cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mini-tenotomy procedure to correct diplopia associated with small-angle strabismus.

Purpose The mini-tenotomy is a novel minimally invasive surgical technique that weakens rectus muscles to treat small-angle strabismus. The mini-tenotomy is an alternative to the standard rectus muscle recession that requires hooking the muscle, suturing the muscle, removing the muscle from sclera, and reattaching the muscle to sclera. Methods This is a retrospective chart review of outcomes of the mini-tenotomy procedure on 15 consecutive adult patients. A central tenotomy of 3 mm was performed cutting through intact conjunctiva using a blunt Westcott scissors. Results Preoperatively 6 patients were esotropic, measuring between 2 and 16Delta (mean, 8Delta), and 9 patients had vertical deviations that measured between 2 and 6Delta (mean, 3.5Delta). Final postoperative esodeviations ranged from 1 to 8Delta (mean, 5.8Delta), and hyperdeviations ranged from 0 to 4Delta (mean, 1.3Delta). Final improvement of the deviation was larger for hypertropia, with a mean of 2.3Delta, vs esotropia, with a mean of 1.3Delta. Conclusion The mini-tenotomy is a safe and effective treatment for diplopia caused by a small-angle hypertropia or esotropia. It is a minimally invasive surgery that can be done in office with topical anesthesia. As with any strabismus procedure, more than one surgery may be necessary.
A finite strain analysis of cavity formation at a rigid inhomogeneity

The formation of a cavity by inclusion-matrix interfacial separation is examined by analyzing the response of a plane rigid inclusion embedded in an unbounded incompressible matrix subject to remote equibiaxial dead load traction. A vanishingly thin interfacial cohesive zone, characterized by normal and tangential interface force-separation constitutive relations, is assumed to govern separation behavior. Rotationally symmetric cavity shapes (circles) are shown to be solutions of an interfacial integral equation depending on the strain energy density of the matrix, the interface force constitutive relation and the remote loading. Nonsymmetrical cavity formation, under rotationally symmetric conditions of geometry and loading, is treated within the theory of infinitesimal strain superimposed on a given finite strain state. Rotationally symmetric and nonsymmetric bifurcations are analyzed and detailed results, for the Mooney–Rivlin strain energy density and for an exponential interface force-separation law, are presented. For the nonsymmetric rigid body displacement mode, a simple formula for the critical load is presented. The effect on bifurcation behavior of interfacial shear stiffness and other interface parameters is treated as well. In particular we demonstrate that (i) for the smooth interface nonsymmetric bifurcation always precedes rotationally symmetric bifurcation, (ii) unlike rotationally symmetric bifurcation, there is no threshold value of interface parameter for which nonsymmetric bifurcation will not occur and (iii) interfacial shear may significantly delay the onset of nonsymmetric bifurcation. Also discussed is the range of validity of a nonlinear infinitesimal strain theory previously presented by the author (Levy [1]).
Reduced acute and late toxicities with intensity-modulated radiation therapy compared to three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy in post-operative gastric cancer

The role of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in post-operative gastric cancer is unknown. We evaluated the toxicity profiles of post-operative gastric cancer patients treated with IMRT or three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT). We identified patients with gastric cancer treated with post-operative radiation at our institution between 2002 and 2016. Acute and late toxicities were evaluated per RTOG/EORTC Radiation Toxicity Grading Scale. Statistical analysis was performed using Chi-square tests, t tests, log-rank, and logistic regression. We identified 66 patients who underwent surgical resection as part of planned definitive treatment. Eighty percent of patients had T3 or higher disease, while 67% had N2+ disease. Thirty patients received 3D-CRT, while 36 received IMRT. Patients receiving 3D-CRT were younger in age than IMRT, treated longer ago, and did not receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Acute grade 2 lower GI toxicity was higher with 3D-CRT (40% vs 17%, p = 0.04). 3D-CRT had higher rates of late lung toxicity of any grade (23% vs 3%, p = 0.02), grade 3+ late esophageal toxicity (23% vs 3%, p = 0.02), and grade 2+ late intestinal toxicity (19% vs 0% p = 0.01). Dosimetric analysis showed that keeping Bowel V5 ≤ 93% protected against development of acute lower GI toxicity of any grade, with V5 ≤ 93% resulting in 10.5% incidence, and V5 > 93% resulting in 52% incidence (p = 0.004). Use of IMRT in post-operative gastric cancer is associated with reduced acute and late toxicities. Consideration should be given for prospective evaluation in the future.
Infections in Liver Transplantation

Liver transplantation has become an important treatment modality for patients with end-stage liver disease/cirrhosis, acute liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although surgical techniques and immunosuppressive regimens for liver transplantation have improved significantly over the past 20 years, infectious complications continue to contribute to the morbidity and mortality in this patient population. The use of standardized screening protocols for both donors and recipients, coupled with targeted prophylaxis against specific pathogens, has helped to mitigate the risk of infection in liver transplant recipients. Patients with chronic liver disease and cirrhosis have immunological deficits that place them at increased risk for infection while awaiting liver transplantation. The patient undergoing liver transplantation is prone to develop healthcare-acquired infections due to multidrug-resistant organisms that could potentially affect patient outcomes after transplantation. The complex nature of liver transplant surgery that involves multiple vascular and hepatobiliary anastomoses further increases the risk of infection after liver transplantation. During the early post-transplantation period, healthcare-acquired bacterial and fungal infections are the most common types of infection encountered in liver transplant recipients. The period of maximal immunosuppression that occurs at 1–6 months after transplantation can be complicated by opportunistic infections due to both primary infection and reactivation of latent infection. Severe community-acquired infections can complicate the course of liver transplantation beyond 12 months after transplant surgery. This chapter provides an overview of liver transplantation including indications, donor-recipient selection criteria, surgical procedures, and immunosuppressive therapies. A focus on infections in patients with chronic liver disease/cirrhosis and an overview of the specific infectious complications in liver transplant recipients are presented.
Nectar quality changes the ecological costs of chemically defended pollen.

Summary Plants often compete in a marketplace that involves the exchange of floral rewards for pollination service [1] . This marketplace is frequently viewed as revolving around a single currency, typically nectar. While this focus has established pollinators such as bees as classic models in foraging ecology, in reality many plants provide both pollen and nectar, which vary in composition within and across species [2] . How this complexity impacts interactions between plants, pollinators, and co-flowering competitors is unknown. We explored how variation in two axes of reward chemistry – nectar sugar and pollen alkaloid content – impacted competition for bumblebee visits. The effect of variation in one reward depended on the presence and quality of the other — bees discriminated against flowers with more defended pollen when all flowers offered the same quality nectar. However, bees preferred flowers with highly defended pollen when they offered higher quality nectar, suggesting that attractive nectar can overcome the ecological costs of defended pollen. Recognizing the interdependence of these floral currencies may help identify traits that drive indirect interactions between plants and clarify broader evolutionary patterns of floral reward phenotypes.
An Investigation Of An Operationally Viable Solution For Mitigating Wind Turbine Clutter Based On Dual Polarization Weather Radar Signatures

The increase in renewable energy has led to the expansion of wind farms in various locations and terrain. Accordingly, more wind turbines create more complex clutter targets for weather radars. Over the last few years, researchers have presented various methods to mitigate this problem of wind turbine clutter interfering with atmospheric observations. This paper investigates different methods as proposed by Keranen at el. [1], Y. Li et al. [2] and S.P.Sira et al. [3]. Performances of both fuzzy logic approach [1] and Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test [2] to detect the range gates affected by turbine clutter are discussed. There after algorithms based on spatial averaging and least squares approximation are proposed to mitigate the clutter while effectively maintaining the precipitation signal. The solutions presented are computationally efficient and works with common scanning strategies. An evaluation approach is also presented which combines clear air wind turbine data and precipitation data to provide a quantitative reference for the efficacy of the wind turbine clutter filtering.
A Probabilistic Approach to The Moments of Binomial Random Variables and Application

In this paper, we provide a closed form formula for the moments of binomial random variables using a probabilistic approach. As an interesting application, we give a closed form formula for the sum...
A 3D petrographic analysis for concrete freeze-thaw protection

Abstract Petrographic analysis is routinely implemented to measure air void parameters for predicting freeze-thaw durability of concrete. The 1D or 2D measurements obtained from polished concrete sections are used to infer 3D protection of the paste. Since an arbitrary point in a section view may be partially protected by air voids that are not intersected, a stereological model is proposed to consider both intersected and un-intersected voids. The model is tested with a group of concrete mixtures with varying air entrainment, mix proportion, and aggregate type. As compared with the 2D analysis, this 3D analysis indicates a higher percent of cement paste being protected. When equating the protection range to Powers' spacing factor, it is found that roughly 98% of paste is protected in 3D. Findings in this study also align with results obtained by other authors using numerical simulation and computed tomography. This model offers a realistic concrete freeze-thaw assessment.
The correlation between retinopathy of prematurity susceptibility and +405G/C and 936 T/C polymorphism of vascular endothelial growth factor-A gene

ObjectiveTo investigate the correlation between retinopathy of prematurity(ROP)susceptibility and +405G/C and 936T/C polymorphism of vascular endothelial growth factor A(VEGF-A)gene. Methods 99 ROP infants(ROP group)and 80 premature infants(control group)were enrolled in this study. There was no difference of gestational age, birth weight and preoxygenation time between the ROP and control group (P＞0. 05). The peripheral blood was collected, polymorphism genotypes and frequency of VEGF-A+405 and VEGF-A936 were measured by pyrosequencing. Results There are CC, GG, CG genotypes in VEGF-A+405 site, while CC, CT genotypes in VEGF-A 936 site. The VEGF-A+405 gene allele of C, G were 92,106 with the frequencies of 46.5％, 53.5％ in the ROP group, and 90, 70 with the frequencies of 56.2％, 43.8％ in the control group; the difference between two groups was not statistically significant (X2 =3. 396, P=0. 066). There was no correlation between VEGF-A+ 405 polymorphism and ROP susceptibility (OR=0. 675, OR95％ CI=0. 444, 1. 026). The VEGF-A 936 gene allele of C, G were 32,166 with the frequencies of 16.2％, 83.8％ in the ROP group, and 16, 144 with the frequencies of 10.0％, 90.0％ in the control group; the difference between two groups was not statistically significant (X2=2.894, P=0.089). There was no correlation between VEGF-A 936 polymorphism and ROP susceptibility (OR=0. 768, OR95％ CI=0. 711, 0. 829). ConclusionThere is no correlation between VEGF-A+405 or VEGF-A 936 polymorphism and ROP susceptibility. Key words: Retinopathy of prematurity/ genetics; Genetic predisposition to disease; Vascular endothelial growth factor A; Polymorphism, single nucleotide
Binary Quilting to Generate Patched Executables without Compilation

When applying patches, or dealing with legacy software, users are often reluctant to change the production executables for fear of unwanted side effects. This results in many active systems running vulnerable or buggy code even though the problems have already been identified and resolved by developers. Furthermore when dealing with old or proprietary software, users can't view or compile source code so any attempts to change the application after distribution requires binary level manipulation. We present a new technique we call binary quilting that allows users to apply the designated minimum patch that preserves core semantics without fear of unwanted side effects introduced either by the build process or by additional code changes. Unlike hot patching, binary quilting is a one-time procedure that creates an entirely new reusable binary. Our case studies show the efficacy of this technique on real software in real patching scenarios.
Synthesis and Swelling Behavior of Highly Porous Epoxy Polymers.

Many advantageous properties of cross-linked polymers relate to their network structures. In this study, network structures of three DGEBA-based epoxy systems at various DGEBA monomer sizes were investigated via equilibrium swelling and glass transition behavior. Each system was cured with a tetra-functional diamine, 4,4'-methylenebiscyclohexanamine, in the presence of a nonreactive solvent, i.e., THF at a solvent-to-monomer volume fraction ranging from 0 to 92%. Experimental results revealed that the conventional swelling model (the Dusek model) accurately calculates Mc values of the cured gels prepared in moderate dilute environments, up to approximately 60% by volume of THF. For gels cured in extreme dilute environments, i.e., in the presence of above 60% by volume of THF, the calculated Mc values using the Dusek model were found to increase sharply as a function of the initial solvent content. The observed dramatic increase in Mc values was not supported by the dry Tg of the identical polymer systems. In fact, the dry Tg values of the polymer systems were found to be relatively insensitive to the initial solvent content. A modification was proposed to the Dusek model that incorporates an additional term, which accounts for the probability of finding elastic chains in a polymer network. Using the modified equation, Mc values were varied as expected with the molecular weight of DGEBA and insensitive to the amount of the solvent initially used during cure. Furthermore, the modified Mc values were shown to be consistent with the dry Tg values in view of the Fox and Loshaek model.
Eccentric hypertrophy in an animal model of mid- and long-term premature ventricular contraction–induced cardiomyopathy

Background Tachycardia and heart rate irregularity are proposed triggers of premature ventricular contraction–induced cardiomyopathy (PVC-cardiomyopathy). Bigeminal premature atrial and ventricular contractions (PACs and PVCs) increase heart rate and result in rhythm irregularities but differ in their effects on ventricular synchrony. Comparing chronic bigeminal PACs with PVCs would provide insights into mechanisms of PVC-cardiomyopathy. Objective To compare the impact of chronic PACs and PVCs on ventricular hemodynamics, structure, and function. Methods Pacemakers were implanted in 27 canines to reproduce atrial (PACs, n = 7) or ventricular bigeminy (PVCs, n = 11) for 12 weeks, and compared to sham-operated animals (n = 9). Four additional animals were exposed to long-term bigeminal PVCs (48 weeks). Hemodynamic changes were assessed using a pressure-transducing catheter at baseline and 12 weeks. Cardiac remodeling was monitored by transthoracic echocardiography throughout the 12- and 48-week protocols in the respective groups. Results PVC group demonstrated a significant decrease in left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction and contractility (max dP/dt), impaired LV lusitropy (min dP/dt), and increase in LV dimensions and LV mass at 12 weeks without further deterioration beyond 16 weeks. Despite increased LV mass, relative wall thickness decreased, consistent with eccentric hypertrophy. No significant cardiac remodeling was noted in either sham or PAC groups at 12 weeks. Conclusion In contrast to bigeminal PACs, PVCs result in a cardiomyopathy characterized by reduced LV ejection fraction, LV dilation, and eccentric hypertrophy that plateaus between 12 and 16 weeks. The lack of remodeling in chronic PACs suggests that tachycardia and heart rate irregularity do not play a significant role on the development of PVC-cardiomyopathy.
Urinary retention is rare after colpocleisis and concomitant midurethral sling: a 10-year experience.

The optimal method of managing stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women undergoing colpocleisis remains unclear, especially in a setting of urinary retention. We aim to compare postoperative retention after colpocleisis with or without concomitant midurethral sling (MUS). A retrospective chart review of all women who underwent colpocleisis with or without MUS from October 2007 to October 2017 was performed. Women with preoperative and 2-week postoperative post-void residual volume (PVR) measurements were included. Urinary retention was defined as PVR of ≥100 ml. Analysis included t tests/Wilcoxon rank, Chi-squared/Fisher’s exact, and multivariate linear regression models. A total of 231 women with a mean age of 77.7 years (± 6.0 years SD) met the inclusion criteria. One hundred and thirty-eight women underwent colpocleisis alone, whereas 93 women had colpocleisis with MUS. Preoperative retention rates were high (44.9% vs 34.4%, for colpocleisis alone versus with MUS, p = 0.114). Postoperative retention rates were lower and similar between the groups (10.1% vs 11.8%, for colpocleisis alone vs with MUS, p = 0.69). Linear regression models showed the adjusted odds ratio for postoperative urinary retention in patients with concomitant MUS was 1.68 (95% confidence interval: 0.64–4.41) compared with patients with colpocleisis alone and this did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.292). Fortunately, after colpocleisis, women had high rates of resolution of retention, regardless of MUS (80.3% vs 90.6% for colpocleisis alone vs with MUS; p = 0.20). Few women required reoperation for retention (3.1%). Placement of an MUS at the time of colpocleisis is a safe and effective therapy. This appears to be unaffected by preoperative urinary retention status.
Zn-based physiometacomposite nanoparticles: distribution, tolerance, imaging, and antiviral and anticancer activity

The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution, tolerance, and anticancer and antiviral activity of Zn-based physiometacomposites (PMCs). Manganese, iron, nickel and cobalt-doped ZnO, ZnS or ZnSe were synthesized. Cell uptake, distribution into 3D culture and mice, and biochemical and chemotherapeutic activity were studied by fluorescence/bioluminescence, confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, viability, antitumor and virus titer assays. Luminescence and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis showed that nanoparticle distribution was liver >spleen >kidney >lung >brain, without tissue or blood pathology. Photophysical characterization as ex vivo tissue probes and LL37 peptide, antisense oligomer or aptamer delivery targeting RAS/Ras binding domain (RBD) was investigated. Treatment at 25 μg/ml for 48 h showed ≥98-99% cell viability, 3D organoid uptake, 3-log inhibition of β-Galactosidase and porcine reproductive respiratory virus infection. Data support the preclinical development of PMCs for imaging and delivery targeting cancer and infectious disease.
E-Resource Migration: From Dual to Unified Management

The University of South Carolina Library migrated to Ex Libris Alma’s library services platform in June 2020. This presentation from the 2021 NC Serials Conferences describes pre-implementation wor...
Demonstration of an Integrated Photonic Magic T – a Robust Beam Splitter and Novel Polarization Diversity Building Block

We demonstrate an adiabatic magic T in a 45 nm CMOS photonics foundry platform, with 3±0.25 dB power splitting and <1.2 dB loss over 1530-1600 nm, with a 60 µm-long device. It functions as a 2×2 beam splitter with splitting ratio from both input ports fundamentally robust by symmetry, and supports novel polarization diversity and modulator designs.
Jurisdiction Stripping as a Tool for Democratic Reform of the Supreme Court: Written Testimony for The Presidential Commission On The Supreme Court of the United States

In this written testimony I will focus in depth on what I believe to be the most promising strategy for reducing the power of courts. That is for Congress to use the power that the Constitution has always given it to override, in appropriate cases, decisions of the Supreme Court and indeed any federal court. Not through an Article V amendment, which is virtually always an impossible hurdle to clear. But rather through Congress’s Article III authority to strip the jurisdiction of both the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts. Congress’s virtually plenary power to determine courts’ jurisdiction is, if used with discretion and determination, a power to enforce Congress’s interpretations of the Constitution’s meaning, and to deprive courts of jurisdiction to review those interpretations. It is, in effect, a power to limit, or to qualify, judicial supremacy.
Chapter 6 The Histidine Transport System of Salmonella typhimurium

Publisher Summary Cells of E. coli and Salmonella typhimuriurn can transport substrates either by active transport systems, by facilitated diffusion, or by group translocation. The complex systems, which are sensitive to mild osmotic shock and require three or more protein components to operate are referred as periplasmic permeases or shock-sensitive permeases because one of their constituents is located in the periplasm and can be released by osmotic shock. Essentially, five separate transport systems are involved in the uptake of histidine by Salmonella typhimurium . One of these, the high-affinity histidine permease, is a shock-sensitive system. Another permease makes use of a different periplasmic protein and of some of the components of the high-affinity histidine permeases. The high-affinity histidine permease of S. typhimurium is the best characterized system of several distinct histidine permeases that function in this organism. The periplasmic histidine-binding protein is extensively characterized. Its most important property is its ability to undergo a definite change in conformation upon binding to substrate.
Atcom: automatically tuned collective communication system for smp clusters

Conventional implementations of collective communications are based on point-to-point communications, and their optimizations have been focused on efficiency of those communication algorithms. However, point-to-point communications are not the optimal choice for modern computing clusters of SMPs due to their two-level communication structure. In recent years, a few research efforts have investigated efficient collective communications for SMP clusters. This dissertation is focused on platform-independent algorithms and implementations in this area. There are two main approaches to implementing efficient collective communications for clusters of SMPs: using shared memory operations for intra-node communications, and over-lapping inter-node/intra-node communications. The former fully utilizes the hardware based shared memory of an SMP, and the latter takes advantage of the inherent hierarchy of the communications within a cluster of SMPs. Previous studies focused on clusters of SMP from certain vendors. However, the previously proposed methods are not portable to other systems. Because the performance optimization issue is very complicated and the developing process is very time consuming, it is highly desired to have self-tuning, platform-independent implementations. As proven in this dissertation, such an implementation can significantly outperform the other point-to-point based portable implementations and some platform-specific implementations. The dissertation describes in detail the architecture of the platform-independent implementation. There are four system components: shared memory-based collective communications, overlapping mechanisms for inter-node and intra-node communications, a prediction-based tuning module and a micro-benchmark based tuning module. Each component is carefully designed with the goal of automatic tuning in mind.
Ornithine cyclase (deaminating). II. Properties of the homogeneous enzyme.

Abstract Ornithine cyclase from Clostridium sporogenes was purified to electrophoretic and ultracentrifugal homogeneity. The pure cyclase had a sedimentation coefficient (s20,w) of 5.6 S measured by high speed sedimentation velocity centrifugation, and a molecular weight of 81,000 calculated from high speed equilibrium sedimentation. Amino acid analysis indicated a molecular weight of 80,000 and a partial specific volume of 0.733 cm3 per g for the protein. Gel electrophoresis on polyacrylamide in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate indicated the enzyme was made up of two subunits of equal size each with a molecular weight of 41,500. The light absorption spectrum had a major absorption peak at 277 nm, and calculations based on the absorbance values at 280 and 260 nm indicated the presence of approximately 1 mol of pyridine nucleotide per mol of cyclase. Assay of the pure enzyme for bound NAD+ demonstrated the presence of 1 mol of bound NAD+ per mol of enzyme. The activity of pure enzyme was stimulated by NAD+ and by either ADP or ATP. Chromatography of the pure enzyme on DEAE-cellulose columns dramatically increased the dependence of the cyclase activity on added NAD+. It was inhibited severely by oxygen and by several sulfhydryl group inhibitors.
Minimalist control design of canard-actuated micro-projectiles

A minimal control law is designed for a canard controlled smart projectile. This system allows for an envelope of down and cross range targeting capability for a set initial firing state. The controller relies on limited aerodynamic data with initial firing conditions in order to avoid the need for complicated electronics and sensors. First range and lateral control are shown to be achieved independently, and then they were combined to demonstrate full 3D control. A 6DoF simulation is used to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Sensitivity analysis to variations in initial conditions are carried out using Monte Carlo simulations. With a 5 m/s muzzle velocity, a 95% confidence predefined target landing is achieved with −0.236%±0.792% lateral and −0.352%±0.185% range error.
Trends and Issues in Distance Education: International Perspectives, 2nd ed. Lya Visser, Yusra Visser, Ray Amirault, and Michael Simonson, eds

By moving toward a coherent analytical framework for the study of global distance education, this book makes a unique contribution to the field. The theoretical perspective presented here is invalu...
On Making Life and Death Decisions

Recent research has provided us with methods by which an individual can make decisions that involve risk to his life in a way that is consistent with his total preferences and with his current risk environment. These methods may ethically be used only by the individual himself or by an agent designated by the individual. In the absence of such delegation, anyone who imposes a risk on another is guilty of assault if the risk is large enough. Just as society has found ways to distinguish a “pat on the back” from physical battery, so must it now determine what risk may be placed upon another without his consent.
The Main-Sequence Luminosity Function of Palomar 5 from the Hubble Space Telescope

A low mass, large core radius, low central concentration, and strong tidal tails suggest that the globular cluster Palomar 5 has lost a large fraction of its initial mass over time. If the dynamical evolution of Pal 5 has been dominated by the effects of mass loss, then theoretical arguments suggest that the luminosity function should be deficient in low-mass stars. Using deep WFPC2 F555W and F814W photometry, we determine the main-sequence luminosity functions both near the cluster center and in a field near the half-light radius. A comparison of these luminosity functions yields no compelling evidence of mass segregation within the cluster, in accord with expectations for low-concentration clusters. On the other hand, a comparison of the global mass function of Pal 5 with that of ω Cen and M55 indicates an increasing deficiency of stars with progressively lower masses. A fit of the observed luminosity function to theoretical models indicates a mass function for Pal 5 of dN/dm ∝ m-0.5, which is notably more deficient in low-mass stars than other globular clusters that have been studied with the Hubble Space Telescope. The flatness of the mass function is consistent with models of the dynamical evolution of globular clusters that have lost ~90% of their original stellar mass. We suggest that, like NGC 6712, Pal 5 has lost a large percentage of its original stellar content as a result of tidal shocking.
An asymptotic model of the F layer

[1] A model of the F layer of the ionosphere is presented that consists of a bottomside asymptote that ignores transport and a topside asymptote that ignores chemistry. The asymptotes connect at the balance height dividing the chemistry and transport regimes. A combination of these two asymptotes produces a good approximation to the true F layer. Analogously, a model of F layer response to an applied vertical drift is presented that consists of two asymptotic responses, one that ignores transport and one that ignores chemistry. The combination of these asymptotic responses produces a good approximation to the response of the true F layer. This latter response is identical to the “servo” response of Rishbeth et al. (1978), derived from the continuity equation. The asymptotic approach bypasses the continuity equation in favor of “force balance” arguments and so replaces a differential equation with simpler algebraic equations. This new approach provides a convenient and intuitive mean for first-order estimates of the change in F layer peak height and density in terms of changes in neutral density, composition, temperature, winds, and electric fields. It is applicable at midlatitudes and at magnetically quiet times at high latitudes. Forensic inverse relations are possible but are not unique. The validity of the asymptotic relations is shown through numerical simulation.
A domain-independent system for case-based task decomposition without domain theories

We propose using domain-independent task decomposition techniques for situations in which cases are the sole or the main source for domain knowledge. Our work is motivated by project planning domains, where hierarchical cases are readily available, but neither a planning domain theory nor case adaptation knowledge is available. We present DInCaD (Domain-Independent System for Case-Based Task Decomposition), a system that encompasses case retrieval, refinement, and reuse, following from the idea of reusing generalized cases to solve new problems. DInCaD consists of a case refinement procedure that reduces case over-generalization, and a similarity criterion that takes advantage of the refinement to improve case retrieval precision. We will analyze the properties of the system, and present an empirical evaluation.
A Study in Detection: The Who and Why of the Health Care Joint Dissent

For their dissent in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius four Justices – Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito – selected a seldom used form of Supreme Court authorship. Instead of one Justice signing the opinion and three others joining, all four signed their names as co-authors of a joint dissent. Their choice of this unusual form provides readers with both a surface puzzle and a subtle message. The puzzle challenges readers to identify the author or authors of the opinion, as this article attempts to do, by detecting stylistic elements characteristic of one of the signers. The message is easier to decipher. The Justices chose this opinion form to underscore their rejection of the majority position and, in Justice Brennan’s term, to "amplify" their message of internal solidarity.
Multi-Layer RF Capacitors on Flexible Substrates Utilizing Inkjet Printed Dielectric Polymers

Flexible multi-layer inkjet printed capacitors that have a self resonant frequency above 3 GHz are demonstrated for the first time utilizing two custom formulated polymer-based dielectric inks. The formulation and characterization of both dielectric inks for optimal viscosity and film thickness are performed. The frequency dependent capacitance and quality factor (Q) are presented along with a study on the repeatability and measures to improve the quality factor of printed passives.
Stress responses to heterologous membrane protein expression in Escherichia coli

The stress response of E. coli to the expression of two recombinant membrane proteins, the E. coli AAA+ protease FtsH and the human G-protein coupled receptor CB1, was examined using several members of a promoter-GFP library. Several genes from the heat-shock and envelope stress regulons (rpoH, clpP, lon, and ftsH) were strongly induced by expression of either membrane protein. Flow cytometry was used to monitor the real-time dynamics of the transcription of these reporter genes in response to membrane protein expression. Co-expression of CB1 and FtsH led to an additive response in these four reporter genes suggesting that the stresses may be occurring via different physiological mechanisms.
The kinetics of extraction of Tm+3 by diethylhexylphosphoric acid and dinonylnaphthalenesulfonic acid

Abstract The rate of extraction to Tm +3 from an aqueous phase of 0·1 M (NaClO 4 ) ionic strength into a toluene solution containing either diethylhexyl-phosphoric acid or dinonylnaphthalene sulfonic acid has been studied as a function of the pH of the aqueous phase and of the extractant concentration in the organic phase. Rate equations for the two extraction systems have been obtained showing the dependence of the pH and the extractant concentration.
RESPONSE OF BROMEGRASS TO NITROGEN FERTILIZATION. II. GRASSLANDS GALA

ABSTRACT Grasslands “Gala” (Bromus stamineus Desv.) bromegrass is generally regarded as high quality forage particularly adapted to grazing, but little is known about its growth response to N fertilization or potential to accumulate nitrate (NO3 −). Effects of N fertilization were investigated in two greenhouse experiments. Gala was grown in pots in a complete randomized design with four replications of the following N treatments: 0, 25, 50, 100, and 200 kg N ha−1 applied twice in Experiment 1, and 50, 100, 200, 300, and 400 kg N ha−1 applied five times in Experiment 2. Plants were harvested twice in Experiment 1, and five times in Experiment 2. Twenty-five kg N ha−1 per application did not sustain growth of Gala but little increase in growth occurred beyond 50 kg N ha−1 over five applications. About 90% of the 250 kg N ha−1 that was applied in 50 kg-increments was measured in the aerial plant biomass. Yield efficiency was also greatest at 50 kg N ha−1 per application and decreased with increasing N level...
Tonapofylline: a selective adenosine-1 receptor antagonist for the treatment of heart failure.

Importance of the field: The heart failure and cardiorenal syndromes are major public health hazards, affecting one in five persons during their lifetime. Alternatives to traditional loop-diuretics, including vasopressin and adenosine A1 receptor antagonists are now in development.Areas covered in this review: The pathophysiologic rationale for the use of tonapofylline, an intravenous and oral adenosine A1 receptor antagonist, in patients with heart failure and/or the cardiorenal syndrome are reviewed. A comprehensive review of published literature describing its medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, safety and tolerability are provided. We searched the Medline/PubMed and Embase databases for the terms ‘BG9928’, ‘tonapofylline’, ‘Adentri’, ‘adenosine’, ‘heart failure’, ‘renal failure’ and ‘cardiorenal syndrome’ from 1 January 1992 to the present. References from pertinent manuscripts were also reviewed for additional relevant content.What the reader will gain: The reader will better appreciate ...
Promoting regional disaster preparedness among rural hospitals.

Context and Purpose:Rural communities face substantial risks of natural disasters but rural hospitals face multiple obstacles to preparedness. The objective was to create and implement a simple and effective training and planning exercise to assist individual rural hospitals to improve disaster preparedness, as well as to enhance regional collaboration among these hospitals. Methods: The exercise was offered to rural hospitals enrolled with the Rural and Community Health Institute of the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, and 17 participated. A 3-hour tabletop exercise emphasizing regional issues in a pandemic avian influenza scenario followed by a 1-hour debriefing was implemented in 3 geographic clusters of hospitals. Trained emergency preparedness evaluators documented observations of the exercise on a standard form. Participants were debriefed after the exercise and provided written feedback. Results: Observations included having insufficient staff for incident command, facility constraints, the need to further develop regional cooperation, and operational and ethical challenges in a pandemic. Conclusions: The tabletop exercise gave evidence of being a simple and acceptable tool for rural medical planners. It lends itself well to improving medical preparedness, analysis of weak spots, development of regional teamwork, and rapid response. Language: en
Anomalous rotary dispersion of metachromatic mucopoly-saccharide-dye complexes II. Heparin-Methylene blue complexes at acidic pH

Abstract The phenomenon of induced optical rotatory dispersion (induced Cotton effect) in symmetric planar dyes when bound to certain asymmetric polyanions has been further investigated for methylene blue-heparin complexes in order to determine the source of the asymmetry in the bound dye aggregate. Induced rotation was measured as a function of pH in the range of ionization of the carboxyl group of heparin. Spectrophotometric titrations showed that at pH 2.4 essentially all the carboxyl groups were unionized while at pH 3.1 about 20% of the carboxyl groups were negatively charged. The metachromasy of the stoichiometric complexes changed towards the orthochromatic color upon loss of the carboxyl-group binding site. Analysis of the metachromatic spectra according to quantitative parameters relating to dye-dye interactions showed, however, that although hypochromism (loss of oscillator strength) was decreased at pH 3.1 and 2.4 there was no concomitant decrease in the metachromatic shift in center of gravity. The rotary dispersion curves were found to increase in magnitude with decreasing pH rather than to correlate solely with the decrease in dispersion interactions (hypochromism) or with the similarity of the degree of exciton-type dye-dye interactions (frequency shifts), showing the complex nature of the induced Cotton effect at pH 6.7. The increase in magnitude of the effect from pH 6.7 to 2.4 can be explained by the loss of a negative, dispersion-type Cotton effect which cancels negative and positive rotations of an exciton-type effect at pH 6.7, or it could be the result of a conformational change in the asymmetric polymer-dye aggregate. The correlation of the source of the induced rotation at least in part with dye-dye rather than dye-polymer and/or dye-solvent interactions further supports the interpretation that the anionic sites of heparin in solution are in helical order. A molecular model of heparin is presented showing the helical order possible for α-(1→4)-glucose polymers. The specific conformation is stabilized by a linear hydrogen bond involving the nitrogen of the sulfamino group as the acceptor and the C-3 hydroxyl group of the following uronic acid as the donor. Certain features of this molecular conformation are discussed in relation to the biological activity of heparin.
Chronic Vitritis with Macrophagic Inclusions: A Sequela of Treated Endophthalmitis Due to a Coryneform Bacterium

Abstract A 75-year-old woman was treated successfully for endophthalmitis due to a Coryneform bacterium contracted from a contaminated corneal graft. We were able to study the involved eye histologically when the patient died unexpectedly 5 1/2 weeks after treatment. The vitreous contained a moderate number of macrophages filled with PAS-positive particles. Ultrastructurally, the PAS-positive particles corresponded to degenerating bacterial cell walls. The striking resemblance of the macrophages in this case to macrophages in Whipple's disease is intriguing because Corynebacterium has been the most frequently implicated bacterial genus in the pathogenesis of Whipple's disease.
Revisiting a Century-Old Characterization of Baire Class One, Darboux Functions

(2009). Revisiting a Century-Old Characterization of Baire Class One, Darboux Functions. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 116, No. 5, pp. 451-455.
Denervation disperses acetylcholine receptor clusters at the neuromuscular junction in Xenopus cultures.

Abstract The effect of denervation on acetylcholine receptor (AChR) cluster distribution on cultured Xenopus muscle cells has been examined in order to study the role of intact nerve in the maintenance of clusters at the nerve-muscle junction during development. AChRs on the muscle cell were labeled with tetramethyl rhodamine-conjugated α-bungarotoxin and sequential changes in AChR cluster distribution were examined with a fluorescence microscope using an image intensifier. Denervation was carried out by exposing the nerve cell body to a focused laser light of a high intensity. After this procedure the neurites originating from the cell quickly disintegrated and large AChR clusters associated with nerve divided into smaller clusters. Individual clusters subsequently decreased in size and finally disappeared. In about 30% of the cases new AChR clusters appeared at the extrajunctional region after denervation. These observations indicate that intact nerves are necessary for the maintenance of receptor localization at the nerve-muscle junction and that nerve-induced accumulation is seemingly reversible during the early period of synapse formation. We tested the idea that receptor clusters were lost due to diffusion of receptors in the muscle membrane after denervation. However, the rate of receptor cluster dispersal after denervation was much slower than that predicted by the diffusion model, suggesting that diffusion of receptors is not a rate-limiting step. Furthermore, we found that receptor clusters at the junction stabilize during days in culture. Thus, 80–90% of receptor clusters at the nerve-muscle junction disappeared at 7 hr after denervation in 1-day cocultures, while about 50% of receptor clusters remained after denervation in 3-day cocultures.
Pharmacokinetics of Intravenous Pentamidine in Patients with Normal Renal Function or Receiving Hemodialysis

The pharmacokinetics of intravenous pentamidine were studied in 10 patients with normal renal function (group 1), 9 volunteer subjects without Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia who were receiving maintenance hemodialysis (group 2), and 5 patients with normal or mildly abnormal renal function (group 3) after the last dose of therapy. The concentration-time data were best represented by a three-compartment model. The peak plasma concentration, plasma clearance, and elimination half-life ranged from 249 +/- 80 to 227 +/- 110 ng/ml, 268 +/- 70 to 329 +/- 58 l/h, and 29 +/- 25 to 118 +/- 119 h, respectively, in groups 1 and 2. In group 1, trough concentration increased progressively (linear regression: y = 4.4x; r = .91, P = .001) without achieving steady state, and the renal clearance-to-plasma clearance ratio was 2.1% +/- 0.01%. In group 3, the elimination half-life after the last dose was 12.0 +/- 2.3 days. The elimination half-life of pentamidine was long and accumulation occurred with daily dosing even in patients with normal renal function. Dose adjustment is not recommended for renal impairment as renal clearance accounts for a small fraction (2.1%) of plasma clearance.
Sample behavior of some random series

The scaled-sample property ({X j /γ n } →K a.s. asn→∞, whereγ n <0 andX( j ) are i.i.d. with law μ) is investigated for distributions μ which are the laws of random series of form ∑ ∞ X i v i . Herev i are fixed vectors in a Banach space, andX i are i.i.d. real-valued with common lawμ 1. The main result presented here establishes this convergence for a large collection of possible distributionsμ 1, including some discrete examples. The main tools used are probability inequalities on the tails of the series, and concentration of measure arguments.
How steady are vowel steady-states?

The duration of vowel steady-states (VSS) was examined acoustically in the speech production of 40 normal young adults. VSS was assessed according to formant frequency changes in sustained /i/ productions and consonant +/i/ + /d/(/Cid/) productions. The duration of the VSS was measured for the first and second formants (Fl and F2) by incorporating a fixed rate-of-change criterion. Results indicated no significant differences in VSS duration according to gender or vowel context. VSS duration based on Fl was significantly longer than F2 VSS duration. The duration of VSS was also found to be correlated to the overall vowel duration in /Cid/ contexts. Discussion focuses on the analysis and application of VSS in acoustic studies of normal and disordered speech production.