bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Long‐term outcomes of rotational atherectomy of underexpanded stents. A single center experience
Authors: Hernández‐Enríquez Marco , Campelo‐Parada Francisco , Lhermusier Thibault , Bouisset Frédéric , Roncalli Jérôme , Elbaz Meyer , Carrié Didier , Boudou Nicolas 
Published: January 2018

ObjectivesTo analyze the procedural and long‐term outcomes of the use of rotational atherectomy (RA) in underexpanded stents in our cohort and to provide an overview of currently available data on this technique.BackgroundStent underexpansion (SU) has been related to stent thrombosis and restenosis. RA has been used to treat undilatable SU as a bail‐out strategy with encouraging results.MethodsThis is an observational, single‐center study. We included patients who underwent stentablation between 2013 and 2017. Baseline demographics, procedural results, in‐hospital major adverse cardiac events (MACE), and long‐term follow‐up MACE were retrospectively collected.ResultsA total of 11 patients (90.9% males, mean age 65.4 ± 18.6) were included in this study. Median left ventricle ejection fraction was 53.5% [46.2‐55]. Median calculated Syntax score was 16 [9‐31] and 45.5% of patients were admitted for acute coronary syndrome. Radial approach was used in 63.6% of cases. Most patients only required one burr (45% used a 1.5 mm diameter burr) during the intervention. Procedural success was achieved in 90.9% of the cases. Acute lumen gain was 42.7% [30.7‐61.49]. There were no in‐hospital deaths or MACE. At a median follow‐up of 26 months, only one patient (9.1%) suffered MACE in the context of acute coronary syndrome, and two patients (18.2%) required non‐target lesion revascularization. No deaths were reported.ConclusionsRA of under expanded stents is a feasible option with a high rate of procedural success. At long‐term follow‐up, all of them were alive and 90.9% of patients remained free from MACE.
Reproductive health policy‐makers: Comparing the influences of international and domestic institutions on abortion policy
Authors: Forman‐Rabinovici Aliza , Sommer Udi 
Published: January 2018

AbstractDo policies protecting women's rights correspond with norm change at the state level or the level of international institutions? We examine this question, comparing domestic and international institutional activity in correlation with reproductive health policy change, specifically, abortion access policy. At the domestic level, we examine female legislators and policies set to encourage gender equality, namely, electoral gender quotas. In the international arena, our theory distinguishes regional from international inter‐governmental bodies. Original data with measurement innovations introduced here—including the Comparative Abortion Policy Index (CAPI1 and CAPI2)—are analysed for over 150 countries for close to two decades. We find a heretofore‐overlooked relationship between international entities and reproductive health. Gender quotas, however, do not correspond with the general association between female representation and pro‐women policy. When researchers and policy‐makers consider gender quotas to promote women's rights, they may be advised to encourage female political participation through more organic means.
Effects of vegetative mulches on growth of indigenous crops in the Kingdom of Tonga
Authors: Manu V. , Whitbread A. , Blair G. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractAs in many areas of the developing world, intensification of agriculture in Tonga, and other Pacific Islands, has put increased pressure on the soil resource. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of mulch on the growth and yield of two important food and fibre crops. The first was conducted on sloping land to evaluate the effect of guinea grass (Megathyrsus maximus) mulch and hedgerows on taro [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott] yield, and in controlling soil erosion. The second compared the response of paper mulberry [Broussonetia papyrifera (L) Ventenot] to different management regimes of a grass fallow. Thick vegetative mulch increased taro corm yield by 81% and reduced soil loss by 50% compared to local farmer practice, and the soil loss from taro with mulch was comparable to the perennial cash hedgerow treatment. Mulch increased paper mulberry bark yield by 30% compared to the non‐mulch control. Comparative economic analysis showed that increased net profit in the mulched treatments compared to the non‐mulched control was T$2660/ha for taro and T$12 108/ha for paper mulberry. Considering that mulch is readily available to many farmers throughout the Pacific Islands and elsewhere in the tropics, it is recommended as a sustainable practice for crop production.
Progress on Mechanically Grading Citrus Fruit in Processing Plants
Authors: Bryan William L. 
Published: January 2018

An inexpensive method to mechanically pregrade citrus fruit in processing plants is needed to improve effectiveness of manual grading and reduce handling costs. The need for mechanical pregrading will increase with mechanically harvested fruit which will contain more damaged and unwholesome fruit than manually harvested fruit. Chemical abscission to loosen the fruit prior to harvest causes considerable pre-drop, and rake-pick-up procedures will be necessary to recover fruit from the ground. Fruit harvested from the ground may contain “old drops” in varying stages of decay. Normal grading procedures are sometimes inadequate to remove the larger amounts of unwholesome fruit present after a freeze or late in the processing season. Such periods require either additional temporary graders or reduced processing rates and occasionally, regrading.
Paper published with permission.
Economics of Citrus Speciality Products
Authors: Gerow Gordon P. , Gray L. E. 
Published: January 2018

The citrus industry is not different from any competitive industry in that the by-products, or specialty products as we prefer to call them, can play in important role in the overall economic structure. For example, it has been estimated that the Sunkist organization in California produces and markets over 160 different products from citrus, BUT Florida processors have not developed their specialty products to the extent done in California. Probably the primary reason for this has been a continually increasing size of crop that demanded the capital for plant expansion and perhaps rightly so, as this is the tried and known source of profit. We are now reaching a declining rate of increase in the crop, and should seriously consider investment of money and even more importantly the investment of skilled talent in Development, Manufacturing and Sales to promote specialty products as California citrus processors and other industries do.
Paper published with permission.
Technological Change in the Food Industry
Authors: Bloom Gordon F. , Curhan Ronald C. , Hollis Mark C. 
Published: January 2018

The year 1973 has been chronicled by the news media as the “year of Watergate,” but historians could record that an event of greater long-term significance occurred in that year. The year 1973 may well mark the disappearance of cheap food from American consumers’ tables. Prices for food purchased for home consumption increased during the calendar year 1973 by 16. 3 per cent, the largest increase in one year since the hectic catch-up purchasing spree of 1947. It is possible, as some Administration officials have forecast, that the current alarming rate of inflation in food prices may slacken somewhat in the future. Nevertheless, it seems almost certain that for the foreseeable future the United States will be faced with a strong continuing upward trend in food prices. The increase is expected to approximate 15 per cent for 1974, and the 1975 increase is likely to be of the same magnitude.
Paper published with permission.
Spray Irrigation of Waste Water on Citrus Groves
Authors: Koo R. C. J. 
Published: January 2018

Spray irrigation is widely used to dispose of the waste water from citrus processing plants. The citrus processing season in Florida may range from 6 to 10 months a year depending on the size and the type of the fruit crop. Much of this season occurs in that part of the year when rainfall is deficient. It would be advantageous if this waste water could be utilized in the production of citrus crops. A study was conducted between 1971 and 1974 to investigate the feasibility of growing-citrus with citrus processing waste water (6).
Paper published with permission.
Comparison and Application of Refrigeration Compressors
Authors: Terrett Hunter L. , Kelly Larry M. 
Published: January 2018

A refrigeration system has one basic requirement irrespective of the application. This requirement is to remove heat from the product and/or storage room where it is not wanted, and to reject this unwanted heat to a medium where it is wanted or at least can be tolerated. Figure 1. below, shows a simple representation of a refrigeration system.
Paper published with permission.
The Recovery of Sugar From Citrus Press Liquor by Ultrafiltration
Authors: Breslau B. R. , Pensenstadler D. F. , Mitchell W. G. 
Published: January 2018

Citrus press liquor is the liquor expelled from the peel and rag residue of citrus fruit by pressing. It is a non-homogeneous straw-colored liquor and contains 9 to 15% dissolved solids, of which 50 to 70% are sugars (References 1, 2). In addition to sugar, however, citrus press liquor also contains a significant amount of other constituents, some of which are listed in Table 1, which impart a bitter taste and unpleasant character; its principal use therefore has been limited to that of a feedstock for the production of citrus molasses which is marketed primarily as an animal feed (Reference 3).
Paper published with permission.
Trash and Stem Removal From Incoming Fruit
Authors: Synder R. Paul 
Published: January 2018

This paper discusses methods to remove trash and attached stems during receiving citrus fruit at processing plants and reports progress on work now underway with a pilot unloading line. The current project was initiated by a Florida processing plant, then combined with a project to develop methods for mechanical grading of fruit harvested by mechanical means, funded by the Florida Department of Citrus through the Florida Citrus Research Foundation, For the joint project, an 8-box/min. pilot unloading line was constructed and operated in June and July, 1975. The line has been modified and expanded to about 20-box/min. capacity for evaluation this season.
Paper published with permission.
The Metric System as It Applies to the Citrus Industry
Authors: Rapson Richard C. 
Published: January 2018

WOW! 914, 610, 914 mm. Does a sequence of numbers that size get your attention? Some young lady 36, 24, 36 inches would. These two sequences have only a basic difference: the first is metric and the second is the British system of measurements.
Paper published with permission.
Solid State A-C Variable Speed Drives
Authors: Zak John D. 
Published: January 2018

Solid state adjustable-speed a-c drives offer a new era in high performance, maintenance-free, industrial drive systems. Whether applying a solid state adjustable-speed a-c drive to a new application or a retrofit to a fixed frequency drive there will be recognized unique advantages, both economically and from this standpoint of performance.
Since its’ introduction in the mid 1960’s the pulse width modulated (PWM) inverter has offered a number of significant advantages over hydraulic systems and other inverter types for low and medium frequency applications. With the advent of the fast turn-off thyristors and advances in PWM modulator techniques, the PWM now offers distinct application advantages to 200 Hz. PWM design concepts are analyzed, with a comparison of different types of inverters are discussed.
Paper published with permission.
Cogeneration: An Example Within the Citrus Industry
Authors: Weimer Dennis D. 
Published: January 2018

Since the word “cogeneration” was coined in President Carter’s energy message to Congress in April 1977, most articles covering the topic have dealt with defining its meaning, estimating the quantity of recoverable waste heat energy in various industrial segments, and describing the many drawbacks, i. e., federal energy policy, electric utility rate structures, tax credits, etc. associated with major industrial-utility co-operative power generation concepts. So much emphasis has been placed on the problems of large scale cogeneration projects that many operating industrial plants either lose sight of the potential benefits obtained by generating their own electrical power or shy away from the subject altogether.
Paper published with permission.
Effect of chronic alcohol and tobacco use on retinal nerve fibre layer thickness: a case–control study
Authors: Ahuja Shashi , Kumar Praveen S , Kumar Vivek Praveen , Kattimani Shivanand , Akkilagunta Sujiv 
Published: January 2018

ObjectiveTo identify the effects of chronic alcohol and/or tobacco use on retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness and to find the association between severity of addiction with RNFL thinning.MethodologyA case–control study was performed in 200 eyes of cases and 200 healthy control eyes. Cases were recruited from deaddiction clinic having history of alcohol and/or tobacco use for at least 5 years. Severity of alcohol and tobacco was graded by Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Fagerstorm Nicotine Dependence (FTND) scale, respectively. Age-matched and gender-matched individuals attending ophthalmology outpatient department without addiction were recruited as controls. RNFL thickness was measured using Stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT).ResultsStatistically significant RNFL thinning was noted in all quadrants except nasal quadrant in the cases. Statistically significant thinning was seen in all quadrants except nasal with increased FTND scale. Thinning was noted in all quadrants with higher AUDIT scale, but this was statistically not significant.ConclusionChronic alcohol and tobacco use are likely to cause RNFL thinning. OCT can be used as a screening tool to suspect visual morbidities in chronic tobacco and alcohol users.
Surface landforms and speleological investigation for a better understanding of karst hydrogeological processes: a history of research in southeastern Italy
Authors: Parise M. , Benedetto L. 
Published: January 2018

Abstract
Small-size karst landforms may potentially provide very useful information to fully understand the behaviour of karst systems and their dynamics. In this chapter we demonstrate the need to pay attention to such features. ‘Inghiottitoio della Masseria Rotolo’, located in a remarkable karst area of southern Italy, has in recent years become the most controversial and discussed speleological site in Apulia. Even though it has been known for several decades, recently excavation work has allowed cavers to enter a huge karst system, eventually reaching the water table. The total depth of the cave is now 324 m, making it the deepest in the region. This chapter summarizes the history of discoveries at the site, starting from the description of the polje, also including information about the link between toponymy and karst. The works carried out at the swallet site are then described to emphasize the importance of the often neglected small-size karst features. In fact, when carefully observed and studied, these might be able to shed new light and greatly increase our knowledge about karst. The final part of the chapter deals with the cave system and provides an outline of the ongoing research.
ProPPA
Authors: Georgoulas Anastasis , Hillston Jane , Sanguinetti Guid 
Published: January 2018

Formal languages like process algebras have been shown to be effective tools in modelling a wide range of dynamic systems, providing a high-level description that is readily transformed into an executable model. However, their application is sometimes hampered because the quantitative details of many real-world systems of interest are not fully known. In contrast, in machine learning, there has been work to develop probabilistic programming languages, which provide system descriptions that incorporate uncertainty and leverage advanced statistical techniques to infer unknown parameters from observed data. Unfortunately, current probabilistic programming languages are typically too low-level to be suitable for complex modelling.
In this article, we present a Probabilistic Programming Process Algebra (ProPPA), the first instance of the probabilistic programming paradigm being applied to a high-level, formal language, and its supporting tool suite. We explain the semantics of the language in terms of a quantitative generalisation of Constraint Markov Chains and describe the implementation of the language, discussing in some detail the different inference algorithms available and their domain of applicability. We conclude by illustrating the use of the language on simple but non-trivial case studies: here, ProPPA is shown to combine the elegance and simplicity of high-level formal modelling languages with an effective way of incorporating data, making it a promising tool for modelling studies.
Affine Relativization
Authors: Aydinlioğlu Bariş , Bach Eric 
Published: January 2018

We strengthen existing evidence for the so-called “algebrization barrier.” Algebrization—short for algebraic relativization—was introduced by Aaronson and Wigderson (AW) (STOC 2008) to characterize proofs involving arithmetization, simulation, and other “current techniques.” However, unlike relativization, eligible statements under this notion do not seem to have basic closure properties, making it conceivable to take two proofs, both with algebrizing conclusions, and combine them to get a proof without. Further, the notion is undefined for most types of statements and does not seem to yield a general criterion by which we can tell, given a proof, whether it algebrizes. In fact, the very notion of an algebrizing proof is never made explicit, and casual attempts to define it are problematic. All these issues raise the question of what evidence, if any, is obtained by knowing whether some statement does or does not algebrize.
We give a reformulation of algebrization without these shortcomings. First, we define what it means for any statement/proof to hold relative to any language, with no need to refer to devices like a Turing machine with an oracle tape. Our approach dispels the widespread misconception that the notion of oracle access is inherently tied to a computational model. We also connect relativizing statements to proofs, by showing that every proof that some statement relativizes is essentially a relativizing proof of that statement.

We then define a statement/proof as relativizing
affinely
if it holds relative to every
affine oracle
—here an affine oracle is the result of a particular error correcting code applied to the characteristic string of a language. We show that every statement that AW declare as algebrizing does relativize affinely, in fact, has a
proof
that relativizes affinely, and that no such proof exists for any of the statements shown not-algebrizing by AW in the classical computation model.

Our work complements, and goes beyond, the subsequent work by Impagliazzo, Kabanets, and Kolokolova (STOC 2009), which also proposes a reformulation of algebrization, but falls short of recovering some key results of AW, most notably regarding the NEXP versus P/poly question.
Using our definitions, we obtain new streamlined proofs of several classic results in complexity, including PSPACE ⊂ IP and NEXP ⊂ MIP. This may be of separate interest.
Epithelial Na+ channel differentially contributes to shear stress-mediated vascular responsiveness in carotid and mesenteric arteries from mice
Authors: Ashley Zoe , Mugloo Sama , McDonald Fiona J. , Fronius Martin 
Published: January 2018

A potential “new player” in arteries for mediating shear stress responses is the epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC). The contribution of ENaC as shear sensor in intact arteries, and particularly different types of arteries (conduit and resistance), is unknown. We investigated the role of ENaC in both conduit (carotid) and resistance (third-order mesenteric) arteries isolated from C57Bl/6J mice. Vessel characteristics were determined at baseline (60 mmHg, no flow) and in response to increased intraluminal pressure and shear stress using a pressure myograph. These protocols were performed in the absence and presence of the ENaC inhibitor amiloride (10 µM) and after inhibition of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) by Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME; 100 µM). Under no-flow conditions, amiloride increased internal and external diameters of carotid (13 ± 2%, P < 0.05) but not mesenteric (0.5 ± 0.9%, P > 0.05) arteries. In response to increased intraluminal pressure, amiloride had no effect on the internal diameter of either type of artery. However, amiloride affected the stress-strain curves of mesenteric arteries. With increased shear stress, ENaC-dependent effects were observed in both arteries. In carotid arteries, amiloride augmented flow-mediated dilation (9.2 ± 5.3%) compared with control (no amiloride, 6.2 ± 3.3%, P < 0.05). In mesenteric arteries, amiloride induced a flow-mediated constriction (−11.5 ± 6.6%) compared with control (−2.2 ± 4.5%, P < 0.05). l-NAME mimicked the effect of ENaC inhibition and prevented further amiloride effects in both types of arteries. These observations indicate that ENaC contributes to shear sensing in conduit and resistance arteries. ENaC-mediated effects were associated with NO production but may involve different (artery-dependent) downstream signaling pathways. NEW & NOTEWORTHY The epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) contributes to shear sensing in conduit and resistance arteries. In conduit arteries ENaC has a role as a vasoconstrictor, whereas in resistance arteries ENaC contributes to vasodilation. Interaction of ENaC with endothelial nitric oxide synthase/nitric oxide signaling to mediate the effects is supported; however, cross talk with other shear stress-dependent signaling pathways cannot be excluded. Listen to this article’s corresponding podcast at https://ajpheart.podbean.com/e/different-roles-of-enac-in-carotid-and-mesenteric-arteries/ .