cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Some Effects of Microstructure and Chemistry on Corrosion and Hydrogen Embrittlement of Ticode–12 *

Effects of microstructure and chemistry on corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement of TiCode-12 have been investigated. Heat treating mill-annealed TiCode-12 in the temperature range 500–750°C results in a sensitization effect, i.e., an increase in the uniform corrosion rate when tested in either boiling 1N HCl or a MgCl2 brine. This effect is caused by microstructural changes involving the precipitation of Ti2Ni. Electrochemical studies indicate that sensitization results from galvanic coupling between Ti2Ni, acting as cathode, and the α-Ti matrix with resultant shifts in corrosion potential. Increasing the Fe content of the alloy promotes the sensitization effect. Hydrogen embrittlement of TiCode-12 was studied using the slow strain rate technique. Hydrogen concentrations to 130 wppm did not cause embrittlement. However, above 220 wppm hydrogen, degradation was observed as a decrease in mechanical behavior and the appearance of cleavage-like secondary cracks. The embrittlement was dependent on temperature and alloy chemistry but not environment (air or brine).
Heterosexual risk for HIV among black men in the United States: a call to action against a neglected crisis in black communities

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrate that 1 in 16 Black men in the United States will be infected with HIV in their lifetime. Furthermore, the long-standing HIV disparity in Black communities is actually increasing for Black men. National efforts to curb the epidemic among U.S. Black men focus primarily on men who have sex with men and injection drug users. Black men at heterosexual risk for HIV have largely been neglected by research, program, and policy. This article presents epidemiologic data documenting that heterosexual risk for HIV among Black men is a major concern for Black communities and is likely additional evidence among growing indications of a generalized epidemic in low-income and urban Black communities. The authors offer a call to action to increase support for research, program, and policies that can improve HIV prevention and testing among heterosexual Black men in the United States, as part of the national agenda to reduce rates of HIV in Black communities.
Simplified computation of the Volterra frequency response functions of non-linear systems

A new and more straightforward algorithm for computing the higher order frequency response functions of a broad class of non-linear systems is presented. The algorithm is not limited to specific harmonic inputs, and is applicable to a broad class of non-linear differential, difference, or time-delayed differential equation models. It is readily automated in software, and results are illustrated by means of an example.
Spatial variability of oceanic phycoerythrin spectral types derived from airborne laser-induced fluorescence emissions

We report spatial variability of oceanic phycoerythrin spectral types detected by means of a blue spectral shift in airborne laser-induced fluorescence emission. The blue shift of the phycoerythrobilin fluorescence is known from laboratory studies to be induced by phycourobilin chromophore substitution at phycoerythrobilin chromophore sites in some strains of phycoerythrin-containing marine cyanobacteria. The airborne 532-nm laser-induced phycoerythrin fluorescence of the upper oceanic volume showed distinct segregation of cyanobacterial chromophore types in a flight transect from coastal water to the Sargasso Sea in the western North Atlantic. High phycourobilin levels were restricted to the oceanic (oligotrophic) end of the flight transect, in agreement with historical ship findings. These remotely observed phycoerythrin spectral fluorescence shifts have the potential to permit rapid, wide-area studies of the spatial variability of spectrally distinct cyanobacteria, especially across interfacial regions of coastal and oceanic water masses. Airborne laser-induced phytoplankton spectral fluorescence observations also further the development of satellite algorithms for passive detection of phytoplankton pigments. Optical modifications to the NASA Airborne Oceanographic Lidar are briefly described that permitted observation of the fluorescence spectral shifts.
Serum ferritin as a measure of stored iron in horses

Occasionally, horses are given large amounts of iron to improve performance. Although iron deficiency could limit erythrocyte production and other functions related to nonhematological tissues, it probably only occurs in blood loss. We have developed an enzyme immunoassay for ferritin in equine sera and evaluated its relationship to iron stored in liver and spleen. Serum ferritin correlated significantly (P less than 0.0001) with the concentration of nonheme iron in the liver and spleen. It increased following iron therapy and decreased after phlebotomy. We conclude that serum ferritin provides a good index of hepatic and splenic iron and can be used to evaluate iron storage in horses.
Steroidal Alkaloid Teratogens: Molecular Probes for Investigation of Craniofacial Malformations

AbstractHoloprosencephaly, a malformation sequence that results from impaired midline cleavage of the embryonic forebrain, is expressed as a spectrum of craniofacial anomalies of which cyclopia is the most severe. The Veratrum alkaloids are the most prominent of the teratogenic agents known to induce holoprosencephaly in mammals. Jervine and 11-deoxojervine (cyclopamine) are potent steroidal alkaloid teratogens from Veratrum californicum that are responsible for inducing cyclopic malformations in sheep.Extensive structure-terata investigations of jervanes, solanidanes, and spirosolanes have shown that teratogenicity induced upon oral administration of all three structural types is significantly higher if the C-5, C-6 bond is unsaturated. Research in progress on the pathogenesis of holoprosencephalic malformations in both hamsters and humans offers the potential to provide information on the receptors involved in the expressions of these craniofacial syndromes. A clearer understanding of steroidal alkaloid...
Biochemical aspects of conceptus–endometrial interactions

Mammalian conceptuses must provide a chemical signal to the maternal system to insure maintenance of corpus luteum (CL) function and of progesterone production and continuation of uterine endometrial secretory activity. These events insure that the developing conceptus is provided with appropriate nutrients, regulatory enzymes and endocrine state to allow successful establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Pig blastocysts begin to produce estrogens by Day 11 of pregnancy, which prevents secretion of the uterine luteolytic factor (PGF2 alpha) in an endocrine direction, but allows secretion in an exocrine direction, i.e., into the uterine lumen. Therefore, CL are "protected." Blastocyst estrogens also trigger secretion of a group of proteins, including uteroferrin, an iron transport protein, and a family of protease inhibitors whose biosynthesis within the uterine glandular epithelium is under the control of progesterone. Estrogen also appears to promote accumulation of glucose and fructose within the uterine lumen. A complex in vivo "culture medium" is thereby established to promote conceptus development. Pig blastocysts do not undergo invasive implantation within the uterine lumen although they produce the protease, plasminogen activator. Invasion may be prevented by endometrial secretion of progesterone-induced protease inhibitors which are produced in large amounts. In addition to estrogens of conceptus origin, calcium and prostaglandins PGF2 alpha and E2 may affect the uterine vasculature, water and electrolyte transport, capillary permeability, conceptus steroid production, and related events during pregnancy. The blastocysts of the large domestic animals also secrete proteins which include a large glycoprotein (Mr approximately 600,000) and a small acidic protein (Mr approximately 17,000). The latter has been purified from sheep and named ovine trophoblast protein I. These proteins may play unique roles in early pregnancy with respect to establishment and maintenance of pregnancy in the ewe, sow, mare, and cow.
A hybrid two-stage approach for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation prognosis problem

We develop a hybrid two-stage approach for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) prognosis based on features extracted from short-term heart rate variability (HRV) sequences. At the first stage, a data-mining-based approach is used to identify crucial medical-oriented features that can distinguish PAF HRV sequences from non-PAF HRV ones. However, PAF patients can experience PAF without exhibiting the medical-oriented features. To detect this type of patients, at the second stage, we employ a machine-learning-based approach to select certain nonlinear features that can classify HRV sequences into classes of PAF or non-PAF The developed approach was trained on the PAF Prediction Challenge Database and was tested on the dataset consisting of minute HRV episodes extracted from MIT-BIH Atrial Fibrillation Database and the MIT-BIH Normal Sinus Rhythm Database. It was obtained from the numerical evaluation that the developed approach achieved about 85% of accuracy in short-term prognosis of PAF by using the first stage approach alone and around 90% of accuracy with the combination of both stages. Furthermore, the developed medical-oriented features can be clinically valuable to the cardiologists for providing insights to the initiation of PAF.
Disenfranchised minorities: Trust, definitions of citizenship, and noncitizen voting rights in developed democracies

Western societies show varying reactions to the challenges of immigration. This is especially true with regards to voting rights for immigrants. This article shows that previous research has neglec...
Prevalence of degenerative changes of the atlanto-axial joints

Abstract Background context Degeneration of the atlantodens and atlanto-axial joints is associated with cervical spine pain and may also be associated with an increased risk of dens fracture. However, there is paucity of literature describing the prevalence of specific degenerative changes in the atlantodens and atlanto-axial facet joints. Purpose To document age-related degenerative changes of the cervical spine in a large cohort of patients. Study design/setting This is a retrospective cohort study. Patient sample Adult trauma patients were admitted to our Level 1 trauma center. Outcome measures Osteoarthritis of the atlantodens and atlanto-axial facet joints of the cervical spine and the presence of intraosseous cyst and calcific synovitis, as determined by computed tomography (CT) scans. Methods We conducted a retrospective study of 1,543 adult trauma patients who received a cervical spine CT scan. The anterior atlantodens joint interval was measured. The presence or absence of intraosseous cysts and calcific synovitis was recorded. Degeneration of the atlantodens and atlanto-axial facet joints at age intervals was quantified. Results The atlantodens interval narrowed linearly with age (R 2 =0.992, p Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first study that documents specific changes of both atlantodens and atlanto-axial facet joints as a function of age in a large cohort of 1,543 patients. These changes increased exponentially with age and may contribute to pain and limitation in motion. In light of our findings and recent studies demonstrating the association between degeneration and dens fracture in elderly, cervical spine radiographs of elderly patients should be carefully assessed for these changes.
A high level synthesis tool for systolic designs

The authors present DECOMPOSER, a high-level synthesis tool for automating the design of systolic systems. DECOMPOSER takes as inputs a hierarchical description of the computation to be performed and some hint as to how it is to be performed. The computation description is in the form of a parameterized DAG (directed acyclic graph) so that different problem sizes can be handled. The hit is in the form of marking information for that DAG. DECOMPOSER produces a detailed report on the hardware requirements for the specified computation. In particular, the structure of each computation node, how the computation nodes are connected, and the input and output sequences are given. The information is passed to other tools in the tool set so that ultimately a layout description file in suitable format (e.g. CIF) can be generated for the architecture performing the computation derived by DECOMPOSER. >
The significance of atypical glandular cells on routine cervical cytologic testing in a community-based population

Abstract Objectives: We sought to determine the follow-up rate of women with glandular atypia on routine Papanicolaou smears in a community-based population and to describe the associated pathologic findings. Study Design: Over a 12-month period, all patients with Papanicolaou smears with atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance were reviewed for demographic and clinical characteristics and followed up for a period of 12 to 24 months. Results: Of the 48,890 Papanicolaou smears examined, 141 (0.29%) were diagnosed with atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance. Of these, 22 (17.6%) had no record of any subsequent investigation, and only 64 (51.2%) were monitored with both colposcopy and biopsy. Of the 64 biopsy specimens, 39 (60.9%) were positive for disease. Twenty-six (66.7%) were of squamous origin, with the most advanced lesion being cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3. An additional patient had a combined cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and adenocarcinoma in situ lesion. Four (10.3%) additional patients had glandular cervical lesions, 2 benign polyps and 2 adenocarcinoma in situ lesions. Seven (17.9%) patients had endometrial lesions (benign polyps, 2 patients; complex atypical endometrial hyperplasia, 1 patient; and endometrial carcinoma, 4 patients). One patient had ovarian cystadenocarcinoma. Postmenopausal women were 5 times more likely to have a glandular lesion. Women with abnormal vaginal bleeding were also more likely to have a glandular lesion. These same patient groups were also more likely to have endometrial disease. Conclusion: The incidence of atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance on Papanicolaou smears in this community-based population was 0.29%, which is consistent with estimates from institution-based populations. Nearly 50% of women studied were not followed up with tissue biopsy. Of those with a tissue biopsy, 61% had positive findings, including 5 with cancer. Although postmenopausal status and abnormal vaginal bleeding were associated with endometrial or glandular disease, studies of larger patient populations should be conducted to examine potential risk factors for these conditions. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2000;182: 1278-82.)
Efficient migration of complex off-line computer vision software to real-time system implementation on generic computer hardware

This paper addresses the problem of migrating large and complex computer vision code bases that have been developed off-line, into efficient real-time implementations avoiding the need for rewriting the software, and the associated costs. Creative linking strategies based on Linux loadable kernel modules are presented to create a simultaneous realization of real-time and off-line frame rate computer vision systems from a single code base. In this approach, systemic predictability is achieved by inserting time-critical components of a user-level executable directly into the kernel as a virtual device driver. This effectively emulates a single process space model that is nonpreemptable, nonpageable, and that has direct access to a powerful set of system-level services. This overall approach is shown to provide the basis for building a predictable frame-rate vision system using commercial off-the-shelf hardware and a standard uniprocessor Linux operating system. Experiments on a frame-rate vision system designed for computer-assisted laser retinal surgery show that this method reduces the variance of observed per-frame central processing unit cycle counts by two orders of magnitude. The conclusion is that when predictable application algorithms are used, it is possible to efficiently migrate to a predictable frame-rate computer vision system.
Tensions of the flexor digitorum superficialis are higher than a current model predicts

Existing isometric force models can be used to predict tension in the finger flexor tendon, however, they assume a specific distribution of forces across the tendons of the fingers. These assumptions have not been validated or explored by experimental methods. To determine if the force distributions repeatably follow one pattern the in vivo tension of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) tendon of the long finger was measured in nine patients undergoing open carpal tunnel release surgery. Following the release, a tendon force transducer (Dennerlein et al. 1997 J. Biomechanics 30(4), 395—397) was mounted onto the FDS of the long finger. Tension in the tendon, contact force at the fingertip, and finger posture were recorded while the patient gradually increased the force applied by the fingertip from 0 to 10 N and then monotonically reduced it to 0 N. The average ratio of the tendon tension to the fingertip contact force ranged from 1.7 to 5.8 (mean"3.3, s.d."1.4) for the nine subjects. These ratios are larger than ratios predicted by current isometric tendon force models (mean "1.2, s. d. "0.4). Subjects who used a pulp pinch posture (hyper-extended distal interphalangeal joint (DIP)) showed a significantly (p"0.02) larger ratio (mean"4.4, s.d."1.5) than the five subjects who flexed the DIP joint in a tip pinch posture (mean"2.4, s.d."0.6). A new DIP constraint model, which selects di⁄erent force distribution based on DIP joint posture, predicts force ratios that correlate well with the measured ratios (r2"0.85). ( 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
A CORRELATION AND REGRESSION ANALYSIS APPLIED TO RURAL FARM POPULATION DENSITIES IN THE GREAT PLAINS1

(1961). A CORRELATION AND REGRESSION ANALYSIS APPLIED TO RURAL FARM POPULATION DENSITIES IN THE GREAT PLAINS. Annals of the Association of American Geographers: Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 211-221.
Managed Care: Effects on the Physician-Patient Relationship

Over the past several years, healthcare has been profoundly altered by the growth of managed care. Because managed care integrates the financing and delivery of healthcare services, it dramatically alters the roles and relationships among providers, payers, and patients. While analysis of this change has focused on whether and how managed care can control costs, an increasingly important concern among healthcare providers and recipients is the impact of managed care on the physician–patient relationship. The literature includes a number of theoretical articles and anecdotal accounts of managed care's impact on the doctor–patient relationship, but little data have been collected and analyzed. We designed a survey for distribution to Wisconsin physicians to analyze the prevalence and types of managed care arrangements in the state, and the impact of these arrangements on physicians and their relationships with patients.
Asynchronous Binarization for Synchronous Grammars

Binarization of n-ary rules is critical for the efficiency of syntactic machine translation decoding. Because the target side of a rule will generally reorder the source side, it is complex (and sometimes impossible) to find synchronous rule binarizations. However, we show that synchronous binarizations are not necessary in a two-stage decoder. Instead, the grammar can be binarized one way for the parsing stage, then rebinarized in a different way for the reranking stage. Each individual binarization considers only one monolingual projection of the grammar, entirely avoiding the constraints of synchronous binarization and allowing binarizations that are separately optimized for each stage. Compared to n-ary forest reranking, even simple target-side binarization schemes improve overall decoding accuracy.