cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dynamic Stability and International Trade under Uncertainty

In the presence of output or price uncertainty, the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson (H-O-S) model with incomplete risk markets has been shown to exhibit a wide range of perverse comparative-statics responses which contradict the predictions d la Stolper-Samuelson and Rybczynski, and opens up the possibility of perverse price-output responses. This paper revisits the question raised by Neary (1978) and examines the dynamic stability properties of an H-O-S model under uncertainty in relation to the conditions under which these perverse responses emerge. The findings suggest that, once the risk attitudes of the representative entrepreneur is appropriately accounted for in the specification of value factor intensities, dynamic stability with respect to a Marshallian adjustment process is necessary and sufficient for the normality of all of the standard comparative-statics responses except for the Rybczynski result. The basic analytics are then applied to various existing setups of the H-O-S model under uncertainty. In each case, the applicability of the stability condition in precluding comparative-static responses that violate standard predictions is examined.
Design Methodology for Global Resonant ${\rm H}$ -Tree Clock Distribution Networks

Design guidelines for resonant H-tree clock distribution networks are presented in this paper. A distributed model of a two-level resonant H-tree structure is described, supporting the design of low power, skew, and jitter resonant H-tree clock distribution networks. Excellent agreement is shown between the proposed model and SpectraS simulations. A case study is presented that demonstrates the design of a two-level resonant H-tree network, distributing a 5-GHz clock signal in a 0.18-mum CMOS technology. This example exhibits an 84% decrease in power dissipation as compared to a standard H-tree clock distribution network. The design methodology enables tradeoffs among design variables to be examined, such as the operating frequency, the size of the on-chip inductors and capacitors, the output resistance of the driving buffer, and the interconnect width. A sensitivity analysis of resonant H-tree clock distribution networks is also provided. The effect of the driving buffer output resistance, on-chip inductor and capacitor size, and signal and shielding transmission line width and spacing on the output voltage swing and power consumption is described
Experiencing antiretroviral adherence: helping healthcare staff better understand adherence to paediatric antiretrovirals

Lack of adherence to antiretroviral medications is one of the key challenges for paediatric HIV care and treatment programmes. There are few hands-on opportunities for healthcare workers to gain awareness of the psychosocial and logistic challenges that caregivers face when administering daily antiretroviral therapy to children. This article describes an educational activity that allows healthcare workers to simulate this caregiver role.
Silylated gallium and indium chalcogenide ring systems as potential precursors to ME (E=O, S) materials

The reaction of R3M (M=Ga, In) with HESiR′3 (E=O, S; R′3=Ph3, iPr3, Et3, tBuMe2) leads to the formation of (Me2GaOSiPh3)2 (1); (Me2GaOSitBuMe2)2 (2); (Me2GaOSiEt3)2 (3); (Me2InOSiPh3)2 (4); (Me2InOSitBuMe2)2 (5); (Me2InOSiEt3)2 (6); (Me2GaSSiPh3)2 (7); (Et2GaSSiPh3)2 (8); (Me2GaSSiiPr3)2 (9); (Et2GaSSiiPr3)2 (10); (Me2InSSiPh3)3 (11); (Me2InSSiiPr3)n (12), in high yields at room temperature. The compounds have been characterized by multinuclear NMR and in most cases by X-ray crystallography. The molecular structures of (1), (4), (7) and (8) have been determined. Compounds (3), (6) and (10) are liquids at room temperature. In the solid state, (1), (4), (7) and (9) are dimers with central core of the dimer being composed of a M2E2 four-membered ring. VT-NMR studies of (7) show facile redistribution between four- and six-membered rings in solution. The thermal decomposition of (1)–(12) was examined by TGA and range from 200 to 350°C. Bulk pyrolysis of (1) and (2) led to the formation of Ga2O3; (4) and (5) In metal; (7)–(10) GaS and (11)–(12) InS powders, respectively.
Seasonal breeding structure in house fly, Musca domestica L., populations

Allelic and genotypic frequencies were studied in four adult age groups of the common house fly. Electrophoresis was used to monitor allele frequencies at the Adh locus and three Amy loci at six farms on ten sampling dates from January to November 1983. No departures from random mating were noted. No differences in allele frequencies were found among sexes or age groups. Alleles at all loci showed seasonal trends. Frequency changes at Adh and Amy— loci were large and occurred in parallel among all farms. Changes in the Amy+ loci were small. At each locus, gene frequencies were statistically significantly different among farms, but differences were slight and not suggestive of strong local adaptation. Allele frequencies were stable from autumn to spring in the overall population, but frequencies monitored at a single farm drifted significantly from estimates in the founding autumn subpopulation. In spring, allele frequencies were heterogeneous among farms due to genetic drift during winter. This differentiation diminished rapidly in June. Spatial genie differentiation was pronounced among flies 0–3 days old, but older flies were panmictic. Seasonal trends in gene frequencies among farms were similar in 1982 and 1983.
Application of a linear unmixing algorithm to the normal alkane patterns from recent salt marsh sediments

Abstract Normalized gas chromatograms of the normal alkane fraction extracted from 22 surface sediment samples from a salt marsh near Georgetown, South Carolina were submitted to an unmixing algorithm. This algorithm identified four end-number contributors, three of which very closely resemble n-alkane patterns from dominant plant species. The fourth end-member is apparently a mixture. Proportioning of the n-alkane patterns of the sediments suggests that the patterns reflect contributions from living surface plant material and dead plant material brought in by tides. The successful unmixing of complex patterns of alkanes from marsh sediments suggests a valuable new technique for the interpretation of chromatographic data.
Sodium borohydride hydrolysis kinetics comparison for nickel, cobalt, and ruthenium boride catalysts

Abstract Hydrolysis tests have been performed at a constant temperature of 60 °C over a range of sodium borohydride (2.5–30 wt%) and sodium hydroxide (2.5–30 wt%) concentrations. Catalysts used to initiate the hydrolysis reaction were developed through the metal salt reduction method with sodium borohydride. These catalysts were identified as nickel boride, cobalt boride, and ruthenium with each catalyst having similar morphology. Catalysts were tested in loose, powder form free of binders or substrates. Hydrolysis rate comparisons show that reaction rates decrease linearly with increasing NaBH 4 concentrations due to mass transfer limitations. Increasing NaOH concentration has been shown to drive a non-catalyzed intermediate reaction with the rate of the overall reaction hindered by the catalysts’ ability to bind hydrogen to active sites. Maximum hydrogen production rates for the Ni 3 B, Co 3 B, and Ru catalysts were found to be 1.3, 6.0, and 18.6 L min −1 g cat −1 , respectively.
Impact-induced delayed detonation in an energetic material debris bubble formed at an air gap

Abstract A planar model of a rocket motor has been developed that allows reaction in a central bore perforated by a projectile to be viewed with high-speed photography. Earlier work with this model showed that a “bubble” of propellant debris forms in the air gap between energetic material layers (bore region) as a result of projectile penetration of one of the layers. Ignition of the bubble occurs upon impact with the second layer, followed by a reaction ranging from mild burning to delayed delonation, depending on the width of the air gap, properties of the energetic material, and degree of confinement. The present paper presents the results of experimental and hydrocode studies to characterize the latter (delayed detonation) reaction. Results show that reaction initiates in the frontal portion of the bubble wall through mechanical (impact) shock. It then propagates backward through the bubble wall towards the first layer which then detonates. Detonation of the second layer occurs sympathetically. The reaction is bounded by a lower velocity limit and confined within a range of air gaps that increases with impact velocity. The upper-air-gap limit roughly coincides with the maximum expansion distance for the bubble before breakup, while the lower limit represents the minimum (threshold) damage level for detonation.
Alkali–Support Interactions on Rubidium Base Catalysts Determined by XANES, EXAFS, CO2Adsorption, and IR Spectroscopy

Abstract Rubidium was supported on a variety of carriers, including magnesia, titania, alumina, carbon, and silica, by decomposition of an impregnated acetate precursor at 773 K. Except for Rb/MgO, none of the oxide-based samples contained surface carbonates as detected by IR spectroscopy after pretreatment at 773 K. The XANES and EXAFS associated with the Rb K edge indicated that the local structure around Rb was highly dependent on the support composition. For example, the Rb–O distance was significantly shorter on carbon and silica compared to more basic carriers. Results from CO 2 stepwise TPD showed that Rb/MgO possessed strongly basic sites that were not present on pure MgO. The basic sites formed by Rb addition to the other supports were weaker than those on Rb/MgO. Decomposition of 2-propanol at 593 K was used to relate catalytic activity to surface basicity. As anticipated, Rb/MgO and MgO were highly active and selective for alcohol dehydrogenation. Addition of Rb to alumina and titania greatly decreased the activity of the support oxides for the acid-catalyzed dehydration of 2-propanol. Reactivity and characterization results of Rb/SiO 2 were consistent with the formation of a highly disordered, weakly basic, surface silicate phase that exhibited little activity for alcohol decomposition. The overall rate of acetone formation from 2-propanol correlated with the ranking of support basicity evaluated from the Sanderson intermediate electronegativity principle. These results suggest that strongly basic alkali-containing catalysts should utilize basic carriers to minimize alkali–support interactions that lower base strength.
Use of an eligibility trace to self-organize output

Kohonen has proposed a physiologically plausible method of cooperative and competitive organization for artificial neural networks that allows them to self-organize around a set of input vectors.' The now famous approach of Kohonen's Self-Organizing Topological Feature Maps has been applied extensively to pattern classification problems. For many problems, however, it is not enough to say which class the input falls into, but rather what (real-valued) output is appropriate for the class to which the input vector belongs. Several methods have been proposed for extending Kohonen Networks so that they may learn appropriate output responses.2' Unfortunately, these supervised methods require having a "teacher" that knows the correct output responses. While in all problems the input vectors are "correct" (that is why the network is to learn them), in many problems the correct output responses are not available (which, contrapositively, may be the reason we wish to train the network). To partially fill this gap I propose a SelfOrganizing Neural Network using Eligibility Traces (SONNET). SONNET is appropriate for those problems in which the correct output responses are not known, but a feedback mechanism that allows for an overall evaluation of system performance (success and/or failure signals) is available and for which system performance is temporally based on network responses. Such is the case with controllers for many physical systems (including some robotics applications) as well as chemiCal and biological systems and is even the case for some object recognition and other computer vision problems. SONNET works by combining the self-organizing capabilities of Kohonen Networks with the temporal sensitivity of eligibility traces. The concept of the eligibility trace comes from observations of human and animal brains. It has been noted that many neurons become more amenable to change when they fire.4 This plasticity reduces with time, but produces a trace of eligibility for adaptation. Using these races, SONNEr adapts the output responses to a greater or lesser degree depending on their eligibility for adaptation at the time when the failure and/or success signals are received. The use of SONNET is demonstrated on a simulation of the well-known (toy) physical system control problem known as the pole-balancing problem. Comparisons are made between SONNET and other neural network5 and nonconnectionist control-learning systems. SONNET is seen to be powerful and adaptable. It is capable of learning both a useful partitioning of the input space and, without supervision, an appropriate output response for each class.
Chrysalis analysis: incorporating synchronization arcs in dataflow-analysis-based parallel monitoring

Software lifeguards, or tools that monitor applications at runtime, are an effective way of identifying program errors and security exploits. Parallel programs are susceptible to a wider range of possible errors than sequential programs, making them even more in need of online monitoring. Unfortunately, monitoring parallel applications is difficult due to inter-thread data dependences. In prior work, we introduced a new software framework for online parallel program monitoring inspired by dataflow analysis, called Butterfly Analysis. Butterfly Analysis uses bounded windows of uncertainty to model the finite upper bound on delay between when an instruction is issued and when all its effects are visible throughout the system. While Butterfly Analysis offers many advantages, it ignored one key source of ordering information which affected its false positive rate: explicit software synchronization, and the corresponding high-level happens-before arcs. In this work we introduce Chrysalis Analysis, which extends the Butterfly Analysis framework to incorporate explicit happens-before arcs resulting from high-level synchronization within a monitored program. We show how to adapt two standard dataflow analysis techniques and two memory and security lifeguards to Chrysalis Analysis, using novel techniques for dealing with the many complexities introduced by happens-before arcs. Our security tool implementation shows that Chrysalis Analysis matches the key advantages of Butterfly Analysis—parallel monitoring, no detailed inter-thread data dependence tracking, no strong memory consistency requirements, and no missed errors—while significantly reducing the number of false positives.
An Electron Energy-Loss Spectrometry Study of Charge Compensation in LiNi_(0.8)Co_(0.2)O_2

Changes in the electronic structure of Li_(1-x)Ni_(0.8)Co_(0.2)O_2 during delithiation (charge) are elucidated by changes in the O K-edge and transition-metal (TM) L_(2,3)-edge. Electron energy-loss spectrometry was used to investigate the O 2p and TM 3d occupancy over a wide range of lithium concentrations. Quantitative analysis of the TM L_(2,3) white lines indicates that the Ni ion accommodates no more than one-half of an electron, whereas the net Co valence is unaffected by delithiation. In contrast with the small changes observed in the TM L_(2,3)-edge, a large decrease in state occupancy is observed in the near-edge structure of the O K-edge, suggesting that much of the electron charge is accommodated by the anion.
Conformational Stability of the Escherichia coli HPr Protein: Test of the Linear Extrapolation Method and a Thermodynamic Characterization of Cold Denaturation†

The conformational stability of the histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein (HPr) from Escherichia coli has been determined using a combination of thermal unfolding and urea denaturation experiments. The analysis of the denaturation data provides a measure of the changes in conformational free energy, enthalpy, entropy, and heat capacity that accompany the equilibrium folding of HPr over a wide range of temperature and urea concentrations. In moderate concentrations of urea, HPr undergoes both high- and low-temperature unfolding, allowing for a reliable determination of the change in heat capacity for the conformational transition. The data are consistent with the linear free energy relationship commonly employed to analyze protein denaturation data, even over a relatively large temperature and urea concentration range. Furthermore, we find that a temperature-independent ΔCp is adequate to describe HPr stability over the accessible temperature range. Finally, our data allow us to evaluate the energeti...
The impact of smoking on antimüllerian hormone levels in women aged 38 to 50 years.

Objective Smoking is associated with increased follicle-stimulating hormone levels and early menopause. Smoking may directly accelerate ovarian follicular depletion or may act indirectly by increasing the pituitary production of follicle-stimulating hormone. Antimullerian hormone (AMH), produced by ovarian follicles, is a more direct measure of ovarian reserve. The objective of our study was to determine the extent to which smoking influences ovarian reserve, as measured by AMH levels. Methods A community sample of 284 women aged 38 to 50 years completed a self-administered questionnaire including a detailed smoking history. Serum AMH levels were measured on day 2, 3, or 4 of the menstrual cycle. The association between AMH and smoking was analyzed using linear regression, adjusting for age and body mass index. Results Participants aged 38 to 42, 43 to 45, and 46 to 50 years had geometric mean AMH values of 6.7 pM (95% CI, 5.2-8.7 pM), 2.7 pM (95% CI, 1.9-3.8 pM), and 1.3 pM (95% CI, 1.0-1.7 pM), respectively. Current smokers, but not past smokers, had 44% lower AMH values than did the reference group (participants with neither active nor former or passive smoke exposure; P = 0.04). Passive smoking had no effect on AMH values when compared with the reference group (P = 0.55). The impact of smoking on AMH values was not dose dependent based on cigarettes per day (P = 0.08) or pack-years (P = 0.22). Finally, prenatal exposure to smoking (either maternal or paternal) had no impact on AMH levels (P = 0.47 and P = 0.89, respectively). Conclusions Active smoking, but not former smoking, is associated with decreased AMH values in late-reproductive-age and perimenopausal women, suggesting a possible direct effect of smoking on the depletion of the antral but not primordial follicles. The direct impact of active smoking on AMH levels in younger women requires further investigation.
Phosphoinositides in cell regulation and membrane dynamics

Inositol phospholipids have long been known to have an important regulatory role in cell physiology. The repertoire of cellular processes known to be directly or indirectly controlled by this class of lipids has now dramatically expanded. Through interactions mediated by their headgroups, which can be reversibly phosphorylated to generate seven species, phosphoinositides play a fundamental part in controlling membrane-cytosol interfaces. These lipids mediate acute responses, but also act as constitutive signals that help define organelle identity. Their functions, besides classical signal transduction at the cell surface, include regulation of membrane traffic, the cytoskeleton, nuclear events and the permeability and transport functions of membranes.
Novel Phenothiazinium Photosensitizers For Photodynamic Therapy

The replament of the oxygen atom in benzophenoxazines with sulfur leads to the corresponding phenothiazinium ehromophorus The effect that this change, as well as other structural alterations, has on photosensitized singlet oxygen formation partitioning coefficient, and in-vitro phototoxicity is presented. A brief discussion concerning how structural modifications can bring about changes in these parameters is also presented. Preliminary results suggest that some phenothiazines could be promising photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy.
Macroevolutionary interplay between planktic larvae and benthic predators: COMMENT COMMENT

[Peterson (2005)][1] has hypothesized that planktotrophic larvae originated between the Late Cambrian and Middle Ordovician as a consequence of benthic predation operating on lecithotrophic ancesters. The evidence used to support this viewpoint is based on an extrapolation of larval trophic mode (
Digital Signatures and Electronic Contracts

Abstract Both vendors and customers appreciate the convenience, effectiveness, and low cost of conducting business online. E-commerce is quickly enhancing or replacing other forms of traditional commercial activity in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer dealings. Individuals and businesses can purchase airline tickets, office supplies, and sports memorabilia with no human interaction. The purchaser often receives the desired items the next day.
Arbitrary Periodic Motions and Grazing Switching of a Forced Piecewise Linear, Impacting Oscillator

The grazing bifurcation and periodic motion switching of the harmonically forced, piecewise linear system with impacting are investigated. The generic mappings relative to the discontinuous boundaries of this piecewise system are introduced. Based on such mappings, the corresponding grazing conditions are obtained. The mapping structures are developed for the analytical prediction of periodic motions in such a system. The local stability and bifurcation conditions for specified periodic motions are obtained. The regular and grazing, periodic motions are illustrated. The grazing is the origin of the periodic motion switching for this system. Such a grazing bifurcation cannot be estimated through the local stability analysis. This model is applicable to prediction of periodic motions in nonlinear dynamics of gear transmission systems.
Part II: Cognitive development in children: Selected psychological reports: American cognitive studies: A review

Following Piaget's opening remarks at Cornell University this paper was delivered for the purpose of summarizing American cognitive studies. The emphasis is on two current approaches to the study of cognitive growth in children—a modified stimulus-response approach and the approach serving as the basis for the research effort in the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard University under the direction of Jerome Bruner. Similarities and differences in these two approaches and experimentation representative of each approach are presented.
Characterization of tibial velocities by duplex ultrasound in severe peripheral arterial disease and controls.

Background The relationship between tibiopopliteal velocities and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) severity is not well understood. We sought to characterize tibiopopliteal velocities in severe PAD and non-PAD control patients. Methods Patients with an arterial duplex ultrasound (DUS) examination with PAD evaluated during a 5-year period were retrospectively compared with non-PAD controls. Control DUS examinations were collected sequentially during a 6-month period, retrospectively. PAD patients included those with lifestyle-limiting intermittent claudication warranting revascularization and patients with critical limb ischemia, defined as ischemic rest pain, gangrene, or a nonhealing ischemic ulcer. For each, tibial and popliteal artery peak systolic velocity (PSV) was measured at the proximal, mid, and distal segment of each artery, and a mean PSV for each artery was calculated. Mean PSV, ankle-brachial indices, peak ankle velocity (PAV), average ankle velocity (AAV), mean tibial velocity (MTV), and ankle-profunda index (API) were compared between the two groups using independent t -tests. PAV is the maximum PSV of the distal peroneal, posterior tibial (PT), or anterior tibial (AT) artery; AAV is the average PSV of the distal peroneal, PT, and AT arteries; MTV is calculated by first averaging the proximal, mid, and distal PSV for each tibial artery and then averaging the three means together; API is the AAV divided by proximal PSV of the profunda. Results DUS was available in 103 patients with PAD (68 patients with critical limb ischemia and 35 patients with intermittent claudication) and 68 controls. Mean ankle-brachial index in the PAD group was 0.64 ± 0.25 compared with 1.08 ± 0.09 in controls ( P = .006). Mean PSVs were significantly lower in PAD patients than in controls at the popliteal (64.6 ± 42.2 vs 76.2 ± 29.6; P = .037), peroneal (34.3 ± 26.4 vs 53.8 ± 23.3; P P P P = .001). Tibial parameters including PAV (52.6 ± 45.0 vs 86.9 ± 35.7; P P P P Conclusions This study aims to characterize lower extremity arterial PSVs and ankle parameters in severe PAD and non-PAD controls. These early criteria establish reference ranges to guide vascular laboratory interpretation and clinical decision-making.
Infectivity of Two Isolates of Helicosporidium spp. (Chlorophyta: Trebouxiophyceae) in Heterologous Host Insects

Abstract Members of the genus Helicosporidium are the first described algal insect pathogens. They have a close affinity to the non-photosynthetic algae of the genus Prototheca, and have a wide host range, infecting many species of aquatic and terrestrial insects. In this study the infectivity of two Helicosporidium spp. isolates, originating from a black fly (SjHe) and an aquatic weevil (CsHe), was tested against a weevil Diaprepes abbreviatus (L.) and three mosquito species Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, and Aedes aegypti (L.). The weevil constitutes a new experimental host record for helicosporidia. The CsHe isolate was more virulent than the SjHe isolate in D. abbreviatus. Anopheles quadrimaculatus was the most susceptible mosquito species measured by infection rate and mortality. The infectivity and virulence of SjHe and CsHe isolates did not differ in any of the mosquito species.
Routing to preserve energy in ad hoc networks subject to jamming

Typical applications for ad hoc radio networks require that some or all radios in the network rely on batteries as energy sources. As a result, communication protocols for such networks should be designed to preserve limited energy supplies. Because the choice of a route to a traffic sink influences how often radios must transmit and receive, poor route selection can quickly deplete the batteries of certain nodes. Previous work has shown that a network's lifetime can be extended by assigning higher routing costs to nodes with little remaining energy and nodes that must use high transmitter power levels to reach neighbor radios. Route selection can be complicated by time-varying link conditions. Radios may be subject to interference from other nearby communication systems, hostile jammers, and other, non-communication sources of noise. Because a radio may need to increase its transmitter power or lower its data rate to compensate for the interference, a route that first appears to have only a small cost may later require much greater energy expenditure when transmitting packets. Frequent route selection can help radios avoid using links with interference but can also reduce throughput and increase energy consumption due to the increased number of routing control messages that must be sent. We investigate the effects of time-varying interference on the lifetime of ad hoc networks. It is shown that there is a tradeoff between packet delay and node lifetime. We show that it is possible to design the system to perform well under a wide variety of channel conditions.
Nucleolar protein metabolism in actinomycin D treated HeLa cells.

Abstract Nucleolar proteins from actinomycin D treated HeLa cells and controls were compared after labeling with radioactive amino acids for one to four hours. Measurements of specific activity showed suppression of labeling in treated nucleoli, with no effect in cytoplasm or nucleoplasm. Electrophoresis on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels indicated extensive similarity between rapidly labeled nucleolar proteins of control cells and proteins from cytoplasmic ribosomes. Actinomycin D selectively suppressed labeling of nucleolar proteins that co-migrate with ribosomal proteins, although synthesis of ribosomal proteins continued on cytoplasmic polysomes.
Automatic table ground truth generation and a background-analysis-based table structure extraction method

We first describe an automatic table ground truth generation system which can efficiently generate a large amount of accurate table ground truth suitable for the development of table detection algorithms. Then a novel background analysis-based, coarse-to-fine table identification algorithm and an X-Y cut table decomposition algorithm are described. We discuss an experimental protocol to evaluate the table detection algorithms. For a total of 1,125 document pages having 518 table entities and a total of 10,941 cell entities, our table detection algorithm takes line, word segmentation results as input and obtains around 90% cell correct detection rates.
Spacecraft pointing control criteria for high resolution spectroscopy

A new pointing control criterion is derived to support high resolution space spectroscopy. The criterion maps desired specifications on allowable flux offset (imposed by scientists for accurate calculation of spectral line ratios) into standard pointing control definitions in terms of bias and jitter. In contrast to previous derivations, the new criterion is exposure dependent, and fully captures the beneficial smoothing effect of longer spectroscopy exposures on reducing flux offset. The criterion is easily visualized and allows a complete characterization of the allowable design space.
Achieving appropriate design for developing world heath care: The case of a low-cost autoclave for primary health clinics

In developing world health clinics, incidence of surgical site infection is 2 to 10 times higher than in developed world hospitals. This paper identifies lack of availability of appropriately designed, low-cost autoclaves in developing world health clinics as a major contributing factor to the dramatic gap in surgical site infection rates. The paper describes the process of developing a low-cost autoclave that addresses the unique challenges faced by developing world primary health clinics and discusses how appropriateness of design was determined. The resulting pressure cooker-based autoclave design was fabricated and tested against the CDC specifications. Twelve partnering clinics in Nepal trialed these autoclaves from July until December 2012.
Color scene representation for model-based matching

This paper describes the relational graph description of natural color scenes and the model- based matching using relational distance measurement. The uniformly colored object areas and the textured surfaces of natural scenes are extracted using color clustering and linear discriminant. The extracted object regions are refined in the spatial plane to eliminate the fine grain segmentation results. The refined segments and regions are then represented using an adjacency relation graph. Scene model is characterized by means of 3-D to 2-D constraints and adjacency relations. The relational-distance measure is used for matching the relational graphs of the input scene and the respective image. Experiments are conducted on imperfect color images of outdoor scenes involving complex shaped objects and irregular textures. The algorithm has produced relatively simple relational graph representation of the input scenes and accurate relational-distance-based matching results.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
QQ Models: Joint Modeling for Quantitative and Qualitative Quality Responses in Manufacturing Systems

A manufacturing system with both quantitative and qualitative (QQ) quality responses (as a QQ system) is widely encountered in many cases. For example, in a lapping process of the semiconductor manufacturing, the quality of wafer’s geometrical characteristics is often measured by the total thickness variation as a quantitative response and the conformity of site total indicator reading as a binary qualitative response. The QQ responses are closely associated with each other in a QQ system, but current methodologies often model the two types of quality responses separately. This article presents a novel modeling approach, called “QQ models,” to jointly model the QQ responses through a constrained likelihood estimation. The QQ models can jointly select significant predictors by incorporating inherent features of QQ systems, leading to accurate variable selection and prediction. Both simulation studies and a case study in a lapping process are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Suppleme...
Optical generation of many-spin entangled states in a quantum well

A novel method is proposed to generate spin entangled states in a semiconductor quantum well using ultrafast laser pulses. Time-domain differential reflectivity measurements reveal entangled states involving at least three non-interacting q-bits.
Materials evaluation for use as plasma brush electrodes with hybrid armatures

There is a strong motivation to develop a railgun armature which will function as a nonarc, solid contact armature throughout the complete projectile acceleration to launch process. Solid contact armatures are more efficient in converting electrical to kinetic energy and generally cause less erosion of the rail. Considerable effort is being directed towards designing armatures capable of reaching 3+km/s while avoiding transition from a solid to an arcing contact. While nearly 2 km/s has been achieved in a nonarcing contact, it may be inevitable that an arcing contact will be unavoidable during the final acceleration to full desired velocities. At present most solid armatures are fabricated from aluminum or copper. While aluminum or copper might be good choices for solid contacts, this paper introduces the possibility that different materials will better serve as electrodes in arcing contacts. >
The Role of Religious Coping and Resilience in Individuals With Dissociative Identity Disorder

Survivors with dissociative identity disorder (DID) often report a history of traumatic events in their lives. Past studies indicated a link between trauma, resilience, and spiritual coping in both positive and negative aspects of a survivor's life. This article includes a review of existing literature salient to these constructs in relation to individuals with DID, as well as results from a study examining the relationships between these constructs and individuals with DID (N = 52). Implications are discussed based on the findings for counselors treating individuals with DID.
Low power linear current mode imager with 1.5 transistors per pixel

A novel 1.5 transistors per pixel linear current mode active pixel sensor (APS) is presented. The photo pixel address switch is placed outside the pixel, effectively implementing 1.5 transistors per pixel using a sharing scheme of the read-out and reset transistor. The column FPN of 0.4% and SNR of 43 dB is measured. The total power consumption is 5 mW at 30 fps. A theoretical framework for optimizing temporal and spatial noise is presented.
Modern Reconstructive Presidential Leadership: Reordering Institutions in a Constrained Environment

Modern "reconstructive" presidents face an institutional environment that affords strong veto possibilities to defenders of the status quo, making today's politics resistant to the "order shattering" and "order creating" style of change most frequently associated with the leadership type. This project responds to the possibility that the rise of these conditions suggests the end of such recon- structive politics. It applies fresh insights gleaned from historical-institutionalist scholarship to investigate the full range of options that are available to presi- dents inheriting the opportunity to reorder politics. Mathematical simulation, via Polya's urn model, is used to demonstrate how institutional displacement, layering, conversion, and drift can be used - independently and together - to recalibrate the equilibrium of a "path-dependent" system and thus alter develop- mental pathways. This not only suggests that modern presidents can still reorder and rejuvenate politics in a constrained environment; it updates expectations and warns of potential dangers.
Acute Infantile Encephalopathy as Presentation of Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency.

Abstract Background Succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency is a rare neurological disorder resulting from impaired gamma-aminobutyric acid metabolism. The syndrome typically presents as a static encephalopathy with developmental delays, hypotonia, and seizures. Methods A six-month-old previously healthy girl developed acute choreoathetosis and severe hypotonia in the setting of influenza A infection. In our database of 112 patients with succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency, one additional patient was identified who presented with an acute illness (encephalopathy associated with bronchiolitis at age five months). Results Urine organic acid and cerebrospinal fluid analyses confirmed elevated 4-hydroxybutyric acid in both cases, verified by enzymatic quantification in lymphocytes in the second patient. Brain magnetic resonance imaging scans in both cases showed bilateral symmetric T2 hyperintensities of globus pallidi. The lesions demonstrated restricted diffusion, consistent with acute symptom onset. Conclusions In contrast to most organic acidopathies, succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency typically presents with nonprogressive global developmental delays. Here we report that succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency can present fulminantly during a febrile illness as well as in the more common static fashion, thereby broadening the spectrum of onset patterns in this disorder.
Compatibility and Stability of Ondansetron Hydrochloride, Dexamethasone, and Lorazepam in Injectable Solutions

The stability of ondansetron hydrochloride, dexamethasone sodium phosphate, and lorazepam in 5% dextrose injection or 0.9% sodium chloride injection in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) minibags and glass bottles was studied. Triplicate solutions of 8 or 32 mg of ondansetron (as the hydrochloride salt) mixed with 20 mg of dexamethasone phosphate (as the sodium salt) with or without 2 mg of lorazepam were compounded in 50-mL PVC minibags and glass bottles containing either 5% dextrose injection or 0.9% sodium chloride injection and stored at 23-25 degrees C. Duplicate measurements were performed when drugs were added and at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 24 hours after addition. Samples of the 32-mg ondansetron admixtures were collected under aseptic conditions to inspect for precipitation and to count particles with a laser particle analyzer. Samples of all admixtures were evaluated for chemical stability by stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography. Ondansetron hydrochloride and dexamethasone were physically compatible and chemically stable for up to 24 hours under the study conditions. The concentration of lorazepam in PVC containers dropped below 90% of the original concentration within four hours. In addition, particle counts in lorazepam-containing solutions were higher when 0.9% sodium chloride injection was the diluent than when 5% dextrose injection was the diluent. In admixtures containing all drugs, ondansetron hydrochloride and dexamethasone sodium phosphate in 5% dextrose injection or 0.9% sodium chloride injection were stable for up to 24 hours when stored in PVC bags or glass bottles.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Neural organization of peptide-activated ecdysis behaviors during the metamorphosis ofManduca sexta

1. At the culmination of each molt, insects shed their old cuticle by a behavior called ecdysis, which generally involves rhythmic peristaltic body movements. We have compared the abdominal peristalsis behaviors produced by the tobacco hornworm,Manduca sexta, during larval-larval molts (‘larval ecdysis’) and at the larval-pupal molt (‘pupal ecdysis’), to see whether the morphological changes during metamorphosis were accompanied by alterations in the motor patterns. 2. At larval ecdysis, caterpillars shed their old cuticle by means of rhythmic peristaltic contractions which run anteriorly along the body, accompanied by coordinated retractions and extensions of the abdominal prolegs (Fig. 2). During the larval-pupal transformation the prolegs are lost, so that at pupal ecdysis the cuticle is shed by peristalsis alone (Fig. 1). 3. Cinematographic analysis of ecdysing larvae and pupae revealed that the peristaltic movements resulted from each abdominal segment being sequentially pulled forward and partially telescoped into the next anterior segment, due to the contraction of intersegmental muscles (ISMs) in the more anterior segment. Despite the marked changes in body morphology which occurred during the larval-pupal transformation, the pattern of the peristaltic contractions produced at larval and pupal ecdysis was the same (Table 1). 4. The neural basis of these behaviors was investigated in semi-intact, deafferented preparations which produced ecdysis motor patterns in response to a peptide hormone, eclosion hormone (EH), which is the normal blood-borne trigger for ecdysis (Fig. 3). The motoneurons which generated the peristaltic motor patterns in larvae and pupae were identified by recording extracellularly from various nerve branches (Figs. 4, 5, 6, 8) and intracellularly from neuronal somata (Figs. 7, 9). 5. The pattern of the motoneuron bursts was the same during both larval and pupal ecdysis (Table 2). The only apparent difference at the two stages was that pupae exhibited a lower level of tonic background motor activity than did larvae (e.g., Figs. 4, 8). 6. Thus, both behavioral and electrophysiological data indicated that the pattern-generating circuitry underlying abdominal peristalsis remained stable during the larval-pupal transformation. In contrast, the loss of the prolegs at pupation and their consequent absence from pupal ecdysis behavior did suggest a possible stage-specific change in the neural circuitry; this possibility is investigated in an accompanying paper (Weeks and Truman 1984).
Microstructural Imaging of Localized Chemical Reactions using Valence Photoelectrons

We have utilized scanning soft X-ray photoelectron spectromicroscopy-MAXIMUM to investigate the microstructural evolution induced by localized corrosion in the Al-Cu-Si alloy thin films. We present energy-specific photoelectron micrographs showing the distribution of Cu-rich precipitates and corrosion products for the thin films after corrosion. Microspectroscopy performed across a corrosion site reveals that the O 2p valence band shifts in energy with location and the amount of shift can be related to the degree of corrosion. The photoelectron micrographs also show that the Cu-rich phase precipitates near the surface region and grows with annealing temperature.
Section 6. Deep Time: Modelling of Atmospheric CO2 and the Marine CO2-Carbonic Acid-Carbonate System

In this section we investigate the changes in the CO2-carbonic acid system of seawater as coupled to atmospheric CO2 variations and weathering inputs from land during the Phanerozoic Eon based mainly on modelling efforts. We recognise the fact that modelling has its drawbacks as expressed in the
Clinical Curative Effect Observation of Compound Glycyrrhizin Tablets Combined with Three Triclosan in Treating 72 Cases of Acne Vulgaris

Objective To study the clinical efficacy of compound glycyrrhizin tablets combined with three triclosan in treating 72 cases of acne vulgaris. Methods Patients with acne vulgaris were enrolled and randomly divided into observation group given compound glycyrrhizin tablets combined with three triclosan and control group given three triclosan. Then Clinical curative effect were evaluated after treatment. Results 18 cases were cure, 12 cases were excellence, 5 cases were improvement and 1 case was uselessness; the total efficiency83.33% were better than control group. Conclusion Compound glycyrrhizin tablets combined with three triclosan treatment has positive clinical value for the treatment of acne vulgaris as it can improve curative effect.
Max Weber and patterns of Chinese history

Max Weber’s The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism (1951) has been regarded as a book containing many distortions, wrong characterizations, and politically incorrect arguments by the contemporary Western social scientists. This article, however, argues that while Weber has made his analyses based on very limited information, his arguments about the nature of Chinese cities and Chinese religions, and his explanation of China’s impossibility to achieve industrial capitalism before the advent of Western imperialism, are largely correct. This article further argues that the current attack on Max Weber, particularly by the so-called California school scholars, represents not a genuine intellectual advancement but fads and fashions of today’s Western scholarship.
Super-resolution image reconstruction for high-density 3D single-molecule microscopy

Single-molecule localization based super-resolution microscopy achieves sub-diffraction-limit spatial resolution by localizing a sparse subset of stochastically activated emitters in each frame. Its temporal resolution, however, is constrained by the maximal density of activated emitters that can be successfully reconstructed. The state-of-the-art three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction algorithm based on compressed sensing suffers from high computational complexity and gridding error due to model mismatch. In this paper, we propose a novel super-resolution algorithm for 3D image reconstruction, dubbed TVSTORM, which promotes the sparsity of activated emitters without discretizing their locations. Several strategies are pursued to improve the reconstruction quality under the Poisson noise model, and reduce the computational time by an order-of-magnitude. Simulation results are provided to validate the favorable performance of the proposed algorithm.
In Search of the Caliphate

ABSTRACT“In Search of the Caliphate” discusses the historic split between Sunni and Shi'ite Islams in religious studies textbooks, general reference resources, multi-volume reference works on Islam, and briefly suggests other resources (monographs and articles). In analyzing textbooks, the article uses a template taken from the Encyclopedia of Religion (2005) and looks for the following characteristics in the discussion: the question of authority and succession in Islam after the death of the Prophet Mohammad; esoteric knowledge and the role of the Imam (particularly in Shi'a); the assassination of Husayn (the grandson of Mohammed); and the appearance of the eschatological figure of the Madhi in Twelver Shi'a. “Twelver Shi'ism” is used as a search term to analyze the information in reference works (both general works and those devoted to Islam). The conclusion highlights the challenges in researching this topic in a university library.
Neighborhood crime, the housing crisis, and geographic space: Disentangling the consequences of foreclosure and vacancy

In the wake of the U.S. housing crisis, a flurry of research has examined the consequences of foreclosure for crime, and much of the literature suggests that foreclosure impacts crime through vacan...