cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Flourishing and academic engagement among adolescents with overweight and obesity.

BACKGROUND Overweight and obesity in adolescence are associated with several negative health indicators; the association with flourishing, an indicator of overall well-being, is less clear. OBJECTIVES To examine associations between weight status and indicators of flourishing and academic engagement in adolescents. SUBJECTS Analyses included 22,078 adolescents (10-17 years) from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health. METHODS Adolescents were grouped according to body mass index (BMI) classification; outcomes included indicators of flourishing and academic engagement. Logistic regression models assessed the odds of each outcome comparing adolescents with overweight and adolescents with obesity to healthy weight adolescents. RESULTS For flourishing, adolescents with overweight and adolescents with obesity were less likely to stay calm during a challenge (17% and 30%, respectively; p < 0.01); adolescents with obesity were 30% less likely to finish a task they started (p < 0.001), and 34% less likely to show interest in new things (p < 0.001) in comparison to healthy weight peers. Adolescents with obesity were 26% less likely to care about doing well in school (p < 0.001), and adolescents with overweight and adolescents with obesity were significantly less likely to complete all required homework (19% and 34%, respectively) (p < 0.001), in comparison to healthy weight peers. CONCLUSIONS A comprehensive approach to addressing overweight and obesity in adolescence should target improving academic engagement and flourishing to promote overall well-being.
Dimensions of Cosmopolitanism: Patriotism and Disaffection Among U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers

In a globalized world, how do individual people navigate experiences with difference? How do they internalize cosmopolitan values? Using a large mixed-methods data set, this article explores the wa...
Evaluating Family-School Collaboration: A Preliminary Examination of the Family-School Collaboration Inventory

Family-school collaboration is a key component of practice within the field of School Psychology. Promoting an effective partnership between parents and educators can be difficult, as a variety of factors influence the quality of the relationship. Currently, no scale exists to measure constructs related to family-school collaboration in a practical manner. The current study sought to create a reliable measure to assess parents’ perceptions about the practice of family-school collaboration by their child’s school that could provide actionable steps to increase family-school collaboration. The Family-School Collaboration Inventory (FSCI) was created from a review of best practices in the field of school psychology. The survey was completed online by 304 participants (parents/caregivers of school-aged children) recruited through social media websites. A principal component analysis was completed and identified three factors comprising family-school collaboration: (1) Collaborative Communication of Standards and Services (CCSS), (2) Inclusive Partnership (IP), and (3) Disconnected Experience (DE). Limitations and future directions are discussed.
Collaboration cosmopolitanism: what are the effects on the “overlooked majority” of scientists and engineers?

Despite the fact that the vast majority of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) workers are those with a bachelor’s degree, past studies in science policy and higher education are largely focused on research collaboration and nearly all examine doctoral-level or academic researchers. We use licensed data from the U.S. National Science Foundation to examine the impacts of collaboration cosmopolitanism on the job satisfaction and salary of bachelor-level science professionals. The concept of collaboration cosmopolitanism (Bozeman and Corley in Research Policy, 33(4), 599–616, 2004) pertains to various aspects of institutional and geographic distance in collaboration. We found that STEM college graduates having double-majored or minored in other fields tend to have higher levels of collaboration cosmopolitanism. We also found a significant positive relationship between collaboration cosmopolitanism and career outcomes. Women with STEM bachelor’s degrees are paid less than men, but women engaging in higher collaboration cosmopolitanism enjoy more benefits towards career outcomes than do men. We conclude with a discussion of policy implications for STEM higher education.
Pharmacist involvement in trauma resuscitation across the United States: A 10-year follow-up survey.

PURPOSE A national survey performed in 2007 found that only 23% of American College of Surgeons (ACS) trauma centers involved pharmacists in trauma resuscitation. This study describes interval change in use, perceptions, and responsibilities from 2007 to 2017. METHODS Of the 419 trauma centers identified from the ACS website, contact information was available for 335. In March 2017, a survey assessing hospital demographics, pharmacist coverage and services, and perception of pharmacist value and use was emailed to the identified trauma representatives. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis, as appropriate. RESULTS The response rate was 33% (110/335). Pharmacist involvement with trauma resuscitation increased significantly from 23% in 2007 to 70% (p < 0.001) and in 71% of trauma centers was provided by pharmacists practicing within the emergency department. Pharmacist involvement was greatest in the Midwest (p < 0.01), but with similar distribution with regards to ACS designation, institution type, and patient volume. Common bedside responsibilities include calculating dosages (96%), preparing medications (89%), and providing medication information (79%), while trauma program/administrative responsibilities (45%) include trauma team education, pharmacy operations, medication safety, quality improvement data collection, research, review of quality assurance cases, ACS accreditation preparation, and others. The primary reason for not considering pharmacist involvement was unfamiliarity with these roles/benefits. CONCLUSION Pharmacists are an increasingly important component of the trauma team, as evidenced by growth over the last decade. In addition to clinical benefit at the bedside, pharmacists can support the regular activities of a trauma program in many meaningful ways.
“A New Global Poetics?” Revisited, Ten Years on: Coming to Terms

In “‘A New Global Poetics?’ Revisited, Ten Years on: Coming to Terms,” Romana Huk picks up where her earlier, lengthier essay by that name ended, considering the implications of new terms used in m...
Minimally Invasive Cervical Foraminotomies

Surgical options to address the symptoms and signs of unilateral cervical radiculopathy include posterior foraminotomies, anterior foraminotomies, anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, and cervical disk arthroplasty. Foraminotomies are often performed in combination with larger surgical procedures such as fusion, disk arthroplasty, and laminectomy. In these cases, the more extensive surgical exposure makes the procedure technically easier to perform. Minimally invasive posterior and anterior cervical foraminotomies for the treatment of cervical radiculopathy is the focus of this chapter. The goal of both approaches is to address the compressive pathology while minimizing tissue disruption and alteration of cervical spine biomechanics. Of these 2 approaches, the posterior cervical foraminotomy is the most common. The classic posterior approach was described by Spurling and Scolville in 1944. Since then, several variations have been described, all having the shared goal of decompressing the nerve root at the cervical neural foramen.1 Minimally invasive laminoforaminotomy provides access to and visualization of the cervical neural foramen through muscle-sparing techniques in order to decrease the pain and morbidity associated with traditional open surgery while maintaining the same efficacy as the open procedure. The anterior cervical microforaminotomy, often referred to as the Jho procedure, was first described in 1996. It was developed to try to address the known limitations and potential pitfalls of classic anterior and posterior cervical procedures.2 The technique involves accessing the compressive pathology through the anterior uncovertebral junction. Once access is achieved, the soft disk and/or bone spurs that compose the compressive pathology are excised. The procedure has evolved over time to include 4 basic variations of the technique and favor the utilization of an endoscope vs the operating microscope for visualization.
Constraints on mantle viscosity and Laurentide ice sheet evolution from pluvial paleolake shorelines in the western United States

Abstract The deformation pattern of the paleoshorelines of extinct Lake Bonneville were among the first features to indicate that Earth's interior responds viscoelastically to changes in surface loads ( Gilbert, 1885 ). Here we revisit and extend this classic study of isostatic rebound with updated lake chronologies for Lake Bonneville and Lake Lahontan as well as revised elevation datasets of shoreline features. The first order domal pattern in the shoreline elevations can be explained by rebound associated with the removal of the lake load. We employ an iterative scheme to calculate the viscoelastic lake rebound, which accounts for the deformation of the solid Earth and gravity field, to calculate a lake load that is consistent with the load-deformed paleotopography. We find that the domal deformation requires a regional Earth structure that exhibits a thin elastic thickness of the lithosphere (15–25 km) and low sublithospheric Maxwell viscosity ( ∼ 10 19 Pa s). After correcting for rebound due to the lake load, shoreline feature elevations reveal a statistically significant northward dipping trend. We attribute this trend to continent-scale deformation caused by the ice peripheral bulge of the Laurentide ice sheet, and take advantage of the position of these lakes on the distal flank of the peripheral bulge to provide new insights on mantle viscosity and Laurentide ice sheet reconstructions. We perform ice loading calculations to quantify the deformation of the solid Earth, gravity field, and rotation axis that is caused by the growth and demise of the Laurentide ice sheet. We test three different ice reconstructions paired with a suite of viscosity profiles and confirm that the revealed trend can be explained by deformation associated with the Laurentide ice sheet when low viscosities below the asthenosphere are adopted. We obtain best fits to shoreline data using ice models that do not have the majority of ice in the eastern sectors of the Laurentide ice sheet, with the caveat that this result can be affected by lateral variations in viscosity. We show that pluvial lakes in the western United States can place valuable constraints on the Laurentide ice sheet, the shape of its peripheral bulge, and the underlying mantle viscosity.
Clinical and Biomechanical Outcomes following Knee Extensor Mechanism Reconstruction.

Purpose To evaluate clinical and biomechanical outcomes after knee extensor mechanism reconstruction (KEMR). Methods Patients who underwent KEMR at our institution from 2011 to 2018 were identified. Patient-reported outcomes (Kujala, Lysholm, Tegner Activity Scale) were compiled at clinical follow-up. Isokinetic testing was conducted using the BioDex system 4 pro dynamometer at slow (60°/s), intermediate (180°/s), and fast (300°/s) speeds in a 9-patient subset. Results From 2011 to 2018, 12 patients (12 knees, 10 male, 5 right, mean age: 54.3 ± standard deviation: 15.2 years) with KEM injuries requiring tendon reconstruction with a 1-year minimum follow up were identified. Postoperative follow-up was 42.6 months (range: 12.0-93.0 months). Procedures included patellar (7) and quadriceps tendon reconstruction (5). Postoperative versus preoperative Tegner Activity Scale scores demonstrated significant improvement (3.5 ± 2.5 vs 1.5 ± 1.2, n = 8, P = .05). Postoperative versus preoperative Kujala scores significantly improved (70.3 ± 11.7 vs 43.6 ± 15.7, n = 8, P = .010). There was significant improvement in preoperative to postoperative KEMR extension lag (29.4 ± 22.2° vs 0.83 ± 1.9°, P = .002). Clinically, there was no difference in passive range of motion between the operative and contralateral knee. BioDex testing demonstrated decreased maximum work generated from the operative versus contralateral knee at slow (70.4 ± 30.4 Joules vs 101.9 ± 40.6 J; P = .028), intermediate (52.0 ± 45.4 J vs 69.8 ± 63.7 J; P = .038), and fast (43.8 ± 41.7 J vs 57.5 ± 53.8 J; P = .050) speeds. Range of motion was less in the operative versus contralateral knee at all speeds: P = .011, .038, and .024. The average peak torque generated per body weight was smaller in the operative versus contralateral knee at slow speed (P = .038). Conclusions Patients undergoing KEMR in this study have significantly improved clinical outcomes despite having strength deficits that persist postoperatively. Level of Evidence Therapeutic Case Series, Level IV.
Transformational leadership and the big five personality traits of counselor educators

This study examined the association between Big Five personality and counselor educators’ transformational leadership style. Findings indicate that all five personality traits were significant pred...
Third-Party Data Fusion to Estimate Freeway Performance Measures:

Transportation agencies monitor freeway performance using various measures such as VMT (vehicle-miles traveled), VHD (vehicle-hours of delay), and VHT (vehicle-hours traveled). They typically rely ...
X-ray diffraction from oriented outer mitochondrial membranes: Detection of in-plane subunit structure

Abstract X-ray diffraction patterns from ultracentrifugally oriented specimens of plant outer mitochondrial membranes show five distinct maxima in the equatorial direction. These diffraction maxima arise from in-plane subunits whose dimensions are consistent with those of the features (“pits”) seen in electron micrographs of the membranes in negative stain.
Absorption of transfused chromium-labeled erythrocytes from the fetal peritoneal cavity in hydrops fetalis.

Abstract It would be indicated from these studies that a hydropic fetus with ascites can and does absorb transfused red blood cells rapidly from the peritoneal cavity and that the ascitic fluid per se does not prevent this absorption.
Compatible Process, Conflicting Result: The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act May Preempt the Uniform Commercial Code When Security Entitlements are Sold Abroad

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) protection of intermediary financial institutions may obstruct a Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) goal. The FSIA intends to restrict sovereign immunity when a foreign government participates in commercial activities with direct effects in the United States. The UCC protects intermediaries by forcing creditors to seek judgments abroad when the security entitlements were purchased abroad. If the UCC compels creditors to sue in a nation that will not treat an individual investor and a foreign sovereign equally, then its effect conflicts with the objective of the FSIA, and the FSIA preempts the UCC. This Article uses the facts in the pending lawsuit of Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran to illustrate the preemption arguments and demonstrate why courts should preempt the UCC when enforcing judgments against foreign governments that purchase certain security entitlements.
Pain Comorbidities: Understanding and Treating the Complex Patient

Pain Comorbidities: Understanding and Treating the Complex Patient by Maria Adele Giamberadino & Troels Staehelin Jensen. As the population ages and individuals live long enough to be burdened by multiple comorbid conditions, the face of the chronic pain patient has changed, and so have the challenges confronting the clinicians involved in their care. Now, more than ever, it is important to integrate knowledge from the various fields of medicine when treating the chronic pain patient, which is the unique perspective guiding Dr Maria Adele Giamberadino and Dr Troels Jensen's book. Pain Comorbidities: Understanding and Treating the Complex Patient is a clear and concise guide to primary care doctors, medical specialists, and pain specialists that focuses on the understanding of the complex patient's comorbidities and the practical application of various therapeutic modalities when treating pain. Pain Comorbidities: Understanding and Treating the Complex Patient is arranged in three primary sections. The first is focused on a range of aspects associated with various medical comorbidities: their epidemiology, how the conditions can be modeled, and the role played by multiple factors such the genetic, the immunological, the hormonal, and the psychosocial. Emphasis is placed on the two most common comorbidies of chronic pain, which are stated to be depression and anxiety. The second part of the book describes specific pain and nonpain comorbidities. These comorbidities are discussed with respect to their clinical presentations, unique pathophysiology, diagnostic challenges they present, and the subsequent implications for therapy modalities. The third and last section of the book is devoted …
Simplified vector-thread architectures for flexible and efficient data-parallel accelerators

This thesis explores a new approach to building data-parallel accelerators that is based on simplifying the instruction set, microarchitecture, and programming methodology for a vector-thread architecture. The thesis begins by categorizing regular and irregular data-level parallelism (DLP), before presenting several architectural design patterns for data-parallel accelerators including the multiple-instruction multiple-data (MIMD) pattern, the vector single-instruction multiple-data (vector-SIMD) pattern, the single-instruction multiple-thread (SIMT) pattern, and the vector-thread (VT) pattern. Our recently proposed VT pattern includes many control threads that each manage their own array of microthreads. The control thread uses vector memory instructions to efficiently move data and vector fetch instructions to broadcast scalar instructions to all microthreads. These vector mechanisms are complemented by the ability for each microthread to direct its own control flow. In this thesis, I introduce various techniques for building simplified instances of the VT pattern. I propose unifying the VT control-thread and microthread scalar instruction sets to simplify the microarchitecture and programming methodology. I propose a new single-lane VT microarchitecture based on minimal changes to the vector-SIMD pattern. Single-lane cores are simpler to implement than multi-lane cores and can achieve similar energy efficiency. This new microarchitecture uses control processor embedding to mitigate the area overhead of single-lane cores, and uses vector fragments to more efficiently handle both regular and irregular DLP as compared to previous VT architectures. I also propose an explicitly data-parallel VT programming methodology that is based on a slightly modified scalar compiler. This methodology is easier to use than assembly programming, yet simpler to implement than an automatically vectorizing compiler. To evaluate these ideas, we have begun implementing the Maven data-parallel accelerator. This thesis compares a simplified Maven VT core to MIMD, vector-SIMD, and SIMT cores. We have implemented these cores with an ASIC methodology, and I use the resulting gate-level models to evaluate the area, performance, and energy of several compiled microbenchmarks. This work is the first detailed quantitative comparison of the VT pattern to other patterns. My results suggest that future data-parallel accelerators based on simplified VT architectures should be able to combine the energy efficiency of vector-SIMD accelerators with the flexibility of MIMD accelerators. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Organisation of the soil seed bank in mixed chaparral

Seed densities, estimated from germinations under glasshouse conditions, were determined for fire-treated and control soils sampled from north and south facing stands of mixedAdenostoma fasciculatum-Ceanothus greggii chaparral that last burned 10, 17, 36, 62 and 86 years before 1987. A total of 53 species was recorded. Total germinable seed density was not influenced by aspect nor by an experimental fire treatment, however, densities varied significantly, but not predictably, over the time since fire sequence. Species diversity was significantly lower in the 86 year old stand, but neither diversity or richness was influenced by the fire treatment. Soils from north facing slopes supported a higher species diversity overall, and seed densities of six species were significantly higher on north than on south slopes. We identify two functional groups in the seed bank on the basis of the direct effects of fire on seed densities: a fire-dependent group, comprising 6 species and about 21% of the total seed bank, in which germinable densities increased after the fire treatment, and a fire-independent group, made up of 11 species and almost two-thirds of the seed bank. The fire-independent group is further separated into two: a shrub-centred sub-group (Crassula erecta, Filago californica, Pterostegia drymarioides, Streptanthus heterophyllus andCryptantha intermedia) maintained larger seed banks in older stands and was associated with shrub cover; and an opportunistic sub-group (Camissonia hirtella, Gnaphalium chilense, Mimulus pilosus andSenecio vulgaris) tended to have larger seed banks in younger stands and was associated with canopy gaps. Overall, the soil seed assemblage from this mixed chaparral does not appear to be tightly coupled to fire-generated opportunities for recruitment. The reason for this is that the fire-dependent group represents only 6 species. In addition, among the fire-independent species, the shrub-centred group of 5 annuals made up almost 40% of total soil seed density. This group shows ecological and taxonomic affinities with desert annuals.
Models of PTSD and traumatic stress: the importance of research "from bedside to bench to bedside"

The epidemiology and psychology of PTSD noted above is not often considered in neurobiological models of PTSD. Neurobiological models tend to focus on symptoms. This is an important perspective but it does not capture the brains total response to traumatic events. Similarly, neurobiologists have rarely used the extensive knowledge of animal behavioral responses to stress as a means to define the human stress phenomenology, looking for the human equivalent (rather than the other way around). The development of animal models for PTSD and other traumatic stress-related brain changes is an important part of advancing our neurobiological understanding of the disease process as well as recovery, resilience, and possible therapeutic targets. Animal models should address symptoms but also other aspects of PTSD that are seen in clinical care including the waxing and waning of symptoms, Understanding "forgetting", toxic exposure, failure to recover and how the neural systems fail rather than function are important perspectives on developing animal models. The cognitive process of identification is another important animal model to develop. Using these perspectives recent work has shown new avenues for understanding the trauma response in animal models and human brain tissue of individuals with PTSD. The 5-HT2A receptor and p11 protein and associated regulators are avenues of new investigation that warrant study and consideration in models of PTSD.
Identification and modelling of nonlinear dynamic behaviour in analogue circuits

This paper presents a new approach for identifying nonlinear dynamic behaviour in analogue circuits. The approach facilitates the creation of models that more accurately reflect the dynamic behaviour of a circuit. It has been used in a fully automated, behavioural modelling tool, Ascend, that starts from the netlist description of the circuit and generates differential algebraic equation (DAE) based behavioural models. The underlying modelling approach is overviewed to provide a context for this research. Some demonstrative test results illustrate the effectiveness of the new method.
Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes: Controversies and Conundrums

Strategies for preventing sudden cardiac death in young athletes are predicated on the assumption that: (1) these events reflect pre-existing, clinically silent heart disease, and (2) means for detecting these abnormalities on the pre-participation evaluation are both feasible and accurate. Recent controversy has surrounded both of these presumptions. Some evidence suggests that the myocardial hypertrophy accompanying sports training itself might serve as a substrate for fatal arrhythmias. As well, vigorous debate has arisen over the optimal content of the pre-participation evaluation, particularly regarding the inclusion of routine screening electrocardiograms. As the rarity of these fatal events does not lend itself to an experimental approach, such disagreements are not easily resolved. Consequently, it is expected that decisions regarding approaches to prevention of sudden death in athletes will be dictated largely by region-specific financial, political, and cultural factors. This chapter examines the aetiologies of sudden cardiac death in young athletes as well as the controversies surrounding the prevention of these tragedies.
Petrology and oxygen isotopes of NWA 5492, a new metal‐rich chondrite

Abstract– Northwest Africa 5492 is a new metal-rich chondrite breccia that may represent a new oxygen reservoir and new chondrite parent body. It has some textural similarities to CB and CH chondrites, but silicates are more reduced, sulfides are more common and not associated with metal, and metal compositions differ from CB and CH chondrites. Oxygen isotope ratios indicate that Northwest Africa (NWA) 5492 components (chondrules and lithic fragments) formed in at least two different oxygen reservoirs. The more common, and presumably host, component plots in a region above the terrestrial fractionation line, below ordinary chondrite compositions, and just above enstatite chondrites in 3-oxygen space. The only other chondritic materials that plot in this region are chondrules from the Grosvenor Mountains (GRO) 95551 ungrouped metal-rich chondrite. The other rare component plots near the CR, CB, and CH chondrites. Based on petrologic characteristics and oxygen isotopic compositions, NWA 5492 appears to be related to the ungrouped metal-rich GRO 95551 chondrite.
Impact of Reactive Neuromuscular Training on Falling in Parkinson's Disease

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of reactive neuromuscular training (RNT) on falling in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Subjects: Thirty male and female patients were selected, their ages ranged from 50-60 years. They were randomly divided into two equal groups: Control and study. Methods: Balance was evaluated by Biodex balance system (BBS), falling was assessed by the Unified Parkinson Rating Scale (UPDRS), step length, velocity, and cadence were also assessed by motion analysis system and finally, muscle EMG activity for rectus abdominus and erector spinae were recorded before and after the study period. Both groups received conventional physical therapy program. In addition, the study group received RNT and balance training by Biodex multi-joint system (BMJS) and BBS respectively. Results: There was significant improvement in the test parameters in the study group after treatment compared to that of the control group (p<0.01). Conclusion: Reactive neuromuscular training is considered a new useful and effective modality in preventing falling in patients with Parkinson's disease.
Application of discriminant function analysis to the felsic rocks of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Abstract The technique of multivariate analysis was used to investigate the geochemical relationships between the felsic rocks of the Bushveld Complex. The Bushveld granite and Rooiberg felsite form two distinct geochemical groups based on their major element compositions, possibly indicating that they originated from separate and genetically unrelated magmas. A discriminant function based on six major oxides was found to be 90 percent effective in distinguishing between the two groups. These conclusions have important implications for the petrogenesis of the Bushveld Complex.
Interactive retrieval office documents

Office information systems are being used to describe and store documents with complex structure and multimedia content. Users of these systems can potentially make very complex specifications of the structure, layout and content of the documents they wish to retrieve. Although these complex queries could be more effective in identifying relevant documents, it is important that a well-defined model of retrieval is used, both as the basis for the retrieval strategies and the user interface. In this paper, we present a system (OFFICER) for the retrieval of office documents that is based on a model of plausible inference. The OFFICER query interface allows the specification of uncertain queries and combines uncertainties in the matching of queries and documents to produce an overall ranking for the documents.
Eccentricity Impact on East-West Stationkeeping for Global Positioning System Class Orbits

A strong relationship exists between eccentricity and the potential for an orbit that has a mean motion commensurate with the Earth’s rotation rate to be chaotic. These complex motions can signi cantly impact the east–west stationkeeping (SK) process for maintaining the repeat groundtrack property of a commensurate orbit. Orbits with characteristics that are similar to the global positioningsystem (GPS) except that their eccentricities are modestly larger are investigated. It will be shown that at eccentricities greater than » 0.01 the chaotic regions become signi cant, and the need arises for a robust stable SK approach. Furthermore, an analyticalmodel for eccentricity is developed, and the factors that contribute to its growth, thus increasing the probability of encountering chaotic motion during a typical satellite lifetime, are shown. These results are applied to selected GPS orbits. It is determined that, if the initial eccentricity is suf ciently large, then the traditional SK methods can destabilize and a more robust technique is required.
Nonlinear Interaction of Frequency-Detuned Modes in Boundary Layers

The present critical-layer asymptotic analysis for the nonlinear interaction of frequency-detuned modes in boundary-layer transition indicates that the interaction between a plane mode at the fundamental frequency and a pair of symmetrical oblique waves at the near-subharmonic frequency amplifies another pair of symmetrical oblique waves at the 'mirror frequency'. This type of interaction is stronger in the frequency-detuned case than the resonant triad case, and leads to a sharp drop in the oblique waves' peak with small detuning.
Gene therapy for cardiovascular disease.

The field of cardiovascular gene transfer has developed rapidly during the past 5 years. Important advances have been made in vector development, in vivo gene delivery, and definition of potential therapeutic targets. Despite substantial progress, a number of technical issues need to be addressed before gene therapy is applied safely and broadly to cardiovascular diseases. In this review, major advances in cardiovascular gene transfer are summarized. In addition, technical issues required for translation of preclinical studies of gene transfer into clinical protocols are discussed. Advances in recombinant DNA technology, including gene transfer, have stimulated hope that this technology can be used to improve the practice of cardiovascular medicine. Applications of this technology that affect the clinical management of patients include the development of new therapeutic products, engineered by the overexpression of genes, such as recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator. Recombinant DNA technology has also provided techniques that have been used to create animal models of cardiovascular diseases. These models permit definition of the role of specific gene products in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Characterization of its molecular basis has led to a more precise definition of diseases and the potential for relevant clinical treatments. The development of molecular genetic interventions to treat cardiovascular diseases depends on technical advances in the development of methods of gene delivery; achievement of long-term, highly efficient, and targeted expression to relevant cells of the cardiovascular system; and design of vectors that are safe for long-term human administration. The transduction and expression of genes in appropriate cell types represent important steps in the development of gene therapy. Therefore, investigations have focused on the development of methods to deliver and express genes in vascular cells and cardiac myocytes. Viral vectors (retroviruses and adenoviruses), viral conjugate vectors (adenovirus-augmented receptor-mediated vectors and hemagglutinating virus of Japan [HVJ] liposomes), and …
Actin cytoskeletal dynamics in smooth muscle contraction.

Smooth muscles develop isometric force over a very wide range of cell lengths. The molecular mechanisms of this phenomenon are undefined, but are described as reflecting "mechanical plasticity" of ...
Predicting Nursing Human Resources: An Exploratory Study

The nurse-to-population ratio (NPOP) is a standard indicator used to indicate a country’s health care human resources capacity for responding to its disease burden. This study sought to explore if socioeconomic development indicators could predict the NPOP in a country. Mexico served as the case example for this exploratory study, with the final five variables selected based on findings from a qualitative study analyzing the development of nursing human resources in the country. Multiple linear regression showed that two variables proved significant predictors of the NPOP and the model itself explained 70% of the variance (r 2 = .7; p = .0000). The findings have multiple implications for nursing human resources policy in Mexico and at a global level as governments attempt to build human capital to respond to population health needs.
The epidemiology of ovarian granulosa cell tumors: a case-control study

Abstract Objective This study identified risk factors for ovarian granulosa cell tumors (GCT) through a case-control study comparing women with GCT to women with epithelial ovarian cancers (OC) and general population (GP) controls. Methods Women with GCT and OC were identified from our hospital tumor board and the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Statewide Cancer Registries between January, 1988 and November, 2008. Age, gender and county matched GP controls were identified through town books in Massachusetts and drivers' license lists in New Hampshire. Epidemiologic factors including age, race, obesity, pregnancy history, smoking, and family history were evaluated. Odds ratio (OR) was calculated and adjusted for race and age. Results Seventy-two women with GCT, 1578 GP controls, and 1511 OC controls were identified. Patients with GCT were significantly more likely to be non-white (OR 8.49; 4.07, 17.7), obese with a BMI >30 (OR 5.80; 3.01, 11.2), and have a family history of breast (OR 2.13; 1.19, 3.80) or ovarian cancer (OR 2.89; 1.08, 7.72) than GP controls. The risk of developing GCT was significantly decreased in women who smoked (OR 0.46; 0.27, 0.78), used oral contraceptive pills (OR 0.32; 0.17, 0.63) or were parous with 1–2 (OR 0.30; 0.16–0.56) or greater than 2 births (OR 0.50; 0.27, 0.94) when compared to GP controls. Conclusion These findings suggest an independent association between non-white race and obesity as a hyperestrogenic state in the development of GCT while parity and OCP use may be protective. An unknown familial predisposition for GCT may exist.
Polyhedral Single Degree-of-freedom Expanding Structures: Design and Prototypes

Some engineering applications require structures to expand and contract in size, while retaining their exterior shape. The applications range from mundane daily life objects to more fancy art structures. In contrast to a multi degree-of-freedom structure, a single degree-of-freedom structure can be driven by a single actuator, reducing cost and simplifying the control. In this paper, we study single degree-of-freedom structures that can be formed by a lattice of single degree-of-freedom polyhedral expanding units. Due to built-in symmetries, the entire structure can expand and contract as one of the units in the structure is actuated. The paper describes the design of polyhedral single degree-of-freedom systems, the structures of their dynamics/optimal control, and results from construction prototypes.
Indications for Surgery in Refractory Rhinitis

Medical treatment of chronic rhinitis is successful in a majority of patients, but there is a still large population of patients who fail medical therapy. Surgical treatment for patients with severe persistent allergic rhinitis is not a new solution, but recent advancements in technology and surgical technique have made surgery safer and more effective. There is no gold standard of treatment in patients with refractory rhinitis, and surgeons may select a variety of procedures and techniques based on a patient’s anatomy, severity of disease, and comorbidities. Unfortunately, there are currently few large prospective, randomized controlled trials evaluating surgical treatments, and no study to date has compared immunotherapy to surgical intervention. Therefore, there is no hard and fast rule as to when to pursue surgical intervention after initial medical therapy has failed.
The Interaction of Supernova Remnants with Interstellar Clouds: Experiments on the Nova Laser

The interaction of strong shock waves, such as those generated by the explosion of supernovae with interstellar clouds, is a problem of fundamental importance in understanding the evolution and the dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM) as it is disrupted by shock waves. Here we present the results of a series of scaled Nova laser high energy density experiments investigating the evolution of a high-density sphere embedded in a low-density medium after the passage of a strong shock wave, thereby emulating the supernova shock-cloud interaction. The Nova laser was utilized to generate a strong (~Mach 10) shock wave that traveled along a miniature beryllium shock tube, 750 μm in diameter, filled with a low-density plastic emulating the ISM. Embedded in the plastic was a copper microsphere (100 μm in diameter), emulating the interstellar cloud. The morphology and evolution as well as the shock wave trajectory were diagnosed via side-on X-ray radiography. We describe here experimental X-ray radiographic results of this interaction out to several cloud crushing times and compare them to detailed two- and three-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulations using both arbitrary Lagrangian and Eulerian hydrodynamics (ALE), as well as high-resolution adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) hydrodynamics. A key result is the first experimental evidence that the cloud is destroyed by a three-dimensional nonlinear bending-mode instability (Widnall instability), confirming earlier predictions with high-resolution three-dimensional calculations.
Characterization of HAMR using pulsed laser light

Pulsed Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) is being developed to improve HAMR reliability. In conventional HAMR systems the laser is on and at a fixed power during the writing of the entire sector. In a pulsed HAMR implementation, the laser is turned on and off during the bit cell. For example, for a 50% duty cycle, the laser is on for half the bit cell and off for the remainder of the bit cell. Unlike traditional HAMR where the transitions are formed when the magnetic writer switches, in a pulsed implementation the transitions are formed during the pulsing of the laser. In this paper we show spin stand and drive recording performance of pulsed HAMR systems and compare the outcome to conventional recording. In particular, we show the importance and sensitivity of having proper alignment between the phase of the optical and magnetic signals and their effect on bit error rate (BER).
Comparison of Endothelial Cell Phenotypic Markers of Late-Outgrowth Endothelial Progenitor Cells Isolated from Patients with Coronary Artery Disease and Healthy Volunteers

The lack of easily isolated autologous endothelial cell (EC) sources is one of the major challenges with vascular tissue engineering interventions. This article examines the isolation and expansion of late-outgrowth endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from 50-mL samples of peripheral blood drawn from patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD) and healthy young adult volunteers. In cases in which late-outgrowth EPCs were successfully isolated, the cells were assayed in vitro for their expression of EC markers, proliferation potential and ability to endothelialize synthetic materials, form new blood vessels, and produce nitric oxide. Late-outgrowth EPCs from patients with CAD and healthy volunteers exhibited critical EC markers and morphological characteristics that were analogous to a control population of human aortic ECs. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the suitability of late-outgrowth EPCs from patients with CAD for autologous endothelialization applications.
High-resolution genetic mapping of the gunmetal gene which regulates platelet production.

Despite numerous studies (Stenberg and Levin 1989) and the recent important molecular identifications of thrombopoietin (Kaushansky 1995) and the NF-E2 transcription factor (Shivdasani et al. 1995), which control platelet production, relatively few of the mechanisms regulating platelet production from megakaryocytes are known. This is significant, since inherited and acquired platelet defects are currently treated with repeated platelet transfusions, which are very costly, may transmit infectious diseases, and may result in alloimmunization (Bennett and Kolodziej 1992). A mutation in the mouse that affects platelet production is the pigment gene gunmetal (gin), a spontaneous recessive mutation in the C57BL/6J strain (Dickie 1964) located near the center of Chromosome (Chr) 14 (Green 1973). The observation of prolonged bleeding times of gm mice (Swank et al. 1993) led to the findings that platelet numbers were reduced about threefold owing to abnormal platelet synthesis and were 30% larger in volume. Quantitative and qualitative abnormalities in mutant megakaryocytes are probably responsible for the platelet defects. They include abnormal membrane complexes and an increased incidence of emperipolesis (other cells trafficking through the megakaryocytes; Novak et al. 1995). Platelet defects include mild platelet storage pool deficiency (SPD; decreased contents of platelet dense granules, including serotonin and adenine nucleotides). Additionally, there is a deficiency of c~-granule contents including von Willebrand factor, fibrinogen, and platelet factor 4. In order to expedite the identification of the gm mutation, we have initiated a positional cloning approach by identifying closely linked molecular markers in a large interspecific backcross. Gunmetal (gm/gm) mice on the C57BL/6J inbred strain background were obtained from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Me.). An inbred, wild-derived Mus musculus musculus (PWK) stock (O'Brien et al. 1994) was used to produce the F~ hybrid. F~ heterozygotes were backcrossed to gin~gin homozygotes, and progeny were scored for segregation of the gunmetal phenotype by three investigators. Kidneys, livers, spleens, and brains were removed and frozen at -70~ prior to the extraction of DNA from kidneys (Taylor and Rowe 1984). Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) were identified as described in O'Brien et al. (1995). Probe BLK clone 201 ( Kozak et al. 1991 ) for Blk revealed informative fragments of 14 and 3.1 kb in mutant and 16 kb in PWK when digested with BglIL Probe clone 22 (Sanchez et al. 1991) for the intergenic region of myosin heavy chain gene (Myhca) revealed informative fragments of 3.8 and 0.7 kb in mutant and 1.3 and 1.1 kb in PWK with Xbal. Probe Clone lle (Shneidman et al. 1992) for Nfm revealed informative fragments of 8.4 kb in mutant and 10.4 and
The Method of Coadjoint Orbits: An Algorithm for the Construction of Invariant Actions

The method of coadjoint orbits produces for any infinite dimensional Lie (super) algebra A with nontrivial central charge an action for scalar (super) fields which has at least the symmetry A. In this article, we try to make this method accessible to a larger audience by analyzing several examples in more detail than in the literature. After working through the Kac-Moody and Virasoro cases, we apply the method to the super Virasoro algebra and reobtain the supersymmetric extension of Polyakov's local nonpolynomial action for two-dimensional quantum gravity. As in the Virasoro case this action corresponds to the coadjoint orbit of a pure central extension. We further consider the actions corresponding to the other orbits of the super Virasoro algebra. As a new result we construct the actions for the N = 2 super Virasoro algebra.
Legibility of Traffic Sign Text and Symbols

An exploratory daytime and nighttime sign recognition and legibility field driving experiment involving 11 new reflectorized right-shoulder-mounted traffic signs and 10 young, healthy subjects (three replications) is described here. It was hypothesized that daytime conditions would provide longer recognition and legibility distances than nighttime conditions and that signs with bold symbols would provide longer recognition and legibility distances than textual signs. Also of interest was the formulation of the instructions to the subjects, which is likely to influence the legibility and recognition distances. Whereas other researchers have encouraged subjects to guess the symbols or legends, it was emphasized in the instructions of this experiment that the subjects were to say aloud the information on the traffic signs at that point during the approach when they could clearly (with near 100 percent certainty) identify all visual details of the message or the symbol. By comparing these results with the res...
Estimating Trip Rates from Traffic Counts

The research objective was to utilize routinely collected traffic ground counts to estimate directly area‐wide, all‐purpose trip production rates. The methodology distributes and assigns zonal socio‐economic variables (autos, dwelling units and population) directly to the study area network. Ground counts must be reduced by internal‐external and external‐internal trips. The residual, reduced ground counts are entered into a linear regression model as the dependent variable and the assigned socio‐economic variables are entered as the independent variable. The resulting regression coefficients are estimates of the area‐wide, all‐purpose production rates. The method is sensitive to the friction factor curves used in the distribution step. The methodology was tested in Lynchburg, Virginia and Lexington, Kentucky. Estimated production rates obtained were within 96% of true rates. The method appears to produce accurate results and can be used to verify borrowed production rates in synthetic procedures. It may b...
Ethanol organosolv lignin-based rigid polyurethane foam reinforced with cellulose nanowhiskers

An ethanol organosolv lignin polyol, prepared by reacting lignin with propylene oxide catalyzed by potassium hydroxide, was used to synthesize rigid polyurethane foam which was further reinforced by cellulose nanowhiskers (CNWs) up to 5 wt%. The resulting nanocomposites have shown significantly improved mechanical and thermal properties primarily attributed to the phenolic structure and high functionality of lignin as well as the rigidity of CNWs and crosslinking introduced by CNWs.