cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Controlled Growth of a Single Palladium Nanowire between Microfabricated Electrodes

We report a novel electrochemical method for dimensionally controlled growth of a single palladium nanowire between premicrofabricated electrodes. In this method, the dimensions of the nanowire are defined by the dimensions of the e-beam-patterned channel between the microfabricated gold electrodes. The formation of the nanowire is confirmed by both optical and scanning electron microscopy imaging in addition to the electrical measurement using the two terminal current−voltage (I−V) characteristics of the nanowire. Fabrication of a single localized palladium nanowire with controlled dimensions is demonstrated for 100 nm, 500 nm, and 1 μm wide and 2.5 μm long channels (length-to-diameter ratio ∼2.5−25). The growth profile, confinement, resistance, and morphology of the nanowires were strongly influenced by the deposition conditions. A current of −100 nA was found to provide well-confined, stable nanowires with ohmic contact with the gold electrodes.
An Ideological Derivative toward the Origins of Territoriality and Early Sedentism in the Northeastern United States

Early/Middle Archaic (10,000-6000 B.P.) mortuary practices are very poorly understood in the Northeastern United States. Traditionally, the Late Archaic has been considered a period of dramatic pop...
Effects of tumor promoters and extracellular calcium on the growth of normal, transformed and temperature sensitive rat liver epithelial cells.

Abstract We have compared the effect of extracellular Ca 2+ concentration and of phorbol ester tumor promoters on the growth of normal rat liver epithelial cells, a chemically transformed derivative of these cells and a mutant of the latter cells that is temperature sensitive in the expression of transformation. The normal K16 or K22 cells grew considerably better in 1.25 mM Ca 2+ than in 0.01 mM Ca 2+ , whereas their transformed counterpart, W8, grew equally well in 1.25 and 0.01 mM Ca 2+ . The temperature-sensitive mutant TS 223 exhibited an intermediate phenotype. When grown at either 36°C or 39.5°C, these cells were less Ca 2+ dependent than K16 or K22 cells; but they were more Ca 2+ dependent than W8 cells. The phorbol ester tumor promoters TPA (12- O -tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate), PDD (phorbol-12, 13-didecanoate) and PDB (phorbol-12,13-dibenzoate) enhanced the growth of K16 or K22 cells in 0.01 mM Ca 2+ . On the other hand, the same agents markedly inhibited the growth of W8 and TS 223 cells, at 36°C and 39.5°C, in both low (0.01 mM) and normal (1.25 mM) Ca 2+ concentrations. Two structurally related diterpenes which lack tumor promoting activity on mouse skin, phorbol and 4αPDD, did not alter the growth properties of any of these cell lines, at either low or normal Ca 2+ concentrations. Our results indicate, therefore, differences in the responses between normal and transformed rat liver epithelial cells to growth control by extracellular Ca 2+ and tumor promoters.
Kinetic study of the reaction of the acetyl radical, CH3CO, with O3 using cavity ring-down spectroscopy

Abstract Rate coefficients for the gas-phase reaction CH3CO + O3 → products (1) were measured between 248 and 403 K at 60–200 Torr (N2). Rate coefficients were measured under pseudo-first-order conditions in CH3CO with CH3CO produced by 248 nm pulsed laser photolysis of acetone and monitored using cavity ring-down spectroscopy at 532 nm. Rate coefficients were found to be pressure independent with a weak negative temperature dependence k 1 ( T ) = 1.50 - 0.30 + 0.25 × 10 - 11 exp [ ( 300 ± 50 ) / T ] cm 3 molecule - 1 s - 1 and k1(296 K) = (4.4 ± 0.5) × 10−11 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 where the quoted uncertainties are 2σ and include estimated systematic errors.
19F Isotropic shifts in paramagnetic iron(III) octaethyltetraphenylporphyrinate and tetraphenylporphyrinate complexes of a variety of electronic ground states: implications for the electron configuration of chloroiron tri-(pentafluorophenyl)corrolate

Abstract The 19 F NMR spectra of three complexes each of two different pentafluorophenyl-substituted iron(III) porphyrinates have been investigated and compared with the respective protonated phenyl-substituted iron porphyrinates. The two series of iron porphyrinates were those of tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) and octaethyltetraphenylporphyrin (OETPP), and the complexes investigated were the chloroiron ( S =5/2 for TPP, S =spin admixed 3/2, 5/2 for OETPP), the bis-4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) complex ( S =1/2, d π unpaired electron) and the bis- t -butylisocyanide (TBIC) complex ( S =1/2, d xy unpaired electron). The protonated phenyl compounds have all been well characterized previously. The fluorinated phenyl compounds all show large o -F isotropic shifts (positive for chloroiron and bis-TBIC complexes, negative for bis-DMAP complexes), while the m -F and p -F isotropic shifts are much smaller in magnitude, but the same sign as the o -F isotropic shifts of each complex, even when there is significant spin density at the meso -carbons, as in the cases of the bis-TBIC complexes. Thus, unlike 1 H isotropic shifts, which are readily separable into dipolar and contact contributions, the 19 F isotropic shifts of the ortho -fluorines have an overriding, large contribution from either a ligand-centered dipolar shift or a through-space contact shift that results from direct electron cloud overlap of the ortho -fluorines with the π-system of the porphyrin ring, but in either case, the large isotropic shift of the ortho -fluorines appears to be related to the spin density at the meso -carbon to which the fluorinated phenyl group is attached. Based upon these findings, and the fact that the 19 F isotropic shifts of the tri(pentafluorophenyl)corrolatoiron chloride are negative and only somewhat larger than those of the S =5/2 F 20 TPPFeCl complex, it is not possible to determine the electron configuration of the corrolate complex from the 19 F NMR data, since DFT calculations have shown that there is negative spin density at the meso -carbons of iron corrolates in either the S 1 =3/2 Fe(III)(corrolate 2− ), S 2 =1/2 antiferromagnetically coupled case or the S =1 Fe(IV)(corrolate 3− ) case. [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 124 (2002) 6636].
Tissue isozyme alterations in cyanate treated animals

Abstract EFFECTS of cyanate on red blood cell and tissue proteins were examined with electrophoresis of 25 enzymes. In vitro treatment of blood with 0.05M cyanate resulted in the appearance of new anodally-migrating zones in all enzymes studied. In vivo , IV or IP administration of repeated high doses in mice produced alternations in the electrophoretic pattern of 15 enzymes in red cells, brain, kidney, liver, and muscle. That these alterations were reversible was shown by the fact that the zymograms were normal 40 days after cessation of treatment. With low dosage of cyanate only minimal alterations in enzyme patterns were observed, and in survivors of a single LD 50 dose, there were no visible electrophoretic changes. These experiments indicate that during cyanate treatment, the effects of the drug are not confined solely to the target hemoglobin molecule. The findings also show that enzyme electrophoretic techniques can be used as a sensitive index of tissue protein carbamylation in studies of chronic cyanate toxicity.
Winds from Luminous Late-Type Stars: II. Broadband Frequency Distribution of Alfven Waves

We present the numerical simulations of winds from evolved giant stars using a fully non-linear, time dependent 2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code. This study extends our previous fully non-linear MHD wind simulations to include a broadband frequency spectrum of Alfven waves that drive winds from red giant stars. We calculated four Alfven wind models that cover the whole range of Alfven wave frequency spectrum to characterize the role of freely propagated and reflected Alfven waves in the gravitationally stratified atmosphere of a late-type giant star. Our simulations demonstrate that, unlike linear Alfven wave-driven wind models, a stellar wind model based on plasma acceleration due to broadband non-linear Alfven waves, can consistently reproduce the wide range of observed radial velocity profiles of the winds, their terminal velocities and the observed mass loss rates. Comparison of the calculated mass loss rates with the empirically determined mass loss rate for alpha Tau suggests an anisotropic and time-dependent nature of stellar winds from evolved giants.
Age-related decline in hypocretin (orexin) receptor 2 messenger RNA levels in the mouse brain.

The hypocretin (Hcrt; also known as orexin) system has been implicated in arousal state regulation and energy metabolism. We hypothesize that age-related sleep problems can result from dysfunction of this system and thus measured messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of preprohcrt in the hypothalamus, and hcrt receptor 1 (hcrtr1) and hcrt receptor 2 (hcrtr2) in eight brain regions of 3, 12, 18 and 24 months old C57BL/6 mice. Expression of preprohcrt and the colocalized prodynorphin did not change with age. Whereas an age-related change in hcrtr1 mRNA expression was observed only in the hippocampus, hcrtr2 mRNA levels declined in the hippocampus, thalamus, pons, and medulla; these reductions ranged from 33 to 44%. Declining trends (P < 0.1) in hcrtr2 mRNA levels were also observed in the cortex, basal forebrain and hypothalamus. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that an age-related deterioration occurs in the Hcrt system that may contribute to age-related sleep disorders.
Perinatal nicotine exposure delays genital development in mice.

Abstract Introduction Smoking has well-recognized endocrine disrupting effects in humans that have been linked specifically to nicotine in animal models. Nicotine's perinatal effects on genital development in mice, which is interpreted as a measure of endocrine disrupting activity, were evaluated in this report. Methods Pregnant C57B/6J dams were administered 50 μg/ml nicotine in drinking water from gestational day 9 until pups were weaned. Their pups’ anogenital distances and weights were measured at birth and at weaning. A subset of the pups was weighed again in adulthood. Results Female and male mice had significantly reduced anogenital distance at birth; however, by 34 days of age, differences in anogenital distance were no longer apparent, while body weight, which had been equal at birth and weaning, was significantly reduced in mice exposed to perinatal nicotine. Discussion Perinatal nicotine exposure significantly delayed genital development and altered adolescent body weight in this model.
EARLY AND LATE INCORPORATION OF TRITIATED THYMIDINE INTO SKIN CELLS AND THE PRESENCE OF A LONG-LIVED G0-SPECIFIC PRECURSOR POOL

40 min after a single injection of 50 µCi of tritiated thymidine a 3 mm punch of DBA-1 mouse skin contains about 1000 dpm. This value remains constant for at least 48 hr after injection. 50 hair follicles contain about 40 dpm, and from these values the activity calculated to reside in the basal layer of a 3 mm punch of skin is 760 dpm. These values also remain constant with time after injection. Fresh punches of skin contain much more activity. The fixative-soluble fraction (the difference between fresh and fixed values) decays slowly with time. The values for DBA-2 mice are similar. Plucking the hair from the follicles appears immediately to increase the size of the fixative-soluble fraction and decrease the fixed tissue values to about 500 dpm per punch for whole skin and about 1 dpm per 50 follicles for DBA-1. Thus almost all the activity is restricted to the epidermis. The fixative-soluble fraction returns approximately to the unplucked value between 24 and 48 hr after plucking. However, during this period the fixed tissue values are rising rapidly as stimulated cells enter S. It appears that in both strains labeled material remains available for incorporation into stimulated cells for at least 48 hr after a single injection. The amount persisting appears to decrease with time. The whole-fixed skin, the hair follicles, and the epidermis all contain cells that are capable of becoming labeled after stimulation 8–48 hr after an injection. The label in question does not become incorporated into normal cycling skin or hair follicle cells. It is concluded that the DNA precursor pool is possibly connected with G0 cells and that both the hair follicle and the basal layer of the epidermis contain these resting cells.
Shaping the Future: Nietzsche's New Regime of the Soul and Its Ascetic Practices

Shaping the Future: Nietzsche's New Regime of the Soul and Its Ascetic Practices , Horst Hutter, Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2006, pp. xvii, 222. Everyone interested in Nietzsche should read this book. Long pondered and passionately argued, its devotion to Nietzsche and Nietzsche's texts results in a Nietzsche worthy of our closest attention yet ill-treated by standard academic approaches. Basic to Hutter's reading of Nietzsche is his recognition, against the grain today, that here is a philosopher, a human singularity, yes, a wise man, who commands our attention because he has achieved an understanding of the human past and present that enables him to take responsibility for the human future.
Mechanical Unbinding of Aβ Peptides from Amyloid Fibrils

Using the experimental structures of Aβ amyloid fibrils and all-atom molecular dynamics, we study the force-induced unbinding of Aβ peptides from the fibril. We show that the mechanical dissociation of Aβ peptides is highly anisotropic and proceeds via different pathways when force is applied in parallel or perpendicular direction with respect to the fibril axis. The threshold forces associated with lateral unbinding of Aβ peptides exceed those observed during the mechanical dissociation along the fibril axis. In addition, Aβ fibrils are found to be brittle in the lateral direction of unbinding and soft along the fibril axis. Lateral mechanical unbinding and the unbinding along the fibril axis load different types of fibril interactions. Lateral unbinding is primarily determined by the cooperative rupture of fibril backbone hydrogen bonds. The unbinding along the fibril axis largely depends on the interpeptide Lys–Asp electrostatic contacts and the hydrophobic interactions formed by the Aβ C terminal. Due to universality of the amyloid β structure, the anisotropic mechanical dissociation observed for Aβ fibrils is likely to be applicable to other amyloid assemblies. The estimates of equilibrium forces required to dissociate Aβ peptide from the amyloid fibril suggest that these supramolecular structures are mechanically stronger than most protein domains. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Location Estimation of a Random Signal Source Based on Correlated Sensor Observations

The problem of location estimation of a source of random signals using a network of sensors is considered. A novel maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) based approach using copula functions is proposed. The measurements received at the sensors are often spatially correlated and characterized by a multivariate distribution. Using the theory of copulas, the joint parametric density of sensor observations (joint likelihood) is approximated assuming only the knowledge of the marginal likelihood functions of the sensor observations. The problem of selecting the best copula function to model the joint likelihood is approached as one of model selection and a model fusion strategy is used to reduce the effect of selection bias. An example involving source localization of a Poisson source is presented to illustrate the proposed approach and demonstrate its performance.
Symmetric Vector Gaussian Multiple Description with Two Levels of Receivers

L symmetric multiple descriptions of a vector Gaussian source with two levels of receivers is investigated, where the first level receiver can receive any k descriptions (k < L), and the second level receiver can receive all L descriptions. Both receivers need to reconstruct the vector Gaussian source subject to covariance distortion measure constraints, in a positive semidefinite ordering. The symmetric rate is characterized. Jointly Gaussian descriptions are shown to be optimal in achieving the symmetric rate. It is also shown that one layer of jointly Gaussian description is sufficient to achieve the optimal symmetric rate for two levels of receivers.
A high-speed data acquisition and protocol control system for vocal tract physiology

Summary Many laboratories designed to assess vocal tract function are still dependent on FM tape recorders, strip chart recorders, and analog oscilloscopes. Data reduction is often a tedious process requiring time-consuming manual measurement routines. The present report describes the components of a high-speed computer system for real-time data acquisition and display, stimulus control, and automated analysis. The acquisition and computational performance of this system is exemplified in a discussion of two special-purpose software applications, including (a) speech aerodynamics and (b) orofacial force physiology.
Functional Selectivity and Biased Receptor Signaling

With the emergence of information describing functional selectivity and biased agonists and antagonists has come a lack of confidence in "one size fits all" assays for detection of agonism. Seven-transmembrane receptors are pleiotropic with respect to the signaling protein to which they couple in a cell, and many conformations of the receptor can be formed; this leads to systems where ligands can stabilize unique conformations that go on to selectively activate signaling pathways. Thus, such "biased" ligands can produce cell-specific agonism that may require targeted assays to detect and quantify. It also predicts that ligands can have many different efficacies for the many behaviors that the receptor can exhibit (referred to as "pluridimensional efficacy"), leading to a breakdown in the common classifications of agonist and antagonist. This all poses unique challenges to the pharmacologic nomenclature of drugs, the detection and optimization of new drugs, and the association of phenotypic clinical profiles with pharmacological properties of drugs.
Anatomy of the Ankle and Foot

The ankle and foot complex at times must be mobile and at other times must be quite stable. The bony, ligamentous, and muscular structures of the ankle and foot are presented with respect to their mobility and stability functions. Innervation and vascular supply are discussed. Normal anatomy provides a basis and a reference point for discussion of dysfunction of the ankle and foot.
Opioid Receptor Involvement in Food Deprivation-Induced Feeding: Evaluation of Selective Antagonist and Antisense Oligodeoxynucleotide Probe Effects in Mice and Rats

Central administration of general and selective opioid receptor subtype antagonists in the rat has revealed a substantial role for mu, a moderate role for kappa, and a minimal role for delta receptors in the mediation of deprivation-induced feeding. Antisense probes directed against the kappa opioid receptor (KOP), nociceptin opioid receptor (NOP), and delta opioid receptor (DOP) genes in rats result in reductions similar to kappa and delta antagonists, whereas antisense probes directed against the mu opioid receptor (MOP) gene produced modest reductions relative to mu antagonists, suggesting that isoforms of the MOP gene may mediate deprivation-induced feeding. Since these isoforms were initially identified in mice, the present study compared the effects of general and selective opioid receptor antagonists on deprivation-induced feeding in rats and mice and antisense probes directed against exons of the MOP, DOP, KOP, and NOP genes on deprivation-induced feeding in the mouse. Food-deprived (12 and 24 h) rats and mice displayed similar profiles of reductions in deprivation-induced feeding following general, mu, and kappa opioid antagonists. In contrast, mice, but not rats, displayed reductions in deprivation-induced intake following delta antagonism as well as DOP antisense probes, suggesting a species-specific role for the delta receptor. Antisense probes directed against the KOP and NOP genes also reduced deprivation-induced intake in mice in a manner similar to kappa antagonism. However, the significant reductions in deprivation-induced feeding following antisense probes directed against either exons 2, 4, 7, 8, or 13 of the MOP gene were modest compared with mu antagonism, suggesting a role for multiple mu-mediated mechanisms.
Optimal scheduling of distorted multi-sensor measurements

A framework for the detection of bandlimited signals by optimally fusing the multi-nonlinear sensor data is developed. Though most sensors used are assumed to be linear, none of them individually or in series give the truly linear relationship and errors are inevitable as a result of the assumption of linearity. A new approach, which takes the actual nonlinear characteristics of sensors into account is advocated. Though the fusion of redundant information can reduce overall uncertainty and thus serves to increase the accuracy of the process measurements, identifying the faulty readings and fusing only the reliable data are very difficult and challenging. An optimal multiple nonlinear sensor data fusion scheme in which multi-sensor data fusion is done by scheduling the sensor measurements is proposed. The main idea of the multi-sensor fusion scheme proposed in this paper is to pick only the reliable data for the fusion and disregard the rest. The proposed theoretical framework is supported by simulation data.
Deaths of slaves in the middle passage.

It is widely accepted by students of the slave trade that slave mortality during the Middle Passage fell between the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. The first person to make the claim of declining mortality was Philip Curtin, who reopened research on slave mortality in his book The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census. Curtin examined a number of sources, and his conclusion was that “… there is a decreasing rate of loss over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.” Curtin's book stimulated a great deal of further research, much of it by Herbert Klein. Klein's conclusion was the same as Curtin's: “it is undoubtedly true that over the whole of the 18th century, mortality in the Middle Passage was on the decline.” This result has since been repeated in a number of places. Riley has recently summed up the consensus view on the subject: “Most students of this question report that mortality declined over time, but the available data are sporadic in time and place.” The only dissenting view has come from Postma who found “no discernible trend toward decrease or increase in the overall pattern” in the Dutch trade.
Hyperspectral Raman Microscopic Imaging Using Powell Lens Line Illumination

The design and characterization of a simple and robust hyperspectral Raman line imaging illumination system with the use of a Powell lens is reported. The generated line uniformity is +/- 5% of total intensity with a laser power density of 12 mW/ mu m2 at the sample with a 50X/0.8 NA (numerical aperture) objective. Similar results were obtained by using other objectives. Linewidths remained near the diffraction limit for all objectives tested. Significant decreases in image acquisition time are also reported with the use of a Powell lens-illuminated hyperspectral Raman line imaging microscope equipped with an intensified charge-coupled device (CCD) detector. Hyperspectral images (100 X 350 pixels) were acquired in as little as 8 with a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio of 24.
Pressure control with power limitation for hydraulic variable displacement piston pumps

An E/H control design is proposed for load sensing with power limit control of hydraulic variable displacement pumps. The pump operation mode will be either in pressure control or displacement control based on the pump discharge power. The main issue investigated in the paper is to combine both schemes with stable and smooth transitions between the two control modes. To ensure a smooth transition, the continuity of the controller output on the boundary of the power limit is obtained by the proposed algorithm. The robust stability of the control system is achieved by a rugged control design. The smooth bi-directional transfers between the displacement control and power control modes are achieved. The provided control design significantly simplifies the hydromechanical design for variable displacement pumps and results in a cost reduced pump with a better performance. Experimental results validate the theoretical development.
Stacked spatial-pyramid kernel: An object-class recognition method to combine scores from random trees

The combination of local features, complementary feature types, and relative position information has been successfully applied to many object-class recognition tasks. Stacking is a common classification approach that combines the results from multiple classifiers, having the added benefit of allowing each classifier to handle a different feature space. However, the standard stacking method by its own nature discards any spatial information contained in the features, because only the combination of raw classification scores are input to the final classifier. The object-class recognition method proposed in this paper combines different feature types in a new stacking framework that efficiently quantizes input data and boosts classification accuracy, while allowing the use of spatial information. This classification method is applied to the task of automated insect-species identification for biomonitoring purposes. The test data set for this work contains 4722 images with 29 insect species, belonging to the three most common orders used to measure stream water quality, several of which are closely related and very difficult to distinguish. The specimens are in different 3D positions, different orientations, and different developmental and degradation stages with wide intra-class variation. On this very challenging data set, our new algorithm outperforms other classifiers, showing the benefits of using spatial information in the stacking framework with multiple dissimilar feature types.
Community level engineering effects of Triglochin maritima (seaside arrowgrass) in a salt marsh in northern New England, USA

Summary 1 Ecosystem engineers can influence other organisms indirectly by modifying their physical habitat and are common in all natural communities. We examined the mechanisms underlying the effects of engineering by seaside arrowgrass, Triglochin maritima (Juncaginaceae), in a northern New England forb panne. Within these waterlogged areas, T. maritima creates elevated rings that support high plant cover compared with nearly bare adjacent substrate. 2 The influence on vegetation patterns of ring height and facilitation by neighbouring vegetation were examined in the field with T. maritima rings (elevation + vegetation), experimentally lowered rings (vegetation only), artificially raised mud (elevation only) and bare mud. Transplants of four perennial species, along with naturally occurring seedlings, were followed to assess plant performance. We also monitored edaphic conditions, seed dispersal and plant cover in experimental plots over two growing seasons. 3 All transplanted species showed increased success in raised treatments (in which the substrate showed an increase in reductive potential and a decrease in waterlogging) while there was no significant relationship to the presence of neighbouring vegetation. Seed supply, however, was enhanced by both ring elevation and the presence of neighbours. 4 A glasshouse experiment to test the response of T. maritima to waterlogging showed an increased production of shallow roots, suggesting a mechanism that may contribute to ring formation. 5 Our results indicate that community consequences of engineering by T. maritima are predominantly due to raised ring formation that ameliorates waterlogging stress and thereby promotes increased species diversity. Consequently, T. maritima may be an important target species for conservation, as sea level rise is expected to increase waterlogging stress in marshes.
Stimulating minority student retention with BalloonSAT projects

This poster describes outcomes associated with the integration of a BalloonSAT project in Computer Science curriculum to stimulate minority student recruitment and retention. BalloonSAT projects involve the launch of high-altitude helium-filled balloons with communications equipment, scientific sensors, and on-board computers coupled with ground-based tracking, retrieval, data archiving and analysis. The primary module include communication and tracking equipment - typically VHF or UHF radios with Terminal Node Controllers (TNCs) and GPS receivers to transmit balloon telemetry using APRS, a radio digital mode. The secondary modules (science payloads) may include flight computers and relay controllers integrated with sensors such as temperature, pressure and other data loggers, Geiger counters, CO2 monitors, digital or analog cameras, etc. Students typically design, solder, assemble, test the components and interface sensors with microcontrollers. The project has expanded to include monitoring of tropospheric ozone and students participated in NASA-based data validation teams. A number of colleges embed BalloonSAT projects in interdisciplinary courses as well as capstone projects. We describe initial results of the impact of this project in the Computer Science curriculum of a small, urban primarily minority-serving institution. The project integrates electronics skills with computer science discipline areas and scientific investigation. The project is offered in a Special Projects Computer Science course supporting curriculum linkages in traditional areas including data communications, scientific programming, database systems, and digital logic design. In the two years since the project has been implemented, approximately 30 students have participated in the special projects course with direct involvement in the BalloonSAT. Students are integrated into Special Topics courses based on the BalloonSAT project immediately following completion of sophomore-level Computer Science courses. Summer internship opportunities are also available and supported by external funding. The project is intended to support and complement student performance in upper-level Computer Science courses and provide motivation towards attainment of the BS degree. The project also helped to broaden student understanding of potential career choices including graduate studies. Further proof of this lies in the fact that every eligible student chose to participate in external summer internships in primarily NASA-related areas. Although the BalloonSAT course has special characteristics that are not generally exportable, it is worthwhile exploring the more generic features that appear to stimulate retention and degree completion. These include the early introduction of compelling applications with links to curriculum which are interdisciplinary in nature, foster teamwork and collaboration and provide students with a broader understanding of their potential roles in the science and engineering community. The project is partially supported by several NASA grants including State Space Grant Consortia.
Chemoprevention of Prostate Cancer

Purpose: Due to the public health impact of prostate cancer including the burden of screening and treatment, there is significant public interest in the potential prevention of this disease. We review the most recent results of large scale randomized clinical trials.Materials and Methods: We review the potential agents, their hypothesized mechanisms of action and challenges for the design of chemoprevention trials, including the 3 large scale trials SELECT (testing selenium and vitamin E), PCPT (testing finasteride) and REDUCE (testing dutasteride).Results: The initial results of SELECT have now been reported and demonstrate no impact of selenium or vitamin E on the risk of prostate cancer. The REDUCE trial results should be available within the year. The results of the PCPT demonstrate a significant (measured relative risk reduction of 24.8%) reduction in the risk of prostate cancer. The initial observation of an excess risk of high grade disease appears to be related to improved detection of cancer and ...
Crosslinking Chlorosulfonated Polyethylenes

Abstract The broadening practical use of chlorosulfonated polyethylene elastomers for applications where good resistance to heat, oil, light, oxygen, and ozone is needed has been accelerated by the development of several chemically distinct curing systems. Optimum use of these saturated elastomers requires a knowledge of the chemistry of these curing reactions and the effect of the resulting crosslink structures on vulcanizate properties. The high reactivity of the sulfonyl chloride crosslinking sites allows wide latitude in choice of curing chemistry, and crosslink type can be controlled to give a preponderance of ionic salt bonds or to give a mixture of covalent and ionic bonds. The role of water, alcohols, sulfur accelerators and free radical stabilizers in the various practical curing systems is discussed. The development of wholly organic curing systems for chlorosulfonated polyethylenes is reviewed. The properties of vulcanizates of chlorosulfonated polyethylenes are also significantly controlled by...
Ethical Considerations on the Repatriation of Bikindi's Music to Post-Genocide Rwanda

This paper presents an ethically murky case study involving the informal repatriation of the political music of Simon Bikindi to post-genocide Rwanda. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bikindi composed a number of songs that were later incorporated into a propaganda campaign used to incite the genocide of the Tutsi minority. Bikindi is now in prison, and his songs are de facto censored in Rwanda. Ethnographic research concerning the reception of Bikindis music nevertheless revealed a fervent desire among some Rwandans to own and listen to the songs again. A few requested recordings, placing me in the awkward position of being an agent of repatriation against the governments and much of the populations wishes. In the end, I gave in to these requests because I could not bear any further subtext of neocolonial paternalism (already so enshrined in the very requests) that I believe would have resulted if I had denied them. Personal anecdotal evidence will illustrate these issues and prompt important questions regarding the ethics of repatriation for foreign scholars working within contexts in which people prefer to keep at bay the cultural material of their past vis-a-vis others who wish for its return.
Optical assessment of tissue mechanical properties

Many disease processes, such as scirrhous carcinoma of the breast and atherosclerosis physically manifest themselves as changes in the mechanical properties of the involved tissue. Optical evaluation of the mechanical properties of biological tissues offers methods that can directly provide information regarding the state of health of both hard and soft tissue. Clinically, this information may be used for diagnostic purposes. Since all biological tissues display viscoelastic behavior and therefore exhibits a time dependence of their mechanical behavior, the important quantities for evaluating the mechanics of tissue under load are those that reflect this time dependence. For example, by evaluating the retardation spectrum of the tissue, the underlying molecular processes that govern the mechanical behavior may be elucidated. Understanding these spectra may provide insight into pathological processes and also provide some guidance for the development of synthetic materials or engineered tissues to replace damaged or pathological tissue. Thus, there is a need for methods that directly assess the time rate of the mechanical response of tissue to an imposed load. Herein, a few such methods will be discussed and applications to biomaterials and medical diagnostics will be discussed.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Seigniorage and Dollarisation

Dollarisation is becoming a viable option for a number of countries, but the potential loss of seigniorage is a major obstacle. The paper reviews existing seigniorage sharing arrangements and discusses issues in the design of the new ones.
Fusion Blanket Coolant Section Criteria, Methodology, and Results

The focus of this LDRD was to explore potential Li alloys that would meet the tritium breeding and blanket cooling requirements but with reduced chemical reactivity, while maintaining the other attractive features of pure Li breeder/coolant. In other fusion approaches (magnetic fusion energy or MFE), 17Li- 83Pb alloy is used leveraging Pb’s ability to maintain high TBR while lowering the levels of lithium in the system. Unfortunately this alloy has a number of potential draw-backs. Due to the high Pb content, this alloy suffers from very high average density, low tritium solubility, low system energy, and produces undesirable activation products in particular polonium. The criteria considered in the selection of a tritium breeding alloy are described in the following section.
Youth, self, other: A study of Ibdaa’s digital media practices in the West Bank, Palestine:

While research on youth media offers persuasive arguments about what young people are doing with information and communication technologies (ICTs), a significant absence from the literature pertain...
Individual and Institutional Components of the Medical School Educational Environment.

PurposeTo examine, using a systems framework, the relative influence of individual-level and institution-level factors on student perceptions of the medical school educational environment.MethodA series of hierarchical linear models were fit to a large, 18-school longitudinal dataset of student perc
Severe bilateral optic nerve and retinal hypoperfusion in a patient with acute respiratory distress syndrome and septic shock.

Abstract Purpose To report a case of bilateral central retinal artery occlusion with both anterior and posterior ischemic optic neuropathy. Observations A 65-year-old Caucasian woman presented with acute respiratory distress syndrome and septic shock. After treatment with vasopressors and prolonged prone positioning, she was noted to be bilaterally completely blind on hospitalization day 12. Evaluation revealed evidence of bilateral central retinal artery occlusion and bilateral ischemic optic neuropathy. Magnetic resonance imaging of the orbits demonstrated severe restricted diffusion of both optic nerves consistent with ischemia. Both central retinal artery occlusion and ischemic optic neuropathy have been reported in cases of severe hypotension, blood loss, and prone positioning, most often postoperatively after spinal surgery. Conclusions and importance To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of bilateral central retinal artery occlusion with both anterior and posterior ischemic optic neuropathy, presumed due to the combination of severe systemic hypotension, hypoxemia due to the respiratory distress syndrome, and prolonged prone positioning.
Choice of Intra-arterial Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Evidence and Future Horizons

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Along with viral and alcoholic hepatitis, obesity is the leading cause for increasing incidence in the western world, specifically in the United States. As most patients initially present with intermediate to advanced stage disease, curative therapies such as ablation, surgical resection, or liver transplantation cannot usually be applied. Thus, intra-arterial therapies (IATs), such as transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), have become a mainstay of treatment. Several variations of transarterial embolotherapy, such as bland transarterial embolization or drug-eluting bead TACE, are currently available and used in clinical practice. Yttrium-90 radioembolization is a distinct IAT that relies on delivery of radiation to surrounding tissue for tumor death. However, no clear guidelines or evidence exist that would favor one of these options over the other, leaving the decision-making process open to influence by local expertise and experience. In addition, combining TACE with systemic antiangiogenic agents, such as the multityrosine kinase inhibitor sorafenib, has been investigated in several prospective clinical trials without clearly demonstrating substantial survival benefits of the combination over TACE alone. This review will summarize and discuss the available clinical evidence and indications for each treatment modality with the goal of facilitating clinical decision-making processes, and provide an overview of the ongoing efforts to compare different IAT modalities.
Multi-radar performance in the Midwestern United States at large ranges

Since the advent of dual-polarized technology, many studies have been conducted to determine the extent to which the differential reflectivity (ZDR) and specific differential phase shift (KDP) add benefits to estimating rain rates (R) to reflectivity (Z). It has been previously noted that this new technology provides significant improvement to rain rate estimation, but only for ranges within 125 km from the radar. Beyond this range, it is nebulous as to whether the National Weather Service conventional R(Z)-Convective algorithm is superior, as little research has investigated radar precipitation estimate performance at large ranges. The current study investigates the performance of three radars, St. Louis (KLSX), Kansas City (KEAX), and Springfield (KSGF), MO, with respect to range, with 15 terrestrial based tipping buckets served as ground-truth to the radars. Over 1100 hours of precipitation data was analyzed for the current study. It was found that, in general, performance degraded with range beyond, approximately, 150 km from the radar. Probability of detection in addition to bias values decreased, while the false alarm ratios increased as range increased. Bright-band contamination was observed to play a potential role as large increases in the absolute bias and overall error values near 120 km for the cool season, and 150 km in the warm season. The analyses found furthers our understanding in the strengths and limitations of the Next Generation Radar system overall, and from a seasonal perspective.
Conclusions and Further Techniques

As a final chapter, we will highlight several features that are considered to be unique in this book and conclude with a number of interesting techniques for which we are unable to cover in this book. The most unique feature is a wide coverage of statistical signal processing techniques that are applied to subpixel detection and mixed pixel classification with various functional taxonomies. On one end, the techniques are categorized according to the level of target knowledge-supervised, unsupervised and automatic. On another end, the techniques are classified according to constraints imposed on targets of interest-target abundance constraint and target signature constraint. A second unique feature is inclusion of sufficient details of mathematical derivations of all the presented techniques that make this book self-contained. In addition, all the relevant references are also included where they are necessary. A third feature is extensive experiments accompanied with comparative study and quantitative analysis to illustrate each described technique. A fourth unique feature is an introduction of a 3-D ROC analysis that can be used to evaluate detection and classification performance. A fifth unique feature is study on issues of sensitivity to level of target knowledge and noise, which play a significant role in design of techniques. Finally, another unique feature is demonstration of ability of the presented techniques in real-time processing through experiments.
Vortex Structure and Sediment Deposition in the Wake behind a Finite Patch of Model Submerged Vegetation

AbstractA submerged patch of finite-width vegetation may produce vortex structures in its wake in both the vertical and horizontal planes. This experimental study used velocity and deposition measu...
The Association of Metabolic Dysfunction with Breastfeeding Outcomes in Gestational Diabetes.

Objective To evaluate the relationship between prenatal metabolic markers and breastfeeding outcomes in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Study Design Secondary analysis of a cluster-randomized trial of a lifestyle intervention to improve metabolic health among women with GDM. Women were enrolled between 22 and 36 weeks' gestation and followed through 10 months postpartum. Metabolic markers were measured at enrollment. Women reported when they stopped breastfeeding, whether they breastfed as long as desired, and when they introduced formula. We evaluated the association of tertiles of metabolic markers with undesired weaning and time to breastfeeding cessation using Cox proportional hazards models and Mantel–Haenszel chi-square tests, respectively. Results Eighty-two women were eligible for analysis. There was a statistically significant difference in time to breastfeeding cessation among tertiles of fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c (A1c), body mass index (BMI), and skinfolds (all p Conclusion Higher fasting glucose, A1c, BMI, and subscapular skinfolds were associated with earlier breastfeeding cessation in women with GDM. These markers may identify mothers in need of enhanced postpartum support to achieve their breastfeeding goals.
Implementation of a Nurse Driven Pathway to Reduce Incidence of Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries in the Pediatric Intensive Care Setting

Abstract Purpose A large, freestanding pediatric hospital in the southern United States saw a 117% increase in reported hospital acquired pressure injuries (HAPI) between 2013 and 2015, with the intensive care units being the units of highest occurrence. Design and Methods A quality improvement project was designed and implemented to assist with pressure injury prevention. Literature review confirmed that pediatric HAPIs are a challenge and that usage of bundles and user-friendly guidelines/pathways can help eliminate barriers to prevention. The aim of this quality improvement project had two aims. First, to reduce HAPI incidence in the PICU by 10%. Second, to increase consistent usage of pressure injury prevention strategies as evidenced by a 10% increase in pressure injury bundle compliance. The third aim was to identify if there are differences in percentage of interventions implemented between two different groups of patients. Donabedian's model of Structure, Process, and Outcomes guided the development and implementation of this quality improvement project. Interventions focused on risk assessment subscale scores have the opportunity to mitigate specific risk factors and improve pressure injury prevention. Results Through implementation of the nurse driven pathway there was as 57% decrease in reported HAPIs in the PICU as well as a 66% increase in pressure ulcer prevention bundle compliance. Conclusions Implementation of the nurse driven pressure injury prevention pathway was successful. There was a significant increase in bundle compliance for pressure ulcer prevention and a decrease in reported HAPIs. Practice Implications The pathway developed and implemented for this quality improvement project could be adapted to other populations and care settings to provide guidance across the continuum.