cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract A23: Transoral robotic surgery for primary oncologic resection: Outcomes from a rural academic medical center

Objective: to report the outcomes of oncologic transoral robotic surgery (TORS) performed by a single surgeon. Study Design: Retrospective chart review. Methods: All patients who underwent a TORS primary oncologic resection between the years of 2010-2018 were reviewed. Data regarding demographics, comorbidities, prior treatment, tumor characteristics, surgery, complications, adjuvant therapy, and survival were obtained. Results: Sixty-four patients were included in the chart review with a median age of 60.8 years. Fifty patients were male and 17 were female. Average overall robotic operating time was 137.9 minutes. Forty-one cases were presented using the Da Vinci Si while 23 cases were performed using the Da Vinci Xi. There was no significant difference between these two groups with regards to operative time, complication rate, or survival. Average robotic operative times for tonsil and tongue base primaries were 151.3 and 112.1 minutes, respectively. The difference was approaching statistical significance (p=0.053). Forty-two patients underwent ligation of external carotid artery (ECA) branches whereas 23 patients did not. One major oropharyngeal bleeding complication occurred in a patient who did not receive ECA branch ligation, which resulted in death. No major bleeding complication occurred in the ligation cohort. There was no significant difference in the overall rate of complications between low ACE 27 and high ACE 27 individuals (p = 0.22). However, the number of reported complications is significantly greater in the high ACE 27 group relative to the low ACE 27 group (0.74 vs. 1.82, p = 0.016). There was no significant difference in survival between HPV+ and HPV- tumors. Conclusion: Transoral robotic surgery represents a safe and effective means for resection of malignancies of the oropharynx. Although statistical significance cannot be demonstrated, ECA branch ligation should be considered prior to TORS given the severity of potential complications. Citation Format: Eric Eisen, Christiaan Rees, Isabelle Magro, Karissa LeClair, Joseph Paydarfar. Transoral robotic surgery for primary oncologic resection: Outcomes from a rural academic medical center [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-AHNS Head and Neck Cancer Conference: Optimizing Survival and Quality of Life through Basic, Clinical, and Translational Research; 2019 Apr 29-30; Austin, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(12_Suppl_2):Abstract nr A23.
Impact of Respiratory Therapist Assess-and-Treat Protocol on Preventing Pulmonary Related ICU Readmissions for Adults With Rib Fractures

Background: Patients with acute rib fractures have significantly higher rates of pulmonary related complications and increased ICU readmissions from acute care units. A Respiratory Therapy Assess and Treat protocol (RTAT) was developed to assess and manage respiratory care interventions based off a scored patient assessment algorithm. We sought to determine if an RTAT Protocol impacted outcomes when compared to a physician directed approach. Null hypothesis: Among adult subjects with > 3 rib fractures, there is no association in pulmonary related ICU readmissions when comparing a RTAT Protocol Group to a Physician-ordered Respiratory Care Treatment Group (Physician Group). Methods: This was an IRB approved single-center retrospective and prospective analysis. Data from 626 subjects was evaluated. The Physician Group (n = 254) was evaluated from January 2016-December 2016. RTAT Protocol Group (n = 372) was evaluated from June 2017-December 2018. The primary outcome was pulmonary related ICU readmissions between Groups. Secondary outcomes were age, presence of lung disease, prevalence of polytrauma, hospital length of stay and number of rib fractures. Descriptive characteristics are reported as median (IQR) and frequency count (%). Chi-square of independence and Mann-Whitney U tests were applied as appropriate. Alpha (2-tailed)
Identification of polymer materials in electronic packages including counterfeit prevention

Epoxy-based underfill materials are widely used in microelectronic packaging to reduce coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the organic substrate and the silicon chip and thermal stresses on the solder joints. The lack of information about the underfill material type together with its material properties can be a real hindrance to researchers when they deal with simulations involved with various underfills. Therefore, getting the correct material properties of underfill materials can enhance the reliability of simulation results to achieve the optimal solution, which significantly reduces experiment costs and time. A novel identification method for cured underfill materials from assembled packages is presented in this paper. Because the underfill materials are tiny size, insoluble in organic solvent and hard to harvest issues, the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy microscope Attenuated total reflectance (FT-IR Microscope ATR) have been proposed as a proper method to detect the underfill materials from assembled package. The fingerprint region of each material spectrum is chosen to apply the chemometrics to build the discriminant models. The soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) method is used to create a classification model that exhibits a high discrimination power ratio. By increasing the number of training sets and the confidence limit, the SIMCA model showed almost 100% accuracy on identification of UF1230, EP1641, SMT88U, and SMC-375TGSF5, which indicates its superior ability to discriminate underfill material with low risk of misclassification. In this study, the method of collecting dispensed or cured underfill material data from assembled packages is also presented.
Abstract LB-245: Validating models of imputing germline versus somatic status for variants detected by tumor-only genomic profiling using germline clinical testing data

The goal of tumor genomic profiling is to identify somatic mutations. However, most implementations lack patient-matched control DNA sequence to enable determination of variant source (somatic or germline) and resolution of allelic status, including possible loss of heterozygosity (LOH), without additional analyses based on accurate estimates of specimens9 tumor purity. Here, we present the validation of an information-theoretic algorithm for identifying germline variants detected in tumor-only sequencing using cancer patient clinical germline test data. 1,631 adult patients consented for the PROFILE study at DFCI between 2014 and 2018, and also underwent clinical germline testing. DNA was isolated from tissue containing >20% tumor nuclei and analyzed using Agilent SureSelect hybrid capture kit. All exons and 191 introns in 447 genes were interrogated for single nucleotide variants, small indels, copy number alterations, and structural variants using standard pipelines. Germline testing was performed at CLIA-certified laboratories. Specimen tumor purity was estimated using computational approaches developed at DFCI and Rutgers with further manual curation. LOHGIC (LOH-Germline Inference Calculator), developed on a model-selection scheme using Akaike Information Criterion weighting, was applied to individual variants to infer the most consistent germline-v-somatic model and LOH status, incorporating biases in clinical sequencing and purity estimation. 427 patients had 676 variants detected in high-penetrance cancer predisposition genes: BRCA1, BRCA2, MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2. Comparison of LOHGIC9s results with germline test data showed 91.4% accuracy, 67.6% precision, and 67.0% recall, with other performance measures reported in Table 1. LOHGIC showed evidence of LOH for 35% of variants with concordant inference and germline testing results. Special challenges with TP53 variants will also be discussed. Our results indicate that tumor-only sequencing can provide excellent power for statistical approaches to identify likely germline mutations and infer LOH. Our analyses may be confounded by the presence of reversion mutations, poor specimen quality, inaccurate purity estimates, low sequencing depths, and/or germline call variability. This work further demonstrates the need for a systematic effort to interpret clinical-grade sequencing results. Citation Format: Israel Gomy, Nahed Jalloul, Samantha Stokes, Alexander Gusev, Shridar Ganesan, Judy Garber, Hossein Khiabanian. Validating models of imputing germline versus somatic status for variants detected by tumor-only genomic profiling using germline clinical testing data [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-245.
The Representation of Altruism and Egoism in Children’s Books

Although the social implications of children’s media have been a central public concern for millennia, there has been no systematic attempt to quantify the representation of other- versus self-serv...
What the Global Health Community Can Learn from Africa.

“…We would like to express our extreme concern over the attitude of the medical profession, particularly the student body, towards elective periods spent abroad in developing countries. The misconception that the purpose of an elective is to practise one's unpolished skills on an unsuspecting 'bunch of natives', before returning to begin properly, is widespread within the student community. Some even go as far as to assume that the recipient countries ought to be grateful for the help provided by elective students.”1 This quote from St George's Hospital Medical School in London summarizes the somewhat fraught relationship Western medicine has had with the rest of the world including Africa. Indeed, the history of medicine in Africa is one that is entrenched in colonialism; global health efforts on the continent have often secured and continue securing Western interests. European medicine was often used to enforce Western hegemony by lessening the resistance of colonized African populations.2 Unfortunately, the legacy of medical colonialism still lingers; for instance, there exists a real concern as to the efficacy of short-term experiences in global health (STEGHs) offered to undergraduate, medical and postgraduate students who might lack the necessary technical skills and cultural competency to positively affect local community health systems in host countries.3 By failing to recognize the agency and medical knowledge of African nations, the international community has often exacerbated health conditions on the continent. Moreover, it has become clear that the global disease burden can only be reduced if Western countries recognize the active participation of Africa. Therefore, to counter arguments of Africa’s incompetence and neediness, this paper will highlight two different yet important health-related successes on the continent: Rwanda’s efforts to eradicate cervical cancer, and Elimination 8 (E8), a project to eliminate malaria in 8 African countries (Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia; South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe).
A PEP grant's influence on change in a school district: One year post funding.

Abstract This study examined teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of the institutionalization phase of the Carol M. White Physical Education for Progress (PEP) grant. A qualitative exploratory single case study (Yin, 2014) was utilized to examine the elements of the PEP grant that sustained or did not sustain after its conclusion, along with elements that were institutionalized and influences on this process. The findings were represented in the following three themes: (a) positive shifts, (b) backsliding, and (c) new directions, each with their own subthemes. Positive shifts includes sub-themes: (a) philosophy, (b) instruction, assessment and curriculum, (c) collaboration, and (d) respect. Backsliding includes sub-themes: (a) wellness team functioning, (b) the loss of PD and collaboration time, and (c) reduced data collection. New directions includes sub-themes: (a) mastery learning, (b) during school physical activity, (c) stress, and (d) administrative support. The factors that were institutionalized were quality physical education leadership roles, change in teachers’ philosophies that influenced their instruction and assessment, and garnered administrative support. These elements were embedded into the physical education program and the school so much so that principals now expect the same type of programming from any new hire.
National language comprehension in rural Sabah

From 1978 to 1981, the Summer Institute of Linguistics carried out a linguistic survey of the state of Sabah, East Malaysia, in cooperation with the state government. The survey, described in King and King (1985), was carried out in two phases. The first phase focused on gathering lexical information, in the form of wordlists; the second phase involved direct testing of intelligibility between related dialects and languages.
The Malleability of Memory in Animals

Publisher Summary Empirical evidence for constructive processes in humans was first introduced by Bartlett in 1932. Since that time, numerous investigators have demonstrated that humans tend to distort their memories for events and that these distortions often depend on what additional information already is contained in a person's memory store when the target memory is formed. This chapter discusses the issue of memory malleability in animals. An animal's memory of a training experience is not necessarily fixed at the time of learning. The view that the memories of animals are malleable has a number of implications for the study of memory processing in infrahumans. Traditionally, the study of memory retrieval has centered on the relationship between training and testing experiences.
Assessment and Intervention for Individuals with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed childhood psychiatric disorders. As our understanding of ADHD has evolved, so have assessment and intervention strategies. Several assessment instruments have been developed to properly diagnose individuals with ADHD. Over the years, a number of intervention strategies have emerged for the treatment of ADHD. Considerable empirical support exists for the use of behavioral interventions and medications. Behavioral interventions have sought to address the symptoms of ADHD by targeting the core deficits of the disorder (i.e., impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattentiveness) and identifying environmental causes of the behavior. Medications have been used to treat the deficits associated with ADHD by influencing neurotransmitters in the brain. Both approaches have evidence to support their use. Evaluation procedures should be used to determine the effectiveness of any intervention strategies (i.e., behavioral intervention, medication, or a combination).
Alteration of the carboxyl-terminal domain of Ada protein influences its inducibility, specificity, and strength as a transcriptional activator.

Abstract The ada gene of Escherichia coli K-12 encodes the regulatory protein for the adaptive response to alkylating agents. A set of plasmids carrying ordered deletions from the 3' end of the ada gene were isolated and characterized. These ada deletions encode fusion proteins that derive their amino termini from ada and their carboxyl termini from the downstream vector sequence that occurs before an in-frame stop codon. Several of these ada deletions encode Ada derivatives that constitutively activate ada transcription to very high levels. A second class of ada deletions encode Ada derivatives that are dominant inhibitors of the inducible transcription of ada but are inducible activators of alkA transcription. In addition, we found that two Ada derivatives containing the same ada sequences but fused to different vector-derived tails have strikingly different properties. One Ada derivative constitutively activates both ada and alkA expression to very high levels. In contrast, the other Ada derivative is an inducible activator of ada expression, like the wild-type Ada protein, but is not an inducible activator of alkA transcription. Our data suggest that the carboxyl terminus of the Ada protein plays a key role in modulating the ability of the Ada protein to function as a transcriptional activator.
Negotiating with modern Chinese professionals: A review of cultural considerations and cyberspace communication

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of proper planning when negotiating with Chinese business professionals. The paper emphasizes face-to-face interaction more so than internet negotiations since relationship building is very important for Chinese negotiators. Design/methodology/approach – This paper used academic literature and book publications to glean the best practices for Chinese negotiation practices. Both face-to-face and cyberspace negotiation strategies are explored. Findings – It appears that these Chinese professionals initially focus on relationship and trust building before making any major deals. As such, traditional means of negotiations are preferred. Also, it should be noted that renegotiations are fairly common, even after a contract has been signed. A four-step negotiation model is recommended for negotiating with Chinese professionals. Research limitations/implications – Foreigners doing business in China must understand the local norms prior to undert...
Effects of long-term fire exclusion on tree species composition and stand structure in an old-growth Pinus palustris (Longleaf pine) forest

Frequent fire is an integral component of longleaf pine ecosystems, creating environmental conditions favoring survival and growth of juvenile pines. This study examined stand structure, species composition, and longleaf pine regeneration in an old-growth tract of longleaf pine forest (Boyd Tract) experiencing long-term (>80 yr) fire exclusion in the Sandhills of North Carolina. Sampling of woody stems (i.e.,2.5 cm diameter at breast height) and tallies of longleaf pine seedlings were carried out in plots established randomly on upland, mesic areas and lowland, xeric areas within the Boyd Tract. Dominant woody species in mesic plots were black oak, hickories, and large, sparse longleaf pines. Xeric plots had high densities of turkey oak with the large longleaf pines, as well as higher frequencies of smaller longleaf stems. These differences between areas were associated with higher clay content of upland soils and higher sand content of lowland soils. Age-class frequency distributions for firesuppressed longleaf pine following the last wildfire at the Boyd Tract approximately 80 yr ago contrasted sharply with data from an old-growth longleaf tract in southern Georgia (Wade Tract) that has been under a long-term frequent fire regime. Post-burn recruitment for the Boyd Tract wildfire appears to have been initially high on both site types. Longleaf pine recruitment diminished sharply on the mesic site, but remained high for60 yr on the xeric site. Currently, longleaf pine regeneration is minimal on both site types; several plots contained no seedlings. Sharp contrasts in longleaf pine dominance and stand structure between the Boyd and Wade Tracts demonstrate the importance of large-scale disturbance, especially hurricanes and fire, in shaping the structure and function of longleaf pine ecosystems of the southeastern United States. In particular, long-term exclusion of fire on the Boyd Tract has altered stand structure dramatically by permitting hardwoods to occupy at high densities the characteristically large gaps between longleaf stems that are maintained by fire and other disturbances.
Region of Kalman filter convergence for several autonomous navigation modes.

Autonomous navigation using a Kalman filter requires, in addition to an a priori knowledge of measurement data accuracy, an initial estimate of six orbit parameters and a six-by-six covariance matrix. If the initial estimates of the orbit parameters are too large, the filter fails to converge even though a large amount of data is processed. The limits of these estimates within which the filter converges is defined as the region of convergence. This characteristic is examined for navigational systems using combinations of star trackers, landmark telescopes, horizon sensors, and radar altimeters. A direct relationship between the accuracy of a system and the region of convergence is concluded, that is, the larger the system error the larger the region of convergence. For example, using a star tracker/horizon sensor system, a region of convergence of 1000 miles down range and 100 miles cross range is possible. Under these circumstances, the Kalman filter could be initialized by an astronaut making a visual estimate of geographic position and altitude. The region of convergence can be increased by selecting an initial co variance matrix representative of errors that are less than the expected errors or by using an a priori instrument-error covariance matrix that is larger than the expected error levels.
The monetary benefits and costs of hiring supported employees: A primer

The fiscal aspects of supported employment programs are well explored from the perspectives of the supported employee, taxpayer, and society in general. However, little has been written regarding the economic advantages or disadvantages experienced by employers who hire supported employees. A potential cause for this lack of emphasis on the employer's perspective may be the convoluted nature of the issue. This manuscript proposes an economic, cost-accounting, framework that could help determine whether hiring supported employees is a good financial decision for businesses.
Development of portable parallel programs with Large-Grain Data Flow 2

F-Nets are one approach to solving some of the difficult problems in parallel software development, but we believe that since this approach is based on a sound theoretical foundation, it has the potential to aid in the reliable, rapid development of large parallel programs.
Dress and the Fabric of the Television Series: The Costume Designer as Author in Dr. Who

narrative, or to interpret design simply as afunction of the series' ideology. Either way, there is no allowance for the purely visual considerations which June Hudson, sometime principal costume designer on Dr. Who, claims to be central to her design choices. The costume of the principal character in a television series can come to 'stand in'for a television series as a whole, and can even affect the way in which the series' narrative-cum-ideological framework is shaped. The costume designer should, therefore, be understood as occupying an important position in the complex 'authorship' process of a television series. These various contentions are explored in this essay with special reference to June Hudson's designsfor Dr. Who, notably the 1979 episode 'The Creaturefrom the Pit'.
Proximity of schools in Detroit, Michigan to automobile and truck traffic.

Exposure to traffic-related air pollutants, which has been associated with a range of adverse health effects, often is represented using indirect proxies or surrogate exposure measures, most commonly, the proximity to busy roads. This study examines the proximity of grade K-12 schools to high traffic roads in Wayne County, Michigan, an area including the industrialized city of Detroit as well as outlying urban and suburban communities. Unlike earlier studies, commercial and non-commercial traffic is distinguished, and effects of school type (public, charter, private), socio-economic variables, demographic factors, and mapping errors are evaluated. We find that total traffic flow, as measured by annual average daily traffic (AADT), does not reflect the substantial differences between trucking and commuting routes. Thus, AADT alone may inadequately capture traffic-related exposures, especially given the large differences between diesel and gasoline emissions. Based on close proximity (school-road distance or = 50,000), 4.9% of the 845 Wayne County schools are traffic exposed at school. In the urban core area, 7.2% of schools and 7.6% of students are traffic exposed at school. A larger proportion of grade 7-12 students in public schools are exposed than K-6 students. Considering truck emissions, 2.8% of the schools are within 150 m of roads with 5000 or more trucks per day. In Wayne County, students attending schools near high traffic roads are more likely to be Black or Hispanic, to be enrolled in a meal program, and to reside in a poor area. Many of these results are driven by the large minority population in the densely populated core area of Detroit. The findings show that a large fraction of children have high exposures to traffic-related pollutants, especially in Detroit, and the need for exposure measures that account for both the composition and volume of traffic. Language: en
Effects of cellular pharmacology on drug distribution in tissues

The efficacy of targeted therapeutics such as immunotoxins is directly related to both the extent of distribution achievable and the degree of drug internalization by individual cells in the tissue of interest. The factors that influence the tissue distribution of such drugs include drug transport; receptor/drug binding; and cellular pharmacology, the processing and routing of the drug within cells. To examine the importance of cellular pharmacology, previously treated only superficially, we have developed a mathematical model for drug transport in tissues that includes drug and receptor internalization, recycling, and degradation, as well as drug diffusion in the extracellular space and binding to cell surface receptors. We have applied this "cellular pharmacology model" to a model drug/cell system, specifically, transferrin and the well-defined transferrin cycle in CHO cells. We compare simulation results to models with extracellular diffusion only or diffusion with binding to cell surface receptors and present a parameter sensitivity analysis. The comparison of models illustrates that inclusion of intracellular trafficking significantly increases the total transferrin concentration throughout much of the tissue while decreasing the penetration depth. Increasing receptor affinity or tissue receptor density reduces permeation of extracellular drug while increasing the peak value of the intracellular drug concentration, resulting in "internal trapping" of transferrin near the source; this could account for heterogeneity of drug distributions observed in experimental systems. Other results indicate that the degree of drug internalization is not predicted by the total drug profile. Hence, when intracellular drug is required for a therapeutic effect, the optimal treatment may not result from conditions that produce the maximal total drug distribution. Examination of models that include cellular pharmacology may help guide rational drug design and provide useful information for whole body pharmacokinetic studies.
Evaluation of three sources of pollen fertility restoration genes and natural outcrossing of cytoplasmic male-sterile wheat

Fertility restoration genes in Triticum aestivum L. in Texas Restorer Composite (TRC), D6301, and four CIMMYT restorer lines were studied, and selection was made for higher fertility in TRC. Mean-while, outcrossing percentages of seed set for 27 spring habit cytoplasmic male sterile (cms) varieties were evaluated for 3 to 5 years at Davis. The winter-habit TRC material did not restore reasonably good fertility, and the response to selection for higher fertility seemed to be slow. This poor fertility could be partly due to its late winter growth habit causing flowering at a period of high temperature and low humidity at Davis. The highest F1 fertility was 46.6% in the cross cms Ramona x TRC-6, and its F2 segregated into the ratio of 15 fertile to 1 sterile, with fertility ranging from 3.2 to 100%. Suggested for its improvement was intensive selection in the original TRC material and in the segre-gating F2 population, followed by intercrossing. D6301 has 2 fertility restoration genes with different strengths which restore fertility up to 45.2% when both genes are heterozygous. D6301 is quite likely heterogeneous for these genes. Four CIMMYT restorer lines, D7464, D7465, D7466, and D7467, had satisfactory F1 fertility restoration after crossing with cms Ramona 50. In 1975, the fertilities of the F1's ranged from 71 to 85% and were over 90% in 1976. The F2 population of the cross cms Ramona 50 × D7464 segregated into a ratio of 3 fertile to 1 sterile, indicating that D7464 has a single dominant gene for fertility restoration. The F2's of crosses cms Ramona 50 × D7465, cms Ramona 50 × D7466, and cms Ramona 50 × D7467 gave a ratio of 15 fertile to 1 sterile, indicating that two gene pairs in these three lines were responsible for the fertility restoration. The best of this group was D7467 which restored fertility fully after being crossed with cms Ramona 50 (T. timopheevi cytoplasm).
EVALUATION OF PALLIATIVE SYSTEMIC-PULMONARY ARTERIAL SHUNTS USING NMR IMAGING

Palliative systemic-pulmonary artery (SP) shunts are frequently performed on children with cyanotic congenital heart defects which result in decreased pulmonary blood flow. Postoperative assessment of the adequacy of the shunt depends on physical examination, arterial blood gas analysis, chest x-ray and doppler-echocardiography. Direct visualization of the shunt, however, has required angiographic techniques at cardiac catheterization or, more recently, digital subtraction angiography. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI) is a new technique capable of providing high quality resolution of vascular structures without the use of contrast agents or exposure to ionizing radiation. We have used ECG-Gated NMRI at 0.3T to evaluate 6 patients with a total of 8 SP shunts including 4 Glenn shunts and 4 Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunts. 3 of 4 Glenn shunts and 3 of 4 BT shunts could be imaged. The size and course of the shunt could be seen in its entirety. 1 Glenn and 1 BT shunt, both patent, were not imaged. We conclude that NMRI is a safe, effective, non-invasive method for visualizing and evaluating patent palliative SP shunts. In our hands, NMRI has proved superior to echocardiography in visualizing these shunts.
A minimum-hop routing algorithm bases on distributed information

Abstract A new, distributed algorithm for the dynamic computation of minimum-hop paths in a computer network is presented. The new algorithm is an extension of the Bellman-Ford algorithm for the shortest-path computation. According to the new algorithm, each node maintains the successor (next hop) and shortest distance in number of hops of the paths to each network destination; update messages from a node are sent only to its neighbors, and these messages contain the length in hops of the selected path to network destinations. A node always chooses new successors that are equidistant or closer to the destinations than the node's current successor to the same destination. No update is sent before all replies are received for the previous one. The new algorithm is shown to converge in a finite time after an arbitrary sequence of topological changes and to be loop free at every instant. Its performance is compared with the performance of various other extensions of the Bellman-Ford algorithm. We show that none of those extensions eliminates the counting-to-infinity problem and those cases in which the new algorithm provides an improvement over the basic Bellman-Ford algorithm. We conclude that there is a need for algorithms with a stronger internodal coordination, such as those reported previously in the literature by Jaffe and Moss and the author.
Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR): The incidence of mutations C677T and A1298C in the Ashkenazi Jewish population

The polymorphic mutation C677T in the gene of MTHFR is considered a risk mutation for spina bifida and vascular disease. Another common mutation on the MTHFR gene, A1298C, has also been described as another risk mutation. We studied the frequencies of these two mutations on DNA samples from healthy Jewish individuals and compared them to the frequency of these mutations in DNA samples obtained from healthy individuals in South Texas. The presence of the C677T allele was determined by PCR and Hinf I digestion, and mutation A1298C by PCR and Mbo II digestion. A total of 310 alleles was examined for C677T in the Ashkenazi samples and 400 alleles in the non-Jewish samples. The rate of C677T among the Ashkenazi Jewish alleles was 47.7% as compared to 28.7% among the alleles from the non-Jewish population. The difference is statistically significant, P < 0.0005. Mutation A1298C was examined in 298 alleles of Jewish individuals and 374 alleles of non-Jewish counterparts from Texas. The rate of the A1298C mutation in the Jewish samples was 27.2% whereas in the non-Jewish was 35%. This was also statistically significant, P < 0.031. No individuals were homozygous for both mutations or were found to be homozygous for one mutation with heterozygosity of the other mutation, and that the C677T and the A1298C alleles did not occur in cis position. This study shows a unique distribution of C677T and the A1298C alleles among the Ashkenazi Jews. In spite of high frequency of C677T mutation, spina bifida is less common among Ashkenazi Jews. Further studies are needed to establish whether the C677T and the A1298C mutations have an impact on vascular disease in the Ashkenazi Jewish population.
Thread-level speculation on off-the-shelf hardware transactional memory

Thread-level speculation can speed up a single-thread application by splitting its execution into multiple tasks and speculatively executing those tasks in multiple threads. Efficient thread-level speculation requires hardware support for memory conflict detection, store buffering, and execution rollback, and in addition, previous research has also proposed advanced optimization facilities, such as ordered transactions and data forwarding. Recently, implementations of hardware transactional memory (HTM) are coming into the market with minimal hardware support for thread-level speculation. However, few implementations offer advanced optimization facilities. Thus, it is important to determine how well thread-level speculation can be realized on the current HTM implementations, and what optimization facilities should be implemented in the future. In our research, we studied thread-level speculation on the off-the-shelf HTM implementation in Intel TSX. We manually modified potentially parallel benchmarks in SPEC CPU2006 for thread-level speculation. Our experimental results showed that thread-level speculation resulted in up to an 11% speed-up even without the advanced optimization facilities, but actually degraded the performance in most cases. In contrast to our expectations, the main reason for the performance loss was not the lack of hardware support for ordered transactions but the transaction aborts due to memory conflicts. Our investigation suggests that future hardware should support not only ordered transactions but also memory data forwarding, data synchronization, multi-version cache, and word-level conflict detection for thread-level speculation.
Effects of LiDAR-Quickbird fusion on object-oriented classification of mountain resort development

Mountain resort development is having increasing effects on ecological functions in the intermountain West. High-resolution remote sensing has the potential to assist in monitoring this development. We evaluated classification of mountain resort development in the Big Sky, Montana, watershed using Quickbird 2.4-m multispectral imagery with an object-oriented classification. Quickbird imagery, however, has limited spectral resolution; we therefore also evaluated the benefits of fusing Quickbird imagery with LiDAR bare ground and surface model data in an object-oriented approach. Classification accuracies with the fused data increased approximately 1% and were not statistically significantly different based on a 1735 point sample. The classified objects, however, demonstrated more spatial coherency, with more realistically defined shapes and edges.
Investigation of Microearthquakes, Macroseismic Data, and Liquefaction Associated with the 1867 Wamego Earthquake in Eastern Kansas

Historical felt earthquakes and instrumentally recorded microseismicity in eastern Kansas and western Missouri have been attributed to the movement of the Nemaha Ridge and Humboldt fault zone (nrhf). Our investigations of the nrhf have concentrated on relocation of microearthquakes in the Kansas catalog, re-evaluation of the 1867 earthquake felt reports, and field studies to determine the presence or absence of sedimentary evidence of earthquake-induced liquefaction. Microearthquakes in the Kansas catalog have been relocated in a joint inversion with 3D seismic velocity variations. This improved set of hypocenters affirms the loose association of seismicity with the basement nrhf structure, even though seismicity does not seem to follow a single, well-defined fault feature. Overall, the association of microearthquakes with the nrhf suggests that it remains a potential source of large earthquakes. Our field investigations confirm that sedimentary deposits with moderate liquefaction susceptibility are present in the vicinity of Wamego and Wabaunsee, Kansas. Soft-sediment deformation features, including flame and dish structures, are present in the late Holocene floodplain deposits of the Kansas River. These features may have formed by liquefaction or by processes unrelated to seismic activity, such as sediment dewatering. We found several clastic dikes that may be attributed to seismically induced liquefaction. Our initial results suggest that liquefaction features are present but may not be pervasive in this region. These data imply that the 5.2 magnitude of the 1867 Wamego earthquake may characterize the seismic source in this location. However, additional field investigations are still necessary to complete the assessment for liquefaction features.
A theoretical model of bursty bulk flows

[1] Bursty bulk flows (BBFs) are known to exhibit abrupt increases in plasma flow velocity and in the intensity of the northward/southward magnetic fields, occasionally followed by periodic variations in a characteristic time of 1–3 min. In this paper a theoretical model for BBFs is proposed. In this model a region of a dawnward electric field is assumed to propagate earthward, corresponding to the propagation of the variation front associated with magnetic reconnection. The coupling of the magnetosphere and the ionosphere is modeled using an equivalent electric circuit. We conducted a series of test particle simulations with the assumption that each test particle corresponds to a magnetic flux tube. We also obtained an analytic solution that approximates the numerical results and explains the main characteristics of BBFs.
Coat proteins isolated from clathrin coated vesicles can assemble into coated pits

Isolated human fibroblast plasma membranes that were attached by their extracellular surface to a solid substratum contained numerous clathrin coated pits that could be removed with a high pH buffer (Moore, M.S., D.T. Mahaffey, F.M. Brodsky, and R.G.W. Anderson. 1987. Science [Wash. DC]. 236:558-563). When these membranes were incubated with coat proteins extracted from purified bovine coated vesicles, new coated pits formed that were indistinguishable from native coated pits. Assembly was dependent on the concentration of coat protein with half maximal assembly occurring at 7 micrograms/ml. Assembly was only slightly affected by the presence of divalent cations. Whereas normal appearing lattices formed in a low ionic strength buffer, when assembly was carried out in a low pH buffer, few coated pits were evident but numerous small clathrin cages decorated the membrane. Coated pits did not form randomly on the surface; instead, they assembled at differentiated regions of membrane that could be distinguished in carbon/platinum replicas of frozen and etched membranes by the presence of numerous particles clustered into patches the size and shape of a coated pit.
Isolation of a Pyrazine Alarm Pheromone Component from the Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta

Alarm pheromones in social insects are an essential part of a complex of pheromone interactions that contribute to the maintenance of colony integrity and sociality. The alarm pheromones of ants were among the first examples of animal pheromones identified, primarily because of the large amount of chemical produced and the distinctive responses of ants to the pheromone. However, the alarm pheromone of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, eluded identification for over four decades. We identified 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine as an alarm pheromone component of S. invicta. Worker fire ants detect the pyrazine alarm pheromone at 30 pg/ml, which is comparable to alarm pheromone sensitivities reported for other ant species. The source of this alarm pheromone are the mandibular glands, which, in fire ants, are not well developed and contain only about 300 pg of the compound, much less than the microgram quantities of alarm pheromones reported for several other ant species. Female and male sexuals and workers produce the pyrazine, which suggests that it may be involved in fire ant mating flight initiation, as well as the typical worker alarm response. This is the first report of 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine from a Solenopsis species and the first example of this alkaloid functioning as an alarm pheromone.
Low-dose lactose in drugs neither increases breath hydrogen excretion nor causes gastrointestinal symptoms

Summary Background Despite the reported tolerance to a low dose of lactose, many lactose malabsorbers follow a rigorous lactose-free diet also avoiding lactose-containing drugs. Up to now, only a few case reports have described the onset of gastrointestinal symptoms in lactose malabsorbers following the ingestion of these drugs. It has been suggested that capsules/tablets contain no more than 400 mg of lactose. Aim To evaluate breath H2 excretion and intolerance symptoms after ingestion of a capsule containing 400 mg of lactose or placebo through a randomized, cross-over, double-blind, controlled study. Methods Seventy-seven lactose maldigesters with intolerance underwent two H2 breath tests with both 400 mg of lactose and 400 mg of placebo. Gastrointestinal symptoms occurring in the 8 h following the ingestion of different substrates were evaluated by a visual-analogue scale. Results Ingestion of 400 mg of lactose did not cause a significant difference in breath H2 excretion or in the severity of gastrointestinal symptoms compared to placebo. Conclusion In patients with lactase deficiency, drugs containing 400 mg of lactose or less can be used safely.
Neurons synthesizing nitric oxide innervate the mammalian carotid body.

The carotid body is an arterial chemoreceptor organ sensitive to blood levels of O2, CO2 and pH. The present immunocytochemical and neurochemical study has demonstrated the presence of an extensive plexus of nitric oxide (NO)-synthesizing nerve fibers in this organ. These nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-containing axons are closely associated with parenchymal type I cells and with blood vessels in the carotid body. Denervation and retrograde tracing experiments have revealed that these fibers arise from NOS-immunoreactive and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) diaphorase-positive neuronal cell bodies located in the petrosal ganglion and the carotid body, and dispersed along the glossopharyngeal and carotid sinus nerves (CSN). Within the petrosal ganglion, these neurons are topographically segregated from the catecholaminergic cells, and they contain the neuropeptide, substance P. NOS-positive autonomic microganglial cells in the carotid body and CSN also exhibit choline acetyltransferse (ChAT) immunoreactivity. Our results suggest that nitric oxide may be a novel neuronal messenger in the mammalian carotid body involved in the modulation of chemosensory transduction and transmission in this organ. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Conceptual and methodological approaches to the study of leadership

Of the four major approaches to the study of leadership, the functional approach appears to have the most promise for researchers interested in the communication behavior of small groups.
Response to Thomas et al.: biocontrol and indirect effects

In a recent TREE article [1], we identified three categories of unintended indirect effects that can arise from host-specific biological control agents: (i) ecological replacement; (ii) compensatory responses; and (iii) food-web interactions. Although our review focused on the biocontrol of plant pests, we suggested these concepts also apply to the biocontrol of invertebrate pests. Thomas et al. [2] argue that our treatment of ecological replacement was unjustified and that indirect effects owing to compensatory responses and food-web subsidies do not apply to biocontrol of invertebrate pests.
Wave number spectrum and mean square slope of intermediate‐scale ocean surface waves

Abstract : This paper presents an analysis of the wave number spectra of intermediate-scale waves (wavelengths between 0.02 and 6 m) covering a wide range of wind and background wave conditions under various sea-state conditions. The main result of the analysis is that the dependence of the dimensionless wave spectrum on the dimensionless wind friction velocity follows a power law function. The coefficient and exponent of the power law function vary systematically with the wave number. The wave number dependence of the coefficient and exponent serves as an empirical parameterization for computing the wave number spectra of intermediate-scale waves at different wind speeds. Calculation of the mean square slope from the resulting wave number spectrum confirms that intermediate-scale waves are the dominant contributor of the ocean surface roughness. A simple formula is presented for calculating the band-pass filtered mean square slope of the ocean surface for remote sensing applications.
Effects of thyroid hormone and propylthiouracil on eruption rate of upper incisor teeth in rats.

ConclusionsThyroid hormone is essential for a normal rate of incisor eruption. An excess of this hormone will cause an increased eruption rate. The use of the incisor eruption rate as a tool for demonstrating hormonal activity should be considered.
Conditioned Stimulus Determinants of Conditioned Response Form in Pavlovian Fear Conditioning

Four experiments using barpress conditioned suppression in rats found that tone evoked more freezing (immobility) than did light. Still, tone and light appeared to have similar conditioned value as assessed by suppression in Experiments 1, 2, and 3, and by blocking, second-order conditioning, and overconditioning assays in Experiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Experiment 4 arranged for tone to evoke less suppression than light but more freezing. Results suggest that in fear conditioning, the nature of the conditioned stimulus affects the form of conditioned responding (strong vs. weak freezing). This conclusion extends one drawn by P. C. Holland (1977) on the basis of his work in appetitive conditioning.
ADULT ACADEMIC AND VOCATIONAL CORRECTIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS: A REVIEW OF RECENT RESEARCH

This article summarizes and integrates the findings of recent studies that evaluate adult academic and vocational correctional education programs for men. Contrary to the Martinson Report (1974), w...