cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pronated escape system (PRESS)

Abstract : Aerodynamic and biomechanic analyses are presented for a fighter seat and escape system. A semi-enclosed seat configuration is described that provides pilot protection for ejections at a dynamic pressure of 2000 psf, well beyond the capability of existing open-seat ejection systems. Increased ejection performance is achieved by taking advantage of a pronated (forward-leaning) seat configuration to increase pilot protection from windstream deceleration forces, and provide stability in the windstream prior to deployment of the drogue chute. These enhancements, in conjunction with the increased pilot g-tolerance during flight (described herein), make the concept of a pronated fighter seat very attractive. A computer model of pressure distribution on panels was used to predict aerodynamic forces and moments. computer simulation of ejection dynamics was used to predict dynamic stability. Keywords: Cockpits. (kr)
Hierarchical placement and floorplanning in BEAR

Hierarchical placement and floorplanning algorithms for rectangular blocks are described and implemented as part of the BEAR building block layout system developed at the University of California at Berkeley. The algorithm combines the goal orientation of top-down approaches with the block orientation of bottom-up techniques. The result is a meet-in-the-middle strategy. It considers the mutual dependency between placement and routing explicitly by incorporating a novel method of hierarchical routing area estimation. If the layout includes flexible blocks, the placement result can be further optimized by resizing these blocks subject to constraints on their areas and aspect ratios. Placement and floorplanning are refined more and more (with possible topological change) as routing proceeds. Global routing is updated incrementally to eliminate the need for iterations between placement and routing, thus achieving a more uniform design flow. >
The case against quality

H ow's this for sage investment adwce> "Invest in compames that produce world class products, over the long term, they're certain to be winners " Sounds as sm~ple as Will Rogers' advice. "Don't gamble, take all your savings and buy some good stock • "rod hold ~t till it goes up, then sell ~t If it don' t go tip, don' t buy it " Certamly there has been a resurgence of the doctrmes of quahty that Deming, Juran, and Drucker have been preaching throughout the world for the past 40 years The terms "quahty" and "rehabdity" have even become "buzz words" for Amencan busmesses, resulting in the products and processes of such companies as Gdlette, Coca-Cola, Maytag, L L Bean, Cornmg Glass, Federal Express, 3M, Xerox, Motorola, Intel, and Cray Research becom m g benchmarks for countless other firms The coveted Baldnge Award and a dozen other quality commendat ions have further promoted an emphasis on quahty The effect has not been felt just by the megacorporanons, but by the smaller, faster growing compames as well For example, Baldrige wmner Motorola has given its suppliers until this year to apply for the Baldnge Award or risk being dropped as its supphers Many companies have also found that consumers are wilhng to pay a p r e m m m for quahty products According to a recent Gallup survey, Amencan consumers would pay 21 percent more for a better quahty car, 42 percent more for a better quahty dmhwasher, 67 percent more for a better quahty television, and 72 percent more for a better quahty pmce of furniture These results would certamly be consistent with research conducted by the Strategic Planning Institute (SPI), which found that relanve perceived product or service quahty ~s the single most important factor affecting the performance of a business All of this would suggest that compames with quahty products would be outstanding performers over the long term But can we bank on these companies for quality returns on Wall Street> This arncle explores that quesnon Do Quality Producers Produce Quality Returns for Investors?
Agent-based modeling of the effects of social norms on enrollment in payments for ecosystem services.

a b s t r a c t Conservation investments are increasingly being implemented through payments for ecosystem ser- vices (PES) for the protection and restoration of ecosystem services around the world. Previous studies suggested that social norms have substantial impacts on environmental behaviors of humans, including enrollment of PES programs. However, it is still not well understood how social norms are affected by the design of PES programs and how the evolution of social norms may affect the efficiency of conservation investments. In this paper, we developed an agent-based simulation model to demonstrate the evolu- tion and impacts of social norms on the enrollment of agricultural land in a PES program. We applied the model to land plots that have been enrolled in China's Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP) to examine reenrollment in an alternative payment program when the current payments ceased. The study was conducted in Wolong Nature Reserve where several thousand plant and animal species, including giant pandas, may benefit from the reenrollment. We found that over 15% more GTGP land can be reenrolled at the same payment if social norms were leveraged by allowing more than 10 rounds of interactions among landholders regarding their reenrollment decisions. With only three rounds of interactions, an additional 7.5% GTGP land was reenrolled at the same payment due to the effects of social norms. In addition, the effects of social norms were largest at intermediate payments and were smaller at much higher or much smaller payments. Even in circumstances where frequent interactions among landhold- ers about their enrollment decisions are not feasible, policy arrangements that divide households into multiple waves for sequential enrollment can enroll over 11% more land at a given payment level. The approach presented in this paper can be used to improve the efficiency of existing PES programs and many other conservation investments worldwide.
Design tools in practice: studying the designer-tool relationship in interaction design

This paper presents findings from semi-structured interviews with professional interaction designers. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between interaction designers and their design tools---specifically the reasons behind their choice of tools. The findings show that the relationship between designers and their tools is more complex than commonly assumed. The paper argues that a deeper understanding of the complexity of the designer-tool relationship can make a difference for both education and practice.
Polyethylenimine catalysts containing an isolated apolar binding site: Solovolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters

The preparation dodecane-block-poly[ethylenimine-graft-4(5)-methylimidazole] copolymers and related model compounds has been described and such polymers have been described and such polymers have been demonstrated to be efficient catalysts for the hydrolysis of activated phenyl esters in aqueous solutions. Polymeric catalysts that contain isolated apolar blocks exhibited enhanced catalytic activity for the hydrolysis of the p-nitrophenyl esters of acetate and butyrate compared with polymer model compounds. This rate enhancement was atributed to the apolar binding of substrate within the apolar polymer regime. Twenty-to 100-fold increases in the second-order rate constants were observed for the hydrolysis of the longer-chain p-nitrophenyl esters. This is indicative of a significant hydrophobic interaction. The contribution of the apolar block to the hydrophobic interaction was masked in the hydrolysis of the p-nitrophenyl caproate and p-nitrophenyl laurate substrates. In both instances the dominant contribution to the hydrophobic interactions was ascribed to a substrate-imidazole intermediate rather than the apolar block of the catalyst. The pH-rate profiles for the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters by the various catalysts indicated an absence of any cooperative interactions between imidazole residues or amine groups.
In-Route Nearest Neighbor Queries

Nearest neighbor query is one of the most important operations in spatial databases and their application domains, such as location-based services and advanced traveler information systems. This paper addresses the problem of finding the in-route nearest neighbor (IRNN) for a query object tuple which consists of a given route with a destination and a current location on it. The IRNN is a facility instance via which the detour from the original route on the way to the destination is smallest. This paper addresses four alternative solution methods. Comparisons among them are presented using an experimental framework. Extensive experiments using real road map datasets are conducted to examine the behaviors of the solutions in terms of five parameters affecting the performance. The overall experiments show that our strategy to reduce the expensive path computations to minimize the response time is reasonable. The spatial distance join-based method always shows better performance with fewer path computations compared to the recursive methods. The computation costs for all methods except the precomputed zone-based method increase with increases in the road map size and the query route length but decrease with increases in the facility density. The precomputed zone-based method shows the most efficiency when there are no updates on the road map.
Multi-megawatt solid state RF source

Summary form only given. An RF system using solid state switching has been designed and constructed that is capable of driving a loop antenna with a circulating power of 60 megawatts for millisecond pulses. The primary application of this system is to produce an oscillating magnetic field in the frequency range of 0.2 to 0.7 MHz, to generate and sustain a large plasma current. The maximum power transfer from the RF source was measured to be greater than 10 megawatts. The driver consisted of 12 insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules driven in parallel, and was capable of switching 20 kA at 1700V. A sinusoidal current waveform with large circulating currents was obtained on the antenna by incorporating the antenna in a high Q (60), parallel LCR resonant circuit. The low impedance switch driver was matched to the antenna load through a 20:1 step-up, air core transformer with a coupling efficiency of 99%. In order to go through higher power, a somewhat different approach will need to be employed. The design of a much larger (/spl sim/1 GW circulating power) will be presented.
Frequency and Rate of Pilin Antigenic Variation of Neisseria meningitidis

The rates of pilin antigenic variation (Av) of two strains of Neisseria meningitidis were determined using an unbiased DNA sequencing assay. Strain MC58 underwent pilin Av at a rate similar to that of N. gonorrhoeae strain MS11 but lower than that of N. gonorrhoeae strain FA1090. Pilin Av was undetectable in strain FAM18.
Error control code combining techniques in cluster-based cooperative wireless networks

In this paper, we introduce a novel link layer cooperation technique in noisy wireless networks to improve overall system throughput and reliability, and to reduce the cost of retransmission and energy consumption. Under a cluster-based network design, code combining is used together with FEC to improve the link layer reliability. This approach is different from how code combining is used in the conventional hybrid ARQ, which is in a sequential way. The analytical results and the simulations show that with the cooperation of nodes in a clustering network, the link reliability is greatly improved with the same power consumption. Equivalently, this can be viewed as the same link performance with a lower transmission power and lower interference.
Compiler implementation in a formal logical framework

The task of designing and implementing a compiler can be a difficult and error-prone process. In this paper, we present a new approach based on the use of higher-order abstract syntax and term rewriting in a logical framework. All program transformations, from parsing to code generation, are cleanly isolated and specified as term rewrites. This has several advantages. The correctness of the compiler depends solely on a small set of rewrite rules that are written in the language of formal mathematics. In addition, the logical framework guarantees the preservation of scoping, and it automates many frequently-occurring tasks including substitution and rewriting strategies. As we show, compiler development in a logical framework can be easier than in a general-purpose language like ML, in part because of automation, and also because the framework provides extensive support for examination, validation, and debugging of the compiler transformations. The paper is organized around a case study, using the MetaPRL logical framework to compile an ML-like language to Intel x86 assembly. We also present a scoped formalization of x86 assembly in which all registers are immutable.
Structural Features and Preparation

A polymer chain can be conveniently described by specifying the kind of repeating units present and their spatial arrangement. Molecules composed of chemically and stereochemically identical units (terminal units excepted) are termed homopolymers. When the chain is composed of more than one kind of repeating unit, it is called a copolymer. The chain units can be interconnected in a variety of ways that must, of course, be consistent with the rules of chemical bonding. It is therefore possible for many different geometrical patterns to evolve. The simplest polymer, in terms of chain structure, is the linear homopolymer. As the name implies, the chain units, in this case, are arranged in a linear sequence that can be represented schematically as shown by Figure 2.1. Here A represents the repeating or structural Y---A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A---X unit, and X and Y are the terminal units that may or may not be different from one another and from A.
An enhanced rate control scheme with motion assisted slice grouping for low bit rate coding in H.264

This paper presents an enhanced rate control scheme for H.264 using motion detection and motion analysis. PSNR based measure is used for determining motion complexity and detecting scene changes. Motion vectors and rate distortion measures are further used to classify regions with motion inside a frame and macro-blocks are then grouped into slices using the flexible macro-block ordering feature of H.264. We present a filtered slice grouping technique to maintain a stable region of motion. The proposed method provides smoother quality videos with better average PSNR. The bit rates are within bound and fewer frames are skipped in sequences with scene changes at low bit rates.
The Economic Consequences Of Repealing The Estate Tax Law

The federal estate tax has been a part of our tax structure since the founding of the country. It is the federal government’s only tax on accumulated transfers of wealth. From its inception in 1916, it has been applied only to very large estates. The transfer of wealth can take place during the individual’s life (gift) or at the time of death (estate). Both types of transfer are combined and taxed according to the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1976. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1976 was an important legislation affecting the structure of both the federal estate and gift taxes. In this Act, a unified system of taxation was established which treats both transfers of wealth, either during the life of the owner (gift) or at his or her death (estate) uniformly. The recent legislation of 2001 made drastic changes to the tax rates and the level of exemptions of the 1976 federal estate tax. According to this legislation, the maximum estate tax rate will drop gradually during the period of 2002-2010. Beginning in 2002, the maximum unified tax rate is reduced from 55% to 50%. This drop will reach to 45% by the year 2007 and will remain unchanged till 2009. The limit of exemption for a taxable transfer of wealth will increase from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 by the year 2004, to $2,000,000 by 2006, to $3,500,000 by 2009, and to infinity by 2010 (estate tax will be repealed). This original version of federal estate tax will come back in 2011, unless the Congress decides differently and changes the law. Like other social, economic, and tax issues, the transfer of wealth tax (estate and gift) is subject to debate and disagreements. The opponents of the estate tax support their views by referring to the immorality aspect of the tax and its undesired economic consequences. The supporters of the estate tax present their arguments on the basis of fairness and the ability of the tax to encourage charitable contributions. In addition, they believe that t he economic consequences of repealing the estate tax would ripple through our economy and reduce federal revenues. Consequently, it could bring inequity and unfair distribution of wealth among the citizens and eventually could culminate in high difference in the class level of citizens. In our view, the federal estate tax is a tax worth fighting to keep and attempting to improve. If it were repealed, the burden of taxes would be felt more by those who have no wealth and had paid their income taxes on their earned income once before. Consequently, the lawmakers should keep the federal estate tax and fixing it by adjusting the amount of exemptions and the tax rates to reasonable, effective, and fair levels.
The contemporary social work record.

The SOCIAL WORK RECORD no longer reflects only the special nature of a particular service transac tion. Increasingly Important as a source of Information for the organi zation, a new record has evolved In response to changes In social work practice and the demands of the ser vice environment. However, the ef forts of practitioners and adminis trators to Improve record keeping in their organizations have been hind ered by the lack of a contemporary definition of the social work record
The Influence of Institutional Investment on Tax Aggressiveness

This study investigates the association between tax reporting aggressiveness and types of institutional ownership. We find firms with higher levels of transient institutional owners are more likely to engage in aggressive tax planning leading to permanent and temporary differences. These results are robust to Granger causality tests and to a lesser degree changes specification. We find firms with more quasi-indexer ownership are less likely to engage in tax planning leading to permanent differences, but these results are sensitive to invariant time series characteristics of the tax measures. We find an association, albeit weak, between firms with dedicated institutional ownership and temporary differences. We also examine cash taxes paid over the past five years and find firms with higher levels of institutional investors are statistically more likely to own firms with lower cash effective tax rates. This holds regardless of heterogeneity in institutional ownership, however the economic significance is greatest for the transient group.
A Cross-Lingual Dictionary for English Wikipedia Concepts

We present a resource for automatically associating strings of text with English Wikipedia concepts. Our machinery is bi-directional, in the sense that it uses the same fundamental probabilistic methods to map strings to empirical distributions over Wikipedia articles as it does to map article URLs to distributions over short, language-independent strings of natural language text. For maximal inter-operability, we release our resource as a set of flat line-based text files, lexicographically sorted and encoded with UTF-8. These files capture joint probability distributions underlying concepts (we use the terms article, concept and Wikipedia URL interchangeably) and associated snippets of text, as well as other features that can come in handy when working with Wikipedia articles and related information.
Draft Genome Sequence of Janthinobacterium sp. Ant5-2-1, Isolated from Proglacial Lake Podprudnoye in the Schirmacher Oasis of East Antarctica

ABSTRACT Janthinobacterium sp. Ant5-2-1, isolated from the Schirmacher Oasis of East Antarctica, produces a purple-violet pigment, manifests diverse energy metabolism abilities, and tolerates cold, ultraviolet radiation, and other environmental stressors. We report here the 6.19-Mb draft genome of strain Ant5-2-1, which will help understand its survival mechanisms in extreme Antarctic ecosystems.
Long-Run Forecasts of National Health Expenditure Growth

The “state of the art” in forecasting long run medical spending is assessed in models used by CMS, CBO, and the Society of Actuaries. Tracking medical expenditures by nominal dollar growth and real per capita spending are useful, yet focusing on the share (of wages, laborforce, or GDP) provides the perspective most immediately applicable to policy and capable of providing the most robust long run forecasts. Spending limits appear to be a variable result of politics and budgetary constraints more than morbidity and mortality. Although death and taxes may be certainties, “when” and “how much” are not.
Dynamic Bayesian network approach for modeling gene regulatory networks

A dynamic Bayesian network-based multiple data fusion method was used to improve the modelling accuracy and the inferred gene regulatory networks.Structural expectation maximization and particle filtering are used to learn the unknown network structure and the parameters in a method that can effectively handle missing and noisy data.The method captures the dynamic nature of the biological system and naturally incorporates other data from transcription factor binding location data into the original gene expression data.The effectiveness of the method is shown by tests on Saccharomyces Cerevisiae cell cycle data.The results show that the sensitivity and specificity of the method are increased by 19% and 95% for the gene expression data itself and the prediction accuracy is raised further with multiple data sources.
Antepartum fetal heart rate monitoring. State of the art.

1. AFHRT remains one of the most widely used methods of assessing fetal condition. 2. The actual types of tests used as primary surveillance tests are unimportant. Both the NST and CST have been successfully used. 3. The clinician should adopt a scheme in which they have all the data necessary to determine whether this will fit in with their practice. 4. Characteristics other than reactivity or nonreactivity are important. a. Abnormal baseline fetal heart rate or beat-to-beat variability b. Fetal heart rate decelerations 5. Amniotic fluid volume assessment is important particularly in cases of postdates and intrauterine growth retardation. 6. Condition-specific AFHRT (i.e., modifications of schemes to fit clinical circumstances) is an important concept. 7. Testing at gestational ages of 26 to 28 weeks may be appropriate in certain situations. After 28 weeks, AFHRT can be used reliably. 8. The integration of an AFHRT scheme into the total clinical picture is the key to success.
Surgery of the Maxillary Sinus

The maxillary sinus is one of the paired sinuses in the sinonasal cavity that is commonly associated with acute and chronic sinusitis. Surgical treatment is well established following failure of medical management. Surgical technique is critical in improving outcomes following surgery to prevent operative or postoperative complications and need for revision surgery.
The Primer Effects

The discovery of primer effects in mice began in the 1950s. The findings at that time were all made with female mice. When female mice were housed in groups without the odor of males, their estrous cycles were extended (Lee–Boot effect) resulting in less frequently coming into estrus. Exposure to male odor reversed this, i.e., the females with longer estrous cycles returned to short estrous cycle length (Whitten effect). This influence of male odor was stronger when the females were kept in larger group sizes. Influences of male odors on females were also observed to accelerate the timing of vaginal opening in female pups (Vandenbergh effect), such that their vaginal opening occurred earlier following exposure to male odor. These influences of male odors on the estrous cycles of females and timing of puberty suggested that sex hormone secretion is stimulated by the odor of opposite sex. Another primer effect found in the 1950s was the disruption of the establishment of pregnancy by exposure to the odor of an unfamiliar male (Bruce effect). Similar observations in male mice were not to occur until much later. For example, the sperm density in males exposed to female-soiled bedding was higher and sperm motility of subordinate males was low. This suggested that the influence was mediated by the odor of the dominant male. Primer effects are found in both males and females affecting reproductive status.
Jung’s Type Theory: Some Implications for Relationship Management in Marketing Channels

This paper links Jung’s theory of psychological types to research and managerial needs in marketing channels. The author demonstrates the applicability of type theory to channel research, theory building, and the recommendation of channel management strategies, particularly in the area of channel conflict.
MUTT: Metric Unit TesTing for Language Generation Tasks

Precise evaluation metrics are important for assessing progress in high-level language generation tasks such as machine translation or image captioning. Historically, these metrics have been evaluated using correlation with human judgment. However, human-derived scores are often alarmingly inconsistent and are also limited in their ability to identify precise areas of weakness. In this paper, we perform a case study for metric evaluation by measuring the effect that systematic sentence transformations (e.g. active to passive voice) have on the automatic metric scores. These sentence “corruptions” serve as unit tests for precisely measuring the strengths and weaknesses of a given metric. We find that not only are human annotations heavily inconsistent in this study, but that the Metric Unit TesT analysis is able to capture precise shortcomings of particular metrics (e.g. comparing passive and active sentences) better than a simple correlation with human judgment can.
UVRD, UVRE AND RECL REPRESENT A SINGLE GENE

A series of isogenic strains carrying either uvrD3, uvrD101, uvrE4, uveE100, uvrE502 or recL152 were analyzed for sensitivity to ultraviolet light, increased spontaneous mutation frequency and ability to carry out host cell reactivation. All strains showed similar levels of UV sensitivity and ability to carry out host cell reactivation. uvrD and uvrE mutants exhibited significant increases in spontaneous mutation frequency compared to wild type or recL152 strains. All the alleles were recessive in transconjugants carrying a wild type F′ plasmid. F′ plasmids carrying either uvrE502 or recL152 failed to complement any of the above alleles but did complement rep-3. Strains carrying polA12 and either recL152, uvrD3, uvrD101, uvrE4 or uvrE502 were conditionally lethal for growth and showed altered recombination properties at 37°.
Hipoteza artyfikacji i jej znaczenie dla kognitywizmu, neuroestetyki i estetyki ewolucyjnej

The artification hypothesis presented in this paper is based on the assumption that small children have the ability not ju st to persuade other to give them physical safety but also to initiate social bonds and emotional interaction. Thus the interactions between the child and mother are adaptive in their character and as such they were not considered by evolutionary psychologists. The other factor of artification is the ritualization of those interactions. The article delivers many examples of proto aesthetic actions and artifications stressing out also the religious aspect of the phenomenon. The author concludes with the notion that artification and aesthetic agency are adaptive as such and they were just as important in the human evolution as nonverbal information transmission.
691. A Light-Inducible CRISPR/Cas9 System for Control of Endogenous Gene Activation

Optogenetic systems enable precise spatiotemporal control of gene expression and cellular behavior that is easily reversible and repeatable. Optogenetic technologies that facilitate dynamic control of endogenous genes would facilitate the systematic analysis of the relationship of gene expression patterns and cell differentiation or disease treatment. We engineered a light-activated CRISPR/Cas9 effector (LACE) system that induces transcription of endogenous genes in the presence of gene-specific guide RNAs (gRNAs) and blue light. This system is based on the plant proteins CRY2 and CIB1 from Arabidopsis thaliana that heterodimerize in response to blue light. The full-length CRY2 was fused to the N-terminus of the transcriptional activator VP64 (CRY2FL-VP64), and an N-terminal fragment of CIB1 was fused to the N- and C-terminus of the catalytically inactive form of Cas9 (CIBN-dCas9-CIBN). When these fusion proteins are expressed with a gRNA, CIBN-dCas9-CIBN localizes to the gRNA target. In the presence of blue light, CRY2FL binds to CIBN, which translocates CRY2FL-VP64 to the gene target and activates transcription. Unlike other optogenetic systems, the LACE system can be targeted to new endogenous loci by solely manipulating the specificity of the gRNA without having to re-engineer the light-inducible proteins.Light-dependent activation of the IL1RN, HBG, or ASCL1 genes was achieved by delivery of the LACE system and four gene-specific gRNAs per promoter region. Illuminated cells in which IL1RN or HBG1/2 was targeted demonstrated significantly greater mRNA levels in the light compared to the dark (p<0.0001 and 0.005, respectively), as well as equivalent activation levels to dCas9-VP64 (p=0.17 and 0.35, respectively). Significant light-dependent activation was also observed when the ASCL1 locus was targeted with the LACE system (p<0.0001). However, in this case mRNA levels were not activated to the same extent as cells that received dCas9-VP64 and the same four ASCL1-targeting gRNAs. In all instances, transfected cells incubated in the dark maintained levels of the targeted gene that did not significantly differ from mock-transfected cells. Importantly, the fusion of CIBN to both N- and C-termini of dCas9 yielded 10- to 100-fold greater gene activation than when CIBN was fused to only one terminus.Endogenous gene expression could be controlled in a reversible and repeatable fashion by modulating the duration of blue light exposure. Spatial patterning of gene expression was also achieved using an eGFP reporter. Cells illuminated though a photomask containing slits of varying width resulted in a corresponding pattern of eGFP-expressing cells. This versatile LACE system is a valuable tool for studying dynamic gene expression patterns in synthetic biology, basic science, and tissue engineering. View Large Image | Download PowerPoint Slide
Sharps injury recordkeeping activities and safety product use in California health care facilities: pilot study results from the sharps injury control program.

Abstract Background: In 1999, licensed health care facilities in California (N = 2532) were invited to participate in a survey about occupational bloodborne pathogens exposure surveillance activities, recordkeeping methods, and use of safety-enhanced sharps devices. Results: A total of 1274 facilities responded to the survey from January 1999 through August 1999 (response rate=50%). Sharps-related injuries were recorded for multiple departments on various forms in diverse manners. Only 66% of hospitals, 37% of home health agencies, and 33% of skilled nursing facilities reported sharps injuries on a mandated sharps injury log. More than 70% of facilities stated that they used some type of safety device or needleless system, but this figure varied by type of device and facility type. Eighty-four percent of general acute care hospitals, 28% of home health agencies and skilled nursing facilities each had evaluated at least 1 safety-enhanced device. Almost 90% of all facilities expressed a need for educational materials on topics such as device selection and evaluation. Conclusions: Standardization of surveillance and recordkeeping activities does not exist across facility types. Standards and regulations demand complex recordkeeping activities. Increased funding for distribution of educational materials and on-site training should accompany changes in mandated reporting activities when appropriate. Increased testing and evaluation of devices across facility types are necessary to ensure that safety-enhanced devices are protective of health care workers and patients. (Am J Infect Control 2002;30:269-76.)
Feeding habits and dietary overlap during the larval development of two sandperches (Pisces: Pinguipedidae)

Two species of sandperch (Pinguipedidae: Perciformes), Prolatilus jugularis and Pinguipes chilensis , inhabit the coastal waters of the South Pacific. Both species have pelagic larvae with similar morphology, but their diet preferences are unknown. Diet composition, feeding success, trophic niche breadth and dietary overlap were described during larval stages for both species. In the austral spring, larval P. jugularis (3.83-10.80 mm standard length [SL]) and P. chilensis (3.49-7.71 mm SL) during their first month of life had a high feeding incidence ( > 70%) and fed mostly on copepod nauplii ( > 80% IRI), Rhincalanus nasutus metanauplii and Paracalanus indicus copepodites. The number of prey ingested was low (mean: 4-5 prey per gut) and independent of larval size; total prey volume and maximum prey width increased as larvae grew. Mouth opening and ingested prey were greater in larval P. jugularis than in P. chilensis , leading to significant differences in prey composition among larval species, in terms of prey number and volume. Pearre’s trophic niche breadth was narrow for both species (0.159±0.07 for P. jugularis ; 0.156±0.03 for P. chilensis ) and independent of larval size. Dietary overlap was high inter- and intra-species in larvae with a mouth gape < 900 μm. These results suggest the relative importance of both larval species as primary consumers of the pelagic web in nearshore environments of rocky temperate areas.
Biochemical risk markers and 10-year incidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: independent predictors, improvement in pooled cohort equation, and risk reclassification.

Background The recommendation for statins in primary atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) prevention begins with risk estimation using the pooled cohort equation (PCE). However, treatment decisions may still remain uncertain after PCE-based assessment. We therefore developed a simple biomarker score that could supplement decision making. Methods Using the prospectively collected database of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, we identified biochemical risk markers that independently predicted 10-year risk of ASCVD and developed an aggregate biomarker score based on them. Thereafter, we assessed for incremental benefit of these markers over the PCE using C-statistic, net reclassification index (NRI), and integrated discrimination index (IDI). Results A total of 5,303 adults free of ASCVD at baseline were included in this study. Five biochemical risk markers—high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, homocysteine, albuminuria, N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide, and troponin T—that predicted 10-year risk of ASCVD were combined into an aggregate biomarker score (CHAN2T3), which demonstrated a graded increase in the rate of incident ASCVD from 2.1% among participants with score of 0 to 25% among participants with score of 5. In addition, a biomarker score of ≥2 was associated with improvement in the C-statistic of the PCE (0.748 vs 0.734, P = .02), integrated discrimination index (P Conclusions A novel CHAN2T3 biomarker score could supplement risk-based discussion for ASCVD prevention, especially when treatment decision is uncertain. Further validation in other cohorts is however warranted
Toughening Anhydride-Cured Epoxy Resins Using Fatty Alkyl-Anhydride-Grafted Epoxidized Soybean Oil

The aim of this work is to develop a series of advanced biobased tougheners for thermosetting epoxy resins suitable for high-performance applications. These bio-rubber (BR) tougheners were prepared via a one-step chemical modification of epoxidized soybean oil using biobased hexanoic anhydride. To investigate their toughening performance, these BR tougheners were blended with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A epoxy monomers at various weight fractions and cured with anhydride hardeners. Significant improvements in fracture toughness properties, as well as minimal reductions in glass transition temperature (Tg), were observed. When 20 wt % of a BR toughener was utilized, the critical stress intensity factor and critical strain energy release rate of a thermosetting matrix were enhanced by >200 and >500%, respectively, whereas the Tg was reduced by only 20 °C. The phase-separated domains were evenly dispersed across the fracture surfaces as observed through scanning electron microscopy and atomic force micros...
Factors associated with falls in older adults with cancer: a validated model from the Cancer and Aging Research Group.

Falls in older adults with cancer are common, yet factors associated with fall-risk are not well-defined and may differ from the general geriatric population. This study aims to develop and validate a model of factors associated with prior falls among older adults with cancer. In this cross-sectional secondary analysis, two cohorts of patients aged ≥ 65 with cancer were examined to develop and validate a model of factors associated with falls in the prior 6 months. Potential independent variables, including demographic and laboratory data and a geriatric assessment (encompassing comorbidities, functional status, physical performance, medications, and psychosocial status), were identified. A multivariate model was developed in the derivation cohort using an exhaustive modeling approach. The model selected for validation offered a low Akaike Information Criteria value and included dichotomized variables for ease of clinical use. This model was then applied in the validation cohort. The development cohort (N = 498) had a mean age of 73 (range 65–91). Nearly one-fifth (18.2%) reported a fall in the prior 6 months. The selected model comprised nine variables involving functional status, objective physical performance, depression, medications, and renal function. The AUC of the model was 0.72 (95% confidence intervals 0.65–0.78). In the validation cohort (N = 250), the prevalence of prior falls was 23.6%. The AUC of the model in the validation cohort was 0.62 (95% confidence intervals 0.51–0.71). In this study, we developed and validated a model of factors associated with prior falls in older adults with cancer. Future study is needed to examine the utility of such a model in prospectively predicting incident falls.
Non-tunneling origin of the 1/f noise in SiC MOSFET

It has long been established that MOSFET random telegraph noise and the cumulative 1/f noise is the result of inversion charge tunneling in and out of bulk traps in the gate oxide near the interface. The tunneling nature is a key concept upon which the technique of trap profiling using 1/f noise is based on. In this work, we examine the tunneling pathways in SiC MOSFETs and show that the 1/f noise observed in SiC MOSFETs is likely of a completely different nature involving above band edge interface states that do not require tunneling to capture the inversion charge.
Hemoglobin A2 levels in healthy persons, sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait, and β-thalassemia by capillary isoelectric focusing

Simultaneously measuring major and minor hemoglobin (Hb) variants by capillary isoelective focusing, we obtained HbA2 intervals in healthy volunteers (n = 412) (reference value) and patients with HbS or beta-thalassemia. We classified normal HbA2 reference intervals into three age groups: 5 months or younger (1.2% +/- 1.5%), 6 months to 1 year (2.2% +/- 0.9%), and 1 year or older (2.4% +/- 0.9%). These intervals were comparable to those used with other methods. Patients 1 year of age or older with HbS had significantly higher HbA2 levels (sickle cell trait, 2.9% +/- 0.9%; sickle cell anemia, 2.8% +/- 1.0%; P < .05). Although reference HbA2 intervals overlapped those in patients with HbS, no overlap in HbA2 levels was noted between these groups and patients with beta-thalassemia (observed range, 4.3% to 7.5%). The higher than normal HbA2 interval in patients with HbS must be considered before a diagnosis of sickle cell trait or sickle cell disease with beta-thalassemia is made.
Seatbelt wearing rate in a Chinese city: Results from multi-round cross-sectional studies.

Abstract Objective Road traffic crashes impose a heavy burden in China’s most populous city, Shanghai. Since early 2016, Shanghai police have started deploying high-resolution cameras and an object-detection algorithm in seatbelt enforcement. Around the same time, an international consortium on road safety launched a series of capacity trainings for law enforcement accompanied by infrastructure renovation and social marketing campaigns in Shanghai. Our objective is to assess the level and trend of seatbelt use in Shanghai over 2015-2017. Methods Ongoing observational studies evaluate seatbelt use within the city. Data are collected at eight randomly selected locations throughout the city, stratified by road type and geographic locations. Data collection covers most times of the day on both business days and weekends, providing a full representation of varying traffic models during both rush hours and non-rush hours. At each site, trained field workers observe seatbelt use of occupants in all passing motorized vehicles. A multivariate logistic regression model was developed to analyze the data. Findings From October 2015 to December 2017, six rounds of data collection were completed with a total sample size of 77,641 drivers and passengers of motor vehicles. The seatbelt use rate has steadily increased over time, from 60.8% (95% CI: 59.9%–61.7%) in round 1 to 84.9% (84.3%–85.4%) in round 6 (p-value Conclusion and policy implications Seatbelt use in Shanghai has been boosted during a short period of time through a combined strategy that includes training of police, social marketing campaign, and the deployment of computer vision assisted enforcement. Large cities in China and other countries facing similar challenges with seatbelt wearing may learn from Shanghai’s experience.
Generalizability of Automated Scores of Writing Quality in Grades 3-5.

The present study examined issues pertaining to the reliability of writing assessment in the elementary grades, and among samples of struggling and nonstruggling writers. The present study also extended nascent research on the reliability and the practical applications of automated essay scoring (AES) systems in Response to Intervention frameworks aimed at preventing and remediating writing difficulties (RTI-W). Students in Grade 3 (n = 185), Grade 4 (n = 192), and Grade 5 (n = 193) responded to six writing prompts, two prompts each in the three genres emphasized in the Common Core and similar “Next Generation” academic standards: narrative, informative, and persuasive. Prompts were scored using an AES system called Project Essay Grade (PEG). Generalizability theory was used to examine the following sources of variation in PEG’s quality scores: prompts, genres, and the interaction among those facets and the object of measurement: students. Separate generalizability and decision studies were conducted for each grade level and for subsamples of nonstruggling and struggling writers identified using a composite measure of writing skill. Low-stakes decisions (reliability ≥ .80) could be made by averaging scores from a single prompt per genre (i.e., 3 total) or 2 prompts per genre if administered to struggling writers (i.e., 6 total). High-stakes decisions (reliability ≥ .90) could be made by averaging across two prompts per genre (6 total) or 4–5 prompts per genre if administered to struggling writers (12–15 total). Implications for use of AES within RTI-W and the construct validity of AES writing quality scores are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Model Order Reduction Based on Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering

This paper presents an improved method for reducing high-order dynamical system models via clustering. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering based on performance evaluation (HC-PE) is introduced for model order reduction. This method computes the reduced order denominator of the transfer function model by clustering system poles in a hierarchical dendrogram. The base layer represents an $n{\textrm {th}}$ order system, which is used to calculate each successive layer to reduce the model order until finally reaching a second-order system. HC-PE uses a mean-squared error (MSE) in every reduced order, which modifies the pole placement process. The coefficients for the numerator of the reduced model are calculated by using the Pade approximation (PA) or alternatively a genetic algorithm (GA). Several numerical examples of reducing techniques are taken from the literature to compare with HC-PE. Two classes of results are shown in this paper. The first sets are single-input single-output models that range from simple models to 48th order systems. The second sets of experiments are with a multi-input multioutput model. We demonstrate the best performance for HC-PE through minimum MSEs compared with other methods. Furthermore, the robustness of HC-PE combined with PA or GA is confirmed by evaluating the third-order reduced model for the triple-link inverted pendulum model by adding a disturbance impulse signal and by changing model parameters. The relevant stability proofs are provided in Appendixes A and B in the supplementary material. HC-PE with PA slightly outperforms its performance with GA, but both approaches are attractive alternatives to other published methods.
Ectopic Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma of the Nasopharynx Diagnosed by Gallium 68 DOTATATE Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography.

Background Ectopic thyroid-secreting hormone (TSH)–secreting pituitary adenomas are rare, with only 9 cases reported in the literature. Case Description We describe a case of an ectopic TSH-secreting pituitary adenoma located in the nasopharynx in a patient initially presenting with signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism that persisted despite treatment with antithyroid medications. Magnetic resonance imaging of the pituitary gland was normal, although subsequent review by a neuroradiologist revealed a nodule attached to the posterior septum in the nasopharynx that was, in retrospect, seen on several other magnetic resonance imaging scans. Gallium 68 (68Ga) DOTATATE positron emission tomography/computed tomography showed increased uptake in the nasopharyngeal nodule. The patient underwent resection of the nasopharyngeal mass with remission of hyperthyroidism. On pathology, the resected mass stained positive for TSH and prolactin. Conclusions This is the first report of use of 68Ga-DOTATATE positron emission tomography/computed tomography to aid in localizing an ectopic TSH-secreting tumor. Prior studies have shown that 68Ga-DOTATATE positron emission tomography/computed tomography improves detection of small lesions with shorter imaging times and lower radiation doses compared with other modalities. Our case emphasizes the importance of using 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT in the diagnosis of ectopic pituitary adenomas, as these tumors can be challenging to diagnose radiographically.
The “Misura Aurea” of Italian Cooking: Defining Authentic Foods for Locals and Tourists in Postwar Italy, 1953 to 1974

The growth of postwar mass tourism in Italy drove the assertion of Italian identity through so- called authentic foods. I follow the actions of culinary societies alongside private and government t...