cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exploring the Potential for Technology-Based Nutrition Education Among WIC Recipients in Remote Alaska Native Communities.

Abstract Objective Estimate media technology use in Alaska Native communities to inform the feasibility of technology-based nutrition education. Methods A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to a random selection of about 50% of Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) authorized representatives in remote Alaska Native communities (n = 975). Media technology use, interest in media technology-based nutrition education, and potential barriers were assessed. Chi-square tests were used to investigate associations among technology use, age, and education. Results Technology use was common among respondents (n = 368); use was significantly more common among younger age groups and participants with a higher level of education. Smartphone (78.8%) and Facebook (95.8%) use was comparable to national averages, but having a computer at home (38.4%) was much less likely. Less than 50% of participants have Internet access at home. Conclusions and Implications Findings shed light on new opportunities for WIC and other programs to deliver nutrition education to Alaska Native people in remote communities.
Wearable knee health system employing novel physiological biomarkers.

Knee injuries and chronic disorders, such as arthritis, affect millions of Americans, leading to missed workdays and reduced quality of life. Currently, after an initial diagnosis, there are few qu...
AXSERBUS: A quality-configurable approximate serial bus for energy-efficient sensing

Mobile, wearable, and implantable devices integrate an increasing number and variety of sensors such as microphones, image sensors, and accelerometers. These devices spend substantial amounts of time reading the sensors within them, thereby incurring significant energy dissipation over off-chip serial interconnects. This paper proposes AXSERBUS, a quality-configurable approximate serial bus that exploits the locality of sensory data and the error resiliency of sensing applications to reduce energy dissipation. AXSERBUS significantly reduces signal transitions by encoding the differentials of sensory data in three encoding modes, depending on the magnitude of the differentials: very small differentials are zeroed out, incurring no energy dissipation; intermediate differentials are encoded using special low-transition count patterns; and for high differentials, the absolute value (not the differential) of the data is transmitted. Compared to previous schemes, the proposed multi-level encoding results in more data being encoded as low-energy patterns. In addition, in the intermediate differential encoding mode, the differentials are encoded in an approximate manner, and the approximation bounds are proportional to the magnitude of the differentials. Since small differentials are more frequent than large differentials in sensory data, the proposed encoding scheme also minimizes quality degradation. We demonstrate that AXSERBUS achieves improved energy vs. quality tradeoffs compared to previous schemes. In the context of an optical character recognition (OCR) application, AXSERBUS achieves 79.4% reduction in dynamic power dissipation, while maintaining accuracy above 95%.
Another avenue of action: an examination of climate change countermovement industries’ use of PAC donations and their relationship to Congressional voting over time

ABSTRACTThe political mobilization of American business elites in the 1970s and 1980s has been well studied by political scientists. Environmental sociologists have explored how industries in this elite countermovement have organized to prevent environmental legislation. The literature often focuses on the efforts of this movement to shape public opinion on climate change. However, political scientists argue business elites are running several parallel strategies simultaneously in order to protect their interests. FEC data are utilized in multilevel logit models to examine how donations from industrial Political Action Committees (PACs) relate to Congressional representative’s environmental voting behavior over a 20-year period. Industries associated with the environmental countermovement have increasingly used PAC donations over time, and every additional $10,000 a representative received from countermovement industries significantly decreased odds of their taking the pro-environmental stance even when c...
Benthic community structure on coral reefs exposed to intensive recreational snorkeling

Chronic anthropogenic disturbances on coral reefs in the form of overfishing and pollution can shift benthic community composition away from stony corals and toward macroalgae. The use of reefs for recreational snorkeling and diving potentially can lead to similar ecological impacts if not well-managed, but impacts of snorkeling on benthic organisms are not well understood. We quantified variation in benthic community structure along a gradient of snorkeling frequency in an intensively-visited portion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. We determined rates of snorkeling in 6 water sections and rates of beach visitation in 4 adjacent land sections at Akumal Bay, Mexico. For each in-water section at 1–3 m depth, we also assessed the percent cover of benthic organisms including taxa of stony corals and macroalgae. Rates of recreational snorkeling varied from low in the southwestern to very high (>1000 snorkelers d-1) in the northeastern sections of the bay. Stony coral cover decreased and macroalgal cover increased significantly with levels of snorkeling, while trends varied among taxa for other organisms such as gorgonians, fire corals, and sea urchins. We conclude that benthic organisms appear to exhibit taxon-specific variation with levels of recreational snorkeling. To prevent further degradation, we recommend limitation of snorkeler visitation rates, coupled with visitor education and in-water guides to reduce reef-damaging behaviors by snorkelers in high-use areas. These types of management activities, integrated with reef monitoring and subsequent readjustment of management, have the potential to reverse the damage potentially inflicted on coral reefs by the expansion of reef-based recreational snorkeling.
Technology development for small satellite microwave atmospheric remote sensing

Recent advances in low-power millimeterwave low-noise amplifier technologies have enabled the hosting of highperformance atmospheric sounding instruments on very small satellites. Microwave instrumentation is particularly well suited for such implementations, as the sensor requirements for power, pointing, and spatial resolution (aperture size) can readily be accommodated by a nanosatellite platform. Several missions have been formulated to demonstrate the core technologies. The Microsized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite, second generation (MicroMAS-2), will demonstrate temperature sounding near 118 GHz and moisture sounding near 183 GHz. MicroMAS-2a and MicroMAS-2b are scheduled to launch in 2017. The Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration (MiRaTA) cube-sat will demonstrate multi-band atmospheric sounding and co-located GPS radio occultation. MiRaTA will launch in 2017, and will fly a tri-band sounder (60, 183, and 206 GHz) and a GPS radio occultation (GPS-RO) sensor. Both MicroMAS and MiRaTA are 3U CubeSats (aggregates of 10 χ 10 χ 10 cm cubes). The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission utilizes these technology advancements in a complete mission with approximately 12 CubeSats similar in capability to MicroMAS-2. TROPICS is expected to launch in 2020. The Earth Observing Nanosatellite-Microwave (EON) concept is a 12U CubeSat designed to provide most of the capabilities of current operational microwave sounders.
"Raising an Ebenezer": Archives as a Religious Means of Remembering

By definition it is the purpose of archives to collect and preserve materials that document the work and activity of persons, organizations, and cultures, for the benefit of those who follow. Such materials can prove to play an active and vital role in the process of remembering, through the telling of stories. This activity can support a library’s endeavors to connect with users in this dimension of its services, and to fulfill its mission. The present essay provides an overview of such initiatives at Wheaton College.
Status of Fishers in Glacier National Park, Montana

Fishers (Pekania pennanti) are a mid-sized forest-dwelling carnivore in the family Mustelidae, once widely distributed across the northern US and Canada. Between 1800 and 1940, they were extirpated across much of their former range through commercial fur harvesting and habitat modification. Glacier National Park (GNP), which maintains a wildlife sighting database containing public and agency sighting and track records of Fishers from 1947 through the present, presumed Fishers extant in the park. Over 2007–2012, GNP made opportunistic efforts to collect Fisher DNA in hair traps but were unsuccessful. In 2013 and 2015, GNP conducted a more intensive effort to document the occurrence of Fishers by systematically placing baited hair traps within putative Fisher habitat across the park. These efforts were also unsuccessful and I show through application of Bayes' Theorem that a resident population of Fishers in GNP is highly improbable. Past credible sightings of Fishers in GNP were probably animals dispersing from occupied habitats to the west of GNP, and I suggest that regular occurrence of deep, unconsolidated winter snow may have prevented Fishers from occupying GNP in the past.
Genetic control of immune responses in chickens

The immune response of inbred lines of chickens to the terpolymer poly(glu60ala30tyr10) and copolymer poly(glu60ala40) was determined. Of six lines immunized, one (line 7) contained birds that either did not respond or were low responders to two injections of 1 mg each of the polymers in Freund's complete adjuvant. As indicated by radioimmunoelectrophoresis, low responders produced a 7S response, although the switch from 17S (high molecular weight immunoglobulin) to 7S antibody production was slower than in high-responder lines. Analysis of the distribution of responders and nonresponders in F2 generations produced byinter se mating of F1 hybrids of line 7 with high-responder lines, showed that immune responses were clearly determined by certain alloalleles of theB blood group locus, the major histocompatibility system in the chicken.
MicroRNA-135a Modulates Hepatitis C Virus Genome Replication through Downregulation of Host Antiviral Factors

Cellular microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to modulate HCV infection via directly acting on the viral genome or indirectly through targeting the virus-associated host factors. Recently we generated a comprehensive map of HCV– miRNA interactions through genome-wide miRNA functional screens and transcriptomics analyses. Many previously unappreciated cellular miRNAs were identified to be involved in HCV infection, including miR-135a, a human cancerrelated miRNA. In the present study, we investigated the role of miR-135a in regulating HCV life cycle and showed that it preferentially enhances viral genome replication. Bioinformatics-based integrative analyses and subsequent functional assays revealed three antiviral host factors, including receptor interacting serine/threonine kinase 2 (RIPK2), myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MYD88), and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12), as bona fide targets of miR-135a. These genes have been shown to inhibit HCV infection at the RNA replication stage. Our data demonstrated that repression of key host restriction factors mediated the proviral effect of miR-135a on HCV propagation. In addition, miR-135a hepatic abundance is upregulated by HCV infection in both cultured hepatocytes and human liver, likely mediating a more favorable environment for viral replication and possibly contributing to HCV-induced liver malignancy. These results provide novel insights into HCV–host interactions and unveil molecular pathways linking miRNA biology to HCV pathogenesis.
Safe Tension Control of Cable-Driven Rehabilitation Devices with Elastic Cables

Robotic rehabilitation devices based on cable-driven parallel manipulator (CDPM) have been proposed and developed by many researchers in the past decade. As rehabilitation devices are usually in direct contact with trainees, safety is paramount for rehabilitation devices. It is shown that the demand of safety can be met by applying serial elastic cables to CDPM-based rehabilitation devices. However, how to maintain cable tensions in a safe range (i.e., cables are neither slack nor overstretched) is still an unsolved problem. To improve the safety of CDPM-based rehabilitation devices with elastic cables, this paper proposes a method to maintain cable tensions in a safe range. The method guarantees all cable tensions are below a preset maximum sustainable limit and above a preset minimum limit, while not affecting the originally intended operations of the rehabilitation device. The method is mathematically derived and proved. The proposed safe tension control method is a trigger-activated method based on backstepping technique.
Recovery from Total Acute Lung Failure After 20 Months of Extracorporeal Life Support

Since the first successful case report in 1972, extracorporeal life support or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has become a standard approach for severe respiratory failure unresponsive to other therapy. In the past, if there was no recovery by approximately 30 days or if right ventricular heart failure occurred, ECMO was discontinued and the patient died. More recently patients with severe lung disease have been maintained for months, as opposed to days, with eventual decannulation and recovery. We report the case of a child, 7 years old, with severe inhalational burn injury and rapid progression to multisystem organ failure. She was supported by ECMO with no lung function for almost 2 years. Central nervous system function remained normal and lung function recovered. This is the longest successful case of ECMO to date and prompts further discussion regarding "irreversible" lung injury.
Augment Humans, and Then What?

Relayed from network to network, bugled from media to media by preachers of revelation or paradise whose audience success swells with the fears and hopes they engender, the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and the capacities of robotics and genomics arouse both attraction and growing anxiety in humans.
Does Medicaid Save Lives

In this article, I estimate the effect of the Medicaid expansions that occurred under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) on mortality. The ACA enabled states to expand Medicaid eligibility to all low-income, non-elderly adults. As a result, a significant proportion of previously uninsured people gained health insurance coverage. Using variation over time in eligibility rules by state/county and by parental status, I estimate the impact of Medicaid eligibility on age-specific mortality rates. I find that the expansion of Medicaid eligibility reduced healthcare amenable mortality rates by about 1.8 percent for adults aged 55-64. There are no detectable mortality impacts for the younger adult population.
Radial versus femoral arterial access for trauma endovascular interventions: A noninferiority study.

Background The majority of endovascular interventions for trauma are performed using transfemoral access (TFA). Transradial access (TRA) is a recently integrated alternative at the authors' institution. This noninferiority study compares the technical success and complication rate of TRA compared with TFA. Methods All patients undergoing emergent endovascular interventions between March 2016 and March 2019 were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Data were collected on access type, complications, and procedural success. A noninferiority margin was established from previous randomized trials for technical success (0.475) and complications (0.015). Results Over 3 years, 96 patients underwent TRA and 335 patients received TFA. The overall technical success rate was 98.1%, without significance based on access strategy (p = 0.078). All femoral arteries and 97.9% (n = 94) of radial arteries were accessed as intended. Complications occurred in 1.0% of TRA and 9.9% of TFA groups (p = 0.002). In the TFA group, complications included access site bleeding, hematoma, pseudoaneurysm, lower limb ischemia, and femoral artery thrombosis (n = 6, 14, 3, 3, and 4, respectively). In the TRA group, complications included radial artery thrombosis (n = 1). Transradial access procedural success and complication rate fell within the lower bound confidence interval of the noninferiority margin, demonstrated the noninferiority of TRA in this data set. Conclusion Transradial access in a cohort of trauma patients undergoing endovascular intervention does not appear to be inferior to TFA in relation to technical success and complications. For patients where groin access may be challenging, TRA is a useful, efficacious, and safe alternative. Longer-term study is required to fully characterize the advantages and disadvantages of TRA compared with TFA. Level of evidence Therapeutic V.
Analyzing Genomic Data Using Tensor-Based Orthogonal Polynomials

Due to increasing computational power and experimental sophistication, extensive collection and analysis of genomic data is now possible. This has spurred the search for better algorithms and computational methods to investigate the underlying patterns that connect genotypic and phenotypic data. We propose a multivariate tensor-based orthogonal polynomial approach to characterize nucleotides or amino acids in a given DNA/RNA or protein sequence. Given quantifiable phenotype data that corresponds to a biological sequence, we can construct orthogonal polynomials using sequence information and subsequently map phenotypes on to the space of the polynomials. With enough computational power, this approach provides information about higher order interactions between different parts of a sequence in a dataset and ultimately illuminates the relationship between sequence structure and the resulting phenotype. We have applied this method to a previously published case of small transcription activating RNAs (STARs), quantifying higher order relationships between parts of the sequence and how these give rise to the distinct phenotypes.
Dosimetric efficacy of targeted radionuclide therapy based on a pharmacokinetic landscape

307 Objectives Early assessment of targeted radionuclide therapy(TRT) agent efficacy based on its pharmacokinetics(PK) provides expedited agent development or rejection. A broad pharmacokinetic model not only simplifies the complex radiation dosimetry and physiology of TRT but also provides criteria for normal tissue and tumor PK parameters that achieve efficacious TRT. Methods A classic two-compartment open model decoupled from a tumor was used to represent the body. Differential equations were analytically solved and used to develop an equation that predicted TRT efficacy. PK scenarios were created by pairing normal body PK parameters, k12 and k21, of 38 pharmaceuticals with a range of tumor PK parameters, k34 and k43. Each PK scenario resulted in a maximum permissible injected activity that limited the whole body dose to 2 Gy and yielded a maximum delivered tumor dose. Results The derived pharmacokinetic model for TRT showed that a k34:k43 ratio greater than 5 and a k12:k21 ratio less than 1 are favorable for delivery of doses that ensure sufficient tumor control of at least 50 Gy. Two chemotherapy agents, Topotecan and Carboplatin, are ineffective as TRT agents due to their insufficient k34:k43 ratios of 0.3 and 2.45, respectively. It was also shown that there is no direct relationship between tumor dose and acid dissociation constant (pKa), lipophilicity (LogP), and fraction unbound (fu), which are important physicochemical properties of a pharmaceutical. Conclusions This study confirms that efficacious TRT is very difficult to achieve. A good TRT agent must have extremely desirable normal body pharmacokinetics in conjunction with very high tumor retention. For most of the existent agents, fast body clearance and slow tumor clearance are far from achievable. The TRT PK model that was developed has the capability of predicting efficacy when PK parameters are known
Statins in a Distorted Mirror of Media

Statins have proven efficacy with a favorable safety profile yet, despite being widely affordable, remain profoundly underutilized. Statins have acquired a bad reputation, which is likely contributing to high rates of nonadherence and discontinuation. The degree to which negative media perceptions contribute to underutilization is unclear. The media has a key role in informing discussion on the public agenda but also on how issues are framed. In this context, the majority of studies evaluating news coverage suggest that the content on statins is predominantly negative and focused on potential harm. Studies utilizing quasi-experimental and interrupted time series design have shown periods of negative news stories on statins in multiple countries are associated with (a) less statin commencement in eligible patients, (b) high rates of discontinuation, and (c) poor long-term adherence. This review highlights the deleterious impact of negative media coverage on statin utilization through misattribution of muscle complaints and the nocebo effect. Academia must work with the media to harmonize the public health messaging; however, individual physicians have a critical role in mitigating a harmful narrative of misinformation and actively discredit malinformation.
La coloquialidad en la adaptación cinematográfica del texto teatral: una propuesta de estudio interdisciplinario con el ejemplo de "Bajarse al moro"

espanolAdaptaciones de una obra literaria al cine son frecuentes. La mas directa acaso sea de obra teatral a pelicula. Sin embargo, incluso en ese caso son necesarios cambios. Entre ellos se ha destacado en la literatura ocupada de teatro y cine la necesidad de adaptar el lenguaje de los personajes, sobre todo mediante la “naturalizacion” de dicho lenguaje por medio de espontaneidad, verosimilitud, simplificacion, etc. Para todas estas caracteristicas se hace fundamental el uso de un registro coloquial. En este estudio, usando como ejemplo la obra Bajarse al moro, proponemos un metodo objetivo y cuantitativo para la comparacion de la coloquialidad en la version teatral y la filmica de esta obra. Para ello seleccionamos seis escenas teatrales y sus correspondientes versiones filmica conforme a 17 rasgos sintacticos y lexicos relacionados con la coloquialidad. Los resultados indican que la pelicula es en general mas coloquial que la obra teatral, salvo en dos de las variables usadas, si bien las medidas de complejidad sintactica y las variables de tipo de persona gramatical resultaron irrelevantes y no distintivas, frente a otras medidas sintacticas y las medidas lexicas usadas que si reflejaron una mayor coloquilidad en la version filmica. EnglishLiterary works adaptations to cinema are frequent. The most direct is perhaps from theatrical play to film, but even in that case, multiple changes are necessary. Among them, the need to adapt the language of the characters, especially through the "naturalization" of said language, has been highlighted by critics, be that by means of spontaneity, credibility, or simplification. For all these characteristics, the use of a colloquial register is essential. In this study, taking as an example Bajarse al Moroby J. L. Alonso de Santos, we propose an objective and quantitative method for comparing colloquiality in the theatrical and the film version. In order to do so, we selected six theatrical scenes and their corresponding film scenes according to seventeen syntactic and lexical features related to colloquiality.
Dichloro­(N,N′-diethyl­dithio­carbamato-κ2S,S′)(4-methyl­pentan-2-onato-κ2C4,O)tin(IV)

The title compound, [SnCl2(C5H10NS2)(C6H11O)], features an octa­hedrally coordinated Sn center within a CCl2OS2 donor set defined by chelating dithio­carbamate and 4-methyl­pentan-2-onate ligands and cis-Cl atoms. The crystal structure comprises layers of mol­ecules inter­connected by C—H⋯Cl inter­actions.
Financing the peace: Evaluating World Bank post-conflict assistance programs

Does World Bank aid to countries damaged by civil conflict meet its stated goals of speeding economic recovery and reducing the risk of conflict recidivism? We contend that the Bank’s success depends on its ability to bolster and signal the credibility of politicians’ commitments to peaceful politics and tailor its programs to the post-conflict environment. In the first systematic evaluation of World Bank post-conflict assistance, we estimate selection-corrected event history models of the effect of Bank programs on recovery and recurrence using an original dataset of all World Bank programs in post-conflict environments. Among key results, we find that the Bank tends to select aid recipients according to their pre-existing probability of conflict recurrence and that, once we control for this non-random selection, the Bank has no systematic effect on either conflict recurrence or economic recovery.
Improving ICI outcomes with a little help from my microbial friends.

Gut microbiome composition correlates with responsiveness to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. In a recent study in Science, Baruch et al. manipulated gut microbiome composition in patients with refractory metastatic melanoma using fecal microbiota transplants. Fecal microbiota transplant was safe and partially effective in inducing remission in refractory patients.
Sulforaphane Protects Against Ethanol-Induced Apoptosis in Human Neural Crest Cells Through Diminishing Ethanol-Induced Hypermethylation at the Promoters of the Genes Encoding the Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins

The neural crest cell (NCC) is a multipotent progenitor cell population that is sensitive to ethanol and is implicated in the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Studies have shown that sulforaphane (SFN) can prevent ethanol-induced apoptosis in NCCs. This study aims to investigate whether ethanol exposure can induce apoptosis in human NCCs (hNCCs) through epigenetically suppressing the expression of anti-apoptotic genes and whether SFN can restore the expression of anti-apoptotic genes and prevent apoptosis in ethanol-exposed hNCCs. We found that ethanol exposure resulted in a significant increase in the expression of DNMT3a and the activity of DNMTs. SFN treatment diminished the ethanol-induced upregulation of DNMT3a and dramatically reduced the activity of DNMTs in ethanol-exposed hNCCs. We also found that ethanol exposure induced hypermethylation at the promoter regions of two inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAP), NAIP and XIAP, in hNCCs, which were prevented by co-treatment with SFN. SFN treatment also significantly diminished ethanol-induced downregulation of NAIP and XIAP in hNCCs. The knockdown of DNMT3a significantly enhanced the effects of SFN on preventing the ethanol-induced repression of NAIP and XIAP and apoptosis in hNCCs. These results demonstrate that SFN can prevent ethanol-induced apoptosis in hNCCs by preventing ethanol-induced hypermethylation at the promoter regions of the genes encoding the IAP proteins and diminishing ethanol-induced repression of NAIP and XIAP through modulating DNMT3a expression and DNMT activity.
Microbial community composition and nitrogen availability influence DOC remineralization in the South Pacific Gyre

Abstract Many environmental factors are thought to control the bioavailability of marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) for marine microbes including its composition, the microbial community structure, and nutrient availability, yet which factors dominate at the ocean basin scale remains uncertain. Understanding the controls on DOM lability is an important goal given the role of DOM in the marine carbon cycle. We performed DOM lability experiments at two contrasting stations, one oligotrophic and one mesotrophic, in the eastern tropical South Pacific (ETSP) to investigate the controls on microbial remineralization of surface ocean DOM. Surface layer dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) were recalcitrant to remineralization over 9 to 14 days when exposed to the microbial communities from the surface mixed layer, however exposure to microbial communities from the upper mesopelagic (twilight zone) allowed consumption of DOC but not DON. The DOC remineralization response differed between the mesotrophic site (~ 21 μM consumed), likely experiencing allochthonous inputs of DOM from the adjacent eastern boundary upwelling system, versus the oligotrophic station (~ 3 μM consumed) further offshore in the South Pacific gyre. DNA fingerprinting of the microbial communities across the ETSP with terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analyses revealed greater differences between microbial communities in surface vs. subsurface (e.g., 100 m) waters at the same station than between surface water microbial communities separated by 1000s of kilometers. The subsurface microbial community at the mesotrophic station responsible for the greatest observed DOC remineralization, with a concomitant consumption of nitrate, consumed DOC to concentrations below that observed in situ (at 100 m), suggesting a potential role for co-metabolism of relatively labile with more recalcitrant DOC or relief from micronutrient limitation, in driving the additional DOC consumption. DOC remineralization by the mesopelagic (200 m) microbial community was much less at the oligotrophic station and similar to previously published results from the Sargasso Sea. Both microbial community composition and nutrient availability contribute to DOM persistence over weekly timescales in the surface mixed layer with varying degrees of DOC lability in the subsurface waters of the ETSP.
Minute-to-minute analysis of technologist exposure in an FDG-PET facility

2424 Objectives To capture and analyze technologist exposure in the course of typical occupational activities of an FDG-PET facility. Methods Readings from a portable personal geiger counter (Aware Electronics, Wilmington DE) were correlated with activities of 2 experienced technologists performing F-18 FDG-PET over the course of multiple days. Dose rate/mCi and total dose/mCi were correlated with particular occupational activities. Based on the median exposure for each activity an average exposure of technologist per patient was calculated. Results Total exposure from an "average" patient injected with 555 MBq was calculated as 10.2 or 11.9 μSv for each technologist. Approximately half of the exposure was associated with injection of FDG (56% and 45% total) with the remainder from disposal (12% and 21%), positioning/repositioning of the patient on the gantry (22% and 27%) and removal of the patient from the camera (7% and 6%). Unpacking and measurement of unit doses in the hot-lab added only a minor contribution (3% and 2%). In occasional patients, multiple (re)positionings slightly increased technologist exposure. Conclusions Approximately two-thirds of technologist exposure in an FDG-PET facility is associated with activities related to FDG injection and subsequent disposal. Efforts to mitigate exposure would most productively be associated with these occupational tasks. Exposure from positioning of the patient contributed approximately 1/4 of the total however had potential to increase if multiple repositionings were required. Surprisingly, initial exposure in the hot-lab was minimal likely due to effective shielding and radiation safety procedures
Device register classes for embedded systems

A device register is the view any peripheral device presents to the software world. Low-level routines in typical embedded systems, e.g., device drivers, communicate with devices by reading and writing device registers. Many processors use memory-mapped I/O, which assigns device registers to fixed addresses in conventional memory. To high level languages like C or C++, memory mapped devices behave like ordinary data objects to some extent. Programs use assignment operators to read values from or write values to memory mapped device registers. Unfortunately, traditional approaches for organizing and accessing memory-mapped devices are inconvenient and error prone. In this paper, a new way of writing and using C++ classes which encapsulate memory mapped device registers is described. The principle is extended to handle I/O mapped device registers for coprocessors. A Device Register Class description language is also described.
Unsupervised Discovery of Abnormal Activity Occurrences in Multi-dimensional Time Series, with Applications in Wearable Systems.

We present a method for unsupervised discovery of abnormal occurrences of activities in multi-dimensional time series data. Unsupervised activity discovery approaches differ from traditional supervised methods in that there is no requirement for manually labeled training datasets. In addition, they minimize the need for field experts’ knowledge during the setup phases, which makes the deployment phase faster and simpler. We focus our attention on wearable computing systems and their applications in human activity monitoring for health care and medicine. The developed method constructs activity models in multi-dimensional time series based on the frequency and coincidence of activity perceptual primitives in single-dimensional time series data. We study the frequent variations exposed in human activity time series data and leverage physical attributes of the data to classify the activity primitives. A graph clustering approach is used to construct the frequent activity structures. Such structures are used to locate normal and abnormal occurrences of activities in time series. A method is presented to distinguish the abnormal activity occurrences from the normal occurrences. Two state-of-theart wearable embedded systems (Smartcane and Smartshoe) are used to perform empirical evaluation of the developed methods.
Applying prior knowledge in the segmentation of 3d complex anatomic structures

We address the problem of precise segmentation of 3D complex structure from high-contrast images. Particularly, we focus on the representation and application of prior knowledge in the 3D level set framework. We discuss the limitations of the popular prior shape model in this type of situations, and conclude that shape model only is not complete and effective if not augmented by high-level boundary and context features. We present the principle that global priors should not compete with local image forces at the same level, but should instead guide the evolving surface to converge to the correct local primitives, thus avoiding the common problems of leakage and local minima. We propose several schemes to achieve this goal, including initial front design, speed design, and the introduction of high-level context blockers.
Policing the Compensation of Victims of Catastrophes: Combining Solidarity and Self-Responsibility

Personal experience sometimes happens to coincide with preexisting expertise. The author of this paper has worked on the topic of compensation of victims, of terrorism in particular1 and catastrophes in general2, in the context of French law, and yet in the framework of comparative law projects. In August 2005, he left his previous position as professor of comparative law in Lyon to move with his family to the United States and, more precisely, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Taming the Doctrine of Preemption

One of the most contested questions in the jus ad bellum is whether and when it is lawful for a state to use force unilaterally before it suffers an armed attack. The question took on particular salience in 2002, when the United States claimed – more clearly and assertively than before – that a state could use force to forestall certain hostile acts by its adversaries. Eleven years after that controversial assertion, it is well worth assessing where the debate currently stands and where it is heading. Because states and scholars use a variety of poorly-defined terms to discuss acts of self-defense in advance of an attack, Part II sorts through the terminology. Part III lays down the basic positions in the historical debate about the legality of such self-defense. Part IV turns to new pressures on self-defense brought on by new actors, new threats, and new technologies. Part V considers the future of pre-emption. It concludes that recent trends in state practice and in scholarship reveal that the timing of a state’s right to use force in self-defense continues to evolve, particularly when the fact patterns implicate terrorist groups or weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Yet certain technological developments make it difficult to predict the degree to which this evolution will continue.
Stress intensity factors for surface and corner-cracked fastener holes by the weight function method

The paper presents stress intensity factor solutions for surface and corner-cracked fastener holes by using an efficient and accurate three-dimensional weight function method. The approach is briefly described. Stress intensity factors for crack-face pressure loads of the type (x/r) n are provided, where n varies from 0 to 4. The geometry parameters considered are as follows: the ratio of the hole radius to plate thickness r/T = 1.5 (T = t for comer cracks, T = 2t for surface cracks); the crack aspect ratio alc = 0.5, 1, and 1.5; the ratio of crack depth-to-plate thickness alt = 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5. Based on the given solutions and the superposition principle, stress intensity factors for other load cases may be easily obtained. Examples are given for remote tension, biaxial tension, wedge loading in the hole, and simulated pin loading. Also, the effect of the residual stress field following cold expansion is considered for the remote tension loading condition.
Phenotypic plasticity in mating-system traits in the annual Collinsia verna

Variation in abiotic factors can influence the selective advantage of selfing and expression of the mating system if mating-system modifier traits are phenotypically plastic. However, relative to b...
Gold Standard Animal Models

This chapter highlights how to make smart use of several good animal models. However, these animal experiments must be augmented with human-based in vitro experiments, good toxicity databases, and computer modeling technology. Differences in animal and human cells do result in differences in the efficacy and toxicology of certain drugs. The old industrial adage does hold true for the development of drugs and other therapeutics–“cheaper, faster, better.” As will be shown here, it is accomplished by the use of computer models, in vitro testing using human cells or cell lines, and gold standard animal models, before human trials begin. Keywords: animal models; human-based in vitro experiments; computer modeling; knockouts; transgenic models; immunomodulation
Enhanced phase shift in a zeroth-order beam from subwavelength grating structures formed in uniaxial birefringent materials

A subwavelength grating structure made in an isotropic medium induces form birefringence effects, and the artificially produced optical axis is parallel to the grating vector. The phase shift between the two orthogonal electric-field components exiting this grating varies linearly with the thickness of the grating. When a grating with subwavelength period is formed on a uniaxial birefringent material with the grating vector aligned parallel to its natural optical axis, the total effect enhances the birefringence of the material. As a result, the thickness of the material can be reduced and still produce the same phase shift. If the natural optical axis and the induced optical axis lie within the surface plane and have an angular separation between them, the phase shift varies nonlinearly with the thickness of the grating.
Informing innovative models of nurse practitioner education: A formative qualitative study

Despite major changes in health care, the one- to- one model of nurse practitioner (NP) clinical education programs has changed little in 50 years contributing to a lack of preceptors for NP education programs. More efficient models to educate NPs and are needed to ensure a sustainable primary care NP workforce. The purpose of this formative evaluation study was to assess barriers and facilitators to precepting NP students and adopting new models of NP education in clinical academic partnerships. Eight participants provided rich data from which to better understand the barriers and facilitators to precepting multiple NP students. Two major themes emerged; the student-academic-practice partnership and the health care system. Systems factors pertain to those not modifiable by NP programs such as time available, scheduling and space. Implications for development of a NP attending clinical model and academic curricula models are discussed.
The Gaussian approximation for a chain with fixed valence angles

The Flourier transform method (“Markoff's method”) is used to derive the probability distribution function for the end-to-end distance of a chain with fixed bond lengths and fixed valence angles but with free rotation. The usual Gaussian form is found for a large number of bonds.
Tunable grating Fabry-Perot-based wavelength add/drop multiplexer in silicon photonics

We report a silicon photonic tunable add/drop multiplexer based on thermally tuned grating Fabry-Perot etalons embedded in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A filter bandwidth of 100GHz is achieved within a broad 60nm wide stopband.
Guinea Pig and Bovine ζ-Crystallins Have Distinct Functional Characteristics Highlighting Replacements in Otherwise Similar Structures†,‡

ζ-Crystallin, a major cytosolic protein of guinea pig lens, has been characterized as an NADPH:quinone oxidoreductase (EC 1.6.5.5) [Rao et al. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 97−103]. A bovine lens homolog with 83% sequence identity was found to have very different functional characteristics. While the bovine lens ζ-crystallin exhibits similar physicochemical properties, such as molecular weight, hydropathy profile, and predicted secondary structure, and exhibits strong immunological cross-reactivity with the guinea pig and human lens ζ-crystallins, it shows minimal quinone oxidoreductase activity. On the other hand, bovine lens ζ-crystallin, but not guinea pig ζ-crystallin, showed a strong binding affinity to single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) that could be competed with NADPH, the specific cofactor of ζ-crystallin. NADH and dextran sulfate did not affect this characteristic of bovine ζ-crystallin and the enzyme showed no binding affinity for the heparin−Ultragel A4R. Two-dimensional electrophoresis of bovine lens ζ...
Comparison of simultaneous electroencephalographic and mental status monitoring during carotid endarterectomy with regional anesthesia

Abstract Purpose: This study examines the accuracy of intraoperative electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring for the detection of cerebral ischemia by comparing EEG with simultaneous mental status evaluation (MSE) during carotid endarterectomy in awake patients. Methods: Between 1994 and 1997, 208 consecutive carotid endarterectomies were prospectively evaluated for cerebral function during surgery with simultaneous MSE and EEG monitoring. Regional anesthesia (RA), which consisted of superficial cervical block, was chosen preferentially in 75% of the cases, with general anesthesia (GA) reserved for the patients who did not fulfill the criteria for RA. When available, 8-channel EEG monitoring was performed (59% with RA and 55% with GA). Results: The EEG was a reliable predictor in comparison with MSE in most but not all cases of cerebral ischemia. Significant neurologic changes were noted using MSE in 4 of 89 patients (4.5%) that were not detected using EEG (false negative results). Conversely, 6 of 89 cases (6.7%) showed unilateral slowing without associated changes in MSE (false positive results). For the awake patients, 21 of 150 cases (14%) showed MSE changes that required a shunt. By contrast, 9 of 32 GA cases (28%) showed EEG changes that would have led to shunting ( P = NS). In the RA group, there were no strokes versus 3 of 58 cases (5.2%) with strokes in the GA group. Two of 150 cases (0.1%) had transient ischemic attacks in the RA group. There was 1 myocardial infarction in the GA group; no deaths occurred in this series. Conclusion: EEG monitoring yielded a significant number of false positive (6.7%) and false negative (4.5%) results in the detection of neurologic deficits when compared with MSE in the awake patients. In this series, the preferential use of RA resulted in less shunt use and was possibly associated with a lower stroke rate. (J Vasc Surg 1998;28:1014-23.)
Design patterns for parsing

We provide a systematic transformation of an LL(1) grammar to an object model that consists of an object structure representing the non-terminal symbols and their corresponding grammar production rules,a union of classes representing the terminal symbols (tokens).We present a variant form of the visitor pattern and apply it to the above union of token classes to model a predictive recursive descent parser on the given grammar. Parsing a non-terminal is represented by a visitor to the tokens. For non-terminals that have more than one production rule, the corresponding visitors are chained together according to the chain of responsibility pattern in order to be processed correctly by a valid token. The abstract factory pattern, where each concrete factory corresponds to a non-terminal symbol, is used to manufacture appropriate parsing visitors.Our object-oriented formulation for predictive recursive descent parsing eliminates the traditional construction of the predictive parsing table and yields a parser that is declarative and has minimal conditionals. It not only serves to teach standard techniques in parsing but also as a non-trivial exercise of object modeling for objects-first introductory courses.
Prospective investigation of complications, reoperations, and sustained weight loss with an adjustable gastric banding device for treatment of morbid obesity☆☆☆

The purpose of this study was to determine prospectively the safety and efficacy of an adjustable silicone gastric band and reservoir system for the treatment of morbid obesity. Between 1992 and 1995, forty primary procedures were performed. Twenty-six females and 14 males entered the study. The mean age of the subjects was 34 years (range 19 to 51 years). Mean body mass index was 50 kg/m 2 (range 39 to 75 kg/m2). There were no deaths. Mean body mass index (0in kg/m 2) at follow-up visits was 38.4 at I year, 38.0 at 2 years, 40.2 at 3 years, and 40.4 at 4 years. These decreases were significant at P <0.001. Thirty-two reoperations (12 intra-abdominal procedures and 20 abdominal wall procedures) have been necessary to maintain efficacy or correct complications. At the four-year interval, the reoperation rate of 80% was unsatisfactory. The excess weight loss has been 41% for those subjects who have an intact gastric band system and continue in the study. Improvements to the implantable band and/or operative technique must be implemented and studied long term if this procedure is to become an accepted surgical treatment for severe obesity.