cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Monte Carlo simulation of multiple photon scattering in sugar maple tree canopies.

Detecting objects hidden beneath forest canopies is a difficult task for optical remote sensing systems. Rather than relying upon the existence of gaps between leaves, as other researchers have done, our ultimate goal is to use light scattered by leaves to image through dense foliage. Herein we describe the development of a Monte Carlo model for simulating the scattering of light as it propagates through the leaves of an extended tree canopy. We measured several parameters, including the gap fraction and maximum leaf-area density, of a nearby sugar maple tree grove and applied them to our model. We report the results of our simulation in both the ground and the receiver planes for an assumed illumination angle of 80°. To validate our model, we then illuminated the sugar maple tree grove at 80° and collected data both on the canopy floor and at our monostatic receiver aperture. Experimental results were found to correlate well with our simulated expectations.
An apparatus for rapid kinetic analysis of isotopic efflux from membrane vesicles and of ligand dissociation from membrane proteins

Abstract A new method for the measurement of rapid isotopic release from a membrane compartment is described. Membrane vesicles loaded with isotope, or broken membranes with bound radioactive ligand, are filtered onto the surface of a cellulose ester filter; the rate of the loss of isotope from the membrane compartment is followed continuously by collecting fluid which is passed through the filters under high pressure. A change in release rate is initiated by changing the solution or by delivering a flash of light to a photosensitive sample. The approach has been used to study rapid 22 Na efflux from membrane vesicles rich in the ouabain-sensitive Na pump, and to examine dissociation of 32 P and 86 Rb from membrane-bound Na,K-ATPase. Since the rate of efflux is measured, and not the total counts remaining on the filter, the technique has high sensitivity. A complete time course is obtained using only a few micrograms of membrane protein. The apparatus described is simple, inexpensive, and easily constructed; with the present device, time resolution is ∼10 ms.
Treatment of cystinosis with delayed-release cysteamine: 6-year follow-up

Background Patients with nephropathic cystinosis are required to take 6-hourly immediate-release cysteamine (Cystagon®) to reduce disease progression. This arduous regimen affects quality of life, disrupts sleep, and may result in noncompliance with therapy. Enteric-coated cysteamine bitartrate (EC-cysteamine) was developed as a “proof-of-concept” formulation for twice-daily ingestion. Previous reports have shown this therapy to be effective up to a mean of 14 months. Case-Diagnosis/Treatment Two subjects (aged 13 and 15 years) received EC-cysteamine for 5–6 years at 60–65 % of their previous total daily dose of immediate-release cysteamine given at 6-h intervals. White blood cell (WBC) cystine levels were monitored every 1– 3m onths. Conclusion The administration of EC-cysteamine did not result in any change in mean trough WBC cystine levels or any deterioration in the estimated glomerular filtration rate, thyroid, or liver function, suggesting that delayed-release, twice-daily EC-cysteamine is an effective long-term treatment alternative to immediate-release cysteamine given at 6-h intervals.
The Spatial Extent of the V State of Ethylene and Its Relation to Dynamic Correlation in the Cope Rearrangement

The classical problem of the extent of Rydberg−valence mixing for the V state of ethylene is re-examined using a large basis set and several different approaches to selecting configurations. The results are interpreted in terms of the general need for dynamic σ-π correlation in π-electron systems. The effect of dynamic correlation on the activation energy of the Cope rearrangement is especially noted.
Upper critical field of (Bi,Pb)2Sr2CaCu2O8 single crystals.

Reversible temperature-dependent magnetization measurements are conducted in fields up to 5 T on two (Bi,Pb){sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 8} single crystals for fields along the {ital c} axis. A linear temperature dependence of the reversible magnetization has been obtained over a wide temperature range. The value of the magnetization slope {ital dM}/{ital dT} in the linear region at a fixed field decreases at higher field. Both the wide range of rounding of the magnetization near {ital T}{sub {ital c}} and the field-dependent {ital dM}/{ital dT} in the (Bi,Pb){sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 8} system indicate that the traditional extrapolation method based on a linear Abrikosov formula near {ital H}{sub {ital c}2} may not be applied. A theoretical model is employed to determine the Ginzburg-Landau parameter {kappa} and upper critical field {ital H}{sub {ital c}2} versus temperature. For these two crystals, we find {kappa}=94 and 89, and {ital H}{sub {ital c}2}(0)=95 and 83 T, respectively, for fields parallel to the {ital c} axis.
Advanced materials for sodium-beta alumina batteries: Status, challenges and perspectives

Abstract The increasing penetration of renewable energy and the trend toward clean, efficient transportation have spurred growing interests in sodium-beta alumina batteries that store electrical energy via sodium ion transport across a β″-Al 2 O 3 solid electrolyte at elevated temperatures (typically 300–350 °C). Currently, the negative electrode or anode is metallic sodium in molten state during battery operation; the positive electrode or cathode can be molten sulfur (Na–S battery) or solid transition metal halides plus a liquid phase secondary electrolyte (e.g., ZEBRA battery). Since the groundbreaking works in the sodium-beta alumina batteries a few decades ago, encouraging progress has been achieved in improving battery performance, along with cost reduction. However, there remain issues that hinder broad applications and market penetration of the technologies. To better the Na-beta alumina technologies require further advancement in materials along with component and system design and engineering. This paper offers a comprehensive review on materials of electrodes and electrolytes for the Na-beta alumina batteries and discusses the challenges ahead for further technology improvement.
Boston Research Takes Center Stage

Dana Brooks is a professor of electrical and computer engineering, an associate director of the Communications and Digital Signal Processing Research Center, and a principal investigator (PI) of the BioMedical Imaging and Signal Processing Center, all at Northeastern University. Since 1991, he has been a member of the Northeastern Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Faculty. He is a director of the estimation core of the Center for Integrative Biomedical Computing, a National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) P41 Biomedical Technology Research Resource headquartered at the University of Utah, and an investigator in the Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging (CenSSIS) at Northeastern area.
Assessing the burden of diabetes mellitus in emergency departments in the United States: the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS).

Abstract Objective To evaluate the performance of three alternative methods to identify diabetes in patients visiting Emergency Departments (EDs), and to describe the characteristics of patients with diabetes who are not identified when the alternative methods are used. Research Design and Methods We used data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) 2009 and 2010. We assessed the sensitivity and specificity of using providers' diagnoses and diabetes medications (both excluding and including biguanides) to identify diabetes compared to using the checkbox for diabetes as the gold standard. We examined the characteristics of patients whose diabetes was missed using multivariate Poisson regression models. Results The checkbox identified 5,567 ED visits by adult patients with diabetes. Compared to the checkbox, the sensitivity was 12.5% for providers' diagnoses alone, 20.5% for providers' diagnoses and diabetes medications excluding biguanides, and 21.5% for providers' diagnoses and diabetes medications including biguanides. The specificity of all three of the alternative methods was > 99%. Older patients were more likely to have diabetes not identified. Patients with self-payment, those who had glucose measured or received IV fluids in the ED, and those with more diagnosis codes and medications, were more likely to have diabetes identified. Conclusions NHAMCS's providers' diagnosis codes and medication lists do not identify the majority of patients with diabetes visiting EDs. The newly introduced checkbox is helpful in measuring ED resource utilization by patients with diabetes.
The effects of non-standard conditions on visibility measurement

Abstract The effects of non-standard visibility observation conditions upon computed visual range (meteorological range) were investigated using data from an eastern U.S. visibility study sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute. Data collected by multi-wavelength telephotometry was specially marked in the field when non-standard conditions were observed. The non-standard conditions explored were those which violate the assumptions implicit in routine visual range calculations. These conditions include bright and dark clouds behind the target, bright haze, shadowed targets, and snow-covered targets. The errors caused by non-standard conditions were evaluated by comparing derived visual ranges and observed luminances along affected and non-affected viewing paths. The factors introducing error into visual range calculations during bright haze and bright cloud conditions were found to depend strongly on the relative degrees of light scattering in front of and behind the target. Large errors were noted in visual ranges derived for snow-covered targets if an intrinsic contrast of − 1.0 was assumed; a method for approximating intrinsic sky/target contrast was applied to correct these errors. Recommendations are provided for recognition of non-standard conditions and field flagging of data.
The Least Square Values and the Shapley Value for Cooperative TU Games

The main result proved in this paper is the fact that any Least Square Value is the Shapley value of a game obtained from the given game by rescaling. An Average per capita formula for Least Square Values, similar to the formula for the Shapley value (Dragan (1992)), will lead to this conclusion and allow a parallel computation for these values. The potential for the Least Square Values, a potential basis relative to Least Square Values and an approach similar to the one used for the Shapley value is allowing us to solve the Inverse problem for Least Square Values.
Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Diabetes in Asian Indians Residing in Michigan

Asian Indians are the largest Asian subgroup in the state of Michigan; however, data on the prevalence and correlates of cardiovascular disease for this group is limited. The sample consisted of 273 Asian Indians (AI) recruited through health fairs for surveys and blood tests throughout the state of Michigan. The prevalence of self-reported diabetes (20.1%) and elevated/abnormal glycated hemoglobin A1C levels (22.6%) exceeds the percentages of other ethnic groups reported in 2006–2008 Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Survey. More than half of respondents had elevated body max index. The gender disparity in hypertension prevalence (50% for males vs. 19.3% for females) has not been observed in other similar studies and prevalence of male participants with hypertension also is higher than reported in other studies. In the multivariate analysis after adjusting demographic and access to health care factors, the results showed that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome increases among AI female participants but not among AI males. The data highlight the need for developing culturally-tailored interventions to effectively reduce multiple risk factors in this group.
The Economics of Hate

The Economics of Hate. By Samuel Cameron. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009, 191 pp., ISBN 978-1-84720-047-1, $100.00 (hardback). In his previous two books, Cameron and Collins (2000) a...
Investigation of thickness variation and corner filling in tube hydroforming

Abstract Tube hydroforming is a near-net shape metal forming process in which a straight or a pre-bent tubular blank is placed in a closed die cavity and its cross-sectional shape is changed using internal hydraulic pressure that forces the tube to conform to the shape of the die cavity. This paper reports on the results of two-dimensional plane-strain finite element models of the tube hydroforming process, which were conducted using the commercial finite element code ABAQUS/Standard. The objective of the study is to examine the interaction of material properties and die geometry on the selection of hydroforming process parameters. The paper discusses the effects of the strain-hardening exponent, initial tube wall thickness, and die corner radii on corner filling and thickness distribution of the hydroformed tube.
Choosing the best pairwise comparisons of means from non-normal populations, with unequal variances, but equal sample sizes

A Monte Carlo simulation evaluated five pairwise multiple comparison procedures for controlling Type I error rates, any-pair power, and all-pairs power. Realistic conditions of non-normality were based on a previous survey. Variance ratios were varied from 1:1 to 64:1. Procedures evaluated included Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) preceded by an F test, the Hayter–Fisher, the Games–Howell preceded by an F test, the Pertiz with F tests, and the Peritz with Alexander–Govern tests. Tukey's procedure shows the greatest robustness in Type I error control. Any-pair power is generally best with one of the Peritz procedures. All-pairs power is best with the Pertiz F test procedure. However, Tukey's HSD preceded by the Alexander–Govern F test may provide the best combination for controlling Type I and power rates in a variety of conditions of non-normality and variance heterogeneity.
Alkali Metal Oxides, Peroxides, and Superoxides: A Multinuclear MAS NMR Study

The many roles of alkali metal−oxygen phases as catalyst components and promoters motivated a survey of the NMR properties of these compounds. Solid state 7Li, 23Na, 39K, 87Rb, and 133Cs magic angle spinning NMR spectra are reported for the following alkali metal oxides, peroxides and superoxides: Li2O, Li2O2, Na2O, Na2O2, NaO2, KO2, Rb2O2, RbO2, Cs2O2, and CsO2. Commercial samples labeled as “Cs2O” proved to be mixtures of Cs2O2 and CsO2. The superoxide (O2-) anion is paramagnetic, and this property leads to highly temperature-dependent chemical shifts for the alkali metal nuclei in all of the superoxides. All four superoxides also show phase transitions between polymorphic forms of cubic and lower symmetry, and these transitions profoundly affect the alkali metal NMR spectra. For CsO2 and RbO2, purely ionic bonding restricts the paramagnetic shift to the through-space dipolar mechanism, and large temperature-dependent shifts in the tetragonal phases vanish upon transition to the cubic phases. 13C in si...
All-Fiber, Wavelength and Repetition-Rate Tunable, Ultrafast Pulse Generation in the 2.0 μm Region Without Mode-Locking

We show 3.0 ps pulses from 1877 nm to 2008 nm at variable repetition rates up to 18 GHz using time-lens compression of a tunable CW laser. The center wavelength is changed by tuning the CW seed laser, and the repetition rate is changed by electronically tuning the drive of the master RF clock. The repetition rate of 18 GHz represents a record speed for pulse generation in this spectral region. This simple all-fiber platform uses standard 1550 nm telecom components, offering a turn-key, flexible, robust alternative to pulse generation in the 2.0 μm region with both wavelength and repetition rate tunability.
Amount and Fatty Acid Composition of Phospholipids in Broiler Neck Tissues

Abstract RECENTLY, boning machines have been developed which will give high yield of edible product from raw chicken necks. Such product, because of physical characteristics and content of soluble protein, has been shown to be of use in emulsion meats. Neck tissues have been shown to contain salt-soluble protein which had unusually high fat binding characteristics as compared to other poultry tissues in a model system (May and Hudspeth, 1961; and Hudspeth and May, 1967). Maurer and Baker (1966) observed the same high emulsifying capacity of chicken neck tissue and attributed it to their high collagen content. However, Franzen and May (1968) found that phospholipid extracted from chicken neck tissue, significantly increased the amount of corn oil bound by a given quantity of salt soluble protein when over 250 mg. was added to the model system as a substitute for an equal quantity of corn oil. Since poultry neck tissues are . . .
Introduction to Point/Counterpoint

In the second edition of ‘Point-Counterpoint’, Drs Alexander and Sila appraise a complex problem which runs the gamut of ‘hot topics’ from study design and technical expertise to reimbursement and pertinence of study data to the greater medical community. The issue of stenting for intracranial atherosclerotic disease received media attention in 2011, once the results of the Stenting and Aggressive Medical Management for Preventing Recurrent stroke in Intracranial Stenosis (SAMMPRIS) trial became available, precipitating a decline in procedure referrals as an immediate clinical impact as well as an uproar of debate. SAMMPRIS was the first stroke prevention trial comparing intracranial stenting with medical therapy and the …
Increased Disease Severity of Parasite-Infected TLR2−/− Mice Is Correlated with Decreased Central Nervous System Inflammation and Reduced Numbers of Cells with Alternatively Activated Macrophage Phenotypes in a Murine Model of Neurocysticercosis

In a murine model for neurocysticercosis (NCC), intracranial inoculation of the helminth parasite Mesocestoides corti induces multiple Toll-like receptors (TLRs), among which TLR2 is upregulated first and to a relatively high extent. Here, we report that TLR2(-/-) mice displayed significantly increased susceptibility to parasite infection accompanied by increased numbers of parasites in the brain parenchyma compared to infection in wild-type (WT) mice. This coincided with an increased display of microglial nodule formations and greater neuropathology than in the WT. Parasite-infected TLR2(-/-) brains exhibited a scarcity of lymphocytic cuffing and displayed reduced numbers of infiltrating leukocytes. Fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analyses revealed significantly lower numbers of CD11b(+) myeloid cells, γδ T cells, αβ T cells, and B cells in the brains of parasite-infected TLR2(-/-) mice. This correlated with significantly reduced levels of inflammatory mediators, including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), gamma interferon (IFN-γ), CCL2, CCL3, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the central nervous system (CNS) of TLR2(-/-) mice. As TLR2 has been implicated in immune regulation of helminth infections and as alternatively activated macrophages (AAMs) are thought to play a profound regulatory role in such infections, induction of AAMs in infected TLR2(-/-) mice was compared with that in WT mice. Parasite-infected WT brains showed larger numbers of macrophages/microglia (CD11b(+) cells) expressing AAM-associated molecules such as YM1, Fizz1 (found in inflammatory zone-1 antigen), and arginase 1 than TLR2(-/-) brains, consistent with a protective role of AAMs during infection. Importantly, these results demonstrate that TLR2-associated responses modulate the disease severity of murine NCC.
Recent and simultaneous origins of eusociality in halictid bees

Eusocial organisms are characterized by cooperative brood care, generation overlap and reproductive division of labour. Traits associated with eusociality are most developed in ants, termites, paper wasps and corbiculate bees; the fossil record indicates that each of these advanced eusocial taxa evolved in the Late Cretaceous or earlier (greater than 65 Myr ago). Halictid bees also include a large and diverse number of eusocial members, but, in contrast to advanced eusocial taxa, they are characterized by substantial intraand inter-specific variation in social behaviour, which may be indicative of more recent eusocial evolution. To test this hypothesis, we used over 2400 bp of DNA sequence data gathered from three protein-coding nuclear genes (opsin, wingless and EF-1a) to infer the phylogeny of eusocial halictid lineages and their relatives. Results from relaxed molecular clock dating techniques that utilize a combination of molecular and fossil data indicate that the three independent origins of eusociality in halictid bees occurred within a narrow time frame between approximately 20 and 22 Myr ago. This relatively recent evolution helps to explain the pronounced levels of social variation observed within these bees. The three origins of eusociality appear to be temporally correlated with a period of global warming, suggesting that climate may have had an important role in the evolution and maintenance of eusociality in these bees.
A unified approach to bandwidth allocation and access control in fast packet-switched networks

The authors present an approach to computing access control parameters as a function of both source characteristics and bandwidth allocation in the network. The technique relies on a fluid-flow model for the source, the leaky bucket rate control system, and the bandwidth allocation process. The methodology is suitable for any high-speed packet switching architecture. The approach allows for the real-time setting of the access control at a connection setup. It ensures that the access control mechanism is near transparent as long as connections behave as expected, while protecting the network from most misbehaving connections. Although some extreme cases have the potential to affect the network, they are essentially due to limitations inherent in the leaky bucket itself. >
Editorial: The Urban Sociology of Detroit

This is my last issue as Editor of City & Community, an appropriate place to thank those who wrote and reviewed for the journal during my two terms. It was a privilege to serve with the longstanding senior Associate Editors, Nancy Denton and Sharon Zukin, who provided wise counsel, intellectual guidance, and good sense. I am also grateful to the many Editorial Board members who contributed to making City & Community such an engaging, scholarly, high-quality publication. Managing Editors Sukriti Issar, Orly Clerge, Omar Pereyra, and Aaron Niznik ably organized the review process and made the lonely job of editing the journal more enjoyable. It has also been a pleasure to work with the staff at Wiley-Blackwell. Finally, thank you to the members of the ASA Section on Community and Urban Sociology for the honor of allowing me to read your work and learn so much from you over the past six years. To mark the transition, our newest Associate Editor, Karyn Lacy of the University of Michigan, kindly consented to solicit and edit a symposium of peer-reviewed essays on Detroit. The idea for this issue originated with William Tabb, who, with others in Michigan, has been exploring the idea of a Detroit School of urbanism. He recalled that the inaugural 2002 issue of our journal contained a debate over the existence of a Los Angeles School of urbanism, to complement or challenge the hegemonic Chicago School. In 2003, David Halle proposed the existence of a New York School of urbanism as well. Tabb pointed out that, in contrast to the Los Angeles and Chicago Schools’ shared emphasis on growth, Detroit—once America’s fourth largest city—exemplifies a class of declining cities. Presented with this astute observation, the Editorial Board members gave the green light to a special issue on Detroit. Although there is considerable urban scholarship on this city, much of it is written by historians, economists, political scientists, and planners, not sociologists. The historians look back at Detroit’s industrial heyday, the UAW and African-Americans’ struggle for equal rights. The planners look forward in search of a new industry or new governance arrangement that can restore Detroit’s grandeur. But perhaps surprisingly, urban sociologists have been reticent. Indeed, the University of Michigan’s Detroit Area Study, established in 1951, was never really about Detroit per se. On the 37th anniversary of the annual survey, conducted to teach graduate students how to do research, Converse and Mayer (1988, p. 9) wrote that if the
A Comparison of Disease Assessment Methods for Southern Stem Rot of Peanut

Abstract Southern stem rot (caused by the soilborne fungus Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc.) of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) traditionally has been assessed based on the percentage of infected 30.5-cm row segments, commonly referred to as disease incidence. Several alternative disease assessment methods were evaluated in four fungicide trials during the growing season (aboveground ratings) and immediately after peanut inversion (belowground ratings). Pearson's correlation coefficients compared disease assessments and yields for all trials. Across all disease assessment methods, belowground assessments at inversion showed a stronger correlation with yield than in-season aboveground assessments. Several of the alternative assessment methods showed a stronger negative correlation with yield than did the traditional disease incidence rating. However, none of the alternative methods were consistently more precise across all assessment dates and trials. There was a significant positive correlation between many of the a...
A decompositional approach to the design of parallel programs

A methodology for the derivation of parallel implementations from program specifications is developed. The goal of the methodology is to decompose a program specification into a collection of module specifications via property refinement, such that each module may be implemented independently by a subprogram. The correctness of the implementation is then deduced from the correctness of the property refinement procedure and the correctness of the individual subprograms. The refinement strategy is based on identifying frequently occurring control structures such as sequential composition and iteration. The methodology is developed in the context of the UNITY logic and the UC programming language, and illustrated through the solution of diffusion aggregation in fluid flow simulations. >
Does Framing Human Papillomavirus Vaccine as Preventing Cancer in Men Increase Vaccine Acceptability

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is now approved for use in males in the United States to prevent genital warts. We conducted an experiment to see whether framing HPV vaccination as also preventing cancer in men would increase men's vaccination willingness. Methods: We conducted an online survey in January 2009 with a national sample of men ages 18 to 59 years who self-identified as gay/bisexual ( n = 312) or heterosexual ( n = 296). In the within-subjects experiment, men read four randomly ordered vignettes that described hypothetical vaccines that prevented either genital warts alone, or genital warts and either anal cancer, oral cancer, or penile cancer. We analyzed data using repeated measures ANOVA and tested whether perceived severity or perceived likelihood mediated the effect of disease outcome framing on men's HPV vaccination willingness. Results: Although only 42% of men were willing to receive HPV vaccine when it was framed as preventing genital warts alone, 60% were willing to get it when it was framed as preventing cancer in addition to genital warts ( P < 0.001). The effect of outcome framing was the same for heterosexual and gay/bisexual men and for the three cancer types examined. Perceived severity of disease partially mediated the association between disease outcome and HPV vaccination willingness. Conclusions: Men may be more accepting of HPV vaccine when it is framed as preventing cancer, regardless which of the three most common HPV-related cancers in men is described. Impact: Study findings may be useful in developing health communication messages that maximize HPV vaccine acceptability among young men. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(8); 1937–44. ©2010 AACR.
Political management in the Indonesian family planning program.

Family planning programs are political institutions: Globally donors governments and nongovernmental organizations argue over their effectiveness purposes and financing; nationally politicians and interest groups mobilize for and against their establishment; locally administrators encounter social resistance to implementation; and at the household level attempts to influence fertility can be seen as political acts as they involve exercising state power to bring about change in individual behavior. Because of the political nature of family planning programs their administrators face multiple challenges. Among other tasks they must build bureaucratic alliances neutralize religious opposition and secure social support. Development administration scholars have referred to these challenges as tasks in "political management" and have suggested that administrators anticipate political conflict identify potential allies and opponents understand their interests and consider their concerns in program design and implementation. A handful of family planning scholars also have considered these issues; however these dimensions of management have received considerably less attention in the family planning field than those of technical management such as the administration of contraceptive delivery systems. In this article I seek to help redress this imbalance by investigating political management in the Indonesian family planning program during the Suharto era from the 1970s through the 1990s. Scholars consider the program to have made a considerable contribution to Indonesias large rise in contraceptive use and decline in fertility. To examine the role of political management in agency effectiveness I draw on excerpts from interviews conducted with officials in the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) the government organization responsible for administering the program. In addition I explore how the agency addressed three political challenges: defusing religious opposition overcoming a weak human resource base and generating implementation support from the bureaucracy. (excerpt)
Joint Conditional Random Field of multiple views with online learning for image-based rendering

There are many applications, such as image-based rendering, where multiple views of a scene are considered simultaneously for improved analysis through employing strong correlation among the set of pixels corresponding to the same physical scene point. While being a useful tool for modeling pixel interactions, Markov random field (MRF) models encounter challenges in such cases since they assume strong independence of the observed data for tractability, rendering it difficult to take advantage of having multiple correlated views. In this paper we propose joint conditional random field (CRF) for multiple views in the context of virtual view synthesis in image-based rendering. The model is enabled by the adoption of steerable spatial filters for capturing not only the pixel dependence in a single image but also their correlations among multiple views. Furthermore, a novel on-line learning scheme is proposed for the CRF model, which learns the CRF parameters from the same input data for synthesizing virtual views. This effectively makes the model adaptive to the input and thus optimal results can be expected. Experiments are designed to validate the proposed approach and its effectiveness.
Benchmarking the perioperative process: II. Introducing anesthesia clinical pathways to improve processes and outcomes and to reduce nursing labor intensity in ambulatory orthopedic surgery.

Abstract Study Objectives: (1) To introduce anesthesia clinical pathways as a management tool to improve the quality of care; (2) to use the Procedural Times Glossary published by the Association of Anesthesia Clinical Directors (AACD) as a template for data collection and analysis; and (3) to determine the effects of anesthesia clinical pathways on surgical processes, outcomes, and costs in common ambulatory orthopedic surgery. Design: Hospital database and patient chart review of consecutive patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) during academic years (AY) 1995–1996 and 1996–1997. Patient data from AY 1995–1996, during which no intraoperative anesthesia clinical pathways existed, served as historical controls. Data from AY 1996–1997, during which intraoperative anesthesia clinical pathways were used, served as the treatment group. Regional anesthesia options were routinely offered to patients in the clinical pathway. Setting: Ambulatory surgery center in a teaching hospital. Measurements and Main Results: The records of 503 ASA physical status I and II patients were reviewed. 1996–1997 patients underwent clinical pathway anesthesia care in which the intraoperative and postoperative anesthesia process was standardized with respect to symptom management, drugs, and equipment used. 1995–1996 patients did not have a standardized intraoperative and postoperative anesthetic course with respect to the management of common symptoms or to specific drugs and supplies used. Intervals described in the AACD Procedural Times Glossary, anesthesia drug and supply costs, and patient outcome variables (postoperative nursing interventions required and unexpected admissions), as influenced by the use of the anesthesia clinical pathway, were measured. Clinical pathway anesthesia care for ACLR in 1996–1997, which actively incorporated regional anesthesia options, reduced pharmacy and materials cost variability; slightly increased turnover time; improved intraoperative anesthesia and surgical efficiency, recovery times, and unexpected admission rates; and decreased the number of required nursing interventions for common postoperative symptoms. Conclusions: Clinical pathway patient management systems in anesthesia care are likely to produce useful outcome data of current practice patterns when compared with historical controls. This management tool may be useful in simultaneously containing costs and improving process efficiency and patient outcomes.
Logistics and technique for combined hepatic-intestinal retrieval

During a 13-month period, en bloc liver-small bowel cadaveric grafts were procured for seven children and one adult. All liver grafts functioned immediately, and all but one of the recipient patients recovered. Return of absorptive small bowel function was slow, but the integrity of the bacterial intestinal barrier was not disrupted. The described technique allows the procurement of other abdominothoracic organs, with the exception of the whole pancreas.
Minimal compartmental model of circulatory mixing of indocyanine green

A model of indocyanine green (ICG) disposition from the moment of its injection in blood was developed. ICG disposition was characterized in five dogs deeply anesthetized with halothane, which decreased cardiac output and prolonged intravascular mixing. After ICG injection into the right atrium, femoral arterial blood samples were collected every 3 s for the 1st min and less frequently to 20 min. ICG concentrations were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography and modeled with SAAM 30.1. A fully identifiable recirculatory compartmental model with time delays was used to describe ICG disposition. The central blood volume averaged 23.4 ml/kg, and total blood volume averaged 78.9 ml/kg. Fifty-three percent of the cardiac output flowed through 14% of the peripheral blood volume while the remaining 47% flowed through 86% of the peripheral volume. This new model is isomorphic with a parallel channel, lumped-parameter circulation model and provides more information than stochastic, noncompartmental recirculatory pharmacokinetic techniques. This intravascular mixing model can be applied to determine the contribution of the circulation to drug distribution.
Approximate 1-sided tolerance limits for future observations for the Rayleigh distribution, using regression

Two types of tolerance limits are derived for future values of a response variable which has the Rayleigh distribution whose parameter depends on a set of fixed explanatory variables. The Fisher Scoring method is used to approximate maximum likelihood estimates of the regression parameters. Simulation results show the adequacy of the approximation. A real data-set illustrates the computations in finding the tolerance limits. The computations can be handled using software that allows matrix arithmetic and has a programming capability. >
Possible mechanisms of valproate in migraine prophylaxis

Valproate has been shown to be an effective prophylactic treatment in migraine. Investigation of the mechanism of its antimigraine action is difficult due to the broad range of its biochemical effects and the complex nature of migraine pathophysiology. Valproate increases brain GABA levels and, in doing so, may suppress migraine-related events in the cortex, perivascular parasympathetics or trigeminal nucleus caudalis. There is experimental evidence that it suppresses neurogenic inflammation and directly attenuates nociceptive neurotransmission. In addition, valproate reportedly alters levels of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters and exerts direct effects on neuronal membranes in vitro. Valproate's observed effect may ultimately result from a combination of actions at different loci.
Justice by Insurance: The General Indian Court of Colonial Mexico and the Legal Aides of the Half-Real

As Western Europe expanded its empires in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it came to dominate many peoples, especially in America, whose cultures and legal systems differed dramatically from its own. The resulting conflicts of both law and custom posed difficult problems: How could these conflicting laws and customs be adjusted within a common political administration? And, in particular, how could legal remedy be provided for groups of lesser political weight? Woodrow Borah vividly depicts one of the more unusual institutions that arose in response to these problems-the General Indian Court of New Spain. In what is today Mexico, the conquering Spaniards had at first attempted to preserve such Indian customs as were deemed not contrary to reason or Christianity. However, as interpreted by Spanish judges, so much turned out to be "contrary" to these standards that native customs were soon recast in largely Spanish norms. At the same time, the conquered Indians discovered the uses of the Spanish courts, unleashing a flood of litigation. The ensuing social and economic upheaval sparked great concern among Spanish administrators and jurists. The result was the establishment of the General Indian Court, a remarkably innovative special jurisdiction vested in the viceroy and corps of legal aides. Expenses were paid from a small contribution by each Indian family-in effect, legal insurance. Woodrow Borah analyzes the kinds of cases that came before this court, the decisions it reached, and the policies underlying these decisions. He enriches this study by examining the separate but parallel structures in the Yucatan peninsula and on the seigneurial estate of Hernan Cortes, and by comparing the General Indian Court to the tribunals of Guadalajara, which had no similar special arrangements. The development of the General Indian Court and the relation of the legal aides to their Indian clients and to other lawyers form a complicated story of both service and exploitation and contribute an important chapter to the history of colonial Mexico.
A neural network approach to pointwise control of robot manipulators

The use of neural networks as an alternative to the computation-intensive control-theoretic approach to motion planning and execution is discussed. A three-tiered network structure is proposed: one tier is for conversion of task-space coordinates to joint-space coordinates, one is for converting the start and goal positions in joint space to a dynamic sequence, and one is for enabling the manipulator to execute the sequence by generating the necessary control signals. The issues involved in implementation are discussed and some results are presented. It is concluded that the neural-network approach has shown some promise in its ability to tackle nonlinear static problems and as a tool for generating plans. However, its effectiveness in eliminating completely any kind of online computation for precise control seems doubtful. >
Acquisition of inorganic carbon by the marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii

Recent data on the physiology of inorganic carbon acquisition by the model marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii (Grunow) demonstrate the importance of the catalytic equilibration of HCO3-and CO2by carbonic anhydrases located in the periplasm and in the cytoplasm. These enzymes can use Zn, Co or Cd as their metal centre, and their activity increases at low ambient CO2. The silica frustule provides buffering for extracellular CA activity, The transmembrane transport of CO2 may occur by passive diffusion. Under CO2 limitation, the cytoplasmic HCO3–is used to form malate and oxaloacetic acid via phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. It appears that subsequent decarboxylation of these compounds in the chloroplast regenerates CO2 near the site of Rubisco, and thus provides the organism with an effective unicellular C4 photosynthetic pathway. These results, together with other published data, bring up two major questions regarding inorganic carbon acquisition in diatoms: What is the major species of inorganic carbon (CO2 or HCO3–) transported across the membrane under natural conditions? And what is the form of carbon (inorganic or organic) accumulated by the cells?
On the theoretical aspects of tracer exchange in red blood cells

Abstract An analytical solution is presented for isotopic exchange between red blood cells and a finite surrounding medium where the intracellular diffusion is taken into account for two models of the red blood cell, the rectangular and the spherical. The solution is applied on experimental results from the literature with exchange of water, methanol, formamide, urea and ethylene glycol. It is seen that if the diffusion coefficient for those substances is less than 10−7 cm2/sec, then the previous assumption about exchange between two well-stirred compartments becomes doubtful.
Re-engineering a neuroprotective, clinical drug as a procognitive agent with high in vivo potency and with GABAA potentiating activity for use in dementia

Synaptic dysfunction is a key event in pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) where synapse loss pathologically correlates with cognitive decline and dementia. Although evidence suggests that aberrant protein production and aggregation are the causative factors in familial subsets of such diseases, drugs singularly targeting these hallmark proteins, such as amyloid-β, have failed in late stage clinical trials. Therefore, to provide a successful disease-modifying compound and address synaptic dysfunction and memory loss in AD and mixed pathology dementia, we repurposed a clinically proven drug, CMZ, with neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties via addition of nitric oxide (NO) and cGMP signaling property. The novel compound, NMZ, was shown to retain the GABAA potentiating actions of CMZ in vitro and sedative activity in vivo. Importantly, NMZ restored LTP in hippocampal slices from AD transgenic mice, whereas CMZ was without effect. NMZ reversed amnestic blockade of acetylcholine receptors by scopolamine as well as NMDA receptor blockade by a benzodiazepine and a NO synthase inhibitor in the step-through passive avoidance (STPA) test of learning and working memory. A PK/PD relationship was developed based on STPA analysis coupled with pharmacokinetic measures of drug levels in the brain: at 1 nM concentration in brain and plasma, NMZ was able to restore memory consolidation in mice. Our findings show that NMZ embodies a promising pharmacological approach targeting synaptic dysfunction and opens new avenues for neuroprotective intervention strategies in mixed pathology AD, neurodegeneration, and dementia.
Susceptibility to acute thoracic aortic dissections in patients dying outside the hospital: An autopsy study

Background The objectives of this study were to identify the incidence and predictors of death from acute thoracic aortic dissections (AoDs) and to describe their associated clinical findings. Methods We analyzed the clinical and pathologic data from 141 consecutive autopsies of individuals with sudden death due to AoDs in Harris County, TX, from 2003 to 2010, which represented 20% (107/534) of all deaths attributed to AoDs during this period by the Texas Department of Health. Multivariate Cox regression was used to identify predictors of survival adjusting for differences in demographic and clinical characteristics. Results During the study period, 141 of 145 fatal victims of acute thoracic dissections underwent a full autopsy and were included in the analysis. In 84% of cases, death was caused by pericardial tamponade from ascending AoD. The frequency of deaths showed seasonal variation with peak incidence in the winter months. Compared with patients presenting to hospitals with AoD, individuals dying outside the hospital were more likely to be female, African American, younger than 50 years and to have had prior aortic disease. One third of subjects with AoD had seen a physician within 1 week of sudden death. The most consistent pathologic abnormality was marked ventricular hypertrophy (257 g/m2 on average) out of proportion to expected values for age, gender, and body size. Hispanic patients and patients with congenital disorders, such as bicuspid aortic valve and Marfan syndrome, were significantly more likely to die of AoD at a younger age (38% vs 13%, P Conclusions Our findings identify differences between patients hospitalized for AoD versus those who died without being hospitalized. Previously unreported vulnerabilities to sudden death from AoD in minority populations, specifically Hispanics, were also identified that merit follow-up in prospective studies.