cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Phase stability, bonding mechanism, and elastic constants of Mo5Si3 by first-principles calculation

We present results of first-principles local-density-functional calculations of the structural and elastic properties of Mo5Si3. Among the three different structures (D8m, D88, and D8l), the D8m structure (referred to as the T1 phase) has the greatest binding with a high heat of formation of −3.8 eV/formula unit. The bonding in Mo5Si3 is found to have pronounced covalent components, characterized by the planar Mo–Si–Mo triangular bonding units on the (001) plane and by the unusually short Mo–Mo bonds directly along the c-axis. The calculated six elastic constants of the D8m structure are in excellent agreement with the experimental values. While the bonding in the (001) basal plane is stronger than the bonding along the [001] direction (i.e. C11+C12>C33 and C66>C44), the crystal anharmonicity is found to be higher along the [001] direction. The implication of our results on the anisotropy of thermal expansion coefficients is briefly discussed.
Optimal processing of isotropic 3D black-blood MRI For accurate estimation of vessel wall thickness

Quantification of vessel wall thickness is important in longitudinal monitoring of atherosclerosis. Black-blood MRI has been useful in measuring vessel wall thickness. Studies using two-dimensional (2D) imaging protocols measured wall thickness by matching the arterial wall and lumen boundaries on an acquisition plane. If the acquisition plane is oblique to the artery, the wall thickness would be overestimated by a factor that is dependent on the obliqueness angle. This problem can be understood as a three-dimensional (3D) surface mismatch problem, and we evaluated the effect of this problem by comparing the thickness measurements obtained using a 2D contour matching method and a 3D surface matching method. In addition to the surface mismatch problem, two other parameters may affect the wall thickness estimation: reslicing angle and slice thickness. We measured the wall thickness using images resliced perpendicular to the centerline of the vessel and quantified the difference between the thickness measurements obtained from parallel and centerline-based resliced images. Images obtained from a 2D MRI protocol typically have a slice thickness of 2mm, while the 3D MRI technique applied in this study produced images with sub-millimeter isotropic voxel size. To investigate the effect of slice thickness, we simulated 2mm-thick images by averaging the 3D black-blood image. Our results show that the wall thickness measured from 2mm-thick images was overestimated, especially in the carotid artery, which is associated with a larger obliqueness angle. This result underscores the advantage of the 3D isotropic acquisition technique in wall thickness measurement, especially in more tortuous vessels.
A pragmatic look at decompilers

The purpose of decompilers is to minimize the cost of converting a program from assembler language to a higher level language. There exist two different objectives for the design of a decompiler. The first one is to minimize conversion time by producing a literal translation of the program. It is accomplished by a translator which is as complete as possible. The second objective considers the efficiency of the converted program an important and integral part of conversion. This is usually satisfied more adequately by what we call a resystemizer, namely a conversion tool which limits itself to listing data structures, program flow and other pertinent information required to rewrite the program while retaining the old design. Clearly there is no strict dividing line between a Resystemizer and a Translator. The former may easily evolve into the latter and the latter can be used as the former, but their original design objectives differ.
Selective resistance of mucosal T-cell activation to immunosuppression in Crohn's disease.

Abstract Background & Aims. The inappropriately high state of T-cell activation found in Crohn's disease could be due to failure to respond to inhibitory signals. We tested the hypothesis that Crohn's disease mucosal T-cells are resistant to the immunosuppressive action of interleukin-4. Patients. Patients with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and other malignant and non-malignant conditions undergoing bowel resection. Methods. The effect of interleukin-4 on lamina propria mononuclear cells from Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and control mucosa was assessed on various T-cell functions: interleukin-2-induced cytotoxicity, soluble interleukin-2 receptor and interleukin-2 production, and expression of mRNA for interleukin-2R and interferon-gamma. Results. Cytotoxicity of control and ulcerative colitis cells was markedly decreased by interleukin-4, whereas Crohn's disease cells failed to be inhibited. Addition of interleukin-4 to interleukin-2-stimulated cultures decreased soluble interleukin-2R production significantly less in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis than control cells. n the same cultures, residual levels of interleukin-2 were significantly increased in control and ulcerative colitis, but not Crohn's disease cultures. Finally, Crohn's disease cells were significantly more resistant to interleukin-4-mediated inhibition of spontaneous and interleukin-2-induced expression of interleukin-2Rα and interferon-gamma mRNA compared to control cells. Conclusions. The effector function, receptor expression and cytokine production of Crohn's disease mucosal T-cells are resistant to interleukin-4-mediated inhibition. Failure to respond to down-regulatory signals may contribute to persistent T-cell activation and chronicity of inflammation in Crohn's disease.
Fast direct numerical solution of the nonhomogeneous Cauchy-Riemann equations

A fast direct (noniterative) 'Cauchy-Riemann Solver' is developed for solving the finite-difference equations representing systems of first-order elliptic partial differential equations in the form of the nonhomogeneous Cauchy-Riemann equations. The method is second-order accurate and requires approximately the same computer time as a fast cyclic-reduction Poisson solver. The accuracy and efficiency of the direct solver are demonstrated in an application to solving an example problem in aerodynamics: subsonic inviscid flow over a biconvex airfoil. The analytical small-perturbation solution contains singularities, which are captured well by the computational technique. The algorithm is expected to be useful in nonlinear subsonic and transonic aerodynamics.
A Study of Unsteady Natural Convection in Cryogenic Storage Tanks for Densified Propellants

A two-dimensional, unsteady, two domain (liquid and vapor) mathematical model is adopted to investigate the thermo-hydrodynamic behavior of a propellant in a cryogenic storage tank. The physics based mathematical model consists of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy equations for the liquid subjected to variable boundary conditions at the liquidvapor interface and constant heat flux boundary condition at the walls of the container. The density of the liquid is assumed to be temperature dependent only in the buoyancy term of the momentum equation (Boussinesq approximation). The vapor in the ullage is assumed to be an ideal gas with uniform thermodynamic properties and is modeled by single node conservation equations for mass and energy. The two domains are coupled through a set of interface equations for mass and energy exchange between the liquid and the vapor. The resulting nonlinear governing equations for the liquid domain are solved by an implicit finite difference technique (where the pressure distribution is determined by solving the Poisson’s equation) to predict the transient temperature and velocity fields inside the propellant. The equations for the vapor are solved by a simple explicit finite difference technique. The model is tested for a benchmark case (numerically and experimentally) to verify the accuracy of the numerical scheme. Finally, the model is used to predict the transient circulation patterns and resulting thermal stratification in a densified cryogenic propellant for a constant wall heat flux boundary condition.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Development and deployment of an underway radioactive cesium monitor off the Japanese coast near Fukushima Dai-ichi

Abstract A custom radiation monitoring system was developed by Oregon State University at the request of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to measure radioactive cesium contaminants in the ocean waters near Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. The system was to be used on board the R/V Ka’imikai-O-Kanaloa during a 15 d research cruise to provide real-time approximations of radionuclide concentration and alert researchers to the possible occurrence of highly elevated radionuclide concentrations. A NaI(Tl) scintillation detector was coupled to a custom-built compact digital spectroscopy system and suspended within a sealed tank of continuously flowing seawater. A series of counts were acquired within an energy region corresponding to the main photopeak of 137 Cs. The system was calibrated using known quantities of radioactive 134 Cs and 137 Cs in a ratio equating to that present at the reactors’ ocean outlet. The response between net count rate and concentration of 137 Cs was then used to generate temporal and geographic plots of 137 Cs concentration throughout the research cruise in Japanese coastal waters. The concentration of 137 Cs was low but detectable, reaching a peak of 3.8 ± 0.2 Bq/L.
Choice of defense mechanisms and their relationship to mood level.

Preferences for defense mechanisms as measured by the Defense Mechanism Inventory were related to average mood level as assessed in normal Ss over a 30-day period. As predicted, males (n = 23) who tended to prefer defense mechanisms centering around denial, repression, and intellectualization tended to be less depressed, more energetic, and less angry than males who preferred to act out their frustrations against others. Furthermore, as predicted, mood level was more likely to be related to the cognitive, as opposed to the action, component of the defense mechanism. No relationships were found between preference for defense mechanisms and mood level by the 32 women.
Laser-micromachined microchannel solvent separator

The fabrication of components for a microchannel chemical solvent separation unit is described. The performance of this unit is intended to employ enhanced kinetic effects due to short contact times encountered in to facilitate extraction of one dissolved species from one solvent into another. Components for the device are fabricated by laser micromachining, photochemical machining, and photolithographic patterning. The separation unit consists of a series of parallel flow and counterflow microchannels separated by micromachined membranes and assembled into a single unit by a lamination process. In a sample design, channel width, membrane width and length are 100 micrometer, 1 cm, and 8 cm respectively. Test membranes were fabricated from stainless steel using photochemical machining and from polyimide by using two distinct laser micromachining processes. Use of the lamination fabrication method allows flexibility in the design of the microchannels within the unit. Preliminary results of membrane tests and a brief discussion of future efforts are included.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Divisible and Movable Activities in Critical-Path Analysis

Certain jobs in large projects do not have a unique "location" in the critical-path network; they may be moved into certain slack intervals, for example, or may even be divisible into smaller subtasks, and 'tucked in' at several locations. A previous paper gave an analysis of a model in which a single job can be divided up in any manner among an arbitrary number of locations; the resulting algorithm was of the optimal-network-flow type, which can be simply and efficiently solved using available computer codes. The first part of the present paper extends this model to multiple jobs of divisible type. The general approach is via the decomposition method of linear programming; however, the resulting algorithm is again fairly simple. Optimal cost-time solutions, possibly infinite or optimal network flow solutions, possibly infeasible are generated by known algorithms. The resulting schedules or cuts are then combined in a simple, special-structure linear program whose dimensionality is equal to the number of divisible groups. Bounds on the nonintegrality of the final allocations can also be determined. When these special jobs can only be moved about the network in their entirety, or in certain indivisible modules, the probblem takes on the form of an integer program. The second part of the paper gives a branch-and-bound procedure for the problem of movable activities, together with efficient heuristics for arbitrating and bounding these locations, using only the ordinary critical-path algorithm. Examples are given for both models.
Sodium sulphate weathering and the disintegration of Mohenjo‐Daro, Pakistan

In Pakistan various brick building structures are currently disintegrating in the Indus Valley. These include the Harappan site of Mohenjo-Daro. The environment of this site is described, the nature and speed of the disintegration problem is outlined, and the cause of disintegration is discussed Weathering occurs in association with the development of salt efflorescences and some bricks disintegrate only a few years after being laid down. Chemical and X-ray diffraction analyses show that the predominant salt is the sodium sulphate mineral thenardite. The reasons for its effectiveness are discussed. They include its high solubility, the rapid change of solubility with temperature, and its hydration characteristics.
Self-Injury and Suicidality: The Impact of Trauma and Dissociation

In the growing research literature on nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidality (SA), there are many questions still unresolved about the role played by exposure to traumatic stressors (including but not limited to childhood maltreatment) and posttraumatic disorders (including dissociative features and disorders). In this special issue of the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, a review article and 4 empirical studies attempt to provide additional insight into the relationship of traumatization and dissociation to NSSI and SA. The review article describes similarities and differences in the relationships that have been empirically documented between trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress or dissociative symptoms with NSSI versus SA and highlights the need for research to identify and test integrative clinical constructs, such as emotion dysregulation, in order to develop systematic risk, assessment, and intervention models. The empirical reports provide illustrative examples of conceptually and clinically integrated research on traumatic stress, dissociation, and NSSI and SA. Their findings offer a more nuanced picture of the potential role of different forms and degrees of dissociation in SA and NSSI and suggest that dissociation and emotion dysregulation may play a mediating role linking childhood maltreatment and adult or adolescent NSSI. In this introduction, we briefly summarize key points from the special issue articles and point out directions that their findings suggest for future research, including incorporating multiple predictors in studies of NSSI and SA, utilizing longitudinal studies to assess the etiology and course of NSSI and SA, and sampling diverse populations.
Intracanyon flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group in the lower Columbia River Gorge and their relationship to the Troutdale Formation

The Priest Rapids Member (Wanapum Basalt) and the Pomona Member (Saddle Mountains Basalt) of the Columbia River Basalt Group crossed the Miocene Cascade Range into western Oregon and Washington as intracanyon flows about 14 m.y. and 12 m.y. ago, respectively. A thick, allogenic, bedded palagonite complex underlying the Priest Rapids intracanyon flow originated when the first Priest Rapids flow (Rosalia chemical type) interacted with a shallow lake on the Columbia Plateau, displacing water that flushed hyaloclastic debris into an incipient ancestral Columbia River channel. The Priest Rapids flow then overfilled the canyon, forcing the river northward, where it established the Bridal Veil channel. The Bridal Veil channel, part of a river system that extended across the Columbia Plateau, was only partly filled by the Pomona flow, allowing the river to remain in this channel through the Cascade Range. The Troutdale Formation is made up of (1) older alluvial gravels deposited below and above the Pomona intracanyon flow while the ancestral Columbia River occupied the Bridal Veil channel and (2) younger, more varied alluvial deposits characterized by clastic and hyaloclastic debris from Boring and High Cascade volcanism, spread over a much wider area, when aggradation overfilled the Bridal Veil channel less than 6 m.y. ago. The shift of the lower Columbia River to its present course took place during this time of maximum alluviation, aided by scattered eruptions of younger volcanoes of the Boring and High Cascade Lavas. The present Columbia River Gorge was formed in post-Troutdale time by entrenchment of the Columbia River during rapid uplift of the Cascade Range of northern Oregon during the past 1 to 2 m.y.
Multiphoton tunneling in a nonlinear interferometer

Photonic de Broglie wave interferometers display interesting, qualitatively nonclassical effects. We present theory and simulations demonstrating a photonic de Broglie interferometer based on nonlinear directional couplers. The Kerr nonlinearity in the couplers allows an N-photon pulse to tunnel between waveguides. Our calculations show the characteristic $\ensuremath{\lambda}/N$ fringes of this device even in the presence of photon number uncertainty, albeit with reduced contrast.
Compatibility of palonosetron with cyclophosphamide and with ifosfamide during simulated Y-site administration

Purpose. The physical and chemical compatibility of palonosetron with cyclophosphamide and with ifosfamide during simulated Y-site administration was studied. Methods. Test samples were prepared in triplicate by mixing 7.5 mL of palonosetron hydrochloride 50 μg (of palonosetron) per milliliter with 7.5 mL of cyclophosphamide 10 mg/mL and with ifosfamide 20 mg/mL. Physical stability was assessed by turbidimetry, particle sizing, and visual inspection. Chemical stability was assessed by stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography. Evaluations were performed immediately and one and four hours after mixing. Results. The samples were clear and colorless when viewed in normal fluorescent room light and when viewed with a high-intensity monodirectional light. Turbidity remained unchanged, and particulate content was low and exhibited little change. Palonosetron, cyclophosphamide, and ifosfamide remained chemically stable throughout the four-hour test period. Conclusion. Palonosetron hydrochloride was physically compatible with cyclophosphamide or ifosfamide during simulated Y-site administration.
Tax Islands, Fiscal Equity, and Fiscal Equalization

Equalization of the tax bases of a federal system has been approached by the economic literature from the perspectives of both equity and Abstract efficiency. These arguments for equalization have generally assumed unrestricted mobility among residents of the federalism. A third approach is considered in this paper, in which it is argued that districts within a federal system may develop as tax shelters (or tax islands or tax colonies) to reduce the tax burden of their residents. The approach employed here moves away from the more traditional models by not incorporating an assumption of unrestricted residential choice. The tax island is seen as a case of the fiscally rich successfully disassociating themselves from the fiscally poor. The formulation yields insight into the limitations and advantages of fiscal equalization policies.
Plasmon slot waveguides: Towards chip-scale propagation with subwavelength-scale localization

We present a numerical analysis of surface plasmon waveguides exhibiting both long-range propagation and spatial confinement of light with lateral dimensions of less than 10% of the free-space wavelength. Attention is given to characterizing the dispersion relations, wavelength-dependent propagation, and energy density decay in two-dimensional Ag/SiO2/Ag structures with waveguide thicknesses ranging from 12 nm to 250 nm. As in conventional planar insulator-metal-insulator (IMI) surface plasmon waveguides, analytic dispersion results indicate a splitting of plasmon modes—corresponding to symmetric and antisymmetric electric field distributions—as SiO2 core thickness is decreased below 100 nm. However, unlike IMI structures, surface plasmon momentum of the symmetric mode does not always exceed photon momentum, with thicker films (d~50 nm) achieving effective indices as low as n=0.15. In addition, antisymmetric mode dispersion exhibits a cutoff for films thinner than d=20 nm, terminating at least 0.25 eV below resonance. From visible to near infrared wavelengths, plasmon propagation exceeds tens of microns with fields confined to within 20 nm of the structure. As the SiO2 core thickness is increased, propagation distances also increase with localization remaining constant. Conventional waveguiding modes of the structure are not observed until the core thickness approaches 100 nm. At such thicknesses, both transverse magnetic and transverse electric modes can be observed. Interestingly, for nonpropagating modes (i.e., modes where propagation does not exceed the micron scale), considerable field enhancement in the waveguide core is observed, rivaling the intensities reported in resonantly excited metallic nanoparticle waveguides.
Psychiatry and Medical Progress: Therapeutic Considerations

Advances in medical technology have spurred interest in psychosocial adaptation to newer procedures, such as cardiac operations, chronic hemodialysis and renal renal transplantation. In spite of this interest, investigators have paid little attention to psychotherapeutic measures involved in the care of patients undergoing these procedures. This presentation reviews the available work in this area and brings together common themes related to the preparation and psychological treatment of these patients. These themes center around the importance of a continuous relationship with the patient which begins in the preoperative and pretreatment phase, the value of exploring in a nonthreatening fashion conflicts and fears aroused by the procedure, the need to counteract the non-human and impersonal aspects associated with medical progress, and the role of psychiatrist as the mediator between the patient and those involved in his care.
Comparison of immune reactivity to polyvalent monomeric and polymeric ragweed antigens.

Abstract The proteins of an aqueous extract of ragweed pollen (RW) were precipitated at 90% saturation with (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , solubilized, and sieved through Sephadex G-15. The excluded fraction, termed the monomeric form (MRW), was cross-linked with glutaraldehyde to form polymerized ragweed (PRW). As compared with MRW, PRW is more immunogenic in rabbits in the production of antibody against RW antigen E (AgE). MRW and PRW resulted in equal peak reaginic responses in rabbits but the duration of reagin production was longer after immunization with MRW than with PRW. Both MRW and PRW have exposed antigenic determinants of AgE but PRW had approximately 13 the number as shown by neutralization of human antibody against RW AgE. PRW had 100-to 1,000-fold less human cutaneous reactivity than MRW, PRW may be a more easily effective therapeutic agent for human RW immunotherapy than currently used aqueous extracts and may be more readily obtainable than polymerized AgE.
Optoacoustic supercontrast for early cancer detection

Thermal mechanism is fundamental for the generation of ultrasonic waves in a course of absorption of laser radiation. Its efficiency is relatively low, but increases significantly with temperature (thermal non-linearity). If the phase transition of the irradiated medium occur, the efficiency may exceed its linear regime value several orders of magnitude. The idea of optoacoustic supercontrast for early cancer detection is based on this fact. We performed feasibility studies and describe requirements to and properties of the optoacoustic supercontrast agent based on nanoscopid particles. The results of the preliminary experiments with the metal and carbon nanoparticles as optoacoustic generation up to three orders of magnitude under irradiation conditions of laser optoacoustic imaging in the depth of human tissue.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Infrared spectroscopy of a single cell--the human erythrocyte.

Summary Methods for obtaining the infrared spectrum of a single erythrocyte by infrared microscopy have been developed. The spectrum contains the amide I, II, and III bands characteristic of protein secondary structure near 1650, 1550, and 1300 cm −1 , respectively. Bound carbon monoxide exhibits a readily measured band at 1951 cm −1 for 12 C 16 O and 1907 cm −1 for 13 C 16 O. Both amide and CO bands are similar to those found for purified hemoglobin A. Spectra can be obtained in H 2 O or D 2 O media under physiologically relevant conditions. Single cell infrared spectroscopy (SCIR) permits the qualitative and quantitative determination of differences among individual red cells. These results suggest many potential applications for SCIR for the measurements of properties of individual cells at the molecular level under physiologically relevant conditions.
Mining for Gold: How to Predict Service Contract Performance with Optimal Accuracy Based on Ordinal Risk Assessment Data

Proactive management of service contract risks ahead of contract signing is becoming increasingly important for IT service providers due to the cost pressure associated with IT outsourcing. Within an end-to-end risk management process, various risk assessments are performed at multiple stages before a service contract is signed. Based on the risk assessment data, service providers seek to have predictive models that indicate risks of future service contracts. Considering the wide range of risk assessments, the variable frequency in which they are conducted, their sequential nature and the prevalent data scale, naive statistical modeling approaches, such as linear regression, are not readily applicable to such data sets. It is, therefore, necessary to identify a new methodology for predicting service contract risks based on ordinal risk assessment data. In this paper, we describe an analytical methodology that enables optimal risk prediction for service contracts, along with the lessons learned from implementation within an enterprise-level risk management ecosystem. Such real-world insights can provide guidance to data scientists and researchers both in the service delivery domain as well as other domains with similar data characteristics.
Allergy and Infection VII. Support from the Literature

In a previous report1 evidence was presented to substantiate our views on the relationship of allergy and infection. This evidence was collected and categorized under thirteen headings. One heading (Item No. 12) included support from the medical literature. It is our contention that the majority of the reports of writers, many of whom are pioneers in the field of allergy and well qualified to present their opinions, support the concept of allergy and its relation to infection as we have presented it. In fact it is our belief that this concept reconciles many divergent views, unifies rather than displaces many current beliefs and hence furnishes a connecting link between many associated but apparently diverse phenomena.
Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions

Edward W. Soja. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2000. xx and 440 pp., diags., photos., notes, bib., and name and subject indices. $30.95 paper (ISBN 1-57718-001-1). Postmetropolis is presented as...
Observations of the Saturn E ring and a new satellite

It is noted that the faint E ring of Saturn appears as a narrow ring 246,000 + or - 4000 km from the center of Saturn on photographs taken when the ring-plane inclination was 5.4 deg. The apparent brightness of the ring was uniform at all observed orbital longitudes and makes it possible to estimate the normal optical thickness. In addition, a faint satellite (1981S1) was observed near the L4 triangular libration point of Tethys; this satellite is probably the same object as 1980S13.
Hierarchical multiscale computations of ion transport in synthetic nanopores

There is a growing interest in investigating transport and electrochemical phenomena in synthetic membrane nanopores because of the possibility of mimicking selective ion transport found in protein channels in cell membranes of living systems and also towards development of single molecule detection systems. Several experimental (Gu et al., 2001; Jirage et al., 1997; Kuo et al., 2001) approaches such as the track etch method and the ion beam method have been used with increasing success in recent years to characterize the ionic transport through nanopores of varying diameters. We first performed two level multiscale simulations combining the continuum Poisson Nernst Planck theory and the molecular dynamics simulations to obtain current-voltage characteristics of nanopores in a silicon dioxide membrane and to investigate the effects of the complex phenomena of conductivity and self diffusion of ions due to the confinement in nanopores. Statistical analysis from molecular dynamics simulations were used to obtain mobility and diffusion coefficient in SiO/sub 2/ nanopores 5nm in length and diameters of 3 nm, 2nm and 1.2nm in 1M KCl and NaCl solutions. The data from these simulations showed that the mobility and diffusion coefficient decreases with decrease in diameter and is significantly different from the bulk especially for diameters less than 2 nm. The transport coefficients obtained were used in a continuum based Poisson-Nernst-Planck solver in a multiscale framework to obtain the I-V curves. The partial charges were obtained using DFT and semiempirical AMI, which closely matches the data for silica clusters in literature. Preliminary results indicate that the presence of partial charges on the pore walls alter the transport coefficient because the counter ions stick to the walls for pores of small diameters.
Application of a fixed retractor system to facilitate laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.

ABSTRACTPurpose: We report application of a fixed retractor system for reduction of the steep Trendelenberg position required to achieve deep pelvic access for laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.Materials and Methods: A fixed retractor system consisting of a flexible arm that can be locked in position and an expandable 5 mm laparoscopic retractor were used to gain exposure to the deep pelvis. We describe in detail our technique for laparoscopic radical prostatectomy incorporating the fixed retractor system to facilitate each step of the procedure.Results: Application of the fixed retractor system reduced steep Trendelenberg position requirements for adequate pelvic exposure from 25 to 15 degrees in our most recent 24 laparoscopic radical prostatectomies. Furthermore, application of the retractor system reduced the need for an experienced laparoscopic assistant.Conclusions: Application of the fixed retractor system for laparoscopic radical prostatectomy eliminated the requirement for the steep Trendelenber...
Encoding don't cares in static and dynamic content-addressable memories

An encoding scheme for don't cares using two binary static content-addressable memory (CAM) cells is presented. No extra hardware is required for the storage and retrieval of don't cares beyond the hardware necessary for binary write and match operations found in most commercial static CAMs. Besides the availability of proven hardware for binary CAM chips, this implementation has the advantage that both binary and ternary values can coexist in a single CAM word. >
Implementation and Maintenance of a Community-Based Older Adult Physical Activity Program

Purpose of the study We examine facilitators and barriers to the implementation and maintenance of Enhance®Fitness (EF), a group exercise program for older adults, at early-adopter YMCA-affiliated sites, and summarize strategies employed by EF instructors and staff to overcome challenges. Design and methods This qualitative study used semi-structured phone interviews with 32 instructors, staff members, and master trainers from 24 different YMCA-affiliated sites. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed with a focus on the implementation and maintenance components of the RE-AIM framework. Results We identified a series of factors affecting the implementation and maintenance of EF at YMCA-affiliated sites, which can be categorized into program-specific (such as instructor training, the structure of the program, reporting requirements, and insurance coverage), and organizational (such as organizational support and infrastructure for program delivery, champions, and funding to cover the costs of program delivery). Strategies used to overcome challenges associated with these factors include identifying parts of the program that can be adapted, hiring staff and instructors that understand and support the program, and educating staff and instructors about the importance of evidence-based programs and of data collection for program evaluation. Implications Assessing the readiness of organizations for program delivery and the match between program goals and the needs of organizations and participants would help facilitate the successful implementation and maintenance of physical activity programs in community settings.
Optimizing flight control software with an application platform

Flight controllers in NASA's mission control centers work day and night to ensure that missions succeed and crews are safe. The IT goals of NASA mission control centers are similar to those of most businesses: to evolve IT infrastructure from basic to dynamic. This paper describes Mission Control Technologies (MCT), an application platform that is powering mission control today and is designed to meet the needs of future NASA control centers. MCT is an extensible platform that provides GUI components and a runtime environment. The platform enables NASA's IT goals through its use of lightweight interfaces and configurable components, which promote standardization and incorporate useful solution patterns. The MCT architecture positions mission control centers to reach the goal of dynamic IT, leading to lower cost of ownership, and treating software as a strategic investment.
Analyzing Source Apportioned Methane in Northern California During DISCOVER-AQ-CA Using Airborne Measurements and Model Simulations

This study analyzes source apportioned methane (CH4) emissions and atmospheric concentrations in northern California during the Discover-AQ-CA field campaign using airborne measurement data and model simulations. Source apportioned CH4 emissions from the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) version 4.2 were applied in the 3-D chemical transport model GEOS-Chem and analyzed using airborne measurements taken as part of the Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment over the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) and northern San Joaquin Valley (SJV). During the time period of the Discover-AQ-CA field campaign EDGAR inventory CH4 emissions were 5.30 Gg/day (Gg 1.0 109 grams) (equating to 1.9 103 Gg/yr) for all of California. According to EDGAR, the SFBA and northern SJV region contributes 30 of total emissions from California. Source apportionment analysis during this study shows that CH4 concentrations over this area of northern California are largely influenced by global emissions from wetlands and local/global emissions from gas and oil production and distribution, waste treatment processes, and livestock management. Model simulations, using EDGAR emissions, suggest that the model under-estimates CH4 concentrations in northern California (average normalized mean bias (NMB) -5 and linear regression slope 0.25). The largest negative biases in the model were calculated on days when hot spots of local emission sources were measured and atmospheric CH4 concentrations reached values 3.0 parts per million (model NMB -10). Sensitivity emission studies conducted during this research suggest that local emissions of CH4 from livestock management processes are likely the primary source of the negative model bias. These results indicate that a variety, and larger quantity, of measurement data needs to be obtained and additional research is necessary to better quantify source apportioned CH4 emissions in California and further the understanding of the physical processes controlling them.
Dynamics of the metal‐dependent transcription factor complex in vivo at the mouse metallothionein‐I promoter

The in vivo association of transcription factors with the metallothionein-I promoter was examined using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays. The results demonstrated that c-fos is rapidly recruited along with the metal response element-binding transcription factor-1 (MTF-1) to this promoter in response to zinc or cadmium, and that this recruitment is reversed in the visceral yolk sac by a zinc-deficient diet in vivo, and in cultured cells after lowering the zinc concentration in the medium or during prolonged zinc exposure. In contrast, the interactions of c-jun, USF-1, USF-2 and Sp1 with this promoter are metal-independent. Studies of knockout cells revealed that the recruitment of c-fos to the MT-I promoter requires MTF-1, but that c-fos is not essential for recruitment of MTF-1 and metal-induction of MT-I gene expression. Studies of Hepa cells stably-transfected with reporter genes driven by the MT-I promoter suggested two in vivo binding sites for USF-1 and -2. In contrast, Sp1 was apparently associated with a single binding site (upstream of –153 bp). In addition, maximal recruitment of c-fos by metals required sequences and/or other proteins that interact upstream of –153 bp. In summary, these studies extend our understanding of the complexity and dynamics of the transcription factor complex that forms at the MT-I promoter in vivo in response to metals.
Timing and kinematics of deformation in the Cronese Hills, California, and implications for Mesozoic structure of the southwestern Cordillera

A southeast-vergent ductile shear zone is exposed in the Cronese Hills in the central Mojave Desert. This shear zone formed under greenschist facies conditions and placed mylonitic metaplutonic and metavolcanic rocks upon folded Triassic( ) metasedimentary rocks. U-Pb zircon ages of prekinematic and postkinematic plutons constrain the age of deformation to between 169 and 154 Ma (late Middle or early Late Jurassic). The authors believe that the Cronese shear zone forms part of the southern continuation of the east Sierran thrust system. Mesozoic thrust faults may have controlled preservation of Jurassic arc-related rocks and may be responsible for structural stacking of Paleozoic eugeoclinal and miogeoclinal strata in the central Mojave Desert.
The ecological approach to perceiving as a foundation for understanding the development of knowing in infancy

Abstract The ecological thesis of direct realism is used as a framework for examining the development of knowing in human infancy. When information for perceiving is defined ecologically (i.e., relative to the situational context and to the physical dimensions, capabilities, and needs of the perceiver), knowing need not be construed as the act of using representations to give meaning to acts or percepts. Knowing, alternatively, is the act of noticing affordances, situation and perceiverspecific meanings of objects, according to their value to the perceiver for achieving specific goals. Changes with development in infant sensorimotor functioning may, in this view, be explained by a process of increasing economy in noticing potentially available affordances, rather than a process of constructing a representational system for making present something not present. Studies of three infant skills widely attributed to the onset of representation are examined with regard to this ecological thesis. Results indicate that the noticing of affordances is critically involved in each of these skills.
A simple method for high-precision calibration of long-range errors in an angle encoder using an electronic nulling autocollimator

We describe a simple method for high-precision rotary angle encoder calibration for long-range angular errors. By using a redesigned electronic nulling autocollimator, an optical-polygon artifact is calibrated simultaneously with determining the encoder error function over a rotation of 2π rad. The technique is applied to the NIST vacuum double crystal spectrometer, which depends on precise measurement of diffraction angles to determine absolute x-ray wavelengths. By oversampling, the method returned the encoder error function with an expanded uncertainty (k = 2) of 0.004 s of plane angle. Knowledge of the error function permits the instrument to make individual encoder readings with an accuracy of 0.06 s (k = 2), which is limited primarily by the least count and noise of the encoder electronics. While the error function lay within the nominal specifications, it differed from the intrinsic factory curve, indicating the need for in situ calibration in high-precision applications.
Analysis of a high-brightness photoelectron beam with self-field and wake-field effects

Abstract High-brightness sources are the basic ingredients in recent accelerator developments such as free-electron laser (FEL) experiments. The effects of the interactions between the highly charged particles and the fields in the accelerating structure, e.g., rf, space charge and wake fields can be detrimental to the beam and the experiments. After discussing our formulation, we present some simulations and results for the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) high-brightness beam that illustrates effects of the accelerating field, space-charge forces, e.g., due to self field of the bunch, and the wake field, e.g., arising from the interaction of the cavity surface and the self field of the bunch.
GADBMS: A Framework for Scalable Array Analytics

With the help of advancing technology, the scientific community and data mining community are producing an increasing amount of complex data. This data can be stored in multidimensional arrays and has been known to scale in the petabyte range. An obvious solution is to distribute the data across many nodes and work in parallel. However, optimizing storage for space limitations and access, as well as optimizing in memory execution is not intuitive. Array Database Management Systems (ADBMS) can be used to store these large datasets. This position paper will present an ADBMS supported by the Global Arrays framework that will allow users in both the scientific and data mining communities to efficiently store, access, and operate over large datasets in an easy to use framework we call GADBMS (Global-arrays Array Database Management System).
Boundary layer heat transfer coefficients under field conditions

Abstract Boundary layer heat transfer coefficients were measured under natural wind conditions using a transient and two steady-state methods. Measurements were made on metal disks of diameters from 1.9 to 12.7 cm above several agricultural and non-agricultural surfaces. Wind velocities varied from about 10 to 350 cm/sec. Heat transfer coefficients under natural winds averaged approximately 1.5 times greater than predicted from transfer theory for laminar flow conditions; however, the data show considerable scatter, with most estimates falling between the theoretically predicted and twice theoretically predicted values. The data were best represented by the dimensionless equation: Nu =1.08 Pr 0.33 Re 0.50 here was no evidence that a correlation between the fluctuating wind velocity and fluctuating temperature gradient was responsible for significant convective heat transfer.
Client Non-Suicidal Self-Injurious Behavior: Considerations for Clinical Supervisors

ABSTRACT Supervisees who encounter clients who engage in self-injurious behaviors may have strong personal reactions and struggle with how to proceed so as to minimize client risk and best help the client. Thoughtful, well-informed clinical supervision is of paramount importance when supervisees are charged with providing direct service to clients who self-injure. The purpose of this article is to address pertinent supervision considerations that may emerge when clinical supervisors supervise trainees who are counseling clients who engage in non-suicidal self-injury.
The evolution of venom-delivery systems in snakes

The Colubroidea represents approximately 2300 of the 2700 species of living snakes and includes all venomous taxa. Although many morphological studies of colubroid snakes have been carried over the last hundred years, the phy- logenetic relationships within this group are poorly known. In this study, components of the venom-delivery system (VDS) were examined within the context of two conflicting phylogenetic hypotheses proposed in 1988 by Cadle and in 1998 by Kraus & Braun. The results suggest that several major morphological changes occurred early in colubroid evolution: a Duvernoy's gland evolved, the posterior maxillary teeth became specialized relative to the anterior max- illary teeth, and the attachment of the pterygoideus muscle moved forward to a position associated with the posterior maxillary teeth. These innovations may have allowed the great radiation of colubroid snakes that led to the Colu- broidea representing such a large percentage of living snakes. More recently, three separate lineages of colubroids have independently evolved highly specialized front-fanged VDSs with large and complex venom glands, venom gland compressor muscles, and tubular fangs. © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Lin- nean Society, 2003, 137 , 337 - 354. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: Colubroidea - fangs - glands - morphology - muscles - Serpentes - systematics.
Scriptroute: a public internet measurement facility

We present Scriptroute, a system that allows ordinary Internet users to conduct network measurements from remote vantage points. We seek to combine the flexibility found in dedicated measurement testbeds such as NIMI with the general accessibility and popularity of Web-based public traceroute servers. To use Scriptroute, clients use DNS to discover measurement servers and then submit a measurement script for execution in a sandboxed, resource-limited environment. The servers ensure that the script does not expose the network to attack by applying source- and destination-specific filters and security checks, and by rate-limiting traffic. Scriptroute code is publicly available and has been deployed on the PlanetLab testbed of 42 sites. As proof-of-concept, we have used it both to create RPT, a tool for measuring routing trees toward a destination, and to repeat the experiment used to evaluate GNP, a recently proposed Internet distance estimation technique. We find that our system is flexible enough to implement a variety of measurement tools despite its security restrictions, that access to many remote vantage points makes the system valuable, and that scripting is an apt choice for expressing and combining measurement tasks.
Distributions in signal theory

The general equation for joint time - frequency distribution functions is reformulated to make it more tractible for the study of the recently found positive distributions.