cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Murad, E. and Cashion, J. (2004) Mössbauer Spectroscopy of Environmental Materials and their Industrial Utilization.: Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, Massachusetts, 417 pp. ISBN: 1 4020 7726 2. $165.00.

The technique of Mossbauer spectroscopy is celebrating its 50th year since Rudolf Mossbauer’s seminal paper (1958), which subsequently yielded him the Nobel Prize in 1961. Mossbauer spectroscopy has long shared with wet chemistry the distinction of being a gold standard for determinations of Fe3+ and Fe2+ in solid materials, including a host of geological materials, especially minerals. The technology and methodology of this discipline have changed rapidly over the past two decades, including such advances as the development of the milliprobe Mossbauer (McCammon, 1994; Sobolev et al. , 1999) and the development of spectrometers that can routinely acquire spectra of sample masses <2 mg (for Fe-rich samples). Many of the classic book references that describe this technique are badly out of date, and the community has managed with periodic technique descriptions in the form of various review papers. Into this setting comes the recent book by Enver Murad and John Cashion. …
Integrating Energy and the Environment

I would like to discuss EPA’s agenda at this point in the climate change area. It’s not an agenda that is set in concrete.
A doctor in the house.

A physician member of Congress discusses what led him to enter into the political arena and the various public policy issues he has faced. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Cold-Water Immersion Cooling Rates in Football Linemen and Cross-Country Runners With Exercise-Induced Hyperthermia.

Context: Ideal and acceptable cooling rates in hyperthermic athletes have been established in average-sized participants. Football linemen (FBs) have a small body surface area (BSA)-to-mass ratio compared with smaller athletes, which hinders heat dissipation. Objective: To determine cooling rates using cold-water immersion in hyperthermic FBs and cross-country runners (CCs). Design: Cohort study. Setting: Controlled university laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: Nine FBs (age = 21.7 ± 1.7 years, height = 188.7 ± 4 cm, mass = 128.1 ± 18 kg, body fat = 28.9% ± 7.1%, lean body mass [LBM] = 86.9 ± 19 kg, BSA = 2.54 ± 0.13 m2, BSA/mass = 201 ± 21.3 cm2/kg, and BSA/LBM = 276.4 ± 19.7 cm2/kg) and 7 CCs (age = 20 ± 1.8 years, height = 176 ± 4.1 cm, mass = 68.7 ± 6.5 kg, body fat = 10.2% ± 1.6%, LBM = 61.7 ± 5.3 kg, BSA = 1.84 ± 0.1 m2, BSA/mass = 268.3 ± 11.7 cm2/kg, and BSA/LBM = 298.4 ± 11.7 cm2/kg). Intervention(s): Participants ingested an intestinal sensor, exercised in a climatic chamber (39°C...
Area Effect of Reflectance in Silicon Nanowires Grown by Electroless Etching

This paper shows that the reflectance in silicon nanowires (SiNWs) can be optimized as a function of the area of silicon substrate where the nanostructure growth. SiNWs were fabricated over four different areas of silicon substrates to study the size effects using electroless etching technique. Three different etching solution concentrations of silver nitrate (AgNO3) and hydrofluoric acid (HF) at room temperature were used in the electroless etching process. Experiments showed that the reflectance in SiNWs can be decreased when the concentration of silver nitrate was optimized for a determinate size of silicon substrate.
Social Ties and Venture Creation by Transnational Entrepreneurs

The transnational links of ethnic entrepreneurs are extensive and rapidly being recognized as a key element of economic development in both host and home countries, yet, the nature of these links i...
The Free Exercise of Religion

In this short essay, Professor Steven G. Calabresi explains his own beliefs with respect to matters of religion, and he offers his own interpretation of the Constitution's Religion Clauses.
A Non-Monetary Mechanism for Optimal Rate Control Through Efficient Cost Allocation

This paper proposes a practical non-monetary mechanism that induces the efficient solution to the optimal rate control problem, where each client optimizes its request arrival rate to maximize its own net utility individually, and at the Nash Equilibrium the total net utility of the system is also maximized. Existing mechanisms typically rely on monetary exchange which requires additional infrastructure that is not always available. Instead, the proposed mechanism is based on efficient cost allocation, where the cost is in terms of non-monetary metric, such as average delay or request loss rate. Specifically, we present an efficient cost allocation rule for the server to determine the target cost of each client. We then propose an intelligent policy for the server to control the costs of the clients to achieve the efficient allocation. Furthermore, we design a distributed rate control protocol with provable convergence to the Nash Equilibrium of the system. The effectiveness of our mechanism is extensively evaluated via simulations of both delay allocation and loss rate allocation against baseline mechanisms with classic control policies.
Factors Associated with Salmonella Prevalence in U.S. Swine Grower–Finisher Operations, 2012

Nontyphoidal Salmonella is an important foodborne pathogen with diverse serotypes occurring in animal and human populations. The prevalence of the organism on swine farms has been associated with numerous risk factors, and although there are strong veterinary public health controls for preventing Salmonella from entering food, there remains interest in eradicating or controlling the organism in the preharvest environment. In this study, using data collected via the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Animal Health Monitoring System Swine 2012 study, we describe nontyphoidal Salmonella and specific serotype prevalence on U.S. grower-finisher swine operations and investigate associations between Salmonella detection and numerous factors via multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and regression analysis. MCA plots, complementary to univariate analyses, display relationships between covariates and Salmonella detection at the farm level. In the univariate analysis, Salmonella detection varied with feed characteristics and farm management practices, reports of diseases on farms and vaccinations administered, and administration of certain antimicrobials. Results from the univariate analysis reinforce the importance of biosecurity in managing diseases and pathogens such as Salmonella on farms. All multivariable regression models for the likelihood of Salmonella detection were strongly affected by multicollinearity among variables, and only one variable, pelleted feed preparation, remained in the final model. The study was limited by its cross-sectional nature, timelines of data collection, and reliance on operator-reported data via a convenience sample.
Sustained efficacy following resolution of frequent heartburn with an over-the-counter regimen of esomeprazole 20 mg or placebo for 14 days: two randomized trials.

A two-week course of therapy with an over-the-counter proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) is recommended for frequent heartburn. Limited research has been conducted on the sustained efficacy of short-term PPI therapy after treatment cessation. Esomeprazole 20 mg was evaluated in the seven-day follow-up period after the two-week treatment period using pooled data from two identical randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. Adults without confirmed diagnoses of gastroesophageal reflux disease experiencing heartburn at least two days/week in the past four weeks were eligible. Subjects received treatment with esomeprazole 20 mg or placebo once daily for 14 days. Heartburn episodes were documented using daily diaries. Missing data during the two-week treatment period were assumed to be days with heartburn. The proportion of subjects with heartburn resolution while on treatment and during the seven days of follow-up was assessed. Predictors of resolution during this post-treatment period were evaluated using a stepwise logistic regression model. All subjects in the pooled analysis set who reported diary data for at least three follow-up days were analyzed (N = 584). This cut-off was used to ensure that sufficient data were collected for these analyses. Greater run-in heartburn frequency was a significant negative predictor of heartburn resolution during follow-up (P < 0.001). Among the on-treatment efficacy variables, the best predictor of resolution during follow-up was resolution during the last seven days of treatment (odds ratio: 3.81 [95% confidence interval: 2.40, 6.05; P < 0.0001]). Lower baseline heartburn frequency and heartburn resolution during the last seven days of treatment were associated with a greater likelihood of heartburn resolution during the seven-day follow-up. Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov June 11, 2011: NCT01370525 ; NCT01370538 .
A Perfectly Hydrophobic Surface (θA/θR = 180°/180°)

A perfectly hydrophobic surface with both advancing and receding water contact angles of 180° was prepared using a facile method on a silicon wafer. Phase separation of a toluene-swollen covalently attached methylsilicone results in a nanoscale network structure that is responsible for the superhydrophobicity. A method for testing extreme hydrophobicity was devised to distinguish between surfaces exhibiting contact angles of 180 and 179°.
The Physics and Analyses of Interfacial Instabilities that Arise from Phase Change

In the three sections of this chapter the reader is given an idea of instabilities that occur when a phase change takes place. When a liquid turns into a solid or into a vapor, energy is either removed or added to the interface between both phases. The direction of motion of the surface, the sign of the potential gradients there and the influence of surface energy on pressure or temperature are factors that affect the morphology of the interface. We show the reader how such problems may be viewed and how they should be analyzed. Two examples, one from solidification and the other from evaporation, are given. The major references from which this material has been adapted are also given.
Implementing neural machine translation with bi-directional GRU and attention mechanism on FPGAs using HLS

Neural machine translation (NMT) is a popular topic in Natural Language Processing which uses deep neural networks (DNNs) for translation from source to targeted languages. With the emerging technologies, such as bidirectional Gated Recurrent Units (GRU), attention mechanisms, and beam-search algorithms, NMT can deliver improved translation quality compared to the conventional statistics-based methods, especially for translating long sentences. However, higher translation quality means more complicated models, higher computation/memory demands, and longer translation time, which causes difficulties for practical use. In this paper, we propose a design methodology for implementing the inference of a real-life NMT (with the problem size = 172 GFLOP) on FPGA for improved run time latency and energy efficiency. We use High-Level Synthesis (HLS) to build high-performance parameterized IPs for handling the most basic operations (multiply-accumulations) and construct these IPs to accelerate the matrix-vector multiplication (MVM) kernels, which are frequently used in NMT. Also, we perform a design space exploration by considering both computation resources and memory access bandwidth when utilizing the hardware parallelism in the model and generate the best parameter configurations of the proposed IPs. Accordingly, we propose a novel hybrid parallel structure for accelerating the NMT with affordable resource overhead for the targeted FPGA. Our design is demonstrated on a Xilinx VCU118 with overall performance at 7.16 GFLOPS.
Area-efficient and low-power face-to-face-bonded 3D liquid state machine design

As small-form-factor and low-power end devices matter in the cloud networking and Internet-of-Things Era, the bio-inspired neuromorphic architectures attract great attention recently in the hope of reaching the energy-efficiency of brain functions. Out of promising solutions, a liquid state machine (LSM), that consists of randomly and recurrently connected reservoir neurons and trainable readout neurons, has shown a great promise in delivering brain-inspired computing power. In this work, we adopt the state-of-the-art face-to-face (F2F)-bonded 3D IC flow named Compact-2D [4] to the LSM processor design, and study the power-area-accuracy benefits of 3D LSM ICs targeting the next generation commercial-grade neuromorphic computing platforms. First, we analyze how the different size and connection density of a reservoir in the LSM architecture affects the learning performance using the real-world speech recognition benchmark. Also, we explore how much the power-area design overhead should be paid off to enable better classification accuracy. Based on the power-area-accuracy trade-off, we implement a F2F-bonded 3D LSM IC using the optimal LSM architecture, and finally justify that 3D integration practically benefits the LSM processor design in huge form factor and power savings while preserving the best learning performance.
Do genetically-specific tree canopy environments feed back to affect genetically specific leaf decomposition rates?

In forest ecosystems, trees may have genetically distinct patterns in leaf decomposition. Trees also can have genetically distinct canopy environments which modify temperature, moisture, and microbial communities on the forest floor. The interaction between these factors may result in underexplored interactions between microenvironment and leaf decomposition at the genotype level. We compare litter decomposition rates for distinct genotypes of Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) grown in a common garden environment under three different riparian conditions: 1) under a 16-tree stand of the same genotype, 2) under a 16-tree stand of another genotype, and 3) under a 16-tree stand of 16 different genotypes. Genotypes differed in canopy size and phenology. While genotype exerted a strong effect on decomposition, this effect was most pronounced when litter was decomposed under a self-similar (“home”) canopy. The strongest driver of decomposition rates across all factors (including litter quality and environmental factors) was spring (leaf-out) and fall (leaf-drop) phenology, but responses were variable by genotype. The influence of genetics on litter decomposition, canopy environment, and tree phenology provides justification for the inclusion of stand-level traits like canopy cover into models of decomposition and complicates the results of studies that rely on litter quality traits alone.
Using Rubrics Integrating Design and Coding to Assess Middle School Students' Open-ended Block-based Programming Projects

Free-choice, open-ended projects are commonly used to assess student learning in introductory block-based programming (BBP) environments. They are generally assessed in school based on criteria such as the social impact conveyed, whether the projects work without errors, and whether they are creative and engaging. Additionally, researchers have assessed such projects based on the frequency of use of various coding constructs like variables, conditionals, and iterations. This paper presents a novel multi-dimensional rubric for analyzing open-ended BBP projects that integrates assessment of front-end project design and back-end sophistication of use of coding constructs. Further, the novelty of the rubric lies in the fact that instead of relying solely on frequencies, it uses scaled scores based on sophistication of rubric components. Using this rubric, 160 Scratch and App Inventor projects were scored and analyzed. The paper establishes external validity of the rubric and examines what we can learn about student learning from this analysis. Our findings will help K-12 CS educators and curriculum developers recognize what aspects of CS middle school students need most support on, and how to leverage programming environments to provide this support.
Sequential Graph Scanning Statistic for Change-point Detection

Graph change-point detection problems have wide applications in graphical data types, such as social networks and sensor networks. Given a sequence of random graphs with fixed vertices and changing edges, we are interested in detecting a change that causes a shift in the distribution of a subgraph. We present two graph scanning statistics that can detect local changes in the distribution of edges in a subset of the graph. The first statistic assumes a parametric model, i.e., the observations on the edges are Gaussian random variables, and the change shifts the mean of a subgraph. We derive the scan statistic and present a theoretical approximation to the false alarm rate, which is verified to be accuracy numerically. The second statistic adopts a nonparametric approach based on k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN). We demonstrate the efficiency of our detection statistics for ambient noise imaging, using a real dataset records real-time seismic signals around the Old Faithful Geyser in the Yellowstone National Park.
Palliative Care Physicians' Views Toward Hematology and the Care of Patients with Hematologic Diseases: Results of a Nationwide Survey

Abstract Background: Palliative care specialists provide supportive care for patients with hematologic diseases. However, the degree of engagement by palliative care physicians may be limited by the views of both palliative care physicians and hematologists. Prior studies have surveyed hematologists to identify barriers to delivery of palliative care, however palliative care physician views are unclear. This study aimed to examine views of palliative care physicians toward hematology. Methods: A survey was mailed to a random sample of the AAHPM physician contact list in 2017. Items focused on perceptions of their understanding of hematologic diseases, comfort providing care, opinions regarding palliative care and hospice involvement, and beliefs about hematologists. Anonymized responses were assessed on a Likert scale. Statistical testing was based on logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations to account for correlated data within respondents. Results: 538 of 1000 surveys were completed. 51.9% of respondents were male. Community (37.2%), academic (36.7%) and hospice (26.2%) physicians were represented. Respondents were likelier to believe they understand the trajectories of lymphoma and myeloma than leukemia or patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) (p Conclusions: Palliative care physicians' understanding of trajectories and comfort caring for patients varies by hematologic disease. They perceive that hematologists' perceptions are a larger barrier than their own and hospice referrals are delayed. These results provide insights into opportunities for better collaboration with hematologists. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Effect of substrate properties on isothermal fatigue of aerosol jet printed nano-Ag traces on flex

Sintered nanoparticle structures are macroscopically brittle but quite robust if deposited on a flexible substrate. The effects of a polymer substrate on the stretchability of both brittle and ductile coatings and traces are well established. Systematic effects of substrate properties on the fatigue resistance of aerosol printed nano-Ag are slightly more complex. The present work is focused on the early stages of fatigue, where the resistance increases significantly but cracks are not yet visible. Overall, the fatigue behavior is seen to vary with the combination of substrate modulus and viscoelastic deformation properties. Comparing two common polyimides, the rate of damage was seen to increase faster with increasing amplitude on the less compliant one. Consistently with this increasing the minimum strain in the cycle led to a significantly stronger reduction in damage rates. However, the damage rate remained lower on the less compliant substrate at all amplitudes and strain ranges of practical concern.
Risk of urinary tract infection following vaginal delivery: a comparison between intermittent and indwelling bladder catheterization.

Objectives: The primary objective of the study was to determine the risk of postpartum urinary tract infection (UTI) in women exposed to intermittent versus indwelling catheterization in labor. The...
Flavors Enhance Nicotine Vapor Self-administration in Male Mice.

Introduction Although the use of combustible cigarettes has decreased in many urban regions of America, the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has dramatically increased. ENDS, or electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), differ from combustible cigarettes given that there are no restrictions on flavorant additives in e-liquids. With 95% of ENDS users vaping flavored e-liquids, it is critical to understand how flavors alter vaping-related behaviors. We have previously shown that menthol and green apple flavors enhance nicotine reward-related behavior in a mouse model and in the present study have investigated how menthol and green apple flavors alter e-Vape self-administration behavior in male mice. Methods Adult C57/BL6J male mice were used in vapor-inhalation self-administration assays. Mice were assigned vaping e-liquids (6 mg/mL nicotine with or without menthol or green apple flavor) to escalate on a fixed-ratio 1 (FR1) schedule in daily 3-hour sessions to examine initiation-related behaviors. Following escalation, mice were transitioned to a FR3 and progressive ratio schedules in 3-hour sessions to examine reinforcement-related behaviors. Results Here we observed that male mice exhibited increased rates of self-administration escalation on a FR1 schedule when assigned to flavored e-liquids. Upon transition to FR3, mice continued to exhibit enhanced levels of reinforcement with flavored e-liquids. We also observed that mice self-administer zero-nicotine green apple flavored e-liquids. Conclusions These data provide additional evidence that ENDS flavors enhance vaping-related initiation and reinforcement-related behavior and promote the need to continue investigating the role ENDS flavors play in vaping-related behaviors. Implications There has been much discussion recently regarding the impact of flavors on vaping-related behavior. Our study here shows that flavors significantly enhance the acquisition and reinforcement of vaping-related behavior. This suggests that flavors in electronic nicotine delivery systems significantly increase the risk of addiction-related behaviors among users of vaping products.
Hydrodynamic energy harvesting analysis of two piezoelectric tandem flags under influence of upstream body’s wakes

Abstract In this study, the effects of the interaction of piezoelectric flags in the tandem configuration on energy harvesting in a wake flow are experimentally investigated. The flags are placed behind the bluff body and their flapping behavior is examined in terms of the flapping frequency and amplitude (peak to peak motion). The experiments are performed in a low-speed water tunnel by varying the flow velocity and streamwise gap behind an inverted C-shape cylinder to determine the influence of wake flow on the oscillating amplitude, flapping frequency, and harvested power by the piezoelectric flags. Threshold values for energy harvesting of streamwise gap and water speed are found to be the same for both flags, 1.5 and 0.18 m/s, respectively. The results show that inverted drafting is observed in flags in which the flapping amplitude of the rear flag is increased by excitation from the vortices and wake of the front flag. This interaction boosts the energy harvester efficiency based on the flapping frequency and the random excitations with high amplitudes. It is observed that as the streamwise gap in-between the flags changes, the influence of the front flag on downstream flag alters, and dynamical behavior of front flag show variation when the distance between bluff body and front flag varies. The highest power is also obtained for the rear flag at a gap of 1.75 and water speed of 0.26 m/s. The tandem configuration produces 116% more power and significantly improves the energy harvesting efficiency as compared to the single flag energy harvester.
The Neuroscience of Organizational Trust and Business Performance: Findings From United States Working Adults and an Intervention at an Online Retailer.

This paper reports findings from a nationally-representative sample of working adults to quantify how a culture trust improves business performance. Analysis of the national sample showed that organizational trust and alignment with the company's purpose are associated with higher employee incomes, longer job tenure, greater job satisfaction, less chronic stress, improved satisfaction with life, and higher productivity. Employees working the highest quartile of organizational trust had average incomes 10.3% higher those working in the middle quartile of trust (p=0.000) indicating that trust increases productivity. In order to demonstrate the causal effect of trust on business performance, we created an intervention to increase organizational trust in a division facing high job turnover at a large online retailer. The intervention increased organizational trust by 6% and this improved job retention by 1%. These studies show that management practices that increase organizational trust have salubrious effects on business performance.
Prospective study: Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 gene is associated with cardio-cerebrovascular complications in type 2 diabetes patients.

AIMS/INTRODUCTION Most studies have shown that aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) mutations were associated with cardio-cerebrovascular complications of diabetes based on cross-sectional investigations, but few studies based on cohorts were carried out. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation between the ALDH2 gene and the occurrence of and death from cardio-cerebrovascular complications in type 2 diabetes patients through a prospective cohort study. MATERIALS AND METHODS According to a community-based and disease-based prospective cohort study design, a baseline cohort of 10,339 persons with type 2 diabetes was established in 2016, and the occurrence of and death from cardio-cerebrovascular complications were followed up until December 2018. A total of 2,500 diabetes patients without cardio-cerebrovascular complications were randomly selected from the baseline cohort to detect the rs671 polymorphism of the ALDH2 gene. Cox regression analysis was carried out on the effect of different ALDH2 rs671 single-nucleotide polymorphisms on the risk and survival time of cardio-cerebrovascular complications among diabetes patients. RESULTS There were 215 cardio-cerebrovascular complications, including 10 deaths, that occurred in the 2,500 diabetes patients during the follow-up period. Cox regression analysis showed that rs671 GA/AA genotype, sex (male), poor control of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure and glycated were risk factors, whereas drinking alcohol was a protective factor for cardio-cerebrovascular complications (P < 0.05). After adjusting for age and sex, the risk of the rs671 GA/AA genotype was 1.314-fold (95% confidence interval 1.000-1.727) that of the GG genotype. CONCLUSION The G-A mutation of ALDH2 rs671 is a risk factor for the occurrence of and death from cardio-cerebrovascular complications in type 2 diabetes patients. Further studies with larger cohorts and longer follow up will be necessary to reveal a consensus.
Chapter 3 Ca2+ Channels of Paramecium: A Multidisciplinary Study

Publisher Summary This chapter describes multidisciplinary research on the ion channels with emphasis on the Ca 2+ channel of Paramecium . It considers basic biochemical and biophysical characteristics used in sensory cells and nerves. It is generally easy to isolate ion channel mutants of Paramecium and a large collection is already in existence in two different species. These mutants can be extremely useful in sorting out various ion currents, microscopic or macroscopic, measured in vivo or in vitro . The pw and cnr mutants are effectively used to subtract the Ca 2+ current and its consequences. The Dn is used to biologically inject more than the usual amount of Ca 2+ . The mutations can also help to identify the gene products important in ion channel function. It is difficult to assess the functional activity of the products of the cloned putative structural genes for the channels, which makes it is important to develop an in vitro assay for the ion channels.
Inhibition of human trypsin, plasmin, and thrombin by naturally occurring inhibitors of proteolytic enzymes.

Human trypsin was strongly inhibited by three apparently unrelated inhibitors: lima bean trypsin inhibitor, bovine colostrum inhibitor, and bovine Kunitz pancreatic inhibitor. It was inhibited to varying degrees by Kunitz soybean inhibitor, soybean inhibitor AA, kidney bean inhibitor, black-eyed pea inhibitor, navy bean inhibitor, and quail ovomucoid. It was essentially uninhibited by bovine Kazal pancreatic inhibitor, porcine Kazal pancreatic inhibitor, potato inhibitor, chicken ovoinhibitor, and 10 avian ovomucoids including that of chicken. Many of these proteins strongly inhibit bovine trypsin. Thus, inhibition of bovine trypsin by naturally occurring inhibitors is no index of their activities against human trypsin. The activities of these inhibitors against human plasmin were generally similar to those against human trypsin, except that the activities of lima bean inhibitor and quail ovomucoid were comparatively weaker and the activity of the Kunitz soybean inhibitor was much stronger. The esterolytic activity of human thrombin was not affected by any of the inhibitors.
PRODUCTIVITY COSTS REVISITED: TOWARD A NEW US POLICY

In 1996, the Washington Panel recommended that the productivity costs that are not directly related to obtaining care be captured in the quality-of-life weights used to construct the quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) in American cost–utility analyses. This paper revisits the original justification of the Panel and the critiques that appeared in the literature at the time. It then analyzes how productivity costs would be viewed from a cost–benefit analysis perspective to identify their welfare implications and then translates these implications into what they mean for how to express productivity costs in a cost–utility analysis. Next, three consistency issues are identified: (i) consistency between the welfare implications and the health status questionnaires used to construct the QALYs; (ii) consistency between the productivity costs from morbidity and mortality; and (iii) consistency between the measurement of productivity costs and the societal perspective. Finally, after reviewing the productivity costs policies of other countries, the paper makes a modest proposal for a new US policy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Human cell lines for biopharmaceutical manufacturing: history, status, and future perspectives

Biotherapeutic proteins represent a mainstay of treatment for a multitude of conditions, for example, autoimmune disorders, hematologic disorders, hormonal dysregulation, cancers, infectious diseases and genetic disorders. The technologies behind their production have changed substantially since biotherapeutic proteins were first approved in the 1980s. Although most biotherapeutic proteins developed to date have been produced using the mammalian Chinese hamster ovary and murine myeloma (NS0, Sp2/0) cell lines, there has been a recent shift toward the use of human cell lines. One of the most important advantages of using human cell lines for protein production is the greater likelihood that the resulting recombinant protein will bear post-translational modifications (PTMs) that are consistent with those seen on endogenous human proteins. Although other mammalian cell lines can produce PTMs similar to human cells, they also produce non-human PTMs, such as galactose-α1,3-galactose and N-glycolylneuraminic acid, which are potentially immunogenic. In addition, human cell lines are grown easily in a serum-free suspension culture, reproduce rapidly and have efficient protein production. A possible disadvantage of using human cell lines is the potential for human-specific viral contamination, although this risk can be mitigated with multiple viral inactivation or clearance steps. In addition, while human cell lines are currently widely used for biopharmaceutical research, vaccine production and production of some licensed protein therapeutics, there is a relative paucity of clinical experience with human cell lines because they have only recently begun to be used for the manufacture of proteins (compared with other types of cell lines). With additional research investment, human cell lines may be further optimized for routine commercial production of a broader range of biotherapeutic proteins.
Application of the partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method to realistic printed circuit board problem

In this paper we give an example of the analysis of a printed circuit board problem which is quite complicated. The board is populated with three wires where two of them extend outside of the board to represent off board coupling. This problem is solved using the partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method which is a circuit based mixed potential integral equation (MPIE) solution technique. This technique is capable of solving heterogeneous circuits and fields problems in both the time and the frequency domains. We show that the time domain can be used to isolate some of the sources of radiation. Also, the example problem shows surprising results with respect to the coupling of signals on the printed circuit board.
Detection of neutral and ionic reaction mechanisms in molecular clusters

Techniques based on picosecond resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization and mass-selective ion photodissociation are described as a means for studying complex reaction mechanisms in molecular clusters. A set of experiments is described that can identify the cluster-size specific reactions that occur by the overlapping processes of neutral dissociation/fragment ionization, parent ionization/dissociation, and parent ion photoexcitation/dissociation. These molecular beam techniques are demonstrated for the case of neutral and ionic photon transfer and evaporation in clusters of phenol in (NH(3))(n), as well for radical chemistry and van der Waals dissociation in (CH(3)I) (n) clusters.
Conversion of the covalent intermediate 3-fluoro-2-phospho-lactyl-EPTase to 3-fluoro-2-phospholactyl-UDP-GlcNAc

The 3-fluoro-2-phospholactyl-UDP-GlcNAc enolpyruvyl transferase (EPTase) intermediate is prepared by the incubation of 3-fluorophosphoenolpyruvate (3-FPEP) and 3-deoxy-UDP-GlcNAc with “PEPfree” UDP-GlcNAc enolpyruvyl transferase (EPTase). This intermediate is converted directly into the 3-fluoro-2-phospholactyl-UDP-GlcNAc intermediate by incubation with UDP-GlcNAc. Utilization of UDP-GalNAc as substrate results in the formation of two fluoro-containing tetrahedral intermediates but in a ratio different from that seen with UDP-GlcNAc.
The ac electrical behavior of polycrystalline ZrO2CaO

Abstract The ac electrical behavior of zirconium oxide with calcium concentrations ranging from 12 to 19 mole% were investigated as a function of frequency, from 100 Hz to 500 kHz, temperature, from 300°C to 900°C, and partial pressure of oxygen, from 10−5 to 1 atm. Specimens with different grain sizes, electrode materials, and degrees of sintering were also investigated. The ac electrical behavior of the specimens were analyzed with the aid of impedance plotting techniques ( 1 ωC s vs Rs) and equivalent circuit representation. At high temperatures (T ≳ 650°C), space charge polarization at the electrodes seemed to be responsible for the observed ac electrical behavior, while at intermediate temperatures (450 ≳ T ≳ 650°C) the grain boundaries contribute an important resistance and capacitance to the specimen equivalent circuit. At low temperatures (T ≲ 450°C), the electrical behavior appears to be influenced by a parallel conduction path, which could be attributed to the high-frequency-limiting capacitance of the bulk material.
Stability and change in temporal distance between the elderly and their children

Drawing on a developmental model of late-life migration, this paper investigates how older people’s health and social characteristics influence stability and change in their temporal distance from their children. Data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging are used to examine both discrete transitions and continuous change in distance over a four-year period. Decline in older parents’ physical health increased the propensity of parents and children to become temporally closer to each other. Among those parent-child pairs who had become closer, the conjunction of declining health and widowhood increased both the degree of non-coresident proximity and the likelihood of transition to coresidence. The findings portray a geographically resilient family that adjusts to the changing needs of its older members.
Expression of human chromosome 11-encoded cell-surface antigens by DNA-mediated transfectants.

DNA-mediated transfectants were isolated that expressed two of the cell-surface antigens encoded by human chromosome 11. These tranfectants were used to analyze monoclonal antibodies selected to recognize human cell-surface antigens expressed by a somatic cell hybrid containing 11 as its only human chromosome. Analysis of the transfectants, deletion hybrids, and mutants showed that the monoclonal antibodies recognized at least five different antigens, one of which we had not identified previously. A majority of the monoclonal antibodies recognized the a1 antigen. The use of cells from higher primates demonstrated that the a1 -specific monoclonal antibodies recognize at least two epitopes.
The Wistar Rat as a right choice: establishing mammalian standards and the ideal of a standardized mammal.

In summary, the creation and maintenance of the Wistar Rats as standardized animals can be attributed to the breeding work of Helen Dean King, coupled with the management and husbandry methods of Milton Greenman and Louise Duhring, and with supporting documentation provided by Henry Donaldson. The widespread use of the Wistar Rats, however, is a function of the ingenuity of Milton Greenman who saw in them a way for a small institution to provide service to science. Greenman's rhetoric, as captured in his Director's Reports, prepared annually from 1905 until his death in 1937, shows that he was unusually sensitive to his times and to the economics of science and of society. In the era when biology was being defined, he recognized in the rat the potential to be a living analog to the pure chemicals that legitimated experimental science. From management literature he extracted the ideals of uniformity of product, standards of quality, and efficiency of production, applying them to scientific practice to generate an animal model that thrives as standard equipment in laboratories throughout the world today. I will close with a quote from Frederick W. Taylor that is a cogent statement of the contribution to science and scientific progress made by standardized tools and their creators. Equating the surgeon and the workman, Taylor wrote: [He is given] the finest implements, each one of which has been the subject of special study and development ... [and] the very best knowledge of his predecessors; and, provided with standard implements and methods which represent the best knowledge of the world up to date, he is able to use his own originality and ingenuity to make real additions to the world's knowledge, instead of reinventing things which are old. Standardized tools, whether surgeons' implements or laboratory-bred rats, are one of the vehicles for carrying scientific knowledge forward from generation to generation. In this sense, Greenman's Wistar Rats have done their job, in his words, of “providing service to science.”
Experimental occlusal interferences. Part IV. Mandibular rotations induced by a pliable interference

A rigid intercuspal interference (minimum mean height of 0.24 mm) was placed on either the right or left mandibular second premolar and first molar of 12 subjects. During brisk and forceful biting on the interference, rotational electrognathography measured maximum torque of the right and left mandibular condyles in the frontal and horizontal planes of orientation. All subjects showed frontal plan upward rotation (mean of 0.7 degrees) of the mandibular condyle contralateral to the interference. In 33% of the subjects there was no horizontal plane backward rotation. In 58% of the subjects there was horizontal plane backward rotation (mean of 0.5 degrees) of the mandibular condyle ipsilateral to the interference, and in one subject (8%) there was backward horizontal plane rotation (0.1 degree) of the mandibular condyle contralateral to the interference. It was inferred that the masseter muscle, ipsilateral to the interference, generated negative work in order to decelerate frontal plane 'unseating' of the mandibular condyle ipsilateral to the interference. It was inferred that the masseter muscle, contralateral to the interference, produced positive work in order to accelerate frontal plane 'seating' of the mandibular condyle contralateral to the interference. Finally, it was speculated that the impact forces of frontal plane 'seating' of the mandibular condyle, contralateral to the interference, might lead to 'vacuum sticking' of the temporomandibular joint disc because of the formation of negative hydrostatic pressures.
Exploration of the role of radiotherapy in the management of early glottic cancer with complete carotid artery occlusion.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) vs. 2D and 3D radiotherapy (RT) in the treatment of T1 glottic squamous cell carcinoma in an effort to highlight the advantages of IMRT in this particular clinical situation. Case Report: We present the case of an 82-year-old female patient with T1 left true vocal cord squamous cell carcinoma and complete occlusion of the left carotid artery resulting in multiple strokes. The patient underwent definitive RT with 63 Gy (28 × 2.25 Gy). 3 plans were generated: 2D RT, 3D RT, and IMRT. The right carotid artery (Rt.CA) mean dose was 865, 2,065, and 4,268 cGy for IMRT, 3D RT, and 2D RT, respectively. The inferior pharyngeal constrictor (IPC) mean dose was 5,341, 6,456, and 6,451 cGy for IMRT, 3D RT, and 2D RT, respectively. IMRT provided the best homogeneity but at a higher cost and with prolonged treatment time. Conclusion: IMRT provided the finest planning target volume coverage with minimal Rt.CA and IPC doses. IMRT is recommended in certain clinical scenarios which are not manageable with other techniques.
Excitation and fluorescence spectra of the chromophore associated with the DNA-photoreactivating enzyme from the blue-green alga Anacystis nidulans.

DNA-PHOTOREACTIVATING enzymes can be classified as deoxyribonucleate cyclobutane dipyrimidine photolyases*. Such an enzyme was recently purified 3760-fold from the blue-green alga Anacystis niduluns [8]. The absorption spectrum of the enzyme revealed a small peak at 418 nm that was attributed to an impurity. The enzyme has now been purified further, by affinity chromatography on far-ultraviolet (far-u.v.) irradiated DNA non-covalently bonded to cellulose, and its excitation and fluorescence spectra measured. These spectra reveal the presence of a non protein chromophore associated with the algal photolyase. The peak wavelengths in the excitation and absorption spectra in the visible region are almost identical and close to that observed in the in vitro photoreactivation action spectrum [8], observations supporting the view that this chromophore is involved as a cofactor in DNA photo reactivation.
Visible and near infrared reflectances measured from laboratory ice clouds

We present laboratory results of the 0.68 μm visible (VIS) and 1.617 μm near infrared (NIR) reflectances typically used for inferring optical depth and ice crystal size from satellite radiometers, from ice clouds generated in a temperature controlled column cloud chamber. Two types of ice crystals were produced in this experiment: small columns and dendrites with mean maximum dimensions of about 17 and 35 μm. Within experimental uncertainty, the measured reflectances from ice clouds at both wavelengths agree reasonably well with the theoretical results computed from the plane-parallel adding-doubling method for radiative transfer using the measured ice particle morphology. We demonstrate that laboratory scattering and reflectance data for thin ice clouds with optical depths less than 0.4 can be used for validation of the thin cirrus optical depth and ice crystal size that have been routinely retrieved from the satellite VIS-NIR two channel pair.
Mental rotation and object categorization share a common network of prefrontal and dorsal and ventral regions of posterior cortex.

Abstract The multiple-views-plus-transformation variant of object model verification theories predicts that parietal regions that are critical for mental rotation contribute to visual object cognition. Some neuroimaging studies have shown that the intraparietal sulcus region is critically involved in mental rotation. Other studies indicate that both ventral and dorsal posterior regions are object-sensitive and involved in object perception and categorization tasks. However, it is unknown whether dorsal object-sensitive areas overlap with regions recruited for object mental rotation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to test this directly. Participants performed standard tasks of object categorization, mental rotation, and eye movements. Results provided clear support for the prediction, demonstrating overlap between dorsal object-sensitive regions in ventral–caudal intraparietal sulcus (vcIPS) and an adjacent dorsal occipital area and the regions that are activated during mental rotation but not during saccades. In addition, object mental rotation (but not saccades) activated object-sensitive areas in lateral dorsal occipitotemporal cortex (DOT), and both mental rotation and object categorization recruited ventrolateral prefrontal cortex areas implicated in attention, working memory, and cognitive control. These findings provide clear evidence that a prefrontal–posterior cortical system implicated in mental rotation, including the occipitoparietal regions critical for this spatial task, is recruited during visual object categorization. Altogether, the findings provide a key link in understanding the role of dorsal and ventral visual areas in spatial and object perception and cognition: Regions in occipitoparietal cortex, as well as DOT cortex, have a general role in visual object cognition, supporting not only mental rotation but also categorization.
Economies of scale and optimal capital in nuclear and fossil fuel electricity production

This paper tests for economies of scale in the electric utility industry using a five-year panel data set that includes both fossil fuel and nuclear fuel electricity generation. In addition, a variable cost function is used as opposed to a total cost function because the assumption of cost-minimizing production inputs is not met. That is, electric utilities are overcapitalized. Therefore, the optimal capital stock is estimated, which is significantly less than the actual capital stock, and an estimate of economies of scale is generated. Evidence suggests that firms are operating on the negatively sloped portion of the long-run average cost curve near the trough. This indicates either slight economies of scale or no economies of scale.