cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Investigation of Leading Edge Bhmtness on a Supersonic Transport

A computational analysis of the effects of leading edge bluntness on supersonic cruise performance for a supersonic commercial transport aircraft has been conducted. Two wing planforms, each with 10 leading edge bluntness distributions were analyzed at supersonic cruise speeds using the FLO57 Euler Computational Fluid Dynamics code. Comparisons were made between performance characteristics of bluntness distributions for each planform. The results show that wing configurations with blunt inboard sections and sharp outboard sections perform the best, having little or no negative effect on supersonic cruise performance. The major benefits of leading edge bluntness are improved performance and efficiency at subsonic speeds, which are necessary for flight over land and on approach or departure from airports. c CD CL CP L/D r R wing chord drag coefficient lift coefficient pressure coefficient lift/drag ratio leading edge radius leading edge radius parameter
On the Time Integration of Maxwell's Equations Associated With Debye Relaxation Processes

A generalized time integration scheme for Maxwell's equations in conjunction with Debye-type media is presented, analyzed and validated. The scheme, which employs a mixture of central differences and averages, easily accounts for multiple relaxations and is second-order accurate, as confirmed via a rigorous error analysis. Using a 3-D cavity filled with either methanol or water as a validation test, we confirm numerically the soundness of the approach.
How Near-Misses Influence Decision Making Under Risk: A Missed Opportunity for Learning

Although organizations appear to learn from obvious failures, we argue that it is harder for them to learn from “near-misses”---events in which chance played a role in averting failure. In this paper, we formalize the concept of near-misses and hypothesize that organizations and managers fail to learn from near-misses because they evaluate such events as successes and thus feel safer about the situation. We distinguish perceived (“felt”) risk from calculated statistical risk and propose that lower levels of perceived risk encourage people with near-miss information to make riskier subsequent decisions compared to people without near-miss information. In our first study, we confirm the tendency to evaluate near-misses as successes by having participants rate a project manager whose decisions result in either (a) mission success, (b) near-miss, or (c) failure. Participants (both students and NASA employees and contractors) give similar ratings to managers whose decisions produced near-misses and to managers whose decisions resulted in successes, and both ratings are significantly different from ratings of managers who experienced failures. We suggest that the failure to hold managers accountable for near-misses is a foregone learning opportunity for both the manager and the organization. In our second set of studies, we confirm that near-miss information leads people to choose a riskier alternative because of a lower perceived risk following near-miss events. We explore several alternative explanations for these findings, including the role of Bayesian updating in processing near-miss data. Ultimately, the analysis suggests that managers and organizations are reducing their perception of the risk, although not necessarily updating (lowering) the statistical probability of the failure event. We speculate that this divergence arises because perceived risk is the product of associative processing, whereas statistical risk arises from rule-based processing.
Anostracan (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) zoogeography I. North American bioregions.

Nine anostracan biogeographical regions are defined for North America: Appalachia/Ozark, Southwest Arid, Great Plains, Coastal Plain, Neotropical, California, Cold Deserts, Beringia/Canadian Shield, and Transmontane. These regions are quantitatively defined using species distributions compared through Jaccard’s Coefficient of Community Similarity, and qualitatively defined using climate data, following the ecoregions protocol of the US Environmental Protection Agency for North America and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico for Mexico. Community assemblages are quantified using Fager’s Index of Recurring Species Groups. The average Fager’s Index for each bioregion, as well as the percentage of taxa co-occurring, generally decreases with the length of time the region has been available for colonisation. The strong Fager’s Index/colonisation time availability relationship suggests that the Monopolization Hypothesis of De Meester et al. may function at larger landscape scales.
On Universal History

T HE problem of how to conceive and write "universal history" is increasingly haunting the imaginations and troubling the consciences of historians in the West. We live in one world, but our historiography is still national, or at most regional. We no longer really believe that piling the known historical facts higher and higher will save us, but we still hopefully support antiquarianism and monographic research. Professional historical writing has thus lost all power to influence the man in the street because its thought-frame is parochial, myopic, and so irrelevant to the modern world. It cannot prepare us to understand the world we live in unless it casts off Leopold von Ranke's Europe-centered mentality and becomes truly "universal" in attitude and perspective. Or so it seems to one particularly articulate British historian, Geoffrey Barraclough, in History in a Changing World, a volume of essays recently published. Barraclough's views are important for several reasons. He is Arnold Toynbee's successor in the Stevenson Research Chair of International History at Chatham House-a medievalist succeeding a classicist as editor of A Survey of International Affairs. He is typical of a particularly able group of younger British historians who came to maturity during and after the Second World War. And finally, he is a sound historian with a critical and inquiring mind who can say what he wants to say in vigorous English prose. If the results are sometimes baffling and confusing, they are nonetheless worth reading and pondering. To this reviewer the essays illuminate the intellectual and emotional tensions that are characteristic of sensitive European historians today. With considerable fanfare, Barraclough calls for "a new view of European history," "a new beginning in the writing of history," "not so much new knowledge as a new vision playing on old facts." We are living, he says, in a world "totally different" from Bismarck's and so it will not do merely to tinker with current historical conceptions. They need "radical revision." History "needs writing anew with another set of values in a new world." (Pp. vii, viii, 29, 62, I35, i68, 220.) Continuity is not the most prominent aspect of history. Nineteenth-
Occupational Aspirations Among the Totally Blind

Fundamental problems in social psychology are being explored through a program of research among the totally blind. This article presents comparative findings on the occupational aspirations of children and adults, both Negro and white, all of whom have been blind from birth or early childhood, plus collateral findings on the parents and sighted siblings of the blind children. Neither ignorance and fantasy nor the sense that they have been labeled and consigned to a brutish existence-both plausible hypotheses-have, in fact, shaped their approach to a career. The burdens of class and race that weigh heavily upon ordinary aspirants are unexpectedly lightened for them, and special processes of socialization within the family and of communication lead to the setting of high but not unrealistic goals. The literature on occupational and educational aspirations, plans, and attainments is so voluminous and includes studies so large in scale and elaborate in content that many may wonder about the need for still another study, especially one so small and bizarre as we shall report.' To put it simply, we describe the way a few hundred totally blind children and adults see the world of work. Blindness, fortunately, is very rare. Thus our findings would seem to have relevance only to an infinitesimal group
Using fMRI to characterize how cortex represents limb motions

Neuroimaging experiments that map limb motions on to the brain observe fractured somatotopic maps, with correlated neural responses across functionally related joints in the arm [1]. Analyzing such experiments involves visually comparing winner-takes-all neural activation maps for different subjects that are generated with generalized linear models [2]. Such analyses, however, abstract cross-joint correlations and treat reliable deviations from canonical neural (haemodynamic) response functions as temporal noise. Here, using classification accuracy while delineating different limb motions as a metric, we demonstrate that the peak neural response amplitude---upon which winner-takes-all analyses are based---is the least informative part of the time-series. In contrast, our experiments suggest that neural responses are most informative after the initial response peak (t=4-10s). Our observations extend to primary motor (M1), pre-motor (PMd), somatosensory (S1), superior parietal (SupPar), and supplementary motor (SMA) cortices, matching prior region-agnostic results [3]. As expected for open-loop limb motions, median M1 and S1 classification accuracies are greater than SupPar, PMd and SMA. All accuracies exceed the ventricles, which set a data-driven noise threshold at chance (50-55% accuracy; chance=50%) and demonstrate that our datasets lack task-correlated noise. Our results suggest that Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) time-series responses convey sufficient information to classify a variety of motor tasks in regions where neural activity is expected to be correlated across conditions. Reproducing our results, however, may require fMRI datasets with minimal (<1mm) head-motion, no spatial smoothing, and tests for null (baseline) results in regions with no expected effect.
Tapping healthcare resource by older Mexicans with diabetes: how migration to the United States facilitates access.

This study employs semi-structured interviews conducted in two small migrant towns in Michoacan, Mexico to determine how older Mexicans with diabetes access healthcare and treatment. Barriers in access to healthcare services are identified as well as how family members and migration are utilized to offset these limitations. Results indicate that former migrants who were economically successful in the USA have greater options in the type of services they are able to use. In addition, residents with diabetes who have family members living in the USA receive remittances in the form of money and medical supplies that aid in the treatment of their illness. Implications for policy are discussed.
Effect of Bile Salts on Ionic Permeability of Canine Gastric Mucosa During Experimental Shock

Intragastric bile salts are associated with a high frequency of gastric mucosal ulcers and erosions when instilled into the canine stomach during hemorrhagic shock. We studied the individual and combined effects of hemorrhagic shock and intragastric bile salts on ionic movement and mucosal injury in the dog. Mean net fluxes per 30 min of H+, Na+, Cl, and K+ after the instillation of HCl alone (160 and 100 mEq per liter) into the distally occluded stomach were not different (P>0.05) in normotensive and shocked animals, and none of these animals developed mucosal lesions. Fluxes of these ions, although increased 3- to 6-fold by the presence of bile salts (10 mm taurocholic acid), were not significantly different in normotensive and shocked animals. However, all animals who had bile salts and acid instilled into the stomach during hemorrhagic shock had large gastric erosions at autopsy. We conclude that ionic movement is not influenced by hemorrhagic shock, and that the production of ulcers in this model is dependent on shock and increased H+ back diffusion from disruption of the gastric mucosal barrier.
Comparison of oxygen-rich and mediator-based glucose-oxidase carbon-paste electrodes

Abstract The oxygen-independence and analytical performance of amperometric glucose carbon-paste biosensors based on oxygen-rich biocomposites and artificial mediators are critically compared. The oxygen demand is examined over a wide range of glucose concentrations or oxygen levels, and using different physiological electron acceptors and various sensing scenarios. The dimethyl-ferrocene (DMF)-, methylene-green (MG)-, and phenazine-methosulfate (PMS)-mediator carbon-paste biosensors display significant oxygen dependence over the entire concentration range tested, with substantially larger signals under severe oxygen-deficit conditions. In contrast, the fluorocarbon-oil based probe offers a total oxygen independence up to 1×10 −2 M glucose, with some sensitivity loss at higher levels in deoxygenated media. The oxygen-rich biocomposites are thus particularly advantageous in connection to the detection of hypoglycemia and mild hyperglycemia (but not in connection to severe hyperglycemia). The resistance to oxygen effect of the three mediators follows the order DMF>PMS>MG, reflecting the rates of their reaction with the enzyme (relative to the competing oxygen–glucose oxidase (GOx) reaction). The resistance to oxygen effects is demonstrated also under flow conditions relevant to commercial blood analyzers. Other analytical “figures of merit” of the mediator- and oxygen-rich carbon-paste biosensors are also compared.
Interference modeling of pulse-based UWB waveforms on narrowband systems

Due to the inherent overlay nature of ultrawideband (UWB) systems, it is important to understand and quantify the potential interference caused to narrowband systems that may be located within the bandwidth of the UWB waveform. The simplest way to treat UWB interference is to model it as additive, white Gaussian noise within the bandwidth of the narrowband receiver. However, previous experiments showed that the interference of UWB systems is a function of many factors, including the modulation used, the pulse repetition frequency, the center frequency of the "narrowband" system, and the structure of the "narrowband" receiver. This paper quantifies the effect that a UWB interferer has on the bit error probability of a generic "narrowband" system in order to determine the applicability of the white, Gaussian noise model. These results can also be used to help properly design a UWB system that causes minimal interference to known, overlayed narrowband systems.
Improving the performance of parallel relaxation-based circuit simulators

Describes methods of increasing parallelism, thereby improving the performance, of waveform relaxation-based parallel circuit simulators. The key contribution is the use of parallel nonlinear relaxation and parallel model evaluation to solve large subcircuits that may lead to load balancing problems. These large subcircuits are further partitioned and solved on clusters of tightly-coupled multiprocessors. This paper describes a general hybrid/hierarchical approach for waveform relaxation, and then focuses on the implementation issues regarding parallel nonlinear relaxation and parallel model evaluation. A number of benchmark circuits are used to demonstrate the improved performance of this approach and its range of applicability in parallel circuit simulation. >
Frozen section diagnosis of pancreatic lesions.

c Background.—The clinical and radiologic diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and the safety of pancreatic resections have improved. These improvements, together with the indication for resection in some cases of complicated chronic pancreatitis, have reduced the necessity for confirmed preoperative tissue diagnosis. We investigated the clinical use and accuracy of frozen section diagnosis for pancreatic lesions. Design.—We searched archival files for the years 1989‐ 2000 for patients with pancreatic lesions who had received a diagnosis based on frozen section results. We compared the diagnosis of all frozen section slides with that of the permanent sections and reviewed the clinical follow-up notes. We evaluated histologic features useful in differentiating between malignant and benign pancreatic lesions. Results.—A total of 538 patients underwent surgical biopsy and/or resection for suspected pancreatic lesions. Frozen section was requested in 131 cases (284 frozen sections). Ninety cases had frozen section of the pancreatic lesions, 70 cases had frozen section of metastatic sites, and 29 cases had frozen section of surgical margins. Of the 90 cases in which frozen section of the pancreatic lesions was requested, malignancy was diagnosed in 44, a benign lesion was diagnosed in 37, and the diagnosis was atypical and deferred in 9. In total, 3 false-negative frozen sections and 1 false-positive frozen section were identified for respective rates of 1.2% and 0.3%. In all cases in which the frozen section diagnosis was deferred or was inconsistent with the operative impression, and the surgeon acted on his/her impression, the operative diagnoses were subsequently confirmed by additional permanent sections and/ or clinical follow-up. The most useful histologic features for the diagnosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma in frozen sections were variation in nuclear size of at least 4:1, disorganized duct distribution, incomplete duct lumen, and infiltrating single cells. Conclusions.—Frozen sections are useful in conjunction with the impression at surgery for the management of patients with pancreatic lesions. Frozen sections of resection margins were 100% accurate; frozen sections of pancreatic lesions or metastatic sites were accurate in 98.3% of cases. We found an acceptable rate of deferred frozen section (6.6%). The experienced surgeon’s impression of malignancy is reliable in cases in which frozen section is deferred or has negative findings. (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2002;126:1169‐1173)
Human-derived probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri strains differentially reduce intestinal inflammation

Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) is a probiotic that inhibits the severity of enteric infections and modulates the immune system. Human-derived L. reuteri strains DSM17938, ATCC PTA4659, ATCC PTA 5289, and ATCC PTA 6475 have demonstrated strain-specific immunomodulation in cultured monocytoid cells, but information about how these strains affect inflammation in intestinal epithelium is limited. We determined the effects of the four different L. reuteri strains on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation in small intestinal epithelial cells and in the ileum of newborn rats. IPEC-J2 cells (derived from the jejunal epithelium of a neonatal piglet) and IEC-6 cells (derived from the rat crypt) were treated with L. reuteri. Newborn rat pups were gavaged cow milk formula supplemented with L. reuteri strains in the presence or absence of LPS. Protein and mRNA levels of cytokines and histological changes were measured. We demonstrate that even though one L. reuteri strain (DSM 17938) did not inhibit LPS-induced IL-8 production in cultured intestinal cells, all strains significantly reduced intestinal mucosal levels of KC/GRO (∼IL-8) and IFN-γ when newborn rat pups were fed formula containing LPS ± L. reuteri. Intestinal histological damage produced by LPS plus cow milk formula was also significantly reduced by all four strains. Cow milk formula feeding (without LPS) produced mild gut inflammation, evidenced by elevated mucosal IFN-γ and IL-13 levels, a process that could be suppressed by strain 17938. Other cytokines and chemokines were variably affected by the different strains, and there was no toxic effect of L. reuteri on intestinal cells or mucosa. In conclusion, L. reuteri strains differentially modulate LPS-induced inflammation. Probiotic interactions with both epithelial and nonepithelial cells in vivo must be instrumental in modulating intrinsic anti-inflammatory effects in the intestine. We suggest that the terms anti- and proinflammatory be used only to describe the effects of a probiotic in the living host.
Comprehensive device modeling of plasmon-enhanced and optical field-dependent photocurrent generation in organic bulk heterojunctions

We present a comprehensive numerical model to describe the coupled optical and electrical behavior of plasmon-enhanced polymer/fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells. We incorporate a bound electron/hole pair generation rate that is dependent on both the 2-dimensional position within the P3HT:PCBM active layer, and the solar spectral irradiance. By considering the absorption and plasmonic properties of two different popular device architectures, and applying the Poisson, current continuity, and drift/diffusion equations, we are able to predict quantum efficiency, short-circuit current density, and desired carrier mobility ratios for devices possessing strongly non-uniform optical fields commonly produced by nanostructures.
Learning in brain and machine-complexity, Gödel, Aristotle.

COMBINATORIAL COMPLEXITY OF LEARNING Brains learn much better than computers, this has been discussed in a number of reviews on artificial intelligence, pattern recognitions, and neural networks (Perlovsky, 2001, 2006a). But why? Is there a fundamental reason behind computers being slow learners? Often slow learning is discussed in terms of computational complexity (Perlovsky, 1998), which is usually measured by the number of operations. Scientists have thought that faster computers would be able to catch up with the brain. Still, this has not happened despite computers becoming increasingly faster. Reviews (Perlovsky, 2001, 2006a; Perlovsky et al., 2011) have explained why: computational complexity of learning algorithms grows as a combinatorial (exponential) function of the complexity of a problem to be learned. This means that a learning algorithm might look like it’s quite capable of learning, and indeed, it learns solutions to simple problems. However, slightly more complex problems require not just slightly more computations, but require significantly more. So much more, in fact that learning problems of average complexity require more learning examples and more computer operations than all of the interactions of all elementary particles in the entire life of the Universe (In this article such complexity is called “practically infinite.”). The reason for combinatorial complexity can be explained as follows: consider first, an example of a simple problem requiring no combinatorial complexity for learning: recognition of a single isolated object, which always appears exactly the same. Learning consists in storing in memory the object’s image. Recognition consists in matching the stored image to a newly presented image: match or no match. The complexity of this algorithm approximately equals the number of pixels in an image. But in a real situation the object is not always exactly same; the algorithm has to account for variations in viewing angles, distance, color, etc. In addition, other objects are present with their variabilities. Combinations of various objects with their variabilities lead to combinatorial complexity. Combinations of all pixels in the field of view should be considered. A human eye senses ∼10,000 pixels 10 times a second. Today, sensors measure millions of pixels each second (or more). The number of combinations of these pixels is “practically infinite”; combinations of 100 pixels (a relatively simple problem) are 100100; this number is close to all of the interactions of all elementary particles in the entire life of the Universe.
A Noncausal Relation Between Casual Sex in Adolescence and Early Adult Depression and Suicidal Ideation: A Longitudinal Discordant Twin Study

Research on relations between casual sex and mental health is inconclusive; while some studies indicate casual sex may lead to more negative mental health (e.g., depression), other studies report no such relationship. Using a genetically informed approach, this study examined whether earlier casual sex (i.e., ever engaging in casual sex and number of casual sex partners) in adolescence has a causal influence on later mental health in young adulthood (i.e., depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation), as well as the reverse relationship (adolescent negative mental health on young adult casual sex) by exploiting the quasi-experimental nature of discordant-twin models. Multilevel models that measured within-twin and between-twin pair effects of adolescent casual sex were estimated, using 714 twins (357 twin pairs) from the sibling subsample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results indicated that there was no causal relationship between casual sex in adolescence and higher levels of depressive symptoms or suicidal ideation in young adulthood, and these effects did not differ by gender. There were also no causal relations between adolescent depressive symptoms or suicidal ideation and casual sexual experience in young adulthood. Implications for ways to increase scientific rigor by using different methods (e.g., genetically informed analyses) are discussed.
XLII.—The dates of publication of ‘Synopsis des Diatomées de Belgique,’ by Henri Van Heurck

(1933). XLII.—The dates of publication of ‘Synopsis des Diatomees de Belgique,’ by Henri Van Heurck. Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Vol. 12, No. 70, pp. 442-443.
Feminist surveillance studies

Surveillance studies has become richly interdisciplinary, reaching out to fields as diverse as media studies, economics, philosophy, and the arts. Despite this branching out, however, there remains...
Failure Mode Correlation in Weakest-Link Systems

An approximate method for the analysis of Weakest-Link systems is presented. Using the Normal and Extremal Distributions, a study of the effect of failure mode correlation on systems of two modes was carried out. It was observed that correlation between failure modes contributes significantly to the risk prediction only for high correlation values. By examination of the sensitivity of larger systems to correlation, a hand method of system risk analysis was developed. Example applications to truss and frame structures are presented.
NDSC and the JPL Stratospheric Lidars

The Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change is an international cooperation providinga set of high-quality, remote-sensing instruments at observing stations around the globe. A brief description of the NDSC and its goals is presented. Lidar has been selected as the NDSC instrument for measurements of stratospheric profiles of ozone, temperature and aerosol. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed and implemented two stratospheric lidarsystems for NDSC. These are located at Table Mountain, California, and at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. These systems, which utilize differential absorption lidar, Rayleigh lidar, Raman lidarand backscatter lidar, to measure ozone, temperature and aerosol profiles in the stratosphereare briefly described. Examples of results obtained for both long-term and individual profilesare presented.
How to manage pain in addicted patients.

Does administering large opioid doses to treat acute pain exacerbate addiction issues? This article clears up persistent myths about addiction and pain relief, and discusses how to manage acute pain in a patient addicted to opioids.
HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION OF GENETIC VARIATION IN THE SAILFIN MOLLY, POECILIA LATIPINNA (PISCES: POECILIIDAE).

Twenty-two percent of all allozyme variation documented in the sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna) was attributable to regional differences, while only 3% was attributable to differences among demes within regions. Of the variation documented in a given region, 6-12% was attributable to variation among demes. Cluster analyses supported these conclusions quantitatively. Spatial-autocorrelation analyses offered more explicit support: demes separated by increasingly greater distances were increasingly dissimilar. Analyses using F statistics and rare alleles suggest "effective gene flow rates" (the product of effective population size and gene flow rate) of approximately 4, a level more than sufficient to prevent local independence of gene-frequency dynamics. These results, taken together, suggest that mollies do not have a population structure conducive to the operation of Wright's shifting-balance process and make the striking patterns of interdemic variation in body size and sexual behavior observed in this species all the more interesting.
Using educational prescriptions to teach medical students evidence-based medicine

Purpose: To evaluate feasibility and impact of evidence-based medicine (EBM) educational prescriptions (EPs) in medical student clerkships.Methods: Students answered clinical questions during clerk...
Outdoor Scene Classification Using Labeled Segments

Categorize scene images into classes require semantic understanding of the content in the images. However, traditional approaches start from pixels or local rigid rectangle patches, which are sub-optimal to semantic segments. In this chapter, we will review the significance and problems of semantic segments in previous work and propose a robust semantic segmentation system as the state-of-the-art solution.
Information technology, best practices, and care management: Part I.

As we approach the 21st Century, the health care industry will face an increasing number of challenges in dealing with managed care, one of which is information technology, or the lack thereof. In the conclusion of a two-part article, the author explains that these developing technologies will speed the next revolution in health care, a revolution that will increasingly recognize how vital care management will be to the future of health care delivery.
Cost of comprehensive pharmaceutical services in a 45-bed rural hospital

The financial impact of a comprehensive pharmacy program on patient charges and hospital operating costs in a 45-bed community hospital was studied. Data were collected retrospectively for the fiscal year prior to initiating pharmacy services (FY73), the fiscal year during program development (FY74) and the fiscal year following full operations (FY75). The total cost of pharmacy services increased 75% from FY73 to FY75, with the largest dollar increase being in pharmacy salaries. Large increases among other cost items also were noted. The average total cost for pharmacy services increased from $3.28 per patient day in FY73 to $6.04 in FY75 (84%). Total hospital cost per patient day increased by approximately $35 from FY73 to FY75 (5%). The pharmaceutical services fee per dose of medication administered did not change from FY73 to FY75. Patient charges per day for medications and pharmaceutical services increased $0.55 (9.8%) from FY73 to FY75. There was a 55% reduction in the number of items carried in pharmacy inventory from FY73 to FY74 following the initiation of a formulary and a unit dose drug distribution system.
Thermal quench mitigation and current quench control by injection of mixed species shattered pellets in DIII-D

Injection of large shattered pellets composed of variable quantities of the main ion species (deuterium) and high-Z impurities (neon) in the DIII-D tokamak demonstrates control of thermal quench (TQ) and current quench (CQ) properties in mitigated disruptions. As the pellet composition is varied, TQ radiation fractions increase continuously with the quantity of radiating impurity in the pellet, with a corresponding decrease in divertor heating. Post-TQ plasma resistivities increase as a result of the higher radiation fraction, allowing control of current decay timescales based on the pellet composition. Magnetic reconstructions during the CQ show that control of the current decay rate allows continuous variation of the minimum safety factor during the vertically unstable disruption, reducing the halo current fraction and resulting vessel displacement. Both TQ and CQ characteristics are observed to saturate at relatively low quantities of neon, indicating that effective mitigation of disruption loads by shattered pellet injection (SPI) can be achieved with modest impurity quantities, within injection quantities anticipated for ITER. This mixed species SPI technique provides a possible approach for tuning disruption properties to remain within the limited ranges allowed in the ITER design.
Perspective by incongruity in Norman Thomas's “some wrong roads to peace”

Widely respected as the nation's “Great Dissenter,” Norman Thomas was leader of the Socialist Party in the United States during the second quarter of the twentieth century. His rhetorical career consisted of passionate calls for social justice and of carefully crafted challenges to the prevailing public views on the major issues of his time. This essay examines “Some Wrong Koads to Peace” which Thomas delivered on July 23, 1943 to a national radio audience. The speech is a vivid example of Thomas's signature style: His use of what Kenneth Burke described as “perspective by incongruity.” By his ironic images and incongruent word combinations, Thomas forced a reinterpretation of the meaning and significance of World War II, and in so doing, he encouraged his audience to reconsider the way their interpretation of war implicated them as moral agents.
Unbiased screen identifies aripiprazole as a modulator of abundance of the polyglutamine disease protein, ataxin-3

No disease-modifying treatment exists for the fatal neurodegenerative polyglutamine disease known both as Machado-Joseph disease and spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. As a potential route to therapy, we identified small molecules that reduce levels of the mutant disease protein, ATXN3. Screens of a small molecule collection, including 1250 Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs, in a novel cell-based assay, followed by secondary screens in brain slice cultures from transgenic mice expressing the human disease gene, identified the atypical antipsychotic aripiprazole as one of the hits. Aripiprazole increased longevity in a Drosophila model of Machado-Joseph disease and effectively reduced aggregated ATXN3 species in flies and in brains of transgenic mice treated for 10 days. The aripiprazole-mediated decrease in ATXN3 abundance may reflect a complex response culminating in the modulation of specific components of cellular protein homeostasis. Aripiprazole represents a potentially promising therapeutic drug for Machado-Joseph disease and possibly other neurological proteinopathies.
Information Extraction from PDF Sources Based on Rule-Based System Using Integrated Formats

Information extraction from the PDF sources is a tedious task. Most of the existing approaches use either tag-based format such as HTML and XML, or Plain-text format for the extraction of information. In this paper, we present an information extraction technique for research papers which exploits both XML and text formats intelligently. The various patterns and rules are prepared from integrated formats. Furthermore, the intelligent processing of XML and Plain-text for various situations compliments the approach to achieve high accuracy. The proposed approach is a heuristic based approach that extracts the information about logical structure and supportive materials of research papers.
Affection Deprivation in Romantic Relationships

The current study examined the role of affection deprivation, the need for greater affection than an individual is currently receiving, in the context of romantic relationships. Using affection exchange theory, the authors hypothesized several testable relationships between affection deprivation and relational outcomes (relational satisfaction, closeness, and commitment). The study also examined the possible moderating roles of relational maximization and relational uncertainty. Overall, the results supported the predictions, with affection deprivation significantly related to satisfaction and closeness. Relational maximization moderated the significant relationships between deprivation and relational satisfaction and commitment. Relational uncertainty moderated the significant relationships between deprivation and closeness and commitment. Implications and possible directions for future research are discussed.
Effect of Exercise Training on Non-Exercise Physical Activity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background Many overweight and obese individuals use exercise when attempting to lose weight. However, the improvements in weight and body composition are often far less than expected. Levels of physical activity outside of the structured exercise program are believed to change and may be responsible for the unsuccessful weight loss.
Health Self-management Among Older Prisoners: Current Understandings and Directions for Policy, Practice, and Research.

ABSTRACTThe population of aging prisoners has increased significantly over the past several decades, resulting in concerns about the criminal justice system’s ability to address the needs of prisoners and parolees with chronic health conditions. This is troubling, given the health disparities among incarcerated populations. Health self-management has become a strategy within the community-based health care industry to improve health services and outcomes while reducing health care costs for nonincarcerated individuals with chronic conditions. However, to date little research has focused on the practice or promotion of health self-management among current and former incarcerated populations. This article highlights current understandings about chronic health self-management among older prisoners and parolees, with an emphasis on the potential benefits and current challenges in promoting their health self-management practices. Finally, specific recommendations are made for promoting health self-management f...
Kinetic study of methane reforming with carbon dioxide over NiCeMgAl bimodal pore catalyst

The kinetic behavior of NiCeMgAl bimodal pore catalyst for methane reforming with CO2 was investigated after the elimination of external and internal diffusion effects in a fixed-bed reactor as a function of temperature and partial pressures of reactants and products. Increase in CO2 partial pressure favors the consumptions of CH4 and CO2 but inhibits the formation of H2 due to the existence of reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction. The reforming rate increased first and then reached a horizontal stage with the rise of CH4 partial pressure. A Langmuir–Hinshelwood model was developed assuming that the carbon deposition is ignorable but the RWGS reaction is non-ignorable and the removal of adsorbed carbon intermediate is the rate-determining step. A nonlinear least-square method was applied to solve the kinetic parameters. The derived kinetic expression fits the experimental data very well with a R2 above 0.97, and also predicts the products flow rate satisfactorily. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 2019–2029, 2017
High level abstractions and automatic optimization techniques for the programming of irregular algorithms

High-performing irregular algorithms are typically implemented using simple operations and conventional control structures. In addition, due to today's compilers inability to manipulate these implementations, program tuning must usually be done by hand. Better notations and automatic optimization would help improve programmer productivity, portability, and maintainability. This talk will review high-level notation proposals for the description of irregular algorithms, as well as compiler and autotuning techniques for the optimization of these algorithms. A short discussion of open research problems and necessary conditions for adoption of these more advanced notations and strategies will conclude the presentation.
The psychological consequences of income inequality

In this paper, we review and integrate the contemporary literature on the societal effects of income inequality, drawing on social, personality, developmental, and organizational psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and public health. Living in highly unequal regimes is associated with both increased mistrust and increased anxiety about social status; these psychological mechanisms help explain some of the negative outcomes associated with income inequality, such as lower happiness, lower social cohesion, weaker morality, higher mortality, worse health, and weaker governance.
Bending percutaneous drainage catheters to facilitate CT-guided insertion using curved trocar technique.

To assess the safety and efficacy of placing thoraco-abdominal drainage catheters under CT-guidance using a curved trocar technique. A retrospective study of 182 CT/CT-fluoroscopy-guided thoraco-abdominal catheter drainages was conducted; half were performed by residents or fellows under the supervision of one radiologist (Group 1) and the other half under the supervision of 10 other radiologists (Group 2). Group 1 procedures employed a curved catheter assembly placed using trocar technique (n = 44) or straight catheters placed with Seldinger technique (n = 47). Group 2 procedures employed a straight catheter placed using trocar technique (n = 16) or straight catheters placed with Seldinger technique (n = 75). Technical success, procedure time, radiation dose (CT Dose Index CTDIvol), and adverse events (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, 4.0) were compared between techniques and groups using Student’s t test, Fisher’s exact test or Chi-square analysis. All procedures in groups 1 and 2 were technically successful. Mean procedure time for Group 1 curved trocar technique (28 ± 8 min) was shorter than groups 1 and 2 Seldinger technique (37 ± 11 min, p = .00002). Mean CTDIvol for Group 1 curved trocar technique (107.8 ± 54.2 mGy) was lower than groups 1 and 2 Seldinger technique (136.1 ± 99.7 mGy, p = 0.032). Adverse event rates for curved trocar, straight trocar, and Seldinger techniques were 2.3% (1/44), 0% (0/16), and 3.3% (4/122), respectively (p = 1); all were grade 1 or 2, and no catheter malfunctions occurred. The curved catheter trocar technique is a safe and effective modification of the standard trocar technique that may facilitate CT-guided procedures impeded by CT gantry size limitations.
Generation of a cysteine sulfinic acid analog for incorporation in peptides using solid phase peptide synthesis

The sulfinic acid analog of aspartic acid, cysteine sulfinic acid, introduces a sulfur atom that perturbs the acidity and oxidation properties of aspartic acid. Cysteine sulfinic acids are often introduced in peptides and proteins by oxidation of cysteine, but this method is limited as all cysteine residues are oxidized and cysteine residues are often oxidized to sulfonic acids. To provide the foundation for the specific incorporation of cysteine sulfinic acids in peptides and proteins, we synthesized a 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc) benzothiazole sulfone analog. Oxidation conditions to generate the sulfone were examined and oxidation of the Fmoc-protected sulfide (3) with NbC in hydrogen peroxide provided the corresponding sulfone (4) in the highest yield and purity. Reduction with sodium borohydride generated the cysteine sulfinic acid (5) suggesting this approach may be an efficient method to incorporate a cysteine sulfinic acid in biomolecules. A model tripeptide bearing a cysteine sulfinic acid was synthesized using this approach. Future studies are aimed at using this method to incorporate cysteine sulfinic acids in peptide hormones and proteins for use in the study of biological function.
Who Publishes More Books in U.S. English Departments, Men or Women?

The “gender gap” in the U.S. publication of English language and literature scholarly books has not been fully investigated. In order to investigate gender disparity, we collected, aggregated, and analyzed data on 1633 faculty members who authored or edited 4835 scholarly books at the top 50 U.S. English Ph.D. departments. Despite the fact that more women than men have received Ph.D.s in English since 1987, the top 50 departments are predominantly male, and male faculty members publish more books on a per capita basis. However, who publishes more books in these departments varies: (1) with the department that the faculty member is in (with grater parity in the middle 30 departments); and (2) when the faculty member published their first book, with female faculty who published their first book after 1998 publishing as many books on a per person basis as male faculty. This paper also offers recommendations on how marketing strategies can be used to ameliorate the “gender gap” in this academic field.
Initial closed-loop testing results for the pacific DC intertie wide area damping controller

Lightly damped electromechanical oscillations are a source of concern in the western interconnect. Recent development of a reliable real-time wide-area measurement system (WAMS) has enabled the potential for large-scale damping control approaches for stabilizing critical oscillation modes. A recent research project has focused on the development of a prototype feedback modulation controller for the Pacific DC Intertie (PDCI) aimed at stabilizing such modes. The damping controller utilizes real-time WAMS signals to form a modulation command for the DC power on the PDCI. This paper summarizes results from the first actual-system closed-loop tests. Results demonstrate desirable performance and improved modal damping consistent with previous model studies.
High Speed Electric Field and Voltage Measurements

Electric field and voltage measurements are necessary, in conjunction with magnetic field and current measurements, to complete the specification of the electromagnetic field environment in pulsed power apparatus.
Control of Epithelial Cell Volume

Epithelial cells are able to maintain constant composition and volume while accomplishing the transcellular transport of substantial quantities of salt and water. The mechanisms involved in the steady-state regulation of epithelial cell volume have interested physiologists for many years [15]. Our recent investigations [21] utilizing computerized, quantitative microscopy support earlier conclusions that epithelial cells possess systems which regulate the rates of solute entry and exit [5, 12, 13]. I will review two aspects of epithelial cell volume regulation: 1. the mechanisms involved in the maintenance of cell volume in the steady state, i.e., when transepithelial solute transport is occurring, and 2. the systems responsible for the transient volume regulatory responses of the cells after an osmotic perturbation. I will first discuss the factors which determine the volume of epithelial cells.
The Importance of Higher Education and the Role of Noncognitive Attributes in College Success

Higher education is valuable; not everyone is ready for higher education. Although readiness has traditionally been defined as academic, “noncognitive” skills can be considered as important and sometimes more important for success. Noncognitive skills assessments can be used in admissions, also placement, self assessment, and student learning outcomes. In this paper I elaborate on the full range of student attributes that are important for success in college and that ought to be considered for college readiness. I argue that on the basis of educator and employer surveys, prediction studies, and studies focusing on 21st century skills there is now an emerging consensus on what the most important noncognitive skills are, and a variety of approaches to measuring them have been developed and evaluated.