cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effective incentives design for renewable energy generation expansion planning: An inverse optimization approach

We present an incentive policy design model consisting of lower level and upper level optimization to promote renewable energy. The lower level optimization is a generation expansion planning (GEP) problem, in which the planner aims to expand an energy system's generation capacity to serve projected load with minimum cost. In the upper level optimization, to achieve the goal of specific percentage of renewable energy, the policy maker minimizes the total incentive cost and applies incentive policy to influence the decision of lower level generation planner. We introduce an effective cutting plane algorithm to solve our model. The model is implemented for a simple coal and electricity network. Different effects of mandatory policy model and incentive policy design model are analyzed to provide the optimal policy.
Determination of (Nitrate + Nitrite )‐N in alkaline permanganate solutions

Abstract The quantitative reduction of nitrate in an acid medium with reduced Fe was applied to the alkaline permanganate solution used to absorb NO and NO2 evolved from soils during denitrification reactions. The method involves addition of H2SO4 to acidify the solution and ensure oxidation of nitrite to nitrate, and treatment with reduced Fe at 100°C to reduce nitrate to ammonium. The solution is made alkaline with NaOH and ammonium determined by standard distillation procedures. It is simple and precise, and applicable to nitrogen isotope ratio analysis of NO and NO2 evolved from soils.
MURINE HEPATIC AND CEREBRAL LYSOSOMAL ACID PHOSPHOMONOESTERASES.

Abstract A spectrofluorometric method has been used for the assay of acid phosphomonoesterase activity in 0.25 M sucrose homogenates (H) of murine liver and cerebrum with and without Triton X-100. A complex, biphasic pH-activity curve was obtained with total hepatic enzyme activity, suggesting the presence of more than one α-naphthyl phosphatase, which could be further differentiated in the presence of citrate, Cu2+ and Mg2+ ions. A broad, monophasic pH-activity curve was found with cerebral homogenates, but no evidence of H homogenate activation at acidic pH's was observed, in contrast to the hepatic enzyme. A rapid inactivation of total hepatic enzyme occurred at 37 °C, which was partially reversed by EDTA. The lysosomal bound enzyme was stable. The percentage supernatant activity in hepatic and cerebral 0.25 M sucrose homogenates was similar but resuspension of the centrifuged deposit indicated a greater fragility of the hepatic lysosome compared to that from the cerebrum. The presence of Cu2+ ions (7 × 10−6 M) in the assay system partially protected the hepatic lysosome from activation at pH 4.3.
Interpolation and inner maps that preserve measure

Abstract It is shown, for n ⩾ m ⩾ 1, that there exist inner maps Φ: Bn → Bm with boundary values Φ ∗ : B n → B m such that σ m (A) = σ n (Φ ∗ −1 (A)) . where σn and σm are the Haar measures on ∂Bn and ∂Bm, respectively, and A ⊂ Bn is an arbitrary Borel set.
Corneal Pachymetric Topography

Purpose The authors developed a system for producing topographic pachymetric maps of the corneal epithelium and anterior scar tissue. Method: The system uses high-frequency ultrasound scanning enhanced by digital signal processing. Ultrasonic echo data from consecutive parallel B-scans of the cornea spaced at 250-μm intervals are digitized and stored. Using the I-scan (obtained by computing the analytic signal magnitude of the deconvolved ultrasound signal), layer thickness measurements are made with a precision of 2 μm (standard deviation) at 120-μm intervals along each scan plane. The data are stored as an array, z(x,y), mapping thickness, z, onto horizontal and vertical (x,y) spatial coordinates. Pachymetric maps are then constructed by plotting local thickness, represented by a color scale, against measurement point position. Results: Examples of a normal cornea, a contact lens-wearing cornea, Reis-Buckler dystrophy, and postphotorefractive keratectomy are presented. Areas with significant subepithelial scarring and general epithelial thickening in a subject with Reis-Buckler dystrophy are mapped. Unevenness in the epithelial thickness profile of the cornea in a subject after photorefractive keratectomy is shown, relative to the fellow (untreated) cornea. Conclusion: This technique provides the corneal surgeon with a new tool for the topographic evaluation of the thickness of anterior corneal layers in normal and pathologic corneas with high precision. In addition, the technique is not limited to optically transparent tissue.
Comparison Theory for Riccati equations.

We give a short new proof for the comparison theory of the matrix valued Riccati equationB′+B2+R=0 with singular initial values. Applications to Riemannian geometry are briefly indicated.
Short-term medication cost savings for treating hypertension and diabetes after gastric bypass.

Background The cost of medication for the treatment of hypertension and diabetes in the morbidly obese is a significant economic healthcare burden. In the present study, we assessed the effect of gastric bypass surgery on the average annual costs for hypertension and diabetes medication. Methods A prospective database of gastric bypass patients at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System was reviewed. The preoperative and postoperative medication requirements to treat hypertension and diabetes were identified before surgery and at 1 year postoperatively. Comparisons were made between the annual costs of the antihypertensive and diabetic medications before and after bariatric surgery using the Student paired t test. Results Of 106 patients who had undergone gastric bypass, 90 (85%) had either hypertension or diabetes. Of these 90 patients, 88 (98%) had hypertension and 60 (67%) had diabetes before surgery. Complete remission of hypertension occurred in 44% and remission of diabetes in 80% at 1 year after surgery. The annual cost of medications to treat hypertension was reduced by 65% at 1 year after surgery ($63.52 compared with $20.50, P P P P Conclusion Gastric bypass surgery resulted in a significant reduction in the cost of medications to treat hypertension and diabetes in the morbidly obese at 1 year after surgery. These cost savings were also significant in the subset of patients who had persistent hypertension and diabetes after surgery.
Normal Vibrations and Friction at a Hertzian Contact Under Random Excitation: Perturbation Solution

Abstract Closed form solutions for the non-linear stochastic contact vibrations and friction of Hertzian contact systems are derived using a perturbation technique. The vibrations are excited either externally to the contact region by a white Guassian random normal load, or within the contact region by a rough surface input. Due to the non-linear Hertzian compliance, the mean normal contact compression under dynamic excitation is smaller than the static deflection in the absence of vibrations. One also finds a reduction in the average area of contact and, by implication, in the mean friction force. Expressions for the mean values of contact separation and friction force during steady sliding are presented directly in terms of the system and excitation parameters. The results are in good agreement with those previously calculated using the Fokker-Planck equation, which agreed well with instantaneous and average measured friction data.
Lactate and free glucose in supercooled hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) exposed to natural and semi-natural thermal regimes

Summary 1 Hatchlings of the North American Painted Turtle, Chrysemys picta (Schneider 1783) typically spend their first winter of life inside a shallow, terrestrial hibernaculum (the natal nest) where they commonly are exposed for extended periods to ice and cold. Current evidence indicates that turtles withstand such exposure by resisting freezing and becoming supercooled. 2 Supercooled hatchlings held at constant temperatures in the laboratory experience circulatory impairment and stagnant hypoxia, and consequently rely on anaerobic metabolism to meet a portion of their energy needs. As a result, lactate accumulates in bodies of supercooled animals. 3 The first experiment in the current investigation demonstrated that unfrozen hatchlings exposed to subzero temperatures like those recorded in a natural hibernaculum contained elevated quantities of lactic acid (and free glucose). This finding validates the widespread reliance on laboratory studies to gain insights regarding the physiology of animals overwintering in the field. 4 In a second study, hatchling Painted Turtles held for 20 days at −6 °C contained nearly twice as much lactate as turtles sampled after 10 days at that temperature. Hatchlings held for 10 days at −6 °C and then for another 10 days at −3 °C also contained more lactate than turtles sampled after 10 days at −6 °C, but not as much as the hatchlings that spent 20 days at −6 °C. Thus, animals held for part of the time at the higher subzero temperature still relied on anaerobic metabolism, but not to the same extent as turtles held continuously at the lower temperature. In contrast, hatchlings held for 10 days at −6 °C and then for another 10 days at either 0 °C or +3 °C contained no more lactate than control animals that never were exposed to subzero temperatures. Hatchlings exposed for the second 10 days to either 0 °C or +3 °C apparently were able to catabolize or otherwise process all the lactate that was accumulated during the first 10 days of their treatment. 5 Free glucose in bodies of hatchlings was elevated in all animals exposed to subzero temperatures, even when the initial exposure was followed by 10 days at temperatures as high as +3 °C. This finding has important implications with regard to the substrate that is used to support intermediary metabolism in supercooled turtles as well as to the metabolic pathways that are used to remove accumulated lactate once body temperature of the turtles rises at least to 0 °C.
Outage-optimal relaying in the low SNR regime

In this paper we analyze the outage performance of a slow fading relay channel in the low SNR regime. We present a scheme, called bursty amplify and forward, which achieves the epsi-outage capacity of the relay channel for small outage probabilities epsi, and we give a simple characterization of the outage capacity. Our results directly yield the epsi-outage capacity per unit energy of the channel
Extensions of linear discriminant analysis for statistical classification of remotely sensed satellite imagery

Linear discriminant analysis is a commonly used statistical tool for the classification of surface features using satellite surface reflectance data. Extensions of this basic tool promise substantial improvements. In particular, we examine the added effectiveness of the integration of spatial autocorrelation into the discriminant model, the resolution of nonhomogeneous pixels, and data based prior probability estimates of class membership.
Phase Transitions of Adsorbed Atoms on the Surface of a Carbon Nanotube

Phase transitions of adsorbed atoms and molecules on two-dimensional substrates are well explored, but similar transitions in the one-dimensional limit have been more difficult to study experimentally. Suspended carbon nanotubes can act as nanoscale resonators with remarkable electromechanical properties and the ability to detect adsorption at the level of single atoms. We used single-walled carbon nanotube resonators to study the phase behavior of adsorbed argon and krypton atoms as well as their coupling to the substrate electrons. By monitoring the resonance frequency in the presence of gases, we observed the formation of monolayers on the cylindrical surface, phase transitions within them, and simultaneous modification of the electrical conductance.
Magnetic, transport, and thermal properties of single crystals of the layered arsenide BaMn 2 As 2

Growth of ${\text{BaMn}}_{2}{\text{As}}_{2}$ crystals using both MnAs and Sn fluxes is reported. Room-temperature crystallography, anisotropic isothermal magnetization $M$ versus field $H$ and magnetic susceptibility $\ensuremath{\chi}$ versus temperature $T$, electrical resistivity in the $ab$ plane $\ensuremath{\rho}(T)$, and heat capacity $C(T)$ measurements on the crystals were carried out. The tetragonal ${\text{ThCr}}_{2}{\text{Si}}_{2}$-type structure of ${\text{BaMn}}_{2}{\text{As}}_{2}$ is confirmed. After correction for traces of ferromagnetic MnAs impurity phase using $M(H)$ isotherms, the inferred intrinsic $\ensuremath{\chi}(T)$ data of the crystals are anisotropic with ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{ab}/{\ensuremath{\chi}}_{c}\ensuremath{\approx}7.5$ at $T=2\text{ }\text{K}$. The temperature dependences of the anisotropic $\ensuremath{\chi}$ data suggest that ${\text{BaMn}}_{2}{\text{As}}_{2}$ is a collinear antiferromagnet at room temperature with the easy axis along the $c$ axis, and with an extrapolated N\'eel temperature ${T}_{N}\ensuremath{\sim}500\text{ }\text{K}$. The $\ensuremath{\rho}(T)$ decreases with decreasing $T$ below 310 K but then increases below $\ensuremath{\sim}50\text{ }\text{K}$, suggesting that ${\text{BaMn}}_{2}{\text{As}}_{2}$ is a small band-gap semiconductor with an activation energy of order 0.03 eV. The $C(T)$ data from 2 to 5 K are consistent with this insulating ground state, exhibiting a low temperature Sommerfeld coefficient $\ensuremath{\gamma}=0.0(4)\text{ }\text{mJ}/\text{mol}\text{ }{\text{K}}^{2}$. The Debye temperature is determined from these data to be ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{D}=246(4)\text{ }\text{K}$. ${\text{BaMn}}_{2}{\text{As}}_{2}$ is a potential parent compound for ${\text{ThCr}}_{2}{\text{Si}}_{2}$-type superconductors.
Automatic generation of load tests

Load tests aim to validate whether system performance is acceptable under peak conditions. Existing test generation techniques induce load by increasing the size or rate of the input. Ignoring the particular input values, however, may lead to test suites that grossly mischaracterize a system's performance. To address this limitation we introduce a mixed symbolic execution based approach that is unique in how it 1) favors program paths associated with a performance measure of interest, 2) operates in an iterative-deepening beam-search fashion to discard paths that are unlikely to lead to high-load tests, and 3) generates a test suite of a given size and level of diversity. An assessment of the approach shows it generates test suites that induce program response times and memory consumption several times worse than the compared alternatives, it scales to large and complex inputs, and it exposes a diversity of resource consuming program behavior.
Relinquishing and governing the volatile: the many Afghanistans and critical research agendas of NATO's governance

This article invites academics and policy analysts to examine the mechanisms and legacy of NATO's security and development governance of Afghan social spaces by using critical theory concepts. It argues that such scholarly endeavors are growing in importance as the United States and NATO gradually pull their troops out of Afghanistan. Thus, the article suggests a broad twofold research agenda. First, it points out that researching social spaces such as towns, villages, marketplaces, and neighborhoods beyond the realm of intergovernmental politics can lead to thick descriptions of how such places have been governed from within by agents external to them. Second, the study argues for a multifaceted examination of instruments, strategies, and institutions of security governance, its conduct and social effects by deploying critical and Foucauldian concepts such as the rationality and apparatuses of power relations. Thereby, it proposes an inquiry into Provincial Reconstruction Teams and Afghan National Securi...
LOWER BOUNDS TO THE POPULATION SIZE WHEN CAPTURE PROBABILITIES VARY OVER INDIVIDUALS

Summary The problem of estimating population sizes has a wide range of applications. Although the size is non-identifiable when a population is heterogeneous, it is often useful to estimate the lower bounds and to construct lower confidence limits. A sequence of lower bounds, including the well-known Chao lower bound, is proposed. The bounds have closed-form expressions and are estimated by the method of moments or by maximum likelihood. Real examples from epidemiology, wildlife management and ecology are investigated. Simulation studies are used to assess the proposed estimators.
Thermal Melting of Duplex DNA in the Slow Exchange Regime

The thermal melting of small DNA duplexes usually occurs as a two-state transition in which the duplex and its component single strands are co-populated throughout the transition. Since a duplex and its single-stranded forms can be resolved by free solution capillary electrophoresis, this technique can be used to monitor the kinetics of denaturation. When a duplex and its component single-strands are in fast exchange, a single peak is observed in the electropherograms, with a mobility that is proportional to the weighted average of the mobilities of the duplex and its component single strands at various temperatures. However, if melting occurs in the slow exchange regime, resolved peaks are observed for the duplex and its component single strands. The area under the peak corresponding to the duplex progressively diminishes with increasing temperature, while the area under the peak(s) characteristic of the single strands progressively increases. Although the melting of small DNA hairpins and duplexes often occurs in the fast exchange regime, the melting of DNA duplexes containing internal loops occurs in the slow exchange regime. The equilibrium and kinetic parameters accompanying the melting of DNA duplexes with internal loops will be reported.
The fine structure of slip lines in disordered Cu3Au.

The fine structure of the slip bands observed on the surface of a deformed Cu3Au single crystal is examined. The separation distance determined between the resolved individual slip lines is used to examine the calculations of other authors relating the passing stress of a dislocation past a dislocation pileup on a nearby parallel glide plane.
Angiographic Visualization for Percutaneous Renal Biopsy

Fifteen patients underwent visualization of the kidney for percutaneous biopsy by selective renal angiography. Biopsies were performed in 11 patients, and adequate renal tissue was obtained in all instances. Postbiopsy angiogram revealed pinpoint bleeding in ten patients and significant extravasation in one case, which was controlled with a selective epinephrine infusion. In four cases, biopsy was not performed when the cortex was found to be less than 5 mm thick.
Meiotic Origins of Maternal Age-Related Aneuploidy

Chromosome segregation errors in female meiosis lead to aneuploidy in the resulting egg and embryo, making them one of the leading genetic causes of spontaneous abortions and developmental disabilities in humans. It is known that aneuploidy of meiotic origin increases dramatically as women age, and current evidence suggests that most errors occur in meiosis I. Several hypotheses regarding the cause of maternal age-related aneuploidy have been proposed, including recombination errors in early meiosis, a defective spindle assembly checkpoint in meiosis I, and deterioration of sister chromatid cohesion with age. This review discusses findings in each area, and focuses especially on recent studies suggesting that deterioration of cohesion with increasing maternal age is a leading cause of age-related aneuploidy.
Ligand-grafted biomaterials for adsorptive separations of uranium in solution

Many organic molecules, particularly biologicals, contain functional groups (ligands) that actively interact with metal ions in solution by adsorption, ion exchange, or chelation/coordination/complexation. Water-soluble organics have limitations as reagents for metal-ion separations from aqueous solutions. However, if the ligand molecule(s) are grafted on to an insoluble matrix, the resulting ligand(s)-containing product becomes useful for separations applications related to metal recovery or remediation. It was discovered that biomolecules containing a primary amino group, secondary amino group, or hydroxyl group could be grafted into a polyurethane polymeric network via in situ polymerization reactions. With carboxyl groups, grafted material showed good selectivity among a group of divalent metal cations, and a uranium-binding capacity of more than 10 mg/g of polymer. The material can be regenerated by sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate solution and reused. Data from a stirred-tank reactor showed fast uranium-binding kinetics, and breakthrough-elution studies with a packed-column reactor indicated promising process behavior.
Dynamic sorting in durable goods markets with buyer heterogeneity

In a competitive dynamic durable good market where sellers have private information about quality, I identify certain inefficiencies that arise due to heterogeneity in buyers' valuations. Even if the market induces dynamic sorting among sellers and all goods are eventually traded, inefficiency can arise because high valuation buyers buy early when low-quality goods are sold, while high-quality goods are allocated to low valuation buyers that buy later. This misallocation adds to the inefficiency caused by delay in trading. Under certain circumstances, high-quality goods may never be traded as in a static market. Resume Triage dynamique dans les marches de biens durables quand il y a heterogeneite des acheteurs. Dans un marche concurrentiel et dynamique de biens durables ou les vendeurs ont de l'information privee sur la qualite, l'auteur identifie certaines inefficacites attribuables a l'heterogeneite dans les evaluations des acheteurs. Meme si le marche declenche un tri dynamique entre les vendeurs et que tous les biens sont vendus, l'inefficacite peut emerger parce que les acheteurs qui valorisent le plus le bien achetent tot, quand les biens de basse qualite sont vendus, alors que les biens de haute qualite sont ecoules plus tard a des acheteurs qui valorisent moins le bien. Cette mauvaise affectation ajoute a l'inefficacite causee par le retard a transiger. Dans certaines circonstances, les biens de haute qualite peuvent ne jamais etre transiges comme dans un marche statique.
Mass problems and intuitionism

Let Pw be the lattice of Muchnik degrees of nonempty � 0 subsets of 2 ! . The lattice Pw has been studied extensively in previous publications. In this note we prove that the lattice Pw is not Brouwerian.
Spinal deformity? There's an app for that!

Application software for smart phones (known as an “app”) has become increasingly popular in the past 5 years. Because of the open source software available to allow individuals to develop such programs—as of June 2013 there were more than 900,000 iPhone apps commercially available. The smart phone user now has an average of 41 apps on their iPhone. By some estimates, the number of app downloads is expected to exceed 40 billion in 2014 (1, 2). The growth explosion in the app industry has also included products for the medical industry. There are now thousands of medical apps, ranging in cost from free to $50, with apps for iOS far exceeding those for the Android, Google, or Blackberry platforms. There are apps for patients who perform self-diagnosis, keep records of medical tests, and simplify getting consults or appointments from doctors. Physicians also have apps to assist with diagnosis, drug dosing and interactions, time management, and data sharing. In the future, apps are likely to help doctors generate and monitor the growing body ofmega data that can, in turn, be used for research and help formulate trends and treatments. As of August 2013, there are 169 iPhone iOS apps that pertain to the human spine. These vary widely in their applications. Examples include a spine terminology glossary, anatomy and radiology guides, and a spinal instrumentation app detailing product benefits. There are now four apps that are specifically related to scoliosis and spinal deformity management.
An 11.6 Micron Keck Search for Exo‐Zodiacal Dust

We have begun an observational program to search nearby stars for dust disks that are analogous to the disk of zodiacal dust that fills the interior of our solar system. We imaged six nearby main‐sequence stars with the Keck telescope at 11.6 μm, correcting for atmosphere‐induced wavefront aberrations and deconvolving the point spread function via classical speckle analysis. We compare our data to a simple model of the solar zodiacal dust based on COBE/DIRBE observations and place upper limits on the concentration of exo‐zodiacal dust around these stars.
Curvature analysis of cardiac excitation wavefronts

We present the Spiral Classification Algorithm (SCA), a fast and accurate algorithm for classifying electrical spiral waves and their associated breakup in cardiac tissues. The classification performed by SCA is an essential component of the detection and analysis of various cardiac arrhythmic disorders, including ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation. Given a digitized frame of a propagating wave, SCA constructs a highly accurate representation of the front and the back of the wave, piecewise interpolates this representation with cubic splines, and subjects the result to an accurate curvature analysis. This analysis is more comprehensive than methods based on spiral-tip tracking, as it considers the entire wave front and back. To increase the smoothness of the resulting symbolic representation, the SCA uses weighted overlapping of adjacent segments which increases the smoothness at join points. SCA has been applied to several representative types of spiral waves, and for each type, a distinct curvature evolution in time (signature) has been identified. Moreover, distinguished signatures have been also identified for spiral breakup. This represents a significant first step in automatically determining parameter ranges for which a computational cardiac-cell network accurately reproduces ventricular fibrillation. The connection between parameters and physiological entities would then lead to an understanding of the root cause of the disorder and enable the development of personalized treatment strategies.
SAW/FET programmable filter with varistor taps for improved performance

The SAW (surface acoustic wave)/FET (field-effect transistor) programmable transversal filter utilizes a LiNbO/sub 3/ SAW delay line that is coupled to a silicon integrated circuit across a 300 nm air gap. A SAW/FET with an integrated circuit that incorporates a varistor-controlled tap-weighting circuit has been built. The varistor is a MOSFET (metal-oxide-silicon FET) whose resistance determines the tap weight and is controlled by the voltage stored on the capacitance of the MOSFET gate. The integrated circuit contains the taps, tap weighting and RF summing circuitry to accomplish the transversal filter function. A digital shift register operates as a commutator that allows serial programming of the individual analog tap weights. There are 350 analog taps that yield a 1.5- mu s delay with a programmable bandwidth of 100 MHz at a center frequency of 175 MHz. The programmable tap on/off is greater than 30 dB with a +or-1.0-dB uniformity. When programmed as a narrowband filter, the out-of-band rejection is greater than 35 dB across the entire 100-MHz programmable bandwidth. >
Evaluating manure release parameters for nonpoint contaminant transport model KINEROS2/STWIR

Abstract Release of manure components is an important element of modeling applications in environmental water quality. The scarcity of experimental data and the multiplicity of the approaches for modeling release kinetics of the manure components introduce uncertainty and reduce reliability of overland flow and contaminant transport models. The goal of this study was to estimate release parameters for different manure components and provide input for KINEROS2/STWIR model developed for pathogen risk assessment associated with livestock operations. The objectives of this work were to evaluate reliability and robustness of the manure release parameters estimated based on individual and grouped release kinetics of soluble, particulate and combination of particulate and soluble materials from surface applied manure. The parameters of Bradford–Schijven model were evaluated from the experimental data on release of chloride, water-extractable phosphate-P, total bioactive P, organic carbon, enterococci and E. coli from surface applied manure measured in the runoff-box and runoff-plot experiments. The results showed that release of different manure components from surface applied manure can be reliably predicted with just a single set of parameters characterizing the kinetics of manure mass release. We demonstrated that the manure release parameters could be estimated more reliably when the model fit was performed using data for different manure components pooled together, while the model fit to a single release curve produced correlated parameters. The model parameters appeared to be robust and transferable from the calibration to validation datasets without any or with only minor losses of the model accuracy.
Informational coping style and depressive symptoms in family decision makers.

Background Overwhelmed family decision makers of chronically critically ill patients must comprehend vital information to make complex treatment decisions that are consistent with patients' preferences. Exploration of informational coping styles of family decision makers may yield evidence for tailored communication practices supporting the psychological and informational needs of family decision makers. Objectives To describe patterns in the demographic characteristics and informational coping styles of family decision makers; to assess differences in informational satisfaction, role stress, and depressive symptoms between family decision makers classified as monitors and as blunters; and to describe the predictive associations between informational coping styles, informational satisfaction, and role stress on depressive symptoms in family decision makers. Methods A secondary data analysis of 210 family decision makers of cognitively impaired patients who required 3 days or more of mechanical ventilation. On enrollment, decision makers completed the abbreviated Miller Behavioral Style Scale to assess informational coping styles, the Critical Care Family Satisfaction Survey's informational subscale to assess informational satisfaction, a single-item measure of role stress, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale to assess depressive symptoms. Results No associations emerged between demographic characteristics and informational coping styles of family decision makers. Monitors had higher depression scores than did blunters. Both information coping style and informational satisfaction influenced depressive symptoms; however, role stress was the most significant predictor. Conclusions Family decision makers classified as monitors were at higher risk for depression than were those who seem to avoid information. Targeting monitors with additional psychological and informational support may mitigate their psychological impairment.
The Use, Misuse and Diversion of Prescription Stimulants Among Middle and High School Students

This present study investigated the prevalence and the factors associated with the use, misuse, and diversion of prescribed stimulant medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a sample of middle and high school students. As part of a school-based, self-administered web survey in May 2002, students from a Midwestern public school district in the United States in grades six through eleven (n = 1536) reported on three aspects of prescription stimulants; they reported on their use, misuse, and diversion (e.g. trading, selling, offering) of stimulant medication for ADHD. The total student sample was 57% White, 40% African American, and 3% other racial and ethnic groups. Gender and school level were approximately equally distributed in the student sample, and 81% of students had plans to attend college. The illicit use of stimulant medication was reported by 4.5% of the overall sample. Of the students who reported prescription stimulant use, 23.3% reported being approached to sell, give, or trade their prescription drugs. After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, the odds for illicit use of stimulant medication was lower among African American students and higher among those students with no plans for attending college. When compared with students who did not use stimulants or who did not misuse stimulant medications also reported significantly higher rates of alcohol and other drug use. High schools students had the highest rates of alcohol and other drug use. High schools students had the highest odds for being approached to divert their stimulant medications. Our findings suggest that community-based approaches are needed to reduce the illicit use and diversion of stimulant medications within middle and high school student populations.
Treatment of biopsy proved conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia with topical interferon alfa-2b.

Conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is the most common conjunctival malignancy in the United States. It occurs in exposed areas of the bulbar conjunctiva with frequent involvement of the adjacent corneal epithelium. Recent studies1 have noted a recurrence rate of about 50% when there is pathological evidence of residual tumour in the surgical margin and a 5–33% recurrence rate with clear margins.2 We describe two cases of primary CIN successfully treated with topical INFα-2b. This chart review was conducted with a waiver from the Ochsner Clinic Foundation’s institutional review board, and conforms to HIPPA regulations. A 65 year old retired welder was referred for further treatment of a partially resected CIN 1 month earlier. The patient had a long history of ultraviolet …
Number Needed to Treat: A Method for Determining Analgesic Effectiveness

The number needed to treat (NNT) is regularly reported in systematic reviews concerning pain treatments. When used effectively, the NNT is a powerful tool for decision making. The NNT can allow clinicians to assess whether new treatments are applicable to their patient population as well as an individual patient. Clinicians who understand the statistical terms associated with the NNT are better equipped to make decisions regarding a specific treatment and NNT described in a trial. Many authors describe new ways to describe and utilize the NNT. This paper reviews these new methods and reviews the statistical terms associated with the NNT, using specific examples from the pain literature.
Yeast DEL Assay Detects Protection against Radiation-Induced Cytotoxicity and Genotoxicity: Adaptation of a Microtiter Plate Version

Abstract The DEL assay in yeast detects DNA deletions that are inducible by many carcinogens. Here we use the colorimetric agent MTS to adapt the yeast DEL assay for microwell plate measurement of ionizing radiation-induced cell killing and DNA deletions. Using the microwell-based DEL assay, cell killing and genotoxic DNA deletions both increased with radiation dose between 0 and 2000 Gy. We used the microwell-based DEL assay to assess the effectiveness of varying concentrations of five different radioprotectors, N-acetyl-l-cysteine, l-ascorbic acid, DMSO, Tempol and Amifostine, and one radiosensitizer, 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine. The microwell format of the DEL assay was able to successfully detect protection against and sensitization to both radiation-induced cytotoxicity and genotoxicity. Such radioprotection and sensitization detected by the microwell-based DEL assay was validated and compared with similar measurements made using the traditional agar-based assay format. The yeast DEL assay in microwell fo...
Fastest path analysis in a vehicle-to-infrastructure intelligent transportation system architecture

In this paper, I perform an analysis of the time to traverse shortest paths compared to the time to traverse fastest paths as determined from a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) architecture. Vehicle tracking devices have been installed in 15 vehicles that frequent the University of Alaska, Anchorage on a daily basis. This data has been fed into FreeSim (http://www. freewaysimulator.com) to determine the fastest path from the university to a location on the other side of the city. Two different vehicles traversed the fastest path and shortest path, respectively, each day of the week to determine the actual amount of time to traverse the paths. Although the fastest path did prove to be faster the majority of the time, there were some days for which the shortest path was ultimately faster than the calculated fastest path. I provide an analysis of these paths and analyze reasons as to why this may be the case.
Garp: a graphical/textual language for concurrent programming

Concurrent systems in which the number of processes and their interconnections can change dynamically suffer from the problem of ensuring that process interconnections are correctly maintained at all times. We propose a hybrid solution to this problem in which processes are described textually, but interconnections are described graphically using a graph grammar to constrain the legal sets of processes and interconnections that the system may evolve. This paper discusses GARP, a hybrid graphical/textual concurrent programming language that acts as a testbed for our ideas, and illustrates its use with an example.
The v-erbA oncogene is a thyroid hormone receptor antagonist.

We initiated experiments to analyze the functional properties of the oncogene and its cellular homologue. Utilizing a co-transfection assay we demonstrate that the TRa negatively regulates the expression of a T 3 -responsive reporter gene in the absence of hormone, whereas addition of T 3 results in the stimulation of transcription. Surprisingly, v-erbA does not act as an activator but rather as a constitutive repressor of hormone-responsive genes
Activity-dependent Regulation of Dendritic BC1 RNA in Hippocampal Neurons in Culture

Several neuronal RNAs have been identified in dendrites, and it has been suggested that the dendritic location of these RNAs may be relevant to the spatiotemporal regulation of mosaic postsynaptic protein repertoires through transsynaptic activity. Such regulation would require that dendritic RNAs themselves, or at least some of them, be subject to physiological control. We have therefore examined the functional regulation of somatodendritic expression levels of dendritic BC1 RNA in hippocampal neurons in culture. BC1 RNA, an RNA polymerase III transcript that is a component of a ribonucleoprotein particle, became first detectable in somatodendritic domains of developing hippocampal neurons at times of initial synapse formation. BC1 RNA was identified only in such neurons that had established synapses on cell bodies and/or developing dendritic arbors. When synaptic contact formation was initiated later in low-density cultures, BC1 expression was coordinately delayed. Inhibition of neuronal activity in hippocampal neurons resulted in a substantial but reversible reduction of somatodendritic BC1 expression. We conclude that expression of BC1 RNA in somatic and dendritic domains of hippocampal neurons is regulated in development, and is dependent upon neuronal activity. These results establish (for the first time to our knowledge) that an RNA polymerase III transcript can be subject to control through physiological activity in nerve cells.
Femtosecond Light Source for Phase-Controlled Multiphoton Ionization

We describe a femtosecond Raman light source with more than an octave of optical bandwidth. We use this source to demonstrate phase control of multiphoton ionization under conditions where ionization requires eleven photons of the lowest frequency of the spectrum or five photons of the highest frequency. The nonlinearity of the photoionization process allows us to characterize the light source. Experiment-to-theory comparison implies generation of a near single-cycle waveform.
Drosophila suzukii in Michigan vineyards, and the first report of Zaprionus indianus from this region

Drosophila suzukii is a new invasive pest that in recent years has become established in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Understanding the level of infestation in potentially susceptible crops is an important first step for planning appropriate management responses. This study was conducted in 2010–2012 to determine the infestation potential of this pest in native Vitis labrusca, French hybrid and V. vinifera grape cultivars grown in Michigan vineyards. Drosophila suzukii adults were reared out of collected grape samples in all 3 years, comprising a low proportion of all emerged drosophilids in each of the years. This trend was also found in vacuum sampling, conducted in 2011, with the majority of flies collected being non-D. suzukii drosophilids. Another recently introduced invasive fly species, Zaprionus indianus, was also reared out of grape samples collected in 2012. While the results of this study indicate no immediate threats to commercial grape production from D. suzukii, further research is needed to elucidate possible secondary effects that this species may have on vineyards, such as the introduction of diseases to the fruit.
Grid discretization based method for anisotropic shortest path problem over continuous regions

The paper presents a method to find the shortest path between two points over a continuous region. The length of a path is the integral of the cost along the path. The cost can be anisotropic, meaning that it depends on both the position on the path and its direction. The method uses a simple rectangular grid to discretize the region, independent of the cost. Because the cost is anisotropic, rectilinear paths connecting adjacent grid points may not approximate the optimal path. To overcome this "limit-on-direction" problem, the method searches over shifted versions of the rectilinear paths. A Bellman-Ford style algorithm finds the best shifted path. Theoretical analysis and numerical experiments ensure efficiency of the algorithm.
Atomic-scale analysis of polydiacetylene nanowires by scanning tunneling microscopy

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) has been used to study polydiacetylene nanowires, a candidate material for molecular electronic interconnects. STM analysis across different voltages shows that the substrate material contributes to hole doping in the nanowires. Changing the substrate material causes a substantial change in the apparent height of the nanowires in STM images, revealing a previously-overlooked dependence of the electronic structure upon the substrate electrode material. Polydiacetylene nanowires are also shown to desorb due to interactions with the STM tip. These nanowires can either fully desorb or be cut into shorter segments depending on the strength of the tip-nanowire interaction. In both desorption cases the surrounding diacetylene-derivative monolayer order is fully restored within 100 ms. Desorption is a critical factor in evaluating the stability of these nanowires.
Compressed sensing for MIMO radar - algorithms and performance

Compressed sensing techniques make it possible to exploit the sparseness of radar scenes to potentially improve system performance. In this paper compressed sensing tools are applied to MIMO radar to reconstruct the scene in the azimuth-range-Doppler domain. Conditions are derived for the radar waveforms and the transmit and receive arrays so that the radar sensing matrix has small coherence and sparse recovery becomes possible. Theoretical performance bounds are presented and validated by numerical simulations.
ADSA foundation Scholar Award fluid dairy product quality and safety: Looking to the future

The fiercely competitive nature of the US beverage industry will drive the fluid milk sector of the dairy industry to improve product quality and shelf life to enable dairy beverages to compete with innovative new introductions as well as with currently popular shelf-stable products. The recent substantial growth in the volume of flavored milk sales specifically suggests that attention is needed to improve these products. Further, increasing public awareness and regulatory attention directed toward food safety issues highlight the need for the dairy industry to proactively address and eliminate emerging food safety issues that may negatively impact the image of dairy products. Shelf life and sensory profiles of high temperature short time pasteurized fluid milk products are presented, illustrating the need for greater attention to controlling contaminating microorganisms in processed fluid milk products. Bacterial spoilage patterns of flavored versus unflavored milks are compared, and suggestions are presented for extending flavored product shelf lives. Strategies currently applied to extend shelf life are reviewed. Food safety issues facing the dairy industry are presented within the context of an overview of foodborne illnesses in the United States. The pressing need to determine thermal resistance characteristics of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is described.
Is the Oedipus complex still the cornerstone of psychoanalysis? Three obstacles to answering the question.

Current controversies about the centrality of the Oedipus complex in psychoanalysis are difficult to resolve unless we address three obstacles in the way of rational examination. The first is that ...
Manufacture of Ternary Thin Film Layered Foils by Controlled Evaporation

An evaporator system and associated electronic bias and control circuits have been built to produce bulk foils made of a large number of periodic ternary very thin film structures. This is accomplished by chopping the evaporant stream of three evaporation sources each set to a constant evaporation rate. The electronic bias and control circuits made of inexpensive IC’s, transistors, and general purpose laboratory instruments are presented. It is found that evaporation rates, typically about 3 A/sec with long term stability of about 5% can be achieved. We have manufactured several bulk foils consisting of about 10,000 periodic ternary thin film (10–50 A) layered structures. Characteristic properties of samples consisting of CuNiCr are reported.
Ketoconazole inhibits multiple steroidogenic enzymes involved in androgen biosynthesis in the human ovary

Ketoconazole (KZ) has been shown to inhibit testicular and adrenal steroidogenesis and is useful in the medical management of gonadotropin-independent precocious puberty, prostatic cancer, and Cushing's syndrome. To determine whether KZ similarly affects ovarian steroidogenesis, the authors examined its effect on the activity of the human ovarian 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/isomerase (3 beta-HSD), 17-hydroxylase (17-OH), and aromatase (AR) in vitro. A dose-dependent decrease in the activities of 3 beta-HSD and 17-OH was observed with increasing amounts of KZ. With 10, 50, and 100-fold excess KZ, the activity of 3 beta-HSD decreased by 59% (P less than 0.001), 73% (P less than 0.005), and 85% (P less than 0.005), respectively. At equimolar concentrations with substrate (50 microM), KZ inhibited 17-OH by 70% (P less than 0.01). No significant effect on ovarian AR activity was observed, except at the highest concentration of KZ tested. The authors conclude that low concentrations of KZ profoundly inhibit the activity of human ovarian 3 beta-HSD and 17-OH in vitro. These observations suggest that KZ might be useful in the medical management of women with hyperandrogenism, but further experimentation and clinical trials will be necessary.