cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of key parameters in a potentiostatic corrosion test for dental amalgam.

Abstract Objectives: Participation in a Round Robin study of potentiostatic corrosion test guidelines for dental amalgam was undertaken for the purpose of developing an accurate set of draft guidelines. Methods: Dispersalloy, sybraloy, aristalloy, phasealloy, and tytin were used as the amalgam specimens. They were prepared following the guidelines, then coupled to a copper wire, cemented into glass tubes, and polished to a 600-grit finish. A corrosion cell was prepared using a carbon counter-electrode, a standard calomel electrode (SCE) as the reference electrode, and amalgam as the working electrode. A 37°C solution of 10 g/l NaCl with a minimum volume of 300 ml was used. Within 5 min of polishing, the open circuit potential (OCP) was recorded for 10 min. Next, the specimen was polarized to 0 mV versus SCE, and the currents were recorded for a 24-h time period. Corrosion results were analyzed statistically with one-way ANOVA (p Results: Problems that occurred with evaporation, beaker size, carbon electrode length, SCE cap removal, glass tube fracture, polishing technique, and fresh electrolyte are easily avoidable with further explanation or reminder notes. Observations made concerning starting time, initial OCP recording, millivoltage, and solution temperature were determined to be necessary for the accuracy of test results. Analysis of results should include clarification of units, and graph interpretations. Finally, the number of specimens per amalgam should be increased from one to three so that statistical analysis can be performed. Using three specimens per amalgam, the method revealed corrosion susceptibility as measured by the improved test: aristalloy>sybraloy>(dispersalloy, phasealloy, tytin ) . Significance: Having run the initially proposed guidelines, a number of clarifying changes were made so that the corrosion susceptibilities of five dental amalgams could be clearly differentiated.
Building Model as a Service to support geosciences

Abstract Modeling is a fundamental methodology for simulating the past, understanding the present and predicting the future of the geospatial systems and phenomena. However, modeling in the geospatial science poses several challenges, including complex model setup, repetition in model setup, requirement for large, scalable computing resources, and management of a large amount of model output. To address these challenges, we propose Model as a Service (MaaS) by leveraging the latest advancement of cloud computing. MaaS enables various geoscience models to be published as services, and these services can be accessed through a simple web interface. MaaS automates the processes of configuring machines, setting up and running models, and managing model outputs. The computing resources are automatically provisioned by MaaS in a cloud environment. A proof-of-concept MaaS prototype is presented using a global climate change model (ModelE). Experimental results show that the MaaS prototype significantly simplifies model setup, accelerates model simulation and enhances model output by providing a web-based, on-demand, scalable modeling environment.
The potential of targeting Wnt/β-catenin in colon cancer

The Wnt signaling pathway controls several cell processes, such as motility and proliferation during embryonic development. Wnt signaling is also involved in the maintenance of potency and the induction of differentiation in stem cells. Aberrant Wnt signaling is implicated in several cancer types. Particularly in colorectal cancer (CRC), the Wnt-β-catenin signaling cascade is at the center of the carcinogenesis, and mutations in this pathway can be found in almost all CRC patients. We discuss the potential of targeting Wnt-β-catenin signaling with a brief overview of the pathway and the most promising pathway inhibitors.
Expandable Polyester Silicon-Covered Stent for Malignant Esophageal Structures before Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation: A Pilot Study

Patients with resectable esophageal cancer often require placement of a surgical jejunostomy tube prior to receiving chemoradiation so as to maintain adequate nutrition due to their inability to swallow and eat. This study reports a single institutional experience with the Polyflex self-expanding silicone stent (Rusch; Kernen. Germany) in patients with malignant stenosis receiving chemoradiation prior to esophagectomy. This was a retrospective, nonrandomized study of 6 patients who underwent Polyflex esophageal stent placement across a malignant stricture prior to receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiation. The study assessed procedural success, restoration of oral nutrition, migration, and removal of the Polyflex stent. The outcomes measured were the efficacy of treatment, stent-related complications, and changes in the nutritional status of the patient after stent placement. Stent placement was successful in 5 of 6 patients (83%). Restoration of oral nutrition after stent placement occurred in 5 of 5 patients (100%). Migration of the stent into the stomach occurred in 3 patients (60%) without occurrence of gastric outlet obstruction; there was no proximal migration. Stents were successfully removed endoscopically or at the time of esophagectomy. This early experience suggests that the removable silicone Polyflex stent is an effective alternative to a surgical jejunostomy tube for the management of malignant esophageal stenosis in patients for whom neoadjuvant chemoradiation is planned prior to esophagectomy.
Evidence for quantitative variability of bacterial opsonic requirements.

We studied human serum opsonins by using combinations of heat inactivation and chelation to inhibit complement, adsorption to remove antibody, and trypan blue to inactivate the C3 receptor of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Streptococcus pneumoniae, serotype 25, required both complement and immunoglobulin for opsonization, even though that strain activated the alternative complement pathway. Both strains of Escherichia coli required antibody and complement, but varied in the degree of dependence on the C3 opsonin, since trypan blue moderately inhibited the killing of E. coli-1 and markedly inhibited the killing of E. coli-2. Serratia marcescens was opsonized in heat-inactivated serum (limited complement) or serum absorbed at 0°C with S. marcescens (limited antibody), but depended on the C3 receptor in absorbed serum. S. marcescens activated the alternative pathway. Thus, opsonic requirements varied with the availability of opsonins. Requirements for bacterial opsonization vary with species and strains within species, perhaps reflecting quantitative relationships among alternative and classical pathway activation of C3, efficiency of adsorption of C3 or immunoglobulin G to bacterial surfaces, and efficiency of attachment of these ligands to polymorphonuclear leukocyte receptors. Furthermore, although not always sufficient for opsonization, the C3 opsonin (activated through either the classical or alternative pathway) appears necessary for effective phagocytosis and killing of all strains studied.
A force–speed trade-off is not absolute

In the pages of Biology Letters , McHenry [[1][1]] recently described a mathematical model of the biomechanics of a locust leg as it kicks. The author concluded that this lever system exhibits no trade-off between its abilities to generate force and to move quickly. This interpretation was
Wearable sensor network: A framework for harnessing Ambient Intelligence

Advancements in computing and communications technologies are enabling information processing on the go. The rapid proliferation of sensors in various applications is a result of miniaturization and advancements in embedded systems technologies. Textiles are pervasive, customizable and familiar to users. Together, they all present a powerful framework - in the form of a wearable sensor network - for harnessing ambient intelligence in various domains ranging from healthcare to entertainment. The need for personalized mobile information processing is established using typical scenarios and the building blocks of an ambient intelligent system are presented. The importance of a platform for creating the wearable sensor network is discussed. Then, the dual roles of textiles as both a physical and an information infrastructure for the wearable sensor network are explored from the viewpoints of human factors and technology features. The realization of a fabric-based wearable sensor network is illustrated with the wearable motherboard, or smart shirt. Finally, the challenges and opportunities for furthering the wearable sensor network paradigm - from both technical and market acceptance viewpoints - for harnessing ambient intelligence are presented.
The New Global Leaders: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon and the Remaking of International Business

The article presents a review of the book “The New Global Leaders: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon and the Remaking of International Business,” by Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries and Elizabeth Florent-Treacy.
Fast alignment using probabilistic indexing

The alignment method is a model-based object recognition technique that determines possible object transformations from three hypothesized matches of model and image points. For images and/or models with many features, the running time of the alignment method can be large. Methods of reducing the number of matches that must be examined are presented. The techniques described are the use of the probabilistic indexing system, and the elimination of groups of model points that produce large errors in the transformation determined by the alignment method. Results are presented which show that it is possible to achieve a speedup of over two orders of magnitude while still finding a correct alignment. >
The Molecular Mechanics of P- and L-Selectin Lectin Domains Binding to PSGL-1

A laser trap was used to compare the load-dependent binding kinetics between truncated P- and L-selectin to their natural ligand, P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1) over the predicted physiological range of loading rates. Human PSGL-1 was covalently coupled to polystyrene beads. Chimeric selectins were adsorbed to nitrocellulose-coated glass beads on a coverslip. A PSGL-1 bead was held in a laser trap and touched to a vertical surface of the glass bead, allowing a bond to form between selectin and ligand. The surface was moved away from the microsphere, applying load at a constant rate until bond rupture. Rupture force for both selectins increased with loading rate, but significant differences in rupture force between P- and L-selectin were observed only above 460 pN/s. These data are best represented as two energy barriers to unbinding, with the transition from the low to high loading rate regime at 260–290 pN/s. The data also allow the first estimate of a two-dimensional specific on-rate for binding of these two selectins to their natural ligand (1.7 μm2/s). These data suggest that P- and L-selectin lectin domains have very similar kinetics under physiological conditions.
A novel cost function to estimate parameters of oscillatory biochemical systems

Oscillatory pathways are among the most important classes of biochemical systems with examples ranging from circadian rhythms and cell cycle maintenance. Mathematical modeling of these highly interconnected biochemical networks is needed to meet numerous objectives such as investigating, predicting and controlling the dynamics of these systems. Identifying the kinetic rate parameters is essential for fully modeling these and other biological processes. These kinetic parameters, however, are not usually available from measurements and most of them have to be estimated by parameter fitting techniques. One of the issues with estimating kinetic parameters in oscillatory systems is the irregularities in the least square (LS) cost function surface used to estimate these parameters, which is caused by the periodicity of the measurements. These irregularities result in numerous local minima, which limit the performance of even some of the most robust global optimization algorithms. We proposed a parameter estimation framework to address these issues that integrates temporal information with periodic information embedded in the measurements used to estimate these parameters. This periodic information is used to build a proposed cost function with better surface properties leading to fewer local minima and better performance of global optimization algorithms. We verified for three oscillatory biochemical systems that our proposed cost function results in an increased ability to estimate accurate kinetic parameters as compared to the traditional LS cost function. We combine this cost function with an improved noise removal approach that leverages periodic characteristics embedded in the measurements to effectively reduce noise. The results provide strong evidence on the efficacy of this noise removal approach over the previous commonly used wavelet hard-thresholding noise removal methods. This proposed optimization framework results in more accurate kinetic parameters that will eventually lead to biochemical models that are more precise, predictable, and controllable.
Primary clear-cell chondrosarcoma of the cervical spine. Case illustration.

The incidence of primary malignant bone tumors ranges from 0.85 to 2%. Approximately 10% of these lesions arise from the spine and sacrum. Clear-cell chondrosarcoma (CCC) is a histological subtype of chondrosarcoma first described by Unni and colleagues in 1976;5 it accounts for 2 to 5.4% of all chondrosarcomas. Vertebral involvement of CCC is rare.4 This 22-year-old woman was admitted for cervical pain after an ice-skating fall. She had no neurological deficit. Radiography and computerized tomography (CT) scanning revealed a compression fracture of an osteolytic C-7 vertebral body (VB) (Fig. 1). Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging showed a hypointense lesion on T1-weighted sequences, slightly hyperintense on T2-weighted images, and diffuse enhancement after Gd administration. Surgery was proposed to correct mechanical instability and for oncologic reasons. A subtotal C-7 corpectomy was performed, leaving just a thin rim of the right lateral cortical wall. Macroscopically, the tumor removal was at least marginal. Spinal reconstruction was achieved by placing an anterior plate system and an expandable titanium cage filled with allograft chips. Histological examination of a tissue specimen showed cells with irregular hyperchromatic nuclei and clear cytoplasm, encircled by an irregular network of fine osteoid trabeculae (Fig. 2). No evidence of metastatic disease was detected. The patient was referred for postoperative proton-beam radiotherapy (70‐74 Gy) because of potential residual tumor. One-year follow-up radiography revealed good cervical alignment (Fig. 3), and cervical MR imaging documented no recurrence. Histologically CCC is characterized by benign giant cells alongside tumor cells with clear or granular cytoplasm, mixed with conventional chondrosarcoma in 50% of the cases. 5 The cells present with
Labor's Legal Mobilization Why and when do Workers File Unfair Labor Practices?

Whereas workers' use of the strike in workplace disputes has declined over the past decades, their legal mobilization—that is, the filing of unfair labor practice charges against employers—has rise...
Reciprocal Interaction of the Circadian Clock with the Iron Homeostasis Network in Arabidopsis

In plants, iron (Fe) uptake and homeostasis are critical for survival, and these processes are tightly regulated at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Circadian clocks are endogenous oscillating mechanisms that allow an organism to anticipate environmental changes to coordinate biological processes both with one another and with the environmental day/night cycle. The plant circadian clock controls many physiological processes through rhythmic expression of transcripts. In this study, we examined the expression of three Fe homeostasis genes (IRON REGULATED TRANSPORTER1 [IRT1], BASIC HELIX LOOP HELIX39, and FERRITIN1) in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) using promoter:LUCIFERASE transgenic lines. Each of these promoters showed circadian regulation of transcription. The circadian clock monitors a number of clock outputs and uses these outputs as inputs to modulate clock function. We show that this is also true for Fe status. Fe deficiency results in a lengthened circadian period. We interrogated mutants impaired in the Fe homeostasis response, including irt1-1, which lacks the major high-affinity Fe transporter, and fit-2, which lacks Fe deficiency-induced TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR1, a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor necessary for induction of the Fe deficiency response. Both mutants exhibit symptoms of Fe deficiency, including lengthened circadian period. To determine which components are involved in this cross talk between the circadian and Fe homeostasis networks, we tested clock- or Fe homeostasis-related mutants. Mutants defective in specific clock gene components were resistant to the change in period length under different Fe conditions observed in the wild type, suggesting that these mutants are impaired in cross talk between Fe homeostasis and the circadian clock.
The Ray and Wave Theory of Lenses

Calculations on lens systems are often marred by the unjustifiable use of the small-angle approximation. This book describes in detail how the ray and wave pictures of lens behaviour can be combined and developed into a theory capable of dealing with the large angles encountered in real optical systems. A distinct advantage of this approach is that Fourier optics appears naturally, in a form valid for arbitrarily large angles. The book begins with extensive reviews of geometrical optiks, eikonal functions and the theory of wave propagation. The propagation of waves through lenses is then treated by exploiting the close connection between eikonal function theory and the stationary phase approximation. Aberrations are then discussed, and the book concludes with various applications in lens design and analysis, including chapters on laser beam propagation and diffractive optical elements. Throughout, special emphasis is placed on the intrinsic limitations of lens performance. The many practical insights it contains, as well as the exercises with their solutions, will be of interest to graduate students as well as to anyone working in optical design and engineering.
Numerical implementation and performance of perfectly matched layer boundary condition for waveguide structures

This paper presents some numerical implementation issues and the performance of Berenger's perfectly matched layer (PML) boundary condition for modeling wave propagation in waveguide structures by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The relation between the thickness and the conductivity profile of the perfectly matched layer is studied and a guideline for the selection of PML parameters is given. It is shown that the standard Yee's time-marching scheme results in virtually the same numerical solution as the exponential time-marching scheme. Numerical tests are provided for parallel-plate and rectangular waveguides and microstrip lines. It is found that PML is very effective in absorbing TEM and quasi-TEM waves, as well as nonTEM waves somewhat above cutoff frequencies, but ineffective in absorbing evanescent waves and nonTEM waves near cutoff frequencies. The reason for the ineffectiveness of PML for absorbing evanescent waves is explained. Comparative study of PML and Higdon's boundary condition shows that high-order Higdon's boundary condition can reach the same performance of 16-cell PML and can be adjusted for absorbing evanescent waves, but PML is in general more robust to implement. Performance of the boundary condition obtained by combining PML and Higdon's boundary condition is evaluated.
Rethinking infiltration in wildfire‐affected soils

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Motivations Wildfires frequently result in natural hazards such as flash floods (Yates et al., 2001) and debris flows (Cannon et al., 2001a,b; Gabet and Sternberg, 2008). One of the principal causes of the increased risk of post-wildfire hydrologically driven hazards is reduced infiltration rates (e.g. Scott and van Wyk, 1990; Cerda, 1998; Robichaud, 2000; Martin and Moody, 2001). Beyond the reduction in peak infiltration rate, there is mounting evidence that the fundamental physics of infiltration in wildfire-affected soils is different from unburned soils (e.g. Imeson et al., 1992; Moody et al., 2009; Moody and Ebel, 2012). Understanding post-wildfire hydrology is critical given the increasing wildfire incidence in the westernUSA (Westerling et al., 2006) and elsewhere in the world (Kasischke and Turetsky, 2006; Holz and Veblen, 2011; Pausas and Fernandez-Munoz, 2012). Wildfire is a disturbance event with global distribution (Bowman et al., 2009; Krawchuk et al., 2009; Pechony and Shindell, 2010; Moritz et al., 2012), and with increasing populations moving into fire-prone areas, understanding post-wildfire infiltration is of increasing importance for predicting post-wildfire consequences. Runoff is generally controlled by the infiltration-excess mechanism in fire-affected soils (e.g. Mayor et al., 2007; Onda et al., 2008; Kinner and Moody, 2010). It is essential that the fire community have conceptual models, physical equations and tools (i.e. numerical models) to predict infiltration and thus excess rainfall (after Horton, 1933), which can provide estimates of peak discharge, start of runoff, time to peak and total runoff for hydroclimatic scenarios after wildfires. Reductions in saturated hydraulic conductivity Ksat [LT ] are common for fire-affected soils, and the relatively low values observed explain the elevated flash flood hazards (e.g. Ksat of 1–100mmh , Robichaud, 2000; Yates et al., 2000; Martin and Moody, 2001; Robichaud et al., 2007; Moody et al., 2009; Neary, 2011; Nyman et al., 2011).
Present and future pharmacotherapeutic options for adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often a lifelong condition. When untreated or undertreated, it appears to have a deleterious impact upon the daily functioning of the majority of adults that were diagnosed with this condition during childhood. Effective treatment, under the best circumstances, is multi-modal. The recent MTA study staged by the United States government confirmed the primary role of psychostimulants for children with this condition. The findings from this study have been generalised to adults that also have ADHD, particularly in cases where there is a well-defined longitudinal history dating back to early childhood. Psychostimulants remain a viable first-choice strategy for adults with ADHD. There are idiosyncratic differences in response to the various psychostimulants for any given individual with ADHD. Furthermore, the emergence of long-acting, once daily psychostimulant medications is likely to improve the calibre of care for adults with ADHD. A number of alternative p...
An efficient FDTD implementation of the PML with CFS in general media

Perfectly matched layer (PML) absorbing media has proven to be the most robust and efficient technique for the termination of FDTD lattices. Unfortunately, the PML can still suffer from late time reflections when terminating highly elongated lattices or when simulating fields with very long time signatures. This is partly due to the weakly causal nature of the PML. Alternatively, a strictly causal PML was introduced in Kuzuoglu and Mittra (1996). The resulting tensor is referred to here as the complex frequency shifted (CFS) tensor. The application of this technique within the FDTD has been presented previously. Here, the formulation is postulated for a generalized medium, including lossy, dispersive, anisotropic, or non-linear media. For such a medium, there are no additional memory requirements as compared to the standard FDTD/PML methods. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that it accurately absorbs highly oblique incident waves with long time signatures and is computationally efficient.
TM-FEL with a longitudinal wiggler and an annular beam

We investigate theoretically the interaction of an electron beam with a TM mode in the presence of a longitudinal wiggler. The electron motion is longitudinal and radial therefore adequate for interaction with the electric field components of the mode. There are two facts which make this device unique: firstly, the equations which describe its dynamics are practically identical to the equations of the traveling wave tube (TWT) rather than the free electron laser (FEL) thus its sensitivity to beam quality is significantly lower, and the efficiency in the absence of tapering is higher. Secondly the interaction is possible only with an annular rather than a pencil beam as in a regular FEL-therefore the amount of current it is possible to inject is larger. Optimal operation at 20.56 GHz is examined. >
The character of the equilibrium of an incompressible heavy viscous fluid of variable density

This paper is devoted to a consideration of the following problem: Given a static state in which an incompressible viscous fluid is arranged in horizontal strata and the density is a function of the vertical coordinate only, to determine the initial manner of development of an infinitesimal disturbance. The mathematical problem is reduced to one in characteristic values in a fourth-order differential equation and a variational principle characterizing the solution is enunciated. The particular case of two uniform fluids of different densities (but the same kinematic viscosity) separated by a horizontal boundary is considered in some detail. The mode of maximum instability in case the upper fluid is more dense and the manner of decay in case the lower fluid is more dense are determined; and the results of the calculations are illustrated graphically. Gravity waves (obtained in the limit when the density of the upper fluid is zero) are also treated.
A Non-Iterative Maximum Entropy Algorithm

We present a new algorithm for computing the maximum entropy probability distribution satisfying a set of constraints. Unlike previous approaches, our method is integrated with the planning of data collection and tabulation. We show how adding constraints and performing the associated additional tabulations can substantially speed up computation by replacing the usual iterative techniques with a non-iterative computation. We note, however, that the constraints added may contain significantly more variables than any of the original constraints so there may not be enough data to collect meaningful statistics. These extra constraints are shown to correspond to the intermediate tables in Cheeseman's method. Furthermore, we prove that acyclic hypergraphs and decomposable models are equivalent, and discuss the similarities and differences between our algorithm and Spiegelhalter's algorithm. Finally, we compare our work to Kim and Pearl's work on singly-connected networks.
Native Human and Bioprosthetic Heart Valve Dynamics

Native human heart valves undergo complex deformation during a cardiac cycle and the tissue leaflets are subjected to regions of stress concentrations particularly during the opening and closing phases. Diseases of the heart valves include stenosis and valvular incompetence and the valves in the left heart (aortic and mitral valves) subjected to higher pressure loads are more prone to these diseases. A correlation has been established between regions of high stress concentration on the leaflets and regions of calcification and tissue failure. Computational simulations play a significant role in the determination of stress distribution on the leaflets during a cardiac cycle. In this chapter, the development of state-of-the-art structural analysis of the biological leaflet valves as well as fluid–structure interaction algorithms for the analysis of biological tissue valve dynamics are described. The potential application of the computational analyses on improving the design of biological heart valve prostheses is discussed. The need for further advancements in multiscale simulation for increasing our understanding of the effect of mechanical stresses on the leaflet microstructure is also pointed out.
Personal measures of power-frequency magnetic field exposure among men from an infertility clinic: Distribution, temporal variability and correlation with their female partners' exposure

Power-frequency magnetic field exposure science as it relates to men and couples have not been explored despite the advantage of this information in the design and interpretation of reproductive health epidemiology studies. This analysis examined the distribution and temporal variability of exposures in men, and the correlation of exposures within couples using data from a longitudinal study of 25 men and their female partners recruited from an infertility clinic. The average and 90th percentile demonstrated fair to good reproducibility, whereas the maximum showed poor reproducibility over repeated sampling days, each separated by a median of 4.6 weeks. Average magnetic field exposures were also strongly correlated within couples, suggesting that one partner's data could be used as a surrogate in the absence of data from the other for this metric. Environment was also an important effect modifier in these explored matters. These issues should be considered in future relevant epidemiology studies.
Shipboard Assessment of Hearing Sensitivity of Tropical Fishes Immediately After Exposure to Seismic Air Gun Emissions at Scott Reef

A shipboard system for measurement of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) in fish was developed to investigate the effects on hearing in tropical reef fish after exposure to emissions from an air gun array used in a three-dimensional marine seismic survey at Scott Reef, Western Australia (Woodside Energy Ltd. 2007). Scott Reef is a coral atoll located in the Indian Ocean ∼430 km north of Broome. The species studied included Myripristis murdjan (pinecone soldierfish), Chromis viridis (blue green damselfish), Sargocentron spiniferum (sabre squirrelfish), and Lutjanus kasmira (bluestripe seaperch).
Relaxin in the ovary of the domestic sow, Sus scrofa L.

SummaryNo relaxin is found in the ovaries of the gilt nor of the sow during the follicular phase of the estrous cycle. There is, however, 2.5 to 5 G.P.U. of relaxin per gram of ovarian tissue present during the luteal phase of the cycle. The amount of relaxin in the ovaries increases rapidly during pregnancy and reaches a maximal concentration of approximately 10,000 G.P.U. per gram of tissue by the time the fetuses attain a length of 5 or 6 inches. The blood at mid-pregnancy contains 2 G.P.C. per ml while the placenta has 0.5 to 2.5 G.P.U. per gram.
Engineering Nitrogen-vacancy Centers near the Surface of Diamond for Coupling to Optical Microcavities

The optical properties of nitrogen-vacancy centers created nanometers from the surface of diamond are investigated. Deterministic control of the charge state is demonstrated and recent progress toward coupling single centers to cavities is presented.
A Solving Method of Fuel Consumption Meter Fuel Overflow Problem

The engine test is the base test to validate engine's performance,quality and structure.The article is mainly told that the fuel overflow problem of fuel consumption meter is occurred when the gasoline engine Dyno test is running.It analyzes fuel overflow problem,modify the existing fuel supply tube system which add an auto fuel cut-off system,and then the fuel overflow problem is solved effectively.
Impact of clinical fellowships on academic productivity in departments of surgery

Background Research and innovation are crucial to advancements in medicine and improvements in patient care. The contribution of surgical fellowships to scholarly productivity is unclear. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of subspecialty fellowships on academic output in departments of surgery. Methods This cross-sectional study examined fellowships offered at the top 50 university-based National Institutes of Health-funded and top 5 academically prolific hospital-based departments of surgery. Publications, citations, and National Institutes of Health funding history were determined for 4,015 faculty. χ2 and t tests were used as appropriate. Results Cardiothoracic surgery fellowships are offered at all departments, while other surgical fellowships are offered in 52 of 55 departments (96.4%). Median department publications/citations increased with the number of fellowships offered in addition to cardiothoracic surgery: no fellowship (27 ± 93/437 ± 2,509), 1–3 fellowships (34 ± 90/559 ± 3,046), and 4 or more fellowships (40 ± 97/716 ± 3,200, P Conclusion Based on publications/citations and National Institutes of Health funding, it seems that select fellowships are associated with improved scholarly activity. Departments may wish to consider the academic benefits of offering these fellowship types.
The ‘Proverbia Grecorum’

Statements in Latin concerning such topics as wisdom, truth, and virtue, attributed to the Proverbia Grecorum (less often the Parabolae Gregorum), are found in a number of early medieval manuscripts. They are of interest because of their stated connection with the Greeks, which pertains to the knowledge of Greek and Greek learning in the early medieval West, and because of the obscure vocabulary many of the proverbs contain, which relates to the study of the latinity of early medieval, especially insular, scholars. New findings concerning the origin and transmission of these statements have increased their importance because they have revealed connections between them and other important early medieval Latin texts, notably the Collectio canonum Hibernensis and certain florilegia found in the miscellaneous Collectaneum of Sedulius Scottus. The Proverbia Grecorum have been edited and studied in detail only once, by Sigmund Hellmann, in 1906. Since then new statements attributed to the Proverbia Grecorum have been found, and the characterization of early medieval Latin culture has been significantly revised. Hellmann's text, furthermore, has been found to be faulty in a number of places. Therefore, there is a need for a full re-edition and study of this proverb collection. This has been undertaken in the present work. Following this essay, which defines the current state of knowledge of the Proverbia Grecorum, there is a critical edition of all statements identified as Proverbia Grecorum. This is followed by a commentary in which parallel texts are cited, and points of linguistic interest are noted.
Continuous scintillator slab with microchannel plate PMT for PET

A PET detector design using the continuous scintil-lator slab was investigated. The detector unit consists of two layers of LSO scintillator slab, each slab size of 102×102×5mm3, and two large area microchannel plate(MCP) PMTs, 102×102mm2, coupled to scintillator slabs. The optical photon inside scintillator was simulated using Geant4 package and the electrical signal of MCP was formed using the measured characteristics of MCP and Geant4 output. The signals from MCP were readout using the transmission line(TL) scheme with 4.25mm pitch. The multi-layers of structure enable us to extract the depth of interaction in addition to position, energy and timing in an event. The detector response was measured by impinging the pair of 511keV gamma upon the detector. As preliminary results, we obtained ~12%(FWHM) of energy resolution at 511keV and ~360ps(FWHM) coincidence timing resolution while keeping 14% detection efficiency at 511keV. The position resolution was measured ~2.3mm(RMS) at the center. Due to its simplified structure, the detector can be easily extendable to several layers of slab to increase the sensitivity. The fast timing characteristics of MCP combined with the high sensitivity of LSO makes this design reliable for TOF PET application.
Statistical Testing of Variation

Using examples from recent studies, this article provides an introduction to variable rule analysis with the VARBRUL computer program, a specialized application of logistic regression commonly used to test for statistical significance in studies of sociolinguistic variation. The strengths and limitations of VARBRUL are outlined, the results of an analysis with VARBRUL and the logistic regression module in a commercial software package are compared, and alternative procedures for analyzing continuous variables are suggested.
The Ground-to-Ground Airport Surface Area Channel: Transmission/Reception from Airport Field Sites

This paper presents measured results and an empirical 5 GHz ground-to-ground channel model for the airport surface environment. The measurements were conducted at the Miami and John Kennedy International Airports. The transmitter was located at different airport field sites (AFS) on the airport surface, and the receiver moved around the terminal and runway areas. The AFS locations were selected primarily to reach airport areas that were difficult to reach while transmitting from the air traffic control tower (ATCT). Transmitting from an AFS can significantly reduce the channel dispersion compared to when transmitting from the ATCT. Minimum, root mean square (rms) and maximum delay spread estimates are provided. Example channel transfer functions and frequency correlation estimates are also provided to enable estimates of coherence bandwidths. Representative tapped delay line channel models, along with statistical tap amplitude distributions, are provided for both airports. The close proximity of scatterers with respect to receivers' causes correlated scattering among the taps, and example correlation coefficients between the taps are given. Finally, to account for the statistical non-stationarity observed in this setting, we provide example persistence process parameters, based upon a Markov chain, to model the appearance and disappearance of multipath components
Counter Terrorism: Weighing the Price of Liberty

While Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote may not mean what he intended, it still captures the central problem of counter terrorism: what amount of atrocity are we willing to suffer as the price of liberty? Certainly the deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of terrorists are an atrocity. On the other hand, are they sufficient to justify infringing our civil liberties? So let us examine what it means to be a terrorist, what the country is doing to fight terrorism, what further actions are being debated, and what the nation is willing to pay for the price of liberty
A heuristic for rebalancing bike sharing systems based on a deferred acceptance algorithm

Many cities around the world are making investments in innovative public transportation infrastructure. Bike-sharing systems (BSS) are one example of this. One key recurring BSS operation problem is the rebalancing of bikes at regular intervals. This redistribution of bikes from full stations to empty stations is required to meet expected demand patterns. Rebalancing entails finding the shortest Hamiltonian cycle in a graph that has the minimal residual. This is an NP-hard problem, and there are a number of algorithms that can be used to find optimal tours, but none are feasible for large instances, since they all grow exponentially. In this paper, we propose a new rebalancing algorithm based on the deferred acceptance algorithm, a well-known game theory algorithm consisting of two phases: tour construction and tour improvement. The proposed algorithm models the rebalancing problem as two disjoint sets of players. Each player in these sets has their own objective function, which is used to build the preference list for players on the other side. Experimental results for the proposed algorithm are promising.
Participant Perceptions of Relationship Education Programs Adapted for Same-Sex Couples

ABSTRACTMixed methods data were collected from 57 couples who participated in the Strengthening Same Sex Relationships (SSSR) Programs, relationship education programs adapted for same-sex couples. Quantitative and qualitative data yielded key themes, including high program satisfaction, appreciation that the program was designed specifically for same-sex couples, and requests for more detailed content addressing same-sex couples' unique needs. Participants expressed preferences for specialized programs for male or female same-sex couples. Women strongly preferred female sexual minority program leaders; men valued leader competency over match in gender or sexual orientation. Results can inform efforts to provide culturally sensitive relationship education to same-sex couples.
Analysis and Design of Physical Layer Raptor Codes

In this letter, we first provide the asymptotic analysis of Raptor codes over binary input additive white Gaussian noise channels using discretized density evolution (DDE). We show that the Raptor codes of various realized code-rates using the same output degree distribution perform within 0.4-dB to the Shannon limit. We then prove a necessary condition for the successful decoding of such codes and use it with a DDE-based optimization method to obtain optimized Raptor codes with further improvement in decoding thresholds.
High flow nasal oxygen therapy utilization: 7-year experience at a community teaching hospital.

Objective To examine the use of high flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy (HFNC) between 2008 and 2014 in patients 18 years or older at a community teaching hospital. Methods Yearly utilization rates of HFNC, noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) were calculated among admissions with a set of cardiopulmonary diagnoses (heart failure, COPD, asthma or pneumonia). Results Among the 41,711 admissions with at least one of the above cardiopulmonary condition, HFNC was utilized in 1,128 or 27.0/1000; NIV was used in an average of 169/1000 and IMV in 231/1000. HFNC was accompanied by IMV or NIV 71.3% of the time. From 2008 to 2014 HFNC utilization increased an average of 17.5% annually; NIV increased by 10.2% annually while IMV's utilization increased by 1.6% annually. The highest rate of change in HFNC use was among admissions with pneumonia and those with COPD. Conclusion HFNC utilization increased steadily over a 7-year period at our hospital. Frequently, HFNC therapy was used in combination with other ventilatory modes to support patients' respiration. Similar with other technologies in healthcare, the uptake of HFNC has preceded the evidence from robust clinical trials.
Simulation of the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse Using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model-eXtended

We performed simulations of the atmosphere‐ionosphere response to the solar eclipse of 21 August 2017 using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model‐eXtended (WACCM‐X v. 2.0) with a fully interactive ionosphere and thermosphere. Eclipse simulations show temperature changes in the path of totality up to −3 K near the surface, −1 K at the stratopause, ±4 K in the mesosphere, and −40 K in the thermosphere. In the F region ionosphere, electron density is depleted by about 55%. Both the temperature and electron density exhibit global effects in the hours following the eclipse. There are also significant effects on stratosphere‐mesosphere chemistry, including an increase in ozone by nearly a factor of 2 at 65 km. Dynamical impacts of the eclipse in the lower atmosphere appear to propagate to the upper atmosphere. This study provides insight into coupled eclipse effects through the entire atmosphere from the surface through the ionosphere.
The multiple myelomas — current concepts in cytogenetic classification and therapy

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell neoplasm that accounts for 2% of all haematological malignancies and predominantly affects older individuals (with a median age at diagnosis of 65-70 years). MM is consistently preceded by the clinically recognized precancerous stages monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and smouldering MM. Thus far, MM has been considered as a single disease entity, but the clinical presentation, response to treatment, and survival outcomes of patients with MM are quite heterogeneous and highly dependent on a set of chromosomal abnormalities that can be identified in nearly all of them. These alterations include primary cytogenetic abnormalities, such as translocations involving chromosome 14q and trisomies of odd-numbered chromosomes, as well as secondary abnormalities, such as deletion of chromosome 17p and amplification of chromosome 1q. The aetiology of myeloma is poorly understood, although different nonoverlapping disease entities can be defined on the basis of their specific primary cytogenetic abnormalities, which have a major role in determining clinical behaviour. This classification might enable the development of better treatment strategies focused on the underlying biology of each specific subtype. Herein, we describe treatment approaches that incorporate the current standard of care for patients with MM along with recommended alterations or improvements that might provide additional clinical benefit for certain subgroups of patients.
A deep learning approach to pattern recognition for short DNA sequences

Sequence-to-sequence alignment is a widely-used analysis method in bioinformatics. One common use of sequence alignment is to infer information about an unknown query sequence from the annotations of similar sequences in a database, such as predicting the function of a novel protein sequence by aligning to a database of protein families or predicting the presence/absence of species in a metagenomics sample by aligning reads to a database of reference genomes. In this work we describe a deep learning approach to solve such problems in a single step by training a deep neural network (DNN) to predict the database-derived labels directly from the query sequence. We demonstrate the value of this DNN approach on a hard problem of practical importance: determining the species of origin of next-generation sequencing reads from 16S ribosomal DNA. In particular, we show that when trained on 16S sequences from more than 13,000 distinct species, our DNN can predict the species of origin of individual reads more accurately than existing machine learning baselines and alignment-based methods like BWA or BLAST, achieving absolute performance within 2.0% of perfect memorization of the training inputs. Moreover, the DNN remains accurate and outperforms read alignment approaches when the query sequences are especially noisy or ambiguous. Finally, these DNN models can be used to assess metagenomic community composition on a variety of experimental 16S read datasets. Our results are a first step towards our long-term goal of developing a general-purpose deep learning model that can learn to predict any type of label from short biological sequences.