cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thaw depth determines reaction and transport of inorganic nitrogen in valley bottom permafrost soils

Nitrate (NO3 (-) ) export coupled with high inorganic nitrogen (N) concentrations in Alaskan streams suggests that N cycles of permafrost-influenced ecosystems are more open than expected for N-limited ecosystems. We tested the hypothesis that soil thaw depth governs inorganic N retention and removal in soils due to vertical patterns in the dominant N transformation pathways. Using an in situ, push-pull method, we estimated rates of inorganic N uptake and denitrification during snow melt, summer, and autumn, as depth of soil-stream flowpaths increased in the valley bottom of an arctic and a boreal catchment. Net NO3 (-) uptake declined sharply from snow melt to summer and decreased as a nonlinear function of thaw depth. Peak denitrification rate occurred during snow melt at the arctic site, in summer at the boreal site, and declined as a nonlinear function of thaw depth across both sites. Seasonal patterns in ammonium (NH4 (+) ) uptake were not significant, but low rates during the peak growing season suggest uptake that is balanced by mineralization. Despite rapid rates of hydrologic transport during snow melt runoff, rates of uptake and removal of inorganic N tended to exceed water residence time during snow melt, indicating potential for retention of N in valley bottom soils when flowpaths are shallow. Decreased reaction rates relative to water residence time in subsequent seasons suggest greater export of inorganic N as the soil-stream flowpath deepens due to thawing soils. Using seasonal thaw as a proxy for longer term deepening of the thaw layer caused by climate warming and permafrost degradation, these results suggest increasing potential for export of inorganic N from permafrost-influenced soils to streams.
Conceptualizing Violence Against Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Intersexual, and Transgendered People

Abstract This article provides a conceptual model for defining antigay violence that incorporates the diverse manifestations of such violence, its multilevel nature, and its structural and ideological foundations. Interconnections are made among oppression, power, moral exclusion, and stigmatization. In particular, the impact of heterosexist oppression, including its roots in the moral and medical paradigms, and gender oppression are explored.
Destroying Tax Base: The Proposed Indopco Capitalization Regulations

Professor Johnson argues that proposed Treasury regulation section 1.263-4, on expensing or capitalization of intangibles, unnecessarily destroys precious tax base. The worst abuse sanctioned by the proposals is the accrual of prepayments of unlimited amounts. Johnson foresees multibillion-dollar shelters for accrued prepayments blessed by the proposals. Johnson has 17 other comments and criticisms of the proposals, criticizing, for instance, the rule that treats employees and overhead as not part of cost, the unlawful separate and distinct asset rule, the rule allowing expensing of costs of a successful corporate takeover, and the rule that IRS audits may never capitalize investments under new facts. Johnson offers a guideline, based on sound economics, that investments that are not worthless at year-end may not be expensed.
Interleukin-2 and leukemia

Leukemia has been treated with chemotherapy for the past 40 years with only moderate success. A growing body of evidence suggests that by augmenting the immune system more effective results may be obtained. This is highlighted by T cell reinfusions resulting in durable remissions in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia who have relapsed after an allogeneic transplant. Interleukin-2 is the primary growth factor for T lymphocytes and is a stimulator of natural killer cell activity. It has now been shown that a limited number of otherwise refractory leukemias can be effectively treated with interleukin-2. However, there remains a lack of correlation between the biologic and clinical effects of interleukin-2. The clinical activity of interleukin-2 appears to be greatest in myeloid leukemias. A variety of dose schedules and routes of administration make it difficult to determine if interleukin-2 given to patients in clinical remission is of benefit. Large randomized studies are necessary to explore the role of interleukin-2 in leukemia.
Effect of DA1 receptor blockade with SCH 23390 on the renal response to electrical stimulation of the renal nerves.

AbstractTo evaluate the existence of functional renal dopaminergic innervation in the dog, we studied the effects of direct electrical stimulation of the renal nerves (RNS) with and without blockade of the dopamine receptor (DA1) that mediates the vasodilating and natriuretic response to intrarenal infusion of DA. Before infusion of the DA1 receptor antagonist, SCH 23390, RNS at 1 Hz did not change renal blood flow (RBF) but caused decreased urinary sodium excretion (−53 ± 9%, P < 0.01) and fractional excretion of sodium (−47 ± 10%, P < 0.01). Stimulation at 4 and 12 Hz elicited marked renal vasoconstriction (ΔRBF = −37 ± 12%, P < 0.05 and −57 ± 12%, P < 0.01, respectively). When RNS (1 Hz) was performed during DA1 receptor blockade with SCH 23390, 0.5 μg · kg-1 · min-1 iv, the responses were not different than those before SCH 23390 infusion (urinary sodium excretion: −54 ± 7%, P < 0.01 and fractional excretion of sodium: −46 ± 5%, P < 0.01). Renal vasoconstriction was also not influenced by SCH 23390 (Δ...
Uses and limitations of exercise Doppler echocardiography in the clinical evaluation of ischemic heart disease

Since the early 1930’s, clinicians have used exercise to aid in the diagnosis and evaluation of patients with ischemic heart disease [1]. By increasing myocardial oxygen demand, exercise can induce myocardial ischemia when myocardial oxygen delivery is impaired by significant, flow-limiting coronary atherosclerosis [2]. Methods available for noninvasive evaluation of exercise-induced myocardial ischemia include: electrocardiography, radionuclide techniques, two-dimensional echocardiography, and Doppler echocardiography.
An inkjet printed meandered dipole antenna for RF passive sensing applications

In this paper, a low cost inkjet printed antenna envisioned for integration with printed and non-printed RF sensors is presented. The proposed meandered dipole dual-loop antenna is designed on a 0.25mm thick paper substrate. The antenna not only gives wireless remote sensing capability but also allows remote identification functionality. The antenna structure consists of an outer loop and an inner loop resonating at 3GHz and 5GHz respectively and used for obtaining unique electromagnetic signature by modifications in their dimensions.
April 1978–December 1978

From March 1978 to the end of that year, two different trends in Western responses to events in Cambodia developed and moved into greater conflict with each other. As information regarding and concern surrounding the human rights situation grew, Western governments, particularly the United States and Britain, began to take further responsive measures, culminating in submissions made by each government and a number of others to the UN Commission on Human Rights. As the conflict between Kampuchea and Vietnam deepened, however, and the backing of each by China and the Soviet Union, respectively, strengthened, the United States moved towards closer links with China. This move tacitly implied support for China and its ally Kampuchea against the Soviet Union and Vietnam. This paradox — between opposing the Democratic Kampuchea regime on human rights grounds and realising that Western states had certain shared strategic interests with Kampuchea — became abundantly clear with the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia at the end of 1978.
Book Review: A Teacher’s Guide to Adapted Physical Education: Including Students with Disabilities in Sports and Recreation, 4th Edition

The fourth edition of this book is organized into four sections. Section I: Foundations (Chapters 1–3) provides an in-depth description of physical education, inclusion, and taking a team approach to inclusion in physical education. Section II: Inclusive practices and Planning (Chapters 4–7) focus on planning and assessment along with instructional, curricular, game, and sport modifications. Section III: Understanding Specific Needs (Chapters 8–16) provides information related to understanding specific needs including intellectual, learning, and sensory disabilities as well as emotional disturbance. Section IV: Supporting Across Contexts (Chapters 17–21) focus on social acceptance, making physical education safe, behavior management, inclusion in community-based recreation, and multicultural education and issues of diversity. At the end of the book, there are comprehensive reference and index sections.
Diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for malignant mesothelioma: an update

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive and lethal cancer, mostly related to inhalation of asbestos and erionite fibers. MM is associated with poor prognosis, because of its resistance to current therapies, even if higher survival occurs in patients diagnosed and treated when at stage I of the disease. However, these do not exceed 5% of the total number of cases, due to the inadequacy of the existing biomarkers for early and accurate diagnosis. Therefore, new effective biomarkers are needed for MM detection at earlier stages and to develop tailored therapies. Here we review the most promising biomarkers in MM to date: mesothelin, soluble mesothelin-related peptides (SMRPs), megakaryocyte potentiating factor (MPF), Osteopontin (OPN), Fibulin-3, high mobility group B1 (HMGB1), microRNAs (miRNAs), multiplex protein signatures. The validation of these biomarkers will allow their use, alone or in combination, for monitoring individuals from cohorts at risk of MM and attaining early detection of MM that is instrumental in improving patient survival.
Optical probing of field dependent effects in GaAs photoconductive switches

A new diagnostic technique for measuring electric fields on the surfaces of semiconductors is described. The diagnostic uses the Pockels effect which mixes the electric field on a semiconductor surface with that of an incident optical pulse in a nonlinear crystal rotating the polarization of the optical pulse. This rotation can be detected and used to extract the surface electric field. Electro-optic sampling as this technique is called allows us to study the physics of semiconductors subjected to high fields with 100-ps time resolution. We have seen field enhancements in GaAs in photoconductive switches which modeling has shown to be due to Gunn domains.© (1991) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Juifs et musulmans en Algérie: VIIe-XXe siècle / Juifs et musulmans au Maroc: des origines à nos jours / Juifs et musulmans en Tunisie: des origines à nos jours

Established under the sponsorship of UNESCO in 2009, the Aladdin Project (in French: Projet Aladin) is a Paris-based international NGO that advocates the ‘building [of] bridges of knowledge between...
Homegrown Solution to African Problem: Harnessing Innovation for Petroleum Refining in Nigeria

ABSTRACTNigeria, a major petroleum producer and exporter, suffers from lack of refining capabilities, sometimes creating supply shortages. To satisfy demand, petroleum products must be imported fro...
An Integrated Vessel Performance System for Environmental Compliance

International and regional regulatory developments like the IMO data collection and reporting system and the European Union (EU) system for monitoring, reporting and verifying (MRV) CO2 emissions will require ship operators to report specific data like the total annual fuel consumption by fuel type, CO2 emissions, distance travelled, time spent at sea and other relevant informations. In light of increasing pressure from the maritime industry on the EU to initiate, without delay, the review process specified in the EU MRV Regulation and aimed at aligning the EU with the IMO system, ship operators are already seeking compliance solutions.
Smart starting guesses from machine learning for phase retrieval

Image-based wavefront sensing uses a physical model to simulate a point-spread function (PSF) that attempts to match measured data. Nonlinear optimization is used to update parameters corresponding to the wavefront. If the starting guess for the wavefront is too far from the true solution, these nonlinear optimization techniques are unlikely to converge. We trained a convolutional neural network (CNN) based on Google’s Inception v3 architecture1 to predict Zernike coefficients from simulated images of PSFs with simulated noise added. These coefficients were used as starting guesses for nonlinear optimization techniques. We performed Monte Carlo analysis to compare these predicted coefficients to 30 random starting guesses for total root-mean-square (RMS) wavefront errors (WFE) ranging from 0.25 waves to 4.0 waves. We found that our CNN’s predictions were more likely to converge than the random starting guesses for RMS WFE larger than 0.5 waves.
Chronic tinnitus resulting from cerumen removal procedures.

This study was undertaken to determine how many cases of chronic tinnitus in a clinic population resulted from cerumen removal procedures and to summarize cerumen management methodologies and recommendations that will reduce the likelihood of such serious complications. Detailed questionnaires were mailed to 2,400 consecutive patients (1,704 male, 696 female; mean age, 53.3 ::t: 11.8 years; age range, 7-87 years) prior to their initial appointment at the Oregon Health & Science University Tinnitus Clinic between 1986 and 2000. These questionnaires requested information about patients' medical, hearing, and tinnitus histories. Records were analyzed to determine how many patients reported that their chronic tinnitus began as a result of cerumen removal procedures. Of 2,400 patients, 11 (0.46%) reported that their tinnitus began as a result of cerumen removal procedures performed by clinicians. Three additional patients reported that chronic tinnitus began as a result of their own attempts to clean their ear canals. Chronic and debilitating conditions, such as hearing loss and tinnitus, can occur as results of attempts to remove cerumen. By following the recommendations of experts in cerumen management techniques , clinicians can reduce the likelihood of catastrophic complications and subsequent litigation.
The supportive roles of spirituality and mindfulness in patients’ cancer journeys

‘Cancer is a tremendous opportunity to have your face pressed right up against the glass of your mortality.’ (Jason Shinder, New York Times, 24 December 2008)While people in many parts of the world...
Reusable unit process life cycle inventory for manufacturing: gas metal arc welding

The paper develops a unit process life cycle inventory (UPLCI) for gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process. UPLCI is a modeling approach that allows users to estimate the energy and materials flow of a unit process. A UPLCI model can be reused in different manufacturing settings where a wide range of machines and materials are used. GMAW is in the joining category of the taxonomy of manufacturing processes, and this work is part of the effort to build UPLCI models for all common manufacturing processes. Following UPLCI approach, the energy consumption is not limited to the energy needed to initiate and maintain the arc (i.e. active energy). Energy spent during idle and standby are also accounted. An example calculation is provided to demonstrate how the GMAW model can be used. It should be noted that the GMAW model can be linked to UPLCI models of other unit processes. This makes it possible to estimate the materials loss and energy use (thus environmental impacts) of a product made by a sequence of manufacturing processes.
Contextual Deep Regression Network for Volume Estimation in Orbital CT

Diseases of the optic nerve cause structural changes observable through clinical computed tomography (CT) imaging. Previous work has shown that multi-atlas methods can be used to segment and extract volumetric measurements from the optic nerve, which are associated with visual disability and disease. In this work, we trained a weakly supervised convolutional neural network to learn optic nerve volumes directly, without segmentation. Furthermore, we explored the role of contextual electronic medical record (EMR) information, specifically ICD-9 codes, to improve optic nerve volume estimation. We constructed a merged network to combine data from imaging as well as EMR and demonstrated that context improved volume prediction, with a 15% increase in explained-variance \( \left( {R^{2} } \right) \). Finally, we compared disease prediction models using volumes learned from multi-atlas, CNN, and contextual-CNN. We observed that the predicted optic nerve volume from merge-CNN had an AUC of 0.74 for classification of disease, as compared to an AUC of 0.54 using the multi-atlas metric. This is the first work to show that a contextually derived volume biomarker is more accurate than volume estimations through multi-atlas or weakly supervised image CNN. These results highlight the potential for image processing improvements by incorporating non-imaging data.
Putting the Camps into UCLA's Curriculum

(1993). Putting the Camps into UCLA's Curriculum. Amerasia Journal: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 139-152.
Outmigration survival of wild Chinook salmon smolts through the Sacramento River during historic drought and high water conditions

Populations of wild spring-run Chinook salmon in California’s Central Valley, once numbering in the millions, have dramatically declined to record low numbers. Dam construction, habitat degradation, and altered flow regimes have all contributed to depress populations, which currently persist in only a few tributaries to the Sacramento River. Mill Creek (Tehama County) continues to support these threatened fish, and contains some of the most pristine spawning and rearing habitat available in the Central Valley. Despite this pristine habitat, the number of Chinook salmon returning to spawn has declined to record low numbers, likely due to poor outmigration survival rates. From 2013 to 2017, 334 smolts were captured and acoustic tagged while out-migrating from Mill Creek, allowing for movement and survival rates to be tracked over 250 km through the Sacramento River. During this study California experienced both a historic drought and record rainfall, resulting in dramatic fluctuations in year-to-year river flow and water temperature. Cumulative survival of tagged smolts from Mill Creek through the Sacramento River was 9.5% (±1.6) during the study, with relatively low survival during historic drought conditions in 2015 (4.9% ± 1.6) followed by increased survival during high flows in 2017 (42.3% ± 9.1). Survival in Mill Creek and the Sacramento River was modeled over a range of flow values, which indicated that higher flows in each region result in increased survival rates. Survival estimates gathered in this study can help focus management and restoration actions over a relatively long migration corridor to specific regions of low survival, and provide guidance for management actions in the Sacramento River aimed at restoring populations of threatened Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon.
Succession planning for academic nursing

Academic nursing must plan for the future by retaining, developing, and recruiting academic nurse leaders, utilizing best practices in succession planning. This article presents a case study in which an evidence-based model was developed to provide academic nurse leaders with a guide for succession planning. A formal succession plan gives purposeful direction in identifying and developing emerging leaders and is especially useful for individuals who are new to a major leadership role. The author collaborated with an academic nurse leader at a selected College of Nursing in gathering information essential to forecasting future leadership needs. An Executive Summary report, highlighting recommendations, was provided to the academic leader in order to initiate a formal succession plan. The model provides a means for the assessment of current leadership skills and talents, analysis of future needs for academic nurse leaders, and development of evidence-based recommendations to strengthen and improve an academic succession plan. The succession planning model lays the groundwork for academic nursing leaders to achieve and uphold a highly qualified nursing leadership workforce to meet the future needs.
Resilience as a Predictor of Patient Satisfaction With Nonopioid Pain Management and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures After Knee Arthroscopy.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Brief Resilience Score (BRS) as a predictor for patient satisfaction with nonopioid pain management and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy or chondroplasty. Methods One hundred seventy-five patients undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy and/or chondroplasty were recruited from a single clinic and were preoperatively stratified into low-to-normal resilience or high resilience groups as measured by the BRS. Satisfaction with nonopioid pain control was assessed at a 2-week follow-up visit using the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Provider and Systems questionnaire, and various PROMs were measured at 3 and 6 months postoperatively. Statistical analysis was performed to assess for differences in satisfaction with pain control or PROMs between resilience groups. Results Analysis revealed no statistically significant differences between the low-to-normal resilience group and the high resilience group with regard to satisfaction with nonopioid pain control or PROMs assessed at 3- or 6-month follow-ups. Outcome measures [visual analog scale pain, Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) Pain, KOOS Activities of Daily Living, KOOS Quality of Life, Single Assessment Numerical Evaluation (SANE) Knee, and Veterans Rand 12-Item Health Survey Physical and Mental Component Scores] all followed expected trajectories after surgery, without a statistically significant difference between resilience groups. Conclusion This study provides evidence that preoperative resilience score, as measured by the BRS, does not correlate with postoperative patient-reported functional outcome or satisfaction with a nonopioid pain regimen after knee arthroscopy. Level of Evidence II.
Plasmonic enhancement of stability and brightness in organic light-emitting devices

The field of plasmonics, which studies the resonant interactions of electromagnetic waves and free electrons in solid-state materials1, has yet to be put to large-scale commercial application2 owing to the large amount of loss that usually occurs in plasmonic materials3. Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs)4-7 have been incorporated into billions of commercial products because of their good colour saturation, versatile form factor8 and low power consumption9, but could still be improved in terms of efficiency and stability. Although OLEDs incorporating organic phosphors achieve an internal charge-to-light conversion of unity10, their refractive index contrast reduces the observable fraction of photons outside the device to around 25 per cent11-13. Further, during OLED operation, a localized buildup of slow-decaying14 triplet excitons and charges15 gradually reduces the brightness of the device in a process called ageing16,17, which can result in 'burn-in' effects on the display. Simultaneously improving device efficiency and stability is of paramount importance for OLED technology. Here we demonstrate an OLED that uses the decay rate enhancement18 of a plasmonic system to increase device stability, while maintaining efficiency by incorporating a nanoparticle-based out-coupling scheme to extract energy from the plasmon mode. Using an archetypal phosphorescent emitter, we achieve a two-fold increase in operational stability at the same brightness as a reference conventional device while simultaneously extracting 16 per cent of the energy from the plasmon mode as light. Our approach to increasing OLED stability avoids material-specific designs19-22 and is applicable to all commercial OLEDs that are currently used for lighting panels, televisions and mobile displays.
Apple cider vinegar soaks do not alter the skin bacterial microbiome in atopic dermatitis

Introduction Atopic dermatitis is a common skin disease characterized by altered cutaneous immunity in which patients often exhibit lower skin microbiota diversity compared to healthy skin and are prone to colonization by Staphylococcus aureus. Apple cider vinegar has been shown to have antibacterial effects; however, its effects on the skin microbiome have not previously been well-described. Objectives We aimed to examine the effects of topical dilute apple cider vinegar soaks on Staphylococcus aureus abundance, skin bacterial microbiome composition, and skin bacterial microbiome diversity in atopic dermatitis participants compared to healthy skin. Methods Eleven subjects with atopic dermatitis and 11 healthy controls were enrolled in this randomized, non-blinded, single-institution, split-arm pilot study. Subjects soaked one forearm in dilute apple cider vinegar (0.5% acetic acid) and the other forearm in tap water for 10 minutes daily. Skin bacteria samples were collected from subjects' volar forearms before and after 14 days of treatment. 16S sequencing was used to analyze Staphylococcus aureus abundance and skin bacterial microbiome composition, and alpha diversity of microbiota were determined using Shannon diversity index. Results There was no difference in skin bacterial microbiome in atopic dermatitis subjects after 2 weeks of daily water or apple cider vinegar treatments (p = 0.056 and p = 0.22, respectively), or in mean abundance of S. aureus on apple cider vinegar-treated forearms (p = 0.60). At 2 weeks, the skin bacterial microbiomes of healthy control subjects were not significantly different from the skin bacterial microbiome of atopic dermatitis subjects (p = 0.14, 0.21, 0.12, and 0.05). Conclusions Our results suggest that daily soaks in 0.5% apple cider vinegar are not an effective method of altering the skin bacterial microbiome in atopic dermatitis. Further studies are needed to explore the effects of different concentrations of apple cider vinegar on skin microflora and disease severity. Trial number UVA IRB-HSR #19906.
Nystagmus and Superior Oblique Myokymia

Nystagmus is an involuntary, rhythmic ocular movement that is initiated by a slow drift and comes in two varieties (Fig. 16.1): (1) jerk nystagmus (alternating slow and fast phases) and (2) pendular nystagmus (back-to-back slow phases). Both jerk and pendular nystagmus can have horizontal, vertical, or torsional components in isolation or combination. Some nystagmus manifests very early in life (infantile), while acquired nystagmus can be associated with a variety of pathologic conditions. Acquired nystagmus becomes symptomatic when the pathologic slow phase moves the eyes away from fixation, often causing oscillopsia, or an illusory movement of a stationary object. Therapies proposed for nystagmus include pharmacologic, chemodenervation (e.g., botulinum toxin), surgical, and optical among others. The goal of treatment is to improve vision by stabilizing retinal images. While large-scale randomized controlled trials are generally lacking for the treatment of nystagmus, we will discuss those therapies for which at least some evidence exists.
Better Understanding and Intervening to Prevent Relational Aggression

There has been increased attention paid to the reduction of aggressive behaviors among youth since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, an incident which reportedly occurred in response to the perpetrators’ victimization by peers (Larkin, 2009). The shocking display of extreme physical violence at Columbine influenced American researchers to focus on daily incidents of peer bullying and the implications of being an ongoing victim of peer bullying or abuse (Safran, 2007). More recently, harassment and bullying through nonphysical means (e.g., cyberbullying, relational aggression) has received media attention given the rash of suicides by youth who were being victimized by these forms of aggression. Although the media focus on nonphysical forms of aggression has only recently sparked the interest of the general public and lawmakers, research on these forms of aggression, particularly relational forms of aggression, is not a new phenomenon.
Starting the Project

All of the technical and managerial activities required to deliver a software product to a client are collectively referred to as a software project. A software project has a specific duration, consumes resources, and produces deliverables. From the perspective of a developer, a software project consists of project functions, activities and tasks. Figure 4.1 depicts a project model, as described by Bernd Bruegge (2004). A project function is an activity, or set of activities, that spans the entire duration of the project. Examples of project functions include configuration management, documentation, quality control, training, and testing. Each of these activities begins in the early stages of the development process, and continues through the development life of the software product. An activity is described as a smaller unit of work. Activities are often small enough for adequate planning and tracking but also large enough to quickly complicate micro management. Finally, a task is the smallest unit of management accountability. Tasks are the building blocks of the development process, and larger units of work are composed of multiple, complimentary tasks. Tasks, by nature, have a predetermined, finite duration, require specific resources, and produce tangible results, such as code, documentation, etc.
A Unified Setting for Selection Algorithms (II)

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on a unified setting for selection algorithms. The members of a combinatorial family that has a recursive structure can be encoded as paths in a certain graph G, which depends only on the family. It can then perform the desired selection algorithms on the paths issuing from a fixed vertex (the “order”), and either use the output information in coded form, if possible in a particular application, or else decode to obtain the familiar representation of the object. In this chapter, the idea is further developed by first displaying quite explicitly the initial portions of the relevant graphs for three families—subsets, partitions of sets with given number of classes, and permutations of n letters with k cycles along with lexicographically arranged lists, for these three families, of the objects of order (5, 3), giving rank, codeword, and familiar form, in each case. The chapter discusses two families that are covered by the general theory—the first, compositions of n into k parts and the second, Young tableaux. The chapter considers the interesting question of the compactness of the coding scheme—that is , the economy of the representation that leads to several difficult problems. The chapter also discusses the general sequencing algorithms.
Contemporary Management of Secondary Aortoduodenal Fistula

Background Secondary aortoduodenal fistula (SADF) is a rare, life-threatening complication of abdominal aortic reconstruction. Clinical presentation varies and treatment requires complex surgical repair associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. This retrospective study examines the contemporary management of SADF at a tertiary vascular surgical practice. Methods Thirteen patients were managed for SADF between 2004 and 2014. Vascular and duodenal reconstructions were considered. Primary end points included bile leak, major complications, and mortality. Results Of the 13 patients presenting with SADF, 6 presented with luminal blood loss. During mean follow-up (632 days), the rate of major complication was 77%. Overall, 38% developed duodenal leak. All leaks occurred after graft explantation with extra-anatomic bypass, and the majority of these patients (80%) had no preceding history of acute gastrointestinal (GI) bleed. There were no leaks identified after duodenal exclusion with gastrojejunostomy. Patients that developed duodenal leak had longer mean intensive care unit length of stay (LOS; 7.0 vs. 2.3 days, P = 0.004), longer mean overall hospital LOS (36.6 vs. 18.5 days, P = 0.012), and greater late mortality (40% vs. 13%). There were 2 SADF-related deaths. Overall mortality trended higher in females (67% vs. 20%, P = 0.125) and those that presented without acute GI bleed (43% vs. 17%, P = 0.308). Conclusions Surgical reconstruction for SADF results in major morbidity. Those presenting with acute GI bleed trended toward better outcomes than those without. Duodenal leak remains a serious complication. Duodenal exclusion may represent a more appropriate and conservative approach for management of the duodenal defect in select patients.
Spline-based gradient filters for high-quality refraction computations in discrete datasets

Based on the finding that refraction imposes significantly higher demands onto gradient filters than illumination and shading, we evaluate the family of spline filters as a good alternative to the cubic filters, which so far have served as the gold standard of efficient yet high-quality interpolation filters in present visualization applications. Using a regular background texture to visualize the refractive properties of the volumetric object, we also describe an efficient scheme to achieve the effects of supersampling without incurring any extra raycasting overhead. Our results indicate that splines can be superior to the Catmull-Rom filter, with potentially less computational overhead, also offering a convenient means to adjust the extent of lowpassing and smoothing.
A method of prediction of age of menarche from height and weight at ages 9 through 13 years.

A method of prediction of age of menarche from the height and weight of a girl at each age from 9 through 13 years using quartiles of total body water as percent of body weight, an indicator of body composition, particularly fatness, at each age is presented. A similar method to predict age of initiation of the adolescent growth spurt from the height and weight of a girl at age 8 years is also given. Comparison of the results with prediction by other methods supports the idea that the ratio of lean body weight to fat and the metabolic rate per kilogram are important for the determination of sexual maturation. The time difference between actual and predicted age of menarche was six months or less for 59% of the subjects at age 12, 53% at age 11, 48% at age 10, and 47% at age 9.
Pasteurella caballi, a new species from equine clinical specimens

The name Pasteurella caballi is proposed for a group of organisms represented by 29 strains isolated from respiratory and other infections in horses. P. caballi strains are gram-negative, oxidase-positive, nonmotile, fermentative rods with the key characteristics of the genus Pasteurella. These strains differed from other Pasteurella species in that all were aerogenic and catalase negative, and some strains produced acid from myo-inositol and L-rhamnose. The levels of DNA relatedness of 28 P. caballi strains with labeled DNA from the proposed type strain averaged 91 and 85% (hydroxyapatite method at 55 and 70 degrees C). P. caballi was 13 to 53% related to strains representing 22 other species of the family Pasteurellaceae. The guanine-plus-cytosine content of the DNA of four strains was 41 to 42 mol%. The type strain is 83851 (=ATCC 49197).
Taking time to consider the causes and consequences of large wildfires

Over the past several decades we have witnessed record-setting wildfires across nearly every continent (1), with recent months as no exception. Widespread burning across western North America includes some of the largest wildfires on record in Washington State, with 2015 total area burned on track to exceed observations of the past two decades (2). Because wildfires have immediate and long-term impacts on social and ecological systems (3), these events motivate critical questions about the precedence, causes, and consequences of large wildfires, and ultimately what the future may hold under varying global-change scenarios. In PNAS, Calder et al. (4) offer a unique perspective informing these questions in subalpine forests in northern Colorado, a region that has experienced extensive fires in the past two decades, as part of the trend of increased fire activity across the western United States (5). Calder et al.’s (4) insights come from 2,000 y of fire history, developed from sediment-charcoal records from 12 lakes spanning a 100,000 ha study area. By combining these records over space and time, the authors develop a composite fire history record that reveals the timing and regional synchrony of past wildfire activity. Their results help elucidate the precedence of regionally extensive wildfires, the long-term dynamics that govern fire activity during climatic warming, and the potential implications of warmer conditions for fire regimes in the 21st century. Such paleoecological perspectives highlight that our understanding of wildfires—and the way we interact with and plan for them—is strongly shaped by the timescales we consider (6, 7) (Fig. 1).
Performance evaluation of a boost converter under influence of random noise

The presence of unavoidable disturbances has become an issue concerning power converter modeling. These disturbances result in system parameter variations, which may significantly alter predicted performance of a converter. In this paper, a switching pulse-width modulated (PWM) DC-DC converter performance is studied under the influence of random noise. We experimentally verify existence of noise and measure its statistical properties on the operating characteristics of the boost converter. Experimental results show that the characteristics of random noise in the converter are Gaussian distributed. Available deterministic approaches do not provide insight into important effects of random noise on dynamics of a power converter. To reflect the system parameter uncertainties, these disturbances must be included in the converter model. To address this problem, we present a converter model that captures the effect of these inherent random noises on the overall behavior of a practical converter. Realistic disturbances are lumped and modeled as switching time uncertainties. We also propose a performance index quantifying the converter performance. This index is known as mean first passage time (MFPT). It represents the time for the trajectory to evolve from operating point to the stability boundary. Comparison between stochastic performance index, MFPT and the deterministic one, critical energy, under the presence of realistic disturbances is presented. The MFPT illustrates the use of proposed stochastic model to determine the power converter limit.
Making Sustainability Visible: Two Early Childhood Education Centers

This post occupancy evaluation compares two early childhood education centers built in 2007 in two very different parts of rural Oregon by two independent Head Start organizations. Making sustainability visible was a goal for both these projects at multiple scales: building facilities that gave stability and visibility for programs for early childhood education, fostering environmental awareness and reducing energy costs. Research involved two cycles of evaluation: one in 2008 – a year after occupancy - and a second in 2012 – five years out. Methods included interviews with architects, clients and users, parent surveys and site visits for walk-throughs, observations and collection of environmental data. Findings validate key design principles necessary to the success of both projects that can inform future projects.
Characterization of simian virus 40 receptor moieties on the surfaces of Vero C1008 cells.

Abstract The nature of the simian virus 40 (SV40) receptor on the surfaces of Vero C1008 cells was investigated by a virus binding assay. The optimum pH for SV40 binding to cell surfaces was found to be at 6.5; however, there was little difference in SV40 binding in the range between pH 4.5 and 7.3. The treatment of cell surfaces with several proteases or with an enzyme specific for O-linked carbohydrates significantly reduced virus binding, suggesting that the receptor for SV40 contains protein and O-linked carbohydrates. Treatment of cell monolayers with octyl glucoside removed virus-binding activity from cell surfaces. Recovery of virus-binding activity by octyl glucoside-treated cells took 2.5 h and was inhibited by cycloheximide or tunicamycin. Four polypeptides with molecular weights of 90,000, 58,000, 54,000, and 30,000 were immunoprecipitated from virus-protein complexes derived from octyl glucoside extract solutions and therefore may be components of the SV40 receptor. Competition experiments between SV40 and polyomavirus revealed that these two viruses do not share the same receptor on Vero C1008 cells.
Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation for Motor Restoration in Hemiplegia

This article reviews the most common therapeutic and neuroprosthetic applications of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) for upper and lower extremity stroke rehabilitation. Fundamental NMES principles and purposes in stroke rehabilitation are explained. NMES modalities used for upper and lower limb rehabilitation are described, and efficacy studies are summarized. The evidence for peripheral and central mechanisms of action is also summarized.
PuzzledDelightful graph theory

Welcome to the new puzzle column. Each column will present three puzzles. The first two will have known (and usually elegant) solutions that will appear in the next issue of Communications. The third will be an open problem; good luck with that one. Readers are encouraged to submit prospective puzzles for future columns to puzzled@cacm.acm.org. We start with three delightful graph-theoretic puzzles. Here we go.
Exact Expressions for the Gravitational Attraction of a Circular Lamina at all Points of Space and of a Right Circular Vertical Cylinder at Points External to it. (Discussion on a paper by D. S. Parasnis)

Parasnis' method of obtaining the gravity anomaly of circular laminae can in some cases lead to large errors. The use of the solid angle chart given by Nettleton (1942) is suggested instead.
Effect of temperature on the rate of the transparent to opaque colony type transition in Mycobacterium avium.

The results of drug susceptibility tests were found to be affected by changes that occur spontaneously in populations of Mycobacterium avium maintained in the laboratory. Because the transparent colony type variant was resistant to antituberculosis chemotherapeutic agents and the opaque colony type variant was usually susceptible to these agents, the transition of transparent to opaque colony type was investigated. The rate of the transition was found to be temperature dependent and, in agreement with a previous report, was found to be about 10 −4 to 10 −5 per generation at 37 C. Reversion was found to occur at a rate of 10 −6 to 10 −7 at 37 C. The mutation rate from susceptibility to resistance to rifampin, kanamycin, and erythromycin was about 10 −8 to 10 −9 mutations per bacterium per generation. Judged from our data, the high rate of the transparent to opaque variation was not caused either by mutator effects or by the occurrence of extrachromosomal genes in these bacteria, but could have been due to selective mechanisms still incompletely understood.
Polyene antibiotic action on lecithin liposomes: effect of cholesterol and fatty acyl chains.

Abstract The effect of cholesterol incorporation upon amphotericin B and nystatin susceptibility of lecithin liposome systems containing various fatty acids has been studied. Cholesterol was shown to: 1) confer sensitivity to low concentrations of amphotericin B in liposomes derived from egg lecithin, and 2) suppress the amphotericin B and nystatin-induced response in liposomes derived from dipalmitoyl or distearoyl lecithins. This clear cut difference cannot be explained by mechanisms of drug action so far presented. They are discussed in connection with the possibility that susceptibility to these polyene antibiotics is related to the over-all state of the membrane organization, in particular to the over-all conformation of membrane components.
Nonparametric Estimation from Incomplete Observations

Abstract In lifetesting, medical follow-up, and other fields the observation of the time of occurrence of the event of interest (called a death) may be prevented for some of the items of the sample by the previous occurrence of some other event (called a loss). Losses may be either accidental or controlled, the latter resulting from a decision to terminate certain observations. In either case it is usually assumed in this paper that the lifetime (age at death) is independent of the potential loss time; in practice this assumption deserves careful scrutiny. Despite the resulting incompleteness of the data, it is desired to estimate the proportion P(t) of items in the population whose lifetimes would exceed t (in the absence of such losses), without making any assumption about the form of the function P(t). The observation for each item of a suitable initial event, marking the beginning of its lifetime, is presupposed. For random samples of size N the product-limit (PL) estimate can be defined as follows: L...
Gastrointestinal polyposis and PTEN mutations: an under-acknowledged diagnostic criterion

Background The International Cowden Consortium (ICC) created operational diagnostic criteria that specify gastrointestinal (GI) hamartomas as a minor criterion. Previous review of reported case studies found that 35-85% of Cowden syndrome (CS) patients had GI hamartomas. Our goal is to describe the GI phenotype of our PTEN mutation positive (+) series.
The Economic Crisis from a Neoclassical Perspective

Abstract This paper assesses the 2007–2009 recession using neoclassical business cycle theory. I find that the 2007–2009 U.S. recession differs substantially from other postwar U.S. recessions, and also from the 2008 recession in other countries, in that lower labor input accounts for virtually all of the decline in income and output in the United States, while lower productivity accounts for much of other U.S. recessions and the 2007–2009 recession in other countries. I also find that existing classes of models, including financial market imperfections models, do not explain the U.S. recession. This is because the 2007–2009 recession is almost exclusively related to what appear to be labor market distortions that drive a wedge between the marginal product of labor and the marginal rate of substitution between consumption and leisure, a topic about which current classes of financial imperfection models are largely silent. I discuss future avenues for developing this class of models, and I consider alterna...
Scaled reality: interfaces for augmenting information on small-scale tangible objects

In this paper, we introduce the concept of Scaled Reality with a set of interfaces to distort, deform and resize our comprehensible spatial world to help us augment and visualize information on physical objects that cannot be accessed otherwise due to their size or orientation. We introduce three interfaces: a mirrored table top, a see through lens system and a L-shaped display to scale, view and manipulate object forms in novel ways. As a proof-of-concept application, we show augmentation and retrieval of information tagged onto tangibles with a relatively microscopic form factor.