cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
HIGH PLAINS REGIONAL AQUIFER STUDY REVISITED: A 20-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE FOR WESTERN KANSAS

The most comprehensive water policy analysis conducted on the High Plains region to date was the High Plains Ogallala Regional Aquifer Study completed in 1982. Twenty years later, we had a unique opportunity to compare the projections from this study with the changes that actually occurred over the past two decades. Specific comparisons were made for the area of western Kansas overlying the High Plains Aquifer. These comparisons revealed some significant differences in the status of the aquifer and in the region's economic development, relative to the predictions of the study. Most notably, contrary to the study's predictions, irrigated area did not decline precipitously, but rather con­ tinued to increase during the period. Despite large increases in irrigated area and production of more water-intensive crops, such as corn and alfalfa, both per-unit area and total water use declined over the 20 years. Differences in observed and projected results can be attributed to a variety of factors, including large differences in crop prices, yield trends, energy prices, farm commodity programs, and irrigation technologies relative to those assumed in the study. Future research will need to better account for these factors to offer useful guidance in setting water man­ agement policies.
Maize opaque mutants are no longer so opaque

The endosperm of angiosperms is a zygotic seed organ that stores nutrient reserves to support embryogenesis and seed germination. Cereal endosperm is also a major source of human calories and an industrial feedstock. Maize opaque endosperm mutants commonly exhibit opaque, floury kernels, along with other abnormal seed and/or non-seed phenotypes. The opaque endosperm phenotype is sometimes accompanied by a soft kernel texture and increased nutritional quality, including a higher lysine content, which are valuable agronomic traits that have drawn attention of maize breeders. Recently, an increasing number of genes that underlie opaque mutants have been cloned, and their characterization has begun to shed light on the molecular basis of the opaque endosperm phenotype. These mutants are categorized by disruption of genes encoding zein or non-zein proteins localized to protein bodies, enzymes involved in endosperm metabolic processes, or transcriptional regulatory proteins associated with endosperm storage programs.
Family Structure and Behavior in Alcoholism: A Review of the Literature

The family in its varied forms through time has constituted the primary social unit of all societies. Marriage functions as a social institution that regulates sexual mating and legitimizes children. The family characteristically has borne the chief responsibility for the nurturing and socialization of children. In keeping with its social significance, a voluminous literature of fiction and nonfiction works deals with the intricacies of specific families and of families as generic social forms.
Exploiting Inter Voxel Correlation in Compressed Computational Imaging

An ensemble of representative targets contains apriori correlation information, quantified by the intervoxel covariance matrix. Thresholding according to the eigenvalues of his matrix and reconstructing only those eigenmodes, a faster, more accurate reconstruction is obtained.
A Simple Molecular Kerogen Pore-Network Model for Transport Simulation in Condensed Phase Digital Source-Rock Physics

Transport of small hydrocarbon molecules inside organic nanopores is of great interest in the oil and gas production from source rocks such as shale. Because of the small pore sizes, it is difficult to measure transport directly in the laboratory but require alternative approaches such as molecular simulation. Existing molecular models use nanoscale capillaries and do not describe the exact geometric structure of the organic nanopores in real source rocks, especially for mesopores (2–50 nm in diameter, defined by IUPAC), which widely exist in organic solids and are crucial for fluid transport in the source rocks. Here we present a new method to simplify the existing molecular kerogen models. Pore structures can be built to reflect the exact porous structure of hydrocarbon-bearing kerogen pores for fluid transport without losing accuracy. The kerogen pore-network skeleton can be populated based on 3D digital segments obtained from high-resolution TEM tomographs, combining with other material properties, including the elemental composition and density of the organic solid. The basic idea of the simplified molecular model is to ignore the detailed chemical information of the kerogen molecules and to use a uniform “representative” atom to replace all various atom types, while maintaining the geometric structure intact. To test the transport simulation accuracy using molecular dynamics for this simplified model, sample pore-network structures are populated with both the existing exact molecular model and the simplified model, and the permeability of reservoir fluid flowing through the media is simulated and compared. Specifically, simple reservoir fluids are charged into the space of the 3D porous networks with grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation at given subsurface condition; then, the fluids are driven by an external force field to flow through the network using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. The simplified kerogen model can be easily applied to larger organic porous material samples to reduce spatial uncertainty, provided enough computational resources.
Story Teller: A Contextual-based Educational Augmented-Reality Application for Preschool Children

An augmented reality (AR) application, Story Teller, is designed to teach preschool children some Chinese words. In order to train their motor skill, holdable items are used as the AR markers, which can be combined to construct a story. To retain children's interest, varying stories may be presented in different location and time.
Geographical Differences in Intracranial Meningioma Management: Examining 65,973 Patients across the United States.

Background Age, tumor size and location, overall health, and patient preference are primary considerations driving treatment decision-making for intracranial meningiomas. However, even for the same individual patient, treatment recommendations may vary between centers and providers. Objective To study associations between geography, disease presentation, and management of intracranial meningioma in the United States. Methods The population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results(SEER) data were queried between 2004 and 2014 for cases of intracranial meningioma. Results A total of 65,808 patients with intracranial meningioma were identified. Univariate analyses demonstrated strong associations between geographic location, age, and size of tumor at presentation. The mean age for all registries was 64.2 years, with a range from 62.0 (Utah registry) to 66.6 (Detroit registry). The greatest proportion of small tumors ( 4cm) were noted in the Hawaii registry (30.7% of tumors). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that the impact of geography on treatment selection was just as important as other established variables. For example, the distribution in tumor size between New Mexico and Greater California registries is nearly identical; however, the odds ratio for surgery was 1.5 times greater for the New Mexico population. Conclusion These data suggest that disease presentation and treatment are significantly influenced by regional referral patterns, provider or institutional treatment preferences, and regional availability of subspecialty expertise. Understanding such biases is important for patients, referring physicians, and treatment providers in an effort to provide balanced counseling and treatment.
Advanced Heart Failure Treatment Modalities and Hospice Care: The Need for High Level Care Coordination:

Advanced heart failure therapies such as ventricular assist devices and home inotrope use are becoming more common. Technology advances as well as increased indications for use of such therapies is leading to a higher percentage of patients with end-stage heart failure receiving these therapies at end of life. We present a case of a young man with dilated cardiomyopathy who undergoes advanced cardiac care in the setting of progressively declining cardiac function. Our case outlines the importance of acute care, palliative care, and hospice services being coordinated prior to and during acute-care services to provide goal-concordant and expeditious care. With advancing medical therapies for heart disease, increased coordination and collaboration of services are needed, particularly between hospice and acute-care services.
Sport and the anxious mind

Sport is the locus of varieties of athletic experience. In this paper, I focus on anxiety as a felt experience in sport. Anxiety is often experienced as a form of psychological distress. It is a co...
Intracellular Noise Level Determines Ratio Control Strategy Confined by Speed-Accuracy Trade-off.

Robust and precise ratio control of heterogeneous phenotypes within an isogenic population is an essential task, especially in the development and differentiation of a large number of cells such as bacteria, sensory receptors, and blood cells. However, the mechanisms of such ratio control are poorly understood. Here, we employ experimental and mathematical techniques to understand the combined effects of signal induction and gene expression stochasticity on phenotypic multimodality. We identify two strategies to control phenotypic ratios from an initially homogenous population, suitable roughly to high-noise and low-noise intracellular environments, and we show that both can be used to generate precise fractional differentiation. In noisy gene expression contexts, such as those found in bacteria, induction within the circuit’s bistable region is enough to cause noise-induced bimodality within a feasible timeframe. However, in less noisy contexts, such as tightly controlled eukaryotic systems, spontaneous ...
Evaluation of Alternative Direction-of-Arrival Methods for Oceanographic HF Radars

The majority of ocean current measuring HF radars obtain the direction of arrival (DOA) of signals backscattered from the ocean with the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm. These radars often operate under conditions including low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), low numbers of data samples (aka snapshots), and with the number of signal sources approaching or exceeding the number of receive antenna elements. Improving the accuracy and coverage of the radar data in these situations would improve data produced by radar networks such as the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, revealing new understanding of coastal ocean dynamics. This paper presents an evaluation of DOA techniques developed over the last 10–20 years, for application to oceanographic HF radars using a simulation-based approach. Simulations performed using three commonly used receive arrays suggest that the use of maximum-likelihood estimation by alternating projection (MLE-AP) leads to similar accuracy, with improvement in coverage due to the higher number of DOA solutions obtained when compared to MUSIC. These advances come at a higher computational cost, though the difference is manageable. The analysis also illustrates the need to identify and evaluate signal detection methods (i.e., methods to identify the number of simultaneous source bearings) to work in conjunction with MLE-AP. Overall, these results suggest improvements in the data coverage of ocean current maps produced by HF radars, and thus in the many practical applications employing them such as spill response, and search and rescue.
Groundwater Management in California’s Central Valley: A Focus on Disadvantaged Communities

In the state of California, groundwater serves 85% of Californians for at least part of their water. During the last drought (2011–2016), a high proportion of domestic wells went dry, most of which were located in disadvantaged communities (DACs) in the California Central Valley. Prior to 2014, voluntary groundwater management plans (GMPs) existed as one of the main groundwater governance options. However, little is known about the adoption of these GMPs and their effect on groundwater management. This case study analyzes the adoption of voluntary GMPs statewide and their impact on DACs that primarily rely on groundwater for drinking water. Our analysis shows low adoption of voluntary GMPs (15% for Assembly Bill [AB] 3030 and 12% for Senate Bill [SB] 1938) by local agencies. Even though GMPs were most frequently adopted in the Central Valley, the majority of domestic well shortages and DACs are concentrated there. Furthermore, water agencies, such as irrigation and water districts, had the highest adoption rate (70%), followed by cities (18%) and counties (7%), which indicates that institutional capacity is key for groundwater management. However, since only public agencies were eligible to adopt GMPs, the inclusion of private groundwater users within public agencies is questionable. In sum, the lack of voluntary GMP adoption shows that they were unsuccessful in incentivizing or facilitating institutional action. Finally, restrictions on eligibility to design GMPs underscore the persistent challenge of involving all users in local water management, which may be key to close the gap between policy design and socio-ecological outcomes.
Hand injuries associated with reaching into a snow blower to clear clogged snow.

Abstract Introduction Hand injuries represent the most common and potentially serious injuries associated with the use of snow blowers. Little research has been conducted on a national scale to examine these types of injuries. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine hand injuries among patients treated in an emergency department (ED) related to attempting to clear snow out of a clogged snow blower. Methods Data were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System for the years 2009–2017. National estimates of ED visits for hand injuries associated with the use of a snow blower were analyzed by nature of injury, age, and disposition. Trends in age adjusted rates were also obtained. Results During the 10 year period, there were 27,826 hand injuries treated in emergency departments associated with the use of snow blowers. The majority of the injuries were fractures and lacerations, with an additional 22% being amputations. The majority (95%) were among males and most occurred among middle aged adults. Overall, hand injuries associated with the use of snow blowers declined during the study period. Conclusions Hand injuries remain the main threat of injury among snow blower operators. While trends are declining, given the seriousness of the injuries involved, further public health education campaigns and design modifications are warranted.
Lead exposure and mortality among U.S. workers in a surveillance program: Results from 10 additional years of follow-up.

Abstract Background A cohort of male lead-exposed workers with past blood lead levels, previously followed for mortality over 12 years, has now been followed for an additional 10 years. This has doubled the number of deaths and allowed for examination of mortality outcomes across a wide range of blood lead levels. Objective Evaluate association between lead exposure and 16 causes of death. Methods The cohort included male workers from 11 U.S. states enrolled in a U.S. lead surveillance program. Maximum blood lead level for each worker was abstracted from surveillance records. Mortality was assessed using the National Death Index. We conducted internal analyses via Cox regression adjusting for age, calendar time, and race. External analyses compared cohort mortality rates with those of the U.S. population. Blood lead categories were defined as 0- Results The cohort (n = 58,368) was followed for a median of 19 years and experienced 6,527 deaths. Average maximum blood lead was 25.9 μg/dL and mean year of first blood lead test was 1997. Strong associations were found between blood lead level with larynx and lung cancer mortality. For these outcomes, hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals across blood lead categories were 1.0 (ref), 1.1 (0.4–3.2), 3.4 (1.3–9.1) for larynx and 1.0 (ref), 1.6 (1.0–2.5), 2.0 (1.3–3.1), 2.9 (1.9–4.5) for lung (trend p-values = 0.08 and Conclusions The additional follow up confirmed previous relationships between lead and mortality and also detected new associations.
Gratitude mediates perceptions of previous generations’ prosocial behaviors and prosocial attitudes toward future generations

Challenges such as climate change involve the need for individuals living today to make choices that will benefit future generations. The purpose of this study was to investigate prosocial attitude...
Fichte’s Relational I: Anstoβ and Aufforderung

This chapter examines Fichte’s conception of the Anstoβ in his theory of subjectivity. I argue that Fichte has a relational conception of the I that should be distinguished from Descartes’s and Kant’s views of the I. After providing an overview of Anstoβ’s role in Fichte’s Jena writings, I examine two interpretations of the Anstoβ: the standard interpretation views the concept of the Anstoβ as an Aufforderung (or summons) is not found in Fichte’s 1794/1795 Foundations of the Entire Wissenschaftslehre; the intersubjective interpretation holds that the concept of the Anstoβ as an Aufforderung is present in this work. I sketch an alternative interpretation, the normative interpretation, that suggests the Anstoβ possesses a normative content that is evident in the 1794/1795 text.
Preliminary Studies of Responses of Fish to Complex Pharmaceutical and Petrochemical Wastes

Investigations were conducted to define the abilities of fish to survive or to detect and avoid exposure to complex organic waste materials from pharmaceutical and petrochemical sources. These wastes are currently barge-dumped in deep waters north of Puerto Rico. The 24-hr and 96-hr LC50’S for juvenile spot Leiostomus xanthurus and killifish Fundulus heteroclitus and avoidance limits for juvenile spot and juvenile menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus were determined. Fish accepted exposures without mortality to waste concentrations substantively greater than are expected to occur in the field situation.
Our Robots, Our Team: Robot Anthropomorphism Moderates Group Effects in Human–Robot Teams

Past research indicates that people favor, and behave more morally toward, human ingroup than outgroup members. People showed a similar pattern for responses toward robots. However, participants favored ingroup humans more than ingroup robots. In this study, I examine if robot anthropomorphism can decrease differences between humans and robots on ingroup favoritism. This paper presents a 2 × 2 × 2 mixed-design experimental study with participants (N = 81) competing on teams of humans and robots. I examined how people morally behaved toward and perceived players depending on players' Group Membership (ingroup, outgroup), Agent Type (human, robot), and Robot Anthropomorphism (anthropomorphic, mechanomorphic). Results replicated prior findings that participants favored the ingroup over the outgroup and humans over robots-to the extent that they favored ingroup robots over outgroup humans. This paper also includes novel results indicating that patterns of responses toward humans were more closely mirrored by anthropomorphic than mechanomorphic robots.
KINEMATIC REPULSIONS BETWEEN INERTIAL SYSTEMS IN AN EXPANDING INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE

The cosmological background radiation is observed to be isotropic only within a coordinate system that is at rest relative to its local Hubble drift. This indicates that the Hubble motion describes the recessional motion of an inertial system that is at rest relative to its local Hubble drift. It is shown that when the Hubble parameter is kinematically defined directly in terms of the positions and velocities of mass particles in the universe, it then also defines inertial systems themselves in terms of the distribution and motion of mass particles. It is independent of the velocity of photons because photons always have a speed c relative to the inertial system in which they are located. Therefore the definition of their velocity depends on the definition of the Hubble parameter itself and cannot be used to define H. The derivative of the kinematically defined Hubble parameter with respect to time is shown to always be positive and highly repulsive at the time of the origin of the universe. A model is us...
Fjord Sub Zero Impact Protective Wakeboarding Wetsuit

Thrill-seekers are continuously searching for new ways to have an incredible time. For some wakeboarders, this means venturing out to the planet’s harshest icy waters to push the boundaries of their sport. They aspire to jump off of icebergs at heights of 5m while being pulled behind a boat traveling up to speeds of 40 kph. These athletes have to be exceptionally accurate to execute their approaches safely and avoid injury while performing in chilling arctic waters of around 0°C. Riding in these frigid waters requires athletes to layer-up in full surfing wetsuits designed for temperatures of +8C. Currently, there are no wetsuits on the market that satisfy the thermoregulation needs for these athletes while providing proper protection to the chest, back, and legs when navigating the erratic elements of arctic waters. The wetsuit addresses these challenges by providing male wakeboarders an ultra-warm, impact protective wetsuit for arctic temperatures.
Guayule (Parthenium argentatum) resin: A review of chemistry, extraction techniques, and applications

Abstract Guayule (Parthenium argentatum Gray) is a perennial shrub of the Asteraceae family native to the arid southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico that produces high-quality, hypoallergenic natural rubber. Guayule processing produces three output streams: high-molecular weight rubber as the primary product, a mixture of resin/low-molecular weight rubber, and a fine, dry woody bagasse. The goal of this review was to evaluate guayule resin as a source of natural resin and secondary metabolites in order to overcome obstacles to commercialization by maximizing the total economic value of extractable fractions, increasing the scale and robustness of extraction methods, while concurrently lowering the operational costs and environmental impacts of separations. Based on the literature and current market prices, the guayule resin applications with the highest economic potential are residential pesticides (with a specific price range of 1.1–6.8 USD/kg), paints and coatings (0.7–6.0 USD/kg), wood preservative coatings (0.8–6.0 USD/kg), amine-epoxy strippable coatings (0.8–2.5 USD/kg), and adhesives (0.125–1.60 USD/kg). The separation methods with the greatest potential for scale-up are pressurized solvent extractions, such as supercritical CO2 extraction, due to their reduced extraction times, energy requirements, and solvent consumption.
HINTS: Citation Time Series Prediction for New Publications via Dynamic Heterogeneous Information Network Embedding

Accurate prediction of scientific impact is important for scientists, academic recommender systems, and granting organizations alike. Existing approaches rely on many years of leading citation values to predict a scientific paper’s citations (a proxy for impact), even though most papers make their largest contributions in the first few years after they are published. In this paper, we tackle a new problem: predicting a new paper’s citation time series from the date of publication (i.e., without leading values). We propose HINTS, a novel end-to-end deep learning framework that converts citation signals from dynamic heterogeneous information networks (DHIN) into citation time series. HINTS imputes pseudo-leading values for a paper in the years before it is published from DHIN embeddings, and then transforms these embeddings into the parameters of a formal model that can predict citation counts immediately after publication. Empirical analysis on two real-world datasets from Computer Science and Physics show that HINTS is competitive with baseline citation prediction models. While we focus on citations, our approach generalizes to other “cold start” time series prediction tasks where relational data is available and accurate prediction in early timestamps is crucial.
Efficacy of Superior Laryngeal Nerve Block for the Treatment of Neurogenic Cough: a Retrospective Review

Chronic cough may be multifactorial. A subset of patients may have a neurogenic cough, secondary to irritation of the superior laryngeal nerve. Superior laryngeal nerve blocks may be an efficacious treatment for neurogenic cough. Neuromodulating medications may be used in the treatment of chronic cough, but may have side effects. There are no reported serious adverse effects from superior laryngeal nerve blocks. Prospective, placebo-controlled studies are needed to confirm the efficacy of superior laryngeal nerve blocks for the treatment of chronic cough.
Lyapunov energy function based direct power control of synchronverters under unbalanced grid voltage conditions

Virtual synchronous machine or synchronverters’ operation augmented by Lyapunov energy function based direct power control under unbalanced grid voltage conditions has been presented in this paper. Synchronverters are grid connected inverters controlled in a way to mimic the operation of a synchronous machine. However, under unbalanced grid voltage conditions, operation of the synchronverters become challenging due to second harmonic oscillations in the active and reactive power. This create issues while supplying power from a photovoltaic source via synchronverters as the maximum power point tracking cannot operate due to power fluctuations. To tackle this, in this paper, a Lyapunov energy function based direct power control has been implemented which tackles the power fluctuations and nullifies it during grid voltage unbalance. Various case study results along with the derivation of Lyapunov energy function based direct power control has been presented in this paper. The proposed architecture is verified via computer simulations based on MATLAB/Simulink and PLECS domain and various case study results along with their discussion is presented in this paper.
Initiation by Glucagon of the Premature Development of Tyrosine Aminotransferase, Serine Dehydratase, and Glucose-6-Phosphatase in Fetal Rat Liver

The explosive accumulation of tyrosine aminotransferase that normally occurs in rats at birth has been brought about prematurely by a single administration of glucagon to fetuses. Serine dehydratase is also found to accumulate normally after birth, but glucagon initiates its formation prenatally. The glucose-6-phosphatase activity of liver, which begins to develop just before birth, has been prematurely increased in fetuses by glucagon. The administration of hydrocortisone is without effect on the prenatal development of these three enzymes. The results suggest that glucagon may exert an important physiological function in the rat during the time of major developmental change in carbohydrate metabolism. The administration of glucose inhibits the early postnatal accumulation of tyrosine aminotransferase and serine dehydratase during the first 6 to 8 hours after birth. The results are consistent with the possibility that under normal conditions the decrease in blood glucose, upon cessation of the placental supply at birth, stimulates the secretion of glucagon, which then triggers the formation of tyrosine aminotransferase and serine dehydratase.
Elastic Registration with Partial Data

We have developed a general purpose registration algorithm for medical images and volumes. The transformation between images is modelled as locally affine but globally smooth, and explicitly accounts for local and global variations in image intensities. An explicit model of missing data is also incorporated, allowing us to simultaneously segment and register images with partial or missing data. The algorithm is built upon a differential multiscale framework and incorporates the expectation maximization algorithm. We show that this approach is highly effective in registering a range of synthetic and clinical medical images.
Low Velocity Impact Characterization of Nanoclay and MWCNTs Binary Nanoparticles Modified Carbon/Epoxy Composites Subjected to Marine Environmental Conditioning

The use of carbon fiber reinforced polymeric composites (FRPC) for naval vessels has been increasingly recently, where high impact resistance is a major concern. Recent advancement in the use of nanoparticles has enabled the design of lighter, stronger and more durable FRPC structures compared to the traditional FRPC. In this study, carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites were modified with binary (2 wt.% montmorillonite nanoclay and 0.1 wt. % MWCNT together) nanoparticles and subjected to marine environmental conditioning. Low velocity impact response of the modified samples were tested after 6 months of conditioning and compared with control carbon/epoxy composites. The composite laminates were subjected to impact loading at 30J and 40J energy levels. Load vs displacement characteristics were obtained and analyzed. The damage area for all control and modified samples were observed using thermography imaging technique and quantified. From experimental results, it was evident that durability of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites was significantly improved by modification with montmorillonite nanoclay along with slight amount of MWCNTs.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
The Physiological Role of 5-HT2A Receptors in Working Memory

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has an essential role in the cognitive process of working memory, dysfunction of which is considered to be a core deficit in schizophrenia. Although this cortical region is densely innervated with 5-HT2A receptors to which atypical antipsychotic drugs bind with high affinity, little is known of the influence of this serotonin receptor subtype on prefrontal function. We addressed this issue by examining the effects of iontophoresis of selective receptor ligands on prefrontal neurons possessing spatially tuned delay activity, or "memory fields," in monkeys performing a delayed-response task. Memory fields of putative pyramidal cells were attenuated by iontophoresis of 5-HT2A antagonists, which primarily produced a reduction in delay activity for preferred target locations. Conversely, 5-HT2A stimulation by alpha-methyl-5-HT or 5-HT itself, accentuated the spatial tuning of these neurons by producing a modest increase in activity for preferred target locations and/or a reduction in activity for nonpreferred locations. The agonist effects could be reversed by the selective antagonist MDL100,907, and were dose-dependent, such that high levels attenuated spatial tuning by profoundly reducing delay activity. A role for feedforward inhibitory circuitry in these effects was supported by the finding that 5-HT2A blockade also attenuated the memory fields of putative interneurons. We conclude that prefrontal 5-HT2A receptors have a hitherto unrecognized role in the cognitive function of working memory, which involves actions at both excitatory and inhibitory elements within local circuitry.
INTERPLAY BETWEEN MATERIALS THEORY AND HIGH-PRESSURE EXPERIMENTS

High-pressure experiments have played an important role in materials physics, both as a route for synthesizing new materials and as a means of validating theory. These roles are complementary, and have proven to be remarkably synergistic.
Failure of Medium Chain Triglycerides in the Treatment of Persistent Chylous Ascites Secondary to Lymphosarcoma

Summary A patient with persistent chylous ascites secondary to lymphatic obstruction by lymphosarcoma and fibrosis was treated with medium chain triglycerides. During five isocaloric dietary periods daily weight, ascitic fluid accumulation, character and composition of ascitic fluid, and estimated fraction of daily caloric intake removed by paracenteses were recorded. The lipid content of the ascitic fluid was dramatically reduced, but the rate of ascitic fluid accumulation was not altered. Accordingly the frequent paracenteses that were necessary led to extensive removal of plasma protein. The absence of steatorrhea and the failure to find medium chain fatty acids in the ascitic fluid suggest that in irreversible chylous obstruction dietary medium chain triglycerides, by virtue of their transport by portal blood, are of more nutritional value than equicaloric amounts of long chain triglycerides. In our patient the rate of intestinal lymphatic flow seemed to be independent of lymphatic lipid transport.
Sacred bodies: considering resistance to oncofertility in muslim communities.

It has been correctly stated that the religion of Islam is defined by orthopraxy rather than by orthodoxy. That is, it is more a religion of practice and law than a religion of doctrine. In the absence of a central church, Muslims rely on legal scholars to define the acceptable parameters of Islamic practice. These scholars may come to disparate conclusions and define different modes of practice for discrete communities and still be considered genuinely “Islamic.” Thus, the practice of Islam in various locales often differs based on the leanings and predilections of the legal scholars in that area. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Muslims are not bound to follow any particular scholar or groups of scholars, but rather may choose to follow, or not follow, whomsoever they wish.
Fuzzy linguistic modeling and control of manufacturing systems

Manufacturing processes are characterized by both discrete and continuous variable dynamics. The design of innovative and effective control strategies for these processes requires the development of new modeling techniques that not only capture the hybrid continuous/discrete dynamic nature of the process, but also address the performance objectives in a systematic way. It is also desirable that the modeling techniques address the controller design issue from a system-theoretic perspective. This paper introduces a new hierarchical approach for modeling of manufacturing systems in which the manufacturing plant is explicitly differentiated from the controller. A key feature of the proposed approach is the use of system-theoretic control concepts that capitalize upon tools from the area of fuzzy logic. An equivalence of this modeling approach with fuzzy Petri nets is described. An example is given that illustrates the design techniques.
Association of bile acid receptor TGR5 variation and transit in health and lower functional gastrointestinal disorders.

Background The membrane bound bile acid (BA) receptor, TGR5, is located on myenteric, cholinergic and nitrergic neurons in colon and proximal small intestine. Our aim was to assess the association of genetic variation in TGR5 and small bowel (SBT) and colonic transit.
Attainable accuracy in the numerical integration of the Thomas—Fermi kinetic-energy functional using a modeled electron density

In the Hohenberg and Kohn formation of the density-functional theory of an electronic system, the basic variable is the electron (number) density. This quantity, however, is not known. For this reason, in an actual calculation, one has to resort to an approximate electron (number) density in order to evaluate the integral occurring in the Hohenberg and Kohn density functional framework. This poses the question: what is the accuracy beyond which one cannot penetrate in the numerical evaluation of the integrals? The present work attempts to provide an answer to this question by considering the Ne atom as an example and using the simplest energy-density functional, namely the Thomas-Fermi functional. In this functional, composed of three terms, there is only one term, the kinetic-energy functional, that has to be evaluated numerically. The evaluation of this integral is done by modeling the electron (number) density of the Ne atom and resorting to Simpson's compound rule. Following this, an error bound for the integral is established. This is the central result of this paper.
Ab initio study for reactions of BrO with BrO, OBrO, and Br2O2

Abstract Reactions of BrO with BrO, OBrO, and Br2O2 have been investigated using ab initio method. Calculation at Quadratic Configuration Interaction, including single and double substitutions (QCISD)(T)/6-311++G(2df)//QCISD/6-311G*+ΔZPE level of theory suggests that BrO+BrO→Br+OBrO be endothermic by 3.8 kcal mol−1, and BrO+OBrO→Br2O+O2 be exothermic by 43.0 kcal mol−1, agreeing well with experimental measurements. The BrO self-reaction forming BrOO + Br and Br2O2 isomers is estimated to be exothermic by 6.8–22.0 kcal mol−1. Extractions of terminal Br from Br2O2 isomers by BrO yielding Br2O and BrO2 (i.e., BrOO or OBrO) are predicted to be exothermic by 15.1–21.0 kcal mol−1.
The Efficient Cellular Uptake of High Density Lipoprotein Lipids via Scavenger Receptor Class B Type I Requires Not Only Receptor-mediated Surface Binding but Also Receptor-specific Lipid Transfer Mediated by Its Extracellular Domain

The class B type I scavenger receptor, (SR-BI), is a member of the CD36 superfamily of proteins and is a physiologically relevant, high affinity cell surface high density lipoprotein (HDL) receptor that mediates selective lipid uptake. The mechanism of selective lipid uptake is fundamentally different from that of classic receptor-mediated uptake via coated pits and vesicles (e.g. the low density lipoprotein receptor pathway) in that it involves efficient transfer of the lipids, but not the outer shell proteins, from HDL to cells. The abilities of SR-BI and CD36, both of which are class B scavenger receptors, to bind HDL and mediate cellular uptake of HDL-associated lipid when transiently expressed in COS cells were examined. For these experiments, the binding of HDL to cells was assessed using either 125I- or Alexa (a fluorescent dye)-HDL in which the apolipoproteins on the surface of the HDL particles were covalently modified. Lipid transfer was measured using HDL noncovalently labeled by the fluorescent lipid 1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate. Although both mSR-BI and human CD36 (hCD36) could mediate the binding of HDL in a punctate pattern across the surfaces of cells, only mSR-BI efficiently mediated the transfer of lipid to the cells. Analysis of point mutants established that the major sites of fatty acylation of mSR-BI are Cys462 and Cys470 and that fatty acylation is not required for receptor clustering, HDL binding, or efficient lipid transfer. Generation of mSR-BI/hCD36 domain swap chimeras showed that the differences in lipid uptake activities between mSR-BI and hCD36 were not due to differences between their two sets of transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains but rather result from differences in their large extracellular loop domains. These results show that high affinity binding to a cell surface receptor is not sufficient to ensure efficient cellular lipid uptake from HDL. Thus, SR-BI-mediated binding combined with SR-BI-dependent facilitated transfer of lipid from the HDL particle to the cell appears to be the most likely mechanism for the bulk of the selective uptake of cholesteryl esters from HDL to the liver and steroidogenic tissues.
Modified Shirkov equations in pion scattering

Abstract A conformal mapping of the momentum-transfer plane is used to remove the divergence in the pion-pion equations in the differential approximation. The new equations, involving flexible expansion coefficients, are written down in a form suitable for a rigorous existence proof on the one hand, and for a numerical computation on the other.
A Physics-Based Friction Model and Integration to a Simple Dynamical System

Dynamical modeling and simulation of mechanical structures containing jointed interfaces require reduced-order fretting models for efficiency. The reduced-order models in the literature compromise both accuracy and the physical basis of the modeling procedure, especially with regard to interface contact and friction modeling. Recently, physics-based fretting models for nominally flat-on-flat contacts, including roughness effects, have been developed and validated on individual (isolated) mechanical lap joints (Eriten , 2011, “Physics-Based Modeling for Fretting Behavior of Nominally Flat Rough Surfaces,” Int. J. Solids Struct., 48 (10), pp. 1436-1450). These models follow a “bottom up” modeling approach; utilizing the micromechanics of sphere-on-flat fretting contact (asperity scale), and statistical summation to model flat-on-flat contacts at the macroscale. Since these models are physical, the effects of surface roughness, contact conditions, and material properties on fretting and dynamical response of the jointed interfaces can be studied. The present work illustrates an example of how the physics-based models can be incorporated into studies of the dynamics of jointed structures. A comparison with friction models existing in the literature is also provided.
Hydrogen Production from Hydrolytic Oxidation of Organosilanes Using a Cationic Oxorhenium Catalyst

We describe herein the novel application of a transition metal oxo complex, a cationic oxorhenium(V) oxazoline, in the production of molecular hydrogen (H2) from the catalytic hydrolytic oxidation of organosilanes. The main highlights of the reaction are quantitative hydrogen yields, low catalyst loading, ambient conditions, high selectivity for silanols, water as the only co-reagent, and no solvent requirement. The amount of hydrogen produced is proportional to the water stoichiometry. Thus, reaction mixtures of polysilyl organics such as HC(SiH3)3 and water contain potentially >6 wt % hydrogen. Kinetic and isotope labeling experiments have revealed a new mechanistic paradigm for the activation of Si−H bonds by oxometalates.
Terrain categorization using LIDAR and multispectral data

LIDAR data taken over the Elkhorn Slough region in central California were analyzed for terrain classification. Data were collected on April 12th, 2005 over a 10 km × 20 km region that is mixed use agriculture and wetlands. LIDAR temporal information (elevation values), intensity of returned light and distribution of point returns (in both vertical and spatial dimensions) were used to distinguish land-cover types. Terrain classification was accomplished using LIDAR data alone, multi-spectral QuickBird data alone and a combination of the two data-types. Results are compared to significant ground truth information.
Effects of low sodium perfusion on cardiac caffeine sensitivity and calcium uptake.

Myocardial compartmentation of calcium was investigated in the arterially perfused rabbit interventricular septum under conditions of augmented calcium uptake. Reduction of perfusate sodium concentration (100–36 m m [Na] 0 ) produced the expected increased active force development and an increased myocardial calcium content that was inversely proportional to [Na] 0 . Caffeine was used to inhibit calcium uptake by the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and to stimulate SR calcium release. The diastolic tension response to caffeine was also inversely proportional to [Na] 0 : at [Na] 0 of 139 m m , 10 m m caffeine increased diastolic tension by 20%; whereas at 36 m m [Na] 0 diastolic tension increased by 205%. The increase in diastolic tension in response to caffeine was considered a reflection of increased cytosolic calcium. The increase in diastolic tension with caffeine required that reduced [Na] 0 be present at the time caffeine was administered. Caffeine sensitivity (measured by an increase in diastolic tension) and active force development declined to control levels within 3 minutes after the end of a 40 minute period of low [Na] 0 perfusion despite the presence of an additional 1 mmole calcium per kg dry wt in the muscle at the 3 minute mark when caffeine was added. The results indicate that low [Na] 0 perfusion induces an increment in myocardial calcium content, a major fraction of which is neither related directly to contractility nor involved in the response to caffeine.
Surface applicator calibration and commissioning of an electronic brachytherapy system for nonmelanoma skin cancer treatment.

Purpose: The Xoft Axxent x-ray source has been used for treating nonmelanoma skin cancer since the surface applicators became clinically available in 2009. The authors report comprehensive calibration procedures for the electronic brachytherapy (eBx) system with the surface applicators. Methods: The Xoft miniature tube (model S700) generates 50 kVp low-energy x rays. The new surface applicators are available in four sizes of 10, 20, 35, and 50 mm in diameter. The authors' tests include measurements of dose rate, air-gap factor, output stability, depth dose verification, beam flatness and symmetry, and treatment planning with patient specific cutout factors. The TG-61 in-air method was used as a guideline for acquiring nominal dose-rate output at the skin surface. A soft x-ray parallel-plate chamber (PTW T34013) and electrometer was used for the output commissioning. GafChromic EBT films were used for testing the properties of the treatment fields with the skin applicators. Solid water slabs were used to verify the depth dose and cutout factors. Patients with basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma were treated with eBx using a calibrated Xoft system with the low-energy x-ray source and the skin applicators. Results: The average nominal dose-rate output at the skin surface for the 35 mmmore » applicator is 1.35 Gy/min with {+-}5% variation for 16 sources. The dose-rate output and stability (within {+-}5% variation) were also measured for the remaining three applicators. For the same source, the output variation is within 2%. The effective source-surface distance was calculated based on the air-gap measurements for four applicator sizes. The field flatness and symmetry are well within 5%. Percentage depth dose in water was provided by factory measurements and can be verified using solid water slabs. Treatment duration was calculated based on the nominal dose rate, the prescription fraction size, the depth dose percentage, and the cutout factor. The output factor needs to be measured for each case with varying shapes of cutouts. Conclusions: Together with TG-61, the authors' methodology provides comprehensive calibration procedures for medical physicists for using the Xoft eBx system and skin applicators for nonmelanoma skin cancer treatments.« less
Equally Super?: Gender-Role Stereotyping of Superheroes in Children's Animated Programs

This study analyzes portrayals of female and male superheroes in children's cartoons. Specifically, this study investigated whether or not animated superheroes were portrayed in gender-role stereotypical ways. Coders analyzed 70 characters from 160 hours of recorded programming. Surprisingly, the researchers found few instances of traditional gender-role stereotyping. However, a trend toward defining “superheroics” in strictly traditional masculine terms was noted. Various media theories are used to discuss the potential effects of these portrayals.
Alternative Analysis Networking: A Multicharacterization Algorithm

A neural network technique known as Kohonen unsupervised training is coupled with a modified version of the particle swarm optimization technique in an effort to develop an algorithm capable of finding multiple optimal solutions for a given problem. The ability to find multiple optimal solutions is of interest in many different applications, such as complex engineering design problems, where it's beneficial to analyze more than one potential design or solution. The results of five example problems of increasing difficulty validate the Alternative Analysis Networking algorithm's functionality. This algorithm is an efficient and robust technique, and appears to be the first capable of performing the task of finding multiple optimal solutions as efficiently as typical stochastic-based optimizers.