cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Simple models of rapid fracture

The purpose of this article is to introduce the physics of fracture through simple scaling analysis and one-dimensional models. Two one-dimensional models are discussed. The first is a continuum model, for which it is simple to find the steady states and establish linear stability. The second model is a lattice version of the first, and its steady states can be found by the Wiener-Hopf technique. The lattice model steady states involve large quantities of radiation, and may help to explain dynamics observed in some recent unexplained experiments.
Modeling and simulation of a flowsheet for the electrochemical treatment of liquid radioactive wastes

Decontaminated supernate (low level waste) from the Savannah River Site (SRS) contains hazardous species including nitrates, nitrites, heavy metals and long lived radionuclides (ppm levels). Electrochemical processes appear to be quite attractive to treat such low level wastes. This paper describes the modeling and simulation, for such a process. The simulation is carried out in SPEEDUP. The aim of the process is to destroy the hazardous species and preliminary test runs predict that 99% destruction can be achieved. The model is used to test the effectiveness of different flow configurations and model-based controllers. Upon validation of the predicted results through laboratory experiments, the model will be used for process optimization and design of a pilot plant (at SRS). >
Population-level effects of immunocontraception in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

In North America, dense populations of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in suburbs, cities and towns have stimulated a search for new population-management tools. Most research on deer contraception has focused on the safety and efficacy of immunocontraceptive vaccines, but few studies have examined population-level effects. We report here results from two long-term studies of population effects of the porcine zona pellucida (PZP) immunocontraceptive vaccine, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and at Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS), New York, USA. Annual population change at NIST was strongly correlated with population fertility (rP = 0.82, P = 0.001); when population fertility at NIST dropped below 0.40 fawns per female, the population declined. Contraceptive treatments at NIST were associated with a 27% decline in population between 1997 and 2002, and fluctuated thereafter with the effectiveness of contraceptive treatments. In the most intensively treated segment of FIIS, deer population density declined by ~58% between 1997 and 2006. These studies demonstrate that, in principle, contraception can significantly reduce population size. Its usefulness as a management tool will depend on vaccine effectiveness, accessibility of deer for treatment, and site-specific birth, death, immigration, and emigration rates.
Can You Mix Private Market and Public Market Real Estate in Your Portfolio

(1996). Can You Mix Private Market and Public Market Real Estate in Your Portfolio? Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 91-93.
Variation of regional seismic discriminants with surface topographic roughness in the Western United States

Abstract Regional distance P and S waves behave differently with propagation distance due to complex elastic and anelastic effects in the crustal wave guide and uppermost mantle. It is well recognized that seismological discriminants based on P/S ratios or individual phase spectral ratios must be corrected for regionally dependent path effects for successful discrimination to be achieved. Such corrections usually involve only distance-dependent decay, parameterized to account for geometric spreading and attenuation factors averaged over some geographic region. However, large scatter persists in distance-corrected discriminants, which degrades their performance, and strategies are needed to further reduce the scatter by accounting for individual path variability. We demonstrate that characterizing some of the path variability by the readily measured surface topographic roughness along each path allows reduction of the scatter in some regional discriminants. P g /L g and P n /L g ratios and P g , P n , and L g low-frequency/high-frequency spectral ratios for 80 earthquakes in the Western United States recorded at four stations of the Livermore NTS Network are analyzed for path effects. While all of these discriminants display distance dependence, log P g /L g is also found to be significantly correlated with average surface roughness along each path. The correlation is emphasized when the product of distance and roughness is used as an independent variable, and the data in the frequency range 1 to 6 Hz have the strongest trends. Corrections based on the correlations with distance and roughness can reduce the variance of the log P g /L g discriminant by 22 to 25% in the 2- to 4-Hz band. Log P n /L g and individual phase spectral ratios have stronger distance dependence than log P g /L g , but the correlation with surface roughness is weak for those measurements. It appears that interchange of P g and L g energy that reverberates in the crust accounts for the sensitivity to the gross wave-guide properties that are manifested in the surface roughness parameterization. The results support the concept of pursuing path corrections beyond purely range-dependent trends.
Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan: Recusing Freedom of Speech

In Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment was not violated by a state ethics rule prohibiting public officials from voting on legislative matters with respect to which they have a conflict of interest. Carrigan is one of those cases where the Supreme Court reached the right result for the wrong reasons - in this instance, egregiously wrong reasons that threaten First Amendment principles. Justice Scalia’s majority opinion in the case takes the position that the vote of a member of a state legislature is not an expressive act and therefore is entitled to no protection whatsoever under the First Amendment. This position establishes a dangerous principle that seriously restricts the meaning of free speech. Moreover, Justice Scalia’s reasoning in the case is by turns incoherent, illogical, and disrespectful of precedent. Had Justice Scalia been willing to follow long-standing First Amendment doctrine, the case could have been decided the same way without setting forth the dangerous principle that a legislator’s vote is not an expressive act under the First Amendment.
Molecular Dynamics Studies of Plastic Flow at High Strain Rates

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics techniques have been developed to investigate high strain rate plastic flow in simple two and three dimensional crystals. In these simulations the long-time, steady state, values of the stress tensor and internal energy are computed as a function of the independent variables, temperature and strain rate, which are constants of the motion. Our results show that the shear stress varies as a non-integer power of the applied strain rate. The power is approximately proportional to the temperature and reaches a value of about 0.5 just before melting.1
Ethics and Law on Behalf of the Mentally Retarded

Although in theory society has guaranteed the rights of the dependent through protective statutes and institutions, in actual day-to-day operation, many of these protective aspects are misused to protect the rights of the normal and to disenfranchise the mentally retarded. Nowhere is the abuse more flagrant than in the care of the institutionalized retarded.
The Relationship between Insight and Social Skill in Persons with Severe Mental Illness

The relationship of insight with the social behaviors of outpatients with severe mental illness (SMI) was investigated. Participants' engaged in two social interactions (i.e., stigmatizing and nonstigmatizing), each with a different research confederate. The participant's behavior was later coded for the presence of various self-presentation and social skill variables. Results indicated that greater insight was associated with better overall social skill, less observed strangeness, and greater self-disclosure of one's mental illness. Furthermore, the three measures of insight, one based on self-report and two interview-based, were all highly intercorrelated, suggesting that they are measuring a similar construct. Finally, consistent with previous research in the area, greater insight was associated with less severe psychiatric symptoms. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
Assessment of Insecticide Susceptibility of Liriomyza sativae (Diptera: Agromyzidae) by Topical and Residue Bioassays

A residue technique for assessing insecticide susceptibility of the vegetable leafminer, Liriomyza sativae Blanchard, was developed. When the residue method and a previously described topical application technique were compared, the two methods had the same degree of variability in LC50’s and slopes of the probit regression lines. Relative toxicity of permethrin to two leafminer populations was different for the topical and residue tests. A significant difference in susceptibility for two populations was obtained with the residue technique, but no significant difference was obtained with the topical technique. The residue technique required less labor, yielded lower control mortalities, and was more representative of the situation found in the field.
Large-Scale Design Optimization of PM Machines Over a Target Operating Cycle

A large-scale finite element model-based design optimization algorithm is developed for improving the drive-cycle efficiency of permanent magnet (PM) synchronous machines with wide operating ranges such as those used in traction propulsion motors. The load operating cycle is efficiently modeled by using a systematic k -means clustering method to identify the operating points representing the high-energy-throughput zones in the torque–speed plane. The machine performance is evaluated over these cyclic representative points using a recently introduced computationally efficient finite element analysis, which is upgraded to include both constant torque and field-weakening operations in the evaluation of the machine performance metrics. In contrast with the common practice, which aims at enhancing the rated performance, the entire range of operation is considered in the present design optimization method. Practical operational constraints imposed by the voltage and current limits of the motor-drive system, excessive PM demagnetization, and torque ripple are accounted for during the optimization process. The convergence to the optimal design solutions is expedited by utilizing a new stochastic optimizer. The developed design algorithm is applicable to any configuration of sinewave-drive PM and synchronous reluctance motors over any conceivable load profile. Its effectiveness is demonstrated by optimizing the well-established benchmark design represented by the Toyota Prius Gen. 2 interior PM motor configuration over a compound operating cycle consisting of common U.S. driving schedules. Multiphysics electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical performance of the optimized design solutions is discussed in a postdesign optimization stage.
Control of Be capsule low mode implosions symmetry at the National Ignition Facility

We present results of the beryllium experimental campaign on the implosion symmetry properties of beryllium capsules at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [1]. These indirect drive experiments measure both the inflight and core self-emission implosion symmetry. The inflight symmetry of the ablator before stagnation is measured using a backlight imaging technique. A copper backlighter was used to measure the transmissions (or backlit absorption) of the copper doped beryllium shells. Images of the x-ray emission from the core around bang time provide a measure of the symmetry near peak compression. Both pieces of information about the 2D symmetry are used to infer the drive and velocity uniformity enabling us to predictably adjust the properties of the incident laser, mainly the time dependent ratio of the inner beam cone power to the outer laser beam powers, to achieve proper symmetry of the implosion. Results from these experiments show inner beam propagation is not degraded compared to similar implosions with CH ablators. Variations in the shape compared with implosions using CH ablators also provides information about the cross beam energy transfer used to adjust the equatorial shape and thus infer information about the differences in plasma conditions near the laser entrance holes. Experimental results of the implosion shape for beryllium capsules will be presented along with comparisons relative to CH ablators.
TU-H-202-03: Spatial Distributions of Radiation Induced Pulmonary Changes Can Be Modeled and Utilized for Image-Guided Planning and Therapy to Improve Pulmonary Function Preservation and Hence the Therapeutic Ratio for Lung Cancer

CT ventilation imaging is an exciting functional imaging modality that combines four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) and deformable image registration (DIR) to provide exquisite ventilation maps of the lung. CT ventilation imaging can be used for: (1)Functional avoidance in thoracic radiation therapy, (2)Imaging longitudinal changes in regional lung function for treatment assessment and adaptation, (3)Image-assisted diagnosis of non-oncologic respiratory diseases. CT ventilation imaging uses CT, a predominantly anatomic imaging modality, and through imaging processing creates functional images. CT ventilation imaging provides functional images that are higher resolution, faster and cheaper to perform than the clinical standard, SPECT. Indeed the number of CT ventilation abstracts presented at the AAPM meeting has been doubling every two years. With the world's-first clinical trial of CT ventilation functional image-guided radiation therapy now underway, the first dedicated scientific symposium will educate and stimulate AAPM members from both radiology and radiation oncology. This symposium will compare the foundations of CT ventilation imaging with competing MRI, PET and SPECT ventilation imaging methods, and details the first clinical trial of CT ventilation imaging for functional avoidance in lung cancer radiation therapy. The spatial-temporal nature of pulmonary ventilation, response maps to radiation and the design of predictive models will be presented. Validation efforts and challenges will also be discussed, from clinical outcome correlations in single time point and longitudinal studies, to cross-modality image comparisons in the first multi-institutional CT ventilation imaging challenge. The panel will discuss the future role of CT ventilation imaging, and what level of physiologic validation is needed for applications in radiation oncology and beyond. Learning Objectives: 1.Learn the principles of CT ventilation imaging and how ventilation images are acquired with MRI, PET and SPECT 2.Understand the methods used to benchmark CT ventilation and the correlations between CT ventilation imaging and clinical outcomes 3.Recognize the clinical applications of CT ventilation imaging in radiation oncology and beyond Australian NHMRC Fellowship. Australian NSW Cancer Institute Fellowship.; Y. Vinogradskiy, The authors acknowledge NIH R01CA200817 grant and Stat of Colorado grant.; T. Yamamoto, This study was supported in part by the American Cancer Society and the Dean of the University of California Davis School of Medicine (ACS IRG-95-125-13). Philips Radiation Oncology Systems loaned us a research version of the Pinnacle3 treatment planning system.; J. Bayouth, Funding support from NCI R01 CA166703; J. Kipritidis, This work has been supported by a Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellowship and an NHMRC Australia Fellowship. No commercial funding was received for this work.
Mobility of membrane-trapped particles

Rheological and transport studies of model thin films and membranes, often inspired by biological systems, make use of translational or rotational motion or diffusion of particles trapped in the surface film. Here, we consider the translational mobility of spherical and oblate spheroidal particles protruding into the surrounding subphase liquid. Both the subphase and surface film contribute to the resistance experienced by the particle, which is calculated as a function of the degree of protrusion as well as the viscosity contrast between the surface film and the surrounding fluid. The calculations are based on a combination of a perturbation expansion involving the particle shape and the Lorentz reciprocal theorem.
STUDIES OF DESORPTION AND SURFACE DIFFUSION BY PULSED LASER TECHNIQUES.

La desorption programmee en temperature a ete utilisee exclusivement pour etudier les interactions de surface moleculaire. Recemment la desorption thermique induite par laser pulse a ete utilisee pour developper des techniques visant a etudier les dynamiques de desorption moleculaire et la diffusion de surface moleculaire
Spread in the magnitude of climate model interdecadal global temperature variability traced to disagreements over high-latitude oceans

Unforced variability in global mean surface air temperature can obscure or exaggerate global warming on interdecadal timescales, thus understanding both the magnitude and generating mechanisms of such variability is of critical importance for both attribution studies as well as decadal climate prediction. Coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (climate models) simulate a wide range of magnitudes of unforced interdecadal variability in global mean surface air temperature (UITglobal), hampering efforts to quantify the influence of UITglobal on contemporary global temperature trends. Recently, a preliminary consensus has emerged that unforced interdecadal variability in local surface temperatures (UITlocal) over the tropical Pacific Ocean are particularly influential on UITglobal. Therefore, a reasonable hypothesis might be that the large spread in the magnitude of UITglobal across climate models can be explained by the spread in the magnitude of simulated tropical Pacific UITlocal. Here we show that this hypothesis is mostly false. Instead, the spread in the magnitude of UITglobal is linked much more strongly to the spread in the magnitude of UITlocal over high-latitude regions characterized by significant variability in oceanic convection, sea ice concentration, and energy flux at both the surface and the top of the atmosphere (TOA). Thus, efforts to constrain the climate model produced range of UITglobal magnitude would be best served by focusing on the simulation of air-sea interaction at high latitudes.
Executive tournament incentives and audit fees

Abstract This study investigates whether the incentives for non-CEO executives to become the next CEO, commonly known as “tournament incentives,” influence auditor perceptions of risk. We argue that auditors are likely to view tournament incentives as affecting the risk of a material misstatement as well as the risk of litigation arising against the auditor, leading to an impact on audit fees. Using three alternative measures of tournament incentives from prior literature, we provide consistent evidence that stronger tournament incentives are associated with higher audit fees. We also find that the relation between tournament incentives and audit fees is moderated by insider CEO succession, CEO tenure, CEO age, auditor tenure, and abnormal accruals.
Sea Turtle Bycatch in the Large-Mesh Gillnet Flounder Fishery in Carteret County, North Carolina, USA, June-November 2009

Abstract: Sea turtle bycatch has been documented in the large-mesh gillnet fishery that targets flounder in estuarine waters of North Carolina (NC). However, only portions of the fishery operated under Endangered Species Act Incidental Take Permits and had regular observer coverage to determine the occurrence and extent of sea turtle bycatch. From June through November 2009, an Alternative Platform Observer Program (APOP) was initiated in southeastern Carteret County, NC, to document turtle entanglements. Observers covered 1.6% of the total number of large-mesh gillnet trips reported (1.1% of landings) and documented turtle bycatch (n = 22) on 36% of the observed trips (12 of 33). Most turtles were recovered alive (n = 15), and all interactions occurred in June, July, and August. Bycaught sea turtle species included 12 greens (Chelonia mydas), 5 Kemp’s ridleys (Lepidochelys kempii), and 5 loggerheads (Caretta caretta). Hauls with bycaught turtles in June had a significantly greater mean string length than...
Monitoring fatigue in construction workers using physiological measurements

Abstract Fatigue is one of the factors leading to reduction in productivity, poor quality of work and increased risk of accidents in construction. Existing established methods of assessing fatigue include surveys and questionnaires, which are cumbersome to implement at construction sites. This study presents a novel approach for real time monitoring of physical fatigue in construction workers using wearable sensors. Changes in the heart rate, thermoregulation and electrical brain activity during a simulated construction task were monitored from 12 participants using a heart rate monitor, infrared temperature sensors and an EEG sensor. Borg's RPE was used as a subjective scale to collect the level of fatigue experienced by the participants. Boosted tree classifiers were trained using the features extracted from the heart rate and temperature sensor signals and used to predict the level of physical fatigue. Only physical fatigue was assessed as none of the participants developed any sign of mental fatigue during the study. The results show that physical fatigue can be monitored using wearable sensors. The classification accuracy, based solely on features extracted from average of skin temperature data, was 9% higher than based solely on heart rate data, and combining the information from both sensors resulted in the best accuracy of 82%. The results also show that monitoring thermoregulation from temple can be more useful compared to other studied monitoring sites, the classification accuracy based only on data from the temple was 79%. This accuracy is significantly higher compared to the classification accuracy based only on heart rate data (59%).
Effective Practices for Mentoring Beginning Middle School Teachers: Mentor's Perspectives

ABSTRACTIn order to improve student achievement, school systems must provide new teachers with support to become effective teachers more quickly. Educators frequently use mentoring to support new teachers and reach the goals of improved classroom performance as well as teacher retention. The intention in this study was to provide insights into the mentoring of beginning teachers working in the middle grades. In this exploratory case study, three elements of a mentoring model deemed necessary for the implementation of effective mentoring for middle school teachers are presented. First, the mentor must forge a trusting relationship with the new teacher. Second, the mentor must support and guide the new teacher in creating a classroom environment that is supportive of learning. Third, the mentor must be able to support and guide the new teacher in instructional strategies appropriate to the content and context of the classroom. Furthermore, this research highlighted a need for mentors to receive ongoing trai...
Screening the Performance of Organic Insulators under Cryogenic Neutron Irradiation

Specimens and test procedures are being developed for determining the significant parameters influencing resistance of organic insulators to neutron irradiation at 4 K. The specimens are 3.2-mm-diameter rods of exceptionally high quality produced by a method allowing a large number of experimental variables to be evaluated. Flexural and torsional shear tests perfomed with these specimens indicate that such tests will be useful in studying cryogenic neutron irradiation damage to the fiber-matrix interface. Results of 76-K tests on unreinforced and glass-fiber reinforced epoxy and polyimide materials are presented.
Reimbursement for PET Procedures

This chapter describes different aspects of reimbursement for healthcare providers who provide services to patients. Coverage, coding, and payment constitute reimbursement healthcare services. The CMS establishes the criteria for coverage for eligible clinical procedures, sets codes for them, and pays appropriately to the providers. Private insurers normally follow the CMS guidelines for reimbursement. CPT codes, HCPCS codes, and ICD-10 codes have been discussed. Reimbursement for hospital inpatients and outpatients are elucidated. Payment to physicians is based on their work, expense, and malpractice insurance, each of which is assigned a relative value unit based on the nature of the service and geographical location. How to submit a claim for reimbursement is discussed.
Amylases: Enzymatic Mechanisms

Starch is a major storage form for carbohydrates in nearly all green plants. Utilization of starch by the plants or by other organisms requires initial solubilization of the starch and conversion to dextrins and oligosaccharides by amylases. Various organisms have developed different strategies for starch breakdown, but all involve an initial attack by an amylase, perhaps concomitantly with another enzyme such as a dextrinase or debranching enzyme, followed by a glucosidase which converts the dextrins or oligosaccharides to glucose.
Confocal vessel structure segmentation with optimized feature bank and random forests

In this paper, we consider confocal microscopy based vessel segmentation with optimized features and random forest classification. By utilizing multi-scale vessel-specific features tuned to capture curvilinear structures such as Frobenius norm of the Hessian eigenvalues, Laplacian of Gaussians (LoG), oriented second derivative, line detector and intensity masked with LoG scale map. we obtain better segmentation results in challenging imaging conditions. We obtain binary segmentations using random forest classifier trained on physiologists marked ground-truth. Experimental results on mice dura mater confocal microscopy vessel segmentations indicate that we obtain better results compared to global segmentation approaches.
Paediatrics: Addressing the health burden of childhood cancer survivors — improvements are needed

Recently published data from a large-cohort study confirm the substantial burden of chronic health conditions among childhood cancer survivors, and describe the multiple chronic conditions faced by these individuals. The findings emphasize the need for specialized care in this unique patient population that, as discussed herein, often goes unmet. More must be done to ease the burden on cancer survivors; new models of care are required to improve their long-term health.
Adaptive Cluster Growth Models

The introduction of the diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) model by Witten and Sander1, about a decade ago, stimulated a broad and still growing interest in simple models for non-equilibrium growth phenomena. This interest has been sustained by a wide range of applications2,5 and the challenge of developing a general theoretical understanding of the irreversible growth of disorderly patterns. Much of this work has been concerned with models such as DLA (including its many variants such as the dielectric breakdown model6, and fracture models7,8) and the screened growth models9–11 which generate randomly branched fractal12 structures. Models such as the Eden model13 and ballistic deposition model14 that generate dense structures that have rough (self-affine15) surfaces are also of considerable current interest.16–18
Reflections on US Perspectives on VET

The present non-system of VET, or CTE, in the United States is the culmination of more than 100 years of ad hoc attempts to develop a national system of workforce development. While occasionally flirting with the notion of emulating European VET, the American education system is too decentralized to accommodate such an approach. Instead, America has a disconnected collection of education systems that rarely coordinate and often compete. With no national system of qualifications to guide decision making, the various systems work in relative isolation from each other. This disorganization has resulted in the college degree as a default occupational qualification and suggesting anything less as a trajectory for students is usually met with skepticism by parents, accusations of tracking by critics, and little support from the business community. With an increased emphasis on CTE from the federal government, there is great opportunity to address these issues and create a more coherent, transparent system that will better serve young people and employers.
Elementary Particles in the Generalized Theory of Gravitation

This paper contains, for the time independent spherically symmetric fields, various regular solutions of the field equations. An elementary particle structure consists of the entire spectrum of magnetic charges gn, n=0,1,2,..., with alternating signs where gn → 0 for n → ∞ and where \(\sum\limits_{n=0}^{\infty }{{{g}_{n}}}=0\). The screening caused by the stratified distribution generates short range magnetic forces. The strength of the coupling between the field and particle is described by e2+g n 2 where n=∞ corresponds to the distances of the order of a Compton wave length \(\frac{\hbar }{Mc}\)Mc. The observed mass M of particle or antiparticle is obtained, as a consequence of the equations of motion, in the form Mc2 = ½ mc2 +2Es, where Es is the finite selfenergy of particle (or antiparticle) and where m and Es have opposite signs. The “bare gravitational mass” m, obtained as a constant of integration, is estimated to be of the order of 1021 Mev. The spectrum of fundamental lengths ron [= \(\frac{/\left( 2{{G}_{o}} \right)}{{{c}^{2}}}/\left( {{e}^{2}}+\mathop{g}_{n}^{2} \right)\) ~ 10−33cm] measure the deviation of the theory from general relativity. The selfenergy Es in the limit ron = 0 tends to infinity and the solutions reduce to the corresponding spherically symmetric solutions in general relativity. The spin ½ of an elementary particle is found to be the result of its neutral magnetic structure and the latter exists only for nonvanishing Γ [μν] ρ , the antisymmetric part of the affine connection. The two states of spin correlate with the two possible sequences of signs of gn, i.e gn and — gn, n=0,1,2,.... .
Temperature Dependence of the Dissociative Electron Attachment to CH3Cl and C2H5Cl

The electron attachment rate constant ka for CH3Cl and C2H5Cl has been measured as a function of the gas temperature and the mean electron energy. At room temperature these molecules exhibit exceedingly small electron attachment (ka < 10-14cm3s-1 for CH3C1 and ka ~ 10-13cm3s-1 for CH3C1) which increases greatly with small increases in T (i.e., molecular internal energy). In fact, it has been found that as T increases from 400 to 750 K the electron attachment rate constant over a wide range of mean electron energies below ~ 1 eV increased by over 4 × 103 times for CH3C1 and by ~ 50 times for C2H5C1. In this paper we report our findings on the temperature enhanced electron attachment to these two molecules and indicate their potential use for dielectric and pulsed power switching applications.
Cranial Prostheses for Pan-Cortical Neural Interfacing

We are engineering neurotechnologies for large-scale cellular resolution activity mapping of the mammalian cortex. We have developed ‘brain windows’ — 3D-printed transparent cranial prostheses for chronic, optical access to the whole cortex. Using compatible imaging methodologies, we have demonstrated the pan-cortical activity map at multiple spatial scales — cellular to the mesoscale.Copyright © 2018 by ASME
Microbial electrolysis using aqueous fractions derived from Tail-Gas Recycle Pyrolysis of willow and guayule.

Abstract This study investigated microbial electrolysis of two aqueous phase waste products derived from guayule and willow generated from Tail Gas Recycle Pyrolysis (TGRP). The highest average current density achieved was 5.0 ± 0.7 A/m2 and 1.8 ± 0.2 A/m2 for willow and guayule respectively. Average hydrogen productivity was 5.0 ± 1.0 L/L-day from willow and 1.5 ± 0.2 L/L-day for guayule. Willow also generated higher coulombic efficiency, anode conversion efficiency, and hydrogen recovery than guayule at most organic loading conditions. Compounds investigated exceeded 80% degradation, which included organic acids, sugar derivatives, and phenolics. Mass spectrometric analysis demonstrated the accumulation of a long chain amine not present in either substrate before treatment, and the persistence of several peptide residues resulting from the TGRP process. New biorefineries may one day capitalize on this otherwise discarded byproduct of TGRP, further improving the potential applications and value of microbial electrolysis towards energy production.
Re-catalyzed deoxydehydration of polyols to olefins using indoline reductants

Abstract A rhenium (CH3ReO3, MTO) catalyzed deoxydehyradration (DODH) of glycols to alkenes has been achieved using hydroaromatic compounds as H-transfer reductants. Of the hydroaromatics examined, indoline was the most efficient and proved to be better potential hydrogen donor. The yield of the products is moderate to excellent and the reaction is very clean with the only indole, the oxidized byproduct of indoline detected. Download : Download high-res image (38KB) Download : Download full-size image
Caribbean Cosmopolitanism: Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and René Pérez Joglar’s Residente

In recent political discourse, “cosmopolitanism” has become synonymous with elitism and disloyalty to national values. However, this discourse ignores the varied history of cosmopolitanism, both as an aesthetic and a worldview. Not all cosmopolitanism is rootless, as demonstrated by Appiah’s Ethics of Identity (2005), which proposes a new kind of identity based on “rooted cosmopolitanism.” And as James Clifford points out, travel—and cosmopolitanism, along with it—is no longer (or perhaps never has been) reserved for wealthy elites. Clifford emphasizes that travel does not only include “Westerners” traveling to developing countries, but also the reverse; this second kind of traveler follows the trajectory of a different cosmopolitanism. This article examines cosmopolitanism in the work of two contemporary Caribbean artists—Dominican-American author Junot Diaz, and Puerto Rican musician Rene Juan Perez Joglar. The protagonist of Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao lives the tensions inherent in nationalist and cosmopolitan impulses—like the author, the novel moves between the Dominican Republic and the United States. The title alludes to Irish writer and famed cosmopolitan, Oscar Wilde. Although criticism of the novel has not drawn any connection to Wilde beyond the title itself, this paper suggests that Diaz’s work relates to Wilde on deeper levels related to cosmopolitanism, particularly as Wilde tied this notion to the struggle for individualism. Similar notions surface in Perez Joglar’s music and recent documentary film, Residente, presenting a rooted cosmopolitanism that, while acknowledging national history and culture, pushes the boundaries of identity across the globe.
Love as De/Colonial Onto-Epistemology: A Post-Oppositional Approach to Contextualized Research Ethics

In this essay, we describe our path toward a shared understanding of a love-based onto-epistemic orientation to de/coloniality. Our exploration includes the negotiation of our intersectional and entangled identities, subject positions, and understandings of research ethics in education. A de/colonial sensibility is critical in urban educational contexts given the predominance of uninterrogated westernized epistemologies in curriculum and instruction. We seek to bring awareness to the colonial ways scholarly knowledge is constructed, disseminated, and used in urban teacher and leadership education. We critique colonial assumptions from a post-oppositional approach that moves away from antagonistic discourse and toward considering possibilities for a transformative future. We enact our proposed ethical orientation through personal narratives, critical self-reflection, and prioritizing knowledge construction from (non)traditional spaces such as those created by our mothers. We conclude with points of consideration for those engaged in urban education research that center love-based onto-epistemologies and the lived realities of people who are traditionally minoritized, racialized, or ignored in academia.
Abstract P1-17-06: Breast cancer in elderly women: Ageism or primum non nocere?

Background: The risk of breast cancer increases with advancing age. Routine use of screening mammogram in women after 75yrs and its impact on overall survival is controversial. Studies have also found that elderly breast cancer patients are underrepresented among clinical trials and a tendency for undertreatment may result in inferior outcome. Method and Material:Female patients with breast cancer who were 75 years or older and diagnosed from 2000-2015 were identified from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 18 database. We excluded patients with unknown stage and race. We performed multivariate and survival analysis using JMP pro 13. Results: 186,682 women with breast cancer of ≥ 75 yrs. were identified from the SEER. 167,802 patients met the inclusion criteria. Mean age was 81.27 years (CI 95% 81.25-81.30). Most of the patients were white (88%), and had Stage I/II (83%) breast cancer.78% of patients had estrogen receptor positive cancer, while 66% had grade 1/2 disease. The 5-year overall survival was 74% for Stage I,60% for Stage II,38% for stage III and 11% for Stage IV cancer(p Conclusion: Early breast cancer continues to be the most common presentation for patients ≥75 yrs. of age. Historical prognostic factors of breast cancer like race, hormone receptor status, stage and grade continue to impact cancer outcome among elderly patients. Only 24% of deaths among the deceased were attributed to this breast cancer highlighting the concern for over diagnosis. Nonetheless once diagnoses is established a multidisciplinary comprehensive geriatric assessment should be the cornerstone of the management. Citation Format: Muzaffar M, Vohra N, Wong J. Breast cancer in elderly women: Ageism or primum non nocere? [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-17-06.
Mid-Infrared Dual-Comb Spectroscopy of Volatile Organic Compounds Across Long Open-Air Paths

Volatile organic compounds are probed across up to 1 km-long open-air paths with mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy. Quantitative concentrations of released acetone and isopropanol and atmospheric ethane are measured with ppm·m-level sensitivities. Work of the U.S. government, not subject to copyright.
Oscar Kokoschka's Black Portraits: Emotions and Personality in Paint

The first oil paintings Oskar Kokoschka created after departing the Wiener Werkstatte in 1909 were his scandalizing black portraits, met with near universal hatred by the public, the critics, and the sitter of these portraits. This paper will explore the radical elements of these black portraits in Kokoschka’s depiction of movement, his use of hands as signifiers, his method of painting, and his desire to depict the genuine character of his sitters.
Multicultural Competence in Indonesian Counseling Students: Perspectives of Visiting American Counselor Educators

This article provides an overview of multicultural competencies from a global perspective, specifically as it relates to counseling students in Indonesia. An overview will be given of the cultural interactions observed by counselor educators who were visiting professors at a university in Indonesia. While racial and ethnic diversity in countries such as Indonesia remain homogenous, cultural differences were noted with respect to the intersectionality of gender and disability. The intersection of culture, gender, and disability present unique challenges for counselors trying to assist their clients. Thus, it is imperative that counseling students become culturally competent so they can assist their clients who come from varying backgrounds. Implications are given to counseling programs to increase their students’ multicultural competencies when working with global populations.
What Crowdsourcing Can Offer to Cross-Cultural Psychological Science:

Although the benefits of crowdsourcing research models have been outlined elsewhere, very little attention has been paid to the application of these models to cross-cultural behavioral research. In...
Effect of Macro-calcification on the Failure Mechanics of Intracranial Aneurysmal Wall Tissue

Calcification was recently found to be present in the majority of cerebral aneurysms, though how calcification and the presence or absence of co-localized lipid pools affect failure properties is still unknown. The primary objective is to quantify the biomechanical effect of a macro-calcification with surrounding Near-Calcification Region (NCR) of varying mechanical properties on tissue failure behavior. We utilized a structurally informed finite element model to simulate pre-failure and failure behavior of a human cerebral tissue specimen modeled as a composite containing a macro-calcification and surrounding NCR, embedded in a fiber matrix composite. Data from multiple imaging modalities was combined to quantify the collagen organization and calcification geometry. An idealized parametric model utilizing the calibrated model was used to explore the impact of NCR properties on tissue failure. Compared to tissue without calcification, peak stress was reduced by 82% and 49% for low modulus (representing lipid pool) and high modulus (simulating increase in calcification size) of the NCR, respectively. Failure process strongly depended on NCR properties with lipid pools blunting the onset of complete failure. When the NCR was calcified, the sample was able to sustain larger overall stress, however the failure process was abrupt with nearly simultaneous failure of the loaded fibers. Failure of calcified vascular tissue is strongly influenced by the ultrastructure in the vicinity of the calcification. Computational modeling of failure in fibrous soft tissues can be used to understand how pathological changes impact the tissue failure process, with potentially important clinical implications.
Ethics of Potential New Retail Employees: Relationships Between Ethical Perceptions and Grades of Future Retail Personnel

Retailers use a number of screening mechanisms to determine the suitability of potential new employees. Rarely, however, does the selection process address the ethics of potential employees. This study explores this issue by determining whether retailers can obtain an assessment of potential employees’ ethical perceptions by using information that they are already gathering, namely students’ grades. Although the findings do not suggest that grades can be used to differentiate students in all areas of ethical activity, they do suggest that grades may be used to differentiate between ethical evaluations in some areas, particularly situations that are particularly disturbing to practitioners.
Surgical Management of Inferior Alveolar Nerve Injuries

SUMMARY Microreconstructive inferior alveolar nerve surgery is indicated when there is pain, intolerable anesthesia, or intolerable paresthesia due to a neuroma, compression, or transection. The decision to intervene surgically depends upon the diagnostic evaluation, progress of sensory recovery, and patient's desires and expectations of inferior alveolar nerve sensibility. In appropriately selected patients, microreconstructive surgery can predictably reduce pain and improve stimulus detection and protective reflexes; however, microreconstructive surgery is much less predictable in improving stimulus interpretation or perception. Microreconstructive inferior alveolar nerve surgery is a cascade of surgical steps. The surgeon proceeds to the next step in the cascade based upon the surgical findings and the sensory deficit. In the hands of an experienced microsurgeon, most inferior alveolar nerve injuries can be repaired transorally; however, the transcervical approach should be used if in the microsurgeon's judgment a better repair can be accomplished.
Bland Embolization of Benign Liver Tumors: Review of the Literature and a Single Center Experience.

Transarterial embolization has shown promise as a safe, effective, and less invasive treatment modality for benign liver lesions (hemangioma, focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH), and hepatic adenoma (HA)) with fewer complications compared to surgical intervention. There is no consensus regarding the most appropriate embolization material(s) for the treatment of benign liver tumors. The purpose of this study was to review the current literature regarding the transarterial embolization of benign liver tumors and to share our single center experience. This was a non-blinded, retrospective, single-institution review of the bland embolization of benign liver tumors. Clinical data and imaging before and after embolization were used to evaluate lesion response to transarterial embolization. Twelve patients were included in the study. Five patients with six hemangiomas were treated. Pain was a presenting complaint in all five of these patients. The median change in tumor volume was −12.4% and ranged from −30.1% to +42.3%. One patient with two FNH lesions was treated, and both lesion volumes decreased by more than 50%. Six patients with 10 adenomas were treated. Pain was a presenting complaint in three patients, and five patients had a lesion >5 cm. The median change in tumor volume was −67.0% and ranged from −92.9% to +65.8%. Bland transarterial embolization of liver hemangiomas, FNH, and HA can be an effective and minimally invasive treatment modality to control the size and/or symptoms of these lesions. There is a variable response depending on tumor type and the embolization materials used.
Mortgage Leverage and House Prices

I measure the effect of mortgage debt-to-income restrictions on house prices using a change in the eligibility requirements imposed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I show that in 1999 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s debt-to-income rules diverged, leading to tighter lending standards in places where local lenders had pre-existing relationships with Freddie Mac. Locations with tighter debt-to-income requirements experience an immediate relative reduction in house prices, showing that changes in lending standards have powerful effects. The effect builds over time and leads to a smaller house price boom and bust in these locations during the 2000s.
Influence of matrix-modification and fiber-hybridization on high-temperature residual mechanical performance of strain-hardening cementitious composites

Abstract This research experimentally examines the influence of matrix-modification and fiber-hybridization on the residual mechanical properties and bond behavior (with steel reinforcement) of Strain-Hardening Cementitious Composites (SHCC) after exposure to high temperatures. The matrix-modification entailed replacing fly ash and silica sand used in conventional SHCC matrix with slag and calcium carbonate (CC) powder for improving the thermal stability of the matrix. Furthermore, a combination of steel and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers was used to prevent brittle failure of SHCC after the melting of PVA fibers around 230 °C. Four SHCC materials (including conventional SHCC), corresponding to the four possible combinations of the aforementioned modifications, were subjected to temperatures of up to 800 °C. Residual mechanical properties and bond behavior of all the materials were experimentally determined after exposure to high temperatures. The improvement in the thermal stability of the cementitious matrix and fiber-hybridization resulted in significant enhancement of the residual mechanical properties and bond behavior of SHCC exposed to temperatures of up to 600 °C.