cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Corporate Governance in the Banking Sector of the Republic of Macedonia

The aim of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the corporate governance in the banks in Macedonia and some recommendation for strengthening corporate practices of banks.
Spatial normalization of diffusion tensor MRI using multiple channels

Diffusion Tensor MRI (DT-MRI) can provide important in vivo information for the detection of brain abnormalities in diseases characterized by compromised neural connectivity. To quantify diffusion tensor abnormalities based on voxel-based statistical analysis, spatial normalization is required to minimize the anatomical variability between studied brain structures. In this article, we used a multiple input channel registration algorithm based on a demons algorithm and evaluated the spatial normalization of diffusion tensor image in terms of the input information used for registration. Registration was performed on 16 DT-MRI data sets using different combinations of the channels, including a channel of T2-weighted intensity, a channel of the fractional anisotropy, a channel of the difference of the first and second eigenvalues, two channels of the fractional anisotropy and the trace of tensor, three channels of the eigenvalues of the tensor, and the six channel tensor components. To evaluate the registration of tensor data, we defined two similarity measures, i.e., the endpoint divergence and the mean square error, which we applied to the fiber bundles of target images and registered images at the same seed points in white matter segmentation. We also evaluated the tensor registration by examining the voxel-by-voxel alignment of tensors in a sample of 15 normalized DT-MRIs. In all evaluations, nonlinear warping using six independent tensor components as input channels showed the best performance in effectively normalizing the tract morphology and tensor orientation. We also present a nonlinear method for creating a group diffusion tensor atlas using the average tensor field and the average deformation field, which we believe is a better approach than a strict linear one for representing both tensor distribution and morphological distribution of the population.
Social presence with video and application sharing

We present two experimental studies examining the effects of videoconferencing and application sharing on task performance. We studied performance on a cognitive reasoning task while subjects were observed via two-way video, one-way video and application sharing. Results demonstrate that performance is impaired when subjects are observed via media compared to when they are not observed. Surprisingly, we found no significant difference in awareness of the observer's presence between the application sharing and the two-way video conditions. This is surprising because application sharing lacks visual feedback of the observer. This finding contradicts social presence theory which claims that media which provides visual feedback of others produce the greatest sense of social presence. Our data also show that media use heightens the perception of task difficulty. We extend social presence theory and argue that these social effects need to be considered in the design and deployment of video and application sharing technologies for use in the workplace.
Spatial characteristics of claypan soil properties in an agricultural field

Spatial variability in soil properties has long been observed within uniformly managed fields. Understanding the spatial characteristics of soil properties would be helpful in understanding soil–landscape relationships and in the development of site-specific management. The primary objective of this research was to quantify the spatial characteristics of claypan soil properties for a 4-ha agricultural field located in north-central Missouri. Soil samples were collected in 2002 at three depths (0–7.5, 7.5–15, and 15–30 cm) on a 30-m grid. Samples were analyzed for physical, chemical, and microbiological properties. Handheld and mobile apparent soil-profile electrical conductivity (ECa) values were also obtained. Spatial dependence was not identified for many properties. Yet, at a separation distance of |40 m, clay and silt content, cation exchange capacity, and Bray-1 P were spatially autocorrelated for the 15- to 30-cm depth. Soil ECa showed a similar spatial autocorrelation. Spatial variations in most soil properties were better estimated by cross-semivariance analysis with ECa as a secondary variable than by simple semivariance analysis. Clay content was lowest and mostly homogeneous at the 0- to 7.5-cm depth (mean 5 170 g kg 21 ,S D5 2.0), and highest and most variable at the 15- to 30-cm depth (mean 5 410 g kg 21 ,S D5 15.8). Thus, the spatial characteristics ofsoil textureandrelated soil properties varied greatly by depth and landscape position, probably the result of an uneven distribution of topsoil caused by tillage-accelerated water erosion. We conclude that characterizing the variation in the depth of the claypan horizon is a helpful step in describing other properties for these soils.
Effects of an Enkephalin Analog on Pancreatic Endocrine Function and Glucose Homeostasis in Normal and Diabetic Dogs

The effects of an iv infusion of an enkephalin analog, [D-met2, Pro5]enkephalin-amide (enkephalin*), on circulating insulin, glucagon, and glucose concentrations were examined in vivo in normal and alloxan-diabetic dogs. Dose-response experiments in normal conscious dogs demonstrated inhibition of glucagon release (maximal decrease, 19 ± 10 pg/ml) at an infusion rate of 1.6 μg kg-1 h-1. At a dose of 32 μg kg-1 h-1, an increase of 44 ± 12 pg/ml in the glucagon concentration was observed. Both the degree of inhibition and stimulation of glucagon secretion were statistically significant compared to those seen after the infusion of enkephalin* together with naloxone. There was minimal suppression of insulin secretion at the lowest infusion dose, but significant stimulation (maximum increase, 5.0 ± 1.4 μ/ml) at the highest dose. This change was also prevented by naloxone. Similar effects were observed in the peripheral circulation of anesthetized dogs at an infusion rate of 32 μg kg-1 h-1. However, greater inc...
Frequent-image-frames enhanced digital ortho-rectified mapping (FIFEDOM) airborne mapping system

FIFEDOM is an innovative digital airborne image acquisition system, which exploits the additional information inherent in highly overlapped image frames. FIFEDOM proposes a new analysis methodology for aerial mapping, based on image processing algorithms, which extract the information found only in highly overlapped image sequences to create orthographic map information. FIFEDOM will concentrate on three applications of highly overlapped aerial image data. They were selected because they fill a clear commercial need and have the most direct impact on the core business of the mapping industry. They are also comprehensive in the sense that they span the radiometric, geometric and classification aspects of the new data. The three applications are: improved mosaicking, improved DEMs and orthorectified images, and improved land classification. Currently, these sophisticated tasks require skilled human operators. The intelligent systems built for FIFEDOM will reduce human interaction, thereby reducing operating costs.
Longitudinal analysis of large social networks: estimating the effect of health traits on changes in friendship ties.

We develop novel mixed effects models to examine the role of health traits on the status of peoples' close friendship nominations in the Framingham Heart Study. The health traits considered are both mutable (body mass index (BMI), smoking, blood pressure, body proportion, muscularity, and depression) and, for comparison, basically immutable (height, birth order, personality type, only child, and handedness); and the traits have varying degrees of observability. We test the hypotheses that existing ties (i.e. close friendship nominations) are more likely to dissolve between people with dissimilar (mutable and observable) health traits whereas new ties are more likely to form between those with similar (mutable and observable) traits while controlling for persons' age, gender, geographic separation, and education. The mixed effects models contain random effects for both the nominator (ego) and nominated (alter) persons in a tie to account for the fact that people were involved in multiple relationships and contributed observations at multiple exams. Results for BMI support the hypotheses that people of similar BMI are less likely to dissolve existing ties and more likely to form ties, while smoker to non-smoker ties were the least likely to dissolve and smoker to smoker ties were the most likely to form. We also validated previously known findings regarding homophily on age and gender, and found evidence that homophily also depends upon geographic separation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Business Librarians Donning the Data Hat: Perspectives on This New Challenge

This column is written by Justina M. Elmore and Charissa O. Jefferson. Justina M. Elmore (elmore@geneseo.edu) is the Business and Data Librarian at the State University of New York at Geneseo's Milne Library. She holds a B.A. in English from Colorado State University at Pueblo and M.L.S. from the University of Buffalo. Charissa O. Jefferson (charissa.jefferson@csun.edu) is the Business and Data Librarian at the Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge. She holds a B.A. in Women's Studied from California State University, long Beach, M.A. in Cultural Studies from Claremont Graduate University, and ·M.LS. from University of North Texas.
The Generalized Genetic Code. A Modification of Code Universality

The generalized genetic code [G. L. Findley and S. P. McGlynn, Int. J. Quantum Chem., Quantum Biol. Symp. 6, 313 (1979)] is reviewed from the perspective of recently published empirical evidence which indicates the nonuniversality of the standard genetic code. It is shown how a modified form of universality is retained in the generalized genetic code. In addition, the nature of biological contexts and their relation to the generalized genetic code are discussed.
Diagnosing SCA components using WOMBAT

The Service Component Architecture (SCA) is a new technology aiming to simplify application development in a service-oriented architecture. Developing a SCA application basically consists of two major parts: The implementation or discovery of individual components, and the assembly of sets of components. Since each assembly itself might act as a component within a larger application, SCA obviously enables the construction of complex distributed systems that are hardly analyzable. Hence crucial questions like compatibility, consistency or soundness of components need to be answered early during the development process. This paper presents Wombat – an analysis tool that is integrated into IBM’s development environment to perform on demand verification tasks. Wombat benefits from established formal methods for distributed systems. It tailors those methods to relevant use case and puts them into a context that directly supports the development of SCA applications.
Results from the TOM3 testbed: thermal deformation of optics at the picometer level

Future space-based optical interferometers, such as the space interferometer mission (SIM), require thermal stability of the optical wavefront to the level of picometers in order to produce astrometric data at the micro-arc-second level. In SIM, the internal path of the interferometer will be measured with a small metrology beam whereas the starlight fringe position is estimated from a large concentric annular beam. To achieve the micro-arc-second observation goal for SIM, it is necessary to maintain the optical path difference between the central and the outer annulus portions of the wavefront of the front-end telescope optics to a few tens of picometers for an hour. The thermo-opto-mechanical testbed (TOM3) was developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to measure thermally induced optical deformations of a full-size flight-like beam compressor and siderostat, the two largest optics on SIM, in flight-like thermal environments. A common path heterodyne interferometer (COPHI) developed at JPL was used for the fine optical path difference measurement as the metrology sensor. The system was integrated inside a large vacuum chamber in order to mitigate the atmospheric and thermal disturbances. The siderostat was installed in a temperature-controlled thermal shroud inside the vacuum chamber, creating a flight-like thermal environment. Detailed thermal and structural models of the test articles (siderostat and compressor) were also developed for model prediction and correlation of the thermal deformations. Experimental data shows SIM required thermal stability of the test articles and good agreement with the model predictions.
Star Tracker Attitude Estimation for an Indoor Ground- Based Spacecraft Simulator

This paper presents a study of star tracker attitude estimation algorithms and implementation on an indoor ground-based Three Axis Spacecraft Simulator (TASS). Angle, Planar Triangle, and Spherical Triangle algorithms are studied for star pattern recognition. Least squares, QUEST and TRIAD algorithms are studied for attitude determination. A star field image is suspended above TASS. The indoor laboratory environment restricts the placement of the star field to be in close proximity to TASS. This restriction adds some additional complication to the standard attitude determination problem. An iterative solution handles this complication. Experimental verification is also performed for the proposed iterative solution. I. Introduction HE objective is to develop a star tracker precision attitude estimation system for use on an indoor, ground-based spacecraft simulator. Star pattern recognition algorithms are studied with a focus on accuracy and algorithmic efficiency. Attitude determination algorithms are studied similarly. The Three Axis Spacecraft Simulator (TASS) is the testbed and it is equipped with a CCD camera to capture the star field image suspended above. The star pattern recognition algorithm takes the camera image of the star field, assigns to it a mathematical description of the pattern, and finds the unit vector to each imaged star. Stars in the CCD image appear distributed among multiple pixels and the centroid of this distribution must be found. Unit vectors from the focus point of the camera lens to the image plane of the CCD are then found for each star. These vectors are mapped from the camera reference frame to the spacecraft body reference frame. The pattern for the stars in the camera image is then found. The pattern is checked against a database of the entire sky to find a match. The pattern can be defined as simply as an angle. Triangles provide more information for more robust matching. 3,4 Novel methods such as grids can also be robust and efficient. 11 Algorithms used in this study are the triangle, planar triangle, and spherical triangle. Once the star vectors measured in the spacecraft frame are matched to the inertially referenced database of star patterns and star vectors all the necessary information is available to solve the attitude determination problem. Attitude determination algorithms determine the rotation of the star vectors from the inertial referenced frame to the spacecraft body frame. There are many algorithms for attitude determination, but three were studied in this report: least-squares 2 , Quaternion-Estimator (QUEST) 8 , and the TRIAD 8 algorithm.
Transient sensitivity computation in controlled explicit piecewise linear simulation

This paper presents a general method for computing transient sensitivities using both direct and adjoint methods in controlled explicit event driven simulation algorithms that employ piecewise linear device models. Sensitivity information provides first order assessment of circuit variability with respect to design variables and parasitics. This information is particularly useful for noise analysis, timing rule generation, and circuit optimization. Techniques for incorporating transient sensitivity into adaptively controlled explicit simulation, a general piecewise linear simulator, are presented. Sensitivity computation includes algorithms to handle instantaneous charge redistribution due to the discontinuous conductance models of the piecewise linear elements, and the loss of simulation accuracy due to the nonmonotonic responses in autonomous adjoint circuits with nonzero initial conditions. Results demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed techniques.
Simulating Liquid Flow through Virtual Glass Fiber Mats

The focus of this paper is on simulating the in-plane and through-plane penetration of liquid water in virtual non-wovens. We consider a series of unsteady state two-phase (air—water) simulations performed in two-dimensional geometries obtained from a simulated three-dimensional glass fiber mat. The simulation planes are the cross-sectional planes in the horizontal and vertical directions. Simulations revealed that liquid penetration and spread depend strongly on the fiber orientation distribution as well as on the hydrophilic properties of the fibers. Our results are in good qualitative agreement with the available experimental data.
“Angels in Army Drab”: The Medical Specialists Corps and COL Emma Vogel

“Angels in Army Drab” is the name that COL Emma Vogel (1889–1981) affectionately gave to the group of men and women in the Medical Specialist Corps for their tireless work of rehabilitative, long-term care for service members and their family. The role of rehabilitative care in the military is a relatively young concept. At the turn of World War I, most rehabilitation was performed just for mental health patients. Even orthopedic surgery was considered a new and potentially unreliable specialty. Orthopedic surgeons were early adopters of rehabilitative therapies to provide postsurgery treatment and allow individuals to return to the workforce. World War I provided an unprecedented number of orthopedic injuries and a need to provide additional care for soldiers. In 1917, Surgeon General William Gorgas authorized the use of reconstruction aides (RAs) to enhance postsurgical care. RAs or physiotherapists were initially civilians who volunteered to provide massage, hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, or physiotherapy to soldiers who suffered from battlefield injuries during World War I. (Fig. 1) The first wave of RAs
Grasping the Performance: Facilitating Replicable Performance Measures via Benchmarking and Standardized Methodologies

It is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult-level performance on intelligence tests or playing checkers, and difficult to give them the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception and dexterity" [1]. More than 15 years after it was first stated, Moravec's paradox still holds true today. Fueled by vigorous research in machine learning, the gap has consistently narrowed on the perception side. However, most of the fine manual motor skills displayed by a toddler are, to date, far beyond what robots can do. It is true that many valuable tasks involving physical interaction with objects can be solved by contemporary robots as indicated by a thriving industrial robotics sector. However, in the future, robots are expected to work side by side with humans in unstructured environments, and the ability to reliably grasp and manipulate objects used in everyday activities will be an unavoidable requirement. Today's robots are far from being ready for this challenge.
Constitutive Relations for Generalized Loadings

A multisurface approach in stress space is adopted as the most general means of describing incrementally the plastic flow phenomena. Thee inner surface is the yield surface and the outer one is the bounding surface. All other surfaces are intermediate. The size of the surfaces may change in a congruent manner due to changes in the state variables. The surfaces can only translate. For plastic flow the two key parameters are the plastic strain at current time, and an increment in plastic strain from the current time to some future time for the case of monotonic outward loading. The locations of the center of a surface is a function of the preceding parameters. The examples given in the paper are for mild steel having a characteristic plateau and strain-hardening ranges. The proper balance between the influence of isotropic hardening compared to the kinematic one is achieved by using a variable weighing function.
Replication of Arbitrary Hole-Free Shapes via Self-assembly with Signal-Passing Tiles

In this paper, we investigate the abilities of systems of self-assembling tiles which can each pass a constant number of signals to their immediate neighbors to create replicas of input shapes. Namely, we work within the Signal-passing Tile Assembly Model (STAM), and we provide a universal STAM tile set which is capable of creating unbounded numbers of assemblies of shapes identical to those of input assemblies. The shapes of the input assemblies can be arbitrary 2-dimensional hole-free shapes at scale factor 2. This improves previous shape replication results in self-assembly that required models in which multiple assembly stages and/or bins were required, and the shapes which could be replicated were more constrained.
Wendy's Chili: A Costing Conundrum

This case deals with numerous business issues, including those pertaining to leadership, strategy, marketing, cost accounting, and management control. One central issue is how to allocate the cost of a significant portion of the ground beef used in making chili. The problem arises because much of the meat used in making chili comes from overcooked hamburger patties that cannot be served to customers as hamburgers. On the one hand, one could argue that none of this meat cost should be assigned to chili because those patties cannot be served as hamburgers and would be thrown away if it weren't for chili. On the other hand, overcooked hamburgers are perfectly acceptable as chili ingredients. In fact, the chili recipe specifically calls for a specific number of cooked hamburger patties per batch. One could argue, therefore, that the full cost of the overcooked hamburger patties should be charged to chili. Whatever allocation procedure is used will affect the profitability of both hamburgers and chili. Another central issue is recognizing when the market and the competitive environment have changed to the point where a company must completely rethink the original concept that led to extraordinary success during its first ten years of business. This was particularly difficult for Wendy's because of the close relationship that existed among the physical facilities, the products sold, and the delivery system. In addition, Wendy's faced the challenge of constantly adapting to higher customer expectations, improved quality, greater variety from existing competitors, and the continual emergence of new competitors. In January 2002, Wendy's faced the ultimate test that can confront any reasonably young business: the need to go forward without the company's founder and patriarch.
Advancing Racial/Ethnic Minority Men's Health Using a Life Course Approach.

Marked disparities in health indicators exist between White men and racial/ethnic minority men in the United States. These disparities begin early in life and persist through the life course until advanced ages. Not only do minority men have poor outcomes across a broad variety of health conditions when compared with White men, but they are also less likely to interact and engage with the health care system.1-4 Although there is a burgeoning body of literature on men’s health, the literature has only a paucity of research focused specifically on the health of minority men. Moreover, advancing the study of men’s health disparities requires a shift from merely documenting betweengroup differences to understanding variations in pathways through environmental, sociocultural, behavioral, psychosocial, and biological factors that create and sustain health disparities for minority men.1,5,6 It is well-documented that minority males in the United States experience life differently from infancy onward compared with White men, largely due to social and structural inequalities at all stages of life.3 Beyond exposure to risks that have a direct and immediate effect on health (eg, HIV status, homicide), the primary pathway to adverse health among minority men is through social disadvantages and stressors that accumulate over the life course beginning at early ages. These stressors compromise physiological systems and lead to early onset of age-related diseases and premature mortality. For this reason, scholars seeking to advance the field must consider minority men’s health in a life course framework. Nearly two decades of health research has utilized life course perspectives and theories that provide some indication of influences on health via socioeconomic status, health behaviors, and labor market outcomes such as unemployment, underemployment, and work conditions, but this scholarship has been noticeably silent on the topic of minority men’s health.1,7-9 A critical next step is to test prevailing life course hypotheses on minority men’s health and health disparities specifically. We may then ultimately be able to identify and prevent or treat mechanisms that lead to the reduction of premature mortality and improvement of the lives of minority men. A better understanding of how and why racial/ethnic disparities emerge among younger men is required to develop strategies and policy-relevant solutions that can attenuate/eliminate disparities among men of all age groups. A life course perspective offers three key features that are important in understanding minority men’s health: 1) the opportunity to identify positive or negative cumulative experiences and examine the impact of those experiences on health outcomes; 2) the timing of significant AdvAncing RAciAl/Ethnic MinoRity MEn’s hEAlth Using A lifE coURsE AppRoAch
Hegel as a Theorist of Secularization

Hegel's philosophy of religion is characterized by what seems to be a deep tension. On the one hand, Hegel claims to be a Christian thinker, viewing religion, and in particular Christianity, as a manifestation of the absolute. On the other hand, however, he seems to view modernity as largely secular, devoid of authoritative claims to transcendence. Modernity is secular in the political sense of requiring the state to be neutral when it comes to matters of religion. However, it is also secular in the sense of there being no recourse to authoritative representations of a transcendent God. Drawing on Charles Taylor's view of secularization, the article focuses on the second strand of his religious thinking, exploring how Hegel can be thought of as a theorist of secularization. It is claimed that his dialectic of religious development describes a process of secularization. Ultimately, Hegel's system offers a view of the absolute as immanent, suggesting that an adequate account of religion will necessarily have to accept secularization as the end-point of spirit's development. This is how the tension between religion and secularization can be resolved.
Modeling Height Development of Loblolly Pine Genetic Varieties

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Cooperative Reorganization of Mineral and Template during Directed Nucleation of Calcium Carbonate

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) prepared from organic thiol molecules on metal substrates are known to exert substantial influence over mineralization and, as such, provide model systems for investigating the mechanisms of templated crystallization by organic matrices. Characterizing the structural evolution at the organic/inorganic interface in SAM/crystal systems is of paramount importance in understanding these mechanisms. In this study, X-ray absorption spectroscopy is used to characterize the structural evolution of SAMs prepared from purpose-synthesized organic thiols, with similar yet subtly different structures and compositions, during the course of mineralization at their surfaces. The studies reveal that the structure of the thiol molecules strongly affects their ability to reorient within the SAM. Complementary scanning electron microscopy measurements demonstrate that this feature of the SAMs is strongly correlated with the capability of the monolayers to induce preferential ordering among th...
Versatile reactivity of a solvent-coordinated diiron(II) compound: synthesis and dioxygen reactivity of a mixed-valent Fe(II)Fe(III) species.

A new, DMF-coordinated, preorganized diiron compound [Fe2(N-Et-HPTB)(DMF)4](BF4)3 (1) was synthesized, avoiding the formation of [Fe(N-Et-HPTB)](BF4)2 (10) and [Fe2(N-Et-HPTB)(μ-MeCONH)](BF4)2 (11), where N-Et-HPTB is the anion of N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis[2-(1-ethylbenzimidazolyl)]-2-hydroxy-1,3-diaminopropane. Compound 1 is a versatile reactant from which nine new compounds have been generated. Transformations include solvent exchange to yield [Fe2(N-Et-HPTB)(MeCN)4](BF4)3 (2), substitution to afford [Fe2(N-Et-HPTB)(μ-RCOO)](BF4)2 (3, R = Ph; 4, RCOO = 4-methyl-2,6-diphenyl benzoate]), one-electron oxidation by (Cp2Fe)(BF4) to yield a Robin–Day class II mixed-valent diiron(II,III) compound, [Fe2(N-Et-HPTB)(μ-PhCOO)(DMF)2](BF4)3 (5), two-electron oxidation with tris(4-bromophenyl)aminium hexachloroantimonate to generate [Fe2(N-Et-HPTB)Cl3(DMF)](BF4)2 (6), reaction with (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl to form [Fe5(N-Et-HPTB)2(μ-OH)4(μ-O)(DMF)2](BF4)4 (7), and reaction with dioxygen to yield an unstable p...
A Time Bomb for Leukemia

Alterations of the circadian clock have been linked to cancer development. Puram et al. (in this issue) now uncover differential requirements between healthy hematopoietic and diseased leukemic stem cells for core circadian transcription factors, wherein leukemic cells depend on the clock machinery for survival and growth.
Origin and Differentiation of the Avifauna of the Channel Islands, California

The biota of the Channel Islands off the coast of southern California (fig. 1) for years has attracted the attention of evolutionists and biogeographers (Cockerell 1938). This interest focused in October 1965, when 102 participants convened at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden for papers and discussion relating to the geology, biology, and archeology of the islands. Two years later, the results of the symposium were published (Philbrick 1967). Notably lacking among the several papers dealing with major vertebrate groups was an analysis of the resident avifauna of the islands; birds were mentioned only briefly in discussion following papers whose principal themes dealt with other topics. In their patterns of distribution and differentiation, the land birds of the Channel Islands present a zoogeographic puzzle-complex enough to be fascinating, yet simple enough to encourage an attempt at solution. In this paper, I will review the kinds of differentiation shown by the endemic forms and will outline a general hypothetical model for the origin and course of evolutionary change in the avifauna considered in the light of information from geologic and paleobotanic history. As Mayr (1943) demonstrated in a discussion of the origin of the birds of the Hawaiian Islands, remote island avifaunas are composed of elements which have accumulated from different sources and at different times. He viewed the land and fresh-water birds of the
Complementary feeding status of Beijing 4-12 months infants

Objective To investigate the complementary feeding status in 4-12 month-old infant in Beijing,and to provide a scientific basis for the infant nutrition intervention.Methods Using cluster sampling method,4-12 months infants selected randomly in suburb and urban of Beijing were recruited for study.The information of infant food supplement was collected through questionnaires to make statistical analysis.Results In all ages,the rate of adding food supplement was 94.9% in urban,the rate was 92.1% in suburban,and the rate was growing along with increasing of age.Besides milk,about 10% infants had began to accept adding complementary food before 4 months old,and 5% infants began to accepted adding complementary food after 8 months old.Comparing with the guideline,the additive amount target rate of all complementary food were lower in all ages,while the target rate of fruits were higher,the rate were 37.3% 、60.6% 和 67.2% respectively,and the target rate of meet and eggs were lower relatively.Conclusion There are certain problems of feeding infants in Beijing,and it need to be further improved.
Recent advances in pharmacological treatments of hyperkalemia: focus on patiromer.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Hyperkalemia is a common electrolyte disorder, especially among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes mellitus, or heart failure, and is associated with a significantly increased risk for all-cause mortality. Hyperkalemia remains a vexing and challenging problem for clinicians, particularly in the management of patients with chronic kidney disease and congestive heart failure. Several observational and retrospective studies have reported a large gap between recommendations in guidelines and real-world practice in the implementation of RAASi therapies. RAASi treatment regimens are frequently down-titrated or discontinued following hyperkalemia events, with consequent worse outcomes than patients who remain on maximum doses.Areas covered: This review covers the preclinical and clinical studies that led to the approval of patiromer for the treatment of hyperkalemia. A literature search on patiromer was carried out using the PubMed database up to December 2015.Expert opini...
Where shall the root filling end

Abstract The answer could depend upon the practitioner's age and clinical training. But to achieve the best possible result, stay inside the canal.
Quantification of erythrocyte flow in the choroid of the albino rat

Choroidal blood flow is one of the highest in the body on a global volume basis. Little is known, however, about flow through individual vessels, which has important consequences for ocular blood d...
The Factors Affecting Participation in Adult Education: An Analysis of some Literature

(1981). The Factors Affecting Participation in Adult Education: An Analysis of some Literature. Studies in Adult Education: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 98-111.
Toroidal automorphic forms for some function fields

The definition of a toroidal automorphic form is due to Don Zagier, who showed in a paper in 1979 that the vanishing of certain integrals of Eisenstein series over tori in GL(2) is related to the vanishing of the Riemann zeta function at the weight of the Eisenstein series; and thus a relation between the unitarizability of the space of unramified toroidal automorphic forms and the Riemann hypothesis. In the same paper, Zagier asked the question of what happens in the context of a function field of a curve over a finite field. In this thesis, we interpret automorphic forms over global function fields as functions on the vertices of certain graphs that can be described in terms of rank-2 bundles on this curve. By providing a reinterpretation of Hecke operators in terms of these graphs and the reinterpretation of cuspidality and toroidality, we are able to compute spaces of cusp forms and toroidal forms by looking at systems of linear equations. In particular, the question of the validity of the Riemann hypothesis can be reformulated as an eigenvalue problem.
Single-Dose Amphetamines in ADHD

The efficacy and time course of single morning doses of Adderall®, extended-release (Spansules), and immediate-release (tablets) dextroamphetamine sulfate (DXA) and placebo were compared in 35 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a randomized, double-blind, crossover study at the Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD.
Zhuangzi and Buber in Dialogue: A Lesson in Practicing Integrative Philosophy

I put forward the case that comparative philosophy is best practiced as integrative philosophy. The model for integrative philosophy employed embodies its own methodology, integrating the Hegelian dialectic and the Yin-Yang 陰陽, cyclical model of change illustrated by the Yijing 易經 (Book of Changes) as strategies for integrating philosophical traditions. As an object lesson, I integrate a real, historical one-way encounter with an imagined two-way encounter between Martin Buber and Zhuangzi 莊子, to provide a counter-example to replace Huntington’s clash of civilizations with a meeting of civilizations.
Comparison of visual assessment of coronary stenosis with independent quantitative coronary angiography: Findings from the Prospective Multicenter Imaging Study for Evaluation of Chest Pain (PROMISE) trial.

Background The outcomes in patients by visual assessment and quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) for obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) are not known. Our objectives were to compare visual and QCA estimates of obstructive CAD and to assess their relationship to outcomes in stable patients with symptoms of CAD. Methods The PROMISE trial randomized 10,003 patients with CAD symptoms to anatomical or functional testing. Site reports of invasive angiography detailing visual stenosis and independent, blinded QCA were performed for obstructive CAD (≥50% stenosis). Disagreement between methods was determined and compared with outcomes (death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina hospitalization, or major procedural complications). Results Of 929 patients (9.3% of PROMISE cohort) with angiograms assessed by sites and QCA, 593 (64%) had obstructive CAD per site reports, whereas 428 (46%) had stenosis ≥50% per QCA. Results differed in 177 patients (disagreement rate 19.1%, κ =0.63), of whom 171 had CAD per sites but not per QCA. One-year unadjusted Kaplan-Meier event rates were highest (5.1%) when QCA and visual assessment agreed for CAD, lowest (0.9%) when the 2 agreed for no obstructive CAD, and intermediate (3.1%) for patients who had CAD per visual assessment but not per QCA. Conclusions Visual estimation of angiograms results in more frequent diagnosis of obstructive CAD as compared with QCA. Concordance of results for presence or absence of obstructive CAD was associated with high and low event rates, respectively. Disagreement was associated with intermediate event rates, suggesting that cardiologists integrated clinical information into routine visual assessment of angiograms.
Septin Mutations in Human Cancers.

Septins are GTP-binding proteins that are evolutionarily and structurally related to the RAS oncogenes. Septin expression levels are altered in many cancers and new advances point to how abnormal septin expression may contribute to the progression of cancer. In contrast to the RAS GTPases, which are frequently mutated and actively promote tumorigenesis, little is known about the occurrence and role of septin mutations in human cancers. Here, we review septin missense mutations that are currently in the Catalog of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) database. The majority of septin mutations occur in tumors of the large intestine, skin, endometrium and stomach. Over 25% of the annotated mutations in SEPT2, SEPT4 and SEPT9 belong to large intestine tumors. From all septins, SEPT9 and SEPT14 exhibit the highest mutation frequencies in skin, stomach and large intestine cancers. While septin mutations occur with frequencies lower than 3%, recurring mutations in several invariant and highly conserved amino acids are found across different septin paralogs and tumor types. Interestingly, a significant number of these mutations occur in the GTP-binding pocket and septin dimerization interfaces. Future studies may determine how these somatic mutations affect septin structure and function, whether they contribute to the progression of specific cancers and if they could serve as tumor-specific biomarkers.
Using multiple biomarkers and determinants to obtain a better measurement of oxidative stress: a latent variable structural equation model approach.

AbstractPurpose: Since oxidative stress involves a variety of cellular changes, no single biomarker can serve as a complete measure of this complex biological process. The analytic technique of structural equation modeling (SEM) provides a possible solution to this problem by modelling a latent (unobserved) variable constructed from the covariance of multiple biomarkers.Methods: Using three pooled datasets, we modelled a latent oxidative stress variable from five biomarkers related to oxidative stress: F2-isoprostanes (FIP), fluorescent oxidation products, mitochondrial DNA copy number, γ-tocopherol (Gtoc) and C-reactive protein (CRP, an inflammation marker closely linked to oxidative stress). We validated the latent variable by assessing its relation to pro- and anti-oxidant exposures.Results: FIP, Gtoc and CRP characterized the latent oxidative stress variable. Obesity, smoking, aspirin use and β-carotene were statistically significantly associated with oxidative stress in the theorized directions; the ...
1,2,3-Triazolium-based linear ionic polyurethanes

We report the synthesis of a series of ionic polyurethanes (PUs) issued from the polyaddition of a 1,2,3-triazolium-functionalized diol monomer having a bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide counter-anion with four aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic commercial diisocyanates. The obtained polymers were characterized using 1H, 13C and 19F NMR spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography (SEC), solubility, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, as well as CO2 uptake and permeability measurements. These new ionic PUs exhibit glass transition temperatures ranging from −25 to 28 °C, temperatures at 10% weight loss ranging from 307 to 320 °C, ionic conductivities at 30 °C under anhydrous conditions up to 10−6 S cm−1 and CO2 uptake of ca. 2.6 mg g−1 at 2 bars.
Analysis of student characteristics and feeling of efficacy in a first undergraduate artificial intelligence course

An introductory artificial intelligence course may represent the first subject exposure for many students. Prior to taking this course, students may have formed perceptions regarding the difficulty of artificial intelligence from books, television, movies and other media featuring extrapolations of the technology. This paper analyzes what effects student perceptions of their ability to succeed in an introductory artificial intelligence course. It presents analysis of the association that exists between student characteristics and feelings of efficacy in an introductory undergraduate-level artificial intelligence course. This exploratory work demonstrates fifty-one statistically significant correlations between different characteristics and indications of efficacy or performance.
Burnout and its Association with Musculoskeletal Pain among Primary Care Providers

Burnout is a growing concern among primary care providers (PCPs). The condition may lead to diminished quality of patient care as well as reduced quality of life. Although self-reported musculoskel...
Analysis and design of an overcurrent protection scheme based on parasitic inductance of SiC MOSFET power module

This paper presents an overcurrent protection scheme based on parasitic inductance between the power source and the Kelvin source of the power module. A complete design process and comprehensive analysis of the overcurrent protection scheme, which can be applied generally, to any power module containing Kelvin source is shown. The protection circuit can be used to detect both very intense short-circuit fault (SC) and relatively slow overcurrent fault (OC), fault out of load for example. A 1.2 kV SiC MOSFET gate driver prototype with integrated overcurrent protection circuit is designed to verify the functionality of the protection method.
A CFD Investigation of the Effects of Fuel Split Fraction on Advanced Low Temperature Combustion: Comparing a Primary Reference Fuel Blend and Ethanol

There is continuously growing interest in renewable biofuels for combustion engines to help reduce transportation energy consumption. In the present work, ethanol and a Primary Reference Fuel (PRF) were studied in an advanced LTC concept using CFD. A split injection strategy was used where the majority of the fuel was injected early during the intake stroke to create a well-mixed charge, while a portion of the charge was direct injected closer to ignition to induce forced thermal and equivalence ratio stratification in a strategy similar to partial fuel stratification (PFS). This way, the combustion process in LTC can be better controlled by staggering the autoignition process through mixture stratification. The unique characteristics of ethanol, such as its high latent heat of vaporization and reduced ϕ-sensitivity, result in unique features for a PFS-style advanced LTC mode, explored in this paper. A 3D CFD model with detailed chemistry was implemented in CONVERGE. The results showed that for both ethanol and PRF fuels, a split direct injection strategy lowers the peak heat release rate and elongates the combustion process compared to a single early direct injection due to the increased stratification. However, this effect was more pronounced for ethanol compared to PRF90 due to its higher latent heat of vaporization and reduced ϕ-sensitivity. For a 60%-40% split injection, the burn duration increased by 118% for ethanol and 91.6% for PRF90. The temperature, equivalence ratio, and OH mass fraction distributions illustrated that ethanol is primarily temperature-sensitive, while PRF90 shows a degree of ϕ-sensitivity in conjunction with temperature-sensitivity. The split direct injection of fuel creates an equivalence ratio and temperature distribution that are coupled due to the latent heat of vaporization of the fuel. For the PRF, these two effects are competing; whereas for the ethanol, the autoignition event is dictated by the thermal gradients since the fuel has a higher latent heat of vaporization and is not as ϕ-sensitive. Therefore, a PFS-style injection strategy is able to elongate the heat release rates more significantly with ethanol compared to a PRF.