cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Creation of a soluton out of dissipation

Abstract Recent experimental observations of stimulated Raman scattering have observed an anomalous reversal of pump depletion under certain circumstances. This reversal of the pump depletion has been interpreted by Druhl, Carlsten, and Wenzel as a heavily-damped soliton whose width narrows as it propagates in the Raman-active medium. In this paper, I solve the initial value problem for such a system. Furthermore, I find that I can theoretically predict the number of such solitons which shall appear as well as give the conditions necessary for such solitons to occur. Lastly, by using the proper solution for the initial value problem, I can verify the correctness of the results given by Druhl, Carlsten, and Wenzel for the position and widths of such solitons.
Presence of intervertebral discs alters observed stiffness and failure mechanisms in the vertebra

Ex vivo mechanical testing is an essential tool for study of vertebral mechanics. However, the common method of testing vertebral bodies in the absence of adjacent intervertebral discs (IVDs) may limit the physiological relevance of the results. The goal of this study was to determine the influence of IVDs on vertebral mechanical properties and failure mechanisms. Rabbit thoracic vertebral bodies were tested with and without IVDs in a stepwise fashion that incorporated a micro-computed tomography scan at each loading step. The image sequences were analyzed using digital volume correlation to quantify deformations throughout the vertebral body. The observed deformation patterns differed substantially between the groups. Specimens tested with IVDs exhibited a slow increase in strain in the inferior and posterior regions, followed by a sudden increase in strain in the anterior cortex right at the yield point. In contrast, the highest strains in the isolated vertebral bodies were in the posterior regions throughout the test. Specimens tested with IVDs had lower stiffness (507.49±184.73 N/mm vs. 845.61±296.09 N/mm; p=0.044), higher ultimate displacement (2.00±0.68 mm vs. 1.17±0.54 mm; p=0.043), and higher maximum shear strains (e.g. top 25th percentile: 0.19±0.11 vs. 0.06±0.07 mm/mm; p<0.0458), and tended to have lower ultimate force (690.28±160.25 N vs. 873.81±131.48 N; p=0.056). Similar work to failure (648.15±317.86 N-mm vs. 603.49±437.95 N-mm; p=0.844) was observed between the two groups. These results indicate that testing vertebral bodies in the absence of IVDs can elicit artifactual failure mechanisms. These artifacts may be more prominent than the effects on vertebral strength and toughness.
Effect of Virulent and Less Virulent Strains of Nocardia asteroides on Acid-Phosphatase Activity in Alveolar and Peritoneal Macrophages Maintained in Vitro

Since virulent strains of Nocardia asteroides grow within macrophages, experiments were designed to determine whether this intracellular pathogen affects lysosomal enzyme levels. Peritoneal and alveolar macrophages from mice were infected in vitro with live or killed N asteroides of the virulent strain GUH-2 or with live nocardiae of the less virulent strain 10905, which is killed by macrophages. The activity of acid phosphatase in individual macrophages was quantitated by means of a computer-assisted cytospectrophotometry system. Slide preparations were Gram stained for quantitation of ingested nocardiae in the same macrophages. The level of acid phosphatase activity in alveolar and peritoneal macrophages was decreased by infection with live cells of the virulent strain; the level of activity was inversely proportional to the number of nocardiae ingested. This effect was not seen with killed bacteria of this strain or with live bacteria of the less virulent strain. These results demonstrate a relation between the virulence of N asteroides strains and the extent of reductions in lysosomal acid-phosphatase activity of macrophages.
Cricothyrotomy in the emergency department revisited.

Abstract Thirty-nine emergency cricothyrotomies were reviewed from the emergency department of Hennepin County Medical Center during the 4-year period ending December 1985. Due to technical changes in airway management and a desire to assess their impact, this experience was compared with a previously reported series of 38 emergency cricothyrotomies from the same department. Technical changes include the use of paralyzing agents, transtracheal needle ventilation, and the use of only vertical skin incisions and #4 Shiley tubes when cricothyrotomy is performed. The presenting problem, indications for cricothyrotomy, and complications of the procedure were compared between the two series. Fewer cricothyrotomies were done as a fraction of total surgical and nonsurgical tracheal intubations in the present series (1.7%) compared to the previous series (2.7%). The complication rate decreased from 40% in the previous series to 23% in the present series. Incorrect site of tube placement (10%) and hemorrhage (8%) remain the two leading complications. However, the tube was in the trachea in all cases, and acceptable ventilation was achieved. No patient developed a clinically significant hematoma or hemorrhage from cricothyrotomy. It is concluded that our technical changes in airway management have helped to decrease both the relative frequency of cricothyrotomy and the complication rate.
A mimetic porous carbon model by quench molecular dynamics simulation

A mimetic porous carbon model is generated using quench molecular dynamics simulations that reproduces experimental radial distribution functions of activated carbon. The resulting structure is composed of curved and defected graphene sheets. The curvature is induced by nonhexagonal rings. The quench conditions are systematically varied and the final porous structure is scrutinized in terms of its pore size distribution, pore connectivity, and fractal dimension. It is found that the initial carbon density affects the fractal dimension but only causes a minor shift in the pore size distribution. On the other hand, the quench rate affects the pore size distribution but only causes a minor shift in the fractal dimension.
Educational attainment and osteoarthritis: Differential associations with radiographic changes and symptom reporting

Educational attainment has been negatively associated with the prevalence, morbidity and mortality of many diseases. With knee osteoarthritis as an example, we used NHANES I data to examine whether the cross-sectional association between formal education and disease is due to known risk factors, and also whether educational attainment is more strongly associated with self-reported symptoms or with radiographic change. We found univariate associations between osteoarthritis and low levels of education. For radiographic knee osteoarthritis in women, and in both sexes combined, this relationship was explained by controlling for known risk factors, which included age, knee injury, race, obesity, and occupation. However, even after adjusting for these major risk factors and the presence of radiographic changes, reporting of knee pain and arthritis at any site remained significantly associated with low educational attainment, especially for those with less than or equal to 8 years of education.
Investigation on Soil Thermal Saturation and Recovery of an Earth to Air Heat Exchanger under Different Operation Strategies

Abstract A great portion of the primary energy is consumed by space heating and cooling in buildings. The need for utilizing more renewable energy in the building sector remains critical for ensuring the energy and environment sustainability. Geothermal energy is one of the renewable energy sources that we have an easy access to for supplying low grade thermal energy with a low impact on the environment. The methods of utilizing geothermal energy for buildings include such as ground source heat pumps and earth to air heat exchangers (EAHEs). Understanding the thermal saturation and recovery of soil around the heat exchangers is of great importance to ensure the successful and efficient use of a geothermal energy based system. This study addresses two dimensional dynamic heat transfer mechanism of EAHE through a transient control volume method. The soil computing domain is divided into control units along the axial and radius directions. A thermal balance of each unit is built to calculate the whole soil domain temperature based on a sequential method. The numerical result is validated by testing data based on an existing experimental facility. In order to analyze the self-recovery ability during the nonworking time, the performance of EAHE under both continuous and intermittent operation conditions is discussed. The research suggests that the soil temperature and the cooling capacity can recover during the nonworking time in an intermittent operation mode. The recovery capability of soil gradually reduces along the axial of the tube away from the inlet with the soil temperature increasing. The supply air temperature and the cooling capacity in the intermittent operation mode are more powerful than that of continuous operation mode. The research can be utilized for the design and operation management of EAHE.
133Xenon Clearance in the Diagnosis of Arterial Occlusive Disease

Abstract The 133xenon clearance test is an easy, noninvasive method to assess arterial blood flow and can distinguish a normal from an ischemic limb. In addition, the close correlation with clinical findings affords an objective method of evaluating the results of surgical revascularization. On the basis of these findings, we feel that this procedure should be employed in the evaluation of all patients with suspected or proved peripheral vascular insufficiency.
In vivo visualizing the dynamics of bone marrow stem cells in mouse retina and choroidal-retinal circulation

It has recently been shown that bone marrow cells can differentiate into various lineage cells including neural cells in vitro and in vivo . Therefore it is an attractive therapeutic intervention to apply autologous bone marrow-derived stem cells that may offer neuroprotection to laser-induced retinal injuries. The purpose of this study is to develop a method with which to visualize bone marrow stem cells dynamics in mouse retinal circulation. We have used a physiological method, confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO), to track the highly enriched stem/progenitor cells circulating in the retina. Stem cells were enriched by immunomagnetic depletion of cells committed to the T- and B lymphocytic, myeloid and erythorid lineages. CellTracker TM Green-labeled stem cells were injected into the tail veins of mice with laser-induced focal retinal injuries. Bone marrow stem cells labeled with CellTracker TM Green were visible in the retinal circulation for as long as 1 hour and 30 minutes. These studies suggest that stem cell-enriched bone marrow cells may have the ability to mobilize into laser-induced retinal injuries and possibly further proliferate, differentiate and functionally integrate into the retina.
Electronic States of the MA-Centers in KCl

The electronic states of the MA-center in a potassium-chloride crystal containing sodium are theoretically investigated on the basis of the Schneider model. The method is formulated by using both the polaron model and the quasi-continuum model of electron-excess centers. The impurity potential is treated by the valence-electron model of atoms introduced in the preceding paper. We have used our theoretical results to discuss the origin of the MA bands reported by Schneider. Die Elektronenzustande des MA-Zentrums in einem Natrium enthaltenden KCl-Kristall werden theoretisch auf der Grundlage des Schneiderschen Modells untersucht. Die Methode basiert auf der Anwendung des Polaronmodells und des Quasikontinuummodells der Elektronenuberschuszentren. Das Verunreinigungspotential wird mit dem Valenzelektronmodell der Atome behandelt, das in der vorhergehenden Arbeit eingefuhrt wurde. Die Ergebnisse der theoretischen Untersuchung werden benutzt, um den Ursprung der von Schneider berichteten MA-Bande zu diskutieren.
Triggering of large earthquakes by magma-chamber inflation, Izu Peninsula, Japan

A close spatial and temporal association between three aseismic uplift episodes and subsequent large (M ≈ 7) earthquakes on the Izu Peninsula, Japan, suggests a causal relation. Quaternary geology, as well as studies by other workers, indicates a volcanic origin for the observed uplift, and we use a simple inflation model constrained by leveling data to compute the expected increments in normal and shear stress across faults that ruptured in the earthquakes. Using a Mohr-Coulomb criterion, we find that in two cases out of three, stress changes induced by inflation are in the correct sense to trigger failure. Although changes are no more than a few bars, they represent the equivalent of several decades to a century of secular stress buildup.
Variation in the use of procedures to monitor antimicrobial resistance in U.S. hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance is a growing clinical and public health crisis. Experts have recommended measures to monitor antimicrobial resistance; however, little is known regarding their use. OBJECTIVE: We describe the use of procedures to detect and report antimicrobial resistance in U.S. hospitals and the organizational and epidemiologic factors associated with their use. METHODS: In 2001, we surveyed laboratory directors (n = 108) from a random national sample of hospitals. We studied five procedures to monitor antimicrobial resistance: (1) disseminating antibiograms to physicians at least annually, (2) notifying physicians of antimicrobial-resistant infections, (3) reporting susceptibility results within 24 hours, (4) using automated testing procedures, and (5) offering molecular typing. Explanatory variables included organizational characteristics and patterns of antimicrobial resistance for oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, quinolone-resistant Escherichia coli, and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella species. Generalized estimating equations accounting for the correlation among outcomes at the facility level were used to identify predictors of the five outcomes. RESULTS: Use of the procedures ranged from 85% (automated testing) to 33% (offering molecular typing) and was related to teaching hospital status (OR, 3.1; CI 95 , 1.5-6.5), participation of laboratory directors on the infection control committee (OR, 1.7; CI 95 , 1.1-2.8), and having at least one antimicrobial-resistant pathogen with a prevalence greater than 10% (OR, 2.2; CI 95 , 1.4-3.3). CONCLUSION: U.S. hospitals underutilize procedures to monitor the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Use of these procedures varies and is related to organizational and epidemiologic factors. Further efforts are needed to increase their use by hospitals.
Discovery of iron line emission in the Hercules X-1 low state spectrum with HEAO-1

Results are reported for HEAO 1 observations of Her X-1 which confirm the existence of the iron line-emission feature discovered with OSO 8 in the high-state spectrum and also reveal an iron emission feature in the low-state spectrum. The iron line-emission feature in the low-state spectrum was detected at a significance level greater than 5 sigmas and is characterized by a line energy of 6.4 keV, an equivalent width larger than that of the high-state line, a binary phase dependence of the line intensity, and a line width that is intrinsically narrow in contrast to the broad high-state line. The observed line energy and narrow line width are shown to be consistent with an interpretation in terms of fluorescence emission due to X-ray heating. It is suggested that HZ Her contributes no more than about 10% of the predicted line flux, that this emission is reflected from a highly ionized plasma, and that a hot coronal gas is an important source of the low-state X-rays.
A Kinetic Model of the Myeloperoxidase–Hydrogen Peroxidase–Chloride Ion System in Phagolysosomes

Abstract A kinetic model has been constructed of the myeloperoxidase–hydrogen peroxide–chloride ion system of mammalian neutrophils. The model includes the reactions that form chlorinated species and those compounds formed through the reactions of phenolic compounds. Model calculations show that N-chlorotaurine is the primary long-lived product of this system, but that tyrosine peroxidase is a major secondary product produced by the generation of tyrosyl radicals. While N-chlorotaurine is formed in much larger concentration than tyrosine peroxide, its lower toxicity may mean that tyrosine peroxide may be the more important mediator of toxic stress in the host associated with inflammatory processes. Care must be taken in the interpretation of dityrosine levels as indicating neutrophil derived oxidant damage. Tyrosine peroxide competes with the formation of dityrosine. Therefore, a high level of oxidative stress may be present in the absence of significant levels of dityrosine.
Clinical Applications of Flow Cytometry

Flow cytometry is an important analytical tool that has moved from research to the clinical laboratory in the past 20 years. Although still important in research, many applications have become routine clinical tests required for diagnosis, estimation of prognosis, and monitoring of treatment. In addition, new applications, such as minimal residual disease detection and multiple-drug resistance monitoring, are being evaluated for clinical testing.
Measurement of the Goos-Hänchen shift at grazing incidence using Lloyd’s mirror

Lloyd’s mirror is analyzed for the case of total internal reflection. The reflected wave is interpreted in terms of the Goos-Hanchen shift. The interference between the incident and reflected beams provides an interferometric method of measuring the Goos-Hanchen shift at grazing incidence. An experiment is described and the results presented. The results agree with those theories which predict a nonzero shift at grazing incidence. The lateral wave is observed in the experiment.
Response to the AAP Section on Urology concerns about the AAP Urinary Tract Infection Guideline

* Abbreviations: AAP — : American Academy of Pediatrics CKD — : chronic kidney disease SOU — : Section on Urology UTI — : urinary tract infection VCUG — : voiding cystourethrogram The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Urology (SOU)1 raises several concerns regarding the new AAP Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Clinical Practice Guideline.2 The SOU takes issue with the 6 randomized controlled trials that assess the effectiveness of prophylaxis.3–8 Specifically, the SOU draws attention to the use of bag specimens; the lack of information about circumcision, elimination habits, and compliance; and the small number of subjects in the individual studies. Address correspondence to Kenneth B. Roberts, MD, 3005 Bramblewood Dr, Mebane, NC 27302. E-mail: kenrobertsmd{at}gmail.com
Quantitative Analysis of Long-Term Virus-Specific CD8+-T-Cell Memory in Mice Challenged with Unrelated Pathogens

The consequences for the long-term maintenance of virus-specific CD8+-T-cell memory have been analyzed experimentally for sequential respiratory infections with readily eliminated (influenza virus) and persistent (gammaherpesvirus 68 [γHV68]) pathogens. Sampling a broad range of tissue sites established that the numbers of CD8+ T cells specific for the prominent influenza virus DbNP366 epitope were reduced by about half in mice that had been challenged 100 days previously with γHV68, though the prior presence of a large CD8+ DbNP366+ population caused no selective defect in the γHV68-specific CD8+ Kbp79+ response. Conversely, mice that had been primed and boosted to generate substantial γHV68-specific CD8+ Dbp56+ populations did not show any decrease in prevalence for this set of CD8+ memory cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) at 200 days after respiratory exposure to an influenza A virus. However, in both experiments, the total magnitude of the CD8+-T-cell pool was significantly diminished in those that had been infected with γHV68 and the influenza A virus. The broader implications of these findings, especially under conditions of repeated exposure to unrelated pathogens, are explored with a mathematical model which emphasizes that the immune effector and memory “phenome” is a function of the overall infection experience of the individual.
The Pentium processor-90/100, microarchitecture and low power circuit design

This paper describes the implementation of the Pentium processor (73590,815100), referred to as the Pentium processor-90/100 from now on, on a 3.3V, 0.6 micron BiNMOS process. The processor achieves significantly higher performance over the previous generation Pentium processor, with reduced power consumption, and a smaller die area (12.76 mm each side). A symmetric dual processing feature is also supported that provides even greater performance advantages for multithreaded operating systems such as Windows NT. Aggressive frequency targets (100 MHz) were achieved through innovative circuit design techniques. This paper also briefly discusses some of the key technology improvements that enabled such aggressive performance goals to be met.
Head and neck squamous cell cancer (stages III and IV) induction chemotherapy assessment: Value of FDG volumetric imaging parameters

Introduction: To evaluate whether the change in the metabolic tumour volume (MTV) or total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of the primary tumour, before and after induction chemotherapy, predicts outcome for patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer (SCC). Methods: Twenty-eight patients with advanced (American Joint Committee on Cancer stage III and IV) head and neck SCC who underwent positron emission tomography (PET)/CT were included in this retrospective study. Primary tumour MTV and TLG were measured using gradient and fixed percentage threshold segmentations. Outcome endpoint was disease progression or mortality. Pearson correlation, Bland–Altman and receiver operator characteristic analysis were performed. Results: The Pearson’s correlation coefficients between percentage changes (pre- and post-induction chemotherapy) from gradient MTV (MTVG) and the 38% SUVmax threshold MTV (MTV38) was 0.96 and between MTVG and the 50% threshold MTV (MTV50) was 0.95 (P < 0.0001). The corresponding Pearson r between TLGG and TLG38 was 0.94 and between TLGG and TLG50 was 0.96 (P < 0.0001). The least bias was 1.89% (standard deviation = 25.30%) between the percentage changes of MTVG and MTV50. The areas under the curve for predicting progression or mortality were 0.76 (P = 0.03) for MTVG and 0.82 for TLGG (P = 0.009). Optimum cut points of a 42% reduction in MTVG and a 55% reduction in the TLGG predict event-free survival with a sensitivity of 62.5% and a specificity of 90% and a hazards ratio of 6.25. Conclusion: A reduction in primary tumour MTV of at least 42% or in TLG of at least 55% after induction chemotherapy may predict event-free survival in patients with advanced head and neck SCC.
Full-wave analysis of coupled lossy transmission lines using multiwavelet-based method of moments

Full-wave analysis for coupled lossy transmission lines with finite thickness is conducted using a multiwavelet-based method of moments (MBMM). We use the multiscalets with multiplicity r=2 as the basis and testing functions, and take the discrete Sobolev-type inner products to discretize the integral equation and its derivative at the testing points. Since the numerical integration is not needed in the testing procedure, the new approach is faster, yet preserves high accuracy due to the derivative sampling. In the new approach, we compute the incoming fields in the spatial domain directly without resorting to the inverse Fourier transform. Hence, the local coordinate system used to perform the Sommerfeld integral is avoided and the computational cost is reduced remarkably. In addition, a coarser mesh can be used owing to the smoothness of the multiscalets. Numerical examples show that the MBMM speeds up the traditional method of moments 3 /spl sim/ 10 times.
Genetic Studies of Alcoholism

This paper reviews recent developments in the evaluation of genetic factors in alcoholism. After presenting the results of family, twin, and adoption studies, the authors turn to investigations focusing on children of alcoholics. An emphasis is placed on the finding of a decreased intensity of reaction to alcohol in sons and daughters of alcoholics. The potential implications of these findings are discussed.
New Simulation of Polymers on Surfaces

A new method of simulation based on the output of the analytical equilibrium calculation of the Cluster Variational Method (CVM) is used to obtain information about the properties of the polymers adsorbed on a surface. We find a strong preferential adsorption of longer chains, in agreement with experimental observations. This tendency is more pronounced in neutral polymers than in polyelectrolytes. Other geometrical properties like trains, tails, and loops of adsorbed polymers are also calculated.
Empirical results on the study of software vulnerabilities (NIER track)

While the software development community has put a significant effort to capture the artifacts related to a discovered vulnerability in organized repositories, much of this information is not amenable to meaningful analysis and requires a deep and manual inspection. In the software assurance community a body of knowledge that provides an enumeration of common weaknesses has been developed, but it is not readily usable for the study of vulnerabilities in specific projects and user environments. We propose organizing the information in project repositories around semantic templates. In this paper, we present preliminary results of an experiment conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of using semantic templates as an aid to studying software vulnerabilities.
Personas and Archetypes: Envisioning the 21st-Century Special Collections Professional

Personas, as used in the world of information architecture and user experience design, represent an archetype. 1 They capture, in a narrative format, a composite of goals, attitudes, skills, behaviors, frustrations, environmental factors, and work or activity flows of a range of actual people represented by the archetypal persona. Of course, in a user experience design setting, personas are based on qualitative and quantitative data gathered from observing and interacting with end-user populations envisioned for the service or interface being designed. Using personas helps Web designers and information architects avoid pitfalls such as overly elastic conceptions of the real people who . . .
Health consequences of disparity: the US Affiliated Pacific Islands.

Health disparities and the social determinants of health are often discussed, but their relationship to political forces, the integrity of cultures, social and environmental change, and mental health outcomes are not well understood. Specifically the US Affiliated Pacific Islands Jurisdictions (USPAIJ) is an area of profound isolation and deprivation with a unique sociocultural history. This article provides an overview of health disparities in the US Affiliated Pacific in the context of the environment, and international and state policies. The article explores how the political, economic, social, and environmental context of the USAPIJ shapes health status and provides a “social determinants of health” model for health improvement for the people of the region.
Micro-anatomy of the volar skin and interordinal relationships of primates

Abstract Paleontological and molecular evidence have been employed to suggest that flying lemurs (Dermoptera) and primates form a monophyletic group, in sharp contrast with cranial and postcranial evidence indicating sister group relationships between flying lemurs and bats (Chiroptera). New evidence from the epidermis of the volar pads of primates, tree shrews, flying lemurs, bats, and other mammals was examined and mapped on to various hypotheses of archontan relationships. The micro-anatomy of the skin on the palm and sole of flying lemurs and bats differs fundamentally from that of tree shrews (Scandentia) and primates. The volar skin of flying lemurs and bats lacks the serial arrangement of papillary ridges and grooves (“fingerprints”) found in primates, tree shrews, and many other mammals. Moreover, the junction between the epidermis and dermis in flying lemurs and bats is relatively flat and shows little or no development of the internal ridges that occur in primates and tree shrews. When mapped on to a set of cladograms of mammals currently allocated to the superorder Archonta, this new evidence does not support sister group relationships between flying lemurs and primates, regardless of the volar skin morphology that characterized the last common ancestor of Archonta. Micro-anatomical differences that distinguish the volar skin of flying lemurs and bats from that of primates and tree shrews reflect a profound dichotomy in the functional roles fulfilled by the extremities, which could be significant in a phylogenetic context.
Relative contribution of free-virus and synaptic transmission to the spread of HIV-1 through target cell populations

Human immunodeficiency virus can spread through target cells by transmission of cell-free virus or directly from cell-to-cell via formation of virological synapses. Although cell-to-cell transmission has been described as much more efficient than cell-free infection, the relative contribution of the two transmission pathways to virus growth during multiple rounds of replication remains poorly defined. Here, we fit a mathematical model to previously published and newly generated in vitro data, and determine that free-virus and synaptic transmission contribute approximately equally to the growth of the virus population.
POSSUM, p-POSSUM, and Cr-POSSUM: Implementation Issues in a United States Health Care System for Prediction of Outcome for Colon Cancer Resection

The Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity (POSSUM), Portsmouth revision (p)-POSSUM, and colorectal (Cr)-POSSUM scoring systems were developed as audit tools for comparing outcomes in surgical and colorectal patients on the basis of operative risk assessment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of these systems to a cohort of colon cancer patients undergoing surgery in the United States. POSSUM factors from 890 consecutive patients undergoing major surgical procedures for colon cancer in nine United States hospitals over a two-year period from January 2000 through December 2001 were prospectively collected. The observed over the expected hospital mortality was compared by means of the POSSUM, p-POSSUM, and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems. The effect of missing data on the utility of this process for outcome assessment was assessed with three methods for data imputation. The number of resections per institution ranged from 13 to 437. The observed mortality rate ranged from 0.8 percent to 15.4 percent among the institutions, with an overall operative mortality of 2.3 percent. The POSSUM, p-POSSUM, and Cr-POSSUM predicted mortality was 10.7 percent, 11.2 percent, and 4.9 percent, respectively. The POSSUM and p-POSSUM models overpredicted mortality in all institutions (P 1 in three institutions. The calculations were unaffected by the various methods of inserting missing data. An apparent overprediction of mortality for colon cancer resection was evident with all three POSSUM variants. This implies that a calibration process is required for use of these variants in the United States health care system. Missing data may be treated as normal values without influencing outcome. The Cr-POSSUM appeared to be the most promising audit tool for colorectal cancer surgery; however, it will require further refinement to provide process control graphs for identification of potential outliers and improvement in the quality of care in the United States.
Training parents as behavior therapists: a review.

Abstract The following paper presents theoretical, empirical, and ethical rationales for the training of parents as behavior therapists for their own children. Thirty-four studies, ranging from single case studies to reports on large-scale, multi-family training programs, are critically reviewed, with primary emphasis on the nature and extent of parental involvement and responsibility, and on the level of methodological sophistication. Related papers are cited when appropriate. Further research and areas needing theoretical clarification are suggested, in relation to the future and expansion of this type of therapeutic intervention. In addition the implications of such an approach for both a “systems” model of child therapy and a prevention-oriented model of mental health services are discussed.
Development of a computerized infectious disease monitor (CIDM).

Abstract At the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, an interface was developed between the microbiology laboratory computer system and the HELP integrated central hospital computer system. The HELP system includes medical information from most clinical care support areas. The microbiology data are translated from the laboratory computer file structure to a hierarchical data structure on the HELP system. A knowledge base was created with the help of infectious disease experts, and became part of a Computerized Infectious Disease Monitoring system (CIDM). The knowledge base is automatically activated when specific microbiology data are entered into a patient's computer file (data driven), thus decisions are made automatically with no additional effort required of medical personnel. The CIDM was designed to inform infectious disease personnel when a patient has one of the following conditions: (1) a hospital-acquired infection, (2) an infection at a normally sterile body site, (3) an infection due to a bacteria with an unusual antibiotic sensitivity pattern, (4) an infection for which the patient is not receiving an antibiotic to which the offending bacteria is sensitive, (5) an infection that could be treated with a less expensive antibiotic, (6) an infection which is required by law to be reported to state and national health authorities, and (7) those patients receiving prophylactic antibiotics longer than is medically indicated. All of the microbiology data are now extensively reviewed by nurses and physicians from terminals at nursing stations or intensive care units. The CIDM is currently being used for hospital-acquired infection surveillance at LDS Hospital.
Tree-structured non-linear filter and wavelet transform for microcalcification segmentation in digital mammography

A novel algorithm was developed for computer aided diagnosis of microcalcification clusters in digital mammography. The method includes: (a) tree-structured central weighted median filters with variable shape windowing to suppress image noise but preserve image details; (b) a quasi range dispersion edge detector to increase edge contrast and definition; and (c) tree-structured wavelets for calcification segmentation. The preliminary evaluation of the method on nine mammograms showed that 100% sensitivity can be achieved at the expense of four false positive clusters per image. Research is ongoing for further optimization of the algorithm to reduce the number of false alarms and establish its clinical value.
Changing Site Requirements for Port Operations

Port terminal planning requires evaluation of natural and man-made environment for each specific project; analyzing space requirements of anticipated future operations to ensure adequacy and economy in transfer of cargo during life of installation; developments in design of ocean vessels and cargo-handling methods have brought about changes; paper defines aspects of land area requirements for future port operations.
Selection-based dictionary learning for sparse representation in visual tracking

This dissertation describes a novel selection-based dictionary learning method with a sparse representation to tackle the object tracking problem in computer vision. The sparse representation has been widely used in many applications including visual tracking, compressive sensing, image de-noising and image classification, and learning a good dictionary for the sparse representation is critical for obtaining high performance. The most popular existing dictionary learning algorithms are generalized from K-means, which compute the dictionary columns to minimize the overall target reconstruction error iteratively. For better discriminative capability to differentiate target-object (positive) from background (negative) data, a class of dictionary algorithms has been developed to learn the dictionary from both the positive and the negative data. However, these methods do not work well for visual tracking in a dynamic environment in which the background can change considerably between frames in a non-linear way. The background cannot be modeled statically with the usual linear models. In this dissertation, I report on the development of a selection-based dictionary learning algorithm (K-Selection) that constructs the dictionary by choosing its columns from the training data. Each column is the most representative basis for the whole dataset, which also has a clear physical meaning. With locality-constraints, the subspace represented by the learned dictionary is not restricted to the training data alone, and is also less sensitive to outliers. The sparse representation based on this dictionary learning method supports a more robust tracker trained on the target-object data alone. This is because the learned dictionary has more discriminative power and can better distinguish the object from the background clutter. By extending the dictionary with encoded spatial information, I present a new tracking algorithm which is robust to dynamic appearance changes and occlusions. The performance of the proposed algorithms have been validated for several challenging visual tracking applications through a series of comparative experiments.
The Influence of Lactational Intensity and Exogenous Prolactin on Serum Thyroxine Levels in the Rat

SummaryRat serum T4 levels were inversely correlated with lactational intensity, and the markedly reduced serum T4 observed in high-lactating rats could not be counteracted with 10 times the normal dietary iodine.Exogenous ovine prolactin (2 mg/day for 15 days), when administered to nonlactating rats, had no effect on serum T4. It was concluded that high serum prolactin, associated with nursing, was not a factor directly contributing to the reduction of serum T4 observed during lactation.
A Method for Determining the Autocoyariance Function of A Box-Jenkins Forecasting Model

Abstract A method is presented for finding closed form expressions of the autocovariance function of a Box-Jenkins forecasting model. This method is based on the filter impulse response and its Z-transform, the transfer function. The bilateral Z-transform of the autocovariance function is obtained from the transfer function, and is inverted after a partial fraction expansion. One example is worked out in detail and a summary of solutions for a number of cases is given.
Patching the Exchange-Correlation Potential in Density Functional Theory.

A method for directly patching exchange-correlation (XC) potentials in materials is derived. The electron density of a system is partitioned into subsystem densities by dividing its Kohn–Sham (KS) potential among the subsystems. Inside each subsystem, its projected KS potential is required to become the total system’s KS potential. This requirement, together with the nearsightedness principle of electronic matters, ensures that the electronic structures inside subsystems can be good approximations to the total system’s electronic structure. The nearsightedness principle also ensures that subsystem densities could be well localized in their regions, making it possible to use high-level methods to invert the XC potentials for subsystem densities. Two XC patching methods are developed. In the local XC patching method, the total system’s XC potential is improved in the cluster region. We show that the coupling between a cluster and its environment is important for achieving a fast convergence of the electroni...
Interaction of Forage Level and Monensin in Diets for Feedlot Cattle on Growth Performance and Digestive Function

A feedlot growth-performance trial and a metabolism trial were conducted to evaluate the interaction of forage level (10 vs 20%) and monensin (0 vs 28 mgkg, air-dry basis) on utilization of a steam-flaked corn-based finishing diet. There were no treatment interactions (P > .lo) on feedlot cattle growth performance or site and extent of digestion of OM, ADF, N, and starch. Monensin supplementation did not influence (P > .lo) ADG, DM intake, feed efficiency, estimated NE value of the diet, or ruminal and total tract digestibility of OM, ADF, and starch. Monensin decreased (14.5%, P .lo) ruminal molar proportions of acetate and butyrate. There was an interaction between forage level and monensin on ruminal molar proportions of propionate. With the low-forage diet, molar propor- tions of propionate were 9.4% higher with monensin supplementation. In contrast, with the high-forage diet ruminal molar proportions of propionate were 5.5% lower with supplemental monensin. Monensin did not affect (P > .lo) estimates of methane production. Decreasing the forage in the diet from 20 to 10% increased ADG (10.896, P .lo) by forage level. However, ruminal digestibility of feed N was 20% greater (P < .05) with the high-forage diet. Increasing forage level in the diet decreased total tract digestion of OM (2.4%, P < .05), DE (2.7%, P < .05), and ME (4.8%, P < .Olj and increased ruminal pH (4.4%, P < .01) and ruminal molar proportions of acetate (13.0%, P < .01) and decreased ruminal molar proportions of propi- onate (10.2%, P < .05) and increased estimated methane production (19.4%, P < .05). It is concluded that failure of monensin to elicit a growth-perfor- mance response in feedlot steers fed a steam-flaked corn-based finishing diet is not due to differences in the diets' forage level.
Determination of Trace Copper (II) in Foods by p-Phenanthroline-activated Catalytic Discoloring Spectrophotometry

With the activation of p-phenanthroline, potassium bromate oxidized methyl violet fading reaction catalyzed by copper (II) was investigated, and a new catalytic discoloring spectrophotometry for determining trace copper was proposed. The effects of acidity, reagent dosage, reaction temperature, reaction time, surfactant and coexisting ions on the reaction were discussed and the optimal conditions were investigated. After reaction at 72 ℃ for 15 min in a 25 ml volumetric flask, the calibration curve was drawn for the relationship of absorbance difference between copper (II) containing solution and non-copper (II) containing solution with copper (II) mass concentration, and then the content of trace copper (II) was determined by the absorbance difference. The detection wavelength of this method was 578 nm, the linear range was between 2.4 × 10-3 and 5.12 × 10-2 μ g/ml, and the detection limit was 2.4 × 10-6 g/L. When this method was applied to the determination of copper in green tea, wheat flour, rice, milk powder, and dried kelp, the maximum relative standard deviation was 4.22%, and the spike recoveries were 96.0% to 104.0%.
Gastrointestinal motility in the neonate.

Motor function in the stomach and intestine is responsible for the forward propulsion of nutrients. The regulation of motor function is multifaceted in the adult and many of the aspects of regulation are immature in the preterm infant. Thus, gastric emptying and intestinal transit are delayed in the preterm infant compared to the term infant and the adult. Manometry has been used to identify better feeding strategies for preterm infants and to identify those infants at risk for developing feeding intolerance.
Tepecano House Types

ABSTRACTThe Tepecano Indians of northen Jalisco, Mexico, have lost nearly all of their Indian culture with one major exception. The wall-enclosed, thatched-roof pithouses (built in pairs for cooking and sleeping) still shelter the Tepecano. Variation of this house type built around caves and rock shelters are found at Alquestan, the only remaining Tepecano village.
Geographic and Individual Differences in Healthcare Access for U.S. Transgender Adults: A Multilevel Analysis.

Abstract Purpose: To identify geographic and individual-level factors associated with healthcare access among transgender people in the United States. Methods: Multilevel analyses were conducted to investigate lifetime healthcare refusal using national data from 5831 U.S. transgender adults. Hierarchical generalized linear models examined associations between individual (age, gender, race, income, insurance, and healthcare avoidance) and state-level factors (percent voting Republican, percent same-sex couple households, income inequality, and transgender protective laws) and lifetime refusal of care. Results: Results show that individual-level factors (being older; trans feminine; Native American, multiracial, or other racial/ethnic minority; having low income; and avoiding care due to discrimination) are positively associated with care refusal (all P-values <0.05). Adjusting for individual-level factors, variation was observed across U.S. states, with a greater proportion of states in the Southern and We...
Studying Watson Inside Out — A Cognitive Systems Course

We describe a course in which students train an instance of Watson and develop an application that interacts with the trained instance. Additionally, students learn technical information about the Jeopardy! version of Watson and they discuss a future infused with cognitive assistants. In this paper, we provide learning outcomes and course assessment items. We provide detailed course materials and advice for instructors interested in teaching such a course. The advice is in the form of best practices, a description of a successful use case and an evaluation of our experience teaching this course.
Predictors of Continued Smoking and Interest in Cessation Among Older Female Smokers.

Objectives: Older female smokers are highly vulnerable, yet little is known about their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding smoking cessation. Methods: Southeast region Women’s Health Initi...