cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ultra-high density packaging technology for injectable medical devices

Future implantable medical devices will be highly miniaturized and almost certainly leverage die-level electronics miniaturization and packaging. Here, an integrated ultra-high density packaging platform is proposed to enable a new class of medical devices. Dense modules are obtained by interconnecting existing ASICs and discrete components using a process which achieves the highest packaging densities available.
Generation of positive charge in silicon dioxide during avalanche and tunnel electron injection

Avalanche and Fowler–Nordheim tunneling electron injections have been performed at constant current on a broad variety of differently processed Al‐gate metal‐oxide‐semiconductor capacitors. It is found that the same type of positive charge (the ‘‘slow states’’) is generated during low‐field and high‐field electron injection. The maximum amount of positive charge which can be generated at a given electric field depends on processing and increases linearly with the average field in the oxide. However, the rate at which the positive charge is generated is controlled uniquely by the anode field, for a given polarity of the gate voltage. It follows that the role of the electron traps in the bulk SiO2—independent of their nature—is that of increasing both the rate and the total number of created defects by enhancing, respectively, the anode field, as a result of the distortion of the potential in SiO2, and the average field which must be increased to maintain a constant injected current. Processes described ear...
Total Ionizing Dose X-ray Radiation Effects on MWCNT/PMMA Thin Film Composites

Multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) composites are a new class of nanomaterial composites that have potential to be deployed as sensing elements for various applications including ionizing radiation detection. In this paper, we present an investigation of the ionizing radiation effects on electrical resistance of this composite both from a dose and dose rate standpoint. The solution blending method was used in synthesizing the MWCNT/PMMA composites. The synthesized thin film composites were cast on an interdigitated electrode to perform radiation sensing experiments. A 160-kV X-ray radiation source was used to study the ionizing radiation effects on the synthesized composite. A carbon black/PMMA composite was synthesized and subjected to the same dose and dose rate experiments as the MWCNT/PMMA thin film composite and a comparison was made. We have observed a very good repeatable quasi-linear response curve for radiation dose and dose rate measurement with the MWCNT/PMMA composite. Post radiation exposure recovery time of MWCNT/PMMA composite and heat treatment technique to accelerate recovery time have also been studied and the results are presented. The results suggest that simple sensor elements based on relatively economical MWCNT may be useful for the detection of ionizing radiation.
The effect of battery design parameters on heat generation and utilization in a Li-ion cell

Abstract The heat generation in a battery cell is determined by the battery chemistry and kinetics. The battery operation conditions and design parameters have a strong influence on the kinetics. To study the relationships among these parameters, a coupled thermo-electrochemical model for a basic lithium (Li) ion battery cell has been developed. The model was implemented for a Li x C 6 |LiPF 6 (EC/DMC)|Li y Mn 2 O 4 cell. The temperature dependence of six sets of physical properties relevant to the reaction rate and Li + transport was investigated. The model was validated against literature data. The predicted heat generation rates were within the range of available experimental results. The model was used to evaluate the influence of active particle size and component thickness on the heat generation rate and battery performance. The results revealed that while batteries with a thin component thickness had a lower temperature rise and better battery utilization, the effect of the particle size was not monotonic across the discharge rates.
Rayleigh-Benard convection: experimental study of time-dependent instabilities

The transition from steady thermal convection to turbulent thermal convection in a horizontal layer of water (Prandtl number=5.8) contained by a square cavity of large aspect ratio (48.5) has been studied using laser Doppler velocimetry. Power spectra of the horizontal velocity fluctuations were measured in the Rayleigh number range from 30,000 and 99,000, wherein periodic, quasi-periodic, and broad-band time-dependent instabilities coexist. At Rayleigh numbers greater than 32,000 a narrow-band spectrum emerges. The frequency of this motion scales with x/d 2 modified by a Prandtl number factor for intermediate values of the Prandtl number. Between 10 Ra c and 30 Ra i the frequency undergoes three abrupt jumps while increasing along an Ra 2/3 power law. A different frequency mode that occurs above 30 Ra c appears to be associated with fully turbulent convection.
Digenetic trematodes: Quinone tanning system in eggshells☆

Abstract Three species of digenetic trematodes with colorless and transparent eggshells, Philophthalmus megalurus , Gorgoderina attenuata , and Megalodiscus temperatus , were compared by histochemical tests with Haematoloechus medioplexus , which has an identifiable quinone tanning system. Precursors for tanning including basic and tyrosine-rich proteins were identified histochemically in all species. Autoradiograms indicated that tyrosine was taken up after in vitro exposure of adult worms by vitelline tissue of G. attenuata and M. temperatus , but at a slower rate in the latter species. Protein synthesis inhibitor studies utilizing cycloheximide showed a reduction of tyrosine incorporation in the vitelline tissue of G. attenuata suggesting that tyrosine is incorporated into protein. Inhibition in M. temperatus was negligible, but evidence from other studies indicated absorption of cycloheximide by the adult may be minimal. Phenolase could not be found in G. attenuata and M. temperatus but was identified in P. megalurus . However, the enzyme system in the latter species seemed to be a partial one capable of oxidizing dihydroxyphenols but not monohydroxyphenols. Histochemical and solubility tests for keratin-type protein in the eggshells were inconclusive. It is suggested that positive identification of keratin as a structural protein of trematode eggshells be withheld until more reliable techniques can be employed. Possible evolutionary implications of the tanned eggshell in the Digenea are discussed.
Burkitt Lymphoma/Leukemia: Improving Prognosis

Burkitt lymphoma/leukemia (BL) has become a very curable mature B-cell neoplasm. Current standard regimens, focused on the unique characteristics of this disease, are composed of cyclical intensive chemotherapy and aggressive intrathecal prophylaxis. Using this approach, complete response rates of 80%-90% are routinely achieved, and survival is now approaching 80% with the addition of rituximab to these intensive regimens. Prophylactic cranial irradiation and prolonged maintenance have no proven benefit and are not recommended. The more widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy in the HIV patient with BL has allowed the use of similar aggressive therapies that are used for the non-HIV BL patients, with commensurate improvements in outcomes in this high-risk population. Future improvements for patients with BL could rely on standardization of gene expression profiling (to ensure more accurate diagnoses and prognostication of disease and to understand mechanisms of treatment resistance) and to develop novel biologically targeted approaches to treatment. The next generation of clinical trials to further improve survival will have the challenge of identifying high-risk patients who might be candidates for novel agents that could be incorporated into existing regimens with the goal of curing all patients with this disease.
Effects on Rainbow Trout Fry of a Metals-Contaminated Diet of Benthic Invertebrates from the Clark Fork River, Montana

Abstract The upper Clark Fork River in northwestern Montana has received mining wastes from the Butte and Anaconda areas since 1880. These wastes have contaminated areas of the river bed and floodplain with tailings and heavy metal sludge, resulting in elevated concentration of metals in surface water, sediments, and biota. Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss were exposed immediately after hatching for 91 d to cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc in water at concentrations simulating those in Clark Fork River. From exogenous feeding (21 d posthatch) through 91 d, fry were also fed benthic invertebrates from the Clark Fork River that contained elevated concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, and lead. Evaluations of different combinations of diet and water exposure indicated diet-borne metals were more important than water-borne metals – at the concentrations we tested – in reducing survival and growth of rainbow trout. Whole-body metal concentrations (μg/g, wet weight) at 91 d in fish fed Clark Fork inverteb...
Evaluation of novel stimulus waveforms for deep brain stimulation

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established therapy for the treatment of a wide range of neurological disorders. Historically, DBS and other neurostimulation technologies have relied on rectangular stimulation waveforms to impose their effects on the nervous system. Recent work has suggested that non-rectangular waveforms may have advantages over the traditional rectangular pulse. Therefore, we used detailed computer models to compare a range of charge-balanced biphasic waveforms with rectangular, exponential, triangular, Gaussian and sinusoidal stimulus pulse shapes. We explored the neural activation energy of these waveforms for both intracellular and extracellular current-controlled stimulation conditions. In the context of extracellular stimulation, we compared their effects on both axonal fibers of passage and projection neurons. Finally, we evaluated the impact of delivering the waveforms through a clinical DBS electrode, as opposed to a theoretical point source. Our results suggest that DBS with a 1 ms centered-triangular pulse can decrease energy consumption by 64% when compared with the standard 100 µs rectangular pulse (energy cost of 48 and 133 nJ, respectively, to stimulate 50% of a distributed population of axons) and can decrease energy consumption by 10% when compared with the most energy efficient rectangular pulse (1.25 ms duration). In turn, there may be measureable energy savings when using appropriately designed non-rectangular pulses in clinical DBS applications, thereby warranting further experimental investigation.
Nonlinear Dynamics of a Gear Transmission System: Part II — Periodic Impacting Chatter and Stick

In Part I, the motion mechanism of impacting chatter and stick motion in the gear transmission dynamical system was discussed. This paper focuses on periodic motions relative to the impacting chatter and stick in order to find the origin of noise and vibration in such a gear transmission system. Such periodic motions are predicted analytically through mapping structures, and the corresponding local stability and bifurcation analysis are carried out. The grazing and stick conditions presented in Part I are adopted to determine the existence of periodic motions, which cannot be achieved from the local stability analysis. Numerical simulations are performed to illustrate periodic motions and stick motion criteria. Such an investigation may provide some clues to reduce the noise in gear transmission systems.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Unnatural landscapes in ecology: generating the spatial distribution of brine spills

Quantitative tools are needed to evaluate the ecological effects of increasing petroleum production. In this article, we describe two stochastic models for simulating the spatial distribution of brine spills on a landscape. One model uses general assumptions about the spatial arrangement of spills and their sizes; the second model distributes spills by siting rectangular well complexes and conditioning spill probabilities on the configuration of pipes. We present maps of landscapes with spills produced by the two methods and compare the ability of the models to reproduce a specified spill area. A strength of the models presented here is their ability to extrapolate from the existing landscape to simulate landscapes with a higher (or lower) density of oil wells. Published in 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Where Do Time Constraints Come From? Where Do They Go?

While a lot of work has been done in real-time systems, in real-time database systems, and more recently, in real-time active databases on the topic of time constrained processing of tasks and transactions, very little work exists that deals with the origin of the time constraints associated with the data, the events, and the actions. In this paper we identify the sources and semantics of time constraints and show that it is important to minimize the number of â€œmandatedâ€ timing requirements and also weaken the implications of timing constraint violations. The Event-Condition-Action rules of active real-time databases provide a useful framework to specify the timing properties of interest as well as the actions to be taken when the properties are violated. That is, an active real-time database can be made to store the data pertaining to the controlled system as well as the meta-data about the controlling system.
Light Weight Thread Level Health Check Framework for Highly Available Systems

Currently in HA (Highly Available) applications health is monitored using SAF (Service Availability Forum) framework. There are multiple threads spawned by each of the HA application, these threads are not being monitored for: Thread is dead, Thread is blocked on a resource, Thread queue is full and it is not able to receive messages. If these threads are to be monitored then they have to be registered with the SAF framework, which is a bulky proposal as the threads are expected to do minimal overhead tasks. This necessitates the need for a framework which will enable applications to monitor the threads. The solution proposed here can be implemented as a generic framework (minimizing the application overhead) that is applicable to both hand coded and model (auto code generated) threads. A comparative study of the different approaches available for thread level health check monitoring has also been provided to illustrate the suitability of the proposed approach for highly available applications.
Research on the Effect of Distributor Aperture Ratio on Fluidization Quality of Vibrated Fluidized Bed

In this paper, combining with the experimental data in the reference, the purpose is to research effect of three different aperture ratios (α=6%, α=9%, α=12%) of distributor on the fluidization quality of vibrated fluidized bed (VFB). Euler-Euler model in Fluent is used to simulate the flow state. User-defined functions are used to define vibration model, and the distributor is simplified based on the porous media model. The results show that the introduction of the distributor can improve uniformity and quality of the fluidization. The aperture ratio of distributor has little influence on material distribution, however, the uniformity of the fluidization is improved with the decrease of the aperture ratio.
Administration of satiety factors and gustatory responsiveness in the nucleus tractus solitarius of the rat.

Abstract The administration of certain factors associated with postprandial satiety decreases gustatory responsiveness. We compared the effects of intravenous injections of glucose, insulin, pancreatic glucagon (PG), and cholecystokinin (CCK) on multiunit activity evoked from taste responsive neurons in the nucleus tractus solitarius of rats. Glucose, insulin, and PG reliably suppressed evoked responses to lingual application of I. OM glucose, whereas responses that followed CCK remained unchanged. A common physiological consequence of glucose, insulin, and glucagon is increased glucose availability which may impact directly on gustatory neurons or indirectly through modifications in ventral forebrain or vagal afferent activity.
Isolation of amiloride-resistant clones from dog kidney epithelial cells

The diuretic drug amiloride has been used to select variants from the dog kidney cell line MDCK which are partially resistant to killing by the drug. Evidence is presented suggesting that resistance to killing by amiloride is conferred by decreased uptake of amiloride, which reduces the intracellular drug concentration below the toxic level.
Intensity Fluctuations in Random Electromagnetic Beams Propagating through Turbulent Atmosphere

Behavior of intensity fluctuations of random electromagnetic beams propagating in vacuum and atmosphere are discussed. Possibility of control of intensity fluctuations of such beams on propagation by changing degree of polarization of source is demonstrated.
Benzothiazinones by addition of o-Mercaptobenzamides to acetylene esters

The condensation of o-mercaptobenzamides with methyl acetylenedicarboxylate or methyl propiolate occurs with trans addition of the SH to the alkyne linkage. The resulting vinyl sulfide adducts can be ring closed to 1,3-benzothiazin-4-ones in excellent yield.
Synthesis and comparative reactivity of thiomorpholine–borane: aqueous hydrolysis and oxidation by hypochlorite

Abstract Thiomorpholine-N-borane was synthesized via amine displacement of BH3 from tetrahydrofuran–borane which had been prepared from NaBH4 and BF3·Et2O in tetrahydrofuran. Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis occurs only slightly faster than for morpholine–borane, the difference being attributed to a small difference in the electronic inductive effects of sulfur and oxygen in the 4-position of the respective adducts. Reaction with NaOCl exhibits a stoichiometric [OCl−]:[S(CH2)4NHBH3] ratio of 5:1. This is attributed to consumption of 3 mol of hypochlorite for the oxidation of hydridic hydrogen in BH3, one for the chlorination of nitrogen and another in attack at sulfur presumably resulting in sulfoxide formation. At pH 9.1–10.4, the initial reaction of hypochlorite with thiomorpholine–borane is several times faster than with morpholine–borane and, unlike the reaction with morpholine–borane, relatively insensitive to pH. Whereas hypochlorite oxidation of morpholine–borane has been proposed to occur primarily through reaction with HOCl, it is speculated that thiomorpholine–borane is also susceptible to attack by hypochlorite ion.
Reliability of Minor Planet Satellite Observations

In an examination of the reliability of occultation observations of minor planet companions, redundant photoelectric observations have been made of possible occultation events. These observations indicate that spurious events may be easily misidentified as true occultations, and that caution must be exercised in interpreting such occurrences. Further analysis of observations of the 1973 Pallas occultation suggests that earlier results may be unreliable.
Reduction of iodate in seawater during Arabian Sea shipboard incubations and in laboratory cultures of the marine bacterium Shewanella putrefaciens strain MR-4

Abstract Shipboard incubations from the US JGOFS cruise to the Arabian Sea (TN045) March, 1995 showed evidence of iodate reduction in 0.45 μ (Gelman Supor membrane) filtered seawater samples collected from intermediate depths (200–600 m) within the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). Inorganic chemical reduction of iodate in these samples was ruled out as no free sulfide was measurable and concentrations of ammonia and nitrite were found to be less than 5 μM. To examine whether the reduction of iodate observed at sea could have been the result of bacterial metabolism, reduction of iodate (IO 3 − ) to iodide (I − ) by Shewanella putrefaciens strain MR-4 was studied in artificial seawater using electrochemical methods. MR-4 is a ubiquitous marine bacterium which may be of considerable importance when considering redox zonation in the water column because it is a facultative anaerobe and may switch amongst a suite of electron acceptors to support metabolism. In all experiments MR-4 reduced all iodate to iodide. The rate of formation of [I − ]in the culture followed pseudo-first order kinetics. This is the first report of the marine bacterial reduction of iodate where the concentrations of iodide and iodate were measured directly. Our results may help to explain the depth distribution of iodine speciation reported in productive waters like the Arabian Sea and for the first time couple iodine speciation with bacterial productivity in the ocean.
Prolegomena to Open Pasts: On Archaeological Memory Practices

How are archaeologists to anticipate for future concerns in what they do? This article begins the task of plotting a workable path between the requisites of standardization and the necessities of leaving room for the unexpected. In order to allow for the unforeseeable in practice, it argues for the enrolment of creative modes of engagement while at the same time avoiding the exclusive reliance on the redundancy of routine. It argues for the importance of pluralism with regard to things. By calling attention to issues of information design in our memory practices, this article sketches some preliminary avenues toward open pasts.
PHLOEM OF PRIMITIVE ANGIOSPERMS. I. SIEVE-ELEMENT ONTOGENY IN THE PETIOLE OF LIRIODENDRON TULIPIFERA L. (MAGNOLIACEAE).

As part of a continuing study of sieve elements in primitive angiosperms, a study of this cell type was undertaken in Liriodendron tulipifera. A typical ontogenetic sequence was observed in which synthetic processes such as wall thickening are followed in time by cellular lysis of nucleus, ribosomes, microtubules, vacuoles, and dictyosomes. This lysis is selective in that certain cellular components (e.g., the plasmalemma) remain unaffected. Concomitant with lysis is the formation of sieve-area pores from plasmodesmata. Comparison of pore size on end and lateral walls indicates that the use of the term "sieve tube" rather than "sieve cell" to describe these elements is appropriate.
Pharmacy students’ perceptions of ExamSoft® as the primary assessment tool in an integrated therapeutics course

Abstract Rationale and objective Computer-based testing using ExamSoft ® became the standard policy for the College of Pharmacy in spring 2012. In order to better understand student-related factors following implementation of this policy, an investigation of the causal relationship between student perceptions of computer-based testing, acceptance, and ease of use was undertaken. Methods A cross-sectional study was done using an online questionnaire based on a modified version of the technology acceptance model (TAM). The questionnaire included four scales: (1) perceived ease of use (PEOU), (2) perceived usefulness (PU), (3) attitude towards usage (ATU), and (4) predicted future use (PFU). It was administered to second-, third-, and fourth-year pharmacy students who used ExamSoft ® as their primary method of assessment in an integrated therapeutics course series. Results Overall, 67 of 160 (42%) students completed the questionnaire. Associations among the four scales were determined using logistical regression analyses. It was found that PEOU had a significant influence on PU (path = 0.44, p p p Conclusion The findings suggest that student perceptions have the potential to impact ongoing and future usefulness of technology within an academic setting. Faculty should be mindful of this point when considering implementation of new technology and when evaluating its potential long-term benefits.
Preventing TCP incast throughput collapse at the initiation, continuation, and termination

Incast applications have grown in popularity with the advancement of data center technology. It is found that the TCP incast may suffer from the throughput collapse problem, as a consequence of TCP retransmission timeouts when the bottleneck buffer is overwhelmed and causes the packet losses. This is critical to the Quality of Service of cloud computing applications. While some previous literature has proposed solutions, we still see the problem not completely solved. In this paper, we investigate the three root causes for the poor performance of TCP incast flows and propose three solutions, one for each at the beginning, the middle and the end of a TCP connection. The three solutions are: admission control to TCP flows so that the flow population would not exceed the network's capacity; retransmission based on timestamp to detect loss of retransmitted packets; and reiterated FIN packets to keep the TCP connection active until the the termination of a session is acknowledged. The orchestration of these solutions prevents the throughput collapse. The main idea of these solutions is to ensure all the on-going TCP incast flows can maintain the self-clocking, thus eliminates the need to resort to retransmission timeout for recovery. We evaluate these solutions and find them work well in preventing the retransmission timeout of TCP incast flows, hence also preventing the throughput collapse.
An Exploratory Investigation of the Assessment of Vocal Jazz Improvisation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the assessment of vocal jazz improvisation achievement. Subjects were 101 college students enrolled in vocal jazz courses. The following aspects of vocal jazz improvisation were measured: (a) tonal (intonation, correct tones, appropriate language, variety, originality, motivic development, and unity): (1) rhxthm (steady pulse, appropriate feel, appropriate figures, varietvx originalitv, motivic development, and unity); and (c) expression (appropriate scat svllables, appropriate tone quality, variety in tone quality. varietv in range, and variety in dynamics). These items were measured by three judges using fivepoint rating scales for two tasks, a blues and a ii-V7-1 progression. The major findings of this study were as follows: (a) interjudge reliability for items ranged from 47 to 89; (b) interjudge reliability for the composite measure was 90; (c) a high correlation (.88) was found between the blues and ii-V7-I tasks; (d) moderately strong correlations were f...
An exact test on the Goodman-Kruskal l for prediction on a dichotomy: power considerations

Turek and Suich (1983), through a reparametrization scheme, developed a test of H0:λ = 0 vs. H1:λ > 0 where λ is the Goodman-Kruskal λ for the case when the predicted variable is dichotomous, and sketched the method for the calculation of the power of the test. This paper presents the details of the algorithm for the computation of power and uses it to extensively investigate the power properties of the test. Examples are presented which demonstrate that the test has good power characteristics and that it has considerable power in detecting a non-zero λ.
Stress relaxation in muscle.

Tension decay following stretch (stress relaxation) has been studied in resting long-fibred smooth and striated muscles. In both types of muscle, tension decays rapidly at first and then more slowly; the decay curve can be resolved into two exponential components, neither of which is significantly affected by changes in temperature or speed of stretch. It is shown that the half-times of fast and slow components of tension decay are related to the intrinsic speed of muscle. A model is proposed which imitates the properties of preshortened resting muscle at lengths where it shows negligible resting tension.
Augmenting research methods and statistics courses using independent, self-paced computer applications

This article examines computer applications available to augment research methods and statistics courses. Products are organized into four headings: student workbooks with data sets, student versions of statistical software packages, Internet applications and CD-ROMS. The author examines a selected sample, describing each product and offering some advice about the utility of each as a tutorial device for courses in research methods and statistics.
CoolBudget: Data center power budgeting with workload and cooling asymmetry awareness

Power over-subscription challenges and emerging cost management strategies motivate designing efficient data center power capping techniques. During capping, provisioned power must be budgeted among the computational and cooling units. This work presents a data center power budgeting policy that simultaneously improves the quality-of-service (QoS) and power efficiency by considering the workload- and cooling-induced asymmetries among the servers. Proposed policy finds the most efficient data center temperature and the power distribution among servers while guaranteeing reliable temperature levels for the server internal components. Experiments based on real servers demonstrate 21% increase in throughput compared to existing techniques.
The Hopelessness Scale and social desirability: more data and a contribution from the irrational beliefs test.

This paper presents findings with regard to social desirability confounding on Beck's Hopelessness Scale (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974). Data from 60 suicidal and nonsuicidal psychiatric inpatients were examined in terms of the correlations between hopelessness scores and suicidality. Controlling for social desirability, as measured by the Marlowe-Crowne Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964), did not affect this correlation substantially, nor did use of SD scores in a discriminant analysis improve accuracy of classification into severely suicidal and nonsuicidal groups. These results are in contrast with similar studies (e.g., Linehan & Nielsen, 1981) that used the Edwards SD scale. However, regression analysis of the MCSD scale using subscales of the Irrational Beliefs Test (Jones, 1969) raises the question as to whether the MCSD scale indeed is measuring SD, as opposed to some aspect or aspects of psychological adjustment. Language: en
Measuring safety culture in the ambulatory setting: the safety attitudes questionnaire--ambulatory version

Provider attitudes about issues pertinent to patient safety may be related to errors and adverse events. We know of no instruments that measure safety-related attitudes in the outpatient setting. To adapt the safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) to the outpatient setting and compare attitudes among different types of providers in the outpatient setting. We modified the SAQ to create a 62-item SAQ—ambulatory version (SAQ-A). Patient care staff in a multispecialty, academic practice rated their agreement with the items using a 5-point Likert scale. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to determine reliability of scale scores. Differences in SAQ-A scores between providers were assessed using ANOVA. Of the 409 staff, 282 (69%) returned surveys. One hundred ninety (46%) surveys were included in the analyses. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.68 to 0.86 for the scales: teamwork climate, safety climate, perceptions of management, job satisfaction, working conditions, and stress recognition. Physicians had the least favorable attitudes about perceptions of management while managers had the most favorable attitudes (mean scores: 50.4 ± 22.5 vs 72.5 ± 19.6, P < 0.05; percent with positive attitudes 18% vs 70%, respectively). Nurses had the most positive stress recognition scores (mean score 66.0 ± 24.0). All providers had similar attitudes toward teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, and working conditions. The SAQ-A is a reliable tool for eliciting provider attitudes about the ambulatory work setting. Attitudes relevant to medical error may differ among provider types and reflect behavior and clinic operations that could be improved.
Abundance–occupancy relationships of larval black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in temperate Nearctic streams

This study examines abundance–occupancy relationships of larval black flies in temperate streams of the south-eastern United States. It is the first study of abundance–occupancy relationships in lotic macro-invertebrate assemblages to focus on a single family. We address the following questions: (i) Do larval black flies show a strong inter-specific abundance–occupancy relationship? (ii) Do widespread and abundant species demonstrate greater niche breadth (NB) or niche position (NP) than do species with limited distributions and low local abundances? (iii) Does the abundance–occupancy relationship change between habitat generalists and specialists? Species abundance was measured as the total mean relative abundance over all sites. Three measures of occupancy were used: occurrence (number of sites occupied), latitudinal extent of occupancy, and longitudinal extent of occupancy. Niche-based indices (breadth and position) were expressed as multivariate indices of habitat variables, reflecting variation in the niche of a species, as opposed to a simple range. Non-ecological factors (sampling, analytical artefacts, phylogenetic non-independence) accounted for our results and, accordingly, we focus on ecological explanations of inter-specific abundance–occupancy relationships, grounded in niche and meta-population theory. When occupancy was measured as the number of sites at which a species occurred, a strong inter-specific abundance–occupancy relationship was found. Niche-based indices did not have a significant influence on shaping this relationship. When occupancy was measured as geographic extent, the abundance–occupancy relationship was weak or non-significant, although niche-based indices had a significant effect on occupancy. No evidence supported the notion that meta-population dynamics influence abundance–occupancy relationships. Abundance–occupancy relationship is a summation of individual species traits, a point that often receives little attention.
Experimental congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia: prevention of anatomic defects produced by aminoglutethimide.

Aminoglutethimide, a drug whose primary action is thought to be a blockade of steroidogenesis by inhibition of the cholesterol desmolase system, produces in rat fetuses defects characteristic of human congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia. These defects include congenital adrenal enlargement, marked accumulation of cholesterol in fetal adrenal and testes and hypospadias in male fetuses. However, the virilization of female fetuses produced by this drug is unlike the human disease, and may be due to the fact that aminoglutethimide does not produce a complete blockade of adrenal steroidogenesis, but allows excess adrenal androgenesis. In this report, we have determined whether testosterone orcorticosterone may alter the actions of aminoglutethimide in the fetus. Testosterone prevents the testicular and male genital changes produced by aminoglutethimide. On theother hand, corticosterone markedly reduces the adrenal and female genital changes produced by this drug. These experiments provide further evidence th...
Coexistent Hashimoto's thyroiditis with papillary thyroid carcinoma: impact on presentation, management, and outcome.

Abstract Background: This study was performed to assess the relationship between Hashimoto's thyroiditis and the development, presentation, management, and outcome of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Methods: Two complementary analytic methods were used. The clinical study was a retrospective case-control study, including patients seen with papillary thyroid carcinoma presenting during a 12-year period. We also used a systematic literature review to identify suitable reports and meta-analysis to statistically combine published results. Results: The prevalence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis is significantly higher in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (odds ratio, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.02-3.50). These patients typically have a dominant nodule, 44% of which are discovered incidentally on routine examinations. Fine-needle aspiration has a sensitivity of 91% for the identification of papillary cancer. The prognostic variables at the time of a diagnosis of papillary cancer and the approach to management are not altered by the presence of coexistent Hashimoto's thyroiditis. In addition, the rate of surgical complications was not higher in patients with coexistent Hashimoto's disease. Meta-analysis suggested a positive correlation between Hashimoto's disease and disease-free survival (r = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.05-0.12) and overall survival (r = 0.11; 95% CI, 0.07-0.15). Conclusions: There is an increased prevalence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. The presence of coexistent Hashimoto's thyroiditis does not affect the diagnostic evaluation or management of papillary thyroid cancers. The survival of patients who have papillary thyroid cancers may be superior in coexistent Hashimoto's thyroiditis (Surgery 1999;126:1070-7.)
Cyberknife radiosurgery for breast cancer spine metastases: a matched-pair analysis.

BACKGROUND. There are few options for breast cancer patients with spinal metastases recurrent within a previous radiation treatment field. CyberKnife radiosurgery has been used in our institution to treat such patients. To evaluate their outcomes, as there are no comparable radiation treatment options, the outcomes were compared between 18 patients with spinal metastases from breast cancer treated with CyberKnife stereotactic radiosurgery, 17 of which had prior radiotherapy to the involved spinal region and were progressing, and 18 matched patients who received conventional external beam radiotherapy (CRT) up-front for spinal metastases. METHODS. Radiosurgery was delivered in 3 to 5 fractions to doses ranging from 2100 to 2800 cGy. Women were matched to patients in a CRT group with respect to time from original diagnosis to diagnosis of metastases, estrogen receptor / progesterone receptor (ER/PR) status, presence or absence of visceral metastases, prior radiotherapy, and prior chemotherapy. Survival and complications were compared between treatment groups. Surviving patients were followed out to 24 months. RESULTS. The CyberKnife and CRT groups were comparable along all matching dimensions and in performance status before treatment. Outcomes of treatment were similar for patients in both groups; ambulation, performance status, and pain worsened similarly across groups posttreatment. Survival and the number of complications appeared to favor the CyberKnife group, but the differences did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS. The statistical comparability of the CyberKnife and CRT groups reflects the small sample size and stringent requirements for significance of the matched-pair analysis. Nevertheless, comparability in these difficult cases shows that salvage CyberKnife treatment is as efficacious as initial CRT without added toxicity. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.
Chirplet Signal and Empirical Mode Decompositions of Ultrasonic Signals for Echo Detection and Estimation

In this study, the performance of chirplet signal decomposition (CSD) and empirical mode decomposition (EMD) coupled with Hilbert spectrum have been evaluated and compared for ultrasonic imaging applications. Numerical and experimental results indicate that both the EMD and CSD are able to decompose sparsely distributed chirplets from noise. In case of signals consisting of multiple interfering chirplets, the CSD algorithm, based on successive search for estimating optimal chirplet parameters, outperforms the EMD algorithm which estimates a series of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). In particular, we have utilized the EMD as a signal conditioning method for Hilbert time-frequency representation in order to estimate the arrival time and center frequency of chirplets in order to quantify the ultrasonic signals. Experimental results clearly exhibit that the combined EMD and CSD is an effective processing tools to analyze ultrasonic signals for target detection and pattern recognition.
The International Diffusion of Electrical Power Technology, 1870–1920

Some of the factors which influenced the international diffusion of the Gramme dynamo, the Edison dynamo, the revolvingfield alternator and the Alexanderson alternator will be examined in this paper. The selection of a few specific power generators as diffusant tracers represents a methodological compromise within a technological continuum bounded by a single invention such as a new armature winding and a complete power system such as Edison's. Each of the selected machines possessed a distinctive morphology so that the adaptations or mutations which may occur when the machine is introduced into a new national environment can be easily recognized.
Laser Ablation ICP-MS Developments and Trends for 2003

This annual review of laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) covers the year 2003. Significant advances were made in understanding laser-sample interactions. In particular, research defined the distribution of particle sizes produced by the interplay of laser wavelength, laser pulse width and the gas environment of ablation. A link between particle sizes and elemental and isotopic fractionation at both the ablation site and in the ICP was established. Experimental 15 7 nm and femtosecond laser systems were tested with promising results. The number of applications of LA-ICP-MS in geology and environmental Earth science continued to grow with particular interest in element concentration and isotope ratio profiling of materials, linking composition to time scales. In situ isotopic ratio measurements were increasingly made using multicollector magnetic sector ICP-MS instruments. Other applications of wide interest included bulk sampling of rocks and ores prepared as lithium borate glasses; low level analysis of platinum-group elements, rhenium and gold in sulfides, metal and silicates; in situ uranium-lead zircon geochronology; and melt and fluid inclusion analysis.
Synthetic Air Data System

A method for estimating the airspeed, angle of attack, and sideslip without using a conventional, pitot-static air data system is presented. The method relies on measurements from Global Positioning System, an inertial measurement unit, and a low-fidelity model of the aircraft’s dynamics, which are fused using two cascaded extended Kalman filters. In the cascaded architecture, the first filter uses information from the inertial measurement unit and Global Positioning System to estimate the aircraft’s absolute velocity and attitude. These estimates are used as the measurement updates for the second filter in which they are fused with the aircraft dynamics model to generate estimates of the airspeed, angle of attack and sideslip. Methods for dealing with the time and interstate correlation in the measurements coming from the first filter are discussed. Simulation and flight-test results of the method are presented. Simulation results show that the root mean square error of the airspeed estimate is less than...
Direct Observation of Hydrogen Atom Adducts to Nitromethane and Methyl Nitrite. A Variable-Time Neutralization-Reionization Mass Spectrometric and ab Initio/RRKM Study

Variable-time neutralization−reionization mass spectrometry was used to generate elusive radicals CH3NO2H• (1), CH3O(H)−NO• (2) CH3O−N(H)−O• (3), and CH3O−N−OH• (4) that represent hydrogen atom adducts to nitromethane and methyl nitrite, respectively. Radicals 1, 3, and 4 were stable species on the 3.7 μs time scale of the experiment. Radical 2 dissociated completely to CH3OH and NO. The major unimolecular dissociations of 1 formed CH3NO + OH• and CH3• + NO2H, whereas loss of H• to form CH3NO2 was insignificant. Gaussian 2(MP2) and density functional theory calculations provided the structures and bond dissociation energies of 1−4. The relevant parts of the potential-energy surface were used for RRKM and transition-state theory calculations of unimolecular dissociation kinetics. The calculated branching ratios for 1 were in accord with experiment. The unimolecular chemistry of radicals 1−4 formed by femtosecond collisional electron transfer can be accounted for by the properties of the ground electronic s...
Rapid Proton Transfer Mediated by a Strong Laser Field

Kinetic energy distributions of ${\mathrm{H}}^{+}$ ejected from a polyatomic molecule, anthraquinone, subjected to 60 fs, 800 nm laser pulses of intensity between 0.2 and $4.0\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{14}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{W}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$, reveal field-driven restructuring of the molecule prior to Coulomb explosion. Calculations demonstrate fast intramolecular proton migration into a field-dressed metastable potential energy minimum. The proton migration occurs in the direction perpendicular to the polarization of the laser field. Rapid field-mediated isomerization is an important new phenomenon in coupling of polyatomic molecules with intense lasers.
Monoclonal Antibodies against Bacteria

Highlights are presented of most recent work in which monoclonal antibodies have been instrumental in the study of bacteria and their products. Topics summarized pertain to human and veterinary medicines, dentistry, phytopathology, ichthyology, and bacterial ecophysiology, differentiation, evolution and methanogenic biotechnology.
Mn4, Mn6, and Mn11 Clusters from the Use of Bulky Diphenyl(pyridine-2-yl)methanol

The synthesis, crystal structure, and magnetochemical characterization are reported of three new Mn clusters [Mn4O2(O2CBut)5(dphmp)3] (1), [Mn6O4(OMe)2(O2CPh)4(dphmp)4] (2), and [Mn11O7(OMe)7(O2CPh)7(dphmp)4(MeOH)2] (3). They were obtained from the use of diphenyl(pyridine-2-yl)methanol (dphmpH), a bulkier version of the 2-(hydroxymethyl)pyridine (hmpH) reagent commonly employed previously in Mn chemistry. The reaction of dphmpH with MnCl2·4H2O and NaO2CBut in MeCN/MeOH (30 mL, 5:1 v/v) led to the isolation of tetranuclear complex 1, whereas the analogous reaction with NaO2CPh gave hexanuclear complex 2. When the 5:1 solvent ratio in the latter reaction was changed to 1:29, the isolated product was now undecanuclear complex 3. Complexes 1−3 all possess rare or unprecedented Mnx topologies: Complex 1 possesses a [Mn4(μ3-O)2]8+ (4MnIII) butterfly core, one edge of which is additionally bridged by an alkoxide arm of a dphmp− chelate; complex 2 possesses a [Mn6(μ4-O)2(μ3-O)2(μ3-OMe)2]8+ (6MnIII) core with a f...
A cross-sectional study of barriers to personal health record use among patients attending a safety-net clinic.

Background Personal health records (PHR) may improve patients' health by providing access to and context for health information. Among patients receiving care at a safety-net HIV/AIDS clinic, we examined the hypothesis that a mental health (MH) or substance use (SU) condition represents a barrier to engagement with web-based health information, as measured by consent to participate in a trial that provided access to personal (PHR) or general (non-PHR) health information portals and by completion of baseline study surveys posted there.
Current Trends in Preclinical PET System Design

PET is used in laboratory small-animal research to visualize and track certain molecular processes associated with diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and neurologic disorders in living small-animal models of disease. The current and next generation of PET molecular imaging probes, assays, and imaging systems still have substantial room to improve PET's ability to detect, visualize, and quantify low concentrations of probe interacting with its target, which we refer to as the molecular sensitivity. This article focuses on the challenges of advancing PET system and some of the new imaging system technologies under investigation to enhance PET's molecular sensitivity substantially.
Custom design of components and power supplies for pulsed power systems

This paper presents an overview of custom design requirements for components and power supplies used in pulsed power systems as well as some interesting examples. Various custom design criteria for energy storage capacitors, energy-absorbing resistors, high current fuses, and capacitor charging power supplies are described. In addition, specially designed components are characterized through both simulation and experimental measurements for pulse power system applications.