cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A MHz zero voltage switching (ZVS) tapped-inductor buck converter for wide-input high step-down low-power applications

In this paper, a tapped-inductor (TI) buck converter using planar coupled inductor is presented for low power applications. The duty cycle of TI buck is much wider compared with traditional buck converter under same voltage conversion ratio conditions. Therefore, it is suitable for high step-down applications. With synchronous conduction mode (SCM), TI buck converter obtains zero voltage switching (ZVS) of both switches and thus be able to operate at high switching frequency. Besides, compared with other three-switch buck-type topologies, its simplicity in circuit topology leads to less gate driver and other auxiliary power loss, which is beneficial for low power applications. In this paper, converter operating principle and design for a compact coupled inductor are presented. Finally, experimental results of a 15-W prototype are given. Under switching frequency of 2 MHz, the peak efficiency of power stage reaches to 89 % with magnetic component size less than 150 mm3.
Assessing the impact of nuclear retirements on the U.S. power sector

Abstract This work utilizes the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model to analyze the impacts of four nuclear retirement scenarios of the U.S. electricity sector, from nuclear plant lifetimes of 50 to 80 years. The analysis finds that longer nuclear lifetimes decrease the amount of renewable and natural gas capacity. Longer nuclear lifetimes also resulted in lower cumulative and annual carbon emissions, lower transmission builds, and higher energy curtailment and water usage.
The role of social capital, personal networks, and emergency responders in post-disaster recovery and resilience: a study of rural communities in Indiana

The factors that explain the speed of recovery after disaster remain contested. While many have argued that physical infrastructure, social capital, and disaster damage influence the arc of recovery, empirical studies that test these various factors within a unified modeling framework are few. We conducted a mail survey to collect data on household recovery in four small towns in southern Indiana that were hit by deadly tornadoes in March 2012. The recovery effort is ongoing; while many of the homes, businesses, and community facilities were rebuilt in 2013, some are still under construction. We investigate how households in these communities are recovering from damage that they experienced and the role of social capital, personal networks, and assistance from emergency responders on the overall recovery experience. We used an ordered probit modeling framework to test the combined as well as relative effects of (a) damage to physical infrastructures (houses, vehicles, etc.); (b) recovery assistance from emergency responders (FEMA) as well as friends and neighbors; (c) personal network characteristics (size, network density, proximity, length of relationship); (d) social capital (civic engagement, contact with neighbors, trust); and (e) household characteristics. Results show that while households with higher levels of damage experienced slower recovery, those with recovery assistance from neighbors, stronger personal networks, and higher levels of social capital experienced faster recovery. The insights gained in this study will enable emergency managers and disaster response personnel to implement targeted strategies in facilitating post-disaster recovery and community resilience.
Diet Quality of Clients of a Soup Kitchen

This study discerned the impact of a meal donation on the total diet quality of clients of a soup kitchen. A total of 110 adults were selected randomly from a soup kitchen in Central Texas. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, food frequency questionnaire and a list of meal donations. Diet quality and food servings of the original diet, meal donation and total dietary intake were estimated via both the HEI-2010 and 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines. The soup kitchen provided a daily meal, which included fruit, cheese, egg, and bagel, but did not contain any vegetables or meat. Mean diet quality for their original diet was modest (HEI-2010 = 55.25). The extra meal donated by the soup kitchen increased the diet quality of the total diet by 10%, and added fat-soluble vitamins and essential minerals. Health professionals should support these soup kitchens, by volunteering and providing advice to the directors about the importance of offering a variety of healthy foods.
A Multivariate Empirical Orthogonal Function Method to Construct Nitrate Maps in the Southern Ocean

AbstractThe ability to construct nitrate maps in the Southern Ocean (SO) from sparse observations is important for marine biogeochemistry research, as it offers a geographical estimate of biologica...
Employee orientation: Exploring blended learning strategies to improve learner outcomes and meet organizational goals

Employee Orientation: Exploring Blended Learning Strategies to Improve Learner Outcomes and Achieve Corporate Initiatives by Paul Washington Dr. Gail Sammons, Committee Chair Associate Professor of Hotel Management University of Nevada, Las Vegas The problem of effective, efficient and pragmatic solutions involving employee training are compounded when geographic logistics become an issue as organizations grow. Organizations must ensure financial and human resources are allocated to develop the highest impact training strategies at the lowest cost. Training in employee orientation was chosen as a logical starting point to re-think current training models to improve learner outcomes and achieve corporate initiatives. Thus, research involved literature review of basic concepts of learning theories and the integration of theory with pedagogical methods and technological delivery media. The result was a conceptual blended learning model reducing current training time by approximately fifty percent. This model can be revised and adapted as needed for advanced training specifications.
Effectiveness of Online Professional Development for Rural Special Educators

Retaining teachers and accessing professional development have been long-standing struggles for rural school districts, particularly with respect to teachers with special education endorsements. Th...
Satisfaction with military dental care by active duty soldiers.

Abstract : In fall 1992, a random, worldwide sample of 5,474 enlisted personnel and 4,036 officers was surveyed on satisfaction with twenty-eight attributes of Army dental care using self-administered questionnaires. Simple descriptive statistics for each attribute were derived as was a composite overall satisfaction score using factor analysis. Composite scores were regressed on demographics, dental utilization, and access barriers to identify those factors having an impact on a soldier's overall satisfaction with Army dental care. Results show above average satisfaction with most attributes of Army dental care except access attributes. Dental utilization and age exerted a positive impact on overall satisfaction access barriers and assignment to combat unit a negative impact. The impact of race was mixed. Age had the strongest impact on overall satisfaction. Results suggests that improving satisfaction with Army dental care must come from improving access. This can only be attained by increasing dental manpower and resources.
Treatment for Male Incontinence: Historical Review

Urinary incontinence is a dreaded complication of prostatectomy affecting men in the prime of their lives and causing considerable distress [1] . Cooney and Horton in 1951 wrote: “It is our impression that most urologists have an attitude of resignation regarding urinary incontinence and seldom attempt operative relief of these patients. Many have called attention to the tremendous increase in the sale of Cunningham clamps since the advent of transurethral prostatectomy, and the difficulty with sphincteric control following perineal prostatectomy is also well known. Even in suprapubic prostatectomy there appears to be an irreducible minimum of these embarrassing complications and probably in due time the retropubic prostatectomist will also ruefully acknowledge his guilt in a certain number of cases” [2] . They describe a rectus fascial bulbous urethral sling placed anterior to the pubis which produced cure in two patients and failed for technical reasons in a third. For decades urologists struggled with the treatment of postprostatectomy incontinence often with disappointing and nondurable results. A major advance in the treatment of male urinary incontinence was the development of the artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) in 1973 [3] . This review of the history of the treatment of male urinary incontinence will be divided into the preartificial urinary sphincter era and the postartificial urinary sphincter era. Preartificial Urinary Sphincter Era
Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Dead in Bed

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients are at increased risk for adverse perioperative outcomes, and for this reason, guidelines have been developed in effort to reduce, if not eliminate, OSA-related perioperative morbidity and mortality. In this chapter, we discuss the anatomy and pathophysiology of OSA, the clinical determinants of OSA severity, as well as the guidelines for monitoring these patients during the perioperative period.
Physician-rating websites.

Physician-rating websites can become a source of anxiety or an inducement to practice defensive medicine, but physicians should focus on collaborative patient relationships and responsible management of their online presence.
Schizokinesis: fragmentation of performance in two strains of pointer dogs.

During the behavior shaping toward bar jumping to avoid shock at the termination of a tone, ten genetically nervous (“E”) and ten stable (“A”) dogs showed different performances in the acquisition of the adaptive motor response. When tested two months later and with concurrent monitoring of their electrocardiograms, these animals also showed differences in (1) baseline heart rate, (2) direction and degree of heart rate change to the conditioned tone stimulus (more often deceleration in the E dogs), and (3) response to the unconditioned shock stimulus.
Congenital Disorders of Digestion and Absorption

Disorders of digestion and/or absorption of any of the major nutrient forms (carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids) can result in clinical symptoms of diarrhea or steatorrhea. Congenital and heritable genetic conditions associated with nutrient maldigestion and malabsorption are described below. A classification of such disorders, their genetic bases, and their clinical manifestations is presented in Table 9.1.
From Social Isolation to Becoming an Advocate: Exploring Athletes’ Grief Discourse About Lived Concussion Experiences in Online Forums:

Athletes who sustain concussions endure a variety of physical, mental, emotional, and social isolation effects as they rehabilitate. Accordingly, concussion recovery can induce grieving processes a...
Colliding without touching: Using magnets and copper pipe fittings to explore the energetics of a completely inelastic collision

This article describes a simple, inexpensive method for collecting force and motion data from a completely inelastic collision. We describe the use of an inductive magnetic interaction to produce a collision that involves no physical contact and occurs on a sufficiently slow time scale for detailed analysis. The resulting collision will be engaging for introductory high school or college students. We also describe intriguing and reproducible features of the time-dependent force interaction that student can explore in more advanced physics courses.
Uniform Minimal First: Latency Reduction in Throughput-Optimal Oblivious Routing for Mesh-Based Networks-on-Chip

Mesh-based networks-on-chips (NoCs) are increasingly used for on-chip communications in embedded multicore processors. O1TURN is a well-known oblivious routing algorithm for mesh-based NoCs that has been shown to be worst-case throughput optimal for even network radices, but not for odd radices. More recently, another oblivious routing algorithm called U2TURN has been shown to be worst-case throughput optimal for both odd and even radices. This is accomplished by load-balancing among 2-turn paths in XYX or YXY routing, including nonminimal paths. Besides being worst-case throughput optimal, U2TURN achieves higher throughput than O1TURN under adversarial traffic. However, for random traffic, where the traffic is inherently load-balanced, O1TURN achieves lower network latency since it only considers minimal paths. In this letter, we propose a hybrid oblivious routing algorithm called uniform-minimal-first (UMF) routing. UMF works by exploiting any inherent load-balancing characteristics of the traffic pattern to reduce packet latency, but it retains the throughput optimality of U2TURN for both odd and even radices, and it achieves the performance of U2TURN under adversarial traffic. UMF is very inexpensive to implement as it just requires incrementing two small counters, but only for the head flit when a node injects a new packet (not for any pass-through traffic). These simple updates can be performed one cycle ahead of packet injection to avoid slowing down any router pipeline stage. Despite its simplicity, UMF outperforms U2TURN by 23.7% under random traffic and O1TURN by 12.6% under adversarial traffic.
Rhetorical Feminism and This Thing Called Hope, by Cheryl Glenn

Equal rights remain a fantasy in the United States. In 2017, President Trump rolled back the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order made by President Obama, an order that ensured busines...
The Angular Spectrum Representation of the Pulsed Radiation Field in Spatially and Temporally Dispersive Media

Attention is now directed to the rigorous solution of the electromagnetic field that is radiated by a general current source in a homogeneous, anisotropic, locally linear, spatially and temporally dispersive medium occupying all of space that is characterized by the space and time-dependent dielectric permittivity response tensor \( \underline {\hat {\epsilon }}(\mathbf {r}-\mathbf {r}',t-t')\), magnetic permeability response tensor \( \underline {\hat {\mu }}(\mathbf {r}-\mathbf {r}',t-t')\), and electric conductivity response tensor \( \underline {\hat {\sigma }}(\mathbf {r}-\mathbf {r}',t-t')\), where (r′, t′) denotes the space–time point of the inducing field stimulus and (r, t) the space–time point of the induced field response.
Complete Genome Sequence of a Carbapenem-Resistant Escherichia coli Isolate with blaNDM-5 from a Dog in the United States.

ABSTRACT The carbapenem resistance gene blaNDM-5 was identified in an Escherichia coli strain isolated from a dog. We report here the complete genome sequence of this E. coli strain; the blaNDM-5 gene was present on a large IncFII multidrug-resistant plasmid. This is the first blaNDM-5-carrying E. coli strain from an animal in the United States.
Learning Cross-Context Entity Representations from Text

Language modeling tasks, in which words, or word-pieces, are predicted on the basis of a local context, have been very effective for learning word embeddings and context dependent representations of phrases. Motivated by the observation that efforts to code world knowledge into machine readable knowledge bases or human readable encyclopedias tend to be entity-centric, we investigate the use of a fill-in-the-blank task to learn context independent representations of entities from the text contexts in which those entities were mentioned. We show that large scale training of neural models allows us to learn high quality entity representations, and we demonstrate successful results on four domains: (1) existing entity-level typing benchmarks, including a 64% error reduction over previous work on TypeNet (Murty et al., 2018); (2) a novel few-shot category reconstruction task; (3) existing entity linking benchmarks, where we match the state-of-the-art on CoNLL-Aida without linking-specific features and obtain a score of 89.8% on TAC-KBP 2010 without using any alias table, external knowledge base or in domain training data and (4) answering trivia questions, which uniquely identify entities. Our global entity representations encode fine-grained type categories, such as Scottish footballers, and can answer trivia questions such as: Who was the last inmate of Spandau jail in Berlin?
Characterization of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome in Arizona from 2010-2017

ABSTRACT This studv aimed to characterize the population of newborn infants with neonatal abstinence svndrome (NAS) and mothers who were opioid dependent at the time of giving birth, in Arizona. We analyzed approximately 1.2 million electronic medical records from the Arizona Department of Health Services Hospital Discharge Database to identify patterns and disparities across socioeconomic, ethnic/racial, and/or geographic groupings. In addition, we identified comorbid conditions that are differentially associated with NAS in infants or opioid dependence in mothers. Our analysis was designed to assess whether indicators such as race/ethnicity, insurance payer, marital status, and comorbidities are related to the use of opioids while pregnant. In this paper, we describe a population of mothers who are opioid dependent at the time of giving birth and infants who experience withdrawal due to opioid exposure in utero. While there have been studies of national trends in this population (see Patrick et al.), regional trends and issues are less well understood. Using data from the Arizona Department of Health Services Hospital Discharge Database, we find that women and infants who are non-Hispanic White and economically disadvantaged, tend be part of our populations of interest more frequently than expected. Additionally, we find that women who are opioid dependent at the time of giving birth are unmarried more often than expected, and we suggest that marital status could be a proxy for support. Finally, we report comorbidities, some of which have not been previously reported, associated with infants who have NAS and mothers who are opioid dependent.
Excitation-Dependent Photoluminescence Color Tuning in Lanthanide-Organic Hybrid Materials.

A series of lanthanide organic hybrid materials was synthesized via hydrothermal methods and structurally characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Four phases were obtained from reacti...
Communicating Next-Generation 911 with local 911 professionals: Preliminary recommendations

Next-Generation 911 (NG911) infrastructure will replace analog systems designed to support voice services for landline 911 callers with digital, IP-based systems that will allow smartphone users to “call” 911 via voice, text, image, and streaming video. This brief paper reports findings from a workshop conducted at the 2019 911 Early Adopters’ Summit, during which local 911 professionals from across the United States reflected on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the adoption of NG911 infrastructure and, in particular, multimedia 911 services. Workshop participants pointed to long-standing issues NG911 stands to exacerbate, including high non-emergency call volumes, poor staff retention, and inadequate psychological support which the influx of multimedia 911 calls, including those with graphic imagery, may worsen. At the same time, participants looked to local, existing resources to mitigate these issues and exploit new opportunities afforded through NG911 infrastructure. Using these findings, preliminary recommendations are offered to improve information resources available to local 911 professionals adopting NG911 systems for effective and efficient multimedia 911 services.
Dissociable Cerebellar-Prefrontal Networks Underlying Executive Function: Evidence from the Human Connectome Project

Abstract To date, investigations of executive function (EF) have focused on the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and prominent theories of EF are framed with respect to this brain region. Multiple theories describe a hierarchical functional organization for the lateral PFC. However, recent evidence has indicated that the cerebellum (CB) also plays a role in EF. Posterior CB regions (Crus I & II) show structural and functional connections with the PFC, and CB networks are associated with individual differences in EF in healthy adults. However, it is unclear whether the cerebellum shows a similar functional gradient as does the PFC. Here, we investigated high-resolution resting-state data from 225 participants in the Human Connectome Project. We compared resting-state connectivity from posterior cerebellar ROIs, and examined functional data from several tasks that activate the lateral PFC. Demonstrating preliminary evidence for parallel PFC and CB gradients, Crus I was functionally connected with rostrolateral PFC, Crus II with middle and ventral PFC, and Lobule VI with posterior PFC. Contrary to previous work, the activation of the task thought to activate rostrolateral PFC resembled the connectivity maps of Crus II, not Crus I; similarly, the activation of the task thought to activate middle PFC resembled the connectivity maps of Crus I, not Crus II. Nevertheless, there was evidence for dissociable CB-PFC networks. Further work is necessary to understand the functional role of these networks.
A monitoring, modeling, and interactive recommendation system for in-home caregivers: demo abstract

Family caregivers often report increased anxiety and depression. In order to improve the interactions between in-home patients and caregivers, and reduce strain on caregivers, we build a monitoring, modeling, and interactive recommendation system for caregivers for in-home dementia patient care. The system includes monitoring for mood by speech, building classifiers that work in realistic home settings, and supporting an adaptive recommendation system to reduce stress of the caregiver. This demo shows how our system supports caregivers in practice through several scenarios.
An Improved Method to Estimate Turn-on Switching Loss of 650V GaN HEMTs in Hard-switching Topology

As new-generation semiconductors, gallium nitride high electron mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs) are featured as high efficiency and high power density being utilized in various power conversion application. Compared with conventional silicon devices, GaN HEMTs have faster switching speed, but lower losses which include conduction loss and switching losses. Due to the high switching frequency and compact size of GaN HEMTs, it is of importance to assess their switching losses as precisely as possible. In this paper, an improved method to estimate the turn-on switching loss of GaN HEMTs in hard-switching topology is proposed and verified. The calculation results are compared with the double pulse test simulation results from LTspice and the experimental results.
Application of a digital signal processor in compliant Cartesian control of an industrial manipulator

This paper presents an example of compliant manipulator control implemented on a DSP chip. Drake and Hsia (1993) discussed the algorithms for computing the manipulator forward and inverse kinematics, Jacobian, J(/spl theta/), J/sup -1/, J/spl dot//spl theta//spl dot/, and Newton-Euler inverse dynamics. These algorithms were unified under a common coordinate system and optimized. Here, these tools have been augmented by a six D.O.F Cartesian trajectory generator, and a Cartesian impedance control scheme. The algorithms are implemented on a TI TMS320C30 DSP chip. In the approach presented here, direct Cartesian control is used, so that inverse kinematics computations are unnecessary, and a simplified dynamic cancellation scheme is used. This controller has been successfully tested on a PUMA 560 manipulator with a PC-based controller. This paper presents an overview of the previous work, a discussion of the trajectory generator and the impedance controller, and experimental results. In addition, the timing of the individual routines is presented.
Artificial Salivas: Present and Future

Modern technology has allowed us to understand better the functions of saliva and now provides a rationale for developing: (1) diagnostic reagents for monitoring oral and systemic health status and (2) replacement therapies for individuals with salivary dysfunctions. Several areas of dental research are directed at augmenting or enhancing both the quality and quantity of saliva for individuals with dry mouth. An "intrinsic" approach is being explored which utilizes medications such as pilocarpine and bromhexine to stimulate the salivary glands to produce more saliva. An "extrinsic" approach proposes to use topically applied artificial saliva. Studies in our laboratory have been directed toward developing artificial salivas which incorporate many of the protective features of "native" saliva. An ideal artificial saliva should be "long-lasting", provide lubrication, inhibit colonization of microflora responsible for dental caries and gingivitis, and coat the oral soft tissues for protection against environmental insult and desiccation. Studies are currently under way to determine the structural requirements of salivary molecules responsible for these protective functions. Composite salivary molecules consisting of multiple biologically active or "functional domains" could then be designed and synthesized based upon primary sequence and conformational analyses, computer-assisted structural predictions, and in vitro testing. These supersalivary substances could then be used as saliva substitutes for targeting to selected oral surfaces to promote mineralization, hydration, and/or regulate microbial-mediated disease.
α-Isopropylmalate Synthase from Salmonella typhimurium PURIFICATION AND PROPERTIES

Abstract α-Isopropylmalate synthase, the first enzyme in the biosynthesis of leucine, was purified to homogeneity from extracts of strain CV-19 of Salmonella typhimurium. From gel filtration and disc gel electrophoresis experiments it was deduced that the enzyme can exist in two physically distinguishable forms and that the equilibrium between these two forms is strongly and specifically influenced by leucine, the end product inhibitor. The pH optimum of the reaction was found to be at pH 8.5. The enzyme was about 30-fold more sensitive to leucine at pH 6.5 than at 8.5. Initial velocity studies revealed that the inhibition by leucine was noncompetitive with respect to α-ketoisovalerate and competitive with respect to acetyl coenzyme A. Under the conditions employed, there was no cooperation between α-ketoisovalerate binding sites. There was, however, increasing cooperation between at least two interacting acetyl coenzyme A binding sites in the presence of increasing concentrations of leucine. Cooperative interactions were also observed with leucine in the presence of substrates. Other inhibitors of the enzyme were α-ketoisocaproate, EDTA, and mercuric salts. The inhibition by leucine is discussed in terms of the model proposed by Monod, Wyman, and Changeux (J. Mol. Biol., 12, 88 (1965)).
Comparison of Geostatistical Algorithms For Completing Groundwater Monitoring Well Time Series Using Data of a Nearby River

The benefit of river stage as secondary information in the kriging of groundwater level time-series is investigated for an unconfined, alluvial sand and gravel aquifer on Csepel Island in the Danube River. Factorial kriging analysis allows the filtering of the secondary information, which is then used in 3 forms: raw river data, the trend of the river data by itself or shifted by a well-specific lag time derived from river-well cross-correlograms. Cross-validation indicates that incorporation of river data using either kriging with an external drift or simple kriging with varying local means reduces the mean absolute error of prediction for 92% of the wells by an average of 18% relative to ordinary kriging. The Danube’s influence diminishes rapidly within the island, and two groups of wells are distinguished: one under the influence of the river and another, interior group. The kriging of the latter derives spurious benefit from the secondary information, possibly due to other seasonally varying influences.
Public Space and the Public Sphere: The Legacy of Neil Smith

This article attempts to untangle two threads of the intellectual and political legacy of Neil Smith. The first concerns the work that Neil and I did together on the The Politics of Public Space (Low and Smith 2006, Routledge) on public space and the public sphere and then explains how our paths diverged. I elaborate some of the ways that the public space and public sphere have been expanded by later researchers and that left me with a sense of optimism about the future of public space as a forum for new social and political encounters. The second part of the discussion turns to Neil's thinking and writing as he moved away from having any faith in liberal urban policy, and his conclusion that neoliberalism was waning. Drawing upon publications by his students, I have attempted to assess the impact of his work—particularly on anthropology students focusing on his contribution to gentrification as a global urban strategy and his later turn to revolution as the necessary corrective to the death of neoliberalism. I contrast his revolutionary imperative with my desire to imagine new kinds of translocal public spaces that could expand into a global public sphere.
Carrier-facilitated bulk liquid membrane transport of iron(III) hydroxamate complexes utilizing a labile recognition agent and amine recognition in the second coordination sphere

Carrier-facilitated bulk liquid membrane transport from an aqueous source phase through a chloroform membrane phase to an aqueous receiving phase was studied for various Fe(III) hydroxamate complexes (siderophore mimics) using second coordination sphere recognition. Iron transport systems were designed using a strategy whereby a tetradentate siderophore mimic sequesters iron(III), leaving two labile aquated coordination sites for ternary complex formation. This aquated complex reacts with a bi-functional host/guest molecule capable of acting as a host for the iron complex via ternary complex formation, while simultaneously serving as a guest for a membrane-bound host (carrier). The bi-functional molecules utilized contain a hydroxamate host for Fe(III) binding and a protonated primary amine that can be “recognized” by a liquid membrane-bound hydrophobic ionophore, which carries the hydrophilic Fe(III)-complex across the hydrophobic membrane to an aqueous receiving phase. Four protonated amine hydroxamic acids were investigated as bi-functional host/guest molecules: β-alanine hydroxamic acid (H2Lala)+, L-glutamic acid γ-monohydroxamic acid (H3Lglu)+, glycine hydroxamic acid (H2Lgly)+, and L-lysine hydroxamic acid (H3Llys)2+. These four bidentate ligands were each coordinated to Fe(III) along with the tetradentate N,N′-dihydroxy-N,N′-dimethyldecanediamide (H2L8) to form ternary complexes [Fe(L8)(HxLy)z; x = 1 or 2; y = ala, glu, gly, or lys; z = 0, +1, or +2] that were transported through a chloroform bulk liquid membrane by the lipophilic host carrier cis-dicyclohexano-18-crown-6 (DC18C6). No carrier-dependent flux was observed for Fe(L8)(HLglu), probably due to intramolecular H-bonding. Flux values for the transport of Fe(L8)(HxLy)z (x = 1 or 2; y = ala, gly, or lys; z = +1 or +2) facilitated by the membrane carrier (DC18C6) were highest when y = gly and lowest when y = ala. Equilibrium constants pertaining to two-phase distribution or ion pairing, second coordination sphere host–guest formation, and overall extraction were determined and used to rationalize variations in flux values.
276: Teaching on postoperative day one: A feasible approach to reduce length of stay in ventricular assist device patients

following bereavement and is primarily the decision of the potential donor’s next of kin. Recent UK legislation may transfer the timing and primacy of this decision to the donor who may have registered advance intentions to donate on a national register. We hypothesised that postive televison media coverage of heart transplantation may affect the potential donor registration rate. Methods and Materials: We examined web-based requests to register on the UK Organ Donor Register between January 2005 and August 2006. Changes in registration numbers were compared according to media coverage events. Results: In the 20 month period there were 286,207 registration requests and 5 transplant topic television items. The mean registration rate was 14,310( 95%, CI 9951-18,668) per month. The number of registrations in months following media coverage were significatly higher than in those without (20,904(95% CI 11,115-30,694) versus 9,864(95%CI8047-681) p 0.006).The observed effect appeared greatest when a heart transplant related topic arose in a fictional “soap opera” with a high viewing audience compared to non-fictional coverage but this was not significant(p 0.27). This apparent effect of positive coverage was short lived. Registration rates fell to the previous baseline within a month of coverage. The greatest increase in registration was seen on the day of broadcast( 2.8 times previous rate). This enhanced rate halved within 24 hours. Conclusions: Positive media coverage increases advance registration rates to a National Donor Register. The effect is short lived and may be insufficient to change rates of actual transplantation. Nevertheless, such coverage together with other educational initiatives may increase the number of potential donors for consideration of transplantation.
The total eosinophil count in asthmatic children

The diurnal variation in total eosinophil count (TEC) in asthmatic children not on medications or on thophylline-containing bronchodilators orally every 6 hr is similar to that reported in normal subjects, with a decrease in TEC in the morning and an increase in the evening. Asthmatic children taking prednisone in 8:00 A.M. on alternate days have diurnal variations in TEC on the "day off" prednisone similar to those on normal children. On the "day on" prednisone, administered either on a daily or alternate-day basis, TECs approach zero 4 to 8 hr after prednisone is taken. The TEC then increases in the evening as it does in children not taking prednisone.
Test Anxiety, Level and Accuracy of Predicted Performance

142 upper-division university students' predictions of their performance on two examinations were compared by test anxiety, as determined by a measure of state-test-anxiety. The students' predictio...
Boosting the sampling efficiency of q-Ball imaging using multiple wavevector fusion.

q-Ball imaging (QBI) is a high-angular-resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) method that is capable of resolving complex, subvoxel white matter (WM) architecture. QBI requires time-intensive sampling of the diffusion signal and large diffusion wavevectors. Here we describe a reconstruction scheme for QBI, termed multiple wavevector fusion (MWF), that substantially boosts the sampling efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of QBI. The MWF reconstruction operates by nonlinearly fusing the diffusion signal from separate low and high wavevector acquisitions. The combination of wavevectors provides the benefits of the high SNR of the low wavevector signal and the high angular contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and peak separation of the high wavevector signal. The MWF procedure provides a framework for combining diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and QBI. Numerical simulations show that MWF of DTI and QBI provides a more accurate estimate of the diffusion orientation distribution function (ODF) than QBI alone. The accuracy improvement can be translated into an efficiency gain of 274–377%. An intravoxel peak connectivity metric (IPCM) is presented that calculates the peak connectivity between an ODF and its neighboring voxels. In human WM, MWF reveals more detailed WM architecture than QBI as measured by the IPCM for all sampling schemes presented. Magn Reson Med 57:289–296, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Aza[10]annulene: Next Higher Aromatic Analogue of Pyridine

The aza[10]annulene isomers (CH)9N derived from “twist”, “heart”, “naphthalene-like”, and “azulene-like” [10]annulenes by replacement of a CH group by nitrogen were investigated at the CCSD(T)/DZd/...
A novel fold recognition method using composite predicted secondary structures

In this work, we introduce a new method for fold recognition using composite secondary structures assembled from different secondary structure prediction servers for a given target sequence. An automatic, complete, and robust way of finding all possible combinations of predicted secondary structure segments (SSS) for the target sequence and clustering them into a few flexible clusters, each containing patterns with the same number of SSS, is developed. This program then takes two steps in choosing plausible homologues: (i) a SSS-based alignment excludes impossible templates whose SSS patterns are very different from any of those of the target; (ii) a residue-based alignment selects good structural templates based on sequence similarity and secondary structure similarity between the target and only those templates left in the first stage. The secondary structure of each residue in the target is selected from one of the predictions to find the best match with the template. Truncation is applied to a target where different predictions vary. In most cases, a target is also divided into N-terminal and C-terminal fragments, each of which is used as a separate subsequence. Our program was tested on the fold recognition targets from CASP3 with known PDB codes and some available targets from CASP4. The results are compared with a structural homologue list for each target produced by the CE program (Shindyalov and Bourne, Protein Eng 1998;11:739-747). The program successfully locates homologues with high Z-score and low root-mean-score deviation within the top 30-50 predictions in the overwhelming majority of cases.
Non-linear modes in the condensed peierls phase

Abstract The equations of motion for the order parameters of a coupled linear chain system in a condensed Peierls phase are derived from a microscopic Hamiltonian. These results now provide the correct non-linear terms which are needed to discuss solitary wave excitation modes. The computation reported here is a mean field result, at T = 0, and with interchain electron backscattering. Amplitude solitary waves are energetically disallowed, but phase solitons (φ-particles) with small associated amplitude variation are possible.
Continuity of Do‐Not Resuscitate Orders Between Hospital And Nursing Home Settings

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between interinstitutional communication and continuity of advance directives from hospital to nursing home (NH) settings. DESIGN: Retrospective chart review of discharges to hospital affiliated or community NHs. SETTING: Teaching Veterans Affairs Hospital and affiliated and community nursing homes. MEASUREMENTS: Demographic characteristics, medical diagnoses, presence of advance directives, and documentation that relates to the topic. RESULTS: A total of 83 patients were discharged to either setting. Before discharge to a NH, the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer was higher among those who had a DNR order. Overall, subsequent discussions about advance directives were equally common in NHs. Having a hospital discussion about advance directives or having a hospital DNR order were associated with a higher rate of advance directive discussions in NHs. Hospital DNR orders were continued for 93% and 41% of patients admitted to the hospital-affiliated NH compared with community NHs, respectively (P < .001). Specific communication of hospital DNR status to the receiving NH was associated with better continuity of DNR orders (49% vs 9%, P = .001). Factors that predicted continuity of DNR orders in logistic regression analysis correctly included hospital DNR status, communication of advance directives to the receiving NH, and NH advance directive discussions. CONCLUSIONS: There is higher continuation rate of DNR orders between the hospital under study and its affiliated NH than to community NHs despite a similar frequency of confirmation discussions. Completing advance directives before patients are discharged to NHs, communication of advance directives to the receiving NH, and follow-up discussions at the NH may improve the continuity of advance directives between hospitals and nursing homes.
The Scaling and Structure of the Estuarine Bottom Boundary Layer

Abstract A two-week dataset from a partially and periodically stratified estuary quantifies variability in the turbulence across the tidal and spring–neap time scales. These observations have been fit with a two-parameter model of the Reynolds stress profile, which produces estimates of the time variation of the bottom boundary layer height and the friction velocity. Conditions at the top of the bottom boundary layer indicate that the dynamics governing the development of the estuarine bottom boundary layer are different on ebb tides than on flood tides. The asymmetry in the flow is explained by consideration of the strain-induced buoyancy flux, which is stabilizing on ebb tides and destabilizing on flood tides. Based on these observations, a scaling approach to estimating estuarine bottom boundary layer parameters (height and friction velocity) is presented, which includes a modified Monin–Obukhov length scale to account for the horizontal buoyancy flux created by the sheared advection. Comparison with t...
Invasive Otitis Externa Due to Aspergillus Species: Case Report and Review

Aspergillus flavus, an unusual cause of malignant external otitis, was identified in pure culture of tissue from two patients in which histologic examinations demonstrated branching septate hyphae invading the temporal bone. Both patients presented with protracted external ear pain. Multiple attempts at treatment with topical agents (polymyxin B sulfate-neomycin sulfate-hydrocortisone), oral agents (cephalexin and ciprofloxacin), and parenteral agents (ceftazidime and tobramycin) were unsuccessful before definitive diagnosis was made. Treatment with amphotericin B, followed by a more protracted course of itraconazole, resulted in an apparent cure for these patients. Follow-up examination at 15 months after the discontinuation of therapy with itraconazole demonstrated no recurrence of infection. Previously reported cases have predominantly involved immunocompromised persons, and these cases are summarized.
The Health of Nations: Towards a New Political Economy

Gavin Mooney London: Zed, 2012, 212 pp Despite the fact that the world is awash with wealth, its health systems remain in crisis. In this brief but far-reaching book, Gavin Mooney argues that neoli...
Capture patterns of Scolytus multistriatus (Marsh.) (Col., Scolytidae) attracted to a pheromone-baited trap

A study was conducted to determine how accurately the elm bark beetle, Scolytus multistriatus (Marsham) is able to locate a pheromone lure. A large trap having four surfaces coated with a sticky insect-trapping material, had each surface in turn baited with multilure. The results indicate that while multilure is an effective beetle attractant, the beetles do not locate the pheromone source with sufficient discrimination to consistently make contact with a workable size trapping surface. The practice of placing baited traps in stands of elm trees may thus increase the level of Dutch elm disease by attracting beetles to the area without capturing them on the traps presently employed. Zusammenfassung Zum Anlockverhalten von Scolytus multistriatus (Marsh.) (Col., Scolytidae) gegenuber Pheromonfallen Untersuchungen sollten zeigen, wieweit der Ulmensplintkafer, C. multistriatus imstande ist, einen Pheromonkoder zu orten. Es wurde eine Falle in Kreuzform verwendet, deren vier Flugel mit Leim bestrichen und abwechselnd fur je eine bestimmte Fangzeit mit einem Multilure-Dispensor bestuckt waren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, das - obgleich Multilure ein wirksamer Lockstoff fur diese Kaferart ist - die Kafer die Pheromonquellen nicht so genau lokalisieren konnten, das ein gleichmasiger Kontakt mit einer Falle von praktikabler Grose zustande kam. Die Verwendung von Pheromonfallen an Ulmenstandorten kann daher durch Anlockung von Kafern ohne genugende Fangquote das Ulmensterben begunstigen.
Simple model of large scale structure formation.

We explore constraints on inflationary models employing data on large scale structure mainly from Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) temperature anisotropies and Infrared Asronomy Satellite (IRAS) selected galaxy surveys, taking care not to apply linear perturbation theory to data in the nonlinear regime. In models where the tensor contribution to the COBE signal is negligible, we find the spectral index of density fluctuations $n$ must exceed 0.82. Furthermore, in inflation models which generate tensor fluctuations, these must contribute less than 20% of the signal seen by COBE. The data favor cold plus hot dark matter models with $n$ close to unity and ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\mathrm{HDM}}\ensuremath{\sim}0.20\ensuremath{-}0.35$. We present realistic grand unified theories, including supersymmetric versions, which produce inflation with these properties.
Requirement for 24(S),25-epoxycholesterol for the viability of cultured fibroblasts

Abstract Previous studies on a somatic cell mutant auxotrophic for mevalonate (Mev-1) have shown that these cells rapidly lose viability when deprived of mevalonic acid in culture medium supplemented with serum cholesterol. Testing of all known end products of mevalonate metabolism in cultured mammalian cells has been conducted to determine the basis for this mevalonate requirement. It has been found that the recently discovered mevalonate metabolite 24( S ),25-epoxycholesterol produces a partial restoration of viability of Mev-1 cells starved for mevalonate, whereas other structurally similar oxysterols do not. It appears that 24( S ),25-epoxycholesterol has a specific, vital cellular function in CHO-K1 Cells.