cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Classification Method for Choropleth Maps Incorporating Data Reliability Information

Observations assigned to any two classes in a choropleth map are expected to have attribute values that are different. Their values might not be statistically different, however, if the data are gathered from surveys, such as the American Community Survey, in which estimates have sampling error. This article presents an approach to determine class breaks using the class separability criterion, which refers to the levels of certainty that values in different classes are statistically different from each other. Our procedure determines class breaks that offer the highest levels of separability given the desired number of classes. The separability levels of all class breaks are included in a legend design to show the statistical likelihood that values on two sides of each class break are different. The legend and the associated separability information offer map readers crucial information about the reliability of the spatial patterns that could result from the chosen classification method.
Epidermal growth factor binding in the developing male reproductive duct and its regulation by testosterone.

It was shown previously that epidermal growth factor (EGF) plays a role in the testosterone-dependent fetal Wolffian duct differentiation. In this communication, the role of EGF was further investigated by determining whether EGF receptor plays a role in mediating the effect of EGF during Wolffian duct (male duct) differentiation, and experiments were designed to test this hypothesis. EGF-binding activity in cultured cells isolated from the reproductive ducts of 14- to 18-day-old fetal mouse was determined, and the results were evaluated by saturation/Scatchard analysis. Using this analysis, we demonstrate that the fetal mouse Wolffian duct contains EGF-saturable EGF-binding proteins with a binding affinity of 10(-10) M. The binding was temperature, time, and cell concentration dependent. Affinity cross-linking analysis of EGF binding of this tissue indicated the presence of an EGF receptor protein of 150 kilodaltons mol wt. The binding activity increased in parallel with the progression of Wolffian duct ...
Channel pool management for video streaming in WLAN

In this paper, we present a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) channel selection algorithm and testbed implementation for video streaming applications. We call this type of spectrum management functionality Channel Pool Management (CPM). Specifically, we designed a scheme called Shifted Mask Superposition (SMS) that harnesses the transmitter spectral mask to help predict WLAN channel quality dynamically with only passively monitored channel information. We performed extensive experiments to model the spectral mask and verified the effectiveness of our algorithm. Based on our scheme, we built a testbed that implements the main functionality within CPM and performed channel switching without disrupting the video streaming application. Experiments showed that our proposed scheme can predict the best channel for video streaming with 90% accuracy and can improve the video quality significantly compared to systems that do not implement CPM.
Theoretical Approach to History of Southern United States: ABSTRACT

The hierarchical plate hypothesis of geologic history includes the concept that the North American continental block has been circling the Pacific Basin plate in a counterclockwise sense and rotating in the same sense, with an approximate period of 109 years. Implications inherent in the hypothesis, for comparison with the actual history of North America during its latest 109 years of development, include the following. 1. Climate: Continental glaciation about 109 years ago; warming during late Precambrian. Tropical during Paleozoic; much carbonate deposition; widespread coal in late Paleozoic. Cooling during Mesozoic and Cenozoic, climaxing in new glaciation. 2. Appalachian Mountains: Left lateral movement plus compression during Paleozoic. Right lateral movement plus tension during Mesozoic and Cenozoic. 3. Carribbean: Developed initially about end of Paleozoic--beginning of Mesozoic. Strike-slip margins on north and south. 4. Gulf of Mexico: Tensional feature; developed initially about end of Paleozoic-beginning of Mesozoic. 5. Sedimentation: Major drainage toward south (ambient coordinates), producing very large sediment volumes in Gulf of Mexico. 6. Depocenter: Shifting location toward north and east, from Texas into Louisiana, due to continental rotation during post-Paleozoic. 7. Stream patterns: Reorientation, due to continental rotation, through Mesozoic and Cenozoic in clockwise sense for first-order drainage, counter-clockwise for second-order drainage in mid-continent area; much piracy. 8. Eastern and western margins: Lateral shrinking subsidence, and formation of north-south grabens, during post-Paleozoic. 9. Diapirism: Dikes, plugs, volcanoes, and salt domes (where salt was available) along western, southern, and eastern margins, during Mesozoic and Cenozoic. 10. Probable geosyncline: Short-lived, late Paleozoic age; near southern edge of continent; orientation now northeast-southwest. These predictions compare favorably with the actual history of the continent. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1700------------
Older immigrants and natural helpers.

Since the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1965, immigrants from Europe have been replaced increasingly by immigrants from Latin America and Asia. The latter, in particular, are from societies so dissimilar from the United States that they face major adjustment problems. Many of the older immigrants come as parents of American citizens, but despite reunification with their families, they may experience a sense of isolation due to limited opportunities to interact with other people. Case studies of natural helpers (individuals who are not employed in the helping professions but voluntarily choose to spend part of their time informally helping others) operating within the Chinese community in Boston reveal how their services complement those of the formal sector. The characteristics which make them both approachable and credible to older immigrants as well as their possible recruitment as outreach workers are discussed. ka]Key Words kb]older immigrants kb]natural helpers kb]Chinese community kb]patterns of immigration
Effects of soil phosphorus on pollen production, pollen size, pollen phosphorus content, and the ability to sire seeds in Cucurbita pepo (Cucurbitaceae)

To determine the effects of soil phosphorus on pollen production, pollen grain size, phosphate concentration per pollen grain, and the siring ability of pollen, two cultivars of the common zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) were grown under two soil phosphorus conditions in an experimental garden. Overall, soil phosphorus availability had a significant effect on reproductive output through the female function and on traits affecting the male function of plants (staminate flower production, pollen production per flower, and pollen grain size). In addition, pollen produced by plants in the high phosphorus soils had a higher phosphate concentration than pollen produced by plants in the low phosphorus soils. A pollen mixture experiment revealed that pollen produced by plants in the high phosphorus treatment sired significantly more seeds than pollen produced by plants in the low phosphorus treatment. This study showed that growing conditions such as soil phosphorus can influence the size of a pollen grain and its chemical composition, which, in turn, can affect its ability to sire mature seeds.
Stochastic immersed boundary method incorporating thermal fluctuations

We give a brief introduction to the stochastic immersed boundary method which allows for simulation of small length-scale physical systems in which elastic structures interact with a fluid flow in the pre sence of thermal fluctuations. The conventional immersed boundary method is extended to account for thermal fluctuatio ns by introducing stochastic forcing terms in the fluid equations. This gives a system of stiff SPDE’s for which standard n umerical approaches perform poorly. We discuss a numerical method derived using stochastic calculus to overcome the stiff features of the equations. We then discuss results which indicate that the method captures physical features predicted by statistical mechanics for small length-scale systems. The stochastic immersed boundary method holds promise as a numerical approach in simulating microscopic mechanical systems in which thermal fluctuations play a fundamental role. A more deta iled discussion of this work is given in [1, 2, 3]. Copyright line will be provided by the publisher
The use of intra-articular Na-hyaluronate as a potential chondroprotective device in experimentally induced acute articular cartilage injury and repair in rabbits

Abstract Objective: This study examined if viscosupplementation from intra-articular administration of a commercially available form of hyaluronan (HA) could promote the restoration of proteoglycan (PG) depletion induced by chymopapain and then if the repair could be maintained once HA treatment was discontinued. Methods: Animals received cartilage injury with intra-articular chymopapain (2.0 mg) followed by weekly treatment with intra-articular HA. HA treated animals were compared to injured animals with no treatment, contralateral untreated joints and joints from normal controls. The effect of intra-articular HA alone on articular cartilage was also examined. Results: Serum keratan sulfate levels confirmed degradation of the cartilage PGs in the chymopapain-injected knees. Intra-articular chymopapain resulted in marked loss of PGs. There were no significant differences among the control groups (untreated control, HA/800 treatment only). HA treatment did not affect the loss of PGs caused by chymopapain after 42 days. However, in animals receiving chymopapain injury followed by weekly HA treatment for 42 days and then 42 days of free cage activity without HA, cartilage PG contents were significantly increased. Intra-articular HA alone had no effect on the articular cartilage. Conclusion: The results in the present study suggest a potential protective effect of HA on chymopapain-induced acute articular cartilage injury in rabbits that, in time, permits damaged cartilage to resynthesize matrix PGs after the HA treatment is discontinued.
Isolated innominate artery in asplenia syndrome with aortic atresia : Newly recognized cardiovascular complex

A previously unrepor ted combination of cardiovascular anomalies is presented with isolation of the innominate a r te ry ( that does not r ise from the aortic arch) 16 in association with the asplenia syndrome and aortic atresia. A 3.48 kg black boy was referred at age 1 day to Duke Univers i ty Medical Center for assessment ofdextrocardia . Physical examinat ion revealed tha t the cardiac impulse was maximal in the r ight th i rd intercostal space, $1 and $2
Revolution through poetic language: Bilingualism in Latina poetry from la Frontera

(1997). Revolution through poetic language: Bilingualism in Latina poetry from la Frontera. Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory: Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 193-206.
Who's a Literate? Assessmen t Issues in a Global Perspective

Demographic and economic changes around the world and the linkage between literacy and development have made literacy a critical issue especially in the developing countries. But the uncertainty about the nature and extent of literacy has necessitated taking a new look at literacy assessment. Policy-makers have been hampered not only by too little data, but also by a failure to capture varying types and levels of literacy in each society. Dichotomies like "literate—illiterate" are inappropriate for conceptualising the problem and limit the potential for more effective decision-making. The paper analyses the problems of determining reliable and valid criteria for literacy. The way in which the problem of "who's a literate?" is resolved has serious policy implications.
AAPM tutorial. CT image detail and noise.

Two important characteristics of the computed tomographic (CT) image that affect the ability to visualize anatomic structures and pathologic features are blur and noise. Increased blurring reduces the visibility of small objects (image detail); increased visual noise reduces the visibility of low-contrast objects. Sources of blurring in CT include the size of the sampling aperture (which can be regulated by the focal spot size and the detector size), the size of the voxels, and the reconstruction filter selected. Noise is caused by the variation in attenuation coefficients between voxels. Use of small voxels and edge-enhancing filters helps reduce blurring and improve visibility of fine details. However, small voxels absorb fewer photons and therefore result in increased noise. Noise can be reduced by using large voxels, increasing radiation dose, or using a smoothing filter, but this filter increases blurring. An optimized protocol for a specific clinical study must take these physical principles into ac...
Energy dependence of peripheral reactions induced by heavy ions

Abstract Collisions of 16 O ions on targets of 94 Zr, 197 Au, 208 Pb, and 232 Th are investigated at incident energies of 140 and 315 MeV and compared to published data on peripheral collisions at 33.6 GeV. At 140 MeV, the isotope-production cross sections resemble the ground-state Q -value systematics characteristic of a partially-equilibrated, di-nuclear system formed in deeply-inelastic scattering. The yields are independent of shell and pairing effects in the target and residual nuclie. These Q -value systematics fail at 315 MeV, where the relative element yields are similar to those at 33.6 GeV. A theory of projectile fragmentation accounts for the shapes of the inclusive energy spectra as well as for the isotope yields at both energies. The relative cross sections are target independent (i.e., factorize) for the data at 315 MeV incident energy, but limiting fragmentation (i.e. isotope yields independent of energy) applies only at higher energies. The differential cross sections peal at the grazing angle or decrease exponentially, depending on the incident energy and the mass of the ejectile; the distributions are described by classical trajectories and diffraction models for which the reaction time is estimated to be typical of direct reactions. The kinetic energies of the reaction products depend primarily on their charge and only slightly on their mass number. For the 315 MeV results, the velocities of the reaction products at the maximum of the spectrum and the grazing angle are slightly less than the beam velocity and decrease rapidly for larger scattering angles. The results are interpreted with simple fraction and fragmentation models, and are compared to observations at 33.6 GeV.
Incidence of brain tumors in patients hospitalized for chronic mental disorders.

1. A survey of the literature and personal communications indicate that the general incidence of brain tumors in hospitalized mental patients is about 2.0 per cent. 2. In a total of 333 tumors found at autopsy by 13 investigators there were 183 (55.0 per cent) unsuspected ante mortem. 3. A survey of the clinical and pathology records at the VA Hospital, St. Cloud, Minn. from 1944 through 1953 disclosed eight (4.3 per cent) brain tumors in 184 autopsies. The autopsies were conducted in 47 per cent of 392 deaths. Three of these tumors were unrecognized ante mortem; one of these was an incidental meningioma with no relation to the mental symptoms or disease course. 4. The likely incidence for remediable symptomatic brain tumors (meningiomas) is about 1:2,000 deaths in hospitals for patients with chronic mental illness.
High‐pressure infrared sepctra of ∝ ‐quartz, coesite, stishovite and silica glass

High-pressure infrared absorption spectra of alpha-quatz, coesite, stishovite, and SiO2 glass are consistent with the primary compression mechanism of the initially tetrahedrally bonded phases being the bending of the Si-O-Si angle at pressures less than 10-20 GPa. At higher pressures, up to 40 GPa, we observe a decline in the intensity of the infrared SiO4 asymmetric-stretching vibrations of all three phases, with an increase in the relative amplitude between 700 and 900/cm. This change in intensities is attributed to an increase in the average coordination number of silicon through extreme distortion of tetrahedra. At pressures above approximately 20 GPa, the low-pressure crystalline polymorphs gradually become amorphous, and the infrared spectra provide evidence for an increase in silicon coordination in these high-density amorphous phases. The pressure-amorphized samples prepared from quartz and coesite differ structurally both from each other and from silica glass that has been compressed, and the high pressure spectra indicate that these materials are considerably more disordered than stishovite under comparable pressure conditions. Average mode Grueneisen parameters calculated for quartz, stishovite and fused silica from both infrared and Raman spectra are compatible with the corresponding thermodynamic value of the Grueneisen parameter, however, that of coesite is significantly discrepant.
Children's use of defense mechanisms in reaction to displeasure caused by others

Two groups of children (mean ages = 7-0 and 10-1) were presented with eight video vignettes depicting unpleasant child-related situations. The child's defensive reaction was evaluated by means of an open-ended free response and by choice of one of four response alternatives: turning against the object, turning against the self, projection, and reversal. Sex- and age-related differences were predicted, and found in the younger age group: Boys chose turning against the object more often than did girls, who chose reversal more often than did boys.
Eating disorders in college

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are serious chronic psychiatric disorders that can result in significant medical and psychologic outcomes. These multifaceted disorders affect the emotions, thinking, behavior, and physical health of afflicted individuals. Symptoms often peak during the years many youth are attending college. The intersection of issues of emancipation, individuation, intimacy, and eating disorders may be part of the reason that researchers report a high incidence of eating disorders in this specialized population. This article presents an overview of eating disorders in the college population and covers psychologic and psychopharmacologic treatment.
A fuzzy control system for an automated mining excavator

To automate a mining excavator the control issues resulting from environmental uncertainties must be solved. In particular the interactions between the excavation tool and the excavation environment are dynamic, unstructured and complex. Thus, generating rigorous mathematical models as required by conventional control techniques is extremely difficult if possible. This paper presents an excavator controller that uses fuzzy logic to interpret forces and torques gathered from a wrist mounted force/torque sensor during the excavation process. This approach enables the transfer of human heuristics and expert knowledge to the controller. Experimental results from several excavation tests using the fuzzy logic controller are given. These results represent the first step toward an integrated approach that uses force/torque, vision, and other sensor data to perform generic tasks in uncertain mining environments. >
Entropy of a Quantum Oscillator coupled to a Heat Bath and implications for Quantum Thermodynamics

The free energy of a quantum oscillator in an arbitrary heat bath at temperature T is given by a ”remarkable formula” which involves only a single integral. This leads to a corresponding simple result for the entropy. The low temperature limit is examined in detail and explicit results are obtained both for the case of an Ohmic heat bath and a radiation heat bath. More general heat bath models are also examined. In all cases it is found that the entropy vanishes at zero temperature, in conformity with the third law of thermodynamics (Nernst’s theorem).
Perturbation theory for the Benjamin-Ono equation

We develop a perturbation theory for the Benjamin-Ono (BO) equation. This perturbation theory is based on the inverse scattering transform for the BO equation, which was originally developed by Fokas and Ablowitz and recently refined by Kaup and Matsuno. We find the expressions for the variations of the scattering data with respect to the potential, as well as the dual expression for the variation of the potential in terms of the variations of the scattering data. This allows us to introduce the squared eigenfunctions for the BO equation, whose completeness and orthogonality in both x- and-spaces we also establish. We consider the two most important applications of the developed machinery. First, we present an explicit first-order solution of the BO equation driven by a small perturbation. Second, we introduce the Poisson bracket and a set of the canonical action-angle variables for the BO equation, and thus demonstrate its complete integrability as a Hamiltonian dynamical system.
Discussion of Marai: Melanesian Consensus: Questions?

Leo Marai's article proposes to study the central role of consensus in conflict resolution in Melanesia and to describe its particular psycho-cultural characteristics. He applies his view to the resolution of the Bougainville crisis as an illustrative example.
A TAXONOMIC REVISION OF TRIMORPHODON BISCUTATUS VILKINSONII (SERPENTES: COLUBRIDAE)

Formerly considered a full species, Trimorphodon biscutatus vilkinsonii is presently regarded as a subspecies of T. biscutatus based on morphological data compiled from eight male specimens from southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico; these specimens were thought to be intermediate between the currently recognized T. b. lambda (from Sonora and Arizona) and T. b. vilkinsonii (from Chihuahua and Texas). We performed univariate and multivariate statistical analyses of a morphological data set compiled for T. b. vilkinsonii, T. b. lambda, and specimens collected from the intermediate zone. Our analyses indicate that T. b. vilkinsonii is clearly distinct from T. b. lambda. Several characters, such as blotch width and interblotch distance, allowed more than 95% of specimens of both taxa to be classified properly. Our data also confirm that specimens sampled from the intermediate zone should be considered T. b. lambda. We find the T. b. vilkinsonii populations represent a separate, distinct lineage, an...
Broadband electronically beam scanning structure using Luneburg lens

A novel broadband electronically beam scanning structure based on Luneburg lens phased array is investigated in this paper. The radiation elements of the phased array are mounted on the surface of a Luneburg lens. Without amplitude and phase control of the elements, only discrete scanning angles are available. In this paper, beam scanning to arbitrary angle is demonstrated by fully controlling the amplitude and phase. Compare to conventional phased array beam scanning system, the proposed structure has no scan angle coverage limit and has a broadband working frequency. Also, due to the symmetry of Luneburg lens, no beam shape variation would occur during angle scanning. Moreover, this structure requires much less system complexity to achieve a highly directional beam and therefore the cost of this system could be much lower than conventional phased array.
High-throughput linked-pattern matching for intrusion detection systems

This paper presents a hardware architecture for highly efficient intrusion detection systems. In addition, a software tool for automatically generating the hardware is presented. Intrusion detection for network security is a compute-intensive application demanding high system performance. By moving both the string matching and the linking of multi-part rules to hardware, our architecture leaves the host system free for higher-level analysis. The tool automates the creation of efficient field programmable gate array architectures (FPGA). The generated hardware allows an FPGA-based system to perform deep-packet inspection of streams at up to 10 Gb/s line rates at a high level of area efficiency. Going beyond previous basic string-matching implementations that offer only single-string matching, the architecture provides support for rules requiring complex, linked (correlated-content) constructions. This allows most Snort content-linking extensions including 'distance' and 'within' bounding restrictions.
Free transfer of a large sensory flap from the first web space and dorsum of the foot including the second toe for reconstruction of a mutilated hand

A 19-year-old man sustained a mutilating crush injury in August, 1978, in an 80-ton punch press. The injury resulted in transmetacarpal amputations of the index through little fingers. The thumb was revascularized by microvascular anastomoses. The replanted index to the little finger position failed. A free transfer of the patient's second toe to the fifth metacarpal was done to provide a post to oppose the thumb. The first web space of the toe was used in expanding the contracted single cleft of the hand. The innervated dorsal foot flap provided coverage for the dorsal surface of the hand. Anatomically, the entire composite transfer was supported by the dorsalis pedis artery anastomosed to the radial artery. The nerve sutures were between the plantar digital nerves and sensory fascicles of the median nerve and the deep peroneal to the dorsal branch of the radial. The extensor and flexor tendons were also repaired. This procedure differs from the neurovascular island transfer of the first web described by Strauch and Tsur 1 by inclusion of the second toe in the free transfer.
Paths Less Traveled: Evo-Devo Approaches to Investigating Animal Morphological Evolution

One of the chief aims of modern biology is to understand the causes and mechanisms of morphological evolution. Multicellular animals display a stunning diversity of shapes and sizes of their bodies and individual suborganismal structures, much of it important to their survival. What is the most efficient way to study the evolution of morphological diversity? The old-new field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) can be particularly useful for understanding the origins of animal forms, as it aims to consolidate advances from disparate fields such as phylogenetics, genomics, morphometrics, cell biology, and developmental biology. We analyze the structure of some of the most successful recent evo-devo studies, which we see as having three distinct but highly interdependent components: (a) morphometrics, (b) identification of candidate mechanisms, and (c) functional experiments. Our case studies illustrate how multifarious evo-devo approaches taken within the three-winged evo-devo research program...
Complementary and alternative medical therapy utilization by people with chronic fatiguing illnesses in the United States

Chronic fatiguing illnesses, including chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), pose a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Previous clinical reports addressed the utilization of health care provided to patients with CFS by a variety of practitioners with other than allopathic training, but did not examine the spectrum of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies used. This study was designed to measure CAM therapy use by persons with fatiguing illnesses in the United States population. During a random-digit dialing survey to estimate the prevalence of CFS-like illness in urban and rural populations from different geographic regions of the United States, we queried the utilization of CAM including manipulation or body-based therapies, alternative medical systems, mind-body, biologically-based, and energy modalities. Four hundred forty fatigued and 444 non-fatigued persons from 2,728 households completed screening. Fatigued subjects included 53 persons with prolonged fatigue, 338 with chronic fatigue, and 49 with CFS-like illness. Mind-body therapy (primarily personal prayer and prayer by others) was the most frequently used CAM across all groups. Among women, there was a significant trend of increasing overall CAM use across all subgroups (p-trend = 0.003). All categories of CAM use were associated with significantly poorer physical health scores, and all but one (alternative medicine systems) were associated with significantly poorer mental health scores. People with CFS-like illness were significantly more likely to use body-based therapy (chiropractic and massage) than non-fatigued participants (OR = 2.52, CI = 1.32, 4.82). Use of body-based therapies increased significantly in a linear trend across subgroups of non-fatigued, prolonged fatigued, chronic fatigued, and CFS-like subjects (p-trend = 0.002). People with chronic fatigue were also significantly more likely to use body-based therapy (OR = 1.52, CI = 1.07, 2.16) and mind-body (excluding prayer) therapy than non-fatigued participants (OR = 1.73, CI = 1.20 – 2.48). Utilization of CAM was common in fatiguing illnesses, and was largely accounted for by the presence of underlying conditions and poor physical and mental health. Compared to non-fatigued persons, those with CFS-like illness or chronic fatigue were most likely to use body-based and mind-body therapies. These observations have important implications for provider education programs and development of intervention strategies for CFS.
Anaemia and its functional consequences in cancer patients: current challenges in management and prospects for improving therapy.

Anaemia is a common occurrence in patients with cancer and contributes to the clinical symptomatology and reduced quality of life (QOL) seen in cancer patients. Many aspects of reduced QOL, including fatigue, are known to be associated with suboptimally low levels of haemoglobin. Even mild-to-moderate anaemia adversely affects patient-reported QOL parameters. Red blood cell transfusions are associated with many real and perceived risks, inconveniences, costs, and only temporary benefits. Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) is an effective therapy to increase haemoglobin values in over half of anaemic cancer patients receiving concurrent chemotherapy. These increased haemoglobin values are closely correlated with improvements in QOL. Despite these objectively defined benefits, less than 50% of anaemic patients undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy receive rHuEPO, in contrast to patients with chronic renal failure on dialysis, where anaemia is universally and aggressively treated to more optimal haemoglobin values. However, there are several barriers that may limit more widespread use of rHuEPO. These include inconvenience associated with frequent dosing; failure of a large proportion (40 to 50%) of patients to respond; relatively slow time to response; absence of reliable early indicators of response; and current lack of rigorous pharmacoeconomic data demonstrating cost-effectiveness. Darbepoetin alfa is a novel erythropoiesis stimulating protein (NESP) that is biochemically distinct from rHuEPO, and which has been proven to stimulate red blood cell production. The molecule has a 3-fold longer half-life and increased biological activity that will allow less frequent dosing, facilitating improved management of the anaemia of cancer. With this new option for therapy, further avenues of investigation should lead to renewed interest in the clinical benefits of optimal haemoglobin levels for patients with cancer. © 2001 Cance Cancer Research Campaign
Identification and characterization of microsatellite loci in two socially complex old world tropical babblers (Family Timaliidae)

Background Although the highest diversity of birds occurs in tropical regions, little is known about the genetic mating systems of most tropical species. We describe microsatellite markers isolated in the chestnut-crested yuhina (Staphida everetti), endemic to the island of Borneo, and the grey-throated babbler (Stachyris nigriceps), widely distributed across Southeast Asia. Both species belong to the avian family Timaliidae and are highly social, putatively cooperatively breeding birds in which helpers attend the nests of members of their social group. We obtained DNA from individuals in social groups breeding in Kinabalu Park, Malaysian Borneo.
Estimation of Lung Ventilation

Since the primary function of the lung is gas exchange, ventilation can be interpreted as an index of lung function in addition to perfusion. Injury and disease processes can alter lung function on a global and/or a local level. MDCT can be used to acquire multiple static breath-hold CT images of the lung taken at different lung volumes, or with proper respiratory control, 4DCT images of the lung reconstructed at different respiratory phases. Image registration can be applied to this data to estimate a deformation field that transforms the lung from one volume configuration to the other. This deformation field can be analyzed to estimate local lung tissue expansion, calculate voxel-by-voxel intensity change, and make biomechanical measurements. The physiologic significance of the registration-based measures of respiratory function can be established by comparing to more conventional measurements, such as nuclear medicine or contrast wash-in/wash-out studies with CT or MR. An important emerging application of these methods is the detection of pulmonary function change in subjects undergoing radiation therapy (RT) for lung cancer. During RT, treatment is commonly limited to sub-therapeutic doses due to unintended toxicity to normal lung tissue. Measurement of pulmonary function may be useful as a planning tool during RT planning, may be useful for tracking the progression of toxicity to nearby normal tissue during RT, and can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment post-therapy. This chapter reviews the basic measures to estimate regional ventilation from image registration of CT images, the comparison of them to the existing golden standard and the application in radiation therapy.
Oocyte aging in a marine protostome worm: The roles of maturation‐promoting factor and extracellular signal regulated kinase form of mitogen‐activated protein kinase

The roles of maturation-promoting factor (MPF) and an extracellular signal regulated kinase form of mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK MAPK) are analyzed during oocyte aging in the marine protostome worm Cerebratulus. About a day after removal from the ovary, unfertilized metaphase-I-arrested oocytes of Cerebratulus begin to flatten and swell before eventually lysing, thereby exhibiting characteristics of a necroptotic mode of regulated cell death. Based on immunoblots probed with phospho-specific antibodies, MPF and ERK are initially active in freshly mature specimens. However, as oocytes age, both kinase activities decline, with ERK deactivation occurring well before MPF downregulation. Experiments using pharmacological modulators indicate that oocyte degradation is promoted by the maturation-initiated activation of ERK as well as by the deactivation of MPF that occurs in extensively aged specimens. The potential significance of these findings is discussed relative to previously published results for apoptotic eggs and oocytes of echinoderm and vertebrate deuterostomes.
Type 2 diabetes and the evolving paradigm in glucose regulation

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a multisystem disease comprising numerous metabolic defects that contribute to the development of hyperglycemia. Although insulin resistance in the skeletal muscle and liver together with progressive beta cell failure are traditionally thought of as the core defects responsible for the development and progression of hyperglycemia, research over the past 2 decades has revealed a far more complex interaction of organs and tissues, with consequences for the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of glucose disequilibrium and the nature of T2DM itself. Dysfunctions in the gastrointestinal tract, adipose tissue, pancreatic alpha cells, brain, and kidneys have all been described, and together with insights into the involvement of liver, muscle, and beta cells produce a more robust picture of T2DM. The function of the kidneys in abnormal glucose homeostasis is a striking example of this evolution in T2DM knowledge, as the role of glucose transporters in regulating plasma glucose levels and producing hyperglycemia has enhanced current understanding of T2DM. As pathophysiologic mechanisms and defects continue to be discovered, they offer an expansion of potential targets for treatment of T2DM.
Tepa as a Chemosterilant for the Corn Earworm, Armyworm, and Granulate Cutworm

The corn carworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie); the armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haworth); and the granulate cutworm, Feltia subterranea (F), were fed tepa in a 10% sucrose solution, and pairings were made. Males of each species were sterilized when they were fed 53 µg (actual) tepa. Partial sterility of females was obtained with 53 or 106 µg of the compound.
Surveillance of rabies virus and the N gene analysis in Yulin City, Guangxi, from 2005 to 2012

Objective To analyze the surveillance results of rabies virus in Yulin City and the genetic characteristics of the rabies virus N gene. Methods Dog brain samples and saliva specimens from clinical cases were collected in Yulin City during 2005-2012 and were detected. The N gene of rabies virus were sequenced and their homology and phylogenetic analysis were compared. Results 728 samples of dog brain were collected and 7 of them(0.96%) were positive for rabies virus by both DFA and RT-PCR testing, while 51.52%(17/33) of saliva samples were positive by RT-PCR method. The full length of 11 N gene sequences were acquired from 5 dog and 6clinical cases, and their nucleotide similarities were 94.7%-100.0%. When compared with previously reported isolate strain in Guangxi(GX01) the nucleotide similarities were 94.5%-98.4%, and the newly identified strains in this study showed the highest similarity(94.6%-99.7%) with CTN vaccine strain. The phylogenetic analysis showed that dog virus strains were very close to the clinical case strains, and they belonged to the same branch in genotype I.Conclusion Rabies virus infections from 17 clinical cases and 7 dogs in Yulin were identified by molecular detection, and these rabies virus strains belonged to genotype I. The main factor of rabies widely spreading with high incidence in this area is the rabies virus continuously circulating in the dogs.
Survey of Enterobacter sakazakii from formular powder and infant foods samples sold in Shijiazhuang

Objective:To investigate the contamination state in the formular powder and infant foods by Enterobacter sakazakii.Methods:122 samples of formular milk powder and infant foods sold in Shijiazhuang market were examined according to the standards of GB/T4789.40-2008,and 16s rDNA gene were used to identified suspicious bacteria.In addition,all isolates were detected by antibiotics susceptibility.Results:18 strains of Enterobacter sakazakii were isolated from these samples,and all isolates were susceptible to antibiotics.Conclusion:The pollution situation due to Enterobacter sakazakii in formular powder and infant foods is severe in Shijiazhuang.It should be attracting the attention of relevant departments to the fact that the phenomenon may have serious potential dangers.
Advances in the research of liver fibrosis in biliary atresia

Biliary atresia(BA) is one of the most serious digestive system diseases, which threatens the health of infants.Liver fibrosis is a major cause of death in children with BA. In the process of the pathogenesis of BA, virus infection can in-duce a series of immune and inflammatory reaction, result in a decrease of regulatory T cells(Treg cells) and high expressionof CD14, activating a variety of inflammatory pathways and TGF-β/Smad2/3 pro-fibrogenic pathway, which produces a largenumber of medium damage of liver cells and bile duct cells, releases proinflammatory factor, oxygen metabolism matter andcytokines. These changes further aggravate damage of hepatobiliary system and cause the internal environment imbalance ofliver parenchyma cells. The imbalance of internal environment with adaptive degeneration and necrosis in liver parenchymacells, hepatic macrophages and gathered inflammatory cells leads to the activation of hepatic stellate cells(HSCs). HSCs canbe converted into fibroblast cells, and promote the process of liver fibrosis. Immune and inflammatory lesions, pro-fibrogenicpathway are the important factors in contributing to liver fibrosis and cirrhosis of biliary atresia.
Algorithmically recognizable: Santorum’s Google problem, and Google’s Santorum problem

ABSTRACTBecause information algorithms make judgments that can have powerful consequences, those interested in having their information selected will orient themselves toward these algorithmic systems, making themselves algorithmically recognizable, in the hopes that they will be amplified by them. Examining this interplay, between information intermediaries and those trying to be seen by them, connects the study of algorithmic systems to long-standing concerns about the power of intermediaries – not an algorithmic power, uniquely, but the power to grant visibility and certify meaning, and the challenge of discerning who to grant it to and why. Here, I consider Dan Savage’s attempt to redefine the name of U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, a tactical intervention that topped Google’s search results for nearly a decade, and then mysteriously dropped during the 2012 Republican nominations. Changes made to Google’s algorithm at the time may explain the drop; here, they help to reveal the kind of implicitly politica...
Language Education Policies in North America

Neither the United States nor Canada has federal-level, explicit language education policies (with the exception of attention to French and English as official languages in Canada), but a variety of legislative, funding, judicial, and regulatory actions constitute implicit policies. This article examines policies in each country toward medium of instruction in education, heritage language development, and the learning of additional languages by all students in order to characterize the orientation toward language education reflected in those decisions.
Quantifying and reducing model-form uncertainties in Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations

Despite their well-known limitations, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models are still the workhorse tools for turbulent flow simulations in today's engineering analysis, design and optimization. While the predictive capability of RANS models depends on many factors, for many practical flows the turbulence models are by far the largest source of uncertainty. As RANS models are used in the design and safety evaluation of many mission-critical systems such as airplanes and nuclear power plants, quantifying their model-form uncertainties has significant implications in enabling risk-informed decision-making. In this work we develop a data-driven, physics-informed Bayesian framework for quantifying model-form uncertainties in RANS simulations. Uncertainties are introduced directly to the Reynolds stresses and are represented with compact parameterization accounting for empirical prior knowledge and physical constraints (e.g., realizability, smoothness, and symmetry). An iterative ensemble Kalman method is used to assimilate the prior knowledge and observation data in a Bayesian framework, and to propagate them to posterior distributions of velocities and other Quantities of Interest (QoIs). We use two representative cases, the flow over periodic hills and the flow in a square duct, to evaluate the performance of the proposed framework. Both cases are challenging for standard RANS turbulence models. Simulation results suggest that, even with very sparse observations, the obtained posterior mean velocities and other QoIs have significantly better agreement with the benchmark data compared to the baseline results. At most locations the posterior distribution adequately captures the true model error within the developed model form uncertainty bounds. The framework is a major improvement over existing black-box, physics-neutral methods for model-form uncertainty quantification, where prior knowledge and details of the models are not exploited. This approach has potential implications in many fields in which the governing equations are well understood but the model uncertainty comes from unresolved physical processes. Proposed a physics-informed framework to quantify uncertainty in RANS simulations.Framework incorporates physical prior knowledge and observation data.Based on a rigorous Bayesian framework yet fully utilizes physical model.Applicable for many complex physical systems beyond turbulent flows.
¿Tienen Futuro Los Modelos DSGE? (Do DSGE Models Have a Future?)

Spanish Abstract: Los modelos dsge actuales tienen graves defectos, pero son sumamente mejorables y centrales para el futuro de la macroeconomia. Para mejorarlos debe volverse menos insulares, utilizado un conjunto mucho mas amplio de investigaciones economicas. Tambien deben volverse menos imperialistas y compartir el escenario con otros enfoques de la modelacion.English Abstract: The current dsge models as seriously flawed, but they are eminently improvable and central to the future of macroeconomics. To improve they have to become less insular, by drawing on a much broader body of economic research. They also have to become less imperialistic and share the scene with other approaches to modelization).
Utilization of machine learning for prediction of post-traumatic stress: a re-examination of cortisol in the prediction and pathways to non-remitting PTSD

To date, studies of biological risk factors have revealed inconsistent relationships with subsequent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The inconsistent signal may reflect the use of data analytic tools that are ill equipped for modeling the complex interactions between biological and environmental factors that underlay post-traumatic psychopathology. Further, using symptom-based diagnostic status as the group outcome overlooks the inherent heterogeneity of PTSD, potentially contributing to failures to replicate. To examine the potential yield of novel analytic tools, we reanalyzed data from a large longitudinal study of individuals identified following trauma in the general emergency room (ER) that failed to find a linear association between cortisol response to traumatic events and subsequent PTSD. First, latent growth mixture modeling empirically identified trajectories of post-traumatic symptoms, which then were used as the study outcome. Next, support vector machines with feature selection identified sets of features with stable predictive accuracy and built robust classifiers of trajectory membership (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC)=0.82 (95% confidence interval (CI)=0.80-0.85)) that combined clinical, neuroendocrine, psychophysiological and demographic information. Finally, graph induction algorithms revealed a unique path from childhood trauma via lower cortisol during ER admission, to non-remitting PTSD. Traditional general linear modeling methods then confirmed the newly revealed association, thereby delineating a specific target population for early endocrine interventions. Advanced computational approaches offer innovative ways for uncovering clinically significant, non-shared biological signals in heterogeneous samples.