cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Domestic Spaces as Public Places: An Ethnoarchaeological Case Study of Houses, Gender, and Politics in the Ecuadorian Amazon

In an ethnoarchaeological case study, we take a gendered perspective on the house as a locus of political life in Conambo, a village of about 200 Achuar- and Quichua-speaking peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In this small-scale society, women and men engage actively in political practice in independent yet complementary ways, and the domestic context is a place where political life is conducted on a daily basis. In this article, the house is examined as a politicized context at three scales of materiality: the organization of settlement in the community, the spatial relationships in the house, and the scale of painted designs on pottery bowls used in the house. At each scale, we identify material correlates of women's and men's participation. Our goal is to bring attention to potential archaeological correlates of women's political involvement in past societies, to question assumptions about women's political lives and domestic spaces, and to expand the ways in which anthropological archaeology may contribute to understanding cross-cultural variation in women's and men's domains of power.
Mass spectrometry tools and workflows for revealing microbial chemistry

Since the time Van Leeuwenhoek was able to observe microbes through a microscope, an innovation that led to the birth of the field of microbiology, we have aimed to understand how microorganisms function, interact and communicate. The exciting progress in the development of analytical technologies and workflows has demonstrated that mass spectrometry is a very powerful technique for the interrogation of microbiology at the molecular level. In this review, we aim to highlight the available and emerging tools in mass spectrometry for microbial analysis by overviewing the methods and workflow advances for taxonomic identification, microbial interaction, dereplication and drug discovery. We emphasize their potential for future development and point out unsolved problems and future directions that would aid in the analysis of the chemistry produced by microbes.
Ethical responsibilities of nanotechnology researchers: A short guide

Little if any of the scholarly literature on nanotechnology (NT) and ethics is directed at NT researchers. Many of these practitioners believe that having clear ethical guidelines for the conduct of NT research is necessary. This work attempts to provide such guidelines. While no qualitatively new ethical issues unique to NT have yet been identified, the ethical responsibilities identified below merit serious attention by NT researchers. Thirteen specific ethical responsibilities arising at three levels are identified. They are derived by applying four fundamental ethical responsibilities of scientists and engineers to the specific conditions of NT research and researchers in contemporary Western societies. Since society is placing increasing importance on producing scientists and engineers who combine high technical competence with a sensitive ethical compass, study of the ethical dimension of NT, including the identified ethical responsibilities, should become a required element of the formal education of all NT researchers.
Asymptotic Confidence Bands for Generalized Nonlinear Regression Models

Asymptotic confidence bands for generalized nonlinear regression models are developed. These are based on a combination of the S method of Scheffe, together with the delta method which is used to approximate the mean function by a linear combination of the parameters. The approach can be used in any situation where large sample theory can be applied to yield asymptotically normal estimates of the parameters, together with a consistent estimate of the large sample covariance matrix. Alternative formulations for various special cases allow the use of restricted range bands. A number of examples are given, including a pharmacokinetic model, a logit model with a background response rate, and a parametric survival model.
Nonpalpable Leydig's Cell Tumors Diagnosed by Fine Needle Aspiration

Leydig's cell tumor of the testicle is rare, constituting 1 to 2% of all testicular tumors. They are commonly detected as palpable masses but can present with precocious puberty, gynecomastia or infertility. The tumor is usually diagnosed by and definitively treated with orchiectomy. We present a case of nonpalpable, bilateral Leydig's cell tumor presenting as infertility, diagnosed by fine needle aspiration and managed conservatively with serial imaging to allow for paternity. CASE REPORT A 29-year-old man presented with a 1.5-year history of primary infertility. Physical examination was difficult due to a small, thick scrotum but revealed asymmetric fullness in the left spermatic cord and left testicular atrophy. Several semen analyses demonstrated severe oligo-asthenospermia (less than 1 x 106 motile sperm). Scrotal ultrasound revealed no varicocele. However, a 5 X 5 X 6 mm., intraparenchymal hypoechoic lesion was noted in the right testicle. Serum luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, a-fetoprotein, lactate dehydrogenase, p-human chorionic gonadotropin and total testosterone were normal. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging revealed that the lesion had low signal intensity consistent with scar tissue. The mass was managed with close observation and serial ultrasound, and the infertility was treated with empiric clomiphene citrate. The patient was advised to bank sperm. Scrotal ultrasound, serum a-fetoprotein and &human chorionic gonadotropin 2 months later were unchanged. Ultrasound at 4 months revealed that the right testicular lesion had increased in size to 9 x 9 X 8 mm. (fig. 1). In addition, a new, ill-defined, 8 x 8 x 7 mm., slightly hypoechoic lesion was noted in the left testicle. Given the improbability that the lesion was fibrotic, a tissue diagnosis was recommended. Fine needle aspiration of both testis lesions was performed with local anesthesia and ultrasound guidance. Through a 23
Laser/structure interaction - A comparison of theory to experiment

A comprehensive experimental program has been develooed t o studv the t r a n s i e n t resoonse o f ~~ a v i s c o p l a i t i c p l a t e subjected t o +id heat i npu t . The experiments consis ted o f i r r a d i a t i n g a clamped p l a t e of Haste l loy X w i t h a h igh energy 15 KW C.W. CO? l ase r , w i t h displacement and temperature s e h i n g as measured data. A t h e o r e t i c a l model i s a l s o beins develooed f o r comparison t o the experimentalresul ts ' . The model assumes one-way thermomechanical coupling; t h a t i s , i t i s assumed t h a t t he temperature f i e l d i s independent o f deformation bu t no t v i ce versa. The thermal ana lys i s i s nonl inear v i a r a d i a t i o n boundary cond i t i ons and temperature dependent thermal c o n d u c t i v i t i e s . The s t r u c t u r a l ana lys i s i nc ludes geometric n o n l i n e a r i t y and m a t e r i a l v i s c o p l a s t i c i t y . The experimental procedure and an abbreviated development o f t he model a re described i n t h i s paper.
Options to Conventional Public Housing Management

Interest in options to conventional public housing management is growing. This article reviews five management options: resident participation, resident management, community development corporatio...
Perceptual mislocalization of bouncing balls by professional tennis referees

Summary The perceived position of a moving object depends on the object's motion and the motion of other objects in the scene [1]. Here, we report a real-world example of how this causes a perceptual error for professional tennis referees, which players could exploit to their advantage.
Extreme-ultraviolet phase-shifting point-diffraction interferometer: a wave-front metrology tool with subangstrom reference-wave accuracy

The phase-shifting point-diffraction interferometer (PS/PDI) was recently developed and implemented at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to characterize extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) projection optical systems for lithography. Here we quantitatively characterize the accuracy and precision of the PS/PDI. Experimental measurements are compared with theoretical results. Two major classes of errors affect the accuracy of the interferometer: systematic effects arising from measurement geometry and systematic and random errors due to an imperfect reference wave. To characterize these effects, and hence to calibrate the interferometer, a null test is used. This null test also serves as a measure of the accuracy of the interferometer. We show the EUV PS/PDI, as currently implemented, to have a systematic error-limited reference-wave accuracy of 0.0028 waves (lambda/357 or 0.038 nm at lambda = 13.5 nm) within a numerical aperture of 0.082.
Developmental changes in the enzymatic capacity for reduction and oxidation of alpha-ketoadipate in rat liver, heart, kidney, and brain.

Developmental Changes in the Enzymatic Capacity for Reduction and Oxidation of α-Ketoadipate in Rat Liver, Heart, Kidney, and Brain
Reactive oxygen species hydrogen peroxide mediates Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus reactivation from latency.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) establishes a latent infection in the host following an acute infection. Reactivation from latency contributes to the development of KSHV-induced malignancies, which include Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), the most common cancer in untreated AIDS patients, primary effusion lymphoma and multicentric Castleman's disease. However, the physiological cues that trigger KSHV reactivation remain unclear. Here, we show that the reactive oxygen species (ROS) hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induces KSHV reactivation from latency through both autocrine and paracrine signaling. Furthermore, KSHV spontaneous lytic replication, and KSHV reactivation from latency induced by oxidative stress, hypoxia, and proinflammatory and proangiogenic cytokines are mediated by H2O2. Mechanistically, H2O2 induction of KSHV reactivation depends on the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 pathways. Significantly, H2O2 scavengers N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), catalase and glutathione inhibit KSHV lytic replication in culture. In a mouse model of KSHV-induced lymphoma, NAC effectively inhibits KSHV lytic replication and significantly prolongs the lifespan of the mice. These results directly relate KSHV reactivation to oxidative stress and inflammation, which are physiological hallmarks of KS patients. The discovery of this novel mechanism of KSHV reactivation indicates that antioxidants and anti-inflammation drugs could be promising preventive and therapeutic agents for effectively targeting KSHV replication and KSHV-related malignancies.
VACCINIA VIRUS DNA LIGASE : SPECIFICITY, FIDELITY, AND INHIBITION

Vaccinia DNA ligase and mammalian DNA ligases II and III comprise a distinct subgroup of structurally homologous enzymes within the eukaryotic DNA ligase family. The specificity and fidelity of the viral enzyme were investigated using purified recombinant ligase and synthetic duplex DNA substrates containing a single strand discontinuity. Vaccinia ligase catalyzed efficient strand joining on nicked DNAs in the presence of magnesium and ATP (Km = 95 microM). dATP, ITP, AMPPCP, 3'dATP, and ATP alpha S could not substitute for ATP; of these, 3'dATP and ATP alpha S were inhibitors of ligation. The vaccinia enzyme was unable to seal strands across a 1 nt (nucleotide) or 2 nt gap. Ligase action at a 1 nt gap resulted in accumulation of high levels of the normally undetectable DNA-adenylate reaction intermediate. In contrast, no DNA-adenylate was formed at a 2 nt gap. A native gel mobility shift assay showed that vaccinia DNA ligase was capable of discriminating between nicked and gapped DNAs at the substrate binding step. The ligase was fairly tolerant of mismatches at a nick involving the 5' phosphate donor terminus but was inhibited strongly by mismatches at the 3' OH acceptor terminus, especially by purine.-purine mispairs. These findings underscore the importance of a proper 3' OH terminus in substrate recognition and reaction chemistry but also raise the possibility that ligase may generate mutations during DNA repair by sealing DNA molecules with mispaired ends. Ligase was inhibited by several DNA binding drugs, including, in order of decreasing potency, distamycin, ethidium bromide, and actinomycin. Strand joining by purified ligase was not affected by etoposide, a drug that inhibits vaccinia virus replication in vivo and which depends on the presence of vaccinia ligase for its antiviral action.
ByPass: towards an unified transport protocol for the internet

Due to the limitations in the performance of the transmission control protocol (TCP) over wireless networks, multiple variants and alternatives have been proposed and evaluated. In most cases, these protocols are designed for specific type of networks and they perform well in their best case, for example, HOP performs well in mesh networks but would incur unnecessary overhead in wired networks . For supporting these different protocols across the Internet, all hosts need to have implementation of multiple transport protocols running. The application layer can then ask for a specific transport protocol as required. Since the transport layer is typically built in the operating system of most static and mobile communication end points, most protocols cannot be supported on legacy networks. This paper proposes ByPass, a transport layer protocol which alleviates the need for implementing different transport protocols. We present ByPass as an unified transport layer protocol that can switch modes according to variation in the network type to provide steady performance guarantee. For a network with unstable wireless links, it will switch to a hop-by-hop reliable mode and when the links are steady, it will switch to an end-to-end reliable mode. Using the ByPass framework API, application layer can be completely agnostic of the transport approach thus allowing common application code to be written across different types of network.
Tumor detection by virtual cystoscopy with color mapping of bladder wall thickness.

Purpose: We determine the value of color mapping of bladder wall thickness for detection of tumor as a component of virtual cystoscopy.Materials and Methods: A total of 31 subjects with hematuria and/or a history of bladder tumor underwent helical computerized tomography of the pelvis after distention of the bladder with air. Three-dimensional (D) models were constructed, and thickness of the wall was color mapped according to a fixed and validated mm. scale. Axial source images and 3-D models were reviewed and graded for the presence of wall thickening. A comparison was made with findings on conventional cystoscopy in 31 patients and pathological specimen in 13.Results: Compared with conventional cystoscopy, the analysis of axial image yielded a sensitivity of 0.80, specificity 0.90, positive predictive value 0.80 and negative predictive value 0.90 for the presence of tumor. Examination of color mapped 3-D renderings resulted in 0.83, 0.36, 0.42 and 0.71, respectively.Conclusions: Thin axial computerized...
Mental Health Benefit Limits and Cost Sharing Under Managed Care: A National Survey of Employers

Mental health services experts suggest that managed care diminishes the need for arbitrary benefit limits and consumer cost-sharing. Data from 577 health plans were used to test the hypotheses that health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and carve-out plans are less likely to use benefit limits or service exclusions, have more generous limits, and have lower cost-sharing requirements than non-HMOs and non-carve-out plans. The results show that HMOs were more likely to use service exclusions and did not make less use of benefit limits. Carve-outs were less likely to use some coverage exclusions. Comparisons of the stringency of limits and cost-sharing provisions did not show consistent differences.
Scheduling Major League Baseball Umpires and the Traveling Umpire Problem

The scheduling needs of umpires and referees differ from the needs of sports teams. In some sports leagues, such as Major League Baseball in the United States, umpires travel throughout the league's territory; they do not have a “home base.” For such leagues, balancing the need to minimize umpire travel and the objective that an umpire should not handle the games of a particular team too frequently is important. We have used our approach, which is based on network optimization and simulated annealing, to successfully schedule Major League Baseball umpires. To develop this approach, we created the traveling umpire problem, which includes the major umpire scheduling issues and also provides a test bed for alternative techniques.
Crossing obstacle detection with a vehicle-mounted camera

We propose a computer vision algorithm that detects obstacles crossing a vehicle's path with a monocular camera mounted on the vehicle. False positives are strongly suppressed even for low-resolution images by imposing constraints on feature-based optical flows. The constraints are derived from a model of crossing obstacle motion under perspective projection. A key concept in this model is “Relative Incoming Angle”, which is an angle between the camera's translational direction and relative velocity of a crossing obstacle with respect to the camera. We show a ROC curve that has been obtained by varying the Relative Incoming Angle using our dataset consisting of 18 scenes, 1456 frames. A representative point on the curve yields the detection rate of 59.7% and false positive rate of 2.6% (per-image).
Hematopoietic stem cells, hematopoiesis and disease: lessons from the zebrafish model

The zebrafish model is rapidly gaining prominence in the study of development, hematopoiesis, and disease. The zebrafish provides distinct advantages over other vertebrate models during early embryonic development by producing transparent, externally fertilized embryos. Embryonic zebrafish are easily visualized and manipulated through microinjection, chemical treatment, and mutagenesis. These procedures have contributed to large-scale chemical, suppressor, and genetic screens to identify hematopoietic gene mutations. Genomic conservation and local synteny between the human and zebrafish genomes make genome-scale and epigenetic analysis of these mutations (by microarray, chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing, and RNA sequencing procedures) powerful methods for translational research and medical discovery. In addition, large-scale screening techniques have resulted in the identification of several small molecules capable of rescuing hematopoietic defects and inhibiting disease. Here, we discuss the contributions of the zebrafish model to the understanding of hematopoiesis, hematopoietic stem cell development, and disease-related discovery. We also highlight the recent discovery of small molecules with clinical promise, such as dimethyl prostaglandin E2, 3F8, and thiazole-carboxamide 10A.
Dustbathing behavior: Do ectoparasites matter?

Abstract A presumed function of dustbathing behavior is to remove ectoparasites. Providing dustbathing substrates in furnished cages for laying hens might therefore offer an alternative to pesticide use to reduce ectoparasite populations. We investigated the effectiveness of dustbathing substrates for controlling northern fowl mites in individually caged beak-trimmed White Leghorn hens (N = 32). Each cage contained a 32 cm × 32 cm plastic tray that was either: (1) filled with 1200 g of sand (SAND); (2) empty (CONTROL); (3) covered with Astroturf (AT); or (4) covered with AT on to which 150 g of feed was delivered daily (ATF). AT and ATF are used in the dustbathing/foraging area of many newer commercial furnished cages. Hens were infested with approximately 35 mites at 25 weeks of age. Mite numbers were estimated weekly. Time spent dustbathing and dustbathing bout numbers and lengths in the tray and on the wire cage floor were determined from video recordings made for 2 consecutive days from 12:00 to 20:00 h immediately before and after infestation and at weeks 1, 3, 5, and 7 post-infestation. Data were analyzed using a repeated-measures ANOVA in SAS. Treatment did not influence the total time spent dustbathing (average across substrates: 11.3 min). However, there were treatment effects on the time spent dustbathing in the trays (F2,21 = 3.67, P = 0.043) and on wire (F2,21 = 7.68, P = 0.031). SAND and ATF hens spent more time dustbathing in the trays (11.4 and 9.1 min, respectively) than AT (2.3 min), and CONTROL and AT hens spent more time dustbathing on wire (11.6 and 4.7 min, respectively) than ATF (0.4 min). There was a treatment effect on infestation (F3,28 = 3.08, P = 0.04), with ATF having more mites (back-transformed mean = 1500) than AT (330), and with SAND (460) and CONTROL (447) intermediate. This study confirmed that the substrate type affected dustbathing behavior. SAND was a preferred dustbathing substrate but was not effective for controlling mite numbers, nor was the time spent dustbathing in any substrate or in total influenced by infestation levels. Our data also suggest that adding feed to the AT pad in furnished cages might lead to increased mite numbers in infested hens. The reason for this effect is unclear, but could be due to feed particles contributing to a change in feather structure that creates a more favorable mite habitat.
Scalable service architecture for providing strong service guarantees

For the past decade, a lot of Internet research has been devoted to providing different levels of service to applications. Initial proposals for service differentiation provided strong service guarantees, with strict bounds on delays, loss rates, and throughput, but required high overhead in terms of computational complexity and memory, both of which raise scalability concerns. Recently, the interest has shifted to service architectures with low overhead. However, these newer service architectures only provide weak service guarantees, which do not always address the needs of applications. In this paper, we describe a service architecture that supports strong service guarantees, can be implemented with low computational complexity, and only requires to maintain little state information. A key mechanism of the proposed service architecture is that it addresses scheduling and buffer management in a single algorithm. The presented architecture offers no solution for controlling the amount of traffic that enters the network. Instead, we plan on exploiting feedback mechanisms of TCP congestion control algorithms for the purpose of regulating the traffic entering the network.
Sex and race differences in young people's responsiveness to price and tobacco control policies.

OBJECTIVE—To determine if there are differences in young people's responsiveness to price and tobacco control policies for population subgroups and to examine whether or not these differences, if they exist, can explain sex and racial differences in trends in the prevalence of smoking in young people in the United States. DESIGN—Use cross-sectional and intertemporal variation in local and state tobacco control policies and prices to calculate demand responses to these policies using regression analysis techniques. SUBJECTS—A nationally representative sample of American eighth grade (ages 13-14 years), 10th grade (15-16 years) and 12th grade (17-18 years) students obtained from the 1992-1994 Monitoring the Future surveys. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE—Thirty-day smoking prevalence. RESULTS—Young men are much more responsive to changes in the price of cigarettes than young women. The prevalence elasticity for young men is almost twice as large as that for young women. Smoking rates of young black men are significantly more responsive to changes in price than young white men. Significant differences in responsiveness to particular tobacco control policies also exist. These differences, however, explain relatively little of the differences in smoking prevalence among young population subgroups. CONCLUSIONS—Policymakers need to keep in mind that there is not a "one-size fits all" strategy for discouraging smoking among young people. Keywords: adolescents; tobacco control policies; price; sex differences; racial differences
Liquid chromatography/microspray mass spectrometry for bacterial investigations

Cellular proteins (biomarkers) specific to any individual microorganism, determined by the direct mass spectral analysis of the corresponding intact cellular suspension, can be applied for the rapid and specific identification of the organisms present in unknown samples. The components of the bacterial suspensions, after a rapid separation over a C18 reversed-phase microcapillary column, were directly subjected to on-line electrospray ionization followed by analysis using an ion trap tandem mass spectrometer. This approach is equally effective for gram-positive as well as gram-negative bacteria but has a distinct advantage over our earlier reported method involving matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS). During electrospray ionitation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), liquid samples can be directly analyzed and there is the potential for developing tandem mass spectral methods for more specific identification of the individual organisms present in crude bacterial mixtures. The total analysis time leading to unambiguous bacterial identification in samples was less than 10 minutes and the results were quite reproducible. Miniaturization of the instrumentation along with total automation of this simple process could have immense impact on field operations. Routine, rapid, cost-effective field monitoring of environmental samples, agricultural products, samples from food processing, industrial sites and health institutions for suspected bacterial contamination could be a reality in the near future. Potential utility in biological, medical, bioprocessing, pharmaceutical, and other industrial research is also enormous. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ignition in a counterflowing non-premixed CO/H2-Air system

Abstract This paper presents a computational study of ignition in nonpremixed counterflowing CO/H2 versus heated air. To understand the chemical and dynamical mechanisms governing CO/H2 ignition, we have examined the following features: the effect of H2 concentration on the system's ignition characteristics, the dominant chemical kinetics just prior to ignition, the role of convection and diffusion with respect to chemical kinetics, and the dependence of ignition temperature on pressure variation. Three ignition regimes were identified, based upon the influence of H2 concentration, which we have designated: 1) H2-dominating, 2) transition and 3) H2-catalyzing. In the H2dominated regime, relevant for high H2 concentrations, the controlling ignition kinetics involve that of H2 chemistry with minimal CO influence. In the transition regime, the participation of CO kinetics, especially through its exothermicity, allows the CO/H2 system to be ignitable even when the analogous N2/H2 system ceases to be ignitable...
Cholecystic adenocarcinoma and pancreatic insulinomas in a goat

A 13-year-old female Boer goat with a history of chronic arthritis and recurrent episodes of recumbency, increased serum gamma-glutamyl transferase, and complete inability to stand was submitted for necropsy. Gross changes included the presence of a white, firm, smooth, 6 cm × 4 cm × 3 cm mass that diffusely expanded and partially effaced the gall bladder and infiltrated the adjacent hepatic parenchyma. On cut surface, the mass was pale yellow and had small, irregular, dark yellow areas. Scattered through the pancreas were 2 gray, well-demarcated, soft, homogeneous, 1 cm in diameter nodules that bulged out from the capsular surface. The right femoral head had a locally extensive area of cartilage erosion. Histological and immunohistochemical evaluation of the gall bladder and pancreatic nodules revealed a primary cholecystic adenocarcinoma and multifocal insulinomas, respectively. A metastatic focus from the gall bladder neoplasm was observed infiltrating the right adrenal gland medulla. The goat also had mild pulmonary infestation by Muellerius capillaris. Primary hepatobiliary and pancreatic neoplasia is rare in goats, and to the authors' knowledge, neither cholecystic adenocarcinoma nor pancreatic insulinomas have been previously reported in this species.
Round-Robin Tests of Modulus and Strength of Polysilicou

The Young’s modulus and strength of polysilicon specimens manufactured in the same production run were measured in four different laboratories. Specimens subjected to in-plane bending were tested at U. C. Berkeley and at Failure Analysis Associates, and tensile measurements were made at Caltech and Johns Hopkins. All specimens were produced at the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina (MCNC). In bending, the Young’s modulus for specimens nominally 2 µm thick was measured as 174 GPa and 137 GPa; whereas in tension, a value of 132 GPa was obtained. Modulus values of 136 GPa and 142 GPa were measured in tension on specimens nominally 1.5 µm and 3.5 µm thick. Strengths of the brittle polysilicon were 2.8 and 2.7 GPa in bending and 1.3 GPa for both thicknesses in tension. These preliminary results were presented at Symposium N - Microelectromechanical Structures for Materials Research at the Materials Research Society meeting in April 1998. This paper is a short overview of the test methods — each of which is described elsewhere — and a documentation of the results presented at that time.
Trend analysis: Time series and point process problems

The concern is with trend analysis. The data may be time series or point process. Parametric, semi-parametric and non-parametric models and procedures are discussed. The problems and techniques are illustrated with examples taken from hydrology and seismology. There is review as well as some new analyses and proposals.
Colovesical fistula causing an uncommon reason for failure of computed tomography colonography: a case report

Computed tomography colonography, or virtual colonoscopy, is a good alternative to optical colonoscopy. However, suboptimal patient preparation or colon distension may reduce the diagnostic accuracy of this imaging technique. We report the case of an 83-year-old Caucasian woman who presented with a five-month history of pneumaturia and fecaluria and an acute episode of macrohematuria, leading to a high clinical suspicion of a colovesical fistula. The fistula was confirmed by standard contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Optical colonoscopy was performed to exclude the presence of an underlying colonic neoplasm. Since optical colonoscopy was incomplete, computed tomography colonography was performed, but also failed due to inadequate colon distension. The insufflated air directly accumulated within the bladder via the large fistula. Clinicians should consider colovesical fistula as a potential reason for computed tomography colonography failure.
Why We Still Do Not Know What a "Real" Argument Is

In his recent paper, "What a Real Argument is," Ben Hamby attempts to provide an adequate theoretical account of "real" arguments. In this paper I present and evaluate both Hamby's motivation for distinguishing "real" from non-"real" arguments and his articulation of the distinction. I argue that neither is adequate to ground a theoretically significant class of "real" arguments, for the articulation fails to pick out a stable proper subclass of all arguments that is simultaneously both theoretically relevant and a proper subclass of all arguments.
Models of hydrothermal circulation within 106 Ma seafloor : constraints on the vigor of fluid circulation and crustal properties, below the Madeira Abyssal Plain

Heat flow measurements colocated with seismic data across 106 Ma seafloor of the Madeira Abyssal Plain (MAP) reveal variations in seafloor heat flow of ±10–20% that are positively correlated with basement relief buried below thick sediments. Conductive finite element models of sediments and upper basement using reasonable thermal properties are capable of generating the observed positive correlation between basement relief and seafloor heat flow, but with variability of just ±4–8%. Conductive simulations using a high Nusselt number (Nu) proxy for vigorous local convection suggest that Nu = 2–10 within the upper 600–100 m of basement, respectively, is sufficient to achieve a reasonable match to observations. These Nu values are much lower than those inferred on younger ridge flanks where greater thermal homogeneity is achieved in upper basement. Fully coupled simulations suggest that permeability below the MAP is on the order of 10−12–10−10 m2 within the upper 300–600 m of basement. This permeability range is broadly consistent with values determined by single-hole experiments and from modeling studies at other (mostly younger) sites. We infer that the reduction in basement permeability with age that is thought to occur within younger seafloor may slow considerably within older seafloor, helping hydrothermal convection to continue as plates age.
Prevalence of pelvic floor disorders in women with suspected gynecological malignancy: a survey-based study

Introduction and hypothesis Understanding of pelvic floor disorders among women with gynecological cancer is limited. The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of pelvic floor disorders in women with suspected gynecological malignancy before surgery.
Supplement to the Oakland A's (A)

This supplement contains the results of several regression analyses of the Oakland A's 1980 home-attendance data that may be used with the A case, QA-0282, to facilitate analysis of the situation.
Effect of benzyl benzoate on antibody formation in rabbit

In a previous article 1 on the effect of benzyl benzoate on the leukocytes of the rabbit, I stated that larger subcutaneous doses caused latent or quiescent infections to become active; also that changes occurred in the leukocytic picture which suggested that benzyl benzoate has a mildly depressant influence on the number and grouping of the leukocytes of rabbits. These results led me to think that benzyl benzoate may inhibit antibody formation, and I undertook to investigate this question as here recorded. By careful observation I tried to select animals free from infection. It was the intention to study the changes in the blood picture with the effects on antibody production at the same time. Since the blood picture is greatly influenced by the process of immunization as well as by the frequent bleeding, I refrain from recording the leukocytic curves at this time as they are misleading and in no way express the influence of benzyl benzoate when used as in the previous study. Neither are weight curves given as the weight was not influenced by either the immunization or the injection of benzyl benzoate. The antibody the formation of which I chose to study was the lysin for sheep corpuscles. Benzyl benzoate injections were given subcutaneously in sterile olive oil in doses and at times varying with each experiment. The hemolytic amboceptor was produced by injecting rabbits intravenously with 2, 3 and 4 c c. of a fresh SO^fc suspension of goat corpuscles, carefully washed in salt solution. The injections were given at 2 day intervals so that the actual process of immunization covered 7 days. In exper. 4, the third dose was increased to 5 c c. The intravenous immunization is relatively reliable, uniform, and advantageous on account of the brief period required to obtain a good response. The loss of animals from anaphylaxis was 3 of 14. The determination of the
Movement of Boll Weevils to Fall Trap Crops

Adults of Anthonomus grandis Boheman moved into trap crops established during the period when the cotton was being harvested. These “fall trap crops” were specific rows within the cotton field which remained unmodified during the harvest procedure while the remaining portion of the field was treated and harvested in the normal manner. Trap crops established in picker-harvested fields attracted the greatest number of adult boll weevils. This was especially true of trap crops augmented with synthetic pheromone, Grandlure®. Less movement of weevil adults into fall trap crops established in stripper-harvested fields was observed. The greatest amount of movement into fall trap crops occurred during the initial 24 h after the trap crops were established.
Influence of Environment on Injury to Corn by the Corn Earworm

Corn earworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie), injury varied considerably from one planting date to another in any given location and season. Although differences among planting dates at Tifton, Georgia, were not completely overcome, erroneous indications of resistance in susceptible hybrids were averted by artificial infestation. Simple correlations of injury rating with solar radiation during the silking period and days to 50% silk were significant at the 1 and 5% levels, respectively. Standard partial regression coefficients indicated that radiation was many times more efficient than maturity in predicting injury. When mean squares from the analysis of injury ratings were adjusted for radiation, only planting-date variation was removed. Adjustment for maturity affected only the source of variation due to hybrids. The removal of environmental effects from injury readings through adjustment for solar radiation should help in the identification of genotypes which have earworm resistance.
Application of Screw Bored Pile in Building Construction

The screw bored pile as a new pile has advantages of high bearing capacity,low construction cost,convenient construction,non environmental pollution etc..The superiority,mechanical behavior and bearing capacity calculation is introduced.The advantages of the screw bored pile are verified byengineering projects.The static loading test demonstrates the mechanical reliabilityand safety.
Two-phase optimization based on queuing theory for radius and scale of charging station service

Taking the affordability of distribution network and the convenience of charging for consumers into consideration,this paper proposes a two-phase optimization for radius and scale of charging station service.Based on the radius of charging station service initially determined by consumer convenience and the analysis of charging action of electric vehicle,the paper also establishes the queuing model of charging service system,optimizes the number of chargers according to the minimum target function of integrated cost considering local cost and treatment expense of harmonic,and finally determines the radius and scale of service for the target charging station on the basis of maximum access power allowed by electric network.The analysis and solution of the supposed example verifies the effectiveness and correctness of the method.
Analysis of fragile X syndrome gene in congenital mental retard children

Objective: To discuss the relationship between the congenital mental retard and the FMR-1 (fragile X syndrome mental retardation gene 1). Method: The (CGG)n repeat sequences of FMR1 gene were amplified at one time by nest PCR and then determination of the sizes and the state of the gene: Normal, premutation and full mutation and screened out the suspicion affected quickly. Result: There were 14 FMR-1 gene carries (male 2 and female 12) and 9 affected cases in 253 congenital mental retard cases which were unknown the causes, the positive rate was 9.09%. Conclusions: The fragile X syndrome is one of the very important incidence for the children leading the congenital mental retard, we should screen those of unknown causes of congenital mental retard children at large range, especial for the pregnant women which have ever had a congenital mental retard family history preventing the next.
QIIME: Better Described as EMSAP?

The software described as QIIME (quantitative insights into microbial ecology) is being used widely for the analysis of molecular sequences recovered from microbial assemblages (http://qiime.org/). As an example of this wide use, there have been 144 citations including this term in ASM full-text articles (as of 24 November 2014) and approx. 93,000 hits in Google. This 16s rRNA-based approach (J. Caporaso et al., Nature Methods 7:335–336, 2010) “allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data,” including particularly the assessment of “diversity.”
Developing guidelines for local use: algorithms for cost-efficient outpatient management of cardiovascular disorders in a VA Medical Center.

Article-at-a-Glance Background Increasing medication costs have a major impact on health care delivery systems with fixed budgets. Drugs used in the outpatient treatment of hypertension, angina, and congestive heart failure account for over 30% of the pharmacy costs at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Purpose The authors describe the development of algorithms for the cost-efficient management of these common problems with particular attention to the use of calcium channel blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors; present the rationale of the algorithms; discuss lessons learned from the development and initial implementation of the algorithms; and present plans for evaluating implementation of the algorithms and their effect on cost and quality of care.
Faculty Hour: A Model for Interdisciplinary Quality Improvement in the Perioperative Setting

Clinicians who are committed to quality and patient safety frequently lack the means and infrastructure to implement and sustain the interdisciplinary collaboration needed to actualize system improvement. The Faculty Hour model affords surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and others the opportunity to meet together at the start of the day once each week to advance quality and outcomes for patients, to accelerate learning and innovation, and to foster mutual joy in work.
Modeling a Predictive Energy Equation Specific for Maintenance Hemodialysis.

Background Hypermetabolism is theorized in patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease who are receiving maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). We aimed to distinguish key disease-specific determinants of resting energy expenditure to create a predictive energy equation that more precisely establishes energy needs with the intent of preventing protein-energy wasting. Materials and methods For this 3-year multisite cross-sectional study (N = 116), eligible participants were diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and were receiving MHD for at least 3 months. Predictors for the model included weight, sex, age, C-reactive protein (CRP), glycosylated hemoglobin, and serum creatinine. The outcome variable was measured resting energy expenditure (mREE). Regression modeling was used to generate predictive formulas and Bland-Altman analyses to evaluate accuracy. Results The majority were male (60.3%), black (81.0%), and non-Hispanic (76.7%), and 23% were ≥65 years old. After screening for multicollinearity, the best predictive model of mREE (R2 = 0.67) included weight, age, sex, and CRP. Two alternative models with acceptable predictability (R2 = 0.66) were derived with glycosylated hemoglobin or serum creatinine. Based on Bland-Altman analyses, the maintenance hemodialysis equation that included CRP had the best precision, with the highest proportion of participants' predicted energy expenditure classified as accurate (61.2%) and with the lowest number of individuals with underestimation or overestimation. Conclusions This study confirms disease-specific factors as key determinants of mREE in patients on MHD and provides a preliminary predictive energy equation. Further prospective research is necessary to test the reliability and validity of this equation across diverse populations of patients who are receiving MHD.
Optical Probe Thermometry Using Optically Trapped Erbium Oxide Nanoparticles

A new thermal imaging technique is characterized that uses an optically trapped erbium oxide nanoparticle cluster of approximately 150 nm. This technique can measure absolute temperature and has an imaging spatial resolution of the trapped particle. Scanning optical probe thermometry has been used to thermally image a cluster of gold nanowires that were excited with the trapping laser. Following a deconvolution of the measured thermal profile, a point spread function of the imaging technique has been determined to be a Gaussian with a FWHM of 165 nm. This width is a function of the clustering of Er2O3 nanoparticles used to image the nanowire. Optical probe thermometry has further been used to measure the temperature of nucleation events where a dichotomy of temperature for nucleated water occurs from degassed water and native water. Degassed water has been measured to nucleate at 555K confirming water adjacent to the gold nanoparticle superheats to the spinodal decomposition temperature before nucleating into a water vapor bubble. Following this event, the temperature inside the vapor bubble rises to the melting point of the gold nanoparticle, 1300 K which is followed by temperature stabilization. The rapid and significant temperature increase is attributed to the loss of a thermal dissipation pathway, to the surrounding water, previously available to the gold nanoparticle due to the insulator nature of the growing vapor envelope around the gold nanoparticle.
Characteristics of ovarian cancer detection by a near-infrared fluorescent probe activated by human NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase isozyme 1 (hNQO1).

// Yuko Nakamura 1 , Zhenhua Shen 2 , Toshiko Harada 1 , Tadanobu Nagaya 1 , Kazuhide Sato 1 , Shuhei Okuyama 1 , Fusa Ogata 1 , Peter L. Choyke 1 , Robin L. McCarley 2 and Hisataka Kobayashi 1 1 Molecular Imaging Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, United States National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1088, USA 2 Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-1804, USA Correspondence to: Hisataka Kobayashi, email: kobayash@mail.nih.gov Keywords: near-infrared emitting probe, human NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase isozyme 1, green light-emitting probe, kinetic map, peritoneal cancer metastases Received: March 10, 2017 Accepted: April 12, 2017 Published: May 20, 2017 ABSTRACT Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes are ideal for in vivo imaging, because they offer deeper tissue penetration by the light and lower background autofluorescence than fluorophores that emit in the visible range. Q 3 STCy is a newly synthesized, NIR light-emitting probe that is activated by an enzyme commonly overexpressed in tumor cells, human nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate): quinone oxidoreductase isozyme 1, known as hNQO1 or DT-diaphorase. The purpose of this study is to compare the sensitivity of detecting peritoneal ovarian cancer metastasis (POCM) with Q 3 STCy and gGlu-HMRG, a green fluorescent probe, upon their surface application. In vitro uptake of Q 3 STCy was significantly higher than that of gGlu-HMRG. Using a red fluorescence protein (RFP)-labeled in vivo tumor model of POCM, the Q 3 STCy probe provided high sensitivity (96.9%) but modest specificity (61.0%), most likely the result of albumin-probe interactions and non-specific activation in nearby altered but healthy cells. Three types of kinetic maps based on maximum fluorescence signal (MF), wash-in rate (WIR), and area under the curve (AUC) allowed for differentiation of the activated fluorescence signal associated with POCM from the background signal of the small intestine, thereby significantly improving the specificity of Q 3 STCy to 80%, 100%, and 100% for MF, WIR, and AUC, as well yielding a moderate improvement in sensitivity (100% for all approaches) that is comparable to that with gGlu-HMRG, but with the added advantages of NIR fluorescence as the transduction modality. Such a new methodology has the potential to afford identification of cancerous lesions deeper within tissue.