A fully polarizable and dissociable potential for water

A new classical interaction potential for water simulations is presented. Water is modeled as a fully dissociable set of atoms with a point dipole, determined self-consistently, on every oxygen atom. The oxygen polarizability is not fixed but depends on the geometry of the system. We show that, in spite of the limited number of free parameters, the model reproduces the geometrical and vibrational properties of microclusters in a satisfactory way

Equitable Subordination of a Claim Depends on Insider Status, Conduct of the Claimant, and if There was Harm

(Excerpt) Equitable subordination is a remedial doctrine pursuant to which a creditor’s claim may be subordinated to other claims. The doctrine is designed to “undo or to offset any inequality in the claim position of a creditor that will produce injustice or unfairness to other creditors in terms of the bankruptcy results.” Equitable subordination is codified in section 510(c) of Title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”). Section 510(c) of the Bankruptcy Code “authorizes a bankruptcy court to ‘subordinate for purposes of distribution all or part of an allowed claim to all or part of another allowed claim.’” The courts have uniformly adopted a three-part equitable subordination test. This memorandum explores what level of inequitable conduct and harm allows a court to subordinate a claim under section 510(c). Part I describes the three-part test applied by courts when analyzing a request to equitably subordinate a claim. Part II analyzes what constitutes inequitable conduct. Part III explores when inequitable conduct actually causes an injury to another creditor or confers an unfair advantage on the claimant

Risk of asthmatic episodes in children exposed to sulfur dioxide stack emissions from a refinery point source in Montreal, Canada.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the respiratory effects of short-term exposures to petroleum refinery emissions in young children. This study is an extension of an ecologic study that found an increased rate of hospitalizations for respiratory conditions among children living near petroleum refineries in Montreal (Canada). METHODS: We used a time-stratified case-crossover design to assess the risk of asthma episodes in relation to short-term variations in sulfur dioxide levels among children 2-4 years of age living within 0.5-7.5 km of the refinery stacks. Health data used to measure asthma episodes included emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions from 1996 to 2004. We estimated daily levels of SO2 at the residence of children using a) two fixed-site SO2 monitors located near the refineries and b) the AERMOD (American Meteorological Society/Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model) atmospheric dispersion model. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios associated with an increase in the interquartile range of daily SO2 mean and peak exposures (31.2 ppb for AERMOD peaks). We adjusted for temperature, relative humidity, and regional/urban background air pollutant levels. RESULTS: The risks of asthma ED visits and hospitalizations were more pronounced for same-day (lag 0) SO2 peak levels than for mean levels on the same day, or for other lags: the adjusted odds ratios estimated for same-day SO2 peak levels from AERMOD were 1.10 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.00-1.22] and 1.42 (95% CI, 1.10-1.82), over the interquartile range, for ED visits and hospital admissions, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term episodes of increased SO2 exposures from refinery stack emissions were associated with a higher number of asthma episodes in nearby children

Expectation Versus Reality: Perceived Differences in Cognitive Ability Between Men and Women

In Western society, there is a common belief that there are clear differences between male and female brains. In our project, we hope to gain insight into the beliefs of undergraduate students regarding this very idea. We are surveying Binghamton University students about their perceptions regarding the differences in cognitive ability between cis-gender men and women. Our survey asks students if certain skills are gendered, which gender these skills are more closely associated with, and where students learned these stereotypes. These results will be compared to the current state of knowledge about cognitive differences between the sexes. We anticipate that students will overestimate the extent of brain differences between the sexes, as our culture has conditioned us to believe. Our goal is to enlighten others about the pervasiveness of neurosexism.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2022/1097/thumbnail.jp

Bone texture modifications during bone regeneration and osteocyte cell-signaling changes in response to treatment with Teriparatide

Bone texture modifications during bone regeneration and osteocyte cell-signaling changes in response to treatment with Teriparatid

Vulnerability to Heat-related Mortality: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Meta-regression Analysis

International audienceBACKGROUND: Addressing vulnerability to heat-related mortality is a necessary step in the development of policies dictated by heat action plans. We aimed to provide a systematic assessment of the epidemiologic evidence regarding vulnerability to heat-related mortality. METHODS: Studies assessing the association between high ambient temperature or heat waves and mortality among different subgroups and published between January 1980 and August 2014 were selected. Estimates of association for all the included subgroups were extracted. We assessed the presence of heterogeneous effects between subgroups conducting Cochran Q tests. We conducted random effect meta-analyses of ratios of relative risks (RRR) for high ambient temperature studies. We performed random effects meta-regression analyses to investigate factors associated with the magnitude of the RRR. RESULTS: Sixty-one studies were included. Using the Cochran Q test, we consistently found evidence of vulnerability for the elderly ages \textgreater85 years. We found a pooled RRR of 0.99 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.97, 1.01) for male sex, 1.02 (95% CI = 1.01, 1.03) for age \textgreater65 years, 1.04 (95% CI = 1.02, 1.07) for age \textgreater75 years, 1.03 (95% CI = 1.01, 1.05) for low individual socioeconomic status (SES), and 1.01 (95% CI = 0.99, 1.02) for low ecologic SES. CONCLUSIONS: We found strongest evidence of heat-related vulnerability for the elderly ages \textgreater65 and \textgreater75 years and low SES groups (at the individual level). Studies are needed to clarify if other subgroups (e.g., children, people living alone) are also vulnerable to heat to inform public health program

Ab initio molecular dynamics using density based energy functionals: application to ground state geometries of some small clusters

The ground state geometries of some small clusters have been obtained via ab initio molecular dynamical simulations by employing density based energy functionals. The approximate kinetic energy functionals that have been employed are the standard Thomas-Fermi $(T_{TF})$ along with the Weizsacker correction $T_W$ and a combination $F(N_e)T_{TF} + T_W$. It is shown that the functional involving $F(N_e)$ gives superior charge densities and bondlengths over the standard functional. Apart from dimers and trimers of Na, Mg, Al, Li, Si, equilibrium geometries for $Li_nAl, n=1,8$ and $Al_{13}$ clusters have also been reported. For all the clusters investigated, the method yields the ground state geometries with the correct symmetries with bondlengths within 5\% when compared with the corresponding results obtained via full orbital based Kohn-Sham method. The method is fast and a promising one to study the ground state geometries of large clusters.Comment: 15 pages, 3 PS figure

Nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) do not change nectar palatability but enhance learning and memory in honey bees

Floral nectar is a pivotal element of the intimate relationship between plants and pollinators. Nectars are composed of a plethora of nutritionally valuable compounds but also hundreds of secondary metabolites (SMs) whose function remains elusive. Here we performed a set of behavioural experiments to study whether five ubiquitous nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs: β-alanine, GABA, citrulline, ornithine and taurine) interact with gustation, feeding preference, and learning and memory in Apis mellifera. We showed that foragers were unable to discriminate NPAAs from water when only accessing antennal chemo-tactile information and that freely moving bees did not exhibit innate feeding preferences for NPAAs. Also, NPAAs did not alter food consumption or longevity in caged bees over 10 days. Taken together our data suggest that natural concentrations of NPAAs did not alter nectar palatability to bees. Olfactory conditioning assays showed that honey bees were more likely to learn a scent when it signalled a sucrose reward containing either β-alanine or GABA, and that GABA enhanced specific memory retention. Conversely, when ingested two hours prior to conditioning, GABA, β-alanine, and taurine weakened bees’ acquisition performances but not specific memory retention, which was enhanced in the case of β-alanine and taurine. Neither citrulline nor ornithine affected learning and memory. NPAAs in nectars may represent a cooperative strategy adopted by plants to attract beneficial pollinators