cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Design of Hoisting Load Monitoring Device of Mine

In view of situation that a lot of coal mines use methods of checking or changing wire rope by stopping production periodically to ensure running safety of wire rope of hoist,a hoisting load monitoring device of mine was designed.The device uses weighing sensor to test tension value signal real-timely,the signal is transmitted to wireless signal receiving module that installed at wellhead by use of wireless electromagnetic mode after the signal is processed,then the signal is transmitted by the wireless signal receiving module to industrial computer which processes the data and outputs control signal.Meanwhile,the device can detect switching parameters of measure hopper in close and skip in position,so as to realize faults judgement of overload,pot-sticking and unbalance tension when combining the parameters with detected tension value and can make corresponding alarming.The actual application showed that the device can monitor faults of overload,pot-sticking and unbalance tension and ensures running safety of hoist system.
Merlin Modification of Ureteral Catheters

A modification for ureteral catheters to increase their effectiveness in retrograde pyelography is described.
Visualization of supersonic turbulent vortical flows with filtered Rayleigh scattering

The interactions of multiple streamwise vortices have the potential to enhance the fuel/air mixing process in the supersonic flowfields intrinsic of scramjet combustors. As part of an ongoing experimental study on the mixing enhancement capabilities of imposed streamwise vortex interactions, high quality visualizations of the resulting turbulent vortical flowfields have been obtained with the filtered Rayleigh scattering technique. By visualizing the structure and organization of the studied flowfields, which are generated by a ramped strut injector in a Mach 2.5 flow, insight into the relevant flow physics governing the vortex interactions is obtained. Filtered Rayleigh scattering is a non-intrusive laser-based diagnostic technique that images the light scattered from the constituent gas molecules of a flow, thus providing a distinct advantage over other flow visualization techniques, in that it is not required to seed the flow with gaseous or particulate flow tracers. However, because the Rayleigh scattered signal is relatively weak, it is easily obscured by light scattered from other sources, necessitating the implementation of a molecular notch filter. This fact, combined with the complex supersonic turbulent vortical flows that are of interest, makes the application of the filtered Rayleigh scattering technique challenging and non-trivial. This work will highlight the experimental considerations necessary to achieve successful visualization of the flows of interest by presenting the methods used to image a single downstream station of a non-merging vortex interaction mode. The resulting flow visualizations illustrate the highly turbulent nature of the probed flowfield while confirming the behavior observed in previous experiments.
Controlled Substance Lock-In Programs: Examining An Unintended Consequence Of A Prescription Drug Abuse Policy

Controlled substance lock-in programs are garnering increased attention from payers and policy makers seeking to combat the epidemic of opioid misuse. These programs require high-risk patients to visit a single prescriber and pharmacy for coverage of controlled substance medication services. Despite high prevalence of the programs in Medicaid, we know little about their effects on patients’ behavior and outcomes aside from reducing controlled substance–related claims. Our study was the first rigorous investigation of lock-in programs’ effects on out-of-pocket controlled substance prescription fills, which circumvent the programs’ restrictions and mitigate their potential public health benefits. We linked claims data and prescription drug monitoring program data for the period 2009–12 for 1,647 enrollees in North Carolina Medicaid’s lock-in program and found that enrollment was associated with a roughly fourfold increase in the likelihood and frequency of out-of-pocket controlled substance prescription fil...
Bridging the gap between gas and liquid chromatography.

Abstract The rapid and complete baseline separation of both volatile (C5 to C16 alkanes in gasoline or terpenes in plant extracts) and non-volatile (>C20 alkanes) organic compounds was achieved by combining (1) low-density fluid chromatography (LDFC) using carbon dioxide at elevated temperature (>90 °C) and low pressure (1500 psi) designed to increase the retention of the most volatile compounds and (2) high-vacuum technology (
Introduction to Ex Vivo Cancer Models

Cancer arises from acquired (and sometimes inherited) genetic changes in cells giving rise to a clonal population of neoplastic cells. However, continued growth of a tumor relies on recruitment and subversion of normal stromal elements [2]. In the cell autonomous view of cancer, a tumor is viewed primarily as a genetic disorder whereby a mutation (or series of mutations or other molecular changes) is sufficient to give rise to the malignant state. Thereafter, signaling transduction pathways become deranged, often in ‘oncogene addicted’ states that promote cell growth. In such states, transcriptional programs are co-opted to promote immortalization, resistance to cell senescence and apoptosis, escape of cell cycle checkpoints, promotion of growth of feeding blood vessels (angiogenesis), and ultimately adoption of an invasive and metastatic phenotype. This ‘reductionist’ view of cancer is in keeping with the original six hallmarks of cancer as detailed by Hanahan and Weinberg in 2000 [1]. This viewpoint is a useful construct and effectively synthesizes decades of groundbreaking research to characterize the impact of oncogenic drivers and tumor suppressor genes in cancer cell biology.
Real-World Usage of Educational Media Does Not Promote Parent-Child Cognitive Stimulation Activities.

Abstract Objective To determine whether educational media as actually used by low-income families promote parent–child cognitive stimulation activities. Methods We performed secondary analysis of the control group of a longitudinal cohort of mother–infant dyads enrolled postpartum in an urban public hospital. Educational media exposure (via a 24-hour recall diary) and parent–child activities that may promote cognitive stimulation in the home (using StimQ) were assessed at 6, 14, 24, and 36 months. Results Data from 149 mother–child dyads, 93.3% Latino, were analyzed. Mean (standard deviation) educational media exposure at 6, 14, 24, and 36 months was, respectively, 25 (40), 42 (58), 39 (49), and 39 (50) minutes per day. In multilevel model analyses, prior educational media exposure had small positive relationship with subsequent total StimQ scores (β = 0.11, P = .03) but was nonsignificant (β = 0.08, P = .09) after adjusting for confounders (child: age, gender, birth order, noneducational media exposure, language; mother: age, ethnicity, marital status, country of origin, language, depressive symptoms). Educational media did predict small increases in verbal interactions and toy provision (adjusted models, respectively: β = 0.13, P = .02; β = 0.11; P = .03). In contrast, more consistent relationships were seen for models of the relationship between prior StimQ (total, verbal interactions and teaching; adjusted models, respectively: β = 0.20, P = .002; β = 0.15, P = .006; β = 0.20, P = .001) and predicted subsequent educational media. Conclusions Educational media as used by this sample of low-income families does not promote cognitive stimulation activities important for early child development or activities such as reading and teaching.
Altered molecular profile in thyroid cancers from patients affected by the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.

Objectives/Hypothesis In 1979, Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant experienced a partial meltdown with release of radioactive material. The effects of the accident on thyroid cancer (TC) in the surrounding population remain unclear. Radiation-induced TCs have a lower incidence of single nucleotide oncogenic driver mutations and higher incidence of gene fusions. We used next generation sequencing (NGS) to identify molecular signatures of radiation-induced TC in a cohort of TC patients residing near TMI during the time of the accident. Study Design Case series. Methods We identified 44 patients who developed papillary thyroid carcinoma between 1974 and 2014. Patients who developed TC between 1984 and 1996 were at risk for radiation-induced TC, patients who developed TC before 1984 or after 1996 were the control group. We used targeted NGS of paired tumor and normal tissue from each patient to identify single nucleotide oncogenic driver mutations. Oncogenic gene fusions were identified using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results We identified 15 patients in the at-risk group and 29 patients in the control group. BRAFV600E mutations were identified in 53% patients in the at-risk group and 83% patients in the control group. The proportion of patients with BRAF mutations in the at-risk group was significantly lower than predicted by the The Cancer Genome Atlas cohort. Gene fusion or somatic copy number alteration drivers were identified in 33% tumors in the at-risk group and 14% of tumors in the control group. Conclusions Findings were consistent with observations from other radiation-exposed populations. These data raise the possibility that radiation released from TMI may have altered the molecular profile of TC in the population surrounding TMI. Level of Evidence 4 Laryngoscope, 2017
Cord Blood Therapies for Genetic and Acquired Brain Injuries

As the practice of umbilical cord blood transplantation (CBT) has evolved, outcomes in many indications are now comparable to hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) using other unrelated donor sources. The ability to quickly procure a suitable HLA-matched cord blood (CB) unit with a sufficient cell dose for pediatric patients has made CB a reliable, and even preferred, cell source for children with certain rapidly progressive diseases. In particular, CBT can favorably alter the clinical course of disease and increase survival in infants and children with neurologically devastating inherited metabolic disorders (IMDs). Based in part on observations of neurologic benefit in the IMDs and due to a dearth of available therapies for other neurologic conditions, interest has grown in developing cellular therapies for acquired brain injuries. Ease of access, a favorable safety profile, and mounting preclinical evidence of potential efficacy make CB an attractive cell source for such therapies. These concepts are reviewed and discussed in this chapter.
Uncertainty analysis and propagation for an Auxiliary Power Module

In modern hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), the Auxiliary Power Module (APM) acts as the DC/DC converter which regulates the power flow between the high voltage (HV) battery and the low voltage (LV) DC bus. Optimizing the control and operation of the APM is an important component of minimizing vehicle energy consumption. Characterizing the performance of the APM requires extensive testing of APM under different operating conditions. However, in the state-of-the-art experimental validation testing using industry standard modeling practices, addressing uncertainties in the test results is not very common. A consequence of this shortcoming is the propagation of uncertainty from test to simulation, which can cause simulated results to diverge significantly from real world performance. In this paper we present test procedures and results for a Delphi Auxiliary Power Module (APM) that was installed in a 2011MY Chevrolet Volt. Experimental uncertainty in the measurand of efficiency is modeled using Scheffe confidence intervals as a function of APM output current. Uncertainty is then propagated through a vehicle fuel economy simulation to understand the role of APM experimental uncertainty in vehicle fuel economy prediction.
Nutrient Restriction Increases Circulating and Hepatic Ceramide in Dairy Cows Displaying Impaired Insulin Tolerance

The progression of insulin resistance in dairy cows represents a maternal adaptation to support milk production during heightened energy demand; however, excessive adipose tissue lipolysis can develop. In diabetic non-ruminants, the mechanisms that mediate insulin resistance involve the sphingolipid ceramide. We tested the hypothesis that ceramide accumulates in dairy cows experiencing lipolysis and insulin resistance. Nine dairy cows were utilized in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design. Cows were ad libitum fed, nutrient-restricted (NR), or NR with nicotinic acid (NA; 5 mg of NA/h per kg BW; delivered i.v.) for 34 h. When provided access, cows were ad libitum fed a mixed ration of grass hay and ground corn to meet requirements. Intake for NR cows was limited to vitamins and minerals. Nicotinic acid was administered to suppress lipolysis. Saline was infused in cows not provided NA. At 32 and 33 h of treatment, a liver biopsy and insulin tolerance test were performed, respectively. Samples were analyzed using colorimetry, immunoassay, and mass spectrometry. Nutrient restriction increased serum fatty acids and ceramide levels, and impaired insulin sensitivity; however, NA infusion was unable to prevent these responses. We also show that NR increases hepatic ceramide accumulation, a response that was positively associated with serum ceramide supply. Our data demonstrate that circulating and hepatic 24:0-Cer are inversely associated with systemic insulin tolerance, an effect not observed for the 16:0 moiety. In conclusion, our results suggest that ceramide accrual represents a metabolic adaptation to nutrient restriction and impaired insulin action in dairy cows.
Investigational drugs in phase II clinical trials for primary biliary cholangitis

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a chronic cholestatic liver disease that may lead to biliary fibrosis, and eventually cirrhosis. The primary treatment for PBC is ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), which has favorably altered its natural history. However, up to 40% of patients have an inadequate response to UDCA, and are therefore at high risk of liver-related complications. Obeticholic acid has recently been approved for use in patients with PBC with inadequate response or who are intolerant to UDCA, but improvement in long-term outcomes has not yet been demonstrated. Alternative therapeutic options for PBC are needed.Areas covered: Recent advances in research including epidemiological, genetic and pre-clinical studies in animal models of PBC have yielded numerous agents currently at different stages of development for treatment of patients with PBC; in this review, we cover novel therapies that were recently or are recently being investigated in phase II clinical trials.Expert opinio...
Hyperosmolar Potassium (K +) Treatment Suppresses Osteoarthritic Chondrocyte Catabolic and Inflammatory Protein Production in a 3-Dimensional In Vitro Model

ObjectiveThe main goal of this study was to provide a proof-of-concept demonstrating that hyperosmolar K+ solutions can limit production of catabolic and inflammatory mediators in human osteoarthritic chondrocytes (OACs).MethodsA 3-dimensional in vitro model with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels was used. Catabolic and pro-inflammatory protein production from encapsulated OACs was assessed following culture for 1 or 7 days in the presence or absence of 80 mM K+ gluconate, 80 mM sodium (Na+) gluconate, or 160 mM sucrose, each added to culture media (final osmolarity ~490 mOsm).ResultsRelative to untreated controls, OACs treated with hyperosmolar (80 mM Na+ gluconate or 160 mM sucrose) solutions produced lower levels of catabolic and inflammatory mediators in a marker- and time-dependent manner (i.e., MMP-9 after 1 day; MCP-1 after 7 days (P ≤ 0.015)). In contrast, OAC treatment with 80 mM K+ gluconate reduced catabolic and inflammatory mediators to a greater extent (both the number of mar...
Ritual Deposition of Avifauna in the Northern Burial Cluster at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon

Birds play an important role in modern and historic Puebloan ceremonialism, with feathers, wings, stuffed birds, and live birds used for ceremonies, sacrifices, and creation of ritual paraphernalia...
Accumulating Data to Optimally Predict Obesity Treatment (ADOPT) Core Measures: Psychosocial Domain.

Author(s): Sutin, Angelina R; Boutelle, Kerri; Czajkowski, Susan M; Epel, Elissa S; Green, Paige A; Hunter, Christine M; Rice, Elise L; Williams, David M; Young-Hyman, Deborah; Rothman, Alexander J | Abstract: BackgroundWithin the Accumulating Data to Optimally Predict obesity Treatment (ADOPT) Core Measures Project, the psychosocial domain addresses how psychosocial processes underlie the influence of obesity treatment strategies on weight loss and weight maintenance. The subgroup for the psychosocial domain identified an initial list of high-priority constructs and measures that ranged from relatively stable characteristics about the person (cognitive function, personality) to dynamic characteristics that may change over time (motivation, affect).ObjectivesThis paper describes (a) how the psychosocial domain fits into the broader model of weight loss and weight maintenance as conceptualized by ADOPT; (b) the guiding principles used to select constructs and measures for recommendation; (c) the high-priority constructs recommended for inclusion; (d) domain-specific issues for advancing the science; and (e) recommendations for future research.SignificanceThe inclusion of similar measures across trials will help to better identify how psychosocial factors mediate and moderate the weight loss and weight maintenance process, facilitate research into dynamic interactions with factors in the other ADOPT domains, and ultimately improve the design and delivery of effective interventions.
Introduction: Turning the Table on Gellner: Alternative Discourses of Civil Society in Africa

The idea for this Handbook came to me as I worked through the final edits of my contribution to The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society, edited by Michael Edwards. The pressure to condense the multilayered historical, theoretical, and practical dimensions of civil society in an extraordinarily diverse continent into a synoptic essay confronted me both with the inherent limitations of my endeavor and the need for a multidisciplinary volume that takes Africa and its multiple discourses seriously. The current volume—aiming to reflect the diversity of African discourses on civil society, map the contours of thematic and regional analyses, and display the fruits of the most up to date research—is the outcome of that recognition.
Proving Theorems in the Logic

This chapter presents the proving of theorems in the logic. The proof is presented as a sequence of formulas, each of which is either an axiom or is given or is derived by inference rules from previous formulas. The chapter illustrates many simple proofs. It also presents the propositional calculus with equality and inductive proofs about recursive functions. Among the illustrative theorems proved are those that justify structural induction, the most commonly used application of the induction principle in logic.
Motivating employees to act ethically: An expectancy theory approach

Employees face an array of moral issues in their everyday decision making. Environmental concerns, employee and community welfare, and the interests of other companies (competitors, customers, and suppliers) are only a few examples. Yet, businesses do not always address the issue of how employees should assess the moral import of their actions and incorporate these considerations into their decisions. As a result, moral considerations are often ignored, leading to unethical practices which may hurt the long-term interests of the company. In this paper, we present a model to help eliminate this problem. Our model uses expectancy theory, a process theory of motivation, to show that teaching employees to engage in moral reasoning, and creating a corporate culture in which ethical behavior is both encouraged and rewarded, can increase the likelihood that a company's employees will act ethically.
DotSlash - Creating Content Distribution Networks on Demand

Traditional content distribution networks, such as Akamai, are well-suited for static web services that routinely experience large traffic volumes. They are unsuited for active content, i.e., content generated by scripts from databases, and web sites that are unlikely to receive significant number of requests. However, a few such sites will invariably experience their "fifteen minutes of fame", typically by being mentioned on a high-volume news site such as SlashDot or CNN. Such flashcrowds or "slashdot effect" will routinely cause single-server websites to collapse. We have designed and prototyped an autonomic web replication system, called DotSlash, that drafts rescue servers fully automatically, without user intervention. The system discovers suitable rescue servers via wide-area service location, either among peer servers or from a dedicated pool of rescue servers, allocates them for temporary use and redirects requests to them. The system is completely transparent to clients and does not require URL rewriting or other client modifications. We have designed two versions. The first, an Apache extension, deals only with static content, e.g., HTML pages or media objects. The second version can also replicate and execute scripts remotely. We have prototyped the system for the common LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) configuration and shown that a common benchmark for bulletin boards can be replicated without code changes, yielding capacity increases bounded only by the database server. Since many such systems, including most blogs, are bottlenecked by the web server, our system can significantly increase capacity and works even for extremely rapid load increases. We are currently investigating how such systems can be further extended by increasing the database capacity of read-mostly systems with loose consistency constraints.
Computerized Order Entry

Computerized order entry (COE) provides an opportunity to reduce a variety of prescribing errors. The improved legibility, reduction in transcription errors, real-time drug–drug interaction evaluation, and improved mechanisms for reconciliation of medications with proper patient identification make a strong argument for the adoption of such systems. There are some other considerations, however, which may detract from the overall positive image of electronic prescribing. This chapter provides perspective on the advantages and disadvantages that present with COE.
MOCVD grown low dislocation density GaAs-on-V-groove patterned (001) Si for 1.3 μm quantum dot laser applications

We report the development of gallium arsenide (GaAs) films grown on V-groove patterned (001) silicon (Si) by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. This technique can provide an advanced virtual substrate platform for photonic integrated circuits on Si. A low defect density of 9.1 × 106 cm−2 was achieved with the aspect ratio trapping capability of the V-grooved Si and dislocation filtering approaches including thermal cycle annealing and dislocation filter layers. The efficiencies of these dislocation reduction methods are quantified by statistical electron channeling contrast imaging characterization. Meanwhile, different sets of dislocation filtering layers are evaluated and optimized. To further demonstrate the suitability of GaAs on the V-grooved Si technique for Si-based photonic devices, especially for the appealing 1.3 μm quantum dot (QD) lasers, a 7-layer indium arsenide QD structure was grown on both GaAs-on-V-grooved Si and native GaAs substrates. The same photoluminescence intensity and full-width at half-maximum values were observed for both structures. The optimization methodology in this work therefore offers a feasible approach to realize high quality III–V materials on Si for large-scale integration.
Use of indentation to study the degradation of photovoltaic backsheets

Abstract The ability of electrical insulating materials within a module to act as insulators is a key safety requirement for photovoltaic (PV) technology. Presently, however, the durability of backsheets may not be readily assessed. For example, the mechanical tensile test continues to be developed, and its use has not been validated such that a technically based pass/fail criteria may be established. This study examines the use of simple indentation methods, including durometer hardness and instrumented indentation, as a means to quantitively assess the degradation of PV backsheets. Characteristics including: hardness, modulus, load/displacement profile, creep hold response, and residual impression are explored in an empirical study. Glass/encapsulant/backsheet mini-modules constructed using backsheets including: polyamide (specifically the AAA backsheet product), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) laminate (“TPE”), and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) were examined. An M-type durometer as well as Berkovich and cube-corner tips were used in the indentation experiments. Additional characterizations were performed to interpret the indentation measurements including: surface roughness measurements using atomic force microscopy (AFM), a chemical structure study using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and phase-transition measurements using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results are analyzed in the context of the combined accelerated stress test (C-AST) also explored in this study. Instrumented indentation (i.e., using a Berkovich tip) was able to distinguish between backsheets and quantify the effects of accelerated testing (including up to 60%, 25%, and 20% change in hardness, modulus, and creep displacement, respectively). The embrittlement of the backsheets was not readily assessable using cube-corner indentation. Cracking of the known-bad polyamide backsheet was observed from the C-AST, which was not observed to result from steady state UV weathering.
uPredict: A User-Level Profiler-Based Predictive Framework for Single VM Applications in Multi-Tenant Clouds

Most existing studies on performance prediction for virtual machines (VMs) in multi-tenant clouds are at system level and generally require access to performance counters in Hypervisors. In this work, we propose uPredict, a user-level profiler-based performance predictive framework for single-VM applications in multi-tenant clouds. Here, three micro-benchmarks are specially devised to assess the contention of CPUs, memory and disks in a VM, respectively. Based on measured performance of an application and micro-benchmarks, the application and VM-specific predictive models can be derived by exploiting various regression and neural network based techniques. These models can then be used to predict the application's performance using the in-situ profiled resource contention with the micro-benchmarks. We evaluated uPredict extensively with representative benchmarks from PARSEC, NAS Parallel Benchmarks and CloudSuite, on both a private cloud and two public clouds. The results show that the average prediction errors are between 9.8% to 17% for various predictive models on the private cloud with high resource contention, while the errors are within 4% on public clouds. A smart load-balancing scheme powered by uPredict is presented and can effectively reduce the execution and turnaround times of the considered application by 19% and 10%, respectively.
A critical Assessment of the Genotoxicity Profile of the Fungicide Tricyclazole

Tricyclazole (8-methyl-[1,2,4]triazolo[3,4-b][1,3]benzothiazole) is a fungicide used globally on rice for treatment of the seasonal rice blast disease. Human exposure to this fungicide can occur via dietary and nondietary routes. In a battery of in vitro assays, tricyclazole did not induce gene mutations in bacteria (Ames test) or at the Hprt locus of CHO cells. It was also negative for the induction of micronuclei in human lymphocyte cultures and unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) in primary rat hepatocyte. Paradoxically, tricyclazole induced a mutagenic response at the Tk locus of the mouse lymphoma L5178Ycells (MLA), which occurred equally among small/large colony phenotypes. Selection of preexisting mutants leading to a false-positive response in the MLA was ruled out in follow-up experiments. In vivo, tricyclazole was negative in the rat liver UDS assay, mouse bone micronucleus test and a transgenic (MutaMouse) gene mutation assay in glandular stomach, liver, and kidney. Other supporting evidence for the lack of genotoxicity for tricyclazole comes from an in vivo study for sister chromatid exchanges in Chinese hamsters, and a dominant lethal test in the male germ cells of mice. The combined evidence from the genotoxicity studies together with the evidence from toxicokinetic, carcinogenicity, developmental, and reproductive toxicity studies confirm that mutagenicity does not occur in relevant in vivo systems. Data were also compared to potential animal and human exposure, mechanistic data on biological targets and data on analogues, confirming adequacy of the available data for hazard identification and risk assessment. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 61:300-315, 2020. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons

Sylvia Federici is perhaps the most prominent feminist Marxist scholar of our time. Her latest book, Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, encompasses two decades of he...
Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease

Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health and Aging Evidence is accumulating that eating in a 6-hour period and fasting for 18 hours can trigger a metabolic switch from glucose-based to ketone-base...
2 – Physical properties

This chapter highlights the variations in physical properties of supercritical CO2 (sCO2) near the critical region and how they affect machinery operating in a sCO2 power cycle. Typically, the cooler and compressor in the power cycle are significantly affected by property variations near the fluid critical point, and the variations can provide an advantage or disadvantage to the power cycle. The large variations are an advantage during compression because the fluid is efficiently compressed by adding energy without a significant increase in fluid temperature. Depending on the design of the cooler in the cycle, the fluid property variations within the cooler can either increase or decrease the rate of heat transfer and alter the pinch point of the cooler. Therefore, accurate physical properties of sCO2 are critical to the power cycle. Although there are a number of equations of state (EoSs) to predict physical properties, not enough data are available in the critical region for reducing the different values predicted by the different EoSs.
Outcomes of Advanced Gastroesophageal Cancer Patients with Equivocal HER2 Expression with or without ERBB2 Gene Amplification.

Background: Prior studies have shown that patients whose tumor overexpresses Her2 at 3+ level by immunohistochemistry (IHC) fare better than those whose tumor overexpresses Her2 at 2+ level (with ERBB2 amplified). Therefore, it would be important to compare the outcome of patients whose tumor expresses Her2 at 2+ level but further classify by gene amplification studies as positive or negative. Methods: We retrospectively identified patients with advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma with low Her2 protein expression (2+ by IHC) whose tumors were evaluated for gene amplification of ERBB2 by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). All patients received first-line therapy, and trastuzu­mab was added according to Her2 status. We compared overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall response rate (ORR) of the entire cohort and compared Her2-positive tumor patients’ outcomes with Her2-negative tumor patients’ outcomes. All patients had treatment response assessments and follow-ups at our institution. Results: We identified 87 patients whose tumors expressed Her2 at 2+ level. 51 (58.6%) were Her2-negative and 36 (41.4%) were Her2-positive by FISH. For the entire cohort, the median OS was 26 months (95% confidence interval 16.6–37.6), and the median PFS was 12.2 months (95% confidence interval 9.7–19.3). Median OS, median PFS, and ORR did not differ between Her2-positive and Her2-negative patients ( p = 0.70, p = 0.60, p = 0.91, respectively). Conclusions: Our data suggest that patients with Her2 positivity or negativity when tumors have lower Her2 protein expression (2 + by IHC) have similar clinical outcomes. Further research is warranted in this cohort.
Parent-child discrepancies in health-related quality of life of children and adolescents with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.

Few studies have examined parent-child discrepancies on self-report measures of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) symptomatology and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The aim of this study was to investigate parent-child reporting discrepancies between a pediatric sample of diagnosed patients with ME/CFS and controls to better understand the role of children and adolescent reporting. Data for this study were drawn from a community-based epidemiological study of pediatric ME/CFS in the Chicagoland area. A total of 147 parent-child dyads (75 pairs with ME/CFS and 72 control pairs) completed measures assessing HRQOL and ME/CFS symptomatology. At the individual level, agreement was assessed using intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) scores. Agreement was measured at the group level by a comparison of means using paired-sample t-tests. Intra-class correlations revealed varied agreement in both parent-child pairs of children who met at least one case definition of ME/CFS and in parent-child pairs in the control group. The current study provides support for the existence of discrepancies between parent-child reports of ME/CFS symptomatology and HRQOL measures. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
The Evolution of Life Span

In 1954, Lamont Cole stated the basic tenet of life history pattern analysis and in so doing established a new branch of evolutionary ecology. According to Cole, “The total life history pattern of a species has meaning in terms of its ability to survive and ecologists should attempt to interpret these meanings.” The interpretational method he proposed and used was “to compute the characteristics of the future hypothetical population by assuming an unvarying pattern of the life history features which govern natality and mortality.”
The return of humans to the moon - Scientific challenges and opportunities

The scientific opportunities and challenges involved in the return of humans to the moon are discussed. The opportunities include the scientific study of the moon from the perspectives of its ability to shed light on the origin of the earth-moon system and to serve as a platform from which to conduct a wide variety of scientific activities. Among the challenges, the foremost is the interacton of humans and machines in carrying out these activities in the most effective manner.
Test of the child/adolescent Rome III criteria: agreement with physician diagnosis and daily symptoms.

Background Establishment of the Rome criteria advanced diagnosis of children with Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. The criteria were overhauled in 2006, but these revisions were never systematically tested. The aim of the current study was to assess psychometric properties of the childhood Rome III criteria and determine how well they agree with physician diagnoses and daily symptoms. Methods A total of N = 135 families from two pediatric gastroenterology clinics completed the Questionnaire on Pediatric Gastrointestinal Symptoms (QPGS- RIII). Half of the families completed the QPGS-RIII again in 2 weeks, the other half completed 2-week daily diaries. Children above the age of 10 also provided data (N = 64). Physician diagnoses were obtained from the medical records. Key Results Diagnoses: The most common diagnoses per child/parent report were Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS; 43–47%) and Abdominal Migraine (26–36%). The most frequent physician diagnoses were Functional Constipation (FC; 53%) and Functional Abdominal Pain (FAP; 29%). Reliability: Moderate to substantial agreement was found between baseline and 2-week follow-up for most diagnoses (kappa = .19–.78) and between parent and child reports (kappa = −.04–.64). Validity: There was low agreement between QPGS-RIII and physician diagnosis (kappa =−.02–.34) as well as diaries (kappa = .06–30). Conclusions & Inferences The Rome criteria have reasonable test–retest reliability and seem to be inclusive, as the majority of children obtain a diagnosis. However, validity is still an issue: The Rome criteria do not overlap well with physician diagnosis or daily symptoms. These issues will need to be addressed in future revisions of the Rome criteria.
BRONCHIAL OBSTRUCTION WITH LOBAR ATELECTASIS AND EMPHYSEMA IN CYSTIC FIBROSIS OF THE PANCREAS

A. Lobar atelectasis with obstructive emphysema occurs in about 10% of patients with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas. In most instances, it appears in early infancy and during the first episode of pulmonary involvement and usually affects one or more lobes of the right lung. It is an indication of severe respiratory disease, whose major expression is widespread obstruction of the bronchi and whose cardinal clinical features are cough, cyanosis and respiratory distress. Rapid onset of bronchial obstruction due to failure to remove secretions is the initial event; infection is secondary and due to invasion of the obstructed bronchi. The respiratory disease ushered in by lobar atelectasis represents one of the more severe forms of fibrocystic disease of the pancreas; in many instances it is rapidly fatal unless checked in its progress by the use of antibiotics. Bronchoscopy and bronchial aspiration through a tracheotomy tube are usually ineffective. Lobectomy is of doubtful value and justified only by the persistence of lobar atelectasis unchanged for a prolonged period. Early diagnosis and early antibiotic therapy are at present the best weapons. In infants below the age of one year, lobar atelectasis and obstructive emphysema, especially if they occur in white infants and involve the right lung, should suggest the possibility of cystic fibrosis of the pancreas. B. The pathogenetic mechanism of the pulmonary lesions in cystic fibrosis of the pancreas is more acute and perhaps easier to understand in patients with lobar atelectasis, but is essentially the same except in degree for all patients with this disease. Because of failure to remove the secretions, acute respiratory infections usually initiate the cycle by causing increased mucus production. Widespread and severe bronchial obstruction results and secondary infection of the obstructed air passages follows after a variable but usually short period of time. If the patient survives the first episode, the same cycle can be repeated again on the occasion of a subsequent respiratory infection. Any one of these attacks may be fatal. Although respiratory involvement is a virtually constant accompaniment of the pancreatic lesions in cystic fibrosis of the pancreas, their interdependence is still unexplained. The two principal theories regarding the interrelationship of the pulmonary and pancreatic lesions of fibrocystic disease are discussed. It is concluded that a satisfactory understanding of this problem has not yet been attained.
An Empirical Analysis of the Reliability and Precision of the Cost Approach in Residential Appraisal

Many articles and books have discussed the limitations of the cost approach to estimate market value of real estate. This article is the first to empirically measure the predictive ability of the c...
Heroic Reputations and Exemplary Lives

Reviewed Medium: book Year: 2000 Pages: xi + 274 Publisher: Manchester University Press Prices: $29.95
Regulation of Pyrimidine Ribonucleoside Incorporation in Isolated Bone Cells STIMULATION BY INSULIN AND BY 2,3-DIHYDROXY-1,4-DITHIOBUTANE (DITHIOTHREITOL)

Abstract We have extended our previous observation that insulin enhances the incorporation of pyrimidine ribonucleosides into nucleotide pools and into RNA in bone cells (Peck, W. A., and Messinger, K., J. Biol. Chem., 245, 2722 (1970)), and have examined the role of cellular sulfhydryl groups in this effect. Stimulation was not due to impurities in the insulin preparations used. Porcine single component and low zinc amorphous insulins were as effective as zinc-containing crystalline insulin when compared on a weight basis. Isolated A chains were ineffective, and the stimulatory ability of insulin was markedly diminished by previous exposure to anti-insulin antiserum. Dithiothreitol, in concentrations ranging from 0.6 to 2.0 mm, also stimulated uridine incorporation. Like insulin, dithiothreitol exerted its major effect on pyrimidine rather than purine ribonucleoside incorporation, appeared to stimulate uridine phosphorylation rather than uptake, was effective within 15 min of treatment, acted even in the absence of metabolizable extracellular substrates and at high as well as low starting concentrations of uridine in the incubation medium. The effects of insulin and dithiothreitol were additive in concentrations which caused less than maximal stimulation, but were nonadditive in maximal stimulatory concentrations. Their effects differed significantly in that dithiothreitol stimulation, but not that of insulin, was still present 45 min after cessation of treatment. Dithioerythritol, the erythro isomer of dithiothreitol, was equally effective, but other thiols (reduced glutathione, thioglycolate, cysteine, 2-mercaptoethanol, and 2,3-dimercaptopropanol), as well as disulfide-containing hormones (arginine and lysine vasopressin), were nonstimulatory. However, the effect of dithiothreitol was related to its sulfhydryl groups, since it was abolished by their prior (a) oxidation or (b) blockage with N-ethylmaleimide. These results suggest that cellular sulfhydryl groups participate in pyrimidine ribonucleoside phosphorylation and in the insulin stimulation of this pathway. The specific molecular configuration of dithiothreitol (dithioerythritol) may allow its sulfhydryl groups to interact with an insulin-sensitive site.
Pion-nucleon collision and single-pion production - II 02

In this, the second of two papers treating pion-nucleon collisions and single-pion production, we formulate a model which is used to calculate both the elastic and production channel. This model is designed to be completely solvable, yet to include all the effects of the physical process. The model is basically a pole model which includes the anomalous thresholds. The model predicts the existence of theN33*(1236),N31*(1518) andN51*(1688). No other resonance effects are found in the elastic channel. The cross-sections and angular distributions of the production channels are given.
Winds and Shells Around Low-Mass Supergiants

Chromospheric Ca II and Mg II emission in two high latitude supergiant stars (HR 4912 and HD 161796) demonstrates the presence of chromospheres in evolved metal deficient populations. Spectroscopic evidence for circumstellar material around these stars suggests they have lost mass and belong to a much older population of low-mass stars evolving off the tip of the asymptotic giant branch toward the regime of central stars of planetary nebulae.
Gambling, Consumer Behavior, and Welfare

Chapter 2 examined several basic explanations for how the introduction of casinos to a state or a region could have a positive impact on economic growth or the overall output (or income) of the economy. In this chapter I discuss the role of consumer welfare in the economic growth equation. We wish to move beyond a simple tallying of the spending on the building of casinos, of the wages paid to casino employees, or of the taxes paid by casinos to state governments. How does the proliferation of casinos affect people’s well-being?
Robust Flutter Margins of an F/A-18 Aircraft from Aeroelastic Flight Data

It is essential to determine eight conditions at which aeroelastic instabilities occur. Flight-test methods can be dangerous and costly, whereas analytical methods may not accurately predict the eutter boundary. An approach to computing eutter boundaries based on the structured singular value is presented. The aeroelastic system is formulated inarobust stabilityframework byparameterizingaround dynamicpressure and introducinguncertainty operators to account for modelingerrors. Flight data can be used tovalidate the robust systemmodel and increase accuracy of the eutter margin estimate. Flutter margins are generated for the F/A-18 Systems Research Aircraft using this method and traditional methods. Extensive e ight data from conditions throughout the eight envelope areanalyzed todeterminethelevelsof uncertaintyinatheoreticalmodel. Therobust marginsdemonstratethat the e ight conditions for e utter may lie closer to the eight envelope than previously estimated by traditional analysis.
A Hardware Threat Modeling Concept for Trustable Integrated Circuits

Similar to the effects of software viruses, hardware can also be compromised by introduction of malicious logic into circuits to cause unwanted system behaviors. This can be done by changing or adding internal logic, in such a way that it is undetectable using traditional testing and verification tools and techniques. Therefore, the user of the circuit needs to decide whether it can be trusted, i.e., it only performs functions defined in the original circuit specification (no more and no less), before employing it in the system. In this paper, a preliminary methodology is proposed to model potential hardware threats in order to determine a circuit's trustability and provide guidance to malicious-logic checking tools.
Dileptons And Photons At RHIC Energies

Abstract Comparing dilepton data from Au+Au to p+p collisions at RHIC energies PHENIX revealed two striking features: (i) a large excess of the dilepton yield at low mass and low p T in central Au+Au and (ii) a significant enhancement of direct real photon radiation. Both features can be interpreted as thermal radiation from the hot quark matter produced at RHIC. Unlike at lower beam energies, at RHIC the contribution from the hot hadronic phase alone seems insufficient to account for the data. This suggests large a contribution from a partonic phase. Both experimental and theoretical progress are required for more detailed conclusions.
Compact Models of Voltage Drops in Power Delivery Network for TSV-Based Three-Dimensional Integration

This letter reports on compact models of voltage (IR) drops in a power delivery network (PDN) for through-silicon-via-based 3-D integration and packaging. The 3-D PDN is modeled with SPICE to investigate the dc voltage distribution in 3-D chip stacks. Analytical formulas are derived for estimating voltage drops for two typical types of vertical interconnect arrangements: uniform and peripheral distributions. With good agreements, analytical calculations reveal that the voltage drop has a quadratic correlation with the number of chips in a stack. The compact models provide important insights of 3-D PDNs for 3-D system design.