cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Spatial Planning Principles as an Active Agent: Making Greece a Global Market for Sensitized Tourism

The urban, built, or natural environment is the host of all human activities including tourism. For many years though it has been treated as the background or the scenery for tourism and its role had not been fully explored. It is clear the tourism relies on the environment in order to establish the attraction factor but that is not and should not be the only correlation. The environment is not there merely for observation and admiration, it has an active role to formulate the experience, educate its user and be an active player in the tourism industry. Tourism is evolving from the observation era, to the age of experience and it is time to move one more step further into interaction and co-creation. This paper underlines the importance of negotiating tourism with spatial terms and managing the development of tourism with spatial tools such as participatory planning. The concept is taken a step further by examining the importance of tourists as individuals and as a group that can volunteer and with the spirit of solidarity take active part in the development and prosperity of a destination.
Impact of an electronic-based assessment on student pharmacist performance in a required therapeutics course.

Abstract Introduction The use of technology in the classroom has continued to grow, and with the advancement of classroom management systems and online exam software, there are opportunities to administer exams electronically. This study assessed the impact of electronic-based assessments on examination scores in a required therapeutics course. Methods This was a retrospective, single-centered, observational study including second professional year pharmacy students enrolled in a required, one semester therapeutics course. Four assessments were administered each semester. Lecture content and exam format, a mixture of multiple-choice questions and free response written cases, did not differ significantly between years. Assessments administered during the first two years were printed on paper, while assessments administered during the third and fourth year of the study were all electronic, submitted through a classroom management system. Following institutional review board approval, the change in mean overall examination scores between paper and electronic-based assessments were analyzed. Results Of the 948 students enrolled in this study, there was no difference in overall mean scores between paper and electronic-based assessments (74.8% vs. 73.8%). In addition, there was no difference in mean examination scores between overall individual paper and electronic Exam 1 through 4 or overall multiple-choice or free response scores between paper and electronic-based assessments. Conclusions Scores did not differ between paper and electronic-based assessments. From this study, test method does not appear to impact exam results.
Parking futures: An international review of trends and speculation

The explosion of low-cost, on-demand taxi services and the anticipation of an autonomous vehicle future has made transportation the center of debate and discussion for the first time since the massive expansion of the US highway system in the 1950s. Yet the realm of parking boasts innovations and developments far beyond the high-profile issues of TNCs and AVs. Rather, innovation in parking is happening in many cases quietly on a wide variety of fronts, including technology, public policy, and design. This paper serves an overview of emerging trends in parking, primarily within the US context. We identify and outline five developments and the pertinent technologies helping to catalyze change: unbundling parking costs, reducing parking minimums, pricing and allocating curb space dynamically, designing hybrid parking structures, and preparing for the autonomous era and “mobility as a service.” This paper presents these trends with illustrative examples highlighting current practices, governance challenges, and possible future scenarios.
Abstract B31: Microbiota composition in bilateral healthy breast tissue and breast tumors

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the differences in breast tissue microbiota composition by breast side (left versus right) within an individual woman and compare the microbiota of healthy and breast tumor tissue between women. We further aimed to determine whether certain bacterial taxa may be associated with breast tumors. Methods: Bilateral healthy breast tissue samples (n=36) were collected from ten women who received routine mammoplasty procedures at the University of Florida Department of Surgery. Archived breast tumor samples (n=10) were obtained from an established biorepository. Bacterial DNA was extracted from tissues, amplified via polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform. Microbiota data were analyzed using QIIME and RStudio. Results: The most abundant phyla in both tumor and healthy tissues were Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. A total of 38 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found to be significantly different in terms of differential abundance between tumor and healthy tissues (absolute effect size range: 0.761-3.98). The OTUs with the largest absolute effect size associated with higher relative abundance in breast tumors were of Flavobacterium species (R2=3.98), Acinetobacter species (R2=3.64), [Mogibacteriaceae] family (R2=3.34), and Clostridiales order (R2=3.21). Alpha diversity (Shannon Diversity Index) was similar in healthy and tumor tissue (4.98 vs. 4.84; p=0.350). Based on unweighted UniFrac measures, breast tumor samples clustered distinctly from healthy samples (R2=0.10; p=0.001). Microbiota composition in healthy samples clustered within women (R2=0.20; p=0.012) and by breast side (left or right) within a woman (R2=0.36; p=0.001). Conclusion: We identified significant differences in microbiota composition between women and between breasts of the same woman. These results warrant further investigation to elucidate the potential relationship between breast tissue microbiota and breast cancer. Citation Format: Emily M. Klann, Jessica M. Williamson, Massimiliano S. Tagliamonte, Maria Ukhanova, Jaya Ruth Asirvatham, Harvey Chim, Lusine Yaghjyan, Volker Mai. Microbiota composition in bilateral healthy breast tissue and breast tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Microbiome, Viruses, and Cancer; 2020 Feb 21-24; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(8 Suppl):Abstract nr B31.
An Antitrust Framework for False Advertising

Federal law presumes that false advertising harms competition. Federal law also presumes that false advertising is harmless or even helpful to competition. Contradiction is not unknown to the law, of course. This contradiction, though, is acute. For not only are both regimes at issue designed to protect competition, but they are both enforced by the same agency: the Federal Trade Commission, which targets “unfair competition” through antitrust and consumer protection enforcement. Courts’ treatment of false advertising in antitrust cases makes no sense. While courts have reasonably evidenced concern that not all false advertising violates antitrust law, the remedy is not to abandon the false advertising/antitrust interface. Instead, the solution is to focus on the actors most likely to harm the market: monopolists and attempted monopolists. This Essay proposes an antitrust framework for false advertising claims. It introduces a presumption that monopolists engaging in false advertising violate antitrust law and a rebuttal if the false advertising is ineffective. The framework also applies to attempted monopolization by incorporating factors such as falsity, materiality, and harm inherent in false advertising law, along with competition-centered issues like targeting new market entrants. Antitrust has dismissed false advertising that entrenches monopoly power for too long. This Essay seeks to resolve the contradiction in the law by showing how false advertising threatens the proper functioning of markets. Such an approach promises benefits for false advertising law, antitrust law, and consumers.
Reducing Breast Cancer Risk Across Generations Through Family-Based Interventions

Multi-level interventions that address risk during key windows of susceptibility (WOS) and consider both population-wide and targeted interventions within families are needed for breast cancer. This review provides an overview of current family-based interventions for breast cancer risk reduction and outlines recommendations for future family-based interventions. Few studies have taken a family-based approach for reducing breast cancer risk across generations except for the Daughters and Mothers Against Breast Cancer trial, a weight loss intervention for postmenopausal survivors and their adult daughters. However, this trial was not focused on specific WOS and it did not involve dyads living in a shared household environment. The utility of family-based interventions for reducing breast cancer risk remains largely untapped. Recommendations for future interventions include targeting dyads living in a shared household environment, utilizing intermediate biomarkers of risk, and recruiting families at higher risk of early-onset breast cancer.
Immune-related adverse events: what we've learned and where we're heading.

Over the past decade, the treatment of both solid and hematologic malignancies has been revolutionized by therapies that harness the immune response. Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), monoclonal...
Fast Foveation for LIDARs, Projectors and Cameras

Most cameras today capture images without considering scene content. In contrast, animal eyes have fast mechanical movements that control how the scene is imaged in detail by the fovea, where visual acuity is highest. This concentrates computational (i.e. neuronal) resources in places where they are most needed. The prevalence of foveation, and the wide variety of it, makes it very clear that this is an effective visual design strategy. If robotic drones had this kind of low power vision, we could imagine massive impact on a variety of fields. Allowing these small devices to reliably sense their surroundings has the potential for a major transformation in computer vision. In this talk, I cover our recent work on creating cameras and algorithms that enable fast, selective imaging. The key challenge is that these algorithms require novel camera designs with fast and low-power control of the physical properties that influence image formation. I will discuss examples of such cameras, LIDARs and projectors that utilize newly available, next generation micro-mechanical optics.
Terahertz emission from thin annular and slitted annular Bi2212 microstrip antennas

The transverse magnetic wave functions generated from the intrinsic Josephson junctions in the high-temperature superconductor Bi2212 are found for annular and singly slitted microstrip antennas. From the wave functions, the Love equivalence principles are used to generate the emission from the uniform and cavity modes (wave functions). For most of the annular wave functions, the infinite degeneracy of the modes with line nodes through the geometric center most likely will result in no cavity mode enhancement of the output power. Forming the slit breaks that infinite degeneracy into a double degeneracy of modes that are odd or even about the slit. Pictures of the wave functions and the uniform and cavity mode contributions to the output power distribution will be shown. The consequences for forming arrays of such devices will be discussed.
A critical review of the refutation text literature: Methodological confounds, theoretical problems, and possible solutions

Refutation texts, rhetorical tools designed to reduce misconceptions, have garnered attention across four decades and many studies. Yet, the ability of a refutation text to change a learner’s mind ...
Glutathione-coordinated metal complexes as substrates for cellular transporters

Glutathione is the major thiol-containing species in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes and plays a wide variety of roles, including detoxification of metals by sequestration, reduction, and efflux. ABC transporters such as MRP1 and MRP2 detoxify the cell from certain metals by exporting the cations as a metal-glutathione complex. The ability of the bacterial Atm1 protein to efflux metal-glutathione complexes appears to have evolved over time to become the ABCB7 transporter in mammals, located in the inner mitochondrial membrane. No longer needed for the role of cellular detoxification, ABCB7 appears to be used to transport glutathione-coordinated iron-sulfur clusters from mitochondria to the cytosol.
Engineering Dirhodium Artificial Metalloenzymes for Diazo Coupling Cascade Reactions

Artificial metalloenzymes (ArMs) are commonly used to control the stereoselectivity of catalytic reactions, but controlling chemoselectivity remains challenging. In this study, we engineer a dirhodium ArM to catalyze diazo cross-coupling to form an alkene that, in a one-pot cascade reaction, is reduced to an alkane with high enantioselectivity (typically >99% e.e.) by an alkene reductase. The numerous protein and small molecule components required for the cascade reaction had minimal effect on ArM catalysis. Directed evolution of the ArM led to improved yields and E/Z selectivities for a variety of substrates, which translated to cascade reaction yields. MD simulations of ArM variants were used to understand the structural role of the cofactor on ArM conformational dynamics. These results highlight the ability of ArMs to control both catalyst stereoselectivity and chemoselectivity to enable reactions in complex media that would otherwise lead to undesired side reactions.
Iron-rich microstructure records of high temperature multi-component silicate melt behavior in nuclear fallout

Abstract Above-ground nuclear explosions that interact with the surface of the earth entrain materials from the surrounding environment, influencing the resulting physical and chemical evolution of the fireball, which can affect the final chemical phase and mobility of hazardous radionuclides that are dispersed in the environment as fallout particles. The interaction of iron with a nuclear explosion is of specific interest due to the potential for iron to act as a redox buffer and because of the likelihood of significant masses of metals to be present in urban environments. We investigated fallout from a historic surface interacting nuclear explosion conducted on a steel tower and report the discovery of widespread and diverse iron-rich micro-structures preserved within the samples, including crystalline dendrites and micron-scale iron-rich spheres with liquid immiscibility textures. We assert these micro-structures reflect local redox conditions and cooling rates and can inform interpretation of high temperature events, enabling new insights into fireball condensation physics and chemistry when metals from the local environment (i.e. structural steel) are vaporized or entrained. These observations also significantly expand the availability of silicate immiscibility datasets applicable to rapidly quenched systems such as meteorite impact melt glass.
The Semantics-Pragmatics Distinction

I argue that the theoretical basis we need for distinctions in the semantics-pragmatics dispute is to be found by noting that languages are representational systems of symbols that scientists attribute to species to explain their communicative behaviors. We then have a powerful theoretical interest in distinguishing, (a), the representational properties of an utterance that arise simply from the speaker’s exploitation of a linguistic system from, (b), any other properties that may constitute the speaker’s “message”. I call the former properties “what-is-said” and “semantic”, the latter, “what is meant but not said” and “pragmatic. From this theoretical basis I argue that what-is-said is constituted by properties arising from (i) linguistic conventions, (ii) disambiguations, and (iii) reference fixings. Setting aside novel uses of language, I then frame the semantics-pragmatics dispute as one between these two doctrines. According to SEM, what-is-said (in my sense) is typically the truth conditional speaker-meaning (content) of an utterance. According to PRAG, in contrast, the truth conditional speaker-meaning (content) of an utterance, the message conveyed, is seldom, perhaps never, constituted solely by what-is-said (in my sense). I foreshadow the argument in Chaps. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 that the striking examples produced by Linguistic Pragmatists can be accommodated by SEM. Evidence for this can be found in the regular use of a certain form with a certain speaker meaning, a regularity that is best explained by supposing that there is a linguistic, probably conventional, rule of so using the expression.
Emulating complex simulations by machine learning methods

The aim of the present paper is to construct an emulator of a complex biological system simulator using a machine learning approach. More specifically, the simulator is a patient-specific model that integrates metabolic, nutritional, and lifestyle data to predict the metabolic and inflammatory processes underlying the development of type-2 diabetes in absence of familiarity. Given the very high incidence of type-2 diabetes, the implementation of this predictive model on mobile devices could provide a useful instrument to assess the risk of the disease for aware individuals. The high computational cost of the developed model, being a mixture of agent-based and ordinary differential equations and providing a dynamic multivariate output, makes the simulator executable only on powerful workstations but not on mobile devices. Hence the need to implement an emulator with a reduced computational cost that can be executed on mobile devices to provide real-time self-monitoring. Similarly to our previous work, we propose an emulator based on a machine learning algorithm but here we consider a different approach which turn out to have better performances, indeed in terms of root mean square error we have an improvement of two order magnitude. We tested the proposed emulator on samples containing different number of simulated trajectories, and it turned out that the fitted trajectories are able to predict with high accuracy the entire dynamics of the simulator output variables. We apply the emulator to control the level of inflammation while leveraging on the nutritional input. The proposed emulator can be implemented and executed on mobile health devices to perform quick-and-easy self-monitoring assessments.
RNA metabolism in the brain.

Publisher Summary This chapter explains RNA metabolism in the brain. It discusses the basic cellular metabolic rate of brain as a tissue and in terms of its involvement with certain specialized brain activities, such as electrical processing, axonal transport, neuronal regeneration, and drug interactions. In addition, the effects of behavior and learning on RNA metabolism are discussed. A variety of methods have been used to determine brain RNA content for comparison with other organs. The results, in large measure, depend upon the parameters used as a reference for expressing the data. Measurements of RNA using a given wet weight of tissue give deceptively low values for brain white matter and higher values for gray matter. The measurements that report the total RNA content in a given cell type is unreliable because it is difficult to dissect out the cells of the brain without eliminating a large proportion of their processes. Thus, such measurements of RNA are biased toward the low side. The most informative measure of RNA levels is the ratio of RNA to DNA content. The chapter also explains anatomical and subcellular distribution of brain RNA.
Energetics of mixing in ThO2–CeO2 fluorite solid solutions

Abstract Mixing enthalpies (Δ H mix ) of ThO 2 –CeO 2 solid solutions with respect to cubic fluorite ThO 2 and CeO 2 have been measured by high temperature oxide melt solution calorimetry. The system shows a slightly positive mixing enthalpy, with a maximum value of Δ H mix = 3.7 ± 2.5 kJ/mol at 50% Ce/(Ce + Th). Based on the regular-solution model, with an interaction parameter of 15.1 ± 2.2 kJ/mol fit to the measured data, the phase diagram is predicted to feature a miscibility gap with a calculated critical temperature of 908 ± 132 K. The results are complemented by density-functional-theory and Monte-Carlo calculations, which provide positive mixing enthalpies and a miscibility-gap phase diagram, in qualitative agreement with calorimetric results. The calculations suggest small effects of short-range order (clustering) on the mixing enthalpy above the miscibility gap. The calculated values of Δ H mix are within the error bars of the measured values, but consistently smaller in magnitude. An analysis of the calculated results indicates that the dominant contribution to the mixing enthalpy arises from the elastic energy associated with cation size mismatch, allowing predictions of the behavior in ThO 2 –UO 2 and ThO 2 –PuO 2 systems. The analysis also suggests that the slightly smaller values of the computed Δ H mix relative to experiment can be attributed to an underestimation of the magnitude of the elastic moduli in the calculations.
Antiplatelet and anticoagulation therapy in microlaryngeal surgery.

Objectives/Hypothesis Indications for antiplatelet and anticoagulation use are expanding. There is no evidence to direct therapeutic management in patients undergoing microlaryngeal surgeries. Our aim was to compare bleeding complications between microlaryngeal surgeries performed for patients preoperatively taken off and maintained on antiplatelet and/or anticoagulation therapy. Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods Patients undergoing microlaryngeal surgeries (2008–2009) on baseline antiplatelet and/or anticoagulation therapy were identified. Records were reviewed to determine whether therapy was stopped preoperatively. The primary outcome, bleeding complication, was compared between those taken off and maintained on therapy. Patient characteristics, surgical data, and outcomes were assessed. Results Of 287 microlaryngeal surgeries, 26% were performed for patients on antiplatelet (23%) and/or anticoagulation (3%) therapy. There was no difference in bleeding complications between patients' naive to and on baseline antiplatelet or anticoagulation therapy [naive: 3.8% vs. on: 5.3%, P = 0.58] and no thromboembolic events. Among surgeries performed for patients on baseline antiplatelet therapy, 35% preoperatively stopped therapy. No observed difference in bleeding complications was observed between those taken off or maintained on therapy [off: 8.0% vs. on: 4.9%, P = 0.63]. Of 3% of surgeries performed for patients on warfarin, no bleeding complications occurred, even among the 8/10 with therapeutic international normalized ratios. Conclusions Perioperative management decisions regarding antiplatelet and anticoagulation therapy are becoming more common. Results suggest that antiplatelet therapy can be maintained during microlaryngeal surgery without increasing bleeding risk. Further prospective research is required to confirm findings and rigorously investigate the safety of continuing warfarin and other anticoagulation therapy in these surgeries. Level of Evidence 4. Laryngoscope, 124:928–934, 2014
The Processive Degradation of Individual Polyribonucleotide Chains I. ESCHERICHIA COLI RIBONUCLEASE II

Abstract The experiments reported here suggest that Escherichia coli ribonuclease II, an exonuclease, hydrolyzes a given polyribonucleotide chain to completion before releasing a small, resistant oligonucleotide and initiating hydrolysis of another chain. Investigation of the products of hydrolysis of oligo- and polyribonucleotides indicates that enzymatic degradation starts at that end of the chain bearing a 3'-hydroxyl group. The enzyme shows a strong preference for long polymers as substrates, although oligonucleotides are hydrolyzed if present at sufficiently high concentration.
Intermittent Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Microscopic Colitis: Variant or Epiphenomenon?

Background: Idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease and microscopic colitis are distinct entities; however, some clinical features overlap. Aims: To identify if these alternative diagnoses may direct clinical therapy more effectively. Methods: We describe seven patients who had intermittent phases of either inflammatory bowel disease or microscopic colitis in at least two separate occasions with matching clinical and endoscopic pictures. Results: Diarrhea was the presenting symptom in all cases. In two of seven cases, the initial diagnosis was microscopic colitis, and in five cases it was inflammatory bowel disease. Addition of medication specific to diagnosis had resulted in improvement in six out of seven cases. Among the seven patients we reported, three had used nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, a well-known trigger, before the onset of microscopic colitis. Conclusions: Inflammatory bowel disease and microscopic colitis are distinct clinicopathologic entities that may coexist in the same patient. Triggering factors for microscopic colitis in the general population can also be the culprit in inflammatory bowel disease patients. Microscopic colitis may present as an epiphenomenon which is superimposed on predisposing inflammatory bowel disease patients. A thorough synthesis of all clinical, medication, endoscopic, radiology, and pathological data is crucial in these patients.
Transaortic valve implantation via occluded saphenous vein grafts—A novel access route for transcatheter aortic valve delivery

Transaortic valve implantation via direct aortic puncture has been shown to be useful alternative to more traditional access routes. In patients with previously placed ascending aorta saphenous vein grafts, access to the aortic valve may be limited. We therefore sought to detail the utility of a new approach for accessing the ascending aorta during transcatheter aortic valve implantation via the hood of previously placed saphenous vein grafts. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Comparison of Energy Expenditure During "Wii Boxing" Versus Heavy Bag Boxing in Young Adults.

Abstract Traditional computer videogames are sedentary, whereas new computer videogames, such as the Nintendo® (Redmond, WA) “Wii™ Sports” games, allow users to physically interact while playing the sport. Energy expenditure (EE), heart rate (HR), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during heavy bag boxing versus the Nintendo “Wii Boxing” game were compared. Fifteen males and 14 females (mean age, 25.6 years; height, 171.3 cm; weight, 71.8 kg) randomly selected (by a coin toss) heavy bag boxing or “Wii Boxing” for their first test session and completed the other protocol at their second session at least 2 days later. Each session lasted for a total duration of 30 minutes and consisted of 10 3-minute exercise bouts with measurements of HR, RPE, and EE obtained from indirect calorimetry. A paired-samples t test was used to analyze the results. Significant differences were found for HR (bag, 156 beats per minute; Wii, 138 beats per minute; P=0.001) and RPE (bag, 13.8; Wii, 11.4; P=0.0001) but not for EE (...
The duration of the hemagglutinin response in the serum of children with shigellosis and salmonellosis.

A study of the duration of the hemagglutinin response in the serum in 18 children with shigellosis and/or salmonellosis (total of 20 infections) revealed that, in the absence of the chronic carrier state or chronic or recurrent infection, a substantial reduction in the hemagglutinin titer in the serum or a return to normal titer took place within a period of from 4 months to 2 years. This decrease was not paralleled by similar changes in the titers of hemagglutinins against heterologous enteric bacteria, nor was the hemagglutinin response to the infection associated with a parallel rise of heterologous hemagglutinins. The hemagglutinin titers were invariably higher (from 2-to 64-fold) than those of the bacterial agglutinins. The usefulness of the enterobacterial hemagglutination method for the detection of subclinical enterobacterial infections is illustrated. Criteria for the serologic diagnosis of these maladies are presented.
Applications of direct numerical simulation to complex turbulent flows

The technique of direct numerical simulation (DNS) is discussed with emphasis on application to complex turbulent flows. Several specific DNS schemes for time-integration of the governing three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are briefly described. The application of the methods reviewed here involve first the simulation of a spherical particle in a flat-plate boundary layer providing insight into the processes of bypass transition. Secondly, a turbulent square duct flow simulation has yielded a detailed understanding of the origins of secondary flow in a streamwise corner in addition to allowing direct assessment of turbulence models for such complex turbulent flows. Finally, the simulation of a supersonic turbulent wall-shear layer has allowed the evaluation of compressibility effects and has revealed the structure of compressible turbulence close to a wall.
Rule-based XML

Legal contracts and litigation documents common to the American legal system were encoded in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). XML also represents rules about the contracts and litigation procedure. In addition to an expert system tool that allows one to make inferences with that engine, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) generates the XML representing the rules. A rulebase is developed by marking up examples of the XML to be interpreted and the XML to be generated, analogously to Query By Example. This article provides a broader context of the synergy between XML and artificial intelligence by including discussions of: (1) the role of Artificial Intelligence in handling routine litigation; (2) how the use of XML enables legal expert systems to get their `input' without the user having to enter the same information again for the expert system;(3) the advantages of XML markup over other forms of markup for documents; (4) the relationship between XML and ontologies; (5) other projects using XML with rules or legal affairs.
Forecasting of weather effects for the deep space network

The paper presents a proposed approach for Ka-band link management for deep space applications using daily weather forecasts and discusses the tools that will be employed for operations. Performance metrics are also presented. The proposed approach will be tested in a two-year experiment campaign.
Analysis of Trichotomous Pharmaceutical Endpoints

ABSTRACT Many important clinical trial endpoints are measured on an ordered categorical scale. These include objective tumor response in oncology trials, the Thombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI)flow in cardiovascular trials, and the American College of Radiology (ACR) criterion in rheumatology trials. A common tendency among researchers is to simplify the ordered outcomes and collapse the data into a 2 × 2 contingency table in order to perform simpler statistical tests, such as the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Recently, more appropriate approaches, such as adaptive tests, have been developed for the analysis of ordered categorical endpoints. Each test in the adaptive class of tests is exact and balances good global power with nearly optimal power to detect a specific alternative of most interest. Prior knowledge of the direction of the treatment effect and the level of confidence in this prior information can be used to select a specific test from this class. However, little guidance has...
Microscale ethanol vapor ejector and injector

Two non-rotating pumping components, a jet ejector and injector, were designed and tested. Two jet ejectors were designed and tested to induce a suction draft using a supersonic micronozzle. Three-dimensional axisymmetric nozzles were microfabricated to produce throat diameters of 187 μm and 733 μm with design expansion ratios near 2.5:1. The motive nozzles achieved design mass flow efficiencies above 95% compared to isentropic calculations. Ethanol vapor was used to motivate and entrain ambient air. Experimental data indicate that the ejector can produce a sufficient suction draft to satisfy both microengine mass flow and power off-take requirements to enable its substitution for high speed microscale pumping turbomachinery. An ethanol vapor driven injector component was designed and tested to pressurize feed liquid ethanol. The injector was supplied with 2.70 atmosphere ethanol vapor and pumped liquid ethanol up to a total pressure of 3.02 atmospheres. Dynamic pressure at the exit of the injector was computed by measuring the displacement of a cantilevered beam placed over the outlet stream. The injector employed a three-dimensional axisymmetric nozzle with a throat diameter of 733 μm and a three-dimensional converging axisymmetric nozzle. The experimental data indicate that the injector can pump feed liquid into a pressurized boiler, enabling small scale liquid pumping without any moving parts. Microscale injectors could enable microscale engines and rockets to satisfy pumping and feedheating requirements without high speed microscale turbomachinery.
Survival, Growth, Movement, and Distribution of Two Brook Trout Strains Stocked into Small Adirondack Streams

Abstract Six field trials were conducted in two streams to compare the survival, growth, movement, and distribution of young-of-year Assinica strain and Temiscamie strain brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis 15–91 d after stocking. No consistent differences between strains in recovery after stocking or in growth were detected; however, movement and distribution within streams differed consistently between strains. Approximately four Temiscamie to one Assinica fish moved downstream 2–15 h after stocking. At the conclusion of five trials, the strains were dissimilarly distributed within streams (distribution was not assessed in the sixth trial): a large proportion of Assinica fish were found in the most upstream section of the streams, whereas a large proportion of Temiscamie fish were found in the most downstream section. These differences in movement and distribution may be related to the origins of the strains in large lake systems in Quebec, where spawning occurs in inlet and outlet streams. Assinica fish,...
Fractal properties of escape from a two-dimensional potential

Abstract This paper summarizes a numerical investigation of the escape of particles from the two-dimensional potential V(x, y) = 1 2 x 2 + 1 2 y 2 - ϵx 2 y 2 , for variableϵ but fixed energy h = 0.12. For ϵ 1 ≡ 1 (4h) ≈ 2.08 , escape is impossible, but for ϵ≥ϵ1, particles will escape. For such larger ϵ, the final outcome, as characterized by the time and direction in which particles escape, is a smooth function of initial conditions in certain phase space regions. However, in other regions the evolution evidences an extremely sensitive dependence on initial conditions indicative of a complex microscopic evolution. For sufficiently large values of ϵ>ϵ2≈4.90±0.01, these sensitive regions appear to exhibit a fractal structure with simple scaling properties implying that, at a coarse-grained level, the late time behavior is quite regular. Specifically, the evolution is asymptotically Markovian in the sense that, for particles that have not yet escaped, at late times the coarse-grained escape probabilities per unit time tend toward time-independent values p∞ > 0 independent of the initial conditions. The asymptotic values p∞ and the rate of convergence towards these values were examined as a function of ϵ and the scale of the coarse-graining, and were observed to exhibit simple scaling behaviour. At least for values of ϵ≤5.7, p∞∞(ϵ−ϵ2)α, with a critical exponent α≈0.49±0.05. For a coarse-graining corresponding to a linear scale r=0.05, the time T required for convergence towards this value scales as T(ϵ)∞(ϵ−ϵ2-β, with β≈0.39+0.14-0.06. The difference γ≡α-β=0. 09+0.04-0.02. The value p∞ appears independent of r, but the convergence time scales as T(r)∞r-δ, with δ=0.08±0.03, seemingly independent of ϵ. To within statistical uncertainties, α − β − δ ≈0.
Reflections on the approach to treatment of a mycologic disaster

On 18 September 2012, health authorities began to react to a multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis of unprecedented magnitude, traceable to 3 lots of preservative-free methylprednisolone compounded in one pharmacy ([1][1]). The steroids had been used mostly for epidural injection, largely causing
Steady State Analytical Equation of Motion of Linear Shaped Charges Jet Based on the Modification of Birkhoff Theory

Birkhoff theory exhibits an analytical steady state liner collapse model of shaped charges followed by jetting process. It also provides the fundamental idea in study of shaped charges and has widened its application in many areas, including a configuration where the detonation front strikes the entire liner surface at the same time providing the α = β (liner apex angle α, and the liner collapse point angle β) condition in the literature. Upon consideration of the detonation front propagation along the lateral length of the core charge in LSCs (linear shaped charges), a further modification of the Birkhoff theory motivated by the unique geometrical condition of LSCs and the α = β condition is necessary to correctly describe the jetting behavior of LSCs which is different than that of CSCs (conical shaped charges). Based on such unique geometrical properties of LSCs, the original Birkhoff theory was modified and an analytical steady state LSCs model was built. The analytical model was then compared to the numerical simulation results created from Autodyn™ in terms of M/C ratio and apex angles in three different sized LSCs, and it exhibits favorable results in a limited range.
Towards the effective temporal association mining of spam blacklists

IP blacklists are a well-regarded anti-spam mechanism that capture global spamming patterns. These properties make such lists a practical ground-truth by which to study email spam behaviors. Observing one blacklist for nearly a year-and-a-half, we collected data on roughly half a billion listing events. In this paper, that data serves two purposes.First, we conduct a measurement study on the dynamics of blacklists and email spam at-large. The magnitude/duration of the data enables scrutiny of long-term trends, at scale. Further, these statistics help parameterize our second task: the mining of blacklist history for temporal association rules. That is, we search for IP addresses with correlated histories. Strong correlations would suggest group members are not independent entities and likely share botnet membership.Unfortunately, we find that statistically significant groupings are rare. This result is reinforced when rules are evaluated in terms of their ability to: (1) identify shared botnet members, using ground-truth from botnet infiltrations and sinkholes, and (2) predict future blacklisting events. In both cases, performance improvements over a control classifier are nominal. This outcome forces us to re-examine the appropriateness of blacklist data for this task, and suggest refinements to our mining model that may allow it to better capture the dynamics by which botnets operate.
On-orbit performance of the Extended Gyrocompass Controller for the TOPEX/Poseidon spacecraft

The paper describes the Earth Acquisition Mode Extended Gyrocompass Controller flown aboard the NASA-CNES TOPEX/Poseidon Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem spacecraft for providing highly accurate measurements of the surface elevations over all the ocean basins. Particular attention is given to the on-orbit performance of the Extended Gyrocompass Controller used during quaternion initialization and Update Filter convergence processing, both of these procedures requiring maintenance of the spacecraft attitude control and knowledge. The development of the Extended Gyrocompass control technique is reviewed, and the results of the on-orbit yaw attitude control and knowledge performance provided by this algorithm are presented.
Feminist Epistemology, Contextualism, and Philosophical Skepticism

Abstract: This essay explores the relation between feminist epistemology and the problem of philosophical skepticism. Even though feminist epistemology has not typically focused on skepticism as a problem, I argue that a feminist contextualist epistemology may solve many of the difficulties facing recent contextualist responses to skepticism. Philosophical skepticism appears to succeed in casting doubt on the very possibility of knowledge by shifting our attention to abnormal contexts. I argue that this shift in context constitutes an attempt to exercise unearned social and epistemic power and that it should be resisted on epistemic and pragmatic grounds. I conclude that skepticism is a problem that feminists can and should take up as they address the social aspects of traditional epistemological problems.
Higher-dimensional application of rigorous coupled-wave analysis to quasicrystalline gratings

A novel approach for analysis of the scattering response of aperiodic quasicrystalline gratings is proposed. The method exploits the fact that mathematically quasicrystals can be obtained as irrational projections of higher-dimensional periodic structures onto the physical space. The periodicity in the super-space allows for application of plane wave expansion methods such as Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis (RCWA) and projecting the solutions onto the physical space. Analytically, this technique is far superior to the current principal method of analysis for quasicrystals which approximates them as periodic supercells. As an example, the method is applied to a Fibonacci dielectric grating and there is perfect agreement with the results obtained using the super-cell approach.
Photothermal heterodyne phase imaging of gold seed and germanium nanowire

Photothermal heterodyne imaging has demonstrated a high sensitivity of seeing single metallic nanoparticles of diameter down to 5 nm. However, rare attention has been paid to the phase of the photothermal heterodyne signal relative to that of the modulated pump beam. We show that the phase of the photothermal heterodyne signal from semiconducting nanomaterials such as silicon and germanium nanowires is around 0 degree, while that from metallic nanomaterials such as silver and gold nanoparticles (NPs) is around 180 degrees. Using this property we have been able to distinguish gold seeds from germanium nanowire (GeNW) body in a label-free and contact-free manner. A theoretical model based on light scattering by a fluctuating dielectric material was used to explain the origin of different phases in the photothermal heterodyne signal.
Sp3 is a transcriptional activator of the human α2(I) collagen gene

Sp3 is an ubiquitously expressed transcription factor, closely related to Sp1 but, unlike Sp1, it often functions as a transcriptional repressor. In this study we investigated the role of Sp3 in regulating the transcription of the human alpha2(I) collagen gene. We show that Sp1 and Sp3 specifically bind to three of the previously characterized cis -elements in this promoter, including two positive cis-elements between -303 and -271 and -128 and -123, and a repressor site between -164 and -159, but do not bind to the fourth cis-element bound by CBF. Functional analyses of Sp3 and Sp1 in Drosophila cells indicate that each protein transactivates the human alpha2(I) collagen promoter with equal potency and, when tested together, have an additive effect on the promoter activity. Furthermore, in vitro transcription assays demonstrate that both Sp1 and Sp3 are capable of supporting transcription from the collagen promoter independently of each other. However, when activities of both Sp1 and Sp3 are blocked with specific antibodies, in vitro transcription from this promoter is almost completely abolished. The results of this study demonstrate that Sp3 is as potent an activator of the human alpha2(I) collagen promoter as is Sp1 and that a transcriptional activity of the human alpha2(I) promoter is dependent on both proteins.
Paget’s Disease of the Breast: There Is a Role for Breast-Conserving Therapy

Background The optimal surgical management of Paget’s disease of the breast remains to be defined. Mastectomy has been the standard of care, but several institutions have recently advocated breast-conserving surgery, particularly for patients with minimal disease. In an effort to develop rational treatment guidelines, we examined our institutional experience with Paget’s disease of the breast.
Overexpression of eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) in breast carcinoma

BACKGROUND Eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF-4E) is a 25-kilodalton phosphoprotein that binds specifically to mRNA as the initial step for mRNA translation. An elevated level of eIF4E has been associated with the up-regulation of various protooncogene products. Transfection of cell lines by viral vectors with eIF4E overexpression has resulted in malignant transformation. The objective in this study was twofold: to examine benign and malignant breast specimens for eIF4E expression, and to determine whether eIF4E overexpression may have prognostic potential. METHODS Western blot analysis was performed on benign and malignant breast specimens using anti-eIF4E rabbit antiserum. Quantification was accomplished by developing blots with nitroblue tetrazolium and 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate and densitometry. Confirmation of eIF4E overexpression at the cellular level was performed using immunohistologic staining in situ. RESULTS The authors examined 112 breast specimens for eIF4E protein expression. Of the 52 benign breast specimens examined, none showed eIF4E overexpression. All 12 ductal carcinoma in situ specimens were found to overexpress eIF4E in the intermediate range (mean elevation: 2.5-fold). Of the 48 breast carcinoma specimens examined, all had eIF4E elevation at levels of 3-30-fold (mean: 10.5 ± 0.9-fold). Charts from 39 patients with Stage I, II, and III breast carcinoma were reviewed. In ten patients with eIF4E overexpression of < sevenfold, there was no recurrence or death from breast carcinoma. In the 29 breast carcinoma patients with ≥7-fold eIF4E overexpression, 9 patients had breast carcinoma recurrences and 5 had died from disease at last follow-up. The median follow-up in this study was 34.5 months. CONCLUSIONS Overexpression of eIF4E was observed in malignant breast specimens but not in normal or benign breast tissues. In patients with breast carcinoma, the group with high eIF4E overexpression (≥7-fold) experienced a worse clinical outcome (higher recurrences and death) compared with the group with low eIF4E overexpression (<7-fold). Cancer 1997; 79:2385-90. © 1997 American Cancer Society.
Empowering certified nurse's aides to improve quality of work life through a team communication program

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the impact of a certified nurse's aide (CNA)-led interdisciplinary teamwork and communication intervention on perceived quality of work environment and six-month job intentions. CNAs are frequently excluded from team communication and decision-making, which often leads to job dissatisfaction with high levels of staff turnover. Using a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach with pre- post-program design, the intervention utilized the strategy of debriefing from the national patient safety initiative, TeamSTEPPS. Inherent in the program design, entitled Long Term Care (LTC) Team Talk, was the involvement of the CNAs in the development of the intervention as an empowering process on two wings of a transitional care unit in a long-term care facility in upstate NY. CNAs' perceptions of work environment quality were measured using a Quality of Work Life (QWL) instrument. Additionally, job turnover intent within six months was assessed. Results indicated improved scores on nearly all QWL subscales anticipated to be impacted, and enhanced perceived empowerment of the CNAs on each wing albeit through somewhat different experiential processes. The program is highly portable and can potentially be implemented in a variety of long-term care settings.