cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Phosphorus management for sustainable biosolids recycling in the United States

Land-based recycling of processed sewage sludge (biosolids) has traditionally been challenged by concerns over metals, organics, pathogens, odors, and public perception. Nutrient concerns, however, portend even greater challenges, and threaten land application programs in the US. Long-term application of biosolids results in accumulation of soil phosphorus (P) above concentrations needed for optimum crop yields. Water quality impairment associated with accelerated eutrophication is driving the US states to adopt policies and laws to reduce P losses to surface waters from agricultural land. Nearly all states have developed site assessment tools (P indices) to rank fields based on their vulnerability to P loss and to target remedial strategies. Biosolids have not been systematically addressed in most states and sustaining economical biosolids recycling programs will be difficult if policies fail to consider certain critical issues. Soil test P benchmarks should be based upon environmental P loss risk rather than crop response. Policies must recognize the role of mandated buffers in protecting surface water quality. Site indices must account for the sizable differences in P loss potential among biosolids types compared to mineral fertilizers and livestock manures. Finally, agronomic rate calculations must recognize different P fertilizer replacement values among biosolids products. Deployment of P management regulations for biosolids lacking scientifically defensible strategies in these areas will adversely affect land-based recycling. Sustainability requires additional research and intentional inclusion of biosolids in implementation of evolving P management policies.
Conduction onset criteria for transient aqueous pores and reversible electrical breakdown in bilayer membranes

Abstract As in the preceding paper, the hypothesis is adopted that a large number of transient aqueous pores can be continually present in a bilayer membrane. Here approximate criteria are obtained for the onset of ionic conduction through such pores. The pore radius, r, and transmembrane potential, U, are both important parameters. Small pores do not conduct significantly for small values of U, which is consistent with the well-known high electrical resistance of artificial bilayer membranes at low transmembrane potentials. In contrast, large pores conduct readily even at low transmembrane potentials. This allows a qualitative description of reversible electrical breakdown (REB). REB is the sudden, dramatic increase in both conductance and permeability which occurs when large transmembrane potentials of short duration are experienced by the membrane. In the following paper the conduction criteria are used in a fully quantitative theory of REB.
Lymphoma complicating immunodeficiency disorders

Summary Background An increased incidence of lymphoma is seen in various types of immune deficiency or dysregulation, including congenital immune deficiency diseases, organ transplantation with iatrogenic immunosuppression, autoimmune disorders, endemic Burkitt's lymphoma, and AIDS-associated lymphoma. Results The lymphomas seen in various immunodeficiency disorders share certain features. Thus, all consist of high-grade, B-cell tumors, with predilection for extranodal involvement, and short survival. However, certain biologic and clinical differences are also apparent. Thus, while the transplantation-associated lymphomas are uniformly associated with the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), this association is not seen in all systemic AIDS-related lymphomas, nor in all congenital immune deficiency disorders. Likewise, while c-myc activation has been described in certain types of HIV-related lymphomas, c-myc dysregulation has not been reported in association with organ transplantation. Conclusions The study of lymphomatous disease in various states of immune dysregulation may allow an understanding of the diverse pathogenic mechanisms operative in the development of malignant lymphoma in man.
Modulation of Crystal Growth by the Terminal Sequences of the Prismatic-Associated Asprich Protein

The formation of calcite in the mollusk shell prismatic layer requires the participation of various proteins. Recent studies indicate that the prismatic-associated protein superfamily, Asprich, is capable of in vitro stabilization of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC), a precursor phase of prismatic calcite. To learn more about the molecular behavior of Asprich, we performed experiments on two highly conserved sequences derived from Asprich: Fragment-1, a 48 AA N-terminal cationic−anionic sequence, and Fragment-2, a previously characterized 42 C-terminal AA anionic sequence. SEM analyses reveal that Fragment-1 induces polycrystalline, radial aggregate assemblies of calcite, with evidence of surface porosities. AFM flow cell experiments demonstrate that Fragment-1 is multifunctional and its mineralization behavior is qualitatively similar to that reported for Fragment-2 except for hillock step kinetics. Surprisingly, when Fragment-1 and Fragment-2 are present together within the same assay, we observe phase...
The hunt for the perfect biomarker for acute kidney injury: back to gamma-trace?

The hunt for a good biomarker for acute kidney injury (AKI) is currently hot. It has recently been the subject of several excellent reviews 1-3 and a useful meta-analysis, 4 and we are hearing exhortations that this hunt should get high priority. 3 , 5 The ideal marker (or set of markers) should facilitate early identification, stratify risk, and contribute to informative diagnostic classification. Perhaps most importantly, a good marker should aid the testing of interventions to prevent development of AKI and improve management. So, there are very good reasons to get on with it!
Photochemical studies of rancidity: Antioxidants vs. green light protection

1. The antioxidants used in this investigation showed antioxygenic activity in delaying the development of rancidity, but they were not so effective as green wrappers which absorb all light except that delimited by 4900–5800 Angstrom units.
Structural health monitoring techniques for wind turbine blades

Abstract Wind turbine blades are made of fiberglass material to be cost effective, but they can be damaged by moisture absorption, fatigue, wind gusts or lightening strikes. It is important to detect the damage before the blade fails catastrophically which could destroy the entire wind turbine. In this paper, four different algorithms are tested for detecting damage on wind turbine blades. These are the transmittance function, resonant comparison, operational deflection shape, and wave propagation methods. The methods are all based on measuring the vibration response of the blade when it is excited using piezoceramic actuator patches bonded to the blade. The vibration response of the blade is measured using either piezoceramic sensor patches bonded to the blade, or a scanning laser doppler vibrometer. The sensitivity of the techniques to detect a reversible damage simulated by a steel plate clamped to a section of a wind turbine blade is compared in this paper.
Solubilization and characterization of [3H]spiroperidol binding sites from subcellular fractions of the calf striatum.

Abstract Specific [ 3 H]spiroperidol binding sites were obtained from subcellular fractions of the calf striatum in a solubilized form using salt extraction with potassium chloride. Binding activity was assayed by adsorption on Norit SGX to separate unbound radioactive ligand from the macromolecular ligand complex. The solubilized membrane preparation exhibited stereoselectivity for butaclamol with the (+)-enantiomer being the active agent. Neuroleptic drugs were found to have an affinity for the soluble preparation which was identical to that of the native membrane-bound receptor. The effects of various parameters on the binding of [ 3 H]spiroperidol to the soluble extract, including temperature, salt concentration, ionic strength and stabilizing agents, suggest that the binding site is biochemically stable. Electron micrographs of the soluble material reveal the absence of any recognizable membrane structures. Overall, these data demonstrate that a macromolecular component with high affinity and stereospecificity for [ 3 H]spiroperidol can be isolated from calf striatal synaptosomes and microsomes, and suggest that at least one of the receptors for dopamine may be an extrinsic protein.
Survey of reliability and availability evaluation of complex networks using Monte Carlo techniques

Generally there are four main difficulties in evaluating complex large-scale system reliability, availability and MTBF: the system structure may be very complex; subsystems may follow various failure distributions; subsystems may conform to arbitrary failure and repair distributions for maintained systems; the failure data of subsystems are sometimes not sufficient, reliability test sample sizes tend to be small. It is difficult and often impossible to obtain s-confidence limits of them by classical statistics. Monte Carlo technique combined with Bayes method is a powerful tool to solve this kind of problems. In this survey, the typical existing Monte Carlo reliability, availability and MTBF simulation procedures, variance reduction methods, and random variate generation algorithms are analyzed and summarized. The advantages, drawbacks, accuracy and computer time of Monte Carlo simulation in evaluating reliability, availability and MTBF of a complex network are discussed. Finally, some conclusions are drawn and a general Monte Carlo reliability and MTTF assessment procedure is recommended.
Effect of environmental factors and parasitism on hemolymph lysozyme and protein of American oysters (Crassostrea virginica)

The biological roles of lysozymes in bivalves are believed to be involved with the mechanisms of host defense and digestion. Experiments were carried out to examine hemolymph lysozyme activity and protein in oysters over a 1-year period to determine their relationship with seasonal environmental variables (temperature, salinity, and food availability) and whether they correlate with parasitism by Perkinsus marinus. Hemolymph lysozyme and protein exhibited seasonal fluctuations. Hemolymph lysozyme varied greatly between individual oysters, and it was higher in winter months than in summer months. No linkage was found between hemolymph lysozyme and protein concentration and infection of oysters by P. marinus. It is argued that the observed seasonal changes in hemolymph lysozyme and protein may relate to the oyster reproductive cycle.
Dofetilide induced torsade de pointes: Mechanism, risk factors and management strategies

Dofetilide is an effective antiarrhythmic agent for conversion of atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter as well as maintenance of sinus rhythm in appropriately selected patients. However, as with other antiarrhythmic agents, proarrhythmia is a known adverse effect. The risk of dofetilide induced torsade de pointes (Tdp) is low when used with strict dosing criteria guided by renal function, QT interval and concomitant drug therapy. Benefit from dofetilide use must be individualized and weighed against the side effects and the role of other available treatment options. In this review, we discuss the underlying mechanism, risk factors and precautionary measures to avoid dofetilide induced QT prolongation and ventricular tachycardia/Tdp. We suggest a scheme for the management of QT prolongation, ventricular arrhythmia and Tdp as well.
Doing Military Ethics with War Literature

Abstract A consideration of ancient and recent war literature can be useful in discussion of military ethics. Twentieth-century war literature reveals its origins in ancient literature by creating modern versions of the Homeric male. The writings of James Jones, Evelyn Waugh, and Kurt Vonnegut about the soldier's experience in World War II depict efforts to find ethical fulfillment in soldiering that are respectively reminiscent of Achilles, Agamemnon, and Ulysses: the warrior, the gentleman, and the storyteller. These figures illustrate the dependency of ethics and virtue on social context and on creative, self-narrative, and discursive language.
A neuronpopulációk és az epizodikus memória között a hippocampalis théta oszcillációk alkotják a kapcsolatot: a Grastyán-iskola öröksége

Az agykerget ket nagy szerkezeti konstrukcio jellemzi: a modularis neocortex es az egysegnyi modulbol allo hippocampus. A hippocampusnak es a vele kapcsolatban allo para­hippo­campalis strukturakna...
Mapped WENO and weighted power ENO reconstructions in semi-discrete central schemes for Hamilton-Jacobi equations

We incorporate new high-order WENO-type reconstructions into Godunov-type central schemes for Hamilton-Jacobi equations. We study schemes that are obtained by combining the Kurganov-Noelle-Petrova flux with the weighted power ENO and the mapped WENO reconstructions. We also derive new variants of these reconstructions by composing the weighted power ENO and the mapped WENO reconstructions with each other. While all schemes are, formally, fifth-order accurate, we show that the quality of the approximation does depend on the particular reconstruction that is being used. In certain cases, it is shown that the approximate solution may not converge to the viscosity solution at all.
Association of Sound to Motion in Video using Perceptual Organization

Traditionally, video surveillance has mostly made use of visual data. However, in light of the new behavioral and physiological studies which demonstrated the existence of cross modality effects in human perception, similar cues are being used to develop a surveillance system based on both audio and visual data. Human beings can easily associate a particular sound to an object in the surrounding. Drawing from such studies, we demonstrate a technique by which we can isolate concurrent audio and video events and associate them based on perceptual grouping principles. Simple cues from both audio and video suffice to make this association. By representing audio in the pitch-time domain, we can use image processing algorithms such as line detection to extract elementary audio events. These events are then grouped using Gestalt principles of similarity and proximity into appropriate auditory events. Properties such as time of occurrence and periodicity are easily calculated from these groups. In video, we extract motion and shape periodicities. By comparing all the periodicities in audio and video using a simple index we can easily associate audio to video
Voter Participation and Strategic Uncertainty

The paradox of not voting is examined in a model where voters have uncertainty about the preferences and costs of other voters. In game-theoretic models of voter participation under complete information, equilibrium outcomes can have substantial turnout even when voting costs are relatively high. In contrast, when uncertainty about preferences and costs is present, only voters with negligible or negative net voting costs participate when the electorate is large.
Joint nonparametric alignment for analyzing spatial gene expression patterns in Drosophila imaginal discs

To compare spatial patterns of gene expression, one must analyze a large number of images as current methods are only able to measure a small number of genes at a time. Bringing images of corresponding tissues into alignment is a critical first step in making a meaningful comparative analysis of these spatial patterns. Significant image noise and variability in the shapes make it hard to pick a canonical shape model. In this paper, we address these problems by combining segmentation and unsupervised shape learning algorithms. We first segment images to acquire structures of interest, then jointly align the shapes of these acquired structures using an unsupervised nonparametric maximum likelihood algorithm along the lines of 'congealing' (E. G. Miller et al., 2000), while simultaneously learning the underlying shape model and associated transformations. The learned transformations are applied to corresponding images to bring them into alignment in one step. We demonstrate the results for images of various classes of Drosophila imaginal discs and discuss the methodology used for a quantitative analysis of spatial gene expression patterns.
A real world analysis of payment per unit time in a Maryland Vascular Practice

Purpose In 1992, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services instituted the Resource Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) system to determine physician reimbursement. Relative value units (RVU) were assigned to each Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) code and intended to reflect the time and intensity of work. Little data exist correlating actual procedural and clinical time with respect to reimbursement within the RVU value system. The purpose of this study was to determine how well this system distributes payments per hour for hospital-based procedures in a single vascular practice in the state of Maryland between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009. Methods As part of an ongoing prospective outcomes program, procedural times for all vascular procedures (time into until time out of room) were recorded. Fifteen minutes were added for administrative functions on procedural day, each hospital day, and office visits during the global period. The combination of all times was reflected in the total care time (TCT) for each procedure. We recorded all physician fees collected for each procedure. This total fee collected for each procedure was then divided by the TCT to determine the procedure-specific payment per unit time. All similar procedures were grouped together and the average reimbursement per procedure was reported. Results Data was collected on all 1103 procedures performed during this period. Insurance carrier distribution was 75% Medicare and 25% private insurance. The average reimbursement was $316/hour for open procedures and $556/hour for endovascular. Higher reimbursing procedures included visceral endovascular procedures ($701/hour) and caval filters ($751/hour). Lower reimbursing procedures included lower extremity bypass ($292/hour), dialysis access ($268/hour) and lower extremity amputations ($223/hour). Striking was the difference between payment based on approach for similar conditions. Reimbursement for carotid stent vs carotid endarterectomy was $643/hour vs $383/hour, endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair vs open $593/hour vs $359/hour. Conclusion This unique study demonstrates a "real world" experience of reimbursement per unit time and raises questions as to the validity of the RBRVS process. The disparity between payments for open and endovascular repair of similar conditions are typical of this inequality. These data do not reflect the intangible time of operative planning, administrative matters, or overhead, and these factors must be considered when interpreting this data. Regardless, this study suggests that capturing detailed financial data is possible and is a more accurate source for future discussions on reimbursement.
Norepinephrine and epinephrine secreting paraganglioma of the jugular glomus

A case of glomus jugulare tumor secreting norepinephrine and epinephrine is reported. Further support is given to the neuroectodermal origin and to the embryological similarity to the adrenal medulla. The importance of urinary catecholamine determination in all patients suspected of having a paraganglioma is stressed. Venous sampling for plasma catecholamine determination at the time of angiography may help to localize the tumor and to avoid exploratory laparotomy.
Intraluminal albumin stent assisted laser welding for ureteral anastomosis.

Background and Objectives: The success of laser tissue welding or soldering depends on optimal laser settings, solder material, and tissue type and geometry. To develop a practical laser welding technique for ureteral repair, an intraluminal albumin stent was designed to enhance the welding effects on ureteral end to end anastomosis. Study Design/Materials and Methods: In vitro porcine ureters were anastomosed using an albumin stent alone, the albumin stent plus a solder, and the solder alone. All welding was performed with an 810-nm diode laser with either a continuous wave (1 W, CW) or two pulse modes (2 W, 3.3 Hz; 1 W, 5 Hz). Laser parameters, tensile strength (TS) and burst pressure (BP) of the ureteral anastomosis, and tissue thermal injury were measured. Results: In the 2-W pulse mode, BP in the albumin stent plus solder group (mean 185 mmHg) and the stent only group (mean 133 mmHg) were significantly higher than the solder only group (mean 77 mmHg, P < 0.05). Laser ureteral anastomosis with the stent plus solder group at 1-W CW and 2-W pulse laser modes yielded the highest TS (mean 97, 82 g) and BP (mean 183, 185 mmHg). Among the three modes, the 1 W pulse delivered the lowest energy and yielded the lowest TS and BP in ureteral anastomosis. There was no significant difference in the thermal damage to the tissue among the modes and groups. Conclusions: Using the albumin stent increased the reliability of ureter end-to-end laser anastomosis. Further studies will be warranted in vivo and other tubular organs as well. Lasers Surg. Med. 31:225–229, 2002. 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Recursive joint decision and estimation based on generalized Bayes risk

Joint decision and estimation (JDE) is for solving problems involving inter-dependent decision and estimation and was proposed recently based on a generalized Bayes risk. The currently available JDE algorithm processes data in a batch manner. This batch method is computationally inefficient or infeasible for many dynamic JDE problems where measurements are made available sequentially. Therefore, this paper follows the same JDE framework based on the generalized Bayes risk and proposes a recursive version of the JDE algorithm, which fits the dynamic JDE problems more naturally and inherits JDE's theoretical superiorities. Further, a joint performance measure in the measurement space is proposed for dynamic JDE problems. To the authors' knowledge, this is the only performance evaluation framework currently available for JDE evaluation. Finally, an illustrative example of the recursive JDE algorithm is elaborated and numerical simulations comparing it with the traditional two-stage algorithms (i.e., decide-then-estimate and estimate-then-decide) are presented.
Jet Engine Bird Ingestion Simulations: Comparison of Rotating to Non-Rotating Fan Blades

Bird strike events in commercial airliners are a fairly common occurrence. According to data collected by the US Department of Agriculture, over 80,000 bird strikes were reported in the period 1990 to 2007 in the US alone (Ref. 1). As a result, bird ingestion is an important factor in aero engine design and FAA certification. When it comes to bird impacts on engine fan blades, the FAA requires full-scale bird ingestion tests on an engine running at full speed to pass certification requirements. These rotating tests are complex and very expensive. To reduce development costs associated with new materials for fan blades, it is desirable to develop more cost effective testing procedures than full-scale rotating engine tests for material evaluation. An impact test on a nonrotating single blade that captures most of the salient physics of the rotating test would go a long way towards enabling large numbers of evaluative material screening tests. NASA Glenn Research Center has been working to identify a static blade test procedure that would be effective at reproducing similar results as seen in rotating tests. The current effort compares analytical simulations of a bird strike on various non-rotating blades to a bird strike simulation on a rotating blade as a baseline case. Several different concepts for simulating the rotating loads on a non-rotating blade were analyzed with little success in duplicating the deformation results seen in the rotating case. The rotating blade behaves as if it were stiffer than the non-rotating blade resulting in less plastic deformation from a given bird impact. The key factor limiting the success of the non-rotating blade simulations is thought to be the effect of gyroscopics. Prior to this effort, it was anticipated the difficulty would be in matching the prestress in the blade due to centrifugal forces Additional work is needed to verify this assertion, and to determine if a static test procedure can simulate the gyroscopic effects in a suitable manner. This paper describes the various non-rotating concepts analyzed, and demonstrates the effect believed to be gyroscopic in nature on the results
Ripping Improves Tree Survival and Growth on Unused Reclaimed Mined Lands

There is renewed interest in re-establishing trees on 0.6 million ha of mining-disturbed lands in the Appalachian mountains of Eastern United States. Many coal-mined lands reclaimed to meet requirements of US federal law have thick herbaceous vegetation and compacted soils which impede tree establishment. Mitigation practices were applied on three mine sites and evaluated for success in enabling planted trees to become established. Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), hybrid poplar (Populus deltoids × Populus trichocarpa), and mixed Appalachian hardwoods were established using weed control only and weed control with subsoil ripping. Trees were measured in October of 2008 after 5 years of growth. Subsoil ripping increased mixed hardwood survival from 43 to 71 %, hybrid poplar biomass index from 1.51 to 8.97 Mg ha−1, and Eastern white pine biomass index from 0.10 to 0.32 Mg ha−1. When restoring trees to unused mined sites, subsoil ripping can aid survival and growth to an extent that will result in a valuable forest.
Tissue Doppler imaging for the pre-clinical diagnosis of cardiomyopathy

This editorial refers to "Tissue Doppler imaging detects early asymptomatic myocardial abnormalities in a dog model of Duchenne's cardiomyopathy" † by V. Chetboul on page 1934 Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an important cause of cardiomyopathy in children and adolescents and is caused by mutations in the gene coding for the protein dystrophin [1]. Dystrophin participates in linking the sarcomere to the sarcolemma and extracellular matrix and plays a role in cell signalling [2]. The disease is characterised by skeletal and cardiac myopathies. Because it is inherited as an X-linked recessive disorder, males are the primarily affected gender, although female carriers can present with cardiac abnormalities later in life. Given the devastating and relentless progression once the disease is well established, early and accurate diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction is an important goal. Animal models have proved useful in increasing our understanding of this and other cardiomyopathies. In this issue of the Journal , Chetboul et al. [3], using a natural canine model of the human disease: the golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD) dog model, report on the application of tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in … *Tel.: +1 713 790 4495; fax: +1 713 793 1351 (E-mail: sherifn{at}bcm.tmc.edu).
Infiniband scalability in Open MPI

Infiniband is becoming an important interconnect technology in high performance computing. Recent efforts in large scale Infiniband deployments are raising scalability questions in the HPC community. Open MPI, a new open source implementation of the MPI standard targeted for production computing, provides several mechanisms to enhance Infiniband scalability. Initial comparisons with MVAPICH, the most widely used Infiniband MPI implementation, show similar performance but with much better scalability characteristics. Specifically, small message latency is improved by up to 10% in medium/large jobs and memory usage per host is reduced by as much as 300%. In addition, Open MPI provides predictable latency that is close to optimal without sacrificing bandwidth performance
NURBS-based solutions to inverse boundary problems in droplet shape prediction

Abstract Inverse boundary problems are common in many areas of engineering. They arise in fluidstatics when liquid droplets are constrained between arbitrarily shaped solid surfaces, as when a molten solder droplet is used to assemble microelectronic devices. In this paper, we present a new method based on the Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) representation for solving the inverse problems arising in three-dimensional (3D) droplet shape prediction. The developed algorithm very naturally handles the contact (wetting) between the solid and liquid surfaces, without the need for additional contact detection schemes, by embedding a single parameter curve within the two parameter solid surface. An adaptive Legendre–Gauss integration method is used on the NURBS surfaces to calculate the potential energy of the system, thereby eliminating the need for mesh generation. Three problems motivated by microelectronics are solved to demonstrate the developed methodology: solder joints with circular and square pad shapes (with and without misalignment), and one where the droplet is constrained between a circular pad and a cylindrical surface. The meshless procedure developed here is expected to have wider applications to the iterative optimal design of engineering systems where mesh generation inhibits the automation of the design process.
Monte Carlo simulation of High Power Microwave surface flashover under UV illumination

High Power Microwave (HPM) induced surface flashover is currently being investigated in order to gain a better understanding of the underlying processes involved and reduce the limitations it places on transmittable pulse lengths. The present experimental setup is designed to produce a flashover on the high pressure side of a transmission window without the influence of a triple point. A 2.5 MW magnetron produces a 900 ns pulse at 2.85 GHz with a 50 ns rise time. The experimental setup allows for the control of several parameters including gas pressure, gas composition, and external UV illumination of the window. Diagnostic equipment enables the analysis of incident, reflected, and transmitted power levels with sub-nanosecond resolution. A previously developed Monte Carlo simulation is used to model the processes involved in the flashover discharge formation. This Monte Carlo code is upgraded to account for the occurrence of field induced electron detachment from negative ion clusters within the high field region, > 10 kV/cm, near the window. The code has also been expanded to include the occurrence of photoelectrons, emitted from the window while under UV illumination. Such illumination of the transmission window was experimentally shown to reduce the time to flashover by over 100 ns in air at 155 torr, and thereby the total pulse energy that can be transmitted. In addition, UV illumination also reduces the variation in flashover delay times from shot to shot, up to 67% in air at 155 torr. The simulation will determine if the observed reductions in delay time and variation can be explained by the addition of initiatory electrons via UV illumination of the surface.
Early goal-directed therapy in severe sepsis and septic shock: a contemporary review of the literature.

Purpose of reviewAggressive approaches to acute diseases such as acute myocardial infarction, trauma, and stroke have improved outcomes. Early goal-directed therapy for severe sepsis and septic shock represents a similar approach. An analysis of the literature assessing external validity and general
Management of skin abscesses in the era of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

In this article, we describe our approach to the management of common skin abscesses that generally involve the extremities and trunk. Lesions that may require unique surgical approaches or that have a more complex microbiologic basis, such as abscesses in the perineal area, are not addressed. Whenever possible, our recommendations are based on randomized trials. However, many of the recommendations are based on small, observational studies or expert opinion; thus, we recognize that there may be disagreement with some of our recommendations. Nevertheless, the approach we advise has been shown to be workable and useful in our practice. Diagnosis A skin abscess results from the accumulation of pus in the dermis or subcutaneous tissue and appears as a swollen, red, tender, and fluctuant mass, often with surrounding cellulitis. Diagnosis of a skin abscess based on physical examination is often straightforward and proved correct by incision and drainage. However, abscesses that extend deeper into the dermis and subcutaneous tissue, especially those associated with extensive cellulitis, may be more difficult to diagnose because overlying tissue induration may prevent fluctuance from being observed. Physicians’ clinical assessments during physical examination also vary. In one study, involving 349 children presenting to a hospital with skin and soft-tissue infections, interobserver agreement among pediatric attending physicians and fellows regarding the presence of an abscess was only fair and was not associated with the extent of the physician’s experience. 14
Factors associated with physiotherapists' confidence during assessment of clinical cervical and lumbar spine instability.

Background and Purpose. Physiotherapists commonly encounter patients with complaints of vague, indistinguishable neck and back pain, such as clinical spine instability. Since confidence is a component of expert clinical practice, we were interested in measuring expert clinicians' confidence in diagnosing and assessing clinical spine instability. The aims of the present study were to factor out the common ‘identifiers’ associated with physiotherapists' objective, physical diagnosis and assessment of clinical spine instability, and to determine the association of reported diagnostic confidence to these identifiers. Method. The study used data from a Delphi instrument for the factor analysis and a survey of APTA Board-certified orthopaedic specialists for report of confidence. Using an ologit regression analysis, the identifier themes and clinical background characteristics were associated with confidence in diagnosis of clinical spine instability. Results. Only clinical cervical spine instability obtained significant findings. The identifier ‘observable or palpable abnormalities of motion during movement assessment in clinical practice’ was positively associated with reported confidence in diagnosis, as was the influence of manual therapy background models: Cyriax, Maitland, McKenzie, NAIOMPT, Osteopathic, Paris and other. Male gender yielded negative association with reported confidence. No factors were associated with reported lumbar confidence. Conclusions. Multiple backgrounds of physiotherapists demonstrate confidence in detecting clinical spine instability using observable or palpable methods to detect abnormal movements. Copyright © 2005 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Speaking of Participation: A Qualitative Research Note

While participation in public life is generally agreed to be important for governance and citizenship, scholars focused on talk-oriented participation (in the Tocquevillian tradition) suggest that ...
In‐Class vs. Online Testing in University‐Level Language Courses: A Research Report

Against the background of concerns for how paper-and-pencil testing fits into contemporary language teaching, this brief research report presents the findings of a first study on the difference in scores between in-class testing and online testing in a communicative and proficiency-oriented program. A total of 244 students of third-semester Spanish at the university level participated. One hundred twenty-four took tests online, while 120 took tests in class. Results showed no difference between the scores, suggesting that at least for this particular kind of program, in-class testing can be altered and moved online, freeing up class time for alternative measurements (in this case, curriculum-specific can-do statements).
Magnetoelastic Materials as Novel Bioactive Coatings for Bone Anchored Prostheses

Enhanced fibroblast activity at the implant-soft tissue interface is a key concern to the long-term success of many implanted biomaterials. Uncontrolled fibrosis has been shown to dramatically decrease the stability, function, and lifespan of biomedical implants. Fibrosis, defined as the overgrowth of various tissues about the implant, is caused by the excess synthesis of extracellular matrix components, primarily collagen, and often leads to walling off and hardening (calcification) of tissues at the biomaterial interface (1). Fibrosis is currently a major deterrent to stable bone anchored prostheses. These bone anchored mounting systems are designed to surgically attach a prosthesis mounting post directly into a patient’s bone. The attached post protrudes from the bone through the overlying soft tissue of the amputated limb providing an external connection point for the prosthetic. Although the bone anchoring system dramatically improves prosthetic limb mechanical stability, uncontrolled fibrosis at the soft tissue-mounting post interface is a significant problem (2). The fibrosis caused from aberrant cellular growth leads to the formation of irregular skin folds that prevent proper sealing to the bone anchoring post and also serves as a site for opportunistic infection and failure of the prosthetic system.© 2009 ASME
Behavior of human serum R-type vitamin B12-binding proteins (cobalophilins) on lectin-sepharose affinity resins.

AbstractR-Type serum vitamin B12-binding proteins (cobalophilins) are a heterogenous population of glycoproteins. The reason for this appears to be due to variation in the carbohydrate moieties of the macromolecules. To support this contention we have used different sugar-specific lectin-sepharose affinity columns as a means for separating cobalophilins. Concanavalin A-Sepharose can resolve serum vitamin B12-binding activity into three distinct fractions. The first two are cobalophilins and the third is transcobalamin II. The major cobalophilin fraction does not interact with concanavalin A-Sepharose, but is bound completely by both wheat germ and castor bean II lectins. Elution from these columns can be accomplished by addition of the appropriate competitive sugar to the buffer. Castor Bean I Lectin-Sepharose resolves the major concanavalin A-Sepharose cobalophilin fraction into two distinct fractions—one which does not interact with this lectin and the other which is eluted when N-acetylgalactosamine is...
Epidemic characteristics of partial respiratory virus infection of ILI cases in Nanjing from 2010 to 2012

Objective To investigate the epidemic characteristics of respiratory viruses of ILI(Influenza-like illness) cases.Methods From 2010 to 2012,1 367 throat swab samples were collected,and RT-PCR reactions were conducted to test 9 respiratory viruses such as influenza viruses(type A,B and C),parainfluenza viruses(type I,II,II and IV),rhinovirus and human bocaviruses.Results Of all 1 367 collected throat swab samples of ILI cases,374 were detected with positive,the detection rate was 27.36%.Influenza type B was detected with the highest((8.49%);influenza type A ranked as the second(7.53%);and parainfluenza type IV was the lowest(0.22%).The respiratory virus positive rate was the highest in summer(31.50%),and lowest in autumn(22.10%).Ninteen cases of mixed infection were detected,including 15 cases(78.95%) of rhinovirus co-infection.Conclusion Influenza type A,B and rhinovirus were main respiratory viruses popular in Nanjing from the end of 2010 to 2012;influenza C could be detected for sometimes;and there were occasional ILI cases infected with parainfluenza viruses and human bocavirus.
1.11 – Emission Tomography Motion Compensation

Patient motion is one of the main sources of image artifacts in positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography. This chapter provides an overview of the research aimed at motion artifact reduction in radionuclide tomography. The discussion includes a description of the principal types of motion-induced artifacts; a classification of the types of patient motion; an overview of the motion monitoring technologies used in the clinic; and a description of the motion compensation methods that have been developed in the field.
Facial Electromyography in Neonatal Facial Palsy

Electromyography (EMG) studies of 172 children with congenital facial palsy were analysed retrospectively at the Hopital d’Enfants Armand-Trousseau, Paris, France.
Cooperative Molecular Behavior Enhances the Thermal Conductance of Binary Self-Assembled Monolayer Junctions.

The effect of the local molecular environment on thermal transport through organic–inorganic heterojunctions is investigated using binary self-assembled monolayer (SAM) junctions built from a mixture of alkanethiol and alkanedithiol species sandwiched between gold leads. Thermoreflectance measurements and molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that the thermal conductances of the binary SAM junctions vary with molecular composition and are greater than predictions of a parallel resistance model. The enhancement results from increased thermal transport through the alkanethiols, whose terminal methyl groups are confined by the anchored alkanedithiols. This confinement effect extends over length scales that are more than twice the range of the van der Waals interactions between molecules and are commensurate to the sizes of experimentally observed molecular domains. Conversely, for a partially packed (i.e., submonolayer) alkanedithiol unary SAM, increasing the molecular packing density decreases the per ...
Recent work in reformed epistemology

Reformed epistemology, roughly, is the thesis that religious belief can be rational without argument. After providing some background, I present Plantinga's defense of reformed epistemology and its influence on religious debunking arguments. I then discuss three objections to Plantinga's arguments that arise from the following topics: skeptical theism, cognitive science of religion, and basicality. I then show how reformed epistemology has recently been undergirded by a number of epistemological theories, including phenomenal conservatism and virtue epistemology. I end by noting that a good objection to reformed epistemology must criticize either a substantive epistemological theory or the application of that theory to religious belief; I also show that the famous Great Pumpkin Objection is an example of the former.
Design of a Lead Compensator with Minemum Attenuation

This paper discusses a simple proof for the geometrical construction for the design of a phase lead compensator with minimum attenuation. Also, certain equations used in the proof are shown to be u...
A key issue of semantics of information

In his epoch-making work on information theory, Shannon defended information in terms of entropy. Entropy-based definitions of information relate to quantity of information, but not to its meaning. Subsequent attempts to introduce semantics into information theory have made some progress but fell short of having a capability to deal with information described in natural language. This paper is aimed that of laying information for the theory which has this capability, call it a theory of semantics information (TSI). TSI is centered on a concept which plays a key role in human intelligence — A concept whose basic importance has long been and continues to be unrecognized — The concept of a restriction is pervasive in human cognition. Restrictions underlie the remarkable human ability to reason and make rational decisions in an environment of imprecision, uncertainty and incompleteness of information. Such environments are the norm in the real-world. Such environments have the traditional logical systems that become dysfunctional. There are many applications in which semantics of information plays an important role. Among such applications are: machine translation, summarization, search and decision-making under uncertainty. Informally, a restriction on a specified (focal) variable, X, written as R (X), is a statement which is a carrier of information about the values which X can take. Typically, restrictions are described in natural language. Example. X = length of time it takes to drive from Berkeley to SF Airport; R(X) = usually it takes about 90 minutes to drive from Berkeley to SF Airport. In adverse weather it may take close to 2 hours. An important issue in TSI is computation with restrictions. TSI opens the door to modes of computation in which approximation is accepted. Acceptance of approximate computations takes the calculus of restrictions (CR) into uncharted territory.
Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Androgen Replacement Therapy

The Kefauver-Harris Amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, enacted by Congress in 1962, required pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide proof of prescription drug effectiveness as well as safety and to obtain preapproval of their marketing plans. Over the next 35 years, manufacturers promoted their products largely to physicians through ads in medical journals and in-office “detailing.” Print advertising directed toward patients was unusual and broadcast advertising was rare, owing to the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) insistence that ads on television and radio include a brief summary of adverse reactions and contraindications—a requirement that tended to produce long, stultifying, and expensive commercials. However, 20 years ago in 1997, the FDA ruled that “adequate provision” of information about drug risks and benefits could be made by referring consumers to a toll-free telephone number, a simultaneously occurring print ad, or a website. With barriers vastly diminished, this new FDA rule unleashed a torrent of television ads
Power in School Meetings: Who Is Really In Charge Here?

This descriptive analysis of conversational styles used a method introduced by Derber (2000), Pursuit of Attention: Power and Individualism in Everyday Life, to explore the power interplay in a faculty lunchroom. Three research questions evolved from field observations that led to the construction of a mathematical formula used to explore conversational dominance. Field observation and conversational analysis determined that sexual banter in the school lunchroom might function as an attempt for male faculty to reestablish dominance in a matriarchal institution. The research provides a useful tool for the preliminary determination of interschool communication patterns influencing committee decisions and institutional policy.
Characterization and Testing of Adaptive RF Metamaterial Structure Using MEMS

Metamaterials are materials with periodic, sub-wavelength inclusions believed by some to generate responses that behave electromagnetically like effective mediums. This behavior provides the capability to synthesize materials with special parameters that will allow for size reduction of existing devices as well as the creation of new devices with unique capabilities. A key limiting factor for metamaterials, however, is the restriction of the special parameters to a small frequency band. To overcome this limitation, a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) cantilever-beam device is placed over the gaps of a pair of split ring resonator (SRR) particles designed to operate in the radio frequency (RF) regime. Along with a wire lattice, the SRR particles are believed by many to generate an effective medium with a negative index of refraction over a small frequency band. The variable capacitors change the capacitance of the SRRs and shift the resonant frequency of the device. Efforts to predict and measure the behavior of this device are critical to the design effort. This paper demonstrates the techniques employed to model and test the electromagnetic properties of this device.
The socialization of civilians and militia members: Evidence from Guatemala

When the Guatemalan civil war ended in 1996, the Peace Accords required the demobilization of the civil patrols. Yet, nearly two decades after the end of the war, the ex-patrollers remain organized...