cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
New Data Analysis and Mining Approaches Identify Unique Proteome and Transcriptome Markers of Susceptibility to Autoimmune Diabetes

Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice spontaneously develop autoimmunity to the insulin producing beta cells leading to insulin-dependent diabetes. In this study we developed and used new data analysis and mining approaches on combined proteome and transcriptome (molecular phenotype) data to define pathways affected by abnormalities in peripheral leukocytes of young NOD female mice. Cells were collected before mice show signs of autoimmunity (age, 2-4 weeks). We extracted both protein and RNA from NOD and C57BL/6 control mice to conduct both proteome analysis by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and transcriptome analysis on Affymetrix expression arrays. We developed a new approach to analyze the two-dimensional gel proteome data that included two-way analysis of variance, cluster analysis, and principal component analysis. Lists of differentially expressed proteins and transcripts were subjected to pathway analysis using a commercial service. From the list of 24 proteins differentially expressed between strains we identified two highly significant and interconnected networks centered around oncogenes (Myc and Mycn) and apoptosis-related genes (Bcl2 and Casp3). The 273 genes with significant strain differences in RNA expression levels created six interconnected networks with a significant over-representation of genes related to cancer, cell cycle, and cell death. They contained many of the same genes found in the proteome networks (including Myc and Mycn). The combination of the eight, highly significant networks created one large network of 272 genes of which 82 had differential expression between strains either at the protein or the RNA level. We conclude that new proteome data analysis strategies and combined information from proteome and transcriptome can enhance the insights gained from either type of data alone. The overall systems biology of prediabetic NOD mice points toward abnormalities in regulation of the opposing processes of cell renewal and cell death even before there are any clear signatures of immune system activation.
Imaging Evaluation of Pulmonary and Abdominal Complications Following Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is used to treat hematologic disorders and as an adjunct treatment for solid organ malignancies. After undergoing transplantation, patients are at risk for opportunistic infections and other complications caused by dysfunction of the immune system. Pulmonary complications include cryptogenic organizing pneumonia, opportunistic pneumonias caused by Aspergillus and Zygomycetes species and cytomegalovirus, alveolar hemorrhage, and constrictive bronchiolitis. Abdominal complications include hepatic veno-occlusive disease, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), colitis, and hemorrhagic cystitis. Allogeneic transplant recipients are at risk for developing GVHD. Autologous and syngeneic transplant recipients are less likely to have chronic or late posttransplantation complications. Nonmyeloablative transplant recipients are less likely to develop opportunistic infections and other complications in the period immediately following transplantation, but are at risk for developing chronic GVHD and other chronic complications. Radiologic evaluation serves as the cornerstone for timely diagnosis of these complications, which is essential to reduce patient morbidity and mortality. Combining clinical factors-including the type of transplant and the point of time during the posttransplantation course-with characteristic imaging features yields the most specific and accurate differential diagnosis for radiologic findings in stem cell transplant recipients.
Radiation safety precautions in the management of the hospitalized (131)I therapy patient.

Objectives: The patient who has been dosed with therapeutic activities of 131 I for thyroid carcinoma poses a unique set of problems for nuclear medicine technologists in their efforts to reduce personnel exposure and control contamination spread. It is the objective of this article to: (a) review practical radiation safety concerns associated with hospitalized 131 I therapy patients; (b) propose preventative measures that can be taken to minimize potential exposure and contamination problems; and (c) review pertinent federal regulations that apply to patients containing therapeutic levels of radionuclides.
A Lightweight Model for End Users' Data: Progress and Future Work

This research enable end users to create reusable new abstractions for data categories, thereby enabling them to automate these and other tasks by creating programs. "Tope," the Greek word for "place," is the name for such an abstraction in this research, since each abstraction corresponds to a data category that has a natural place in the problem domain (unlike float and int). For example, US phone number would be a tope.Each tope implementation is a small package of executable software functions for recognizing, transforming, and equivalence-testing instances of a data category. The data model underlying a tope is a directed graph. Each graph node corresponds to a format, and each edge corresponds to a transformation between formats.
Digital echocardiographic communication using multivendor networked DICOM devices

Digital acquisition, storage, and review of echocardiographic data are feasible in a multivendor networked DICOM environment. The authors' echocardiographic laboratory currently stores 120 studies per day rising the ProSolv Echo Management System. Storage and retrieval is realized on standard computer hardware without the necessity for proprietary hardware solutions. DICOM storage has become more efficient as vendor solutions improve. Transmission rates over a 10/100 BT switched network are approximately 0.40 MB/s allowing a complete echo study (/spl sim/40 MB) to be transferred to the server in approximately 1.5 minutes, however the ability to send data during a study has also been realized by one vendor.
Tricuspid atresia with dextrotransposition, dextrocardia, and mitral insufficiency: successful circulatory correction.

Abstract A 13-year-old patient with visceral and atrial situs solitus, dextrocardia, dextro (d) transposition of the great vessels with subaortic conus, tricuspid atresia, massive mitral valve insufficiency, and previously performed pulmonary artery banding was seen at our hospital. A right atrial to pulmonary artery conduit procedure and mitral valve replacement successfully repaired this child's circulation.
Evaluation of Seakeeping Predictions

Test cases related to seakeeping are studied in this chapter including heave and pitch with or without surge motion in regular head waves for KVLCC2 and KCS and wave diffraction and roll-decay with forward speed for DTMB 5415. For seakeeping, the total average error is E = 23 %D, comparable to the average error for previous seakeeping predictions. For resistance, the largest error values are for the 1st harmonic amplitude and phase (34 %D), followed by 0th harmonic amplitude (18 %D) and steady (7 %D). For motions, the largest error values are for the 0th harmonic amplitudes (54 %D), followed by 1st harmonic amplitude and phase (13 %D) and steady (9 %D). The errors for the CFD predictions are similar for the different geometries and wavelengths, the small and large amplitude waves, and for the cases with and without surge motion. The errors are larger for the cases with zero forward speed. Compared with potential flow, CFD showed larger errors for motions for the medium and long wavelengths. For wave diffraction submissions, the large grid size DES simulation has achieved an average error value of less than 10 %D, while for the small grid size URANS simulations the average error is 28 %D. For roll decay submissions, the average error values are 10 %D for resistance and less than 1 %D for roll motions.
Internet Political Ads in 2012: Can Humor Mitigate Unintended Effects of Negative Campaigning?

A posttest-only experimental design is used to test the effects of humorous negative video ads from the 2012 presidential campaign on evaluations of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney among young people. Findings show that ads targeting Romney had a negative effect on attitudes toward him. Romney also had his evaluations lowered as the result of respondents viewing third-party ads attacking Obama. This may be consistent with some research that suggests that negative political ads have a âbacklash,â or âboomerangâ effect on their source. Obama, on the other hand, was largely insulated from both target and source effects. The study suggests first that candidates who decide to âgo negativeâ may not be able to insulate themselves from unintended negative effects by framing their ads in a humorous fashion. Moreover, because the anti-Obama ads were sponsored by a third party, it suggests that the source really might matter in terms of the effects ads have on âtheirâ candidates.
Natural ammonium illites from black shales hosting a stratiform base metal deposit, DeLong Mountains, northern Alaska

Naturally occurring ammonium illites have been discovered in black shales surrounding a stratiform base metal deposit in the DeLong Mountains, northern Alaska. Infrared spectra of the samples exhibit pronounced absorption at 1430 cm−1, the resonant-banding frequency for NH4+ coordinated in the illite interlayer. X-ray powder diffraction characteristics of the ammonium illites include an expanded d(001) spacing, with values as large as 10.16 A, and ratios for I001/I003 and I002/I005 of about 2. Infrared analyses of physical mixtures of NH4Cl with a standard illite, and comparisons with synthetic ammonium micas indicate significant substitution (>50%) of NH4+ for K+ in the illite interlayer position. Nitrogen determinations on two ammonium illites after removal of carbonaceous matter gave values of 1.48 wt. % NH4+ and 1.44 wt. % NH4+. A survey of more than 150 different shale horizons indicates that the NH4+ content of the illites increases in proximity to the stratiform base metal mineralization.
The Fate of Well Fixed Cemented Femoral Components Left in Place at the Time of Revision of the Acetabular Component

The results were reviewed for thirty-seven hips (thirty-five patients) in which a well fixed femoral component that originally had been implanted with use of a so-called first-generation cementing technique was subsequently left in place at the time of revision of the acetabular component without cement. The purpose of the study was to determine the rate of survival of the femoral component and the complications associated with revision of one side of the joint. The femoral components had been in situ for a mean duration of 102 months (range, twelve to 216 months) at the time of the revision of the acetabular component. At the time of follow-up after the revision of the acetabular component, one patient (one femoral component; 3 per cent) had died, twenty-seven femoral components (73 per cent) were in place and radiographically stable, one femoral component had been removed because of infection, six (16 per cent) had been revised because of aseptic loosening, and two (5 per cent) were definitely loose according to radiographic criteria. Excluding the failures and death, the mean duration of follow-up was sixty-five months (range, forty-eight to 121 months). The predicted survival of the femoral component after the revision of the acetabular component was 88 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval, 82 to 94 per cent) at forty-eight months and 78 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval, 67 to 89 per cent) at eighty-eight months. Dislocation occurred in three hips (8 per cent), and a trochanteric non-union occurred in five (14 per cent). The mean rate of linear polyethylene wear did not differ significantly (0.13 as compared with 0.12 millimeter per year; p = 0.74) from that for a comparable group of forty-nine hips that had had a revision of the femoral component without cement and had been followed for a similar duration. The data support the decision to retain a well fixed femoral component that has been implanted with a so-called first-generation cementing technique when the acetabular component subsequently needs a revision. The survival of the femoral component and the risk of associated complications do not appear to be appreciably altered by revision of the other side of the joint.
Reconfigurable architecture and automated design flow for rapid FPGA-based LDPC code emulation

Multitude of design freedoms of LDPC codes and practical decoders require fast simulations. FPGA emulation is attractive but inaccessible due to its design complexity. We propose a library and script based approach to automate the construction of FPGA emulations. Code parameters and design parameters are programmed either during run time or by script in design time. We demonstrate the architecture and design flow using the LDPC codes for the latest wireless communication standards: each emulation model was auto-constructed within one minute and the peak emulation throughput reached 3.8 Gb/s on a BEE3 platform.
Ethics consultation: permission from patients and other problems of method.

(2001). Ethics Consultation: Permission from Patients and Other Problems of Method. The American Journal of Bioethics: Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 43-45.
The Representational vs. the Relational View of Visual Experience

In Reference and Consciousness,1 John Campbell attempts to a make a case that what he calls ‘the Relational View’ of visual experience, a view that he champions, is superior to what he calls ‘the Representational View’.2 I argue that his attempt fails. In section 1, I spell out the two views. In section 2, I outline Campbell's case that the Relational View is superior to the Representational View and offer a diagnosis of where Campbell goes wrong. In section 3, I examine the case in detail and argue that it fails. Finally, in section 4, I mention two very well-known problems for the Relational View that are unresolved in the book.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging/Transrectal Ultrasonography Fusion Prostate Biopsy Significantly Outperforms Systematic 12-Core Biopsy for Prediction of Total Magnetic Resonance Imaging Tumor Volume in Active Surveillance Patients.

Abstract Objective: To correlate the highest percentage core involvement (HPCI) and corresponding tumor length (CTL) on systematic 12-core biopsy (SBx) and targeted magnetic resonance imaging/transrectal ultrasonography (MRI/TRUS) fusion biopsy (TBx), with total MRI prostate cancer (PCa) tumor volume (TV). Patients and Methods: Fifty patients meeting criteria for active surveillance (AS) based on outside SBx, who underwent 3.0T multiparametric prostate MRI (MP–MRI), followed by SBx and TBx during the same session at our institution were examined. PCa TVs were calculated using MP-MRI and then correlated using bivariate analysis with the HPCI and CTL for SBx and TBx. Results: For TBx, HPCI and CTL showed a positive correlation (R2=0.31, P<0.0001 and R2=0.37, P<0.0001, respectively) with total MRI PCa TV, whereas for SBx, these parameters showed a poor correlation (R2=0.00006, P=0.96 and R2=0.0004, P=0.89, respectively). For detection of patients with clinically significant MRI derived tumor burden greater t...
Analytical Modeling of Output Conductance in Long-Channel Halo-Doped MOSFETs

In this paper, a detailed physical analysis and an analytical derivation of the degradation of the output resistance (Rout) observed in relatively long-channel laterally nonuniformly doped devices with halo implants are presented. Two-dimensional device simulations were performed, and the simulations show that the channel can be split into two uniformly doped transistors in series for the purpose of analysis. The lower doped bulk transistor is on the source side, while the higher doped halo transistor is toward the drain end. Based on this two-transistor analysis, a simple Rout degradation model is derived for implementation in a MOSFET compact model
Finite element analysis of advanced multilayer capacitors

We establish a systematic methodology to design and analyse electromagnetic components such as advanced multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) using the finite element (FE) method. We employ a coupled formulation to compute the interaction between the electric and magnetic fields. Unlike a linear distribution of current assumed in the circuit model, an accurate electrostatic solution to model the entire advanced MLCCs (4 × 4 × 27 = 432 cells) is presented. The FE solution is used to compute the lumped parameters for a range of frequencies. These lumped parameters are then used to compute the parasitic elements of the MLCCs. We introduce two algorithms to efficiently analyse the behaviour of a capacitor with changing frequency. The lower frequency (much below the self-resonant frequency of the capacitor) algorithm separates the effect of the electric and magnetic fields and reduces the computational effort required to solve the FE problem, whereas, the high-frequency algorithm couples the effect between the electric and the magnetic fields. We use these algorithms in conjunction with a new multiple scale technique to effectively determine the small values of R, L and C in MLCCs. The formulation, the implementation, and the numerical results demonstrate the efficacy of the present FE formulation and establish a systematic methodology to design and analyse advanced electromagnetic components.
STUDIES ON BACTERIAL NUTRITION : I. GROWTH OF BACILLUS INFLUENZAE IN HEMOGLOBIN-FREE MEDIA.

From the data presented in the foregoing experiments it is evident that Bacillus influenzae will grow in a fluid medium consisting of plain broth to which have been added small amounts of emulsions or extracts of mucoid bacilli or of Bacillus proteus . The bacterial extracts may be made by simple boiling of the bacillary emulsions in broth or saline solution and centrifuging out the bacterial bodies; they may be filtered without losing their growth-inducing property. Cultures of Bacillus influenzae in bacterial extract broth, if not too small doses of the extracts were employed, always showed heavier growth than the control cultures in blood broth, and growth occurred at a considerably earlier period than in blood broth. In many instances growth could be seen after 3 to 4 hours, and a bacterial whirl was always visible after 6 hours incubation. When the nature of the culture used for seeding is not stated, this was 0.1 cc. of the supernatant fluid of a blood broth culture. All cultures were made in fluid medium; solid medium is much more difficult to use in connection with the extracts. In explanation of the remarkable growth of Bacillus influenzae in this blood-free medium, the idea is proposed that the growth-stimulating effect of the bacterial extracts is due possibly to substances of the same nature as the so called vitamines. Further investigations on this principle of bacterial nutrition will appear in subsequent papers, together with a more thorough study of the sources and character of the growth-inducing substances.
Extent and impact of industry sponsorship conflicts of interest in dermatology research

Background Many published clinical trials are authored by investigators with financial conflicts of interest. The general medical literature documents the pervasive extent and sometimes problematic impact of these conflicts. Accordingly, there is renewed discussion about author disclosure and clinical trial registry to minimize publication bias from financial conflicts of interest. Despite this evolving discussion in the general medical literature, little is known about the extent or role of financial conflicts of interest in dermatology research. Objective Our purpose was to determine the extent and impact of industry sponsorship conflicts of interest in dermatology research. Methods We recorded potential financial conflicts of interest, study design, and study outcome in 179 clinical trials published between Oct 1, 2000 and Oct 1, 2003 in four leading dermatology journals. Results Forty-three percent of analyzed studies included at least one author with a reported conflict of interest. These studies were more likely to report a positive result, demonstrate higher methodological quality, and include a larger sample size. Conclusions Conflict of interest in clinical investigations in dermatology appears to be prevalent and associated with potentially significant differences in study methodology and reporting.
Remodeling and Neointimal Formation in the Carotid Artery of Normal and P-Selectin–Deficient Mice

Background Inflammatory reactions such as leukocyte activation with platelet adherence and release of inflammatory mediators occur after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and may play a role in restenosis. Vascular remodeling with neointimal formation was studied in normal C57Bl/J6 and P-selectin–deficient mice. Methods and Results The left common carotid artery was ligated just proximal to the carotid bifurcation. Four weeks later, left carotids and contralateral controls were snap-frozen. Computer-aided morphometry was performed to measure ratios of neointimal to medial area (NI/M) in 10 sections per animal as a measure of the thickness of the neointimal lesion. For normal mice, NI/M was 1.13±0.2 (n=20), whereas NI/M was reduced by 76% to 0.27±0.1 (n=19) in P-selectin knockout mice. Vascular constriction (as measured by the length of external elastic lamina) was the same in both groups, but the circumference of the lumen in knockout mice was 26% larger. Also, normal and P-selectin–deficient...
The Effect of Parole on Methadone Patient Behavior

A 7-year followup of three male samples of 1971-1973 methadone maintenance admissions was conducted: a random sample of 100; a sample of 136 who had a minimum of 30 months remaining on civil addict parole status at the time of methadone entry; and a matched sample of 136 not on parole. Ninety percent of those not deceased were interviewed. The overall sample spent 58% of the nonincarcerated follow-up interval on methadone. This resulted in a large decline in daily heroin use and associated criminal behavior measures. The addition of parole supervision with urine testing resulted in only marginal improvements in behavior over that attributable to maintenance alone; however, the parole status did significantly reduce the length of intervals of daily heroin use both prior and subsequent to methadone entry.
Phase conjugation, edge detection and image broadcasting using two-beam coupling configurations in photorefractive KNbO3

Abstract Two-beam coupling configurations are employed to obtain the phase conjugate image and edge extraction of an object using photorefractive KNbO 3 : Fe. Also, the self-organization of a beam in the material into a hexagonal spot array is utilized to broadcast an input object to the location of each of the spots.
Insulin is degraded extracellularly in wounds by insulin-degrading enzyme (EC 3.4.24.56)

The exact mechanism by which insulin reverses impaired wound healing is unknown. Previous investigators have shown that insulin is degraded in experimental wounds, suggesting that the action of ins...
Analysis of Hoxd-13 and Hoxd-11 misexpression in chick limb buds reveals that Hox genes affect both bone condensation and growth

Hox genes are important regulators of limb pattern in vertebrate development. Misexpression of Hox genes in chicks using retroviral vectors provides an opportunity to analyze gain-of-function phenotypes and to assess their modes of action. Here we report the misexpression phenotype for Hoxd-13 and compare it to the misexpression phenotype of Hoxd-11. Hoxd-13 misexpression in the hindlimb results in a shortening of the long bones, including the femur, the tibia, the fibula and the tarsometatarsals. Mutations in an alanine repeat region in the N-terminus of Hoxd-13 have recently been implicated in human synpolydactyly (Muragaki, Y., Mundlos, S., Upton, J. and Olsen, B. R. (1996) Science 272, 548–551). N-terminal truncations of Hoxd-13 which lack this repeat were constructed and were found to produce a similar, although slightly milder, misexpression phenotype than the full-length Hoxd-13. The stage of bone development regulated by Hox genes has not previously been examined. The changes in bone lengths caused by Hoxd-13 misexpression are late phenotypes that first become apparent during the growth phase of the bones. Analysis of tritiated thymidine uptake by the tibia and fibula demonstrates that Hox genes can pattern the limb skeleton by regulating the rates of cell division in the proliferative zone of growing cartilage. Hoxd-11, in contrast to Hoxd-13, acts both at the initial cartilage condensation phase in the foot and during the later growth phase in the lower leg. Ectopic Hoxd-13 appears to act in a dominant negative manner in regions where it is not normally expressed. We propose a model in which all Hox genes are growth promoters, regulating the expression of the same target genes, with some Hox genes being more effective promoters of growth than other Hox genes. According to this model, the overall rate of growth in a given region is the result of the combined action of all of the Hox genes expressed in that region competing for the same target genes.
Glycosylation Network Analysis Toolbox

Summary: Systems glycobiology studies the interaction of various pathways that regulate glycan biosynthesis and function. Software tools for the construction and analysis of such pathways are not yet available. We present GNAT, a platform-independent, user-extensible MATLAB-based toolbox that provides an integrated computational environment to construct, manipulate and simulate glycans and their networks. It enables integration of XML-based glycan structure data into SBML (Systems Biology Markup Language) files that describe glycosylation reaction networks. Curation and manipulation of networks is facilitated using class definitions and glycomics database query tools. High quality visualization of networks and their steady-state and dynamic simulation are also supported. Availability: The software package including source code, help documentation and demonstrations are available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnatmatlab/files/. Contact:neel@buffalo.edu or gangliu@buffalo.edu
Neurobiology of Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex condition resulting from numerous genetic and physiologic factors. This article reviews the neurochemical mechanisms underlying MDD, summarizes recent genetic findings, and examines the efficacy of various treatments. The norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT) pathways affect several areas of the nervous system that are disrupted in MDD, and agents that increase levels of either NE (NE reuptake inhibitors [NRIs]) or 5-HT (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs]) are known to be effective in alleviating MDD symptoms. The dual-action hypothesis suggests that drugs affecting both neurotransmitters simultaneously (serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors [SNRIs]) may have a greater therapeutic effect in some patients than either NRIs or SSRIs alone. Literature shows that this hypothesis is valid, but the magnitude of the effect is smaller than might be predicted, possibly because of genetic heterogeneity among patients or differences in selectivity among the various SNRIs, and because modulation of 5-HT and NE activity does not entirely explain the pathophysiology of MDD. Until it is possible to select patients who are more likely to respond to specific classes of drugs based on certain genes or biomarkers, data suggest that dual-acting antidepressants are slightly more effective than those that are selective for a single neurotransmitter in the treatment of patients with MDD.
Differences between women and men in adverse events and CD4+ responses to nucleoside analogue therapy for HIV infection

Objective: To prospectively examine differences in baseline characteristics and study outcomes between HIV-infected women and men during a clinical trial of nucleoside analogue therapy. Methods: ACTG 175 randomized HIV-infected patients with CD4 + counts between 200 and 500 cells/mm 3 to one of four nucleoside analogue regimens: zidovudine (ZDV), didanosine (ddl), ZDV + ddl, or ZDV + zalcitabine (ddC). Differences in time to first dose modification, voluntary withdrawal, development of toxicity and symptomatology, and AIDS progression were compared by gender. Results: The study included 438 women and 2029 men. Baseline values of HIV RNA plasma concentrations were significantly lower for women (0.3 log 10 ) than men in a subset of patients in whom assays were taken and this difference persisted after adjustment for CD4 + count. Women reported reducing dosage and discontinue ddl-containing regimens more frequently than men did; adjustment for weight did not completely explain this difference. Women were at lower risk than men for progression to a study endpoint (19% of women versus 24% of men; p <.0001). Among those antiretroviral-naive study subjects receiving ZDV, men were four times more likely to progress to a study endpoint than women. Conclusions: Differences in pretreatment characteristics and on study experiences were demonstrated between women and men enrolled in this clinical trial. The suggestion of a gender difference in response to ZDV monotherapy by antiretroviral-naive study subjects and the lower baseline values for HIV RNA in women compared with those in men provides evidence for gender differences in the relationship between virus replication, CD4 + decline, and responses to nucleoside analogue therapy.
Numerical simulation of viscous unsteady type IV shock-shock interaction with thermochemical nonequilibrium

Self-sustained unsteady type IV shock-shock interference heating problems with nonequilibrium real gas effects are studied by numerical simulations. The multicomponent Navier-Stokes equations with nonequilibrium rotational, vibrational, and chemical models for five-species air were solved by a finite-volume second-order TVD scheme together with a third-order semi-implicit Runge-Kutta scheme. The present paper studies the effects of impinging shock location on the unsteadiness of the nonequilibrium flow. Perfect gas cases were studied to examine the difference between perfect and nonequilibrium unsteady shock interactions. A feedback mechanism, whereby disturbances generated during the vortex shedding perturbed the main bow shock which fed back disturbances through the supersonic jet to the shear layer, was observed in the flow field. The degree of unsteadiness in the flow field was found to be strongly dependent on the location of the impinging shock relative to the geometric stagnation line. Thermochemical nonequilibrium was found to decrease surface pressure enhancement, increase surface heating enhancement, and increase the oscillation frequency relative to flow fields with identical freestreams, but without nonequilibrium models. (Author)
Applied mineralogy of refinery slags

The techniques of process mineralogy can be effectively applied to the study of slags. By these techniques, the minerals or phases, phase chemistry, phase abundance, associations, crystalline habit, grain size, microtextures, and causes for certain metallurgical problems, such as metal losses to the slags, can be readily deduced. This case history is an example of the application of process mineralogy to the study of metal losses in a slag from a secondary copper refinery.
A Hierarchical Screening Algorithm for Reactive Power Optimization in Distribution Networks

This paper presents a novel approach to reactive power optimization in the distribution network.By taking advantage of the characteristics of the distribution network with tree hierarchy,the radial network is decomposed into nested linear equivalent loads and a recursive load parameter calculating method is derived.The entire strategy space is also hierarchically decomposed with each sub-strategy mapped to a set of equivalent load parameters.When two sub-strategies of the same node have similar reactive power and voltage load parameters,the one with heavier local active power loss is eliminated.Therefore the strategy space of each layer of the network is greatly reduced.The algorithm proposed is deterministic and free from initial value selection and convergence issues,which helps achieve fast computing and approximate global optimization.An actual 18-bus distribution system and the IEEE 69-bus system simulation results have verified the correctness and effectiveness of the algorithm.
Incidence and outcome of mobile pulmonary tuberculosis cases in Hanyang district of Wuhan City

Objective To investigate the incidence and clinical characteristics of pulmonary tuberculosis(TB)cases among mobile population in Hanyang district of Wuhan city. Methods Consulting ways,demographics,clinical representations,lesions distribution,sputum smears and cultures along with the treatment outcomes of 426 TB cases of mobile population who were diagnosed and registered from January 2008 to December 2012 were compared with those of 1 038 local TB cases of the same age group in Hanyang district of Wuhan city. Chi square(χ2)test was employed to compare the difference between the two groups of patients. Results Among 426 TB cases of mobile population,385 cases were young and middle aged adults between 15 and 45 years old(90.4%,385/426); 253 cases were diagnosed through regular medical examinations(59.4%,253/426)、267 cases had two or more pulmonary lobes involved(62.7%,267/426); 152 cases were found sputum smear positive(35.7%,152/426). All of the above indexes among the mobile were higher than those of the local patients(χ2=98.19,37.38,39.29,P0.001). The successful treatment rate among mobile TB cases was 78.2%(333/426) significantly lower than 94.8%(984/1038)among the local TB patients(χ2=92.46,P0.001). Conclusions The mobile TB patients demonstrated severe illness,Their sputum positive rate was high and cure rate was low to have increased the difficulty of TB control.
Effect of strain on the 1 f noise of metal films

The application of stress has been found to significantly affect the low-frequency excess noise of metal films. We find that in general the resulting noise is similar to the $\frac{1}{f}$ noise thought to be intrinsic to metals. Our results suggest that much of the noise observed in these systems may be caused by a process closely associated with strain relaxation.
Computer-aided Diagnosis for Lung Cancer: Usefulness of Nodule Heterogeneity.

Rationale and Objectives To develop a computer-aided diagnosis system to differentiate between malignant and benign nodules. Materials and Methods Seventy-three lung nodules revealed on 60 sets of computed tomography (CT) images were analyzed. Contrast-enhanced CT was performed in 46 CT examinations. The images were provided by the LUNGx Challenge, and the ground truth of the lung nodules was unavailable; a surrogate ground truth was, therefore, constructed by radiological evaluation. Our proposed method involved novel patch-based feature extraction using principal component analysis, image convolution, and pooling operations. This method was compared to three other systems for the extraction of nodule features: histogram of CT density, local binary pattern on three orthogonal planes, and three-dimensional random local binary pattern. The probabilistic outputs of the systems and surrogate ground truth were analyzed using receiver operating characteristic analysis and area under the curve. The LUNGx Challenge team also calculated the area under the curve of our proposed method based on the actual ground truth of their dataset. Results Based on the surrogate ground truth, the areas under the curve were as follows: histogram of CT density, 0.640; local binary pattern on three orthogonal planes, 0.688; three-dimensional random local binary pattern, 0.725; and the proposed method, 0.837. Based on the actual ground truth, the area under the curve of the proposed method was 0.81. Conclusions The proposed method could capture discriminative characteristics of lung nodules and was useful for the differentiation between malignant and benign nodules.
The impact of debt relief on under five mortality rate in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines the impact of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative on under five mortality rate (U5MR) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The HIPC Initiative involves debt forgiveness and the redirection of funds that were meant to service external debt towards the provision of social services and poverty reduction in eligible countries. The Initiative is akin to a natural experiment since some countries benefited while some did not, and the timing of debt forgiveness varied across countries. We exploit these variations to identify the impact of HIPC Initiative on child mortality using a dynamic panel data estimator. We find that participation in HIPC Initiative is associated with statistically significant decreases in U5MR. On the other hand, the impact of actual debt cancelled is statistically insignificant.
Collecting Nonmarket Valuation Data

This chapter describes how to collect primary and secondary data for nonmarket valuation studies. The bulk of this chapter offers guidance on how to design and implement a high-quality nonmarket valuation survey. Understanding the full data collection process will also help in evaluating the quality of data that someone else collected (i.e., secondary data). As there are not standard operating procedures for collecting nonmarket valuation, this chapter highlights the issues that should be considered in each step of the data collection process from sampling to questionnaire design to administering the questionnaire. While high-quality data that reflect individual preferences will not ensure the reliability or validity of estimated nonmarket values, quality data are a prerequisite for reliable and valid nonmarket measures.
Reflections on the transnational and comparative imperial history of Asia: Its promises, perils, and prospects

Two prominent approaches to the history of empires and nation-states are comparative imperial history [CIH] and transnational history [TNH]. Each group of historians has actively promoted their per...
Student Misconceptions about Plants - A First Step in Building a Teaching Resource.

Plants are ubiquitous and found in virtually every ecosystem on Earth, but their biology is often poorly understood, and inaccurate ideas about how plants grow and function abound. Many articles have been published documenting student misconceptions about photosynthesis and respiration, but there are substantially fewer on such topics as plant cell structure and growth; plant genetics, evolution, and classification; plant physiology (beyond energy relations); and plant ecology. The available studies of misconceptions held on those topics show that many are formed at a very young age and persist throughout all educational levels. Our goal is to begin building a central resource of plant biology misconceptions that addresses these underrepresented topics, and here we provide a table of published misconceptions organized by topic. For greater utility, we report the age group(s) in which the misconceptions were found and then map them to the ASPB – BSA Core Concepts and Learning Objectives in Plant Biology for Undergraduates, developed jointly by the American Society of Plant Biologists and the Botanical Society of America.
Meaningful Learning in Science: The Human Constructivist Perspective

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the research, focusing particularly on studies that support a new synthesis of learning theory, epistemology and philosophy of science. In physics, the earliest and most powerful studies investigated students' conceptions of basic Newtonian mechanics. Many students, regardless of age or prior experience, appear to subscribe to a kind of Aristotelian notion of moving bodies. In contrast to the Newtonian view, these students hold that moving objects are kept in motion by a constant force, and in the absence of a force, the objects are either at rest or slowing down. These views have been elicited from many students who have been asked to forecast the course of a moving body acted on by an exterior force. The consequence, as diSessa describes it, is “a collision” between an Aristotelian worldview and a Newtonian reality. Students' explanations of natural phenomena often resemble theories offered by previous generations of scientists and natural philosophers. The fundamental hypothesis of genetic epistemology is that there is a parallelism between progress made in the rational and logical organization of knowledge, and the corresponding psychological processes. Learning is the responsibility of the learner, and the conscious decision to learn meaningfully is one that only students can make.
Ten kilometer vertical Moho offset and shallow velocity contrast along the Denali fault zone from double-difference tomography, receiver functions, and fault zone head waves

We examine the structure of the Denali fault system in the crust and upper mantle using double-difference tomography, P-wave receiver functions, and analysis (spatial distribution and moveout) of fault zone head waves. The three methods have complementary sensitivity; tomography is sensitive to 3D seismic velocity structure but smooths sharp boundaries, receiver functions are sensitive to (quasi) horizontal interfaces, and fault zone head waves are sensitive to (quasi) vertical interfaces. The results indicate that the Mohorovicic discontinuity is vertically offset by 10 to 15 km along the central 600 km of the Denali fault in the imaged region, with the northern side having shallower Moho depths around 30 km. An automated phase picker algorithm is used to identify ~ 1400 events that generate fault zone head waves only at near-fault stations. At shorter hypocentral distances head waves are observed at stations on the northern side of the fault, while longer propagation distances and deeper events produce head waves on the southern side. These results suggest a reversal of the velocity contrast polarity with depth, which we confirm by computing average 1D velocity models separately north and south of the fault. Using teleseismic events with M ≥ 5.1, we obtain 31,400 P receiver functions and apply common-conversion-point stacking. The results are migrated to depth using the derived 3D tomography model. The imaged interfaces agree with the tomography model, showing a Moho offset along the central Denali fault and also the sub-parallel Hines Creek fault, a suture zone boundary 30 km to the north. To the east, this offset follows the Totschunda fault, which ruptured during the M7.9 2002 earthquake, rather than the Denali fault itself. The combined results suggest that the Denali fault zone separates two distinct crustal blocks, and that the Totschunda and Hines Creeks segments are important components of the fault and Cretaceous-aged suture zone structure.
Dissipative structures, machines, and organisms: A perspective

Self-organization in nonequilibrium systems resulting in the formation of dissipative structures has been studied in a variety of systems, most prominently in chemical systems. We present a study of a voltage-driven dissipative structure consisting of conducting beads immersed in a viscous medium of oil. In this simple system, we observed remarkably complex organism-like behavior. The dissipative structure consists of a tree structure that spontaneously forms and moves like a worm and exhibits many features characteristic of living organisms. The complex motion of the beads driven by the applied field, the dipole-dipole interaction between the beads, and the hydrodynamic flow of the viscous medium result in a time evolution of the tree structure towards states of lower resistance or higher dissipation and thus higher rates of entropy production. The resulting end-directed evolution manifests as the tree moving to locations seeking higher current, the current that sustains its structure and dynamics. The study of end-directed evolution in the dissipative structure gives us a means to distinguish the fundamental difference between machines and organisms and opens a path for the formulation of physics of organisms.
Superstorm Sandy's impact on the provision of WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) services in New York State.

ObjectiveServices provided by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) were interrupted in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy struck New York State (NYS). The present study evaluates the impact on WIC providers.DesignA focus group, telephone interviews and anonymous online survey were conducted. Qualitative data were analysed by coding transcribed text into key words and identifying major and minor themes for strengths, challenges and recommendations using national public health preparedness capabilities. Survey responses were analysed quantitatively; reported challenges were classified by preparedness capability.SettingThe focus group was held at a 2014 regional WIC meeting. Interviews and a survey were conducted via telephone in 2014 and online in 2015, respectively.SubjectsWIC staff representing New York City and three NYS counties.ResultsIn the focus group (n 12) and interviews (n 6), ‘emergency operations coordination’ was the most cited capability as a strength, ‘environmental health protection’ (against environmental hazards) as a challenge and ‘flexibility’ (on rules and procedures) as a recommendation. In the survey (n 24), the capability ‘information sharing’ was most often cited as a challenge. Most staff (66·6 %) reported their programmes were at least somewhat prepared for future weather-related disasters. Only 16·7 % indicated having practiced a work-related emergency response plan since Sandy. Staff who practiced an emergency response plan were more likely to indicate they were prepared (P < 0·05).ConclusionsThe study identified WIC programme areas requiring preparedness improvements. The research methodology can be utilized to assess the continuity of other public health services during disasters.
Quantum Field Theory of Nematic Transitions in Spin-Orbit-Coupled Spin-1 Polar Bosons.

We theoretically study an ultracold gas of spin-1 polar bosons in a one-dimensional continuum, which are subject to linear and quadratic Zeeman fields and a Raman induced spin orbit coupling. Concentrating on the regime in which the background fields can be treated perturbatively, we analytically solve the model in its low-energy sector; i.e., we characterize the relevant phases and the quantum phase transitions between them. Depending on the sign of the effective quadratic Zeeman field e, two superfluid phases with distinct nematic order appear. In addition, we uncover a spin-disordered superfluid phase at strong coupling. We employ a combination of renormalization group calculations and duality transformations to access the nature of the phase transitions. At e=0, a line of spin-charge separated pairs of Luttinger liquids divides the two nematic phases, and the transition to the spin-disordered state at strong coupling is of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type. In contrast, at e≠0, the quantum critical theory separating nematic and strong coupling spin-disordered phases contains a Luttinger liquid in the charge sector that is coupled to a Majorana fermion in the spin sector (i.e., the critical theory at finite e maps to a quantum critical Ising model that is coupled to the charge Luttinger liquid). Because of an emergent Lorentz symmetry, both have the same logarithmically diverging velocity. We discuss the experimental signatures of our findings that are relevant to ongoing experiments in ultracold atomic gases of ^{23}Na.