cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Limitations of the MOS capacitance method for the determination of semiconductor surface properties

For the use of the MOS capacitance method in the study of surface properties, various approximations and assumptions, of a purely conceptual and of an experimental nature, are usually made. These are not always justified. In this paper the applicability of this capacitance method for surface studies is examined critically. It is shown that this method is limited in its applicability and accuracy, and that, in most cases, it yields only the gross features of the surface states. If there are traps distributed spatially throughout the oxide, only an effective surface state distribution can be found, and this effective distribution may be interpreted ambiguously as due either to traps right at the interface, throughout the oxide, or both. Because the MOS capacitance consists essentially of the oxide capacitance in series with the semiconductor capacitances there is a practical lower limit on the magnitude of the semiconductor capacitance which can be measured. Together with difficulties in interpreting measurements in the inversion layer regime, this leads to a restriction on that portion of the forbidden gap in which states may be investigated. MOS capacitors, produced by thermal oxidation of silicon in either wet or dry oxygen, were examined by this method. It was found that, within experimental accuracy, and within the range of surface potential that can be covered by these measurements, the total number of occupied traps usually varies linearly with surface potential if it is assumed that all the traps are located right at the interface. However, these results can also be explained if it is assumed that the oxide contains a high density of low lying trap sites which are essentially uniformly distributed spatially throughout the oxide. In some specimens a monoenergetic trap level 0.7 eV below the conduction band and located at the interface was found.
Larvicidal effects of Chinaberry (Melia azederach) powder on Anopheles arabiensis in Ethiopia

Synthetic insecticides are employed in the widely-used currently favored malaria control techniques involving indoor residual spraying and treated bednets. These methods have repeatedly proven to be highly effective at reducing malaria incidence and prevalence. However, rapidly emerging mosquito resistance to the chemicals and logistical problems in transporting supplies to remote locations threaten the long-term sustainability of these techniques. Chinaberry (Melia azederach) extracts have been shown to be effective growth-inhibiting larvicides against several insects. Because several active chemicals in the trees' seeds have insecticidal properties, the emergence of resistance is unlikely. Here, we investigate the feasibility of Chinaberry as a locally available, low-cost sustainable insecticide that can aid in controlling malaria. Chinaberry fruits were collected from Asendabo, Ethiopia. The seeds were removed from the fruits, dried and crushed into a powder. From developmental habitats in the same village, Anopheles arabiensis larvae were collected and placed into laboratory containers. Chinaberry seed powder was added to the larval containers at three treatment levels: 5 g m-2, 10 g m-2 and 20 g m-2, with 100 individual larvae in each treatment level and a control. The containers were monitored daily and larvae, pupae and adult mosquitoes were counted. This experimental procedure was replicated three times. Chinaberry seed powder caused an inhibition of emergence of 93% at the 5 g m-2 treatment level, and 100% inhibition of emergence at the two higher treatment levels. The Chinaberry had a highly statistically significant larvicidal effect at all treatment levels (χ2 = 184, 184, and 155 for 5 g m-2, 10 g m-2 and 20 g m-2, respectively; p < 0.0001 in all cases). In addition, estimates suggest that sufficient Chinaberry seed exists in Asendabo to treat developmental habitat for the duration of the rainy season and support a field trial. Chinaberry seed is a very potent growth-inhibiting larvicide against the major African malaria vector An. arabiensis. The seed could provide a sustainable additional malaria vector control tool that can be used where the tree is abundant and where An. arabiensis is a dominant vector. Based on these results, a future village-scale field trial using the technique is warranted.
Identifying a Foreign Accent in an Unfamiliar Language.

This study explores the question of whether native and nonnative listeners, some familiar with the language and some not, differ in their accent ratings of native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs). Although a few studies have employed native and nonnative judges to evaluate native and nonnative speech, the present study is perhaps the first to include nonnative judges who were unfamiliar with the language they were judging. This study compares accent ratings of four different groups listening to Brazilian Portuguese spoken by NSs and NNSs. The 25 speakers of Portuguese were 5 NSs and 20 NNSs who were NSs of American English. The four listening groups were (a) Brazilian Portuguese listeners, (b) American English listeners with Portuguese experience, (c) American English listeners without Portuguese experience, and (d) English as a second language listeners without Portuguese experience. Although there were some differences, the results show striking similarities across groups, suggesting that listeners' first and second languages do not strongly affect ratings of foreign accents. The study also has implications for the critical period hypothesis because it raises the possibility that there are salient universal features of nonnative speech.
Benefits of clustering among the Internet search agents caught in the n-person prisoner's dilemma game

In searching for information on the Internet, often times one experiences contention of information servers. Usually, information on the Internet is collected by autonomous search agents that send out queries to the servers that may have the information sought. From a single agent's perspective, sending out as many queries as possible maximizes the chance of achieving the information sought. However, if every agent does the same, the information sites will be overloaded and most of the agents will be dissatisfied. In general, cooperation-sending a moderate number of queries-is desired for everyone's good. In essence, the Internet search agents are caught in the n-person prisoner's dilemma game. When the number of available information sites is much larger than that of the information-seeking agents (i.e., the resource is abundant), cooperation may not be necessary since there is little incentive to cooperate. However, when the resource is scarce, cooperation will lead more agents successfully retrieving the information within reasonable time. It is, however, generally not possible to know how many information sites are available in the world and how many other agents may seek the same information sites. We present possible benefits of accessing "local" information sites, forming "communities" leading to a global satisfaction of the agents involved.
Open-label, sham-controlled trial of an endoscopic duodenojejunal bypass liner for preoperative weight loss in bariatric surgery candidates

Background The duodenojejunal bypass liner (DJBL) (EndoBarrier Gastrointestinal Liner) is an endoscopically placed and removable intestinal liner that creates a duodenojejunal bypass resulting in weight loss and improvement in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Objective Weight loss before bariatric surgery to decrease perioperative complications. Design Prospective, randomized, sham-controlled trial. Setting Multicenter, tertiary care, teaching hospitals. Patients Twenty-one obese subjects in the DJBL arm and 26 obese subjects in the sham arm composed the intent-to-treat population. Interventions The subjects in the sham arm underwent an EGD and mock implantation. Both groups received identical nutritional counseling. Main Outcome Measurements The primary endpoint was the difference in the percentage of excess weight loss (EWL) at week 12 between the 2 groups. Secondary endpoints were the percentage of subjects achieving 10% EWL, total weight change, and device safety. Results Thirteen DJBL arm subjects and 24 sham arm subjects completed the 12-week study. EWL was 11.9% ± 1.4% and 2.7% ± 2.0% for the DJBL and sham arms, respectively ( P P P Limitations Study personnel were not blinded. There was a lack of data on caloric intake. Conclusions The DJBL achieved endoscopic duodenal exclusion and promoted significant weight loss beyond a minimal sham effect in candidates for bariatric surgery. (Clinical trial registration number: NPT00469391 .)
Holocene hydrologic variation at Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru, and its relationship to North Atlantic climate variation†

A growing number of sites in the Northern Hemisphere show centennial- to millennial-scale climate variation that has been correlated with change in solar variability or with change in North Atlantic circulation. However, it is unclear how (or whether) these oscillations in the climate system are manifest in the Southern Hemisphere because of a lack of sites with suitably high sampling resolution. In this paper, we reconstruct the lake-level history of Lake Titicaca, using the carbon isotopic content of sedimentary organic matter, to evaluate centennial- to millennial-scale precipitation variation and its phasing relative to sites in the Northern Hemisphere. The pattern and timing of lake-level change in Lake Titicaca is similar to the ice-rafted debris record of Holocene Bond events, demonstrating a possible coupling between precipitation variation on the Altiplano and North Atlantic sea-surface temperatures (SSTs). The cold periods of the Holocene Bond events correspond with periods of increased precipitation on the Altiplano. Holocene precipitation variability on the Altiplano is anti-phased with respect to precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere monsoon region. More generally, the tropical Andes underwent large changes in precipitation on centennial-to-millennial timescales during the Holocene. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
On efficient representation of expert knowledge by fuzzy logic: towards an optimal combination of granularity and higher-order approaches

A natural approach to designing an intelligent system is to incorporate expert knowledge into this system. One of the main approaches to translating this knowledge into computer-understandable terms is the approach of fuzzy logic. It has led to many successful applications, but in several aspects, the resulting computer representation is somewhat different from the original expert meaning. Two related approaches have been used to make fuzzy logic more adequate in representing expert reasoning: granularity and higher-order approaches. Each approach is successful in some applications where the other approach did not succeed so well; it is therefore desirable to combine these two approaches. This idea of combining the two approaches is very natural, but so far, it has led to few successful practical applications. In this chapter, we provide results aimed at finding a better (ideally optimal) way of combining these approaches.
A Location-Based MAC Scheme for Random Wireless Network

This paper proposes a location-based MAC (LMAC) scheme for wireless networks with randomly placed nodes. This scheme regulates channel access by sharing local location information among transmitters. A lattice approximation approach is used to derive upper and lower bound for the success probability for a typical transmission attempt. Numerical results show that with the node density and link distance fixed, the optimal LMAC provides a much higher density of successful transmissions than CSMA and ALOHA.
A randomized, controlled trial of the effectiveness of community-based case management in insuring uninsured Latino children.

Background. Lack of health insurance adversely affects children’s health. Eight million US children are uninsured, with Latinos being the racial/ethnic group at greatest risk for being uninsured. A randomized, controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of various public insurance strategies for insuring uninsured children has never been conducted. Objective. To evaluate whether case managers are more effective than traditional methods in insuring uninsured Latino children. Design. Randomized, controlled trial conducted from May 2002 to August 2004. Setting and Participants. A total of 275 uninsured Latino children and their parents were recruited from urban community sites in Boston. Intervention. Uninsured children were assigned randomly to an intervention group with trained case managers or a control group that received traditional Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) outreach and enrollment. Case managers provided information on program eligibility, helped families complete insurance applications, acted as a family liaison with Medicaid/SCHIP, and assisted in maintaining coverage. Main Outcome Measures. Obtaining health insurance, coverage continuity, the time to obtain coverage, and parental satisfaction with the process of obtaining insurance for children were assessed. Subjects were contacted monthly for 1 year to monitor outcomes by a researcher blinded with respect to group assignment. Results. One hundred thirty-nine subjects were assigned randomly to the intervention group and 136 to the control group. Intervention group children were significantly more likely to obtain health insurance (96% vs 57%) and had ∼8 times the adjusted odds (odds ratio: 7.78; 95% confidence interval: 5.20–11.64) of obtaining insurance. Seventy-eight percent of intervention group children were insured continuously, compared with 30% of control group children. Intervention group children obtained insurance significantly faster (mean: 87.5 vs 134.8 days), and their parents were significantly more satisfied with the process of obtaining insurance. Conclusions. Community-based case managers are more effective than traditional Medicaid/SCHIP outreach and enrollment in insuring uninsured Latino children. Case management may be a useful mechanism to reduce the number of uninsured children, especially among high-risk populations.
Natural Course of Melanocytic Tumors of the Iris

The authors received the charts and photographs of 175 patients who had suspicious melanocytic lesions of the iris and who were followed without treatment. Only eight (4.6%) of these lesions showed clinical evidence of enlargement during follow-up intervals of 1 to 12 years (mean, 4.7 years). Features that were associated with enlargement of the lesion included medial location of the mass on the iris and presence of pigment dispersion onto the adjacent iris and anterior chamber angle structures. Features that were unassociated with growth of the lesion included patient age and sex, intraocular pressure, iris color, tumor size and vascularity, and presence of pupillary distortion, ectropion iridis, and sector cataract. From these results, recommendations are made which can assist the ophthalmologist in the management of pigmented iris lesions.
China's Century?: Why America's Edge Will Endure

Two assumptions dominate current foreign policy debates in the United States and China. First, the United States is in decline relative to China. Second, much of this decline is the result of globalization and the hegemonic burdens the United States bears to sustain globalization. Both of these assumptions are wrong. The United States is not in decline; in fact, it is now wealthier, more innovative, and more militarily powerful compared to China than it was in 1991. Moreover, globalization and hegemony do not erode U.S. power; they reinforce it. The United States derives competitive advantages from its hegemonic position, and globalization allows it to exploit these advantages, attracting economic activity and manipulating the international system to its benefit. The United States should therefore continue to prop up the global economy and maintain a robust diplomatic and military presence abroad.
Enhancement of cardiac function after adenoviral-mediated in vivo intracoronary β2-adrenergic receptor gene delivery

Exogenous gene delivery to alter the function of the heart is a potential novel therapeutic strategy for treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure (HF). Before gene therapy approaches to alter cardiac function can be realized, efficient and reproducible in vivo gene techniques must be established to efficiently transfer transgenes globally to the myocardium. We have been testing the hypothesis that genetic manipulation of the myocardial β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) system, which is impaired in HF, can enhance cardiac function. We have delivered adenoviral transgenes, including the human β2-AR (Adeno-β2AR), to the myocardium of rabbits using an intracoronary approach. Catheter-mediated Adeno-β2AR delivery produced diffuse multichamber myocardial expression, peaking 1 week after gene transfer. A total of 5 × 1011 viral particles of Adeno-β2AR reproducibly produced 5- to 10-fold β-AR overexpression in the heart, which, at 7 and 21 days after delivery, resulted in increased in vivo hemodynamic function compared with control rabbits that received an empty adenovirus. Several physiological parameters, including dP/dtmax as a measure of contractility, were significantly enhanced basally and showed increased responsiveness to the β-agonist isoproterenol. Our results demonstrate that global myocardial in vivo gene delivery is possible and that genetic manipulation of β-AR density can result in enhanced cardiac performance. Thus, replacement of lost receptors seen in HF may represent novel inotropic therapy.
BAC to the future: the use of bac transgenic mice for neuroscience research.

The development of methods for engineering bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs), and for the efficient production of BAC transgenic mice, has allowed the design of in vivo approaches to the analysis of gene expression and function in the brain, which could not be accomplished using traditional methods. These strategies have shed light on the functions of single genes in the nervous system, and will accelerate the use of functional genomic approaches to neuroscience research.
Algodones dune field of southeastern California: case history of a migrating modern dune field

The Algodones dune field of southeastern California is one of the largest active dune fields in North America. The dune field is migrating in an easterly direction, oblique to the resultant sand flow direction (S 24° E). The migration of the Algodones results from an interaction between regional winds and the dune field. This interaction generates a localized secondary flow that has caused the dune field to migrate in a direction oblique to the resultant sand flow direction. Four lines of evidence suggest that the Algodones has migrated in an easterly direction: (1) A ramp, interpreted as the trailing edge of the dune field, 35 m thick and 500 m wide composed of aeolian deposits that borders the western edge of the dune field. No similar deposits are found on the eastern (leading edge) margin of the dune field. (2) Leading-edge sand-sheet deposits are exposed in interdune areas within the dune field. These deposits are west of the modern leading-edge sand sheet. (3) Across the breadth of the dune field sands are consistently coarser and more poorly sorted in the west and finer and better sorted in the east. This observation suggests that sand is transported from west to east. (4) Eastward migration of a large compound-complex crescentic dune. If the dune field continues to migrate it will deposit a vertical sequence consisting of: a basal sand-sheet deposit consisting of wind and water-ripple laminae, small-scale aeolian cross-strata, and ephemeral stream (wadi) deposits; aeolian dune deposits consisting of medium-scale aeolian compound cross-strata; small-scale simple sets of aeolian cross-strata with highly variable dip directions; a sand sheet containing low-angle wind-ripple cross-strata capped by a coarse sand lag super bounding surface.
New unitary affine-Virasoro constructions

We report a quasi-systematic investigation of the Virasoro master equation. The space of all affine-Virasoro constructions is organized by K-conjugation into affine-Virasoro nests, and an estimate of the dimension of the space shows that most solutions await discovery. With consistent ansatze for the master equation, large classes of new unitary nests are constructed, including 1) quadratic deformation nests with continuous conformal weights, and 2) unitary irrational central charge nests, which may dominate unitary rational central charge on compact g.
Optimal growth of Lactobacillus casei in a Cheddar cheese ripening model system requires exogenous fatty acids1

Flavor development in ripening Cheddar cheese depends on complex microbial and biochemical processes that are difficult to study in natural cheese. Thus, our group has developed Cheddar cheese extract (CCE) as a model system to study these processes. In previous work, we found that CCE supported growth of Lactobacillus casei, one of the most prominent nonstarter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB) species found in ripening Cheddar cheese, to a final cell density of 10(8) cfu/mL at 37°C. However, when similar growth experiments were performed at 8°C in CCE derived from 4-mo-old cheese (4mCCE), the final cell densities obtained were only about 10(6) cfu/mL, which is at the lower end of the range of the NSLAB population expected in ripening Cheddar cheese. Here, we report that addition of Tween 80 to CCE resulted in a significant increase in the final cell density of L. casei during growth at 8°C and produced concomitant changes in cytoplasmic membrane fatty acid (CMFA) composition. Although the effect was not as dramatic, addition of milk fat or a monoacylglycerol (MAG) mixture based on the MAG profile of milk fat to 4mCCE also led to an increased final cell density of L. casei in CCE at 8°C and changes in CMFA composition. These observations suggest that optimal growth of L. casei in CCE at low temperature requires supplementation with a source of fatty acids (FA). We hypothesize that L. casei incorporates environmental FA into its CMFA, thereby reducing its energy requirement for growth. The exogenous FA may then be modified or supplemented with FA from de novo synthesis to arrive at a CMFA composition that yields the functionality (i.e., viscosity) required for growth in specific conditions. Additional studies utilizing the CCE model to investigate microbial contributions to cheese ripening should be conducted in CCE supplemented with 1% milk fat.
An efficient software transactional memory using commit-time invalidation

To improve the performance of transactional memory (TM), researchers have found many eager and lazy optimizations for conflict detection, the process of determining if transactions can commit. Despite these optimizations, nearly all TMs perform one aspect of lazy conflict detection in the same manner to preserve serializability. That is, they perform commit-time validation, where a transaction is checked for conflicts with previously committed transactions during its commit phase. While commit-time validation is efficient for workloads that exhibit limited contention, it can limit transaction throughput for contending workloads.This paper presents an efficient implementation of commit-time invalidation, a strategy where transactions resolve their conflicts with in-flight (uncommitted) transactions before they commit. Commit-time invalidation supplies the contention manager (CM) with data that is unavailable through commit-time validation, allowing the CM to make decisions that increase transaction throughput. Commit-time invalidation also requires notably fewer operations than commit-time validation for memory-intensive transactions, uses zero commit-time operations for dynamically detected read-only transactions, and guarantees full opacity for any transaction in O(N) time, an improvement over incremental validation's O(N2) time. Our experimental results show that for contending workloads, our efficient commit-time invalidating software TM (STM) is up to 3 x faster than TL2, a state-of-the-art validating STM.
Eddy-current losses in a semi-infinite solid due to a nearby alternating current

IN many engineering structures one is confronted with the problem of eddy-current losses in conducting solids due to nearby alternating currents. In electric machines such as motors, generators, and transformers, the machine parts exposed to variable fields are made up of laminations so as to break up the eddy-current paths and avoid losses. Yet, in parts of these machines, solid metallic structures do occur which are exposed to alternating fields and which it is impossible to laminate. Among these are end plates of rotors and stators in the field of the end turns, and transformer tanks in the field of current leads. Similarly, in buildings of reinforced steel construction, heavy current leads may cause eddy-current losses in the steel girders. Finally, eddy currents may be excited in sea water or in the earth, either under conditions of zero-phase short-circuit currents in power lines or when alternating currents are provided with ground leads. In problems of interference between power and telephone lines, the distribution of eddy currents and their effect on the interference factors are of interest.
Betwixt and between Cultural Milieus: African Female Refugee Adolescents Striving for Scholastic Success in USA

In this article I investigate how three ethnically diverse African refugee female adolescents navigated the intercultural complexity that contextualized their schooling in a small Northeast American city. Using ethnographically contextualized case study methodology, this article explores the participants’ perceptions of the African and American cultural milieus that they straddled as refugee adolescents. Additionally, the article examines the strategies these refugee youth had to develop in order to transcend intercultural complexity and remain academically engaged. The findings suggested that the refugee adolescents demonstrated agency and a considerable degree of intercultural competency, which I conceptually juxtaposed here as Agentic Intercultural Competency in Schooling (AGICS). The findings further suggested that the AGICS concept was critical for these socially disadvantaged female adolescents to maintain high levels of scholastic engagement in the face of intercultural complexity.
Learning to cooperate in normal form games

We study the problem of achieving cooperation between two self-interested agents that play a sequence of randomly generated normal form games, each game played only once. To achieve cooperation we extend a model used to explain cooperative behavior by humans. We show how a modification of a pre-regularized particle filter can be used to detect the cooperation level of the opponent and play accordingly. We examine how properties of the games affect the ability of an agent to detect cooperation and explore the effects of different environments and different levels of conflict. We present results obtained in simulation on hundreds of randomly generated games.
Abstract 582: Overexpression of Mnsod Reduces Aortic Valve Calcification Through Repression of Pro-osteogenic Signaling

Increased BMP signaling and markers of osteogenic differentiation are strongly associated with regions of valvular calcification in aortic valves from humans with end-stage calcific aortic valve stenosis. While oxidative stress is also markedly elevated in these regions, it is unknown whether increasing antioxidant capacity can reduce pro-osteogenic signaling and valvular calcification. Therefore, we hypothesized that overexpression of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) can reduce pro-osteogenic signaling in the aortic valves from hypercholesterolemic mice, ultimately resulting in reduced valvular calcification and improved valvular function. We used Ldlr-/-/ApoB100/100 (LA) mice that were wild-type for MnSOD (LA-MnSOD0/0) or overexpressing MnSOD (LA-MnSODTg/0) and fed a western diet (TD88137) for six months. We first measured mRNA levels of the BMP ligands BMP2 and BMP4 (qRT-PCR), both of which were unchanged between LA-MnSOD0/0 and LA-MNSODTg/0 mice. While there was a small but significant increase ...
Para-Literary Ethnography and Colonial Self-Writing: The Student Notebooks of the William Ponty School

Beginning in 1933, West African students at the Ecole Normale William Ponty—the elite French colonial teacher-training college—completed their studies by writing ethnographic monographs on some aspect of their community of origin during their summer vacation. This corpus of nearly eight hundred monographs is collectively known as the “Cahiers Ponty” (Ponty notebooks). Ponty students were encouraged to “avoid false literary descriptions” but in practice many drew heavily on the tropes of novelistic prose—especially those of the bildungsroman. This essay examines the rhetorical and narrative strategies Ponty students employ to produce legible accounts of their own socialization as modern subjects, as well as the feedback from teachers that constrained their performances. I argue that the Ponty notebooks exemplify a distinct discipline—para-literary ethnography—that had a role in shaping the contours of colonial modernity and early francophone literature in West Africa.
Measuring the Heat Capacity of Large Isolated Molecules via Gas-Phase Collisions: C60

We present a novel method to measure the heat capacity of isolated molecules or clusters. Neutral molecules emerge from an effusive source at known temperature. They are heated in a single sticking collision with an atomic ion of known kinetic energy; the breakdown curve of the adduct ion is measured as a function of collision energy. The procedure is repeated for different source temperatures. The heat capacity of the neutral molecule equals the change in the breakdown energy divided by the change in source temperature. The method avoids potential sources of systematic errors inherent to other approaches that involve multiple collisions. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated by colliding an effusive beam of C60 with a monoenergetic beam of Na+ which produces endohedral Na@C60+. The value obtained for the heat capacity of C60 at 535 ± 35 °C agrees with theoretical ones within the experimental uncertainty of 11%.
Synthesis and Influencing Factors of Sphere-like and Branch-like ZnO Nanophase Materials

Sphere-like and branch-like ZnO nanophase materials were prepared at optimization conditions by hydrothermal method.Zn(NO3)2 and CO(NH2)2 were used as raw materials.PEG and F127 were used as surface active agent.The phase was wurtize analyzed by XRD,and the structure of ZnO crystal was hexagonal.Sphere-like and branch-like ZnO nanophase materials were formed by nanowires and nanorods analyzed by SEM.The influence of PEG、F127 and temperature to the morphology of product was also analyzed.
Stimulated osteoclastic and suppressed osteoblastic activity in metabolic but not respiratory acidosis

When bone is cultured in acidic medium produced by a reduced bicarbonate concentration ([HCO(3-)]), a model of metabolic acidosis, there is greater net calcium efflux than when the same decrement in pH is produced by an increased partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2), a model of respiratory acidosis. To determine the effects of metabolic and respiratory acidosis on bone cell function we cultured neonatal mouse calvariae for 48 h under control conditions (pH approximately 7.40, PCO2 approximately 41 mmHg, [HCO(3-)] approximately 25 meq/l) or under isohydric acidic conditions simulating metabolic (pH approximately 7.09, [HCO(3-)] approximately 12) or respiratory (pH approximately 7.10, PCO2 approximately 86) acidosis and measured osteoblastic collagen synthesis and alkaline phosphatase activity and osteoclastic beta-glucuronidase activity. Collagen synthesis was inhibited by metabolic (23.2 +/- 1.3 vs. 30.3 +/- 1.0% in control) but was not altered by respiratory (32.3 +/- 0.6) acidosis. Alkaline phosphatase activity was inhibited by metabolic (402 +/- 16 vs. 471 +/- 15 nmol P.min-1.mg protein-1 in control) but not altered by respiratory (437 +/- 25) acidosis. beta-Glucuronidase activity was stimulated by metabolic (1.02 +/- 0.06 vs. 0.78 +/- 0.05 micrograms phenolphthalein released.bone-1.h-1 in control) but not altered by respiratory (0.73 +/- 0.06) acidosis. Net calcium efflux in control was increased by metabolic (783 +/- 57 vs. 20 +/- 57 nmol.bone-1.48 h-1 in control) and by respiratory (213 +/- 45) acidosis; however, calcium efflux with metabolic was greater than with respiratory acidosis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Drinking Patterns Among Older Couples: Longitudinal Associations With Negative Marital Quality

Objectives Research with younger couples indicates that alcohol use has powerful effects on marital quality, but less work has examined the effects of drinking among older couples. This study examined whether dyadic patterns of drinking status among older couples are associated with negative marital quality over time. Method Married participants (N = 4864) from the Health and Retirement Study reported on alcohol consumption (whether they drink alcohol and average amount consumed per week) and negative marital quality (e.g., criticism and demands) across two waves (Wave 1 2006/2008 and Wave 2 2010/2012). Results Concordant drinking couples reported decreased negative marital quality over time, and these links were significantly greater among wives. Wives who reported drinking alcohol reported decreased negative marital quality over time when husbands also reported drinking and increased negative marital quality over time when husbands reported not drinking. Discussion The present findings stress the importance of considering the drinking status rather than the amount of alcohol consumed of both members of the couple when attempting to understand drinking and marital quality among older couples. These findings are particularly salient given the increased drinking among baby boomers and the importance of marital quality for health among older couples.
Effectual approaches and entrepreneurship outcome: from a perspective of behavioral biases

This article explores the effects of effectuation approach to the outcome of entrepreneurship by taking a perspective of behavioral biases. It considers reasons why entrepreneurs have a natural tendency towards effectual approach, and then demonstrate under what conditions effectual processes might in some cases lead to less than desirable outcomes. The author proposes that entrepreneurs like other decision-makers can be susceptible to behavioral biases, so that effectuation approach can either enhance or lead to less than desirable outcomes of entrepreneurship.
Rule 4: Know Which Stocks to Buy and Sell

Once investors decide how to allocate funds across different asset categories they must decide which stocks to buy and sell, which involves three schools: the technical school that focuses on the trading charts to determine the trend of different stocks, the fundamental school that focuses on economic theories and financial metric to determine which stocks to buy and sell, and the efficiency hypothesis school that advocates that investors buy a mutual fund or an ETF that matches a market index rather than buying individual stocks. Each investment method has its merits and demerits depending on the “context,” the conditions and circumstances of financial markets at different places and times, as well as the objectives and constraints of market participants.
The Spreading of Innovation: State Adoptions of Energy and Climate Change Policy

The American states are engaged in a variety of policy efforts to mitigate climate change and alter energy usage. While a number of studies have considered the reasons for adoption of renewable energy and climate change policies, they typically consider only one policy in isolation. This study examines policy adoption of 14 energy and climate change programs in a pooled event history analysis. Our primary research questions consider average effects of horizontal policy diffusion, while also identifying factors that vary across policy type. We offer a method of testing whether predictors vary across policies and use this test to incorporate interactions by policy in the statistical analysis. Our results indicate that many of the primary drivers of adoption are political in nature, including state ideology, environmental interest group membership, and diffusion via ideologically similar neighbors. In addition, we find that given policy heterogeneity, a number of determinants vary by policy type, though differences are in magnitude rather than direction.
Image-Rich Radiology Reports: A Value-Based Model to Improve Clinical Workflow

Abstract Purpose To determine the value of image-rich radiology reports (IRRR) by evaluating the interest and preferences of referring physicians, potential impact on clinical workflow, and the willingness of radiologists to create them. Methods Referring physicians and radiologists were interviewed in this prospective, HIPAA-compliant study. Subject willingness to participate in the study was determined by an e-mail. A single investigator conducted all interviews using a standard questionnaire. All subjects reviewed a video mockup demonstration of IRRR and three methods for viewing embedded images, as follows: (1) clickable hyperlinks to access a scrollable stack of images, (2) scrollable and enlargeable small-image thumbnails, and (3) scrollable but not enlargeable medium-sized images. Questionnaire responses, free comments, and general impressions were captured and analyzed. Results Seventy-two physicians (36 clinicians, 36 radiologists) were interviewed. Thirty-one clinicians (86%) expressed interest in using IRRR. Seventy-seven percent of subjects believed IRRR would improve communication. Ten clinicians (28%) preferred method 1, 18 (50%) preferred method 2, and 8 (22%) preferred method 3 for embedding images. Thirty clinicians (83%) stated that IRRR would improve efficiency. Twenty-two radiologists (61%) preferred selecting a tool button with a mouse and right-clicking images to embed them, 13 (36%) preferred pressing a function key, and 11 (31%) preferred dictating series and image numbers. The average time radiologists were willing to expend for embedding images was 66.7 seconds. Conclusions Referring physicians and radiologist both believe IRRR would add value by improving communication with the potential to improve the workflow efficiency of referring physicians.
Vision-based responders localization techniques in urban search and rescue scenarios

In this paper, we introduce a vision-based localization algorithm that can accurately track responders during rescue operations in urban areas that are Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied. The proposed algorithm works successfully with the rich visual features of an urban environment and obtains an average localization accuracy of 2.5 ft. In addition, we also provide a 3D representation of the disaster field which reflects the current conditions of the site.
Pollen Grain Recognition Using Deep Learning

Pollen identification helps forensic scientists solve elusive crimes, provides data for climate-change modelers, and even hints at potential sites for petroleum exploration. Despite its wide range of applications, most pollen identification is still done by time-consuming visual inspection by well-trained experts. Although partial automation is currently available, automatic pollen identification remains an open problem. Current pollen-classification methods use pre-designed features of texture and contours, which may not be sufficiently distinctive. Instead of using pre-designed features, our pollen-recognition method learns both features and classifier from training data under the deep-learning framework. To further enhance our network’s classification ability, we use transfer learning to leverage knowledge from networks that have been pre-trained on large datasets of images. Our method achieved \(\approx \)94% classification rate on a dataset of 30 pollen types. These rates are among the highest obtained in this problem.
68. Development of Thioaptamers and X-aptamers Targeting Human Ovarian Cancer Cells

Aptamers are oligonucleotide or peptide molecules that bind to a specific target with high affinity and specificity. A diverse range of modifications have been reported for either enhancing aptamers’ nuclease resistance or expanding their chemical functionalities. We created a combinatorial DNA aptamer library that had been modified with thio substitution of the phosphate backbone (thioaptamer, TA) at selected 5’dA positions for cell and tissue based selections. Based on morphological assessment of the tissue, we used an image-directed laser microdissection (LMD) technique to dissect Regions of Interest (ROIs) bound with thioaptamers, and further identified the targeted proteins. Using a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) approach and alignments by our recently developed Aptaligner program, we are able to select tissue specific TAs in a more representative way from the TA libraries. We have successfully identified TAs that bind specifically to tumor endothelial cells and characterized the lead candidate TA, Endo28, as an Annexin A2-specific TA that allows for selective delivery to the tumor vasculature. Based on the primary sequences of several of the previously selected TAs and observed variations, we developed an X-aptamer (XA) library by conjugating drug-like ligands (X) to the DNA bases in a random fashion. We were able to select an XA with high affinity to CD44 hyaluronic acid binding domain (HABD) from a large combinatorial TA library modified with a drug (N-acetyl-2,3-dehydro-2- deoxyneuraminic acid, ADDA). The selected CD44 X-aptamers (amine form and ADDA form) show enhanced binding affinities with ADDA to CD44 over-expressed on human ovarian cancer IGROV cells. Using a systems biology approach that combines the use of 15 mm bead-based XA libraries with flow cytometry sorting and mass spectrometry, we collected beads binding to proteins labeled with different fluorescence dyes and identified their associated XA sequences by PCR and NGS. The differentially expressed proteins can be identified by an XA beads pulldown experiment to discover the potential biomarkers for ultimately TA or XA targeted nanoparticle delivery of drugs to tumors.
Bulk Growth of Crystals of III–V Compound Semiconductors

Semiconducting materials that are synthesized by mixing elements from the groups IIIa and Va of the periodic table are known as the III–V compound semiconductors. These compounds could be binary, ternary, quaternary, pentenary, or higher orders depending on the number of elemental species used for synthesizing the compounds. III–V compounds have found widespread applications in electronic, optoelectronic, and photovoltaic devices. In the majority of the applications, binary compounds are used as substrate material onto which ternary or quaternary compounds are epitaxially grown as thin layers for fabricating the device structures. The substrate materials are grown in the form of bulk single crystals from high-temperature melts. With binary substrates, only a handful of lattice parameters and band gaps are possible, thus limiting the device designs and architectures. Ternary substrates provide variable band gaps and lattice constants that are necessary for advancing the next generation of device research and development. However, the ternary substrate technology is still in its early stages with limited availability for niche applications. This chapter presents an overview of the technologies established for growing high-quality binary III–V crystals and the ongoing development of ternary crystal growth technologies. Infrastructure needed for overcoming the challenges during the crystal growth of large diameter and compositionally homogeneous bulk ternary III–V semiconductors will be discussed. This chapter focuses on the (AlGaIn)–(PAsSb)-based III–V compounds. The salient features of the compound preparation and the bulk growth methodologies have been summarized.
A prospective study of family conferences (FCs) in a palliative care unit (PCU) at a comprehensive cancer center.

9127 Background: TheFC provides the family information and emotional support in the transition to end-of-life care. There are a few, mainly qualitative, studies of FCs in a palliative care setting....
Effects of Delays, Poles, and Zeros on Time Domain Waterbed Tradeoffs and Oscillations

This letter aims for a simple and accessible explanation as to why oscillations naturally arise due to tradeoffs in feedback systems, and how these can be aggravated by delays and unstable poles and zeros. Such results have been standard for decades using frequency domain methods, which yield a rich variety of familiar “waterbed” tradeoffs. While almost trivial for control experts, frequency domain methods are less familiar to many scientists and engineers who could benefit from the insights such tradeoffs can provide. So here we present an entirely time domain model using discrete time dynamics and l 1 norm performance. A simple waterbed effect is that imposing zero steady state response to a step naturally create oscillations that double the response to periodic disturbances. We also show how this tradeoff is further aggravated not only by unstable poles and zeros, but also delays, in a way clearer than in the frequency domain versions.
Analysis of Herpes Simplex Virus Reactivation in Explant Reveals a Method-Dependent Difference in Measured Timing of Reactivation

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is widespread in the human population. Following orofacial infection, HSV establishes latency in innervating sensory neurons, primarily located in the trigeminal ganglia. A central feature of HSV pathogenesis is the ability to periodically reactivate in those neurons and be transported back to the body surface. Both transmission and disease, such as keratitis, encephalitis, and neurodegeneration, have been linked to reactivation. Despite invaluable insights obtained from model systems, interactions between viral and host functions that regulate reactivation are still incompletely understood. Various assays are used for measuring reactivation in animal models, but there have been limited comparisons between methods and the accuracy of detecting the timing of reactivation and the corresponding amount of infectious virus produced in the ganglia per reactivation event. Here, we directly compare two approaches for measuring reactivation in latently infected explanted ganglia by sampling media from the explanted cultures or by homogenization of the ganglia and compare the results to viral protein expression in the whole ganglia. We show that infectious virus detection by direct homogenization of explanted ganglia correlates with viral protein expression, but detection of infectious virus in medium samples from explanted cultures does not occur until extensive spread of virus is observed in the ganglia. The medium-sampling method is therefore not reflective of the initial timing of reactivation, and the additional variables influencing spread of virus in the ganglia should be considered when interpreting results obtained using this method.IMPORTANCE The development of treatments to prevent and/or treat HSV infection rely upon understanding viral and host factors that influence reactivation. Progress is dependent on experimental methods that accurately measure the frequency and timing of reactivation in latently infected neurons. In this study, two methods for detecting reactivation using the explant model are compared. We show through direct tissue homogenization that reactivation occurs much earlier than can be detected by the indirect method of sampling media from explanted cultures. Thus, the sampling method does not detect the initial timing of reactivation, and results obtained using this method are subject to additional variables with the potential to obscure reactivation outcomes.