cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Witnessing nonclassicality of a quantum oscillator state by coupling it to a qubit

We propose a witness operation for the nonclassical character of a harmonic oscillator state. The method does not require state reconstruction. For all harmonic oscillator states that are classical, a bound is established for the evolution of a qubit which is coupled to the oscillator. Any violation of the bound can be rigorously attributed to the nonclassical character of the initial oscillator state.
LEAKAGE ANALYSIS OF 2008t/h BOILER WATER WALL IN THERMAL POWER PLANT

In order to analyze the leakage reason of boiler's water wall, by means of the macro-observation, metallographic, electronic microscope, energy spectrum, and heat erosion analysis, we get the results: blocks of ulcerate corrosion on interior surface of the pipeline, and black lines of micro-cracks in the interior of ulcer, caustic elements such as calcium, aluminum and sulphur in the media. The conclusion is : the leakage source of water wall in 2008t/h boiler is hydrogen damage, in close relation to hypo-pH value of boilwater and excessive high temperature of pipeline surface. Together with analyzing hydrogen damage peculiarity in water wall, we discuss the theorem of hydrogen damage and provide the characteristic of hydrogen damage
Structure–enantioselectivity correlation in NHC–Au(I) catalysis for 1,6-enynecyclizations

Abstract A direct correlation of the NHC ligand structure and the induced enantioselectivity has been uncovered for a series of new chiral gold(I) complexes. The Au(I)Cl complexes were identified by 1 H, 13 C NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray structure analysis. The corresponding activated Au(I) catalysts with a phenyl nitrile dynamic ligand are prepared and used in the catalysis of 1,6-enyne cyclization reactions. High chemical yields and good enantioselectivity have been obtained with 6% mol of the chiral NHC–Au(I) catalysts. The products in these reactions reach up to 75% ee. The structure of the chiral NHC ligand, where an ortho -biphenyl moiety is connected to the nitrogen atoms, the 3,5-dialkyl distal phenyl group plays a determining role in enantioselectivity.
INHIBITION OF TOLERANCE TO HUMAN BETA ENDORPHIN BY A LINEAR AND A CYCLIC PEPTIDE

Pro-Leu-Gly-NH2 (MIF) and cyclo(Leu-Gly) (CLG) inhibited the development of tolerance to the analgesic, hypothermic and cataleptic effects of β-endorphin in the rat and also the supersensitivity of dopamine receptors which developed after chronic treatment with β-endorphin. Thus, the opiate-induced tolerance and brain dopamine receptor sensitivity may be inter-related phenomena.
Anisotropic Thermal Expansion of Zirconium Diboride: An Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Diffraction Study

Zirconium diboride (ZrB2) is an attractive material due to its thermal and electrical properties. In recent years, ZrB2 has been investigated as a superior replacement for sapphire when used as a substrate for gallium nitride devices. Like sapphire, ZrB2 has an anisotropic hexagonal structure which defines its directionally dependent properties. However, the anisotropic behavior of ZrB2 is not well understood. In this paper, we use energy-dispersive synchrotron X-ray diffraction to measure the thermal expansion of polycrystalline ZrB2 powder from 300 to 1150 K. Nine Bragg reflections are fit using Pseudo-Voigt peak profiles and used to compute the and lattice parameters using a nonlinear least-squares approximation. The temperature-dependent instantaneous thermal expansion coefficients are determined for each -axis and -axis direction and are described by the following equations: = (
Cyber Security, ISO 9000, and the Software Development Life Cycle

New software systems need to comply with general standards for them to be useful, especially if they are integrating with legacy applications or part of a complete redesign using BPR. ISO 9000 is an international concept of standardization of quality that should be adopted in any major software development or implementation of a packaged software solution. Furthermore, this chapter shows how cyber security architecture requires integration with a firm’s SDLC, particularly within steps that include strategic analysis and design, engineering, and operations. The challenge of cyber security reaches well beyond architecture. It must address third-party vendor products that are part of the supply-chain of automation used by firms, not to mention access to legacy applications that likely do not have the necessary securities built into the architecture of these older, less resilient technologies. This challenge has established the need for an enterprise cyber security solution that addresses the needs of the entire organization.
A SIMPLE THEORY OF THE EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION

Historically, industrialization has been associated with falling relative returns to skills. This fact is at odds with most unified theories of industrialization, which tend to imply rising skill premia as natural concomitants of economic growth. This paper develops a very simple model of historical growth to help solve this puzzle. Assuming that human capital is both a consumption good and an investment good, the model demonstrates how gradually rising investments in human capital, nonmonotonic fertility rates, and falling skill premia can all be explained within one theory.
Assessing the costs and benefits of US renewable portfolio standards

Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) exist in 29 US states and the District of Columbia. This article summarizes the first national-level, integrated assessment of the future costs and benefits of existing RPS policies; the same metrics are evaluated under a second scenario in which widespread expansion of these policies is assumed to occur. Depending on assumptions about renewable energy technology advancement and natural gas prices, existing RPS policies increase electric system costs by as much as $31 billion, on a present-value basis over 2015−2050. The expanded renewable deployment scenario yields incremental costs that range from $23 billion to $194 billion, depending on the assumptions employed. The monetized value of improved air quality and reduced climate damages exceed these costs. Using central assumptions, existing RPS policies yield $97 billion in air-pollution health benefits and $161 billion in climate damage reductions. Under the expanded RPS case, health benefits total $558 billion and climate benefits equal $599 billion. These scenarios also yield benefits in the form of reduced water use. RPS programs are not likely to represent the most cost effective path towards achieving air quality and climate benefits. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that US RPS programs are, on a national basis, cost effective when considering externalities.
Firm-Level Entrepreneurship and Field Research: The Studies in Their Methodological Context

Entrepreneurship researchers operate from various paradigms that embrace a wide range of methods from quantitative to qualitative. The studies in this special issue offer an interesting mixture of field methods. We examine the authors’ epistemological (“How do we know?”) and teleological (“Why do we know?”) choices, which affect the types of data gathered, the ways In which the data are analyzed, and the kinds of Interpretations formed about the data. By placing these studies in their methodological context, we believe the truthfulness and credibility of the conclusions drawn by the authors will be better appreciated and more fully understood.
Education amplifies brain atrophy effect on cognitive decline: implications for cognitive reserve.

Abstract Level of education is often regarded as a proxy for cognitive reserve in older adults. This implies that brain degeneration has a smaller effect on cognitive decline in those with more education, but this has not been directly tested in previous research. We examined how education, quantitative magnetic resonance imaging–based measurement of brain degeneration, and their interaction affect cognitive decline in diverse older adults spanning the spectrum from normal cognition to dementia. Gray matter atrophy was strongly related to cognitive decline. While education was not related to cognitive decline, brain atrophy had a stronger effect on cognitive decline in those with more education. Importantly, high education was associated with slower decline in individuals with lesser atrophy but with faster decline in those with greater atrophy. This moderation effect was observed in Hispanics (who had high heterogeneity of education) but not in African-Americans or Caucasians. These results suggest that education is an indicator of cognitive reserve in individuals with low levels of brain degeneration, but the protective effect of higher education is rapidly depleted as brain degeneration progresses.
Adumbrations of a Sociology of Morality in the Work of Parsons, Simmel, and Merton

Although a subfield called sociology of morality – of “moral phenomena,” more aptly – may seem a new departure for sociologists, the topic has in fact been central to sociological inquiry since its pre-disciplinary days.
Believing false political headlines and discrediting truthful political headlines: The interaction between news source trust and news content expectancy:

An online survey experiment with 897 US adults demonstrated that the level of believability of news headlines about illegal immigration was for a large part the result of an interaction of percepti...
GUBERNACULUM DENTIS IN A TRANSMIGRATING CANINE: CASE REPORT AND LITERATURE REVIEW

Background Gubernaculum dentis (GD) is an anatomic structure, described in the literature as an eruption pathway from the dental follicle to the gingiva for permanent teeth.1 This is the first reported case of a GD associated with a transmigrating canine.2 Clinical and Radiologic Findings A 60-year-old female of Indian origin presented for evaluation for implant placement to replace a clinically missing lower canine tooth. Her medical history was unremarkable. Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) of the mandible was performed, and the image demonstrated the presence of a corticated tract of low density, contiguous with the dental follicle of the horizontally displaced and impacted mandibular left canine. The tract extended from the pericoronal space around the impacted tooth toward the alveolar crest. The structure measured 2 cm long and 2 mm wide. Differential or Definitive Interpretation On the basis of the clinical and radiographic findings, this structure was diagnosed as GD and had to be differentiated from bone trabeculae, medullary spaces, neurovascular bundles, or sinus tracts. Because this is considered a normal anatomic structure, no biopsy was indicated.1 Discussion Histologically, GD consists of a fibrous band running in the bony channel that connects the pericoronal follicular tissue of the successional tooth with the overlying gingiva. Typically, GD opens on the alveolar bone crest behind the deciduous teeth. Radiographically, GD appears as a corticated tract of low density, contiguous with the dental follicle of an unerupted tooth on CBCT.3 It would be difficult to visualize the very thin and round radiolucent structures with a diameter of only 1 to 3 mm on 2-dimensional radiographs. In addition, the structure lies in the spongy bone of the maxilla and the mandible. Therefore, GD has not received adequate attention in dental fields, including oral and maxillofacial radiology.
Quick atrial access by subxiphoid approach in extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation after bidirectional Glenn procedure

Bidirectional Glenn procedure outcomes are very good; therefore, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use as extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation is uncommon. We describe a 13-month-old fema...
Using and producing publicly available genomic data to accelerate discovery in nephrology.

To advance kidney discovery, our community is driven to maximize the utility of genomic data that we all generate. We can best accomplish this through excellence in appropriately incorporating publicly available genomic data into our research efforts and by enthusiastically embracing widespread data sharing in a manner that facilitates its broad use.
Effect of hyperbaric oxygen on chemotherapy-induced neuropathy in male and female rats

Chemotherapeutic agents can cause peripheral neuropathy, a deleterious side effect of cancer treatment. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) treatment has shown great potential for decreasing pain in numerous clinical pain conditions and in preclinical studies. This study was designed to test whether HBO2 might also be useful for treating chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with 1 mg/kg paclitaxel or vehicle every other day for 7 days to induce allodynia, followed by either one single, or four daily 60-min exposures to HBO2 or room air. Mechanical and cold allodynia as well as locomotor behavior and body weight were assessed intermittently for several weeks. Estrous cycling was also tracked in female rats. Paclitaxel caused pronounced mechanical allodynia in both sexes that was completely reversed by either one or four treatments of HBO2. Females in all treatment groups showed greater cold acetone scores than males, and acetone scores were not reliably reduced by HBO2 treatment. Neither paclitaxel nor HBO2 treatment altered locomotor behavior or estrous cycling. We conclude that HBO2 treatment was highly effective at reducing mechanical allodynia in paclitaxel-treated rats without affecting weight gain, locomotion, or estrous cycling, suggesting that HBO2 may be effective for treating chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain without producing significant side effects.
Detecting Gas Turbine Combustor Anomalies Using Semi-supervised Anomaly Detection with Deep Representation Learning

Deep learning (DL), regarded as a breakthrough machine learning technique, has proven to be effective for a variety of real-world applications. However, DL has not been actively applied to condition monitoring of industrial assets, such as gas turbine combustors. We propose a deep semi-supervised anomaly detection (deepSSAD) that has two key components: (1) using DL to learn representations or features from multivariate, time-series sensor measurements; and (2) using one-class classification to model normality in the learned feature space, thus performing anomaly detection. Both steps use normal data only; thus our anomaly detection falls into the semi-supervised anomaly detection category, which is advantageous for industrial asset condition monitoring where abnormal or faulty data is rare. Using the data collected from a real-world gas turbine combustion system, we demonstrate that our proposed approach achieved a good detection performance (AUC) of 0.9706 ± 0.0029. Furthermore, we compare the detection performance of the proposed approach against that of other different designs, including different features (i.e., the deep learned, handcrafted and PCA features) and different detection models (i.e., one-class ELM, one-class SVM, isolation forest, and Gaussian mixture model). The proposed approach significantly outperforms others. The proposed combustor anomaly detection approach is effective in detecting combustor anomalies or faults.
Efficacy of the mode of "parent-child caregiver" in department of neonatology

Objective To explore the new thought of developing the open management of "parent-child caregiving" in department of neonatology to provide a reference for perfecting the nursing management. Methods The "parent-child caregiving" was carried out in the closed neonatal ward without caregivers in a class III grade A children's hospital. A total of 274 pediatric patients were admitted in the non-caregiving area of department of neonatology from December 2015 to February 2016. At the time, a total of 66 pediatric patients was admitted to the "parent-child caregiving" area. The hospital day, hospital expense, nosocomial infection incidence, and satisfaction of the parent or guardian of pediatric patients were compared between two groups. Results The median of the hospital day of pediatric patients with pneumonia in the area of "parent-child caregiver" was 6.5 d which was statistically lower than that in the area without caregivers (Z=-4.672, P<0.01) . The hospital expense (18 902.68 yuan) in the area of "parent-child caregiving" was higher than that in the area without caregivers (Z=-6.985, P<0.01) . There was one case with nosocomial infection in the area without caregivers. The satisfaction with the medical staff of the parent or guardian of pediatric patients was 95.98% and 97.29% before and after carrying out "parent-child caregiving". Conclusions The development of the open "parent-child caregiving" which is based on the family centered care mode can help to meet requirements of pediatric patients and their parents or guardians under different circumstances and has immeasurable effects on pediatric patients and their families. The method is worth spreading. Key words: Infant, newborn; Parent-child caregiving; Family centered care mode
The Effects of an Enhanced Primary Care Model for Patients with Serious Mental Illness on Emergency Department Utilization

Patients with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) have high rates of emergency department visits and high premature mortality rates, often due to poor primary care. A model of enhanced primary care services integrated in a behavioral health location is being implemented and studied at the UNC WakeBrook Primary Care Center (UNCWPC). This research was conducted as a retrospective cohort study. ED Visit Utilization before and after establishing care at UNCWPC were calculated for a cohort and a subset of patients. There was a decrease in ED utilization after years 3–4 of enrollment for physical health complaints for the overall cohort (n = 101), from 3.23 to 1.83 visits/person/year, and for patients with multiple physical comorbidities (n = 50), from 4.04 to 2.48 visits/person/year. This study indicated that an enhanced model of primary care can help decrease ED utilization for primary care conditions. The decline was not seen until the patients were well-established.
Patterning and generation of neural diversity in the spinal cord

Abstract The spinal cord is essential for the organism to perform essential functions such as perception of sensory stimuli and movement behavior, carried out by different types and subtypes of neurons and glia. This chapter describes the major molecular mechanisms involved in patterning and in the generation of neuronal diversity in the spinal cord. Spinal cord cellular diversity originates during embryonic development when molecular strategies transform the homogeneous cell population of the caudal neural tube into diverse neural cell types. Spatial signals operating along the three axes of the embryo initiate the induction of the different types of neural progenitors. Cross-repressive and combinatorial functions of transcription factors, together with local signals, diversify postmitotic neurons, and temporal mechanisms are implemented to generate distinct spinal glial populations. All these strategies ensure the generation of neuronal and glial diversity without which sensory perception and movement would not be possible.
Abstract 5148: ADGRG1 promotes tumorigenesis, invasion/migration, and cell-cell adhesion in triple-negative breast cancer cells

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer with the highest risk of metastatic recurrence and shortest survival in patients. Chemotherapy, the current standard of treatment for systemic therapy in TNBC, has suboptimal efficacy but high toxicity. Therefore, drugs directed against new targets exhibiting superior efficacy and excellent safety profiles are urgently needed in the treatment of metastasis in TNBC. Recently, adhesion G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have shown an important role in various cancer processes. Traditionally, GPCRs are considered excellent drug targets. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the role of ADGRG1, an adhesion GPCR, in TNBC. ADGRG1 was highly expressed in basal/TNBC compared to luminal subtypes in the Tumor Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Provisional datasets. Higher expression of ADGRG1 predicted poor recurrence-free survival in TNBC patients as determined using the Kaplan-Meier plotter. ADGRG1 gene and protein expression was higher in LM2 derivative with higher lung metastatic potential compared to parental MDA-MB-231 cells. ADGRG1 knockdown using 2 independent target-specific validated siRNAs reduced cell growth by MTT assay in both MDA-MB-231 parental and LM2 cells. ADGRG1 knockdown decreased mammosphere formation in MDA-MB-231 Parental cells but not in LM2 cells. ADGRG1 knockdown significantly inhibited invasion and migration of both Parental MDA-MB-231 cells and their LM2 derivatives in Trans-well assay. In addition, ADGRG1 knockdown significantly decreased cell-cell interaction in the VybrantTM Cell Adhesion assay in both cell types. ADGRG1 was significantly overexpressed in circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters compared to single CTCs from the LM2 xenograft models. Overall, our results indicate pro-tumorigenic and pro-metastatic role of ADGRG1 which needs further validation in animal studies. Understanding the role of ADGRG1 in cell-cell adhesion as well as its signaling in TNBC are crucial in discovering its potential as a novel and druggable target in TNBC. Citation Format: Raksha Bhat, Noor M. Abdulkareem, Hala Yasser, Hariprasad Thangavel, Meghana V. Trivedi. ADGRG1 promotes tumorigenesis, invasion/migration, and cell-cell adhesion in triple-negative breast cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 5148.
Levine, Grengs, and Merlin: From Mobility to Accessibility: Transforming Urban Transportation and Land-Use Planning

Transportation’s primary purpose is not the journey but the destination: It is getting people to the places where they want to go. Such a claim might seem self-evident, but this overarching goal ha...
Does “Ought” Imply “Can”?

The principle “Ought implies can” has important connections with the problem of free will. In this chapter, I lay out these connections and proceed to consider a recent exercise in “experimental philosophy” whose results some have regarded as constituting an important challenge to the principle. Although many, perhaps most, philosophers regard the principle as an analytic truth, a survey of non-philosophers conducted in 2016 has led its authors to conclude that non-philosophers do not accept the “Ought implies can” principle. The main topics of this chapter are (1) a critical evaluation of the authors’ interpretation of the results of their survey and (2) an examination of the implications of those results for the question whether the principle is true (and, whether, if it is true, it is an analytic truth).
Changing cultures, changing brains: A framework for integrating cultural neuroscience and cultural change research

Cultural neuroscience research has provided substantial evidence that culture shapes the brain by providing systematically different sets of experiences. However, cultures are ever-changing in response to the physical and social environment. In the present paper, we integrate theories and methods from cultural neuroscience with the emerging body of research on cultural change and suggest several ways in which the two fields can inform each other. First, we propose that the cultural change perspective helps us reexamine what is meant by culturally typical experiences, which are shaped by the dynamic interaction between cultural norms, values, meanings, and other environmental constraints on behavior. It also allows us to make predictions about the variability/stability of cultural neural differences over time. Then, we discuss how methods used in cultural change research may be applied to cultural neuroscience research and vice versa. We end with a "blue sky vision" for a neuroscience of cultural change.
Changes in Procoagulant Blood Biomarkers After Mechanical Thrombectomy.

Abstract Objectives There is limited knowledge of the relationship between mechanical thrombectomy (MT) and endothelial inflammation in large-vessel occlusion (LVO) acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Intimal arterial damage releases tissue factor, a precipitant of the clotting cascade and thrombosis. We report changes in blood coagulation markers after MT treated with and without tissue plasminogen activator for AIS. Materials and Methods Cases of LVO-AIS treated with MT were included. Blood coagulation marker levels were measured within 10 h of stroke onset as a baseline and then 48 h later. Assayed biomarkers included: tissue factor procoagulant activity (TFPCA), factor VII (FVII), activated factor VII (FVIIa), factor VIII (FVIII), d-dimer, thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI). Biomarker levels of MT with tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) or without (non-TPA) are reported. Results Biomarker levels from five patients with LVO-AIS treated with MT (three non-TPA, two TPA) were included. In non-TPA cases, TFPCA and PAI-1 increased while FVII, FVIIa, TAT, d-dimer, and TFPI decreased from baseline to 48 h. In TPA cases, TFPCA, FVIIa, d-dimer, TFPI, and PAI-1 decreased while FVIII increased from baseline to 48 h. Conclusions TFPCA increased after MT in non-TPA but decreased in TPA treated patients. This finding suggests that MT is associated with elevated inflammation and procoagulation which may be reduced with TPA treatment. With further validation, the increase in TFPCA levels could help guide anticoagulant management of patients with MT without TPA.
The preoperative C-reactive protein-lymphocyte ratio and the prognosis of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND We aimed to investigate the preoperative C-reactive protein (CRP)-lymphocyte ratio (CLR) as a prognostic biomarker in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). METHODS Three hundred and sixteen patients with OSCC treated with curative surgery were retrospectively assessed and the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the discriminative ability of inflammatory markers. The prognostic value of CLR was investigated with Cox proportional hazards analysis. RESULTS The CLR cutoff of 3.88 (p < 0.001) demonstrated optimal prognostic performance compared with other inflammatory combinations. A higher preoperative CLR (≥3.88) was significantly associated with clinicopathological aggressiveness and predicted unfavorable overall survival and disease-free survival (hazard ratios = 3.498 and 1.994, respectively; both p < 0.001). The CLR-based nomogram provided accurate survival prediction (concordance index: 0.803). CONCLUSIONS Preoperative CLR is a feasible prognostic biomarker in patients with OSCC, and the CLR-based nomogram might serve as prognostic tool in era of personalized medicine.
Divisibility, Congruences, and Modular Arithmetic

Modern cryptography is largely based on the mathematicals of modular arithmetic, congruences, and the arithmetic in the integers modulo prime numbers or products of (usually) two large prime numbers. In this chapter we cover the basic number theory that appears in both symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic systems: divisibility and congruences, greatest common divisor, exponentiation, and the Euler totient. Our emphasis is on mathematical theorems that must be understood and used, rather than on their proofs, unless the method or constructions in the proofs are relevant to cryptography itself. Although we treat this as background mathematics, we point out that the reader can readily generate examples for all the principles that are covered as well as find examples that demonstrate why the assumptions made are necessary and the conclusions tightly drawn.
Prelude to Chapters 10 and 11

As detailed in the previous chapter, the “God’s Image?” art is generated by computer code that requires input in the form of a camera position, a 4-web grid, and a 3-sphere. Once the art is produced, however, certain aspects of the art may be hidden — hidden art may be viewed as shapes or features that go unnoticed, but once explained, become obvious. This prelude is intended to motivate the search (Chapter 10) for, and, the discovery (Chapter 11) of hidden art in the “God’s Image?” graphic.
Laparoscopically assisted abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

Background: Laparoscopic surgery decreases postoperative pain and length of hospital stay. Whether laparoscopically assisted abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair can be safely and reliably performed is unknown. This prospective study was designed to establish the feasibility of laparoscopically assisted AAA repair and its effects on intraoperative and postoperative variables. Methods: With IRB approval, 10 patients with infrarenal AAA requiring a tube graft underwent laparoscopically assisted AAA repair. The procedure consisted of laparoscopic dissection of the aneurysm neck and iliac vessels. Then, through an 8–11-cm minilaparotomy, a standard endoaneurysmorrhaphy was performed. Data included laparoscopic and total operative times, blood loss, fluid requirements, duration of nasogastric suction (NGT), and lengths of intensive care unit (ICU) and postoperative hospital stays. Results: Laparoscopically assisted AAA was completed in nine of 10 patients. The first patient was converted to a standard incision because the aneurysm neck could not be adequately dissected. Laparoscopic and total operative times were 1.8 ± 0.4 and 4.5 ± 0.7 h, respectively. Mean blood loss was 1 ± 0.6 l. Intraoperative fluid requirement was 6.6 ± 1.3 l. The duration of NGT suction was 1.8 ± 1.0 days. The ICU stay was 2.1 ± 0.8 days and hospital stay was 6.7 ± 2.5 days. There were two minor complications and no deaths. Conclusions: Laparoscopically assisted AAA repair is technically feasible with acceptable blood loss, operative time, morbidity, and mortality. Potential advantages may be early removal of the NGT and shorter ICU and hospital stays. Prospective randomized trials are needed to determine if laparoscopically assisted AAA repair is advantageous.
Best Polynomial Approximation on the Unit Sphere and the Unit Ball

This is a survey on best polynomial approximation on the unit sphere and the unit ball. The central problem is to describe the approximation behavior of a function by polynomials via smoothness of the function. A major effort is to identify a correct gadget that characterizes smoothness of functions, either a modulus of smoothness or a \(K\)-functional, both of which are often equivalent. We concentrate on characterization of best approximations, given in terms of direct and converse theorems, and report several moduli of smoothness and \(K\)-functionals, including recent results that give a fairly satisfactory characterization of best approximation by polynomials for functions in \(L^p\) spaces, the space of continuous functions, and Sobolev spaces.
Judaism and Imperial Ideology in Late Antiquity: Esau, Jacob's Brother

I n his homily commemorating the defense of constanti nople against the Avars and the Persians in 626, Theodore Syncellus hails the sacred and eternal nature of the Byzantine Empire and its capital city by portraying them as the true Israel and New Jerusalem, respectively. Theodore presents an elaborate exegesis of prophetic and historical books of the Old Testament arguing that they should be read as references to the events of 626. Among other things, according to Theodore, the sack of the Old Jerusalem and the salvation of the new one took place on the same date. This providential coincidence marked the special destiny of the New Jerusalem, Constantinople, to be the religious center of the true Israel as well as the geographic center of the inhabited world, “the navel of the world,” binding the world together in religious and imperial unity. Theodore Syncellus stands in a long line of Byzantine authors who used the theme of succession from Israel to Byzantium as a way to buttress the triumphant universalism of the empire. The supersessionist narrative that portrayed Israel as a typological precursor of Christian Byzantium became a ubiquitous feature of Byzantine religio-political discourse and court ritual. Christianity did not invent Roman universalism. The ideology of Rome's eternal rule had a long and deeply rooted pre-Christian history, going all the way back to the Golden Age of Augustus and past him to the republican period. Yet the Christian Roman Empire and its ideologists proved to be worthy recipients of this age-old doctrine.
Taylor’s Approach in an Ankylosing Spondylitis Patient Posted for Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: A Challenge for Anaesthesiologists Paper Withdrawn

This paper has been withdrawn from the online version of the Sri Lankan Journal of Anaesthesiology because it has already been published in another journal. 9/11/2009.
The effects of social support and education interventions on health care costs

Objective. To determine whether experimentally developed social support and education about appropriate use of the health care system decrease health care costs without negatively affecting health status. Method. Three hundred sixty-three health maintenance organization members with osteoarthritis were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 intervention groups or to a control group. Health status and health care use were assessed upon entering the study, and after 1 year and 2 years. Results. A savings of $1, 1561 participant/year was obtained when health care costs of the experimental groups were compared with those of the control group. Production or implementation costs were least for the social support intervention. The nearly equal effects of the 3 interventions on health care costs make implementation costs the primary focus when deciding which intervention to use. Conclusion. We believe that the social support treatment is the most cost-effective intervention.
Neural systems contributing to acetylcholinesterase histochemical staining in primary visual cortex of the adult rat.

Abstract Histochemical studies demonstrate that cortical area 17 (primary visual cortex) of the adult rat displays a characteristic laminar pattern of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. While AChE-positive axons are found throughout the cortical layers, most intense staining occurs in a band that corresponds to layer V and the deep portion of layer IV. The present studies were directed toward determining the neural systems containing this AChE activity. Unilateral electrolytic or excitatory amino acid induced lesions of the basal forebrain result in reductions of AChE staining in ipsilateral visual cortex, particularly in layers IV and V. Electrolytic or scalpel lesions, placed in white matter underlying dorsal and lateral neocortex to interrupt basal forebrain projections to visual cortex, also reduce AChE staining in visual cortex. Lesions in the cingulate bundle and supracallosal stria reduced AChE staining in retrosplenial cortex but did not affect staining in visual cortex. Placement of electrolytic lesions in the hypothalamus produced no detectable change in the pattern of AChE in visual cortex. Electrolytic lesions in the midbrain tegmentum, placed to interrupt ascending axons from brainstem monoamine neurons, produced no detectable change in the pattern of AChE in visual cortex. Placement of lesions in the dorsal thalamus that include all of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus did not alter AChE staining in visual cortex. The results indicate that AChE activity in adult visual cortex is found primarily within afferent axons from the basal forebrain system. These data demonstrate further that the AChE staining characteristic of adult visual cortex is associated with neural systems that are distinctly different from those associated with AChE staining in visual cortex of the infant rat.
Interdependency of sequence and positional specificities for cysteine proteases of the papain family.

The specificity of cysteine proteases is characterized by the nature of the amino acid sequence recognized by the enzymes (sequence specificity) as well as by the position of the scissile peptide bond (positional specificity, i.e., endopeptidase, aminopeptidase, or carboxypeptidase). In this paper, the interdependency of sequence and positional specificities for selected members of this class of enzymes has been investigated using fluorogenic substrates where both the position of the cleavable peptide bond and the nature of the sequence of residues in P2−P1 are varied. The results show that cathepsins K and L and papain, typically considered to act strictly as endopeptidases, can also display dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase activity against the substrate Abz-FRF(4NO2)A and dipeptidyl aminopeptidase activity against FR-MCA. In some cases the activity is even equal to or greater than that observed with cathepsin B and DPP-I (dipeptidyl peptidase I), which have been characterized previously as exopeptidases. In ...
On Szebehely's equation for the potential of a prescribed family of orbits

In the present note we first give a simple proof of the Dainelli formulas for the force field generating a given family of orbits. We also show that the Szebehely partial differential equation for the potential can be derived from the Dainelli formulas if the energy integral is assumed. The Szebehely equation can be solved directly with the method of characteristics or indirectly with the Joukovsky formulas. Several examples are briefly described in the article. In particular we find some rather general potential functions corresponding to circular motion.
Validation of Independent Component Analysis for Rapid Spike Sorting of Optical Recording Data

Independent component analysis (ICA) is a technique that can be used to extract the source signals from sets of signal mixtures where the sources themselves are unknown. The analysis of optical recordings of invertebrate neuronal networks with fast voltage-sensitive dyes could benefit greatly from ICA. These experiments can generate hundreds of voltage traces containing both redundant and mixed recordings of action potentials originating from unknown numbers of neurons. ICA can be used as a method for converting such complex data sets into single-neuron traces, but its accuracy for doing so has never been empirically evaluated. Here, we tested the accuracy of ICA for such blind source separation by simultaneously performing sharp electrode intracellular recording and fast voltage-sensitive dye imaging of neurons located in the central ganglia of Tritonia diomedea and Aplysia californica, using a 464-element photodiode array. After running ICA on the optical data sets, we found that in 34 of 34 cases the intracellularly recorded action potentials corresponded 100% to the spiking activity of one of the independent components returned by ICA. We also show that ICA can accurately sort action potentials into single neuron traces from a series of optical data files obtained at different times from the same preparation, allowing one to monitor the network participation of large numbers of individually identifiable neurons over several recording episodes. Our validation of the accuracy of ICA for extracting the neural activity of many individual neurons from noisy, mixed, and redundant optical recording data sets should enable the use of this powerful large-scale imaging approach for studies of invertebrate and suitable vertebrate neuronal networks.
(16O, np) and (16O, nα) reactions on some light nuclei

Abstract Neutron-proton and neutron-alpha particle coincide events resulting from the 30 and 36 MeV 16 O bombardment of 9 Be, 12 C, and 13 C targets were measured. From the distribution of events in the energy-time-of-flight plane the missing mass spectra for the residual nuclei have been constructed for each reaction. The analysis of the 12 C( 16 O, np) 26 Al reaction indicates the emission of correlated neutron-proton pairs in the T = 1 state.
An adenosine A2A antagonist injected in the NTS reverses thermal prolongation of the LCR in decerebrate piglets

Abstract Hyperthermia prolongs the laryngeal chemoreflex (LCR). Under normothermic conditions, adenosine antagonists shorten and adenosine A 2A (Ad-A 2A ) agonists prolong the LCR. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that SCH-58261, an Ad-A 2A receptor antagonist, would prevent thermal prolongation of the LCR when injected unilaterally within the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS). We studied decerebrate piglets aged 4–13 days. We elicited the LCR by injecting 0.1 ml of water into the larynx and recorded integrated phrenic nerve activity. The laryngeal chemoreflex was prolonged when the body temperature of each piglet was raised ∼2.5 °C, and SCH-58261 reversed the thermal prolongation of the LCR when injected into the NTS ( n = 13), but not when injected in the nucleus ambiguus ( n = 9). Injections of vehicle alone into the NTS did not alter the thermal prolongation of the LCR ( n = 9). We conclude that activation of adenosine receptors, perhaps located on GABAergic neurons in the NTS, contributes to thermal prolongation of the LCR.
Nonlinear polariton effects in the phenanthrene crystal

Abstract Two-photon fluorescence excitation (TPE) and second harmonic generation (SHG) spectra of the origin region of the 3500 A system of the phenanthrene crystal at 2 K are presented and compared for both melt-grown and sublimed crystals. The dependence of the upper Davydov component position on the photon polarization and propagation direction reported previously is confirmed for both TPE and SHG- This behavior is considered to be a manifestation of phase matching to the upper branch of the b -polariton dispersion curve and is intrinsic to the two-photon process for transitions which are allowed in both one- and two-photon absorption. Both TPE and SHG are understood as resulting from the fundamental process of polariton fusion. The appearance of the dipole-forbidden lower Davydov component in these spectra is commented on in terms of misalignment and excitation of a longitudinal exciton.
Cytoplasmic transport in keratocytes: direct visualization of particle translocation along microtubules.

We report the first direct demonstration that the cytoplasmic transport of organelles and vesicles (collectively called particles) takes place along microtubules. Living keratocytes from the corneal stroma of the frog, Rana pipiens, were observed with Allen video-enhanced constrast, differential interference constrast (AVEC-DIC) microscopy [Allen et al, 1981]. In sufficiently thin regions of these cells a network of linear elements was visible. When particles were observed in motion, they always moved along these linear elements. The linear elements remained intact and in focus on the microscope when lysed in a cell lysis solution that stabilized microtubules. Preparations were then fixed in formaldehyde, washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), incubated with rabbit antitubulin, washed with PBS, stained with rhodamine-conjugated goat antirabbit, and washed with PBS. The extracted cells continued to remain in place and in focus on the microscope throughout these procedures. The same cells were then observed using epifluorescence optics and a silicon-intensified target (SIT) video camera. A network of fluorescent linear elements was seen to correspond in number, form, and position to the linear elements seen in the live AVEC-DIC image. Taken together, the AVEC-DIC and fluorescence microscopy observations prove that the linear elements along which particles move are microtubules (MTLEs). The observed particle speeds, pause times, and distances moved varied widely, even for the same particle on the same microtubule. Particles were also observed to switch from one microtubule to another as they were transported. The polarity of the microtubules did not seem to affect the particle direction, since particles were observed to move in both directions on the same MTLE. When not in motion these particles behaved as if anchored to the microtubules since they showed negligible Brownian motion. Finally, it was observed that an elongate particle could move onto two intersecting linear elements such that it was deformed into an inverted “Y” shape. This indicates that there may be more than a single site of attachment between the force generator and the particle.
Effect of Firing Schedules on Stress-Temperature Relations in Enamel-Metal Systems

The effect of box and continuous enameling furnace firing schedules on the thermal deflection of enameled iron strips was studied. Effective coefficient of thermal expansion values were calculated from coefficient of thermal deflection data. Results indicate that the effective thermal expansion values for annealed and unannealed enameled iron agree with the expansion data obtained by an interferometer study of the same enamels. Variation in the cooling rate of the enameling furnaces studied is sufficient to produce a marked change in the development of thermal stress in the enameled iron. Residual compressive stresses in the enamel are increased by rapid cooling from firing temperatures. Tensile stress developed in the enamel during reheating is reduced by previous annealing.
Molecular dynamics simulations of highly crowded amino acid solutions: comparisons of eight different force field combinations with experiment and with each other

Although it is now commonly accepted that the highly crowded conditions encountered inside biological cells have the potential to significantly alter the thermodynamic properties of biomolecules, it is not known to what extent the thermodynamics of fundamental types of interactions such as salt bridges and hydrophobic interactions are strengthened or weakened by high biomolecular concentrations. As one way of addressing this question we have performed a series of all-atom explicit solvent molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the effect of increasing solute concentration on the behavior of four types of zwitterionic amino acids in aqueous solution. We have simulated systems containing glycine, valine, phenylalanine, or asparagine at concentrations of 50, 100, 200, and 300 mg/mL. Each molecular system has been simulated for 1 μs to obtain statistically converged estimates of thermodynamic parameters, and each has been conducted with 8 different force fields and water models; the combined simul...
Doping dependence of electronic charge transfer on Si(100)

Abstract The ion fractions of 4 keV Ne + scattered from intrinsic and heavily n-doped and p-doped Si(1 0 0)-(2×1) surfaces have been measured using time-of-flight scattering and recoiling spectrometry. The ion fractions depend strongly on azimuthal angle, varying from 28–36% for n-doped and 36–44% for p-doped. The pronounced dependency on substrate doping is correlated with surface electronic structure and ion neutralization probability. The observed behavior can be explained by the difference in band bending on intrinsic and n- and p-doped semiconductor surfaces.