cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The impact of memory hierarchies on cluster computing

Using of-the-shelf commodity workstations and PCs to build a cluster for parallel computing has become a common practice. A choice of a cost-effective cluster computing platform for a given budget and for certain types of application workloads is mainly determined by its memory hierarchy and interconnection network of the cluster. Finding such a solution from exhaustive simulations would be highly time-consuming and expensive; and predictions from measurements on existing clusters would be impractical. We present an analytical model for evaluating performance impact of memory hierarchies and networks on cluster computing. The model covers the memory hierarchy of a single SMP, a cluster of workstations/PCs, or a cluster of SMPs by changing various modeling and architectural parameters. Network variations covering bus and switch networks are also included in the analysis. Applications of different types are characterized by parameterized workloads with different computation and communication requirements. The model has been validated by simulations. Our study shows that the length of memory hierarchy is the most sensitive factor to affect the execution time for many types of workloads. However, the interconnection network cost of a tightly coupled system with a short length of memory hierarchy, such as an SMP is significantly more expensive than a normal cluster network connecting independent computer nodes. Thus, the essential issue to be considered is the trade-off between the length of memory hierarchy and system cost. Based on analytical and case studies, we present our quantitative recommendations for building cost-effective clusters for different application workloads.
Lateral Separation of Macromolecules and Polyelectrolytes in Microlithographic Arrays

A new approach to separation of a variety of microscopic and mesoscopic objects in dilute solution is presented. The approach takes advantage of unique properties of a specially designed separation device (sieve), which can be built using already developed microlithographic techniques. Because of the broken reflection symmetry in its design, the direction of motion of an object in the sieve varies as a function of its self-diffusion constant, causing separation transverse to its direction of motion. This gives the device some significant and unique advantages over existing fractionation methods based on centrifugation and electrophoresis.
High‐definition television: A policy framework to revive U.S. Leadership in consumer electronics

Abstract High‐definition television (HDTV) could represent a challenging opportunity for U.S. manufacturers to regain leadership in consumer electronics, if errors of the past are not repeated. This article examines the key factors that have contributed to the decline of the U.S. consumer electronics industry. The first section also describes the Japanese and European business strategies used to edge out American manufacturers. The second section briefly reviews the content of congressional bills designed to promote the development of a U.S. HDTV manufacturing industry. Major provisions include tax incentives for research and development, relaxation of antitrust laws, and federal support. The last section recommends a set of policies to revive the entrepreneurial spirit and industrial leadership of U.S. manufacturers in consumer electronics. A multifaceted reform, including educational, economic, and political transformations, is essential to ensure a sound base for American companies’ reentry into the hi...
Long-acting injectable contraception with depot medroxyprogesterone acetate

Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DIVIPA) is the only injectable contraceptive available in the United States. After more than 20 years of regulatory review, the Food and Drug Administration approved DIVIPA for contraceptive use in 1992 after the publication of reassuring data,about its possible association with breast cancer. It has been used by 30 million women in more than 90 countries. The recommended dosage, 150 mg intramuscularly every 3 months, has a contraceptive efficacy exceeding 99%. After a 150 mg dose, ovulation is inhibited for at least 14 weeks. Almost all users experience menstrual changes, typically episodes of unpredictable irregular spotting and bleeding, particularly during the first year of use. With continued use, spotting and bleeding decrease, and amenorrhea becomes common. Although ovulation suppression may rarely persist for as long as 18 months after the last injection, DIVIPA does not permanently affect fertility. Long-term DIVIPA use reduces menstrual blood loss, has been associated with a decreased incidence of candidal vulvovaginitis and pelvic inflammatory disease, and dramatically lowers the risk of endometrial cancer. Prolonged DIVIPA use may be associated with reversible reduction in bone density, probably related to suppression of endogenous production of estrogen. The most recently published data suggest that long-term use of DIVIPA induces moderate changes in lipid metabolism that are unfavorable in terms of risk of atherosclerosis. DIVIPA should be considered a highly effective, safe, convenient, and reversible contraceptive option for appropriately selected patients.
Short-Term Dynamics of Behavioral Thermoregulation by Adults of the Grasshopper Melanoplus sanguinipes

The short-term behavioral responses of adult grasshoppers, Melanoplus sanguinipes (F.) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), were examined after they experienced changes in microclimate when beingforced to change positions in their habitat. It was also determined if and when behavioral tactics allowed adults to achieve body temperatures within their preferred range. The preferred or set-point range, here taken as the interquartile range of temperatures selected on a laboratory thermal gradient, was estimated to be 37.4–40.5°C. In the field, adults progressed through a relatively consistent daily sequence of behaviors, basking on the soil early in the day, but moving onto vegetation as temperatures increased. Although basking allowed grasshoppers to maximize body temperature within the available range, as much as 7°C in excess of air temperature, they could not attain preferred body temperatures until soil surface temperatures reach about 35°C. Basking was more effective in grazed than ungrazed pastures due to a lower degree of shading of the soil surface. As soil surface temperatures exceeded 35°C, grasshoppers could achieve body temperatures within the preferred range by moving to the appropriate height on vegetation. These results illustrate the advantage of assessing behavior in the field in relation to preferred body temperatures determined in the laboratory.
Predictions of capillary oxygen transport in the presence of fluorocarbon additives

A mathematical model of capillary oxygen transport was formulated to determine the effect of increasing plasma solubility, e.g., by the addition of an intravascular fluorocarbon emulsion. The effect of increased plasma solubility is studied for two distributions of fluorocarbon, when the fluorocarbon droplets are uniformly distributed throughout the plasma and when the fluorocarbon droplets are concentrated in a layer adjacent to the endothelium. The model was applied to working hamster retractor muscle at normal and lowered hematocrit. The intracapillary mass transfer coefficient was found to increase by 18% as the solubility was increased by a factor of 1.7 at a hematocrit of 43%. An additional increase of 6% was predicted when the solubility increase was concentrated in the layer adjacent to the endothelium. At a hematocrit of 25%, the intracapillary mass transfer coefficient increased 14% when the solubility was increased by a factor of 1.7.
Recognition of arm movements

This paper describes a method for the detection, tracking and recognition of lower arm and hand movements from color video sequences using a linguistic approach driven by motion analysis and clustering techniques. The novelty of our method comes from (i) automatic arm detection, without any manual initialization, foreground or background modeling, (ii) gesture representation at different levels of abstraction using a linguistic approach based on signal-to-symbol mapping, and (iii) robust matching for gesture recognition using the weighted largest common sequence (of symbols). Learning vector quantization abstracts the affine motion parameters as morphological primitive units, i.e. "letters"; clustering techniques derive sequences of letters as "words" for both sub-activities and the transitions occurring between them; and, finally, the arm activities are recognized in terms of sequences of certain sub-activities. Using activity cycles from six kinds of arm movements, i.e. slow and fast pounding, striking, swinging, swirling and stirring, which were not available during training, the performance achieved is perfect (100%) if one allows, as should be the case for invariance purposes, slow and fast pounding video sequences to be recognized as one and the same type of activity.
To green, or not too green?: The environmental impact of conflict management

All professional endeavors incur environmental cost, and conflict management - well-intentioned though it is in a general sense - is no exception to this rule. The field of conflict management, as well as the planet, stands to gain by engaging with the question of what environmentally-sound practice of conflict management might be. This short piece aims to raise the point for discussion in the conflict management field. It describes projects, from the worlds of online dispute resolution and online Track II initiatives in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which have (hitherto unnoted and unquantified) environmental advantages over more traditional approaches to the same work. The article then poses the question of what benefits - for the environment and for the conflict management field - might be accrued by conscious incorporation of environmental considerations at the project design and implmentation phases of conflict management work.
End User Architecting

A large number of domains today require end users to compose various heterogeneous computational entities to perform their professional activities. However, writing such end user compositions is hard and error prone. My research explores an improved approach for design, analysis and execution of such end user compositions. I propose a new technique called ‘end user architecting’ that associates end user specifications in a particular domain as instances of architectural styles. This allows cross-domain analyses, systematic support for reuse and adaptation, powerful auxiliary services (e.g., mismatch repair), and support for execution, testing, and debugging. To allow a wider adoption of this technique, we have designed a framework that can be instantiated across a large number of domains, with composition models varying from dataflows, pub-sub, and workflows. This approach can reduce the cost of development of end user composition platforms (compared to developing them from scratch) and improve the quality of end user compositions.
NASA Human Spaceflight Architecture Team: Cis-Lunar Analysis

The Cis-Lunar Destination Team of NASA's Human Spaceflight Architecture Teait1 (HAT) has been perfom1ing analyses of a number of cis-lunar locations to infom1 architecture development, transportation and destination elements definition, and operations. The cis-lunar domain is defined as that area of deep space under the gravitation influence of the earth-moon system, including a set of orbital locations (low earth orbit (LEO]. geosynchronous earth orbit [GEO]. highly elliptical orbits [HEO]); earth-moon libration or "Lagrange·· points (EMLl through EMLS, and in particular, EMLI and EML2), and low lunar orbit (LLO). We developed a set of cis-lunar mission concepts defined by mission duration, pre-deployment, type of mission, and location, to develop mission concepts and the associated activities, capabilities, and architecture implications. To date, we have produced two destination operations J concepts based on present human space exploration architectural considerations. We have recently begun defining mission activities that could be conducted within an EM LI or EM L2 facility.
Perinatal Metabolism of Hemopexin and Heme

SummarySera from fetal, newborn, and juvenile rabbits were found to have lower Hx levels than those of their mothers but approached the normal adult range by 30 to 60 days of age. Inadequate materno-fetal transport of Hx contributed to low fetal and neonatal serum levels, since only small amounts of homologous 125I-Hx passed from the maternal circulation to fetal serum and tissues. However, substantial amounts were found in fetal and maternal placentae. Heterologous HHx did not pass. Small amounts of 14C- and 59Fe-heme also crossed the materno-fetal barrier of rabbits, probably directly across the placenta. Furthermore, our findings suggested bidirectional transplacental passage of heme.
Discordant Signaling and Autophagy Response to Fasting in Hearts of Obese Mice: Implications for Ischemia Tolerance

Autophagy is regulated by nutrient and energy status and plays an adaptive role during nutrient deprivation and ischemic stress. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a hypernutritive state characterized by obesity, dyslipidemia, elevated fasting blood glucose levels, and insulin resistance. It has also been associated with impaired autophagic flux and larger-sized infarcts. We hypothesized that diet-induced obesity (DIO) affects nutrient sensing, explaining the observed cardiac impaired autophagy. We subjected male friend virus B NIH (FVBN) mice to a high-fat diet, which resulted in increased weight gain, fat deposition, hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and larger infarcts after myocardial ischemia-reperfusion. Autophagic flux was impaired after 4 wk on a high-fat diet. To interrogate nutrient-sensing pathways, DIO mice were subjected to overnight fasting, and hearts were processed for biochemical and proteomic analysis. Obese mice failed to upregulate LC3-II or to clear p62/SQSTM1 after fasting, although mRNA for LC3B and p62/SQSTM1 were appropriately upregulated in both groups, demonstrating an intact transcriptional response to fasting. Energy- and nutrient-sensing signal transduction pathways [AMPK and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)] also responded appropriately to fasting, although mTOR was more profoundly suppressed in obese mice. Proteomic quantitative analysis of the hearts under fed and fasted conditions revealed broad changes in protein networks involved in oxidative phosphorylation, autophagy, oxidative stress, protein homeostasis, and contractile machinery. In many instances, the fasting response was quite discordant between lean and DIO mice. Network analysis implicated the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor and mTOR regulatory nodes. Hearts of obese mice exhibited impaired autophagy, altered proteome, and discordant response to nutrient deprivation.
Sequential Reliability Analysis on Redundant Configuration of Protective Devices for HVDC Power Transmission System

According to the reliability theory of repairable system and considering the requirement for reliability of protection system for HVDC power transmission,the state-space graphs of typical redundant configuration using two-out-of three and two-out-of four patterns are built based on the principle of Markov process;the equivalent models of these graphs as well as their reliability indices are obtained,and the reliabilities of three configuration patterns,i.e.,the two-out-of three pattern,the two-out-of four pattern and the fully duplicated redundant configuration pattern,are compared.Comparison results show that the reliability of two-out-of three pattern is close to that of two-out-of four pattern,and the latter is slightly better;the fully duplicated configuration pattern is an incomplete two-out-of four pattern,its essence is similar to one-out-of two,however its reliability is not so high as that of two-out-of three pattern.The economy of the two-out-of three pattern is the best among them.Comparing reliability and economy comprehensively,the two-out-of three pattern is regarded as a better choice of redundant configuration pattern of protective devices for HVDC power transmission system.
Polarized rabbit type 1 angiotensin II receptors manifest differential rates of endocytosis and recycling

Receptor-mediated endocytosis and recycling have been described for extrarenal angiotensin II (ANG II) receptors. In proximal tubule (PT) epithelia expressing polarized ANG II receptors, these proc...
Evaluating Constraints on Heavy-Ion SEE Susceptibility Imposed by Proton SEE Testing and Other Mixed Environments

We develop metrics for assessing effectiveness of proton SEE data for bounding heavy-ion SEE susceptibility. The simplest metric is just the areal coverage for the test, which can be expressed as the area on the test part which is struck on average by a single ion. This simple quantity can yield important insights into the efficacy of a given SEE test. We also develop methods for bounding heavy-ion SEE rates with proton data for both nondestructive and destructive SEE modes and for identifying the SEE response characteristics that render such bounding methods ineffective.
A narrative investigation of adult music engagement

The purpose of the current study was to describe the musical life experiences of an active, adult community musician through a narrative investigation. Jon is a musically-engaged retired instrument...
Numerical Techniques for Ray Tracing and Calculation of Aberrations

Once the focusing fields have been determined (see Chapter 3), one can proceed to trace the particle trajectories according to Chapter 4 and then calculate the aberration coefficients (Chapter 5). Although it is quite possible to solve the general ray equation (4-21) directly by numerical methods, usually we restrict the treatment to paraxial trajectories, which are totally adequate t o determine the aberrations as well. Then we only have to know the axial potential and flux density distributions to gain complete information about the optical properties of the given focusing system.
Generating Late-Onset Human iPSC-Based Disease Models by Inducing Neuronal Age-Related Phenotypes through Telomerase Manipulation.

Summary Modeling late-onset disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD) using iPSC technology remains a challenge, as current differentiation protocols yield cells with the properties of fetal-stage cells. Here, we tested whether it is possible to accelerate aging in vitro to trigger late-onset disease phenotypes in an iPSC model of PD. In order to manipulate a factor that is involved in natural aging as well as in premature aging syndromes, we used telomere shortening as an age-inducing tool. We show that shortened telomeres result in age-associated as well as potentially disease-associated phenotypes in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived midbrain dopamine (mDA) neurons. Our approach provides proof of concept for the further validation of telomere shortening as an induced-aging tool for late-onset-disease modeling.
Distributed Recursive Least-Squares Strategies Over Adaptive Networks

A distributed least-squares estimation strategy is developed by appealing to collaboration techniques that exploit the space-time structure of the data, achieving an exact recursive solution that is fully distributed. Each node is allowed to communicate with its immediate neighbor in order to exploit the spatial dimension, while it evolves locally to account for the time dimension as well. In applications where communication and energy resources are scarce, an approximate RLS scheme that is also fully distributed is proposed in order to decrease the communication burden necessary to implement distributed collaborative solution. The performance of the resulting algorithm tends to its exact counterpart in the mean-square sense as the forgetting factor lambda tends to unity. A spatial-temporal energy conservation argument is used to evaluate the steady-state performance of the individual nodes across the adaptive distributed network for the low communications RLS implementation. Computer simulations illustrate the results.
Comparison of pnp AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor with and without base quasielectric field

Two sets of pnp AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) compatible with planar processing have been fabricated using a dual selective etching technique. Both sets of HBTs have a 300-AA strained InGaAs base; one has a built-in base quasielectric field while the other does not. The presence of a built-in base quasielectric field is shown to greatly reduce the base transit time for pnp transistors. The highest measured f/sub T/ and f/sub max/ are 23.3 GHz and 40 GHz, respectively. These are the highest reported values for pnp HBTs, and it is believed that these are limited by parasitic resistances. >
Diagnostic criteria of multiple myeloma.

The diagnosis of multiple myeloma often begins with the recognition of a monoclonal protein in the serum or urine. Immunoelectrophoresis or immunofixation is necessary for identification of the monoclonal protein class. Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance accounts for approximately two thirds of patients with a monoclonal gammopathy. Minimal criteria for the diagnosis of multiple myeloma include the presence of at least 10% abnormal plasma cells in the bone marrow or histologic proof of a plasmacytoma, the usual clinical features of multiple myeloma, and at least one of the following abnormalities: monoclonal serum protein (usually greater than 3 g/dL), monoclonal protein in the urine, or osteolytic lesions.
Cysticercosis: A Modern Day Plague

The authors describe the magnitude of the cysticercosis problem and describe the organism, the clinical features of the disease, the propensity of the organism for development in the central nervous system, pathologic considerations, clinical diagnosis, and treatment.
Testing metabolic cold adaptation as a driver of warm-water fish species replacement along the river continuum

Hydrologic and thermal regimes vary along the upstream-to-downstream river continuum and drive the assembly of fish communities. The metabolic cold adaptation (MCA) hypothesis predicts that faster development is adaptive for species exposed to shorter growing seasons. Whether gradients of hydrologic variability and seasonal thermal regime associated with the river continuum operate as environmental filters on species with differing developmental rates remains an untested mechanism of community assembly. We analyzed daily records of stream discharge and modeled stream temperatures to quantify these two gradients of abiotic harshness in Kansas, USA. We then used laboratory experiments to compare temperature-dependent larval development rates among three congeneric cyprinid species that are most abundant in small tributaries (Pimephales promelas), medium tributaries (P. notatus), or river mainstems (P. vigilax). Growing season duration increased with stream size, with temperature exceedance thresholds of 22 and 26 °C lasting 1.4 and 270 times longer, respectively, in eighth order river mainstems compared to second order tributaries. The frequency of small flood pulses within the growing season peaked in mid-order streams, whereas the frequency of large flood pulses within the growing season peaked in low-order streams. Larval development rates increased with incubation temperature, but did not differ predictably among species. These findings, when viewed alongside a companion study, suggest that thermal adaptation and not MCA explains the replacements of Pimephales species along the river continuum. The prominent upstream-to-downstream gradient in growing season duration highlights the need for studies on the evolutionary and ecological significance of this infrequently explored characteristic of the river continuum.
Ability of ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor and free radical scavenger Didox to protect against Doxorubicin mediated cardiotoxicity with enhanced antitumor activity

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 45, 2004 2004 Doxorubicin (DOX) is a leading member of the class of anthracyclines, antitumor drugs widely used against solid and hematological cancers, especially in breast cancer. Long term cardiomyopathy hinders clinical use of anthracyclines. The total dosage of anthracyclines in treatment protocols is limited because of this concern. According to the prevailing hypothesis, anthracyclines injure the heart by generating damaging free radicals through iron-catalyzed redox cycling. Didox is a potent ribonucleotide reductase (RR) inhibitor that possesses free radical scavenging and iron chelating properties while exhibiting anti-cancer activity on its own. We have assessed the cardioprotective effects of Didox, both acutely and chronically in the rat, using a Langendorff model of heart perfusion. In earlier acute experiments, the following treatments were studied after 30 min infusion: DOX, DOX + Didox, and Didox alone. Cardiac function, as measured by Rate Pressure Product (RPP), was reduced 40% by DOX alone, but was ameliorated with Didox infusion. Free radical presence, as measured by EPR spin trapping, showed that Didox treatment decreased the DOX-induced DMPO-OH signal intensity by greater than 80%. These results indicate that Didox offers cardioprotection against DOX mediated injury through its ability to scavenge free radicals. Chronic DOX toxicity studies were performed by weekly single dose i.v. injections of DOX or DOX + Didox. The progression of cardiomyopathy was monitored using echocardiography. Following 8 wks of treatment DOX treated animals demonstrated marked cardiomyopathy as evidenced by fractional shortening. The animals were then sacrificed and the cardioprotective effects of Didox assessed by measuring functional and histological parameters. Chronic administration of DOX resulted in greater than 50% decrease in left ventricular function as measured by RPP, but Didox offered 42% restoration. Additionally, we examined the effect of Didox and the classical RR inhibitor, hydroxyurea, as well as Zinecard, the iron chelator used clinically, to protect against cardiotoxicity in the mammary (16/c) mouse tumor model singly and in combination with DOX. Both DOX and the RR inhibitors had antitumor activity when used alone, producing a modest increase in survival over the untreated group. However, when DOX was combined with the RR inhibitors there was a significant (greater than additive) enhancement of the antitumor activity. These results further support our premise that a free radical scavenger can be used in conjunction with DOX and not impede its antitumor activity, and Didox may even enhance it. Therefore this drug would be a valuable addition to combination cancer treatment protocols that contain an anthracycline such as DOX.
Long-term Health-related Quality of Life Outcomes Following Radical Cystectomy

Objective To evaluate the long-term (>5 years) health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes following radical cystectomy, comparing Indiana pouch (IP), neobladder (NB), and ileal conduit (IC). Materials and Methods The departmental radical cystectomy database was queried to identify patients who underwent radical cystectomy and urinary diversion for bladder cancer between 1991 and 2009 and had not died. Three hundred patients were identified and sent the validated Bladder Cancer Index instrument. Results A total of 128 (43%) patients completed the survey. When adjusted for gender, age at surgery, surgeon, and time since surgery, IC and IP patients had significantly better urinary function than NB patients ( P = .0013). Sexual bother was less in NB than IP ( P = .0387). Among men ≥65 years of age, IC patients had significantly better urinary function ( P = .0376) than NB patients (91.6 vs 49.4, respectively). Among men P = .0199). Among women greater than 65 years, bowel bother was significantly better ( P = .0095) for IC patients than IP patients (44.8 vs 69.5, respectively). Conclusion Urinary diversion type after radical cystectomy affects HRQOL differently in long-term survivors. Age and gender at surgery influenced HRQOL based on diversion procedure. Urinary function but not urinary bother was significantly better in IC and IP compared to NB diversions. Prospective longitudinal studies using validated HRQOL tools will further help guide preoperative diversion choice decisions between patient and surgeon.
Understanding, Resisting, and Overcoming Oppression: Toward Psychopolitical Validity

My first objective in this paper is to synthesize, synoptically, the literature on oppression and liberation with the contributions to this special issue. To fulfil this aim I introduce a framework for understanding, resisting, and overcoming oppression. The framework consists of psychopolitical well-being; experiences, consequences, and sources of oppression; and actions toward liberation. Each of these components is subdivided into 3 domains of oppression and well-being: collective, relational, and personal. Experiences of suffering as well as resistance and agency are part of the framework. My second objective is to offer ways of closing the gap between research and action on oppression and liberation. To do so I suggest 2 types of psychopolitical validity: epistemic and transformative.
Lipoxygenase Activity Accelerates Programmed Spore Germination in Aspergillus fumigatus.

The opportunistic human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus initiates invasive growth through a programmed germination process that progresses from dormant spore to swollen spore to germling and ultimately invasive hyphal growth. We find a lipoxygenase with considerable homology to human Alox5 and Alox15, LoxB, that impacts the transitions of programmed spore germination. Overexpression of loxB (OE::loxB) increases germination with rapid advance to the germling stage. However, deletion of loxB (∆loxB) or its signal peptide only delays progression to the swollen spore stage in the presence of arachidonic acid (AA); no delay is observed in minimal media. This delay is remediated by the addition of the oxygenated AA oxylipin 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE) that is a product of human Alox5. We propose that A. fumigatus acquisition of LoxB (found in few fungi) enhances germination rates in polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich environments.
Nonlinear Control of a High-Purity Ethylene Glycol Reactive Distillation Column

Abstract An ethylene glycol column is studied, where the main objective is to control the product purity using the reboiler heat input. Initially, a bifurcation analysis is performed, which reveals a region of output multiplicity. On the steady state branch with high conversion and product selectivity, the process exhibits a transition from minimum phase behavior at moderate purity to a non-minimum phase behavior at high purity. This imposes severe limitations on the performance/stability characteristics of standard controllers at high purity. Motivated by this, a nonlinear controller is designed that yields good performance in setpoint tracking, with stability.
Analysis of Variability in Intraoperative Fluid Administration for Colorectal Surgery: An Argument for Goal-Directed Fluid Therapy.

Abstract Background: Fluid therapy in the perioperative period varies greatly between anesthesia providers and may have a negative impact on surgical outcomes. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 705 elective colorectal cases consisting of colectomies, ileocolic resections, and low anterior resections at an academic institution from January 1, 2010 to May 29, 2015, collected by our electronic medical record before implementation of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) pathways. Results: The mean for total crystalloid administration was 2578 mL with a standard deviation (SD) that was approximately 50% of the mean value. A combination of both normal saline and lactated Ringer's solution was used in almost all cases without a clear rationale for fluid choice. Fluid administered to patients was disproportional to measured intraoperative fluid losses (estimated blood loss and urine output) by a factor of 10. The average rate of fluid given was 1050 mL/h with an SD of nearly the same amount (95...
Queer cosmopolitanism in the disaster zone: ‘My Grindr became the United Nations’:

This article reflects on the significance of cosmopolitan socialities and intimacies following disasters, and the opportunities and risks they offer for restorative and reparative action for surviv...
Early Literacy Instruction and Intervention.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the efficacy of early literacy interventions and to discuss possible roles for volunteer tutors in helping prevent reading difficulties within the Response to Intervention process. First, we describe a landmark study that evaluated the impact of primary classroom instruction on reducing the proportion of students at risk for reading failure, and a more recent series of studies exploring the effects of individualizing classroom reading instruction based on students’ initial skills. Second, we review studies of more intensive early intervention to demonstrate how these interventions substantially reduce the proportion of students at risk. Third, we examine effective tutoring models that utilize volunteers. Finally, we discuss the potential role of community tutors in supporting primary classroom instruction and secondary interventions.
GnRH Therapy for Subfertile Stallions

Idiopathic infertility degeneration has been associated with altered endocrine function in stallions. Therapy with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) has been used in an attempt to correct these endocrine imbalances and thereby improve fertility. This article describes the physiologic basis of GnRH therapy and emphasizes the importance of endocrine testing of those stallions for which GnRH therapy is being contemplated.
1.08 – Time-of-Flight PET Reconstruction Strategies

This chapter discusses reconstruction methods for time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) in which the arrival times of each annihilation photon from the positron decay are measured and provide a means of localizing the source of the annihilation. It begins with a discussion of how analytic and iterative reconstruction techniques are adapted to include the TOF information. It then discusses how corrections for the various physical effects in TOF-PET data are implemented.
Hepatic Fibrosis in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Pathologic Similarities to Adult Alcoholic Liver Disease

The light- and electron-microscopic changes in a biopsy of the liver obtained at age 17 mo from a child with fetal alcohol syndrome were studied. At the time of biopsy, hepatomegaly and raised serum transaminases were present as well as neurologic and growth defects and the typical facial anomalies seen in this syndrome. Light microscopy of the liver biopsy specimen revealed parenchymal fat with portal and perisinusoidal fibrosis. Ultrastructurally, perisinusoidal spaces contained deposits of intermediate-size and large collagen fibers, myofibroblasts and occasional Ito cells, and subendothelial basement membrane-like material. These changes resemble those seen in adult human and baboon alcoholic liver disease and suggest that hepatic fibrosis in fetal alcohol syndrome has a similar pathogenesis.
Treatment of epilepsies in adults

Valproate is a broad-spectrum antiepileptic drug synthesized by Burton in 1882 [1]. Its effect on seizures was recognized by Meunier et al. in 1963 [2]. Clinical trials by Carraz et al. [3] followed the initial animal studies that showed efficacy against seizures caused by both pentylenetetrazol and maximal electroshock. Valproic acid was used to treat seizures in Europe almost 15 years before approval in the USA [4]. This drug was used initially as an adjunct, but was found to have value in treatment of primary generalized epilepsies [4–6], with efficacy when used as monotherapy reported as well [7].
Cost of inoculating seedlings with Pisolithus tinctorius spores

Although the production of commercial products of vegetative Pt (Pisolithus tinctorius (Pers.) Coker & Couch) inoculums has ceased in North America due to a lack of demand by consumers, the number of products that contain Pt spores has increased. The quality, quantity and price of these products vary considerably. The cost of inoculating 1,000 tree seedlings with Pt basidiospores can vary from $0.45 to more than $30. The cost of treating with Pt spores is lowest when seedlings are inoculated in a container nursery using rates that are less than 0.4 mg per seedling. However, with some products the cost to treat 1,000 bareroot seedlings is greater than $500 when spores are applied in the planting hole. Three decades ago, 1 g of Pt spores could be purchased for $0.13 and now the price of 1 g can exceed $14. Although many research papers provide data on the biological response to inoculating seedlings with spores, few document the cost of inoculation. Commercial products that are marketed toward homeowners containing both ectomycorrhizal and endomycorrhizal spores are more expensive than products that contain only ectomycorrhizal spores. In situations where survival and growth of seedlings are not increased, the benefit/cost ratio will typically be less than one.
Effect of delayed cell processing and cryopreservation on immunophenotyping in multicenter population studies.

Variability induced by delayed cell processing and cell cryopreservation presents unique challenges for immunophenotyping in large population studies. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate the effect of delayed cell processing and cryopreservation on cell percentages obtained by immunophenotyping. We collected blood from 20 volunteers and compared the effect of (a) delayed cell processing up to 72 h (b) cryopreservation and (c) the combined effect of delayed cell processing and cryopreservation on immunophenotyping of 31 cell subsets that included several subsets of T, B, Natural Killer (NK) cells, monocytes and dendritic cells using both whole blood collected in EDTA tubes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected in CPT tubes. We found the delayed cell processing up to 72 h or cryopreservation alone did not significantly affect the percentages T cells, dendritic cells or monocytes but significantly increased the percentage of B cells and NK cells (p for trend ≤0.01) but. However combination of delayed cell processing up to 72 h and cryopreservation significantly increased the percentage of T cells as compared to cells processed immediately (p for trend <0.0001) while a delayed cell processing followed by cryopreservation decreased the percentage of NK cells (p for trend <0.0001). Total B-cells increased significantly with a 24-48 h delay in cell processing and cryopreservation but not at 72 h. The percentages of monocytes and dendritic cells remained unaffected by the combination of delayed cell processing and cryopreservation. These findings suggest that immunophenotyping of several immune cell subsets can be successfully implemented in large population studies as long as blood is processed within 48 h of biospecimen collection though some cell subsets may be more susceptible to a combination of delayed cell processing and cryopreservation.
Embryonic and cellular effects after exposure to commonly consumed energy drinks

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of popular “energy drinks,” on both an embryological and cellular level. 1-day old chick embryos treated with 5-Hour Energy and Monster Nitrous for 10 days showed a decrease in beak length (p<0.05) and an overall decrease in body size and limb lengths compared to control embryos (p<0.05). The cellular effects of energy drinks were also investigated through treatment of neuronal cultures from embryonic chick forebrains and Madin-Darby kidney (MDCK) cells. Exposure of neurons resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in the number and length of neuronal processes. At a concentration of 0.1 milliliter of energy drink per milliliter of media, MAP2 staining showed that neurons had an increase in cells with three or fewer processes from 18% in controls to 59±2% (5-Hour Energy) and 58±11% (Monster Nitrous). MDCK cells exposed to energy drinks showed a loss of arrangement of actin bundles within the cells. We are currently exploring the combinatorial effects of individ...
Hierarchical mapping of annual global land cover 2001 to present: The MODIS Collection 6 Land Cover product

Abstract Land cover and land use maps provide an important basis for characterizing the ecological state and biophysical properties of Earth's land areas. The Collection 5 MODIS Global Land Cover Type product, initially released in 2010, was produced at annual time steps and has been widely used in the land science community. In this paper we describe refinements and improvements, in both the algorithm and the resulting map data sets, that have been implemented in the MODIS Collection 6 Global Land Cover Type product. Unlike the Collection 5 product, which was based on the 17-class International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) legend, the Collection 6 algorithm uses a hierarchical classification model where the classes included in each level of the hierarchy reflect structured distinctions between land cover properties. The resulting suite of nested classifications is combined to create eight distinct classification schemes including the five legacy schemes included in Collection 5, and three new legends based on the FAO-Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) that distinguish between land cover, land use, and surface hydrologic state. The Collection 6 algorithm also incorporates a state-space multitemporal modeling framework based on hidden Markov models that reduce spurious land cover changes introduced by classification uncertainty in individual years. Among other changes, relative to Collection 5, the Collection 6 product includes less area mapped as forests, open shrublands, and cropland/natural vegetation mosaics, and more area mapped as woodlands and grasslands. Accuracy assessment indicates that the Collection 6 product has an overall accuracy of 73.6% for the primary LCCS layer and that the amount of spurious land cover change has been substantially reduced in Collection 6 relative to Collection 5 (1.6% in C6 and 11.4% in C5).
Evaluation of the Ventilation Index in Complex Terrain: A Dispersion Modeling Study

AbstractIn this study, the Flexible Particle (FLEXPART)-WRF, a Lagrangian particle dispersion model, is employed to simulate pollutant dispersion in and near the Lehigh Gap, a gap in a prominent ri...
Coherent Atomic Microwave Sensor

We developed a room-temperature atomic microwave sensor that converts coherently a low-power microwave signal to polarization modulation of a probe light field. The sensitivity rivals that of microwave field probes based on Rydberg atoms.
Optimal Designs of Text Input Fields in Mobile Web Surveys for Older Adults

Online forms and surveys often include text input fields to gather information such as name, address, comments, or other information that is not in a small set of pre-defined answers. This paper shares results of three different experiments investigating how older adults using smartphones interact with different user-interface designs of text input fields in online surveys. Experiment 1 compares different ways of labeling the text input field. Experiment 2 investigates the impact of using a character countdown on the field. Experiment 3 investigates whether predictive text in such fields helps with data entry. Results confirm that label placement does not affect time to complete the task, but users prefer either labels above the field or inline labels that move above the field when focus is placed in the field. Most participants were not aware of the character countdown feature and there was not a strong preference for it. Although it did significantly reduce deleting characters, it did not increase the number of characters typed or decrease time on task. Predictive text was preferred and when used, there is some indication that it might make the task quicker without increasing incorrect answers.
An Interactive System for Exploring Historical Fire Data

Wildfires cause immense costs to human life, property, and the environment. As the impact of climate change increases the frequency and severity of wildfires, a renewed effort to understand these phenomena and their catalysts has increased. In this paper, we introduce a system that couples multiple sources of data and visualization to enable analysts to study historical fire data. We show two use cases to demonstrate the effectiveness of our system.
Better Safe Than Sorry: Risk-Aware Nonlinear Bayesian Estimation

Despite the simplicity and intuitive interpretation of minimum mean squared error (MMSE) estimators, their effectiveness in certain scenarios is questionable. Indeed, minimizing squared errors on average does not provide any form of stability, as the volatility of the estimation error is left unconstrained. When this volatility is statistically significant, the difference between the average and realized performance of the MMSE estimator can be drastically different. To address this issue, we introduce a new risk-aware MMSE formulation which trades between mean performance and risk by explicitly constraining the expected predictive variance of the involved squared error. We show that, under mild moment boundedness conditions, the corresponding risk-aware optimal solution can be evaluated explicitly, and has the form of an appropriately biased nonlinear MMSE estimator. We further illustrate the effectiveness of our approach via several numerical examples, which also showcase the advantages of risk-aware against risk-neutral MMSE estimation, especially in models involving skewed, heavy-tailed distributions.
Note On An Error in Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson

Economics in One Lesson is the best introduction to economics ever written. It has enticed, educated, and inspired multitudes of people to embrace the teachings of the dismal science. To the extent that if there is any understanding of economics by the general public, it is due more to this book than to any other. Yet, I have uncovered one error in it, which I attempt to rectify, offering a very slightly improvement to a priceless book on economics.
Operationalizing needs-focused palliative care for older adults in intensive care units: Design of and rationale for the PCplanner randomized clinical trial.

Abstract Introduction The number of older adults who receive life support in an intensive care unit (ICU), now 2 million per year, is increasing while survival remains unchanged. Because the quality of ICU-based palliative care is highly variable, we developed a mobile app intervention that integrates into the electronic health records (EHR) system called PCplanner (Palliative Care planner) with the goal of improving collaborative primary and specialist palliative care delivery in ICU settings. Objective To describe the methods of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) being conducted to compare PCplanner vs. usual care. Methods and analysis The goal of this two-arm, parallel group mixed methods RCT is to determine the clinical impact of the PCplanner intervention on outcomes of interest to patients, family members, clinicians, and policymakers over a 3-month follow up period. The primary outcome is change in unmet palliative care needs measured by the NEST instrument between baseline and 1 week post-randomization. Secondary outcomes include goal concordance of care, patient-centeredness of care, and quality of communication at 1 week post-randomization; length of stay; as well as symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder at 3 months post-randomization. We will use general linear models for repeated measures to compare outcomes across the main effects and interactions of the factors. We hypothesize that compared to usual care, PCplanner will have a greater impact on the quality of ICU-based palliative care delivery across domains of core palliative care needs, psychological distress, patient-centeredness, and healthcare resource utilization.