cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Photochemistry of PAHs and PCBs in Water and on Solids

The photochemistry of numerous polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs) and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) has been studied in water and on solids in environmental and laboratory settings. Photoproducts have been identified in many instances. In the presence of O2, the photochemistry of PAHs is dominated by oxidation, with either singlet O2 or Superoxide serving as oxidant. The factors which dictate whether energy transfer or electron transfer occurs from the PAH excited state to O2 are not well understood. The photochemistry of PCBs in water is dominated by hydrolysis in which Cl is replaced by OH, even in the presence of O2. This is a consequence of the large oxygen-hydrogen bond dissociation energy and dielectric constant of water. Photoisomerization of chlorobiphenyls also occurs in water. On solids the photochemistry of PCBs is different. In the presence of O2, hydrogen is replaced by OH. These reactions appear to involve PCB radical cations. A variety of successful photochemical schemes have been developed, involving solids and water, for the destruction of PCBs. Notable in this regard are the numerous studies on the photocatalytic decomposition of PCBs on TiO2.
On the periodic behavior of solutions to a diffusion problem describing currents in a high-temperature superconductor

Abstract We study the large time behavior of solutions to a model describing the current flow in a type-II superconducting wire subject to a periodic transport current and a transverse applied magnetic field. The model is given as an initial value problem for an elliptic-degenerate parabolic equation on R 2 . We show that the current distributions are asymptotically periodic in time as t→∞.
Monte Carlo simulation of the atmospheric point-spread function with an application to correction for the adjacency effect.

Monte Carlo techniques are used to simulate atmospheric point-spread functions (PSF’s) that are appropriate for the viewing geometries typical of the Airborne Visible–Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS). A model sensor is located at an altitude of 20 km and views a Lambertian surface through a horizontally homogeneous and vertically stratified atmosphere. Simulations show the effects on the PSF of variation of the aerosol phase function, the aerosol optical thickness, the sensor viewing angle, and the wavelength. An algorithm that uses the PSF to correct high-contrast images for adjacency effects is developed and applied to an AVIRIS image of Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys. A method to approximate the atmospheric PSF’s without the need to resort to a Monte Carlo simulation is described. Correction of the AVIRIS image through the use of the approximated PSF is consistent with a previous correction. Error analysis is difficult and scene dependent; however, the correction algorithm is shown to be capable of indicating regions of high-contrast images in which conventional estimates of surface-leaving radiance are likely to be unreliable due to adjacency effects.
Rapidly Inducible De Novo Synthesis of Hydrogels in Living Cells

We report a design, synthesis and characterization of hydrogels inside living cells which will serve as a biomolecular sift. We achieve this by rapid induction of a sol-gel phase transition. A hydrogel is defined as a non-fluid, cross-linked polymer network. Inducing polymerization of soluble multivalent molecules could thus lead to in situ hydrogel formation. To probe a spatiotemporally dynamic cellular processes, the phase transition must take place at a specific subcellular location in a rapidly inducible manner. To achieve this, we utilized a chemically inducible dimerization technique, through which a pair of protein domains bind to each other only in the presence of the corresponding chemical dimerizer. Our choice of protein pairs are FKBP (FK506 binding protein) and FRB (FKBP-rapamycin biding domain) which dimerize in the presence of rapamycin. For the in-cell hydrogel formation, we induced polymerization of the multivalent FKBP (FKBPX) and FRB (FRBX) molecules spaced with a long peptide linker by adding a chemical dimerizer. By targeting the FRBX to a particular cellular location and FKBPX to the cytosol, we were able to rapidly produce a hydrogel in a spatio-temporally controlled manner. Subsequently, we performed biophysical characterization of the synthetic gels both in vitro and in vivo and found that the gels allow passive diffusion of most of the proteins but not larger molecular complexes or cellular organelles. The present study is highly unique in its quality execution of rapidly inducing de novo synthesis of hydrogels in living cells.
Adenoviral Mediated Interferon-α 2b Gene Therapy Suppresses the Pro-Angiogenic Effect of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Superficial Bladder Cancer

Purpose: Intravesical adenovirus mediated interferon-α gene transfer has a potent therapeutic effect against superficial human bladder carcinoma xenografts growing in the bladder of athymic nude mice. We determined whether the inhibition of angiogenesis might contribute to the antitumor effect.Materials and Methods: We treated several human urothelial carcinoma cells with adenovirus mediated interferon-α 2b and monitored its effects on the production of angiogenic factors using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, and immunohistochemical analysis and a gel shift based transcription factor array. To assess the role of adenovirus mediated interferon 2b in angiogenic activity we used in vitro invasion assays and evaluated the anti-angiogenic effects of adenovirus mediated interferon gene therapy in an orthotopic murine model of human superficial bladder cancer.Results: In adenovirus mediated interferon-α infected 253J B-V cells vascular endothelial growth factor was de...
SOS and the Retelling of Suicide

Participants in a self-help group for suicide ‘survivors’– that is, people who have lost loved ones to suicide death – seek to recover and produce narratives of their experience. Based on a micro-study drawn from the author’s personal journals and an analysis of the national organization’s printed materials, this article explores how a particular view of the ‘self’ functions in a group where stories of tragedy are told. An interpretive analysis of the self-help process, as experienced in an SOS (Survivors of Suicide) group, suggests that the group’s methods of moving toward mutual understanding and recovery rely on a construction of the ‘self’ having experienced this particular loss. Descriptions of the group’s structure and of social interactions are drawn from observations made by the author who was a participant in the group.
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, Drug Purity, and a Test of Rational Drug Use

As of 1987, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act (ADAA) has imposed mandatory minimum sentences for drug traffickers based on the quantity of the drug involved regardless of its purity. Using the STRIDE dataset on drug arrests and a differences-in- differences approach, I find that this led to an in crease in cocaine purity of 42% and an increase in heroin purity of 30%. Using data on eme rgency room visits, I show that the concurrent rise in drug-related ER episodes is due to the rise in the standard deviation of drug purity rather than the increase in average pur ity. Estimates suggest that the increases in standard deviations at the time of the ADAA tran slate to increases in cocaine and heroin ER mentions of 15% each. Because these negative outcomes depend only on the standard deviation of purity, this suggests that dr ug users respond rationally by reducing the quantity consumed in response to anticipated in creases in the purity of these drugs. Finally, again using the STRIDE data, I find that t he ADAA is associated with an increase in the standard deviation of cocaine purit y, implying more cocaine ER mentions.
Evaluating cooperative checkpointing for supercomputing systems

Cooperative checkpointing, in which the system dynamically skips checkpoints requested by applications at runtime, can exploit system-level information to improve performance and reliability in the face of failures. We evaluate the applicability of cooperative checkpointing to large-scale systems through simulation studies considering real workloads, failure logs, and different network topologies. We consider two cooperative checkpointing algorithms: work-based cooperative checkpointing uses a heuristic based on the amount of unsaved work and risk-based cooperative checkpointing leverages failure event prediction. Our results demonstrate that, compared to periodic checkpointing, risk-based checkpointing with event prediction accuracy as low as 10% is able to significantly improve system utilization and reduce average bounded slowdown by a factor of 9, without losing any additional work to failures. Similarly, work-based checkpointing conferred tremendous performance benefits in the face of large checkpoint overheads.
Limits of brain-computer interface. Case report.

✓Most patients who are candidates for brain–computer interface studies have an injury to their central nervous system and therefore may not be ideal for rigorous testing of the full abilities and limits of the interface. This is a report on a quadriplegic patient who appeared to be a reasonable candidate for intracranial implantation of neurotrophic electrodes. He had significant cortical atrophy in both the motor and parietal cortical areas but was able to generate signal changes on functional magnetic resonance images by thinking about hand movements. Only a few low-amplitude action potentials were obtained, however, and he was unable to achieve single-unit control. Despite this failure, the use of field potentials offered an alternative method of control and allowed him some limited computer interactions. There are clearly limits to what can be achieved with brain–computer interfaces, and the presence of cortical atrophy should serve as a warning for future investigators that less invasive techniques m...
Reliability Methods Applicable to Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Method

Pavement design incorporates a large number of variable design parameters. The combination of the variances associated with input variables contributes to component and system reliability, and this combination of variances can have a significant effect on the predicted performance of the pavement. Reliability analysis provides a solution to this design problem. Numerous reliability methods are available and applicable to pavement design. Previously implemented reliability methods incorporate only a few basic reliability concepts, typically by using the first and second moments of the random variables. Additional reliability methods are available to design engineers, and more advanced methods can be easily used in pavement design. Many advanced reliability methods were viewed as excessively and computationally expensive. Advancements in both the methods and the computational power available to the designer make a number of reliability methods cost-efficient. Ultimately, reliability analysis in pavement des...
Orthostatic Hypertension: The Last Hemodynamic Frontier

See related article, pp 167–173 Orthostatic hypertension (OHT) is beneath the radar of many health care professionals. In the clinic, it is generally both unexpected and counterintuitive. After recheck, it may sometimes regress toward the mean. However, at other times the OHT can be dramatic and persistent. Nevertheless, our knowledge about its causes and significance remains circumscribed. It is in many ways the last hemodynamic frontier. Recently, there has been increasing interest in OHT and its possible consequences on health. The spectrum of degree and clinical context of OHT is very broad.1 In some cases, it can be a dramatic physical manifestation of 50 mm Hg or more in a disorder such as baroreflex failure. In other situations, it may only be an incidental physical finding. OHT is usually defined as an increase in blood pressure with upright posture or tilt, but precise criteria have not been established. Furthermore, few studies have entailed direct measurement of blood pressure in people with OHT. Such measurements would more faithfully reflect intraarterial pressure and would avoid the introduction of potential artifacts. Sphygmomanometers can underestimate blood pressure when it is perturbed by pressor reflexes, such as those engaged by upright posture, or if it is increased by pressor agents. Therefore, the magnitude of the blood pressure increase after standing might be even larger than is generally reported in patients with OHT. OHT has been long recognized. Some of the most thoughtful early studies were conducted by David Streeten …
Insights into Sensory World of NonVerbal Individuals With Autism

Abstract Therapists often become frustrated because a nonverbal individual with autism does not quickly learn how to use an augmentative communication device. Two individuals who can type independe...
Origins and nature of vessels in monocotyledons: 8. Orchidaceae

Xylem of the orchids studied provided unusually favorable material to demonstrate how conductive tissue evolves in monocotyledons. In the end walls of tracheary elements of many Orchidaceae, remnants of pit membranes were observed with scanning electron microscopy and minimally destructive methods. The full range from tracheids to vessel elements, featuring many intermediate stages, was illustrated with SEM in hand sections of fixed roots, stems, and inflorescence axes of 13 species from four subfamilies. Pit membranes in end walls of tracheary elements are porose to reticulate in roots of all species, but nonporose in stems of Cypripedioideae and Vanilloideae and porose to reticulate in stems of Orchidoideae and Epidendroideae. The distribution pattern of pit membranes and pit membrane remnants in end walls of tracheary elements of orchids parallels the findings of others. The position of Cypripedioideae and Vanilloideae as outgroups to Orchidoideae and Epidendroideae, claimed by earlier authors, is supported by clades based on molecular studies and by our studies. Little hydrolysis of pit membranes in tracheary element end walls was observed in pseudobulbs or inflorescence axes of epidendroids. The pervasiveness of network-like pit membranes of various extents and patterns in end walls of tracheary elements in Orchidaceae calls into question the traditional definitions of tracheids and vessel elements, not merely in orchids, but in angiosperms at large. These two concepts, based on light microscope studies, are blurred in light of ultrastructural studies. More importantly, the intermediate expressions of pit membranes in tracheary element end walls of Orchidaceae and some other families of angiosperms are important as indicators of steps in evolution of conduction with respect to organs (more rapid flow in roots than in succulent storage structures) and habitat (less obstruction to flow correlated with a shift from terrestrial to epiphytic).
A Study of Electrothermal Launcher Efficiencies and Gas Dynamics

This paper describes a series of experiments to study the efficiency of an electrothermal (ET) launcher. The launcher serves as a pre-accelerator for a plasma-driven hypervelocity railgun experiment at the Institute for Advanced Technology. The ET launcher is designed to accelerate small polycarbonate projectiles to about 1 km/s. The objective of this study was to understand how pulse duration affects the efficiency with which the pressure of the ET discharge is coupled to the projectile. The study consisted of multiple tests for which the total energy of the discharge was kept constant, but the pulse length was varied. The dependent variable in the tests was the muzzle velocity of the projectile. The experimental results are presented and compared with gas-dynamic considerations.
Women learn more from local than global examples of the biological impacts of climate change

Are students influenced more by analyzing local or global examples of the biological impacts of climate change? Using a randomized trial in a large, introductory undergraduate biology course, we found that a single in-class activity led to a 45% increase in the frequency of correct answers on a test of conceptual understanding. Additionally, after completion of the activity, students more strongly believed that climate change would alter their lives, were more willing to modify their own behavior, and indicated more support for government action to address climate change. There was also a robust gender effect on the influence of local versus global examples: females learned better if they studied local examples. Women reported greater willingness to alter their behavior than men, and students with higher university grades were more likely to support government action to mitigate climate change. Our findings support the use of local examples in curricula and illustrate the power of large, randomized trials...
Seven-Transmembrane Proteins as Odorant and Chemosensory Receptors

The olfactory systems of various species solve the challenging problem of general molecular recognition in widely differing ways. Despite this variety, the molecular receptors are invariably G protein-coupled seven-transmembrane proteins, and are encoded by the largest gene families known to exist in a given animal genome. Receptor gene families have been identified in vertebrates and two invertebrate species, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The complexity of the odorant receptor repertoire is estimated in mouse and rat at 1000 genes, or 1 percent of the genome, surpassing that of the immunoglobulin and T cell receptor genes combined. Two distinct seven-transmembrane gene families may encode in rodents the chemosensory receptors of the vomeronasal organ, which is specialized in the detection of pheromones. Remarkably, these five receptor families have practically no sequence homology among them. Genetic manipulation experiments in mice imply that vertebrate odorant receptors may fulfill a dual role, also serving as address molecules that guide axons of olfactory sensory neurons to their precise target in the brain.
Reducing Memory and Traffic Requirements for Scalable Directory-Based Cache Coherence Schemes*

As multiprocessors are scaled beyond single bus systems, there is renewed interest in directory-based cache coherence schemes. These schemes rely on a directory to keep track of all processors caching a memory block. When a write to that block occurs, point-to-point invalidation messages are sent to keep the caches coherent. A straightforward way of recording the identities of processors caching a memory block is to use a bit vector per memory block, with one bit per processor. Unfortunately, when the main memory grows linearly with the number of processors, the total size of the directory memory grows as the square of the number of processors, which is prohibitive for large machines. To remedy this problem several schemes that use a limited number of pointers per directory entry have been suggested. These schemes often cause excessive invalidation traffic.
Gender Trends in Senior-Level Leadership: A 12-Year Analysis of the CCCU U.S. Member Institutions

This article documents the continued gender disparities evident across U.S. higher education. While more women than men attend college and now obtain the majority of undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees, women continue to be underrepresented in senior-level institutional leadership roles. This phenomenon is particularly evident among the member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). Given that the CCCU's 108 U.S. member campuses serve a collective student body that is more than 60% female, such gender imbalances are striking, especially noting the commitment of Christ-centered campuses to foster organizational climates that value diversity and promote the success and well-being of all students. Data over a 12-year period (1998–2010) have been collected to document trends in the gender composition of the senior-level leadership teams on these campuses. Over that period, the average number of individuals serving at vice presidential or higher levels across these i...
The Relationship Between Job Attitudes and the Decision to Retire

For a group of civil service employees, discriminant analysis indicated that job attitude and financial variables contributed significantly to the prediction of retirement status even when the effe...
Global Migration Governance

A review of the book "Global Migration Governance," edited by Alexander Betts is presented.
The Evolution of Endothermy in Mammals and Birds: From Physiology to Fossils

Continuous, metabolically based maintenance of high and relatively stable body temperature in the face of greatly fluctuating ambient temperature is among the most remarkable attributes of mammals and birds. Such warm­ bloodedness or, more correctly, endothermic homeothermy, generally results from a combination of high resting, aerobically supported heat production rates (about fiveto tenfold that of reptiles) in virtually all soft tissues, and insulation sufficient to retard excessive heat loss. As a consequence, many temperature­ sensitive physiological processes in birds and mammals proceed at relatively stable rates over a wide range of ambient temperatures. In contrast, most organisms cannot thermoregulate in this way because endogenous heat production is insufficient to alter body temperature, and internal heat is necessarily derived primarily from the environment (ectother­ mic poikilothermy). These organisms tend to be thermoconformers whose body temperature frequently corresponds passively with environmental temperature. Usually such thermoconformity in thermally homogeneous environments (e.g. many marine or freshwater ecosystems) does not result in severe physiological disruption: genetic adaptation and/or phenotypic acclimation of numerous biochemical traits to ecologically relevant temperatures often ameliorate ef­ fects of temperature (e.g. enzyme function; G Somero, this volume) and mem­ brane structure (J Hazel, this volume; see also 63).
A phase-locked loop epilepsy network emulator for localizing, forecasting, and controlling ictal activity

Seizure detection is rapidly improving thanks to novel computational approaches [1] and public databases of electrocorticography (ECoG) data [2]. But these approaches rarely model the high-frequency oscillations that underlie seizure pathology [3]. In the current work, we employ a phase-locked loop (PLL) neural network [4] to emulate a mesoscale circuit undergoing high-frequency oscillation. We phase-lock the nodes of the emulator to raw voltages recorded from chronically implanted ECoG electrodes in a canine model of epilepsy, and demonstrate that the emulator experiences uncontrolled phase oscillation far in advance of either behaviorally observed seizure activity or fluctuations in ECoG voltages. Using distance weighting to train the epilepsy network emulator, we localize the ECoG electrodes responsible for destabilization, and present measures sensitive to these phase disruptions to establish a forecasting period for ictal activity. We discuss how phase oscillations from real-time epilepsy network emulation could serve as a closed-loop feedback control signal to interrupt ictal activity.
Effectiveness and Cost of a Personalized Reminder Intervention to Improve Adherence to Glaucoma Care.

Glaucoma is the leadi ng cause of irreversible blindness in the USA. Glaucomatous vision loss is preventable with proper eye care, including appointment adherence. Therefore, interventions that improve appointment adherence can reduce the number of patients with more severe glaucoma. The primary study aim was to determine the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a multifaceted personal reminder intervention, which included a customized letter and personal telephone outreach, in improving appointment adherence of patients with glaucoma. A secondary study aim was to identify patient characteristics that were associated with non-adherence. This prospective, randomized, controlled study included a cost-effectiveness analysis completed using a decision analytic model. The subjects included 256 patients with glaucoma. Study measures included appointment adherence and incremental cost effectiveness ratios. Patients in the intervention group were more likely to adhere to appointments (82.31 vs. 69.05 %; RR 1.23; 95 % CI 1.04–1.37, p < 0.012) than patients in the usual care group. Patients in the intervention group were 23 % more likely to adhere to appointments (RR 1.23; 95 % CI 1.08–1.41, p < 0.0021) than patients in the usual care group, when adjusting for age, secondary insurance, primary open angle glaucoma diagnosis, number of previous visits at Wills Eye Hospital, and follow-up recommendation using Poisson regression. Per-patient cost of the program was US$11.32, and cost per follow-up attended within the adherence window was US$73.56. A low cost reminder intervention consisting of a personalized letter and telephone outreach significantly improved appointment adherence of patients with glaucoma.
Dissociating anxiety from pain: mapping the neuronal marker N-acetyl aspartate to perception distinguishes closely interrelated characteristics of chronic pain

Dissociating anxiety from pain: mapping the neuronal marker N-acetyl aspartate to perception distinguishes closely interrelated characteristics of chronic pain
Effects of Excitation Energy on the Autodetachment Lifetimes of Small Iodide-Doped ROH Clusters (R═H–, CH3–, CH3CH2−)

The effect of excitation energy on the lifetimes of the charge-transfer-to-solvent (CTTS) states of small (4 ≤ n ≤ 10) iodide-doped water and alcohol clusters was explored using femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron imaging. Excitation of the CTTS state at wavelengths ranging from 272 to 238 nm leads to the formation of the I···(ROH)n– (R═H–, CH3–, and CH3CH2−) species, which can be thought of as a vibrationally excited bare solvent cluster anion perturbed by an iodine atom. Autodetachment lifetimes for alcohol-containing clusters range from 1 to 71 ps, while water clusters survive for hundreds of ps in this size range. Autodetachment lifetimes were observed to decrease significantly with increasing excitation energy for a particular number and type of solvent molecules. The application of Klots’ model for thermionic emission from clusters to I–(H2O)5 and I–(CH3OH)7 qualitatively reproduces experimental trends and reveals a high sensitivity to energy parametrization while remaining relatively insensitiv...
Teaching Globalization and Development through a Simulation

This article describes a simulation designed to teach students about the interests and interactions involved in the international political economy of development. The design and implementation of the simulation are discussed and sample simulation instructions for students are included.
The Struggle for Jerusalem’s Holy Places

Political and nationalistic contestation in Jerusalem is expertly revealed and analyzed at the microscale level in this important book. Reporting on part of a broader research project, “Conflict in...
Sloughing esophagitis: a spectacular histologic and endoscopic disease without a uniform clinical correlation

Sloughing esophagitis, also currently known as esophagitis dissecans superficialis, is a degenerative disease of the squamous epithelium characterized by superficial epithelial necrosis with parakeratosis, but without inflammation, and detachment of the superficial necrotic zone from the deep viable zone. This leads to a spectacular endoscopic appearance of sloughed mucosa in streaks and patches. The cause is unknown, and the clinical characteristics are variable, ranging from incidentally findings to esophageal symptoms. The disease seems to be self-limited, as resolution of the changes was observed in the few cases for which follow-up endoscopic examinations have been reported.
Beyond the self: power of purpose

In the last chapter, I explored how becoming an intellectual (or any other type of) shaman means having the courage to become who you really are. Intellectual – or any other form of – shamanism involves allowing a sense of inherent power to emerge out of deeper purpose, taking the individual beyond self, beyond pure self-interest, to attempting to do something for the world. Finding and realizing that calling or deeper purpose to become fully who you can be is what the psychologist Abraham Maslow calls ‘self-actualization.’ To accomplish the task of fully becoming yourself, it is important to come to understand what your unique purpose in the world might be. Coming to purpose also requires having the courage to follow that purpose and the willingness to go at least somewhat off the beaten track if necessary. Heeding the ‘call’ to purpose can come in any number of ways. Some paths are subtle, others more obvious; some are clear straight away and others take a roundabout and lengthy path. We saw in the last chapter, for example, how David Cooperrider and Otto Scharmer experienced sudden transitions and awareness, built on a range of prior life experiences, while others, such as Nancy Adler, Jane Dutton, and Dave Brown, perhaps more typically, took circuitous routes. Heeding the call to purpose also means acknowledging the power that is associated with purpose – sometimes simply the power to do the work to which one is called.
Evaluation of the Use of Remodelable Pericardial Bolsters During Cystectomy and Diversion to Prevent Enterocutaneous Fistulas

AbstractIntroduction: Enterocutaneous fistula is one of the most serious and potentially devastating complications after radical cystectomy, a complex operation with a significant morbidity rate. I...
Ultralow Stress, Thermally Stable Cross-Linked Polymer Films of Polydivinylbenzene (PDVB)

Although closely related to polystyrene, poly(divinylbenzene) (PDVB) has found limited utility due to the difficulties associated with its synthesis. As a highly cross-linked polymer, PDVB is infusible and insoluble and thus nearly impossible to shape into films by either melt or solvent-based processes. Here, we report the initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) of nearly stress-free, highly transparent, free-standing films of PDVB up to 25 μm thick. Films initially grow under tensile intrinsic stress but become more compressive with thickness and eventually converge to zero-stress values once they reach ≥10 μm in thickness. Upon initial heating, the evaporative loss of unreacted monomer left in the polymer matrix induces between 35 and 45 MPa of tensile stress in the films. Afterward, subsequent heating cycles induce reversible stress and film expansion behaviors. We estimate the degree of cross-linking to be 44%, resulting in high thermal stability (up to 300 °C) and mechanical stiffness (Young's modulus of 5.2 GPa). The low stress combined with high cross-linking makes iCVD PDVB an excellent candidate for protective coatings in harsh environments.
Electrocatalytic Properties of Cuprous Delafossite Oxides for the Alkaline Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Inspired by the oxygen-binding copper sites in biomolecules, a series of cuprous delafossite oxides (CuBO2, B = Sc, Y, La) with similar interatomic copper distances were utilized as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The carbon-supported oxides showed improved onset potential, current, and electron transfer number over carbon black, with CuLaO2 having the highest prevalence of the complete four electron reduction. The oxygen electrocatalytic activity of the copper-site in delafossite oxides was demonstrated.
Phyllosilicate sol-gel immobilized lipases for the formation of partial acylglycerides**

Lipase PS-30 (pseudomonas cepacia) and Lipase F (Rhizopus oryzae), immobilized within a phyllosilicate sol-gel matrix, catalyzed the esterification of glycerol with short, medium and long-chain fatty acids to produce mono (MAG), di (DAG) and tri (TAG) acylglycerols. The results from the above esterification reactions were compared to reactions using a commercially available immobilized lipase, Lipozyme IM-60. Time course studies showed that free Lipase PS-30 or Lipase F enhanced esterification reactions with the use of silica-supported glycerol. In contrast, immobilized Lipase PS-30-catalyzed reactions occurred at the same conversion rate when using either free or silica-supported glycerol. For immobilized Lipase F and Lipozyme IM-60 reactions, the use of silica-supported glycerol favored the production of DAG and TAG over MAG. All three immobilized lipases could be reused for acylglycerol production.
A user's guide for the quantitative analysis of substrate characteristics and locomotor kinematics in free‐ranging primates

OBJECTIVES Laboratory studies have yielded important insights into primate locomotor mechanics. Nevertheless, laboratory studies fail to capture the range of ecological and structural variation encountered by free-ranging primates. We present techniques for collecting kinematic data on wild primates using consumer grade high-speed cameras and demonstrate novel methods for quantifying metric variation in arboreal substrates. MATERIALS AND METHODS These methods were developed and applied to our research examining platyrrhine substrate use and locomotion at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, Ecuador. Modified GoPro cameras equipped with varifocal zoom lenses provided high-resolution footage (1080 p.; 120 fps) suitable for digitizing gait events. We tested two methods for remotely measuring branch diameter: the parallel laser method and the distance meter photogrammetric method. A forestry-grade laser rangefinder was used to quantify substrate angle and a force gauge was used to measure substrate compliance. We also introduce GaitKeeper, a graphical user interface for MATLAB, designed for coding quadrupedal gait. RESULTS Parallel laser and distance meter methods provided accurate estimations of substrate diameter (percent error: 3.1-4.5%). The laser rangefinder yielded accurate estimations of substrate orientation (mean error = 2.5°). Compliance values varied tremendously among substrates but were largely explained by substrate diameter, substrate length, and distance of measurement point from trunk. On average, larger primates used relatively small substrates and traveled higher in the canopy. DISCUSSION Ultimately, these methods will help researchers identify more precisely how primate gait kinematics respond to the complexity of arboreal habitats, furthering our understanding of the adaptive context in which primate quadrupedalism evolved.
Drift compression and final focus for intense heavy ion beams with nonperiodic, time-dependent lattice

In the currently envisioned configurations for heavy ion fusion, it is necessary to longitudinally compress the beam bunches by a large factor after the acceleration phase. Because the space-charge force increases as the beam is compressed, the beam size in the transverse direction will increase in a periodic quadrupole lattice. If an active control of the beam size is desired, a larger focusing force is needed to confine the beam in the transverse direction, and a nonperiodic quadrupole lattice along the beam path is necessary. In this paper, we describe the design of such a focusing lattice using the transverse envelope equations. A drift compression and final focus lattice should focus the entire beam pulse onto the same focal spot on the target. This is difficult with a fixed lattice, because different slices of the beam may have different perveance and emittance. Four time-dependent magnets are introduced in the upstream of drift compression to focus the entire pulse onto the same focal spot. Drift compression and final focusing schemes are developed for a typical heavy ion fusion driver and for the integrated beam experiment being designed by the Heavy Ion Fusion Virtual National Laboratory.
Grip and shoulder strength correlation with validated outcome instruments in patients with rotator cuff tears.

Hypothesis/Background The ability to better define preoperatively the extent of rotator cuff (RC) dysfunction is desired. The study’s purpose was to prospectively examine the relationships between absolute and percentage loss (affected compared to unaffected) of grip and shoulder strength, and RC dysfunction. Methods Forty-seven consecutive patients with proven RC tears participated in this study. Prior to surgery, bilateral strengths of grip, shoulder abduction, and shoulder external rotation (ER) were measured with a handheld dynamometer, and subjective outcome measures were gathered. RC tear size was determined via arthroscopy. Patient-reported outcomes were gathered on the day of the examination or via e-mail following initial evaluation. Descriptive statistics, difference analysis, and correlation coefficients (reported as either direct or negative) were used to analyze data. Grip, abduction and ER strengths, and percentage loss of grip, abduction, and ER strengths (percentage loss affected vs. unaffected), and tear size were analyzed in relation to all of the scores on selected subjective outcome measurement tools. The P value was set at .05. Results Fair direct correlations were found between grip strength and the Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey (VR-12) mental health scores, ER strength and Simple Shoulder Test (SST), abduction strength, and both the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Standardized Shoulder Assessment Form (ASES) function score and SST score. Abduction and ER strengths were also found to possess a fair direct correlation. Fair negative correlations were found between the ASES function score and each of the following: percentage loss of abduction strength, percentage loss of ER strength, and tear size in centimeters. Another fair negative correlation was found between the Single Assessment Numerical Evaluation (SANE) score and tear size in centimeters. Discussion Our findings suggest that as shoulder strength decreases, ipsilateral shoulder RC dysfunction increases. Grip strength was not related to shoulder RC dysfunction. Conclusion Grip strength was not found to correlate with RC tears. Those with decreased abduction and ER strengths and low ASES scores should be considered more likely to have an RC tear.
Say-on-Pay Voting and CEO Compensation Structure

I examine how the structure of CEO compensation affects Say-on-Pay (SOP) voting and how SOP outcomes influence subsequent changes to compensation structure. I find that voting dissent decreases as the percent of performance sensitive compensation including equity and non-equity incentive increases. Additionally, investors vote more favorably when equity comes in the form of performance-vested equity or stock options as opposed to time-vested restricted stock. Subsequent to higher levels of voting dissent, however, I do not find that firms make changes to align compensation structure with investor preferences for more performance sensitive compensation as expressed through prior voting. Instead, I find that firms with greater SOP voting dissent in the prior year tend to increase performance-vested equity and decrease stock options in CEO compensation. A 20% increase in votes “Against” in the prior year SOP vote is associated with a 3.9% increase in performance-vested equity as a percent of total compensation and a 2.3% decrease in stock options. These results demonstrate that, while SOP voting is influencing compensation structure, it is not clear that these changes are resulting in more performance sensitive compensation.
Highly efficient and selective hydroboration of terminal and internal alkynes catalysed by a cobalt(II) coordination polymer

Hydroboration of terminal and internal alkynes has been carried out with extremely high efficiency by using a bench-stable and inexpensive cobalt(II) coordination polymer as a precatalyst in the presence of potassium tert-butoxide (KOtBu). Good to high yields of alkenylboronate esters were obtained in 5–30 min with low catalyst loading (0.025 mol%). Good chemoselectivity for alkyne vs alkene hydroboration was observed. A possible catalytic cycle involving the in situ formation of an active Co–H species is proposed based on additional experimental results. This work provides valuable implications for the design of efficient and practical base metal catalysts.
Minimally invasive therapies for Peyronie's disease: the current state of the art.

Peyronie’s disease (PD) is a relatively common condition that can result in significant penile deformity, sexual dysfunction, and psychological bother. Surgical straightening offers the highest probability of success during the stable phase of the disease. However, for men in the acute phase of PD or for those with less severe deformity who elect to avoid surgery, a variety of non-surgical treatment options are available. Oral therapies, including L-citrulline and pentoxifylline, are most useful as part of a combination regimen rather than as monotherapy. Intralesional therapy with IFN-α2b, verapamil, and collagenase clostridium histolyticum (CCH) can cause significant reduction in penile curvature, yet these results may not be clinically significant for men with more severe curvature. Further investigation into the timing of administration and optimal patient characteristics is required. Penile traction therapy offers a clinically significant improvement in penile length and curvature. However, this has traditionally required hours of daily therapy. Overall, a combination of oral, topical, injection and traction therapies may provide the most significant benefit among the non-surgical modalities for PD.
Combined Transphyseal and Lateral Extra-articular Pediatric Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Novel Technique to Reduce ACL Reinjury While Allowing for Growth:

Background:Treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in the adolescent population continues to be complicated by an unacceptably high rate of secondary ACL injury.Purpose:To describe t...
Rethinking Shortages in Special Education: Making Good on the Promise of an Equal Opportunity for Students With Disabilities:

In this article, the authors describe the complexity of special education teacher (SET) shortage, how shortage undermines equal educational opportunity, and strategies that school districts and sta...
A zeroth-order active-space frozen-orbital embedding scheme for multireference calculations.

Multireference computations of large-scale chemical systems are typically limited by the computational cost of quantum chemistry methods. In this work, we develop a zeroth-order active space embedding theory [ASET(0)], a simple and automatic approach for embedding any multireference dynamical correlation method based on a frozen-orbital treatment of the environment. ASET(0) is combined with the second-order multireference driven similarity renormalization group and tested on several benchmark problems, including the excitation energy of 1-octene and bond-breaking in ethane and pentyldiazene. Finally, we apply ASET(0) to study the singlet–triplet gap of p-benzyne and 9,10-anthracyne diradicals adsorbed on a NaCl surface. Our results show that despite its simplicity, ASET(0) is a powerful and sufficiently accurate embedding scheme applicable when the coupling between the fragment and the environment is in the weak to medium regime.
Application of US Detect and Avoid Standards in European Environments

Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems are an essential technology to enable the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National airspace system (NAS). In the U.S., a DAA system's role is to fulfill the “see and avoid” requirement found in 14 CFR §91.113 (b), and the intent of U.S. standards is to enable UAS operations in all classes of airspace. Since the “Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for Detect and Avoid Systems” (RTCA DO-365) were intended to enable operations in the U.S., however, the assumed operational environment may not apply to certain European nations, and the requirements therein must be assessed for applicability for any operational environment outside of the U.S. Additionally, EUROCAE WG-105's “Minimum Aviation System Performance Standards (MASPS) for Detect and Avoid [Traffic] (DAA[Traf])…” are not perfectly aligned with the U.S. MOPS; leaving gaps for future DAA manufacturers that wish to operate in both U.S. and European environments. For UAS to be integrated into both U.S. and European airspace, effort has been put towards aligning the standards of the respective bodies, and the applicability of an RTCA DO-365 compliant DAA system in European airspace has been assessed. Since the rules in each airspace class are standardized via ICAO “Annex 11: Air Traffic Services, Chapter 2, Section 2.6”, the classes of airspace are highly similar between all of the member states of ICAO, and the allocation of the classes is the primary difference between countries. The way this impacts operations and procedural mitigation is analyzed.
Lipid-based, protein-based, and steric interactions synergize to facilitate transmembrane signaling stimulated by antigen-clustering of IgE receptors

Antigen (Ag) crosslinking of immunoglobulin E-receptor (IgE-Fc{varepsilon}RI) complexes in mast cells stimulates transmembrane (TM) signaling, requiring phosphorylation of the clustered Fc{varepsilon}RI by lipid-anchored Lyn tyrosine kinase. Previous studies showed that this stimulated coupling between Lyn and Fc{varepsilon}RI occurs in liquid ordered (Lo)-like nanodomains of the plasma membrane and that Lyn binds directly to cytosolic segments of Fc{varepsilon}RI that it initially phosphorylates for amplified activity. Net phosphorylation above a non-functional threshold is achieved in the stimulated state, but not in the resting state, and current evidence supports the hypothesis that this relies on disruption by Ag-crosslinking of a balance between Lyn and tyrosine phosphatase activities. However, the structural interactions that underlie the stimulation process remain poorly defined. This study evaluates the relative contributions and functional importance of different types of interactions leading to supra-threshold phosphorylation of Ag-crosslinked IgE-Fc{varepsilon}RI in live rat basophilic leukemia (RBL) mast cells. Our high-precision diffusion measurements by Imaging Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (ImFCS) on multiple structural variants of Lyn and other lipid-anchored probes confirm subtle, stimulated stabilization of the Lo-like nanodomains and concomitant sharpening of segregation from liquid-disordered (Ld)-like regions. With other structural variants we determine that lipid-based interactions are essential for access by Lyn leading to phosphorylation of and protein-based binding to clustered Fc{varepsilon}RI. By contrast, TM tyrosine phosphatase, PTP, is excluded from these regions by steric repulsion of TM segments and preference for Ld-like regions. Overall, we establish a synergy of lipid-based, protein-based, and steric interactions underlying functional TM signaling in mast cells. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTLipid organization of the plasma membrane is known to be important for facilitating protein interactions in transmembrane signaling. However, the orchestration of these interactions in live cells has been elusive. We employed ImFCS to systemically investigate the interplay of lipids and proteins during signaling in mast cells, initiated as phosphorylation of Ag-crosslinked IgE-Fc{varepsilon}RI by lipid-anchored Lyn kinase. We find lipid-based interactions are first required for protein-based phosphorylation of the clustered Fc{varepsilon}RI within Lo-like nanodomains. Transmembrane phosphatases must be excluded from these regions, and we find this is mediated by their preference for Ld-like regions and by steric exclusion from the clustered Fc{varepsilon}RI proteins. ImFCS provides quantitative characterization of the functional link between features of plasma membrane organization and transmembrane signaling.