cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Noise Control of an 11,000 Horsepower Single Stage Pipeline Centrifugal Compressor

Centrifugal compressors installed for natural gas transmission produce significant noise. Many of these compressors have a single impeller with high power input. Large diameter pipes are typically connected to the inlet and discharge of the compressors. As a result, a single stage pipeline compressor not only has a strong noise source but also has a large structure to radiate noise to the ambient. As pipeline compressors are installed close to residential areas, community noise complaints become a concern to pipeline companies and compressor manufacturers. To make compressors more environmentally friendly, duct resonator acoustic arrays have been developed to lower the acoustic energy emanating to the environment. This paper focuses on acoustic technology applied to a single stage pipeline direct-inlet compressor with a 28-inch diameter impeller. The effectiveness of the duct resonator acoustic array is described in this paper with field noise data from three different tests — one test before the compressor was retrofitted with the resonator arrays and two tests afterwards. A baseline noise test was first conducted in January 2002 to obtain the compressor noise signature and to establish the baseline noise data. Using the baseline noise data, duct resonator arrays were designed, manufactured, and retrofitted into the compressor to reduce noise. A second test was performed in October 2002, just after the upgrade, to check the effectiveness of the resonator arrays. The compressor was tested under six different operating points (two speed lines at three points per speed line) from overload to surge during both the first and the second tests. In February 2004, fifteen months after the second test, a third noise test of the same unit was performed to assess the effectiveness of the resonator array over time. The purpose of this third test was to identify if there was any degradation of noise attenuation due to fouling. A comparison of the data taken on the third noise survey with those measured on the second noise survey indicated there was no change in noise levels. After the third test, the unit was disassembled for an aerodynamic retrofit. At this point, the array was inspected and found to be clean. This indicates that the duct resonator array has been performing well since its installation. Fouling has not been detected and the array performance did not degrade over time. This paper provides acoustic data for all three field tests conducted with a focus on the technology applied to reduce the acoustic energy of this centrifugal compressor.© 2007 ASME
O-034 Carotid Artery Angioplasty versus Stenting in Acute Ischemic Stroke

Introduction Acute ischemic stroke secondary to cervical carotid artery occlusion can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Acute carotid occlusion may be managed by carotid angioplasty, stenting, or both. The use of carotid stents requires patients to be placed on dual antiplatelet agents, which may contribute to increased haemorrhage risk. We undertook this study to evaluate outcomes for angioplasty alone versus stenting in the setting of acute carotid occlusion. Methods All patients treated from 2008 to 2013 with acute cervical internal carotid artery occlusions that had intervention within eight hours of symptom onset were included. NIHSS were recorded preceding intervention, and clinical outcomes were assessed using mRS at 90 days. All imaging and angiographic data were reviewed for pre-procedural ASPECT scores, pre- and post- TICI reperfusion scores, and intracranial haemorrhage as defined by PH grading score for haemorrhage. Demographic and treatment factors were correlated with good functional outcome (mRS Results Twenty-four patients (15 males, 9 females; mean age, 67 years) satisfied the inclusion criteria. Seventeen patients underwent placement of carotid stent and 7 patients had angioplasty alone. Patients in both subgroups were comparable across characteristics including comorbidities, time for onset to recanalization, ASPECTS, and IV tPA use. 35% of patients who underwent stenting had good functional outcomes, versus 71% of patients treated with angioplasty alone, although these differences were not statistically significant. No differences were seen for the two treatment groups comparing time from onset to recanalization, baseline ASPECTS, and IV tPA use. Additionally, increased age (p = 0.049) and post-treatment parenchymal haemorrhage- PH1 or PH2 (p = 0.016) correlated with poor outcomes (mRS > 2). All parenchymal haemorrhages (6/17) and deaths (5/17) fell within the stenting subgroup (35.3% and 29.4%, respectively). Conclusions This data suggest that patients undergoing angioplasty alone in the setting of acute internal carotid artery occlusion may have improved functional outcome at 90-day compared to those undergoing stenting. This study was limited by a small sample size and a larger study would be needed to confirm these findings. Keywords angioplasty, stenting, acute ischemic stroke, carotid occlusion. Disclosures O. Choudhri: None. M. Gupta: None. A. Feroze: None. G. Albers: None. M. Lansberg: None. H. Do: None. R. Dodd: None. M. Marcellus: None. M. Marks: None.
The analysis of drinking water quality monitoring resalts 2007-2009 in Xianju county

Objective:To get the Sanitary situation of potable water in the rural area of Xianju.Methods: To monitor the potable water in the rural area of Xianju during 2007 and 2009 in accordance with the Standard Examination Methods for Drinking water.Results: Among the 614 water samples tested during 2007 and 2009,the qualified rates of total hardness,chloride,lead,arsenic,nitrate were 100%,while the number of coliform group exceeded standard at most,whose qualified rate only made 23.13%,and the qualified rates of turbidity,PH rate,total bacterial count successively made 67.50%,81.11% and 87.46%.Conclusion: The number of coliform group and total bacterial count exceeded standard,proving the truth that the water was polluted by the organic compound,excrements and trashes.
Equity in access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia: an analysis of EDHS data (2000–2011)

Significant efforts to improve water supply and sanitation (WSS 2) use of improved sanitation; 3) use of untreated surface water as a primary source for drinking water; 4) open defecation; and 5) water transport times greater than 30 minutes. Trends were assessed by urban/rural residence, administrative region and education. The study found increases in access to improved water supplies and reductions in open defecation; however, no progress was observed in the use of improved sanitation. Rural households that reported drinking untreated surface water went from nearly one-third in 2000 to one-fifth in 2011. No improvements were found regarding the reported time spent collecting water. Inequities in WS&S remained high across the country, highlighting the need to focus on these differences and target resources towards sub-populations that lack this fundamental necessity.
Epidemiological comparative analysis of single infection and repeated infection with hand,foot,and mouth disease in the City of Jinan

Objectives To investigate differences in the incidence of single infection and repeated infection with hand,foot,and mouth disease(HFMD) based on epidemiological characteristics and to provide scientific evidence for the prevention and control of HFMD.Methods Reported cases of HFMD from 2005-2011 in the City of Jinan were studied using the National Disease Surveillance and Reporting System.Differences in incidence rates and epidemiological characteristics of cases of single infection and repeated infection were studied.Results The City of Jinan had 39 095 reported cases of HFMD from 2005-2011.Of these,771 involved two or more infections,for a rate of 1.97%.The incidence of three or more infections was 2.20%.The age of infection ranged from one month to 77 years of age,and 85.53% of those infected were younger than 5(33 436 cases).There were 23 545 male patients and 15 550 female patients in total,and 514 male patients and 257 female patients had multiple infections.Of those infected,54.38% were children living separately from their parents,41.46% were preschool-aged,and 3.54% were students.Of those infected,38 227 were diagnosed clinically and 868 were diagnosed in the laboratory.EV71 accounted for 38.71% of cases,Cox A16 accounted for 38.13%,and some other enterovirus accounted for 23.16%.Conclusion Men had a higher incidence of two infections than women.The average interval for a repeated infection was from 11.24 to 14.18 months.The incidence of repeated infection differed markedly among areas of the City of Jinan.
Clinical features and influencing factors in neonatal coagulant function abnormality in the first 24 hours after birth

Objective To investigate the clinical manifestations and influencing factors in the newborns with coagulant function abnormality in the first 24 hours after birth. Methods The coagulation test results and clinical data of 169 newborns in our hospital were studied. Children receiving anticoagulant therapy were assigned as coagulation abnormalities group(n=76) and other healthy newborns were assigned as control group(n=93). The differences of coagulation function between the two groups were analyzed and the influencing factors of coagulation abnormalities were explored. Results The proportions of fetal distress, pneumonia, acidosis and hypothermia of coagulation abnormalities group were significantly higher than that of the control group(χ2= 6.18–38.01, P0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that fetal distress(OR=12.06, 95%CI: 3.71–39.25), pneumonia(OR=4.10, 95%CI: 1.43–11.74) were the high risk factors for coagulant function abnormality, and the differences were statistically significant(both P0.05). Conclusions Fetal distress, pneumonia were the high risk factors for coagulant function abnormality. Early prevention can help to reduce the incidence of neonatal hemorrhagic disease.
Application of multivariate cluster, discriminate function, and stepwise regression analyses to variable selection and predictive modeling of sperm cryosurvival

Objective To develop a mathematical model that predicts sperm cryodamage based on the kinematic characteristics of seminal sperm as detected by computer-aided sperm analysis (CASA). Design Computer-aided sperm analysis was performed on donor semen before and after freezing. An iterative multivariate statistical analysis technique was developed to identify sperm subpopulations and to select the best variables for modeling. Stepwise, multivariate regression was performed on the selected subpopulations to predict the post-thaw percentage of motile sperm from prefreeze kinematic values. Setting Andrology laboratories, IVF laboratories, and sperm cryobanks. Participants Semen donors in an academic research environment. Main Outcome Measures Identification of predictive kinematic variables; number of sperm subpopulations per sample; number of kinematic variables per subpopulation; prediction error for subpopulation membership; and an equation for prediction of post-thaw percentage of motile sperm from prefreeze CASA variables. Results The number of subpopulations for each specimen was predicted by 3 to 5 kinematic variables. Straight-line velocity (VSL) and linearity were the most commonly predictive primary variables, whereas curvilinear velocity and amplitude of lateral head displacement were the most commonly predictive secondary variables. The best linear model predicted the post-thaw percentage of motile sperm from the difference in VSL between the subpopulation with the highest value and the subpopulation with the lowest value in each prefreeze specimen. Conclusions A small number of consistent kinematic variables accurately described physiologic subpopulations of sperm in prefreeze and post-thaw specimens from different men. An equation based on the characteristics of these subpopulations predicts the post-thaw percentage of motile sperm (i.e., sperm recovery) from simple prefreeze kinematic variables. This equation could improve specimen screening by eliminating the requirements for freezing and thawing in order to identify a specimen's vulnerability to cryodamage.
U.S. Drug Laws

THE FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT of 1938 and amendments to this law govern all aspects of drug development, testing, marketing and distribution in the United States. The FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION has the responsibility of enforcement of the drug laws, testing products to assure that they meet established standards of quality, assuring drug safety and efficacy, etc.
LEXIS/NEXIS communication software version 1.4—A review

Presentation de la version 1.4 du logiciel LEXIS/NEXIS qui a ameliore considerablement le travail des bibliothecaires dans le domaine juridique. Il est cependant regrettable que ce logiciel n'ait pas ete ecrit par un juriste, les messages affiches pretant trop souvent a confusion pour l'utilisateur (INTD)
Deproletarianization in the Peri-Urban Interface: Transforming Labor Relations in Polokwane, South Africa:

High unemployment rates and the search for job opportunities are defining characteristics of the modern day South African economy. As apartheid era labor and land controls continue to break down, m...
Thermographic measurements of the commercial laser powder bed fusion process at NIST

Quantitative understanding of the temperatures, gradients and heating/cooling rates in and around the melt pool in laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is essential for simulation, monitoring and controls development. The research presented here aims to detail experiment design and preliminary results of high speed, high magnification, in-situ thermographic monitoring setup on a commercial L-PBF system designed to capture temperatures and dynamic process phenomena.,A custom door with angled viewport was designed for a commercial L-PBF system which allows close access of an infrared camera. Preliminary finite element simulations provided size, speed and scale requirements to design camera and optics setup to capture melt pool region temperatures at high magnification and frame rate speed. A custom thermal calibration allowed maximum measurable temperature range of 500°C to 1,025°C. Raw thermographic image data were converted to temperature assuming an emissivity of 0.5. Quantitative temperature results are provided with qualitative observations with discussion regarding the inherent challenges to future thermographic measurements and process monitoring.,Isotherms around the melt pool change in size depending on the relative location of the laser spot with respect to the stripe edges. Locations near the edges of a stripe are cooled to lower temperatures than the center of a stripe. Temperature gradients are highly localized because of rough or powdery surface. At a specific location, temperatures rise from below the measurable temperature range to above ( 1100°C) within two frames ( 11.7 m/s.,Several works are detailed in the Introduction of this paper that detail high-speed visible imaging (not thermal imaging) of custom or commercial LBPF processes, and lower-speed thermographic measurements for defect detection. However, no work could be found that provides calibrated, high-speed temperature data from a melt-pool monitoring configuration on a commercial L-PBF system. In addition, the paper elucidates several sources of measurement uncertainty (e.g. calibration, emissivity and time and spatial resolution), describes inherent measurement challenges based on observations of the thermal images and discusses on the implications to model validation and process monitoring and control.
Electrothermal Design of Bidirectional Wide-Boom Log-Periodic Antennas

A wide-boom, microstrip-fed planar bidirectional log-periodic (LP) antenna is proposed and improvements in its impedance match, radiation, and thermal performances are demonstrated. The boom width of each arm is increased by moving its virtual apexes into the other arm while preserving the small flare angle and self-complementarity. This modification widens the ground plane for the microstrip feed line and results in enhanced impedance match and gain. In addition, electrothermal multi physics analysis demonstrates that the wide-boom mitigates hot spots logarithmically developed on LP’s active regions. The impedance and far-field measurements show that the fabricated antenna achieves VSWR ≤ 2 and flat gain around 5 dBi over a decade bandwidth. A non contact thermal imaging system is used to measure temperature response of the antenna under a ~5 W input power over 1.71–1.85 GHz range. The measured temperature images correlate well with the multi physics simulations, therefore validating the conclusions obtained via electrothermal analysis.
Religion, Imperialism, and Resistance in Nineteenth Century’s Netherlands Indies and Spanish Philippines

Artikel ini menjelaskan bagaimana agama berfungsi sebagai pembenar imperialisme dan antiimperialisme, dengan mengkaji kekuatan imperialis Belanda di Hindia Belanda dan imperialis Spanyol di Filipina pada abad XIX. Pemerintah Kolonial Belanda tidaklah seberhasil pemerintah kolonial Spanyol dalam menjadikan jajahan mereka menjadi bangsa seperti mereka, meskipun agama digunakan sebagai alat dominasi. Bagi Spanyol, agama Katolik menjadi bagian peradaban mereka, dan menjadi bagian penting proyek kolonialisme mereka, sedangkan bagi pemerintah kolonial Belanda, agama Kristen tidak menjadi bagian penting kolonialisme mereka (kenyataan sejarah yang menolak anggapan umum di Indonesia bahwa kolonialisme Belanda dan kristenisasi sangat berhubungan). Misionaris Spanyol di Filipina menguasai daerah koloni melalui metode-metode keagamaan dan kebudayaan, sedangkan pemerintah kolonial Belanda, dan misionaris dari Belanda, harus berurusan dengan masyarakat yang sudah memeluk Islam di daerah-daerah Indonesia. Pemerintah Belanda mengizinkan kristenisasi dalam beberapa kasus asalkan tidak mengganggu umat Islam dan tidak mengganggu kepentingan ekonomi mereka.Akibatnya, mayoritas Filipina menjadi Katolik, sedangkan mayoritas Hindia Belanda tidak menjadi Protestan. Di sisi lain, agama juga berfungsi sebagai kekuatan antiimperialisme, seperti dalam penggunaan pasyon bagi sebagian bangsa Filipina yang Katolik, dan jihad dan ratu adil bagi sebagian masyarakat Hindia Belanda yang muslim. Penafsiran terhadap agama masing-masing dipengaruhi oleh konteks kolonial. Agama mengalami lokalisasi atau pembumian sebelum ia menjadi alat perjuangan antikolonialisme. Agama menjadi sistem budaya simbolik dan praktikal yang mereka butuhkan ketika mereka perlukan. Dalam situasi dibawah imperialisme, agama menjadi alat yang kuat untuk mendukung ketidakpuasan dan harapan. Kata kunci: agama, imperialisme, antiimperialisme, kolonialisme, Hindia Belanda
A review of joint attention and social-cognitive brain systems in typical development and autism spectrum disorder.

This article provides a review of the increasingly detailed imaging literature on the neurodevelopment of joint attention. Many findings from this literature support and inform the hypothesis that the neurodevelopment of joint attention contributes to the functional development of neural systems for human social cognition. Joint attention begins to develop by 5 months of age and is tantamount to the ability to adopt a common perspective with another person. It involves a whole-brain system with nodes in the: (a) dorsal and medial frontal cortex, (b) orbital frontal/insula cortex, (c) anterior/posterior cingulate cortex, (d) superior temporal cortex, (e) precuneus/parietal cortex, and (f) amygdala and striatum. This system integrates triadic information processing about (a) self-attention/action, (b) information about others' attention/action during social interactions that involve, (c) coordinated attention as well as processing a common referent in space. The results of this new imaging literature have the potential to advance current models of social cognition and the social brain, which rarely consider the contribution of the cognitive neurodevelopment of joint attention. The new neuroscience of joint attention is also extremely valuable for clinical research on social-cognitive neurodevelopmental disorders. This is most clearly the case for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) because it is consistent with the hypothesis of substantial functional neurodevelopmental continuity between the preschool impairments of joint attention, and childhood theory of mind ability that characterizes the development of ASD.
The current status and future of cardiac stem/progenitor cell therapy for congenital heart defects from diabetic pregnancy

Pregestational maternal diabetes induces congenital heart defects (CHDs). Cardiac dysfunction after palliative surgical procedures contributes to the high mortality of CHD patients. Autologous or allogeneic stem cell therapies are effective for improving cardiac function in animal models and clinical trials. c-kit+ cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs), the most recognized CPCs, have the following basic properties of stem cells: self-renewal, multicellular clone formation, and differentiation into multiple cardiac lineages. However, there is ongoing debate regarding whether c-kit+ CPCs can give rise to sufficient cardiomyocytes. A new hypothesis to address the beneficial effect of c-kit+ CPCs is that these cells stimulate endogenous cardiac cells through a paracrine function in producing a robust secretome and exosomes. The values of other cardiac CPCs, including Sca1+ CPCs and cardiosphere-derived cells, are beginning to be revealed. These cells may be better choices than c-kit+ CPCs for generating cardiomyocytes. Adult mesenchymal stem cells are considered immune-incompetent and effective for improving cardiac function. Autologous CPC therapy may be limited by the observation that maternal diabetes adversely affects the biological function of embryonic stem cells and CPCs. Future studies should focus on determining the mechanistic action of these cells, identifying new CPC markers, selecting highly effective CPCs, and engineering cell-free products.
Hydrogen peroxide kinetics in water radiolysis

Abstract The kinetics of the formation and reaction of hydrogen peroxide in the long time γ- radiolysis of water is examined using a combination of experiment with model calculations. Escape yields of hydrogen peroxide on the microsecond time scale are easily measured with added radical scavengers even with substantial amounts of initial added hydrogen peroxide. The γ-radiolysis of aqueous hydrogen peroxide solutions without added radical scavengers reach a steady state limiting concentration of hydrogen peroxide with increasing dose, and that limit is directly proportional to the initial concentration of added hydrogen peroxide. The dose necessary to reach that limiting hydrogen peroxide concentration is also proportional to the initial concentration, but dose rate has a very small effect. The addition of molecular hydrogen to aqueous solutions of hydrogen peroxide leads to a decrease in the high dose limiting hydrogen peroxide concentration that is linear with the initial hydrogen concentration, but the amount of decrease is not stoichiometric. Proton irradiations of solutions with added hydrogen peroxide and hydrogen are more difficult to predict because of the decreased yields of radicals; however, with a substantial increase in dose rate there is a sufficient decrease in radical yields that hydrogen addition has little effect on hydrogen peroxide decay.
Non-FDG Avid Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can have decreased or normal FDG uptake relative to the background liver activity. Through the combination of anatomic and metabolic information, PET/MR imaging is valuable in characterizing the aggressiveness of HCC and detecting extra-hepatic spread.
Fixed-point frequencies analysis of monolithic 10 GHz repetition rates AlGaInAs multiple quantum-well laser diodes

We report the first conducted measurements of the fixed-point frequencies on a 10 GHz repetition rate mode locked laser diode functioning at 1.55 μm wavelength. The measurements show that four unique laser parameters can be modulated to independently control the combline offset frequency, V0, and comb spacing, frep.
Genotyping and Sequencing Technologies in Population Genetics and Genomics

Genotypes are the central data to any population genetic and genomic study, and genotyping methods have steadily evolved since the first direct glimpses of genetic variation were enabled through enzyme protein electrophoresis. Following the development of the polymerase chain reaction, allozymes were supplanted by methods that directly measured allelic variation in nuclear and organellar DNA, most notably through the use of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs), and microsatellites. At the turn of the millennium, genome-scale polymorphism detection and scoring still was hampered by the low-throughput nature of Sanger sequencing. This limitation changed with the advent of genotyping microarrays that at first yielded hundreds of data points per sample – a revolution at the time – and that subsequently improved to the point where hundreds of thousands of genetic variants could be scored simultaneously. These methods suffered a major flaw, however, in that their cost put them out of reach for studies of most ecologically important but economically unimportant species. The democratization of population genomics arrived with the advent of high-throughput, short-read sequencers and subsequent development of DNA library techniques to subsample the genome in a large number of individuals. Today, such methods – genotyping-by-sequencing, restriction site-associated DNA sequencing, RNA sequencing, and sequence capture – have become mainstays of the population geneticist’s toolkit. Refinements to existing library and sequencing methods continue to emerge at a rapid pace, and novel sequencing platforms may soon put the gold standard of long-read, genome-wide coverage within a broader reach. In this chapter, we comprehensively review genotyping methods used in population genetics, beginning with allozymes and progressing through AFLPs, microsatellites, and SNP arrays. We subsequently turn to a detailed discussion of methods that leverage next-generation technologies to enable truly genome-scale genotyping. Finally, we discuss recent developments and emerging technologies that constitute the “third wave” of sequencing and genotyping methods. Throughout, our aim is to provide methodological details that will be of use to population geneticists.
A Pattern Language for Building Stable Analysis Patterns

Software analysis patterns are believed to play a major role in reducing the cost and condensing the time of software product lifecycles. However, analysis patterns have not realized their full potential. One of the common problems with today”s analysis patterns is the lack of stability. In many cases, analysis pattern that model specific problems fail to model the same problem when it appears in different context, forcing software developers to analyze the problem from scratch. As a result, the reusability of the pattern will diminish. This paper presents a pattern language for building stable analysis patterns. The objective of this language is to propose a way of achieving stability while constructing analysis patterns.
Broadband Waveguide Integrated Black Phosphorus Modulator for Mid Infrared Application

The optical absorption in black phosphorus could be modulated by electric field due to the QCFK effect. We extracted the modulation of extinction coefficient from free space device and showed 5dB modulation would be promising by integrated black phosphorus on Si waveguide.
The Application of Complex Systems Science to Healthcare and Hernia Disease

Complex systems science is a scientific platform that describes a more complete understanding of our world. It was first discovered over 100 years ago by a group of physicists who found that the reductionist scientific platform that produced Newtonian physics was an incomplete understanding of our real biologic world. This discovery led to quantum mechanics and a much better scientific foundation for innovation and discovery in that discipline. We are now beginning to realize that this more complete scientific platform for physics also applies to all disciplines in our world, especially healthcare. Working with a small multidisciplinary team, we have applied complex systems science to healthcare. We implemented the principles of value-based clinical quality improvement (CQI) and nonlinear analytics in the context of definable, whole patient care processes, starting with hernia disease. This has allowed us to be able to measure and improve the value of care we provide (decrease costs at the same time as quality and patient perspective measures are improved). This chapter will describe the principles and tools of complex systems science and show examples of the benefits to our healthcare system when these tools are applied to real patient care.
Untangling the Contribution of Characters to Evolutionary Relationships: A Case Study Using Fossils, Morphology, and Genes.

Given the importance of phylogenetic trees to understanding common ancestry and evolution, they are a necessary part of the undergraduate biology curriculum. However, a number of common misconcepti...
Numerical Age Variations within Clinical Notes: The Potential Impact on De-Identification and Information Extraction

Many kinds of numbers and numerical concepts appear frequently in free text clinical notes from electronic health records, including patient ages. The variability in how ages are described may impact the success of information extraction strategies as well as the accuracy of de-identification systems. This brief paper describes an analysis of the variation in how numbers and numerical concepts are represented in clinical notes with respect to ages. We used an inverted index of approximately 100 million notes to obtain the frequency of various permutations of ages, including biologically implausible ages as well as age descriptions that might not be detected by many de-identification systems. Missing such rare, but nevertheless present, variations could result in missed information or even privacy violations.
Costs and Their Predictors in Transsphenoidal Pituitary Surgery.

BACKGROUND Contemporary surgical approaches to pituitary pathologies include transsphenoidal microsurgical and, more recently, endoscopic techniques. Data reporting direct costs in transsphenoidal pituitary surgery are limited. OBJECTIVE To examine direct costs (including overall total, hospital/facility, and physician payments) of microscopic and endoscopic pituitary surgery and evaluate predictors of differential costs in transsphenoidal pituitary surgery using a national database. METHODS The Truven MarketScan® database 2010-2014 (IBM, Armonk, New York) was queried and patients undergoing microscopic and/or endoscopic transsphenoidal pituitary surgery identified. Mean costs and predictors of differential costs were analyzed using analysis of variance and generalized linear models. Beta-coefficients (β) assessed relative contributions of independent predictors. RESULTS Mean overall total ($34 943.13 [SD ± 19 074.54]) and hospital/facility ($26 505.93 [SD ± 16 819.52]) payments were higher in endoscopic compared to microscopic surgeries (both P < .001). Lengths of hospital stay (LOS) were similar between groups. Predictors of overall total and hospital/facility payments were similar including surgical technique, age, geographical region, comorbidity index, postoperative surgical and medical complications, and LOS with LOS being the most significant predictor (β = 0.27 and β = 0.29, respectively). Mean physician payments ($4549.24 [SD ± 3956.27]) were similar in microscopic and endoscopic cohorts (P = .26). Predictors of physician payments included age, health plan, geographical region, postoperative surgical complications, and LOS with health plan being the most significant predictor (β = -0.21). CONCLUSION Higher overall total and hospital/facility costs are associated with endoscopic transsphenoidal pituitary surgery compared to microsurgery. In contrast, physician reimbursements are similar between techniques. Whereas LOS was the strongest predictor of overall total and hospital/facility costs, health plan was the strongest predictor of differential physician reimbursements.
Association Between Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Lymphoma.

This cohort analysis evaluates the risk of lymphoma in adult patients with hydradenitis suppurativa in the United States.
Anesthesiology Control Tower-Feasibility Assessment to Support Translation (ACTFAST): Mixed-Methods Study of a Novel Telemedicine-Based Support System for the Operating Room.

Background: Despite efforts to improve patient outcomes, major morbidity and mortality remain common after surgery. Health information technologies that provide decision support for clinicians might improve perioperative and postoperative patient care. Evaluating the usability of these technologies and barriers to their implementation can facilitate their acceptance within health systems. Objective: This manuscript describes usability testing and refinement of an innovative telemedicine-based clinical support system, the Anesthesiology Control Tower (ACT). It also reports stakeholders’ perceptions of the barriers and facilitators to implementation of the intervention. Methods: Three phases of testing were conducted in an iterative manner. Phase 1 testing employed a think-aloud protocol analysis to identify surface-level usability problems with individual software components of the ACT and its structure. Phase 2 testing involved an extended qualitative and quantitative real-world usability analysis. Phase 3 sought to identify major barriers and facilitators to implementation of the ACT through semistructured interviews with key stakeholders. Results: Phase 1 and phase 2 usability testing sessions identified numerous usability problems with the software components of the ACT. The ACT platform was revised in seven iterations in response to these usability concerns. Initial satisfaction with the ACT, as measured by standardized instruments, was below commonly accepted cutoffs for these measures. Satisfaction improved to acceptable levels over the course of revision and testing. A number of barriers to implementation were also identified and addressed during the refinement of the ACT intervention. Conclusions: The ACT model can improve the standard of perioperative anesthesia care. Through our thorough and iterative usability testing process and stakeholder assessment of barriers and facilitators, we enhanced the acceptability of this novel technology and improved our ability to implement this innovation into routine practice. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.1186/s40814-018-0233-4
Global Gender Justice and Epistemic Oppression: A Response to an Epistemic Dilemma

Critiques of Western feminists’ attempts to extend claims about gender injustice to the global context highlighted a dilemma facing Western feminists, what I call the global gender justice dilemma. In response to this dilemma, Alison M. Jaggar argues that Western feminists should turn our attention away from trying to resolve it and, instead, toward examination of our own complicity in the processes that produce injustice. I suggest that this kind of approach is helpful in responding to an additional dilemma that confronts the Western feminist, namely the epistemic dilemma. Western feminists can speak for women of the global South and run the risk of distorting those women’s experience and further silencing their voices, or we can refuse to speak and abdicate our responsibilities to address injustice. I argue that we should address this dilemma not by trying to resolve it but by examining our role in the reproduction of epistemically unjust practices. To explain this response, I offer a preliminary account of epistemic injustice as epistemic oppression. I conclude by claiming that our own epistemic complicity in epistemically oppressive social practices is a weighty reason for us to work to transform those practices.
MEMS Resonant Microphone Array for Lung Sound Classification

This paper presents piezoelectric MEMS microphone arrays for automatic detection of wheezing in lung sound. Very high unamplified sensitivities of 36.3 – 78.2 mV/Pa have been obtained at the resonant frequencies of the microphone array between 200 and 500 Hz where wheezing is typically prominent. Consequently, the acoustic feature of wheezing was distinguished better in both time domain and frequency domain in comparison with a flat-band reference microphone. With this advantage, as high as 97.44% identification accuracy of lung sounds with and without wheezing was achieved, while the same algorithm based on a commercial reference microphone yielded 89.74% accuracy.
Examining Functional Unisex Gardening Apron for Master Gardeners

The Master Gardener Program is a recognized Extension volunteer program active in all 50 states in the United States. Master Gardener volunteers are specially trained in a variety of horticulture topics and volunteer their time teaching and contributing gardening skills to their community (Roti,2018). The purpose of this project was to explore current Master Gardeners’ needs and develop a functional unisex gardening apron suited to a baby boomer market. This study is based on a sequential exploratory mixed method (Creswell, 2009) which consists of three phases: a) market research and a focus group interview of certified Master Gardeners to devise strategies for prototype development; b) a prototype was developed for online survey stimulus and fit testing; and c) an online survey was distributed to the current Master Gardeners (N=175) by Extension Program Coordinators to examine how current Master Gardeners evaluate and perceive the prototype. The design process followed an overall user-centered design (UCD) framework (Watkins & Dunne, 2015).
Complete Arch Monolithic Zirconia Prosthesis Supported By Cobalt Chromium Metal Bar: A Clinical Report

Complete arch fixed implant supported prosthesis made of monolithic zirconia is a popular treatment option with minimal complications, as documented in the literature over a 5-year period. One of the limitations of this material is its inability to be used when the span between adjacent implants is excessively long. A potential solution to mitigate this problem is to support the zirconia prosthesis with a metal substructure, which intrinsically has higher tensile strength. This clinical report describes the successful use of this prosthetic design in a male patient with bruxism and history of multiple implant failures in the maxilla. This resulted in a large anterior-posterior span between the anterior implants in the maxillary lateral incisor region and the distal implants in the pterygoid region. This article also describes the use of a split file digital workflow to scan the prototype prosthesis and then digitally design and mill the screw-retained cobalt chromium bar, as well as the overlaying of zirconia prosthesis which was retained by separate screws. This novel approach offers promise for management of the atrophic maxilla where implants with remote anchorage are used resulting in broader distribution of implants.
The Evil Deceiver Strikes Again

This article situates Descartes’ physical thinking within the nexus of machine science, which rests upon different foundational piers than regular classical mechanics of a Newtonian stripe. In part...
Continuous Proterozoic Strike-Slip Fault-En Echelon Fracture Arrays in Archean Rocks: Implications for Fault Propagation Mechanics and Dike Injection

A regional, closely spaced and continuous array of strike-slip fault-en echelon fractures is observed in three dimensions in Archean rocks in the Wawa and Quetico belts north of the Niagara fault and Great Lakes tectonic sutures in Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario, Canada and this pervasive rock fabric parallels the radial pattern of the 2.2 Ga KenoraKabetogama (KK) mafic dike swarm. Within the region, the composite fault-fracture array is everywhere vertical, and offsets the following Archean rock types: Lake Vermilion Formation, Ely Greenstone, Giants Range Granite, Soudan Iron-Formation, Puritan Quartz Monzonite, Kitchi Schist, and unnamed gneisses and amphibolites in the Huron Mountains, MI. Adjacent Penokean-and Keweenawan-aged rocks are not cross-cut by these fault-fracture arrays.
DNA modifying enzyme site locating mechanisms are dictated by biological roles: evidence for intersegmental transfer (549.1)

DNA binding and modifying proteins, such as transcription factors, repair enzymes, restriction endonucleases, and DNA methyltransferases must find their recognition sites quickly and efficiently --although passively -- despite an overwhelming excess of non-specific DNA. A comparative study of several proteins shows that the highly distinct search mechanisms are driven by different biological contexts. For example, DNA adenine methyltransferase (Dam) utilizes intersegmental transfer, where the enzyme travels between distal regions of DNA (~600 bp), facilitated by DNA loop formation (Figure). This is the first report that this mechanism contributes to the search process for any protein, and this mechanism is consistent with Dam’s biological roles. EcoRI endonuclease, in contrast, uses a sliding mechanism, where the enzyme redundantly searches local regions of the DNA. We show that EcoRI can use this sliding mechanism to travel large distances along DNA (~300 bp). Dam travels between recognition sites freely...
CD4+CD25high Regulatory T Cells in the Developing Human Immune System: Implications for Pediatric HIV Infection

Background Although human T cells enter the peripheral lymphoid tissues early during fetal development1, the adaptive immune system in the fetus has largely been regarded as functionally immature and unresponsive to stimulation. In adults, CD4CD25high regulatory T cells (TReg) are critical for maintenance of peripheral T cell tolerance, but their role in the developing fetus is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that a large population of human fetal FOXP3CD4CD25high TReg cells, present from the earliest stages of T cell colonization of the periphery, efficiently suppresses fetal T cell responses.
The Design and Implementation of the Reduction Routines in ScaLAPACK

This chapter discusses the design of linear algebra libraries for high performance computers. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of scalable algorithms for MIMD distributed memory concurrent computers. A brief description of the EISPACK, LINPACK, and LAPACK libraries is given, followed by an outline of ScaLAPACK, which is a distributed memory version of LAPACK currently under development. The importance of block-partitioned algorithms in reducing the frequency of data movement between different levels of hierarchical memory is stressed. The use of such algorithms helps reduce the message startup costs on distributed memory concurrent computers. Other key ideas in our approach are the use of distributed versions of the Level 3 Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS) as computational building block, and the use of Basic Linear Algebra Communication Subgrograms (BLACS) as communication building blocks. Together the distributed BLAS and the BLACS can be used to construct higher-level, algorithms, and hide many details of the parallelism from the application developer. The block-cyclic data distribution is described, and adopted as a good way of distributing block-partitioned matrices. Block-partitioned versions of the Cholesky and LU factorizations are presented, and optimization issues associated with the implementation of the LU factorization algorithm on distributed memory concurrent computers are discussed, together with its performance on the Intel Delta system. Finally, approaches to the design of library interfaces are reviewed.
Modeling household and community transmission of Ebola virus disease: Epidemic growth, spatial dynamics and insights for epidemic control.

The mechanisms behind the sub-exponential growth dynamics of the West Africa Ebola virus disease epidemic could be related to improved control of the epidemic and the result of reduced disease tran...
Isolation and characterization of STI1, a stress-inducible gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Abstract We have isolated a gene from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that encodes a 2.0-kilobase heat-inducible mRNA. This gene, which we have designated STI1, for stress inducible, was also induced by the amino acid analog canavanine and showed a slight increase in expression as cells moved into stationary phase. The STI1 gene encodes a 66-kilodalton protein, as determined from the sequence of the longest open reading frame. The putative STI1 protein, as identified by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, migrated in the region of 73 to 75 kilodaltons as a series of four isoforms with different isoelectric points. STI1 is not homologous to the other conserved HSP70 family members in yeasts, despite similarities in size and regulation. Cells carrying a disruption mutation of the STI1 gene grew normally at 30 degrees C but showed impaired growth at higher and lower temperatures. Overexpression of the STI1 gene resulted in substantial trans-activation of SSA4 promoter-reporter gene fusions, indicating that STI1 may play a role in mediating the heat shock response of some HSP70 genes.
Cholecystosonography for the decision to operate when acute cholecystitis is suspected

Forty-four patients admitted with a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis underwent immediate cholecystosonography, and if the findings were interpreted as showing gallstones, surgery was performed. The accuracy was 91 per cent. The routine use of cholecystosonography in acutely ill patients is recommended.
The architecture of a large associative processor

This paper will describe features of architectural significance to the segmentability of a processor; it is not intended to be a detailed description of a processor for Information Storage and Retrieval. We regret that the incorporation of some features cannot be defended here because of the length of this paper. They are presented in a report. We first state the types of problems to be processed. This will lead to the overall organization of the processor. In Information Storage and Retrieval, a processor should have the capability to store data which is formatted as ordered sets or unordered sets, and to retrieve all such sets having a specified subset. An unordered set search for a given subset S retrieves all sets containing S. An ordered set search for a given ordered subset S retrieves all ordered sets containing S. A string search for a given string S retrieves all ordered sets (strings) having a substring S. For example, if S = (s1, s2, s3) and S1 = (s1, a, s2, s3), S2 = (a, b, s1), s2, s3, c, d), S3 = (s2, s1, s3) and S4 = (s1, a, b, s2). Then an unordered set search for S would retrieve S1, S2, S3, an ordered set search for S would retrieve S1 and S2, and a string search for S would retrieve S2.
Designing software components to tolerances

Many traditional engineering designs, other than software, depend on the physical properties of components. Those properties enable the engineer to specify precise tolerances between those components. Software components are abstractions with no inherent physical properties. The absence of physical properties makes it more difficult, but not impossible, to design to tolerances. This paper describes some design metrics for designing software components to tolerances. It uses some already established design metrics, and expands on the role of other software practices already available. This paper also restricts the discussion to software components, rather than to the algorithms contained within those components.