cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Laparoscopic pancreatic surgery.

Abstract Background: Potential applications for laparoscopic surgery in pancreatic disease include (1) staging of pancreatic malignancies; (2) palliation of pancreatic malignancies; (3) pancreatic resections for benign and malignant disease; and (4) pancreatic drainage procedures. Methods: A review of the literature is presented. In addition, original data on a series of 5 laparoscopic pancreatic distal resections and 10 laparoscopic cystogastrostomies are presented. Results and Conclusions: Laparoscopy may have a role in the staging of patients with pancreatic malignancies; however, with high-quality preoperative imaging, the percentage of patients who will benefit from laparoscopy may be as low as 5%. For palliation, both cholecystoenterostomy and choledochoenterostomy can be performed laparoscopically. The former is technically straightforward but has a higher failure rate; the latter is technically difficult and currently not suitable for widespread adoption. Laparoscopic gastroenterostomy is a straightforward means of palliating gastrointestinal obstruction. Patients appear to benefit from laparoscopic distal pancreatic resection but not from laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy. Patients appear to benefit from laparoscopic pseudocyst decompression.
Inference on Clustered Survival Data Using Imputed Frailties

This article proposes a new method for fitting frailty models to clustered survival data that is intermediate between the fully parametric and nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation approaches. A parametric form is assumed for the baseline hazard, but only for the purpose of imputing the unobserved frailties. The regression coefficients are then estimated by solving an estimating equation that is the average of the partial likelihood score with respect to the conditional distribution of frailties given the observed data. We prove consistency and asymptotic normality of the resulting estimators and give associated closedform estimators of their variance. The algorithm is easy to implement and reduces to the ordinary Cox partial likelihood approach when the frailties have a degenerate distribution. Simulations indicate high efficiency and robustness of the resulting estimates. We apply our new approach to a study with clustered survival data on asthma in children in east Boston.
Neutrophil Chemiluminescence during Phagocytosis Is Inhibited by Abnormally Elevated Levels of Acetoacetate: Implications for Diabetic Susceptibility to Infections

Human neutrophils by a chemiluminescence assay exhibit diminished phagocytic activity in the presence of abnormally high levels of the serum metabolite acetoacetate. These findings, along with our previous evidence demonstrating myeloperoxidase inhibition by acetoacetate, implicate metabolic ketosis in the inhibition of neutrophil microbicidal activity and thus in increased susceptibility to infections.
Feasibility analysis of phonon lasers

We identify the main reason impeding coherent generation of phonons in solid state - the inherently high density of phonon states. Based on the results of our analysis we formulate a set of conditions that may make phonon lasing practical and point out the most promising mechanism of phonon lasing: LO/spl rarr/LA+TO in InP. We then develop a complete set of phonon laser equations and evaluate the threshold, output power and efficiency of phonon lasers based on InP MESFET. We show that one can obtain high-power 1.26-THz coherent phonon emission with pump power as small as a few milliwatts and up to 5% slope efficiency. Potential applications are also discussed.
Probiotics in Systemic and Oral Health

Copyright: © 2012 Bahl SM. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article will focus on the potential and established benefits of probiotics for systemic and oral health. Probiotics and prebiotics share a unique role in human nutrition largely centering on manipulation of populations or activities of the bacteria that colonize our bodies. Benefits of regular consumption of probiotics or prebiotics include enhanced immune function, improved colonic integrity, decreased incidence and duration of intestinal infections and reduced incidence of dental caries. The scientific support for health effects and the possible mechanism underlying the action of probiotics is still emerging.
Joint timing recovery and turbo equalization for coded partial response channels

Summary form only given We propose an iterative scheme for jointly performing timing recovery and turbo equalization that embeds the timing recovery process inside a modified turbo equalizer. The proposed scheme is applied where a rate- 1/4 RSC encoder, an s-random interleaver, and a 1/(I /spl oplus/ D/sup 2/) precoder map blocks of 1278 bits to blocks of 5120 symbols a/sub k/ /spl isin/ {/spl plusmn/1}, which then drive a perfect PR4 pulse shape h(t) = p(t) - p(t - 2T), where p(t) = sin(/spl pi/t/1)/(/spl pi/t/7). A random-walk model is used for the timing jitter, whereby the k-th pulse is delayed by /spl tau//sub k/, and /spl tau//sub k+1/ = /spl tau//sub k/ + /spl Nscr/(0, /spl sigma//sub w//sup 2/). The channel adds white Gaussian noise.
Risk Taking in Adolescence: What Changes, and Why?

Extant studies of age differences in cognitive processes relevant to risk taking and decision making, such as risk perception and risk appraisal, indicate few significant age differences in factors that might explain why adolescents engage in more risk taking than adults. The present analysis suggests that the greater propensity of adolescents to take risks is not due to age differences in risk perception or appraisal, but to age differences in psychosocial factors that influence self-regulation. It is argued that adolescence is a period of heightened vulnerability to risk taking because of a disjunction between novelty and sensation seeking (both of which increase dramatically at puberty) and the development of self-regulatory competence (which does not fully mature until early adulthood). This disjunction is biologically driven, normative, and unlikely to be remedied through educational interventions designed to change adolescents' perception, appraisal, or understanding of risk. Interventions should begin from the premise that adolescents are inherently more likely than adults to take risks, and should focus on reducing the harm associated with risk-taking behavior.
Effects of Thermal Accelerated Ageing on a Medium Voltage Oil-Immersed Current Transformer

Asset management and preventive maintenance tendencies in the electrical power industry lead towards increasing exigencies of operational equipment condition assessment. There is a big interest in confirming loading limitations of different components of the electrical system whether related to generation, transmission or distribution of electric energy. One of these components is the oil-immersed current transformer, which plays a very important role in the optimal operation of substations. Power and distribution transformers have largely been investigated thereby leaving an opportunity for research in instrument transformers. Efforts are currently underway to obtain guidelines for estimation of 'loss of life' of a current transformer as a result of short term overloading. Such guidelines will have a direct impact on maximizing an important asset in the form of a current transformer. This paper provides a detailed description of the technical approach taken at the Tennessee Technological University in order to implement and carry out thermal accelerated ageing procedures on medium voltage oil-immersed current transformers and the corresponding validation tests performed. The use of typical & non-typical load profiles, state-of-the-art DC & AC testing practices, same as on-line gas monitoring and temperature data acquisition is being described. Results will be presented in the context of ageing of the medium voltage current transformer.
Consequences of axon guidance defects on the development of retinotopic receptive fields in the mouse colliculus

Gradients of molecular factors pattern the developing retina and superior colliculus (SC) and guide retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons to their appropriate central target perinatally. During and subsequent to this period, spontaneous waves of action potentials sweep across the retina, providing an instructive topographic signal based on the correlations of firing patterns of neighbouring RGCs. How these activity-independent and activity-dependent factors interact during retinotopic map formation remains unclear. A typical phenotype of mutant mice lacking genes for one or more RGC axon guidance molecules is the presence of topographically inappropriate projections or ‘ectopic spots’. Here, we examine mice that lack functional bone morphogenetic protein receptors (BMPRs) in the retina. Retinal BMP controls the graded expression of RGC axon guidance molecules, resulting in some dorsal RGCs projecting ectopically to locations in the SC that normally receive input from ventral retina. We examine the consequences of this anatomical phenotype in vivo by studying the receptive field (RF) properties of neurons in the superficial SC. We observe a mixture of physiological phenotypes in BMPR mutant mice; notably we find some neurons with ectopic RFs displaced in elevation, corresponding to the observed anatomical defect. However, in a result not necessarily congruent with the presence of focal ectopic projections, some neurons have split, enlarged and patchy/distorted RFs. These results are consistent with the effects of spontaneous retinal waves acting upon a disrupted molecular template, and they place significant limits on the form of an activity-dependent learning rule for the development of retinocollicular projections.
Stress distributions in the acetabular region—I. Before and after total joint replacement

Abstract Two-dimensional finite element analyses of the acetabular region before and after hip replacement were conducted. The distribution of pressure at the acetabular surface for the single limb stance phase of gait was transformed to nodal loads to simulatein vivo loading conditions. A nonhomogeneous distribution of bone elastic properties was incorporated in the models. The results demonstrated that the principal stresses in the normal acetabulum were aligned with the principal orientations of the trabeculae. Total joint replacement increased the von Mises' equivalent stresses in the cancellous bone immediately superior to the acetabular cup, and increased stresses in the medial wall of the ilium. Biaxial, tensioncompression stresses were created in the layer of bone cement and introduced in the medial wall of the ilium. Tensile stresses in the bone cement were greatest at the superior roof and at the inferior margin of the cup. Tensile stresses in the cup were more pronounced at the margins, particulaly near the inferior lip. The cup tended to close in such a manner as to grip the head of the femoral component as it was pressed between the medial and lateral walls of the ilium.
Poor resource quality lowers transmission potential by changing foraging behaviour

Summary Resource quality can have conflicting effects on the spread of disease. High-quality resources could hinder disease spread by promoting host immune function. Alternatively, high-quality food might enhance the spread of disease through other traits of hosts or parasites. Thus, to assess how resource quality shapes epidemics, we need to delineate mechanisms by which food quality affects key epidemiological traits. Here, we disentangle effects of food quality on ‘transmission potential’ – a key component of parasite fitness that combines transmission rate and parasite production – using a zooplankton host and fungal parasite. We estimated the components of transmission potential (i.e. parasite encounter rate, susceptibility and yield of parasite propagules) for hosts fed a high-quality green alga and a low-quality cyanobacterium. A focal experiment was designed to disentangle food quality effects on various components of transmission potential. The low-quality resource decreased transmission potential by stunting host growth and altering foraging behaviour. Hosts reared on low-quality food were smaller and had lower size-corrected feeding rates. Due to their slower grazing, they encountered fewer parasite spores in the water. Smaller hosts also had lower risk of an ingested spore causing infection (i.e. lower susceptibility) and yielded fewer parasite propagules. Hosts switched from high- to low-quality food during spore exposure also had low transmission potential – despite their large size – because the poor quality resource strongly depressed foraging. A follow-up experiment investigated traits of the low-quality resource that might have driven those results. Cyanobacterial compounds that can inhibit digestive proteases of a related grazer likely did not cause the observed reductions in transmission potential. Our study highlights the value of using mechanistic models to pinpoint how resource quality can change transmission potential. Overall, our results show that low-quality resources could inhibit the spread of disease through effects on multiple components of transmission potential. They also provide insight into how disease outbreaks in wildlife may respond to shifts in resource quality caused by eutrophication or climate change.
The Future of Critical Management Studies: A Paleo-Marxist Critique of Labour Process Theory

For many years, the core of critical management studies was labour process theory (LPT), building on Braverman's (1976) reading of Marx. Recently, LPT has been losing momentum in favour of post-structuralist approaches. This paper takes one step back with the hope of taking critical management studies two steps forward. Whereas post-structuralists have largely discarded the Marxist foundations of LPT, this paper argues that LPT has been hobbled by its insufficiently Marxist foundations. I argue that LPT ignores the fundamental contradiction Marx saw between the progressive `socialization' of the labour process and the persistence of capitalist `valorization' constraints. Understood in Marx's terms, socialization is the movement away from local isolation towards `universal interdependence', and it is a key trend both in the objective structure of industry and in subjective self-construals. I use this framework to develop a modified conception of skill, one that reveals how capitalist development drives a p...
How glaucoma patient characteristics, self‐efficacy and patient–provider communication are associated with eye drop technique

Objectives The objective of this study was to examine the extent to which patient characteristics, eye drop technique self-efficacy, and ophthalmologist–patient communication about eye drop administration are associated with glaucoma patients' ability to instil a single drop, have the drop land in the eye, and avoid touching the applicator tip of the medication bottle to the eye or face while self-administering eye drops. Methods Glaucoma patients (n = 279) were recruited from six ophthalmology clinics. Medical visits were videotape-recorded. Afterwards, patients were interviewed and demonstrated administering an eye drop on a videotaped-recording. Generalized estimating equations were used to analyse the data. Key findings Ophthalmologists provided eye drop administration instruction to 40 patients. Patients with more years of education were significantly more likely to both instil a single drop (P = 0.017) and have the drop land in their eye (P = 0.017). Women were significantly more likely to touch the applicator tip to their eyes or face (P = 0.014). Patients with severe glaucoma (P = 0.016), women (P = 0.026), and patients who asked at least one eye drop administration question (P = 0.001) were significantly less likely to instil a single drop. Patients with arthritis were significantly less likely to have the drop land in their eye (P = 0.008). African American patients were significantly less likely to touch the applicator tip to their eyes or face (P = 0.008). Conclusions Some glaucoma patients have a difficult time self-administering eye drops. As so few patients received eye drop administration instruction from their providers, there is an opportunity for pharmacists to complement care.
NONPARAMETRIC DENSITY ESTIMATORS BASED ON NONSTATIONARY ABSOLUTELY REGULAR RANDOM SEQUENCES

In this paper, the central limit theorems for the density estimator and for the integrated square error are proved for the case when the underlying sequence of random variables is nonstationary. Applications to Markov processes and ARMA processes are provided.
A Hierarchical Model for Reliability Analysis of Sensor Networks

Prior to field deployment, mission critical sensor networks should be analyzed for high reliability assurance. Past research only focused on reliability models for sensor node or network in isolation. This paper presents a comprehensive approach for reliability analysis of a cluster-based sensor network. We use a three-level hierarchical model for sensor networks using fault trees and use Markov chains at the bottom level to model the reliability of individual sensor nodes. We summarize the developed models, showcase the initial numerical results and outline the future avenues of research in the following sections.
Mechanical properties of Sn-In and Pb-In solders at low temperature

The growing number of applications using high temperature superconductors (HTS) has created new requirement for increasing the range of temperatures in which electronic assemblies can operate. Typically, eutectic lead-tin solders lose ductility below -150/spl deg/C. In this paper, new solder formulations were evaluated for cryogenic applications. The mechanical properties of PbIn and Sn-In solders were determined over the temperature range -200/spl deg/C to 100/spl deg/C using the uniaxial tensile test, with the following results. The strength of two types of solder increases almost linearly with decreasing temperature. However, it was evident that the Sn-In alloying solders possess higher strength than the Pb-In (50 Pb/50 In) solder at low temperatures. For both types of solder, the total elongation decreases with decreasing temperature, and all of the solders displayed superplasticity at temperatures greater than 50/spl deg/C. There was also doubling of the uniform elongation below -50/spl deg/C for all of the tested solders. The deformation and fracture processes of the solders were investigated, and their fracture mechanism is proposed.
Immunochemical Determination of Creatine Kinase Isoenzyme-MB

In recent years, emphasis on the treatment of myocardial infarction is gradually shifting away from observation and documentation toward prompt management procedures. Early detection and confirmation of coronary occlusion by physical or chemical tests can provide the doctors with reliable information in planning an early operation in order to avoid future tissue damage. Most of the tests used in the past are for documentation. In general, EKG’s are not useful for early detection of myocardial infarcts since the electrocardiographic changes usually occur after onset. Many chemical tests are neither specific nor sensitive in detecting myocardial distress. Among the chemical tests, the measurement of CK-MB, the cardiac specific isoenzyme, appears to be the most specific and reliable procedure to obtain confirmative information for early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.
Bioactive Benzyl Benzoates from the Roots of Endlicheria dysodantha

AbstractFractionation of the bioactive constituents of the roots of endlicheria dysodantha mez. (lauraceae) using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay led to the isolation of four bioactive derivatives of benzyl benzoate: benzyl 2-hydroxybenzoate (1), benzyl 2-hydroxy-6-methoxybenzoate (2), benzyl 2,6-dimethoxybenzoate (3), and benzyl 2,5-dimethoxybenzoate (4). the structures of these compounds were identified by spectroscopic methods. this is the first report of these benzyl benzoates being isolated from the genus endlicheria.
Using Iteration Instead of Recursion

A procedure or function is recursive if during its execution it may be called again. Recursive procedures often arise from recursive definitions in mathematics. The usual example given is the factorial function, n!, which for nonnegative integers is defined $$ \begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {0! = 1} \\ {n! = n*\left( {n - 1} \right)! for n > 0.} \\ \end{array} $$
Tandem-accelerator mass-spectrometry measurements of 36C1, 129I and osmium isotopes in diverse natural samples

Tandem AMS measurements at Rochester in the past few years have mainly involved the radioisotopes 36 Cl and 129 I, and some work on 10 Be, in a variety of terrestrial and extraterrestrial samples. Some m easurem ents have also been m ade on certain stable isotopes of osmium in meteorites and geological samples from impact craters. M easurem ents of 36 Cl have been made in groundwater and surface rocks for dating purposes, in ice and soil samples containing nuclear-weapon testing fallout for tracing water movement, and in meteorites and Antarctic ice for terrestrial and extraterrestrial meteoritic age determination. Also, 10 Be has been measured in a lake sediment, and 36 Cl in Greenland ice, through the period of the Maunder minimum ; 129 I has been measured in hydrological systems, in petroleum and in hydrothermal convection cells in the oceanic crust. Other applications involving measurements of these two radioisotopes include hydrotherm al fluids associated with gold mineralization and the determination of the integrity of possible sites for deep nuclear-waste disposal. Previously, the Rochester tandem was employed to measure 14 C and isotopes of platinum and iridium in natural samples.
The Temporal and Spatial Effect of Highways on China's Economic Growth

Infrastructure investment is currently enjoying great popularity among governments as a strategy to handle the recent worldwide economic recession. However, the relevant literatures have yet to come to a consistent agreement on how infrastructure, especially transportation, impact economic growth. This paper investigates the effects of highway infrastructure on economic growth using spatial regression models estimated from county data of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GXZAR) in China from 1996-2007. The results indicate that relationships between initial highway infrastructure and economic growth can be positive, negative, or negligible. The spatial effects are also inconsistent. Impacts are stronger in the short-term but diminish over times. We conclude that the highways are a necessary, but not sufficient condition for economic growth. The highway impact depends on other factors as well. Improving infrastructure alone is not likely to cause a continued economic growth.
New Approaches to Conceptual and Preliminary Aircraft Design: A Comparative Assessment of a Neural Network Formulation and a Response Surface Methodology

Presented at the 3rd World Aviation Congress and Exposition, Anaheim, CA, September 28-30, 1998.
Optimal condition-based harvesting policies for biomanufacturing operations with failure risks

ABSTRACTThe manufacture of biological products from live systems such as bacteria, mammalian, or insect cells is called biomanufacturing. The use of live cells introduces several operational challenges including batch-to-batch variability, parallel growth of both desired antibodies and unwanted toxic byproducts in the same batch, and random shocks leading to multiple competing failure processes. In this article, we develop a stochastic model that integrates the cell-level dynamics of biological processes with operational dynamics to identify optimal harvesting policies that balance the risks of batch failures and yield/quality tradeoffs in fermentation operations. We develop an infinite horizon, discrete-time Markov decision model to derive the structural properties of the optimal harvesting policies. We use IgG1 antibody production as an example to demonstrate the optimal harvesting policy and compare its performance against harvesting policies used in practice. We leverage insights from the optimal poli...
Activation of the cAMP/PKA pathway induces UT-A1 urea transporter monoubiquitination and targets it for lysosomal degradation

Regulation of urea transporter UT-A1 in the kidney is important for the urinary concentrating mechanism. We previously reported that activation of the cAMP/PKA pathway by forskolin (FSK) leads to UT-A1 ubiquitination, endocytosis, and degradation. In this study, we discovered that FSK-induced UT-A1 ubiquitination is monoubiquitination as judged by immunoblotting with specific ubiquitin antibodies to the different linkages of the ubiquitin chain. UT-A1 monoubiquitination induced by FSK was processed mainly on the cell plasma membrane. Monoubiquitination facilitates UT-A1 endocytosis, and internalized UT-A1 is accumulated in the early endosome. Inhibition of ubiquitination by E1 ubiquitin-activating enzyme inhibitor PYR-41 significantly reduced FSK-induced UT-A1 endocytosis and degradation. Interestingly, FSK-stimulated UT-A1 degradation occurs through a lysosomal protein degradation system. We further found that the PKA phosphorylation sites of UT-A1 at Ser486 and Ser499 are required for FSK-induced UT-A1 monoubiquitination. The physiological significance was confirmed using rat kidney inner medullary collecting duct suspensions, which showed that vasopressin treatment promotes UT-A1 ubiquitination. We conclude that unlike under basal conditions in which UT-A1 is subject to polyubiquitination and proteasome-mediated protein degradation, activation of UT-A1 by FSK induces UT-A1 monoubiquitination and protein lysosomal degradation.
Physical Aging in Ultrathin Polystyrene Films: Evidence of a Gradient in Dynamics at the Free Surface and Its Connection to the Glass Transition Temperature Reductions

We have measured the temperature dependence of the physical aging rate β of thick (2430 nm) and thin (29 nm) polystyrene (PS) films supported on silicon using a new streamlined ellipsometry procedure that we have recently developed. The physical aging rates β(T) for the ∼30 nm thick films are found to be reduced at all temperatures, which is not consistent with a simple shift in β corresponding to the average reduced glass transition temperature (Tg) of these films. Instead, the β(T) results correspond well with there being a gradient in dynamics near the free surface. Our β(T) results can be well fit by both a two-layer model and a gradient model. The temperature-dependent length scale (of order 10 nm) that characterizes the depth to which the enhanced dynamics near the free surface propagate into the film is similar to that found previously by Forrest and Mattsson [Phys. Rev. E 2000, 61, R53−R56] for the molecular weight (MW)-independent Tg reductions of low-MW free-standing PS films, strongly suggestin...
Two Sūtras in the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama without Direct Pāli Parallels — Some remarks on how to identify 'later additions' to the corpus

23 out of the 364 sūtras of the Shorter Chinese Saṃyuktāgama (BZA: Bieyi zaahan jing 別譯雜阿含經 T.100) and many more of the Longer Chinese Saṃyuktāgama (ZA: Zaahan jing 雜阿含經 T.99) have no known direct counterpart in Pāli, Sanskrit or Tibetan. These sūtras are especially suitable to introduce common problems regarding the relationship of early Indian sūtras and their Chinese translation. While usually the existence of an Indian parallel helps researchers to narrow down the range of likely forms of names and words, in the absence of Indian versions our understanding of translations and transcriptions becomes all the more conjectural. Āgama texts without a Pāli counterpart must also be suspected to be later additions to the collection and we have to deduce from form and content of the sūtra as well as its position in the collection, when, where and why the text came into being. The article introduces these problems as they appear in two BZA sutras (153 and 184), both of which are translated below.
Sol-Gel-Derived Materials for Analytical Separations

The use of fused silica capillary columns (<500 μrn i.d.) to perform liquid phase analytical separations the offers numerous and very attractive features.1–4 These include an increased mass sensitivity, high efficiency, short analysis times, low solvent consumption, low operational cost, and the capability of handling extremely low volume samples (<1μL). Open tubes and packed capillaries are the typical columns used to separate the solutes in a sample. The open tubular format is used in capillary electrophoresis (CE),5 capillary electrochromatography (CEC),6 and open tubular liquid chromatography (OTLC).1 In the case of CE, analytes are separated based on their differential migration under an applied electric field; in most cases, a net solvent flow is also generated due to electroosmosis. In OTLC, separation is based on distribution ratios between two phases (mobile and stationary phase). The mobile phase is pumped through the column while the stationary phase is fixed at the walls of the capillary. Open tubular capillary electrochromatography (OT-CEC), however, is a relatively new technique that combines CE and OTLC. In this technique, an electric field is applied across a capillary column which contains a stationary phase at the inner walls. The electric field generates an electroosmotic flow (EOF), which possesses unique properties, to drive the solvent and solutes through the column. CE is the most commonly practiced of these techniques.
Surgical management of recurrent Cushing's disease in pregnancy: A case report.

Background: Cushing's disease is a condition rarely encountered during pregnancy. It is known that hypercortisolism is associated with increased maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. When hypercortisolism from Cushing's disease does occur in pregnancy, the impact of achieving biochemical remission on fetal outcomes is unknown. We sought to clarify the impact of successful surgical treatment by presenting such a case report.
The Filene’s Basement Bridal Sale: A Content Analysis of Store-Authored and Media-Authored Communications about a Retail Special Event

This paper explores one retailer’s use of publicity for a long term goal, the promotion of a special sale. Content analysis demonstrates differences between store- and media-authored communications. The researchers propose an explanation for these rooted in the disparate objectives of the media and the retailer, and provide suggestions to retailers for managing media presence at store special events so as to use this type of marketing communication effectively.
Living in a microbial world

In I Contain Multitudes, Ed Yong vividly describes the intricate alliances forged by microbes with every other organism on the planet. We learn, for example, how bacteria allow the Hawaiian bobtail squid to glow, how they permit pea aphids to subsist on nothing but plant sap, and how the wood rat has coopted them so it can digest otherwise toxic creosote. In the process, he also introduces readers to dozens of the scientists studying them. Their stories and conversations radiate the excitement of unlocking new secrets, putting a human face on the science.
Primordial Fused Genes Become Oncogenes and Encode Oncoproteins

Extant unicellular eukaryotes still do it. Predating the appearance of eukaryotes, archaeal and prokaryotic (bacterial) fused genes (or operons; or domains) were exchanged by horizontal transfer.
Using reflection to influence practice: student perceptions of daily reflection in clinical education.

Reflection is a key element in learning from experience, but the impact of most programmes of reflection on daily practice remains unclear. We investigated students’ perceptions of adding a daily written reflection assignment to a clinical rotation. Third-year medical students on a single two-week rotation completed daily reflections analyzing their performance. Programme evaluation used a 33-question anonymized survey. Quantitative data were summarized and qualitative responses coded for recurring themes. Twenty-six students completed the survey (90 % response rate). Eighty-five percent of students felt that the daily reflections had a positive impact on their learning from clinical experience. Seventy-seven percent of students reported that the programme changed their awareness of their thoughts and actions, and 80 % felt that it improved their recall of experiences. A greater sense of mindfulness and focus on self-improvement were major themes that emerge from students’ descriptions of the role of daily reflections in their learning. Overall, daily reflections demonstrated a positive learning influence. This exploratory study suggests students may benefit from more frequent, short reflections as opposed to more typically spaced reflective assignments.
Archiving Scientific Data Outside of the Traditional HEP Domain, Using the Archive Facilities at Fermilab

Many experiments in the HEP and Astrophysics communities generate large extremely valuable datasets, which need to be efficiently cataloged and recorded to archival storage. These datasets, both new and legacy, are often structured in a manner that is not conducive to storage and cataloging with modern data handling systems and large file archive facilities. In this paper we discuss in detail how we have created a robust toolset and simple portal into the Fermilab archive facilities, which allows for scientific data to be quickly imported, organized and retrieved from the multi-petabyte facility.In particular we discuss how the data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) for the COUPP dark matter detector was aggregated, cataloged, archived and re-organized to permit it to be retrieved and analyzed using modern distributed computing resources both at Fermilab and on the Open Science Grid. We pay particular attention to the methods that were employed to uniquify the namespaces for the data, derive metadata for the over 460,000 image series taken by the COUP experiment and what was required to map that information into coherent datasets that could be stored and retrieved using the large scale archives systems.We describe the data transfer and cataloging engines that are used for data importation and how these engines have been setup to import data from the data acquisition systems of ongoing experiments at non-Fermilab remote sites including the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and the Ash River Laboratory in Orr, Minnesota. We also describe how large University computing sites around the world are using the system to store and retrieve large volumes of simulation and experiment data for physics analysis.
Commensal microbiota as a potential trigger of autoimmune uveitis.

Uveitis encompasses inflammatory diseases of the uveal tract and is responsible for 10–15% of severe visual handicap in the Western world [1,2]. Uveitis affects people at a young age and therefore ...
The impact of high humidity on the ice-phobicity of copper-based superhydrophobic surfaces:

Humidity, as an important meteorological factor, has rarely been taken into account as far as the ice-phobicity research is concerned. For the first time, the ice-phobicity of a silver-modified cop...
An Assessment of Ethnocultural Beliefs Regarding the Causes of Birth Defects and Genetic Disorders

With the expansion of genetic services to various cultural groups, genetic counselors encounter clients who hold diverse beliefs inscribed by their culture about health conditions. Thus, clients may attribute the cause of a birth defect or genetic condition to a culturally-based health belief. This present study was conducted as a pilot study in order to assess the beliefs about the causes of birth defects and genetic disorders held by women of different ethnocultural backgrounds. This study proposed that women who do not have a family history of a disorder will differ in their knowledge about the cause of a birth defect or genetic disorder compared to women who have an affected child. In addition, this study determined to what extent culturally-based health beliefs are attributed to being the cause of a birth defect or genetic disorder in the 1990s.
Polymer blend-filled nanoparticle films via monomer-driven infiltration of polymer and photopolymerization

Incorporation of nanoparticles into polymer blend films can lead to a synergistic combination of properties and functionalities. Adding a large concentration of nanoparticles into a polymer blend matrix via conventional melting or solution blending techniques, however, is challenging due to the tendency of particles to aggregate. Herein, we report a straightforward approach to generate polymer blend/nanoparticle ternary composite films with extremely high loadings of nanoparticles based on monomer-driven infiltration of polymer and photopolymerization. The fabrication process consists of three steps: (1) preparing a bilayer with a nanoparticle (NP) layer atop a polymer layer, (2) annealing of the bilayer with a vapour mixture of a monomer and a photoinitiator, which undergoes capillary condensation and imparts mobility to the polymer layer and (3) exposing this film to UV light to induce photopolymerization of the monomer. The monomer used in this process is chemically different from the repeat unit of the polymer in the bilayer and is a good solvent for the polymer. The second step leads to the infiltration of the plasticized polymer, and the third step results in a blend of two polymers in the interstices of the nanoparticle layer. By varying the thickness ratio of the polymer and nanoparticle layers in the initial bilayers and changing the UV exposure duration, the volume fraction of the two polymers in the composite films can be adjusted. This versatile approach enables the design and engineering of a new class of nanocomposite films that contain a nanoscale-blend of two polymers in the interstices of a nanoparticle film, which could have combinations of unique mechanical and transport properties desirable for advanced applications such as membrane separations, conductive composite films and solar cells. Moreover, these polymer blend-filled nanoparticle films could serve as model systems to study the effect of confinement on the miscibility and morphology of polymer blends.
Satellite orbits in Levi-Civita space

Abstract In this paper we consider satellite orbits in central force field with quadratic drag using two formalisms. The first using polar coordinates in which the satellite angular momentum plays a dominant role. The second is in Levi-Civita coordinates in which the energy plays a central role. We then merge these two formalisms by introducing polar coordinates in Levi-Civita space and derive a new equation for satellite orbits which unifies these two paradigms. In this equation energy and angular momentum appear on equal footing and thus characterize the orbit by its two invariants. Using this formalism we show that equatorial orbits around oblate spheroids can be expressed analytically in terms of Elliptic functions. In the second part of the paper we derive in Levi-Civita coordinates a linearized equation for the relative motion of two spacecrafts whose trajectories are in the same plane. We carry out also a numerical verification of these equations.
Group practice strategies to manage pharmaceutical cost in an HMO network.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of various pharmaceutical cost management strategies used by group practices within a managed care network and their relationship to drug costs among enrollees. STRATEGIES STUDIED: Care management (gatekeeping, practice profiling, practice guidelines, case management), techniques for maintaining clinic medication records, and policies regulating physician interaction with pharmaceutical sales representatives (PSRs). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of primary care group practice organizations (n = 103) affiliated with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota in early 1996. METHODS: Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed on corresponding claims data for members continuously enrolled in these practices from January 1 to December 31, 1995 (n = 76,387), using the patient as the unit of analysis. RESULTS: Substantial variation in strategy prevalence was observed; this variation was thought to influence pharmaceutical costs. Seventy-six percent of practices had medication lists in outpatient medical records, 53% had policies limiting pharmaceutical detailing, and 44% had patients assigned to primary care gatekeepers; however, only 10% used outpatient nurse case managers. Use of outpatient nurse case managers (P < .010), primary care physician gatekeeping (P < .002), policies to control pharmaceutical detailing (P < .001), and medication lists and outpatient charts (P < .001) was found to be independently associated with lower pharmaceutical expenditures. Significant colinearity was found between group size and the strategies studied. CONCLUSIONS: Significantly lower pharmaceutical costs per member per year were observed in the groups reporting primary care gatekeeping, outpatient medication records, outpatient case managers, and policies regarding physician interactions with PSRs.
Exploiting Transitivity for Learning Person Re-identification Models on a Budget

Minimization of labeling effort for person re-identification in camera networks is an important problem as most of the existing popular methods are supervised and they require large amount of manual annotations, acquiring which is a tedious job. In this work, we focus on this labeling effort minimization problem and approach it as a subset selection task where the objective is to select an optimal subset of image-pairs for labeling without compromising performance. Towards this goal, our proposed scheme first represents any camera network (with k number of cameras) as an edge weighted complete k-partite graph where each vertex denotes a person and similarity scores between persons are used as edge-weights. Then in the second stage, our algorithm selects an optimal subset of pairs by solving a triangle free subgraph maximization problem on the k-partite graph. This sub-graph weight maximization problem is NP-hard (at least for k = 4) which means for large datasets the optimization problem becomes intractable. In order to make our framework scalable, we propose two polynomial time approximately-optimal algorithms. The first algorithm is a 1/2-approximation algorithm which runs in linear time in the number of edges. The second algorithm is a greedy algorithm with sub-quadratic (in number of edges) time-complexity. Experiments on three state-of-the-art datasets depict that the proposed approach requires on an average only 8-15% manually labeled pairs in order to achieve the performance when all the pairs are manually annotated.
Large Scale Air-Sea Interactions and Climate Predictability

Abstract After reviewing recent empirical studies of short-term climate predictability based on observations of the sea surface temperature (SST), the physical processes that govern the generation and decay of large scale SST anomalies are discussed. Using a slab model of the oceanic mixed layer, we find that large scale mid-latitude SST anomalies can be described as a first-order autoregressive process in regions of small mean current, as suggested by Frankignoul and Hasselmann (1977). The SST anomalies are continuously generated by the natural variability of the air-sea fluxes. Short time scale variations in the local heat exchanges seem dominant, although mixed-layer depth variations are important during certain seasons. Temperature advection plays a large role in some regions, and mesoscale eddies mainly contribute a small scale noise. The decay of the SST anomalies can be represented by a linear negative feedback, and seems largely controlled by their back-interaction on the atmosphere. The importance of the feedback processes for climate predictability is stressed, as well as the seasonal variabilities in the SST anomaly dynamics.
Shape and Behavior of Small Fatigue Cracks

ABSTRACT Observations on a large number of “natural” small fatigue cracks in copper and brass included crack depth a, surface length I, and crack aspect ratio. The smallest cracks were significantly longer at the surface than in depth, i.e. 1 > 2a , but as depth increased, they tended to approach a semi-circular shape (1 = 2a) , particularly for a > 50 μm. Cracks were not particularly impeded by grain boundaries, showed little evidence of closure, and showed no systematic behavioral differences with grain size.
Detection of DNA Curvature Using Transverse Pore Gradient Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis

The phenomenon of sequence-directed DNA curvature was first detected electrophoretically in the case of a 212 base pair (bp) fragment of DNA cut from the mini-circle kinetoplast DNA of the trypanosome Crithidia fasciculata. The DNA migrates as if it were over 1000 bp long in 6% polyacrylamide (Marini 1982; Kitchin 1986). This anomalously slow migration is believed to be due to sequence-directed curvature. The sequence of the kinetoplast DNA contains several runs of adenine, producing a planar curvature (Fig. 1), which has been visualized under the scanning electron microscope (Griffith 1986). For a review of sequence directed curvature in DNA, see Hagerman (1990). DNA curvature is of importance in the study of gene expression where curvature per se has been shown to regulate the activity of promoters (Gourse 1986; Plaskon 1987).
Computing Complex Shocked Flows Through the Euler Equations

We report on simple, parallel algorithms designed to compute unsteady shocked flows around complex geometries very efficiently. To resolve dynamic shock phenomena without spuri­ous compressions and rarefactions appearing as a result of unphysical regions of local curvature in the numerical representation of the body or boundary geometry, an accurate method to resolve these surfaces is required. The Virtual Cell Embedding (VCE) method is introduced, an efficient new approach for resolving complex geometries on a structured, orthogonal grid with little sacrifice in speed or memory. Unstructured grid methods and adaptive gridding methods for body-fitted structured grids are common alternative techniques to resolve complex geometries. These methods, however, require large amounts of memory and are computationally expensive. In contrast, the VCE method requires very little extra memory and CPU time to define the shape of a body accurately compared to the simple, orthogonal grid solutions computed as if the body were not there. The VCE method has been combined with a new efficient Flux-Corrected Trans­port (FCT) algorithm in a general simulation program, FAST3D. FAST3D is a three-dimensional unsteady flow solver and runs on vector computers (Convex C210, Cray), modern workstations (IBM RISC 6000, DEC Alpha), and high performance parallel computers (32-node and 512-node Intel iPSC/860) interchangeably. A video has been prepared of several simulations to illustrate this new capability.