cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
College Students' Use of the Internet

Over the last several years there has been mounting concern about children being exposed to sex-related material on the Internet. Concern about pornography and obscenity is widespread and this concern has spawned a host of products to block or filter content. The notorious Time magazine article (July 3, 1995) "Cyberporn"--which Time later acknowledged had doubtful credibility (July 24, 1995)--undoubtedly inflamed this trend. The article, which asserted that much of traffic on the Internet dealt with pornography, was based on the largely discredited research of a Carnegie Mellon undergraduate student who examined 32 alt.binaries newsgroups on Usenet, not the Internet. Nonetheless, the article was fodder for the Communications Decency Act of 1996. While the Supreme Court struck down the Act, pending bills such as the "Safe Schools Internet Act" (H.R. 3177) would require all public libraries and schools that receive federal funds for Internet access to install blocking software to restrict minors' access to "inappropriate" material. Other pending bills would punish commercial online distributors for access to material they do not directly control and require service providers to offer blocking software to customers. While most students who use computers in university computer labs are legally adults, many are not. If laws restrict access to minors, there will be a host of technical problems to provide access to scholars and adult students. Labs are open spaces where students come and go, using computers for many purposes but only part of the time for Internet access. Determining policies and creating procedures to implement and monitor policies will entail considerable resources for something that may not be a serious problem and something that cannot be effectively controlled with filtering software. It could require students to present identification to prove they are adults in order to access certain computer resources, not to mention the procedures that would be used to restrict access to those who are minors. There is no way to verify age on the Internet, so the responsibility would fall to the school staff. For the time being, most universities have policies that limit computer use to legitimate educational purposes, and students in most universities have mainly unrestricted access. There is little or no information about how the Internet is used in such settings.
Quantitative Method for Determining the Lateral Strength of Bacterial Adhesion and Application for Characterizing Adhesion Kinetics

A quantitative method for measuring the shear force required to detach individual adhered bacteria using atomic force microscopy (AFM) was developed. By determining the total compression of the cantilever during cell detachment events, a more accurate means of calculating the applied lateral force necessary to remove individual cells was achieved compared to previous methods. In addition, a tunable assay for monitoring the dynamics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus adhesion strength was employed. The accumulation of force measurements over time allowed for the characterization of adhesion strength kinetics. P. aeruginosa reinforced its adhesion to the surface at a rate 7-fold faster than for S. aureus; the average adhesion strength of P. aeruginosa was larger than that of S. aureus at corresponding time points. Adhered cells of the same species and strain demonstrated a range of adhesion forces that broadened with time, indicating that the change in adhesion strength does not proceed uniformly.
The diplomacy of peacekeeping: France and the multinational forces to Lebanon, 1982–84

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 constituted a direct challenge to the coherence of France's long‐standing Gaullist politique arabe. This was based on three fundamentals: an independent position, a special friendship with the Arab world, and an active presence in the region. Faced with a choice between an engaged presence ‐participation in a US‐led multinational force (MNF) ‐ and independence from the United States, the French government opted for the former in the belief that an active role in the region took precedence. To offset the risks of cooperating with the United States in MNF I, France followed a policy of differentiation which included an aggressively independent diplomatic agenda and a well‐publicized distance from numerous US policies. The success of MNF I, however, was not repeated by MNF II as the French government departed from its differentiation and became entangled in an increasingly untenable enforcement mission. The result was a major policy disaster for France.
Expert-novice differences for software: implications for problem-solving and knowledge acquisition

Abstract Abstract Experts differ from non-experts in how they acquire knowledge, solve problems and process information. In the study reported here three levels of program organization (executable order, random lines, random chunks) are manipulated in order to distinguish expert from non-expert (intermediate, novice, naive) performance in a software recall task. Implications for problem-solving and knowledge acquisition are discussed.
FINITUDE IN THE BEAUTY OF THE INFINITE: A THEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND PROPOSAL

David Bentley Hart's tome The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth 1 has inspired a flurry of reviews since its publication in 2003. A survey of these reviews supports John McGuckin's trenchant assessment: 'this is a book which no one interested in theology can afford to miss. 2 Yet for all the fuss, there have been few sustained theological interactions with the work. 3 The goal of this article is to give David Bentley Hart's groundbreaking book the kind of close theological attention and evaluation the critical consensus agrees it deserves. Using his characterization of finitude as an entry point, this article provides an assessment of Hart's theological system; it will bring to light some significant internal tensions, investigate the roots of these internal tensions, and conclude with a constructive suggestion as to how Hart's scheme might be clarified to address some of the concerns raised in this article.
A multilevel construct validation of safety climate

Although safety climate is a multilevel construct that has demonstrated meaningful relationships with worker safety behavior and safety incidents at both individual and aggregate levels, most researchers still fail to take a multilevel approach when examining the construct. Because of this, it is currently unknown whether safety climate differs psychometrically across levels when using a common measure or if safety climate’s associations with theoretically relevant constructs differ in systematic ways across construct levels. This study fills these gaps in the literature by conducting a multilevel construct validation of safety climate using a newly-created measure. Results from two organizational samples revealed that safety climate was internally consistent across construct levels and was represented well at the individual and workgroup levels by a single overarching latent factor. In addition, results revealed that whereas safety climate’s associations with past safety incidents were proportionately st...
The rationale and range of treatment objectives in alcoholism.

(1978). The Rationale and Range of Treatment Objectives in Alcoholism. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse: Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 315-320.
Double dissociation in the neural substrates of acute opiate dependence as measured by withdrawal-potentiated startle

Abstract The basolateral amygdala and portions of the “extended” amygdala (i.e. central nucleus of the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and shell of the nucleus accumbens) have been implicated in the aversive aspects of withdrawal from chronic opiate administration. Given that similar withdrawal signs are observed following a single opiate exposure, these structures may also play a role in “acute opiate dependence.” In the current study, drug-naive rats underwent naloxone-precipitated withdrawal from acute morphine (10 mg/kg) exposure on two successive days. On either the first or second day of testing, the basolateral amygdala, central nucleus of the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, or nucleus accumbens was temporarily inactivated immediately prior to naloxone injection by microinfusion of the glutamatergic alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole proprionic acid receptor antagonist 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-6-nitro-2,3-dioxo-benzo{f}quinoxaline-7-sulfonamide (3 μg/0.5 μl). On the first day, inactivation of the basolateral amygdala, central nucleus of the amygdala, or bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, but not the nucleus accumbens blocked withdrawal-potentiated startle, a behavioral measure of the anxiogenic effects of withdrawal. On the second day, inactivation of the nucleus accumbens, but not the basolateral amygdala, central nucleus of the amygdala, or bed nucleus of the stria terminalis disrupted the withdrawal effect. Effects of structural inactivations on withdrawal-potentiated startle were not influenced by differences in withdrawal severity on the two days of testing. A fear-potentiated startle procedure provided functional confirmation of correct cannulae placement in basolateral amygdale– and central nucleus of the amygdala–implanted animals. Our findings indicate a double dissociation in the neural substrates of withdrawal-potentiated startle following a first versus second morphine exposure, and may reflect a reorganization of the neural circuitry underlying the expression of withdrawal-induced negative affect during the earliest stages of opiate dependence.
Effect of Growth Regulators on Plant Regeneration from Shoot Apical Meristems of Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) and on the Culture of Internodes in vitro

Summary The regeneration of shoots from cassava meristems was described as a function of presence or absence of cytokinins, NAA and GA 3 Out of 4 cytokinins, BA was best suited for plant regeneration followed by zeatin, kinetin and 2iP. In conjunction with either 1.0 or 0.1 µM NAA and 0.1 µM GA 3 all levels of BA induced plant regeneration in 100% of the meristems. Shoot development was poor in most combinations involving higher concentrations of NAA. Addition of GA 3 improved plant regeneration and its effect was more pronounced at higher concentrations of NAA. Attempts to induce shoot regeneration from callus derived from internodal segments were unsuccessful.
Activity of tungsten as a methanation catalyst

The catalytic activity of tungsten has been investigated for the methane synthesis from H/sub 2/ and CO. Starting with atomically clean tungsten, the activity for catalytic methanation rivals that of Ni, with tungsten being active at lower temperatures than Ni. These observations of high catalytic activity for tungsten suggest that the low activity seen in previous studies on tungsten catalysts may have been due to inadequate cleaning procedures.
A new deep-depletion CCD for the red channel of the Palomar Double Spectrograph

The red channel of the Palomar Double Spectrograph (DBSP) on the 200-inch Hale Telescope has been upgraded with a new deep-depletion CCD from LBNL. Its redder response produced a significant increase of the throughput above 550 nm, and its longer dimension more than doubled the spectral coverage. A special Dewar was designed to accommodate a detector mount which includes features to minimize CCD motion due to thermal cycling, in spite of the very simple "picture frame" packaging of the CCD. The new Dewar also includes some novel features to improve the liquid nitrogen hold time while staying within the size envelope allowed in the Cassegrain cage. We describe these changes along with the detector characterization.
The Morphology of Tensile Failure in Tantalum

The deformation, crack nucleation, coalescence, and rupture process of pure tantalum (99.9 pct) were studied under room temperature quasistatic loading using several in situ and ex-situ techniques including optical metallography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and transmission-electron microscopy (TEM). The fracture surface of tantalum forms a ridge-and-valley morphology that is distinct from conventional notions of ductile dimple microvoid coalescence, and also distinct from spall damage formed during dynamic shock conditions. Failure proceeds by void nucleation at a dislocation cell wall or in subgrain interiors. Coalescence appears to involve a two-stage damage progression: first individual voids coalesce along the tensile axis forming diamond-shaped multivoid cavities; then cavities link-up by intercavity necking. Final rupture occurs when the intercavity necks thin to ~100-nm films and fail by crystallographic cleavage. This final tearing process was observed using in situ TEM tensile deformation of a thin tantalum film. The detailed microstructural and morphological observations of the current study can be used to guide the development of improved models for tearing of ductile metals.
A native species-based index of biological integrity for Hawaiian stream environments

Based upon ecological data provided by a 6-year study of native species assemblage structure and function in near-pristine Limahuli Stream (Kauai), The Hawaii Stream Index of Biological Integrity (HS-IBI) incorporates 11 metrics covering five ecological categories (taxonomic richness, sensitive species, reproductive capacity, trophic-habitat capacity, and tolerance capacity). The HS-IBI was shown to effectively distinguish stream biological condition on a continuum from undisturbed (near-pristine) to severely impaired in sampling of 39 sites (6 estuarine reaches) on 18 Hawaiian streams located on all major islands. A significant relationship was validated between relative levels of human impact occurring within-watersheds (determined through use of a landscape indicator) and IBI ratings with metrics responding predictably to gradients of human influence. For management interpretation of HS-IBI results, a framework comprised of five "integrity classes" (excellent-good-fair-poor-impaired) is provided which can be used to operationalize HS-IBI results obtained through standardized sampling of stream sites that "...translates into a verbal and visual portrait of biological condition." Through its focus on native species, the HS-IBI incorporates evolutionary and biogeographic variation for the region with biological expectations based upon reference condition benchmarks established in near-pristine stream environments where ecological functioning is naturally self-sustaining and resilient to normal environmental variation. The methods and tools described in this study are appropriate for application in all perennial streams in Hawaii and may be adapted for use in streams on other tropical Pacific islands where native species assemblages persist in near-pristine stream environments.
Detection of trace water in phosphine with cavity ring-down spectroscopy

Water is a detrimental impurity even at concentrations of 10 nmol/mol or less in source gases for compound semiconductor epitaxial growth. Oxygen complexes from water incorporation cause degraded luminescent efficiency and reduced minority-carrier lifetimes. Most techniques for detecting water in process gases have poor accuracy below 1mmol/mol and require frequent calibration and control of ambient humidity. Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS), in contrast, makes use of a fundamental physical property of H2O molecules—the optical absorption line strength—and a time-constant measurement to provide a water concentration value with high precision and low uncertainty even in the nmol/mol range. We describe the CRDS technique and present the first CRDS measurements of trace H2O contamination in unpurified and purified phosphine. We also report secondary-ion mass spectrometry measurements of the O concentration profiles within a multi-layer film grown using molecular-beam epitaxy in which respective film layers were grown with the purified and unpurified phosphine previously characterized by CRDS. r 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Music Instruction in the Nineteenth Century: Views from "Godey's Lady's Book," 1830-77.

For this study, the researcher examined views expressed in Godey's Lady's Book on (1) the role of music in the nineteenth-century curriculum, (2) the goals of music instruction (3) what should be and (4) who should receive musical training. The value of music instruction and the role of music in the curriculum were highly controversial subjects. While proponents cited extrinsic benefits, detractors viewed music as a frill. Boys were rarely mentioned in these discussions; music instruction was not considered a particularly masculine activity. Debates raged over whether a girl's music instruction would be an asset in adult life. Musical talent was viewed as a gift bestowed on a fortunate few, and parents were advised not to waste money on those who lacked natural ability. Rudimentary training was preferred over intensive study; reforming American taste sometimes was the goal. Ideologies and tensions evident in Godey's continue to surface in the modern discussion.
A perturbation method for nonlinear dispersive wave problems

The nonlinear partial differential equations for dispersive waves have special solutions representing uniform wavetrains. An expansion procedure is developed for slowly varying wavetrains, in which full nonlinearity is retained but the scale of the nonuniformity introduces a small parameter. The first-order results agree with those obtained previously by averaging techniques (Whitham 1965 a, b). The perturbation method provides a detailed description and deeper understanding, as well as a consistent development to higher approximations. This method for treating partial differential equations is analogous to the ‘multiple time scale9 methods for ordinary differential equations in nonlinear vibration theory. It may also be regarded as a generalization of the geometrical optics approximation to nonlinear problems.
Microwave reflection and dielectric properties of mortar subjected to compression force and cyclically exposed to water and sodium chloride solution

Corrosion of the reinforcing steel is a major cause of damage and deterioration in reinforced concrete structures such as concrete bridge decks and columns. Chloride intrusion into concrete can lead to depassivation of the steel and initiation of corrosion. Thus, it is very important to be able to nondestructively detect and evaluate the free chloride content in concrete. Near-field microwave nondestructive testing techniques, using open-ended rectangular waveguide probes, have shown great potential for evaluating various properties of concrete, including the successful detection of sodium chloride added to mortar mixing water. In this study, several mortar samples are cyclically soaked in distilled and salt water while also experiencing compression force. Compression force, simulating in-service loading, causes microcracking, which results in increased microcracking and permeability, promoting chloride ingress. The daily microwave reflection and dielectric properties of these samples were measured at 3 GHz. The results show the capability of these microwave measurements for detecting the increased level of chloride permeation and loading as a function of the increasing number of soaking cycles. The influence of salt ingress is shown to be more prominent in the loss factor, while the effect of loading is more evident in the permittivity of the samples.
Regulation of insulin-like growth factor-II expression and its role in autocrine growth of human neuroblastoma cells

Insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) is highly expressed in fetal tissues and may act as an autocrine growth factor during early embryogenesis. The SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cell line also expresses IGF-II and its receptors and responds to exogenous IGF-II with increased DNA synthesis, cell division, and neuritic outgrowth. For this study, we tested the hypothesis that IGF-II mediates autocrine growth of SH-SY5Y cells in serum-free media. SH-SY5Y cells plated at high densities proliferated in serum-free media, whereas sparsely plated cells did not. IGF-II mRNA levels increased within 24 hours of serum deprivation and were associated with increased immunoreactive IGF-II protein. Exogenous addition of IGF-II increased 3H-TdR incorporation and cell number in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. By nuclear labelling experiments using 5-Bromo-2′ deoxyuridine (BrdU), we detected a twofold higher percentage of S phase nuclei after a 24-hour incubation in IGF-II. Treatment of SH-SY5Y cells with anti-IGF-II antibodies in serum-free media inhibited cell proliferation, and this inhibition was partially overcome by the addition of increasing concentrations of IGF-II. Collectively, our results indicate that IGF-II mediates an autocrine growth mechanism in SH-SY5Y cells that is associated with increased IGF-II expression. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Sudden short-term increase in mortality of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) due to leopard predation in Amboseli National Park, Kenya.

A substantial increase in mortality, due mainly to predation, occurred during 1987 in a population of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) studied from 1977 to 1989 in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. It has been shown that vervets moving into new and unfamiliar habitats are more at risk from predation. However, this does not entirely explain the increase in predation in 1987 because predation decreased after 1987 while movement into new areas continued. An increase in leopard alarm calls relative to previous years in four of five groups, and an association between disappearances and leopard alarm calls given by vervets in the same four groups, suggest that leopards, a main predator of vervets, accounted for the increase in mortality. The vervets' increased vulnerability to leopard predation in 1987 did not appear to be related either directly or indirectly to continued habitat deterioration because 1) mortality rates after 1987 decreased to pre-1987 levels and 2) the vervets' behavior did not appear to change to make them more vulnerable than in previous years. The increased vulnerability appeared to be due in part to an increase in the presence of leopards. However, it is unclear why predator presence temporarily increased.
Exploiting Quorum Sensing To Confuse Bacterial Pathogens

Cell-cell communication, or quorum sensing, is a widespread phenomenon in bacteria that is used to coordinate gene expression among local populations. Its use by bacterial pathogens to regulate genes that promote invasion, defense, and spread has been particularly well documented. With the ongoing emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, there is a current need for development of alternative therapeutic strategies. An antivirulence approach by which quorum sensing is impeded has caught on as a viable means to manipulate bacterial processes, especially pathogenic traits that are harmful to human and animal health and agricultural productivity. The identification and development of chemical compounds and enzymes that facilitate quorum-sensing inhibition (QSI) by targeting signaling molecules, signal biogenesis, or signal detection are reviewed here. Overall, the evidence suggests that QSI therapy may be efficacious against some, but not necessarily all, bacterial pathogens, and several failures and ongoing concerns that may steer future studies in productive directions are discussed. Nevertheless, various QSI successes have rightfully perpetuated excitement surrounding new potential therapies, and this review highlights promising QSI leads in disrupting pathogenesis in both plants and animals.
The physiological connection: stimulating the human and amphibian retina

To explore the feasibility of an intraocular visual prosthesis for the restoration of sight in blind individuals the authors have performed electrical stimulation experiments in alert human subjects and in amphibian retina preparations. Subjects were legally blind from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, in whom a substantial fraction of inner retinal cells is thought to remain functional. Data from 11 subjects are presented. All experienced localized visual percepts, and resolution if tested, was on the order of 1/spl deg/ to 2/spl deg/, suggesting the feasibility of at least ambulatory vision. Data from both human and animal subjects indicate that more than one cell type can be stimulated, and that selective stimulation of a particular cell type may be possible. The authors argue that a straightforward image processing and stimulus delivery system may suffice for the production of pixelized prosthetic vision, and that supervised learning of the human recipient will be more important than that of the prosthesis.
Late effects of x-irradiation on the ability of mouse bone marrow to support hematopoiesis.

A modified spleen colony method was used to measure the functional ability of the irradiated bone marrow to support CFU (Colony Forming Unit) proliferation. This was assayed with a two-step procedure. Mice, whose left lower extremities had been previously irradiated, were given whole body irradiation and bone marrow cells. After 8 days, the number of cells in the previously irradiated and non-irradiated limbs was counted and assayed for CFU content by injection into lethally irradiated secondary recipients. A shallow dose-related decrease in the ability of irradiated mouse bone marrow to support clonal growth was seen at all times after bone irradiation. The proliferation ratio did not decrease below 0.28 even when the bone marrow had received as much as 3000 rad. Recuperation of the ability of irradiated mouse bone marrow to support clonal growth was observed at intervals of 9 and 12 months.
Thin-layer method: Formulation in the time domain

The thin-layer method is a semi-discrete numerical technique that may be used for the dynamic analysis of laminated solids or fluids. In its classical implementation, the method is normally formulated in the frequency domain and requires the solution of a complex-valued quadratic eigenvalue problem; in this paper we present an alternative time-domain formulation which can offer advantages in some cases, such as avoiding the use of complex algebra. The proposed method entails expressing the governing equations in the frequency-wavenumber domain, solving a linear real-valued eigenvalue problem in the frequency variable, carrying out an analytical integration over frequencies, and performing a numerical transform over wavenumbers. This strategy allows obtaining the Green's functions for impulsive sources directly in the time domain, even when the system has little or no damping. We first develop the algorithm in its most general form, allowing fully anisotropic materials and arbitrary expansion orders; then we consider a restricted class of anisotropic materials for which the required linear eigenvalue problem involves only real, narrowly banded symmetric matrices and finally, we demonstrate the method by means of a simple problem involving a homogeneous stratum subjected to an antiplane impulsive source.
Development of a rep-rated capacitor bank utilizing electrochemical energy storage

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is developing a battery-powered, rep-rate charger for a 60-kJ capacitor bank. The objective is to charge a 4800-μF capacitor to 5-kV in four seconds for a fifty shot burst. A bank of lithiumion batteries is used with a full H-bridge converter, a transformer, and a rectifier to transform the 600V battery voltage to 5-kV secondary voltage. The battery modules are nominally 50-V each until the output relays are energized and all twelve modules are connected in series, at which point the voltage will droop significantly due to circuit loading. The batteries are directly connected to an IGBT-based full-bridge converter that is used in conjunction with a capacitor and the transformer to charge the bank in approximately six seconds. Additional work was also performed in the investigation of the use of Oscillating Heat Pipes (OHPs) to replace the passive heat sink on the IGBT switches. This paper will present results from experiments to date.
Misinterpretation of facial expressions of emotion in verbal adults with autism spectrum disorder

Facial emotion perception is significantly affected in autism spectrum disorder, yet little is known about how individuals with autism spectrum disorder misinterpret facial expressions that result in their difficulty in accurately recognizing emotion in faces. This study examined facial emotion perception in 45 verbal adults with autism spectrum disorder and 30 age- and gender-matched volunteers without autism spectrum disorder to identify patterns of emotion misinterpretation during face processing that contribute to emotion recognition impairments in autism. Results revealed that difficulty distinguishing emotional from neutral facial expressions characterized much of the emotion perception impairments exhibited by participants with autism spectrum disorder. In particular, adults with autism spectrum disorder uniquely misinterpreted happy faces as neutral, and were significantly more likely than typical volunteers to attribute negative valence to nonemotional faces. The over-attribution of emotions to neutral faces was significantly related to greater communication and emotional intelligence impairments in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. These findings suggest a potential negative bias toward the interpretation of facial expressions and may have implications for interventions designed to remediate emotion perception in autism spectrum disorder.
Management of cervical esophageal and hypopharyngeal perforations.

Abstract Purpose Evidence is limited for outcomes of surgical versus conservative management for patients with cervical esophageal or hypopharyngeal perforations. Methods Patients with cervical esophageal or hypopharyngeal perforations treated between 1994 and 2014 were identified using an institutional database. Outcomes were compared between patients who underwent operative drainage and those who had conservative management with broad-spectrum antibiotics and withholding oral intake. Results Twenty-eight patients were identified with hypopharyngeal or cervical esophageal perforations, mostly due to iatrogenic (nasogastric tube placement, endoscopy, endotracheal intubation) injuries (68%). Fourteen were treated initially with conservative management and 14 with initial surgery. Six patients failed conservative treatment and two patients failed surgical treatment. Patients managed conservatively who had eaten between injury and diagnosis (p = 0.003), those who had 24 hours or more between the time of injury and diagnosis (p = 0.026), and those who showed signs of systemic toxicity (p = 0.001) were significantly more likely to fail conservative treatment and require surgery. No variables were significant for treatment failure in the surgical group. Of the 20 patients who ultimately underwent a surgical procedure, two required a second procedure. Conclusion Patients who have eaten between the time of perforation and diagnosis, have 24 hours or more between injury and diagnosis, and those that show signs of systemic toxicity are at higher risk of failing conservative management and surgical drainage should be considered. For patients without these risk factors, a trial of conservative management can be attempted.
Bus mastering PCI express in an FPGA

This paper describes a bus mastering implementation of the PCI Express protocol using a Xilinx FPGA. While the theoretical peak performance of PCI Express is quite high, attaining that performance is a complex endeavor on top of an already complex protocol. The implementation is described and its performance is analyzed. Source code is offered for free download via the web.
GHZ higher order contour mode ALN annular resonators

This work introduces a new class of low motional resistance piezoelectric aluminum nitride (AlN) MEMS ring resonators that operate in GHz contour modes of vibration. The resonators are based on an annular thin film AlN structural layer sandwiched between two or more pairs of concentric transduction electrodes whose design effectively uncouples the resonant frequency of the device from its transduction area (and consequently its motional resistance) at the layout level. The devices under test exhibit lithographically-defined fundamental series resonant frequencies from 1.03 to 1.60 GHz, motional resistances from 57 to 130 Omega, a resonator figure of merit (FOM = kt 2Q) of 6.4 to 7.4, and no coherent spurious responses from DC to 5 GHz.
Structure and T-cell inhibition properties of B7 family member, B7-H3

T cell activity is controlled by a combination of antigen-dependent signaling through the T cell receptor and a set of auxiliary signals delivered through antigen-independent interactions, including the recognition of the B7 family of ligands. B7-H3 is a recently identified B7 family member that is strongly overexpressed in a range of cancers and correlates with poor prognosis. We report the crystal structure of murine B7-H3 at a 3 A resolution, which provides a model for the organization of the IgV and IgC domains within the ectodomain. We demonstrate that B7-H3 inhibits T cell proliferation and show that the FG loop of the IgV domain plays a critical role in this function. B7-H3 crystallized as an unusual dimer arising from the exchange of the G strands in the IgV domains of partner molecules. This arrangement, in combination with previous reports, highlights the dynamic nature and plasticity of the immunoglobulin fold.
Achieving proportional delay differentiation in wireless LAN via cross-layer scheduling

Summary Providing service differentiation in wireless networks has attracted much attention in recent research. Existing studies so far have focused on the design of differentiated media access algorithms. Some quality of service (QoS) metrics, such as queueing delay cannot be completely addressed by these approaches. Moreover, without a formalized service differentiation goal that quantifies the outcome of differentiation, the performance of most of the approaches fluctuates, especially in short time-scales. This paper addresses above problems by introducing the concept of proportional service differentiation, to the domain of wireless network and focuses on providing proportional delay differentiation in wireless LANs. Due to the unique characteristic of distributed medium sharing, the scheduling algorithm employed in wireline networks can not be applied directly to the context of wireless LANs. We argue that delay differentiation in wireless LAN can only be achieved through a joint packet scheduling at the network layer and distributed coordination at the media access control (MAC) layer. Therefore, we present a cross-layer waiting time priority (CWTP) scheduling algorithm. CWTP consists of two tiers: an intra-node waiting time priority (WTP) scheduler at the network layer and an inter-node distributed coordination function at the MAC layer. These two tiers coordinate via a mapping function, which maps the normalized waiting time at the network layer to the backoff time at the MAC layer. Two mapping schemes, namely linear mapping and piecewise linear mapping, are presented and evaluated in this paper. Extensive simulation results show that the CWTP algorithm can effectively achieve proportional delay differentiation in wireless LANs. Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Portable parallel programming in HPC

HPC++ is a C++ library and language extension framework that is being developed by the HPC++ consortium as a standard model for portable parallel C++ programming. This paper provides a brief introduction to HPC++ style programming and outlines some of the unresolved issues.
Feedback amplification of fibrosis through matrix stiffening and COX-2 suppression.

Tissue stiffening is a hallmark of fibrotic disorders but has traditionally been regarded as an outcome of fibrosis, not a contributing factor to pathogenesis. In this study, we show that fibrosis induced by bleomycin injury in the murine lung locally increases median tissue stiffness sixfold relative to normal lung parenchyma. Across this pathophysiological stiffness range, cultured lung fibroblasts transition from a surprisingly quiescent state to progressive increases in proliferation and matrix synthesis, accompanied by coordinated decreases in matrix proteolytic gene expression. Increasing matrix stiffness strongly suppresses fibroblast expression of COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2) and synthesis of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), an autocrine inhibitor of fibrogenesis. Exogenous PGE2 or an agonist of the prostanoid EP2 receptor completely counteracts the proliferative and matrix synthetic effects caused by increased stiffness. Together, these results demonstrate a dominant role for normal tissue compliance, acting in part through autocrine PGE2, in maintaining fibroblast quiescence and reveal a feedback relationship between matrix stiffening, COX-2 suppression, and fibroblast activation that promotes and amplifies progressive fibrosis.
Comparison of the DEMAM and DEAM Accommodation Models

Magnetic accommodation is observed in a rate-independent drift of minor loops towards a limit cycle. Several phenomenological models have been proposed that are not based upon physical reasons. Recently, two versions of physically based differential equation models were introduced. The differences between these two models are discussed here.
Differential space-time coding based on generalized multi-channel amplitude and phase modulation

We present a new differential space-time coding scheme based on generalized multi-channel amplitude and phase modulation. Each code matrix employed by our scheme consists of an amplitude and a phase component, and can be thought of as a space-time multi-channel generalization of the scalar amplitude and phase shift keying (APSK) constellation. The amplitude component takes a scalar coefficient that controls the total transmission power, while the phase component is a unitary matrix formed from PSK symbols. Both the amplitude and phase components are differentially encoded and admit efficient differential decoding. We show that the maximum likelihood (ML) decoding of the amplitude coefficient and phase matrix is decoupled. Moreover, the phase matrix, when constructed from orthogonal designs, is amenable to decoupled differential decoding of the phase entries, which further simplifies the decoding complexity significantly. Simulation results show that the proposed amplitude-phase differential space-time modulation scheme achieves a performance very close to its phase-only counterpart, while providing the higher spectral efficiency offered by amplitude modulation.
Prevalence of acne rosacea in a rheumatic skin disease subspecialty clinic

There are many causes of malar erythema besides the classic butterfly rash of acute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (LE). Twenty-one patients (6.7% of new patient visits) referred to a dermatology department-based rheumatic skin disease subspecialty clinic over a 5-year period in whom a diagnosis of cutaneous LE had been entertained were found to have diagnoses other than autoimmune connective tissue diseases. Sixteen of the patients in this cohort (76%) had acne rosacea (rosacea), while the remaining five had other dermatologic disorders. Review of their records revealed that upon referral nine of these 21 patients (43%) had positive antinuclear antibody (ANA) assays, most with insignificant or marginal titers by our laboratory standards. On repeat ANA testing in our laboratory, all of these patients had insignificant ANA titers. Physicians may be giving too much weight to low-titer ANAs in assessing patients with isolated malar erythema. These issues are discussed in the overall context of the differential diagnosis of malar erythema. A simple punch skin biopsy can be very helpful in distinguishing cutaneous LE from other causes of malar erythema.
Mechanical asymmetry during articulation of tibial and femoral cartilages: Local and overall compressive and shear deformation and properties

Abstract During knee movement, femoral cartilage articulates against cartilage from the tibial plateau, and the resulting mechanical behavior is yet to be fully characterized. The objectives of this study were to determine (1) the overall and depth-varying axial and shear strains and (2) the associated moduli, of femoral and tibial cartilages during the compression and shearing of apposing tibial and femoral samples. Osteochondral blocks from human femoral condyles (FCs) characterized as normal and donor-matched lateral tibial plateau (TP) were apposed, compressed 13%, and subjected to relative lateral motion. When surfaces began to slide, axial (− E zz ) and shear ( E xz ) strains and compressive ( E ) and shear ( G ) moduli, overall and as a function of depth, were determined for femoral and tibial cartilages. Tibial − E zz was ∼2-fold greater than FC − E zz near the surface (0.38 versus 0.22) and overall (0.16 versus 0.07). Near the surface, E xz of TP was 8-fold higher than that of FC (0.41 versus 0.05), while overall E xz was 4-fold higher (0.09 versus 0.02). For TP and FC, − E zz and E xz were greatest near the surface and decreased monotonically with depth. E for FC was 1.7-fold greater than TP, both near the surface (0.40 versus 0.24 MPa) and overall (0.76 versus 0.47 MPa). Similarly, G was 7-fold greater for FC (0.22 MPa) than TP near the surface (0.03 MPa) and 3-fold higher for FC (0.38 MPa) than TP (0.13 MPa) overall. These results indicate that tibial cartilage deforms and strains more axially and in shear than the apposing femoral cartilage during tibial–femoral articulation, reflecting their respective moduli.
Scheduling jobs sharing multiple resources under uncertainty: A stochastic programming approach

A two-stage stochastic integer program to determine an optimal schedule for jobs requiring multiple classes of resources under uncertain processing times, due dates, resource consumption and availabilities is formulated. Temporary resource capacity expansion for a penalty is allowed. Potential applications of this model include team scheduling problems that arise in service industries such as engineering consulting and operating room scheduling. An exact solution method is developed based on Benders decomposition for problems with a moderate number of scenarios. Benders decomposition is then embedded within a sampling-based solution method for problems with a large number of scenarios. A sequential sampling procedure is modified to allow for approximate solution of integer programs and its asymptotic validity and finite stopping are proved under this modification. The solution methodologies are compared on a set of test problems. Several algorithmic enhancements are added to improve efficiency.
Correlates of Overweight and Obesity in American Indian Children

Objective To identify risk factors that may contribute to the development and/or maintenance of overweight and obesity in American Indian children. Methods The sample consisted of 291 tribally enrolled American Indian children. Body mass index (BMI) was measured by a tribal program and children completed self-report measures during health class. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted for 232 children and included three blocks of predictor variables (diet and physical activity, weight-related attitudes, and psychosocial variables). Results Thirty-three percent of children were obese and 20% were overweight. Diet and physical activity (7.6%) and weight-related attitudes (31.9%) made significant contributions, explaining 39.5% of the variance in BMI. Conclusions Greater BMI scores were related to healthier food choice intentions, more hours of television viewing, greater body dissatisfaction, higher negative attitudes toward body size, and more weight loss attempts.
Lessons learned from randomised clinical trials in adult low grade glioma

Summary "Lesson" is a Middle English word that has been defined as "a passage from sacred writings read in a service of worship" as well as "something learned by study or experience". The term is quite appropriate in assessment of what has been learned from randomised trials in adult low-grade gliomas, since the treatment of these tumours has traditionally been guided as much by belief as by fact. Therefore, when assessing these trials we can apply the principles of hermeneutics. Thus, the first meaning of "lesson" given here can be described as literal, whereas the second may be seen as figurative. Since hermeneutics may also refer to an in-depth analysis of a particular text, the investigators will present their interpretation of data from randomised trials. The goal is to show that the lessons learned are not necessarily literal or dogmatic but can be much more allegorical in nature.
Conducting an Employment Selection Validation Study at a Food Processing Plant

Two consultants were hired to design and implement an employee selection system for a sugar processing plant. They conducted job analysis, collected performance appraisal data (criteria), worked to establish the validity of the test battery, and performed other activities related to completing a professional test validation study. The case ends with the plant manager enthusiastically announcing to the consultants and departmental managers that testing would begin at the packing plant in ten days, that other company facilities would soon follow suit, and that the corporate office was very impressed with the near term implementation of testing at all of its processing plants. The consultants informed the plant manager that his plan was premature and a lot more analysis was required before testing could begin at the current location and that extending the testing to the other plants was beyond the scope of the current validation study. The manager told the consultants “we need to make this happen” and later asked “can you make this happen?”
Wave mixing in coupled phononic crystals via a variable stiffness mechanism

We investigate wave mixing effects in a phononic crystal that couples the wave dynamics of two channels – primary and control ones – via a variable stiffness mechanism. We demonstrate analytically and numerically that the wave transmission in the primary channel can be manipulated by the control channel's signal. We show that the application of control waves allows the selection of a specific mode through the primary channel. We also demonstrate that the mixing of two wave modes is possible whereby a modulation effect is observed. A detailed study of the design parameters is also carried out to optimize the switching capabilities of the proposed system. Finally, we verify that the system can fulfill both switching and amplification functionalities, potentially enabling the realization of an acoustic transistor.