cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Controlling thickness in hexagonal polymer templated mesoporous silica films

Many templated mesoporous silica films are synthesized through a solution phase co-assembly process involving association of surfactants or block-copolymers with silica precursors that is driven by the evaporation of solvent. During the film formation, a liquid crystal type structure with well-defined nanometer scale periodicity is formed and then made rigid by condensation of the silica precursors. For a variety of applications there is an interest in controlling the film thickness. The objective of this investigation is to find systematic rules that determine film thickness in hexagonal SBA-15 type silica/polymer composite materials. We find that despite the complex self-organization in these materials, all thickness data can be fit with classic models for evaporation induced deposition in dip-coated films. The models relate film thickness, pull rate, solution viscosity, and solution density. The thickness data can be modeled with no adjustable parameters over more than an order of magnitude thickness range.
Tibial plafond fractures treated by articulated external fixation: a randomized trial of postoperative motion versus nonmotion.

Objectives: Assess whether postoperative ankle motion after fixation of a fracture of the tibial plafond, treated with articulated external fixation, leads to a better outcome when compared with similar treatment without postoperative ankle motion. Design: Multicenter randomized trial. Setting: Three Level I trauma centers. Patients/Participants: Fifty-five patients were enrolled and entered into a Web-based database and randomized into 1 of 2 groups. Forty-one patients were evaluated at a 1-year follow-up visit, and 31 were seen at 2 years or longer after injury. Intervention: Patients were treated with a hinged external fixator and limited internal fixation of the articular surface. They were divided postoperatively into two groups, 1 of which had a locked hinge and the other had a mobile hinge and a motion protocol. Main Outcome Measurements: A general health status questionnaire, the SF-36 (short-form 36); a joint-specific ankle questionnaire, the Ankle Osteoarthritis Score (AOS); and range of motion (ROM) of the ankle joint. Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups at either follow-up interval in the ankle ROM measurement, the AOS pain and disability scale, or the SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scales. Conclusions: These results indicate that treatment protocols that use long periods of cross-joint external fixation that immobilizes the ankle as definitive treatment result in similar patient outcomes compared to otherwise identical treatment protocols that incorporate and use an articulated hinge for ankle motion. However, the results should be interpreted with caution because the patient numbers were too small to detect potentially meaningful differences in outcomes and the follow-up was too short to assess for differences in the development of arthrosis.
Effectiveness and biological effects of techniques used to induce hypoxia in solid tumors

Summary Acute hypoxia is often induced in rodent tumors during studies of the oxygenation or the therapeutic responses of the tumors, either by clamping the blood supply to the tumors or by asphyxiating the hosts with nitrogen. Analyses of data from such experiments generally assume that these processes have no effects other than the induction of hypoxia and that uniform, severe hypoxia is produced throughout the tumors. The studies described in this report test several aspects of these assumptions using BA1112 rat rhabdomyosarcomas and EMT6 mouse mammary tumors. Both clamping and asphyxiation appear to be effective in producing hypoxia in the tumors. Induction of artificial hypoxia for the times necessary for irradiation was not toxic to the tumor cells and generally did not alter the growth of unirradiated tumors. However, the techniques are not without significant effects. Prolonged clamping produced extensive cytotoxicity. Clamping BA1112 tumors for 30 min and removing the clamp just before irradiation altered the tumor cell survival curve and the TCD 50 . Furthermore, anesthesia and/or restraint (necessary during clamping) have significant effects on tumors and hosts. The data show that the assumptions underlying the use of clamping and N 2 -asphyxiation to produce hypoxia for short periods in vivo are generally reasonable for BA1112 and EMT6 tumors, but illustrate the necessity for carefully examining the effects and efficacies of the procedures in each tumor/host system.
Mechanisms of Wear Tolerance in Seashore Paspalum and Bermudagrass

Traffic causes shoot injury to turfgrass, with resulting inhibition of growth and reduction of quality. Turfgrasses in high traffic venues are generally selected for tolerance to traffic or for an ability to quickly outgrow the injury. However, limited knowledge exists on the mechanisms that impart wear tolerance to turfgrass, particularly for warm-season grasses. This field research was undertaken to assess overall wear tolerance within and between seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Swartz.) ecotypes and bermudagrass hybrids (Cynodon dactylon L. × C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy) and to determine the mechanisms that contribute to wear tolerance for both species. The research was conducted in two consecutive field trials during 1997 on seven seashore paspalum ecotypes and three hybrid bermudagrass cultivars established on a native Appling (line, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludult) soil at the University of Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin, GA. Regression analysis determined that the most important potential mechanism related to enhanced wear tolerance of seashore paspalum was reduced leaf total cell wall (TCW) content, which accounted for 51% of the variation. Other factors that enhanced wear tolerance in this species were low leaf strength, low stem TCW, greater leaf moisture, greater shoot density, and higher K shoot tissue concentration. In bermudagrass. high stem moisture (40.9% of variation) and reduced stem cellulose content (31.5% of variation) were associated with better wear tolerance. Other factors that enhanced wear tolerance were greater stem and leaf moisture, shoot density, leaf lignin, stem and leaf lignocellulose, and concentration of K, Mn, and Mg. Knowledge of these characteristics will assist in developing screening protocols for selection of future wear tolerance cultivars within these species.
Behavioral Responses to Odorants in Drosophila Require Nervous System Expression of the β Integrin Gene Myospheroid

Integrins are cell adhesion molecules that mediate numerous developmental processes in addition to a variety of acute physiological events. Two reports implicate a Drosophila b integrin, bPS, in olfactory behavior. To further investigate the role of integrins in Drosophila olfaction, we used Gal4-driven expression of RNA interference (RNAi) transgenes to knock down expression of myospheroid (mys), the gene that encodes bPS. Expression of mys-RNAi transgenes in the wing reduced bPS immunostaining and produced morphological defects associated with loss-of-function mutations in mys, demonstrating that this strategy knocked down mys function. Expression of mys-RNAi transgenes in the antennae, antennal lobes, and mushroom bodies via two Gal4 lines, H24 and MT14, disrupted olfactory behavior but did not alter locomotor abilities or central nervous system structure. Olfactory behavior was normal in flies that expressed mys-RNAi transgenes via other Gal4 lines that specifically targeted the antennae, the projection neurons, the mushroom bodies, bitter and sweet gustatory neurons, or Pox neuro neurons. Our studies confirm that mys is important for the development or function of the Drosophila olfactory system. Additionally, our studies demonstrate that mys is required for normal behavioral responses to both aversive and attractive odorants. Our results are consistent with a model in which bPS mediates events within the antennal lobes that influence odorant sensitivity.
Effects on lipoprotein particles of long-term dehydroepiandrosterone in elderly men and women and testosterone in elderly men.

Context: Although age-related declines in dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and testosterone are associated with cardiovascular risk, it remains to be determined whether replacement of these hormones improves cardiovascular risk factors. Objective: This study sought to determine the effect of long-term replacement of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in elderly men and women and testosterone in elderly men on lipid and lipoprotein concentrations and particle sizes. Methods: A 2-yr randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study was conducted in 87 elderly men with low levels of DHEAS and bioavailable testosterone and 57 elderly women with low levels of DHEAS. Among elderly men, 29 received DHEA (75 mg/d), 27 received testosterone (5 mg/d), and 31 received placebo. Among the elderly women, 27 received DHEA (50 mg/d), and 30 received placebo. Baseline lipoprotein profiles in the elderly were compared to healthy younger participants. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particle sizes and concentrations were quantified using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Results: The elderly had higher concentrations of total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, total LDL particles, and small, dense LDL particles than the young. In men, neither DHEA nor testosterone affected LDL or HDL particle concentrations. In women, DHEA reduced HDL cholesterol [median difference (95% confidence intervals), −5.0 (−8.0, −2.0) mg/dl; P = 0.002] and the number of large HDL particles [−1.0 (−1.8, −0.2) μmol/liter; P = 0.003]. Conclusions: Long-term DHEA and testosterone had no significant effect on plasma lipoproteins in elderly men, but elderly women showed a lowering of the large HDL particles that may have potential adverse clinical implications.
An Intergenerational Summer Program Involving Persons with Dementia and Preschool Children

We implemented an intergenerational (IG) summer program at a colocated site for 2 consecutive summers to maximize continuity and enhance sustainability. We incorporated multiple methods to represent the views of key program stakeholders, including staff and administrators, parents who attended the program, and facilitators’ reports of the experiences of child and adult participants. We generated a list of themes and subthemes from each source and triangulated the data points. Despite the resources invested and the challenges faced, the program was well received and viewed as beneficial. These findings offer insight into the likelihood of sustainability for IG summer programming.
Cyclic Behavior of Shear Links of Various Grades of Plate Steel

Plate steel shear links offer enhanced design freedom, including the ability to use steel grades that are not available in rolled shapes. This paper discusses the cyclic response of five types of shear links designed using steel grades that ranged from 485 to 100 MPa yield strength. The design and subsequent performance was categorized into two groups; conventional design and those designed without stiffeners using low yield point steels. Ductile failure modes and desirable hysteretic behavior that resulted in efficient cyclic energy dissipation were observed for all specimens. The links designed without stiffeners using low yield point steel reached shear deformations exceeding 0.20 rad, outperforming the conventional designs that exhibited approximately 0.12 rad capacity. The enhanced performance was the result of shifting the failure mode by excluding intermediate stiffeners and providing low web compactness. This combination eliminated welding and decreased measured plastic strain demands on the face of the inelastically deforming webs.
Effects of Selective Adaptation on the Perception of Speech and Visual Patterns: Evidence for Feature Detectors

A trend in modern psychology is to assume that during perception complex stimulus events are first analyzed by neuronal structures or feature detectors into their component properties or features. The final percept is assumed to be a result of the recoding of these features according to the rules of operation of some higher, integrative level of processing. This type of perceptual model has had wide application in modern psychology, having been proffered in a variety of forms to explain such phenomena as the perception of visual patterns, including geometric shapes, letters, and words (e. g., Neisser, 1966), and the perception of the segmental units of speech (e. g., Abbs and Sussman, 1971).
Recent Developments in Environmental Stress-Crack Resistance of Plastics

Abstract Plastics may be subjected to mild stress and strain without failure or they may be subjected to weak solvents or aqueous surfactants without failure, but when they are subjected to combination of these two types of variables they often suffer catastrophic brittle fracture. Such failure has been named environmental stress-cracking (ESC). Environmental stress-crack resistance (ESCR) is generally directly related to molecular weight, narrow molecular weight distribution, and low crystallinity. Frozen-in stresses from processing aggravate ESC and are relieved by annealing, but further annealing also promotes crystallization which aggravates ESC. Polyaxial stress is often mentioned as an essential factor in ESC, and strain-induced orientation may be important in the mechanism of cracking.
Renal allograft pyelonephritis and fungemia due to Candida krusei

A 61-year-old female was admitted for fever and acute renal failure 6 weeks after receiving a kidney transplant. Her past medical history was notable for CKD stage 5 due to chronic idiopathic tubulointerstitial nephritis. This was diagnosed in 1998 when she presented with an elevated creatinine, sterile pyuria and proteinuria, and underwent native kidney biopsy confirming the diagnosis. She was initially treated with corticosteroids and remained on 5 mg daily of prednisone up until the date of her pre-emptive living related kidney transplant. She had a low-risk immunologic profile with a negative T and B cell crossmatch prior to transplant. Per our center protocol, she received basiliximab for induction, and was maintained on tacrolimus, mycophenolate and prednisone for immunosuppression, with trough FK506 levels ranging between 8 and 12 ng/mL. She was discharged on a standard antimicrobial prophylaxis regimen of trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole and valacyclovir and had a nadir serum creatinine of 1.2 mg/dL following her transplant. Her post-operative course was uneventful until her presentation to the hospital, when she complained of fevers, nausea and vomiting. Her physical examination and
Self-healing multitier architectures using cascading rescue points

Software bugs and vulnerabilities cause serious problems to both home users and the Internet infrastructure, limiting the availability of Internet services, causing loss of data, and reducing system integrity. Software self-healing using rescue points (RPs) is a known mechanism for recovering from unforeseen errors. However, applying it on multitier architectures can be problematic because certain actions, like transmitting data over the network, cannot be undone. We propose cascading rescue points (CRPs) to address the state inconsistency issues that can arise when using traditional RPs to recover from errors in interconnected applications. With CRPs, when an application executing within a RP transmits data, the remote peer is notified to also perform a checkpoint, so the communicating entities checkpoint in a coordinated, but loosely coupled way. Notifications are also sent when RPs successfully complete execution, and when recovery is initiated, so that the appropriate action is performed by remote parties. We developed a tool that implements CRPs by dynamically instrumenting binaries and transparently injecting notifications in the already established TCP channels between applications. We tested our tool with various applications, including the MySQL and Apache servers, and show that it allows them to successfully recover from errors, while incurring moderate overhead between 4.54% and 71.56%.
Usefulness of Exercise Stress Testing for Prediction of Blood Pressure Trends

The purpose of this study was to determine whether values of blood pressure during exercise help predict which adolescents are prone to maintain high blood pressure. Dynamic and isometric exercise stress tests were performed on 131 adolescents who had had systolic or diastolic pressures greater than the 95th percentile on three examinations the previous year. Follow-up blood pressures were measured 1 year after the stress testing, and outcomes were classified on the basis of the blood pressure status that year. Stepwise regression analysis was used to examine the association between earlier blood pressures and exercise pressures with outcome pressures. In both male and female adolescents, the average resting systolic pressure on the earlier survey was the best predictor of systolic pressure 2 years later. Blood pressures and heart rates during dynamic and isometric exercise did not significantly contribute to the models9 prediction of future systolic or diastolic pressures. The data suggest that exercise stress testing is not a valid method for predicting youths whose blood pressures will remain elevated over the next 1 to 2 years.
Probabilistic design analysis: methods and applications

Research was initiated using a probabilistic design analysis (PDA) tool called NESSUS. Another method was examined for determining a response surface for probabilistic analysis independent of NESSUS. These methods were applied to a structural payload adapter to demonstrate application and representative benefits and costs of PDA. The primary differences between the methods were observed in accuracy and efficiency. A basic approach consists in applying simplistic preliminary PDA methods, which can then be refined with more complex methods. The project was estimated to cost about 25% in addition to the traditional stress analysis, with a large benefit potential if, for example, PDA results are used to expand the component's capability range. These products of the pilot project will provide a better basis for deciding when to use PDA and how to do so with less trial and error. >
Dynamic inference of likely data preconditions over predicates by tree learning

We present a technique to infer likely data preconditions forprocedures written in an imperative programming language. Given a procedure and a set of predicates over its inputs, our technique enumerates different truth assignments to the predicates, deriving test cases from each feasible truth assignment. The predicates themselves are derived automatically using simple heuristics. The enumeration of truth assignments is performed using a propositional SAT solver along with a theory satisfiability checker capable of generating unsatisfiable cores.For each assignment of truth values, a corresponding set of test cases are generated and executed. Based on the result of the execution, the truth assignment is classified as being safe or buggy. Finally, a decision tree classifier is used to generate a Boolean formula over the input predicates that explains the data obtained from the test cases. The resulting Boolean formula is, in effect, a likely data precondition for the procedure under consideration.We apply our techniques on a wide variety of functions from the standard C library. Our experiments show that the proposed technique is quite robust. For most cases, it successfully learns a precondition that captures a safe and permissive calling environment.
Erythromycin-Resistant Group A Streptococcal Isolates Collected between 2000 and 2005 in Oahu, Hawaii, and Their emm Types

We examined erythromycin and clindamycin susceptibilities with Etest methodology among 546 group A streptococcal isolates collected in Hawaii between February 2000 and November 2004. Erythromycin resistance was low (3.1%). No isolate was clindamycin resistant. The prevalence of erythromycin resistance in group A streptococci remains low in Hawaii.
Distributed deductive databases, declaratively: the L10 logic programming language

We present the design of L10, a rich forward-chaining (a.k.a. "bottom-up") logic programming language. L10 allows parallel computation to be explicitly specified through the use of worlds, a logically-motivated concept that has been used to describe distributed functional programming. An interpreter for L10 runs these logic programs on top of the infrastructure of the X10 programming language, and is responsible for mapping between L10's worlds and places, the related X10 construct for describing distributed computation.
Back to Basics: International Collection Development on a Shoestring

Purpose – This article aims to explore collection development for small libraries facing an extremely restricted budget, with an additional focus on international school libraries.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the author's experience as a professional consultant for Oasis International School, Ankara, Turkey, this case study provides collection development advice, tips for librarians interested in volunteering or international travel, and a literature review.Findings – An extremely restricted budget and the complexities of an international environment need not prevent libraries from taking steps towards improving their collection. Strategies include: seeking targeted donations from publishers, granting organizations, individuals, and others; intelligently exploiting non‐targeted donations; utilizing volunteers; carefully balancing preservation and access; and implementing a basic inventory/circulation system.Research limitations/implications – Similar case studies undertaken at other libraries ...
Mercury adsorption and oxidation in coal combustion and gasification processes

Abstract Preventing the release of mercury from coal-fired power plants continues to be a challenge. The design of effective and affordable control strategies depends upon the speciation of mercury from the high temperature region of the boiler to the lower temperature environment of the stack. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous oxidation pathways play a role in determining mercury's speciation over the temperature range of coal-fired flue gas. This review explores the current state of knowledge associated with the kinetically-limited homogeneous reaction pathways in addition to the complexities associated with heterogeneous oxidation processes. In particular, oxidation pathways associated with selective catalytic reduction and precious metal catalysts are considered. In addition, adsorption mechanisms on various materials are discussed, including fly ash and activated carbon for flue gas applications and precious metals for fuel gas applications.
The Coevolution of Transport and Land Use: An Introduction to the Special Issue and an Outline of a Research Agenda

Volume 4, Issue 2 of the Journal of Transport and Land Use focuses on coevolution: how transport drives changes in land use, and vice versa. The issue contains four research articles, examining different geographies, eras, and technologies. These papers present new findings, but as good science should, raise new questions, and help us set a research agenda to better understand the coevolution of transport and land use.
Surface and perimeter recombination in GaAs diodes: an experimental and theoretical investigation

Surface and perimeter recombination in GaAs heteroface diodes was studied experimentally and by two-dimensional numerical simulation including Fermi-level pinning. Perimeter and bulk current components were experimentally extracted, and the numerical model was used to study the origin of perimeter current in these devices. Under moderate bias, perimeter recombination occurs primarily within the junction depletion region, but as the bias is increased the perimeter outside of the junction depletion region becomes increasingly important. A bias dependence of the perimeter current ideality factor was observed both experimentally and theoretically and attributed to the perimeter recombination of injected carriers diffusing to the perimeter from the bulk regions. Fermi-level pinning was shown to increase the effective surface-recombination velocity, but conduction along the surface channel plays little role in these devices. The results demonstrate that a simple numerical treatment of Fermi-level pinning and surface recombination can accurately account for surface and perimeter recombination in GaAs homojunction diodes. >
Polarization studies of strained GaAs photocathodes at the SLAC Gun Test Laboratory

The SLAC Gun Test Laboratory apparatus, the first two meters of which is a replica of the SLAC injector, is used to study the production of intense, highly-polarized electron beams required for the Stanford Linear Collider and future linear colliders. The facility has been upgraded with a Mott polarimeter in order to characterize the electron polarization from photocathodes operating in a DC gun. In particular, SLAC utilizes p-type, biaxially-strained GaAs photocathodes which have produced longitudinal electron polarizations greater than 80% while yielding pulses of 5 A/cm/sup 2/ at an operating voltage of 120 kV. Among the experiments performed include studying the influences of the active layer thickness, temperature, quantum efficiency and cesiation on the polarization. The results might help to develop strained photocathodes with higher polarization.
Inductive properties of high-performance power distribution grids

The design of high integrity, area efficient power distribution grids has become of practical importance as the portion of on-chip interconnect resources dedicated to power distribution networks in high performance integrated circuits has greatly increased. The inductive characteristics of several types of gridded power distribution networks are described in this paper. The inductance extraction program FastHenry is used to evaluate the inductive properties of grid structured interconnect. In power distribution grids with alternating power and ground lines, the inductance is shown to vary linearly with grid length and inversely linearly with the number of lines in the grid. The inductance is also relatively constant with frequency in these grid structures. These properties permit the efficient estimation of the inductive characteristics of power distribution grids. To optimize the process of allocating on-chip metal resources, inductance/area/resistance tradeoffs in high speed performance distribution grids are explored. Two tradeoff scenarios in power grids with alternating power and ground lines are considered.
Changes in the Legitimacy of the European Court of Justice: A Post-Maastricht Analysis

Little is known about how ordinary Europeans feel about the central policy-making institutions of the European Union (EU). This has encouraged us to analyse mass attitudes towards the legitimacy of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Relying on a cross-time (1992–93) panel analysis, as well as a cross-institutional analysis (the ECJ, the European Parliament and the high courts of the member states), we discover that (a) the ECJ does not possess a surplus of legitimacy, and it is doubtful whether the legitimacy shortfall is only a short-term function of the row over Maastricht; (b) attitudes toward the ECJ, although in the aggregate fairly stable, changed significantly over the one-year panel survey; (c) the European Parliament has little legitimacy it can share with the ECJ; and (d) although the national high courts do have greater legitimacy, there is little evidence that they are capable of transferring that legitimacy to the ECJ. We conclude with some speculation about whether the ECJ will be able to build greater legitimacy, and the consequences for the EU if the court fails to do so.
RNA structures that resist degradation by Xrn1 produce a pathogenic Dengue virus RNA

More than 40% of people around the globe are at risk of being bitten by mosquitoes infected with the virus that causes Dengue fever. Every year, more than 100 million of these individuals are infected. Many develop severe headaches, pain, and fever, but some develop a life-threatening condition where tiny blood vessels in the body begin to leak. If not treated quickly, this more severe manifestation of the illness can lead to death. There are currently no specific therapies or vaccines against Dengue or many other closely related viruses such as West Nile and Japanese Encephalitis. These viruses use instructions encoded in a single strand of RNA to take over an infected cell and to reproduce. The viruses also exploit an enzyme that cells use to destroy RNA to instead produce short stretches of RNA called sfRNAs that, among other things, may help the virus to avoid the immune system of its host. Understanding exactly how Dengue and other viruses thwart this enzyme—which is called Xrn1—may help scientists develop treatments or vaccines for these diseases. Chapman et al. have now shown that Dengue virus RNA contains a number of RNA elements that prevent it being completely degraded by the Xrn1 enzyme. In particular, a junction formed by three RNA helixes is critical for stopping the enzyme in its tracks, leaving the disease-associated sfRNA behind. A single mutation in the Dengue RNA disrupts the structure of the three-helix junction and allows the enzyme to completely destroy the RNA. A similar mutation was also made in the West Nile virus RNA and when human cells were infected with the mutated West Nile virus, the short sfRNAs were not produced. Treatments or vaccines targeting this structure may therefore help reduce illness associated with Dengue and related viruses.
Effects of calcium on vascular smooth muscle contraction

Calcium initiates smooth muscle contraction by binding to calmodulin and activating the enzyme myosin light chain kinase. The activated form of myosin light chain kinase phosphorylates myosin on the 20,000-dalton light chain and contractile activity ensues. Calcium may also enhance smooth muscle contractile activity by binding directly to myosin, the main component of the thick filament. Recent studies raise the possibility that the calcium-calmodulin complex may also modulate smooth muscle contractile activity by removing the inhibition imposed by caldesmon, a protein that is bound to the thin (i.e., actin-containing) filaments of smooth muscle. In vitro studies have demonstrated that the calcium-activated, phospholipid-dependent kinase, protein kinase C, can phosphorylate smooth muscle myosin at a different site than does myosin light chain kinase and down-regulate its actin-activated magnesium adenosine triphosphatase activity. This raises the possibility that protein kinase C phosphorylation of myosin may play a role in modulating vascular contractile activity in vivo.
Evolution of Surface Deposits on a High-Pressure Turbine Blade-Part II. Convective Heat Transfer

A TBC-coated turbine blade coupon was exposed to successive deposition in an accelerated deposition facility simulating flow conditions at the inlet to a first stage high pressure turbine (T = 1150°C, M = 0.31). The combustor exit flow was seeded with dust particulate that would typically be ingested by a large utility power plant. The turbine coupon was subjected to four successive 2 hour deposition tests. The particulate loading was scaled to simulate 0.02 ppmw (parts per million weight) of particulate over three months of continuous gas turbine operation for each 2 hour laboratory simulation (for a cumulative one year of operation). Three-dimensional maps of the deposit-roughened surfaces were created between each test, representing a total of four measurements evenly spaced through the lifecycle of a turbine blade surface. From these measurements, scaled models were produced for testing in a low-speed wind tunnel with a turbulent, zero pressure gradient boundary layer at Re = 750,000. The average surface heat transfer coefficient was measured using a transient surface temperature measurement technique. Stanton number increases initially with deposition but then levels off as the surface becomes less peaked. Subsequent deposition exposure then produces a second increase in St. Surface maps of St highlight the local influence of deposit peaks with regard to heat transfer.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
Monte Carlo solution of scattering equations for computer graphics

We present a mathematical framework for solving rendering problems in computer graphics that is based on scattering as its basic theoretical foundation, rather than the usual approach of simulating light transport and equilibrium. This framework can lead to more efficient solution methods than those based on previous methods as well as a number of new theoretical tools for solving rendering problems. We demonstrate the applicability of this approach to accurately and efficiently rendering subsurface scattering from geometric objects. We first introduce a non-linear integral scattering equation that describes scattering from complex objects directly in terms of the composition of their lower-level scattering properties. This equation was first derived to solve scattering problems in astrophysics and has gone on to revolutionize approaches to transport problems in a number of fields. We derive this equation in a sufficiently general setting to be able to apply it to a variety of problems in graphics, which typically has problems with higher-dimensionality, more complexity, and less regularity than those in other fields. Methods to solve this equation have a divide-and-conquer flavor to them, in contrast to previous iterative methods based on the equation of transfer (i.e. the rendering equation). We apply Monte Carlo techniques to solve this scattering equation efficiently; to our knowledge, this is the first application of Monte Carlo to solving it in any field. We next introduce Preisendorfer's Interaction Principle, which subsumes both scattering and light transport based approaches to transfer problems. It leads to a derivation of a set of adding equations that describe scattering from multiple objects in terms of how they scatter light individually. We show how Monte Carlo techniques can be applied to solve these adding equations and apply them to the problem of rendering subsurface scattering.
Predictive Eviction: A Novel Policy for Optimizing TLS Session Cache Performance

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the most commonly used security protocol to encrypt web traffic. TLS connections are computationally expensive to set up, so the TLS protocol supports session resumption, where previously negotiated connection parameters can be used to short- circuit the TLS handshake. The server assigns new sessions a session identifier (ID) and caches each session by its ID so it can be retrieved later. As clients come and go, sessions in the server's cache will have to be evicted according to the server's eviction policy. We find that first-in-first-out (FIFO) and least-recently- used (LRU) are the most common session cache eviction policies among popular TLS libraries, however, for applications whose clients connect at regular intervals, such as mobile advertising, the performance of these policies may be far worse than randomly evicting policies from the cache. To handle this, we propose a novel eviction policy for TLS session caches, predictive eviction, that relies on the server knowing the next time each client will connect again. Using a real-world application of such a policy, Android in-application advertising, we build a client that is able to simulate the behavior of a large number of devices requesting mobile advertisements over TLS. We use this simulated client to benchmark the hit rate of the predictive policy compared with eviction policies found in popular TLS library implementations. In addition, we demonstrate that our policy can be implemented efficiently by benchmarking its performance in transactions per second compared with OpenSSL's session cache implementation, and compared with TLS session tickets (an alternative to session caching for resuming TLS sessions). We find that our policy has better hit rate performance than other eviction policies, and can achieve comparable performance to session tickets. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of the performance of TLS session resumption strategies.
Heat Production and Limitation of Densities in Sitotroga Populations

When grain is placed in heaps or stored in bins it is subject to heating, either as a result of high moisture content or an insect infestation. According to Bailey (4) hygroscopic moisture in grain in excess of 13 per cent is accompanied by a marked increase in grain respiration and its resultant heat. This heat of respiration occurs only when the relative humidity of the surrounding air exceeds 70 per cent.
A Large-Scale Synthesis of α-Olefins and α,ω-Dienes

The decarbonylation of carboxylic acids or dicarboxylic acids in the presence of a palladium catalyst above 190 °C in the absence of a solvent constitutes a mild method for the large-scale synthesis of α-olefins and α,ω-dienes.
Cementless femoral fixation: not all stems are created equally

Cementless femoral stems are currently preferred for total hip replacement (THR) in the United States. Improvements in stem design, instrumentation and surgical technique have made this technology highly successful, reproducible, and applicable to the vast majority of patients requiring a THR. However, there are ongoing developments in some aspects of stem design that influence clinical results, the incidence of complications and their inherent adaptability in accommodating the needs of individual patients. Here we examine some of these design features.
Breaking bad habits: Targeting MDSCs to alleviate immunosuppression in prostate cancer

The myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) contribute to tumor immune evasion and still remain an elusive therapeutic target. Our study identified granulocytic MDSCs accumulating in prostate cancer patients during disease progression. We demonstrate the feasibility of using STAT3siRNA-based strategy for targeting MDSCs to alleviate arginase-dependent suppression of T cell activity.
Nursing career fulfillment: Statistics and statements from registered nurses

A state-level survey of registered nurses confirmed national findings and raised new issues. Findings revealed that while nurses love the intrinsic reward of nursing, they report workplace, relationship, and stress issues which contribute to frustration and exhaustion. These issues may prevent registered nurses from giving the nursing care they desire to deliver, hastening preventable retirement and costly turnover decisions.
Measurement of brain tissue density using pycnometry.

A novel method to measure specific gravity (SG) of tissues, pycnometry (PYC), is described. This method utilizes a 2 ml glass pycnometer filled with distilled H2O to determine the displacement volume of a tissue sample and an equation to compute SG from the sample’s weight and the pycnometer’s weight before and after adding the sample. The PYC method was validated using glass SG standards over the range 1.02–1.26, and against the column density gradient (DG) method using brain tissue from 250–300 g male rats. Factors which affect PYC accuracy, i.e. sample size, were also evaluated. Our results indicate that PYC SG values are highly correlated with the glass SG standards (slope = 1.0107, r = 0.9955, p < 0.001), and highly correlated with DG when ~0.120 ml tissue samples are used in the pycnometer. The DG method was preferable to the PYC method, however, when small tissue samples, i.e. 0.60 ml or less, were used.
Broadly Tunable AlInAsSb Digital Alloys Grown on GaSb

AlxIn1–xAsySb1–y digital alloys lattice-matched to GaSb were grown within the miscibility gap by molecular beam epitaxy, with aluminum fractions ranging from 0% to 80%. Photoluminescence spectra from AlxIn1–xAsySb1–y films and from AlxIn1–xAsySb1–y/GaSb type-II superlattices were used to determine the direct bandgap and the band offsets as a function of the aluminum fraction. Varying the aluminum content tuned the direct bandgap from 0.25 eV (0% aluminum) to 1.24 eV (75% aluminum), corresponding to photon wavelengths from 5000 to 1000 nm, with the transition from direct-gap to indirect-gap occurring at ∼1.18 eV (∼72% aluminum), or 1050 nm. This direct-gap tuning range of 0.93 eV is the largest reported for a III–V alloy lattice-matched to a commercially available substrate. The broadly tunable bandgap and type-I band alignments of this lattice-matched quaternary make it attractive for advanced mid-infrared and near-infrared detectors and sources.
Tensions between the Old and the New in EAP Textbook Revision: A Tale of Two Projects

At first sight, revising an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing textbook seems a simple matter. All that appears to be needed is to update example texts, incorporate recent research findings, and fine-tune the tasks and explanations in the light of practitioner experience. However, it soon becomes clear that little is simple, given multiple stakeholders in the revision process. Instructors who regularly use the textbook have their favorite tasks and topics (with different instructors having different preferences), and so they want these to be retained. Then there are instructors who have become tired, as the years pass, of ‘the same old stuff’. Publishers, who are, of course, profit-oriented, want a product that is a marketable new edition of a successful previous edition, rather than a completely new or new-looking book. Finally, the author has expectations since, as most materials writers know, the impetus of revising often turns into an impetus for rethinking, often quite dramatically. In this chapter we discuss these tensions between the old and the new via two case histories: the radical transformation of English in Today’s Research World (Swales and Feak, 2000) into a series of small, narrowly focused volumes; and the more conservative preparation of a third edition of Academic Writing for Graduate Students (Swales and Peak, 2012). We explore, in particular, the issues related to addressing the concerns of stakeholders, who may have competing interests. The two projects reveal that at times in the publisher-author-end-user relationships critical asymmetries can arise, which may redirect an author’s desired plans. At other times, when the publisher, the author, and the end-user embrace a similar vision for a textbook revision, the relationship may be more flexible, resulting in greater author autonomy in designating the content and matters of style.
Capsule Commentary of Shah et al., Targeted Reminder Phone Calls to Patients at High Risk to No-Show for Primary Care Appointment: A Randomized Trial

T his randomized controlled trial of a telephone intervention in a hospital-based primary care clinic found that a reminder phone call reduced the no-show rate. This is timely and important because empirical evidence suggests that expanded health insurance coverage would potentially increase appointment wait time because of constraints on medical capacity, raising concern regarding efficient appointment coordination in health care services. For example, the average appointment wait time to see an internist increased from 33 days to 52 days when health care reform was initially implemented in Massachusetts. Medical practitioners and policymakers have recognized that delayed appointments could result in discontinuities of care and declines in health status and have performed various interventions such as same-day appointment. However, many interventions have emphasized the role of medical providers and have paid relatively less attention to the obstacles from patients although patient no-shows and last-minute cancellations also significantly interrupt medical providers’ productivity and other patients’ access to health care. This study implies that efficient appointment coordination would be critical to improve timely access to health care and that interventions would be more cost-effective if we identify patients at high risk to no-show and tailor interventions to them. The soundness of a randomized controlled trial warrants careful discussion, as approximately a quarter of patients in the intervention group did not receive at least one reminder call and the differences in the baseline characteristics between the treatment and control groups were not examined statistically. Descriptions of the statistical analysis and estimation results also need further explanations. For example, the authors did not mention the core options (e.g., link function) of a generalized estimating equations model (GEE), even though a GEE yields a wide array of estimation models depending on these options. As a result, it is hard to understand exactly which estimation model was employed and how absolute risk reductions were defined and obtained after estimation. Further studies investigating variations in appointment wait time and no-show (e.g., by physician specialty, patient employment status, and rurality) would provide valuable insights to facilitate efficient health care delivery in the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act era.
The Impact of Stimulus Presentation and Size on Preference

The impact of stimulus size and presentation on choice during a preference assessment was investigated using a modified multiple-stimulus without replacement (MSWO) technique. Stimuli were either presented with a uniform magnitude, as determined by mass, or in a manner consistent with caregiver report of reinforcer consumption. While both assessment procedures identified the same top three preferred items in three out of five cases, greater variability in the preference rank of less preferred items was observed between assessments.
Risk-Taking Behavior and Suicidality: The Unique Role of Adolescent Drug Use.

Research has supported an association between suicidal thoughts/behaviors and risk taking, which may be particularly strong during adolescence when risk taking is known to increase. However, extant research has focused on individual risk-taking behaviors (e.g., alcohol use), limiting our ability to evaluate the unique association between different risk-taking behaviors and suicidal thoughts/behaviors. The current study aimed to fill this gap by examining the simultaneous influence of multiple risk-taking behaviors (i.e., risky sexual behavior, tobacco/alcohol use, illicit drug use, delinquent behavior, violent behavior) on adolescent suicidal thoughts/behaviors. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was utilized. The sample consisted of 4,834 adolescents who completed home interviews at two time points. At the first time point, participants’ mean age was 15.15, with 48% (n = 2,315) identifying as male. Participants provided information about suicidal thoughts/behaviors and multipl...