cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Relationship of Reproductive Behavior, Serum Luteinizing Hormone and Time of Ovulation in the Bitch

This study was performed to define the relationship betweed luteinizing hormone (LH), reproductive behavior and time of ovulation in the domestic bitch. Laparoscopy was effective for distinguishing ovarian follicular development and the morphological alterations indicative of ovulation and corpus tuteum (CL) formation. The actual moment of follicular rupture was observed in 2 animals. An LH surge was detected in all animals and mean LH values did not differ between bitches subjected to laparoscopy at 48 h intervals and those bitches which did not undergo laparoscopy during the experiment. During the proestrous-estrous period, baseline LH concentrations before and after the LH surge averaged 1.7 ± 0.1 ng/ml (S.E.). The major preovulatory LH surge ranged from 11.0-90.3 ng/ml with an average of 45.1 ± 4.4 ng/ml (S.E.) The duration of the LH surge was prolonged and occurred over a 3.5-4 day period. In 52% of the cycles examined, an episodic burst of LH (mean 6.1 ± 0.9 ng/ml) was detected 3-9.5 days prior to peak preovulatory concentrations of LH. This early release of gonadotropin may be associated with preovulatory luteinization and early progesterone secretion by the follicle. Evidence of ovulation was found in 9 3.5% of the follicles by 96 h after the LH peak, with the greatest incidence (77.2%) of follicular rupture occurring over the interval of 24-72 h following the LH peak. Wide variations in the physical and behavioral signs of estrus were observed. The mean length of proestrus was 8.7 days (range 3-17 days) and the mean duration of estrus was 11.4 days (range 3-21 days). The LH peak or the onset of ovulation could not be correlated with a specific day of proestrus or estrus. However, 22/25 LH peaks were detected within ±3 days of the first day of estrus. These results, employing direct ovarian examination and frequent blood sampling, suggest that 1) the duration of the LH surge in the bitch is prolonged in comparison to most common domestic animals; 2) most ovulations in the bitch occur 24-72 h following peak serum LH concentrations; 3) a specific day of standing estrus is not precisely related to the onset of the LH surge in the bitch and therefore cannot be used as an accurate estimate of time of ovulation in this species.
Cystidial structure in two genera of the Russulales

As a part of a broader study to determine whether the subcellular structure of cystidia can provide synapomorphies for clades of Agaricomycetes, cystidia of Auriscalpium vulgare Gray and Russula emetica (Schaeff.) Pers. were examined ultrastructurally, after freeze substitution. Vesicles with tubular invaginations occurred in immature hymenial cystidia of both species, and microbodies were also present. Gloeohyphae of A. vulgare also contained these organelles. The tubular invaginations disappeared from the vesicles in maturing cystidia of A. vulgare and were replaced by electron-dense deposits. These patterns of cellular organization may be synapomorphic for the Russulales. The data will be incorporated into the “Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life” (AFTOL) Structural and Biochemical Database to facilitate the use of morphological characters in phylogenetic analyses.
Effects of Verbal Reinforcements upon WAIS Scores of Examinees High and Low in Anxiety

This study examined the effect of contingent verbal reinforcement upon the intelligence test performance of adults high and low in anxiety. 60 white undergraduates were divided into groups of 30 of high anxiety and 30 of low anxiety on the basis of their IPAT Anxiety Scale scores. Each examinee received the Quick Test as a premeasure of intelligence and then the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale under experimental conditions. 15 subjects with low and 15 subjects with high anxiety received verbal reinforcement after each correct response on the WAIS, while another 15 in each group performed under standard testing conditions. Results were not consistent with previous findings in that WAIS Full Scale, Verbal, and Performance IQs were not significantly affected by reinforcement condition or anxiety level.
Quantitative FRET measurement by high-speed fluorescence excitation and emission spectrometer.

Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is an important method in studying biochemistry reactions. But quantifying FRET rapidly is difficult to do because of crosstalk between free donor, free acceptor and FRET fluorescent signals when only excitation or emission property of a FRET sample is measured. If FRET is studied with excitation-emission matrix (EEM) measurements, because the fluorescence intensity maxima of donor, acceptor, and FRET emissions occupy different regions within the EEM, FRET fluorescence can be easily separated out by linear unmixing. In this paper, we report a novel high-speed Fourier Fluorescence Excitation Emission spectrometer, which simultaneously measures three projections of EEM from a FRET sample, which are excitation, emission and excitation-emission cross-correlation spectra. We demonstrate that these three EEM projections can be measured and unmixed in approximately 1 ms to provide rapid quantitative FRET in the presence of free donors and acceptors. The system can be utilized to enable real-time biochemistry reaction studies.
Economic statism, private capital, and the dilemmas of accumulation in Nigeria

Abstract Nigeria's persistent economic stagnation is attributable to a mutually reinforcing political dynamic, comprising a weak developmental state and pervasive rent-seeking within the private sector. This syndrome was a source of Nigeria's initial economic crisis in the early 1980s, and it continues to impede structural adjustment initiatives. Economic policy reform has been compromised by state strategies designed to preserve the gains of elite rentier groups, while private entrepreneurs have responded to policy change by seeking new rental havens in finance and other nontradable sectors. In consequence, structural adjustment has failed to elicit a supply response or to generate significant political support for a more propitious enabling environment. Nigeria's experience reinforces the perception that changes in nominal incentives must be accompanied by broader institutional transformation if economic reform is to be effective.
INTERGENERATIONAL PROGRAM EFFECTS ON SOCIAL RESPONSES OF ELDERLY ADULT DAY CARE MEMBERS

Through use of an ABAB design and momentary time‐sampling procedure, 10 elderly members of an adult day care center were observed for their social responses during two separate baseline (A) and intervention (B) conditions. Intervention consisted of an intergenerational nursery school. Baseline data were obtained before the program started and when school was not in session. Repeated‐measure ANOVA indicates that the elderly participants showed significantly higher levels of social interaction and significantly lower levels of solitary productive behaviors when the preschool program was in session than when it was not.
High-throughput bioanalysis of bile acids and their conjugates using UHPLC coupled to HRMS.

Background: Quantitative assessment of bile acids in biological matrixes is of growing interest, primarily due to hepatic toxicity resulting from drug interactions with the bile salt export pump. Nevertheless, many bile acids demonstrate poor fragmentation in MS, making conventional MS/MS not a good match for their selective quantitation in biological matrices. Results: The current study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of simultaneous quantitation of 19 bile acids using HRMS coupled to UHPLC separation with minimal instrument optimization. An effective chromatography was developed using an Agilent Zorbax® Eclipse XDB-C18 column (1.8 µm, 50 x 2.1 mm internal diameter), achieving separation of 19 compounds in 10 min. Excellent assay reproducibility was demonstrated, with two sets of standard curves, run 42 days apart. Conclusions: The results show that LC–HRMS is a viable platform for high throughput bioanalysis of bile acids especially in a drug-discovery setting.
Local and equatorial characterization of unit balls of subspaces of Lp, p>0 and properties of the generalized cosine transform

Abstract In this paper we show that there is no local equatorial characterization of bodies that embed in L p in odd dimensions for all p not even, 0 p ∞ . However, bodies that embed in L p for p odd are local equatorially characterizable provided that the dimension is even but not locally characterizable in general. This extends results given in Panina (1988) [13] , Goodey and Weil (1992) [5] , and Nazarov, Ryabogin and Zvavitch (2008) [12] concerning the local equatorial characterization of zonoids and intersection bodies. These results were for bodies that embed in L 1 and L − 1 respectively.
Design of peptide derived amino alcohols as transition-state analog inhibitors of angiotensin converting enzyme.

A new amino alcohol modification designed to mimic the putative transition-state of amide bond cleavage by proteolytic enzymes has been incorporated into the scissile bond position of N-benzoyl-Phe-Ala-Pro, a known substrate of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). The resulting modified tripeptides (i.e. 4) are shown to be a new class of potent inhibitors of converting enzyme.
Electrotonic load triggers remodeling of repolarizing current Ito in ventricle

A change in activation sequence electrically remodels ventricular myocardium, causing persistent changes in repolarizing currents (T-wave memory). However, the underlying mechanism for triggering a...
A Field Study on the Respiratory Deposition of the Nano-Sized Fraction of Mild and Stainless Steel Welding Fume Metals

A field study was conducted to estimate the amount of Cr, Mn, and Ni deposited in the respiratory system of 44 welders in two facilities. Each worker wore a nanoparticle respiratory deposition (NRD) sampler during gas metal arc welding (GMAW) of mild and stainless steel and flux-cored arc welding (FCAW) of mild steel. Several welders also wore side-by-side NRD samplers and closed-face filter cassettes for total particulate samples. The NRD sampler estimates the aerosol's nano-fraction deposited in the respiratory system. Mn concentrations for both welding processes ranged 2.8–199 μg/m3; Ni concentrations ranged 10–51 μg/m3; and Cr concentrations ranged 40–105 μg/m3. Cr(VI) concentrations ranged between 0.5–1.3 μg/m3. For the FCAW process the largest concentrations were reported for welders working in pairs. As a consequence this often resulted in workers being exposed to their own welding fumes and to those generated from the welding partner. Overall no correlation was found between air velocity and expos...
Secondary Prevention Antibiotic Treatment Trials for Coronary Artery Disease

Considerable interest was generated in the possible causative role of Chlamydia pneumoniae in coronary artery disease (CAD) by the publication of a small pilot study in London of antibiotic treatment of CAD that reduced coronary events.1 Persons familiar with antibiotic treatment of chlamydia were skeptical that the brief treatment schedule in the London trial (azithromycin either one or two courses once daily for 3 days) could have a significant effect on chlamydia.2 Because of the great importance of CAD and a possible new treatment, further human experimentation was justified. Anderson and coworkers3 and Muhlestein and colleagues4 at the LDS hospital and the University of Utah made a useful contribution by quickly undertaking a pilot study, Azithromycin in Coronary Artery Disease: Elimination of Myocardial Infection With Chlamydia (ACADEMIC), to see if the surprising findings of the English study could be repeated. It was important to perform this study because some cardiologists had begun inappropriate antibiotic treatment of patients after publication of the English study. In the article by Muhlestein et al4 in this issue, we learn that no miraculous reduction in cardiovascular events was seen in 2 years after a more reasonable 3 months of antibiotic treatment. Whether the modest decrease (statistically not significant) in events in the treated group during the second year of observation indicates a treatment effect can be determined only in a larger study. It is important to emphasize, as did Muhlestein et al, that the ACADEMIC study was not adequately powered (not enough subjects) to prove that antibiotic treatment of CAD does not reduce events. There were 300 subjects in the Utah study, whereas 3500 to 4000 are needed to show whether a reduction in events of a clinically …
Mono-bit digital chirp receiver using mono-bit IFM (instantaneous frequency measurement) receiver as a core

This paper describes the design and intricacies of a wideband digital chirp receiver utilizing a one-bit ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) to measure the carrier frequency and chirp rate of unknown received signals which have very high chip rates. The core of the chirp receiver is composed of monobit IFM receivers which are low cost and very accurate.
An experimental study of natural convection in a vertical cavity with discrete heat sources

Natural convection heat transfer in a tall vertical cavity (aspect ratio = 16.5), with one isothermal vertical cold wall, and eleven alternately unheated and flush-heated sections of equal height on the opposing vertical wall, is experimentally investigated. The flow visualization pictures for the ethylene glycol-filled cavity reveal a flow pattern consisting of primary, secondary, and tertiary flows. The heat transfer data and the flow visualization photographs indicate that the stratification is the primary factor influencing the temperature of the heated sections. This behavior persists for all the runs where the secondary flow cells cover a large vertical extend of the cavity. Based on the analysis of the photographs it is suggested that the turbulent flow should be expected when the local modified Rayleigh number is in the range of 9.3 {times} 10 {sup 11} to 1.9 {times} 10{sup 12}. It is found that discrete flush-mounted heating in the enclosure results in local Nusselt numbers that are nearly the same as those reported for a wide flush-mounted heater on a vertical plate. This is believed to be due to the fact that the present problems in inherently unstable, and the smallest temperature difference between a heated section and the cold wallmore » results in the onset of convection motion.« less
Modeling drug residue uptake by eggs: yolks contain ampicillin residues even after drug withdrawal and nondetectability in the plasma

The present study was conducted to determine whether: 1) preovulatory yolks may be an important storage depot for drug residues in eggs laid days to weeks after drug withdrawal; and 2) the prediction model based on the pattern of drug incorporation in developing yolks is predictive of the pattern of residues contained in the sequence of eggs laid during and after drug withdrawal. To test these possibilities, 24 hens were dosed for either 1, 2, or 3 d with ampicillin, and the content and pattern of residues in laid eggs were evaluated during and after dosing. Hens were bled 24 h after the final dosing, and plasma ampicillin concentrations were determined. Ampicillin was used in this study because it has an extremely short plasma halflife in laying hens that limits additional drug transfer after drug withdrawal. Ampicillin concentrations were not detectable in plasma from hens injected with ampicillin for either 1, 2 or 3 d (assay sensitivity of 0.6 ng/ml or 0.6 ppb). Hens from all three injection groups produced eggs containing detectable ampicillin residues for 6 d after the last injection. These data demonstrate that drug residues are contained in eggs laid a number of days after drug withdrawal. Because plasma ampicillin was not detectable even 24 h after final dosing, the majority, if not all, of the incurred ampicillin residues contained in eggs laid after drug withdrawal were due to incorporation and storage of drug in preovulatory yolks during the dosing period. Additionally, accounting for ampicillin's stability, our model is predictive of the pattern of residues contained in eggs. These data emphasize the importance of transfer and storage of drugs in preovulatory yolks as a significant contributing mechanism for the production of incurred drug residues in eggs.
Reporting Errors in Time-to-Pregnancy Data Collected with a Short Questionnaire Impact on Power and Estimation of Fecundability Ratios

Few tools exist in reproductive epidemiology for studying the adverse effects on fertility. Data on time to pregnancy (number of menstrual cycles required to conceive) can be used to estimate fecundability ratios a sensitive endpoint for identifying factors associated with reduced fertility. Time-to-pregnancy data can be collected in detailed interviews. The accuracy of data collected on brief self-administered questionnaires is not known. In a study of occupational exposures to dental assistants conducted during 1987-88 523 women provided time-to-pregnancy data both on a short mailed questionnaire and in a detailed telephone interview. The correlation between the 2 measures was 0.82. Assuming that the detailed data were accurate reporting errors in data from the short form were distributed nondifferentially with respect to most covariates of interest in fecundability analyses. Simulation studies were conducted to estimate bias and loss of power from the misclassification. Bias was toward the null. Substantial power was lost in detecting weak exposures. However exposures that reduce fecundability by 50% (equivalent to adding about 3 cycles to the median time to pregnancy) could still be detected with 80% power in samples of about 100 women (1/2 of them exposed to a possible toxin). The authors conclude that time-to-pregnancy data collected with a few self-administered questions can be useful in a variety of epidemiologic studies including occupational and environmental surveillance programs. (authors)
Frank Parsons' Contribution to Career Counseling

It was Frank Parsons, then, in the time span of approximately two years, who founded the movement for organized vocational guidance. In his historical analysis of vocational guidance, Brewer (1942) concluded that Parsons,
Altered bioreactivity and limited osteoconductivity of calcium sulfate–based bone cements in the osteoporotic rat spine

Abstract Background context Previous studies documenting the osteoconductive nature of calcium sulfate (CaSO 4 )–based biomaterials have been largely limited to animal models exhibiting nonosteoporotic bone biology. In addition to diminished bone mineral density (BMD) and altered bone microarchitecture, the osteoporosis phenotype is associated with a proinflammatory and pro-osteolytic state. Thus, osteoporosis may elicit an amplified bioreactivity to common orthopedic biomaterials, potentially limiting their full osteoconductive capabilities in vivo. Purpose The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that CaSO 4 -based bone cements exhibit altered bioreactivity and limited osteoconductivity in response to osteoporotic conditions. Study design 1) Microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) radiomorphometry study and 2) histological analysis. Methods Our laboratory has previously established a preclinical model of osteoporosis using the rodent osteoporotic spine (OS). Caudal vertebral defects were filled with either CaSO 4 or CaSO 4 /CaPO 4 (Hybrid) cement for each group (n=4). Over 8 weeks, cement resorption profiles, BMD, average cortical thickness, average trabecular thickness, average trabecular spacing, and diaphyseal bone volume fraction were assessed via micro-CT radiomorphometry. Histological analysis was performed on vertebrae obtained postsurgery and at Week 8. Results Both materials displayed an accelerated cement resorption profile after implantation into the OS vertebrae. Hybrid cement exhibited slower resorption compared with that of CaSO 4 under both normal female rats (NL) and OS conditions. The cement-mediated bone augmentation observed in the NL spine was altered under OS conditions. Conclusions This study suggests that cement bioreactivity is heightened and osteoconductivity may be limited in a preclinical model of the OS. The disparity between the two resorption profiles suggests that this accelerated cement resorption is a material-dependent phenomenon. The proinflammatory and pro-osteolytic bone environment associated with the osteoporosis disease state may contribute to the accelerated resorption and altered osteoconductivity exhibited by both materials. Future study of potential biomaterials intended for use within the OS may necessitate further exploration of the relationship between biomaterial performance and osteoporosis bone biology.
Testing of a low inductance stacked mosfet switch for Pulsed Ring Down Sources

An inexpensive and mobile array of Pulsed Ring Down Sources (PRDS) were required to verify previous simulation results. Initial attempts to use a stacked MosFET circuit as a closing switch were unsuccessful due to the additional series inductance of the MosFET stack lowering the frequency of the oscillation on the coaxial radiator. Experimental results showed that by reducing the parasitic inductance due to the geometry of the MosFET stack, the frequency of the oscillation could be increased. Increased series resistance due to the stacked MosFETs was also a concern. In order to minimize the parasitic inductance of the stack and allow for multiple stacks to be connected in parallel, a printed circuit board was designed. Results from testing of the original switch stacks and board assembly are presented and compared with PSPICE simulations. Using the simulation results, the reduction in parasitic inductance can be estimated.
A simple polarimetric calibration method which utilizes a reference target

A polarimetric measurement radar can be calibrated with a simple, single calibration target method rather than the more complex multiple calibration target method if the transmit matrix and receive matrix are symmetric and identical. Because of the presence of nonreciprocal devices such as switches and circulators in the RF network, the matrices are usually different and nonsymmetric. However, the symmetry can be restored and the effective transmit and receive matrices can be made identical through the use of a reference target. In addition, this method has no phase ambiguity associated with the cross-polarized terms as with other single target methods. When the test object measurement matrix elements are defined by target/reference ratios, the effective antenna matrix can be obtained, inverted, and applied on both sides of the measurement matrix to provide calibrated polarimetric data. Application of the method to the measurement of a 12" sphere is shown. >
Acute renal failure: diagnosis.

Introduction Although acute renal failure (ARF) is relatively uncommon, its mortality rate is potentially so high that it is important to recognize this condition in children. Rapid deterioration of renal function is caused by numerous insults and results in typical findings, including extracellular volume expansion, hyperkalemia, hypertension, metabolic acidosis, and azotemia. It usually is reversible, with the majority of patients recovering completely. However, ARF can lead to residual impairment of renal function and progress to end-stage renal disease and death. Conservative medical treatment often is life-saving. Definition ARF represents the rapidly progressive (within several hours or days) cessation of renal function, which results in the inability of the kidney to control body homeostasis, manifesting in retention of nitrogenous waste products (azotemia) and fluid and electrolyte imbalance. On the basis of pathophysiologic process, ARF has been divided broadly into three diagnostic categories: prerenal, intrarenal (organic-intrinsic), and postrenal failure (Table 1). Prerenal and early postrenal failures are renal functional disorders and responses of a structurally intact kidney to extrarenal processes. These forms of renal dysfunction recover rapidly as soon as the cause is reversed. However, if these two disorders are not recognized in time, persist too long, or are treated inadequately, they can result in intrinsic renal failure.
Does Feature Reduction Help Improve the Classification Accuracy Rates? A Credit Scoring Case Using a German Data Set

The paper broadly discusses the data reduction and data transformation issues which are important tasks in the knowledge discovery process and data mining. In general, these activities improve the performance of predictive models. In particular, the paper investigates the effect of feature reduction on classification accuracy rates. A preliminary computer simulation performed on a German data set drawn from the credit scoring context shows mixed results. The six models built on the data set with four independent features perform generally worse than the models created on the same data set with all 20 input features.
Envisioning power system data: vulnerability and severity representations for static security assessment

This paper deals with graphical representations for power system static security assessment. Previous work has developed a graphical representation for a single power system state. This work develops graphical representations for a global display of power system security, using basic visualization principles previously established, that efficiently and effectively communicates the influence of the contingency set on the power system. Such representations are increasingly necessary because of the growing speed with which hardware can generate data. The problem is no longer computing the answers, the problem now is understanding them. Graphical visualization is a key part of the solution. In this paper, visualizations for security assessment are developed based on standard performance indices. These convey the following information: (1) how the loss of one element affects the rest of the system, i.e. the severity of the loss of each element, and (2) how each element of the power system is affected by the contingency set, i.e. the vulnerability of that element. These two different aspects of security require two different representations, and some simple user interactions to move between them. A key benefit of visualization is the display of severity or vulnerability results from the entire contingency set on one page in a geographic context. >
The effects of anxiety and attentional focus on sexual responding—I: Physiological patterns in erectile dysfunction

Abstract The present investigation explored the interactive effects of an anxiety-producing demand for performance and two forms of attentional focus on men with secondary erectile dysfunction. Penile tumescence and subjective arousal were monitored continuously. The results indicate that threat of electrical shock significantly diminished tumescence for sexually functional S s, relative to no threat under these instructional sets. Dysfunctional S s showed a trend towards elevated responding during shock threat under spectator focus instructions, but no other significant effects were observed. Correlations between tumescence values and ratings of subjective arousal indicated a trend towards lower concordance during shock threat under spectator focus instructions. The results are discussed in the context of previous research and clinical formulations concerning maintaining factors in erectile dysfunction.
Prevalence of Sleep Disturbances in Children With Neurofibromatosis Type 1

Children with neurodevelopmental disorders are at increased risk for sleep issues, which affect quality of life, cognitive function, and behavior. To determine the prevalence of sleep problems in children with the common neurodevelopmental disorder neurofibromatosis type 1, a cross-sectional study was performed on 129 affected subjects and 89 unaffected siblings, age 2 to 17 years, using the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children questionnaire. Children with neurofibromatosis type 1 were significantly more likely to have disturbances in initiating and maintaining sleep, arousal, sleep-wake transition, and hyperhidrosis, but not problems with abnormal sleep breathing, or excessive somnolence. Although the overall sleep scores were higher in children with neurofibromatosis type 1, this was not related to a coexisting attention deficit disorder, cognitive impairment, or stimulant medication use. Collectively, these results demonstrate that children with neurofibromatosis type 1 are more likely to have sleep disturbances, and support the use of appropriate interventions for this at-risk population.
Induction of metal binding compounds and antioxidative defence in callus cultures of two black poplar (P. nigra) clones with different tolerance to cadmium

Callus cultures of two parental clones of Populus nigra L., Poli and 58-861, originating from contrasting environments, were exposed to different cadmium concentrations (0, 150 and 250 μM CdSO4). Clones showed different growth responses to cadmium, evaluated by the tolerance index (Ti), with Poli being more tolerant to the metal at both concentrations. The cadmium concentration at the end of the treatment was very similar between clones at 150 μM CdSO4, while a higher value in 58-861 compared to Poli was detected at 250 μM CdSO4. The bioconcentration factor evidenced the lowest value in Poli at 250 μM CdSO4. Unlike 58-861, cadmium provoked a strong induction of thiols and phytochelatins in clone Poli. In both clones, organic acid concentration differed notably in untreated calli and cadmium treatment induced a general lowering of these compounds. A notably higher antioxidant enzyme activity (ascorbate peroxidase, APX; catalase, CAT; guaiacol peroxidase, GPX) was measured in control calli of clone Poli compared to 58-861. Cadmium induced a remarkable enhancement of APX and CAT, but not GPX, activity at 150 μM CdSO4 in Poli. Conversely, in 58-861 at 150 μM CdSO4, and in both clones at 250 μM CdSO4, a decrease in the antioxidant activity occurred. This investigation provided evidence that these two contrasting genotypes of P. nigra are characterised by a different response to cadmium in callus cultures. In particular, in Poli, the higher tolerance to cadmium is associated with a higher activity of antioxidative enzymes and the ability to strongly increase thiol and PC concentration in response to metal exposure.
Using Expertise for Crowd-Sourcing

In this paper, we examine whether the use of expertise ratings can help crowd-sourcing systems. We show, using simulations, that a crowd-sourcing system based in social navigation works better when users’ expertise levels are taken into account.
What Money Can't Buy: Getting the Implementation Right for MDG3 in South Asia

This chapter argues that inordinate focus on financing as a panacea for gender equality can detract from urgent institutional and policy reform issues. While financing is important, institutional and implementation-related impediments constitute the real constraints to achieving MDG3 in South Asia and perhaps other low-income countries as well. Often, institutional change does not require large amounts of funding, but rather, strong commitment to implementation and monitoring based on political will. This chapter documents the fact that financing can have some rather unexpected correlates and impacts. In particular, the chapter has three main points:- Funds allocated toward achieving MDG3 frequently remain unspent because of low capacity of implementation agencies and poor attention to bottlenecks.- There are serious inefficiencies in expenditures and allocations related to mis-targeting, corruption, and lack of monitoring, among other factors.- Outcomes can vary considerably, and good outcomes do not necessarily result in countries with a high level of financing and vice versa. There are cases, as in Nepal most recently, where health and education outcomes have improved despite low and unchanged expenditures.
I-Flows: A Novel Approach to Computational Intelligence for Analog Circuit Design Automation Through Symbolic Data Mining and Knowledge-Intensive Reasoning

This chapter presents an overview of the authors’ ongoing work toward devising a new approach to analog circuit synthesis. The approach computationally implements some of the facets of knowledge-intensive reasoning that humans perform when tackling new design problems. This is achieved through a synthesis flow that mimics reasoning using a domain-specific knowledge structure with two components: an associative part and a causal reasoning part. The associative part groups known circuit schematics into abstractions based on the similarities and differences of their structural features. The causal reasoning component includes the starting ideas as well as the design sequences that create the existing circuits.
Optimizing the Forces and Propulsive Efficiency in Bird-Scale Flapping Flight

This paper presents first-principle and numerical studies of flapping flight with the objective of optimizing the force production and propulsive effciency. Strouhal number is identified as a critical parameter affecting all of these variables, and the optimum ranges of Strouhal number are calculated. The results of the calculations, in particular, explain why a value in the range of 0.2-0.4 is usually preferred by nature's flyers. Next, an attempt is made to quantify the effects of wing flexibility on force generation and propulsive efficiency, and it is shown that there exists a critical value of wing elasticity at which propulsive efficiency is maximized, and moreover, this value is driven primarily by the dynamics of the bending motion of the wing rather than twisting.
Some Unapplauded Consequences of Social Mobility in a Mass Society

HE process of getting to be better-off than one used to be does not ordinarily make one sit and reflectively balance what he may have lost against the advantages gained. For, if being reasonably well-off is a novel experience-as is implied when we talk of mobility it may take a long time for the novelty to wear off. One begins to spend time and energy in cultivating the new habits of consumption and the new modes of living appropriate to his new position. And, perhaps one's most ardent wish is that no one should rock the boat, or raise questions about other dimensions of life on which this experience of mobility may be having an impact. But this is what I propose to do here, briefly, and, in large part, impressionistically, since while much attention has been given to measuring mobility and to comparing the mobility rates of various groups in various societies,' relatively little attention has been paid to the range of consequences generated.
Electrostatically Embedded Molecular Tailoring Approach and Validation for Peptides.

We add higher-order electronic polarization effects to the molecular tailoring approach (MTA) by embedding each fragment in background charges as in combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods; the resulting method considered here is called electrostatically embedded MTA (EE-MTA). We compare EE-MTA to MTA for a test peptide, Ace-(Ala)20-NMe, and we find that including background charges (embedding charges) greatly improves the performance. The fragmentation is performed on the basis of amino acids as monomers, and several sizes of fragment are tested. The fragments are capped with either hydrogen cap atoms or tuned fluorine cap atoms. The effective core potential of the tuned fluorine cap atom is optimized so as to reproduce the proton affinity for seven types of tetrapeptide, and the proton affinity calculated with the tuned cap atom shows a lower mean unsigned error than that obtained by using a hydrogen cap atom. In the application to the test peptide, these generically tuned c...
Political Cultural Variations in State Economic Development Policy

The impact ofpolitical culture on state politics has been investigated widely, but little is known about the relationship between political culture and economic development policy, even though such policies play aprominent role in contemporary state politics. Drawing on DanielJ. Elazar's analysis ofAmerican political subcultures, I suggest that moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic values imply quite different strategies for promoting economic growth. Empirical evidence shows that moralistic states pursue strategies that emphasize solidarity, while individualistic states employ policies that confer particularistic benefits on investors. For their part, policymakers in traditionalistic states prefer exclusionary incentives that tend to reinforce existing patterns of domination. Whether any of these strategies succeed in realizing their cultural objectives remains to be seen; however, actions that positively affect economic performance may lead to the erosion of cultural values by triggering migrations that bring new values into play.
Mandibular deficiency syndrome. I. Clinical delineation and therapeutic significance.

Abstract Persons with Class II malocclusion have extremely variable esthetic, skeletal, neuromuscular, occlusal, and growth characteristics. In order to achieve optimum esthetic and functional treatment results, with good stability, this variability must be appreciated. In this article the variability of these traits is outlined and discussed with regard to their clinical significance.
Personalizing fluoropyrimidine administration in colorectal cancer patients

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Fluoropyrimidines have been a critical component to chemotherapy regimens to treat locally advanced and metastatic colorectal cancer since the 1950s. Clinicians should be aware of the methods that exist to personalize fluoropyrimidine administration to increase efficacy and reduce toxicity.Areas covered: The development of different administration methods (e.g. bolus versus continuous infusion, oral formulations) have advanced the clinical utility of fluoropyrimidines to treat colorectal cancer. Given the high inter-patient variation in fluoropyrimidine drug exposure and susceptibility to pharmacogenetic variation, pharmacokinetic- and pharmacogenetic-guided dosing may also prove fruitful in the quest to normalize drug exposure, reduce toxicity and enhance clinical efficacy. PubMed was used to search for relevant articles relating to 5-fluorouracil administration, fluoropyrimidines (S-1, tegafur, capecitabine, TAS-102), 5-fluorouracil pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics, and person...
On Vertical Integration into R&D

Using a general probability distribution of innovation, this article analyzes a firm's incentives to integrate vertically into research. We find that, with one-shot innovation, investment in R&D increases with rewards from innovation and decreases with competition. However, under certain conditions these plausible results are reversed. Specifically, if innovation is sufficiently delayed, higher innovation profits might even lead to lower R&D investment. Also, if the firm has a sufficiently large initial R&D investment, it might increase its R&D investment in the face of greater rival R&D.
The cardiac surgery without aortic cross-clamping in protection of myocardium with ventricular fibrillation

Objective To investigate the myocardial injury in patients with long time ventricular fibrillation during cardiac surgery without aortic crossclamping under extracorporeal circulation with mild hypothermia. Methods A comparison of the CK, CK-MB and CTnl levels in coronary venous sinus blood and postoperative venous blood in cardiac surgery with beating heart without aortic cross-clamping between group A (n=20, with ventricular fibrillation) and group B (n=40, with normal beating heart) has been performed. Results At each corresponding time point, the levels of CK, CK-MB and CTnl in these two groups were almost the same, there were no statistically significant differences in comparison of these two groups (P0.05). No deaths in these two groups. The postoperative respirator-assisted time and the dosage of vasoactive drugs were almost the same in these two groups, and no serious complication. Conclusion The cardiac surgery without aortic clamping, even if there occurred long-time ventricular fibrillation, can protect myocardium.
Experiences with Urinary Undiversion in Children with Neurogenic Bladder

AbstractSix children have undergone reconstruction of the urinary tract 14 months to 14 years after supravesical diversion for neurogenic bladder dysfunction. Five are continent: 4 by intermittent catheterization and 1 by voiding to completion. One child is just beyond infancy and wets but is not yet on a systematic program. One boy was considered a technical failure despite incontinence because of progressive hydronephrosis from a non-compliant bladder but he subsequently had an augmentation cystoplasty.Urinary undiversion into a neurogenic bladder is an acceptable option as an alternative to ileal conduit revision or for reasons of patient preference, provided bladder storage capacity is adequate at acceptably low resting pressures, without incontinence.
SU-F-J-60: Impact of DIR Method On Treatment Dose Wrapping

Purpose: To investigate clinical relevant discrepancy between doses wrapped by pure image and biomechanical model based deformable registration (DIR). Methods: 12 patients, each with a CT pair, were included (5 H&N, 5 Prostate and 2 Lung). A research DIR tool (ADMRIE) was utilized for image based DIR (IMG-DIR). To assure organ matching, contour constrain was applied for prostate patients. Tetrahedron meshes were generated for organs (parotid, bladder, rectum and lung). Deformable vector fields (DVF) from IMG-DIR were interpolated to the surface node of meshes as boundary condition. Biomechanical models using finite element modeling (FEM) were generated by assigning organ specific material properties. The models were then input into a FEM tool (ABAQUS) to calculate internal deformation (FEM-DIR). The output volume node displacements were then interpolated to image grids to get refined DVF. The IMRT treatment doses were wrapped by both DVFs to pre-treatment CTs. DVF vector distance (DVF-VD) was calculated on each organ. Dose parameters were calculated for wrapped doses and normalized to pretreatment plan. Gamma passing rate (GPR) was calculated with IMG-DIR dose as reference. Correlation was evaluated between parotid shrinkage and DVF-VD /dose-discrepancy. Results: H&N:parotid volume with DVF-VD (>1.5mm) was 6.5±4.7%. The normalized mean dose difference (NMDD) of IMG-DIR and FEM-DIR was −0.8±1.5%, with range (−4.7% to 1.5%). 2mm/2% GPR was 99.0±1.4%. Moderate correlation was found between parotid shrinkage and DVF-VD (R=0.61)/NMDD (R=0.68). Prostate:bladder had a NMDD of −9.9±9.7%, with FEM-DIR wrapped dose systematically higher. Only minor deviation was observed for rectum NMDD (0.5±1.1%). 3mm/3% GPR of bladder and rectum were 81.9±12.0% and 93.1±4.3%, respectively. One of lung patients had 3.9%NMDD and 3mm/3%GPR of 95.2% inside lung. Conclusion: Impact of DIR methods on treatment dose wrapping is patient and organ specific. Generally, bigger organ with larger volume variation leads to greater dose wrapping uncertainty.Acknowledgement:Elekta research grant support. This work was supported by research funding from Elekta
Intrathoracic extensive-stage small cell lung cancer: assessment of the benefit of thoracic and brain radiotherapy using the SEER database.

Extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ESCLC) includes metastatic disease and locally advanced disease confined to the thorax that cannot be encompassed in a typical radiation portal. We assessed and then compared the benefits of thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) and/or brain radiotherapy (BRT) on overall survival (OS) between the intrathoracic (T-ESCLC) and metastatic (M-ESCLC) groups using the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database. TRT and BRT data were available for 10150 patients treated from 1988−1997. The T-ESCLC group included 1774 patients. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to estimate OS and the proportional hazards model was used to estimate OS hazard ratios for prognostic factors including age, gender, race, tumor size, T/N stage, TRT, and BRT. The 2-year OS for T-ESCLC was 7.8 % compared to 3 % in the M-ESCLC group (p < 0.001). In the T-ESCLC group, TRT and BRT were delivered to 750 and 102 patients, respectively. The 2-year OS was 13 % in the TRT group compared to 4.1 % in the no-TRT group (p ≤ 0.001) and 22.5 % in the BRT group compared to 7 % in the no-BRT group (p < 0.001). In the M-ESCLC group, TRT and BRT were delivered to 3093 and 1887 patients, respectively. The 2-year OS was 4.4 % in the TRT group compared to 2.8 % in the no-TRT group (p < 0.001) and 4.3 % in the BRT compared to 2.6 % in the no-BRT group (p < 0.001). Age, gender, TRT and BRT were significant OS prognostic factors in both groups. Our study suggests that T-ESCLC is a disease entity distinct from M-ESCLC. Prospective studies to determine whether TRT should be recommended for the thoracic-only subgroup are warranted.
Intrinsic Robustness of the Price of Anarchy: Abstract of the Kalai Prize Talk

The price of anarchy is a measure of the inefficiency of selfish behavior that has been successfully analyzed in many applications, including network routing, resource allocation, auctions, and even models of basketball. It is defined as the worst-case ratio between the welfare of a Nash equilibrium and that of an optimal (first-best) solution. Seemingly, a bound on the price of anarchy is meaningful only if players successfully reach some Nash equilibrium. The main result of this paper is that for many of the classes of games in which the price of anarchy has been studied, results are "intrinsically robust": a bound on the worst-case price of anarchy for pure Nash equilibria *necessarily* implies the exact same worst-case bound for much larger sets of outcomes, including mixed Nash equilibria, correlated equilibria, and sequences of outcomes generated by natural experimentation strategies (such as successive best responses or simultaneous regret-minimization). We also discuss subsequent developments, such as generalizations to incomplete-information games with applications to mechanism design.
Nash equilibrium and the price of anarchy in priority based network routing

We consider distributed network routing for networks that support differentiated services, where services are prioritized by a proportional weighting system. We use the classical Generalized Processor Sharing (GPS) scheme for scheduling traffic on network links. In such a scheme, each type of traffic is guaranteed a minimum capacity rate based on its priority. To model the performance of this scheme and to account for autonomous routing we consider scheduling games on networks. We consider both networks with a set of parallel links (which also applies to processor scheduling) and more general scenarios where the network is a multi-graph. In each of these settings we consider two different routing schemes: Atomic and Non-Atomic. Atomic routing requires all traffic of one type to follow a single path. Non-Atomic routing splits traffic into a flow over multiple paths. For each type of game, we prove either the existence of Nash Equilibrium or give a counterexample. We consider the inefficiency of equilibrium (termed as the price of anarchy) and provide price of anarchy upper bounds under reasonable assumptions. In general, this inefficiency in queuing systems is unbounded. We also provide complexity results on computing optimal solutions and the existence of equilibrium in these games.
Plastic Deformation of Nanomaterials

This chapter discusses the much more complex mechanical behaviors associated with inelastic deformations. Although the grain size, volume fraction and composite approaches discussed in the last chapter are still relevant, the interactions between the size scales and the deformation mechanisms involved in plasticity do not always allow the simple use of continuum approximations to predict the overall behavior. The chapter will first use a materials approach to discuss mechanisms, and then attempt to link the mechanics to these mechanisms and thus define the associated size scales.