cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Augmenting a Hazard Analysis Method with Error Propagation Information for Safety-Critical Systems

Context: Safety-critical systems need specific development activities in the software development life cycle to ensure that the system will operate safely. Objective: The overall objective of this research is to develop a safety analysis method that provides a deeper analysis of the system under review. Problem: Current safety analysis methods do not use error information to identify faults. Method: We augmented the STPA with error propagation information derived from the architecture description of a system represented in the Architecture Analysis and Design Language. In this study, we investigated how an error ontology can be used to assist in identifying errors and how those errors propagate among components. The error may or may not lead to a hazard in the system. It depends on its context. The key principle of our method is that an error analysis of a domain represents the root causes of hazards in the domain. Using that analysis hazards may be identified. Results: The results of our studies have shown that tracing errors leads to finding hazards and additional information in the system that other methods miss. Conclusions: By augmenting existing hazard analysis methods with early design information, we are able to find more hazards, unsafe control actions, safety constraints and specific causes.
Responding to Regulatory Uncertainty: Government Agency Signalling and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Anticipating and mitigating the impact of regulatory changes are important tasks for firms; yet, this can be challenging when firms face constantly evolving and ambiguous policies such as those reg...
Low Speed Rear End Automobile Collisions and Whiplash Injury, the Biomechanical Approach

The extent of injury in low speed rear end collisions is controversial. In many cases, the impact speed of the striking vehicle is low, neither car shows much if any post collision damage, and at the scene, the occupant of the struck vehicle appears uninjured. Yet many of these incidents progress to lawsuits with sometimes very significant damage and injury claims. In testimony, Plaintiff argues that the collision was significant while Defendant describes the collision as minor. A Biomechanical approach which addresses the forces in the collision and the resulting forces and kinematics of the occupant can help to resolve some of these issues. In the following, the process of a biomechanical analysis is described, using a specific example. A discussion of how courts have viewed this type of testimony is then presented.
HDK: Toward High-Performance Deep-Learning-Based Kirchhoff Analysis

The Kirchhoff law is one of the most widely used physical laws in many engineering principles, e.g., biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer engineering. One challenge of applying the Kirchhoff law to real-world applications at scale lies in the high, if not prohibitive, computational cost to solve a large number of nonlinear equations. Despite recent advances in leveraging a convolutional neural network (CNN) to estimate the solutions of Kirchhoff equations, the low performance is still significantly hindering the broad adoption of CNN-based approaches. This paper proposes a high-performance deep-learning-based approach for Kirchhoff analysis, namely HDK. HDK employs two techniques to improve the performance: (i) early pruning of unqualified input candidates and (ii) parallelization of forward labelling. To retain high accuracy, HDK also applies various optimizations to the data such as randomized augmentation and dimension reduction. Collectively, the aforementioned techniques improve the analysis speed by 8× with accuracy as high as 99.6%.
Could BCG be used to protect against COVID-19?

Nearly 100 years since it was first used in humans as a vaccine for tuberculosis, Bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) has been suggested as a possible agent to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A number of studies are underway to investigate this possibility but — even if they prove effective — many questions will remain.
Duodenal duplication cyst masquerading as a pancreatic abscess in a cat

This report details a cat with a duodenal duplication cyst in the region of the right distal pancreas. The cat presented with vomiting, anorexia, pancreatitis and a palpable abdominal mass that was visible on abdominal ultrasound as a thick-rimmed, cavitated structure with echogenic contents. As such, an initial clinical diagnosis of pancreatic abscess or cyst was suspected. After an exploratory coeliotomy to assess the lesion, a definitive diagnosis of duodenal duplication cyst was determined based on the histopathological findings of a wall with features of the intestinal tract and no communication with the intestinal lumen. The clinical signs, physical examination findings and advanced imaging characteristics of pancreatic abscess and duodenal duplication cyst are discussed in this report to aid clinicians with differentiating between these two rare lesions.
Smoking Gun? Linking Gun Ownership to Neighborhood Crime

Using linked individual data on concealed handgun permits (CHP), reported crimes and arrests, I examine the dynamics of gun-ownership, victimization and neighborhood crime. I estimate the impact of guns on crime through a shift-share instrument based on spikes in gun sales after high-profile events that impact beliefs about future gun rights and existing variation in a neighborhood's share of likely future gun-owners (republicans). Results show a 5.9% increase in neighborhood crime for each additional CHP issued with gun-related crimes suggesting a role for guns stolen and moved to the illegal gun market, and increased use of guns for violent crimes.
Chicagoland’s Search for Common Ground

The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) began work on a long term land use and growth management plan for the Chicago region in 2001. In this chapter, I describe the agency’s efforts over a 5-year period to design and implement a collaborative planning process (the Common Ground process) supported by the use of innovative digital technologies. The 2040 Regional Framework plan, formally adopted in 2005 is the culmination of these efforts. As a Chicago resident, I had a front row seat to observe and participate in the Common Ground between 2002 and 2004.
Prediction of effective thermal conductivity of porous lattice structures and validation with additively manufactured metal foams

Abstract This paper focuses on the development of simple and accurate correlations to predict the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of lattice structures, viz. Cube, face diagonal (FD)-Cube, Tetrakaidecahedron (TKD), and Octet topologies, which have wide range of applications in the development of advanced heat exchangers and can be additively manufactured in metal. The topology of those structures is preserved through a lattice Boltzmann-based computational model for thermal transport. In particular, a novel decoupled interface treatment was also proposed to effectively model the conjugate heat transfer between different materials or phases of very large transport property ratios. The accuracy and applicability of the ETC prediction were validated with in-house measurements conducted on the additively manufactured TKD and Octet samples and comparison with published experimental and computational results in the literature. The present results show that (1) at high porosities e ≥ 0.9, the ETC results of those lattice structures are close to each other and they are consistent with previous experimental measurements and theoretical/computational predictions for traditional metal foams, (2) while at relatively lower porosities (e
Observed Regional Fluxes to Constrain Modeled Estimates of the Ocean Carbon Sink

We compare air-sea CO2 exchange in an ensemble of global ocean hindcast models to a suite of observation-based products for 1990-2018. Individual products agree closely for regional flux...
Cranberry juice effects on health.

Cranberries (Vacciunium macrocapron) for millenia have been a part of the diet of North Americans and used for medicinal purposes in folk medicine (1). Although cranberries are most familiar to consumers in North America, close relatives of the cranberry are also consumed in Northern Europe and Asia. In North America and Europe, cranberries are primarily processed and consumed in the form of cranberry juices, cranberry juice cocktails, and cranberry fruit drinks, with the oldest cranberry juice recipe dating back to 1683 (1). Cranberries have only been cultivated for the last 150 yr; therefore, relative to grapes and other cultivated fruits, there is little genetic diversity (2). The typical annual crop size is approx 500 million pounds, with 60% being used directly in beverages, 35% being processed into sauces and concentrates that are mostly made into beverages, and 5% being consumed fresh (3). Cranberries are popular with consumers because of their bittertart taste, and because of their positive implication for health as a functional food, they are one of the first functional foods in America. As a functional food, cranberry juice is associated with protection from urinary tract infections (UTIs). Cranberry juice may also be useful for promoting cardiovascular health and inhibiting cancer development, and suggestions have also been made regarding cranberry applications for improving oral and gastric health.
Kalman filter-based estimation of short-time Fourier coefficients in energy applications

The paper presents analytical and experimental results on model-based linear estimation of short-time Fourier coefficients (or dynamic phasors) in energy processing systems. The procedure is based on the Kalman filter, and shares its features regarding the suppression of measurement noise. The procedure is illustrated experimentally on examples involving a single-phase inductor.
Tryptophan diet deficiency, intermittent hypoxia exposure and DNA methylation: implications in SIDS (710.10)

The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the unexpected, sudden death of an infant in which an autopsy and a death scene investigation do not find a cause of death. Here, we focus on the role of brainstem serotonin (5-HT) deficiency in SIDS pathogenesis as suggested by studies in SIDS cases. Further, a recent discovery of the effects of neonatal chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), a postulated occurrence in many SIDS cases, on DNA methylation as measured in adult rats suggests a potential role of epigenetics in the pathogenesis of SIDS. The present study investigated the effects of neonatal CIH on DNA methylation in rat pups treated with control vs. tryptophan deficient diets, the latter known to induce a brainstem 5-HT deficiency. Our data suggest that global DNA methylation in the medulla increased significantly with tryptophan deficiency (Two way ANOVA, p<0.001) whereas exposure to CIH decreased it (p<0.001). Interestingly, there was a significant interaction effect between diet and CIH (p = 0.010). ...
Per Capita State Spending and Lottery Revenue: Determining a Relationship

Lotteries have been a popular way to increase funding in the United States since the colonial era. While they are still around in today’s society, many people are beginning to question both the morality and monetary effects of state lotteries. This study examines some of the history and prior research related to state lotteries and the use of state lottery revenue. A model is constructed in an attempt to discover a relationship between per capita spending and state lottery revenue. The regression showed that while lottery revenue was significant, an increase in lottery revenue translated into virtually no increase in per capita spending. The results of the model echoed the results of other studies that fail to account for the increase in government spending that people are led to believe lotteries provide.
Automatic taxonomy generation: issues and possibilities

Automatic taxonomy generation deals with organizing text documents in terms of an unknown labeled hierarchy. The main issues here are (i) how to identify documents that have similar content, (ii) how to discover the hierarchical structure of the topics and subtopics, and (iii) how to find appropriate labels for each of the topics and subtopics. In this paper, we review several approaches to automatic taxonomy generation to provide an insight into the issues involved. We also describe how fuzzy hierarchies can overcome some of the problems associated with traditional crisp taxonomies.
Compensation of Nonlinear Distortion in RF Power Amplifiers

In this article the concept of using predistorters to compensate for distortion associated with the saturation properties of RF power amplifiers (PAs) is described. The nonlinear input-output characteristics of RF PAs are described, and the sensitivity of multicarrier systems, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), to nonlinear PAs is discussed. A brief overview of various predistorters is presented and the ability of a particular Volterra-based predistorter to reduce bit error rate (BER), total degradation, and output backoff is demonstrated via a simulation experiment using a 16-QAM-based OFDM system. Keywords: RF power amplifiers; nonlinear distortion; predistorters; Volterra
Akashiwo sanguinea (Dinophyceae) blooms in a sub-tropical estuary: An alga for all seasons

Akashiwo sanguinea is a cosmopolitan dinoflagellate that has been observed to form major blooms in coastal ecosystems around the world. A. sanguinea plays a major role in the ecology of many marine environments, including coastal ecosystems with variable salinities, where its euryhaline character makes it competitive. The study involved monthly water sampling and measurement of physical-chemical parameters at four sites from the upper reaches of the Caloosahatchee Estuary to San Carlos Bay bordering the Gulf of Mexico. Major A. sanguinea blooms were observed in the Caloosahatchee estuary, with biovolume up to 30.5×10 6 μm 3 mL -1 , equivalent to 740 cells mL -1 , in the upper estuary. The latter regions of the estuary also had the greatest range of salinity and the highest total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations. The dynamics of blooms are discussed within the context of spatial and temporal patterns of salinity, temperature and nutrient concentrations, as they relate to hydrologic and climatic condi- tions.
Effect of masker type and age on speech intelligibility and spatial release from masking in children and adults.

Speech recognition in noisy environments improves when the speech signal is spatially separated from the interfering sound. This effect, known as spatial release from masking (SRM), was recently shown in young children. The present study compared SRM in children of ages 5–7 with adults for interferers introducing energetic, informational, and/or linguistic components. Three types of interferers were used: speech, reversed speech, and modulated white noise. Two female voices with different long-term spectra were also used. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were compared for: Quiet (target 0° front, no interferer), Front (target and interferer both 0° front), and Right (interferer 90° right, target 0° front). Children had higher SRTs and greater masking than adults. When spatial cues were not available, adults, but not children, were able to use differences in interferer type to separate the target from the interferer. Both children and adults showed SRM. Children, unlike adults, demonstrated large amounts of SRM for a time-reversed speech interferer. In conclusion, masking and SRM vary with the type of interfering sound, and this variation interacts with age; SRM may not depend on the spectral peculiarities of a particular type of voice when the target speech and interfering speech are different sex talkers.
Reinforcement of mortar with Metglas fibres

An alkali resistant Metglas fibre of composition Fe29Ni49P14B6Si2 was used in 2.5cm lengths as discontinuous reinforcement for mortar. The force-displacement curves for pull-out of roughened individual fibres embedded into mortar were measured. Composite experiments with fibres in planar random orientations have demonstrated that the first crack strength rises weakly with increasing fibre volume fraction according to the principle of non-propagating cracks. The maximum post cracking strength rises linearly with increasing volume fraction up to Vf=0.012 where it levels off due to secondary fragmentation in the matrix. The monotonic fracture behaviour of the material in nearly all respects is in accord with theoretical expectations. Under cyclic conditions, the composite undergoes progressive damage only when the maximum tensile stress per cycle penetrates beyond a critical amount into the range between the first crack strength and the maximum post-cracking strength.
Electronic specific heat and high field magnetization studies on the Y6(Fe1−xMnx)23 system

Abstract Magnetizations at applied fields up to 120 kOe and electronic specific heats have been determined for ternaries represented by the formula Y 6 (Fe 1− x Mn x ) 23 . The Curie temperature and ordered magnetic moment of Y6Mn 23 and Y 6 Fe 23 decrease sharply when these materials are formed into solid solutions, being minimal in the vicinity of the equimolal solution. To test whether the reduction is a band effect electronic specific heats were measured; they are maximal where T c and the moment are minimal, indicating unimportance of band effects. Curie-Weiss behavior is exhibited at low fields, suggesting rather localized d -electrons. The nearest neighbor distances are such as to lead to antiferromagnetic Mn-Mn interactions. Y 6 Mn 23 is taken to be ferrimagnetic whereas Y 6 Fe 23 appears to be ferromagnetic. While the magnetic structure of the ternaries is yet to be fully clarified, it is clear that antiferromagnetic exchange is enhanced when either binary is formed into a ternary. It also appears that the Mn-Fe coupling is antiferromagnetic in the ternaries.
A Computational and Experimental Analysis of the Flow Around a Tractor-Trailer

An unsteady computational fluid dynamics simulation of the viscous-turbulent flow around a tractor-trailer has been done using FLUENT’s realizable k-epsilon turbulence model and is supported by experimental validation. The primary objective was to compute a time-dependent solution of the flow around a tractor-trailer in a virtual wind tunnel and study the pressures on the floor.Copyright © 2005 by ASME
Comparison of the haplotypes of the major histocompatibility complex in the rat. IV. The six original Ag-B haplotypes.

Summary The six original haplotypes described in the Ag-B system were compared with their counterparts in the H-1 system. Antisera to the Ag-B haplotypes raised in inbred rats and antisera to H-1 haplotypes raised in congenic lines were tested against various panels of cell from inbred and congenic lines by the dextran and Ficoll haemagglutination methods. The private and strong public specificities detected in both systems were the same, but there were some minor differences in the intermediate and weak reactivities detected. The cross-reactivity of the antisera raised in inbred rats was broader than that of antisera raised in congenic lines. The identity of the antigenic products detected in the two systems by the dextran and Ficoll tests was further confirmed by a variety of absorption analyses and by F1 tests. This study completes the systematic serological comparison of the haplotypes of the major histocompatibility complex of the rat described originally in the Ag-B and H-1 systems.
Soil improvement in the Sudan Gezira

After reviewing the possibility of soil deterioration in the Gezira and its dependence on change in the exchangeable bases in the soil we have given an account of field trials with soil improvers. Increased penetration of water, improved supply of nitrogen and higher yields were obtained, but the effects were not lasting. A part of the initial response is ascribed to the flocculating action of salts formed near the soil surface by interaction between soil and soil improver. With continued watering these salts are washed from the surface soil, but the applications of soil improver were insufficiently heavy and the leaching insufficiently thorough to effect any deep-seated change in the soil. Drainage experiments in which effluents were measured and analysed showed small changes in the right direction, but their main outcome has been strikingly to confirm the view that lateral movement of water through Gezira soil is so slight as to promise small hope of achieving any large-scale improvements by means of subsoil drainage. Analyses of saltbush have been made and showed that although these plants remove much sodium from the soil they can hardly be regarded as a practicable agent in soil improvement, since the amount of sodium in the soil is comparatively large. On the other hand, it appears that by including saltbush in rotation and by removing the crop from the land it is possible to guarantee that no progressive deterioration will occur in consequence of accumulation of sodium introduced in the irrigation water. Further analyses of irrigation water were made in this connexion and substantially confirmed Beam's earlier data.We do not yet know whether, under normal irrigation, the general tendency is for an accumulation of sodium or whether, on the contrary, salts are slowly being washed from the soil column (Greene & Peto, 1934). Until the nature and extent of chemical changes in the soil are accurately assessed it is impossible to say what annual expenditure on soil improvers, drainage, growing and disposal of saltbush is needed for maintenance of soil fertility. Further laboratory work should be directed to the detailed study of base exchange in Gezira soil and to observation of the physical characters on which permeability depends while, in the field, further experiments should be made in the use of soil improvers and drainage; information should also be sought as to the most convenient and least expensive way of including saltbush in the rotations best suited to different parts of the Gezira and as to the economic disposal of saltbush ash.
Calcium-Mediated Responses of Maize to Oxygen Deprivation*

Oxygen limitation dramatically alters the patterns of gene expression as well as development of plants. Complete removal of O2 leads to an immediate cessation of protein synthesis followed by a selective synthesis of about twenty anaerobic proteins in maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings. Among these are enzymes involved in glycolysis and related processes. However, inducible genes that have different functions were also found; they may function in other, perhaps more long-term, processes of adaptations to flooding, such as aerenchyma formation and root-tip death. Our recent research has addressed two questions: how these gene expression changes are initiated and how do these responses culminate in the overall adaptation of plants to flooding-stress. The results obtained indicate that an early rise in cytosolic Ca2+ as well as a quick establishment of ionic homeostasis may be essential for the induction of adaptive changes at the cellular as well as organismal level.
Applying a subtraction technique to minimize cochlear implant artifact with soundfield and direct audio input stimulations.

We explored the feasibility of a subtraction technique described by Friesen and Picton to remove the cochlear implant (CI) artifact to long duration stimuli in the soundfield and using direct input all through the participant's preferred MAP. Friesen and Picton previously explored this technique by recording cortical potentials in four CI users with 1000 pulse per second (pps) stimuli, bypassing the speech processor. Cortical auditory evoked potentials (N1–P2) to 1000 Hz tones were recorded from a post-lingually deafened adult with three different stimulus presentation setups: soundfield to processor T-mic (SF), soundfield to lapel mic (SF-LM), and direct input (DI). Stimuli were presented at 65 dB SPL(A). The SF setup required stabilizing the head to minimize changes in magnitude for the CI artifact. The SF-LM and DI setups did not require head stabilization, but were evaluated as alternatives to the SF setup. Clear N1–P2 responses were obtained with comparable waveform morphologies, amplitudes, and late...
Chemistry of thienopyridines. XVIII. Lithiation as a route to 2- and 3-substituted thieno[2,3-b]pyridines†

Treatment of thieno[2,3-b]pyridine (1a) with n-butyllithium in hexane-tetramethylethylene-diamine at −70° plus subsequent addition of dimethylformamide produced 2-formyl-Ia (66%). Halogen-metal exchange between 3-bromothieno[2,3-b]pyridine and n-butyllithium was effected in ether at −70. Further reaction of the 3-lithio-Ia intermediate with a variety of carbonyl compounds gave 3-substituted thieno[2,3-b]pyridines bearing formyl (77%), acetyl, benzoyl, chloroacetyl, ethoxycarbonyl, N-phenylcarbamyl, and diphenyl hydroxymethyl groups. Common characteristics of these derivatives in pmr and mass spectra are noted.
SOME NEW SCALING RULES FOR USE IN MUFFLER DESIGN

Buckingham's pi principle is applied to mufflers. The severe restrictions of the principle are pointed out and non-classical scaling rules are developed by using a combination of basic principles and computer simulation searches. The characteristics of one cylinder four stroke engines are also included in the scaling.
The strong situation: A potential impediment to studying the psychobiology and pharmacology of anxiety disorders

The strong situation, as formulated by social psychologists, refers to an experimental condition offering unambiguous stimuli predicting or constituting hedonically strong events that uniformly guide response sets across individuals. In relation to fear and anxiety, the strong situation results from the unambiguous threat of an imminent and dangerous stimulus that evokes the adaptive fear response among anxiety patients and healthy controls alike. The current paper describes evidence that weakening the experimental situation through reducing the certainty, temporal proximity, and/or potency of the aversive stimulus may facilitate the emergence of patient-control differences in psychobiological measures of anxious arousal. Additionally, weak situations may be useful for testing the clinical utility of anxiolytic agents, given that pharmacological treatments of anxiety disorders are not intended to reduce the adaptive, normative response likely evoked by strong threat situations.
Investigations of linker structure on the potency of a series of bidentate protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitors

Abstract Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases) and protein tyrosine kinase (PTKases) regulate the phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of tyrosine residues in proteins, events that are essential for a variety of cellular functions. PTPases such as PTP1B and the Yersinia PTPase play an important role in diseases including type II diabetes and bubonic plague. A library of 67 bidentate PTPase inhibitors that are based on the α-ketocarboxylic acid motif has been synthesized using parallel solution-phase methods. Two aryl α-ketocarboxylic acids were tethered to a variety of different diamine linkers through amide bonds. The compounds were assayed in crude form against the Yersinia PTPase, PTP1B, and TCPTP. Six compounds were selected for further evaluation, in purified form, against the Yersinia PTPase, PTP1B, TCPTP, LAR, and CD45. These compounds had IC 50 values in the low micromolar range against the Yersinia PTPase, PTP1B, and TCPTP, showed good selectivity for PTP1B over LAR, and modest selectivity over CD45. The correlation between linker structure and inhibitor activity shows that aromatic groups in the linker can play an important role in determining binding affinity in this class of inhibitors.
Generalisation of regular and irregular morphological patterns

Abstract Both regular inflectional patterns (walk-walked) and irregular ones (swing-swung) can be applied productively to novel words (e.g. wug-wugged; spling -splung). Theories of generative phonology attribute both generalisations to rules; connectionist theories attribute both to analogies in a pattern associator network; hybrid theories attribute regular (fully predictable default) generalisations to a rule and irregular generalisations to a rote memory with pattern-associator properties. In three experiments and three simulations, we observe the process of generalising morphological patterns in humans and two-layer connectionist networks. Replicating Bybee and Moder (1983), we find that people's willingness to generalise from existing irregular verbs to novel ones depends on the global similarity between them (e.g. spling is readily inflectable as splung, but nist is not inflectable as nust). In contrast, generalisability of the regular suffix does not appear to depend on similarity to existing regul...
Quantitative characterization of weak self-association in concentrated solutions of immunoglobulin G via the measurement of sedimentation equilibrium and osmotic pressure

The sedimentation equilibrium of solutions of immunoglobulin G in saline buffer, over a concentration range up to 125 g/L, was measured and analyzed in the context of a model that takes into account the possibility of attractive intermolecular interaction leading to the reversible formation of oligomeric species and repulsive intermolecular interaction leading to nonideal solution behavior. Additionally, previously published data on the concentration dependence of the osmotic pressure of immunoglobulin G under similar conditions, over a concentration range up to 400 g/L, were analyzed in the context of a newly developed thermodynamic formalism describing the osmotic pressure of a solution containing multiple nondiffusible solute species at an arbitrary concentration. Both sets of data are quantitatively accounted for by a model in which IgG self-associates at very high concentration to form (predominantly) trimers under the conditions of these experiments.
Soft X-ray Spectroscopy Study of the Electronic Structure of Oxidized and Partially Oxidized Magnetite Nanoparticles

The crystal structure of magnetite nanoparticles may be transformed to maghemite by complete oxidation, but under many relevant conditions the oxidation is partial, creating a mixed-valence material with structural and electronic properties that are poorly characterized. We used X-ray diffraction, Fe K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, and soft X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy to characterize the products of oxidizing uncoated and oleic acid-coated magnetite nanoparticles in air. The oxidization of uncoated magnetite nanoparticles creates a material that is structurally and electronically indistinguishable from maghemite. By contrast, while oxidized oleic acid-coated nanoparticles are also structurally indistinguishable from maghemite, Fe L-edge spectroscopy revealed the presence of interior reduced iron sites even after a 2-year period. We used X-ray emission spectroscopy at the O K-edge to study the valence bands (VB) of the iron oxide nanoparticles, using resonant excitation to remove the contributions from oxygen atoms in the ligands and from low-energy excitations that obscured the VB edge. The bonding in all nanoparticles was typical of maghemite, with no detectable VB states introduced by the long-lived, reduced-iron sites in the oleic acid-coated sample. However, O K-edge absorption spectroscopy observed a 0.2 eV shift in the position of the lowest unoccupied states in the coated sample, indicating an increase in the semiconductor band gap relative to bulk stoichiometric maghemite that was also observed by optical absorption spectroscopy. The results show that the ferrous iron sites within ferric iron oxide nanoparticles coated by an organic ligand can persist under ambient conditions with no evidence of a distinct interior phase and can exert an effect on the global electronic and optical properties of the material. This phenomenon resembles the band gap enlargement caused by electron accumulation in the conduction band of TiO2.
Broadband luminescence from particle bombardment of alkali halides

Abstract When measuring optical radiation due to electron and ion bombardment of alkali halides, we have observed a broadband radiation pattern whose origin is not well understood. Though CN has been suggested as a possible source [1,2], some problems with this interpretation are encountered. Conditions under which the peaks were produced and some parameters which affect their intensities are reported here. We also include a description of our attempts to determine the source of the bands.
OBLIQUE SHOCKS AS THE ORIGIN OF RADIO TO GAMMA-RAY VARIABILITY IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

The "shock in jet" model for centimeter-waveband blazar variability is revisited, allowing for arbitrary shock orientation with respect to the jet flow direction, and both random and ordered magnetic field. It is shown that oblique shocks can explain events with swings in polarization position angle much less than the 90° associated with transverse structures, while retaining the general characteristics of outbursts, including spectral behavior and level of peak percentage polarization. Models dominated by a force-free, minimum energy magnetic field configuration (essentially helical) display a shallow rise in percentage polarization and frequency-dependent swing in polarization position angle not in agreement with the results of single-dish monitoring observations, implying that the field is predominantly random in the quiescent state. Outbursts well explained by the "shock in jet" model are present during γ-ray flaring in several sources, supporting the idea that shock events are responsible for activity from the radio to γ-ray bands.
Multiple Testing of Noninferiority Hypotheses in Active Controlled Trials

For noninferiority testing with the maximum allowable noninferiority margin being prespecified, one can perform valid statistical testing at the same alpha level for multiple noninferiority hypotheses with margins being smaller than this maximum margin. This is easily comprehensible because only one confidence level is used to assess which margins within the interval bounded by the maximum margin can be ruled out. If different confidence intervals are used, e.g., the interval generated from the intent-to-treat population is used for testing superiority and the interval generated from the per-protocol population is used for testing noninferiority, the problem of multiplicity will surface and the adjustment of alpha for each testing may be needed. All these predicate on the condition that at least a certain element of the maximum allowable noninferiority margin, whether it is the entire margin or the fraction of the active control effect to be retained, must be fixed in advance. None of these elements can be allowed to be influenced directly or indirectly by any analysis of the noninferiority trial data. Otherwise, the noninferiority analysis may be invalid.
Arctic sea ice extent and melt onset from NSCAT observations

NSCAT Ku-band microwave observations of the Arctic sea ice cover are described on their potential use for estimating ice extent and timing of spring melt. A simple comparative analysis of the NSCAT Arctic sea ice extent and high-resolution Radarsat imagery suggests that the SSM/I 25% ice concentration contour appears to be a good indicator of the winter Arctic ice edge. For spring melt-onset, a comparative study of NSCAT sea ice observations and NCEP/NCAR surface air temperature indicates that Ku-band backscatter of the snow cover over multiyear ice has a clear and steep change as the surface air temperature rises above freezing. This signature of melt onset should provide useful large-scale estimates of the dates of melt onset with spaceborne scatterometer data. A more extensive validation of the potential of this dataset is suggested.
Systemic or intra-amygdala injections of glucose facilitate memory consolidation for extinction of drug-induced conditioned reward

The conditioned place preference (CPP) task has been used extensively to investigate the neurobiological bases of drug-induced reward. The initial expression of a CPP involves memory for an association between environmental stimuli and the affective state produced by a rewarding treatment. The present experiments examined the hypothesis that post-trial administration of glucose can facilitate memory consolidation processes underlying the extinction of drug-induced CPP behaviour. Adult male Long-Evans rats acquired an amphetamine CPP, and subsequently received extinction training. Immediately following extinction training, separate groups of rats received peripheral (100 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg, or 2 g/kg) or intra-amygdala (basolateral nucleus; 1.5 micro g/0.5 micro L or 10 micro g/0.5 micro L) injections of glucose or vehicle. Peripheral (100 mg/kg and 2 g/kg) and intra-amygdala (1.5 and 10 micro g) glucose injections facilitated the extinction of amphetamine CPP behaviour relative to vehicle-injected controls. Postextinction trial peripheral or intra amygdala glucose injections that were delayed 2 h had no effect. The findings indicate that: (i) extinction of approach behaviour to drug-associated cues involves the formation of new memories that undergo a time-dependent consolidation process; and (ii), systemic or intra-amygdala administration of a known memory-enhancing agent facilitates extinction of drug-induced CPP behaviour.
Acoustic Surveys of a Scaled-Model CESTOL Transport Aircraft in Static and Forward Speed Conditions

An 11% scale-model of a Cruise-Efficient Short Take-off and Landing (CESTOL) scalemodel test was recently completed. The test was conducted in the AEDC National Full-Scale Aerodynamic Complex (NFAC) 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center. The model included two over-wing pod-mounted turbine propulsion simulators (TPS). The hybrid blended wing-body used a circulation control wing (CCW) with leadingand trailing-edge blowing. The bulk of the test matrix included three forward velocities (40 kts, 60 kts, and 100kts), angle-of-attack variation between -5 and 25 , and CCW mass flow variation. Seven strut-mounted microphones outboard of the left wing provided source directivity. A phased microphone array was mounted outboard of the right wing for source location. The goal of this paper is to provide a preliminary look at the acoustic data acquired during the Advanced Model for Extreme Lift and Improved Aeroacoustics (AMELIA) test for 0 angle-of-attack and 0 sideslip conditions. Data presented provides a good overview of the test conditions and the signal-to-noise quality of the data. TPS height variation showed a difference of 2 dB to 3 dB due to wing shielding. Variation of slot mass flow showed increases of 12 dB to 26 dB above the airframe noise and the TPS increased the overall levels an additional 5 dB to 10 dB.
Prophylactic jejunostomy: A reappraisal

Abstract Background: The effectiveness of enteral feeding in maintaining postoperative nutrition has led some investigators to recommend prophylactic jejunostomy at the time of any high-risk abdominal operation. A failed procedure in this setting weighs heavily on the side of risk without identifiable benefit. Methods: A benefit/risk analysis comparing complication rate, avoidance of parenteral nutrition, and discontinuation of jejunostomy feeding was performed in 92 patients. These patients were judged retrospectively to be undergoing either a prophylactic jejunostomy placed at the time of operation for another serious condition (group A) or therapeutic jejunostomy alone (group B) during a 3-year period (1993 to 1996). Classification as prophylactic or therapeutic was determined by the surgeon's preoperative intent. Results: Avoidance of parenteral nutritional support, a goal of prophylactic jejunostomy, was not achieved in 39% of the patients. Patients in group A had a 5-fold increase in the risk of premature discontinuation of enteral feeds when compared with group B (P
Fast Risetime Impulse Voltage Generation Facility At The University Of Buffalo

An experimental facility at the new campus of the University of Buffalo, which is capable of generating impulse voltages up to 260 kV at 170 J, is described in this paper. The values of circuit components can he chosen and arranged to provide varying risetimes and pulsewidths of the output transient voltage. Depending on the circuit components, an output voltage pulse with risetime from 50 ns to 35 us and pulsewidth from 40 us to 200 us can be obtained. These parameters, which cover a wide range of voltage surges, allow actual high voltage simulation of insulating materials, used in high voltage energy storage and transport devices, being stressed under impulse voltages in a laboratory environment. This paper describes the circuitry and damping unit, the double isolated screen room, the sealtite tubings and cable connections that were all installed in this new facility to make the impulse generator operational in a noise-free and safe laboratory environment. Other facilities which can perform a variety of material characterization tests are also described.© (1988) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
p-Version axisymmetric solid element for heat conduction

Abstract A nine-node two-dimensional axisymmetric solid element is presented for linear steady state axisymmetric heat conduction where the temperature field in the ξ and η directions of the element can be of arbitrary polynomial orders pξ and pη. This is accomplished by first constructing the one-dimensional hierarchical approximation functions and the corresponding nodal variable operators in the ξ and η directions using Lagrange interpolating polynomials and then taking the product (sometimes also called tensor product) of these hierarchical one-dimensional approximation functions and the corresponding nodal variable operators. The resulting approximation functions and the nodal variables are hierarchical, i.e. the element approximation functions and the nodal variables corresponding to the polynomial orders pξ and pη are a subset of those corresponding to the polynomial orders pξ + 1 and pη + 1 and as a consequence the element matrices and the equivalent nodal heat vectors are hierarchical also. The formulation ensures C0 continuity, i.e. the continuity of the temperature across the interelement boundaries is guaranteed. The weak formulation of the Fourier heat conduction equation in the cylindrical coordinate system r, z is constructed and the element properties are derived using the weak formulation (or the associated quadratic functional) and the hierarchical temperature approximation for the element. The element formulation permits isotropic as well as generally orthotropic material properties. The formulation allows distributed heat flux, convective boundaries and internal heat generation. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy, simplicity of modeling, faster convergence rate and overall superiority of the present formulation over existing isoparametric axisymmetric solid elements. For each example the results obtained from the present formulation are compared with available analytical solutions and h-models employing isoparametric elements. Convergence graphs showing the rates at which the errors are decreasing are presented for both h and p-models. The results obtained from the present formulation exhibit excellent accuracy, faster convergence rate and require extremely simple models.
An interactive productivity measurement model using spreadsheet software

Abstract Previous computerized productivity measurement models to assist firms in computing productivity measures from a set of input data have been constructed using procedural languages, primarily Fortran and Basic. These models have a number of shortcomings which have detracted from their usefulness. First, these models must be modified to adapt them to the organization and data available from a particular firm. Modification is expensive and time consuming since it requires a detailed knowledge of the structure of the model and the language in which it is programmed in addition to a detailed knowledge of the firm. Second, data entry is not only difficult and time consuming but the user has no indication of what is happening between the input of data and the output of the final productivity measure. This paper describes the development of an interactive multifactor productivity measurement model using Lotus 123. With the spreadsheet software the model can be easily adapted to fit the needs of the firm by the firm's industrial engineer with a only working knowledge of Lotus 123. Changes in data can be made easily by using the features of the spreadsheet software, and the effects of the changes can be seen easily and rapidly on various aspects of the model.
The Effects of ACE Inhibitors and Other Antihypertensive Drugs on Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Atherogenesis

The effects of antihypertensive therapy on the atherosclerotic process and differences among various treatment approaches have been studied in several animal models. Studies in cholesterol-fed rabbits have indicated that beta blockers and calcium antagonists can inhibit the development of aortic atherosclerosis induced by marked hypercholesterolemia. However, no such antiatherosclerotic action has been apparent with these agents in the Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbit. A study was conducted to determine the effects of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor captopril administered orally for 9 months on the development of atherosclerosis in normotensive WHHL. Compared with controls, the treated animals had a significant reduction in atherosclerosis of the descending thoracic aorta. These effects were associated with significantly lower blood pressure, though within the normal range, in captopril-treated versus control animals. In the captopril group, the atherosclerotic plaques were thinner and less cellular than plaques of similar gross severity in control WHHL. The findings indicate that the ACE inhibitor captopril can inhibit atherogenesis in the WHHL, which has been resistant to such therapy with other antihypertensive drugs.
Separation of T and B cells from human peripheral blood by centrifugal elutriation.

Abstract A rapid method for isolating viable T- and B-cell subpopulations from human peripheral blood lymphocytes is described. Centrifugal elutriation was used for separating the cells, and isolation was completed in less than 2 hr.
The Catalysis of the Oxygen Evolution Reaction by Iron Impurities in Thin Film Nickel Oxide Electrodes

The effects of iron coprecipitated into thin film nickel oxide electrodes or introduced in the 25 weight percent electrolyte were studied by a combination of galvanostatic and open‐circuit decay methods. Effects on voltammetric behavior and on the oxygen overpotential were observed in thin film electrodes with as little as 0.01% iron present. The over‐potential was further lowered by 1% iron to the extent that the nickel oxide charge storage reaction was adversely affected. Higher concentrations of iron coprecipitated into a composite iron/nickel hydrous oxide dramatically catalyzed the oxygen evolution reaction by lowering the Tafel slope from about 70 mV/decade with no iron present to about 25 mV/decade with 10–50% iron. This composite oxide shows promise as an anodic electrocatalyst for alkaline electrolysis to produce hydrogen; the oxygen overpotential on thin film electrodes was over 200 mV lower than the overpotential with nickel oxide, itself, when polarized at 80 mA/cm2.