cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Application of ultrasound for feeding and finishing animals: a review.

The ability to evaluate carcass traits in live animals is of value to research, educational, and industry personnel. Ultrasonic technology has been tested since the early 1950s and continues to be under investigation as a means of accomplishing this task. The accuracy of ultrasound in predicting carcass traits is variable and is dependent on species, ultrasonic instrumentation, and(or) the skill of the technician. Based on this review, the ranges of correlation coefficients (r) for carcass traits as predicted by ultrasound to the respective carcass measurement are as follows: swine (fat .20 to .94; longissimus muscle .27 to .93), sheep (fat .42 to .95; longissimus muscle .36 to .79) and beef (fat .45 to .96; longissimus muscle .20 to .94; marbling .20 to .91). Although these correlation coefficients give an indication of the accuracy of ultrasound, it should be noted that these statistics do not reflect population variation or bias. Applications of ultrasound in swine finishing programs include the successful prediction of market weight carcass characteristics and the prediction of percentage of lean cuts before slaughter. In contrast, the application of ultrasound in lamb finishing programs has met with limited success. Most data indicate that weight and(or) visual estimations of fat are at least as accurate as ultrasound predictions of carcass composition. In beef finishing programs, ultrasound has, at times, been used successfully to predict fat and muscle traits before slaughter and beef carcass chemical composition. The ability to predict marbling, however, remains unclear and requires further investigation. Ultrasound has also been used in beef finishing programs to predict days on feed to a constant body compositional end point. When summarized, these data indicate that a single ultrasonic measurement of fat can be helpful in predicting days on feed in yearling cattle. When used alone, however, a single backfat measurement does not provide adequate accuracy. Therefore, factors such as age, sex, breed type, weight, and hip height are needed to help predict days on feed more accurately.
Meshfree Methods: Progress Made after 20 Years

AbstractIn the past two decades, meshfree methods have emerged into a new class of computational methods with considerable success. In addition, a significant amount of progress has been made in ad...
A low-cost, plug-and-play inertial microfluidic helical capillary device for high-throughput flow cytometry.

Glass capillary tubes have been widely used in microfluidics for generating microdroplets and microfibers. Here, we report on the application of glass capillary to inertial focusing of microparticles and cells for high-throughput flow cytometry. Our device uses a commercially available capillary tube with a square cross-section. Wrapping the tube into a helical shape induces the Dean vortices that aid focusing of cells or microbeads into a single position. We investigated the inertial focusing of microbeads in the device at various Re and concentrations and demonstrated 3D focusing with ∼100% efficiency for a wide range of microparticle diameters. We integrated the device with a laser counting system and demonstrated continuous counting of 10 μm microbeads with a high throughput of 13 000 beads/s as well as counting of fluorescently labeled white blood cells in the diluted whole blood. The helical capillary device offers a number of key advantages, including rapid and ultra-low-cost plug-and-play fabrication, optical transparency, and full compatibility with bright field or fluorescent imaging, easy re-configurability of the device radius for tuning focusing behavior, and ability to rotate for easy side-wall observation. With precise and consistent 3D focusing of microbeads and cells with a wide range of sizes at high throughput and without the use of sheath flows, we envision that this simple capillary-based inertial microfluidic device will create new opportunities for this technique to be widely adopted in the laboratory research.
NSABP B-43: A phase III clinical trial to compare trastuzumab (T) given concurrently with radiation therapy (RT) to RT alone for women with HER2+ DCIS resected by lumpectomy (Lx).

TPS666 Background: A significant amount of DCIS is ER-negative and/or overexpresses HER2. This study will test HER2-targeted therapy in DCIS. Among T-treated HER2+ patients (pts) with DCIS treated ...
An open-source framework for the interactive exploration of Big Data: Applications in understanding health care

When analyzing data where the relationships between variables are not fully understood, it is typical to engage in visual exploration. However, this is slow and manually intensive, and interesting trends could potentially be missed. Ideally, we would like to focus on patterns and locations within the data that are interesting, such as significant clusters and outliers. We present a novel iterative k-means clustering algorithm to efficiently identify clusters in large datasets. This facilitates rapid visual exploration of new datasets. We illustrate our framework by performing a detailed analysis of open health care data released by the US Government and New York State. We apply our iterative k-means algorithm to identify clusters of trends in labor force participation to present a unique perspective by area of medical specialty over a 50-year period. Specialties such as nurse practitioners have seen a significant increase in the number of practitioners relative to internal medicine. Our code is open source and available on Github.
Analysis of Drosophila STING Reveals an Evolutionarily Conserved Antimicrobial Function

The vertebrate protein STING, an intracellular sensor of cyclic dinucleotides, is critical to the innate immune response and the induction of type I interferon during pathogenic infection. Here, we show that a STING ortholog (dmSTING) exists in Drosophila, which, similar to vertebrate STING, associates with cyclic dinucleotides to initiate an innate immune response. Following infection with Listeria monocytogenes, dmSTING activates an innate immune response via activation of the NF-κB transcription factor Relish, part of the immune deficiency (IMD) pathway. DmSTING-mediated activation of the immune response reduces the levels of Listeria-induced lethality and bacterial load in the host. Of significance, dmSTING triggers an innate immune response in the absence of a known functional cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP)-AMP synthase (cGAS) ortholog in the fly. Together, our results demonstrate that STING is an evolutionarily conserved antimicrobial effector between flies and mammals, and it comprises a key component of host defense against pathogenic infection in Drosophila.
Regulation and function of the primate fetal adrenal gland and gonad.

Publisher Summary Although the steroid-producing glands of the fetus, the adrenal gland and gonads, arise from proximate embryologic sites, their functions are markedly disparate. This chapter discusses the regulation and functions of the primate fetal adrenal gland and gonad. Glucocorticoids secreted by the fetal adrenal gland play an important role in affecting homeostatic adjustments necessary for extrauterine life. These secretions affect the maturation of a variety of enzyme systems, including the liver, the pancreas, and the gastrointestinal tract. In contrast, the gonads subserve different functions. In the male, the testis elaborates both testosterone—an essential stimulator of Wolffian ductal development—and a Mullerian inhibiting factor that prevents the development of the Mullerian ductal system. The chapter focuses on the works concerning the regulation and function of the human and subhuman primate fetal adrenal gland and gonads. There is functional specialization of the fetal and definitive zones of the human fetal adrenal gland as demonstrated in superfusion studies.
The Changing Balance of Forces in the Pacific

Broadly speaking, there are only two views of the Far Eastern situation. There is the view of those who regard it as completely beyond any peaceful remedy. They are the defeatists. But there are still a few optimists who hold the view that recent changes in the balance of power in the Pacific may yet provide far-sighted and constructive statesmanship with an opportunity of devising some kind of peaceful adjustment. I shall try to state in the following pages the reasons for my being one of these optimistic few.
Building a Framework to Encourage the use of Metadata in Modern Web-Design

When Tim Berners-Lee published the roadmap for the semantic web in 1998, it was a promising glimpse into what could be accomplished with a standardized metadata system, but nearly 20 years later, adoption of the semantic web has been less than stellar. In those years, web technology has changed drastically, and techniques for implementing semantic web compliant sites have become relatively inaccessible. This poster outlines a JavaScript framework called Beltline.js which seeks to encourage the use of metadata by making it easy to integrate into modern web best-practices.
Row-applied Iron Chelate for Correcting Iron Deficiency Chlorosis in Dry Bean

Iron-deficiency chlorosis (IDC) reduces the yield of dry edible bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) grown on high-pH calcareous soils. The objective of this research was to compare the effectiveness of row-applied SoyGreen Fe ethylene diamine-N, N’-bis (2-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (FeEDDHA)) on reducing IDC and increasing dry bean yield planted in 56-cm rows. Two commonly grown varieties of Great Northern and Pinto dry bean were grown in a randomized complete block design during 4 yr with four levels of FeEDDHA (0–2.24 kg ha–¹). Visual chlorosis ratings showed significant differences in 3 of 4 yr and higher FeEDDHA rates improved chlorosis scores. Yields were increased in 2011 and 2014 but not on the low IDC severity site in 2012 (2013 plots were lost to hail). Relative yields for 2011 and 2014 versus the chlorosis score showed significant increasing yield as chlorosis severity decreased. The relative yield response to FeEDDHA averaged across different varieties and market classes was about 10% and yield was maximized near 1.8 kg ha–¹ FeEDDHA. For the Fe-responsive years, the check yield was 3096 kg ha–¹ of Great Northern beans and 3125 kg ha–¹ for Pinto beans, which translates to an additional 310 kg ha–¹ of beans. With current and historic bean prices, the yield increase adds over $200 ha–¹ at a cost of near $40 ha–¹, more than paying for the fertilizer cost.
Fear of the known: semantic generalisation of fear conditioning across languages in bilinguals.

While modern theories of emotion emphasize the role of higher-order cognitive processes such as semantics in human emotion, much research into emotional learning has ignored the potential contribut...
Difficult Bile Duct Stones

The first step to treating stones occurring in the bile duct is endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with endoscopic sphincterotomy followed by a balloon or basket extraction. This is successful in extracting common bile duct stones in the majority of cases. However, there are stones that are characterized as difficult bile duct stones. These include very large stones (>15 mm in diameter), stones in a bile duct that is difficult to access (patients with altered anatomy like Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy, Billroth II gastrectomy), or impacted stones. When standard techniques fail, other endoscopic techniques must be explored. These techniques involve increasing the diameter of the biliary orifice with a sphincterotomy, balloon dilation, or a combination of both followed by basket or balloon stone removal. In some cases, large stones may still be difficult to remove in which case lithotripsy can be performed either by mechanical means or by laser and electrohydraulic means. Biliary stents can be placed as a bridge to curative therapy, and they also assist in softening and fragmenting of stones.
Parathyroid Neoplasms: Immunohistochemical Characterization and Long Noncoding RNA (lncRNA) Expression

Parathyroid adenomas are slow growing benign neoplasms associated with hypercalcemia, while atypical parathyroid adenomas and parathyroid carcinomas are uncommon tumors and their histologic features may overlap with parathyroid adenomas. LncRNAs participate in transcription and in epigenetic or post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, and probably contribute to carcinogenesis. We analyzed a group of normal, hyperplastic, and neoplastic parathyroid lesions to determine the best immunohistochemical markers to characterize these lesions and to determine the role of selected lncRNAs in tumor progression. A tissue microarray consisting of 111 cases of normal parathyroid (n = 14), primary hyperplasia (n = 15), secondary hyperplasia (n = 10), tertiary hyperplasia (n = 11), adenomas (n = 50), atypical adenomas (n = 7), and carcinomas (n = 4) was used. Immunohistochemical staining with antibodies against chromogranin A, synaptophysin, parathyroid hormone, and insulinoma-associated protein 1(INSM1) was used. Expression of lncRNAs including metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript one (MALAT1), HOX transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR), and long intergenic non-protein coding regulator of reprograming (Linc-ROR or ROR) was also analyzed by in situ hybridization and RT-PCR. All of the parathyroid tissues were positive for parathyroid hormone, while most cases were positive for chromogranin A (98%). Synaptophysin was expressed in only 12 cases (11%) and INMS1 was negative in all cases. ROR was significantly downregulated during progression from normal, hyperplastic, and adenomatous parathyroid to parathyroid carcinomas. These results show that parathyroid hormone and chromogranin A are useful markers for parathyroid neoplasms, while synaptophysin and INSM1 are not very sensitive broad-spectrum markers for these neoplasms. LincRNA ROR may function as a tumor suppressor during parathyroid tumor progression.
The impact of smoking cessation on breast cancer patients’ survival.

1542Background: Breast cancer remains to be one of the highest causes of cancer mortality amongst females globally, second only to lung cancer. Smoking is strongly associated with increased all-cau...
Case Report: Importance of dietary modification in successful management of eosinophilic gastroenteritis

Introduction: Eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE) is an extremely rare inflammatory disorder with an estimated prevalence of 22-28/100 000. We herein, present a case of EGE in an elderly patient which was successfully managed with dietary restriction. Case report: A 70-year-old male with a history of gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD), atopic dermatitis and asthma presented with 2 weeks history of foul-smelling non-bloody diarrhea associated with nausea, vomiting and weight loss. Physical examination was significant for dry oral mucosa and loss of skin turgor. Lab findings were significant for a hemoglobin of 13.2 g/dl, hematocrit of 38.5%, mean corpuscular volume of 86.3%, white blood cell count of 24,200/mm3, albumin of 2.2 g/L, stool fat of 70g, stool osmolar gap of 115, C-reactive protein 1.47. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, HIV test were unremarkable. Infectious stool work-up was negative. Computed tomography of the abdomen was unremarkable. The mucosa appeared mildly inflamed on upper endoscopy and colonoscopy, and biopsies showed eosinophilic infiltration of the mucosal and muscular layers. A diagnosis of eosinophilic gastroenteritis was made after other causes such as parasitic infection, drug use and malignancy were ruled out. The patient was counseled on a six-food elimination diet which successfully resolved his diarrhea. The patient did not have any relapses with dietary modification on follow-up. Discussion: The recurrence rate of EGE is 50%. Steroids improve symptoms in 90% of cases but the recurrence rates are high. The type, dose and duration of steroid therapy is unclear. Sodium cromoglicate, ketotifen, and Montelukast are other proposed treatments, the results being inconclusive. Bowel resection is performed in intestinal obstruction, but medical therapy is needed as recurrence in other segments in common. Dietary modification, a therapy with no side-effects should be the first line of treatment as it can result in resolution sparing the patient of steroid induced side effects.
Language independence in a web-based distance course

By definition distance education courses are independent of the distance between the instructor and student. Web-based distance education courses are also independent of time except for things like synchronous Chat. This paper describes a web based distance education computer science course that has another type of independence, programming language independence. The paper also includes a description of how to extend most web-based computer science courses to accommodate multiple programming languages. A list of some of the problems encountered in the development of the course and how the problems were solved is also included. The final topic of the paper discusses how the same ideas are being used to ease the transition from Office 97 to Office 2000 in a web-based course on productivity software.
Fear Learning in Veterans With Combat-Related PTSD Is Linked to Anxiety Sensitivity: Evidence From Self-Report and Pupillometry

Several studies have observed heightened Pavlovian fear conditioning in PTSD. However, it is unclear how fear conditioning in PTSD is related to risk factors for the disorder, such as anxiety sensitivity. Fifty-one combat-exposed veterans (20 with PTSD, 31 without PTSD) completed a differential fear conditioning task in which one colored rectangle (CS+) predicted a loud scream (US), whereas a different colored rectangle (CS-) predicted no US. Veterans with PTSD were characterized by greater anxiety to the CS+ but not the CS- during acquisition and extinction, and greater US expectancy during the CS+ but not the CS- at extinction. Also, veterans with PTSD had greater pupil dilation to both CSs at extinction, but not at acquisition. Anxiety sensitivity was correlated with anxiety and US expectancy in response to the CS+, but not the CS-, at both acquisition and extinction, and also with pupil diameter to both the CS+ and CS- at extinction. Nearly all of these relations held when covarying for PTSD symptoms and trait anxiety. These findings suggest that increased fear conditioning in PTSD may be related to elevated anxiety sensitivity.
Subthreshold Exudative Choroidal Neovascularization Associated With Age-Related Macular Degeneration Identified by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography:

Purpose:This article describes the clinical and multimodal imaging characteristics of subthreshold exudative choroidal neovascularization (CNV) associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD...
Writing Home to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions: Missionary Women Abroad Narrate Their Precarious Worlds, 1869–1915

This study focuses on the women of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), which, in 1868, created independent women’s boards, giving generations of college-educated women the opportunity to travel freely around the world. Because they were recruited from liberal arts colleges to teach, they began with an agenda that was different and often in opposition to the male missionaries whose directive was to convert through preaching. Here, I will present three national case studies—Japan, Ottoman Turkey, and India—focusing on the networks of communication that kept them abreast of the educational work around the world and supported them through times of political turmoil and marginalization. The transnational aspect of the missionary endeavor is about the international network of communication the women created and relied upon in the form of private correspondence and public magazines and journals while serving in remote and often politically hostile locations.
HangFix: automatically fixing software hang bugs for production cloud systems

Software hang bugs are notoriously difficult to debug, which often cause serious service outages in cloud systems. In this paper, we present HangFix, a software hang bug fixing framework which can automatically fix a hang bug that is triggered and detected in production cloud environments. HangFix first leverages stack trace analysis to localize the hang function and then performs root cause pattern matching to classify hang bugs into different types based on likely root causes. Next, HangFix generates effective code patches based on the identified root cause patterns. We have implemented a prototype of HangFix and evaluated the system on 42 real-world software hang bugs in 10 commonly used cloud server applications. Our results show that HangFix can successfully fix 40 out of 42 hang bugs in seconds.
Adherence with an Acute Agitation Algorithm and Subsequent Restraint Use.

Timely use of pharmacological interventions to treat acute agitation has the potential to decrease physical restraint use. The aim of this study is to determine if adherence to standardized pharmacological recommendations for the treatment of acutely agitated pediatric patients decreases physical restraint use. Additionally, this study aims to identify predictors of physical restraint use and describe treatment related adverse events. This is a retrospective chart review of patient visits between September 1, 2016 and August 31, 2017. Patient visits were included if the patient presented to the pediatric emergency department, met ICD-10 codes, and received pharmacologic management or physical restraint to treat acute agitation. The differences in rate of physical restraint was assessed between patients treated according to the standardized pharmacological recommendations and patients who were not. 447 patients were included with a mean age of 13 years. No significant difference in physical restraint use was found when standardized pharmacological recommendations were followed compared to when they were not (P = 0.16). Only presentation on day shift when compared to evening shift resulted in increased odds of being restrained (OR 2.03; 95% CI 1.18, 3.50). Nine adverse events possibly related to medications were identified with none considered to be of significant clinical concern. Standardized pharmacological treatment recommendations was not associated with a decrease in physical restraint use for agitated patients presenting to the pediatric emergency department. The pharmacologic strategies utilized were generally safe and well tolerated in this patient population.
Chemotherapy-Induced Changes in the Lung Microenvironment: The Role of MMP-2 in Facilitating Intravascular Arrest of Breast Cancer Cells

Previously, we showed that mice treated with cyclophosphamide (CTX) 4 days before intravenous injection of breast cancer cells had more cancer cells in the lung at 3 h after cancer injection than control counterparts without CTX. At 4 days after its injection, CTX is already excreted from the mice, allowing this pre-treatment design to reveal how CTX may modify the lung environment to indirectly affect cancer cells. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the increase in cancer cell abundance at 3 h by CTX is due to an increase in the adhesiveness of vascular wall for cancer cells. Our data from protein array analysis and inhibition approach combined with in vitro and in vivo assays support the following two-prong mechanism. (1) CTX increases vascular permeability, resulting in the exposure of the basement membrane (BM). (2) CTX increases the level of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) in mouse serum, which remodels the BM and is functionally important for CTX to increase cancer abundance at this early stage. The combined effect of these two processes is the increased accessibility of critical protein domains in the BM, resulting in higher vascular adhesiveness for cancer cells to adhere. The critical protein domains in the vascular microenvironment are RGD and YISGR domains, whose known binding partners on cancer cells are integrin dimers and laminin receptor, respectively.
Kinetochore Directional Instability in Vertebrate Mitotic Cells

Vertebrate mitotic spindles are formed from oppositely oriented polar microtubule (MT) arrays nucleated from centrosomes. MTs mostly grow and shorten by the addition and loss of tubulin subunits from the MT plus-ends distal from the pole. Chromosomes become attached to the spindle when kinetochores capture and stabilize the dynamically instable MT plus-ends (reviewed in Salmon, 1989).
Killed by Asbestos

Asbestos is a fiberlike insulation material that causes cancer and respiratory diseases, namely mesothelioma and asbestosis (Times, 1994). The victims of asbestos, which include people of all occupations, fiom asbestostextile workers to secretaries at public schools, have no hope for a cure for their illness which causes extreme pain and possibly death for its victims. It has been estimated that some 200,000 asbestos-related claims have been resolved thus far, with 200,000 more still pending and 50 to 60 new claims being filed each day (Snyder, 1994). This paper will explore asbestos issues by looking at the history of the asbestos problem, recent events in the industry, and how the problem is changing. This article is available in The Park Place Economist: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/parkplace/vol4/iss1/14
Psychometric properties of the error‐related negativity in children and adolescents

Error processing is frequently examined using the error-related negativity (ERN), a negative-going event-related potential occurring after the commission of an error at frontal-central sites, and has been suggested as a neural biomarker that may be useful in characterizing trajectories of risk for anxiety. While the ERN has been shown to have excellent psychometric properties in adults, few studies have examined psychometric properties of the ERN in children and adolescents. The current study examined the 2-year test-retest reliability of the ERN in a sample of children and adolescents, and the convergent validity of the ERN using a flanker and go/no-go task. Results suggest that the ERN is both reliable and stable across 2 years and across tasks. However, results also indicate that the internal consistency obtained using the flanker task is greater than the internal consistency obtained using the go/no-go task.
Natural product-based nanomedicine: recent advances and issues

Natural products have been used in medicine for many years. Many top-selling pharmaceuticals are natural compounds or their derivatives. These plant- or microorganism-derived compounds have shown potential as therapeutic agents against cancer, microbial infection, inflammation, and other disease conditions. However, their success in clinical trials has been less impressive, partly due to the compounds' low bioavailability. The incorporation of nanoparticles into a delivery system for natural products would be a major advance in the efforts to increase their therapeutic effects. Recently, advances have been made showing that nanoparticles can significantly increase the bioavailability of natural products both in vitro and in vivo. Nanotechnology has demonstrated its capability to manipulate particles in order to target specific areas of the body and control the release of drugs. Although there are many benefits to applying nanotechnology for better delivery of natural products, it is not without issues. Drug targeting remains a challenge and potential nanoparticle toxicity needs to be further investigated, especially if these systems are to be used to treat chronic human diseases. This review aims to summarize recent progress in several key areas relevant to natural products in nanoparticle delivery systems for biomedical applications.
The streptokinase-human plasminogen activator complex. Composition and identity of a subcomponent with activator activity.

Reactions between purified plasminogen and streptokinase, labelled with131I and125I respectively, were investigated by polyacrylamide-gel discontinuous electrophoresis. A molecular complex consisting of both131I-labelled plasminogen and125I-labelled streptokinase migrated between plasminogen and streptokinase. This complex contained bovine plasminogen activator activity. The relative quantities of131I-labelled plasminogen and125I-labelled streptokinase in this complex were markedly affected by reaction conditions. A fragment that retained 50% or more of the parent activator activity was released from the complex after exposure to mercaptoethanol. This subcomponent had an estimated molecular weight of 70000, and contained both131I-labelled plasminogen and125I-labelled streptokinase.
Quantifying Supervisory Decision Making: Eye-Tracking Technology Applications for the Promotion of Child Safety

Previous research has investigated various risk factors correlated with childhood injury, but few studies have successfully investigated these variables beyond participant self-report. The present study utilized infrared eye-tracking and computer-based latency measures to evaluate caregiver supervision decisions in injury risk situations for typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder. The sample included 99 young women, ages 18–24 years, who are frequent non-parental caregivers for children. Results indicated that participants altered their speed of response, child monitoring, and intervention decisions on the basis of idiosyncratic assessment of injury risk. Minimal significant differences emerged with regard to supervision behavior and chosen strategies when comparing children with autism spectrum disorder to typically developing children. Overall, results suggest that non-parental caregivers integrate child characteristics and environmental risk factors when assessing risk and choosing interventions. Implications are discussed with regard to injury prevention programs emphasizing protective aspects of supervision for children across various settings
Dynamic Data Driven Sensor Network Selection and Tracking

Abstract The deployment of networks of sensors and development of pertinent information processing techniques can facilitate the requirement of situational awareness present in many defense/surveillance systems. Sensors allow the collection and distributed processing of information in a variety of environments whose structure is not known and is dynamically changing with time. A distributed dynamic data driven (DDDAS-based) framework is developed in this paper to address distributed multi-threat tracking under limited sensor resources. The acquired sensor data will be used to control the sensing part of the sensor network, and utilize only the sensing devices that acquire good quality measurements about the present targets. The DDDAS-based concept will be utilized to enable efficient sensor activation of only those parts of the network located close to a target/object. A novel combination of stochastic filtering techniques, drift homotopy and sparsity-inducing canonical correlation analysis (S-CCA) is utilized to dynamically identify the target-informative sensors and utilize them to perform improved drift-based particle filtering techniques that will allow robust, stable and accurate distributed tracking of multiple objects. Numerical tests demonstrate the effectiveness of the novel framework.
Interconnections and architecture for ensembles of microstructures

Abstract For highly integrated circuits, the partitioning of ensembles of microstructured devices into architectural blocks and the interconnection of these blocks and devices becomes exceedingly important. Future ULSI will require that new architectures which emphasize near-neighbor interaction and overall hierarchial restructuring be developed. These architectures are expected to have similarities to current iterative arrays and cellular automata, as well as to some implementations of distributed associative memories. In the latter case, only those with the short interconnections, such as the transitive ergodic associative memory, are amenable to ULSI.
Damage of Al 2024 alloy due to sequential exposure to fatigue, corrosion and fatigue

Fatigue and corrosion are two major concerns of aging aircraft research. Metal corrosion and fatigue act synergistically in various ways. They may be present separately or simultaneously. In this study Al 2024-T3 alloy was intermittently subjected to sequential corrosion and fatigue processes. Specimens were first subjected to various degrees of fatigue damage in air, then immersed in a corrosive solution for a fixed amount of time, and subsequently further fatigued in air to failure. The results are compared with those subjected to fatigue in air, and to corrosion then fatigue in air. We find that the total fatigue life (sum of fatigue cycles before and after corrosion) exceeds that of the virgin samples, provided that the initial fatigue cycle has consumed more than half of life solely fatigued in air. It is believed that the blunting of microcracks and the removal of other surface damage, such as intrusions/extrusions created at the initial stage of fatigue, are the major reasons for this increased fatigue life.
Lie bialgebroids of generalized CRF-manifolds

Abstract The notion of a generalized CRF-structure on a smooth manifold was recently introduced and studied by Vaisman (2008) [6] . An important class of generalized CRF-structures on an odd dimensional manifold M consists of CRF-structures having complementary frames of the form ξ ± η , where ξ is a vector field and η is a 1-form on M with η ( ξ ) = 1 . It turns out that these kinds of CRF-structures give rise to a special class of what we called strong generalized contact structures in Poon and Wade [5] . More precisely, we show that to any CRF-structures with complementary frames of the form ξ ± η , there corresponds a canonical Lie bialgebroid. Finally, we explain the relationship between generalized contact structures and another generalization of the notion of a Cauchy–Riemann structure on a manifold.
Simulator Training Improves Fiber‐optic Intubation Proficiency among Emergency Medicine Residents

Objectives: The objective was to observe how a workshop using a virtual reality bronchoscopy simulator and computer-based tutorial affects emergency medicine (EM) resident skill in fiber-optic intubation. Methods: In this observational before-and-after study, EM resident performance on three simulated pediatric difficult airway cases was observed before and after a short computer-based tutorial and 10 minutes of self-directed practice. The primary outcome was the total time required to place the endotracheal tube (ETT), secondary outcomes included the number of endoscope collisions with mucosa, and a calculated efficiency score measuring the proportion of time participants spent looking at correct central airway structures. Nonparametric Wilcoxon signed rank tests compared performance on the first versus the repeat attempt for each of the three simulated cases. Participants were surveyed regarding their assessments of the experience. Results: Significant decreases in median procedure times and number of scope collisions and increases in median efficiency scores were seen for Cases 1 and 2. Case 3 showed no significant changes in outcomes between first and repeat attempts. Participants positively assessed the training and felt that its use would improve clinical practice. Conclusions: Participation in a simulation-based fiber-optic intubation skill workshop can improve fiber-optic intubation performance rapidly among EM residents. Future research should evaluate if this enhanced performance translates to improved clinical performance in the emergency department (ED).
Sex Differences in the Relations of Positive and Negative Daily Events and Fatigue in Adults With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract Fatigue is a common, disabling symptom for individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study 1) examined sex differences in the relations between daily changes in positive and negative interpersonal events and same-day and next-day fatigue and 2) tested positive affect and negative affect as mediators of the associations between changes in interpersonal events and fatigue. Reports of fatigue, number of positive and negative interpersonal events, and positive and negative affect were assessed daily for 30 days via diaries in 228 men and women diagnosed with RA. Days of higher than average daily positive events were associated with both decreased same-day fatigue and increased next-day fatigue, but only among women. Sex differences in same-day relations between positive events and fatigue were mediated by increases in positive affect. For both sexes, days of higher than average daily negative events related to increased same-day and next-day fatigue, and the same-day relations between negative events and fatigue were mediated by increases in negative affect. A more nuanced understanding of similarities and differences between men and women in the associations between changes in interpersonal events and fatigue may inform future interventions for RA fatigue. Perspective This article presents an examination of sex differences in the links between changes in daily interpersonal events and fatigue in chronic pain patients. The findings can help clinicians target the psychosocial factors that potentially can ameliorate their patients' experience of fatigue.
Sexual differentiation of gonadotrophin secretion, sexual orientation and gender role behavior.

Abstract The positive estrogen feedback was found to be a relatively sex-specific reaction of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal system in rats as well as in human beings. It is dependent—most of all—on the estrogen convertible androgen level during sexual brain differentiation, but also on an estrogen priming effect in adulthood. The lower the estrogen convertible androgen or primary estrogen level during brain differentiation, the higher is the evocability of a positive estrogen action on LH secretion in later life. In clinical studies, we were able to induce a positive estrogen feedback on LH secretion in most intact homosexual men in clear-cut contrast to intact hetero- or bisexual men. These findings were strongly confirmed by Gladue and associates. In addition, the evocability of a positive estrogen feedback was also demonstrable in most homosexual male-to-female transsexuals in significant contrast to hetero- or bisexual male-to-female transsexuals. These findings suggest that homosexual males possess, at least in part, a predominantly female-differentiated brain, which may be caused by a low estrogen convertible androgen level during brain organization. Recently, the following relations were found between sex hormone levels during brain differentiation and sex-specific responses in adulthood: (l) estrogens—which are mostly converted, however, from androgens—are responsible for the sex-specific organization of gonadotrophin secretion and hence the evocability of a positive estrogen feedback in later life; (2) estrogens and androgens, occurring during brain differentiation, predetermine synergistically sexual orientation and (3) androgens—without conversion to estrogens—are responsible for the sex-specific organization of gender role behaviour in later life. Furthermore, the organization periods for sex-specific gonadotrophin secretion, sexual orientation and gender role behaviour are not identical but overlapping. Thus, combinations as well as dissociations between deviations of the neuroendocrine organization of sex-specific gonadotrophin secretion, sexual orientation and gender role behaviour are conceivable. Most recently, female-type sexual orientation could be converted to male-type sexual orientation in adult rats by administration of the dopamine agonist and serotonin antagonist lisuride.
AIP1 in Graft Arteriosclerosis

Graft arteriosclerosis (GA), the major cause of late cardiac allograft failure, is characterized by a diffuse, concentric arterial intimal hyperplasia composed of infiltrating host T cells, macrophages, and predominantly graft-derived smooth muscle–like cells that proliferate and elaborate extracellular matrix, resulting in luminal obstruction and allograft ischemia. Interferon-γ (IFN-γ), a proinflammatory cytokine produced by effector T cells, is a critical mediator for smooth muscle–like cell proliferation. We have exploited the power of mouse genetics to examine the function of AIP1, a signaling adaptor molecule involved in vascular inflammation, in two newly established IFN-γ–mediated models of GA. Our data suggest that AIP1 inhibits intimal formation in GA by downregulating IFN-γ–activated migratory and proliferative signaling pathways in smooth muscle–like cells.
Collision-induced dissociation of CS 2 + to S 2 + at kilovolt laboratory energies

Collision-induced dissociation (CID) of CS2 + molecular ions to S2 + ions at laboratory collision energies ranging from 1 to 6 keV energy has been studied by mass analyzed ion kinetic energy spectrometry (MIKES) utilizing a reversed geometry tandem mass spectrometer. The dissociation proceeds via four energetically distinct pathways which are strongly dependent upon the kinetic energy of the ion and on the nature of the collision gas. CID with argon neutrals is dominated at all energies by the lowest energy threshold reaction, which is endothermic by about 6 eV, whereas the energetics of the process differ and are strongly dependent on the ion kinetic energy when lighter collision gases (He, H2 and D2) are used for collisional activation. The most probable energy transfer from kinetic to internal modes is 11 ± 2 eV for these collision gases. A highly endothermic channel with kinetic energy loss of ~41 ± 4 eV opens up when the energy of the ions is reduced to 3 keV and less. At 1 keV ion energy, there is a small contribution to the total CID from a highly exothermic channel (kinetic energy release of 47 ± 5 eV) that is observed with all collision gases under low pressure conditions in the collision cell.
Non-working occlusal discrepancies are associated with increased probing depths and attachment loss.

Article Title and Bibliographic Information "The influence of dynamic occlusal interferences on probing depth and attachment level: results of the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP)." Bernhardt, O., D. Gesch, et al. (2006). J Periodontol 77(3): 506-16. Level of Evidence 2B Purpose/Question To investigate associations between dynamic occlusal interferences and signs of periodontal disease in posterior teeth Source of Funding Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the Social Ministry of the Federal State of Mecklenburg, West Pomerania, and by a fellowship from the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach Foundation, a private non-profit foundation in Essen, Germany. Type of Study/Design Cohort study
Crack cocaine use and other risk factors for tuberculin positivity in drug users.

Two-step tuberculin testing and standardized interviews of 793 current and former drug users were performed to determine the risk factors for tuberculin positivity. The prevalence of tuberculin positivity was 25%. Factors independently associated with tuberculin positivity among participants seronegative for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) included crack cocaine use (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-2.5), employment as a home health aide (adjusted OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.0-4.1), birth in Puerto Rico (adjusted OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.3-3.6), foreign birthplace (adjusted OR, 4.7; 95% CI, 1.6-13.6), African American race (adjusted OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.2-5.0), reported tuberculosis exposure (adjusted OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.2-4.4), and older age (adjusted OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.2-6.7). Additional risk factors among HIV-infected participants included alcoholism (adjusted OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.0-5.8) and high CD4 + lymphocyte count. Identification of and administration of appropriate chemoprophylaxis to drug users with these risk factors should be given high priority.
Investigations of stability and dynamic performances of switching regulators employing current-injected control

The stability and dynamic performances of a buck/boost regulator employing a current-injected control are examined. Small-signal models for the power state, the multi-loop error processor and the duty-cycle pulse-modulator are developed. The error-processor model which incorporates the current-injected loop, the dc loop and the compensation network permits evaluation of the effects of each individual control loop and their combined efforts toward shaping the performance characteristics of the closed-loop system. Comparisons are made between this modeling approach and earlier approaches. Some important yet subtle dissimilarities are discussed. This model predicts the constant-frequency 50 percent duty-cycle instability which is inherent to the current-injected control.
Laparoscopic Fundoplication for the Treatment of Reflux-Associated Pulmonary Disease in Infants and Children

ABSTRACT Gastroesophogeal reflux (GER) is known to trigger acute respiratory symptoms in some patients with asthma. Recurrent aspiration pneumonia is also a well-documented complication of GER. Fundoplication has been shown to reduce the respiratory symptoms in selected patients with GER. We report our results in 33 infants and children treated for reflux associated pulmonary disease by laparoscopic fundoplication.
Radical identification by liquid chromatography/thermospray mass spectrometry

Radical adducts of 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO) with hydroxyl, methanol-derived, and ethanol-derived radicals were detected by a combination of liquid chromatography with either electron paramagnetic resonance or thermospray mass spectrometry (LC/EPR or LC/TSP-MS) in the Fenton system (with methanol or ethanol). One radical adduct was observed in the reaction of DMPO with the hydroxyl radical or the methanol-derived radical, while two adducts were detected in the reaction of DMPO with ethanol-derived radicals. The LC/TSP-MS spectra showed quasi-molecular ions [M + H]+ at m/z 146 and m/z 160 for the methanol-derived and ethanol-derived radical adducts, respectively, and an apparent molecular ion M+ at m/z 130 for the hydroxyl radical adduct. Use of methyl-D3 alcohol (CD3OH) and ethyl-D5 alcohol (CD3CD2OH) indicated that carbon-centered radicals are formed. Experiments with partially deuterated ethanol (CD3CH2OH and CH3CD2OH) indicated that the two adducts observed in the reaction of DMPO with ethanol-derived radicals correspond to the two diastereomeric adducts of DMPO with the alpha-hydroxyethyl free radical.
"May I Trespass on your valuable space?": Ulysses on the Coast

This essay moves beyond questions of national identity and symbolic national territory in Ulysses by shifting the focus to the novel's coastal setting. It argues that Joyce strategically employs this setting to expose the economic and political mechanisms that have conspired to postpone Ireland's reciprocal engagement in the European interstate system, resulting, culturally, in a perpetual disruption of what Frantz Fanon called "international consciousness." This essay situates these observations in the context of recent critical arguments about the ways in which the opposing discourses of nationalism and cosmopolitanism obscure the pragmatic challenges of sustainable internationalism and egalitarian statehood in the developing world.