cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Small-Angle Twist Grain Boundaries as Sinks for Point Defects

It is known that grain boundaries (GBs) provide sinks for defects induced into a solid by irradiation. At the same time radiation can change the atomic structure and chemistry of GBs, which in turn impacts the ability of GBs to continue absorbing defects. Although a number of studies have been reported for tilt GBs acting as defect sinks, the questions of how twist GBs evolve to absorb non-equilibrium concentrations of defects and whether GBs saturate as defect sinks for typical irradiation conditions have remained largely unanswered. Here, we used a combination of molecular dynamics and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations to determine how twist GBs accommodate point defects. We used SiC and {001} and {111} twist GBs as model systems. We found that diffusion of defects along GBs in this material is slow and for most experimentally relevant conditions point defects will accumulate at twist GBs, driving structural and chemical evolution of these interfaces. During irradiation, screw dislocations within GB planes absorb interstitials by developing mixed dislocation segments that climb. Formation of mixed dislocations occurs either by nucleation of interstitial loops or by faulting/unfaulting of stacking faults. Both types of twist GBs can accommodate a high density of interstitials without losing the crystalline structure, irrespectively of the interstitial flux.
Zak Transform Methods

Any Gabor system G(g, α,β ) possesses a doubly periodic structure. In a technical sense, we have exploited this property in Chapters 6 and 7 through periodization tricks and the Poisson summation formula. However, the sequential application to the variables x and ω separately leads to an unnatural asymmetry, which was most pronounced in Walnut’s representation. The Zak transform offers a convenient tool for a more symmetric treatment of Gabor systems. Since the Zak transform is just a version of the Poisson summation formula, it is related to Fourier series and can be discretized easily. In engineering it has therefore become the preferred tool for the analysis of Gabor frames. In many important special cases, the invertibility and the spectrum of the frame operator can be characterized explicitly and clearly using the Zak transform.
Radiolabeled Antiplatelet Monoclonal Antibodies for the Scintigraphic Localization of In-vivo Thrombi and Vascular Lesions

Detection of thrombi in the extremities and in the trunk, including coronary and carotid thrombi, is extremely important. of equal importance is the ability to visualize the interaction between blood platelets and the arterial wall in thrombosis and intimai damage where platelet deposition occurs. In-vivo imaging would allow: (i) thrombus detection before thrombolytic therapy is instituted, and the monitoring of thrombosis once therapy is discontinued; (ii) monitoring platelet deposition on vessel walls following balloon angioplasty; and (iii) monitoring for acute occlusion of coronary artery bypass grafts. Quantitative imaging could permit visualization of coronary and carotid artery occlusion and thrombogenic and thrombolytic activity within the arterial circulation to the heart, lung, and the brain with better effectiveness.
Principles of Macrodynamics

The macro-level social universe evolved under selection pressures that forced individual and corporate actors to find solutions to these pressures or face the disintegrative consequences. These pressures have not disappeared with the evolution of complexity; indeed, complexity itself generates second-, perhaps third- and n-order selection pressures. The first human societies were not very “macro” but as sets of bands developed common culture and inter-band relations, the first steps to building a more macro social universe were taken. Once population as a force pushed actors to form communities, the structural base of macro-level social reality was firmly established.
Nonexistence of noncompact Type-I ancient three-dimensional κ-solutions of Ricci flow with positive curvature

In this short paper, we show that there does not exist a noncompact Type-I κ-solution of the Ricci flow with positive curvature in dimension 3.
Engorgement of deep medullary veins in neurosarcoidosis: A common-yet-underrecognized cerebrovascular finding on SWI

We describe the prevalence and potential significance of deep medullary vein engorgement on SWI in patients with neurosarcoidosis, a finding that has not been described previously. Engorgement was evaluated for possible associations with meningeal or perivascular disease, intracranial hemorrhage, and venous thrombosis, as well as with modified Rankin Scale scores at the time of MR imaging and at follow-up. Deep medullary vein engorgement was seen in 7 of 21 patients and was more common in men. Patients with venous engorgement had a significantly increased incidence of microhemorrhages, perivascular disease, and hydrocephalus. There was no association with the degree of leptomeningeal disease, venous dural sinus thrombosis, or modified Rankin Scale scores. In conclusion, deep medullary vein engorgement was common in our patients with neurosarcoidosis. Although its pathophysiology remains uncertain, it could be related to venous or perivenous abnormalities and may represent a useful secondary finding of cerebrovascular disease.
Abstract B088: Mapping tumoral and immune heterogeneity in PD-1 responsive glioblastoma

Clonal evolution and the immune microenvironment in glioblastoma (GBM) ultimately determine the potential benefit of checkpoint inhibition. In this case study of a patient who benefited from PD-1 blockade therapy, we characterize intratumoral heterogeneity from several primary and recurrent biopsies. We leveraged RNA-seq data from both the primary tumor and three recurrent biopsies to examine major components of the molecular landscape within the context of clonal evolution. Specifically, we surveyed tumor-immune interactions by computing the expressed mutational and neoepitope tumoral burden, along with the magnitude and clonality of infiltrating lymphocytes using VDJ-sequencing. We furthermore derived the regional gene expression landscape, and found significant differences between the primary and recurrent biopsies. We found significant heterogeneity in the predicted neoantigen and infiltrating lymphocyte landscape, with a pronounced shift towards lower predicted immunogenicity and lower immune infiltration in all recurrent biopsies. Notably, we also found evidence suggesting an outlier recurrent biopsy enriched in aberrant expression of the H19-IGF2 locus. Overall, this case study adds to existing knowledge of the molecular landscape and intratumoral heterogeneity within glioblastoma, in turn providing a starting point for future studies aimed at assessing the efficacy of checkpoint inhibition as a suitable treatment for this highly aggressive cancer type. Citation Format: Paula Restrepo, Raymund Yong, Ilaria Laface, Nadejda Tsankova, Sacha Gnjatic, Adilia Hormigo, Bojan Losic. Mapping tumoral and immune heterogeneity in PD-1 responsive glioblastoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fourth CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; Sept 30-Oct 3, 2018; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2019;7(2 Suppl):Abstract nr B088.
Cyclization-cycloaddition casade of rhodium carbenoids using different carbonyl groups. Highlighting the position of interaction

A series of 3-diazoalkanediones, when treated with a catalytic quantity of a rhodium(II) carboxylate, were found to afford oxabicyclic dipolar cycloadducts derived by the trapping of a carbonyl ylide intermediate. The reaction involves generation of the 1,3-dipole by intramolecular cyclization of the keto carbenoid onto the oxygen atom of the neighboring keto group. Both five- and six-ring carbonyl ylides are formed with the same efficiency. A study of the tandem cyclization−cycloaddition cascade of several α-diazo ketoesters was also carried out, and the cascade sequence proceeded in high yield. When the interacting keto carbonyl group was replaced by an imido group, the rhodium(II)-catalyzed reaction proceeded uneventfully. In contrast, α-diazo amidoesters do not undergo nitrogen extrusion on treatment with a Rh(II) catalyst. Instead, the diazo portion of the molecule undergoes 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with various dipolarophiles to give substituted pyrazoles as the final products.
Dynamic prediction of left ventricular assist device pump thrombosis based on lactate dehydrogenase trends.

AIMS The risk of HeartMate II (HMII) left ventricular assist device (LVAD) thrombosis has been reported, and serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), a biomarker of haemolysis, increases secondary to LVAD thrombosis. This study evaluated longitudinal measurements of LDH post-LVAD implantation, hypothesizing that LDH trends could timely predict future LVAD thrombosis. METHODS AND RESULTS From October 2004 to October 2014, 350 HMIIs were implanted in 323 patients at Cleveland Clinic. Of these, patients on 339 HMIIs had at least one post-implant LDH value (7996 total measurements). A two-step joint model combining longitudinal biomarker data and pump thrombosis events was generated to assess the effect of changing LDH on thrombosis risk. Device-specific LDH trends were first smoothed using multivariate boosted trees, and then used as a time-varying covariate function in a multiphase hazard model to analyse time to thrombosis. Pre-implant variables associated with time-varying LDH values post-implant using boostmtree were also investigated. Standardized variable importance for each variable was estimated as the difference between model-based prediction error of LDH when the variable was randomly permuted and prediction error without permuting the values. The larger this difference, the more important a variable is for predicting the trajectory of post-implant LDH. Thirty-five HMIIs (10%) had either confirmed (18) or suspected (17) thrombosis, with 15 (43%) occurring within 3 months of implant. LDH was associated with thrombosis occurring both early and late after implant (P < 0.0001 for both hazard phases). The model demonstrated increased probability of HMII thrombosis as LDH trended upward, with steep changes in LDH trajectory paralleling trajectories in probability of pump thrombosis. The most important baseline variables predictive of the longitudinal pattern of LDH were higher bilirubin, higher pre-implant LDH, and older age. The effect of some pre-implant variables such as sodium on the post-implant LDH longitudinal pattern differed across time. CONCLUSIONS Longitudinal trends in surveillance LDH for patients on HMII support are useful for dynamic prediction of pump thrombosis, both early after implant and late. Incorporating upward and downward trends in LDH that dynamically update a model of LVAD thrombosis risk provides a useful tool for clinical management and decisions.
NEW DATABASE PRODUCTS: SOCIAL SCIENCE, HUMANITIES, NEWS AND GENERAL (ISSUE 7)

This is the seventh article on social science, humanities, news and general databases in a continuing series of articles summarising and commenting on new database products. It has two companion articles: one covering science, technology and medicine (STM) appeared in Online & CDROM Review vol. 20, no. 1 and the other, covering business and law (BSL), will appear in Online & CDROM Review vol. 20, no. 3. The articles are based on the newly appearing database products in the Gale Directory of Databases. The Gale Directory of Databases (GDD) was created in January 1993 by merging Computer‐Readable Databases: A Directory and Data Sourcebook (CRD) together with the Directory of Online Databases (DOD) and the Directory of Portable Databases (DPD).
Developing PowerPoint Standards for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

As we live in a time when standards, frameworks, and benchmarks are becoming increasingly prominent, it makes sense that some sort of teacher technology standards would be desirable. Standards on the state or national levels call for the integrating of multimedia into teaching, but there are not clear guidelines illustrating how integrating a technology into the classroom should be accomplished. Nor is there an evaluation system in place to ensure that teachers possess the multimedia skills and knowledge required in teaching. It is thus important to devise a set of teacher technology standards as a resource for teachers as they attempt to integrate multimedia into their curricula. Therefore, this study provided a set of guidelines and standards for evaluating PowerPoint presentations for use in language teaching to provide more support to language teachers at the institutional level. In this article, four case studies of PowerPoint presentation in Chinese language teaching sample slides are explored to show how the devised standard guidelines and a score assessment system can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a presentation and thus to help language instructors to develop their skills in making PowerPoint Presentations and improving teaching effectiveness. A proposed teacher PowerPoint standards were developed based on the author’s personal experience teaching Chinese using multimedia in classrooms in China, Europe and America will also be shared in this case study.
Inner-shell photodetachment of C n - ions

We present a theoretical study of $K$-shell photodetachment of ${\mathrm{C}}_{2}{}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ and ${\mathrm{C}}_{3}{}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ ions. The calculations were carried out using the complex Kohn variational method. Our study addresses the recent observation that what appears as a single, narrow shape resonance close to threshold in the $K$-shell photodetachment of ${\mathrm{C}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ splits into several peaks in the longer ${\mathrm{C}}_{n}{}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ carbon anion chains, with the number of peaks increasing with increasing $n$ values. We argue that the number of expected peaks is related to the number of symmetry-equivalent carbon atoms.
Chapter 89 – Metabolic Alkalosis

: Metabolic alkalosis commonly results from excessive HCl, K+ and H2O loss from the stomach or through the urine. The plasma anion gap increases in non-hypoproteinemic metabolic alkalosis due to an increased negative charge equivalency on albumin, and the free ionized Ca++ content of plasma decreases. The [HCO3−]/(S × Pco2) ratio is increased in metabolic alkalosis. The bicarbonate buffer equation is shifted to the right (CO2 + H2O → H2CO3 → H+ + HCO3−) in metabolic alkalosis. The kidneys excrete excess HCO3 − into urine during a metabolic alkalosis. Hypokalemia and kaliuresis are common complications of metabolic alkalosis. Patients with metabolic alkalosis are predisposed to cardiac arrhythmias. Post-hypercapnic metabolic alkalosis can occur in a patient with respiratory acidosis who is mechanically ventilated. Contraction alkalosis can occur in patients who are being treated with loop or thiazide diuretics. A free water deficit leads to a concentration alkalosis.
Left Atrial Dilation and Risk of One-Year Readmission after Embolic Stroke of Undetermined Source.

Abstract Background : Structural left atrial and ventricular abnormalities on the electrocardiogram (ECG) and transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) at the time of ischemic stroke have been associated with morbidity and mortality. Yet, the prognostic impact of the same in embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS), a relevant subtype of ischemic stroke with a unique pathophysiology, has not been well studied to date. Our aim was to assess the predictive impact of left atrio-ventricular ECG and TTE abnormalities on one-year hospital readmission after ESUS from an ongoing single center prospective stroke registry in the U.S. Methods : We identified 369 ESUS patients who had at least 1 year of complete follow-up between 2013 and 2018. We examined the association of abnormal left atrio-ventricular findings on ECG and TTE, as well as basic demographic and clinical characteristics, measured at index admission with time to 1-year hospital readmission using Kaplan-Meier curves, log-rank tests, and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results : Recurrent ischemic stroke and cardiovascular causes constituted 60% of all readmissions. Patients with left atrial dilation on TTE were more likely to readmitted within 1 year (HR 1.51; 95% CI, 1.04–2.21). Bundle branch block, pathologic Q-wave, and troponin elevation curves diverged, but were not significantly associated with readmission (log-rank p=0.34, p=0.08, p=0.42, respectively). Conclusions : Following ESUS, left atrial dilation on TTE was associated with 1-year overall hospital readmission, of which cardiovascular and cerebrovascular ischemic events, and heart failure were a notable proportion. Our data support ongoing studies of atrial cardiopathy in ESUS patients.
The consequences of exercise-induced weight loss on food reinforcement. A randomized controlled trial.

Background Obesity remains a primary threat to the health of most Americans, with over 66% considered overweight or obese with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 or greater. A common treatment option many believe to be effective, and therefore turn to, is exercise. However, the amount of weight loss from exercise training is often disappointingly less than expected with greater amounts of exercise not always promoting greater weight loss. Increases in energy intake have been prescribed as the primary reason for this lack of weight loss success with exercise. Research has mostly focused on alterations in hormonal mediators of appetite (e.g.: ghrelin, peptide YY, GLP-1, pancreatic polypeptide, and leptin) that may increase hunger and/or reduce satiety to promote greater energy intake with exercise training. A less understood mechanism that may be working to increase energy intake with exercise is reward-driven feeding, a strong predictor of energy intake and weight status but rarely analyzed in the context of exercise. Design Sedentary men and women (BMI: 25–35 kg/m2, N = 52) were randomized into parallel aerobic exercise training groups partaking in either two or six exercise sessions/week, or sedentary control for 12 weeks. Methods The reinforcing value of food was measured by an operant responding progressive ratio schedule task (the behavioral choice task) to determine how much work participants were willing to perform for access to a healthy food option relative to a less healthy food option before and after the exercise intervention. Body composition and resting energy expenditure were assessed via DXA and indirect calorimetry, respectively, at baseline and post testing. Results Changes in fat-free mass predicted the change in total amount of operant responding for food (healthy and unhealthy). There were no correlations between changes in the reinforcing value of one type of food (healthy vs unhealthy) to changes in body composition. Conclusion In support of previous work, reductions in fat-free mass resulting from an aerobic exercise intervention aimed at weight loss plays an important role in energy balance regulation by increasing operant responding for food.
Computational microscopy with scattering media

We describe a computational microscope that encodes 3D information into a single 2D sensor measurement, then exploits sparsity or low-rank priors to reconstruct the volume with diffraction-limited resolution across a large volume. Our system uses simple hardware and scalable software for easy reproducibility and adoption. The inverse algorithm is based on large-scale nonlinear optimization combined with unrolled neural networks, in order to leverage the known physical model of the setup, while learning unknown parameters. We demonstrate whole organism bioimaging and neural activity tracking in vivo
Adaptive Optics Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Sagittarius A* Cluster

We present K-band λ/Δλ ~ 2600 spectroscopy of five stars (K ~ 14-16 mag) within 05 of Sgr A*, the radio source associated with the compact massive object suspected to be a 2.6 × 106 M☉ black hole at the center of our Galaxy. High spatial resolution of ~009 and good Strehl ratios of ~0.2 achieved with adaptive optics on the 10 m Keck telescope make it possible to measure moderate-resolution spectra of these stars individually for the first time. Two stars (S0-17 and S0-18) are identified as late-type stars by the detection of CO band head absorption in their spectra. Their absolute K magnitudes and CO band head absorption strengths are consistent with early K giants. Three stars (S0-1, S0-2, and S0-16) with rproj < 0.0075 pc (~02) from Sgr A* lack CO band head absorption, confirming the results of earlier lower spectral and lower spatial resolution observations that the majority of the stars in the Sgr A* cluster are early-type stars. The absolute K magnitudes of the early-type stars suggest that they are late O, early B main-sequence stars of ages less than 20 Myr. The presence of young stars in the Sgr A* cluster so close to the central supermassive black hole poses the intriguing problem of how these stars could have formed or could have been brought within its strong tidal field.
JA:2021-3. Dissemination and Adoption of AgInjuryNews.org: A Publicly Available Collection of Agricultural Injury Media Reports

Purpose: Agriculture, Fishing, and Forestry (AFF) is the most dangerous occupation in the United States with 22.8 fatalities per 100,000 workers and a youth fatality rate of 28.21 per 100,000 worke...
In Transit;from Waiting Room to Waiting in Virtual Space: Reply to Harris and Cooper

In this paper, the author responds to discussions by Adrienne Harris and Steven Cooper (this issue) with an emphasis on the sensory surround of the waiting room and the nuisance factor drawn from t...
Illuminating the Profitability of Pairs Trading: A Test of the Relative Pricing Efficiency of Markets for Water Utility Stocks

This article examines the profitability of a pairs trading strategy derived solely from historic price dynamics and contrarian principles. The authors find that the profitability of the self-financing strategy hinges on a cointegrated relationship, which previous research shows also implies an error-correcting relationship. With an error-correcting relationship at play, their model allows the movement of a temporary pricing flaw back to its expected value to be predicted with a surprisingly high level of accuracy. They find that although they are not able to foresee the movement of the cointegrating leader, that move generates a predictable response from the cointegrating follower, which the pairs trading strategy is able to profit from. Their results are robust to a variety of scenarios; most interestingly is when the same security is the leader in one combination but the follower in another. In this case, the security in question is predictable only when it is the follower.
High-Order finite element methods for parallel atmospheric modeling

High-order finite element methods for the atmospheric shallow water equations are reviewed. The accuracy and efficiency of nodal continuous and discontinuous Galerkin spectral elements are evaluated using the standard test problems proposed by Williamson et al (1992). The relative merits of strong-stability preserving (SSP) explicit Runge-Kutta and multistep time discretizations are discussed. Distributed memory MPI implementations are compared on the basis of the total computation time required, sustained performance and parallel scalability. Because a discontinuous Galerkin method permits the overlap of computation and communication, higher sustained execution rates are possible at large processor counts.
Visualization of large data sets for project planning and prioritization on transportation corridors

Transportation planners address mobility, accessibility, safety, environment, and economic development on thousands of miles of multimodal corridors. Improvement projects are periodically implemented with input from diverse public stakeholders. Various performance metrics and data visualization are used to identify and prioritize locations of the projects. An agency has needs for business processes to identify opportunities and threats, potential cost savings, and programming conflicts across hundreds of acquisition projects in transportation systems. This paper describes supporting data, analytics, and prioritization to aid the planning of improvement projects. The approach includes design of an algorithm to extract relevant data from multiple databases to a single file that can be imported to a data visualization software application, Tableau. Tableau is used to provide an interface for visualization of a six-year improvement program of several billion dollars. The results help transportation planners at several levels of the agency to make data-driven decisions in project planning. Customizing Tableau data interfaces enables the visualization and prioritization of projects considering metrics such as project status, bridge condition, pavement condition, crashes per vehicle-miles traveled, etc. Prior to this work, the agency relied on a program in which users query the status of individual road segments. The lessons learned include how to approach data security while providing flexibility and utility to a variety of users, how to ensure that the interfaces are robust to missing or inaccurate data, and how to account for potential cognitive bias of analysts and decision makers.
Evolution semi-linear hyperbolic equations in a bounded domain

In this article, our goal is to prove the existence and uniqueness of solution for 1D and 2D semi-linear hyperbolic equations in a bounded domain with a monotone nonlinear term. We use elliptic regularization and a nite dierence scheme in time to build the approximate solutions for the semi-linear hyperbolic equations, and we utilize the regularization method together with the monotonicity and convexity of the nonlinear term to show the existence of the resulting stationary problems. Finally, the existence of the solution for the evolution problem is done by studying the convergence of the approximate solutions and by using the standard Minty method, and the uniqueness is achieved.
New Republican Bill is Network Neutrality in Name Only

After a year of debates and a month before the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC’s) rulemaking on network neutrality, the GOP has finally joined the party. Through a draft bill released late last week, congressional Republicans have taken a step in the direction of supporting network neutrality. That’s a good thing, and moves them closer to the existing consensus. Roughly four million Americans submitted comments to the FCC calling for real net- work neutrality rules over the past year, and polls show that both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly support a ban on fast lanes. But, as written, the Republican bill provides network neutrality in name only. At first glance, the bill purports to ban paid prioritization, throttling, and blocking and applies the same rules to fixed and mobile networks, echoing language used by President Obama and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to describe their network neutrality proposals. But on closer examination, the bill is so narrowly written that it fails to adequately protect users, innovators, and speakers against blocking, discrimination, and access fees. A meaningful network neutrality regime requires bright-line rules prohibiting all forms of access fees, application-specific discrimination, and blocking. Unfortunately, the Republican bill is insufficient along each key dimension required to achieve real network neutrality, thereby dramatically departing from the network neutrality consensus that emerged over the past year. Thus, as currently written, the bill does not constitute an alternative to the adoption of meaningful network neutrality rules by the FCC under Title II of the Communications Act, coupled with appropriate forbearance.
ICT and Stress

With the growth in popularity and availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs), there has been a move toward a new Internet-influenced social environment, in which individuals are becoming increasingly embedded in an online social network that offers more relationships and resources which can be utilized to combat social-, economic-, and information-based problems. Yet with this move toward a new technology-centered social network comes a host of issues as well: individuals become socially obligated to devote time and energy to learning and mastering new technologies to remain “plugged in” to the evolving social network. In addition, being constantly available to social contacts through ICTs has the potential to increase workloads, as increased communication through ICTs can help dissolve typical boundaries between work and home, as well as between public and private life, thus forcing individuals to engage in work activities while with family and vice versa. As such, Internet connectivity and ICT use have the potential to contribute significantly to stress in both a positive and a negative fashion, which in turn can affect health. Keywords: ICT ; stress; technology
Modelling and simulation of integral decoupling capacitors in single and multichip module electronics packaging

In high-end packaging structures, switching currents of short pulse width and high clock rate generate significant Delta-I noise which can cause malfunctions of IC circuits. The trend of increasing packing density makes the integral decoupling capacitor preferable than the conventional discrete capacitor. Although integral decoupling capacitors have been proposed and already used in some packaging structures, their electrical performance has not been accurately modeled. This paper presents an efficient and accurate numerical technique for the simulation of Delta-I noise in multi-layer power and ground plane packaging structures containing integral decoupling capacitors. Various factors that determine the effectiveness of integral decoupling capacitors, such as their geometries and locations in packaging structures, are also studied. >
Equine laryngoplasty sutures undergo increased loading during coughing and swallowing.

Objectives: To report (1) the force required on a single laryngoplasty suture to achieve optimal abduction of the left arytenoid cartilage, (2) peak forces experienced by the suture during induced swallowing and coughing, and during 24-hour resting activity in a stall, and (3) peak forces during induced swallowing and coughing after left recurrent laryngeal nerve blockade. Study Design: Experimental study. Animals: Horses (n=8). Methods: Each laryngoplasty suture was instrumented with an E-type buckle force transducer to measure the force required for optimal intraoperative left arytenoid cartilage abduction. This was correlated with abduction observed postoperatively. Change in suture force from baseline was measured during induced coughing and swallowing, and during normal stall activity. Results: Optimal intraoperative arytenoid abduction was achieved with a mean (±SD) force of 27.6±7.5 N. During saline-induced swallowing and coughing mean force on the suture increased by 19.0±5.6 N (n=233 measurements; 7 horses) and 12.1±3.6 N (n=31; 4 horses), respectively. Sutures underwent increased loading a mean of 1152 times in 24 hours. No change in suture force was observed with respiratory rhythm. Conclusion: Swallowing increases laryngoplasty suture force to a greater extent than coughing.
Hydrogen abstraction by thermal hydrogen atoms at 10–30 K: Electron spin resonance evidence

Abstract The paper describes the direct and conclusive evidence that thermal H atoms abstract a hydrogen atom from the CH bond at cryogenic temperatures (10–30 K). It has been observed by ESR that thermal H atoms are trapped in CH 4 containing 0.5 mol% of C 2 H 6 when X-irradiated at 4.2 K and that upon warming to 10–20 K the trapped H atoms are freed and react selectively with C 2 H 6 forming C 2 H 5 radicals. The difference in the CH bond dissociation energies between CH 4 and C 2 H 6 must be responsible for this selectivity. The reaction of thermal H atoms at cryogenic temperatures is further confirmed by the 4.2 K photolysis of HI(0.15 mol%) in xenon matrices containing C 2 H 6 (0.75%). The H atoms trapped immediately after the photolysis are freed at 20–30 K and react with C 2 H 6 forming C 2 H 5 radicals. The tunnel effect must play an important role in the reactions at cryogenic temperatures.
Computationally Inexpensive Theoretical Thermochemistry

An approach to converting HF and DFT energies of molecules, ions, and radicals to standard enthalpies of formation (¢H° ) is presented. Employing a combination of atomic equivalents, bond density functions, and corrections for molecular charge and spin multiplicity, this new approach is capable of producing accurate enthalpy estimates for most organic and inorganic compounds of the first- and second-row elements. At the B3LYP/6-311G** level of theory, the average absolute errors in the computed values of (¢H°) amount to 1.6, 2.4, and 3.4 kcal/mol for the sets of 61 CH, 156 CHNOS, and 300 H...Cl species that include systems as small as the Cl - anion and as large as the C60 fullerene. Computationally inexpensive theoretical predictions of molecular thermochemistry with accuracy rivaling that of calorimetric measurements are now possible for compounds of interest to the broad audience of experimental chemists.
A circuit-based approach for the compensation of self-heating-induced timing errors in bipolar comparators

Self-heating effects in bipolar comparators manifest themselves as signal-dependent output transition timing variation. A circuit-based approach for the compensation of these effects is presented here. A comparator circuit utilizing the proposed compensation scheme has been designed, and simulation results comparing the timing accuracy of this comparator to that of an uncompensated comparator and of a comparator employing simplified compensation scheme are presented.
The biflavones of the cycadales revisited: Biflavones in Stangeria eriopus, Chigua restrepoi and 32 other species of cycadales

Abstract The biflavone patterns in leaves of 34 species of the Cycadales representing all of the 11 genera in three families were investigated. Known biflavones were isolated from Gingko biloba and Dioon spinulosum , and then used as internal standards for HPLC and TL analysis of leaf extracts. Biflavone patterns in the new genus Chigua were found to be closely related to those detected in Zamia . Four specimens of Stangeria eriopus were all found to exhibit complex patterns of biflavones. Most members of the Zamiaceae were found to contain hinokiflavone. A first attempt of the chemotaxonomic re-evaluation of biflavone patterns in the Cycadales is made.
Carcinogenic potential of hycanthone in mice and hamsters

Hycanthone was administered to Schistosoma mansoni-infected and non-infected Syrian golden hamsters and Swiss mice by intraperitoneal and intramuscular injection of amounts up to the maximum tolerated dose. No tumors attributable to treatment were observed in hamsters. In infected mice, the overall incidence of hepatomas and hepatocellular carcinomas increased from 3.4% in untreated mice to 10.6% in those treated with hycanthone. Non-infected control mice developed 0.8% of these tumors compared to 10.2% in mice treated with hycanthone. Despite the use of high dose levels of hycanthone, statistical significance was attained only with non-infected female mice injected intraperitoneally and intramuscularly with hycanthone and then only at confidence levels of 92 and 95% respectively.
The after-death call to family members: academic perspectives.

Objective The authors discuss clinical and teaching aspects of a telephone call by the treating clinician to family members after a patient dies.
Teacher as Change Agent: Considering Instructional Practice to Prevent Student Failure

In school, teachers have no control over the selection of students whom they are assigned to teach. Each classroom is characterized by students who are unique by their age, skill level, background,...
The Impact of Number of Students per Teacher on Student Achievement

Abstract Effectiveness of teachers has a crucial place in education and it is usually evaluated based on students’ achievement. The focus of teacher effectiveness has been primarily on quality of teachers and how teachers instruct. However, there are external factors that influence teachers’ effectiveness like the number of students per teacher. The goal of this study was to identify if there is a significant correlation between number of students per teacher and students’ achievement. In the study, the data for the number of students per teacher was obtained by dividing the total number of students in high schools by the total number of teachers in high schools in every city of Turkey. The data for students’ achievement was based on each city's achievement ranking on Turkey's Transition to Higher Education Exam. Spearman Rho's analysis was conducted to see if there is a correlation between these variables. The result of the analysis showed a significant correlation of -.561. This moderate negative correlation between the student teacher ratio and achievement revealed that the cities with greater number of students per teacher tend to have a low achievement on Turkey's Transition to Higher Education Examon. The result suggested more teachers should be hired in order to decrease the number of students per teacher so that students’ achievement can enhance.
Human factors and software reuse: the manager's impact

While some of software engineering's basic assumptions seem intuitive, the need for scientific experimentation remains clear. Empirical validation is the hallmark of a mature scientific or engineering discipline. However, little precise experimentation is performed in computer science, especially in the area of software engineering. Several assumptions are made about the factors affecting software reuse, specifically concerning the role of human factors such as managerial influence. This paper describes the results of a controlled experiment designed to evaluate the impact of human factors on software reuse. The experiment concludes that (1) software reuse promotes higher productivity than no reuse, (2) reuse resulting from both moderate and strong encouragement promote higher productivity than no reuse, and (3) while strong managerial encouragement did not create a significant difference in productivity, it does tend to promote improper reuse activities.
Improved two-stage tests for stratified phase II cancer clinical trials.

In a single-arm, two-stage, phase II cancer clinical trial for efficacy screening of cytotoxic agents, a common primary endpoint is a binary (yes/no) patient response to treatment. Usually, fixed decision boundaries are used in binomial tests to determine whether the study treatment is promising enough to be studied in a large-scale, randomized phase III trial. We may know in advance that the patient response distribution for a phase II clinical trial will be heterogeneous, making it advisable to stratify patients into subgroups, each with a different prognosis. In this case, fixed decision boundaries may be inappropriate. In this article, we propose two-stage tests based on the Neyman-Pearson lemma. The proposed test statistic is a linear combination of the observed number of responders in each stratum. The test allows adjustment of the decision boundaries to the observed numbers of patients in each stratum and permits sample sizes to be increased adaptively after the originally planned number of patients is observed at each of the two stages. Our numerical results show that the proposed test is more powerful than an existing test in many cases. Finally, we present an application to a Children’s Oncology Group (COG) phase II clinical trial in patients who relapsed after initial treatment for neuroblastoma.
High laser-resistant multilayer mirrors by nodular defect planarization [invited]

Substrate defect planarization has been shown to increase the laser resistance of 1053 nm mirror coatings to greater than 100 J/cm2, an increase of 20-fold, when tested with 10 ns laser pulses. Substrate surface particles that are overcoated with optical interference mirror coatings become nodular defects, which behave as microlenses intensifying light into the defect structure. By a discrete process of angle-dependent ion etching and unidirectional ion-beam deposition, substrate defects can be reduced in cross-sectional area by over 90%.
HMMEditor: a visual editing tool for profile hidden Markov model

Background Profile Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is a powerful statistical model to represent a family of DNA, RNA, and protein sequences. Profile HMM has been widely used in bioinformatics research such as sequence alignment, gene structure prediction, motif identification, protein structure prediction, and biological database search. However, few comprehensive, visual editing tools for profile HMM are publicly available.
Chto delat'?: World War I in Russian Historiography after Communism

This article investigates the lack of Russian-language monographs about the Russian participation in the First World War. Discussing a number of recent and older works that have been published, the article suggests that the surprising lack of Russian interest has much to do with the continued unease felt in Russia about the Great War. This does not fit into the heroic image Russians (and particularly the current government) prefer to cherish about their past. The article in addition supplies the reader with a fairly comprehensive overview of recent English-language as well as Soviet, emigre, and post-Soviet Russian-language works on Russia in the Great War.
Centriole Duplication: Centrin in on Answers?

Many aspects of centriole biology remain mysterious. A new study has shed light on the role of the centriolar protein centrin-2: reducing levels of centrin-2 in HeLa cells has been found to block centriole duplication, eventually leading to cell death.
SOPHE’s Resolution to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: Process and Recommendations for Accountability

Health disparities are in the forefront of the public health agenda. Eliminating health disparities is one of two primary goals set for 2010. The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) has committed to working toward this effort in a variety of ways, including the development of a resolution to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health. This article describes the steps that were taken in the development of the resolution and offers recommendations to ensure that the action’s steps are conducted. Additionally, recommendations for other actions that can affect health disparities are offered. As a professional organization, SOPHE is in a prime position to lead the way on a number of activities designed to eliminate health disparities.
The Multiple Determinants of Religious Behaviors and Spiritual Beliefs on Well-Being

The potential relationships among religious behaviors, spiritual beliefs, and well-being were investigated. Specifically, a canonical correlation analysis was used to explore the extent to which a set of religious and spiritual variables correlated with a set of well-being variables of general happiness, marital satisfaction, and physical health. The results demonstrated that the first two canonical dimensions Rc(1) = .166 and Rc(2) = .138, respectively, yielded noteworthy canonical correlations. The findings suggested important similarities and differences among various religious, spirituality, and well-being constructs that clearly warranted implications for counselors and other human service providers.
Comparison of bovine sperm capacitation systems for ability of sperm to penetrate zona-free hamster oocytes and bovine oocytes matured in vitro.

Abstract Sperm from the same ejaculate were capacitated in calcium-free Tyrode's, modified Tyrode's with bovine follicular fluid or heparin, and TEST-yolk. Capacitated sperm were coincubated with zona-free hamster oocytes at 37°C for 3 h or with bovine cumulus-enclosed oocytes matured in vitro for 8 h at 37 or 39°C. Bovine oocytes were transferred to fertilization medium and incubated for 72 h at 37 or 39°C. Penetration of zona-free hamster oocytes was highest in calcium-free Tyrode's (53.7%), followed by Tyrode's with follicular fluid (50.6%), TEST-yolk (48.6%), and Tyrode's with heparin (34.2%). Penetration of bovine cumulus-enclosed oocytes matured in vitro at 37°C was highest with heparin (48.1%), followed by TEST-yolk (35.0%), calcium-free Tyrode's (32.5%), and follicular fluid (26.4%). Sperm capacitation with heparin, assayed by penetration of bovine oocytes at 39% was better at 39°C (77.1%) than at 37°C (46.1%). However, penetration rates in calcium-free Tyrode's and TEST-yolk were higher at 37°C. The capacitation system with heparin at 39°C and bovine oocytes was best followed by the systems using TEST-yolk and calcium-free Tyrode's at 37°C.
Development of recombinant-based mass spectrometric immunoassay with application to resistin expression profiling

This report addresses the need for additional assays for human resistin (hRES) by developing a rational progression of the mass spectrometric immunoassay to incorporate recombinant proteins. The recombinant-based hRES mass spectrometric immunoassay (RES-MSIA) was initially developed for the qualitative analysis of the human resistin homodimer from normal (healthy) plasma samples. The method involved selective extraction and detection of both endogenous and recombinant resistant proteins. RES-MSIA was then applied to the rigorous quantification of resistin. The resistin standard addition curve was constructed from serially diluted concentrations of rhRES using endogenous hRES, inherent in the human plasma, as the internal reference standard (IRS). The roles of endogenous and recombinant resistin were subsequently reversed, using rhRES as the IRS during RES-MSIA quantification. Concurrently, the relative ratio of hRES to rhRES was used as an ancillary technique to rapidly determine the relative concentration of hRES in each of plasma samples. Overall, normal hRES levels determined by RES-MSIA were found to be comparable to those selected and determined by ELISA. With regard to gender, female donor samples were slightly elevated over males. Four single cardiac samples were analyzed and found to have hRES concentrations approximately three times that of the normal. The recombinant-based RES-MSIA is rapid and is amendable to parallel high-throughput robotic processing of resistin related disease cohorts.
Methods in calibration and error analysis for infrared imaging radiometers

Various methods for the calibration and error estimation of imaging radiometers are described. The methodologies are presented in the form of specific examples of the calibration of the Naval Research Laboratory's airborne infrared (IR) radiometric measurement system. Two imaging radiometers are part of this system and are used to perform radiometric measurements on a variety of targets and backgrounds over a spectral range of 3 to 12 μm. The calibration procedures for these radiometers are presented along with an extensive error analysis that examines in detail 16 different sources of error. Such an error analysis clearly illustrates the need for proper calibration procedures.