Stochastic Simulation of Nonequilibrium Heat Conduction in Extended Molecule Junctions

Understanding phononic heat transport processes in molecular junctions is a central issue in the developing field of nanoscale heat conduction and manipulation. Here we present a Stochastic Nonequlibrium Molecular Dynamics simulation framework to investigate heat transport processes in molecular junctions in and beyond the linear response regime. We use extended molecular models which filter Markovian heat reservoirs through an intermediate substrate region, to provide a realistic and controllable effective bath spectral density. The results obtained for alkanedithol molecules connecting gold substrates agree with previous nonequilibrium Green's function calculations in frequency domain, and match recent experimental measurements (e.g. thermal conductance around 20 pW/K for alkanedithiols in single molecular junctions) Classical MD simulations using the full molecular forcefield and quantum Landauer-type calculations based on the harmonic part of the same forcefield are compared, and the similarity of the results indicate that heat transport is dominated by modes in the lower frequency range. Heat conductance simulations on polyynes of different lengths illuminates the effects of molecular conjugation on thermal transport

Dropped "from the clouds": Cincinnati and manumission among the fancy and newly freed, 1831-1901

This dissertation argues that numerous ex-slave mistresses and the children they produced with white men thoughtfully rebuilt their lives as newly freed people by capitalizing on earlier, sometimes ongoing, ties to white men, but also by relying on themselves and others sharing their circumstances. Some such women appear to have been “fancy girls,” the brand name for enslaved women and girls sold for use as prostitutes and concubines during the slavery era of United States history. Relying greatly on letters from ex-slaves and an ex-slave narrative, this study pays close attention to the ways in which some such women were highly valued in the slave market because of their fair complexion, but shifts attention to their experiences outside the market, specifically to their lives as “favored” ex-slaves. It does so by focusing on the migration of such ex-slaves from the Deep South to Cincinnati, a city that had the highest population of mulattoes outside the South before the Civil War. This migration occurred during the rising surveillance of people of African descent in the South during the 1830s and the concurrent rise of cotton as a premier crop, two factors that figured greatly into elite white men’s unwillingness to have their relations with women of African descent scrutinized at the community level. Ultimately, this dissertation seeks to shed light on black-white intimacies and the ways in which Southern white men were hidden actors in antebellum black urban histories. It also hopes to reveal the degree to which focusing on a select slave expands our understanding of how oppressed bodies fit into both political and social histories because of their ability to draw upon the social capital that accrued from their connections to whites in authoritative positions.Ope

Panel. History, Fiction, and Interracial Intimacies in Faulkner

Account Ability: Race, History, and the White Southern Literary Imagination / Lael GoldConcerning their approaches to black history and the history of black-white relations, illuminating comparisons and contrasts can be drawn between Faulkner and Margaret Wrinkle. Both white, Southern authors share a legacy of ancestral complicity in slavery and the poignancy of childhood nurture and attachment across racial lines. Like Go Down, Moses, Wrinkle’s novel Wash depicts frustrated white encounters with recondite, vaguely threatening African sacred ritual and also oblivious white characters’ ineffectual attempts at intimacy with African Americans in their midst. Like Faulkner, Wrinkle bears witness across the remains of the same barriers that divide her white and black characters. Both also link their writing with historical scholarship by representing the sort of documents used as primary sources. Although one usually looks to the field of accounting for the most dispassionate recording of facts, the slave ledgers foregrounded by Faulkner and Wrinkle profoundly unsettle their characters in ways that speak volumes.Seeing Across the Divide: Recreating a Suppressed History / Margaret WrinkleWash was inspired by a rumor that a slaveholding ancestor of mine may have been involved in the breeding of enslaved people. At the heart of this story lies a secret ledger containing the details of this hidden practice. Such a ledger would provide the proof that historians need, just like Ike McCaslin’s ledger allowed him to piece together a related horrific truth in “The Bear.” But complex forces have endangered both the creation and survival of any written historical document containing the whole truth of slavery. Given these dynamics, how do we see across the divides of time, race, gender and power? Paradoxically, when writing about a region where the interpretation of reality has been so contested, fiction may form the strongest bridge. I will discuss my journey from history into fiction and read a few key scenes from the novel about the secret life of this lost ledger.Stranger Than Fiction: Faulkner, Wrinkle, Slavery, and History / Calvin Schermerhorn, Arizona State UniversityThis paper details historical records of sexual violence in nineteenth-century United States slavery, juxtaposing them with William Faulkner’s and Margaret Wrinkle’s representations of sexuality and intimacy across divides of race and slavery in the American South. In “The Bear” (1942), Faulkner textures accounts of sexual abuse and the personal violence of a slaveholder’s domination with humor and absurdity, layering them in time. In Wrinkle’s Wash (2013), Wash and his lover Pallas are exposed to cross-currents of owner-manipulated sexual aggression, Pallas when hired out to serve the violent fantasies of white slaveholders, and Wash when employed as the progenitor of enslaved offspring. Historical records of the United States domestic slave trade reveal counterpoints, including sexual violence and predation. Yet historical subjects seem to have evaded the moral accounting that holds together novelistic treatments of the Slave South.Some Sort of Love? Black-White Intimacies in Antebellum America / Sharony Green But there must have been love he thought. Some sort of love. Even what he would have called love: not just an afternoon\u27s or a night\u27s spittoon. Ike McCaslin, “The Bear” Some have argued that to be enslaved was to be forced into a legal arrangement that excluded the possibility for expressive moments. This discussion offers an opportunity to rethink such logic and suggest an answer to McCaslin’s poignant thought. Before the Civil War, many southern white men did something that went little discussed: free his enslaved women and the children she produced with him. Many ended up in Ohio, a place easily accessible by river. Using letters, some from freed people, this paper cautiously draws attention to the ways in which white men made a different kind of investment in human capital, an emotional one. Though oppression was ever-present, sometimes emotional exchanges went both ways

A self- determination program for promoting healthy eating patterns

The purpose of this graduate project was to develop a nutritional framework called the 5 Faction Food Model. In service of creating this nutritional framework, this project will examine the impact of nutrition on disease through the lens of Self-Determination Theory of motivation. (See more in text.)California State University, Northridge. Department of Music.Includes bibliographical references (pages 40-43)

Local infusion of bupivacaine combined with intravenous patient-controlled analgesia provides better pain relief than intravenous patient-controlled analgesia alone in patients undergoing minimally invasive cardiac surgery

ObjectiveThis prospective randomized double-blind study examined the effect of local wound infusion of anesthetics on pain control in the thoracotomy wound of patients undergoing minimally invasive cardiac surgery.MethodsPatients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting or cardiac valvular procedures via a minimally invasive thoracotomy were studied. Patients were enrolled and randomly allocated to two groups with different modalities of postoperative analgesia. The thoracotomy wound infusion group received 0.15% bupivacaine infused continuously at 2 mL/h through a catheter embedded in the wound, as well as intravenous patient-controlled analgesia. The control group had patient-controlled analgesia alone with a sham thoracotomy wound infusion of normal saline. Verbal analog pain scores (0–10 points) and recovery profiles were investigated.ResultsThere were 19 patients in each group for complete data analysis. On the first day after the operation, infusion of local anesthetics significantly reduced the verbal analog pain scores both at rest and during motion (thoracotomy wound infusion vs control). The improved pain relief with thoracotomy wound infusion persisted at day 3 and even at 3 months after the operation. No difference was noted about time to extubation, length of intensive care unit stay, or hospital stay.ConclusionIn this controlled double-blind study, thoracotomy wound infusion and patient-controlled analgesia were superior to patient-controlled analgesia alone in reducing pain at 1, 3, and 90 days after minimally invasive cardiac surgery

Spectrum of PEX1 and PEX6 variants in Heimler syndrome

Heimler syndrome (HS) consists of recessively inherited sensorineural hearing loss, amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) and nail abnormalities, with or without visual defects. Recently HS was shown to result from hypomorphic mutations in PEX1 or PEX6, both previously implicated in Zellweger Syndrome Spectrum Disorders (ZSSD). ZSSD are a group of conditions consisting of craniofacial and neurological abnormalities, sensory defects and multi-organ dysfunction. The finding of HS-causing mutations in PEX1 and PEX6 shows that HS represents the mild end of the ZSSD spectrum, though these conditions were previously thought to be distinct nosological entities. Here, we present six further HS families, five with PEX6 variants and one with PEX1 variants, and show the patterns of Pex1, Pex14 and Pex6 immunoreactivity in the mouse retina. While Ratbi et al. found more HS-causing mutations in PEX1 than in PEX6, as is the case for ZSSD, in this cohort PEX6 variants predominate, suggesting both genes play a significant role in HS. The PEX6 variant c.1802G>A, p.(R601Q), reported previously in compound heterozygous state in one HS and three ZSSD cases, was found in compound heterozygous state in three HS families. Haplotype analysis suggests a common founder variant. All families segregated at least one missense variant, consistent with the hypothesis that HS results from genotypes including milder hypomorphic alleles. The clinical overlap of HS with the more common Usher syndrome and lack of peroxisomal abnormalities on plasma screening suggest that HS may be under-diagnosed. Recognition of AI is key to the accurate diagnosis of HS

Protein targets of inflammatory serine proteases and cardiovascular disease

Serine proteases are a key component of the inflammatory response as they are discharged from activated leukocytes and mast cells or generated through the coagulation cascade. Their enzymatic activity plays a major role in the body's defense mechanisms but it has also an impact on vascular homeostasis and tissue remodeling. Here we focus on the biological role of serine proteases in the context of cardiovascular disease and their mechanism(s) of action in determining specific vascular and tissue phenotypes. Protease-activated receptors (PARs) mediate serine protease effects; however, these proteases also exert a number of biological activities independent of PARs as they target specific protein substrates implicated in vascular remodeling and the development of cardiovascular disease thus controlling their activities. In this review both PAR-dependent and -independent mechanisms of action of serine proteases are discussed for their relevance to vascular homeostasis and structural/functional alterations of the cardiovascular system. The elucidation of these mechanisms will lead to a better understanding of the molecular forces that control vascular and tissue homeostasis and to effective preventative and therapeutic approaches

The economic value of rapid deployment aortic valve replacement via full sternotomy

Aim: To compare the economic value of EDWARDS INTUITY EliteTM (EIE) valve system for rapid-deployment aortic valve replacement (RDAVR) in a full sternotomy (FS) approach (EIE-FS-RDAVR) versus FS-AVR using conventional stented bioprosthesis. Data & methods: A simulation model to compare each treatment’s 30-day inpatient utilization and complication rates utilized: clinical end points obtained from the TRANSFORM trial patient subset (EIE-FS-RDAVR) and a best evidence review of the published literature (FS-AVR); and costs from the Premier database and published literature. Results: EIE-FS-RDAVR costs $800 less than FS-AVR per surgery episode attributable to lowered complication rates and utilization. Combined with the lower mortality, EIE-FS-RDAVR was a superior (dominant) technology versus FS-AVR. Conclusion: This preliminary investigation of EIE-FS-RDAVR versus conventional FS- AVR found the EIE valve offered superior economic value over a 30-day period. Real- world analyses with additional long-term follow-up are needed to evaluate if this result can be replicated over a longer timeframe