cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
RNAi living-cell microarrays for loss-of-function screens in Drosophila melanogaster cells

RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated loss-of-function screening in Drosophila melanogaster tissue culture cells is a powerful method for identifying the genes underlying cell biological functions and for annotating the fly genome. Here we describe the development of living-cell microarrays for screening large collections of RNAi-inducing double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) in Drosophila cells. The features of the microarrays consist of clusters of cells 200 μm in diameter, each with an RNAi-mediated depletion of a specific gene product. Because of the small size of the features, thousands of distinct dsRNAs can be screened on a single chip. The microarrays are suitable for quantitative and high-content cellular phenotyping and, in combination screens, for the identification of genetic suppressors, enhancers and synthetic lethal interactions. We used a prototype cell microarray with 384 different dsRNAs to identify previously unknown genes that affect cell proliferation and morphology, and, in a combination screen, that regulate dAkt/dPKB phosphorylation in the absence of dPTEN expression.
CARCINOMA IN SITU AND TUMOR MULTIFOCALITY PREDICT THE RISK OF PROSTATIC URETHRAL INVOLVEMENT AT RADICAL CYSTECTOMY IN MEN WITH TRANSITIONAL CELL CARCINOMA OF THE BLADDER

Purpose: Determining which patients are at risk for prostatic urethral involvement of urothelial carcinoma may alter assessment of the prostatic urethra before radical cystectomy and ultimately influence the choice of urinary diversion. We determined risk factors predictive of prostatic urethral involvement using preoperative bladder tumor characteristics in male patients who underwent radical cystoprostatectomy due to urothelial carcinoma of the bladder.Materials and Methods: We reviewed 192 consecutive radical cystectomy specimens from men with transitional cell carcinoma from June 1995 to June 2000. The prostatic urethra in each specimen was analyzed and urethral involvement was characterized as carcinoma in situ, intraductal invasion or prostatic stromal invasion. We then examined which clinical bladder tumor characteristics correlated with the incidence and extent of prostatic urethral involvement by performing multiple variable analysis.Results: Prostatic urethral involvement was evident in 30 of th...
Inverted-space storage organization for persistent data of very high dimensionality

Contemporary database technology is severely limited in managing the high-dimensional data of many advanced applications, such as multimedia systems and data mining. The main concern of this paper is the well-known performance degradation of multi-dimensional access methods in spaces with many dimensions. The paper proposes an elaborate storage organization, called the inverted space, which can support efficient processing of data in spaces with very high dimensionality. The organization allows system administrators to control the size of spatial indexes and thereby to avoid the negative impact of extremely high data dimensionality on the retrieval performance. In addition, this paper introduces a new point access method designed to address numerous other problems that contemporary retrieval schemes experience in high-dimensional situations. This mechanism is envisioned to serve as the core indexing structure of inverted-space storage organizations.
Perceived complexity and the grouping effect in band patterns

Symmetry properties have been shown to determine the perceived complexity of certain patterns. We used a paired-comparison method to obtain judgments of relative complexity for a family of two-dimensional regular patterns called band patterns. Although the complexity of these patterns is well predicted by their symmetry properties we were unable to explain an interaction observed between two of these properties for our experimental patterns. We discuss the implications of our results for two predominant approaches to the perceived complexity of patterns. Neither approach takes into account that the presence of grouping sometimes makes it difficult to perceive a relationship within the pattern that would––were it not for the grouping––simplify it. We conclude that grouping can mask simplicity and that this phenomenon is crucial to the understanding of perceived complexity.
Body composition in experimental congestive heart failure.

The bodies of four dogs with experimental congestive heart failure and of four normal dogs were homogenized. Analyses for water, fat, sodium, potassium, chloride, and nitrogen were carried out after discarding ascitic fluid in the animals with heart failure. Sodium and chloride concentrations were increased in dogs with heart failure. Otherwise the two groups did not differ significantly.
Muon (g−2) Measurements: Past and Future

The muon (g−2) experiment E821 at the Brookhaven National Laboratory has achieved a relative precision of ±0.54 parts per million. A new experiment, E969, with scientific approval but not yet funded, aims to improve this to ± 0.25 ppm . The technique and results from E821 will be described, and the proposed improvements for E969 will be discussed.
Cell Production and Cell Death in the Generation of Variation in Neuron Number

Retinal ganglion cell numbers in adult mice vary from 40,000 to 80, 000. Much of this variation and the prominent bimodality of strain averages are generated by allelic variants at the neuron number control 1 (Nnc1) locus on chromosome 11. The Nnc1 locus may modulate either ganglion cell production or the severity of ganglion cell death. Here we have determined what the relative contributions of these two processes are to variation in adult cell number by estimating total ganglion cell production in 10 strains of mice (A/J, BALB/cJ, BXD32, C57BL/6J, CAST/Ei, CARL/ChGo, CE/J, C3H/HeSnJ, DBA/2J, and LP/J). These strains have adult populations that range from 45,000 to 76,000 (data available at http://qtl.ml.org). We estimated cell production by counting ganglion cell axons after ganglion cell neurogenesis but before the onset of significant cell death. Total cell production ranges from 131,000 to 224,000, and most of the variation in adult ganglion cell number is explained by this significant variation in cell production. In contrast, the percentage of cell death is relatively uniform in most strains (approximately 69% cell loss). The exceptions are BXD32, a strain that has an extremely high adult cell population, and Mus caroli (CARL/ChGo), a wild southeast Asian species that is distantly related to laboratory strains. In BXD32 and M. caroli, approximately 62% of the population dies. Our analysis indicates that substitutions of single alleles at the Nnc1 locus are responsible for production differences of approximately 8000 ganglion cells.
The Reliability of Estimates of Environmental Benefits from Recreation Demand Models

Recreation demand models are commonly employed tools of economists interested in valuing improvements in environmental amenities. Despite their importance, little comparative work has been undertaken to examine the ability of the models to accurately estimate welfare changes. A simulation study designed to compare the reliability of estimated welfare measures (compensating variation and consumer surplus) from several commonly employed recreation demand models is presented. Results of the study indicate that choice of functional form and model specification are important determinants of the resulting estimates of benefits.
Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of commercial print with digital technologies

Many commercial print applications - book publishing, newspaper and magazine production, paper-based marketing material and numerous others - are characterized by high levels of over-production and waste. Printed matter is manufactured and distributed to end users, retailers and warehouses, where a proportion is unwanted or loses its value before being sold. Subsequently, obsolete printed material is recycled or discarded as waste. This occurs in large part as the result of business models built around traditional large scale offset litho, web-offset and gravure printing presses (we call these analog print technologies) which have evolved to deliver very low cost per page on large print runs. Newer digital press technology has the potential to re-engineer print business models and eliminate much of this waste. Paper is an exquisite technology that offers a durable, high contrast, high resolution and low power color display surface at very low cost. Despite this low cost and low environmental impact during use, paper has significant embedded Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions resulting from other phases of paper's life cycle. In fact, in most print applications, including those mentioned above, paper is the dominant contribution to GHG emissions. Although alternatives to paper such as e-books, e-paper and erasable ink have been proposed, it is not clear that these will succeed or that they will reduce emissions; it would certainly be unwise to rely on them as the sole route to abatements. This article quantifies the GHG emissions due to inefficiencies in current commercial and office print applications and describes improved business models built on digital print and distribution technologies to conserve paper and enable GHG reductions.
The Emerging Role of Tiotropium for Patients with Asthma

OBJECTIVETo review clinical data on the use of the long-acting anticholinergic agent tiotropium in patients with asthma.DATA SOURCESA literature search was performed via EMBASE and MEDLINE (1966-November 2012). The search was limited to human data published in the English language. Search terms included asthma, tiotropium, and long-acting anticholinergics.STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTIONRelevant information related to the use of tiotropium in patients with asthma was reviewed. Randomized controlled trials and open-label trials were included. The references of published articles identified in the search were also examined for additional studies appropriate to include in the review. Data were prioritized if they originated from human studies, especially if derived from randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Trials and case reports involving the use of long-acting anticholinergic tiotropium in asthma patients were included; conversely, trials involving ipratropium were not.DATA SYNTHESISTwo large randomiz...
Memory for sequences of events impaired in typical aging

Typical aging is associated with diminished episodic memory performance. To improve our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying this age-related memory deficit, we previously developed an integrated, cross-species approach to link converging evidence from human and animal research. This novel approach focuses on the ability to remember sequences of events, an important feature of episodic memory. Unlike existing paradigms, this task is nonspatial, nonverbal, and can be used to isolate different cognitive processes that may be differentially affected in aging. Here, we used this task to make a comprehensive comparison of sequence memory performance between younger (18-22 yr) and older adults (62-86 yr). Specifically, participants viewed repeated sequences of six colored, fractal images and indicated whether each item was presented "in sequence" or "out of sequence." Several out of sequence probe trials were used to provide a detailed assessment of sequence memory, including: (i) repeating an item from earlier in the sequence ("Repeats"; e.g., AB A: DEF), (ii) skipping ahead in the sequence ("Skips"; e.g., AB D: DEF), and (iii) inserting an item from a different sequence into the same ordinal position ("Ordinal Transfers"; e.g., AB 3: DEF). We found that older adults performed as well as younger controls when tested on well-known and predictable sequences, but were severely impaired when tested using novel sequences. Importantly, overall sequence memory performance in older adults steadily declined with age, a decline not detected with other measures (RAVLT or BPS-O). We further characterized this deficit by showing that performance of older adults was severely impaired on specific probe trials that required detailed knowledge of the sequence (Skips and Ordinal Transfers), and was associated with a shift in their underlying mnemonic representation of the sequences. Collectively, these findings provide unambiguous evidence that the capacity to remember sequences of events is fundamentally affected by typical aging.
Analysis of a stabilization technique for the fixed-point prewindowed RLS algorithm

A stable finite precision recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm is derived for the prewindowed growing memory case (forgetting factor, lambda =1). The prewindowed growing memory RLS algorithm diverges under fixed-point implementation. The random walk phenomenon due to roundoff errors in the weight update causes the divergence of the algorithm. To overcome this effect, these roundoff errors are modeled such that their effect is incorporated into the algorithm. The steady-state behavior of this new algorithm is analyzed, and it is shown that the divergence phenomenon is actually eliminated, and the new algorithm converges. >
Jet Algorithms: a Mini-Review

Many jet algorithms have been proposed in the past to study the hadronic final state in e+e¯, ep and \( p\bar{p} \) collisions. Here we review some of the most popular, mainly concentrating on the jet algorithms used at HERA and TEVATRON.
Managing information technology in modernizing an organization in a less-developed country

The study of a Guatemalan sugar company focuses on management's role in implementing of information technology in less-developed countries. The study shows that even where the intellectual skills required to use IT are very scarce, in the long run the company may gain more from "informating" its environment than from merely "automating" its production processes. But the study also shows that managers must consciously and actively develop these intellectual skills in workers.
A longitudinal and cross‐sectional analysis of the growth of the postnatal cranial base angle

Radiographs of 32 children, 16 girls and 16 boys, taken at 1 month, 3 months, 9 months, and once a year until 5 years 9 months were selected from the Denver Series. The cranial base deflection was measured by five sets of angles. A cross-sectional evaluation revealed a significant decrease in angle size by all methods of measurement by 9 months of age. Little change was noted after 1 year, 9 months, indicating that studies beginning after 2 years would not find this decrease. All individuals followed a pattern of reduction between 1 month and 9 months with variable changes at 3 months. Choice of landmark affected the degree and timing of the observed change but not the overall pattern. Differences in measuring techniques evaluated the mean degree of deflection to range from −6.9° to −13.8°.
Surface Electron Spin Resonance Study on Ruby Crystal Using Evanescent Microwave Microscopy Techniques

As the silicon technology approaches to its physical limit, the future electronic devices will depend on behaviors of a few electrons. This study is to explore the possibility of detecting a single electron spin transition by using nondestructive evanescent microwave microscopy (EMM) techniques. To enhance the RF magnetic field and minimize the dielectric losses, the sample is placed at the center of the conventional electron spin resonance (ESR) microwave cavity that does not have scanning image capabilities. In this paper, a magnetic dipole probe (MDP) is presented that not only has the advantages of the microwave cavity, but is also capable of surface scanning at high speeds. At present, the minimum detectable electron spin transitions are 20 000 on the ruby crystal (Cr3+ doped in Al2O3) surface, whereas the commercially available ESR microwave cavity has a resolution of 106 minimum detectable spins limit. Three ESR energy absorption spikes were detected at 3.77 and 3.73 GHz with the ruby crystal placed inside and outside of the MDP conductor loop, respectively. The measured ESR energy absorption spectra are consistent with theoretical analysis and the conventional ESR experimental results. The current MDP sensor has a 500-mum spatial resolution with a 1-mm radius conductor loop made by 150-mum copper wires. The nondestructive and noninvasive natures of the EMM microscopy are suitable for many biomedical applications, such as DNA sequencing, Alzheimer, and other biological tissue studies. Future efforts will be focused on integration of the MDP on the atomic force microscopy with carbon-nanotube bridges
Rural Appalachian Youth’s Vocational/Educational Postsecondary Aspirations Applying Social Cognitive Career Theory

This study investigates the relationship between postsecondary aspirations and vocational/educational self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, perceived educational barriers, and sources of support among a sample of rural Appalachian high school students. Using Social Cognitive Career Theory as the theoretical framework, vocational/educational aspirations are examined in terms of four specific postsecondary pathways common to rural Appalachian students (work, vocational technical, bachelor’s only, and professional). Results indicated vocational/educational self-efficacy beliefs, college outcome expectations, likelihood of encountering barriers to postsecondary education, and socioeconomic status contribute significantly to the discriminant function predicting the post-secondary pathways. This research extends previous work in this area by examining an understudied group, rural Appalachian adolescents. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research are provided.
Understanding Competitive Advantage Through A Strategic Retail Typology

The authors present a retail typology of strategies and performance outcomes based on a combination of Porters (1985) concept of competitive advantage and Miles and Snows (1978) classification of strategic groups. Application of the above theoretical concept is accomplished through an empirical examination of 159 retail drugstores. The tactics used in product, promotion, and service differentiation are examined along with location and pricing. The costs of goods, advertising expense, and rent expense of each retailer are also examined. Various combinations of these tactics result in classification into one of four strategic categories with differing sales and profit margins.
The (Mis)Alignment of Health Insurers’ Efficiency Measures from Different Perspectives and Their (Un)Linkage with Financial Ratios and Asset Allocation

This research uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to examine the alignment of health insurers’ efficiency measures from different perspectives. It also analyzes the linkage between efficiency measures and asset allocation as well as traditional financial ratios including medical loss ratio (MLR). The DEA results indicate that the operating efficiency and the medical services efficiency are positively (but not highly) correlated with each other, and financial ratios are not effective indicators of the efficiency of health insurers. The composite efficiency is much higher than the operating or medical services efficiency. The correlation between the composite efficiency and the operating efficiency or the medical services efficiency is moderate. Neither the operating efficiency nor the medical services efficiency is an appropriate measure of the overall efficiency of health insurers. Therefore, innovative regulatory measures, such as a combination of efficiency measures and financial ratios should be adopted to satisfy all the stakeholders. This research provides significant insights to policymakers, regulators, the health insurance industry, and consumers.
Autotransfusion in children's orthopaedics.

Two hundred and three elective orthopaedic procedures were performed in 193 children and young adults participating in an autotransfusion program in which they donated from one to three units of blood preoperatively, which were used to replace blood lost during surgery. One hundred and thirty-seven procedures, including ninety-one posterior spine fusions for scoliosis, were carried out with autologous blood only. The results of this study show that autotransfusion is a satisfactory method of blood replacement in children and young adults undergoing elective orthopaedic procedures.
“Tourists’ ‘ Me Time ’ in Asian Spas”

The Asian spa is a rapidly growing segment in tourism, which has received much attention from various sectors. This paper focuses on tourist spa-goers in the South and Southeast Asian region. More specifically, it aims to profile spa-going tourists based on their previous spa-experience. In segmenting the spa-going tourists, concepts from the literature and an industry report were used. The second aim is concerned with identifying the benefits that tourists have achieved as a result of their spa experiences. The findings of the study of 137 tourists in South and Southeast Asian countries consist of establishing three distinct types of tourist spa-goers (high, moderate and low experience). Broadly, the findings also suggest that spa experiences are beneficial to tourists’ well-being and the travel experience as a whole.
The Cayley-Hamilton Theorem Via Complex Integration

(1971). The Cayley-Hamilton Theorem Via Complex Integration. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 78, No. 9, pp. 1003-1004.
Sample Sizes for Prevention Trials Have Been Too Small

Planners of several large prevention trials have overestimated the expected incidence of events in the control group, largely because they failed either to recognize or to adequately correct for various effects of population selection. Consequently, the studies have been too small in size or too short in duration to achieve their stated objectives. The selection effects include those engendered by the choice of the target population, the self-selection of volunteers, and protocol exclusions. This paper presents a taxonomy of these effects and the likely direction of their influence on the incidence of events and on mortality rates from other causes. Little information is available to help sample-size planners in adjusting for these effects. A few studies have provided information on the extent to which control group incidence rates have fallen short of expectations. In particular, researchers from the University of Minnesota's Colon Cancer Control Study have provided a detailed comparison of event incidence and all-cause mortality rates with general population rates. (AM J Epidemiol 1993;137:797-810). Other studies should publish similarly detailed information to assist sample-size planners of prevention trials. Until more information is published, this paper provides preliminary guidelines for prevention trial sample-size planning.
THE CHARACTERS OF RESPONSE TO SOUND AND VIBRATIONIN JEWEL FISH (HEMICHROMIS BIMACULATUS)

The function of auditory system of the jewel fish (Hemichromis bimaculatus) was studied using both the neurophysiological techniques to measure the sensitivity at Various levels of the arditory system and the psychophysical techniques for whole-system sensitivityThe behavioral audiogram showed a response range from less than 100 Hz to ovet 600 Hz, with the best sensitivity ( about 0 dB re: 1 μbar) from 200 Hz to 300 Hz The isopotential audiogram measured using microphonic potentials corresponded reasonably well in bandwidth to the behavioral audio-gram The acceleration audiogram was flat up to 400 Hz, above which it declined in sensitivity Evoked field potentials from the torus semicircularis showed that sound and vibration response audiograms were similar to one another, generally showing a low-pass roll-off above 100 Hz of about 10 dB/octave, All measures showed that the |ewcl cichlid responds co both components of an undetwater stimulus, sound pressure and particle motion, with the greatest sensitivity below 300 Hz
Myeloid-associated antigen expression lacks prognostic value in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with intensive multiagent chemotherapy

Frequency and clinical significance of myeloid-associated antigen expression in blast cells were assessed in 372 consecutive children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). A comprehensive panel of myeloid monoclonal antibodies representing seven cluster groups showed myeloid-associated antigen expression in 61 cases (16.4%), 18 of which expressed two or more antigens. The antigens expressed comprised CD11b (8.9% of the total series), CD13 (6.5%), CD33 (3.2%), CD36 (1.9%), CD15 (1.6%), CD14 (1.3%), and CDw12 (1.1%). No significant associations were found between myeloid-associated antigen expression and the presence of known adverse prognostic features (eg, higher leukocyte count, nonwhite race, older age). Myeloid-associated antigen expression had no effect on remission induction or event-free survival for the 267 children who had been treated with the same combination of chemotherapeutic agents (P = .34). Thus, blast cell expression of myeloid-associated antigens in childhood ALL appears to lack prognostic value in the context of contemporary intensive chemotherapy.
“Second Person” Perspectivity in Observing and Understanding Emotional Expression

This paper explores the “intentional layering” within an emotional experience that was examined in a qualitative research class devoted to “depth phenomenology.” The idea was to approach qualitative data as a starting point for delving more deeply into an experience than a research participant might originally have been able to go. We begin by examining the method of access by means of which the discovery of this “layering” was made. in remaining faithful to Husserl, we shall talk about doing phenomenology from within the intersubjective relation and shall reflect upon what, precisely, are the “affairs” to which Husserl invites us to return. a face is a center of human expression, the transparent envelope of the attitudes and desires of others, the place of manifestation, the barely material support for a multitude of intentions. —merleau-Ponty, 1942/1963, p. 167
Epitope-Specific Binder Design by Yeast Surface Display

Yeast surface display is commonly used to engineer affinity and design novel molecular interaction. By alternating positive and negative selections, yeast display can be used to engineer binders that specifically interact with the target protein at a defined site. Epitope-specific binders can be useful as inhibitors if they bind the target molecule at functionally important sites. Therefore, an efficient method of engineering epitope specificity should help with the engineering of inhibitors. We describe the use of yeast surface display to design single domain monobodies that bind and inhibit the activity of the kinase Erk-2 by targeting a conserved surface patch involved in protein-protein interaction. The designed binders can be used to disrupt signaling in the cell and investigate Erk-2 function in vivo. The described protocol is general and can be used to design epitope-specific binders of an arbitrary protein.
Warps and Heavy Halos

The outer gas disk of our Galaxy (and many others) is warped, bending away from the plane defined by the inner disk. The bend begins just outside the solar circle; gas at longitudes l ≃ 80° reaches highest above the plane, while material at l ≃ 260° lies below it. Short-wavelength ripples are superposed. The orbit of a free particle inclined to the galactic disk precesses at a rate which depends on galactocentric radius; warped structures will tend to do the same, winding the warp into a tight spiral. The large-scale galactic warp has no sense of spirality, and is not obviously of recent origin - why then has it survived?
Wir kennen uns nie ganz aus, und über Nacht sind wir andere geworden – Die kollektive Identität

Dieser Satz aus Theodor Fontanes Roman Graf Petofy spielt auf ein Thema an, das Konjunktur hat: die Identitat. Je weniger davon Einzelne oder Gruppierungen bei sich spuren, umso energischer rufen und suchen sie nach Identitat und identitatsstiftenden Masnahmen: Personale oder Ich-Identitat, Corporate Identity, nationale, ethnische und religiose Identitaten oder die Patchwork-Identitat sind Begriffe, die seit Jahrzehnten die offentliche Debatte in der westlichen Welt pragen und Klausurtagungen von seriosen Firmen (Corporate Identity) ebenso wie Psychotherapieprozesse (Ich-Identitat) oder Soziologenkongresse (Patchwork-Identitat) nachhaltig beschaftigen. Was aber ist und wie erhalt der Einzelne oder eine Gruppierung Identitat? Ein Dutzend Uberlegungen zu einem Phanomen, das aufgrund seiner schillernden Unbestimmtheit viel verspricht, ohne dass man so recht weis, ob es diese Versprechungen zu halten imstande ist.
Games for People with Developmental Disabilities

This study presents the work on the development and evaluation of web based applications for people with developmental disabilities (DD) in collaboration with Hope Services, a California based non-profit organization that provides services to improve the quality of life for individuals with DD. The system includes two games that aim to teach basic skills such as relationship concepts, causality, and or improve upon cognitive skills. User evaluation suggests that these games provide a good platform for people with DD to increase their independence, provide an additional or alternative learning system, as well as improve their life satisfaction.
Effect of hernia size on operative repair and post-operative outcomes after open ventral hernia repair

Ventral hernia repair (VHR) is a commonly performed operation, but analysis of patient outcomes based upon hernia size is lacking. We sought to identify differences in operative repair and post-operative morbidity and mortality after open VHR based on hernia defect size. Patient and operative data were retrospectively reviewed on all patients undergoing open incisional VHR between January 2008 and February 2015 by a single surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Patient variables were described by means for continuous variables and percentages for discrete variables, with differences between groups calculated by Chi-squared analysis. During the study period, 228 patients underwent open VHR during which intraoperative defect size was measured. Patients were split into four groups based upon defect size: less than 200 cm2, 200–300 cm2, 301–400 cm2, and over 400 cm2. Patients with large defects were more likely to present with a recurrent hernia (P = 0.007) and trended towards a history of wound infections (P = 0.07). Operative time was significantly longer as defect size increased (P < 0.001). Component separation was most frequently used in patients with defects 200–300 cm2 in size (P = 0.001), in whom primary closure was most likely to occur. While mesh was used in almost all patients, the specific location (overlay only, underlay only, or overlay with underlay) depended on hernia size (P < 0.001). Mean length of stay increased with defect size (P < 0.001). Larger defect size was associated with increased 30-day morbidity (P = 0.03) but not readmission (P = 0.53), recurrence (P = 0.99), or mortality (P = 0.99). Hernia defect size affects operative time and surgical technique for repair of a ventral hernia. Larger defect size is associated with increased post-operative morbidity and length of stay but not readmission, recurrence, or mortality. Hernia size greater than 400 cm2 should not be a limitation to operative repair.
Optical Differentiation Wavefront Sensing for Freeform Optics Metrology

High resolution, high dynamic range optical differentiation wavefront sensor using binary pixelated filters has been developed for the metrology of freeform optics. Wavefront reconstruction precision and accuracy will be presented.
Abstract B89: Breast cancer risk factors:and mammographic screening adherence of Native women: Early results from a study in the Bemidji Indian Health Service Area

Within the Bemidji Indian Health Service Area (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana) women9s adherence to mammographic screening guidelines is low. This pilot study9s purpose was to examine whether compliance with annual mammogram screening is associated with the presence of risk factors used in Gail Model calculations. Risk factors were consistently recorded on patients9 self-history questionnaires. Data from 203 consecutive Native women9s records were reviewed (≈ 17% of the ultimate sample of 1200 records). All records were from one tribe. Inclusion criteria were: ≥ age 40, no prior history of breast cancer, and ≥ one mammogram on file. Data reviewed included current age, breast cancer family history, personal biopsy history, ages at first live birth, menarche and menopause, and compliance with annual mammogram. Women averaging ≤ 1.2 years between mammograms were considered compliant. Descriptive statistics were calculated to categorize women as being at higher or lower risk for each breast cancer risk factor. Fisher9s Exact two-tailed test measured associations between screening compliance-noncompliance and women9s risk on each factor. Approximately two-hundred records were used. Six were excluded due to missing data. Excepting the mean age (46.1) at menopause, mean ages overall, at menarche, and first live birth were consistent with the United States (US) general population. Menopause occurred approximately 5 years earlier in this sample. The median age at menopause in this group was 48 years. No statistically different relationships were found between screening compliance and: breast cancer family history (p=1.00, n=202); age at menarche (p=0.31, n=195); and age at menopause (p=0.39, n=198). There was a statistically significant relationship between screening compliance and age (p=0.012, n=187) based on whether women were at or above the median age; breast biopsy history (p=0.007, n=192); and age at first live birth (p=0.005, n=185). The latter association showed women who were younger at first live birth were more likely to adhere to screening guidelines than were women who were at higher risk due to later age at first live birth. Preliminary results showed that having a higher risk factor was not predictive of screening compliance in half of the six measures, and in one case, (age at first live birth) the association was not in the direction anticipated. Absence of expected associations may be related to inadequate awareness of personal risk and screening. A larger study should further delineate elements contributing to poor screening compliance. This study highlights potential areas that providers may influence to increase screening compliance.
Effects of air chemistry and stiffened EOS of air in numerical simulations of bubble collapse in water

Numerical simulations of bubble collapse show that the combined effects of air chemistry at high temperature and a stiffened gas equation of state for air at high pressures lead to significantly lower peak temperature and pressure during the evolution.
Forced Use of the Paretic Leg Induced by a Constraint Force Applied to the Nonparetic Leg in Individuals Poststroke During Walking.

Background. Individuals with stroke usually show reduced muscle activities of the paretic leg and asymmetrical gait pattern during walking. Objective. To determine whether applying a resistance force to the nonparetic leg would enhance the muscle activities of the paretic leg and improve the symmetry of spatiotemporal gait parameters in individuals with poststroke hemiparesis. Methods. Fifteen individuals with chronic poststroke hemiparesis participated in this study. A controlled resistance force was applied to the nonparetic leg using a customized cable-driven robotic system while subjects walked on a treadmill. Subjects completed 2 test sections with the resistance force applied at different phases of gait (ie, early and late swing phases) and different magnitudes (10%, 20%, and 30% of maximum voluntary contraction [MVC] of nonparetic leg hip flexors). Electromyographic (EMG) activity of the muscles of the paretic leg and spatiotemporal gait parameters were collected. Results. Significant increases in ...
Job Endings and Work Trajectories of Persons Receiving Supported Employment and Cognitive Remediation

Objective:This study examined job endings and work trajectories among participants in a study comparing the effects of adding cognitive remediation to supported employment among individuals who had...
The Kinematic Flow Structure for the Gvirtzman-Gorelick In Situ VOC Remediation System

Potential theory and Stokes' stream function techniques are used to investigate the flow structure around the recirculation system developed by Gvirtzman and Gorelick (1992, 1993), which consists of an extraction well and a gallery (trench) for the recharge of treated water to the aquifer. Analytical formulas are derived for the drawdown, velocity, and stream function for a model in which the extraction well is modeled as a uniformly distributed line sink and the gallery is modeled as a uniformly distributed ring source. Travel times are reported for water particles traveling along the streamlines containing 50 and 90% of the flow for various degrees of well penetration and various radii of the ring source. The travel times along the streamline resulting in the shortest travel time (not necessarily the shortest path) are also reported for various degrees of well penetration and various radii of the ring source. The method completely eliminates the use of numerical finite-difference or finite-element methods and can be used for optimization of technological parameters of this remediation system.
Finish Accumulators: An Efficient Reduction Construct for Dynamic Task Parallelism

Parallel reductions represent a common pattern for computing the aggregation of an associative and commutative operation, such as summation, across multiple pieces of data supplied by parallel tasks. In this poster, we introduce finish accumulators, a unified construct that supports predefined and user-defined parallel reductions for dynamic task parallelism. Finish accumulators are designed to be integrated into structured task parallelism constructs, such as the async and finish constructs found in the X10 and Habanero-Java (HJ) languages, so as to guarantee determinism for accumulation and to avoid any possible race conditions in referring to intermediate results. In contrast to lower-level reduction constructs such as atomic variables, the high-level semantics of finish accumulators allows for a wide range of implementations with different accumulation policies, e.g., eager-computation vs. lazy-computation. The best implementation can thus be selected based on a given application and target platform. We have integrated finish accumulators into the Habanero-Java task parallel language, and used them for research and teaching. In addition to their higher-level semantics, experimental results demonstrate that our Java-based implementation of finish accumulators delivers comparable or better performance for computing reductions relative to Java’s atomic variables and concurrent collections.
Thermodynamics of hydrogen cyanide and hydrogen fluoride binding to cytochrome c peroxidase and its Asn-82-->Asp mutant

The thermodynamics of binding of fluoride and cyanide to cytochrome c peroxidase (CCP) and its Asn-82-->Asp mutant (D82CCP) in phosphate and acetate buffer at an ionic strength of 0.15 mol.kg-1 from pH 5.0 to 7.1 were investigated by titration calorimetry at 289 and 297 K. The binding reactions are enthalpically driven. The fluoride-binding constants determined from the titration calorimetry results were in agreement with those determined from difference-spectroscopy measurements. For cyanide binding to CCP at 297.9 K, the binding constant decreased from 8.95 (+/- 0.83) x 10(5) M-1 at pH 7.0 to 4.04(+/- 0.23) x 10(5) M-1 at pH 5.0, and the binding enthalpy increased from -57.2 +/- 1.4 kJ.mol-1 at pH 7.0 to -48.6 +/- 1.8 kJ.mol-1 at pH 5.0. For fluoride binding to CCP, the binding constant increased from 8.41(+/- 0.54) x 10(3) M-1 at pH 7.0 to 3.11(+/- 0.09) x 10(5) M-1 at pH 5.0 and the binding enthalpy increased from -71.9 +/- 1.1 kJ.mol-1 at pH 7.0 to -67.0 +/- 1.9 kJ.mol-1 at pH 5.0. The binding enthalpies for D82CCP were about the same as those for CCP. However, the binding constants for cyanide and fluoride to D82CCP were respectively a factor of two less and at least an order of magnitude less than the corresponding binding constants of CCP. Decreased ligand-binding strength in the D82CCP mutant is thus entirely due to entropic effects.
Dietary Intake Changes in Response to a Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Reduction Trial for Various Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Eligibility Groups.

Abstract Objective To examine dietary intake differences resulting from a sugar-sweetened beverage reduction intervention by 3 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation groups: SNAP participants (n = 56), income-eligible nonparticipants (n = 30), and income-ineligible nonparticipants (n = 60). Methods Adults in southwest Virginia were enrolled in a 6-month behavioral trial. The researchers collected SNAP enrollment status and 3 24-hour dietary recalls at baseline and 6 months. Repeated-measures ANOVAs were used to assess differences in dietary intake among SNAP participation groups. Results No significant group × time differences were found for energy density, Healthy Eating Index scores, Healthy Beverage Index scores, or intake of total calories, added sugars, and sugar-sweetened beverages. However, several within-group improvements were noted: income-ineligible nonparticipants and SNAP participants improved in more areas compared with income-eligible nonparticipants, including intake of total calories, added sugars, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Conclusions and Implications This exploratory analysis suggests that the overall effectiveness of a sugar-sweetened beverage intake reduction intervention was not influenced by SNAP eligibility and participation status, because there were no significant group by time differences over the intervention. It is important to recognize for future programs that different approaches to improving dietary intake may be needed to match the characteristics of this audience better. This may be accomplished by attempting to decrease the disparity gap between income-eligible nonparticipants and those receiving SNAP or who are income ineligible through the use of programs such as SIPsmartER.
How I treat Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The introduction of agents targeted at specific molecular events is changing the treatment paradigms in a number of malignancies. Historically, we have relied entirely on DNA-interactive, cytotoxic drugs for treating patients with leukemia. Increased understanding of the leukemic cell biology and pathogenesis, and the ways they evade the immune surveillance mechanisms, will likely lead to the development of more effective agents, and regimens less reliant on chemotherapy, able to achieve deep levels of disease eradication. In Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the introduction of increasingly potent tyrosine kinas inhibitors (TKIs) has revolutionized therapy. These drugs have been established as the cornerstone of any therapeutic strategy in this disease, and a number of trials have better defined the best ways to incorporate them into the established paradigms. Despite using TKIs, we have continued to remain reliant on cytotoxic chemotherapy regimens and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant to achieve the best long-term outcomes. However, with the introduction of more potent TKIs and other novel agents, as well as better methods for monitoring minimal/measurable residual disease, we are entering an era where we hope to diminish our reliance on transplantation and cytotoxic chemotherapy in this disease.
The Relationship Between Gait Symmetry and Metabolic Demand in Individuals With Unilateral Transfemoral Amputation: A Preliminary Study.

Introduction Temporal-spatial symmetry allows for optimal metabolic economy in unimpaired human gait. The gait of individuals with unilateral transfemoral amputation is characterized by temporal-spatial asymmetries and greater metabolic energy expenditure. The objective of this study was to determine whether temporal-spatial asymmetries account for greater metabolic energy expenditure in individuals with unilateral transfemoral amputation. Materials and methods The relationship between temporal-spatial gait asymmetry and metabolic economy (metabolic power normalized by walking speed) was retrospectively examined in eighteen individuals with transfemoral amputation walking at a self-selected velocity overground. Pearson's product-moment correlations were used to assess the relationship between: (1) step time symmetry and metabolic economy and (2) step length symmetry and metabolic economy. The retrospective analysis of this data was approved by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Institutional Review Board and all individuals provided written consent. Additional insights on this relationship are presented through a case series describing the temporal-spatial and metabolic responses of two individuals with transfemoral amputation who completed a split-belt treadmill walking test. Results For the cohort of individuals, there was no significant relationship between metabolic economy and either step time asymmetry or step length asymmetry. However, the case series showed a positive relationship between step length asymmetry and metabolic power as participants adapted to split-belt treadmill walking. Conclusion There is mixed evidence for the relationship between temporal-spatial asymmetries and metabolic energy expenditure. This preliminary study may suggest optimal metabolic energy expenditure in individuals with transfemoral amputation occurs at an individualized level of symmetry and resultant deviations incur a metabolic penalty. The results of this study support the idea that addressing only temporal-spatial gait asymmetries in individuals with transfemoral amputation through rehabilitation may not improve metabolic economy. Nevertheless, future prospective research is necessary to confirm these results and implications for clinical practice.
Market Power in the Us Airline Industry

Using data from the US Department of Transportation (1979-1992), we calculate the marginal cost of air travel. We then use this estimate of marginal cost to directly calculate the degree of market power in the ailrine industry. We show that the degree of market power varies with market structure.
Cumulative nonsmoking risk factors increase the probability of developing lung cancer

Abstract Background It is estimated that 20% of lung cancer cases in the United States are among never smokers, yet current screening recommendations only include a small subset of high-risk patients. In this study, 2 models were used to predict the risk of developing lung cancer in subgroups of never smoking patients with additional risk variables. Methods The Liverpool Lung Project (LLP) and the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) were 2 models used to calculate risk of developing lung cancer. Risk was calculated as a function of age for developing lung cancer within the next 5 to 10 years. Results PLCO estimated a peak risk of 16.20% at age 75 for 30-pack-year smokers with a first-degree relative with lung cancer. LLP estimated a peak risk of 7.3% over the next 5 years at age 79 for men with 30-pack-year and a first-degree relative with early-onset lung cancer ( Conclusions Models such as LLP and PLCO might be used to identify risk for patients who would otherwise not receive lung cancer screening. These individual risk assessments can be used by patients and providers to assess if one is at substantial risk for developing lung cancer.