cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
CoAI: Cost-Aware Artificial Intelligence for Health Care

Abstract The recent emergence of accurate artificial intelligence (AI) models for disease diagnosis raises the possibility that AI-based clinical decision support could substantially lower the workload of healthcare providers. However, for this to occur, the input data to an AI predictive model, i.e., the patient’s features, must themselves be low-cost, that is, efficient, inexpensive, or low-effort to acquire. When time or financial resources for gathering data are limited, as in emergency or critical care medicine, modern high-accuracy AI models that use thousands of patient features are likely impractical. To address this problem, we developed the CoAI (Cost-aware AI) framework to enable any kind of AI predictive model (e.g., deep neural networks, tree ensemble models, etc.) to make accurate predictions given a small number of low-cost features. We show that CoAI dramatically reduces the cost of predicting prehospital acute traumatic coagulopathy, intensive care mortality, and outpatient mortality relative to existing risk scores, while improving prediction accuracy. It also outperforms existing state-of-the-art cost-sensitive prediction approaches in terms of predictive performance, model cost, and training time. Extrapolating these results to all trauma patients in the United States shows that, at a fixed false positive rate, CoAI could alert providers of tens of thousands more dangerous events than other risk scores while reducing providers’ data-gathering time by about 90 percent, leading to a savings of 200,000 cumulative hours per year across all providers. We extrapolate similar increases in clinical utility for CoAI in intensive care. These benefits stem from several unique strengths: First, CoAI uses axiomatic feature attribution methods that enable precise estimation of feature importance. Second, CoAI is model-agnostic, allowing users to choose the predictive model that performs the best for the prediction task and data at hand. Finally, unlike many existing methods, CoAI finds high-performance models within a given budget without any tuning of the cost-vs-performance tradeoff. We believe CoAI will dramatically improve patient care in the domains of medicine in which predictions need to be made with limited time and resources.
The Gold Code Standard Revisited: The Danger Of Sole Presidential Authority Over Nuclear Weapons

On January 8, 2021, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took the extraordinary step of publicly revealing she had talked with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, about “available precautions for preventing an unstable President from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.” Milley reportedly issued a statement saying he “answered [Speaker Pelosi’s] questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority.” Four days later, The House of Representatives voted 223-205 to formally call on Vice President Mike Pence to use the 25th Amendment to strip President Trump of his powers after he incited a mob that attacked the Capitol. With the Vice President’s refusal, impeachment proceedings went forward in the House on January 13, 2021, with a vote of 232-197, to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection” in only the fourth presidential impeachment in US history, and the first time a President has been impeached twice. Without being removed from office, in the absence of a Senate trial, could a leader described as “increasingly isolated, sullen and vengeful” be a dangerous decision-maker with the world’s deadliest arsenal, and what is US policy and law with respect to the limits on such authority? Kevin Govern, a Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law, analyses the sole Presidential authority over nuclear weapons vis-a-vis the Trump administration and military intervention.
Implementation and Analysis of the Dual-Channel Algorithm for the Retrieval of Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth for SMAP

In August 2020, SMAP released a new version of its soil moisture (SM) and vegetation optical depth (VOD) products. In this work, we review the methodology followed by the SMAP regularized dual-channel (DCA) retrieval algorithm. We show that the new implementation generated SM retrievals that not only satisfy the SMAP accuracy requirements but also show a performance comparable to the baseline single-channel algorithm that uses the V polarized brightness temperature (SCA-V). Due to a lack of in situ measurements we cannot evaluate the accuracy of the VOD, but in this work, we will show analysis with the intention of providing an understanding of the VOD product.
Classical Gauge Theories and Their Quantum Role

The classical Euclidean variational equations (δA= 0, where A is the action functional, play two important roles. First, in dimension d ≤ 3 they provide time independent solutions to classical four-dimensional physics. In that way, for example, the Ginzburg-Landau model has proved important in the theory of superconductivity. The second role of Euclidean stationary points of the action is to provide a starting point for classical approximations to quantum fields. We make some remarks on these two topics; for classical gauge theories we restrict attention to the Higgs model.
A Statistical Evaluation of Brake Performance

Evaluation statistique des performances d'un vehicule routier en situation de freinage, en vue d'ameliorer la conception des systemes de freinage
Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response Core Competency Set for Perinatal and Neonatal Nurses

A nationally derived consensus-based core competency set provides perinatal and neonatal nurses a template to guide emergency preparedness and disaster response educational and training activities. Moreover, this consensus-based core competency set allows for the identification and incorporation of measurable objectives that address the learning needs of nurses as well as the unique needs of pregnant women, new mothers, and infants during public health emergencies and disaster events.
Fabrication and characterization of a micro-fabricated linear array of electrospray emitters intended for space thruster applications

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of a microfabricated, internally-fed linear array of electrospray emitters intended for space propulsion applications. The engine uses highly doped formamide as propellant, with electrical conductivity in the 0.3 - 3.0 S/m range. The electrospray array operates in the single Taylor cone droplet emission regime, and it requires about 2000 V to become activated. The reported device demonstrates the feasibility of high clustering of the electrospray emitters.
Stoplight sales and sidewalk solicitations: Some simple economics of forced consumption

Abstract The so-called ‘squeegee kids’ who wash the windshields of motorists stopped by a red light in exchange for a ‘donation’ are a recent innovation in stoplight vendors. The social more of value in exchange for value and desire to remove extortion elements motivate motorists to pay the youngsters. The welfare and distributional effects of stoplight sales as a joint product involving provision of a service and extortion are examined in this paper. The argument is then extended to certain types of charitable appeals which also employ the value in exchange for value mechanism and elements of extortion to generate donations in excess of those that would be realized from a purely charitable appeal.
Overview of NASA's Microgravity Materials Science Program

The microgravity materials program was nearly eliminated in the middle of the aughts due to budget constraints. Hardware developments were eliminated. Some investigators with experiments that could be performed using ISS partner hardware received continued funding. Partnerships were established between US investigators and ESA science teams for several investigations. ESA conducted peer reviews on the proposals of various science teams as part of an ESA AO process. Assuming he or she was part of a science team that was selected by the ESA process, a US investigator would submit a proposal to NASA for grant funding to support their part of the science team effort. In a similar manner, a US materials investigator (Dr. Rohit Trivedi) is working as a part of a CNES selected science team. As funding began to increase another seven materials investigators were selected in 2010 through an NRA mechanism to perform research related to development of Materials Science Research Rack investigations. One of these has since been converted to a Glovebox investigation.
AFM study of ridges in few-layer epitaxial graphene grown on the carbon-face of 4H-SiC(000(1)over-bar)

Abstract A characterization of the graphitic overlayer that forms on 4H–SiC ( 0 0 0 1 ¯ ) substrates heated for ten minutes to temperatures T > 1350 °C under vacuum conditions has been performed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of the C-face reveals the presence of graphitic carbon with a thickness that increases with growth temperature. Parallel atomic force microscope (AFM) studies find a mesh-like network of ridges with high curvature that bound atomically flat, tile-like facets of few-layer graphene (FLG). By imaging the network that develops on FLG, it is possible to map out the regions where the elastic energy is concentrated.
Aborted Germinal Center Reactions and B Cell Memory by Follicular T Cells Specific for a B Cell Receptor V Region Peptide

A fundamental problem in immunoregulation is how CD4(+) T cells react to immunogenic peptides derived from the V region of the BCR that are created by somatic mechanisms, presented in MHC II, and amplified to abundance by B cell clonal expansion during immunity. BCR neo Ags open a potentially dangerous avenue of T cell help in violation of the principle of linked Ag recognition. To analyze this issue, we developed a murine adoptive transfer model using paired donor B cells and CD4 T cells specific for a BCR-derived peptide. BCR peptide-specific T cells aborted ongoing germinal center reactions and impeded the secondary immune response. Instead, they induced the B cells to differentiate into short-lived extrafollicular plasmablasts that secreted modest quantities of Ig. These results uncover an immunoregulatory process that restricts the memory pathway to B cells that communicate with CD4 T cells via exogenous foreign Ag.
Caveolin-1 Binding to Endoplasmic Reticulum Membranes and Entry into the Regulated Secretory Pathway Are Regulated by Serine Phosphorylation: PROTEIN SORTING AT THE LEVEL OF THE ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM

Caveolin-1 serves as the main coat protein of caveolae membranes, as an intracellular cholesterol shuttle, and as a regulator of diverse signaling molecules. Of the 12 residues conserved across all caveolin isoforms from all species examined to date, only Ser80 and Ser168 could serve as phosphorylation sites. We show here that mimicking chronic phosphorylation of Ser80 by mutation to Glu (i.e. Cav-1(S80E)), blocks phosphate incorporation. However, Cav-1(S168E) is phosphorylated to the same extent as wild-type caveolin-1. Cav-1(S80E) targets to the endoplasmic reticulum membrane, remains oligomeric, and maintains normal membrane topology. In contrast, Cav-1(S80A), which cannot be phosphorylated, targets to caveolae membranes. Some exocrine cells secrete caveolin-1 in a regulated manner. Cav-1(S80A) is not secreted by AR42J pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells even in the presence of dexamethasone, an agent that induces the secretory phenotype. Conversely, Cav-1(S80E) is secreted to a greater extent than wild-type caveolin-1 following dexamethasone treatment. We conclude that caveolin-1 phosphorylation on invariant serine residue 80 is required for endoplasmic reticulum retention and entry into the regulated secretory pathway.
Kinetic Aspects of Cation-Enhanced Aggregation in Aqueous Humic Acids

The cation-enhanced formation of hydrophobic domains in aqueous humic acids has been shown to be a slow process, consistent with the evolution and disintegration of humic acid configurations over p...
Endotoxin Dose-Related Leukocytosis in Milk of Guinea Pigs

Objectives were to determine minimum and maximum doses of Escherichia coli endotoxin that would stimulate leukocytosis in the mammary gland of the guinea pig. Endotoxin concentrations of .005, .05, .5, 5.0, and 50.0 microgram/ml in 1 ml were used to stimulate migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in milk of guinea pigs at five times (2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 h postinjection with endotoxin). There were three animals in each experimental group per endotoxin concentration. Each animal served as its own control by having sterile saline injected into one mammary gland and endotoxin into the other. A control group of three animals had no saline or endotoxin injected. Guinea pigs were milked with a modified milking apparatus. Leukocyte numbers in the uninjected mammary gland did not differ from those in saline injected glands. The difference in mean leukocyte numbers between saline injected and .005 microgram/ml endotoxin injected glands approached significance at 5%. There was no difference between mean numbers recruited by the 5.0 and 50.0 microgram/ml endotoxin doses at 4, 6, 8, and 12 h. The chemotactic effect and, therefore, the rate of polymorphonuclear leukocyte recruitment was maximal at the 5 microgram/ml endotoxin dose.
Faster-than-anticipated Na(+)/Cl(-) diffusion across lipid bilayers in vesicles.

Abstract Maintenance of electrochemical potential gradients across lipid membranes is critical for signal transduction and energy generation in biological systems. However, because ions with widely varying membrane permeabilities all contribute to the electrostatic potential, it can be difficult to measure the influence of diffusion of a single ion type across the bilayer. To understand the electrodiffusion of H + across lipid bilayers, we used a pH-sensitive fluorophore to monitor the lumenal pH in vesicles after a stepwise change in the bulk pH. In vesicles containing the ion channel gramicidin, the lumenal pH rapidly approached the external pH. In contrast, the lumen of intact vesicles showed a two stage pH response: an initial rapid change occurred over ~ 1 min, followed by a much slower change over ~ 24 h. We provide a quantitative interpretation of these results based on the Goldman–Hodgkin–Katz ion fluxes discharging the electrical capacitance of the bilayer membrane. This interpretation provides an estimate of the permeability of the membranes to Na + and Cl − ions of ~ 10 − 8 cm/s, which is ~ 3 orders of magnitude faster than previous reports. We discuss possible mechanisms to account for this considerably higher permeability in vesicle membranes.
Images of Women in General Interest and Fashion Magazine Advertisements from 1955 to 2002

This study was designed to examine the portrayal of women in advertisements in a general interest magazine (i.e., Time) and a women's fashion magazine (i.e., Vogue) over the last 50 years. The coding scheme used for this analysis was based on the one developed by sociologist Erving Goffman in the 1970s, which focuses primarily on the subtle and underlying clues in the picture content of advertisements that contain messages in terms of (stereotypical) gender roles. The results of this study show that, overall, advertisements in Vogue, a magazine geared toward a female audience,depict women more stereotypically than do those in Time, a magazine with the general public as a target audience. In addition, only a slight decrease in the stereotypical depiction of women was found over time, despite the influence of the Women's Movement.
Reducing Melt Inclusion by Submerged Heater or Baffle for Optical Crystal Growth

Optical and laser crystals grown by the Czochralski technique from a solute-rich melt usually suffer defects of melt inclusion or bubble core, which severely affects optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the material. The main purpose of this paper is to study the inclusion mechanism and reduce such defects. Two types of mechanism possibly responsible for inclusion are presented. Both of them show that solute pileup in front of the interface is the prerequisite for inclusion. The method to reduce inclusion is to prevent solute from pileup by controlling melt flow. Czochralski-grown optical crystals are examined to recognize the effects of crystal rotation and natural convection on the melt flow pattern and solidification interface shape. It is established that increasing the rotation rate of crystal or reducing natural convection in the melt will cause the solid–liquid interface change from the convex to concave shape and high concentration of species may be pushed away from the solidification in...
Asymptotic field operators in quantum field theory

Abstract The formulation of the asymptotic condition in quantum field theory is viewed as a problem in asymptotic particle interpretation of a field theory and is solved in terms of a natural limiting process involving the retarded vacuum expectation values. Starting with the Haag-Brenig theorem translated into operator language we obtain the asymptotic fields for a nonrelativistic self-coupled field. Transcription of this expression for the asymptotic field in terms of a retarded two-point Green's function motivates the more general definition of the asymptotic field in the presence of external forces. The equations of motion as well as the commutation relations for these asymptotic fields are derived, and it is shown that in sufficiently simple cases this definition coincides with the usual definition. In addition to this conventional asymptotic field, in general, there are asymptotic fields which create particles in bound states. The definition generalizes in a natural manner to many-particle asymptotic fields and, in particular, to asymptotic fields which create and annihilate multiparticle bound states. This construction is facilitated by the standard analysis of the Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes. The familiar “contraction rules” are deduced within the present formalism. These developments are extended to relativistic field theory, again in terms of a limiting procedure involving the retarded Green's functions. As a particular application it is shown that the asymptotic electron field describes electrons which react to an external electromagnetic disturbance in the same manner as physical electrons, i.e., with their anomalous moment and vacuum polarization effects etc., in addition to the “normal” gauge invariant interaction. We briefly discuss the implications for theories with unstable quanta, and draw attention to the possibilites offered for a consistent theory of interacting particles involving unstable ghost fields.
The geography of advance transit-oriented development in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, 2000–2007

Abstract Phoenix adopted overlay zoning (an additional, targeted layer of regulations) in some light-rail transit (LRT) station areas at the site-selection stage to reduce planning-related uncertainty. This prompts consideration of advance transit-oriented development (TOD)—development that takes place before LRT system operation. In this paper we break down almost $1 billion worth of advance TOD in the Phoenix area by type of TOD, type of station area, and use of overlay zoning. Factor analysis and cluster analysis are applied to GIS-based parcel-level data to identify five distinct station-area types. We then use ANOVA to verify statistically significant relationships between station-area type and: the value of advance TOD, the percentage of parcels with overlay zoning, and the percentage of advance TOD with overlay zoning. The five station-area types, ordered from highest to lowest advance TOD per station, are employment centers; Middle-Income Mixed-Use areas; transportation (park-and-ride) nodes; high population/rental areas; and urban poverty areas. Overlay zoning was used most in areas of urban poverty and least in station-area types with the most single-family housing. Advance TOD coincided strongly with overlay zoning in areas of urban poverty and least in employment and amenity centers.
Infrared activity of symmetric bridging ligand modes in pyrazine-bridged hexaruthenium mixed-valence clusters.

A fully symmetric (Ag) vibrational mode of pyrazine is observed in the infrared spectrum of four pyrazine-bridged hexaruthenium mixed-valence complexes with varying degrees of electronic coupling between clusters. Deuteration of the bridging pyrazine ligand and the accompanying shift in frequency confirm the assignment of this mode. Previous observation of infrared line coalescence in the carbonyl stretching region assigns all of these complexes to Robin−Day class II (partial localization of charge) on the picosecond time scale. The infrared activity of the fully symmetric bridging ligand mode could provide a complementary assignment of these complexes to class II on a faster, femtosecond time scale. However, the extinction coefficient for this band is much greater than that observed in similar asymmetric, non-mixed-valence complexes and suggests that its strong IR activity is due to vibronic enhancement rather than electronic asymmetry.
Implicit heat pipe vapor model

Two implicit solution methods for modeling vapor flow in a heat pipe were comparedto an explicit solution method
MIMO-interference aware scheduling enabling the allocation of unbounded co-channels in unplanned networks

We present novel opportunistic interference aware scheduling (IAS) for dynamic channel allocation reuse to dynamically allocate new channels in unplanned networks. We introduce high levels of co-channel interferers with coordinated spatial signatures. We view this as likely system scenario for cognitive radio (CR) networks based upon IEEE 802.22 and moreover support smart grid, information networks. The proposed algorithm cooperatively allocates MIMO-channels to users based on spatial separability criterion that we introduce. We derive the MIMO beamforming coefficients that optimally reduce spatial interference. Finally, simulation results indicating sizeable increases in the multiuser capacity are possible to support smart grid information networks.
Textural and mineralogical biosignatures in an unusual microbialite from Death Valley, California

Abstract For in situ astrobiological studies of Mars or other planets, we must employ strategies that will enable us to verify whether our approach and prototype instruments are actually capable of distinguishing life from non-life. This must be done against a background of rigorously conducted scientific characterization of the environment or sample types being considered for measurement by the instruments under development. In this study we show how a combination of mineralogical and textural features can be considered a biosignature in an early Mars analogue environment, Death Valley, California. We propose that it is a combination of features in context of the geologic matrix which allows determination of biogenicity to be made. Polymineralic microbialites (organosedimentary formations constructed by microorganisms) from a spring pool at Badwater, within Death Valley National Park, are composed of alternating biogenic and abiogenic minerals in a distinct triplet sequence related to wet and dry seasons. A microbial community, occurring as a black biofilm, produced paired layers of two different mineral types: manganese oxyhydroxides and calcite. These biogenic layers are separated from the next pair by a gypsum layer and appear to be laid down in the wet season, with the gypsum (a mineral positively identified on Mars) precipitating in the dry part of the year, abiogenically (i.e., not dependent on microbial metabolic activity for its deposition). In addition, textural features (smaller grain size and less geometric morphology) unique to the biogenic vs the abiogenic layers, were consistently observed so that texture served as a biosignature in this environment.
An Exploratory Study of the Relationship between the Big Five and Inmate Recidivism

Abstract The current study was conducted at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center to examine the relationship between the Big Five and inmate recidivism. The NEO Five-Factor Inventory was administered to inmates in adult education classes. The number of times each inmate had been arrested was obtained from their criminal records. Criminal records were available for 56 of the 68 male inmates who were given the five-factor inventory. Data from an additional five inmates were not included in the analyses because they did not respond to some of the items on the inventory. Multiple linear regression revealed that conscientiousness and openness to experience were negatively correlated with number of arrests. Neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness were not significantly related to number of arrests. Of particular interest was an interaction between conscientiousness and openness to experience. The combination of low conscientiousness and low openness to experience was associated with a substantial increase in number of arrests.
In Vivo Localized Proton NMR Spectroscopy of Thiamine-Deficient Rat Brain

Thiamine deficiency (TD) in rats produces lesions similar to those found in humans suffering from Wernicke's encephalopathy, an organic mental disorder associated with alcoholism. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 29) were deprived of thiamine via a regimen of thiamine-deficient chow and daily intraperitoneal injections of the thiamine antagonist pyrithiamine hydrobromide. Spectra were obtained by using the STEAM sequence. No significant change occurred in the ratio of Cr/NAA, while the ratio of Cho/NAA declined significantly (60 ± 11%) on Day 14. Eleven rats received intraperitoneal injections of thiamine hydrochloride at the end of 12 days, and dose-dependent recovery in Cho/NAA was observed.
Automated module assignment in stacked-Vdd designs for high-efficiency power delivery

With aggressive reductions in feature sizes and the integration of multiple functionalities on the same die, bottlenecks due to I/O pin limitations have become a critical issue in today's VLSI designs, especially for 3D IC technologies. To alleviate the pin limitation problem, a stacked-Vdd circuit paradigm has recently been proposed in the literature. However, for a circuit designed using this paradigm, a significant amount of power may be wasted if modules are not carefully assigned to different Vdd domains. In this article, we present a partition-based algorithm for efficiently assigning modules at the floorplanning level, so as to reuse currents between Vdd domains and minimize the power wasted during the operation of the circuit. Experimental results on both 3D and 2D ICs show that compared with assigning modules to different Vdd domains using enumeration and simulated annealing, our algorithm can generate circuits with competitive power and IR noise performance, while being orders of magnitude faster.
The sex ratio, suicide, and homicide in nations of the world.

In a sample of 70 nations in 1980, those nations with higher proportion of males relative to females were less developed.
Erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase activity in health and disease.

Abstract Variations in erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase activity, expressed in enzyme units per milligram of haemoglobin, per milliliter of RBC, and per 10 10 RBC, are reported for 200 normal healthy persons and for different disease conditions. In megaloblastic anaemia erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase expressed in all three ways is much increased. In chronic iron deficiency anaemia, increased carbonic anhydrase activity is most apparent when expressed per miligram of Hb, less so per milliliter of RBC, and usually only slightly or not at all increased when expressed per 10 10 RBC. In iron deficiency anaemia increased activity per milligram of haemoglobin clearly is inversely related to the haemoglobin level, but less so when expressed per milliliter of erythrocytes. No such correlation was detected when the activity was expressed per number of erythrocytes. Also in different types of thalassaemia enzyme activity was increased but could not be correlated with haemoglobin levels in the patients. Increased enzyme activity was not shown in acute anaemia due to bleeding or acute haemolysis. Activity was increased in hypothyroidism, decreased in hyperthyroidism. In several cases of lung disease with severe impairment of air passages and in certain liver diseases, but not in all instances of these two conditions, erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase activity was increased. It was normal in most leukaemia patients but slightly increased in several.
A Comparative Study of Artificial Neural Networks and Info-Fuzzy Networks as Automated Oracles in Software Testing

Software quality is one of the main concerns of software users. Hence, software testing is an utterly important phase in the software development life cycle. Nevertheless, manual evaluation of program compliance with its specification may be prohibitively time consuming. As a remedy, several software testing systems are using an automatic oracle to confirm that the developed software complies with its specification and determine whether a given test case exposes faults. The use of artificial neural networks and info-fuzzy networks as automated oracles has been explored elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is not enough research comparing these two popular approaches to automated evaluation of the test outcome. This paper fills the gap and reports on a set of experiments designed to compare the two methods based on ROC curves, training time, and dispersion analysis.
High‐field domains from dc to 60 GHz

The history of the high-field domains is given with the description of the experimental and theoretical results of the team of the author in the first decade after their discovery in 1958. This work is done at CdS single crystal platelets that are used as a model substance. The major findings of modern high-field domain research that followed their original research are then reviewed. It is emphasized that all high-field domains are created for reasons of the minimum entropy production principle when the conductivity decreases more than linear within a semiconductor. The application of these high-field domains in important semiconductor devices are reviewed that have now reached a multibillion dollar market.
Heat Generation in Flexed Rubber

Abstract The problem of heat generation in tires assumes new importance with the advent of synthetic rubber and the increased use of reclaimed rubber. Even if reduced speeds may prevent heat blowouts, higher temperatures mean that both fabric and rubber are operating under unfavorable conditions. Synthetic rubber, in particular, is then working at reduced tensile strength and tear resistance. It is more susceptible to heat embrittlement, cuts, and abrasion. A number of flexometers for rubber testing have been described, and some of these instruments have been widely used. The flexometer described here is characterized by simplicity of construction, high speed, and convenience of operation.
Screening for the early detection of disease, the need for evidence.

Abstract Background: Screening for the early detection of disease has had a spotted history. Structured approaches to the process of gathering and evaluating evidence, with the emphasis on well-controlled randomized studies, have greatly improved the beneficial potential of appropriate and effective screening. Good quality evidence will contribute to quality health care. Issues: The volunteer participants in screening programs must give fully informed consent. This means that they must be presented with clear and accurate statements of the advantages and disadvantages of the screening program. Among the screening programs that have been conducted include hyperhomocysteinemia and coronary artery disease, Down's syndrome, Neonatal Group B streptococcal disease, Type 2 diabetes mellitus and endometrial cancer. The evidence in these studies has strengths and weaknesses as to how they support or oppose a particular intervention. The laboratory has a major role to play in establishing and validating standards of accuracy for diagnostic tests. Agreement on standards and their application does not mean the end of different interpretation and controversy. Conclusions: Laboratory physicians and scientists will be very effective consultants if they have the best available, high quality evidence for the appropriate use of laboratory tests.
The essentials of a fetal therapy center

Consensus about complex clinical decisions among specialists with diverse backgrounds will always be a challenge. A specialized center, which focuses on the fetus with an anomaly, provides the most accurate diagnosis and maternal-fetal management recommendations to referring physicians. The essential components of a fetal therapy center facilitate a systematic approach for the mother carrying a fetus with an anatomic malformation.
Composite microfiller content and its effect on fracture toughness and diametral tensile strength.

Abstract Previous studies have examined the relationship between total filler content in hybrid restorative composites and some of their mechanical properties. This investigation evaluated the effect of varying the amount of microfiller in an experimental hybrid composite on fracture toughness (single edge-notch technique) and diametral tensile strength. The microfiller content in the experimental hybrid composite was varied from 0–44 wt% for seven specimen groups, while the total filler content ranged from 77–84 wt%. It was found that 9 wt% microfiller loading produced the highest mean fracture toughness (1.33 MPa·m 1 2 ) and 44 wt% loading produced the lowest mean value (0.80 MPa·m 1 2 ) . Only the 9 wt% microfiller content group differed significantly in fracture toughness from the other specimen groups. The diametral tensile strength displayed only small differences for the range of microfiller content studied, with mean values ranging from 42.1–49.6 MPa. Additional research on the viscoelastic properties of these heavily filled hybrid composites may provide some insight into the differences for the fracture toughness and diametral tensile strength results.
Design of chromophores for nonlinear optical applications

In designing chromophores for second harmonic generation applications one would like to have a large hyperpolarizability (beta) and an absorption well away from the second harmonic frequency. Unfortunately, there appears to be a connection between the experimentally observed absorption maximum energy and the observed zero-frequency hyperpolarizability (beta) 0, when comparing different molecules within a class, such as donor/acceptor substituted benezenes and stilbenes, that makes this difficult to achieve. In this paper, the origins of this relationship are investigated by comparing results from semi-empirical calculations with experimental values. A significant contribution to the observed relationship between absorption maximum and (beta) 0 is seen to arise from frequency dependences of the ground and excited state dipole moments. Since the two-level model for (beta) is used both as an extrapolation technique to obtain (beta) 0 and as a tool for analyzing the data, a discussion of the validity of this model is also presented.
An Integrated Design for Human-in-the-Loop Disassembly

This paper provides a profile for human-in-the-loop disassembly design, an emerging area as a result of growing concerns for material resources, energy conservation and landfill capacity. A discussion of disassembly challenges is first presented with a focus on the impacts of human factors on disassembly decision making. A generic model is then proposed as a solution to human-in-the-loop system design. Finally, the paper elaborates the learning controller, a core part of the system that optimizes disassembly process.
Screening for partner violence during pregnancy

Objectives: An analysis of the international literature on partner violence provides insights for health care providers caring for women. Methods: The current literature on partner violence epidemiology, screening, and interventions was reviewed, focusing on pregnancy. Results: Adolescent girls and pregnant women are at highest risk for partner violence and homicide. Conclusion: Health care providers need to offer clinical screening and interventions to prevent consequences of partner violence, including homicide.
Types as models: model checking message-passing programs

Abstraction and composition are the fundamental issues in making model checking viable for software. This paper proposes new techniques for automating abstraction and decomposition using source level type information provided by the programmer. Our system includes two novel components to achieve this end: (1) a behavioral type-and-effect system for the π-calculus, which extracts sound models as types, and (2) an assume-guarantee proof rule for carrying out compositional model checking on the types. Open simulation between CCS processes is used as both the subtyping relation in the type system and the abstraction relation for compositional model checking.We have implemented these ideas in a tool---PIPER. PIPER exploits type signatures provided by the programmer to partition the model checking problem, and emit model checking obligations that are discharged using the SPIN model checker. We present the details on applying PIPER on two examples: (1) the SIS standard for managing trouble tickets across multiple organizations and (2) a file reader from the pipelined implementation of a web server.
A Structural Perspective of the Sequence Variability Within Botulinum Neurotoxin Subtypes A1-A4

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is a category A toxin that has been classified within seven serotypes, designated A-G. Recently, it has been discovered that sequence variability occurs in BoNTs produced by serotype A (BoNT/A) variant strains, designated as subtypes A1 and A2, which have significantly different antibody-binding properties. We have therefore made efforts to understand at the molecular level the diversity and its effects on the biological actions of the toxin, including receptor binding, substrate recognition, and catalysis. We provide the results of these studies, including the analysis of two newly sequenced BoNT/A variants, Loch Maree (A3) and 657Ba (A4), and their comparison to A1 and A2. Using sequence analysis, available functional data, molecular modeling, and comparison of models with the crystal structures of BoNT/A1 and the light chain of BoNT/A2, we conclude that these sequence differences within subtypes will impact development of broad-spectrum antibody and small ligand therapeutics, and suggest dissimilarities in binding affinity and cleavage efficiency of the SNAP-25 substrate. In particular, sequence variation in subtypes BoNT/A3 and BoNT/A4 will likely effect alpha-exosite and S1' subsite recognition, respectively.
Rapid sensing of internal browning in whole apples using a low-cost, low-field proton magnetic resonance sensor ☆

Abstract Tests were conducted on healthy (H) apples and apples with internal browning (IB) using a low-cost, low-field (5.55 MHz) magnetic resonance (MR) sensor. Apples were transported, one at a time, through the sensor by a conveyor belt system as a Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill (CPMG) pulse sequence was applied. Relaxation signals acquired from the H and IB apples were compared. The CPMG signals acquired from healthy apples decayed at slower rates than those acquired from apples with internal browning. Effects of conveyor speed and sample position on the CPMG signals were also investigated. Both movement and misalignment affected the duration of the signals. The duration of the CPMG decay curve at a conveyor speed of 250 mm/s was less than half the duration at 50 mm/s. At speeds of 150 mm/s or slower, when there was no sample misalignment, there were statistically significant differences in the decay rates of CPMG curves from H and IB apples. Classification errors of 12% or less were achieved at 50 mm/s. However, classification error increased as conveyor speed increased. Sample misalignment also increased classification error. The results indicate that it should be possible to use the MR sensor and conveyor system for on-line sorting of apples with internal browning at conveyor speeds below 100 mm/s if precise control of the conveyor speed and apple position at the time of interrogation can be maintained. Good performance at faster conveyor speeds may be possible if improvements such as better pre-magnetization are implemented.
Improved use of buthionine sulfoximine to prevent cisplatin nephrotoxicity in rats.

Male Sprague Dawley rats were treated with buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) and cisplatin in different doses and schedules to optimize the chemoprotective effect of BSO against cisplatin nephrotoxicity. BSO at 4 mmol/kg, administered s.c. 2 h prior to cisplatin, resulted in normal blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels in rats treated with 3 or 4 mg/kg cisplatin, and modestly, but significantly reduced the toxicity of cisplatin at 5 mg/kg. Administration of BSO (4 mmol/kg) at intervals ranging from 0 to 16 h prior to cisplatin (5 mg/kg) resulted in a significant reduction in BUN values. A BSO dose as low as 0.04 mmol/kg was found to be as effective as 4 mmol/kg against nephrotoxicity associated with cisplatin at 4 mg/kg. Repetitive injections of BSO (1 mmol/kg every 12 h, four times, beginning 2 h prior to cisplatin) significantly inhibited elevations of BUN associated with high-dose cisplatin (6 mg/kg), whereas a single BSO injection of 4 mmol/kg was ineffective. The degree and duration of renal glutathione depletion was related to the dose of BSO. Renal glutathione content following 4 mmol/kg BSO was 38% of control at 2 h and 40% at 24 h; following 0.04 mg/kg, glutathione was 47% at 2 h and almost 100% at 24 h. Simultaneous in vitro administration of BSO did not inactivate cisplatin cytotoxicity as measured by the colony-forming ability of MBT-2 cells in soft agar. These data indicate that repeated injections of BSO, beginning prior to cisplatin administration, would improve the nephroprotective effect without compromising the chemotherapeutic efficacy of cisplatin. It is suggested that the ability of BSO to reduce cisplatin nephrotoxicity may not correlate with the degree of renal glutathione depletion and that the mechanism of action is unlikely to involve direct inactivation of cisplatin.
Extrinsic denervation increases myenteric nitric oxide synthase-containing neurons and inhibitory neuromuscular transmission in guinea pig

Enteric nerves can function normally without connections with the central nervous system. A contributing component of the functional autonomy exhibited by enteric nerves is their plasticity. In the present study, the number of nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive (NOS-ir) myenteric neurons and inhibitory neuromuscular transmission were studied in extrinsically denervated ileal segments. Segments of ileum were extrinsically denervated by crushing the mesenteric blood vessels supplying a loop of ileum in anesthetized guinea pigs. Some unoperated animals were treated with capsaicin or 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) to disrupt primary afferent and sympathetic nerves, respectively. NOS-ir was localized using indirect immunofluorescence. Nerve-mediated relaxations of longitudinal muscle were studied in vitro using standard methods. At 7 weeks after extrinsic denervation there was a 93% increase in the number of NOS-ir myenteric neurons. The number of neurons containing detectable vasoactive intestinal peptide-ir neurons was not changed after extrinsic denervation. Neurogenic relaxations caused by 10, 20 and 50 Hz transmural stimulation were larger in extrinsically-denervated tissues compared to control tissues. The NOS antagonist, nitro-l-arginine (300 μM) inhibited neurogenic relaxations in control and extrinsically-denervated tissues. Capsaicin- but not 6-OHDA-treatment mimicked the effects of extrinsic denervation on NOS-ir and neurogenic relaxations of the longitudinal muscle. Active or passive properties of the longitudinal muscle were unaffected by extrinsic denervation. These data indicate that extrinsic denervation is associated with an increase in the number of myenteric neurons expressing detectable NOS-ir and potentiation of inhibitory transmission to longitudinal muscle. This effect is due to loss of extrinsic sensory nerves.
Resource selection for domain-specific cross-lingual IR

An under-explored question in cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) is to what degree the performance of CLIR methods depends on the availability of high-quality translation resources for particular domains. To address this issue, we evaluate several competitive CLIR methods - with different training corpora - on test documents in the medical domain. Our results show severe performance degradation when using a general-purpose training corpus or a commercial machine translation system (SYSTRAN), versus a domain-specific training corpus. A related unexplored question is whether we can improve CLIR performance by systematically analyzing training resources and optimally matching them to target collections. We start exploring this problem by suggesting a simple criterion for automatically matching training resources to target corpora. By using cosine similarity between training and target corpora as resource weights we obtained an average of 5.6% improvement over using all resources with no weights. The same metric yields 99.4% of the performance obtained when an oracle chooses the optimal resource every time.
Synthesis of some 1‐methyl‐3‐alkoxy‐5‐arylpyrrolecarboxylic acids and derivatives

By a combination of hydrolysis, decarboxylation, and methylation diethyl 1-methyl-3-hydroxy-5-phenylpyrrole-2,4-dicarboxylate was converted into 1-methyl-3-methoxy-5-phenyl-pyrrole-2,4-dicarboxylic acid (5) and into the isomeric compounds ethyl 1-methyl-2-phenyl-4-methoxypyrrole-3-carboxylate (4a) and ethyl 1-methyl-3-methoxy-5-phenylpyrrole-2-carboxylate (9a). 1-Methyl-2-phenyl-4-methoxypyrrole-3-carboxylic acid was synthesized both by the selective decarboxylation of 5 and by the hydrolysis of 4a. Hydrolysis of 9a, however, did not give the corresponding acid, but rather an oxidation product, 1-methyl-3-methoxy-5-hydroxy-5-phenyl-3-pyrrolin-2-onc (10a). Compound 10a was shown to arise from the air oxidation of the completely decarboxylated product, 1-methyl-2-phenyl-4-methoxypyrrole. Reduction of 9a with lithium aluminum hydride gave 1-methyl-3-methoxy-5-phenylpyrrole-2-methanol, which yielded 10a upon oxidation with silver oxide.
Thermal conductivity of liquid phase sintered silicon carbide

This study investigates the thermal diffusivity and conductivity of YAG/AlN-alloyed LPS-SiC as a function of composition and temperature using the laser-flash technique. Maxwell's model for the thermal conductivity of composites with spherical inclusions is adapted to typical features of the LPS-microstructure and its predictions are compared with experimental data. The results indicate that the thermal conductivity of LPS-SiC is controlled by (i) concentration of impurity atoms in the SiC-phase, (ii) fraction of bulk oxide phase and (iii) amorphous interphases which act as thermal resistance barriers.
Infrared spectroscopy of 2-methyl-2-butene in liquid argon solution and ab initio calculated vibrational frequencies

Abstract The infrared spectrum of 2-methyl-2-butene dissolved in liquid argon has been measured at 90 K. The absorption was obtained with a low-temperature cell and a Fourier transform spectrophotometer. The solubility of 2-methyl-2-butene in liquid argon was measured. Ab initio molecular orbital calculations were performed to obtain the equilibrium geometry, vibrational frequencies, and infrared intensities. The calculations were done at the Hartree-Fock level using the 6-31G ∗ split-valence basis set. A normal coordinate analysis was performed using a scaled force field determined from the 6-31G ∗ basis set. The potential energy distribution was also obtained.