cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enhancement of revegetation on construction fill by fertilizer and topsoil application: effect on mycorrhizal infection

The influence of topsoil and fertilizer application on denuded road construction sites was evaluated to assess its contribution to improvement of vegetation re-establishment. the study sites were within a mixed hardwood and conifer forest on crushed, unweathered subsurface material with low fertility and low biological activity. Topsoils were removed from the site, stockpiled and reapplied to the site after construction. the effect of topsoil amendment on plant growth, soil fertility, mycorrhizal infection and an index of microbial biomass were measured in field and greenhouse experiments. Plant growth on the topsoil amended field plots were greatly increased relative to treatments with fertilizer but no topsoil. Three years after establishment, dry weight production on the plots without topsoil treatment was about 40 per cent of the plots treated with topsoil. Greenhouse experiments were designed to compare fresh, dried and stockpiled topsoil. These experiments indicated that storage of the harvested topsoil for five months in a stockpile had minor effects on plant growth, soil fertility, mycorrhizal infection and microbial biomass. Topsoil volumes had to exceed 20 per cent of the total soil volume to achieve statistically significant benefits and higher ratios showed greater benefit. the percentage of mycorrhizal infection was greatest in topsoil treatments without fertilizer. the addition of fertilizer increased growth but reduced the percentage of roots forming mycorrhizae. When the total weight of infected roots was calculated, however, infection was found to be greatest with a moderate level of fertilizer (equivalent to approximately 27 kg N ha−1 and 39 kg P ha−1), and was less in both higher fertilizer treatments and in unfertilized treatments. Topsoil amendment increased microbial biomass nitrogen but fertilizer treatment did not.
Recursive data mining for role identification

We present a text mining approach that enables an extension of a standard authorship assessment problem (the problem in which an author of a text needs to be established) to role identification in communications within some Internet community. More precisely, we want to recognize a group of authors communicating in a specific role within such a community rather than a single author. The challenge here is that the same author may participate in different roles in communications within the group, in each role having different authors as peers. An additional challenge of our problem is the length of communications. Each individual exchange in our intended domain, communications within an Internet community, is relatively short, in the order of several dozens of words, so standard text mining approaches may fail. An example of such a problem is recognizing roles in a collection of emails from an organization in which middle level managers communicate both with superiors and subordinates. To validate our approach we use the Enron email dataset which is such a collection.Our approach is based on discovering patterns at varying degrees of abstraction in a hierarchical fashion. Such discovery process allows for certain degree of approximation in matching patterns, which is necessary for capturing non-trivial structures in realistic datasets. The discovered patterns are used as features to build efficient classifiers. Due to the nature of the pattern discovery process, we call our approach Recursive Data Mining. The results show that a classifier that uses the dominant patterns discovered by Recursive Data Mining performs well in role detection.
A simple theory for the vertical structure of the tropical atmosphere

It is suggested that the gross mean vertical structure of the undisturbed tropical atmosphere may be understood in terms of convective boundary layers driven in different ways and on different time scales by the evaporation of water from the sea surface. The mixed layer on a short time scale is driven partly by the buoyancy produced by the light weight of the water vapor; the trade cumulus layer on an intermediate time scale by the buoyancy (but not heating) produced by the condensation of the water vapor in shallow trade cumulus clouds; and the troposphere itself on a long time scale by the buoyancyand heating produced by the condensation of the water vapor in the deep cumulonimbus clouds.
Multiplexing chopper systems for pulsed neutron source instruments

The choice of pulse repetition rates and pulse lengths provided by a pulsed neutron source cannot ideally fit the requirements of all of the various neutron scattering experiments. Novel multiplexing chopper systems we propose can help to enhance instrument performance by tailoring the effective pulse parameters to better meet experimental needs. In particular schemes to multiply pulse repetition rates and wavelength bands and to enhance wavelength resolution will be discussed, together with an efficient chopper system design tool based on the new concept of wavelength filtering.
Interactive presentation: System-level process variation driven throughput analysis for single and multiple voltage-frequency island designs

Manufacturing process variations are the primary cause of timing yield loss in aggressively scaled technologies. In this paper, we analyze the impact of process variations on the throughput (rate) characteristics of embedded systems comprised of multiple voltage-frequency islands (VFIs) represented as component graphs. We provide an efficient, yet accurate method to compute the throughput of an application in a probabilistic scenario and show that systems implemented with multiple VFIs are more likely to meet throughput constraints than their fully synchronous counterparts. The proposed framework allows designers to investigate the impact of architectural decisions such as the granularity of VFI partitioning on their designs, while determining the likelihood of a system meeting specified throughput constraints. An implementation of the proposed framework is accurate within 1.2% of Monte Carlo simulation while yielding speed-ups ranging from 78X-260X, for a set of synthetic benchmarks. Results on a real benchmark (MPEG-2 encoder) show that a nine clock domain implementation gives 100% yield for a throughput constraint for which a fully synchronous design only yields 25%. For the same throughput constraint, a three clock domain architecture yields 78%.
Isolation and properties of oxidized alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor from human rheumatoid synovial fluid

Abstract Human alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor (α-1-PI) from synovial fluid has been isolated to near 90% purity. The preparation has a molecular weight near 52,000, contains 3.5 residues of methionine sulfoxide, and an amino terminal glutamine residue. Sequence studies indicate that the first 17 residues, normally present in plasma α-1-PI, are missing from this protein. The inhibitor did not form a complex with porcine pancreatic elastase but, instead, was converted to a lower molecular weight form. Sequence studies on the latter indicated that two methionyl residues, one at the P1 reactive site and the other at P8, had been oxidized. These data confirm the fact that oxidized α-1-PI may be formed in vivo , presumably by the action of myeloperoxidase. This latter effect may alter the proteinase-proteinase inhibitor balance in tissues so that excess proteolysis and abnormal tissue degradation may occur.
Ergodic theorems for tensor products

Abstract An ergodic theorem is proved for tensor products of Banach spaces. As a special case, an ergodic theorem is proved for vector-valued Lp-spaces. This theorem generalizes results of Aribaud, J. Funct. Anal. 5 (1970) , 395–411, and Dinculeanu, J. Funct. Anal. 12 (1973) , 229–235.
Dental aspects of patients with cystic fibrosis: a preliminary clinical study

The oral hygiene, gingival health, presence of plaque and calculus, tooth mobility, tooth staining, and dietary habits were evaluated in 42 patients with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis affects the oral environment in an adverse way leading to many reported dental problems. Some possible problem areas were investigated in this study and correlations were noted. In these patients, there appeared to be some suppression of plaque formation with consequent beneficial effects on gingival health. This may be a by-product of the therapeutic regimen that is followed for the medical management of the systemic problems.
Potential for transcriptional upregulation of cochlin in glaucomatous trabecular meshwork: a combinatorial bioinformatic and biochemical analytical approach.

Glaucoma is a group of irreversible blinding eye diseases associated with optic neuropathy. Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is often associated with elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), which is due to an imbalance between aqueous humor production and outflow in the anterior chamber of the eye.1 Aqueous humor is a clear liquid produced by the ciliary epithelium that exits through the trabecular meshwork (TM) after bathing the anterior segment structures, such as the cornea and lens, with nutrients. Aqueous outflow is believed to encounter increased resistance at the level of the TM in glaucoma. The mechanisms that impede aqueous outflow elevate IOP are poorly understood. Cochlin, a secretory extracellular matrix (ECM) protein of unknown function, was identified by proteomic analyses to be differentially expressed in glaucomatous compared with normal TM.2 Cochlin is the product of the COCH gene3 located on human chromosome 14, region q12–13.3,4 The cochlin protein sequence is highly conserved, with 94% and 79% amino acid identity with human to mouse and chicken sequences, respectively. 5 Cochlin contains a short signal peptide, an N-terminal factor C homology, and two von Willebrand factor A-like domains. 2,4 In situ hybridization has shown that cochlin mRNA is expressed in the TM, suggesting that the protein is likely expressed and deposited locally.2 Elevated IOP is a significant risk factor for optic nerve damage. Changes in fluid dynamics and incremental fluctuations in IOP results in stress and stretch on TM cells and are thought to trigger early biochemical responses.6 Stress- and stretch-induced modulation of protein expression are mediated by transcription factors (TFs).6,7 Increased cochlin expression has been reported in the TM8 and in the inner ear4; however, the promoter region of cochlin and the details of cochlin gene expression remain to be characterized. Deciphering mechanisms that lead to transcriptional regulation of cochlin expression in the TM is critical for understanding the role cochlin may play in glaucoma’s pathogenesis. We used a combinatorial approach of bioinformatics and molecular and biochemical analyses to determine whether an increased abundance of transcription factors with the potential to bind and enhance transcription in the promoter region of cochlin was present in nuclear extracts of glaucomatous TM compared with the control.
Diabetes management in the primary care setting: Summary

The foregoing articles make it clear that the treatment of type 2 diabetes in everyday practice should strive to achieve the best possible control of blood glucose. This supplement underscores the inadequacies of current management in achieving this goal, given the nature of the disease and the hesitations of physicians and patients—particularly surrounding timely initiation of intensive therapy. Yet providers should be encouraged by the new concepts described by the authors of the articles in this supplement and others cited herein. These concepts may advance the ability of providers to confidently manage diabetes with greater success and to provide their patients with a meaningful clinical impact on vascular complications.
Performance of a “black” liquid flat-plate solar collector☆

Abstract A cost-effect, “black” liquid, flat-plate solar collector has been designed, and prototypes have been built and tested. In these collectors a highly absorbent “black” liquid flows in transparent channels and directly absorbs solar energy. The liquid is the hottest substance in the collector, and no metals are required anywhere in the design. The collector differs in the following ways from conventional flat-plate collectors: 1. 1. Solar radiation is absorbed directly by the black liquid without the need to heat any other structures within the collector. 2. 2. Lower heat losses are possible since energy is absorbed directly by the working fluid, and the flow pattern can be arranged so that the hottest spot is in the center of the collector away from all edges. As the fluid moves progressively inward toward the exit, which is located at the center of the collector, it will pick up some of the heat loss along the radial direction. 3. 3. Lower cost may be possible since no metal is required in construction and only glass and/or plastic need be used in addition to the insulation and frame. The absence of metal should eliminate all corrosion problems. 4. 4. New avenues of research are opened up by the use of black liquids: an entirely new class of materials are available which may aid in finding inexpensive, durable absorbers. 5. 5. New configurational arrangements are possible with the absence of metal absorbers. Experimental performance data for the black liquid collector is presented which compares favorably with other conventional flat-plate collectors.
Digital bas-relief from 3D scenes

We present a system for semi-automatic creation of bas-relief sculpture. As an artistic medium, relief spans the continuum between 2D drawing or painting and full 3D sculpture. Bas-relief (or low relief) presents the unique challenge of squeezing shapes into a nearly-flat surface while maintaining as much as possible the perception of the full 3D scene. Our solution to this problem adapts methods from the tone-mapping literature, which addresses the similar problem of squeezing a high dynamic range image into the (low) dynamic range available on typical display devices. However, the bas-relief medium imposes its own unique set of requirements, such as maintaining small, fixed-size depth discontinuities. Given a 3D model, camera, and a few parameters describing the relative attenuation of different frequencies in the shape, our system creates a relief that gives the illusion of the 3D shape from a given vantage point while conforming to a greatly compressed height.
Digital Equalization of Chromatic Dispersion and Polarization Mode Dispersion

In this paper, we consider a fractionally spaced equalizer (FSE) for electronic compensation of chromatic dispersion (CD) and polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) in a dually polarized (polarization-multiplexed) coherent optical communications system. Our results show that the FSE can compensate any arbitrary amount of CD and first-order PMD distortion, provided that the oversampling rate is at least 3/2 and that a sufficient number of equalizer taps are used. In contrast, the amount of CD and PMD that can be corrected by a symbol-rate equalizer only approaches an asymptotic limit, and increasing the number of taps has no effect on performance due to aliasing that causes signal cancellation and noise enhancement.
Distributed rate allocation for multi-stream video transmission over ad hoc networks

When multiple video streams are present in an ad hoc network, they share and compete for the common network resources. A rate allocation algorithm must balance the available resources among the video streams in a fair and efficient manner. In addition, it is desirable to have a distributed solution so that nodes do not need to collect global information of the network and that the computational burden can be shared. We propose a distributed rate allocation algorithm which minimizes the total distortion of all video streams. Based on the subgradient method, the proposed scheme only requires link price updates at each relay node based on local observations and rate adaptations at each source node derived from rate-distortion (RD) models of the video. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve the same optimal rate allocation as that obtained from exhaustive search.
Supply Response to the Housing Allowance Program

If there were no supply response to the housing allowance program, the demand shift caused by the program would be large enough to cause a serious increase in the price of standard housing services. How-ever, three supply responses prevent the potential price increase from occurring: repair of substandard housing, supply adjustment, and occupancy rate adjustment. The first supply response reduces the potential price increase by two-thirds, the first and second together reduce it by four-fifths, and all three together reduce it by 97 percent.
The role of type equality in meta-programming

Meta-programming, writing programs that write other programs, involves two kinds of languages. The meta-language is the language in which meta-programs, which construct or manipulate other programs, are written. The object-language is the language of programs being manipulated. We study a class of meta-language features that are used to write meta-programs that are statically guaranteed to maintain semantic invariants of object-language programs, such as typing and scoping. We use type equality in the type system of the meta-language to check and enforce these invariants. Our main contribution is the illustration of the utility of type equality in typed functional meta-programming. In particular, we encode and capture judgments about many important language features using type equality. Finally, we show how type equality is incorporated as a feature of the type system of a practical functional meta-programming language. The core of this thesis is divided into three parts. First, we design a meta-programming language with dependent types. We use dependent types to ensure that well-typed meta-programs manipulate only well-typed object-language programs. Using this meta-language, we then construct highly efficient and safe interpreters for a strongly typed object language. We also prove the type safety of the meta-language. Second, we demonstrate how the full power of dependent types is not necessary to encode typing properties of object-languages. We explore a meta-language consisting of the programming language Haskell and a set of techniques for encoding type equality. In this setting we are able to carry out essentially the same meta-programming examples. We also expand the range of object-language features in our examples (e.g., pattern matching). Third, we design a meta-language (called Omega) with built-in equality proofs. This language is a significant improvement for meta-programming over Haskell: Omega's type system automatically manipulates proofs of type equalities in meta-programs. We further demonstrate our encoding and meta-programming techniques by providing representations and interpreters for object-languages with explicit substitutions and modal type systems.
Spatial synchronization using watermark key structure

Recently, we proposed a method for constructing a template for efficient temporal synchronization in video watermarking. 1 Our temporal synchronization method uses a state machine key generator for producing the watermark embedded in successive frames of video. A feature extractor allows the watermark key schedule to be content dependent, increasing the difficulty of copy and ownership attacks. It was shown that efficient synchronization can be achieved by adding temporal redundancy into the key schedule. In this paper, we explore and extend the concepts of our temporal synchronization method to spatial synchronization. The key generator is used to construct the embedded watermark of non-overlapping blocks of the video, creating a tiled structure. 2–4 The autocorrelation of the tiled watermark contains local maxima or peaks with a grid-like structure, where the distance between the peaks indicates the scale of the watermark and the orientation of the peaks indicate the watermark rotation. Experimental results are obtained using digital image watermarks. Scaling and rotation attacks are investigated.
Comparing the economic impact of alternative metrology methods in semiconductor manufacturing

Metrology is an essential part of advanced semiconductor manufacturing. It accelerates yield improvement and sustains yield performance at every stage in both new and mature processes. Advances in metrology are needed to achieve challenging industry goals, such as smaller feature sizes and reduced time for introduction of new materials and processes for future technology. To achieve difficult industry goals, it is expected that metrology practices will migrate from offline to inline, and ultimately, to in situ. Economic models are needed to study the costs and benefits of introducing new metrology technologies and to compare alternative metrology practices. Several qualitative and quantitative models are presented in this paper to study the elements of revenue and cost associated with different metrology tools and practices. Comparisons between in situ, inline and offline metrology systems are made. The cost components of the metrology methods are analyzed and discussed with respect to steady state process control as well as their effect on time to yield. Monte Carlo simulation models are used to study each system under different scenarios.
The application of core functions to residue number system signal processing

The authors briefly outline core-based residue number system (RNS) processing. An RNS adaptive array processor using Choleski decomposition and forward elimination/back substitution is described as an example. The RNS adaptive processor was simulated, and preliminary results that indicate the feasibility of the approach are presented. The most significant of these results is the ability of the eight 5-b moduli system to operate well with both 12- and 32-element arrays. Because the core function is used to perform nonmodular operations, a large number of array elements can be accommodated with a modest dynamic range. Potential applications for special-purpose core-based RNS processors include adaptive array processing, Kalman filtering, fast Fourier transforms, and image processing for communications, surveillance, and intelligence systems. >
The biophilosophical basis of whole-brain death.

Notwithstanding these wise pronouncements, my project here is to characterize the biological phenomenon of death of the higher animal species, such as vertebrates. My claim is that the formulation of “whole-brain death” provides the most congruent map for our correct understanding of the concept of death. This essay builds upon the foundation my colleagues and I have laid since 1981 to characterize the concept of death and refine when this event occurs. Although our society's well-accepted program of multiple organ procurement for transplantation requires the organ donor first to be dead, the concept of brain death is not merely a social contrivance to permit us to obtain the benefits of organ procurement. Rather, the concept of whole-brain death stands independently as the most accurate biological representation of the demise of the human organism.
Use of APTIMA Combo 2: The Experience of a Child Advocacy Center.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends nucleic acid amplification testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea in sexually abused girls. No studies describe performance of APTIMA Combo 2 Assay with second target confirmation on the same testing platform. This nucleic acid amplification testing is evaluated within a large child advocacy center. Girls 3 to 18 years, 35% of whom reported consensual sexual activity, were prospectively tested by APTIMA Combo 2 on urine/vaginal swabs and by vaginal culture. A case of infection was defined as positive culture or positive urine or vaginal swab nucleic acid amplification testing with second target confirmation. Sensitivity of APTIMA Combo 2 on urine was found to be superior to vaginal culture and comparable to APTIMA Combo 2 on vaginal swabs for both infections. APTIMA Combo 2 on urine is less invasive, and its use may be preferred in this traumatized population.
Vectorized schemes for conical potential flow using the artificial density method

A method is developed to determine solutions to the full-potential equation for steady supersonic conical flow using the artificial density method. Various update schemes used generally for transonic potential solutions are investigated. The schemes are compared for speed and robustness. All versions of the computer code have been vectorized and are currently running on the CYBER-203 computer. The update schemes are vectorized, where possible, either fully (explicit schemes) or partially (implicit schemes). Since each version of the code differs only by the update scheme and elements other than the update scheme are completely vectorizable, comparisons of computational effort and convergence rate among schemes are a measure of the specific scheme's performance. Results are presented for circular and elliptical cones at angle of attack for subcritical and supercritical crossflows.
Reexamination of Epidemic Asthma in New Orleans, Louisiana, in Relation to the Presence of Soy at the Harbor

Epidemic asthma occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the 1950s and 1960s, but its causes were never fully understood. Subsequently, similar outbreaks of epidemic asthma in Barcelona, Spain, were shown to be caused by the release of soy dust at the harbor. To investigate whether airborne soy dust may have contributed to epidemic asthma in New Orleans, the authors examined historical data on vessel cargo from the New Orleans harbor together with data on emergency department visits for asthma, for the period from 1957 through 1968. Days on which there were 64 or more visits for asthma were twice as likely to have occurred on days when a vessel carrying soy was at the harbor (odds ratio (OR) = 2.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5-3.3). The association was stronger when the maximum wind speed was less than 12 miles/hour (19.3 km/hour) (OR = 4.0, 95% CI 2.1-7.7) and strongest when wind speeds were low and the prevailing winds were from the south or southwest, the direction of two grain elevators from the hospital (OR = 6.7, 95% CI 1.5-46.7). Various temporal and climatic factors that had been associated with the occurrence of asthma outbreaks did not appear to be important confounding factors. The association was specific to soy cargo; no association was observed between asthma-epidemic days and the presence of either wheat or corn in vessels at the harbor. The results of this analysis provide further evidence that ambient soy dust is very asthmogenic and that asthma morbidity in a community can be influenced by exposures in the ambient atmosphere.
New insights into secondary organic aerosol from the ozonolysis of α-pinene from combined infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry measurements

Understanding mechanisms of formation, growth and physical properties of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is central to predicting impacts on visibility, health and climate. It has been known for many decades that the oxidation of monoterpenes by ozone in the gas phase readily forms particles. However, the species responsible for the initial nucleation and the subsequent growth are not well established. Recent studies point to high molecular weight highly oxygenated products with extremely low vapor pressures (ELVOC, extremely low volatility organic compounds) as being responsible for the initial nucleation, with more volatile species contributing to particle growth. We report here the results of studies of SOA formed in the ozonolysis of α-pinene in air at 297 ± 2 K using atmospheric solids analysis probe (ASAP) mass spectrometry, attenuated total reflectance (ATR) Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and proton transfer reaction (PTR) mass spectrometry. Smaller particles are shown to be less volatile and have on average higher molecular mass components compared to larger particles, consistent with recent proposals regarding species responsible for the formation and growth of particles in this system. Thus the signatures of species responsible for particle development at various stages are observable even in particles of several hundred nm diameter. Pinonaldehyde and acetic acid were observed to evaporate from a film of impacted SOA at room temperature, from which the ratio of their diffusion coefficients to the square of the average film thickness, D/l(2), could be obtained. For acetic acid and pinonaldehyde, D/l(2) = 6.8 × 10(-6) s(-1) and 5.0 × 10(-6) s(-1) respectively, the relative magnitudes being consistent with the size difference between acetic acid and pinonaldehyde molecules. Limitations to quantifying the film thickness and hence absolute values of the diffusion coefficient are discussed and highlight a need for novel experimental methods for quantifying diffusion coefficients of organic species in SOA.
A Small-RF-Signal Theory for an Electrostatically Focused Traveling-Wave Tube

This paper describes a small-RF-signal theory for a new type of electrostatically focused traveling-wave tube. Consideration is given to the effect on the gain of large periodic variations of dc electron velocity, resulting from electrostatic focusing. LlewellynPeterson equations which apply to dc voltage distributions, similar to those used in the electrostatically focused traveling-wave tube, are used for analysis. The limitation of the Llewellyn-Peterson equations to one-dimensional problems is overcome by use of correction factors derived from Pierce's theory for traveling-wave tubes. Generalized expressions taking into account the periodic variations of dc electron velocity are derived for the gain parameter C and spacecharge parameter QC. For uniform dc electron velocity, such as that found in a magnetically focused tube, these expressions reduce to the forms derived by Pierce. In addition to their suitability for analysis of electrostatically focused traveling-wave tubes, the LlewellynPeterson equations provide a method of analyzing magnetically focused traveling-wave tubes alternative to those used previously. It is shown that the gain of the electrostatically focused tube can be calculated by use of the gain and space-charge parameters of the electrostatically focused tube and graphical data available for magnetically focused tubes. Depending upon the voltage distribution in the region of electron flow, the gain and bandwidth of a travelingwave RF circuit employing an electron beam having a periodically varying dc velocity can be greater or smaller than the gain and bandwidth of the same RF circuit employing a uniform dc velocity electron beam.
Effect of Tire Rolling Loss on Vehicle Fuel Consumption

Abstract Empirical data published since 1925 suggest a linear relation between tire rolling loss and vehicle fuel consumption. The background of this relation is discussed and then updated to include current passenger cars and trucks. Finally, the relation is transformed into a simple rule that would allow an estimate of the fuel savings achieved by tire rolling loss reductions.
Cardiometabolic Health Disparities in Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders

Elimination of health disparities in the United States is a national health priority. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity are key features of what is now referred to as the "cardiometabolic syndrome," which disproportionately affects racial/ethnic minority populations, including Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI). Few studies have adequately characterized the cardiometabolic syndrome in high-risk populations such as NHOPI. The authors systematically assessed the existing literature on cardiometabolic disorders among NHOPI to understand the best approaches to eliminating cardiometabolic health disparities in this population. Articles were identified from database searches performed in PubMed and MEDLINE from January 1998 to December 2008; 43 studies were included in the review. There is growing confirmatory evidence that NHOPI are one of the highest-risk populations for cardiometabolic diseases in the United States. Most studies found increased prevalences of diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular risk factors among NHOPI. The few experimental intervention studies found positive results. Methodological issues included small sample sizes, sample bias, inappropriate racial/ethnic aggregation of NHOPI with Asians, and a limited number of intervention studies. Significant gaps remain in the understanding of cardiometabolic health disparities among NHOPI in the United States. More experimental intervention studies are needed to examine promising approaches to reversing the rising tide of cardiometabolic health disparities in NHOPI.
A coalescence-guided hierarchical Bayesian method for haplotype inference.

Haplotype inference from phase-ambiguous multilocus genotype data is an important task for both disease-gene mapping and studies of human evolution. We report a novel haplotype-inference method based on a coalescence-guided hierarchical Bayes model. In this model, a hierarchical structure is imposed on the prior haplotype frequency distributions to capture the similarities among modern-day haplotypes attributable to their common ancestry. As a consequence, the model both allows distinct haplotypes to have different a priori probabilities according to the inferred hierarchical ancestral structure and results in a proper joint posterior distribution for all the parameters of interest. A Markov chain–Monte Carlo scheme is designed to draw from this posterior distribution. By using coalescence-based simulation and empirically generated data sets (Whitehead Institute's inflammatory bowel disease data sets and HapMap data sets), we demonstrate the merits of the new method in comparison with HAPLOTYPER and PHASE, with or without the presence of recombination hotspots and missing genotypes.
Fetal Thrombotic Vasculopathy

Fetal thrombotic vasculopathy (FTV) is the term used to encompass the histologic findings identified in placentas with fetal thrombotic lesions: occlusive and nonocclusive chorionic vessel thrombi, avascular villi in the distribution of a single villous tree, intramural vascular fibrin, and hemorrhagic endovasculitis. The underlying etiology of FTV is largely unknown though hypercoagulability and circulatory stasis have been the main focuses in the literature to explain the hemostatic abnormalities. This article reviews the literature in both defining and discussing, potential etiologies of FTV, as well as neonatal outcomes.
Columbus's First Voyage: Profit Or Loss From A Historical Accountant's Perspective

Determining the cost of Columbus's first voyage to the new world is very difficult to do with any degree of accuracy. The primary reasons for this is that the complete set of records does not exist and may not have ever existed. As a result, scholars have proposed a wide variety of figures supposedly representing the costs of Columbus's first voyage. Because of the conflicting information associated with this voyage, a three-step decision-making model approach was developed and used when deciding between conflicting accounting figures. In addition, several historical events, such as the sinking of the Santa Maria and the lifetime finder's fee annuity for being the first to spot land in the new world was reviewed for their possible effect on the accounting for this voyage. Overall, the purpose of this paper is to prepare a pro-forma financial statement in order to determine whether or not Columbus's first voyage was profitable or not.
Pharmaceutical expiration dating advice given by retail pharmacists.

Background: There is presently no uniform legislation requiring or standardizing the expiration labeling of prescription drug containers dispensed to patients by retail pharmacies, and most communities in the United States do not require such labeling. Expired medications can suffer changes in toxicity, potency, or palatability. Inadvertent use because of incomplete labeling can impact negatively on good patient care. Methods: A telephone survey of 124 retail pharmacists in a community suburban to New York City was conducted using a prepared script. Results: When a caller requested “do not use later than” advice for 10-mg propranolol tablets said to have been purchased 6 months earlier, responses ranged from 3 to 60 months. Most pharmacists recommended discarding medications 1 year (31 percent) or 2 years (27 percent) following purchase, but fewer than one-fourth of those responding attempted to verify expiration dates before answering. Conclusions: Physicians counseling patients to use prescription medicines within 1 year of purchase are giving advice consistent with that offered by 85 percent of the responding pharmacists, but physicians should be aware of the limitations of this recommendation. In the absence of uniform expiration-dating policies, physicians can minimize potential risks to patients by printing the instruction “label expiration date” on prescription blanks.
Chitosan microspheres: Therapeutic agent for liver-directed radiomicrosphere therapy

1707 Objectives Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) involves utilization of yittrium-90 (90Y) embedded microspheres for the treatment of primary and secondary hepatic malignancies. It is relatively new and an effective treatment for patients with unresectable hepatic malignancies. However, these microspheres comprise of resin or glass which are non-biodegradable. Micro/nanoparticles consisting of biodegradable polymers have acquired exponential interest in the field of cancer. Methods In the present study, we prepared and evaluated in vitro the application of Chitosan microspheres (CHS Mps) for possible novel radio microspheres therapy. CHS Mps were prepared by emulsion technique. Further, these particles were labeled with 90Y and 68Ga both separately and together. The stability in different solvents was also measured to assess the possibility of imaging concurrent with therapy. Results CHS Mps size was measured around 30µm. Labeling kinetic studies showed that the optimal reaction time with each isotope separately was 15 minutes and with 98% and 99% yield for 68Ga and 90Y respectively. In vitro stability was more than 90% in saline and PBS buffer for every trial after four hours for 68Ga and after 21 days for 90Y. The stability in the EDTA competition study decreased rapidly due to the low binding specificity of 68Ga with the CHS Mps. 90Y is indistinctive of the 68Ga presence and shows 70% radiochemical purity after 24 hours, decreasing to 40% after 21days. No significant changes have been observed in particle morphology over time. Conclusions Particle formulation and labeling with 90Y and 90Y plus 68Ga showed the potential of further testing in suitable in vivo animal models. The stability studies of CHS Mps labeled with 90Y in the competition studies with EDTA solution is a good indication of the possible usage of these particles for SIRT. Research Support This study was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute 1 R21 CA159073-01A1
Introducing Contactless Blood Pressure Assessment Using a High Speed Video Camera

Recent studies demonstrated that blood pressure (BP) can be estimated using pulse transit time (PTT). For PTT calculation, photoplethysmogram (PPG) is usually used to detect a time lag in pulse wave propagation which is correlated with BP. Until now, PTT and PPG were registered using a set of body-worn sensors. In this study a new methodology is introduced allowing contactless registration of PTT and PPG using high speed camera resulting in corresponding image-based PTT (iPTT) and image-based PPG (iPPG) generation. The iPTT value can be potentially utilized for blood pressure estimation however extent of correlation between iPTT and BP is unknown. The goal of this preliminary feasibility study was to introduce the methodology for contactless generation of iPPG and iPTT and to make initial estimation of the extent of correlation between iPTT and BP "in vivo." A short cycling exercise was used to generate BP changes in healthy adult volunteers in three consecutive visits. BP was measured by a verified BP monitor simultaneously with iPTT registration at three exercise points: rest, exercise peak, and recovery. iPPG was simultaneously registered at two body locations during the exercise using high speed camera at 420 frames per second. iPTT was calculated as a time lag between pulse waves obtained as two iPPG's registered from simultaneous recoding of head and palm areas. The average inter-person correlation between PTT and iPTT was 0.85?±?0.08. The range of inter-person correlations between PTT and iPTT was from 0.70 to 0.95 (p?<?0.05). The average inter-person coefficient of correlation between SBP and iPTT was -0.80?±?0.12. The range of correlations between systolic BP and iPTT was from 0.632 to 0.960 with p?<?0.05 for most of the participants. Preliminary data indicated that a high speed camera can be potentially utilized for unobtrusive contactless monitoring of abrupt blood pressure changes in a variety of settings. The initial prototype system was able to successfully generate approximation of pulse transit time and showed high intra-individual correlation between iPTT and BP. Further investigation of the proposed approach is warranted.
Transition State Structure and Inhibition of Rv0091, a 5'-Deoxyadenosine/5'-methylthioadenosine Nucleosidase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

5′-Methylthioadenosine/S-adenosylhomocysteine nucleosidase (MTAN) is a bacterial enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of the N-ribosidic bond in 5′-methylthioadenosine (MTA) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH). MTAN activity has been linked to quorum sensing pathways, polyamine biosynthesis, and adenine salvage. Previously, the coding sequence of Rv0091 was annotated as a putative MTAN in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Rv0091 was expressed in Escherichia coli, purified to homogeneity, and shown to be a homodimer, consistent with MTANs from other microorganisms. Substrate specificity for Rv0091 gave a preference for 5′-deoxyadenosine relative to MTA or SAH. Intrinsic kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) for the hydrolysis of [1′-3H], [1′-14C], [5′-3H2], [9-15N], and [7-15N]MTA were determined to be 1.207, 1.038, 0.998, 1.021, and 0.998, respectively. A model for the transition state structure of Rv0091 was determined by matching KIE values predicted via quantum chemical calculations to the intrinsic KIEs. The transiti...
Treating aortic dissection and penetrating aortic ulcer with stent-graft:30 cases

Objective:To evaluate the feasibility and safety of stent-graft in treatment of aortic dissection and penetrating aortic ulcer.Method:From June 2001 to April 2004,25 patients with aortic dissection and 5 patients with penetrating aortic ulcer received stent-graft implantation.There were 24 male and 6 female with average age of (52 3±11 9) years. There was 1 patient with Type A dissection, 23 patients with chronic Type B dissection, 1 patient with acute Type B dissection. Three of them had contained rapture. The other 5 patients were diagnosed as penetrating aortic ulcer. All patients were followed 1～32 months.Result:All patients received stent-graft implantation. There were 5 Type I endoleaks. Retrograde ascending aortic dissection occurred during operation in 1 case. Two other retrograde ascending aortic dissections occurred in two cases one day and seven days after stent-graft implantation respectively. Two patients died 1 day and 18 days after operation because of rupture of ascending aortic dissection. One month mortality was 6 7%. No death occurred during follow up time. One patient received a second stent-graft implantation 20 month after first procedure.Conclusion:Serious complication may develop after stent-graft implantation, but the early results of stent-graft treatment of aortic dissection and penetrating aortic ulcer were satisfactory. Long term follow up were needed.
Joint feature selection and subspace learning

Dimensionality reduction is a very important topic in machine learning. It can be generally classified into two categories: feature selection and subspace learning. In the past decades, many methods have been proposed for dimensionality reduction. However, most of these works study feature selection and subspace learning independently. In this paper, we present a framework for joint feature selection and subspace learning. We reformulate the subspace learning problem and use L2,1-norm on the projection matrix to achieve row-sparsity, which leads to selecting relevant features and learning transformation simultaneously. We discuss two situations of the proposed framework, and present their optimization algorithms. Experiments on benchmark face recognition data sets illustrate that the proposed framework outperforms the state of the art methods overwhelmingly.
Immunohistochemical detection of Glut3 in human tumors and normal tissues

Malignant cells have been shown to utilize more glucose than normal cells in vitro and in vivo. Glut3 is a member of the facilitative glucose transporters family of transmembrane proteins, and its mRNA levels has been found to be elevated in human cancers, indicating that it may play a role in glucose uptake by cancer cells. Localization and extent of expression of Glut3 protein in normal and malignant human tissues is still largely unknown. We studied Glut3 expression in a series of 325 benign and malignant human tissues using standard immunoperoxidase technique. Of the normal tissues tested, Glut3 immunoreactivity was detected only in normal testis and placenta. Twelve of 14 (86%) testicular, 3 of 22 (16%) ovarian, 2 of 8 (25%) gastric, and 11 of 41 (27%) non-small cell lung carcinomas were positive for Glut3. Other carcinomas, including those of the breast and colon, were negative. Only in Glut3-positive testicular carcinomas were most tumor cells Glut3-positive. We conclude that a) Glut3 has a limited expression in normal and malignant human tissues, as determined by immunohistochemical staining, b) Glut3 may play a role in glucose uptake in a subset of carcinomas of the lung stomach and ovary, and, therefore, these tumors may have a distinct clinical behavior, and c) Glut3 may be an attractive target for monoclonal therapy or imaging of testicular germ cell tumors.
Update on cervical cancer screening: Current diagnostic and evidence-based management protocols

PREVIEWGrowing evidence about the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the development of cervical cancer holds promise for prevention as well as early detection. At the same time, important advances in diagnostic techniques and management guidelines based on study evidence offer more effective tools for classification of disease severity and appropriate treatment options. In this article, the authors review the 2001 revision of the Bethesda System and the new evidence-based protocols for managing patients with abnormal Pap smears.
Recycling of Rubbers

Publisher Summary The main objective of this chapter is to provide the up-to-date account on recycling of used tires and waste rubbers including existing methods and emerging technologies of grinding, reclaiming, and devulcanization, and also the possibility for recycled rubber utilization into products. Rubber devulcanization is a process in which scrap rubber or vulcanized waste product is converted, using mechanical, thermal, or chemical energy, into a state in which it can be mixed, processed, and vulcanized again. Devulcanization is a process that causes the breakup of the chemical network along with the breakup of the macromolecular chains. Numerous methods have been applied in an attempt to solve the problem and to find more effective ways of tire rubber recycling and waste rubber utilization. These methods include retreading, reclaiming, grinding, pulverization, microwave and ultrasonic processes, pyrolysis, and incineration. Processes for utilization of recycled rubber are also being developed, including the use of reclaimed rubber to manufacture rubber products and thermoplastic rubber blends.
Reply Brief of Appellant, Nicholson V. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis, No. Ed93009 (Mo. Ct. App. Jan. 8, 2010)

Reply Brief rejecting categorical First Amendment defense of defendant religious organization for sexual abuse.