cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Oblate deformed shapes of hot rotating nuclei deduced from giant-dipole-resonance decay studies.

The spectrum shape and the angular distribution of \ensuremath{\gamma} rays from highly excited and rotating $^{90}\mathrm{Zr}$ and $^{92}\mathrm{Mo}$ compound nuclei were measured and analyzed. The results are in good agreement with theory including both intrinsic-shape fluctuations and shape-orientation fluctuations about an equilibrium shape which changes from spherical to oblate deformed with increasing spin.
Textural Mesoporosity and the Catalytic Activity of Mesoporous Molecular Sieves with Wormhole Framework Structures

Three different water-alcohol cosolvent systems were used to assemble mesoporous molecular sieve silicas with wormhole framework structures (previously denoted HMS silicas) from an electrically neutral amine surfactant (S{degree}) and a silicon alkoxide precursor (I{degree}). The fundamental particle size and associated textural (interparticle) porosity of the disordered structures were correlated with the solubility of the surfactant in the water-alcohol cosolvents used for the S{degree}I{degree} assembly process. Polar cosolvents containing relatively low volume fractions of C{sub n}H{sub 2n+1}OH alcohols (n = 1--3) gave heterogeneous surfactant emulsions that assembled intergrown aggregates of small primary particles with high textural pore volumes (designated HMS-HTx). Conversely, three-dimensional, monolithic particles with little or no textural porosity (designated HMS-LTx) were formed from homogeneous surfactant solutions in lower polarity cosolvents. Aluminum substituted AL-HMS-HTx analogues with high textural porosity and improved framework accessibility also were shown to be much more efficient catalysts than AL-HMS-LTx or monolithic forms of hexagonal AL-MCM-41 for the sterically demanding condensed phase alkylation of 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol with cinnamyl alcohol. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies verified the textural differences between wormhole HMS and electrostatically assembled hexagonal MCM-41 and SBA-3 molecular sieves. Power law fits to the scattering data indicated a surface fractal (D{submore » s} = 2.76) for HMS-HTx, consistent with rough surfaces. A second power law at lower-q indicated the formation of a mass fractal (D{sub m} = 1.83) consistent with branching of small fundamental particles. Hexagonal MCM-41 and SBA-3 silicas, on the other hand, exhibited scattering properties consistent with moderately rough surfaces (D{sub s} = 2.35 and 2.22, respectively) and large particle diameters ({much{underscore}gt}1 {micro} m). HMS-LTx silicas showed little or no mass fractal character (D{sub m} = 2.87), and no surface fractal scattering.« less
Rip-Off transfers: Source of social progress

Francis W. Wolek This artielo advoeat~ tah'ng from tho woak ~nd giving to tho strong. The title is meant to emphasize three points 1) not all transfers are alike, 2) not all are advantageous to all concerned, and 3) sometimes progress comes from unusual sourcea I also stand by what the title implie~ public policy should encourage those who have the strength to innovate. Professionals in technology transfer some- times get idealistic. We sometimes imply that transfer is a purposeful process that will help all share the benefits of innovations I, for one, much prefer advocating a process of taking from the weak and giving to the strong. Life has its way of hitting us between the eyes at times, and I'm not the only one who has learned the hard way that I only had myself to blame when I lost an innovation because I was too weak to defend it. Readers of this journal understand that 9 purposeful transfers (for example, those of the Department of Energy) (1) are important, but they do not encompass all of technology transfer. We all know about and even encourage those occasions when people accidentally encounter others without prior knowledge that a transfer is possible.(2) This article is about a third type of transfer that some would rather not happen. Sometimes these involve illegal movements of technology (3) and sometimes they occur because there is nothing we can do to stop them. My purpose in this article is to help managers anticipate situations where others will be too weak to defend promising technologies and thus to encourage them to put innovations into hands that have the will and strength to pursue them. If I also succeed in alerting some that they are in danger of losing their capacity for self-defense and should reform their errant
Pathologic changes in normal human thyroid tissue following large doses of I-131.

Abstract 1.1. The early histologic changes which occur in normal thyroid tissue after relatively large doses of I-131 are described on the basis of information obtained from ten patients. 2.2. Because of variations in size of the gland and differences in concentration and retention of the isotope, the radiation dose to the thyroid tissue is not closely correlated with the total dose administered. 3.3. Even when all of the factors known to influence tissue radiation dosage are considered, it is not possible to predict the biologic response on the basis of dosage. 4.4. The accomplishment of complete destruction of the thyroid by means of a single, safe dose of radioiodine is a rather uncertain procedure. In some cases large total doses have failed to cause complete necrosis of the gland.
GLI1 upregulates C-JUN through a specific 130-kDa isoform

The Hedgehog pathway is molecularly linked to increased resistance to cisplatin and increased repair of platinum-DNA damage, through C-JUN. GLI1, which has five known isoforms, is a positive transcriptional regulator in Hedgehog. Southwestern blot assay, EMSA and ChIP assays indicate that only one of five isoforms of GLI1 may be responsible for the Hedgehog link with C-JUN and thus, increased platinum-DNA adduct repair. Cancer tissues express this 130-kDa isoform at levels 6-fold higher than non-malignant tissues; and this isoform exists in abundance in six of seven ovarian cancer cell lines examined.
A QTL on chromosome 5BL in wheat enhances leaf rust resistance of Lr46

Combinations of effective leaf rust resistance genes that condition resistance to many leaf rust races are key to the development of wheat cultivars with long-lasting resistance to leaf rust caused by Puccinia triticina. A population of F6 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the cross ‘Thatcher*3/Americano 25e’ was evaluated for segregation of adult plant leaf rust resistance in three field plot tests and in a greenhouse test. A genetic map was constructed with 243 diversity array technology markers. Significant effects for reduction in leaf rust severity were found on chromosomes 1BL and 5BL. The sequence-tagged site marker csLV46, closely linked to Lr46, mapped to the logarithm of odds peak on chromosome 1BL, indicating that the RILs were likely segregating for this adult plant resistance gene. Lines with csLV46 had an average leaf rust severity of 35 % in the four tests. RILs with the resistance on chromosome 5BL designated as QLr.cdl-5BL had an average leaf rust severity of 47 %. RILs with both csLV46 and QLr.cdl-5BL had an average leaf rust severity of 22 %, close to the Thatcher*2/Americano 25e parental line. Lines that lacked both csLV46 and QLr-5BL had an average severity of 56 %. The QLr.cdl-5BL region enhanced the leaf resistance conditioned by Lr46 in an additive manner.
Lower GABAA receptor binding in the amygdala and hypothalamus of spontaneously hypertensive rats

The central GABAergic system is associated with normal blood pressure regulation, but the role of GABA receptors in genetic hypertension remains unclear. This study was conducted to investigate GABAA receptor binding in several brain regions of spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats during development of hypertension. GABAA receptor binding was labeled with [35S]TBPS and was assessed by quantitative autoradiography with the aid of a computer-assisted image analysis system. Densities of GABAA receptor binding sites were significantly lower in all hypothalamic and amygdaloid nuclei evaluated in 4-week-old SHR rats, when compared with their age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats. At 12 weeks of age, GABAA receptor binding remained significantly lower in the central amygdaloid nucleus and paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus of SHR rats. Collectively, the results suggest that GABAA receptors in these nuclei are likely to be involved in the initiation and maintenance of hypertension. In conclusion, this study supports a notion that downregulation of GABAA receptor binding occurs in the hypothalamus and amygdala of SHR rats and may play a role in genetic hypertension.
Preventing Uninvited Visitors to Radiology: Bedbugs

Abstract Radiology nurses provide patient care in many different settings. It is becoming much more common for patients to bring bedbugs with them into a health care facility. Because radiology nurses see such a high number of patients every day, it is important to understand how to handle bedbug issues when they arise. Through education, nurses can make sure that bedbugs do not take over a health care facility and cause undue stress for patients or nurses.
Determining if a noise corrupted matrix is singular

The problem of determining if a square matrix is singular by examining the matrix corrupted by additive noise with known statistics is addressed. This problem occurs in numerous identification algorithms. The concept of Normed Sense Singularity is introduced to solve this problem. A threshold test is developed which statistically determines Normed Sense Singularity by examining the matrix properties of the singular values and the spectral norm.
Experiments in lossless and virtually lossless image compression algorithms

The CB9 lossless image compression algorithm is context-based, and codes prediction errors with an adaptive arithmetic code. It has been developed within an algorithm class that includes (in the order of their development) Sunset, JPEG lossless, sub8xb, and now CaTH (Centering and Tail Handling). Lossless compression algorithms using prediction errors are easily modified to introduce a small loss through quantization so that the absolute error for any pixel location does not exceed prescribed value N. In this case, N varies from 1 to 7; the values for which the JPEG group issued a call for contributions. This work describes CB9 and the experiments with near-lossless compression using the JPEG test images. Included are experiments with some image processing operations such as edge-enhancement with the purpose of studying the loss in fidelity from successively performing decompression, followed by an image processing operation, followed by recompression of the new result.
Foam-like materials produced from abundant natural resources

Low density polymer/clay aerogel composites were prepared using casein and sodium montmorillonite clay (Na+-MMT). The use of naturally occurring polymers allows for the creation of environmentally friendly/benign materials. Using a freeze drying process, composites were made that have densities in the range of 0.08–0.15 g cm−3 and exhibit properties similar to typical foamed polymers such as expanded polystyrene and rigid polyurethane foams. It was found that a minimum of at least 5wt% casein is required in the initial aqueous mixture in order to create a viable structure. The casein-containing materials created using this freeze drying process are similar to those previously produced with synthetic water soluble polymers such as poly(vinyl alcohol) but exhibit superior mechanical properties when compared to any synthetic polymer/clay aerogel composite tested to date.
Model-Checker-Based Testing of LTL Specifications

Formal verification techniques for software typically start with formal specifications of software behavior. Several automated tools use linear temporal logic (LTL) to specify behavioral properties of software. A significant hurdle to the use of formal approaches is the development of formal specifications.This paper introduces the property testing tool (Protest), which automatically generates and tests formulas representing software specifications, in particular, specifications based on SPS and composite propositions. Protest takes an execution trace and builds a model of the trace. It then uses the NuSMV model checker to test whether the given formula is satisfied by the model. The output of the model checker is compared to the expected result to determine if the test case passes or fails.
An Enzymatic Method for Glucose Quantitation in Normal Urine

A method to quantitate the glucose concentration in normal urine is described and evaluated. It utilizes the enzymes hexokinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and depends on measuring NADPH2 absorbance at 340 mµ.
A 40-Year-Old Woman With Multiple Lung Nodules

A 40-year-old woman was referred to pulmonary clinic for evaluation of multiple lung nodules on chest imaging. Her past medical history was remarkable for end-stage kidney disease on peritoneal dialysis due to chronic hypertension 5 years ago and large uterine leiomyomata that led to total hysterectomy at age 30 years. Pathology diagnosis was compatible with multiple uterine corpus and cervical leiomyoma with no signifi cant atypia and no necrosis. She is a mother of one healthy child and a lifetime nonsmoker. The patient denied cough, shortness of breath, hemoptysis, recent travel, or any other symptoms. On examination, she appeared comfortable, and the dialysis catheter site was clean. The rest of her physical examination was normal. The patient’s medical history, social history, and review of systems were otherwise unremarkable. Blood work revealed the following values: sodium, 139 mmol/L; potassium, 4.9 mmol/L; bicarbonate, 22 mmol/L; BUN, 50 mg/dL; creatinine, 5.2 mg/dL; calcium, 8.7 mg/dL (8.4-10.4 mg/dL); albumin, 3.9 g/dL; phosphorus, 4.8 mg/dL (2.5-4.9 mg/dL); magnesium, 1.9 mg/dL; and hemoglobin, 11 g/dL (mean corpuscular volume, 95%). The patient’s WBC count, serum bilirubin, and transaminases levels were normal. The patient’s posteroanterior and lateral chest radiographs are shown in Figure 1 . CT image of the chest (axial view) is shown in Figure 2 . Fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT scan showed no hypermetabolic activity. A thoracoscopic lung biopsy of the left lower lobe through video-assisted thoracic surgery was performed. The pleural surface had a nodular protrusion and cut A 40-Year-Old Woman With Multiple Lung Nodules
The political agency of cityscapes: Spatializing governance in Ceausescu's Bucharest

How does spatial organization contribute to the governance of a population? This article explores how the construction of monumental streetscapes turns city spaces into technologies of political control. It is the central claim that monumental spaces are not just static representations of particular ideologies; rather, the production of monumental spaces contributes to the project of autocratic governance. It is an argument rooted in the claim that governance and spatiality exist dialectically, structuring and reinforcing one another. The discussion is centered on the case of Nicolae Ceausescu and his construction of the Victory of Socialism Civic Center over historic Bucharest, Romania. Linking the construction of the Civic Center's space to Ceausescu's practice of governance demonstrates that the organization of space structures bureaucracy, people and thought.
The Use of Reference Priors and Bayes Factors in the Analysis of Clinical Trials

This paper was motivated by foundational issues that underlie the application of Bayesian methods. Advances in numerical methods and computation make applying Bayesian methods relatively easy, so now as a discipline we can step back and contemplate what these new tools will allow us to do with respect to the theoretical foundations of our work, and if desired, adjust our actions accordingly. The foundational issues that this paper will address are the use of reference priors and the use of Bayes factors in the analysis of clinical trials. The question that merges these two foundational issues is “Should data analysis and decision-making be approached as two separate tasks or should there be a seamless integration with each stage of the clinical trial being viewed as a subsequent step in a sequential decision-making problem?”
THE CONSTRUCTION OF MEMORY: THE USE OF CLASSIC PERIOD DIVINATORY TEXTS IN THE LATE POSTCLASSIC MAYA CODICES

Maya codices were important repositories of cultural knowledge and traditions passed down through the centuries. Rather than being focused on human actors, however, the Late Postclassic period Maya screenfolds contain almanacs that predict the movements of celestial bodies during earlier time periods. The purpose of these seemingly “out-of-date” tools was to predict the future based on notions of cyclical time. Recent research suggests that centuries-old astronomical almanacs do more than model the past or formulate rituals. Instead, they are formulated to integrate celestial events with other cycles of time and to contextualize them with events from the mythic past, such as the destruction of a former world by flood. The memory of this calamitous primordial event, framed in terms of astronomical and seasonal cycles, is preserved in pre-Hispanic and historic documents as a means of conveying the ill-fortune associated with like-in-kind events that are certain to repeat, and of scheduling the performance of appropriate ritual actions to mitigate their destructive potential.
Shotguns and SNPs: how fast and cheap sequencing is revolutionizing plant biology

In 1998 Cereon Genomics LLC, a subsidiary of Monsanto Co., performed a shotgun sequencing of the Arabidopsis thaliana Landsberg erecta genome to a depth of twofold coverage using 'classic' Sanger sequencing. This sequence was assembled and aligned to the Columbia ecotype sequence produced by the Arabidopsis Genome Initiative. The analysis provided tens of thousands of high-confidence predictions of polymorphisms between these two varieties of A. thaliana, and the predicted polymorphisms and Landsberg erecta sequence were subsequently made available to the not-for-profit research community by Monsanto. These data have been used for a wide variety of published studies, including map-based gene identification from forward genetic screens, studies of recombination and organelle genetics, and gene expression studies. The combination of resequencing approaches with next-generation sequencing technology has led to an increasing number of similar studies of genome-wide genetic diversity in A. thaliana, including the 1001 genomes project (http://1001genomes.org). Similar approaches are becoming possible in any number of crop species as DNA sequencing costs plummet and throughput rapidly increases, promising to lay the groundwork for revolutionizing our understanding of the relationship between genotype and phenotype in plants.
A Model of Engaged Learning: Frames of Reference and Scholarly Underpinnings.

If the engagement movement is to mature, scholars need to document and share the values, beliefs, and approaches that guide their work. Otherwise, engagement efforts will be buried in unarticulated perspectives and characterized by unexamined practices. The purpose of this article is to make explicit our engagement model. First, we share and discuss what engagement means to us. Then, we share interpretations of the conceptual, philosophical, and normative underpinnings of our work. By sharing our model, we hope to stimulate conversation about the models guiding others’ work. Extended conversation is needed to inform and guide the engagement movement, including the leadership necessary for moving the work forward in institutional settings.
SP-GiST: An Extensible Database Index for Supporting Space Partitioning Trees

Emerging database applications require the use of new indexing structures beyond B-trees and R-trees. Examples are the k-D tree, the trie, the quadtree, and their variants. They are often proposed as supporting structures in data mining, GIS, and CAD/CAM applications. A common feature of all these indexes is that they recursively divide the space into partitions. A new extensible index structure, termed SP-GiST is presented that supports this class of data structures, mainly the class of space partitioning unbalanced trees. Simple method implementations are provided that demonstrate how SP-GiST can behave as a k-D tree, a trie, a quadtree, or any of their variants. Issues related to clustering tree nodes into pages as well as concurrency control for SP-GiST are addressed. A dynamic minimum-height clustering technique is applied to minimize disk accesses and to make using such trees in database systems possible and efficient. A prototype implementation of SP-GiST is presented as well as performance studies of the various SP-GiST's tuning parameters.
Intelligent Resource Management and Dynamic Adaptation in a Distributed Real-time and Embedded Sensor Web System

Sensor webs are often composed of servers connected to distributed real-time embedded (DRE) systems that operate in open environments where operating conditions, workload, resource availability, and connectivity cannot be accurately characterized a priori. The South East Alaska MOnitoring Network for Science, Telecommunications, Education, and Research (SEAMONSTER) project exhibits many common system management and dynamic operation challenges for effective, autonomous system adaptation in a representative sensor web. These challenges cover both field operation ({\em e.g.}, power management through system sleep/wake cycles and reaction to local environmental changes) and server operation ({\em e.g.}, system adaptation for new/modified goals, resource allocation for a changing set of applications, and configuration changes for fluctuating workload). This paper presents the results of integrating and applying quality-of-service (QoS)-enabled component middleware, dynamic resource management, and autonomous agent technologies to address these challenges in SEAMONSTER.
Xen and co.: communication-aware CPU scheduling for consolidated xen-based hosting platforms

Recent advances in software and architectural support for server virtualization have created interest in using this technology in the design of consolidated hosting platforms. Since virtualization enables easier and faster application migration as well as secure co-location of antagonistic applications, higher degrees of server consolidation are likely to result in such virtualization-based hosting platforms (VHPs). We identify a key shortcoming in existing virtual machine monitors (VMMs) that proves to be an obstacle in operating hosting platforms, such as Internet data centers, under conditions of such high consolidation: CPU schedulers that are agnostic to the communication behavior of modern, multi-tier applications. We develop a new communication-aware CPU scheduling algorithm to alleviate this problem. We implement our algorithm in the Xen VMM and build a prototype VHP on a cluster of servers. Our experimental evaluation with realistic Internet server applications and benchmarks demonstrates the performance/cost benefits and the wide applicability of our algorithms. For example, the TPC-W benchmark exhibited improvements in average response times of up to 35% for a variety of consolidation scenarios. A streaming media server hosted on our prototype VHP was able to satisfactorily service up to 3.5 times as many clients as one running on the default Xen.
Face and hand gesture recognition using hybrid classifiers

This paper advances the methodology of hybrid classification architectures for face and hand gesture recognition tasks and shows their feasibility through experimental studies using the FERET data base and gesture images. The hybrid architecture, consisting of an ensemble of connectionist networks-radial basis functions (RBF)-and inductive decision trees (DT), combines the merits of 'holistic' template matching with those of 'abstractive' matching using discrete features and subject to both positive and negative learning. The hybrid architecture, quite general as it applies to both face and hand gesture recognition, derives its robustness from (i) consensus using ensembles of RBF network;, and (ii) flexible matching using categorical classification via decision trees. The experimental results, proving the feasibility of our approach, yield (i) 93% accuracy, using cross validation, for contents-based image retrieval (CBIR) subject to correct ID matching tasks, such as 'find Joe Smith with/without glasses', on a data bate of 200 images, and (ii) 96% accuracy using cross validation, for forensic verification on a data base consisting of 102 images corresponding to 350 subjects (of whom 102 are duplicates). Cross validation results on the hand gesture recognition task yield a false negative rate of 3.6% and a false positive rate of 1.8%, using a data base of 750 images corresponding to 25 hand gestures.
Early Aggressive Parenteral Nutrition Induced High Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) Levels Can Prevent Risk of Retinopathy of Prematurity

Objective: To evaluate early aggressive vs. conservative nutrition and its effect on Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in <32 weeks of gestation neonates. Methods: A prospective, randomized, clinical study was conducted in NICU with a total of 75 preterm infants. In the intervention group, infants received early aggressive nutrition immediately after birth, in the control group infants were started on conventional parenteral nutrition (PN). Blood samples were obtained for Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) levels before commencement of PN on the first postnatal day, and from week 1 to 6 every week. All the infants were examined for ROP. Findings: Infants in the early aggressive group had a reduction in the risk of ROP of 5% (2 from 40); the number of infants needed treatment averaged 3.7 (2.7 to 5.2). A total of 11 neonates in the conventional group were detected having ROP (P<0.05). Overall, IGF-I levels were higher in the aggressive PN (APN) vs the conventional PN (CPN). ROP development was higher in the CPN compared to the APN. IGF-1levels were lower in ROP developers compared with non-ROP in the APN group. There was no difference in IGF-I levels in ROP developers versus non-ROP in the CPN group. IGF-1 levels were lower in the CPN group compared with the APN group in the third week in ROP developers. There was a correlation between ROP and IGF-1 levels. Through ROC analysis, IGF-1 was demonstrated as being a sensitive marker for ROP. Conclusion: IGF-1 levels were higher in the APN group versus the CPN group. This may indicate that IGF-1 levels simply being higher is not enough; rather, that being higher above a cutoff value may prevent ROP.
Handling asymmetry in power heterogeneous ad hoc networks

Traditional MAC and routing protocols, which are primarily designed for homogeneous networks wherein all nodes transmit with the same power, suffer performance degradations when employed in power heterogeneous networks. The observed degradations are due to link asymmetry, which arises as high power nodes that do not sense the transmissions of low power nodes can potentially initiate transmissions that interfere with the low power communications. Link layer asymmetry in power heterogeneous networks not only disrupts the functioning of the routing protocol in use, but also results in unfairness in medium access. In this paper, we develop a cross-layer framework to effectively address the link asymmetry problem at both the MAC and the routing layers. At the MAC layer, the framework intelligently propagates low power control messages to the higher power nodes, so as to preclude them from initiating transmissions while there are low power communications in progress within their sensing range. At the routing layer, the framework facilitates the efficient use of unidirectional links. We perform extensive simulations to study the performance of our proposed framework in various settings, and show that the overall throughput in power heterogeneous networks is enhanced by as much as 25% over traditional layered approaches. In addition, we show that our schemes are also beneficial in power homogeneous settings, as they reduce the extent of false link failures that arise when the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol is used. In summary, our framework offers a simple yet effective and viable approach for medium access control and for supporting routing in power heterogeneous ad hoc networks.
Diagnostic Strategies for Common Medical Problems. Edgar R. Black, Donald R. Bordely, Thomas G. Tape, and Robert J. Panzer, eds. Philadelphia: American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal Medicine, 1999, 674 pp., $45.00, Paperback. ISBN 0-943126-74-6.

This is the second edition of a text that seeks to blend information on the operating characteristics of laboratory (and other) tests with clinical estimates of pretest probability to provide a rational basis for the use of technology in clinical decision making. The first edition, published in 1991, grew out of an article entitled “Selection and Interpretation of Diagnostic Tests and Procedures: Principles and Applications”, published as a supplement to the Annals of Internal Medicine (1981;94:553–600) by members of the General Medicine Unit at the University of Rochester. This followed the publication of Beyond Normality: The Predictive Value and Efficiency of Medical Diagnosis by Galen and Gambino (New York: Wiley, 1975), the monograph largely responsible for introducing the notion of “predictive value” to the laboratory community. …
Inverse Scattering Problems

This chapter contains sections titled: Linear Inverse Problems One-Dimensional Inverse Problems Higher-Dimensional Inverse Problems This chapter contains sections titled: Exercises for Chapter 9 References for Chapter 9 Further Readings for Chapter 9
The response of simple nonlinear systems to a random disturbance of the earthquake type

Stationary properties of the response of simple nonlinear systems to earthquake type (nonstationary) random disturbances are determined. The method used consists in generating member functions of the input processes, integrating the equations of motion using these as inputs to obtain output member functions, and then, from this ensemble of outputs, determining the statistical properties of interest. The method is flexible in that it is easy to apply to simple as well as complex linear and nonlinear systems; it yields a variety of statistical properties of engineering significance; it provides a method for approaching the design of aseismic structures; and more generally, shock resistant structures on a practical basis. In addition to determining and displaying input and corresponding output member functions, we determine individual as well as average velocity spectra, first passage time probabilities, and extreme value distributions of relative displacements. Comments are also offered on the utility of these results in design.
Tympanoplasty: long-term results.

Long-term results after 878 tympanoplasties using five different methods of repair were analyzed. The five groups were as follows: canal skin and fascia, single fascia, double fascia, canal skin, and canal skin and homograft tympanic membrane. Ten percent of the graft failures occurred 18 months or longer after operation. The highest percentage of graft takes (88%) and satisfactory hearing improvement (socially adequate level 87%, air-bone gap closure to within 15 dB 76%) and the lowest incidence of depression in cochlear reserve (0.7%) was in the double fascia group. Overall hearing results achieved in the 878 tympanoplasties were poorer than anticipated. Differences in results in the five groups, although occasionally large, were not statistically significant. Differences in the percentage of successful graft takes in ears that had no active disease as compared with ears that had active disease and in primary operations as compared with revision operations were not statistically significant. Complicatio...
Fenretinide: A Potential Treatment for Endometriosis.

Fenretinide is a synthetic retinoid analogue that promotes apoptosis but has decreased toxicity when compared to other retinoids. We have previously shown that retinoic acid (RA) production in endometriotic tissue is decreased, resulting in reduced estrogen metabolism and apoptotic resistance. We hypothesize fenretinide may induce apoptosis in endometriotic cells and tissues, thereby reducing disease burden. Primary endometriotic stromal cells were collected, isolated, cultured, and treated with fenretinide in doses from 0 to 20 p,mol/L. Cell count, viability, and immunoblots were per-formed to examine apoptosis. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction from endometriotic cells treated with fenretinide was used to examine expression of genes involved in RA signaling including stimulated by RA 6 (STRA6), cellular RA binding protein 2 (CRABP2), and fatty acid binding protein 5 (FABP5). Endometriotic tissue was xenografted subcutaneously into the flanks of mice which were treated with fenretinide for 2 weeks, after which the mice were killed and lesion volumes calculated. Statistical analysis was performed using ttestand analysis ofvariance. Treatment with fenretinide significantly decreased total cell count (doses 5-20 p,L) and viability (doses 10-20 p,mol/L). Fenretinide increased protein levels of the apoptotic marker poly (ADP ribose) polymerase (starting at 10 p,mol/L) and decreased proliferation marker proliferating cell nuclear antigen (10 μmol/L, starting at 8-day treatment). Examination of genes involved in retinoid uptake and action showed that treatment induced STRA6 expression while expression of CRABP2 and FABP5 remained unchanged. Fenretinide also significantly decreased the endometriotic lesion xenograft volume. Fenretinide increases STRA6 expression thereby potentially reversing the pathological loss of retinoid availability. Treatment with this Compound induces apoptosis. In vivo treatments decrease lesion volume. Targeting the RA signaling pathway may be a promising novel treatment for women with endometriosis.
How to Revise and Resubmit a Journal Paper

So, you've submitted your paper to your ideal target journal, waited the requisite period, and one day, your inbox contains an e-mail from the publication's editor-in-chief. It's not the hoped for acceptance, but a "Revise and Resubmit." (One of my favorite journals has switched to the more-discouraging, "Reject and Resubmit," but this is actually the same thing.)
Situational Crisis Communication Theory:New Perspective of Crisis Communication Research

Situational Crisis Communication Theory(SCCT) was an important theory in the field of crisis communication,which was also a hot topic for the world-class research.Based on the attribution theory,the SCCT constructed its model.Through experiments,it also examined the key propositions in the model.According to different crisis situations,it suggested different crisis communication strategies.The construction,methods and perspective of SCCT were so inspiring that it made a breakthrough to the research tradition of crisis communication.This paper made a general review of the construction,examination and suggestions of SCCT,and raised an assessment of the theory's contribution to research and practice in the end.
Design and Development of Condition Monitoring System for Circuit Breaker Based on Vibration Signal

Medium voltage circuit breakers(CB)are important in power grid.Condition monitoring can detect potential risks of a CB.Diagnosis based on a vibration signal is a non-invasive method.Vibration signals are the response to a series of vibration events inside a CB,which contain abundant mechanical information.Thus,designing a condition monitoring system for CB based on vibration signal is promising and meaningful.To build this system,the product model and the mounting position of the accelerometer are taken into consideration,a signal processing circuit is designed,a data acquisition card is chosen appropriately.At the same time,a data acquisition,truncation and analysis software is programmed by VC ++ and LABVIEW,with friendly user interface.This system gets the characteristic vector by decomposing and reconstructing the signal through wavelet transform and calculating the information entropy of each decomposed vibration signal,and accomplishes diagnosis with SVM.This condition monitoring system can acquire the vibration signal of a CB quickly and efficiently during its operation,and diagnose the fault of a CB accurately.
Pediatric Otology and Cochlear Implants

The work-up for congenital sensorineural hearing loss should consist of at least an EKG, ophthalmologic evaluation, and an imaging study (MRI/CT).MRI can be obtained early on when infant is very young, and may sleep through study without the need for sedation.Eye exam is important if patient has at least one special sensory impairment.Genetics evaluation may be useful for counseling and prognostic information.Other studies can be obtained as dictated by individual cases, but “shotgun” approach to testing may be expensive and unnecessary.Aural polyps in the external auditory canal should trigger suspicion for an associated underlying cause for exuberant inflammatory/granulation tissue reaction.Prior to biopsy of external auditory canal lesion, should consider imaging—rule out vascular or intracranial connection.Steroids may be protective for sensorineural hearing loss in cases of meningitis; however, if persistent hearing loss, then may recommend cochlear implantation.The importance of binaural hearing is becoming more accepted—hearing in noise, summation, squelch, and directionality.Bilateral cochlear implants demonstrate some improved objective measures.
Security concerns for web-based research survey

The wider availability of the internet and the World Wide Web provide easy access to a variety of computing resources including Web-based surveys. Tasks that were traditionally performed in a fixed setting, such as an office, can now easily be performed in arbitrary locations- anywhere and everywhere. The Internet has brought a variety of research initiatives including recruitment of participants, administration of interventions, and data collection. The explosive use of the internet has offered more opportunities for conducting web-based research as well as risks. However, online surveys and questionnaires present new risks to the validity and reliability of collected data, as well as the privacy and confidentiality of human subjects. This study will explore and analyse several of these new risks, outlining in detail the unique risk-creating situations presented by the online environment as well as guidelines to mitigate the risk will be discussed.
850 nm oxide-confined VCSELs with 50 Gb/s error-free transmission operating up to 85 °C

Data are presented for the oxide-confined 850 nm VCSEL showing a −3-dB bandwidth of 24.5 GHz at 85 °C and error-free data transmission up to 50 Gb/s at 85 °C.
Genetic Diversity and Geographic Distribution of North American Setaria viridis Populations

Setaria viridis is an emerging model system that is used to study C4 photosynthesis and many other traits relating to agricultural productivity of panicoid grain crops and bioenergy grasses. Originally from China, naturalized populations of S. viridis are widely distributed in North America and contain a high degree of genetic and phenotypic diversity. In this chapter, we estimate the distribution range of S. viridis in North America using a climate-based species distribution model. We then summarize some recent advances in understanding the genetic diversity, population structure, linkage disequilibrium, and biogeography of North American S. viridis populations. We further expound upon the necessity of expanding germplasm collections of S. viridis, our own ongoing collection efforts, and some of the sequence and germplasm resources currently being generated. Finally, we discuss utilizing these tools as a means for genetic dissection of complex traits, potential opportunities for gene discovery, and how our understanding of the natural variation in S. viridis populations will make agriculture a more productive and sustainable industry.
4 Towards fast tracking following paediatric cardiac surgery: strategy and initial experience with early extubation

Objective The aim of this study is to report our initial experience with early extubation ( Methods Early extubation was defined as intraoperative or within 6 hours from arrival to PICU. Between January 2014 to March 2016, 846 patients underwent congenital cardiac surgery at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital with a 30 days mortality rate of 0.9%.The clinical records of 608 patients older than 90 days of age were reviewed. The mean age and weight was 13.1 month (5.6–57) and 8.9 kg (5.8–16.325) respectively. Re-do sternotomies accounted for 181 cases (29.7%). The management strategy involved a specific anaesthetic technique, warm cardiopulmonary bypass, and intraoperative echocardiogram for evaluation of surgical repair. Results Out of 608 patients, early extubation was accomplished in 480 patients (78.9%) of which 337 pts (55%) were extubated in theatre. There was no mortality or other adverse event related to early extubation. Reintubation was required in 9 patients (1.4%). Patients extubated earlier had shorter PICU stay (1[1–2] vs 3.5 [2–7]days) and shorter hospital stays (5 [4–8] vs 12 [7–20] days). It was noted that PICU stay was artificially longer due to bottle-neck effect along the patient flow. Conclusion Early extubation can be accomplished safely following cardiac operations in an age-selected paediatric population. It is associated with low morbidity, mortality with reduced PICU and Hospital length of stay. This preliminary study demonstrates that a fast-tracking model is feasible.
Comparative analysis of graph partitioning algorithms in context of computation offloading

This paper considers the efficacy of using active network technology to offload computation from small mobile devices into network node computing centers. The performance of six algorithms for use in this process is compared and conclusions are drawn.
Why Are Indian Children So Short? The Role of Birth Order and Son Preference

Child stunting in India exceeds that in poorer regions like sub-Saharan Africa. Data on over 168,000 children show that, relative to Africa, India's height disadvantage increases sharply with birth order. We posit that India’s steep birth order gradient is due to favoritism toward eldest sons, which affects parents' fertility decisions and resource allocation across children. We show that, within India, the gradient is steeper for high-son-preference regions and religions. The gradient also varies with sibling gender as predicted. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that India's steeper birth order gradient can explain over one-half of the India-Africa gap in average child height.
Regulatory budgeting: A bad idea whose time has come?

Advocates of regulatory relief propose a budget that would annually cap regulatory costs. But emulating fiscal budgeting would be much more difficult than they envision. An arbitrary macrobudgetary constraint would have to be selected, and the potential scope of the regulatory budget would be vast. The process of regulatory budgeting would be very-time consuming, and could increase micromanagement by the Congress. Estimating regulatory costs would be challenging, and ignoring regulatory benefits would be unfair and inefficient. A preferable alternative to regulatory budgeting would be to expand the Government Performance and Results Act to include cost-effectiveness reviews for regulations.
Three Essays on Product Collusion

In a market for differentiated products, firms have the ability to collude on the choice of products offered in addition to or in lieu of colluding on the prices charged for those products. However, the empirical literature has only considered price collusion. This dissertation proposes a methodology to measure product space and price collusion. To do so, I model firms as competing in an infinitely repeated extensive form game. I show that a subset of equilibria to the dynamic game can be represented as subgame perfect Nash equilibria to a static game. The static equilibria index the degree to which firms collude through reduced- form parameters. I show that these parameters are robust to the Corts Critique and can be estimated using standard techniques when researchers have access to market level data. I then use this methodology to study competition in the market for super-premium ice cream during 2013. I find evidence that Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs not only colluded in the prices they charged, but substantially colluded in the choice of flavors that were offered. Then, I construct counterfactuals to measure the impact of collusion on the set of products offered, the prices charged, and welfare. I find that conventional policy analysis that considers only price collusion understates the welfare effects.
Evaluation of an EFL Teacher Training Program in Japan

This article presents a study undertaken to evaluate how effectively an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) training program helps Japanese EFL teacher trainees prepare for their future positions. ...
Self-Healing Liquid Metal and Si Composite as a High-Performance Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Si is among the highest theoretical capacity anodes for lithium-ion batteries, but it suffers from huge volume expansion during lithiation. Here we report a new approach to alleviating the volume change-induced degradation of Si anodes by mixing Si with a room-temperature liquid metal (LM), namely, Ga–Sn alloy. The Ga–Sn alloy is fluid with self-healing ability, acting as the liquid buffer for the Si upon lithiation and delithiation and healing the cracks caused by the volume expansion and contraction. The resulting Si/LM composite exhibits a high capacity and excellent cyclicability. The composite anode delivers a reversible capacity of ∼670 mAh/g after 1000 cycles, with an outstanding rate capability.
Laser detection of latent fingerprints: ninhydrin followed by zinc chloride.

A pronounced improvement in detectability is observed when ninhydrin-treated latent fingerprints are sprayed with a solution of zinc chloride and subsequently subjected to argon laser examination.
Creep of Geomaterials due to the Coupled Damage and Spontaneous Mineral Dissolution

A basic model of chemical softening, and chemically enhanced deviatoric strain - hardening for saturated geomaterials is presented. The aim is to simulate the material behavior that exhibits characteristics of creep induced by environmental conditions. Chemical softening is postulated to occur as a consequence of mineral dissolution and precipitation enhanced by the material damage. Dissolution of minerals in pore water is assumed to take place at the internal free surfaces not only of the initial pore space but also that generated during damage. The rate dependence of the processes of dissolution and precipitation renders also the resulting chemical softening behavior to be rate dependent. In this paper a closed system is discussed only, in which deformation at constant stress results entirely a from a local compensation mechanism between the chemical softening and strain hardening. Three stages of creep are interpreted in terms of mechanisms of dissolution and precipitation, as well as the variation in the reaction area involved in the mass exchange. An open system, these local mechanisms are enhanced by diffusion of species affecting the mass balance and need to be addressed via a boundary value problem, as described elsewhere.