cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effects of an antacid or cimetidine on the serum concentrations of azithromycin.

The effects of an antacid and of cimetidine on the serum concentrations of azithromycin were examined in volunteers. Ten subjects were given 500 mg azithromycin alone and immediately after being given 30 mL Maalox (Rorer, Fort Washington, PA) in a crossover design. There were no statistically significant differences in Tmax or AUC0-48 after administration of azithromycin alone or with antacid, but mean values of Cmax were reduced by 24% (P = .015). Thus, although Cmax was decreased, the extent of absorption of azithromycin was not affected by coadministration with an antacid. Two groups of six volunteers were given 500 mg azithromycin on day 1. On day 8, one group was given 800 mg cimetidine 2 hours before a dose of azithromycin; the remaining group received placebo before azithromycin. There were no differences in the pharmacokinetic parameters produced by administration with cimetidine or placebo, relative to those on day 1. Thus, cimetidine administered 2 hours before a dose of azithromycin had no apparent effect on the serum concentrations of azithromycin.
Nutritional chloride deficiency in early lactation Holstein cows.

Abstract Beginning 1 wk postpartum, weekly changes of feed and water intake, body weight, milk production, and electrolyte concentrations in serum, saliva, urine, milk, and feces were observed for 8 to 11 wk. Three dietary treatments differing in sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate supplementation but containing equal sodium concentrations were used. Dietary chloride percents were low .10%, medium .27%, and high .45%. Consistently changes were significant for feed and water intake, body weight, milk production, and electrolyte concentrations in serum, urine, milk, and feces of cows fed the low chloride diet. By wk 8, body weight had declined from 575.0 ± 56.7 to 476.7 ± 54.3 kg, and daily milk production decreased from a peak of 27.7 ± 2.4 to 19.2 ± 3.9 kg for cows fed the low chloride diet. Serum chloride decreased from 106.0 ± 2.8 to 75.5 ± 6.7 meq/liter during the same time. Cows on the low chloride diet developed clinical signs of a deficiency characterized by depraved appetite, lethargy, hypophagia, emaciation, hypogalactiae, constipation, and cardiovascular depression. Metabolic alterations could be summarized as a severe primary hypochloremic, secondary hypokalemic, metabolic alkalosis.
Botulinum toxin versus pneumatic dilatation in the treatment of achalasia: a randomised trial

Background Intrasphincteric injection of botulinum toxin is a new treatment option for achalasia. Aims To compare the immediate and long term efficacy of botulinum toxin with that of pneumatic dilatation. Methods Symptomatic patients with achalasia were randomised to botulinum toxin (22 patients, median age 57 years) or pneumatic dilatation (20 patients, median age 56 years). Symptom scores were assessed initially, and at one, three, six, nine, and 12 months after treatment. Objective assessment included oesophageal manometry initially and at one month, and barium oesophagram initially and at one, six, and 12 months post-treatment. Results Pneumatic dilatation resulted in a significantly (p=0.02) higher cumulative remission rate. At 12 months, 14/20 (70%) pneumatic dilatation and 7/22 (32%) botulinum toxin treated patients were in symptomatic remission (p=0.017). Failure rates were similar initially, but failure over time was significantly (p=0.01) higher after botulinum toxin (50%) than pneumatic dilatation (7%). Pneumatic dilatation resulted in significant (p Conclusions At one year pneumatic dilatation is more effective than botulinum toxin. Symptom improvement parallels objective oesophageal measurements after pneumatic dilatation but not after botulinum toxin treatment for achalasia.
High-Realism Model of Colorado Potato Beetle (Coleoptera:Chrysolmelidae) Adaptation to Permethrin

A simulation model (REPO–PERM) was developed to predict the rate of resistance development in Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), using field data on permethrin selection to initialize a number of ecological and genetic parameter values. Model explorations indicated that sex–linked traits, like permethrin resistance in Colorado potato beetle, respond to directional selection faster than autosomal traits, and that the distribution of individuals in the plant canopy can influence selection intensity and the rate of adaptation. Model predictions for rates of adaptation to permethrin under conditions typical of Virginia and North Carolina are consistent with documented development of resistance in these areas.
Lower extremity applications of functional neuromuscular stimulation after spinal cord injury

This paper reviews the therapeutic and neuroprosthetic applications of functional neuromuscular stimulation (FNS), also known as functional electrical stimulation (FES), for lower extremity rehabilitation after spinal cord injury and summarizes the important clinical and technical issues involved in its use. The therapeutic effects of electrical stimulation on disuse atrophy, muscle strength and endurance, cardiopulmonary status, and tissue viability in terms of risk of pressure sore development are summarized. Neuroprosthetic uses of surface and implanted technologies for standing, ambulation, and personal mobility are also described. Health and functional benefits, contraindications, and other clinical considerations are discussed, along with the potential of the technology to be an important component in the overall rehabilitation of persons with spinal cord injuries.
An Implicit Solvent Model for SCC-DFTB with Charge-Dependent Radii

Motivated by the need of rapidly exploring the potential energy surface of chemical reactions that involve highly charged species, we have developed an implicit solvent model for the approximate density functional theory, SCC-DFTB. The solvation free energy is calculated using the popular model that employs Poisson-Boltzmann for electrostatics and a surface-area term for non-polar contributions. To balance the treatment of species with different charge distributions, we make the atomic radii that define the dielectric boundary and solute cavity depend on the solute charge distribution. Specifically, the atomic radii are assumed to be linearly dependent on the Mulliken charges and solved self-consistently together with the solute electronic structure. Benchmark calculations indicate that the model leads to solvation free energies of comparable accuracy to the SM6 model (especially for ions), which requires much more expensive DFT calculations. With analytical first derivatives and favorable computational speed, the SCC-DFTB based solvation model can be effectively used, in conjunction with high-level QM calculations, to explore the mechanism of solution reactions. This is illustrated with a brief analysis of the hydrolysis of mono-methyl mono-phosphate ester (MMP) and tri-methyl mono-phosphate ester (TMP). Possible future improvements are also briefly discussed.
Integrated manufacturing systems: architectural considerations

This paper is divided into two main parts. The first is concerned with definitions of concepts and terms of importance to the architect of integrated manufacturing systems. It describes the operational environment, how the manufacturing systems are going to be used, and a variety of system requirements. Priorities are established and a set of guiding principles for system design are proposed. In the second part, three basic system structures are analyzed and evaluated in terms of the previously stated priorities and guiding principles. The relation of integrated manufacturing systems to other complex systems is shown to illustrate how generally applicable many of the findings derived from knowledge of the manufacturing environment are to the design of systems for other application fields. The paper concludes by restating the key requirements and formulates what appears to be the greatest challenge for the system architect-That is, the creation of an architectural framework within which the system designers can structure manufacturing systems capable of handling besides the planned tasks a variety of unforeseen applications. Readers familiar with the plant environment and the terms and concepts associated with it may skip the first sections and start with System Requirements. We would, however, advise even the experienced reader to review the definition of real-time systems, which we believe is new.
A digital integrator for controlled-potential coulometry

Abstract Accurate electrolysis current integration is required in controlled-potential coulometry. Analog integrators have been shown to deviate from ideal response by as much as —0.1%. A digital integrator was designed to optimize the linearity of the voltage-to-frequency converter used, minimize the effects of temperature, eliminate integration errors caused by small polarity changes and signal noise, and allow interchangeability with an analog integrator in a state-of-the-art coulometer widely used throughout the nuclear field for controlled-potential coulometry. Evaluation of the digital integrator, calibrated versus the Faraday, showed bias-free determinations of plutonium with a relative standard deviation of approximately 0.02%. The integrator was designed specifically for use in the controlled-potential coulometric determination of plutonium, but many of the features incorporated can be adopted to digital integrators for other uses where accurate integration over long periods of time is required.
Considerations for single event effects in non-planar multi-gate SOI FETs

Reductions in supply voltage and device dimensions, and increased transistor circuits in advanced circuits, make single event effects increasingly relevant. Non-planar multiple-gate FETs (MugFETs) are under consideration for /spl les/ 45 nm technology generations. In this work, we examine issues for SEE in advanced MugFETs using energy deposition and device simulations.
The pyrolysis of a heavy crude oil in a fluidized bed

The pyrolysis of a heavy high sulphur crude oil in an inert fluidized bed at temperatures between 550 and 800°C. has resulted in the production of an olefin rich gas and a liquid product containing increasing amounts of aromatic material with increasing temperature. Analysis of the process gas has shown that for average reactor residence times of more than one second, equilibrium is approximated for the system ethane-ethylene-hydrogen. There is considerable scatter in the data for the analogous system propane-propylene-hydrogen but for most conditions a significant deviation from equilibrium exists. The sulphur compounds in the light oil were of thiophenic character. The ratio of 2- to 3-methylthiophene in the toluene fractions was examined.
Development of a Scanning Transient Harman Method for Thermoelectric Properties Characterization

Low-dimensional nanostructures and nano-composites may demonstrate a large enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT, therefore measurements of their thermoelectric properties are of high interest. Techniques able to screen the thermoelectric properties of a large number of samples and also to measure the spatial distribution of thermoelectric properties in a specimen are needed. This work explores a scanning transient technique for thermoelectric characterization of thin films based on the Harman method. A one dimensional theoretical model was used to investigate the appropriate experimental setup and the effect of a scanning electrode/thermal probe contacting the top surface of the specimen. Results indicate that for micrometer thick films of ZT∼1 small current values of the order of mA and electrical contact resistance below 1 Ω are necessary to minimize the Joule heating effects and to take advantage of the Peltier effect when employing the bipolar technique. A proof of concept experiment was performed on an n-type Bi2 Te3 pellet used in a commercial thermoelectric device. The experiment lays out the strategy to extract the thermoelectric properties. Seebeck coefficient of −241 μV/K and thermal conductivity of 1.48 W/m.K were obtained from the transient Harman method when the data reduction model included energy losses through the wire. These results prelude the feasibility of the scanning technique on thin film samples.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Gaming Up Life: Considerations for Game Expansions

Those of us who have been involved with sport philosophy for a number of years have learned much from Bernard Suits. For this, we owe him a debt of gratitude. His definition of games has been regarded as the gold standard against which other such efforts are judged. Even his occasional detractors did not so much attack his definition as question his broader project, one of discovering a phenomenon’s necessary and sufficient conditions. Suits, in a playful but pointed way, called these critics “terminal Wittgensteinians.” Much to his credit, Suits drew normative attention to games when much previous literature focused on the value of play. He saw gaming behavior not only as a logical outcome of human progress, but also as humankind’s most potent antidote for boredom and malaise. He expanded previous discussions on the juxtaposition of work and play to the more inclusive and complex interrelationships among work, games, and play. He did this, and so much more, in his own inimitable way—with his keen sense of humor fully at play. I remember asking myself as a young professor how unusual it was to read a serious philosophy text that provoked uncontrollable laughter . . . for the right reasons! However, for those who knew Suits in person, and for others who got to know him only through words spoken by the Grasshopper, he was a very funny person. In many ways he acted out what he preached. When life became a little tedious, he gamed it up. When the prospect of writing a dreary text on definitions seemed, well, a little dreary, he decided to game it up too. Thus, in The Grasshopper, he added a story line, paradoxes, scintillating dialogue, teases, false leads, old jokes, dozens of allusions to popular and classical literature, resurrections, mysteries, and bawdy metaphors to the core argument. One gets the sense that he put all of these additional literary hurdles in his way just to see if he could write a serious treatise under these more difficult conditions. He employed the lusory attitude, in short, when writing his own lusory text. I believe that Suits was right about the role of the so-called lusory attitude in promoting the good life. We seek and enjoy artificial challenges both formally and informally. Formal gaming tendencies produce free-standing, culturally recognized activities like baseball and soccer. Informal routes to gaming can be found
Pathological verification of ischemic score in differentiation of dementias

Fourteen case histories of persons who had a histological diagnosis of either senile dementia of the Alzheimer type, multiinfarct dementia, or a mixed dementia composed of these two types and who showed evidence of a moderate to severe dementia on psychological testing were rated for the presence of thirteen clinical features comprising Hachinski's Ischemic Score. These features are frequently considered primarily characteristic of vascular dementia. Persons with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type were clearly differentiable from persons with multiinfarct dementia and mixed dementia, while the latter two groups were indistinguishable from one another. In our sample, eight features were found to characterize those persons with vascular dementia. These data verify the usefulness of the Ischemic Score in differentiating between senile dementia of the Alzheimer type and vascular dementia.
The effect of skeletal muscle layer modeling on cardiac damage estimates during transthoracic defibrillation

The objective of this study is to examine how modeling the skeletal muscle layer affects computed estimates of cardiac damage during transthoracic defibrillation. The study is implemented with a physiologically realistic 3-D volume conductor model of the human thorax. The model computes current density distributions within the heart from a knowledge of defibrillation shock strength, defibrillation electrode location, and the relative conductivities of the interior thorax. Cardiac damage estimates are based on achieving 95% critical mass during a defibrillation shock. Solutions have been constructed for three sets of skeletal muscle conductivities that are widely used in the literature. The results for anterior-posterior, precordial, and right-left defibrillation electrode configurations indicate that computed estimates of cardiac damage vary by as much as 85%, 23%, and 18%, respectively. These results strongly suggest that computed estimates for cardiac damage during a defibrillation shock are dependent on the conductivity values chosen for the skeletal muscle layer, and therefore estimates of cardiac damage at present are limited to realistic ranges rather than precise determination.
DECOMPOSING U.K. INFLATION EXPECTATIONS USING SURVEY-BASED MEASURES

This paper derives a time-varying model to examine the dynamic interdependencies between realized and expected inflation. The results show inflation expectations at the short and long horizon have been uncorrelated over the past three decades, which is consistent with the anchored inflation expectations hypothesis. There is also little evidence that changes in realized inflation have been the result of self-fulfilling variations in the expectations of economic agents. Despite high commodity prices and above-trend inflation, expectations since the financial crisis in 2008 have not become unhinged from fundamentals.
Efficiency of Synaptic Transmission of Single-Photon Events from Rod Photoreceptor to Rod Bipolar Dendrite

A rod transmits absorption of a single photon by what appears to be a small reduction in the small number of quanta of neurotransmitter (Qcount) that it releases within the integration period (;0.1 s) of a rod bipolar dendrite. Due to the quantal and stochastic nature of release, discrete distributions of Qcount for darkness versus one isomerization of rhodopsin (R*) overlap. We suggested that release must be regular to narrow these distributions, reduce overlap, reduce the rate of false positives, and increase transmission efficiency (the fraction of R* events that are identified as light). Unsurprisingly, higher quantal release rates (Qrates) yield higher efficiencies. Focusing here on the effect of small changes in Qrate, we find that a slightly higher Qrate yields greatly reduced efficiency, due to a necessarily fixed quantal-count threshold. To stabilize efficiency in the face of drift in Qrate, the dendrite needs to regulate the biochemical realization of its quantal-count threshold with respect to its Qcount. These considerations reveal the mathematical role of calcium-based negative feedback and suggest a helpful role for spontaneous R*. In addition, to stabilize efficiency in the face of drift in degree of regularity, efficiency should be � 50%, similar to measurements.
Don't Let Me Be Lonely: The Trans-Corporeal Ethics of Claudia Rankine's Investigative Poetics

For a majority of Americans, the events of 9/11, the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the continuing conflicts in the Middle East were and are experienced via cable news networks, viral videos, and print/online news articles. These events are not experienced as material reality but rather as abstract intangibles constructed through words and images. Such media representations present violence, suffering, and other catastrophic events as singular incidents frozen in time and disconnected from the myriad of complex relations that contribute to the ongoing flux of existence. Furthermore, the bombardment of information via television, radio, the Internet, and social media outlets—not to mention the quick ease with which we switch from one to the other—may not allow ample time to analyze and discern what might exist beyond the camera’s frame; even the most raw and uncensored forms of journalism often do not communicate the complex relationships shaping particular political and cultural figurations. Most devastatingly, the intangible nature of mass media often suppresses both the material facticity of the human body and material interchanges between bodies. As Joan Retallack expresses in The Poethical Wager (2003), mass culture (as promoted by mass media) strives for simplistic, naive, and fantastical representations of reality, as opposed to “imaginative engagement with [realistic] material complexity” (26). For Retallack, innovative writing is one way “to stay warm and active and realistically messy” while disrupting the “shiny freeze-frames” (5) of mass culture. In her fourth book, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (2004), poet Claudia Rankine “stays messy” by exploding the boundaries of the lyric genre in order to disrupt the facile political frameworks promoted by mass media. Using investigative techniques, Rankine responds to the culture of information by writing poetry that engages the complexity of existence while emphasizing material interconnectedness and embodiment. Part documentary, part imagination, investigative poetry incorporates a variety of data and reportage into the poem—including testimonials, interviews,
A Fungal Endoglucanase with Plant Cell Wall Extension Activity

We have identified a wall hydrolytic enzyme from Trichoderma reesei with potent ability to induce extension of heat-inactivated type I cell walls. It is a small (23-kD) endo-1,4-beta-glucanase (Cel12A) belonging to glycoside hydrolase family 12. Extension of heat-inactivated walls from cucumber (Cucumis sativus cv Burpee Pickler) hypocotyls was induced by Cel12A after a distinct lag time and was accompanied by a large increase in wall plasticity and elasticity. Cel12A also increased the rate of stress relaxation of isolated walls at very short times ( 3,1-->4)-beta-glucan, but did not exhibit endo-xylanase, endo-mannase, or endo-galactanase activities. In terms of kinetics of action and effects on wall rheology, wall loosening by Cel12A differs qualitatively from the action by expansins, which induce wall extension by a non-hydrolytic polymer creep mechanism. The action by Cel12A mimics some of the changes in wall rheology found after auxin-induced growth. The strategy used here to identify Cel12A could be used to identify analogous plant enzymes that cause auxin-induced changes in cell wall rheology.
Depressive Affect and Subsequent Divorce

Evidence for the relationship between marital status and psychological well-being has been largely cross-sectional and subject to multiple interpretations. Estimates of well-being prior to marital termination permit a fuller examination of the impact of psychological well-being on changes in marital status. The present study utilizes data from a large metropolitan Chicago sample to assess the initial life conditions and depressive affect of married respondents, and contrasts those who divorced during the following four years with those who remained married. Among women, significantly more of those who would subsequently divorce were employed at Time 1. Those who would subsequently divorce also differed from those who would remain married in being somewhat younger and more distressed by their marriages, but they were not significantly more depressed. These findings suggest that previously observed marital status differences in psychological well-being reflect the negative life conditions that follow divorc...
Überwachung der Wirtschaftlichkeit der automatisierten Datenverarbeitung durch die Unternehmensleitung

Ein erfolgreicher Einsatz der automatisierten Datenverarbeitung (ADV) ist von groser Bedeutung fur die Wirtschaftlichkeit des Unternehmens von morgen, fur seine Rentabilitat und damit fur seine Lebensfahigkeit. Daher mus sich die Unternehmensleitung in zunehmendem Mase damit befassen, die Wirtschaftlichkeit der ADV sicherzustellen.
Logic based on Inclusion and Abstraction

All notions of mathematical logic, as measured e.g. by Principia mathematica , can be constructed from a basis which embraces variables and just two further primitives: the familiar notions of inclusion and abstraction. Inclusion will be expressed by the usual form of notation “( x ⊂ y )”, which may be read “ x is included in y .” Abstraction will be expressed by the form of notation “ x 3 …” as with Peano, the blank being filled by any formula (statement or statement form); the whole may be read “the class of all objects x such that ….” A system of logic based on these primitives will be presented in this paper. The system involves the familiar theory of class types, which, for metamathematical convenience, will be recorded in the system by use of distinctive styles of variables; thus the variables “ x ”, “ y ”, and “ z ”, also with subscripts when further variety is needed, will take individuals as values; the variables “ x ′”, “ y ′”, and “ z ′”, also with subscripts, will take classes of individuals as values; the variables “ x ″”, “ y ″”, and “ z ″”, also with subscripts, will take classes of classes of individuals as values; and so on. The metamathematical notion of term , covering all variables and also all expressions of abstraction, is now describable recursively thus: a variable is a term, and the number of accents which it bears is called its rank; and if terms of equal rank are put for “ζ” and “η” and a variable of rank n is put for “α” in “α3(ζ ⊂ η)”, the result is a term of rank n +1. A formula finally, is any result of putting terms of equal rank for “ζ” and “η” in “(ζ ⊂ η)”.
Nutrient Partitioning and Carbon and Nitrogen Mineralization of Switchgrass Plant Parts

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a native warm-season (C4) grass that has the potential to be used as a bioenergy crop and reduce increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Continuous production and removal of switchgrass, however, may deplete soil fertility. A strategy of returning plant components higher in nutrients to the field during harvest may help maintain soil fertility. In this study, nutrient partitioning in switchgrass parts over time and their C and N mineralization patterns in soil were determined. Switchgrass (cv. Alamo) was harvested on a biweekly schedule from June to October, with plants from each harvest separated into six parts (top, middle, and bottom leaves and stems) for mineral and fiber analysis. Plant materials from three harvests were used in an incubation study to determine effects of plant component, age, and composition on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) mineralization. Results indicated that a strategy of returning specific plant parts to the field would not substantiall...
Spiritual aspects of loss at the time of a partner's death from AIDS.

Spiritual phenomena were spontaneously reported in interviews of 68 of 125 recently bereaved HIV-positive and HIV-negative partners of men who died from AIDS. Spiritual schemas involving beliefs, experiences, rituals, social support, and roles were used to help assimilate the fact of death and were appraised as sources of solace and meaning. The relationship between spirituality and coping, mood, and physical health was examined. Those reporting spiritual phenomena showed higher levels of depression and anxiety and lower levels of positive states of mind, used more adaptive coping strategies, and reported more physical health symptoms than those who did not report spiritual phenomena. It doesn't matter, for scientific purposes, it doesn't matter at all whether it's true. It doesn't matter whether I'm projecting the events, it doesn't matter whether I'm projecting my own concerns. It was a process, and it functioned, and it's my experience of Michael. I happen to believe that Michael's spirit was there, an...
WHAT CAN THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY EXPECT FROM LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAYS

The present performance capabilities of liquid crystal displays relative to automotive requirements is reviewed. Fundamental material limitations to LCD performance will be discussed. Operating characteristics that may be anticipated in the next two to five years, in regards to such parameters as operating voltage, operating and storage temperatures, humidity resistance, response time, viewing characteristics, color and display styling will be treated. In addition, examples of the use of LCDs for portrayal of analog and vectorgraphic information will be presented.
Testing For Weak-Level Efficiency In The Secondary Market For Developing Country Debt

This paper investigates the presence of weak level efficiency in the secondary market for developing country debt y modeling as ARIMA processes debt price variations of eight large debtor countries that were actively traded during the period January 1986 to December 1992. The analysis suggests that in some cases the secondary market for developing-country debt was weakly inefficient and that there existed at least one trading rule capable of generating above-average returns. Moreover, the narrowing of above-average returns in the period following the announcement of the Brady Plan suggests that the secondary market for developing country debit became more efficient, possibly due to a reduction in default risk and an increase in the availability of timely investment information.
Tracer kinetic model and dosimetry for orally administered 18F-FDG

1505 Objectives Oral administration of 18F-FDG is an attractive alternative to intravenous (i.v.) administration for PET. A few case reports have shown the feasibility of PET after oral 18F-FDG administration. However, the radiation dose to patients from oral 18F-FDG is unknown. Also the optimal time for PET imaging after oral 18F-FDG administration is yet to be established. In this study, we present a tracer kinetic model for orally administered 18F-FDG to estimate radiation dose and also to ascertain the optimal time for PET imaging. Methods Using Hays and Segall FDG model for i.v. administration in humans, we developed a compartmental model for oral FDG administration in SAAM-II. The oral route consists of compartments for stomach (contents, wall), small intestine (contents, wall fast and slow) and portal blood in addition to the compartments in the i.v. model. The model assumes that the orally administered FDG reaches stomach as a bolus and FDG diffuses into the portal vein from the small intestine continuously. Human biodistribution data from the literature for oral 18F-FDG was used to fit the model parameters. The model parameters were used to obtain organ time-activity curves. OLINDA/EXM was used for dosimetry. Results Based on the oral 18F-FDG model parameters, the highest organ absorbed doses (µGy/MBq) were observed for small intestine (92), stomach (73) and urinary bladder (70); effective dose was 33 % higher than for i.v. administration. FDG uptake and clearance after oral administration is slow and peak blood uptake was observed after 50-60 minutes. Oral FDG administration may also be suitable for delayed imaging, since FDG activity in the blood was observed even after 3 h. Conclusions Absorbed dose to small intestine and stomach wall were 7 and 6.5 fold higher for oral 18F-FDG administration, respectively in comparison to i.v. administration. PET after 60 minutes is likely to yield better clinical images for oral 18F-FDG administration. Further evaluation of the oral FDG model is ongoing
Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitors

Nitric oxide (NO) signaling plays a key role in modulating vascular tone and remodeling in the pulmonary circulation. The guanylate cyclase/cyclic guanylate monophosphate-signaling pathway primarily mediates nitric oxide signaling. This pathway is critical in normal regulation of the pulmonary vasculature, and is an important target for therapy in patients with pulmonary hypertension. In the pulmonary vasculature, degradation of cGMP is primarily regulated by PDE-5, and inhibition of this enzyme has important effects on pulmonary vasculature smooth muscle tone. Large randomized placebo-controlled trials of PDE-5 inhibitors demonstrated improved exercise capacity, hemodynamics and quality of life in adult patients with PAH. This chapter will discuss the mechanisms of NO signaling in the vasculature, characteristics of the PDE5-inhibitors approved for treatment of PH, and review available data on the use of phosphodiesterase inhibitors in PH.
E. P. de Loos-Dietz, Vroeg-Christelijke Ivoren, Studie over de Stijlontwikkeling op den Overgang van de Vierde naar de vijfde Eeuw

(1949). E. P. de Loos-Dietz, Vroeg-Christelijke Ivoren, Studie over de Stijlontwikkeling op den Overgang van de Vierde naar de vijfde Eeuw. The Art Bulletin: Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 233-237.
Evaluating the Psychometric Properties and Responsiveness to Change of 3 Depression Measures in a Sample of Persons With Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury and Major Depressive Disorder

Abstract Objectives To compare the measurement properties and responsiveness to change of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-20 (HSCL-20), and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). Design Secondary analysis of depression symptoms measured at 6 occasions over 12 weeks as part of a randomized controlled trial of venlafaxine XR for MDD in persons with SCI. Setting Outpatient and community settings. Participants Individuals (N=133) consented and completed the drug trial. Eligibility criteria were age at least 18 years, traumatic SCI, and diagnosis of MDD. Interventions Venlafaxine XR. Main Outcome Measures Patients completed the PHQ-9 and the HSCL-20 depression scales; clinical investigators completed the HAM-D and the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) Dissociative Disorders, which was used as a diagnostic criterion measure. Results All 3 instruments were improved with rating scale analysis. The HSCL-20 and the HAM-D contained items that misfit the underlying construct and that correlated weakly with the total scores. Removing these items improved the internal consistency, with floor effects increasing slightly. The HAM-D correlated most strongly with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders diagnoses. Improvement in depression was similar on all outcome measures in both treatment and control groups. Conclusions The psychometric properties of the revised depression instruments are more than adequate for routine use in adults with SCI and are responsive to clinical improvement. The PHQ-9 is the simplest instrument with measurement properties as good as or better than those of the other instruments and required the fewest modifications.
Neutron and electron electric dipole moment in N = 1 supergravity unification

An analysis of the neutron EDM and of the electron EDM in minimal N=1 supergravity unification with two CP-violating phases is given. For the neutron the analysis includes the complete one loop gluino, chargino, and neutralino exchange diagrams for the electric dipole and the chromoelectric dipole operators, and also the contribution of the purely gluonic dimension-six operator. It is shown that there exist significant regions in the six-dimensional parameter space of the model where cancellations between the gluino and the chargino exchanges reduce the electric and the chromoelectric contributions, and further cancellations among the electric, the chromoelectric, and the purely gluonic parts lead to a dramatic lowering of the neutron EDM sometimes below the electron EDM value. This phenomenon gives a new mechanism, i.e., that of internal cancellations, for the suppression of the neutron EDM in supersymmetric theories. The cancellation mechanism can significantly reduce the severe fine-tuning problem associated with CP-violating phases in SUSY and SUGRA unified models. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
Evaluation of a Scoring System for Leukocyte Esterase-Nitrite Dipstick Screening for Urine Culture

A published scoring system based on four performance characteristics of a laboratory test—sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of a negative and a positive test—was evaluated to determine whether it could be applied to the problem of eliminating routine urine culture based on leukocyte esterase-nitrite (LE/N) dipstick urine findings. Equal weight was assigned to each of the four performance characteristics, and a scoring scale ofl 00 was used for simplicity. A positive urine culture was defined as more than 105 colony-forming units per milliliter. Urine studies from the medical literature were assigned, based on the published scoring system, into one of three categories: accept, more than 80; conditional accept, 70 to 80; and reject, less than 70. Agreement between the published scoring system and author (empirical) acceptability was good for urine studies with scores of greater than 80 or less than 70. Agreement for urine studies with scores between 70 and 80 was not good (∼40% disagreement), which lead us to designate this range as “equivocal.” The published scoring system used for assessing the feasibility of eliminating routine urine microscopy based on dipstick urine findings cannot be applied without modification to urine studies that assess the feasibility of eliminating routine urine culture based on LE/N dipstick findings. The following set of recommendations are proposed as a guide to provide a rational basis for accepting or rejecting LE/N screening for urine culture: accept if the score is more than 80; equivocal if the score is 70 to 80; accept if cost savings (reagent and technician time) is of primary importance, reject if sensitivity is unacceptably low; and reject if the score is less than 70.
Filamentation as a diagnostic to measure molecular alignment

The properties of a femtosecond laser filament (the initial collapse distance and plasma length) have been studied in a pre-aligned gas and prove to be an effective diagnostic for molecular alignment.
Time Delay Margin Analysis Applied to Model Reference Adaptive Control

Adaptive control has the potential to improve performance and reliability in aircraft. Implementation of adaptive control on commercial and military aircraft requires verication and validation of the control system’s robustness to modeling error, uncertainty, and time delay. Currently, there is a lack of tools available to rigorously analyze the robustness of adaptive controllers due to their inherently nonlinear dynamics. This paper addresses the use of nonlinear robustness analysis for adaptive ight control systems. First, a model reference adaptive controller (MRAC) is derived for a linear aircraft short-period model. Sum-of-squares (SOS) polynomial optimization is applied to the closed-loop model to assess its robustness to time delay. Time delay margins are computed for various combinations of design parameters in the adaptive law, as well as in the presence of model uncertainty. This paper extends and renes previous work through the implementation of more advanced polynomial optimization algorithms and analysis conditions.
Antimicrobial Activity of 15α,22-Dihydroxyhopane Produced by Aschersonia placenta Jos009

In order to identify the antibacterial compounds and their activities in the fermentation broth of Aschersonia placenta Berk. et Br. Jos009, the extract of the fermentation broth of Jos009 was separated by activity guided isolation, and15α,22-dihydroxyhopane was isolated and identified on the basis of MS and NMR spectroscopic data. The results of 15α,22-dihydroxyhopane against 6 pathogenic bacteria and 10 pathogenic fungi revealed that its minimum inhibitory concentrations(MICs) tested by filter paper method against Serratia marcescens and Salmonella typhimurium was 500 mg mL-1, 13 times of MICs of Jos009 fermentation broth to the two bacteria. Our findings suggested the existence of other antimicrobial substances(compounds or peptides) besides 15α,22-dihydroxyhopane in the extracellular metabolites of A. placenta Berk. et Br. Jos009.
Pedal: a pedagogical software development process designed for student success

In this paper, we introduce a software development process, named Pedal, designed for student success in courses involving a software development project. Pedal is a combination of the Unified Process and Scrum, informed by constructivist learning theory and our experiences teaching project development courses. We discuss teaching Pedal in a software engineering course and implementing Pedal in a software development project course. We report the results of using Pedal over a two year period.
The role of DNA damage and repair in toxicity to postmitotic cells caused by cancer therapies

Abstract With increased survival rates for cancer patients, toxicity secondary to anticancer therapies has become a prevalent clinical concern. Of major importance are toxicities occurring in postmitotic cells (cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle, and neurons) since these toxicities are quite debilitating, they often persist long after therapy is discontinued, and few interventions exist to prevent or reverse them. Although the mechanisms mediating these toxicities are not known, one promising area that requires further exploration is the ability of DNA repair mechanisms to reverse the toxic effects of a number of anticancer drugs. For example, studies in animal models show that enhancing the base excision repair pathway attenuates neuronal damage by chemotherapeutic agents, suggesting that manipulating DNA repair mechanisms may be a novel approach to diminish neurotoxicity during or after cancer therapy. Whether DNA damage and repair are critical in cardiac and skeletal muscle toxicity after cancer therapy remains to be determined.
Corporate Governance: How Non-Profit Boards Influence Organizational Decisions

Traditionally, for-profit boards of directors use the corporate model of governance and the boards of non-profit organizations (NPOs) use the philanthropic model. While there is a trend toward the corporate model when considering the emphasis on entrepreneurial and strategic activity of the board and active management participation on the board, the NPO board governance model remains generally philanthropic in nature. The differences are significant, to the point where the boards of for-profit and non-profit organizations have different governance models, characteristics, and decision-making styles. The literature on NPO boards describes a quite different picture than that of for-profit boards. A comparison of the characteristics of philanthropic (traditional non-profit) and corporate (traditional for-profit) board governance models is summarized in Table 5.1 (Alexander et al, 1988; Epstein and McFarlan, 2011).
Contrasting Kierkegaard and Nietzsche

In this chapter I address some of the more significant and interesting points of contrast between Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, many of which have emerged from my exposition in the previous four chapters. The understanding of despair and nihilism developed in the last two chapters are used here to establish the critiques each thinker could bring to bear against the other’s ideal way of life. Simply put, I explore how Kierkegaard might accuse Nietzsche’s sovereign individual of despair and how Nietzsche might accuse Kierkegaard’s person of faith of nihilism. As I show, the fact that both thinkers are asking the same fundamental question about the best way of life while offering such different and opposing answers to this question opens up an interesting ethical dialogue between them. This dialogue converges on such topics as responsibility, autonomy, guilt, and the relation between spirituality and ethics. These topics are not only greatly significant to each thinker’s philosophy overall; they also constitute the central points of disagreement between them. My point is not to end this dialogue by showing how one of these thinkers refutes or defeats the other, but to establish where the lines of disagreement in this dialogue actually lie. Only by delineating these differences clearly can we benefit from the critical insights each thinker can offer the other. It will also help to suggest many of the topics and discussions that any ethics focusing on ways of life would likely encounter.
Classification of obsessive-compulsive disorder from resting-state fMRI

Obssesive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious mental illness that affects the overall quality of the patients' daily lives. Accurate diagnosis of this disorder is a primary step towards effective treatment. Diagnosing OCD is a lengthy procedure that involves interviews, symptom rating scales and behavioral observation as well as the experience of a clinician. Discovering signal processing and network based biomarkers from functional magnetic resonance scans of patients may greatly assist the clinicians in their diagnostic assessments. In this paper, we explore the use of Pearson's correlation scores and network based features to predict if a subject has OCD. We extracted mean time series from 112 brain regions and decomposed them to 5-frequency bands. The mean time courses were used to calculate the Pearson's correlation matrix and network based features for each band. Minimum redundancy maximum relevance feature selection method is applied to the Pearson's correlation matrix and network based features from each frequency band to select the best features for the final predictor. A leave-one-out cross validation method is used for the final predictor performance. Our proposed methodology achieves 80% accuracy (23 out of 29 subjects classified correctly) with 81% sensitivity(13 out of 16 OCD subjects identified correctly) and 77% specificity (10 out of 13 controls identified correctly) using leave-one-out with in-fold feature ranking and selection. The most discriminating feature bands are 0.06–0.11 Hz for Pearson's correlation and 0.03–0.06 Hz for network based features. The high classification accuracy indicates the predictive power of the network features as well as carefully chosen Pearson's correlation values.
Implementation of a Boolean Masking Scheme for the SCREAM Cipher

Masking is a proven countermeasure to protect physical cryptographic implementations against power analysis side-channel attacks, such as differential power analysis (DPA). Boolean masking is one of several types of masking schemes that can be added to a cipher to increase its security. However, implementing a secure and efficient Boolean masking scheme across all components of a cipher, including non-linear transformations, can be challenging. In this research, a 1st order Boolean masking scheme is applied to the SCREAM authenticated cipher, a CAESAR Round Two candidate. The non-masked and masked versions of the full authenticated cipher are implemented in the Virtex-6 FPGA and compared in terms of throughput, area, and throughput-to-area (T/A) ratio. The SCREAM block cipher is then compared to a masked version of AES to determine the relative costs of masking among the two ciphers. The results show that the T/A ratio of the masked SCREAM full authenticated cipher is only 50% of the T/A ratio of the non-masked version, and that the masking cost of the SCREAM block cipher is roughly equal to that of an equivalently-masked version of the AES block cipher.
1/f Noise in Mott Variable Range Hopping Conduction in p-type Amorphous Silicon

We report on electrical conductivity and noise measurements made on p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films prepared by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD). The temperature dependent electrical conductivity can be described by the Mott Variable Range Hopping mechanism. The noise at temperatures lower than ∼ 400K is dominated by a 1/f component which follows the Hooge model and correlates with the Mott conductivity. At high temperatures there is an appreciable G-R noise component.