cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Wildland-urban interface: Challenges and opportunities

The wildland–urban interface (WUI), commonlydescribed as the area where urban areas meet andinteract with rural lands (Vince et al., 2005), includesthe edges of large cities and small communities, areaswhere homes and other structures are intermixed withforests and other land uses, and islands of undevel-oped lands within urban areas (Alavalapati, 2005;Monroe et al., 2003; SAF, 2004). The interface isparticularly characterized by areas of urban sprawlwhere development pressures are pressed againstpublic and private wildlands. Continuous transitionof land-use, primarily from agriculture and forest usesto urban land uses, in the interface raises a myriad ofsocioeconomic and environmental concerns. A deeperunderstanding of these concerns is essential toformulate effective policy solutions.While a household’s dream of home ownership andthe value placed on private property rights favor urbandevelopment (Garkovich, 2000), the moving interfaceassociated with urbanization poses a series of chal-lenges to both rural and urban communities. Theseinclude ecosystems fragmentation, increased exposureto invasive species, water and air pollution, wildfires,and loss of habitat for wildlife. These changes affectresidents of rural and urban areas, natural resourcemanagers, and business and environmental organiza-tions. For example, management of forests for eco-logical goods and services such as forest products andcleanwaterisaffectedbypeopleoccupyingtheforests.Manytypesoflandownershipsintheinterfacebringindnew neighborsT with a different set of values, life-styles,andlandethicsintotheinterface;andasaresult,conflicts and tensions arise between these dnewT anddexistingT communities and cultures. The changesimparted as the WUI develops are not only significantbutareveryrapid,muchfasterthananyotherprocessesthat impacted land use changes in recent history. Forexample, Alig et al. (2000) noted that as much as 14million acres of non-industrial forests were lost tourban use between 1952 and 1997. Multiple jurisdic-tions and scales within a region, that are typical of aWUI, can further complicate efforts to manage andconserve natural resources. Thus, the rapid urbangrowth in wildland has significant and widespreadsocial, cultural, economic, and environmental implica-tions. Addressing the problems of the WUI to sustainecologically viable and socio-economically feasiblelandscapesisacomplextaskforwhichneithereasynorperfect solutions exist (Alavalapati, 2005).Planning and managing in a WUI thus invariablyinvolvesseveraldisciplinesthatencompassthenatural,socio-economic, and cultural dimensions of the issues,
Clindamycin and primaquine as primary treatment for mild and moderately severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in patients with AIDS.

The combination of clindamycin and primaquine was investigated as primary treatment for mild or moderately severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient less than 40 torr) in 36 AIDS patients. All patients were treated with primaquine 30 mg (base) orally for 21 days. The first 22 patients were treated with clindamycin 900 mg i.v. q8h for the first 10 days, followed by clindamycin 450 mg q6h orally for 11 days. Twenty of these 22 patients (91%) showed a marked clinical response by day 7. Four patients were later withdrawn from the study due to toxicity. An additional 14 patients were treated with an entirely oral regimen of clindamycin and primaquine. Thirteen of the 14 patients (93%) showed a marked therapeutic response and 12 (86%) successfully completed treatment. The combination of clindamycin and primaquine appears to be an effective and well-tolerated treatment for mild to moderately severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in AIDS patients.
CONVICTED MURDERERS' ACCOUNTS OF THEIR CRIMES: A STUDY OF HOMICIDE IN SMALL COMMUNITIES

In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 25 persons recently convicted of homicide in a largely rural, midwestern state. The primary focus of the study was the definition of the situation, particularly the vocabulary of motives, employed by the respondents at the time of their crime. The results showed that the vast majority of the respondents cited motives involving excuses (e.g., it was an accident, judgment impaired by alcohol/drugs, not oneself because of severe stress). These excuses assumed, or appealed to, conventional moral views of violence. Six of the individuals provided motives that they felt justified their actions. However, these justifications tended to be based upon a plea of self-defense and demonstrated a commitment to conventional morality rather than to the norms of a violent subculture. There was no evidence that the respondents viewed their behavior as part of a character contest. In most instances, they were unemployed or underemployed persons, living rather dead-end lives, who in the course of mounting life stress struck out at someone, usually while intoxicated. Frequently they were depressed, and in some cases suicidal, at the time of the act, and the victim was usually a relative or friend. In half of the cases it appeared that the homicide would not have taken place if a handgun has not been present.
Pressure Shifts of the Hyperfine Structure of Atomic Nitrogen

The hyperfine structure of atomic nitrogen in the ${(2p)}^{3}^{4}S_{\frac{3}{2}}$ electronic ground state has been investigated by the spin-exchange optical polarization method. The transmission of circularly polarized rubidium ${D}_{1}(5^{2}P_{\frac{1}{2}}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}5^{2}S_{\frac{1}{2}})$ resonance radiation through a flask containing rubidium vapor, a buffer gas, and atomic nitrogen was observed as a function of the frequency of an applied radio-frequency field. Measurements were made at pressures ranging from 10 to 65 mm Hg in neon, argon, helium, and molecular nitrogen buffer gases. The extrapolated zero-pressure frequency intervals and their corresponding pressure shifts, as determined by the method of least squares, are
Augmentation of human monocyte chemotactic response by levamisole

THE antihelminthic drug, levamisole ((−)-tetramisole) has been shown to possess potent immunostimulatory properties as demonstrated by its ability to enhance delayed hyper-sensitivity responses in aged individuals and in patients with cancer1,2. In addition, animals treated with (−)-tetramisole have heightened activity of their reticuloendothelial systems as measured by clearance of carbon particles and phagocytosis of sensitised sheep erythrocytes3,4. Although the mechanism of action of levamisole remains obscure, its pharmacological properties suggest that it may affect macro-phage function and as such could be a useful tool to probe the pathophysiology of this cell. This report describes the effect of (−)-tetramisole and its isomers on monocyte chemotaxis in vitro, and demonstrates a potential mechanism of action for these drugs as well as their usefulness for delineating mechanisms of leukocyte chemotactic responsiveness.
Sodium binding site of factor Xa: role of sodium in the prothrombinase complex.

The nature of residue 225 on a consensus loop in serine proteases determines whether a protease can bind Na+. Serine proteases with a Pro at this position are unable to bind Na+, but those with a Tyr or Phe can bind Na+. Factor Xa (FXa), the serine protease of the prothrombinase complex, contains a Tyr at this position. Na+ is also known to stimulate the amidolytic activity of FXa toward cleavage of small synthetic substrates, but the role of Na+ in the prothrombinase complex has not been investigated. In this study, we engineered a Gla-domainless form of FX (GDFX) in which residue Tyr225 was replaced with a Pro. We found that Na+ stimulated the cleavage rate of chromogenic substrates by FXa or GDFXa ∼8−24-fold with apparent dissociation constants [Kd(app)] of 37 and 182 mM in the presence and absence of Ca2+, respectively. In contrast, Na+ minimally affected the cleavage rate of these substrates by the mutant, and no Kd(app) for Na+ binding to the mutant could be estimated. Unlike the wild-type enzyme, t...
Improving the tribological characteristics of aluminum 6061 alloy by surface compositing with sub-micro-size ceramic particles via friction stir processing☆

Abstract This study presents a solid state surface engineering technique for forming a composite surface layer on aluminum to improve surface hardness and wear resistance without sacrificing the ductility and conductivity of the bulk. Friction stir processing (FSP) was used to stir and mix sub-micro-size Al2O3 and SiC particles into the surface of an aluminum 6061-T651 alloy plate to form an composite layer of up to 3 mm thick. The concentration of the hard phase was in the range of 20–30 vol.%. Compared with a non-processed aluminum surface, the FSP-formed composite surface exhibited substantial friction and wear reductions by 40% and 90%, respectively, when rubbed against a bearing steel. Post-FSP heat treatment afforded further enhancement of the wear resistance. Transmission electron microscopy revealed high matrix dislocation density in the composite surface that is believed to be largely responsible for such significant properties improvements.
In vivo microtubule dynamics during experimentally induced conversions between tubulin assembly states in Allogromia laticollaris

A distinctive property of foraminiferan tubulin is that, in addition to microtubules (MTs), it exists in an alternate assembly state, helical filaments. Here, we have examined in vivo MT dynamics during experimentally induced conversions between these two assembly states in the reticulopods of the marine foraminiferan Allogromia laticollaris. Exposure to high extracellular concentrations of Mg2+ (165 mM) resulted in a complete conversion of MTs into helical filaments. However, Mg2+ treatment also induced a retrograde movement of organelles and cytoplasm, and it was necessary to inhibit this response in order to assess the effects of assembly state changes on individual MTs. This was accomplished by simultaneous treatment with high extracellular Mg2+ and 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP). The resulting loss in MTs was detected by video enhanced DIC (VEC-DIC) microscopy as either an endwise MT shortening (at an average rate of 474 μm/min) or transformation into one or more irregularly shaped fibrils, which we termed residual fibrils. Correlative immunofluorescence and video microscopy showed residual fibrils to be composed of helical filaments. Removal of extracellular Mg2+/DNP initiated a reversal in assembly state, from helical filaments into MTs, which was completed within 5 min. VEC-DIC microscopy showed that MTs reformed by an endwise lengthening at an average rate of 216 μm/min. These results suggest that conversion between alternate tubulin assembly states provides a more rapid means to build and dismantle MTs than conventional subunit-driven pathways. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Research experiences in satellite and ground-based remote sensing: A model for preparing the next generation of remote sensing undergraduates

Over the past few decades the field of remote sensing with its plethora of platforms and instruments has rapidly grown and expanded, particularly in its applications to the study of the environment and of Earth System Sciences. The effectiveness and efficiency of this mode of environmental probing is quite evident, and new and intriguing sensing methodologies and parameterizations are ever emerging for a wide spectrum of the geosciences. However, as the field advances, caution must be taken to ensure intrinsic continuity by raising awareness, training, preparing, and equipping the next generation of remote sensing scientists. This paper, therefore, describes a model remote sensing program that was designed and implemented for a diverse group of undergraduate students. Not only was the program successful in training 79 students over a seven year period, but it also created an entree to many of them pursuing remote sensing at the graduate level.
A Convexity-Preserving Grid Refinement Algorithm for Interpolation of Bivariate Functions

This article presents an algorithms to refine bevariate grid data that is convex (and monotonic) along the grid lines so that the refined data exhibits the same convexity (and monotonicity). The algorithm is based on some observations about univariate data and an algorithm for shape-preserving quadratic splines for such data. It can be used as is or with standard surface-path techniques.
Phase correction and denoising for ICA of complex FMRI data

Analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data in its native, complex form has been shown to increase the sensitivity of the analysis both for data driven techniques such as independent component analysis (ICA) and for model-driven techniques; however, the noisy nature of the phase poses a challenge for successful study of fMRI data. In addition, for complex ICA, the inherent scaling ambiguity, which has a phase term, introduces additional difficulty for group analysis and visualization of the results. In this paper, we address these issues, which have been among the main reasons phase information has been traditionally discarded and introduce a phase correction scheme that can be either applied subsequent to ICA of fMRI data or can be incorporated into the ICA algorithm in the form of prior information to eliminate the need for further processing for phase correction. In addition, we introduce methods for visualization of the analysis results as well as preprocessing the complex fMRI data to mitigate the effects of noise in the phase which are not limited to ICA algorithms. We demonstrate the successful application of the methods using actual fMRI data.
Methods in Nutrition Science: Cre/loxP System for Generating Tissue-specific Knockout Mouse Models

Editor's note: From time to time, we take the opportunity in Nutrition Reviews to highlight a particularly exciting application of sophisticated methodological advances that are relevant to the nutrition research community. In the current issue of Nutrition Reviews , Dr. Claudine Kos has provide a brief review of some of the salient features of the Cre/loxP system for generating tissue-specific knockout mouse models. Hopefully, this review will provide additional background to Dr. George Wolf's Brief Critical Review (page 253) of the use of the Cre/loxP technique by investigators to gain further insight into the function of the peroxysome proliferators-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-γ), as well as promote its further use within experimental nutrition. Alteration of the mouse genome by conventional transgenic and gene-targeted approaches has greatly facilitated studies of gene function. However, a gene alteration expressed in the germ line may cause an embryonic lethal phenotype resulting in no viable mouse to study gene function. Similarly, a gene alteration may exert its effect in multiple different cell and tissue types, creating a complex phenotype in which it is difficult to distinguish direct function in a particular tissue from secondary effects resulting from altered gene function in other tissues. Therefore, methods have been developed to control conditions such as the timing, cell-type, and tissue specificity of gene activation or repression. This brief review provides an overview of the Cre/LoxP system for generating tissue-specific knockout mouse models .
Detection of metal ions by glass capillary gas-chromatographic separation of their volatile chelates

The utility of several glass capillary columns to separate some trifluoroacetonates, diethyldithiocarbamates, di(trifluoroethyl) dilithiocarbamates and diisopropyldithiophosphates metal chelates was investigated. The increased sensitivity offered by selective detectors was also explored. Most favorable results were obtained with a short highly inert fused silica column, coated with a non-retentive liquid phase.
The self and identity negotiation

Identity negotiation refers to the processes through which perceivers and targets come to agreements regarding the identities that targets are to assume in the interaction. Whereas past work has focused on the contribution of perceivers to the identity negotiation process, I emphasize the contribution of targets to this process. Specifically, I examine the tendency for targets to work to bring perceivers to verify their self-views. For example, people prefer and seek self-verifying evaluations from others, including their spouses and employers — even when this means attaining evaluations that validate negative self-views. Moreover, receiving self-verification has adaptive consequences, even improving the performance of workers in diverse groups. Some boundary conditions of self-verification strivings as well as implications for making of minds are discussed.
Breaking the Silence Surrounding Hepatitis C by Promoting Self-Efficacy: Hepatitis C Public Service Announcements

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common chronic bloodborne virus in the United States. Despite this fact, there is a startling lack of awareness about HCV among individuals who might have contracted the virus. In this study, grounded in self-efficacy theory, we analyze public service announcements for HCV. Using focus groups to contextualize the responses of individuals living with HCV, we conclude that stigma and structural barriers pose the greatest challenges for health communicators trying to reach at-risk populations. The findings suggest that expanded use of celebrity appeals, realistic drug-use portrayals, more extensive use of social networking in tandem with nontraditional media, tapping into veterans, and maximizing self-efficacy messages while minimizing fear tactics offer new hope for successful health communication strategies. With 3.9 million people in the United States infected with HCV, this study offers urgently needed communication strategies to address this silent epidemic.
An efficient hardware reconfigurable multi-channel audio data acquisition, storing and monitoring system

Audio data are involved in many applications. This research proposes a hardware reconfigurable system for audio acquisition, processing, storing and monitoring. This proposed system is capable of collecting and processing multi-channel audio sources without the need of a personnel computer and storing them into a storage device. The design uses system-on-chip technology and hardware-software co-design to integrate all functions needed by this application into a single Field Programmable Gate Array. The proposed system has advantages such as saves hardware, space, and power consumption.
A review and assessment of the stress-intensity factors for surface cracks

The stress-intensity factor solutions proposed for a surface crack in a finite plate subjected to uniform tension are reviewed. Fourteen different solutions for the stress-intensity factors are compared. These solutions were obtained over the past 16 years using approximate analytical methods, experimental methods, and engineering estimates. The accuracy is assessed of the various solutions by correlating fracture data on surface-cracked tension specimens made of a brittle epoxy material. Fracture of the epoxy material was characterized by a constant value of stress-intensity factor at failure. Thus, the correctness of the various solutions is judged by the variations in the stress-intensity factors at failure. The solutions were ranked in order of minimum standard deviation. The highest ranking solutions correlated 95 percent of data analyzed within + or - 10 percent, whereas the lowest ranking solutions correlated 95 percent of data analyzed within + or - 20 percent. However, some solutions could be applied to all data considered, whereas others are limited with respect to crack shapes and crack sizes that could be analyzed.
Cost-effective sensing during plan execution

Between sensing the world after every action (as in a reactive plan) and not sensing at all (as in an open-loop plan), lies a continuum of strategies for sensing during plan execution. If sensing incurs a cost (in time or resources), the most cost-effective strategy is likely to fall somewhere between these two extremes. Yet most work on plan execution assumes one or the other. In this paper, an efficient, anytime planner is described that controls the rate of sensing during plan execution. The sensing interval is determined by the state during plan execution, as well as by the cost of sensing, so that an agent can sense more often when necessary. The planner is based on a generalization of stochastic dynamic programming.
Genetic Variation and Hematology: Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms, Haplotypes, and Complex Disease

In the course of generating a draft sequence of the human genome, we now recognize the enormous scope of genetic variation among humans, which can be used to probe the genetics of complex diseases such as leukemia or thrombosis. There is already mounting evidence of new susceptibility genes and genes that interact with environmental factors. Genetic variants, especially single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), also can be utilized to investigate potential modifiers of disease. Genetic variation can be applied to study pharmacogenomics, which could eventually drive the choice of therapeutic and interventional strategies. The genomic revolution ultimately should give insights into key mechanisms in hematological disorders that can be translated into targeted therapies.
Strain rate and temperature effects of polymer foam core material

The objective of this research is to characterize the effect of high strain rates on polymer foam shear properties at different temperatures through direct shear tests. Three strain rates were cons...
Teaching Intelligence Testing in APA-Accredited Programs: A National Survey

We surveyed instructors at APA-accredited clinical and school psychology programs across the United States and Canada to determine typical teaching practices in individual intelligence testing courses. The most recent versions of the Wechsler scales (Wechsler, 1989, 1991, 1997) and the Stanford-Binet (Thorndike, Hagan & Sattler, 1986) remain the primary tests taught in this course. Course instructors emphasized having students administer intelligence tests; however, relatively few instructors reported assessing students' final level of competence with regard to their test administration skills. The intelligence testing course appears quite time-intensive for instructors, and many teach the course with the aid of a teaching assistant. When compared with previous findings, current results suggest a good measure of stability over time regarding the core issues addressed and skills taught in the intelligence testing course.
State variation in health insurance coverage for U.S. citizen children of immigrants.

In this paper we compare health insurance coverage for U.S. citizen children in all-citizen and mixed families in the fifteen states with the largest share of children in mixed families. Insurance coverage is lower and state variation in coverage is higher for children in mixed families vis-a-vis children in all-citizen families. The main challenges for states are tackling uninsurance among all low-income children and addressing the very low rates of employer-sponsored insurance for all low-income children and for children in all mixed families, regardless of income. We discuss state policy options to address the needs of children in mixed families.
Combined TLP/RF testing system for detection of ESD failures in RF circuits

We present a modified transmission-line pulse (TLP) measurement system in which radio frequency (RF) functionality tests, along with the conventional leakage current measurement, are performed after each pulse to detect failure. Measurement results from 5-GHz low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) show that RF metrics degrade before the leakage current increases. Also, we introduce an electrostatic discharge (ESD)-protected RF circuit for which leakage current measurements cannot be made, necessitating the use of other failure criteria.
Aphid repellent sesquiterpenes in glandular trichomes of Solanum berthaultii and S. tuberosum

Exudate from glandular trichomes of the wild potato species, Solanum berthaultii Hawkes, and the cultivated potato, S. tuberosum L., contained volatile substances including sesquiterpenes when examined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry procedures. Sesquiterpenes were the major volatile constituents of Type A trichome exudate but were a minor constituent of Type B exudate. Sesquiterpene mixtures of the two potato species differed qualitatively and quantitatively. β-Caryophyllene and E-β-Farnesene were major components identified in Type A trichome exudate of the cultivated potato. Sesquiterpene mixtures of both potato species were repellent to the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer). The role of trichome sesquiterpenes as a determinant of aphid behavior on the two potato species and in the expression of host resistance is discussed. Resume Sesquiterpenes des trichomes glandulaires de Solanum berthaultii et S. tuberosum, repulsifs de pucerons L'examen en chromatographie gazeuse et en spectometrie de masse a revela la presence de substances volatiles contenant des sesquiterpenes dans l'exsudat des trichomes glandulaires des pommes de terre sauvage (Solanum berthaultii) et cultivee (S. tuberosum). Les sesquiterpenes etaient le principal compose volatile de l'exsudat de type A, tandis qu'ils n'etaient que faiblement representes dans l'exsudat de type B. Les melanges de sesquiterpenes des deux especes differaient qualitativement et quantitativement. Le β-Caryophyllene et le E-β-Farnesene constituaient les principaux composes identifies dans l'exsudat de trichome de type A de S. tuberosum. Les melanges sesquiterpeniques des deux especes ont repousee Myzus persicae Sulzer. La discussion a porte sur l'influence des sesquiterpenes des trichomes dans la definition du comportement des pucerons sur ces deux plantes et sur la manifestation de la resistance de l'hote.
When to Hedge Against Devaluation

The treasurer of a multi-national corporation can hedge to protect his corporation against an impending currency devaluation or revaluation. He can cover a future period, τ, now, without covering any intervening periods, by selling the suspect currency forward for τ periods and buying it forward for τ-1 periods. There are generally no external economies resulting from hedging for more than one period at a time so that the problem is formulated to analyze each period separately. The cost of hedging for corporate sized amounts appears to be linear so the hedging price for each period is treated as a constant. Given current costs, expectations of costs, and expectations of probable devaluations or revaluations, should the treasurer now contract to hedge a particular period or should he wait? The aggregation of the past and current hedge decisions constitutes the intervals to be hedged now. Each of these hedge or wait decisions is formulated as a dynamic program. This dynamic program fortunately distills down to a very simple decision rule of comparing the expected cost of hedging with a constant for that period when unhedging is permitted. Even when the spread between the buying and selling rates is significant, there will be a need to solve numerically a dynamic program for only a few of the periods. We present and analyse four situations: Hedging with no unhedging. Hedging with the option of unhedging later, but with a spread between buying and selling costs. Hedging in the face of a key event that will branch the probabilities. Hedging when there's a chance of more than one devaluation.
SPECTS O-CDMA field trials using subpicosecond pulses and integrated encoders/decoders across 80.8-km and 150-km links

We compare two field demonstrations of SPECTS-OCDMA on an 80.8-km link and 150-km link using integrated, polarization independent arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG)-based encoders/decoders, an ultra-stable optical frequency comb generator and a tunable dispersion-slope compensator.
The adoption and use of 'BABBLE': a field study of chat in the workplace

One way to gain a principled understanding of computer-mediated communication (CMC) use in the wild is to consider the properties of the communication medium, the usage practices, and the social context in which practices are situated. We describe the adoption and use of a novel, chat-like system called BABBLE. Drawing on interviews and conversation logs from a 6-month field study of six different groups at IBM Corporation (USA), we examine the ways in which the technical properties of the system enable particular types of communicative practices such as waylaying and unobtrusive broadcast. We then consider how these practices influence (positively or negatively) the adoption trajectories of the six deployments.
Endocrine disruptors and prostate cancer risk

There is increasing evidence both from epidemiology studies and animal models that specific endocrine-disrupting compounds may influence the development or progression of prostate cancer. In large part, these effects appear to be linked to interference with estrogen signaling, either through interacting with ERs or by influencing steroid metabolism and altering estrogen levels within the body. In humans, epidemiologic evidence links specific pesticides, PCBs and inorganic arsenic exposures to elevated prostate cancer risk. Studies in animal models also show augmentation of prostate carcinogenesis with several other environmental estrogenic compounds including cadmium, UV filters and BPA. Importantly, there appears to be heightened sensitivity of the prostate to these endocrine disruptors during the critical developmental windows including in utero and neonatal time points as well as during puberty. Thus infants and children may be considered a highly susceptible population for ED exposures and increased risk of prostate cancers with aging.
A multi-institutional study of outcomes in stage I-III uterine carcinosarcoma

Abstract Objective To evaluate the use of adjuvant therapy after primary surgery for stage I–III uterine carcinosarcoma (CS). Methods A multi-institutional retrospective study of women with stage I–III CS was conducted. Analyses were stratified by stage (I/II and III). Patients were categorized according to adjuvant therapy: observation (OBS), radiation (RT), chemotherapy (CT) or multimodal therapy (CT+RT). Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed using log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazards models. Results 303 patients were identified across four institutions: 195 with stage I/II and 108 with stage III disease. In stage I/II disease, 75 (39.9%) received OBS, 33 (17.6%) CT, 37 (19.7%) RT, and 43 (22.9%) CT+RT. OBS was associated with a fourfold increased risk of death compared to CT (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR)=4.48, p=0.003). Patients receiving CT+RT had significantly improved PFS compared to those receiving CT alone (aHR=0.43, p=0.04), but no difference in OS. In the stage III cohort, 16 (15.0%) received OBS, 34 (31.8%) CT, 20 (18.7%) RT, and 37 (34.6%) CT+RT. OBS was associated with worse OS and PFS compared to CT (OS: aHR=2.46, p=0.04; PFS: aHR=2.39, p=0.03, respectively). A potential improvement in PFS was seen for those treated with CT+RT compared to CT alone, however it was not statistically significant (aHR=0.53, p=0.09). Conclusions Observation after surgery was associated with poor outcomes in uterine CS compared to CT and RT alone. Multimodality therapy for women with stage I/II disease was associated with improved PFS compared to chemotherapy alone. Novel treatment options are needed to improve outcomes in this aggressive disease.
Peer-to-peer support for massively multiplayer games

We present an approach to support massively multiplayer games on peer-to-peer overlays. Our approach exploits the fact that players in MMGs display locality of interest, and therefore can form self-organizing groups based on their locations in the virtual world. To this end, we have designed scalable mechanisms to distribute the game state to the participating players and to maintain consistency in the face of node failures. The resulting system dynamically scales with the number of online players. It is more flexible and has a lower deployment cost than centralized games servers. We have implemented a simple game we call SimMud, and experimented with up to 4000 players to demonstrate the applicability of this approach.
Time-table scheduling using neural network algorithms

A demonstration is presented of how to use neural network algorithms to schedule classes in an educational institute. Such a scheduling problem is basically a graph-coloring or graph-partitioning problem which belongs to the large class of NP (nondeterministic polynomial time)-complete problems, and it is difficult to solve. G.C. Fox and W. Furmanski (1988) proposed some neural network algorithms to decompose loosely synchronous problems onto parallel machines. The author adopts these algorithms to schedule timetables. The algorithms can be implemented on a digital computer or on analog neural networks
Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation in the Elderly: Current Evidence and Evolving Trends.

Management of atrial fibrillation in the elderly presents unique challenges, including deciding upon the best treat ment strategy: rate control versus rhythm control. The decision to pursue one treatment strategy over another is based on understanding the underlying disorder: symptomatology from atrial fibrillation itself versus symptoms due to a rapid ventricular response from atrial fibrillation. The ablation strategies for the treatment of atrial fibril lation include atrioventricular junction ablation and pulmonary vein isolation. This review discusses the data on ablation of atrial fibrillation in the elderly, with an emphasis on issues regarding safety and efficacy in this popu lation.
Dual Energy CT in Renal Tumors

By addressing most of the drawbacks of conventional MDCT imaging, dual energy MDCT can improve the diagnosis of renal lesions and, potentially, may represent a paradigm shift from a merely attenuation-based to a material-specific spectral imaging investigation. In this chapter, we provide an overview of currently available clinical applications of dual energy MDCT in the evaluation of renal lesions.
Long-term complications following bladder augmentations in patients with spina bifida: bladder calculi, perforation of the augmented bladder and upper tract deterioration.

Background: We desire to review our experience with bladder augmentation in spina bifida patients followed in a transitional and adult urologic practice. This paper will specifically focus on three major complications: bladder calculi, the most frequent complication found following bladder augmentation, perforation of the augmentation, its most lethal complication and finally we will address loss of renal function as a direct result of our surgical reconstructive procedures. Methods: We reviewed a prospective data base maintained on patients with spina bifida followed in our transitional and adult urology clinic from 1986 to date. Specific attention was given to patients who had developed bladder calculi, sustained a spontaneous perforation of the augmented bladder or had developed new onset of renal scarring or renal insufficiency (≥ stage 3 renal failure) during prolonged follow-up. Results: The development of renal stones (P Conclusions: This paper documents the need for high volume bladder irrigations to both prevent the most common complication following bladder augmentation, which is the development of bladder calculi and to reduce the incidence of symptomatic urinary tract infections. It provides a unique perspective regarding the impact of substance abuse and patient non-compliance with medical directives as being both the most common cause for both spontaneous bladder rupture following augmentation cystoplasty and for deterioration of the upper tracts. These findings should cause the surgeon to reflect on his/her assessment of a patient prior to performing a bladder augmentation procedure and stress the need for close follow-up.
Disclosure & Offer at Twenty-Five: Time to Adopt Policies to Promote Fairly Negotiated Compensation

In 1987, this article’s co-author (Dr. Kraman), with other hospital staff at the Lexington, Kentucky VA Medical Center, created the risk management method now known as "disclosure & offer." The Lexington VA's guiding principal was that patients injured by medical errors should be made whole without the need for litigation. Their process included advising patients to seek counsel and then negotiating fair compensation with the attorneys/patients. After 10 years, the Lexington VA group published a study revealing the success of their program in fairly compensating patients while reducing litigation costs. Today, disclosure & offer programs are a national phenomenon. Most aspects of the VA model have been adopted by facilities that employ their own disclosure programs. Yet, the newer generation of programs appear to have adopted a more self-serving approach when it comes to discussing compensation with patients (typically not advising patients to seek legal counsel; nor putting safeguards in place to assure patients understand their legal rights and financial needs resulting from their injury before negotiating with risk managers). This article argues that negotiating with unrepresented patients creates a conflict of interests and recommends practices to remedy it for facilities engaging in "disclosure & offer."
The Promise of Ocean History for Environmental History

Paul Sutter closes his essay on the state of the field of environmental history by calling attention to the relatively short time during which humans have transformed the planet— a point that certainly applies to the ocean. Anthropogenically induced global climate change is affecting ocean temperature and acidity. Overfishing has not only decimated marine populations but has emptied entire levels of the marine food web. Bottom trawling has scarred virtually all the commercially reachable seafloor. Attention to marine environmental issues has lagged behind similar attention to land by a century or more; only since the 1990s has the ocean’s environmental status gripped the attention of mainstream media and ordinary people. Although the ocean seems remote, marine environmental activists and ocean boosters rightly note the many ways that all people are tightly connected to it. The seas provide food, energy, communication, and transportation of the goods and raw materials that fuel the global economy. Threats to oceans and the uses made of ocean space and ocean resources have prompted the formation of international legal regimes and agreements. The majority of the world’s population lives along coasts—and the proportion of coastal dwellers is on the increase—therefore even more people will be involved in the challenges associated with sea-level rise and the increasing frequency and intensity of storms. Such interactions between people and ocean are grist for historical scholarship. Sutter acknowledges environmental history’s terrestrial bias and notes the small but growing body of literature that recognizes the ocean’s place in history. This notice has happened at an auspicious time, because environmental history’s embrace of hybridity opens a space for the sea and other environments like it. Like land, the ocean is a natural environment that is—perhaps to a greater degree even than terra firma—knowable through cultural lenses. Technology necessarily mediates understanding of the vast depths of the ocean and even
Post Titanium Silicide Processing

Decreasing contact dimensions coupled with the need for planarization to accommodate multiple layers of metal have created many challenges for the contact etch module. For example, contact etch processes are often required to stop on thin titanium silicide while at the same time forming high aspect ratio, straightwalled contacts. In this paper, the impact of various dielectric compositions and contact etch process parameters on etch profile, selectivity, and contact resistance is presented for the formation of high aspect ratio, submicron contacts to thin TiSi2 layers. The etch profile is formed by RIE using a mixture of CHF3 and various amounts of CF4. Surprisingly, the sidewall angle and selectivity to silicide showed little dependence on the percent CF4. Contact resistance measurements, however, varied greatly with percent CF4 and contact aspect ratio. The variation of contact resistance with etch chemistry was attributed to a variation in the extent of fluorocarbon polymer film formation, which in turn depends on the ratio of carbon to fluorine in the plasma. Finally, post contact etch treatments were examined for efficiency in removing the polymer films from the high aspect ratio contacts.
Resuscitation Practices Associated With Survival After In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Nationwide Survey.

Importance Although survival of patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest varies markedly among hospitals, specific resuscitation practices that distinguish sites with higher cardiac arrest survival rates remain unknown. Objective To identify resuscitation practices associated with higher rates of in-hospital cardiac arrest survival. Design, Setting, and Participants Nationwide survey of resuscitation practices at hospitals participating in the Get With the Guidelines–Resuscitation registry and with 20 or more adult in-hospital cardiac arrest cases from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2013. Data analysis was performed from June 10 to December 22, 2015. Main Outcomes and Measures Risk-standardized survival rates for cardiac arrest were calculated at each hospital and were then used to categorize hospitals into quintiles of performance. The association between resuscitation practices and quintiles of survival was evaluated using hierarchical proportional odds logistic regression models. Results Overall, 150 (78.1%) of 192 eligible hospitals completed the study survey, and 131 facilities with 20 or more adult in-hospital cardiac arrest cases comprised the final study cohort. Risk-standardized survival rates after in-hospital cardiac arrest varied substantially (median, 23.7%; range, 9.2%-37.5%). Several resuscitation practices were associated with survival on bivariate analysis, although only 3 were significant after multivariable adjustment: monitoring for interruptions in chest compressions (adjusted odds ratio [OR] for being in a higher survival quintile category, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.24-5.93; P = .01), reviewing cardiac arrest cases monthly (adjusted OR for being in a higher survival quintile category, 8.55; 95% CI, 1.79-40.00) or quarterly (OR, 6.85; 95% CI, 1.49-31.30; P = .03), and adequate resuscitation training (adjusted OR, 3.23; 95% CI, 1.21-8.33; P = .02). Conclusions and Relevance Using survey information from acute care hospitals participating in a national quality improvement registry, we identified 3 resuscitation strategies associated with higher hospital rates of survival for patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest. These strategies can form the foundation for best practices for resuscitation care at hospitals given the high incidence and variation in survival for in-hospital cardiac arrest.
Human population genetics, 1961.

The more significant developments in the field of human population genetics during the past decade can for the most part be subsumed under three headings, as follows: 1. The recognition of an increasing number of genetic traits capable of serving as analytic tools in population studies. 2. The recognition that many of these traits attain frequencies, although some only in limited areas, such that they have to be labelled genetic polymorphisms. Table 1 is an attempt to list the presently recognized human polymorphisms for which the genetic basis seems clear. 3. The emergence of at least a few clues as to the factors responsible for the maintenance of some of the plymorphisms, although it must be confessed that for the majority of the traits listed in Table 1, there is as yet no real insight into their role in populations. As is well known from the contributions of Fisher, Wright, Dobzhansky, Lerner, Crow, Kimura, and others, genetic polymorphisms have the property of acting as stabilizing mechanisms in maintaining certain aspects of the fitness of populations. Consequently, whereas what we may term the “classical model” of the dynamics of a genetic locus in a population looked to mutation pressure as the source of the impairment of population fitness which could be traced to that locus, the “polymorphic model” views that impairment as in part a price a population pays for the maintenance of an optimum level of heterozygosity at that locus. The two models have such profoundly different practical and philosophical consequences that it is small wonder that in recent years the running discussion of their relative merits and roles has generated a degree of heat matched by few other current biological questions.
Personal connections in the digital age, second edition

Nancy Baym's Personal Connections in the Digital Age jumps out of the gate on the first page, shining a new light on questions that humankind has had to answer time and again, for millennia: What d...
“Lawless Sway,” Pendulous Politics

In the Examiner of 11 June 1815, exactly one week before Waterloo, Hazlitt reviewed a recent production of Milton’s ‘Comus,’ noting in the final paragraph that he did not find the masque equal to either the youthful classicism of ‘Lycidas’ or the mature morality of ‘Samson Agonistes.’ Then, without any transition whatsoever, what appeared to have been a concluding survey of the trajectory of Milton’s career gives way to an indignant declamation.
Implications of Interfacial Bond Strength on the Spectral Contributions to Thermal Boundary Conductance across Solid, Liquid, and Gas Interfaces: A Molecular Dynamics Study

The modal contributions to interfacial heat flow across Lennard-Jones based solid/solid, solid/liquid, and solid/gas interfaces are predicted via molecular dynamics simulations. It is found that the spectral contributions to the total heat flux from the solid that comprises the interface are highly dependent on the phase of the adjoining matter and the interfacial bond driving the interaction between the solid and the adjacent matter. For solid/solid interfaces, along with low temperatures, weak cross-species interaction strength can severely limit the conductance owing to the inhibition of inelastic channels that otherwise facilitate heat flow across the interface via anharmonic interactions. The increase in the cross-species interaction strength is shown to shift the modal contributions to higher frequencies, and most of the inelastic energy exchange is due to the longitudinal vibrational coupling across the interface. For solid/liquid interfaces, the increase in the cross-species interaction enhances t...
Lessons from near real-time forecasting of irregular leadership changes:

Since 2014, we have been producing regular six-month forecasts of the probability of irregular leadership changes – coups, rebellions, protests that result in state leader changes – for most countr...