cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sequential administration of methotrexate and asparaginase in relapsed or refractory pediatric acute myeloid leukemia

Background The efficacy of combination chemotherapy with methotrexate (MTX) and asparaginase is not well known in relapsed and refractory acute leukemia after contemporary therapy. Procedure A retrospective study of pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who received MTX and asparaginase as a salvage therapy at St. Jude Children Research Hospital was performed. MTX was given intravenously followed by a dose of asparaginase intramuscularly or intravenously 24 hours later. The chemotherapy cycle was repeated every 7–10 days. Response, survival, and toxicities were evaluated. Results Fifteen patients, median age 10.5 years (range, 1.1–18.5 years), were treated. Median number of previous therapeutic regimens was three (range, 1–4). Six patients responded to treatment (three had morphologic complete remission with incomplete blood count recovery, two had partial remission, and one had stable disease for 16 months), and four are still alive. Three of six responders had monoblastic leukemia, and also developed tumor lysis syndrome. The 1- and 2-year overall survival rates are 35.6% and 17.8%, respectively. The most common adverse event was transient elevation of transaminases (nine patients). Two patients developed pancreatitis. Episodes of febrile neutropenia were rare (two patients), and most courses (75 out of 93 total courses) were given in an outpatient setting. Conclusions Combination chemotherapy with MTX and asparaginase appears to be an effective salvage therapy and well tolerated in patients with relapsed or refractory childhood AML, even in those heavily pretreated with contemporary frontline or salvage therapy. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2013; 60: 1161–1164. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Development of niobium aluminide-based composites with improved toughness using treated reinforcements

Many ordered intermetallic compounds exhibit attractive properties for high temperature structural aerospace applications. The major obstacles limiting the use of these materials are their low ductility and toughness at room temperature and poor creep resistance at elevated temperatures. In this investigation treated silicon carbide whisker and niobium particle reinforced niobium aluminide matrix composites have been fabricated by reaction hot pressing in vacuum. Elemental matrix powders react exothermally and form the niobium aluminide matrix in situ. A suitable hot pressing cycle has been established for the successful development of the niobium aluminide matrix, while reducing adverse reactions between the matrix and the reinforcements. The composites with treated reinforcements are expected to have high resistance to creep at elevated temperatures and they show relatively low hardness and higher toughness in comparison with the composites reinforced with untreated whiskers.
Linear models for spectral reflectance functions over the mid-wave and long-wave infrared

We analyze the use of linear models for IR spectral reflectance functions. Linear models have been studied extensively for the visible wavelengths and form the basis of several approaches to estimating surface properties from color images. The IR analysis is performed with measured spectral reflectance functions for 394 samples of natural and man-made materials. The mid-wave (3–5 µm) and long-wave (8–12.5 µm) atmospheric windows of the IR spectrum are considered separately. Since materials tend to have stronger spectral features over the 8–12.5 µm range, linear models for the long-wave IR require more parameters than for the mid-wave IR, in order to obtain the same accuracy. We show that a six-parameter linear model provides an excellent approximation for mid-wave (3–5 µm) reflectance functions and that a nine-parameter linear model provides a satisfactory approximation for long-wave (8–12.5 µm) reflectance functions.
The superconducting transition in oxygen deficient YBa2Cu3O7−δ

An unusual feature at 90 K in the resistivity of oxygen deficient YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ is described and analyzed.
Dynamics of a surface‐catalysed chemical system

The dynamic response of a periodically forced, surface catalyzed chemical system was studied experimentally. A comparison is made of dynamic correlations based on transfer function and equivalent gain models. The latter is shown to have significant advantages. On etudie experimentalement la reponse dynamique d'un Systeme chimique avec catalyseur de surface qui est assujetti a une fluctuation periodique. On compare les correlations dynamiques basees sur les functions de transfert avec des modeles d'amplitude equivalents et on demontre les avantages marques de la premiere methode.
Notes on a preliminary drug hunting trip on The Jos Plateau, Nigeria

During the summer of 1962, the senior author had the privilege of spending 25 days in parts of the months of July and August, in and around the city of Jos in Northern Nigeria. The major purpose of this trip was to collect additional crude drugs and voucher specimens needed to further the investigation of Nigerian medicines which began at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in the fall of 1959. At that time, Dr. Stanley Diamond, then a member of the faculty at Brandeis University, brought 47 different crude drug samples from the Jos area. These were specimens of native medicines used by members of the Anaguta tribe. Examples of some of their uses are as follows: The root of Securidaca longipedunculata is boiled with water and the decoction is drunk for "stomach trouble." In other parts of Nigeria, this root is used as a drastic purge, or it is mixed with Guinea corn, boiled and used as a diuretic. In Senegal and French Guinea, the root is used as a taenifuge and vermifuge. An infusion of the leaves is taken for treating venereal diseases in some parts of East Africa, while in Sierra Leone and on the Zambezi river the leaves are used for snake-bite. The bark of Cassia goratensis is mixed with water to make a paste which is placed on the chest for pain. The root of the same plant, mixed in the same manner, is employed for "protection" against witchcraft, and it is also valued as an aphrodisiac. The leaves and
Intrasession and interrater reliability of rehabilitative ultrasound imaging measures of the deep neck flexors: A pilot study.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the intrasession and interrater reliability of rehabilitative ultrasound imaging (RUSI) to measure the deep neck flexors (DNF). Two investigators traced the DNF muscle borders in eight female subjects aged 33 ± 11.2 years. Of the eight subjects, five subjects reported a greater than 6-month history of neck pain, and three subjects were asymptomatic healthy controls. Cross-sectional area (CSA) (cm2) of right and left muscle groups were calculated. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for CSA measures were 0.67 (95% CI: 0.27–0.87) for rater 1 with a standard error of measurement (SEM) of 0.06 cm2; 0.87 (95% CI: 0.65–0.96) for rater 2 with an SEM of 0.09 cm2; and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.44–0.87) for interrater reliability between rater 1 and rater 2 with an SEM of 0.11 cm2. The mean difference between CSA (cm2) measures were 0.00 ± 0.10 cm2 for rater 1 and 0.09 ± 0.13 cm2 for rater 2. The mean differences for CSA were 0.04 ± 0.12 cm2. This pilot investigation...
A general structure for the design of adjustable FIR filters

This paper proposes a general structure for FIR filters with adjustable magnitude and phase responses controlled by a few parameters. The Farrow structure which uses one parameter to control the fractional delay of an FIR filter can be viewed as special case. A filter bank structure consisting of different types of linear phase differentiators forms the basis of the structure. The filter bank outputs are combined with coefficients derived from a polynomial expansion of the desired frequency response. The magnitude and phase responses are controlled by synthesizing the polynomial coefficients from the small set of control parameters. A new optimal polynomial approximation strategy is also proposed to better approximate the family of target frequency responses.
Neurobiology of circadian rhythms generators

Abstract Circadian rhythms in animals are driven by endogenous pacemakers contained within specialized neuron groups, e.g. vertebrate suprachiasmatic nuclei, gastropod ocular neurons, etc. They are the driving oscillators in a hierarchical system that provides temporal control and co-ordination of physiological processes through widespread neural projections. Recent results infer that in ocular neurons the cell bodies are necessary for the circadian pacemaker activity to occur, and that only a few neurons are required for expression of the rhythm. Specific genes control the innate periodicity of circadian pacemakers. In Drosophila the same genes also control the periodicity of higher frequency behavioral rhythms, suggesting a wider control of temporal processes than expected.
The frequency and timing of epileptiform activity on continuous electroencephalogram in comatose post-cardiac arrest syndrome patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia

a b s t r a c t Aim: The incidence and timing of electrographic seizures and epileptiform activity in comatose, adult, post-cardiac arrest syndrome (PCAS) patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia (TH) have not been extensively investigated. We hypothesized that onset most frequently occurs within the first 24 h post- arrest and is associated with poor neurologic outcome. Methods: Single-center, retrospective analysis of a cohort of 38 comatose PCAS patients treated with TH and continuous-EEG-monitoring (cEEG), initiated as soon as possible after ICU admission. All raw cEEG waveform records were cleared of annotations and clinical information and classified by two fellowship- trained electroencephalographers. Results: Twenty-three percent (9/38) of patients had electrographic seizures (median onset 19 h post- arrest); 5/9 (56%) had seizure-onset prior to rewarming; 7/9 (78%) had status epilepticus. Forty-five percent (17/38) had evidence of epileptiform activity (electrographic seizures or interictal epilepti- form discharges), typically occurring during first 24 h post-arrest. Interictal epileptiform activity was highly associated with later detection of electrographic seizures (6/14, 43%, p = 0.001). Ninety-four per- cent (16/17) of patients with epileptiform activity had poor neurologic outcome or death at discharge (Cerebral Performance Category scale 3-5; p = 0.002) as did all (9/9) patients with electrographic seizures (p = 0.034). Conclusions: Electrographic seizures and epileptiform activity are common cEEG findings in comatose, PCAS patients treated with TH. In this preliminary study, most seizures were status epilepticus, had onset prior to rewarming, evolved from prior interictal epileptiform activity, and were associated with short-term mortality and poor neurologic outcome. Larger, prospective studies are needed to further characterize seizure activity in comatose post-arrest patients.
The In Situ Formation and Photosensitivity of Polymeric Stilbene Fluorescent Brighteners on Wool

In situ formation of polymeric stilbene fluorescent brighteners on the surface of wool fabric by interfacial polymerization through reaction of disodium 4,4'-diaminostilhene-2,2'-disulfonate with diacid chlorides and diisocyanates is reported. The color, excitation and fluorescent spectral properties, and photostabilities of the treated wools are reported and compared with wool samples treated with monomeric brighteners. The tensile properties of irradiated polymer-brightened wools were not signifincantly affected by the presence of brightener polymer; however, the irradiated polymer-brightened wools were considerably less reflective and more yellow than irradiated wool samples dyed with monomeric brighteners.
Maternal Floor Infarction and Massive Perivillous Fibrin Deposition: Histological Definitions, Association with Intrauterine Fetal Growth Restriction, and Risk of Recurrence

Maternalfloor infarction (MFI) is a poorly understood placental lesion reportedly associated with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and recurrence. In this study of MFI and the related placental disorder, massive perivillous fibrin deposition (MFD), semiquantitative histologic criteria for these diagnoses are defined and rates of IUGR and recurrence are assessed. Pathologic slides of 80 placentas diagnosed as MFI or MFD at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (1989–99) were reviewed and reclassified as classic MFI, transmural MFD, borderline MFD, or neither MFI or MFD. The prevalence of IUGR was determined, and placental slides from additional pregnancies were reviewed to evaluate recurrence. Among 25 cases originally diagnosed as MFI, 5 (20%) were reclassified by study criteria as classic MFI, 9 (36%) as transmural or borderline MFD, and 11 (44%) as neither lesion. Among 55 cases originally diagnosed as MFD, 27 (49%) were reclassified as transmural or borderline MFD, 4 (7%) as classic MFI, and 24 (44%) as neither lesion. IUGR was identified in no case with classic MFI, in 31% of cases with transmural or borderline MFD (P = 0.02), and in 11% of cases with neither lesion. Recurrence was documented in 1 of 7 (14%) second- or third-trimester placentas. Possible recurrence was suggested in 3 of 6 (50%) first-trimester spontaneous abortion specimens. Classification of intraplacental fibrin is subjective and problematic; almost half of potential cases of MFI or MFD did not fulfill our study’s diagnostic criteria. MFD may be more common and more strongly associated with IUGR than classic MFI. Recurrence of these lesions appears to be infrequent among second- and third-trimester placentas, but may be relatively common in first-trimester spontaneous abortions.
The Need for a Self-Consistent Model of the ISM

The interstellar medium of the Milky Way possesses a remarkable range of components, which have individual lifetimes considerably less than a Hubble time. Consequently, there has been a major effort in understanding the properties of these components, their heating and cooling mechanisms, and the process by which one component is transformed into another. We review several of the issues in an effort to highlight controversies that are under study presently. One of the central debates involves star formation, where there are two general and conflicting theoretical models. Another issue deals with the efforts to understand the fractional amounts of gas in the various phases, which brings together star formation with global gas dynamical reactions. This interaction is responsible for heating of the gas by Supernovae, causing superbubbles, and subsequently, either galactic winds or galactic fountains. The relative amounts of material in the hot and cold phases not only depends upon the supernova rate, it also depends upon details of interstellar models, such as whether thermal conduction is an important process. We review the progress that people have made on self-consistent modeling of the ISM. The constraints on such models come from a wide variety of observations of molecular, neutral atomic, warm ionized, and X-ray gas. Both observations and theory are represented at this meeting and we highlight areas in which contributions are likely to resolve the existing controversies.
Honesty, Cheating, and Character in College.

AbstractMost college faculty care about the characters of their students, especially when it comes to questions of honesty. But can students today be trusted not to cheat when completing papers and exams, and not to do so for the right reasons? In section one of this article, the author reviews some of the leading research on cheating behavior, and in section two he does the same for cheating motivation. In section three, he then draws some implications from this research, both about what faculty can typically expect the characters of their students to be like when it comes to cheating, and what colleges might try to do to help foster character improvement in this area of their students’ lives.
Adult survival of Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla in a Pacific colony

Breeding Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla survived at a mean annual rate of 0.926 in four years at a colony in Alaska. Survival rates observed in sexed males (0.930) and females (0.937) did not differ significantly. The rate of return among nonbreeding Kittiwakes (0.839) was lower than that of known breeders, presumably because more nonbreeders moved away from the study plots where they were marked. Individual nonbreeders frequented sites up to 5 km apart on the same island, while a few established breeders moved up to 2.5 km between years. Mate retention in breeding Kittiwakes averaged 69% in three years. Among pairs that split, the cause of changing mates was about equally divided between death (46%) and divorce (54%). Average adult life expectancy was estimated at 13.0 years. Combined with annual productivity averaging 0.17 chick per nest, the observed survival was insufficient for maintaining population size. Rather, an irregular decline observed in the study colony since 1981 is consistent with the model of a closed population with little or no recruitment. Compared to their Atlantic counterparts, Pacific Kittiwakes have low productivity and high survival. The question arises whether differences reflect phenotypic plasticity or genetically determined variation in population parameters.
Linguistic characteristics of shill reviews

Abstract This exploratory study investigates the linguistic characteristics of shill reviews and develops a tool for extracting product features from the text of product reviews. Shill reviews are increasingly used to manipulate the reputation of products sold on websites. To overcome limitations of identifying shill reviews, we collected shill reviews as primary data from students posing as shills. Using semi-automated natural language processing techniques, we compared shill reviews and normal reviews on informativeness, subjectivity and readability. The results showed evidence of substantial differences between shill reviews and normal reviews in both subjectivity and readability. Informativeness appears to be a mixed separator of shill and normal reviews so additional studies may be necessary. Overall, the study provides improved understanding of shill reviews and demonstrates a method to extract and classify features from product reviews with an eventual goal to increase effectiveness of review filtering methods.
An analytic proof of severi's theorem

The purpose of this paper is to give an analytic proof of Seven's Theorem which asserts that for a fixed compact Riemann surface R. there exist only finitely many compact Riemann surfaces S of genus > 1 such that there exists a nonconstant holomorphic mapping of R onto S.
Structural equation modeling the use of a risk assessment instrument in child protective services

Risk assessment instruments have been developed to help human service workers identify risk factors associated with abusive families. Many such instruments have been incorporated into management information systems in the form of Decision Support Systems (DSS). This paper reports findings from a case study that evaluated a risk assessment instrument as a decision support tool. Respondents considered ''usefulness'' of the information a more important factor than how easy the system was to use, the configuration of reports or whether the system was up or not. Focus groups were used to explore how to increase the usefulness of the information.
Aircraft Emission Impacts in a Neighborhood Adjacent to a General Aviation Airport in Southern California

Real time air pollutant concentrations were measured downwind of Santa Monica Airport (SMA), using an electric vehicle mobile platform equipped with fast response instruments in spring and summer of 2008. SMA is a general aviation airport operated for private aircraft and corporate jets in Los Angeles County, California. An impact area of elevated ultrafine particle (UFP) concentrations was observed extending beyond 660 m downwind and 250 m perpendicular to the wind on the downwind side of SMA. Aircraft operations resulted in average UFP concentrations elevated by factors of 10 and 2.5 at 100 and 660 m downwind, respectively, over background levels. The long downwind impact distance (i.e., compared to nearby freeways at the same time of day) is likely primarily due to the large volumes of aircraft emissions containing higher initial concentrations of UFP than on-road vehicles. Aircraft did not appreciably elevate average levels of black carbon (BC), particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PB-PAH)...
Fast Magnetic Reconnection and Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Low-density Electron-Positron Plasmas without Guide Field

Magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in relativistic Harris sheets in low-density electron-positron plasmas with no guide field have been studied by means of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Reconnection rates are of the order of one when the background density in a Harris sheet is of the order of 1% of the density in the current sheet, which is consistent with previous results in the non-relativistic regime. It has been demonstrated that the increase of the Lorentz factors of accelerated particles significantly enhances the collisionless resistivity needed to sustain a large reconnection electric field. It is shown analytically and numerically that the energy spectrum of accelerated particles near the X-line is the product of a power law and an exponential function of energy, γ–1/4exp (– aγ1/2), where γ is the Lorentz factor and a is a constant. However, in the low-density regime, while the most energetic particles are produced near X-lines, many more particles are energized within magnetic islands. Particles are energized in contracting islands by multiple reflection, but the mechanism is different from Fermi acceleration in magnetic islands for magnetized particles in the presence of a guide field. In magnetic islands, strong core fields are generated and plasma beta values are reduced. As a consequence, the fire-hose instability condition is not satisfied in most of the island region, and island contraction and particle acceleration can continue. In island coalescence, reconnection between two islands can accelerate some particles, however, many particles are decelerated and cooled, which is contrary to what has been discussed in the literature on particle acceleration due to reconnection in non-relativistic hydrogen plasmas.
Online scheduling for energy efficiency in real-time wireless networks

This paper studies the problem of using minimum power to provide satisfactory performance for realtime applications over unreliable and fading wireless channels. We demonstrate that this problem can be formulated as a linear programming problem. However, this formulation involves exponentially many constraints, and many parameters are either unavailable or difficult to compute, which makes it infeasible to employ standard techniques to solve the linear programming problem. Instead, we propose a simple online scheduling algorithm for this problem. This algorithm has very low complexity and makes scheduling decisions solely based on system history and current channel conditions. It is also compatible with any power control algorithms. We prove that our algorithm provides satisfactory performance to all realtime applications, and the total power consumption can be made arbitrarily close to the theoretical lower bound. Simulation results show that our scheduling algorithm indeed achieves small power consumption with fast convergence.
Purposeful Behavior as the Control of Perception: Implications for Educational Research

This article continues the discussion begun in my 1989 Educational Researcher essay on the problems posed by the unpredictability and indeterminism of human behavior for educational research and responds to criticisms of these arguments offered by Lehrer, Serlin, and Amundson (1990). In the course of this discussion, a theory of purposeful behavior known as perceptual control theory is presented which provides an explicit, working model of how individuals are able to produce repeatable outcomes via variable means. It is argued that the traditional "scientific" method of educational research, which attempts to find relationships between "independent" and "dependent" variables over groups of individuals, is in principle incapable of providing valid explanations of the how and why of purposeful human behavior.
LEYDIG INSULIN-LIKE HORMONE, GUBERNACULAR DEVELOPMENT AND TESTICULAR DESCENT

Purpose: Testicular descent is controlled by 2 morphological and hormonal steps. Transabdominal testicular descent is mediated by gubernacular swelling and regression of the cranial suspensory ligament. Mullerian inhibiting substance (MIS) has been proposed to stimulate the swelling but this remains controversial. Recently, a mouse mutant for Leydig insulin-like hormone (Insl3) was found to have undescended testis and deficient gubernaculum. We examine the testicular position of Insl3 mutant mice and the development of gubernacula.Materials and Methods: Mice with Insl3 homozygotes (−/−), heterozygotes (+/−) and wild-types (+/+) were examined at embryonic day 16.5 and birth. Macroscopic dissections and measurements of the testicular position, as well as microscopic analysis (hematoxylin and eosin, and Masson’s trichrome) were performed.Results: Of the mice 11 Insl3 homozygote males had significantly impaired testicular descent at embryonic day 16.5 and birth (p <0.01), and the cord was thin and elongated, ...
Emotional bias in unaffected siblings of patients with bipolar I disorder.

Abstract Background Bipolar disorder (BPD) research has identified a number of neurocognitive deficits as potential vulnerability markers; however, very few studies have focused on patterns of performance on affective processing tasks (e.g. affective Go/No-Go tasks) which may be more closely tied to the pathophysiology of the illness. We previously reported that stable BPD patients demonstrate a response bias toward negative affective stimuli as compared with healthy controls and schizophrenia patients. The goal of the current study was to expand upon these prior findings to investigate these patterns in the unaffected siblings of BPD patients. Methods An affective Go/No-Go test was used to evaluate inhibitory response to negatively-valenced, positively-valenced, and neutral stimuli in 20 unaffected siblings of bipolar I patients versus 20 healthy controls. Accuracy (d′) and response bias (beta) served as dependent variables in a series of repeated measures ANCOVAs. Results We found a non-significant main effect for group when comparing accuracy performance (d′) on the affective Go/No-Go of unaffected siblings versus healthy controls. However, very similar to the pattern that we previously reported in stable BPD patients, unaffected siblings showed a response bias (beta) toward negatively-valenced stimuli versus healthy controls [F = 3.81; p = 0.03]. Limitations Small sample size. Conclusions The current results extend our recent work which suggested that stable bipolar patients attend more readily to negative target stimuli than do schizophrenic or healthy subjects. These data, indicating that unaffected siblings also demonstrate an affective processing bias, implicate this task as a potential endophenotype in BPD.
Performance evaluation of CNFET-based logic gates

As the physical gate length of current devices is reduced to below 65 nm, effects (such as large parametric variations and increase in leakage current) have caused the I-V characteristics to be substantially depart from those commonly associated with traditional MOSFETs, thus impeding the efficient development and manufacturing of devices at deep submicro/nano scales. Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors (CNFETs) have received widespread attention, as one of the promising technologies for replacing MOSFETs at the end of the Technology Roadmap. This paper presents a detailed simulation-based assessment of circuit performance of this technology and compares it to conventional MOSFETs; the designs of different logic gates and the full adder circuit are simulated under the same minimum gate length and different operational conditions. It is shown that the power-delay product (PDP) and the leakage power for the CNFET based gates are lower than the MOSFET based logic gates by 100 to 150 times, respectively. The CNFET based logic gates demonstrate good functionality even at a 0.3 V power supply (while MOSFET based gates fail at 0.5 V).
Altered Cognitive Development in the Siblings of Individuals With Schizophrenia

Our goal in the current study was to further investigate the late neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia by examining cross-sectional, age-related changes in cognitive function among young ...
Distinct populations of metastases-enabling myeloid cells expand in the liver of mice harboring invasive and preinvasive intra-abdominal tumor.

The liver is the most common site of adenocarcinoma metastases, even in patients who initially present with early disease. We postulated that immune-suppressive cells in the liver of tumor-bearing hosts inhibit anti-tumor T cells, thereby accelerating the growth of liver metastases. Using models of early preinvasive pancreatic neoplasia and advanced colorectal cancer, aims of this study were to determine immune phenotype, stimulus for recruitment, inhibitory effects, and tumor-enabling function of immune-suppressive cells in the liver of tumor-bearing hosts. We found that in mice with intra-abdominal malignancies, two distinct CD11b+Gr1+ populations with divergent phenotypic and functional properties accumulate in the liver, becoming the dominant hepatic leukocytes. Their expansion is contingent on tumor expression of KC. These cells are distinct from CD11b+Gr1+ populations in other tissues of tumor-bearing hosts in terms of cellular phenotype and cytokine and chemokine profile. Liver CD11b+Gr1+ cells are highly suppressive of T cell activation, proliferation, and cytotoxicity and induce the development of Tregs. Moreover, liver myeloid-derived suppressor cells accelerate the development of hepatic metastases by inactivation of cytotoxic T cells. These findings may explain the propensity of patients with intra-abdominal cancers to develop liver metastases and suggest a promising target for experimental therapeutics.
FINE STRUCTURE RADIATIVE TRANSITIONS IN C II AND C III USING THE BREIT-PAULI R-MATRIX METHOD

Extensive sets of radiative transitions in C II and in C III are obtained using the relativistic Breit–Pauli R-matrix (BPRM) method. In comparison with other accurate methods that can be applied to relatively few transitions, the BPRM method enables calculations of a large number of transitions with comparable accuracy for most of them. The present work reports large-scale calculations for two important ions obtaining 127 and 206 bound fine structure energy levels, resulting in 1681 and 4202 dipole allowed and intercombination transitions for C II and C III, respectively. Detailed comparison of the BPRM results is made with those from experimental and theoretical studies, including the relativistic multiconfiguration Dirac–Fock method.
Identification of marginal and joint CDFs using Bayesian method for RBDO

In RBDO, input uncertainty models such as marginal and joint cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) need to be used. However, only limited data exists in industry applications. Thus, identification of the input uncertainty model is challenging especially when input variables are correlated. Since input random variables, such as fatigue material properties, are correlated in many industrial problems, the joint CDF of correlated input variables needs to be correctly identified from given data. In this paper, a Bayesian method is proposed to identify the marginal and joint CDFs from given data where a copula, which only requires marginal CDFs and correlation parameters, is used to model the joint CDF of input variables. Using simulated data sets, performance of the Bayesian method is tested for different numbers of samples and is compared with the goodness-of-fit (GOF) test. Two examples are used to demonstrate how the Bayesian method is used to identify correct marginal CDFs and copula.
Gappy Phrasal Alignment By Agreement

We propose a principled and efficient phrase-to-phrase alignment model, useful in machine translation as well as other related natural language processing problems. In a hidden semi-Markov model, word-to-phrase and phrase-to-word translations are modeled directly by the system. Agreement between two directional models encourages the selection of parsimonious phrasal alignments, avoiding the overfitting commonly encountered in unsupervised training with multi-word units. Expanding the state space to include "gappy phrases" (such as French ne * pas) makes the alignment space more symmetric; thus, it allows agreement between discontinuous alignments. The resulting system shows substantial improvements in both alignment quality and translation quality over word-based Hidden Markov Models, while maintaining asymptotically equivalent runtime.
Increased performance of single-chamber microbial fuel cells using an improved cathode structure

Maximum power densities by air-driven microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are considerably influenced by cathode performance. We show here that application of successive polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) layers (DLs), on a carbon/PTFE base layer, to the air-side of the cathode in a single chamber MFC significantly improved coulombic efficiencies (CEs), maximum power densities, and reduced water loss (through the cathode). Electrochemical tests using carbon cloth electrodes coated with different numbers of DLs indicated an optimum increase in the cathode potential of 117 mV with four-DLs, compared to a <10 mV increase due to the carbon base layer alone. In MFC tests, four-DLs was also found to be the optimum number of coatings, resulting in a 171% increase in the CE (from 19.1% to 32%), a 42% increase in the maximum power density (from 538 to 766 mW m � 2 ), and measurable water loss was prevented. The increase in CE due is
Fabrication of electrically-conducting nonwoven porous mats of polystyrene-polypyrrole core-shell nanofibers via electrospinning and vapor phase polymerization

This paper describes the growth of polypyrrole (PPy) layers over polystyrene (PS) nanofibers via a vapor phase polymerization process. PS nanofibers were produced through electrospinning of PS solutions containing chemical oxidants capable of polymerizing pyrrole monomers. The electrospun PS nanofibers provided a robust and stable template for growth of conducting polymer nonwoven porous mats. A mixture of tetrahydrofuran, acetone, and butanol was able to dissolve both hydrophobic PS and ionic salts (oxidants). Two chemical oxidants widely used in PPy synthesis – ferric chloride and ferric tosylate – were compared. Upon exposure to pyrrole vapor, both oxidants produced PPy conducting polymers over PS nanofibers. The ferric tosylate containing template fibers showed much faster PPy growth kinetics than the ferric chloride containing fibers. The PPy growth on ferric tosylate containing template fibers produced highly faceted fibers and gave a higher degree of crystallization of PPy than the PPy grown with ferric chloride containing templates. The intrinsic doping of PPy was slightly higher in the PPy layers grown with ferric tosylate. The combination of higher degrees of crystallization and doping resulted in a higher conductivity for PS–PPy nanofiber mats produced with ferric tosylate than those produced with ferric chloride.
Effects of Neonatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol, Tamoxifen, and Toremifene on the BALB/c Mouse Mammary Gland

Abstract In this study, we compared the long-term effects of neonatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES, 0.0125–50 µg), tamoxifen (TAM, 0.0125–50 µg), and toremifene (TOR, 53 µg) on mammary gland development and differentiation. Allometric growth of the mammary ducts was stimulated by neonatal DES exposure (12.5 µg) and impaired by exposure to TAM (25 µg). Neonatal treatment with high doses of DES resulted in mammary ducts that displayed extensive dilatation and precocious lactogenesis in postpubertal, nulliparous females. Initiation of this precocious differentiation coincided with the absence of corpora lutea, increased levels of serum prolactin (PRL), and the induction of Prl mRNA expression within the mammary glands. Neonatal exposure to 1.25 µg TAM increased alveolar development in postpubertal, nulliparous females similar to that recorded in females treated with low doses of DES. Lower doses of TAM did not affect alveolar development, whereas branching morphogenesis and alveolar development were i...
Improving multi-level NAND flash memory storage reliability using concatenated TCM-BCH coding

By storing multiple bits in each memory cell, multi-level per cell (MLC) NAND flash memories have been increasingly dominant in the flash memory market due to their obvious storage density advantage. However, MLC NAND flash memories are much more subject to storage reliability degradation as the technology continues to scale down. This paper presents an error correcting solution by concatenating trellis coded modulation (TCM) with an outer BCH code, which can greatly improve the performance compared with the current design practice that uses BCH codes only. The key is that TCM can well match to the multi-level storage characteristic in order to reduce the memory bit error rate and hence relieve the burden of outer BCH code, at no cost of extra redundant memory cells. The superior error correcting performance of such concatenated TCM-BCH coding systems for MLC NAND flash memories has been well demonstrated through computer simulations, and their silicon implementation efficiency has been evaluated through ASIC design at 65nm node.
Economic benefits of rare and endangered species: summary and meta-analysis

Abstract The economic value of rare, threatened and endangered species to citizens of the USA has been measured using the contingent valuation method for 18 different species. Annual willingness to pay (WTP) range from a low of $6 per household for fish such as the striped shiner to a high of $95 per household for the northern spotted owl and its old growth habitat. A regression analysis of WTP values shows that over half of the variation in WTP is explained by the change in the size of the population, whether the payment is one-time or annual, whether the respondent is a visitor or non-user and whether the species is a marine mammal or bird. This illustrates that the contingent valuation method can provide meaningful estimates of the anthropocentric benefits of preserving rare and endangered species. Thus, economic techniques are available to perform broad-based benefit-cost analyses of species preservation. However, the Safe Minimum Standard approach is offered as an alternative for endangered species preservation decisions. The values reported in this paper are most useful to assess whether the costs are likely to be disproportionate to the benefits. To date, for even the most expensive endangered species preservation effort (e.g., the northern spotted owl) the costs per household fall well below the benefits per household found in the literature.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus—Associated Hemophagocytosis with Iron-Deficiency Anemia and Massive Splenomegaly

We present a case of hemophagocytic syndrome in a human immunodeficiency virus-positive man with iron-deficiency anemia that did not respond to highly active antiretroviral therapy. Clinical resolution occurred only after a splenectomy was performed.
Brief Report: Increasing Children's Safe Pedestrian Behaviors through Simple Skills Training

Objectives Hundreds of American children are killed and thousands more injured annually as pedestrians. Simple and effective interventions targeting behavioral changes in children are needed. Methods The present study tested a simple, skill-based training method for increasing safe pedestrian behaviors. Eighty-five children ages 5-8 participated. Results Children behaved more safely following training, indicating very brief training can produce at least short-term improvements in pedestrian behaviors. Conclusions Results are discussed with regard to the involvement of parents in the practical application of a simple training procedure and future directions for pedestrian interventions. Language: en
Expression of the 60 kDa heat shock protein in peritoneal fluids from women with endometriosis: implications for endometriosis-associated infertility.

Proinflammatory cytokines and activated macrophages and T lymphocytes have been detected in peritoneal fluids of women with endometriosis and may impair fertility. Expression of the 60 kDa heat shock protein (hsp60) is one mechanism leading to a localized activation of macrophages and T lymphocytes and cytokine release. Peritoneal fluids, obtained from 68 women undergoing a diagnostic laparoscopy, were assayed for hsp60. As independent evidence of local immune activation, the fluids were analysed for interferon gamma (IFN gamma). Fluids were also tested for antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis because a chronic asymptomatic infection by this organism may also release hsp60. At laparoscopy, 26 women were diagnosed with pelvic adhesions, 19 had endometriosis, 16 had a visibly normal pelvis, four had ovarian cysts while three had myomas. The prevalence of hsp60 was higher in peritoneal fluids from the women with endometriosis than in the other subjects (P = 0.005). Hsp60 was detected in seven (36.8%) of the endometriosis patients and in only one each of the women with adhesions, a normal pelvis or an ovarian cyst; all women with myomas were negative. Detection of IFN gamma in peritoneal fluids was highly correlated with the presence of hsp60 (P = 0.0003). IFN gamma was present in seven of nine (77.8%) women with hsp60 and in only five of 40 (12.5%) women lacking hsp60. Women with pelvic adhesions had an increased prevalence of immunoglobulin G antibodies to C.trachomatis compared with the other women (P = 0.01). There was no relationship between evidence of exposure to C.trachomatis and hsp60 in peritoneal fluids. These data suggest that hsp60 may be released into the peritoneal fluid as a consequence of implanted ectopic endometrium. Hsp60-mediated immune activation may be one mechanism leading to endometriosis-associated infertility.
A Colorful Model of the Circadian Clock

The migration of the colorful monarch butterfly provides biologists with a unique model system with which to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying a sophisticated circadian clock. The monarch circadian clock is involved in the induction of the migratory state and navigation over long distances, using the sun as a compass.
Update on Techniques for the Quantitation of Facial Skin Characteristics

The purpose of this article is to review the strategies and methods for quantifying treatment outcomes, perhaps defined by the consumer/patient as a "decrease in perceived age." The demand for the rejuvenation of facial skin is expected to increase as the population ages and seeks optimal outcomes from the array of available treatment modalities. This information will be of value to the plastic surgeon in collaborating with patients on evaluation and treatment strategies.
Observation techniques for detecting malicious behavior in ad hoc networks

Wireless networks can be roughly divided into two groups based on their communication structure: infrastructure, and ad hoc. An infrastructure network is one where the communication hierarchy dictates communications between any two nodes must go through a central node, most commonly referred to as an access point. Ad hoc networks allow nodes to communicate with each other directly without a centralized access point. A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a collection of self-organizing nodes, each capable of routing network traffic and having the ability to be mobile. A MANET has no central authority nor fixed network infrastructure, and the dynamic nature and openness of MANETs lead to potential vulnerabilities. Since there is no guarantee of connection to the wired Internet, accepted security practices involving third party authentication servers becomes an unrealistic expectation. Even with authentication, there is the potential for abuse. Malicious nodes can deliberately cause denial of service (DoS) or disruption in service in ad hoc networks and remain undetected unless some mechanism is in place to detect and react to these nodes. Widespread MANET use, or particular providers may suffer the consequences of malicious node activity. Our research has focused on “being the eyes and ears” of trust evaluation. An effective approach to establishing robust security in MANETs is with the fundamental evaluation of network activity at multiple network stack layers. We have built an extensive simulation to investigate the viability of detecting malicious and faulty node behavior in MANETs. We first show detection capability at the network layer and introduce two techniques for reacting to malicious behavior. We then demonstrate detection using information from multiple layers of the OSI stack. Finally, we tie everything together by combining the detection techniques with a field communications scenario.
A CASE OF LYMPHANGIOMA OF THE LESSER OMENTUM

Omental lymphangioma is rarely reported and seldom diagnosed before laparotomy. A case of lymphangioma of the lesser omentum in a 55-year-old woman is reported with reference to the literature. The patient was admitted to National Nara Hospital with the chief complaint of abdominal distension. Celiac angiography indicated that the common hepatic artery, gastoduodenal artery, left hepatic artery and left gastric artery were stretched. An ultrasonic scan of the abdomen showed a huge sonolucent mass extending from the liver to the umbilicus. Laboratory examination indicated that the intracystic fluid, which contained lymphocytes in cellular components, was similar to serum. CT scan showed the homogenous mass as a low density area measuring in 21×11 cm in the upper abdomen. The pathological diagnosis of the excised tumor was lymphangioma with multilocular development.
Research Progress on Photosynthate Matter Accumulation and Distribution of Intersubspecific Hybrid Rice

This essay gave a brief introduction of the research on photosynthetic characteristics,photosynthate matter accumulation and distribution of Indica / Japonica hybrid rice.In addition,the necessity of the research on their relationship between photosynthate matter accumulation as well as distribution and plant lodging resistance of the hybrids were presented on account of lodging problems of plant.
Distribution of P2 receptors on outer hair cell membrane

Objective To determine distribution of adenosine triphosphate(ATP)-mediated purinergic receptors expression in the OHC membrane.Methods Expression of 10 P2X and P2Y receptors subtypes in freshly isolated OHCs from the guinea pig cochlea was tested using immunofluorescent staining.Results Immunofluorescent staining showed predominantly P2X7 and P2X2 receptor expression in OHCs and the distribution of P2X7 receptor overlaped with prestin expression.Conclusion The results indicate that ATP may influence OHC electromotility mainly through P2X receptors on cell surface instead of P2Y receptors.
Death in the Shape of a Young Girl: women's political violence in the Red Army Faction, by Patricia Melzer

In the early 1980s, a ‘Wanted’ poster showing the faces of fifteen members of West Germany's notorious Red Army Faction (RAF; also known as the Baader Meinhof Group) warned: ‘Caution Firearms!’ Eve...
Therapeutics. Guidelines for heparin administration in thromboembolic disease.

Heparin is widely used in treatment of active thrombosis and in prevention of recurrent thromboembolism. Continuous intravenous infusion is a safe, effective means of heparinization and ultimately may be the preferred method of parenteral administration.