cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On-Demand Small Payload Return Solution from ISS: Low-Temperature Passive Thermal Control Design

The Small Payload Quick Return (SPQR) system would be the first vehicle to effectively parachute from space, permitting small payloads to be routinely delivered from the International Space Station (ISS). This innovative reentry system incorporates a passive thermal design simple enough to be low cost and light weight, making it one of the first feasible on-demand payload return capability solutions to be presented to the ISS program. The thermal analysis and control for the system can be broken down into 4 different regimes beginning with the drag-induced de-orbit system (Exo-brake) and ending with the recovery of the payload with a GPS-guided parafoil. The SPQR concept was created by researchers at NASA Ames Research Center, who are managing the incremental development flights. The first of these flights is scheduled for December 2011 with proposed follow-on tests to occur in 2012. The thermal control analysis for the SPQR vehicle was performed in part by Paragon Space Development Corporation, with the focus on the design and development of the Payload Containment and Thermal Control Unit (PCTCU). This system is capable of being maintained at 1 atm, and is shown to control internal payload temperature to less than 4° C throughout the described re-entry phases.
Overset Solution Adaptive Grid Approach Applied to Hovering Rotorcraft Flows

Numerical simulation of hovering rotorcraft flow fields with emphasis on the accurate capture of the vortical wake is examined. The present approach utilizes the OVERFLOW Navier-Stokes flow solver, which has been enhanced with a solution adaptive grid capability. Regions of the flow within the off-body Cartesian grid that contain concentrated levels of vorticity are systematically refined within the constraints of the overset zonal grid approach. The resulting vortical flow field is captured more accurately relative to solutions that do not use any form of refinement and with significantly fewer grid points relative to solutions that utilize uniform refinement.
Scientometrics research on the structure & performances of scientific and technological innovation:an empirical analysis of oublicity of NSFC 2006-2010 priority of China

Many scientometric scholars pay much attention to the problem which newspaper publicize ST since 1980's,FoLlowing the works of them,this paper studied publicity of NSFC 2006-2010 priority.Four kinds of samples,The People's Daily,Guang Ming Dai- ly,Science and technology Daily,PLA Daily are selected,four cases are analysed and scientometric methods were used.FinalLy,some ap- propriate suggestions for the future are made.
Exercise Regulation of Marrow Adipose Tissue.

Despite association with low bone density and skeletal fractures, marrow adipose tissue (MAT) remains poorly understood. The marrow adipocyte originates from the mesenchymal stem cell pool (MSC) that gives rise also to osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and myocytes among other cell types. To date, the presence of MAT has been attributed to preferential biasing of MSC into the adipocyte rather than osteoblast lineage, thus negatively impacting bone formation. Here we focus on understanding the physiology of MAT in the setting of exercise, dietary interventions and pharmacologic agents that alter fat metabolism. The beneficial effect of exercise on musculoskeletal strength is known: exercise induces bone formation, encourages growth of skeletally-supportive tissues, inhibits bone resorption and alters skeletal architecture through direct and indirect effects on a multiplicity of cells involved in skeletal adaptation. MAT is less well studied due to the lack of reproducible quantification techniques. In recent work, osmium-based 3D quantification shows a robust response of MAT to both dietary and exercise intervention in that MAT is elevated in response to high fat diet and can be suppressed following daily exercise. Exercise-induced bone formation correlates with suppression of MAT, such that exercise effects might be due to either calorie expenditure from this depot, or from mechanical biasing of MSC lineage away from fat and toward bone, or a combination thereof. Following treatment with the anti-diabetes drug rosiglitazone - a PPARγ-agonist known to increase MAT and fracture risk - mice demonstrate a 5-fold higher femur MAT volume compared to the controls. In addition to preventing MAT accumulation in control mice, exercise intervention significantly lowers MAT accumulation in rosiglitazone-treated mice. Importantly, exercise induction of trabecular bone volume is unhindered by rosiglitazone. Thus, despite rosiglitazone augmentation of MAT, exercise significantly suppresses MAT volume and induces bone formation. That exercise can both suppress MAT volume and increase bone quantity, notwithstanding the skeletal harm induced by rosiglitazone, underscores exercise as a powerful regulator of bone remodeling, encouraging marrow stem cells toward the osteogenic lineage to fulfill an adaptive need for bone formation. Thus, exercise represents an effective strategy to mitigate the deleterious effects of overeating and iatrogenic etiologies.
System Design and Management for Restoring Penn's Woods

Pennsylvania has embarked on establishing a half-million-acre old-growth system within its 2.1 million acres of state forest. If successful, this system will contribute to the restoration of ecological functions associated with old-growth forests that have virtually disappeared from eastern ecosystems. However, the proposed old-growth forests must be resurrected from fragmented and structurally homogenous second-growth forests that are subject to anthropogenic disturbances. In the context of these disturbances, thoughtful system design and, in many instances, application of silvicultural practices will be necessary to protect, restore, and accelerate the accumulation of old-growth attributes in Pennsylvania's forests. We explore some initial design and management considerations for creating an eastern old-growth system.
Total synthesis of fellutamides, lipopeptide proteasome inhibitors. More sustainable peptide bond formation

Solution-phase syntheses of three bioactive natural products of mixed polypeptide–polyketide biogenesis, fellutamides A, B, and C, have been achieved. Three peptide bonds are generated without the use of coupling reagents in each synthesis of the fellutamides, which act against proteasomes.
Nonlinear Model Reduction in Power Systems by Balancing of Empirical Controllability and Observability Covariances

In this paper, nonlinear model reduction for power systems is performed by the balancing of empirical controllability and observability covariances that are calculated around the operating region. Unlike existing model reduction methods, the external system does not need to be linearized but is directly dealt with as a nonlinear system. A transformation is found to balance the controllability and observability covariances in order to determine which states have the greatest contribution to the input-output behavior. The original system model is then reduced by Galerkin projection based on this transformation. The proposed method is tested and validated on a system comprised of a 16-machine 68-bus system and an IEEE 50-machine 145-bus system. The results show that by using the proposed model reduction the calculation efficiency can be greatly improved; at the same time, the obtained state trajectories are close to those for directly simulating the whole system or partitioning the system while not performing reduction. Compared with the balanced truncation method based on a linearized model, the proposed nonlinear model reduction method can guarantee higher accuracy and similar calculation efficiency. It is shown that the proposed method is not sensitive to the choice of the matrices for calculating the empirical covariances.
Elevated CO 2 plus chronic warming reduce nitrogen uptake and levels or activities of nitrogen‐uptake and ‐assimilatory proteins in tomato roots

Atmospheric CO2 enrichment is expected to often benefit plant growth, despite causing global warming and nitrogen (N) dilution in plants. Most plants primarily procure N as inorganic nitrate (NO3−) or ammonium (NH4+), using membrane-localized transport proteins in roots, which are key targets for improving N use. Though interactive effects of elevated CO2, chronic warming, and N form on N relations are expected, these have not been studied. In this study, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants were grown at two levels of CO2 (400 or 700 ppm) and two temperature regimes (30 or 37 °C), with NO3− or NH4+ as the N source. Elevated CO2 plus chronic warming severely inhibited plant growth, regardless of N form, while individually they had smaller effects on growth. Although %N in roots was similar among all treatments, elevated CO2 plus warming decreased (1) N uptake rate by roots, (2) total protein concentration in roots, indicating an inhibition of N assimilation, and (3) shoot %N, indicating a potential inhibition of N translocation from roots to shoots. Under elevated CO2 plus warming, reduced NO3− uptake rate per g root was correlated with a decrease in the concentration of NO3−-uptake proteins per g root, reduced NH4+ uptake was correlated with decreased activity of NH4+-uptake proteins, and reduced N assimilation was correlated with decreased concentration of N-assimilatory proteins. These results indicate that elevated CO2 and chronic warming can act synergistically to decrease plant N uptake and assimilation; hence, future global warming may decrease both plant growth and food quality (%N).
Final results of phase I/II trial of vorinostat in combination with cyclophosphamide, etoposide, prednisone, and rituximab (R-CVEP) for elderly patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

8054 Background: Standard treatment of relapsed/refractory DLBCL in elderly patients who are not candidates for autologous stem cell transplantation (auSCT) has not been established. Cyclophosphamide (C), etoposide (E), prednisone (P) and procarbazine (CEPP) has been used by many clinicians based on limited data (Blood 76: 1293-98, 1990). Vorinostat (V) is a histone deacetylase inhibitor that is approved for relapsed cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and has activity in B-cell lymphomas. This trial defined the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of V added to standard therapy and determined the response rate of this combination. Methods: Patients ≥age 60 with relapsed/refractory DLBCL not candidates for auSCT were enrolled on R-CVEP (R 375mg/m2 IV, d1; C 600mg/m2 d1 and 8, E 70mg/m2 IV d1, 140mg/m2 d2 and 3; V PO and Pred 60mg/m2 PO d1-10) every 28 days for 6 cycles. In the phase I component V was administered at doses of 300mg/d or 400mg/d for 10 days. The phase I was a 3 + 3 design and the phase II a two stage design ...
Broadband continuous tuning of a THz quantum-cascade VECSEL

We report tuning of a terahertz quantum-cascade vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting-laser (VECSEL) using piezoelectric actuators and an intra-cryostat cavity. Continuous tuning over 260 GHz at a center frequency of approximately 3.3 THz is demonstrated
Circular-linear polarization signatures in bistatic scattering models applied to signals of opportunity

In recent years, development of reliable bistatic scattering models for retrieving high quality geological data such as soil moisture from Signals of Opportunity (SoOp) reflectometry has been a subject of great interest. This paper extends our previous bistatic model by including Right-hand Circularly Polarized (RCHP) incident wave scenarios. We provide a fully bistatic radar scattering model from SoOp (linearly and circularly polarized incident waves) at L-band and P-band for vegetated terrains. The three major scattering mechanisms considered in this model include direct ground scattering (G), vegetation volume scattering (B), and vegetation ground double-bounce scattering (TG and BG). Moreover, the Stabilized Extended Boundary Condition Method (SEBCM) is used in lieu of Small Perturbation Method (SPM) for the rough surface scattering analysis.
The Constitutionality of Uncompensated §179D(d)(4) Allocations by State, Local, and Municipal Government Building Owners

ABSTRACT Internal Revenue Code §179D provides accelerated tax deductions to building owners that invest in energy efficient building improvements. However, the value of this incentive for governmen...
Optimal Design of Three-Link Planar Manipulators Using Grashof’s Criterion

The design of robotic manipulators is dictated by a set of pre-determined task descriptions and performance parameters. These performance parameters are often defined in terms of workspace dexterity, manipulability, and accuracy. Many serial manipulator applications require that the manipulator have full dexterity about a work piece or a pre-defined trajectory, that is, to approach the given point within the workspace with all possible orientations about that point. Grashof’s criterion defines the mobility of four-link closed chain mechanisms in relation to its link lengths. A simple assumption can convert a three-link serial manipulator into a four-link closed chain so that its mobility can be studied using Grashof’s criterion. With the help of Grashof’s criterion, it is possible not only to predict and simulate the mobility of a manipulator during its design, but also to map and identify the fully-dexterous regions within its workspace. Mapping of the dexterous workspace is helpful in efficient task placement and path planning. Next, the authors propose a simple algorithm using Grashof’s criterion for determining the optimal link lengths of a three-link manipulator, in order to achieve full dexterity at the desired regions of the workspace. Finally, the authors test the generated design by applying joint angle limitations. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0176-5.ch003
Initial Management Priorities: Beyond ABCDE

Multiple casualties have arrived. You can hear more Blackhawks landing on the helipad outside. The first casualty has rolled into the next trauma bed after being assigned to your colleague by the triage officer. You notice exposed brain bulging from a jagged hole in the frontal bone. Omentum hangs from wound on his left flank. The left lower extremity is missing from about mid-thigh – two tourniquets are in place side by side. The area around the litter is a bustle of activity.
EXTRAPOLATION OF THE SHEAR MODULUS TO HIGH COMPRESSIONS AND NEGATIVE PRESSURES

An analytic form for the shear modulus G is presented and its fit to data at different compressions is demonstrated for copper and tungsten. When only the shear modulus at zero pressure and its logarithmic derivative are known, an approximate procedure is used to generate the parameters in the analytic form for G. This procedure is demonstrated, and estimates are provided of G as a function of compression, for Al, Cu, Fe, Mo, W, Ta, and U.
Myocardial Failure — The Mismatch of Subcellular Daptive Changes

When myocardial contraction is inadequate or when the circulatory needs of the organism are increased the heart responds by increasing the cardiac output. The short term response to a deficient cardiac output is mediated mainly by the Frank-Starling mechanisms (change in sarcomere length) (1,2) and an increase in both the heart rate (3) and sympathetic tone (4). A prolonged increase in demand (hypertensive heart disease, aortic or pulmonary stenosis, arterio-venous fistula, valvular insufficiency, thyrotoxicosis, exercise) is met by myocardial hypertrophy. If the myocytes did not hypertrophy, congestive heart failure would occur (5,6,7). The increase in mass is not the arithmetic addition of identical subunits. Reorganization occurs at the organ, cellular and subcellular level leading to a spectrum of outcomes ranging from compensated hypertrophy to congestive heart failure. Furthermore, in the compensated hypertrophied heart there are a range of responses from the slow contraction produced by pressure overload to the speeding up of the response in thyrotoxicosis.
Sliced inverse regression for integrative multi-omics data analysis.

Abstract Advancement in next-generation sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics and other high-throughput technologies has enabled simultaneous measurement of multiple types of genomic data for cancer samples. These data together may reveal new biological insights as compared to analyzing one single genome type data. This study proposes a novel use of supervised dimension reduction method, called sliced inverse regression, to multi-omics data analysis to improve prediction over a single data type analysis. The study further proposes an integrative sliced inverse regression method (integrative SIR) for simultaneous analysis of multiple omics data types of cancer samples, including MiRNA, MRNA and proteomics, to achieve integrative dimension reduction and to further improve prediction performance. Numerical results show that integrative analysis of multi-omics data is beneficial as compared to single data source analysis, and more importantly, that supervised dimension reduction methods possess advantages in integrative data analysis in terms of classification and prediction as compared to unsupervised dimension reduction methods.
Addiction treatment ultimatums and U.S. health reform: A case study.

AIMS: Increased access to health care, including addiction treatment, has long been a goal of health reform in the U.S. An unanswered question is whether reform will change the way people get to addiction treatment; when treatment is easily accessible, do individuals self-refer, or do they still enter treatment via ultimatums, and if so, from which sources? To begin examining this, we used a single case study of a U.S. health plan that provides access similar to that called for in health reform. METHOD: Using a case study method of data from studies conducted in a large, private non-profit, integrated managed care health plan which includes addiction services, we examined the prevalence and source of ultimatums to enter treatment, and the characteristics of those receiving them. The plan is highly representative of changes to U.S. health care and other countries due to health reform. RESULTS: Many individuals entering addiction treatment had received an ultimatum stemming from employment, legal, medical, and family sources. Having more employment problems, an occupation with public safety concerns, being older, male, and ethnicity predicted an employment ultimatum. Higher legal problem severity predicted a legal ultimatum. More men (and younger people) had family ultimatums, and more women (and older people) had medical ultimatums. Being younger, male, married, having higher employment and family problem severity, and being drug or combined drug/alcohol dependent rather than dependent on alcohol-only predicted an ultimatum from one's family. On the whole, an ultimatum from one source was not related to having one from another source. Those most likely to receive ultimatums from multiple sources were women, those separated/divorced, and those having higher psychiatric and legal problem severity. CONCLUSIONS: Even in an insured population with good access to addiction treatment, individuals often receive ultimatums to enter treatment rather than being self-referred. Understanding the treatment entry process, and how it is affected by health care systems, could benefit from international and other comparative research.
Nonparametric Stochastic Compositional Gradient Descent for Q-Learning in Continuous Markov Decision Problems

We consider Markov Decision Problems defined over continuous state and action spaces, where an autonomous agent seeks to learn a map from its states to actions so as to maximize its long-term discounted accumulation of rewards. We address this problem by considering Bellman's optimality equation defined over action-value functions, which we reformulate into a nested non-convex stochastic optimization problem defined over a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS). We develop a functional generalization of stochastic quasi-gradient method to solve it, which, owing to the structure of the RKHS, admits a parameterization in terms of scalar weights and past state-action pairs which grows proportionately with the algorithm iteration index. To ameliorate this complexity explosion, we apply Kernel Orthogonal Matching Pursuit to the sequence of kernel weights and dictionaries, which yields a controllable error in the descent direction of the underlying optimization method. We prove that the resulting algorithm, called KQ Learning, converges with probability 1 to a stationary point of this problem, yielding a fixed point of the Bellman optimality operator under the hypothesis that it belongs to the RKHS. Numerical evaluation on the continuous Mountain Car task yields convergent parsimonious learned action-value functions and policies that are competitive with the state of the art.
The effect of temperature and pressure on polycaprolactone morphology

Abstract The morphology and melting behavior of poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) processed at varying pressure-temperature-time conditions (2000–20,000 lbf, 22–70 °C, and 5–15 min) were studied using polarized light microscopy (PLM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). Samples processed well below the melting region at 22 °C displayed minimal to no birefringent properties, with broadened crystalline XRD scattering patterns, indicative of plastic crystal mesophase morphology. Plastic crystal quantity was shown to gradually increase from 16% to 30% with processing pressure increasing from 2000 lbf to 20,000 lbf. The mechanism of this formation is thought to be the result of crystal disorganization upon plastic deformation, related to the low-energy barrier slip-planes in the crystalline structure. With sufficient chain mobility achieved at higher processing temperatures (50 °C and 60 °C), samples displayed broad birefringent strokes under PLM and were characterized by XRD scattering patterns of broad anisotropic arcs around the equator of the 2D azimuthal pattern, which are indicative of condis crystal mesophase orientation. As opposed to plastic crystal, the condis crystal quantities showed no correlation with increased pressure, ranging between 28% and 40% as processing pressure increased. The additional chain mobility at these temperatures is thought to enable the mesophase to orient radially (normal to the direction of the external load), allowing the transition from plastic crystal to condis crystal. Thus, this paper reports the formation of four distinct morphologies upon processing PCL namely; crystalline, condis crystal mesophase, plastic crystal mesophase, and amorphous.
Room-Temperature Electrodeposition of Aluminum via Manipulating Coordination Structure in AlCl3 Solutions

The coordination mechanism of chloroaluminate species in aluminum chloride (AlCl3) solutions in γ-butyrolactone (GBL) is investigated using electrochemical, spectroscopic, and computational methods. The liquid-state 27Al NMR spectroscopy shows a sequence of new species generated in the AlCl3-GBL solutions with increasing AlCl3/GBL ratio. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulation reveals the dynamic coordination process between GBL and AlCl3, and the resultant chloroaluminate species are identified as [AlCl2·(GBL)2]+, AlCl4-, AlCl3·GBL, and Al3Cl10-. The species are further confirmed by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy combined with calculated Raman spectra from methods based on density functional theory. Electrochemical deposition of Al is achieved from the AlCl3-GBL solution containing Al3Cl10-, which is one of the few noneutectic electrolytes for room-temperature Al deposition reported to date.
A Pilot Study on Predicting Daytime Behavior & Sleep Quality in Children With ASD

Sleep problems are a common concern for parents and caregivers in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One of the main challenges in sleep studies with these individuals is the difficulty in monitoring sleep quality without sensors and wires attached to the subject’s body. Additionally, there is limited knowledge of how their sleep quality is related to their daytime behaviors. In this study, we evaluate an unobtrusive and inexpensive smart bed system for in-home, long-term sleep quality monitoring using ballistocardiogram (BCG) signals. By extracting different sleep quality indicators using BCG signals, we build bi-directional predictive models for daytime behaviors and nighttime sleep quality using two classifiers as support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN). For all daytime behaviors of interest, we achieve more than 78% average accuracy using previous nights sleep quality. Additionally, night time sleep qualities are predicted with more than 78% average accuracy using previous day and night features.
The economics of Africa's floriculture air-cargo supply chain

This article examines the economics of Africa's emerging air cargo supply chains, taking floriculture as a case study. Floriculture is an important employer, and earner of foreign exchange for several regions of central/southern and eastern Africa including more recently Ethiopia. Air transportation often plays a critical role when the supply-chain involves high-value, non-durable, relatively light-weight, and compact consignments such as flowers, and geographically when regions are difficult to access by other trunk modes. The success of air cargo chains, however, depend as much on the quality of surface modes serving various "last mile" access and egress functions, as well as efficient nodal interchange points and the availability of suitable airport and airline capacity. The last, because of the important role of belly-hold space, includes consideration of passenger as well as cargo specific services. To meet the needs of Africa's floriculture sector, a variety of supply-chain models have emerged that embrace air and surface links, as well as storage at various points in the chain. The paper considers the nature of these chains, the reason d'etre for their structures, and their limitations.
Emerging Mechanism of Cell Death Caused by Stroke: A Role of Neurovascular Unit

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and even the survivors suffer from severe aftereffects. Although effective treatments have long been awaited, early therapeutic approaches focused on neuronal death had been insufficient due to the heterogeneous etiology of stroke. From the fact that brain function along with dysfunction arise from integrated interactions between a network of cellular components, conceptual structural unit, so-called “neurovascular unit” was proposed as a new paradigm for the investigation of stroke. Since then, variety of cell–cell and cell–extracellular matrix interactions have been discovered, which lead us to profound understanding of the pathophysiology of stroke. Besides neuronal damage, pathophysiology of stroke also consists of glial activation and transformation, vascular and blood–brain barrier alteration, and inflammatory reactions. Recent investigation shows that mediators of these reactions are not only detrimental but also could turn out to be beneficial for neurovascular repair in the chronic phase of the disease. In this chapter, we briefly overview the mechanisms of cell–cell interactions within the neurovascular unit under the normal conditions, and then discuss the crosstalk between different cell types during the acute and chronic phases of stroke.
Pak-US Strategic Partnership and Challenge of Internal Radical Symbiosis

Pakistan’s efforts against the terrorism has entirely changed the security landscape of Pakistan. Growing waves of extremism, militancy and sectarianism emerged as a fundamental threat to the security of the state as the aftermath of 9/11. Different terrorist groups gathered under the umbrella of al-Qaeda and posed grave security challenges to the state. Although, their doctrinal philosophy and aims were stridently at contrast, but security situation compelled them to jointly chalk out a common strategy. Moreover, militants’ splinter groups with new leadership find out new source of funding which denied the upper hand of the security vanguards on them. The current paper at the first stage supplies deep analysis of the birth of various militant groups and on the next stage discusses different Jihadi, sectarian, and criminal groups’ closed nexus and their modus operandi. The outcome of the discussion shows that the benefits of marriage of convenience between the security apparatus and radical militants were less, but the impact was generational.
Hormone Therapy and Melanoma in Women

Abstract Although primary cutaneous melanoma accounts for approximately 3% of all malignant skin tumors, it has the greatest contribution to skin cancer–related death. Sex-specific differences in melanoma tumor behavior have been described, and melanoma pathogenesis may be hormonally mediated. This review aims to summarize the literature to date regarding the effects of hormone therapy on melanoma in women. Women's exogenous hormone use has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Thus, we focus on studies investigating the associations between oral contraception, fertility treatments, menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), and melanoma. Across hormone therapy types, there does not appear to be a well-established association between exogenous female hormones and melanoma incidence. However, MHT practices and formulations vary significantly across countries. Although MHT does not appear to increase melanoma risk in studies from the United States, conflicting results have been observed in Europe. Unopposed estrogen MHT formulations require further investigation to determine a clear pattern between hormone use and the development of melanoma.
Accounting for human-related unobserved heterogeneity in the safety performance of connected vehicles: An incorporation of Bayesian hierarchical negative binomial into simulated work zone warning application

Abstract Connected Vehicle (CV) notifications enhance drivers' situational awareness, where, depending on traffic flow characteristics, CV drivers might require sufficient distance and time to adapt their driving behavior accordingly. Hereof, in addition to CVs Market Penetration Rate (MPR) and traffic flow characteristics, humans are still in the safety loop. Hence, there might be a human-related unobserved heterogeneity affecting the safety performance of CVs. A conflation of microsimulation and advanced statistical modeling was followed to account for this unobserved heterogeneity by investigating the random effect of varying delivery distances, specifically provided for the Work Zone Warning (WZW) application. CVs behaviors were calibrated based on the results of driving simulator experiments. A typical WZ was simulated under VISSIM using three levels of low, moderate, and high traffic volumes. Five levels of CV-MPR received the WZW on four different settings of delivery distances, including 1500, 3000, 4500, and 6000 ft, upstream of the Transition Area. Accordingly, 60 scenarios were simulated, and the number of critical Time-to-Collision (TTC) was considered as the response count variable per scenario. Four hierarchical Negative Binomial regressions under Bayesian inference were conducted on 60 observations over four WZ areas, where the delivery distance was treated as a random factor. Analysis of the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient showed that the number of observed critical TTCs is nested within the delivery distances. It was ascertained, at any CV-MPR, when the WZW delivery distance increases, the number of critical TTCs decreases that indicates the same safety performance at higher CV-MPR can be achieved even at lower MPR if the WZW distancing increases. Besides, the optimal Road Side Unit (RSU) placement for WZW was found to be 4500 ft upstream of the Transition Area regardless of traffic volume and CV-MPR. Although this study was restricted to the CV-WZW application, the introduced delivery distance for CV notifications should be regarded in future studies as a contributing factor to the safety assessment of other CV applications.
Educational intervention against biological racism

INTRODUCTION Biological race, the fallacy that racial health disparities reflect differences in human biology, exerts undue influence on medicine. Interventions that teach against this myth are largely absent from required medical curricula. Here, we describe and present student and facilitator evaluations of an educational intervention, organised around Dorothy Roberts' book Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-First Century that included a discussion of preselected chapters from Fatal Invention, case studies illustrating strategies to prevent the misuse of race in medicine and a question-and-answer session with Dorothy Roberts. METHODS Online feedback surveys were distributed to students and facilitators to capture their general perceptions of the session, how well it satisfied its objectives and the pre-session training materials provided to facilitators. Quantitative measures were analysed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative responses were evaluated using thematic analysis. RESULTS Student and facilitator surveys garnered response rates of 59.8% (61/102) and 75% (30/40), respectively, and most expressed satisfaction with the session. Students felt more prepared to address the misuse of race in clinical contexts than in pre-clinical contexts (90.16% vs. 77.05%) and among peers than among superiors (95.08% vs. 72.13%) (p < 0.05). Some students (31.15%) felt that their small group facilitators were unprepared to address microaggressions. DISCUSSION Our survey responses suggest that this intervention was effective in teaching against biological racism and equipped students with tools to address the misuse of race, particularly in clinical contexts. Future iterations should highlight strategies to confront biological racism in pre-clinical contexts and among superiors.
The Need for an Ethics of Care in the Contingency Response to Public Health Emergencies.

In 2005, President George Bush read John Barry’s The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. After his experiences of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, Bush began the first White...
A Decoupled Approach to the Simulation of Flow and Transport of Non-Aqueous Organic Phase Contaminants Through Porous Media

Publisher Summary This chapter describes a decoupled approach to the simulation of flow and transport of non-aqueous organic phase contaminants through porous media. The introduction and migration of slightly miscible non-aqueous organic fluids in the subsurface is an environmental problem that is receiving increasing attention. In the past several years, methods initially developed to model other types of multiphase flows in porous media (flow in petroleum reservoirs, for example) have been applied to this multiphase pollution problem. Several models have been presented in the literature, which investigates immiscible fluid flow. A decoupled modeling approach to the multiphase pollution problem is presented. This approach is similar in concept to that employed to model advanced oil recovery in the petroleum engineering literature. In order to fully describe the transport problem, the mass fractions for a species in each phase must be related. This model uses the familiar local equilibrium assumption to relate the mass fractions. The increased flexibility makes the decoupled technique desirable, and the smaller matrix equations resulting from this formulation lead to a more efficient numerical model.
Patterson and molecular replacement techniques, and the use of noncrystallographic symmetry in phasing

Interpretation of Patterson maps lies at the foundation of most macromolecular structure elucidation processes, both in determining the position of heavy atoms and/or anomalous scatterers for the isomorphous replacement and anomalous-scattering methods, and in determining the orientation and position of a homologous protein model for the molecular replacement method. The dramatically increasing number of macromolecular structures is expected to broaden the applicability of the molecular replacement method, since suitable search models can be found for more and more unknown structures. The molecular replacement method also encompasses the use of noncrystallographic redundancy within a crystal or between crystal forms to phase and refine crystal structures. Applications of Patterson and molecular replacement techniques to structure determination including Patterson interpretation methods, rotation functions, translation functions, symmetry averaging, density modification and phase extension are discussed.
Neurologic outcomes in HIV infection: clinical events and surrogate markers.

This chapter provides a review of the methodology and selection criteria that might be employed in order to identify and validate candidate measures as surrogates of clinical outcome. The analytical procedures outlined here are applicable to a wide range of HIV neurological research but are broad enough to be helpful in general medical investigation. In HIV infection, monitoring of CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts and plasma HIV RNA levels (viral load) is routinely used, rather than observing the occurrence of new opportunistic infections or death. The ability to include uncontrolled studies in meta-analyses evaluating surrogate markers is extremely significant, especially in neuro-AIDS, because the majority of studies that have assessed neurological surrogate markers in HIV have included only a single treatment regimen. The authors simulated a validation study of the screening test in which it was assumed that the true sensitivity and specificity of the screening instrument were at the midpoints of the reported intervals (i.e., 93% and 77%). An overall prevalence of 30% for HIV-associated peripheral neuropathy in the patient population was also assumed. Increasing availability of treatment options in HIV infection has improved the prognosis of many patients infected with HIV. The chapter presents the essential elements for identification and validation of a candidate measure as a surrogate marker. These are distilled into two criteria related to the prognostic ability of the marker for the event of interest and its ability to adequately summarize the treatment effect on the clinical event.
Representation and classification of breath sounds recorded in an intensive care setting using neural networks.

Objective.Develop and test methods for representing and classifying breath sounds in an intensive care setting. Methods.Breath sounds were recorded over the bronchial regions of the chest. The breath sounds were represented by their averaged power spectral density, summed into feature vectors across the frequency spectrum from 0 to 800 Hertz. The sounds were segmented by individual breath and each breath was divided into inspiratory and expiratory segments. Sounds were classified as normal or abnormal. Different back-propagation neural network configurations were evaluated. The number of input features, hidden units, and hidden layers were varied.Results.2127 individual breath sounds from the ICU patients and 321breaths from training tapes were obtained. Best overall classification rate for the ICU breath sounds was 73% with 62% sensitivity and 85% specificity. Best overall classification rate for the training tapes was 91% with 87%sensitivity and 95% specificity. Conclusions.Long term monitoring of lung sounds is not feasible unless several barriers can be overcome. Several choices in signal representation and neural network design greatly improved the classification rates of breath sounds. The analysis of transmitted sounds from the trachea to the lung is suggested as an area for future study.
Does the presence of muscularis propria on transurethral resection of bladder tumour specimens affect the rate of upstaging in cT1 bladder cancer

UNLABELLED OBJECTIVE • To determine how the presence of MP on T1 biopsy specimens affects the outcome of patients undergoing RC as compared to when no MP is identified in the TURBT specimen. PATIENTS AND METHODS • Patients were retrospectively identified from the Columbia University Urologic Oncology Database. • From January 1986 to October 2009, 114 patients diagnosed with cT1N0M0 bladder cancer who underwent RC within 4 months of their last biopsy were identified. • Patients were stratified based on the presence of MP on T1 biopsy, and upstaging was defined as any tumor T2 or greater, N+, or M+ at the time of radical cystectomy. • The rate of upstaging was assessed using univariate and multivariate regression models; Kaplan meier curves were also extrapolated for each cohort to compare disease specific and overall survival patterns. RESULTS • Of the 114 patients evaluated in this study, 24 (20.2%) did not have MP on their T1 biopsy before RC. The rate of upstaging (>=pT2) stratified by the presence of MP on biopsy was 50% and 78%, respectively (p = 0.017). • On univariate analysis, lack of MP on biopsy was associated with an increased risk of upstaging (HR 3.52, p = 0.021, CI 1.2-10.3), however did not reach significance as an independent predictor (HR 2.9, p = 0.056, CI 0.97-8.9). • At a mean follow-up of 33.5 months, there was no difference in disease specific (p = 0.41) and overall survival (p = 0.68) between groups. CONCLUSIONS • The lack of MP on TURBT for high grade cT1N0M0 bladder cancer portends a high likelihood of upstaging at RC, although this risk did not translate into a detectable increased risk of disease specific mortality.
Factors influencing adolescents' decision not to smoke.

Objective: Although adolescents ultimately make their own decisions to smoke or not to smoke, social, economic, and environmental circumstances shape their choices. Most research on prevention of youth tobacco use focuses on predictors of smoking initiation. In this study, we explored nonsmoking attitudes, beliefs, and norms from the perspective of 16–17-year-old nonsmokers. Design: This qualitative study targeted nonsmoking youths because most social policy in the arena of tobacco prevention aims to support adolescents who are tobacco free. Sample: Participants were 39 nonsmokers recruited from youth organizations in an urban community and included 22 African Americans (12 females; 10 males) and 17 Caucasian Americans (10 females; 7 males). Methods: A health behavior framework guided the development of semistructured questions on attitudes, beliefs, and norms associated with nonsmoking, used in eight in-depth group interviews. Results: Concerns for health and addiction, a positive self-image, and perceived confidence, emerged as factors affecting participants' decisions not to smoke. The approval of parents and friends, and personal beliefs further reinforced adolescents' nonsmoking decisions. Conclusions: There were more commonalities than differences in nonsmoking attitudes across gender and race. Future studies of youth tobacco prevention should employ multifaceted approaches targeting adolescents' attitudes, families, and peer networks.
The osteoclast proton pump differs in its pharmacology and catalytic subunits from other vacuolar H(+)-ATPases

Osteoclasts are multinucleated cells derived from the mononuclear phagocyte system in the hematopoietic bone marrow. Their function is to resorb bone during skeletal growth and remodeling. They perform this function by acidifying an enclosed extracellular space, the bone resorbing compartment. Analysis of proton transport by inside-out vesicles derived from highly purified chicken osteoclast membranes has revealed the presence of a novel type of multisubunit vacuolar-like H(+)-ATPase. Unlike H(+)-ATPases derived from any other cell type or organelle, proton transport and ATPase activity in osteoclast vesicles are sensitive to two classes of inhibitors, namely V-ATPase inhibitors [N-ethyl-maleimide (NEM) and bafilomycin A1] and vanadate (IC50 100 mumol l-1), an inhibitor previously found to affect only P-ATPases. The osteoclast V-ATPase morphologically resembles vacuolar proton pumps and contains several vacuolar-like subunits (115 x 10(3), 39 x 10(3) and 16 x 10(3)M(r)), demonstrated by Western blot analysis. Subunits A and B of the catalytic domain of the enzyme, however, differ from that of other V-ATPases. In osteoclasts, subunit A has an M(r) of 63 x 10(3) instead of 67 x 10(3)-70 x 10(3); in contrast, monocytes, macrophages and kidney microsomes, which contain a vanadate-insensitive H(+)-ATPase, express the classical subunit A (70 x 10(3)M(r)). Moreover, two types of 57 x 10(3)-60 x 10(3)M(r) B subunits are also found: they are differentially recognized by antibodies and one is expressed predominantly in osteoclasts and the other in bone marrow cells and in kidney microsomes. Preliminary cloning data have indicated that the B subunit expressed in osteoclasts may be similar to the brain isoform. The osteoclast proton pump may, therefore, constitute a novel class of V-ATPase, with a unique pharmacology and specific isoforms of two subunits in the catalytic portion of the enzyme.
The variational iteration method for solving nonlinear singular boundary value problems arising in various physical models

Abstract In this paper, the variational iteration method (VIM) is used to study a nonlinear singular boundary value problems arising in various physical equations. The VIM overcomes the singularity issue at the origin x = 0. The Lagrange multipliers for all four cases of the boundary value problems are formally derived. The variational iteration method is tested for its efficiency and reliability.
1651 THE EFFECT OF DIALYSATE VOLUME ON PERITONEAL CLERANCES AND ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF HERNIAS IN CHILDREN TREATED WITH CAPD/CCPD

The relation between inflow volume (IV), peritoneal clearance (PC) and development of hernias is not well established in pediatric pts. We therefore performed 73 PC studies in 40 CAPD/CCPD pts. aged 12.4 ± 5.4 (SD) yrs. After a 2 hr dwell with different IV a peritoneal fluid sample was obtained and clearances (C) of creatinine (Cr), urea-N (U-N), potassium (K), uric acid (UA) and phosphorus (P) were obtained. According to the IV, the pts. were placed in 3 different groups (A=20-34.9, 8=35-44.9, C=45-66 cc/kg). In groups A, B, C the mean PCCr corrected for 70 kg BW were 9.4 ± 3.6, 11.1 ± 3.8, 14.4 ± 4.6 ml/rain respectively (A vs B p=NS, B vs C p<0.05, A vs C p<0.005). PCU-N were 1.9 ± 2.8 (A), 14.8 ± 3.5 (B) and 19.5 ± 3.5 (C) ml/min/70 kg respectively (A vs B p<0.005, B vs C p<0.001, A vs c p<0.001). PCK and P were significantly higher with the increased volumes (K: 11.3 ± 2.8, 13.8 ± 3.2, 18.3 ±2.2 ml/min/70 kg p<0.05, <0.001, <0.001). P: 8.7 ± 2.6, 8.9 ± 3.9, 12.0 ± 3.1 ml/min/70 kg, p=NS, <0.05, <0.05). Only the PCUA failed to increase with increased volumes (8.7 ± 2.5, 9.0 ± 2.4, 11.8 ± 3.7 ral/min/70 kg p=NS). Seventeen of the 40 pts developed 27 inguinal, ventral or umbilical hernias after 16.5 ± 11.7 mos of dialysis with an IV ranging between 25.6 and 48.4cc/kg (mean 37.3 ± 5.9). These data indicate that maximal dialysate volumes provide greater C. The IV does not per se effect hernia development. Pts should be carefully evaluated for hernias at the time of initiation of PD.
Ion fluxes across normal and diamox-treated brook trout gas bladders

Abstract 1. 1. Bicarbonate ions are actively transported in a serosal-to-mucosal direction across the Brook trout gas bladder. 2. 2. Potassium and hydrogen ions also play important roles in the maintenance of electrostatic and osmotic gradients across the bladder wall. 3. 3. Hydrogen ions are transported into the mucosal bathing fluid by neutral binding to bicarbonate ions. Mucosal acidification is eliminated by removing bicarbonate from the bathing medium. 4. 4. Diamox does not significantly alter the transport of bicarbonate or hydrogen ions but decreases the permeability of the bladder to chloride and potassium ions in the serosal-to-mucosal direction.