cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Work Safety Skills: A Neglected Curricular Area

This study examined the nature and content of work-safety-skills instruction delivered to Utah students with disabilities at the middle and secondary levels. Analysis of 68 surveys completed by school personnel suggest that only a minority of special education personnel provide ongoing safety-skills instruction and the frequency of such instruction is highly variable and erratic.
Prediction of outdoor sound transmission loss with an artificial neural network

Abstract An artificial neural network is developed for rapid prediction of sound transmission loss (TL) during propagation outdoors. The network predicts TL for a nonturbulent atmosphere from inputs involving the source/receiver propagation geometry (height range: 0–5 m, horizontal separation distance: 100–900 m), source frequency (range: 20–200 Hz), ground properties, and atmospheric refractive profile characteristics. A parabolic equation (PE) code generates the training and test data sets for the network. To ensure that a minimal set of input parameters is used in the network training, a nondimensional version of the PE and accompanying boundary, initial, and atmospheric conditions is developed. A total of 10 independent, nondimensional input parameters are found to be necessary for the training. Approximately 27,000 random cases involving these 10 parameters are generated used to train networks with varying numbers of neurons. The root mean square (RMS) error between random test cases solved by the PE and corresponding neural network predictions was 2.42 dB when a sufficient number of neurons (about 44) are included in the hidden layer. Also, only 18% of the cases resulted in RMS errors that were greater than 2 dB.
Interpretation of hypochromic and hyperchromic intensity changes in the Raman spectra of polypeptides and polynucleotides undergoing transition

The hyperchromic and hypochromic changes in the intensity of the amide-I and amide-III lines of polypeptides and certain ring vibrations of the bases of polynucleotides are shown to be related to similar changes in the lower energy uv absorption bands. The selection rules strictly limit the pairs of excited electronic states that can contribute to the elements of the polarizability matrix. An energy-dependent term in this equation weights the contribution of the pairs of electronic transitions in favor of those involving the lower energy transitions. For both polypeptides and polynucleotides, there is a large hypochromic inensity change in the first π π* exciton band upon the coil-to-helix transition. Through the selection rules, certain conformationally sensitive Raman lines are shown to derive their intensity predominantly from this band and hence also display hypochromism. Again, through an application of the selection rules, certain Raman lines can be demonstrated to depend predominantly for their intensity upon the n π* transition, and consequently have the opposite hyperchromic intensity change upon the same conformational transition.
Modifications in the Catalytic Properties of Nickel Supported on Different Dielectric Oxides

The hydrogenation of 1-butene and 1,3-butadiene has been carried out over a series of dielectric-oxide-supported nickel catalysts at temperatures ranging from 60 to 120 °C and atmospheric pressure....
Two-point boundary-value problems and iteration

The connection between the theory of iteration and analytic differential equations subject to initial value problems is classical; cf. [1], [2], where many references may be found. Let us indicate here an analogous connection between iteration of a more complex type and two-point boundary-value problems. The theory of invariant imbedding, [3], [4], applied to two-point boundary-value problems yields the interesting functional equations which provide the linkage. Consider, to illustrate the general results, the scalar differential equations
Green networks: Opportunities and challenges

One of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century is to investigate new technologies that can enable a transition towards a more sustainable society with reduced energy use and a smaller CO2 footprint. ICT is a direct contributor to more than 2% of global CO2 emissions, and this is expected to double in the near future. It has been shown that PCs (which consume about 2% of the electricity in the US and a growing amount in developing countries) are idle most of the time and the majority of them do not have power management enabled. In this talk, I will describe ongoing standards work by IEEE 802.3az to address an Energy Efficient Ethernet and by Ecma to address reduction of induced energy use of network-connected hosts, such as PCs. I will also describe possible future directions for further reducing energy consumption of both ICT and non-ICT equipment, systems, and processes focusing on the role of networks. Networks can play a significant role in reducing global energy consumption and achieving a level of comfortable conservation needed for a sustainable society.
The Salmonella typhimurium flagellar basal body protein FliE is required for flagellin production and to induce a proinflammatory response in epithelial cells.

Abstract During apical colonization by Salmonella typhimurium, intestinal epithelial cells orchestrate a proinflammatory response that involves secretion of chemoattractants, predominantly interleukin-8, which coordinate neutrophil trans-epithelial migration at the site of infection. This host-pathogen interaction requires several S. typhimurium genes. To identify novel genes that participate in this pathogen-induced proinflammatory response, we created S. typhimurium Tn-10 transposon mutants and identified a single mutant with Tn-10 insertional inactivation within the fliE flagellar locus that was able to adhere to and invade intestinal epithelial cells normally but was unable to induce interleukin-8 secretion in host cells. The fliE-deficient mutant failed to secrete flagellin and lacked any surface assembly of flagellae. Unlike wild-type S. typhimurium, the fliE-deficient mutant did not activate the IκBα/NF-κB signaling pathway or induce the coordinated trans-epithelial migration of isolated human neutrophils. Transcomplementation of the fliE-deficient mutant with a wild-type fliE-harboring plasmid restored all defects and produced a wild-type S. typhimurium phenotype. Furthermore, functional down-regulation of basolateral TLR5 completely inhibited the monolayers' ability to respond to both wild-typeS. typhimurium and purified flagellin but had no affect on tumor necrosis factor α-induced responses. We therefore conclude thatS. typhimurium fliE is essential for flagellin secretion, flagellar assembly, and S. typhimurium-induced proinflammatory responses through basolateral TLR5 and is consistent with the emerging model of S. typhimurium flagellin-induced inflammation.
An assessment of disaster risk and its management in Thailand.

Historically, Thailand has been a disaster-free country, suffering only minor losses from natural hazards through the years. Emerging as a newly industrialised nation, the kingdom now faces an increased risk of economic and public damage from man-made disasters associated with rapid development. A risk assessment was carried out on the level of disaster management. That assessment was preceded by an analysis of the traditional definitions of disaster risk, resulting in a redefinition to fit the needs of this study. This holds that the risk of disaster is the product of hazards, vulnerability and the level of management exercised over both the hazard and the vulnerable elements. The results of the risk assessment, conducted through analysis of those three components, are discussed along with impediments which may hinder good disaster or accident management. Floods, in both natural and man-made manifestations, were identified as the highest risk factor, followed by major accidents and explosions, both man-made hazards. Major recommendations arising from the study included the consolidation of disaster management responsibilities currently held by several agencies into a central co-ordinating committee, the review and restructure of related law and regulations, the conduct of provincial and country-wide hazard assessments and the creation of a ‘culture of safety’ in Thailand
Current Status of Peer Review at Annals of Emergency Medicine

INTRODUCTION As a peer-reviewed scientific journal, Annals of Emergency Medicine is reliant on its volunteer team of expert reviewers to assess the suitability of articles for publication. In 2005, Annals received 1,231 total submissions, of which 521 underwent external peer review, including 67% of the original research articles submitted. Our referees performed 1,317 total reviews, an average of 2.5 per reviewed article. Although the peer-review process lies at the heart of the dissemination of science, many authors and readers find it mysterious. In this article, we wish to summarize the current system of peer review at Annals, answer the most common questions we receive, and describe recent progress in our review process since our adoption of an electronic article processing system (Editorial Manager; Aries Systems Corporation, North Andover, MA) in January 2002.
Predicting coordinated lipid biosynthesis: application to the surfactant-accommodated epidermis

Factorialized correlation analysis is proposed as a method for predicting the coordination of multiple enzyme pathways. The approach can be used potentially to find new relationships and to predict relationships that have been established in other tissues. However, careful tracer studies are needed to verify the cause-and-effect relationships between precursor and products. In this study, guinea pigs that were chronically treated with an anionic, a nonionic and a cationic surfactant passed through an irritation stage to a clinical state that appeared normal. The method was used to examine binary coordination of lipid biosynthesis in the epidermis by using a factorialized table of regression coefficients. Coordinated lipid relationships that have been reported in other tissues were predicted between sphingomyelin and cholesterol, as well as between phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine. A new inverse relationship was found between triglycerides and both sphingomyelin and cholesterol, using this method. These data are discussed with respect to a membrane fluidization model for the accommodated state.
Squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus: A study of 153 cases

The incidence of esophageal carcinoma in the United States is relatively low; total estimated cases annually are about 7,000 (Ca, 1975). The overall cure rate, however, is about the worst among all the malignant diseases and is reported to be 3% (Ca, 1975). We reviewed cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus treated at Roswell Park Memorial Institute to understand the clinicopathologic features in order to improve our therapeutic results.
Influence of random bridging on the elastic and elastoplastic properties of fiber-reinforced composites

The overall elastic moduli and elastoplastic stress-strain relations of a fiber-reinforced composite containing either aligned or randomly oriented spheroidal voids are derived explicitly. The results are given in terms of the void shape and concentration, and for the elastic moduli the void shape is further pushed to the limit for cracked bodies. The present theory also corresponds to the condition of “random bridging”, with a longitudinal Young's modulus and axial shear modulus lying between those of “full bridging” and “no bridging”. Numerical results further indicate that both elastic and elastoplastic strength of the fiber-reinforced composite can be significantly weakened by the presence of both types of distribution, but the extent of stiffness or strength reduction is highly dependent upon the void shape and loading direction.
Kinematic Synthesis of RPS Serial Chains

This paper examine the geometric design of the five degree-of-freedom RPS serial chain. This constrained robot can be designed to reach an arbitrary set of ten spatial positions. It is often convenient to consider tasks with fewer positions, and here we study the cases of seven through ten position synthesis. A generalized eigenvalue elimination technique yields analytical solutions for cases seven and eight. While cases nine and ten are solved numerically using homotopy continuation. An numerical example is provided for an eight position task.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Robust controller design of a dual-stage disk drive servo system with an instrumented suspension

This paper proposes a robust track-following controller design method for a dual-stage servo system in magnetic hard disk drives (HDDs). The method formulates the problem of minimizing track misregistration (TMR) in the presence of plant uncertainty and variation as a multiobjective optimization problem. Tracking error minimization is naturally formulated as an H/sub 2/ norm minimization problem, while the robust stability issue is addressed by some H/sub /spl infin// norm bounds. This mixed H/sub 2//H/sub /spl infin// control problem can then be formulated as a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and be efficiently solved through convex optimization algorithms. To enhance the system's tracking performance and stability robustness, the method explicitly takes attenuation of airflow-excited suspension vibration into consideration by an inner loop fast rate damping and compensation controller that utilizes the output of a strain gauge sensor on the suspension surface. Analysis and simulation show that a system designed by this method can achieve good tracking performance while still keeping stability robustness to plant variation and high-frequency spillover.
Concept tree based clustering visualization with shaded similarity matrices

One problem with existing clustering methods is that the interpretation of clusters may be difficult. Two different approaches have been used to solve this problem: conceptual clustering in machine learning and clustering visualization in statistics and graphics. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the benefits of combining clustering visualization and conceptual clustering to obtain better cluster interpretations. In our research we have combined concept trees for conceptual clustering with shaded similarity matrices for visualization. Experimentation shows that the two interpretation approaches can complement each other to help us understand data better.
B Lymphocyte-Induced Maturation Protein (Blimp)-1, IFN Regulatory Factor (IRF)-1, and IRF-2 Can Bind to the Same Regulatory Sites

The transcriptional repressor B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein-1 (Blimp-1) is expressed in some differentiated cells and is required for terminal differentiation of B cells. To facilitate identification of Blimp-1 target genes, we have determined the optimal DNA recognition sequence for Blimp-1. The consensus is very similar to a subset of sites recognized by IFN regulatory factors (IRFs) that contain the sequence GAAAG. By binding competition and determination of equilibrium dissociation constants, we show that Blimp-1, IRF-1, and IRF-2 have similar binding affinities for functionally important regulatory sites containing this sequence. However, Blimp-1 does not bind to all IRF sites, and specifically does not recognize IRF-4/PU.1 or IRF-8 sites lacking the GAAAG sequence. Chromatin immunoprecipitation studies showed that Blimp-1, IRF-1, and IRF-2 all bind the IFN-β promoter in vivo, as predicted by the in vitro binding parameters, and in cotransfections Blimp-1 inhibits IRF-1-dependent activation of the IFN-β promoter. Thus, our data suggest that Blimp-1 competes in vivo with a subset of IRF proteins and help predict the sites and IRF family members that may be affected.
A Controlled Pilot Evaluation of Acceptance and Commitment Training for Intellectual Disability Staff

The present study pilot tested a mindfulness and acceptance-based work stress reduction intervention for intellectual disability staff. The intervention combined Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) with instruction in applied behavior analysis. This combined intervention was compared to a control condition consisting of applied behavior analysis training only. Considering both distressed and nondistressed participants, between-group differences were observed only for participants who reported that they had been consistently applying the techniques they had learned. In addition, ACT group participants with higher levels of psychological distress at pretest showed greater reductions in psychological distress from pretest to follow-up when compared to their control group counterparts. A concurrent decrease in the believability of burnout-related thoughts was observed in the ACT group from pretest to follow-up, relative to the control group. These results support and extend previous research on ACT interventions for intellectual disability staff.
Prostaglandin F2α receptors in bovine corpus luteum cell membranes. Effect of enzymes and protein reagents

Abstract Various enzymes and proteins reagents inhibited [3H]prostaglandin F2α binding to bovine corpus luteum cell membranes. Studies were undertaken (a) to explore further on the dose response relationships with the above agents, (b) to investigate the mechanism of inhibition of binding with respect to receptor affinities and number and (c) to assess whether decreased binding reflected changes in receptors and/or other membrane components. Preincubation of membranes with phoshpolipase A, trypsin, pronase, lipase, tetranitromethane, dinitrofluorobenzene, acetic anhydride and N- ethylmaleimide resulted in moderate to drastic inhibitions of [3H]prostaglandin F2α binding. The dose-dependent inhibition of binding by enzymes, but not by protein reagents (except for N- ethylmaleimide ), exhibited a biphasic pattern: at lower concentrations, the loss of binding was low and relatively plateaued, but at higher concentrations, the losses were dramatic. The drastic reduction in binding by trypsin was due to destruction rather than solubilization of receptors from membranes. Phospholipase A was intrinsically more effective than phospholipases C and Ca2+ was not required for its inhibition of [3H]prostaglandin F2α binding. Protein reagents inhibition of binding was differently influenced by added Ca2+ i.e., loss of binding increased with some ( N- ethylmaleimide ), decreased with others (tetranitromethane, dinitrofluorobenzene and azobenzene sulfenylbromide). These results are interpreted to indicate that Ca2+ induced conformational changes in membranes which may result in exposure of new groups and burying of already exposed modifiable groups. Treatment of membranes wiht trypsin and N- ethylmaleimide selectively abolished high affinity prostaglandin F2α receptors. The low affinity receptors were present but their numbers as well as their affinity were decreased. Lipase, phospholipase A, acetic anhydride, dinitrofluorobenzen and tetranitromethane appear to decrease binding by totally abolishing all prostaglandin F2α receptors or by severely reducing their affinities. The occupancy of receptors by prostaglandin F2α afforded considerable protection against trypsin, phospholipase A, lipase and dinitrofluorobenzene. These data indicated that the inhibition of binding by the above agents, at least in part, can be attributable to changes in receptor sites alone.
Business Stakeholder Analyzer: An Automatic Classification Approach to Facilitating Collaborative Commerce on the Web

As the Web is used increasingly to share and disseminate information, business analysts and managers are challenged to understand stakeholder relationships. Traditional stakeholder analysis approaches fail to accommodate the rapid Web growth while existing business intelligence tools lack analysis capability. This paper proposes an automatic classification approach to business stakeholder analysis on the Web. Based on the approach, we developed a system called Business Stakeholder Analyzer to perform automatic classification of stakeholder types. Experimental results showed that, compared with humans, the system achieved better within-class accuracies in widespread stakeholder types such as "partner/sponsor/supplier" and "media/reviewer." It was more efficient than human classification. The encouraging findings suggest a promising future of our approach to facilitating knowledge sharing in collaborative commerce.
Fast Affine Projection Adaptation Algorithms With Stable and Robust Symmetric Linear System Slovers

This paper proposes two noniterative approaches to solve a symmetric linear system associated with the fast affine projection adaptation algorithm. The first approach, using matrix LDLT factorization, can provide an exact solution at a moderate complexity, in contrast with the fact that existing stable approaches are all approximate. Based on a reciprocating recursion scheme, the second approach has a very low complexity and gives a good approximate solution. Steady-state and transient properties of the proposed and certain previous FAP algorithms are studied in detail. Being stable and optimal under all step size conditions, fast affine projection algorithms incorporating the proposed approaches are promising in telecom and other applications of adaptive filtering
Unsteadiness and periodicity in gravity waves and lee waves forced by a fixed rigid boundary

Abstract It is shown that a vertically sheared, inviscid stratified flow over a sinusoid, starting from rest, results in one of two responses, both nonsteady: 1) resonance modes, in which the phase lines are vertical, and wave amplitude and drag grow linearly with time; or 2) oscillatory (in time) modes, with one or more frequencies, phase lines sloping alternately upwind and downwind, momentum flux alternately negative and positive, and drag alternately positive and negative. Flow over an isolated ridge will excite all of the foregoing modes. The resonant modes are the familiar trapped waves; oscillatory modes will tend to be evident or dominant only when the ridge is broad and/or the Richardson number low.
Epilepsy in adults.

The past decade has seen advances in the management of patients with epilepsy. The development of practical long-term electroencephalographic techniques, with or without simultaneous video recording, has increased the accuracy of diagnosis of seizure types. The technique also provides clinicians and investigators with a method for establishing the clinical efficacy of antiepileptic drugs and determining their therapeutic serum concentrations. Computerized tomography has enhanced the identification of structural brain lesions. Most of the reported CT abnormalities consist of diffuse and focal atrophies, mild ventricular dilatations, and porencephalies. CT has detected tumors in 8 to 10% of the patients regardless of age or type of seizure involved. New concepts of antiepileptic drug therapy have developed from the recognition of pharmacological properties peculiar to each agent. Determination of serum antiepileptic drug levels has to be utilized to reduce the problem of pharmacokinetic variability from one patient to another and in the same patient at different times, so that dosage can be individualized to achieve maximum therapeutic effects with least toxicity. Review of the literature on pregnancy in epileptic women shows that a third to half experienced more seizures during gestation. Reduced serum levels of most antiepileptic drugs have recently been observed during gestation. Infants of epileptic women taking antiepileptic drugs have a two to three times greater risk for congenital anomalies than infants of nonepileptic women. However, with the exception of oxazolidinediones, evidence to date has not proved the teratogenicity of antiepileptic drugs. The role of genetic factors and the effect of seizures during pregnancy have not been determined. Modest progress has been made in epilepsy rehabilitation, but serious problems still remain. The unemployment rate of persons with epilepsy is twice the national average. Half of those who are successfully employed did not disclose their disorder at the time of employment. Several prognostic indicators have been reported, but the validity of many of these indicators is questionable. For example, does shorter life expectancy apply to all subgroups, or does it vary according to seizure type and cause? The life expectancy, treatment response, and probability of remission in epileptic persons must be reevaluated after consistent applications of current methods of epilepsy management.
The Glacial Pace of Scientific Publishing: Why It Hurts Everyone and What We Can Do To Fix It

Is this you? Your Ph.D. student has just finished 5 years of spectacular work, the manuscript and figures go through 12 revisions, then your colleagues and friends provide input for the next 10 revisions, you submit the perfect “version 22” manuscript to a carefully targeted scientific journal appropriate for the manuscript, and then you wait. And wait. And wait. Months elapse, the student leaves the lab for a postdoc, and you forget that you even had a manuscript under review. Meanwhile, the student is passed over for competitive postdoctoral fellowships because the publication is in limbo, your tenure case is weakened, and the study section questions your productivity, and your grant is not funded. Why is it that in these days of instant information dissemination via blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites, our scientific publishing system has ground to a medieval, depressing, counterproductive near-halt?
Adolescent injury in the emergency department: opportunity for alcohol interventions?

Abstract Study objective: Alcohol, the most commonly used substance among adolescents, is frequently associated with injury. Little is known regarding the drinking characteristics of injured adolescents. Such data are critical for developing emergency department interventions to decrease alcohol-related injury among adolescents. We sought to describe the drinking characteristics of injured adolescents and to describe the relationship of injury severity and mechanisms with drinking characteristics. Methods: This study was a prospective cohort study performed in a university hospital (sampled May 1, 1995, to July 15, 1995) and a large urban teaching hospital (sampled May 1, 1996, to August 1, 1996). The participants were aged 12 to 20 years, presenting within 6 hours of an injury. We performed a saliva alcohol test and self-administered questionnaire. Age, sex, E-code, injury severity score (ISS), and ED disposition were recorded. An alcohol frequency/quantity index was calculated. Descriptive statistics and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results: Two hundred sixty-three patients with a mean age of 17 years and a mean ISS of 2.1 (SD 3.5) were recruited. One hundred fifty-two (50%) were males, and 33 (13%) were admitted. Ten (4%) patients had a positive saliva alcohol test response. On average, within the last year, these adolescents had 1.7 adverse alcohol consequences. Sixty percent drank in unsupervised settings, and 36% reported drinking 5 or more drinks in a row. Conclusion: Alcohol use/misuse is a substantial problem among injured adolescents regardless of severity or mechanism of injury. ED physicians should consider screening/intervention or primary prevention of alcohol problems for all injured adolescents. [Maio RF, Shope JT, Blow FC, Copeland LA, Gregor MA, Brockmann LM, Weber JE, Metrou ME. Adolescent injury in the emergency department: opportunity for alcohol interventions? Ann Emerg Med . March 2000;35:252-257.]
The mitre meteor robot control software: simulate as you operate

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) challenged autonomous ground vehicle developers in the "2005 DARPA Grand Challenge" to build a vehicle that could complete a 132 mile course through the American desert southwest. MITRE, a not-for-profit systems engineering company, responded to this challenge by creating the MITRE Meteor in just 11 months. This rapid development relied on software employment transparency to get the maximum utility out of each line of code. Judicious design of the software framework allowed the same body of code to animate the robot in the field, support laboratory experimentation, and analyze recorded field testing data. This paper describes how software employment transparency was achieved and how it increased development efficiency.
Using social media to measure foreign policy dynamics: An empirical analysis of the Iranian–Israeli confrontation (2012–13)

Does social media reflect meaningful political competition over foreign policy? If so, what relationships can it reveal, and what are the limitations of its usage as data for scholars? These questions are of interest to both scholars and policymakers alike, as social media, and the data derived from it, play an increasingly important role in politics. The current study uses social media data to examine how foreign policy discussions about Israel–Iran are structured across different languages (English, Farsi, and Arabic) – a particularly contentious foreign policy issue. We use follower relationships on Twitter to build a map of the different networks of foreign policy discussions around Iran and Israel, along with data from the Iranian and Arabic blogosphere. Using social network analysis, we show that some foreign policy networks (English and Farsi Twitter networks) accurately reflect policy positions and salient cleavages (online behavior maps onto offline behavior). Others (Hebrew Twitter network) do n...
Cloning, sequencing, and expression of the Escherichia coli cytolethal distending toxin genes

A limited number of Escherichia coli isolates which produce an apparently novel toxin, termed cytolethal distending toxin (CDT), have been reported. The toxic activity produced by these strains causes certain cultured cell lines to become slowly distended and then disintegrate. DNA was isolated from the CDT-producing E. coli strain, 9142-88, and cloned into a cosmid vector. Plasmid DNA from a toxin-positive transductant was further subcloned until a plasmid with a 4-kb insert which still encoded the toxin activity was obtained. Nucleotide sequencing of a portion of this insert revealed the presence of three adjacent open reading frames. Further subcloning and deletion analysis suggested that the products of all three open reading frames may be required for toxin activity. Minicell experiments identified the products of all three open reading frames. The three proteins had predicted sizes of 27,753,29,531, and 19,938 Da, and all three appeared to have strong consensus leader sequences. None of the three predicted proteins had significant homology to known proteins.
Efficient storage techniques for digital continuous multimedia

The problem of collocational storage of media strands, which are sequences of continuously recorded audio samples or video frames, on disk to support the integration of storage and transmission of multimedia data with computing is examined. A model that relates disk and device characteristics to the playback rates of media strands and derives storage patterns so as to guarantee continuous retrieval of media strands is presented. To efficiently utilize the disk space, mechanisms for merging storage patterns of multiple media strands by filling the gaps between media blocks of one strand with media blocks of other strands are developed. Both an online algorithm suitable for merging a new media strand into a set of already stored strands and an offline merging algorithm that can be applied a priori to the storage of a set of media strands before any of them have been stored on disk are proposed. As a consequence of merging, storage patterns of media strands may become perturbed slightly. To compensate for this read-ahead and buffering are required so that continuity of retrieval remains satisfied are also presented. >
Multimodal approaches to improve surgical outcome

Abstract In the year 2002, despite an improvement in perioperative care, major and minor surgical procedures may be followed by sequelae such as pain, organ dysfunction, and prolonged recovery. Surgeons and anesthesiologists should recognize that multidisciplinary and multimodal approaches are necessary to improve postoperative outcomes. Some European investigators have designed accelerated perioperative care programs that include features such as preoperative patient instruction, protocols for intraoperative anesthesia and postoperative analgesia, early enteral nutrition, and early enforced mobilization. The relative impact of these techniques on pain, the stress response, and bowel function recovery will be discussed in greater detail in this article. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
Author's response to Geoffrey McCarthy

We thank Dr McCarthy for his thoughtful insights on the application of situational awareness in medicine. We agree that doctors begin with a limited amount of situational awareness and often fail to maximise their situational awareness using a team approach. Owing to the increasing complexity and acuity of care in the outpatient setting, the risk …
Distribution and habitat preferences of Osmia lignaria (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) and associated cavity-nesting insects in California's Sierra Nevada foothills adjacent to the Sacramento Valley

Abstract Trap nests were used to assay species richness, abundance and distribution of cavity-nesting insects in California's Sierra Nevada foothills bordering the Sacramento Valley. Particular focus was placed on the agriculturally significant native bee Osmia lignaria Say, 1836 because of its potential use as a pollinator of local orchard crops. Osmia lignaria and four other species were obtained from half of the eight study sites. Unidentified nests were constructed at the remaining sites. The strength of correlation between three habitat variables and species abundance was determined. Floral resource availability yielded the strongest correlation, followed by habitat type, then proximity to water. These findings document the presence of cavity-nesting native bees and their associates, highlighting their potential in pollinating important agricultural crops.
Evidence for widespread aqueous sedimentation in the northern plains of Mars

High-resolution imaging data sets were used to identify and investigate a discrete stratigraphic unit exposed in the walls of impact craters throughout Chryse and Acidalia Planitiae, Mars. The unique morphology and spectral signatures observed in this unit, which include fine-scale layering, lensing, pinching, and elevated hydration signatures, all indicate that this material was deposited in a suite of aqueous environments. Furthermore, this unit’s widespread distribution and relationship to regional topography suggests an origin from the circum-Chryse outflow channels. While earlier studies have suggested that large quantities of outflow channel effluents are located throughout this region, this analysis is the first to identify and characterize the outcrop-scale morphology and spatial distribution of this extensive unit. These observations imply that the northern plains of Mars served as a global depocenter for immense volumes of water and sediment early in martian history.
A Rational Determination of Permitted Usable Lives for Gas Turbine Engine Components

The specification of permitted usable lives, or as they are frequently called “life limits,” is an F.A.A. requirement for critical aviation gas turbine rotating components in commercial use (1). To establish these life limits in a consistent conservative manner, a statistical analysis is necessary to assimilate the many variables involved. The most important parameters are the expected component deterioration with use, the characteristics of this use and the chosen overhaul times and maintenance procedures. Considerable effort has been expended in the aircraft engine industry to obtain better recordings of actual engine operation and environment. A paper by Hohenburg (2) which was principally concerned with such monitoring devices did, however, state “Users of engines must make decisions on when to perform maintenance, to overhaul, or to retire engines from service …. There is a substantial requirement for rational determination of maintenance and retirement intervals.” This paper demonstrates such a rational approach in the form of computer program SMILE (Statistical, Maintenance, Inspection and Life Evaluation). It compares, on the basis of estimated risk, alternative choices of life limits by including all the principal parameters involved. An example makes a comparison of a component with early crack initiation and substantial propagation before failure with an alternative design having late crack initiation but virtually infinitely fast propagation. It shows how a life limit may be considered redundant but necessary in the first case and essential in the second. The alternative risks with specified permitted usable lives will be estimated for each design.Copyright © 1970 by ASME
Familial aggregation of Parkinson disease in Utah: A population-based analysis using death certificates

Objective: To describe clustering of death from Parkinson disease (PD) in relatives in a large US study. Methods: We analyzed the Utah Population Database resource, which includes genealogy data of more than 2.7 million individuals linked to 519,061 individuals with a Utah death certificate (DC). We identified individuals whose DC included PD as a cause of death using ICD coding. In those individuals whose Utah DC listed PD as a cause of death, the relative risk (RR) of death with PD was determined among close and distant relatives using sex-, birth year–, and birthplace-specific rates. Results: We identified 4,031 individuals whose DC indicated PD. Among 18,127 first-degree relatives of probands with a Utah DC, the RR of death with PD was significantly increased (RR = 1.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.61–2.04). The RR of death with PD was also significantly increased among 40,546 second-degree relatives with a Utah DC (RR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.29–1.60) and among 93,398 third-degree relatives with a Utah DC (RR = 1.10, 95% CI 1.03–1.18). Conclusions: Significant evidence for excess familial clustering was observed for PD deaths. The excess familial clustering and the significantly elevated RRs for PD among close and distant relatives strongly support a genetic contribution to PD mortality. These results confirm and expand the results of previous studies of PD by quantifying the risk of PD death among more distant relatives.
Microcomputer Support for Small Business Marketing Information and Research

It is a imperative that small businesses be responsive to changes in the social and economic environment and shifts in consumer demand. This is necessary in order to remain competitive. One method of achieving competitiveness is through the use of microcomputers to access information which can provide management with the ability to make fast and effective decisions. This paper discusses the viability of using microcomputers for small business marketing research and presents two examples demonstrating the practicality of using microcomputers in small businesses.
Assessing variability in brain tumor segmentation to improve volumetric accuracy and characterization of change

Brain tumor analysis is moving towards volumetric assessment of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), providing a more precise description of disease progression to better inform clinical decision-making and treatment planning. While a multitude of segmentation approaches exist, inherent variability in the results of these algorithms may incorrectly indicate changes in tumor volume. In this work, we present a systematic approach to characterize variability in tumor boundaries that utilizes equivalence tests as a means to determine whether a tumor volume has significantly changed over time. To demonstrate these concepts, 32 MRI studies from 8 patients were segmented using four different approaches (statistical classifier, region-based, edge-based, knowledge-based) to generate different regions of interest representing tumor extent. We showed that across all studies, the average Dice coefficient for the superset of the different methods was 0.754 (95% confidence interval 0.701–0.808) when compared to a reference standard. We illustrate how variability obtained by different segmentations can be used to identify significant changes in tumor volume between sequential time points. Our study demonstrates that variability is an inherent part of interpreting tumor segmentation results and should be considered as part of the interpretation process.
Smoking Behavior and Healthcare Expenditure in the United States, 1992–2009: Panel Data Estimates

Background Reductions in smoking in Arizona and California have been shown to be associated with reduced per capita healthcare expenditures in these states compared to control populations in the rest of the US. This paper extends that analysis to all states and estimates changes in healthcare expenditure attributable to changes in aggregate measures of smoking behavior in all states.
Epidemiological characteristics of HFMD in Hechi City from 2008 to 2012

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics of HFMD and provide scientific evidence for HFMD control and prevention.Methods The monitoring data of HFMD epidemic from 2008 to 2012 in Hechi City were analyzed by usign descriptive epidemiology.Results A total of 30 701 HFMD cases were reported from 2008 to 2012 and the average annual incidence rate was 165.16/100 000.The average annual incidence rate of severe cases of HFMD was 1.43/100000 and the fatality rate of severe cases was 10.94%.More than 1 000 HFMD cases were reported from each counties(City,district).The peak incidence of HFMD occurred from March to July(71.45% cases).The scattered children of rural areas was high-risk groups of HFMD.Most of the HFMD cases were aged ≤5 yearst(95.66%) and the incidence of males was higher than females(P 0.01).The average detection rates of EV71 virus from the specimens of severe HFMD cases and mild cases separately were 93.81% and 29.62%,showing a directly proportional relationship between the detection rate of EV71 virus and the incidence of severe disease.Conclusion The epidemic situation of HFMD is currently still serious in Hechi City and the control of HFMD in rural areas be especially strengthened.
Neighborhood-Based Collaborative Filtering

Neighborhood-based collaborative filtering algorithms, also referred to as memory-based algorithms, were among the earliest algorithms developed for collaborative filtering. These algorithms are based on the fact that similar users display similar patterns of rating behavior and similar items receive similar ratings. There are two primary types of neighborhood-based algorithms:
The Deep Roots and Local Consequences of Dominican Centralism

The Dominican state developed as an exceptionally centralized entity, in law from the time of independence in 1844 and in practice from the early 20th century. Communication advances bequeathed by a U.S. military occupation (1916–1924) facilitated the sweeping dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (1930–1961). In a very poor nation, centralism was accepted by many population groups as one road to development. By the late 1980s, municipalities oft en could not discharge the few administrative functions (including street cleaning, garbage collection, and oversight of parks, markets, and cemeteries) that they were assigned. Social discontent and protest movements grew in urban areas during this period, placing improvement in town and city services on the national agenda for reform.
Microfluidics for Engineering 3D Tissues and Cellular Microenvironments

Cellular microenvironments in native tissues are three dimensional (3D), inhomogeneous, anisotropic, and dynamic in terms of their composition of cells, extracellular matrix components, soluble factors, and physical forces (e.g. fluid flow and mechanical stress). Therefore, methods to recapitulate and control various components of cellular microenvironments in vitro and in vivo are highly useful for both studying and engineering biological systems. Microfluidics-based technologies enable precision spatiotemporal control over mass transport and are thus well suited to control the assembly and dynamic culture of engineered cellular microenvironments. In this chapter, we highlight several different ways that microfluidics can be utilized in engineering 3D tissues and cellular microenvironments, including methods to microfabricate 3D tissue scaffolds using microfluidics, methods to assemble and dynamically culture 3D microenvironments within PDMS-based microfluidic devices, and methods to incorporate microfluidic channels directly within engineered 3D tissue scaffolds, for both perfusion of tissue constructs with media and for assembly of multiphase 3D tissues.
Nipah Virus Disease

Nipah disease is a zoonotic viral infection described in 1999 in Malaysia, during an outbreak of severe encephalitis in humans, associated with a highly contagious respiratory and neurologic disease in swine.1 The mortality in hospitalized patients varied between 1 and 77%, but the exact mortality rate in pigs is unknown. The persistence and circulation of the virus within the bat population (Pteropus spp.), and the wide geographical range of the potential reservoirs, from Madagascar to Australia, have great implications on human and animal public health, prophylaxis, and health education measures.
In vitro DNA footprinting

The analysis of DNA-protein interactions is an essential step towards elucidating molecular mechanisms for transcriptional regulation (for reviews, see [1–3]). Once a specific DNA sequence which serves as a binding site for a nuclear protein has been identified it can: (l)be correlated with the DNA sequences which mediate gene expression in vivo [4–6], (2) facilitate the construction of mutant and chimeric genes for further study [7], (3) be synthesized chemically and used to purify the factor by affinity chromatography [8], or (4) be used as a probe to identify cDNA clones of the binding protein from an expression library [9]. Factor isolation and clear functional correlations are prerequisites for unraveling the complex factor-factor interactions that ultimately control transcription.
Locally Advanced and High-Risk Cutaneous Malignancies

The skin is composed of two layers: the more superficial and thinner epidermis and the deeper and thicker dermis. The epidermis (average thickness 0.05 mm) contains keratinocytes (basal cells and squamous epithelial cells), melanocytes, and Langerhans cells among others. Structures such as hair and glandular ducts project through the epidermis.