cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Geotechnical and Chemical Property Relationships for Wilkinson Basin, Gulf of Maine, Sediments

ABSTRACT Nine 1.5 m sediment cores from the Wilkinson Basin Geotechnical Test Area were used in an investigation of the interrelationships among geotechnical properties and major ion concentrations in the pore water. The ionic composition of the pore water in the upper 10 cm does not differ significantly from the overlying sea water. Sodium, potassium and chloride ion concentrations do not change significantly with depth in the sediment. Anaerobic oxidation of organic matter is indicated by the decrease in pore water sulfate ion concentration with increasing depth. Pore water concentrations of magnesium and calcium also decrease with depth while the carbonate mineral fraction of the sediment increases, suggesting carbonate precipitation in consequence of oxidation. Simple quantitative relation hips among the measured chemical and geotechnical properties are not apparent. The normalized shear strength, n/z, decreases with decreasing sulfate ion concentration, indicating possible strengthening by labile organic matter.
Analysis of Frequency Locking in Optically Driven MEMS Resonators

Thin, planar, radio frequency microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonators have been shown to self-oscillate in the absence of external forcing when illuminated by a direct current (dc) laser of sufficient amplitude. In the presence of external forcing of sufficient strength and close enough in frequency to that of the unforced oscillation, the device will become frequency locked, or entrained, by the forcing. In other words, it will vibrate at the frequency of the external forcing. Experimental results demonstrating entrainment for a disk-shaped oscillator under optical and mechanical excitation are reviewed. A thermomechanical model of the system is developed and its predictions explored to explain and predict the entrainment phenomenon. The validity of the model is demonstrated by the good agreement between the predicted and experimental results. The model equations could also be used to analyze MEMS limit-cycle oscillators designed to achieve specific performance objectives
Lack of transforming growth factor-β signaling promotes collective cancer cell invasion through tumor-stromal crosstalk.

Introduction Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) has a dual role during tumor progression, initially as a suppressor and then as a promoter. Epithelial TGF-β signaling regulates fibroblast recruitment and activation. Concurrently, TGF-β signaling in stromal fibroblasts suppresses tumorigenesis in adjacent epithelia, while its ablation potentiates tumor formation. Much is known about the contribution of TGF-β signaling to tumorigenesis, yet the role of TGF-β in epithelial-stromal migration during tumor progression is poorly understood. We hypothesize that TGF-β is a critical regulator of tumor-stromal interactions that promote mammary tumor cell migration and invasion.
Steps to Minimize Ischemic Colitis Following Abdominal Aortic Surgery

The development of ischemic colitis following abdominal aortic surgery is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Attention to preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative aspects can reduce the incidence and severity of ischemic colitis and significantly reduce morbidity and mortality.
Changing patterns of asthma hospitalization among children: 1979 to 1987.

The National Hospital Discharge Survey was used to evaluate the trends in asthma hospitalizations among children under International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) : 1979 to 1987. During this period, asthma hospitalizations among children aged 0 to 17 years increased 4.5% per annum (95% confidence interval [CI], 2% to 7.1%). The increase was largest among 0 to 4 year olds, 5.0% per annum (95% CI, 3.4% to 6.7%), vs 2.9% per annum (95% CI, -0.3% to 6.2%) observed among 5 to 17 year olds. Among children aged 0 to 4 years, blacks had approximately 1.8 times the increase of whites. During this time, total hospitalizations decreased - 4.6% (95% CI, - 6.6% to - 2.5%), while admissions for lower respiratory tract disease had a statistically insignificant decrease: -1.3%. Acute and chronic/unspecified bronchitis hospitalizations decreased -6.1% (95% CI, -9.4% to -2.7%), but this decrease did not begin until 1983. Thus, a shift in coding from bronchitis to asthma does not seem to fully explain the increase. ( JAMA . 1990;264:1688-1692)
Stability of time-delay singularly perturbed systems

The stability of a linear time-invariant singularly perturbed system with time delay in slow states is discussed. A delay-independent sufficient condition for the stability bound epsilon * is given, such that the stability of the full-order model can be inferred from the analysis of the corresponding reduced-order model in separate time scales. The perturbation on time delay is also considered. The significance of the results obtained is illustrated by several examples.
IMPACT OF A DETRITAL SUBSIDY ON TROPHIC CASCADES IN A TERRESTRIAL GRAZING FOOD WEB

Theory predicts that allochthonous energy subsidies can modify the strength of trophic cascades in food webs. We tested the hypothesis that a detrital subsidy would enhance trophic cascades in the grazing food web of an agroecosystem in which generalist predators, wolf spiders and carabid beetles, feed both on detritivores and herbivores. We crossed detritus-addition with predator-removal treatments in replicated 8 × 8 m open and fenced plots of cucumbers and squash. Collembola, a major detritivore, became 2–4 times more abundant in detritus-addition than control plots; densities of other detritivores also increased. Although the detrital subsidy initially increased ground beetle numbers and produced a 2–3-fold increase in wolf spider densities, we found no consistent evidence of strong trophic cascades measured as changes in fruit yield in either detritus-addition or predator-removal treatments. This result contrasts with predator-removal experiments in previous years in the same study area, which revealed strong cascades affecting cucumber yield. We hypothesize that (1) competition between cucurbits and fungi for nitrogen in the detritus-addition plots, (2) unusually high herbivore densities in the spring cucumber crop, and low densities on the summer squash crop, (3) changes in patterns of intraguild predation in the detritus-addition plots, and (4) perhaps a switch by generalist predators to prey of the detrital food web all may have contributed to preventing the detrital subsidy from benefiting primary producers via an enhanced trophic cascade.
Preschool Television Viewing and Adolescent Test Scores: Historical Evidence from the Coleman Study

We use heterogeneity in the timing of television’s introduction to different local markets to identify the effect of preschool television exposure on standardized test scores during adolescence. Our preferred point estimate indicates that an additional year of preschool television exposure raises average adolescent test scores by about 0.02 standard deviations. We are able to reject negative effects larger than about 0.03 standard deviations per year of television exposure. For reading and general knowledge scores, the positive effects we find are marginally statistically significant, and these effects are largest for children from households where English is not the primary language, for children whose mothers have less than a high school education, and for nonwhite children.
Headache and Transient Ischemic Attacks

Headache occurring in association with episodes of transient cerebral ischemia has not been emphasized as part of the symptom complex. In an effort to ascertain the frequency and characteristics of these headaches and to determine whether there is any localizing, diagnostic, or prognostic significance to them, the records of 240 TIA patients were reviewed. We concluded that headache is a prominent symptom in 25% of patients with TIA and that there were no distinguishing population characteristics, arteriographical findings or prognostic features among patients whose TIAs were accompanied by headache. The locations and temporal relationships of headache occurring in cases of carotid and vertebrobasilar TIA also were compared.
Second Language Acquisition: Possible Insights from Studies on How Birds Acquire Song.

Research into general linguistic and cognitive processes in humans has been aided by studies of analogous processes in animals. Studies on how birds develop their species-specific song have been of particular interest to researchers seeking to identify critical variables and universels in first language acquisition in humans. Because of recent studies on exceptional song acquisition, that is, time-independent. learning of second dialects or song by birds generally thought to acquire a single song during a limited sensitive period, we suggest that there also exist significant parallels between human second language acquisition and avian bilingualism. The purpose of this paper is to highlight these parallels and to demonstrate that such interspecies comparisons may provide new insights into the processes of second language acquisition.
SINGULARITY FORMATION IN THIN JETS WITH SURFACE TENSION

We derive and study asymptotic models for the dynamics of a thin jet of fluid that is separated from an outer immiscible fluid by fluid interfaces with surface tension. Both fluids are assumed to be in- compressible, inviscid, irrotational, and density matched. One such thin jet model is a coupled system of PDEs with nonlocal terms { Hilbert transforms { that result from expansion of a Biot-Savart integral. In order to make the asymptotic model well-posed, the Hilbert transforms act upon time derivatives of the jet thickness, making the system implicit. Within this thin jet model, we demonstrate numerically the formation of nite-time pinching singularities, where the width of the jet collapses to zero at a point. These singularities are driven by the surface tension, and are very similar to those observed previously by Hou, Lowengrub, and Shelley in large-scale simulations of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability with surface tension, and in other related studies. Dropping the nonlocal terms of the model, we also study a much simpler local model. For this local model we can preclude analytically the formation of certain types of singularities, though not those of pinching type. Surprisingly, we nd that this local model forms pinching singularities of a very similar type to those of the nonlocal thin jet model.
Monotonic counters: a new mechanism for thread synchronization

Only a handful of fundamental mechanisms for synchronizing the access of concurrent threads to shared memory are widely implemented and used. These include locks, condition variables, semaphores, barriers, and monitors. In this paper, we introduce a new synchronization mechanism-monotonic counters-and make a case for its addition to this group. Unlike most other synchronization mechanisms, monotonic counters were designed primarily for multiprocessing, rather than for systems programming. Counters have a very simple definition: a counter object has a nonnegative value, an Increment operation, and a Check operation. Increment atomically increases the counter, and Check suspends until the counter reaches a specified level. We demonstrate that many practical thread synchronization patterns can be expressed more elegantly using counters than with other synchronization mechanisms. Of particular importance, the monotonicity of counters can be used to guarantee deterministic synchronization and the equivalence of multithreaded and sequential execution. In terms of implementation, counters are distinguished from traditional synchronization mechanisms, in that they have a dynamically varying number of thread suspension queues. We give several examples of multithreaded programs that use counter synchronization, and give an implementation of counters on top of locks and condition variables.
Low-temperature cascade arc torch treatments for enhanced adhesion of primer to thermoplastic olefins

Improvement of primer adhesion to thermoplastic olefins (TPOs) by a low-temperature cascade arc torch treatment was investigated. A cascade arc was created with argon, and a treatment gas (air or methane) was added in the reaction chamber. It was found that the argon torch as well as the air/argon torch and the methane/argon torch can improve the primer adhesion to TPOs. Tape adhesion tests (ASTM method 3359-92a) demonstrated this improvement; a rating of “0” for untreated TPOs and “5” for air, methane, and argon torch-treated TPOs under certain operating conditions. Wettability of primer and of deionized water to TPOs were evaluated by contact angle measurements. TPO surface morphology was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The surface composition was characterized by using electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). The mechanism of improvement of primer adhesion to TPOs is discussed in this article. Primer adhesion was easily enhanced by the treatments for the soft and flexible TPOs (ETA-3041c and ETA-3101). Primer adhesion to hard and brittle TPOs (ETA-3183) was more difficult. Adhesion performance of primer to air, methane, and argon torch-treated TPOs was shown to have different mechanisms. For air plasma-treated surfaces, polar oxygen and nitrogen-containing groups were produced in the nonpolar surface layers, forming chemical bonds to TPOs; and plasma-etched pits spread all over the surface of TPOs into which the primer penetrated to form a mechanical interlock between TPOs and primer. For argon plasma-treated surfaces, the weak boundary layers (WBLs) of TPO surfaces were converted to a stronger layer by argon plasma, which resulted in enhancing primer adhesion to the surfaces of TPOs. The methane/argon torch allowed the deposition of a plasma polymer layer which replaces the weak boundary layer on untreated TPOs with a tightly crosslinked plasma polymer layer, and provides polar groups on the surface (by postplasma reaction of the residual free radicals with air). © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 67:855–863, 1998
The Relationship between Auditor Characteristics and the Nature of Review Notes for Analytical Procedure Working Papers

This study investigates the auditor characteristics that are related to generation of evidence and documentation review notes by reviewers of audit working papers. To address this question, an analysis was conducted on the contents of review notes prepared in a laboratory experiment. The working papers contained no documentation deficiencies but contained insufficient evidence. As part of an effective review process, the auditor should generate review notes that call for additional evidence gathering. Generating documentation‐oriented review notes created inefficiencies for carrying out the review process and corresponding audit task. Stepwise multiple regression analyses identified reviewer characteristics that were significantly associated with each type of review note. These results provide insights into the reviewer characteristics associated with focusing attention on one review‐note classification instead of the other. This finding suggests opportunities for future research that more thoroughly expl...
Gender Differences in the Treatment for Acute Myocardial Infarction Bias or Biology

Accumulating evidence over the last several decades regarding the treatment and outcomes for coronary artery disease reveals disparities that have a clear relationship to gender. It had previously been thought that these differences were related to gender bias in physicians’ approach to treatment; thus, the term Yentl syndrome was coined in 1991.1 As the volume of literature expanded and clinical studies included more women, it became clear that outcomes after treatment for coronary artery disease, particularly acute myocardial infarction, were different for women compared with men. Women have a well-documented higher mortality after acute myocardial infarction.2 Much of this disparity has been attributed to differences in age and attendant comorbidities. Female patients with coronary artery disease typically are older, have a higher prevalence of risk factors, and have a lower functional status than their male counterparts.3,4 Additionally, women appear to be at higher risk than men when diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, and metabolic syndrome are present. The underuse of revascularization procedures in women has been suggested as an explanation, but it has not been uniformly demonstrated to explain increases in mortality. Some studies have suggested a link to less aggressive hospital care of female patients, including the underuse of revascularization, as an explanation for their increased mortality.5 Other studies have indicated age and comorbidity as the primary factors leading to mortality differences.6 Still other studies suggest no evidence of undertreatment.7,8 Article p 833 Gender differences in the clinical outcome of patients with acute myocardial infarction may be explained in part by the female status. Several conditions found only in women hint at differences in the pathophysiology of ischemic vascular disease between the sexes. Such female-specific conditions include early menopause, gestational diabetes, peripartum vascular dissection, preeclampsia and eclampsia, polycystic ovarian syndrome, low-birth-weight children, and hypothalamic hypoestrogenemia. Several …
Vibrations of cantilevered skewed plates with corner stress singularities

In conjunction with classical thin plate theory, the Ritz trial space of assumed transverse displacement functions consists of algebraic polynomials, which are mathematically complete, and corner functions, which account for the singular behaviour of bending stresses at the reentrant corner
Detection of bluetongue virus serotype 17 in Culicoides variipennis by nucleic acid blot and sandwich hybridization techniques.

Molecular hybridization techniques were developed for the detection and surveillance of bluetongue virus (BTV) serotype 17 in the insect vector Culicoides variipennis, a biting midge. Radiolabeled RNA and cDNA probes were generated from sequences of the L3 segment of BTV serotype 17. These probes were used to detect BTV RNA in pools of infected C. variipennis by hybridizing the probes directly to analyte immobilized on nylon membranes or by using a nucleic acid sandwich hybridization test. Hybridization procedures were able to detect 1 infected C. variipennis in a pool of 50 and as little as 3.55 log10 50% tissue culture infective doses per ml of virus. These hybridization techniques provide an alternative to virus isolation for the surveillance of BTV in vector populations. Images
Impact of a Pharmaceutical Care Intervention on Blood Pressure Control in a Chain Pharmacy Practice

BACKGROUNDHypertension affects over 50 million Americans, with only 50% of patients being adequately controlled. Several pharmacist counseling and pharmacist-physician comanagement studies have documented that community pharmacist interventions improve blood pressure (BP) management.OBJECTIVETo determine whether community pharmacists can improve clinical endpoints including hypertension control, drug therapy dosing, adherence to prescribed regimens, adverse drug reaction incidence, patient understanding, response to therapy, and quality-of-life.METHODSThe program included the education and training of a group of 18 chain community pharmacists in hypertension therapies, monitoring, and management. Protocols and documentation tools were based on nationally accepted clinical practice guidelines for hypertension in place at the time of the study. Pharmaceutical care (PC) was then compared with usual care (UC) over a 12-month period.RESULTSThe study initially enrolled 180 PC and 196 UC patients, with 44% (PC) ...
Invasive bladder cancer: Genomic insights and therapeutic promise

Invasive bladder cancer, for which there have been few therapeutic advances in the past 20 years, is a significant medical problem associated with metastatic disease and frequent mortality. Although previous studies had identified many genetic alterations in invasive bladder cancer, recent genome-wide studies have provided a more comprehensive view. Here, we review those recent findings and suggest therapeutic strategies. Bladder cancer has a high mutation rate, exceeded only by lung cancer and melanoma. About 65% of all mutations are due to APOBEC-mediated mutagenesis. There is a high frequency of mutations and/or genomic amplification or deletion events that affect many of the canonical signaling pathways involved in cancer development: cell cycle, receptor tyrosine kinase, RAS, and PI-3-kinase/mTOR. In addition, mutations in chromatin-modifying genes are unusually frequent in comparison with other cancers, and mutation or amplification of transcription factors is also common. Expression clustering analyses organize bladder cancers into four principal groups, which can be characterized as luminal, immune undifferentiated, luminal immune, and basal. The four groups show markedly different expression patterns for urothelial differentiation (keratins and uroplakins) and immunity genes (CD274 and CTLA4), among others. These observations suggest numerous therapeutic opportunities, including kinase inhibitors and antibody therapies for genes in the canonical signaling pathways, histone deacetylase inhibitors and novel molecules for chromatin gene mutations, and immune therapies, which should be targeted to specific patients based on genomic profiling of their cancers.
Recovery Function and Clinical Symptomatology in Acute Alcoholization and Withdrawal

Withdrawal has often been considered a phenomenon which occurs only after the cessation of long-term alcohol intake. The occurrence of withdrawal signs and symptoms upon cessation of alcohol ingestion is evidence of physiological dependence. It has also been postulated by Seevers and Deneau (1964) that physical dependence is characterized by hyperexcitability of the central nervous system. Consequently, we recently undertook to study changes in brain excitability of alcoholics, during alcoholization and withdrawal. We used the recovery function of somatosensory evoked potentials to assess changes in CNS excitability. Our findings (Begleiter, Porjesz and Yerre, in press) demonstrated that an increase of central nervous system excitability results from the cessation of alcohol intake, even after short periods of drinking. The state of hyperexcitability increases as drinking progresses and appears to reach a peak approximately 34 hours subsequent to withdrawal from prolonged alcohol ingestion. Three days after cessation of alcohol intake, our recovery function values return to normal. Our data support the hypothesis that partial withdrawal is manifested by a latent rebound hyperexcitability which occurs subsequent to depression of the central nervous system by alcohol.
Application of Modern E-Learning Techniques in the Vocational Training in Automation and Robotics

Economical changes in Europe, as well as increasing global competition are the reasons for continuously growing interest in automation and robotics. It causes significant extensions of the needs and offers in vocational training area, while development of ICT techniques enables the introduction of new teaching methods. One of them is e-learning – distance learning supported with electronic presentation and communication media. E-learning can be applied both in a school-based teaching and in a vocational training for adults, and its advantages are particularly significant in technical professions. This paper presents the application of e-learning in the area of automation and robotics.
Abuse during pregnancy and Stress because of abuse during pregnancy and birthweight

OBJECTIVE: to determine whether there is an independent association between physical abuse during pregnancy or stress because of emotional, sexual, or physical abuse during pregnancy and birthweight after adjusting for behavioral, psychosocial, demographic, and medical variables. METHODS: We conducted a cross sectional study of 808 low-income women, age 18 years or older, who delivered single infants from pregnancies of 20 weeks or longer. Abuse during the current pregnancy was measured as reported events of physical abuse and stress because of emotional, sexual, or physical abuse. Multiple regression models were developed to estimate the association of low birthweight (LBW) and mean birthweight with abuse during pregnancy, adjusting for behavioral, psychosocial, demographic, and medical variables. RESULTS: Physical abuse during pregnancy was not associated with LBW or with mean birthweight. Women who reported stress because of abuse had 2.1 times higher odds of LBW (95% CI 1.2, 3.6) than those who did not, and the mean birthweight of their infants was 236 g lower (95% CI -371, -102) than those of women who reported no stress because of abuse in the adjusted regression models. Furthermore, the adjusted mean birthweight for LBW infants of women reporting stress because of abuse was significantly lower (-372, 95% CI 595, -149) than for LBW infants of women reporting no stress. CONCLUSIONS: Stress because of abuse during pregnancy was associated with both LBW and lower mean birthweight after adjusting for behavioral, psychosocial, demographic, and medical variables. Language: en
A Correct Analysis of the Tax Treatment of Contingent Attorney's Fee Arrangements: Enough with the Fruits and the Trees

The tax treatment of contingent attorney's fee arrangements has been the subject of much recent debate and litigation. Some courts and commentators conclude that a plaintiff must include the entire settlement amount, including attorney's fees, in her gross income, while other courts and commentators conclude that a plaintiff must include only her recovery net of attorney's fees. Because of the alternative minimum tax, the resolution of this issue may have a significant effect on the plaintiff's tax liability. In analyzing the issue, courts and commentators have focused on the assignment of income doctrine by inquiring whether, upon execution of a contingent fee agreement, the plaintiff should be treated as transferring merely the income from the attorney fee portion of the claim (the fruit) or the attorney fee portion of the claim itself (the tree). This Article explains that this focus on the assignment of income doctrine is misplaced because that doctrine does not apply to commercial arm's length transactions, such as contingent fee arrangements. Because courts and commentators have begun their analysis by focusing on the wrong issue (i.e., the assignment of income doctrine), no one has set forth a correct analysis of this controversial issue. This Article attempts to provide such an analysis.
Patient experiences during awake mechanical ventilation

Background : Sedation practices in an ICU have shifted significantly in the past 20 years toward the use of minimizing sedation in mechanically ventilated patients. While minimizing sedation is clearly in the best interest of patients, data are lacking about how this approach affects patients’ experiences. Methods : We interviewed mechanically ventilated patients receiving minimal sedation, over a 6-month period in an ICU, in order to explore their emotional, comfort, and communication experiences. Their responses were compared with the responses of their available family members regarding their attitudes and perceptions of the patients’ experiences. Results : Seventy-five percent of the patients agreed or strongly agreed that they experienced pain, and 50% agreed or strongly agreed that they were comfortable. Half of the patients agreed or strongly agreed that they preferred to be kept awake. Five patients (31%) indicated that they were frustrated while 17 relatives (89%) agreed or strongly agreed that the patients were frustrated. When controlling for age and gender of respondents, family members perceived higher levels of patient pain (least square [LS] mean [95% CI]: 4.2 [3.7, 4.7] vs. 3.1 [2.5, 3.8]; p =0.022), frustration (LS mean [95% CI]: 4.2 [3.7, 4.6] vs. 3.2 [2.6, 3.9]; p =0.031), and adequate communication with nurses and doctors (LS mean [95% CI]: 3.9 [3.5, 4.4] vs. 3.1 [2.4, 3.7]; p =0.046) than the patients themselves. Conclusion : Patients tolerated minimal sedation without significant frustration while mechanically ventilated despite experiencing discomfort. Patient and family member perceptions of the patient experience may differ, especially in regards to pain and frustration. The use of a communication tool can facilitate understanding of patient experiences and preferences. Keywords: patient experience; family perceptions; minimal sedation; patient comfort; communication experiences (Published: 17 February 2016) Citation: Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives 2016, 6 : 30426 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/jchimp.v6.30426
The Determination of Estrogen and Progesterone Metabolites in Urine in Pregnancy by Gas Chromatography

The correlation between urinary excretion of estrogens and the viability of a pregnancy apparently was first described by Spielman and his associates in 1933. Presumably owing to the difficulty of urinary estrogen analysis, this work was ignored for the most part until 1957. Since that time several articles have appeared' ' which have confinned this relation and have shown its clinical usefulness. The determination of low levels of estrogens and metabolites of progesterone and clear separations of the individual compounds can be achieved by the use of gas chromatography.'' These results are presented, in part, as an encouragement to others who are reluctant to transfer the use of gas chromatography from the realm of research to the clinical laboratory. Some preliminary work in our laboratory indicates that in certain instances the determination of pregnanolone, in addition to the determination of estriol, is necessary for complete evaluation of placental function and fetal status after 20 weeks of gestation. The purpose of this article is to report a clinically useful gas chromatographic method for the combined determination of estrogen and progesterone metabolites and the results of 50 consecutive cases.
The Clinical Evaluation of Kidney Disease in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract Kidney injury is common in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), most often due to immune complexes that accumulate in glomeruli, resulting in lupus nephritis. Glomerular immune complexes provoke an inflammatory response that damages the renal parenchyma. Lupus nephritis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in SLE, suggesting that patients with lupus nephritis have a more severe form of systemic lupus. Lupus nephritis often responds to treatment. The best outcomes occur when nephritis is diagnosed and treated early. This chapter discusses the evaluation of SLE patients for lupus nephritis.
Free flaps in young and old patients.

Free flaps are not common at the extremes of age because vessels are small in children and are afflicted with degenerative changes in the elderly. The authors of this article performed an iliac osteocutaneous free flap transfer in a 9-year-old girl with hemifacial microsomia and a radial artery free flap in a 91-year-old man with a skull defect from malignant histiocytoma.
Polypoid Dysplasia in Barrett's Esophagus: Diagnosis, Management, and Very Different Outcomes in Two Consecutive Cases.

Background. Barrett's esophagus is associated with an increased risk of adenocarcinoma. Dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus is a precursor to adenocarcinoma. Rarely, dysplastic polypoid lesions are superimposed on Barrett's esophagus. Most reported cases of polypoid dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus have been advanced on presentation and treated with esophagectomy. We describe two cases of polypoid changes in Barrett's esophagus and treatment with polypectomy followed by radiofrequency ablation. Cases. A 75 yo male presented with esophageal polyps, which on biopsy showed gastric cardia/foveolar mucosa with focal intestinal metaplasia without dysplasia. Biopsy of intervening flat mucosa was consistent with nondysplastic Barrett's esophagus. Extensive hot snare polypectomies were performed followed by RFA. One year later, repeat EGD revealed no evidence of Barrett's esophagus. A 61 yo male presented with esophageal polyps, which on biopsy showed gastric cardia/foveolar mucosa with intestinal metaplasia and foci of low-grade dysplasia. Extensive hot snare polypectomies were performed followed by RFA. At repeat EGD, four months later, an esophageal mass was found. Biopsy of the mass showed invasive adenocarcinoma. The patient was referred for esophagectomy. Conclusion. This case series shows two outcomes, one with successful eradication of dysplasia and the other with disease progression to invasive adenocarcinoma requiring esophagectomy.
Predictably harsh environment is associated with reduced cognitive flexibility in wild food-caching mountain chickadees

Cognition is one of the mechanisms underlying behavioural flexibility, but flexibility of cognition itself may vary as a result of trade-offs between the ability to learn new information and the ability to retain old memories. How and when cognitive flexibility is constrained by this trade-off remains poorly understood. We investigated cognitive flexibility in wild food-caching mountain chickadees, Poecile gambeli, at different elevations experiencing different levels of environmental harshness during the nonbreeding season, using a spatial learning and memory reversal paradigm. There were no significant differences in sampling strategies between elevations, but high-elevation chickadees performed worse than low-elevation chickadees on the reversal task, indicating lower cognitive flexibility. Compared to the initial learning task, low-elevation chickadees improved their performance during the reversal task, while high-elevation chickadees performed worse. High-elevation birds inspected previously rewarding locations more frequently than other locations, suggesting that reduced cognitive flexibility is associated with proactive interference. Considering that high-elevation chickadees cache more food and are likely more dependent on these caches than their conspecifics from low elevation, and that chickadees from both elevations use similar sampling strategies, our findings suggest that stronger memories of more caches might interfere with acquisition and retention of new memories. Overall, our results suggest that predictably harsh environments might favour stronger memories at the expense of decreased cognitive flexibility, which is likely driven by increased proactive interference.
Complexity of Products of Tungsten Corrosion: Comparison of the 3D Pourbaix Diagrams with the Experimental Data

Tungsten is one of the most attractive metals in applications where materials are subject to high temperature and strong fields. However, in harsh aqueous environment, tungsten is prone to corrosion. Control of tungsten corrosion in aqueous solutions is a challenging task: as a transition metal, tungsten is able to produce a vast variety of oxides and hydrates. To reveal the thermodynamic pathway of corrosion at different conditions, the 3D Pourbaix diagrams relating the reduction potential, pH, and concentration of different tungsten-based compounds were constructed. These diagrams allow one to identify the most thermodynamically stable tungsten-based compounds. The 3D Pourbaix diagrams were used to explain different regimes of anodic dissolution of tungsten in aqueous solutions of potassium hydroxide.
Minireview: direct catalytic conversion of sour natural gas (CH4 + H2S + CO2) components to high value chemicals and fuels

The abundance of natural gas reserves can facilitate the transition from fossil derived to fully renewable chemical and fuel generation. Natural gas, however, can contain more than 10% sour gas molecules (chiefly CO2 and H2S), especially in the Middle East and Russia. Currently, the most common sour natural gas separation technologies rely on the use of various amine-based absorption–desorption cycles in absorption towers, membrane separation and cryogenic processes. However, these processes are quite expensive and, unfortunately, result in the necessity for further processing of the sour gas stream. We feel that the implementation of catalytic activation of the sour gas stream, so as to form useful products, has been underexplored and thus has yet to be fully developed. In this paper, we present a series of catalytic reactions for the sour gas components so as to obtain useful chemicals or fuels, such as carbon disulfide (CS2), hydrogen (H2), ethylene (C2H4), ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) and ammonium thiosulfate ((NH4)2S2O3). Particular catalytic reactions which can form those products are (a) CH4 reforming with H2S on supported metal oxide catalysts, (b) CO2 + H2S + H2 catalytic reaction on K2O/WO3/Al2O3 to yield a CH3SH intermediate, (c) olefin production via CH3SH coupling on zeolites and supported metal oxides and (d) H2S + NH3 catalytic reaction to yield ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) and ammonium thiosulfate ((NH4)2S2O3) on partial oxidation catalysts. Thermodynamic considerations, together with catalyst design techniques, are discussed for each reaction.
Book review of Revolution in Higher Education

In Revolution in Higher Education , Georgia Tech Professor Richard DeMillo contrasts the rapid innovations made in online learning by a small band of interested, outside-of-academia adventurers with the slow progress made within the ivory tower. DeMillo follows innovators with now-familiar names and projects like Coursera and Udacity through their startup phases, describing motives and methods, with an insider's view at their effects on college learning. Then, after a thorough lesson in the history of the academy, DeMillo argues that adherence to academic tradition will not save higher education. In fact, he says, only flexibility and speed can help colleges and universities meet the challenges of today and the inevitable disintegration of higher education as we know it of tomorrow.
Mutations as Predictive Biomarkers for Adenocarcinoma

The diagnosis and treatment of lung adenocarcinoma has been revolutionized by the discovery of oncogenic driver alterations and the parallel development and testing of genetically targeted agents, leading to the era of “precision medicine” in solid tumor oncology. Understanding and interpreting the molecular pathology of lung adenocarcinoma is now key in the stratification of patients for appropriate initial targeted therapy and downstream resistance profiling. Multiple complementary methods to assess the molecular phenotype of lung adenocarcinoma exist, including gene sequencing, FISH, and immunohistochemistry. Next-generation sequencing now allows for quantitative multiparametric genetic profiling (single nucleotide, copy number, and structural variants) of lung adenocarcinoma at diagnosis and during tumor evolution and will likely become the molecular assay of choice for less biased profiling of lung adenocarcinoma. Resulting molecular pathology data must be carefully integrated into the plan of care by a multidisciplinary team comprised of surgeons, oncologists, and pathologists, to ensure accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment of lung adenocarcinoma.
Myo-Myo: Yes, papa. Eating sugar? No, papa!

Each year 295,000 hospital cardiac arrests occur in theUSA [1], with a median survival rate of 7.9%. Only 33% ofthese cardiac arrest patients have symptoms earlier than 1 hbefore death. These sobering statistics emphasize the urgentneed to develop a reliable method to identify patients athigh risk for a fatal cardiac event. Although primaryprevention is a successful strategy in a population, fatefulevents continue to occur [2] in a sizable proportion ofsubjects treated with the best of medical regimens. To offerthe most effective care may require identification andpossibly local treatment of high-risk coronary lesions ineach patient.High-risk plaque includes a voluminous necrotic core,containing lipids, oxidized lipids, numerous dead cells, andactivated macrophages [3, 4]. The necrotic core is coveredby an attenuated and an inflamed fibrous cap. Identifyingthe thin cap is only possible by invasive intravascularimaging. The necrotic core, however, can be assessed bycomputed tomography angiography [5, 6]. The necroticcore appears as a low-attenuation or low-density area onCT and often induces expansive (or outward) remodeling ofthe affected vascular segment. On the other hand,inflammation may be amenable to molecular imagingstrategies [7, 8]. Since the intense metabolic demand ofthe lesional macrophages is met by exogenous glucosediffusing into the lesion from the blood, it has beenproposed that positron-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)should concentrate at the site of inflammation, allowingvisualization on positron emission tomography (PET)images [9].FDG PET/CT images in cancer patients often showmultiple focal sites of uptake in the aorta [10]. In patientsundergoing carotid endarterectomy, FDG PET scans con-firmed that focal tracer uptake in the carotid arteries ofhumans is due to localization in macrophages [11]. Inprospective investigations, FDG uptake occurred selectivelyin symptomatic carotid vascular disease [12] and wassignificantly reduced in response to statin treatment [13].On the other hand, FDG uptake is seldom seen in thecoronary vasculature [10, 14]. There are several factorslimiting visualization of lesions in the coronary arteriesincluding: physiologic FDG uptake in the myocardium,limiting the contrast in the lesion due to high background;small size of coronary lesions (often less than 2 mm
Assessing the overhead of authentication during SDN-enabled restoration of smart grid inter-substation communications

Since real-time and resilient recovery of link failures is crucial for power grid infrastructure to continue its services, emerging technologies such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) has started to be employed for such purposes. SDN switches can be remotely controlled to change their configurations by exploiting the wireless communication options. However, when wireless is to be used in Smart Grid communications, security and reliability become important issues due to the specific characteristics of wireless communications. This paper investigates the overhead of providing such services on wireless links when SDN is utilized. Specifically, we consider the establishment of authentication services when wireless back-up links (i.e., WiFi or LTE) are employed as a result of a reactive link failure detection mechanism. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to consider authentication of such an SDN-enabled Smart Grid inter-substation communication with WiFi and LTE. To be able to effectively evaluate the performance of this proposed SDN-enabled framework, we developed it in Mininet emulator. Since Mininet does not support the authentication services for WiFi or LTE, we proposed several novel extensions to Mininet by integrating it with ns-3 simulator that supports the LTE/WiFi protocol stacks. We conducted extensive experiments by considering a general application using Smart Grid Manufacturing Message Specification (MMS) standard to assess the recovery performance of the proposed secure SDN-enabled recovery system. The results show that when authentication and reliable protocols such as TCP are to be employed, the proposed framework can still meet the deadlines of 100 ms with WiFi while LTE misses only a few packets.
Housing Finance: Mexico

Housing finance in Mexico has a turbulent history. From the 1960s through the 1980s, banks subject to quotas and requirements to lend at capped fixed nominal interest rates provided it. High inflation and large portfolio losses led to a nationalisation of the banks in 1981. Exuberant lending following bank privatisation in the early 1990s led to a second collapse of the system after the ‘tequila shock’ of 1994 with the banks exiting the market for a decade. Government lending programmes took up the slack with the expansion of housing pension funds and the creation of the Sofoles – nonbank lenders funded by a central bank trust fund (FOVI) and the World Bank. In the early 2000s, the government embarked on an ambitious reform programme aimed at expanding the private sector role in housing finance. The creation of a housing development bank (SHF) as a provider of liquidity, mortgage insurance, and guarantees funded an expanded role of the Sofoles led to the creation of a mortgage-backed securities market and facilitated the reentry of the private banks. The system came under stress again in the 2008–10 time period with the failure of several large Sofoles and the shut down of the MBS market. As a result, government lending programmes now provide nearly 70% of the housing finance. The government is looking at ways to restructure its role and facilitate greater private sector provision of housing finance.
Transmission-Line Analysis

Transmission lines are used to transfer electrical signals (information) or electrical power from one point to another in an electrical system. Transmission lines take a wide variety of forms, from simple wire pairs and cables to more complicated integrated structures for high-frequency applications. Several common transmission lines are shown in Figure 7.1.
Spreading of Crude Petroleum In Brash Ice; Effects of Oil's Physical Properties And Water Current

Experiments were conducted in a refrigerated, circulating current flume to examine crude oil spreading in brash ice. Amauligak, Hibernia and Norman Wells crudes were tested. Measurements of the physical properties of the oils were also conducted, including: surface and interfacial tensions as well as viscosities. Spreading coefficients were calculated from measured surface and interfacial tensions. Results were obtained for original and weathered oils. For the spreading tests, spill volumes up to 3 litres and water currents up to 0.55 m/s were used. Tests were done using both freshwater ice and saline ice. Slick dimensions were measured, and modes of oil spreading were observed. Slick dimensions depended on oil type, but were not influenced by water current. Oils of high spreading coefficient and low viscosity spread over larger areas than those with low spreading coefficient and high viscosity.
Automatic Discovery of Semantic Relations using MindNet

Information extraction deals with extracting entities (such as people, organizations or locations) and named relations between entities (such as ""People born-in Country"") from text documents. An important challenge in information extraction is the labeling of training data which is usually done manually and is therefore very laborious and in certain cases impractical. This paper introduces a new model to extract semantic relations fully automatically from text using the Encarta encyclopedia and lexical-semantic relations discovered by MindNet. MindNet is a lexical knowledge base that can be constructed fully automatically from a given text corpus without any human intervention. Encarta articles are categorized and linked to related articles by experts. We demonstrate how the structured data available in Encarta and the lexical semantic relations between words in MindNet can be used to enrich MindNet with semantic relations between entities. With a slight trade off of accuracy a semantically enriched MindNet can be used to extract relations from a text corpus without any human intervention.