cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
UV Resonance Raman Investigation of the Conformations and Lowest Energy Allowed Electronic Excited States of Tri- and Tetraalanine: Charge Transfer Transitions

UV resonance Raman excitation profiles and Raman depolarization ratios were measured for trialanine and tetraalanine between 198 and 210 nm. Excitation within the π → π* electronic transitions of the peptide bond results in UVRR spectra dominated by amide peptide bond vibrations. In addition to the resonance enhancement of the normal amide vibrations, we find enhancement of the symmetric terminal COO− vibration. The Ala3 UVRR AmIII3 band frequencies indicate that poly-proline II and 2.51 helix conformations and type II turns are present in solution. We also find that the conformation of the interior peptide bond of Ala4 is predominantly poly-proline-II-like. The Raman excitation profiles of both Ala3 and Ala4 reveal a charge transfer electronic transition at 202 nm, where electron transfer occurs from the terminal nonbonding carboxylate orbital to the adjacent peptide bond π* orbital. Raman depolarization ratio measurements support this assignment. An additional electronic transition is found in Ala4 at 2...
The general solution to the classical problem of the finite Euler-Bernoulli beam

An analytical solution is obtained for the problem of free and forced vibrations of a finite Euler-Bernoulli beam with arbitrary (partially fixed) boundary conditions. The effects of linear viscous damping, Winkler foundation, constant axial tension, a concentrated mass, and an arbitrary forcing function are included in the analysis. No restriction is placed on the values of the parameters involved, and the solution presented here contains all cited previous solutions as special cases.
Breakdown of rapid rail energy costs: A study of three systems

Abstract The total energy consumption of three urban rapid rail systems is analyzed to obtain a detailed breakdown of the traction and station contributions. The systems chosen, PATH, PATCO and BART, span a wide range of characteristics representing age, service region and size. The primary data source for the analysis is monthly bills, whose disaggregation determines the ultimate breakdown of the total energy consumption for each system. For one system, traction energy is separated into propulsion and dead-heading contributions, with the result that a large fraction is used to keep the cars “hot”. For the same system, station lighting accounts for most of the energy use by the stations; for another, heating can double station energy use during cold weather. For the cold weather systems, total energy consumption correlates well with climatological data.
THE SPECTRUM OF PULMONARY VASCULAR DISEASE IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN WITH CARDIOMYOPATHY

The presence of pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) in patients undergoing cardiac transplantation may result in death from acute right ventricular failure. This study was undertaken to explore the frequency and severity of PVD in pediatric patients with cardiomyopathy. We reviewed autopsy records to identify patients with pathologic changes of chronic cardiomyopathy. The pulmonary slides were reviewed by two pathologists and graded using Heath-Edwards criteria for arterial changes; and normal, mild, moderate and severe for changes in the pulmonary veins. A total of 6/16 patients had Heath-Edwards grade 2 or 3 and/or moderate to severe changes in the pulmonary veins (Group I); the remaining 10 had mild or no evidence of PVD (Group II). Group I patients generally had a longer duration of illness (42±53 mo.), but it did not differ significantly from that in Group II (12±33 mo.). The age at diagnosis was significantly greater (P<0.05) in Group I vs. Group II (103±61 vs. 31±49 mo.). Mitral regurgitation was evident at diagnosis in 3/6 patients in Group I vs. 3/10 in Group II. We conclude that moderate to severe pulmonary vascular disease is common in pediatric patients with cardiomyopathy, and its severity cannot be predicted by the clinical course.
Ocular surgery on patients receiving long-term warfarin therapy.

We analyzed data of 50 patients receiving long-term warfarin sodium therapy who underwent ocular surgery between 1982 and 1986. The frequency of hemorrhagic and thrombotic complications was compared in patients in whom anticoagulants were continued, those in whom the anticoagulants were discontinued in the perioperative period, and a group of matched control patients. There were six perioperative hemorrhagic complications in the warfarin-treated group (12%) compared to none in the control group. This difference was significant (P
College Football Games and Crime

There is a great deal of anecdotal evidence that college football games can lead to aggressive and destructive behavior by fans. However, to date, no empirical study has attempted to document the magnitude of this phenomenon. We match daily data on offenses from the National Incident-Based Reporting System to 26 Division I-A college football programs to estimate the relationship between college football games and crime. Our results suggest that the host community registers sharp increases in assaults, vandalism, arrests for disorderly conduct, and arrests for alcohol-related offenses on game days. Upsets are associated with the largest increases in the number of expected offenses.
Selection corrections for panel data models under conditional mean independence assumptions

Some new methods for testing and correcting for sample selection bias in panel data models are proposed. The assumptions allow the unobserved effects in both the regression and selection equations to be correlated with the observed variables; the error distribution in the regression equation is unspecified; arbitrary serial dependence in the idiosyncratic errors of both equations is allowed; and all idiosyncratic errors can be heterogeneously distributed. Compared with maximum likelihood and other estimators derived under fully parametric assumptions, the new estimators are much more robust and have significant computational advantages.
The Gestural Imagination: Toward a Phenomenology of Duration in the Art of Chinese Writing

This essay represents a reflection on the nature of shufa, the Chinese "art of writing," and its ontological grounding as a continuous, "durational transcription," of an inscriptional event, producing a phenomenology of "viewing." This distinguishes it from ordinary writing (xiezi) in which attention is focused on the lexical meaning of the written characters (i.e., an experience of "reading"). Viewing a calligraphic inscription actually unfolding in time (i.e., as a dynamical structure or "temporal object event"), however, raises an interesting theoretical question concerning the two complementary aspects of temporal consciousness of calligraphy as both duration and unity. This will be addressed in terms of recent discussions of a dynamical approach to Edmund Husserl's theory of time consciousness.
Penetration of Buoyant Coastal Discharge onto the Continental Shelf: A Numerical Model Experiment

Abstract Plumes of buoyant water produced by inflow from rivers and estuaries are common on the continental shelf. Typically they turn anticyclonically to flow alongshelf as buoyancy-driven coastal currents. During this passage, mixing with ambient shelf water gradually erodes the plume buoyancy so that its alongshelf penetration is finite. This paper addresses the extent of this penetration and how it is determined by fundamental dimensionless flow parameters. A three-dimensional numerical model is applied to an idealized flow regime. Ambient shelf conditions include tidal motion, but neither wind stress nor ambient alongshelf current. The alongshelf extent of penetration is evaluated after the plume reaches a stationary condition downshelf. A total of 66 model experiments are conducted, including variations in buoyant source and ambient shelf properties. Five dimensionless parameters determine the alongshelf and across-shelf penetration, the latter the coastal current width. The most critical of these i...
Precision branching in ethylene copolymers: Synthesis and thermal behavior

Acyclic diene metathesis polymerization allows the synthesis of sequenced polyethylene copolymers via step-growth propagation, thereby avoiding the inherent side reactions associated with chain polymerization. Here we review the synthesis and thermal behavior of ADMET polyethylene (PE) as well as ethylene/propylene (EP), ethylene/butene (EB), ethylene/octane (EO), and ethylene/vinyl ether (EVE) copolymers prepared by ADMET.
Residual kinetic imaging: a versatile interface for prosthetic control

We studied the pressure patterns in the residual limbs of transradial amputees during their voluntary commands for finger taps. Topographic maps of pressures exerted against the hard prosthetic socket were registered with an array of 32 pressure sensors, to produce residual kinetic images (RKIs) of the limb. Results with 2 untrained subjects demonstrated that RKIs are reliable decoders of efferent commands. Coupled with a trained filter, RKIs can provide biomimetic control over multiple degrees of freedom.
Voice quality after recurrent laryngeal nerve resection and immediate reconstruction.

Objective. To evaluate clinician perception of voice quality, patient self-reported psychosocial impact of dysphonia, and glottic closure in patients who have undergone resection of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) and immediate opera- tive reconstruction during thyroid surgery. Study Design. Prospective observational study. Setting. Single tertiary care hospital. Subjects and Methods. Nine patients underwent immediate operative reconstruction of the RLN by the senior author from 2002 to present. Outcome measures included (1) per- ceptual voice ratings assessed using the GRBAS (Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain) scale, (2) psycho- social impact of dysphonia assessed using the Voice Handicap Index (VHI), and (3) assessment of glottic closure from laryngeal videostroboscopy. Results. The RLN was reconstructed with primary anasto- mosis (4), free nerve graft (3), or vagus-RLN anastomosis (2). Seven patients had voice samples and videostroboscopy examinations obtained at a minimum of 9 months from sur- gery. Six were judged to have slight disturbance of voice based on overall Grade scoring (G = 1). Five rated their voice as normal or mild on the VHI instrument (score range 8-29). Laryngeal analysis revealed the immobile vocal fold in the median, physiologic phonating position with preserved bulk, recovered tension, and glottic closure during phona- tion. Three patients less than 9 months from surgery had an expected severe self-reported rating of dysphonia. Conclusion. Primary anastomosis, free nerve grafting, and vagus- RLN anastomosis are viable options for RLN reconstruction. Patients who undergo resection and immediate reconstruction of the RLN are able to regain self-perceived functional voices.
A Model of the 2000 Presidential Election: Instrumenting for Ideology

In a spatial model of voting, a voter's utility for a candidate is a function of ideological distance from the candidate and a candidate's quality. Candidate quality can potentially bias the measure of ideological distance in two ways. First, voters may be more drawn to high quality candidates thereby reducing the ideological distance. Second, a candidate's ideological position is a function of rivals' qualities and his own quality. We derive a theoretical model to sign the direction of both biases analytically. Next, using techniques established in the industrial organization literature, we estimate the model using two sets of instrumental variables.
Beyond methods and studies: building institutions for better public spending on vaccination.

While overall public spending on health as a percentage of GDPremains relativelylow,astheireconomiesgrow,mostgovernmentsin Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are spending more perperson on health care and public health. In the area of vaccines,public spendinghasalsogrown;between2010and2011alone,theWorld Health Organization (WHO) estimated that public spend-ing on vaccination in LAC grew by 15% on average [1], althoughthere isconsiderableheterogeneityinpercapitaspendingbetweencountries.In many ways, LAC has been and remains a leader in vaccineintroduction relative to other regions. Even so and in spite ofincreasing spending overall and global evidence on the potentialvalue of new and underutilized vaccines [2], there is uneven con-sideration and adoption of new vaccines. As of 2012, less than halfof the 48 LAC countries and territories have adopted the Rotavirusvaccine, 21 countries and 5 territories have adopted the pneumo-coccal vaccine, and six countries have adopted HPV as part of theirnational immunization programs [3].Many LAC governments have established WHO-recommendedNational Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAG) toadvise on new vaccine adoption and the national immunizationprogram ingeneral[4].Inspiteoftheseefforts,Andrusetal.identi-ﬁed instances of decision making without reference to availableevidence, limited use of cost-effectiveness analyses in decisionmaking, and limited technical capacity to carry out economic eval-uation [5]. Further, a 2008 report of the independent Commissionon the Future of Vaccines in Latin America also noted the absenceof cost-effectiveness analyses using national data, information oncosts and risk groups for speciﬁc preventable diseases, and disag-gregated data on local and municipal levels as major obstacles tobetter priority-setting for vaccines [6].
RENAL VEIN RENIN AND JUXTAGLOMERULAR ACTIVITY IN SODIUM-DEPLETED SUBJECTS.

Ten patients requiring surgery for renal cysts or calculi and having no evidence of secondary hyperaldosteronism were divided, as volunteers for special study, into experimental and control groups. After base line studies, the experimental group was given a diet containing 87 mEq of sodium and 1.0 g of chlorothiazide daily for ten days. Control subjects ate a normal diet. At operation, samples of peripheral and renal venous blood were obtained for measurement of renin activity and renal biopsy was taken for determination of the juxtaglomerular index. Increased renin in renal venous plasma and hypergranularity of the juxtaglomerular apparatus were found in sodium-depleted subjects but not in control subjects. These findings confirm results previously found in animals.
The feasibility and utility of grocery receipt analyses for dietary assessment.

To establish the feasibility and utility of a simple data collection methodology for dietary assessment. Using a cross-sectional design, trained data collectors approached adults (~20 – 40 years of age) at local grocery stores and asked whether they would volunteer their grocery receipts and answer a few questions for a small stipend ($1). The grocery data were divided into 3 categories: "fats, oils, and sweets," "processed foods," and "low-fat/low-calorie substitutions" as a percentage of the total food purchase price. The questions assessed the shopper's general eating habits (eg, fast-food consumption) and a few demographic characteristics and health aspects (eg, perception of body size). Statistical Analyses Performed. Descriptive and analytic analyses using non-parametric tests were conducted in SAS. Forty-eight receipts and questionnaires were collected. Nearly every respondent reported eating fast food at least once per month; 27% ate out once or twice a day. Frequency of fast-food consumption was positively related to perceived body size of the respondent (p = 0.02). Overall, 30% of the food purchase price was for fats, oils, sweets, 10% was for processed foods, and almost 6% was for low-fat/low-calorie substitutions. Households where no one was perceived to be overweight spent a smaller proportion of their food budget on fats, oils, and sweets than did households where at least one person was perceived to be overweight (p = 0.10); household where the spouse was not perceived to be overweight spent less on fats, oils, and sweets (p = 0.02) and more on low-fat/low-calorie substitutions (p = 0.09) than did households where the spouse was perceived to be overweight; and, respondents who perceived themselves to be overweight spent more on processed foods than did respondents who did not perceive themselves to be overweight (p = 0.06). This simple dietary assessment method, although global in nature, may be a useful indicator of dietary practices as evidenced by its association with perceived weight status.
Decreased delta sleep ratio and elevated alpha power predict vulnerability to depression during interferon-alpha treatment.

ObjectiveAlthough poor sleep accompanies depression, it is unknown which specific sleep abnormalities precede depression. This is similarly the case for depression developing during interferon-α (IFN-α) therapy. Because vulnerability becomes evident in those who slept poorly before IFN-α, we prospectively determined which specific aspect of sleep could predict subsequent depression.MethodsTwo nights of polysomnography with quantitative electroencephalogram (EEG) were obtained in 24 adult, euthymic subjects – all subsequently treated with IFN-α for hepatitis C. Every 2 weeks, a Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) score was obtained, and the maximal increase in BDI-II from pre-treatment baseline – excluding the sleep question – was determined.ResultsThe delta sleep ratio (DSR; an index of early-night restorative delta power) was inversely associated with BDI-II increases (p<0.01), as was elevated alpha power (8–12 Hz; p<0.001). Both delta (0.5–4 Hz) and alpha power exhibited high between-night correlations (r=0.83 and 0.92, respectively). In mixed-effect repeated-measure analyses, there was an interaction between alpha power and DSR (p<0.001) – subjects with low alpha power and elevated DSR were resilient to developing depression. Most other sleep parameters – including total sleep time and percentage of time in slow wave sleep – were not associated with subsequent changes in depression.ConclusionsBoth high DSR and low alpha power may be specific indices of resilience. As most other aspects of sleep were not associated with resilience or vulnerability, sleep interventions to prevent depression may need to specifically target these specific sleep parameters.
Implicit racial prejudice against African-Americans in balanced scorecard performance evaluations

Abstract A dominant theme in critical accounting theory concerns the relation between human identities and accounting discourse and practices. Though this theme has strong antecedents in Marxist-inspired critique of ideology, research into this theme has employed diverse approaches; among them, genealogical studies (e.g., Miller and O’Leary, 1987 ), deconstructive studies (e.g., Shearer and Arrington, 1993 ), psychoanalytic studies ( Roberts, 1991 , Roberts, 2009 ) and critical-rational studies (e.g., Power and Laughlin, 1996 ). We offer a different approach grounded in social-cognitive concerns with how implicit attitudes about race influence evaluation of others. We report on the results of an empirical, lab-based study of balanced scorecard evaluations and bonus allocations where race is a treatment effect and where the well-established tenets of Implicit Association Testing (IAT) are used to reveal that there are, indeed, propensities to unwillingly let racial prejudice intervene into our accounting-based evaluations of others. That intervention influences identity in ways that are morally unacceptable, degrading to black workers, and loaded with potential for negative material consequences for workers (e.g., less compensation due to racially determined and irrational performance evaluations). The paper illustrates one area of research in which methodologies adapted from conventional empirical, statistical approaches can enhance the emancipatory potential of critical accounting research.
Managing change on the web

Increasingly, digital libraries are being defined that collect pointers to World-Wide Web based resources rather than hold the resources themselves. Maintaining these collections is challenging due to distributed document ownership and high fluidity. Typically a collections maintainer has to assess the relevance of changes with little system aid. In this paper, we describe the Waldens Paths Path Manager, which assists a maintainer in discovering when relevant changes occur to linked resources. The approach and system design was informed by a study of how humans perceive changes of Web pages. The study indicated that structural changes are key in determining the overall change and that presentation changes are considered irrelevant.
Crustal thickness variation in south-central Alaska

Crustal thicknesses have been determined by receiver function analysis of broadband teleseismic waveforms recorded during the Broadband Experiment Across the Alaska Range (BEAAR). Typical crust beneath the northern lowlands is 26 km thick, while beneath the mountains it is 35–45 km thick. The transition from thick to thin crust coincides with the location of the Hines Creek fault, a major tectonostratigraphic boundary. Crustal thicknesses determined by receiver functions agree with those predicted from topography assuming Airy type isostasy, suggesting that the Alaska Range is compensated by its crustal root. North of the range, however, the crust is systematically thinner than predicted by simple Airy isostasy. A crustal density contrast of 4.6% across the Hines Creek fault, 2700 kg m−3 to the north and 2830 kg m−3 to the south, explains the observed difference between the crustal thicknesses predicted by simple Airy isostasy, and the crustal thicknesses determined by receiver function analysis.
Productive Addicts and Harm Reduction: How Work Reduces Crime - But Not Drug Use

From the Works Progress Administration of the New Deal to the Job Corps of the Great Society era, employment programs have been advanced to fight poverty and social disorder. In today's context of stubborn unemployment and neoliberal policy change, supported work programs are once more on the policy agenda. This article asks whether work reduces crime and drug use among heavy substance users. And, if so, whether it is the income from the job that makes a difference, or something else. Using the nation's largest randomized job experiment, we first estimate the treatment effects of a basic work opportunity and then partition these effects into their economic and extra-economic components, using a logit decomposition technique generalized to event history analysis. We then interview young adults leaving drug treatment to learn whether and how they combine work with active substance use, elaborating the experiment's implications. Although supported employment fails to reduce cocaine or heroin use, we find clear experimental evidence that a basic work opportunity reduces predatory economic crime, consistent with classic criminological theory and contemporary models of harm reduction. The rate of robbery and burglary arrests fell by approximately 46 percent for the work treatment group relative to the control group, with income accounting for a significant share of the effect.
Mcdonald Diagnostic Criteria for Pediatric MS

Researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto and other centers in Canada used serial clinical and MRI examinations performed over a minimum of 24 months to retrospectively evaluate the 2010 and 2005 McDonald criteria for the diagnosis of pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS).
Enhanced Dimension-Reduction (eDR) method for sensitivity-free uncertainty quantification

In this paper, the enhanced Dimension Reduction (eDR) method is proposed for uncertainty quantification that is an improved version of the DR method. It has been acknowledged that the DR method is accurate and efficient for assessing statistical moments of mildly nonlinear system responses. However, the recent investigation on the DR method has found difficulties of instability and inaccuracy for large-scale nonlinear systems, while maintaining reasonable efficiency. The eDR method is composed of four new technical elements: one-dimensional response approximation, Axial-Design of Experiment (A-DOE), numerical integration scheme, and a modified Pearson system. First, the Stepwise Moving Least Squares method is employed to accurately approximate the responses. Second, 2N+1 and 4N+1 A-DOEs are proposed to maintain high accuracy of the eDR method for UQ analysis. Third, in aid of approximated responses, any numerical integration scheme can be used with accurate but free response values at any set of integration points. Fourth, a modified Pearson system will be proposed to avoid its singular behavior while precisely predicting reliability and quality of engineering systems. Results for some engineering examples indicate that the eDR method is better than any other probability analysis methods in estimating statistical moments, reliability, and quality of the systems.
Microbe Mentor:Elevator Pitches

In preparation for the upcoming ASM Microbe 2016 conference in Boston, Mass., Microbe Mentor will be featuring two back-to-back issues on topics chosen to help attendees achieve the most benefits from the meeting. In this article, Microbe Mentor will address the topic of elevator pitches. Next month, Microbe Mentor will talk about navigating the career activities that can be expected at ASM Microbe 2016.
Relevant factors of IVIG non-responsiveness Kawasaki disease

Objective To explore the relevant factors of patients with Kawasaki disease(KD) non-responsive to initial IVIG.Methods Clinical datas of all children with KD in Jiangxi Provincial Children's Hospital were summarized during 2007-05-2010-04. All KD patient were divided into two groups according to their response to the first high dose IVIG: responsiveness group and non- responsiveness group. Results Total 215 KD patients treated with IVIG were included. The responsiveness group was 193, and the non- responsiveness group was 22. The incidence of non- responsiveness to IVIG therapy was 10.32%(22/215).Total number of white blood cells,ratio of neutrophil granulocyte and CRP, the ratio of Coronary artery lesions of non- responsiveness group were higher than that of responsiveness group, but plasma-albumin level of non- responsiveness group was obviously lower than that of responsiveness group. Conclusion Albuminemia, Duration of fever is too short before first high dose IVIG, increased ratio of neutrophilic granulocytes, and increased level of C-reactive protein may be the factors resulting in non-sensitivity of KD to IVIG.
Group psychotherapy for persons with HIV and AIDS-related illnesses.

ABSTRACTAlthough some individuals are able to cope well with the challenges posed by HIV and AIDS, others experience psychological difficulties. This article reviews factors that facilitate or hinder successful coping with HIV including preexisting psychological functioning medical health status, quality and adequacy of social support, stress-and-coping style, and perceived expected benefits of treatment. The article reviews studies evaluating the effects of group psychotherapy intervention for persons living with HTV. The article then describes clinical issues encountered in therapy groups for persons with HIV. These clinical issues include the presence of coexisting problems unrelated to HIV/AIDS, disclosure of HIV-positive serostatus to others, making changes in transmission-risk-behavior practices, AIDS-related bereavement and caregiving stress, establishing social supports, adhering to medical care regimens, and developing a positive self-identity as a person living with HIV. Practical considerations...
Construction of Symmetric Hadamard Matrices

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the construction of symmetric Hadamard matrices. A Hadamard matrix is a square matrix whose entries are either +1 or −1 and whose rows are mutually orthogonal. It means that every two different rows in a Hadamard matrix represent two perpendicular vectors. In combinatorial terms, it means that every two different rows have matching entries in exactly half of their columns and mismatched entries in the remaining columns. It is a consequence of this definition that the corresponding properties hold for columns and rows. The n -dimensional parallelotope spanned by the rows of an n x n Hadamard matrix has the maximum possible n-dimensional volume among parallelotopes spanned by vectors whose entries are bounded in absolute value by 1. Equivalently, a Hadamard matrix has maximal determinant among matrices with entries of absolute value less than or equal to 1 and, thus, is an extremal solution of Hadamard's maximal determinant problem.
Popular Lateral Issues

Those in power need checks and restraints lest they come to identify the common good for their own tastes and desires, and their continuation in office as essential to the preservation of the nation. Justice William O. Douglas In this chapter, I examine popular Supreme Court rulings in lateral issues – those issues in which the Court must rely on non-court actors to implement its rulings. I find that when Court rulings faced little popular opposition, the justices' preferences had a strong causal effect on the behavior of state and private actors. These findings call into question the common assumption that popular Court decisions are insignificant because popular policies could always be enacted through the democratic process. On the contrary, my findings suggest that the manifestation of some popular policies may require prompting from the judiciary. Regardless, the case studies in this chapter demonstrate that the Court can wield significant power even when its decisions cannot be implemented by lower courts. REAPPORTIONMENT Although rarely receiving as much attention as rulings on abortion, free speech, or criminal rights, the reapportionment decisions inaugurated a revolutionary transformation of American government. Before the Court intervened in the process of drawing legislative districts, the representation of American citizens through democratic institutions at every level of government was extremely unbalanced. Legislative apportionment, which usually reflected historical trends more than the current population, drastically underrepresented those living in major metropolitan areas where population growth had not been met by a commensurate increase in representation.
A short retrospective of our recent history in space

This essay1 provides the reader with a brief historical overview on how we came to be a spacefaring people during the 22nd century. We will focus on the early postApollo era on Earth more than one hundred and fifty years ago, the difficulties faced by those who proposed an accelerated space program, how our grandparents and parents were finally able to colonize the Moon and Mars, and how we began our young lunar and Martian civilizations. While it is hard to imagine the present without these outposts of human civilization, the beginning of the 21st century saw our predecessor generations concerned primarily with the day-to-day, completely ignoring how future generations would benefit from a development into space.
Novel Charge Pumping method applied to tri-gate MOSFETs for reliability characterization

Charge Pumping (CP) has historically been a widely utilized tool to study reliability-limiting interface and near interface trapping centers in Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistors (MOSFETs). However, conventional CP methods are not effective for modern highly scaled devices due to high gate leakage current to CP current ratios. Fortunately, a newly developed CP technique has been developed, called frequency modulated CP (FMCP), which overcomes the limitations of conventional measurements and permits full CP studies to be successfully applied to highly scaled devices. In this work, we evaluate the practicality and usefulness of implementing FMCP to characterize Intel's second generation 14nm tri-gate MOSFETs. This demonstration clearly highlights FMCP's power and ability to provide critical information in current and future highly scaled technology nodes.
Comparison of quick point of care test for paediatric small bowel hypolactasia with biochemical lactase assay: Abstract G110 Table 1

Background The usefulness of a new quick test for endoscopic diagnosis of paediatric-type hypolactasia was tested in duodenal biopsies. In this test, an endoscopic biopsy from the postbulbar duodenum is incubated with lactose on a test plate, and a colour reaction develops within 20 min as a result of hydrolysed lactose (a positive result) in patients with normolactasia, whereas no reaction (a negative result) develops in patients with severe hypolactasia. Aims The aim of this study was to compare the Biohit lactose intolerance quick (BLIQ) test to the “gold standard” biochemical duodenal lactase (DL) activity assay in the paediatric population. Patients and Methods Two postbulbar duodenal biopsies were taken from 38 prospective children (0–16 years) who underwent upper GI endoscopy over a period of 1 year (June 2008–May 2009) at a single tertiary paediatric gastroenterology unit. The biopsies were used for the quick lactase test (Biohit PLC, Helsinki, Finland) and in biochemical disaccharidase (lactase, trehalase, sucrase, and maltase) assays. Results 38 children (19 male) of median age 5.45 years (0.3–14.8 years) had the combined testing. The authors further subdivided this group into those children that had their biopsies with a larger endoscope (XQ, n=26) and thus a bigger biopsy forceps and those children that had a smaller endoscope (XP, n=12) and thus a smaller biopsy forceps. The results are tabulated below. Conclusion The quick lactase test effectively identifies children with severe duodenal hypolactasia. These results are based on small numbers but tend to support findings in adult studies. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of the BLIQ was 100% on comparing it to DL. The specificity too appears to be high but variable (86% in XQ and 80% in XP groups). This would suggest a lower specificity perhaps, secondary to smaller size of the biopsies obtained and may warrant the need for two biopsies. In comparison with biochemical lactase assays, the sensitivity and specificity of BLIQ for indicating hypolactasia is very high and appears to be an effective point of care test for paediatric hypolactasia.
Calcium channels expressed in vascular smooth muscle.

Background. Regulation of intracellular calcium levels is known to activate signal transduction pathways, leading to well-defined patterns of gene expression. Methods and Results. Among the calcium-responsive genes are those involved in the growth and proliferative responses of vascular smooth muscle cells. Cytoplasmic calcium also plays a role in activating a host of cellular functions including smooth muscle contraction and growth factor release. Calcium channels participate in the regulation of cytoplasmic calcium concentration in vascular smooth muscle
Psychosocial responses to biological and chemical terrorist threats and events. Implications for the workplace.

1. Both biological and chemical weapons (BCW) could potentially be used in future terrorist attacks on U.S. workplaces and communities. 2. Threats of BCW terrorism may lead to anxiety, adverse health effects, and the exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms and syndromes in workers and managers. 3. Actual BCW attacks will likely cause both acute and chronic mental disorders in a significant number of surviving victims who may also be employees or employers. 4. Occupational health nurses can help prevent or remediate maladaptive psychological responses by educating themselves and their work forces, assisting in a risk assessment of the workplace, understanding disaster planning, and assisting management in policy formulation and psychosocial triage.
Biological Effects of Phosphocitrate on Osteoarthritic Articular Chondrocytes.

BACKGROUND Phosphocitrate (PC) inhibits osteoarthritis (OA) in Hartley guinea pigs. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. OBJECTIVE This study sought to examine the biological effect of PC on OA chondrocytes and test the hypothesis that PC may exert its OA disease modifying effect, in part, by inhibiting the expression of genes implicated in OA disease process and stimulating the production of extracellular matrices. METHOD OA chondrocytes were cultured in the absence or presence of PC. Total RNA was extracted and subjected to microarray analyses. The effect of PC on proliferation and chondrocyte-mediated calcification were examined in monolayer culture. The effect of PC on the production of extracellular matrices was examined in micromass culture. RESULTS PC downregulated the expression of numerous genes classified in proliferation and apoptosis while upregulating the expression of many genes classified in transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) receptor signaling pathway and ossification. PC also downregulated the expressions of many genes classified in inflammatory response and Wnt receptor signaling pathways. Consistent with its effect on the expression of genes classified in proliferation, ossification, and skeletal development, PC inhibited the proliferation of OA chondrocytes and chondrocyte-mediated calcification while stimulating the production of extracellular matrices. CONCLUSION PC may exert its OA disease modifying effect, in part, through a crystal-independent mechanism or by inhibiting the expressions of many genes implicated in OA disease process, and at the same time, stimulating the expression of genes implicated in chondroprotection and production of extracellular matrices.
A Challenge for the Academic Study of Religion: No Such Thing as ‘Sacred’ Cows, Right?

Teaching religion in public education can benefit from the discourse in Religious Studies ( RS ) around the problem/ problem of defining religion. This is nowhere truer than in community college ( CC ). However, the notion that the term ‘religion’ is of limited value (represented here as problem ) is of not-much-use in CC due to religion’s perceptible nature. It is evident to citizens that there is ‘religion’, and while not-much-clear about it by way of RS definitions, it is an identifiable and operative category . I cite the incident of Frank Roque the “9/11 Revenge Killer” to show that there is such a category in the minds of the public and utilize Stark and Bainbridge’s A Theory of Religion to focus the discourse beyond the problem to the pedagogic and heuristic potentials of the problem for educators and ultimately citizens. The challenge for RS is to find ways for its analyses of religions to have a better effect in society. Otherwise, the category will be shaped by other forces as revealed in the words of the murderer regarding his Sikh victim, “I just viewed them all as just hateful Muslims.”
Development of a humanized mouse model that recapitulates the fibrotic response to biomaterial implants

Implanted biomedical devices reside within tens of millions of patients in the United States alone, and are involved in millions of new surgeries every year. They comprise a major component of modern medicine and are essential for many clinical applications ranging from hip/knee replacement, tissue repair/reconstruction, controlled release, sensing, and cell transplantation. Limiting therapeutic performance and lifespan, immune-mediated foreign body rejection results in sequestration behind dense layers of fibrotic scar tissue. Current approaches for management of long-term biomedical device implantation often involve broad-spectrum anti-inflammatories. However, these agents are not specific to individual immune populations, and have side effects in vivo . To avoid such issues, improved biomaterials need to be identified with reduced immunogenicity. Deeper understanding of immune-mediated foreign body responses was leveraged to generate a variant of the humanized mouse model, previously unreported in the field of host rejection of biomaterial implants, that is capable of recapitulating fibrosis. Here, we present this model in comparison to wildtype systems, including rodents and non-human primates. Cellular and cytokine responses were determined with numerous biomaterials—hydrogel alginate, ceramic glass, and polymer polystyrene, across multiple implant sites. This model allows us to investigate human immune cells interacting directly with implantables, without putting patients at risk. It is our hope this model can be used as a pre-clinical diagnostic tool for screening implantable synthetic as well as natural materials for immunogenicity.
Catalytic Metal Oxides and Applications

Introduction Selective oxidation reactions of carbon based feedstocks synthesize important chemicals and their precursors, such as alcohols, epoxides, aldehydes, and other organic compounds. They employ catalytic metal oxides, which are multifunctional, enabling materials, to fulfill three parallel roles: (1) provide active surface sites for the reactants without participating in the reaction; (2) reduce the activation energies of the reaction pathway; and (3) oxidize the reactants through the transfer of their lattice oxygen during reduction. The third role is akin to the well-known catalytic surface Mars–Van Krevelen mechanism, which is further discussed in this section and Section 5.6, that is characterized by the reaction products incorporating the compounds of the catalytic material lattice. In these kinds of selective oxidation reactions, the catalytic metal oxides behave as “oxygen carriers,” where oxygen from the crystal lattice bonds with the reactants. In these reactions, the surface of the metal oxide is reduced by the hydrocarbon reactant and can later be re-oxidized by gaseous oxygen. The selectivity of a catalytic metal oxide can be controlled by multiple factors, such as structure, chemistry, electronic properties, composition, kinetics, and energies. An ideal selective catalytic metal oxide needs to be tailored specifically for the application at hand. Hence, it becomes essential to understand the surface morphology, crystal structure, and the reaction mechanisms involved. The accessibility and mobility of lattice oxygen play a vital role in determining the reactivity and selectivity of the catalytic metal oxides. The structure of the catalytic metal oxide should allow for sufficient transportation of lattice oxygen toward the surface and needs to be able to sustain the vacancy created by the absence of oxygen. That is, the host structure needs to provide a sustainable pathway for the ions to diffuse in order to utilize the lattice oxygen. While participation of lattice oxygen facilitates the oxidation–reduction of the process, it does not necessarily result in high product selectivity. The selectivity of a given structure can originate from the bond strength between metal and oxygen, where a weak metal–oxygen bond will release oxygen that can fully oxidize the reactant and yield an undesired product. An ideal catalytic metal oxide with readily accessible and mobile lattice oxygen, appropriate host structure, and suitable metal–oxygen bond strength has the potential to be both reactive and selective when reduced.
Origins of Writing

Writing has only 5–6 thousand years in human history. Initially, writing (or prewriting) was a visuoconstructive ability, later it included an ideomotor praxis skill, and finally it became a linguistic ability (i.e., associating a pictogram with a word, and further analyzing the word in its constituting sounds). Three major disorders in writing can be observed as a result of brain pathology: visuoconstructive, praxic, and linguistic. Writing represents a complex “functional system” that requires, and is based on, some fundamental abilities. Although many different brain areas are involved in writing, some time ago, it was assumed that there was a kind of “writing center” located in the second frontal gyrus (Exner’s area). Contemporary neuroimaging studies have significantly advanced the understanding of the brain organization of writing, and have supported the idea that writing requires the activation of a complex brain system involving different areas. Those brain areas are specially localized in the left hemisphere, and usually include a frontal premotor segment and a temporoparietal component. Clinical observations and functional studies have demonstrated that the brain organization of writing is not completely coincidental across different writing systems. The introduction of new writing devices, such as the computer, has resulted in new writing disorders syndrome. It is concluded that writing clearly illustrates the need for a cultural historical analysis of human cognition.
Sensitivity to volatile anesthetics in patients with dementia: a case-control analysis

Patients with dementia are thought to be more sensitive to anesthesia, although volatile anesthetic requirement has not specifically been evaluated in this population. We tested the hypothesis that patients with dementia having non-cardiac surgery have a lower ratio of bispectral index (BIS) to minimal alveolar concentration (MAC) during the five minutes immediately preceding incision, thus exhibiting deeper hypnotic levels at a given MAC fraction. We obtained records from our database registry on patients who had volatile general anesthesia during their most recent operation. We excluded patients premedicated with midazolam. Patients with dementia were identified and their diagnosis was confirmed by chart review. Each patient with dementia was successfully matched with a maximum of five patients without dementia using a multivariate nearest-neighbor distance-matching algorithm restricted to the following criteria: American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status, age, five-minute pre-incision time-weighted average (TWA) estimated effect-site concentration of propofol and fentanyl, and use of remifentanil. Our primary outcome was the TWA BIS-to-MAC ratio during the five minutes immediately preceding incision. We analyzed 31 patients with dementia matched with 151 patients without dementia. Median [quartiles] TWA BIS-to-MAC ratios for the matched patients were 85 [73, 100] for the patients with dementia and 78 [73, 84] for the patients without dementia. The percent difference in mean BIS-to-MAC ratios between patients with dementia and patients without dementia was 9% (95% confidence interval: −9% to 29%) (P = 0.35, Wald test). Our results do not support the hypothesis that patients with dementia are more sensitive to volatile anesthetics than patients without dementia.
Demonstration of fast-electron populations in a low-pressure, low-power, magnetized RF plasma source

Using x-ray spectroscopy, we demonstrate the existence of 0.3–6 keV electrons in a low-pressure, low-power, magnetized plasma source, heated by an external radio-frequency antenna located at one end of an axisymmetric tandem mirror. X-ray measurements on low-bulk-temperature, Te,b ∼ 4 eV, hydrogen, neon, argon, and gas-mixture plasmas show spectra with high-energy tails having a near-Maxwellian form with Te,f up to 650 eV. The fast electrons producing these x-rays have densities in the range of 107–109 cm−3, 0.01%–1% of the bulk plasma density (up to 3 × 1011 cm−3), and so carry a significant fraction of the plasma energy and represent an important mechanism relevant to power coupling and heat flow in similar plasma sources.Using x-ray spectroscopy, we demonstrate the existence of 0.3–6 keV electrons in a low-pressure, low-power, magnetized plasma source, heated by an external radio-frequency antenna located at one end of an axisymmetric tandem mirror. X-ray measurements on low-bulk-temperature, Te,b ∼ 4 eV, hydrogen, neon, argon, and gas-mixture plasmas show spectra with high-energy tails having a near-Maxwellian form with Te,f up to 650 eV. The fast electrons producing these x-rays have densities in the range of 107–109 cm−3, 0.01%–1% of the bulk plasma density (up to 3 × 1011 cm−3), and so carry a significant fraction of the plasma energy and represent an important mechanism relevant to power coupling and heat flow in similar plasma sources.
Abstract WP325: Designing Patient-centered Solutions for Enhanced Home-based Recovery After Mild-moderate Stroke

Introduction: After discharge from a structured rehabilitation setting, mild-moderate stroke patients report feeling unprepared to manage their home recovery plan. Through Design for America, we wo...