cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Geographic Information Systems

A geographic imformation system (GIS) is a set of computer-based tools to collect, store, retrieve, manipulate, visualize, and analyze geo-spatial information (information identified by its location on the surface of reference, for example, the Earth). This article describes the major components of a GIS (hardware and software) with emphasis in the central processing units and peripheral device and major software components: collection, storage, retrieval, manipulation, query and analyze, and visualization. This discussion is followed by a discussion of applications in several fields using a set of examples to illustrate these topics. Then, the concept and implications of quality in GIS (spatial data quality, quality on embedded and external models) is discussed. Finally, some comments are presented over the future of GIS. Keywords: computer applications; geo-spatial data processing; query and analysis of geo-spatial data; visualization of geo-spatial data
A low-power transponder IC for high-performance identification systems

A novel CMOS integrated circuit for a batteryless transponder system is presented. Batteryless transponders require contactless transmission of both the information and power between a mobile data carrier and a stationary or handheld reader unit. The operating principle of this system gives a superior performance in reading distance due to separation of the powering and data transmission phases-compared to systems with continuous powering and damping modulation. This paper describes the function of the transponder IC and the circuit design techniques used for the various building blocks. >
Quasidense Monotone Multifunctions

In this paper, we discuss quasidense multifunctions from a Banach space into its dual, and use the two sum theorems proved in a previous paper to give various characterizations of quasidensity, including two fuzzy ones. We investigate the Fitzpatrick extension of such a multifunction. We prove that a closed monotone quasidense multifunction is maximally monotone locally (that is to say, of “type (FPV)”), and strongly maximal. We also prove that a maximally monotone multifunction is quasidense if, and only if, it is locally maximally monotone (that is to say, of “type (FP)”).
Thermodynamic Analyses of the LCLS-II Cryogenic Distribution System

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) is in the process of being upgraded to a superconducting radio frequency (SRF) accelerator and renamed LCLS-II. This upgrade requires thirty-five 1.3 GHz SRF cryomodules (CM) and two 3.9 GHz CM. A cryogenic distribution system (CDS) is in development by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to interconnect the CM Linac with the cryogenic plant (CP). The CDS design utilizes cryogenic helium to support the CM operations with a high temperature thermal shield around 55 K, a low temperature thermal intercepts around 5 K, and a SRF cavity liquid helium supply and sub-atmospheric vapor return both around 2 K. Additionally the design must accommodate a Linac consisting of two parallel cryogenic strings, supported by two independent CP utilizing CDS components such as distribution boxes, transfer lines, feed caps and endcaps. The paper describes the overall layout of the cryogenic distribution system and the major thermodynamic factors which influence the CDS design including heat loads, pressure drops, temperature profiles, and pressure relieving requirements. In addition the paper describes how the models are created to perform the analyses.
STUDY TO DETERMINE THE RATE OF RECURRENCE OF CORONAL PLANE DEFORMITY IN CHILDREN TREATED WITH ‘GUIDED GROWTH’ USING 8-PLATES, FROM THE TIME OF IMPLANT REMOVAL TO SKELETAL MATURITY

Aim To determine the rate of recurrence of coronal plane deformity in children treated with ‘guided growth’ using 8-plates, from the time of implant removal to skeletal maturity. Methods Over a consecutive 5 year period between April 2008 and April 2013 we analysed our results of guided growth treatment using 8-plates to correct coronal plane lower limb deformity. Patients with neuromuscular disorders such as cerebral palsy were excluded. Deformity planning was performed using standardised techniques. Our standard practice is to remove the 8-plate and screws once deformity is corrected both clinically and radiologically. Patients were followed up until either skeletal maturity or recurrence, which necessitated reapplication of the 8-plate. We are aware of no study in which children treated with guided growth using 8-plates are followed up to skeletal maturity. Results 267 patients were treated with 8-plates in our unit over this 5 year period. Of the patients in whom deformity was corrected and had subsequent plates removed, we identified 41 patients who have either reached skeletal maturity or had recurrence of deformity. Six patients required reapplication of the 8-plates implant. These were young and had skeletal dysplasia. Deformity parameters were analysed both clinically and radiologically in patients who have reached skeletal maturity and showed no recurrence, which necessitated further intervention. Conclusion A higher proportion of younger patients, especially a sub-group with skeletal dysplasia had recurrence of deformity necessitating reapplication of the 8-plate device. In this group we recommend removal of only the metaphyseal screw once deformity is corrected. This would allow ease of reapplication if recurrence were to reoccur. Level of evidence: III
Optimal mean-reverting spread trading: nonlinear integral equation approach

We study several optimal stopping problems that arise from trading a mean-reverting price spread over a finite horizon. Modeling the spread by the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process, we analyze three different trading strategies: (i) the long-short strategy; (ii) the short-long strategy, and (iii) the chooser strategy, i.e. the trader can enter into the spread by taking either long or short position. In each of these cases, we solve an optimal double stopping problem to determine the optimal timing for starting and subsequently closing the position. We utilize the local time-space calculus of Peskir (J Theor Probab 18:499–535, 2005a) and derive the nonlinear integral equations of Volterra-type that uniquely characterize the boundaries associated with the optimal timing decisions in all three problems. These integral equations are used to numerically compute the optimal boundaries.
Compatible Sequences and a Slow Winkler Percolation

Two infinite 0–1 sequences are called compatible when it is possible to cast out $0\,$s from both in such a way that they become complementary to each other. Answering a question of Peter Winkler, we show that if the two 0–1 sequences are random i.i.d. and independent from each other, with probability $p$ of $1\,$s, then if $p$ is sufficiently small they are compatible with positive probability. The question is equivalent to a certain dependent percolation with a power-law behaviour: the probability that the origin is blocked at distance $n$ but not closer decreases only polynomially fast and not, as usual, exponentially.
EXTRACTION OF RITZ VECTORS FROM VIBRATION TEST DATA

Modal parameters obtained from modal testing (such as modal vectors, natural frequencies, and damping ratios) have been used extensively in system identification, finite element model updating, and structural health monitoring. As an alternative to modal vectors, load-dependent Ritz vectors have been shown useful in various areas of structural dynamics such as model reduction and damage detection. The applications of Ritz vectors, however, have been mainly limited in analytical and numerical analyses because of the difficulty to identify them from vibration tests. This paper presents a procedure to extract load-dependent Ritz vectors using a complete flexibility matrix constructed from measured vibration test data. The proposed method cannot only construct the Ritz vectors corresponding to the actual load pattern employed in vibration tests, but also generate Ritz vectors from arbitrary load patterns. Experimental data obtained from the vibration test of a grid-type bridge structure are employed to validate and illustrate the proposed extraction procedure.
On the Implausibility of Differing-Inputs Obfuscation and Extractable Witness Encryption with Auxiliary Input

The notion of differing-inputs obfuscation (diO) was introduced by Barak et al. (CRYPTO, pp 1–18, 2001). It guarantees that, for any two circuits $$C_0, C_1$$ for which it is difficult to come up with an input x on which $$C_0(x) \ne C_1(x)$$ , it should also be difficult to distinguish the obfuscation of $$C_0$$ from that of $$C_1$$ . This is a strengthening of indistinguishability obfuscation, where the above is only guaranteed for circuits that agree on all inputs. Two recent works of Ananth et al. (Differing-inputs obfuscation and applications, http://eprint.iacr.org/ , 2013) and Boyle et al. (Lindell, pp 52–73, 2014) study the notion of diO in the setting where the attacker is also given some auxiliary information related to the circuits, showing that this notion leads to many interesting applications. In this work, we show that the existence of general-purpose diO with general auxiliary input has a surprising consequence: it implies that a specific circuit $$C^*$$ with specific auxiliary input $${\mathsf {aux}}^*$$ cannot be obfuscated in a way that hides some specific information. In other words, under the conjecture that such special-purpose obfuscation exists, we show that general-purpose diO cannot exist. This conjecture is a falsifiable assumption which we do not know how to break for candidate obfuscation schemes. We also show similar implausibility results for extractable witness encryption with auxiliary input and for “output-only dependent” hardcore bits for general one-way functions.
Causality and unitarity via the tree-loop duality relation

The tree-loop duality relation is used as a starting point to derive the constraints of causality and unitarity. Specifically, the Bogoliubov causality condition is ab initio derived at the individual graph level. It leads to a representation of a graph in terms of lower order cut graphs. Extracting the absorptive part gives then the general unitarity relation (Cutkosky rule). The derivation, being carried out directly in momentum space, holds for any local (polynomial) hermitian interaction vertices. This is in contrast to the technical difficulties arising from contact terms in the spacetime approach based on the largest time equation.
Precession of Mercury’s Perihelion from Ranging to the MESSENGER Spacecraft

The perihelion of Mercury's orbit precesses due to perturbations from other solar system bodies, solar quadrupole moment (J 2), and relativistic gravitational effects that are proportional to linear combinations of the parametrized post-Newtonian parameters β and γ. The orbits and masses of the solar system bodies are quite well known, and thus the uncertainty in recovering the precession rate of Mercury's perihelion is dominated by the uncertainties in the parameters J 2, β, and γ. Separating the effects due to these parameters is challenging since the secular precession rate has a linear dependence on each parameter. Here we use an analysis of radiometric range measurements to the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft in orbit about Mercury to estimate the precession of Mercury's perihelion. We show that the MESSENGER ranging data allow us to measure not only the secular precession rate of Mercury's perihelion with substantially improved accuracy, but also the periodic perturbation in the argument of perihelion sensitive to β and γ. When combined with the γ estimate from a Shapiro delay experiment from the Cassini mission, we can decouple the effects due to β and J 2 and estimate both parameters, yielding and J 2 = (2.25 ± 0.09) × 10−7. We also estimate the total precession rate of Mercury's perihelion as 575.3100 ± 0.0015''/century and provide estimated contributions and uncertainties due to various perturbing effects.
Occupying Schools, Occupying Land: How the Landless Workers Movement Transformed Brazilian Education

Over thirty years the MST has developed an education reform proposal based in Freireanpedagogies that is linked to the movement’s vision for agrarian reform through large-scale landredistribution and the establishment of collective, small-family farming in the Braziliancountryside. MST leaders have had success convincing governments to allow the movement toimplement this proposal. The book Occupying Schools, Occupying Land analyze the steps thatthe MST has taken to lead this national education reform effort in the Brazilian countryside.
Heavy-Tailed Analogues of the Covariance Matrix for ICA.

Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is the problem of learning a square matrix $A$, given samples of $X=AS$, where $S$ is a random vector with independent coordinates. Most existing algorithms are provably efficient only when each $S_i$ has finite and moderately valued fourth moment. However, there are practical applications where this assumption need not be true, such as speech and finance. Algorithms have been proposed for heavy-tailed ICA, but they are not practical, using random walks and the full power of the ellipsoid algorithm multiple times. The main contributions of this paper are: (1) A practical algorithm for heavy-tailed ICA that we call HTICA. We provide theoretical guarantees and show that it outperforms other algorithms in some heavy-tailed regimes, both on real and synthetic data. Like the current state-of-the-art, the new algorithm is based on the centroid body (a first moment analogue of the covariance matrix). Unlike the state-of-the-art, our algorithm is practically efficient. To achieve this, we use explicit analytic representations of the centroid body, which bypasses the use of the ellipsoid method and random walks. (2) We study how heavy tails affect different ICA algorithms, including HTICA. Somewhat surprisingly, we show that some algorithms that use the covariance matrix or higher moments can successfully solve a range of ICA instances with infinite second moment. We study this theoretically and experimentally, with both synthetic and real-world heavy-tailed data.
MATCHED COHORT RETRIEVAL STUDIES: WHAT CAN THEY TEACH US ABOUT IMPLANT DESIGN FACTORS RELATED TO TAPER CORROSION?

Introduction There is considerable interest in the orthopaedic community in understanding the multifactorial process of taper fretting corrosion in total hip arthroplasty (THA). Previous studies have identified some patient and device factors associated with taper damage, including length of implantation, stem flexural rigidity, and head offset. Due to the complexity of this phenomenon, we approached the topic by developing a series of matched cohort studies, each attempting to isolate a single implant design variable, while controlling for confounding factors to the extent possible. We also developed a validated method for measuring material loss in retrieved orthopaedic tapers, which contributed to the creation of a new international standard (ASTM F3129-16). Methods Based on our implant retrieval collection of over 3,000 THAs, we developed independent matched cohort studies to examine (1) the effect of femoral head material (metal vs. ceramic, n=50 per cohort) and (2) stem taper surface finish (smooth vs. microgrooved, n=60 per cohort). Within each individual study, we adjusted for confounding factors by balancing implantation time, stem taper flexural rigidity, offset, and, when possible, head size. We evaluated fretting and corrosion using a four-point semiquantitative score. We also used an out-of-roundness machine (Talyrond 585) to quantify the material loss from the tapers. This method was validated in a series of experiments of controlled material removal on never-implanted components. Results In the first study, the ceramic cohort exhibited a 92% reduction in cumulative volumetric loss from both the head and neck taper surfaces compared to the CoCr cohort (p 0.05). Conclusions Our findings suggest that fretting and corrosion damage and material loss from the stem taper are mitigated, and on the head taper, eliminated with the use of a ceramic vs. metal femoral head. We also found that fretting and corrosion damage was insensitive to differences in stem taper surface finish and the presence of microgrooves. Although visual scoring was effective for preliminary screening to separate tapers with no or mild damage from tapers with moderate to severe damage, it was not capable of discriminating within the large range of material loss observed at the taper surfaces with high fretting-corrosion scores. Thus, for moderate to severely damaged conical tapers, direct measurement is necessary. A drawback of a matched cohort approach is that a large retrieval collection is necessary to effectively match an investigational group of implants with an appropriate control cohort. Notwithstanding this limitation, the matched cohort approach has been an effective approach to study the complex multifactorial problem of taper fretting and corrosion.
Fast-neutrons incident on holmium

Abstract Differential neutron-scattering cross-sections of 165 Ho are measured at 40 or more scattering angles and at ≈0.5 MeV incident-energy intervals from ≈4.5–10.0 MeV. These results are combined with previously-reported neutron total and scattering cross-sections to construct a comprehensive experimental data base which is interpreted in the context of a coupled-channels model, with attention to the collective excitation of the K =7/2 − ground-state rotational band. Physical aspects are discussed and comparisons made with previous models reported in the literature and with the relevant portions of the ENDF/B-6 evaluated nuclear data file.
Two-Dimensional Spatial Frequency Content and Confusions among Dot Matrix Characters

A two-phase study was conducted which related the confusions among dot matrix characters to the two-dimensional spatial frequency similarity of these characters.During the first phase of the study, subjects were shown single alphanumeric characters from four different dot matrix fonts and five matrix size/character sub-tense combinations. Data from this phase of the research were analyzed in terms of both correctness and character confusion frequencies.The second phase of the study consisted of digitizing and analyzing all characters from two of the fonts used in the first phase. The fonts chosen represent the most and least confusable of the four, based on the performance data obtained. These characters were scanned photometrically using a computer-controlled X-Y stage and subjected to a 512 × 512 point fast Fourier transform (FFT). The Fourier coefficients were correlated for all possible character pairs within each font-matrix/character size cell. These correlations provided an objective similarity mea...
Phenotyping hypotensive patients in critical care using hospital discharge summaries

Among critically-ill patients, hypotension represents a failure in compensatory mechanisms and may lead to organ hypoperfusion and failure. In this work, we adopt a datadriven approach for phenotype discovery and visualization of patient similarity and cohort structure in the intensive care unit (ICU). We used Hierarchical Dirichlet Process (HDP) as a non-parametric topic modeling technique to automatically learn a d-dimensional feature representation of patients that captures the latent “topic” structure of diseases, symptoms, medications, and findings documented in hospital discharge summaries. We then used the t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) algorithm to convert the d-dimensional latent structure learned from HDP into a matrix of pairwise similarities for visualizing patient similarity and cohort structure. Using discharge summaries of a large patient cohort from the MIMIC II database, we evaluated the clinical utility of the discovered topic structure in phenotyping critically-ill patients who experienced hypotensive episodes. Our results indicate that the approach is able to reveal clinically interpretable clustering structure within our cohort and may potentially provide valuable insights to better understand the association between disease phenotypes and outcomes.
Excessive private sector leverage and its drivers: evidence from advanced economies

The paper provides novel quantitative assessments of the gaps between actual and sustainable levels of debt for households and corporates in selected advanced economies, revealing considerable hete...
Controlling Spin Current in a Trapped Fermi Gas

We study fundamental features of spin current in a very weakly interacting Fermi gas of 6Li. By creating a spin current and then reversing its flow, we demonstrate control of the spin current. This reversal is predicted by a spin vector evolution equation in energy representation, which shows how the spin and energy of individual atoms become correlated in the nearly undamped regime of the experiments. The theory provides a simple physical description of the spin current and explains both the large amplitude and the slow temporal evolution of the data. Our results have applications in studying and controlling fundamental spin interactions and spin currents in ultracold gases.
Highly conducting iodinated fluoroaluminium and fluorogallium phthalocyanine polymers

Abstract : Partial oxidation of the quasi-one dimensional FLUOROALUMINUM and fluorogallium phthalocyanines with iodine yields species with appreciable electrical conductivities (1/0.01-1 ohm/centermeters); thermogravimetric, Raman spectroscopic, and mass spectrometric techniques have provided useful information about their compositions and nature. (Author)
Geometry of Log-Concave Density Estimation

Shape-constrained density estimation is an important topic in mathematical statistics. We focus on densities on $$\mathbb {R}^d$$ that are log-concave, and we study geometric properties of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) for weighted samples. Cule, Samworth, and Stewart showed that the logarithm of the optimal log-concave density is piecewise linear and supported on a regular subdivision of the samples. This defines a map from the space of weights to the set of regular subdivisions of the samples, i.e. the face poset of their secondary polytope. We prove that this map is surjective. In fact, every regular subdivision arises in the MLE for some set of weights with positive probability, but coarser subdivisions appear to be more likely to arise than finer ones. To quantify these results, we introduce a continuous version of the secondary polytope, whose dual we name the Samworth body. This article establishes a new link between geometric combinatorics and nonparametric statistics, and it suggests numerous open problems.
Potential lives saved by replacing coal with solar photovoltaic electricity production in the U.S.

Abstract Poor air quality from coal combustion adversely impacts human health including mortality and morbidity effects on respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous, urinary, and digestive systems. However, the continued use of coal are no longer necessary to provide for society's electrical needs because of advances in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. In order to inform health policy this paper reviews the data for quantifying the lives saved by a replacement of U.S. coal-fired electricity with solar PV systems. First the geospatial correlation with coal fired power plants and mortality is determined for the U.S. at the state level. Then, current life cycle mortality rates due to coal combustion are calculated and current energy generation data is collated. Deaths/kWh/year of coal and PV are calculated, and the results showed that 51,999 American lives/year could be saved by transitioning from coal to PV-powered electrical generation in the U.S. To accomplish this, 755 GW of U.S. PV installations are needed. The first costs for the approach was found to be roughly $1.45 trillion. Over the 25 year warranty on the PV modules the first cost per life saved is approximately $1.1 million, which is comparable to the value of a human life used in other studies. However, as the solar electricity has value, the cost per life is determined while including the revenue of the solar electric generation using a sensitivity analysis on the value of the electricity. These results found that for most estimations of the value, saving a life by offsetting coal with PV actually saved money as well, in some cases several million dollars per life. It is concluded that it is profitable to save lives in the U.S. with the substitution of coal-fired electricity with solar power and that the conversion is a substantial health and environmental benefit.
Provenance filtering for multimedia phylogeny

Departing from traditional digital forensics modeling, which seeks to analyze single objects in isolation, multimedia phylogeny analyzes the evolutionary processes that influence digital objects and collections over time. One of its integral pieces is provenance filtering, which consists of searching a potentially large pool of objects for the most related ones with respect to a given query, in terms of possible ancestors (donors or contributors) and descendants. In this paper, we propose a two-tiered provenance filtering approach to find all the potential images that might have contributed to the creation process of a given query q. In our solution, the first (coarse) tier aims to find the most likely “host” images — the major donor or background — contributing to a composite/doctored image. The search is then refined in the second tier, in which we search for more specific (potentially small) parts of the query that might have been extracted from other images and spliced into the query image. Experimental results with a dataset containing more than a million images show that the two-tiered solution underpinned by the context of the query is highly useful for solving this difficult task.
ATria: a novel centrality algorithm applied to biological networks

The notion of centrality is used to identify “important” nodes in social networks. Importance of nodes is not well-defined, and many different notions exist in the literature. The challenge of defining centrality in meaningful ways when network edges can be positively or negatively weighted has not been adequately addressed in the literature. Existing centrality algorithms also have a second shortcoming, i.e., the list of the most central nodes are often clustered in a specific region of the network and are not well represented across the network. We address both by proposing Ablatio Triadum (ATria), an iterative centrality algorithm that uses the concept of “payoffs” from economic theory. We compare our algorithm with other known centrality algorithms and demonstrate how ATria overcomes several of their shortcomings. We demonstrate the applicability of our algorithm to synthetic networks as well as biological networks including bacterial co-occurrence networks, sometimes referred to as microbial social networks. We show evidence that ATria identifies three different kinds of “important” nodes in microbial social networks with different potential roles in the community.
QUANTIFYING NUMERICAL MODEL ACCURACY AND VARIABILITY

On March 11, 2011 the Tohoku tsunami event caused the death of thousands of people and generated billions of dollars in damages. Following this and previous tsunami events, there has been an effort to improve tsunami risk mitigation for coastal communities. Currently, numerical models are being used in a state-of-the-art methodology to estimate tsunami risk from near and far field sources. Model predictions are essential for the development of Tsunami Hazard Assessments (THA). By better understanding model bias and uncertainties and if possible minimizing them, a more accurate and reliable THA will result. In this study we compare runup height, inundation lines and flow velocity field measurements between GeoClaw and the Method Of Splitting Tsunami (MOST) predictions in the Sendai plain. Runup elevation and average inundation distance was in general over predicted by the models. However, both models agree relatively well with each other when predicting maximum sea surface elevation and maximum flow velocities. Model predictions show that the flow velocity increases as the tsunami wave front reaches the shoreline and makes its way inland for a couple of kilometers, contrary to what it is generally assumed. The tsunami models used in this study show much more variability when predicting flow velocity than predicting runup elevations and inundation lines. The results provided in this study will help understand the uncertainties in model predictions and locate possible sources of errors within a model.
Green hybrid composites from cellulose nanocrystal

Abstract Cellulose is the most abundant renewable polymer in nature. The hierarchical organization of natural plant fibers allows the extraction of nanoscale highly crystalline core fraction of cellulosic microfibrils known as cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). There have been an increasing number of research and development efforts in both industrial and scientific communities to study the properties and characteristics of CNC especially in polymer composite materials with the aim of improving various structural and mechanical properties, as well as, developing novel functional materials using the CNCs as building blocks. This chapter provides a review on various aspects of these novel materials that include preparation, extraction method, and surface modification techniques of CNC, as well as, polymer/CNC interfacial considerations, processing methods, and properties such as mechanical, thermal, rheological, and gas barrier performance.
Reliability and Validity of a Spanish Language Assessment of Children’s Social-Emotional Learning Skills.

Few Spanish language tools are available for assessing important social-emotional learning (SEL) skills. The present study presents evidence of the psychometric properties of a Spanish-language version of SELweb (SELweb-S), a web-based system for assessing children's ability to recognize others' emotions and perspectives, solve social problems, and engage in self-control. With a sample of 524 students in Grades K to 3, we examined the reliability and validity of SELweb-S. This study provided evidence that (a) individual assessment modules exhibited moderate to high internal consistency and moderate 6-month temporal stability, (b) composite assessment scores exhibited high reliability, (c) assessment module scores fit a theoretically coherent factor structure, and (d) performance on SELweb-S assessment modules was positively related to teacher-reported SEL skills. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of direct assessments of SEL skills in languages other than English. In addition, we highlight the importance of abiding by rigorous recommendations in the literature for the translation and cultural adaptation of assessments. (PsycINFO Database Record
Surgical Options in the Management of Large Omphaloceles

Forty-six neonates with omphaloceles seen at the Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle from 1975 to 1985 were reviewed. There was an 87 percent survival rate in those surgically managed. The 23 neonates who underwent primary closure all survived. The 13 neonates with giant omphaloceles with the liver in the defect who received silon chimneys had a 46 percent mortality rate and a high complication rate, with prolonged hospitalization. Two neonates with giant omphaloceles were managed by leaving the sac intact, and silver sulfadiazine cream was used as an escharotic agent. We believe it is a safer alternative than the silon chimney in neonates whose defects cannot be closed primarily.
Localized Deep Hyperthermia Increases the Traffic of Lymphocytes Through Peripheral Lymph Nodes of Sheep In Vivo

The production of localized deep hyperthermia by the radio frequency wave magnetic-loop induction method has been utilized to study the effects of deep hyperthermia on lymphocyte traffic in sheep in vivo. Deep hyperthermia has been applied both to primary peripheral lymph node drainage areas alone (popliteal and prefemoral) and directly over the study lymph node (popliteal). Deep tissue core temperatures were monitored in all studies and the findings were correlated with alterations in the levels of lymphocyte outputs into study node efferent lymph and the volume of efferent lymph flow. In all of 32 studies, there was a prompt and sharp increase in the output of lymphocytes into efferent lymph at 40-43 degrees C. Efferent lymph flow also was increased promptly but to a lesser degree than the output of lymphocytes. The two were not closely correlated. High deep temperature in the nodal area (45 degrees C) appeared to cause delayed nodal malfunction, which depressed lymphocyte output but did not affect lymph flow. Localized deep hyperthermia is an effective and noninvasive means for the local increase of lymphocyte traffic and lymph flow and may prove to be a useful means for the evaluation of the immunological consequences of altering both deep tissue temperature and lymphocyte traffic.
Microsurgical Transplantation of Testes in Isogenic Rats: Method and Function

We have developed a new technique for the orthotopic transplantation of rat testes. This method employs end-to-side anastomoses of a renal artery or a 1-mm aortic patch to the recipient’s aorta. The testicular vein is anastomosed to the vena cava of the recipient. Sixteen to 30 power magnification and 22-�jm diameter sutures are employed in these procedures. This report describes the structure and function of 19 testicular isografts and four groups of controls which include intact, hemicastrate, sham-operated (also hemicastrate) and bilateral castrates. Transplanted testes weighed less than those of intact or hemicastrated rats, but were heavier than sham-operated testes subjected to a similar ischemic insult. The weights of the epididymides and seminal vesicles from transplant recipients did not differ significantly from the three groups of controls with testes. Microscopic examination revealed normal-appearing Leydig and Sertoli cells in both transplanted and sham-operated testes. The transplanted testes of animals killed after more than two cycles of the seminiferous epithelium showed normal spermatogenesis in many tubules and sperm in the epididymides. Transplants with shorter ischemic insults survived with less tubular damage. The functional capacity of the transplants was judged by radioimmunoassays of hormones and androgen binding protein (ABP) in weekly blood samples. Serum testosterone (T) and ABP levels were virtually identical in transplant recipients and sham-operated animals followed for 12 weeks or more. Serum concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH) were slightly higher in transplant recipients compared to sham-operated animals but were still within the normal range. Folliclestimulating hormone (FSH) levels rose soon after transplantation and then returned to normal by 8 weeks. A luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) stimulation test elicited identical LH and T responses in control and transplanted animals. In conclusion, we have developed a reliable microsurgical method for creating vascularized testicular isografts. Preservation of Leydig and Sertoli cell structure and function in transplants provides a unique model for studies of the hypothalamic-pituitary-testis axis. As transplanted testes are denervated, these animals may be useful for studying neural control of testicular function.
Home Intravenous Antibiotic Therapy

Physician awareness of the feasibility of outpatient therapy has increased in response to the recent emphasis on medical cost containment. As a result, both health care institutions and commercial concerns are working rapidly to provide supplies and services for patients receiving therapy, such as intravenous antibiotic therapy, at home.
Cavernosal Venocclusive Insufficiency in Male Impotence: Evaluation of Degree and Location

The author's experience with 72 patients with impotence, one patient with Peyronie disease (no impotence), and two healthy volunteers indicates that incompetence of the venocclusive mechanism of the corpora cavernosa is probably the most common cause of vasculogenic impotence. Manometric and angiographic studies are the key to diagnosis but only when performed while the venocclusive mechanism is activated. Activation is achieved by intracavernosal injection of a papaverine-phentolamine mixture. Pharmacomanometry, performed with the newly developed pharmacologic maintenance erectile flow (PMEF) method, enabled precise quantitation of the leak at a given cavernosal pressure. A new appreciation of the limited volume of normal flow in the cavernosal arteries indicates that cavernosal leak in the range of only 20 ml/min is probably capable of contributing to impotence. Pharmacocavernosography enabled identification of sites of leakage (key information in the planning of surgical correction) but was unreliable in the evaluation of the severity of leakage.
Reduction of Urethral Pressure in Response to Stress: Relationship to Urethral Mobility

It has been postulated that one factor involved in the pathophysiology of stress urinary incontinence is the sustained decrease in urethral closure pressure in response to a sudden increase in intra-abdominal pressure. Twenty-one patients with stress-related pressure decrease (group 1) and seven patients with stable pressures (group 2) were studied. Although closure pressure in group 1 decreased approximately 27% in response to a single cough in a static setting, when studied dynamically with pressure profiles before and after coughing, there was no pressure decrease seen. The evidence presented suggests that the phenomenon of pressure decrease is in actuality an artifact of measurement and not a true physiologic event. The degree of urethral mobility is related to the perceived pressure decrease.
Effect of Depth and Duration of Cooling on Death or Disability at Age 18 Months Among Neonates With Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance Hypothermia for 72 hours at 33.5°C for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy reduces death or disability, but rates continue to be high. Objective To determine if cooling for 120 hours or to a temperature of 32.0°C reduces death or disability at age 18 months in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Design, Setting, and Participants Randomized 2 × 2 factorial clinical trial in neonates (≥36 weeks’ gestation) with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy at 18 US centers in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network between October 2010 and January 2016. Interventions A total of 364 neonates were randomly assigned to 4 hypothermia groups: 33.5°C for 72 hours (n = 95), 32.0°C for 72 hours (n = 90), 33.5°C for 120 hours (n = 96), or 32.0°C for 120 hours (n = 83). Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was death or moderate or severe disability at 18 to 22 months of age adjusted for center and level of encephalopathy. Severe disability included any of Bayley Scales of Infant Development III cognitive score less than 70, Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level of 3 to 5, or blindness or hearing loss despite amplification. Moderate disability was defined as a cognitive score of 70 to 84 and either GMFCS level 2, active seizures, or hearing with amplification. Results The trial was stopped for safety and futility in November 2013 after 364 of the planned 726 infants were enrolled. Among 347 infants (95%) with primary outcome data (mean age at follow-up, 20.7 [SD, 3.5] months; 42% female), death or disability occurred in 56 of 176 (31.8%) cooled for 72 hours and 54 of 171 (31.6%) cooled for 120 hours (adjusted risk ratio, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.68-1.25]; adjusted absolute risk difference, −1.0% [95% CI, −10.2% to 8.1%]) and in 59 of 185 (31.9%) cooled to 33.5°C and 51 of 162 (31.5%) cooled to 32.0°C (adjusted risk ratio, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.68-1.26]; adjusted absolute risk difference, −3.1% [95% CI, −12.3% to 6.1%]). A significant interaction between longer and deeper cooling was observed ( P = .048), with primary outcome rates of 29.3% at 33.5°C for 72 hours, 34.5% at 32.0°C for 72 hours, 34.4% at 33.5°C for 120 hours, and 28.2% at 32.0°C for 120 hours. Conclusions and Relevance Among term neonates with moderate or severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, cooling for longer than 72 hours, cooling to lower than 33.5°C, or both did not reduce death or moderate or severe disability at 18 months of age. However, the trial may be underpowered, and an interaction was found between longer and deeper cooling. These results support the current regimen of cooling for 72 hours at 33.5°C. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT01192776
Linking a Clinical System to Heterogeneous Information Resources

We present a model for providing clinical information system (CIS) users with quick access to high quality information resources. We have developed a chest X-ray information button application which is attached to the chest X-ray reports in the CIS at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. The application generates questions based on clinical information, user interest, generic question templates, and resource availability. It then provides answers to the questions through integrated access to heterogeneous information resources including the CIS itself and publicly accessible Web resources.
Do Protestant Missionaries Undermine Political Authority? Evidence From Peru:

The relation between religious organizations and political authority is notoriously tense. Max Weber argued that this is because both compete over the same resource: human commitment. This article ...
Prodomain-growth factor swapping in the structure of pro-TGF-β1.

TGF-β is synthesized as a proprotein that dimerizes in the endoplasmic reticulum. After processing in the Golgi to cleave the N-terminal prodomain from the C-terminal growth factor (GF) domain in each monomer, pro-TGF-β is secreted and stored in latent complexes. It is unclear which prodomain and GF monomer are linked before proprotein convertase cleavage and how much conformational change occurs following cleavage. We have determined a structure of pro-TGF-β1 with the proprotein convertase cleavage site mutated to mimic the structure of the TGF-β1 proprotein. Structure, mutation, and model building demonstrate that the prodomain arm domain in one monomer is linked to the GF that interacts with the arm domain in the other monomer in the dimeric structure (i.e. the prodomain arm domain and GF domain in each monomer are swapped). Swapping has important implications for the mechanism of biosynthesis in the TGF-β family and is relevant to the mechanism for preferential formation of heterodimers over homodimers for some members of the TGF-β family. Our structure, together with two previous ones, also provides insights into which regions of the prodomain–GF complex are highly structurally conserved and which are perturbed by crystal lattice contacts.
Formal analysis of continuous-time systems using Fourier transform

Abstract To study the dynamical behavior of the engineering and physical systems, we often need to capture their continuous behavior, which is modeled using differential equations, and perform the frequency-domain analysis of these systems. Traditionally, Fourier transform methods are used to perform this frequency domain analysis using paper-and-pencil based analytical techniques or computer simulations. However, both of these methods are error prone and thus are not suitable for analyzing systems used in safety-critical domains, like medicine and transportation. In order to provide an accurate alternative, we propose to use higher-order-logic theorem proving to conduct the frequency domain analysis of these systems. For this purpose, the paper presents a higher-order-logic formalization of Fourier transform using the HOL-Light theorem prover. In particular, we use the higher-order-logic based formalizations of differential, integral, transcendental and topological theories of multivariable calculus to formally define Fourier transform and reason about the correctness of its classical properties, such as existence, linearity, time shifting, frequency shifting, modulation, time scaling, time reversal and differentiation in time domain, and its relationships with Fourier Cosine, Fourier Sine and Laplace transforms. We use our proposed formalization for the formal verification of the frequency response of a generic n-order linear system, an audio equalizer and a MEMs accelerometer, using the HOL-Light theorem prover.
Neutrino astronomy with IceCube and AMANDA

Since the early 1990s, the South Pole has been the site of the construction of the worldʼs first under-ice Cherenkov neutrino telescopes – AMANDA and IceCube. The AMANDA detector was completed in 2000, and its successor IceCube, a kilometre scale neutrino detector, began construction in 2005. Completion of IceCube is scheduled for 2011. This paper will give an overview of the history, construction, latest physics results and potential of these detectors.
Indole-3-acetaldehyde dehydrogenase-dependent auxin synthesis contributes to virulence of Pseudomonas syringae strain DC3000.

The bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae modulates plant hormone signaling to promote infection and disease development. P. syringae uses several strategies to manipulate auxin physiology in Arabidopsis thaliana to promote pathogenesis, including its synthesis of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), the predominant form of auxin in plants, and production of virulence factors that alter auxin responses in the host; however, the role of pathogen-derived auxin in P. syringae pathogenesis is not well understood. Here we demonstrate that P. syringae strain DC3000 produces IAA via a previously uncharacterized pathway and identify a novel indole-3-acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, AldA, that functions in IAA biosynthesis by catalyzing the NAD-dependent formation of IAA from indole-3-acetaldehyde (IAAld). Biochemical analysis and solving of the 1.9 A resolution x-ray crystal structure reveal key features of AldA for IAA synthesis, including the molecular basis of substrate specificity. Disruption of aldA and a close homolog, aldB, lead to reduced IAA production in culture and reduced virulence on A. thaliana. We use these mutants to explore the mechanism by which pathogen-derived auxin contributes to virulence and show that IAA produced by DC3000 suppresses salicylic acid-mediated defenses in A. thaliana. Thus, auxin is a DC3000 virulence factor that promotes pathogenicity by suppressing host defenses.