cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bright Photon Pair Source with High Spectral and Spatial Purity

Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is a reliable and robust source of photons for quantum information applications. For applications that involve operations such as entanglement swapping or single-photon heralding, two-photon states are required to be factorable (uncorrelated) in their spectral and spatial degrees of freedom. We report the design and experimental characterization of an SPDC source that has been optimized for high spectral and spatial purity. The source is pumped by the 776 nm output of a mode-locked Ti:Sapphire laser and consists of a periodically-poled Potassium Titanyl Phosphate (PPKTP) crystal phase-matched for collinear type-II SPDC. The dispersive properties of PPKTP at these wavelengths is such that it is possible to minimize the spectral entanglement by matching the widths of the pump to the spectral phase-matching function. The spatial entanglement is minimized through careful control of the pump focus, yielding nearly single-mode emission. An advantage of this approach is that the emission rate into the collection modes is very high, resulting in a very bright SPDC source. We also report a scheme that employs the output of collinear sources such as these to produce polarization-entangled photon pairs. The scheme, which requires only simple polarization elements, can be scaled to N-photon GHZ states.
Parent Involvement, Academic Achievement and the Role of Student Attitudes and Behaviors as Mediators.

Previous research shows inconsistent relationships between parent involvement and academic achievement and often asks why such inconsistencies occur. The research proposes a theoretical model that separates parent involvement into those practices linking parents to children and those practices linking parents to other adults in the school environment. The researcher hypothesizes that parent-child (i.e. discussion and monitoring) and parent-school (i.e. educational support strategies and Parent Teacher Organization involvement) practices will differentially affect student attitudes (educational expectations), behaviors (absenteeism, homework, truancy), and achievement (math and science). Using a national survey conducted in the United States of schools and students, the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88), The research estimates a series of hierarchical models to test the direct and indirect effects of parent involvement on student attitudinal, behavioral and academic outcomes. Findings confirm that parent-child and parent-school involvement practices differentially influence student attitudes and behaviors, thereby indirectly affecting student achievement - to varying degrees.
What.s new in SQL:2011

SQL:2011 was published in December 2011, replacing the former version (SQL:2008) as the most recent update to the SQL standard for relational databases. This paper surveys the new non-temporal features of SQL:2011.
Splice donor site mutations in the 3-hydroxy-3- methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase gene cause a deficiency of the endoplasmic reticulum 3-hydroxy-3- methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase protein in UT2 cells

UT2 cells are a mutant clone of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells that are deficient in the 97 kDa endoplasmic reticulum (ER) 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase protein. The analysis of UT2 cell cDNA and genomic DNA has led to the identification of two novel point mutations in intronic sequences of the ER HMG-CoA reductase gene. One mutation identified at the +1 position (G --> A) of the 5' splice site of exon 11-12 junction was shown to cause exon 11 skipping which resulted in the insertion of premature stop codons. We also identified a second mutation at the +5 position (G --> A) of the 5' splice site in the intron spanning exons 13 and 14. Furthermore, the data indicate that the two mutations in the reductase gene are present on the same allele. As demonstrated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of UT2 cell mRNA, the mutations produce aberrant spliced messages. If the aberrant messages were translated, truncated proteins of 44 kDa or 66 kDa would be predicted. More importantly, these truncated proteins would be expected not to have catalytic activity. In addition, we have also recently demonstrated that the UT2 cells express a 90 kDa HMG-CoA reductase protein that is localized exclusively in peroxisomes, and is up-regulated when the cells are grown in the absence of added mevalonate. Thus, the mutations identified in the ER reductase gene in UT2 cells indicate that neither a 97 kDa nor a 90 kDa reductase protein can be produced from this gene.
Conditional Anomaly Detection

When anomaly detection software is used as a data analysis tool, finding the hardest-to-detect anomalies is not the most critical task. Rather, it is often more important to make sure that those anomalies that are reported to the user are in fact interesting. If too many unremarkable data points are returned to the user labeled as candidate anomalies, the software can soon fall into disuse. One way to ensure that returned anomalies are useful is to make use of domain knowledge provided by the user. Often, the data in question includes a set of environmental attributes whose values a user would never consider to be directly indicative of an anomaly. However, such attributes cannot be ignored because they have a direct effect on the expected distribution of the result attributes whose values can indicate an anomalous observation. This paper describes a general purpose method called conditional anomaly detection for taking such differences among attributes into account, and proposes three different expectation-maximization algorithms for learning the model that is used in conditional anomaly detection. Experiments with more than 13 different data sets compare our algorithms with several other more standard methods for outlier or anomaly detection
Superiority inferences on individual endpoints following noninferiority testing in clinical trials

We consider the problem of drawing superiority inferences on individual endpoints following non-inferiority testing. Rohmel et al. (2006) pointed out this as an important problem which had not been addressed by the previous procedures that only tested for global superiority. Rohmel et al. objected to incorporating the non-inferiority tests in the assessment of the global superiority test by exploiting the relationship between the two, since the results of the latter test then depend on the non-inferiority margins specified for the former test. We argue that this is justified, besides the fact that it enhances the power of the global superiority test. We provide a closed testing formulation which generalizes the three-step procedure proposed by Rohmel et al. for two endpoints. For the global superiority test, Rohmel et al. suggest using the Lauter (1996) test which is modified to make it monotone. The resulting test not only is complicated to use, but the modification does not readily extend to more than two endpoints, and it is less powerful in general than several of its competitors. This is verified in a simulation study. Instead, we suggest applying the one-sided likelihood ratio test used by Perlman and Wu (2004) or the union-intersection t max test used by Tamhane and Logan (2004).
Restriction pattern analysis of genomic DNA of Frankia isolates

Total genomic DNAs ofFrankia isolates were subjected to restriction enzyme digestion and subsequent agarose gel electrophoresis. Restriction fragment banding patterns were unique for each isolate and may therefore be used as a method to distinguish between isolates which may be morphologically indistinguishable. This method might be useful for practical purposes such as tracing specificFrankia strains during field studies.
A health systems constraints analysis for neurologic diseases: The example of Timor-Leste

Neurologic care exists within health systems and complex social, political, and economic environments. Identification of obstacles within health systems, defined as “constraints,” is crucial to improving the delivery of neurologic care within its macroclimate. Here we use the World Health Organization's 6 building blocks of a health system to examine core services for priority interventions related to neurologic disease: (1) service delivery; (2) health workforce; (3) information; (4) medical products, vaccines, and technologies; (5) financing; and (6) leadership and governance. We demonstrate the use of a constraints analysis for neurologic disorders using the example of Timor-Leste, a newly sovereign and low-income country, which aims to improve neurologic care in the coming years.
Note on the Effective Heating of Code Transmitters

By considering the frequency of letters and words in the English language it is found that in slow speed transmission of code using the theoretical spacing, the transmitter is in operation only 46.5 per cent of the time. A transmitter can accordingly be given a power rating for code that is 2.15 times the rating of the same equipment when operating continuously, on the basis of the same operating temperature. At high speeds of transmission the heating is slightly less than at slow speeds. The desirability of designing large transmitters to take advantage of the full code rating possible during periods of weak signals or heavy static is brought out.
Radiation transport through a plasma boundary layer between armatures and material surfaces

The ablation of rail and insulator materials by plasma armatures limits the velocity and the component lifetime of electromagnetic launchers. The photon radiation from the armature is the dominant form of energy transfer causing the ablation. However, not all of the escaping radiation actually is transmitted to the ablating surface, and hence vapor shielding is said to occur in the plasma boundary layer. A one-dimensional time-dependent self-consistent hydrodynamics model with a multigroup flux-limited diffusion approximation for radiative transfer is used to estimate the energy transmission and the amount of ablated material. It has been found that the vapor shield is optically thin for photon energies where most of the incident source radiation is distributed, thus the simple diffusion model for radiative transfer would overestimate the radiation flux at the material surface. The multigroup flux limited diffusion model is used in order to overcome the problem of flux overestimation, and a formal solution of the steady-state radiative transfer equation has been derived in order to compare the results. The flux limiter of (c/2)U/sub g/, which represents a weak streaming behavior of photons and corresponds to the variable Eddington factor of 1/2, is found to give good agreement for surface heat fluxes. >
Nucleolar localization of hepatic c-Myc: a potential mechanism for c-Myc regulation

The c-myc proto-oncogene encodes a transcription factor that is involved in cell proliferation, growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. Previous studies on the regulation of hepatic c-myc have focused on control of its mRNA expression, which generally correlates with hepatocyte proliferation during both liver development and liver regeneration. However, Western blot analysis showed similar levels of hepatic c-Myc in fetal and adult liver. We therefore went on to examine the abundance and distribution of hepatic c-Myc. Immunofluorescence on adult rat liver cryosections showed that c-Myc was readily detectable, but that it was largely localized to the nucleolus. In contrast, proliferating fetal hepatocytes and adult hepatocytes from regenerating liver showed a diffuse nuclear pattern. Transient transfection of adult hepatocytes with full-length HA-Myc also revealed localization to the nucleolus. Western immunoblotting studies confirmed that immunoreactive c-Myc was present in nucleolar extracts isolated from adult liver. We speculate that the nucleolus may act to sequester c-Myc in quiescent hepatocytes while providing a pool of c-Myc that is readily available to reach its targets in the nucleus.
Effect of starvation on transcriptomes of brain and liver in adult female zebrafish (Danio rerio)

We used microarray and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analyses in adult female zebrafish (Danio rerio) to identify metabolic pathways regulated by starvation in the liver and brain. The trans...
The physicochemical speciation of dissolved iron in the Bering Sea, Alaska

The physicochemical speciation of dissolved iron (Fe) across natural dissolved Fe gradients in the oceanic and shelf domains of the southeastern Bering Sea was examined in surface and subsurface samples using competitive ligand exchange–adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry with the added ligand salicylaldoxime. Two ligand classes were measured in all samples, a stronger L1 ligand class and a weaker L2 ligand class. Conditional stability constants for both ligand classes were comparable between surface and subsurface samples, with mean log K cond FeL1,Fe 0 5 11.5 6 0.3 and mean log K cond FeL2,Fe 0 5 10.3 6 0.3 in surface samples, and mean log K cond1,Fe0 5 11.4 6 0.2 with a weaker ligand and mean log K cond FeL2,Fe 0 of 10.2 6 0.2 in subsurface samples. The concentrations of dissolved Fe were strongly correlated with ambient stronger L1 ligand concentrations for all samples with dissolved Fe concentrations greater than 0.2 nmol L21. In samples with dissolved Fe concentrations less than 0.2 nmol L21, large and variable excesses of L1 ligand concentrations were measured, coincident with observed Fe stress or limitation on the ambient phytoplankton. These observations suggest that the phytoplankton community is readily able to access dissolved Fe from the FeL1 complex, resulting in excess L1 in these waters. The available speciation data from other sources indicate that a significant correlation exists between dissolved Fe and L1 ligand concentrations in samples with intermediate dissolved Fe, and thi si s a seemingly ubiquitous feature of dissolved Fe cycling in the marine environment.
Dentistry's role in tobacco control

ABSTRACT Background Cigarette smoking remains the nation's leading preventable cause of premature mortality. Tobacco use also is responsible for 75 percent of deaths resulting from oral and pharyngeal cancer, more than one-half of the cases of periodontitis and numerous other oral health effects. Methods The author summarized the prevalence of tobacco use in the United States, evaluated recent literature on the status of tobacco control activities in dental schools and dental practice, and reviewed new guidelines on clinical and community-based interventions for tobacco use. Results Nearly 25 percent of adults and 35 percent of high-school students smoke cigarettes, and many use other forms of tobacco. More than one-half of adult smokers and nearly three-fourths of adolescents see a dentist each year. However, more than 40 percent of dentists do not routinely ask about tobacco use, and 60 percent do not routinely advise tobacco users to quit. Meanwhile, less than one-half of dental schools and dental hygiene programs provide clinical tobacco intervention services. Conclusions At least 50 dental organizations have adopted policy statements about tobacco use, but much work needs to be done in translating those policy statements into action. Tobacco use remains prevalent in the United States, and dentistry has not yet maximized its efforts to reduce it. Practice Implications The recently issued U.S. Public Health Service guidelines on treating tobacco use and dependence provides evidence-based, practical methods for dentists and other primary care providers to incorporate into their practice. Because dentists and dental hygienists can be effective in treating tobacco use and dependence, the identification, documentation and treatment of every tobacco user they see need to become a routine practice in every dental office and clinic.
Routine Activities and Perceived Homophobia Among Older Lesbians

Research on experiences of perceived homophobia among the older lesbian population has been limited. Using data from a national, online survey of 456 lesbians over the age of 51, the authors explore the correlates of perceived homophobia using a routine activities approach. Potential correlates explored include both risk and protective factors experienced in the daily lives of the women surveyed. The findings indicate that risk and protective factors affect personal and systemic homophobia differently. Risk factors such as being “out” to family were related to all forms of homophobia, while protective factors seem to impact systemic and personal homophobia differently. Findings suggest a need for further research examining potential protective factors for older lesbians.
Stairway to Heaven: Evaluating Levels of Biological Organization Correlated with the Successful Ascent of Natural Waterfalls in the Hawaiian Stream Goby Sicyopterus stimpsoni

Selective pressures generated by locomotor challenges act at the level of the individual. However, phenotypic variation among individuals that might convey a selective advantage may occur across any of multiple levels of biological organization. In this study, we test for differences in external morphology, muscle mechanical advantage, muscle fiber type and protein expression among individuals of the waterfall climbing Hawaiian fish Sicyopterus stimpsoni collected from sequential pools increasing in elevation within a single freshwater stream. Despite predictions from previous laboratory studies of morphological selection, few directional morphometric changes in body shape were observed at successively higher elevations. Similarly, lever arm ratios associated with the main pelvic sucker, central to climbing ability in this species, did not differ between elevations. However, among climbing muscles, the adductor pelvicus complex (largely responsible for generating pelvic suction during climbing) contained a significantly greater red muscle fiber content at upstream sites. A proteomic analysis of the adductor pelvicus revealed two-fold increases in expression levels for two respiratory chain proteins (NADH:ubiquinone reductase and cytochrome b) that are essential for aerobic respiration among individuals from successively higher elevations. Assessed collectively, these evaluations reveal phenotypic differences at some, but not all levels of biological organization that are likely the result of selective pressures experienced during climbing.
The effect of colony size on individual alertness of prairie dogs (Sciuridae: Cynomys spp.)

From 1974 to 1976, I examined individual alertness of two species of squirrels (Sciuridae): loosely colonial white-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys Zeucurus) and densely colonial black-tailed prairie dogs (C. ludovicianus). By observing single adults for 30-min periods and recording various measures of alertness, I investigated the effects on individual alertness of four variables, all of which are directly related to ward (subcolony) size and ward density. Conclusions were based on data from 188 white- tail observations and 280 black-tail observations. Individual alertness consistently correlated negatively with effective increases in ward size and ward density. I discuss various hypotheses that might explain these negative correlations, and conclude that decreased individual alertness is an important benefit of prairie dog coloniality. It must usually be easier for a predator to remain undetected while approaching a solitary individual, for which only one individual's detection system must be avoided, than while approaching a group, for which numerous individuals' detection systems must be avoided. When individuals within a group give some sort of intentional or unintentional alarm signal after detecting a predator, it follows that one possible benefit of group living for individuals of prey species is an increased awareness of predators. That is, individuals within a group
Endometriosis Located Proximal to or Remote From the Uterus Differentially Affects Uterine Gene Expression

The mechanisms that lead to the altered uterine gene expression in women with endometriosis are poorly understood. Are these changes in gene expression mediated by proximity to endometriotic lesions or is endometriosis a systemic disease where the effect is independent of proximity to the uterus? To answer this question, we created endometriosis in a murine model either in the peritoneal cavity (proximal) or at a subcutaneous remote site (distal). The expression of several genes that are involved in endometrial receptivity (homeobox A10 [Hoxa10], homeobox A11 [Hoxa11], insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 [Igfbp1], Kruppel-like factor 9 [Klf9], and progesterone receptor [Pgr]) was measured in the eutopic endometrium of mice transplanted with either proximal or distal endometriosis lesions. Decreased expression of Hoxa10, Igfbp1, Klf9, and total Pgr genes was observed in the eutopic endometrium of mice with peritoneal endometriosis. In the mice with distal lesions, overall expression of these genes was not as severely affected, however, Igfbp1 expression was similarly decreased and the effect on Pgr was more pronounced. Endometriosis does have a systemic effect that varies with distance to the end organ. However, even remote disease selectively and profoundly alters the expression of genes such as Pgr. This is the first controlled experiment demonstrating that endometriosis is not simply a local peritoneal disease. Selective alteration of genes critical for endometrial receptivity and endometriosis propagation may be systemic. Similarly, systemic effects of endometriosis on other organs may also be responsible for the widespread manifestations of the disease.
The Criminal Commitment System

While conducting the empirical inquiry into the administration of psychiatric justice in Arizona (which formed the basis of the preceding chapter) we learned, from an interview with a superior court judge, of the following interesting incident: A criminal defendant in a rural county had been committed to the Arizona State Hospital as incompetent to stand trial (Ist). After the defendant had been confined as Ist for a few months, the superior court judge was visited by the County Board of Supervisors, who successfully urged the judge to dismiss the criminal charges and to recommit the patient pursuant to the civil commitment process.
Designing Food, Owning the Cornucopia: What the Patented Peanut & Jelly Sandwich Might Teach (The Replicator and Non-Scarcity Economics)

Imagine for purposes of discussion that the technology for designing and building an actual cornucopia — something that embodies coded genetically modified organisms, or other coded techniques for producing, modifying, creating, or duplicating food (call it neo-tech food design) — exists, works, and is safe. To frame the problems of neo-tech food design, I start with what ought to be an easy case of low-tech food design, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Since it is a prime example of an incremental improvement invention, and hence like very many other inventions that are routinely patented, it must be asked: was there a problem? And if so, what exactly was the problem with the issuance, or cancellation, of a patent on a sandwich having a doubly encapsulated, twice sealed jelly filling, with spaced apart seals, one of which sealed capsules is peanut butter?Based on lessons learned from the once-patented sandwich, I present two proposals. First, and as what may seem an unlikely solution, I endorse the creation of a Public Domain Protection Agency (PDPA) with resources to help resolve the problems that will predictably arise out of a cornucopia. The PDPA might also serve as a counterweight to the tendency, exemplified by the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), to lock-in some of the current developed nations’ standards for patentability, worldwide. Second, I present an alternate proposal that may be more attainable: virtual field of use limitations coupled with virtual ratemaking proceedings.
How Economics Can Improve Antitrust Doctrine towards Tie-In Sales: Comment on Tirole's 'An Analysis of Tying Cases: A Primer'

Given the focus on tie-in sales in several recent antitrust cases, economists have turned their attention to the motivations and consequences of tying, significantly improving our understanding. Tirole has written an excellent primer focused on what we know about tying and what he believes is desirable antitrust policy concerning the practice. Although we agree with most of Tirole's arguments, there are two topics for which our perspective is somewhat different. First, we would add one situation to the ones identified by Tirole in which tying can harm competition and reduce welfare. Second, in his policy discussion Tirole stops short in some places of using theory to provide concrete guidance and restraint to antitrust enforcers. In other places his suggestions could lead to less rather than more clarity. We explain our reasons for preferring a more limited role for antitrust intervention than Tirole appears to recommend.
The Great Recession’s Impact on Six Big City Budgets in the United States

This paper serves as an introduction to a special issue of the Municipal Finance Journal. It provides background on federal and state deficits and the regional economies where the six case study cities are located. It was also written to describe the case study framework. The six case-study cities are: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York City, Phoenix, and Seattle. The case studies that follow this introduction represent the work of 14 scholars, working in 6 different cities and 8 different universities. The six studies represent our collective attempt to understand how the Great Recession impacted big city budgets. Of the six big cities studied here, only five actually fell into recession and of those five, only three experienced more than 12 months of economic contraction. The cities hit first by the recession had the longest contractions. The cities with the biggest gains in housing prices experienced the sharpest economic contractions. The GR has ended in all six case-study cities.
Position-momentum Bell nonlocality with entangled photon pairs

Witnessing continuous-variable Bell nonlocality is a challenging endeavor, but Bell himself showed how one might demonstrate this nonlocality. Although Bell nearly showed a violation using the Clauser-HorneShimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality with sign-binned position-momentum statistics of entangled pairs of particles measured at different times, his demonstration is subject to approximations not realizable in a laboratory setting. Moreover, he does not give a quantitative estimation of the maximum achievable violation for the wave function he considers. In this article, we show how his strategy can be reimagined using the transverse positions and momenta of entangled photon pairs measured at different propagation distances, and we find that the maximum achievable violation for the state he considers is actually very small relative to the upper limit of 2 √ 2. Although Bell’s wave function does not produce a large violation of the CHSH inequality, other states may yet do so. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.93.012105
Direct Sums of Cyclic Groups

The study of important classes of abelian groups begins in this chapter. Not counting the finite and finitely generated groups, the class of direct sums of cyclic groups is perhaps the best understood class.
Transverse single spin asymmetry measurements at STAR

Transverse single spin asymmetries AN are expected to be sensitive to par-ton polarization and orbital angular momentum contributions to the nucleon spin. Significantly large AN has been observed in different collision systems such as semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) and polarized proton-proton (pp) collisions, indicating a dominant contribution of partonic interactions in the non-perturbative regime. Therefore it’s critical to measure AN in various channels of polarized pp collisions in order to complement SIDIS data and to constrain theoretical models. We report STAR asymmetry measurements on mid-rapidity hadron-jet and di-hadron correlations at √s = 200 GeV and forward rapidity inclusive hadron production at √s = 500 GeV polarized pp collisions.
Different Potentialities of Male and Female Skin in Reeves Pheasants.

The extraordinary similarity of feathers produced by male and female fowls after gonadectomy has led to the idea that the skin in the 2 sexes is potentially the same. This inference seems to be sup...
Pre-clinical evaluation of an in vitro selection protocol for the enrichment of transduced CD34+ cell-derived human dendritic cells.

The efficient genetic modification of CD34+ cell-derived dendritic cells (DC) will provide a significant advancement towards the development of immunotherapy protocols for cancer, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases. Recent reports have described the transduction of CD34+ cells via retrovirus- and lentivirus-based gene transfer vectors and subsequent differentiation into functional DC. Since there is significant apprehension regarding the clinical uses of HIV-based vectors, in this report, we compare a murine leukemia virus (MLV)- and a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-based bicistronic vector for gene transfer into human CD34+ cells and subsequent differentiation into mature DC. Each vector expressed both EGFP and the dominant selectable marker DHFRL22Y allowing for the enrichment of marked cells in the presence of the antifolate drug trimetrexate (TMTX). Both MLV-based and HIV-based vectors efficiently transduced cytokine mobilized human peripheral blood CD34+ cells. However, in vitro expansion and differentiation in the presence of GM-CSF, TNF-α, Flt-3L, SCF and IL-4 resulted in a reduction in the percentage of DC expressing the transgene. Selection with TMTX during differentiation increased the percentage of marked DC, resulting in up to 79% (MLV vector) and up to 94% (lentivirus-vector) transduced cells expressing EGFP without loss of DC phenotype. Thus, MLV-based vectors and in vitro selection of transduced human DC show great promise for immunotherapy protocols. Gene Therapy (2001) 8, 1427–1435.
Who Is the Prophet, and Who the Ass? Role-Reversing Interludes and the Unity of the Balaam Narrative (Numbers 22–24)*:

This article departs from the traditional view that the episode involving Balaam and his donkey (Num. 22.21–35) is an independent insertion that disrupts the Balaam narrative (Num. 22–24). Instead,...
Pilot and Feasibility Test of a Mobile Health-Supported Behavioral Counseling Intervention for Weight Management Among Breast Cancer Survivors.

Background: Health behavior and weight management interventions for cancer survivors have the potential to prevent future cancer recurrence and improve long-term health; however, their translation can be limited if the intervention is complex and involves high participant burden. Mobile health (mHealth) offers a delivery modality to integrate interventions into daily life routines. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a one-group trial with a pre-post evaluation design on engagement (use and acceptability), physiological (weight), behavioral (diet and physical activity), and other secondary outcomes. Methods: The 10-week intervention consisted of mHealth components (self-monitoring of selected diet behaviors via daily text messages, wireless devices to automatically track weight and steps) and 4 motivational interviewing–based technology-assisted phone sessions with a nonprofessionally trained counselor. Participants were overweight breast cancer survivors who had completed treatment and owned a smartphone. Weight was measured objectively; diet and physical activity were measured with brief self-reported questionnaires. Results: Ten women participated; they had a mean age of 59 years (SD 6), 50% belonged to a racial or ethnic minority group, 50% had some college or less, and 40% reported using Medicaid health insurance. Engagement was high: out of 70 days in total, the mean number of days recording steps via the wristband pedometer was 64 (SD 7), recording a weight via the scale was 45 (SD 24), and responding to text messages was 60 (SD 13); 100% of participants completed all 4 calls with the counselor. Most (90%) were very likely to participate again and recommend the program to others. Mean weight in pounds decreased (182.5 to 179.1, mean change −3.38 [SD 7.67]), fruit and vegetable daily servings increased (2.89 to 4.42, mean change 1.53 [SD 2.82]), and self-reported moderate physical activity increased in metabolic equivalent of task (MET) minutes per week (2791 to 3336, mean change 545 [SD 1694]). Conclusions: Findings support the conduct of a fully powered trial to evaluate the efficacy of mHealth as a feasible intervention modality for breast cancer survivors. Future research should employ accelerometer-based physical activity assessment and consider development of an all-in-one app to integrate devices, messaging, and educational content and other mHealth approaches to support behavioral counselors conducting weight management interventions. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02387671; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02387671 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6hGEuttbZ). [JMIR Cancer 2016;2(1):e4]
Efficacy and safety of losartan in treatment of essential hypertension

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of losartan (LOS) for Chinese patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension Methods Patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension tolic blood pressure (SiDBP) of 95114 mm Hg), 1 mm Hg=0133 kPa] were recruited Group was a doubleblind, randomized, parallel study Clinic blood pressure was measured every 2 weeks during a 8week survey Group was an openlabel study taking LOS only, in which ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was performed before and after 8week active treatment and clinic blood pressure was measured during a 24week period After 1week washout and 2week placebo runin period, the patients were administered LOS (n=61) 50 mg/day or Lisinopril (LIS) (n=62) 20mg/day for 4 weeks, followed by dose titration to LOS 100 mg/day or LIS 30 mg/day for another 4 weeks in those patients with SiDBP90 mm Hg At the end of placebo runin and 2,4,6,8 weeks after treatment, the result of clinic blood pressure, heart rate(HR), symptoms and signs were recorded Results At the end of 8 weeks, no statistical difference was found between the effective rates of LOS and LIS (656% vs 742%, P0 05) SiSBP/SiDBP was decreased by (159121/10975) mm Hg by LOS and (145153/12381) mm Hg by LIS The decrease in blood pressure showed no difference between the two groups at the end of 2,4,6and 8 weeks (P005) The antihypertensive effect was maintained over long term observation (24 weeks) Analysis of the ABPM profiles (n=20) showed that LOS exerted its antihypertensive effect throughout 24h doseinterval without affecting the natural variations Placebocorrected trough: peak ratio approached 90% Heart rate was unaffected in both treatment groups And the values of blood uric acid were decreased by LOS The prevalence of cough in LOS group was significantly lower than that in LIS group (16% vs 129%, respectively, P0001) Conclusion LOS 50100 mg once daily is effective and well tolerated in Chinese patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension without the side effect of cough angiotension
Activated polymorphonuclear leukocytes affect red blood cell aggregability.

Activated leukocytes can affect adjacent cells by generating oxygen free radicals and secreting proteolytic enzymes, and red blood cells (RBC) exposed to such agents should be susceptible to their effects. This study was thus designed to investigate the effects of activated polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) on RBC aggregability (i.e., on intrinsic RBC aggregation characteristics). PMN were isolated from human blood by density separation and suspended in glucose-enriched buffer with RBC isolated from the same blood sample (RBC/PMN ratio of 150:1). PMN were then activated in this suspension by adding 1 ng/mL tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and 10(-7) M N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) or fMLP alone. After incubation for 2 h at 37 degrees C, RBC aggregation behavior in autologous plasma was assessed; RBC deformability and partition coefficients were also measured. RBC aggregation was significantly increased after incubation and deformability and partitioning were decreased; these effects were prevented by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (1 mM) or superoxide dismutase (20 microg/mL) plus catalase (40 microg/mL). TNF-alpha and fMLP alone had no effect on RBC aggregation if PMN were not present. Activated PMN can thus markedly affect RBC aggregability, apparently via both proteolytic enzymes and oxygen free radicals; enhanced aggregation seen in clinical states associated with PMN activation or observed during in vivo RBC aging may also involve such PMN-RBC interactions.
Second-look laparotomy in epithelial ovarian cancer.

SUMMARY The absence of a reliable noninvasive means of detecting persistent clinically occult ovarian cancer is the basis for performing repetitive operative procedures, usually called a second-look. Although controversy persists regarding whether second-look surgery contributes to an improved survival, it is well established that the second-look findings are of prognostic value. Patients with no pathologic evidence of tumor at second-look surgery (negative second-look) are much more likely to experience a prolonged disease-free interval than are patients with evidence of gross tumors at second-look (macroscopic positive second-look). Likewise, patients without gross tumor but with pathologic or cytologic disease (microscopic positive second-look) tend to survive longer than patients with a macroscopic positive second-look, but they do more poorly than patients with a negative second-look. It is also well known, however, that there are other prognostic features that influence clinical outcomes. For example, patients who have a negative second-look after treatment for a stage IIIC, grade 3 epithelial ovarian carcinoma should be considered at higher risk (50%) for an earlier clinical relapse than patients with low-grade tumors (grade 1 or low malignant potential) who have microscopic or small-volume gross tumors at second-look surgery. Much attention has been directed to whether second-look surgery has a favorable impact on survival. Unfortunately, no blind randomized trials have addressed this question. The conduct of a trial to evaluate the impact of second-look surgery on survival would be most difficult and essentially impossible because of an inability to standardize or control the treatment for recurrent tumors. Even measuring the interval of progression-free disease from completion of primary chemotherapy would be a challenging clinical trial to execute.
Experimental and computational study of gas bubble removal in a microfluidic system using nanofibrous membranes

This paper presents a simple and efficient method for removing gas bubbles from a microfluidic system. This bubble removal system uses a T-junction configuration to generate gas bubbles within a water-filled microchannel. The generated bubbles are then transported to a bubble removal region and vented through a hydrophobic nanofibrous membrane. Four different hydrophobic Polytetrafluorethylene membranes with different pore sizes ranging from 0.45 to 3 μm are tested to study the effect of membrane structure on the system performance. The fluidic channel width is 500 μm and channel height ranges from 100 to 300 μm. Additionally, a 3D computational fluid dynamics model is developed to simulate the bubble generation and its removal from a microfluidic system. Computational results are found to be in a good agreement with the experimental data. The effects of various geometrical and flow parameters on bubble removal capability of the system are studied. Furthermore, gas–liquid two-phase flow behaviors for both the complete and partial bubble removal cases are thoroughly investigated. The results indicate that the gas bubble removal rate increases with increasing the pore size and channel height but decreases with increasing the liquid flow rate.
A One-Ton Thermoelectric Air Conditioning Unit: Un groupe de conditionnement d'air thermoélectrique de 3000 fg/h.

On a entrepris en Avril 1959 une etude en vue de determiner la possibilite d'appliquer la thermoelectricite au conditionnement d'air des sous-marins, qui a abouti en Avril 1962 a la livraison au Bureau des Navires de la Marine Americaine, d'un conditionneur d'air thermoelectrique et d'un systeme de reglage destine aux besoins des sous-marins en operation.
Modeling Sea-Level Rise and Surge in Low-Lying Urban Areas Using Spatial Data, Geographic Information Systems, and Animation Methods

Spatial datasets including elevation, land cover, and population of urban areas provide a basis for modeling and animating sea-level rise and surges resulting from storms and other catastrophic events. With a geographic information system (GIS), elevation data can be used to determine urban areas with large population numbers and densities in low-lying areas subject to inundation from rising water. This chapter provides details of the analysis and modeling procedure, as well as animations for specific areas of the world that are at risk from inundation from moderate rises or surges of sea level. The work is not an attempt to predict sea-level rise, but rather a methodological study of how to use GIS data layers to create the models and animations. Whereas global sea level rise is currently measured by millimeters per year, this work examines theoretical rise measured in meters as well as coastal threats posed by tsunamis, such as occurred in the Indian Ocean in 2004. Global, regional, and local animations can be created using widely available elevation, land cover, and population data. The models and animations provide a basis for determining areas with large population numbers in relatively low-lying areas and potentially subject to inundation risk, as was the case when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. This determination can provide a basis for more detailed modeling and policy planning such as development and evacuation.
Military Interprofessional Health Care Teams: How USU is Working to Harness the Power of Collaboration

ABSTRACTDespite efforts to increase patient safety, hundreds of thousands of lives are lost each year to preventable health care errors. The Institute of Medicine and other organizations have recommended that facilitating effective interprofessional health care team work can help address this problem. While the concept of interprofessional health care teams is known, understanding and organizing effective team performance have proven to be elusive goals. Although considerable research has been conducted in the civilian sector, scholars have yet to extend research to the military context. Indeed, delivering the highest caliber of health care to our service men and women is vitally important. This commentary describes a new initiative as the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences aimed at researching the characteristics of successful military interprofessional teams and why those characteristics are important. It also describes the interprofessional education initiative that Uniformed Services...
Zika Virus and Patient Blood Management

Sporadic Zika virus infections had only occurred in Africa and Asia until an outbreak in Micronesia (Oceania) in 2007. In 2013 to 2014, several outer Pacific Islands reported local outbreaks. Soon thereafter, the virus was likely introduced in Brazil from competing athletes from French Polynesia and other countries that participated in a competition there. Transmission is thought to have occurred through mosquito bites and spread to the immunologically naive population. Being also a flavivirus, the Zika virus is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito that is endemic in South and Central America that is also the vector of West Nile virus, dengue, and chikungunya. In less than a year, physicians in Brazil reported a many-fold increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly. Despite initial skepticism regarding the causal association of the Zika virus epidemic and birth defects, extensive basic and clinical research evidence has now confirmed this relationship. In the United States, more than 4000 travel-associated infections have been reported by the middle of 2016 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Furthermore, many local mosquito-borne infections have occurred in Puerto Rico and Florida. Considering that the virus causes a viremia in which 80% of infected individuals have no symptoms, the potential for transfusion transmission from an asymptomatic blood donor is high if utilizing donor screening alone without testing. Platelet units have been shown to infect 2 patients via transfusion in Brazil. Although there was an investigational nucleic acid test available for testing donors, not all blood centers were initially required to participate. Subsequently, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a guidance in August 2016 that recommended universal nucleic acid testing for the Zika virus on blood donors.In this report, we review the potentially devastating effects of Zika virus infection during pregnancy and its implication in cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults. Furthermore, we urge hospital-based clinicians and transfusion medicine specialists to implement perisurgical patient blood management strategies to avoid blood component transfusions with their potential risks of emerging pathogens, illustrated here by the Zika virus. Ultimately, this current global threat, as described by the World Health Organization, will inevitably be followed by future outbreaks of other bloodborne pathogens; the principles and practices of perioperative patient blood management will reduce the risks from not only known, but also unknown risks of blood transfusion for our patients.
Educators on Exhibit Teams

(1994). Educators on Exhibit Teams. Journal of Museum Education: Vol. 19, Evolution and Revolution: A Decade of Change in Museum Education, pp. 6-9.
Genomic data detect corresponding signatures of population size change on an ecological time scale in two salamander species.

Understanding the demography of species over recent history (e.g. <100 years) is critical in studies of ecology and evolution, but records of population history are rarely available. Surveying genetic variation is a potential alternative to census-based estimates of population size, and can yield insight into the demography of a population. However, to assess the performance of genetic methods, it is important to compare their estimates of population history to known demography. Here, we leveraged the exceptional resources from a wetland with 37 years of amphibian mark-recapture data to study the utility of genetically based demographic inference on salamander species with documented population declines (Ambystoma talpoideum) and expansions (A. opacum), patterns that have been shown to be correlated with changes in wetland hydroperiod. We generated ddRAD data from two temporally sampled populations of A. opacum (1993, 2013) and A. talpoideum (1984, 2011) and used coalescent-based demographic inference to compare alternate evolutionary models. For both species, demographic model inference supported population size changes that corroborated mark-recapture data. Parameter estimation in A. talpoideum was robust to our variations in analytical approach, while estimates for A. opacum were highly inconsistent, tempering our confidence in detecting a demographic trend in this species. Overall, our robust results in A. talpoideum suggest that genome-based demographic inference has utility on an ecological scale, but researchers should also be cognizant that these methods may not work in all systems and evolutionary scenarios. Demographic inference may be an important tool for population monitoring and conservation management planning.