cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On Forms of Forgery Crime

There are three patterns of forgery crime: behavioral offence, circumstantial offence and consequential offence, resulting in different characteristics in distinguishing completed and attempted forms of the crime. The key point of complicity issue on forgery crime is that whether the person who forges and the person who uses forgery items have established complicity, of which differential criteria is mainly whether there exists complicity intention between them. When the act of forgery and using forgery items or other relating acts constitute different crimes, this incurs the situation of implicated offences. Under such circumstances, the doer should be sentenced according to the heavy crime he committed if there is no specific stipulation in this regard, but not be sentenced in conform with the principle of joinder punishments for plural crimes.
2kW DC High Voltage Power Supply with 100kV Output Voltage

In this paper 2kW DC high-voltage power supply with 100kV is described. The high-voltage output of the power supply is realized with inversion by thyristor and with boost voltage by transformer. The output voltage is set continually.
Extinction-Induced Resurgence: Preliminary Investigations And Possible Applications

When recently reinforced behavior is no longer effective, previously reinforced behavior often recurs. Though the phenomenon has been described from time to time in both the experimental and clinical literatures, it has never been stringently investigated. Its robustness is suggested, however, by both formal and informal observations of humans and other animals. Applications in both theoretical and practical domains are suggested, among them problem solving, schedules of reinforcement, foraging theory, and psychotherapy.
Bank Loans and Bubbles: How Informative are Press News?

This paper examines the reporting in the financial press of 1,027 bank agreements established between January 2004 and May 2007. Overall, the frequency of loan reporting in the press increased to over 30%. Reported loans still have longer maturities than non-reported ones, and reported firm borrowers present lower operating cash flows the year before loan activation. Following the loan agreements, operating performance among reported borrowers does not appear to improve with respect to non-reported ones. Thus, loan news articles still seem somewhat noteworthy, although reporting in the press does not appear significantly informative about firm potential.
Finite thermal reservoirs and the canonical distribution

Abstract The microcanonical ensemble has long been a starting point for the development of thermodynamics from statistical mechanics. However, this approach presents two problems. First, it predicts that the entropy is only defined on a discrete set of energies for finite, quantum systems, while thermodynamics requires the entropy to be a continuous function of the energy. Second, it fails to satisfy the stability condition ( Δ S / Δ U 0 ) for first-order transitions with both classical and quantum systems. Swendsen has recently shown that the source of these problems lies in the microcanonical ensemble itself, which contains only energy eigenstates and excludes their linear combinations. To the contrary, if the system of interest has ever been in thermal contact with another system, it will be described by a probability distribution over many eigenstates that is equivalent to the canonical ensemble for sufficiently large systems. Novotny et al. have recently supported this picture by dynamical numerical calculations for a quantum mechanical model, in which they showed the approach to a canonical distribution for up to 40 quantum spins. By simplifying the problem to calculate only the equilibrium properties, we are able to extend the demonstration to more than a million particles.
General Self-Efficacy and Mortality in the USA; Racial Differences

General self-efficacy has been historically assumed to have universal health implications. However, less is known about population differences in long-term health effects of general self-efficacy across diverse populations. This study compared black and white American adults for (1) the association between psychosocial and health factors and general self-efficacy at baseline, and (2) the association between baseline self-efficacy and long-term risk of all-cause mortality over 25 years. The Americans’ Changing Lives (ACL) study, 1986–2011, is a nationally representative longitudinal cohort of US adults. The study followed 3361 black (n = 1156) and white (n = 2205) adults for up to 25 years. General self-efficacy as well as demographics, socioeconomics, stressful life events, health behaviors, obesity, depressive symptoms, and self-rated health were measured at baseline in 1986. The outcome was time to all-cause mortality since 1986. Race was the focal moderator. Logistic regression and proportional hazards models were used for data analysis. Although blacks had lower general self-efficacy, this association was fully explained by socioeconomic factors (education and income). Our logistic regression suggested interactions between race and education, self-rated health, and stress on general self-efficacy at baseline. Baseline general self-efficacy was associated with risk of mortality in the pooled sample. Race interacted with baseline general self-efficacy on mortality risk, suggesting stronger association for whites than blacks. Black-white differences exist in psychosocial and health factors associated with self-efficacy in the USA. Low general self-efficacy does not increase mortality risk for blacks. Future research should test whether socioeconomic status, race-related attitudes, world views, attributions, and locus of control can potentially explain why low self-efficacy is not associated with higher risk of mortality among American blacks.
Neurophysiologic studies of the immobility reflex ("animal hypnosis").

Publisher Summary The immobility reflex (IR) is better known as animal hypnosis, a state of profound immobility and relative unresponsiveness that can be triggered in many invertebrate and vertebrate species by several different kinds of sensory stimulation. This chapter provides an overview of IR, describing its history and the present state of understanding and then by focusing on areas where further research is needed. The chapter presents the history of IR, beginning with the first formal report of 1636, followed by the period of mesmerism and animal magnetism. The chapter discusses the various methods of inducing the state and a series of alternative hypotheses that could possibly account for induction of the state. Brain transection studies presented in the chapter reveal that IR is not controlled by diffuse neural systems. Rather, the state is controlled by a motor inhibitory system in the medullary reticular formation. Phylogenetic, decortication, and ontogenetic data converge to suggest that the bulbar IR control system is modulated by inhibition from the neocortex. It is possible that the limbic system affects IR by disinhibition of neocortical influences.
Fluoride Supplementation Adherence and Barriers in a Community Without Water Fluoridation

Abstract Background To prevent early childhood caries, the American Dental Association recommends oral fluoride supplementation for children in communities lacking water fluoridation who are at high caries risk. However, patient adherence to oral fluoride supplementation has not been studied in this population. This study assessed adherence to oral fluoride and barriers to adherence in a community lacking water fluoridation. Methods A self-administered survey was completed in a systematic sample of 209 parents of children aged 6 months to 4 years, during a primary care visit in an urban academic medical center. Participants reported frequency of administering oral fluoride to their children, as well as agreement or disagreement with proposed barriers to supplementation. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess adherence with oral supplementation and the association of barriers to supplementation and child receipt of fluoride on the day before. Results More than half of parents either had not or did not know if their child had received fluoride on the day before. Approximately 1 in 4 of parents had given fluoride in 0 of the previous 7 days. Difficulty remembering to give fluoride and agreeing that the child does not need extra fluoride were associated with not receiving fluoride on the day before. Conclusions Adherence to oral fluoride supplementation in the primary care setting is low. Difficulty remembering to give fluoride daily is the greatest barrier to adherence. Further research on interventions to reduce common barriers is needed to increase fluoride administration and reduce early childhood caries in communities lacking water fluoridation.
Methodological and Environmental Impacts on Bioaccessibility Estimates Provided by Single-Point Tenax Extractions.

Single-point Tenax extractions (SPTEs) of hydrophobic organic contaminants provide estimates of bioaccessibility through consistent measures of the chemical concentration initially in the rapidly desorbing fraction in sediment (C rapT0), such that a constant ratio is expected between SPTE and C rapT0 (C T /C rapT0, where T is the duration of the SPTE). As environmental factors (i.e., aging time and organic carbon content) and contaminant hydrophobicity can affect the C rapT0, the utility of the SPTEs as exposure estimates hinges on the consistency of the C T /C rapT0 ratio. Individually these factors have little impact on the ability of SPTEs to represent bioaccumulation, but the effect of these factors in combination, as well as SPTE methodological variation on the C T /C rapT0 ratio is poorly understood. The current study evaluated how environmental and methodological variation—expressed as varying Tenax to organic carbon mass (Tenax:OC) ratios—impacts the C 24h/C rapT0 ratio of pyrethroids in laboratory-spiked sediments. A multiple regression analysis was used to examine the impact of organic carbon, pyrethroid hydrophobicity, Tenax mass, and aging time on the C 24h/C rapT0 ratio. Only aging time of the pyrethroids in sediment significantly affected the C 24h/C rapT0 ratio with a slight decline of −0.0027/d in the C 24h/C rapT0 ratio, and this decline was considered negligible as a consistent C 24h/C rapT0 ratio of 1.46 ± 0.03 was observed across all experimental treatments. This result further demonstrates the consistency of SPTEs to estimate bioaccessibility of hydrophobic contaminants in sediment and subsequent exposure.
Genetic Variation and Neuroplasticity: Role in Rehabilitation After Stroke.

Author(s): Stewart, Jill Campbell; Cramer, Steven C | Abstract: Background and purposeIn many neurologic diagnoses, significant interindividual variability exists in the outcomes of rehabilitation. One factor that may impact response to rehabilitation interventions is genetic variation. Genetic variation refers to the presence of differences in the DNA sequence among individuals in a population. Genetic polymorphisms are variations that occur relatively commonly and, while not disease-causing, can impact the function of biological systems. The purpose of this article is to describe genetic polymorphisms that may impact neuroplasticity, motor learning, and recovery after stroke.Summary of key pointsGenetic polymorphisms for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), dopamine, and apolipoprotein E have been shown to impact neuroplasticity and motor learning. Rehabilitation interventions that rely on the molecular and cellular pathways of these factors may be impacted by the presence of the polymorphism. For example, it has been hypothesized that individuals with the BDNF polymorphism may show a decreased response to neuroplasticity-based interventions, decreased rate of learning, and overall less recovery after stroke. However, research to date has been limited and additional work is needed to fully understand the role of genetic variation in learning and recovery.Recommendations for clinical practiceGenetic polymorphisms should be considered as possible predictors or covariates in studies that investigate neuroplasticity, motor learning, or motor recovery after stroke. Future predictive models of stroke recovery will likely include a combination of genetic factors and other traditional factors (eg, age, lesion type, corticospinal tract integrity) to determine an individual's expected response to a specific rehabilitation intervention.
Accuracy of Predictions of Patients With Breast Cancer of Future Well-being After Immediate Breast Reconstruction.

Importance Making a good decision about breast reconstruction requires predicting how one would feel after the procedure, but people tend to overestimate the impact of events on future well-being. Objective To assess how well patients predict future well-being after mastectomy, with or without immediate reconstruction, with the following a priori hypotheses: Patients will overestimate the negative impact of mastectomy and positive impact of reconstruction, and prediction accuracy will be associated with decision satisfaction and decision regret. Design, Setting, and Participants This prospective cohort survey study was conducted at a single, multidisciplinary academic oncology clinic from July 2012 to February 2014. Adult women undergoing mastectomy for stage 1, 2, or 3 invasive ductal or lobular breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ, or prophylaxis were invited to participate. Data analysis was conducted from September 2015 to October 2017. Exposures Mastectomy only or mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. Main Outcomes and Measures Preoperative measures predicted were 12-month happiness (Cantril Ladder) and quality of life, predicted satisfaction with breasts, sexual attractiveness, breast numbness, and pain (measured with BreastQ single items). Measures at 12 months postoperative added the Decision Regret Scale and Satisfaction With Decisions Scale. Results Of 214 eligible patients, 182 consecutive patients were approached, and 145 enrolled (80%). Of these 145 patients, 131 returned surveys (72%) and 111 of these remained at 12 months (88%). Fifteen who had delayed reconstruction were excluded from analysis, leaving a final cohort of 96 women; 54 had not had reconstruction and 42 had had reconstruction. The mean (SD) age of the cohort was 53.9 (12.1) years; 73 (76%) were white; 50 (52%) were college graduates; 54 (56%) were privately insured; 69 (72%) had disease at stages 0, 1, or 2; and 31 (32%) received adjuvant radiation. Patients having mastectomy without reconstruction underestimated future well-being in all domains. Differences were significant for quality of life scores (mean predicted, 68 vs mean actual, 74;t50, −2.47;P = .02) and satisfaction with breasts–clothed (mean predicted, 2.4 vs mean actual, 2.8; t49, −2.11;P = .04). Patients undergoing mastectomy with reconstruction overestimated future well-being in all but 1 domain. Differences were significant for satisfaction with breasts–unclothed (mean predicted, 3.1 vs mean actual, 2.6;t41, 2.70;P = .01); sexual attractiveness–clothed (mean predicted, 3.7 vs mean actual, 3.3;t39, 2.29;P = .03); sexual attractiveness–unclothed (mean predicted, 3.3 vs mean actual, 2.3;t40, 5.57;P Conclusions and Relevance Patients underestimated future well-being after mastectomy and overestimated well-being after reconstruction. Misprediction was associated with regret. Decision support for breast reconstruction should address expectations about well-being.
Scaffold-Free, Size-Controlled Three-Dimensional Culture of Rabbit Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

Adipose-derived stem cells are capable of self-renewal and differentiation along multiple cell lineages, and have potential applications in a wide range of therapies. ASCs are commonly cultured as monolayers on tissue culture plastic, but there are indications that they may lose their cell-specific properties with time in vitro. There has been a growing interest in culturing adherent cells using three-dimensional techniques based on the understanding that growing cells on plastic surfaces cannot truly recapitulate 3D in vivo conditions. Here we describe a novel method for generating and culturing rabbit ASCs as scaffold-free 3D cell aggregates using micropatterned wells via a forced aggregation technique.
Hydrologic and Nutrient Fluxes in a Small Watershed with Changing Agricultural Practices

Nonpoint-source nutrients contribute to eutrophication of surface waters. While effects of particular management actions are difficult to identify at the watershed scale, assessing nutrient fluxes over time can illuminate the net impact of trends in land use and management. We investigated nutrient fluxes in upper Kamm Creek in northwest Washington State to determine if historical changes in land management, responding to economic and regulatory shifts, had impacted nutrient export. We compared current (October 2015 to September 2018) nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes in Kamm Creek to data from a previous study (1993 to 1998). We found significantly higher current fluxes of nitrate, and significantly lower current fluxes of orthophosphate (P) and total phosphorus (TP), compared to the historical sampling period. The increased annual nitrate flux resulted from slightly higher average discharge and significantly higher nitrate concentrations throughout the year. In contrast, current P and TP concentrations were significantly lower throughout the year than previously. The Nooksack River, which receives water from the study stream, showed similar patterns for P and TP, but not nitrate. Kamm Creek had reduced phosphorus fluxes and increased nitrate fluxes between the 1993 to1998 and 2015 to 2018 time periods. The watershed experienced several concurrent land-use changes, including reductions in hay and corn acreage, increases in berry crop acreage, legislation to reduce manure application, and altered use of nitrate-enriched groundwater. We cannot currently distinguish among these. Further understanding relationships between specific management changes and nutrient fluxes will help to maintain local agricultural productivity and improve water quality.
The functional neuroanatomy of face perception: from brain measurements to deep neural networks.

A central goal in neuroscience is to understand how processing within the ventral visual stream enables rapid and robust perception and recognition. Recent neuroscientific discoveries have signific...
A Role for Esterases in Steroid Hormone Turnover

Studies attempting to elucidate the physiological role of esterases have been complicated by their lack of specificity exhibited and the overall failure to identify specific substrates that may be targets for an esterase under study. The availability of naphthyl esters and azo dyes containing ester linkages, coupled with histochemical staining techniques that permitted the visualization of hydrolytic activities following electrophoretic separations, led to classifications according to substrate preference. However, the early broad classification of esterases in vertebrate plasma into three types by Augustinsson (1961)—carboxyl esterases (EC 3.1.1.1), aryl esterases (EC 3.1.1.2), and cholinesterases (EC 3.1.1.8)—must be viewed within the context of overlapping activities.
Partial Program Admission by Path Enumeration

Real-time systems on non-preemptive platforms require a means of bounding the execution time of programs for admission purposes. Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) is most commonly used to bound program execution time. While bounding a program’s WCET statically is possible, computing its true WCET is difficult without significant semantic knowledge. We present an algorithm for partial program admission, suited for non-preemptive platforms, using dynamic programming to perform explicit enumeration of program paths. Paths – possible or not – are bounded by the available execution time and admitted on a path-by-path basis without requiring semantic knowledge of the program beyond its Control Flow Graph (CFG).
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies of Water Structure

The use of spin-lattice relaxation time measurements in the study of water structure is discussed. Particular emphasis is laid upon the problem of determining correct correlation functions and upon the information derived from quadrupole-induced relaxation in H2 2O and H2O17. The derivation and importance of quadrupole-coupling constants is discussed. An attempt is made to fit data together from various sources.
Optimization of ion-exchange displacement separations. II. Comparison of displacement separations on various ion-exchange resins.

A variety of stationary-phase materials are currently available for the chromatographic purification of biomolecules. However, the effect of various resin characteristics on the performance of displacement chromatography has not been studied in depth. In Part I, a novel iterative scheme was presented for the rapid optimization of displacement separations in ion-exchange systems. In this article, the optimization scheme is employed to identify the optimum operating conditions for displacement separations on various ion-exchange resin materials. In addition, the effect of different classes of separation problems (e.g., diverging, converging or parallel affinity lines) on the performance of displacement separations is also presented. The solid film linear driving force model is employed in concert with the Steric Mass Action isotherm to describe the chromatographic behavior in these systems. The results presented in this article provide insight into the effects of resin capacity and efficiency as well as the type of separation problem on the performance of various ion-exchange displacement systems.
The Role of the International Development Bank in Nutrition

The IDB is now 18 years old and in that time has made loans of $12.4 billion for projects with a total value of $48 billion. Our loans in 1977 totalled $1.8 billion. Although the IDB is truly international, with 41 members, including nearly every Western European country, Japan and Israel, its lending is limited to 23 developing countries of the Western Hemisphere.
Superconductive Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) for Electric Utilities

SMES system designs, component developments, and utility usage studies at Wisconsin will be reviewed. The SMES design criteria for superfluid helium cooled NbTi solenoids is outlined and compared to the probable design criteria for the future potential use of high Tc ceramic conductor solenoids cooled by liquid nitrogen.
Some highlights of Interferometry in early Radio Astronomy

Two important episodes in the early development of interferometry in radio astronomy are traced in detail. The first is the use of the sea-cliff interferometer at the Radiophysics Laboratory in Sydney, first by Pawsey for solar observations and later by Bolton for radio star surveys. The second is the development of the Michelson interferometer and the phase switch by Ryle in Cambridge. This also was employed for important observations of the sun and radio stars.
The Development of the Serious Game "Composites Cup on Tortuga" with the Support of "Kraken".

In the course of a research project, a serious game on the subject of fiber composite materials was developed and tested in cooperation with students, teachers and academic experts of different disciplines. The concept process was evaluated formatively. In the process, different evaluation instruments were used. This paper will introduce and describe the instrument “Kraken”, as well as illustrate which role it played in the development of the serious game “Composites Cup on Tortuga”.
Sub-micron features from polymer-derived SiOC via imprint lithography

Abstract Silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) is a unique class of materials with great potential for facile manufacturing of complex shaped high temperature parts and devices. In this study, we examine the characteristics of micron-sized ridge and rod patterns of SiOC created by imprint lithography. Feature fidelity, shape change, and shrinkage are studied as a function of pyrolysis condition and feature size. All the features have acceptable surface fidelity under the pyrolysis conditions studied. However, pronounced rounding and flattening of patterned features are observed as the pyrolysis temperature increases or the feature size decreases. Based on the Kelvin and Gibbs-Thomson equations, we can predict the feature evolution and show that the feature rounding and flattening are due to surface diffusion and evaporation-condensation. As a result, the features also have more linear shrinkage than the bulk.
Enabling a Powerful Decade of Changes [Flyback]

The 10th anniversary of the IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE) in 2018 coincided with a decade of unprecedented shifts in technology for generating, delivering, and converting power. This electrification shift, coupled with the advent of smartphones and the beginning of the Internet of Things (IoT) era, has produced an explosive growth of electronification in the industrial, consumer, and automotive markets. A critical enabler for the progressive development in electrification and electronification has been the power semiconductor. According to IC Insights [1], more power-management integrated circuits (ICs) are shipped than any other type of IC device. The breadth of applications for power-management ICs corresponds with an impressive expansion in the features and capabilities of power semiconductors to address this widening scope of end-equipment needs.
Revisit Batch Normalization: New Understanding and Refinement via Composition Optimization

Batch Normalization (BN) has been used extensively in deep learning to achieve faster training process and better resulting models. However, whether BN works strongly depends on how the batches are constructed during training, and it may not converge to a desired solution if the statistics on the batch are not close to the statistics over the whole dataset. In this paper, we try to understand BN from an optimization perspective by providing an explicit objective function associated with BN. This explicit objective function reveals that: 1) BN, rather than being a new optimization algorithm or trick, is creating a different objective function instead of the one in our common sense; and 2) why BN may not work well in some scenarios. We then propose a refinement of BN based on the compositional optimization technique called Full Normalization (FN) to alleviate the issues of BN when the batches are not constructed ideally. The convergence analysis and empirical study for FN are also included in this paper.
Repetitive Pool Boiling Runs: A Controlled Process to Form Reduced Graphene Oxide Surfaces from Graphene Oxide with Tunable Surface Chemistry and Morphology

Wettability and wickability of a surface are the key properties that govern a variety of industrial applications. Understanding the effect of aging on the durability of these surfaces and subsequent changes occurring in their molecular structure is vital to maintain functionality. In this work, we used repetitive pool boiling to test the durability of graphene oxide-copper (GO-Cu) coated surfaces and studied subsequent changes in surface chemistry and morphology. We observed the transformation of GO-Cu to reduced GO-copper (rGO-Cu) coating that led to improved boiling performance. This improvement is attributed to (a) transition of hydrophilic GO to hydrophobic rGO due to the repetitive pool boiling, (b) increased surface roughness as a result of hydrophobic surfaces , and c) increased surface inhomogeneity due to the presence of three elements- carbon, oxygen and copper. The durability of the GO-Cu coatings was found to be higher than pristine-copper and just-copper coated surfaces. A higher performance...
Chemokine signaling axis between endothelial and myeloid cells regulates development of pulmonary hypertension associated with pulmonary fibrosis and hypoxia.

Pulmonary hypertension complicates the care of many patients with chronic lung diseases (defined as Group 3 pulmonary hypertension), yet the mechanisms that mediate the development of pulmonary vas...
Effects of Flexible Propulsors on Hydrodynamic Forces

Abstract We present experimental measurements of forward forces and external torques generated during forced oscillations of a tail on a fish-like body. The experiments were performed in a towing basin. Three panels having different flexural rigidity were tested over a range of oscillatory frequencies and leading edge amplitudes at 0 m/s and 0.35 m/s. The results show that tail panel flexibility enhances thrust production and thrust-to-input power ratios, with propulsive efficiencies reaching up to 45%.
Preoperative three-dimensional computer planning for reverse total shoulder arthroplasty and bone grafting for severe glenoid deformity.

BackgroundComputer assisted planning without patient specific instrumentation may be utilized to guide reverse total shoulder arthroplasty baseplate placement. The purpose of this study was to dete...
Clinical Implementation of a Parent Questionnaire to Identify Seizures in High-Risk Children:

Background:This study evaluated the effectiveness of a parent-completed questionnaire for detecting seizures in high-risk children.Methods:A 2-part seizure screen for children up to 12 years of age...
Climate change uncertainty among American farmers: an examination of multi-dimensional uncertainty and attitudes towards agricultural adaptation to climate change

A large survey of corn farmers in twelve US midwestern states (n = 6849) was used to determine the role of multiple dimensions of uncertainty on prior experience with climate change, attitudes towards climate adaptation, and use of climate outlooks in agricultural decision-making. Epistemic uncertainty refers to a perception about the level of information about a phenomenon. Aleatoric uncertainty is a perception that a phenomenon occurs at random and no new information will reduce uncertainty while response uncertainty refers to the perception of the efficacy of an action to reduce a risk. Epistemic and response uncertainty explained a large portion of variance of farmers’ attitudes towards adaptation and their willingness to use weather and climate outlook tools. Aleatoric uncertainty however did not add or added only a small portion of variance explaining farmers’ attitudes climate adaptation or use of climate tools. Our results indicate that climate scientists should not treat farmers’ uncertainty as a monolithic concept, but instead embrace its multidimensionality. We also suggest that reception of expert-led presentations or tools that have a lot of modeling data, which are often layered with statistical uncertainty, can negatively influence farmers’ model uncertainty.
Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis in children and adolescents in Singapore: A ten-year retrospective review.

Background Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is a rare, severe, cutaneous adverse reaction. Although most commonly caused by drugs, it can also be triggered by infections, especially in children. Methods This is a retrospective study involving children and adolescents aged 16 years or younger, diagnosed with AGEP between January 2010 and March 2020 in our tertiary pediatric hospital. Information pertaining to the patient's demographics, clinical presentation and progress, biochemical, microbiological, and histopathological investigations, treatment, and outcomes was analyzed. Results Eight patients were diagnosed with AGEP with mean age 8.2 years (range: 1.7-16.0 years). None of the patients had a personal or family history of psoriasis. Almost all patients had fever (n = 7, 87.5%). Although all 8 patients had intercurrent illness, 5 cases were attributed to infection, while the other 3 were likely precipitated by drugs. Abnormal hematological and biochemical parameters included a raised absolute neutrophil count (mean: 11.5 × 109 /L, range: 5.0-30.9 × 109 /L), C-reactive protein (mean: 52.5 mg/L, range: 5.0-143.7 mg/L), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (mean: 38.6 mm/h, range: 6-64 mm/h). All patients developed post-pustular desquamation and subsequently recovered. The mean duration from onset to cessation of acute pustulation was 5.6 days (range: 3.0-10.0 days). One patient developed a recurrent episode of AGEP. Conclusion AGEP is rare and may be more commonly caused by infections in children. The condition is self-limiting with overall good outcomes in this age-group. In cases with concomitant infection and drug use, formal allergy testing should be arranged after resolution of the infection to confirm the underlying etiology.
NEW MARINE RESERVOIR CORRECTION VALUES (ΔR) APPLICABLE TO DATES ON NEOLITHIC SHELLS FROM THE SOUTH COAST OF KOREA

Shells from Neolithic shell midden sites have been routinely dated in Korea, but they have not been calibrated based on the correction values (ΔR) for the marine reservoir effect (MRE). A lack of proper calibration has left dates on shells incomparable to those on terrestrial samples, and thus unusable in building the chronological sequence of shell middens. Here, we report the two new ΔR values of a pre-bomb (pre-1950) blue mussel from the south coast. We applied the two new and the two previously reported ΔR values to the three dates on marine shells from the Bibongri shell midden in southeastern Korea. Our ΔR adjusted calibration and the comparison to dates on charcoal and bone remains clarify an ambiguity in the stratigraphy and the Early Neolithic chronology at Bibongri. Our contribution is to provide the ΔR values that can be further applied to other Neolithic shell middens along the south coast.
Laboratory Experiments on Traffic Noise Annoyance

Four laboratory experiments were conducted to determine which attributes of traffic noise contribute most to human judgments associated with annoyance and perception. Results of these experiments showed that the energy equivalent sound level (Leq) was the best acoustical predictor of annoyance and perceptual responses. Secondary predictors were also identified, but extensive analysis showed that they did not add significantly to the predictive power of Leq.
Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis (Ehrlichiosis)

Human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) is a recently recognized acute febrile illness caused by Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Like Lyme disease, its causative agent is transmitted by ixodid ticks, and small mammals likely serve as reservoir hosts. The pathogen is noteworthy in its preferential targeting and intracellular infection of neutrophils. Its range is still being defined, but it has been documented in geographic areas in North America and Europe similar to those of Lyme disease, and coinfections with Borrelia burgdorferi can occur. The illness is characterized by high fever, myalgias, arthralgias, and headache, often with accompanying thrombocytopenia and leukopenia. Intracellular colonies of bacteria (morulae) may be seen in peripheral blood neutrophils but are often absent early in the course of infection. If the disease is suspected and appropriate therapy (usually doxycycline) is promptly initiated, the outcome is excellent. However, delayed diagnosis and treatment may result in organ failure and even death. This chapter describes the etiologic agent, biology, life cycle, transmission, and zoonotic hosts of A. phagocytophilum. It also presents epidemiology, clinical manifestations, laboratory and pathologic findings, differential diagnosis, diagnostic testing, treatment, and prevention of A. phagocytophilum infection.
On antenna selection with maximum ratio transmission

In this paper, we investigate the capacity performance of multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) systems with antenna selection. At the transmitter, we assume a single data stream transmission using optimum transmit beamforming, also known as maximum ratio transmission (MRT). The scope of this paper is two-fold: first, to analyze the performance of MRT with antenna selection, and second, to present simple, computationally efficient algorithms that perform near-optimal antenna selection. On the analytical side, we obtain bounds on the ergodicity capacity for MRT with optimum antenna selection over a flat-fading channel. Through simulation, we compare the performance of the MRT with antenna selection and full-feedback systems (where the transmitter knows the channel matrix) and show that having just a few additional antennas enables MRT with antenna selection to perform as well as full-feedback systems for transmission at reasonable signal-to-noise ratios. Next, we propose two new algorithms for performing the antenna selection. These algorithms are significantly more computationally efficient, and have negligible loss of capacity, compared to optimal antenna selection. Through Monte-Carlo simulations, we verify both our analytical results and the performance of the algorithms.
Isolation and characterization of the Streptococcus mutans gtfC gene, coding for synthesis of both soluble and insoluble glucans.

The intact gtfC gene from Streptococcus mutans GS-5 was isolated in Escherichia coli in plasmid vector pUC18. The glucosyltransferase activity expressed by the gene synthesized both low-molecular-weight water-soluble glucan and insoluble glucan in a primer-independent manner. Purification of the enzyme by procedures that minimize proteolytic digestion yielded a purified preparation with a molecular weight of 140,000. Insertional inactivation of the gtfC gene with a streptococcal erythromycin resistance gene fragment followed by transformation of strain GS-5 suggested that the gtfC gene product was required for sucrose-dependent colonization in vitro. In addition, evidence for the presence of a third gtf gene coding for soluble glucan synthesis was obtained following the construction of mutants containing deletions of both the gtfB and gtfC genes. Images
Hibernal thermal ecology of eastern box turtles within a managed forest landscape

Box turtles are being extirpated from much of their former range and remaining populations often live in association with anthropogenically altered habitats. This is particularly evident at the northern distributional limit of eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) and is an important factor to consider during the winter months when their ability to respond to microclimatic change is limited. Using temperature dataloggers, we studied the hibernal microclimate of box turtles and associated habitat following timber harvests. We monitored the body temperatures of 38 eastern box turtles and collected detailed air and soil profile temperatures of 12 box turtle hibernacula, 6 clearcuts, and 6 adjacent forested areas during the hibernal season (winter 2009-2010). We partitioned the hibernal season into 2 biologically significant thermal periods: hibernation and emergence. The mean hibernation body temperature averaged (3.288 C, SE ¼ 0.09) and corresponded to an average depth of 10 cm. Clearcuts were consistently colder (x ¼ 1.918 C) than forests (x ¼ 2.688 C) and hibernacula (x ¼ 2.778 C) during hibernation, but became the warmest areas during emergence (x ¼ 9.968 C). We found that in the average clearcut, turtles could burrow to approximately 20 cm to attain the average hibernation body temperature or to approximately 15 cm to attain a body temperature no different than those overwintering on colder, northeast-facing slopes in the forest (x ¼ 2.838 C). Alternatively, we found that southwest-facing slopes were warmer and if turtles chose to overwinter only in clearcuts on those slopes, they could remain shallower. All but 1 turtle overwintered in forested areas; however, our study suggests that some timber harvested areas offer various microhabitats exploitable by hibernating box turtles based on soil profile temperatures, slope aspect, and depth of hibernation. 2012 The Wildlife Society.
Velocity distributions of photochemically desorbed molecules

The standard picture of desorption induced by electronic transitions (DIET) is analyzed for high excited state quenching rates. Simple dynamical considerations are found to explain the velocity distributions characterizing a large number of photodesorption and electron stimulated desorption systems. Without invoking any thermalization processes, the model predicts a Maxwell–Boltzmann velocity distribution, thus providing a theoretical justification for this distribution’s widespread use as an empirical fitting formula for velocity distributions of nonthermally desorbed species.
On generalized plane strain poroelasticity

Generalized plane strain is characterized by geometries of cylinders of finite or infinite length with boundary conditions that do not change in the direction of the generators. The resultant field generally contain three-dimensional stress and strain components, but has only two-dimensional spatial dependency. In addition to the classical plane strain deformation, it admits axial strain, warping, torsion, shear, bending, among other elementary deformation modes. The study of generalized plane strain solutions has so far been limited to elasticity. The present paper seeks the parallel development for poroelasticity. Due to the mathematical difficulty arising from the coupled nature of poroelasticity, analyses here are restricted to materials with orthotropic properties and cylindrical geometries whose longitudinal axis coincides with one of the material principal axes.
Transformation from Prognostics to Engineering Immune Systems

Abstract Reliability of modern engineering systems is becoming exceedingly important for manufacturers to keep a competitive edge in today's global markets. Prognostics and health management (PHM) is an emerging engineering discipline that can help in increasing a system's reliability via predicting faults which allows for preventing unexpected failures and prolonged downtime. In this paper the authors are taking PHM to a new level. Inspired by the biological immune and nervous systems, the authors are introducing the transformation of PHM to engineering immune systems (EIS). EIS are defined in this paper as highly reliable systems that are: capable of surviving disruptions by avoiding it without serious failures and have the ability to resist disturbances while maintaining their stability. In this paper, a background about similar biologically inspired systems is given to compare them with the authors’ concept about EIS, which is focused on mechanical systems and how PHM can evolve from being predictive to being protective.
Delayed mitogenic responses to phytohemagglutinin in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Abstract Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from seven children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) had, delayed responses to the T cell mitogen phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in vitro . Furthermore, responses were usually lower than those of normal peripheral cells. Neither the magnitude nor the time of peak response to mitogen could be correlated with the peripheral white cell count or the absolute number of T lymphocytes in these patients. The cells which responded to PHA formed rosettes with sheep red blood cells, and could be removed by exploiting this property. Furthermore, they had a normal karyotype in patients whose leukemia cells were aneuploid. Therefore, a small number of residual normal T cells is responsible for the late response to PHA in ALL.
Racial and ethnic disparities in functioning at discharge and follow-up among patients with motor complete spinal cord injury

Objective To examine racial and ethnic differences in self-care and mobility outcomes for persons with a motor complete, traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) at discharge and 1-year follow-up.
One-parameter perturbations of bifurcation from a simple eigenvalue

Perturbations of nonlinear equations exhibiting bifurcation from a simple eigenvalue, can either preserve or destroy the bifurcation. Both types of perturbation are investigated, and some of the interesting degenerate cases are explored in some detail.
A strain gradient theory of plasticity

Abstract A theory which includes first and second strain gradients is proposed as a model for plastic deformations. Heuristic arguments for including the gradients are also given. The main goal is to develop a logical framework in which behavior on a small scale can interact with the response on a larger one. The gradients lead to deformations which contain oscillatory components in addition to the ones obtained without them. For a particular material, these oscillatory deformations develop only during plastic deformations. They contain many of the properties that one would expect of the continuum analogue of dislocations. As contrasted with the theory of the continuous distribution of dislocations, the proposed theory applies to the entire plastic deformation process.
The complementary deoxyribonucleic acid sequence of guinea pig endometrial prorelaxin.

The nucleotide sequence of the relaxin gene transcript in the endometrium of the late pregnant guinea pig has been determined. The strategy used was a combination of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers designed from the mRNA sequence of porcine preprorelaxin, rapid amplification of cDNA ends-PCR, and blunt end cloning in M13 mp18. With heterologous primers, a 226-basepair (bp) segment of the guinea pig relaxin gene sequence was obtained and was used to design a guinea pig-specific primer for use with the rapid amplification of cDNA ends-PCR method. The latter allowed completion of the sequence of 336 bp, with a 96-bp overlap. The sequence obtained shows greater homology at both the nucleotide and amino acid levels with porcine and human relaxins H1 and H2 than with rat relaxin, supporting the thesis that the guinea pig is not a rodent. The transcription of the guinea pig endometrial relaxin gene during pregnancy was confirmed by Northern analysis of guinea pig endometrial tissues with a species-s...
Studies on slag deposit formation in pulverized-coal combustors. 4. Comparison of sticking behaviour of minerals and low-temperature and ASTM high-temperature coal ash on medium carbon steel substrates

Abstract Sticking test results indicate that high-temperature melts containing iron sulphide (pyrrhotite) spread well over an oxidized mild steel surface and the adhesion forces are comparatively high even at low metal temperatures. This sulphide phase originates in the coal as pyrite. Alkalis substituted in the clay structure of both illite and montmorillonite led to the formation of lower-melting slag drops compared to kaolinite. Potassium and chlorine present in the slag drops, formed from the low-temperature ash (LTA) of a Wilcox belt Texas lignite, also led to enhanced sticking properties. The sticking behaviour of slag drops formed by the rapid melting of coal minerals, either LTA residue or synthetic mineral combinations, differed from that of the ASTM ash or synthetic metal oxide mixtures. Any tests, including the sticking test using the bulk minerals or ash composition of a specific coal, may not correlate with slag deposit formation in a utility boiler, as indicated by non-agreement between the test results with the Upper Freeport ash residues and operating experience at Keystone Generating Station.
Twelfth international conference on transport theory

Abstract The twelfth in the series of biennial conferences in transport theory (the Blacksburg Conferences) was held this year in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from August 12 to August 16. The organizing committee was chaired by Anil Prinja of the University of New Mexico and included Ahmed Badruzzaman, Sandia National Laboratories; Tahmina Badruzzaman, Phillips Laboratories; Paul Nelson, Texas AM and David Dietz, Phillips Laboratories. All of these organizers are to be complimented not only for the excellent quality of the meeting but also for the warm hospitality and excellent accommodations. The yeoman service, always with a friendly smile, of the administrative assistant Cheryl Brozena was an essential ingredient in the smooth operation of the Conference.