cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Epidemiology of Functional Seizures Among Adults Treated at a University Hospital

Importance Functional seizures (formerlypsychogenic nonepileptic seizures), paroxysmal episodes that are often similar to epileptic seizures in their clinical presentation and display no aberrant brain electrical patterns, are understudied. Patients experience a long diagnostic delay, few treatment modalities, a high rate of comorbidities, and significant stigma due to the lack of knowledge about functional seizures. Objective To characterize the clinical epidemiology of a population of patients with functional seizures observed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Design, Setting, and Participants This case-control study included patients with functional seizures identified in the VUMC electronic health record (VUMC-EHR) system from October 1989 to October 2018. Patients with epilepsy were excluded from the study and all remaining patients in the VUMC medical center system were used as controls. In total, the study included 1431 patients diagnosed with functional seizures, 2251 with epilepsy and functional seizures, 4715 with epilepsy without functional seizures, and 502 200 control patients who received treatment at VUMC for a minimum of a 3 years. Data were analyzed from November 2018 to March 2020. Exposure Diagnosis of functional seizures, as identified from the VUMC-EHR system by an automated phenotyping algorithm that incorporatedInternational Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9)codes,International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10)codes,Current Procedural Terminologycodes, and natural language processing. Main Outcomes and Measures Associations of functional seizures with comorbidities and risk factors, measured in odds ratios (ORs). Results Of 2 346 808 total patients in the VUMC-EHR aged 18 years or older, 3341 patients with functional seizures were identified (period prevalence, 0.14%), 1062 (74.2%) of whom were women and for which the median (interquartile range) age was 49.3 (39.4-59.9) years. This assessment replicated previously reported associations with psychiatric disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.21-1.24; P Conclusions and Relevance This case-control study found evidence to support previously reported associations, discovered new associations between functional seizures and PTSD, anxiety, and depression. An association between cerebrovascular disease and functional seizures was also found. Results suggested that sexual trauma may be a mediating factor in the association between female sex and functional seizures.
Gender Disparities in Life Satisfaction After Retirement: The Roles of Leisure, Family, and Finances.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Recent research on life satisfaction in retirement explores gender differences but yields inconsistent patterns and does not consider gendered sources of satisfaction. We use a gender relations framework to examine whether women and men experience different changes in life satisfaction with retirement, and whether observed differences are a consequence of different assessments of the leisure, family, and financial situations that characterize their post-retirement lives. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We use longitudinal data drawn from men and women in the Health and Retirement Study who transitioned into retirement between ages 62 and 72 for the first time between 2008 and 2016 (N = 593). We employ ordinary least squares regression and mediation tests to assess gender differences in overall and domain-specific life satisfaction (i.e., leisure, family, finances). RESULTS Men reported increased life satisfaction following retirement, but women did not. No gender differences related to leisure or family life post-retirement emerged. Gender was associated with post-retirement satisfaction with finances (p < .001), with men reporting higher financial satisfaction. Mediation models confirmed a gender disparity in overall life satisfaction mediated by satisfaction with finances post-retirement (p < .01), explaining approximately one-third of the disparity. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS This study shows men derive greater improvements in life satisfaction in association with retirement than do women, and some of this disparity relates to women's lower satisfaction with their finances. These findings should caution policy-makers from assuming how women's increased labor force participation influences financial security in retirement, and encourage scholars to consider how gender influences subjective assessments of later life.
Ocular Inspection to Prevent Vision Impairment Caused by Diabetic Retinopathy

The retina is a unique tissue, considered an extension of the human brain that transforms the incoming light into neural signals. Many significant ocular diseases exhibit themselves in this central hub. Retinal images, therefore, play a vital part in the early detection of these chronic complications. Besides, the advancement of machine learning and biomedical imaging techniques has opened the doors for modern-day researchers to uncover life-threatening problems, such as diabetic retinopathy. This disease is common in middle-aged adults. It weakens the inner surface of retinal vessels, causing vision impairment. The precise diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy needs a computer-guided tool to automate the vessel extraction process. This article applied sequence block with U-Net architecture to segment ocular vasculature. Our approach efficiently used neighboring pixels to predict retinal vessels and generate a segmentation map with a baseline encoder-decoder structure. The vanishing gradient problem is resolved with long-term skip connections. The proposed approach is compared with state-of-the-art work. It is found that the sequence block boosted the U-Net performance on DRIVE and STARE datasets. The underlying method is an effort to limit the human biasness and error in ocular inspection and reduce the vision impairment rate in masses.
Progress in methodologies and quality-control strategies in protein cross-linking mass spectrometry

Deciphering the interaction networks and structural dynamics of proteins is pivotal to better understanding their biological functions. Cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) is a powerful and increasingly popular technology that provides information about protein-protein interactions and their structural constraints for individual proteins and multiprotein complexes on a proteomic-scale. In this review, we first assess the coverage and depth of the XL-MS technique by utilizing publicly available datasets. We then delve into the progress in XL-MS experimental and computational methodologies and examine different quality-control strategies reported in the literature. Finally, we discuss the progress in XL-MS applications along with the scope for future improvements. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
On The Condition of Anonymity: Unnamed Sources and the Battle for Journalism

Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Problems - and Promise - of Unnamed Sources 1 1. Media Culpas: Prewar Reporting Mistakes at the New York Times and Washington Post 31 2. "Blogs 1, CBS 0": 60 Minutes and the Killian Memos Controversy 52 3. Journalists Fight Back: Newsweek and the Koran Abuse Story 71 4. Deep Throat and the Question of Motives 91 5. "Journalism on Trial": Confidentiality and the Plame Leak Case 111 6. Rethinking Anonymity: Problems and Solutions 138 Notes 163 Index 197
Mobilizing for the Right to Health and Health Care

This chapter addresses efforts to secure the right to health care through community practice. It depicts the importance of different forms of community practice to the realization of the human right to health and health care. The authors link the conceptual framework of community practice, focusing on political and social action, with human rights-based mobilization for health and health services. Emphasis is placed on the importance of fostering broad-based participation in social and political campaigns to affect policy change. Community practitioners can help assure the participation of local groups in mobilizing for rights-based approaches to health care. Grassroots participation is also seen as integral to developing programs and policies responsive to local communities, and in promoting accountability and transparency in health care provision through broad public engagement. The chapter outlines what the human right to health and health care means and describes the US government position on the human right to health and health care. We also highlight prominent examples of efforts to challenge the dominant framework of health care-as-commodity to illustrate how local, community-based mobilization can further the realization of human rights.
Applications of Perturbation Techniques to Optimal Resource Sharing in Discrete Event Systems

A large class of Discrete Event Systems (DES) may be viewed as a set of interconnected resources providing service to tasks submitted to the system. We consider the problem of optimal resource sharing in the presence of real-time constraints: a task is considered lost if its waiting time exceeds a given deadline. We derive a quasistatic distributed gradient-based algorithm and address the issue of estimating the necessary gradient information on-line with a minimum of stochastic modeling assumptions. An estimator based on Finite Perturbation Analysis is developed and compared to one obtained through the Likelihood Ratio method. Finally, we include simulation results illustratng the behavior of the algorithm using these gradient estimators.
Physical Analysis of the Campoletis sonorensis Virus Multipartite Genome and Identification of a Family of Tandemly Repeated Elements

This report is an analysis of cross-hybridizing sequences found within the 28 superhelical (SH) DNAs of the multipartite genome of the polydnavirus Campoletis sonorensis virus (CsV). A Southern cross-blot hybridization analysis showed that the majority of CsV EcoRI restriction fragments cross-hybridize to multiple EcoRI fragments. These sequence homologies were analyzed by hybridizing recombinant clones of the CsV SH DNAs B, H, M, and O(1) to Southern blots of undigested CsV DNA, using different hybridization stringencies. The results indicated that homologous regions among the SH DNAs include closely related sequences that are detectable under stringent conditions and related but more diverged sequences which are only detectable under reduced stringencies. A sequence that hybridized to the majority of the CsV SH DNAs was identified and subcloned from the SH DNAs O(1), H, and B. Nucleotide sequence data revealed that these homologous regions contained a family of imperfectly conserved repeated elements. These repeat elements were arranged singly or in direct tandem arrays and had an average length of 540 base pairs. Within the sequenced regions that contained the repeated elements six putative open reading frames were identified. These results show that the CsV genome consists of SH DNAs with complex sequence interrelationships that may have arisen due to multiple recombinational events.
Statistical inference in behavior analysis: Experimental control is better.

Statistical inference promises automatic, objective, reliable assessments of data, independent of the skills or biases of the investigator, whereas the single-subject methods favored by behavior analysts often are said to rely too much on the investigator’s subjective impressions, particularly in the visual analysis of data. In fact, conventional statistical methods are difficult to apply correctly, even by experts, and the underlying logic of null-hypothesis testing has drawn criticism since its inception. By comparison, single-subject methods foster direct, continuous interaction between investigator and subject and development of strong forms of experimental control that obviate the need for statistical inference. Treatment effects are demonstrated in experimental designs that incorporate replication within and between subjects, and the visual analysis of data is adequate when integrated into such designs. Thus, single-subject methods are ideal for shaping—and maintaining—the kind of experimental practices that will ensure the continued success of behavior analysis.
Electromyography of the pharyngeal musculature: Technical considerations

Abstract Thirty-one EMG studies of the pharyngeal musculature using three types of electrodes were performed. Electrode characteristics are compared according to criteria developed specifically for the pharynx; techniques for electrode positioning are described in detail; and technical difficulties encountered in performing these studies are discussed. Needle electrodes were best for analyzing individual potentials. For analyzing the timing of myoelectric activity, we preferred the hooked wire electrode (for palatopharyngeus or cricopharyngeus) or bipolar suction electrode (for pharyngeal constrictors). Pharyngeal electromyography is technically feasible and has a role in studying normal and pathologic processes.
Considerations in the design and use of chimeric G protein-coupled receptors

Publisher Summary This chapter describes methods that can be employed to generate hybrid G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and that are useful for the proper analysis of such mutant receptors. All examples discussed in this chapter involve the mutational analysis of different members of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor family (M 1 –M 5 ). These receptors are ideally suited for hybrid receptor studies, as the five muscarinic receptor subtypes show distinct pharmacological and functional properties, while sharing a high degree of sequence homology. A meaningful interpretation of hybrid receptor data requires that experimental conditions are carefully chosen, such that differences in receptor numbers or improper receptor folding or localization do not interfere with proper data analysis. Given the extraordinary size of the GPCR superfamily and the ease with which chimeric GPCRs can be created by the use of modern PCR technology, hybrid GPCRs will continue to serve as important tools for researches in the GPCR field for many years to come.
Morphine or lidocaine infusion as a pre-emptive analgesic for intraocular surgery in dogs.

Systemic administration of lidocaine has been shown to provide analgesia in acute and chronic pain models in rodents. Pre-emptive administration of lidocaine increases pain threshold following sciatic ligation in rats even when plasma concentrations of lidocaine are undetectable. This study investigated the postoperative analgesic effect of lidocaine administered intraoperatively to normal dogs undergoing OD phacoemulsification and lens extraction. Twelve healthy beagle or spaniel dogs (15.5 ± 1.7 kg; 2.5 ± 0.6 years) of either sex were premedicated with acepromazine (0.05 mg kg−1 IM), induced with propofol (4–6 mg kg−1 IV) and maintained on isoflurane in oxygen with IPPV. Treatment groups (n = 4) were: lidocaine (L), 1 mg kg−1 bolus followed by constant rate infusion (CRI) at 0.025 mg kg−1 minute−1; morphine (M), 0.15 mg kg−1 bolus followed by CRI at 0.1 mg kg−1 h−1; and saline (S), 0.05 mL kg−1 bolus followed by CRI at 0.075 mL kg−1 h−1. Drug concentrations were adjusted such that equal volumes kg−1 were delivered regardless of treatment. HR, direct mean pressure (MAP), and end-tidal isoflurane concentration (ETISO) were recorded every 5 minutes following drug bolus. Fifteen minutes following drug bolus, atracurium (0.2 mg kg−1 IV) was administered and lens extraction surgery was begun. Beginning at extubation (t = 0), dogs were monitored for pain using a standardized subjective pain-scoring system by a blinded observer at t = 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 16 and 24 hours. If dogs exhibited mild–moderate discomfort, morphine (1.0 mg kg−1 IM) was given and ‘time to treatment failure’ recorded. Incidence of treatment failure was analyzed using Fisher's Exact test; time to treatment failure was analyzed using a Wilcoxon Rank Sum test. Differences between treatments and effects of treatment over time for HR, MAP, and ETISO were analyzed using a repeated-measures ANOVA. Incidence of treatment failure was 100% in the S group, and was significantly lower in the M and L groups (50%). Time to treatment failure (mean ± SD hours) was significantly lower in the S group (0.25 ± 0.14; p = 0.03) than in the M (1.0 ± 0.25) or L (1.75 ± 1.25) groups. There was no significant difference between treatments in HR, MAP or ETISO at any time point. Results of this study suggest that lidocaine infusion provides pre-emptive analgesia comparable to low dose morphine infusion, without adverse effects on HR or MAP, in healthy dogs. Further investigation into postoperative analgesic effects of systemic lidocaine with a larger number of dogs is warranted based on results of this pilot study.
PySAL: A Python Library of Spatial Analytical Methods

This chapter describes PySAL, an open source library for spatial analysis written in the object oriented language Python. PySAL grew out of the software development activities that were part of the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Sciences Tools Project (Goodchild et al. 2000). This National Science Foundation infrastructure project had as its goals to facilitate dissemination of spatial analysis software to social sciences, to develop a library of spatial data analysis modules, to develop prototypes implementing state of the art methods, and to initiate and nurture a community of open source developers.
Discrimination of glacier facies using multi-temporal SAR data

Glacier facies from the Greenland ice sheet and the Wrangell-St Elias Mountains, Alaska, are analyzed using multi-temporal synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from the European Space Agency ERS-1 satellite. Distinct zones and facies are visible in multi-temporal SAR data, including the dry-snow facies, the combined percolation and wet-snow facies, the ice facies, transient melt areas and moraine. In Greenland and south-central Alaska, very similar multi-temporal signatures are evident for the same facies, although these facies are found at lower altitude in West Greenland where the equilibrium line appears to be found at sea level at 71°30?N during the year analyzed (1992-93), probably because of the cooling effect of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. In Greenland, both the percolation and dry-snow facies are excellent distributed targets for sensor calibration, with backscatter coefficients stable to within 0.2 dB. However, the percolation facies near the top of Mount Wrangell are more complex and less easily delineated than in Greenland, and at high altitude the glacier facies have a multi-temporal signature which depends sensitively on slope orientation.
Assessing Medical Students' Tobacco Dependence Treatment Skills Using a Detailed Behavioral Checklist

Construct: This article describes the development and implementation of an assessment intended to provide objective scores that would be valid indications of medical students' abilities to counsel patients about tobacco dependence. Background: Assessing medical students' advanced communication skills, particularly in the context of providing tobacco-dependence treatment, consistently and accurately is challenging; doing so across multiple medical schools is even more difficult. Approach: Ten medical schools implemented a tobacco-dependence treatment case as part of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination for 3rd-year medical students. A 33-item checklist with detailed criteria and examples was developed for scoring students' performances. Trained coders viewed and coded 660 videotaped encounters; approximately 10% also were coded by the coding supervisor to check accuracy. Results: Average time required to code an encounter was approximately 31 minutes; accuracy (i.e., agreement with the gold standar...
Beyond Territory and Scarcity: Exploring Conflicts over Natural Resource Management

Beyond Territory and Scarcity: Exploring Conflicts over Natural Resource Management. Quentin Gausset, Michael A. Whyte, and Torben Birch-Thomsen, eds. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2005. 218 pp.
Role of zinc in the structure and toxic activity of botulinum neurotoxin.

Zn2+-protease activity of botulinum neurotoxin causes the blockage of neurotransmitter release resulting in botulism disease. We have investigated the role of Zn2+ in the biological activity of type A botulinum neurotoxin by removing the bound Zn2+ by EDTA treatment, followed by monitoring its structure in terms of secondary and tertiary folding (second derivative UV, FT-IR, and circular dichroism spectroscopy) and function in terms of its effect on the release of norepinephrine from PC12 cells. The single Zn2+ bound to each neurotoxin molecule was reversibly removed by EDTA treatment, whereas the biological activity of the neurotoxin was irreversibly lost. Based on the Amide III IR spectral analysis, the α-helical content of neurotoxin increased from 29% to 42% upon removal of Zn2+, which reverted to 31% upon treatment with 1:5 molar excess of exogenous Zn2+. Second derivative UV spectroscopy revealed no change in surface topography of Tyr residues with removal of Zn2+. However, near-UV circular dichrois...
Deposition of ultrafine particles in the upper airways: An empirical analysis

Abstract Deposition efficiencies measured in replicate casts of the upper bronchial airways of the human respiratory tract were compared with values predicted for deposition by diffusion and impaction for particles with mean diameters from 0.04 μm to 0.2 μm. In addition, mass deposition fractions were calculated for polydisperse particles ( σ g =1.3) to compare with predictions for monodisperse aerosols ( σ g =1). Utilizing the experimental flow rates and particle sizes it was found that the deposition efficiency by impaction was much smaller than that by diffusion, except for the case of a 0.2 μm diameter particle at a high inspiratory flow rate. An empirical expression for the diffusional deposition efficiency of particles in the upper airways was obtained based on the experimental data. In the uppermost airways of the lung the deposition predicted using this expression was about twice the value obtained using Ingham's equation for particle deposition by diffusion from parabolic flow. The predictions converged as penetration increased to deeper branching levels. The behavior was analogous with predicted deposition of diffusive particles in developing flows. Detailed knowledge of deposition efficiency for these particles is required for evaluation of the risk from exposure to ambient short-lived radon decay products.
Effects of DNA structure on oxopropenylation by the endogenous mutagens malondialdehyde and base propenal.

Malondialdehyde (MDA) and nucleobase propenals can transfer oxopropenyl groups to guanine residues of DNA to yield pyrimodopurinone (M1G) adducts. The DNA structural requirements for reaction with ...
Wafer quality analysis of various scribe line mark designs

Scribe Line Marks (SLM) printed on substrates are a standard method used by modern scanners for wafer alignment. Light reflected from the SLM forms a diffraction pattern which is used to determine the exact position of the wafer. The signal strength of the diffraction order needs to reach a certain threshold for the scanner to detect it. The marks are changed as the wafers go through various processes and are buried underneath complex film stacks. These processes and stacks can severely reduce wafer quality (WQ). Equipment manufactures recommend several variations of the SLM to improve WQ but these variations are not effective for certain advanced processes. This paper discusses theoretical analysis of how SLM designs affect wafer quality, addresses the challenge of self-aligned double patterning (SADP) on SLMs and experimentally verifies results using various structures.
Recent Advancements in Optical Orbital-Angular-Momentum Multiplexing

This tutorial discusses recent advancements in OAM-multiplexed systems. High-capacity transmission of OAM-multiplexed data channels in free-space and fiber links is presented along with an overview of key challenges in OAM-based systems.
The American College of Gastroenterology's New Guidelines on Achalasia: what clinicians need to know.

Achalasia is an uncommon but one of the classic esophageal motility disorders defined based on manometric findings in the classic setting of dysphagia [1]. Although the etiology of the disease is currently unknown, it is established that the disease entity affects esophageal peristalsis and the lower esophageal sphincter relaxation resulting in chronic symptoms. The most common presenting symptoms of patients with achalasia are dysphagia to solids and liquids as well as regurgitation. However, patients may over-emphasis regurgitation as a predominant symptom leading to mis-diagnosis of reflux disease [2]. Patients may also complain of accompanying chest pain, but this symptom is often associated with the sensation of difficulty with food emptying.Weight loss is less common but, if significant, should lead to suspicion of pseudoachalasia due to malignancy. Several important clinical pearls, which may help the healthcare provider in timely diagnosis of achalasia, are outlined below:
Allocare in a nocturnal primate: data on the spectral tarsier, Tarsius spectrum.

Non-maternal infant care in many of the small-bodied New World primate species has been hypothesized by some researchers to be related to the high infant/adult weight ratio found in these species. The spectral tarsier, Tarsius spectrum, an Old World primate, has one of the highest infant/adult weight ratios of any primate, with infants weighing between 20–33% of adult weight at birth. On the basis of the hypothesized relationship between allocare and the infant/adult weight ratio, it is predicted that the spectral tarsier will also exhibit extensive allocaretaking behaviour. The results of this study indicate that although spectral tarsiers show care by male and female subadults as well as adult males, it is extremely limited compared to the extensive allocaretaking behavior observed in New World primate species such as Aotus and Callicebus. Spectral tarsier subadult females provide substantially more allocare to infants than do subadult males or adult males. Female subadults were observed sharing food, transporting, grooming, playing, alarm calling, baby-sitting and maintaining physical contact with infants more than other age/sex classes. Although the amount of allocare exhibited by adult males and subadult males was much less than that exhibited by female subadults, the data suggest that adult and subadult male spectral tarsiers do play a small part in the care and socialization of the infant. Adult males and subadult males were both observed occasionally engaging in allocaretaking behaviors such as grooming and playing, as well as frequently patrolling and defending the territory’s boundaries. The results from this study suggest that although a high infant/adult weight ratio may be a prerequisite for selection to favor extensive allocare, it is not a causal factor. Additional research is needed in order to understand better the selective pressures involved and the costs and benefits of providing allocare to subadults and adult male spectral tarsiers.
Reading in a deep orthography: neuromagnetic evidence for dual-mechanisms

Despite substantial efforts to connect cognitive-linguistic models with appropriate anatomical correlates, the question of which cognitive model best accounts for the neuropsychological and functional neuroimaging evidence remains open. The two most popular models are grounded in conceptually different bases and thus make quasi-distinct predictions in regard to the patterns of activation that should be observed in imaging investigations of linguistic processing. Dual-mechanism models propose that high-frequency regular and irregular words are processed through a lexicon-based word code, which facilitates their processing and pronunciation latencies relative to pseudowords. In contrast, single-mechanism models suggest the same behavioral effects can be explained through semantic mediation without the existence of a lexicon. In most previous studies, words and pronounceable pseudowords were presented in lexical-decision or word reading paradigms, and hemodynamic techniques were utilized to distinguish involved anatomical areas. The results typically indicated that both word classes activated largely congruent tissues, with a magnitude advantage for pseudowords in most or all activated regions. However, since the dual-mechanism model predicts both word types utilize the entire linguistic network, but that certain operations are merely obligatorily involved, these results do not sharply refute nor clearly support the model's main tenets. In the current study, we approach the dual- versus single-mechanism question differently by focusing on the temporal dynamics of MEG imaged neuronal activity, during performance of an oddball version of continuous lexical-decision, to determine whether the onset latency of any cortical language region shows effects of word class that are indicative of preferential versus obligatory processing pathways. The most remarkable aspect of our results indicated that both words and pseudowords initially activate the left posterior fusiform region, but that the spatiotemporal dynamics clearly distinguish the two word classes thereafter. For words, this left fusiform activation was followed by engagement of the left posterior inferior temporal, and subsequently activation reached the left posterior superior temporal region. For pseudowords, this sequential order of left temporal area activations was reversed, as activity proceeded from the left fusiform to the left superior temporal and then the left inferior temporal region. For both classes, this dynamic sequential spread manifested within the first 300 ms of stimulus processing. We contend these results provide strong support for the existence of dual-mechanisms underlying reading in a deep orthographic language (i.e., English).
The impact of the Pension Fund on the decision to work one more year

Abstract The decision to retire or work one more year is quite complex. One factor that plays a role in this decision is the net salary derived from working one more year. The type of pension a person has, defined benefit or defined contribution, will influence whether the net salary is larger than, equal to, or less than the stated salary. The larger the net salary relative to the stated salary, the more likely an employee is to continue working. This paper defines the net salary percentage for each type of pension plan and looks at empirical estimates for these values.
Megarad-Resistant 10nm Gate Dielectrics

Dielectrics of nitrided silicon dioxide of the order of 10nm thick have been made which withstand 1Mrad(Si) of electron irradiation essientially unaltered.
Comparing the Sexes on Spatial Abilities: Map-Use Skills

Abstract Studies by psychologists suggest that males are more proficient than females in performing many types of spatial tasks. There is no information, however, as to whether the results of psychological research are relevant and applicable to geography. This paper summarizes psychologists' views of spatial skills, discusses them from a geographical perspective, and reports the results of five map-use experiments that were analyzed for sex-based differences among participants. Two of the studies, one with fourth-grade students and one with undergraduates, tested the students' ability to use cartographic illustrations as an aid to learning geographic information. The remaining experiments investigated how well male and female children and adults could perform typical map-use tasks such as route planning, symbol identification, visual search and estimation, and right/left orientation. In both sets of studies, the main sex-based differences were found in the younger age groups, where boys' performance was ...
Direct Sagittal Computed Tomography Scanning of the Skull and Its Contents

An accessory patient table has been built for use with the wide-aperture Varian CT scanner, which makes it possible to position patients for direct (positional) sagittal CT scans of the head. No extra computer manipulation is required to produce these sagittal images. Density and spatial resolution are similar to those obtained in the axial plane. Practical applications to date include improving visualization of orbital lesions and soft tissue masses involving the face, and aiding surgical and radiotherapy treatment planning for intracranial lesions.
A computational model for free radicals transport in the microcirculation.

Nitric oxide (NO), superoxide (O2 –), and peroxynitrite (ONOO–) interactions in pathophysiologic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes have been studied extensively in vivo and in vitro. A reduction in bioavailability of NO is a common event that is known as the endothelial dysfunction in these conditions. Despite intense investigation of NO biotransport and O2 – and ONOO– biochemical interactions in vasculature, we have very little quantitative knowledge of distributions and concentrations of NO, O2 –, and ONOO– under normal physiologic and pathophysiologic conditions. Based on fundamental principles of mass balance, vessel geometry, and reaction kinetics, we developed a mathematical model of these free radicals transport in and around an arteriole during oxidative stress. We investigated the role of O2 – and ONOO– in inactivating vasoactive NO. The model predictions include (a) NO interactions with oxygen, O2 –, and ONOO– have relatively little effect on the NO level in t...
Assessing Li and other leachable geochemical proxies for paleo-salinity in lake sediments from the Mono Basin, CA (USA)

Abstract Regional climate-driven hydrological changes are accompanied by salinity changes in closed basin lakes. We have investigated acid leachable Li, along with other leachable ions including Mg, Ca and Sr, as geochemical proxies of salinity in lake sediments in the Mono Basin, California. All the elements in the acid leachable suite show a strong correlation with paleo-lake level estimates based on physical and stratigraphic evidence. The CaCO3 content of lake sediments, which has been shown to be a reliable proxy for lake level changes in the Mono basin and the adjoining Owens Lake basin, corresponds well with our acid-leachable proxy data.
CAN-bus-based traffic signal control system

The article is focused on the fault-tolerant communication between the monitor computer and traffic signal machines, which based on the XATM-IV traffic signal control system designed by Air Traffic Management Institute of Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU). As a popular field bus, CAN bus is adopted here to achieve above communication because of its high reliability and anti-interference ability. The design of hardware and software of CAN bus are introduced in the paper in details. At the last, some methods of fault-tolerant technique have been discussed and an efficient method is given out.
Experience With The In Situ Monitor System For The Fabrication Of X-Ray Mirrors

Practical consideration for the fabrication of multilayer x-ray mirrors using in situ monitoring of the reflectivity for soft x-rays during deposition are discussed.
Ecosystem Responses to Nitrogen Deposition in the Colorado Front Range

We asked whether 3–5 kg N y−1 atmospheric N deposition was sufficient to have influenced natural, otherwise undisturbed, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the Colorado Front Range by comparing ecosystem processes and properties east and west of the Continental Divide. The eastern side receives elevated N deposition from urban, agricultural, and industrial sources, compared with 1–2 kg N y−1 on the western side. Foliage of east side old-growth Englemann spruce forests have significantly lower C:N and lignin:N ratios and greater N:Mg and N:P ratios. Soil % N is higher, and C:N ratios lower in the east side stands, and potential net N mineralization rates are greater. Lake NO3 concentrations are significantly higher in eastern lakes than western lakes. Two east side lakes studied paleolimnologically revealed rapid changes in diatom community composition and increased biovolumes and cell concentrations. The diatom flora is now representative of increased disturbance or eutrophication. Sediment nitrogen isotopic ratios have become progressively lighter over the past 50 years, coincident with the change in algal flora, possibly from an influx of isotopically light N volatilized from agricultural fields and feedlots. Seventy-five percent of the increased east side soil N pool can be accounted for by increased N deposition commensurate with human settlement. Nitrogen emissions from fixed, mobile, and agricultural sources have increased dramatically since approximately 1950 to the east of the Colorado Front Range, as they have in many parts of the world. Our findings indicate even slight increases in atmospheric deposition lead to measurable changes in ecosystem properties.
A Characterization of Symmetric Random Variables

A characterization of symmetric random variables based on the symmetry of certain linear combination of variables is established.
Counter-Archive: film, the everyday, and Albert Kahn's Archives de la Planète

Counter-Archive: film, the everyday, and Albert Kahn's Archives de la Planete PAULA AMAD New York, NY, Columbia University Press, 2010 vii+408 pp., illus., bibliography and index, $34.50 (paper), $...
Sulbactam/ampicillin in paediatric infections.

The emergence and spread of ampicillin- resisiant Haemophilus influenzae type b strains have led to a sharp reduction in the use of ampicillin, or the addition of chloramphenicol, in the initial therapy of serious childhood infections. In some instances, third generation cephalosporins are used instead.
Patient perceptions of electronic medical records: physician satisfaction, portability, security and quality of care

Physicians are adopting electronic medical records in much greater numbers today and are escalating the rate of adoption. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides incentives for physicians to adopt this technology. The objectives of this paper are to determine whether patient satisfaction is affected by computer use in the exam room and whether patients who have experienced computers in the exam room perceive differences in the utility of electronic medical records. Physicians received higher overall satisfaction scores when a computer was used to retrieve patient information. Physicians received similar satisfaction scores when a computer was used to enter patient information. Patients who have experienced electronic medical records perceive benefits such as increased portability of the record but do not believe that physicians who use electronic medical records produce better health outcomes. Patients who have experienced electronic medical records do not desire more control over their record than those who have traditional medical records.
Linear stability of a two-fluid interface for electrohydrodynamic mixing in a channel

We study the electrohydrodynamic stability of the interface between two superposed viscous fluids in a channel subjected to a normal electric field. The two fluids can have different densities, viscosities, permittivities and conductivities. The interface allows surface charges, and there exists an electrical tangential shear stress at the interface owing to the finite conductivities of the two fluids. The long-wave linear stability analysis is performed within the generic Orr-Sommerfeld framework for both perfect and leaky dielectrics. In the framework of the long-wave linear stability analysis, the wave speed is expressed in terms of the ratio of viscosities, densities, permittivities and conductivities of the two fluids. For perfect dielectrics, the electric field always has a destabilizing effect, whereas for leaky dielectrics, the electric field can have either a destabilizing or a stabilizing effect depending on the ratios of permittivities and conductivities of the two fluids. In addition, the linear stability analysis for all wavenumbers is carried out numerically using the Chebyshev spectral method, and the various types of neutral stability curves (NSC) obtained are discussed.
Application of genetic algorithm for automatic recognition of partially occluded objects

Automatic recognition of partially occluded objects that are sensed by imaging sensors is a challenging problem in image understanding (IU), automatic target recognition (ATR), and computer vision fields. In this paper I address this problem by using a genetic algorithm (GA) as part of a model-based recognition scheme. The partially occluded object segments are rotated, translated, and scaled. Then each transform parameter is encoded into a binary string and used in a genetic algorithm. The suggested transformation is then applied to the sensed segment and the resulting object is matched against a library of stored targets. The fitness criterion is a distance function that measures the similarity between the segmented object and the stored target models. The GA by performing the process of mutation, reproduction, and crossover suggests optimum transform parameter sets. The empirical results of the application of the approach on a set of real ladar data of military targets shows that correct recognition for up to 50% target occlusion is possible.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Risks and outcomes associated with disorganized/controlling patterns of attachment at age three years in the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development

Disorganized/controlling attachment in preschool has been found to be associated with maternal and child maladjustment, making it of keen interest in the study of psychopathology. Additional work is needed, however, to better understand disorganized/controlling attachment occurring as early as age 3 years. The primary aims of this study were to evaluate risk factors and outcomes associated with disorganized/controlling behavior at age 3 years and to evaluate the risk factors and outcomes differentiating the four subtypes of disorganized/controlling attachment. Analyses were conducted with the first two phases of the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a prospective study of 1,364 children from birth. At 36 months of age, across the attachment-relevant domains of maternal well-being, mother-child interactions, and child social adaptation, the disorganized/controlling group evidenced the most maladaptive patterns in comparison to both secure and insecure-organized groups. At 54 months of age, the disorganized/controlling group displayed the highest levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, as rated by mothers and teachers, and the lowest quality relationships with teachers. Significant differences found among the disorganized/controlling subtypes indicated that the behaviorally disorganized and controlling-punitive subtypes had more maladaptive patterns across variables than did the controlling-caregiving and controlling-mixed subtypes.
Galilean satellites the spectral reflectivity 0.30–1.10 micron☆

Galilean satellites spectral reflectivity from photometric observations during Jupiter apparitions
Refrigeration of separate, user-supplied payloads with Normal–Insulator–Superconductor tunnel junctions ☆

Abstract Normal metal–Insulator–Superconductor (NIS) tunnel junctions can be used to selectively remove the hottest electrons in the normal metal, thereby causing it to cool. NIS tunnel junctions have already been used to cool lithographically integrated payloads [1] , but this requires integration of two disparate fabrication processes. To increase the flexibility of NIS refrigerators, we have designed a stage cooler based on NIS tunnel junctions that will be able to cool arbitrary, user-supplied payloads from 300 mK to 100 mK. This stage cooler can be backed by a helium-3 refrigerator to provide a lightweight and simple means of reaching 100 mK in space applications. In this paper, we describe the design of our stage cooler and present calculations of the cooling power and time required to reach 100 mK.
Development of Parallel Pseudo-Spectral Solver Using Influence Matrix Method and Application to Boundary Layer Transition

AbstractThe performance of a pseudo-spectral solver, which uses FFT in the streamwise and spanwise directions and Chebyshev polynomials in the wall-normal direction, is improved by implementing MPI domain decomposition for the Chebyshev collocation method using the influence matrix method. The parallel code is validated for LES of plane channel flow at Reτ=590 and 2003, and applied for temporally developing flat plate transition simulations. The domain decomposition using the influence matrix method is implemented to achieve C1 continuity of the velocity across the domain interface. The method provides super linear scalability of solver computational performance. The predictions show kinks in the turbulent statistics on coarser grids, but agree very well with DNS data for finer grids. It is found that accurate turbulent predictions require a minimum of 48 collocation points per subdomain for Re ~ 105, with higher numbers required for Re ~ 106. The flat plate transitional flow simulation is performed for a...
Linear algebra algorithms as dynamical systems

Any logical procedure that is used to reason or to infer either deductively or inductively, so as to draw conclusions or make decisions, can be called, in a broad sense, a realization process. A realization process usually assumes the recursive form that one state develops into another state by following a certain specific rule. Such an action is generally formalized as a dynamical system. In mathematics, especially for existence questions, a realization process often appears in the form of an iterative procedure or a differential equation. For years researchers have taken great effort to describe, analyse, and modify realization processes for various applications.The thrust in this exposition is to exploit the notion of dynamical systems as a special realization process for problems arising from the field of linear algebra. Several differential equations whose solutions evolve in submanifolds of matrices are cast in fairly general frameworks, of which special cases have been found to afford unified and fundamental insights into the structure and behaviour of existing discrete methods and, now and then, suggest new and improved numerical methods. In some cases, there are remarkable connections between smooth flows and discrete numerical algorithms. In other cases, the flow approach seems advantageous in tackling very difficult open problems. Various aspects of the recent development and application in this direction are discussed in this paper.
Bifurcations in a discrete time model composed of Beverton–Holt function and Ricker function

Abstract We provide rigorous analysis for a discrete-time model composed of the Ricker function and Beverton–Holt function. This model was proposed by Lewis and Li [Bull. Math. Biol. 74 (2012) 2383–2402] in the study of a population in which reproduction occurs at a discrete instant of time whereas death and competition take place continuously during the season. We show analytically that there exists a period-doubling bifurcation curve in the model. The bifurcation curve divides the parameter space into the region of stability and the region of instability. We demonstrate through numerical bifurcation diagrams that the regions of periodic cycles are intermixed with the regions of chaos. We also study the global stability of the model.
A note on convergence of the multigrid V-cycle

Several recent papers have discussed the convergence of the multigrid V-cycle. In particular there are several results for the symmetric case: where the numbers of smoothings before the fine-to-coarse transfer and after the coarse-to-fine transfer are the same. In most instances, the smoother H=I-E^-^1A has been limited to the case where E is positive definite and the eigenvalues h of H satisfy 0=