cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Yard Crane Scheduling for container storage, retrieval, and relocation

Abstract This paper introduces a novel optimization problem resulting from the combination of two major existing problems arising at storage yards in container terminals. The Yard Crane Scheduling Problem is typically concerned with routing the crane given a sequence of storage and retrieval requests to perform, while the Container Relocation Problem tackles the minimization of relocations when retrieving containers in a simpler setting. This paper is the first to consider a model that integrates these two problems by scheduling storage, retrieval and relocations requests and deciding on storage and relocation positions. We formulate this problem as an integer program that jointly optimizes current crane travel time and future relocations. Based on the structure of the proposed formulation and the linear programming relaxation of subproblems, we propose a heuristic local search scheme. Finally, we show the value of our solutions on both simulated instances as well as real data from a port terminal.
Biofeedback and Psychotherapy

In several recent case reports (Abdullah, 1973; Toomin & Toomin, 1975; Werbach, 1977), biofeedback procedures have been proposed as potential adjuncts to psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy. The biofeedback procedures used in these case studies are drastically different from the procedures described in other sections of this review, and it has been recently noted that there seems to be little actual biofeedback training involved (Blanchard & Epstein, 1977).
GPU acceleration of RSA is vulnerable to side-channel timing attacks

The RSA algorithm [21] is a public-key cipher widely used in digital signatures and Internet protocols, including the Security Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS). RSA entails excessive computational complexity compared with symmetric ciphers. For scenarios where an Internet domain is handling a large number of SSL connections and generating digital signatures for a large number of files, the amount of RSA computation becomes a major performance bottleneck. With the advent of general-purpose GPUs, the performance of RSA has been improved significantly by exploiting parallel computing on a GPU [9], [18], [23], [26], leveraging the Single Instruction Multiple Thread (SIMT) model.
Abstract P279: Regulation Of H 2 S Production By Cystathionine Gamma-lyase In Endothelial Cells.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is the most recently described endothelium-derived vasodilator. In the endothelium, H2S is predominantly produced by cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE). We and others have previousl...
The time course of atherosclerotic lesion regression in macaque monkeys

Nine two-year regression experiments, seven utilizing rhesus monkeys and two using cynomolgus monkeys, have been conducted. Induction of lesions was carried out with a mixture of coconut oil and butterfat in five experiments, and with peanut oil in four experiments, all with 2% cholesterol in the ration. The study plan consisted of one year of lesion induction and one year of intervention with diet alone or with diet plus serum lipid lowering drugs or with a combination of drugs.
Seeds of change: How current structure shapes the type and timing of reorganizations

Author(s): Raveendran, M | Abstract: Research Summary: This article develops theory on how an organization's structure affects future reorganizations. I highlight that a firm's structure shapes not only the locus of decision-making power (i.e., centralization and decentralization) but also the employees' interaction structure. I develop microlevel theory that connects the firm's structure to the interactions among its employees—for instance, its influence on the time employees spend adjusting their behavior after a reorganization. This theory predicts that some structures are more likely than others to promote a reorganization to occur sooner. I use a unique, hand-collected data set of reorganizations in the cell-phone manufacturing industry to test and find directional support for this theory. Managerial Summary: I examine the effect of a firm's current structure on its corporate reorganization decisions, which are defined as the addition and/or removal of business units. I posit that the way employees are grouped into those business units may affect both the type and timing of subsequent reorganizations; the reason is that employees of similar (resp. different) backgrounds should need less (resp. more) time to achieve effective collaboration. Using data on the reorganizations of cell-phone manufacturing firms during 1983–2008, I find directional support for the theory. This result implies that managers may need to watch closely any reorganization that shifts the firm toward more heterogeneous interaction structures—because its implementation may well require additional time.
Balancing clinical capacity with learner numbers.

Background The number of learners in clinical settings is increasing as health professions schools increase enrollment in order to develop the future workforce. Too many learners in clinics and hospital wards could create overcrowded conditions and diminish patient and learner experiences. Based on data gathered from a literature review, we identified challenges and solutions to address the increasing numbers of learners in clinical settings. Results Health care provider workload, physical environment and clinical culture were challenges identified from the literature review. These identified constraints were corroborated by learner and expert reflections on their experiences. Conclusion As the need for more health care providers increases, the number of learners in clinical settings poses a challenge. Innovative models to deliver care, an increasing role for learners, strategic patient scheduling and redesigning workspaces may mitigate problems. The recommendations suggested from this review may offer solutions that individual preceptors and organisations can implement.
The Violence of Meat: Titus Andronicus, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Fate of the Animal

Titus Andronicus, a grotesquely gory early Shakespeare tragedy, prefigures The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (dir. Tobe Hooper, 1974) with disturbing appropriateness. Aside from in the parallels of the depraved family as horrid aggressor and victim in both texts, the patriarchal clan in Texas and Rome perpetrates and suffers crimes of dismemberment as a sign of being consumed and socioeconomically “cut off.” Hooper’s seminal work and Shakespeare’s first tragedy both indirectly but crucially engage with an ecology of animal welfare as the tragic source: animal slaughter haunts the violence in the works. The depredations compel philosophical and political meditation about the vanishing line between human and animal.
Essential and Neglected: Transforming Classroom Learning through Relationship

ABSTRACTFeatures of the academic context of social work education threaten the loss of traditional educational attention to relational capacity, an indispensable condition for all forms of social w...
Cause of Death and Sudden Cardiac Death After Heart Transplantation

Postmortem findings in 39 patients following cardiac transplantation are presented. Causes of death were right-sided heart failure after transplantation (6 [15%]), infection (5 [13%]), multisystem organ failure (4 [10%]), complications of noncardiac surgery (3 [8%]), acute rejection (3 [8%]), malignant neoplasm (3 [8%]), graft vascular disease (3 [8%]), preservation procurement injury (3 [8%]), cardiac arrhythmia (2 [5%]), other (4 [10%]), and unclear (3 [8%]). Seven patients in medically stable condition died after a sudden cardiac arrest, and these constituted 27% (7/26) of deaths more than 1 month after transplant. The 7 sudden cardiac arrests were due to graft vascular disease (2 [29%]), acute rejection (2 [29%]), cardiac arrhythmias (2 [29%]), and hyperkalemia during an exacerbation of acute renal failure (1 [14%]). In 3 of the 5 patients who died of sudden cardiac arrest not due to acute rejection, hemodialysis and plasmapheresis were triggers of the event. Pulmonary hypertensive arteriopathy was associated with early death and right-sided heart failure, and 6 of 8 patients with these changes died perioperatively or postoperatively.
Gender-responsive practice and pregnant girls: A scoping review of America’s girls courts

Abstract The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act was first established in 1974; however, it was not until its reauthorization in 1992 that juvenile justice programs were required to incorporate gender specific programming. No specific instructions were given on how to incorporate this programming into juvenile justice programs. One-way juvenile justice programs have chosen to incorporate more gender responsive programming is through the implementation of Girls’ Courts. These courts are designed to provide comprehensive programming to address girls’ differing life experiences, traumas, as well as their psychological, developmental, and social needs. This scoping review identifies Girls Court’s currently practicing in the U.S. and identifies any available information about their programming, including what is available to pregnant and parenting girls, and outcomes. There are currently eight operating Girls’ Courts throughout the U.S. Of those eight courts, only three mention specific services offered to pregnant and parenting girls, and only four have reports of program outcomes. Future research should further examine outcomes and efficacy of these programs, as well as ways to incorporate more comprehensive pregnancy and parenting programs for justice involved girls.
The role of neighborhood stressors on cognitive function: A coordinated analysis.

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between perceived neighborhood stressors, encompassing negative perceived neighborhood characteristics, and specific cognitive abilities in adulthood. We conducted a coordinated analysis across three studies of adults in the United States and found that perceived neighborhood stressors were consistently associated with poorer performance on attention-demanding cognitive tasks. We specifically found that perceived neighborhood stressors were associated with lower performance in spatial abilities, working memory, and executive function but not perceptual speed, and that the effect was most consistent for lower perceived neighborhood safety followed by lower perceived aesthetic quality, greater perceived neighborhood crime, and lower perceived neighborhood cohesion. These results highlight the importance of the psychosocial neighborhood context for cognitive health in adulthood.
Meeting graduate student needs: an exploration of disciplinary differences

To better engage our graduate students, we asked them to describe their research strategy and challenges, helpful research support services, and their preferred venue for learning research skills. ...
Contrasting fates of nitrate between organic and iron oxide-rich horizons of an acidic forest soil under oxic and suboxic conditions

Abstract Elevated inputs of reactive nitrogen (Nr) have large and often detrimental effects on the environment and the magnitude and type of effects depend on the fate of Nr, such as water (NO3−) and air (N2O) pollution. Research has shown that soils are the primary sink of Nr in temperate forest ecosystems. Redox conditions, in conjunction with soil composition, stand to have an important but poorly constrained impact on the fate of this reactive N. In this study, we used tracer-level additions to contrast the fate of 15N–NO3- in organic (Oa) and in iron oxide-rich mineral (B) horizons under oxic and suboxic conditions. We performed stirred-jar laboratory incubations (up to 26 days) using soils from an acidic mixed-hardwood forest. We followed the fate of the tracer N into soil and solution pools (dissolved organic matter, NO3−, and NH4+), and also monitored solution concentrations of redox-sensitive species (NO2−, Fe2+, Fe3+, Mn). At the end of the incubations, ~3–7 times more tracer was recovered in soil material from the highly organic Oa horizon (57 ± 3% for oxic conditions and 73 ± 3% for suboxic) than in soil material from the organic-poor mineral B horizon (20 ± 5% for oxic, and 9 ± 2% for suboxic). For the B horizon, some 15N–NO3- remained in solution (29 ± 13%) under oxic conditions, while none remained under suboxic conditions (0.2 ± 0.02%); the main fate of 15N–NO3- went unrecovered, presumably due to gaseous losses, with more lost under suboxic (86 ± 3%) than oxic (47 ± 7%) conditions. Apparent gaseous losses were substantial in the Oa horizons as well, amounting to 35 ± 3% (oxic) and 12 ± 4% (suboxic) of tracer additions. Transformation rates of 15N–NO3- were greater under suboxic conditions for both horizon soil materials. Under both redox conditions retention was reaction rate limited in Oa horizon material and capacity limited in B horizon material. Our results indicate that in these acidic soils organic matter (OM) drives retention of nitrate in soil under both oxic and suboxic conditions, likely also accompanied by microbial denitrification; while lack of OM in iron oxide-rich mineral soils leaves nitrate available for other fates, with especially large gaseous loss in suboxic conditions. Mechanistically, it is likely that reduction of NO3− to NO2− is largely biotically driven, while subsequent reactions of NO2− are competitive between retention (nitrosation and microbial immobilization) and gasification (denitrification, chemodenitrification, self-decomposition) reactions. Both soil characteristics and redox conditions are critical determinants of NO3− fate in temperate forest ecosystems.
A Case Report of Life-Threatening Hemopneumothorax as a Result of Spinal Manipulation Performed by Chiropractor.

Chiropractic is a very popular alternative medicine practice in the United States. Despite that, this practice has been associated with several complications raising concerns for its safety. We report the case of an otherwise healthy 36-years-old, tall and thin male who presented with sudden onset shortness of breath associated with chest pain two days after chiropractic spinal manipulation. Chest imaging revealed left-sided hemopneumothorax required treatment with left-sided chest tube placement. Patients with a high risk of developing primary or secondary pneumothorax should consider avoiding chiropractic chest or spinal manipulations due to possible complications.
Future Upgrades for the PHENIX Experiment at RHIC: From PHENIX to sPHENIX and Beyond

Abstract A series of major upgrades are being planned for the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to enable a comprehensive measurement of jets and quarkonia in relativistic heavy ion collisions in order to study the phase transition of normal nuclear matter to the Quark Gluon Plasma near its critical temperature. These upgrades will include a number of major new detector systems. The former BaBar solenoid magnet will be incorporated in the first stage, sPHENIX. Further upgrades will include two new large calorimeters. In the following these upgrades and their requirements are being presented.
Building Special Education Teacher Capacity in Rural Schools: Impact of a Grow Your Own Program

Rural education has a legacy of unique challenges, with highest priority needs in the South. Chief among these challenges are the conditions of poverty associated with many rural districts and the ...
Boundary Stabilizability for Diffusion Processes

In [N1] T. Nambu studied the problem described below of boundary stabilizability for a particular class of diffusion processes (Eq (1.2)). The aim of the present paper is to show that a different approach — more on the soft analysis side than in Nambu’s work — yields for particularly convenient choices of the sought after vectors gk, much stronger results (in fact, the best results one can hope for) in a quicker way and for the most general class of parabolic systems. Nambu confined himself to the canonical self adjoint case involving the Laplacian and made use of the natural basis of eigenvectors; here we shall consider instead the general case involving uniformly strongly elliptic operators, where a basis of eigenvectors need not exist.
Mining the neural code of a guinea pig auditory cortex

One primary objective of mining the brain is to learn the inner workings of the mind and how external events become internal perceptions. But to mine the brain also means to mine the continuous network of neural signals that transcend across billions of its neurons. Advances in the past several decades in computational neuroscience have provided fundamental clues into understanding brain processes in relation to memory, movement, and sensory perception. We analyze the responses of a population of neurons recorded simultaneously in guinea pig auditory cortex while various sound stimuli are presented in the free field. By mining the responses of auditory neurons in the awake animal to different acoustic stimuli, we hope to address a few key questions. 1) Do the neurons respond in specific ways to particular features of the stimuli? 2) Is there a clear relation between groups of neurons and a specific sound stimulus? 3) How many neurons are needed to decode the stimuli? 4) What are the optimum algorithms to interpret the neural responses? 5) How much pre-processing is necessary to account for missing data, noise, and high levels of variability of neural responses even to similar stimuli? We first introduce techniques that are used to transform the original data set from spike times to identifiable signal waveforms for discrimination analysis. We then demonstrate the level of complexity of the problem by providing results obtained with template matching. Finally, the self-organizing map (SOM) is described as a promising technique that extracts the most relevant information from the complex data set.
Neonatal handling (resilience) attenuates water-avoidance stress induced enhancement of chronic mechanical hyperalgesia in the rat.

Chronic stress is well known to exacerbate pain. We tested the hypothesis that neonatal handling, which induces resilience to the negative impact of stress by increasing the quality and quantity of maternal care, attenuates the mechanical hyperalgesia produced by water-avoidance stress in the adult rat. Neonatal male rats underwent the handling protocol on postnatal days 2–9, weaned at 21 days and tested for muscle mechanical nociceptive threshold at postnatal days 50–75. Decrease in mechanical nociceptive threshold in skeletal muscle in adult rats, produced by exposure to water-avoidance stress, was significantly attenuated by neonatal handling. Neonatal handling also attenuated the mechanical hyperalgesia produced by intramuscular administration of the pronociceptive inflammatory mediator, prostaglandin E2 in rats exposed as adults to water-avoidance stress. Neonatal handling, which induces a smaller corticosterone response in adult rats exposed to a stressor as well as changes in central nervous system neurotransmitter systems, attenuates mechanical hyperalgesia produced by water-avoidance stress and enhanced prostaglandin hyperalgesia in adult animals.
Metal-carbon interactions in organogallium and organoindium compounds. A13 C NMR and 69,71Ga and 115In NQR study

Abstract The interaction between variously substituted phenyl groups and gallium and indium has been examined by 69,71 Ga and 115 In NQR spectroscopy and 13 C NMR spectroscopy. Four separate correlations involving either the 13 C shieldings alone or the NMR and NQR data combined indicate the dominance of inductive transmission of substituent character to the metal via the σ-bond framework. This finding is to be contrasted with competitive inductive and resonance transmission mechanisms found to be present in the formally isoelectronic triphenylcarbonium ion, (C 6 H 5 ) 3 C + . Reasons for the anomalous behavior of the methoxy substituent in both the NQR and the NMR spectra are discussed. The effects on the metal of a common substituent in the ortho, meta and para positions are in line with the trends found in the analogous arsenic and antimony compounds. The NQR spectrum of 35 Cl as a function of its position on the ring is also in accordance with previous observations. The lack of strong resonance interaction between the phenyl ring and the group IIIB metal is in accord with the notion that p  p π-interaction between second row elements and elements in lower rows is small. By the same token, the importance of p  π-bonding must also be small in these compounds.
THYROID DYSFUNCTION AND THYROXINE-DEPENDENT PROGRAMMING OF PHOTOINDUCED OVARIAN GROWTH IN AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS (SPIZELLA ARBOREA)

The time course of thyroid dysfunction after injecting 0.30 mCi Na131I was charted in female American tree sparrows (Spizella arborea) transferred to long days on Day 0 and challenged with 30 micrograms bovine thyroid-stimulating hormone on Postinjection Days 4, 7, 46, and 105. Serum T4 (L-thyroxine) was not detectable in thyroidectomized birds, indicating complete thyroid dysfunction by Day 4 and no restoration of thyroid function by Day 105. By contrast, serum T4 concentrations in similarly challenged thyroid-intact controls greatly exceeded assay sensitivity. To determine whether a single injection of T4 can program thyroidectomized female tree sparrows for seasonal reproduction and postnuptial molt, as it can thyroidectomized male tree sparrows, thyroidectomized females were injected with T4 (100 micrograms) or alkaline vehicle (V) either on the first day of photostimulation or 1 week before photostimulation (during which time injected T4 likely was cleared metabolically). Females injected with T4 on the first day of photostimulation showed robust ovarian growth similar to that reported for photostimulated euthyroid females. Both groups of V-injected females, as well as females injected with T4 1 week before photostimulation, showed slow, but reliable, ovarian growth, indicating that thyroidectomized birds can detect an increase in day length. When birds were moved at Week 7.5 or 9 to constant light and given T4 in drinking water (a qualitative assay for absolute photorefractoriness), only one tested photorefractory and molted. The remaining birds, including those injected with T4 1 week before photostimulation and both groups of V-injected controls, tested photosensitive and did not molt. Taken together, these results indicate that T4, or one of its metabolites, programs thyroidectomized female tree sparrows for ovarian growth early during photostimulation. A single T4 injection (100 micrograms) on the first day of photostimulation usually also programs thyroidectomized male tree sparrows for photorefractoriness and molt. Such an injection is far less effective in programming females for these two late-season events.
Optimal-time incremental semantic analysis for syntax-directed editors

Attribute grammars permit the specification of static semantics in an applicative and modular fashion, and thus are a good basis for syntax-directed editors. Such editors represent programs as attributed trees, which are modified by operations such as subtree pruning and grafting. After each modification, a subset of attributes, AFFECTED, requires new values. Membership in AFFECTED is not known a priori; this paper presents an algorithm that identifies attributes in AFFECTED and computes their new values. The algorithm is time-optimal, its cost is proportional to the size of AFFECTED.
Development of a Networked Haptic Environment in VR to Facilitate Collaborative Design Using Voxmap Pointshell (VPS) Software

A networked virtual environment is a hardware and software system where people who are geographically dispersed over the world can interact with each other by sharing space, presence, and time [1]. The goal of the work presented here is to develop methods to facilitate the use of force feedback, or haptic, devices within a networked virtual environment. Our research aims at investigating and constructing a networked haptic environment (NHE) over a non-dedicated channel for multiple users. The NHE consists of a local network between each haptic device and each virtual environment, as well as a global network linking all of the virtual environments. Position synchronization throughout the global network is accomplished using “Released-but-not-released” method (RNR) which allows computers with different performance capabilities to participate in the network without users experiencing inaccurate object motions. The networked virtual assembly application has been demonstrated using several haptic devices and several virtual environments, without a limitation on number of users or complexity of input models. Performance measures are examined and future work is outlined.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Mother–offspring recognition in communally nesting degus, Octodon degus

Evolutionary theory predicts that mothers will direct care preferentially to their own offspring. This may be difficult when mothers nest communally, as occurs with degus, a social South American rodent. We used an olfactory habituation–discrimination technique to determine whether co-nesting mothers could discriminate among the odours of young that differed with respect to relatedness (a mother's own offspring or not), familiarity (a mother and pup did or did not occupy the same cage) or both. We tested mothers that were housed with an unrelated female and her litter (experiment I) or a sister and her litter (experiment II) and conducted tests when pups were 2 weeks old (during lactation, experiments I and II) and 6 weeks old (after weaning, experiment I). In experiment I, lactating mothers discriminated between the odours of their own pups and their co-nesting partner's pups, and between the odours of their own pups and unfamiliar pups, but not between odours of their co-nesting partner's pups and unfamiliar pups. After weaning, however, mothers discriminated between odours based on familiarity, but not kinship. In experiment II, lactating mothers discriminated between the odours of their own offspring and their co-nesting sister's pups. Thus, degu mothers could distinguish between their own offspring and those of their co-nesting partner whether mothers were related or not. Mothers could therefore potentially use olfactory cues to care discriminatively for pups they encounter in their communal nest.
Preventing errors when estimating single channel properties from the analysis of current fluctuations.

The conductance, number, and mean open time of ion channels can be estimated from fluctuations in membrane current. To examine potential errors associated with fluctuation analysis, we simulated ensemble currents and estimated single channel properties. The number (N) and amplitude (i) of the underlying single channels were estimated using nonstationary fluctuation analysis, while mean open time was estimated using covariance and spectral analysis. Both excessive filtering and the analysis of segments of current that were too brief led to underestimates of i and overestimates of N. Setting the low-pass cut-off frequency of the filter to greater than five times the inverse of the effective mean channel open time (burst duration) and analyzing segments of current that were at least 80 times the effective mean channel open time reduced the errors to
“Lights-off” visible light communications

In order to implement visible light communications (VLC) through indoor lighting, a set of challenges arise due to conflicting requirements from the two missions. In this paper we examine one of these challenges: how to communicate when the lights are “off.” We investigate VLC with limits on transmit power, which we define to be low enough so that users will accept that the lights are in their “off” state. We argue that these limits vary based on levels of natural illumination already present in the environment. Our analysis shows that we can meet the limits while providing robust data coverage by using VLC devices of low complexity. The result is an important step toward ensuring acceptance and adoption of VLC technology.
Nonnegative-definite covariance structures for which the blu, wls, and ls estimators are equal

For the general Gauss{Markov model with E(Y )= X and Var(Y )= V, we give a concise proof of an explicit characterization of the general nonnegative-denite covariance structure V such that the best linear unbiased estimator, weighted least-squares estimator, and least-squares estimator of X are identical. c 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
Chronic Granulomatous Disease: The Solving of a Clinical Riddle at the Molecular Level

Chronic granulomatous disease is an uncommon inherited disorder of phagocytes in which the defective production of microbicidal oxidants leads to an enhanced susceptibility to bacterial and fungal infections. Despite the near uniform absence of the respiratory burst in CGD phagocytes, there is a striking clinical and genetic heterogeneity in this disorder. The recent elucidation of the molecular basis of CGD now provides an explanation for this heterogeneity. CGD is caused by a defect in any one of four components of NADPH oxidase, the enzyme responsible for the generation of the antimicrobial oxidants. X-linked inheritance is seen in approximately 65% of patients and results from mutations in the gene encoding the gp91-phox subunit of the cytochrome b558 component of the oxidase. The remaining 35% of patients inherit CGD in an autosomal recessive manner due to mutations in the genes encoding the remaining three oxidase components: p22-phox (chromosome 16), p47-phox (chromosome 7), and p67-phox (chromosome 1). Deletions, insertions, and point mutation leading to premature stop codons, amino acid substitutions, and splice site defects have all been identified. Most CGD patients have mutations unique to their families. The diversity of these mutations and the multiple genes affected provide an explanation for the clinical and genetic heterogeneity of CGD.
Low frequency CMOS sinusoidal oscillator for impedance spectroscopy

Impedance measurement as a function of frequency is being increasingly used for the detection of organic molecules. The main building block required for this is a sinusoidal oscillator whose frequency can be varied in the range of a few kHz to tens of MHz. Considering the low frequency end of the range, the design challenge is to get an on-chip oscillator without the need for large external components. The design of an Integrated CMOS Oscillator Circuit based on the Wien Bridge is presented. It provides both in-phase and quadrature outputs needed for the determination of the real and imaginary parts of complex impedances. A novel circuit for detecting and controlling the amplitude of oscillation without the need for on-chip low frequency filtering is described. Since this oscillator is used in an inexpensive portable hand-held instrument, both power consumption and chip area must be minimized.
Microfluidic integrated multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) sensor for electrochemical nucleic acid concentration measurement

A microfluidic assisted electrochemical (EC) biosensing platform based on vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) embedded in SiO2 was developed using multi-scale manufacturing techniques. The MWCNT-EC sensor was fabricated using electron beam (E-beam) nanolithography, thin-film metal deposition and reactive/electrochemical etching. The MWCNT-EC sensor was integrated with a microfluidic EC cartridge including the counter and reference electrodes and a PDMS microfluidic channel on a glass substrate. After packaging the MWCNT chip and microfluidic EC cartridge into a manifold which included sample inlet/outlet, electrical connectors and a miniaturized potentiostat, the platform was characterized with differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) using ferrocyanide and ruthenium(II) solutions. The DPV measurement results are consistent with commercial EC systems. Microfluidic nucleic acid hybridization was demonstrated using the MWCNT chip on which the MWCNT tips were functionalized with single stranded DNA (ssDNA) probes. The synthetic complementary ssDNA targets were input through the microfluidic channel and hybridized with the functionalized ssDNA probes. The relative DPV peak magnitude linearly correlated with the target DNA concentration. This platform provides a simple way to integrate a MWCNT biosensor with microfluidics as an electronic system for a variety of possible nucleic acid analyses.
Factors determining tool-using ability in two captive chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ) colonies

The influence of several determinants of performance in a reaching tool task were studied: rearing history, object experience, and gender. Forty-five chimpanzees between the ages of 7 and 36 years served as subjects. They were chosen from two facilities, each group having different levels of tool experience. Each group was made up of individuals from three rearing conditions: wild born, captive mother reared, and captive nursery reared. Results indicated that wild-born subjects were better at the task than were both groups of captive-born subjects, who performed similarly. Previous experience with reaching tools was not a significant factor in the determination of tool-using ability. Gender differences were not apparent for either group, and the range of ages of chimpanzees tested was not related to tool-using ability.
Touch sensing for space robotics

We describe the design of a spaceflight — traceable tactile skin suitable for use with robotic manipulators and the algorithms necessary to make use of it. In order to perform robustly in the presence of orbital thermal and radiation extremes, the skin is based on relatively large discrete force sensors arranged sparsely on a rigid substrate. In order to compensate for the resulting lack of spatial resolution, we have developed a signal reconstruction algorithm based on Basis Pursuit Denoising (BPDN), a sparse reconstruction technique which is shown to provide an effective resolution approximately twenty — five times greater than the Nyquist — Shannon Sampling Theorem suggests is possible for a skin of this type. The signal processing algorithm is robust to white noise and simultaneously performs environmental contact classification.
The Mexican Agricultural Society, 1879–1914

Prior to 1914 the most notable agricultural organization in Mexico was the Mexican Agricultural Society (Sociedad Agricola Mexicana) , founded at a large convention of farmers and stockmen in Mexico City, on September 26, 1879. During the greater part of this period, Mexico was enjoying sufficient political stability, with Porfirio Diaz as President, to make possible the maintenance of such an association. Destined to become a powerful institution, it aimed “to promote the improvement and aggrandizement of agriculture in the country, and to defend its legitimate interests.” It was intended to benefit both stockmen and farmers who tilled the soil.
The influence of abiotic factors on the distribution and abundance of Metarhizium anisopliae in Tasmanian pasture soils

Four hundred and nineteen pasture soil samples yielded 132 M. anisopliae var. anisopliae isolates, which were classified into 14 strains. The distribution of the strains varied with soil-type and average annual rainfall. Soil pH, conductivity, temperature and altitude had minor or no effect on distribution. Canonical Variate Analysis as used to plot the relative positioning of strains in relation to the environmental variables. The densities of strains (c.f.u. g−1 soil) were not significantly different (P > 0·05). Modal density was 1 × 103 c.f.u. g−1 soil. The density was not correlated with any of the environmental variables examined.
Development of a loading history for seismic testing of architectural glass in a shop-front wall system

Abstract Moderate earthquakes can pose significant threats to the serviceability and structural integrity of the architectural glazing systems that are included in most building envelope systems. Building envelope damage can cause considerable economic losses due to operational disruptions for extended periods following an earthquake. Furthermore, glazing system structural failures are potentially hazardous to both building occupants and pedestrians. In this paper a systematic analytical study of the effect of the SOOE component of the 1940 El Centro earthquake on the response of a one-storey glass and aluminum shop-front wall system is presented. The seismic response of a one-storey commercial building comprised of three reinforced masonry walls, a glass and aluminum shop-front wall system, and a steel bar joist metal deck roof system was determined using the ABAQUS and SAP 90 finite element packages. In this study, the roof was considered incapable of transferring lateral forces to the walls and therefore its stiffness was ignored. Significant differences in the natural frequencies obtained from the two models were observed. These differences can be traced to different elements, different number of elements, different number of concentrated mass and nonstructural mass distribution, and variations in the number of supports used in the two models. For the El Centro ground motions perpendicular to the plane of the shop-front wall, displacements and drifts calculated by the ABAQUS and SAP 90 models differed considerably. This variation was probably due to modelling differences in the front steel frame. For El Centro ground motions parallel to the plane of the shop-front wall, displacements and drifts calculated by the ABAQUS and SAP 90 models were in much better agreement. It should be noted that for testing architectural glass the inplane drifts are more important. Typical values of inplane displacement reached 2.0% of the overall building height of 6.10 m, while the drifts reached 2.8% of the 1.83 m glazing opening.
SU‐E‐T‐655: Dose Matrix Sampling Heuristic Applied to Improving IMRT Optimization Efficiency

Purpose: To introduce a novel heuristic that increases the efficiency of IMRT fluence optimization, by employing sampled dose values in evaluation of the objective function. Methods: Pencil beam dose matrices were computed using CERR, for 1‐cm square beamlets. These matrices were then uniformly sampled at various rates (1–10%), and the resulting approximate dose‐volume values compared to the true values for various fractional volumes. By varying the beamlet weights for 10,000 random sets, we estimated the error in these approximations to be <1%. For IMRT optimization, a least squares objective function was used, based on clinical dose‐volume objectives. In the initial stage of optimization, the method utilizes approximate dose values, determined by 1% or 5% dose matrix sampling, in objective function evaluation. This results in a significant reduction in computation time, since the manipulation of large dose matrices is avoided. The optimized beamlet weights are subsequently used as the starting point in the final optimization. This method was evaluated on prostate bed and esophageal patients, by comparing the CPU time required with that of a standard optimization method. The downhill simplex and simulated annealing algorithms were used for the evaluations. Results: The prostate bed patient was optimized with both a 1% and 5% sampling rate resulting in patient treatment plans of equal score, and a time savings of 18% and 42%, respectively. The esophageal patient was optimized with a 5% sampling rate and provided a score improvement of 23%, with a time savings of 17%. Conclusion: We have developed a method to be used in conjunction with existing optimization algorithms, which dramatically decreases the number of standard objective function evaluations and computation time. This technique may be applied to any type of optimization algorithm and set of clinical variables requiring pre‐computed dose matrices and objective functions involving dose‐volume objectives (eg. multi‐criteria optimization).
The Theory of Planned Behavior as a Model of Academic Dishonesty in Engineering and Humanities Undergraduates

This study examines the use of a modified form of the theory of planned behavior in understanding the decisions of undergraduate students in engineering and humanities to engage in cheating. We surveyed 527 randomly selected students from three academic institutions. Results supported the use of the model in predicting ethical decision-making regarding cheating. In particular, the model demonstrated how certain variables (gender, discipline, high school cheating, education level, international student status, participation in Greek organizations or other clubs) and moral constructs related to intention to cheat, attitudes toward cheating, perceptions of norms with respect to cheating, and ultimately cheating behaviors. Further the relative importance of the theory of planned behavior constructs was consistent regardless of context, whereas the contributions of variables included in the study that were outside the theory varied by context. Of particular note were findings suggesting that the extent of chea...
Parental Involvement and Students' Academic Achievement: A Growth Modeling Analysis

Abstract The major research objective of this study was to assess the effect of parental involvement on students' academic growth during the high school years. The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) data were used, and latent growth curve analysis within the framework of structural equation modeling was the major analytic tool. The following are the major findings of the study: (a) Parental involvement appears to be multidimensional; (b) ethnic group samples reported comparable degrees of parental involvement; (c) parents' aspiration for their children's education attainment had a consistent and positive effect on students' academic growth; and (d) the effect, or lack thereof, of parental involvement was consistent across ethnic group samples and across data sources (student vs. parent data). Plausible reasons for the consistent effect of parents' aspirations on students' academic achievement are discussed. The author offers explanations for why some parental involvement dimensions sh...
Heat Transfer in an Evaporating Liquid Film Flowing Over a Rotating Disk

Heat transfer from a horizontal heated rotating disk to a thin water film flowing over it was investigated. A series of experiments were carried out to determine Nusselt numbers on the disk both with and without evaporation from the liquid film surface. The Nusselt number increased with increasing disk rotation rate, water temperature, and water flow rate, while evaporative cooling from the liquid film surface only had a moderate effect on the Nusselt number magnitude. Functional dependence of the Nusselt number from an accompanying semi-analytical model and experimental data were used to develop semi-empirical correlations for the Nusselt number.
Characterization of the hydroperoxide-reducing activity of human plasma

Abstract A peroxidase was identified in human plasma using a novel peroxidase assay. In this assay both the substrate 5-phenyl-4-pentenyl hydroperoxide (PPHP) and its reduction product, 5-phenyl-4-pentenyl alcohol (PPA) are quantitated by HPLC. Substrate specificity studies indicated that the peroxidase requires glutathione as reducing substrate. No reduction was detected using the classical heme peroxidase reducing substrates, phenol and hydroquinone. Peroxidase activity was not due to glutathione transferases. Failure to saturate the peroxidase activity with reduced glutathione and inhibition by Cd+2 indicated that it is probably selenium dependent. The enzyme appears to be different from erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase based on kinetic and immunological experiments. The apparent Km values for PPHP are 25 μ m for erythrocyte peroxidase and 54 μ m for plasma peroxidase at 0.5 m m reduced glutathione. Anti-peroxidase prepared against bovine erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase partially inhibited human erythrocyte peroxidase but did not inhibit human plasma peroxidase.
Ibuprofen-induced hepatotoxicity in patients with chronic hepatitis C: a case series.

Hepatitis C is a common chronic infection. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are commonly ingested both over-the-counter and by prescription. This case report describes three cases where ibuprofen use leads to a marked rise in hepatic transaminases with one case repeating on rechallenge. These cases support the recommendation of acetaminophen over nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
A model for identifying patients who may not need intensive care unit admission.

Abstract Purpose This study presents a new model for identifying patients who might be too well to benefit from intensive care unit (ICU) care. Patients and Methods Intensive care unit admissions in 2002 to 2003 were used to develop a model to predict whether patients monitored on day one would receive one or more of 33 subsequent active life-supporting treatments. Accuracy was assessed by testing the model in a subsequent cohort of admissions in 2004 to 2006. We then assessed the frequency of active treatment among monitor patients at a low ( Results Among 28 847 ICU monitor admissions in 2004 to 2006, 3153 patients (11.0%) were predicted to receive active treatment; 3296 (11.5%) actually did. There were 17 720 admissions with a low ( Conclusions The outcome for low-risk monitor patients suggest they may be too well to benefit from intensive care. The frequency of low-risk monitor admissions provides a measure of ICU resource use. Improved resource use and reduced costs might be achieved by strategies to provide care for these patients on floors or intermediate care units.
Catheter ablation of epicardial ventricular tachycardia

Abstract Ventricular tachycardias (VTs) can usually be treated by endocardial catheter ablation. However, some VTs can arise from the epicardial surface, and their substrate can be altered only by epicardial catheter ablation. There are two approaches to epicardial catheter ablation: transvenous and transthoracic. The transvenous approach through the coronary venous system (CVS) has been commonly used because it is easily accessible. However, this approach may be limited by the distribution of the CVS and insufficient radiofrequency energy delivery. Transthoracic epicardial catheter ablation has been developed to overcome these limitations of the transvenous approach. It is a useful supplemental or even preferred strategy to eliminate epicardial VTs in the electrophysiology laboratory. This technique has been applied for scar-related VTs secondary to often non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and sometimes ischemic cardiomyopathy, and idiopathic VTs as the epicardial substrates of these VTs have become increasingly recognized. When endocardial ablation and epicardial ablation through the CVS are unsuccessful, transthoracic epicardial ablation should be the next option. Intrapericardial access is usually obtained through a subxiphoidal pericardial puncture. This approach might not be possible in patients with pericardial adhesions caused by prior cardiac surgery or pericarditis. In such cases, a hybrid procedure involving surgical access with a subxiphoid pericardial window and a limited anterior or lateral thoracotomy might be a feasible and safe method of performing an epicardial catheter ablation in the electrophysiology laboratory. Potential complications associated with this technique include bleeding and collateral damage to the coronary arteries and phrenic nerve. Although the risk of these complications is low, electrophysiologists who attempt epicardial catheter ablation should know the complications associated with this technique, how to minimize their occurrence, and how to rapidly recognize and treat the complications that they encounter. This review discusses the indications, techniques, and complications of the transvenous and transthoracic epicardial catheter ablation of VTs.