bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Experimental Investigation of the Influence of Surface Contaminants on the Transfer Length of Smooth and Indented Prestressing Reinforcements Used in the Manufacture of Concrete Railroad Ties
Authors: Beck B. Terry , Peterman Robert J. , Wu Chih-Hang John , Mattson Steve 
Published: June 2015

It has been hypothesized that surface contaminants, such as lubricants on prestressing wires or strands, influence the resulting transfer length. However, until recently, the extent of this possible influence has only been speculation, as has been the relative influence on wire in comparison to strand. With the recent development of the ability to rapidly assess transfer length using new non-contact optical methods, it is now possible to explore hypothetical scenarios such as this with nearly real-time capability in the manufacturing plant.
This paper presents a recent attempt to determine the effect of lubricating oil on the transfer length of ties, by conducting nearly real-time in-plant transfer length measurements using a newly developed prototype multi-camera non-contact transfer length measurement system. The testing was conducted on prismatic concrete turnout ties manufactured at the Nortrak plant in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Two different types of turnout ties were investigated, one containing indented 5.32-mm-diameter wire reinforcement and the other containing 3/8-in.-diameter 7-wire strand. These ties were located near the end of the casting bed. Prior to casting, one end of the form was sprayed with a generic lubricant, literally saturating the prestressing wires or strands. The ties were then cast and de-tensioned following the normal manufacturing process. This clearly represented a highly worst-case scenario for the influence of surface contaminants.
Measurements were made using the new multi-camera system, providing a detailed profile of surface strain over several feet along each end of the last three ties in the casting beds (one for strand and one for wire) — the last tie being the one subjected to the application of oil prior to casting. Hence, the influence of oil application on adjacent ties was also revealed by these tests. For the tie end with strand reinforcement subjected to oil soaking, the maximum compressive strain only reached about 400 microstrain, far below the nominal average maximum strain level of approximately 1000 microstrain. In fact, the associated transfer length for the oil-soaked end could not be definitively measured because the strain level never achieved the plateau level of strain. In contrast, the tie end with oil-soaked indented wire exhibited a significant increase in transfer length; however, the transfer length remained well below the distance to the rail seat. From these worst-case tests, one can conclude that smooth strand is potentially highly influenced by lubricating oils, whereas the influence on indented wire is likely small by comparison.
Rail Tank Car Total Containment Fire Testing: Planning and Test Development
Authors: Gonzalez Francisco , Prabhakaran Anand , Robitaille Andrew , Booth Graydon , Birk A. M. , Otremba Frank 
Published: June 2015

Given the frequent incidences of Non-Accident Releases (NARs) of hazardous materials from tank cars, there in an increasing interest in transporting hazardous materials in total containment conditions (i.e., no pressure relief devices). However, the ability of tank cars to meet thermal protection requirements provided in the Code of Federal Regulations under conditions of total containment has not been established. Also, the modeling tool commonly used by industry to evaluate thermal protection, AFFTAC, has not been validated under these conditions. The intent of this effort was to evaluate through a series of third-scale fire tests, the ability of tank cars to meet the thermal protection requirements under total containment conditions, and also, to validate AFFTAC for such conditions.
This paper describes the test design and planning effort associated with this research, including the design and evaluation of a fire test setup to simulate a credible, fully engulfing, pool fire that is consistent and repeatable, and the design and hydro-static testing of a third-scale tank specimen. The fire design includes controls on the spatial distribution and temperature variation of the flame temperature, the heat flux, and the radiative balance, to best reflect large liquid hydrocarbon pool fire conditions that may be experienced during derailment scenarios.
Correction of MRI‐induced geometric distortions in whole‐body small animal PET‐MRI
Authors: Frohwein Lynn J. , Hoerr Verena , Faber Cornelius , Schäfers Klaus P. 
Published: June 2015

Purpose:The fusion of positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data can be a challenging task in whole‐body PET‐MRI. The quality of the registration between these two modalities in large field‐of‐views (FOV) is often degraded by geometric distortions of the MRI data. The distortions at the edges of large FOVs mainly originate from MRI gradient nonlinearities. This work describes a method to measure and correct for these kind of geometric distortions in small animal MRI scanners to improve the registration accuracy of PET and MRI data.Methods:The authors have developed a geometric phantom which allows the measurement of geometric distortions in all spatial axes via control points. These control points are detected semiautomatically in both PET and MRI data with a subpixel accuracy. The spatial transformation between PET and MRI data is determined with these control points via 3D thin‐plate splines (3D TPS). The transformation derived from the 3D TPS is finally applied to real MRI mouse data, which were acquired with the same scan parameters used in the phantom data acquisitions. Additionally, the influence of the phantom material on the homogeneity of the magnetic field is determined via field mapping.Results:The spatial shift according to the magnetic field homogeneity caused by the phantom material was determined to a mean of 0.1 mm. The results of the correction show that distortion with a maximum error of 4 mm could be reduced to less than 1 mm with the proposed correction method. Furthermore, the control point‐based registration of PET and MRI data showed improved congruence after correction.Conclusions:The developed phantom has been shown to have no considerable negative effect on the homogeneity of the magnetic field. The proposed method yields an appropriate correction of the measured MRI distortion and is able to improve the PET and MRI registration. Furthermore, the method is applicable to whole‐body small animal imaging routines including different standard MRI sequences.
A novel computer aided breast mass detection scheme based on morphological enhancement and SLIC superpixel segmentation
Authors: Chu Jinghui , Min Hang , Liu Li , Lu Wei 
Published: June 2015

Purpose:To develop a computer‐aided detection (CAD) scheme for mass detection on digitized mammograms that achieves a high sensitivity while maintaining a low false positive (FP) rate using morphological enhancement and simple linear iterative clustering (SLIC) method.Methods:The authors developed a multiple stage method for breast mass detection. The proposed CAD scheme consists of five major components: (1) preprocessing based on morphological enhancement, which enhances mass‐like patterns while removing unrelated background clutters, (2) segmentation of mass candidates based on the SLIC method, which groups mass and background tissue into different regions, (3) prescreening of suspicious regions using rule‐based classification that eliminates regions unlikely to represent masses, (4) potential lesion contour refinement based on distance regularized level set evolution, and (5) FP reduction based on feature extraction and an ensemble of undersampled support vector machines. Two datasets were built to design and evaluate the system: a mass dataset containing 187 cases (386 mammograms) and a nonmass dataset containing 88 mammograms. All cases were acquired from the digital database for screening mammography (DDSM). Approximately two thirds of the available masses were used for training the system, and the remaining masses and nonmass dataset were used for testing.Results:Testing of the proposed CAD system on the mass dataset yielded a mass‐based sensitivity of 98.55%, 97.10%, 92.75% at 0.84, 0.63, 0.55 FP mark/image, respectively. Tested on the nonmass dataset, the scheme showed a FP rate of 0.55, 0.34, 0.30 mark/image.Conclusions:The results indicate that the system is promising in improving the performance of current CAD systems by reducing FP rate while achieving relatively high sensitivity.
Computer‐aided pulmonary image analysis in small animal models
Authors: Xu Ziyue , Bagci Ulas , Mansoor Awais , Kramer‐Marek Gabriela , Luna Brian , Kubler Andre , Dey Bappaditya , Foster Brent , Papadakis Georgios Z. , Camp Jeremy V. , Jonsson Colleen B. , Bishai William R. , Jain Sanjay , Udupa Jayaram K. , Mollura Daniel J. 
Published: June 2015

Purpose:To develop an automated pulmonary image analysis framework for infectious lung diseases in small animal models.Methods:The authors describe a novel pathological lung and airway segmentation method for small animals. The proposed framework includes identification of abnormal imaging patterns pertaining to infectious lung diseases. First, the authors’ system estimates an expected lung volume by utilizing a regression function between total lung capacity and approximated rib cage volume. A significant difference between the expected lung volume and the initial lung segmentation indicates the presence of severe pathology, and invokes a machine learning based abnormal imaging pattern detection system next. The final stage of the proposed framework is the automatic extraction of airway tree for which new affinity relationships within the fuzzy connectedness image segmentation framework are proposed by combining Hessian and gray‐scale morphological reconstruction filters.Results:133 CT scans were collected from four different studies encompassing a wide spectrum of pulmonary abnormalities pertaining to two commonly used small animal models (ferret and rabbit). Sensitivity and specificity were greater than 90% for pathological lung segmentation (average dice similarity coefficient > 0.9). While qualitative visual assessments of airway tree extraction were performed by the participating expert radiologists, for quantitative evaluation the authors validated the proposed airway extraction method by using publicly available EXACT’09 data set.Conclusions:The authors developed a comprehensive computer‐aided pulmonary image analysis framework for preclinical research applications. The proposed framework consists of automatic pathological lung segmentation and accurate airway tree extraction. The framework has high sensitivity and specificity; therefore, it can contribute advances in preclinical research in pulmonary diseases.
Development and evaluation of aperture‐based complexity metrics using film and EPID measurements of static MLC openings
Authors: Götstedt Julia , Karlsson Hauer Anna , Bäck Anna 
Published: June 2015

Purpose:Complexity metrics have been suggested as a complement to measurement‐based quality assurance for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). However, these metrics have not yet been sufficiently validated. This study develops and evaluates new aperture‐based complexity metrics in the context of static multileaf collimator (MLC) openings and compares them to previously published metrics.Methods:This study develops the converted aperture metric and the edge area metric. The converted aperture metric is based on small and irregular parts within the MLC opening that are quantified as measured distances between MLC leaves. The edge area metric is based on the relative size of the region around the edges defined by the MLC. Another metric suggested in this study is the circumference/area ratio. Earlier defined aperture‐based complexity metrics—the modulation complexity score, the edge metric, the ratio monitor units (MU)/Gy, the aperture area, and the aperture irregularity—are compared to the newly proposed metrics. A set of small and irregular static MLC openings are created which simulate individual IMRT/VMAT control points of various complexities. These are measured with both an amorphous silicon electronic portal imaging device and EBT3 film. The differences between calculated and measured dose distributions are evaluated using a pixel‐by‐pixel comparison with two global dose difference criteria of 3% and 5%. The extent of the dose differences, expressed in terms of pass rate, is used as a measure of the complexity of the MLC openings and used for the evaluation of the metrics compared in this study. The different complexity scores are calculated for each created static MLC opening. The correlation between the calculated complexity scores and the extent of the dose differences (pass rate) are analyzed in scatter plots and using Pearson's r‐values.Results:The complexity scores calculated by the edge area metric, converted aperture metric, circumference/area ratio, edge metric, and MU/Gy ratio show good linear correlation to the complexity of the MLC openings, expressed as the 5% dose difference pass rate, with Pearson's r‐values of −0.94, −0.88, −0.84, −0.89, and −0.82, respectively. The overall trends for the 3% and 5% dose difference evaluations are similar.Conclusions:New complexity metrics are developed. The calculated scores correlate to the complexity of the created static MLC openings. The complexity of the MLC opening is dependent on the penumbra region relative to the area of the opening. The aperture‐based complexity metrics that combined either the distances between the MLC leaves or the MLC opening circumference with the aperture area show the best correlation with the complexity of the static MLC openings.
Body-Cooling Paradigm in Sport: Maximizing Safety and Performance During Competition
Authors: Adams William M. , Hosokawa Yuri , Casa Douglas J. 
Published: June 2015

Context:Although body cooling has both performance and safety benefits, knowledge on optimizing cooling during specific sport competition is limited.Objectives:To identify when, during sport competition, it is optimal for body cooling and to identify optimal body-cooling modalities to enhance safety and maximize sport performance.Evidence Acquisition:A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify articles with specific context regarding body cooling, sport performance, and cooling modalities used during sport competition. A search of scientific peer-reviewed literature examining the effects of body cooling on exercise performance was done to examine the influence of body cooling on exercise performance. Subsequently, a literature search was done to identify effective cooling modalities that have been shown to improve exercise performance.Evidence Synthesis:The cooling modalities that are most effective in cooling the body during sport competition depend on the sport, timing of cooling, and feasibility based on the constraints of the sports rules and regulations. Factoring in the length of breaks (halftime substitutions, etc), the equipment worn during competition, and the cooling modalities that offer the greatest potential to cool must be considered in each individual sport.Conclusions:Scientific evidence supports using body cooling as a method of improving performance during sport competition. Developing a strategy to use cooling modalities that are scientifically evidence-based to improve performance while maximizing athlete’s safety warrants further investigation.
Structural Insights into Binding of the Antifungal Drug Fluconazole to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Lanosterol 14α-Demethylase
Authors: Sagatova Alia A. , Keniya Mikhail V. , Wilson Rajni K. , Monk Brian C. , Tyndall Joel D. A. 
Published: June 2015

ABSTRACT

Infections by fungal pathogens such as
Candida albicans
and
Aspergillus fumigatus
and their resistance to triazole drugs are major concerns. Fungal lanosterol 14α-demethylase belongs to the CYP51 class in the cytochrome P450 superfamily of enzymes. This monospanning bitopic membrane protein is involved in ergosterol biosynthesis and is the primary target of azole antifungal drugs, including fluconazole. The lack of high-resolution structural information for this drug target from fungal pathogens has been a limiting factor for the design of modified triazole drugs that will overcome resistance. Here we report the X-ray structure of full-length
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
lanosterol 14α-demethylase in complex with fluconazole at a resolution of 2.05 Å. This structure shows the key interactions involved in fluconazole binding and provides insight into resistance mechanisms by revealing a water-mediated hydrogen bonding network between the drug and tyrosine 140, a residue frequently found mutated to histidine or phenylalanine in resistant clinical isolates.
Genome-Wide Identification of Klebsiella pneumoniae Fitness Genes during Lung Infection
Authors: Bachman Michael A. , Breen Paul , Deornellas Valerie , Mu Qiao , Zhao Lili , Wu Weisheng , Cavalcoli James D. , Mobley Harry L. T. 
Published: June 2015

ABSTRACT

Klebsiella pneumoniae
is an urgent public health threat because of resistance to carbapenems, antibiotics of last resort against Gram-negative bacterial infections. Despite the fact that
K. pneumoniae
is a leading cause of pneumonia in hospitalized patients, the bacterial factors required to cause disease are poorly understood. Insertion site sequencing combines transposon mutagenesis with high-throughput sequencing to simultaneously screen thousands of insertion mutants for fitness defects during infection. Using the recently sequenced
K. pneumoniae
strain KPPR1 in a well-established mouse model of pneumonia, insertion site sequencing was performed on a pool of >25,000 transposon mutants. The relative fitness requirement of each gene was ranked based on the ratio of lung to inoculum read counts and concordance between insertions in the same gene. This analysis revealed over 300 mutants with at least a 2-fold fitness defect and 69 with defects ranging from 10- to >2,000-fold. Construction of 6 isogenic mutants for use in competitive infections with the wild type confirmed their requirement for lung fitness. Critical fitness genes included those for the synthesis of branched-chain and aromatic amino acids that are essential in mice and humans, the transcriptional elongation factor RfaH, and the copper efflux pump CopA
.
The majority of fitness genes were conserved among reference strains representative of diverse pathotypes. These results indicate that regulation of outer membrane components and synthesis of amino acids that are essential to its host are critical for
K. pneumoniae
fitness in the lung.

IMPORTANCE
Klebsiella pneumoniae
is a bacterium that commonly causes pneumonia in patients after they are admitted to the hospital.
K. pneumoniae
is becoming resistant to all available antibiotics, and when these infections spread to the bloodstream, over half of patients die. Since currently available antibiotics are failing, we must discover new ways to treat these infections. In this study, we asked what genes the bacterium needs to cause an infection, since the proteins encoded by these genes could be targets for new antibiotics. We identified over 300 genes that
K. pneumoniae
requires to grow in a mouse model of pneumonia. Many of the genes that we identified are found in
K. pneumoniae
isolates from throughout the world, including antibiotic-resistant forms. If new antibiotics could be made against the proteins that these genes encode, they may be broadly effective against
K. pneumoniae.
Diverging prevalences and different risk factors for childhood asthma and eczema: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Barnish Maxwell S , Tagiyeva Nara , Devereux Graham , Aucott Lorna , Turner Steve 
Published: June 2015

ObjectiveTo compare the prevalences of and risk factors for asthma, wheeze, hay fever and eczema in primary schoolchildren in Aberdeen in 2014.DesignCross-sectional survey.SettingPrimary schools in Aberdeen, North-East Scotland.ParticipantsChildren in Scottish school years primary 1–7 were handed a questionnaire by their class teacher to be completed by their parents and returned to the researchers by post or online.Main outcome measuresLifetime history of asthma, eczema and hay fever, and recent history of wheeze.Results41 schools agreed to participate (87%). 11 249 questionnaires were distributed and 3935 returned (35%). A parent-reported lifetime history of asthma, eczema and hay fever was present in 14%, 30% and 24% of children, respectively. The odds of lifetime asthma increased with age (OR 1.1 per year, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.2), male sex (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.4 to 2.3), parental smoking (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.3) and eczema (OR 6.6, 95% CI 5.2 to 8.4). Prevalence of recent wheeze was also reported to be 14% and was positively associated with male sex, parental smoking and eczema. In contrast, parental eczema was the only identified predictor of childhood eczema risk.ConclusionsThe lifetime prevalence of asthma in primary schoolchildren was 14% in this survey, approximately half the prevalence of eczema. We report diverging prevalences in relation to previous studies in our locality, and different risk factors for asthma and eczema. These findings suggest that asthma and eczema are unlikely to have a common origin.
Improving handover from intensive care to ward medical teams with simple changes to paperwork
Authors: Messing Jonathan 
Published: June 2015

AbstractMedical handover has been highlighted by the General Medical Council[1] as a critical step in patient care, ensuring continuity of care, patient safety, and enabling efficient multidisciplinary functioning. Handover between doctors on the intensive care team and the ward teams in the Great Western Hospital on step down was evaluated by assessing discharge summaries and patient notes, and by following up discharged patients. Handover was found to be present only in the minority of patients and documented in none.Simple changes were made to discharge paperwork in the form of a prompt and documentation of to whom handover was made, as well as the creation of space in the daily review sheets for patients with outstanding handover to be completed. The initial audit findings were presented at a local meeting to remind staff of the importance of handover. These simple modifications brought the handover rates up to 100% (n=12). The rates of documentation of handover also rose from 0% to 100%. This quality improvement project serves to demonstrate that carefully targeted, simple changes to practice in identified critical areas can produce dramatic as well as legally and ethically required results in a very short space of time.