cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Working with youth on LGBT issues: why Gay–Straight Alliance advisors become involved

This phenomenological qualitative study explores motivation for citizen participation in a local context by exploring the experiences of Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club advisors from public high schools. Fourteen advisors from one midwestern state were randomly recruited for participation. Inductive and deductive qualitative analyses elucidated themes and subthemes surrounding the motivation for becoming an advisor. Two major themes that emerged were a protective attitude toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, a personal connection with sexual minority people/issues. It became clear that deciding to become a GSA advisor was not necessarily an easy decision. Therefore, the decision-making process was analyzed, elucidating themes surrounding worries (possible lack of credibility, fear of job loss, and being accused of recruiting youth to the ‘gay lifestyle’) and security (tenure or protections against being fired, and being married). Limitations and implications for future research and practice are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Vulnerability and mental health in Afghanistan: Looking beyond war exposure:

This study examined the prevalence of mental distress among groups in Afghanistan considered to be at risk. Data were drawn from a representative cross-sectional disability survey carried out in Af...
A new pileup-prevention front-end electronic design for high-resolution PET and gamma cameras

A new method for processing signals from Anger position-sensitive detectors used in gamma cameras and positron emission tomography (PET) is proposed for very high count-rate imaging. It has a same concept as high yield pileup-event recover (HYPER) method we introduced before by using 1) dynamically integrating a present event, the integrating will stop immediately before the next event is detected; 2) estimating a weighted-value to indicate the total energy inside the scintillation detector; and 3) remnant correction to remove the residual energy of all the previous events from the weighted-value. This paper introduces two improved practical techniques to get a better weighted-value with low noise sensitivity in order to improve the final pileup-free energy resolution. One applies a low-pass filter combined with multiple sampling to a weight-sum of the instantaneous signal and integrated signal. The other one is weighting the integration value of the income signal; the weighting also includes exponential distortion compensation. This paper also describes the application of the HYPER electronics in a high resolution low cost PET camera with 12 photomultipliers (PMTs)-quadrant-sharing (PQS) detector modules that can decode 38 016 bismuth-germinate (BGO) crystal elements using 924 PMTs. Each detector module has four Anger-HYPER circuits to further increase the count-rate. To use the HYPER circuit in coincidence imaging applications, there is a serious synchronization problem between the arrival time of an event and the end time of integration that is variable from event to event. This synchronization problem is solved by a field programmable gate array (FPGA) circuit with real time remnant correction and a high-resolution trigger delay unit with a small dead-time for recovering the synchronization of data and the event-trigger.
The role of international trade in managing food security risks from climate change

International trade plays an important role in facilitating global food security in the face of a changing climate. In considering this issue, it is useful to distinguish between two different time scales: inter-annual and inter-decadal. Inter-annual adjustments in international trade can play an important role in shifting supplies from food surplus regions to regions facing food deficits which emerge as a consequence of extreme weather events, civil strife, and/or other disruptions The first section of the paper explores the evidence on increased inter-annual supply side volatility, as well as historical and prospective analyses of adaptation to such volatility and the role international trade can play in mitigating the adverse impacts on food security. In the long run, we expect that the fundamental patterns of comparative advantage will be altered by the changing climate as well as availability of technology and endowments (water for irrigation, labor force, capital stock). In a freely functioning global economy, long run trade patterns will respond to this evolving comparative advantage. However, historical food trade has not been free of obstacles, with both tariff and non-tariff barriers often limiting the adjustment of trade to the changing economic landscape. This section of the paper capitalizes on a newly available library of climate impact results in order to characterize the tails (both optimistic and pessimistic) of this distribution. We then explore the potential for a more freely functioning global trading system to deliver improved long run food security in 2050.
Taphonomy of Early Triassic fish fossils of the Vega-Phroso Siltstone Member of the Sulphur Mountain Formation near Wapiti Lake in British Columbia

Abstract The taphonomy of fishes living in lacustrine environments has been extensively studied in both the laboratory and the fossil record; the taphonomy of marine fishes, however, is poorly known. Triassic marine fishes with heavy ganoid and cosmoid scales, which provided protection from rapid taphonomic loss, offer a means to examine marine fish taphonomy in the fossil record. Four genera of Early Triassic fishes (the ray-finned actinopterygians Albertonia, Bobasatrania, Boreosomus, and the lobe-finned coelacanth (sarcopterygian), Whiteia) from the Wapiti Lake, British Columbia locality of the Lower Triassic Sulphur Mountain Formation were examined in order to gain a better understanding of the taphonomy of fish in marine environments, determine ambient environmental conditions in the region during the Early Triassic, and ascertain the habitat and mode of life of the fish. Results indicate that environmental conditions that contributed to the preservation of the fossil fishes of the current study included deposition in deep, quiet waters, which reduced the odds of disarticulation, colder waters under higher pressure, which slowed decay and limited postmortem floatation, and waters that were anoxic, which discouraged predators and scavengers. In addition, the thickness of the primitive ganoid and cosmoid scales of the fossil fishes also increased their preservation potential. Taphonomic, physiological and environmental indicators suggest that Whiteia, Albertonia, and possibly Bobasatrania lived in deep, cold waters near the oxygen minimum zone, while Boreosomus lived higher in the water column. While the anatomical and physiological characteristics of modern fishes will likely continue to inhibit marine taphonomy studies, examination of ancient fish, particularly those with ganoid or cosmoid scales, may provide future avenues of research to gain a better understanding of marine fish taphonomy and provide a powerful tool to examine ancient fish behavior and their environment.
On the energy-efficient organization and the lifetime of multi-hop sensor networks

Due to hardware, energy, cost and other physical constraints, sensor-based networks present various design, implementation and deployment challenges. An analytical model is presented to estimate and evaluate the node and network lifetime in a randomly deployed multi-hop sensor network. Based on this, we provide a procedure for the creation of an energy efficient sensor network organization, that attempts to extend the lifetime of the communication critical nodes, and as a result the overall network's operational lifetime.
2010 Austrian-Swiss-German traveling fellowship tour summary.

The 2010 Austrian-Swiss-German (ASG) Traveling Fellowship Tour took place between April 5 and May 2, 2010. As is customary, all stops on the tour included visits to the operating rooms and clinics, scientific exchange programs, and time for sightseeing and socializing. The tour began in Munich, Germany, and proceeded to Wurzburg, Germany; Salzburg and Vienna, Austria; Berlin, Cologne, Bonn, Dusseldorf, and Heidelberg, Germany; and Basel, Switzerland. It culminated at the Annual Meeting of the Southern German Orthopaedic Association in Baden-Baden, Germany. Traditionally, there have been two American fellows, one British fellow, and one Canadian fellow. This year, the Canadian Orthopaedic Society chose not to send a fellow. Because of unforeseen circumstances, including the eruption of the Icelandic volcano that interrupted European air traffic for several weeks, one of the American fellows, Scott Steinmann, MD, a shoulder and elbow specialist from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was able to participate only in the last week of the tour. So, for the initial three weeks of the trip, there were just two traveling fellows, Raghuram Thonse, MD, a total joint arthroplasty specialist currently practicing in Oxford, England, and the author, Susan Scherl, MD, a pediatric orthopaedist at the University of Nebraska in Omaha (Fig. 1). Our first stop was Munich, Germany, where we were hosted by Dr. R. Gradinger of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Dr. A. Imhoff of Ludwig Maximillian University (LMU). Dr. Thonse arrived the evening of April 5, a day before I did, and spent April 6 in the operating room at TUM. On my arrival, I was taken directly to TUM for the first of the tour’s many scientific sessions. I presented “Pediatric Orthopaedic Problems Related to Childhood Obesity,” and Dr. Thonse presented “Antibiotic Cement-Coated Nails in the Treatment of Infected Nonunion.” (We each …
Balloon‐Expandable Stenting in Pediatric Cardiology

Intravascular stem placement in Pediatric Cardiology has provided one of the most interesting and effective means of catheter treatment of congenital lesions. In the 5 years since it has been performed, balloon-expandable stem placement has provided relief of many previously unbeatable vascular stenoses and has resulted in improvement of blood flow, reduction of right ventricular pressure and, in many cases, dramatic improvement of symptoms. In this article, the background of balloon-expandable stent placement is discussed, and specific observations are offered regarding the technique of implantation. The generally excellent results are presented and a number of novel problems and pitfalls are outlined. Finally, a brief summary of the wide ranging applicability of stent implantation is discussed, along with some of the important and imaginative new directions for the therapy. (J Interven Cardiol 1995;8:463–475)
Integrating grasp planning and visual feedback for reliable manipulation

We present a vision-centric manipulation framework for reliably performing reach-and-grasp tasks in everyday environments. By combining grasp planning and visual feedback algorithms, and constantly considering sensor visibility, the framework can recover from sensor calibration errors and unexpected changes in the environment. Although many current robot systems include planning and vision components, these components are treated independently, which reduces the capability of the system from making informed decisions. Our proposed framework incorporates information in a data-driven way from both planning and vision modalities during the planning and execution phases of the task. The planning phase generates a plan to move the robot manipulator as close as safely possible to the target object such that the target is easily detectable by the on-board sensors. The execution phase is responsible for continuously choosing and validating a grasp for the target while updating the environment with more accurate information. We stress the importance of performing grasp selection for the target during visual-feedback execution because more precise information about the target's location and its surroundings is available. We evaluate our framework on several robot platforms in simulation.
An alternative to the traditional cold pressor test: the cold pressor arm wrap.

Recently research on the relationship between stress and cognition, emotion, and behavior has greatly increased. These advances have yielded insights into important questions ranging from the nature of stress' influence on addiction1 to the role of stress in neural changes associated with alterations in decision-making2,3. As topics being examined by the field evolve, however, so too must the methodologies involved. In this article a practical and effective alternative to a classic stress induction technique, the cold pressor test (CPT), is presented: the cold pressor arm wrap (CPAW). CPT typically involves immersion of a participant's dominant hand in ice-cold water for a period of time4. The technique is associated with robust activation of the sympatho-adrenomedullary (SAM) axis (and release of catecholamines; e.g. adrenaline and noradrenaline) and mild-to-moderate activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis with associated glucocorticoid (e.g. cortisol) release. While CPT has been used in a wide range of studies, it can be impractical to apply in some research environments. For example use of water during, rather than prior to, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to damage sensitive and expensive equipment or interfere with acquisition of MRI signal. The CPAW is a practical and effective alternative to the traditional CPT. Composed of a versatile list of inexpensive and easily acquired components, CPAW makes use of MRI-safe gelpacs cooled to a temperature similar to CPT rather than actual water. Importantly CPAW is associated with levels of SAM and HPA activation comparable to CPT, and can easily be applied in a variety of research contexts. While it is important to maintain specific safety protocols when using the technique, these are easy to implement if planned for. Creation and use of the CPAW will be discussed.
The combinatorics of the bar resolution in group cohomology

Abstract We study a combinatorially defined double complex structure on the ordered chains of any simplicial complex. Its columns are related to the cell complex Kn whose face poset is isomorphic to the subword ordering on words without repetition from an alphabet of size n. This complex is shellable and as an application we give a representation theoretic interpretation for derangement numbers and a related symmetric function considered by Desarmenien and Wachs [11]. We analyze the two spectral sequences arising from the double complex in the case of the bar resolution for a group. This spectral sequence converges to the cohomology of the group and provides a method for computing group cohomology in terms of the cohomology of subgroups. Its behavior is influenced by the complex of oriented chains of the simplicial complex of finite subsets of the group, and we examine the Ext class of this complex.
Very fast transient simulation and measurement methodology for ESD technology development

A Transient safe operating area (TSOA) definition for ESD applications is introduced. Within this concept framework, ESD protection device topologies developed in a mixed-signal submicron high-voltage CMOS technology are studied to identify turn-on voltage and the resulting voltage overshoot conditions during fast ESD transients. A state-of-the-art numerical simulation environment used to study and optimize the fast transient response of ESD protection devices is discussed and simulation results are benchmarked versus very fast transmission line pulsing measurements. Constraints for triggering control of clamp devices are also investigated via simulations and pulse measurements.
Mental Retardation: Is It in the Genes?

Mental Retardation and Developmental Delay: Genetic and Epigenetic Factors, by Moyra Smith. 2006. New York: Oxford University Press, 344 pp., $49.95 (HB).Most of us have had the experience of evaluating a child who looks just like other children, whose MRI scan is read as normal, and whose test performance results in a diagnosis of mental retardation. Such children cause us to ponder the question, “How can a brain look so normal, yet work so abnormally?” As the results are presented, parents ponder a different question. They want to know why this has happened to their child. What makes the question a hard one to respond to is that we ask ourselves the same question but often do not have an answer. The neuropsychological conceptualization of mental retardation starts with skill patterns and works backwards through neural networks looking for cause. Mental Retardation and Developmental Delay: Genetic and Epigenetic Factors begins with the inner workings of the cell, examining genes, gene products, and cell metabolism as the basis for the observed disruption of learning and memory.
Role of Lymphotoxin α in T-Cell Responses during an Acute Viral Infection

The importance of lymphotoxin alpha (LTalpha) in lymphoid organogenesis is well established. Although LTalpha has been implicated in the pathogenesis of T-cell-mediated immunopathologies, the requirement for LTalpha in T-cell activation and effector function in vivo is not well understood. To determine the role of LTalpha in T-cell activation in vivo, we compared the generation of antigen-specific T-cell responses between wild type (+/+) and LTalpha-deficient (LTalpha(-/-)) mice during an acute infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). Our studies showed that LCMV-infected LTalpha(-/-) mice had a profound impairment in the activation and expansion of virus-specific CD8 T cells in the spleen, as determined by cytotoxicity assays, intracellular staining for gamma interferon, and staining with major histocompatibility complex class I tetramers. Further, the nonlymphoid organs of LTalpha(-/-) mice also contained substantially lower number of LCMV-specific CD8 T cells than those of +/+ mice. Greatly reduced virus-specific CD8 T-cell responses in LTalpha(-/-) mice led to a defect in LCMV clearance from the tissues. In comparison to that in +/+ mice, the activation of LCMV-specific CD4 T cells was also significantly attenuated in LTalpha(-/-) mice. Adoptive transfer experiments were conducted to determine if abnormal lymphoid architecture in LTalpha(-/-) mice caused the impairment in the activation of LCMV-specific T-cell responses. Upon adoptive transfer into +/+ mice, the activation and expansion of LCMV-specific LTalpha(-/-) T cells were restored to levels comparable to those of +/+ T cells. In a reciprocal cell transfer experiment, activation of +/+ T cells was significantly reduced upon transfer into LTalpha(-/-) mice. These results showed that impairment in the activation of LCMV-specific T cells in LTalpha(-/-) mice may be due to abnormal lymphoid architecture and not to an intrinsic defect in LTalpha(-/-) T cells.
Incentive Compatible Control of Decentralized Organizations

Many organizational decision problems may be usefully modeled as the programming problem: $${\text{P}}:\,\,\,\,\mathop {{\text{Max}}}\limits_{\text{x}} {\text{F}}\left( {\text{x}} \right)$$ (1.1) subject to G(x) ≤ 0 where x ∈ ℝN, F: ℝN→ℝ, and G : ℝN→ℝK.
RESPONSE REPETITION AS AN ERROR-CORRECTION PROCEDURE FOR ACQUISITION OF MATH FACTS AND MATH COMPUTATION

We used nonconcurrent and concurrent multiple baseline designs to evaluate the extent to which error correction with response repetition (RR) produced acquisition of math facts and correct math computation for four individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities. The results show that RR increased correct responding on (i) targeted math problems for three of four participants and (ii) math problems presented in alternative formats for two of two participants. The results are consistent with prior studies that used RR to increase correct sight-word reading for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The findings are discussed in terms of how RR might be implemented in typical classroom settings. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Molecular phylogeny of Conradina and other scrub mints (Lamiaceae) from the southeastern USA: evidence for hybridization in Pleistocene refugia?

Conradina (Lamiaceae) consists of six allopatric species endemic to the southeastern United States, four of which are federally endangered or threatened. The limits and status of several taxa have been contested based on morphological grounds, and clarification of these limits is necessary for the design and implementation of effective and fiscally responsible protection and management plans. The objectives of this study were to investigate the monophyly of Conradina and its relationship to other endemic mints of the southeastern United States, to understand the patterns of diversification in Conradina, and to clarify species relationships. A molecular phylogeny was inferred by sequencing ITS and plastid regions from multiple accessions of each species of Conradina (except for a single accession of C. verticillata) and multiple individuals from species of Clinopodium, Dicerandra, Piloblephis, Stachydeoma, Monarda, Pycnanthemum, and Mentha. ITS sequence data strongly support the monophyly of Conradina, in agreement with evidence from morphology. In contrast, plastid sequence data do not support a monophyletic Conradina and place the genus as paraphyletic to Clinopodium, Stachydeoma, and Piloblephis. Similar plastid haplotypes are shared by different genera, perhaps due to shared ancestral polymorphisms, or more likely, introgression that occurred recently or during the Pleistocene. Within Conradina, ITS sequence data do not resolve species relationships, while plastid sequence data do not support the monophyly of most traditionally defined species of Conradina that are distinguishable morphologically. Species relationships in the plastid data set may also be obscured by introgression or ancestral polymorphism. More rapidly evolving sequence data from nuclear markers will be necessary to clarify relationships in Conradina and related mints from the southeastern United States.
The Use and Abuse of Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe: Two Case Studies (Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Filippo Fantoni)

Not so very long ago, astrology was taught within the scientific curriculum of the finest European universities, especially in Italy, where it was taught from at least the beginning of the fourteenth through the middle of the seventeenth centuries. According to the University of Bologna’s 1405 statutes, which articulate the basic structures of arts education in the premodern Italian universities, astrology was primarily taught in the four-year mathematics course, although it was also taught in different respects in the natural philosophy and medical courses. After prerequisites in arithmetic, geometry and elementary mathematical astronomy, the students began their study of astrology proper in the third year; in the fourth, they advanced to the higher levels of scientific astronomy and astrology by reading two of Ptolemy’s fundamental texts, the Almagest and Tetrabiblos.1
Characterizing the performance limits of high speed image triage using Bayesian search theory

The rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) modality has been used in conjunction with neurophysiological and behavioral responses to identify targets within large volumes of imagery efficiently. The research reported here uses optimal search theory to characterize the limits of this approach. Search theory is used to inform the estimation of detection functions. These functions provide a principled basis for selecting presentation parameters that balance search efficiency and accuracy. Detection functions are also used to characterize individual differences in search performance and to assess the extent to which the RSVP presentation modality generalizes across a class of complex targets.
3D Glass and Silicon Interposers with TPV vs. 3D ICs with TSV

3D Packaging has been emerging as the dominant theme for more than a decade. It started as package on package stacking in the 1970s for memory devices. More recently, it moved to stacked, wire bonded chips as well as miniaturized package-on-package (POP). Stacking with flip chip soon followed. In all these cases, ICs are fabricated in wafer fabs and packaging of these ICs was subsequently performed independently. The next natural evolution to be expected is to eliminate external interconnections outside the ICs by means of through vias, now called TSVs. But this became revolutionary, complex and costly. It impacted wafer fabrication by virtue of having to co-process transistors, BEOL wiring and TSV interconnections, all in the wafer fab. This is referred to as 3D ICs with TSV. The benefits of 3D ICs are overwhelming. They include highest performance in smallest size by virtue of stacking many ultra-thin ICs and interconnecting them with through-silicon-vias. But such a technology is also complex and costl...
Grundsatzuntersuchungen zum Sportsound durch Abgaskrümmer- und Vorrohranpassung

Der Schalleindruck eines Fahrzeugs ist ein wesentliches Zielkriterium bei der Fahrzeugentwicklung. Er sollte in Ubereinstimmung mit den jeweiligen Kundenerwartungen an das Fahrzeug sein und zur Identifikation mit dem Fahrzeug beitragen. Die subjektiven Erwartungen an den Klang einer Limousine unterscheiden sich beispielsweise deutlich von denen an ein sportliches Fahrzeug. Neben der Erfullung dieser subjektiven Anforderungen ist die Einhaltung der gesetzlichen Vorschriften und Hochstwerte fur den Schallpegel des jeweiligen Fahrzeugs obligatorisch. Dieser Artikel der Tenneco Automotive Gillet beschreibt die Vorgehensweise der Klanggestaltung anhand eines Sportwagens mit Vierzylindermotor.
Serum Cholesterol Reduction by Para-Aminosalicylates in Man. 1–131 Triolein Absorption Studies.

SummaryDaily oral administration of 9 and 12 g of acid PAS to 7 patients in 9 experimental periods of 6 to 19 weeks duration resulted in significant reductions of the average total serum cholesterol concentration in each subject by 15 to 35%. The average fall for the group was 29%. Daily oral administration of 12 g of sodium PAS to 14 patients for 5 to 14 weeks was followed by a significant fall of average total serum cholesterol levels in only 7 patients by 11 to 26%. The average fall for these subjects was 19%. The remaining 7 patients showed no statistically significant variation of serum cholesterol following administration of oral sodium PAS. The absorption and fecal elimination of I-131 triolein was studied during the administration of PAS in a total of 20 experiments. In 6 patients I-131 triolein absorption tests were carried out during control periods and after the reduction of serum cholesterol levels by the administration of PAS. Five patients, in whom oral administration of sodium PAS failed to...
The Discontinuity of Offending Among African American Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

Little is known about what factors contribute to African American youth desisting from offending. Participants were 3,230 moderate- to high-risk adolescents from Washington State who completed a statewide risk assessment to assess the likelihood of recidivism. Participants were screened by juvenile probation officers between 2003 and 2010. Researchers investigated whether youth possessed protective factors and whether developmental change took place after contact with the juvenile justice system. It was hypothesized that having protective factors would decrease the likelihood of recidivism and the impact of each factor would differ by gender. Findings indicate African American youth have protective factors across a range of domains. However, little developmental change occurs after contact with the juvenile justice system. Impulse control, parental supervision, and pro-social peers were important for reducing recidivism. Problem solving was more influential for African American males, while impulse contro...
Conjugated Porous Polymers For TNT Vapor Detection

A conjugated porous polymer (CPP) that exhibits fluorescence quenching when exposed to TNT vapor was synthesized via a Sonaogashira cross-coupling reaction. Two polymerization solvents, DMF and PhMe, and two activation procedures, evacuation and lyophilization, were evaluated to optimize the response of the CPP to TNT vapor. Key differences in surface area and absorption were seen as a function of polymerization solvent and activation procedure. The polymer synthesized in DMF and activated by lyophilization had the highest surface area and the strongest response to TNT vapor. This paper demonstrates the importance of growth and activation conditions in optimizing the porosity and sensing performance of CPPs.
Finite Simple Groups

I wish to thank the organizers of this symposium for inviting me to speak and enabling me to discuss some consequences of the classification of the finite simple groups.
"From the Intuitive to the Intentional": Designing a Constructivist Online Course.

AbstractOnline programs are becoming more ubiquitous in higher education; however, there has been a lack of research on the merit of this style of educating. Using the concept of constructivism as a framework, the idea that individuals construct their own understanding of world experiences, the authors generated a case study to explore the efficacy of teaching “havruta study,” text analysis in student pairs with instructor facilitation, in an online format. Findings suggest that, through careful consideration of communication styles and student needs, highly interactive in-house courses can be adapted to online settings.
Nucleation, Growth, and Alignment of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Nanofibers for High-Performance OFETs

ConspectusConjugated semiconducting polymers have been the subject of intense study for over two decades with promising advances toward a printable electronics manufacturing ecosystem. These materials will deliver functional electronic devices that are lightweight, flexible, large-area, and cost-effective, with applications ranging from biomedical sensors to solar cells. Synthesis of novel molecules has led to significant improvements in charge carrier mobility, a defining electrical performance metric for many applications. However, the solution processing and thin film deposition of conjugated polymers must also be properly controlled to obtain reproducible device performance. This has led to an abundance of research on the process–structure–property relationships governing the microstructural evolution of the model semicrystalline poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as applied to organic field effect transistor (OFET) fabrication. What followed was the production of an expansive body of work on the crystalli...
Short-circuit robustness testing of SiC MOSFETs

This paper presents electrical results for two different commercial devices and one prototype 1.2 kV SiC power MOSFET device subject to short-circuit (SC) stress. Two failure modes were observed among the devices tested, with one mode of failure resulting in catastrophic device destruction and the other resulting in permanent damage of the insulating gate dielectric manifested as a leakage current of 400 mA. Short-circuit pulses of increasing time duration caused a reduction in the gate-to-source voltage toward the falling edge of the pulse. This phenomenon is a precursor to failure of SiC MOSFETs under SC stress, but this reduction in V GS is not known to occur in silicon-based devices. The measured short-circuit withstand times for commercial devices from group A and B MOSFETs were 8 μs and 12 μs, respectively. MOSFET-C devices had a withstand time of 7 μs. A larger chip size improves robustness even for large values of peak short-circuit current.
Micromechanics of Bone Modeled as a Composite Material

In this chapter, we present an overview of modeling of bone as a composite material. First, we describe bone’s complex hierarchical structure spanning from the nanoscale to macroscale and summarize bone’s mechanical properties and biological characteristics which include self-healing, adaptation, and regeneration. Then, we summarize nanomechanics and micromechanics modeling of bone. Effective medium theories such as Mori–Tanaka, self-consistent, and generalized self-consistent methods are used to model the elastic response of bone, while a finite element method is used to more precisely account for bone architecture and to simulate inelastic effects. Challenges in bone modeling include bone’s composite and hierarchical structure, lack of scale separations, scale and size effects, interfaces, porosity spanning across structural scales, and complex constitutive laws (anisotropic, nonlinear, Cosserat, time dependent, piezoelectric, poroelastic). Variability in bone properties due to the anatomic location, species, age, gender, and method of storage makes validation of theoretical models challenging. Finally, lessons learned from nature on bone structure–property relations can be applied to design stiff, strong, tough, and lightweight bioinspired materials.
When Good Arguments do Not Work: Post-Dialectics, Argument Assemblages, and the Networks of Climate Skepticism

This essay argues that the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) is an example of an argument actor that makes assemblage arguments to perpetuate doubt and skepticism on the...
Effects of Training Intensity on Locomotor Performance in Individuals With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury: A Randomized Crossover Study.

Background. Many physical interventions can improve locomotor function in individuals with motor incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI), although the training parameters that maximize recovery are not clear. Previous studies in individuals with other neurologic injuries suggest the intensity of locomotor training (LT) may positively influence walking outcomes. However, the effects of intensity during training of individuals with iSCI have not been tested. Objective. The purpose of this pilot, blinded-assessor randomized trial was to evaluate the effects of LT intensity on walking outcomes in individuals with iSCI. Methods. Using a crossover design, ambulatory participants with iSCI >1 year duration performed either high- or low-intensity LT for ≤20 sessions over 4 to 6 weeks. Four weeks following completion, the training interventions were alternated. Targeted intensities focused on achieving specific ranges of heart rate (HR) or ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), with intensity manipulated by increasing ...
Structural basis for the initiation of eukaryotic transcription-coupled DNA repair

Eukaryotic transcription-coupled repair (TCR) is an important and well-conserved sub-pathway of nucleotide excision repair that preferentially removes DNA lesions from the template strand that block translocation of RNA polymerase II (Pol II). Cockayne syndrome group B (CSB, also known as ERCC6) protein in humans (or its yeast orthologues, Rad26 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Rhp26 in Schizosaccharomyces pombe) is among the first proteins to be recruited to the lesion-arrested Pol II during the initiation of eukaryotic TCR. Mutations in CSB are associated with the autosomal-recessive neurological disorder Cockayne syndrome, which is characterized by progeriod features, growth failure and photosensitivity1. The molecular mechanism of eukaryotic TCR initiation remains unclear, with several long-standing unanswered questions. How cells distinguish DNA lesion-arrested Pol II from other forms of arrested Pol II, the role of CSB in TCR initiation, and how CSB interacts with the arrested Pol II complex are all unknown. The lack of structures of CSB or the Pol II–CSB complex has hindered our ability to address these questions. Here we report the structure of the S. cerevisiae Pol II–Rad26 complex solved by cryo-electron microscopy. The structure reveals that Rad26 binds to the DNA upstream of Pol II, where it markedly alters its path. Our structural and functional data suggest that the conserved Swi2/Snf2-family core ATPase domain promotes the forward movement of Pol II, and elucidate key roles for Rad26 in both TCR and transcription elongation.
The Role of Transitory Earnings for Managerial Effort Allocation to Intangibles

There is a concern about the ability of earnings to adequately reflect managerial efforts to intangible-based activities. Agency theory suggests that when core earnings relay little information about managerial effort to certain activities, effort allocation will be insufficient. Risk averse managers consider costs of investing in RD they can send signals about the future and security prices reflect information about them. This means that even though the accounting system creates weak value relevant core earnings concerning intangibles, if transitory earnings can provide some additional information, they can play a vital incentive role. For example, unsuccessful prior intangible investments or obsolete inventory would be reported as transitory earnings (e.g., disposal of a poorly performing line of operation, asset write-downs, inventory write-offs), which can send signals to markets about managerial effort to tackle problems. These can be useful to convey information about managerial efforts exerted on intangibles. I show that under these conditions, market-based compensation helps to mitigate inefficient effort allocation to intangible-based activities. However, the reflection of transitory earnings in market-based compensation can also encourage earnings management. Managers may allocate their effort to a nonproductive activity such as shifting operating expenses to non-operation expenses to avoid a sharp decline in security price or/and meet analyst forecasts. Such activities do not increase economic value. Thus, the ability of transitory earnings to produce proper managerial effort allocation has to be weighed against the possibility of encouraging earnings manipulation.
Evaluation of the Avalanche Danger in Northwest Rila Mountain

The chapter treats the conditions determining avalanche formation and action in Northwest Rila. It provides an analysis of the current morphosculptural impact of avalanches on the Alpine and sub-Alpine mountain zones. The most hazardous avalanche terrains are specified as well.
Recovering Surfaces from the Restoring Force

We present a new theoretical method and experimental results for direct recovery of the curvatures, the principal curvature directions, and the surface itself by exolicit integration of the Gauss map. The method does not rely on polygonal approximations, smoothing of the data, or model fitting. It is based on the observation that one can recover the surface restoring force from the Gauss map, and (i) applies to orientable surfaces of arbitrary topology (not necessarily closed); (ii) uses only first order linear differential equations; (iii) avoids the use of unstable computations; (iv) provides tools for filtering noise from the sampled data. The method can be used for stable extraction of surfaces and surface shape invariants, in particular, in applications requiring accurate quantitative measurements.
Dietary Fats as Mediators of Obesity, Inflammation, and Colon Cancer

Obesity and associated low-grade inflammation are clearly risk factors for development of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer; however, the mechanisms and pathways by which obesity and inflammation lead to these disorders are not clearly defined. Since obesity is largely determined by levels of energy expenditure as well as quantities and composition of consumed nutrients, especially fats and carbohydrates, the question exists as to whether obesity and/or dietary components contribute directly to development of inflammation and/or associated comorbidities including diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. In this chapter, we examine the evidence supporting a role for dietary fats in the development of inflammation and intestinal tumorigenesis. We also compare different fats and different diets for their ability to promote or prevent intestinal tumorigenesis and explore possible mechanisms of action. These considerations are important for the potential prevention and control of intestinal cancer, since overall diet and specific dietary components are modifiable risk factors and increasing numbers of dietary and pharmacologic interventions are becoming available to control both inflammatory and carcinogenic processes.
Massively Parallel Computational Models of Biological Systems

Abstract Conventional computer programs have been used for some time as models of intelligent behavior, with mixed success. Everyone acknowledges that animal brains are different from electronic machines in speed, concurrency, reliability, and flexibility. The problem is to develop methodologies that allow one to simulate more realistic models of intelligent behavior. Our group has been active in computer vision for many years and has been working on massively parallel models for the last four years. The talk will cover a formalism for massively parallel models, a general simulator for such models and their applications to problems of vision and natural language parsing.
Studies on a Novel Flavodoxin from the Respiratory Mutant TZN-200 from Azotobacter Vinelandii

Flavodoxins have been purified from the wild-type and mutant strain TZN-200 of A. vinelandii. The latter mutant strain is unable to reduce 2,3,5-triphenyl-tetrazolium chloride which is known to react with flavin. As a consequence FMN synthesized in the mutant strain appears to be modified as determined by paper chromatography and light-absorption spectroscopy. The mutant flavodoxin does not differ from the wild-type derived flavodoxin in primary structure as determined by partial peptide mapping or by Resonance Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy which suggests binding of FMN to protein is identical in both flavodoxins. However significant differences were noted in the ability of the mutant flavodoxin to donate electrons to nitrogenase (decreased by 75%). This latter observation may be explained by the more positive mid-point redox potential found for the flavosemiquinone/flavohydroquinone redox couple (-435 mV as compared to the same redox couple for wild type flavodoxin of -480 mV).
Efficient Calibration of Feedback DAC in Delta Sigma Modulators

Feedback digital to analog converter non-linearity is one of the factors that limit performance of delta sigma modulators. Various mismatch shaping and non-linearity calibration schemes exist, but they either require additional element shuffling hardware or reconfiguration of the sigma delta modulator for calibration. In this brief, an efficient in-situ calibration scheme is presented which neither requires any analog hardware nor requires reconfiguration for calibration. Simulation results show that calibrated coefficients can be used to correct for mismatch induced increase in noise floor and non-linearity to achieve nearly ideal performance.
A global decomposition theorem for excluding immersions in graphs with no edge-cut of order three

A graph $G$ contains another graph $H$ as an immersion if $H$ can be obtained from a subgraph of $G$ by splitting off edges and removing isolated vertices. There is an obvious necessary degree condition for the immersion containment: if $G$ contains $H$ as an immersion, then for every integer $k$, the number of vertices of degree at least $k$ in $G$ is at least the number of vertices of degree at least $k$ in $H$. In this paper, we prove that this obvious necessary condition is ``nearly'' sufficient for graphs with no edge-cut of order 3: for every graph $H$, every $H$-immersion free graph with no edge-cut of order 3 can be obtained by an edge-sum of graphs, where each of the summands is obtained from a graph violating the obvious degree condition by adding a bounded number of edges. The condition for having no edge-cut of order 3 is necessary. A simple application of this theorem shows that for every graph $H$ of maximum degree $d \geq 4$, there exists an integer $c$ such that for every positive integer $m$, there are at most $c^m$ unlabelled $d$-edge-connected $H$-immersion free $m$-edge graphs with no isolated vertex, while there are superexponentially many unlabelled $(d-1)$-edge-connected $H$-immersion free $m$-edge graphs with no isolated vertex. Our structure theorem will be applied in a forthcoming paper about determining the clustered chromatic number of the class of $H$-immersion free graphs.
Broadening Our Senses: The Aesthetics of Online MBA Studio-Based Education

Drawing from the traditions of arts, craft and aesthetics, both organizations and business schools are ‘broadening their sights’ to studio practices for creative and innovative ways to enhance know...
Oculta a plena vista: la geografÍa jurÍdica desde una perspectiva visual [Hidden in Plain View: Legal Geography from a Visual Perspective]

Spanish Abstract: Law, con una "L" mayuscula al menos, no es particularmente aficionado a esconderse. Para ser eficaz, la ley debe imponerse en el mundo; debe ser reconocido; y, lo mas importante, debe verse visualmente. ?Por que, entonces, la ley se esconderia en el espacio? Y, quizas lo mas importante, ?como lo haria? ?Y por que serian importantes para nosotros esos lugares ocultos de la ley? Este articulo explora el proyecto dual de ver y ocultar en el contexto de la geografia juridica. Examina como la ley ve el paisaje fisico y como se ve desde una perspectiva espacial. Tambien pregunta quien ve legalmente, quien y que esta siendo visto por la ley, y luego quien y que se vuelve invisible en estos sitios geolegales. Ademas, considera como la forma particular de la ley de ver el paisaje se traduce en la creacion de este espacio. Finalmente, e interrelacionado con todo lo anterior, muestra como tanto la visibilidad como, quizas mas importante, la invisibilidad de la ley en el espacio estan fuertemente alineadas con arreglos de poder. El articulo presenta dos ejemplos de invisibles visibles: paisajes de arboles en Israel / Palestina y las propiedades de ver el paisaje natural a traves de la inspeccion humana y no humana, y a traves de fotografias aereas en particular; y los cruces fronterizos y las propiedades de ver en movimiento a traves del diseno fisico de la frontera y, en particular, a traves de maquinas sensoras. English Abstract: Law, with a capital “L” at least, is not particularly fond of hiding itself. In order to be effective, law must be asserted in the world; it must be acknowledged; and, most importantly, it must be visually seen. Why, then, would law hide itself in space? And, perhaps more importantly, how would it do so? And why would such hidden places of law be of importance to us? This paper explores the dual project of seeing and concealing within the context of legal geography. It examines how law sees the physical landscape and how it is seen from a spatial perspective. It also asks who does the legal seeing, who and what are being seen by law, and then who and what are rendered invisible in these geolegal sites. In addition, it considers how law’s particular way of seeing landscape translates into the making of this space. Finally, and interrelated to all the above, it shows how both the visibility and, perhaps more importantly, the invisibility of law in space are strongly aligned with arrangements of power. The article presents two examples of visible invisibles: tree landscapes in Israel/Palestine and the properties of seeing the natural landscape through human and nonhuman inspection, and through aerial photos in particular; and border crossings and the properties of seeing in motion through the physical design of the border, and through sensor machines in particular.
Abnormal presentation of haemorrhagic adrenal cyst

An 81-year-old patient presented with fever and lethargy for 3 weeks. There were no other signs or symptoms of infection. Detailed history revealed a fall onto his right flank, prior to the start of fever. All microbiological, autoimmune and oncological investigations were negative. CT scan of chest, abdomen and pelvis showed haemorrhage in a previously diagnosed simple adrenal cyst. The cyst was non-functioning. The patient continued to spike fever in the following 4 weeks, otherwise remained stable. The patient was managed conservatively as haemoglobin level was stable. Repeated scan showed signs of improvement. He was discharged after 5 weeks. He remained afebrile and asymptomatic at the planned endocrinology outpatient follow-up after 8 weeks.