but the mediational effects may have higher explanatory potential. Implications for the management of counterproductive employee behaviors are discussed.
Sterol Biosynthesis Inhibition in Pregnant Women Taking Prescription Medications

Sterol biosynthesis is a critical homeostatic mechanism of the body. Sterol biosynthesis begins during early embryonic life and continues throughout life. Many commonly used medications, prescribed >200 million times in the United States annually, have a sterol biosynthesis inhibition side effect. Using our high-throughput LC-MS/MS method, we assessed the levels of post-lanosterol sterol intermediates (lanosterol, desmosterol, and 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC)) and cholesterol in 1312 deidentified serum samples from pregnant women. 302 samples showing elevated 7-DHC were analyzed for the presence of 14 medications known to inhibit the 7-dehydrocholesterol reductase enzyme (DHCR7) and increase 7-DHC. Of the 302 samples showing 7-DHC elevation, 43 had detectable levels of prescription medications with a DHCR7-inhibiting side effect. Taking more than one 7-DHC-elevating medication in specific combinations (polypharmacy) might exacerbate the effect on 7-DHC levels in pregnant women, suggesting a potentially additive or synergistic effect. As 7-DHC and 7-DHC-derived oxysterols are toxic, and as DHCR7-inhibiting medications are considered teratogens, our findings raise potential concerns regarding the use of prescription medication with a DHCR7-inhibiting side effect during pregnancy. The use of prescription medications during pregnancy is sometimes unavoidable, but choosing a medication without a DHCR7-inhibiting side effect might lead to a heathier pregnancy and prevent putatively adverse outcomes for the developing offspring.
Ambulatory Telemedicine: Home-Based COPD Management

COPD is a complex disease and telemedicine is a promising intervention that could assist with the management of this chronic condition. Patients with severe disease, frequent exacerbations, and limited social or community support may particularly benefit from telemedicine interventions. The use of remote telemonitoring systems that include decision-making support led by a physician and enabling therapeutic interventions 24/7 has shown improved patient outcomes. However, the current existing evidence with regard to the use of telehealth for the management of COPD is inconsistent due in part to the heterogeneous interventions and outcomes measured.
Real-time In-network Image Compression via Distributed Dictionary Learning

Multi-camera networks are increasingly becoming pervasive in many monitoring and surveillance applications, and have attracted much attention in distributed systems with collaborative, real-time decision-making capabilities. While in-network data compression brings significant energy savings in camera nodes, signal representation using sparse approximations and overcomplete dictionaries have been shown to outperform traditional compression methods. In this work, an end-to-end and real-time solution is designed and implemented to enable energy-efficient and robust dictionary learning in distributed camera networks by leveraging the spatial correlation of the collected multimedia data. Traditional distributed dictionary learning relies on consensus-building algorithms, which involve communicating with neighboring nodes until convergence is achieved. Existing methods, however, do not exploit spatial correlations in camera networks for improved energy efficiency. In contrast, low-computational-complexity metrics are employed in this work to quantify and exploit the spatial correlation across camera nodes in a wireless network for efficient distributed dictionary learning and in-network image compression. The performance of the proposed approach is validated through extensive simulations on public datasets as well as via real-world experiments on a testbed composed of Raspberry Pi nodes.
Developing a Value Proposition Through the Analytical Hierarchy Process

During the 1970s, Thomas L. Saaty developed a mathematical methodology that allows reaching a decision-making process, called the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), which takes into consideration the most important alternatives that must be handled to answer or address a problem. It also considers all the attributes or logical criteria that allow evaluating whether the decision to be made is the most efficient and correct. This applied research addresses the AHP methodology to recommend to a regional airline the options that they should consider implementing as benefits that will make up their value proposition for their corporate customers, in order to increase customer satisfaction and reverse the values ​​of uneven distribution that it presents. at the moment. The study also addresses concepts based on strategy and competitive advantage
Adipocytokines and Associations with Abnormal Body Composition in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

PURPOSE We determined associations between adipokines and abnormal body composition in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS Combining data from three RA cohorts, whole-body dual-energy absorptiometry measures of appendicular lean mass and fat mass indices were converted to age, sex, and race-specific Z-Scores. Lean mass relative to fat mass was determined based on prior methods. Independent associations between body composition profiles and circulating levels of adiponectin, leptin, and fibroblast growth factor(FGF)-21 were assessed using linear and logistic regression models adjusting for demographics and study cohort. We also determined the improvement in the area-under-the-curve (AUC) for prediction of low lean mass when adipokines were added to predictive models that included clinical factors such as demographics, study, and body mass index (BMI). RESULTS Among 419 participants, older age was associated with higher levels of all adipokines while higher C-reactive protein was associated with lower adiponectin levels and higher FGF-21 levels. Greater fat mass was strongly associated with lower adiponectin levels and higher leptin and FGF-21 levels. Higher levels of adiponectin, leptin, and FGF-21 were independently associated with low lean mass. The addition of adiponectin and leptin levels to regression models improved prediction of low lean mass when combined with demographics, study, and BMI (AUC 0.75 v. 0.66). CONCLUSIONS Adipokines are associated with both excess adiposity and low lean mass in patients with RA. Improvements in the prediction of body composition abnormalities suggest that laboratory screening could help identify patients with altered body composition who may be at greater risk of adverse outcomes.
Cost-Effectiveness of Treatment Strategies for High-Risk Prostate Cancer.

Purpose/Objective(s) Patients with high-risk prostate cancer (HRPC) have many treatment options: external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with or without low-dose rate (LDR) or high-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy boost, ultra-hypofractionated radiotherapy (UH), or radical prostatectomy (RP). No randomized evidence supports an overall survival (OS) benefit of one option relative to the others, so appropriate treatment must consider patient life expectancy, quality of life, and cost. We compare these treatments to determine the technique resulting in the optimal quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and cost-effectiveness. Materials/Methods A Markov model was developed to simulate treatment options and downstream events for HRPC. The primary endpoints were average accumulated costs and QALYs. The cost analysis considered all aspects of therapy, including treatments and side effects. Secondary endpoints included biochemical recurrence (BCR) and OS. Five treatment approaches were considered: moderately hypofractionated EBRT + 18 months androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), EBRT + LDR boost with 12 months ADT, EBRT + HDR boost with 12 months ADT, UH with 18 months ADT, and RP + salvage radiotherapy (SRT) after BCR. Treatment outcome and toxicity data were determined from the ASCENDE-RT, Hoskin et al. HDR, HYPO-RT-PC, and ProtecT trials. Efforts were made to specifically assess outcomes for HRPC patients. One-way sensitivity analyses were performed, including the rates of death from non-prostate cancer, ADT use, and SRT after RP. Results The base case was simulated for 15 years (Table 1). EBRT + brachytherapy boost (either HDR or LDR) was the most cost-effective treatment option with equivalent QALYs to RP and lower total costs. Over a 5-year timeframe, QALYs were comparable across all strategies, but UH had the lowest cost. At 10 years, RP and brachytherapy boost showed similar QALYs and cost. On sensitivity analysis, increasing rates of metastatic progression from BCR and decreased patient compliance with recommended ADT led to increasing cost-effectiveness of brachytherapy boost. High SRT rates (≥ 75%) after BCR following RP led to eventual ascendancy of RP over brachytherapy boost in both cost and QALYs. Without SRT, RP was the most expensive strategy with comparable outcomes to EBRT alone. No treatment strategy resulted in improved OS over the other treatments. Conclusion Our analysis suggests that brachytherapy boost in patients with HRPC is the most cost-effective strategy over a 15-year horizon. Over shorter timeframes, UH is the most cost-effective treatment. Finally, high rates of SRT are vital to optimizing outcomes for patients after RP.
Hyperelliptic Curves and the Canonical Map

Let X be a compact Riemann surface. We denote by ℂ(X) the field of meromorphic functions on X.
High power VCSEL devices for atomic clock applications

We are developing VCSEL technology producing >100mW in single frequency at wavelengths 780nm, 795nm and 850nm. Small aperture VCSELs with few mW output have found major applications in atomic clock experiments. Using an external cavity three-mirror configuration we have been able to operate larger aperture VCSELs and obtain >70mW power in single frequency operation. The VCSEL has been mounted in a fiber pigtailed package with the external mirror mounted on a shear piezo. The package incorporates a miniature Rb cell locker to lock the VCSEL wavelength. This VCSEL operates in single frequency and is tuned by a combination of piezo actuator, temperature and current. Mode-hop free tuning over >30GHz frequency span is obtained. The VCSEL has been locked to the Rb D2 line and feedback control used to obtain line-widths of <100kHz.
Living with mom and dad and loving it…or Are you?

Abstract We investigate how living at the parental home affects the subjective well-being of young adults using a large representative panel dataset from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey from 2001 to 2013. We find that adults who live with their parents past adolescence are more likely to be less satisfied with their life after controlling for individual fixed effects, a large set of household and personal characteristics, and important life events ranging from recent unemployment to death of a spouse. This negative association increases with age, but at a decreasing rate. It peaks between the ages of 35–45 and then slowly dissipates. Results are robust to caliber Propensity Score Matching (PSM) analysis.
Structural Economic Change and Foreign Acquisition

In this paper, I study how structural economic change affects the relative benefits of foreign and domestic ownership in emerging markets. The central thesis is that rapid change (a structural economic shock) makes many of the capabilities of domestic firms obsolete. Under these circumstances, foreign acquirers from advanced economies can provide firms with access to knowledge that helps firms to adapt to post-shock economic circumstances more effectively than they could without foreign ownership. Hence, the benefits of foreign acquisition increase following structural economic change. I develop my argument in the context of the banking industry and test specific hypotheses on a large sample of banks in Central and Eastern Europe. In line with my predictions, foreign acquisition is followed by a period of post-acquisition restructuring that raises costs and reduces profitability. Thereafter, foreign-owned banks gradually improve their performance relative to domestically owned banks. This increase is more pronounced in countries that experience deeper structural change.
A photo-chemical electrical fuel cell: Part I. Alcohol fuels

Abstract Illuminated sulfonated anthraquinones mediate the electron transfer from an electron donor to an available electron acceptor. Alcohols and polyols are electron donors and under anaerobic conditions an electrode functions as an electron acceptor and an electrical current is produced. The chemistry of the reactions is described. The sulfonated anthraquinone is also an effective electron mediator for oxygen reduction, which allows the use of carbon, rather than platinum, electrodes in the cell.
Spatio-temporal Information Ranking in VANET Applications

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) is a promising approach to the dissemination of spatio-temporal information such as the current traffic condition of a road segment or the availability of a parking space. Due to the constraint of the communication bandwidth, only a limited number of information items may be transmitted upon a vehicle-to- vehicle communication opportunity. Ranking becomes critical in this situation, by enabling the most important information to be transmitted under the bandwidth constraint. In this paper we propose a method for online learning of spatio-temporal information ranking in VANETs. In this method, mobile nodes such as vehicles judge the relevance of incoming information items and use them as training examples for Naive Bayesian learning. Additionally, a separate machine learning algorithm is used to estimate the probability of a duplicate item being transmitted. The method is used in place of commonly used heuristics, and is evaluated for travel time and parking availability dissemination applications.
The Politics of Renewable Portfolio Standards and Clean Energy Production in the States

Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between state adoption of Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) policies, tax incentives and renewable energy production. The unique contribution of this paper is to analyze renewable energy development from a political perspective by investigating the influence of political and policy variables. Hypotheses relating to explanations based on policy, political and competing resources explanations are tested. The policy explanation investigates the influence of RPS, green power options, public benefits funds, net metering, and emissions caps. The political explanation focuses on the influence of citizen ideology, government ideology, legislative professionalism, as well as the activism of renewable energy interest groups, such as solar energy interest groups and wind energy interest groups. In addition, the effects of competing resources, such as nuclear, coal and hydro power are examined. The results provide substantial support for these hypotheses. Renewable portfolio standards, green power options, net metering and emission caps are each statistically significant and consistent with the expected relationship. The effect of RPS on the development of renewable energy capacity is substantial. We also found that citizen ideology and solar interest groups are important determinants for the deployment of renewable energy. We consider the development of renewable energy as a political process, in addition to a market process. Political mobilization of the renewable interest groups plays an important role in the deployment of renewable energy capacity. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington D.C. September 2010.
Introduction to the Semantics of Belief and Common Belief

We provide an introduction to interactive belief systems from a qualitative and semantic point of view. Properties of belief hierarchies are formulated locally. Among the properties considered are "Common belief in no error" (which has been shown to have important game theoretic applications), "Negative introspection of common belief" and "Truth about common belief." The relationship between these properties is studied.
A virtual laboratory for studying long-term relationships between humans and virtual agents

Longitudinal studies of human-virtual agent interaction are expensive and time consuming to conduct. We present a new concept and tool for conducting such studies---the virtual laboratory---in which a standing group of study participants interacts periodically with a computer agent that can be remotely manipulated to effect different study conditions, with outcome measures also collected remotely. This architecture allows new experiments to be dynamically defined and immediately implemented in the continuously-running system without delays due to recruitment and system reconfiguration. The use of this tool in the study of a virtual agent that plays the role of an exercise counselor for older adults is described, along with the results of an initial experiment into the effects of conversational variability on user engagement and exercise behavior.
El género Leptonema (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae) en Costa Rica, con la descripción de una nueva especie

The genus Leptonema Guerin 1843 (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae: Macronematinae) is one of the best known and most easily recognized of the Neotropical caddistlies. In lhe New World, the genus is wide\y distributed from southem Nonh America through Central and South America, including the Antilles, but excluding souther Chile and adjacent Argentina. The adults of Leptonema are large ( 10-40 mm) with light brown to light green translucent wings. Sorne species have small black or dark spots or pattems on the forewings. Larvae of Leptonema build refuges with small silken nets, and this way feed by filtering fine organic particles from the water. The refuges and nets are built with small gravel, sand, and silk. In 1914, B anks reponed L. albovirens from Costa Rica, the first record of the genus for Costa Rica. In i 987, FIint et al. provided an exhaustive taxonomic review of the world species, and recognized 15 species groups, five of which were present in Costa Rica. In addition, they described 48 new species, four from Costa Rica, and reponed five additional records. Holzenthal added six additional species records, and Munoz- Q. described five new species, of these L. tapanti is the first species in the stigmosum Group defined by FIint et al. and present in the country. In total, 24 species of Leptonema have been previously recorded in Costa Rica. For this research, collections of Leptonema specimens in the University of Minnesota insect Collection, Se Paul, MN and the National Museum of Natural History, S mithsonian Institution, Washington, Oc. were examined. In this paper, one additional undescribed species from Costa Rica is diagnosed, described and illustrated: Leptonema tica. Oiagnoses and illustrations of the male genitalia of the other species are presented. Figures of the larva and adult, as well as aspects of natural history of the genus are included. Finally, an identification key in English and Spanish is provided, together with distribution record maps of all species in Costa Rica are included.
La XXVI Legislatura y los trabajadores de la ciudad de México (1912-1913)

En este ensayo se abordan los medios a traves de los cuales los trabajadores de la ciudad de Mexico se movilizaron politicamente y fueron movilizados en la etapa maderista de la Revolucion Mexicana, prestando particular atencion a su relacion con la XXVI Legislatura federal.
Structure of lysozyme dissolved in neat organic solvents as assessed by NMR and CD spectroscopies.

The structure of the model protein hen egg-white lysozyme dissolved in water and in five neat organic solvents (ethylene glycol, methanol, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), formamide, and dimethylformamide (DMF)) has been examined by means of 1H NMR and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies. The NMR spectra of lysozyme reveal the lack of a defined tertiary structure in all five organic solvents, although the examination of line widths suggests the possibility of some ordered structure in ethylene glycol and in methanol. The near-UV CD spectra of the protein suggest no tertiary structure in lysozyme dissolved in DMSO, formamide, and DMF, while a distinctive (albeit less pronounced than in water) tertiary structure is seen in ethylene glycol and a drastically changed one in methanol. A highly developed secondary structure was observed by far-UV CD in ethylene glycol and methanol; interestingly, the alpha-helix content of the protein in both was greater than in water, while the beta-structure content was lower. (Solvent absorbance in the far-UV region prevents conclusions about the secondary structure in DMSO, formamide and DMF.)
Semantic Labeling of Nonspeech Audio Clips

Human communication about entities and events is primarily linguistic in nature. While visual representations of information are shown to be highly effective as well, relatively little is known about the communicative power of auditory nonlinguistic representations. We created a collection of short nonlinguistic auditory clips encoding familiar human activities, objects, animals, natural phenomena, machinery, and social scenes. We presented these sounds to a broad spectrum of anonymous human workers using Amazon Mechanical Turk and collected verbal sound labels. We analyzed the human labels in terms of their lexical and semantic properties to ascertain that the audio clips do evoke the information suggested by their pre-defined captions. We then measured the agreement with the semantically compatible labels for each sound clip. Finally, we examined which kinds of entities and events, when captured by nonlinguistic acoustic clips, appear to be well-suited to elicit information for communication, and which ones are less discriminable. Our work is set against the broader goal of creating resources that facilitate communication for people with some types of language loss. Furthermore, our data should prove useful for future research in machine analysis/synthesis of audio, such as computational auditory scene analysis, and annotating/querying large collections of sound effects.
A new battery model for use with an extended Kalman filter state of charge estimator

State of charge estimation based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) has recently received attention for applications that apply rapidly changing current profiles to batteries such as in hybrid electric vehicles. A new battery model is proposed for use with such an estimator in an attempt to further improve its accuracy. The model is based on physical principles underlying the behavior of valve regulated lead acid batteries, taking into account nonlinearities that have been neglected in other models. The model is compared to a linear circuit model consisting of two parallel RC circuits, often used in EKF based state of charge estimation, demonstrating improvement in accuracy.
Consistency in Hierarchical Database Systems

The problems of locking and consistency m database systems are examined It is assumed that each transacuon, when executed alone, transforms a consistent state into a consistent state A set of conditions is derived to guarantee that when transactions are processed concurrently, the results are the same as would be obtained by processing the transactmns serially These conditions are used to estabhsh a locking protocol in Merarchmal database systems The locking protocol allows transaeuons to request new locks after releasing a lock. However, a data item may be locked at most once as a result of each transacUon It ~s shown that the protocol ensures consistency and that tt ts deadlock free.
Bovine intermediate pituitary α-amidation enzyme: Preliminary characterization

Abstract A secretory granule-associated enzymatic activity that converts mono-[125I]-D-Tyr-Val-Gly into mono-[125I]-D-Tyr-Val-NH2 has been studied. The activity is primarily soluble and shows optimal activity at pH 7 to pH 8. Amidation activity was stimulated 9-fold by addition of optimal amounts of copper (3 μM). In the presence of optimal copper, ascorbate stimulated the reaction 7-fold; none of the other reduced or oxidized cofactors tested was as effective. Taking into account the dependence of the reaction on ascorbate and molecular oxygen and the production of glyoxylate [2], it is suggested that the α-amidation enzyme is a monooxygenase. Lineweaver Burk plots with D-Tyr-Val-Gly as the varied substrate demonstrated Michelis-Menten type kinetics with the values of Km and Vmax increasing with the addition of ascorbate to the assay. A variety of peptides ending with a COOH-terminal Gly residue act as inhibitors of the reaction. Two synthetic peptides, γ 2 MSH and ACTH(1–14), with carboxyl termini similar to the presumed physiological substrates for the enzyme, act as competitive inhibitors with similar K1 values. It is likely that this secretory granule α-amidation activity is involved in the physiological biosynthetic α-amidation of a wide range of bioactive peptides.
Risk Premia in Forward Foreign Exchange Markets: A Comparison of Signal Extraction and Regression Methods

We investigate time varying risk premia in forward dollar/pound monthly exchange rates over the last two decades. We study this issue using a signal plus noise model and separately using regression techniques. Our models account for time varying volatility and non-normalities in the observed series. Our signal plus noise model fails to isolate a statistically significant risk premium component whereas our regression model does. We attribute the discrepancy in the results from the two methods to the low power of the signal plus noise model in discriminating between a time varying risk premium component and a serially uncorrelated spot exchange rate expectational error. An important reason for the low power of the signal plus noise model is its failure to use information on current period forward rates in extracting the risk premium.
Effective Load Carrying Capability Evaluation of Renewable Energy via Stochastic Long-Term Hourly Based SCUC

This paper evaluates the effective load carrying capability (ELCC) of renewable resources, including wind and solar, via the stochastic long-term hourly based security-constrained unit commitment (SCUC) model. Different from traditional approaches which approximate ELCC of renewable resources using system peak loads, nonsequential block load duration curves, or rolling-based sequential methods, the stochastic long-term hourly based SCUC could accurately examine the impacts of short-term variability and uncertainty of renewable resources as well as chronological operation details of generators on hourly supplydemand imbalance and power system reliability in a long-term horizon. Uncertainties of hourly wind, solar, and load in a 1-year horizon are simulated via the scenario tree using the Monte Carlo method, and Approximate Dynamic Programming is adopted for effectively solving the stochastic long-term hourly based SCUC model. Variability correlations between wind speed and solar radiation are considered within the scenario sampling procedure. Moreover, parallel computing is designed with the pipeline structure for accelerating the computational performance of Approximate Dynamic Programming. Numerical case studies on the modified IEEE 118-bus system illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed stochastic long-term hourly based SCUC model and the Approximate Dynamic Programming solution approach for evaluating ELCC of renewable resources. This would help independent system operators (ISO) designs effective long-term planning strategies for operating power systems efficiently and reliably.
Alkyl peroxy radical kinetics measured using near-infrared CW-cavity ring-down spectroscopy

A kinetic reactor system is described which couples pulsed laser photolytic production of radicals with continuous laser excitation cavity ring-down spectroscopic detection in the near-infrared (NI...
Fine-needle aspiration of malignant mesothelioma with unusual morphologic features: a case report.

Malignant mesothelioma is an aggressive neoplasm linked to asbestos exposure. Most mesothelioma patients present with pleural effusion and the fluid is typically sent for cytological examination. Therefore, cytopathologists are most familiar with features of mesothelioma in fluid preparations. We present here a case of malignant mesothelioma with unusual cytological features diagnosed on FNA. The diagnosis was confirmed by immunohistochemcal and electron microscopic studies. In addition, we compare the cytomorphological features observed in malignant effusion versus fine-needle aspiration. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2007;35:174–178. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
An enthalpy formulation based on an arbitrarily deforming mesh for solution of the Stefan problem

Traditionally schemes for dealing with the Stefan phase change problem are separated into fixed grif or front tracking (deforming grid) schemes. A standard fixed grid scheme is to use an enthalpy formulation and track the movement of the phase front via a liquid fraction variable. In this paper, an enthalpy formulation is applied on a continuously deforming finite element grid. This approach results in a general numerical scheme that incorporates both front tracking and fixed grid schemes. It is shown how on appropriate setting of the grid velocity a fixed or deforming grid solution can be generated from the general scheme. In addition an approximate front tracking scheme is developed which can produce accurate non-oscillatory predictions at a computational cost close to an efficient fixed grid scheme. The versatility of the general scheme and the approximate front tracking scheme are demonstrated on solution of a number of Stefan problems in both one and two dimensions.
THERAPIST PRESENCE IN EMOTIONALLY FOCUSED COUPLE THERAPY BLAMER SOFTENING EVENTS: PROMOTING CHANGE THROUGH EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

The blamer softening event has been associated with successful treatment outcomes in emotionally focused couple therapy. Previous research has highlighted the critical role of softening events and heightened emotional experience in best sessions of emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT). This study examined the effects of a therapist's emotional presence in predicting heightened levels of client emotional experience in blamer softening events. Findings from a detailed analysis of successful and unsuccessful EFT softening attempts demonstrated that a therapist's emotional presence and corresponding evocative vocal quality were more likely to predict heightened levels of client emotional experience in successful softening attempts. Implications of these findings are reviewed in light of EFT research and practice.
Facile incorporation of a phosphatase activity-dependent quinone methide generating motif into phosphotyrosine

A novel phosphotyrosine analogue that incorporates a phosphatase activity-dependent quinone methide generating motif is synthesized from tyrosine. Following orthoformylation of the phenol moiety of methyl N-Cbz-tyrosinate, the Fmoc-protected 3-difluoromethyl analogue of phosphotyrosine is obtained by functional group transformations.
Cyclic ethers adsorbed on Ru(001)

The three cyclic ethers 1,3-dioxane. 1,4-dioxane and 1,3,5-trioxane all exhibit multiple desorption states from Ru(001) between 200 and 310 K, in addition to the multilayer and metastable states at lower temperature. Most distinctive are the two low-temperature α-states. which are similar in shape, position, and relative population for all three compounds. This suggests that these states are associated with configurations which are accessible to all three molecules. The data also indicate that there is some molecular decomposition to gaseous CO and H2. 1,4-Dioxane yields the largest amounts of these decomposition products, suggesting that this molecule is most susceptible to surface-catalyzed decomposition. The desorption data for the three cyclic ethers are grossly similar to each other, and also to the straight-chain diethers which we have previously studied.
Objects and Bodies Some Phenomenological Implications of Knowledge and Practice in Mayotte

Grounded in collective interactions that are often quite contentious, knowledge is formulated in the world (objectified), and tangibly experienced (embodied) by the agents engaged in these interactions. As a means of acting on the world in order to transform it, knowledge is implicitly powerful. Yet, the consequences of that power are only realized through the context in which they are carried out. Thus, the ambiguous character of such knowledge must be evaluated by social agents in the course of their activities. By drawing attention to these dimensions of knowledge as power which enable social agents to act on, and so transform, themselves as they transform the world, this essay broadly considers the implications of the dialectics of objectification and embodiment so ably detailed by Lambek.
Differential diagnosis of proximal biliary obstruction.

Background Obstruction at the hepatic duct confluence is generally due to hilar cholangiocarcinoma (HCCA). However, in up to 15% of patients, hilar obstruction could be due to alternative diagnoses other than HCCA. The aim of this study was to determine preoperative criteria that could differentiate HCCA from the alternative diagnoses. Methods All patients with hilar obstruction presumed to represent HCCA were included (1997-2001). The extent of disease was assessed preoperatively with computed tomography, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, and Duplex ultrasonography, and these findings were correlated to the final histopathology. Results A total of 171 patients were included in the study, with HCCA being the most common diagnosis (141 patients [82.4%], group I). Alternative diagnoses other than HCCA were encountered in 30 patients (17.5%, group II) and included benign stricture (9 patients [5.2%]) and other malignancy (21 patients [12%]). There was a higher incidence of involvement of the second-order bile ducts in group I (26% vs 3% in group II, P Conclusions Involvement of second-order bile ducts, vascular invasion, and lobar atrophy are more likely in patients with HCCA. The combination of vascular invasion and lobar atrophy significantly increases the diagnostic likelihood of HCCA. The absence of these findings should raise awareness of the possibility of an alternative diagnosis.
Natural Disasters and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Short-Term versus Long-Term Recovery in Two Disaster-Affected Communities1

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults following disaster-precipitated family relocation was investigated in a longitudinal study of family and individual response to natural disasters. Adult participants included 78 women and 77 men in two communities. Psychosocial adjustment was measured at two points in time: at 4 months and 16 months after the disaster. Instruments used for assessing stress-related symptomatology included the Horowitz Impact of Event Scale (HIES) and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). Major findings included: (a) levels of short-term stress symptomatology and diagnosable PTSD were substantial in both communities; (b) significant decrements in these levels occurred by 16-months postdisaster;(c) substantial gender differences (greater levels for women) were apparent in both short- and long-term PTSD response rates; and (d) patterns and levels of PTSD symptoms were different in the two communities. Findings have implications for the interpretation of PTSD within the context of family- and community-level variables.
Mortality in patients with epilepsy.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Prospective and retrospective incidence cohort studies have been consistent in identifying an increased mortality in patients with epilepsy, although risk ratios vary considerably. Standardized mortality ratios in these populations range from 1.6 to 5.3, but they tend to be higher in studies in selected populations. RECENT FINDINGS: A few studies have addressed the mortality rate in patients after epilepsy surgery. Mortality seemed to be lower for surgery than for non-surgery patients. The main factors contributing to the late mortality rate in this population are the persistence of seizures after surgery, the long duration of epilepsy before surgery, and the side of the resection. Despite recent improvements in diagnosis and therapeutic management, status epilepticus is still associated with significant mortality, with a case fatality reaching 39%. Early patient management could influence the outcome of status epilepticus. Reports on suicide in epilepsy are based on small samples from different populations, highly selected groups of patients, using different methods of analysis. The rates vary from zero to 25%, and seem to be related more to a psychiatric co-morbidity than the severity of epilepsy. Sudden unexplained death is considered to be the most frequent epilepsy-related death. Clinical and experimental evidence supports the theory that sudden unexplained death is a recent seizure-mediated event with ictal stimulation of the autonomic system. SUMMARY: In some situations, the increased risk of death could be prevented by a better definition of populations at increased risk, better therapeutic management, and adequate neurological follow-up. Language: en
Solution of discrete-time optimal control problems on parallel computers *

Abstract We describe locally-convergent algorithms for discrete-time optimal control problems which are amenable to multiprocessor implementation. Parallelism is achieved both through concurrent evaluation of the component functions and their derivatives, and through the use of a parallel solver which solves a linear system to find the step at each iteration.. Results from an implementation on the Alliant FX/8 are described.
Evaluating the 1992 and 1993 community integrated service systems projects

The federal evaluation of forty-one Community Integrated Service Systems projects is described, focusing on issues in conducting a national, cross-site evaluation and the findings of the implementation study of the first two years of the initiative.
Versatile Synthesis Of Liquid Crystalline Thermoplastic Elastomers

Alkyl 4-[()-alkoxybenzoyi)oxy]benzoates(with Cl-Cloalkyl and alkoxy groups) are monotropic compounds which melt directly to isotropic liquids. Twin liquid crystalline compounds, TLCC's of [alkoxybenzoyl)oxy]benzoic acid have been synthesized. The TLCC with methoxy end groups and trioxyethylene spacer is weakly mesogenic, but replacement of the methoxy with an n-butoxy end group results in a smectic mesophase. With the decamethylene spacer, the TLCC with a methoxy end group shows a nematic mesophase, whereas the compound with n-butoxy end groups exhibits both smectic and nematic mesophases. The latter has much higher ordered liquid crystalline states than the former. The polymeric TLCP's with n-butoxy end groups and Mn=650 poly(THF) and Mn=725 poly(propylene oxide) spacers display weak liquid crystal-line order with only one mesophase transition. Decreasing the M of the poly(propylene oxide) spacer to 425 resulted in much stronger liquid crystallinenorder, exhibiting both smectic and nematic phases. It is suggested the microphase separation due to dissimilar solubility parameters can be an important contributing factor toward mesophase formation. Using this approach, TLCP's having energetic poly(hexafluoropentanediol formal) soft seg-ments have synthesized.
Utilizing the graph modularity to blind cluster multispectral satellite imagery

The fully automatic separation of spectral image data into clusters is a problem with a wide variety of desired and potential solutions. Contrary to the typical approaches of utilizing the first order statistics and Gaussian modeling of spectral image data, the method described in this paper utilizes the spectral data structure to generate a graph representation of the image and then clusters the data by applying the method of optimal modularity for finding communities within the graph. After defining and identifying pixel adjacencies to represent an image as an adjacency matrix, a quantity known as the graph modularity is maximized to split the data into groups of spectrally similar pixels. Recursion with the subgroups created in each split creates the data clustering. The groups where the maximal modularity is not above a given threshold are not split, resulting in a stopping condition and an estimation of the number of clusters necessary to fully describe the data. By ignoring any reliance on assumptions of the shape of the data, this method excels in regions where typical clustering methods fail, such as high resolution urban scenes with very high clutter and regions with subtle variability like coastal bodies of water.
The association between handwashing practices and illness symptoms among college students living in a university dormitory

We describe handwashing practices, the association of handwashing with upper respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, and the effects of gender on handwashing practices among male (n = 215) and female (n = 243) college students. Self-reported frequency of handwashing was not associated with infectious illness symptom reporting. Only a small proportion of males (10%) and females (7%) reported "always" washing their hands before eating. Females were more likely than males to always wash their hands after urinating (69% vs 43%; P P = .14). Identifying new strategies to increase handwashing may help prevent infectious disease transmission in residence hall environments.
Mutilating multidigital injuries: Use of a free microvascular flap from a nonreplantable part

In severe hand injuries, all usable parts should be salvaged from amputated nonreplantable areas. A case is presented in which a free flap taken from an amputated finger was used to reconstruct a severely injured but viable remaining digit. This was done as part of the primary reconstructive effort and provided a well vascularized protective cover for the surviving injured digit.
Choice of Reading Comprehension Test Influences the Outcomes of Genetic Analyses

Does the choice of test for assessing reading comprehension influence the outcome of genetic analyses? A twin design compared two types of reading comprehension tests classified as primarily associated with word decoding (RC-D) or listening comprehension (RC-LC). For both types of tests, the overall genetic influence is high and nearly identical. However, the tests differed significantly in how they covary with the genes associated with decoding and listening comprehension. Although Cholesky decomposition showed that both types of comprehension tests shared significant genetic influence with both decoding and listening comprehension, RC-D tests shared most genetic variance with decoding, and RC-LC tests shared most with listening comprehension. Thus, different tests used to measure the same construct may manifest very different patterns of genetic covariation. These results suggest that the apparent discrepancies among the findings of previous twin studies of reading comprehension could be due at least in part to test differences.