cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Publication of data collection forms from NHLBI funded sickle cell disease implementation consortium (SCDIC) registry

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an autosomal recessive blood disorder affecting approximately 100,000 Americans and 3.1 million people globally. The scarcity of relevant knowledge and experience with rare diseases creates a unique need for cooperation and infrastructure to overcome challenges in translating basic research advances into clinical advances. Despite registry initiatives in SCD, the unavailability of descriptions of the selection process and copies of final data collection tools, coupled with incomplete representation of the SCD population hampers further research progress. This manuscript describes the SCDIC (Sickle Cell Disease Implementation Consortium) Registry development and makes the SCDIC Registry baseline and first follow-up data collection forms available for other SCD research efforts. Study data on 2400 enrolled patients across eight sites was stored and managed using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). Standardized data collection instruments, recruitment and enrollment were refined through consensus of consortium sites. Data points included measures taken from a variety of validated sources (PHENX, PROMIS and others). Surveys were directly administered by research staff and longitudinal follow-up was coordinated through the DCC. Appended registry forms track medical records, event-related patient invalidation, pregnancy, lab reporting, cardiopulmonary and renal functions. The SCDIC Registry strives to provide an accurate, updated characterization of the adult and adolescent SCD population as well as standardized, validated data collecting tools to guide evidence-based research and practice.
Floors and Ceilings in International Copyright Treaties (Berne/TRIPS/WCT minima and maxima)

This Comment addresses “floors” – minimum substantive international protections, and “ceilings” – maximum substantive international protections, set out in the Berne Convention and subsequent multilateral copyright accords. While much scholarship has addressed Berne minima, the “maxima” have generally received less attention. This Comment first describes the general structure of the Berne Convention, TRIPS and WCT regarding these contours, and then analyzes their application to the recent “press publishers’ right” promulgated in the 2019 EU Digital Single Market Directive. Within the universe of multilateral copyright obligations, the Berne maxima (prohibition of protection for facts and news of the day), buttressed by the TRIPS and WCT exclusion of protection for ideas, methods and processes, should promote the free cross-border availability of facts and ideas, as well as of exercise of the Berne Convention mandatory exception for the making of “quotations” from publicly-disclosed works. Individual Berne countries of origin may protect excluded subject matter or preclude mandatory exceptions in their own works of authorship, but not in foreign Berne works. Nonetheless, member States might be able to elude Conventional maxima by resort to copyright-adjacent sui generis rights, such as the Digital Single Market Directive’s new press publisher’s right. This Comment considers the extent to which Conventional maxima may nonetheless have a preclusive effect on such maneuvers.
On the Elliptic Curve Cryptography for Privacy-Aware Secure ACO-AODV Routing in Intent-Based Internet of Vehicles for Smart Cities

Internet of Vehicles (IoV) in 5G is regarded as a backbone for intelligent transportation system in smart city, where vehicles are expected to communicate with drivers, with road-side wireless infrastructure, with other vehicles, with traffic signals and different city infrastructure using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and/or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. In IoV, the network topology changes based on drivers’ destination, intent or vehicles’ movements and road structure on which the vehicles travel. In IoV, vehicles are assumed to be equipped with computing devices to process data, storage devices to store data and communication devices to communicate with other vehicles or with roadside infrastructure (RSI). It is vital to authenticate data in IoV to make sure that legitimate data is being propagated in IoV. Thus, security stands as a vital factor in IoV. The existing literature contains some limitations for robust security in IoV such as high delay introduced by security algorithms, security without privacy, unreliable security and reduced overall communication efficiency. To address these issues, this paper proposes the Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) based Ant Colony Optimization Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector (ACO-AODV) routing protocol which avoids suspicious vehicles during message dissemination in IoV. Specifically, our proposed protocol comprises three components: i) certificate authority (CA) which maps vehicle’s publicly available info such as number plates with cryptographic keys using ECC; ii) malicious vehicle (MV) detection algorithm which works based on trust level calculated using status message interactions; and iii) secure optimal path selection in an adaptive manner based on the intent of communications using ACO-AODV that avoids malicious vehicles. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed approach provides better results than the existing approaches.
Promover La Protección Del Consumidor a Través De La Resolución De Disputas En Línea (Promoting Consumer Protection through Online Dispute Resolution. In: Agudelo Mejía, D. A. et al. (Academic coordinators), (2020). New Dynamics of Procedural Law)

Spanish Abstract: Este capitulo revive ideas que emanaron originalmente de la investigacion en mi libro con Colin Rule, "The New Handshake: Online Dispute Resolution and the Future of Consumer Protection." Tambien agrega una nueva investigacion a la luz de la pandemia y la creciente necesidad e interes en ODR. English Abstract: This chapter revives ideas that originally emanated from research in my book with Colin Rule,"The New Handshake: Online Dispute Resolution and the Future of Consumer Protection. " It also adds new research in light of the pandemic and the growing need and interest in ODR.
FDTD simulation of near-field scattering pattern of a surface crack in plate-like structures for optimal inspection angle determination

Cracking of concrete structures is a phenomenon familiar to civil engineers but difficult to interpret and to quantify. While many remote sensing techniques have been proposed for quantifying surface crack properties (e.g., length, width, distribution) on concrete structures with an improved accuracy and efficiency, little has been known about the structural significance of concrete cracks without the knowledge about subsurface crack properties (e.g., depth, orientation, volume). Among several remote sensing techniques, radar (e.g., ground penetrating radar and synthetic aperture radar) imaging is chosen for its superior performance on subsurface sensing. This paper presents a numerical study on the near-field electromagnetic scattering pattern of surface cracks in plate-like structures for determining the optimal inspection angle using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Three artificial cracks (1”-by-1”, 1”-by-0.5”, and 0.5”-by-1”) on a concrete plate (dielectric constant = 5, electrical conductivity = 0.05 S/m) were simulated to develop their near-field scattering response with a transverse electric (TE) wave at a carrier frequency from 8GHz to 18GHz. From the simulated result, a noise criterion (using the signal-to-noise ratio) and a robustness criterion (using standard deviation) are proposed for determining optimal inspection angle. Our simulation result reveals that, with the combined used of two criteria, an optimal inspection angle can be selected from the angular range of 41-deg. (12GHz) to 45-deg. (14GHz).
Strobed imaging as a method for the determination and diagnosis of local seeing

The image quality budget of many telescopes can have substantial contributions from local seeing, both``mirror'' and ``dome'', which arise from turbulence and temperature variations that are difficult to quantify, measure directly, and ameliorate. We describe a method to determine the ``local'' seeing degradation due to wavefront perturbations within the final tens of meters of the optical path from celestial sources to a ground-based telescope, using the primary instrument and along the same path taken by light from celestial sources. The concept involves placing strobed emitters along the light path to produce images on the main focal plane that ``freeze'' different realizations of index perturbations. This method has the advantage of measuring directly the image motion and scintillation imparted by the dynamic spatial and temporal structure of local perturbations in the index of refraction along the light path, with a clean separation from seeing induced in the atmosphere above the dome. The strobed-source approach allows for rapid image motion and scintillation to be measured directly on the focal plane, even for large-aperture telescopes with wide field instruments and slow shutters, such as that being constructed for the Rubin Observatory. A conceptual design is presented that uses the ``guider'' CCDs in the Rubin telescope focal plane to make local-seeing measurements on demand, perhaps even during science exposures.
Valveless pumping behavior of the simulated embryonic heart tube as a function of contractile patterns and myocardial stiffness.

During development, the heart begins pumping as a valveless multilayered tube capable of driving blood flow throughout the embryonic vasculature. The mechanical properties and how they interface with pumping function are not well-defined at this stage. Here, we evaluate pumping patterns using a fluid–structure interaction computational model, combined with experimental data and an energetic analysis to investigate myocardial mechanical properties. Through this work, we propose that a myocardium modeled as a Neo-Hookean material with a material constant on the order of 10 kPa is necessary for the heart tube to function with an optimal pressure and cardiac output.
Improving astronaut cancer risk assessment from space radiation with an ensemble model framework.

Abstract A new approach to NASA space radiation risk modeling has successfully extended the current NASA probabilistic cancer risk model to an ensemble framework able to consider sub-model parameter uncertainty as well as model-form uncertainty associated with differing theoretical or empirical formalisms. Ensemble methodologies are already widely used in weather prediction, modeling of infectious disease outbreaks, and certain terrestrial radiation protection applications to better understand how uncertainty may influence risk decision-making. Applying ensemble methodologies to space radiation risk projections offers the potential to efficiently incorporate emerging research results, allow for the incorporation of future models, improve uncertainty quantification, and reduce the impact of subjective bias. Moreover, risk forecasting across an ensemble of multiple predictive models can provide stakeholders additional information on risk acceptance if current health/medical standards cannot be met for future space exploration missions, such as human missions to Mars. In this work, ensemble risk projections implementing multiple sub-models of radiation quality, dose and dose-rate effectiveness factors, excess risk, and latency are presented. Initial consensus methods for ensemble model weights and correlations to account for individual model bias are discussed. In these analyses, the ensemble forecast compares well to results from NASA's current operational cancer risk projection model used to assess permissible mission durations for astronauts. However, a large range of projected risk values are obtained at the upper 95th confidence level where models must extrapolate beyond available biological data sets. Closer agreement is seen at the median ± one sigma due to the inherent similarities in available models. Identification of potential new models, epidemiological data, and methods for statistical correlation between predictive ensemble members are discussed. Alternate ways of communicating risk and acceptable uncertainty with respect to NASA's current permissible exposure limits are explored.
Pronatalist Policies and Fertility in Russia: Estimating Tempo and Quantum Effects

This paper examines the family policy reforms of 2007 in Russia that were aimed explicitly at encouraging second and higher-order births, and analyses their impact on fertility. The existing empirical findings about population policy interventions in transition economies are inconclusive, while the most common argument states that policies based on material incentives are insufficient to significantly raise the real fertility in a population. The study aims to offer a better insight to the following research question: was Russian demographic policy effective in terms of raising the fertility level in the country or did it merely change the timing of births? The objective of the paper is to measure two effects of the pronatalist policy in Russia: tempo effect and quantum effect. Using data from the Human Fertility Database, I employ the decomposition method to separate tempo and quantum effects in the observed total fertility rate, and I estimate their relative weight in observed fertility changes. The analysis of period fertility indicators confirmed the prevalence of a tempo effect in observed total fertility rate change, but also revealed a quantum effect of the policy measures, although this was much smaller. Policy impact varied by birth order. For second parity, the tempo effect played a more critical role, while for third parity the quantum effect was more important. Another decomposition approach employed to measure the contributions of various factors in the increase of the number of births during the post-reform period showed the quantum effect which was driven by second and third order births. The study provides empirical evidence of the impact of policies on fertility behaviour, expands the existing analysis of pronatalist measures taken in Russia, and contributes to our understanding of the role of tempo and quantum effects in the recent fertility change in Russia.
Impact of Social Determinants of Health on Chronic Kidney Disease: A Review of Disparities in Renal Transplantation: Socioeconomic Impact on Kidney Transplant

Background: Striking disparity exists in the incidence and treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) secondary to individual social determinants of health. Additionally, the uninsured, minority racial-ethnic groups, and Medicaid enrollees receive less nephrology care prior to being diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The most effective treatment for the management of kidney failure is kidney transplantation. This review addresses how social determinants of health impact the workup for patients with ESRD, with emphasis on the kidney transplant process. Methods: A search was conducted via multiple online databases (MedLine, PubMed, etc.) for articles that addressed the interplay between CKD, ESRD and kidney transplantation with the social determinants of health. Findings: The impact of the social determinants of health on CKD, ESRD, and the kidney transplantation process can be qualitatively and quantitatively measured using the five categories of education, health care and access, economic stability, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community context. Conclusion: Social determinants of health impact outcomes in CKD, ESRD, and kidney transplantation. Public and private initiatives aimed at reducing social disparities among patients with kidney disease must include emphasis on education, health care and access, economic stability, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community context. This initiative is necessary to prevent progression to ESRD and to ensure quality care in the kidney transplantation process.
Lack of Serotonergic Influence on Desipramine-Induced ß-Adrenergic Receptor Down-Regulation

[3H]Dihydroalprenolol has been extensively used in the characterization of s-adrenergic receptors in the CNS. However [3H]DHA labels a second binding site which has some pharmacological characteristics of the 5HT1B receptor. The drugs currently used to define [3H]DHA non-specific binding (alprenolol or propranolol) are not satisfactory as there is no “safe” concentration which discriminates between s-adrenergic receptors and the second binding site. An accurate measure of s-adrenergic receptors can be obtained with either the computer program LIGAND which defines [3H]DHA non-specific binding as a factor proportionate to [3H]ligand concentration, or by using the more selective radioligand [3H]CGP-12177. When s-adrenergic receptors arc measured in this manner a significant down-regulation of [3H]DHA binding occurred 24 hours after a single injection of DMI. If [3H]DHA non-specific binding was defined using alprenolol, the depletion of serotonin, by PCPA injection, was able to prevent the down-regulation of [3H]DHA binding after a 8 day DMI treatment, while PCPA itself increased [3H]DHA’s Bmax. If LIGAND was used to define specific s-adrenergic receptor binding or if [3H]CGP-12177 was used, the Bmax of s-adrenergic receptors was not changed after PCPA injection and, importantly, PCPA was not able to prevent the DMI-induced s-adrenergic receptor down-regulation.
High Performance Scanning System to Explore Ultrasonic Oblique Wave Reflection in Composite Laminates

This paper will provide an overview of the initial reflection spectrum experiments conducted to utilize the unique characteristics of the 12-axis dual transducer ultrasonic workstation, which has been designed and fabricated at MSU [1]. This system was designed as an oblique incidence research scanning tool unlike commercially available multi axis machines which are more suited for contour following and high speed scanning. Through the implementation of DSP processors, it has become possible to process and image the ultrasonic data in near real time, using a personal computer such as a 486 PC.
Modalities of mobility : Johannesburg learners' daily negotiations of the uneven terrain of the city

Colonial and apartheid practices of spatial engineering have created Johannesburg, a city that today, for the most part, is still deeply spatially segregated. As black access to the city has grown with the dismantling of apartheid policies, whites have retreated to newly built suburban developments where gates replace legislation. For many Johannesburg youth, their schooling experiences are highly mobile ones characterised by long commutes from their neighbourhoods to their schooling communities. The mobility modalities of private car, private transport, buses, public taxis, train and walking inform the ways in which Johannesburg youth relate to and produce space in the city. Using the lens of intersectionality (race, class and gender), the author explores the experiences Johannesburg youth have in their daily negotiations of the spatiality of the city.
Clocked CMOS Adiabatic Logic with Single AC Power Supply

This paper describes a low-power clocked CMOS adiabatic logic (CAL) with only one ac power supply that serves as the power clock. Each CAL stage performs true and complementary logic functions, and presents a constant capacitive load to the power clock generator. A simple and efficient resonant power clock is integrated with the logic to generate the required ac supply waveform and facilitate adiabatic energy transfers. Energy savings comparable to adiabatic logic families that require multi-phase power clocks have been verified by simulation tests of the CAL supplied by the integrated power clock generator.
Platelet activation in ovines undergoing sham surgery or implant of the second generation PediaFlow pediatric ventricular assist device.

The PediaFlow™ pediatric ventricular assist device (VAD) is a magnetically levitated turbodynamic pump under development for circulatory support of small children with a targeted flow rate range of 0.3 - 1.5 L/min. As the design of this device is refined, ensuring high levels of blood biocompatibility is essential. In this study we characterized platelet activation during the implantation and operation of a second generation prototype of the PediaFlow VAD (PF2) and also performed a series of surgical sham studies to examine purely surgical effects on platelet activation. In addition, a newly available monoclonal antibody was characterized and shown to be capable of quantifying ovine platelet activation. The PF2 was implanted in 3 chronic ovine experiments of 16, 30, and 70 days, while surgical sham procedures were performed in 5 ovines with 30 d monitoring. Blood biocompatibility in terms of circulating activated platelets was measured by flow cytometric assays with and without exogenous agonist stimulation. Platelet activation following sham surgery returned to baseline in approximately 2 weeks. Platelets in PF2 implanted ovines returned to baseline activation levels in all three animals, and showed an ability to respond to agonist stimulation. Late term platelet activation was observed in one animal corresponding with unexpected pump stoppages related to a manufacturing defect in the percutaneous cable. The results demonstrated encouraging platelet biocompatibility for the PF2 in that basal platelet activation was achieved early in the pump implant period. Furthermore, this first characterization of the effect of a major cardiothoracic procedure on temporal ovine platelet activation provides comparative data for future cardiovascular device evaluation in the ovine model.
Non-Axisymmetric Shear Instabilities in Thick Accretion Disks

Recent results on the Papaloizou-Pringle non-axisymmetric instability in thick accretion disks is reviewed. Considerable work has been done on “slender” tori and annuli; these are systems whose radial widths are small compared to their mean radii. The linear instabilities in slender configurations fall into two classes, (i) the principal branch, and (ii) higher-order modes. The physical mechanism by which these modes become unstable has been identified. The idealized slender models have been extended in several ways; some work has been reported on (i) modes in wide tori/annuli, (ii) nonlinear development of unstable modes, (iii) role of accretion, (iv) effect of self-gravity, and (v) effect of entropy gradient. These studies have brought us closer to the point where we can tell whether or not the PP instability is important for thick disks in nature. This issue is expected to be resolved by three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations.
Enzyme therapy. Differential in vivo retention of bovine hepatic, renal, and splenic beta-glucuronidases and evidence for enzyme stabilization by intermolecular exchange

Abstract The in vivo fates of β-glucuronidase partially purified from bovine hepatic, renal, and splenic tissues were compared. Following administration to β-glucuronidase-deficient mice, hepatic and renal enzymes were primarily recovered in murine liver lysosomes (70% of dose by 30 min) with a subsequent decline to undetectable levels by 24 h. However, recovery of the splenic activity was markedly prolonged; 25% of dose was recovered in murine liver at 24 h with a decline to undetectable levels at 68 h, which was three times longer than that observed for the hepatic or renal enzymes. When administered entrapped in autologous erythrocytes, prolonged retention was again observed only with splenic enzyme, suggesting that recognition processes were not responsible for the splenic retention. No physical or kinetic differences were observed when these enzymes were further purified and characterized by gel filtration, ion-exchange, and polyacrylamide or cellulose acetate electrophoreses. Mixing of the splenic with hepatic or renal enzymes prior to administration resulted in an apparent enhanced retention of the hepatic and renal enzymes, suggesting a unique subunit structure of the splenic isozyme which might enhance the in vivo stability of the hepatic or renal enzymes by subunit exchange. These results indicate that subtle differences in the enzymes derived from multiple tissue sources may be recognized in vivo and that tissue source should be a consideration for enzyme therapy.
Initial behavioral health assessment of Asian Americans. Part 1. Key principles.

In this article, we provide practical information on how to perform theinitial assessment of an Asian American patient you suspect may have abehavioral health problem. In the article that follows, we show how theseprinciples can be put into practice.
Enders, John Franklin (1897–1985)

This article has no abstract. Keywords: Enders, John Franklin (cultivating viruses in tissue culture); growing animal viruses in vitro
The herpes simplex virus 1 origin binding protein: a DNA helicase.

A recombinant herpes simplex 1 origin binding protein, the product of the herpes UL9 gene, has been overexpressed in mammalian cells and purified to near homogeneity. The origin binding protein shows DNA-dependent nucleoside 5‘-triphosphatase and DNA helicase activities in addition to its origin binding activity. The ability to hydrolyze nucleoside 5‘-triphosphates is influenced strongly by the structure and sequence of the DNA cofactor. The properties of the recombinant origin binding protein are identical to those of the protein synthesized in herpes simplex 1-infected mammalian cells.
The influence of elastic anisotropy on dislocation stability in /gb-tin and lead

The effects of elastic anisotropy on the energy and thermodynamic stability of dislocations in β-tin and lead were assessed through computation of the dislocation energy factorK. The energy factors were utilized to construct an inverse Wulff plot, from which unstable dislocation orientations are defined by concave regions of the construction. Dislocation instabilities are predicted for β-tin near the melting point for four of six slip systems considered, the slip systems displaying the instabilities being (110) [001], (100) [001], (010) [101], and (101)[101]. An instability is predicted also for the slip system {111} in lead, which is the first fcc metal found to display sufficient elastic anisotropy for instability. For the metals examined in this paper, the angular range over which instabilities occur narrows with decreasing temperature, and usually, below some critical temperature, the dislocation line becomes stable over all orientations. The occurrence of dislocation instabilities is a direct result of elastic anisotropy, and their possible influence on physical properties is discussed.
SIGNALS: Interactive software for one-dimensional signal processing

This article describes the features of a DOS program that was written for interactive demonstrations of one-dimensional 1-D signal processing concepts in a classroom environment. It also is used to illustrate aspects of linear systems, physical optics, and complex numbers. The program is menu-driven, and experience has proven that it is easy to learn and use. Complex-valued functions are loaded from a sizeable menu of options and may be processed in a variety of ways and plotted in several formats. Data files may be input from or output to other applications, e.g. spreadsheets.
Long‐term groundwater storage trends estimated from streamflow records: Climatic perspective

[1] Base flow, also known as low flow or drought flow, in a natural river system originates mainly from drainage of the riparian aquifers in the upstream basin. Base flow data can therefore provide a quantitative estimate of the basin-scale groundwater storage changes that have taken place over the period of record. The concept was implemented and validated with data from two large river basins in Illinois. On average over the past 2/3 century, shallow groundwater storage in Illinois, derived from the drought flows, has been increasing at an average rate of around 0.05 to 0.10 mm a-1. However, the trend has not been stationary throughout this period; for instance, the more recent trend from the mid nineteen nineties until now appears to have been negative. The groundwater storage changes inferred from the base flows are generally consistent with the average groundwater level changes measured in an observation well network over the same area.
Identifying and addressing obstacles to telecare uptake

Introduction: Telecare promises to mitigate pressures on the sustainability of healthcare systems, as they allow shifting care from costly institutional settings to patients’ homes. But such disruptive technologies often face resistance to uptake. Aims and objective: Assessing the case for uptake of advance telecare solutions, identifying obstacles to adoption and develop options to address and remove those obstacles. Methods: Stakeholder interviews (government officials, researchers, regulators, providers, insurers, and patient organizations) in six countries with differences in healthcare systems, geographic location, cultural tradition and economic development (China, France, Germany, Singapore, UK, US). Analysis of existing data and literature. Results: Home telecare shows great promise, because it can reduce cost and ameliorate capacity constraints and is consistent with patients’ desire to age in place. Policy experts are aware of this but concrete supportive policies remain scarce. Restrictive coverage and existing incentives for in-person home care create obstacles, as does limited patient readiness because of insufficient health literacy. Concerns about audience-appropriate product design and support and limited data on effectiveness and efficiency impede uptake. Conclusions: Realizing the promise of telecare requires a concerted stakeholder effort, including creation of a conducive policy environment, design of convincing products and development and dissemination of persuasive evidence.
Network measures to evaluate stakeholder engagement with nonprofit organizations on social networking sites

Abstract This paper introduces and validates two network measures for evaluating stakeholder engagement on social networking sites (SNSs) that nonprofit organizations (NPOs) use. Based on egocentric networks of the top 100 U.S. nonprofits’ Twitter accounts, the first network measure captures two-way communication between organizations and the stakeholders. The second network measure captures communication among stakeholders, which can develop into autonomous communities to support the organization.
Oppositional Consciousness Among the Privileged: Remaking Religion in the Central America Solidarity Movement:

Many movements are strengthened by the support of outside parties yet we know little about how members of privileged groups develop an insurgent mentality. In this article, I explain how some white, middle class North Americans developed oppositional consciousness that led them to resist U.S. policy toward Central America. I argue that solidarity organizers, many of whom were former missionaries, facilitated this cognitive shift within the free spaces provided by progressive U.S. churches. In this context, missionaries cultivated a Christian culture of resistance by conveying “moral shocks” and politicizing the religious themes of conversion and resurrection. As time progressed and this oppositional culture and consciousness waned, they also created transmovement free spaces where rituals were used to reinforce this insurgent mentality.
Wind Speed Changes of North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones Preceding Landfall

AbstractLandfalling tropical cyclones have been extensively researched, especially their degradation upon coming ashore and the hazardous weather they create along coastlines and farther inland. Many of the factors that weaken storms over land could begin to act when they are still at sea, yet prelandfall intensity change remains poorly documented. This study examined the consistency of prelandfall changes in tropical cyclone intensity throughout the North Atlantic Ocean from 1950 to present. On average, cyclones intensified by 3 m s−1 less in their final 12 h before landfall than in the 12 h preceding those, on both mainland shores and in the Greater Antilles, while smaller islands showed no such change. Contributions of increasing storm age and poleward movement to this reduction were negligible. Two possible contributing factors to declining intensification before landfall were examined. The presence of a spring–neap tidal pattern of ~2 m s−1 in the prelandfall decline is consistent with tidal mixing i...
Complement, Viruses, and Virus-Infected Cells

The attachment of specific antibody to viral glycoproteins and other structures on the surface of a virus or virus-infected cell has a number of potential consequences to the virus or virus-infected cell. Antibody is multivalent and thus able to redistribute or patch surface viral proteins or virus-encoded structures within the lipid bilayer of the viral envelope or the cell membrane. In certain instances, antibody may agglutinate viruses or virus-infected cells. The physical presence of antibody molecules on the virus surface may interfere with the ability of the virus to infect potentially susceptible cells. Antibody on the surface of virus-infected cells may prevent the maturation and release of virus particles; antibody also can alter certain normal cell functions. The Fc portions of antibody molecules bound to virus-infected cells facilitate interactions with effector cells bearing Fc receptors. In the case of lymphocytes and perhaps phagocytic cells, this interaction may lead to antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) [51, 58]. The exposed Fc regions may also facilitate attempts at ingestion by monocytes, macrophages, and polymorphonuclear leukocytes.
COMPUTER SUPPORT FOR MONITORING NORMAL CHILD GROWTH

Assessment of children's growth is an important aspect of preventive pediatrics which can be delegated to a nurse practitioner. In order to facilitate the nurse's assessment, we have developed a computer program which calculates the percentile standing of a child with respect to his peers in weight, length/height, or fronto-occipital head circumference (FOC) or any other observed variable of normal growth which can be tabulated for a substantial population of children. This program is currently being tested in a pediatric outpatient clinic where the children's growth status is incorporated in a computerized outpatient record. A related program can be used to generate curves for the plotting of normal growth in a new format which displays growth from birth to adolescence on a semilog scale. We propose to use the program online for detecting growth abnormalities in children and for the generation of portions of a computerized pediatric cardiology report.
Pediatric CT angiography

Advances in CT technology are having profound impact on imaging children and have made CT angiography possible even in neonates. Even with the tiny anatomy of neonates, small volumes of contrast material, and small venous access catheters, successful CT angiography can be performed with attention to detail. Meticulous attention to patient preparation, the proper selection of technical factors, and optimal delivery of contrast material are crucial. Data post-processing and the creation of 3-D reconstructions are also essential in establishing a correct diagnosis. The applications of CT angiography are different in children than in adults and most applications in children involve assessment of congenital and postoperative vascular and cardiac diseases. The use of CT angiography offers the opportunity to eliminate the long periods of sedation associated with MR and reduce the radiation exposure associated with conventional angiography. Generally, the benefits of CT angiography in children outweigh the risk, namely that of radiation exposure. However, care must still be taken to minimize the radiation exposure.
Effects of chronic heavy alcohol consumption and endurance exercise on cancellous and cortical bone microarchitecture in adult male rats.

Background Bone health is influenced by numerous lifestyle factors, including diet and exercise. Alcohol is a major non-essential constituent of diet and has dose and context-dependent effects on bone. Endurance exercise is associated with increased risk for stress fractures. The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term independent and combined effects of chronic heavy alcohol consumption and endurance exercise (treadmill running) on bone mass and microarchitecture in young adult male Sprague-Dawley rats.
Modulation of the maize plasma membrane H+/NO−3 symport carrier by NO−3☆

Abstract The effect of nitrogen supply on H+/NO−3 symport activity associated with the plasma membrane of maize roots was examined using isolated
1026-90 Impact of the Defibrillator Can Size on Defibrillation Success with a Single-Lead Unipolar System

In ten dogs we assessed whether the defibrillation energy requirements of a single transvenous right ventricular electrode/defibrillator can system depend upon the can size. We therefore compared t...
Enhancing nonmass lesions in the breast: evaluation with proton (1H) MR spectroscopy.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of proton (hydrogen 1 [1H]) magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy for diagnosing malignant enhancing nonmass lesions identified at breast MR imaging, with histologic examination as the reference standard. Materials and Methods: In this HIPAA-compliant, institutional review board–approved study, in which all participants gave written informed consent, proton (1H) MR spectroscopy of the breast was performed in suspicious or biopsy-proved malignant lesions that were 1 cm or larger at MR imaging. Single-voxel proton (1H) MR spectroscopic data were collected. MR spectroscopic findings were defined as positive if the signal-to-noise ratio of the choline resonance peak was 2 or greater and as negative in all other cases. MR spectroscopic results were then compared with histologic findings, and statistical analysis was performed. Results: In 32 women (median age, 48.5 years [range, 20–63 years]) with enhancing nonmass lesions, the median lesion siz...
Strategic planning for a public sector enterprise

Abstract In spite of the growing popularity of strategic planning in the private sector, its application in the public sector is bounded by several constraints. This paper develops a model of the strategic planning process in a public sector enterprise. In addition, the authors' experience with strategic planning at the Prison Industry Authority is presented as a case example.
Environmental and technological risks and hazards

Abstract This paper discusses the macro-perspectives of environmental and technological risks and puts forward information that may be useful as seed research for other interested researchers in the field of risk analysis.
The Obama administration's policy toward East Asia

Abstract Conventional wisdom argues that President Obama inherited a U.S. reputation that was badly damaged around the world. While this may hold true in Europe, in Asia, where U.S. standing matters most, there was never such a precipitous decline. To Europeans, the Iraq War stirred moral outrage and rabid opposition. However, the situation in the Persian Gulf simply did not matter as much to Asians. There were pockets within Asia that were critical of U.S. actions, but this was overshadowed by an overwhelming support for values such as democracy and human rights. Evidence shows that even vis-a-vis China, U.S. standing has not faced a significant decline in the region. The result is that Asians continue to perceive the United States as the closest thing to an honest broker in the region, as evidenced by positive reactions to the leadership role that the United States took in response to the 2004 tsunami. Representing 60 percent of the world's population, compared to Europe's seven percent, Asian views are...
752 nm wing-pumped Cr:LiSrAlF/sub 6/ laser

The authors have demonstrated a LiSrAlF/sub 6/:Cr/sup 3+/ (Cr:LiSrAlF/sub 6/) laser pumped at 752 nm in the longwave wing of the /sup 4/A/sub 2/ to /sup 4/T/sub 2/ pump band. Measured optical, laser, and thermal properties of LiSrAlF/sub 6/-LiSrCrF/sub 6/ solid solutions indicate that efficient laser pumping can be achieved in the 750-780 nm region, and that AlGaAs laser diode arrays may be used to make efficient high-power diode-pumped tunable solid-state lasers. >
Diagnostic implications of the reactivity of fluorescence tracers

Abstract Measurements of fuel concentration distributions with planar laser-induced fluorescence of tracer molecules that are added to a base fuel are commonly used in combustion research and development. It usually is assumed that the tracer concentration follows the parent fuel concentration if physical properties such as those determining evaporation are matched. As an example to address this general issue a computational study of combustion of biacetyl/iso-octane mixtures was performed to investigate how well the concentration of biacetyl represents the concentration of iso-octane. For premixed mixture conditions with flame propagation the spatial concentration profiles of the two species in the flame front are separated by 110 μm at 1 bar and by 11 μm at 10 bar. For practical applications this spatial separation is insignificantly small. However, for conditions that mimic ignition and combustion in diesel and HCCI-like operation the differences in tracer and fuel concentration can be significant, exceeding hundreds of percent. At low-initial temperature biacetyl was found to be more stable whereas at higher temperature (>1000 K) iso-octane is more stable. Similar findings were obtained for a multi-component fuel comprised of iso-octane, n -heptane, methylcyclohexane, and toluene. It may be assumed that similar differences can exist for other tracer/fuel combinations. Caution has therefore to be applied when interpreting PLIF measurements in homogeneous reaction conditions such as in HCCI engine studies.
GRAPH BISECTION MODELED AS CARDINALITY CONSTRAINED BINARY QUADRATIC TASK ALLOCATION

In this paper, the cardinality constrained quadratic model for binary quadratic programming is used to model and solve the graph bisection problem as well as its generalization in the form of the task allocation problem with two processors (2-TAP). Balanced graph bisection is an NP-complete problem which partitions a set of nodes in the graph G = (N, E) into two sets with equal cardinality such that a minimal sum of edge weights exists between the nodes in the two separate sets. 2-TAP is graph bisection with the addition of node preference costs in the objective function. We transform the general linear k-TAP model to the cardinality constrained quadratic binary model so that it may be efficiently solved using tabu search with strategic oscillation. On a set of benchmark graph bisections, we improve the best known solution for several problems. Comparison results with the state-of-the-art graph partitioning program METIS, as well as Cplex and Gurobi are presented on a set of randomly generated graphs. This approach is shown to also work well with 2-TAP, comparing favorably to Cplex and Gurobi, providing better solutions in a much shorter time.
The use of the natural cofactor, (6R)-l-erythrotetrahydrobiopterin in the analysis of nonphosphorylated and phosphorylated rat striatal tyrosine hydroxylase at pH 7.0.

Abstract The kinetics of tyrosine hydroxylase from the desalted high-speed supernatants of rat striatal homogenates were examined at pH 7.0 using different concentrations of the natural cofactor, (6R)- l -erythrotetrahydrobiopterin, ranging from 4 μM to 1.5 mM. All analyses were performed using two different buffering solutions and their appropriate reducing systems for maintaining cofactor in the reduced state. In the presence of phosphate buffer the results show that tyrosine hydroxylase exists in two kinetically different forms with apparent K m values for the cofactor of 16 μM (low K m ) and 2.3 mM (high K m ). Similar results were obtained using MOPS buffer. A comparative analysis of the appropriate V max values indicates that tyrosine hydroxylase as obtained by our standard preparation procedures is predominately (95%) in the high K m form. When the striatal supernatant was exposed to phosphorylating conditions and subsequently analyzed it appeared that the enzyme now existed totally in the low K m form with very little change in the overall V max . A comparison of the results using the two different buffering systems, phosphate and MOPS, revealed that following phosphorylation a large percentage of enzyme was maintained in the phosphorylated state only when using phosphate buffer. In light of the present results, we can for the first time suggest a functional significance not only for the two apparently different kinetic forms of the enzyme but also for a supporting role for phosphorylation. In vivo dopamine synthesis may be accomplished to a significant extent by the phosphorylated form of the enzyme while the non-phosphorylated form may constitute a relatively inactive reservoir which can be recruited for increased dopamine synthesis by phosphorylation.
Targets and effectors of the cellular response to aurora kinase inhibitor MK-0457 (VX-680) in imatinib sensitive and resistant chronic myelogenous leukemia

MK-0457 inhibits aurora, BCR-ABL and other kinases and may be clinically active in imatinib resistant leukemia. To define mediators of MK-0457 responsiveness, kinase inhibitory profiles were examined in multiple cell models of imatinib sensitive and resistant disease. Aurora and BCR-ABL kinase inhibition were consistently measured at 20-100 nM and 2-10 microM MK-0457, respectively, but expression of T315I-BCR-ABL and overexpression of Lyn kinase reduced MK-0457 sensitivity. Aurora kinase inhibition was associated with cell cycle restriction and p53 induction and p53-null cells were far less responsive to MK-0457, requiring BCR-ABL inhibitory concentrations for apoptotic activity. In wild-type p53 expressing CML cells MK-0457 sensitivity was modulation by alterations in p53 levels through HDM-2 inhibition and gene silencing. MK-0457 suppressed aurora kinase activity and induced apoptosis in imatinib resistant clinical specimens expressing T315I and other BCR-ABL mutations without effecting BCR-ABL kinase activity. Together, these results suggest that MK-0457 apoptotic activity in CML cells is primarily associated with aurora kinase inhibition but can be altered by multiple molecular changes associated with disease progression or acquisition of imatinib resistance.
A general formalism for quasi-local correction of multipole distortions in periodic transport systems

We generalize a new concept of local correction of nonlinearities due to multipole content by giving it a mathematical description. We present a general method which allows for a general reduction of all the distortions produced by a given set of multipole errors. The method can be applied to correct an arbitrary distribution of the errors in any transport system, such as transport lines, linacs, synchrotrons and storage rings. 11 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs.