Power MOSFET Thermal Instability Operation Characterization Support

Metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are used extensively in flight hardware and ground support equipment. In the quest for faster switching times and lower "on resistance," the MOSFETs designed from 1998 to the present have achieved most of their intended goals. In the quest for lower on resistance and higher switching speeds, the designs now being produced allow the charge-carrier dominated region (once small and outside of the area of concern) to become important and inside the safe operating area (SOA). The charge-carrier dominated region allows more current to flow as the temperature increases. The higher temperatures produce more current resulting in the beginning of thermal runaway. Thermal runaway is a problem affecting a wide range of modern MOSFETs from more than one manufacturer. This report contains information on MOSFET failures, their causes and test results and information dissemination

A Hueristic Learning Algorithm for Traveling Salesman Problems

This paper describes the development of a heuristic learning algorithm to solve traveling salesman problems. The heuristic evaluation function of this algorithm considers both local and global estimated distance information. The heuristic learning mechanism allows the algorithm to update the heuristic estimates of visited states and hence modify the tour configuration along the search process. The search engine of the algorithm incorporates Delaunay Triangulations as part of the search strategy to identify candidate edges during the search process

Discourses of Diabetes Management in Patient-Physician Interactions

Discussions of diabetes management are challenging for patients and physicians during treatment plan appointments—in large part because “diabetes management” has multiple, competing meanings. Our goal in this study was to examine talk between patients and physicians over multiple visits to: (1) determine the multiple meanings of diabetes management, and (2) determine the specific ways these meanings compete with each other. To accomplish this goal, we gathered data at a family medicine residency clinic in the Midwestern United States, video-recording the interactions of six different patient-physician dyads over multiple visits. Next, we performed in-depth analyses of these interactions using Baxter’s (2011) Relational Dialectics Theory 2.0, which focuses on discourses occurring within interpersonal interactions, rather than on the individuals within interpersonal interactions. Our results reveal meanings associated with two dominant oppositional discourses comprising the meaning of diabetes management: high self-efficacy and low self-efficacy. Additionally, we found that—during conversations between patients and physicians—the central discourse of high self-efficacy competed with the less-central discourse of low self-efficacy. Our results also reveal that both patients and physicians used both discourses. Finally, our results revealed that at times, both patients and physicians mixed these discourses, creating a new “hybrid” meaning for diabetes management: Moderation. Understanding these discourses and how they compete can help physicians focus on the cultural discourses that shape their own and patients’ views of diabetes management and realize the transformational possibilities that can occur in treatment plan discussions through a more moderate discourse

Pine Needle Abortion in Cattle: A Progress Report

Cow and calf loss due to pine needle abortion (PNA) in cattle grazing foothill ranges having stands of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) continues to cause managerial, as well as economic problems, for many ranchers in South Dakota, Colorado, Idaho and California as well as many areas in Canada

Extreme geomagnetic disturbances due to shocks within CMEs

We report on features of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling elicited by shocks propagating through coronal mass ejections (CMEs) by analyzing the intense geomagnetic storm of 6 August 1998. During this event, the dynamic pressure enhancement at the shock combined with a simultaneous increase in the southward component of the magnetic field resulted in a large earthward retreat of Earth\u27s magnetopause, which remained close to geosynchronous orbit for more than 4 h. This occurred despite the fact that both shock and CME were weak and relatively slow. Another similar example of a weak shock inside a slow CME resulting in an intense geomagnetic storm is the 30 September 2012 event, which strongly depleted the outer radiation belt. We discuss the potential of shocks inside CMEs to cause large geomagnetic effects at Earth, including magnetopause shadowing

Viperin interacts with PEX19 to mediate peroxisomal augmentation of the innate antiviral response.

Peroxisomes are recognized as significant platforms for the activation of antiviral innate immunity where stimulation of the key adapter molecule mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) within the RIG-I like receptor (RLR) pathway culminates in the up-regulation of hundreds of ISGs, some of which drive augmentation of multiple innate sensing pathways. However, whether ISGs can augment peroxisome-driven RLR signaling is currently unknown. Using a proteomics-based screening approach, we identified Pex19 as a binding partner of the ISG viperin. Viperin colocalized with numerous peroxisomal proteins and its interaction with Pex19 was in close association with lipid droplets, another emerging innate signaling platform. Augmentation of the RLR pathway by viperin was lost when Pex19 expression was reduced. Expression of organelle-specific MAVS demonstrated that viperin requires both mitochondria and peroxisome MAVS for optimal induction of IFN-β. These results suggest that viperin is required to enhance the antiviral cellular response with a possible role to position the peroxisome at the mitochondrial/MAM MAVS signaling synapse, furthering our understanding of the importance of multiple organelles driving the innate immune response against viral infection