cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exposure, Social Vulnerability and Recovery Disparities in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy's 80 mph wind speeds did not achieve major hurricane status on the Saffir-Simpson scale, yet the storm had extreme consequences for the New York metropolitan area. Post-event recovery has been quite variable across the region, especially in New Jersey. This paper examines the progression of recovery at two time intervals — 6 months and 1 year after the storm made landfall. Based on in situ observations of reconstruction and repair within the surge damage zone along New Jersey's coast (N = 765 locations or points), we hypothesize that the timing and distribution of recovery is based on exposure (water depth, prior flood experience, building heights), vulnerability (social vulnerability, seasonal occupancy), and government support (FEMA assistance, Small Business Administration loans). Predictions of recovery (recovered, not recovered) based on these input measures is quite good at 6 months (80 percent correctly predicted) with slight improvements at 1 year (82 percent correctly predicted). The model is much better at predicting recovered points than recovering. In terms of the individual factors predicting recovery the level of exposure is the most significant, statewide. Within the two most affect counties — Monmouth and Ocean — only water depth and building height were significant predictors. Housing tenure (seasonal occupancy) was an important predictor of the location and timing of recovery for the first 6 months, especially in Monmouth County, but became insignificant thereafter. Government support in the form of FEMA individual assistance grants was a significant predictor statewide in both time periods. Clearly other factors are influencing the pace and location of recovery including confusion surrounding flood hazard zones and insurance. Those factors influencing the lack of recovery for the roughly 20 percent of our observations awaits further, more detailed analyses.
Ferromagnetic resonance studies of NiO-coupled thin films of Ni 80 Fe 20

This paper describes ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and magnetoresistive measurements of thin magnetic films coupled to antiferromagnetic films. First, FMR results for films of ${\mathrm{Ni}}_{80}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{20}$ show that coupling to NiO produces the angular variation in the resonance field of the type expected for unidirectional exchange anisotropy. However, unidirectional anisotropy values measured by in-plane ferromagnetic resonance are roughly 20% less than the loop shift measured via magnetoresistance. The difference is attributed in part to asymmetry in the coercivity. Second, in addition to the unidirectional anisotropy, coupling to NiO produces an isotropic negative resonance field shift that is larger than the exchange anisotropy field. This isotropic field shift is not consistent with models of exchange anisotropy in which the ferromagnet spins couple to a static antiferromagnet spin structure. It is consistent with the existence of a rotatable anisotropy, explained in terms of the energetics of domain configurations in the NiO. Third, using unpinned films as references, unidirectional anisotropy is measured for the first time with the magnetization rotated out of the film plane, and is found to be in reasonable agreement with in-plane measurements.
Money management services for the homeless mentally ill.

Although case management has gained increased popularity as a strategy for providing services to chronic mentally disabled persons, the incorporation of money management into such client planning adds a critical element of care. The Skid Row Mental Health Service money management program has demonstrated that the addition of money management to a program of intensive but flexible case management can considerably aid the stabilization of clients' lives. The program's success shows that careful attention to the handling of income is a valuable service in a system of continuing care for chronic mentally ill homeless people . This service may lead to reduced homelessness and improvement ment in the general quality of life of these clients. Although the money management program was not intended to attract new clients to the Los Angeles County mental health system , chronically disabled people who had never before used the county system enrolled in the program . This finding alone is a powerful recommendation f...
Third Party Mediation of International River Disputes: Lessons from the Indus River

Third parties have been active in assisting adversarial states to navigate their international river disputes. By using the carrot and stick to facilitate compromise, mediators have also participated in the negotiations leading to the signing of treaties over international rivers. Yet, due to the nature of the issue confronting riparian states, the long-term impact of these efforts is likely to be unstable cooperation rather than cooperation. This is still an important contribution, because the absence of mediation efforts may contribute to an environment of conflict. However, since riparian states confront a relationship that involves the need to continuously manage disputes that arise as states develop their international rivers, a mediator may be more effective in facilitating cooperation if it assists developing states with a history of animosity to establish effectively designed river basin commissions and it oversees the implementation of treaties. Participating in the initial years of a treaty's implementation by coordinating the donor community to underwrite projects can minimize the potential disputes riparians confront. An effectively designed river basin commission can assist in facilitating cooperation long after the mediator has departed from the region. To demonstrate this argument, the article draws on the Indus River case, which has lived through four different phases. The Euphrates and Tigris Rivers are used to illustrate the argument's ability to explain other cases.
Further results on the enumeration of hamilton paths in Cayley digraphs on semidirect products of cyclic groups

First, let m and n be positive integers such that n is odd and gcd(m,n)=1. Let G be the semidirect product of cyclic groups given by G=Z"8"m@?Z"2"n=. Then the number of hamilton paths in Cay(G:x,y) (with initial vertex 1) is one fewer than the number of visible lattice points that lie on the closed quadrilateral whose vertices in consecutive order are (0,0), (4mn^2+2n,16m^2n), (n,4m), and (0,8m). Second, let m and n be positive integers such that n is odd. Let G be the semidirect product of cyclic groups given by G=Z"4"m@?Z"2"n=. Then the number of hamilton paths in Cay(G:x,y) (with initial vertex 1) is (3m-1)n+m@?(n+1)/3@?+1.
HLA antigen changes in malignant cells: epigenetic mechanisms and biologic significance

Changes in classical and nonclassical HLA class I as well as HLA class II antigens have been identified in malignant lesions. These changes, which are described in this review are believed to play a major role in the clinical course of the disease since both HLA class I and class II antigens are critical to the interaction between tumor cells and components of both innate and adaptive immune system. Abnormalities in HLA antigen expression in malignant cells, which range in frequency from 0-90%, are caused by distinct mechanisms. They include defects in beta(2)-microglobulin (beta(2)m) synthesis, loss of the gene(s) encoding HLA antigen heavy chain(s), mutations, which inhibit HLA antigen heavy chain transcription or translation, defects in the regulatory mechanisms, which control HLA antigen expression and/or abnormalities in one or more of the antigen processing, machinery (APM) components. More recently, epigenetic events associated with tumor development and progression have been found to underlie changes in HLA antigen, APM component, costimulatory molecule and tumor antigen (TA) expression in malignant cells. The types of epigenetic modifications that may occur in normal and malignant cells as well as their role in changes in HLA antigen expression by malignant cells have been reviewed. The epigenetic events associated with alterations in HLA antigen expression may be clinically relevant as, in some cases, they have been shown to impair the recognition of tumor cells by components of the adaptive immune system. The functional relevance and potential clinical significance of these epigenetic alterations have been addressed. Finally, unlike genetic alterations, epigenetic modifications can, in some cases, be reversed with pharmacologic agents that induce DNA hypomethylation or inhibit histone deacetylation. Therefore, strategies to overcome epigenetic modifications underlying changes in HLA antigen expression in malignant cells have been discussed.
cAMP-dependent protein kinase and hedgehog act antagonistically in regulating decapentaplegic transcription in drosophila imaginal discs

Localized expression of decapentaplegic (dpp) is required for proper development of the Drosophila imaginal discs. Using genetic mosaics, we show that in the anterior compartment of appendage discs and anterior to the morphogenetic furrow in the eye disc, cells that lack cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) activity ectopically express dpp. Pka- cells can influence the fate of neighboring cells to reorganize anterior patterns in appendages and trigger ectopic morphogenetic furrows in the developing retina. This organizing activity of Pka mutant cells depends on dpp activity. Our findings suggest that PKA is a component of a signaling pathway that represses dpp expression and that hh antagonizes this pathway to maintain dpp expression at the anterior-posterior compartment border and in the morphogenetic furrow.
Dichotomies in Teaching, Application, and Ethics

Abstract In this article, the authors propose a move from the old control model of teaching, managing, and leading based on stability and power to a new enterprise model based on speed and constant self-innovation. They hope to promote the practice of a rapid incremental innovation strategy that produces practitioners and educators dedicated to continuous improvement and ethical behavior. Specifically, their aim is to help (a) improve undergraduate and graduate business programs while stressing ethics and values; (b) provide a forum for thought about how to teach using a student-centered, discussion-based approach, often called case teaching or problem-based learning; (c) provide information to organizational entities for use in changing or establishing training for and evaluation of excellence; and (d) improve organizations by supplying them with better leaders, managers, and teachers for the future.
Evaluation of anti-AIDS drugs in conventional mice implanted with a permeable membrane device containing human T cells infected with HIV.

Abstract We now report the confirmation of the work of Hollingshead et al. (1995) on development of a cell based hollow fiber (HF) system for evaluating potential anti-AIDS drugs in vivo using conventional mice rather than SCID mice. CD4+, CEM-SS cells infected with HIV 1 , strain RF, at a multiplicity of infection of 0.1 were placed into HFs. The fibers were implanted into the peritoneal cavity of outbred Swiss mice. Using this model, the antiviral activity of azidothymidine (AZT) at doses of ∼ 150, 75 and 37.5 mg/kg/day was evaluated by administering AZT to the mice in drinking water. Upon fiber removal on day 6, AZT treatment was shown to significantly increase CEM cell viability over the untreated, virus control group and significantly reduced the levels of HIV p24 and HIV RT activity.
Modification of cooperation and aggression through teacher attention to children's speech.

Abstract Two experiments were performed in the naturalistic setting of a preschool classroom in order to assess the effects on children's social behavior of nonevaluative teacher attention to children's cooperative or aggressive speech. In Experiment 1, teachers attended to the children's spontaneous cooperative speech for two weeks. Observation of the children's free-play behaviors revealed an increase over baseline levels in both verbal and physical cooperative behaviors as well as a decrease in both verbal and physical aggressive behaviors. In Experiment 2, teachers attended first to the children's spontaneous aggressive speech for one week and then switched their attention to the children's cooperative speech for a second week. Teacher attention to aggressive speech in the first week led to an increase over baseline levels in the children's verbal aggressive behavior as well as a decrease in both verbal and physical cooperative behaviors; however, physical aggression remained unchanged. Teacher attention to cooperative speech in the following week served to reverse the effects of the first week's treatment. The findings were discussed in terms of the sequential relationship between verbal and nonverbal components of cooperative and aggressive social behaviors and the teacher's role in modifying children's performance on these behaviors in the classroom.
A wireless smart PVDF sensor for structural health monitoring

A PVDF wireless smart sensor has been developed for monitoring structures on a large scale. PVDF is selected as the sensor element because of its flexibility, slim size, low cost and the ability of being integrated into wireless system. The introducing of the wireless technology eradicates the large amount of cable needed for installation, lowers cost and the overall energy consumption, and makes real-time monitoring possible as well. Four PVDF wireless sensor units have been built and tested in this study. The application of PVDF sensor at low frequencies has been explored. The approach of using PVDF sensor as a dynamic strain gauge has been demonstrated. The method of compensating the temperature effect of PVDF sensor due to the pyroelectric effect of PVDF film has also been investigated. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Homogeneous catalysis of the water-gas shift reaction

Abstract This review with 96 references details the advances in homogeneous catalysis of the water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) over the last 10 years. The basic steps in the WGSR are presented as an introduction to the field. Topics discussed include transition metal catalysis of the WGSR under both acidic and basic conditions, as well as areas of special interest such as mixed-metal catalysis and catalyst tolerance toward sulfur contaminants.
Development of the Concept of Middleness in Children: Response Time and Complexity

24 boys and 16 girls ages 4 through 7 years were tested on an apparatus that required children to select the middle of 3, 5, 7, or 9 stimulus lights when arranged adjacent to one another and when spaced symmetrically or asymmetrically. Analysis indicated response time decreased with age and increased as a function of the number of stimulus lights in the task. Time to respond to asymmetrical arrangements was greater than for problems whose stimuli were arranged symmetrically.
Economic growth and the development of educational facilities: A systems analysis

Abstract A systems analysis is presented directed toward the relating of manpower needs at various educational levels to the overall growth of the educational plant. The resulting formulation encorporates features which are relevant to the situation in the underdeveloped areas. Employment criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of various policies are derived. The resulting algorithm is adaptable to computer programming.
Risk Factors, Parental Communication, Self and Peers’ Beliefs as Predictors of Condom Use Among Female Adolescents Attending Family Planning Clinics

This study examined the impact of risk factors, self and peers’ beliefs, and parental communication on condom use among 290 female adolescents who attended family planning clinics. The major findings showed that in addition to risk factors, self and peer beliefs about condom use and parental communication about birth control predicted actual condom use. Implications for social workers about the importance of encouraging communication between adolescents and their parents are discussed.
Latitude variation of recurrent Mev‐energy proton flux enhancements in the heliocentric radial range 11 to 20 AU and possible correlation with solar coronal hole dynamics

Recurrent low energy ( ≳0.5 MeV) proton flux enhancements, reliable indicators of corotating plasma interaction regions in interplanetary space, have been observed on the Voyager 1 and 2 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft in the heliographic latitude range 2°S to 23°N and the heliocentric radial range 11 to 20 AU. After a period of rather high correlation between fluxes at different latitudes in early 1983, distinct differences develop. The evolution of the fluxes appears to be related to the temporal and latitudinal dynamics of solar coronal holes, suggesting that information about the latitudinal structure of solar wind stream sources propagates to these distances.
Right Brain: Go medicine! A match millennia in the making

The large dark cluster in the left corner looks all but conquered by the infiltrating cells gone awry. The bright flower-shaped blossom amid the speckles like a winter snowstorm signals a massive battle about to commence between two giant forces. Yet to understand the true meaning of what lies ahead requires a lower magnification: the ability to synthesize information obtained from each section of the field in order to make a decision. With a confident swipe and a loud click, he makes his move. “Your turn,” he says. With its origins in China over 2,000 years ago, Go, or weiqi, is a two-player game in which black and white stones are placed on the vacant intersections of a 19 × 19 board. Alternating turns placing pieces on the board, each player attempts to surround as much territory as possible while simultaneously preventing the opponent from doing the same. Indeed, directly translated, the two Chinese characters representing weiqi means the game of encircling. When one player's stones are …
The Other Side of the Equation: Considering Risk State and Protective Factors in Violence Risk Assessment

Substantial progress has been made in improving the methods available to clinicians tasked with determining whether an offender will commit future acts of violence. Progress in this area has afforded clinicians a multitude of choices regarding what approach to take, what instruments to use, and what factors are relevant when assessing risk. Despite recommendations for practitioners to conduct balanced assessments, many continue to present a one-sided, risk-heavy picture. Calls for practitioners to consider protective factors and risk state (i.e., the likelihood one will become violent at any given time) appear to have gone unheard. A case involving a defendant who presented with minimal risk but in which the offender was committed by the judge anyway is presented. Suggestions are offered for alternative ways of presenting the case in which risk state and protective factors are considered. Recommendations for practice and directions for research in this area are outlined.
Bond strength of composite resin to porcelain with newer generation porcelain repair systems

A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate the mean shear bond strength of composite resin bonded to porcelain with the use of eight newer generation repair systems. The range of shear bond strength after 24 hours of water storage was 23.5 +/- 5.3 MPa to 12.0 +/- 2.3 MPa. After 3 months of water storage and thermocycling, the bond strength range was 20.7 +/- 1.7 MPa to 4.2 +/- 1.0 MPa. Three of eight systems evaluated did not exhibit a significant (p > 0.05) decrease in bond strength when the 24-hour bond strengths were compared with the 3-month bond strengths. Most specimens failed cohesively in the porcelain at 24 hours, but at 3 months only four of the eight systems showed consistent failures in the porcelain.
Role of a tyrosine kinase in the CO2-induced stimulation of HCO3- reabsorption by rabbit S2 proximal tubules.

A previous study demonstrated that proximal tubule cells regulate HCO3− reabsorption by sensing acute changes in basolateral CO2 concentration, suggesting that there is some sort of CO2 sensor at o...
An Apparently New Enterovirus Isolated from Patients with Disease of the Central Nervous System

An apparently new enterovirus was isolated in California from more than 20 patients with central nervous system (CNS) disease during the past four years; one strain was isolated from the brain of a fatal case of encephalitis. The representative BrCr strain had the physicochemical properties of an enterovirus. The human origin of the virus strains was confirmed by the reisolation from the original clinical specimens and the demonstration of increases in neutralizing antibody in patients from whom virus was isolated. Cross-neutralization and immunodiffusion tests indicated that the virus was distinct from the currently recognized enteroviruses of man. A few strains in the group were weakly pathogenic in suckling mice and produced symptoms similar to those produced by group A coxsackieviruses. A number of the strains required treatment with sodium deoxycholate to disaggregate the virus before neutralization could be demonstrated with homologous antiserum.
A numerical study of transport and shot noise in 2D?hopping

We have used modern supercomputer facilities to carry out extensive Monte Carlo simulations of 2D hopping (at negligible Coulomb interaction) in conductors with a completely random distribution of localized sites in both space and energy, within a broad range of the applied electric field E and temperature T, both within and beyond the variable-range hopping region. The calculated properties include not only dc current and statistics of localized site occupation and hop lengths, but also the current fluctuation spectrum. Within the calculation accuracy, the model does not exhibit 1/f noise, so that the low-frequency noise at low temperatures may be characterized by the Fano factor F. For sufficiently large samples, F scales with conductor length L as (Lc/L)α, where α = 0.76 ± 0.08<1, and parameter Lc is interpreted as the average percolation cluster length. At relatively low E, the electric field dependence of parameter Lc is compatible with the law which follows from directed percolation theory arguments.
An efficient communication structure for distributed commit protocols

To maintain consistency in a distributed database environment, the transactions must be executed atomically. The standard algorithm for ensuring an atomic execution is called the distributed commit protocol. The two-phase commit protocol and its variations, the well-known protocols used for this purpose, are characterized by successive rounds of message exchange, among all the sites of the database, at the time a transaction enters into a completion phase. The performance of these protocols is given by a complexity measure that depends on the communication structure of the protocol. Given N sites, the worst-case complexity of a commit protocol is O(N/sup 2/). A communication structure called maximal binomial structure (MBS) is presented, for which the complexity of the protocol is O(N*log/sup 3/ N). A lower bound for this complexity is also given, which is O(N*log/sup 2/ N). Protocols using the MBS remain symmetric. A scheme for an arbitrary expansion of the MBS to allow communication among a large number of sites is proposed. For the expanded system, the protocol complexity is also shown to be O(N*log/sup 3/ N). These structures are shown to be superior to other known structures. >
A Corpus-Based Study of Idioms in Academic Speech.

A mastery of idioms is often equated with native speaker fluency (Fernando, 1996; Schmitt, 2000; Wray, 2000), but it is difficult for language teachers and material writers to make principled decisions about which idioms should be taught, given the vast inventory of idioms in a native speaker’s repertoire. This article addresses the advantages and limitations of a corpus-based approach to researching and teaching idioms in a specific genre by drawing on a specialized corpus of 1.7 million words of academic discourse, the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English. We argue that evidence from such a corpus can be quite informative for language teachers when the primary target language domain matches that of the corpus. In terms of pedagogical applications, we demonstrate the use of corpus data to construct teaching materials aimed not only at helping students learn unfamiliar idioms but also at raising their awareness of the speech contexts idioms occur in and the discourse functions they perform.
Association of protein kinase C activation with induction of ornithine decarboxylase in murine but not human keratinocyte cultures

The goal of this study was to compare the response of mouse epidermal keratinocytes (MEKs) and human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKs) to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) with respect to the activation and downregulation of protein kinase C (PKC), the expression of c-jun and c-fos, and the expression and induction of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity. Keratinocytes from adult CD-1 mice and from discarded adult human skin were grown in primary culture in a high-calcium serum-free medium that supported proliferation and differentiation. Immunoblotting of freshly isolated and cultured MEKs and HEKs for isozymes of protein kinase C revealed that fresh HEKs contained PKC alpha, PKC beta, and PKC delta; no PKC gamma, PKC epsilon, or PKC zeta were detected. In fresh MEKs, PKC alpha, PKC beta, PKC delta, and PKC zeta were observed, but not PKC gamma or PKC epsilon. After 2 wk in culture, the isozyme profiles of MEKs and HEKs were similar except that PKC gamma was noticeably present in HEK cultures. Activation of partially purified total PKC by TPA was similar in freshly isolated and cultured MEKs and HEKs, indicating that the two species were similar in this regard and that 2 wk of culture did not alter this characteristic. When MEK and HEK cultures were treated with TPA for 3 h, less than 30% of the control level of PKC activity was detected, indicating that TPA-induced downregulation of PKC was similar in MEKs and HEKs. After treatment with TPA, MEK cultures produced a large induction of both c-jun and c-fos mRNA by 60 min, as determined by northern blot analysis, and a large induction of ODC mRNA and enzyme activity by 6 h. TPA treatment of cultured HEKs, however, did not induce ODC activity; in fact, less activity, compared with that of control cultures, was observed. Northern blot analysis also revealed no increase in c-jun, c-fos, and ODC mRNA in HEKs. However, c-jun and c-fos mRNA and both ODC mRNA and enzyme activity were induced in HEKs fed growth factors after several days of deprivation. This suggests that the lack of ODC induction by TPA in HEKs is probably due to species differences in downstream steps in PKC signal transduction.
Fundamental quantum limit to external force detection via monitoring a single harmonic oscillator or free mass

We show that there is a fundamental quantum limit to external force detection via monitoring a single harmonic oscillator, which was neglected so far. This limit is equivalent to the impossibility of determining the quantum state of a single oscillator, and the quantum Zeno effect of the oscillator, and requires an exchange of at least a quantum of energy between the oscillator and the force. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
A Nitrogen-Regulated Glutamine Amidotransferase (GAT1_2.1) Represses Shoot Branching in Arabidopsis

Shoot branching in plants is regulated by many environmental cues and by specific hormones such as strigolactone (SL). We show that the GAT1_2.1 gene (At1g15040) is repressed over 50-fold by nitrogen stress, and is also involved in branching control. At1g15040 is predicted to encode a class I glutamine amidotransferase (GAT1), a superfamily for which Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) has 30 potential members. Most members can be categorized into known biosynthetic pathways, for the amidation of known acceptor molecules (e.g. CTP synthesis). Some members, like GAT1_2.1, are of unknown function, likely involved in amidation of unknown acceptors. A gat1_2.1 mutant exhibits a significant increase in shoot branching, similar to mutants in SL biosynthesis. The results suggest that GAT1_2.1 is not involved in SL biosynthesis since exogenously applied GR24 (a synthetic SL) does not correct the mutant phenotype. The subfamily of GATs (GATase1_2), with At1g15040 as the founding member, appears to be present in all plants (including mosses), but not other organisms. This suggests a plant-specific function such as branching control. We discuss the possibility that the GAT1_2.1 enzyme may activate SLs (e.g. GR24) by amidation, or more likely could embody a new pathway for repression of branching.
Mindlin's elastoelectrodynamics problem

The discovery by R.D. Mendlin in 1972 of an exact solution of the three-dimensional equations of piezoelectromagnetism is discussed. It led to the prediction of electromagnetic radiation from a rotated Y-cut quartz plate vibrating in simple thickness shear. The solution resolved a contradiction that arose in connection with lateral field excitation of plates and their representation by electrical equivalent networks. Mindlin's solution to the problem of coupled elastic and electromagnetic fields is sketched, for rotated Y-cuts of quartz, and some additional results are presented. >
Estimation of video queueing performance using Markov chains

In this work, we present an algorithm to analytically estimate the queueing performance of MPEG-2 video using goodput as the metric; where we define goodput as the ratio between the number of cells in uncorrupted and correctly displayable frames to the total number of cells that arrive at the queue. The estimation algorithm is used to evaluate three buffer management schemes. The effect of congestion at the output link is also investigated. The algorithm produces a good approximation of the frame goodput metric and closely agrees with the corresponding simulation results.
Anytime Optimal Distributed Kalman Filtering and Smoothing

Distributed algorithms are derived for estimation and smoothing of nonstationary dynamical processes based on correlated observations collected by ad hoc wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Specifically, distributed Kalman filtering (KF) and smoothing schemes are constructed for any-time minimum mean-square error (MMSE) optimal consensus-based state estimation using WSNs. The novel distributed filtering/smoothing approach is flexible to trade-off estimation delay for MSE reduction, while it exhibits robustness in the presence of communication noise. Numerical examples demonstrate the merits of the proposed approach with respect to existing alternatives.
Automatic segmentation of subcortical brain structures in MR images using information fusion

Reports a new automated method for the segmentation of internal cerebral structures using an information fusion technique. The information is provided both by images and expert knowledge, and consists in morphological, topological, and tissue constitution data. All this ambiguous, complementary and redundant information is managed using a three-step fusion scheme based on fuzzy logic. The information is first modeled into a common theoretical frame managing its imprecision and incertitude. The models are then fused and a decision is taken in order to reduce the imprecision and to increase the certainty in the location of the structures. The whole process is illustrated on the segmentation of thalamus, putamen, and head of the caudate nucleus from expert knowledge and magnetic resonance images, in a protocol involving 14 healthy volunteers. The quantitative validation is achieved by comparing computed, manually segmented structures and published data by means of indexes assessing the accuracy of volume estimation and spatial location. Results suggest a consistent volume estimation with respect to the expert quantification and published data, and a high spatial similarity of the segmented and computed structures. This method is generic and applicable to any structure that can be defined by expert knowledge and morphological images.
Increase in exhaled carbon monoxide during exacerbations of cystic fibrosis

BACKGROUND Non-invasive assessment of inflammation is likely to be useful in the management of cystic fibrosis (CF). Exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations are increased in patients with clinically stable CF. A study was undertaken to determine whether this marker of oxidative damage is further increased during exacerbations of the disease. METHODS Exhaled CO concentrations were measured in 12 healthy non-smoking control subjects (six men) of mean (SE) age 37 (2) years with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 95 (1)% predicted and in 44 patients with CF (20 men) of mean (SE) age 29 (1) years with FEV1 56 (3)% predicted using an on-line CO analyser. RESULTS Twenty nine patients were in a stable condition while 15 had clinically defined respiratory exacerbations (increased cough and production of sputum, change in the quality of the sputum, shortness of breath, sensation of chest congestion, and deterioration of FEV1) and represented the unstable group. Exhaled CO concentrations were 2.0 (0.15) ppm in the control group, were increased in the stable CF group to 2.7 (0.13) ppm (differences between means –0.67 (0.22), 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.22 to 1.12, p CONCLUSIONS This study shows that the measurement of exhaled CO is of potential value as an indicator of exacerbations in patients with CF and could be used as a simple method to monitor the course of the disease.
Measurement error evaluation of self-reported drug use: a latent class analysis of the US National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Summary. Latent class analysis (LCA) is a statistical tool for evaluating the error in categorical data when two or more repeated measurements of the same survey variable are available. This paper illustrates an application of LCA for evaluating the error in self-reports of drug use using data from the 1994, 1995 and 1996 implementations of the US National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. In our application, the LCA approach is used for estimating classification errors which in turn leads to identifying problems with the questionnaire and adjusting estimates of prevalence of drug use for classification error bias. Some problems in using LCA when the indicators of the use of a particular drug are embedded in a single survey questionnaire, as in the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, are also discussed.
Some Aspects of Feeding High Producing Dairy Cows

Abstract The most critical period in the life of the dairy cow is from the time of calving until peak milk production. The cow must be fed a balanced ration and peak at a high level of milk production if milk yield in the lactation is to be maximum. Energy and protein are the two nutritional factors most likely to limit milk production. The type of carbohydrate and nitrogen included in the ration as well as the ratio of nitrogen to energy will influence the amount of milk produced and the efficiency of feed utilization by the high producing cow. High producing dairy cows should not be fed nonprotein nitrogen in early lactation; however, when milk yield decreases to less than 20 kg daily, nonprotein nitrogen can be included in the ration as guidelines recommend. Proteins that are both degradable and nondegradable in the rumen should be included in the ration, but an excess of either will reduce milk production and efficiency of feed utilization. The increased use of cereal grains in rations of dairy cows along with the use of roughages that have been chopped, pelleted, or ground make considering buffers in feeding the dairy cow both beneficial and profitable.
Body Mass Index and the Impact on Hospital Resource Use in Patients Undergoing Total Knee Arthroplasty

Abstract We identified all total knee arthroplasty patients between 1996 and 2004 and classified them by preoperative body mass index (BMI) as normal (BMI, 18.5-24.9 kg/m 2 ), overweight (BMI, 25.0-29.9 kg/m 2 ), obese (30-34.9 kg/m 2 ), or morbidly obese (≥ 35.0 kg/m 2 ). Of 5521 patients, 769 had a normal BMI, 1938 were overweight, 1539 were obese, and 1275 were morbidly obese. Adjusted length of stay was no different between normal (4.85 days), overweight (4.84 days), obese (4.86 days), or morbidly obese patients (4.93 days) ( P = .30). Overall costs were similar among normal ($15 386), overweight ($15 430), obese ($15 646), or morbidly obese patients ($15 752) ( P = .24). Postsurgical costs were no different among normal ($9860), overweight ($9889), obese ($10 063), or morbidly obese patients ($10 136) ( P = .44). Our results suggest that increased BMI does not lead to increased hospital resource use for total knee arthroplasty.
Surgical management of traumatic LASIK flap dislocation with macrostriae and epithelial ingrowth 14 years postoperatively

Fourteen years after uneventful laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), a 59-year-old woman presented after suffering blunt trauma to her left eye 5 weeks earlier. The injury resulted in traumatic flap dislocation, epithelial ingrowth, and significant macrostriae. Following epithelial removal, the flap was hydrated with sterile water, facilitating reduction of the macrostriae and reapproximation without the need for suture placement. The postoperative course was uneventful, and at 1 month, the epithelial ingrowth and macrostriae had resolved and the uncorrected distance visual acuity was 20/30. This case represents the longest documented interval from LASIK surgery to traumatic flap dislocation. We describe our surgical approach to the management of this type of injury and present a video illustrating the technique. Financial Disclosure No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.
Leisure identities, globalization, and the politics of place

As a particularly modern modality for making and resisting claims about the use and meaning of places leisure has a prominent role in the politics of place. This is particularly evident in land use...
Generalized smoothing networks in early vision

Generalized smoothing networks have been developed which enforce smoothness constraints for any arbitrary level of derivative of the input data. Furthermore, discontinuities of any order of derivative can be detected by providing for continuous line processes, which selectively inhibit smoothing. Second- and higher-order networks are required for many problems in early vision; first-order networks are often unsatisfactory. Examples in surface interpolation, edge detection, and image segmentation are shown. Solution of these types of problems typically takes a prohibitive amount of time, even on supercomputers. A significant advantage of these proposed networks is that they can be mapped directly to analog VLSI hardware. >
Species Richness and Nesting Success of Migrant Forest Birds in Natural River Corridors and Anthropogenic Woodlands in Southeastern South Dakota

Abstract Forest fragmentation is thought to be partially responsible for declines in many Neotropical migrant birds due to the combined effects of higher rates of brood parasitism and increased predation near forest edges. A majority of the forested habitat in the northern prairie region is found in riparian corridors, but this native habitat has been much reduced from its historical extent. However, additional woodland nesting habitat has been established within the last century in the form of isolated woodlots on farms. We compared abundance, species richness, and nesting success of migrant forest birds breeding in native riparian corridors and anthropogenic woodlots. The two habitats had similar bird abundances but native riparian woodlands were more species-rich than woodlots. We located a total of 650 nests, with 320 nests of 15 species in woodlots and 331 nests of 25 species in riparian corridors. Nesting success was not significantly different between the two habitats for all species combined or fo...
Ultra-high pool boiling performance and effect of channel width with selectively coated open microchannels

Abstract Recent developments in the microelectronics industry has placed increasing demand on developing high heat flux removal systems. Pool boiling offers a simple technique without introducing complicated header configurations and moving parts. Enhancement in pool boiling is achieved by delaying critical heat flux (CHF) and increasing heat transfer coefficient (HTC), which dictates the heat removal capability of a surface. This study focuses on the effect of channel width on the performance and heat transfer mechanisms on open microchannel surfaces with three coating configurations: (i) sintered-throughout, (ii) sintered-fin-tops, and (iii) sintered-channels. Pool boiling performance is obtained with water at atmospheric pressure for 300 μm, 500 μm and 762 μm channel widths. The separate liquid–vapor pathways in narrow channels, with sintered coatings only inside the channel, yielded an unprecedented performance with a CHF of 420 W/cm 2 based on the 1 cm 2 projected area at a wall superheat of 1.7 °C at the fin top surface, resulting in an HTC of 2.9 MW/m 2 °C. High speed videos were taken to understand the underlying mechanism. Furthermore, liquid–vapor pathways were identified to explain the parametric trends observed for each selectively enhanced configuration set.
Waveguides and Cavities

This chapter contains sections titled: General Properties of Cylindrical Waveguides Orthogonal Properties of the Modes Power, Energy, and Attenuation The Rectangular Waveguide Circular Cylindrical Waveguides Green's Functions Analogy with Transmission Lines The Tangent Method for the Experimental Determination of the Equivalent-Circuit Parameters Electromagnetic Cavities Cavity with Lossy Walls Variational Formulation for Cavity Eigenvalues Cavity Perturbation Theory This chapter contains sections titled: References and Bibliography Problems
The liability risks of naloxone access expansion should be the least of our worries.

When I drafted and circulated a naloxone access expansion proposal for President Obama’s first national drug control strategy in 2009 (1), some people asked me what naloxone was and others thought ...
Recent Political Changes in the Moslem World

Ten years ago the Moslem world seemed near to political extinction. The only portion of it that could present a reasonable claim to be called independent was Turkey, and Turkish freedom was hampered by debt control, which gave foreigners the command of a large fraction of the Turkish revenues, and by the Capitulations, which allowed foreigners to reside on Turkish territory without obedience to Turkish laws. At the close of the Great War this last remnant of the once vast political Islam seemed about to be destroyed. But in a little more than five years a very different situation has developed among the Moslems, and in many regions they are moving rapidly in the direction of independence and modernization. Not only Turkey, but Persia, Afghanistan, Khiva, Bokhara, Albania, Egypt, and the Hejaz claim to be independent now; while other regions, such as Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Turkestan, and Azerbeijan, not to speak of Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, are in different degrees stirred with the desire to become free. In fact, every portion of the Moslem world, defining it to mean those lands in which persons professing the Mohammedan faith are in the majority, aspires to full statehood. India does not fall within this definition, having only about 20 per cent of Moslems; but the Moslems of India along with the rest are agitated by the demand for the complete independence of that great country. The principal ideas that have been working in the Moslem world are self-determination, constitutionalism, the separation of church and state, the desire to obtain the benefits of
Circuits for quaternary-to-analogue conversion†

Digital-to-analogue (D/A) and analogue-to-digital (A/D) converters play incresingly important rules in modern signal processing due to increasingly affordable ami available (binary) digital integrnted circuits. Research into multiple-valued logic (MVL) indicates that in many situations MVL can be more efficient and effective than binary logic. As the use of MVL in digital systems increases and evolves, the MVL counterpart of A/D and D/A conversion will be required. In this paper active and passive circuits for the conversion of quaternary logic signals into analogue waveforms nrc presented. These circuits are compatible with previously reported quaternary threshold logic gates.
Evaluation of the Leptospira species microscopic agglutination test in experimentally vaccinated cats and Leptospira species seropositivity in aged azotemic client-owned cats

ObjectivesThe objectives of this study were to validate the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) using feline sera, determine cross-reactivity of Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies in the MAT, and eva...
More for the military

Star Wars was typical. With practically no advice from scientists, a large program was launched, funded, and justified as “national security.” Billions were spent in pursuit of improbable technologies.
Breast Reconstruction with SIEA Flaps: A Single-Institution Experience with 145 Free Flaps

Background:Refinements in microsurgical breast reconstruction have refined superficial inferior epigastric artery (SIEA) and superficial circumflex iliac artery (SCIA) flaps, yet technical difficulties and varied success rates limit widespread acceptance. The authors present the outcomes of their ex
Improving high-level synthesis with decoupled data structure optimization

Existing high-level synthesis (HLS) tools are mostly effective on algorithm-dominated programs that only use primitive data structures such as fixed size arrays and queues. However, many widely used data structures such as priority queues, heaps, and trees feature complex member methods with data-dependent work and irregular memory access patterns. These methods can be inlined to their call sites, but this does not address the aforementioned issues and may further complicate conventional HLS optimizations, resulting in a low-performance hardware implementation. To overcome this deficiency, we propose a novel HLS architectural template in which complex data structures are decoupled from the algorithm using a latency-insensitive interface. This enables overlapped execution of the algorithm and data structure methods, as well as parallel and out-of-order execution of independent methods on multiple decoupled lanes. Experimental results across a variety of real-life benchmarks show our approach is capable of achieving very promising speedups without causing significant area overhead.
The Predictive Relationship Among the Community of Inquiry Framework, Perceived Learning and Online, and Graduate Students’ Course Grades in Online Synchronous and Asynchronous Courses

The Community of Inquiry framework has been widely supported by research to provide a model of online learning that informs the design and implementation of distance learning courses. However, the relationship between elements of the CoI framework and perceived learning warrants further examination as a predictive model for online graduate student success. A predictive correlational design and hierarchical multiple regression was used to investigate relationships between community of inquiry factors and perceived learning to determine the predictive validity of these variables for students’ course points (N = 131), while controlling for demographic and course variables. The results of this study clearly supported the foundational constructs of Community of Inquiry (CoI) theory (Garrison et al., 2000) and the role of perceived learning to predict final course points. The entire predictive model explained 55.6% of the variance in course points. Implications, limitations, and recommendations are discussed.
Myocarditis and endomyocardial biopsy.

In this article, the potential sources of error in establishing the clinical and histologic diagnoses of myocarditis are discussed. Moreover, the recommendations of the Myocarditis Pathology Panel are reviewed. A case is made for the quantitation of inflammatory cells in suspected instances of myocarditis.