cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Omental transplantation for Buerger’s disease

Buerger’s disease (thromboangitis obliterans: TAO) has been defined as a segmental, inflammatory, and occlusive disease which primarily affects small or medium-sized arteries and veins in the extremities of young adults, usually males. There are two major causes of chronic arterial occlusion of extremities; arteriosclerosis obliterans (ASO) and TAO. Scepticism concerning the identity of TAO has been expressed by some investigators, particularly by pathologists in the United States. However, based upon the results of our three years’ extensive studies in the Research Committee on Buerger’s disease, we came to the conclusion that TAO is a useful and definite clinical category which should not be discarded (1,2).
α-Hydroxy Acid-Based Cosmetic Procedures

α-Hydroxy acid (AHA) peels and home regimens have recently been recognized as important adjunctive therapy in a variety of conditions including photodamage, actinic damage, melasma, hyperpigmentation disorders, acne, and rosacea. Overall in our experience and in the literature, AHAs have a proven level of safety and efficacy in a variety of skin types. Although their exact mechanism of action is unknown, it has been demonstrated that AHAs improve these disorders by thinning the stratum corneum, promoting epidermolysis, dispersing basal layer melanin, and increasing collagen synthesis within the dermis. In patients with photodamage, AHA peels and topical products are often combined with retinoids and other antioxidants for maximum benefit. Similarly, synergistic effects of fluorouracil and glycolic acid are observed in the treatment of diffuse actinic keratoses. For patients with melasma, AHA peels and combination products containing bleaching agents such as hydroquinone, kojic acid, and glycolic acid seem to have increased efficacy. Acne and rosacea patients can see improved results when standard regimens like antibacterials and topical retinoids are supplemented with AHA peels and lotions. However, care should always be taken prior to commencing treatment with AHA peels and topical products. By obtaining a thorough history and physical examination, the physician will identify any specific factors like medications, prior procedures and medical conditions which can affect the outcome of the peel. During the interview, there should be open discussion of patient questions and concerns so that realistic expectations can be made. Pre- and post-peel regimens should also be reviewed in full as patient compliance is essential to ensure the success of a series of AHA peels.
Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning: A Conceptual Model for Intervention.

Over the last several years, there has been an increased focus on school readiness and supporting children during the preschool years to learn the skills they need to be successful in elementary sc...
Service Timing: Designing and Executing Service in a Dynamic Environment

Service managers and researchers have long recognized that service timing is critical. Studies of how waiting time and reliability are important to customers and service firms began more than 50 years ago. Current research explores how customer engagement, co-production and co-creation unfold over time. This article reviews prior research and models of the dynamics of service timing that have emerged. It argues that service timing and its nuances are neglected by managers and researchers. Notably, customer service experiences are often embedded in rich social and emotional contexts, mediated by technology, and evolving across different service channels, platforms and locations over time in ways that are not well understood. Fortunately, rich individual-level business-to-customer and customer-to-customer data offer exciting opportunities to advance our knowledge of the dynamics of service experiences. This chapter reviews what is known (and unknown) about service timing and suggest specific research questions, opportunities and challenges.
The Doctor-Patient Relationship With Artificial Intelligence

OBJECTIVE. The doctor-patient relationship has been evolving from benevolent paternalism to a more patient-centered relationship in the modern era. Although artificial intelligence (AI) has the pot...
Novel Outphasing Power Amplifiers Designed With an Analytic Generalized Doherty–Chireix Continuum Theory

An analytic theory for dual-input outphasing power amplifiers that incorporate in one unified treatment, the continuum of solutions for power combining including the Doherty and Chireix modes is presented. This unified theory developed at the current-source reference planes reveals the performance trade-off achieved by all of the possible power amplifier (PA) combiners within the continuum of solutions. Furthermore, it identifies a novel type of dual-input hybrid Chireix–Doherty PA that combines key features of the Doherty and Chireix operations such that the fundamental drain voltages applied to both the main and auxiliary transistors remain constant. This hybrid PA relies on an input outphasing angle varying with the input power level to obtain the correct load modulation behavior. A 2-GHz dual-input hybrid Chireix–Doherty PA is implemented using nonlinear embedding and experimentally evaluated to validate the theory. A drain efficiency of 61% at 9-dB backoff power and a maximum output power of about 43 dBm are obtained for continuous-wave (CW) measurements. The efficiency increases monotonously with output power unlike that of the Doherty PA used for comparison. When excited with a 20-MHz LTE signal with 9.5-dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), the dual-input PA yields a 60.0% average drain efficiency and −48.1-dBc adjacent-channel power-leakage ratio (ACLR) after linearization.
Simultaneous impedance measurements of the Utah electrodes array : A finite element method analysis

High-count micro-electrode arrays for the recording or stimulation of the nervous system have the potential to restore function lost to disease or injury. The tracking of the electrode characteristics and changes over time becomes crucial for reliability evaluation and human implementation. Current approaches to impedance measurement are manual and often restricted to a single frequency (1 kHz). Channels are evaluated serially. When 100 or more channels are present, the process can become time-consuming. In this paper, we use finite element method (FEM) modeling for studying the impact of simultaneous impedance measurement of 100 electrodes of a Utah Electrode Array (UEA). We simulate potentiostatic impedance spectroscopy of a UEA implanted in the brain. The simulations have been performed using a 25 mV excitation voltage, applied to a common reference, at frequency range from 1 Hz to 10 MHz. Each individual electrode channel is held at ground potential and the current through each channel is measured to determine impedance. Higher impedance has been found when measuring the electrodes simultaneously versus measurement of a single electrode, due to crowding of electric field lines near the electrode tissue interface.
MEG: A RISCV-Based System Simulation Infrastructure for Exploring Memory Optimization Using FPGAs and Hybrid Memory Cube

Emerging 3D memory technologies, such as the Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), provide increased bandwidth and massive memory-level parallelism. Efficiently integrating emerging memories into existing system pose new challenges and require detailed evaluation in a real computing environment. In this paper, we propose MEG, an open-source, configurable, cycle-exact, and RISC-V based full system simulation infrastructure using FPGA and HMC. MEG has three highly configurable design components: (i) a HMC adaptation module that not only enables communication between the HMC device and the processor cores but also can be extended to fit other memories (e.g., HBM, nonvolatile memory) with minimal effort, (ii) a reconfigurable memory controller along with its OS support that can be effectively leveraged by system designers to perform software-hardware co-optimization, and (iii) a performance monitor module that effectively improves the observability and debuggability of the system to guide performance optimization. We provide a prototype implementation of MEG on Xilinx VCU110 board and demonstrate its capability, fidelity, and flexibility on real-world benchmark applications. We hope that our open-source release of MEG fills a gap in the space of publicly-available FPGA-based full system simulation infrastructures specifically targeting memory system and inspires further collaborative software/hardware innovations.
Do Venture Firms Outlearn Investor Firms? CVC Investments, Venture Firm Learning, and IPO

The extant literature on corporate venture capital (CVC) has overwhelmingly viewed CVC success through the lens of the investor firm, leaving the venture firm’s perspective limitedly explored. Theo...
Hdmx-mediated antagonism of p53-dependent cell death

2533 The tumor suppressor p53 is wild type in many human cancers, providing a putative Achille9s heel upon which to develop new therapeutic drugs. Current models indicate that wild type p53 activity in tumors can be suppressed by overexpression of hdm2, and the closely related hdmx protein. These proteins bind to p53 and control its stability and transcriptional activation function. A prevailing view is that hdm2 mainly controls p53 via its ubiquitin ligase activity, while hdmx, which lacks ubiquitin ligase function limits p53-dependent transactivation. A major research focus directed towards p53 reactivation in cancer has been the development of antagonists of the hdm2/p53 interaction. One such antagonist is the hdm2-binding compound, Nutlin, which stabilizes p53 and unleashes its transcriptional program to induce cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. Despite the homology between hdm2 and hdmx, here we present data demonstrating that Nutlin does not antagonize the hdmx/p53 interaction. We show that Nutlin can also induce degradation of hdmx, although this can be attenuated in some tumor cell lines. We and others have demonstrated that high levels of hdmx are associated with resistance to Nutlin, suggesting that hdmx antagonists may provide an additional chemotherapeutic strategy. Finally, we present data obtained using a novel p53-activating compound that appears to target both the hdm2/p53 and hdmx/p53 interaction.
His-Bundle Pacing: A Novel Treatment for Left Bundle Branch Block Cardiomyopathy

Background LBBB Cardiomyopathy is a reversible cardiomyopathy resulting from chronic left ventricular dysynchrony from left bundle branch block (LBBB). His-bundle pacing (HBP), as opposed to pure mechanical correction, alters the underlying substrate for dysynchrony, providing a physiologic instead of mechanical treatment of LBBB. Objective To assess the feasibility of HBP for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in LBBB Cardiomyopathy patients Methods Retrospective chart review was conducted on patients who underwent cardiac resynchronization therapy at Indiana University Health and Ezkenazi Hospital between August 1, 2015 to August 30, 2017. A subset of patients who met the pre-defined syndrome criteria of LBBB cardiomyopathy: 1) History of pre-existing LBBB of at least 6 months or greater 2) LVEF of > 50% at the time of diagnosis of LBBB 3) Progressive decrease in LVEF to ≤ 40% with development of NYHA functional class II to IV symptoms 4) No other identifiable cause of cardiomyopathy who underwent HBP were identified. Clinical, echocardiographic, and electrophysiologic variables were extracted at baseline and follow-up. Comparison of the means at baseline and follow up was performed using 2-tailed t testing. A p value Results From August 2015 to August 2017, 73 patients underwent CRT. 9 patients (12%) met criteria for LBBB Cardiomyopathy with 7 of those patients (78%) successfully undergoing HBP-CRT. Average time from device implantation to last follow-up was 14.5 months. Mean LVEF improved from 25 ± 6% to 50 ± 4% (p Conclusions Improvement of left ventricular function with HBP indicates that LBBB-induced cardiomyopathy is reversible and can be treated with physiological pacing. His-bundle pacing is a viable technique for pursuing cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with LBBB Cardiomyopathy.
High-Speed Plasmonic-Conductive Oxide-Silicon Modulator by Epsilon-Near-Zero Electro-Absorption

We designed and demonstrated a high-speed plasmonic-conductive oxide-silicon modulator using epsilon-near-zero electro-absorption, achieving modulation bandwidth of 3.5GHz and 4.5Gb/s data rate. The electro-absorption modulator covers the entire C-band from 1515 nm to 1580 nm wavelength.
Assessing Pain and Sleep Patterns in Endometriosis: A Pilot Study Using Passive Radio Sensors

Study Objective The goal of this pilot study is to explore the relationship between sleep and pain in endometriosis patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery using novel radio-wave sensing technology. Design Sleep patterns of three endometriosis patients were monitored in their home on a nightly basis for 4 weeks prior to and 6 weeks after laparoscopic surgery. Emerald, a novel non-contact sensor developed at MIT, was installed in patients’ homes to monitor sleep. Emerald transmits low power radio signals, 1000x lower than WiFi, and uses signal reflections off the subject's body to extract their sleep stages. Participants also recorded a daily Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) of their recent Pain Level and Sleep Quality. Setting Patients were recruited from an endometriosis specialty practice at an academic community hospital. Non-contact monitoring occurred in the patients' homes using Emerald. Patients or Participants Three women ages 23-39 with pelvic pain and suspected endometriosis planning laparoscopic excisional surgery. Interventions N/A Measurements and Main Results Pearson correlation coefficients were computed between Pain Level and sleep variables computed from the Emerald device. Sleep variables include continuity (e.g. total sleep time), architecture (e.g. time in each sleep stage) and fragmentation (e.g. number of awakenings). Deep sleep onset latency, defined as the time from the sleep onset to the first epoch of deep sleep, showed a significant (p Conclusion Results indicate that increased deep sleep onset latency is a correlate of poor sleep and furthermore, poor sleep leads to higher pain sensitivity the following day. A follow-up study is needed to validate these results in a larger pelvic pain population and to evaluate whether sleep assessments should be integrated into pain treatment plans as another target for intervention.
Estimation of hydrological drought recovery based on GRACE water storage deficit

Abstract. Drought is a natural climate extreme phenomenon that presents great challenges in forecasting and monitoring for water management purposes. Previous studies have examined the use of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) terrestrial water storage anomalies to measure the amount of water missing from a drought-affected region, and other studies have attempted statistical approaches to drought recovery forecasting based on joint probabilities of precipitation and soil moisture. The goal of this study is to combine GRACE data with historical precipitation observations to quantify the amount of precipitation required to achieve normal storage conditions in order to estimate a likely drought recovery time. First, linear relationships between terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) and cumulative precipitation anomaly are established across a range of conditions. Then, historical precipitation data are statistically modeled to develop simplistic precipitation forecast skill. Three different precipitation scenarios are simulated by using a standard deviation in climatology. Precipitation scenarios are convolved with precipitation deficit estimates to calculate best-estimate of a drought recovery period. The results show that in the regions of strong seasonal amplitude (like monsoon belt) drought continues even with the above-normal precipitation until its wet season. Historical GRACE-observed drought recovery period is used to validate the approach. Estimated drought for an example month demonstrated 80% similar recovery period as observed by the GRACE.
Distributed Power System Simulation using Cyber-Physical Testbed Federation: Architecture, Modeling, and Evaluation

Development of an attack-resilient smart grid depends heavily on the availability of a representative environment, such as a Cyber Physical Security (CPS) testbed, to accelerate the transition of state-of-the-art research work to industry deployment by experimental testing and validation. There is an ongoing initiative to develop an interconnected federated testbed to build advanced computing systems and integrated data sharing networks. In this paper, we present a distributed simulation for power system using federated testbed in the context of Wide Area Monitoring System (WAMS) cyber-physical security. In particular, we have applied the transmission line modeling (TLM) technique to split a first order two-bus system into two subsystems: source and load subsystems, which are running in geographically dispersed simulators, while exchanging system variables over the internet. We have leveraged the resources available at Iowa State University's Power Cyber Laboratory (ISU PCL) and the US Army Research Laboratory (US ARL) to perform the distributed simulation, emulate substation and control center networks, and further implement a data integrity attack and physical disturbances targeting WAMS application. Our experimental results reveal the computed wide-area network latency; and model validation errors. Further, we also discuss the high-level conceptual architecture, inspired by NASPInet, necessary for developing the CPS testbed federation.
Autonomous weapons systems and the moral equality of combatants

To many, the idea of autonomous weapons systems (AWS) killing human beings is grotesque. Yet critics have had difficulty explaining why it should make a significant moral difference if a human combatant is killed by an AWS as opposed to being killed by a human combatant. The purpose of this paper is to explore the roots of various deontological concerns with AWS and to consider whether these concerns are distinct from any concerns that also apply to long-distance, human-guided weaponry. We suggest that at least one major driver of the intuitive moral aversion to lethal AWS is that their use disrespects their human targets by violating the martial contract between human combatants. On our understanding of this doctrine, service personnel cede a right not to be directly targeted with lethal violence to other human agents alone. Artificial agents, of which AWS are one example, cannot understand the value of human life. A human combatant cannot transfer his privileges of targeting enemy combatants to a robot. Therefore, the human duty-holder who deploys AWS breaches the martial contract between human combatants and disrespects the targeted combatants. We consider whether this novel deontological objection to AWS forms the foundation of several other popular yet imperfect deontological objections to AWS.
Structural Analysis of Proteins on Lipid Substrates

Electron microscopy (EM) has become an increasingly powerful method for the determination of three-dimensional (3D) structures of proteins and macromolecular complexes. EM offers advantages over X-ray crystallography and NMR for obtaining structural information about proteins in physiological conditions, as components of large assemblies, that cannot be obtained in large quantity, or that fail to yield 3D crystals. EM has been used to obtain structural data from images of isolated molecules and molecular complexes, two-dimensional (2D) protein crystals, and helical protein arrays. Helically arranged proteins allow the most rapid determination of 3D maps because they contain a complete range of equally spaced molecular views, therefore no tilting of the sample with respect to the electron beam is required. However, so far 3D structure determination of helical assemblies has been limited to proteins that naturally adopt this organization and to proteins that fortuitously crystallize as helices.
Accelerating Parallel Hierarchical Matrix-Vector Products via Data-Driven Sampling

Hierarchical matrices are scalable matrix representations particularly suited to the case where the matrix entries are defined by a smooth kernel function evaluated between pairs of points. In this paper, we present a new scheme to alleviate the computational bottlenecks present in many hierarchical matrix methods. For general kernel functions, a popular approach to construct hierarchical matrices is through interpolation, due to its efficiency compared to computationally expensive algebraic techniques. However, interpolation-based methods often lead to larger ranks, and do not scale well to higher dimensions. We propose a new data-driven method to resolve these issues. The new method is able to accomplish the rank reduction by using a surrogate for the global distribution of points. The surrogate is generated using a hierarchical data-driven sampling. As a result of the lower rank, the construction cost, memory requirements, and matrix-vector product costs decrease. Using state-of-theart dimension independent sampling, the new method makes it possible to tackle problems in higher dimensions. We also discuss an on-the-fly variation of hierarchical matrix construction and matrix-vector products that is able to reduce memory usage by an order of magnitude. This is accomplished by postponing the generation of certain intermediate matrices until they are used, generating them just in time. We provide results demonstrating the effectiveness of our improvements, both individually and in conjunction with each other. For a problem involving 320,000 points in 3D, our data-driven approach reduces the memory usage from 58.75 GiB using state-of-the-art methods (762.9 GiB if stored dense) to 18.60 GiB. In combination with our on-thefly approach, we are able to reduce the total memory usage to 543.74 MiB.
Excess Mortality After Liver Transplantation in Young Women With Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease.

INTRODUCTION Young adults with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) are the fastest increasing demographic contributing to liver-related deaths; their outcomes after liver transplantation (LT) are understudied. METHODS Using the United Network for Organ Sharing registry, we performed sex-specific analyses because of a significant interaction between sex and the explanatory variable, age. Cox regression was used with overall post-LT death as the primary outcome, adjusted for survival characteristics and center clustering. We calculated the absolute difference in adjusted 5-year post-LT survival between patient groups. Causes of death were supplemented by manual review of free-text entries. RESULTS Among 42,014 LT recipients, 16,190 women (2,782 with ALD and 13,408 without ALD) and 25,824 men (9,502 with ALD and 16,322 without ALD), age of 40-50 years had the lowest risk of death. Women with ALD younger than 40 years had incrementally lower adjusted 5-year survival (95% confidence interval): 74% (63%-88%) for those aged 18-29 years, 82% (78%-87%) for those aged 30-39 years, and 90% (88%-92%) for those aged 40-49 years. Among women without ALD, men with ALD, and men without ALD, adjusted 5-year survival for ages 18-29, 30-39, and 40-49 years was similar. Among women, not men, there were significant interactions between younger age and ALD. Adjusted hazard for mortality for women with ALD vs without ALD was greater for those who aged 18-29 years (2.82 vs 1.09, P = 0.002) and 30-39 years (1.83 vs 1.09, P = 0.007 [reference age 40-49 years]). Among women with ALD, those aged 18-29 and 30-39 years had an absolute 17.7% and 9.5% excess in adjusted 5-year mortality vs similarly aged women without ALD. DISCUSSION Young women (age < 40) with ALD have excess mortality beyond one-year post-LT. Recurrent disease or explicit mention of alcohol was the most common identified cause of death in this demographic.
Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction, Autonomous Motivation, and Meaningful Work: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective:

The present study investigated relations between basic psychological need satisfaction (autonomy, relatedness, and competence), autonomous motivation, and work meaning. With a sample of 462 working...
Uplink power optimized in-network content caching for HetNets

Video upload/download involving applications are among the most popular applications for mobile users. Meanwhile they cause wireless networks to run close to their capacity limits. In addition, uploading or downloading content put pressure on the limited battery capacity of mobile devices. Given the fact that popular contents are acquired by a large number of users at different times, it is practical to fetch those contents from the content source and store in-network. This is known as in-network caching. In the literature, latency and transport energy minimization aware in-network caching has been studied widely. However, uplink power optimization which aims prolonging User Equipment (UE) lifetime have not been considered yet. To address this problem, we cache contents at wireless relays of a Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) and propose two Integer Linear Programming (ILP) models to optimize uplink power. The first ILP model, namely Minimize Uplink Power (minUP). MinUP aims to minimize uplink power when relays and their contents are known. The second ILP-based scheme is called Minimize Uplink Power and Relay Cost (minUPREC). MinUPREC jointly minimizes uplink energy and relay deployment cost. We have shown that minUPREC significantly minimizes the uplink energy incurred by UEs while minUP consumes lower caching.
Sense and Sense Making in the Caucasus

A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya. Anna Politkovskaya. Alexander Burry and Tatiana Tulchinsky, trans., with an introduction by Georgi Derluguian. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. 232 pp. Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus:. World-System Biography. Georgi M. Derluguian. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. 416 pp. Chechnya: Life in. War-Torn Society. Valery Tishkov. Tatiana Sokolova, trans., with. foreword by Mikhail Gorbachev. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. 284 pp.
Removal of residual nuclei following a cavitation event: a parametric study

The efficacy of ultrasound therapies such as shock-wave lithotripsy and histotripsy can be compromised by residual cavitation bubble nuclei that persist following the collapse of primary cavitation. In our previous work, we have developed a unique strategy for mitigating the effects of these residual bubbles using low-amplitude ultrasound pulses to stimulate their aggregation and subsequent coalescence-effectively removing them from the field. Here, we further develop this bubble removal strategy through an investigation of the effect of frequency on the consolidation process. Bubble removal pulses ranging from 0.5 to 2 MHz were used to sonicate the population of residual nuclei produced upon collapse of a histotripsy bubble cloud. For each frequency, mechanical index (MI) values ranging from 0 to approximately 1.5 were tested. Results indicated that, when evaluated as a function of bubble removal pulse MI, the efficacy of bubble removal shows markedly similar trends for all frequencies tested. This behavior divides into three distinct regimes (with provided cutoffs being approximate): 1) MI 1: Bubble coalescence is compromised as bubble removal pulses induce high-magnitude inertial cavitation of residual bubbles. The major distinction in these trends came for bubble removal pulses applied at 2 MHz, which were observed to generate the most effective bubble coalescence of all frequencies tested. We hypothesize that this is a consequence of the secondary Bjerknes force being the major facilitator of the consolidation process, the magnitude of which increases when the bubble size distribution is far from resonance such that the phase difference of oscillation of individual bubbles is minimal.
Decidability of Hybrid Systems with Rectangular Differential Inclusion

A hybrid system is modeled with a finite set of locations and a differential inclusion associated with each location. We discuss a subclass of hybrid systems with constant rectangular differential inclusions. The continuous state of the system is x ∃ IRn with xi evolving with differential inclusion x i [L i , U i ] where L i , U i are integers (i.e., the slope of trajectory of xi could be changing, but is restricted to remain within [L i , U i ]). A transition from one location to another can be made provided the state satisfies the enabling condition for the transition. The state can also be initialized to a new value during the transition. The differential inclusion for x i can be changed when x i is an integer or when x i is initialized to a new value. We show that the verification problem for this class of hybrid systems is decidable. With this approach, systems with unsynchronized and drifting clocks can be modeled, a general differential equation can be abstracted by breaking the state space into regions with constant differential inclusions, and many previously presented hybrid system examples can be verified.
Has global HIV incidence peaked

Rajesh Kumar and colleagues in todays Lancet document a declining prevalence of HIV-1 in young adults in South India. This evidence along with other recent positive findings provides impetus to re-examine the HIV pandemic. Many readers may be surprised that available evidence indicates that HIV incidence (rate of new infections) has peaked overall in Africa--indeed it did so some years ago. And even the lagging indicator of HIV prevalence (rate of existing infections) has also declined in an increasingly impressive number of African settings and elsewhere. One reason that this decline in incidence is poorly appreciated is because attention often focuses on prevalence. To understand the interplay of HIV incidence and prevalence Kenya is illustrative. According to modelling by the US Census Bureau new infections peaked around 1992-93. However because of the many years of latency between HIV infection and mortality prevalence continued to rise even as incidence fell--and peaked around 1997 when mortality finally rose to match incidence. (excerpt)
Warming will alter water resources

Drastic changes in water resources in all regions of the United States will be the most severe effect of global warming, according to a study reported January 16 at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco. However, said the scientists on the AAAS panel on climate and U.S. water resources, strong governmental involvement can greatly reduce the water supply problems climate change will bring. The natural variability of present and future climate was the starting point for the AAAS study. The panel pointed out that it is difficult to identify the direction of potential change for many of the possible consequences of the greenhouse effect, partly because recent history provides little evidence of strong responses to such changes.
Bringing women to the table: European Union funding for women's empowerment projects in Turkey

Synopsis The literature is quite sparse in regard to the European Union (EU) and its gender mainstreaming projects, though gender mainstreaming is part of a vast and dynamic body of literature on women's development. This article focuses on this neglected area, exploring the effectiveness of three EU-funded women's empowerment projects in Turkey. It is argued that these projects, which focus on increasing the percentage of women in the workforce and training women as entrepreneurs, are most successful when they are evaluated, monitored, and sustainable, when women enter nontraditional sectors, when the project includes self-confidence building components, and when they educate both men and women on gender equality. For entrepreneurship projects women must have a business plan, access to finance, a mentor, and monitoring for at least one year but ideally up to three years. In addition, every project that seeks to empower women must be supported by policies of the national government, as women in Turkey still face considerable social and structural challenges.
In vivo collagen metabolism in spontaneously diabetic (db/db) mice.

Abstract To further define the pathogenesis of diabetic connective tissue lesions, collagen synthesis and degradation were measured in vivo in spontaneously diabetic db db mice. A double isotopic labeling technique, in which 14C-labeled and 3H-labeled proline were injected into the same mouse 7 days apart, was applied. Collagen synthesis and degradation were assessed in skins, intestines, hearts, and kidneys. There were no changes in collagen metabolism in the intestines of the diabetic mice. In all other tissues, collagen degradation was accelerated. Collagen synthesis was decreased in skins, but increased in the hearts and kidneys of the diabetic mice. These tissue-specific changes in collagen metabolism resulted in a net loss of collagen in all tissues examined except intestines. The results of this study provide insight into the mechanisms leading to connective tissue defects occurring in diabetes mellitus.
A splice-guided data driven interactive editing

Image segmentation is one of the most challenging tasks in the field of image processing. Even the best automatic segmentation approaches cannot yet provide accurate segmentation in all situations. Hence, there is a persistent need for interactive editing tools to correct the automatic segmentation results such that they match what would be clinically accepted by an expert. We present an editing approach that uses a user-drawn splice (contour) in 2D to correct any 2D or 3D segmentation that may have been obtained automatically or manually. The algorithm integrates the image data, the existing segmentation (presegmentation), and the user's input into an energy minimization framework. We will show that the proposed segmentation editing approach is general and can be used in multiple applications and for multiple imaging modalities.
Surface chemistry of metal oxide coated lithium manganese nickel oxide thin film cathodes studied by XPS

Abstract The effect of coating the high voltage spinel cathode LiMn 1.5 Ni 0.5 O 4 with three metal oxide thin layers is discussed. Instead of the typical powder electrodes with poorly defined surface coatings, thin film electrodes were prepared with well-defined oxide coating thicknesses to investigate the influence of coating on surface reactivity via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). ZnO is found to decompose during the first charge whereas Al 2 O 3 and ZrO 2 are stable for more than 100 cycles. ZrO 2 , however, importantly limits the available Li storage capacity of the electrochemical reaction due to poorer kinetics. Al 2 O 3 offers the best results in term of capacity retention. Upon cycling, the evidence of a signal at 75.4 eV in the Al2p binding energy spectrum indicates the partial fluorination of Al 2 O 3 into, perhaps, Al 2 O 2 F 2 . Moreover, the continuous formation of ethers, esters and Li x PO y F z compounds on the surface of the electrodes is found for all coating materials.
Eating disorders and gastrointestinal peptides.

Purpose of reviewDisturbances in gastrointestinal hormones have been implicated in the pathogenesis of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. However, the contribution of these hormonal changes to the onset and maintenance of eating disorder remains unclear. We focus our revi
Jack Barney award: The effect of fatigue on cognitive and psychomotor skills of trauma residents and attending surgeons

Abstract Background Fatigue and sleep deprivation and their effects on surgical proficiency have been actively researched areas. Past studies that have focused solely on residents have provided an important insight into how fatigue affects residents' ability to perform. This study aims to quantify the effect of fatigue on attending surgeons. Methods To quantify the effect of fatigue on psychomotor and cognitive skills of surgical residents and attending surgeons, visiohaptic simulations were created to mimic realistic interactions. Results Both groups showed a significant decrement in proficiency measures postcall. When tasks were separated based on psychomotor versus cognitive-dominated skills, attending surgeons made 25% fewer ( P Conclusions Call-associated fatigue is associated with increased error rates in the cognitive skill domain, although less so in attending surgeons compared with their resident counterparts.
The Order of Differencing in ARIMA Models

Abstract A Lagrange multiplier test is derived for testing for the order of differencing in an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. The procedure is illustrated with an example.
Tenure and research productivity

Published research productivity of 97 sociologists from a variety of types of institutions is evaluated quantitatively for both the pretenure period and the post-tenure period in the person's career. Data consist of vita and supplementary information, coded into a weighted index that takes journal prestige into account. Time-adjusted pre- and post-tenure publication rates are compared within categories of type and prestige of current institution, type and prestige of institution at which tenure was first granted, prestige of Ph.D. institution, and other controls. There are substantial differences between the two career stages, with pretenure output being of greater magnitude in most instances. Possible explanations for the findings are discussed.
A Flux Preserving Method of Coupling First and Second Order Equations to Simulate the Flow of Plasma between the Protonosphere and the Ionosphere

This paper describes a numerical method developed to solve the interhemispheric flow of thermal plasma, heat and momentum along closed magnetic field tubes in the plasmasphere. The essence of our technique incorporates the best aspects of two former approaches into a single unified code. The first is the so-called shooting or searching method, which employs integro-differential equations, and the second involves the solution of second order nonlinear partial differential equations by conventional iterative techniques. The former method attains optimal performance above -2000 km, and the latter below this altitude. The combined approach yields a satisfactory solution over an entire geomagnetic flux tube, encompassing two low altitude regimes, in the northern and southern ionospheres, and a high altitude regime spanning the distance between them. We demonstrate that the solution is stable and simulate the collapse of the postsunset ionosphere.
Affinity-immunoadsorbent fractionation of rat anti-streptococcal a carbohydrate antibodies of restricted heterogeneity

Antisera obtained from selectively bred Sprague-Dawley rats after a primary series of immunization with group A streptococcal vaccine exhibit specific anti-carbohydrate antibodies of restricted heterogeneity. Separation of anti-carbohydrate antibodies was achieved on the basis of differences in the relative binding affinities of the antibodies for an insoluble, hapten (N-acetyl-D-glucosamine) immunoadsorbent. Evaluation of several eluting reagents including hapten, thiocyanate, urea and acid-salt demonstrated the chaotropic ion thiocyanate to be most effective in separating anti-hapten populations of individual affinity characteristics. In general, there was no consistent relationship between the net electrical charge of an antibody and its relative binding affinity for the immunoadsorbent. Furthermore, non-precipitating rat anti-streptococcal A carbohydrate antibodies were characterized as antibodies of relatively low binding affinity for the hapten immunoadsorbent. From a practical point of view, thiocyanate is recommended for the routine elution of anti-carbohydrate antibodies from innumoadsorbents.
S-nitrosocaptopril nanoparticles as nitric oxide-liberating and transnitrosylating anti-infective technology

Abstract Nitric oxide (NO), an essential agent of the innate immune system, exhibits multi-mechanistic antimicrobial activity. Previously, NO-releasing nanoparticles (NO-np) demonstrated increased antimicrobial activity when combined with glutathione (GSH) due to formation of S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), a transnitrosylating agent. To capitalize on this finding, we incorporated the thiol-containing ACE-inhibitor, captopril, with NO-np to form SNO-CAP-np, nanoparticles that both release NO and form S-nitrosocaptopril. In the presence of GSH, SNO-CAP-np demonstrated increased transnitrosylation activity compared to NO-np, as exhibited by increased GSNO formation. Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were highly susceptible to SNO-CAP-np in a dose-dependent fashion, with E. coli being most susceptible, and SNO-CAP-np were nontoxic in zebrafish embryos at translatable concentrations. Given SNO-CAP-np's increased transnitrosylation activity and increased E. coli susceptibility compared to NO-np, transnitrosylation rather than free NO is likely responsible for overcoming E. coli 's resistance mechanisms and ultimately killing the pathogen. From the Clinical Editor This team of authors incorporated the thiol-containing ACE-inhibitor, captopril, into a nitric oxide releasing nanoparticle system, generating nanoparticles that both release NO and form S-nitrosocaptopril, with pronounced toxic effects on MRSA and E. coli in the presented model system.
Velocity-mismatch compensation in traveling-wave modulators using pseudorandom switched-electrode patterns

The modulation impulse response of a traveling-wave modulator with an arbitrary aperiodic switched-electrode pattern is directly derived in the time domain. It is shown that applying the phase reversals according to a suitable pseudorandom sequence considerably increases the bandwidth-to-drive-voltage ratio figure of merit. This improvement is attributed to the spread-spectrum properties of pseudorandom sequences and may be obtained by appropriate choice of such sequences. Examples are given for modulators based on the Barker codes.
The renal phospholipid composition of choline-deficient rats

The base composition of the phospholipids involved in the N-methylation pathway for the biosynthesis of phosphatidyl choline was determined in normal and severely hemorrhagic rat kidneys. There was a decrease in the proportion of phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl ethanolamine in the renal total lipids. The significant decrease of phosphatidyl ethanolamine in the kidney phospholipids appears to implicate this phospholipid to a greater extent than phosphatidyl choline in the etiology of the hemorrhagic syndrome.
Atomization and excitation processes for tin in turbulent diffusion hydrogen-air flames

Abstract Emission and absorption profiles of molecular and atomic species nave been measured in H 2 -air flames produced on a total-consumption burner. Measurements were made and results compared for three flow rates of fuel and with both aqueous and 60% 2-propanol solutions aspirated. Absorption profiles were obtained for Sn, Cu, and OH in both water- and alcohol-fed flames. Emission profiles were obtained for Sn, Cu, OH, and SnO in both water- and alcohol-fed flames, and emission profiles for CH and C 2 were obtained for the alcohol-fed flames. From these measurements some tentative conclusions have been drawn as to the mechanisms of enhancement of Sn absorption and emission in H 2 -air flames.
Safe electrical design of mine elevator control systems

A mine elevator recently experienced an ascending-car overspeed accident, resulting in serious injuries to four passengers. Although the four miners laid down on the floor prior to impact, the miners struck the ceiling of the elevator car as it collided into the overhead structure at an estimated speed four times faster than normal. Several electrical design precautions can be implemented to prevent elevator control system failures. This paper examines safe electrical design of elevator control systems. Supplemental circuits and devices which improve the safety integrity and maintenance of the elevator control system are presented. These circuits and devices provide protection that eliminates the potential hazard and significantly reduces the possibility of a mine elevator accident.
Inadequate Antimicrobial Treatment: An Important Determinant of Outcome for Hospitalized Patients

Inadequate antimicrobial treatment, generally defined as microbiological documentation of an infection that is not being effectively treated, is an important factor in the emergence of infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Factors that contribute to inadequate antimicrobial treatment of hospitalized patients include prior antibiotic exposure, use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, prolonged length of stay, prolonged mechanical ventilation, and presence of invasive devices. Strategies to minimize inadequate treatment include consulting an infectious disease specialist, using antibiotic practice guidelines, and identifying quicker methods of microbiological identification. In addition, clinicians should determine the prevailing pathogens that account for the community-acquired and nosocomial infections identified in their hospitals. Clinicians can improve antimicrobial treatment by using empirical combination antibiotic therapy based on individual patient characteristics and the predominant bacterial flora and their antibiotic susceptibility profiles. This broad-spectrum therapy can then be narrowed when initial culture results are received. Further study evaluating the use of antibiotic practice guidelines and strategies to reduce inadequate treatment is necessary to determine their impact on patient outcomes.
The reported incidence of man-machine interface issues in Army aviators using the Aviator's Night Vision System (ANVIS) in a combat theatre

Background: Army Aviators rely on the ANVIS for night operations. Human factors literature notes that the ANVIS man-machine interface results in reports of visual and spinal complaints. This is the first study that has looked at these issues in the much harsher combat environment. Last year, the authors reported on the statistically significant (p<0.01) increased complaints of visual discomfort, degraded visual cues, and incidence of static and dynamic visual illusions in the combat environment [Proc. SPIE, Vol. 7688, 76880G (2010)]. In this paper we present the findings regarding increased spinal complaints and other man-machine interface issues found in the combat environment. Methods: A survey was administered to Aircrew deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Results: 82 Aircrew (representing an aggregate of >89,000 flight hours of which >22,000 were with ANVIS) participated. Analysis demonstrated high complaints of almost all levels of back and neck pain. Additionally, the use of body armor and other Aviation Life Support Equipment (ALSE) caused significant ergonomic complaints when used with ANVIS. Conclusions: ANVIS use in a combat environment resulted in higher and different types of reports of spinal symptoms and other man-machine interface issues over what was previously reported. Data from this study may be more operationally relevant than that of the peacetime literature as it is derived from actual combat and not from training flights, and it may have important implications about making combat predictions based on performance in training scenarios. Notably, Aircrew remarked that they could not execute the mission without ANVIS and ALSE and accepted the degraded ergonomic environment.