cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Scalable line-based wavelet image coding in wireless sensor networks

Visual sensor nodes have little RAM and lined-based external memory.Existing scalable wavelet image coding approaches require large RAM.A novel line-based scalable wavelet image coder for low-RAM sensors is developed.The novel coding approach requires RAM memory for only two image lines.The coder achieves the RD performance of SPHIT and has no scalable coding overhead. Existing scalable wavelet image coding approaches, such as set partitioning in hierarchical trees and its derivatives, employ a memory-intensive tree-based coding structure. Existing tree-based wavelet coding approaches are therefore not suitable for memory-constrained sensor nodes. In this paper, we introduce a scalable wavelet image coding approach based on a line structure that requires very little memory. The proposed line-based approach is suitable for scalable wavelet image coding in memory-constrained sensor nodes, requiring only a few kilobytes of memory for a 256 256 pixel image. The presented line-based wavelet coding algorithm accesses the image data line by line and thus conforms with the data access patterns in current flash memory technology. Our performance evaluations demonstrate that the proposed scalable line-based image wavelet coding approach has no overhead compared to one-run (non-scalable) wavelet image coding and has competitive compression performance compared to JPEG 2000 and the recent Google WebP image format.
Current Methods in Forensic Gunshot Residue Analysis

With the ever-spreading problem of violent crime in today's society, techniques to assist forensic scientists and other law enforcement personnel have come to the forefront. With improvement in collection methods and analytical tools to conduct more thorough analyses, gunshot residue examination has made a dramatic impact as an area of trace eviden
Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm

Bruder von Wilhelm Grimm; 1802 Jurastudium in Marburg (u.a. bei F.C. von Savigny), ab 1803 im Kreis der ›Heidelberger Romantiker‹ um C. Brentano und A. von Arnim; 1806–1807 Sekretar am ›Kriegskollegium‹ in Kassel; 1808–1813 Privatbibliothekar; 1813–1816 hessischer Legationssekretar; 1830 Bibliothekar und Professor in Gottingen, 1837 Amtsenthebung aufgrund der Teilnahme am Protest der ›Gottinger Sieben‹; Marchen-, Mythen-, Rechts- und Sagenforscher; Mitbegrunder der deutschen Sprachwissenschaft.
Numerically modelling tidal dissipation with bottom drag in the oceans of Titan and Enceladus

Abstract Icy satellites that contain subsurface oceans require sufficient thermal energy to prevent the liquid portion of their interiors from freezing. We develop a numerical finite difference model to solve the Laplace Tidal Equations on a sphere in order to simulate tidal flow and thermal energy dissipation in these oceans, neglecting the presence of an icy lid. The model is applied to Titan and Enceladus, where we explore how Rayleigh (linear) and bottom (quadratic) drag terms affect dissipation. The latter drag regime can only be applied numerically. We find excellent agreement between our results and recent analytical work. Obliquity tide Rossby-wave resonant features become independent of ocean thickness under the bottom drag regime for thick oceans. We show that for Titan, dissipation from this Rossby-wave resonance can act to dampen the rate of outward orbital migration by up to 40% for Earth-like values of bottom drag coefficient. Gravity-wave resonances can act to cause inward migration, although this is unlikely due to the thin oceans required to form such resonances. The same is true of all eccentricity tide resonances on Enceladus, such that dissipation becomes negligible for thick oceans under the bottom drag regime.
Rapid Diffuse Skin Disease with Progressive Joint Contractures

Systemic sclerosis is a complex connective tissue disease with high morbidity and mortality. The scleroderma patient with rapidly progressive skin disease and joint contractures is one of the most challenging a clinician will face. It is important to recognize that such patients also may be at increased risk of severe internal organ involvement. The timing for institution of therapies is important and may lead to improved outcomes if undertaken early. With the evolving therapeutic landscape, there is the promise for treatments that may prove to be effective in the treatment of diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. This chapter highlights a systemic sclerosis patient with rapidly progressive skin disease and considerations for therapies.
Targeted Therapy in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)

The standard of care for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has traditionally been chemoimmunotherapy. For patients who are unable to tolerate chemotherapy and those with high risk 17p deletions, there were previously few feasible or efficacious treatment options. Novel targeted agents for the treatment of CLL have the potential to offer long-term, durable remissions and offer promising treatment options for those in previously challenging population groups. Current targeted agents in CLL are directed against B cell receptor-associated tyrosine kinases such as BTK and SYK, the downstream PI3-kinase pathway, as well as the antiapoptotic protein BCL-2. The optimal sequencing of these agents has yet to be determined, although the side effect profile differs significantly and may dictate choice of therapy until further randomized data becomes available.
Ultrasound for Primary Care Practitioners and Emergency Medicine Physicians

Previous chapters have described in depth the anatomy, image acquisition techniques, and sonographic appearance of varying thyroid and parathyroid pathologies, though largely at the level of the expert or specialist. With point-of-care ultrasound training taking place in an ever increasing number of medical schools, residency programs, and clinical settings, it can be expected that an expanding number of nonspecialists will be performing thyroid ultrasonography, whether for teaching or clinical purposes. This chapter describes benefits and limitations of the compact and portable machines used in nonspecialty settings, highlights the basic views taught to clinicians for point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), and outlines several clinical uses of thyroid ultrasound for primary, acute, and emergency care providers in a case-based format.
Using Genetically Informed Designs to Understand the Environment: The Importance of Family-Based Approaches

Family-based behavioral genetics have played a critical role in understanding how rearing environments shape child outcomes and clarifying when the effects of rearing environments are purely causal (in understanding child behavioral outcomes, especially in regard to the effects of parenting on children). However, some have questioned the continuing value of such studies given the ease and affordability of genotyping and long-standing concerns about the validity and interpretability of findings from family-based behavioral genetic studies. In this chapter, concerns about the validity and interpretability of family-based behavioral genetic studies are addressed and we provide additional support for the unique information provided by such studies, including potential for informing intervention research. We conclude that there is a continued need of family-based behavioral genetics in the current era of molecular genetic and epigenetic studies.
Evaporation from a shallow, saline lake in the Nebraska Sandhills: Energy balance drivers of seasonal and interannual variability

Abstract Despite potential evaporation rates in excess of the local precipitation, dry climates often support saline lakes through groundwater inputs of water and associated solutes. These groundwater-fed lakes are important indicators of environmental change, in part because their shallow water levels and salinity are very sensitive to weather and climatic variability. Some of this sensitivity arises from high rates of open-water evaporation, which is a dominant but poorly quantified process for saline lakes. This study used the Bowen ratio energy budget method to calculate open-water evaporation rates for Alkali Lake, a saline lake in the Nebraska Sandhills region (central United States), where numerous groundwater-fed lakes occupy the landscape. Evaporation rates were measured during the warm season (May – October) over three consecutive years (2007–2009) to gain insights into the climatic and limnological factors driving evaporation, as well as the partitioning of energy balance components at seasonal and interannual time scales. Results show a seasonal peak in evaporation rate in late June of 7.0 mm day −1 (on average), with a maximum daily rate of 10.5 mm day −1 and a 3-year mean July-September (JAS) rate of 5.1 mm day −1 , which greatly exceeds the long-term JAS precipitation rate of 1.3 mm day −1 . Seasonal variability in lake evaporation closely follows that of net radiation and lake surface temperature, with sensible heat flux and heat storage variations being relatively small, except in response to short-term, synoptic events. Interannual changes in the surface energy balance were weak, by comparison, although a 6-fold increase in mean lake level over the three years (0.05–0.30 m) led to greater heat storage within the lake, an enhanced JAS lake-air temperature gradient, and greater sensible heat loss. These large variations in water level were also associated with large changes in absolute salinity (from 28 to 118 g kg −1 ), with periods of high salinity characterized by reductions in mass transfer estimates of evaporation rate by up to 20%, depending on atmospheric conditions and absolute salinity. Energy balance estimates of evaporation, on the other hand, were found to be less sensitive to variations in salinity. These results provide regional insights for lakes in the Nebraska Sandhills region and implications for estimation of the energy and water balance of saline lakes in similar arid and semi-arid landscapes.
Demystifying “Little Pink”: The creation and evolution of a gendered label for nationalistic activists in China:

In 2016, Little Pink has emerged as the label for a new wave of female-led cyber-nationalism in China. While increasingly popularized in media and online discourses, little is known about the evolu...
DiffSLC: A graph centrality method to detect essential proteins of a protein-protein interaction network

Identification of central genes and proteins in biomolecular networks provides credible candidates for pathway analysis, functional analysis, and essentiality prediction. The DiffSLC centrality measure predicts central and essential genes and proteins using a protein-protein interaction network. Network centrality measures prioritize nodes and edges based on their importance to the network topology. These measures helped identify critical genes and proteins in biomolecular networks. The proposed centrality measure, DiffSLC, combines the number of interactions of a protein and the gene coexpression values of genes from which those proteins were translated, as a weighting factor to bias the identification of essential proteins in a protein interaction network. Potentially essential proteins with low node degree are promoted through eigenvector centrality. Thus, the gene coexpression values are used in conjunction with the eigenvector of the network's adjacency matrix and edge clustering coefficient to improve essentiality prediction. The outcome of this prediction is shown using three variations: (1) inclusion or exclusion of gene co-expression data, (2) impact of different coexpression measures, and (3) impact of different gene expression data sets. For a total of seven networks, DiffSLC is compared to other centrality measures using Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein interaction networks and gene expression data. Comparisons are also performed for the top ranked proteins against the known essential genes from the Saccharomyces Gene Deletion Project, which show that DiffSLC detects more essential proteins and has a higher area under the ROC curve than other compared methods. This makes DiffSLC a stronger alternative to other centrality methods for detecting essential genes using a protein-protein interaction network that obeys centrality-lethality principle. DiffSLC is implemented using the igraph package in R, and networkx package in Python. The python package can be obtained from git.io/diffslcpy. The R implementation and code to reproduce the analysis is available via git.io/diffslc.
Fluorescence quenching and the “ring-mode” to “red-mode” transition in alkali inductively coupled plasmas

The ring-mode to red-mode transition in alkali metal inductively coupled plasmas (ICPs) (i.e., rf-discharge lamps) is perhaps the most important physical phenomenon affecting these devices as optical pumping light sources for atomic clocks and magnetometers. It sets the limit on useful ICP operating temperature, thereby setting a limit on ICP light output for atomic-clock/magnetometer signal generation, and it is a temperature region of ICP operation associated with discharge instability. Previous work has suggested that the mechanism driving the ring-mode to red-mode transition is associated with radiation trapping, but definitive experimental evidence validating that hypothesis has been lacking. Based on that hypothesis, one would predict that the introduction of an alkali-fluorescence quenching gas (i.e., N2) into the ICP would increase the ring-mode to red-mode transition temperature. Here, we test that prediction, finding direct evidence supporting the radiation-trapping hypothesis.The ring-mode to red-mode transition in alkali metal inductively coupled plasmas (ICPs) (i.e., rf-discharge lamps) is perhaps the most important physical phenomenon affecting these devices as optical pumping light sources for atomic clocks and magnetometers. It sets the limit on useful ICP operating temperature, thereby setting a limit on ICP light output for atomic-clock/magnetometer signal generation, and it is a temperature region of ICP operation associated with discharge instability. Previous work has suggested that the mechanism driving the ring-mode to red-mode transition is associated with radiation trapping, but definitive experimental evidence validating that hypothesis has been lacking. Based on that hypothesis, one would predict that the introduction of an alkali-fluorescence quenching gas (i.e., N2) into the ICP would increase the ring-mode to red-mode transition temperature. Here, we test that prediction, finding direct evidence supporting the radiation-trapping hypothesis.
Magnetic Resonance Labeling of Stem Cells: Is Positive Tracking a Plus or a Minus?

Recent meta-analyses of clinical cellular therapy trials in cardiovascular disease have shown that these therapies are safe and perhaps yield a positive therapeutic benefit (1-5). However, 1 issue that has plagued these clinical studies is the inability to determine the percentage engraftment of exogenously administered stem cells and the stem cell fate. In this issue of iJACC, Adler et al. (6) propose a cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) contrast based on a paramagnetic agent, gadolinium, to track the engraftment of embryonic stem cell-derived cardiovascular progenitor cells.
Tau accumulations in the brains of woodpeckers.

Woodpeckers experience forces up to 1200–1400 g while pecking. It is assumed due to evolutionary adaptations, the woodpecker is immune to brain injury. This assumption has led to the use of the woodpecker as a model in the development of sports safety equipment such as football helmets. However, it is unknown at this time if the woodpecker brain develops neuro-trauma in relation to the high g-forces experienced during pecking. The brains of 10 ethanol preserved woodpeckers and 5 ethanol preserved red-winged black bird experimental controls were examined using Gallyas silver stain and anti-phospho-tau. The results demonstrated perivascular and white matter tract silver-positive deposits in eight out of the 10 woodpecker brains. The tau positive accumulations were seen in white matter tracts in 2 of the 3 woodpeckers examined. No staining was identified in control birds. The negative staining of controls birds contrasted with the diffuse positive staining woodpecker sections suggest the possibility that pecking may induce the accumulation of tau in the woodpecker brain. Further research is needed to better understand the relationship.
A Brilliant but Frosty Solution: Frozen® as an Allegory for the Central Relational Paradox

This article contains a review of Frozen, the animated Disney film about a princess who later becomes a queen, with magical powers that allow her to create ice and snow. The author demonstrates how...
Personal Interface and Feminist Pedagogy at The Wide, Wide World Digital Edition

Using the editorial collective of students and faculty who collaborate on The Wide, Wide World Digital Edition as a case study, this article considers how the challenges of conducting digital humanities research at Master’s Comprehensive institutions results in positive pedagogical outcomes. The author argues that when faculty involve students in the design and implementation of digital research they engage students in meaningful experiences beyond the classroom that can improve retention rates and help students take ownership over their own learning. Because The Wide, Wide World Digital Edition considers the work of a woman writer from the nineteenth century, the article also addresses how the digital humanities might, under the right conditions, foster women’s interest in pursuing the computer sciences.
Material designs: Engineering cultures and engineering states - Ireland 1650-1900

Materiality has proved one of the most difficult "objects" for social science to theorize. In the early British social science movement, represented most clearly by the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (1857),1 materiality was a broad explanatory category, encompassing all aspects of both the natural and built environment. Informed by a seventeenthand eighteenth-century discourse that linked material conditions to moral and intellectual standards, many members of the early social science movement viewed material "improvement" as an important "agent" for advancing "civilization."2 In Marxist theory, however, the material increasingly became confined to and made coterminous with "the economic," a concept made so abstract that it became more a matter of theoretical "relations" than actual practices and conditions.3 Culture, by definition, was not material. In the 1930s, Marcel Mauss sought to advance a research agenda that would view the body as a form of material culture, but the post-war period brought instead increasingly abstract models of "systems" and "action." Culture, in this context, was fundamentally psychological and, therefore, immaterial (descriptively rather than normatively). The abstractions of structural functionalism (now called the "old institutionalism") were countered by American micro sociology, especially the symbolic interactionist school. In this context, however, theorization of the material was muted by an overarching concern with issues of "meaning," culture being symbolic rather than material. While these literatures were in many respects fundamentally at odds, all implicitly agreed that "material culture" was a contradiction in terms. In more recent years, numerous "turns" linguistic, discursive, interpretive, cognitive, historical, social, and cultural have largely left the categorical distinction intact: the cultural and material are mutually exclusive.
Pituitary adenoma: Incidentaloma identified by F18-FDG PET/CT

101 Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of F18-FDG avid pituitary incidentalomas detected on PET/CT and correlate the FDG PET/CT findings to all available data. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 8431 consecutive total whole-body (TWB) F18-FDG PET/CT reports of cancer patients. Studies reporting focal FDG uptake in the pituitary gland were evaluated for further analysis. Quantification of pituitary metabolic activity was obtained by using the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax). Findings were correlated with hormone assays, brain MRI, and/or CT. Results 13 (0.2%) of the 8431 patients had an incidental focal FDG uptake in the region of pituitary gland. Further workup with brain MRI and/or CT was available in 10 (77%) of 13 patients. In 6 (46%) of 13 patients, brain MRI and/or CT revealed pathologic pituitary adenoma. 1 of 13 patients (8%) had normal CT and elevated prolactin level. 3 of 13 patients (23%) were false positives and had normal MRI and/or CT. Follow-up data were not available in 3 of 13 patients (23%). The maximum SUV for focal pituitary uptake was significantly higher in the true positive patients than in false positives (11.5, SD 6.6 vs. 3.3, SD 0.3, p Conclusions Although incidental focal pituitary lesion on whole-body FDG PET/CT scans is an unusual finding (0.2%), the incidence of pituitary adenoma among those with focal FDG uptake is at least 54%. The degree of FDG uptake determined by maximum SUV can be helpful to determine abnormal pituitary uptake which warrant further diagnostic evaluation. Using a maximum SUV of 4 as a cutoff can significantly increase the accuracy of F18-FDG PET/CT in detecting pituitary adenoma. However, such cutoff needs to be further evaluated prospectively
Phenotypic instability of chondrocytes in osteoarthritis: on a path to hypertrophy

Articular chondrocytes are quiescent, fully differentiated cells responsible for the homeostasis of adult articular cartilage by maintaining cellular survival functions and the fine-tuned balance between anabolic and catabolic functions. This balance requires phenotypic stability that is lost in osteoarthritis (OA), a disease that affects and involves all joint tissues and especially impacts articular cartilage structural integrity. In OA, articular chondrocytes respond to the accumulation of injurious biochemical and biomechanical insults by shifting toward a degradative and hypertrophy-like state, involving abnormal matrix production and increased aggrecanase and collagenase activities. Hypertrophy is a necessary, transient developmental stage in growth plate chondrocytes that culminates in bone formation; in OA, however, chondrocyte hypertrophy is catastrophic and it is believed to initiate and perpetuate a cascade of events that ultimately result in permanent cartilage damage. Emphasizing changes in DNA methylation status and alterations in NF-κB signaling in OA, this review summarizes the data from the literature highlighting the loss of phenotypic stability and the hypertrophic differentiation of OA chondrocytes as central contributing factors to OA pathogenesis.
On lexicographic choice

Abstract We show that every lexicographic choice function is acceptant and path independent. Furthermore, there exists an acceptant and path independent choice function that is not lexicographic.
You eat “like a girl”: gender differences in content and effects of food advertising depicting sports

ABSTRACTResearch to date is just beginning to examine the nature and impact of portrayals of physical activity on children’s attitudes in the marketing literature. The following two-part study ther...
How To Count 2 Oranges

abstractWe address a puzzle about the meanings of fraction words, due to Nathan Salmon. Counting 212 oranges seemingly requires enumerating a collection of objects with a non-whole cardinal number,...
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: Guidance for Communicating With Patients.

Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) is the “recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act” within domestic borders in which the person is a US citizen or lawful permanent resident <18 years of age.1 Over recent years, the perceived paradigm of youth involved in sex trafficking as mainly international criminals and prostitutes has shifted to domestic victims in need of services; this shift has been the result of increased knowledge and research. Potential indicators linked to DMST involvement are described in existing literature, such as runaway behaviors, substance use and/or abuse, dysfunctional home environments, and histories of child sexual abuse.1,2 Moreover, victimization is associated with health consequences, such as recurrent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unwanted pregnancies, and untreated chronic medical conditions.1,2 In an effort to enhance prevention and identification, researchers have attempted to develop screening tools; however, there are limitations, such as small sample sizes, a lack of generalizability (eg, single geographic area), and no current valid and reliable tools.3 A separate …
Bayesian calibration of underwater propagation models under uncertainty

Propagation models are notorious for the uncertainty of important parameters such as source strength, speed of sound profiles, and reflecting surface profiles. In many cases, one calibrates a model to measured data (e.g., sound levels or transmission loss) for the purposes of estimating these model parameters, i.e., for inverse modeling. Bayesian calibration methods have been developed that are extremely useful for calibration of models where parameters have high levels of uncertainty and problems may be under or over determined. The Kennedy and O’Hagen framework which uses a Gaussian process surrogate model to replace the model under calibration is especially useful when the underlying model is computationally expensive, and so, it may be difficult to apply many optimization based calibration methods. In this talk, we describe the application of the Kennedy and O’Hagen Bayesian Calibration framework to the calibration of an underwater ray tracing propagation model. The source strength and parameters for the sound speed profile are considered as highly uncertain. The Bayesian calibration technique is shown to improve model prediction and reduce the uncertainty of the unknown propagation parameters.
A variational constitutive model for slip-twinning interactions in hcp metals: Application to single- and polycrystalline magnesium

We present a constitutive model for hcp metals which is based on variational constitutive updates of plastic slips and twin volume fractions and accounts for the related lattice reorientation mechanisms. The model is applied to single- and polycrystalline pure magnesium. We outline the finite-deformation plasticity model combining basal, pyramidal, and prismatic dislocation activity as well as a convexification-based approach for deformation twinning. A comparison with experimental data from single-crystal tension-compression experiments validates the model and serves for parameter identification. The extension to polycrystals via both Taylor-type modeling and finite element simulations shows a characteristic stress-strain response that agrees well with experimental observations for polycrystalline magnesium. The presented continuum model does not aim to represent the full details of individual twin-dislocation interactions; yet, it is sufficiently efficient to allow for finite element simulations while qualitatively capturing the underlying microstructural deformation mechanisms.
MiR-126 Mediates Brain Endothelial Cell Exosome Treatment-Induced Neurorestorative Effects After Stroke in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Mice.

Background and Purpose— Stroke patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) exhibit increased vascular and white matter damage and have worse prognosis compared with nondiabetic stroke patients. W...
Time-average and asymptotically optimal flow control policies in networks with multiple transmitters

We considerM transmitting stations sending packets to a single receiver over a slotted time-multiplexed link. For each phase consisting ofT consecutive slots, the receiver dynamically allocates these slots among theM transmitters. Our objective is to characterize policies that minimize the long-term average of the total number of messages awaiting service at theM transmitters. We establish necessary and sufficient conditions on the arrival processes at the transmitters for the existence of finite cost time-average policies; it is not enough that the average arrival rate is strictly less than the slot capacity. We construct a pure strategy that attains a finite average cost under these conditions. This in turn leads to the existence of an optimal time-average pure policy for each phase lengthT, and to upper and lower bounds on the cost this policy achieves. Furthermore, we show that such an optimal time-average policy has the same properties as those of optimal discounted policies investigated by the authors in a previous paper. Finally, we prove that in the absence of costs accrued by messages within the phase, there exists a policy such that the time-average cost tends toward zero as the phase lengthT→∞.
Comment on Yli-Vakkuri and Hawthorne, Narrow Content

This comment mainly examines Yli-Vakkuri and Hawthorne’s preferred framework for examining whether narrow content is viable, arguing that their framework is not well-suited to the task; once a more traditional framework is adopted, Y&H’s case against internalism is strengthened.
Influence of Screw Channel Angulation on the Fracture Resistance of Zirconia Abutments: An In Vitro Study.

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of implant screw channel angulation on the fracture resistance of zirconia abutments without artificial aging. Materials and methods Ten implant replicas were embedded in a jig of autopolymerizing acrylic resin. Using a surveyor and a metallic platform, the implant replicas were mounted centrally and with an angulation of 30°. A maxillary left central incisor crown was fabricated from pattern resin and scanned. The digital design of a monolithic zirconia implant abutment-crown was completed using a 3D imaging software. For all specimens of this group (ASC25 ), the screw channel was positioned at 25° to the lingual. Following fabrication, the samples were attached onto the embedded implant replicas and manually torqued to 35 Ncm as recommended by the manufacturer. The monolithic zirconia implant abutment-crowns were mounted in a metallic platform, positioned perpendicular to the indenter, and subjected to loading until failure. Crosshead speed was set at 0.5 mm/min for the universal testing machine. Data from a similar in vitro study where straight zirconia custom abutments (ASC0 ) were subjected to static load until failure was used as a control group. An unpaired Student's t-test was used to determine if fracture resistance based on load at failure and maximum load in each group were significantly different from each other (ASC25 vs ASC0 ). Statistical significance level was inferred at p ≤ 0.05 RESULTS: Group ASC25 fractured at a mean (SD) load of 215.49 (47.10) N and a mean (SD) maximum load of 420.50 (17.18) N. Group ASC0 fractured at a mean (SD) load of 534.04 (133.77) N and a mean (SD) maximum load of 762.69 (109.59) N. The difference was statistically significant for both mean load and mean maximum load at failure (p ≤ 0.05). The survival rate of 0° zirconia abutments was significantly higher than that of 25° ASC zirconia abutments. Conclusions Within the limitations of this in vitro study the mean fracture load was significantly higher in the group with a straight channel angulation.
Civil-Military Coordination in Disaster Preparedness and Response

AbstractThis paper identifies common civil-military coordination challenges in disaster preparedness and the response among actors who operate at the regional, national, and international levels. T...
Design and Construction of a High Field Cable Test Facility at Fermilab

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, together with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is building a new High Field Vertical Magnet Test Facility (HFVMTF) to be situated in the Magnet Test Facility at Fermilab. The HFVMTF is jointly funded by the US DOE Offices of Science, High Energy Physics, and Fusion Energy Sciences, and will serve as a superconducting cable test facility for both communities. The background magnetic field for test samples is 15 T and will be produced by a magnet provided by LBNL operating at 1.9 K in superfluid helium. The samples will be placed in the background magnetic field, cooled to between 4.5 K and a user-specified upper limit, and will be powered with a superconducting transformer at up to 100 kA. Additionally, this facility will be used to test high-field superconducting magnet models and demonstrators, including hybrid magnets, produced by the US Magnet Development Program. Currently, the various tasks of the project are at different stages of execution, from conceptual to ready-for-construction designs. This paper describes the parameters and design status of the pit construction, cryostat, heat exchanger, lambda plate, power system, and quench protection and monitoring systems of the facility.
Technologies Providing Distribution Network Services

The main benefit of interval meters is the ability to measure electricity consumption on an hourly or short-term time interval basis during the billing cycle. This allows the electricity retailer to measure and price energy flows to and from the consumer at that level of temporal granularity. A number of other features of interval meters are often offered–and at times required–in markets around the world. In this section we highlight some of the other beneficial qualities that smart meters use to modernize the grid.
Responding to Epidemics of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: Progress and Lessons Learned from Recent Outbreaks in Uganda, Gabon, and Congo

Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is caused by viruses of the genus Ebolavirus of the Filoviridae family. Except for a laboratory-acquired case in England in 1976, human cases of EHF have been noted exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa. Five years after the Kikwit outbreak, the 2000–2001 outbreak in Gulu, Uganda, was the largest outbreak of EHF recorded to date. Analysis of this epidemic, as well as the more recent events in Gabon and Congo, will no doubt further our understanding of EHF. While awaiting more formal presentations of the scientific data, these outbreaks provide the opportunity to reflect on the progress in the domain of EHF since 1995, to speculate on the future, and to reassess needs. The sporadic nature of EHF cases and the difficulty in isolating them when they occur limited the health care worker exposures in the most recent outbreak in Gabon and Congo. The few field surveys undertaken since the Kikwit outbreak have yielded either negative or controversial results, with the latter consisting of a report of the identification of Ebola virus sequences by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the observation of virus-like nucleocapsids by electron microscopy in rodents and shrews in the Central African Republic, but without the actual isolation of Ebola virus.
Perturbation Methods and Computer Algebra in Mechanics

Perturbation methods are a collection of diverse schemes for obtaining approximate analytic solutions to problems which involve a small parameter ϵ, usually in the form of a power series in ϵ In these notes we will discuss computer algebra treatments of regular perturbations (section 2), and of three singular perturbation methods (composite expansions, section 4, averaging, section 5 and two variable expansion method, section 8).
Pyomo - Optimization Modeling in Python

This book provides a complete and comprehensive reference/guide to Pyomo (Python Optimization Modeling Objects) for both beginning and advanced modelers, including students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, academic researchers, and practitioners. The text illustrates the breadth of the modeling and analysis capabilities that are supported by the software and support of complex real-world applications. Pyomo is an open source software package for formulating and solving large-scale optimization and operations research problems. The text begins with a tutorial on simple linear and integer programming models. A detailed reference of Pyomo's modeling components is illustrated with extensive examples, including a discussion of how to load data from data sources like spreadsheets and databases. Chapters describing advanced modeling capabilities for nonlinear and stochastic optimization are also included. The Pyomo software provides familiar modeling features within Python, a powerful dynamic programming language that has a very clear, readable syntax and intuitive object orientation. Pyomo includes Python classes for defining sparse sets, parameters, and variables, which can be used to formulate algebraic expressions that define objectives and constraints. Moreover, Pyomo can be used from a command-line interface and within Python's interactive command environment, which makes it easy to create Pyomo models, apply a variety of optimizers, and examine solutions. The software supports a different modeling approach than commercial AML (Algebraic Modeling Languages) tools, and is designed for flexibility, extensibility, portability, and maintainability but also maintains the central ideas in modern AMLs.
Corporate governance and organizational slack in the IT industry

This study fills an important gap in the financial slack and board of director's literatures by focusing on how different directors apportion financial slack into R&D investments under alternative environmental contingencies. We draw inspiration from both Agency theory (AT) and Stewardship theory (ST) and argue that both executives and independent directors remain important in allocating financial slack into R&D investments in high-tech IT-intensive service industries. Consistent with our theory we find in R&D intensive IT industries the boards control role, high proportion of independent directors, remains important in ensuring financial slack is distributed into R&D investments. However, in the presence of cash flow disruptions we find too much emphasis on strict controls can jeopardize R&D investments. The board's collaborative role, a board composed with a high proportion of executives remains indispensible in preserving R&D investments in the presence of cash flow volatility.
Abstract 622: Development of an Antioxidized Phospholipid Neutralizing Antibody as an Atheroprotective Therapeutic Agent

Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease of the arterial wall, which contributes to >40% of all deaths in developed societies. Widespread use of statins and life style modifications within developed nations have resulted in modest reductions in the incidences and severity of atherosclerotic disease, but as yet there is no clear evidence that statins can prevent late stage clinical consequences of atherosclerosis including plaque rupture with possible myocardial infarction or stroke. Atherosclerosis is a complex disease characterized by two key processes, lipid deposition and inflammation within the arterial wall, and oxidative stress providing the link between the two. Oxidized phospholipids (OxPL), such as oxidized PAPC (1-palmitoil-2-arachodonoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine) and its derivatives are the biologically active components of minimally oxidized LDL, whose role in cardiovascular diseases is well recognized. Atherosclerotic ApoE knockout (KO) mice fed a high fat Western diet develop antibodies (Abs) to OxPL, and hybridoma B cell lines producing natural auto-Abs against OxPL have been successfully generated and characterized. However, as yet, no studies have been reported demonstrating that treatment with OxPL neutralizing Abs can be used to prevent or reverse atherosclerosis. Of major importance, we recently generated an anti-OxPL auto-Ab (10C12) that demonstrates potent OxPL neutralizing activity in vitro. Sequence analysis showed that 10C12 Ab is structurally different from previously described anti-OxPL EO6 type neutralizing Abs. Moreover, we found that 10C12 Ab injections (IP, twice a week) in ApoE KO mice fed a Western diet for four weeks resulted in: 1) high circulating titers of Abs to OxPL as measured by ELISA; 2) significantly decreased accumulation of macrophages within the brachiocephalic artery, a site of advanced plaque formation in mice; and 3) a decreased OxPL-induced inflammatory response following IP injection of OxPL as determined by analysis of inflammatory gene expression in abdominal lavage cells. Results of our work give insight into the role of OxPL in atherosclerosis and lead to potential novel therapeutic approaches to treat it or prevent clinical complications of atherosclerosis.
The Case for Volume Risk Transfer in Wind Project Finance: Value Creation Through Risk Reallocation

The growth of commercial-scale wind power generation has exposed a gap in the energy industry’s toolset for risk management: supply-side volume hedging. While niche wind volume hedging instruments exist today, the market for these instruments remains small and poorly integrated with the financing process. This incomplete market for risk can have a significant, negative impact on the financial performance of a wind project as lenders, assuming near-worst case scenarios for wind volume, restrict access to debt financing. This paper demonstrates how the use of wind volume hedging instruments can create value through efficient risk reallocation. While the impact of risk transfer instruments varies by project and by contract type, our analysis indicates that new value can be created through their use. In every one of the thirty-three hedging scenarios we analyzed, project net present value increased through the implementation of a wind volume hedge.
Splenic torsion in an alpaca.

Objective— To describe the clinical signs, diagnostic evaluation and surgical management of an alpaca with splenic torsion. Animals— Six-year-old female alpaca. Results— Splenic torsion and uterine torsion were the inciting cause for persistent abdominal discomfort in this alpaca. Rectal examination, abdominocentesis, and transabdominal ultrasonographic findings were suggestive of a splenic lesion. Surgical management involved splenectomy of a necrotized spleen. Conclusions— Although rare in occurrence, splenic torsion should be considered as a potential cause of abdominal discomfort in alpacas. Splenectomy is a reasonable and successful method of treatment for a devitalized spleen secondary to splenic torsion in alpacas. Clinical Relevance— Splenic torsion causes persistent abdominal discomfort in camelids and may be associated with uterine torsion. Rectal examination, transabdominal ultrasound and abdominocentesis are useful diagnostic tools to differentiate splenic torsion from other causes of abdominal discomfort. Splenectomy is an uncomplicated procedure in camelids and has a favorable prognosis.
The upper percentiles of the distribution of the logrank statistic for small numbers of tumors

In the comparison of the survival distributions between the control and treated groups in carcinogenic screenings, the logrank test has been frequently employed. This paper uses the random data permutation procedure to evaluate the upper percentiles of the null distributions of the logrank statistics when the tumor incidence is low (from 1% to 10%). The Mantel-Haenszel heterogeneity test and Tarone trend test statistics are examined for the designs with 2, 3, and 4 groups with 50 animals in each group. For the 0.01 nominal level with tumor rate less than 10%, the heterogeneity tests are conservative. When the tumor rate is less than 3% the tests become very conservative for either 0.05 or 0.01 nominal levels. But the tests can be nonconservative in some situations. When the tumor rate is greater than 2% the 95th percentiles from the simulation are generally close to the 95th percentile of the standard normal distribution.
Non-invasive quantification of coronary vascular dysfunction for diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease

The last several decades have seen significant advances in the evaluation and treatment of coronary artery disease. Multiple non-invasive methods for the diagnosis of coronary atherosclerosis have matured and are in wide clinical practice. Improving risk factors and primary and secondary prevention strategies have resulted in a decline in cardiac mortality and myocardial infarction. The focus of these diagnostic methods and treatment strategies has been on the identification and treatment of atherosclerotic lesions of the epicardial coronary arteries, particularly obstructive, ischemia causing lesions. While there is no doubt that this approach has been tremendously successful, it must be noted the coronary arterial circulation extends from large epicardial conduit arteries through resistance arterioles (i.e., the microvasculature) to the intramyocardial capillary bed. Dysfunction of the microvasculature and pre-obstructive disease of the epicardial arteries can not only cause typical anginal symptoms but also may be harbingers of adverse prognosis. In the following paragraphs, we will discuss current approaches to the quantification of coronary vascular function and the evidence supporting its potential diagnostic and prognostic implications with a particular focus on ischemic heart disease. DIAGNOSIS OF OBSTRUCTIVE CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE
Co-movements of Alaska North Slope and UK Brent crude oil prices

In order to study the inter-relationships of international crude oil markets, empirical analyses are used to investigate univariate and multivariate relationships between Alaska North Slope and UK Brent oil prices. Using monthly data from the period 1974–1996, the results show that both price series follow a random walk and that these oil markets share a long-run common trend. The empirical results suggest that the two markets are ‘unified’. That is, they are competitive, and there is price convergence in the markets.
First-order approximation for the time-dependent Ising model

Bethe's method of equilibrium statistical mechanics is generalized to treat Glauber's time-dependent Ising models in two and three dimensions. This constitutes the first-order approximation which improves the mean-field theory (the zeroth-order approximation) by incorporating specific short-range correlations into the distribution function. We first calculate the single-spin expectation value. Although the dynamic equation may need to be solved by using a numerical method, its approximate solution in the pretransitional region can be studied in detail. We then calculate the two-spin correlation function. This requires yet another extension of Bethe's method. Again approximate solutions can be obtained in the pretransitional region. Our results for the static pair correlation functions are equivalent to that of Elliott and Marshall, but our derivation is simpler. We also calculate the time-dependent correlation function for the magnetization, and reproduce the fluctuation-dissipation relation.
Nonlinear optics to measure the frequency of iodine-stabilized Nd:YAG

Summary form only given. We use the cycle-conserving accuracy of phase-matched nonlinear optics to make a precision measurement of the frequency of 532 nm of frequency-doubled Nd:YAG, stabilized to the /spl alpha/ component in the R(56) 32-0 line of molecular iodine. This line is very strong and free of interfering background resonances and can be reached easily by doubling the commercially available stable lasers based on monolithic Nd:YAG.