cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On-line classification of coal combustion quality using nonlinear SVM for improved neural network NOx emission rate prediction

Abstract A nonlinear support vector machine (SVM) uses engineered features to classify the quality of currently combusting coal as it is fired in an operating electric utility generator. The SVM classification result selects a unique neural network regression model to predict NOx emission rate. A two-part exhaustive grid-search and 5-fold cross-validation routine identifies the radial basis kernel as optimal for the SVM, achieving a classification accuracy of greater than 66%. The accuracy of the modified neural network structure improves on the original structure by 40%. This work contributes 1) evidence of feature engineering to enhance raw features in a complex industrial process and to provide otherwise unavailable data, 2) the formulation of a novel hybrid machine learning approach combining SVMs and neural networks with differing objectives harmoniously, and 3) a demonstrated improvement in neural network NOx emission rate prediction accuracy at a live operating electric utility generator due to SVM classification.
Influence of flocculant on flow behavior and undrained shear strength of fine coal refuse

Abstract The stability of impounded slurry materials in part depends on the potential for flow and undrained shear strength. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of an added flocculant on the flow behavior and undrained shear strength of fine coal refuse (FCR). Specimens were formed from fresh FCR slurry samples obtained from an active impoundment slurry discharge pipe, as well as solids recovered from the same slurry mixed with either distilled water or a dispersant solution. Specimens were consolidated over a range of low stresses with different initial void ratios and moisture contents. Flow table and vane shear tests were performed to investigate the influence of background solution type on flow behavior and undrained shear strength. The background solution chemistry has a significant impact on the FCR void ratio, flowability, and the undrained shear strength. The flocculant present in the FCR slurry contributes to higher flow resistance and shear strength at higher values of moisture content and void ratios. A reasonable correlation was observed between flowability and undrained shear strength. For the materials tested in this study, the results indicate an estimate of undrained shear strength may be determined indirectly by conducting a modified flow table test.
Physics and Knobs

Understanding the physics of ultrasonography may seem like an unnecessary endeavor but having a solid understanding of what is behind the image can help you acquire the optimal image as well as correctly interpret the image. Ultrasound waves are mechanical waves which are at a frequency above the range of human hearing. They are sent into tissue and are returned through the transducer, allowing the machine to interpret what is returned. Doppler factors in frequency shifts to determine movement and direction. Adjusting the frequency affects the resolution and the penetration into the tissue, whereas adjusting the gain affects the amplitude of the signal returning to the transducer. There are numerous artifacts that are crucial to identifying pathology, recognizing normal anatomy and guiding image acquisition. Lastly, when performing a procedure, consider keeping probe marker and indicator on the same side to avoid confusion.
Patterns & Factors Associated with Respiratory Care Protocol Use

Background: Organizational factors associated with adoption and use of respiratory care protocols have received little attention. This study examines patterns of protocol use and features of a hospital and providers that are associated with respiratory care protocol use. Methods: Forty-four hospitals and their health-care providers responded to an online survey regarding perceived outcomes of protocol use and their level of support for using protocols. Hospital features (ie, size, teaching status, and use of information systems) were also assessed. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression were used for analysis.Results: Of the 9 types of respiratory care protocols assessed (ie, asthma, COPD, ARDS, hypoxemia, pneumonia, noninvasive ventilation therapy, supplemental oxygen titration and discontinuation, ventilator weaning, and bronchopulmonary hygiene), the most commonly used were for oxygen titration and ventilator weaning. Large hospitals (> 350 beds) used protocols more widely than smaller hospitals (P = .01). Respondents felt that use of protocols enhanced cost and quality of care. Finally, hospital features that were associated with overall protocol use were stakeholder support for protocol use and use of high-quality hospital information systems. Conclusions: The study extends prior research by clarifying features of hospitals and providers associated with use of respiratory care protocols. Validation in future hypothesis-testing samples will further advance this knowledge.
We are the Future of ICHRIE

This article explores the reflections of a young member of ICHRIE during their time within the organization. Through these reflections on the past four annual conferences, the author explores lesso...
Acceptability of Intervention Design Factors in mHealth Intervention Research: Experimental Factorial Study

Background: With the growing interest in mobile health (mHealth), behavioral medicine researchers are increasingly conducting intervention studies that use mobile technology (eg, to support healthy behavior change). Such studies’ scientific premises are often sound, yet there is a dearth of implementational data on which to base mHealth research methodologies. Notably, mHealth approaches must be designed to be acceptable to research participants to support meaningful engagement, but little empirical data about design factors influencing acceptability in such studies exist. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the impact of two common design factors in mHealth intervention research—requiring multiple devices (eg, a study smartphone and wrist sensor) relative to requiring a single device and providing individually tailored feedback as opposed to generic content—on reported participant acceptability. Methods: A diverse US adult convenience sample (female: 104/255, 40.8%; White: 208/255, 81.6%; aged 18-74 years) was recruited to complete a web-based experiment. A 2×2 factorial design (number of devices×nature of feedback) was used. A learning module explaining the necessary concepts (eg, behavior change interventions, acceptability, and tailored content) was presented, followed by four vignettes (representing each factorial cell) that were presented to participants in a random order. The vignettes each described a hypothetical mHealth intervention study featuring different combinations of the two design factors (requiring a single device vs multiple devices and providing tailored vs generic content). Participants rated acceptability dimensions (interest, benefit, enjoyment, utility, confidence, difficulty, and overall likelihood of participating) for each study presented. Results: Reported interest, benefit, enjoyment, confidence in completing study requirements, and perceived utility were each significantly higher for studies featuring tailored (vs generic) content, and the overall estimate of the likelihood of participation was significantly higher. Ratings of interest, benefit, and perceived utility were significantly higher for studies requiring multiple devices (vs a single device); however, multiple device studies also had significantly lower ratings of confidence in completing study requirements, and participation was seen as more difficult and was associated with a lower estimated likelihood of participation. The two factors did not exhibit any evidence of statistical interactions in any of the outcomes tested. Conclusions: The results suggest that potential research participants are sensitive to mHealth design factors. These mHealth intervention design factors may be important for initial perceptions of acceptability (in research or clinical settings). This, in turn, may be associated with participant (eg, self) selection processes, differential compliance with study or treatment processes, or retention over time. Trial Registration:
Fair and Efficient Allocations of Chores under Bivalued Preferences

We study the problem of fair and efficient allocation of a set of indivisible chores to agents with additive cost functions. We consider the popular fairness notion of envy-freeness up to one good (EF1) with the efficiency notion of Pareto-optimality (PO). While it is known that an EF1+PO allocation exists and can be computed in pseudo-polynomial time in the case of goods, the same problem is open for chores. Our first result is a strongly polynomial-time algorithm for computing an EF1+PO allocation for bivalued instances, where agents have (at most) two disutility values for the chores. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first non-trivial class of indivisible chores to admit an EF1+PO allocation and an efficient algorithm for its computation. We also study the problem of computing an envy-free (EF) and PO allocation for the case of divisible chores. While the existence of an EF+PO allocation is known via competitive equilibrium with equal incomes, its efficient computation is open. Our second result shows that for bivalued instances, an EF+PO allocation can be computed in strongly polynomial-time.
The Role of the General Hospital in Biopsychosocial Education

Hospitals have, through the ages, exerted great attraction upon novelists, playwrights, cinematographers, photographers, and sociologists. The perverse magnetism of human misery and sickness as well as captivation by the struggle to conquer them are attested to by the millions of viewers who daily can be found entranced by the endless episodes of a television serial called “General Hospital.” Whether through counterphobic immersion in the gore of a bloody operation, the technological mastery of mankind’s scourges, or the intrigue and romance of relationships which bloom in surroundings where sickness abounds, there is something for everyone.
Not a Hobbesian Constitution

In what follows I argue that the Constitution rejects Thomas Hobbes’s theory of sovereignty and that the Constitution, by implication of this rejection, also rejects the metaphysical and moral ground on which Hobbes rests his theory. I contend that the design pattern instantiated in the Constitution presupposes moral and metaphysical realism instead. Thus, proponents of the Hobbesian interpretation (such as Frank Coleman, Walter Berns, and Gary McDowell) have thus far failed to successfully repudiate the moral realist and natural law interpretations advanced not only by Edward Corwin and Thomas Grey but also by Benjamin Wright, Hadley Arkes, Graham Walker, and myself. In the ensuing pages, I will advance an analytic argument for claim that the Constitution presupposes moral and metaphysical realism rather than the basic (Ockhamist) tenets of Hobbesian philosophy.
Taking the Principle of Just Compensation Abroad: Private Property Rights, National Sovereignty, and the Cost of Environmental Protection

Part I of this article provides a brief background of the United States takings jurisprudence. It examines how the Fifth Amendment protects private property rights and when environmental regulation implicates the payment of just compensation. Part II reviews the methods by which the United States government seeks to protect the environment without infringing on private property rights, focusing on financial incentives and disincentives. Part III compares the many parallels between private property rights and national sovereignty. Part IV explores how lessons derived from the United States experience in balancing private property rights and environmental concerns are relevant to international environmental issues. It focuses on how the United States seeks to influence the environmental policy of other states through financial incentives and disincentives in multilateral and bilateral contexts. Concluding that such conditional assistance is consistent with the domestic principle of just compensation, the article offers a framework for when such assistance is justified.
Does it Matter with What I Write? Comparing Performance on Paper, Computer and Portable Writing Devices

The mode of administration effects reported here and in previous studies (Russell, 1999; Russell and Haney, 1997) highlight a complicated challenge testing programs must overcome as they continue to use tests containing open-ended items to make inferences about student and school achievement. To reduce the mode of administration effect, state testing programs should consider allowing students to select the mode by which open-ended responses are composed. For the past decade, the Province of Alberta has employed this strategy for its graduation testing program (Alberta Learning, 2000). Over the past five years, the province has seen the percentage of students opting to perform the English, Social Studies, Biology and French tests on computer increase from 6.7% in 1996 to 24.5% in 2000. Within high schools, the percentage of students opting to perform the test on a computer ranges from 0 to 80% (Sakyi, 2000).
Characterization of a large-area plasma generated by electron cyclotron resonance in a permanent-magnet static field

Summary form only given. A large-area microwave plasma source is being developed for applications in the manufacture of flat panel displays. The plasma is generated by a novel permanent-magnet electron-cyclotron resonance (ECR) source. Typical plasma densities in argon are (2-9)/spl times/10/sup 10/, the electron temperature is 2-4 eV, and the plasma potential varies from 12 to 16 V for microwave input power of 150 to 300 W. The vacuum chamber is a cylinder 28 cm long and 25 cm in diameter. A 1-kW, 2.45 GHz microwave source is connected through a circulator and an EH tuner to a horn which expands the microwave aperture to a 15/spl times/20 cm rectangle. The horn is attached to the top plate of the vacuum chamber which holds a 15/spl times/20 cm aluminum 5-slot grill containing 5 rows of permanent magnets. The ECR surface of 875 G is approximately 1 cm from the grill. An alumina window provides a vacuum break and is also designed as a quarter-wavelength matching transformer. Approximately 12.5 cm from the grill there is a wafer holder made of stainless steel and measuring 20 cm in diameter. The volume of the plasma is 14 liters without the wafer holder, and 6 liters with the wafer holder. Thus far the plasma has been characterized with a Langmuir probe using the sweep circuit and analysis technique. A microwave probe is under construction for the analysis of the microwave fields in the plasma.
Learning to See with Different Eyes: A Nietzschean Challenge to Multicultural Dialogue

Empathy is a necessity in our multicultural world. Modern democratic societies are home to communities with the most diverse religious, political, and moral convictions, and these convictions often directly, even perilously, contradict one another. Educational theorists differ on how empathy can be taught in the face of these contradictions. Does proper pedagogical action entail an attempt to teach students to understand the other, to see their world through the eyes of the other? Or is such an attempt doomed to fail, a vain and presumptuous striving to surpass the epistemologically preordained limits of subjectivity? While theorists who promote mutual understanding traditionally look to some form of dialogue to establish their empathic pedagogies, those who doubt the possibility of mutual understanding formulate critical, often monological pedagogies in which students are encouraged to “talk back” to their others about their idiosyncratic perspectives. Theorists have thus had choose: dialogue or relativism? Using the robust educational philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, Douglas Yacek demonstrates that this is a most unsatisfactory choice, one that ignores the pedagogical complexity needed to teach students genuine empathy. He argues that Nietzsche's educational writings yield a tripartite empathic pedagogy founded on self-knowledge, foreign language learning, and experimentalism. Upon these three pedagogical pillars, Yacek problematizes Megan Laverty's recent attempt to formulate an empathic pedagogy as dialogical philosophical inquiry. Although Nietzsche would endorse much of Laverty's pedagogy, Yacek concludes that Nietzsche's pedagogy requires engagement with perspectives across the democratic curriculum and, indeed, beyond.
The respiratory neuromuscular response to hypoxia, hypercapnia, and obstruction to airflow in asthma.

In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the neuromuscular response to an acute increase in airflow produced by external flow resistive loads (FRL) is impaired. The present study compared t...
Leukocyte Lactate Dehydrogenase Changes as an Indicator of Infection Prior to Overt Symptoms

Lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) concentration of rabbit serum and leukocytes was followed during the course of an acute infection with Diplococcus pneumoniae. Control values were obtained prior to infection, and again 4, 24, and 48 hr later. LDH isozymes were characterized by acrylamide gel electrophoresis and quantitated by densitometry. An increase in serum LDH was observed as early as 4 hr after infection. These levels returned to normal in 24 hr and rose again 48 hr after infection. The LDH level of leukocytes, from 10 of 12 infected rabbits, rose rapidly during the 24-hr period after exposure. The levels were two to three times the original preinoculation level for that animal. In six of these rabbits, this LDH elevation occurred 4 hr after inoculation and preceded the onset of fever. Change in the type of leukocyte did not account for the increase in cellular LDH. All infected rabbits showed approximately the same increase in polymorphonuclear leukocytes, but not all developed comparable increases in LDH. The isozyme patterns obtained, when defined amounts of enzyme were applied to the gel for electrophoresis, were characterized for the most part by a three-enzyme pattern. Increasing amounts of enzyme occasionally revealed a fourth, more cathodal, enzyme. The more cathodic enzymes appear to be the most responsive when sudden shifts in enzyme concentration occur within the cell.
Adapting a social-ecological resilience framework for food systems

The purpose of applying social-ecological resilience thinking to food systems is twofold: first, to define those factors that help achieve a state in which food security for all and at all scales is possible and second, to provide insights into how to maintain the system in this desirable regime. However, the resilience of food systems is distinct from the broader conceptualizations of resilience in social-ecological systems because of the fundamentally normative nature of food systems: humans need food to survive, and thus, system stability is typically a primary policy objective for food system management. However, society also needs food systems that can intensify sustainably, i.e., feed everybody equitably, provide livelihoods, and avoid environmental degradation while responding flexibly to shocks and uncertainty. Today’s failure in meeting food security objectives can be interpreted as the lack of current governance arrangements to consider the full and differential dimensions of food system functions—economic, ecological, and social—at appropriate scales: in other words, the multifunctionality of food. We focus on functional and response diversity as two key attributes of resilient, multifunctional food systems, respectively, the number of different functional groups and the diversity of types of responses to disturbances within a functional group. Achieving food security will require functional redundancy and enhanced response diversity, creating multiple avenues to fulfill all food system objectives. We use the 2013–2015 drought in California to unpack the potential differences between managing for a single function—economic profit—and multiple functions. Our analysis emphasizes how the evolution of the Californian food system has reduced functional and response diversity and created vulnerabilities. Managing for the resilience of food systems will require a shift in priorities from profit maximization to the management for all functions that create full food security at multiple scales.
Large deviations and the rate distortion theorem for Gibbs distributions

Large deviation theory is used to obtain the rate distortion theorem for Gibbs distributions together with exponentially small error probabilities. Large deviation theorems provide asymptotically exponential upper and lower bounds on the probability that the empirical distribution under a Gibbs distribution deviates in variational norm from the marginal. In particular these hold if the Gibbs distribution is a product measure. Using these theorems many of the standard asymptotic results of errorless coding theory can be neatly formulated and extended to Gibbs random fields. We present the application of these theorems to coding with distortion.
Replacement Migration: the wave of the future?

The Population Division of the United Nations issued a report in 1999 on using migration to counteract the effects of low fertility on population size and ageing. The report looked at eight industrial countries and two regions, Europe and the European Union. Using population projections, the analysts estimated the amount of migration necessary to maintain both labour forces and the ratios of workers to retirees at a constant level. This article agrees with the report that substituting migration for low fertility requires politically insupportable levels of migration. The article also concludes that the labour force and retirement financing outlook is not as dire as the UN report insinuates.
Ecological momentary assessment: a research method for studying the daily lives of teachers

The purpose of this paper is to introduce ecological momentary assessment (EMA) as an effective approach for capturing teachers’ emotional states and behaviours over time. Although the implementation of EMA has a rich and successful history among social science researchers in general, traditional retrospective, self‐report methods for collecting teacher and teaching data remain the norm within the field of education today. This paper addresses this concern by describing the conceptual and methodological background of EMA, using methodological findings from a recent study of middle school teachers as a practical example. Results indicated that the advantages inherent in EMA research with teachers clearly outweigh the drawbacks. Teachers and researchers alike felt that the use of EMA via the handheld instruments of personal digital assistants (PDAs) yield meaningful within‐person data in an accurate and convenient manner. Based on the lessons learned from this study, future considerations are outlined for t...
Algorithm for evaluation of pulsatile tinnitus

Conclusions Pulsatile tinnitus requires a careful physical examination and evaluation with selected imaging techniques to identify the origin of the symptoms. Objective To evaluate the incidence of identifiable anomalies in patients with pulsatile tinnitus. Subjects and methods This was a retrospective chart review undertaken in a tertiary care center. Patients seen in the outpatient otolaryngology clinic with the chief complaint of pulsatile tinnitus were evaluated by physical examination and imaging including CT angiography. The outcome measure was the incidence of identifiable abnormalities on imaging studies. Results Fifty-four patients were seen between January 2002 and June 2007 with the chief complaint of constant pulsatile tinnitus, excluding those with chemodectomas. On the basis of physical examination and imaging, 14 were considered arterial, 23 venous, and 15 were indeterminate in origin. Among patients with venous tinnitus, sigmoid sinus diverticulum was the most common finding. Among patients with arterial tinnitus, carotid atherosclerotic disease was the most common. One patient had erosion of the cochlea by the carotid artery. Non-vascular entities identified include superior semicircular canal dehiscence and benign intracranial hypertension.
The role of σ-donation in the bonding of molecular nitrogen on clean and modified Ru(001) surfaces

Abstract We demonstrate that the adsorption of molecular nitrogen on modified Ru(001) is, in contrast to CO adsorption, largely governed by its σ-charge donation to the metal, which can be promoted by coadsorbed oxygen. Preadsorbed potassium inhibits nitrogen adsorption for σ K > 0.08, thus enabling us to determine a minimum distance of 4.25 A for the repulsive K-N 2 interaction.
Compositional and structural characterization by TEM of lattice-mismatched III-V epilayers

We discuss compositional and structural transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization of lattice-mismatched (LMM) III-V epilayers grown on GaAs by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), with possible applications in high-efficiency multijunction solar cells. In addition to the use of TEM imaging to survey layer thicknesses and defect morphology, our analysis emphasizes the particular methods of energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) and convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED). Outlined here is a standards-based method for extracting compositions by EDX, which uses principal-component analysis (PCA) [1], combined with the zeta-factor approach of Watanabe and Williams [2]. A procedure is described that uses the coordinates of high-order Laue zone (HOLZ) lines, which are found in the bright-field disks of CBED patterns, to extract composition and strain parameters from embedded epilayers. The majority of the crystal growth for this work was performed at NREL, which has accommodated the development at SDSM&T of the characterization techniques described. However, epilayer deposition capability at SDSM&T has recently been achieved, using a home-built system, which is presently being used to examine new lattice-mismatched structures relevant to photovoltaic technology.
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY IN WATER POLLUTION CONTROL

The most important, and yet frequently neglected, step in water pollution control programmes is the optimal design of the water quality measurement programmes. The design of water quality surveillance and monitoring programmes should follow a stepwise procedure, based on a logic scheme. This includes (a) definition of short and long-term objectives, (b) selection of parameters of analysis, and sites and frequency of measurement, and (c) selection of methods of analysis and data processing requirement. Perhaps the most important function in this protocol is the development of a preliminary model of the aquatic system under investigation capable of satisfying the measurement objectives. By means of recycling steps, the designer will be able to discard excess measurement and include missing information. Cost-effectiveness analysis may further modify the measurement programme and the derived model. Ultimately, the outcome of this design procedure will be optimized plans compatible with the measurement objectives and budget constraints phase.
Antibiotic-induced shifts in the mouse gut microbiome and metabolome increase susceptibility to Clostridium difficile infection

Antibiotics can have significant and long-lasting effects on the gastrointestinal tract microbiota, reducing colonization resistance against pathogens including Clostridium difficile. Here we show that antibiotic treatment induces substantial changes in the gut microbial community and in the metabolome of mice susceptible to C. difficile infection. Levels of secondary bile acids, glucose, free fatty acids and dipeptides decrease, whereas those of primary bile acids and sugar alcohols increase, reflecting the modified metabolic activity of the altered gut microbiome. In vitro and ex vivo analyses demonstrate that C. difficile can exploit specific metabolites that become more abundant in the mouse gut after antibiotics, including the primary bile acid taurocholate for germination, and carbon sources such as mannitol, fructose, sorbitol, raffinose and stachyose for growth. Our results indicate that antibiotic-mediated alteration of the gut microbiome converts the global metabolic profile to one that favours C. difficile germination and growth.
Images of World Futures

A body of 800 experts, worldwide, on international relations was surveyed in 1977 concerning their short-term (next 5 years) and long-term (next 25 years) predictions for international conflict, political change, and economic development. We present their predictions for both time-frames, and for the 5-year predictions compare them with events that actually occurred. We compare the predictions, and their relative success for the short- term predictions, by methodological orientation (behavioral or traditional) and nationality (United States, Japanese, and Other) of the predictor. Traditionalists succeeded somewhat better than behavioralists (at least outside their subjects of expertise), and both the Americans and the Others had greater success than the Japanese, though none of the differences between groups was great. The experts typically predicted little or no change in events or trends, rather than predicting major change. This is true for short- and long-range predictions. Within a generally optimist...
Induction of cytotoxic T lymphocyte development from murine thymocytes by IL-1 and IL-6

Abstract Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are believed to play an important role in the regression of advanced malignancies in response to adoptive immunotherapy with interleukin-2 (IL-2) and lymphokine-activated killer cells or tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Because the current limitations to the use of adoptive immunotherapy are the IL-2 dose-dependent toxicities and the difficulty in expanding the effector cell population, recent investigations have focused on the development of newer methods for generating CTL in vitro. IL-1 and IL-6 have been shown to synegistically promote thymocyte proliferation; however, their effect on CTL development has not been studied. We investigated the ability of these two cytokines to induce CTL development from immature thymocytes. Thymocytes from 5-week-old BALBc mice were cultured for 72 hours in the presence of Con A and recombinant IL-1, IL-6, or IL-1 plus IL-6. Cytotoxicity against 51 Cr-labeled P815 target cells was then measured in the presence of submitogenic doses of PHA. Neither IL-1 nor IL-6 induced a significant number of CTL from immature thymocytes. However, these two cytokines synergistically induced maximal CTL development. The monoclonal antibody to IL-4 completely abrogated CTL development induced by IL-1 and IL-6, but antibody to the IL-2 receptor had no effect. The data suggest that IL-1 and IL-6 can provide an additional method for in vitro CTL generation in adoptive immunotherapy of advanced tumors.
Muscle fiber type‐specific myofibrillar actomyosin Ca2+ ATPase activity in multiple sclerosis

Biopsies of tibialis anterior muscle were analyzed to determine if increased energy demand of contraction, as indirectly reflected by myofibrillar actomyosin Ca 2+ ATPase (qATPase) activity, contributes to symptomatic fatigue in multiple sclerosis (MS). qATPase activity showed a fiber-type effect, IIax > IIa > I. Fiber-type qATPase activity, however, was not different between MS patients and healthy controls. We suggest that fatigue in MS does not reflect increased energy demand of contraction.
Impact of intraocular pressure reduction on glaucoma progression.

ObjectiveTo provide the results of the Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial, which compared the effect of immediately lowering the intraocular pressure (IOP), vs no treatment or later treatment, on the progression of newly detected open-angle glaucoma.DesignRandomized clinical trial.ParticipantsTwo hundred fifty-five patients aged 50 to 80 years (median, 68 years) with early glaucoma, visual field defects (median mean deviation, −4 dB), and a median IOP of 20 mm Hg, mainly identified through a population screening. Patients with an IOP greater than 30 mm Hg or advanced visual field loss were ineligible.InterventionsPatients were randomized to either laser trabeculoplasty plus topical betaxolol hydrochloride (n = 129) or no initial treatment (n = 126). Study visits included Humphrey Full Threshold 30-2 visual field tests and tonometry every 3 months, and optic disc photography every 6 months. Decisions regarding treatment were made jointly with the patient when progression occurred and thereafter.Main Outcome MeasuresGlaucoma progression was defined by specific visual field and optic disc outcomes. Criteria for perimetric progression were computer based and defined as thesame 3 or more test point locations showing significant deterioration from baseline in glaucoma change probability maps from 3 consecutive tests. Optic disc progression was determined by masked graders using flicker chronoscopy plus side-by-side photogradings.ResultsAfter a median follow-up period of 6 years (range, 51-102 months), retention was excellent, with only 6 patients lost to follow-up for reasons other than death. On average, treatment reduced the IOP by 5.1 mm Hg or 25%, a reduction maintained throughout follow-up. Progression was less frequent in the treatment group (58/129; 45%) than in controls (78/126; 62%) (P = .007) and occurred significantly later in treated patients. Treatment effects were also evident when stratifying patients by median IOP, mean deviation, and age as well as exfoliation status. Although patients reported few systemic or ocular conditions, increases in clinical nuclear lens opacity gradings were associated with treatment (P = .002).ConclusionsThe Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial is the first adequately powered randomized trial with an untreated control arm to evaluate the effects of IOP reduction in patients with open-angle glaucoma who have elevated and normal IOP. Its intent-to-treat analysis showed considerable beneficial effects of treatment that significantly delayed progression. Whereas progression varied across patient categories, treatment effects were present in both older and younger patients, high- and normal-tension glaucoma, and eyes with less and greater visual field loss.
Gene transfer for cystic fibrosis

Ten years ago the cystic fibrosis (CF) gene was cloned. The discovery of the gene encoding the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) Cl– channel marked the opening of Chapter 1 in the development of gene transfer as a treatment for this common autosomal recessive disease. One year later, Chapter 1 ended when expression of CFTR in CF epithelial cells corrected the CF Cl– transport defect. From this chapter, we obtained a critical reagent, the CFTR cDNA, and we learned that gene therapy might be feasible. Chapter 2, the initial experiments in gene transfer to people with CF, began in 1993. Since then several studies have administered the CFTR cDNA to humans using adenovirus, adeno-associated virus (AAV), and cationic lipid vectors. The paper by Harvey et al. in this issue of the JCI (1) brings Chapter 2 to a close. Now it is time to ask what have we learned from this paper and from Chapter 2, and where to go from here. Harvey et al (1) sprayed a recombinant adenovirus (E1–, E3–) encoding CFTR onto a small region of bronchial epithelium in people with CF. By using quantitative RT-PCR, they learned that generation of vector-derived transcripts was dose-dependent and, at the highest doses, the normal CFTR transcripts were present at levels >5% of the levels of the endogenous mutated transcripts. 5–10% is significant because that level might be sufficient to have a clinical impact, provided all the cells have a few transcripts or transcripts are present in at least 5–10% of epithelial cells (2, 3). Because of technical limitations, the authors could not address these caveats directly, but their data are not inconsistent with these requirements. Thus, the results are encouraging. In summary, from Chapter 2 we learned that gene transfer to humans with CF works, and gene therapy should work. We now know that CFTR can be expressed in appropriate target tissues, that expression can complement the CF loss of Cl– transport in vivo in humans, and that gene transfer is safe. Thus, there are no theoretical or fundamental problems that absolutely prevent the development of gene therapy. However, we have also learned of some significant barriers and limitations. Two challenges that must be met in the next chapter on gene therapy for CF include limited efficiency of gene transfer and limited persistence of expression. These two issues are related: if the duration of expression could be increased, a lower transduction rate might be acceptable — and, to a lesser extent, the converse.
A general equation for sensory magnitude.

For the majority of experiments on sensory response, S. S. Stevens’s power law provides a satisfactory description of the relationship between stimulus and sensory magnitudes. In its original form, it has proved to be inaccurate near the absolute threshold, when the sense organ is not in a neutral state of adaptation, when sensory noise is present, or when the sense organ is adapted to the particular stimulus under observation. This paper introduces a more general sensory law which also describes response under the conditions listed above. Stevens’s power law is a special case of this more general equation. In this general formulation, sensory magnitude is considered to be the product of excitatory and inhibitory processes. Excitation can be described by power functions and inhibition by exponential functions. The general equation is applicable to response at both the electrophysiological and psychophysical levels.
Effects of Buffered and Unbuffered Acetylsalicylic Acid upon the Gastric Acidity of Normal Human Subjects

Acetylsalicylic acid in tablet form, in buffered tablets, and effervescent buffered solution, has been compared with regard to the effect upon gastric acidity and pH. Aspirin and buffered aspirin have little or no effect as compared to controls, whereas the effervescent preparation reduces free acidity and raises gastric pH significantly for 30 minutes. This elevation of gastric pH correlates well with the more rapid absorption and reduced gastric irritation which has been reported for various soluble and buffered forms of salicylates.
Heterospecific intruders, territorial defense and reproductive success in the beaugregory damselfish

Abstract A territorial defender is expected to attack an intruder based on the intruder's ability to harvest the defender's crucial resources within the territory. This prediction was tested using the territorial beaugregory damselfish Stegastes leucostictus Muller & Troschel and three different species of intruders; a herbivore ( Scarus iserti Bloch), an egg predator ( Thalassoma bifasciatum Bloch), a conspecific male. The defender's attack behavior was expected to correlate with a species potential in eating the current clutch of eggs and/or influencing the total amount of eggs secured by the defender over the summer. Intruders were tested by placing individuals in clear bottles within the defender's territory. When eggs were absent, the defender's attack rate was highest against the herbivore. When guarding eggs the defender escalated its attack behavior, uniformly, against all species. The intensity of the attack was correlated to the size of his clutch only when the intruder was the egg predator. When intruders were presented in pairs, and one of the intruders was the conspecific male, the defender always positioned himself near the bottle containing the conspecific male. Only when guarding eggs did the defending male differentiate between the egg predator and the herbivore. The total number of eggs the defender secured over the summer was not significantly correlated to his aggressive level against conspecific intruders. Thus defending males appeared to use proximate cues for defense rather than the long term reproductive benefits gained from maintaining the territory.
That’s nice, but what does IT do? Evaluating the impact of bar coded medication administration by measuring changes in the process of care

Abstract Health information technology (IT) is widely endorsed as a way to improve key health care outcomes, particularly patient safety. Applying a human factors approach, this paper models more explicitly how health IT might improve or worsen outcomes. The human factors model specifies that health IT transforms the work system, which transforms the process of care, which in turn transforms the outcome of care. This study reports on transformations of the medication administration process that resulted from the implementation of one type of IT: bar coded medication administration (BCMA). Registered nurses at two large pediatric hospitals in the US participated in a survey administered before and after one of the hospitals implemented BCMA. Nurses’ perceptions of the administration process changed at the hospital that implemented BCMA, whereas perceptions of nurses at the control hospital did not. BCMA appeared to improve the safety of the processes of matching medications to the medication administration record and checking patient identification. The accuracy, usefulness, and consistency of checking patient identification improved as well. In contrast, nurses’ perceptions of the usefulness, time efficiency, and ease of the documentation process decreased post-BCMA. Discussion of survey findings is supplemented by observations and interviews at the hospital that implemented BCMA. Relevance to industry By considering the way that IT transforms the work system and the work process a practitioner can better predict the kind of outcomes that the IT might produce. More importantly, the practitioner can achieve or prevent outcomes of interest by using design and redesign aimed at controlling work system and process transformations.
Reactions of three halogenated organophosphorus flame retardants with reduced sulfur species

Tris(haloalkyl)phosphates (THAPs) are among the most widely used flame retardants in the U.S. They have been identified as one of the most frequently detected contaminants in U.S. streams. These contaminants are of toxicological concern in sensitive coastal ecosystems such as estuaries and salt marshes. It is likely that reactions with reduced sulfur species such as polysulfides (Sn(2-)) and bisulfide (HS(-)), present in anoxic subregions of coastal water bodies could have a significant impact on rates of removal of such contaminants, especially since no significant degradation reactions in the environment (e.g., hydrolysis, biological degradation) is reported for these compounds. The kinetics of the reaction of reduced sulfur species with three structurally related THAPs have been determined in well-defined aqueous solutions under anoxic conditions. Reactions were monitored at varying concentrations of reduced sulfur species to obtain second-order rate constants from the observed pseudo-first order rate constants. The degradation products were studied with GC-FID and LC-MS. The reactivity of Sn(2-), thiophenolate, and HS(-) were compared and steric, as well as electronic factors are used to explain the relative reactivity of the three THAPs with these three sulfur species.
Preparation, Characterization, and Optical Properties of Gold, Silver, and Gold−Silver Alloy Nanoshells Having Silica Cores

This report describes the structural and optical properties of a series of spherical shell/core nanoparticles in which the shell is comprised of a thin layer of gold, silver, or gold-silver alloy, and the core is comprised of a monodispersed silica nanoparticle. The silica core particles were prepared using the Stober method, functionalized with terminal amine groups, and then seeded with small gold nanoparticles (approximately 2 nm in diameter). The gold-seeded silica particles were coated with a layer of gold, silver, or gold-silver alloy via solution-phase reduction of an appropriate metal ion or mixture of metal ions. The size, morphology, and elemental composition of the composite nanoparticles were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The optical properties of the nanoparticles were analyzed by UV-vis spectroscopy, which showed strong absorptions ranging from 400 nm into the near-IR region, where the position of the plasmon band reflected not only the thickness of the metal shell, but also the nature of the metal comprising the shell. Importantly, the results demonstrate a new strategy for tuning the position of the plasmon resonance without having to vary the core diameter or the shell thickness.
Non-contact subsurface temperature measurements following mid-infrared laser irradiation

A difficult challenge in laser processing at nanosecond time scales is monitoring substrate temperature in the laser focal volume, particularly for mid-infrared laser irradiation where the absorption depth is relatively large and the attained temperatures are often relatively low. Here, we describe time-dependent measurements of the subsurface temperature of a target material following absorption of pulsed mid-infrared (MIR) laser irradiation, by detecting the luminescence from micron-size ceramic phosphor particles (Gd-doped YAG:Ce) embedded in the target material at a concentration of up to 10 %. Temperature calibrations were obtained by measuring the luminescence decay of the probe particles in an oil-bath heater. A silica-nanoparticle film was irradiated by an Er:YAG laser operating in a free-running mode over a fluence range up to but below the ablation threshold, while the third harmonic of the Nd:YAG laser excited the luminescence of the probe particles. From the temperature calibrations, it was possible to infer the thermal history of the target as a function of time delay between the Er:YAG and Nd:YAG laser pulses.
Fibroblast growth factors (FGF-1, FGF-2) promote migration and neurite growth of mouse cochlear ganglion cells in vitro: immunohistochemistry and antibody perturbation.

To study the effect of FGF in the early development of the sensory neurons of the auditory system, we established a culture preparation of ganglionic neuroblasts engaged in migration and process outgrowth. The presumed anlage of the cochlear ganglion was dissected from E11 otocysts, just as the neuronal precursors were migrating. The cultures were divided into 4 groups and supplemented for 7–9 days with either hrFGF-1 or hrFGF-2 or both or with defined medium only (control group). Measurements of the increase in explant growth, neuroblast migration, and neurite outgrowth were made by time-lapse imaging techniques in living cultures. Either FGF-1 or FGF-2 alone stimulated early migration and outgrowth of the ganglion cells by 5–10×. The effect of combining FGF-1 and FGF-2 was greater than either alone, but less than additive, consistent with a shared receptor. BrdU labeling confirmed that the effect was on migration, not on proliferation. Adding a neutralizing antibody for FGF-2 to the cultures inhibited migration and neurite outgrowth, suggesting an endogenous FGF-2 activity in these functions. Immunocytochemical observations in vitro and in situ with antibodies to FGF-1, FGF-2, or FGF receptor (R1) demonstrated immunopositive staining of the migrating ganglionic neuroblasts, their processes, and growth cones at corresponding stages (E13). Also non-neuronal cells, hair cells, and Schwann cells (in situ) expressed FGF-1 and FGF-2. Evidently both FGF-1 and FGF-2 play important roles in the migration and initial differentiation of cochlear ganglion neurons in the mouse. J. Neurosci. Res. 62:40–55, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.