cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Measuring MisalignmentPurchasing Power Parity and East Asian Currencies in the 1990s

The concept of purchasing power parity (PPP) is used to evaluate whether eight East Asian currencies were overvalued on the eve of the 1997 crises. The Johansen and Horvath-Watson cointegration test procedures are applied to bilateral and multilateral exchange rates, deflated using CPIs, producer price indices (PPIs), and price indices of export goods. The second deflator yields the greatest evidence of "stationarity." The study find`s that the Malaysian, Philippines, and Thai currencies were overvalued, while the Korean and Indonesian were substantially undervalued. Mixed results were obtained for the others. Measures of the equilibrium rate based on time trends in CPI-deflated rates typically suggest larger overvaluations.
Sally Sits on My Shoulder: A Conversation With Bev Johns.

Beverly (Bev) Johns shares her career as an educator and advocate for children who present challenges in the educational setting. She introduces the reader to “Sally,” who illustrates the continual need for advocacy for children. Bev also offers advice for those just entering the field. Her perspective and experiences enrich us all.
A note on the cobordism invariance of the index

THE purpose of this note is to give a simple proof of the cobordism invariance for the analytic index of Dirac type operators [S, Chapter 17, Theorem 33. Our approach is based upon the analysis of operators on complete manifolds, and follows an argument due to J. Roe. In fact we shall prove rather more than the cobordism invariance of the index, namely Roe’s index theorem for partitioned manifolds [S].
Nonlinear acoustic pulse propagation in dispersive sediments using fractional loss operators

The nonlinear progressive wave equation (NPE) is a time-domain formulation of the Euler fluid equations designed to model low-angle wave propagation using a wave-following computational domain. The wave-following frame of reference permits the simulation of long-range propagation and is useful in modeling blast wave effects in the ocean waveguide. Existing models do not take into account frequency-dependent sediment attenuation, a feature necessary for accurately describing sound propagation over, into, and out of the ocean sediment. Sediment attenuation is addressed in this work by applying lossy operators to the governing equation that are based on a fractional Laplacian. These operators accurately describe frequency-dependent attenuation and dispersion in typical ocean sediments. However, dispersion within the sediment is found to be a secondary process to absorption and effectively negligible for ranges of interest. The resulting fractional NPE is benchmarked against a Fourier-transformed parabolic equation solution for a linear case, and against the analytical Mendousse solution to Burgers' equation for the nonlinear case. The fractional NPE is then used to investigate the effects of attenuation on shock wave propagation.
CMOS Detector Cells For Holographic Optical Interconnects In Microcircuits

This paper reports on the characterization of CMOS detectors for holographic optical interconnects in micro circuits. A VLSI temporal response system has been built, which has high-magnification viewing capabilities to facilitate the identification of the sample area under investigation. An isolated photodiode and load circuit has been characterized to determine responsivity, response time, and light spot positioning effects. The threshold of optical gate cells incorporating the above detectors and a transistor inverter stage to couple to other circuitry has been determined. The rise time and fall time of the optical gate cells have also been determined experimentally. The results were compared with the results of SPICE simulation, and show satisfactory agreement. The time delay of optical gate cell output was thus determined to be 70 ns at 10 microW light input. Threshold power was 0.5 microW light input.
How Can Hypermedia Tools Help Teach Programming

Abstract Hypermedia permit the representation of knowledge as a richly interconnected set of text, images, dynamic sequences, and more. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a series of hypermedia tools designed to help students as they learn to program in Pascal or Lisp. These tools took advantage of hypermedia connections to illustrate how experts organize programming knowledge or to encourage students to organize their knowledge more effectively. Each new tool addressed some of the limitations of the tools that preceded it. This paper communicates the process and progress of the design of these hypermedia tools and suggests directions for the use of hypermedia to foster integrated understanding.
Feedstock Blending in a Continuously Fed Gasifier

Imported oil, nuclear and coal now contribute about 55% of the energy the USA consumes, and those forms of energy are under environmental, social and legal scrutiny. There are limits to which non-“clouded” natural gas and renewables can replace these sources. This has motivated the CCTL to pursue R&D on blending domestically available fuels in thermal reactors to produce more useful gaseous or liquid fuels. Feedstock blending results with batch-fed indirectly heated gasifiers (IHGs) were reported at the three previous Turbo Expo meetings. This is a progress report on initial work with a continuously fed IHG scaled to potentially give a gaseous output suitable for a 5–20 kW microturbine or a reciprocating engine. An electric tube furnace is now used rather than a combustor fueled by the residual char or part of the gaseous or liquid output. Some novel features of this current effort are: a) Biomass blends are auger-fed through a reactor tube fabricated out of available components to simulate a conical shape, b) The output gas is filtered and partially cooled by the incoming biomass feedstock, c) The system has been designed to facilitate feedstock blending studies, d) A trap and external heat exchanger condenses the residual tar, water vapor, and volatile metals, e) The char-ash is collected and stored in a pressure vessel, f) Gas output volume is measured with an orifice dividing system and respirometer. The results of runs in a semi-continuously fed system with various biomass particle sizes and with various blends of biomass and coal are presented. The fate of volatile metals contained in the input feedstock is assessed. With the completion of an external hopper-feeder and the replacement of the electric tube furnace by an output gas or charcoal combustor, a later application to microturbines is within reach.Copyright © 2000 by ASME
Hierarchical microstructures in CZT

Advanced characterization tools, such as electron backscatter diffraction and transmitted IR microscopy, are being applied to study critical microstructural features and orientation relations in as-grown CZT crystals to aid in understanding the relation between structure and properties in radiation detectors. Even carefully prepared single crystals of CZT contain regions of slight misorientation, Te-particles, and dislocation networks that must be understood for more accurate models of detector response. This paper describes initial research at PNNL into the hierarchy of microstructures observed in CZT grown via the vertical gradient freeze or vertical Bridgman method at PNNL and WSU.
Carbonyl compounds of cobalt(II) and nickel(II). Reversible arene-carbon monoxide exchange and similarities to analogous η6-arene complexes

Displacement of η6-arene in (C6F5)2Co(η6-toluene), (Cl3Si)2Ni(η6-toluene), and (F3Si)2Ni(η6-toluene) by CO yielded very labile (C6F5)2Co(CO)3, (Cl3Si)2Ni(CO)3, and (F3Si)2Ni(CO)3, which are rare examples of isolated, characterized, simple carbonyl complexes of cobalt(II) and nickel(II). According to infrared ν(CO) studies the cobalt(II) tricarbonyl and the nickel(II) tricarbonyl derivatives are trigonal bipyramidal with the CO ligands in the axial positions. These η6-arene substitutions with CO are reversible under mild conditions. However, the cobalt system slowly degrades to cobalt(I) while the nickel system degrades to nickel(0) carbonyl compounds.
Stabilization of bio-oils using low temperature, low pressure hydrogenation

Abstract The superficial similarities between petroleum and bio-oil have encouraged efforts to employ petroleum hydroprocessing in the upgrading of bio-oil. Any facile comparison is overshadowed by the fact that petroleum consists of non-polar hydrocarbons that are relatively stable, requiring elevated temperatures and pressures to encourage chemical transformations, whereas bio-oil consists of oxygenated organic compounds whose high degree of functionality makes them chemically reactive even at low temperatures and pressures. Lignin-derived phenolic compounds readily polymerize and dehydrate to coke when hydroprocessed, resulting in low carbon yields of fuel range molecules and catalyst deactivation. In light of the limitations of conventional hydroprocessing, we explore low-temperature, low-pressure (LTLP) hydrogenation of pyrolysis-derived phenolics over 10% palladium on activated carbon (Pd/C) at 21 °C and 1 bar pressure as a way to produce stabilized bio-oil at high yields.
Biometric identification using knee X-rays

Identification of people often makes use of unique features of the face, fingerprints and retina. Beyond this, a similar identifying process can be applied to internal parts of the body that are not visible to the unaided eye. Here we show that knee X-rays can be used for the identification of individual persons. The image analysis method is based on the wnd-charm algorithm, which has been found effective for the diagnosis of clinical conditions of knee joints. Experimental results show that the rank-10 identification accuracy using a dataset of 425 individuals is ∼56%, and the rank-1 accuracy is ∼34%. The dataset contained knee X-rays taken several years apart from each other, showing that the identifiable features correspond to specific persons, rather than the present clinical condition of the joint.
Nuclear spin relaxation in liquids due to interaction with paramagnetic ions having anisotropic g tensors

Abstract Analytical expressions are derived for spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation times (T1M and T2M) of a nucleus arising from magnetic interactions (dipolar and contact) with a paramagnetic ion which has an anisotropic g tensor. The relaxation rates depend on the orientation of the ion-nucleus vector in the principal-axis system of the g tensor. The deviations caused by this angular dependence with reference to the corresponding relaxation rates for an isotropic g tensor are numerically illustrated by considering a case typical for Co (II) complexes.
Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment of Breast Cancer: How Can We Promote Informed Patient Choice?

Stemming from closer examination of breast cancer incidence treads, there has been growing concern about the issues of overdiagnosis and overtreatment of breast cancer. As incidence trends showing a limited decline in later stage cancers shed doubt on the extent of benefit screening mammography holds, women need to be informed accordingly. However, it is apparent that women often do not fully understand the risks and benefits they face when undergoing screening mammography. Further, treatment decisions for women diagnosed with breast cancer are equally, if not more challenging, and studies suggest women are ill-informed here too. As the science improves and allows us to better differentiate bad acting cancers from those with no or limited risk, improved communication tools such as decision aids and shared decision making will be imperative as a means to promote informed patient choice.
Statistics and Finance: An Introduction

(2006). Statistics and Finance: An Introduction. Journal of the American Statistical Association: Vol. 101, No. 474, pp. 849-850.
Higher precision for two-word queries

Queries have specific properties, and may need individualized methods and parameters to optimize retrieval. Length is one property. We look at how two-word queries may attain higher precision by re-ranking using word co-occurrence evidence in retrieved documents. Co-occurrence within document context is not sufficient, but window context including sentence context evidence can provide precision improvements at low recall region of 4 to 10% using initial retrieval results, and positively affects pseudo-relevance feedback.
Two expansions for the quadrivariate normal integral

Let Xl, X2, X3 and X4 obey a quadrivariate niormal distribution with zero means, aind let P4 be the value of the quadrivariate normal integral, i.e. the probability that Xl, X2, X3 and X4 are simultaneously positive. The generalized tetrachoric series for P4, as given by Aitken (unpublished), Kendall (1941, 1945) (see also Kendall & Stuart, 1958, pp. 350-4), and Moran (1948), are not well suited for computation. For the case in which all six correlation coefficients are equal, the series has been sumlmed approximately by McFadden (1956). For special numerical values of the correlation matrix, exact results for P4 have been given by Schlafli (1858, 1860), Anis & Lloyd (1953), and Plackett (1954). Methods for numerical integration in more general cases have been given by Plackett (1954), Ihm (1959), and John (1959). Numerical methods for integration when all the correlation coefficients are equal have been provided by Ruben (1954) and Moran (1956). In this paper we present two series expansions for P4 which are well suited for computation. The first case occurs when X1, X2, X3 and X4 are successive measurements from a stationary Gaussian Markov process (with zero mean), or, equivalently, when the inverse of the correlation matrix has zero elements except on the main diagonal and immediately adjacent to it. The second case occurs when the correlation matrix itself has zero elements except on the main diagonal and adjacent to it. We shall then show that these two cases are related by a simple transformation. In a previous paper, McFadden (1955, eq. (39)) has expressed P4 in terms of the various product moments of the set of random variables Yi which assume the sign of the normal variables Xi. Let Y.=1 when X. O' ---1 when Xi< Oj (i= 1,2,3,4). (1)
Thermo-Fluids Provisioning of a High Performance High Density Data Center

Consolidation and dense aggregation of slim compute, storage and networking hardware has resulted in high power density data centers. The high power density resulting from current and future generations of servers necessitates detailed thermo-fluids analysis to provision the cooling resources in a given data center for reliable operation. The analysis must also predict the impact on the thermo-fluid distribution due to changes in hardware configuration and building infrastructure such as a sudden failure in data center cooling resources. The objective of the analysis is to assure availability of adequate cooling resources to match the heat load, which is typically non-uniformly distributed and characterized by high-localized power density. This study presents an analysis of an example modern data center with a view of the magnitude of temperature variation and impact of a failure. Initially, static provisioning for a given distribution of heat loads and cooling resources is achieved to produce a reference state. A perturbation in reference state is introduced to simulate a very plausible scenario--failure of a computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit. The transient model shows the "redlining" of inlet temperature of systems in the area that is most influenced by the failed CRAC. In this example high-density data center, the time to reach unacceptable inlet temperature is less than 80 seconds based on an example temperature set point limit of 40°C (most of today's servers would require an inlet temperature below 35°C to operate). An effective approach to resolve this issue, if there is adequate capacity, is to migrate the compute workload to other available systems within the data center to reduce the inlet temperature to the servers to an acceptable level.
Localization of two homologous Arabidopsis kinesin-related proteins in the phragmoplast

During plant cytokinesis, kinesin-related motor proteins are believed to play critical roles in microtubule organization and vesicle transport in the phragmoplast. Previously, we reported that the motor AtPAKRP1 was associated with the plus end of phragmoplast microtubules in Arabidopsis thaliana [Lee Y-RJ, Liu B (2000) Curr Biol 10:797–800]. In this paper, we report a full-length cDNA from the same organism, which encodes a polypeptide 74% identical to AtPAKRP1. This AtPAKRP1-like protein—AtPAKRP1L—and AtPAKRP1 share similar domain structures along the polypeptides. Peptide antibodies were raised and purified to distinguish the two polypeptides in vitro and in vivo. When monospecific anti-AtPAKRP1 and anti-AtPAKRP1L antibodies were used in immunofluorescence, they both decorated the plus end of phragmoplast microtubules at all stages of phragmoplast development. Their localization patterns were indistinguishable from each other. By using bacterially expressed fusion proteins of motor-less versions of both polypeptides, it was revealed that AtPAKRP1 and AtPAKRP1L were able to interact with themselves and with each other. Using T-DNA insertional mutants, it was also demonstrated that AtPAKRP1 and AtPAKRP1L were not required for each other’s localization. Our results therefore indicate that AtPAKRP1 and AtPAKRP1L are both expressed in the same cells, and likely have identical functions in the phragmoplast by forming either homodimers or heterodimers.
Atmospheres and surfaces of small bodies and dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt

Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) are icy relics orbiting the sun beyond Neptune left over from the planetary accretion disk. These bodies act as unique tracers of the chemical, thermal, and dynamical history of our solar system. Over 1000 Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) and centaurs (objects with perihelia between the giant planets) have been discovered over the past two decades. While the vast majority of these objects are small ( 6-meter) telescopes, have allowed for the first detailed studies of their surfaces and atmospheres. Visible and near-infrared spectroscopy of KBOs and centaurs has revealed a great diversity of surface compositions. Only the largest and coldest objects are capable of retaining volatile ices and atmospheres. Knowledge of the dynamics, physical properties, and collisional history of objects in the Kuiper belt is important for understanding solar system formation and evolution.
Violent criminal behavior: Is there a general and continuing influence of the South?

Abstract Historically, the South has been characterized by high homicide rates relative to other regions in the United States. The present study attempts to make sense of the disparate findings among extant studies of the Southern culture of violence thesis by correcting for their methodological problems and by examining violent crime rates at three levels of aggregation-cities, metropolitan areas, and states—and across three decennial census periods—1960, 1970, and 1980. Whereas most studies of the Southern culture of violence thesis use homicide rates as the focal measure of violent behavior, the present study investigates the generalizability of the Southern culture of violence thesis to other violent index crimes. In addition, the models are also compared over time to determine whether the Southern regional effects persist over time and, if so, whether there is a diminishing effect of region. The results provide evidence for the existence of a Southern culture which supports situation-specific types of violence (i.e., defensive acts) rather than violence in general. Furhermore, the findings provide mixed support that cultural effects diminish over time.
Chelation-Controlled Diastereoselective Reduction of α-Fluoroketones

The effect of Ti-based Lewis acids on the reduction of α-fluoropropiophenone was examined to determine whether chelation control could be used to direct the diastereoselectivity of conversion to an α-fluoro alcohol. Pretreatment of α-fluoropropiophenone with TiCl4 followed by reduction with LiBH4 in diethyl ether or methylene chloride provided the syn diastereomer predominantly, while use of Ti(OiPr)4 under identical conditions provided the anti diastereomer as the major product. The products are consistent with a chelation-controlled mechanistic pathway in the former reduction and a nonchelation pathway in the latter case. Detailed 1H, 13C, and 19F NMR studies were consistent with chelation between TiCl4 and α-fluoropropiophenone under the reaction conditions utilized in this study. Reduction of other α-fluoroketones in the presence of TiCl4 also provided a high degree of diastereoselectivity in the conversion to α-fluoro alcohols, showing the generality of this approach.
Choline-induced carnitine conservation by increased fractional tubular reabsorption of carnitine in guinea pigs

Abstract Urinary carnitine excretion is decreased by supplemental choline in humans and guinea pigs. In guinea pigs, the decreased excretion is associated with increased carnitine concentrations in skeletal muscle and decreased body fat. This study evaluated the effect of choline supplementation at various levels (0, 2, 5, or 10 g choline per kg diet) on feed intake, intestinal carnitine retention, whole body carnitine, and renal reabsorption of carnitine in guinea pigs. Choline supplemented animals excreted
Evaluating physicians' probabilistic judgments.

Physicians increasingly are challenged to make probabilistic judgments quantitatively. Their ability to make such judgments may be directly linked to the quality of care they provide. Many methods are available to evaluate these judgments. Graphic means of assessment include the calibration curve, covariance graph, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Statistical tools can measure the significance of departures from ideal calibration, and measure the area under ROC curve. Modeling the calibration curve using linear or logistic regression provides another method to assess probabilistic judgments, although these may be limited by failure of the data to meet the model's assumptions. Scoring rules provide indices of overall judgmental performance, although their reliability is difficult to gauge for small sample sizes. Decompositions of scoring rules separate judgmental performance into functional components. The authors provide preliminary guidelines for choosing methods for specific research i...
Measurement of Grüneisen parameter of tissue by photoacoustic spectrometry

The Gruneisen parameter of tissue is a constitutive parameter in photoacoustic tomography. Here, we applied photoacoustic spectrometry (PAS) to directly measure the Gruneisen parameter. In our PAS system, laser pulses at wavelengths between 460 and 1600 nm were delivered to tissue samples, and photoacoustic signals were detected by a 20 MHz flat water-immersion ultrasonic transducer. By fitting photoacoustic spectra to light absorption spectra, we found that the Gruneisen parameter was 0.73 for porcine subcutaneous fat tissue, and 0.15 for oxygenated bovine red blood cells at room temperature (24°C).
SU‐FF‐I‐150: Impact of VOI Size On PET Image Quantification Following Partial Volume Correction

Objectives: Partial volume correction (PVC) techniques based on a‐priori knowledge of object size and scanner's point spread function (PSF) have been previously proposed and evaluated. This approach however results in sharp peaks at the object edges in the corrected images which overestimates the corresponding mean activity concentration (AC). The aim of this abstract is to investigate the effect of varying the size of a VOI on determining the accuracy of mean AC in a lesion following PVC. Methods: An IEC phantom containing six spheres (1–3.7cm) was scanned on a GE DRX PET/CT scanner. The sphere to background ratio (SBR) was (4:1, 6.5:1, 11.1:1). In each case, the background AC was set to 0.1uCi/cc to emulate the background AC of clinical PET studies. PET data was acquired in 3D mode for 3 minutes. For PVC, the measured AC was divided by the convolution of the scanner's PSF with a binary map of the true sphere size obtained from CT. The PSF used included the effects of the reconstruction filter. Concentric VOIs of decreasing diameters (100–10% the sphere diameter) were then drawn in the center of each sphere to calculate the mean AC following PVC. Plots of the mean AC versus sphere size for the different VOIs were generated and compared to the true value. Results: For an SBR of 4:1 and sphere size of 10mm, the improvement in mean AC between the 100 and 50% diameter VOI was 24% .This value dropped to 3% between a 50 and 20% VOI diameter. For an SBR of 6.5:1 these values were 15 and 0% respectively. Conclusion: Decreasing VOI size improves the accuracy of mean AC following PVC in PETimaging, especially for small SBRs and tumor sizes. This improvement diminishes for VOI sizes smaller than 50% the true object size.
Miocene Tholeiitic Basalts of Coastal Oregon and Washington and Their Relations to Coeval Basalts of the Columbia Plateau

Note: This paper is dedicated to Aaron and Elizabeth Waters on the occasion of Dr. Waters' retirement. Tholeiitic basalt flows and breccias of Miocene age in western Oregon and Washington form three distinct stratigraphic units. Each unit was erupted from coastal vents marked by dikes and sills of the same composition as associated extrusive rocks. The three coastal basalt units are interbedded with predominantly marine sedimentary rocks of middle to late Miocene age. These units are here named, from older to younger, the Depoe Bay Basalt, Cape Foulweather Basalt, and basalt of Pack Sack Lookout. The three units can be distinguished by their petrographic characteristics. The Depoe Bay Basalt is nonporphyritic; Cape Foulweather Basalt has sparse large labradorite phenocrysts; and Pack Sack basalt has labradorite phenocrysts with numerous pyroxene and glass inclusions as well as augite and olivine phenocrysts. Chemical analyses of basalts from these three units show that each has a distinct and uniform composition. The Depoe Bay Basalt is characterized by high SiO2 content; the Cape Foulweather Basalt has high content of total iron, TiO2, and P2O5; and Pack Sack basalt is marked by relatively high MgO and CaO content. The Depoe Bay Basalt, Cape Foulweather Basalt, and basalt of Pack Sack Lookout on the coast occur in the same stratigraphic order and are essentially the same ages as three basalt units that erupted on the Columbia Plateau. The plateau-derived units are the Yakima and late-Yakima petrographic types of Waters (1961) and the Pomona flow of Schmincke (1967). The virtual identity in chemical composition of the Depoe Bay Basalt and Yakima-type basalt, the Cape Foulweather Basalt and the late-Yakima–type basalt, and the Pack Sack basalt and the Pomona basalt flow indicate that each pair is consanguineous. Fissure vents for the plateau basalt are located in eastern Oregon and Washington and western Idaho more than 500 km east of the coastal vent areas. Thus, a regional mechanism of magma generation or emplacement is required. Three models of magma genesis considered in this report are: (1) partial melting of the subducted Juan de Fuca plate; (2) partial melting along a nearly horizontal shear zone at the base of the American plate; and (3) partial melting within the asthenosphere and fractionation during ascent of the magma.
Acute myocardial infarction and drug-eluting stents : A green light for their use or time for measured restraint?

Drug-eluting stents were proclaimed as brevolutionary devicesQ because of their ability to dramatically reduce the need for repeat revascularization procedures compared with bare-metal stents. This proclamation was not unreasonable given the virtual elimination of this disease process with their use. Moreover, restenosis is more than just a nuisance that produces recurrent angina. It can be a malignant condition in a significant proportion of patients that results in an increased burden of death, myocardial infarction, and left ventricular dysfunction, not to mention the additional risk exposure from repeat catheterization and revascularization procedures. Physicians long entrenched in the battle against restenosis were eager to use drug-eluting stents in an effort to help their patients. Moreover, patients armed themselves with information from the media and the internet and expected to receive these new and improved devices. Before long, approximately 90% of coronary revascularization procedures in the United States were being performed with drug-eluting stents. The off-label use of drug-eluting stents has also increased steadily from their introduction. In non–ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes, the prevalence of use has been reported to be nearly 80%. Other examples of drug-eluting stent use without a large amount of randomized data include patients with significant comorbidities such as renal insufficiency, left ventricular dysfunction, and diabetes; complex coronary revascularization procedures such as chronic total occlusion, left main artery, and bifurcation lesions; and clinical
Design of USB dongle antenna for WLAN applications using theory of characteristic modes

A compact universal serial bus (USB) antenna design for wireless USB dongle application is presented. The use of the theory of characteristic modes (CMs) to design such an antenna is novel and leads to a systematic antenna design scheme. The physical insight that the CM offers is of great importance for designing such an antenna. The systematic placing of reactive loads on the antenna body plays a key role in matching the antenna at the desired frequency bands. The proposed antenna's overall size is (48 × 10 mm) and it can serve the WLAN IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n bands (2.4/5.5 GHz). It could also be used for the Bluetooth and LTE applications.
Acute otitis media in children: are decongestants or antihistamines necessary?

This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of a decongestant-antihistamine preparation in combination with antibiotic treatment of acute otitis media. The effectiveness of a new Dimetapp ® (DIM) preparation was assessed in comparison with each of its components (brompheniramine maleate [BPM]and phenylephrine hydrochloride [PEH]) as well as a placebo (PL) vehicle in the treatment of acute otitis media. In a randomized double blind study, 98 children were treated in the emergency department or outpatient medical clinics at Children's Hospital of Michigan with amoxicillin and either DIM, BPM, PEH, or PL. They were evaluated at two weeks by clinical examination, pneumatoscopy, and tympanometry Fifty-eight patients (59%) continued to have evidence of fluid in the middle ear. These patients were continued on the test medications for another two weeks and then reevaluated. There were significant differences between the treatment groups (DIM, BPM, and PEH) and the control PL group; the patients receiving Dimetapp ® or placebo fared better than those receiving BPM or PEH. However, there was no difference in the overall response between Dimetapp ® and placebo. Antihistamine-decongestant therapy does not appear to be necessary in the treatment of acute otitis media in children.
LIGHT ACTIVATION OF A COMPLEX MIXTURE: EFFECTS OF UV EXCISION REPAIR ON THE MODULATION OF GENOTOXIC AND MOLECULAR EVENTS IN CHINESE HAMSTER CELLS

— An aqueous effluent produced during the retorting of oil shale has been shown to induce a significant genotoxic response in cultured Chinese hamster (CHO) cells following activation by near ultraviolet light (UVA). In this report the light-activated responses induced by this complex mixture were compared between two DNA excision repair deficient mutants and their parental strain, CHO-AA8-4. The mutants, UV-5 and UV-135, were hypersensitive to both the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects of concurrent exposures to the retort process water and UVA. Repair proficiency appeared to render AA8-4 relatively insensitive to low doses of UVA treatment, whereas in the two mutants a linear dose-response in the induction of 6-thioguanine resistant (6TG®) mutations was observed even at the lower UVA doses examined. Filter DNA alkaline elution methods were utilized to demonstrate that both single-strand breaks and DNA-DNA interstrand crosslinks were induced in CHO DNA following process water and UVA treatment. Results were also obtained which indicated that the inability to repair DNA-DNA crosslinks contributed significantly to the hypersensitive response seen in the excision repair mutants following the photoactivation of this complex mixture.
Massachusetts Health Reform: Employer Coverage From Employees’ Perspective

ABSTRACT: The national health reform debate continues to draw on Massachusetts' 2006 reform initiative, with a focus on sustaining employer-sponsored insurance. This study provides an update on emp...
Listeria exploits damage and death to spread bad news

Pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes replicates within the host cytosol; little is known about how it transits from cell to cell, spreading infection. A recent study implicates infection-induced membrane damage as a trigger for efferocytosis, the recognition and uptake of dead cells, thereby tricking neighboring cells into taking up the invader.
Neural mechanisms of response inhibition

Response inhibition is the most basic form of behavioral control, which can occur either proactively to anticipate known task requirements, or reactively in response to sudden changes in the environment. This review will highlight some of the recent progress that has been made in understanding the mechanisms of response inhibition. Neurophysiological experiments in primates and rodents have uncovered a common neural network underlying reactive motor control. However, important questions regarding the exact locus of inhibitory control are still open. Other experiments have begun to investigate proactive control mechanisms in the medial frontal cortex. Proactive control might have a more general function in behavioral control by regulating speed-accuracy tradeoffs and the urgency to make a decision.
Cross Correlations to Characterize Atomic Motion in an Optical Lattice

We examine correlations between right and left circularly polarized light for atoms in an optical lattice using a simple model. We calculate diffusion coefficients, temperatures, and discuss signatures of atomic motion in the correlations.
Combining image compression and classification using vector quantization

We describe a method of combining classification and compression into a single vector quantizer by incorporating a Bayes risk term into the distortion measure used in the quantizer design algorithm. Once trained, the quantizer can operate to minimize the Bayes risk weighted distortion measure if there is a model providing the required posterior probabilities, or it can operate in a suboptimal fashion by minimizing the squared error only. Comparisons are made with other vector quantizer based classifiers, including the independent design of quantization and minimum Bayes risk classification and Kohonen's LVQ. A variety of examples demonstrate that the proposed method can provide classification ability close to or superior to learning VQ while simultaneously providing superior compression performance. >
Beam analysis round robin

We present the results of a round robin in which six U.S. manufacturers of beam analysis instruments participated. Following a procedure recommended by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), participants used a camera, pinhole, slit, or knife-edge to determine several parameters characterizing the beam of a common laser source. Their results and ours are displayed graphically and analyzed statistically. Agreement on beam width measurements is in a range around five percent relative standard deviation while significantly less agreement exists for other quantities calculated within the ISO procedure.
Small-Animal PET of Melanocortin 1 Receptor Expression Using a 18F-Labeled α-Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone Analog

18F-Labeled small synthetic peptides have emerged as attractive probes for imaging various molecular targets with PET. The α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) receptor (melanocortin type 1 receptor [MC1R]) is overexpressed in most murine and human melanomas. It is a promising molecular target for diagnosis and therapy of melanomas. However, 18F compounds have not been successfully developed for imaging the MC1R. Methods: In this study, an α-MSH analog, Ac-Nle-Asp-His-d-Phe-Arg-Trp-Gly-Lys-NH2 (NAPamide), was radiolabeled with N-succinimidyl-4-18F-fluorobenzoate (18F-SFB). The resulting radiopeptide was evaluated as a potential molecular probe for small-animal PET of melanoma and MC1R expression in melanoma xenografted mouse models. Results: The binding affinity of 19F-SFB−conjugated NAPamide, 19F-FB-NAPamide, was determined to be 7.2 ± 1.2 nM (mean ± SD) using B16/F10 cells and 125I-(Tyr2)-[Nle4,d-Phe7]-α-MSH [125I-(Tyr2)-NDP] as a radioligand. The biodistribution of 18F-FB-NAPamide was then investigated in C57BL/6 mice bearing subcutaneous murine B16/F10 melanoma tumors with high expression of MC1Rs and Fox Chase Scid mice bearing human A375M melanoma with a relatively low number of MC1R receptors. Biodistribution experiments showed that tumor uptake values (percentage injected dose per gram of tumor [%ID/g]) of 18F-FB-NAPamide were 1.19 ± 0.11 %ID/g and 0.46 ± 0.11 %ID/g, in B16/F10 and A375M xenografted melanoma at 1 h after injection, respectively. Furthermore, the B16/F10 tumor uptake was significantly inhibited by coinjection with excess α-MSH peptide (P
LGBT Leadership Development: Uniting LGBT and Leadership Scholarship to Determine Best Practices

Although a growing body of scholarship describes the developmental experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and the popular subject of campus leadership continues to gain depth, there is little research telling us about the intersection of these two identities: the LGBT student leader. The existing research reveals that there is a variety of LGBT student leader types, each with their own set of values, preferred leadership contexts, and working styles. Using the current literature as a base-point for practice, I put forth a series of recommendations and best practices so that student affairs professionals can better engage the diverse identities and subgroups that make up the LGBT student leader community. As innovative, purposeful, and effective practitioners, we are compelled to use the current research to guide our work with students. But what do we do when the literature fails to address our area of work or does not provide the practical piece that is crucial to implementing new ideas? Far too often we improvise, make assumptions about student needs, and let our best intentions lead the way. Our busy lives keep us from reading between the lines of current research to find the answers we are looking for. Research considering the development of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) student leaders is relatively new to the field of student affairs. Researchers brave enough to explore this uncharted territory admit that there are still many avenues to explore, however, an analysis of the existing body of knowledge will be useful in compiling a set of practices that best meet the developmental needs of LGBT student leaders. To that end, I will build a set of practices based on the literature in hopes that administrators will begin to offer a variety of services that are intentionally designed to meet the specific needs of this diverse group of students.
Stirling machines and atmospheric emissions

The impact that widespread implementation of Stirling machines can have on the reduction of atmospheric emissions is discussed. Stirling engines operate within a closed cycle, which allows thermal input to be independent of the engine itself. When combustion is used as the heat source, it takes place under relatively stable conditions. As a result, the engine and burner tend to generate little noise and low levels of emission. The heat input can come from a number of sources including solar, nuclear, biomass combustion, liquid-fuel combustion, solid-fuel combustion, exothermic chemical reactions, and thermal energy storage. Applications to vehicles, space heating and cooling, and refrigeration and their environmental impact are discussed. >
Hospital-physician relations in a post-health care reform environment.

Hospital and physician relationships have been evolving and were already significantly changing prior to the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). 1 ACA is acce...
A model-based adaptive motion estimation scheme using Renyi's entropy for wireless video

Efficient motion estimation is an important problem because it determines the compression efficiency and complexity of a video encoder. Motion estimation can be formulated as an optimization problem; most motion estimation algorithms use mean squared error, sum of absolute differences or maximum a posteriori probability as the optimization criterion and apply search-based techniques (e.g., exhaustive search or three-step search) to find the optimum motion vector. However, most of these algorithms do not effectively utilize the knowledge gained in the search process for future search efforts and hence are computationally inefficient. This paper addresses this inefficiency problem by introducing an adaptive motion estimation scheme that substantially reduces computational complexity while yet providing comparable compression efficiency, as compared to existing fast-search methods. Our approach is motivated by the recent developments in using Renyi's entropy as the optimization criterion for system modeling [D. Erdogmus, J. Principe, Comparison of entropy and mean square error criteria in adaptive system training using higher order, in: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Independent Component Analysis and Signal Separation, Helsinki, Finland, 2000, pp. 75-80]. This scheme is particularly suited for wireless video sensor networks, video conferencing systems and live streaming videos which have stringent computational requirements. Our results show that our scheme reduces the computational complexity by a factor of 9-21, compared to the existing fast algorithms.
Doing good and getting it right

Judging the American Evaluation Association principles to be weak statements, difficult to apply in concrete circumstances, and potentially misleading through ambiguity, the author argues for more concern with doing good research rather than getting everyone's approval.
Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Calcium Isotopes in Human Serum: A Low-Sample-Volume Acid-Equilibration Method

Background: Analytical methods for measuring the calcium isotope distribution in enriched human serum samples that use low blood volumes, simple preparation methods, and rapid analysis are important in clinical studies of calcium kinetics. Previously, sample preparation by oxalate precipitation typically required 500 μL of serum. This method was time-consuming, and the blood volume required was limiting in circumstances when only a small amount of serum could be obtained. Methods: Serum was collected from humans who were administered 42Ca, and 20 μL of serum was mixed with 2 mL of 0.22–0.67 mol/L HNO3 at room temperature for between 1 min and 16 h. The 42Ca/43Ca ratio in the supernatant was measured by a magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Calcium isotope ratios from these equilibration solutions were compared with data from oxalate-precipitated serum samples to determine the optimum equilibrium time and the effect of acid concentration on equilibrium. Results: Various amounts of aggregated particles developed in different acid-serum mixtures. These affected the time required for isotope equilibration in the mixture. The shortest equilibrium time needed for the calcium isotopes varied from 1 to 6 h for samples acidified with 0.22–0.45 mol/L HNO3. Data obtained from these solutions were consistent with data from oxalate-precipitated calcium. The precision of 42Ca/43Ca ratio measurements was better than 0.5%. Conclusions: We have developed a simple, rapid sample preparation technique for ICP-MS analysis in which 20 μL of serum can be used for accurate measurement of the calcium isotope distribution in a sample with good precision and a rapid analysis time.
Common-source-line array: An area efficient memory architecture for bipolar nonvolatile devices

Traditional array organization of bipolar nonvolatile memories such as STT-MRAM and memristor utilizes two bitlines for cell manipulations. With technology scaling, such bitline pair will soon become the bottleneck for further density improvement. In this article we propose a novel common-source-line array architecture, which uses a shared source-line along the row, leaving only one bitline per column. We elaborate the array design to ensure reliability, and demonstrate its effectiveness on STT-MRAM and memristor memory arrays. Our study results show that with comparable latency and energy, the proposed common-source-line array can save 34p and 33p area for Memristor-RAM and STT-MRAM respectively, compared with corresponding dual-bitline arrays.
A maximum entropy solution for the undetermined electromagnetic field within a volume

The Gibbs maximum entropy (GME) solution is presented for the problem of estimating the sinusoidal electric field within a given volume of subject to constraints of measured electric field at I/sub 1/ points and zero tangential electric field at I/sub 2/ points. The field is expanded in a set of K solenoidal and perhaps irrotational (curl=0) modes with unknown amplitudes, defined within a convenient volume. Since the number of complex data in the three spatial directions, 3(I/sub 1/+I/sub 2/), is presumed to be considerably less than the number of complex amplitudes K, this is an undetermined problem.
Discussion: "Slip-Flow Pressure Drop in Microchannels of General Cross Section"

Partial slip for fluid flow past a solid boundary occurs not only in rarefied gas flow in tubes at small Knudsen numbers [1] but also in many other practical situations including rough boundary [2], lubricated surfaces, superhydrophobic surfaces [3], and particulate fluids such as blood, foam, emulsion, suspension or polymers [4]. In all cases, especially when the nominal dimension is small, the no slip boundary condition should be replaced by Navier’s (first order) partial slip condition [5] ws 1⁄4 Ns0 (1)
Delay-Optimal Hybrid ARQ Protocol Design for Channels and Receivers with Memory as a Stochastic Control Problem

Automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocols are utilized as a flexible way to adapt data transmission to channel variations whenever a feedback channel is available. The transmitter encodes the information into a packet and the receiver attempts to decode it. If decoding is not successful, the receiver signals the transmitter to either resend the same information or send additional information about the data. In this paper we consider ARQ protocols where the transmitter controls the amount of error correction capability introduced in the information sequence to minimize the expected delay. We formulate this problem as a stochastic control problem and study two cases of interest depending on whether or not the receiver feeds back information about the channel state. Some of the benefits of this formulation are an expression for the optimal packet size and delay as a solution of a fixed point equation and a unified treatment for channels with Markov statistics and for receivers with memory.
Speaker-independent recognition of stop consonants

Some experiments in stop consonant recognition using a new speech analysis technique are presented. The speech analysis technique used a Mellin-Fourier Homomorphism (MFH) on the Fourier transform of initial stop consonant bursts. A template-matching K-nearest neighbor algorithm, with MFH spectra as input, was used in identifying the stops. Extensive experiments using 32 speakers (8 each of male adults, female adults, male children, and female children) and 9 vowel environments were run. Recognition accuracies as high as 85% for voiced stops and 94% for unvoiced stops were achieved without any preliminary voicing decision.