cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Judging the Need for and Value of DDA in an Academic Research Library Setting

Abstract This article reports findings from a multiphase analysis of demand-driven acquisitions (DDA) within the academic research library setting. Evaluating local collections within the context of Trueswell's (1969) often-cited 80 / 20 Rule , phase one of this study illustrates the deficiencies of a just - in - case approach to building library collections. Following from this, phase two evaluates the viability of DDA as the just - in - time collection-building solution librarians have sought as an answer to low-use titles that plague most academic library collections. Supported by 16 months of data, this study scrutinizes the comparative value of DDA against traditionally acquired titles along two key dimensions—the subject-matter profile of purchases and their overall usage levels. Further, the concept of a utility as value paradigm , as well as a purchase - use equilibrium for library collections, provide a theoretical framework in which the relative value of DDA is assessed. From a content, or subject-matter, perspective, this study finds negligible deviation in those purchasing patterns associated with DDA when compared with traditionally-acquired materials. At the same time, DDA titles experience much higher levels of use and are, therefore, associated with markedly lower cost-per-use figures and greater overall value.
Utility of Early Postoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging After Glioblastoma Resection: Implications on Patient Survival

Background The standard of care for glioblastoma is surgical resection followed by combination temozolomide and radiation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used preoperatively for tumor resection planning. In some instances, MRI is also obtained postoperatively to assess for any complications and to determine extent of resection. There is some question whether early routine postoperative imaging of patients after tumor resection is beneficial to long-term outcomes, especially with the increased scrutiny of increasing health care costs. Methods In this study we retrospectively analyze patients with glioblastoma treated at our institution, comparing the difference in overall survival and treatment regimens between patients who had early postoperative MRI versus patients who did not. Results We determine that in our cohort of 125 patients, those with early postoperative MRI had no statistically significant overall survival difference compared with patients with no early postoperative MRI (P = 0.996). The median survival for the group with postoperative MRI was 378 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 242–443 days), and the median survival for the group without postoperative MRI was 308 days (95% CI, 203–445 days). Early postoperative MRI also did not significantly alter therapeutic regimens. Conclusions Although early postoperative MRI may not significantly affect patient overall survival from a statistical standpoint or therapeutic regimens, this type of imaging may be important to hone resident and attending skill. We encourage other institutions to perform similar analyses to determine the overall survival benefit of early postoperative imaging after glioma resection for patients with glioblastoma.
Outcomes of Hospital Transfers for Pediatric Abdominal Pain and Appendicitis

Importance Hospital care for children is becoming more concentrated, with interhospital transfer occurring more frequently even for common conditions. Condition-specific analysis is required to determine the value, costs, and consequences of this trend. Objectives To describe the capabilities of transferring and receiving hospitals and to determine how often children transferred after an initial diagnosis of abdominal pain or appendicitis require higher levels of care. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective cohort analysis using the 2 most recent available inpatient and emergency department administrative data sets from all acute care hospitals in California from 2010 to 2011 and Florida, Massachusetts, and New York from 2013 to 2014. Data were analyzed between February and June 2018. All patients younger than 18 years with a primary diagnosis of abdominal pain or appendicitis who underwent an interhospital transfer and whose care could be matched through unique identifiers were included. Main Outcomes and Measures Outcomes after hospital transfers, classified into encounters with major surgical procedures, imaging diagnostics, and no major procedures. Pediatric Hospital Capability Index of transferring and receiving hospitals. Results There were 465 143 pediatric hospital encounters for abdominal pain and appendicitis, including 53 517 inpatient admissions and 15 275 transfers. Among them, 4469 could be matched to encounters in receiving hospitals. The median (interquartile range) age of this cohort was 10 (7-14) years, with 54.8% female (2449 patients), 40.9% male (1830 patients), and 4.3% unreported sex (190 patients). The increase in capability at the receiving hospital compared with the transferring hospital was large (median [interquartile range] change in Pediatric Hospital Capability Index score, 0.70 [0.54-0.82]), with 9.2% of hospitals (57) with very high capability (Pediatric Hospital Capability Index score >0.77) receiving 80.8% of the total transfers (3610). Diagnostic imaging was undertaken in the care of 710 transferred patients (15.9%) and invasive procedures were performed in 2421 patients (54.2%), including 2153 appendectomies. No imaging or surgery was required in the care of 1338 transfers (29.9%). Conclusions and Relevance In this study, interfacility transfers of patients with appendicitis and abdominal pain were concentrated toward high-capability hospitals, and about 30% of patients were released without apparent intervention. These findings suggest an opportunity for improving care and decreasing cost through better interfacility coordination, such as standardized management protocols and telemedicine with high-capability hospitals. Further research is needed to identify similar opportunities among other common conditions.
"Fog" Optimization via Virtual Cells in Cellular Network Resource Allocation

This work proposes a new resource allocation optimization framework for cellular networks using "fog" or neighborhood-based optimization rather than fully centralized or fully decentralized methods. In neighborhood-based optimization resources are allocated within virtual cells encompassing several base-stations and the users within their coverage area. As the number of base-stations within a virtual cell increases, the framework reverts to centralized optimization, and as this number decreases it reverts to decentralized optimization. We address two tasks that must be carried out in the fog optimization framework: forming the virtual cells and allocating the communication resources in each virtual cell effectively. We propose hierarchical clustering for the formation of the virtual cells given a particular number of such cells. Once the virtual cells are formed, we consider several optimization methods to solve the NP-hard joint channel access and power allocation problem within each virtual cell in order to maximize the sum rate of the entire system. We present numerical results for the system sum rate of each scheme under hierarchical clustering. Our results indicate that proper design of the fog optimization results in little degradation relative to centralized optimization even for a relatively large number of virtual cells. However, improper design leads to a significant decrease in sum rate relative to centralized optimization.
Transparent Conductive Printable Meshes Based on Percolation Patterns

Transparent conductive meshes were fabricated by inkjet printing on flexible substrate using a percolation pattern created by random removal of conducting bonds from a regular square two-dimensiona...
Broadband passive nonlinear acoustic diode

In dynamical and acoustical systems, breaking reciprocity is achievable by employing external biases, spatial temporal variations of material properties, or nonlinearities. In this present work, we propose, theoretically analyze, and experimentally demonstrate the first passive broad-band mechanical diode, by adding an asymmetric local nonlinear interface to an otherwise linear waveguide. It is shown that for a broad range of input energies and frequencies, three different types of nonreciprocal behavior are obtained, (i) different transmitted energies depending on the direction of wave propagation, (ii) transmission of acoustic waves allowed in one direction but not in the reverse direction, and (iii) arrest of propagating waves at the nonlinear interface only in one (preferred) direction. A unique feature of the proposed acoustic device compared with previous designs is its capability to achieve passive nonreciprocity without altering or distorting the frequency content of the sending signal. The proposed system can pave the way for designing passive acoustic or thermal diodes, and adaptable nonreciprocal wave transmission devices of enhanced robustness that are tunable with, and passively adaptive to energy.
Open Algorithms for Identity Federation

The identity problem today is a data-sharing problem. Today the fixed attributes approach adopted by the consumer identity management industry provides only limited information about an individual, and therefore, is of limited value to the service providers and other participants in the identity ecosystem. This paper proposes the use of the Open Algorithms (OPAL) paradigm to address the increasing need for individuals and organizations to share data in a privacy-preserving manner. Instead of exchanging static or fixed attributes, participants in the ecosystem will be able to obtain better insight through a collective sharing of algorithms, governed through a trust network. Algorithms for specific datasets must be vetted to be privacy-preserving, fair and free from bias.
New Compact Deep Learning Model for Skin Cancer Recognition

Deep learning neural networks have made significant progress in image analysis and have been used for skin cancer recognition. Early detection and proper treatments for malignant skin cancer cases are vital to ensure high survival rate in patients. We present a novel deep learning based convolutional neural network (CNN) model for generating compatible models on mobile platforms such as Android and iOS. The proposed model was tested on the grand challenge PHDB melanoma dataset. The best performing proposed model excels in the following ways: (1) it outperforms the baseline model in terms of accuracy by 1%; (2) it consists of 60% fewer parameters compared to the base model and thereby it is more efficient on mobile platforms. Furthermore, the model is more compact and retains high accuracy without the need to be downsized; (3) in conjunction with advanced regularization techniques such as dropout and data augmentation, the proposed CNN model excelled when implemented on state-of-the-art frameworks such as Keras and TensorFlow. Additionally, we were able to successfully deploy it on the iOS and Android mobile systems. The proposed model could also be lucrative towards other datasets for image classification on mobile platform.
The Feminization of Transgender Women in Prisons for Men: How Prison as a Total Institution Shapes Gender:

In this article, we investigate the degree to which prison shapes transgender women’s perceptions of themselves as gendered people in prisons for men. Drawing on original data collected from 315 tr...
Associations between Appalachian youth tobacco consumption and communication channel use.

Introduction Youth tobacco use rates in Appalachia exceed the US national average, and e-cigarette use has increased. Thus, further research is needed to understand how these youth receive and share product information. Methods Middle and high school students in rural Appalachia were surveyed (N=1103). The primary outcome, tobacco use, was categorized as: never users, cigarette-only users, smokeless-only users, e-cigarette-only users, and polytobacco users. Associations between receiving or sharing conventional tobacco-related or e-cigarette-related information via specific communication channels and tobacco use were assessed. Results Participants who received tobacco information from friends and family (FF) (OR=1.87; 95% CI: 1.35-2.57), public displays (PUB) (OR=1.49; 95% CI: 1.09-2.05), and digital media (DIG) (OR=1.95; 95% CI: 1.41-2.70) and e-cigarette information via the same communication channels, FF (OR=2.65; 95% CI: 1.93-3.65), PUB (OR=1.62; 95% CI: 1.17-2.26), and DIG (OR=2.24; 95% CI: 1.61-3.12), had greater odds of being polytobacco users, compared to never users. Participants who received e-cigarette-related information from FF (OR=2.42; 95% CI: 1.42-4.13) and PUB (OR=2.13; 95% CI: 1.25-3.65) had greater odds of being e-cigarette-only users compared to never users. Participants who shared e-cigarette-related information with FF had greater odds of being e-cigarette-only users (OR=3.16; 95% CI: 1.80-5.58) and polytobacco users (OR=4.48; 95% CI: 3.16-6.35) compared to never users. Conclusions Receiving and sharing tobacco-related and e-cigarette-related information via multiple communication channels is associated with e-cigarette and polytobacco use among Appalachian youth. Several channels may need to be utilized in health campaigns to influence youth.
Spin-Dependent Thermoelectric Power of Nanoislands

The Seebeck effect explains the generation of electric voltage as a result of a temperature gradient. Its efficiency, defined as the ratio of the generated electric voltage to the temperature diffe...
The New Frontier: Cloning

The “birth” of the lamb Dolly on February 27, 1997, cloned from the genetic material from an adult cell seemed to be the product of a mad scientist’s imagination. This scientific achievement prompted debate by bioethicists, religious voices, and governments related to the potential benefits and adverse consequences potentially associated with either reproductive or therapeutic cloning and the wisdom of permitting either. This chapter examines the issues raised by secular bioethicists, religious voices, and governments with respect to both reproductive and therapeutic cloning and the interplay between religious beliefs and policy decisions related to cloning.
In-furrow fluopyram nematicide efficacy for Rotylenchulus reniformis management in cotton production

Abstract In-furrow nematicide application is a primary method for managing Rotylenchulus reniformis (Linford and Oliveira, 1940) in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Fluopyram is a relatively new non-fumigant nematicide and field data is needed to determine its efficacy at managing R. reniformis (reniform nematode, RN) in cotton production. To investigate, two experiments, consisting of multiple small plot field trials per experiment, were conducted in Quincy, FL. The first experiment evaluated optimal fluopyram application rate by comparing 0, 105, 131, 158, 184, and 236 g a.i./ha. The second experiment compared aldicarb, a common non-fumigant nematicide in cotton, with two fluopyram formulations, one at 184 g a.i./ha and another at 199 g a.i./ha. In the first experiment, fluopyram reduced RN abundances in 2 of 3 trials, and 236 g fluopyram/ha provided the most consistent management of RN soil populations, while 158 and 184 g fluopyram/ha were effective in one trial each. At 131 g a.i./ha or above, any fluopyram rate tested improved cotton yield compared with untreated in one trial, but did not affect yield in any other trial. In the second experiment, aldicarb reduced RN egg abundances in roots compared with untreated or fluopyram treatments. None of the nematicides affected yield in the second experiment. In summary, fluopyram was inconsistent for managing RN on cotton.
Green Currents for Meromorphic Maps of Compact Kähler Manifolds

We study the invariance properties of positive cones under the pull back by meromorphic maps of compact Kahler manifolds. We also provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of Green currents in codimension one.
Physical Health Symptoms and Hurricane Katrina: Individual Trajectories of Development and Recovery More Than a Decade After the Storm.

Objectives. To examine how physical health symptoms developed and resolved in response to Hurricane Katrina.Methods. We used data from a 2003 to 2018 study of young, low-income mothers who were liv...
Pediatric Celiac Disease

While commonly thought as a condition causing chronic diarrhea with malabsorption and failure to thrive, celiac disease (CeD) can instead manifest with non-specific GI signs and symptoms such as constipation, as in the case illustrated below, or oral aphthae, dental enamel hypoplasia, or transaminitis. Extraintestinal manifestations such as short stature, recurrent headaches, delayed puberty, and arthritis are also very common in the pediatric age group. Thus, care providers must maintain a low threshold even in non-classical presentations. The chapter outlines an up-to-date, universally accepted approach to screening and diagnosing CeD in children.
Current trends in patient-reported outcome measures for clavicle fractures: a focused systematic review of 11 influential orthopaedic journals.

BACKGROUND Many patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have been used to follow clavicle fractures, providing an objective means to track outcomes. However, lack of standardization of PROM usage makes cross-study comparison difficult. Therefore, we reviewed articles on clavicle fractures from 11 of the most influential orthopedic journals to assess trends in PROM usage over time and based on geographic location. METHODS A focused systematic review of 11 of the most influential orthopedic journals was performed using PubMed. All articles published between 1981 and 2020 with greater than 9 patients reporting clinical outcomes of clavicle fractures were included. For each article, patient demographics, treatment modality, geographic location, and outcome measures used were recorded. Temporal trends were identified using the Cochran-Armitage test for trend and linear regression. Pearson chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare between journals, geographic location, study type, and fracture classification. RESULTS From the initial literature search of 623 articles, 151 studies reporting on 15,853 primary clavicle fractures were included. Fractures of the middle one-third of the clavicle were most studied in the included literature (71%). Seventeen different PROMs were used, with an average of 1.6 outcome measures per study, and there was a significant increase in the number of PROMs used per article over time (P < .001). The Constant-Murley score was the most-reported outcome measure (44%) followed by the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score (27%), visual analog scale for pain (23%), and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Standardized Shoulder Assessment Form (ASES; 14%). There was a significant difference between the measures used based on geography (P = .002), the most notable being that North American authors use the ASES score more frequently. CONCLUSIONS The use of PROMs in studies evaluating clavicle fracture treatment outcomes has increased over time, with recent studies reporting more PROMs than older studies, and there are notable differences in usage of the various scores based on geography and journal. Although there is no consensus on the most reliable PROM for assessing clavicle fractures, we recommend the use of at least 2 of the commonly reported PROMs in future studies to facilitate cross-study comparisons.
Demonstration + Natural Language: Multimodal Interfaces for GUI-based Interactive Task Learning Agents

We summarize our past five years of work on designing, building, and studying Sugilite, an interactive task learning agent that can learn new tasks and relevant associated concepts interactively from the user’s natural language instructions and demonstrations leveraging the graphical user interfaces (GUIs) of third-party mobile apps. Through its multi-modal and mixed-initiative approaches for Human-AI interaction, Sugilite made important contributions in improving the usability, applicability, generalizability, flexibility, robustness, and shareability of interactive task learning agents. Sugilite also represents a new human-AI interaction paradigm for interactive task learning, where it uses existing app GUIs as a medium for users to communicate their intents with an AI agent instead of the interfaces for users to interact with the underlying computing services. In this chapter, we describe the Sugilite system, explain the design and implementation of its key features, and show a prototype in the form of a conversational assistant on Android.
A video based run-off-road training program with practice and evaluation in a simulator

A run-off-road (ROR) event occurs when one or more of a vehicle's wheels leaves the roadway and begins to travel on the surface or shoulder adjacent to the road. Despite various countermeasures, ROR crashes continue to yield a large number of fatalities and injuries. Infrastructure-based solutions do not directly address the critical factor of driver performance preceding and during an ROR event. In this study, a total of 75 individuals participated in a pre-post experiment to examine the effect of a training video on improving driver performance during a set of simulated ROR scenarios (e.g., on a high speed highway, a horizontal curve, and a residential rural road). In each scenario, the vehicle was unexpectedly forced into an ROR scenario for which the drivers were instructed to recover as safely as possible. The treatment group then watched a custom ROR training video while the control group viewed a placebo video. The participants then drove the same simulated ROR scenarios. The results suggest that the training video had a significant positive effect on drivers' steering response on all three roadway conditions as well as improvements in vehicle stability, subjectively rated demand on the driver, and self-evaluated performance in the highway scenario. Under the highway conditions, the treatment group reduced the frequency of spinouts from 70% in the pre-training events to 16% in the post-training events (χ(2)(1)=23.32, p<0.001) with no significant improvement found for the control group. In the horizontal curve, spinouts were reduced for the treatment group from 50% in the pre-training events to 30% in the post-training events (χ(2)(1)=8.45, p=0.004) with the control group also not showing any significant improvement. The results of this study suggest that even a short video about recovering from ROR events can significantly influence a driver's ability to recover. It is possible that additional training may have further benefits in recovering from ROR events.
Optimizing orientation of SPECT and cone beam CT detectors through quantification of cross contamination in a dual modality mammotomography system

A compact, dual modality SPECT/CT system for dedicated 3D breast imaging is in development. A major consideration in determining the relative placement of the SPECT and CT detectors is minimizing cross contamination. The transmission contamination of the emission image is investigated here using a 16/spl times/20 cm/sup 2/ quantized CZT SPECT camera located at various orientations relative to the 20/spl times/25 cm/sup 2/ CsI(TI) CT detector, with a pendant, water-filled breast phantom placed in the common field-of-view. This arrangement is repeated with and without /sup 99m/Tc emission radioactivity in the breast, with the breast laterally offset from the central ray of the X-ray cone-beam in a half-cone beam configuration. Planar transmission projections use a quasi-monochromatic (35 keV mean energy, 20% FWHM) X-ray beam, with an exposure equivalent to 1/360, 1/180, 1/90 of the total exposure of dual view, screening mammography; these fractional exposures are used due to the requirement of multiple images necessary for CT data acquisition and /spl sim/360 projection exposures are expected. Images and energy spectra acquired from the SPECT projections are used to quantify contamination from the X-ray beam. With the offset CT acquisition geometry, initial results show X-ray scatter contamination of the emission camera is limited to photons well below the 140 keV photopeak. Pulse pile-up is not a concern, with the instantaneous X-ray scatter flux. Transmission contamination in the energy windowed emission image is negligible (<0.5%) for any SPECT camera position (polar orientation and azimuthal contamination) and various measured breast sizes (325 - 1500 mL). Optimal placement of the detectors is found to be more a function of physical constraints than X-ray transmission contamination.
Instructional Consultation in Middle Schools: Description of an Approach to Training Teachers To Facilitate Middle School Teams.

Abstract Many middle schools have support teams that discuss students who are experiencing academic or behavioral difficulties. However, professional experience suggests that minimal attempts are made to analyze antecedents and consequences of students' behavior, develop and implement sound interventions, and evaluate outcomes of intervention. This article describes a pilot project that extended Instructional Consultation (IC) (Rosenfield, 1987) into the middle school setting. The goal of the project was to develop an approach to training middle school teachers so that they could intervene early and effectively to address students' academic and behavioral needs. The training was based upon principles of systematic problem solving and data-based decision-making. In addition, collaboration between teachers was emphasized, along with considering instructional and environmental variables, when seeking to understand and ameliorate students' academic and behavioral difficulties.
Efficient selection of unique and popular oligos for large EST databases

EST databases have grown exponentially in recent years and now represent the largest collection of genetic sequences. An important application of these databases is that they contain information useful for the design of gene-specific oligonucleotides (or simply, oligos) that can be used in PCR primer design, microarray experiments, and genomic library screening. In this paper, we study two complementary problems concerning the selection of short oligos, e.g., 20-50 bases, from a large database of tens of thousands of EST sequences: (i) selection of oligos each of which appears (exactly) in one EST sequence but does not appear (exactly or approximately) in any other EST sequence and (ii) selection of oligos that appear (exactly or approximately) in many ESTs. The first problem is called the unique oligo problem and has applications in PCR primer and microarray probe designs. The second is called the popular oligo problem and is useful in screening genomic libraries (such as BAC libraries) for gene-rich regions. We present an efficient algorithm to identify all unique oligos in the ESTs and an efficient heuristic algorithm to enumerate the most popular oligos. By taking into account the distribution of the frequencies of the words in the EST database, the algorithms have been carefully engineered to achieve remarkable running times on regular PCs. Each of the algorithms takes only a couple of hours (on a 1.2 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM machine) to run on a dataset 28 Mbases of barley ESTs from the HARVEST database. We present simulation results on synthetic data and a preliminary analysis of the barley EST database.
Soft error hardening for logic-level designs

Vulnerability of combinational logic to soft errors exponentially increases with technology scaling. Reducing soft error susceptibility of logic gates comes with extra area, delay, and power consumption overhead that needs to be balanced in the entire circuit. In this paper, we present efficient soft error hardening techniques based on selective gate resizing to maximize soft error suppression for the entire logic-level design while minimizing area and delay penalties. Experimental results confirm that these techniques are able to highly reduce soft error rate with modest area and delay overhead.
Towards global collaborative computing: opportunities and challenges of peer to peer networks and applications

Collaborative computing has emerged as a promising paradigm for developing large-scale distributed systems. Peer to Peer (P2P) and Grid computing represent a significant step towards global collaboration, a fundamental capability of network computing. P2P systems are decentralized, self-organizing, and self-repairing distributed systems that cooperate to exchange data and accomplish computing tasks. These systems have transpired as the dominant consumer of residential Internet subscribers’ bandwidth, and are being increasingly used in many different application domains. With rapid advances in wireless and mobile communication technologies, such as wireless mesh networks, wireless LANs, and 3G cellular networks, P2P computing is moving into wireless networking, mobile computing, and sensor network applications. In this keynote, I will discuss some important opportunities and challenges of Peer to Peer networks and applications towards global collaborative computing paradigm. I will first review the P2P research and development in the past few years, focusing on the remarkable results produced in P2P system scalability, robustness, distributed storage, and system measurements, the continued evolution of P2P systems, and how today’s state-of-the-art developments differentiate from earlier instantiations, such as Napster, Gnutella, KaZaA, and Morpheus. Then I will discuss some important challenges for wide deployment of P2P computing in mission-critical applications and future computing environments.
Protein folding Folding with a two-stroke motor

The molecular chaperones GroEL and GroES are needed to fold some proteins under what would otherwise be non-permissive conditions. The two chaperones form an asymmetrical complex that has now been crystallized and analysed by some clever mutagenic studies. The new results reveal that the substrate protein first binds to GroEL, and it is stretched apart as GroEL changes its shape. This shape change also encapsulates the substrate in a cavity within GroEL, in which it can then fold.
Free monoids and forests of rational numbers

The Calkin-Wilf tree is an infinite binary tree whose vertices are the positive rational numbers. Each such number occurs in the tree exactly once and in the form a / b , where a and b are relatively prime positive integers. This tree is associated with the matrices L 1 = ( 1 0 1 1 ) and R 1 = ( 1 1 0 1 ) , which freely generate the monoid S L 2 ( N 0 ) of 2 × 2 matrices with determinant 1 and nonnegative integral coordinates. For other pairs of matrices L u and R v that freely generate submonoids of G L 2 ( N 0 ) , there are forests of infinitely many rooted infinite binary trees that partition the set of positive rational numbers, and possess a remarkable symmetry property.
Spinal shock and fetal oxygenation.

Abstract 1.1. Circulatory shock was induced experimentally in near term pregnant sheep. 2.2. Spinal hypotension was accompanied by a marked reduction in uterine blood flow and a rise in uterine vascular resistance. Uterine oxygen consumption fell only slightly. 3.3. No significant changes occurred in fetal arterial and venous pressures and in fetal oxygen consumption and umbilical flow. 4.4. Administration of Aramine corrected the maternal hemodynamic alterations of spinal shock but did not affect the fetus. Administration of oxygen raised maternal blood pO 2 but failed to either prevent the hemodynamic alterations of spinal shock or to alter fetal pO 2 .
Performance effects of optimal LQG eigenvalue placement in ship control

The eigenvalues of a linear time-invariant system may be optimally placed by using performance criterion modification in the optimal controller design. This is approach is applied to the design of a linear quadratic Gaussian controller for a submarine. The results are compared to a linear quadratic Gaussian controller designed by standard loop-shaping methods in the state estimator design and using a linear quadratic regulator to perform loop transfer recovery. Improvements in performance can be obtained after applying loop transfer recovery by assigning the eigenvalues of the optimal state feedback system to desired locations.
Peptide cotransmitter potentiates calcium channel activity in crayfish skeletal muscle.

The activity of 2 types of Ca2+ channels (38 and 14 pS in 137 mM Ba2+) in the plasma membrane of the crayfish tonic flexor muscle is modulated by the peptide proctolin. This peptide serves as a cotransmitter in 3 of the 5 excitatory tonic flexor motoneurons and greatly enhances tension after depolarization by the conventional neurotransmitter. Proctolin alone has no effect on these channels, but renders them capable of sustained activity following depolarization. After depolarization induces activity, 5 x 10(-9) M proctolin increases the open probability of the larger channel up to 50-fold due to a marked decrease in the mean channel closed time. There is also at least a 4- fold increase in the percentage of patches with active channels for the large channel and a 2-fold increase for the small channel. Proctolin modulation appears to occur via an intracellular messenger, possibly cAMP. The peptide9s effect on channel activity is dose dependent in a manner that parallels its effect on tension. These results indicate that the activation of these channels and the resulting influx of Ca2+ into the muscle fiber play a role in the potentiation of tension in this muscle.
Effect of Indoleacetic Acid and Related Indoles on Lactobacillus sp. Strain 11201 Growth, Indoleacetic Acid Catabolism, and 3-Methylindole Formation

A study was conducted to determine the activity of the 3-methylindole (3MI)-forming enzyme in Lactobacillus sp. strain 11201. Cells were incubated anaerobically with 17 different indolic and aromatic compounds. Indoleacetic acid (IAA), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, 5-methoxy-3-indoleacetic acid, indole-3-pyruvate, or indole-3-propionic acid induced 3MI-forming activity. The highest total enzyme activity induced by IAA was observed in cells incubated with an initial concentration of 1.14 mM IAA. Peak activity of the 3MI-forming enzyme occurred 4 h after bacteria were incubated with either 0.114 or 1.14 mM IAA. Enzyme activity peaked earlier (2 h) and disappeared more rapidly at 5.7 mM IAA than at other concentrations of IAA. The effects of IAA and 3MI on the growth of Lactobacillus sp. strain 11201 and formation of 3MI from IAA also were determined. Bacterial growth and 3MI formation from IAA were reduced in medium containing exogenous 3MI. The growth depression observed in medium containing 5.7 mM IAA appears to be due to the toxicity of 3MI rather than IAA. The formation of 3MI in this ruminal Lactobacillus sp. is mediated by an inducible enzyme, and as 3MI accumulates, bacterial growth and rates of 3MI formation from IAA are reduced.
The use of canine-specific albumin in dogs with septic peritonitis.

Objective To assess changes in serum albumin concentration (ALB), colloid osmotic pressure (COP), and Doppler blood pressure (DBP) following transfusion of 5% lyophilized canine-specific albumin (CSA) in hypoalbuminemic dogs following surgical source control for septic peritonitis. Design Prospective randomized clinical trial November 2009 – November 2010. Setting University teaching hospital. Animals Fourteen client-owned dogs with hypoalbuminemia (<27 g/L [2.7 g/dL]) following surgical source control for septic peritonitis. Interventions Dogs were randomized to clinician-directed therapy (CDT) and CSA groups. Dogs enrolled in the CSA group received 800 mg/kg of CSA within 24 hours following surgical intervention. Measurements and Main Results At enrollment, ALB, COP, and DBP were not different between groups. ALB, COP, and DBP were significantly increased in the CSA group 2 hours following completion of the transfusion compared with the CDT group (P = 0.0234, 0.0078, 0.0156, respectively). In comparison to the CDT group, there was a significant change in ALB in the CSA group 24 hours after transfusion (P = 0.0039), but no difference in COP (P = 0.3914) or DBP (P = 0.5145). ALB was significantly higher in the CSA group at 24 hours compared with the CDT group (P = 0.0367) At the time of death or discharge, there was no difference between groups regarding ALB, COP, or DBP, but an association between ALB and survival was identified (P = 0.0273). One dog experienced tachypnea during transfusion of CSA; this dog died of unknown respiratory causes 120 hours after transfusion. Conclusions The administration of CSA in dogs with septic peritonitis results in an increase in ALB, COP, and DBP 2 hours after administration. An increase in ALB persisted at 24 hours compared with a CDT group. Administration of this product was not associated with owner-reported delayed adverse events in this population of dogs.
Habenula: Recently recognized functions and potential clinical relevance

The habenula (Hb) (from the Latin, little rein) is a phylogenetically old structure located in the dorsomedial portion of the thalamus and is an important link between the forebrain and brainstem monoaminergic nuclei. The Hb includes 2 subdivisions—lateral and medial—which differ in their neurochemical characteristics and connectivity. The lateral Hb receives inputs from the cerebral cortex, lateral hypothalamus, and globus pallidus (GP) and exerts an inhibitory modulation both on dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) and on serotonergic neurons of the median and dorsal raphe nuclei. This inhibitory effect is primarily mediated by γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons located in the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg). The medial Hb receives its main inputs from the medial septum and projects to the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), which in turn controls the activity of monoaminergic brainstem nuclei. Via all these connections, the Hb has a major role in emotional regulation of behavior. For example, the lateral Hb processes negative emotional state information (including disappointment, punishment, and pain) and inhibits the SNc/VTA neurons involved in learning and motivation. Both the lateral Hb and the medial Hb may also participate in sleep regulation, pain modulation, and the mechanism of drug addiction. Neuroimaging studies allow identification of the Hb and its main connections in humans, and showed its activation in response to negative emotions or pain. The increasing interest in the physiology of the Hb and its involvement in neurologic and psychiatric disease is reflected by a large number of recent reviews.1–9
RADIOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE BEAGLE

The chronology of uterine enlargement and fetal mineralization relative to luteinizing hormone (LH) peak, time of breeding, and parturition was determined in six female Beagles. Uterine enlargement was first detectable radiographically 35 days prior to parturition. The uterus changes in shape from a circular to a tubular/ovoid structure by 24 days prior to parturition. Mineralized fetuses were first detected at 21 days prior to parturition. The extent of mineralization progressed rapidly with the proximal extremities, forelegs/hindlegs/pelvis, caudal vertebrae/paws, and finally, the teeth becoming visible at approximately 17, 11, five, and four days prior to parturition, respectively. There is a larger variation of gestational dates among dogs when based on time of breeding rather than on the occurrence of the LH peak or parturition. As such, the dates on which to radiographically detect uterine enlargement or fetal mineralization were more accurately determined when based on the occurrence of the LH peak or parturition instead of breeding dates.
Translating clinical research into clinical practice in the intensive care unit: the central role of respiratory care.

Critical care is entering a phase of rapid introduction of treatments that have demonstrated efficacy for reducing mortality and morbidity. Until recently the principal question facing intensivists was “Does this treatment work?” Though that question is still important, we now must address the same challenges other fields, notably cardiology, face in implementing these practices at the bedside. This report reviews the literature on the chasm between evidence and practice, on the barriers to implementing effective practices in the intensive care unit, and novel strategies to overcome those barriers. Hundreds of thousands of patients die each year in intensive care units in the United States, and it is essential that we take a programmatic approach to addressing their health care needs.
Sequential χ 2 and F tests and the related confidence intervals

SUMMARY Sequential x2 and F tests are proposed for comparing more than two treatments. Extending earlier results of the author, one obtains approximations to the significance level and power of the tests, and approximate confidence intervals for the noncentrality parameter O., For each fixed 0 a confidence region is given for the angle c which the treatment effect vector in canonical coordinates makes with a fixed direction, and hence an overall confidence region is obtained for the pair (0, co). For comparing two treatments in clinical trials, Armitage (1975) has suggested a class of sequential tests which he calls repeated significance tests. These tests have been studied numerically by McPherson & Armitage (1971) and theoretically by Siegmund (1977, 1978), who also described a method for obtaining confidence intervals related to these tests and suggested a modification of the tests to increase the precision of the estimates; see also Siegmund & Gregory (1980). The goal of the present paper is to study analogous procedures for comparing more than two treatments. Simple examples involving three treatments might arise in comparing a drug at maximal dose, a drug at minimal dose and placebo, or drug A, drug B and drug A together with B. For theoretical analysis it is convenient to assume that observations are made sequentially on vectors Xn = (X1n, ..., Xrn)' (n = 1, 2, ...), where r denotes the number of treatments and Xij is the response of the jth patient assigned to treatment i. The results of this paper should be applicable to randomized schemes of allocating treatments which approximate this situation. The Xij are assumed to be independently and normally distributed with mean uij and common variance U2. The following discussion is restricted to the special case ,Usj = ,ui for all j. The theory can easily be modified to accommodate stratification on some concomitant variable, provided that the allocation of treatments is approximately balanced within strata. The one-way analysis of variance model with uij = ui for all j is customarily reparameterized in terms of ,u = r-1 2jp and ao = jug-,u, so that E(Xij) = Ju+oi with Z ox = 0. The log likelihood ratio statistic for.testing Ho: 1 = 0 against H1: Z a2 > 0 based on n observations is
Do exotic generalist predators alter host plant preference of a native willow beetle

Selection can favour herbivores that choose host plants benefitting their offspring either by enhancing growth rates or by increasing larval defences against native predators. For exotic predator species that feed on herbivores, their success with invading new habitats may depend upon overcoming defences used by native prey. Whether exotic predators can alter herbivore host choice has remained un- examined. Therefore, we compared the efficacy of larval defence by Chrysomela knabi (a native beetle species) that had fed on two native willow hosts: Salix seri- cea (a phenolic glycoside (PG)-rich species) and Salix eriocephala (a PG-poor species), when attacked by exotic generalist predators. In addition, the preference and performance of C. knabi on S. sericea and S. eriocephala was examined. 2 Chrysomela knabi preferred and performed better on S. sericea. In a common garden, adult C. knabi were nine-fold more common and oviposited five-fold more frequently on S. sericea than on S. eriocephala . In the laboratory, adult feeding preference on leaf discs and survival rates of larvae were both greater on S. sericea , and time to pupation was shorter. 3 Chrysomela knabi larvae produced significantly more salicylaldehyde when fed S. sericea leaves than when fed S. eriocephala leaves. Additionally, those larvae with greater salicylaldehyde had reduced predation by two exotic generalist pred- ators, Harmonia axyridis larvae and juvenile Tenodera aridifolia sinensis . 4 The results obtained in the present study suggest that selection favoured the pref- erence of C. knabi for PG-rich willow plants because larvae grew and survived better and that selection by common exotic generalist predators would reinforce this preference.
Some mixed results on boundary effects

Abstract Recent experimental evidence suggests that expected utility theory performs well when all lotteries have the same number of probable outcomes. A straightforward model designed to accommodate this evidence also allows Allais paradox behavior but predicts violations of stochastic dominance preference.
Development of a sediment delivery model for application in large river basins

This paper presents an analysis of available data on suspended sediment concentrations in rivers within the Yorkshire region. It identifies the main control on the mean suspended sediment concentration across 62 medium-sized catchments (5-380 km 2 ) to be that of land cover/use, with the percentage of cropped and suburban/urban land accounting for 71.5% of the variation between catchments. Twenty-two of the sites have associated flow gauging, and analysis of this reveals a strong flow dependence for catchments with a high percentage of arable land. In the case of urbanized catchments, there is considerable scatter owing to the influence of point source inputs: notably sewage effluent, combined sewer overflows, drainage from colliery waste and mine waters. This scatter is due not only to the inherent variability within these point sources, which is not flow related, but also to the variable degree of dilution by flow in the main stream. As a first-order approximation, a simple regression model, in which sediment concentration is a function of the daily mean flow and the percentage of cropped and suburban/urban land cover can be used to generate daily time-series of sediment concentration. This model has been applied within the LOIS catchment delivery model and performs well across a wide range of catchment types. Results are presented for four catchments representative of the Yorkshire region.
Heat exchanges in fast, high-performance liquid chromatography. A complete thermodynamic study.

The successive physical transformations of the mobile phase that take place in very high pressure liquid chromatography were studied based on the formalism of classical thermodynamics. The eluent is initially under atmospheric pressure (P0) and at ambient temperature (Text). In a first step, it is compressed to a high pressure (Pmax of the order of 1 kbar) in the pump heads of the chromatograph. In a second step, the pressurized eluent is transferred to the inlet of the chromatographic column, along which, in a third step, it is decompressed to atmospheric pressure. Both the compression and the decompression of the fluid were considered to take place under conditions that can be either adiabatic or nonadiabatic and either reversible or irreversible. Applications of the first and second principles of thermodynamics allow the determination of the heat and energy exchanged between the eluent and the external surroundings during each transformation. Experimental data were acquired using acetonitrile as the mo...
Noncollinear Optical Parametric Amplifiers for Ultra-Intense Lasers

Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA), using kilojoule-class Nd:glass lasers as pumps, could produce ultra-intense pulses (>1023 W/cm2). A midscale system is presented that will demonstrate technologies scalable to one pumped by OMEGA EP.