cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cyclone track prediction

This is a review paper based on tropical cyclone research that was mostly carried out at the Florida State University. In this review we address a number of modelling issues such as: Explicit specification of the constant flux layer, cloud-radiative interaction and low cloud, cumulus parameterization, physical initialization, the ensemble of hurricane track forecasts and cloud forecasts. Among these the areas that have demonstrated the most sensitivity on tropical cyclone tracks, landfall and intensity are: resolution, cumulus convection, sea surface temperatures, soil moisture and orography around the ocean basin.
High Parity and Fetal Morbidity Outcomes

OBJECTIVE:We investigated the association between high parity and fetal morbidity outcomes.METHODS:We analyzed 22,463,141 singleton deliveries at 20 weeks or more of gestation in the United States from 1989 through 2000. Adjusted odds ratios generated from logistic regression models were used to app
Are direct or indirect measures of comparative risk better predictors of concern and behavioural intentions

Recent research has shown that comparative risk perceptions account for unique variance in concern and behavioural intentions, above and beyond absolute self risk perceptions. However, comparative risk perceptions have been measured both directly (i.e. a single question requiring a self-to-peer comparison) and indirectly (i.e. separate, absolute questions about the self and one's peers), yet no study has examined which measure is more predictive of concern and intentions. Two studies examined this issue in the context of several health risks (e.g. cancer, heart attacks). Study 1 showed that direct comparisons were generally more predictive of concern and intentions than indirect comparisons. Study 2 replicated this finding and revealed asymmetries in how people responded to absolute self versus peer questions. Implications for risk screening in health contexts are discussed.
Outcomes of cataract surgery in monocular patients

Abstract Purpose To determine the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) outcomes and surgical complications in a consecutive series of functionally monocular patients who had phacoemulsification and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. Setting University-based referral practice, Los Angeles, California, USA. Methods The medical records of 93 monocular patients who had phacoemulsification and IOL implantation between December 1991 and February 1999 were reviewed. Patients were considered to be monocular if Snellen BCVA in their fellow eye (the eye not having surgery) was worse than 20/200. Recorded were demographic information, anesthesia method, additional surgery, IOL model, preoperative and postoperative BCVA, reason for poor vision in the unoperated eye, co-morbidities in the operated eye, intraoperative and postoperative complications, length of follow-up, and postoperative procedures. Results Mean patient age was 72 years and mean follow-up, 6 months. Thirteen patients (14%) were monocular from complications of surgery. Eighty patients (86%) were monocular because of medical eye conditions. Ocular co-morbidities were present in 75% of eyes having surgery. Preoperative median BCVA was 20/60. Median BCVA was 20/30 by the final scheduled follow-up examination and 20/25 by the final follow-up examination. Thirty-seven percent of eyes were correctable to 20/20 or better, and 67% were correctable to 20/40 or better. Two eyes lost BCVA by the final scheduled postoperative examination, and 3 eyes lost BCVA by the final follow-up examination. Final BCVA of worse than 20/40 was always related to preexisting macular or optic-nerve pathology. There were 16 intraoperative or early postoperative complications. The most common (3 eyes) was posterior capsule plaque that could not be removed by capsule polishing. Twenty eyes (22%) had subsequent surgical procedures, the most common being laser posterior capsulotomy. No patient who was monocular from surgical complications had similar problems with second-eye cataract surgery. Conclusions Best corrected visual acuity, the standard measure of efficacy in cataract surgery, improved a median of 3 to 4 Snellen lines. The safety of the procedure, as evidenced by the small number of patients who lost BCVA or experienced surgical complications, was satisfactory. Functionally monocular patients are likely to have ocular co-morbidities, some of which may limit the final visual outcome of surgery.
Bupivicaine-fentanyl epidural analgesia for a parturient in status asthmaticus

Regional anaesthesia is a suitable technique for the management of the asthmatic parturient. We report the case of an asthmatic gravida in labour in whom prompt institution of bupivicaine-fentanyl epidural analgesia was associated with enhancement of the effectiveness of concurrent medical therapy for bronchospasm. Prior to the initiation of epidural blockade, inhaled atropine was employed in an effort to reduce parasympathetic tone in the bronchial smooth muscle. Sustained clinical improvement did not occur until after delivery of the fetus and placenta.
Relationship of serological reactivity to antibody molecular weight.

IN recent years information has been obtained concerning the molecular weight of antibody in relation to specific serological reactivity. Deutsch and Chan1 found that human A and B isoagglutinins have molecular weight near 1,000,000. Paic2 reported that rabbit anti-sheep haemolysin had a minimum molecular weight of 420,000. More recently, Talmage et al. 3 found that the haemolytic activity of rabbit anti-sheep haemolysin was associated with antibodies of two distinct molecular weights. The bulk of the haemolytic activity was associated with a high molecular weight antibody of greater haemolytic efficiency and in addition a low molecular weight antibody of lower haemolytic efficiency. Johnson et al. 4 reported that rabbit anti-human haemolysin, in contrast to rabbit anti-sheep haemolysin, has a molecular weight in the region of 160,000. We observed5 that human anti-A and rabbit anti-human haemolysin had the same complement-fixing capacity (the amount of complement capable of being fixed), while rabbit anti-sheep haemolysin had a complement-fixing capacity 3–4 times lower.
Parasitic adaptive mechanisms in infection by leishmania.

Leishmania are a resilient group of intracellular parasites that infect macrophages. The resultant complex of diseases, or leishmaniases, caused by the parasites affect over twelve million people worldwide. Leishmania have developed unique adaptive mechanisms to ensure their survival in the harsh environments faced throughout their life cycle. These parasites must not only contend with the hostile digestive conditions found within the sand fly vector, but they must also avoid destruction by the host immune system while in the bloodstream, before entering the macrophage. To do so, Leishmania express unique lipophosphoglycan (LPG) molecules and the metalloprotease gp63, among other proteins, on their cell surface. To enter the macrophage, Leishmania utilizes a variety of cellular receptors to mediate endocytosis. Once inside the macrophage, Leishmania is protected from phagolysosome degradation by a variety of adaptations to inhibit cellular defense mechanisms. These include the inhibition of phagosome-endosome fusion, hydrolytic enzymes, cell signaling pathways, nitric oxide production, and cytokine production. While other parasites can also infect macrophages, Leishmania is distinctive in that it not only relies on its own defenses to survive and reproduce within the macrophage phagolysosome, but Leishmania also manipulates the host immune response in order to protect itself and to gain entry into the cell. These unique adaptive mechanisms help promote Leishmania survival.
Elastic and inelastic neutron scattering by silicon and sulphur

Abstract The energy spectra of neutrons scattered elastically and inelastically to the first excited states of 28Si and 32S have been measured using time-of-flight techniques. Angular distributions were taken for incident neutron energies of 2.45, 2.85, 4.00, 4.90, and 5.80 MeV and an excitation function was measured at 60°. The elastic scattering distributions are fairly well described by the Perey-Buck non-local potential optical model with slightly reduced well depths, corrected for the compound elastic component. The inelastic scattering cross sections show large fluctuations, but the angular distributions are fairly isotropic. For 28Si, the inelastic scattering is fairly well described by the Hauser-Feshbach formula modified by Dresner's “width fluctuation” correction at low energies, but above 2.7 MeV the correction becomes too large. This may be an indication of the inapplicability of the theories in the region where Jπ ≊D Jπ .
Estimating Iraqi deaths: a case study with implications for mathematics education

In this paper, I present an account of attempts to quantify deaths of Iraqis during the occupation by US and other forces since the invasion of March 2003, and of the reactions to these attempts. This story illuminates many aspects of current socio-political reality, particularly, but by no means exclusively, in the United States. Here, these aspects are selectively discussed in relation to the overarching themes of what the story illuminates about the uses of statistical information in society and about shortcomings in mathematics education.
Recurrent and High‐frequency Use of the Emergency Department by Pediatric Patients

Objectives: The authors sought to describe the epidemiology of and risk factors for recurrent and highfrequency use of the emergency department (ED) by children. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using a database of children aged 0 to 17 years, inclusive, presenting to 22 EDs of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) during 2007, with 12-month follow-up after each index visit. ED diagnoses for each visit were categorized as trauma, acute medical, or chronic medical conditions. Recurrent visits were defined as any repeat visit; high-frequency use was defined as four or more recurrent visits. Generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were used to measure the strength of associations between patient and visit characteristics and recurrent ED use. Results: A total of 695,188 unique children had at least one ED visit each in 2007, with 455,588 recurrent ED visits in the 12 months following the index visits. Sixty-four percent of patients had no recurrent visits, 20% had one, 8% had two, 4% had three, and 4% had four or more recurrent visits. Acute medical diagnoses accounted for most visits regardless of the number of recurrent visits. As the number of recurrent visits per patient rose, chronic diseases were increasingly represented, with asthma being the most common ED diagnosis. Trauma-related diagnoses were more common among patients without recurrent visits than among those with high-frequency recurrent visits (28% vs. 9%; p < 0.001). Highfrequency recurrent visits were more often within the highest severity score classifications. In multivariable analysis, recurrent visits were associated with younger age, black or Hispanic race or ethnicity, and public health insurance.
Interactions in Perceived Quality of Auditory-Visual Displays

The quality of realism in virtual environments (VEs) is typically considered to be a function of visual and audio fidelity mutually exclusive of each other. However, the VE participant, being human, is multimodal by nature. Therefore, in order to validate more accurately the levels of auditory and visual fidelity that are required in a virtual environment, a better understanding is needed of the intersensory or crossmodal effects between the auditory and visual sense modalities. To identify whether any pertinent auditory-visual cross-modal perception phenomena exist, 108 subjects participated in three experiments which were completely automated using HTML, Java, and JavaScript programming languages. Visual and auditory display quality perceptions were measured intraand intermodally by manipulating the pixel resolution of the visual display and Gaussian white noise level, and by manipulating the sampling frequency of the auditory display and Gaussian white noise level. Statistically significant results indicate that high-quality auditory displays coupled with highquality visual displays increase the quality perception of the visual displays relative to the evaluation of the visual display alone, and that low-quality auditory displays coupled with high-quality visual displays decrease the quality perception of the auditory displays relative to the evaluation of the auditory display alone. These findings strongly suggest that the quality of realism in VEs must be a function of both auditory and visual display fidelities inclusive of each other.
A kinetic study of the activated anionic polymerization of ε-caprolactam

The diversities existing among published kinetic studies on activated anionic polymerization of e-caprolactam are closely examined. A kinetic model derived from a regular, linear reversible reaction mechanism is employed to explain the experimentally observed autocatalytic character of the polymerization system and to examine the dependence of the apparent activation energy on the experimental method. Several existing kinetic models tested with our experimental data show that the autocatalytic type rate equation best describes the polymerization process.
Holographic high-resolution endoscopic image recording

ABSTRACTEndoscopic holography or endoholography combines the features of endoscopy and holography. Thepurpose of endoholographic imaging is to provide the physician with a unique means of extending diagnosis by providing a life-like record of tissue. Endoholographic recording will provide means for microscopic examination of tissue and, in some cases, may obviate the need to excise specimens for biopsy. In this method, holograms, which have the unique properties of three-dimensionality, large focal depth,and high resolution, are made with a newly designed endoscope. The endoscope uses a single-mode optical fiber for illumination and single-beam reflection holograms are recorded in close contact with the tissue at the distalend of the endoscope. The holograms are viewed under a microscope.By using the proper combinations of dyes for staining specific tissue types with various wavelengths oflaser illumination, increased contrast on the cellular level can be obtained. Using dyes such as rose bengal incombination with the 514.5 nm line of an argon ion laser, and trypan blue or methylene blue with the 647.1 nmline of a krypton ion laser, holograms of the stained colon of a dog, showed the architecture of the colon'scolumnar epithelial cells.It is hoped through chronological study using this method in-vivo, an increased understanding of theetiology and pathology of diseases such as Crohn's diseases, colitis, proctitis, and several different forms ofcancer, will help lead to their control.1. INTRODUCTIONEndoholography (endoscopic holography) provides the advantages of intracavity imaging in threedimensions with high resolution and large depth of field. The first presentation of a holographic endoscope was
Polarographic Studies of Organic Compounds in Tetramethylurea

The polarographic behavior of trans-stilbene, triphenylethylene, tetraphenylethylene, benzyl chloride and carbon tetrachloride has been studied in tetramethylurea containing tetrabutylammonium bromide. The results obtained indicate that this solvent offers no advantage over dimethylformamide. The high resistance of the solvent made the large scale electrolysis of benzyl chloride difficult to carry out. Products obtained were toluene, n-butane, butenes and tri-n-butylamine. The similarity in structure of tetramethylurea to dimethylformamide suggested an evaluation of this liquid as a solvent for the polarographic studies of organic compounds. Studies in the latter have furnished evidence for the existence of stable anion-free radicals in the reduction of aromatic hydrocarbons, quinones, aromatic ketones and of dihalocarbenes in the reduction of carbon tetrachloride and bromide.
Development of the science technology engineering and mathematics — Active listening skills assessment (STEM-ALSA)

The purpose of this investigation was to develop the STEM Active Listening Skills Assessment (STEM-ALSA), a conceptually grounded instrument designed to measure four components of active listening, a key element of communication in an academic setting. The STEM-ALSA is comprised of three unique scales that measure a person's knowledge (12 items), ability to apply (25 items), and self-efficacy (5 items) with respect to active listening. Two pilot studies were conducted with N = 99 upper level undergraduate students enrolled in STEM disciplines to develop and evaluate the instrument. Results of an exploratory factor analysis identified both a unidimensional factor structure for each of the three scales and total scores with adequate internal consistency reliability estimates. The STEM-ALSA provides a mechanism for measuring active listening skills among students in STEM.
Optimal Allocation of Risk-Reduction Resources in Event Trees

In this paper, we present a novel quantitative analysis for the strategic planning decision problem of allocating certain available prevention and protection resources to, respectively, reduce the failure probabilities of system safety measures and the total expected loss from a sequence of events. Using an event tree optimization approach, the resulting risk-reduction scenario problem is modeled and then reformulated as a specially structured nonconvex factorable program. We derive a tight linear programming relaxation along with related theoretical insights that serve to lay the foundation for designing a tailored branch-and-bound algorithm that is proven to converge to a global optimum. Computational experience is reported for a hypothetical case study, as well as for several realistic simulated test cases, based on different parameter settings. The results on the simulated test cases demonstrate that the proposed approach dominates the commercial software BARON v7.5 when the latter is applied to solve the original model by more robustly yielding provable optimal solutions that are at an average of 16.6% better in terms of objective function value; and it performs competitively when both models are used to solve the reformulated problem, particularly for larger test instances.
Anxiety sensitivity: relations to psychopathy, DSM-IV personality disorder features, and personality traits.

Abstract Relatively few data are available concerning the relations between anxiety sensitivity (AS) and both abnormal and normal personality traits. In particular, little is known about the associations between AS and personality disorders, although Shostak and Peterson [Behav. Res. Ther. 28 (1990) 513.] hypothesized that AS would be negatively correlated with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and perhaps related conditions (e.g., psychopathy). We examined the relations between AS, as assessed by the AS Index (ASI), and measures of psychopathy/ASPD, personality disorder features, and personality traits in a sample of 104 undergraduates. The ASI was not significantly associated with global measures of psychopathy or ASPD, although it was negatively correlated in some cases with the core affective deficits of psychopathy. In addition, the ASI was positively correlated with features of several Clusters B (e.g., borderline) and C (e.g., dependent) personality disorders and with features of passive–aggressive personality disorder. In addition, the ASI was positively associated with measures of several normal-range personality traits, including trait anxiety, alienation, well being, Negative Emotionality, and Constraint. Some, although not all, of the abnormal and normal personality correlates of the ASI were attributable to the variance shared by the ASI with trait anxiety measures. Implications and limitations of the present findings for the correlates and etiology of AS are outlined.
Topological considerations in the coupled Z (2) gauge-Higgs model

Abstract We derive a surface representation of the coupled Z (2) gauge-Higgs model from which we draw various conclusions based on topological considerations. In particular, a subtle distinction between the Higgs and the confinement phase is pointed out.
Frailty Models for Quality of Life in Oncology

Quality of life (QOL) and survival data are commonly measured in clinical trials in oncology. Frailty models are an excellent tool to exploit the natural dependence between these domains. We propose a novel application of frailty models, providing a detailed example relating to QOL in advanced prostate cancer patients. We discuss model fitting, estimation, and interpretation and describe available software.
Assessing the dendrochronological potential of Pinus occidentalis Swartz in the Cordillera Central of the Dominican Republic

Opportunities for dendrochronology in the tropics are rare because few locations experience sesonality strong enough to induce annual (or even dependably cyclic) ring formation in trees. Consequent...
Multisystemic Therapy Compared to Telephone Support for Youth with Poorly Controlled Diabetes: Findings From A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Few interventions have effectively improved health outcomes among youth with diabetes in chronic poor metabolic control.
Community Intervention Trials: Reflections on the Stanford Five-City Project Experience

In the past two decades several community intervention studies designed to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease in populations have been completed. These trials shared the rationale that the community approach was the best way to address the large population attributable risk of mild elevations of multiple risk factors, the interrelation of several health behaviors, and the potential efficiency of large-scale interventions not limited to the medical care system. These trials also shared several threats to internal validity, especially the small number of intervention units (usually cities) that could be studied. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the lessons learned in one of the studies, the Stanford Five-City Project, which began in 1978. The anticipated advantages were observed, including the generalizability of the intervention components, the potential for amplification of interventions through diffusion in the community, and the efficiency of the mass media and other community programs for reaching the entire population. Numerous components of the intervention proved effective when evaluated individually, as was true in other community studies. However, the design limitations proved difficult to overcome, especially in the face of unexpectedly large, favorable risk factor changes in control sites. As a result, definitive conclusions about the overall effectiveness of the communitywide efforts were not always possible. Nevertheless, in aggregate, these studies support the effectiveness of communitywide health promotion, and investigators in the field should turn to different questions. The authors have learned how little they know of the determinants of population-level change and the characteristics that separate communities that change quickly in response to general health information from those that do not. Future studies in communities must elucidate these characteristics, while improving the effectiveness of educational interventions and expanding the role of environmental and health policy components of health promotion.
Analysis of the affect measurement conundrum in exercise psychology: II. A conceptual and methodological critique of the Exercise-induced Feeling inventory

Background and purpose: The measurement of affect in the context of exercise has become a controversial issue. To help elucidate some of the problems, the conceptual and methodological bases of the Exercise-induced Feeling Inventory (Gauvin, L., & Rejeski, W.J. (1993). The Exercise-induced Feeling Inventory: Development and initial validation. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 15 , 403.) are critiqued, emphasizing deviations from established scale development and validation guidelines. Methods: From a conceptual standpoint, the analysis concentrates on the definition of “feeling states,” the demarcation of the content domain, the decision to adopt a categorical conceptualization of affect, the notion of a universal phenomenology of exercise, and the notion of exercise-specific affect. From a methodological standpoint, emphasis is placed on the item selection and content validation methods, the exploratory structural analysis, and the application of structural equation modeling. Results and conclusions: Substantial deficiencies in conceptual groundwork and deviations from established guidelines are identified that may have important implications for the validity and utility of the EFI. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
'Where Are All the Men?' A Post-Structural Feminist Analysis of a University's Sexual Health Seminar.

Set against the background of efforts to promote sexuality education and sexual health in a university setting, this paper focuses on a sexual health seminar offered at a midwestern US university. Using a post-structural feminist framework, we analysed discourses from qualitative surveys, newspaper coverage and participant observation. We argue that the framing of the seminar posed an obstacle to receiving health care, altercasted women in disempowering roles and failed to acknowledge men's voices. It is important to address entrenched gender biases, power imbalances and assumptions that undermine students' engagement with sexual health education and access to services. Based on this analysis, we developed recommendations for sexuality education of university students informed by feminist understandings of health.
The Behavior of Angular Bony Defects Following Reduction of Inflammation

This study was designed to quantitate the changes in experimental angular bony defects and the surrounding tissues following the removal of irritants associated with marginal periodontitis. Plaque retentive ligatures were placed around the mandibular second bicuspids in each of four squirrel monkeys. Ten weeks later the ligatures were removed and mechanical cleaning was implemented. At the same time, ligatures were placed on the contralateral (control) bicuspids. After 10 weeks the monkeys were sacrificed and the tissues prepared for analysis. The control tissues represented the state of the periodontium immediately prior to ligature removal and the implementation of 10 weeks of mechanical cleaning. Histometric analyses revealed a reduction from 68 to 14% in the inflammatory cell infiltrate present in the supracrestal connective tissue following ligature removal and plaque control. Concomitant with this decrease was a 50% increase (P < 0.01) in the amount of bone present in the coronal periodontium. There was bone repair at the crest and along the angular defect but there was not a total regeneration of the lesion. These tissue changes were accompanied by a reduction in tooth mobility and a reformation of the gingival architecture although there was no new attachment. It appears that there is a potential for bone repair in these angular defects without an alteration in the connective tissue attachment level.
Attitudes and Perceptions of the HPV Vaccine in Caribbean and African-American Adolescent Girls and their Parents

Abstract Objective To describe attitudes and perceptions toward acceptability of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination among inner city Caribbean (CA) and African American (AA) adolescents and their parents, and discuss correlates that may be associated with these factors. Design Questionnaire survey. Setting An adolescent medicine clinic. Participants A convenience sample was recruited of 175 adolescent girls aged 13 to 19 years and 74 parents attending adolescent clinic. Intervention Participants completed an anonymous confidential 10-minute questionnaire. Main outcome Measures Data on knowledge about HPV, cervical cancer (CC), attitudes and acceptance of the HPV vaccine. Results Responses of 175 adolescent girls and 74 parents were analyzed. Overall, 48.9% of the teens were sexually active (SA) and had a 2.2-fold greater odds (OR = 2.21; 95% CI=1.13–4.36) of being interested in HPV vaccination versus girls who were not SA. While only 55.8% of girls knew what HPV is, this knowledge was significantly associated with knowing that most CC is caused by HPV ( P P There were no significant influences in parental acceptance of the vaccine with regard to age, ethnicity and educational level, insurance, and living situation.The majority of parents wanted the vaccine for its role in preventing CC. Conclusions Although controversy surrounds HPV vaccine in regard to its supposed role in promoting SA, only a minority of our parents showed concern for that association. The level of acceptance of the HPV vaccine was overall lower than what has been reported among other racial/ethnic populations. Knowledge about HPV and its association with CC were significantly associated with interest in getting the HPV vaccine and both parents and teens seem to accept the HPV vaccine more for its role in CC prevention.
The Friedman rule: Old and new

In overlapping generations models, money growth creates intergenerational wealth eects and leads to the breakdown of the Friedman rule; the rule can be restored via lump-sum tax and transfers that neutralize these wealth transfers. Additionally, and in contrast to money-in-the-utility-function models, the Friedman rule is not unique in cash-in-advance-constraint models of money: A continuum of combinations of money growth rates and consumption taxes implement the first-best allocation. This paper traces through the intellectual origins of the first (old) result, which was recently restated in Bhattachrya, Haslag and Russell (2005), and formally demonstrates the second (new) result.
15-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid inhibits superoxide anion generation by human neutrophils: relationship to lipoxin production.

Human neutrophils can aggregate, degranulate, and release mediators of inflammation including oxygen radicals and lipoxygenase (LO)-derived products of arachidonic acid. The regulation of 5– and 15-lipoxy-genases appears to be important since their products (e.g. leukotrienes and lipoxins) display unique spectra of bioactions. Addition of 15-HETE. a product of the 15-LO, to neutrophils in suspension dramatically shifted the LO products generated and led to a dose-dependent increase in lipoxins, while the production of leukotriene B4 and its μ-oxidation products (i.e. 20-COOH-LTB4 and 20-OH-LTB4) was inhibited. Exogenous 15-HETE also dose-dependently inhibited the generation of superoxide anions induced by either the chemotactic peptide f-met-leu-phe or the divalent cation ionophore A23187. Neither lipoxin A, nor lipoxin B4 (10−8−10−6M) inhibited O2−− generation induced by either f-met-leu-phe or A23187. These results indicate that in addition to serving as a substrate for lipoxin generation, 15-HETE also ...
Test development tools framework

This paper discusses a theoretical interface framework among software tools used to develop embedded and off-line diagnostic tests from a system engineering perspective. A universal test development model is defined as a basis for discussion of generic categories of system testing tools. The interface framework benefits are identified and several recommendations are presented to advance interface and standards development. >
The impact of hospital volume on the development of infectious complications after elective abdominal aortic surgery in the Medicare population.

Objective: A relationship exists between higher hospital volume and lower mortality, yet the impact of hospital volume on infectious complications after elective abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair is unknown. Methods: The Medicare database (2005-2007) was utilized. Top 10% for volume were categorized as high-volume (HV) and compared to low-volume (LV) centers for infectious complications and utilization. Results: A total of 42 155 endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) and 17 210 open AAA were identified. Mortality in HV was significantly lower than in LV after EVAR and open AAA. After EVAR, HV had lower than LV rates of overall infection (3.10% vs 3.51%; P = .021), PNA (0.94% vs 1.27%, P = .002), and sepsis (0.31% vs 0.45%; P = .03). Length of stay (LOS) and total hospital charges were significantly lower at HV compared to LV after both EVAR and open AAA. Conclusion: For Medicare beneficiaries, undergoing elective AAA repair at hospitals performing higher volume significantly reduced postoperative infec...
A cobalt salicide CMOS process with TiN-strapped polysilicon gates

A submicrometer CMOS technology with MOSFET structures consisting of a TiN-strapped polysilicon gate electrode and self-aligned cobalt silicided source/drain junctions is developed. It is shown that the TiN-strapped gates provide a low-sheet-resistance gate electrode without threshold voltage instabilities caused by the lateral dopant interdiffusion of silicided gates. Cobalt silicide creep over the sidewall spacer, which can result in bridging between the source/drain and gate, is also eliminated. Since the source-drain regions are silicided with CoSi/sub 2/, shallow, low-leakage junctions are obtained. >
Possible signals of constrained minimal supersymmetry at a high luminosity Fermilab Tevatron collider

We study the most promising signals of constrained minimal supersymmetry detectable at a luminosity upgraded 2 TeV Fermilab Tevatron collider. Using a full event-level Monte carlo program based on pythia and getset we simulate the trilepton signal examining in detail the effect of constraints on the parameter space. We also simulate the monolepton and dilepton signals, the E/T+jets signal, and the signals of top squark production in supersymmetry all with full standard model backgrounds with realistic detector cuts. We find that large fractions of parameter space can be probed (or eliminated if no signal is found), but mass limits on charginos and neutralinos are not possible based solely on the trilepton signal. Detection efficiencies depend strongly on supersymmetry parameters beyond simply the neutralino and chargino masses; analyses (experimental or theoretical) that do not include this will draw misleading conclusions. Finally, we comment on how searches at CERN LEP II will complement searches at Fermilab.
The foreign policy of Peru

Setting the Stage, 1821-1827 Search for National Identity, 1827-1845 End of the Beginning, 1845-1862 Rivalry in the Pacific, 1862-1872 The Road to War, 1872-1879 The War of the Pacific, 1879-1885 Postwar Reconstruction and Regeneration, 1885-1908 Leguia and the Delimitation of Peru, 1908-1930 New Horizons for Peruvian Foreign Policy, 1930-1962 The Search for Autonomy, 1962-1991.
Reliability of Steel Doweled Wood Connections Designed to ASCE 16-95

First-order reliability analyses were performed for wood connections, using bolts, nails, lag screws, and wood screws, including both wood and steel side plates, designed to ASCE 16-95. The reliability analyses were performed using the European yield model to determine the connection capacity. Using reasonable statistics for the random variables in the yield equations, a reliability index was determined for each of the possible failure modes for both single and double shear connections. Simple bounds were then determined for the reliability index of the series system consisting of multiple failure modes. These reliability analyses show that designs to ASCE 16-95 do not exhibit consistent reliability across the range of possible designs. One way to increase consistency is to use the full set of yield equations rather than the simplified set of design equations now present in ASCE 16-95 for most of the connectors. Other modifications may also be necessary since there are inconsistent reliability levels even for those connectors designed to the full set of equations.
Do national drug control laws ensure the availability of opioids for medical and scientific purposes

Abstract Objective To determine whether national drug control laws ensure that opioid drugs are available for medical and scientific purposes, as intended by the 1972 Protocol amendment to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Methods The authors examined whether the text of a convenience sample of drug laws from 15 countries: (i) acknowledged that opioid drugs are indispensable for the relief of pain and suffering; (ii) recognized that government was responsible for ensuring the adequate provision of such drugs for medical and scientific purposes; (iii) designated an administrative body for implementing international drug control conventions; and (iv) acknowledged a government's intention to implement international conventions, including the Single Convention. Findings Most national laws were found not to contain measures that ensured adequate provision of opioid drugs for medical and scientific purposes. Moreover, the model legislation provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime did not establish an obligation on national governments to ensure the availability of these drugs for medical use. Conclusion To achieve consistency with the Single Convention, as well as with associated resolutions and recommendations of international bodies, national drug control laws and model policies should be updated to include measures that ensure drug availability to balance the restrictions imposed by the existing drug control measures needed to prevent the diversion and nonmedical use of such drugs.
Denial of service protection the nozzle

A denial of service attack is a dominating conversation with a network resource designed to preclude other conversations with that resource. This type of attack can cost millions of dollars when the target is a critical resource such as a Web server or domain name server. Traditional methods, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems have failed to provide adequate protection from this type of attack. This paper presents a new protection method called a nozzle. The nozzle is based upon favorable aspects of firewalls and network pumps. It is deployed similar to a firewall such that all conversations from an untrusted user to a critical resource are monitored. The main advantage of the nozzle is the ability to provide a threshold for trusted traffic thus precluding new attacks. A nozzle consists of a series of rings. Each of which has a trusted and untrusted buffer, rules for packet placement, and rules for communication with the next level. Rings are placed in the protocol stack so they can protect particular protocols.
Older adults’ interactive behaviors during collaboration on everyday problems: Linking process and outcome

Adult collaborative cognition research suggests that working with a partner is generally beneficial to performance; however, little research has investigated the relation between the interactive behaviors and collaborative outcome. The present study examined four interactive behaviors exhibited by familiar (i.e., married spouses) and unfamiliar (i.e., other-sex strangers) older adult dyads during collaborative performance on an everyday problem-solving measure. Results indicated that (a) interactive behaviors were related to partner familiarity and whether dyads first attempted the problems individually or collaboratively, (b) the nature of the interactive behaviors differed over the course of task completion, and (c) interactive behaviors were linked to performance outcome.
Community Outreach, Experiential Learning and Cultural Immersion: Wisdom Gleaned from 15 Years of the International Business Association Overseas Taskforce

Despite widespread belief that internationalization and/or globalization of the curriculum is a necessity rather than an option, few articles exist documenting successful implementation of curriculum alternatives. This article documents the successes and failures of a fifteen year effort to simultaneously address community outreach, experiential learning and cultural immersion as components of a unique service-learning international marketing course. The authors provide a framework that can be replicated by other universities struggling with the internationalization issue in their marketing curriculum. Lessons learned from the past fifteen years of conducting the course are offered as are recommendations for implementation.
Violence and/or Nonviolence in the Success of the Civil Rights Movement: The Malcolm X–Martin Luther King, Jr. Nexus

AbstractNonviolent mass protests are often considered as having been mainly responsible for the two major legislative gains of the Civil Rights Movement half a century ago—the 1964 Civil Rights Act (CRA) and the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA). In this article, I argue that it was the combination of that course and the threat of violence on the part of African Americans that fully explain those two victories. A close reading of the texts and actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X is indispensable for my claim. The archival evidence, as well, makes a convincing case for the CRA, its proposal by the John F. Kennedy (JFK) administration and enactment by Congress. For the VRA, its proposal by the Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) administration and enactment by Congress, the evidence is more circumstantial but still compelling. The evidence reveals that for the threat of violence to have been credible, actual violence was required, as events in Birmingham, Alabama, demonstrate. Such violence, the “long hot summe...
Bethe and M-Bethe Permanent Inequalities

It was recently conjectured that the permanent of a $P$-lifting $\theta^{\uparrow P}$ of a matrix $\theta$ of degree $M$ is less than or equal to the $M$th power of the permanent perm$(\theta)$, i.e., perm$(\theta^{\uparrow P})\leq$perm$(\theta)^M$ and, consequently, that the degree-$M$ Bethe permanent perm$_{M,\mathrm{B}} (\theta)$ of a matrix $\theta$ is less than or equal to the permanent perm$(\theta)$ of $\theta$, i.e., perm$_{M, \mathrm{B}} (\theta)\leq$perm$(\theta)$. In this paper, we prove these related conjectures and show some properties of the permanent of block matrices that are lifts of a matrix. As a corollary, we obtain an alternative proof of the inequality perm$_{\mathrm{B}} (\theta)\leq$perm$(\theta)$ on the Bethe permanent of the base matrix $\theta$, which uses only the combinatorial definition of the Bethe-permanent. The results have implications in coding theory. Since a $P$-lifting corresponds to an $M$-graph cover and thus to a protograph-based LDPC code, the results may help explain the performance of these codes.
Chants Democratic in Wisconsin

When I moved to Madison in 2001 to take a job as an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin, I knew embarrassingly little about my newly adopted state's historical significance. Judging from their wisecracks about the sociology of cows, neither did my friends in New York. I soon learned about Wisconsin's prominent role in many of America's social advances, from “Fighting Bob” LaFollette's opposition to powerful railroad trusts, to pioneering contributions to social insurance, to the nation's first law for public-employee bargaining in 1959, to the turbulent campus protests against the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Little did I know that a decade after my arrival, Wisconsin would once again become “ground zero,” as some commentators now call it, in America's ongoing struggle between democratic progress and reaction.
Era effect on survival following paediatric heart transplantation.

OBJECTIVES Paediatric heart transplantation is performed to salvage children with end-stage heart failure from various underlying pathologies. Despite several developments in all management aspects of transplantation candidates, the effect of those advances on outcomes has not been consistent. We report our institutional experience with focus on examining era effect on early and late survival. METHODS Between 1988 and 2015, 320 children underwent heart transplantation. Competing risk analysis modelled events after transplantation (retransplantation, death without retransplantation). Multivariable parametric risk hazard analysis examined the risk factors affecting survival. RESULTS Patients were divided to three groups based on underlying pathology: congenital group (n = 132, 41%), acquired group (n = 153, 48%) and retransplant group (n = 35, 11%). Competing risk analysis showed that at 10 years following transplantation, 11% of patients had undergone retransplantation, 39% had died without retransplantation and 44% were alive without retransplantation. Ten-year survival was 61, 51 and 45% for acquired, congenital and retransplant groups, respectively. Overall, survival following heart transplantation for the late era (2005-15) was 63% compared with 49% for the early era (1988-2004) at 10 years (P = 0.022). Compared with early era, 1-year survival in the late era was 84 vs 79% {odds ratio (OR): 0.72 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.3-1.8], P = 0.470} for congenital, 98 vs 86% [OR: 0.14 (95% CI 0.03-0.68), P = 0.006] for acquired and 73 vs 88% [OR: 2.6 (95% CI 0.4-1.9), P = 0.282] for retransplant. The effect of late era on survival was not significant for congenital [hazard ratio (HR) 0.6 (95% CI 0.2-1.4), P = 0.206] or retransplant patients [HR: 1.7 (95% CI 0.5-5.5), P = 0.400], but showed improvement trend for acquired patients [HR: 0.53 (95% CI 0.3-1.0), P = 0.052]. CONCLUSIONS The era effect on early survival following heart transplantation is related to underlying pathology; there is a significant improvement in early survival in children with acquired pathology, whereas there is no significant change in early survival in children with congenital pathology or failed prior transplantation. This suggests a potential area for improvement that might include pretransplant stabilization and management of immunosuppression. On the other hand, era effect on late survival is not significant. This demonstrates that advances in the care of paediatric heart transplantation patients have not affected ongoing problems that diminish late survival.
INHIBITION OF RENAL GROWTH FOLLOWING UNILATERAL NEPHRECTOMY IN THE RAT.

SummaryBoth talc induced peritonitis and food and water restriction inhibit the prompt growth response of remaining rat kidney following unilateral nephrectomy.
Influence of Host Deprivation and Physical Host Characteristics on Host Selection Behavior of the Hyperparasite Cheiloneurus noxius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae)

Females of the encyrtid hyperparasite Cheiloneurus noxius Compere were exposed to different combinations of artificial models and natural hosts either simultaneously or separately. Those deprived of hosts from adult emergence tended to be most active 2 days after emergence and to remain active for several days afterward. Oviposition behavior tended to increase in intensity during this same period. The shape of the secondary host had a rather large effect on the oviposition-related behavior of C. noxius females; a rounded, convex host model was more acceptable than was a flat or concave one. The shade, moisture content, state of interior, surface texture, and size of hosts were relatively unimportant to the discriminatory process.
Temporomandibular joint space analysis.

Radiographic interpretation of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) frequently revolves around a determination of condyle concentricity. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship bet...