cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modeling suture patterns for endoscopic gastrojejunostomy revision: Analyzing a technique to address weight regain after gastric bypass.

Abstract Background Weight regain after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass affects up to 30% of individuals. A dilated gastrojejunostomy contributes to regain through decreased restriction. Endoscopic gastrojejunostomy revision is a safe alternative to revisional surgery. There is evidence that technique affects outcome, but the mechanical properties of various sutured repairs have not been evaluated. Objective To compare different suture patterns for endoscopic gastrojejunostomy revision using an ex vivo porcine model. Setting University hospital, United States; surgical laboratory. Methods Gastrojejunostomoies were created between porcine stomach and a small intestine with a circular stapler. The gastrojejunostomy was revised with 1 of 5 suture patterns: simple-interrupted, vest-over-pants, figure-of-eight, purse-string, or hairpin. After revision, the stomachs were pressurized with water under continuous manometric monitoring. Failure pressure was recorded when either the hardware or the tissue became compromised. Results Procedure time, failure type, and pressure were recorded for 8 trials per pattern. Average failure pressures from lowest to highest were simple interrupted, vest-over-pants, figure-of-eight, purse-string, and hairpin. By analysis of variance, the failure pressures were different ( P P P Conclusion This study successfully used an ex vivo porcine model to compare performance of suture patterns used for endoscopic gastrojejunostomy revision. More bites-per-suture seems to improve durability by reducing tension on the suture-anchor. For this reason, the interrupted technique is inferior and should likely be abandoned in favor of patterns with more bites-per-suture.
Insurance-related Practices at Title X-funded Family Planning Centers under the Affordable Care Act: Survey and Interview Findings.

Abstract Introduction Given the recent reforms in the United States health care system, including the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, as well as anticipated upcoming changes to health care coverage, it is critical that publicly funded health care providers understand how to effectively work with their states' Medicaid programs and the private health insurance plans in their service areas to provide high-quality contraceptive care to the millions of women relying on services at these sites annually. Methods We collected survey data from a nationally representative sample of 535 clinics providing family planning services that received Title X funding and conducted semistructured interviews with 23 administrators at a subsample of surveyed clinics to explore provider-reported experiences working with health plans and to identify barriers to, and practices that lead to, adequate reimbursement for services provided. Results Providers report that knowledgeable staff are crucial to securing contracts with both public and private insurance plan issuers, and that the contracts they secure often include coverage restrictions on methods or services clinics offer their clients. Good staff relationships with issuers are key to obtaining adequate and consistent reimbursement for all covered services. Conclusions Providers are trying to understand how insurance programs in their area knit together. Regardless of how U.S. health policies and delivery systems may change in the coming years, it is imperative that publicly funded family planning centers continue to work with health plans and maximize their third-party revenue to provide services to those in need.
073_16945-L4 Severity of Heart Failure and Outcomes of Catheter Ablation of Ventricular Tachycardia in Nonischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Objective To quantify the dose-response associations between total physical activity and risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and ischemic stroke events. Design Systematic review and Bayesian dose-response meta-analysis. Data sources PubMed and Embase from 1980 to 27 February 2016, and references from relevant systematic reviews. Data from the Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health conducted in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa from 2007 to 2010 and the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 1999 to 2011 were used to map domain specific physical activity (reported in included studies) to total activity. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Prospective cohort studies examining the associations between physical activity (any domain) and at least one of the five diseases studied. Results 174 articles were identified: 35 for breast cancer, 19 for colon cancer, 55 for diabetes, 43 for ischemic heart disease, and 26 for ischemic stroke (some articles included multiple outcomes). Although higher levels of total physical activity were significantly associated with lower risk for all outcomes, major gains occurred at lower levels of activity (up to 3000-4000 metabolic equivalent (MET) minutes/week). For example, individuals with a total activity level of 600 MET minutes/week (the minimum recommended level) had a 2% lower risk of diabetes compared with those reporting no physical activity. An increase from 600 to 3600 MET minutes/week reduced the risk by an additional 19%. The same amount of increase yielded much smaller returns at higher levels of activity: an increase of total activity from 9000 to 12 000 MET minutes/week reduced the risk of diabetes by only 0.6%. Compared with insufficiently active individuals (total activity Conclusions People who achieve total physical activity levels several times higher than the current recommended minimum level have a significant reduction in the risk of the five diseases studied. More studies with detailed quantification of total physical activity will help to find more precise relative risk estimates for different levels of activity.
Effect of cholesterol lowering with statins or proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 antibodies on cataracts: A meta-analysis

Background It is not known whether statins or proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) antibodies are associated with cataract and whether very low achieved low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering may cause cataract. Objective To examine two questions: whether statins and/or PCSK9 antibodies cause or prevent cataracts and whether very low LDL-C is associated with increased risk of cataract. Methods Systematic searches of PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, and an Federal Drug Administration report were used to perform random effects meta-analyses on the relationship of statins and/or PCSK9 antibodies with cataract. These meta-analyses were performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Results Prespecified analyses indicated no significant effect of statins or PCSK9 antibodies (odds ratio [OR] 0.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.83–1.17, P = .8889) or differences between the effects of statins (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.66–1.19, P = .4349) and PCSK9 antibodies (OR 1.04, 95% CI 0.85–1.28, P = .7042) on the development of cataract. Also, there was no significant effect of LDL-C lowering to different levels with respect to cataract (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.92–1.22, P = .4317). Meta-regression of the log OR for cataract vs LDL-C during treatment did not show a statistically significant relationship ( P for slope = .3972). Conclusion There was no significant effect of cholesterol lowering with statins or PCSK9 antibodies or differences between these two medication classes in causing or preventing cataracts. However, it is difficult to make definitive statements regarding PCSK9 antibodies because there is no long-term experience with these agents. Very low LDL-C was not associated with higher risk of cataract.
Physarum-Inspired Solutions to Network Optimization Problems

In this chapter, we introduce a mathematical model inspired by slime mould Physarum polycephalum, an amoeboid organism that exhibits phenomenal path-finding behavior. By comparing it to one of the classic shortest path algorithms—Dijkstra algorithm, we highlight and summarize the key characteristics that are unique in Physarum algorithm, namely flow continuity and adaptivity. Due to these features, the Physarum model responses autonomously to the changes of external environment, thereby converging to optimal solutions adaptively. Herein, we take advantage of its superior properties and develop various models to address several significant network optimization problems, including traffic flow assignment and supply chain network design. By comparing its performance with the state-of-the-art methods in terms of solution quality and running time, we demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithms.
Effect of apparent elimination half-life on nitroglycerin-induced hemodynamic rebound in experimental heart failure.

Hemodynamic rebound after abrupt withdrawal may be an important consideration associated with nitroglycerin (NTG) monotherapy. This phenomenon may arise from unopposed neurohormonal vasoconstriction because of rapid elimination of NTG. The role of NTG pharmacokinetics in the development of hemodynamic rebound was examined using a rat model of congestive heart failure. NTG was infused for 90 min, then the dose was either abruptly stopped (n = 8) or gradually reduced by 20% every 20 min (n = 7). Abrupt withdrawal caused rebound elevations of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) to about 25% above baseline values, at 30–60 min after drug termination (P < 0.01), but this was completely avoided by graded NTG withdrawal. A positive correlation was observed (P < 0.05) between the percentage reduction in LVEDP during infusion and the maximum percentage rebound in rats after abrupt withdrawal but not after graded withdrawal. These results suggest that NTG-induced hemodynamic rebound is related to its short biological half-life and that this phenomenon is consistent with a mechanism of neurohormonal compensation.
Extrema of Symmetric Functionals

Consider a linear representation of a compact Lie group G on a vector space M, and a differentiable function f(x) on M invariant under this representation. We will show that the G-invariance of f(x) can be used to determine its critical points (those where the gradient vanishes).
Fluoroscopy and Dysphagia Outcome Measures

Clinicians have devised numerous instruments of analysis to standardize the interpretation of videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS). Such instruments are useful to standardize VFSS analysis, quantify dysfunction, predict risk, and assess prognosis. The number of instruments that have been described is abundant. This chapter will review the Eating Assessment Tool, the Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS), the Penetration Aspiration Scale (PAS), the NIH-Swallowing Safety Score, the Modified Barium Swallow (MBS)-Impairment Tool (MBSImP™©), and the Davis score.
What Salamander Biologists Have Taught Us About Evo-devo

This chapter argues that historical and philosophical studies of David Wake’s 50-year investigation of the salamanders (Order Caudata) reveal a sustained effort to demonstrate the continuing value of taxon-centered research as opposed to or distinct from model organism research. Wake is an evolutionary morphologist involved in the emergence of Evo-devo and co-organizer of the 1981 Dahlem conference on Evolution and Development. He developed a distinctive practice of extrapolating “lessons” as well as results from his taxon-focused research on salamanders. Some of Wake’s contributions to the emergence and conceptual development of Evo-devo are characterized in terms of lessons learned from his use of the salamanders as a “model taxon.” Model taxa are intended to be monophyletic clades in which the whole clade constitutes the model, in contrast to model or experimental organisms, which are species used as models.
Linear dimensionality reduction for multi-label classification

Dimensionality reduction is an essential step in high-dimensional data analysis. Many dimensionality reduction algorithms have been applied successfully to multi-class and multi-label problems. They are commonly applied as a separate data preprocessing step before classification algorithms. In this paper, we study a joint learning framework in which we perform dimensionality reduction and multi-label classification simultaneously. We show that when the least squares loss is used in classification, this joint learning decouples into two separate components, i.e., dimensionality reduction followed by multi-label classification. This analysis partially justifies the current practice of a separate application of dimensionality reduction for classification problems. We extend our analysis using other loss functions, including the hinge loss and the squared hinge loss. We further extend the formulation to the more general case where the input data for different class labels may differ, overcoming the limitation of traditional dimensionality reduction algorithms. Experiments on benchmark data sets have been conducted to evaluate the proposed joint formulations.
Extracellular Processing of Lysyl Oxidase-like 2 and Its Effect on Amine Oxidase Activity

Overexpression of lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) is associated with several hepatic and vascular fibrotic diseases and tumor progression in some aggressive cancers. Secreted LOXL2 promotes extracellular matrix cross-linking by catalyzing the oxidative deamination of peptidyl lysine. A great deal remains to be learned about the post-translational modifications of LOXL2, including whether such modifications modulate enzymatic and disease-promoting activities; such knowledge would inform the development of potential therapies. We discovered that upon secretion in cell culture, LOXL2 undergoes proteolytic processing of the first two of four scavenger receptor cysteine-rich domains at the N-terminus. A similar pattern of processing was also evident in tissue extracts from an invasive ductal carcinoma patient. Processing occurred at 314Arg-315Phe-316Arg-317Lys↓-318Ala-, implicating proprotein convertases. siRNA-mediated knockdown of proprotein convertases (furin, PACE4, and PC5/6), as well as incubation with their recombinant forms, showed that PACE4 is the major protease that acts on extracellular LOXL2. Unlike LOX, which requires cleavage of its propeptide for catalytic activation, cleavage of LOXL2 was not essential for tropoelastin oxidation or for cross-linking of collagen type IV in vitro. However, in the latter case, processing enhanced the extent of collagen cross-linking ∼2-fold at ≤10 nM LOXL2. These results demonstrate an important difference in the regulatory mechanisms for LOX and LOXL2 catalytic activity. Moreover, they pave the way for further studies of potential differential functions of LOXL2 isoforms in fibrosis and tumor progression.
Industry Connectivity: A Case Study of the Construction Industry

Industries most related to the construction industry were hit harder by the Great Recession.
Personalized Decision Making in Early Stage Breast Cancer: Applying Clinical Prediction Models for Anthracycline Cardiotoxicity and Breast Cancer Mortality Demonstrates Substantial Heterogeneity of Benefit-Harm Trade-off.

Abstract Background Anthracycline agents can cause cardiotoxicity. We used multivariable risk prediction models to identify a subset of patients with breast cancer at high risk of cardiotoxicity, for whom the harms of anthracycline chemotherapy may balance or exceed the benefits. Patients and Methods A clinical prediction model for anthracycline cardiotoxicity was created in 967 patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor-negative breast cancer treated with doxorubicin in the ECOG-ACRIN study E5103. Cardiotoxicity was defined as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) decline of ≥ 10% to Results Of the 967 women who initiated therapy, 51 (5.3%) developed cardiotoxicity (12 with clinical heart failure). In a multivariate model, increasing age (odds ratio [OR], 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.08), higher body mass index (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.02-1.10), and lower baseline LVEF (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.89-0.98) at baseline were significantly associated with cardiotoxicity. The concordance statistic of the risk model was 0.70 (95% CI, 0.63-0.77). In patients with low anticipated treatment benefit (n = 176) from the addition of anthracycline ( 10% risk of cardiotoxicity and 61 (35%) of 176 had a 5% to 10% risk of cardiotoxicity at 1 year. Conclusion Older age, higher body mass index, and lower baseline LVEF were associated with increased risk of cardiotoxicity. We identified a subgroup with low predicted absolute benefit of anthracyclines but with high predicted risk of cardiotoxicity. Additional studies are needed incorporating long-term cardiac outcomes and cardiotoxicity model external validation prior to implementation in routine clinical practice.
Silent infections with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 are highly unlikely in multitransfused seronegative hemophiliacs.

We used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to determine the frequency of silent human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infections in seronegative high-risk individuals with hemophilia who had been exposed to contaminated blood products more than 3 years previously. In a cross- sectional study of a cohort of 57 prospectively followed seronegative hemophiliacs who received multiple transfusions before 1986, HIV-1 proviral DNA was found transiently in only one patient. These data suggest that the rate of HIV infection among high-risk antibody negative individuals with hemophilia is very low to absent, in the range of 0% to 2%. These findings should provide considerable reassurance to seronegative persons with hemophilia and their sexual partners.
The Deformity TLIF: Bilateral Facetectomy and Osteotomy Closure with a Hinged Table.

Background Increasing emphasis has been placed on segmental lordosis correction, even in short segment constructs. However, the majority of reports on TLIF indicate that lordosis correction is modest at best. TLIF with bilateral facetecomy has been described with better lordosis correction, but is usually performed with the spine in extension throughout the case. This report presents a new technique for lordosis correction during TLIF with the use of bilateral facetectomy and osteotomy closure using a mechanically hinged operative table. Methods A 78-year-old male presented with claudicatory back and leg pain due to foraminal stenosis and spondylolisthesis at L4-5 and L5-S1, and was operated on with bilateral facetectomies and TLIF while positioned on a motorized-hinged table, which started in flexion for the decompression and was brought into extension at the end of the case for osteotomy closure. Results Segmental lordosis from L4-S1 increased from 15° pre-operatively to 42° postoperatively. Conclusions A comparison of pre- and post-operative lateral radiographs showed 27° segmental lordosis correction, and intra-operative fluoroscopy showed correlation between extension of the table and segmental lordosis correction. Bilateral facetectomy and TLIF allows for segmental lordosis correction. Use of the hinged table allowed for ideal positioning during the decompression and controlled osteotomy closure with close correlation between table position and segmental alignment.Level of Evidence: V.
Improving Cooperation Skills through a Mnemonic for Self-Monitoring.

Cooperation is an observable and measurable relationship skill identified within social and emotional learning paradigms. Although cooperation plays a role in the academic and behavioral developmen...
Negotiating intangibles: the power, place, and prestige of NGOs in heritage governance

In recent years, there has been increased scholarly attention devoted to the politics behind decision-making processes in multilateral organisations like the United Nations Educational, Scientific,...
Chapter 6 – Thermodynamic Basis of CBPC Formation

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a thermodynamic model of dissolution, which relates the solubility product constant to the thermodynamic potentials and measurable parameters, such as temperature and pressure of the solution. The resulting relations allow to develop conditions, in which chemically bonded phosphate ceramics (CBPCs) are likely to form by reactions of various oxides with phosphate solutions. Thus, the model predicts formation of CBPCs. The Gibbs free energy, G is the most important thermodynamic parameter in describing chemical reactions because it represents the moles of the constituents participating in the reaction, and how a chemical reaction changes the number of moles. As the CBPC process is based on slow dissolution of the components, spontaneous dissolution of oxides is not desirable in the ceramic formation. During the formation of CBPCs, because of the exothermic acid–base reaction, the temperature of the reacting aqueous solution rises. This subsequently increases the dissolution of additional oxides into the solution and affects the overall formation of the ceramics.
Measurement Methodologies for Acoustic Noise Induced by Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors of Power Distribution Network in Mobile Systems

In this article, acoustic noise of printed circuit board (PCB) introduced by multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) on power distribution network (PDN) is studied. The correlation of PDN power rail noise, MLCCs and PCB dynamic characteristics, and PCB acoustic noise is demonstrated on a real mobile product through electrical, vibrational, and acoustic measurements. Two measurement methodologies are proposed to identify the problematic MLCCs on the power rail. One method analyzes the board and MLCCs vibration properties with the external electrical signal applied on the power rail on a product board. Other measurement detects the problematic MLCCs based on the coherence value between the power rail signal during product operation and MLCC vibration characteristics. By replacing the identified original MLCCs with low acoustic noise ones, the PCB vibration is clearly reduced. With the MLCCs’ influence on PCB vibration studied, a measurement methodology is also proposed to analyze the PCB intrinsic vibration properties. The intrinsic modal response of PCB is applied to predict the MLCC-induced PCB vibration. The obtained modal response can also provide design guidelines for MLCC placement to reduce the level of PCB vibration.
Understanding Revolution: A Comprehensive Approach

The purpose of this chapter is to move toward a comprehensive understanding of revolution by transcending boundaries among academic disciplines as well as conceptual dichotomies such as objective-subjective, structure-agency, collective-individual, macro-micro, and conflict resolution-social revolution. This transcending move can be made through the application of the concepts of multi-dimensionality, continuum, and dialectics. The chapter shows that this comprehensive approach is advocated in the literature because it transcends both disciplinary boundaries and conceptual dichotomies encountered in the literature.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Relationship Distress: Meta-analysis of RCTs with Social Work Implications.

The purpose of the present meta-analysis is twofold: 1) determine the aggregated statistical effect of cognitive-behavioral couples therapy (CBCT) for relationship distress in randomized controlled...
Transitive Sequential Pattern Mining for Discrete Clinical Data

Electronic health records (EHRs) contain important temporal information about disease progression and patients. However, mining temporal representations from discrete EHR data (e.g., diagnosis, medication, or procedure codes) for use in standard Machine Learning is challenging. We propose a transitive Sequential Pattern Mining approach (tSPM) to address the temporal irregularities involved in recording discrete records in EHRs. We perform experiments to compare the classification performance metrics for predicting “true” diagnosis between traditional sequential pattern mining (SPM) and the proposed tSPM algorithms across multiple diseases. We demonstrate that transitive approach is superior to the traditional SPM in mining temporal representations for diagnosis prediction.
Mental Age Compatibility: Quantification through the Convolution of Probability Distributions

We build on the empirical finding that a human being's mental age is normally distributed around the chronological age. This opposes the frequent societal assumption "mental = chronological" which is known to be false in general but entertained for simplicity due to lack of methodology; hence disregarding that, f.e., people of different chronological ages can be much closer in their mental ages. As a quantitative approach on a scientific basis, we set up a general formula for the probability that two individuals of given ages are mentally within a certain range of years and investigate its implications i.a. by critically analyzing popular assumptions on age and computing statistical expectations within populations.
Migration and Urban Economic Dynamics

Abstract What generates the large amount of heterogeneity and persistence in U.S. city growth rates? To answer this question we construct a dynamic general equilibrium model of urban migration that is consistent with the approximately linear relation between gross and net migration rates that we uncover in a panel of 381 metropolitan statistical areas. Consistency with this relation together with the model’s structure of moving costs delivers a parsimonious reduced form in which competitive equilibrium allocations are given by the solution to a city’s social planner problem subject to quadratic population adjustment costs. A calibrated version of the model indicates that empirically measured total factor productivity shocks account for most of the short-run and long-run population dynamics observed in U.S. data.
Enzyme-like Synthetic Catalysts (Synzymes)

Publisher Summary This chapter illustrates many of the basic elements of enzyme catalysis, including binding of substrate, multifunctional catalysis, microenvironmental effects, covalent catalysis, and strain effects. The most remarkable rate enhancements are those brought about by apolar derivatives of polyethyleneimine (PEI), a polycation. These rate enhancements are very encouraging in that they are most likely produced by strong binding and microenvironmental effects. The structure of apolar PEI derivatives has been probed using fluorescence spectroscopy and 19F-NMR. The results indicates that the apolar groups of PEI cluster to form a hydrophobic pool in the interior of the molecule. This area is accessible to water, however. One could picture substrates being bound in the pool, and migrating until a catalytic group is encountered. If this model is correct, the very large rate enhancements brought about by PEI are probably not a result of highly precise alignment of catalytic groups with the substrate molecule. Strain effects would also seem unlikely.
Cathode-ray-excited emission spectroscopic analysis of trace rare earths: Part I. Qualitative studies

Abstract Line emissions from f-f transitions in rare earths contained in a matrix are obtained by excitation with cathode rays. The distinctive energy of these emissions is utilized to detect the presence of trace amounts of rare earths, and non-destructive identification of such traces is carried out quickly by comparison with a derived hauptlinien spectrum. Matrix effects, masking interferences and the utilization of line shape are discussed.
MAP based resolution enhancement of video sequences using a Huber-Markov random field image prior model

In this paper, we propose two approaches for video sequence resolution enhancement using maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation. Huber-Markov random fields (HMRF) are used as prior models. These models can better preserve image discontinuities (edges) when compared with Gaussian prior models. The two proposed approaches differ in the selection of image smoothness measure. The first approach employs a measure that is based on a discrete Laplacian kernel, while the second approach uses a finite difference approximation of second order derivatives at each pixel of the high-resolution image estimate. Experimental results are presented and conclusions are drawn.
Efficacy of chlorine dioxide gas as a sanitizer of lettuce leaves.

Aqueous solutions of sodium hypochlorite or hypochlorous acid are typically used to sanitize fresh fruits and vegetables. However, pathogenic organisms occasionally survive aqueous sanitization in sufficient numbers to cause disease outbreaks. Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) gas generated by a dry chemical sachet was tested against foodborne pathogens on lettuce leaves. Lettuce leaves were inoculated with cocktail of three strains each of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella Typhimurium and treated with ClO2 gas for 30 min, 1 h, and 3 h in a model gas cabinet at room temperature (22 ± 2°C). After treatment, surviving cells, including injured cells, were enumerated on appropriate selective agar or using the overlay agar method, respectively. Total ClO2 generated by the gas packs was 4.3, 6.7, and 8.7 mg after 30 min, 1 h, and 3 h of treatment, respectively. Inoculated lettuce leaves exposed to ClO2 gas for 30 min experienced a 3.4-log reduction in E. coli, a 4.3-log reduction in Salmone...
Transport of organic carbon from the California coast to the slope region: A study of Δ14C and δ13C signatures of organic compound classes

Surface sediments along a transect from an abyssal site in the northeastern Pacific (Station M, 34°50′N, 123°00′W) to a small mountainous river on the California coast (Santa Clara River) were studied to investigate the sources and cycling of organic matter on the continental margin. Sediment samples were separated into organic compound fractions (extractable lipids, amino acids (THAA), carbohydrates (TCHO), and the acid-insoluble fraction), and their carbon isotope ratios were measured. The Δ14C values of all the THAA and TCHO fractions were greater than −100‰, indicating relatively modern organic carbon (OC) source(s), and rapid cycling of these fractions. In contrast, the Δ14C values of extractable lipids and the acid-insoluble fraction were distinctly lower than those of the THAA and TCHO fractions. The Δ14C values of source OC to the sediments were estimated using a simple mixed layer model. These values were lower than the Δ14C signatures of pre-industrial plankton suggesting input of both old OC and contemporary plankton to the margin sediments. The source of old OC at the 2000-m site was likely from laterally transported coastal sediment. The estimated low Δ14C value of the transported OC suggests that old lipids and acid-insoluble material were selectively transported to the 2000-m site. The contribution of riverine POC to the margin sediments were estimated from Δ14C and δ13C values and indicate that relict OC exported by rivers was an important source of old lipids and acid-insoluble material to sedimentary OC on the shelf.
Information in the Term Structure of LIBOR Interest Rates

Using Eurodollar futures prices to assess information in the term structure of interest rates we find that Eurodollar futures rates have power to forecast period profits in the Eurodollar futures market (based on LIBOR). The more interesting discovery is that short-term implied futures rates have very little power in forecasting future changes in spot rates in the Eurodollar futures market. Instead, evidence in our regressions suggests that information in the term structure of LIBOR is contained in the longer maturity Eurodollar futures contracts.
Combinatorial bounds and scaling laws for noise amplification in networks

Motivated by the problem of designing and analyzing clock synchronization protocols for large-scale networks, we provide combinatorial bounds on the mean square disagreement of synchronization dynamics subject to additive noise. While previous work has used eigenvalues to analyze the mean square disagreement when the synchronization dynamics is governed by a normal matrix, in the non-normal case eigenvalues cease to be an adequate measure. We first show that the so-called 2-norm coefficient of ergodicity used in the study of inhomogeneous Markov chains can be used to bound mean square disagreement even when the underlying dynamics is governed by a non-normal matrix. Our main result then demonstrates that the 2-norm coefficient of ergodicity has a natural combinatorial interpretation as a combined measure of matrix non-normality and graph connectivity. We apply this result to yield new performance guarantees for distributed clock synchronization: we show that in a simple (possibly irregular) random graph model, the natural clock synchronization scheme wherein neighboring nodes average their clocks is order-optimal: it drives the expected clock offsets between any two nodes to at most a constant, independently of the total number of nodes.
Usability challenges in security and privacy policy-authoring interfaces

Policies, sets of rules that govern permission to access resources, have long been used in computer security and online privacy management; however, the usability of authoring methods has received limited treatment from usability experts. With the rise in networked applications, distributed data storage, and pervasive computing, authoring comprehensive and accurate policies is increasingly important, and is increasingly performed by relatively novice and occasional users. Thus, the need for highly usable policy-authoring interfaces across a variety of policy domains is growing. This paper presents a definition of the security and privacy policy-authoring task in general and presents the results of a user study intended to discover some usability challenges that policy authoring presents. The user study employed SPARCLE, an enterprise privacy policy-authoring application. The usability challenges found include supporting object grouping, enforcing consistent terminology, making default policy rules clear, communicating and enforcing rule structure, and preventing rule conflicts. Implications for the design of SPARCLE and of user interfaces in other policy-authoring domains are discussed.
Static-Analysis Assisted Dynamic Verification of MPI Waitany Programs (Poster Abstract)

It is well known that the number of schedules (interleavings) of a concurrent program grows exponentially with the number of processes. Our previous work has demonstrated the advantages of an MPI-specific dynamic partial order reduction (DPOR, [5]) algorithm called POE in a tool called ISP [1,2,3] in dramatically reducing the number of interleavings during formal dynamic verification. Higher degrees of interleaving reduction were achieved when the programs were deterministic . In this work, we consider the problem of verifying MPI using MPI_Waitany (and related operations wait/test some/all). Such programs potentially have a higher degree of non-determinism. For such programs, POE can become ineffective, as shown momentarily. To solve this problem, we employ static analysis (supported by ROSE [4]) in a supporting role to POE to determine the extent to which the out parameters of MPI_Waitany can affect subsequent control flow statements. This informs ISP's scheduler to exert even more intelligent backtrack/replay control.
Jurassic carbonate facies of the Central and Eastern High Atlas rift, Morocco

The present Central and Eastern High Atlas mountains of southern Morocco represent a short-lived Mesozoic rift, 500 × 100 km, associated with an ancient fracture zone between the Saharan Craton to the south and the smaller microplate mesetas to the north. A continental rift opened in the Upper Triassic, accumulating redbeds, evaporites and basalts. Marine carbonate deposits were initiated abruptly in the Lower Liassic, and continued until the Middle Dogger, when the basin ceased to subside and became continental again.
Scanning force microscopy study of etch pits formed during dissolution of a barite (001) surface in CDTA and EDTA solutions

Dissolution of the barite (001) surface in aqueous solutions of 0.18 M CDTA (trans-1,2-cyclohexylenediaminetetraacetic acid) and 0.18 M EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) at pH 12 was investigated using ex situ scanning force microscopy. In both solutions, triangular and trapezoidal etch pits developed on the (001) surface and became deeper and longer with increasing dissolution time. The orientation of the etch pits in CDTA and EDTA solutions was elongated along the crystallographic b axis. Furthermore, dissolution of the (001) surface in a layer-by-layer fashion was observed. This resulted in the formation of “alternating” etch pits with heights of one half-unit cell (about 3.6 A), with the orientations of any two consecutive etch pits pointing oppositely to each other. In CDTA, etch pits within the half-unit cell were frequently bounded along the 〈120〉 and 〈010〉 directions. However, in EDTA, etch pits within the half-unit cell were bounded along the 〈110〉 and 〈010〉 directions. The dissolution behav...
Plasmapheresis and Heparin Reexposure as a Management Strategy for Cardiac Surgical Patients with Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia

BACKGROUND:Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) complicates the management of patients presenting for cardiac surgery, because high-dose heparin anticoagulation for cardiopulmonary bypass is contraindicated in these patients. Alternative anticoagulants are available, but there are concerns about d
Interspecific odour discrimination by a lizard (Eumeces laticeps)

Abstract When presented with odours on cotton swabs, adult borad-headed skinks ( Eumeces laticeps ) of both sexes flicked their tongues at much higher rates to conspecific odour stimuli than to those of their most closely related congeners, E. fasciatus and E. inexpectatus , during 60-s exposures to cloacal odours from lizards of the opposite sex. A successive discrimination design was used in which each lizard responded to five different odour treatments in a random sequence. In addition to the three lizard odours, water was used as a measure of baseline tongue protrusion rates and a cologne was used as a pungency control. There were no significant differences among the four non-conspecific odour treatments in numbers of tongue flicks elicited, but the skinks emitted significantly greater numbers of tongue flicks to conspecific cloacal odours than to any of the other stimuli. It is hypothesized that E. laticeps produces a pheromone which may function for species identification. Although it is tempting to speculate that the pheromone may serve as a pre-mating mechanism for maintaining reproductive isolation from syntopic congeners, insufficient information is avialable to draw firm conclusions regarding such a function.
Another Droplet Model for the Tricritical Point in the Blume-Capel Magnet

An alternative to Reatto's double-droplet model fortricritical points is proposed for the Blume-Capel ferromagnet in order to get agreement with the result of Saul and Wortis, that the amplitude of the susceptibility divergence at ${T}_{c}$ [i.e., $A$ in $\ensuremath{\chi}=A{(T\ensuremath{-}{T}_{c})}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}}$] vanishes if ${T}_{c}$ approaches the tricritical point. In our droplet-model description of the Blume-Capel magnet we employ only one and not two types of droplets, whereas Reatto used two. Our semiphenomenological theory assumes a phase diagram as given by Saul and Wortis from series expansions. First we assume that the droplet surface tension varies as ${\mathcal{r}}^{\ensuremath{-}b}({T}_{c}\ensuremath{-}T)$, where $\mathcal{r}$ is the distance from the tricritical point in the zero-field plane and $b=\frac{(1\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha})}{(2\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha})}\ensuremath{\approx}0.5$. With this assumption, the amplitude of the spontaneous magnetization near ${T}_{c}$ diverges for $\mathcal{r}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, whereas the amplitude for the susceptibility vanishes and the amplitude for the critical isotherm remains constant; for example, the spontaneous magnetization is $B{({T}_{c}\ensuremath{-}T)}^{\ensuremath{\beta}}$ with the amplitude $B\ensuremath{\propto}{\mathcal{r}}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\beta}b}$. Also for the first-order phase transition various tricritical exponents are expressed by the usual critical exponents. Then we add to the surface tension a magnetization-dependent term; for a particularly simple choice the surface tension now varies as ${\mathcal{r}}^{\ensuremath{-}b}({T}_{c}\ensuremath{-}T+\mathrm{const}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{M}^{\ensuremath{\delta}+1})$. This correction does not influence the second-order transition for $H=0$, but it gives the first-order transition surface for finite fields $H$ and the critical line (${H}_{0}, {T}_{0}$) at which this first-order transition ends. The slope of ${T}_{0}(\mathcal{r})$ is finite at the tricritical point; the slope of ${H}_{0}(\mathcal{r})$ diverges there. Our predicted exponents for the susceptibility at the second-order transition and for the magnetization at the first-order transition for zero field agree roughly with results of Saul and Wortis; nevertheless, our theory is still rather speculative.
Examination of the interactions of the amyloid precursor protein carboxyl terminus to intracellular protein: Possible role in apoptosis

1. The carboxyl terminus of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) has several identified regions that may potentially contribute to the pathogenic effects of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To examine these effects, the authors iodinated a short synthetic peptide corresponding to amino acids 679-687 of APP695. They also produced a [35S]-Methionine labeled peptide corresponding to the entire carboxyl 100 amino acids of APP695 via a reticulocyte lysate coupled in vitro transcription/translation system. 2. Human neuroblastoma cells (SK-N-SH) and non-neuronal epithelial cells (RK-13) were cultured, harvested, and lysed. The S1 cell extract fractions were combined with either of the labeled peptides and incubated at different temperatures to allow for interaction and binding of cellular proteins with the peptides. These interactions were identified as gel mobility shift patterns on native PAGE gels. The presence of distinct bands on the gels indicate that the APP C-terminus interacts with several intracellular proteins, some of which may be detrimental to the cell. The authors have tested the possibility that the accumulation of C-terminal proteins may result in apoptosis. 3. Apoptosis in neural cells is one detrimental effect that has been attributed to APP. The authors examined hippocampal tissue sections from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and age-matched normal control patients for a difference in the number of apoptotic nuclei present using an in situ apoptosis detection kit that labels the numerous free DNA ends present in apoptotic nuclei. The number of apoptotic nuclei found in AD neuronal tissue was significantly higher than in normal tissue.
Cobalt(II), nickel(II) and copper(II) nitrate complexes with pyrazine N-oxide

Abstract Interaction of pyrazine N-oxide(pyzNO) with 3 d metal nitrate salts yields a 2:1 complex with Co(II) and 4:1 complexes with Ni(II) and Cu(II). In the cases of Cr(III), Fe(III) and Zn(II) no solid complexes were obtained. The 4:1 complexes are monomeric and hexacoordinated, involving two monodentate nitrato ligands. Elucidation of the Co(II) complex is more difficult. The data suggests either a monomeric hexacoordinated compound with bidentate nitrato ligands or a polymeric compound with monodentate nitrato groups and both terminal and bridging pyzNO ligands. Solubility characteristics favor the former structure. Finally, comparison of the mull and KBr pellet i.r. spectra of the new complexes indicates that these compounds undergo rearrangements when pressed in a KBr die.
Adsorption of NOx on γ-alumina treated with alkali carbonates and alkali hydroxides

The effectiveness of alkali carbonate-treated and alkali hydroxide-treated γ-alumina for the adsorption of NO2 and NO has been examined in this study. All of the alkali-treated aluminas perform better than bare aluminas, and the performance of the alkali-treated aluminas improves with increasing mass (atomic radii) of the alkali. The most efficient material examined is 33% CsOH-treated γ-alumina. As NO2 is adsorbed, NO is produced in a 3:1 ratio. Surface acidity does not affect the adsorption of these species. The adsorbed N-containing species are strongly bound at the sorbent surface with a decomposition temperature over 600 °C. Thermal desorption of these species provides an effective means of regenerating these materials.
Suppression of spontaneous lymphoma by previously undiscovered dominant genes in crosses of high- and low-incidence mouse strains

Abstract Crosses of mice of the high-lymphoma mouse strains, AKR and C58, with mice of the low-lymphoma strains, C57L, DBA/1, and DBA/2, produce F 1 generations with low and late incidences of the spontaneous disease. Backcross populations, obtained from high-lymphoma parental strain × low-lymphoma F 1 coatings, showed lymphoma incidences of ⋍75%, indicating that the low lymphoma incidence in F 1 mice of these crosses was due to the simultaneous presence of at least two independently segregating dominant genes inherited from the low-lymphoma parental strain. In none of the three crosses was lymphoma resistance linked to the Fν-1 locus, and in only one (AKR × C57L) was H-2 type a significant determinant of the disease. This finding indicates that previously undiscovered genes possess the capacity to suppress spontaneous murine lymphoma. Studies of the expression of endogenous ecotropic and xenotropic murine leukemia viruses in mice of these crosses suggest that one of the new genes involved in lymphoma suppression may act by delaying the expression of xenotropic virus.
Inhomogeneous spatial patterns for predator―prey models: bifurcation at a higher eigenvalue

In this paper, we study a Rosenzweig-MacArthur predator―prey (steady-state) model with diffusion and subject to homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. Namely, we consider the following system of elliptic equations: Δu+au―f(u)―φ(u)v=0 in Ω, Δv―bv+ψ(u)v=0 in Ω, ∂u/ ∂v=∂v/∂v=0 on ∂ Ω, where Ω ⊂ R n (n ≥ 2) is a bounded and smooth domain. We call a pair of smooth (say, C 2 (Ω)) functions u(x) and v(x) which are strictly positive and non-constant in the region Ω and satisfy the above system a spatially inhomogeneous pattern. Employing global bifurcation theory and exploring the global structure of the system, we obtain new existence results of spatially inhomogeneous patterns of large amplitude and global nature.