cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the mechanism of Lewis base catalyzed aldol addition reactions: kinetic and spectroscopic investigations using rapid-injection NMR.

The mechanistic foundations of the Lewis base catalyzed aldol addition reactions have been investigated. From a combination of low-temperature spectroscopic studies (29Si and 31P NMR) and kinetic analyses using a rapid-injection NMR apparatus (RINMR), a correlation of the ground states and transition structures for the aldolization reactions has been formulated. The aldol addition of the tert-butylsilyl ketene acetal of tert-butyl propanoate with 1-naphthaldehyde is efficiently catalyzed by a combination of silicon tetrachloride and chiral phosphoramide Lewis bases. The rates and selectivities of the aldol additions are highly dependent on the structure of the Lewis bases: bisphosphoramides give the highest rate and selectivity, whereas a related monophosphoramide reacts slowly and with low selectivity. The monophosphoramide shows no nonlinear behavior. All of the additions show a first-order kinetic dependence on silyl ketene acetal and 1-naphthaldehyde and a zeroth-order dependence on silicon tetrachlor...
A novel figure panel classification and extraction method for document image understanding

With the availability of full-text documents in many online databases, the paradigm of biomedical literature mining and document understanding has shifted to analysis of both text and figures to derive implicit messages that are unforeseen with text mining only. To enable automatic, massive processing, a key step is to extract and parse figures embedded in papers. In this paper, we present a novel model-driven, hierarchical method to classify and extract panels from figures in scientific papers. Our method consists of two integrated components: figure or panel classification and panel segmentation. Figure classification evaluates each panel and decides the existence of photographs and drawings. Mixtures of photographs and non-photographs are divided into subfigures. The splitting process repeats until no further panel collage can be identified. Detection of highlighted views is addressed with Hough space analysis. Using reconstruction from Hough peaks, enclosed panels are retrieved and saved into separate files. Experiments were conducted with a total of 360 figures extracted from two sets of papers that are retrieved with difference sets of keywords. Experimental results demonstrated that our method successfully segmented figures and extracted photographs and non-photographs with high accuracy and robustness. In addition, our method was able to identify zoom-in views that are superimposed on the original photographs. The efficiency of our method allows online implementation.
Reducing the load: the evolution and management of obesity and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis before liver transplantation.

Key Points 1. Obesity is common in patients with end-stage liver disease of any cause. 2. Obesity is associated with comorbidities that can affect liver transplant candidacy, such as metabolic syndrome (diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension), cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disorders (related to obstructive sleep apnea), renal dysfunction, and malignancies. 3. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is the only indication for transplantation that is increasing in frequency, and it may soon become the leading indication. 4. There is no set body mass index above which liver transplantation is contraindicated. Transplant candidacy and outcomes depend on the cumulative comorbidities of the individual patient. 5. Weight loss is an important component of metabolic syndrome management and is recommended before liver transplantation. 6. Bariatric surgery may be considered in carefully selected patients with well-compensated cirrhosis but is not recommended in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Liver Transpl 18:S-S, 2012. © 2012 AASLD.
Nuclease accessibility of chromatin from a heterotic hybrid and from parental inbreds

The DNAase II, Mg2+ procedure was used to fractionate the seedling chromatin of a heterotic maize hybrid and its parental inbreds FRM017 and FRN28. The hybrid and the more vigorous maize inbred FRN28 have 14 and 11 percent soluble chromatin (euchromatin) respectively, while the less vigorous FRM017 contains 30 percent. The unfractionated chromatin of the hybrid contains less protein than either inbred. The RNA contents of the unfractionated chromatin of the hybrid and of FRN28 are similar and are one-half that of less vigorous FRM017. Hybrid euchromatin contains relatively more protein and RNA than DNA as well as higher proportions of protein and RNA than heterochromatin, unfractionated chromatin, or inbred euchromatin; this suggests a more “efficient” type of activity, as reflected by the low amount of euchromatin and a high proportion of RNA and chromosomal proteins.
Estimation of radial permeability distribution from well-test data

This paper presents a method of estimating a radial permeability distribution that would reproduce the pressure data obtained in a well test. The method is applied to three examples: permeability variation in a composite reservoir, porosity variation in a composite reservoir, and permeability variation with inaccurate data. The permeability estimates obtained are shown to be smoothed versions of the actual permeability distribution, and an estimate for the resolution width of the smoothing is provided. One significant advantage of the solution method applied in this paper is the ability to estimate permeability variation without dividing the reservoir into zones of constant permeability
Effect of heat stress on plasma levels of arginine vasotocin and mesotocin in domestic fowl (Gallus domesticus)

1. The effect of an acute heat stress on plasma arginine vasotocin (AVT) and mesotocin (MT) levels were determined in non-heat-acclimated domestic fowl. 2. Heat increased (P less than 0.05) AVT and decreased MT (P less than 0.05) levels but had no affect on plasma osmolality. Changes in MT were correlated with body temperature (-0.40) and blood pCO2 (0.32). However, changes in AVT were not correlated with any physiological variable, including MT. 3. During thermoneutral recovery, with the exception of hematocrit which remained lower (P less than 0.05), all monitored variables returned to values which were not different (P greater than 0.05) from those observed prior to heat stress. 4. These results indicate that in non-heat-acclimated birds, acute heat stress elevated plasma AVT and suppressed the release of MT and that changes in these hormones occurred independent of any change in plasma osmolality.
Controlling Cotton's Insect Pests: A New System.

Cotton is more heavily treated with insecticides than any other crop in the United States. In southern Texas, this heavy treatment resulted in insecticide- resistant strains of major pests which almost destroyed the industry in the late 19609s and early 19709s. An integrated insect control program based on new short-season cotton varieties and traditional cultural practices has restored production in the area. The new system has been widely implemented because it produces greater net returns by reducing the use of insecticides, fertilizer, and irrigation.
Effect of atrial natriuretic peptide on potassium-stimulated aldosterone secretion: potential relevance to hypoaldosteronism in man

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) has been shown to suppress aldosterone secretion under certain circumstances, although the physiological significance of this is uncertain. We wondered if ANP would suppress potassium-stimulated aldosterone secretion in man and, if so, whether we might find high circulating levels of ANP in patients with the syndrome of acquired hypoaldosteronism. We studied seven healthy young subjects under two conditions: 1) infusion of KCl (0.5 mmol/kg) over 45 min, and 2) KCl infused with ANP (0.01 microgram/kg.min) for 60 min. We also evaluated ANP levels in eight elderly subjects with the syndrome of acquired hypoaldosteronism, as defined by hyperkalemia (mean serum K+, 5.3 +/- 0.1 mmol/L) associated with inappropriately low aldosterone levels (216 +/- 50 pmol/L). In the normal subjects, ANP almost completely suppressed the aldosterone response to KCl infusion (P less than 0.001, by analysis of variance) despite a similar rise in the serum potassium level with KCl alone (0.70 +/- 0.07 mmol/L) and KCl plus ANP (0.75 +/- 0.09 mmol/L). PRA fell slightly during KCl plus ANP treatment, but did not change during the infusion of KCl alone. ANP levels were approximately 800 pmol/L during the ANP infusion studies. Endogenous ANP levels in the hyperkalemic patients with hypoaldosteronism were markedly elevated at 1186 +/- 340 pmol/L (compared to 93 +/- 10 pmol/L in healthy elderly controls), a level that would be capable of suppressing the potassium-mediated aldosterone response. Exogenous infusion of ANP suppressed the aldosterone response to hyperkalemia, and ANP levels were found to be markedly elevated in a group of patients with hyperkalemia and hypoaldosteronism. We suggest that ANP may contribute to clinically significant hypoaldosteronism and hyperkalemia in the syndrome of acquired hypoaldosteronism.
What's Wrong with Motive Manipulation?

Consider manipulation in which one agent, avoiding force, threat, or fraud mobilizes some non-concern motive of another so as to induce this other to behave or move differently than she would otherwise have behaved or moved, given her circumstances and her initial ranking of concerns. As an instance, imagine that I get us to miss the opening of a play that I have grudgingly agreed to attend by engaging your sublimated compulsive tendency to check the stove when we are halfway to the theatre. Such motive manipulation is, I take it, widely regarded as morally worrisome. If it really is morally worrisome, then we should be able to explain adequately why it is so. But existing condemnations of manipulation come up short in this regard. In this paper, I develop and defend a more plausible account of the moral status of this phenomenon.
The use of multi-criteria decision-making methods in the integrated assessment of climate change: implications for IA practitioners

Abstract Integrated assessment (IA) considers interactions of physical, biological, and human systems in order to assess long-term consequences of environmental and energy policies such as limits on greenhouse gas emissions, and other strategies to negate climate change. Users of IA face the daunting task of interpreting large amounts of data and uncertainties. Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods can help users process IA data, understand policy tradeoffs, and learn how their value judgments affect decisions. We held a workshop during which climate change experts tested several MCDM methods for using IA outputs to rank hypothetical policies for abating greenhouse gas emissions. Participants also evaluated several methods for visualizing tradeoffs under both certainty and uncertainty cases. This paper explores potential roles for MCDM in IA identified during the workshop, along with implications for IA design and implementation. We summarize the workshops’ results regarding intertemporal discounting (a type of MCDM weighting judgment), visualization of impacts, how MCDM methods can help users to incorporate their background knowledge, and how MCDM can improve understanding of tradeoffs and the importance of value judgments. A key result is that the interest rates IA experts recommend for discounting future impacts depend strongly on what type of impact is being discounted, as well as upon the exact phrasing of questions used to elicit rates from the experts.
An Anionic Zerovalent Nickel Carbonyl Complex Supported by a Triphosphine Borate Ligand: An Ni−C⋮O−Li Isocarbonyl

An anionic zerovalent nickel carbonyl complex, [Ni(PhBP3)(CO)][Li(TMED)] (1), supported by a triphosphine borate ligand was prepared and structurally characterized. The solid state structure shows ...
An Empirical Method for Dynamic Stress Prediction in Turbomachinery

The effectiveness of fatigue and life prediction methods depends heavily on accurate knowledge of the static and dynamic stresses acting on a structure. Although stress fields may be calculated from the finite element shape functions if a finite element model is constructed and analyzed, in many cases the cost of constructing and analyzing a finite element model is prohibitive. Modeling errors can severely affect the accuracy of stress simulations. This paper presents an empirical method for predicting a transient dynamic stress response of a structure based on measured load and strain data that can be collected during vibration tests. The method applies the proper orthogonal decomposition to a measured data set to filter noise and reduce the size of the identification problem and then employs a matrix deconvolution technique to decouple and identify the reduced coordinate impulse response functions for the structure. The method is applied to simulation data from an axial compressor blade model and produces accurate stress predictions compared to finite element results.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Neuroprotective effects of interleukin-10 following excitotoxic spinal cord injury.

Intraspinal injection of quisqualic acid (QUIS) produces excitotoxic injury with pathological characteristics similar to those associated with ischemic and traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Inflammatory responses appear to be a major component of the secondary neuronal injury initiated by SCI and play a role in the pathogenesis of QUIS-induced injury. IL-10 is a potent antiinflammatory cytokine that has been shown to reduce inflammation and improve functional outcome in human and animal models of inflammatory diseases. We propose the administration of IL-10 following excitotoxic SCI will attenuate the inflammatory response, thus resulting in increased neuronal survival. Female, Sprague-Dawley rats were given intraspinal injections of QUIS followed by either intraspinal (5 ng, n = 8) or systemic injections (5 microgram n = 14) of IL-10. Survival times were varied (2-3 days) in order to produce a range of injury states and inflammatory involvement. When administered intraspinally, IL-10 significantly exacerbated the QUIS damage (P < 0.05), resulting in an 11.2% increase in lesion volume. When given systemically, IL-10 significantly decreased lesion volume by 18.1% in the more advanced injury (P < 0.05), but did not effect the more acute injury. These divergent effects were attributed to the modest inflammatory response in the short-term injury compared to the more robust inflammatory response in the more chronic injury. In conclusion, reducing the inflammatory response to SCI by systemic administration of IL-10 resulted in a significant reduction in neuronal damage, suggesting that targeting injury-induced inflammation may be an effective treatment strategy for acute SCI.
Identification of a Functionally Critical Protein Kinase C Phosphorylation Residue of Cardiac Troponin T

Cardiac Troponin T (cTnT) is one prominent substrate through which protein kinase C (PKC) exerts its effect on cardiomyocyte function. To determine the specific functional effects of the cTnT PKC-dependent phosphorylation sites (Thr197, Ser201, Thr206, and Thr287) we first mutated these residues to glutamate (E) or alanine (A). cTnT was selectively mutated to generate single, double, triple, and quadruple mutants. Bacterially expressed mutants were evaluated in detergent-treated mouse left ventricular papillary muscle fiber bundles where the endogenous troponin was replaced with a recombinant troponin complex containing either cTnT phosphorylated by PKC-α or a mutant cTnT. We simultaneously determined isometric tension development and actomyosin Mg-ATPase activity of the exchanged fiber bundles as a function of Ca2+ concentration. Our systematic analysis of the functional role of the multiple PKC phosphorylation sites on cTnT identified a localized region that controls maximum tension, ATPase activity, and Ca2+ sensitivity of the myofilaments. An important and novel finding of our study was that Thr206 is a functionally critical cTnT PKC phosphorylation residue. Its exclusive phosphorylation by PKC-α or replacement by Glu (mimicking phosphorylation) significantly decreased maximum tension, actomyosin Mg-ATPase activity, myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity, and cooperativity. On the other hand the charge modification of the other three residues together (T197/S201/T287-E) had no functional effect. Fibers bundles containing phosphorylated cTnT-wt (but not the T197/S201/T206/T287-E) exhibited a significant decrease of tension cost as compared with cTnT-wt.
An Alternative Analysis of "Formative Evaluation Applied to a Learning Hierarchy" by White and Gagne.

Abstract White and Gagne (1978) have proposed a method for formatively evaluating learning hierarchies which does not require participants to be taught the content by the researcher prior to testing them for their knowledge of the skills in the hierarchy. However, their method still requires the researcher to separately tally the results of every pair of skills that are related in the hierarchy. The present study demonstrates that by simply determining the percentage of students who achieve each skill, the researcher will obtain approximately the same information about the hierarchy.
Studies in the control of tubular reactors-I General Considerations

Abstract In this part the dynamical model of a jacketed non-adiabatic tubular reactor is developed and the effect of the wall heat capacity is briefly examined. The distributed stability and feed-back control problems are defined and the method of orthogonal collocations is used to obtain a discretized model. The design of the cooling section around the reactor is examined and the number of collocation points and their location is determined for an accurate approximation of the distributed model.
A note on the Berry-Meekings style metric

A modification of the Berry-Meekings "style metric"—applied to software from the corporate environment—finds little relationship between this style metric and error proneness.
Keeping the rhetoric orthodox: Forum control in science

Academic disciplines certify knowledge through publication in scholarly journals; therefore, peer review of journal articles is one method of authorizing someone's speech. It is possible, however, to see peer review and other strategies as methods by which elites silence or de‐authorize voices that pose a threat to their status. This article discusses four methods of forum control— peer review, denial of forum, public correction, and published ridicule. Examples are drawn from cases in science.
A quartz crystal microbalance study of vapor phase iodine doping of polyacetylene

Abstract Three types of polyacetylene were synthesized and studied: Shirakawa (S-(CH)x) and Tsukamoto (v-(CH)x). Thin films of each type of polyacetylene were polymerized directly onto quartz crystal substrates. The quartz cyrstal microbalance (QCM) was used to measure the mass change during oxidation (doping) of polyacetylene with iodine in the vapor phase. This is the first QCM study of mass change during vapor phase iodine doping of polyacetylene. The differences between the three polyacetylene materials are compared. The most dense polyacetylene, v-(CH)x, dopes more slowly but appears to result in the highest conductivity.
Resolving the Structure of Cold Dark Matter Halos

We present results of a convergence study in which we compare the density profiles of cold dark matter halos simulated with varying mass and force resolutions. We show that although increasing the mass and force resolution allows one to probe deeper into the inner halo regions, the halo profiles converge on scales larger than the "effective" spatial resolution of the simulation. This resolution is defined by both the force softening and the mass resolution. On radii larger than the "effective" spatial resolution, density profiles do not experience any systematical trends when the number of particles or the force resolution increases further. In the simulations presented in this paper, we are able to probe the density profile of a relaxed isolated galaxy-size halo on scales r = (0.005-1)rvir. We find that the density distribution at resolved scales can be well approximated by the profile suggested by Moore and coworkers: ρ ∝ x-1.5(1 + x1.5)-1, where x = r/rs and rs is the characteristic radius. The analytical profile proposed by Navarro and coworkers, ρ ∝ x-1(1 + x)-2, also provides a good fit, with the same relative errors of about 10% for radii larger than 1% of the virial radius. For this limit, both analytical profiles fit well because for high-concentration galaxy-size halos, the differences between these profiles become significant only on scales well below 0.01rvir. We also find that halos of similar mass may have density profiles with somewhat different parameters (characteristic radius, maximum rotation velocity, etc.) and shapes. We associate this scatter in properties with differences in halo merger histories and with the amount of substructure present in the analyzed halos.
Dietary yeast culture supplementation of mares during late gestation and early lactation

Summary Pregnant mares were fed diets with or without 20 g/day of added dried live yeast culture from 4 weeks before foaling through 8 weeks of lactation. Total plasma free amino acid concentrations increased in all mares at the onset of lactation. In addition, yeast culture supplementation was associated with significant additive increases in plasma alanine, argin- ine, glutamine, glycine, isoleucine, leucine, methionine and valine concentrations. In contrast, plasma 3-methylhistidine concentrations tended to be lower in the supplemented mares. Lactation was also accompanied by increased plasma hy- droxyproline concentrations in all mares. However, this in- crease was significantly smaller in the supplemented mares. At 2 weeks of age, the foals of supplemented mares exhibited significantly greater steady-state plasma concentrations of triglycerides and total free amino acids, alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine than did the foals nursing unsupplemented mares. These differences continued through 8 weeks of life. A nursing bout resulted in transient increases in plasma metab- olite concentrations in all foals. Thyroid hormone (T3 and T4) concentrations tended to be significantly higher in both sup- plemented mares and their foals. These data suggest that supplementing lactating mares with yeast culture causes changes in circulating energy substrate and amino acid con- centrations which may be mediated through changes in thy- roid hormone metabolism.
Loosely coupled coordinated management in virtualized data centers

Management is an important challenge for future enterprises. Previous work has addressed platform management (e.g., power and thermal management) separately from virtualization management (e.g., virtual machine (VM) provisioning, application performance). Coordinating the actions taken by these different management layers is important and beneficial, for reasons of performance, stability, and efficiency. Such coordination, in addition to working well with existing multi-vendor solutions, also needs to be extensible to support future management solutions potentially operating on different sensors and actuators. In response to these requirements, this paper proposes vManage, a solution to loosely couple platform and virtualization management and facilitate coordination between them in data centers. Our solution is comprised of registry and proxy mechanisms that provide unified monitoring and actuation across platform and virtualization domains, and coordinators that provide policy execution for better VM placement and runtime management, including a formal approach to ensure system stability from inefficient management actions. The solution is instantiated in a Xen environment through a platform-aware virtualization manager at a cluster management node, and a virtualization-aware platform manager on each server. Experimental evaluations using enterprise benchmarks show that compared to traditional solutions, vManage can achieve additional power savings (10% lower power) with significantly improved service-level guarantees (71% less violations) and stability (54% fewer VM migrations), at low overhead.
Perceived Stigma and Life Satisfaction: Experiences of Urban African American Men Living with HIV/AIDS

The purpose of this study was to explore associations and relationships between the domains of perceived stigma and life satisfaction in a sample of HIV-infected African American men in an urban setting. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design method was used. Participants include a convenience sample (N = 55) of urban African American males who self-identified as having HIV/AIDS. Study participants completed a questionnaire that included sociodemographic indicators (age, education, length of time since diagnosis, subjective health status, clinical status) as well as instruments designed to measure perceived stigma (personalized stigma, negative self-image, disclosure concerns, and public attitudes) using the perceived stigma scale and life satisfaction scale. A majority of the men perceived being stigmatized along the domains of personalized stigma, negative self-image, disclosure concerns, and public attitudes, all of which were inversely associated with life satisfaction. A hierarchical regression analysis identified four stigma domains that accounted for 40.2% of variance in life satisfaction after adjusting for sociodemographic variables. Mediational analysis indicated that the domains of personalized stigma and public attitudes operated through negative self-image to influence life satisfaction. Findings from this study suggest that HIV-related stigma is a complex phenomenon experienced in both the personal and social realms. Reducing stigma through targeted interventions may aid individuals with HIV/AIDS to better adhere to treatment regimens and improve their life satisfaction.
Detection of a luxS-Signaling Molecule in Bacillus anthracis

Quorum-sensing regulation of density-dependent genes has been described for numerous bacterial species. The partially annotated genome sequence of Bacillus anthracis contains an open reading frame (BA5047) predicted to encode an ortholog of luxS, required for synthesis of the quorum-sensing signaling molecule autoinducer-2 (AI-2). To determine whether B. anthracis produces AI-2, the Vibrio harveyi luminescence bioassay was used. Cell-free conditioned media from vaccine (Sterne) strain 34F2 induced luminescence in V. harveyi reporter strain BB170, indicating its production of AI-2. Cloned BA5047, expressed in Escherichia coli DH5α cells, restored AI-2 activity to these cells. To evaluate whether BA5047 is essential for AI-2 synthesis, it was deleted through allelic exchange with marker rescue; the resulting mutant had no functional luxS activity and had reduced growth in vitro. In the wild-type strain, AI-2 activity was greatest during the exponential phase of growth. In total, these data indicate that BA5047 is a functional luxS ortholog in B. anthracis necessary for growth-phase-specific AI-2 expression. Thus, B. anthracis may utilize extracellular signaling molecules to regulate density-dependent gene expression.
Primary Productivity and Water Balance of Grassland Vegetation on Three Soils in a Continuous CO2 Gradient: Initial Results from the Lysimeter CO2 Gradient Experiment

Field studies of atmospheric CO2 effects on ecosystems usually include few levels of CO2 and a single soil type, making it difficult to ascertain the shape of responses to increasing CO2 or to generalize across soil types. The Lysimeter CO2 Gradient (LYCOG) chambers were constructed to maintain a linear gradient of atmospheric CO2 (250 to 500 l ll -1 ) on grassland vegetation established on intact soil monoliths from three soil series. The chambers maintained a linear daytime CO2 gradient from 263 l ll -1 at the subambient end of the gradient to 502 l ll -1 at the superambient end, as well as a linear nighttime CO2 gradient. Temperature variation within the chambers affected aboveground biomass and evapotranspiration, but the effects of temperature were small compared to the expected effects of CO2. Aboveground biomass on Austin soils was 40% less than on Bastrop and Houston soils. Biomass differences between soils resulted from variation in biomass of Sorghastrum nutans, Bouteloua curtipendula, Schizachyrium scoparium (C4 grasses), and Solidago canadensis (C3 forb), suggesting the CO2 sensitivity of these species may differ among soils. Evapotranspiration did not differ among the soils, but the CO2 sensitivity of leaf-level photosynthesis and water use efficiency in S. canadensis was greater on Houston and Bastrop than on Austin soils, whereas the CO2 sensitivity of soil CO2 efflux was greater on Bastrop soils than on Austin or Houston soils. The effects of soil type on CO2 sensitivity may be smaller for some processes that are tightly coupled to microclimate. LYCOG is useful for discerning the effects of soil type on the CO2 sensitivity of ecosystem function in grasslands.
Exerting human control over decentralized robot swarms

Robot swarms are capable of performing tasks with robustness and flexibility using only local interactions between the agents. Such a system can lead to emergent behavior that is often desirable, but difficult to control and manipulate post-design. These properties make the real-time control of swarms by a human operator challenging—a problem that has not been adequately addressed in the literature. In this paper we present preliminary work on two possible forms of control: top-down control of global swarm characteristics and bottom-up control by influencing a subset of the swarm members. We present learning methods to address each of these. The first method uses instance-based learning to produce a generalized model from a sampling of the parameter space and global characteristics for specific situations. The second method uses evolutionary learning to learn placement and parameterization of virtual agents that can influence the robots in the swarm. Finally we show how these methods generalize and can be used by a human operator to dynamically control a swarm in real time.
Measuring patient dependency in child and adolescent mental health.

Within the context of child and adolescent mental health inpatient services, a literature review was undertaken to understand the concept of inpatient dependency and how it can be measured. Articles and books relating to patient dependency and its measurement in various contexts were retrieved, and other published measures were identified. It was found that dependency has been defined in many different ways, and various techniques have aimed to quantify or categorize patients’ dependencies. This article focuses particularly on measures used in adult psychiatry and paediatric services. At present, there is no available established measure of patient dependency in child and adolescent inpatients. This article identifies the need to develop a measure of inpatient dependency that is specifically designed for these services, and outlines a tool that the authors have recently designed.
ScanImage: Flexible software for operating laser scanning microscopes

Background: Laser scanning microscopy is a powerful tool for analyzing the structure and function of biological specimens. Although numerous commercial laser scanning microscopes exist, some of the more interesting and challenging applications demand custom design. A major impediment to custom design is the difficulty of building custom data acquisition hardware and writing the complex software required to run the laser scanning microscope. Results: We describe a simple, software-based approach to operating a laser scanning microscope without the need for custom data acquisition hardware. Data acquisition and control of laser scanning are achieved through standard data acquisition boards. The entire burden of signal integration and image processing is placed on the CPU of the computer. We quantitate the effectiveness of our data acquisition and signal conditioning algorithm under a variety of conditions. We implement our approach in an open source software package (ScanImage) and describe its functionality. Conclusions: We present ScanImage, software to run a flexible laser scanning microscope that allows easy custom design.
Evaluation of Predicted Heat Transfer on a Transonic Blade Using v2-f Models

The v2 –f models of Durbin and the new v2 –f model of Jones et al. were used to compute the blade heat transfer for the transonic cascade of Giel et al.. Three different experimental cases were considered. Calculations were performed using the Glenn-HT code modified so that it solves these turbulence model equations using an implicit scheme. An iterative matrix solver, namely GMRES was used for this purpose. Comparisons were made with previously published results using the SST model and a simple algebraic model modified for the stagnation heat transfer effects and transition effects. The results, albeit limited to the present case, show that the v2 –f model of Durbin provides good predictions on the pressure surface. But there is some discrepancy between the suction surface heat transfer predictions and experimental measurements. The newer model of Jones et al. requires further modification before it can be routinely used for blade heat transfer.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Developing teamwork and communication skills in a multidisciplinary experiment

The need of producing software engineers with strong teamwork and communication skills has been repeatedly stressed by industry worldwide. ABET includes these skills among the essential ones needed to be mastered by the students of an accredited program. Due to this great emphasis on teaming, communication skills and multidisciplinary work, academia had to respond by finding novel ways to introduce them to students. This paper reports upon a multidisciplinary experiment between software engineering and business management students. They collaborated to produce a software requirements specification for managerial processes involved in hiring and performance evaluation of employees within a firm. A description of the synchronization of the lectures with project deliverables in the two courses, different types of communication needed by students, positive interdependence of the teams across disciplines, and how they contributed to the success of the project will be discussed among other multidisciplinary issues encountered during this experiment.
False-positive screening mammograms: effect of immediate versus later work-up on patient stress.

PURPOSE: To compare the stress experienced by women who had false-positive screening mammograms and had undergone immediate on-site diagnostic imaging evaluation with that experienced by those who had been recalled for subsequent imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective survey was mailed to women with false-positive screening mammograms that had proved negative or benign at diagnostic imaging. The women were divided into (a) those who had undergone diagnostic imaging during the same appointment as their screening examination and (b) those who had returned at a later date for work-up. The survey included questions about stress that was related to the screening and diagnostic experiences, how subjects had been notified about screening results, and their breast health histories. RESULTS: From the group that had undergone immediate work-up (n = 100), 50 eligible surveys were received; 71 were received from women who had undergone later work-ups (n = 176). The self-reported overall stress was significan...
Repackaging for the 21st Century: Teaching Copyright and Computer Ethics in Teacher Education Courses

In today's world it is quite common to see old ideas repackaged and presented to consumers in sleek new containers. This repackaging also occurs in the educational realm. For example, the violence seen in schools has prompted the call for character education, media literacy, and conflict resolution training. Many of these instructional programs, although possibly called by a different name, have been in the curriculum of schools for years. Regardless of the fact that these programs have been operational in some schools for extended periods of time, recent violence in schools dictate that the effectiveness of these programs must be questioned. This need to reflect upon the effectiveness of existing practices reached our own teaching experiences in similar ways. Fortunately, we were not exposed to violence at our educational institutions but the need for reflection and re-evaluation was still needed. The issue: Copyright and Computer Ethics. In the spring of 2000, a geographically disparate colleague and I were discussing events in the nation's school systems and the need for best practices in many areas of education. Our conversation turned to a discussion of events occurring in our own teacher education classrooms. Students were very interested in the Napster case, and we were pleased to provide class time for a discussion on this issue. We both discovered that our students were extremely misinformed about copyright laws and fair use guidelines. We were equally concerned with our students' ideas of what was ethical regarding computers and their use in society. This situation caused us to question the effectiveness of our teaching and curriculum for these areas. Frequently, students and instructors alike are ready to get to the fun stuff associated with computing and neglect to consider issues such as copyright laws, fair use, and ethical behavior. Because students have one unit on computer ethics and copyright in a technology course during their educational program at our institutions, it is imperative that we provide the most effective and efficient unit possible. We decided to re-examine our Copyright and Computer Ethics units and look specifically at the following areas:
Large-Scale Comparative Sequence Analysis of the Human and Murine Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase Loci Reveals Conserved Regulatory Domains

Large-scale genomic DNA sequencing of orthologous and paralogous loci in different species should contribute to a basic understanding of the evolution of both the protein-coding regions and noncoding regulatory elements. We compared 93 kb of human sequence to 89 kb of mouse sequence in the Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) region. In addition to showing the conservation of both position and orientation of the five functionally unrelated genes in the region (BTK, alpha-D-galactosidase A, L44L, FTP-3, and FCI-12), the comparison revealed conservation of clusters of noncoding sequence flanking the first exon of each gene. Furthermore, in the sequence comparison at the BTK locus, the conservation of clusters of noncoding sequence extends throughout the locus; the noncoding sequence is more highly conserved in the BTK locus in comparison to the flanking loci. This suggests a correlation with the complex developmental regulation of expression of btk. To determine whether a highly conserved 3.5-kb segment flanking the first exon of BTK contains transcriptional regulatory signals, we tested various portions of the segment for promoter and expression activity in several appropriate cell lines. The results demonstrate the contribution of the conserved region flanking the first exon to the cell lineage-specific expression pattern of btk. These data show the usefulness of large scale sequence comparisons to focus investigation on regions of noncoding sequence that play essential roles in complex gene regulation.
Habitat Selection and Diet Composition of Reintroduced Native Ungulates in a Fire-Managed Tallgrass Prairie Reconstruction

In an effort to understand native ungulate behavior in a fire-managed tallgrass prairie reconstruction effort, we conducted a two year habitat selection and diet composition study of reintroduced populations of elk ( Cervus elaphus ) and bison ( Bison bison ) in southern Iowa. Our study included intensive surveys of ungulate group locations throughout the growing season, fecal sample collections for microhistological diet analysis, and plant community surveys. Bison and elk use of the reconstructed grassland was spatially nonrandom. Available cover and farthest distance from the enclosure fence strongly influenced habitat selection by elk. Bison segregated into a small bull group consisting of older bulls and a larger mixed group that included cows, yearlings, calves, and young bulls. The bull group selected areas with high percent cover of native plants, steeper slopes, and older burn areas. The mixed group strongly selected for recently burned areas with high native plant cover and eastern aspects. Elk consumed mostly non-native forbs while over 90% of the bison diet consisted of graminoid species. Although bison did not consume significantly different proportions of native species compared to non-natives, their selection of habitat was strongly related to presence of native plants, especially in combination with burned areas. The reintroduced ungulates behaved as three functionally distinct groups. Based on behavioral and group size differences, the large mixed sex/age bison group is likely to have the greatest impact on the fire-managed reconstruction, while the effects of the bison bull groups and elk are likely to have more localized effects on the reconstructed prairie.
Hemiglobin Sodium Nitrite vs. Hemiglobin Potassium Ferricyanide

A number of different spectrophotometric patterns have been described for methemoglobin (hemiglobin). These appear to be a function of the oxidizing agent employed. Only the 630-nm peak is common to hemiglobin formed by the addition of sodium nitrite or potassium ferricyanide to oxyhemoglobin.
Osteochondral plugs: Autogenousosteochondral mosaicplasty for the treatment of focal chondral and osteochondral articular defects

Abstract A new method of treating articular chondral defects and Osteochondritis Dissecans with autogenous osteochondral plugs is described. Following animal trials in 1991, the technique has been used by the authors in 204 patients in Hungary and 31 in the United States with good to excellent results based on clinical examination, follow-up arthroscopy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) scans. The procedure can be done open, or arthroscopically in the case of smaller lesions, with newly designed and commercially available instruments. The patients have been followed at set intervals and evaluated by use of modified Hospital for Special Surgery Score (HSS), Cincinnati (condylar and patella), Bandi (donor), and Hanover (talus) scoring systems. These studies show that patients improve during the first year and then retain their good to excellent scores. Nineteen biopsies from the treated femoral condyles at various intervals up to 2.5 years show progressive and consistent evidence of deep matrix integration at the recipient donor interface.
The Coronatine Toxin of Pseudomonas syringae Is a Multifunctional Suppressor of Arabidopsis Defense

The phytotoxin coronatine (COR) promotes various aspects of Pseudomonas syringae virulence, including invasion through stomata, growth in the apoplast, and induction of disease symptoms. COR is a structural mimic of active jasmonic acid (JA) conjugates. Known activities of COR are mediated through its binding to the F-box–containing JA coreceptor CORONATINE INSENSITIVE1. By analyzing the interaction of P. syringae mutants with Arabidopsis thaliana mutants, we demonstrate that, in the apoplastic space of Arabidopsis, COR is a multifunctional defense suppressor. COR and the critical P. syringae type III effector HopM1 target distinct signaling steps to suppress callose deposition. In addition to its well-documented ability to suppress salicylic acid (SA) signaling, COR suppresses an SA-independent pathway contributing to callose deposition by reducing accumulation of an indole glucosinolate upstream of the activity of the PEN2 myrosinase. COR also suppresses callose deposition and promotes bacterial growth in coi1 mutant plants, indicating that COR may have multiple targets inside plant cells.
Progressivism as Regional Planning: The Politics of Efficiency at the Port of New York

The traditional view of the 1920s as a decade of economic avarice, political corruption, and self-indulgence has been replaced by a more nuanced interpretation. Innovative approaches to the use of governmental power which thrived in the Progressive era were carried forward into the Age of Normalcy, and new dimensions were added, sometimes with quite interesting results. Moreover, the ideas and institutions tested in the 1920s were then at hand for expanded use and further modification in the next cycle of major reform, in the 1930s.
Coronary hemodynamics during successive elevation of heart rate by pacing in subjects with angina pectoris.

Coronary sinus blood flow was studied by the continuous thermodilution method in 13 subjects with normal coronary arteries and 14 patients with coronary artery disease during progressive elevation of the heart rate by atrial pacing. In 11 patients of the coronary group angina pectoris developed during pacing. In subjects with normal coronary arteries the coronary sinus blood flow rose proportionately (1.71 ± 0.19 ml/beat) and the coronary resistance decreased proportionately (0.06 ± 0.01 [See Equation in PDF File] beats) to the rise in heart rate. Similar changes in coronary sinus blood flow and coronary resistance were found in the pain-free pacing periods in patients with coronary artery disease (1.79 ± 0.21 ml/beat and 0.07 ± 0.01 [see Equation in pdf file]/10 beats, respectively). However, in the periods in which anginal pain was induced the changes in both flow and resistance were significantly lower than in either the noncoronary group or in the pain-free periods in the coronary group (0.66 ± 0.16 m...
Research Note---On Managerially Efficient Experimental Designs

In most marketing experiments, managerial decisions are not based directly on the estimates of the parameters but rather on functions of these estimates. For example, many managerial decisions are driven by whether or not a feature is valued more than the price the consumer will be asked to pay. In other cases, some managerial decisions are weighed more heavily than others. The standard measures used to evaluate experimental designs (e.g., A-efficiency or D-efficiency) do not accommodate these phenomena. We propose alternative “managerial efficiency” criteria (M-errors) that are relatively easy to implement. We explore their properties, suggest practical algorithms to decrease errors, and provide illustrative examples. Realistic examples suggest improvements of as much as 30% in managerial efficiency. We close by considering approximations for nonlinear criteria and extensions to choice-based experiments.
Wetland Environmental Conditions Associated with the Risk of Avian Cholera Outbreaks and the Abundance of Pasteurella multocida

Abstract Avian cholera is a significant infectious disease affecting waterfowl across North America and occurs worldwide among various avian species. Despite the importance of this disease, little is known about the factors that cause avian cholera outbreaks and what management strategies might be used to reduce disease mortality. Previous studies indicated that wetland water conditions may affect survival and transmission of Pasteurella multocida, the agent that causes avian cholera. These studies hypothesized that water conditions affect the likelihood that avian cholera outbreaks will occur in specific wetlands. To test these predictions, we collected data from avian cholera outbreak and non-outbreak (control) wetlands throughout North America (winter–spring 1995–1996 to 1998–1999) to evaluate whether water conditions were associated with outbreaks. Conditional logistic regression analysis on paired outbreak and non-outbreak wetlands indicated no significant association between water conditions and the...