cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Iconic Gestures Prime Related Concepts: An ERP Study

To assess priming by iconic gestures, we recorded EEG (at 29 scalp sites) in two experiments while adults watched short, soundless videos of spontaneously produced, cospeech iconic gestures followed by related or unrelated probe words. In Experiment 1, participants classified the relatedness between gestures and words. In Experiment 2, they attended to stimuli, and performed an incidental recognition memory test on words presented during the EEG recording session. Event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to the onset of probe words were measured, along with response latencies and word recognition rates. Although word relatedness did not affect reaction times or recognition rates, contextually related probe words elicited less-negative ERPs than did unrelated ones between 300 and 500 msec after stimulus onset (N400) in both experiments. These findings demonstrate sensitivity to semantic relations between iconic gestures and words in brain activity engendered during word comprehension.
Exploring contextual models in chemical patent search

We explore the development of probabilistic retrieval models for integrating term statistics with entity search using multiple levels of document context to improve the performance of chemical patent search. A distributed indexing model was developed to enable efficient named entity search and aggregation of term statistics at multiple levels of patent structure including individual words, sentences, claims, descriptions, abstracts, and titles. The system can be scaled to an arbitrary number of compute instances in a cloud computing environment to support concurrent indexing and query processing operations on large patent collections. The query processing algorithm for patent prior art search uses information extraction techniques to identify candidate entities and distinctive terms from the query patent’s title, abstract, description, and claim sections. Structured queries integrating terms and entities in context are automatically generated to test the validity of each section of potentially relevant patents. The system was deployed across 15 Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) instances to support efficient indexing and query processing of the relatively large 100G+ collection of chemical patent documents. We evaluated several retrieval models for integrating statistics of candidate entities with term statistics at multiple levels of patent structure to identify relevant patents for prior art search. Our top performing retrieval model integrating contextual evidence from multiple levels of patent structure resulted in bpref measurements of 0.8929 for the prior art search task, exceeding the top results reported from the 2009 TREC Chemistry track.
Stages in the Life Cycle of Eimeria tenella Affected by Nicarbazin

Abstract THE increasing use of coccidiostats for some time has stimulated interest in the way in which these compounds affect the parasites. Goff (1941), and Goff and Upp (1943) reported that sulfur affected the sporozoites of Eimeria tenella. Farr and Wehr (1947) showed the second generation schizonts and their contained merozoites to be the stages most susceptible to sulfamethazine. The anticoccidial activity of nicarbazin against E. tenella infections in chickens has been clearly demonstrated. Little attention has been given, however, to the specific reaction of the parasite to this drug, or to the stage or stages of the coccidian life cycle upon which nicarbazin exerts its effect. The experiments discussed in this report were designed in an attempt to determine the stage or stages of the life cycle of E. tenella affected by nicarbazin when the drug was fed to chicks which had been experimentally infected with this parasite. MATERIALS AND …
Integral equation analysis of high-gain pyramidal horn antennas

The authors present a full-wave stepped-waveguide and hybrid field integral equation (HFIE) method which provides an effective solution for analytic modeling of high-gain pyramidal horn antennas. It is demonstrated that the analysis of high-gain pyramidal horn antennas can be accurately accomplished using the presented stepped-waveguide and HFIE method. The analysis performed by this method is far more accurate for the high-gain pyramidal horns than that of approximate methods. Furthermore, this method can be used to predict the voltage standing wave ratios, aperture field distributions, and cross-polarization patterns of the antenna. >
Structure of a Ternary Transcription Activation Complex

Abstract The cI protein of bacteriophage λ (λcI) activates transcription by binding a DNA operator just upstream of the promoter and interacting with the RNA polymerase σ subunit domain 4 (σ 4 ). We determined the crystal structure of the λcI/σ 4 /DNA ternary complex at 2.3 A resolution. There are no conformational changes in either protein, which interact through an extremely small interface involving at most 6 amino acid residues. The interactions of the two proteins stabilize the binding of each protein to the DNA. The results provide insight into how activators can operate through a simple cooperative binding mechanism but affect different steps of the transcription initiation process.
Continuum Model of Epitaxial Roughening

A continuum equation for epitaxial and thin-film growth in which diffusion along the surface is the dominant relaxation process and the full diffusion along the surface is taken into account, is studied. The interface width is found to grow linearly with time (height) in agreement with recent experiments. At late times dynamic scaling breaks down and the surface develops a characteristic morphology which is similar to that found in experiments.
The GBT precision telescope control system

The NRAO Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is a 100m diameter advanced single dish radio telescope designed for a wide range of astronomical projects with special emphasis on precision imaging. Open-loop adjustments of the active surface, and real-time corrections to pointing and focus on the basis of structural temperatures already allow observations at frequencies up to 50GHz. Our ultimate goal is to extend the observing frequency limit up to 115GHz; this will require a two dimensional tracking error better than 1.3", and an rms surface accuracy better than 210μm. The Precision Telescope Control System project has two main components. One aspect is the continued deployment of appropriate metrology systems, including temperature sensors, inclinometers, laser rangefinders and other devices. An improved control system architecture will harness this measurement capability with the existing servo systems, to deliver the precision operation required. The second aspect is the execution of a series of experiments to identify, understand and correct the residual pointing and surface accuracy errors. These can have multiple causes, many of which depend on variable environmental conditions. A particularly novel approach is to solve simultaneously for gravitational, thermal and wind effects in the development of the telescope pointing and focus tracking models. Our precision temperature sensor system has already allowed us to compensate for thermal gradients in the antenna, which were previously responsible for the largest "non-repeatable" pointing and focus tracking errors. We are currently targetting the effects of wind as the next, currently uncompensated, source of error.
Canagliflozin use in patients with renal impairment—Utility of quantitative clinical pharmacology analyses in dose optimization

Canagliflozin (INVOKANA™) is approved as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Canagliflozin inhibits renal sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2), thereby, reducing reabsorption of filtered glucose and increasing urinary glucose excretion. Given the mechanism of action of SGLT2 inhibitors, we assessed the interplay between renal function, efficacy (HbA1c reduction), and safety (renal adverse reactions). The focus of this article is to highlight the FDA's quantitative clinical pharmacology analyses that were conducted to support the regulatory decision on dosing in patients with renal impairment (RI). The metrics for assessment of efficacy for T2DM drugs is standard; however, there is no standard method for evaluation of renal effects for diabetes drugs. Therefore, several analyses were conducted to assess the impact of canagliflozin on renal function (as measured by eGFR) based on available data. These analyses provided support for approval of canagliflozin in T2DM patients with baseline eGFR ≥ 45 mL/min/1.73 m(2) , highlighting a data-driven approach to dose optimization. The availability of a relatively rich safety dataset (ie, frequent and early measurements of laboratory markers) in the canagliflozin clinical development program enabled adequate assessment of benefit-risk balance in various patient subgroups based on renal function.
Effects of Hypercapnia on BP in Hypoalbuminemic and Nagase Analbuminemic Rats

Study objective To determine if animals with abnormally low albumin levels are more susceptible to the effects of hypercapnia on BP compared to normal animals. Design Prospective, controlled laboratory experiment. Setting University research laboratory. Animals Eighteen male Sprague-Dawley rats: 6 rats 10 to 12 weeks old (young Sprague-Dawley [YSD]), 6 rats 6 to 9 months old (old Sprague-Dawley [OSD]), and 6 rats 10 to 12 weeks old (Nagase analbuminemic mutant Sprague-Dawley [NAR]). Methods Under general anesthesia and paralysis, we varied the Paco 2 by changing the respiratory rate on mechanical ventilation. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was monitored in a continuous fashion. We obtained arterial blood for blood gas and electrolyte analysis, and nitric oxide (NO) production. Results OSD rats had reduced serum albumin, while NAR rats were analbuminemic. Although NAR animals had a decreased buffer capacity compared to age-matched control animals (0.010 vs 0.013, p Conclusions These findings suggest that analbuminemic or hypoalbuminemic rats are not more susceptible to hypercapnia-induced hemodynamic instability. Baseline values for apparent strong ion difference are lower in NA rats consistent with a reduced buffer base resulting from analbuminemia.
Adaptive jammer suppression using decision feedback in a spread-spectrum receiver

The authors compare the performance of three least-mean-square (LMS) adaptive structures which supplement direct-sequence (DS) spread-spectrum techniques in the suppression of jammers. In addition to a single-input LMS adaptive structure without decision feedback, two LMS structures which use decision feedback are evaluated. Probability-of-error results are presented, and convergence properties are investigated. It is concluded that LMS adaptive filtering improves the probability-of-error performance of a DS spread-spectrum system operating in the presence of stationary single-tone jammers. It is also shown that when compared with the no feedback case, LMS adaptive systems with decision feedback do not degrade probability of error performance; however, decision feedback does not always appreciably improve system error rates. >
Large-N baryonic soliton and quarks

Starting from Witten's large-N power counting we derive an equation identical to the so-called bootstrap condition of strong-coupling theory. The large-N baryons are therefore characterized by representations of the strong-coupling group (SCG). It is pointed out that the bootstrap relation is quite general and valid when the semiclassical expansion about soliton solutions is at work. The collective coordinates of the soliton correspond to the coordinates of induced representations of the SCG. One of the interesting representations of the SCG is the quark representation and this makes a bridge between the Skyrme solitons and the nonrelativistic quark model. We explicitly show that the induced representation is derived from N static quarks with N..-->..infinity. We further emphasize the generality and power of the algebraic method. For this purpose we present a modified chiral bag model which exhibits the algebraic relations in large N and approaches the Skyrme-soliton picture in the zero-bag-radius limit.
On combinatorial design spaces for the configuration design of product families

For typical optimization problems, the design space of interest is well defined: It is a subset of Rn, where n is the number of (continuous) variables. Constraints are often introduced to eliminate infeasible regions of this space from consideration. Many engineering design problems can be formulated as search in such a design space. For configuration design problems, however, the design space is much more difficult to define precisely, particularly when constraints are present. Configuration design spaces are discrete and combinatorial in nature, but not necessarily purely combinatorial, as certain combinations represent infeasible designs. One of our primary design objectives is to drastically reduce the effort to explore large combinatorial design spaces. We believe it is imperative to develop methods for mathematically defining design spaces for configuration design. The purpose of this paper is to outline our approach to defining configuration design spaces for engineering design, with an emphasis on the mathematics of the spaces and their combinations into larger spaces that more completely capture design requirements. Specifically, we introduce design spaces that model physical connectivity, functionality, and assemblability considerations for a representative product family, a class of coffeemakers. Then, we show how these spaces can be combined into a “common” product variety design space. We demonstrate how constraints can be defined and applied to these spaces so that feasible design regions can be directly modeled. Additionally, we explore the topological and combinatorial properties of these spaces. The application of this design space modeling methodology is illustrated using the coffeemaker product family.
Amino ketones: Kinetics of in vitro antibacterial activity

α- and β-Amino ketone analogs of amino acids were tested in vitro against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus anthracis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Candida spp. by serial broth dilution and agar diffusion methods and found to be active as growth-inhibitors at concentration levels which varied with the test culture. The study of the growth curve of a test bacterium in a liquid medium with and without the presence of the drug provides an accurate means for the in vitro evaluation of the antibacterial activity of potential chemotherapeutic agents. It serves also as a means for studying the dynamics as well as the mode of antibacterial action. Since the generation time and the numbers of generations of microbial growth occur before stationary phase can be calculated, the inhibitory activity of different drugs may be compared on this basis.
Experimental Reduction of Transonic Fan Forced Response by Inlet Guide Vane Flow Control

The main contributor to the high cycle fatigue of compressor blades is the response to aerodynamic forcing functions generated by an upstream row of stators or inlet guide vanes. Resonant response to engine order excitation at certain rotor speeds can be especially damaging. Studies have shown that flow control by trailing edge blowing (TEB) can reduce stator wake strength and the amplitude of the downstream rotor blade vibrations generated by the unsteady stator-rotor interaction. In the present study, the effectiveness of TEB to reduce forced fan blade vibrations was evaluated in a modern single-stage transonic fan rig. Data were collected for multiple uniform full-span TEB conditions over a range of rotor speeds including multiple modal resonance crossings. Resonant response sensitivity was generally characterized by a robust region of strong attenuation. The baseline resonant amplitude of the first torsion mode, which exceeded the endurance limit on the critical blade, was reduced by more than 80% with TEB at 1.0% of the total rig flow. The technique was also found to be modally robust; similar reductions were achieved for all tested modal crossings, including more than 90% reduction in the second leading-edge bending response using 0.7% of the rig flow.
A Three-Dimensional Transient Numerical Study of a Close-Coupled Catalytic Converter Internal Flow

Recently, the new regulations on emission standards have prompted a reconsideration of the design of automotive catalytic converters in order to reduce the light-off period of the catalyst. The catalytic converter light-off period is very Important since almost 80% of the emissions from vehicles occur within the first three minutes after cold start in the FTP-75 test. In order to meet these new regulations, current studies have suggested that the catalyst should be “close-coupled”; that is fitted close to the engine exhaust manifold. In order to design “close-coupled” converters, the designer may have to resort to truncated inlet and outlet cones, or distorted inlet pipes due to space limitations. Hence, it is very difficult to achieve good mixing of the exhaust gas, and a good flow distribution at the inlet cross section of the monolith. Based on such a current status in the study of the catalytic converter, the present work focuses on the time-dependent flow patterns, both in the exhaust manifold and the catalytic converter using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). A three-dimensional grid model of an engine exhaust manifold and a close-coupled catalytic converter was developed and analyzed. The flow simulations were performed using KIVA-3 for non-reacting flow fields. These simulations were performed with transient boundary conditions applied at the inlet to the exhaust runners to simulate the opening and closing of exhaust valves. The CFD results were used to study flow uniformity under different operating conditions and to identify the best location of the oxygen sensor.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Recent updates in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), characterized by chronic airways inflammation and progressive airflow limitation, is a common, preventable and treatable disease. Worldwide, COPD is a major cause of morbidity and mortality; smoking tobacco is the most important risk factor. This translational review of recent updates in COPD care for the primary care audience, includes recommendations from the 2015 Global Initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease (GOLD) report on diagnosis, pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment, prevalence of comorbidities, management of exacerbations and the asthma and COPD overlap syndrome, with a focus on the importance and benefit of physical activity and exercise in COPD patients. Exacerbations and comorbidities contribute to the overall severity of COPD in individual patients. Management of exacerbations includes reducing the impact of the current exacerbation and preventing development of subsequent episodes. Healthcare professionals need to be alert to comorbidities, such as cardiovascular disease, anxiety/depression, lung cancer, infections and diabetes, which are common in COPD patients and can have a significant impact on HRQoL and prognosis. Pulmonary rehabilitation is recommended by a number of guidelines for all symptomatic COPD patients, regardless of severity, and involves exercise training, patient education, nutritional advice and psychosocial support. At all stages of COPD, regular physical activity and exercise can aid symptom control, improve HRQoL, reduce rates of hospitalization, and improve morbidity and respiratory mortality. Healthcare professionals play a pivotal role in improving HRQoL and health-related outcomes in COPD patients to meet their specific needs and in providing appropriate diagnosis, management and advice on smoking cessation.
Learning a Tutorial Dialogue Policy for Delayed Feedback

Creating natural language tutorial dialogue systems that realize effective strategies is a central challenge for intelligent tutoring systems research. Traditional approaches generally require large development time, do not generalize well across domains, and do not match the flexibility and natural language sophistication of human tutors. A promising approach that may offer several benefits is data-driven system development, in which a dialogue policy is learned from corpora of human tutorial dialogue. To date these learning approaches typically focus on optimizing the tutor’s choice of act, and do not explicitly model the instances in which the tutor chose not to act. This paper reports on a hidden Markov modeling (HMM) approach within human textual tutorial dialogue that explicitly represents the tutors’ choices not to intervene. The results show that an HMM that models tutor non-interventions predicts tutor moves significantly better than a model that does not explicitly represent the non-interventions. The findings have implications for automatically modeling tutorial strategies and for learning dialogue policies from corpora.
Land-use Change: Deforestation by land grabbers

Leases of land concessions in Cambodia have accelerated in the last ten years. An analysis using high-resolution maps and official documents shows that deforestation rates in the land concessions are higher than in other areas.
Electrocatalytic and supercapacitor performance of Phosphorous and Nitrogen co-doped Porous Carbons synthesized from Aminated Tannins

Abstract A phosphorus and nitrogen co-doped carbon material (PNDC) was synthesized from aminated tannin and polyphosphoric acid by a rapid and highly efficient microwave synthetic technique. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study was useful in the identification of nitrogen and phosphorous environments in a sp2 hybridized carbon lattice. The PNDC was found to be a porous material with a surface area of 433 m2 g−1. PNDC sample exhibited excellent thermal stability and the Raman spectroscopic studies were used for analyzing defects in the sp2 hybridized carbon lattice. This material has promising electrochemical applications, especially for catalyzing oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells and for charge storage in supercapacitors. The oxygen reduction capability of PNDC was investigated in 0.1 M KOH solution, and rotating disk and ring disk electrode studies were performed to identify the mechanism of oxygen reduction. The capacitative behavior of the PNDC was investigated in 6 M KOH and specific capacitance was determined to be 161 F g−1 due to the electric double layer charge storage phenomenon.
Notes from the Field: Good-bye Mandela - Sorrow and Struggle in South Africa

On December 5th, 2013, I was in the midst of conducting research in Cape Town, South Africa. Just before midnight, my husband opened the homepage of the New York Times; smiling up at him was a photograph of former South African President Nelson Mandela. After a surprised silence my husband said: “He’s gone. Mandela has died.” From that moment, through an official ten days of mourning, tributes to Mandela’s life and legacy dominated the South African media and much of daily life. In what follows, I juxtapose the experience of witnessing mourning for Mandela with my then-concurrent research alongside residents of informal settlements in Khayelitsha, an area at Cape Town’s edge. Internal migration has fueled massive growth in South African cities during the post-Apartheid era. Significant urban populations now live in informal settlements—shack communities squatting often on public land in urban margins, generally with limited access to water, sanitation, and electricity. My research examines the impact of the post-Apartheid legacy upon daily life and activism, asking how residents engage both the promises and realities of democracy after twenty years. Mandela’s position as a hero of the anti-Apartheid struggle, and as the country’s first post-Apartheid president, is tied up not only in the mythos of the new South Africa but, increasingly, in yet unfulfilled promises of resource redistribution and opportunity. In my academic work it has been challenging to talk productively about my experience of moving between Cape Town’s physically proximate but radically different social worlds. I utilize these edited excerpts from my fieldnotes1 in order to take an
Fair Followers: Expanding Access to Generic Pharmaceuticals for Low- and Middle-Income Populations

On innovation grounds, pharmaceutical patents are unnecessary in low income populations, since such markets cannot do much to support global pharmaceutical profits. The public health needs of low income populations require patented drugs to be manufactured at the marginal cost of production, without R&D cost recovery. Nonrivalrous access to pharmaceutical knowledge achieves both goals simultaneously.
House and Stable Fly Seasonal Abundance, Larval Development Substrates, and Natural Parasitism on Small Equine Farms in Florida

House flies, Musca domestica Linnaeus, and stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) (Diptera: Muscidae), are common pests on horse farms. The successful use of pupal parasitoids for management of these pests requires knowledge of seasonal fluctuations and biology of the flies as well as natural parasitism levels. However, these dynamics have not been investigated on small equine farms. A 1-year field study began in July 2010, in north central Florida, to determine adult fly population levels and breeding areas on four small equine farms. Weekly surveillance showed that pest flies were present year-round, though there were differences in adult population levels among farms and seasons. Fly development was not confirmed on two of the four small farms, suggesting that subtle differences in husbandry may adversely affect the development of immature flies. In six substrates previously identified as the most common among the farms, stable fly puparia were found overwhelmingly in hay mixed with equine manure and house fly puparia were found in fresh pine shavings mixed with equine manure. Natural parasitism was minimal as expected, but greatest numbers of natural parasitoids collected were of the genus Spalangia. Differences in adult and immature fly numbers recovered emphasizes the need for farm owners to confirm on-site fly development prior to purchase and release of biological control agents. Additionally, due to the low natural parasitism levels and domination of parasitism by Spalangia cameroni, augmentative releases using this species may be the most effective.
“The self-destruction of diversity”: a tale of the last days in judah's Negev towns

El sistema prospero de asentamientos que se desarrollo en la frontera del desierto del Negev hacia fines de la Edad de Hierro se caracterizo por la presencia de varios grupos etnicos, incluyendo asentamientos permanentes y elementos nomadicos— muchos de los cuales participaron del comercio arabigo de larga distancia. Esta realidad multicultural experimentada por judaitas, edomitas y arabes esta reflejada en los ricos conjuntos arqueologicos y paleograficos descubiertos en las ciudades del Negev, atestiguando las diversas tradiciones estilisticas. Por desgracia, el floreciente sistema urbano llego a un abrupto fin—marcado por una fuerte destruccion de estratos y patrones de abandono—el cual altero el sistema de asentamientos de la region y la economia de subsistencia durante muchos anos. Tradicionalmente, los investigadores han sugerido que uno de dos villanos ocasiono este violento fin: el imperio babilonico o el reino edomita—esto es, fuerzas externas. Un estudio renovado de la cultura material de finales de la Edad de Hierro IIc identifica una tercera posibilidad. De acuerdo con esta reconstruccion, siguiendo el declive del imperio asirio, la sociedad de la Edad de Hierro II del Negev experimento un incremento en la tension socio-etnica entre grupos semi-nomades de orientacion edomita por un lado y, por el otro, grupos sedentarios judaitas. Este conflicto ascendente llego eventualmente al colapso inevitable de una delicada simbiosis que habia florecido en la region por mas de un siglo
Transmission of Barley Yellow-Dwarf Virus by Four Biotypes of the Corn Leaf Aphid, Rhopalosiphum maidis

Four biotypes of the corn leaf aphid, Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch), were used to transmit the AG-l strain of barley yellow-dwarf virus. Biotype KS-2 Was a highly efficient vector (87%), followed by biotypes KS-1 and KS-3 (44 and 46%, respectively). Biotype KS-4 was consistently less efficient (28%). All 4 biotypes were efficient enough, however, to be potentially important vectors in the field. Although they differed in transmission efficiency, no vector specificity was characteristic of any of the aphid biotypes studied.
Flow Control Using Multiple Miniature Shock Tube Actuators

There is a critical need to develop reliable high control authority flow control actuators for high speed applications. This paper introduces one such actuator namely, the multiple driver shock tube actuator. The objective of this paper is to characterize and compare the result of the multiple driver shock tube actuator with that of a single driver shock tube actuator. This paper also reports on the effectiveness of multiple shock tube actuators in cavity noise reduction.
Economic Impact of Industries Including the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind

The Pennsylvania Association for the Blind (PAB) is a statewide organization with 30 member agencies at 40 sites employing 1,872 individuals. The PAB was responsible for generating 2,573 jobs, $158 million of economic output, $77 million in labor income, $4.7 million in indirect business taxes.
The Failure of Institutionalized Accountability in Matters of National Security since 9/11

There are four main ways to bring the executive branch to heel for abuse of power. Three of these methods are based in constitutionally authorized exercises of power, and the fourth arises from apostasy from within the executive branch. First, the Congress may inquire into executive branch activities through hearings, subpoenas, and studies by support agencies to Congress and other investigatory mechanisms. Congress may also threaten funding or cut off funding altogether in order to force executive acquiescence or strangle programs that have become questionable. Finally, Congress has the power to impeach and remove the president. The powers of Congress are extensive, but are rarely used with anyvigor and the maneuverability of the modern presidency almost always works to outflank the lethargic, deliberate, and cumbersome processes of the legislative branch.
Clinical analysis concerning samples of 101 neonates with respiratory failure

Objective To summarize the age distribution,original illnesses,treatment and the prognosis of the newborn respiratory failure.Methods Clinical analysis had been performed to 101 newborns with respiratory failure hospitalized in neonatal intensive care unit(NICU) of Children′s Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing University of Medical Science from April 2005 to March 2006.Results The early period newborn accounts for 91.09%,the late period newborn accounts for 8.91%.In original illnesses of early period newborns,neonatal respiratory distress syndrome(NRDS) accounts for 40.22%,pneumonia for 36.9%.Of the cases,the fatality rate was 11.8%,30.69% of the family member give up treating,the change for the better or cured was 57.43% of all concluded.Conclusion The newborn respiratory failure mainly occurs in the early period newborn,and its original illness is primarily NRDS and pneumonia,meanwhile mechanical ventilation as its main first-aid measure.
Transcript levels of the Aspergillus fumigatus Cdc42 module, polarisome, and septin genes show little change from dormancy to polarity establishment

Aspergillus fumigatus is the most common airborne pathogen causing fatal mycoses in immunocompromised patients. During the first 8 hours of development A. fumigatus conidia break dormancy, expand isotopically, establish an axis of polarity, and begin to extend germ tubes in a polar manner. The transition from isotropic to polar growth is critical for tissue invasion and pathogenesis. In the current work, we used two-color microarrays to examine the A. fumigatus transcriptome during early development, focusing on the isotropic to polar switch. The most highly regulated transcripts in the isotropic to polar switch did not include known polarity genes. Transcripts encoding the Cdc42 module, polarisome components, and septins, known to be critical players in polarity, showed relatively steady levels during the isotropic to polar switch. Indeed, these transcripts were present in dormant conidia, and their levels changed little from dormancy through germ tube emergence. Not only did the isotropic to polar switch show little change in the expression of key polarity genes of the Cdc42 module, polarisome, and septins, it also showed the lowest overall levels of both up- and downregulation in early development.
Low multiplicity cytomegalovirus infection of human aortic smooth muscle cells increases levels of major histocompatibility complex class I antigens and induces a proinflammatory cytokine milieu in the absence of cytopathology

BACKGROUND Cytomegalovirus has been implicated in the development of allograft vasculopathy in heart transplant recipients. Given that allograft vasculopathy is a form of chronic rejection, it is conceivable that cytomegalovirus somehow alters the allogeneic response to the vasculature. Prior work has demonstrated that smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are highly permissive for cytomegalovirus and exhibit cytopathologic characteristics and alterations in MHC class I antigens in response to cytomegalovirus at a high multiplicity of infection (MOI). METHODS To determine whether cytomegalovirus at low, more clinically relevant MOI, can alter SMCs phenotypically, human aortic SMCs were infected with approximately 1 plaque forming units/3000 cells of cytomegalovirus strain AD169. RESULTS One week after infection, human aortic SMCs (compared with human foreskin fibroblasts) demonstrated no cytopathologic characteristics (n = 6), released reduced amounts of intact virion into the culture media (assessed by exposing naive monolayers of human foreskin fibroblasts to media and staining for cytomegalovirus immediate-early antigen, n = 3), yet had at least, if not greater detectable total cytomegalovirus vital DNA levels. Infected HASMCs uniformly increased their expression of MHC class I antigen by 55% +/- 21% above constitutive levels (assessed by flow cytometry (n = 5, p < 0.0001). Cytomegalovirus infection resulted in an increase in interleukin-6 mRNA expression compared to control (297 +/- 63 vs 188 +/- 50, respectively; p = 0.02, n = 6) and reduced the expression of transforming growth factor-beta mRNA (802 +/- 152 vs 1201 +/- 236, respectively; p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that low MOI of cytomegalovirus can infect SMCs without producing cell cytolysis and, in spite of this lack of overt infection, modulate cell surface antigens and cytokine mRNA levels that can influence allogeneic responses.
MO‐B‐BRC‐02: Ultrasound Based Prostate HDR

Brachytherapy has proven to be an effective treatment option for prostate cancer. Initially, prostate brachytherapy was delivered through permanently implanted low dose rate (LDR) radioactive sources; however, high dose rate (HDR) temporary brachytherapy for prostate cancer is gaining popularity. Needle insertion during prostate brachytherapy is most commonly performed under ultrasound (U/S) guidance; however, treatment planning may be performed utilizing several imaging modalities either in an intra- or post-operative setting. During intra-operative prostate HDR, the needles are imaged during implantation, and planning may be performed in real time. At present, the most common imaging modality utilized for intra-operative prostate HDR is U/S. Alternatively, in the post-operative setting, following needle implantation, patients may be simulated with computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Each imaging modality and workflow provides its share of benefits and limitations. Prostate HDR has been adopted in a number of cancer centers across the nation. In this educational session, we will explore the role of U/S, CT, and MRI in HDR prostate brachytherapy. Example workflows and operational details will be shared, and we will discuss how to establish a prostate HDR program in a clinical setting. Learning Objectives: 1.Review prostate HDR techniques based on the imaging modality 2.Discuss the challenges and pitfalls introduced by the three imagebased options for prostate HDR brachytherapy 3.Review the QA process and learn about the development of clinical workflows for these imaging options at different institutions
Electricity, Emissions, and Pricing Carbon

The Electricity Sector Worldwide, the two largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions are electricity generation and transportation. Electricity generation is the topic of this chapter while transportation is part of the next. Coal, even today, makes up by far the largest fraction of fuel used to produce electricity. The United States and China are the Saudi Arabias of coal, and coal with all its emissions problems is the fastest expanding fuel for electricity production worldwide, though not in the United States because of its shale-gas revolution. Outside the United States, coal is the lowest in cost because of its abundance and ease of extraction, and because power plants can be built relatively quickly. Unless fracking spreads through the rest of the world leading to low-cost shale gas, without some sort of emissions charge or other limitation mechanism coal will remain the lowest-cost fuel for a long time to come. Finding a substitute for coal or a way to reduce emissions from coal is critical to the world effort to reduce greenhouse gas production. In the United States, coal and natural gas are used to generate 70% of electricity, and, according to the EIA, in 2007 were responsible for producing nearly 40% of US greenhouse gas emissions. The percentages were not very different from those of other industrialized countries, with the exception of France. France gets most of its electricity from greenhouse-gas-free nuclear power and has much lower emissions per unit GDP and very much lower emissions from the electricity sector. I will come back to this in the chapter on nuclear power.
Serum Cortisol and Prognosis of Status Epilepticus

The relation of serum Cortisol and CSF B-endorphin levels to the prognosis of status epilepticus was evaluated in 27 adults treated in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program of the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, VA.
Flares in Gamma Ray Bursts: Disc Fragmentation and Evolution

Flaring activity following gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), observed in both long and short GRBs, signals a long-term activity of the central engine. However, its production mechanism has remained elusive. Here we develop a quantitative model of the idea proposed by Perna et al. of a disc whose outer regions fragment due to the onset of gravitational instability. The self-gravitating clumps migrate through the disc and begin to evolve viscously when tidal and shearing torques break them apart. Our model consists of two ingredients: theoretical bolometric flare lightcurves whose shape (width, skewness) is largely insensitive to the model parameters, and a spectral correction to match the bandpass of the available observations, that is calibrated using the observed spectra of the flares. This simple model reproduces, with excellent agreement, the empirical statistical properties of the flares as measured by their width-to-arrival time ratio and skewness (ratio between decay and rise time). We present model fits to the observed lightcurves of two well-monitored flares, of GRB 060418 and of GRB 060904B. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first quantitative model able to reproduce the flare lightcurves and explain their global statistical properties.
The EV Everywhere Grand Challenge

In March 2012, President Obama announced the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge—to produce plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) as affordable and convenient for the American family as gasoline-powered vehicles by 2022. The U.S. Department of Energy developed a framing document and conducted a series of public workshops to obtain input on the plan, leading to an EV Everywhere Blueprint issued in January 2013. DOE released a funding opportunity announcement for up to $50 million of R&D to support EV Everywhere in March 2013. The solicitation sought projects on advanced batteries, electric motors and power electronics for electric drive systems, vehicle lightweighting, climate control technologies, and charging infrastructure. This paper describes the specific technical targets set forth and describes the areas of research to be undertaken to achieve the targets and goals.
Pocket Reference Card Improves Pediatric Resident Comfort in Caring for Children at End of Life

Abstract Background: Studies have shown that pediatricians in all stages of training are uncomfortable managing patients at end of life. Our goal was to create and test a portable reference card to improve pediatric resident education in comprehensive care for children nearing end of life. Methods: We evaluated the impact of the Pediatric End-of-Life Care Management Reference Card on residents' perceived comfort and knowledge through pre- and post-intervention surveys. The preintervention questionnaires and pocket cards were distributed to all first- and second-year residents, and then a follow-up survey was provided six months later. Based on Likert scales, questions focused on self-reported understanding of palliative care principles and knowledge regarding and comfort in performing end-of-life symptom management. Results: Twenty-six pediatric residents completed pre- and post-intervention surveys. Following receipt of the reference card, no significant changes were noted consistently across all groups ...
The Z-Wave routing protocol and its security implications

Z-Wave is a proprietary technology used to integrate sensors and actuators over RF and perform smart home and office automation services. Lacking implementation details, consumers are under-informed on the security aptitude of their installed distributed sensing and actuating systems. While the Physical (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers of the protocol have been made public, details regarding the network layer are not available for analysis. Using a real-world Z-Wave network, the frame forwarding and topology management aspects of the Z-Wave routing protocol are reverse engineered. A security analysis is also performed on the network under study to identify source and data integrity vulnerabilities of the routing protocol. It is discovered that the topology and routes may be modified by an outsider through the exploitation of the blind trust inherent to the routing nodes of the network. A Black Hole attack is conducted on a real-world Z-Wave network to demonstrate a well-known routing attack that exploits the exposed vulnerabilities. As a result of the discoveries, several recommendations are made to enhance the security of the routing protocol.
A review of cutting mechanics and modeling techniques for biological materials

This paper presents a comprehensive survey on the modeling of tissue cutting, including both soft tissue and bone cutting processes. In order to achieve higher accuracy in tissue cutting, as a critical process in surgical operations, the meticulous modeling of such processes is important in particular for surgical tool development and analysis. This review paper is focused on the mechanical concepts and modeling techniques utilized to simulate tissue cutting such as cutting forces and chip morphology. These models are presented in two major categories, namely soft tissue cutting and bone cutting. Fracture toughness is commonly used to describe tissue cutting while Johnson-Cook material model is often adopted for bone cutting in conjunction with finite element analysis (FEA). In each section, the most recent mathematical and computational models are summarized. The differences and similarities among these models, challenges, novel techniques, and recommendations for future work are discussed along with each section. This review is aimed to provide a broad and in-depth vision of the methods suitable for tissue and bone cutting simulations.
Electrophysiologic Consequences of Myelination

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the molecular substrates for impulse conduction and the physiology of impulse conduction in myelinated axons. It also discusses the pathophysiology of demyelinated axons in which impulse conduction is impaired. Conduction abnormalities following demyelination are attributable not only to changes in the passive electrical properties because of myelin loss, but also because of alterations in active electrogenic properties reflecting the molecular organization within the axonal membrane. Demyelination is not an all-or-none process, and can range from minimal damage to the myelin to loss of the entire myelin sheath. Demyelinated axons therefore display a spectrum of conduction abnormalities, including decreased conduction velocity, failure to transmit high-frequency trains of action potentials, or total conduction block. This chapter also reviews the role of demyelination in symptom production, and the role of molecular plasticity within neurons and glia in the remission of clinical deficits in the context of the physiology of impulse conduction. Furthermore, restoration of conduction by pharmacological modulation as well as other current strategies for the development of new therapeutic interventions is also discussed.
Modernity and Tyranny

ABSTRACTWaller R. Newell in Tyrants: A History of Power, Injustice, and Terror explores how ideas, and the philosophers responsible for them, can aid us in understanding tyranny. In the process, Newell also broaches the possibility that the ideas of these thinkers actually shape succeeding political events. Although the second part, entitled “City of God or City of Man? The Tyrant as Modern State Builder,” has an extensive cast of characters, its fulcrum is the combination of Niccolo Machiavelli, the Florentine writer, and Henry VIII, the English ruler. Newell raises the question of whether the writer presented the ruler with the blueprint for overturning the rule of the Catholic Church in England. Machiavelli would thus be the teacher of the modernizing tyrant. A reader is left to wonder whether, in Newell's assessment, the articulation of Machiavelli's fundamental insight that the world can and should be remade by the human will does not lead necessarily to ever deepening violations which characterize t...