cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Interaction of mutant hepatitis B X protein with p53 tumor suppressor protein affects both transcription and cell survival.

This study examines the differential activities between wild-type Hepatitis B virus X protein (WtHBx) and a mutant HBx (MutHBx), which bears a hotspot mutation at nucleotides 1,762 and 1,764, resulting in a lysine to methionine change at codon 130 and a valine to isoleucine change at codon 131. This mutation leads to hepatocellular carcinoma, and we evaluated how WtHBx and MutHBx proteins differ in their interactions with the p53 tumor suppressor protein. This was experimentally addressed through co-immunoprecipitation assays examining the interaction between WtHBx and MutHBx proteins with p53, reporter assays determining the impact of the HBx proteins on p53-mediated gene transcription, and clonogenic survival assays evaluating the effect of HBx on cell growth in lines of varying p53-expression status. Both WtHBx and MutHBx proteins physically interact with p53 protein, but have different impacts on p53-mediated gene transcription. WtHBx did not effect p53-mediated gene transcription, whereas MutHBx inhibited it (P < 0.01). MutHBx inhibited colony formation in p53-proficient cells (P < 0.01), but not p53-deficient lines. Although both HBx proteins interact with p53, they affect p53-mediated gene transcription differently. WtHBx has no effect, whereas MutHBx inhibits it. In clonogenic survival assays, MutHBx inhibited cell growth in p53-proficient cells rather than enhanced it. This suggests that for MutHBx to behave oncogenically, the p53 pathway must be crippled or absent. This study has identified some important novel ways in which WtHBx and MutHBx differentially interact with p53 and this could begin to form the cellular explanation for the association between this particular mutant and liver cancer. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A population-based analysis of specific behavior problems associated with childhood seizures

Abstract A population-based analysis was conducted, with the 1988 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to estimate the risk for behavior problems associated with children with seizures and cardiac conditions as compared with that of children with no known health conditions. The Behavior Problem Index (BPI) was used to compare the frequency of problems and the differences in scores between groups, using parent responses to a 28-item behavior checklist. In addition, the odds of having a behavior problem in the three groups of children with health conditions were compared with those of children with no known health conditions. Our analysis indicates that children with seizures were 4.7 times more likely to have a behavior problem and children with cardiac problems were 3 times more likely to have behavior problems as compared with controls. The specific behaviors and traits that were most problematic for children with seizures were being hyperactive (cannot concentrate, easily confused, impulsive, obsessive, and restless) and dependent (clings to adults, cries a lot, demands a lot of attention, too dependent on others).
Satellite detection of the geographic core of the 1988 Nebraska drought

Abstract This study demonstrates that the normalized difference vegetation index as derived from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's advanced very high resolution radiometer — high resolution picture transmission mode, contains a considerable amount of information on the condition of vegetation. The potential exists for such satellite data to become an additional tool for measuring the physical variables that make up regional-scale climatic conditions. This study was successful in delineating detailed spatial and temporal information concerning the geographic core of the 1988 drought in Nebraska, USA. A temporal comparison between average normalized difference vegetation index and the crop moisture index, for a climatic division, revealed that these indices may be more strongly related than the normalized difference vegetation index and the Palmer drought severity index. The implication is that the average normalized difference vegetation index is a good surrogate for the short-term variables that constitute agricultural drought, which adds a considerable amount of information to existing measures of soil moisture. This technique offers an opportunity to enhance drought monitoring capability in many regions.
Interaction of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and soil nitrogen on the carbon balance of tundra microcosms

Natural cores of vegetation and soils of arctic tundra were collected in frozen condition in winter near Barrow, Alaska (71°20′N). These cores were used as microcosms in a phytotron experiment to measure the interactions, if any, between increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration and fertilization by ammonium nitrate on net ecosystem CO2 exchange and net yield of tundra vegetation. Increased soil N significantly enhanced net ecosystem CO2 uptake. The effect of increased CO2 concentration had little or no effect on mean net ecosystem carbon balance of the tundra microcosms. Added N significantly increased leaf area and phytomass of vascular plants in the microcosms while increased atmospheric CO2 had no effect on these parameters. We conclude that atmospheric CO2 is not now limiting net ecosystem production in the tundra and that its direct effects will be slight even at double the present concentration. the most probable effects of carbon dioxide in the coastal tundra will be through its indirect effects on temperature, water table, peat decomposition, and the availability of soil nutrients.
Discovery of Novel Regulators of Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Isoenzymes

Over the past three years we have been involved in high-throughput screening in an effort to discover novel small molecular modulators of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity. In particular, we have been interested in both the activation and inhibition of the three commonly studied isoenzymes, ALDH1A1, ALDH2 and ALDH3A1, as their distinct, yet overlapping substrate specificities, present a particularly difficult challenge for inhibitor discovery and design. Activation of ALDH2 has been shown to benefit cardiovascular outcome following periods of ischemia and renewed interest in specific inhibition of ALDH2 has application for alcohol aversion therapy, and more recently, in cocaine addiction. In contrast, inhibition of either ALDH1A1 or ALDH3A1 has application in cancer treatments where the isoenzymes are commonly over-expressed and serve as markers for cancer stem cells. We are taking two distinct approaches for these screens: in vitro enzyme activity screens using chemical libraries and virtual computational screens using the structures of the target enzymes as filters for identifying potential inhibitors, followed by in vitro testing of their ability to inhibit their intended targets. We have identified selective inhibitors of each of these three isoenzymes with inhibition constants in the high nanomolar to low micromolar range from these screening procedures. Together, these inhibitors provide proof for concept that selective inhibition of these broad specificity general detoxication enzymes through small molecule discovery and design is possible.
Information theoretic analysis of side channel information leakage in FCFS schedulers

The information leakage of a queuing side channel in two-user-shared scheduling system is studied from an information theoretic perspective. In the queueing side channel, a malicious attacker can learn the pattern of jobs from a legitimate user using the queuing delays experienced at the shared buffer. An analytical framework is proposed to quantify information leakage using Shannon's equivocation, and the information leakage of the standard First-come-First-serve scheduler is studied in a slotted system with geometric arrivals. The analysis of the FCFS scheduler demonstrates that the policy provides “good privacy” when arrival rates are very low; the leaked information increases with the rate of the attacker's jobs and approaches the maximum retrievable information as the sum-rate of arrivals approaches the boundary of the stability region of the queue.
The Tense Citizen and the Casual Patriot: Role Confusion in American Politics

As a city is a collective body, and, like other wholes, composed of many parts, it is evident our first inquiry must be, what a citizen is: for a city is a certain number of citizens.... For he who has a right to share in the judicial and executive part of government in any city, him we call a citizen of that place; and a city, in one word, is a collective body of such persons sufficient in themselves to all the purposes of life. Aristotle's Politics (Everyman) pp. 67, 68.
The Logic Model in Action against Tobacco Use: A Case Study

Mississippi, an early player in tobacco prevention efforts, used a logic model based in CDC's Best Practices that had seven levels: inputs (community leaders, statewide partners, state Health Depar...
High- $Q$ 4–6-GHz Suspended Stripline RF MEMS Tunable Filter With Bandwidth Control

This paper presents a high-Q two-pole tunable filter with frequency and bandwidth control. The filter is implemented using suspended-stripline ring resonators and planar RF microelectromechanical systems capacitive networks. A tuning range of 3.7-5.95 GHz with an absolute 1-dB bandwidth of 110±20 MHz (3.6%-1.7% fractional bandwidth) is first demonstrated with an insertion loss ; 35 dBm(Δf = 300 kHz) and 20 dBm, respectively. To our knowledge, this filter represents the state-of-the-art in tuning performance and Q for planar designs at 2-6 GHz.
Scalable locality-conscious multithreaded memory allocation

We present Streamflow, a new multithreaded memory manager designed for low overhead, high-performance memory allocation while transparently favoring locality. Streamflow enables low over-head simultaneous allocation by multiple threads and adapts to sequential allocation at speeds comparable to that of custom sequential allocators. It favors the transparent exploitation of temporal and spatial object access locality, and reduces allocator-induced cache conflicts and false sharing, all using a unified design based on segregated heaps. Streamflow introduces an innovative design which uses only synchronization-free operations in the most common case of local allocations and deallocations, while requiring minimal, non-blocking synchronization in the less common case of remote deallocations. Spatial locality at the cache and page level is favoredby eliminating small objects headers, reducing allocator-induced conflicts via contiguous allocation of page blocks in physical memory, reducing allocator-induced false sharing by using segregated heaps and achieving better TLB performance and fewer page faults via the use of superpages. Combining these locality optimizations with the drastic reduction of synchronization and latency overhead allows Streamflow to perform comparably with optimized sequential allocators and outperform--on a shared-memory systemwith four two-way SMT processors--four state-of-the-art multi-processor allocators by sizeable margins in our experiments. The allocation-intensive sequential and parallel benchmarks used in our experiments represent a variety of behaviors, including mostly local object allocation-deallocation patterns and producer-consumer allocation-deallocation patterns.
Ceramic-on-polyethylene: The experience of the Ranawat Orthopaedic Center

Abstract Traditionally, metal-on-polyethylene has been the gold standard bearing in total hip arthroplasty. Ceramics were introduced as an alternative bearing because of their superior mechanical properties. Our institution has found that ceramic-on-polyethylene has consistently shown lower in vivo wear rates compared to metal-on-polyethylene. The latest generation of ceramic-on-polyethylene, BIOLOX delta-on-highly cross-linked polyethylene, has shown an excellent linear wear rate (0.006mm/yr), which is much lower than previously found wear rates for cobalt–chrome-on-highly cross-linked polyethylene (0.011mm/yr). The minimal wear rate of BIOLOX delta-on-highly cross-linked polyethylene provides the potential to increase long-term survivorship and become the new gold standard bearing in THA.
A Dbf4p BRCA1 C-Terminal-Like Domain Required for the Response to Replication Fork Arrest in Budding Yeast

Dbf4p is an essential regulatory subunit of the Cdc7p kinase required for the initiation of DNA replication. Cdc7p and Dbf4p orthologs have also been shown to function in the response to DNA damage. A previous Dbf4p multiple sequence alignment identified a conserved ∼40-residue N-terminal region with similarity to the BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT) motif called “motif N.” BRCT motifs encode ∼100-amino-acid domains involved in the DNA damage response. We have identified an expanded and conserved ∼100-residue N-terminal region of Dbf4p that includes motif N but is capable of encoding a single BRCT-like domain. Dbf4p orthologs diverge from the BRCT motif at the C terminus but may encode a similar secondary structure in this region. We have therefore called this the BRCT and DBF4 similarity (BRDF) motif. The principal role of this Dbf4p motif was in the response to replication fork (RF) arrest; however, it was not required for cell cycle progression, activation of Cdc7p kinase activity, or interaction with the origin recognition complex (ORC) postulated to recruit Cdc7p–Dbf4p to origins. Rad53p likely directly phosphorylated Dbf4p in response to RF arrest and Dbf4p was required for Rad53p abundance. Rad53p and Dbf4p therefore cooperated to coordinate a robust cellular response to RF arrest.
Electromagnetic transmission through narrow slots in thick conducting screens

The general formulas for electromagnetic transmission through an infinitely long slot in a perfectly conducting screen of finite thickness are specialized to the case of a narrow slot. The slot may be filled with a homogeneous isotropic material. A simple equivalent circuit for the narrow slot is developed. It is found that for certain screen thicknesses the slot becomes resonant, and exceptionally large transmission of energy may occur. In fact, as the slot width approaches zero, the transmission width at resonance becomes 1/\pi wavelengths regardless of the actual slot width. The effect of loading the slot with a lossy dielectric is also considered. Computations are given to illustrate the validity of the equivalent circuit model and the accuracy of transmission characteristics computed from it.
The Place of Theory in Educational Research

very much aware that educational research is a minor activity compared with education as a whole. All of us probably feel on occasion that there is little hope that educational research, given the small national effort devoted to it, will have any real impact on education as a whole. Such pessimistic thoughts are not historically, I think, supported by the evidence, especially when we look at the evidence outside of education as
Stability of Agent Based Distributed Model Predictive Control Over a Lossy Network

In this paper, an agent based control formulation of a large-scale cyber-physical system is proposed. Each agent can partially observe a part of the global dynamical process and estimate the associated local states through a combination of traditional Kalman filtering algorithm and consensus. The local estimates are then used for state feedback control. The optimal feedback gain of individual agents is obtained through dynamically solving a moving horizon linear quadratic optimization problem. The agents also exchange information among neighbors to coordinate the agent-wise state-feedback controls. Finally, a control decision incurring the least cost among all agents is applied to the global system. A Lyapunov function-based stability analysis is performed to obtain a bound over the degree of agent negotiation in designing the control decision. Besides, the effect of lossy communication network in control design and henceforth in global system stability is also investigated and the corresponding bound in control consensus is obtained. The theoretical results are verified via simulation of a 10-agent and a 50-agent dynamical process within a radial topology.
Neural implementation of tree classifiers

Tree classifiers represent a popular non-parametric classification methodology that has been successfully used in many pattern recognition and learning tasks. However, "is feature-value/spl ges/thrsh" type of tests used in tree classifiers are often found sensitive to noise and minor variations in the data. This has led to the use of soft thresholding in decision trees. Following the decision tree to feedforward neural network mapping of the entropy net, three neural implementation schemes for tree classifiers, that allow soft thresholding, are presented in this paper. Results of several experiments using well-known data sets are described to compare the performance of the proposed implementations with respect to decision trees with hard thresholding. >
The Nature and Causes of the U-Shaped Charitable Giving Profile

The U-shaped income-giving profile, where those in the lower and higher income brackets give higher percentages of their income to charity, has been the subject of much dispute. Examining data from...
Temporal variability is a personalized feature of the human microbiome

Background: It is now apparent that the complex microbial communities found on and in the human body vary across individuals. What has largely been missing from previous studies is an understanding of how these communities vary over time within individuals. To the extent to which it has been considered, it is often assumed that temporal variability is negligible for healthy adults. Here we address this gap in understanding by profiling the forehead, gut (fecal), palm, and tongue microbial communities in 85 adults, weekly over 3 months. Results: We found that skin (forehead and palm) varied most in the number of taxa present, whereas gut and tongue communities varied more in the relative abundances of taxa. Within each body habitat, there was a wide range of temporal variability across the study population, with some individuals harboring more variable communities than others. The best predictor of these differences in variability across individuals was microbial diversity; individuals with more diverse gut or tongue communities were more stable in composition than individuals with less diverse communities. Conclusions: Longitudinal sampling of a relatively large number of individuals allowed us to observe high levels of temporal variability in both diversity and community structure in all body habitats studied. These findings suggest that temporal dynamics may need to be considered when attempting to link changes in microbiome structure to changes in health status. Furthermore, our findings show that, not only is the composition of an individual’s microbiome highly personalized, but their degree of temporal variability is also a personalized feature.
Semantic Translation of Simulink/Stateflow Models to Hybrid Automata Using Graph Transformations

Embedded systems are often modeled using Matlab's Simulink and Stateflow (MSS), to simulate plant and controller behavior but these models lack support for formal verification. On the other hand verification techniques and tools do exist for models based on the notion of Hybrid Automata (HA) but there are no tools that can convert Simulink/Stateflow models into their semantically equivalent Hybrid Automata models. This paper describes a translation algorithm that converts a well-defined subset of the MSS modeling language into an equivalent hybrid automata. The translation has been specified and implemented using a metamodel-based graph transformation tool. The translation process allows semantic interoperability between the industry-standard MSS tools and the new verification tools developed in the research community.
זיהום אוויר מתחבורה בגוש דן- תמונת מצב לשנת 1998

דו"ח זה מסכם את תוצאות הניטור בשנת 1998 של חמש תחנות ניטור תחבורתיות שהקים המשרד לאיכות הסביבה בגוש דן.שנת 1998 הייתה שנת ההפעלה המלאה הראשונה של התחנות הנ"ל, והיא תשמש כשנת הבסיס לצורך השוואה התוצאות שתתקבלה בעתיד.
Multi-Wavelength SHG Imaging in Ovarian Cancer

Multi-wavelength SHG imaging microscopy is used to quantitatively probe alterations of the supramolecular structure of collagen in the ECM of human ovarian cancer further developing the potential of collagen as a biomarker.
Masting Enhancement Makes Pecan Nut Casebearer Pecans Ally Against Pecan Weevil

Plant defense from phytophages by association with other phytophages is known, but presently considered unusual compared with chemical, morphological, injury repair, or escape mechanisms. Pecan escapes nut feeders by synchronously producing nuts in a 2 to 7-yr cycle. Nut production in nonmast years would increase carrying capacity for late-season nut feeders. The pecan nut casebearer, Acrobasis nuxcorella Neunzig, acts as a fruiting cycle enhancer in pecan by removing nuts early in years of low production, thereby denying late-season nut feeders such as pecan weevil, ClIrm/io caryae (Horn), food. Pecan nut casebearer benefits pecan by increasing estimated average lifetime nut production of an archetypical tree in the presence of pecan weevil by 71,116 nuts at a cost of 210 mature nut equivalents provided pecan nut casebearer, representing a 339:1 return on reproductive effort to pecan.
WIDE-ANGLE WATER WAVE MODELS USING FOURIER METHOD

Two Fourier models for the propagation of surface waves are reported, which are theoretically valid for angles of propagation up to ±90° with respect to normal incidence. This is a great improvement in comparison with the present parabolic models. The first model is based on the assumption of straight and parallel depth contours, and the second one is the extension to the case of irregular bathymetry.
Thrusting Toward More of the Same with the Porter-McKibbin Report

The article reviews the book “Management Education & Development: Drift or Thrust Into the 21st Century?” by Lyman Porter and Lawrence McKibbin.
Structural Transformation of Isolated Poplar and Switchgrass Lignins during Dilute Acid Treatment

A key step in conversion of cellulosic biomass into sustainable fuels and chemicals is thermochemical pretreatment to reduce plant cell wall recalcitrance. Obtaining an improved understanding of the fundamental chemistry of lignin, the most recalcitrant component of biomass, during pretreatment is critical to the continued development of renewable biofuel production. To examine the intrinsic chemistry of lignin during dilute acid pretreatment (DAP), lignin was isolated from poplar and switchgrass using a cellulolytic enzyme system and then treated under DAP conditions. Our results highlight that lignin is subjected to depolymerization reactions within the first 2 min of dilute acid pretreatment and these changes are accompanied by increased generation of aliphatic and phenolic hydroxyl groups of lignin. This is followed by a competing set of depolymerization and repolymerization reactions that lead to a decrease in the content of guaiacyl lignin units and an increase in condensed lignin units as the react...
Information Sources in Laser Science and Technology

A healthy industry has evolved around the application of lasers in materials processing, communications, medicine, information storage and retrieval, graphic arts, scientific research and development, metrology, remote sensing and even entertainment. These applications have resulted from twenty-five years of research and development recorded in an ever-increasing body of scientific and technical literature, which is discussed in this collection development paper. Sections include subject background and future developments, and lists of periodicals, research reports, monographs, and monographic series, published bibliographies, abstracting, indexing and current awareness services, as well as an inventory of some laboratories currently pursuing research and applications.
Approximate Message Passing Algorithm With Universal Denoising and Gaussian Mixture Learning

We study compressed sensing (CS) signal reconstruction problems where an input signal is measured via matrix multiplication under additive white Gaussian noise. Our signals are assumed to be stationary and ergodic, but the input statistics are unknown; the goal is to provide reconstruction algorithms that are universal to the input statistics. We present a novel algorithmic framework that combines: 1) the approximate message passing CS reconstruction framework, which solves the matrix channel recovery problem by iterative scalar channel denoising; 2) a universal denoising scheme based on context quantization, which partitions the stationary ergodic signal denoising into independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) subsequence denoising; and 3) a density estimation approach that approximates the probability distribution of an i.i.d. sequence by fitting a Gaussian mixture (GM) model. In addition to the algorithmic framework, we provide three contributions: 1) numerical results showing that state evolution holds for nonseparable Bayesian sliding-window denoisers; 2) an i.i.d. denoiser based on a modified GM learning algorithm; and 3) a universal denoiser that does not need information about the range where the input takes values from or require the input signal to be bounded. We provide two implementations of our universal CS recovery algorithm with one being faster and the other being more accurate. The two implementations compare favorably with existing universal reconstruction algorithms in terms of both reconstruction quality and runtime.
Association between elevated pre-operative glycosylated hemoglobin and post-operative infections after non-emergent surgery.

Abstract Background A chronic state of impaired glucose metabolism affects multiple components of the immune system, possibly leading to an increased incidence of post-operative infections. Such infections increase morbidity, length of stay, and overall cost. This study evaluates the correlation between elevated pre-operative glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and post-operative infections. Study design Adult patients undergoing non-emergent procedures across all surgical subspecialties from January 2010 to July 2014 had a preoperative HbA1c measured as part of their routine pre-surgical assessment. 2200 patient charts (1100 Results Patients with HbA1c Conclusions The risk factors of post-operative infection are multiple and likely synergistic. While pre-operative HbA1c level is not independently associated with risk of post-operative infection, there are scenarios and patient subgroups where pre-operative HbA1c is useful in predicting an increased risk of infectious complications in the post-operative period.
Is frequency of fast food and sit-down restaurant eating occasions differentially associated with less healthful eating habits?

Studies have shown that frequency of fast food restaurant eating and sit-down restaurant eating is differentially associated with nutrient intakes and biometric outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine whether frequency of fast food and sit-down restaurant eating occasions was differentially associated with less healthful eating habits, independent of demographic characteristics. Data were collected from participants in 2015 enrolled in a worksite nutrition intervention trial (n = 388) in North Carolina who completed self-administered questionnaires at baseline. We used multiple logistic regressions to estimate associations between frequency of restaurant eating occasions and four less healthful eating habits, controlling for age, sex, race, education, marital status, and worksite. On average, participants in the highest tertile of fast food restaurant eating (vs. lowest tertile) had increased odds of usual intake of processed meat (OR = 3.00, 95% CI = 1.71, 5.28), red meat (OR = 2.30, 95% CI = 1.33, 4.00), refined grain bread (OR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.23, 4.10), and sweet baked goods and candy (OR = 3.50, 95% CI = 2.00, 6.12). No associations were found between frequency of sit-down restaurant eating and less healthful eating habits. We conclude that greater frequency of fast food restaurant eating is associated with less healthful eating habits. Our findings suggest that taste preferences or other factors, independent of demographic characteristics, might explain the decision to eat at fast food or sit-down restaurants.
Blood–Brain Barrier

Abstract The blood–brain barrier (BBB) provides a complex network of cells and supporting structures that maintain separation of brain parenchyma and cellular material. This chapter discusses the mechanism and functionality of the BBB and the effects of general anesthetics on BBB function. BBB permeability may be increased or decreased by anesthetics, inflammatory mediators and secondary messengers. Irrespective of mechanisms, altered BBB permeability leads to a number of homeostatic adaptations that may in turn translate into poor neurologic postoperative outcomes. Importantly, there are also some anesthetics with possible “antiinflammatory effects” that lead to BBB “tightening.” These may be neuroprotective. We will present and discuss this dual role of anesthetics on the BBB. In addition, we will provide a succinct description of the molecular changes to endothelial cells, as well as changes in inflammatory mediators that are responsible for the effects of anesthesia toward clinical or experimental end points.
State-of-the-art applications of fly ash from coal and biomass: A focus on zeolite synthesis processes and issues

Abstract Over the years, the production of waste ash from many sources (e.g. coal, biomass, industrial, animal, and municipal solid waste) and from conventional and renewable energy technologies has increased, generating environmental problems due to the increasing amount of material disposed of in landfills. Fly ash from coal and biomass represent the foremost waste products produced by fossil fuel combustion and alternative natural energy sources, respectively. These waste materials are most widely utilized in agricultural applications, soil stabilization, and the cement and concrete industries. Among the various methods proposed for the reuse of fly ash, conversion to zeolite offers the greatest benefits; the process diverts ash waste materials from disposal sites and transforms them into useful secondary products for applications ranging from environmental mitigation to catalysis. The vast amount of literature on fly ash application is the fruit of growing waste production and the consequent need to find innovative methods to reduce the amount of waste deposited in landfills. This article summarizes studies concerning both coal and biomass fly ash. The characterization and potential applications of these materials are analysed in detail through reference to the numerous studies published on fly ash worldwide over the last number of decades. A considerable number of experiments have been conducted using ash as a raw material for zeolite synthesis, and many others concern the utilization of the newly-formed mineral. This paper discusses the key factors affecting zeolite synthesis, primarily from coal fly ash; the drawbacks of each approach are also analysed.
Multi-layer RF tissue phantoms for mimicking a human core

This work presents the design recipe, fabrication process and characterization of tissue-simulating materials, configured as a physical model to mimic the electrical and some physical properties of an abdominal cavity. The complete three-layer design is called the human core model (HCM) see Fig. 1. To our knowledge, presented is the first hybrid skin-muscle phantom developed to mimic the electrical properties of the intervening tissue layers of an abdominal cavity within the frequency band of 1 GHz–2 GHz, a band of interest for human body sensing due to its deep detection depth.
Cathode Electrochemistry in Nonaqueous Lithium Air Batteries

This chapter summarizes the authors’ results and opinions of the electrochemistry occurring at a principally C cathode during Li–O2 discharge and charge. Ideally this reaction is only 2(Li+ + e −) + O2 ↔ Li2O2 that involves 2e −/O2 consumed during discharge and 2e −/O2 liberated during charge. Using quantitative DEMS and other spectroscopies, however, we find significant other chemistry/electrochemistry occurring as parasitic processes in Li–O2 discharge/charge. Much of this is related to electrolyte stability issues (and is electrolyte specific), while some is related to C stability as a cathode material. Much of the work presented in this chapter is an attempt to isolate and study the ideal Li–O2 electrochemistry in order to answer a fundamental question. Even if there are no parasitic chemical processes or practical cell-dependent limitations, is the Li–O2 electrochemistry sufficient to build a high-energy and high-power battery? In this regard, we report a wide variety of experiments and theory on the mechanism, kinetic overpotentials, and charge transport through Li2O2. We then combine our understanding of these fundamental aspects of the electrochemistry with what we know about limitations (parasitic chemistry and cell limiting properties) to understand observed galvanostatic discharges and charges. We describe origins of the current dependent loss of potential in discharge, the cell sudden death or capacity limitations, and the potential rise during charging. At present, the fundamental Li–O2 electrochemistry appears very promising for ultimate use in a high-energy battery. However, both electrolyte stability and the poor electrical conductivity through the Li2O2 remain as challenges to developing a practical lithium air battery.
Doe Library, University of California Berkeley (A History)

The Doe Library (and the first 12 buildings on the Berkeley campus) is work that would never have been built without the support of powerful interests in both the public and private sector, and there is a clear historical association between Beaux-Arts classicism and social elites of the eastern seaboard, some of whom made their way west to California replicating the social fabric of cities like Boston, Philadelphia and New York. The ability of a professional elite to use its connections with key social groups to command the most visible and prestigious commissions (in this case, the Phoebe A. Hearst Architectural Plan) is perhaps the most obvious reason the Doe Library was constructed. The Beaux-Arts design was made available to the public and the profession by an alliance between certain prominent architects and commercial interests with cultural pretensions. Although this paper intentionally limits itself to the period starting with the initial design competition (in 1896) to the opening of the facility (in 1911); perhaps the most remarkable chapter in the creation of the Doe Library is the fact that its high-brow design considerations have forced the creation of the Northern Regional Library Facility (NRLF) a cooperative library storage facility, also the first of its kind in California. The NRLF is a utilitarian, and thoroughly 'modern' facility incorporating exactly the design elements that were intentionally avoided in building the original Doe Library.
Troposphere-Stratosphere General Circulation Statistics

Four years of NOAA/NMC temperature data are used to calculate mean zonal winds, planetary wave structures, and eddy heat fluxes. It is found that the interhemispheric differences in planetary wave activity give rise to substantial differences in the annual variation of the mean zonal winds and temperatures. The annual variation in the observed total ozone distribution is also found to be very different in the two hemispheres as a result of the differing ozone transports accompanying the observed planetary wave structures.
Analysis of methods to assess frontal sinus extent in osteoplastic flap surgery: transillumination versus 6-ft Caldwell versus image guidance.

Background The aim of this study was to compare three common methods (transillumination, plain radiographs, and computerized tomography [CT] image guidance) for estimating the position and extent of pneumatization of the frontal sinus in osteoplastic flap surgery. Methods Axial CT scans and 6-ft Caldwell radiographs were performed on 10 cadaver heads. For each head, soft tissue overlying the frontal bone was raised and the anticipated position and extent of the frontal sinus at four points was marked using three common methods. The silhouette of the frontal sinus from the Caldwell plain radiograph was excised and placed in position. Four points at the periphery also were made using information obtained from a passive optically guided image-guided surgery device, and transillumination via a frontal trephination also was used to estimate sinus extent. The true sinus size was measured at each point and compared with experimental values. Results The use of CT image guidance generated the least difference between measured and actual values (mean = 1.91 mm; SEM = 0.29); this method was found statistically superior to Caldwell (p = 0.040) and transillumination (p = 0.007). Image guidance did not overestimate the size of the sinus (0/36) and was quicker than the Caldwell approach (8.5 versus 11.5 minutes). There was no learning curve appreciated with image guidance. Conclusion Accurate and precise estimation of the position and extent of the frontal sinus is crucial when performing osteoplastic flap surgery. Use of CT image guidance was statistically superior to Caldwell and transillumination methods and proved to be safe, reproducible, economic, and easy to learn.
Human movements: Synergies, stability, and agility

When people move, they organize large, abundant sets of elements (limbs, joints, digits, muscles, motor units, etc.) in a task–specific way by the central nervous system. Such organizations (synergies) ensure action stability, which is crucial given the varying internal body states and external forces. Action stability is controlled in a task-specific way. In particular, stability is reduced in a feed-forward manner (anticipatory synergy adjustment, ASA) if a person plans to perform a quick change of a salient performance variable. The importance of controlled stability for everyday movements is exemplified by studies of neurological patients who show deficits in both aspects of controlled stability: reduced stability during steady-state actions and small/delayed ASAs in preparation to a quick action. The physical approach to movement synergies has been developed using two theoretical frameworks. One of them is the idea of control with spatial referent coordinates (RCs) for salient variables. The other is the idea of intention-specific stability of redundant systems developed within the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis. The RC and UCM hypotheses have been united into a single theory incorporating the idea of hierarchical control. This theory is able to account for results of a variety of studies that used perturbations of ongoing movements, analysis of variance across repetitive trials, and analysis of motor equivalence. Recent studies have provided links of this theory to neurophysiological structures and provide tools sensitive to impaired stability and agility of movements in patients with various neurological disorders.
Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty and resting radiographic scapular rotation.

Background It remains unclear whether changes in scapular rotation influence the surgeon's ability to achieve resting radiographic neutral or inferior baseplate tilt at final follow-up. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine whether reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) changes the resting scapular rotation, (2) to determine the association between glenoid inclination with respect to the scapula (β angle) and resting scapular rotation, and (3) to determine the β angle threshold that will most likely lead to resting radiographic neutral or inferior baseplate tilt relative to the thorax. Methods This was a retrospective radiographic study. Patients with adequate-quality standing anteroposterior and Grashey radiographs obtained preoperatively and after primary RTSA at a minimum of 1 year were included. Glenoid inclination (β angle) was measured between the supraspinatus fossa and the glenoid. Resting scapular rotation was measured between the supraspinatus fossa and a vertical line. Baseplate tilt was then calculated as the angle between the glenoid and a vertical line. Results The study included 74 patients with a mean follow-up period of 3 years (range, 1-9 years). Scapular rotation changed 2° ± 12° (mean ± standard deviation) into upward rotation (P = .048). No association was found between the β angle and scapular rotation. In 71% of patients with a neutral or inferior baseplate tilt, a postoperative β angle greater than 85° was found. Conclusions Resting radiographic scapular rotation changed 2° into upward rotation with RTSA and was not associated with the β angle. If the β angle is greater than 85°, resting radiographic baseplate tilt will most likely be inferior or neutral.
Partial Discharge Signal Propagation in T-Structured GIS

Partial discharge diagnostic techniques play an important role in maintaining operation safety and reliability of medium and high voltage apparatus. The rapid development of Ultra-High frequency techniques for partial discharge detection in gas insulated switchgear devices is attributed to the high sensitivity and immunity to interferences. An important challenge facing the RF diagnostic techniques is the complexity of switchgears as a propagating environment for electromagnetic waves. This paper is devoted to present the propagation behavior of electromagnetic waves in such power devices by reporting on the output characteristics of RF waves due to two different discontinuities namely the T-structure and disconnecting switches. The two discontinuities are to be applied simultaneously to analyze their impact together. Finite element method built in COMSOL Multiphysics is used to implement the model.
Medicaid expansion and infant mortality, revisited: A difference-in-differences analysis.

Objective To determine the association between Medicaid expansion and infant mortality rate (IMR) in the United States. Data sources State-level aggregate data on US IMR, race, and sex were abstracted from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research. Study design The association between Medicaid expansion and IMR adjusted for race and sex was assessed with multiple linear regression models using difference-in-differences estimation and Huber-White robust standard errors. Principal findings Difference-in-differences regression found no association between Medicaid expansion status and change in national IMR from 2010 to 2017 (Coef. = 0.04; 95% CI: -0.39, 0.46). However, among Hispanics, the program was found to be associated with reduction in IMR (Diff-in-Diff Coef. = -0.53; 95% CI: -1.02, -0.03). Conclusions Overall, the Affordable Care Act-induced Medicaid expansion was not associated with IMR reduction in expansion states relative to nonexpansion states. However, the program was associated with a significant IMR decline among Hispanics.
Combinatorial properties of irreducible Laguerre polynomials in two variables

Following our earlier work, where doubly indexed and irreducible over Q two-variable Laguerre polynomials were introduced, we prove for such polynomials some recurrence formulas and obtain a generating function. In addition, we show how certain sums of such polynomials with a fixed total degree relate to some standard polynomials.
Direct and indirect effects of marijuana use on the risk of fatal 2-vehicle crash initiation.

Marijuana and alcohol each play a significant role in fatal crash initiation. We decomposed the total effect of marijuana use in the presence or absence of alcohol on fatal crash initiation into direct and indirect effects. Pair-matched data on 5856 culpable drivers (initiators) and 5856 nonculpable drivers (noninitiators) involved in the same fatal 2-vehicle crashes recorded in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System between 2011 and 2016 were analyzed using the conditional logistic regression model and the unified mediation and interaction analysis framework. Crash initiators were more likely than noninitiators to test positive for marijuana (16.1% vs. 9.2%, P < 0.001), alcohol (28.6% vs. 9.7%, P < 0.001) and both substances (6.3% vs. 1.6%, P < .0001). Adjusted odds ratios of fatal 2-vehicle crash initiation revealed a positive interaction on the additive scale between marijuana and alcohol. Of the total effect of marijuana use on fatal 2-vehicle crash initiation, 68.8% was attributable to the direct effect (51.5% to controlled direct effect and 17.3% to reference interaction effect with alcohol) and 31.2% to the indirect effect (7.8% to mediated interaction effect and 23.4% to pure indirect effect through alcohol). Our results indicate that the increased odds of fatal 2-vehicle crash initiation associated with marijuana use is due mainly to the direct effect.
Damned if you monitor, damned if you don't: medical malpractice and intraoperative neuromonitoring for spinal surgery.

Objective The aim of this study was to identify trends in medical malpractice litigation related to intraoperative neuromonitoring. Methods The Westlaw Edge legal research service was queried for malpractice litigation related to neuromonitoring in spine surgery. Cases were reviewed to determine if the plaintiff's assertion of negligence was due to either failure to use neuromonitoring or negligent monitoring. Comparative statistics and a detailed qualitative analysis of the resulting cases were performed. Results Twenty-six cases related to neuromonitoring were identified. Spinal fusion was the procedure in question in all cases, and defendants were nearly evenly divided between orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons. Defense verdicts were most common (54%), followed by settlements (27%) and plaintiff verdicts (19%). Settlements resulted in a mean $7,575,000 damage award, while plaintiff verdicts resulted in a mean $4,180,213 damage award. The basis for litigation was failure to monitor in 54% of the cases and negligent monitoring in 46%. There were no significant differences in case outcomes between the two allegations of negligence. Conclusions The use and interpretation of intraoperative neuromonitoring findings can be the basis for a medical malpractice litigation. Spine surgeons can face malpractice risks by not monitoring when required by the standard of care and by interpreting or reacting to neuromonitoring findings inappropriately.
Two new bidirectional search algorithms

This paper presents two new bidirectional heuristic search algorithms for solving the shortest path problem on graphs: consistent-heuristic bucket-based bidirectional search (CBBS) and front-to-front GPU bidirectional search (FFGBS). CBBS uses a consistent heuristic and groups nodes into buckets that organize nodes based on estimated path cost and known heuristic errors. FFGBS splits the work between the CPU and GPU, with the GPU solving a front-to-front heuristic and the CPU choosing nodes to expand. This paper also includes a new front-to-front version of the GAP heuristic for the pancake problem that is efficient to solve on a GPU. Computational experiments for CBBS are performed on the pancake problem. CBBS is faster and requires less node expansions with the GAP-1 heuristic, compared to bidirectional state of the algorithms like DIBBS and DVCBS. Computational experiments for FFGBS are performed on the pancake problem and DIMACS road network, showing that FFGBS is consistently the fastest algorithm on all but the smallest pancake stacks when using the GAP-2 heuristic and is also the fastest algorithm on the largest road networks.