cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of a brake dynamometer-vehicle model hardware-in-the-loop system

This paper presents the development of a hardware in the loop (HIL) simulation system for evaluating and optimizing the interactions of the brake system with the vehicle. This unique HIL set-up consists of an inertial brake dynamometer with a brake corner module, an electronic control unit, a real time 3D total vehicle model and a computer system with a high-speed operating platform. The HIL system simultaneously confers advantages of both computer modeling and hardware testing. It offers the capability to do upfront design and assess performance of the foundation brake hardware and the chassis controls, as well as their interactions, in advance of testing and tuning a vehicle. This powerful tool enables reduction in development time and cost. A simple example of applying the brake dynamometer HIL system will be presented. The FMVSS135 test was simulated using the HIL approach, demonstrating the effect of various front brake corner modules on vehicle stopping distance in the inoperative power condition.
Nike, Inc.: Cost of Capital

On July 5 2001, Kimi Ford, a portfolio manager at NorthPoint Group, a mutual-fund management firm, pored over analyst write-ups of Nike, Inc., the athletic shoe manufacturer. Nikes share price had declined significantly from the beginning of the year. Ford was considering buying some shares for the fund she managed, the NorthPoint Large-Cap Fund, which was invested mostly in Fortune 500 companies with an emphasis on value investing. Ford had read all the analyst reports that she could find about the June 28th meeting, but the reports gave her no clear guidance. She decided instead to develop her own discounted cash flow forecast to come to a clearer conclusion.
Order in the Court: Why Ordering Matters in Partnership Transactions

Eric Sloan, Judd Sher, Matthew Sullivan, and Julia Trossen explain how the order of a series of transaction steps involving more than one partnership transaction can produce different basis adjustments.
Daytime Sleepiness and Insomnia as Correlates of Depression

Insomnia and daytime sleepiness are often associated with depression. The possible relationships between sleep difficulties and depression are numerous. Insomnia and other sleep disturbances can be precursors to the onset of major depressive disorder, so they may act as risk factors for or predictors of depression. The symptomatology of depression also prominently includes insomnia, and sleep disturbances may be residual symptoms after response to antidepressant treatment. Insomnia and the resultant daytime sleepiness may be short-term or long-term side effects of antidepressant treatment as well. Whether insomnia is a precursor, symptom, residual symptom, or side effect of depression or its treatment, clinicians must give serious attention to and attempt to resolve sleep disturbances because of the risk of depression onset, worsening of depressive symptoms, and relapse of depression after response to antidepressant treatment. Remission of depression cannot be fully achieved until the associated insomnia and daytime sleepiness are resolved. This article describes the relationships between insomnia and depression and discusses the effects of various antidepressants on sleep. Finally, several different treatment options, including antidepressant monotherapy and augmentation of antidepressants with other medications, are explored.
PASTORAL THEOLOGICAL METHOD AND POST-NIHILISM

As pastoral counselors, we gather wisdom and understanding from working with people. We get insight, understanding and wisdom by thinking and reflecting on what takes place in our counseling encounters. In our reflecting and thinking, we employ theological understanding in order to bring to light how God is at work in the lives of our counselees and in the counseling process. We also employ the social sciences in order to make sense out of what we see in the lives of our counselees and in the counseling process. The end result is that we want to develop cognitive and intuitive insightful wisdom, which will be used to make strategic intervention back into the lives of our counselees. Thus, reflecting on our counseling encounters lends itself to building up a reservoir of cognitive and intuitive wisdom for service to our counselees. Our counselees also benefit directly from the storehouse of wisdom we develop as we reflect on our counseling. From this storehouse of wisdom we are able to fashion strategic interventions, which counselees can use for revising their behavior, and their personal beliefs and convictions about themselves and their relationships with others. The point is that reflecting on our counseling experiences utilizing theology and social science thought is not just an academic exercise that enriches the pastoral counselor. Rather, such reflection leads to practical interventions that transform the lives of our counselees and the counseling process. I want to explore the nature of pastoral theological method as wisdom formation. Toward this end, I want to first examine wisdom formation in pastoral counseling. Second, the role of literature in wisdom formation in pastoral counseling is explicated. Third, a narrative-linguistic approach to wisdom formation in pastoral counseling is presented. Fourth and finally, a novel of an African American author is examined in depth in light of an explicit pastoral theological method.
Wind farm layout design optimization through multidisciplinary design optimization with complementarity constraints

This paper presents a multidisciplinary design optimization with complementarity constraints (MDO-CC) approach to wind farm layout design to maximize the wind power production under region boundary and interturbine distance constraints. A complementarity formulation technique is introduced such that the wind farm layout design can be described with a continuously differentiable optimization model; and a multi-scenario decomposition approach is proposed to ensure efficient solution with local optimality. To combine global exploration and local optimization, a hybrid solution algorithm is presented, which combines the MDO-CC approach with a bi-objective genetic algorithm that maximizes power production and minimizes constraint violations simultaneously. A numerical case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Promoting quality of life for geriatric oncology patients in acute care and critical care settings

In 2004, the Oncology Nursing Society published a position paper on cancer in the elderly identifying cancer as a disease of aging. The National Cancer Institute Surveillance Epidemiology End Results data report that more than 50% of all cancers are diagnosed in individuals who are aged 65 or greater. Comorbidities prevalent in the elderly population place them at increased risk of developing side effects and toxicities from cancer treatment. This article presents 2 case studies that demonstrate the complex nature of treatment decisions related to advanced cancer diagnoses. Real and potential nursing problems are identified. Evidence-based practice and interdisciplinary collaboration for the purpose of achieving comprehensive patient- and family-centered care are outlined. Quality-of-life concerns, including decisional capacity, are addressed. The role of the critical care nurse in promoting quality of life in the care of the oncology geriatric patient in the acute care and critical care settings is discussed.
Study on Fertilizer Application Technology for High Yield and High Quality of Fengyouxiangzhan,a High Quality Rice Variety

Fengyouxiangzhan,a high quality rice variety,was applied with 5fertilizer patterns(Treatment 1,only chemical fertilizer;Treatment 2,organic manure+ chemical fertilizer;Treatment 3,oil cake + farmyard manure + biogas slurry;Treatment 4,organic manure + biogas slurry and Treatment 5,earthworm casts amino acid organic manure + biogas slurry)respectively to study the effects of different fertilizer patterns on grain yield and quality of rice and to discuss the fertilizer technique for high yield and high quality of high quality rice.Results:Rice yield is Treatment 2 Treatment 1Treatment 3Treatment 4Treatment 5and rice yield of Treatment 2and Treatment 1is above 750kg/667m2,significantly higher than Treatment 3,Treatment 4and Treatment 5.The effective spikes and grains per spike of Treatment 2and Treatment 1is significantly higher than other Treatments but the grain setting percentage and 1000-kernel weight decrease slightly.The rice taste quality of Treatment 3,Treatment 4and Treatment 5is the best,followed by Treatment 2but there is no significant difference between 4 Treatments.The rice quality of Treatment 1becomes poor significantly.Applying chemical fertilizer can increase nitrogen accumulation of rice plants and the nitrogen accumulation of Treatment 2decreases at heading-maturity stage significantly compared with Treatment 1,which is the important cause of rice quality improvement.
Investigation of the cadmium contamination on edible fungi in Henan Province in 2010

Objective To investigate the cadmium contamination of the edible fungus in Henan province, and provide data basis for the future risk assessment on cadmium exposure of food. Methods In 2010, 865 edible fungus samples were collected from 18 cities of Henan province. Cadmium content was determined according to GB /T5009.15. The exceeding standard rate was determinated according to GB2762-2005. Data was analyzed by statistical nonparametric test and chi-square test. Result The average content of cadmium in all edible fungus samples was 0.11mg/kg; the exceeding standard rate was 11.30 %. Among the 6 categories(pleurotus ostreatus、volvaria volvacea、agaric、flammulina velutipes、lentinus edodes and rare edible fungus strain), the highest exceeding standard rate of cadmium is lentinus edodes(20.70 %), while the lowest is flammulina velutipes(1.120 %). Among 5 areas of Henan province, edible fungus from the east, west and south was polluted by cadmium more heavily than the north. Conclusion In 2010, the cadmium content of some edible fungus examples exceeded the standard limit. We suggest to carry out a more detailed special survey in the future obout the edible fungus in order to explain the pollution reason and degree, which can provide data basis for cadmium exposure risk assessment. Meanwhile, this study also suggest relevant government departments should strengthen the supervision on the edible fungus.
Minimum Wages in a Segmented Labor Market: Evidence from South Africa

The segmented labor market model describes the impacts of minimum wages on covered and uncovered sectors. This paper examines the impacts of an industry-specific minimum wage in South Africa, a state characterized by high unemployment, a robust union movement, and the presence of a large informal sector. Under the industry-specific wage law, formal agricultural and household workers are covered, while workers in other sectors are not. The unique aspect of this paper lies in the ability to compare the impacts of minimum wage legislation on formal covered, informal covered, formal uncovered, and informal uncovered workers. This natural experiment allows us to test whether industry-specific minimum wage legislation leads to higher wages, whether wage increases are restricted solely to covered formal sectors or if there are spillover effects, and whether such legislation manifests in disemployment effects. We find evidence of higher wages yet disemployment among black workers in formal markets. In informal markets we find no employment effects, but higher wages in formal markets appear to have spilled over into informal markets in covered sectors.
Bonnard´s representation of the perception of substance

Artists are said to be like neuroscientists able to exploit the capacities of the brain to generate aesthetic experience (Zeki, 2001). Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) has been recognized as one of the greatest and most enigmatic masters of the 20th century painting. For his understanding of the eye movements, attentional shifts mechanism and the representation in his paintings of the complexity of the physiological process of vision perception, something that he famously referred to as "the transcription of the adventures of the optic nerve", he is considered a revolutionary painter. Our recent eye movements study on Bonnard's paintings evidences a "temporal-extended" mechanism in the control of scanpaths that refers to a progression of the scanpath pattern during repetitive viewings and supports the phenomenon of late emotional response which was one of the artist's artistic and perceptual objective.
Effect of data representations on deep learning in fall detection

Fall-related injuries can have a significant impact on the quality of life of the elderly population. Because of the upward trend in the elderly for continued independent living, there is a growing need for reliable fall detectors that can enable prompt assistance in case of falls. Doppler radar technology offers a number of desirable attributes for realization of fall detection and health monitoring systems that can facilitate self-dependent living. Human motions generate changes in Doppler frequencies that can be accurately captured using time-frequency representations. A variety of time-frequency distributions have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we investigate the impact of different time-frequency representations on the performance of a deep neural network based fall detector. Using real data, we demonstrate that the choice of data representation in the time-frequency domain is important for enhancing the accuracy of the fall detector.
Pathophysiology of Intestinal Na+/H+ Exchange

Several members of the SLC9A family of Na+/H+ exchangers are expressed in the gut, with varying expression patterns and cellular localization. Not only do they participate in the regulation of basic epithelial cell functions, including control of transepithelial Na+ absorption, intracellular pH (pH i ), cell volume, and nutrient absorption, but also in cellular proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. Additionally, they modulate the extracellular milieu in order to facilitate other nutrient absorption and to regulate the intestinal microbial microenvironment. Na+/H+ exchangers are frequent targets of inhibition in gastrointestinal pathologies, either by intrinsic factors (e.g. bile acids, inflammatory mediators) or infectious agents and associated microbial toxins. Based on emerging evidence, disruption of NHE activity via impaired expression or function of respective isoforms may contribute not only to local and systemic electrolyte imbalance, but also to the disease severity via multiple mechanisms. Here, we review the current state of knowledge about the roles Na+/H+ exchangers play in the pathogenesis of disorders of diverse origin and affecting a range of GI tissues.
Financial Dynamics and Business Cycles: New Perspectives

(1990). Financial Dynamics and Business Cycles: New Perspectives. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 1157-1163.
A Minimax Robust Approach for Learning to Assist Users with Pointing Tasks

Learning to provide appropriate assistance to people indifferent situations is an extremely important, but insufficientlyinvestigated machine learning task. Applications includehuman-robot and human-computer interactions settings to maximizing the benefits of assistive technologies. Three key challenges must be overcome to appropriately address this task: Complexity: the space of possible assistive policies can be very large, making many existing methods (e.g., fromreinforcement learning) too data inefficient to be practical. Noise and misspecification: observed human behavior is often noisy and parametric formulations that reduce complexity will typically suffer from model misspecification,leading to unboundedly sub-optimal assistance. Biasedness: data available for learning a model is biased by previously provided assistive actions, violating the typical assumptions of supervised learning. We develop a general framework for learning to assist in single intervention settings. The framework narrows the search for effective assistance by viewing previous behavior under assistance through a restricted set of statistics. Assistive policies for the worst-case context-assistance-outcome relationships satisfying these statistics are obtained. We embed the problem of learning how to assist users in cursor based target pointing tasks into this framework and outline its usage.
Structured singular values and invariant theory

Structured singular values are functions defined on the set of n × n matrices. They describe, in some sense, how close a matrix is to zero. Special cases are the spectral radius function and the operator norm function. Such functions are used in control engineering as a mathematical tool for robustness analysis of feedback control systems, when the physical plant (vehicle, process, etc.) is subject to parametric uncertainty. In particular, structured singular values have been used by Honeywell to analyze the robustness of the descent flight-control system of the Space Shuttle; they are also being used in flight-control design and analysis for the NASP and other aerospace vehicles currently in the design phase.
Pooling stated and revealed preference data in the presence of RP endogeneity

Abstract Pooled discrete choice models combine revealed preference (RP) data and stated preference (SP) data to exploit advantages of each. SP data is often treated with suspicion because consumers may respond differently in a hypothetical survey context than they do in the marketplace. However, models built on RP data can suffer from endogeneity bias when attributes that drive consumer choices are unobserved by the modeler and correlated with observed variables. Using a synthetic data experiment, we test the performance of pooled RP–SP models in recovering the preference parameters that generated the market data under conditions that choice modelers are likely to face, including (1) when there is potential for endogeneity problems in the RP data, such as omitted variable bias, and (2) when consumer willingness to pay for attributes may differ from the survey context to the market context. We identify situations where pooling RP and SP data does and does not mitigate each data source’s respective weaknesses. We also show that the likelihood ratio test, which has been widely used to determine whether pooling is statistically justifiable, (1) can fail to identify the case where SP context preference differences and RP endogeneity bias shift the parameter estimates of both models in the same direction and magnitude and (2) is unreliable when the product attributes are fixed within a small number of choice sets, which is typical of automotive RP data. Our findings offer new insights into when pooling data sources may or may not be advisable for accurately estimating market preference parameters, including consideration of the conditions and context under which the data were generated as well as the relative balance of information between data sources.
A manufacturable smart dressing with oxygen delivery and sensing capability for chronic wound management

Chronic non-healing wounds, impact over 6.5 million Americans, costs in excess of $25 billion to treat on an annual basis and its incidence is predicted to rise due to the prevalence of obesity and type-2 diabetes. One of the primary complications often associated with chronic wounds is the improper functionality of the peripheral vasculature to deliver O2-rich blood to the tissue which leads to wound hypoxia. Although hyperbaric oxygen therapy are widely used and accepted as an effective approach to bolster tissue O2 levels in hypoxic chronic wounds, most of such treatments require bulky equipment and often expose large areas of the body to unnecessarily elevated oxygen concentrations that can damage healthy tissue. In this paper, we present a smart low-cost wound dressing with integrated oxygen sensor and delivery for locally generating and delivering oxygen to selected hypoxic regions on the wound. The dressing is fabricated on a biocompatible water resistant/hydrophobic paper-based substrate with printed optical oxygen sensors and patterned catalytic oxygen generating regions that are connected to a flexible microfluidic systems. Oxygen generation occurs by flowing H2O2 through the channels and chemical decomposition at the catalyst printed regions on the paper substrate. The hydrophobic paper provides structural stability and flexibility while simultaneously offering printability, selective gaseous filtering, and physical/chemical protection. The fabrication process take advantage of scalable manufacturing technologies including laser processing, inkjet printing, and lamination.
Development of a STEP-NC Network Management Protocol for Decentralized Manufacturing

STEP-NC is a new model for data transfer and exchange between CAD/CAM and CNC that allows specifying machining processes rather than tool motions with respect to the machine axes. This chapter presents a novel procedure for the design of decentralized STEP-NC compliant manufacturing solutions. Considering the problem of dispatching and managing a network of STEP-NC compliant machines, a three-tier architecture is proposed to perform remote machining requests. The architecture is composed of a dispatcher, a series of managers dislocated in manufacturing units, and agents interfacing with the STEP-NC compliant intelligent CNC machines. An ad hoc STEP-NC Network Management Protocol describes the exchange of messages between tiers. To prove the effectiveness of the decentralized manufacturing architecture, this chapter shows its application in a test-bed and describes how to evaluate the performance of the designed solution.
NuSTORM {\mu} Ring -- Design and Injection Optimization

The design of the NuSTORM muon production beam line and storage ring is discussed. The facility includes a pion production target station with a pion collection horn and transport into a straight section of a storage ring. {\pi} decay within that straight section provides {\mu}'s that are stored within the ring for subsequent decay providing precision electron and muon neutrino beams. The ring and transport designs are described and optimized. Genetic Algorithm optimization of the horn and transport into the ring has been performed, providing a significant increase in intensity
The Perspective of IBM Deutschland GmbH

Could your idle PC help cure AIDS? Could you cut insurance rates in real time for safe drivers? Could your luggage find you? The answer is yes, with innovation.
Relationship of Movement Screens with Past Shoulder or Elbow Surgeries in Collegiate Baseball Players.

Background Upper extremity injuries commonly occur in baseball players, and can often necessitate surgical interventions. Athletes recovering from previous surgeries may be at greater risk of a secondary injury due to potential residual deficits in global movement. Identifying individuals with residual movement dysfunction following surgery during a pre-participation examination may help health care professionals identify baseball players who may be at a greater risk of re-injury in their throwing arms so that appropriate interventions can be developed. Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess relationships between history of shoulder or elbow surgeries and Functional Movement Screen™ (FMS™) shoulder mobility scores or Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA) upper extremity patterns in collegiate baseball players. Study design Cohort study. Methods One hundred seventy-six healthy, male, Division III collegiate baseball players (mean age = 19.65 ± 1.52 years) underwent preseason screening using the FMS™ shoulder mobility screen, and SFMA upper extremity patterns. Total FMS™ scores were dichotomized into "good" and "poor" groups (good = 2 or 3, poor = 0 or 1). SFMA scores were dichotomized into "good" and "poor" groups (good = functional non-painful (FN), poor = dysfunctional painful (DP), dysfunctional non-painful (DN), and functional painful (FP). Dichotomized FMS™ and SFMA scores were compared to questionnaire data regarding history of shoulder or elbow surgeries. Results Thirty participants (17%) reported a previous shoulder or elbow surgery in their dominant arms. Past surgeries in the shoulder or elbow were not related to FMS™ (odds ratio [OR] = 0.74, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.30, 1.82), p = 0.52) or SFMA performance (OR = 0.93, 95%CI = 0.38, 2.27, p = 0.88) independent of grade and playing position. Conclusion History of shoulder or elbow surgery was not related to performance on the FMS™ shoulder mobility test or SFMA upper extremity patterns. Differences in the dates of surgery at the time of testing, and sport-specific adaptations of the upper extremities that are common in baseball players due to the cumulative tissue stress from years of throwing at the collegiate level, may explain these insignificant findings. Level of evidence Level 3.
Robust Output-Feedback Formation Control Design for Nonholonomic Mobile Robot (NMRs)

This paper addresses the systematic approach to design formation control for kinematic model of unicycle-type nonholonomic mobile robots. These robots are difficult to stabilize and control due to their nonintegrable constraints. The difficulty of control increases when there is a requirement to control a cluster of nonholonomic mobile robots in specific formation. In this paper, the design of the control scheme is presented in a three-step process. First, a robust state-feedback point-to-point stabilization control is designed using sliding mode control. In the second step, the controller is modified so as to address the tracking problem for time-varying reference trajectories. The proposed control scheme is shown to provide the desired robustness properties in the presence of the parameter variation, in the region of interest. Finally, in third step, tracking problem of a single nonholonomic mobile robot extends to formation control for a group of mobile robots in the leader–follower scenario using integral terminal- based sliding mode control augmented with stabilizing control. Starting with the transformation of the mathematical model of robots, the proposed controller ensures that the robots maintain a constant distance between each other to avoid collision. The main problem with the proposed controller is that it requires all states specially velocities. Therefore, the state-feedback control scheme is then extended to output feedback by incorporating a highgain observer. With the help of Lyapunov analysis and appropriate simulations, it is shown that the proposed output-feedback control scheme achieves the required control objectives. Furthermore, the closed loop system trajectories reach to desired equilibrium point in finite time while maintaining the special pattern.
Clinical Applications of Principle 2: Learning and Memory

This chapter discusses the clinical applications of Principle 2: Learning and Memory. It presents reasons to think clinically about psychology and behavior in physical rather than mental terms. Treatments are divided into those that emphasize the emission of behavior and those that emphasize the omission of behavior. This distinction is carried through a taxonomy of instrumental conditioning and a system of behavioral diagnosis that has treatment implications. Conditioning is viewed as cognition and methods of operant and respondent conditioning are presented as cognitive-behavioral interventions. The following operant conditioning principles are considered: reinforcement, reinforcement schedules, shaping, observational learning, extinction, deprivation, discriminative stimuli, stimulus control and generalization. Pitfalls into which therapists as well as clients can fall are identified. Respondent conditioning treatments are discussed. Why biofeedback works is explained. Implications for clinical practice include: (a) learning as professional identity; (b) working with interdisciplinary teams; and (c) enhanced understanding of psychotropic medications. Related theoretical issues are addressed. They include selectionism as ontogenetic evolution, the necessity of neural network models, how to explain both stability and change, the incorporation of Piagetian theory, and relevance of brain sciences.
Reliability analysis of IoT systems with competitions from cascading probabilistic function dependence

Abstract This paper models an Internet of Things (IoT) system subject to probabilistic functional dependence (PFD), which takes place when the failure of one component (trigger) causes other system components (dependent components) to become isolated or inaccessible with certain probabilities. Competitions in the time domain between the trigger failure and dependent components’ propagated failures may lead to dramatically different system statuses. The PFD behavior abounds in IoT systems involving relayed wireless communications (e.g., body sensor systems, smart homes). The existing works assume single-level PFD and zero failure propagation time. In practice, however cascading PFD may take place in IoT systems with multi-level configurations. Due to the cascading effect, a component may play a dual role as both a trigger and a dependent component simultaneously, creating correlations among different PFD groups. In addition, the failure originating from a component may take some random time to become effective. In this work, we make contributions by proposing a combinatorial hierarchical methodology for reliability analysis of IoT systems subject to cascading PFD and random failure propagation time. The suggested methodology is applicable to arbitrary types of failure time and propagation time distributions. An example smart home sensor system is analyzed to demonstrate the proposed methodology.
From Mei Lanfang to Li Yugang: theorizing female-impersonating aesthetics in post-1976 China

The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) in China marked a period fraught with ideological tensions and violent social reforms that had long-lasting impacts on the traditional performing arts. If, in the decades before, the nandan art, or female impersonation in Beijing opera (jingju), was embodied in the figure of Mei Lanfang—leader of the Four Great Dan (si da ming dan), who played charming feminine characters onstage and fulfilled the role of morally conscious citizens offstage—then the art was banned, stigmatized, and re-gendered during the Revolution. Picking up from when China’s institutional support had allowed jingju actresses to play dan roles previously performed by males, this article historicizes the grassroots phenomenon of Li Yugang’s genre-defying female-impersonating aesthetic and problematizes the very use of current terminologies (e.g., fanchuan, female impersonation, cross-dressing, transvestism, etc.) and Western critical theory to discuss a culturally specific mode of performing whose discursive assumptions need making transparent. Further, the article examines Li’s relationship with the Mei school of acting to theorize the multidirectional strategies with which postmodern female impersonation disentangles itself from its precursor’s ideological commitment: conjuring up simulacra of idealized feminine subjectivities by vying for ever-heightening gratification of the aural and the visual; embracing contradiction and ambiguity; and generating its own self-mutilation and eventual deconstruction. Sketching these female-impersonating strategies will explain how Li Yugang’s aesthetic facilitates assimilating postmodern technology and thematics to promote the Chinese traditional culture, helps address old problems of the artist’s social and cultural legitimacy, and naturalizes the mass audiences’ reception of the androgynous body.
Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans: Pathological and Imaging Review.

Abstract Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare, low-to-intermediate grade sarcoma that typically arises in the dermis and infiltrates subcutaneous tissue. Due to superficial appearance of DFSP, imaging techniques are not always utilized. However, they may be useful in large or atypical cases. The standard treatment for DFSP is excision of the lesion. In this article, we review the role of different imaging modalities in the assessment and management of DFSP.
Stressful development: integrating endoderm development, stress, and longevity.

Abstract In addition to performing digestion and nutrient absorption, the intestine serves as one of the first barriers to the external environment, crucial for protecting the host from environmental toxins, pathogenic invaders, and other stress inducers. The gene regulatory network (GRN) governing embryonic development of the endoderm and subsequent differentiation and maintenance of the intestine has been well-documented in C. elegans. A key regulatory input that initiates activation of the embryonic GRN for endoderm and mesoderm in this animal is the maternally provided SKN-1 transcription factor, an ortholog of the vertebrate Nrf1 and 2, which, like C. elegans SKN-1, perform conserved regulatory roles in mediating a variety of stress responses across metazoan phylogeny. Other key regulatory factors in early gut development also participate in stress response as well as in innate immunity and aging and longevity. In this review, we discuss the intersection between genetic nodes that mediate endoderm/intestine differentiation and regulation of stress and homeostasis. We also consider how direct signaling from the intestine to the germline, in some cases involving SKN-1, facilitates heritable epigenetic changes, allowing transmission of adaptive stress responses across multiple generations. These connections between regulation of endoderm/intestine development and stress response mechanisms suggest that varying selective pressure exerted on the stress response pathways may influence the architecture of the endoderm GRN, thereby leading to genetic and epigenetic variation in early embryonic GRN regulatory events.
Logique de Validité Redoux?: The ilc Guidelines on Reservations between a Rock and a Hard Place

In a contribution to the Melanges Virally in 1991, Jean Combacau deplored the choice made in Article 19(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which consecrates an “objective” test of compatibility with the object and purpose that can only be fulfilled subjectively. This logique de validite, as Combacau calls it, is tested in the International Law Commission’s (ilc) guidelines on reservations to treaties. The conclusion is not encouraging: the ilc fails to deliver the promise of the logique de validite and creates an inconsistent and at times untenable regime. By announcing that it will flesh out the consequences of Article 19(c), the Commission places itself in an impossible position. Its only way-out is the concept of reservations dialogue that highlights the informal and political nature of reservations and proves that the promise of the logique de validite cannot but remain always immanent.
Cuba’s First Smallpox Vaccination Campaign

In 1804, the smallpox vaccine arrived in Cuba from Puerto Rico. Initial efforts to bring the vaccine to Cuba went into vain. Finally, using arm-to-arm transmission, Maria Bustamante of Puerto Rico accompanied by her son and two young slaves, brought viable material to the island that led Tomas Romay Chacon to initiate, a successful island-wide campaign for the vaccination of Cubans. This effort occurred independently of the great Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition, launched from Spain. Romay’s efforts were instrumental in establishing several societies, to continue the vaccination effort.
Flow-independent dynamics in aneurysm (FIDA): pressure measurements following partial and complete flow impairment in experimental aneurysm model.

BACKGROUND: There have been growing concerns regarding delayed aneurysm rupture subsequent to the flow-diverting stent deployment. Therefore, more investigations are needed regarding hemodynamic changes secondary to flow diverting stent deployment. OBJECTIVE: To study intra-aneurysmal and peri-aneurysmal pressures after partial and complete flow impairment into the aneurysm. METHODS: A silicone model of an 8mm sized aneurysm (neck diameter: 5mm, vessel size: 4mm) was used. The aneurysm wall was encapsulated and sealed within a 5ml syringe filled with saline and a pressure sensor guide wire (ComboWire, Volcano Corp.) providing pressure changes in the peri-vascular compartment (outer aneurysm wall). A second pressure sensor guide wire was advanced inside the aneurysm sac. Both pressure sensors were continuously measuring pressure inside and outside the aneurysm under pulsatile flow under the following conditions: 1) baseline (reference); 2) a 16mm by 3.75mm flow diverting stent (ev3/Covidien Vascular, Mansfield, Massachusetts) deployed in front of the aneurysm; 3) two flow diverting stents (16mm by 3.5mm) were deployed; and 4) a covered stent (4mm by 16mm VeriFlex coronary artery stent covered with rubber sheet) was deployed. RESULTS: Mean (±SD) baseline pressures inside and outside the aneurysm were 53.9 (±2.4) mmHg (range 120-40mmHg) and 15.4 (±0.7) mmHg (range 40-8mmHg), respectively. There was no change in pressure inside and outside the aneurysm after deploying the first and second flow diverting stents (partial flow impairment) and it remained at 53.9 (±2.7) mmHg and 14.9 (±1) mmHg for the pressure inside and outside the aneurysm, respectively. The pressure recording from outside the aneurysm dropped from 15.4 (±0.7) mmHg to 0.3 (±0.7) mmHg after deploying the covered stent (complete flow impairment). There was no change in pressure inside the aneurysm after deploying the covered stent. Mean (±SD) pressure within the aneurysm was 55.1 (±1.7) mmHg and it remained 54.7 (±1.7) mmHg after covered stent deployment. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest a major discordance between the pressures within the aneurysm and partial or complete flow impairment (flow-independent). The outer wall pressure is reduced after covered stent placement. These finding may assist clinicians in better understanding of aneurysm hemodynamics and rupture after flow diverting stent deployment.
Sliding Compensators for a Class of Nonlinear Systems

In this paper, the problem of synthesizing compensators for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems is considered. A sliding controller is considered in view of its robustness properties. Sufficient conditions for the observer stability are given and proved. The closed loop stability of the compensator is established for the given configuration. Simulation results for a second order example are included.
DMS SuperNode system overview

To meet telephone operating company plans for the intelligent network, the DMS SuperNode system enhances Northern Telecom's delivery of advanced network services, such as Meridian Digital Centrex, integrated services digital network (ISDN), and new information based services. After giving a general description of DMS SuperNode, the author discusses the DMS core, bus, and link. Attention is then given to such DMS applications as STP (signaling transfer point). Finally, DMS SuperNode benefits are described. >
Educating chaplains for research literacy: results of a national survey of clinical pastoral education residency programs.

There is growing evidence that leaders in professional health care chaplaincy recognize the important role of research. The Standards of Practice recently approved by the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC), and especially the standard about research (Standard 12), provide strong evidence that the profession sees research, and research-literate chaplains, as important for its future. The aim of this study was to identify the extent to which Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc (ACPE) accredited clinical pastoral education (CPE) residency programs are preparing their graduates to be the kind of research-literate chaplains described in these Standards. We interviewed CPE supervisors from 26 randomly-selected CPE residency programs. We found 12% of the programs had intentional and substantive research-related curricula, 27% of the programs offered some limited exposure to research, and 62% of the programs provided no education about research. We found also that supervisors often defined “research education” in terms of actually conducting research projects. CPE residency programs potentially play a central role in educating research-literate chaplains. Future research should examine the incentives and barriers that influence the inclusion of research education in CPE residency programs.
Student Attrition in Mathematics E-Learning

Qualitative studies indicate that mathematics does not work well in e-learning. The current study used quantitative methods to investigate more objectively the extent of problems with mathematics in e-learning. The authors used student attrition as a simple measure of student satisfaction and course viability in two studies, one investigating attrition in e-learning and a second comparison study of attrition in face to face courses. In e-learning, attrition (drop out rate) was significantly higher for math courses versus non-math. For face to face courses, attrition rates for math versus non-math courses were nearly equal. The authors suggest reasons for high student attrition in math e-learning. Online student populations are different from their face to face peers. E-learning systems are poorly adapted to mathematics.
Local kinetics of oxygen metabolism in brain and liver tissues

Abstract Mathematical solutions for oxygen concentration gradients predicted by a one-dimensional, steady-state model of oxygen diffusion and chemical reaction are compared with experimental P O 2 microelectrode measurements in rat brain and liver tissue slices. Four kinetic relationships are investigated: zero-order kinetics, first-order kinetics, zero- to first-order kinetics, and Michaelis—Menten (saturation) kinetics. An optimization method is used to estimate parameters for each model in both tissues and average metabolic rates are calculated for comparison with literature values for whole organ oxygen consumption. The computer simulations indicate that the Michaelis—Menten kinetic model provides the most accurate fit of the experimentally observed P O 2 gradients. From the K m values for the Michaelis—Menten model, we conclude that brain tissue has a higher affinity for oxygen than liver tissue. Furthermore, the results from this study imply that the apparent kinetics for oxygen consumption in tissue differs from the kinetics for mitochondrial suspensions.
Thermoelectric, transport, and magnetic properties of the polaron semiconductor FexCr3-xSe4

The series of compounds FexCr3-xSe4, with 0 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 3, has been prepared and various thermoelectric properties measured from 5 to 900 K.
Geometric methods for the classification of linear feedback systems

Abstract The precise determination of the nature and form of system invariants under output feedback is of fundamental interest in classical and modern control theory. An algebraic solution of this problem would entail, for example, a description of the generators and relations of the ring of output feedback invariants. Geometrically, we seek to describe the basic properties of the quotient space whose points consist of feedback equivalence classes of the system, recovering the algebraic theory in terms of the function theory on this space. Naturally, any description should be made in system theoretic terms. In this paper we construct and study, in the scalar case, the quotient manifold for linear systems modulo the full output feedback group using classical algebraic geometry. As a corollary, we obtain explicit generators for the associated ring of invariants which we then interpret in terms of classical control theory, e.g. in terms of root-locus plots. Turning to the question of the existence of continuous canonical forms, we show that these exist globally, only when the system order is odd. In the even case, the obstruction to the existence of globally defined continuous forms is described in terms of the values of the system Cauchy index. This is illustrated for low order examples and certain questions concerning relations among the generators is treated using methods of the Schubert calculus. The complete set of invariants for the full output feedback group is obtained and our results concerning the existence and nonexistence of canonical forms is also compared to related results contained in the literature.
Charging spectrum and configurations of a Wigner crystal island

Charging of a clean two-dimensional island is studied in the regime of small concentration of electrons when they form the Wigner crystal. Two forms of electron-electron interaction potential are studied: the pure Coulomb interaction and the exponential interaction corresponding to the screening by a pair of close metallic gates. The electrons are assumed to reside in a parabolic external confining potential. Due to the crystalline symmetry the center of the confinement can be situated at distinct positions with respect to the crystal. With the increasing number of electrons $N$ the center periodically hops from one such a location to another providing the lowest total energy. These events occur with the period $\ensuremath{\sim}{N}^{1/2}$. At these moments in the case of the pure Coulomb interaction the charging energy of the island has a negative correction $\ensuremath{\approx}15%$. For the case of the exponential interaction at the moments of switching the capacitance becomes negative and $\ensuremath{\sim}{N}^{1/4}$ new electrons enter the island simultaneously. The configurations of disclinations and dislocations in the island are also studied.
Polyamine depletion prevents camptothecin-induced apoptosis by inhibiting the release of cytochrome c.

C1297, 2002; 10.1152/ajpcell.00351.2001.We have shown previously that depletion of polyamines delays apoptosis induced by camptothecin in rat intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-6). Mitochondria play ...
Candida albicans Biofilms: More Than Filamentation

Candida albicans is the fungal species most commonly associated with biofilm formation in immunosuppressed patients. Recent work offers a fresh new look at the role of filamentation in C. albicans biofilm formation, and describes the application of a powerful tool for the molecular dissection of these important developmental processes.