cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of symptom in Bartoszyński's virus model

This paper is concerned with Bartoszynski's process for rabies viruses introduced by Bartoszynski [R. Bartoszynski, A model for risk rabies, ISI invited paper No. 9, ISI 1-9, IX Warsaw, 1975, pp. 545-552; Math. Biosci. 24 (1975) 355; W. Klonecki (Ed.) Proceedings of the IASPS Symposium to honour Jerzy Neyman, Warsaw, 1976, pp. 19-28]. Our main interests are in developing mechanisms of a symptom--how the probability of the occurrence of the symptom is related to the process. Four mechanisms are suggested based on various biological backgrounds. The main variable of interests is the survival time--the time elapsing between initial infection and the occurrence of the symptom. Analytical results about the survival functions induced from the four suggested mechanisms are studied.
Knowing and Imaging Spatial Relations

This study examined the imaging processes that children at different operatory levels used on a spatial rotation task. A procedure was devised in which children were required to draw states of movement to an end-state which gradually and imperceptibly changed from the geometrically correct to an incorrect position during the course of the drawing. The quality of children's anticipation of the rotation movement was assessed on the basis of whether children drew the geometrically correct end-state, ended their drawings at the incorrect slide end-state, or drew a different and arbitrary end-state. Thequality of children's hindsight was assessed on the basis of the frequencies and timing of corrections to previously drawn states occasioned by the changing end-state. Relations between children's patterns of performance on the imaging measure and their level of performance on Euclidean geometric operations tasks generally confirmed predictions based on Piaget et al.'s (1960) theory of relations between children...
Endoscopic approach to orbital blowout fracture repair

Objectives Transconjunctival and subciliary approaches to orbital floor blowout fractures (OBF) have known risks of postoperative eyelid malposition. This study evaluates the endoscopic transmaxillary repair of OBFs in a cadaveric model and clinical setting. Methods Sixteen cadaveric and 10 clinical OBFs were repaired endoscopically. A Caldwell-Luc approach and modified sinus surgery instrumentation were used to repair each fracture. Variations in fracture pattern, instrumentation, and surgical technique were evaluated. Results Endoscopic repair was achieved in all 16 cadaveric orbits and in 9 of 10 patients. Fracture patterns were classified as either medial or lateral to the infraorbital nerve. Average clinical operating time was 1:38. Of 9 postoperative CT scans, 5 were rated as excellent, 3 as good, and 1 as poor. Conclusions The endoscopic transmaxillary approach is a safe, viable technique for OBF repair. It offers improved visualization, anatomic fracture repair, no risk of postoperative eyelid complications, and good clinical results. EBM rating: C.
Prediction of the rate of uptake of carbon monoxide from blood by extravascular tissues

Uptake of environmental carbon monoxide (CO) via the lungs raises the CO content of blood and of myoglobin (Mb)-containing tissues, but the blood-to-tissue diffusion coefficient for CO (DmCO) and tissue CO content are not easily measurable in humans. We used a multicompartment mathematical model to predict the effects of different values of DmCO on the time courses and magnitudes of CO content of blood and Mb-containing tissues when various published experimental studies were simulated. The model enhances our earlier model by adding mass balance equations for oxygen and by dividing the muscle compartment into two subcompartments. We found that several published experimental findings are compatible with either fast or slow rates of blood-tissue transfer of CO, whereas others are only compatible with slow rates of tissue uptake of CO. We conclude that slow uptake is most consistent with all of the experimental data. Slow uptake of CO by tissue is primarily due to the very small blood-to-tissue partial pressure gradients for CO.
Quantum mechanical rate constants for H + O2 O + OH and H + O2 --> HO2 reactions.

Canonical rate constants for both the forward and reverse H + O2 ↔ O + OH reactions were calculated using a quantum wave packet-based statistical model on the DMBE IV potential energy surface of Varandas and co-workers. For these bimolecular reactions, the results show reasonably good agreement with available experimental and theoretical data up to 1500 K. In addition, the capture rate for the H + O2 → HO2 addition reaction at the high-pressure limit was obtained on the same potential using a time-independent quantum capture method. Excellent agreement with experimental and quasi-classical trajectory results was obtained except for at very low temperatures, where a reaction threshold was found and attributed to the centrifugal barrier of the orbital motion.
Factors predisposing to the development of anastomotic strictures in a single‐surgeon series of radical retropubic prostatectomies

OBJECTIVE To determine the rate of anastomotic stricture (AS) after radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) performed by one experienced surgeon, and to identify factors predisposing to its formation. PATIENTS AND METHODS In all, 708 men were prospectively monitored for the development of AS after RRP. Potential risk factors for AS were analysed. RESULTS There were no significant differences in age, Gleason score, nerve-sparing status, intraoperative blood loss, degree of extravasation on initial cystography, or duration of the indwelling urinary catheter between men who developed AS and men who did not. The mean postoperative blood loss was significantly higher in men who developed AS. The incidence of AS was also significantly higher in men whose bladder necks were reconstructed more narrowly. CONCLUSION The amount of bleeding and the calibre of the reconstructed bladder neck were significantly associated with AS formation after RRP. The development of a haematoma from bleeding might explain the increased likelihood of AS. The mechanism of AS formation is unrelated to the degree of urinary extravasation on cystography, providing that a urinary catheter is left indwelling until extravasation resolves.
Earliest Report Of the Genus Phyricodothyris George (Brachiopoda: Reticularioidea) In North America

Abstract Described from the Wymps Gap Member of the Mauch Chunk Formation of southwestern Pennsylvania and adjacent Maryland is a new species, Phyricodothyris lauriegrahamae, of the Upper Mississippian reticulariod brachiopod Phyricodothyris George, 1932. The Wymps Gap Limestone from which the type material was collected is middle Chesterian (late Visean) in age. This is the first report of this genus from confirmed Mississippian rocks in North America.
Miniaturized wavefront-dividing interferometers without moving parts for field and space applications

without moving partsfor field and space applicationsK. D. MollerDepartment of Physics, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark N.J. 07102Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck N.J. 07666AbstractWe have designed two types of interfemmeters without moving parts, one is of theMichelson type, the other of the lamellar grating type. For both, the incident wavefront isdivided into 2n parts, and each part produces one signal point for an interferogram, whichcan be Fourier transformed to give the desired spectrum. The 2" operate like anarray of interferometers and since all points of the interferogram are instantly available,real time resolved spectroscopy may be performed.IntroductionMichelson interferometers are used for Fourier transform spectroscopy in theinfrared'. The light from the source is incident at a beamsplitter and in the firstbeamsplitting process one part of the light is reflected and the other part transmitted, andeach beam travels to a mirror and is reflected backwards towards the beamsplitter. Afterpassing the second thne the beamsplitter, the amplitudes of the two beams aresuperimposed by the concentration optic and the intensity is recorded by the detector. Ifone mirror is moved in space at equal intervals and at each point the intensity is recordedone obtains an interferogram. The Fourier transform of the interferogram will give thedesired spectrum.Fast scanning Fourier transform interferometers work a little differently but thesplitting of the incident light by the beamsplitter and the superposition of the amplitudesafter the recombination is the same.An interferometer without moving parts for Fourier transform spectroscopy hasbeen discussed by Linkemann et a12. For the recombination process, the beams are spreadout in space and superimposed. At various points in space the two beams have differentpath differences and an interferogram is formed. There is a center with zero pathdifference and on both sides the absolute value of the path difference increases. Thesuperposition of the two amplitudes after the second beamsplitting process isschematically shown in Fig. 1.
Measurements of Solar Total Irradiance and its Variability

The development of electrically self calibrated cavity pyrheliometric instrumentation that occurred in the early 20th century provided the technological base for experiments to detect variability of the solar total irradiance. Experiments from ground based observatories, aircraft and balloons during the 1st half of the 20th century were unable to achieve sufficient accuracy or long term precision to unambiguously detect irradiance variations of solar origin. Refinements in pyrheliometric technology during the 1960's and 1970's and the accessibility of extended experimental opportunities above the earth's atmosphere in recent years have provided the first direct observations of solar total irradiance variability and provided the cornerstone observations of a long term database on solar irradiance. A program of solar irradiance monitoring has evolved to sustain the database over at least 22 years, corresponding to a single cycle of solar magnetic activity, and the shortest well identified cycle of climate variation. Direct links between total irradiance variations, solar magnetic activity and the solar global '5 min' oscillation phenomena have been derived from recent space flight observations by the SMM/ACRIM I experiment.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Building a System of Care

According to recent studies, large numbers of children and adolescents with serious emotional or behavioral disorders receive either no mental health treatment or treatment inappropriate to their needs. In this article the authors examine the problem of unnecessary hospitalization and the inadequacy of community-based systems. They discuss the barriers that impede improved mental health service systems for children and their families and present the Child and Adolescent Service System Program (CASSP) “system of care” model as an alternative. Last, counseling and development's role in promoting and fostering positive changes in the mental health system serving children and adolescents is discussed.
Numerical Simulation of a Fluidic Oscillator for Water Removal Enhancement in PEM Fuel Cell

The fluidic oscillator is one solution to the problems of water management of the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). In low temperature fuel cells such as the PEMFC, liquid water is produced as a byproduct. At low gas flow rates, the water produced has a tendency to plug the reactant supply channels. When the channels are plugged, reactant supply to the catalyst sites is prohibited and results in fuel cell failure. One proposed method of removing a water drop is to oscillate the drop near its natural frequency in order to free it from the substrate. A variety of methods for oscillating the drop are available including mechanical vibrations, acoustic vibrations and flow pulsations. It is the latter method, i.e., use of the fluidic oscillator that is investigated in this study. The purpose of this paper is to use the experimental and numerical techniques to study and simulate a fluidic oscillator so that detail of flow physics inside the oscillator can be realized. Method on how to use the flow field solution to determine the oscillator response frequency is also described. Numerically results of oscillator frequency will be compared with the available experimental data.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Thin films of rf-magnetron sputtered InN on mica : crystallography, electrical transport, and morphology

Reactive rf-magnetron sputtering has been employed for the growth of thin films of InN on the (001) face of mica at a variety of substrate temperatures from 50 to 550 °C. These films have been characterized by x-ray scattering, stylus profilometry, and electrical transport measurements, and their topography has been studied by SEM and STM. At low deposition temperatures, the InN films exhibit texture [(00.1)InN‖ (001)mica], while at higher deposition temperatures a large fraction of the grains are heteroepitaxial [(00.1)InN‖(001)mica, (2.0)InN · (060)mica]. The utility of the x-ray precession method in the determination of this heteroepitaxial relationship is highlighted. The films exhibit a local mobility maximum near a substrate temperature of 350 °C, beyond which a sharp increase in resistivity associated with voids and cracks owing to the onset of secondary grain growth leads to a dramatic decrease in electrical mobility. At the highest growth temperatures, however, the interconnection between grains improves and lower resistivity and higher mobility are re-established.
Selective loss of hippocampal long-term potentiation, but not depression, following fluid percussion injury

We investigated the early effects of in vivo fluid percussion injury (FPI) on hippocampal synaptic potentials and excitability. In vitro field potential recordings and immunocytochemistry were performed in the CA1 region in slices from naive, post-FPI, or sham-operated rats. The following electrophysiological and morphological parameters were affected following FPI: (1) threshold for population spike generation was increased suggesting that post-FPI neurons were hypoexcitable; (2) long-term potentiation (LTP) could not be induced in injured hippocampi; (3) GFAP and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) immunoreactivity were enhanced post-FPI; and (4) following injury, synaptophysin immunoreactivity was enhanced in CA1 stratum radiatum. The effects of FPI on synaptic plasticity were LTP-specific, since long-term depression (LTD) could be equally induced and maintained in post-FPI, sham-operated and control slices. Sham-operated slices were characterized by synaptic excitability indistinguishable from naive controls, but displayed decreased ability for LTP production and expressed high levels of iNOS. We conclude that FPI causes a selective loss of LTP, possibly due to a previous potentiation induced by trauma as reflected by the increased expression of synaptic proteins. Sham surgical procedures were, however, not without effects on long-term potentiation itself; the latter effects appear to be mediated by an increased production of NO. Our study demonstrates for the first time that hippocampal slices can be used to investigate the correlates of in vivo FPI. Furthermore, we describe LTP-specific deficits in post-traumatic brain injury, suggesting that FPI can selectively erase one of the two main NMDA-dependent forms of synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus.
Designing follow-up times

Studies of time-to-event are often conducted using follow-up sessions with subjects at risk. When these sessions must be widely spaced, their timing can significantly affect the efficiency of a study design. In this article we analyze the optimal timing of follow-up from a Bayesian decision theoretic standpoint. The article has two goals: (1) to develop the necessary distributional theory and computational approaches to determine optimal sequential and nonsequential follow-up schedules in the exponential case and (2) to demonstrate that unusually large gains in efficiency (more than threefold over the standard approach in the examples considered) can be achieved using our group sequential timing of follow-up. We hope that this striking illustration will encourage more systematic consideration of followup times in study designs. Specifically, we consider time-independent hazard rates. We derive posterior and predictive distributions in three scenarios: single follow-up time for the estimation of a single h...
Progressive compression invariant semi-fragile watermarks for 3d meshes

In this paper, we propose a scheme to enhance the robustness of authentication based watermarking algorithms for 3D models (3D meshes) against compression and decompression. We target different compression techniques such as Compressed Progressive Meshes (CPM) [9], Progressive Forest Split (PFS) compression [11], and Progressive Mesh (PM) [7]. The idea behind the algorithm is to compute those set of vertices that are never used for compression. We have three sets of such vertices that are never used for compression by these techniques. The first set of vertices includes the boundary vertices that are critical for deciding the shape of the 3D model. The second set includes the neighboring vertices to the split vertex. The third set of vertices comprise of edges that do not form simple triangle. After applying the compression algorithms for 3D models, we apply the watermarking algorithm that uses geometric information only. We then watermark the vertices that are obtained from the above three sets. These watermarks are shown to be preserved even after repeated decompression and compression of 3D models. Due to the generic nature of the algorithm, we can apply the above idea to any watermarking algorithm used for other applications such as copyright protection as well.
Energy-aware media transcoding in wireless systems

In distributed systems, transcoding techniques have been used to customize multimedia objects, utilizing trade-offs between the quality and sizes of these objects to provide differentiated services to clients. Our research uses transcoding techniques in wireless systems to customize video streams to the requirements of users, while minimizing the energy costs. We introduce an approach to dynamically determine which transcoders to execute and where to execute them (e.g., client or server). The goal is to select appropriate transcoders (a) to provide clients with the quality of service they desire while (b) minimizing the energy consumption of the end-hosts in accordance with application-specific global energy management directives. This paper investigates sample transcoder functions for video streaming on handheld devices and introduces a mechanism for selecting the most appropriate transcoders and transcoder parameters.
Protection and reversal of excitotoxic neuronal damage by glucagon-like peptide-1 and exendin-4

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (7-36)-amide (GLP-1) is an endogenous insulinotropic peptide that is secreted from the L cells of the gastrointestinal tract in response to food. It has potent effects on glucose-dependent insulin secretion, insulin gene expression, and pancreatic islet cell formation. In type 2 diabetes, GLP-1, by continuous infusion, can normalize blood glucose and is presently being tested in clinical trials as a therapy for this disease. More recently, GLP-1 has been found to have central nervous system (CNS) effects and to stimulate neurite outgrowth in cultured cells. We now report that GLP-1, and its longer-acting analog exendin-4, can completely protect cultured rat hippocampal neurons against glutamate-induced apoptosis. Extrapolating these effects to a well defined rodent model of neurodegeneration, GLP-1 and exendin-4 greatly reduced ibotenic acid-induced depletion of choline acetyltransferase immunoreactivity in basal forebrain cholinergic neurons. These findings identify a novel neuroprotective/neurotrophic function of GLP-1 and suggest that such peptides may have potential for halting or reversing neurodegenerative processes in CNS disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, and in neuropathies associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Implications of Ongoing Trade and Investment Disputes Concerning Tobacco: Philip Morris v Uruguay

This chapter examines the implications of ongoing investment disputes for plain packaging of tobacco products. Written before the Philip Morris (Asia) claim was in the public domain, the chapter examines Philip Morris v. Uruguay. That dispute is examined with a view to identifying its implications not only for Philip Morris (Asia) v. Australia, but also for plain packaging more generally.
The long-term performance of electrically charged filters in a ventilation system

The efficiency and pressure drop of filters made from polyolefin fibers carrying electrical charges were compared with efficiency and pressure drop for filters made from uncharged glass fibers to determine if the efficiency of the charged filters changed with use. Thirty glass fiber filters and 30 polyolefin fiber filters were placed in different, but nearly identical, air-handling units that supplied outside air to a large building. Using two kinds of real-time aerosol counting and sizing instruments, the efficiency of both sets of filters was measured repeatedly for more than 19 weeks while the air-handling units operated almost continuously. Pressure drop was recorded by the ventilation system's computer control. Measurements showed that the efficiency of the glass fiber filters remained almost constant with time. However, the charged polyolefin fiber filters exhibited large efficiency reductions with time before the efficiency began to increase again toward the end of the test. For particles 0.6 microm in diameter, the efficiency of the polyolefin fiber filters declined from 85% to 45% after 11 weeks before recovering to 65% at the end of the test. The pressure drops of the glass fiber filters increased by about 0.40 in. H2O, whereas the pressure drop of the polyolefin fiber filters increased by only 0.28 in. H2O. The results indicate that dust loading reduces the effectiveness of electrical charges on filter fibers.
Modeling electron-electron interactions in reduced-dimensional materials: Bond-charge Coulomb repulsion and dimerization in Peierls-Hubbard models

To the conventional Peierls-Hubbard model, involving both on-site (U) and nearest-neighbor (V) Coulomb repulsions, we add ``off-diagonal'' terms, not expressible purely in terms of site densities, representing bond-bond (W) and mixed bond-site (X) electron-electron repulsive interactions involving nearest neighbors. We review earlier analyses of these interactions and discuss relative magnitudes of the parameters in applications to real materials. As a specific illustration, we investigate the effects of the off-diagonal W and X terms on dimerization in the one-dimensional, half-filled-band Peierls-Hubbard models, which have been widely applied to conjugated polymers (such as trans-polyacetylene) and to related quasi-one-dimensional charge-density wave (CDW) systems. Using both weak- and strong-coupling perturbation theory for large systems and exact diagonalizations of small systems, we investigate thoroughly the nature of the ground state of the model. For a broad range of the site-diagonal Hubbard parameters (U,V), including the values believed to be relevant to trans-polyacetylene, we find that the off-diagonal terms (W,X) initially enhance dimerization, thereby stabilizing the dimerized [or bond-order-wave (BOW)] ground state. For (unphysically) large values of W relative to U and V, dimerization is destroyed, and the BOW ground state goes over to a ferromagnetic ground state or a CDW ground state, depending on the relative sizes of U, V, and W. We conclude with a general discussion of the applicability of the Peierls-Hubbard models to quasi-one-dimensional materials, including the potential importance of the breaking of charge conjugation (``particle-hole'') symmetry by the X term.
Determinants of Hypercapnia in Occlusive Sleep Apnea Syndrome

To assess the relative contributions of age, gender, obesity, pulmonary function, and the severity of sleep-induced respiratory abnormalities to the development of alveolar hypoventilation in patients with occlusive sleep apnea syndrome, prospective data from 111 patients with occlusive sleep apnea were analyzed by stepwise logistic and multiple regression techniques. The significant variables in a logistic regression model predicting the presence of hypercapnia were daytime arterial oxygen pressure (PaO 2 ; p 2 ) revealed significant contribution from the PaO 2 , the apnea-plus-hypopnea index (AHI), and the percent predicted forced vital capacity (r 2 = O.56; p 2 related to PaO 2 only. These results suggest that daytime hypoxemia, mechanical impairment of the respiratory system due to obesity or obstructive airway disease (or both), and the severity of sleep-induced respiratory abnormalities as assessed by AHI contribute to the severity of carbon dioxide retention in patients with occlusive sleep apnea in a multifactorial fashion.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) exists as a distinct subset of the larger family of automated identification technologies that includes things like bar codes, visual scanning devices and biometric readers. RFID is a means of automated identification that features electronic tags used both to store data and to act as transponders for sending the stored data as the payload in electromagnetic waves (radio waves) sent to detached listening devices (RFID readers) [1,2]. The tags can be affixed to animate or inanimate objects by a variety of methods and the readers that receive emissions from the tags translate the wave-embedded data into meaningful information (Fig. 1). They are a significant improvement over bar codes, for example, in that they do not require any human intervention. Currently deployed RFID systems provide real-time identity tracking and monitoring and make possible a wide variety of access control and inventory management solutions [3,4,5]. Beyond this primary value of real-time identification monitoring, the back-end of a typical RFID solution offers a distinct secondary value through storing the rich set of identity data captured by the system, enabling sophisticated data mining techniques to be applied to a number of interesting scenarios [6]. Additionally, while RFID systems primarily deal with automating Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Figure 1 Simple system diagram of grocery store point of sale RFID
Does Microsoft Stifle Innovation? Dominant Firms, Imitation, and R & D Incentivest

We provide a simple framework to analyze the effect of firm dominance on incentives for R&D. An increase in firm dominance, which we measure by a premium in consumer valuation, increases the dominant firm's incentives and decreases the rival firm's incentives for R&D. These changes influence the probability of innovation through two effects: changes in total R&D effort and changes in how this total is distributed between the two firms. For a given level of total research effort, the shift from the rival firm to the dominant firm is a good thing as it decreases the likelihood of duplicate innovation (we call this the duplication effect). The shift in research effort is not one-to-one, however. The dominant firm's benefit from increased dominance is more inframarginal than marginal when compared to the rival firm's disincentive. As a result, total research effort decreases when firm dominance increases (we call this the total effort effect). We show the total effort effect dominates the duplication effect when intellectual property protection is weak, and the opposite when property rights are strong. That is, firm dominance is good for innovation when (but only when) property rights are strong. We also examine consumer and social surplus.
Advancements in at-speed array BIST: multiple improvements

This paper discusses the unique challenges in constructing an architecture and methodology for testing a 1 GHz 65 nm Embedded DRAM in an ASIC environment. The concepts of multiplication of both test commands and test clock frequency are discussed in detail. The novel technique of command multiplication is thoroughly explored. The inherent benefits of this design point is examined as it relates to test circuit design, BIST sharing, and chip level wiring in comparison to traditional scan or parallel based array BIST architectures. Attention is also paid to various methods used for supporting at-speed/high-speed test clock generation from a low speed tester and the important influence this has on test cost and test quality.
Attributes of the radiographic standard of reference for the National Health Examination Survey

In 1964, this standard was prepared at the request of the National Center for Health Statistics so that the skeletal age of the bones in the growing hand and wrist could be read from the films of the children and youths–age 5 to 18 years—from 40 areas of the United States who have been included in the National Health Survey. The major directive from the National Center was to prepare a standard so that a skeletal age could be assigned to each growing bone without any reference to the sex or the age of the subjects in the Survey. Between 1928 and 1964, the attributes of the present standard had been tested in the United States and abroad using films of children and youths of all races and several forms of standards. The widely-used radiographic form was chosen. Contact-size prints of 26 films of the hand and wrist were arranged as a maturity series to illustrate transitional osseous features which appear in the radiographic shadows of each bone during growth. A description of these features and standardized bone ages for males completed each standard plate. Copies of a Manual containing the standard as used by the NHS film readers, details of its preparation, bone age equivalents for females related to the 26 standard films, and some new examples of use of bone ages will be provided for participants to this evaluation of skeletal age standards for children and youths.
Application of a CFD tool in designing a fountain plating cell for uniform bump plating of semiconductor wafers

Fountain plating is a widely used method for electroplating bumps for flip chip and tape automated bonding (TAB) applications. Ideally, the plating process should produce metal bumps of uniform height (both within the bump and across the wafer) and flat-end surface in order to make good bonding to a device package. However, varying degrees of deposit uniformity have always been an issue in electroplating due to the current density distribution on the wafer, the electric field between the anode plate and the wafer, and the plating solution flow motion. The problem of nonuniform bump plating is especially serious in indium. Plated indium bumps tend to be much thicker on the sides corresponding to the direction of flow, creating nonuniform geometry and possible electric shorts. An improvement on fountain style plating cells has been developed for better control of deposit uniformity during bump plating operations. By applying a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool to analyze the flow motion inside the fountain plating cell, a favorable plating solution flow path, is created so that uniform flow will reach the wafer surface. Experiments are performed to verify the CFD model. Indium bumps are plated to a 10-cm diameter wafer in the fountain cell, Photographic results illustrate that when the anode plate is too close to the solution inlet plane, over-plating occurs, resulting in tear drop or comet shaped bumps. However, with a proper distance between the anode and the inlet plane, uniform bumps are created.
Deadlock-free Asynchronous Communication Strategies for Unstructured Computations on iPSC/860

In this paper, we describe efficient, scalable, and deadlock-free asynchronous communication strategies suitable for unstructured computations on iPSC/860. Using these deadlock-free strategies, which incur small overhead, we have optimized the communication in parallel sparse Cholesky factorization. We present experimental results to show that such optimizations can lead to more than 50% saving in communication costs.
Effect of an expansion in private sector provision of contraceptive supplies on horizontal inequity in modern contraceptive use: evidence from Africa and Asia

Background One strategic approach available to policy makers to improve the availability of reproductive and child health care supplies and services as well as the sustainability of programs is to expand the role of the private sector in providing these services. However, critics of this approach argue that increased reliance on the private sector will not serve the needs of the poor, and could lead to increases in socio-economic disparities in the use of health care services. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the expansion of the role of private providers in the provision of modern contraceptive supplies is associated with increased horizontal inequity in modern contraceptive use.
Driving Saints to Sin: How Increasing the Difficulty of Voting Dissuades Even the Most Motivated Voters

The consolidation of polling places in the Vestal Central School District in New York State during the district’s 2006 budget referendum provides a naturalistic setting to study the effects of polling consolidation on voter turnout on an electorate quite distinct from previous work by Brady and McNulty (2004, The costs of voting: Evidence from a natural experiment. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Political Methodology, Palo Alto, CA). In particular, voters in local elections are highly motivated and therefore might be thought to be less affected by poll consolidation. Nevertheless, through a matching analysis we find that polling consolidation decreases voter turnout substantially, by about seven percentage points, even among this electorate, suggesting that even habitual voters can be dissuaded from going to the polls. This finding has implications for how election administrators ought to handle cost-cutting measures like consolidation.
Development of Intimacy in Young Adults, a Multidimensional View:

50 female and 37 male adult college students responded to an interview, which permitted subjects to be categorized according to their style of coping with the intimacy crisis of young adulthood. Th...
Health Behaviors and Transitions of Physical Disability Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults

This study examined the transitions of disability over 5 years among older adults and the influences of health behaviors on these transitions. Data was obtained from the community cohort of the National Long-Term Care Survey in 1994 (n = 5,089) and their follow-up data in 1999. Generalized logit regressions revealed that obesity increased the risk of disability. Light drinking decreased the risk of disability. Among disabled individuals, the risk of status decline was higher for those underweight or physically inactive, and those taking vitamin and/or mineral supplements regularly or working on a hobby were less likely to further decline in the disability statuses. In an older population, having more contacts with friends, having regular social activities, and having a body mass index ≥ 25 were beneficial to survival. These findings indicate that older adults may have greater personal control over their lives based on their choices about lifestyles and social connections.
An Intelligent Procedure Assistant Built Using REGULUS 2 and ALTERF

We will demonstrate the latest version of an ongoing project to create an intelligent procedure assistant for use by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). The system functionality includes spoken dialogue control of navigation, coordinated display of the procedure text, display of related pictures, alarms, and recording and playback of voice notes. The demo also exemplifies several interesting component technologies. Speech recognition and language understanding have been developed using the Open Source REGULUS 2 toolkit. This implements an approach to portable grammar-based language modelling in which all models are derived from a single linguistically motivated unification grammar. Domain-specific CFG language models are produced by first specialising the grammar using an automatic corpus-based method, and then compiling the resulting specialised grammars into CFG form. Translation between language centered and domain centered semantic representations is carried out by ALTERF, another Open Source toolkit, which combines rule-based and corpus-based processing in a transparent way.
The postoperative pathology of congenital heart disease

The role of the pathologist is changing with regard to the assessment of postoperative congenital heart disease. Whereas, in the past, the access to autopsied hearts provided the opportunity for detailed description and classification, nosologic details of cardiac malformations are now largely agreed. While a detailed analysis of the lesion remains an integral part of the pathologist's task, future advances will now largely be dictated by careful analysis of the effects of cardiac surgery. Such analysis can be divided into early and late phases. When assessing the specimen from a death occurring in the operating room or in the immediate postoperative period, the pathologist must examine carefully the operative incisions, and the correctness of the surgical procedure. Proper assessment of the procedure will necessitate removal of patches and pathways constructed by the surgeon, having documented carefully the location of sutures used to secure the foreign materials. The autopsy must also include assessment of the organs in the rest of the body, particularly the lungs, and must not ignore the immediate effect of the operative procedure on myocardial status. In the late phase, while again assessing in detail the access to the heart and the procedures employed during surgical correction, the pathologist will take care to evaluate the long-term effects of the procedure on the valves of the heart, the myocardium, the pulmonary vasculature and the other organs. At this stage, care should also be taken to ensure that late scarring does not involve the conduction tissues. Particular care will be needed when assessing the efficacy and durability of prosthetic materials inserted into the heart. Most of these steps will be undertaken intuitively by the pathologist, but interest in cardiac pathology as a specialty seems to be waning. The clinician can combat this trend by ensuring that all cases dying after operative procedures are obtained for autopsy, and by encouraging the pathologist to become involved in this fascinating area.
Performance measurement and comparison of a set of parallel periodic and non-periodic tridiagonal solvers

Various traditional solvers have been proposed in recent years for different parallel platforms. In this paper, the performance of three tridiagonal solvers, namely, the parallel partition LU algorithm, the parallel diagonal dominant algorithm, and the reduced diagonal dominant algorithm, is studied. These algorithms are designed for distributed-memory machines and are tested on an Intel Paragon and an IBM SP2 machines. Measured results are reported in terms of execution time and speedup. The measured results match analytical results closely. In addition to address implementation issues, performance considerations such as problem sizes and models of speedup are also discussed.
Reliability Analysis of Plank Decks

The objective of this study is to summarize the load and resistance criteria for highway bridge plank decks, and to estimate the reliability of plank decks designed by the AASHTO Code. Both transverse and longitudinal planks for a variety of typical stringer spacings and plank sizes are considered. Truck traffic load data are based on the model used to calibrate the 1994 AASHTO LRFD Code. However, for plank decks, wheel load rather than whole vehicle weight is most important, and these statistics are developed for this study. For wood planks, dead load and dynamic load are not significant. The limit state considered is flexural strength, and resistance statistics are presented for wood planks in terms of modulus of rupture. Special flat-wise use data are presented to account for section aspect ratio as well as edge of load application. The reliability analysis is carried out using the procedure developed for calibration of AASHTO LRFD. Reliability indices for both the AASHTO Standard and AASHTO LRFD Code are presented for plank decks. The results indicate that there are considerable differences in plank reliability indices. Causes of inconsistencies in safety are identified.
What Is the Role for Patelloplasty With Gullwing Osteotomy in Revision TKA

Background Management of the patella in revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is challenging as a result of the deficient or unusable bone stock for patellar resurfacing that is frequently encountered. Options proposed in this setting include various patelloplasty procedures, patellectomy, and special patellar components. We sought to better define the role and results of one patelloplasty procedure, the gullwing osteotomy, used in revision TKA.
Peckoltia cavatica, a new loricariid catfish from Guyana and a redescription of P. braueri (Eigenmann 1912) (Siluriformes)

Peckoltia cavatica is described as a new species and P. braueri is redescribed. Peckoltia cavatica and P. braueri differ from all other Peckoltia by having distal orange bands on the dorsal and caudal fins when alive and by having the plates and bones of the head and nape outlined in black. Peckoltia cavatica is found in the Essequibo River basin, and P. braueri is found in the Takutu River basin. The species differ in that P. cavatica has weaker dorsal saddles, the plates and bones of the head and nape are completely outlined in black (vs. partially outlined in P. braueri), lacks vermiculate lines on the pterotic-supracleithrum, lacks at least one, broken band in the caudal fin, and has wider orange bands.
Ties that Bind? Political Economy, Humanitarian Norms, and Immigration

Family migration accounts for the majority of migrant movement to the developed world. These large immigrant flows are politically justified by the individual right to respect for family life and recognition of the family as the foundation of a healthy society. While most immigration is largely driven by domestic concerns, family immigration has an international-normative graft that should produce consistently different outcomes across states when compared to other forms of migration. Developed states and particularly the European Union share a uniquely enforceable foundation of individual rights law, and should hypothetically converge towards common family reunion provisions. However, we continue to witness divergence in family reunification policy outcomes. This project questions the premise of rights universality across OECD and European states and argues differences in country-level sociopolitical respect for individual rights are the primary explanation for variation in family reunification policy. An environment of respect for individual rights ought to interact with domestic attitudes, political considerations, and economic concerns to influence the degree of permissiveness in immigration policy and practice. This project uses Ordinary Least Squares models to reveal broad mechanisms at work in immigration policy formation across the European Union and OECD countries through comparing the determinants of family, refugee, and labor migration policies.
Alphain1-antitrypsin deficiency

Most of the care of liver disease in alphα1-antitrypsin (α1-AT) deficiency involves supportive management for complications of chronic liver disease including gastrointestinal bleeding, ascites, edema, encephalopathy, coagulation disturbances, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, and hepatorenal syndrome. Some of these patients will have manifestations of cholestatic injury, including pruritus, hypercholesterolemia, and steatorrhea with fat-soluble vitamin deficiencies. The major challenge for the clinician taking care of these patients is the timing of referral for liver transplantation therapy. Timing of such referral is a relatively straightforward decision in α1-AT-deficient patients with progressive liver dysfunction. Some patients have nonprogressive or slowly progressing liver disease even after the development of cirrhosis or portal hypertension. Timing of liver transplantation in these patients should not be based simply on the presence of cirrhosis, portal hypertension or mild liver synthetic dysfunction, but rather on the basis of a subjective judgment by the hepatologist, patient, and family that manifestations of liver disease are interfering with overall life functioning.
Diapause in the Pink Bollworm: Preliminary Genetic Analysis

Diapause in the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella, is a quantitative genetic character that is in turn regulated by external environmental factors. A naturally occurring non-diapause strain of the insect from south India and two diapause strains from Arizona (U.S.A.) were used in crosses to study the inheritance of diapause. The F1 progeny expressed a diapause response intermediate between the two parents and no clear dominance was evident for the non-diapause character. It was not possible to classify the phenotypes of backcross and F2 progeny in accordance with simple Mendelian ratios. Comparisons of reciprocal crosses indicated that the progeny from male parents of the Indian strain usually had a lesser incidence of diapause. Such sex related differences were more evident in F2 progeny and backcrosses. It is therefore concluded that diapause in the pink bollworm is inherited in a complex way and that non-diapause is not completely dominant over the diapause trait. The study also indicated that incomplete dominance for non-diapause involves a sex-linked gene.
Hard Data on Hard Coal: Reflections on Chandler's Anthracite Thesis *

In "Anthracite Coal and the Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in the United States" published in the Business History Review in the summer of 1972 Professor Alfred D. Chandler proposed "the hypothesis that the opening of the anthracite coal fields in Pennsylvania [in the 1820s and 80s] greatly influenced the timing and process of the coming of the large, subdivided business enterprise in American manufacturing and mining." He suggested the existence of a bottleneck by noting: "The constraint to the growth of the factory in America was basically the relative costliness of fuel which in turn increased the cost of metals, of power, and of the over-all process of manufacturing. The constraint began to be lifted when entrepreneurs perceived a market for anthracite, developed the technology for its use, built the canals .. . , and encouraged others to fashion a transportation and marketing network." ' Abundant and inexpensive anthracite revolutionized the production of iron, and many industries in turn profited both from cheaper iron and cheaper fuel. The introduction of anthracite encouraged the use of steam power and led to the creation of substantial factory enterprises where none had existed. Professor Chandler dismisses bituminous as a viable alternative
Proton-pump inhibitor-induced hypomagnesemia: Current research and proposed mechanisms

Since the early reports nearly a decade ago, proton-pump inhibitor-induced hypomagnesemia (PPIH) has become a well-recognized phenomenon. While many observational studies in the inpatient and outpatient populations have confirmed the association of PPI exposure and serum magnesium concentrations, there are no prospective, controlled studies to support causation. Molecular mechanisms of magnesium transporters, including the pH-dependent regulation of transient receptor potential melastatin-6 transporters in the colonic enterocyte, have been proposed to explain the effect of PPIs on magnesium reabsorption, but may be a small part of a more complicated interplay of molecular biology, pharmacology, and genetic predisposition. This review explores the current state of research in the field of PPIH and the proposed mechanisms of this effect.