cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Planetarium Show on Dark Matter

We describe a new planetarium show about Dark Matter entitled “Phantom of the Universe”. When completed in late 2014, it will feature the exciting story of dark matter, from the Big Bang to its anticipated discovery at the Large Hadron Collider.
SDN docker: Enabling application auto-docking/undocking in edge switch

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) enables users to programmatically manage individual data flows in the network. Beyond managing data flows, an SDN enabled switch that automatically manages different applications in the form of an ecosystem has more practical benefits. Recently there is an increasing interest on migrating applications from ‘Cloud’ to the edge switches, such as ‘Fog’ computing for IoTs. To cater to such interests, we envisage an architecture that empowers SDN (beyond Layer-2 flow management) to automatically manage applications embedded within the switch. In this paper, for the first time, we propose an SDN-based auto-docker framework integrated within the switches. The proposed framework augments SDN architecture to enable auto-docking/undocking of applications at the edge switches. By ‘auto’, we mean the required application is automatically identified (agnostic to the users) from the incoming packet, installed seamlessly, and subsequently uninstalled from the switch when it is no longer needed. In this manner, the docker framework automatically and effectively manages the storage, computing, and networking resources of the switch. We develop a working prototype of the framework using off-the-shelf network switches, and evaluate the performance of the proposed docker framework.
Life Expectancy with Cerebral Palsy

The life expectancy of children with idiopathic cerebral palsy born during 1966-84 to mothers resident in Mersey region has been analysed at the Department of Public Health, University of Liverpool, UK.
Information needs of physicians, care coordinators, and families to support care coordination of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN).

Objectives Identify and describe information needs and associated goals of physicians, care coordinators, and families related to coordinating care for medically complex children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). Materials and methods We conducted 19 in-depth interviews with physicians, care coordinators, and parents of CYSHCN following the Critical Decision Method technique. We analyzed the interviews for information needs posed as questions using a systematic content analysis approach and categorized the questions into information need goal types and subtypes. Results The Critical Decision Method interviews resulted in an average of 80 information needs per interview. We categorized them into 6 information need goal types: (1) situation understanding, (2) care networking, (3) planning, (4) tracking/monitoring, (5) navigating the health care system, and (6) learning, and 32 subtypes. Discussion and conclusion Caring for CYSHCN generates a large amount of information needs that require significant effort from physicians, care coordinators, parents, and various other individuals. CYSHCN are often chronically ill and face developmental challenges that translate into intense demands on time, effort, and resources. Care coordination for CYCHSN involves multiple information systems, specialized resources, and complex decision-making. Solutions currently offered by health information technology fall short in providing support to meet the information needs to perform the complex care coordination tasks. Our findings present significant opportunities to improve coordination of care through multifaceted and fully integrated informatics solutions.
Mr. Darwin’s mysterious spider: on the type species of the genus Leucauge White, 1841 (Tetragnathidae, Araneae)

For more than a century and a half the identity of Linyphia (Leucauge) argyrobapta White, 1841, the type species of the spider genus Leucauge, has been a mystery and an obstacle for revisionary work on this orb weaving genus. The only known specimen of argyrobapta, the type, was collected by Charles Darwin in Rio de Janeiro during the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle and was lost after White’s description was published. We designate a neotype for Linyphia argyrobapta (White, 1841) based on specimens collected in the type locality. The common and widespread American species Leucauge venusta (Walckenaer, 1841) is a senior synonym of L. argyrobapta.
Nur Dekompression bei fixierter Gefügestörung – wo ist die Grenze?

Die fixierteGefugestorung ist begrifflich nicht klar definiert und im englischen Sprachraum so nicht bekannt. Daher einigten sich die Kontrahenten auf die Beleuchtung der stabilen (fixierte) degenerativen Spondylolisthesis mit Spinalstenose. Die Durchsicht der Literatur belegt bei Dekompression mit gleichzeitiger instrumentierter Fusion eine geringere Kreuzschmerzrate und -intensitat (VAS), eine hohere Lebenqualitat bei Betrachtung standardisierter Messinstrumente (ODI, EQ-5 D) und eine signifikant geringere Revisionsrate. Daruber sollten Patienten mit diesem Krankheitsbild, bei denen nur eine Dekompressions-OP geplant ist, aufgeklart werden.
Pictorial and Text Editors for the Collaborative Work Environment

A collaborative work environment implemented on computer workstations for crossfunctional teams of participants must be adaptable to the different characteristics of each participant. The characteristics that can affect the outcome of collaborative activity are listed. Different modes of interaction, alone or combined, are one way to provide the necessary adaptability. Experiments with a pictorial editor and a text editor for expert system rules are described. The findings of the research are applied to the adaptability issues of collaborative work environments. Interfaces for different types of participants are proposed.
Applied Social Science Methodology: An Introductory Guide

This textbook provides a clear, concise, and comprehensive introduction to methodological issues encountered by the various social science disciplines. It emphasizes applications, with detailed examples, so that readers can put these methods to work in their research. Within a unified framework, John Gerring and Dino Christenson integrate a variety of methods - descriptive and causal, observational and experimental, qualitative and quantitative. The text covers a wide range of topics including research design, data-gathering techniques, statistics, theoretical frameworks, and social science writing. It is designed both for those attempting to make sense of social science, as well as those aiming to conduct original research. The text is accompanied by online practice questions, exercises, examples, and additional resources, including related readings and websites. An essential resource for undergraduate and postgraduate programs in communications, criminal justice, economics, business, finance, management, education, environmental policy, international development, law, political science, public health, public policy, social work, sociology, and urban planning.
‘Can’ in Theory and Practice: A Possible Worlds Analysis

The word ‘can’ stands at the intersection of our theoretical and practical interests. In science and rational inquiry, we seek to explain human behavior and assume there to be natural laws to be discovered in this domain as in others. Given such laws and suitable antecedent conditions every human action may be explained in such a way that it appears that the agent could have performed no other action than the one he did. Our legal and moral concerns, on the other hand, lead us to assume that people sometimes could have fulfilled their obligations when, in fact, they did not do so. To resolve the conflict, philosophers have argued that statements about what a person could have done should be analyzed in terms of conditionals. Others have demurred. The present moment is a propitious one for reconsideration because of recent research on conditionals using possible world semantics. Using such methods, I shall argue that ‘can’ and ‘could have’ statements should not be analyzed in terms of conditionals. I shall, moreover, provide an analysis of ‘can’ and ‘could have’ statements within the framework of possible world semantics. Finally, I shall argue that under the analysis provided, conflict between theory and practice, between freedom and determinism, may be resolved. The resolution shows that truth of the statement that a person could have done otherwise is independent of the truth of determinism.
LINEAR ‚MAXIMIN’ TAXATION OF WAGE AND PROPERTY INCOME ON A MAXIMIN' GROWTH PATH

In 1971, Mirrlees broke with the postulate of perfect information, investigating for the first time the optimal character of the graduated tax on wage income and the optimal level of the income supplement or negative income tax. In the same year, Rawls put the finishing touches on his theory of distributive justice, which has done as much to stimulate economic research on redistributional public policies as it has to break the Benthamian habit of summing utilities. These two innovations have in a very few years loosed an outpouring of papers on the welfare theory of redistribution by actually available governmental mechanisms such as the proportionate or graduated taxation of various kinds of income.
Use of Virtual Learning Environments in Distance Education

Distance education has changed as it has become more popular with the advancement of new informational technologies and the need for continuous lifelong professional development. Virtual learning environments (VLEs) are the current trend in distance education. VLEs are software programs or systems designed to assist teaching and learning in an educational setting (e.g., Learning Management Systems, Personal Learning Environments, Massively Multiplayer Educational Games (MMEG), and Virtual Worlds). Learning Management Systems are used in many distance education and blended learning courses, but Massively Multiplayer Educational Games and virtual worlds are seen as the future of distance education. Research has shown that recreational Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG), like World of Warcraft, teaches players important life skills, for example, teambuilding, communication, and leadership skills. Players also can learn about economics, social skills, math, and science. One of the interesting components that comes from MMORPGs is the learning culture that is created around these games. Players create new ways to build and share knowledge both online and in real life that educators would like to use to create the classrooms and workplaces of the future. MMEG and virtual worlds take learning to a whole new level by allowing students to experience things that may not be possible in real life. Educators are currently using these 3D VLEs as classrooms, laboratories, places to test entrepreneurial skills, and experiment with skills such as architecture. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the educator.
On primitive variable behaviour near shocks in ensemble-averaged methods

ABSTRACTModels for averaged shock corrugation effects and the impact of turbulent entropy or acoustic modes on the energy equation are presented, for application in Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes(RANS) simulations of shock-turbulence interactions. Unlike previous work that has focused the modification of turbulent statistics by the shock, the proposed models are introduced to capture the effects of the turbulence on the profiles of primitive variables - mean density, velocity, and pressure. By producing accurate profiles for the primitive variables, it is shown that the proposed models improve numerical convergence behaviour with mesh refinement about a shock, and introduce the physical effects of shock asphericity in a converging shock geometry. These effects are achieved by local closures to turbulent statistics in the averaged Navier-Stokes equations, and can be applied in conjunction with existing Reynolds stress closures that have been constructed for broader applications beyond shock-turbulence int...
"Approximate number system" training: A perceptual learning approach.

Recent research suggests that humans perceive quantity using a non-symbolic “number sense.” This sense is then thought to provide a foundation for understanding symbolic numbers in formal education. Given this link, there has been interest in the extent to which the approximate number system (ANS) can be improved via dedicated training, as this could provide a route to improving performance in symbolic mathematics. However, current evidence regarding the trainability of the ANS comes largely from studies that have used short training durations, leaving open the question of whether improvements occur over a longer time span. To address this limitation, we utilized a perceptual learning approach to investigate the extent to which long-term (8,000+ trials) training modifies the ANS. Consistent with the general methodological approach common in the domain of perceptual learning (where learning specificity is commonly observed), we also examined whether ANS training generalizes to: (a) untrained locations in the visual field; (b) an enumeration task; (c) a higher-level ratio comparison task; and (d) arithmetic ability. In contrast to previous short-term training studies showing that ANS learning quickly asymptotes, our long-term training approach revealed that performance continued to improve even after thousands of trials. We further found that the training generalized to untrained visual locations. At post-test there was non-significant evidence for generalization to a low-level enumeration task, but not to our high-level tasks, including ratio comparison, multi-object tracking, and arithmetic performance. These results demonstrate the potential utility of long-term psychophysical training, but also suggest that ANS training alone (even long-duration training) may be insufficient to modify higher-level math skills.
Psychometric properties of the Dietarian Identity Questionnaire among vegetarians

Abstract The decision to follow a vegetarian diet is intertwined with an individual’s sense of identity. Whereas many qualitative studies have investigated identity aspects of vegetarianism, quantitative research in this domain is profoundly lacking. By assessing how people think, feel, and behave when it comes to eating or not eating animal products, Rosenfeld and Burrow (2018) Dietarian Identity Questionnaire (DIQ) can serve a valuable role in advancing quantitative research on vegetarian identity. First, however, it is important to ensure that the DIQ exhibits psychometrically sound properties among vegetarians, as Rosenfeld and Burrow (2018) validated the factor structure of the DIQ in samples comprised predominantly of meat-eaters. In the current research, I validated the DIQ’s factor structure in a large sample of vegetarians (N = 992) by evaluating its items’ factor loadings, model fit (including CFI, RMSEA, and SRMR), and subscales’ internal consistencies. I also evaluated the DIQ variables’ distributions and intercorrelations. Results suggest that the DIQ offers a suitable measure for assessing how vegetarians think, feel, and behave with respect to following their diets. Directions for the use of the DIQ in future research on vegetarianism are discussed.
Smart Connected Insulin Pens, Caps, and Attachments: A Review of the Future of Diabetes Technology.

The evolution of technologies to manage diabetes has led to improvements in patient adherence, technique, and monitoring. Insulin pens, for example, have distinct advantages over vials and syringes; they allow for more accurate dosing, improved adherence, less injection site pain, and greater patient satisfaction (1,2). As the population with diabetes grows internationally, second-generation insulin pens have been engineered with USB or Bluetooth features to enable closer monitoring of pharmacotherapy. Similarly, many devices for self-monitoring of blood glucose have also become integrated with Bluetooth to enable wireless transmission of data to a smartphone. As of 2016, the smart insulin pen market was valued at $59 million and is expected to increase to $123 million by 2023 in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa (3). One report predicts that Europe will have the greatest smart insulin pen market growth, bringing in more than $2 million by 2027, based in part on high current utilization of such pen devices. The trend toward increased use of smart insulin pens can also be seen in North America; in fact, the same report estimates that, by 2027, the North American smart insulin pen market will have a continuous annual growth rate of 26.7% (4). The emergence of new technologies such as smart insulin pens, caps, attachments, and virtual platforms can help both patients and health care providers (HCPs) overcome problems such as poor insulin adherence, incorrect insulin initiation and titration, and medication errors. Adoption of such new devices may increase even further if clinical trials can show long-term cost-effectiveness (5). This review highlights the technologies now available on the market in the United States and internationally that are designed to improve insulin administration. A comprehensive literature review was conducted using manufacturer websites, press releases, commercial data resources, educational and training tools, …
Time-Dependent Pricing for Multimedia Data Traffic: Analysis, Systems, and Trials

The explosive growth of multimedia data traffic in wired and wireless networks have led Internet service providers (ISPs) to use penalty mechanisms like throttling, capping, overage fees to manage network congestion; however, such measures are harmful to the Internet ecosystem. Therefore, we use ideas from economics to create incentive-based, as opposed to penalty-based, solutions for data plans. In particular, we explore time-dependent pricing (TDP) - a form of dynamic pricing that manages congestion by offering time-varying discounts to incentivize users to shift some data traffic temporally. To realize TDP data plans in practice, we provide (i) an optimization model to compute time-dependent prices, (ii) a system implementation for deployment in operational networks, and (iii) experiments with two cellular networks for demonstrating feasibility. Our results show that the users respond to such pricing plans by using higher volume of traffic in lower-priced (off-peak) periods and benefit from a lower $/GB fee, while the ISPs benefit from a higher revenue due to increase in off-peak usage and lower peak-to-average traffic ratio in their network. This suggests that such a pricing solution can incentivize users to modify their usage behavior and enable better revenue management in multimedia-rich networks.
We’re not all cut from the same cloth: TAILORing treatments for children with chronic conditions

Finding the optimal treatment for a chronic condition can be a complex and lengthy endeavor for both the patient and the clinician. To address this challenge, we developed an “N-of-1” quality improvement infrastructure to aid providers and patients in personalized treatment decision-making using systematic assessment of patient-reported outcomes during routine care. Using the REDCap data management infrastructure, we implemented three pediatric pilots of the Treatment Assessments in the Individual Leading to Optimal Regimens (TAILOR) tool, including children receiving early intervention, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and children with challenging behaviors in the classroom setting. This retrospective review of data summarizes utilization and satisfaction data during our pilot experience with the tool. The three pilots included a combined total of 109 children and 39 healthcare providers, with 67 parents and 77 teachers invited to share data using brief surveys administered using TAILOR. Overall survey response rates ranged from 38% to 84% across the three pilots, with response rates notably higher among teachers as compared with parents. Satisfaction data indicated positive impressions of the tool’s utility. These experiences show the utility of the TAILOR framework for supporting collection and incorporation of patient-reported outcomes into the care of individuals with chronic conditions.
Standard model Higgs field and hidden sector cosmology

We consider scenarios where the inflaton field decays dominantly to a hidden dark matter (DM) sector. By studying the typical behavior of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs field during inflation, we derive a relation between the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and amplitude of the residual DM isocurvature perturbations $\ensuremath{\beta}$ which is typically generated if the DM is thermally decoupled from the SM sector. We consider different expansion histories and find that if the Universe was radiation- or matter-dominated after inflation, a future discovery of primordial DM isocurvature will rule out all simple scenarios of this type because generating observable $\ensuremath{\beta}$ from the Higgs is not possible without violating the bounds on $r$. Seen another way, the Higgs field is generically not a threat to models where both the inflaton and DM reside in a decoupled sector. However, this is not necessarily the case for an early kination-dominated epoch, as then the Higgs can source sizeable $\ensuremath{\beta}$. We also discuss why the Higgs cannot source the observed curvature perturbation at large scales in any of the above cases but how the field can still be the dominant source of curvature perturbations at small scales.
Raising the Evidentiary Bar for Guideline Recommendations for TAVR: JACC Review Topic of the Week

On August 16, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved expanding the indication for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) to low-risk patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis. The decision was based on the results of 2 pivotal trials that confirmed superiority (PARTNER [Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves] 3) or noninferiority (Evolut Low Risk [LR]) of TAVR as compared with SAVR at 1- and 2-year follow-up, respectively. As compared with intermediate-risk cohorts, the sample size in these trials was smaller and the total number of primary endpoint events was nearly 3 times as low (193 vs. 615). The total number of deaths from any cause or disabling stroke at 1 year in the low-risk cohorts was 62, which is substantially lower than the numbers in intermediate-, high-, and inoperable-risk cohorts. In Evolut LR, only 137 of 1,403 patients (9.8%) completed the 2-year follow-up, with 91.2% requiring model-based imputation. Thus, the quantum of evidence is insufficient for endorsing TAVR as the preferred intervention for these patients.
Modelling the impact of presemester testing on COVID-19 outbreaks in university campuses.

Objectives Universities are exploring strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 prior to reopening their campuses. National guidelines do not currently recommend testing students prior to campus arrival. However, the impact of presemester testing has not been studied. Design Dynamic SARS-CoV-2 transmission models are used to explore the effects of three presemester testing interventions. Interventions Testing of students 0, 1 and 2 times prior to campus arrival. Primary outcomes Number of active infections and time until isolation bed capacity is reached. Setting We set on-campus and off-campus populations to 7500 and 17 500 students, respectively. We assumed 2% prevalence of active cases at the semester start, and that one-third of infected students will be detected and isolated throughout the semester. Isolation bed capacity was set at 500. We varied disease transmission rates (R0=1.5, 2, 3, 4) to represent the effectiveness of mitigation strategies throughout the semester. Results Without presemester screening, peak number of active infections ranged from 4114 under effective mitigation strategies (R0=1.5) to 10 481 under ineffective mitigation strategies (R0=4), and exhausted isolation bed capacity within 10 (R0=4) to 25 days (R0=1.5). Mandating at least one test prior to campus arrival delayed the timing and reduced the size of the peak, while delaying the time until isolation bed capacity was reached. Testing twice in conjunction with effective mitigation strategies (R0=1.5) was the only scenario that did not exhaust isolation bed capacity during the semester. Conclusions Presemester screening is necessary to avert early and large surges of active COVID-19 infections. Therefore, we recommend testing within 1 week prior to and on campus return. While this strategy is sufficient for delaying the timing of the peak outbreak, presemester testing would need to be implemented in conjunction with effective mitigation strategies to significantly reduce outbreak size and preserve isolation bed capacity.
Online droplet anomaly detection from streaming videos in inkjet printing

Abstract Inkjet printing (IJP) has demonstrated its capabilities to produce high-quality and high-resolution parts, such as sensors, bio-chips, etc., with outstanding functionality. However, the quality of the printed parts can be endangered by the abnormal droplet jetting behaviors, which are substantially governed by the process dynamics and ambient conditions. Additionally, the droplet behaviors extensively define the final drop deposition quality in IJP. Timely capturing and identifying abrupt anomalies that the ejected droplets may suffer from are primordial for the quality assurance of the printed parts. Machine vision systems are able to record the droplet videos during IJP. Nevertheless, it is challenging to timely detect the anomalies from the collected droplet videos. The objective of this work is to build an analytical framework that allows for online droplet anomaly detection from droplet videos. There are several challenges that have not been addressed before: (1) the features of the droplet videos need to be extracted in an online fashion; and (2) there is no well-defined baseline to support the droplet anomalies detection, due to the complex process dynamics. Here, we propose a novel online framework to efficiently detect the anomalies from process streaming videos. In particular, we extend the multivariate Bayesian online change detection (BOCD) framework to high-dimensional data (i.e., tensor data of droplet videos) by leveraging online tensor factorization (OTF). OTF decomposes the streaming data into non-temporal and temporal low-dimensional factorization matrices. The non-temporal factorization matrices are deployed to extract the frame-specific temporal factorization matrix within a user-defined sliding window. Subsequently, the temporal factorization matrix for each frame is monitored with BOCD, which accurately detects anomalies in the streaming data. The proposed framework is demonstrated by detecting droplet anomalies from streaming data in IJP, showing excellent accuracy and efficiency.
Drug Development for Mental Illness: How Psychiatry Clinical Trial Sites are Meeting the Challenge of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: The goal was to review the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychiatric drug development and clinical trials. Main Points of Discussion: Disruption of pharmaceutical industry- sponsored clinical trials for psychiatric disorders by the COVID-19 pandemic, prompted by concerns regarding the safety of trial participants and the feasibility of trial conduct, has adversely impacted psychiatric drug development. In response, psychiatry trial sites have modified clinical trials and adapted trial conduct, through the use of social distancing, personal protective equipment, laboratory testing, and remote assessments, to reduce the risks of COVID-19. We review the implications of these modifications for participant safety, safe trial conduct, and data integrity. Conclusion: Given these implications, ongoing communication and consultation are needed between trials sites, sponsors, and all other stakeholders to ensure continued progress in psychiatric drug development during the pandemic.
Data through Movement: Designing Embodied Human-Data Interaction for Informal Learning

Abstract When you picture human-data interactions (HDI), what comes to mind? The datafication of modern life, along with open data initiatives advocating for transparency and access to current and ...
An A Priori Knowledge Based Wiener Filtering Approach to Ultrasonic Scattering Amplitude Estimation

The Wiener filter is currently used in the ultrasonic scattering amplitude estimation problem as a means of desensitization during deconvolution [1,2,3]. The work summarized here focuses on a Wiener filtering approach which incorporates a priori flaw and noise information. It will be shown that this approach leads to improved scattering amplitude estimates and improved radius estimates.
Developmental Profiles for the Regulation of Ecdysteroid Production by the Prothoracic Glands of Female Gypsy Moth, Lymantria Dispar, Pupae

Activation of prothoracic glands (PGs) by their primary effector, prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH), results in the production (synthesis and release) of ecdysteroids at precise times during larval and pupal life (Bollenbacher, 1988; Bollenbacher and Granger, 1985). An in vitro method has been developed by Bollenbacher et al. (1979, 1983) to quantify the PTTH-activation of PGs from larval or pupal Manduca sexta. This in vitro approach was used to quantify kinetic and developmental changes in the activity of PGs from female L. dispar pupae before and after PTTH stimulation. This information was used to establish an in vitro assay for PTTH using PGs from female L. dispar pupae.
Thermodynamics of titanium alloys: I. Development of a triple Knudsen cell and its use to study the activity of copper in the Ti−Cu system

A new experimental technique for the determination of thermodynamic activity of alloys has been developed utilizing a triple Knudsen cell with a pure enriched natural isotope as the standard reference state. The alloy for which activity is to be determined is placed in one of the two effusion chambers of the triple cell and the pure isotopic standard in the other. The molecular beams from each chamber effuse into a third upper chamber and through a collimating hole into the ion source of a Bendix time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Since the recorded intensities are proportional to the vapor pressures within the chambers, a simple calculation based upon their ratio gives a direct determination of the activity of the solute in the alloy. The accuracy of the triple cell technique for the experimental determination of activities was checked by the measurement of the copper activity in a Ni−Cu alloy containing 30.6 wt pct Cu. A value ofRT γCu=1778±142 cal per g-atom at 1450°K was obtained, which is in excellent agreement with values in the literature. The activity of copper in the bcc β phase when then determined for four Ti−Cu alloys (XCu=0.033 to 0.085), using pure enriched Cu65 as the standard reference state. The composition range investigated was limited to alloys belowXCu=0.10, the maximum solubility within the experimental temperature range between 1423° and 1573°K, the activity of copper in the bcc β phase can be expressed using pure liquid copper as the standard state by the following equation:RT InaCu=RT InXCu+XTi2(1.92±0.30) in kcal per g-atom. The activity of titanium is given byRT InaTi=RT InXTi+XCu2(1.92±0.30) in kcal per g-atom.
High Temperature Slow Crack Growth of Si3N4 Specimens Subjected to Uniaxial and Biaxial Dynamic Fatigue Loading Conditions

The slow crack growth of a hot-pressed silicon nitride was determined at 1300 C in air using dynamic fatigue testing under both uniaxial and biaxial stress states. Good agreement in fatigue parameter exists between the data obtained from uniaxial and biaxial loading conditions. A reasonable prediction of dynamic fatigue from one stress state to another was made using the recently developed CARES/LIFE computer code.
Extended nested relations

This paper describes a conceptual framework for nested relational query processing using "tuple identifiers." It does this by introducing extended nested relations, relations in which "tuple identifiers" are allowed as attribute values, and by defining two primitives,Index andLookup, that allow query processing based on extensive use of tuple identifiers. Some properties ofIndex and of the flat relational database that it induces are studied in detail.
A notable cleavage: Winding up with β-amyloid

How the β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) is cleaved from its precursor, the amyloid precursor protein (APP), preoccupies a large portion of the community studying Alzheimer’s disease. And for good reason. The Aβ protein, the major component of the amyloid in senile plaques, represents a leading target in the quest for agents to combat Alzheimer’s disease. Its formation involves an unusual proteolytic event within a hydrophobic stretch of amino acids predicted to form an α-helix within the membrane. APP is a type I membrane-spanning protein of 770 residues that secretes its large ectodomain after at least two different types of cleavage. Based on the abundance of the cleavage products, the site most frequently cut is at residue 687, which lies within the Aβ peptide and thus precludes its formation. The activity of the responsible, but elusive, enzyme, dubbed the α-secretase, has the property of recognizing an optimal projection length from the membrane more strongly than any specific sequence determinants (1). The α-secretase cleavage occurs in a post-Golgi compartment, possibly including caveolae (2), and may be a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-linked aspartyl protease (3). A small percentage of APP is not cleaved at the α-secretase site, but instead is cleaved at residue 672 of APP (which becomes Asp-1 of Aβ) by an activity dubbed β-secretase, the first step in Alzheimer’s-type amyloidogenesis. Other Aβ species with an elongated or shortened N terminus are known (4). The β-secretase cleavage, once completed, sets the stage for the next cleavage by an activity referred to as γ-secretase. In what is now considered a critical event in the disease pathogenesis, the Aβ peptide is released after cleavage by the γ-secretase either between residues 40 and 41 or between residues 42 and 43. Normally, both forms of the Aβ peptide—Aβ42 and Aβ40—are present, with Aβ40 in great excess of Aβ42. The precise cleavage site of the γ-secretase, and hence the generation of the shorter or longer Aβ peptide, is widely believed to have important pathologic consequences. Compared with Aβ40, Aβ42 deposits earlier in the disease process (5) and assembles more rapidly into filaments in vitro (6). Explanations of the mechanism of Aβ42 vs. Aβ40 cleavage by the γ-secretase are problematic because the two proteolytic sites lie on opposite sides of the predicted α-helical transmembrane domain of APP.
The Human Side of Reference and Information Services in Academic Libraries: Adding Value in the Digital World: Farmer, Lesley S. J., ed. Oxford: Chandos, 2007, 160 pp., £59.95, ISBN 9781843342588.

Amid the enthusiasm for Library 2.0, we sometimes focus on technology's bells and whistles to the detriment of its usefulness. There is a place for new discoveries and for how-to manuals, but in th...
Veterans Affairs Telemedicine: Bringing Urologic Care to Remote Clinics

Objective To report the use of telemedicine to deliver general urologic care to remote locations within the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. We describe the diagnoses managed, patient satisfaction, safety, and benefit to patients in terms of saved travel time and expense. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review examining care delivered through urology telemedicine clinics over a 6-month period. We examined the urologic conditions, patient satisfaction, and emergency department visits within 30 days of the visit. We estimated patient benefit by calculating travel distance and time and the saved travel-associated costs using Google Maps and US Census income data. Results Ninety-seven unique telemedicine visits were conducted and a total of 171 urologic diseases were assessed. The most common conditions were lower urinary tract symptoms (35%), elevated prostate-specific antigen level (15%), and prostate cancer (14%). One patient was seen in the emergency department within 30 days with an unpreventable urologic complaint. Patient satisfaction was “very good” to “excellent” in 95% of cases, and 97% would refer another veteran to the urology telemedicine clinic. Patients saved an average of 277 travel miles, 290 minutes of travel time, $67 in travel expenses, and $126 in lost opportunity cost. Conclusion Telemedicine was successfully and safely used to evaluate and treat a wide range of urologic conditions within the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, and saves patients nearly 5 hours and up to $193 per visit. Further investigation of the potential of telemedicine for the delivery of urologic care in a cost-effective manner is warranted.
A thermostable antigen associated with ovarian cancer

Ovarian carcinoma contains an antigen (TA) which is stable at 100 degrees. Rabbit antisera to glycoprotein-rich extracts of tumors detect TA in 70 per cent of ovarian malignancies, in some benign ovarian cysts, certain normal lung preparations, normal cervix, and squamous-cell carcinoma of the cervix. Highest levels may be associated with mucin secretion. No detectible antigen was present in normal ovary, plasma, A, B, and O erythrocytes, leukocytes, placenta, brain, heart, liver, corpus uteri, spleen, skeletal muscle, or kidney. Prolonged digestion of boiled tumor extracts with papain, trypsin, chymotrypsin, on Sephadex G-150 corresponding to a globular protein of 27,000 to 36,000 molecular weight. A beta-globulin mobility is seen in immunoelectrophoresis. It appears that TA differs in tissue specificity and molecular size from other known ovarian cancer associated antigens.
Butadiene Purification Using Polar Solvents. Analysis of Solution Nonideality Using Data and Estimation Methods

The classical problem of 1,3-butadiene recovery from steam cracker C4 hydrocarbons is reconsidered using modern tools of quantum mechanics and molecular simulation. The effectiveness of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and acetonitrile (ACN) to act as extractive-distillation solvents is explored with an emphasis on the predictive capability of various models. The quantum mechanical method of interest is the COSMO-RS method. The chosen molecular simulation method is the SPEADMD model. These methods are compared to conventional methods such as UNIFAC and “thermodynamic intuition”. The COSMO-RS method is found to predict the trends of infinite-dilution activity coefficients quantitatively, but requires a systematic empirical correction to provide accuracy comparable to UNIFAC. It is noted that the COSMO-RS method has a special capability to predict subtle trends. The SPEADMD model is found to provide unique qualitative insights, but requires empirical refinement of the interaction-potential models that is similar...
Multiplexed detection of pathogen DNA with DNA-based fluorescence nanobarcodes

Rapid, multiplexed, sensitive and specific molecular detection is of great demand in gene profiling, drug screening, clinical diagnostics and environmental analysis. One of the major challenges in multiplexed analysis is to identify each specific reaction with a distinct label or 'code'. Two encoding strategies are currently used: positional encoding, in which every potential reaction is preassigned a particular position on a solid-phase support such as a DNA microarray, and reaction encoding, where every possible reaction is uniquely tagged with a code that is most often optical or particle based. The micrometer size, polydispersity, complex fabrication process and nonbiocompatibility of current codes limit their usability. Here we demonstrate the synthesis of dendrimer-like DNA-based, fluorescence-intensity-coded nanobarcodes, which contain a built-in code and a probe for molecular recognition. Their application to multiplexed detection of the DNA of several pathogens is first shown using fluorescence microscopy and dot blotting, and further demonstrated using flow cytometry that resulted in detection that was sensitive (attomole) and rapid.
Wheel running attenuates the antinociceptive properties of morphine and its metabolite, morphine-6-glucuronide, in rats.

Abstract Recent work has shown that chronic exercise is associated with a reduction in the pain-relieving actions of opioid drugs in experimental animals. To determine whether this reduction represents an interaction between exogenously administered opioids and the endogenous opioid system, or is the result of altered drug pharmacokenitics, the antinociceptive actions of morphine and its metabolite, morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G), were compared in active and inactive female Long–Evans rats. Active animals were housed in running wheels and inactive animals in standard laboratory cages for 3 weeks preceding determinations of antinociception using the tail-flick test. At the end of the 3-week period, active rats were running the equivalent of 9–11 km a day. Antinociceptive responses, determined following subcutaneous injections of either morphine (0.625–20 mg/kg) or M6G (0.3–10.0 mg/kg), were significantly reduced in active rats relative to inactive rats. This reduction was manifested by both a lower magnitude of antinociception, and a shorter duration of antinociception after drug administration in active compared to inactive rats. This reduction was not associated with alterations in the estrous cycle or with differences in body weight between the active and inactive animals. The present results support the hypothesis that cross-tolerance develops between endogenous opioid peptides released in response to exercise and exogenously administered opioid drugs.
Improving the temporal response of computed tomography fluoroscopy

Interventional procedures with the guidance of computed tomography have attracted significant interest among clinicians in recent years. The application of computed tomography fluoroscopy (CTF) to interventional procedures has not only significantly improved the patient safety and reduced the probability of procedure complication, but also significantly shortened the procedure time. Recent studies, however, have indicated that a significant time delay exists in the CTF due to the nature of tomographic reconstruction process. This inherent limitation could lead to either confusions to the operator or prolonged interventional procedure time. A detailed comparison of various tomographic reconstruction algorithms indicates that the halfscan algorithm provides one of the best performance in terms of time delay. To further improve the temporal response of the CTF system, we propose an optimized halfscan (OHS) algorithm. The OHS algorithm suppresses information at the start of the scan by applying non-positive weights to the projections. At the same time, the projections near the end of the scan are given weights larger than unity. The weighting function is designed such that the overall contribution from the redundant samples remains constant. The parameters of the weighting function are selected to achieve a proper balance between the temporal response of the system and the acceptable level of image artifacts. Theoretical analysis and phantom experiments have shown that a significant improvement in CTF temporal response can be achieved with the proposed scheme.
Numerical homoclinic instabilities and the complex modified Korteweg-de Vries equation

Abstract We derive analytical expressions for the homoclinic orbits associated with the complex modified Korteweg-de Vries (cmKdV) equation and investigate the effect of discretizations of the equation in the vicinity of these orbits. We show that a standard finite-difference scheme is subject to an instability, which differs in some respects from the instabilities one observes for the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. An integrable discretization of the cmKdV equation is derived and numerical results showing the absence of any instabilities are presented.
The nature of minimum wages and their effectiveness as a wage floor in Costa Rica, 1976–1991

Abstract This study describes Costa Rica's complex minimum wage system and its evolution over 1976–1991, examines the trend in minimum wage to average wage in eight industries, and compares the number and characteristics of workers who earn below the minimum wage over these 16 years in the covered and uncovered sectors. We conclude that noncompliance is a major problem. On average one-third of the workers in the legally covered sector earn below the minimum wage over this period. Moreover, the same proportion earns below the minimum wage in the uncovered sectors. This evidence indicates that the law may fail its intent of assuring an adequate salary to workers without bargaining power.
Colorimetry for the Stain Technologist. III. The Specification of Color Difference

This paper illustrates the calculation of color differences, involving luminance as well as chromaticity components. Color differences have been calculated for a large number of stained histological objects. Four different color difference formulae have been used, namely, those associated with the FMC 2, U*V*W*, L*u*v* and L*a*b* systems. Comparison has first been made between various hematological substrates after staining with two different azure B-eosin Y stains. Next, comparison is made for the same substrates after staining with one of the azure B stains and a methylene blue-eosin Y stain. Pairwise comparison is also made of various substrates from the epithelium of the uterine cervix after Papanicolaou staining. Finally, pairwise comparison documents color differences accompanying maturation for the erythroid and myeloid cell lines in azure B-eosin Y stained bone marrow. The limitations of current color difference formulae are discussed.
Compile-time partitioning and scheduling of parallel programs

Partitioning and scheduling techniques are necessary to implement parallel languages on multiprocessors. Multiprocessor performance is maximized when parallelism between tasks is optimally traded off with communication and synchronization overhead. We present compile-time partitioning and scheduling techniques to achieve this trade-off.
Effects of burst detection and analysis upon turbulence measurements for laser Doppler anemometry

Abstract This study shows that for turbulence measurements made using laser Doppler anemometry, errors associated with the frequency analyzer's resolution can be present. Since all analyzers are based upon some digital clock, the minimum clock cycle is proportional to the finest frequency resolution ( f r ) possible. It was found that if the frequency histogram spaned less than 16 f r for ±3 σ , then the calculated values for all of the Reynolds stress tensor components will be in error. This was observed for a counter system and a correlator system. The correlator system interpolated to less than one clock cycle, but the interpolation did not seem to help in the elimination of the errors.
Differential Effects of Colchicine and Its B-ring Modified Analog MTPT on the Assembly-Independent GTPase Activity of Purified β-Tubulin Isoforms from Bovine Brain

Abstract Tubulin occurs as several isoforms whose physiological significance is not clear. The binding of colchicine to tubulin inhibits its assembly and is associated with a stimulation of the intrinsic GTPase activity of tubulin. In an effort to study the conformational states of different β-tubulin isoforms in the drug-bound form, the intrinsic GTPase activity was studied in the presence of colchicine and its B-ring-modified analog MTPT. The results show that the GTPase activities of αβ II , αβ III , and αβ IV are 3.1, 2.8, and 2.6 nmole/h/ml. In the presence of colchicine, the values were increased to 4.5, 9.6, and 3 nmole/h/ml for αβ II , αβ III , and αβ IV respectively. In the case of MTPT, which lacks the B-ring, the GTPase activities were 5.8, 11.5, and 7.3 nmole/h/ml, respectively, for αβ II , αβ III , and αβ IV . The results show that the B-ring of colchicine contributes differentially to the conformational changes in the β-tubulin isoforms.