cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Air pollution, climate and cardiac arrest.

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) refers to a sudden or unexpected death or arrest attributable to a cardiovascular cause. SCD is estimated to account for 15%–20% of global mortality and the majority of these deaths are out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs).1 Despite secular improvements, the incidence of SCD and OHCA remains high and public health strategies to mitigate its risk are critical. Air pollution and meteorological factors have long been associated with adverse health outcomes.2 Particular matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm or less (PM2.5) has been of specific interest as these particles are estimated to be small enough to reach pulmonary alveoli.3 Elevations in PM2.5 have been associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, including ventricular arrhythmia and heart failure.4 5 In addition to air pollution, meteorological factors such as temperature variability have also been linked to cardiovascular mortality, with emerging evidence that air pollution and meteorological perturbations may act synergistically to increase OHCA risk.6 In this issue of Heart , Kim and colleagues7 present a time-series analysis of approximately 39 000 OHCAs in Korea, between 2012 and 2016. Time-series analyses use daily measures of health outcomes, in this instance OHCA, and regress against exposures of interest, which in this study included 13 meteorological factors and PM2.5. In time-series analyses, the population serves as its own control with minimal confounding, as relevant demographic and comorbidity factors are unlikely to change over a short time span. Meteorological and pollution indices were measured (hourly) at 77 stations across Korea and …
Relationship between thyroid volume and urinary iodine level in children aged 8-10 years in Tianjin

Objective To explore the thyroid volume of children aged 8-10 years in non-iodine high area and iodine high area of Tianjin and to analyze the relationship between thyroid volume and urinary iodine level. Methods In 2016-2017, a cross-sectional study was conducted in non-iodine high area and iodine high area in Tianjin. Totally 356 and 199 children aged 8-10 years were selected, respectively. The urine samples of children were collected and the iodine concentration in urine was measured by "As3+-Ce4+ catalytic spectrophotometry". The thyroid volume was monitored by B ultrasonic method. Results The medians of urinary iodine in the 8, 9 and 10 years old age groups in iodine high area (500.00, 443.00, 407.00 μg/L) were higher than those of non-iodine high area (189.39, 168.35, 189.90 μg/L, Z = 7.162, 7.536, 6.126, P < 0.05). The thyroid volume of children aged 8 and 9 years in iodine high area (2.81, 2.91 ml) was higher than that in non-iodine high area (2.31, 2.44 ml, Z = 3.474, 3.264, P < 0.05). There was a weak correlation between urinary iodine and thyroid volume (r = 0.109, P < 0.05). Conclusion The urinary iodine level and thyroid volume of children aged 8 and 9 in iodine high areas are higher than those in non-iodine high areas. Key words: Child; Thyroid volume; Urinary iodine
Association between patient-physician gender concordance and patient experience scores. Is there gender bias?

Abstract Background Patient satisfaction, a commonly measured indicator of quality of care and patient experience, is often used in physician performance reviews and promotion decisions. Patient satisfaction surveys may introduce gender-related bias. Objective Examine the effect of patient and physician gender concordance on patient satisfaction with emergency care. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis of electronic health record and Press Ganey patient satisfaction survey data of adult patients discharged from the emergency department (2015-2018). Logistic regression models were used to examine relationships between physician gender, patient gender, and physician-patient gender dyads. Binary outcomes included: perfect care provider score and perfect overall assessment score. Results Female patients returned surveys more often (n=7 612; 61.55%) and accounted for more visits (n=232 024; 55.26%). Female patients had lower odds of perfect scores for provider score and overall assessment score (OR: 0.852, 95% CI: 0.790, 0.918; OR: 0.782, 95% CI: 0.723, 0.846). Female physicians had 1.102 (95% CI: 1.001, 1.213) times the odds of receiving a perfect provider score. Physician gender did not influence male patients’ odds of reporting a perfect care provider score (95% CI: 0.916, 1.158) whereas female patients treated by female physicians had 1.146 times the odds (95% CI: 1.019, 1.289) of a perfect provider score. Conclusion Female patients prefer female emergency physicians but were less satisfied with their physician and emergency department visit overall. Over-representation of female patients on patient satisfaction surveys introduces bias. Patient satisfaction surveys should be deemphasized from physician compensation and promotion decisions.
Height and Extremity-Length Prediction for Healthy Children Using Age-Based Versus Peak Height Velocity Timing-Based Multipliers.

Background The age-based multiplier method described by Paley et al. markedly simplifies height and limb length predictions but may not adequately accommodate children's maturational differences. Multipliers can be derived relative to any maturity measure. This study compares Paley age-based multipliers with those based on peak height velocity (PHV) timing. Methods In a longitudinal cohort of healthy children (66 male and 70 female), actual adult heights and limb lengths were compared with the measurements predicted using the Paley multipliers and multipliers developed relative to PHV timing. The age-based multipliers (adult divided by current) in our series were compared with those reported by Paley et al. to ensure that there were no systematic differences between the series. Absolute differences between the actual and predicted adult heights and limb lengths and the standard deviations of those differences were compared between the 2 methods. Results The average age-based multipliers in our series were nearly identical to those reported by Paley et al. The differences between the predicted and actual adult values showed wide ranges when either the Paley or the PHV multipliers were used during infancy. The Paley method performed better than the PHV method throughout pre-growth-spurt childhood. The PHV-timing-derived multipliers became superior as children entered their growth spurt, whereas the performance of the age-based multipliers worsened. In adolescence, the maximum standard deviation for adult-height-prediction errors with use of the Paley multipliers occurred at the age of 13.5 years for boys and 11.5 years for girls and was 7.0 cm for boys and 5.6 cm for girls. For limb lengths, the maximum standard deviations occurred 6 months earlier and were 3.9 cm for boys and 3.2 cm for girls. The maximum standard deviation for the height prediction error with the age-based method occurred at the average time of PHV for the population. The PHV method became better than the Paley method just before growth-spurt initiation, at age 8 in girls and 11 in boys. Conclusions The age-based multipliers described by Paley et al. are superior to PHV-timing-based multipliers prior to the adolescent growth spurt for predicting height. They become less predictive, with wide standard deviations, as children enter their growth spurts, and PHV-derived multipliers become superior. The Paley height multipliers should be used before the age of 8 years in girls and 11 years in boys. After this, PHV-derived multipliers are superior for height and limb length prediction. In practice, these predictions are currently made using skeletal maturity, which is closely related to PHV during adolescence.
Development of a one-step RT-ddPCR method to determine the expression and potency of AAV vectors

Robust assays to quantify adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector expression and potency are essential for gene therapy development. These assays inform the efficacy, safety, and pharmacodynamic profiles of AAV development candidates. Additionally, for gene downregulation strategies such as RNAi, knockdown of endogenous genes reflects the mechanism of action of such development candidates. Therefore, a method to quantify target mRNA repression is necessary for measuring vector potency both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we report the development of a one-step reverse-transcription droplet digital PCR (RT-ddPCR) method to analyze expression of AAV vectors and the potency of AAV-RNAi vectors. This one-step RT-ddPCR method simplifies the workflow, allows for duplexing reactions, and enables absolute quantification of transcripts without standard materials. With a gene augmentation vector, we demonstrate the application of RT-ddPCR in quantifying vector expression in vitro and in non-human primate (NHP) samples. This novel method is demonstrated to be precise and linear within the range of 0.05–25 ng of RNA input. Using an AAV-RNAi vector, we further demonstrate the utility of this RT-ddPCR method in quantifying potency. Orthogonal potency assays, including ELISA and functional readout, correlate well with RT-ddPCR results. Therefore, one-step RT-ddPCR can be implemented in the analytical and pharmacological characterization of AAV vectors.
Determination of relationships between rumination and milk fat concentration and fatty acid profile using data from commercial rumination sensing systems.

ABSTRACT Milk fat production is highly influenced by nutrition and rumen fermentation. Rumination is an essential part of the ruminant digestive process and can serve as an indicator of rumen fermentation. The objective of this research was to quantify variation in rumination time between and within dairy herds and test for relationships between rumination time and milk fat production and fatty acid (FA) profile as a proxy of rumen fermentation. Our hypothesis was that rumination may indicate disruptions to rumen fermentation and that cows that spent less time ruminating would have lower milk fat due to these rumen disruptions. Data were collected from 1,733 Holstein cows on 5 commercial dairy farms (4 in Pennsylvania and 1 in New York) of 200 to 700 head using 1 of 2 commercially-available rumination sensing systems, CowManager SensOor ear tags (Agis Automatisering BV) or SCR model HR-LDn neck collars (SCR Engineers). Rumination data were collected for 7 consecutive days leading up to a DHIA test, summed within day, then averaged to obtain mean daily minutes of rumination time. Milk samples from the DHIA test were analyzed for fat content by mid-infrared spectroscopy and for milk FA profile by gas chromatography. Rumination data were analyzed using multiple linear regression models. Rumination time was related to concentration of specific odd- and branched-chain and trans FA in milk but was not directly related to milk fat concentration. Rumination time also did not contribute to models predicting milk fat concentration after accounting for other cow-level variables. There was a linear relationship between trans-10 C18:1 and rumination time that was positive after accounting for the effect of farm (partial R2 of 2.97% across all data, 4.24% in SCR data, and 2.22% in CowManager data). Although rumination time was not related directly to milk fat, it was associated with differences in trans and odd- and branched-chain FA that have been demonstrated to change during subacute ruminal acidosis or biohydrogenation-induced milk fat depression, which may affect milk fat and other production variables. These associations suggest that further investigation into using rumination data from commercial systems to predict or identify the presence of these conditions is warranted.
The Significance of bovine coccidiosis as a disease in the United States

Inquiries, by personal interviews, were conducted with 165 veterinarians, 14 feedlot operators, 33 cow-calf producers and 12 dairy producers throughout the United States to determine the imporance of bovine coccidiosis.
Cardiac asystole following high spinal cord injury: a case report

Cardiac asystole following cervical spine injury is rare and occurs after approximately 15-16% of cases of high spinal cord injury. While incidence of cardiac abnormalities after high spinal cord injury typically peak at 4-7 days following the initial injury, they have been reported to take up to 2-6 weeks to resolve. In our case the patient was found unresponsive in the field with pulseless cardiac activity. She had return of spontaneous circulation after a short period of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and was transferred to the trauma intensive care unit (ICU) where she developed progressive motor and sensory deficits and was found to have anterior subluxation of C2 and C3 as well as fractures of the C2 and C3 vertebrae that were treated with decompression and C1-5 fusion. She has done well post-operatively and has had no further cardiac abnormalities since the time of her initial injury. The authors believe that patients that experience cardiac asystole secondary to high spinal cord injury who have rapid recovery of cardiac function can be managed with appropriate monitoring without medical management with inotropic agents or cardiac pacemaker implantation, and surgery to address neurologic deficits should not be delayed.
Hispanic businesses in Tucson since 1854

Hispanic business ownership has existed in Tucson, Arizona since before 1854, when legislation allowed the federal government to acquire the city and surrounding territory. Ranching and agriculture were primary sources of income for early Hispanic settlers but they also were able to diversify into other economic sectors. As Hispanics became integrated into American society, minority business ownership patterns changed. Starting in the 20th century, Mexican Americans tended to operate mostly service industry businesses, such as barber shops and grocery stores. There were a few Hispanic lawyers and doctors, but their numbers were small in comparison to the growing Mexican-American and Anglo populations. The Great Depression of the 1930s negatively affected the agriculturally oriented Hispanic families. By the 1940s, more Mexican Americans and Anglos were arriving, looking for employment. By the 1980s, the trend toward service-sector jobs was evident in Tucson. Most of the 20 Hispanic entrepreneurs interviewed for this study were firstor second-generation Tucsonians. The pioneer Hispanic families were no longer at the forefront of business opportunities. Instead, some of the offspring from these families were attracted to other enterprises. Current Hispanic owners' indecision as to whether they want their children to enter the family business indicates the possibility that some of these establishments may someday change hands. A continuing cycle of Hispanic "latecomers" operating businesses may develop in the Tucson area, resulting in the possible lack of a solid economic base for the Hispanic business community. (Author/TES) THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA "MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES & RESEARCH CENTER HISPANIC BUSINESSES IN TUCSON SINCE 1854 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY 11-loplik GEL-51.10N TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" Melissa Amado University of Arizona
Subjunctive Credences and Semantic Humility

In light of the chance that the plate will be saved by a sudden gust of hot air, what should we say about the truth conditions of the ordinary conditional (1b)? Some theories predict that (1b) is true. For instance, Lewis 1973b says that the plate being saved by friendly air currents is a remarkable low-probability event, and that worlds where such events happen are farther away than worlds where I drop the plate and nothing special happens. Hence the plate breaks in all the closest worlds where I drop it, and so (1b) comes out true. Williams 2008 develops and defends a neo-Lewisian account which similarly excludes wacky events from worlds closest to ours. And Bennett 2003 develops a “near-miss” proposal, according to which the plate may be saved by friendly air currents in some of the closest worlds where I drop it, but (1b) nevertheless counts as true because the plate breaks at a very high proportion of the closest plate-dropping worlds. Some theories predict that (1b) is not true. For instance, Hajek 2007 argues that (1a) is true and incompatible with (1b), and so he concludes that (1b) is false. Gillies 2007 argues that conditionals like (1a) expand the domain that subjunctives quantify
Malignant vascular endothelial tumor with distal embolization: A new entity

Abstract An unusual cause of major arterial obstruction—a vascular endothelial tumor causing aorto-iliac stenosis and distal vascular insufficiency by presumed embolization—is described. In the case reported, there are three distinctive features which imply that this rare syndrome should be recognized as a pattern of vascular disease. (1) There was focal proliferation of cells, similar to neoplastic reticular cells, associated with the endothelium of a large vessel. (2) Multiple embolization occurred to peripheral arteries, resulting in gangrene and cutaneous inflammation. (3) The lesions were recognized in the two levels of the vascular system by use of angiographic technics and skin biopsy.
Risky Sexual Behaviors and HIV/Disease Knowledge of Injection Drug Users Attending Needle Exchange Programs

ABSTRACT A meta-analysis of worldwide Needle Exchange Program research was conducted with fourteen studies, looking at the impact of needle exchange programs (NEPs) on the sexual risk behaviors and HIV/disease knowledge of injection drug users. Based on the limited data available to date (a total of 14 studies), two conclusions were drawn. First, HIV/disease knowledge does increase with NEP attendance. Second, risky sexual behaviors do not appear to decrease with NEP attendance, and may in fact increase. Neither of these areas has been investigated nearly as often as risky drug behaviors among NEP attend-ers. Focusing on disease knowledge and reducing risky sexual behaviors of NEP clients are both key areas for AIDS Service Organization staff to consider when developing HIV risk reduction interventions for injection drug users (IDUs).
U.S. Nuclear Waste Law and Policy: Fixing a Bankrupt System

The current U.S. system of nuclear waste law and policy is bankrupt. Twenty years after the designation by Congress of Yucca Mountain as the only potential site for a deep geologic repository to receive spent nuclear fuel and high level waste from reprocessing, the proposed Yucca repository remains mired in controversy and unremitting opposition by Nevada. There is no prospect for an alternative repository or for the development of a federal consolidated storage facility. The volume of these wastes already exceeds the current maximum storage capacity set by Congress for Yucca and continues to grow. This article first provides a brief overview of nuclear wastes and a summary history of federal nuclear waste law and policy to date. It then diagnoses the major failures in the current design and proposes a suite of new measures to launch a comprehensive new approach, including a reconsideration of the ethical principles underlying the drive for immediate waste burial; the creation of a high-level National Waste Management Commission; the creation of two new federal entities to manage nuclear wastes and to site waste storage facilities and repositories; the elimination of Environmental Protection Agency regulatory authority over these activities; the adoption of a thoroughgoing risk-based approach to waste regulation and management; and the adoption of new, more flexible and adaptable strategies for siting storage and disposal facilities.
Tracing pathogens in fruit and vegetable production chains

Abstract: The health benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables and year-round availability of many produce commodities has led to increased consumption in the United States and other western countries. This has, however, been correlated with a rise in the number of foodborne outbreaks. Although there are logical sources of pathogens, definitive explanations of how contamination occurs have been lacking. Biotic or abiotic processes linking primary pathogen reservoirs to fields are dynamic and difficult to identify. Tracking reservoirs and movement of pathogens in the environment require intensive sampling and accurate fingerprinting/genotyping. Fresh produce outbreaks associated with enteric pathogens, their sources and fitness in the environment will be presented along with methods for tracking pathogens and outcomes from recent investigations. Next generation DNA sequencing and genomics methods being developed will enhance microbial source tracking studies in complex produce production environments.
A Framework for Security-Aware Virtual Network Embedding

Network virtualization promises a future Internet that inherently supports technological advancement. Extensive literature studies have been devoted to the fundamental problem, namely Virtual Network Embedding (VNE) in network virtualization, which instantiates the virtual network request (VNR) customized by the Service Provider (SP) to the substrate network managed by the Infrastructure Provider (InP). Different from prior studies, in this work, we identify security issues that are associated with the VNE process, which is further incorporated and addressed in the Security-Aware Virtual Network Embedding (SVNE) problem. Our efforts aim to fill the major gaps in the literature studies on the VNE problem: first, we assess the security issues in VNE at node, topology and network levels and explicitly define open, flexible and fine-granular security plans that can address above issues; second, we present and evaluate a comprehensive framework that implements the proposed security plans and address the SVNE problem.
Post-independence fledgling ecology in a migratory songbird: implications for breeding-grounds conservation

For migratory songbirds, breeding-grounds conservation and management plans are generally focused on habitat associated with locations of singing males and sometimes nesting females. However, habitat structure is often different in areas used for raising fledglings compared with areas used for song territories, and very little is known about habitat use by fledglings after independence from adult care. From 2010 to 2012, we used radiotelemetry to monitor 68 fledgling golden-winged warblers Vermivora chrysoptera after independence from adult care in mixed managed forests of Minnesota, US and Manitoba, Canada. This species is of high conservation concern in the US, is listed as threatened in Canada and is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. We assessed distance and orientation of independent fledgling movements and we used compositional analysis to test for selection among cover types. Fledglings of this species, commonly described as a shrubland specialist, selected mature forest (78% of locations) over all other cover types, and foraged in forest canopy and understory in mixed-species flocks. Fledgling golden-winged warbler movements were apparently associated with habitat optimization (although prioritizing foraging over predator avoidance), and likely not with commencement of migration, or scouting future breeding territories. Ten days after independence, fledglings were an average of 1238 m north of their nest, which may be related to homing-target formation and the species' northward range expansion. We conclude that consideration for independent fledgling habitat associations is necessary for developing full-fledged forest management plans on the breeding grounds of migratory songbirds.
A Study of State Social Studies Standards for American Indian Education

In this study the author surveys social studies standards from 14 U.S. states seeking to answer: (a) what social studies knowledge about American Indians is deemed essential by those states mandating the development of American Indian Education curricula for all public K–12 students? and (b) at what grade levels is this social studies content knowledge mandated in public K–12 schools? Document analysis, open-coding, and constant comparison revealed that the knowledge states standards require can be organized into six themes: identification/classification of tribes, distinct tribal cultures, contributions to mainstream U.S. culture, tribal government, connection to environment, and economics/occupations. The findings also revealed that the majority of standards relating to American Indians are directed to elementary grade levels. Standards in only two states, Maine and Montana, cover a breadth of curricular content and require that content coverage to continue K–12.
The effect of technique failure on outcome in black patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis

BackgroundWe previously reported that, while black patients have a better patient survival than white patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD), they also have a significantly higher technique failure r...
Characters, taxonomic groups, and relationships in botany 1770―1850 as exemplified by the work of Henri Cassini

Using the French botanist Henri Cassini's work as an example, the complex relationship between characters, groups and relationships in the period 1770-1850 is explored. Cassini thought that classifications should be natural and that groups were to be based on numerous characters, although they would be difficult to recognize and characterize. For the most part he saw relationships between organisms as two dimensional, with one group directly joining two or more other groups. At the same time he asserted that the best way to think about affinities was as if they were linear, largely because this was most compatible with how he thought that the human mind worked. When he discussed relationships between individual plant parts he used words like type, analogy, and hypothesis that were rarely used when he discussed relationships between groups. In Cassini's writings it is difficult to connect his work on the analogies between plant parts with his ideas of affinities between groups. In the early nineteenth century zoologists in particular were developing various ways of thinking about organisms as being related indirectly, whether using abstract types or the taxonomic hierarchy to structure relationships. Similarly, Darwin's discussion of affinities between groups was separate from that on homologies between particular structures, but he saw relationships as being like a tree, with extant taxa being related indirectly by their ancestors.
A versatile pathway for the direct assembly of organo-functional mesostructures from sodium silicate

Silica mesostructures with well-expressed hexagonal and wormhole framework structures and up to 50% organo-functionalization of the framework silicon sites have been directly assembled from sodium silicate.
Cardiac allografts from high-risk donors: Excellent clinical results

Rising waiting list mortality and increasing demand for donor organs have led to extension of traditionally accepted criteria for evaluation of cardiac grafts. From December 1985 to June 1992, 188 cardiac grafts were orthotopically transplanted into 178 recipients. Of these grafts, 38.3% (72/188) were defined as high-risk donors. Risk criteria included prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation, age greater than 40 years, high inotrope requirements, undersizing by more than 20% body weight, significant wall motion impairment by echocardiography, elevation of myocardial enzyme levels, and cold ischemia time greater than 4 hours. There were no recipient deaths attributable to primary graft failure in the perioperative period. Operative (30-day), 1-year and 5-year survival was 95.5%, 86.1%, and 77.3%, respectively, in the high-risk group compared with 93.7%, 86.0%, and 67.2%, respectively, in the low-risk donor cohort (p = 0.94). Comparison of duration of postoperative inotrope use, intensive care unit stay, total hospital stay, and in-hospital costs revealed no significant trends favoring either group in postoperative morbidity. Among long-term survivors, development of graft coronary disease was noted in 47.1% (24/51) of the high-risk donor group and only 17.4% (12/69) of the remaining group (p = 0.0005). Left ventricular ejection fractions in the high risk donor group were 0.58 +/- 0.01 at 2 years. Review of this series suggests that selective use of apparently compromised cardiac donors is compatible with excellent cardiac function and survival. Higher incidence of graft vasculopathy may cause significant morbidity during late follow-up.
In situ Mössbauer spectroscopic study of iron III chloride intercalated in graphite under reaction conditions

Abstract In situ 57 Mossbauer spectroscopy has been used to study the process of reduction and Fischer-Tropsch reactions on FeCl 3 intercalated in graphite layers. It is found that on flowing H 2 on graphite intercalated by FeCl 3 at 400° C, FeCl 3 converts to FeCl 2 and partly to small particles of α-Fe. The Mossbauer spectra of the reduced sample are superposition of a sextuplet and two quadrupole doublets indicative of metallic iron and two species of FeCl 2 . However, at room temperature and at 400° C for a short period of reduction the magnetic hyperfine splittings ( ca . 295 kOe and 262 kOe respectively) are smaller than the corresponding parameters for bulk metallic iron. The differences have been attributed to the interaction between the monolayers of iron atoms and the carbon nets of the graphite support. When the reduction was carried out for a longer period, α-Fe was formed. When a sample reduced for a short period of time is heated at 400°C in the presence of the synthesis gas, part of the iron particles sinter, and α-iron is observed. On heating the above sample once again at 400°C in the presence of the synthesis gas, the remaining small particles of iron are totally converted to the bulk phase (α-Fe). Experimental observations indicate that α-Fe and FeCl 2 are present on the surface as well as inbetween the intercalated graphite layers.
Rapid adjustment and adoption to MIaaS clouds

Emerging Managed Infrastructure as a Service (MIaaS) clouds allow enterprises to outsource their IT infrastructure as well as their IT management needs. One of the core tenets of a MIaaS cloud is a standardized service delivery model, allowing the cloud provider to provide infrastructure management services at a lower cost. As opposed to pure IaaS clouds where arbitrary customer virtual machines can be migrated to the cloud, migration to MIaaS clouds require the customer servers to be adapted in a way such that the cloud steady state management stack can manage these virtual machines using the standardized delivery model. In this work, we address the problem of migrating customer workloads to a standardized MIaaS cloud. We present the design and implementation of Rapid Adjustment Engine (RAE). RAE captures the adjustment process across arbitrary customer servers with high diversity in a unified rule framework. It uses rapid image adjustment to reduce the end-to-end migration time and a flexible orchestrator framework to integrate diverse functionalities and associated tools in a single migration process. Our experimental evaluation establishes the ability of RAE to enable rapid, reliable and reduced cost migration to MIaaS clouds.
ANTISYMMETRIC TENSOR FIELD COUPLED TO CHIRAL MATTER AND DYNAMICAL SYMMETRY BREAKING

The minimal coupling of chiral fermions to a second rank antisymmetric tensor field is considered, and an alternative to the standard model is discussed in which the Higgs doublet is replaced by a real scalar and a second rank antisymmetric tensor. The dynamical breaking of electroweak symmetry, via the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio mechanism, is shown to occur due to natural four-Fermi interactions. The mean field theory due to instanton configurations in the antisymmetric tensor field is also presented and possible cosmological applications of this model are discussed.
I-line negative resist manufacturing process qualification

A new chemically amplified I-line negative resist (INR) is in use at IBM's eight-inch wafer manufacturing facility in Essex Junction, Vermont. The resist is applied at the ion implant block photo levels for 4-Mb DRAM chip production and shows very good line performance and stability. Process parameters such as focus, exposure dose, post expose bake (PEB) temperature vs. photospeed, and time window from expose to PEB, demonstrate above average latitude. Due to the long develop times (4 min per wafer) required when using a single-wafer spray or puddle develop in an integrated photocluster, INR runs on a stand-alone toolset. This paper reviews several concerns with INR regarding its optical appearance, resist thinning, and undercut. The first two issues were resolved through increased manufacturing-floor training and by more tightly controlling certain components of the resist. The undercut effect required a more advanced version of the resist to be formulated, which is currently under evaluation.
Thermophoretic sampler and its application in ultrafine particle collection

A thermophoretic sampler is designed for the collection of particles smaller than 10 nm. The sampler is composed of heated and cooled surfaces separated by a gap of 0.1 mm; a bypass flow is introduced in the design to minimize the diffusional loss of nanoparticles in the upstream flow channel. Particles may be directly deposited on a 3 mm diameter TEM grid for chemical analysis or on other substrates for other purposes. Calculations show that at an inlet flow rate of 1.5 lpm and thermal gradient of 5 × 105 K/m, a maximum collection efficiency of 41% can be achieved for a particle diameter of 1 nm. Ag particles with median size of 6 nm are used to characterize the thermophoretic sampler collection efficiency. The TEM images show that a sizeable number of particles less than 10 nm in diameter are collected, although they are not uniformly distributed on the grid, and the collection efficiency deduced from these deposited particles is much less than the theoretical estimation. Despite this, the efficiency is...
Multi-Resolution PEM Fuel Cell Model Validation and Accuracy Analysis

A multi-resolution simulation method was developed for the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell simulation: a full 3D model was employed for the membrane and diffusion layer; a 1D+2D model was applied to the catalyst layer, that is, at each location of the fuel cell plate, the governing equations were integrated only in the direction perpendicular to the fuel cell plate; and a quasi-1D model with high numerical efficiency and reasonable accuracy was employed for the flow channels. The simulation accuracy was assessed in terms of the fuel cell polarization curves and membrane Ohmic overpotential. Overall, good agreements between the simulated results and the experimental data were obtained. However, at large current densities, with high relative humidity reactant inputs, the simulation under-predicted the fuel cell performance due to the single-phase assumption; the simulation slightly over-predicted the fuel cell performance for a dry cathode input, possibly due to the nonlinearity of the membrane properties in dehydration case. Further, a parameter study was performed under both fully humidified and relatively dry conditions for the parameters related to the cathode catalyst layer and the gas diffusion layer (GDL). It is found that the effects of liquid water in both the GDL and catalyst layer on the cell performance, and the accurate identification of the cathode catalyst layer parameters such as the cathodic transfer coefficient should be focused for future studies in order to further improve the model accuracy.
Frequency of Medium-Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency G-985 Mutation in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

A small percentage of apparent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) victims may have an unsuspected metabolic disorder. Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency is a disorder of fatty acid oxidation that has been the most common such metabolic disorder found in series of SIDS victims. A single mutation in MCAD deficiency has been recently described (G-985) that accounts for approximately 90% of MCAD deficiency mutations. We studied the hypothesis that heterozygosity or homozygosity for this specific MCAD deficiency mutation might be associated with SIDS. DNA was extracted from the paraffin-embedded autopsy tissues of 67 victims of SIDS in Monroe County, NY who died between 1984 and 1989. Using the polymerase chain reaction/NcoI digestion method, we found no G-985 homozygotes and three (4.5%) G-985 heterozygotes. In 70 newborn controls, there were no G-985 homozygotes and one (1.4%) heterozygote. Although the frequency of G-985 heterozygotes was slightly greater than in our control group, it was not statistically different. We conclude that the specific MCAD deficiency mutation G-985 is not strongly associated with SIDS and that MCAD deficiency probably does not make a significant contribution to the etiology of SIDS.
Cancellous-marrow bone grafts in irradiated tissue

Discontinuity defects of the mandible have been successfully treated by means of cancellous-marrow grafting techniques. This method of reconstruction has not been widely reported in the repair of defects in mandibles that have been exposed to radiation therapy. In the two cases presented in this article, the patients were previously treated for oral squamous-cell carcinoma by irradiation and partial mandibulectomy. Later, cancellous-marrow grafts were implanted. One patient received 3,000 rads of Cobalt-60 and had the body of the right mandible resected. The subsequent grafting procedure was successful in this patient. The second patient received 6,000 rads of Cobalt-60 and underwent resection of the mandible anterior to the molar region. The subsequent graft failed in this case.
Improvements to a MODIS global terrestrial evapotranspiration algorithm

Abstract MODIS global evapotranspiration (ET) products by Mu et al. [Mu, Q., Heinsch, F. A., Zhao, M., Running, S. W. (2007). Development of a global evapotranspiration algorithm based on MODIS and global meteorology data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 111, 519–536. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2007.04.015] are the first regular 1-km 2 land surface ET dataset for the 109.03 Million km 2 global vegetated land areas at an 8-day interval. In this study, we have further improved the ET algorithm in Mu et al. (2007a, hereafter called old algorithm) by 1) simplifying the calculation of vegetation cover fraction; 2) calculating ET as the sum of daytime and nighttime components; 3) adding soil heat flux calculation; 4) improving estimates of stomatal conductance, aerodynamic resistance and boundary layer resistance; 5) separating dry canopy surface from the wet; and 6) dividing soil surface into saturated wet surface and moist surface. We compared the improved algorithm with the old one both globally and locally at 46 eddy flux towers. The global annual total ET over the vegetated land surface is 62.8 × 10 3 km 3 , agrees very well with other reported estimates of 65.5 × 10 3 km 3 over the terrestrial land surface, which is much higher than 45.8 × 10 3 km 3 estimated with the old algorithm. For ET evaluation at eddy flux towers, the improved algorithm reduces mean absolute bias (MAE) of daily ET from 0.39 mm day −1 to 0.33 mm day −1 driven by tower meteorological data, and from 0.40 mm day −1 to 0.31 mm day −1 driven by GMAO data, a global meteorological reanalysis dataset. MAE values by the improved ET algorithm are 24.6% and 24.1% of the ET measured from towers, within the range (10–30%) of the reported uncertainties in ET measurements, implying an enhanced accuracy of the improved algorithm. Compared to the old algorithm, the improved algorithm increases the skill score with tower-driven ET estimates from 0.50 to 0.55, and from 0.46 to 0.53 with GMAO-driven ET. Based on these results, the improved ET algorithm has a better performance in generating global ET data products, providing critical information on global terrestrial water and energy cycles and environmental changes.
Local Government and Metropolitan Regions In Federal States , Volume 6: A Global Dialogue on Federalism Series

Local Government and Metropolitan Regions In Federal States, Volume 6: A Global Dialogue on Federalism Series by Nico Steytler (Ed.). Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009, I...
Effect of hypertonicity on the increase in basolateral conductance of Necturus small intestine in response to Na+-sugar cotransport.

Abstract Exposure of Necturus small intestine to a galactose-containing perfusate that is 20% hypertonic compared to the galactose-free (control) perfusate results in a rapid depolarization of the electrical potential difference across the apical membrane, ψ mc , and a decrease in the ratio of the resistance of the apical membrane to that of the basolateral membrane, ( r m /r s ); however, the slow repolarization of ψ mc and increase in ( r m /r s ), observed under isotonic conditions, is blocked. These findings are consistent with the notion that the increase in the conductance of the basolateral membrane in response to Na+-coupled sugar (or amino acid) transport across the apical membrane may be a ‘volume regulatory response’ to cell swelling.
Activation-energy asymptotic theory of autoignition of condensed hydrocarbon fuels in non-premixed flows with comparison to experiment

An activation-energy asymptotic theory is developed that predicts autoignition of condensed hydrocarbon fuels in non-premixed flows. Steady, laminar, stagnation-point flow of an oxidizer stream, toward the vaporizing surface of a liquid fuel is considered. The analysis is restricted to the case where the temperature of the oxidizer stream, T 2, is greater than the normal boiling point of the liquid fuel. The gas-phase chemical reaction is described by a one-step overall process. The chemical-kinetic rate parameters are the activation temperature, T a, and the frequency factor, B. A Zel'dovich number, β, is constructed that is proportional to the ratio T a/T 2. The analysis is performed in the asymptotic limit of large values of β. It predicts the value of the Damkohler number, at autoignition. The Damkohler number is defined as the ratio of a characteristic flow time to a characteristic chemical reaction time. The flow time is the reciprocal of the strain-rate, and the chemical time depends on the chemica...
Desmosomes: new perspectives on a classic

Desmosomes are highly specialized anchoring junctions that link intermediate filaments to sites of intercellular adhesion, thus facilitating the formation of a supracellular scaffolding that distributes mechanical forces throughout a tissue. These junctions are thus particularly important for maintaining the integrity of tissues that endure physical stress, such as the epidermis and myocardium. The importance of the classic mechanical functions of desmosomal constituents is underscored by pathologies reported in animal models and an ever-expanding list of human mutations that target both desmosomal cadherins and their associated cytoskeletal anchoring proteins. However, the notion that desmosomes are static structures that exist simply to glue cells together belies their susceptibility to remodeling in response to environmental cues and their important tissue-specific roles in cell behavior and signaling. Here, we review the molecular blueprint of the desmosome and models for assembling its protein components to form an adhesive interface and the desmosomal plaque. We also discuss emerging evidence of supra-adhesive roles for desmosomal proteins in regulating tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis. Finally, we highlight the dynamic nature of these adhesive organelles, examining mechanisms in health and disease for modulating adhesive strength and stability of desmosomes.
Organic micropollutants in drinking water: an overview.

Abstract Biological contamination is still the most significant public health risk from drinking water even in industrialized countries. High potential for organic chemical transport to drinking water continues to exist even with source protection because of the multitude of chemical types and quantities. Drinking water is usually not a unique source nor the most significant contributor to total exposure from synthetic organic chemicals but it might be one of the most controllable. The major public concern with drinking water contamination has been possible contribution to cancer risks from organic micropollutants. Even though the actual risks are probably small in most cases it is clearly within the public interest to prevent adulteration of water supplies and to protect their quality for the future so that these concerns or risks can be avoided. A risk assessment/management decision model is suggested which may assist the process of making rational assessments of these contamination problems and control decisions that consciously consider all of the available data in a consistent manner.
Comorbidities of Obesity

Obesity, especially visceral adiposity, is associated with morbidity and mortality through endocrine and mechanical processes. Clinical manifestations due to effects of obesity on the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, immune, and integumentary systems have been described. Further studies are needed to understand the pathologic processes underlying these clinical manifestations to improve disease prevention.
Discovery of a small molecule agonist of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase p110α that reactivates latent HIV-1.

Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) can effectively suppress HIV-1 replication, but the latent viral reservoir in resting memory CD4+ T cells is impervious to cART and represents a major barrier to curing HIV-1 infection. Reactivation of latent HIV-1 represents a possible strategy for elimination of this reservoir. In this study we describe the discovery of 1,2,9,10-tetramethoxy-7H-dibenzo[de,g]quinolin-7-one (57704) which reactivates latent HIV-1 in several cell-line models of latency (J89GFP, U1 and ACH-2). 57704 also increased HIV-1 expression in 3 of 4 CD8+-depleted blood mononuclear cell preparations isolated from HIV-1-infected individuals on suppressive cART. In contrast, vorinostat increased HIV-1 expression in only 1 of the 4 donors tested. Importantly, 57704 does not induce global T cell activation. Mechanistic studies revealed that 57704 reactivates latent HIV-1 via the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway. 57704 was found to be an agonist of PI3K with specificity to the p110α isoform, but not the p110β, δ or γ isoforms. Taken together, our work suggests that 57704 could serve as a scaffold for the development of more potent activators of latent HIV-1. Furthermore, it highlights the involvement of the PI3K/Akt pathway in the maintenance of HIV-1 latency.
Dispersion of the third-order optical nonlinearity of C60. A third-harmonic generation study

Abstract We report the |χ (3) (−3ω; ω, ω, ω)| of a thin film of polycrystalline C 60 on glass measured over the fundamental energy range of 0.52–1.18 eV. The dispersion clearly shows a three-photon resonance at ħω=0.94 eV, whose third-harmonic energy corresponds to the dipole allowed transition at 2.8 eV in the solid C 60 . The dispersion can be fit by a two-level model, and a good correlation exists between the nonlinearity and the linear optical absorption spectrum. Away from resonance, |χ (3) (−3ω; ω, ω, ω)| = (4.1 ± 0.6) × 10 −12 esu, while at the peak, |χ (3) (−3ω; ω, ω, ω)| = (2.7 ± 0.4) × 10 −11 esu.