cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The carnitine shuttle pathway is altered in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration

Purpose To identify metabolites and metabolic pathways altered in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NVAMD). Methods We performed metabolomics analysis using high-resolution C18 liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry on plasma samples from 100 NVAMD patients and 192 controls. Data for mass/charge ratio ranging from 85 to 850 were captured, and metabolic features were extracted using xMSanalyzer. Nested feature selection was used to identify metabolites that discriminated between NVAMD patients and controls. Pathway analysis was performed with Mummichog 2.0. Hierarchical clustering was used to examine the relationship between the discriminating metabolites and NVAMD patients and controls. Results Of the 10,917 metabolic features analyzed, a set of 159 was identified that distinguished NVAMD patients from controls (area under the curve of 0.83). Of these features, 39 were annotated with confidence and included multiple carnitine metabolites. Pathway analysis revealed that the carnitine shuttle pathway was significantly altered in NVAMD patients (P = 0.0001). Tandem mass spectrometry confirmed the molecular identity of five carnitine shuttle pathway acylcarnitine intermediates that were increased in NVAMD patients. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed that 51% of the NVAMD patients had similar metabolic profiles, whereas the remaining 49% displayed greater variability in their metabolic profiles. Conclusions Multiple long-chain acylcarnitines that are part of the carnitine shuttle pathway were significantly increased in NVAMD patients compared to controls, suggesting that fatty acid metabolism may be involved in NVAMD pathophysiology. Cluster analysis suggested that clinically indistinguishable NVAMD patients can be separated into distinct subgroups based on metabolic profiles.
Determination of Empirical Coefficients and ΔT for Sandia Thermal Model: Dependence on Backsheet Type

Sandia thermal model has been extensively used by the industry to predict cell temperature of photovoltaic (PV) module using a few empirical coefficients and ΔT (temperature difference between cell and typical backsheet). We present the empirical coefficients and ΔT of the PV modules equipped with various types of new polymer backsheets and glass substrate. These backsheet-specific coefficients and ΔT provide more accurate predicted cell temperature. It was shown that ΔT can be as high as $4.1 ^{circ}\mathrm{C}$ at 1000 W/m}$^{2} irradiance depending on the substrate type. It has been demonstrated that the temperature coefficients, using model converted cell temperature from module substrate temperature, can be overestimated when non-thermal equilibrium condition is existing in the PV module.
Feasibility of Superconducting Gas-Insulated Transmission Lines for Electric Aviation Applications

Evolving electric aircraft designs are considering superconducting technology to benefit from the high volumetric and gravimetric power densities and to distribute power in the 50 MW range from the generators to the electric loads. Electric power distribution cable networks rated for multi-MW range will be prohibitively heavy and bulky with significant Joule heating losses. Thermal management of the large losses demand large air handling systems, which in turn add to the weight and inefficiencies. High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) cables are being considered for linking HTS generators with distributed propulsion HTS motors. Design considerations for HTS power cables have to weigh several parameters. The novel design concept of Superconducting Gas Insulated Line (S-GIL) is presented as an option for power cable applications in aviation and the design challenges are discussed with potential solutions.
The Moat Effects of Data Swamps

This work chronicles a strategy that became popular among early data scientists for explaining undesirable research outcomes and research process slowdowns to both themselves and clients.
Clinical Drug Development for the Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Collaboration With the Pharmaceutical Industry and Regulatory Agencies

Drug development is the entire process of introducing a new drug to the market. It involves drug discovery, screening, preclinical testing, an Investigational New Drug (IND) application in the US o...
Abstract 443: Class I Histone Deacetylases Mediate Cardiac I/R Injury and Modify the Mitochondrial Acetylome

Although rapid reperfusion of ischemic tissue is the treatment of choice for myocardial infarction, a significant amount of damage occurs as a result of reperfusion itself. The role of epigenetic e...
Faber approximation of the Mori–Zwanzig equation

Abstract We develop new approximations of the Mori–Zwanzig equation based on operator series expansions of the orthogonal dynamics propagator. In particular, we study the Faber polynomial series, which yields asymptotically optimal approximations converging at least R-superlinearly with the polynomial order. Numerical applications are presented for random wave propagation and harmonic chains of oscillators interacting on the Bethe lattice and on graphs with arbitrary topology. Most of the analysis and numerical results presented in this paper are for linear dynamical systems evolving from random initial states. The extension to nonlinear systems is discussed as well the challenges in the implementation of the proposed approximation methods.
The Effects of Modeling the Use of Technology with Pre-Service Teachers

Multiple case study was used to explore the impact of a modeling approach on pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy and willingness to integrate technology into their elementary lessons. Three primary...
Fostering Cultural Understanding with Virtual Reality: A Look at Students' Stereotypes and Beliefs.

In virtual reality, language learners can experience the foreign culture by exploring authentic and contextualized learning environments. To date, there is a lack of studies investigating the use of highly immersive virtual reality for cultural understanding as well as learners' attitudes toward its implementation in the language classroom. This study addresses this gap by exploring language learners' stereotypes and generalizations of the foreign culture experienced in highly immersive virtual reality, and their beliefs regarding its use in the educational setting. Undergraduate students enrolled in beginner Italian courses viewed three ordinary Italian environments with the use of their smartphones, headphones, and Google Cardboard. Through surveys, written reflections, and a focus group interview participants shared their cultural understandings and attitudes toward virtual reality. Results show that virtual reality was positively perceived and helped learners discover new cultural layers generally not encountered in traditional pedagogical materials.
Kazakh — Russian Cooperation as the Core of Eurasian Integration: A Comparative Study of Bilateral Relations between the Russian Federation and the Post-Soviet Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan

Current paper is a study of a unique link tying Russia and Kazakhstan, particularly, its resistant, yet flexible nature in developing amicable relations and a thriving economic exchange with Russia, which has not been achieved by any other post-Soviet state. The study finds that the overall success of the foreign policy has been driven by Kazakhstan’s endowments in energy, industrial, and security sectors, leveraged by canny leadership of its elite. The chosen method is a comparative analysis of Russia's relations with Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan via a study of historical links, role of political elites, international agreements, state visits, and trade.
Reasonable Efforts and Parent-Child Reunification

Among the increasing number of federal statutes impacting family law two continue to impact child permanency and parental rights. First, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 mandates that state courts find that the state child welfare agency made reasonable efforts to reunite a dependent child with his or her parents prior to termination of parental rights. The child is dependent because a state court held that there was sufficient clear and convincing evidence to remove the child from the parents’ home. Often that evidence results from parental poverty, mental or physical disability, or the parents are undereducated and unworldly. Once the child is removed states are required to provide reasonable efforts to all parents to promote reunification and to provide permanency of placement for children. Second, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act is impacted by the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 and the continuing economic malaise adversely affecting state budgets. These two federal legislative efforts, although purportedly in the best interest of children, shorten the time parents have to cooperate with reasonable state efforts; failure to meet the statute’s deadline requires the state to begin procedures resulting in termination of parental rights. What constitutes reasonable reunification efforts differs according to the individual circumstances. But there has been a uniform challenge occasioned by the formidable obstacles resulting from the national recession commencing in 2008. Decreasing state revenues reduces state expenditures for reasonable reunification efforts, to include treatment programs and classes that could assist parents in overcoming addictive behavior or in developing better parenting skills. Will the recessionary reduction in reasonable state reunification efforts compound the specified time frame that parents have to cooperate with these state efforts prior to termination of their parental rights? A few state courts have already concluded that decreasing state budgets may constitutionally reduce reasonable reunification efforts. Yet, without ongoing reunification efforts parents may not be able to rectify the causes that occasioned the removal of the child or children from their home. And if the causes are not remedied within a specified period of time termination of parental rights will ensue. Inequality results from the varying budget reductions among the states due to the economic recession; inequality also results because the poor, undereducated, unworldly and disabled are singularly targeted for termination of parental rights.
Student loan debt: A problem-based learning activity for introductory economics students

Student loan debt and delinquency is a mounting problem among college graduates. To show students the consequences of debt-financing their education in an economic context, the author describes a c...
Modeling voxel-based Monte Carlo light transport with curved and oblique boundary surfaces

Significance: Monte Carlo (MC) light transport simulations are most often performed in regularly spaced three-dimensional voxels, a type of data representation that naturally struggles to represent boundary surfaces with curvature and oblique angles. Not accounting properly for such boundaries with an index of refractivity, mismatches can lead to important inaccuracies, not only in the calculated angles of reflection and transmission but also in the amount of light that transmits through or reflects from these mismatched boundary surfaces. Aim: A new MC light transport algorithm is introduced to deal with curvature and oblique angles of incidence when simulated photons encounter mismatched boundary surfaces. Approach: The core of the proposed algorithm applies the efficient preprocessing step of calculating a gradient map of the mismatched boundaries, a smoothing step on this calculated 3D vector field to remove surface roughness due to discretization and an interpolation scheme to improve the handling of curvature. Results: Through simulations of light hitting the side of a sphere and going through a lens, the agreement of this approach with analytical solutions is shown to be strong. Conclusions: The MC method introduced here has the advantage of requiring only slight implementation changes from the current state-of-the-art to accurately simulate mismatched boundaries and readily exploit the acceleration of general-purpose graphics processing units. A code implementation, mcxyzn, is made available and maintained at https://omlc.org/software/mc/mcxyzn/.
Analyzing outcomes of neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment for borderline-resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma in the perioperative period at an academic institution.

Background Only 15-20% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients are upfront surgical candidates at presentation, and for this cohort of patients, the 5-year survival is a mere 20% despite adjuvant therapy. Previous data indicate that in clinical practice most of these cases are "borderline-resectable," and there is currently no mature data on perioperative treatment. Methods We performed a retrospective electronic chart review of patients with "borderline-resectable"PDAC treated at an academic comprehensive cancer center, dividing them into groups based on surgery alone, surgery plus neoadjuvant, adjuvant, or neoadjuvant plus adjuvant perioperative treatment groups. The objectives were to determine the median overall survival (mOS), progression-free survival (PFS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Statistical analysis was performed to assess the association of demographic, tumor traits, and interventions with OS, PFS and DFS. Results Only surgery followed by adjuvant therapy showed an increase in mOS [hazard ratio (HR) 0.22; 95% CI, 0.09-0.51; P 0.05). Conclusions Our study corroborated that patients treated with adjuvant therapy after surgical resection had an mOS benefit as reported on prior phase III clinical trials. Patients with "borderline-resectable" pancreatic cancer are encouraged to participate in a clinical trial or clinically be treated with adjuvant therapy until more mature results from the ongoing perioperative prospective study are available.
Prevocational Evaluation Examined

On the basis of these findings it would appear that there is an urgent need for continuing study of prevocational evaluation units. If there is a conceptual framework within which we are to operate...
Fault isolation for a complex decentralized waste water treatment facility

Decentralized waste water treatment facilities monitor many features that are complexly related. The ability to detect the onset of a fault and to identify variables accurately that have shifted because of the fault are vital to maintaining proper system operation and high quality produced water. Various multivariate methods have been proposed to perform fault detection and isolation, but the methods require data to be independent and identically distributed when the process is in control, and most require a distributional assumption. We propose a distribution‐free retrospective change‐point‐detection method for auto‐correlated and non‐stationary multivariate processes. We detrend the data by using observations from an in‐control time period to account for expected changes due to external or user‐controlled factors. Next, we perform the fused lasso, which penalizes differences in consecutive observations, to detect faults and to identify shifted variables. To account for auto‐correlation, the regularization parameter is chosen by using an estimated effective sample size in the extended Bayesian information criterion. We demonstrate the performance of our method compared with a competitor in simulation. Finally, we apply our method to waste water treatment facility data with a known fault, and the variables identified by our proposed method are consistent with the operators’ diagnosis of the fault's cause.
Optimizing the fellowship interview process: Perspectives from applicants and program directors of the comprehensive endocrine surgery fellowship program

Abstract Background Approximately 80% of general surgery residents undertake some form of fellowship training. Our objective was to characterize goals and burdens of the interview process among applicants to Comprehensive Endocrine Surgery Fellowship programs. Methods Participants included trainees from 2013 to 2019. Results for ranking questions are presented as a mean rank reported out of the total number of selections. Results Response rate was 54% (n = 75). The most important goal for interviews was meeting the faculty (mean rank 2.4/9), followed by “behind the scenes information” and “make a good impression” (mean rank 3.6 and 3.7, respectively). The most substantial burden for the applicant was expense (mean rank 2.1/7), followed by time away from residency (mean rank 3.1/7). The economic burden of 51% of the applicants was $2,500 to $7,500. Geographic location and expense were the top 2 reasons applicants declined offers of interviews. Despite the process, 76% of respondents indicated that no improvements to the interview process are necessary. Alternative strategies such as videoconferencing or centralized interviews received little support ( Conclusion Despite identifying several burdens, survey respondents believed that in-person interviews are an integral component of the fellowship application process. Indeed, 70% of applicants do not have a first-choice program before interviews, and meeting the faculty is ranked as the greatest priority goal. Our data illustrate the importance of individual specialties evaluating and optimizing their own processes for fellowship interviews.
A method for valuing global ecosystem services

Abstract The goal of this paper is to provide an investigation of several approaches to valuing ecosystem services and to contribute additional techniques which may be used in evaluating ‘green’ GDP accounts. Our estimates focus on the ecosystem as a productive economic input, not a stock which is depreciated or depleted over time; as such, it differs with other concepts more frequently employed in green GDP accounting. Most of our results are derived from the analytical fiction that a single owner of the biosphere establishes a market for all ecological resources. This monopolist then appropriates all rents from the human population. The maximum amount the monopolist charges is first assumed to be world gross product less the global human subsistence level. In addition, we examine the excess rents available in factor markets using the assumption of weak complementarity between factor inputs and ecosystem services. We also provide more conservative estimates of the value of ecosystem services by investigating the sustainable price the monopolist could charge the global population and by exploring the effects of compensating wage differentials and a non-monopolist owner of the ecosystem.
Right atrial cardiac angiosarcoma treated with concurrent proton beam therapy and paclitaxel: A novel approach to a rare disease.

Cardiac angiosarcoma is a rare malignancy with an aggressive course and poor prognosis. We present a 26-year old man who came to our clinic with shortness of breath and was diagnosed with a right-sided atrial mass. He underwent urgent resection of the mass. The pathology confirmed the mass to be cardiac angiosarcoma with positive microscopic margins (R1 resection). Since reresection was not feasible, the patient started treatment with concurrent paclitaxel (80 mg/m2 weekly) and proton beam therapy (61 Cobalt equivalent delivered over five weeks). After completing the concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy, he was treated with adjuvant chemotherapy using gemcitabine (900 mg/m2 on Days 1 and 8) and docetaxel (100 mg/m2 on Day 8) every three weeks. After three cycles, the patient developed severe dermatitis, and hence further chemotherapy was withheld. The patient is alive at 26 months since receiving his surgery and 18 months since the completion of treatment. Patients with cardiac angiosarcoma who undergo R1 resection have a median survival of six months. More radical approaches such as orthotopic heart-lung transplant or prolonged durations of chemotherapy lead to minimal improvement in survival at the cost of increased morbidity. Here, we describe a novel approach to a rare disease that resulted in prolonged survival and led to a better quality of life without any long-term morbidity to the patient.
Content, Readability, and Accountability of Freely Available Online Information for Patients Regarding Epiretinal Membranes.

Purpose: To assess content, readability, and accountability of online information for patients regarding epiretinal membranes (ERMs).Methods: Cross-sectional study evaluating nine major medical web...
Prioritizing de novo autism risk variants with calibrated gene- and variant-scoring models

Whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing studies in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have identified hundreds of thousands of exonic variants. Only a handful of them, primarily loss-of-function variants, have been shown to increase the risk for ASD, while the contributory roles of other variants, including most missense variants, remain unknown. New approaches that combine tissue-specific molecular profiles with patients' genetic data can thus play an important role in elucidating the functional impact of exonic variation and improve understanding of ASD pathogenesis. Here, we integrate spatio-temporal gene co-expression networks from the developing human brain and protein-protein interaction networks to first reach accurate prioritization of ASD risk genes based on their connectivity patterns with previously known high-confidence ASD risk genes. We subsequently integrate these gene scores with variant pathogenicity predictions to further prioritize individual exonic variants based on the positive-unlabeled learning framework with gene- and variant-score calibration. We demonstrate that this approach discriminates among variants between cases and controls at the high end of the prediction range. Finally, we experimentally validate our top-scoring de novo mutation NP_001243143.1:p.Phe309Ser in the sodium/potassium-transporting ATPase ATP1A3 to disrupt protein binding with different partners.
Alcohol Consumption, Depression, Insomnia and Colorectal Cancer Screening: Racial Differences

uptake in the US. Patients and Methods: Analysis of the 2012 National Health Information Survey data was conducted. Both weighted univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed in SAS to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 21511 participants were included in the analysis. Results: Prevalence of CRC screening in the participants was 19%. Adjusting for all factors, insomnia (OR = 1.18, 95%CI = 1.06 - 1.32), moderate alcohol drinking (OR = 1.16, 95%CI = 1.01 - 1.30), past smoking (OR = 1.17, 95%CI = 1.04 - 1.32), depression (OR = 1.37, 95%CI = 1.18 - 1.58), African American (AA) race, and cancer history were positively associated with CRC screening. Females and Single were inversely associated with CRC screening prevalence. In stratified analysis by races (White and AA), depression was associated with CRC screening in both races. Marital status, smoking, cancer history and insomnia were associated with CRC screening in Whites only; while alcohol use was associated with CRC screening in AAs only. Conclusions: We have found significant associations between lifestyle factors (alcohol consumption and smoking) and mental health problems (depression and insomnia) and CRC screening uptake. To improve overall CRC screening uptake in the US, it is important to consider racial differences in predictors and tailor appropriate interventions to each racial/ethnic group.
Inhibition of Digoxin Absorption by Neomycin

The effect of the administration of the antibiotic neomycin sulfate on the absorption of digoxin was assessed in crossover studies in normal human volunteers. Doses of neomycin (1 and 3 g) markedly depressed serum digoxin concentrations, the areas under the serum concentration-time curves, and cumulative 6-day urinary digoxin excretion after the oral ingestion of 0.5 mg of the cardiac glycoside in tablet form. Neomycin also prolonged the mean time at which peak serum digoxin levels were attained by 1.7 to 3 hr. The inhibition of digoxin absorption was also seen: (1) when the antibiotic was given 3 or 6 hr before the cardiac glycoside, (2) with digoxin tablets of varying dissolution rate, (3) when digoxin or neomycin solutions were used instead of tablets, and (4) in a patient who had had a total gastrectomy. When neomycin was administered with maintenance doses of digoxin, steady state serum digoxin concentrations were significantly reduced. When neomycin was given after a 9-day period of digitalization, the terminal serum digoxin half-life was not significantly shortened. Single doses of neomycin did not interfere with the extent of absorption of d-xylose. In vitro, neomycin did not affect the movement of digoxin across dialysis membranes, nor did it precipitate digoxin out of human bile or intestinal fluid. Neomycin thus clearly depresses the rate and extent of digoxin absorption in man. The mechanism of this effect remains to be established.
Normal acceleration command following of the F-16 using optimal control methodologies: a comparison

Three types of control design method are compared for tracking performance and robustness. The three types are H/sub 2/, H/sub infinity /, and mixed H/sub 2//H/sub infinity /. The tracking problem is a command-following system subject to noises and uncertainties. The plant model is unstable and non-minimum-phase. Specifically, an F-16 is modeled at Mach 0.6, sea level, with normal acceleration being measured and commanded. The best tracking performance is obtained by only looking at the tracking problem with plant uncertainties and using H/sub infinity / optimization. The best noise suppression is obtained by considering only the noise and using H/sub 2/ optimization. >
Xanthine oxidase inhibitors attenuate ischemia-induced vascular permeability changes in the cat intestine

Abstract Previous reports indicate that allopurinol, a xanthine oxidase inhibitor, largely prevents the injury produced by reperfusion of ischemic tissues. In order to further assess the role of xanthine oxidase in ischemia-reperfusion injury, we examined the influence of another inhibitor of the enzyme (pterin aldehyde) on the increased vascular permeability produced by intestinal ischemia. Vascular permeability estimates in autoperfused segments of cat ileum were derived from the relationship between lymph-to-plasma protein concentration ratio and lymph flow. One hour of intestinal ischemia increased vascular permeability to 0.43 ± 0.02 from a control (nonischemic) value of 0.08 ± 0.005. In ischemic ileal segments pretreated with purified pterin aldehyde, vascular permeability increased to only 0.15 ± 0.02. Pretreatment with commercially prepared folic acid, which is contaminated with pterin aldehyde, also attenuated the ischemia-induced increase in vascular permeability (0.16 ± 0.04). These findings support the hypothesis that xanthine oxidase is a major source of oxygen-free radicals produced during reperfusion of the ischemic small bowel.
Effect of l-Asparagine on Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and on Utilization of Other Amino Acids

l-Asparagine controls the utilization of other amino acids by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (H37Ra) in aerated, liquid synthetic media. In a mixture containing asparagine and either l-alanine or l-glutamic acid, amino acid utilization is diphasic, with asparagine being utilized first. Short-term growth rates and cell yields are diminished and mimic those seen with asparagine alone. Catabolite repression is the probable regulatory mechanism responsible for this effect of asparagine. In contrast, in the presence of aspartic acid, asparagine stimulates growth and increases utilization of aspartic acid.
Travel by public transit to mammography facilities in 6 US urban areas

Abstract We examined lack of private vehicle access and 30 min or longer public transportation travel time to mammography facilities for women 40 years of age or older in the urban areas of Boston, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Denver, and Seattle to identify transit marginalized populations – women for whom these travel characteristics may jointly present a barrier to clinic access. This ecological study used sex and race/ethnicity data from the 2010 US Census and household vehicle availability data from the American Community Survey 2008–2012, all at Census tract level. Using the public transportation option on Google Trip Planner we obtained the travel time from the centroid of each census tract to all local mammography facilities to determine the nearest mammography facility in each urban area. Median travel times by public transportation to the nearest facility for women with no household access to a private vehicle were obtained by ranking travel time by population group across all U.S. census tracts in each urban area and across the entire study area. The overall median travel times for each urban area for women without household access to a private vehicle ranged from a low of 15 min in Boston and Philadelphia to 27 min in San Diego. The numbers and percentages of transit marginalized women were then calculated for all urban areas by population group. While black women were less likely to have private vehicle access, and both Hispanic and black women were more likely to be transit marginalized, this outcome varied by urban area. White women constituted the largest number of transit marginalized. Our results indicate that mammography facilities are favorably located for the large majority of women, although there are still substantial numbers for whom travel may likely present a barrier to mammography facility access.
Comparison of Mixer Characterization Using New Vector Characterization Techniques

This paper presents a novel method for characterizing RF mixers, yielding magnitude, phase, and group delay response of the conversion loss, as well a the input match and output match. This technique works for mixers which have reciprocal conversion loss and for which the image response can be filtered out. This technique is compared with a new vector corrected power technique, and with traditional power meter measurements. An error analysis on the new technique is presented for the first time.
A two-month-old infant with respiratory distress and left ventricular hypertrophy.

A 2-month-old male presented to the emergency department with wheezing and dyspnea at the end of September. The birth history was significant for parental report of possible gestational diabetes mellitus, birth weight greater than the 97th percentile for age at 4.66 kg, and a difficult delivery because of shoulder dystocia. The patient had respiratory distress soon after birth requiring positive pressure ventilation, but this quickly resolved. There was no history of exposure to prenatal steroids and no jaundice, abnormal body odor, or muscle weakness after birth. The family history was significant only for maternal hypertension and no other known heart disease. There was no consanguinity between the parents. When the 2-month-old infant presented to our hospital, his temperature was 99.1 F, the heart rate was 135 beats/ min, the respiratory rate 52 breaths/min, the blood pressure was 112/53 mm Hg, and the oxygen saturation was 97% in room air. His weight was 5.1 kg (50th percentile), length was 56 cm (75th percentile), and head circumference was 37.5 cm (75th percentile). He was active, alert, and feeding without difficulty. Mild wheezing and transmitted upper airway sounds were auscultated throughout both lung fields with good aeration bilaterally. There was a grade II/VI systolic ejection murmur at the cardiac base with normal first and second heart sounds. There were good brachial and femoral pulses without brachiofemoral delay. The abdomen was soft, non-tender, and without hepatosplenomegaly or any masses. The result of his neurologic examination was grossly normal. The initial evaluation included a chest radiograph that revealed marked cardiomegaly with clear lung fields. An electrocardiogram was then obtained and showed marked biventricular hypertrophy (Figure 1). Blood pressures were then obtained in all 4 extremities and ranged from 80 to 135 mm Hg systolic without a trend. Pediatric cardiology consultation was requested because of the cardiomegaly and abnormal electrocardiogram. The echocardiogram showed marked left ventricular hypertrophy with mild left ventricular outflow obstruction (Figure 2). Workup for ventricular hypertrophy started with a careful review of available birth records. Although the patient was large for gestational age, there were no laboratory tests con-
The 26Al(p, γ)27Si reaction at low stellar temperature

Abstract Shell-model calculations have been used to predict the locations of states in 27 Si which are analogous to well-studied states in 27 Al. From this, we have determined the resonance properties of the known states in 27 Si near the 26 Al + p threshold. The resulting thermonuclear reaction rate is uncertain by about a factor of ten at low temperatures, but it appears that the 26 Al(p, γ) 27 Si reaction is too slow to destroy a significant amount of 26 Al at these temperatures.
Control and Circuit Techniques to Mitigate Partial Shading Effects in Photovoltaic Arrays

Partial shading in photovoltaic (PV) arrays renders conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques ineffective. The reduced efficiency of shaded PV arrays is a significant obstacle in the rapid growth of the solar power systems. Thus, addressing the output power mismatch and partial shading effects is of paramount value. Extracting the maximum power of partially shaded PV arrays has been widely investigated in the literature. The proposed solutions can be categorized into four main groups. The first group includes modified MPPT techniques that properly detect the global MPP. They include power curve slope, load-line MPPT, dividing rectangles techniques, the power increment technique, instantaneous operating power optimization, Fibonacci search, neural networks, and particle swarm optimization. The second category includes different array configurations for interconnecting PV modules, namely series-parallel, total-cross-tie, and bridge-link configurations. The third category includes different PV system architectures, namely centralized architecture, series-connected microconverters, parallel-connected microconverters, and microinverters. The fourth category includes different converter topologies, namely multilevel converters, voltage injection circuits, generation control circuits, module-integrated converters, and multiple-input converters. This paper surveys the proposed approaches in each category and provides a brief discussion of their characteristics.
Using a Brier Score Analysis to Assess the Effectiveness of a Mathematics Placement Policy.

This article describes how a Brier score analysis can be used as an evaluative tool to estimate the predictive accuracy of a course placement policy that was established based on professional or subjective judgment. The policy being evaluated uses the score received on the mathematics portion of the SAT examination as the primary mechanism to place incoming freshmen into the appropriate college mathematics courses best matched to their ability. This placement policy was established based on the idea that the mathematics portion of the SAT examination and a commercially available computerized mathematics placement examination may be placing the majority of students at a similar level in the hierarchy of mathematics courses. The findings of this study indicate that the mathematics portion of the SAT examination can be an effective mechanism for initially placing students in their first mathematics course which is appropriate for their academic ability, and thus can increase their chance of succeeding in the...
Patient education with prosthetic acrylic resin models.

Abstract Patient education before treatment is one of the most important steps in successful denture service. Colored acrylic resin models which demonstrate some of the common problems associated with denture construction can be used as an effective visual aid for patient education.
Direct measurements of frequency response of carbon nanotube field effect transistors

The frequency response of a carbon nanotube field effect transistor (CNFET) biased in the common-source and common-gate configurations has been measured up to 200 MHz for the first time using a direct measurement technique. In this frequency range there is no observed degradation in the measured AC response of the CNFET. The effect of parasitic capacitance on the measurement has been identified and based on a simple model; it is estimated that this approach can be extended well into the Gigahertz range. This is the only demonstrated method of directly characterising the frequency response of nanoscale devices where the signal levels are below the noise floor of conventional network analysers.
Social networks and interest similarity: the case of CiteULike

In collaborative filtering recommender systems, there is little room for users to get involved in the choice of their peer group. It leaves users defenseless against various spamming or ''shilling'' attacks. Other social Web-based systems, however, allow users to self-select peers and build a social network. We argue that users' self-defined social networks could be valuable to increase the quality of recommendation in CF systems. To prove the feasibility of this idea we examined how similar are interests of users connected by self-defined relationships in a collaborative tagging systems Citeulike. Interest similarity was measured by similarity of items and meta-data they share and tags they use. Our study shows that users connected by social networks exhibit significantly higher similarity on all explored levels (items, meta-data, and tags) than non-connected users. This similarity is the highest for directly connected users and decreases with the increase of distance between users. Among other interesting properties of information sharing is the finding that between-user similarity in social connections on the level of metadata and tags is much larger than similarity on the level of items. Overall, our findings support the feasibility of social network based recommender systems and offer some good hints to the prospective authors of these systems.
Climbing robot actuated by meso-hydraulic artificial muscles

This paper presents the design, construction, experimental characterization, and system testing of a legged, wall-climbing robot actuated by meso-scale hydraulic artificial muscles. While small wall-climbing robots have seen increased research attention in recent years, most authors have primarily focused on designs for the gripping and adhesion of the robot to the wall, while using only standard DC servo-motors for actuation. This project seeks to explore and demonstrate a different actuation mechanism that utilizes hydraulic artificial muscles. A four-limb climbing robot platform that includes a full closed-loop hydraulic power and control system, custom hydraulic artificial muscles for actuation, an on-board microcontroller and RF receiver for control, and compliant claws with integrated sensing for gripping a variety of wall surfaces has been constructed and is currently being tested to investigate this actuation method. On-board power consumption data-logging during climbing operation, analysis of the robot kinematics and climbing behavior, and artificial muscle force-displacement characterization are presented to investigate and this actuation method.
A Web recommendation system based on maximum entropy

In this paper, we propose a Web recommendation system based on a maximum entropy model. Under the maximum entropy principle, multiple sources of knowledge about users' navigational behavior in a Web site can be seamlessly combined to discover usage patterns and to automatically generate the most effective recommendations for new users with similar profiles. In this paper we integrate the knowledge from page-level clickstream statistics about users' past navigations with the aggregate usage patterns discovered through Web usage mining. Our experiment results show that our method can achieve better prediction accuracy when compared to standard recommendation approaches, while providing a better interpretation of Web users' diverse navigational behaviors.
Mice With Cholesterol in Bruch's Membrane: Have We Arrived?

The earliest discovered and majority druse component by volume is lipid. Further, aging, the largest risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), features a marked lipidization of human Bruch's membrane (BrM). Both phenomena are attributed to esterified cholesterol (EC)-rich lipoprotein particles containing apolipoproteins B and E. These form a hydrophobic barrier between outer retinal cells and choriocapillaris and pool to form soft drusen and basal linear deposit in AMD macula. Gene expression and secretion studies implicate the retinal pigment epithelium as a lipoprotein secretor. With evidence from epidemiology and genetics, these findings prompted the atherosclerosis-inspired response-to-retention theory of AMD lesion biogenesis.1 Fujihara, Cano, and Handa2 tested this hypothesis by analyzing chorioretinal cellular and tissue expression and deposition of apoB100 lipoproteins in mice systemically deficient in endogenous apoB48. Notably, these investigators used specific filipin histochemistry to demonstrate EC, electron microscopy of tissues postfixed optimally for extracellular lipid, and metabolic labeling to confirm apolipoprotein synthesis. Although EC and solid electron-dense particles localized to BrM, the absence of extracellular deposits led the authors to conclude that secretion alone is insufficient to produce drusen and that other factors are required, even in older animals. Although mice lack maculas and get criticized for minimally replicating AMD pathology, they are nevertheless excellent experimental systems. The laser-injury model of choroidal neovascularization differed importantly from human AMD yet was essential for translating VEGF inhibitors to the clinic3 while VEGF biology was independently explored. ApoB100 mice now join apoE−/−4 and apoB100, LDLR−/−5 mice as commercially available strains exhibiting BrM EC, with apoB100 the best characterized to date. Fujihara et al. should be lauded for evincing EC in the right place without complex animal husbandry, thus achieving molecular and anatomical accuracy if not physical drusen. While mechanisms of BrM lipoprotein source, composition, and retention require future research, apoB100 mice will be attractive for investigating the removal of BrM lipids for atrophic AMD.6
Time and the highland Maya

Described as a landmark in the ethnographic study of the Maya, this study of ritual and cosmology among the contemporary Quich Indians of highland Guatemala has now been updated to address changes that have occurred in the last decade. The Classic Mayan obsession with time has never been better known. Here, Barbara Tedlock redirects our attention to the present-day keepers of the ancient calendar. Combining anthropology with formal apprenticeship to a diviner, she refutes long-held ethnographic assumptions and opens a door to the order of the Mayan cosmos and its daily ritual. Unable to visit the region for over ten years, Tedlock returned in 1989 to find that observance of the traditional calendar and religion is stronger than ever, despite a brutal civil war. ." . . a well-written, highly readable, and deeply convincing contribution. . . ." --Michael Coe
An adenine-requiring mutant of Azotobacter vinelandii blocked in inosinic acid synthesis.

Mangelhaft ernahrte Mutationen in Azotobakterien sind schwierig zu erlangen; die meisten sind zudem unbestandig. Eine Adenin erheischende Mutation wurde mittels Nitrosoguanidin und Hitzebehandlung gewonnen. Dieser Mutant erwies sich als unbrauchbar fur die Snythese der Inosiniksaure.
Design of a High-Power Zener Diode and Its Energy Absorption Capability

The structure and performance of a high-power zener diode to be used for transient suppression or voltage regulation are described. A technique for accurately determining the energy absorption capability for pulse durations down to 10 ?s is also described and used in rating the device.
Effects of maternal work status in single-parent families on children's perception of self and family and school achievement☆

Abstract This study tested hypotheses specifying differential relations between maternal employment, children's perceptions of family and self, and academic achievement. One hundred forty-four low-income, single-parent mothers and their 10- to 12-year-old children were interviewed with the Family Belief Interview Schedule which assessed parent and child beliefs. Children also completed the Family Environment Scale, Self-Perception Profile, and achievement was determined through school records. Findings indicated that: (a) children with employed mothers perceived more cohesion and organization in their families and had greater selfesteem; (b) girls with mothers employed full-time perceived greater emphasis on independence and achievement in their families, greater scholastic competence, and had higher academic achievement; and, (c) children were more accurate in predicting maternal beliefs and mothers' beliefs were more congruent with children's self-beliefs in employed-mother families.
Origin and Tectonic Implications of Across-Strike Geochemical Variations in the Eocene Absaroka Volcanic Province, United States

Abstract In order better to understand the origin and significance of across‐strike geochemical variations in the Eocene Absaroka volcanic province (AVP), this article compares compositional data for magmatic rocks from two eruptive centers that define type localities for major stratigraphic subdivisions of the Absaroka Volcanic Supergroup. Geochemical variations for evolved lavas indicate that the calc‐alkaline differentiation trend at Washburn volcano results from mixing compositionally diverse mafic and silicic magmas, whereas the shoshonitic trend at the more easternly Sunlight volcano reflects assimilation‐fractional crystallization. The mantle source for both volcanoes is, as shown by incompatible trace element contents and radiogenic isotopic ratios of mafic lavas, largely within ancient depleted lithospheric mantle later enriched by a metasomatic event characterized by low Sm/Nd and Rb/Sr ratios. The approximate timing of the enrichment event, as calculated from Nd isotopic data (2.2–2.0 Ga), is s...
Stress relaxation from initial stress levels below yield

Abstract The problem of relaxation of a uniaxially stressed specimen, loaded initially to a level within the so-called elastic range and then held under load in the testing machine, is analyzed using the Johnston-Gilman concept of plastic flow. A new functional form for the dislocation density is postulated and it is shown that this form is consistent with existing experimental data within the ranges of stress and strain that are considered in the problem.
Excitation of Surface Electromagnetic Waves in Attenuated Total-Reflection Prism Configurations

We have carried out theoretical and experimental studies of the excitation of surface electromagnetic waves by volume electromagnetic radiation of finite beam width. The excited leaky surface electromagnetic waves are found to build up along the excitation region and to propagate as free damped waves beyond. Correspondingly, the spatial dependence of the reflected intensity is found to exhibit a two-peak interference structure at the leading edge of the excitation region followed by an exponential decay beyond.