cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PATTERNS OF COMORBIDITY AND MORTALITY RISK IN BLACKS AND WHITES

Comorbidity, the co-existence of multiple chronic conditions in a single individual, has been shown to modify the prognosis of disease states. To estimate disease burdens within and among racial subpopulations of the United States, we examined cross-sectional patterns of comorbidity and their impact on survival using data from the NHANES-1 Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (NHEFS). We considered the occurrence of four cardiovascular conditions: stroke, coronary heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. We summarize the joint occurrence of these four conditions using these different methodologies: the number of conditions occurring in each individual and two summaries that weight the conditions according to their prognostic significance. Using all three methodologies, we found an excess burden of chronic disease in black women as compared with white women. Black men had an excess burden compared to white men for the first two methodologies. However, when we model the relationship of the joint occurrence of the conditions to subsequent mortality, black men and white men are seen to have a similar burden. This similarity of black and white men is due to an interaction between race and prevalent stroke in men that we hypothesize may be due to the small number of black men available for study. Given the apparent conditioning effect of co-existing diseases, it is evident that estimation of disease burdens among groups that differ in terms of health status, in particular among U.S. blacks and whites, requires accounting for the occurrence of multiple chronic diseases. Using either the number of conditions or the prognosis weighted summary, we demonstrated a higher burden of the conditions considered in blacks that in whites in a sample of the U.S. population.
Hospitalized psychiatric patients' resistance to routine medical care.

This paper provides an overview of the clinical, legal, and ethical issues that arise when hospitalized psychiatric patients are resistant to, routine interventions. The author suggests that there is a moral basis for forcing patients to undergo interventions in medically compelling situations, but there should be an administrative review mechanism for these decisions and staff must be given training and access to legal and ethical consultations.
Is this what you meant?: promoting listening on the web with reflect

A lack of support for active listening undermines discussion and deliberation on the web. We contribute a design frame identifying potential improvements to web discussion were listening more explicitly encouraged in interfaces. We explore these concepts through a novel interface, Reflect, that creates a space next to every comment where others can summarize the points they hear the commenter making. Deployments on Slashdot, Wikimedia's Strategic Planning Initiative, and a local civic effort suggest that interfaces for listening may have traction for general use on the web.
Use of Color Doppler to Study the Breathing Patterns of Fetuses of Mothers with Diabetes

The goal of our study was to assess the breathing patterns of the fetuses of the mothers with well-controlled diabetes utilizing color and spectral Doppler technique.Fetal breathing-related nasal fluid flow was studied over gestational ages 28–40 weeks in 33 pregnancies complicated by diabetes and 62 uncomplicated pregnancies. Glycemic control was determined by fingerstick glucose value at the time of testing and HgbA1C drawn every 6 weeks. Each ultrasound examination consisted of the combination of gray scale imaging with color-flow and spectral Doppler analysis. In each case, 10 breath cycles were averaged for each of the following parameters: inspiratory peak and duration, expiratory peak and duration, and respiratory rate. A comparison of the study and control groups for each of the parameters was achieved by an analysis of covariance (ANACOVA).With adjustment for gestational age, no differences between the two groups were measured for any of the five parameters studied. However, there was a positive ...
Distant future and analytic measures

Using a representation of analytic measures in terms of a flow built under a function, it is shown that a positive measure is the total variation measure of an analytic measure if and only if the distant future is the zero subspace. This settles a problem posed by Forelli in connection with his generalization of F. and M. Riesz theorems. We also provide another version of Helson's existence theorem.
Treatment of Disseminated Disease Due to the Mycobacterium avium Complex in Patients with AIDS

Perhaps the most important recent advance in the field of infections due to the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is the identification and development of more effective agents for the treatment and prevention of disseminated disease. These agents include clarithromycin, azithromycin, rifabutin and other rifamycins, ethambutol, clofazimine, fluoroquinolones, amikacin, and liposome-encapsulated gentamicin. Most clinicians currently use multidrug therapy to maximize efficacy and to minimize the emergence of resistance. Prospective clinical trials of multidrug regimens suggest that MAC colony counts in blood decline during therapy, usually with alleviation of clinical symptoms. The small size and short duration of these trials have not permitted an evaluation of survival or quality of life. Because the contribution of any single agent to multidrug trials is difficult to assess, short-term trials of monotherapy have been conducted recently; clarithromycin, azithromycin, ethambutol, and liposome-encapsulated gentamicin have been most active. Rifabutin and rifampin, clofazimine, amikacin, and ciprofloxacin may contribute to the efficacy of multidrug regimens. Current recommendations include the following: (1) disseminated MAC disease should be treated in patients with AIDS; (2) initial treatment should consist of at least two agents; (3) oral clarithromycin or azithromycin is the preferred first agent; (4) ethambutol is the most rational choice for the second agent; and (5) in appropriate cases, additional agents (rifampin or rifabutin, clofazimine, ciprofloxacin, or parenteral amikacin) may be added. Therapy should continue for life.
On Shokurov's rational connectedness conjecture

We prove the rational connectedness conjecture of V. V. Shokurov in [20] which, in particular, implies that the fibres of a resolution of a variety with divisorial log terminal singularities are rationally chain connected
Modeling Interference Effects for Land-Mobile and Air-Mobile Communications

Analytic and computer models are presented that can provide an assessment of land-mobile and air-mobile communications performance in interference environments. The results obtained with these models, based on a communications region of operability criterion, include the effects of greater-than-free-space propagation path losses associated with low-elevation signal paths. The analytic models are used to examine the effects of higher order path loss on signal-to-interference contours for single and linearly distributed interference scenarios. The computer model can be used to investigate link performance for interference environments in which the link assets and each source of interference are arbitrarily located in three dimensions. A propagation submodel permits independent calculation of the loss over each link or interference signal path. Computer-generated plots are presented that illustrate the effect of antenna heights and frequency on the shape of the signal-to-interference (S/I) contours. Of particular interest is the effect on link region of operability when either the link transmitter or the sources of interference are at a higher altitude than the other.
TEMPERATURE AND CRITICAL ILLUMINATION FOR REACTION TO FLICKERING LIGHT : II. SUNFISH.

For the sunfish Enneacanthus the mean value of the critical illumination for response to visual flicker at constant flash frequency (with light time = dark time) is related to temperature by the Arrhenius equation. The temperature characteristic for 1/Im is different above and below 20°C. In each range (12° to 20°; 20° to 30°) the temperature characteristic is the same for rod and cone segments of the duplex flicker response contour: 8,200 and 14,400. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to consider that the two groups of elements are organized in a significantly different way chemically. For the presumptively rod-connected elements implicated in response to flicker, the curve is markedly discontinuous, so that the high and low temperature parts are dislocated; whereas for the cones they are not. This is entirely consistent with other (e.g., genetic) evidence pointing to their separate physical substrata. The uncommon exhibition of a higher µ over a higher range of temperature, previously found, however, in a few cases, together with the different relations of rod and cone effects to the critical temperature, explain aspects of these data which in earlier incomplete measurements were found to be puzzling.
Three-dimensional structure of coronal mass ejections

The 3D structure of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are examined on the basis of numerical solutions of the MHD equations. The numerical solution in a meridional plane centered over the region of newly emerged flux has features similar to those computed in previous 2D simulations. The CME is found to be shaped more like an arcade with an axis parallel to the Equator than like a bubble. This characteristic arcade shape occurs both in the density distribution in meridional and azimuthal planes and in the integrated white-light brightness in meridional and polar views. Examination of the brightness change due to the CME shows that the CME in a meridional projection as viewed from the earth has the same loop shape even if the CME originates almost directly in front of or behind the sun.
Investigation of Indoor Environment for a Data Center

Special indoor air environment requirements are needed for the data center, such as ambient temperature, airflow pattern, relative humidity and ozone concentration to maintain the reliability of a computer system. In this paper, a numerical simulation based on 3-D Finite Volume Method has been conducted for a data center at Purdue University Calumet. The purpose of the simulation is to find out the most effective and low-cost air condition system. Results for temperature, relative humidity distributions as well as velocity patterns are presented. Mesh independent studies are performed. Numerical results are validated by experimental data. Suggestions are given based on the simulation results for improving the indoor environment of the data center.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Scheduling tasks with due dates in a fabrication/assembly process

In fabrication and assembly processes, end-product due dates play a significant role in scheduling tasks to minimize earliness and lateness penalties. We develop a heuristic technique for this problem that solves a sequence of maximum flow problems to identify improved schedules. This method compares favorably with finite loading, another scheduling heuristic. Our computational results include the solution of a problem involving 26,100 tasks scheduled on 52 work centers.
Responses of new banana accessions in South Florida to Panama disease

Panama disease is the most important disease of banana in South Florida. From 1996 to 1998, the performance of 30 dessert and cooking accessions was evaluated at the Tropical Research & Education Center (TREC) of the University of Florida. Field plots were infested, individually, with isolates from three vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) of the pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense, that are found in the area. Four dessert and three cooking clones resisted each of the VCGs and produced high yields of good to excellent fruit. Some of the most popular and productive clones were susceptible and are not recommended for production in areas that have a history of this disease. ( 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
EFFECT OF BRAIN STIMULATION ON ESTROUS ACTIVITY CYCLES

Activity level was significantly reduced by self- or E-induced electrical stimulation of forebrain structures in 14 of 17 female rats. Recovery of activity level after cessation of stimulation was found in animals with electrodes in central hypothalamic areas but not in those with more anterior or posterior placements. There was no significant correlation between rate of self-stimulation and the estrous activity cycle. Possible explanations of the suppression of activity were discussed, and it was suggested that it might be related to inhibition of neural units normally responsive to circulating estrogen.
The luminosity distribution and total space density of pulsars

The detailed distribution of dispersion measures and spectral fluxes for a sample of 50 pulsars in part of the galactic plane near longitude 50 deg is analyzed, and the intrinsic luminosity distribution of the pulsars is obtained along with some constraints on their spatial distribution. Expressions for the observed distributions of spectral fluxes, distances, and directions are given in terms of the spatial and luminosity distributions of the sources as well as the sensitivity of the detector. A previous analysis of the same sample is reviewed, and the intrinsic luminosity distribution is determined from the distribution of observed distances as well as from the observed distribution of spectral fluxes. The results indicate that the scale height of pulsars cannot be significantly less than 400 pc, the total space density of active pulsars is about 30 per cu kpc, and the birthrate required to maintain this population is about one in the Galaxy every 980 (450-2600) years.
Ischemic Colitis in a Patient With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Case Report and Review of Literature

Ischemic colitis is an uncommon complication in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In previously reported cases of colitis caused by SLE, intestinal vasculitis is implicated as the causative process, but is rarely confirmed histologically. We described a case of a 57-year-old African American woman who presented with abdominal pain due to ischemic colitis with small vessel vasculitis which was proven by colonoscopy with biopsy. The clinical course of the patient was improved with conservative management and discontinuation of immunosuppressive agents. J Med Cases. 2014;5(5):292-294 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc1759w
Dietary supplement use among academic pharmacists.

United States sales of dietary supplements exceeded $18 billion in 2002, indicating that dietary supplement use is common among the American public. This report describes a survey of academic pharmacists and their use of dietary supplements and herbs. To date, most data comes from retail or community pharmacists, so a survey was developed to collect information regarding dietary supplement and herb usage from academic pharmacists. Academic pharmacists are probably the most knowledgeable group in regards to assessing the clinical value of supplements.Our results showed that 54% of academic pharmacists have used dietary supplements or herbs. However, it is interesting to note that most of the dietary supplements listed were not in the top ten most commonly used supplements. In addition, there was no excessive use of supplements or herbs by this group of pharmacists since the majority of respondents listed multivitamins.
Bleomycin-induced DNA-strand damage in isolated male germ cells

Abstract DNA strand damage in isolated male germ cells (MGC) was evaluated after in vitro exposure to bleomycin (BLM), a known genotoxin. The alkaline elution technique was used to determine DNA-strand breaks. Concentration-dependent strand damage was established following exposure to bleomycin for 1 h at 37°C. Exposure at 0°C resulted in an increase in the frequency of strand breaks as compared to those observed at 37°C. Pretreatment of cells with deferoxamine (DM), an iron-selective chelating agent, abolished the DNA damage induced by bleomycin. Isolated male germ cells responded in a predictable and reproducible manner thus supporting their use in mechanistic studies of genotoxicity.
Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System Based Autonomous Flight Control of Unmanned Air Vehicles

This paper proposes ANFIS logic based autonomous flight controller for UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). Three fuzzy logic modules are developed for the control of the altitude, the speed, and the roll angle, through which the altitude and the latitude-longitude of the air vehicle is controlled. The implementation framework utilizes MATLAB's standard configuration and the Aerosim Aeronautical Simulation Block Set which provides a complete set of tools for rapid development of detailed 6 degree-of-freedom nonlinear generic manned/unmanned aerial vehicle models. The Aerosonde UAV model is used in the simulations in order to demonstrate the performance and the potential of the controllers. Additionally, Microsoft Flight Simulator and FlightGear Flight Simulator are deployed in order to get visual outputs that aid the designer in the evaluation of the controllers. Despite the simple design procedure, the simulated test flights indicate the capability of the approach in achieving the desired performance.
The Division of Analogy

How many kinds of analogous name arc there? If we should put this question to Cajetan, the answer received could be that there are four kinds, or it could be that there is but one. Recent interpreters have often proposed different types than Cajetan; some even tend to treat every instance of analogous name as a special type. The texts of St Thomas, at first reading, give us a straightforward answer to our question. In the majority of texts, we find a twofold division of analogous names. However, on one occasion,1 St Thomas gave a threefold division and, as it happened, it is that division which forms the structure of Cajetan’s De nominum analogia. Indeed, when the threefold division is considered together with Quaestio Disputata de veritate, question two, article eleven, the interpretation of Cajetan seems to command assent; we find ourselves disposed to accept his way of treating the twofold division which is to relegate it to the status of a subdivision of what is not really analogy at all, namely, “analogy of attribution.” In this chapter, we shall first examine the texts in which the twofold division is given; the other two texts will then be taken up as difficulties to be resolved in the light of the twofold division. The result of this analysis should make it clear that Cajetan has based his opuscle on texts which adopt a very special point of view and do nothing towards calling into question the fact that, for St Thomas, there are but two kinds of analogous name.
TNF-α and IL-1β Increase Pericyte/Endothelial Cell Co-Culture Permeability

Background Pericytes (PC) have a unique synergistic relationship with microvascular endothelial cells (MVEC) in the regulation of capillary permeability. This study investigates the effect of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 on the microvasculature by measuring changes in PC contractility, and also, albumin permeability across MVEC/PC co-cultures. Materials and methods Semi-permeable inserts were plated first with rat lung MVEC and then PCs (on the fourth day) at a ratio of 10:1 MVEC/PC. On day 5, 50 ng/ml of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 were added with or without a secretory phospholipase A 2 -IIA (sPLA 2 -IIA) inhibitor for 24 h. After treatments, albumin clearances were quantified. For measuring contractility, PCs were cultured on collagen matrices and exposed for 24 h to TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 at 1 ng/ml, 10 ng/ml, and 50 ng/ml with/without inhibitors for sPLA 2 -IIA, phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ), and cyclooxygenase-II (COX-II). After treatments, the surface area of the collagen disks was digitally quantified. Results TNF-α and IL-1β significantly increased albumin clearance in MVEC/PC co-cultures ( P P 2 -IIA and pLA 2 inhibitors; the COX-II inhibitor provided partial blockade. IL-6 had no effect on PC contractility or permeability. Conclusion TNF-α and IL-1β directly increased microvascular permeability in co-cultures. They also induced relaxation of PCs through a sPLA 2 -IIA dependent mechanism. Interestingly, IL-6 had no effect, although its presence in high levels has been demonstrated in inflamed lungs. These findings may help elucidate the significance of PC in regulating the capillary response to various pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Provisional agency in India: Jugaad and legitimation of corruption

People in India deploy a variety of euphemisms for corruption, one of which is jugaad, which refers to goal-oriented improvisation, especially the use of informal social networks to advance one's interests. But as often as it is conflated with corruption, jugaad is also conceived as necessary for “getting by” and even as virtuous practice. This ethnography of police practices in Uttar Pradesh shows how the contronymic character of jugaad emerges from widespread valuation of what I call “provisional agency,” which is both a capability to provide a social good and a temporary means of mobility geared toward a better future. Understanding practices that may be deemed “corrupt” as embodiments of provisional agency breaks down a clear distinction between virtue and vice and works to disaggregate a rigid inverse relationship between morality and power that assumes “elite” dominance can only be answered by resistance or acquiescence “from below.
Survival and transfer in the human gut of poorly mobilizable (pBR322) and of transferable plasmids from the same carrier E. coli.

Abstract We examined the survival of a host Escherichia coli K-12 bacterium containing two transferable plasmids (pLM2, pSL222-4) and one poorly mobilizable plasmid (pBR322), and the transfer of these three plasmids to endogenous bacteria in the human intestinal tract. The survival of this plasmid-carrying host organism in four human volunteers was 3.5 to 6 days at recovery rates of 10−1 to 10−4. This finding was similar to our previous survival data on the same organism bearing a single plasmid. The K-12 strain appeared to be under a strong selective disadvantage in the human gut, since, even when bearing a tetracycline-resistant plasmid, its titer did not increase despite the administration of tetracycline. Studies of transferability showed that, while the transfer-depressed incFII plasmid pSL222-4 transferred at a frequency of 10−1 in culture, its transfer in the human gut was much less frequent. The number of new recipients per donor cell ingested was about 10−5, which included new recipients arising by multiplication. The recovery of pSL222-4 transcipients was enhanced by the administration of tetracycline on day 6. Neither the transfer-repressed, broad host range incP plasmid pLM2, nor the plasmid pBR322, could be detected in any endogenous host bacteria. Using the transfer and mobilization frequencies obtained in culture and the number of new recipients of pSL222-4 in the intestinal tract, we estimated that any in vivo mobilization of pBR322 to a new recipient could not occur at a frequency higher than 10−12.
Cod spawning in relation to physical and biological cycles of the northern North–west Atlantic

All the available, reliable cod (Gadus morhua) spawning data for the northern North–west Atlantic (the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the Labrador and West and East Greenland Shelves) have been analysed to update older, often unpublished, reports of spawning dates. The derived spawning times are examined for latitudinal trends and it is shown that no consistent, general pattern exists. The spawning dates are compared with seasonal cycles of plankton abundance, ocean temperature, water column stability and oceanic transport. The latitudinal trends in spawning dates and timing of the plankton peak are found not to correspond.
Binding sites for human interferon-gamma in protocerebrum and hemolymph of tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) larvae differ in sensitivity to polycationic peptides.

We have recently characterized specific binding sites for human interferon-gamma on particulates prepared from the protocerebrum and hemolymph of tobacco hornworm larvae, Manduca sexta ?(Parker, M.S., Ourth, D.D., 1999. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. B 122, 155-163). The sensitivity to sulfated polysaccharides indicated an involvement of oligobasic epitopes of hIFN-gamma in the binding. In the present study, we found that polycationic peptides inhibited the binding of [125I]hIFN-gamma to particulates from either the hemolymph or the protocerebrum of Manduca sexta larvae. With amino acid homopolymers, the rank order of potency was poly-L-lysine > poly-L-arginine >> poly-L-ornithine, while the acidic side chain polymer poly-L-aspartate was not inhibitory. However, the potency of all polycationic peptides was at least three-fold greater at the hemolymph particulates. Also, acidic polysaccharides such as heparin were much more efficacious in the inhibition of hIFN-gamma binding to hemolymph relative to protocerebral particulates. The peptide polycations inhibited the binding of [125I](Leu31,Pro34)human peptide YY, a ligand selective for the Y1 subtype of the neuropeptide Y receptor, to rabbit kidney or to parietal cortex particulates with the expected rank order of poly-L-arginine > poly-L-lysine >> poly-L-ornithine, and with little cross-tissue difference in affinity. The selectivity observed with M. sexta particulates indicates a preferential involvement of oligobasic lysine-rich C-terminal sequences of IFN-gamma, while large insect tissue-related affinity differences point to involvement of diverse oligoacidic sequences in binding to protocerebrum and hemolymph sites. This study provides evidence for the presence of molecules in lepidopteran larvae that are similar in structure to vertebrate co-receptors of IFN-gamma, and adds to the characterization of these binding sites.
A mathematical framework for stochastic climate models

There has been a recent burst of activity in the atmosphere-ocean sciences community in utilizing stable linear Langevin stochastic models for the unresolved degrees of freedom in stochastic climate prediction. Here a systematic mathematical strategy for stochastic climate modeling is developed, and some of the new phenomena in the resulting equations for the climate variables alone are explored. The new phenomena include the emergence of both unstable linear Langevin stochastic models for the climate mean variables and the need to incorporate both suitable nonlinear effects and multiplicative noise in stochastic models under appropriate circumstances. All of these phenomena are derived from a systematic self-consistent mathematical framework for eliminating the unresolved stochastic modes that is mathematically rigorous in a suitable asymptotic limit. The theory is illustrated for general quadratically nonlinear equations where the explicit nature of the stochastic climate modeling procedure can be elucidated. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated for the truncated equations for barotropic flow with topography. Explicit concrete examples with the new phenomena are presented for the stochastically forced three-mode interaction equations. The conjecture of Smith and Waleffe [Phys. Fluids 11 (1999), 1608‐1622] for stochastically forced three-wave resonant equations in a suitable regime of damping and forcing is solved as a byproduct of the approach. Examples of idealized climate models arising from the highly inhomogeneous equilibrium statistical mechanics for geophysical flows are also utilized to demonstrate self-consistency of the mathematical approach with the predictions of equilibrium statistical mechanics. In particular, for these examples, the reduced stochastic modeling procedure for the climate variables alone is designed to reproduce both the climate mean and the energy spectrum of the climate variables. c 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
UV photodetectors with thin-film Si nanoparticle active medium

We constructed ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors using thin films of silicon nanoparticles as active media. The Si nanoparticle films are electrodeposited at room temperature on Si p-type substrates. Uniform silicon nanoparticles of 1-nm diameter are dispersed from Si wafers using electrochemical etching. The nanoparticles are ultrabright under UV excitation, with nanosecond luminescence time characteristics. Current-voltage (I--V) characteristics indicate a photoconductor in series with a diode-like junction with a large enhancement in the forward current under UV illumination. Our results point to a sensitive UV detector with good visible blindness where the particle films effectively constitutes a wide-bandgap material.
Full duplex radios: from impossibility to practice

A basic precept of wireless communications is that radios cannot transmit and receive at the same time on the same frequency. This long-held assumption has informed several aspects of wireless: from radio design, to PHY, MAC and network layer designs for all kinds of wireless networks. In this talk, I will describe our research on invalidating this fundamental assumption. Specifically, I will describe the evolution of our research on self-interference cancellation over the last three years which has now shown that realizing in-band full duplex radios is possible and practical, and discuss the impact this is beginning to have on future wireless network architectures. I will also highlight the cross-disciplinary nature of the research spanning RF, DSP, PHY and MAC, and discuss both the challenges and opportunities in attacking problems that span several disciplines.
Intrathoracic Migration of a Silicone Breast Implant After Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery

© 2013 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Published by Elsevier Inc underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic right middle lobectomy with use of a camera port, an instrument port, and a 1.5-cm access incision in the axilla with no rib spreading. The pathologic appearance was consistent with a carcinoid tumor. Six months later the patient noticed that her “right breast was gone.” Computed tomography of the chest revealed intrathoracic migration of the right breast implant with suspected rupture (Fig 2, asterisk). The patient was taken back to the operating room and underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic removal of the breast implant (Fig 3). The Remaining free silicone was removed with iced saline-soaked sponges. The axillary defect was identified as the site of implant herniation and was closed with a prosthetic mesh. The patient had an unremarkable recovery. Intrathoracic herniation of a breast implant has been reported in association with open thoracotomy [1]. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case after a videoassisted thoracoscopic surgical procedure. Closing the intercostal defect can be considered to prevent such a complication.
An experimental examination of group history and group support system use on information sharing performance and user perceptions

A laboratory experiment was conducted in which group history (i.e. established vs. ad hoc groups) and group support system (GSS) use were manipulated. Subjects completed a hidden profile task, i.e. a task where some information is held by all group members prior to the meeting while other information is held only by a subset of the group. No differences in information sharing performance were observed, except that, when compared to ad hoc groups, established groups discussed less information that was initially held by one group member. Established group members were more satisfied than ad hoc group members while those using a GSS were less satisfied than no-technology groups. Group cohesion was found to be positively related to satisfaction across all treatments, while cohesion was positively related to information sharing performance only for ad hoc groups that did not use a GSS. A discussion of the results in the context of prior theory and research is also presented. >
The Bifurcation of the North Equatorial Current in the Pacific

Abstract A new climatology using historical temperature and salinity data in the western Pacific is constructed to examine the bifurcation of the North Equatorial Current (NEC). Integrating dynamically calculated circulation from the sea surface to 1000 m and combining it with surface Ekman transport, it is shown that the bifurcation of the NEC occurs at the southernmost position (14.8°N) in July and the northernmost position (about 17.2°N) in December. This annual signal lags behind the seasonal meridional migration of the zero zonally integrated wind stress curl line by 4–5 months but corresponds pretty well with the local Ekman pumping associated with the Asian monsoon winds. The bifurcation latitude of the NEC is depth dependent. On the annual average, it shifts from about 13.3°N near the surface to north of 20°N at depths around 1000 m. There is a time lag of 1–2 months from the sea surface to the subsurface (300–700 m) for the annual cycle. Below 700 m, the bifurcation of the NEC approaches as far n...
Comparing Temperature and Humidity on a Mountain Slope and in the Free Air Nearby

Abstract Surface temperature and humidity data measured by eight remote weather stations on a south-facing slope in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California were compared with temperature and humidity data measured by a rawinsonde at the same times and elevations in the free air. The eight stations, located on slopes, in canyons and on ridges, ranged in elevation from 590 to 1621 m. The data were for 0400, 1000 and 1600 PST on 19 days during June–October 1975, the primary forest-fire and brush-fire season in Southern California. The temperature on the mountain slope at 0400 PST was 2.0–4.8°C cooler than in the free air nearby, whereas at 1000 PST the mountain slope was 1.9–5.1°C warmer than the free air, and at 1600 PST the slope was only 0.5–2.9°C warmer than the free air. The average lapse rate of temperature in the free air (590–1621 m) was 0.01°C (100 m)−1 at 0400 PST, −0.4°C (100 m)−1 at 1000 PST, and −0.8°C (100 m)−1 at 1600 PST, while on the mountain the lapse rate, as expected, was stro...
Minimally Invasive Ivor Lewis Esophagectomy

Minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy can be performed with low morbidity and is the preferred operation for gastroesophageal junction tumors at our institution. We inject botulinum toxin into the pylorus endoscopically rather than performing pyloromyotomy or pyloroplasty. The gastric conduit is created laparoscopically. Lymph nodes at the base of the left gastric artery and celiac trunk are removed and a feeding jejunostomy catheter is routinely placed. The chest portion of the operation is performed robotically, mobilizing the esophagus and performing a complete mediastinal and paraesophageal lymphadenectomy. The anastomosis is made with a circular stapler at the level of the azygos vein and an omental flap is interposed between the anastomosis and the trachea.
Supervisor-Subordinate Work Value Congruence and Subordinate Performance: A Pilot Study

The relationship of superior-subordinate work value congruence to subordinate performance was examined in a retail setting. Additionally, because of on-going interest in the role of justice or fairness in the performance appraisal process, the relationship between the supervisor's value of fairness and subordinate performance was examined. Superior-subordinate value congruence was not related to subordinate performance. The supervisor's level of the value of fairness was related to supervisor-rated dimensions of performance, but not to sales and profits. Implications for future research are presented.
Strategy as Interaction: The Dynamics between Strategy Execution Effectiveness and Organizational Interactions During Strategy Implementation

Organizations have for long used strategy as a springboard for actualization of their intent. The body of knowledge around strategy formulation is well established, but there is less clarity as to how organizations are to implement strategy to close the execution gap between their intent and reality. This research seeks to understand how organizations engage in strategy execution so as to reduce the “execution gap”. We uncover patterns of strategic practices with a view to conceptualize how gap reduction happens and what mechanisms influence it. We identify a number of dynamic environmental forces and mutually recursive organizational factors that collectively influence organization’s engagement within the apex of strategy formulation and implementation. Many of our findings support earlier studies on the prominence of individual factors influencing organizational effectiveness in closing the execution gap. In addition we uncover four key dynamics associated with strategy execution: 1). The dynamics created by the interactions between the Organizational shifts and environmental shifts which we call the execution gap dynamic; 2). The dynamics created by the interactions between the strategy focusing and the gap reduction forces of the organization which we call the gap reduction dynamic; 3) The dynamics created by the interactions between the strategy configuration and the execution capability of the organization, which we refer to as the execution focusing dynamic. 4) And the dynamics created by the interactions between the organizational capability and organizational focus which we refer to as the organizational engagement dynamic. . These four dynamics are inter-connected, multi-dimensional and recursive.
Severe infections following pudendal block anesthesia: need for orthopaedic awareness.

Subgluteal and retropsoal infections following pudendal or paracervical block anesthesia are a devastating complication of the postpartum period. This case report illustrates the confusing clinical picture and the problems in management of this severe infection. A review of the morbidity and mortality in six previously reported cases demonstrates the necessity of early surgical intervention. Unaware of this obstetrical complication. the orthopaedic consultant may delay diagnosis and treatment.
Intracellular fluoride in cultured mammalian cells.

SummaryThe intracellular concentration of fluoride in HeLa cells and L cells incubated in 10 or 50 ppm F was determined. For both cell types, the distribution ratio Fin/Fout ranged from 0.3 to 0.4 and was not greatly influenced by the length of incubation or medium fluoride concentration.
Physical and Geochemical Characteristics of Soils from Angel Mounds State Historic Site, Indiana, including a Case Study of Sherds from Unit A

Using physical and chemical characteristics of soil to evaluate archaeological artifacts and their preservation potential along with associated features is well established. The soil characteristics and geochemistry of the Angel Mounds site (12Vg1) indicate the soil geochemistry is very homogenous and composed of loams and silt loams with a range of pH values from 4.69 to 6.17, mean value of 5.40 ± 0.47. The slightly acidic nature of the soil favors the preservation of pollen and soil diatoms, with minor corrosion potential for the bone, shell, and sherd artifacts. A comparison of the geochemistry of the soils from Unit A and site-wide sampling to sherds from Unit A suggests that elevated phosphorus (P) in the sherds is either the result of the addition of a P-rich temper material or from the sourcing of nonlocal clay-rich sediment, and not from use-derived residue or from the soils themselves.
El panoptismo de lo cotidiano: Hegemonía de la visión, espacio burgués y patriarcal en la narrativa urbana de la Renaixença

This essay explores the role of vision as a controlling device in the public space of Barcelona according to the Catalan Renaixenca fiction published between 1862 and 1888. Through an analysis of the works of Narcis Oller, Joaquim Riera i Bertran, Robert Robert, and Emili Vilanova, we will see how the disciplinary panopticism designed by Jeremy Bentham and analyzed by Michel Foucault is also present in the everyday life of the modern bourgeois city. Catalan Realism and Costumbrism of the period show a special preoccupation for the impact of urban modernization. They both try to expose the way in which the effects of the industrial revolution and the implementation of Ildefons Cerda’s urban expansion project of Barcelona affected not only the overall perception of urban spaces but also the social practices of citizens in the public space. In particular, this essay tries to demonstrate how urban space is perceived and represented as a visual spectacle which works like a twofold panoptical regime. On the one...
Ultrasound Stimulation of Insulin Release from Pancreatic Beta Cells

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disease that has reached epidemic proportions. Pharmacological management routinely requires complex therapy with multiple medications, and loses its effectiveness over time. Thus, new modes of therapy are needed that will target directly the underlying causes of abnormal glucose metabolism. The aims of this study were to explore a potential new treatment method that utilizes the non-invasive application of ultrasound energy to induce release of insulin from pancreatic β-cells. Our experiments consisted of assessing the safety, effectiveness and controllability of ultrasound-induced insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells.
What Makes a Brand Look Expensive

Branding is a powerful tool that companies use to control the perception of their products' quality and price. A company's website is a digital vehicle for conveying this brand information. The look and feel of a website often influence a customer's impression of a brand's price category. To understand what makes a brand look expensive, we evaluate the website designs of two industries -- watches and cars. We ran a crowdsourced study to collect ratings of perceived cost based on web page screenshots. By training a random forest regression model over these ratings, we learned which visual features of website design are predictive of perceived cost.
Migrants as Agents of Development: Examining the Prospects of Harnessing the Social Remittances of Hometown Associations in the Philippines

This study examines ways by which hometown associations have made use of social remittances to enrich the lives and welfare of their fellow Filipinos. It looks at the origins of hometown associations and how the links between Filipinos overseas and their origin communities enabled the transfer of social remittances as a means to contribute to community development. The theories of transnational migration and collective action were used in analyzing the prospects of harnessing social remittances for development.
A critical review of filter transmittance measurements for aerosol light absorption, and de novo calibration for a decade of monitoring on PTFE membranes

ABSTRACTThe IMPROVE (Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environments) network monitors the attenuation of light by PM2.5 samples (fine particulate matter, Daero = 2.5 μm) routinely collected on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filters throughout the United States. The results of this measurement have long been reported as an indicator of absorption, with no rigorous calibration as such. Filter-based absorption measurements more conventionally employ optically thick quartz- or glass-fiber collection media, for which a substantial calibration literature offers algorithms to correct for particle scattering and filter loading effects. PTFE membranes are optically thinner and less homogeneous than the fiber media, but they avoid interference from adsorbed organic gases that is associated with quartz and glass fiber media. IMPROVE's measurement system is a hybrid of integrating sphere and integrating plate that records the light backscattered as well as transmitted by each filter. This article introduces ...
Working up rectal bleeding in adult primary care practices

Rationale, aims and objectives Variation in the workup of rectal bleeding may result in guideline-discordant care and delayed diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Accordingly, we undertook this study to characterize primary care clinicians' initial rectal bleeding evaluation. Methods We studied 438 patients at 10 adult primary care practices affiliated with three Boston, Massachusetts, academic medical centres and a multispecialty group practice, performing medical record reviews of subjects with visit codes for rectal bleeding, haemorrhoids or bloody stool. Nurse reviewers abstracted patients' sociodemographic characteristics, rectal bleeding-related symptoms and components of the rectal bleeding workup. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models examined factors associated with guideline-discordant workups. Results Clinicians documented a family history of colorectal cancer or polyps at the index visit in 27% of cases and failed to document an abdominal or rectal examination in 21% and 29%. Failure to order imaging or a diagnostic procedure occurred in 32% of cases and was the only component of the workup associated with guideline-discordant care, which occurred in 27% of cases. Compared with patients at hospital-based teaching sites, patients at urban clinics or community health centres had 2.9 (95% confidence interval 1.3–6.3) times the odds of having had an incomplete workup. Network affiliation was also associated with guideline concordance. Conclusion Workup of rectal bleeding was inconsistent, incomplete and discordant with guidelines in one-quarter of cases. Research and improvements strategies are needed to understand and manage practice and provider variation.
Casting Doubt in Doctor Faustus

It will come as news to no one that Doctor Faustus can be and has been deemed a sceptical play. More than a century ago, J. R. Green characterized Marlowe’s outlook as a ‘daring scepticism’ and claimed that Faustus was ‘the first dramatic attempt to touch the great problem of the relations of man to the unseen world, to paint the power of doubt in a temper leavened with superstition’. Fifty years later Una Ellis-Fermor called Faustus ‘perhaps the most notable Satanic play in literature’.1 And the varied testimony of Marlowe’s contemporaries — Robert Greene, Richard Baines and Thomas Kyd among them — reveals that both the man and his writings could be considered iconoclastic and profoundly irreverent: both susceptible to charges of ‘monstruous opinions’, ‘hereticall conceipts’, even ‘diabolical atheism’.2 True, the circumstances in which these allegations were sometimes made force us to question their accuracy. Yet there still exists an extraordinary congruence of contemporary attitude about Marlowe — about what we might call his scepticism. But what are the sceptical paradigms inherent in Marlowe’s great tragedy? How can we argue that the play exhibits pervasive engagement with early modern doubt?
Parikh and Wittgenstein

A survey of Parikh’s philosophical appropriations of Wittgensteinian themes, placed into historical context against the backdrop of Turing’s famous paper, “On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem” (Turing in Proc Lond Math Soc 2(42): 230–265, 1936/1937) and its connections with Wittgenstein and the foundations of mathematics. Characterizing Parikh’s contributions to the interaction between logic and philosophy at its foundations, we argue that his work gives the lie to recent presentations of Wittgenstein’s so-called metaphilosophy (e.g., Horwich in Wittgenstein’s metaphilosophy. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012) as a kind of “dead end” quietism. From early work on the idea of a feasibility in arithmetic (Parikh in J Symb Log 36(3):494–508, 1971) and vagueness (Parikh in Logic, language and method. Reidel, Boston, pp 241–261, 1983) to his more recent program in social software (Parikh in Advances in modal logic, vol 2. CSLI Publications, Stanford, pp 381–400, 2001a), Parikh’s work encompasses and touches upon many foundational issues in epistemology, philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, and value theory. But it expresses a unified philosophical point of view. In his most recent work, questions about public and private languages, opportunity spaces, strategic voting, non-monotonic inference and knowledge in literature provide a remarkable series of suggestions about how to present issues of fundamental importance in theoretical computer science as serious philosophical issues.