cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enkephalin Receptors and Receptor-Mediated Signal Transduction in Cultured Human Lymphocytes

Abstract Enkephalins are opioid peptides that bridge the neuroendocrine and immune systems. Using flow cytometry and a fluorescein conjugate of the endogenous pentapeptide methionine-enkephalin (ME), we have identified enkephalin receptors on cultured human lymphocytes. Cell surface recognition sites that bound ME with high affinity and specificity were detected for NALM 6 (pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia) and Jurkat (T lymphoma) cells. Brain-like enkephalin receptors were measured for these lymphocytes using conventional radioligand–receptor assays and the highly δ opioid receptor-selective enkephalin analog [3H]DPDPE. Upon activation, the lymphocyte enkephalin receptors transmitted signals that enhanced the accumulation of intracellular cAMP. These studies provide evidence that cultured human lymphocytes of the B (NALM 6 cells) and T (Jurkat cells) lineages express functional enkephalin receptors and suggest that such receptors may be instrumental in the lymphocyte response to opioid peptides and alkaloids.
Experimental measurement and Finite element modeling of extraordinary optoconductance in GaAs-In metal-semiconductor hybrid structures

We present a detailed discussion of extraordinary optoconductance (EOC). [Here optoconductance is synonymous with photoconductance.] Experimental data was acquired via macroscopic metalsemiconductor hybrid structures composed of GaAs and In and subjected to illumination from an Ar ion laser. A drift diffusion model using the finite element method (FEM) provided a reasonable fit to the data. EOC is explored as a function of laser position, bias current, laser power density, and temperature. The positional dependence of the voltage is accounted for by the Dember effect, with the model incorporating the excess hole distribution based on the carrier mobility, and thus the mean free path. The bias current is found to produce a linear voltage offset and does not influence the EOC. A linear relationship is found between the laser power density and the voltage in the bare and hybrid devices. This dependence is reproduced in the model by a generation rate parameter which is related to the power density. Incorporating the mobility and diffusion temperature dependence, the model directly parallels the temperature dependence of the EOC without the use of fitting parameters.
Essential strategies for achieving durable population-based maternal and child health services:

This paper focuses primarily on the provision of health services for vulnerable maternal and child health (MCH) clients. Poverty access to care culturally inappropriate care inadequate funding and poor quality of care are the essential MCH issues. These issues are well known in countries throughout the world despite the sustained advocacy and policy development efforts of medical associations and other concerned institutions. A critical organizational issue for MCH professionals is how to develop population-based strategies that focus on improving the non-health status as well as the health of the MCH target population. Since poverty is a major issue with traditional MCH clients worldwide MCH organizations should provide comprehensive one-stop services that have outreach components and are culturally appropriate. The initial steps include identifying and working with the population at risk followed by becoming familiar with the history of the population at risk and defining their geographic boundaries. The next steps involve developing baseline information on their general health and MCH risk status according to available demographic socioeconomic and environmental data. The authors then propose that MCH advocates adopt the 18 MCH strategies that are discussed in this article.
Rapid Induction of Ferritin in Laboratory Animals Prior to Its Isolation

Abstract Oral ingestion, by guinea pigs, of concentrated solutions of soluble hydroxy-iron(III) polymers rapidly induces a 7-fold increase of liver ferritin. Young guinea pigs imbibing 0.1 M iron for 2 weeks produced a significantly greater amount of ferritin than animals injected with an iron-dextran complex at 1.0 mmole Fe/kg body weight. Conventional methods for the isolation of tissue ferritin are more efficient and provide higher yields from such iron-replete animals. Dose/response curves are presented for the mouse to illustrate the kinetics of liver iron assimilation at various levels of oral iron supplementation.
Age- and sex-specific yield of Barrett's esophagus by endoscopy indication

Background Barrett's esophagus is a precursor of esophageal adenocarcinoma, both of which are associated with GERD. Screening GERD patients for Barrett's esophagus has been suggested, but it is not known which patients should be screened and at what age. Objective To determine the age-specific yield of endoscopy for Barrett's esophagus stratified by sex and indication for endoscopy. Design Retrospective cross-sectional study. Setting National Endoscopic Database of the Clinical Outcomes Research Initiative (CORI). Patients A total of 155,641 patients undergoing their first endoscopy at one of the CORI sites for clinical indications. Main Outcome Measurements Age-specific yield of Barrett's esophagus. Results Among white men with GERD, the yield of Barrett's esophagus increases steeply from early adulthood (2.1% in the third decade of life) to middle adulthood (9.3% in the sixth decade) and then plateaus (the difference for the eighth decade minus the sixth decade is −1.1%; 95% CI, −3.9% to 1.7%). There is no difference in the yield of Barrett's esophagus between middle-aged white women with GERD and white men without GERD (difference is −0.46%; 95% CI, −1.23% to 0.31%). Limitations Possible bias by selection for endoscopy and the potential for misclassification of GERD status. Conclusions The yield of upper endoscopy for the diagnosis of Barrett's esophagus increases rapidly among white men with GERD until approximately age 50 and then reaches a plateau. White women with GERD are at no increased risk compared with white men without GERD.
ESR imaging and FTIR study of thermally treated poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) (ABS) containing a hindered amine stabilizer: Effect of polymer morphology, and butadiene and stabilizer content

Abstract Electron spin resonance imaging (ESRI) was applied to the study of thermal degradation at 393 K of poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) (ABS) prepared by emulsion polymerization and containing 25% wt butadiene (ABS-25B). The polymer was doped with 1 or 2% wt Tinuvin 770 as the hindered amine stabilizer (HAS). The spatial distribution of the HAS-derived nitroxide radicals, obtained by 1D ESRI, was initially homogeneous, but became heterogeneous through sample depth with increasing treatment time, t. The spatial variation of ESR line shaping with sample depth was visualized by 2D spectral-spatial ESRI. ESR spectra along the sample depth, obtained by nondestructive (“virtual”) slicing of the 2D images, were used to deduce the relative intensity of nitroxide radicals present in two dynamically distinct sites; the sites were assigned to butadiene-rich (fast component) and SAN-rich domains (slow component), respectively. 1D and 2D ESRI allowed the determination of the extent of degradation within morphologically-distinct domains as a function of sample depth and treatment time. The results from the ESRI experiments were substantiated by attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-FTIR spectroscopy of the outer layer (500 μm thick) of the polymer. Both techniques indicated faster degradation of polymer samples that contained the higher HAS content, 2% wt. Comparison with the results obtained for a parallel study of ABS prepared by mass polymerization and containing 10% wt butadiene (ABS-10B) indicated clearly that the rate of degradation of the polymer prepared by emulsion polymerization (ABS-25B) is significantly reduced. This result can be explained by the formation of cross-linked “composite” networks during emulsion polymerization, which leads to greater thermal stability.
The Utilization of Physical Therapy in a Palliative Care Unit

Background: In the supportive oncology and palliative care settings, rehabilitation interventions are often overlooked and underutilized, despite high levels of functional disability in these patients. As a result, little is known about the utilization or effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions in palliative care populations. Objective: To assess the utilization of physical therapy (PT) in a hospital-based palliative care unit, to characterize functional disabilities in patients who received PT, and to identify factors related to functional improvement following a course of PT. Methods: Retrospective chart review of 100 patients (mean age 70 years, 97% male) discharged from the Milwaukee Veterans Hospital Palliative Care unit over 15 months. Activities of daily living (ADL) performance scores were recorded on admission, at 2 weeks, and at completion of the PT program and correlated with demographic and disease-related variables. Results: Thirty-seven patients received a formal PT assessment, and 18 ...
Dysfluency characteristics of aged, normal-speaking black and white males

Abstract The communicative fluency of an aging population was studied. Types of dysfluencies in dyadic conversations were categorized and their amounts converted to a dysfluency index. Volunteer subjects included 28 males, aged 65 to 85, who were balanced for race (black/white) and socioeconomic status (high/low). Interjections, revisions, and whole-word repetitions were the predominant dysfluencies among all subjects. Types and amounts of dysfluency differed little, if it all, as a function of race or socioeconomic level.
Photoaffinity labeling of MSH receptors on pigment cells

The pituitary peptide hormone α-MSH plays a role in pigmentation and fetal development and as a neuropeptide it influences behaviour and learning. In order to study α-MSH at the molecular level we have introduced a method of photoaffinity labelling of MSH receptors on intact pigment cells with which the biological response of the labelled cells could be continuously monitored. When melanophores of skin of Anolis carolinensis or Xenopus laevis where irradiated with UV-light in the presence of photoreactive α-MSH containing the photolabel in position 1, 9, or 13, a long-lasting signal was generated inducing irreversible pigment dispersion. A number of control experiments proved that the effect was specific. Calcium was shown to be indispensable for hormone-receptor binding and for the transduction of the signal from the receptor to the adenylate cyclase. Catecholamines acting through an alpha-2 receptor could reversibly inhibit the longlasting response of Anolis melanophores. The Xenopus model was also used for studying receptor turnover and degradation in the presence and absence of calcium. These and other results showed that irreversible stimulation by covalent labelling of hormone receptors represents a useful approach for studying stimulus-response coupling in intact cells, particularly when there are only few cells available.
A Comparison of Cloud Motion Winds from ATS 6 Images with Coinciding SMS 1 Winds

A methodology is developed for accurate measurement of cloud motion winds from the geosynchronous ATS 6 image data. Attitude changes between consecutive images (as a function of scan-line number) are accounted for in wind computations through measurement of the earth-edge displacements between the successive infrared images. Also, an image matching procedure is used to remove obvious and distracting image distortions. The availability of SMS imagery coinciding with ATS 6 imagery makes SMS an excellent reference against which the quality of ATS 6 winds can be tested. The resulting winds inferred from cloud displacement measurements taken from a sequence of the corrected images are found to agree better than 2 m/sec rms with winds measured from coincident SMS 1 imagery.
Parental preferences for treatment: Preliminary report from a randomised comparison of treatment strategies in (early) juvenile idiopathic arthritis (BeSt for Kids trial)

Methods A questionnaire is taken at the start in all parents of the participants of the BeSt for Kids trial, treated with either initial sequential monotherapy (group 1) with either methotrexate or sulfasalazine, initial combination therapy with methotrexate and tapered prednisone (group 2), or initial combination therapy with methotrexate and etanercept (group 3). ACRp50 is the primary goal, treatment adjustments are made every 3 months to aim at clinical remission on medication from 6 months and onwards. The questionnaire explores parental preferences or dislikes for the initial therapy.
Construct validity of the professional behavior evaluation instrument from the National Standard Paramedic Curriculum

Introduction: Professional behavior is difficult to measure and define. The literature does not report any agreed-upon definition of professionalism, and no studies were found that demonstrate valid measurement of this important domain. Hypothesis: This study examined the construct validity of the Professional Behavior Evaluation (PBE) instrument published by the National Standard Paramedic Curriculum in 1998. Methods: Subjects consisted of 222 paramedics in a municipal fire department system serving a population of 1.32 million. The paramedics had a median experience of eight years and a range of service of one to 30 years. All evaluators are practicing paramedics and hold state instructor credentials. They hold faculty positions at the university level and have been teaching emergency medical services for an average of nine years, with teaching experience ranging from two to 22 years. Using a prospective factor analytic design, five paramedic educators assessed the 222 practicing paramedics using the dimensions of integrity, empathy, self-motivation, appearance, self-confidence, communications, time management, teamwork-diplomacy, respect, patient advocacy, and careful delivery of service on a Likert-type scale. The evaluations occurred as the five evaluators participated in eight-hour “ride-alongs” with the subjects during regular shifts. The ride-alongs resulted in a summative rating at the end of the shift using the research instrument. The PBE instrument was modified to a five-point Likert-type scale using 1 = poor, 2 = below average, 3 = average, 4 = above average, and 5 = exemplary as anchors. Each dimension used the standard definition of terms included in the instrument in the curriculum. Results: The data were subjected to principal components factor analysis with Varimax rotation. The analysis identified one factor that explained 65% of the variance. Cronbach's alphas ranged from 0.46 to 0.79. Conclusion: Only one factor emerged from the analysis and is best thought of as a generic type of professional behavior. Additional research is needed to develop theory in professionalism and develop scales to measure other potentially useful dimensions such as professional development, critical thinking, and personal/professional balance.
Protective service unions’ political activities and department expenditures

This paper examines how police and firefighter unions’ political activities influence departmental expenditures. Unlike prior research, we measure unions’ political activity independently of union bargaining power. Results indicate that a protective service union’s electoral activities positively affect departmental expenditures, and these effects are attributable to union political power rather than multilateral collective bargaining power.
Spectral analysis of cytochromes inAquaspirillum magnetotacticum

The respiratory chain ofAquaspirillum magnetotacticum strain MS-1 cells denitrifying microaerobically included a-, a1-, b-, c-, cd1-, and o-type hemes. More than 85% of the total cytochromes detected were of the c type. Virtually all of the a and b types were detected in cell membranes, whereas 70% of the c-type hemes were soluble. Large quantities of soluble c-type hemes were released with periplasm by freezing and thawing cells. Soluble c551 occurred in two forms: as a single compound of apparent molecular weight of 17,000 daltons, which bound CO, and, together with d1 heme, as a component of nitrite reductase. Both a1-type hemes (which usually comprise part of the “low aeration” cytochrome oxidase) and o types (usually part of the “high aeration” oxidase) were simultaneously expressed in microaerobically grown denitrifying cells ofA. magnetotacticum; this indicated branching of the respiratory chain.
Fast Shape-Based Global and Local Electron Density Map Search

The Electron Microscopy DataBank (EMDB) is growing rapidly, accumulating biological structural data obtained cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Cryo-EM is an emerging technique for determining large biomolecular complexes and subcellular structures. Together with the Protein Data Bank (PDB), EMDB is becoming a fundamental resource of the tertiary structures of biological macromolecules. To take full advantage of this indispensable resource, the ability to search the database by structural similarity is essential. However, unlike high-resolution structures stored in PDB, methods for comparing low-resolution EM density maps are not well established. Here, we developed a novel computational method for efficiently searching EM maps. The method uses a compact fingerprint representation of EM maps based on the 3D Zernike descriptor, which is a mathematical series expansion for representing isosurface shape of EM maps. The method was implemented in a web server, named EM-SURFER (http://kiharalab.org/em-surfer/), which allows users to search against the entire EMDB with over 2400 entries in a few seconds. By combing with map segmentation, the method can also identify corresponding local regions in EM maps. Examples of search results from different types of query structures are discussed. The unique capability of EM-SURFER to detect 3D shape similarity of low-resolution EM maps should prove invaluable in structural biology.
A Turning Point in the Struggle to Replace Institutions

Published in 1969 Changing Patterns in Residential Services for the Mentally Retarded, which reflected important contributions by Jack Tizard, marked a turning point in North American attitudes towards institutional reform from a simple call for more staff and new buildings to a much more powerful understanding of the limits of institutions and the need for a comprehensive system of supports based on systematic commitments to human dignity, positive models expressing the potential for human development, and an experimental approach to creating a comprehensive system of community supports.
Language and motor disorders after penetrating head injury in Viet Nam

Aphasia occurred in 244 of 1030 patients with head wounds, correlating with gunshot cause ( p p −6 ) Aphasia disappeared within 10 years in 84 cases (34%). Sensorimotor aphasia usually changed to motor aphasia; motor aphasia disappeared and sensory aphasia persisted. These improvements continued years after the accompanying hemiparesis stabilized, and were not related to wound site, depth, or whether the wound was caused by gunshot or fragment. Parietal wounds caused hemiparesis more often ( p −6 than did wounds elsewhere. Regardless of the features of the hemiparesis initially, the severity of the final syndrome was greatest in the hand and arm and least in the face.
Effect of quercetin and genistein on copper- and iron-induced lipid peroxidation in methyl linolenate.

The single and combined effects of two abundant ﬂavonoids, namely quercetin and genistein, were investigated according to their ability to inhibit the oxidation of methyl linolenate via Fenton's pathway. Antioxidative activity was determined by oxidizing methyl linolenate suspended in a buffer solution with either Fe2+ (50 µM) or Cu2+ (50 µM) and hydrogen peroxide (0.01 mM) without or with a ﬂavonoid sample (10 or 20 µM). Lipid peroxidation products were measured by the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) assay and the amounts of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) were calculated from a calibration curve using 1,1,3,3-tetraethoxypropane as the standard. Both quercetin and genistein at the 10 or 20 µM level decreased lipid peroxidation signiﬁcantly compared with their respective controls. Of the two ﬂavonoids tested, quercetin had a more marked effect on inhibiting lipid peroxides. Peroxidation products for the control samples were higher for the Fe2+-treated samples compared with the Cu2+ samples. Combination of both ﬂavonoids at the same dose levels continued to decrease lipid peroxidation, the effect being the same for both metal ions. The data suggest that the combined ﬂavonoids offered better protection than the single treatments and this may be attributed to the better radical scavenging or increased chelating capabilities of the combined over the single treatments. The differences in peroxide levels for the single treatment of quercetin compared with the genistein-treated samples may reﬂect the structural differences between these compounds in combating oxidative stress. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Nonlinear-System Approach to Analysis and Design of Power-Electronic Converters With Saturation and Bilinear Terms

Power-electronic converters are intrinsically nonlinear. This paper proposes a Lyapunov approach to analysis and design of a class of nonlinear systems arising from power-electronic converters. The system has a bilinear term as the product of the state and the input-the duty cycle, which is subject to strict constraint (or saturation). The nonlinearities and the input saturation are considered in this paper by using piecewise-quadratic Lyapunov functions and by describing the system with a piecewise-linear differential inclusion. The problems considered include controller design for robust stability, and estimation of stability region and tracking domain. These analysis and design problems are converted into numerically efficient optimization algorithms involving linear-matrix inequalities (LMIs). A buck-boost dc-dc converter is used to demonstrate the proposed methods. The optimization results show that a simple state-feedback law can be constructed to achieve practically global stabilization and tracking, which is theoretically confirmed by the Lyapunov approach. An experimental buck-boost converter is constructed to verify the tracking of a square reference varying almost between the upper and the lower limit.
The Degradation of the Antitumor Agent Gemcitabine Hydrochloride in an Acidic Aqueous Solution at pH 3.2 and Identification of Degradation Products

A study of the degradation kinetics of gemcitabine hydrochloride (2'-deoxy-2',2'-difluorocytidine) in aqueous solution at pH 3.2 was conducted. The degradation of gemcitabine followed pseudo first-order kinetics, and rate constants were determined at four different temperatures. These rates were used to construct an Arrhenius plot from which degradation rates at lower temperatures were extrapolated and activation energy calculated. Four major degradation products were identified. Only one of these degradation products, the uridine analogue of gemcitabine, was a known degradation product of gemcitabine and was identified by comparison with synthesized material. The other three degradation products were isolated and characterized by spectroscopic techniques. Two of these products were determined to be the diastereomeric 6-hydroxy-5, 6-dihydro-2'-deoxy-2',2'-difluorouridines, and the other product was determined to be O(6),5'-cyclo-5,6-dihydro-2'-deoxy-2', 2'-difluorouridine. The mechanisms of formation of these degradation products are discussed.
The Impact of Exchange Rate Volatility on International Trade Flows

Despite the best efforts of economists, a basic paradox as to the impact of exchange rate volatility on trade flows remains unresolved at both the theoretical and empirical level. This paper surveys the vast literature in the area in an attempt to identify major issues which have contributed to the development of the debate and examine whether any general direction for consensus may be found.
STEM: Topology management for energy efficient sensor networks

In wireless sensor networks, where energy efficiency is the key design challenge, the energy consumption is typically dominated by the node's communication subsystem. It can only be reduced significantly by transitioning the embedded radio to a sleep state, at which point the node essentially retracts from the network topology. Existing topology management schemes have focused on cleverly selecting which nodes can turn off their radio, without sacrificing the capacity of the network. We propose a new technique, called sparse topology and energy management (STEM), that dramatically improves the network lifetime by exploiting the fact that most of the time, the network is only sensing its environment waiting for an event to happen. By alleviating the restriction of network capacity preservation, we can trade off extensive energy savings for an increased latency to set up a multi-hop path. We will also show how STEM integrates efficiently with existing topology management techniques.
Time‐Resolved Spectral Emission of Deflagrating Nano‐Al and Nano‐MoO3 Metastable Interstitial Composites

Time-resolved emission experiments on deflagrating metastable interstitial composites of nano-aluminum and nano-molybdenum trioxide were performed. Early in the experiment (before disassembly of the sample) the temperature obtained by fitting to a Planckian gray body appears accurate to better than ±100 K (at 3200 K). Spectral features due to Al and AlO species were observed on top of an apparent thermal background. The intensity of the AlO emission was observed to change with the ratio Al/MoO3, with larger AlO intensities associated with faster wave propagation speeds. Absolute irradiance output from the compressed powder samples was found to exceed that from a tungsten filament at the same apparent temperature.
A nonparametric confidence interval for slope based on spearman's rho

An algorithm is presented for computing an exact nonparametric interval estimate of the slope parameter in a simple linear regression model. The confidence interval is obtained by inverting the hypothesis test for slope that uses Spearman's rho. This method is compared to an exact procedure based on Kendall's tau. The Spearman rho procedure will generally give exact levels of confidence closer to desired levels, especially in small samples. Monte carlo results comparing these two methods with the parametric procedure are given
All Iris Code Bits are Not Created Equal

Many iris recognition systems use filters to extract information about the texture of an iris image. In the Daugman-style approach, the filter output is mapped to a binary iris code. The normalized Hamming distance between two iris codes is computed and decisions about the identity of a person are based on the computed distance. The normalized Hamming distance weights all bits in an iris code equally. However, this work presents experimental evidence that all the bits in an iris code are not equally useful. Some bits are more consistent than others. An explanation of the cause of this discrepancy is given. Different regions of the iris are compared to evaluate their relative consistency. Finally, this paper investigates the theoretical impact of consistent and inconsistent bits on the false reject rate of an iris recognition system.
Coherent Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering measurement of atmospheric atomic and molecular gas temperature

Broadband coherent Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering (CRBS) was used to measure translational gas temperatures for nitrogen, argon, and methane at the ambient pressure of 0.8 atm. Temperatures derived from spectral analysis were compared with experimentally-measured temperatures, with a maximum 5.2% difference for all gases at all temperatures; and with nitrogen, argon, and methane exhibiting average differences over the temperature range tested of 0.8%, 1.4% and −0.5%, respectively. These values are consistent with the 2% estimated, experimental error of the experiment. Improving upon the efficiency of previous line shape acquisition methods, CRBS data were spectrally de-convolved using a cost effective, purpose-designed, Fabry-Perot etalon spectrometer. The resulting line shapes were compared to models obtained from approximations to the 1D Boltzmann equation. Although this study employed broadband CRBS for explicit gas temperature measurement, similar line shape acquisition techniques could be used with broadband coherent Rayleigh scattering (CRS) to experimentally-measure gas temperatures, pressures and other transport properties in both the kinetic (CRBS) and rarefied (CRS) regimes.
Osteoporosis in men: a review

Osteoporosis and consequent fracture are not limited to postmenopausal women. There is increasing attention being paid to osteoporosis in older men. Men suffer osteoporotic fractures about 10 years later in life than women, but life expectancy is increasing faster in men than women. Thus, men are living long enough to fracture, and when they do the consequences are greater than in women, with men having about twice the 1-year fatality rate after hip fracture, compared to women. Men at high risk for fracture include those men who have already had a fragility fracture, men on oral glucocorticoids or those men being treated for prostate cancer with androgen deprivation therapy. Beyond these high risk men, there are many other risk factors and secondary causes of osteoporosis in men. Evaluation includes careful history and physical examination to reveal potential secondary causes, including many medications, a short list of laboratory tests, and bone mineral density testing by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of spine and hip. Recently, international organizations have advocated a single normative database for interpreting DXA testing in men and women. The consequences of this change need to be determined. There are several choices of therapy for osteoporosis in men, with most fracture reduction estimation based on studies in women.
iCostale: Adaptive Cost Optimization for Storage Clouds

The unprecedented volume of data generated by contemporary business users and consumers has created enormous data storage and management challenges. In order to control data storage cost, many users are moving their data to online storage clouds, and applying capacity usage reducing data transformation techniques like de-duplication, compression, and transcoding. These give rise to several challenges, such as which cloud to choose, and what data transformation techniques to apply for optimizing cost. This paper presents an integrated storage service called 'iCostale' that reduces the overall cost of data storage through automatic selection and placement of users' data into one of many storage clouds. Further, it intelligently transforms data based on its type, access frequency, transformation overhead, and the cost model of the storage cloud providers. We demonstrate the efficacy of iCostale through a series of micro- and application-level benchmarks. Our experimental results show that, through intelligent data placement and transformation, 'iCostale' can reduce overall cost of data storage by more than 50%.
Mycobacterium fortuitum breast abscess after nipple piercing.

Two previous reports of breast infection with Mycobacterium fortuitum involved breast prostheses.[1][1],[2][2] Infectious complications of nipple piercing are rarely reported. But evidence that M fortuitum causes mastitis after nipple piercing is emerging.[3][3],[4][4] We discuss the clinical
DeltaSky: Optimal Maintenance of Skyline Deletions without Exclusive Dominance Region Generation

This paper addresses the problem of efficient maintenance of a materialized skyline view in response to skyline removals. While there has been significant progress on skyline query computation, an equally important but largely unanswered issue is on the incremental maintenance for skyline deletions. Previous work suggested the use of the so called exclusive dominance region (EDR) to achieve optimal I/O performance for deletion maintenance. However, the shape of an EDR becomes extremely complex in higher dimensions, and algorithms for its computation have not been developed. We derive a systematic way to decompose a d-dimensional EDR into a collection of hyper-rectangles. We show that the number of such hyper-rectangles is O(md), where m is the current skyline result size. We then propose a novel algorithm DeltaSky which determines whether an intermediate R-tree MBR intersects with the EDR without explicitly calculating the EDR itself. This reduces the worse case complexity of the EDR intersection check from O(md) to O(md). Thus DeltaSky helps the branch and bound skyline algorithm achieve I/O optimality for deletion maintenance by finding only the newly appeared skyline points after the deletion. We discuss implementation issues and show that DeltaSky can be efficiently implemented using one extra B-Tree. Moreover, we propose two optimization techniques which further reduce the average cost in practice. Extensive experiments demonstrate that DeltaSky achieves orders of magnitude performance gain over alternative solutions.
Effect of Clonidine on Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality after Noncardiac Surgery

The authors conducted a study to determine if prophylactic clonidine reduces the incidence of perioperative myocardial ischemia and postoperative death in noncardiac surgery patients. Patients were administered clonidine or placebo (orally and a patch) the night before surgery and the morning of surgery. The patch (clonidine or placebo) was removed after 4 days. Clonidine reduced the rate of postoperative death up to 2 years; perioperative myocardial ischemia was significantly reduced; and prophylactic clonidine had minimal hemodynamlc effects.
Low complexity linear equalizers with maximum multipath diversity for zero-padded transmissions

In wireless communications the fading multipath channel attenuates and distorts the transmitted signal. This makes equalization of the frequency selective channel of utmost importance. To exploit the full diversity provided by the multipath channel, maximum likelihood (ML) decoding is usually employed, which is computationally complex. In this paper we show that a specific linear zero-forcing equalizer is capable of benefitting from maximum multipath diversity in systems where the transmitted blocks are separated by zero guard intervals of length greater than the channel length (the well-known trailing zeros approach (Wang et al. (2000))). Furthermore, we exploit the banded Toeplitz structure of the channel matrix to reduce the complexity of the equalization process, and quantify the reduction in complexity. Simulations corroborate our results.
Hybrid integration of polymers and compound semiconductors in photonics

We combine polymers and semiconductors to bring the best of both worlds. We use the well-established semiconductor processing techniques to fabricate structures such as waveguides, gratings, pn junctions, quantum wells. Then we use polymers to bond these samples to transfer substrates. Finally we etch away the growth substrate. With further processing we integrate the semiconductor circuit in the remaining epilayer with polymer waveguides. The end product is a photonic chip, containing semiconductor only in the regions where there is an optical wave hence where the properties of the semiconductor are needed. The rest is made out of low loss and cost polymers containing low loss optical guides, which are almost identical to optical fiber. This technology is applied to high speed traveling wave modulators and tunable grating reflectors.
Integrating Eastern Programme Features in Western Community Policing: Balancing Individual Freedom and Collective Wellbeing

The community policing innovation was conceptualised on the basis of the Japanese koban system. It was introduced to the USA to democratise policing. However, the Empire of Japan initially learned modern policing from Western countries. In collaboration with the intelligence services, koban community policing effectively prevented crime as well as anti-government activities. The strategy was successfully replicated in Taiwan and Korea, the two colonies of Japan before World War II. The koban system has been transformed to become a strategy that delivers police services to citizens and simultaneously sustains national security while collaborating with the intelligence services. Western community policing programmes intensify police service delivery to citizens. In the post-9/11 era, the influence of federal law enforcement has expanded to include a collaborative and occasionally superseding role. If balancing individual freedom and collective wellbeing becomes possible in Western countries, Eastern communi...
The cambridge neuropsychological test automated battery in the assessment of executive functioning

Computerized administration of clinical instruments is not an entirely new phenomenon. The first personal computers were introduced into wide use in the 1970s. Rapid adoption of computer-based testing paralleled this development. By the 1980s, the research literature was replete with considerations of the inherent advantages and limitations of automated assessment of a myriad of clinical domains. In particular, the application of computers to the evaluation of cognition has been widely studied. This body of research has generally fallen into one of two categories: (1) the translation of existing standardized tests to computerized administration and (2) the development of new computer tests and batteries for the assessment of cognitive function. Somewhere between these two categories are approaches that have adapted existing tests in a new way using computer administration. The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) is an example of a battery that has successfully combined standard cognitive test paradigms with novel formats.
Political Economy of the Atlantic World

Many scholars have made strong contributions on race and inequality in political economy, analyzing the political and economic legacy of slavery, racial income and wealth disparities, etc. (Marable, Darity, Conrad, Stewart, Hamilton, Collins, Baron, Genovese) However there is a dearth of literature analyzing political economy of the Atlantic, as a conceptual space. The space of the Atlantic gave birth to industrial capitalism and value-based institutional democracy, with equality as its ideological core. There is room in Political Science to undertake a concerted critical examination of political economy in the Atlantic. While Disciplines of History, Literature, Cultural Studies and Africana Studies have thoroughly interrogated the space of the Atlantic, Political Science has tended to privilege more nation-state centered approaches. My paper proposes to think about political economy and inequality from an Atlantic perspective. I apply stratification economics as a method to investigate evidence of institutional patterns that maintain high levels of intergroup disparities. I also use the legal concept of disparate impact as a framework to understand how institutional inequality in the Atlantic is masked. In the US, France and throughout Latin America national ideology minimizes the relevance of race. Strong notions of a priori institutional equality inherent in the democratic nation are maintained by political discourse, while the marginalized position of Blacks concerning economic and political power remains consistent. There are deep political implications of colorblindness deployed to mask institutional inequality in the Atlantic, including placing the burden of low-mobility on Black populations.For the purposes of this presentation I will use France, considering its important role in the Atlantic space, as a case study to demonstrate patterns of institutional inequality and the applied impact of colorblindness. I will present a compilation of data to show evidence of racial disparity. I will then discuss discourse around the use of ‘race’ and strong debates about gathering ‘ethnic statistics’ in France to demonstrate how the discursive space which lauds colorblindness as fact, makes exposing data on racial inequality and disparate impact particularly difficult. I draw attention similarities in discourse and practice in the US.There are macro and micro implications for the study of inequality and democracy in the Atlantic. Understanding racial gaps from an Atlantic perspective provides indications of the processes by which structural inequality becomes ingrained in policy. It also allows for analyses of particular systems, for example, the welfare state. In France, there is evidence of high intergroup disparity, thus indicating that low levels of general inequality and a strong welfare state do not protect Blacks from high levels of political and economic inequality. An Atlantic approach provides an important prism to understand racial disparities, and whether the law of institutions authorizes such inequality.
Excitation functions for production of heavy actinides from interactions of 16O with 249Cf.

Excitation functions have been measured for the production of isotopes of Bk through Fm in bombardments of $^{249}\mathrm{Cf}$ with 90- to 150-MeV $^{16}\mathrm{O}$ ions. A comparison of the maxima of the mass-yield curves measured in this experiment with those for the reactions of $^{18}\mathrm{O}$ ions with $^{249}\mathrm{Cf}$ shows different shifts from those that have been measured for reactions of the $^{16}$,18O and $^{20}$,22Ne ion pairs with $^{248}\mathrm{Cm}$. However, the shifts appear similar to those recently measured for reactions of these ion pairs with $^{254}\mathrm{Es}$.
Mathematical Structure of Voting Paradoxes: II. Positional Voting

A theory is developed to explain all positional voting outcomes that can result from a single but arbitrarily chosen profile. This includes all outcomes, paradoxes, and disagreements among positional procedure outcomes as well as all discrepancies in rankings as candidates are dropped or added. The theory explains why each outcome occurs while identifying all illustrating profiles. It is shown how to use this approach to derive properties of methods based on pairwise and positional voting outcomes. Pairwise voting is addressed in the preceding companion paper [15]; the theory for positional methods is developed here.
Pressure distribution along the AGS vacuum chambers with new types of pump out conduits

The AGS HEBT and ring vacuum system is monitored by the discharge current of the magnet ion pumps, which is proportional to the pressure at the inlet port of these ion pumps. The discharge current is measured and suitably calibrated to indicate the ion pump pressure. In order to calculate the vacuum chamber pressure from the ion pump pressure, a detailed analysis is essential to compute their difference in different scenarios. Such analysis has been carried out numerically in the past for the system with the older type of pump out conduits, and similar analysis using FEM in ANSYS is presented in this paper with the newer type of pump out conduit.
Early Prognosticators for Induction of Therapeutic Hypothermia Following Cardiac Arrest

The American Heart Association recommends therapeutic hypothermia for comatose patients with return of spontaneous circulation after out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest. While there is a growing body of evidence for the general efficacy of therapeutic hypothermia, the individualized benefit of therapy is not currently predictable. Ninety-one consecutive patients, from April 2011 to July 2014, were treated at the University of Kentucky Medical Center with the therapeutic hypothermia protocol. Medical records were reviewed retrospectively. Data, such as preexisting comorbidities, cardiac arrest characteristics, and hospital course, were used to compose a multivariate logistic regression with mortality serving as the primary endpoint. The overall in-hospital mortality was 64% (n = 58) in this group. The arrest was considered cardiac etiology in 84% (n = 76) of patients, of which 49% (n = 45) were classed as ventricular fibrillation and 9% (n = 8) as ventricular tachycardia. The presence o...
Early Radical Synovectomy of the Arthritic Wrist

Too often, surgery for the arthritic wrist is only reconstructive at best, seeking to restore some balance and function to the severely crippled hand. When performed early, however, synovectomy, by removing the erosive granulation tissue, may arrest development of deformity before disability sets in. The procedure is demonstrated in a typical candidate: a young, highly motivated individual with rapidly advancing disease.
Analogical Generalization of Actions from Single Exemplars in a Robotic Architecture

Humans are often able to generalize knowledge learned from a single exemplar. In this paper, we present a novel integration of mental simulation and analogical generalization algorithms into a cognitive robotic architecture that enables a similarly rudimentary generalization capability in robots. Specifically, we show how a robot can generate variations of a given scenario and then use the results of those new scenarios run in a physics simulator to generate generalized action scripts using analogical mappings. The generalized action scripts then allow the robot to perform the originally learned activity in a wider range of scenarios with different types of objects without the need for additional exploration or practice. In a proof-of-concept demonstration we show how the robot can generalize from a previously learned pick-and-place action performed with a single arm on an object with a handle to a pick-and-place action of a cylindrical object with no handle with two arms.
‘A Piece of Monologue’, ‘Rockaby’ and ‘Ohio Impromptu’

In 1978 Martin Esslin asked Samuel Beckett for a work to include in an early issue of the newly revived Kenyon Review, and after his successful performance of Beckett’s prose work, The Lost Ones, David Warrilow of the Mabou Mines requested that Beckett provide him with a work on death that he could perform. Beckett replied to both requests with A Piece of Monologue, a dramatic fragment that he revised for publication in the 1979 summer issue of Kenyon Review. Warrilow performed the short play in New York in the autumn of 1979 and at Stanford University in the early spring of 1980. This brief work, combining a stationary figure and a retrospective text, works within some of the same conventions as That Time, but A Piece of Monologue situates Speaker within a scenic space, not the void of either Not I or That Time, although the scene shares some of the qualities of the non-scenic space of these plays.1