cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The cubital tunnel: anatomic, histologic, and biomechanical study.

Abstract The anatomy of the cubital tunnel was examined in 19 human cadaveric elbows. Pressure measurements within the cubital tunnel were recorded at the medical epicondyle level and 3 cm distal to the epicondyle in various positions of elbow flexion. Histologic examination of the ulnar nerve was carried out at different levels. A common flexor aponeurosis (CFA) was consistently present in all specimens between the flexor carpi ulnaris and the flexor digitorum superficialis. Pressure measurements were greater distally at the CFA level than proximally in the fibrosseous tunnel. The pressure inside the cubital tunnel increased with increasing flexion at the 3 levels examined. Releasing the arcuate ligament decreased the pressure in the fibrosseous tunnel but not distally at the level of the CFA. An oligofascicular pattern of the ulnar nerve was observed at the level of the medial epicondyle and CFA. This finding was in contrast to the polyfascicular pattern present both proximal and distal to these structures. The findings of our study have shown that an intimate anatomic relationship exists between the ulnar nerve and the CFA. This proximity appears to affect the biomechanics of the cubital tunnel and to contribute to nerve compression by the CFA in the distal tunnel. We also found that elbow flexion increases the pressure in the distal tunnel and that releasing the arcuate ligament alone does not decompress the ulnar nerve in the distal tunnel.
Poverty Changes during the Three Recent Development Plans in Iran (1995-2007)

The purpose of this study is to analyse the degree of poverty in Iran and how it changed over time during the second, third and fourth (first three years) five-year national development plans (1995-2007). It does this by documenting overall poverty levels and poverty within regional subgroups, using the micro-level data set of household expenditure survey conducted by the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI) in 1995, 1999, 2004 and 2007. I have found an increase in all poverty measures in rural regions and a decrease in urban areas during the second development plan (1995-1999). The country as a whole also experienced a considerable poverty reduction over the third development plan (1999-2004) under Khatami’s presidency. However, all poverty measures suggest that during Ahmadinejad Administration (2004-2007) poverty has risen. This paper also examines the distribution of poverty breakdown by the regional status of households in Iran. The incidence, intensity and severity of poverty are higher in rural than urban areas in Iran. Regional decompositions show that although poverty was spread throughout the country, the intensity of poverty in some provinces such as Systan-Balochestan, Kermanshah, Kordestan, Hamadan and Ilam was more pronounced. The results also suggest that the contribution of the “southeast” and “west” regions (including above mentioned provinces) to the national poverty were increased during the second, third and fourth plans. This might be attributed to the fact that these provinces were more affected by eight-year long Iran-Iraq war, immigration of refuges from neighbours countries and drought.
Off to a Green Start? How State Agents Shape the Employment of Foreign Nationals by Citizenship

This study advances our understanding of how legal and organizational factors affect inequality in labor markets by investigating the specific role that state agents play in shaping the hiring outcomes of immigrants to the United States. Using a unique matched dataset containing employer-, individual-, and occupation-level information for the entire population of employment-based green card applications reviewed by state agents between June 2008 and March 2011, this work tests whether immigrants of select citizenship groups experience disparities in the labor certification process―the most critical stage of the current U.S. immigration review process. Although this stage is supposed to be citizenship-blind, we find that employment certification outcomes significantly differ depending on the immigrants’ foreign citizenship, even after the introduction of key controls. This article concludes by discussing the theoretical implications of our results for understanding disparities in the employment outco...
Initial Steps Toward an Analogy Retrieval Tool Based on Performance Specification

In design-by-analogy, inventors draw inspiration from natural and man-made systems to create new, often innovative engineering products. Though methods exist to aid concept generation through design-by-analogy, they are not built on fundamental knowledge of how inventors inherently use analogies. Such a foundation is critical for developing effective analogy-finding tools and methods. In this research, we pursue an empirical product study to guide the creation of a computational tool that presents relevant analogies based on designers’ objectives. Using an inductive approach, we studied 57 design-by-analogy products and their inspiring analogs to identify how analogies entered the design process. We developed classification schemes that characterize the analogies and their design contexts, which includes the inventors’ field of work and design objectives. Findings emerged from identifying patterns in the classification results. When comparing academic and commercial inventors, we found differences in how they use analogies to find new product functions or gain better performance. We gained insight into how knowledge-driven and problem-driven analogy usage cases differ. Most intriguingly, we found that products commonly borrow critical functions directly from analog systems, but we also discovered instances of critical function inversion, where the sense of the critical function is reversed between the analog and the product. For example, this occurred with the ECO-Auger Tidal Turbine (critical function: “Convert fluid flow into rotation”) which was inspired by screw conveyors (“Convert rotation into material flow”). This discovery implies that a computational search for analogs should expand from a designers’ function specification to include analogs with inverted critical functions, thus widening the space of possible inspiration sources.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Interdisciplinary Analysis of Farm‐Home Interrelationships in Decision‐Making and Action on the Family Farm

IN THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS economists and sociologists have shown growing interest in the interrelationships within the family business management situation by pertinent research and extension activities, especially those dealing with family farms. Awareness of the significance of the farm family to the farm business has also been developing in the agricultural sector of the business community. This article takes stock of progress made in understanding farm-home interrelationships in decision-making and proposes an interdisciplinary approach for basic research on both the events of decision-making and acting upon the decisions. This investigation also has significance for decision-making and action in non-farm family business situations. To be specific, our principal objectives here are (a) to review and evaluate extension and research activities in farm and home interrelation-
Approximation of high-degree and procedural curves

The objective of this paper is to present an efficient adaptive algorithm to approximate high-degree and procedural continuous parametric curves by integral B-splines. This approximation algorithm covers nonperiodic and periodic curves. The approximation algorithm is motivated and accompanied by an extensive discussion on approximation errors for position and derivatives accuracies. This discussion includes the derivation of local error bounds for position and derivative errors. The practicality and efficiency of the algorithm is demonstrated for a variety of examples in geometric modeling of engineering structures. The approximation algorithm for the curve forms the basis of a similar surface approximation procedure.
Anisotropic Distortional Yield Model

A yield surface model is proposed in this work which may be adapted to both small strain and large strain offset definitions of yielding. Two versions of the proposed model are introduced. Experimental observations are taken into consideration. The corresponding fourth-order elastoplastic stiffness matrix is formulated and specific examples are given
Sugar-induced enhancement of tobacco mosaic virus ribonucleic acid infectivity.

Abstract The addition of sugars to tobacco mosaic virus ribonucleic acid (TMV-RNA) inocula increased their infectivity over that of control inocula. Sucrose increased infectivity on Phaseolus vulgaris var. Pinto, while the same inoculum on Nicotiana glutinosa L., N. tabacum L. var. Xanthi-nc and Chenopodium amaranticolor Coste & Reyn produced no significant increase. Enhancement by sucrose was greatest when the TMV-RNA was in acetate buffer at pH 7.0 (133% increase) and distilled H 2 O (116% increase). No significant increase in infectivity occurred when citrate, Tris, and phosphate buffers were used at this pH. Maximum enhancement was obtained when sucrose and TMV-RNA were applied to the leaf simultaneously. Treatments which increased the infectivity of TMV-RNA or the susceptibility of leaves decreased enhancement by sucrose. Conversely, enhancement occurred only under conditions where relatively few lesions were induced by the control inoculum. Preinoculation heat-dark and dark treatment reduced enhancement by sucrose 80 and 77%, respectively. Other sugars, disaccharides and monosaccharides, and polyalcohols increased infectivity in a comparable fashion to sucrose. The molar concentrations for optimum enhancement by sucrose and glucose were similar, hence, the effect seemed dependent on the colligative properties of the sugars. No interaction of sugar with the RNA was detectable by ultraviolet spectrophotometry. Sucrose did not stabilize the TMV-RNA, but increased its rate of inactivation, especially if the sucrose had been autoclaved. The argument is advanced that enhancement is brought about by the action of sucrose on the cell penetration phase of the infection process. Sucrose does not enhance the infectivity of the virion, and for this reason the mechanism of penetration by the viral RNA is thought to be different.
The roots of western influence in Africa: An analysis of the conditioning process

Abstract The article examines the issue of the dominance of Western cultural imperialism in Africa, and the resistance to its continuation. In the case of the former, the study argues that the major Western Powers have maintained their cultural hegemony on the African continent through a web of socialization agents—education, ideology, culture and the mass media. This process has culminated in the acculturation of Africans: they have been conditioned to accept the supremacy of the Western value system and its attendant world view, and to denigrate their own. However, despite the pervasiveness of Western cultural imperialism, the last two decades have witnessed the re-emergence of resistance to the continuation of Western cultural imperialism. This resistance has emanated from five major sources: radical and nationalist regimes, the liberated African church, mass movements, the new breed of radical African intellectuals and the development of political consciousness as a consequence of the contradictions in the foreign policies of the major Western Powers.
The promise of new rotavirus vaccines.

Rotavirus disease kills approximately half a million children annually in developing countries and accounts for one third of hospitalizations for diarrhea worldwide.1 In 1999, global efforts to control the tremendous health burden of gastroenteritis suffered an abrupt and unanticipated setback. The first licensed rotavirus vaccine (RotaShield) was withdrawn from the U.S. market less than a year after its introduction because it was associated with an uncommon but potentially life-threatening adverse event, intussusception, at an estimated rate of 1 incident per 10,000 vaccine recipients.2 (Figure) Debate ensued over the possible use of this vaccine in developing countries, where the health . . .
An assessment of available ocean current hydrokinetic energy near the North Carolina shore

Abstract Ocean currents have the potential to supply electricity from a renewable source to coastal regions. The assessment of the potential energy that could be generated is the first step towards developing this resource. Data from the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) and high-frequency radar measurements have been used to assess an area extending from 34.85° N to 35.15°N, and from 74.85°W to 74.5°W near the North Carolina shore. The assessment shows the area to exhibit a power density of at least 500 W/m2 in over 50% of the days and 1000 W/m2 or higher one third of the studied period. The results also show the direction of the ocean velocity to be very uniform in the northeast direction, which would facilitate a future exploitation of the resource. In addition, statistical analysis applying Weibull, Rayleigh, and Gaussian distributions is also presented. It is shown that the use of a Weibull probability distribution facilitates the analysis of ocean velocity conditions and is also able to predict the power density with a high degree of accuracy.
Validated automatic segmentation of AMD pathology including drusen and geographic atrophy in SD-OCT images.

PURPOSE To automatically segment retinal spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images of eyes with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and various levels of image quality to advance the study of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)+drusen complex (RPEDC) volume changes indicative of AMD progression. METHODS A general segmentation framework based on graph theory and dynamic programming was used to segment three retinal boundaries in SD-OCT images of eyes with drusen and geographic atrophy (GA). A validation study for eyes with nonneovascular AMD was conducted, forming subgroups based on scan quality and presence of GA. To test for accuracy, the layer thickness results from two certified graders were compared against automatic segmentation results for 220 B-scans across 20 patients. For reproducibility, automatic layer volumes were compared that were generated from 0° versus 90° scans in five volumes with drusen. RESULTS The mean differences in the measured thicknesses of the total retina and RPEDC layers were 4.2 ± 2.8 and 3.2 ± 2.6 μm for automatic versus manual segmentation. When the 0° and 90° datasets were compared, the mean differences in the calculated total retina and RPEDC volumes were 0.28% ± 0.28% and 1.60% ± 1.57%, respectively. The average segmentation time per image was 1.7 seconds automatically versus 3.5 minutes manually. CONCLUSIONS The automatic algorithm accurately and reproducibly segmented three retinal boundaries in images containing drusen and GA. This automatic approach can reduce time and labor costs and yield objective measurements that potentially reveal quantitative RPE changes in longitudinal clinical AMD studies. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00734487.).
The Use of Variants of the Trail Making Test in Serial Assessment: A Construct Validity Study

The construct validity of three variants of the Trail Making Test was investigated using 162 undergraduate psychology students. During a 3-week period, the Trail Making Test of the Delis—Kaplan Exe...
Design of a Highly Efficient Photoelectrolytic Cell for Hydrogen Generation by Water Splitting: Application of TiO2-xCx Nanotubes as a Photoanode and Pt/TiO2 Nanotubes as a Cathode

This paper describes the design of a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell using carbon-doped titanium dioxide (TiO2-xCx) nanotube arrays as the photoanode and platinum, Pt nanoparticles incorporated in TiO2 (titania) nanotube arrays, as the cathode. The PEC cell is found to be highly efficient (i.e., gives good photocurrent at a low external bias, jp = 2.5−2.8 mA/cm2 at −0.4 VAg/AgCl), inexpensive (only 0.4 wt % Pt on TiO2), and robust (continuously run for 80 h without affecting the photocurrent) for hydrogen generation by water splitting under the illumination of simulated one sun intensity. The synthesis of the photoanode is carried out by the sonoelectrochemical anodization technique using aqueous ethylene glycol and ammonium fluoride solution. This anodization process gives self-organized hexagonally ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays with a wide range of nanotube structure, which possess good uniformity and conformability. As-synthesized titania nanotubes are annealed under reducing atmosphere (H2), which conv...
The application of thermodynamic methods in drug design

Abstract The optimization of lead compounds as viable drug candidates involves the optimization of their binding affinity towards the selected target. The binding affinity, K a , is determined by the Gibbs energy of binding, Δ G , which in turn is determined by the enthalpy, Δ H , and entropy, Δ S , changes (Δ G =Δ H − T Δ S ). In principle, many combinations of Δ H and Δ S values can give rise to the same Δ G value and, therefore, elicit the same binding affinity. However, enthalpically dominated ligands do not behave the same as entropically dominated ligands. Current paradigms in drug design usually generate highly hydrophobic and conformationally constrained ligands. The thermodynamic signature of these ligands is an entropically dominated binding affinity often accompanied by an unfavorable binding enthalpy. Conformationally constrained ligands cannot easily adapt to changes in the geometry of the binding site, being therefore highly susceptible to drug resistance mutations or naturally occurring genetic polymorphisms. The design of ligands with the capability to adapt to a changing target requires the introduction of certain elements of flexibility or the relaxation of some conformational constraints. Since these compounds pay a larger conformational entropy penalty upon binding, the optimization of their binding affinity requires the presence of a favorable binding enthalpy. In this paper, experimental and computational strategies aimed at identifying and optimizing enthalpic ligands will be discussed and applied to the case of HIV-1 protease inhibitors. It is shown that a thermodynamic guide to drug design permits the identification of drug candidates with a lower susceptibility to target mutations causing drug resistance.
Beyond reading and proficiency assessment: The rational cloze procedure as stimulus for integrated reading, writing, and vocabulary instruction and teacher–student interaction in ESL

Abstract Extending its use beyond the traditional role in reading and general proficiency assessment, this study examined the effects of the rational cloze procedure (RCP) as a stimulus in integrated reading, writing, and vocabulary instruction and teacher–student interaction. Participants were 39 secondary school multi-grade, multi-L1 low intermediate ESL learners (n = 39). Participants watched the video “Mulan,” performed a story rewriting task, and completed six RCP passages with vocabulary focus. Paired peer discussion and teacher–fronted discussion followed completion of each passage. Gains for receptive and productive vocabulary were significant, with a sentence level C-test showing ability to extend meanings to other contexts. Progress analysis of learning found significant dominance of learning from unknown to productive for single words and unknown to receptive for lexical phrases. Individual differences in vocabulary learning were greatest in the C-test. Compared with Grade 8 native speakers (n = 28), significant differences were found for post-test receptive single words but not lexical phrases. Post-test survey showed participants’ preference for teacher–student discussion of vocabulary in RCP passages over other RCP activities. Besides improving teacher–student interaction, the RCP appears to promote vocabulary learning, with individual differences in learning especially evident in productive use and extension of meaning to other contexts. Pedagogical implications are discussed.
Genetic Variation in Maize Breeding Populations with Different Numbers of Parents

The development of breeding populations from two related inbreds restricts the amount of variability expected in the cross. Our objective was to determine if, as expected from an additive genetic model, genetic variance in maize (Zea mays L.) decreases as the number of parents of the population decreases. Eight random F 2 plants derived from the same single cross were selected as parents and were selfed to form F 3 families. These F 3 families were intermated in a hierarchical manner to form populations with N = 1, 2, 4, or 8 parents. Testcross families were evaluated in four Minnesota environments in 2003. Marker heterozygosity at 62 simple sequence repeat loci decreased with N and had a near-linear association with expected heterozygosity. Testcross genetic variance (V TC ) generally decreased with N, although differences observed at N = 2,4, and 8 were mostly insignificant. For grain yield, V TC was significantly higher at N = 4 than at N = 2. The V TC for grain yield at N = 4 was slightly higher than the estimate of V TC in the base population, strongly indicating a genetic variance in excess of what is predicted by an additive genetic model for a small population. Differences in testcross means were likewise inconsistent with an additive genetic model. The results imply that nonadditive gene effects in elite maize inbreds help maintain genetic variance in small populations and that using multiple parents may help sustain genetic variability in advanced cycle breeding.
Recovered Protein and Reconditioned Water from Surimi Processing Waste

Micro- and ultrafiltration were utilized for recovery of proteins and for water recycling from commercial surimi processing waste water. The proteins recovered by microfiltration showed highly functional properties and composition comparable with proteins in regular surimi. Surimi with a substitution (10%) of recovered proteins did not diminish in gel hardness, elasticity, color, or water retention. Aerobic plate count, chemical oxygen demand, protease activity, and turbidity in the surimi waste waters were reduced by ultrafiltration. Results indicated a potential for re covering proteins to extend yield and recycling water
Synthesis of Ordered Metallic Nanowires inside Ordered Mesoporous Materials through Electroless Deposition

A new method for synthesizing metallic nanowires with diameters in the range of 10−100 A has been reported. This methodology is based on a combination of electroless deposition and template synthesis using ordered mesoporous materials. High-density metallic nanowires of copper and nickel were obtained.
Comparison of n –3 fatty acid sources in laying hen rations for improvement of whole egg nutritional quality: a review

The nutritional manipulation of the diets of laying hens to include sources of n-3 fatty acids promotes the deposition of these nutrients into egg yolk, n-3 Fatty acid-rich eggs may provide an exciting alternative food source for enhancing consumer intake of these proposed healthful fatty acids. Care must be taken when designing n-3 fatty acid-rich poultry rations, however, to assure that the resulting egg fatty acid profile is useful for promoting consumer health yet maintaining egg sensory quality. In study 1 laying hens were fed on diets supplemented with graded levels of menhaden oil (MO), rich in both eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3), for 4 weeks to determine maximal yolk fatty acid deposition attainable without sensory compromise. Yolk fatty acids were analysed for an additional 4 weeks, post-MO removal, to investigate yolk n-3 fatty acid tenacity. Dietary MO levels between 15 and 30 g/kg yielded the greatest yolk n-3 fatty acid content; however, only eggs from birds fed with 15 g MO/kg were considered acceptable by trained flavour panelists. Evaluation of eggs from hens fed with 15 g MO/ kg during storage verified that the shelf-life of enriched eggs was comparable with that of typical eggs. In study 2, graded levels of whole or ground flaxseed were used for the deposition of linolenic acid (LNA; 18:3n-3) and to determine in vivo production of DHA from dietary LNA for yolk deposition. Flaxseed form influenced yolk n-3 fatty acids only when given at 150 g/kg diet. In vivo production of DHA, while significant, was not enhanced by increasing the level of dietary flaxseed nor by grinding the seed. In the third study, a DHA-rich natural marine alga (MA) was investigated as an n-3 fatty acid supplement. Despite similar DHA profiles, dietary MA was found to be more efficient for yolk DHA deposition than dietary MO. These studies suggest that there are numerous viable n-3 fatty acid supplements for poultry rations. It must be realized, however, that the fatty acid profile of the final product varies substantially depending on which supplement is fed.
Patterning conductive copper by nanotransfer printing

We describe a method for patterning conductive copper over large areas by nanotransfer printing (nTP). This technique is purely additive and yields feature sizes in the 1–500 μm range. Unlike gold patterns printed in a similar manner, oligomers from poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stamps used in nTP permeate through the entire thickness of printed copper resulting in nonconductive patterns. Hot leaching the PDMS stamps in toluene prior to printing removes residual oligomers; printing with pretreated stamps reproducibly yields conductive copper patterns with an average resistivity of 31μΩ-cm.
Studying social change with survey data: examples from Louis Harris surveys.

The recent publication of a volume that identifies almost 14 000 repeated questions from Louis Harris surveys should greatly facilitate the use of survey data for the study of social change. Four problems that accompany trend analyses with survey data are discussed in this paper with special attention to Harris data. They involve sample composition, question context, question wording, and short term versus long term change.
Nonenzymic, biogenetic-like cyclization of a trienic acetal

Abstract The stereoselective synthesis of the trans,trans trienic acetal 9 is described. Alkylation of the lithio derivative of 2-methyl-1-hexene-5-yne ( 10 ) with ethylene oxide gave the acetylenic alcohol 11 , which on reduction with sodium in liquid ammonia afforded the trans diene 12 . Alkylation of the sodium enolate of acetylacetone with 13 , the mesylate derived from 12 , gave the dione 14 ; chlorination of 14 and deacylation of the resulting chloro dione 15 provided the α-chloro ketone 16 . Conversion of 16 to the trans,trans acetal 9 was accomplished by means of a Cornforth olefin synthesis. Thus, stereoselective attack by the Grignard reagent derived from 1-ethylenedioxy-4-chlorobutane afforded from 16 the chlorohydrin 17 , which on treatment with methanolic base was converted to the trans epoxide 18 . Deoxygenation of 18 to give the trans,trans acetal 9 was accomplished via the intermediacy of the iodohydrin 19 . Cyclization of the acetal 9 with stannic chloride in benzene gave as the sole isolable tricyclic products the 4b-methyldodecahydrophenanthrene mixtures 20 and 21 , with the “natural” trans,anti,trans ring fusion, in yields of 45 and 17.5%, respectively. In contrast, cyclization of 9 with stannic chloride in nitromethane at −25°C gave rise to the rearranged system 37 in 44% yield as the major tricyclic product. The structures of 20 and 21 were determined by degradation of each to the same ketone mixture 24 , conversion of 24 to the hydrocarbons 25a and 25b , and comparison of 25a and 25b with authentic materials prepared from the known ketone 26 . The structures of the rearranged tricyclic system 37 and its degradation products, inferred on spectroscopic grounds, were confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis of the p -bromobenzoate 48 derived from 37 .
Electrodeposited magnetic nanowires: arrays, field-induced assembly, and surface functionalization

Abstract Electrodeposition into nanoporous templates provides a means of fabricating large quantities of magnetic nanowires with diameters in the range 5 nm–10 μm, and lengths up to 60 μm. Several recent developments in nanoporous templates and Ni nanowires are described. Templates formed by α -particle irradiation of single-crystal mica are shown to contain diamond-shaped nanopores with uniform size and orientation. Ni prisms deposited in these templates show anisotropic magnetic properties along all three axes of the prisms. The manipulation of isolated Ni nanowires in a variety of suspensions, and a quantitative analysis of the dynamics of the self-assembly of these nanowires under the control of external magnetic fields is described. Surface functionalization with porphyrin molecules yields fluorescent Ni nanowires that have potential for use in biotechnology and other applications.
Improved efficiency in green polymer light-emitting diodes with air-stable electrodes

By dispersing an electron transporting molecular dopant into the active semiconducting luminescent polymer, we have achieved improved efficiencies for green light-emitting diodes (LEDs). These green emitting LEDs were fabricated by adding an electron transporting molecular dopant, 2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-l,3,4-oxadiazole (PBD), into the semiconducting luminescent polymer as the emitting layer in the polymer LEDs. The devices used poly(2-cholestanoxy-5-thexyldimethylsilyl-l,4-phenylene vinylene) (CS-PPV), a new soluble green light emitter, as the semiconducting luminescent polymer and either aluminum or indium as the electron injection electrodes. Quantum efficiencies of LEDs with the electron transporting molecular additive in the luminescent polymer and an Al electrode are about 0.3% photons per electron, better by a factor of 18 than similar devices made without the addition of the electron transport molecular dopant; quantum efficiencies of similar LEDs fabricated with an In electrode are 0.23% photons per electron, better by a factor of 16 than devices without the electron transport molecular additive.
Evaluation of Mitral Valve Disease Using TransesophagealEchocardiography

In the past 10 years, clinical application of transesophageal echocardiography (TE) has grown explosively. Intraoperative TE offers a powerful diagnostic and monitoring tool for the physicians in the cardiac operating room. The use of TE revolutionizes the assessment of patients with mitral valve disease. Surgical decisions are often altered based on the information obtained from TE. This review describes the basic features of TE as well as its uses in the intraoperative setting for evaluation of the mitral valve.
Comment on "Religiosity and United States suicide rates, 1972-1978".

This article comments on the Martin article on religiosity and suicide rates in the United States. Specifically, it is pointed out by the present author that Martin's data do not allow him to draw the conclusions that he offered in his article. A correlational study does not allow for cause and effect conclusions, and the use of group data precludes conclusions about individual cases. Language: en
Analysis of the effects of mobility on the grid location service in ad hoc networks

A mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is a collection of wireless nodes that cooperatively form a network in the absence of any infrastructure or administration. The grid location service (GLS) is a well-known distributed location service that tracks mobile node locations in ad hoc networks. GLS can be used as a location service in a geographic-based routing protocol to considerably improve the scaling properties of mobile networks. Previous studies of GLS have used the random way point (RWP) mobility model for the performance evaluation. While RWP is useful, it may not capture some important mobility characteristics, of scenarios where MANETs may be deployed. In this paper we re-visit the GLS architecture and evaluate its performance over a wide, variety of parameter settings and mobility models. We study the behavior of GLS under different mobility models including Freeway, Manhattan and Group mobility models. These models capture interesting mobility characteristics like spatial dependence, temporal dependence and geographic restrictions. Our results show that protocol performance is indeed sensitive to the mobility model. We attribute this significant variance of performance to the interaction between the dynamics of the network connectivity and the protocol mechanisms, and analyze such interaction in our study. One interesting finding is that for group mobility, where; node movement is highly correlated and location discovery is conceivably simpler, the performance of GLS in fact degrades instead of improving. This different behavior for group mobility points to a subtle interaction and deeper coupling between the mobility model and the underlying grid.
A computerized cellular imaging system for high content analysis in Monastrol suppressor screens

In this paper, we describe a new bioimage informatics system developed for high content screening (HCS) applications with the goal to extract and analyze phenotypic features of hundreds of thousands of mitotic cells simultaneously. The system introduces the algorithm of multi-phenotypic mitotic analysis (MMA) and integrates that with algorithms of correlation analysis and compound clustering used in gene microarray studies. The HCS-MMA system combines different phenotypic information of cellular images obtained from three-channel acquisitions to distinguish and label individual cells at various phases of mitosis. The proposed system can also be used to extract and count the number of cells in each phase in cell-based assay experiments and archive the extracted data into a structured database for more sophisticated statistical and data analysis. To recognize different mitotic phases, binary patterns are set up based on a known biological mitotic spindle model to characterize cellular morphology of actin, microtubules, and DNA. To illustrate its utility, the HCS-MMA system has been applied to screen the quantitative response of 320 different drug compounds in suppressing Monastrol. The results are validated and evaluated by comparing the performance of HCS-MMA with visual analysis, as well as clustering of the drug compounds under evaluation.
Hierarchical Search for Word Alignment

We present a simple yet powerful hierarchical search algorithm for automatic word alignment. Our algorithm induces a forest of alignments from which we can efficiently extract a ranked k-best list. We score a given alignment within the forest with a flexible, linear discriminative model incorporating hundreds of features, and trained on a relatively small amount of annotated data. We report results on Arabic-English word alignment and translation tasks. Our model outperforms a GIZA++ Model-4 baseline by 6.3 points in F-measure, yielding a 1.1 Bleu score increase over a state-of-the-art syntax-based machine translation system.
Blurring Boundaries: Two Groups of Girls Collaborate on a Wiki

In 2006, a secondary English and feminist studies teacher created a course and designed a study around a reading exchange for eighth-grade girls from two vastly different communities. Girls from a school in a northeastern state read young adult novels and wrote about their reading and related topics with girls from Washington, DC on a wikispace created for their collaborations. The participants wrote reading responses, posted videos, and deliberated over questions related to their reading and topics related to the challenges of growing up as girls. In addition, they co-authored a girls' zine for a wider audience. In May, 2006, the girls met face-to-face to continue their work together. This study was designed to address the question: What happens when girls from different locations and backgrounds read and write together, and how might the internet facilitate this exchange? This article describes a part of that exchange.
Yield optimization for third party library elements

Optimization of semiconductor product yield requires control of systematic defects. A variety of industry tools are available to check designs for systematic layouts that will be difficult to manufacture. Because of the cost associated with setting up the rules for a checking tool and the cost of licenses needed to evaluate designs, manufacturing process lines typically enable a limited set of tools to evaluate designs for systematic yield sensitivity. Semiconductor product design systems typically incorporate library elements designed by third party design companies. When third party library suppliers do not have access to the licenses or expertise to use the tools selected by the target manufacturing line, a barrier is created to having all library elements in a semiconductor design system checked to the same level. This results in a yield exposure for library elements that are not evaluated and fixed. This paper describes a method used to enable systematic yield evaluation for 32nm library elements procured from third party library suppliers. The third party library supplier provides layout data to the contracting library owner for yield sensitivity analysis. Changes are prioritized and fed back to the third party library supplier. This method interlocks design practices with the third party library supplier and provides a means for the contracting library owner to evaluate third party library elements and provide feedback to optimize the design.
Discovering and ranking web services with BASIL: a personalized approach with biased focus

In this paper we present a personalized web service discovery and ranking technique for discovering and ranking relevant data-intensive web services. Our first prototype -- called BASIL -- supports a personalized view of data-intensive web services through source-biased focus. BASIL provides service discovery and ranking through source-biased probing and source-biased relevance metrics. Concretely, the BASIL approach has three unique features: (1) It is able to determine in very few interactions whether a target service is relevant to the given source service by probing the target with very precise probes; (2) It can evaluate and rank the relevant services discovered based on a set of source-biased relevance metrics; and (3) It can identify interesting types of relationships for each source service with respect to other discovered services, which can be used as value-added metadata for each service. We also introduce a performance optimization technique called source-biased probing with focal terms to further improve the effectiveness of the basic source-biased service discovery algorithm. The paper concludes with a set of initial experiments showing the effectiveness of the BASIL system.
Simulation-based engineering of complex adaptive systems using a classifier block

A complex adaptive system (CAS) is a network of communicating, intelligent agents where each agent adapts its behavior in order to collaborate with other agents to achieve overall system goals. Further, the overall system often exhibits emergent behavior that can not be achieved by any proper subset of agents alone. A graphical simulation library called Operational Evaluation Modeling for Context-Sensitive Systems (OpEMCSS) has been developed to simulate CAS. This simulation library includes a classifier event action block that is a forward chaining, expert system controller. The classifier event action block employs evolutionary rule induction methods to discover rules during system design that achieve CAS agent self-organization and adaptation. A part production system is discussed that includes a workflow manager agent that employs the classifier event action block.
Cutaneous manifestations of Epstein-Barr virus infection

The most common cutaneous manifestations of EBV include IM, OHL, and cutaneous lymphoproliferative disorders. Infectious mononucleosis is a self-limited manifestation of acute EBV infection. The transient rash that occurs quite commonly in patients with IM who have received antibiotic therapy is an erythematous, maculopapular eruption, usually located on the trunk and upper extremities. Oral hairy leukoplakia occurs in immunosuppressed HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals. In HIV-positive individuals, it serves as an indicator of disease severity and rapid progression to AIDS. The presence of OHL in an individual should prompt the clinician to perform a through history-taking and investigation of immune status. Cutaneous lymphoproliferative disorders associated with EBV occur in individuals with congenital or acquired immunodeficiency syndromes.
Dose-finding clinical trial design for ordinal toxicity grades using the continuation ratio model: an extension of the continual reassessment method

Background Various dose-finding clinical trial designs, including the continual reassessment method (CRM), dichotomize toxicity outcomes based on prespecified dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) criteria. This loss of toxicity information is particularly inefficient due to the small sample sizes in phase I trials, especially when Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE v4.0) are an established ordinal toxicity grading classification already used in the clinical practice.Purpose The purpose of this simulation study is to incorporate ordinal toxicity grades as specified by CTCAE v4.0 using a continuation ratio (CR) model in the likelihood-based CRM.Methods This simulation study compares the CR model design to the dichotomous CRM as well as an ordinal CRM that implements the proportional odds (PO) model. We compare six scenarios for model performance based on various safety and efficiency criteria and consider a range of dose–toxicity relationship models, including CR models, PO models, and models tha...
Evaluation of Total Plasma Nitric Oxide Concentrations in Broilers Infused Intravenously with Sodium Nitrite, Lipopolysaccharide, Aminoguanidine, and Sodium Nitroprusside

Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent vasodilator that is synthesized by constitutive and inducible isoforms of the enzyme NO synthase (eNOS and iNOS, respectively). The half-life of NO averages only 3 to 4 s in biological fluids, where it is rapidly converted to the stable oxidation products nitrite (NO2-) and nitrate (NO3-). Our objectives were to use 2 commercial kits to measure total plasma NO, as NO2- + NO3-, and to assess plasma NO values during experimental protocols designed to influence NO accumulation in the plasma. One kit employed copper-coated cadmium as a catalyst for reducing NO3- to NO2-; the second kit employed the enzyme NO3- reductase for the same purpose. Both then employed Griess reagent for the colorimetric determination of NO2- as a measure of total plasma NO. Broilers in Experiment 1 were infused i.v. with solutions containing increasing concentrations of sodium NO2-. Broilers in Experiment 2 were injected with 1 mg of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is known to stimulate iNOS activity. Both commercial kits successfully detected increases in total plasma NO attributable to ongoing i.v. NO2- infusion or to increased iNOS expression at 5 h after the LPS injection. In Experiment 3, we compared the total plasma NO responses to LPS in the presence and absence of aminoguanidine (AG), a selective inhibitor of iNOS. The AG significantly attenuated the LPS-mediated increase in total plasma NO at 5 h post-injection. In Experiment 4, broilers were infused with sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an exogenous NO donor molecule that previously had been shown to lower the pulmonary arterial pressure in broilers. The SNP infusion did substantially reduce the pulmonary arterial pressure, but an increase in total plasma NO was not detected during the SNP infusion. Overall, NO accumulation in the plasma was successfully detected after sustained infusion of NaNO2 and administration of LPS for 5 h, but biologically effective levels of NO released from SNP were not detected. Therefore, total plasma NO concentrations (assayed as NO2- + NO3-) qualitatively reflect whole-body NO synthesis, but biologically relevant quantities of NO may be produced at levels that cannot be detected by colorimetric assays.
Influence of clustering on the paramagnetic behavior of a CuNi alloy

Abstract The equation usually reserved for the critical behavior of a ferromagnet just above T c also describes the susceptibility of Cu 0.47 Ni 0.53 over a very large temperature range. The parameters, which vary with heat treatment suggest lamellar clustering.
Evaluation as moral critique

Moral inquiry cannot become a practical force in either evaluation or business unless we rethink our current notion of evaluation as scientifically conceived social inquiry and our idea that business is an instrumentality.
On the radius of convergence of self-excited feedback connected analytic nonlinear systems

This paper describes the radius of convergence of a self-excited feedback interconnection of two convergent Fliess operators. For either locally convergent or globally convergent operators, a fundamental and achievable positive lower bound on the radius of convergence for the composite system is computed.
A comparison of impurity screening between limiter and divertor plasmas in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak

A series of experiments has been carried out on Alcator C-Mod to compare impurity penetration between similar limiter and divertor discharges. Known amounts of recycling impurities (Ar and Ne) and non-recycling impurities (N2 and CH4) are injected by gas puffing, and the fraction ending up in the plasma is deduced from spectroscopic measurements. The poloidal location of the gas injection is also varied. It is found that during the most recent run campaign, limiter plasmas have 1–3 times higher impurity penetration than divertor plasmas which detached, but 5–20 times higher penetration compared to divertor plasmas which remained attached. During the previous run campaign, limiter plasmas had only 1–3 times higher penetration than attached divertor plasmas. These ratios are the same for both recycling and non-recycling species. There are strong dependencies on gas puff location as well. The reason for the difference in the two run campaigns is not understood, but may be related to gas leakage paths behind the divertor structure, which were plugged up between the two campaigns.
When Does Diffusion Matter? Explaining the Spread of Structural Pension Reforms Across Nations

When and where is cross-national diffusion an important determinant of policy innovation? I posit that the characteristics of a policy innovation—whether it imposes high or low “sunk” costs on adopters—and country attributes such as wealth, mediate the importance of diffusion in domestic policy choices. Competing risks analysis of two structural pension reform models in 71 developing and industrialized countries supports these hypotheses. Peer diffusion weighs heavily in the adoption of the costly “funded” defined-contribution pension reform model, and does so principally among middle-income nations, while the less-costly “notional” defined-contribution pension reform is not governed by diffusion.
Social Aggression and Resource Conflict Across the Female Life-Course in the Bolivian Amazon

:::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::: ::::::::: This work explores sources of conflict among forager-horticulturalist women in Amazonian Bolivia, and applies life history theory as a tool for understanding competitive and cooperative social networking behaviors among women. In this study, 121 Tsimane women and girls were interviewed regarding current and past disagreements with others in their community to identify categories of contested resources that instigate interpersonal conflicts, often resulting in incidences of social aggression. Analysis of frequency data on quarrels (N = 334) reveals that women target several diverse categories of resources, with social types appearing as frequently as food and mates. It was also found that the focus of women’s competition changes throughout the life-course, consistent with the notion that current vs. future reproduction and quantity-quality trade-offs might have different influences on competition and social conflict over resources within women’s social networks across different age groups. Aggr. Behav. 38:194–207, 2012. C � 2012 Wiley