cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cystic fibrosis patients with and without central nervous system complications following lung transplantation.

Central nervous system (CNS) complications occur more frequently in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients than other lung transplant recipients. The purpose of this study was to compare CF patients with and without CNS complications following lung transplantation, to identify risk factors for CNS events. Records of 21 patients with CF who underwent lung transplant between 1991-1996 were reviewed. Data were collected on multiple variables, including: age at transplant; gender; cytomegalovirus (CMV) status; cholesterol and triglyceride levels; sinusitis; percent ideal body weight (IBW); body mass index (BMI); augmented immunosuppression, acute lung rejection episodes (ALR); cyclosporine doses; electrolytes; magnesium, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and creatinine levels; and 6-month survival. CNS complications identified were seizures, severe headaches (HA), strokes, or confusional episodes. Eleven of 21 patients (52%) with CF had CNS events: eight had seizures, five HA, three strokes, and one confusional episode. There was no difference in age at transplant, pretransplant percent IBW or BMI, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, or number of ALR. CMV mismatch and clinical sinusitis had no effect. Cyclosporine doses did not differ between groups at 30 days, or 3 or 6 months posttransplant. Both BUN and creatinine concentrations showed a rise over time that did not differ between groups. Potassium levels were within normal limits for both groups. While sodium levels did not differ between groups pretransplant, or at 30 days or 6 months posttransplant, a decrease in sodium values was seen at the time of CNS events. There was no difference in 6-month survival. We could not identify any pre- or posttransplant risk factors that predicted CNS events. It is likely that cyclosporine toxicity is the major cause of CNS complications. Despite the high rate of CNS events, the overall prognosis was good, and 6-month survival was not affected.
The selection of supply chain management projects: A case study approach

Organizations undertake strategic supply chain initiatives through project implementation. However, selecting the right supply chain projects can be difficult due to high levels of organizational risk and technical complexity. Although the literature is rich in quantitative and qualitative methods for project management, prior research into best management practices specific to supply chain management (SCM) project selection is limited. This paper examines the methods used in evaluating and selecting SCM projects used by the management at three publically held multi-national organizations. The primary objective of this research is to identify a set of generalizable good practices in the selection and evaluation of SCM projects. Nine useful business practices in SCM project selection have been identified based on cross-case comparisons and a close examination of the literature. Eight practices had been previously identified, but were scattered throughout the literature on ERP, IT management, and R&D management. A new practice calls for the consideration of supply chain partners’ return-on-investment (ROI) in the project selection process. Highest preference should be given to win-win projects for the organization and its partner(s). The practices identified here sho`uld provide the foundation of practical guidelines that can be used during the planning stage of SCM projects. This paper reduces the knowledge gap in SCM project management by analyzing organizations with significant supply chain experience and synthesizing these results with the current related literature.
A numerical bayesian test for cointegration of AR processes

Abstract Bayesian Monte Carlo techniques are used to develop a posterior odds ratio test for cointegration which centers directly on the system dynamics implied by the model parameters — in particular on the number of nonstationary roots in the system. The procedure accounts for prior information concerning the probability of cointegration, the order of integration of the individual series, and the lag length necessary to model the series. An empirical example is provided using a set of foreign exchange rates. The posterior odds show little support for cointegration among the exchange rates tested.
Dielectric properties of cyanate ester/silicon nanocomposites for multifunctional structural capacitors

Novel composites performing both dielectric and mechanical functions have a potential application in vehicle structures of both energy storage and load bearing capacity, leading to reduction in weight and associated energy costs. Multifunctional silicon nanoparticles/bisphenol E cyanate ester (Si/BECy) nanocomposites were synthesized and their dielectric properties were investigated. Si nanospheres, with average diameter 130 nm, were homogenized with BECy monomers for composite synthesis at 18 and 40 wt.%, corresponding to 10 and 26 vol.%, respectively. The effect of these Si nanofillers on dielectric behavior of BECy matrix was investigated using broadband dielectric spectroscopy from 10−2 to 10−6 Hz at temperatures from −100 to 260 °C. The dielectric spectra were modeled by a combination of Havriliak-Negami functions and a power-law conductivity dependence. The Arrhenius plot of characteristic frequencies reveals a β- and a γ-relaxation of Si/BECy composites and neat BECy. The temperature dependence of these relaxations obeys the Arrhenius law, showing significantly decreased activation energies with Si loading compared to those of neat BECy.
Microcomputer adoption—the impact of organizational size and structure

Abstract Data collected from twenty-one firms were used to study the impact of organizational size and structure on the adoption of microcomputers in those firms. The results show that both size and structure had a significant impact on the adoption of microcomputers. Organizational size was measured as the organization's annual sales. The structural characteristics were measured as organizational links (lateral relations) between the information systems area and users of microcomputer technology.
Design Guidelines for Routing Metrics in Multihop Wireless Networks

The design of a routing protocol must be based on the characteristics of its target networks. The diversity of wireless networks motivates the design of different routing metrics, capturing different aspects of wireless communications. The design of routing metrics, however, is not arbitrary since it has a great impact on the proper operation of routing protocols. Combining a wrong type of routing metrics with a routing protocol may result in routing loops and suboptimal paths. In this paper, we thoroughly study the relationship between routing metrics and routing protocols. Our work provides important guidelines for designing routing metrics and identifies the specific properties that a routing metric must have in order to be combined with certain type of routing protocols.
Hobbes and the Congo: Frames, Local Violence, and International Intervention

Why do international peacebuilders fail to address the local causes of peace process failures? The existing explanations of peacebuilding failures, which focus on constraints and vested interests, do not explain the international neglect of local conflict+ In this article, I show how discursive frames shape international inter- vention and preclude international action on local violence+ Drawing on more than 330 interviews, multi-sited ethnography, and document analysis, I develop a case study of the Democratic Republic of Congo's transition from war to peace and democ- racy ~2003-2006!+ I demonstrate that local agendas played a decisive role in sus- taining local, national, and regional violence+ However, a postconflict peacebuilding frame shaped the international understanding of violence and intervention in such a way that local conflict resolution appeared irrelevant and illegitimate+ This frame included four key elements: international actors labeled the Congo a "postconflict" situation; they believed that violence there was innate and therefore acceptable even in peacetime; they conceptualized international intervention as exclusively con- cerned with the national and international realms; and they saw holding elections, as opposed to local conflict resolution, as a workable, appropriate, and effective tool for state- and peacebuilding+ This frame authorized and justified specific prac- tices and policies while precluding others, notably local conflict resolution, ulti- mately dooming the peacebuilding efforts+ In conclusion, I contend that analyzing discursive frames is a fruitful approach to the puzzle of international peacebuilding failures beyond the Congo+
Alignment-free protein interaction network comparison

Motivation: Biological network comparison software largely relies on the concept of alignment where close matches between the nodes of two or more networks are sought. These node matches are based on sequence similarity and/or interaction patterns. However, because of the incomplete and error-prone datasets currently available, such methods have had limited success. Moreover, the results of network alignment are in general not amenable for distance-based evolutionary analysis of sets of networks. In this article, we describe Netdis, a topology-based distance measure between networks, which offers the possibility of network phylogeny reconstruction. Results: We first demonstrate that Netdis is able to correctly separate different random graph model types independent of network size and density. The biological applicability of the method is then shown by its ability to build the correct phylogenetic tree of species based solely on the topology of current protein interaction networks. Our results provide new evidence that the topology of protein interaction networks contains information about evolutionary processes, despite the lack of conservation of individual interactions. As Netdis is applicable to all networks because of its speed and simplicity, we apply it to a large collection of biological and non-biological networks where it clusters diverse networks by type. Availability and implementation: The source code of the program is freely available at http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/research/proteins/resources. Contact: ku.ca.xo.stats@ila.w Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Financial development and economic growth: Additional evidence

This note suggests that, contrary to the conclusions reached in several recent studies, the empirical evidence does not support the view that financial development promotes economic growth. It is first noted that the predominant pattern in the data for 95 individual countries is that of a negligible or weakly negative covariation between financial development and growth of real GDP per capita. Second, the individual‐country correlational picture is a sharp contrast to the correlations based on crosscountry data that have been used in most research on the subject. Third, individual‐country estimates of a basic multiple‐regression growth model also do not indicate a positive association between financial development and growth. Fourth, in cross‐country data and models of the kind that have been used in most studies, when the regression structure is permitted to vary across three subgroups, a huge parametric heterogeneity is observed, and the overall indication is that of a negligible or negative association...
Direct psychophysical estimates of the cone-pigment absorption spectra

The absorption spectra of the long- and medium-wavelength-sensitive cone photopigments were derived by determining the spectra that best accounted for either the individual differences in the Stiles-Burch 100 color matches [Opt. Acta 6, 1 (1959)] or the changes in color matches at high light levels due to photopigment bleaching [Vision Res. 20, 23 (1980)]. The estimates were made by finding the best-fitting coefficients for an 11th-order polynomial function of wavelength, with no requirement that the resulting sensitivities be consistent with the color-matching functions. The estimates are independent of the scaling effects of any inert screening filters and therefore directly reflect the photopigment sensitivities. The spectra implied by the differences in the matches are similar to the absorption spectra of Smith et al. [Vision Res. 16,1087 (1976)], which were used as initial estimates. However, the peak sensitivity of the required long-wavelength-sensitive pigment is shifted toward slightly longer wavelengths.
Altering Conception of Dairy Cattle by Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Preceding Luteolysis Induced by Prostaglandin F2α

Abstract The objective of these experiments was to determine the effect on fertility of GnRH when used in conjunction with one or two injections of PGF 2α . In Experiment 1, GnRH was administered 7 d before the second of two injections of PGF 2α (14 d apart). The control group received two injections of PGF 2α without GnRH. Conception was reduced from 63.5% for 74 controls to 48.7% for the 79 heifers and cows that had been treated with GnRH, but estrus detection and pregnancy rates were similar. In Experiment 2, 85 heifers and cows received GnRH at a random stage of the estrous cycle, followed in 7 d by PGF 2α . Thirty to 32h after PGF 2α , a second dose of GnRH was given to induce ovulation of the preovulatory follicle, followed by one fixed-time insemination 18 to 19h later (treatment designated as GnRH, PGF 2α , and GnRH). Controls (n = 85) were given PGF 2α and inseminated at estrus. Although conception rate was not different, one fixed-time insemination after the GnRH, PGF 2α , and GnRH treatment tended (35.3%) to reduce fertility compared with effects of the control (47.1%). It is unclear how an injection of GnRH during the intervening week between two injections of PGF 2α reduced fertility in Experiment 1. However, in Experiment 2, when GnRH was given 7 d before one injection of PGF 2α and when ovulation was induced with a second GnRH injection, one fixed-time insemination seemed to produce acceptable fertility in dairy cows but probably less than that when inseminations were based on detected estrus.
Novel insulin/GIP co-producing cell lines provide unexpected insights into Gut K-cell function in vivo.

Enteroendocrine (EE) cells represent complex, rare, and diffusely-distributed intestinal epithelial cells making them difficult to study in vivo. A specific sub-population of EE cells called Gut K-cells produces and secretes glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP), a hormone important for glucose homeostasis. The factors that regulate hormone production and secretion, as well as the timing of peptide release, are remarkably similar for K-cells and islet β-cells suggesting engineering insulin production by K-cells is a potential gene therapeutic strategy to treat diabetes. K-cell lines could be used to study the feasibility of this potential therapy and to understand Gut K-cell physiology in general. Heterogeneous STC-1 cells were transfected with a plasmid (pGIP/Neo) encoding neomycin phosphotransferase, driven by the GIP promoter-only cells in which the GIP promoter was active survived genetic selection. Additional clones expressing pGIP/Neo plus a GIP promoter/insulin transgene were isolated—only doubly transfected cells produced preproinsulin mRNA. Bioactive insulin was stored and then released following stimulation with arginine, peptones, and bombesin—physiological GIP secretagogues. Like K-cells in vivo, the GIP/insulin-producing cells express the critical glucose sensing enzyme, glucokinase. However, glucose did not regulate insulin or GIP secretion or mRNA levels. Conversely, glyceraldehyde and methyl-pyruvate were secretagogues, indicating cells depolarized in response to changes in intracellular metabolite levels. Potassium channel opening drugs and sulphonylureas had little effect on insulin secretion by K-cells. The K-cell lines also express relatively low levels of Kir 6.1, Kir 6.2, SUR1, and SUR2 suggesting secretion is independent of KATP channels. These results provided unexpected insights into K-cell physiology and our experimental strategy could be easily modified to isolate/characterize additional EE cell populations. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Direct and indirect requirements of Shh/Gli signaling in early pituitary development

Induction of early pituitary progenitors is achieved through combined activities of signals from adjacent embryonic tissues. Previous studies have identified a requirement for oral ectoderm derived Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) in specification and/or proliferation of early pituitary progenitors, however how different Gli genes mediate Shh signaling to control pituitary progenitor development has not yet been determined. Here we show that Gli2, which encodes a major Gli activator, is required for proliferation of specific groups of pituitary progenitors but not for initial dorsoventral patterning. We further show that the action of Gli2 occurs prior to the closure of Rathke' pouch. Lastly, we show that Shh/Gli2 signaling controls the diencephalic expression of Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (Bmp4) and Fibroblast growth factor 8 (Fgf8), two genes that are known to play critical roles in patterning and growth of Rathke's pouch. Our results therefore suggest both cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous requirements for Gli2 in regulation of pituitary progenitor specification, proliferation and differentiation.
Galactoside-Binding Site in LacY

Although an X-ray crystal structure of lactose permease (LacY) has been presented with bound galactopyranoside, neither the sugar nor the residues ligating the sugar can be identified with precision at ∼3.5 A. Therefore, additional evidence is important for identifying side chains likely to be involved in binding. On the basis of a clue from site-directed alkylation suggesting that Asn272, Gly268, and Val264 on one face of helix VIII might participate in galactoside binding, molecular dynamics simulations were conducted initially. The simulations indicate that Asn272 (helix VIII) is sufficiently close to the galactopyranosyl ring of a docked lactose analogue to play an important role in binding, the backbone at Gly268 may be involved, and Val264 does not interact with the bound sugar. When the three side chains are subjected to site-directed mutagenesis, with the sole exception of mutant Asn272 → Gln, various other replacements for Asn272 either markedly decrease affinity for the substrate (i.e., high KD) or abolish binding altogether. However, mutant Gly268 → Ala exhibits a moderate 8-fold decrease in affinity, and binding by mutant Val264 → Ala is affected only minimally. Thus, Asn272 and possibly Gly268 may comprise additional components of the galactoside-binding site in LacY.
Steel dust in the New York City subway system as a source of manganese, chromium, and iron exposures for transit workers

The United States Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 reflected increasing concern about potential effects of low-level airborne metal exposure on a wide array of illnesses. Here we summarize results demonstrating that the New York City (NYC) subway system provides an important microenvironment for metal exposures for NYC commuters and subway workers and also describe an ongoing pilot study of NYC transit workers’ exposure to steel dust. Results from the TEACH (Toxic Exposure Assessment, a Columbia and Harvard) study in 1999 of 41 high-school students strongly suggest that elevated levels of iron, manganese, and chromium in personal air samples were due to exposure to steel dust in the NYC subway. Airborne concentrations of these three metals associated with fine particulate matter were observed to be more than 100 times greater in the subway environment than in home indoor or outdoor settings in NYC. While there are currently no known health effects at the airborne levels observed in the subway system, the primary aim of the ongoing pilot study is to ascertain whether the levels of these metals in the subway air affect concentrations of these metals or related metabolites in the blood or urine of exposed transit workers, who due to their job activities could plausibly have appreciably higher exposures than typical commuters. The study design involves recruitment of 40 transit workers representing a large range in expected exposures to steel dust, the collection of personal air samples of fine particulate matter, and the collection of blood and urine samples from each monitored transit worker.
A Flexible and Scaleable Methodology for Testing High Speed Source Synchronous Interfaces on ATE with Multiple Fixed Phase Capture and Compare

The increasing bandwidth requirements of mainstream computing and consumer products, as well as the inefficiency of embedded clock interfaces in terms of latency, protocol overhead and power requirements have caused the traditional source synchronous interfaces like DRAM memory to break the Gigabit range. Above 1Gbps dynamic effects like drift and jitter might become critical for traditional test approaches. At the same time the usage of dedicated source synchronous ATE HW solutions is challenged by the economic pressure and the flexibility requirements. This paper describes a new test methodology based on traditional ATE architecture which can deliver both, detailed characterization results or just a pass/ fail decision for a parametric validation in production - depending on the actual test requirement.
Assessing Counseling Competencies A Comparison of Supervisors’ Ratings and Student Supervisees’ Self-Ratings

Gatekeeping within the counseling profession involves the assessment of competencies, including self-assessment. This study compares student supervisor ratings and student supervisee self-ratings o...
Bandits and 'bad characters': law as anthropological practice in Cyprus, c. 1900

In the handbook for Cypriot police officers published in 1896 by the island's British colonial administration, there is a passage that appears at first innocuous but that had important resonances for the development of legal and political statuses in Cyprus of the period. Under the section “Police Duties” and the subheading “Constables,” the handbook notes that “[c]onstables are expected to possess such knowledge of the inhabitants of their District as to enable them readily to recognize them. They are to be instructed to watch unceasingly all persons having no visible means of support, and obtain knowledge of all suspected thieves, idle and disorderly persons, and disorderly houses.”
A systematic approach to the design of digital bussing structures

Busses are vital elements of a digital system---they interconnect registers, functional modules, subsystems, and systems. As technological advances raise system complexity and connectivity, busses are being recognized as primary architectural resources which can frequently be the limiting factor in performance, modularity, and reliability. The traditional view of bussing as just an ad hoc way of hooking things together can no longer be relied upon to produce even viable much less cost-effective solutions to these increasingly sophisticated interconnect problems.
Site-Specific Trade-offs of Harvesting Cereal Residues as Biofuel Feedstocks in Dryland Annual Cropping Systems of the Pacific Northwest, USA

Cereal residues are considered an important feedstock for future biofuel production. Harvesting residues, however, could lead to serious soil degradation and impaired agroecosystem services. Our objective was to evaluate trade-offs of harvesting wheat and barley residues including impacts on soil erosion and quality, soil organic C (SOC), and nutrient removal. We used agricultural data from 369 geo-referenced points on the 37-ha Washington State University Cook Agronomy Farm combined with model simulations to develop straw harvest scenarios for conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT) and both 2- and 3-year crop rotations with sequences of wheat, barley, and peas. Site-specific estimates of ethanol production from 2- and 3-year rotation scenarios ranged from 681 to 1,541 L ha−1 yr−1, indicating that both crop rotation and site-specific targeting of residue harvest are important factors. Harvesting straw reduced residue C inputs by 46 % and resulted in levels below that required to maintain SOC under CT. This occurred as a function of both straw harvest and low residue producing crops in rotation. Harvesting straw under CT was predicted to reduce soil quality as Soil Conditioning Indices (SCIs) were negative throughout the field. In contrast, SCIs under NT were positive despite straw harvest. Replacement value of nutrients (N, P, K, S) removed in harvested straw averaged $14.54 Mg−1 dry straw and ranged from $36.04 to $80.30 ha−1, while straw harvesting costs averaged $34.25 Mg−1, and the current (2014) market value of straw is $65 Mg−1. We concluded that substantial trade-offs exist in harvesting straw for biofuel, that trade-offs should be evaluated on a site-specific basis, and that support practices such as crop rotation, reduced tillage, and site-specific nutrient management need to be considered if residue harvest is to be sustainable.
Acrocyanosis: The Flying Dutchman

Acrocyanosis is symmetric, painless, discoloration of different shades of blue in the distal parts of the body that is marked by symmetry, relative persistence of the skin color changes with aggravation by cold exposure, and frequent association with local hyperhidrosis of hands and feet. Described over a century ago and despite seeming familiarity, it remains a poorly understood condition that shares much in clinical presentation with other conditions characterized by skin color changes in the distal parts of the body. The diagnosis remains mostly clinical, and pathological mechanisms vary suggesting that acrocyanosis may not be a single entity. We performed an extensive literature review to summarize existing knowledge about the demographics, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of this condition.
Explaining User Satisfaction with Academic Libraries: Strategic Implications

Competitive pressures, information availability, rising costs, and an increasingly aware and selective student population mandate that academic libraries become more user focused. This calls for a better understanding of the specific needs of library users in order to provide the appropriate type and level of service that meets those needs. This study proposes and tests a five-factor model to explain user satisfaction with academic libraries. Students availing the services of three academic libraries in Erie, Pennsylvania, were surveyed over a period of three semesters. The model explained 64 percent of the variation in the dependent variable. Strategic implications of the proposed model are discussed.
Strong coherence between heart rate variability and intracardiac repolarization lability during biventricular pacing is associated with reverse electrical remodeling of the native conduction and improved outcome

Abstract Background Reverse electrical remodeling (RER) of the native conduction with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is associated with decreased mortality and antiarrhythmic effect of CRT. Still, mechanisms of RER are largely unknown. In this study, we explored repolarization lability during biventricular pacing. Methods and Results The width of native QRS was measured in lead II electrocardiogram before and at least 6 months after implantation of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillator (CRT-D) devices (Medtronic, Inc [Minneapolis, MN, USA] and Boston Scientific Corporate [Natick, MA, USA]) in 69 patients (mean age, 66.3 ± 13.9 years; 39 men [83%]) with either bundle-branch block (44 patients [64%]) or nonspecific intraventricular conduction delay (25 patients [36%]) and New York Heart Association class III and IV heart failure. Narrowing of the native QRS duration for at least 10 milliseconds was considered a marker of RER. Beat-to-beat QT variability and coherence was measured on surface electrocardiogram and intracardiac near-field electrogram during biventricular pacing. Reverse electrical remodeling was observed in 22 patients (32%) in whom coherence between heart rate variability and intracardiac repolarization lability was stronger (0.483 ± 0.243 vs 0.237 ± 0.146, P = .018) and normalized intracardiac QT variance was smaller (0.28 ± 0.0031 vs 0.46 ± 0.0048, P = .049), as compared with that in patients without RER. During a further 24 ± 13 months of follow-up, 21 patients (33%) died or experienced sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT)/ventricular fibrillation. Low intracardiac coherence (≤0.116) was associated with increased risk of death or sustained VT/VT (hazard ratio, 4.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.51-12.40; P = .006). Conclusion Strong coherence between heart rate variability and intracardiac repolarization lability during biventricular pacing is associated with RER of the native conduction with CRT. Low coherence is associated with increased risk of VT/ventricular fibrillation or death.
B2B Markets: Procuremen and Supplier Risk Management in E-Business

This chapter clarifies some of the different types of efficiencies that can be achieved in B2B electronic commerce. We focus on the risk management aspects of these efficiencies, especially those pertaining to supplier or supply chain management related costs. This novel approach incorporates risk management by combining the traditional collaborative framework (of reservation capacity and associated pricing) with a dynamic spot market, both of which are Web-based. By way of contrast, in prior research and industrial use, these two supply modes of collaborative commerce and spot market, have been used separately, in a non-integrated way. We develop a framework that draws upon our research, as well as that of others, suitably adapted by us to this context and interpreted to provide insights into the economics of B2B commerce against this backdrop. We also point out open questions and identify new research directions.
Federalism, Consumer Protection and Regulatory Preemption: A Case for Heightened Judicial Review

This Article explores agency power to preempt state consumer protection legislation. It presents a case study of preemption based on an aggressive posture toward non-acquiescence on the part of the Comptroller of the Currency. The non-acquiescence documented is not only to the uniform decisions of the circuit courts, but also to the United States Supreme Court's statements of the law governing conflict preemption in the field of banking law. The case study also documents agency non-acquiescence to the stated intent of Congress, whenever available in a statute's legislative history. This aggressive posture toward non-acquiescence is a troubling assertion of executive power because of the lack of effective judicial review. The Article documents that under the Chevron deferential standard of review, executive power to broadly set aside state law will not be effectively restrained. The conclusion is that heightened judicial review is justified at least when an agency exhibits that it has not acted as an unbiased forum for the claims of affected industry members, consumers and state governments.
Design, Additive Manufacture, and Control of a Pneumatic MR-Compatible Needle Driver

This paper reports the design, modeling, and control of an MR-compatible actuation unit comprising pneumatic stepper mechanisms. One helix-shaped bellows and one toroid-shaped bellows were designed to actuate in pure rotation and pure translation, respectively. The actuation unit is a 2-degree-of-freedom (DOF) needle driver that translates and rotates the base of one tube of a steerable needle like a concentric tube robot. For safety, mechanical stops limit needle motion to maximum unplanned step sizes of 0.5 mm and 0.5°. Additively manufactured by selective laser sintering, the flexible fluidic actuating (FFA) mechanism achieves 2-DOF motion as a monolithic, compact, and hermetically sealed device. A second novel contribution is substep control for precise translations and rotations less than full-step increments; steady-state errors of 0.013 mm and 0.018° were achieved. The linear FFA produced peak forces of 33 and –26.5 N for needle insertion and retraction, respectively. The rotary FFA produced bidirectional peak torques of 68 N·mm. With the FFAs in full motion in a 3-T scanner, no loss in signal-to-noise ratio of MR images observed.
Consumption of raw, but not cooked, cruciferous vegetables and reduction of bladder cancer risk

B47 Cruciferous vegetables contain isothiocyanates (ITCs), which show potent chemopreventive activity against bladder cancer in both in vitro and in vivo studies. However, previous epidemiological studies investigating cruciferous vegetable intake and bladder cancer risk have been inconsistent. Cooking can substantially reduce or destroy ITCs, and could account for study inconsistencies. In this hospital-based case-control study involving 275 individuals with incident, primary bladder cancer and 825 individuals without cancer, we examined usual pre-diagnostic intake of raw and cooked cruciferous vegetables in relation to bladder cancer risk. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated with unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for smoking and other bladder cancer risk factors. We observed a strong and statistically significant inverse association between bladder cancer risk and raw cruciferous vegetables (adjusted OR for highest vs. lowest category= 0.57, 95% CI = 0.38-0.84), with a clear dose-response trend (P = 0.004); there were no significant associations for fruit, total vegetables, or total cruciferous vegetables. The reduced risks observed for total raw crucifers were also observed for individual raw crucifer. The inverse associations were stronger in current smokers and heavy smokers. Risk reduction was greatest among non-smokers with three or more servings per month of raw cruciferous vegetables (adjusted OR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.13-0.56). These data indicate that cruciferous vegetables, when consumed raw, may reduce risk of bladder cancer, a protective effect consistent with a role of dietary ITCs as chemopreventive agents against bladder cancer.
Expansion of immature thymic precursor cells in peripheral blood after acute marrow suppression.

Leukemoid reactions occur in response to a number of infectious agents and sometimes may be associated with bone marrow suppression. After acute suppression of the bone marrow, a resurgent hyperplasia occurs that may appear as synchronous maturation of a single cell type. The authors describe the case of a 13-year-old child in whom a remarkable lymphocytosis developed during a period of pancytopenia associated with a febrile syndrome resembling Ehrlichiosis. Most of these lymphoid cells were morphologically similar to large granular lymphocytes (LGLs), but many appeared to be less mature. Immunophenotypic studies demonstrated most of these lymphoid cells to be immature T cells at an “intermediate” or “transitional” stage of thymocyte differentiation characterized by the CD1¯ CD3+CD4¯CD8¯; phenotype, as well as positivity for nuclear terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase. In T-cell ontogeny, this stage represents a transition between thymic precursors and mature thymocytes. Their presence in the peripheral blood of this child is thought to represent a lymphocytic leukemoid response to his infection. Cases such as this may be confused with malignancy.
QUALITATIVE STABILITY CONCEPT FROM ECOLOGY AND ITS USE IN THE ROBUST STABILITY ANALYSIS OF LINEAR INTERVAL PARAMETER SYSTEMS

Abstract The paper first reviews the fundamentals related to ‘Qualitative (or Sign) Stability’ of Ecology including the necessary and sufficient conditions for qualitative stability, along with the associated ‘color test'. Then the problem of robust stability analysis of interval parameter matrices is addressed and then using the tool of ‘qualitative stability', a simple sufficient condition for robust stability of a class of interval matrices is obtained. Then the case of matrices in which the interval parameters enter nonlinearly into the entries is considered and again using the qualitative stability of Ecology ideas, sufficient bounds on these parameters are obtained. It is concluded that qualitative stability concept from ecology can be further exploited to solve many other interesting problems in engineering/mathematical sciences.
Heat Narcosis of Brain and of Striated Muscle of the Frog

ConclusionThe effects of immersion of frogs in water of 38 to 40°C on the threshold of denervated skeletal muscle and on the electrical activity of the brain have been investigated. (1) The muscular threshold to electrical stimulation is increased, and returns to normal after 5 to 10 minutes. (2) The brain waves disappear almost completely. After several minutes fast alpha activity appears in single bursts, which occur more often. After 10 to 15 minutes the normal brain pattern returns. (3) The effects on the muscle and on the brain do not appear to be related with each other since the muscular threshold returns to normal before the appearance of a normal electroencephalogram.The present experiments demonstrate for the first time that the brain is subject to a reversible heat paralysis as other organs.
All the Rage: Clarence Thomas, Paternal Authority, and Conservative Desire

Clarence Thomas is, according to The Weekly Standard, the “leading conservative in America today.” More than just an iconic conservative, The National Review esteems Thomas as “an extraordinary man...
On Laplacian spectra of parametric families of closely connected networks with application to cooperative control

In this paper, we introduce mathematical models for studying a supernetwork that is comprised of closely connected groups of subnetworks. For several related classes of such supernetworks, we explicitly derive an analytical representation of their Laplacian spectra. This work is motivated by an application of spectral graph theory in cooperative control of multi-agent networked systems. Specifically, we apply our graph-theoretic results to establish bounds on the speed of convergence and the communication time-delay for solving the average-consensus problem by a supernetwork of clusters of integrator agents.
Determination of selenium in milk powder by wet digestion-atomic fluorescence spectrometry

Objective:To establish a method for determination of selenium in milk powder by wet digestion-atomic fluorescence spectrometry.Methods: Samples were digested with wet digestion and determined for the concentration of selenium by atomic fluorescence spectrometry in the best digested condition and reaction system condition and instrument condition.Results: The calibration curve for lead was 0 μg/L～10 μg/L,correlation coefficient 0.9999,detection limit 0.015 μg/L.The measured value of milk powder about standard reference materials(Se reference values of 0.170±0.03 μg/g) was 0.173 μg/g.Conclusion: The method for detection of selenium is satisfied.The accuracy of the test results has been greatly improved.
Clinical analysis of Shenmai Injection

Objective To investigate the clinical utilization of Shenmai Injection,explore and analyze the rational use of drugs and the related factors of adverse reactions.Methods 336 patients in 5 hospitals of Sichuan were investigated with research methods.Results The irrational use of drugs in clinic mainly included over dose,above the normal concentration,solvent unreasonable and too fast infusion and so on.The adverse reactions were related with irrational use of drugs.Conclusion Clinicians should refer to the theory of Chinese medicine to avoid irrational use of drugs and reduce the incidence of adverse reactions of Shenmai Injection.
Groundwork for the Development of Testing Plans for Concurrent Software.

While multi-threading has become commonplace in many application domains (e.g., embedded systems, digital signal processing (DSP), networks, IP services, and graphics), multi-threaded code often requires complex co-ordination of threads. As a result, multi-threaded implementations are prone to subtle bugs that are difficult and time-consuming to locate. Moreover, current testing techniques that address multi-threading are generally costly while their effectiveness is unknown. The development of cost-effective testing plans requires an in-depth study of the nature, frequency, and cost of concurrency errors in the context of real-world applications. The full paper will lay the groundwork for such a study, with the purpose of informing the creation of a parametric cost model for testing multi-threaded software. The current version of the paper provides motivation for the study, an outline of the full paper, and a bibliography of related papers.
Using Immersion as a Teaching Method to Develop an Understanding, Appreciation and Empathy for Special Needs Populations.

This article looks at one possible approach to addressing student teacher's improved understanding of, sensitivity toward and comfort levels in working with special-needs individuals.
Effect of Dietary Senecio Jacobaea and Injected Senecio Alkaloids and Monocrotaline on Guinea Pigs

The chronic toxicity of 10% dietary Senecio jacobaea (SJ) in guinea pigs was studied during a 365-d feeding trial. The SJ plant contains hepatoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA). The chronic lethal dose (LD100) of SJ for guinea pigs was 1,264 g/kg initial body weight or 526% of initial body weight with an average survival time of 279 d. No mortality was observed in the controls. The LD100 and survival time were slightly, but not significantly, increased when 1% cysteine was included in the SJ diet. Histopathological examination of liver tissue from SJ-intoxicated guinea pigs revealed extensive megalocytosis, cytoplasmic and nuclear vacuolization, biliary hyperplasia and periportal fibrosis. Centrilobular areas appeared spared from necrotic lesions. The toxicity of acutely administered (ip) PA was determined in another experiment. The PA monocrotaline was nontoxic to guinea pigs at doses up to 1,000 mg/kg body weight, whereas jacobine and mixed SJPA were highly toxic at doses ranging from 100 to 150 mg/kg body weight. These results indicate that guinea pigs are resistant to dietary SJ and vary in response to single ip doses of isolated PA.
Microsurgical resection of skull base meningioma-expanding the operative corridor

A better understanding of surgical anatomy, marked improvement in illumination devices, provision of improved hemostatic agents, greater availability of more precise surgical instruments, and better modalities for skull base reconstruction have led to an inevitable evolution of skull base neurosurgery. For the past few decades, many skull base neurosurgeons have worked relentlessly to improve the surgical approach and trajectory for the expansion of operative corridor. With the advent of newer techniques and their rapid adaptation, it is foundational, especially for young neurosurgeons, to understand the basics and nuances of modifications of traditional neurosurgical approaches. The goal of this topic review is to discuss the evolution of, concepts in, and technical nuances regarding the operative corridor expansion in the field of skull base surgery for intracranial meningioma as they pertain to achieving optimal functional outcome.
Malware Detection Based on New Implementations of the Moody-Darken Single-Layer Perceptron Architecture: When the Data Speak, Are We Listening?

Malware detection is a very important cyber security problem as it compromises computer system integrity and allows the collection of sensitive information or the insertion of disruptive malicious, and intrusive software. Malware is within the domain of cyber security and has become more important with the burgeoning of advanced technologies applied to cyber attacks and people eager to use that technology. We approach malware detection first as a binary classification problem, i.e., one class for malware and another for non-malware. We present a novel classifier that utilizes constrained low rank approximation as the core algorithm innovation generalizing the Moody-Darken single layer perceptron architecture of 1989, which we call the Generalized Moody-Darken Architecture (GMDA). We formulate the new algorithm as a nonconex optimization problem for the hidden layer of the single layer perceptron and derive a constrained convex optimization problem for the output layer estimator. Our previous results have shown that the combined architecture achieves the classification performance of the support vector machine (SVM), but in an online methodology that scales well to massive-scale data. In addition, our new implementation works well for nonnegative data and has been applied to Twitter data sentiment classification as well. We focus this paper on solving the classification problem in the appropriate domain for the data and show that this is critical for both accuracy and interpretation of the results. Also, we demonstrate that the data generation process also should be appropriate for the selected algorithms. All this has critical implications for design of the GMDA. In this paper, we introduce a new classification framework based on our novel implementation of the Moody-Darken architecture that is fast and semi-adaptive in the sense that the hidden layer utilizes a warm-start method for the non-convex optimization problem and is not required to be fully adaptive, while the output layer is fully adaptive and can be updated/downdated for each new input sample. After warm-starting the hidden layer, the output layer can be updated with new inputs independently of the hidden layer. We will compare our new approach with the much-used SVM method to validate and test our model in terms of classification accuracy.
Left-Handed or Right-Handed? A Data-Driven Approach to Analysing Characteristics of Handedness Based on Language Use

Numerous studies have identified differences between left-handed and right-handed people, especially in the fields of psychology and neuroscience. Using a social media setting, this paper presents a data-driven approach to explore whether a person's handedness can be identified given his or her writing, and shows handedness characteristics that can be inferred from language.
Labor Market Distortion with Discouraged Worker Effects in Korea

This paper examines skill mismatch problems in regional labor markets due to discouraged worker effects in South Korea. In Seoul metropolitan areas (SMAs), supply surplus for highly educated workforce among the youth is evident and causes serious distortion not only in SMA but also in national labor market. On the contrary, the shortage of low-skilled workers in Korea due to overinvestment in human capital forces out establishments to other countries with cheaper labor costs. Proposed regression models in this study specify how the share of discouraged workers in a regional labor market can be determined by various factors such as demographic structures, labor market conditions, and migration pattern with regional and/or temporal fixed effects. The regional-temporal fixed effect model found to be the most important factor in explaining how these factors determine the relative stock of discouraged workers in a region. Among the variables describing regional labor market conditions, only two, labor force participation rate of young cohort (aged between 15 and 29) and that of highly educated population (college graduate or higher), directly influenced regional labor market distortion by determining the regional stock of discouraged workers. With more active participation of these groups in a labor market, the overall discouraged worker effect in a region reduces, leading to enhanced labor market efficiency. Migration pattern does not play any role on regional discouraged workers. This indicates the limited role of interregional migration on factor price equalization among regional labor markets in Korea.