cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of food unit size and energy density on intake in humans

The effects of food unit size (FU) and energy density (ED) on food consumption were explored in 20 adults using a within subjects 2 x 2 design study. The four food treatment combinations were provided in the laboratory in random order on four non-consecutive days. The foods differed in FU (small food unit (SFU) or customary food unit (CFU)) and energy density, by manipulating fat content (low (LED) or high (HED)). Appetitive responses and total grams and kilocalories consumed were monitored. Hunger, fullness, desire to eat and prospective consumption ratings were not significantly different between treatments. Gram weight of food consumed was constant across all treatments. Energy intake of HED foods was greater than LED foods independent of food unit size for breakfast (F(1,17) = 11.77, p < 0.001), lunch (F(1,17) = 4.70, p < 0.05) and the 24 h period (F(1,17) = 8.99, p < 0.001) but only tended to be increased at dinner. In summary, appetitive sensations were not markedly altered by food unit size or energy density. The daily gram weight of food consumed and appetitive ratings were relatively consistent across treatments resulting in higher energy intake with HED foods.
Vocal warm-up increases phonation threshold pressure in soprano singers at high pitch.

Abstract Summary: Vocal warm-up is thought to optimize singing performance. We compared effects of short-term, submaximal, vocal warm-up exercise with those of vocal rest on the soprano voice (n=10, ages 19–21 years). Dependent variables were the minimum subglottic air pressure required for vocal fold oscillation to occur (phonation threshold pressure, P th ), and the maximum and minimum phonation fundamental frequency. Warm-up increased P th for high pitch phonation ( p =0.033), but not for comfortable ( p =0.297) or low ( p =0.087) pitch phonation. No significant difference in the maximum phonation frequency ( p =0.193) or minimum frequency ( p =0.222) was observed. An elevated P th at controlled high pitch, but an unchanging maximum and minimum frequency production suggests that short-term vocal exercise may increase the viscosity of the vocal fold and thus serve to stabilize the high voice.
THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF THE LONGITUDINAL PROFILES AND CHANNEL PATTERN FOR THE RED RIVER

Abstract The longitudinal river, valley and regional profiles were plotted for the Red River. Plotting was done in such a way that specific geographic points and hydraulic parameters on one of the profiles could be correlated with the corresponding geographic points on the others. Strong interrelationships were found for the Red River between river sinuosity and valley slope. A smooth longitudinal river profile was maintained, in spite of irregularities in the valley or regional slope, by changes in sinuosity. A channel pattern alternation between braided and non-braided was found to be associated with changes in water surface slope. A new function was developed, herein called the meander function, which was found to be correlated with channel pattern and slope. Although this paper is confined to the Red River the techniques used can be applied to any river.
In vivo mechanisms of cutaneous vasodilation and vasoconstriction in humans during thermoregulatory challenges

This review focuses on the neural and local mechanisms that have been demonstrated to effect cutaneous vasodilation and vasoconstriction in response to heat and cold stress in vivo in humans. First, our present understanding of the mechanisms by which sympathetic cholinergic nerves mediate cutaneous active vasodilation during reflex responses to whole body heating is discussed. These mechanisms include roles for cotransmission as well as nitric oxide (NO). Next, the mechanisms by which sympathetic noradrenergic nerves mediate cutaneous active vasoconstriction during whole body cooling are reviewed, including cotransmission by neuropeptide Y (NPY) acting through NPY Y1 receptors. Subsequently, current concepts for the mechanisms that effect local cutaneous vascular responses to direct skin warming are examined. These mechanisms include the roles of temperature-sensitive afferent neurons as well as NO in causing vasodilation during local heating of skin. This section is followed by a review of the mechanisms that cause local cutaneous vasoconstriction in response to direct cooling of the skin, including the dependence of these responses on intact sensory and sympathetic, noradrenergic innervation as well as roles for nonneural mechanisms. Finally, unresolved issues that warrant further research on mechanisms that control cutaneous vascular responses to heating and cooling are discussed.
Quantum kinetic theory of time-correlation functions

A quantum kinetic theory of time-correlation functions is described in terms of a formally exact closure of the Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon hierarchy. The theory closely parallels existing treatments of the corresponding classical problem, so that direct comparisons between approximations for classical and quantum systems may be made. As an illustration, the formalism is applied to conditions of low density, but arbitrary degeneracy, and the resulting kinetic equation is shown to reduce to the linearized form of the Uehling-Uhlenbeck equation with the cross section appropriately modified to account for degeneracy. Also, classical approximations suitable for strongly coupled fluids are generalized to the quantum case. The results are applied to evaluation of the electrical conductivity for a two-component plasma in the following paper.
A shape preserving interpolant with tension controls

Abstract The monotonically and convexly constrained (MONCON) weighted v -spline interpolant is presented, which is the C 1 piecewise cubic solution to a constrained optimization problem. In addition to preserving the local monotonicity and local convexity of the data, the method has tension parameters which can be used to modify the shape of the interpolating function. Local monotonicity constraints are given that don't necessarily force the derivatives to be zero where the data changes from increasing to decreasing.
Multiple transform domain split vector quantisation

A novel split vector quantisation scheme where each signal vector is projected into multiple transform domains is proposed. The coder selects codes from the domain that best represents the signal vector. Sample results using one-dimensional speech signals confirm the superior performance of the proposed scheme.
Reaction pathways for the growth of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during the supercritical pyrolysis of n-decane, as determined from doping experiments with 1- and 2-methylnaphthalene

Abstract In order to investigate growth mechanisms of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) that can lead to solids formation in the pre-combustion environments of future high-speed aircraft, we have performed supercritical pyrolysis experiments with the model alkane fuel n -decane (critical temperature, 344.5 °C; critical pressure, 20.7 atm), to which 2-methylnaphthalene and 1-methylnaphthalene, two two-ring products of n -decane pyrolysis, have each been added as a dopant (each dopant concentration, 8.8 mg/g n -decane). The experiments are conducted in an isothermal, silica-lined stainless-steel flow reactor at 570 °C, 94.6 atm, and 133 s, conditions of incipient solids formation. Analyses of the PAH products by high-pressure liquid chromatography with diode-array ultraviolet–visible absorbance and mass-spectrometric detection reveal vast differences in the growth behavior of the two dopants. In the case of 2-methylnaphthalene, growth is virtually limited to the two- and three-ring PAH that result from 2-naphthylmethyl’s reactions with methyl, ethylene, propene, and 1-butene—all abundant in the n -decane pyrolysis environment. In the case of 1-methylnaphthalene, the methyl group’s attachment to a carbon that is just-adjacent to a “valley” carbon of the naphthalene structure permits 1-naphthylmethyl’s reaction with ethylene to form phenalene, an unstable C 13 H 10 PAH that readily loses hydrogen to form the resonance-stabilized phenalenyl radical. This radical sets in motion a sequence for PAH growth that involves reactions of the C 2 –C 4 1-alkenes with both phenalenyl-type radicals and arylmethyl radicals (whose methyl group is attached to a carbon that is just-adjacent to a valley carbon)—producing unsubstituted PAH and methylated PAH of successively higher ring number. As a consequence of these reactions, even though the dopant 1-methylnaphthalene undergoes only 4.5% conversion, it selectively increases (by up to a factor of four) the yields of many of n -decane’s favored four- to eight-ring PAH products—demonstrating the prevalence of the arylmethyl/alkene/phenalenyl reaction mechanism in the supercritical n -decane pyrolysis environment.
Interpolating Surface Gravity Data for Assessing the Accuracy of a Ground Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System Gravimetric System

High-resolution gravity data are efficiently collected by using a ground-vehicle-based inertial navigation system/global positioning system (INS/GPS) gravimetric system due to its closeness to the terrain and relatively speedy process. Previous studies have shown that this system has better than 1 mGal repeatability. However, the validation of the absolute precision is limited by the availability of ground control data and the selected interpolation method. Careful comparisons of the gravity estimates with independent ground control are necessary to arrive at a better knowledge of the system’s precision. First, several interpolation schemes are designed to interpolate the control data to known values along the ground tracks. The computation results show that the least square collocation method provides the most accurate interpolates of the surface data set, while the three-dimensional multi-quadrics method works well after applying the terrain correction. The best-estimated control data used have better t...
Photodegradable, Photoadaptable Hydrogels via Radical-Mediated Disulfide Fragmentation Reaction

Various techniques have been adopted to impart a biological responsiveness to synthetic hydrogels for the delivery of therapeutic agents as well as the study and manipulation of biological processes and tissue development. Such techniques and materials include polyelectrolyte gels that swell and deswell with changes in pH, thermosensitive gels that contract at physiological temperatures, and peptide cross-linked hydrogels that degrade upon peptidolysis by cell-secreted enzymes. Herein we report a unique approach to photochemically deform and degrade disulfide cross-linked hydrogels, mitigating the challenges of light attenuation and low quantum yield, permitting the degradation of hydrogels up to 2 mm thick within 120 s at low light intensities (10 mW/cm2 at 365 nm). Hydrogels were formed by the oxidation of thiol-functionalized 4-armed poly(ethylene glycol) macromolecules. These disulfide cross-linked hydrogels were then swollen in a lithium acylphosphinate photoinitiator solution. Upon exposure to light...
Surrendering Pets To Shelters: The Relinquisher's Perspective

The intention of this research was not to justify the relinquishment of pets to shelters, but to provide a detailed and impartial view of the relinquisher's perspective. This perspective, as reveal...
WAIS ERROR TYPES IN SCHIZOPHRENICS AND ORGANICS.

The differences in the frequencies with which four WAIS error types appeared in the protocols of hospitalized schizophrenic and brain-damaged patients were analyzed at two length-of-hospitalization levels. At the low-hospitalization level, Inadequate Attempts were more frequent among organics while No Attempts were more common to schizophrenics. However, there were no differences at the high-hospitalization level. The hospitalization length-diagnosis interaction made the usefulness of the error types as convenient diagnostic tools questionable. Several theoretical implications were considered.
Permanent and temporary components of stock prices: a revisit

Our study revisits the seminal work of Fama and French (1988) on mean-reverting behaviour of stock prices. Since then, there are limited studies conducted to attest the results and the methodology implemented by the authors. We use an updated monthly data for the period ranging 1926–2008. As in Fama and French (1988), our findings support the U-shaped patterns of first-order autocorrelations of industries portfolio returns, which implies that stock prices have both random-walk and slowly decaying stationary components. However, the magnitude of the slopes and the time varying expected variance of three to five years return, average between 11 and 16%, decline considerably as compared to 1926–1985 sample period which average between 21 and 31%. The sub-period 1985–2008 has a weaker U-shaped pattern indicating that the stationary price components may be less important after 1985.
A Pareto-modulated Poisson process (PMPP) model for long-range dependent traffic

A new model for long-range dependent traffic is presented. This model is based on a switched Poisson process with two states and the sojourn time in each state follows an independent and identical Pareto distribution. It is versatile in capturing the self-similar characteristics of traffic found in the recent measurements. Its Index of Dispersion for Counts (IDC) is derived. It is shown that the IDC increases monotonically and the ''log[IDC(t)] versus log[t]'' curve has a slope of (2H-1), where H is the Hurst parameter. Example of the representation of measured data traffic using the introduced model is given. Performance of a Pareto-modulated Poisson process PMPP/D/1 queue is discussed.
Cross-cultural similarities in category structure

Categories, as mental structures, are more than simply sums of property frequencies. A number of recent studies have supported the view that the properties of categories may be organised along functional lines and possibly dependency structures more generally. The study presented here investigates whether earlier findings reflect something unique in the English language/North American culture or whether the functional structuring of categories is a more universal phenomenon. A population of English-speaking Americans was compared to a population of Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong Chinese. The findings clearly support the view that functional influences on category centrality are universal (or at least common to Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong Chinese and English-speaking Americans), albeit with specific cross-cultural/cross-linguistic group differences in the particular properties that are considered central to categories.
The R-3327 system of rat prostatic cancers.

53. Pollard M, Luckert PH, Sporn MB. Prevention of primary prostate cancer in Lobund-Wistar rats by 4hydroxyphenyIretinamide. Cancer Res 1991;51:3610-6. Pollard M, Luckert PH. Promotional effects of testosterone and high fat diet on the development of autochthonous prostate cancer in rats. Cancer Lett 1986;32:223-7. Pollard M, Luckert PH, Snyder DL. Prevention of prostate cancer and liver tumors in L-W rats by moderate dietary restriction. Cancer 1989;64:686-90. Pollard M, Luckert PH, Snyder DL. The promotional effect of testosterone on induction of prostate cancer in MNUsensitized LW rats. Cancer Lett 1989;45:209-12. Cohen MB. Heidner PM. Lubaroff DM. Gross and microscooic pathology of induced prostatic complex tumors arising’ in Lobund-Wistar rats. Cancer Res 1994;54:626-8. Pollard M, Luckert P. Autochthonous prostate adenocarcinoma in Lobund-Wistar rats: A model system. The Prostate 1987;11:219-27. Pugh TD, Chang C, Uemura H, Weindruch R. Prostatic localization of spontaneous early invasive carcinoma in LobundWistar rats. Cancer Res 1994;54:5766-70. Chang CF. Pollard M. In h-0 propagation of prostate adeno carcinoma cells from rats. Invest Ural 1977;14:331-4. Pollard M, Luckert PH. Patterns of spontaneous metastasis 54.
Quarks with charm and colour: A new model of their strong and weak interactions

Abstract We discuss the motivation and the consequences of taking the charmed quark to be a 6 under colour SU(3). Among the many features of this new quark scheme is that charmed mesons are heavier than charmed baryons.
Sources of mercury in precipitation to Underhill, VT

Daily event precipitation samples were collected from 1995 to 2006 in Underhill, VT, USA and analyzed for mercury (Hg) and trace elements. Over the 12-year period, annual Hg deposition levels at Underhill did not decline significantly despite regulatory efforts to reduce Hg emissions in the United States. Mercury and trace element wet deposition data were examined using the multivariate receptor model EPA PMF 3.0 to identify the sources contributing to Hg deposition at the Underhill site. Results indicate that coal combustion, a mixture of incineration and non-ferrous metal smelting, and a phosphorus source contributed to the observed Hg wet deposition. The model consistently indicated that coal combustion contributed ∼60% of the total Hg measured in wet deposition and the contribution from this source did not change significantly over time. Mercury and trace element deposition were further analyzed using a hybrid-receptor model, quantitative transport bias analysis (QTBA), to identify the likely source locations contributing to Hg deposition. Results from QTBA indicate that the majority of Hg deposition at Underhill is due to transport from the Midwestern United States, where the density of coal-fired utility boilers in the U.S. is largest.
Motor nerve outgrowth: reduced capacity for sprouting in the terminals of longer axons

The ability of axons to grow or sprout can vary considerably. In this study we have examined the relation between axon length and the abundance of outgrowth from motor nerve terminals in vivo. Outgrowth from nerve terminals was evoked using botulinum toxin. Terminal axons, sprouts and neuromuscular junctions were visualized using a cholinesterase-silver stain. The amount of axonal outgrowth was compared in several proximal (e.g. rhomboid and paraspinous), intermediate, and distal (e.g. soleus and foot) muscles. Our results show that sprouting is generally more abundant in proximal than in distal muscles. There is a significant inverse correlation between nerve length and the abundance of sprouting from terminal axons. Thus, terminals of short axons appear to have more ability or potential to sprout than those of long axons.
Influence of fatty acid methyl esters from hydroxylated vegetable oils on diesel fuel lubricity

Current and future regulations on the sulfur content of diesel fuel have led to a decrease in lubricity of these fuels. This decreased lubricity poses a significant problem as it may lead to wear and damage of diesel engines, primarily fuel injection systems. Vegetable oil based diesel fuel substitutes (biodiesel) have been shown to be clean and effective and may increase overall lubricity when added to diesel fuel at nominally low levels. Previous studies on castor oil suggest that its uniquely high level of the hydroxy fatty acid ricinoleic acid may impart increased lubricity to the oil and its derivatives as compared to other vegetable oils. Likewise, the developing oilseed Lesquerella may also increase diesel lubricity through its unique hydroxy fatty acid composition. This study examines the effect of castor and Lesquerella oil esters on the lubricity of diesel fuel using the High-Frequency Reciprocating Rig (HFRR) test and compares these results to those for the commercial vegetable oil derivatives soybean and rapeseed methyl esters.
Separation of selected basic pharmaceuticals by reversed-phase and ion-exchange chromatography using thermally tuned tandem columns.

The separation of basic pharmaceuticals is usually performed on C8 or C18 bonded silica supports. Silanolphilic interactions between basic analytes and surface silanol groups often lead to tailed peaks, poor efficiency, and irreproducible retention times. To solve these problems, many new types of silica-, zirconia-, and polymer-based columns, which provide unique selectivities, improved stability at high pH, or both, have been developed for the analysis of basic compounds. The essence of method development for the chromatographic analysis of basic compounds is to choose a system in which the band spacing can be varied dramatically, quickly, and conveniently while minimizing the tailing due to silanolphilic interactions. The thermally tuned tandem column (T3C) approach has been shown to provide an effective way to adjust stationary-phase selectivity for nonionic compounds. In this study, a tandem combination of an octadecylsilane (ODS) and a polybutadiene-coated zirconia (PBD-ZrO2) phase was used to separ...
Carbon Nanosheet Cathodes for Use in Milliamp Class Field Emission Devices

Summary form only given. Field emission sources have distinct advantages such as short turn-on time, high power efficiency, low thermal signature, modulation control and the ability to be a variable current source that are desirable for high-current applications. However, scale-up of current density, device lifetime and device robustness has been limited to date. In this talk we present recent results using carbon nanosheets (CNS) as the field emission source in a high-current, back-gated device. Carbon nanosheets consist of free-standing graphene layers 100 microamps, 3% at max current; 100 sec/cycle) 200 hours, again without failure. Furthermore, the sweep-to-sweep repeatability was remarkably high over the entire 200 hours and the standard deviation of the maximum current was 10 mA/mm2 and internal modulation to GHz frequencies. Testing of prototype devices has produced upto 3.5 mA of current and lifetimes of over 20 hours. The primary device failure mode is dielectric breakdown due to Au diffusion. New Pt-based devices are under construction; testing results from these devices will also be presented
A transgenerational endocrine signaling pathway in Crustacea.

Background Environmental signals to maternal organisms can result in developmental alterations in progeny. One such example is environmental sex determination in Branchiopod crustaceans. We previously demonstrated that the hormone methyl farnesoate could orchestrate environmental sex determination in the early embryo to the male phenotype. Presently, we identify a transcription factor that is activated by methyl farnesoate and explore the extent and significance of this transgenerational signaling pathway.
Degree of fragmentations and number of distinctive features in the recognition of pictured objects by children and adults

Fragments (20%, 35%, and 50%) of pictures of line drawings of common objects, showing 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80% of the distinctive features, were presented to 44 nursery school children and 44 female undergraduates. Results indicated that the total number and the percentage of distinctive fragments played a significant part in the recognition of pictures: distinctive features were most effective when the representations were most impoverished. A trend was obtained between the percentage of distinctive fragments and the total number of fragments. College students needed fewer and less distinctive fragments for recognition than did nursery school children. Results were interpreted using the concepts of abstraction and filtering of distinctive features as proposed by Gibson (1969).
Sound Wave Propagation In A Two-dimensional Flexible Duct In The Presence Of An Inviscid Flow

Abstract An investigation is made of the phase velocity of the sound wave propagating in a two-dimensional flexible duct that carries a uniform flow. The flexible duct considered herein is composed of two parallel, thin elastic plates. The outer surfaces of the duct are in contact with a stationary fluid medium and its inside contains a uniform fluid flow. An eigenvalue problem is formulated for a two-dimensional flexible duct by satisfying pertinent boundary conditions across the fluid-plate interfaces. The sound pressure inside the duct is a summation of partial wave pressures, each of which is associated with a wave mode having its own phase velocity.
COCOA: A New Validated Instrument to Assess Medical Students' Attitudes Towards Older Adults

This study tested the reliability and validity of the Carolina Opinions on Care of Older Adults (COCOA) survey compared with the Geriatric Assessment Survey (GAS). Participants were first year medical students (n = 160). A Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) measurement model for COCOA had a moderately strong fit that was significantly better than the null model (GFI = 0.81, TLI = 0.90) and the GAS (GFI = 0.76). A reduced, 24-item COCOA performed well (GFI = 0.90, TLI = 1.00) with R 2 = .595 on five factors. The COCOA and GAS represent complementary instruments for assessing attitudes towards older adults.
Montmorillonite Functionalized with Pralidoxime as a Material for Chemical Protection against Organophosphorous Compounds

Montmorillonite K-10 functionalized with α-nucleophilic 2-pralidoxime (PAM) and its zwitterionic oximate form (PAMNa) is introduced as a versatile material for chemical protection against organophosphorous (OP) compounds such as pesticides and chemical warfare agents (CWA). Upon inclusion into the montmorillonite interlayer structure, the pyridinium group of PAMNa is strongly physisorbed onto acidic sites of the clay, leading to shrinking of the interplanar distance. Degradation of diethyl parathion by PAMNa-functionalized montmorillonite in aqueous-acetonitrile solutions occurred primarily via hydrolytic conversion of parathion into diethylthio phosphoric acid, with the initial stages of hydrolysis observed to be pseudo-first-order reactions. Hydrolysis catalyzed by the clay intercalated by PAMNa was 10- and 17-fold more rapid than corresponding spontaneous processes measured at 25 and 70 °C, respectively. Hydrolytic degradation of diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP), a CWA simulant, was studied on montmor...
Experimental implementation of a logical Bell state encoding

Liquid-phase NMR is a general-purpose testbed for developing methods of coherent control relevant to quantum information processing. Here we extend these studies to the coherent control of logical qubits and in particular to the unitary gates necessary to create entanglement between logical qubits. We report an experimental implementation of a conditional logical gate between two logical qubits that are each in decoherence-free subspaces that protect the quantum information from fully correlated dephasing.
Induction of Enhanced Acoustic Startle Response by Noise Exposure: Dependence on Exposure Conditions and Testing Parameters and Possible Relevance to Hyperacusis

There has been a recent surge of interest in the development of animal models of hyperacusis, a condition in which tolerance to sounds of moderate and high intensities is diminished. The reasons for this decreased tolerance are likely multifactorial, but some major factors that contribute to hyperacusis are increased loudness perception and heightened sensitivity and/or responsiveness to sound. Increased sound sensitivity is a symptom that sometimes develops in human subjects after acoustic insult and has recently been demonstrated in animals as evidenced by enhancement of the acoustic startle reflex following acoustic over-exposure. However, different laboratories have obtained conflicting results in this regard, with some studies reporting enhanced startle, others reporting weakened startle, and still others reporting little, if any, change in the amplitude of the acoustic startle reflex following noise exposure. In an effort to gain insight into these discrepancies, we conducted measures of acoustic startle responses (ASR) in animals exposed to different levels of sound, and repeated such measures on consecutive days using a range of different startle stimuli. Since many studies combine measures of acoustic startle with measures of gap detection, we also tested ASR in two different acoustic contexts, one in which the startle amplitudes were tested in isolation, the other in which startle amplitudes were measured in the context of the gap detection test. The results reveal that the emergence of chronic hyperacusis-like enhancements of startle following noise exposure is highly reproducible but is dependent on the post-exposure thresholds, the time when the measures are performed and the context in which the ASR measures are obtained. These findings could explain many of the discrepancies that exist across studies and suggest guidelines for inducing in animals enhancements of the startle reflex that may be related to hyperacusis.
Three-dimensional polymer MEMS with functionalized carbon nanotubes by microstereolithography

Microfabrication techniques such as bulk micromachining and surface micromachining currently employed to conceive MEMS are largely derived from the standard IC and microelectronics technology. Even though many MEMS devices with integrated electronics have been achieved by using the traditional micromachining techniques, some limitations have nevertheless to be underlined: 1) these techniques are very expensive and need specific installations as well as a cleanroom environment, 2) the materials that can be used up to now are restricted to silicon and metals, 3) the manufacture of 3D parts having curved surfaces or an important numberof layers is not possible. Moreover, for some biological applications, the materials used for sensors must be compatible with human body and the actuators need to have high strain and displacement which the current silicon based MEMS do not provide. It is thus natural for the researchers to 'look' for alternative methods such as Microstereolithography (MSL) to make 3D sensors and actuators using polymeric based materials. For MSL techniques to be successful as their silicon counterparts, one has to come up with multifunctional polyers with electrical properties comparable to silicon. These multifunctional polymers should not only have a high sensing capability but also a high strain and actuation performance. A novel UV-curable polymer uniformly bonded with functionalized nanotubes was synthesized via a modified three-step in-sity polumerization. Purified multi-walled nanotubes, gained from the microwave chemical vapor deposition method, were functionalized by oxidation. The UV curable polymer was prepared from toluene diisocyanate (TDI), functionalized nanotubes, and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA). The chemical bonds between -NCO groups of TDI and -OH, -COOH groups of functionalized nanotubes help for conceiving polymeric based MEMS devices. A cost effective fabrication techniques was presented using Micro Stereo Lithography and an example of a micropump was also described. The wireless concept of the device has many applications including implanted medical delivery systems, chemical and biological instruments, fluid delivery engines, pump coolants and refrigerants for local cooling of electronic components.
Coupling water and smoke to thin deformable and rigid shells

We present a novel method for solid/fluid coupling that can treat infinitesimally thin solids modeled by a lower dimensional triangulated surface. Since classical solid/fluid coupling algorithms rasterize the solid body onto the fluid grid, an entirely new approach is required to treat thin objects that do not contain an interior region. Robust ray casting is used to augment a number of interpolation, finite difference and rendering techniques so that fluid does not leak through the triangulated surface. Moreover, we propose a technique for properly enforcing incompressibility so that fluid does not incorrectly compress (and appear to lose mass) near the triangulated surface. This allows for the robust interaction of cloth and shells with thin sheets of water. The proposed method works for both rigid body shells and for deformable manifolds such as cloth, and we present a two way coupling technique that allows the fluid's pressure to affect the solid. Examples illustrate that our method performs well, especially in the difficult case of water and cloth where it produces visually rich interactions between the particle level set method for treating the water/air interface and our newly proposed method for treating the solid/fluid interface. We have implemented the method on both uniform and adaptive octree grids.
Parametric Optimization of a Sol-Gel Process for the Synthesis of Highly-Oriented (Pb, Ba)TiO3 Thin Films

A sol-gel process incorporating lead acetate trihydrate, barium acetate and titanium isopropoxide as precursors, acetylacetone as a chelating agent, and ethylene glycol as a solvent was used to prepare solid solution (Pb0.5,Ba0.5)TiO3. Water content, annealing temperature and heating rate were varied and the resulting effects on material properties were studied using TGA/DSC, FTIR, FESEM and X-ray diffraction. Crystallization of the perovskite structure occurred at a temperature as low as 450°C. Thin films were prepared by spin coating on (100) MgO using the optimized precursor sol. Pyrolysis and anneal temperatures were varied and the resultant film properties investigated. The pyrolysis temperature used to dry the film was found to strongly affect orientation. Under optimized conditions, highly oriented films were obtained at a crystallization temperature of 600°C.
Holomorphic reproducing kernels for piecewise-smooth planar domains

Abstract For smoothly bounded, multiply connected domains in the complex plane, S. Bell showed how the Kerzman–Stein method can be used to compute the Szegő kernel and Ahlfors map. In this paper, we present a modification of that method for domains that are piecewise-smooth. The procedure is based on a method of preliminary transformation and involves adding an explicit holomorphic function to the Cauchy kernel. In the last section, we show the effectiveness of using this method for the special case of a square.
A needs assessment of medical school faculty: caring for the caretakers.

Introduction: We conducted an assessment of need for faculty development and mentoring in a medical school to guide program planning and use of scarce resources. Methods: A multifaceted approach included semi-structured interviews, nominal group process, and a 36-item questionnaire to reach all faculty in the school, including senior administrators. Results: With a 72% response rate, we validated the questionnaire and, using principal components analysis, identified and prioritized the eight interpretable subdimensions: personal growth, achieving balance, teaching, professional networking, research, administrative skills, career progression, and diversity/ethics. All groups of faculty prioritized learning for sustaining their vitality, balancing their personal and professional lives, finding meaning in their work, relationships, and personal growth. Senior administrators prioritized the following for faculty: time management, an institutional outlook, teamwork, and improved performance in teaching, research, and clinical practice. Junior faculty expressed the need for mentoring, scholarship, research, and career planning. Discussion: Attention to faculty humanistic needs and the disparity between the perceived needs by faculty and senior administrators may help explain the attrition of faculty in academic medicine.
Improving network robustness by edge modification

An important property of networked systems is their robustness against removal of network nodes, through either random node failure or targeted attack. Although design methods have been proposed for creating, ab initio, a network that has optimal robustness according to a given measure, one is often instead faced with an existing network that cannot feasibly be substantially modified or redesigned, yet whose robustness can be improved by a lesser degree of modification. We present empirical results that show how robustness, as measured either by the size of the largest connected component or by the shortest path length between pairs of nodes, is affected by several different strategies that alter the network by rewiring a fraction of the edges or by adding new edges. We find that a modest alteration of an initially ‘scale-free’ network can usefully improve robustness against attack, particularly when the fraction of attacked nodes is small, and we identify modification schemes that are most effective for this purpose.
Atomic-scale transport in epitaxial graphene

The high carrier mobility of graphene is key to its applications, and understanding the factors that limit mobility is essential for future devices. Yet, despite significant progress, mobilities in excess of the 2×10(5) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) demonstrated in free-standing graphene films have not been duplicated in conventional graphene devices fabricated on substrates. Understanding the origins of this degradation is perhaps the main challenge facing graphene device research. Experiments that probe carrier scattering in devices are often indirect, relying on the predictions of a specific model for scattering, such as random charged impurities in the substrate. Here, we describe model-independent, atomic-scale transport measurements that show that scattering at two key defects--surface steps and changes in layer thickness--seriously degrades transport in epitaxial graphene films on SiC. These measurements demonstrate the strong impact of atomic-scale substrate features on graphene performance.
The Influence of Informal Work and Subjective Well‐Being on Childbearing in Post‐Soviet Russia

In this article I show that in Russia two factors--subjective well-being and participation in informal work--are significantly positively related to wanting and having additional children. The causes and consequences of subjective well-being and engaging in informal work are commonly studied in disciplines such as psychology and economics but they have rarely been examined with respect to fertility outcomes. Subjective well-being is a psychological resource that helps people maintain a positive attitude in their daily lives while participation in informal work indicates an ability to act regardless of labor market insecurity. Although these two factors are not directly related they are indicators of the willingness to assume additional responsibilities including bearing and rearing children. (excerpt)
The Development of Effective Learning Skills Programs

AbstractResearch pertaining to the development of a college learning skills program is reviewed. The program is based upon an information processing paradigm with additional inputs from learning theory. Data is presented to show the success of the program in terms of increased mean grade point averages for participating students. In addition, a subsection of the learning skills program that deals with input and reading skills is also reviewed. Data indicating the interaction of personality variables with reading program output are presented; as are data indicating the superiority of instrumental or operant based programming as opposed to traditional programming.
B lymphoblastoid cell lines as efficient APC to elicit CD8+ T cell responses against a cytomegalovirus antigen.

Potent and readily accessible APC are critical for development of immunotherapy protocols to treat viral disease and cancer. We have shown that B lymphoblastoid cell lines (BLCL) that stably express CMV phosphoprotein 65 (BLCLpp65), as a result of retroviral transduction, can be used to generate ex vivo CTL cultures that possess cytotoxicity against CMV and EBV. In this report, we demonstrate that the EBV-specific cytotoxicity in the BLCLpp65-primed culture had a spectrum of EBV-Ag recognition similar to that of the BLCL-primed counterpart, suggesting that retroviral transduction and expression of the CMV Ag would not compromise the Ag-presenting capacity of BLCL. In addition, BLCLpp65 appeared to present multiple natural pp65 epitopes, because pp65-specific CTL, which recognized different CMV clinical isolates, were generated in BLCLpp65-primed cultures from individuals with various HLA backgrounds. Consistent with a polyclonal expansion of virus-specific CTL, T cell lines established from the BLCLpp65-primed CTL cultures expressed different TCR-V β . Although most of the virus-specific T cell isolates were CD8 + , EBV-specific CD4 + lines were also established from BLCLpp65-primed cultures. Western blot analysis revealed that the CD8 + lines, but not the CD4 + line, expressed granzyme B, consistent with features of classic CTL. Thus, our results suggested that BLCL stably expressing a foreign Ag might be used as a practical APC to elicit CD8 + T cell responses.
A Forest-structured Bloom Filter with flash memory

A Bloom Filter (BF) is a data structure based on probability to compactly represent/record a set of elements (keys). It has wide applications on efficiently identifying a key that has been seen before with minimum amount of recording space used. BF is heavily used in chunking based data de-duplication. Traditionally, a BF is implemented as in-RAM data structure; hence its size is limited by the available RAM space on the machine. For certain applications like data de-duplication that require a big BF beyond the size of available RAM space, it becomes necessary to store a BF into a secondary storage device. Since BF operations are inherently random in nature, magnetic disk provides worse performance for the random read and write operations. It will not be a good fit for storing the large BF. Flash memory based Solid State Drive (SSD) has been considered as an emerging storage device that has superior performance and can potentially replace disks as the preferred secondary storage devices. However, several special characteristics of flash memory make designing a flash memory based BF very challenging. In this paper, our goal is to design an efficient flash memory based BF that is fully aware of these physical characteristics. To this end, we propose a Forest-structured BF design (FBF). FBF uses a combination of RAM and flash memory to design a BF. BF is stored on the flash, while RAM helps to mitigate the impact of slow write performance of flash memory. In addition, in-flash BF is organized in a forest-like structure in order to improve the lookup performance. Our experimental results show that FBF design achieves 2 times faster processing speed with 50% less number of flash write operations when compared with the existing flash memory based BF designs.
Project Management Decisions with Uncertain Targets

Project management decision rules presume that fixed and inflexible targets have been defined for the project. If a project’s slack is defined as the difference between actual project performance and these targets, then these decision rules can be characterized as maximizing the probability that slack is nonnegative (i.e., maximizing the probability of meeting the targets). These rules rely on z-scores to compare uncertain performance to target levels. Following these decision rules will not always suffice for the project manager to act consistently with customer preferences. In particular, actual requirements may be uncertain or subject to change, and customers may have some flexibility. A decision-analytic approach accounting for these factors can allow the project manager to maximize the customer’s expected utility. We redefine project slack to reflect the difference between performance and a random target that reflects both the customer’s risk tolerance and uncertainty about the actual requirement. Th...
Cytokine profiles by peripheral blood monocytes are associated with changes in behavioral symptoms following immune insults in a subset of ASD subjects: an inflammatory subtype?

Background: Some children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by fluctuating behavioral symptoms following immune insults, persistent gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, and a lack of response to the first-line intervention measures. These children have been categorized as the ASD-inflammatory subtype (ASD-IS) for this study. We reported a high prevalence of non-IgE mediated food allergy (NFA) in young ASD children before, but not all ASD/NFA children reveal such clinical features of ASD-IS. This study addressed whether behavioral changes of ASD-IS are associated with innate immune abnormalities manifested in isolated peripheral blood (PB) monocytes (Mo), major innate immune cells in the PB. Methods: This study includes three groups of ASD subjects (ASD-IS subjects (N = 24), ASD controls with a history of NFA (ASD/NFA (N = 20), and ASD/non-NFA controls (N = 20)) and three groups of non-ASD controls (non-ASD/NFA subjects (N = 16), those diagnosed with pediatric acute onset-neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS, N = 18), and normal controls without NFA or PANS (N = 16)). Functions of purified PB Mo were assessed by measuring the production of inflammatory and counter-regulatory cytokines with or without stimuli of innate immunity (lipopolysaccharide (LPS), zymosan, CL097, and candida heat extracts as a source of β-lactam). In ASD-IS and PANS subjects, these assays were done in the state of behavioral exacerbation (‘flare’) and in the stable (‘non-flare’) condition. ASD-IS children in the ‘flare’ state revealed worsening irritability, lethargy and hyperactivity. Results: ‘Flare’ ASD-IS PB Mo produced higher amounts of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-6) without stimuli than ‘non-flare’ ASD-IS cells. With zymosan, ‘flare’ ASD-IS cells produced more IL-1β than most control cells, despite spontaneous production of large amounts of IL-1s. Moreover, ‘flare’ ASD-IS Mo produced less IL-10, a counterregulatory cytokine, in response to stimuli than ‘non-flare’ cells or other control cells. These changes were not observed in PANS cells. Conclusions: We observed an imbalance in the production of inflammatory (IL-1s and IL-6) and counterregulatory (IL-10) cytokines by ‘flare’ ASD-IS monocytes, which may indicate an association between intrinsic abnormalities of PB Mo and changes in behavioral symptoms in the ASD-IS subjects.
On the Sample Complexity of Robust PCA

We estimate the rate of convergence and sample complexity of a recent robust estimator for a generalized version of the inverse covariance matrix. This estimator is used in a convex algorithm for robust subspace recovery (i.e., robust PCA). Our model assumes a sub-Gaussian underlying distribution and an i.i.d. sample from it. Our main result shows with high probability that the norm of the difference between the generalized inverse covariance of the underlying distribution and its estimator from an i.i.d. sample of size N is of order O(N-0.5+e) for arbitrarily small e > 0 (affecting the probabilistic estimate); this rate of convergence is close to the one of direct covariance estimation, i.e., O(N-0.5). Our precise probabilistic estimate implies for some natural settings that the sample complexity of the generalized inverse covariance estimation when using the Frobenius norm is O(D2+δ) for arbitrarily small δ > 0 (whereas the sample complexity of direct covariance estimation with Frobenius norm is O(D2)). These results provide similar rates of convergence and sample complexity for the corresponding robust subspace recovery algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only work analyzing the sample complexity of any robust PCA algorithm.