cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Summary of MitraClip Clinical Data and Approach to Patient Selection

Since its initial conception as a percutaneous approach to mitral valve repair, MitraClip therapy has undergone extensive clinical testing and refinement. Through these studies, we have gained an increased understanding of the spectrum of patients who benefit from this procedure and the longer-term effects of MitraClip therapy on MR and patient outcomes. In this chapter, we review the major results of the US-based EVEREST studies, including the safety and feasibility trial, the pivotal randomized trial, and the high-risk registry. We then discuss the published experience of case series and registries from Europe. Surgical repair after initial MitraClip therapy is also discussed. Although there have been over 5,000 global implants at the time of publication of this atlas, it is notable that only a single randomized trial has been completed. This chapter concludes with a discussion of high-risk subgroups of patients that may particularly benefit from MitraClip therapy.
Inferential Traps in an Escalation Process

The social sciences are quite distinct from the physical sciences. In particular, the objects of study in the social sciences are capable of understanding and using theories about human behavior.
Nonlinear analysis of aircraft tires via semianalytic finite elements

A computational procedure is presented for the geometrically nonlinear analysis of aircraft tires. The tire was modeled by using a two-dimensional laminated anisotropic shell theory with the effects of variation in material and geometric parameters included. The four key elements of the procedure are: 1) semianalytic finite elements in which the shell variables are represented by Fourier series in the circumferential direction and piecewise polynomials in the meridional direction; 2) a mixed formulation with the fundamental unknowns consisting of strain parameters, stress-resultant parameters, and generalized displacements; 3) multilevel operator splitting to effect successive simplifications, and to uncouple the equations associated with different Fourier harmonics; and 4) multilevel iterative procedures and reduction techniques to generate the response of the shell.
Controlled energy dispersion in two-dimensional decorated granular crystals

The present study describes a way to control the dispersion of an impulse in a two-dimensional square granular crystal with tapered beads. The control is through the redirection of the characteristic load transfer path by controlling the shape of the scattering of wavefront. The main goal is to contribute to the development of appropriately designed granular media to mitigate impacts. The crystal is constituted of spherical granules with a wide range of radii. Interstitial particles are strategically positioned to allow a large number of collisions per unit area. The waves are produced by a striker that collides against the crystal. We analyze how material combinations, number of layers, tapering parameter, and disorder affect the decay of the wave amplitude. Our studies suggest that $\ensuremath{\sim}90%$ impulse attenuation can be accomplished using a system thickness of 5 grains.
Website Design and Consultant Choice Resources

(2004). Website Design and Consultant Choice Resources. Journal of Technology in Human Services: Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 89-96.
Research paper classification systems based on TF-IDF and LDA schemes

With the increasing advance of computer and information technologies, numerous research papers have been published online as well as offline, and as new research fields have been continuingly created, users have a lot of trouble in finding and categorizing their interesting research papers. In order to overcome the limitations, this paper proposes a research paper classification system that can cluster research papers into the meaningful class in which papers are very likely to have similar subjects. The proposed system extracts representative keywords from the abstracts of each paper and topics by Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) scheme. Then, the K-means clustering algorithm is applied to classify the whole papers into research papers with similar subjects, based on the Term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) values of each paper.
Continuous toolpath planning in a graphical framework for sparse infill additive manufacturing

Abstract We develop a framework that creates a new polygonal mesh representation of the sparse infill domain of a layer-by-layer 3D printing job. We guarantee the existence of a single, continuous tool path covering each connected piece of the domain in every layer in this graphical model. We also present a tool path algorithm that traverses each such continuous tool path with no crossovers. The key construction at the heart of our framework is a novel Euler transformation which converts a 2-dimensional cell complex K into a new 2-complex K ˆ such that every vertex in the 1-skeleton G ˆ of K ˆ has even degree. Hence G ˆ is Eulerian, and an Eulerian tour can be followed to print all edges in a continuous fashion without stops. We start with a mesh K of the union of polygons obtained by projecting all layers to the plane. First we compute its Euler transformation K ˆ . In the slicing step, we clip K ˆ at each layer using its polygon to obtain a complex that may not necessarily be Euler. We then patch this complex by adding edges such that any odd-degree nodes created by slicing are transformed to have even degrees again. We print extra support edges in place of any segments left out to ensure there are no edges without support in the next layer above. These support edges maintain the Euler nature of the complex. Finally, we describe a tree-based search algorithm that builds the continuous tool path by traversing “concentric” cycles in the Euler complex. Our algorithm produces a tool path that avoids material collisions and crossovers, and can be printed in a continuous fashion irrespective of complex geometry or topology of the domain (e.g., holes). We implement our test our framework on several 3D objects. Apart from standard geometric shapes including a nonconvex star, we demonstrate the framework on the Stanford bunny. Several intermediate layers in the bunny have multiple components as well as complicated geometries.
Erratum for Tripathi et al., "The Cross Talk between TbTim50 and PIP39, Two Aspartate-Based Protein Phosphatases, Maintains Cellular Homeostasis in Trypanosoma brucei".

Volume 4, no. 4, e00353-19, 2019, [https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00353-19][1]. This article was published on 7 August 2019 with the fifth author’s name misspelled. The byline has been updated in the current version, posted on 30 August 2019. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1128/mSphere.00353-19
Multiyear Sea Ice Thickness Estimation Using Wideband P/L-Band Radiometric Measurements

A new wideband radiometer covering P/L-band was developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for polar ocean salinity and seasonal sea-ice thickness measurements. The instrument was deployed on the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy for an Arctic Ocean research cruise from September 13, 2018 to October 20, 2018. This work shows the first results relating sea ice thickness obtained from the measurements taken with the wideband P/L-band radiometer during the campaign. Results from the Artic cruise campaign were also used to study wideband spectral properties of salinity. In addition to this paper, Salinity and wide-band calibration challenges are presented in two other companion papers.
Pedometer Feedback Interventions Increase Daily Physical Activity in Phase III Cardiac Rehabilitation Participants.

PURPOSE To determine the effects of individually tailored interventions designed to increase physical activity (PA) in cardiac patients. METHODS A total of 99 (77 men and 22 women, 61.5 ± 10.7 yr) patients entering a phase III cardiac rehabilitation program completed a 12-wk PA intervention. Patients were randomized to usual care (UC, time-based recommendation), pedometer feedback (PF), newsletter-based motivational messaging (MM), or PF + MM. Both PF groups were given a goal of increasing steps/d by 10% of individual baseline value each week. If the goal for the week was not reached, the same goal was used for the next week. Physical activity was assessed for 7 d before beginning and after completing the program. The change in steps/d, moderate to vigorous intensity PA minutes, and sedentary time were compared among intervention groups. RESULTS Average change in steps/d was found to be significantly greater (P < .01) in the PF (2957 ± 3185) and the PF + MM (3150 ± 3007) compared with UC (264 ± 2065) and MM (718 ± 2415) groups. No group experienced changes in moderate to vigorous intensity PA time and only the PF intervention group decreased sedentary time (baseline 470.2 ± 77.1 to postintervention 447.8 ± 74.9 min/d, P = .01). CONCLUSION The findings from this study demonstrate that using PF was superior to the usual time-based PA recommendations and to newsletter-based MM in patients starting a phase III CR program. Cardiac rehabilitation programs are encouraged to implement PA feedback with individualized PA goals in order to support the increase in PA.
The Lavrentiev Gap Phenomenon in Nonlinear Elasticity

The main objective of this paper is to present examples of the Lavrentiev phenomenon within the framework of two-dimensional nonlinear elasticity. Loosely speaking, this phenomenon is associated with the sensitivity of the infimum in a variational problem to the regularity required of the competing mappings. We provide a physically natural stored energy density and reasonable, though nontraditional, boundary conditions such that the energy functional exhibits the Lavrentiev phenomenon with admissible classes that are subsets of the continuous deformations. The stored-energy density W that we produce is smooth, materially homogeneous, frame-indifferent, isotropic and polyconvex. Furthermore, the corresponding minimization problem is such that existence of a continuous minimizer follows from known results. The basis for our examples is a convex integrand W 0 for which the Euler-Lagrange equations have a very special form. We show that the functional associated with this W 0 exhibits the Lavrentiev phenomenon for certain problems; by making a perturbation to W 0 , we create the stored-energy density W described in the previous paragraph. With other perturbations to the integrand W 0 and modifications of the boundary conditions, we are able to produce additional examples of the Lavrentiev phenomenon. Finally, we note that the integrand we use is just one of a family of integrands that can be used to produce examples of the phenomenon.
SWinvert: a workflow for performing rigorous 1-D surface wave inversions

SWinvert is a workflow developed at The University of Texas at Austin for the inversion of surface wave dispersion data. SWinvert encourages analysts to investigate inversion uncertainty and non-uniqueness in shear wave velocity (Vs) by providing a systematic procedure and open-source tools for surface wave inversion. In particular, the workflow enables the use of multiple layering parameterizations to address the inversion's non-uniqueness, multiple global searches for each parameterization to address the inverse problem's non-linearity, and quantification of Vs uncertainty in the resulting profiles. To encourage its adoption, the SWinvert workflow is supported by an open-source Python package, SWprepost, for surface wave inversion pre- and post-processing and an application on the DesignSafe-CyberInfracture, SWbatch, that enlists high-performance computing for performing batch-style surface wave inversion through an intuitive and easy-to-use web interface. While the workflow uses the Dinver module of the popular open-source Geopsy software as its inversion engine, the principles presented can be readily extended to other inversion programs. To illustrate the effectiveness of the SWinvert workflow and to develop a set of benchmarks for use in future surface wave inversion studies, synthetic experimental dispersion data for 12 subsurface models of varying complexity are inverted. While the effects of inversion uncertainty and non-uniqueness are shown to be minimal for simple subsurface models characterized by broadband dispersion data, these effects cannot be ignored in the Vs profiles derived for more complex models with band-limited dispersion data. The SWinvert workflow is shown to provide a methodical procedure and a powerful set of tools for performing rigorous surface wave inversions and quantifying the uncertainty in the resulting Vs profiles.
The first divide in György Márkus’s philosophical development:

This paper systematises the works of Gyorgy Markus into two or possibly three periods. These emphasise the underlying consistency of purpose and interpreting theoretical interests throughout the oe...
How to Succeed as an Academic on YouTube

More and more people are turning to YouTube to expand their knowledge, develop their understanding, and learn new skills. These “casual learners” – loosely defined as individuals who are curious about a topic and are self-motivated to learn more about it – are taking advantage of the ease with which nearly anyone with an internet connection, basic video skills, and something to say, can become a YouTube “creator.” However, amidst a dizzying array of videos purporting to educate or otherwise inform viewers, academic content-creators are notable by their lack of presence on the platform. Here, there are largely-untapped opportunities for academics to contribute to the richness, diversity and trustworthiness of video content available to casual learners, and to effectively mobilize their knowledge at scale. There is also a pressing need for diversity in casual learning content, including diversity in creator gender, identity, ethnicity, and perspective, and academics are uniquely positioned to address this need. Drawing on the author’s experiences in developing and producing the YouTube channel Risk Bites, this perspective explores how time, resource, and even talent-limited academics can nevertheless leverage YouTube as a platform for further mobilizing their knowledge for public good.
Cognitive profiles in perimenopause: hormonal and menopausal symptom correlates.

Perimenopause is associated with declines in attention, working memory and verbal memory; however, there are significant individual differences. Further, the contributions of hormones and menopausa...
Centralized Reminder/Recall for Human Papillomavirus Vaccination: Findings From Two States-A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Abstract Purpose Centralized reminder/recall (C-R/R) using Immunization Information Systems has been effective in increasing childhood immunization rates. Previously, C-R/R using autodialer for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine did not raise rates. We assessed C-R/R for HPV vaccine using other modalities and focused on younger adolescents. Methods We conducted a three-arm pragmatic RCT in randomly sampled primary care practices in Colorado (n = 88) and New York (n = 136), proportionate to where adolescents received care. We randomized, within practices, adolescents aged 11-14 years who had not completed the HPV vaccination series to receive C-R/R using different modalities (Colorado: autodialer, mail, or control; New York: autodialer, text, or control). Up to two reminders were sent in intervention arms for each dose needed between 2/2017 and 12/2018. Results In Colorado, no significant differences were found for series initiation (31.3% control, 31.1% autodial, 31.8% mail), with slight improvement for series completion in the autodialer arm (29.7% control, 31.1% autodialer, p = .04) but not the mail arm (30.9%, p = .06). No significant differences were found in New York for series initiation (24.1% for all arms) or completion (17.1% control, 16.9% autodial, 17.9% text). Adjusted analyses showed higher completion rates for the autodialer arm in Colorado but not for other arms. In Colorado, C-R/R reduced time to series completion by around 2 months. Cost per adolescent was $1.81 for mail; under $.40 for all other modalities. Conclusions C-R/R has less benefit for raising HPV vaccination rates than other studies have noted for childhood immunizations, although it may quicken series completion at little cost.
Comparison of one-layer Utrecht pattern with two-layer (simple continuous/Cushing) pattern for jejunojejunostomy in healthy horses in vivo

Objective To compare end-to-end jejunal anastomoses with a one-layer (Utrecht) and two-layer (simple continuous/Cushing) patterns. Study design Experimental study. Animals Eight healthy adult horses. Methods Jejunal end-to-end anastomoses were performed in randomly assigned one-layer or two-layer patterns. Horses were recovered from surgery and monitored for complications. At 14 days, the opposite pattern was performed (cross-over design) prior to euthanasia. Duration of closures was compared between patterns. Serosal width was measured before harvesting anastomotic sites from the first procedure. Luminal diameter was measured, and sections were collected for histological evaluation of heating after routine and immunohistochemical staining. Results One-layer closure was faster (716 ± 86 s) than two-layer closures (1136 ± 111 s). Postoperative complications were minimal. No difference was detected in lumen size between groups. The lumen was reduced by 18% after one-layer and 15% after two-layer closures (p = .34). Serosal adhesions to the mesentery without clinical evidence of obstruction were observed in two horses with two-layer closure. Histopathological scores for inflammation, infection, and healing did not differ between groups. Conclusion Jejunal anastomosis with one-layer Utrecht technique was about 7 min faster and led to similar luminal reduction and histological healing scores as two-layer jejunojejunostomies. Clinical significance The outcomes of one-layer Utrecht jejunojejunostomies in healthy horses justify clinical evaluation of this technique.
Two Developing Countries with two Different Economic Results: A Comparative study of Thailand & Morocco

After visiting Thailand in 1996 and Morocco in 2001, it was very evident that these two countries had many similarities. Both countries are ruled by monarchs, both are developing countries, and both have overcome many adversities. However, today we find these two countries are very different in their involvement in the global community and in their local economic development. This paper is a study of similarities and differences in the development of Thailand and Morocco which has resulted in the current economic status.
Technologies For Electromagnetic Bone Stimulation

There are three FDA approved technologies current 1 y utilized therapeutically for fracture non-union repair. These are the D.C. technology: Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) technology: and 60 kHz Sinusoidal Electric Field (SEF) technology sometimes referred to as Capacitive Coupling. These technologies are also in various states of investigation for therapeutic use in osteoporosis, avascular necrosis, wound healing, nerve regeneration and degenerative joint disease. Dosimetry considerations for these technologies indicate certain common features with regard to electric field amplitude however fundamental mechanisms of cellular interactions are unknown.
ViWiD: visible watermarking based defense against phishing

In this paper, we present a watermarking based approach, and its implementation, for mitigating phishing attacks – a form of web based identity theft. ViWiD is an integrity check mechanism based on visible watermarking of logo images. ViWiD performs all of the computation on the company’s web server and it does not require installation of any tool or storage of any data, such as keys or history logs, on the user’s machine. The watermark message is designed to be unique for every user and carries a shared secret between the company and the user in order to thwart the “one size fits all” attacks. The main challenge in visible watermarking of logo images is to maintain the aesthetics of the watermarked logo to avoid damage to its marketing purpose yet be able to insert a robust and readable watermark into it. Logo images have large uniform areas and very few objects in them, which is a challenge for robust visible watermarking. We tested our scheme with two different visible watermarking techniques on various randomly selected logo images.
Spatial Econometric Analysis of Regional Income Convergence: The Case of North Carolina and Virginia

The purpose of this study is to determine if and to what extent the states of North Carolina and Virginia display regional income convergence. This study utilizes growth theory as the theoretical foundation to explore this phenomenon. This paper uses OLS (ordinary least squares) as the proposed methodology. The researchers seek to answer the following research questions in this study: (a) Using a county-level of analysis, do the counties of Virginia and North Carolina exhibit regional income convergence? (b) Using a county-level of analysis, do the counties of Virginia and North Carolina exhibit regional sigma convergence? (c) Are there any significant changes in the structure of both of these metrics of convergence over time? (d) Is there evidence of spatial dependence in the county level growth rates in Virginia and North Carolina? (e) Does the additional of the spatial lag of growth rates improve the models of regional income convergence in our two states? Our results indicate that income convergence and spatial dependence found in the North Carolinian counties is more pronounced than those experienced in the Virginian Counties.
Confronting the Genericism Conundrum

The doctrine of genericism - under which a court may determine a previously valuable mark is or has become generic, thus losing all trademark status and value - has been under theorized since work authored by Professors Folsom and Teply in 1980. Yet in the interim, the expansion of intellectual property rights has changed the landscape of the balance between rights holders and the public. For example recent lawsuits and articles have drawn attention to a growing issue in intellectual property law, the aggressive and arguably abusive tactics of intellectual property ("IP") rights holders. Indeed in the trademark context, some maintain and there are arguments to support the idea that trademark holders bring these actions as a means of manipulating the public through direct control of the public's ability to use language. Nonetheless, if one supposes for a moment that trademark holders and their counsel are acting at some level of good faith and are rational, it may be that something else in the law itself drives this otherwise questionable behavior. This paper argues that the doctrine of genericism as it is currently applied forces the trademark holder to police her rights in this extreme manner for fear of losing her mark. Specifically, this paper investigates the theoretical and historical evolution of the doctrine and posits that current genericism doctrine has strayed far from its roots, which are in consumer understanding in the marketplace and enhancing competition, and now concerns itself with an inappropriate property type of analysis that places great weight on non-commercial and/or non-competitive trademark use contexts (e.g., dictionary entries, newspapers, noncompetitive third-party uses, etc.). This focus leads to inefficient results, i.e., trademark holders engaging in extensive advertising, letter campaigns, and litigation to try to protect the mark and prevent it from being deemed generic. As such this paper argues that the doctrine should be re-anchored to focus on the mark's ability to act as a source identifier for the consumer in commercial contexts. Re-focusing genericism on consumer contexts rather than non-consumer, expressive contexts will allow the analysis to embrace a more sophisticated, broad understanding of trademarks. This approach recognizes a term's ability to perform more than one function in language depending on the user of the term and the context of the term's use (i.e., commercial and non-commercial). In addition, this revised understanding of genericism would undermine trademark holders' ability to claim the need to engage in what would otherwise be frivolous and/or abusive enforcement strategies, because they could no longer hang their collective hat on the excuse that they were required to do so to avoid falling victim to genericism. In short, this retooling of the doctrine would allow trademark owners to enjoy the full benefits of the source identifying functions of their marks while at the same time creating a space in which the public may enjoy full use of the terms without fear of reprisal by mark owners.
Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamics of Protostellar Disks: The Effects of Thermal Energetics

We use a second-order three-dimensional hydrodynamics code with self-gravity to investigate the role that thermal energetics plays in the development of nonaxisymmetric instabilities in protostellar disks. The initial axisymmetric equilibrium state is a continuous, fluid star/disk system, in which the star, the disk, and the star/disk boundary are resolved in 3D in our hydrodynamics code. An adiabatic evolution is compared to two previous simulations of the same model in which either local isentropy or local isothermality is maintained in the disk throughout the calculation. In all three cases, the model is highly unstable to multiple low-order nonaxisymmetric disturbances which induce significant mass and angular momentum transport in a few dynamical times. The star and star/disk boundary are dominated by three- and four-armed disturbances, whereas the disk is susceptible to a two-armed spiral. These disturbances saturate at moderate nonlinear amplitude in the adiabatic and isentropic evolutions; the same instabilities in the isothermal evolution lead to the disruption of the disk and concentration of material into several dense, thin arcs and arclets. Figures, tables and animations are included in the CD-ROM supplement.
Self-construal as a predictor of communal and exchange orientation in Taiwan and the USA

Based on a three-dimensional model of self-construal (independent, collective interdependent, and relational interdependent self-construal), the present study investigated whether self-construal systematically related to exchange and communal orientation with data (357 participants) collected in Taiwan (N = 178) and the USA (N = 179). United States participants scored significantly higher on all scales except for relational interdependent self-construal. Females exhibited significantly higher scores for relational interdependent self-construal and communal orientation. As predicted, independent self-construal was related to exchange orientation and relational interdependent self-construal was related to communal orientation. However, in contrast to what was expected, collective interdependent self-construal was only marginally related to communal orientation. The findings for scales revised for validity were compared with scales including all items. This comparison disclosed differences for exchange orientation.
The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History, 1400–1900 – By Thomas Benjamin

Recent historical works are rarely synthetic, reflecting the unfortunate specialization and Balkanization within the profession that is at least four decades old. The recent revolutions in informat...
Rapid in vivo Taxotere quantitative chemosensitivity response by 4.23 Tesla sodium MRI and histo-immunostaining features in N-Methyl-N-Nitrosourea induced breast tumors in rats.

Sodium weighted images can indicate sodium signal intensities from different features in the tumor before and 24 hours following administration of Taxotere. To evaluate the association of in vivo intracellular sodium magnetic resonance image intensities with immuno-biomarkers and histopathological features to monitor the early tumor response to Taxotere chemotherapy in Methyl-Nitroso-Urea induced rat xenograft breast tumors. Methyl-Nitroso-Urea (MNU) induced rat xenograft breast tumors were imaged for sodium MRI and compared with tumor histology, immunostaining after 24 hours chemotherapy. Sodium MRI signal intensities represented sodium concentrations. Excised tumor histological sections showed different in vitro histological end points i.e. single strand DNA content of cell nuclei during cell cycle (G1/S-G2/M), distinct S or M histograms (Feulgen labeling to nuclear DNA content by CAS 200), mitotic figures and apoptosis at different locations of breast tumors. Necrosis and cystic fluid appeared gray on intracellular (IC) sodium images while apoptosis rich regions appeared brighter on IC sodium images. After 24 hours Taxotere-treated tumors showed lower 'IC/EC ratio' of viable cells (65–76%) with higher mitotic index; apoptotic tumor cells at high risk due to cytotoxicity (>70% with high apoptotic index); reduced proliferation index (270 vs 120 per high power field) associated with enhanced IC sodium in vivo MR image intensities and decreased tumor size (3%; p < 0.001; n = 16) than that of pre-treated tumors. IC-Na MR signal intensities possibly indicated Taxotere chemosensitivity response in vivo associated with apoptosis and different pre-malignant features within 24 hours of exposure of cancer cells to anti-neoplastic Taxotere drug. Sodium MRI imaging may be used as in vivo rapid drug monitoring method to evaluate Taxotere chemosensitivity response associated with neoplasia, apoptosis and tumor histology features.
A graphical programming environment for simulation of control and signal processing systems

The authors have developed a graphical programming library for control and signal processing applications. The library covers a wide range starting from basic primitives such as simple arithmetic and Boolean functions to complicated units like generalized neural networks. The user gets access to these units in the form of icons. By making connections to and from these icons, a user generates different block diagrams, which are the programs in the graphical environment. The library is described from the user's point of view. Different features of the graphical programming environment and the library are discussed. The use of the library is illustrated with a simple graphical programming example. Some of the implementation details are discussed. >
Indoor Biomass Burning and Health Consequences

Inefficient cooking with biomass fuels in poorly ventilated homes is a major source of exposure to indoor air pollution in developing countries. Household air pollution from cooking and heating with biomass fuels also is an important contributor to outdoor air pollution. The combustion of wood and other biomass is qualitatively similar to the burning of tobacco in terms of emissions of particulate matter and gases, and the mechanisms by which biomass smoke causes adverse health effects in humans are likely similar to those involved in tobacco smoke-induced disease processes. The public health impact of domestic cooking with biomass is great. The 2010 Global Burden of Disease comparative risk assessment found household air pollution from solid fuel (biomass and coal) use to be responsible for approximately 4.8 % of the total disability-adjusted life years and 3.9 million premature deaths per year. Household air pollution ranked third on the examined list of risk factors globally and was the most important environmental risk factor. The estimates are based on the strength of the evidence, primarily meta-analyses of epidemiological studies of acceptable scientific quality, although for cardiovascular disease the evidence is more inferential. The greatest burden of household air pollution–related premature deaths is in children with pneumonia exposed to biomass smoke. The greatest burden in adults is for cardiovascular disease, but for non-smoking women, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an important cause of disability and death. Household air pollution also contributes to the burden of cataracts, the leading cause of blindness, and lung cancer, especially among women. Research gaps and opportunities for interventions to reduce impacts of biomass smoke on public health are identified.
Initial experience with conivaptan use in critically ill infants with cardiac disease.

OBJECTIVE Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is the primary regulator of free water retention through its interactions with the AVP type 2 receptor (V2). As opposed to the natriuresis and diuresis that occur with loop and thiazide diuretics, conivaptan is an AVP V1A/V2 receptor antagonist, which enhances free water excretion while minimizing sodium loss. We report our preliminary experience with conivaptan to promote diuresis in infants with functional or structural cardiac disease. METHODS A retrospective cohort study was conducted of infants who had received conivaptan from August 2007 to January 2008. A loading dose of conivaptan (0.3-0.6 mg/kg) was followed by a continuous infusion of 0.01-0.02 mg/kg/hr for 24 hours. Sodium, potassium, chloride, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, bicarbonate, and urine output were measured prior to the start of conivaptan and at 24 hours after initiation of the infusion. RESULTS Conivaptan was administered intravenously on 6 occasions to 5 patients with hypervolemic hy...
Cosmetics, diet, and the future

Cosmetics and diet are two new areas of antiaging interest for the dermatologist. Novel delivery systems in the form of nanoparticles may allow the penetration of cosmetic actives into the skin creating new opportunities for active agent efficacy, but possibly also creating safety issues. The best method of introducing active agents into the body is through the oral route. New understandings of diet and how it affects aging are also becoming important in dermatology.
Engineering design thinking: High school students' performance and knowledge

Because design is recognized as a critical element of engineering thinking, it is crucial for educators to discover the most effective methods to teach this problem-solving approach. Results from students' thinking process may shape future teaching methods. This paper explores the differences in design process between high school engineering students and experts. It also examines the differences between high school freshmen and seniors who have taken a series of engineering classes. Fifty-nine high school students from four states were asked to think aloud in a three-hour design challenge that was audio and video recorded and became source data for protocol analysis. Results from previous studies provided expert design performance data for comparisons. Although students and experts spend a substantial amount of time modeling a problem, students spend little time gathering information and in the problem-scoping- stage than experts. Freshmen spend significantly less time brainstorming than seniors and experts. Freshmen and seniors spend little time determining the feasibility of their ideas, evaluating alternative ideas, and making decisions. High school students engage in design thinking with little understanding of the problem from the client's perspective. Students tend to become fixated on a single solution rather than comparing alternatives. By encouraging development of alternative solutions, K-12 engineering education teachers could foster opportunities for critically evaluating solutions against the problem definition to their students.
Dynamic saturation of renormalized droplet in non-dilute sprays

Time dependent renormalized droplet theory is used to examine the dynamic saturation of a test droplet under the effects of the short range collective interaction of neighboring droplets in a non-dilute spray environment. The dynamic saturation behavior of the renormalized droplet during a transient heating is caused by the vapor accumulation and the cooling of the vapor atmosphere of a droplet. The permanent saturation or slow vaporization due to the collective interactions is found to be dependent on the group combustion number, the renormalization number and the characteristics of the environmental spray.
THE ROLE OF NONBONDED INTRAMOLECULAR INTERACTIONS ON MOLECULAR GEOMETRY AND ISOMERISM IN OCTAHEDRAL TITANIUM (IV) COMPLEXES

A stereochemical model based upon the nonbonded interactions of donor atoms in the coordination sphere of a central atom is used to calculate the bond angles in octahedral titanium (IV) complexes o...
Medicine is no longer a man's profession. Or, when the men's club goes coed it's time to change the regs.

The influx of women into medicine during the past two decades has rescued the profession from a serious threat to its quality. Given what women have done for medicine, the time is overdue for the c...
Effects of processing parameters on the surface area of Mn2O3 at elevated temperatures

Abstract Transitional metal oxides are important catalytic components in pollution control applications. High specific surface area (SSA) at elevated temperatures is required. We investigated the processing parameters that are relevant to the surface area of Mn 2 O 3 powders. It was found that a lower precursor concentration and a smaller volume ratio of precursor to ammonium hydroxide could produce powders with high SSA at elevated temperatures.
Examination of uranium and plutonium solution criticality in high-concentration solutions

Abstract It all comes down to physics. This paper describes calculations using the discrete-ordinates codes PARTISN and DANTSYS as well as the stochastic code MCNP and various cross section sets to examine the critical mass of highly enriched uranium and high-grade plutonium solutions in the concentration range of up to a few hundred grams per liter. When considering these solutions, uranium solutions have a slightly smaller critical mass in some concentration regions; a key goal is therefore to discern the underlying reasons for the differences in these solutions’ critical masses. The differences in the critical masses between these two materials are primarily the result of parasitic absorption by Pu-240 in the plutonium solutions. However, even with solutions of pure U-235 and Pu-239 isotopes, the U-235 solutions still have a slightly smaller critical mass than Pu-239 solutions. This possibly counterintuitive result (at least from the non-practitioner’s point of view) is primarily because U-235 is a more efficient neutron producer than Pu-239 in epithermal systems as demonstrated by an analysis of the parameter η . Thus, these results serve as a reminder to the criticality safety community and as a point of interest to those outside of the community to avoid preconceptions when considering criticality safety in solutions of U-235 and Pu-239; these results also provide the criticality safety community with a review of the key parameters that drive neutronic behavior as found in the latest ENDF/B cross section sets and how these results compare to other cross section sets.
Group Theory and the Energy Band Structure of Semiconductors

The purpose of this paper is to present the principles involved in calculating the energy band structures of semiconductors. These calculations can be simplified by the use of group theory, which is a branch of analysis that permits expressing the symmetry properties of crystals in a quantitative manner. Some of the simpler concepts of group theory are explained and then applied to band structure determinations.
Energetics constraint for linear disturbances development

In development of baroclinic disturbances, baroclinity of basic temperature field varies with conversion of available potential energy. The growth rate which depends on the baroclinity varies as well. However, in previous linear theories, the growth rate was considered constant, so development of disturbances was not constrained by energy sources in the linear theories. In terms of energy conservation and conversion in an isolated atmosphere, we may study the variations in the baroclinity and growth rate and draw the corresponding pictures of perturbation developments in the varying environments. The amplification for the most unstable Eady wave is discussed as an example. It will be found that growth of baroclinic perturbations constrained by energy conservation is significantly different from the growth at the initial constant rate after mature stage.
An Empirical Examination of the Dynamic Linkages ofFaith-Based Socially Responsible Investing

A fundamental tenet of the investment management process is portfolio construction to maximize wealth creation through investment in efficient portfolios. Faith-based, socially responsible investments (SRI), on the other hand, place importance on investors’ concern with the religious and faith-based consequences of investment decisions. This study examines dynamic linkages among four major Islamic indexes and their corresponding “conventional” indexes of North America, European Union, Far East, and Pacific nation markets. Contrary to the widely held assumption that faith-based SRI involve a selective portfolio selection process due to faith-based screening, and are likely to have low correlation with the set of counterpart conventional investments, we find evidence of a positive and significant spillover from conventional market indexes on their corresponding faith-based SRI returns. Results from impulse response analysis show that innovations in conventional indexes have significant and positive impact on their corresponding Islamic indexes. Regarding the nature of volatility spillover, we find evidence of a positive and significant spillover from conventional indexes on their corresponding Islamic indexes. We also find evidence of an asymmetric news effects.
Transition from Staff to Faculty in an Academic Library

ABSTRACT The transition from staff to faculty in academic libraries is increasing in possibility due to distance education and Web-based library and information science (LIS) programs. This type of transition is reflected upon within the context of one person's experience and within the broad strokes of information regarding the current employment climate for academic libraries.
Training requirements and retention characteristics of serial list organization by macaque monkeys

This work evaluated the prospect that organizational accounts of the retention of list information by monkeys might be an artifact of familiarity with conditional relationships. Seven sophisticated macaques were trained on four five-item lists. Each acquisition selectively excluded one of the internal conditional pairs of the typical four-problem sequence (AB,BC,CD,DE) that defines a five-item serially ordered list. Then, all possible novel pairings and the trained pairs appeared together in a test. After this, the previously omitted pair was trained and animals were retested. On all tasks, initial tests revealed little organization and much intersubject variability of characteristic choice strategies, but subsequent inclusion of all four conditional pairs always yielded organized serial choice. On both the four-problem tests and in a later retention, errors were directly related to interitem distance between the objects paired on test trials. These results helped to specify the conditions required for demonstration of non-human primate analogs of transitivity, and showed that even sophisticated monkeys organize information in retention only if they know all interitem relationships.
Evaluation of 1.0 mm i.d. column performances on ultra high pressure liquid chromatography instrumentation

The present study focuses on the evaluation of 1.0 mm i.d. (internal diameter) columns on a commercial Ultra-High Pressure system. These systems have been developed specifically to operate columns with small volumes, typically 2.1 mm i.d., by reducing extra-column volume dispersion. The use of columns with smaller i.d. results in a reduced solvent consumption and required sample volume. The evaluation of the columns was carried out with samples containing neutral and pharmaceutical compounds. In isocratic mode, the extra-column volume produced additional band broadening leading to poor performances compared to equivalent 2.1 mm i.d. columns. By increasing the length of the column, the influence of the extra-column bandspreading could be reduced and 75,000 plates were obtained when four columns were coupled. In gradient mode, the effect of the extra-column contribution on efficiency was limited and about 80% of the performance of the 2.1 mm i.d. columns was obtained. Optimum conditions in gradient mode were further investigated by changing flow rate, gradient time and column length. A different approach of the calculation of peak capacity was also considered for the comparison of the influence of these different parameters.
Predictors of smoking cessation from adolescence into young adulthood

Although smoking cigarettes is hazardous to health and cessation has positive health benefits, few smokers are able to successfully quit. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of smoking cessation in a nonclinical sample of 134 male and 190 female, young adult, regular (daily) smokers within a social learning and maturing-out framework. Four waves of prospective, longitudinal data from a community sample followed from adolescence into young adulthood were analyzed. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the effects of differential associations, definitions, differential reinforcement, and changes in adult role status on smoking cessation in young adulthood. Becoming married to a nonsmoker and decreases in the proportion of friends who smoked were significant predictors of cessation. Current smokers and stoppers did not differ significantly in terms of prior intensity of cigarette use or alcohol abuse/dependence. They also did not differ in terms of psychological characteristics, including depression and prior coping use of cigarettes. Social networks were more important than social roles for predicting cessation in young adulthood. Thus, smoking cessation programs should focus on social learning processes.
Melanoma's high C>T mutation rate: is deamination playing a role?

The majority of melanoma mutations are C>T transitions, and most bear UV signatures. However, other process may contribute to the high C>T mutation rate. Okura et al., have demonstrated immunohistochemical evidence of deaminating enzymes, activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) and apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide-like 3B (APOBEC3B) in melanoma. Both have been implicated in cancer. While further validation is necessary, these findings warrant consideration of a role for deamination in melanomagenesis. Deamination primarily drives C>T transitions. Compared with trunk/extremity melanomas, acral melanomas display a significantly higher percentage of 'spontaneous' and 'AID' mutation signature events suggesting deamination may be particularly important in this subgroup.
Why Respect for History and Historical Error Matters

This paper addersses Lawson’s puzzlement about the absence of prediction in William Harvey’s and Marcello Malpighi’s views on capillaries. In addressing the context of that enquiry, it also addresses historiographic versus philosophical models of science, contexts of discovery versus justification, normative versus descriptive interpretations of the nature of science, and the role of simple dichotomies in interpreting scientific methodology – and how all these distinctions may inform science educators.
The role of surgery following incomplete response to high-dose IL-2 (HD IL-2)

Meeting abstracts Surgical resection of metastatic cancer is beneficial in select patients with cancer. HD IL-2 is an FDA approved immunotherapy for the treatment of patients with melanoma or renal cell carcinoma. IL-2 induces a complete response (CR) in 4-10% of patients while an additional 10% of