cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enhancement of rat tear IgA antibody responses following intranasal immunization with antigen and CpG ODN.

Purpose. To determine the effect of unmethylated oligodeoxynucleotides containing bacterial CpG motifs (CpG ODN) on the induction of rat tear IgA antibody responses. Methods. Rats were immunized intranasally with either soluble dinitrophenylated bovine serum albumin (DNP-BSA) or poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG) encapsulated DNP-BSA in combination with CpG ODN. The animals received two immunizations 21 days apart. Following the second immunization, tear, saliva and serum samples were collected for 28 days and analyzed for antigen specific antibodies. Tear IgA, saliva IgA and serum IgG antibody concentrations were determined by ELISA. Results. Co-administration of CpG ODN with either soluble or encapsulated antigen resulted in significantly elevated levels of both tear and salivary IgA antibodies as well as levels of serum IgG antibodies. Microencapsulated DNP-BSA plus CpG ODN elicited higher levels of IgA antibodies in tears than did soluble antigen plus CpG ODN. Conclusions. CpG ODN is an effective mucosa...
Forerunners: Early coronal manifestations of solar mass ejection events

Coronal ejection transients viewed with the white light coronagraph on Skylab are studied from the times of their very earliest manifestations for clues to their origin. Excess coronal mass with a configuration like that of the eventual transient is seen in twelve events prior to the transient's associated near-surface Hα eruption or flare. In seven of the events, data are adequate to observe the rates of outward mass motion of coronal material prior to their surface manifestations. The observations place severe constraints on different solar mass ejection mechanisms because they spread the process responsible for the ejection over a larger region of the corona and over a longer period of time than normally considered. The observations suggest the corona is an active participant in the ejection that begins with the acceleration of the outer portion of a preexisting structure and ends with the obvious surface manifestation.
Cognitive behavioral treatment for trauma symptoms in American Indian youth: preliminary findings and issues in evidence-based practice and reservation culture

This study reports on the use of Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), an evidence-based practice, with 43 students in six schools on three American Indian reservation communities. CBITS was helpful in treating the majority of American Indian children and adolescents who were experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Using a limited quasi-experimental design, on a measure of traumatic stress, there was symptom reduction with the passage of time; however, symptoms reduced more substantially with treatment. Local cultural experts, that is, Tribal Elders, were invited to provide traditional cultural activities and teachings in the introductory lesson and at graduation. A 3-year follow-up involving school counselors reported on acceptability and additional impacts of the program. They expressed that treating trauma was a priority for their students, CBITS was perceived as an advantageous approach, and counselors said they would use it in the future. Fur...
Coordinating Wind Farms and Battery Management Systems for Inter-Area Oscillation Damping: A Frequency-Domain Approach

This paper presents a set of linear control designs for shaping the inter-area oscillation spectrum of a large radial power system through coordinated control of a wind farm and a battery energy system (BES). We consider a continuum representation of the power system with the wind and battery power modeled as point-source forcings. A spectral analysis of the system demonstrates that its oscillation spectrum strongly depends on the locations of these power injections, implying that there are siting locations that produce more favorable spectral responses. However, the ability to site a wind farm or BES at a specific location may be limited by geographic, environmental, economic or other considerations. Our work provides a means to circumvent this problem by designing co-ordinated controllers for the power outputs of the wind farm and the BES by which one can shape the spectral response of the system to a desired response. The design is posed as a parametric optimization problem that minimizes the error between the two spectral responses over a finite range of frequencies. The approach is independent of the locations of the wind farm and the BES, and can be implemented in a decentralized fashion.
A message-passing multi-softcore architecture on FPGA for Breadth-first Search

Breadth-first Search (BFS) is a fundamental graph problem. Due to the irregular nature of memory accesses to graph data structures, parallelization of BFS on cache-based systems leads to poor performance. Many issues, such as memory access latency, cache coherence policy, and inter-process synchronization, affect the throughput performance of BFS on such systems. In our proposed message-passing multi-softcore architecture, parallelization is achieved by exchanging information among autonomous softcores on FPGA. Several optimizations are performed to reduce the traffic on the interconnect and to enable designs with high clock rates. Implementations on a state of the art FPGA achieve clock rates in excess of 100 MHz. The sustained performance of our system ranges from 160 to 795 Million Edges Per Second on a DDR3 DRAM. This result approaches the upperbound set by the DRAM bandwidth, and it rivals the best performance from implementations on various multi-core computing platforms.
(Gob Squad's) Revolution Now! Or Never?

Gob Squad — love children of the contemporary European performance scene — have "occupied" the Berlin Volksbuhne for their newest action: Revolution Now! So let the Molotov cocktails fly: "this revolution will be broadcast live!"
Spinel-derived single mode optical fiber

A silica-based highly acoustically-anti-guiding optical fiber, fabricated using a molten core approach employing spinel (MgAl2O4) for the first time, is presented. To our knowledge, this is the first truly single mode optical fiber fabricated from a precursor crystal. It is shown that MgO increases the acoustic velocity when added to silica (some physical parameters of MgO are identified) and that the Brillouin gain in the core is less than one third that in the cladding in one of the fibers. This results from a massive acoustic waveguide attenuation term that broadens the spectrum to well over 200 MHz. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, this also enabled the validation of the intrinsic Brillouin line-width (~20 MHz) of pure silica in fiber form via a direct measurement.
Family violence and depressive symptomatology among incarcerated women

This study examines the potential association between witnessing parental violence as a child and later adult depressive symptomatology within a population that has received limited attention in the scientific literature, namely, incarcerated women. The Conflict Tactics Scale and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale were administered to 60 women incarcerated in a maximum security prison in North Carolina. A majority of the women reported that they had witnessed verbally aggressive or physically violent interactions among the adult members in their families. Seventy percent of these women suffered from clinically relevant levels of depressive symptomatology. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that increasing levels of reasoning conflict resolution strategies used in the women's families of origin were associated with decreasing levels of depressive symptomatology of the women, whereas increasing levels of physically violent conflict resolution strategies were associated with increasing levels of depressive symptomatology.
Prediction of molecular flexibility in halogenated alkanes via fractal dimensionality

The topological connectedness and experimentally determined boiling point for each of a series of halogenated normal alkane molecules were used to derive fractal dimensionalities of these molecules by a simplified version of the method of Rouvray and Pandey. The results, which relate to the time-averaged molecular conformations of the species in the bulk liquid phase, were then used to obtain estimates of the flexibility of the molecules in question. The effects of the halogen atoms are pronounced and reveal a number of interesting trends. Such analysis is of particular value in the medical context, since perfluorinated alkanes and other perfluorinated species are now being employed widely in medical operations as substitutes for body fluids.
Curability of ewing's sarcoma and considerations for future therapeutic trials

Twenty previously untreated children with primary Ewing's sarcoma and 8 children with primary tumor and metastatic disease were treated with surgery or radiation therapy (6,000-7,000 rads) for their primary tumor and T-2 chemotherapy. Of the 20 children with primary Ewing's sarcoma treated with T-2 "adjuvant" chemotherapy, 15 had no evidence of recurrent disease for from 31+-82+ months (median 46+ months) from the start of treatment. The actuarial 5-year disease-free survival rate for this group of patients was 75%. Eight patients presenting with metastatic disease had complete responses to T-2 chemotherapy, but 7/8 with metastatic disease eventually had tumor recurrence. Examination of the treatment failures, both those patients relapsing after adjuvant chemotherapy for primary Ewing's sarcoma (5), and those relapsing after having a complete response of metastatic disease (7) to T-2 chemotherapy, revealed that all relapses occurred at the end of the second year of T-2 chemotherapy or after chemotherapy was stopped. In addition, of 23 patients receiving "curative" radiation therapy to their primary tumor, 5 had local recurrence (22%) and 6 (26%) had severe functional debility secondary to combined radiation therapy and T-2 chemotherapy. The conclusions drawn from this experience have led us to consider a new approach to the treatment of Ewing's sarcoma, namely: 1) more aggressive initial or "induction" chemotherapy with subsequent T-2 "maintenance" chemotherapy to eradicate more completely all metastatic microfoci of disease presumed to be present in patients with primary tumor at the time of diagnosis, and ostensively present in patients with metastatic disease; 2) the use of surgery alone or in combination with moderate doses of radiation therapy in those patients in whom we can predict a high frequency of local recurrence (pelvic lesions) or a high percentage of "functional failures" (young children with lower extremity lesions). Preliminary results with this latter approach are encouraging with 11/13 patients with primary Ewing's sarcoma free of disease at 12+-26+ months. A longer follow-up of this more aggressive treatment is needed to determine the superiority of this approach for both increased survival and improved late physical rehabilitation.
Anisotropic thermal conduction in supernova remnants : Relevance to hot-gas filling factors in the magnetized interstellar medium

We explore the importance of anisotropic thermal conduction in the evolution of supernova remnants by means of numerical simulations. The mean temperature of the bubble of hot gas is decreased by a factor of ~3 compared with simulations without thermal conduction, together with an increase in the mean density of hot gas by a similar factor. Thus, thermal conduction greatly reduces the volume of hot gas produced over the life of the remnant. This underscores the importance of thermal conduction in estimating the hot-gas filling fraction and emissivities in high-stage ions in Galactic and protogalactic interstellar media.
Incorporated but Not IRS-Registered: Exploring the (Dark) Grey Fringes of the Nonprofit Universe:

Listings of Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-registered and state-incorporated nonprofits for the same region may differ for a variety of reasons. Using Indiana as a case study, we first describe the distribution of nonprofits across these two listings. We then present findings from a small telephone survey of incorporated nonprofits that are not registered with the IRS for Indiana to explore whether they are excluded from the IRS-listing for statutory, technical, or compliance reasons. We consider several aspects of state incorporation status: date of incorporation and whether active status has been maintained or not. We conclude that researchers need to pay careful attention to the limitations of the IRS registration system when wishing to examine the dimensions of the nonprofit sector at local, state, or regional levels. Our finding, that some nonprofits fail to maintain active incorporation status, points to significant problems of nonprofit capacity.
Performance evaluation of the LDR and the PSH with forecast errors

Abstract Despite its ability to produce optimal solutions, the Linear Decision Rule (LDR) has not had a significant impact in the business environment. The Production Switching Heuristic (PSH), which has shown promising results when compared with the LDR, has experienced some business application because of its practicability and flexibility. During aggregate production planning, forecast errors are almost unavoidable, but the sensitivity of these models to such errors has not been thoroughly tested. Insufficient attention has been paid to truly understand the cost effects of forecast errors and other important interactions. The study investigates these issues by analyzing the results of 740 simulated problems. Using the famous “paint factory” cost data, the sensitivity of the LDR and the PSH are examined under various experimental conditions. The factors controlled at different levels are: forecast error mean, forecast error standard deviation, demand pattern, demand variability, and cost coefficients. The results show that 1) the PSH is generally less sensitive than the LDR to forecast errors, 2) both forecast error mean and standard deviation effectively measure the severity of forecast errors, and 3) underforecasts cause less cost penalty than overforecasts. The outcome of the study has helpful managerial implications for aggregate planning related decisionmaking. It suggests that the use of the PSH could result in potential cost savings even if significant forecast errors are envisioned as long as the period-to-period demand variability is not substantially high. Also, BIAS warrants more attention than MSE in evaluating the extent of forecast errors and their eventual cost impact on aggregate production planning.
Optical correlator for improving images distorted by atmospheric turbulence

Heat induced turbulence in the air causes optical phase changes that degrade image quality by smearing and causing the image to waiver unevenly in the field of view. A wavefront estimator provides an estimate of the turbulence generated phase variations at the lens. A modified optical transfer function is computed to include the phase effects of turbulence by assuming that the turbulence can be approximated by a phase screen at the lens. A 4-f correlator is used to deconvolve the phase due to turbulence out of the image. A computer simulation generates phase screens for testing the system.
The role of 7-mercaptoheptanoylthreonine phosphate in the methylcoenzyme M methylreductase system from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum

The structure of component B of the methylcoenzyme M methylreductase system from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum was recently found to be 7-mercaptoheptanoylthreonine phosphate (HS-HTP). Three potential roles for this cofactor were considered. First, a methyl thioether derivative of the cofactor was synthesized to investigate its possible role as a methyl donor. This derivative was found to be incapable of acting as a substrate for methanogenesis and proved inhibitory. Secondly, an adenylated form of the cofactor was considered as the potential active form of the coenzyme. This possibility was ruled out based upon collaborative observations with Ankel-Fuchs et al. (FEBS Lett., in press) that HS-HTP is required by the methylreductase system even when ATP is not. Finally, HS-HTP was found to act as a reductant in a partially-purified methylreductase preparation that was incubated under nitrogen. The rate of methane production from HS-HTP exceeded that from other thiols or hydrogen.
Intrahepatic placement of a PEG tube.

The PEG tube, since its introduction by Gauderer et al.1 in 1980, has become widely used for treatment of patients unable to take adequate nutrition by mouth. This procedure is safe and well tolerated and has been used in all age groups. But complications do occur and are usually divided into minor and major categories. Minor complications occur at a rate of 6% to 7%2 and include peristomal wound infection (most common), occlusion and fragmentation of the tube, migration of the tube into the small bowel, and leakage around the tube. Major complications occur at a rate of 2% to 3%2 and include peritonitis, aspiration with subsequent pneumonia, bleeding, necrotizing fasciitis, tumor implantation along the PEG tract, migration through the gastric wall resulting in “buried bumper syndrome,” as well as gastrocolic, enterocutaneous, and colocutaneous fistula formation.3 Additionally, colonic perforation, gastric perforation, complicated pneumoperitoneum, and duodenal hematoma have also been described. A case of transhepatic placement of a PEG tube is reported in which the patient remained asymptomatic, the complication being discovered only later after PEG tube exchange.
Intracranial ependymomas of childhood: long-term outcome and prognostic factors.

A detailed outcome analysis was performed on 40 children with intracranial ependymomas treated at our institution between 1975 and 1993 to identify those factors that were predictive of overall and progression-free survival. Three patients (7.5%) who were treated in the first 5 years of the study died within 3 months of surgery and were excluded from further outcome assessments. Eight (22%) of the 37 patients who survived the perioperative period had evidence of leptomeningeal dissemination at presentation, on the basis of either imaging (three children) and/or cytological (six children) results. The 5- and 10-year progression-free survival rates among these 37 patients were 45.1 and 36.1%, respectively; overall survival rates were 57.1 and 45.0%, respectively. The site of progression was local in 17 of 19 patients with progressive disease. Three factors were found to have a significant association (P < or = 0.05) with the outcome on both univariate and multivariate analyses: 1) the extent of the resection, 2) the age of the patient at diagnosis, and 3) the duration of the symptoms before diagnosis. The 5-year progression-free and overall survivals were 8.9 and 22%, respectively, among patients who had evidence of residual disease on postoperative imaging studies, compared with 68 and 80% rates among patients with no apparent residual disease (P = 0.0001 and P < 0.0001, respectively). Patients younger than 3 years fared significantly worse than older children (5-year progression-free and overall survival rates of 12 and 22%, respectively, in the younger children versus 60 and 75% in older children (P = 0.003 and P = 0.01, respectively). In addition, patients with a duration of symptoms before diagnosis of < 1 month had a worse outcome than those with a more protracted course (5-year progression-free and overall survival rates of 33 and 33%, respectively, versus rates of 53 and 64%, respectively (P = 0.02 for both). Neither the finding of evidence for dissemination at presentation nor the detection of anaplastic histological features (e.g., dense cellularity or high numbers of mitoses) were associated with a significantly worse outcome in this series. The combination of variables that had the strongest association with both favorable and unfavorable outcomes was the combination of the age of the patient and the resection extent. Only 2 of 17 patients older than 3 years with gross total resections have died, whereas 13 of 20 children who were either younger than 3 years or had radiologically incomplete resections have died (P < 0.0001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Implementation of Walsh Function Resonant Filter

The purpose of this paper is to design and implement a resonant filter for Walsh functions driven by the proper type source to clearly indicate the resonant conditions. The basic filter consists of an inductor, two capacitors and a switch. The switch must open and close at a time necessary to cause resonance. The filter is driven by a sampled Walsh function which is converted to an impulse charge source.
Behavioral agitation during handling of cattle is persistent over time

Abstract Cattle which become extremely behaviorally agitated during restraint and handling are dangerous to handlers and are more likely to become stressed. Fifty-three Gelbvich×Simmental×Charolais cross bulls and 102 steers were restrained for blood testing every 30 days in a squeeze chute (crush). At the same time they were also weighed in a single animal scale. Out of four consecutive restraint sessions. five (9%) of the bulls became extremely behaviorally agitated every time they were restrained. During three consecutive restraint sessions, six (6%) of the steers were always behaviorally agitated. Of the bulls, 13 (25%) were very calm and stood still in the squeeze chute. Of the steers. 40 (40%) were always very calm. The implications of the study are that behaviorally agitated behavior is very persistent over a series of handling and restraint sessions, and cattle which repeatedly become agitated during restraint should be culled. There was also a relationship between balking and temperament rating. Agitated bulls balked less during entry into the squeeze chute or scale. Cattle also balked less while entering the scale. This indicates that restraint in the squeeze chute was more aversive than the scale.
Medical image segmentation using 3D seeded region growing

A flexible framework for medical image segmentation has been developed. The semi-automatic method effectively segments imaging data volumes through the use of 3D region growing guided by initial seed points. Seed voxels may be specified interactively with a mouse or through the selection of intensity thresholds. Segmentation proceeds automatically following seed selection on only a few slices in the volume due to the 3D nature of the region growth. Computational efficiency is realized by utilizing fast data structures. The 3D region growing algorithm has been used for a variety of segmentation tasks. Magnetic resonance (MR) brain volumes acquired at all three imaging orientations have been accurately segmented. The method also was applied to clinical short-axis cardiac data sets for the extraction of the endocardial blood pool. Additionally, preliminary results indicate that myocardial infarcts from high resolution MR images of formalin-fixed hearts may be segmented using our region growing approach. The algorithm is not confined to a particular imaging modality or orientation. It makes use of information in the third dimension, resulting in increased accuracy. Moreover, the entire method can be implemented in a short amount of time due to its simplicity.
Influence of light on germination of Pinus palustris seeds.

Red light with a wavelength of 660 nm promotes germination of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) seeds, and far-red light (730 nm) inhibits germination. The promotion-inhibition process is repeatedly reversible, indicating that germination is controlled by the photoreversible reaction of phytochrome. Response varied greatly between single-tree lots and was dependent on the length of time seeds were imbibed at 5°C. Dry seeds did not respond to light treatments when they were subsequently imbibed and tested in darkness. Stratification for 28 days essentially removed the light requirements for germination.
Transient phases of the isometric tetanus in Frog's striated muscle.

In an isometric tetanus in frog's sartorius muscle tension approaches the plateau exponentially with rate constant α. α a depends on sarcomere length, s, and temperature, T, according to the Arrhenius equation See PDF for Equation for temperatures between 1 and 20°C and for sarcomere lengths 2.0–2.8 µm. The energy of activation, E, does not vary significantly with s; E = 13.9 ± 2.4 kcal/mole. A(s) decreases monotonically with s; A(2.1 µm) is about three times greater than A(2.8 µm). Late in relaxation active tension approaches zero exponentially with rate constant r. r decreases exponentially with increasing duration of tetanus, D, from r0 in a twitch to r∞ for large D. The rate constant for decrease of r with D increases with s and with T. r0 and r∞ obey the Arrhenius equation and decrease with increasing s.
Applicability of O(N)-like density functional study on the structural properties of nitrogen defects in SiC

We investigate the quantitative applicability of a subspace optimization method formulated in terms of localized nonorthogonal orbitals. A Grassmann conjugate gradient algorithm is our subspace optimization method. We usethe substitution of a silicon atom by a nitrogen atom in cubic SiC with two different configurations as our test systems. Modifications of the existing method are made for the inclusion of a half-filled defect level. The approximation of localization for the orbitals gives linear scaling of the dominant parts of the algorithm thus allowing for the simulation of large systems. Numerical tests indicate that quite accurate quantitative results are obtained when using extended orbitals near the defect and a localization regions with radii of 7 Bohr for orbitals away from the defect.
A one‐pot radiosynthesis of [125I]iodoazido photoaffinity labels

A useful method for preparing radioiodinated photoaffinity labels from alkyl anilines which offers significant advantages over present methods is described. The one-pot synthesis gives good radiochemical yields (40–64%) of pure, high specific activity (350–1500 mCi/μmol) 125I labelled iodoaryl azides while minimising manipulation of radioactive materials. Purification of the [125I]iodoazido photoaffinity labels is achieved by high performance liquid chromatography.
A multiple perspective printed circuit board design guide: expert system prototype

An expert system prototype was developed to provide a merit rating for design options selected by a printed circuit board (PCB) designer. Experts in design, manufacturing, test and procurement from three companies were used to develop the knowledge base using a preselected PCB as a prototype. The system is designed to act as a guide toward accepted practice and to encourage consideration of manufacturing engineering, component selection, and test perspectives as well as product design orientation. The process involved team consensus building and problem solving among cross disciplinary functions within each company while capturing quantitative and qualitative design information in a structured transferable format.An internal and external knowledge base were created to promote flexibility in use for different products and varied company standards. The internal knowledge base contains system structure, chaining strategy, knowledge confirmation and calculation methodology. The external knowledge base contains issue weights, options, values, and descriptions. The user can modify and update the external knowledge base without depending on a system professional. Any or all of the overlapping frame-based issues may be selected when evaluating the design. Special attention is given to issues relevant to several branch and design options.AI TOPIC: Configuration and DesignDOMAIN AREA: Printed Circuit Board DesignLANGUAGE TOOL: Personal Consultant PlusSTATUS: Working Prototype, Proposal Pending for Developed SystemEFFORT: Two Person YearsIMPACT: This printed circuit board design guide promotes problem solving among the cross disciplinary functions of design, test, procurement, and manufacturing.
Manifolds with few vertices

By a triangulated n -manifold we shall mean a simplicial complex whose body is a compact connected metric space every point of which possesses a neighborhood homeomorphic to an n -cell. A triangulated n -manifold has few vertices provided it has at most n +5 vertices. We prove that for all n ≠4, the triangulated n -manifolds with few vertices are p.l. spheres. For n =4 a triangulated n -manifold with few vertices is either a p.l. sphere or is not a homology sphere.
Analysis of the indoor localization game

We study the non-cooperative game when many WLAN stations compete for responses from WLAN access points in order to find their positions. The main objective of the WLAN stations, which are the players in our game, is to minimize the positioning error under various constraints on power consumption and network throughput. We provide a rigorous and general formulation of the game model where we use the Cramer-Rao bound of the WLAN positioning error so that the analysis is independent of the underlying positioning algorithm. The strategies for each player are combinations of the frequency of probe requests within the network and the corresponding listening time. We compute the Nash Equilibrium for the game under different practical network scenarios.
Development of Monopole Interaction Models for Ionic Compounds. Part I: Estimation of Aqueous Henry’s Law Constants for Ions and Gas Phase pKa Values for Acidic Compounds

The SPARC (SPARC Performs Automated Reasoning in Chemistry) physicochemical mechanistic models for neutral compounds have been extended to estimate Henry's Law Constant (HLC) for charged species by incorporating ionic electrostatic interaction models. Combinations of absolute aqueous pKa values, relative pKa values in the gas phase, and aqueous HLC for neutral compounds have been used to develop monopole interaction models that quantify the energy differences upon moving an ionic solute molecule from the gas phase to the liquid phase. Inter-molecular interaction energies were factored into mechanistic contributions of monopoles with polarizability, dipole, H-bonding, and resonance. The monopole ionic models were validated by a wide range of measured gas phase pKa data for 450 acidic compounds. The RMS deviation error and R(2) for the OH, SH, CO2 H, CH3 and NR2 acidic reaction centers (C) were 16.9 kcal/mol and 0.87, respectively. The calculated HLCs of ions were compared to the HLCs of 142 ions calculated by quantum mechanics. Effects of inter-molecular interaction of the monopoles with polarizability, dipole, H-bonding, and resonance on acidity of the solutes in the gas phase are discussed.
Risk of morbidity and mortality following hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery.

Hepatic, pancreatic, and complex biliary (HPB) surgery can be associated with major morbidity and significant mortality. For the past 5 years, the American College of Surgeons–National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS–NSQIP) has gathered robust data on patients undergoing HPB surgery. We sought to use the ACS–NSQIP data to determine which preoperative variables were predictive of adverse outcomes in patients undergoing HPB surgery. Data collected from ACS–NSQIP on patients undergoing hepatic, pancreatic, or complex biliary surgery between 2005 and 2009 were analyzed (n = 13,558). Diagnoses and surgical procedures were categorized into 10 and eight groups, respectively. Seventeen preoperative clinical variables were assessed for prediction of 30-day postoperative morbidity and mortality. Multivariate logistic regression was utilized to develop a risk model. Of the 13,558 patients who underwent an HPB procedure, 7,321 (54%) had pancreatic, 4,881 (36%) hepatic, and 1,356 (10%) biliary surgery. Overall, 70.3% of patients had a cancer diagnosis. Post-operative complications occurred in 3,850 patients for an overall morbidity of 28.4%. Serious complications occurred in 2,522 (18.6%) patients; 366 patients died for an overall peri-operative mortality of 2.7%. Peri-operative outcome was associated with diagnosis and type of procedure. Hepatic trisectionectomy (5.8%) and total pancreatectomy (5.4%) had the highest 30-day mortality. Of the preoperative variables examined, age >74, dyspnea with moderate exertion, steroid use, prior cardiac procedure, ascites, and pre-operative sepsis were associated with morbidity and mortality (all P < 0.05). While overall morbidity and mortality for HPB surgery are low, peri-operative outcomes are heterogeneous and depend on diagnosis, procedure type, and key clinical factors. By combining these factors, an ACS–NSQIP “HPB Risk Calculator” may be developed in the future to help better risk-stratify patients being considered for complex HPB surgery.
Efficient and accurate protocols for distributed delaunay triangulation under churn

We design a new suite of protocols for a set of nodes in d-dimension (d > 1) to construct and maintain a distributed Delaunay triangulation (DT) in a dynamic environment. The join, leave, and failure protocols in the suite are proved to be correct for a single join, leave, and failure, respectively. For a system under churn, it is impossible to maintain a correct distributed DT continually. We define an accuracy metric such that accuracy is 100% if and only if the distributed DT is correct. The suite also includes a maintenance protocol designed to recover from incorrect system states and to improve accuracy. In designing the protocols, we make use of two novel observations to substantially improve protocol efficiency. First, in the neighbor discovery process of a node, many replies to the nodepsilas queries contain redundant information. Second, the use of a new failure protocol that employs a proactive approach to recovery is better than the reactive approaches used in prior work. Experimental results show that our new suite of protocols maintains high accuracy for systems under churn and each system converges to 100% accuracy after churning stopped. They are much more efficient than protocols in prior work.
Reply to: “Amitriptyline-induced Brugada pattern fails to respond to sodium bicarbonate”

To the Editor:I thank Dr. Eken for his case report regarding our case of amitriptyline-induced Brugada pattern that failed to respond to intravenous sodium bicarbonate (1). The use of hypertonic sa...
Role of complementary and alternative medicine in the field of allergy and clinical immunology

As one of my Presidential Initiatives, I hoped to increase the awareness of American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology members and physicians–translational researchers worldwide to the potential benefits of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Therefore, I was delighted when I learned that this month’s issue of the Journal would publish a theme issue on CAM, becoming the first peer-reviewed allergy/immunology journal to address this topic in such a comprehensive fashion. This issue is especially timely because the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), 1 of 27 centers and institutes that make up the National Institutes of Health, and the National Center for Health Statistics, a branch of the Center for Disease Control, just released new findings in December 2008 on the use of CAM by the American public. Using data from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey, an annual in-person survey of 23,393 adults >18 years of age and 9417 children <17 years of age, they found that approximately 38% of adults and approximately 12% of children in the United States use some form of CAM (http://nccam.nih.gov/news/camstats.htm). Of note, the annual expenditure for CAM by the American public exceeds $30 billion, slightly higher than all other out-of-pocket expenses (;$29 billion) for all other US physician services.
A Hierarchy of Spatial Marginality Through Spatial Filtering

Taking a clue from classic time-series decomposition, this article demonstrates a spatial filtering and search technique that permits the partitioning of a measure of marginality, here measured as the percent of the population living at less than 50 percent of the poverty level, into macro, meso, and micro components. This approach supports theory that has argued for scale-specific explanations of spatial marginality. The technique also offers promise for many other types of investigations such as disease incidence, microclimate dynamics, and consumer preferences.
Lenses for Framing Decisions: Undergraduates' Decision Making about Stem Cell Research.

Decision making is influenced by multiple factors, especially when approaching controversial socio‐scientific issues, such as stem cell research. In the present study, we used qualitative data from 132 college student papers in a biotechnology course to investigate how students made decisions about stem cell research issues. Students indicated their opinion about stem cell research topics and argued their stance using evidence they deemed relevant. We used NVivo7 software to develop categories, code student responses, and run queries. We identified a continuum of positions that students took regarding the support or opposition of stem cell research, and we found students used eight different perspectives as lenses to form their decisions: medical application, ethical, rights, economic, religious, personal anecdotes, political, or scientific. The most common perspective was ‘medical application’. Most students relied upon multiple perspectives when making their decisions. We found that when students used m...
A simplified model of RRT coverage for kinematic systems

It has been shown that the Rapidly Exploring Random Tree algorithm is complete - both probabilistically and in the sense of resolution; however little analysis exists on the rate of convergence. We present a model of state space coverage as a function of the number of nodes in the tree, for holonomic systems in expansive configuration spaces. Based on two simplifying assumptions, we develop a stochastic difference equation, whose expected value exponentially converges to one as the number of nodes increases. The convergence rate is related through a closed form expression to the step size and a Lipschitz constant. Using a grid-based coverage measurement, we present experimental evidence supporting the model across a range of dimensions, obstacle densities and parameter choices.
Global term weights for document retrieval learned from TREC data

A key element in modern text retrieval systems is the weighting of individual words for importance. Early in the development of document retrieval methods it was recognized that performance could be improved if weights were based at least in part on the frequencies of individual terms in the database. This observation led investigators to propose inverse document frequency weighting, which has become the most commonly used approach. Inverse document frequency weighting can be given some justification based on probabilistic arguments. However, many different formulas have been tried and it is difficult to distinguish between these on a purely theoretical basis. Witten, Moffat and Bell, have proposed a monotonicity condition as fundamental: ‘a term that appears in many documents should not be regarded as more important than a term that appears in a few’. Based on this monotonicity assumption and probabilistic arguments we show here how the TREC data can be used to learn ideal global weights. Using cross-val...
Designer Fabricator Interpreter system: evaluating alternate connection configuration through multiagent negotiation

The Designer Fabricator Interpreter (DFI) is a knowledge-based system that addresses the lack of interaction among structural designers, fabricators, and erectors in dealing with connections of structural members. Current research includes the development of a distributed problem solving architecture in which the participants are modeled as semiautonomous computer agents which reason from their own specific viewpoints while evaluating a connection. During the evaluation process, agents propose alternative connections for consideration which may require a negotiation process among the agents. If they cannot resolve the problem, an arbitrator agent is enlisted to help the conflicting agents reach an agreement. Potentially better alternative connection configurations along with the reasons behind the choices are presented from the viewpoints of design, fabrication, and field erection. >
A time-domain propagating scheme for simulation of dynamics of optical guided-wave devices

A simple and efficient propagating scheme for electromagnetic wave propagation in time domain is demonstrated. It is capable of tracking a pulsed wave directly in time domain and can be used for the simulation of the dynamic behaviors of optoelectronic and fiber-optic guided-wave devices. >
Cognitive style and inquiry strategy: A five‐year study

The purpose was to determine the longitudinal effects of the inquiry strategy method on the pupil's styles of categorization. Two groups of inquiry students (experimentals) and noninquiry pupils (comparisons) were administered the Sigel Cognitive Style Test (SCST). The longitudinal groups of experimentals and comparisons had the SCST in 1966 (seventh grade) and in 1971 (high school seniors). The cross-sectional groups had the SCST in 1970 (high school seniors). Chi-square indicated that both inquiry groups were significantly more analytical in styles of categorization than were the comparison groups. Implications for analytical style are discussed.
Hydrolysis of GTP by the α‐chain of Gs and other GTP binding proteins

The functions of G proteins--like those of bacterial elongation factor (EF) Tu and the 21 kDa ras proteins (p21ras)--depend upon their abilities to bind and hydrolyze GTP and to assume different conformations in GTP- and GDP-bound states. Similarities in function and amino acid sequence indicate that EF-Tu, p21ras, and G protein alpha-chains evolved from a primordial GTP-binding protein. Proteins in all three families appear to share common mechanisms for GTP-dependent conformational change and hydrolysis of bound GTP. Biochemical and molecular genetic studies of the alpha-chain of Gs (alpha s) point to key regions that are involved in GTP-dependent conformational change and in hydrolysis of GTP. Tumorigenic mutations of alpha s in human pituitary tumors inhibit the protein's GTPase activity and cause constitutive elevation of adenylyl cyclase activity. One such mutation replaces a Gln residue in alpha s that corresponds to Gln-61 of p21ras; mutational replacements of this residue in both proteins inhibit their GTPase activities. A second class of GTPase inhibiting mutations in alpha s occurs in the codon for an Arg residue whose covalent modification by cholera toxin also inhibits GTP hydrolysis by alpha s. This Arg residue is located in a domain of alpha s not represented in EF-Tu or p21ras. We propose that this domain constitutes an intrinsic activator of GTP hydrolysis, and that it performs a function analogous to that performed for EF-Tu by the programmed ribosome and for p21ras by the recently discovered GTPase-activating protein.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Children's Awareness of Inconsistencies in Instructions

Abstract In this research, we examined children's awareness of inconsistencies in messages that are meaningful for children, instructions for games. In the first experiment, kindergarten (n = 25) and second- (n = 25) and fourth-grade (n = 26) children were individually read the instructions for two games, each of which included two inconsistent statements. Chi-square analyses yielded a significant effect for grade for one game (p < .05) and a marginally significant effect for a second game (p < .10). In a second experiment, second- (n = 40), fourth- (n = 40), and sixth-grade (n = 40) children were read the instructions for two games, each of which included two statements that were inconsistent. An analysis of variance demonstrated that with an increase in grade, there was a significant increase (p < .001) in awareness that a message contained an inconsistency. The analysis also indicated that the subjects were more willing (p < .08) to question an adult than they were to question a child about an inconsis...
Do Students Benefit from Attending Better Schools? Evidence from Rule‐based Student Assignments in Trinidad and Tobago*

In Trinidad and Tobago students are assigned to secondary schools after the fifth grade, based on achievement tests, leading to large differences in the school environments to which students of differing initial levels of achievement are exposed. I use instrumental variables based on the discontinuities created by the assignment mechanism and exploit rich data which include students’ test scores at entry and secondary school preferences to address self-selection bias. I find that attending a better school has large positive effects on examination performance at the end of secondary school. The effects are about twice as large for girls than for boys.
Nanostructured ion gels from liquid crystalline block copolymers and gold nanoparticles in ionic liquids: manifestation of mechanical and electrochemical properties

We examine the influence of confining gold nanoparticles on the overall nanoscale morphology, mechanical and electrochemical properties of nanocomposite ion gels. Stimuli-responsive ion gels are generated via the synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) within a thiol-functionalized liquid crystalline brush-like block copolymer (LCBBC) and subsequent gelation in ionic liquids. AuNPs are prepared by in situ reduction of the gold ions and stabilized by direct anchoring through coordination bonds with the thiol-functionalized LCBBC. The resulting LCBBC/AuNP nanocomposite comprises a hierarchical structure in which polymer-coated AuNPs are dispersed in a microsegregated LCBBC matrix that further contains both liquid crystalline (LC) and block copolymer ordering. More importantly, this LCBBC/AuNP nanocomposite is solubilized in an ionic liquid (IL), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, to form a nanocomposite ion gel. At 5 wt% concentration, LCBBC/AuNP nanocomposite ion-gel exhibits interesting characteristics including excellent mechanical strength (∼103 Pa), good optical properties with higher ionic conductivity (∼10−2 S cm−1) and long-term electrochemical stability over a larger potential range compared to the plain LCBBC ion gel. Thus, nanocomposite ion gels present tunable optical, thermal and mechanical properties by virtue of their polymer architecture, morphology and functionality. These are versatile and modular hybrid materials to design nanocomposite ion gels with multiple functionalities for applications in electrochemical devices, photonics, and opto-electronics.