cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Variable Lipoprotein Hemagglutinin A Gene ( vlhA ) Expression in Variant Mycoplasma gallisepticum Strains In Vivo .

Mycoplasma gallisepticum, the primary etiologic agent of chronic respiratory disease, is a significant poultry pathogen, causing severe inflammation and leading to economic losses worldwide. Immunodominant proteins encoded by the variable lipoprotein and hemagglutinin (vlhA) gene family are thought to be important for M. gallisepticum-host interaction, pathogenesis, and immune evasion, but their exact role remains unknown. Previous work has demonstrated that vlhA phase variation is dynamic throughout the earliest stages of infection, with vlhA 3.03 being the predominant vlhA expressed during the initial infection, and that the pattern of dominant vlhA expression may be nonrandom and regulated by previously unrecognized mechanisms. To further investigate this gene family, we assessed the vlhA profile of two well-characterized vaccine strains, GT5 and Mg7, a vlhA 3.03 mutant strain, and an M. gallisepticum population expressing an alternative immunodominant vlhA Here, we report that two M. gallisepticum vaccine strains show different vlhA profiles over the first 2 days of infection compared to that of wild-type Rlow, while the population expressing an alternative immunodominant vlhA gene reverted to a profile indistinguishable from that of wild-type Rlow Additionally, we observed a slight shift in the vlhA gene expression profile but no reduction in virulence in a vlhA 3.03 mutant. Taken together, these data further support the hypothesis that M. gallisepticum vlhA genes change in a nonstochastic temporal progression of expression and that vlhA 3.03, while preferred, is not required for virulence. Collectively, these data may be important in elucidating mechanisms of colonization and overall pathogenesis of M. gallisepticum.
Diabetes-attributable mortality in the United States from 2003 to 2016 using a multiple-cause-of-death approach.

Abstract Aims Deaths attributable to diabetes may be underestimated using an underlying cause of death (COD) approach in U.S. death records. This study sought to characterize the burden of diabetes deaths using a multiple-cause of death approach (underlying and contributing COD) and to identify temporal changes in co-reported causes of death among those with diabetes listed anywhere on their death records. Methods COD were identified using data from the National Center for Health Statistics from 2003 to 2016. We calculated age-adjusted mortality rates for diabetes as the underlying or contributing COD by race/ethnicity. We used ICD-10 codes to identify leading causes of death among those with and without diabetes on their death records. We compared temporal changes in deaths due to cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, cancer, and other causes. Results The study population included 34,313,964 decedents aged ≥25 from 2003 to 2016. Diabetes was listed as an underlying COD in approximately 3.0% (n = 1,031,000) and 6.7% (n = 2,295,510) of the death records, respectively. Decedents with diabetes listed as an underlying COD experienced a 16% decline in mortality, and the race/ethnicity-specific average annual percentage changes (AAPC) showed significant declining trends for most groups (AAPC ranged from 0.18 to −2.83%). Cardiovascular disease remained the leading underlying COD among diabetes-attributable deaths, although its proportion of deaths fell from 31 to 27% over time. Co-reported COD diversified, and were more likely to include hypertension and hypertensive renal disease among those with diabetes on their death records. Conclusions Our findings underscore the importance of using a multiple-cause-of-death approach for more completely characterizing diabetes’ contribution to mortality.
Abstract 284: Social Determinants of Health and 90 Day Mortality after Hospitalization for Heart Failure in the REasons for Geographic and Racial differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study

Background: Mortality after heart failure (HF) hospitalizations is high, with 15-20% of patients dying within 90 days. Prior studies have found that individual social determinants of health (SDOH) ...
Eversion and Retraction of a Soft Robot Towards the Exploration of Coral Reefs

Coral reefs are declining worldwide. Yet, critical information remains unknown about the basic biological, ecological, and chemical processes that sustain coral reefs because of the challenges to access their narrow crevices and passageways. A robot that grows through its environment would be well suited to this challenge as there is no relative motion between the exterior of the robot and its surroundings. In this work, we design and develop an eversion robot for operation underwater, show that existing models work for constrained passageways if external contacts are taken into account, and present a new model to describe the forces on the robot during retraction. We use ambient water to pressurize the robot and maintain a neutral buoyancy. The robot operates in open loop without any steering, but can rely on its compliance to conform to natural crevices and pathways in its environment. We demonstrate the mechanism of eversion and retraction for an underwater soft robot as a potential approach for future non-destructive exploration of coral reefs.
Effect of cyclin E overexpression on resistance to trastuzumab and phosphorylation of SMAD3 in HER2+ breast cancer.

e12006Background: Trastuzumab, an effective treatment for HER2+ breast cancer, can be limited by development of resistance. Cyclin E (CCNE) overexpression was implicated in trastuzumab resistance, ...
Tricuspid, Pulmonic, and Mixed Valve Disease

The studies of right-sided heart valve disease and of mixed valve disease have received less attention than those of pure left-sided valve disease; this is a consequence of fewer data and less interest in the right-sided valves and of even less data concerning mixed left-sided valve disease. However recognition that severe tricuspid and pulmonic regurgitation lead to increased morbidity and mortality has spurred increased study and development of newer interventions for those lesions. There is also renewed interest in the fate of mixed left-sided disease following transcatheter treatment of aortic valve disease. The aim of this chapter is to summarize recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of right-sided valve disease and mixed left-sided valve disease.
Do You Stand Out? Perceptions of Ability, Work Ethic, and Participation in College STEM Classes

Research has shown female students consistently under-rate their performance and ability in STEM classes relative to their male peers, and that the converse is true for male students (Grusnpan, Eddy, Brownell, Wiggins, Crowe & Goodreau, 2016). Our study examines the possible gender-differentiated experiences of students in college STEM courses. Participants included 192 U.S. undergraduate students (133 female, 59 male). Students completed an online survey which asked them to rate their experiences in their most recent college science, mathematics, and social science classes. Results showed that the grade students received in their most recent class was the variable most predictive of ability and work ethic perceptions, across disciplines. There were no gender differences in course grade or perceptions of ability in math and science classes, although women ranked themselves significantly higher than men did in terms of work ethic across all three subject areas. Individual motivation factors such as mastery orientation were not related to perceptions of ability in any field but did predict students’ perception of their work ethic. Finally, there were no effects of the gender composition of the course on students’ perceptions of classroom experiences across disciplines.
Survey on categorical data for neural networks

This survey investigates current techniques for representing qualitative data for use as input to neural networks. Techniques for using qualitative data in neural networks are well known. However, researchers continue to discover new variations or entirely new methods for working with categorical data in neural networks. Our primary contribution is to cover these representation techniques in a single work. Practitioners working with big data often have a need to encode categorical values in their datasets in order to leverage machine learning algorithms. Moreover, the size of data sets we consider as big data may cause one to reject some encoding techniques as impractical, due to their running time complexity. Neural networks take vectors of real numbers as inputs. One must use a technique to map qualitative values to numerical values before using them as input to a neural network. These techniques are known as embeddings, encodings, representations, or distributed representations. Another contribution this work makes is to provide references for the source code of various techniques, where we are able to verify the authenticity of the source code. We cover recent research in several domains where researchers use categorical data in neural networks. Some of these domains are natural language processing, fraud detection, and clinical document automation. This study provides a starting point for research in determining which techniques for preparing qualitative data for use with neural networks are best. It is our intention that the reader should use these implementations as a starting point to design experiments to evaluate various techniques for working with qualitative data in neural networks. The third contribution we make in this work is a new perspective on techniques for using categorical data in neural networks. We organize techniques for using categorical data in neural networks into three categories. We find three distinct patterns in techniques that identify a technique as determined, algorithmic, or automated. The fourth contribution we make is to identify several opportunities for future research. The form of the data that one uses as an input to a neural network is crucial for using neural networks effectively. This work is a tool for researchers to find the most effective technique for working with categorical data in neural networks, in big data settings. To the best of our knowledge this is the first in-depth look at techniques for working with categorical data in neural networks.
Renal Salvage with Renal Artery Stenting Improves Long-term Survival.

Background The Cardiovascular Outcomes in Renal Atherosclerotic Lesions (CORAL) Trial cast doubt on the benefits of renal artery stenting (RAS). However, the outcomes for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) were not analyzed separately in the CORAL Trial. We hypothesized that patients who experienced a significant improvement in renal function after RAS would have improved long-term survival, compared with patients whose renal function was not improved by stenting. Methods This single-center retrospective study included 60 patients with stage 3 or worse CKD and renal artery occlusive disease who were treated with RAS for renal salvage. Patients were categorized as “responders” or “nonresponders” based on postoperative changes in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) after RAS. “Responders” were those patients with an improvement of at least 20% in eGFR over baseline; all others were categorized as “nonresponders.” Survival was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to identify predictors of long-term survival. Results The median age of the cohort was 66 years (interquartile range [IQR], 60–73). Median preoperative eGFR was 34 mL/min/1.73 m2 (IQR, 24–45). At late follow-up (median 35 months, IQR, 22–97 months), 16 of 60 patients (26.7%) were categorized as “responders” with a median increase in postoperative eGFR of 40% (IQR, 21–67). Long-term survival was superior for responders, compared with nonresponders (P = 0.046 by log-rank test). Cox proportional hazards regression identified improved renal function after RAS as the only significant predictor of increased long-term survival (hazard ratio = 0.235, 95% confidence interval = 0.075–0.733; P = 0.0126 for improved versus worsened renal function after RAS). Conclusions Successful salvage of renal function by RAS is associated with improved long-term survival. These data provide an important counter argument to the prior negative clinical trials that found no benefit to RAS.
The effect of partial nephrectomy on blood pressure in patients with solitary kidney.

To determine the effect of partial nephrectomy (PN) in the solitary kidney on systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP and DBP, respectively), and use of antihypertensive medications. We performed a retrospective cohort study of solitary kidney patients who underwent PN for kidney cancer from 1999–2015. Primary outcomes evaluated were blood pressure (BP) and antihypertensive medication changes from baseline up to 5 years postoperatively. Using a multivariable mixed-effects model to account for repeated measurements, we evaluated the effect of PN on the outcome measurements while controlling for baseline patient, pathologic, and perioperative characteristics. 292 patients who underwent PN on solitary kidneys met inclusion criteria (median [range] age, 63 [24–84] years; 179 men [61%]). SBP decreased immediately postoperatively (− 1.7 mmHg [− 2.6, − 0.7], p < 0.001), and further decreased by 0.04 mmHg per year (p = 0.01) postoperatively, for a total change of − 1.9 [− 3.9, 0.2] mmHg at 5 years (p = 0.01). DBP decreased immediately postoperatively (− 2.2 mmHg [− 2.7, − 1.7], p < 0.001), and then rebounded by 0.37 mmHg per year (p = 0.003) postoperatively, for a total change of − 0.4 [− 1.5, 0.7] mmHg at 5 years (p = 0.003). Antihypertensive medication use increased at 5 years (0.35 more medications per patient, p < 0.001). Our results suggest a minimal change in BP after PN, although patients increased antihypertensive medication use. This data suggests damage to renal parenchyma or hilar nerves during PN did not significantly impact BP regulation in our cohort.
Hot electrons and radiative cooling: paths to a greener planet

Cleaner power generation technologies are needed to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and to reduce the negative effects of climate change, but will that be enough? In this talk, I will discuss our latest work on two fronts. First, I will discuss how to make more efficient photovoltaic devices and sensors through the extraction of thermally energetic carriers (e.g. hot carriers) before they relax. Second, I will discuss the potential of radiative cooling to modify the global energy flux to combat global warming.
Ridesharing vs. Taxis: Rethinking Regulations to Allow for Innovation

The advent of ridesharing platforms like Uber and Lyft has prompted regulators everywhere to rethink their approach to the vehicle-for-hire industry. Taxi companies and drivers have called for a level playing field where they can compete on equal footing with ridesharing drivers. The evidence suggests that the best means to provide parity lies in extensive taxi deregulation. In this policy brief, we provide a framework to help policymakers understand the harms of anticompetitive taxi regulations. We organize the discussion around regulations that act as barriers to entry, control prices, and mandate certain business practices. We briefly address the original rationale for taxi regulation—the belief that it was necessary to correct for ruinous competition or for market failures such as asymmetric information—and explain why this rationale is obsolete. We then discuss the unintended consequences of regulation, focusing on the tendency for regulations to benefit incumbent firms at the expense of consumers and would-be competitors. We conclude with a roadmap for regulatory reform that includes specific steps for reform as well as guiding principles for sound regulation.
A Unique Case of COVID Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, and Silicosis

A 72-year-old man presented to our emergency room for evaluation of fevers, chills, and myalgias for twelve weeks. He also reported a history of chronic productive cough and chest tightness. Two weeks prior to presentation, he was working at the local international airport in March of 2020 when he noticed increasing dyspnea with exertion whilst performing routine tasks at his job. At the time of our interview, he denied sick contacts and no known history of tuberculosis exposure. He also reported a remote history of working as a stone cutter in concrete mines in Honduras. A chest x-ray was performed and demonstrated bilateral mass-like upper lobe opacities that were present on imaging two years prior. Computed tomography of the chest (figure 1) revealed volume loss and mass-like perihilar upper lobe predominant opacities with fibro-retractile architectural distortion, peribronchovascular and centrilobular nodules, and scattered areas of patchy ground-glass opacification with bibasilar predominance. His fibrotic changes were thought to be consistent with silicosis with progressive massive fibrosis secondary to prior inorganic dust inhalation. A superimposed process underpinning his acute presentation was suspected given the findings of patchy ground-glass opacities. A SARS-CoV-2 PCR test was obtained and was positive. Given several months of symptoms preceding this acute presentation, a third process was suspected, especially in light of his immigration history and centrilobular nodular pattern on imaging. An interferon gamma release assay for tuberculosis, mycobacterium tuberculosis PCR and mycobacterial cultures from expectorated sputum were obtained, all with positive results. He was discharged with a standard regimen of Rifampin, Isoniazid, Pyrazinamide, and Ethambutol with follow-up with the health department at which point he had recovered from his acute illness. He did remarkably well in regards to his COVID-19 diagnosis. He did not receive any COVID specific therapies given his active diagnosis of TB and was discharged home on room air. Silicosis is a well-known predisposing factor to development of tuberculosis, thought to arise from silica particulate macrophage dysfunction. A combination of immune dysfunction related to silicosis and occupational exposure likely led to development of viral pneumonia in this patient. His occupation at a large international airport in March 2020 prior to the institution of quarantine and travel restrictions uniquely put him at risk for both TB and COVID-19 pneumonia, which is nicely demonstrated with these classic CT findings.
Earth’s core could be the largest terrestrial carbon reservoir

Evaluating carbon’s candidacy as a light element in the Earth’s core is critical to constrain the budget and planet-scale distribution of this life-essential element. Here we use first principles molecular dynamics simulations to estimate the density and compressional wave velocity of liquid iron-carbon alloys with ~4-9 wt.% carbon at 0-360 gigapascals and 4000-7000 kelvin. We find that for an iron-carbon binary system, ~1-4 wt.% carbon can explain seismological compressional wave velocities. However, this is incompatible with the ~5-7 wt.% carbon that we find is required to explain the core’s density deficit. When we consider a ternary system including iron, carbon and another light element combined with additional constraints from iron meteorites and the density discontinuity at the inner-core boundary, we find that a carbon content of the outer core of 0.3-2.0 wt.%, is able to satisfy both properties. This could make the outer core the largest reservoir of terrestrial carbon. A carbon content in Earth’s outer core between 0.3 and 2.0 % by weight, along with at least two other light elements, is compatible with observational constraints, according to molecular dynamics simulations, and could make the core Earth’s largest carbon reservoir.
Meaning in Science and Mathematics

Philosophers working in the logical empiricist tradition, such as Rudolf Carnap and Carl Hempel, have held that theoretical terms get their meanings from their connections with observational terms in the postulates of scientific theories. They have tried to explain exactly how this happens, in the sense of giving a logical reconstruction of it. For various reasons, to be discussed below, the belief arose that it is impossible in general to give explicit definitions of theoretical terms. Attention thus shifted to showing how correspondence rules relating theoretical and observational terms give ‘partial interpretations’ to the theoretical terms.
An Intelligent Agent-Based Framework for Information Security Management

Many organizations have introduced an Information Security Management System (ISMS) to improve their security information management. Contemporary management of information security involves various approaches, ranging from technology to organizational issues. According to international standard ISO/IEC 27001:2005, this paper presents an attempt to apply agent-based modeling to establish an information security management framework where machine learning technologies are incorporated. Within the framework, five types of agents are modeled in details. To foster the practical use of the framework in this paper, some critical issues are discussed.
The random camera, the coded aperture camera, and other cameras

I'll describe two cameras and a comparison of many cameras. In the random camera, we use a "lens" which creates a pseudo-random relationship between incoming light rays and resulting sensor locations. We studied various properties (both good and bad) of the resulting camera and have built a prototype. The coded aperture camera is a conventional SLR camera but with a coded pattern of holes in the aperture. This gives a depthdependent blur which is both easy to identify and easy to deblur, allowing us to estimate, from the captured image, both an all-focus image and (roughly) the depth everywhere. Finally, we analyze cameras as linear projections of the 4-d lightfield and develop a Bayesian framework to study how well any given camera can recover the incident lightfield from its data. This gives a common framework in which to compare the performance of ordinary lenses, stereo cameras, random cameras, lenticular arrays, pinhole cameras, coded aperture cameras, etc.Joint work with Fredo Durand, Rob Fergus, Anat Levin, and Antonio Torralba.
The pH of carious cavities-II. The pH at different depths in isolated cavities.

Abstract Using a micro-antimony electrode, the pH of a number of cavities, classified into three types according to decay thickness and clinical opening size, was measured both before and after excavation, and isolation from the neutralizing effects of saliva. On excavation, the pH of the bottom layers in cavities, regardless of type, were always lower than the pH of the corresponding surface layers. The pH values of the top and bottom layers in cavities with small clinical openings and thick layers of decay, were lower than in cavities with thin layers and large clinical openings. In most instances, the isolation of cavities from saliva decreased the pH, indicating a possible diffusion of acids from within the depths of the decayed material.
FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH A HISTORY OF FIREARM INJURIES IN JUVENILES DRUG TRAFFICKERS AND VIOLENT JUVENILE OFFENDERS

Firearm injures have reached epidemic proportions within both Juvenile and adult correctional populations Relatively little is known. However , About the Individual and community factors associated with an increased risk violence in offender populations Understanding these correlates of Violent Victimization would represent the First step in the Identification of putative risk factors: permitting the development of mean1nglul and effect1ve Prevention programs the primary objective of the present study was to develop a model of individual and Community factors associated with firearm Injury prevalence in a sample of incarcerated juvenile drug traffickers (n = 217). And violent juvenile offenders (n = 239 ) The results indicated that the pattern of offending. Drug selling or violence . Was important in determining the particular factors assoc1ated w1th firearm injures in juvenile? Offenders . The results were consistent w1th the hypothesis that Juvenile drug traffickers may have been Injured As a result of a generalmabil1ty to lunction effectively within the drug trafficking arena. or adequately Judge Dangerous situations . including situations where they were at increased risk for robbery or other violent victimizat i on The profile that emerged fort he injured via l ent offenders suggested that they may have prec 1 p 1 tated a violent attack through an aggressive i nteractional style . or the predatory nature olther offending . A preliminary review olcommun1ty vandals Indicated that the firearm I n jury prevalence for the two different offender groups varied across locality , again suggesting that community or environmenta l factors may interact w1th offend1ng in defining the overall risk for Injury.
Adjoints and the image of the ball

A bounded operator between Hilbert spaces has an adjoint if and only if the image of the unit ball is located.
Jackhammer Chisel Noise Control

A robust chisel damper for quieting a jackhammer is presented. The noise produced from a jackhammer chisel is dominated by the ringing of the chisel moil resulting from impacts of the internal hammer against the end of the chisel producing airborne radiation of the transverse bending and longitudinal modes. A model steel chisel moil point was constructed with geometric properties similar to a jackhammer chisel and designed so as to not fail during severe acceleration impacts from the reciprocating hammer. Anechoic tests of the maximum overall unweighted sound pressure level for the undamped chisel due to a longitudinal impact was 86.8 dB linear (re. to 20 μ Pa) at 1 meter with the strongest ring tone at 1.37 kHz and harmonics; the overall sound pressure level for the damped chisel with identical axial impacts was reduced by 16.5 dB to 70.3 dB with severe reduction of 40 dB of the dominant chisel ring tone, and the harmonics.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Future Dairy Farm Employment - An Application of the Human Capability Framework

Dairy InSight research project, no. 10015/2003 sought to establish the future employment needs of the industry from a study of the future dairy farm labour market; to estimate future labour required and available; and to provide a full discussion of factors affecting those estimates. The report on which this paper is based was intended to provide a foundation document for any future studies of work and employment in dairy farming. The research strategy adopted was to use the Human Capability Framework (HCF) to analyse the future dairy farm labour market. The use of the HCF to analyse the future dairy farm employment situation was implemented by a systematic consideration of each of the elements influencing the supply side (Capacity) of the dairy farm labour market, the demand side (Opportunity), and the bringing of those both together (Matching), comprising the three main components of the HCF. Statistical resources were reviewed and found distinctly wanting. Other documentary sources were considered, expert opinions canvassed, and key sites and parties visited, to facilitate the industry wide analysis. All components of the analysis, together with practical recommendations, were put together in a single report, which ·was submitted to Dairy InSight, the industry good funder for the dairy industry. They are summarised in this paper.
Single layer feedforward neural network based on lattice algebra

The development of an artificial neural network in the attempt to model biological brain networks usually emphasizes the role of the neuron as the main processing element. However, recent advances in neurobiology and the biophysics of neural computation have led many researchers to the conclusion that dendrites and their associated spines are equally important. More precisely, they view dendritic structures as the primary basic computational units of the neuron. A neural model that incorporates dendrites; is therefore more faithful to its biophysical counterpart. Based on these biological neural models, we develop a new paradigm of single layer feedforward neural network that includes dendritic processes. A single layer is not a limitation to the capabilities of the model. Dendritic structures function as many functional subunits, each unit being capable of realizing logical operations. The computational framework for processes performed in neurons with dendrites is based on lattice algebra. After describing the proposed model, we demonstrate its computational capabilities by means of three illustrative examples and two theorems.
Über die Trisulfoxyarsensäure

1. Bei der Einwirkung eines grossen Uberschusses von Magnesiumoxyd auf in Wasser suspendiertes, frisch gefalltes Arsenpentasulfid lost sich das Sulfid auf, und zwar unter Bildung von Sulfarsenat, Monosulfoxyarsenat und Trisulfoxyarsenat. Wahrscheinlich wird auch Disulfoxyarsenat in kleiner Menge gebildet, aber das Hauptprodukt der Reaktion ist Trisulfoxyarsenat. Durch Uberfuhrung der Magnesiumsalze in die entsprechenden Natriumverbindungen lasst sich das weisse, kristallinische, tertiare Natriumtrisulfoxyarsenat leicht mittels Alkohols gewinnen. Dieses Salz hat die Formel Na3AsOS3 + 11 H2O. Es ist im Lichte und bei gewohnlicher Temperatur unbestandig. Die Spaltungsprodukte sind dem Anschein nach Sulfarsenat und Disulfoxyarsenat. Im dicht verschlossenen Rohrchen und im Eisschrank aufbewahrt, bleibt es wochenlang intakt.
Beamlet Transform‐Based Technique for Pavement Crack Detection and Classification

: This article presents a Beamlet transform-based approach to automatically detect and classify pavement cracks in digital images. The proposed method uses a pavement distress image enhancement algorithm to correct the nonuniform background illumination by calculating the multiplicative factors that eliminate the background lighting variation. To extract linear features such as surface cracks from the pavement images, the image is partitioned into small windows and a Beamlet transform-based algorithm is applied. The crack segments are then linked together and classified into four types: vertical, horizontal, transversal, and block. Simulation results show that the method is effective and robust in the extraction of cracks on a variety of pavement images.
A simple technique for making Diazochrome slides as teaching aids

Summary Color pictorial slides are important for the learning process. They present a method which allows easy recognition of the subject without any effort to understand and appreciate it. However, the main purpose of this article is to describe a technique for the production of Diazochrome film for titles, charts, graphs, and diagrams. These slides are easy to produce, inexpensive, and time saving.
On sequential minimax

Abstract Under certain conditions, it is shown in this paper that a minimax sequential solution for a decision problem is a fixed sample size solution. This investigation is initiated by and applied to a specific problem, namely, the search for a maximum of a unimodal function. For this problem an ϵ-minimax sequential solution for a fixed sample size has already been given by J. Kiefer [1].
A State Agency–University Partnership for Translational Research and the Dissemination of Evidence-Based Prevention and Intervention

This article describes a decade-long partnership between the Prevention Research Center at Penn State and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. This partnership has evolved into a multi-agency initiative supporting the implementation of nearly 200 replications of evidence-based prevention and intervention programs, and a series of studies indicating a significant and sustained impact on youth outcomes and more efficient utilization of system resources. We describe how the collaboration has developed into a sophisticated prevention support infrastructure, discuss the partnership and policy lessons learned throughout this journey, and identify remaining issues in promoting this type of research-policy partnership.
Phase Shifter and Power Flow Control

In this paper a practical model of phase shifter has been described. By using this model a symmetrical Y-bus matrix can be preserved in the load flow calculation. On this basis a simplified real power flow control algorithm by phase shifter is described. This model has also been used to solve the problems of overloads in contingency analysis and minimizing line losses in transmission systems.
Star Power: An Experiential Learning Exercise to Foster Ecological Perspectives on Power, Privilege, and Oppression

The purpose of this article is to describe the utility of Star Power as an experiential learning exercise applied in a community psychology undergraduate course. This exercise simulates systems of power, privilege, and oppression while fostering an ecological perspective that raises students’ awareness and knowledge about power differentials within society. The simulation of trading and lawmaking works best with 18 to 35 students and takes approximately 80 minutes to conduct. This article highlights three representative student perspectives concerning their participation and experience with Star Power. Strategies for facilitating class discussion are also reported.
Elevated maternal urine level of β-core fragment of human chorionic gonadotropin versus serum triple test in the second-trimester detection of Down syndrome

Abstract Objective: This study was undertaken to compare the Down syndrome screening efficiency of elevated maternal urine level of the β-core fragment of human chorionic gonadotropin with that of the traditional serum triple test. Study Design: Urinary β-core fragment and serum analyte levels were measured prospectively in women with singleton pregnancies who were undergoing second-trimester genetic amniocentesis. Urinary analyte levels were measured within a week of specimen collection. In some cases only α-fetoprotein was measured initially and human chorionic gonadotropin and unconjugated estriol levels were subsequently determined from the stored serum specimens. The Down syndrome screening efficiency of urinary concentration of β-core fragment plus maternal age was compared with that of the traditional triple test. Receiver operating characteristic curves were generated for each algorithm and the areas under the curves were compared to determine which algorithm was superior. Results: There were a total of 926 study patients, of whom 21 (2.3%) carried fetuses with Down syndrome. The mean (±SD) gestations at amniocentesis were 16.6 ± 1.5 weeks for the fetuses without Down syndrome and 17.7 ± 2.3 for the fetuses with Down syndrome. A total of 539 women (4 of whom carried fetuses with Down syndrome) had serum α-fetoprotein alone measured initially. Urinary concentration of β-core fragment had a 61.9% detection rate with a 4.9% false-positive rate for Down syndrome, whereas the values for the triple screen were 57.1% and 11.2%, respectively. The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves were 0.8744 for elevated urinary β-core fragment level and 0.7504 for the triple screen ( P = .1116). When the false-positive rate was fixed at an ideal threshold value (≤5%) the urine test was superior (area under the curve, 0.0212 vs 0.0133, P P = .012). Conclusion: In this first reported direct comparison we consistently observed higher sensitivity values for screening with urinary levels of β-core fragment than for serum triple screen, suggesting an equivalent or superior Down syndrome screening performance for the urinary analyte. It is important that freezing and prolonged urine storage before testing be avoided. The reduced cost (single- versus triple-analyte testing) and excellent screening performance support large-scale testing and evaluation of maternal urinary β-core fragment measurement as an alternative to the traditional serum triple test. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 1999;181:929-33.)
Chromatographically different type II collagens from human normal and osteoarthritic cartilage.

Abstract The genetic type of collagen was examined in both fresh and 2 to 4 month in vitro cultured human normal and osteoarthritic articular cartilage. Disc electrophoresis indicated that all cartilage samples examined contained only type II collagen, however CM cellulose chromatography revealed chromatographic differences between the normal and pathological tissues.
Constraints on the bulk standard model in the Randall-Sundrum scenario

We derive constraints on the Randall-Sundrum scenario with the standard model fields in the bulk. These result from tree level effects associated with the deformation of the zero mode wave functions of the W and the Z once electroweak symmetry is broken. Recently Cs\'aki, Erlich and Terning pointed out that this implies large contributions to electroweak oblique parameters. Here we find that when fermions are allowed in the bulk the couplings of the W and the Z to zero-mode fermions are also affected. We perform a fit to electroweak observables, assuming universal bulk fermion masses and including all effects, and find constraints that are considerably stronger than for the case with fermions localized in the low energy boundary. These put the lowest Kaluza-Klein excitation out of reach of the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We then relax the universality assumption and study the effects of flavor violation in the bulk and its possible signatures.
Spectral dependence of deep-space communications capability

A simple model of communications capability projected for the mid-1970s is formulated. The spectral dependence of the future state of the art is examined in terms of antennas, noise, diffraction effects, etc. The model suggests that the frequency spectrum in the vicinity of 1010 Hz would allow maximum information transfer and that radio-frequency techniques may be superior to the laser.
Critical considerations in teh development of an assay for sulfidopeptide leukotrienes in plasma

Abstract A sensitive and specific assay has been developed for measurement of total sulfidopeptide leukotriense (LT) in plasma. LTC4 and LTD4 in plasma are converted to LTE4 which is then extracted by C18 Sep-Pak binding and elution. Total LTE4 in resolved by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and quantitated by radioimmunoassay (RIA). A [3H]LTE4 internal standard is added to the starting plasma sample to allow RP-HPLC to be assayed for LTE4-like immunoreactivity. The correlation between the measured increase in LTE4 concentration after addition of incremental amounts of LTC4 and LTE4 to plasma was 0.989 and 0.978, respectively, with slopes of 1.05 and 1.11. Addition of 51 pg/ml LTE4 to 5 ml plasma was detectable; the measured increase was 48 ± 12 pg/ml (mean ± SE, n = 7). The intra-assay coefficient of variation for 341 pg/ml of added LTC4 was 3.2% (n = 6). Sulfidopeptide leukotrienes could not be detected in blood samples taken from 12 normal volunteers in whom the theoretical detection limit, calculated from the sensitivity of the RIA, the overall recovery of LTE4, and the volume of plasma extracted, was 83 ± 4 pg LTE4/ml plasma (0.19 ± 0.01 pmol sulfidopeptide leukotriene/ml plasma; mean ± SE).
Development of a Crohn's index for survey research

Current Crohn's disease activity indices are not suitable for survey research because they rely on information from the laboratory or physical examination. We used data from a multicenter controlled trial of adjuvant sulfasalazine to develop an index of Crohn's disease activity based on information which could be obtained exclusively by interview. The study population consisted of 89 actively symptomatic patients seen on 1082 occasions in eight medical centers. Multiple regression analyses identified three variables which predicted the ratings of physicians: stool frequency, abdominal pain and sense of well-being. The new index correlated very well (r = 0.87, p < 0.001) with the Crohn's Disease Activity Index from which it was derived. The index may be used in epidemiologic studies to accurately place patients into quartiles of disease severity which correspond to similar quartiles of the CDAI.
Strained Si/Ge superlattices: Structural stability, growth, and electronic properties

We present detailed results of self-consistent-field pseudopotential calculations for the stability, structural phase transitions, growth, and the electronic properties of strained Si/Ge semiconductor superlattices and alloys. The metastable structure of (Si${)}_{n}$/(Ge${)}_{n}$ (n\ensuremath{\le}6) superlattices pseudomorphically restricted to the Si(001) surface are determined through total energy minimization and inter- atomic force calculations, and their formation energies are calculated. A simple model for the formation energy of superlattices is developed, whereby the energy of the activation barrier to form a misfit dislocation is estimated. A neostructural phase transition in the strained Si-Ge alloy is studied, and the order of instability for various possible structures is given. It is found that during growth the atoms of the topmost grown layer are dimerized, resulting in a possible short-range order in the alloy. The energy gap of all (Si${)}_{n}$/(Ge${)}_{n}$ superlattices is found to be indirect. A more significant finding, however, is that the energy separation between the direct and indirect gap continues to decrease with increasing n, and is only 0.07 eV for n=6. Conduction-band states of an extended nature located below the confined states point to a new feature of the band offset and quantum-size effect. Localized states lying deep in the valence- and conduction-band continua are another novel result of this study.
Combined vascular-bronchoalveolar casting using formalin-fixed canine lungs and a low viscosity silicone rubber.

Background: Previous work using unfixed or fixed tissues has shown that casts can be made that demonstrate the three-dimensional structure of tissues such as the bronchoalveolar tree or the vasculature. In this report, a new method for creating a vascular-bronchoalveolar cast is described. Method: Canine lungs were taken from storage in formalin. Silastic 734 RTV (room temperature vulcanizing) with added red or blue pigments was injected into the pulmonary arteries and veins, respectively, using compressed air. This was followed by filling the airway with clear (translucent) Silastic 734 RTV. The lung tissue was then corroded with potassium hydroxide. Results: Vascular-bronchoalveolar casts were recovered giving fine detail as shown using stereo light microscopy or scanning electron microscopy. Conclusions: This method may be useful for not only microvascular anatomy studies of lungs, but also for studying the microvasculature of other normal and diseased tissues. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
A hybrid nano/CMOS dynamically reconfigurable system—Part I: Architecture

Rapid progress on nanodevices points to a promising direction for future circuit design. However, since nanofabrication techniques are not yet mature, implementation of nanocircuits, at least on a large scale, in the near future is infeasible. To ease fabrication and overcome the problem of high defect levels in nanotechnology, hybrid nano/CMOS reconfigurable architectures are attractive choices. Moreover, if the current photolithography fabrication process can be used to manufacture the hybrid chips, the benefits of nanotechnologies can be realized today.Traditional reconfigurable architectures can only support partial or coarse-grain runtime reconfiguration due to their limited on-chip storage and long off-chip reconfiguration latency. Recent progress on nano Random Access Memories (RAMs), such as carbon nanotube-based RAM (NRAM), Phase-Change Memory (PCM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), etc., provides us with a chance to realize on-chip fine-grain runtime reconfiguration. These nano RAMs have good compatibility with the current fabrication process. By utilizing them in the hybrid design, we can take advantage of both CMOS and nanotechnology, and greatly improve the logic density, resource utilization, and performance of our design.In this article, we propose a high-performance reconfigurable architecture, called NATURE, that utilizes CMOS logic and nano RAMs. An automatic design flow for NATURE is presented in Part II of the article. In NATURE, the highly dense nonvolatile nano RAMs are distributed throughout the chip to allow large embedded on-chip configuration storage, which enables fast reading and hence supports fine-grain runtime reconfiguration and temporal logic folding of a circuit before being mapped to the architecture. Temporal logic folding can significantly increase the logic density of NATURE (by over an order of magnitude for large circuits) while remaining competitive in performance and power consumption. For ease of exposition, we use NRAMs to illustrate various concepts in this article due to the excellent properties of NRAMs. However, other nano RAMs can also be used instead. Experimental results based on NRAMs establish the efficacy of NATURE.
Mars ultraviolet simulation facility

A facility was established for long-duration ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure of natural and synthetic materials in order to test hypotheses concerning Martian soil chemistry observed by the Viking Mars landers. The system utilized a 2500 watt xenon lamp as the radiation source, with the beam passing through a heat-dissipating water filter before impinging upon an exposure chamber containing the samples to be irradiated. The chamber was designed to allow for continuous tumbling of the samples, maintenance of temperatures below 0° during exposure, and monitoring of beam intensity. The facility also provided for sample preparation under a variety of atmospheric conditions, in addition to the Mars nominal. As many as 33 sealed sample ampules have been irradiated in a single exposure. Over 100 samples have been irradiated for approximately 100 to 700 h. The facility has performed well in providing continuous UV irradiation of multiple samples for long periods of time under simulated Mars atmospheric and thermal conditions.
Integral equation methods (MOM) in numerical modeling

The article consists of a Powerpoint presentation on integral equation methods. The areas discussed include: integral equation method; method of moments; Maxwell's equation; Green's function; scattering formulation; dipole antenna and matrix equation.
Incidence of spinal deformity after resection of intramedullary spinal cord tumors in children who underwent laminectomy compared with laminoplasty

Object Gross-total resection of pediatric intramedullary spinal cord tumor (IMSCT) can be achieved in the majority of cases while preserving long-term neurological function. Nevertheless, postoperative progressive spinal deformity often complicates functional outcome years after surgery. The authors set out to determine whether laminoplasty in comparison with laminectomy has reduced the incidence of subsequent spinal deformity requiring fusion after IMSCT resection at their institution. Methods The first 144 consecutive patients undergoing resection of IMSCTs at a single institution underwent laminectomy with preservation of facet joints. The next 20 consecutive patients presenting for resection of IMSCTs underwent osteoplastic laminotomy regardless of patient or tumor characteristics. All patients were followed up with telephone interviews corroborated by medical records for the following outcomes: 1) neurological and functional status (modified McCormick Scale [MMS] score and Karnofsky Performance Scale...