The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Hurts Single Parents with Children Pursuing a College Education

This article highlights some instances where the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) increased taxes for single parents at the moment their children are pursuing a college education. The article further recaps education credits that were saved (but not increased) by the TCJA and a deduction that was lost. The authors also discuss an implication of the TCJA that could cause the burden on families sending children to college to increase further. Finally, the article captures items that legislators could enact to relieve the additional burden on families with students pursuing a college education

Thermal Conductivity of Thermally-Isolating Polymeric and Composite Structural Support Materials Between 0.3 and 4 K

We present measurements of the low-temperature thermal conductivity of a number of polymeric and composite materials from 0.3 to 4 K. The materials measured are Vespel SP-1, Vespel SP-22, unfilled PEEK, 30% carbon fiber-filled PEEK, 30% glass-filled PEEK, carbon fiber Graphlite composite rod, Torlon 4301, G-10/FR-4 fiberglass, pultruded fiberglass composite, Macor ceramic, and graphite rod. These materials have moderate to high elastic moduli making them useful for thermally-isolating structural supports.Comment: Accepted for publication in the journal Cryogenic

Foaling management and care of the nursing foal

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Examining the Conceptual Design Process for Future Hybrid-Electric Rotorcraft

Hybrid-electric propulsion systems introduce immense complexity and numerous design challenges not previously encountered in aircraft design. Traditional conceptual-level rotorcraft design approaches may not adequately capture the level of propulsion system detail desired for hybrid-electric vehicle conceptual design. As part of a NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II contract, Empirical Systems Aerospace (ESAero) investigated the implementation of several hybrid-electric propulsion architectures onto three rotorcraft configurations. Unique hybrid-electric variants of these configurations were compared against their conventionally-powered counterparts using typical metrics such as payload, range, and energy efficiency. The feasibility and performance of these vehicles was also investigated in the +15 and +30-year timeframes based on third-party estimations for future component performance. Using the lessons learned during this trade study, ESAero then conducted a conceptual design effort for a hybrid-electric tiltrotor demonstrator based on the XV-15. A detailed integration of the hybrid-electric propulsion system into the vehicle airframe was also performed. The hybrid-electric XV-15 concept vehicle was estimated to achieve a 10% reduction in cruise fuel consumption compared to the original NASA XV-15 at the cost of increasing the vehicle empty weight by almost 25%. The success of this design effort suggests that the design of a manned, hybrid-electric tiltrotor is technically feasible at current technology levels

Neural correlates of true and false memory in mild cognitive impairment

The goal of this research was to investigate the changes in neural processing in mild cognitive impairment. We measured phase synchrony, amplitudes, and event-related potentials in veridical and false memory to determine whether these differed in participants with mild cognitive impairment compared with typical, age-matched controls. Empirical mode decomposition phase locking analysis was used to assess synchrony, which is the first time this analysis technique has been applied in a complex cognitive task such as memory processing. The technique allowed assessment of changes in frontal and parietal cortex connectivity over time during a memory task, without a priori selection of frequency ranges, which has been shown previously to influence synchrony detection. Phase synchrony differed significantly in its timing and degree between participant groups in the theta and alpha frequency ranges. Timing differences suggested greater dependence on gist memory in the presence of mild cognitive impairment. The group with mild cognitive impairment had significantly more frontal theta phase locking than the controls in the absence of a significant behavioural difference in the task, providing new evidence for compensatory processing in the former group. Both groups showed greater frontal phase locking during false than true memory, suggesting increased searching when no actual memory trace was found. Significant inter-group differences in frontal alpha phase locking provided support for a role for lower and upper alpha oscillations in memory processing. Finally, fronto-parietal interaction was significantly reduced in the group with mild cognitive impairment, supporting the notion that mild cognitive impairment could represent an early stage in Alzheimer’s disease, which has been described as a ‘disconnection syndrome’

Tuning the properties of complex transparent conducting oxides: role of crystal symmetry, chemical composition and carrier generation

The electronic properties of single- and multi-cation transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are investigated using first-principles density functional approach. A detailed comparison of the electronic band structure of stoichiometric and oxygen deficient In$_2$O$_3$, $\alpha$- and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, rock salt and wurtzite ZnO, and layered InGaZnO$_4$ reveals the role of the following factors which govern the transport and optical properties of these TCO materials: (i) the crystal symmetry of the oxides, including both the oxygen coordination and the long-range structural anisotropy; (ii) the electronic configuration of the cation(s), specifically, the type of orbital(s) -- $s$, $p$ or $d$ -- which form the conduction band; and (iii) the strength of the hybridization between the cation's states and the p-states of the neighboring oxygen atoms. The results not only explain the experimentally observed trends in the electrical conductivity in the single-cation TCO, but also demonstrate that multicomponent oxides may offer a way to overcome the electron localization bottleneck which limits the charge transport in wide-bandgap main-group metal oxides. Further, the advantages of aliovalent substitutional doping -- an alternative route to generate carriers in a TCO host -- are outlined based on the electronic band structure calculations of Sn, Ga, Ti and Zr-doped InGaZnO$_4$. We show that the transition metal dopants offer a possibility to improve conductivity without compromising the optical transmittance

Contrast‐induced nephropathy in patients undergoing endovascular peripheral vascular intervention: Incidence, risk factors, and outcomes as observed in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137232/1/joic12379.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137232/2/joic12379_am.pd

Isolation of stable non cyclic 1,2-disulfoxides: revisiting the thermolysis of S-aryl sulfinimines

The thermolysis of S-aryl sulfinimines is shown to generate 1,2-disulfoxides and disulfides via initial Cope elimination, dimerisation of the produced sulfenic acid to a thiosulfinate, and subsequent disproportionation of the thiosulfinate

Stochastic accumulation of feature information in perception and memory

It is now well established that the time course of perceptual processing influences the first second or so of performance in a wide variety of cognitive tasks. Over the last20 years, there has been a shift from modeling the speed at which a display is processed, to modeling the speed at which different features of the display are perceived and formalizing how this perceptual information is used in decision making. The first of these models(Lamberts, 1995) was implemented to fit the time course of performance in a speeded perceptual categorization task and assumed a simple stochastic accumulation of feature information. Subsequently, similar approaches have been used to model performance in a range of cognitive tasks including identification, absolute identification, perceptual matching, recognition, visual search, and word processing, again assuming a simple stochastic accumulation of feature information from both the stimulus and representations held in memory. These models are typically fit to data from signal-to-respond experiments whereby the effects of stimulus exposure duration on performance are examined, but response times (RTs) and RT distributions have also been modeled. In this article, we review this approach and explore the insights it has provided about the interplay between perceptual processing, memory retrieval, and decision making in a variety of tasks. In so doing, we highlight how such approaches can continue to usefully contribute to our understanding of cognition

Five principles for the practice of knowledge exchange in environmental management

This paper outlines five principles for effective practice of knowledge exchange, which when applied, have the potential to significantly enhance the impact of environmental management research, policy and practice. The paper is based on an empirical analysis of interviews with 32 researchers and stakeholders across 13 environmental management research projects, each of which included elements of knowledge co-creation and sharing in their design. The projects focused on a range of upland and catchment management issues across the UK, and included Research Council, Government and NGO funded projects. Preliminary findings were discussed with knowledge exchange professionals and academic experts to ensure the emerging principles were as broadly applicable as possible across multiple disciplines. The principles suggest that: knowledge exchange needs to be designed into research; the needs of likely research users and other stakeholders should be systematically represented in the research where possible; and long-term relationships must be built on trust and two-way dialogue between researchers and stakeholders in order to ensure effective co-generation of new knowledge. We found that the delivery of tangible benefits early on in the research process helps to ensure continued motivation and engagement of likely research users. Knowledge exchange is a flexible process that must be monitored, reflected on and continuously refined, and where possible, steps should be taken to ensure a legacy of ongoing knowledge exchange beyond initial research funding. The principles have been used to inform the design of knowledge exchange and stakeholder engagement guidelines for two international research programmes. They are able to assist researchers, decision-makers and other stakeholders working in contrasting environmental management settings to work together to co-produce new knowledge, and more effectively share and apply existing knowledge to manage environmental change