cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Low bioaccessibility of vitamin D2 from yeast-fortified bread compared to crystalline D2 bread and D3 from fluid milks

The assessment of the efficacy of dietary and supplemental vitamin D tends to be confounded by differences in the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D response between vitamin D2 and vitamin D3. Serum response differences from these vitamers may be due to differences in bioavailability. To address this specifically, the bioaccessibility was assessed for vitamin D2 from breads fortified with UV-treated yeast, and a benchmark against staple vitamin D3 fortified foods including bovine milks and infant formula, as well as crystalline vitamin D2 fortified bread. Fortified foods were subjected to a three-stage static in vitro digestion model, and vitamin D was analyzed by HPLC-MS. Vitamin D bioaccessibility was significantly greater from bovine milks and infant formula (71-85%) than from yeast-fortified sandwich breads (6-7%). Bioaccessibility was not different between whole wheat and white wheat bread (p > 0.05), but was ∼4× lower from yeast-fortified bread than from crystalline vitamin D2 fortified bread (p < 0.05). Intact yeast cells were observed in the digesta of yeast fortified bread. These results indicate that the low bioavailability of yeast D2 in comparison to other vitamin D2 sources is likely due to entrapment within a less digestible yeast matrix and not only to metabolic differences between vitamins D2 and D3.
The application of pattern recognition techniques to a remote sensing problem

Pattern recognition techniques are being applied to the analysis of data gathered from a multiband optical-mechanical scanner mounted on an aerospace platform. The purpose of the system is to provide automated techniques for making surveys of earth resources such as agricultural crop status, forest inventories, bodies of water, etc. This paper describes techniques used in the research including aspects of categorizer design, feature selection algorithms, and other methods suitable for carrying out research in a high data volume environment.
Blind quality assessment of videos using a model of natural scene statistics and motion coherency

We propose a no-reference algorithm for video quality evaluation. The algorithm relies on a natural scene statistics (NSS) model of video DCT coefficients as well as a temporal model of motion coherency. The proposed framework is tested on the LIVE VQA database, and shown to correlate well with human visual judgments of quality.
Functional Carbon Nanotube Substrates for Tissue Engineering Applications

In this paper, we describe nanostructured substrates as suitable and functional platforms for neuron scaffolding. Neurons are electrically excitable mammalian cells that on network formation serve as conduits for information transfer. A vast amount of information is transferred through the cells in the spinal cord via synaptic and gap junctions in the electro-ionic fashion mediated by neutrotransmitters. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are strong, flexible, conduct electrical current and they are biocompatible and non-biodegradable. They can be functionalized with different biomolecules like neuron growth factors and adhesion agents, properties that come useful in formation of neuron hybrids. These properties of the nanotubes make them potentially successful candidates to form prosthetic substrates to guide neurite outgrowth. A combination of microlithography and chemical vapor deposition is used to engineer patterned vertical multiwalled carbon nanotube substrates. These substrates function as scaffolds and are used to demonstrate the formation of directed neuronal networks. Multiple substrate geometries and nanotube heights are fabricated to determine the most suitable combination for understand the cell morphological changes. Changes in the interaction between the cell membrane and the nanotube substrate are visually characterized. Cell viability is determined via calcium staining and different types of nano-structure substrates are also tested for further studies.
Actively-tunable plasmonic metasurfaces using a phase-change material

We demonstrate active tuning of the absorption resonance of a plasmonic metasurface by integrating VO 2 , a phase change material. Thermal switching of the resonance yields shifts close to the metasurface's linewidth.
Evolving Concepts in the Diagnosis and Management of May–Thurner Syndrome

May–Thurner syndrome is a common cause of left lower extremity venous thrombosis resulting from repetitive and dynamic compression of the left common iliac vein by the right common iliac artery, commonly seen in young to middle-aged women. The diagnosis requires high clinical suspicion. Computed tomography venography and magnetic resonance venography depict the extent of venous thrombosis and iliac venous compression in patients with underlying thrombotic and nonthrombotic pathologies, respectively. Contrast venography allows detection of acute and chronic thrombus, associated venous obstruction, and collaterals but is of limited value to evaluate the early venous wall abnormalities. Endovascular ultrasound is highly useful to detect early mural changes and accurately quantify venous narrowing. Endovascular intervention with balloon dilatation and stenting with or without pharmacomechanical thrombectomy followed by long-term anticoagulation is the preferred treatment with excellent technical and clinical outcomes. This review focuses on the current understanding of the pathology, clinical presentation, and endovascular management of May–Thurner syndrome.
Supply Chain Model for Libraries

This chapter first introduces the concept of the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model to academic and research library professionals. It starts with its relationship to Michael Porter's Value Chain Model. It then provides a literature review on the adoption of the Supply Chain Management in the libraries. Finally, this chapter maps the SCOR Level-One Processes into Library high-level Collection Processes. The goal of this chapter is to create a framework based on SCOR for developing the concept of the Supply Chain for Collection Services in later chapters.
Predictors of reentry into the foster care system: Comparison of children with and without previous removal experience

Abstract Foster care reunification is the most common permanency plan for children in care, but it can be a challenging and stressful process for both the child and birth family. In some cases, the family reunification is unsuccessful and requires removal of the child from the home and reentry into care. The current study focuses on two groups: children who have had no previous removal-foster care experience and those who have had previous removal experience. The aims of the present study are to: (1) examine the rate of reentry for children who have no previous removal-foster care experience versus those who have previous removal experience prior to the current episode; (2) measure the period between the time of the reunification and the time of reentry to care for both groups; and (3) identify risk and protective factors correlated with reentry for both groups. The study analyzes secondary data through survival analysis. The sample includes 4642 children exiting from care to reunification between 2010 and 2013, who are followed for 18 months. The rate of reentry for children with previous removal experience was much higher (25% vs. 16%), and the time of highest risk for future reentry was shorter (4 vs. 6 months, after reunification) compared to children without removal experience. Several common risk factors were found for both groups. Child behavior, reunification against agency recommendation, and siblings in care increased the odds of reentry. However, visitation of the family by a case worker post-reunification decreased the risk for reentry. Child welfare administrators and caseworkers should continue to work toward providing care and ensuring that the child and family are fully prepared for reunification. Programs and post reunification services must be targeted and provided to children with previous removal experience.
Investigating the effects of different library preparation protocols on STR sequencing

Abstract Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is transforming the landscape of the Short Tandem Repeat (STR) genotyping. NGS determines the length as well as the sequence of each allele, identifies polymorphisms in the repeat or adjacent DNA regions, allows for a greater degree of multiplexing, and generates Gigabases of reads in a single run. An additional step introduced into the DNA typing process with NGS methods is library preparation. The PCR amplicons of the targeted loci are further purified and modified with adapters and sample specific indices prior to sequencing. In this study, two PCR purification methods were used to cleanup amplification reactions prior to library construction: column-based and bead-based technologies. The influence of different PCR purification protocols on the dropout events was examined.
CAM in Chronic Pain and Palliative Care

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) encompasses diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine. Conventional medicine (also called Western or allopathic medicine) is medicine as practiced by holders of M.D. (medical doctor) and D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and by allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses. The boundaries between CAM and conventional medicine are not absolute, and specific CAM practices may, over time, become widely accepted. Despite the fact that rigorous, well-designed clinical trials for many CAM therapies are often lacking and, therefore, the safety and effectiveness of many CAM therapies are uncertain, CAM use is common, particularly among individuals with chronic pain and advanced illness. This chapter presents evidence regarding selected CAM modalities in the settings of chronic pain and palliative care. The presentation of the evidence is organized according to the following NCCAM-specified categories: (1) mind–body practices, (2) manipulative and body-based practices, (3) manipulation of energy fields, and (4) biologically based therapies. Where sufficient data are available, the evidence is presented in table format. For some modalities, little evidence is available. For these modalities, the existing evidence is described in the text only. Despite many years of CAM practice and common usage, rigorous scientific research on CAM therapies has occurred only relatively recently. CAM research is limited by methodologic and ethical issues. Gaps in research are thus the norm and the current evidence base is insufficient.
Does Patient Adherence to Antidepressant Medication Actually Vary Between Physicians

OBJECTIVE Previous research and improvement efforts have presumed that patients' nonadherence to antidepressant medication reflects physicians' quality of care. We used population-based health records to examine whether adherence to antidepressant medication actually varies between prescribing physicians. METHODS Electronic health records and insurance claims data from 5 integrated health systems in Washington, Idaho, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii, and California were used to identify 150,318 adults starting new episodes of antidepressant treatment for depression between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2012. Early adherence was defined as any refill or dispensing of antidepressant medication in the 180 days following an initial antidepressant prescription. Patient-level demographic and clinical characteristics potentially associated with adherence were identified from health system records. RESULTS Average probability of early adherence was 82% for psychiatrists and 74% for primary care physicians. Among individual physicians, the range of raw or unadjusted early adherence rates (5th to 95th percentiles) was from 33% to 100% for psychiatrists and from 0% to 100% for primary care physicians. After accounting for sampling variation and case mix differences, the range of adjusted early adherence rates (5th to 95th percentiles) was from 72% to 78% for psychiatrists and from 64% to 69% for primary care physicians. CONCLUSIONS After accounting for sampling variation and case mix differences, early adherence to antidepressant medication varies minimally among prescribing physicians. Early discontinuation of antidepressant treatment is not an appropriate measure of individual physician performance, and efforts to improve adherence should emphasize system-level interventions rather than the performance of individual physicians.
Partnering with Foreign Firms: How Do Chinese Managers View the Governance and Importance of Contracts?

It is a widespread perception that the role of contract in Chinese society is limited because obligations often derive from personal relationships. It is not clear how Chinese managers view the governance and importance of contracts when they deal with foreign counterparts in their joint ventures. To addresses this issue, this study proposes and verifies the governance structure and performance implications of interpartner contracts in a setting of international joint ventures (IJVs). Extant research on IJVs has extensively examined IJV performance but inadequately assessed how this performance is influenced by contractual design. Our analysis of 114 sample IJVs in China suggests that the governance structure of an IJV contract includes four dimensions, namely, issue inclusiveness, term specificity, contingency adaptability, and contractual obligatoriness. Each of these dimensions is validated to be important to IJV formation, interpartner cooperation, and process efficiency as perceived by Chinese managers working in IJVs.
Queue Length Distribution of an Unreliable Machine

In this paper, we consider a state-dependent queueing system in which the machine is subject to random breakdowns. Jobs arrive at the system randomly following a Poisson process with state-dependent rates. Service times and repair times are exponentially distributed. The machine may fail to operate with probability depending on the number of jobs completed since the last repair. The main result of this paper is the matrix-geometric solution of the steady-state queue length probability from which many performance measurements such as mean queue length, machine utilization are obtained.
SESH Framework: A Space Exploration Framework for GPU Application and Hardware Codesign

Graphics processing units (GPUs) have become increasingly popular accelerators in supercomputers, and this trend is likely to continue. With its disruptive architecture and a variety of optimization options, it is often desirable to understand the dynamics between potential application transformations and potential hardware features when designing future GPUs for scientific workloads. However, current codesign efforts have been limited to manual investigation of benchmarks on microarchitecture simulators, which is labor-intensive and time-consuming. As a result, system designers can explore only a small portion of the design space. In this paper, we propose SESH framework, a model-driven codesign framework for GPU, that is able to automatically search the design space by simultaneously exploring prospective application and hardware implementations and evaluate potential software-hardware interactions.
The peripheral adrenergic innervation apparatus. I. Intraganglionic and extraganglionic adrenergic ganglion cells.

Adrenergic neurons, studied by the fluorescent method for norepinephrine, are widely distributed throughout the male urinary and seminal tract organs. They occur both within ganglia and outside of ganglia as isolated cells.
Neo-Confucianism and Chinese Business Culture

Neo-Confucianism is sometimes a difficult concept for Westerners to understand. The lack of cultural understanding can inhibit good interpersonal relations and business activity. This paper explains the concept of Neo-Confucianism, as developed by Zhu Xi, and explains how it has shaped current Chinese business practices including such diverse areas as organizational structure, human resource development, guanxi and collectivist action, leadership, personal development, and corporate social responsibility.
The pharmacologic management of multiple myeloma in older adults.

Introduction: Multiple myeloma is a disease predominately affecting older adults. Pivotal to treating older adults is understanding their physiologic differences compared to younger subjects and ho...
Estimated Effects of Early Diuretic Use in Critical Illness

Objectives:To estimate the effects of diuretic use during the first 24 hours of an ICU stay on in-hospital mortality and other clinical outcomes including acute kidney injury and duration of mechanical ventilation.Design:Retrospective cohort study.Setting:Urban, academic medical center.Patients:Adul
The Toxicology Investigators Consortium Case Registry-the 2018 Annual Report

The Toxicology Investigators Consortium (ToxIC) Registry was established by the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) in 2010. The Registry collects data from participating sites with the agreement that all bedside medical toxicology consultation will be entered. The objective of this ninth annual report is to summarize the Registry’s 2018 data and activity with its additional 7043 cases. Cases were identified for inclusion in this report by a query of the ToxIC database for any case entered from 1 January to 31 December 2018. Detailed data was collected from these cases and aggregated to provide information which included demographics, reason for medical toxicology evaluation, agent and agent class, clinical signs and symptoms, treatments and antidotes administered, mortality, and whether life support was withdrawn. A total of 51.5% of cases were female, 48% were male, and 0.6% transgender. Non-opioid analgesics were the most commonly reported agent class, followed by antidepressants and opioids. Acetaminophen was once again the most common agent reported. There were 106 fatalities, comprising 1.5% of all registry cases. Major trends in demographics and exposure characteristics remained similar to past years’ reports. Sub-analyses were conducted to describe exposures in elderly patients, addiction consultation practices, and risk factors for bupropion-induced seizures. The launch of the ToxIC Qualified Clinical Data Registry (TQCDR) is also described.
Multi-Channel LED Driver with Accurate Current Matching for Portable Applications

In this paper, we present a multi-string LED driver based on a current-limiting hysteretic boost converter, which is capable of driving ten LEDs in five parallel strings. An accurate current matching circuit with low voltage headroom requirement is implemented to match currents in all LED strings. Dynamic compensation of the LED forward voltage mismatch between the strings is achieved with the introduction of a minimum voltage selector block. A PFM dimming circuit is designed to operate with a 200 kHz clock and has 11 programmable dimming ratios, ranging from 2:1 to 2048:1. This LED driver is implemented in 0.6-µm CMOS process and operates from a Li-ion battery with a voltage range 3 – 4.2 V. It is suitable for backlight LED displays in mobile devices.
Long-term patient-reported outcomes in men with Peyronie’s disease undergoing nonsurgical and nonintralesional injection management

Peyronie's disease (PD) has a negative impact on overall quality of life for many patients and their partners. There is a significant portion of patients who elect noninvasive therapy and in this scenario we have little data with which to counsel patients. We aim to evaluate long-term patient-reported outcomes in a cohort of men with PD who elected conservative treatment. We identified all males with a diagnosis of PD evaluated at our institution by a single provider between May 2012 and January 2018. We excluded men who were <18 years old or had undergone surgical or intralesional injection (ILI) treatments. A PD-specific questionnaire was sent to those who met our inclusion criteria. 88/514 patients completed the survey and met the inclusion criteria. Penile curvature subjectively improved in 49%, remained stable in 34%, and worsened in 17%. Penile shortening was reported in 89% of patients. Penile shortening subjectively improved in 27%, remained stable in 59%, and worsened in 14%. Roughly 60% reported worsened intercourse satisfaction and erectile function. 60% reported that PD had negatively impacted their self-esteem and 69% felt that PD negatively impacted their sexual partner. Patients who utilized penile traction therapy (PTT) were significantly more likely to report improvements in penile curvature, shortening, and ability to engage in penetrative intercourse. Our survey provides important data on patient-reported outcomes in men with PD electing nonsurgical and non-ILI interventions. Although 49% of men noted at least a mild subjective improvement in their curvature over time, a majority had declining erectile function, decreased intercourse satisfaction, and psychosocial distress. These data can be used when counseling patients with a new diagnosis of PD who are considering treatment options.
Interdependence of Electronic and Thermal Transport in Al x Ga 1–x N Channel HEMTs

Aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are candidates for next-generation power conversion and radio frequency (RF) applications. AlxGa1-xN channel HEMT devices (x = 0.3, x = 0.7) were investigated using multiple in-situ thermal characterization methods and electro-thermal simulation. The thermal conductivity, contact resistivity, and channel mobility were characterized as a function of temperature to understand and compare the heat generation profile and electro-thermal transport within these devices. In contrast to GaN-based HEMTs, the electrical output characteristics of Al0.70Ga0.30 N channel HEMTs exhibit remarkably lower sensitivity to the ambient temperature rise. Also, during 10kHz pulsed operation, the difference in peak temperature between the AlGaN channel HEMTs and GaN HEMTs reduced significantly.
Optimizing Complex OpenCL Code for FPGA: A Case Study on Finite Automata Traversal

While FPGAs have been traditionally considered hard to program, recently there have been efforts aimed to allow the use of high-level programming models and libraries intended for multi-core CPUs and GPUs to program FPGAs. For example, both Intel and Xilinx are now providing toolchains to deploy OpenCL code onto FPGA. However, because the nature of the parallelism offered by GPU and FPGA devices is fundamentally different, OpenCL code optimized for GPU can prove very inefficient on FPGA, in terms of both performance and hardware resource utilization. This paper explores this problem on finite automata traversal. In particular, we consider an OpenCL NFA traversal kernel optimized for GPU but exhibiting FPGA-friendly characteristics, namely: limited memory requirements, lack of synchronization, and SIMD execution. We explore a set of structural code changes, custom and best-practice optimizations to retarget this code to FPGA. We showcase the effect of these optimizations on an Intel Stratix V FPGA board using various NFA topologies from different application domains. Our evaluation shows that, while the resource requirements of the original code exceed the capacity of the FPGA in use, our optimizations lead to significant resource savings and allow the transformed code to fit the FPGA for all considered NFA topologies. In addition, our optimizations lead to speedups up to 4x over an already optimized code-variant aimed to fit the NFA traversal kernel on FPGA. Some of the proposed optimizations can be generalized for other applications and introduced in OpenCL-to-FPGA compiler.
Orang Asli Anecdotal Reflections

Albert Abee worked for the Kemajuan Pahang Tengarra (DARA) as a Developmental Ecologist 1973–1976. He characterizes his approach in familiarizing himself with emerging environmental issues that affected the Orang Asli concurrent to implementation of Malaysian Development Plans (1966–1975). He shares stories of personal observations and encounters he had with the Orang Asli and how such influenced the development of policy affecting the Orang Asli.
Spiritual Life and the Rationalization of Violence: The State Within the State and Evangelical Order in a Venezuelan Prison

This chapter explores inmate rule and religious mediation within a complex power structure that regulates and rationalizes violence inside a Venezuelan prison. It argues that the State seemingly delegated (or relinquished) the internal control of the facility to prisoners. In turn, the “inmate government” delegated certain regulatory and disciplinary functions to the Evangelical community. In this manner, the structural issues of Venezuelan and Latin American penitentiaries intertwine with a very particular context in which, it is argued here, a state-within-the-state instrumentalized religious structures to consolidate its power and regulate violence. The first two sections describe the way in which evangelicals understand/represent the current power structures in the prison, and the relationship between the religious and the secular. The rest explains the economic and social functions fulfilled by the religious sphere in the prison.
What to do When Decompressive Gastrostomies and Jejunostomies are not Options? A Scoping Review of Transesophageal Gastrostomy Tubes for Advanced Malignancies.

In advanced malignant bowel obstruction, decompressive gastrostomy tubes (GTs) may not be feasible due to ascites, peritoneal carcinomatosis, and altered gastric anatomy. Whereas nasogastric tubes (NGTs) allow temporary decompression, percutaneous transesophageal gastrostomy tubes (PTEGs) are an alternative method for long-term palliative decompression. This study performed a scoping review to determine outcomes with PTEG in advanced malignancies. A systematic literature search was performed to include all studies that reported the clinical results of PTEGs for malignancy. No language, national, or publication status restrictions were used. The analysis included 14 relevant studies with a total of 340 patients. In 11 studies, standard PTEGs were inserted with a rupture-free balloon’s placement into the mouth or nose and esophageal puncture under fluoroscopy or ultrasound, followed by a guidewire into the stomach with placement of a single-lumen tube. Of 340 patients, 65 (19.1%) had minor complications, and 5 (2.1%) had significant complications, including bleeding and severe aspiration pneumonia. Of 171 patients, 169 with PTEGs (98.8%) reported relief of nasal discomfort from NGT and alleviation of obstructive symptoms. The one randomized controlled trial reported a significantly higher quality of life with PTEGs than with NGTs. When decompression for advanced malignancy is technically not feasible with a gastrostomy tube, the PTEG is a viable, safe option for palliation. The PTEG is associated with lower significant complication rates than the gastrostomy tube and significantly higher patient-derived outcomes than the NGT.
Observation of an Isotope Shift in the Superconducting Transition Temperature of La 1.85 Sr 0.15 CuO 4

An oxygen isotope shift is observed in superconducting ${\mathrm{La}}_{1.85}$${\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.15}$${\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$ when $^{18}\mathrm{O}$ is substituted partially for $^{16}\mathrm{O}$; the superconducting transition temperature ${T}_{c}$ is lowered by 0.3 to 1.0 K in different samples. We examine these results using conventioanl phonon-mediated BCS theory and conclude that, for ${\mathrm{La}}_{1.85}$${\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.15}$${\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$, phonons play an important role in the pairing mechanism.
Interpreting MHC Disequilibrium

The record of non-random association of alleles between tightly linked loci in a population contains a wealth of information on the recent evolutionary past. Methods for the analysis of disequilibrium are presented and exemplified with application to HLA data.
A comparison of noise models in a hybrid reference spectrum and principal components analysis algorithm for Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy exploits the Raman scattering effect to analyze chemical compounds with the use of laser light. Raman spectra are most commonly analyzed using the ordinary least squares (LS) method. However, LS is known to be sensitive to variability in the spectra of the analyte and background materials. In a previous paper, we addressed this problem by proposing a novel algorithm that models expected variations in the analyte as well as background signals. The method was called the hybrid LS and principal component analysis (HLP) algorithm and used an unweighted Gaussian distribution to model the noise in the measured spectra. In this paper, we show that the noise in fact follows a Poisson distribution and improve the noise model of our hybrid algorithm accordingly. We also approximate the Poisson noise model by a weighted Gaussian noise model, which enables the use of a more efficient solver algorithm. To reflect the generalization of the noise model, we from hereon call the method the hybrid reference spectrum and principal components analysis (HRP) algorithm. We compare the performance of LS and HRP with the unweighted Gaussian (HRP-G), Poisson (HRP-P), and weighted Gaussian (HRP-WG) noise models. Our experiments use both simulated data and experimental data acquired from a serial dilution of Raman-enhanced gold-silica nanoparticles placed on an excised pig colon. When the only signal variability was zero-mean random noise (as examined using simulated data), HRP-P consistently outperformed HRP-G and HRP-WG, with the latter coming in as a close second. Note that in this scenario, LS and HRP-G were equivalent. In the presence of random noise as well as variations in the mean component spectra, the three HRP algorithms significantly outperformed LS, but performed similarly among themselves. This indicates that, in the presence of significant variations in the mean component spectra, modeling such variations is more important than optimizing the noise model. It also suggests that for real data, HRP-WG provides a desirable trade-off between noise model accuracy and computational speed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Sliding Mode Control with Chattering Reduction

In variable structure control algorithms, sliding mode plays a key role in desensitizing the closed loop system with respect to parameter variations, in rejecting unknown disturbances, and in reducing the systems dynamics to a prescribed lower dimension manifold on which desirable dynamic behavior of the plant is attained. In its original theoretical developement, sliding mode corresponds to a special class of system trajectories which is produced by a certain control action that is discontinuous on a switching manifold [1]. However, in the presence of switching nonidealities, such as delays and time lags, the discontinuity in the control variables may excite umodeled fast dynamics in the plant, thus producing unacceptable system dynamic behavior which is commonly referred to as chattering phenomenon. Presently, two approaches have been proposed to reduce chattering. The first one is the use of continuous approximation in the boundary layer [2, 3, 4]. This approach replaces the switching function in the discontinuous control by a continuous approximation in the vicinity of the switching manifold. However, although chattering can be removed, the robustness of sliding mode is comprimised. The second approach utilizes a localization of high frequency phenomenon [5]- it introduces a discontinous control loop which is closed through an asymptotic observer of the plant. Since the model imperfections of the observer are supposedly smaller than that in the plant, and the control is discontinuous only with respect to the observer, chattering is localized to a high frequency loop which bypasses the plant.
Benefit allocation after the merger of electricity markets

The restructuring of the power industry has the objective of increasing the industry's efficiency. The increases in efficiency sometimes have not been realized to the extent possible due to the opposition of some stakeholders to the merger of electricity markets. A clear example is the failed attempt to merge the PJM, NYISO and ISO-NE markets in 2001-2002. In this paper, we propose and investigate a benefit allocation scheme based on cooperative game theory that allows each player to benefit from the merger. The scheme is a temporary solution useful in the transition from the separate markets to the merged market. An illustrative example is provided.
A hypothetical, aetiological relationship between the horse's bit, nasopharyngeal asphyxia and negative pressure pulmonary oedema

Summary Tentative explanations for the aetiology of soft palate instability and dorsal displacement at exercise are based on the proposition that it is caused by one or more, as yet unidentified, neuromuscular or inflammatory diseases. As judged by reviews, none of the treatments based on these assumptions are entirely satisfactory. Most researchers agree that their cause is unknown. In 1999, Cook proposed that they were caused by the bit breaking what should be an airtight lip seal. The present article describes a development of this hypothesis – loss of oral compartment subatmospheric pressure. The feral horse is an obligate nose-breather and runs with a closed mouth and no air in the oral cavity and oropharynx. Evacuation of air from these compartments is proposed as the primary mechanism, strengthened by the cohesive force of surface tension, whereby the soft palate resists the elevating force of negative pressure on inspiration. It is suggested that subatmospheric pressure in the oral compartment is generated by a single swallow before running. Poll extension supplements the rigidity of the nasopharyngeal tube and reinforces the ostium intrapharyngium seal. In the domesticated horse, the lip seal is broken by a bit and bit-induced poll flexion, jaw and tongue movement often breaks the ostium seal. Oral atmospheric pressure is proposed as the mechanism for nasopharyngeal asphyxia. It is considered that negative pressure pulmonary oedema – currently known as exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage and conventionally thought to be a separate problem – is one of its clinical signs. It is suggested that the bit is the most common cause of nasopharyngeal asphyxia and that this, in turn, results in a cascade of dynamic obstructions in the larynx and cervical trachea, leading ultimately to pulmonary oedema and ‘bleeding.’ It is concluded that these are sequelae to rules in many disciplines that mandate bit usage.
Electron microscopic study of the development of heart muscle of the frog Rana pipiens.

The development of heart muscle of the frog Rana pipiens , from very early embryonic stages to the adult, has been studied with the electron microscope. Thin and thick myofilaments were found to form simultaneously. They were usually accompanied by the presence of cross-bridges between them. A- and I-bands were also formed at the same time. The appearance of Z-lines then followed. Intercalated lines were seen to develop from tight junctions of the heart primordial cells; they appear to serve as points of attachment for the developing myofibrils. The development of heart muscle in the frog embryos was found to associate very closely with the distribution of ribosomes and the utilization of yolk in the heart cells. The sequence of muscle development and the possible role of yolk platelets in the development of frog heart muscle were discussed.
The relationship between cannabis use and DSM-IV cannabis abuse and dependence: results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey.

The purpose of-this study was to determine the risk of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders--Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) cannabis abuse and dependence at different levels of cannabis use in a nationally representative sample of the U.S. general population. Two separate logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between cannabis use, and abuse and dependence. The risk of cannabis abuse and dependence was found to increase with the frequency of smoking occasions and slightly decreased with age. More severe comorbidity was associated with dependence compared to abuse, suggesting that cannabis might be used to self-medicate major depression. The strength of the association between cannabis use and abuse was also increased as a function of the number of joints smoked among females, but not males. These results were discussed in terms of differential societal reactions, the self-medication hypothesis, and gender biases in diagnosing cannabis abuse.
Heifer Development: Reproduction and Nutrition

The nutritional development of heifers from birth to the time they become pregnant with their second calf is a critical component of cowherd management. Veterinarians can use targeted body weights and condition scores to monitor progress and gauge future reproductive success throughout heifer development. Meeting Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle recommendations for net energy and metabolizable protein is the single most successful strategy for maximizing reproductive performance from birth through the second pregnancy. Supplementation with fat, minerals, and additional undegraded intake protein has not been consistently reported to enhance the reproductive function of heifers.
Preparation and structures of homoleptic Pu(III) and U(III) acetonitrile salts

Nine-coordinate homoleptic acetonitrile solvate complexes of Pu(III) and U(III) ions have been prepared through oxidation of Pu metal suspended in acetonitrile with metal-hexafluorophosphate salts and dissolution of UI3(THF)4 in acetonitrile, respectively.
Should men who have ever had sex with men be allowed to give blood? Yes.

Bob Roehr (doi:10.1136/bmj.b311) says that the current ban on blood donations from gay men is not supported by evidence, but Jay P Brooks says that the risk of transmission of infection is too great
Building teacher identity with urban youth: Voices of beginning middle school science teachers in an alternative certification program

Teacher identity development and change is shaped by the interrelationship between personal biography and experience and professional knowledge linked to the teaching environment, students, subject matter, and culture of the school. Working from this framework, this study examines how beginning teacher interns who are part of an alternative route to teacher certification construct a professional identity as science educators in response to the needs and interests of urban youth. From the teacher interns, we learn that crafting a professional identity as a middle-level science teacher involves creating a culture around science instruction driven by imagining “what can be,” essentially a vision for a quality and inclusive science curriculum implicating science content, teaching methods, and relationships with their students. The study has important implications for the preparation of a stronger and more diverse teaching force able to provide effective and inclusive science education for all youth. It also suggests the need for greater attention to personal and professional experience and perceptions as critical to the development of a meaningful teacher practice in science. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 1044–1062, 2004
Virus particles in “normal” chick embryos

Virus-like particles have been accidentally discovered, by means of the electron microscope, in an aorta and a liver obtained from two “normal” chick embryos. Because of their typical morphology, these particles are assumed to belong to the group of chicken tumor viruses. They measure about 80–110 mμ in diameter and contain a dense nucleoid. Their shape is probably polyhedral rather than spheroidal. In the aorta, all but three particles are located extracellularly within the spaces taken up by the young connective tissue fibers (collagen and elastin); the three intracellular particles are contained within vacuoles. In the liver, all particles are found extracellularly within the lumina of what are considered to be small bile canaliculi. The fact that many virus particles occur in pairs might suggest that at least some of them undergo a division. This hypothesis is supported by the discovery of one particle containing two nucleoids. The extracellular location of nearly all particles indicates that at least in these chick embryos the extracellular milieu is favorable for the survival of the virus. The cells of the “infected” tissues appear “normal” cytologically. This interesting fact deserves further study since its significance is not understood at the present time.
Fabrication and testing of chemically micromachined silicon echelle gratings.

We have fabricated large, coarsely ruled, echelle patterns on silicon wafers by using photolithography and chemical-etching techniques. The grating patterns consist of 142-µm-wide, V-shaped grooves with an opening angle of 70.6°, blazed at 54.7°. We present a detailed description of our grating-fabrication techniques and the results of extensive testing. We have measured peak diffraction efficiencies of 70% at λ = 632.8 nm and conclude that the gratings produced by our method are of sufficient quality for use in high-resolution spectrographs in the visible and near IR (λ ≃ 500–5000 nm).
Photodegradation of the Lampricide 3-Trifluoromethyl-4-Nitrophenol (TFM) 1. Pathway of the Direct Photolysis in Solution

Abstract Solutions of TFM (3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol) in distilled and in two Lake Ontario tributary stream waters were exposed to spring and fall natural sunlight in Pyrex glass containers. TFM degraded in the natural stream waters with a half-life of about 3 days. The principle identified photoproduct is shown to be gentisic acid (2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid). A second major photoproduct is believed to be a condensation product of TFM and gentisic acid (molecular weight 371). Structures based on mass spectra are proposed for four other photoproducts. A photolysis pathway is proposed in which the primary degrdation route leads to polymeric, humic acid-like material.
Nanotechnology and Cyberinfrastructure: The nanoHUB Experience

The Network for Computational Nanotechnology supports the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative through a unique science gateway, nanoHUB.org. This presentation describes the nanoHUB and discusses the impact that cyberinfrastructure is having on research, education, and outreach.
Efficient one-copy MPI shared memory communication in Virtual Machines

Efficient intra-node shared memory communication is important for high performance computing (HPC), especially with the emergence of multi-core architectures. As clusters continue to grow in size and complexity, the use of virtual machine (VM) technologies has been suggested to ease the increasing number of management issues. As demonstrated by earlier research, shared memory communication must be optimized for VMs to attain the native-level performance required by HPC centers. In this paper, we enhance intra-node shared memory communication for VM environments. We propose a one-copy approach. Instead of following the traditional approach used in most MPI implementations, copying data in and out of a pre-allocated shared memory region, our approach dynamically maps user buffers between VMs, allowing data to be directly copied to its destination. We also propose a grant/mapping cache to reduce expensive buffer mapping cost in VM environment. We integrate this approach into MVAPICH2, our implementation of MPI-2 library. For intra-node communication, we are able to reduce the large message latency in VM-based environments by up to 35%, and increase bandwidth by up to 38% even as compared with unmodified MVAPICH2 running in a native environment. Evaluation with the NAS Parallel Benchmarks suite shows up to 15% improvement.
What catches a radiologist's eye? A comprehensive comparison of feature types for saliency prediction

Experienced radiologists are in short supply, and are sometimes called upon to read many images in a short amount of time. This leaves them with a limited amount of time to read images, and can lead to fatigue and stress which can be sources of error, as they overlook subtle abnormalities that they otherwise might not miss. Another factor in error rates is called satisfaction of search, where a radiologist misses a second (typically subtle) abnormality after finding the first. These types of errors are due primarily to a lack of attention to an important region of the image during the search. In this paper we discuss the use of eye tracker technology, in combination with image analysis and machine learning techniques, to learn what types of features catch the eye experienced radiologists when reading chest x-rays for diagnostic purposes, and to then use that information to produce saliency maps that predict what regions of each image might be most interesting to radiologists. We found that, out of 13 popular features types that are widely extracted to characterize images, 4 are particularly useful for this task: (1) Localized Edge Orientation Histograms (2) Haar Wavelets, (3) Gabor Filters, and (4) Steerable Filters.
Interactive effects of MK-801 and morphine on EEG, EEG power spectra and behavior in rats: I. Morphine tolerance development

Abstract This study investigated a potential interaction between MK-801 and morphine tolerance using electroencephalography (EEG), EEG spectral parameters and behavior in the rat. Rats were treated for 7 days with morphine alone or with morphine and MK-801. Control groups receive chronic MK-801 alone or saline. On day 8 all rats received morphine alone. Co-treatment significantly accelerated the development of tolerance to morphine-induced total power and latency to sleep onset. Co-treatment, but not morphine alone, produced tolerance to morphine-induced complexity and edge frequency, and produced tolerance equal to that from morphine alone in duration of EEG bursting. MK-801 co-treatment decreased, where chronic morphine alone increased, the excitatory response to morphine. Our results support recent reports that chronic morphine treatment produces supersensitivity to glutamate in the rat cortex and alteration in mesolimbic dopamine levels that are modulated by glutamatergic activity.
A note on a result of Zolotarev and Bernstein

In this note we obtain error bounds to τx2n+1−σx2n on [−1, 1] by polynomials of degree at most (2n−1). The result proved here improves and extends some of the known results of Zolotarev and Bernstein. The proof presented here is different (and simple) from the one adopted by Zolotarev and Bernstein.
Endoscopist-Directed Propofol.

This is a review of basic principles applicable to the use of propofol by trained endoscopists and nurses for endoscopy, without the involvement of an anesthesia specialist (an anesthesiologist or certified registered nurse anesthetist). The review also explicitly describes the nature of the current controversy surrounding the use of propofol by endoscopists, implies its origins in financial incentives, and outlines obstacles to the use of endoscopist-directed propofol.