cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fundamental issues concerning the microdesigning of metal-ceramic interfaces

Three distinct types of metal-ceramic interfaces are summarized. The nature of the bonding, problems in quantifying wettability, the thermodynamic driving force for interface formation, and certain aspects of interfacial stability are discussed with the help of examples. The surface wetting model developed previously by the authors is also discussed.
Breast Cancer Screening Outcomes in Women Ages 40-49: Clinical Experience With Service Screening Using Modern Mammography

The several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of breast cancer screening among women of ages 40 to 49 now collectively show a statistically significant reduction in breast cancer mortality. However, there have been numerous recent advances in mammography, such that it now is demonstrably better than when the RCTs were conducted. The use of surrogate measures of screening efficacy (tumor size, lymph node status, cancer stage), readily derived from modern service screening programs, demonstrates how the improved mammography of the 1990s should produce a greater degree of mortality reduction among women ages 40‐49 than that already demonstrated in the RCTs. Indeed, these surrogate measures of mortality reduction are as favorable for women of ages 40‐49 and 65+ as they are for women of ages 50‐64, strongly suggesting that, since modern service screening is accepted as effectively reducing mortality among women of ages 50‐64, it should also effectively reduce mortality among
There is a Witchery in Kodakery

… and the enthusiast is as proud of a good picture as the artist who has sat down with palette and brush and worked out the detail by hand, albeit he has only touched a button. Sam Hyde, a middle-a...
Hippocampal-cortical interaction in decision making.

When making a decision it is often necessary to consider the available alternatives in order to choose the most appropriate option. This deliberative process, where the pros and cons of each option are considered, relies on memories of past actions and outcomes. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are required for memory encoding, memory retrieval and decision making, but it is unclear how these areas support deliberation. Here we examine the potential neural substrates of these processes in the rat. The rat is a powerful model to investigate the network mechanisms underlying deliberation in the mammalian brain given the anatomical and functional conservation of its hippocampus and prefrontal cortex to other mammalian systems. Importantly, it is amenable to large scale neural recording while performing laboratory tasks that exploit its natural decision-making behavior. Focusing on findings in the rat, we discuss how hippocampal–cortical interactions could provide a neural substrate for deliberative decision making.
Cutaneous and ocular manifestations of neurocutaneous syndromes

Neurocutaneous syndromes are a heterogeneous group of congenital and hereditary disorders with manifestations in the skin and the nervous system, usually together with ocular features that represent diagnostic clues and potential sources of morbidity. Dermatologists and ophthalmologists often need to work together in identifying and managing patients with these conditions; herein, we focus on classic and under-recognized neurocutaneous syndromes. We begin with autosomal dominant genodermatoses characterized by hamartomas and tumors in the skin, eyes, and central nervous system: neurofibromatosis type 1, tuberous sclerosis complex, and PTEN hamartoma-tumor syndrome. This is followed by a discussion of two mosaic disorders, Sturge-Weber syndrome and neurocutaneous melanocytosis. In addition to providing an update on clinical presentations and evaluation of patients with these conditions, we review recent insights into their pathogenesis, drawing attention to relationships among the diseases on a molecular level and implications regarding treatment. We also highlight the major features of other neurocutaneous syndromes that have ocular findings plus pigmentary, vascular, hyperkeratotic, adnexal, connective tissue, photosensitive, and inflammatory manifestations in the skin.
Anesthesia and Imaging for Advanced Circulatory Support

� Continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are the most commonly implanted form of durable mechanical circulatory support (MCS), and their implantation for destination therapy is rapidly increasing. � Right-sided heart failure following LVAD implantation continues to be difficult to predict and leads to worse outcomes; earlier intervention with mechanical support for the right ventricle (RV) may be warranted. � The use of percutaneous circulatory support devices has become more prevalent in the postcardiotomy shock scenario, particularly the use of venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA ECMO).
Does a Past History of Cancer Portend Slower Progression of ALS? (P2.067)

OBJECTIVE: To explore a possible association between Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), history of cancer and disease progression. BACKGROUND: While neurodegeneration and cancer have seemingly opposite mechanisms (abnormal cell loss vs. abnormal survival), available evidence suggests a possible relationship. Some studies show increased risk of ALS mortality from melanoma but others show an inverse relationship between ALS mortality and cancer (especially prostate). DESIGN/METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed on 395 patients seen in the ALSA and MDA clinics at the Hospital for Special Surgery from April 2009 to June 2014. Patients were selected with the diagnosis of ALS and a past history of cancer. Those with multiple ALS-FRS-R scores were selected and change in ALS-FRS-R points per month was calculated. RESULTS: 395 patients were screened, 27 had a diagnosis of MND and a past history of cancer (6 with prostate cancer, 6 with skin cancer, 5 with breast cancer, 2 with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, 2 with thyroid cancer, 1 with uterine cancer, 1 with testicular cancer, 1 with colon cancer, 1 with lung cancer, 1 with bone cancer, 1 with esophageal cancer). Of these, multiple ALS-FRS-R scores were recorded on 13. Patients showed an average decrease of 1.15 points per month, compared to the average decline of 0.89 points per month (historical controls). Patients with a history of prostate cancer showed a decline of 0.08 points per month (n=4). CONCLUSIONS: Our data support a possible protective effect from a previous diagnosis of cancer and ALS progression, most prominent in patients with a history of prostate cancer. Disclosure: Dr. Brady has nothing to disclose. Dr. Manning has nothing to disclose. Dr. Shahbazi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kaplan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lange has received personal compensation for activities with Genzyme as a consultant.
Burnup Performance of Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor by Utilizing Thorium-Based Fuels

Thorium-based fuels are investigated to improve fast reactor fuel burnup. Such new sources of fuel will have to ensure that the projected expansion of nuclear power is achieved in conjunction with a reduced risk of nuclear weapons proliferation. Thorium fuel cycles have many incentives such as reduction of plutonium generation and consumption of light water reactor actinides, high-performance burnup, and conservation of 235 U resources. This study provides the insight needed to judge the limitations of the thorium fuel system. This work examines burnup reactivity loss and depletion analysis of thorium- versus uranium-based metal fuels. When compared, the thorium-based metallic fuel outperformed uranium-based fuel with respect to higher actinide burnup and higher depletion rate of plutonium isotopes. The results of this paper help ascertain the limitations based on the long-term performance and behavior of the fuel under core operating conditions. Additionally, the resulting knowledge gained and techniques developed during this project support reestablishing the domestic infrastructure in the U.S. fast reactor development program. The thorium cycle offers an alternative, innovative concept for fast reactor fuels to better burn transuranics, and this study provides test cases for comparisons between options.
Sergey Gandlevsky, translated by Susanne Fusso, Trepanation of the skull

The Russian original of Sergey Gandlevsky’s autobiographical novella Trepanation of the Skull was first published in the literary journal Znamya in 1994. After two decades, this book is now availab...
Risks and Effects of IS/IT Outsourcing: A Securities Market Assessment

AbstractCEOs are ultimately responsible to investors for firm performance, including the results of IS/IT outsourcing. CIOs, while responsible for implementing the outsourcing contract, do not share that same level of motivation or responsibility as the CEO. Although previous studies examine market effects of outsourcing on firm stock, and of IS technology investment on firm value, no published IS research ties outsourcing to financial performance or examines its effects on firm risk. This study addresses these issues with a securities market assessment of outsourcing. It examines outsourcing announcement effects on firm value and firm risk, using empirical data.The findings of this research are: large-company IS/IT outsourcing has a value-neutral, but risk-changing effect on the firm, as measured by initial reactions in company stocks and listed options. Over time, firm value improves following outsourcing. Weak firms experience increased risk with outsourcing, while all other firms experience a reductio...
Effect of Insecticide Distribution and Storage Time on the Degradation of [14C]Malathion in Stored Wheat

The degradation of 14C-malathion ([1,2-14C] ethyl label) in stored wheat in which 5 or 100% of the kernels were treated with the same overall amount of insecticide was investigated over a 12-month period. There was no difference in the degradation of the insecticide in either treatment. Over the 1-year storage period, quantities of chloroform-soluble radiocarbon decreased, whereas those of water-soluble and unextractable residues increased. Quantities of volatile radiocarbon reached a peak after 6 months of incubation. Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) developed more slowly in the presence of unextractable residues than in their absence, although these bound residues were not acutely toxic to adult beetles and did not affect the number of progeny.
Aminosilane-Grafted Zirconia-Titiania-Silica Nanoparticles/Torlon Hollow Fiber Composites for CO2 Capture.

In this work, the development of novel binary and ternary oxide/Torlon hollow fiber composites comprising zirconia, titania, and silica as amine supports was demonstrated. The resulting binary (Zr-Si/PAI-HF, Ti-Si/PAI-HF) and ternary (Zr-Ti-Si/PAI-HF) composites were then functionalized with monoamine-, diamine-, and triamine-substituted trialkoxysilanes and were evaluated in CO2 capture. Although the introduction of both Zr and Ti improved the CO2 adsorption capacity relative to that with Si/PAI-HF sorbents, zirconia was found to have a more favorable effect on the CO2 adsorption performance than titania, as previously demonstrated for amine sorbents in the powder form. The Zr-Ti-Si/PAI-HF sample with an oxide content of 20 wt % was found to exhibit a relatively high CO2 capacity, that is, 1.90 mmol g(-1) at atmospheric pressure under dry conditions, owing to more favorable synergy between the metal oxides and CO2 . The ternary fiber sorbent showed improved sorption kinetics and long-term stability in cyclic adsorption/desorption runs.
What Type of Awareness Does Binocular Rivalry Assess

Recent experiments demonstrate that invisible stimulus features can induce binocular rivalry, indicating the phenomenon may be caused by differences in perceptual signal strength rather than conscious selection processes. Here, we clarify binocular rivalry's role in consciousness research by highlighting a critical difference between two distinct types of visual awareness.
Parental Love and the Meaning of Life

“The art of motherhood involves much silent, unobtrusive self-denial, an hourly devotion which finds no detail too minute”, wrote Honore de Balzac (1996). De Balzac has a point. Life changes after you have a child. Hormones rage, chores and burdens multiply and social roles change. Losing the freedom you used to have is a major life-altering event. A hindrance. An encumbrance. An obstruction of happiness and justice.
Probing the degradation mechanism of a Cr(VI) coating/aluminum alloy 2024-T3 system based on dynamic mechanisms and a 2D deterministic-probabilistic approach

Abstract Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been experimentally used to characterize the degradation mechanisms of a multilayered Cr(VI) coating/aluminum alloy 2024-T3 substrate system in 3.5% NaCl solution at low pH. A 2D damage evolution model is proposed to understand the influence of defined elements into the multilayered coating/substrate degradation process. The model was developed assuming steady state conditions, while discretization of the model included multilayered stacks such as a topcoat, a primer, and a chromate conversion layer as a pretreatment on an aluminum substrate. The modeling technique was deterministic-stochastic in nature. The deterministic approach was based on a transmission line model that was developed to represent the local impedance for small segments of the system to characterize physicochemical properties inherent to the organic coatings and the transport mechanisms. The randomly generated structures including coating pore distributions are illustrated by stochastic modeling with probability density functions. The quantitative understanding of the degradation mechanism from this 2D model is achieved, and the 2D analysis shows consistent results with experimental conditions over various immersion times. The degradation mechanism for the multilayered coating system at low pH can be described as follows: intact condition, electrolyte uptake, lixiviation of Cr(VI) ions/diffusion, and self-healing process that provide repassivation of the Cr(III) oxide layer.
Meibomian glands, meibum, and meibogenesis

Meibum is a lipid-rich secretion that is produced by fully differentiated meibocytes in the holocrine Meibomian glands (MG) of humans and most mammals. The secretion is a part of a defense mechanism that protects the ocular surface from hazardous environmental factors, and from desiccation. Meibomian lipids that have been identified in meibum are very diverse and unique in nature. The lipid composition of meibum is different from virtually any other lipid pool found in the human body. In fact, meibum is quite different from sebum, which is the closest secretion that is produced by anatomically, physiologically, and biochemically related sebaceous glands. However, meibum of mice have been shown to closely resemble that of humans, implying similar biosynthetic mechanisms in MG of both species. By analyzing available genomic, immunohistochemical, and lipidomic data, we have envisioned a unifying network of enzymatic reactions that are responsible for biosynthesis of meibum, which we call meibogenesis. Our current theory is based on an assumption that most of the biosynthetic reactions of meibogenesis are catalyzed by known enzymes. However, the main features that make meibum unique - the ratio of identified classes of lipids, the extreme length of its components, extensive ω-hydroxylation of fatty acids and alcohols, iso- and anteiso-branching of meibomian lipids (e.g. waxes), and the presence of rather unique complex lipids with several ester bonds - make it possible that either the activity of known enzymes is altered in MG, or some unknown enzymes contribute to the processes of meibogenesis, or both. Studies are in progress to elucidate meibogenesis on molecular level.
A Productivity and Quality Improvement Model for Global Business Managers and Leaders

The contents of this chapter are concentrated on how to assess and also improve productivity growth and quality using a model for global business managers and leaders. This chapter focuses solely on how to assess the quality of the human factor and its long term contributions to productivity growth and the long term company survival. In this chapter, the presentation focuses solely on a model aimed at the achievement and maintenance of labor force productivity growth in the long term. It is noted that this model is an excellent tool for leaders, managers, and human resources personnel can appeal to with the sole purpose of ameliorating any existing kinks within the framework of their productivity growth and quality improvements at the workplace in the whole industry. Through the contents of this chapter, the reader is guided to become more familiar with the various alternative measures global business managers and leaders can use to enhance their practices as well as productivity growth anytime.
Completeness and Craft Standards in Ecological Theory

Clearly, good science permits us to “understand nature,” i.e. to explain or predict or both. Exactly what is meant by this is unclear and varies between intellectual traditions. Since the publication of the seminal works by Volterra, theoretical ecology has continued to involve an interplay between natural history, applied mathematics, and genetics. While the curious tensions between these three traditions may not have been critical during the early pioneering stages of ecological development, they now require examination.
Thailand’s ‘English fever’, migrant teachers and cosmopolitan aspirations in an interconnected Asia

Over the past decade, growing numbers of foreign-born English speakers from the Global South have begun migrating to Thailand to seek work as teachers in the region’s booming Teaching English as a ...
The influence of HIV envelope glycosylation on adaptive immune response

The HIV envelope glycoproteins are critical targets for the host immune system in its fight against the virus. In addition to being renowned for their antigenic and genetic variation, they are among the most heavily glycosylated antigens found on human viruses. This chapter reviews our current knowledge about the role of HIV glycosylation in shaping antibody and T-cell responses. We discuss the importance of N-glycans in modulating HIV envelope glycoprotein recognition by antibodies and the elicitation of antibody responses against these antigens. We also highlight the impact of N-glycans on CD8 and CD4 T-cell recognition of the virus. However, much more research is needed to understand how the numerous glycans on the HIV envelope glycoproteins exert their influence on the host immune system and how the host can mount effective immune responses against envelope antigens shrouded by these glycans. Such information would be crucial in guiding the search for more effective prophylactic and therapeutic modalities required to conquer the HIV epidemic.
Supplementary Theoretical Details

Since the integral of a simple function is a finite sum, the properties of these integrals are, for the most part, properties of finite sums. The principal exceptions are the limit theorems (I4) and (I4a).
FOURIER TRANSFORM MASS SPECTROMETRY: FEATURES, PRINCIPLES, CAPABILITIES, AND LIMITATIONS.

Although a comparably young area of mass spectrometry, Fourier transform mass spectrometry is developing into an important analytical tool capable of ion storage, manipulation and remarkable resolution and sensitivity. Unfortunately, these attributes have been particularly challenging to demonstrate in the determination of large biomolecules. This chapter is presented to highlight the features, capabilities, methods of sample introduction and ionization, as well as applications in the area of biochemistry. Included is a fundamental discussion of operational theory and the areas of instrument development that must be pursued to establish a role for Fourier transform mass spectrometry in the analysis of biomolecules.
Digital Scholarship in the Tenure, Promotion, and Review Process, edited by Deborah Lines Andersen. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2003. x + 277 pp. $64.95 (cloth)/$24.95 (paper). ISBN 0-7656-1114-7

This book is not about digital scholarship in the tenure, promotion, and review process, as the title would have one believe; rather, it is about the myriad ways in which faculty members (and libra...
Exploring the similarity between game events for game level analysis and generation

Player-Game interaction can be viewed as a sequence of game events between game systems and players. In each event, a piece of information (for example, a game challenge) is presented to the player, and the player responds to that information by executing proper in-game actions. Since different games have different systems and mechanics, it is difficult to analyze and compare game events across different games. In this paper, we propose an approach to measure the similarity between game events from different games quantitatively. This similarity information can then be used to transfer probabilistic models built for analyzing and generating game levels for one game to another game.
Reanalysis in Adult Heritage Language: A Case for Attrition.

This study presents and analyzes the comprehension of relative clauses in child and adult speakers of Russian, comparing monolingual controls with Russian heritage speakers (HSs) who are English-dominant. Monolingual and bilingual children demonstrate full adultlike mastery of relative clauses. Adult HSs, however, are significantly different from the monolingual adult controls and from the child HS group. This divergent performance indicates that the adult heritage grammar is not a product of the fossilization of child language. Instead, it suggests that forms existing in the baseline undergo gradual attrition over the life span of a HS. This result is consistent with observations on narrative structure in child and adult HSs (Polinsky, 2008b). Evidence from word order facts suggests that relative clause reanalysis in adult HSs cannot be attributed to transfer from English.
Hybrid Monte Carlo simulation on the graphene hexagonal lattice

One of the many remarkable properties of graphene is that in the low energy limit the dynamics of its electrons can be effectively described by the massless Dirac equation. This has prompted investigations of graphene based on the lattice simulation of a system of 2-dimensional fermions on a square staggered lattice. We demonstrate here how to construct the path integral for graphene working directly on the graphene hexagonal lattice. For the nearest neighbor tight binding model interacting with a long range Coulomb interaction between the electrons, this leads to the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm with no sign problem. The only approximation is the discretization of the Euclidean time. So as we extrapolate to the time continuum limit, the exact tight binding solution maybe found numerically to arbitrary precession on a finite hexagonal lattice. The potential for this approach is tested on a single hexagonal cell.
Tradeoffs in Personal Data Privacy: A Swedish Church Lady, Austrian Public Radio Employees and Transatlantic Air Carriers Show that Europe Does Not Have the Answers

For several years, legal scholars, policy makers and the business community in the US have been debating how the law should deal with privacy in personal information. Recent data security breaches in the US, such as the data thefts at Choicepoint in 2004 and CardSystems in 2005, have heightened this debate. At the heart of the issue is the question of tradeoffs: do we want more privacy in our data and, as a consequence, less efficiency and higher costs in the flow of data in commerce? Will we tolerate less security as a result of heightened restrictions on the access to our personal data that might be useful in combating crime or terrorism? Thus far, the US has protected personal data only in an ad hoc, sectoral manner, either regulating specific industries or specific types of information and then, only in reaction to specific data protection problems. As the debate about where the tradeoffs should be made continues, some have looked to the European Union’s very different comprehensive statutory approach to data protection through its Data Protection Directive for guidance. Some have suggested that the European approach might in certain respects serve as a model for a more comprehensive legislative approach to data protection in the US. This article posits that the European Data Protection Directive has not effectively made the tradeoffs that, on its face, it purports to make. By examining the Directive through the lens of the developing case law of the European Court of Justice interpreting it, this article shows that the European model is unworkable in making the tradeoffs and is therefore an inappropriate model for any proposed US comprehensive data protection regime.
Revisiting floral fusion: the evolution and molecular basis of a developmental innovation

Throughout the evolution of the angiosperm flower, developmental innovations have enabled the modification or elaboration of novel floral organs enabling subsequent diversification and expansion into new niches, for example the formation of novel pollinator relationships. One such developmental innovation is the fusion of various floral organs to form complex structures. Multiple types of floral fusion exist; each type may be the result of different developmental processes and is likely to have evolved multiple times independently across the angiosperm tree of life. The development of fused organs is thought to be mediated by the NAM/CUC3 subfamily of NAC transcription factors, which mediate boundary formation during meristematic development. The goal of this review is to (i) introduce the development of fused floral organs as a key 'developmental innovation', facilitated by a change in the expression of NAM/CUC3 transcription factors; (ii) provide a comprehensive overview of floral fusion phenotypes amongst the angiosperms, defining well-known fusion phenotypes and applying them to a systematic context; and (iii) summarize the current molecular knowledge of this phenomenon, highlighting the evolution of the NAM/CUC3 subfamily of transcription factors implicated in the development of fused organs. The need for a network-based analysis of fusion is discussed, and a gene regulatory network responsible for directing fusion is proposed to guide future research in this area.
Motion and Muscle Artifact Removal Validation Using an Electrical Head Phantom, Robotic Motion Platform, and Dual Layer Mobile EEG

Motion and muscle artifacts can undermine signal quality in electroencephalography (EEG) recordings during locomotion. We evaluated approaches for recovering ground-truth artificial brain signals from noisy EEG recordings. We built an electrical head phantom that broadcast four brain and four muscle sources. Head movements were generated by a robotic motion platform. We recorded 128-channel dual layer EEG and 8-channel neck electromyography (EMG) from the head phantom during motion. We evaluated ground-truth electrocortical source signal recovery from artifact contaminated data using Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to determine: (1) the number of isolated noise sensor recordings needed to capture and remove motion artifacts, (2) the ability of Artifact Subspace Reconstruction to remove motion and muscle artifacts at contrasting artifact detection thresholds, (3) the number of neck EMG sensor recordings needed to capture and remove muscle artifacts, and (4) the ability of Canonical Correlation Analysis to remove muscle artifacts. We also evaluated source signal recovery by combining the best practices identified in aims 1-4. By including isolated noise and EMG recordings in the ICA decomposition, we more effectively recovered ground-truth artificial brain signals. A reduced subset of 32-noise and 6-EMG channels showed equivalent performance compared to including the complete arrays. Artifact Subspace Reconstruction improved source separation, but this was contingent on muscle activity amplitude. Canonical Correlation Analysis also improved source separation. Merging noise and EMG recordings into the ICA decomposition, with Artifact Subspace Reconstruction and Canonical Correlation Analysis preprocessing, improved source signal recovery. This study expands on previous head phantom experiments by including neck muscle source activity and evaluating artificial electrocortical spectral power fluctuations synchronized with gait events.
Influences of Islands and Shoals on Coastal Water Properties, Flushing Time, and Dispersion Within Western Long Island Sound

Effects of islands and shoals on coastal water temperature and salinity, flushing time, and dispersion were quantified for a study area within the Western Long Island Sound, inshore of the Norwalk Islands. Analysis focused on a summer warming period in July 2015. Observations were used to force a realistic high-resolution hydrodynamic model nested within a larger domain model. Island and shoal effects were isolated through intercomparison of three model runs with islands and shoals (the natural configuration), without the islands, and without islands and shoals. With islands, there was cooler and saltier water along a band immediately inshore of the islands. With shoals, water was warmer and fresher between the coast and islands. The shoals influence occupied a larger area with higher magnitude water property differences than the island influence. The islands influence tidal residual currents by intensifying eddies and creating across-shore exchange through island passes. Islands reduce flushing time and shoals increase flushing time. The retention effect of the shoals dominates over the dispersive influence of the islands for 2 days after dye tracer release, but the effects offset each other for later times.
Trade‐Induced Job Loss and Support for Free Trade

Objective In this paper we consider the possible effects of contextual economic conditions (i.e., job losses attributed to trade, general unemployment) and subjective economic evaluations on how Americans think about international trade. Methods We use data from the 2016 Voter Study Group survey and from the 2016 American National Election Study, and we supplement these survey data with data on state contextual variables from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and from the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program of the U.S. Department of Labor. Results We find that state job losses linked to trade have discernible effects on Americans' attitudes toward trade, as do subjective economic evaluations tied to confidence and anxiety about the economy. Conclusion Simply, (trade‐related) economic context has a strong effect on how Americans think about expanded and free trade.
Roles of dual time point imaging of FDG-PET in differentiating benign from malignant laryngeal lesion in patients with laryngeal cancer

1734 Objectives: FDG-PET has been useful in the follow up of head and neck cancer. However, FDG activity of laryngeal muscle, inflammation due to tracheostomy and post-radiation treatment could cause difficulty in the evaluation of larynx. The purpose of this study was to assess the roles of dual time point FDG PET imaging for differentiating benign from malignant lesions in patients with laryngeal cancer. Methods: Images of dual time point PET scans from 25 patients with laryngeal cancer (16 male and 9 female, 41-82 years old) were retrospectively reviewed. The early images of the PET were acquired approximately 60 minutes following intravenous administration of FDG. The delayed PET images were obtained 30 minutes following the end of the early image acquisition. The lesions identified by FDG PET were compared to final results, which are based on either histopathology or at least 6 months clinical follow up. Maximal SUV (SUVmax) of lesions was measured in both early and later images. Results: A total of 30 sites of abnormally increased FDG activity were identified in the laryngeal region. Among them, 17 were confirmed as malignant and 13 as benign lesions based on the final results. Of the 13 confirmed benign lesions, 6 lesions were inflammation around tracheostomy, and 7 lesions were post therapy changes. On initial images, benign lesions have an average SUVmax of 3.3±1.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.8 to 3.8) while the average SUVmax for the malignant lesions on initial images is 6.8±3.9 (95% CI = 5.0 to 8.7). On delayed images, the average SUVmax for benign lesion is 3.7±1.2 (95% CI = 4.3 to 7.0), a mild increase of 9.1±12.7% (95% CI = 2.2% to 16.0%). In contrast, the average SUVmax for the malignant lesion has increased significantly to 9.2±4.2 (95% CI =7.0 to 11.4) on delayed images, an increase of 29.2±26.6% (95% CI = 16.6% to 41.9%). Conclusions: Our results indicated that a delayed FDG PET imaging is likely more effective in distinguishing malignant from benign lesions in patients with suspected laryngeal cancer.
Extended BDD's: trading off canonicity for structure in verification algorithms

The authors present an extension to binary decision diagrams (BDDs) that exploits the information contained in the structure of the circuit to produce a compact, semicanonical representation. The extended BDDs (XBDDs) retain many of the advantages of BDDs while at the same time allowing one to deal with larger circuits. Using XBDDs, it is possible to verify circuits for which the BDDs could not be built in the same amount of space. Results of the application of XBDDs to combinational multipliers are presented. >
Inhibition of endogenous ouabain by atrial natriuretic peptide is a guanylyl cyclase independent effect.

Background Endogenous ouabain (EO) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) are important in regulation of sodium and fluid balance. There is indirect evidence that ANP may be involved in the regulation of endogenous cardenolides. Methods H295R are human adrenocortical cells known to release EO. Cells were treated with ANP at physiologic concentrations or vehicle (0.1% DMSO), with or without guanylyl cyclase inhibitor 1,2,4 oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ). Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), the intracellular second messenger of ANP, was measured by a chemiluminescent immunoassay and EO was measured by radioimmunoassay of C18 extracted samples. Results EO secretion is inhibited by ANP treatment, with the most prolonged inhibition (90 min vs ≤ 60 min) occurring at physiologic ANP concentrations (50 pg/mL). Inhibition of guanylyl cyclase with ODQ, also reduces EO secretion. The inhibitory effects on EO release in response to cotreatment with ANP and ODQ appeared to be additive. Conclusions ANP inhibits basal EO secretion, and it is unlikely that this is mediated through ANP-A or ANP-B receptors (the most common natriuretic peptide receptors) or their cGMP second messenger; the underlying mechanisms involved are not revealed in the current studies. The role of ANP in the control of EO synthesis and secretion in vivo requires further investigation.
The Influence of Hydrology on Lacustrine Sediment Contaminant Records

The way water flows to a lake, through streams, as runoff, or as groundwater, can control the distribution and mass of sediment and contaminants deposited. Whether a lake is large or small, deep or shallow, open or closed, the movement of water to a lake and the circulation patterns of water within a lake control how and where sediment and contaminants are deposited. Particle-associated contaminants may stay close to the input source of contamination or be transported by currents to bathymetric lows. A complex morphology of the lake bottom or shoreline can also affect how contaminants will be distributed. Dissolved contaminants may be widely dispersed in smaller lakes, but may be diluted in large lakes away from the source. Although dissolved contaminants may not be deposited in lake sediments, the impact of dissolved contaminants (such as nitrogen) may be reflected by the ecosystem. For instance, increased phosphorus and nitrogen may increase organic content or algal biomass, and contribute to eutrophication of the lake over time. Changes in oxidation-reduction potential at the sediment-water interface may either release some contaminants to the water column or conversely deposit other contaminants to the sediment depending on the compound’s chemical characteristics. Changes in land use generally affect the hydrology of the watershed surrounding a lake, providing more runoff if soil binding vegetation is removed or if more impervious cover (roads and buildings) is increased. Groundwater inputs may change if pumping of the aquifer connected to the lake occurs. Even if groundwater is only a small portion of the volume of water entering a lake, if contaminant concentrations in the aquifer are high compared to surface water inputs, the mass of contaminants from groundwater may be as, or more, important than surface water contributions.
Cooperative States: International Relations, State Responsibility and the Problem of Custom

The recent trend towards interdisciplinary research in international law and international relations has left a number of informal rules, such as the law of state responsibility, largely unexamined, if not the subject of outright skepticism. This is not surprising given state responsibility's predominantly customary character, the breadth of its scope, and its lack of any centralized enforcement mechanism. These characteristics are, however, entirely consistent with the role these rules play in the maintenance of international order. Rather than serving primarily as a guide for international adjudication, the law of state responsibility facilitates continuous bilateral cooperation, made possible by underlying configurations of interests between states. It achieves this end by improving communication, coalescing states' expectations around specific focal points, and refining cooperative solutions. This hypothesis explains many of the salient features of the United Nations International Law Commission's recent final series of articles on state responsibility. It also suggests that other customary regimes may play equally complex roles and should not be set aside as mere "behavioral regularities" devoid of normative content without further examination.
An Expressive Rationale for the Thematic Prosecution of Sex Crimes

This essay examines the philosophical justifications for giving priority to sex crime prosecutions at international courts. Despite the increased focus on prosecuting sex crimes in recent years, no effort has been made, either at the tribunals or in the scholarship, to develop such justifications. Those who prosecute and write about sex crimes generally assume that international courts should focus particular attention on such crimes. Commentators sometimes point to the practical and institutional benefits of thematic sex crime prosecutions. Such prosecutions can, for example, increase an institution’s capacity to address sex crimes by developing relevant investigative and prosecutorial expertise and expanding the applicable law. But a prior normative question must be addressed: why should international courts give priority to sex crimes when allocating scarce resources? I argue that the philosophical grounding for thematic sex crime prosecutions must be found in the underlying purposes of international criminal courts. While the moral justifications of international prosecutions are widely disputed, there are four primary contenders: retribution, deterrence, restoration, and expression. In the first part of the essay, I explain why none of the first three theories precludes giving priority to sex crime prosecutions. In fact, each theory supports such prosecutions, at least under some circumstances. I then explain that the strongest justification for giving priority to sex crimes is found in the expressive rationale for international criminal law. In other words, if international criminal law aims to express global norms it should often seek to promote the norms against sex crimes even at the expense of other important norms. The need for such special emphasis lies in the history of under-enforcement of sex crimes in both national and international for a as well as in the discriminatory expression inherent in the crimes themselves.
The Schmidt-class

We consider here those completely continuous operators A for which the squares of the positive proper values of [A] form a convergent series. These may be interpreted as the integral operators on an abstract Hilbert space in the sense specified in the following section. The reader will do well to supplement the discussion of this chapter by consulting Hellinger and Toeplitz [1], especially for their very illuminating bibliographic account of the theory of integral equations.
Technology for technology's sake: the proliferation of PowerPoint

Microsoft's PowerPoint program is the most commonly used presentation software. Despite PowerPoint's popularity, many dislike the tool, accusing it of obscuring data and boring audiences. The current backlash against PowerPoint stems largely from Edward Tufte's criticisms in "PowerPoint is Evil" and The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint. Tufte believes that PowerPoint is abused at conferences, in meetings, and in classrooms more that it is used e3ffectively. Because most audiences, including attendants of IPCC's annual conferences, have come to expect PowerPoint in most if not all conference presentations, professional and technical communicators need to assess their uses of PowerPoint and whether or not this slideware program is most appropriate for their target audience and for the type of information being presented.
Crust and Lithospheric Structure – Natural Source Portable Array Studies of the Continental Lithosphere

The advent of plate tectonics brought with it a recognition that seismology lacked the tools to image the deep continental lithosphere and the sublithospheric mantle at a resolution sufficient to piece together how plate tectonics formed and shaped the continents over geologic time. This recognition led directly to the formation of the Program for the Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL) and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) consortium within the United States and more recently to other major national efforts in portable array seismology, particularly in Europe and China. The strong community consensus that was behind IRIS/PASSCAL (and other seismological initiatives around the globe) led to greatly increased funding for seismology that underwrote an advanced program for the development and acquisition of a large complement of standardized data loggers and sensors to study the continental lithosphere. Concurrently, independent breakthroughs in low-power microprocessors and compact mass storage devices for the consumer market, advances in force-feedback sensor microelectronics, and the launching of the Global Positioning System with its precise positioning and absolute timing capabilities fortuitously provided the essential ingredients for the manufacture of a powerful new generation of low-power portable seismic instrumentation. This low-power instrumentation for the first time enabled the continuous unattended broadband recording of seismic signals anywhere in the world for months or years at a time. Armed with these powerful and highly versatile seismic systems, seismologists fanned out across the globe to install portable arrays in many of the most scientifically challenging regions of the continents. The birth of this new brand of seismology, termed ‘passive array seismology,’ made high-resolution imaging of 3-D geologic structures deep in the lithosphere a reality. Data from these portable broadband arrays in turn spurred a new generation of advanced methodologies and animated fresh areas of seismic research, notably in regional body wave and surface wave tomography, direct waveform imaging of deep discontinuity structures, and shear-wave splitting and surface wave measurements of mantle anisotropy.
Nuclear deformations in the pairing-plus-quadrupole model: (V). Energy levels and electromagnetic moments of the W, Os and Pt nuclei

Abstract The low-lying even-parity energy levels and wave functions of the even isotopes of tungsten, osmium and platinum are calculated within the framework of Bohr's collective Hamiltonian. The six kinetic energy functions and the potential energy function which enter the Hamiltonian, and which determine the coupling between rotational motion, β-vibrations and γ-vibrations, are derived microscopically by using the pairing-plus-quadrupole model of residual interactions. Coupling between the three kinds of motion are treated exactly, and a numerical method is used to solve the Schrodinger equation. At the low-A end of the W-Os-Pt region, there are large deviations from the rotational model; the β-γ-bands are strongly mixed. At the high-A end, there are large deviations from the phonon model; the wave functions are smeared over all possible shapes, and a large, positive quadrupole moment of the first 2+ state of 196Pt is predicted. Many energy levels, B(E2) values, quadrupole moments, B(M1) value, magnetic moments, electric monopole transitions and nuclear shape fluctuations are also predicted.
Partial Automata and Finitely Generated Congruences: An Extension of Nerode’s Theorem

Let T Σ, be the set of ground terms over a finite ranked alphabet Σ. We define partial automata on T Σ and prove that the finitely generated congruences on T Σ are in one-to-one correspondence (up to isomorphism) with the finite partial automata on T Σ with no inaccessible and no inessential states. We give an application in term rewriting: every ground term rewrite system has a canonical equivalent system that can be constructed in polynomial time.
An apparatus for improving upper limb function by engaging synchronous tongue motion

Studies of neuroplasticity indicate that areas of the brain not injured by stroke are able to reorganize neural pathways when actively engaged. We have combined two advanced technologies, a robotic hand therapy device and a control system driven by tongue movements, to determine the effects of the wearable Tongue Drive System paired with the Hand Mentor therapeutic robot (TDS-HM) on improving upper extremity motor functions in stroke survivors with severe hemiparesis. For this pilot study, a TDS-HM prototype was constructed and evaluated by three able-bodied subjects with a set of graphical user interfaces. The tongue movements were translated to wrist motion based on three control modes: discrete (CDC), semi-proportional (DPC), and proportional (RPC). Preliminary results showed that the TDS-HM worked reliably with all three control modes, and three healthy subjects showed average RMS deviations of 7.09 ± 1.09, 6.19 ± 1.41, and 7.06 ± 1.78 degrees from a given sinusoidal target path in these modes, respectively. They also played three flash games using the TDS-HM in the three control modes, and achieved on average, 59.4% of their scores when using keypad and mouse.
Fundoscopy of the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer in Neurosurgical Practice

The retinal nerve fiber layer surrounding the optic discs provides a unique clinical opportunity to view directly pathologic changes in the neural components of a major sensory pathway in the brain. Minute changes in this neural tissue are best seen in bright red-free light of a direct ophthalmoscope. This report, stressing the neurosurgical significance of peripapillary retinal signs, illustrates and discusses 1) how incipient papilledema obliterates the normally glistening highlights and striations of the nerve fiber layer before any recognizable change is seen in the optic disc, 2) how focal axon degeneration from acute and insidious forms of optic neuropathy causes multiple slit-like thinnings in the arcuate nerve fibers before any recognizable signs of pallor or functional change occurs in the optic nerve, 3) how atrophy, direct or transsynaptic, of an optic tract causes diagnostic homonymous patterns of axon loss in the peripapillary nerve fiber layer and optic disc of the two eyes, and 4) how recognition of fundoscopic signs of hemiretinal and optic hypoplasia allows the neurosurgeon to differentiate the bitemporal or homonymous hemianopias of developmental origin from the acquired effects of brain tumor.