cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neutrophilic dermatoses in children

The neutrophilic dermatoses are rare disorders, especially in children, and are characterized by neutrophilic infiltrates in the skin and less commonly in extracutaneous tissue. The neutrophilic dermatoses share similar clinical appearances and associated conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, malignancies, and medications. Overlap forms of disease demonstrating features of multiple neutrophilic dermatoses may be seen. The manuscript attempts to provide an up-to-date review of (i) classical neutrophilic dermatoses, focusing on distinctive features in children and (ii) neutrophilic dermatoses which may largely be pediatric or genodermatosis-associated (Majeed, SAPHO [synovitis, severe acne, sterile palmoplantar pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis] syndrome, PAPA (pyogenic sterile arthritis, pyoderma gangrenosum, and acne), PFAPA (periodic fever with aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and cervical adenopathy), and other periodic fever syndromes, and congenital erosive and vesicular dermatosis healing with reticulated supple scarring).
Impact of Single Trap Random Telegraph Noise on Heterojunction TFET SRAM Stability

We investigate the effect of a single charge trap random telegraph noise (RTN)-induced degradation in III-V heterojunction tunnel FET (HTFET)-based SRAM. Our analysis focuses on Schmitt trigger (ST) mechanism-based variation tolerant ten-transistor SRAM. We compare iso-area SRAM cell configurations in Si-FinFET and HTFET. Our results show that HTFET ST SRAMs provide significant energy/performance enhancements even in the presence of RTN. For sub-0.2 V operation (Vcc), HTFET ST SRAM offers 15% improvement in read-write noise margins along with better variation immunity from RTN over Si-FinFET ST SRAM. A comparison with iso-area 6T Si-FinFET SRAM with wider size transistors shows 43% improved read noise margin in 10T HTFET ST SRAM at Vcc=0.175 V. In addition, HTFET ST SRAM exhibits 48X lower read access delay and 1.5X reduced power consumption over Si-FinFET ST SRAM operating at their respective Vcc-min.
Analysis of Coal Combustion By-Product Disposal Practices in Arid Climates: Leachate Water Quality

Coal combustion by-products (CCBs) consist of fly ash, bottom ash, and sludge from the flue gas desulfurization process. Concern has been expressed that disposal of CCBs in an unlined surface coal mine may cause ground and surface water contamination. Fresh CCBS were collected from a power plant and buried CCBS were obtained from cores through a disposal cell. They were subjected to chemical and geochemical analyses as well as unsaturated leach tests to determine their potential for ground water contamination. Concentrations of constituents in ash samples varied with sample depth which suggested geochemical evolution of buried CCBs as a function of time. Older ash samples showed evidence of secondary mineralization. Dissolution of aluminosilicate minerals was found in unsaturated column leach tests along with increasing concentrations of aluminum, silica, lithium and vanadium. Barium showed the highest concentration when CCBs were leached with ground and deionized water. The analyses found that unburied and buried ash contained elevated concentrations of arsenic and barium relative to spoil material. Other analyzed constituents had similar concentrations to those found in the native soils.
Taper Design of Vivaldi and Co-Planar Tapered Slot Antenna (TSA) by Chebyshev Transformer

A new method for the flare's opening rate for a single radiator tapered slot antenna (TSA) is presented. A stepped quarter-wave Chebyshev transformer is calculated to minimize the frequency domain reflection and maximize the power transfer gain. Then slot widths are computed to match the Chebychev design, and smooth curves are fit to the computed steps. Different smoothing functions are compared, including the conventional exponential function, as well as cubic spline and Gaussian. The validity of the method is verified through simulations and measurements of experimental designs for the 1 to 3 GHz frequency range. In this work the TSA is fabricated on one side of a single layer Duroid substrate with dielectric constant 6.15. Although the Chebyshev transformer is an old concept, the novelty of this method is applying the transformer to design the TSA slotline taper profile, leading to a closed design procedure rather than an optimization. Advantages of this novel method are the straightforward mathematics of the design and that a simple simulation program can be written in a short time.
A new trust region method with adaptive radius

In this paper we develop a new trust region method with adaptive radius for unconstrained optimization problems. The new method can adjust the trust region radius automatically at each iteration and possibly reduces the number of solving subproblems. We investigate the global convergence and convergence rate of this new method under some mild conditions. Theoretical analysis and numerical results show that the new adaptive trust region radius is available and reasonable and the resultant trust region method is efficient in solving practical optimization problems.
National Assessment of Warfarin Anticoagulation Therapy for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation

Background—Anticoagulation control with warfarin, as assessed by the international normalized ratio (INR), is challenging. Time in the therapeutic range has been inversely correlated with major hemorrhage, thrombosis, and mortality. Quest Diagnostics offers standardized INR laboratory testing services to approximately half of US physician practices. To inform national stroke prevention strategies, we evaluated anticoagulation control in office-based community practices. Methods and Results—We selected individuals with ≥2 months of INR data, INR results of >1.2, and an ICD-9 diagnosis code of atrial fibrillation. Frequency of INR testing and time in the therapeutic range were analyzed by age, sex, length of testing period, number of referred patients per provider, and median household income (based on home ZIP code). We identified 138 319 individuals referred by 37 939 physicians, yielding a total of 2 683 674 INR results. Patients had a mean age of 74 years; 81% were ≥65 years of age, and 55% were ≥75 yea...
Vaporization Waves in Explosive Volcanism

THE necessary conditions for explosive volcanism cannot yet be stated, but certain tentative requirements emerge from the study of pyroclastic rocks and from the observation of erupted magmas. In the first quantitative report on the mechanics of ash formation, Verhoogen1 required that the magma have high viscosity and a large gas content. More recently McBirney and Murase2 emphasized that the disruptive force of gas pressure must exceed the combined surface tension and tensile strength of the liquid. Both articles describe the vesiculation of a magma in terms of the formation, motion and coalescence of bubbles. I wish to point out a novel fluid dynamic process which may control the production of ash and pyroclastic material emanating from a major eruption of the Plinian type.
Reflective multilayer coatings for the far uv region

Progress in the field of reflective multilayer coatings for the wavelength region between 50 A and 2000 A is reviewed. All the coatings contain absorbing materials, absorption losses are minimized by positioning strongly absorbing materials into the nodes of the standing wave inside the coating. Above lambda = 1200 A, ideal coatings with a reflectivity approaching 100% are theoretically possible; the theoretical predictions have been confirmed for coatings up to six layers at wavelengths around 2000 A. Below lambda = 1000 A, no absorption-free material is available that can be used as a spacer layer to cover the antinodes of the standing wave field. This limits the theoretically obtainable reflectivity. However, even at the shortest wavelength a reflectivity of 30% is still possible. Experimental results have been obtained for wavelengths between 100 A and 200 A for coatings up to nine layers. Discrepancies between experiment and theory can be explained as due to insufficient knowledge of the optical constants of the films used. Extensive future work on the optical constants of materials and their dependence on film thickness and deposition conditions is required for further improvement.
Rat liver α-tocopherol binding protein

Abstract 1. 1. The properties of rat liver cytoplasmic α-tocopherol binding protein have been studied. 2. 2. The binding protein sedimented in the 3 S region of sucrose density gradients, and gel filtration indicated an approximate molecular weight of 30 500. 3. 3. Of the tissues examined by the present assay, binding was detectable only in the liver. 4. 4. Optimal binding was achieved by incubation at 26°C for 4 h and was independent of pH between 7.4 and 9.0. 5. 5. Pronase completely abolished binding. The binding protein was, however, almost completely resistant to trypsin, and unaffected by RNAase, DNAase, triacylglycerol lipase, and phospholipase C. 6. 6. A varietyof tocopherol analogues and other lipid-soluble compounds were tested for their ability to compete for binding. Only α-tocopherol and to a lesser extent α-tocotrienol and γ-tocopherol exhibited competition. α-Tocopherol acetate, γ-tocopherol quinone and 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid had no effect on binding. 7. 7. Tocopherol binding was reversible, and the tocopherol was not metabolized during incubation.
Environment, Market, and Peasant Choice The Ecological Relationships in the Jianghan Plain in the Qing and the Republic

This article examines the economic behavior of the peasants on the Jianghan plain faced with population pressure, environmental degradation, and market expansion. Focusing on crop choices and the domestic textile industry, it explores how villagers reacted to the environmental change caused by extensive dike construction and frequent inundation in the Jianghan plain in the Qing and the Republic and how they contended with the worsening problems of waterlogging. The article argues that under these circumstances, the environment, rather than the market, was the paramount factor in shaping peasants’ economic behavior in the Jianghan plain.
Medulloblastoma Variants and Survival at a Children's Hospital

Our 25 year experience with 35 medulloblastomas included classic (NOS) 22 (63%), anaplastic (ANA) 5(14%), desmoplastic (DES) 4(11%), excessive nodularity (EN) 3(9%), and large cell (LC) 1(3%). Overall 5, 10, and 15 year survivals were .6631, .5851, and .5051. Those under 3 years at diagnosis had an overall 2 year survival of .4379. Two survived 17(NOS) and 19 (EN) years. In the 26 children 3 years or older, late deaths occurred at 8, 8, and 14 years (5, 10, 15 year survivals .7375, .6392, .5114). Because late deaths occur; continued follow-up of these children is required.
Opossum Hb chain sequence and neutral mutation theory.

THE divergence of amino acid sequences which has accompanied evolution of species may be largely due to random fixation of selectively neutral or nearly neutral mutations. This was proposed by Kimura upon consideration of an inferred rapid rate of molecular evolution, the theory of the cost of natural selection, and observed high levels of polymorphism in natural populations1. Among the observations considered to favour the neutral mutation–random fixation theory1–4, the apparent uniformity of the rate of fixation of amino acid substitutions in homologous proteins along several phyletic lines is outstanding. Kimura proposed this test of the neutral mutation theory by examining the amino acid sequences of proteins from so-called ‘living fossils’4. If, for a very long slowly evolving line, a rate of molecular evolution equal to that of more rapidly evolving lines is inferred (and it is assumed that the rate of evolution of physiological adaptations generally parallels the morphological evolutionary rate) then a case is made for the fixation of neutral mutations. The amino acid sequence proposed here5 (Fig. 1) for the α chain of haemoglobin from a ‘living fossil’6, Didelphis marsupialis, the Virginia opossum may be taken for such a test of the neutral mutation theory.
Introduction to Health Promotion for People with Chronic Illness and Disability.

Health promotion has received increasing attention in rehabilitation counseling research. Health promotion research contributes to theory building and provides the foundation for empirically suppor...
Crack growth for the double slip plane crack model-I. The R-curve

Abstract The double slip plane (DSP) crack model of Weertman, Lin and Thomson has been used to obtain crack growth equations for the mode II or III crack under a monotonically increasing stress (the R-curve) in this paper. [In a companion paper the growth under cyclic stress (the Paris fatigue crack growth equation) is determined.] The success of the analysis depends upon the fact that the DSP crack closely approximates a Bilby-Cottrell-Swinden (BCS) crack when the slip zone is large compared with the slip plane to crack plane spacing. Consequently the dislocation distribution on the slip planes approximates the BCS crack one ahead of the crack tip. Behind the crack tip a result fortuitous for the analysis is found that the gradient of the dislocation density on a slip plane is proportional to the shear stress on the slip plane. The results obtained are: if the friction stress on a slip plane is constant the crack never propagates catastrophically. Instead crack extension occurs which is proportional to K 2 where rK is the stress intensity factor. Were the surface energy of a solid to be suddenly reduced, as it might be by the sudden introduction of an active environment, the distance the tip of a stressed stationary crack jumps is proportional to K . The distance jumped, for a large drop in surface energy, is smaller than the crack advance that occurs if the active environment were always present and the crack is monotonically loaded to the same value of K . If work hardening of the friction stress takes place stable crack growth takes place up to a critical K c value. The R-curve equation is given by an integral which is simple in form but requires a numerical integration or series expansion. The critical K c value is proportional to the critical K cb stress intensity factor of a Griffith crack raised to the power ( m + 1 )/2 m where m is the power exponent of the simulated plastic stress-strain curve. We believe that this paper demonstrates the double slip plane crack model is the first crack model since the Griffith crack model and its variants that can give an explicit fracture equation starting from first principles.
Increased Microtubule Network Stability Underlies X-ROS in Dystrophic Skeletal Muscle

In dystrophic muscle, an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and sarcolemmal calcium (Ca2+) influx contributes to stretch-induced muscle damage however mechanistic insights into the activation of these pathways is lacking. In mdx myofibers (murine Duchenne muscular dystrophy), we have demonstrated that with mechanical stretch, the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton is a critical mechano-transduction element for the activation of NADPH oxidase2 (Nox2) derived ROS production; a pathway we term X-ROS signaling[1]. Downstream, we showed that X-ROS sensitized stretch activated channels (SACs) to increase sarcolemmal Ca2+ influx during stretch. The significance of the MT cytoskeleton activation of X-ROS in mdx was revealed when the acute targeting of MT density proffered protection from contraction induced damage. In mammalian cells, the MT network is a dynamic structure in which MT density is determined by the stability of MT filaments. Our initial studies used acute pharmacological stabilization (taxol) or destabilization (colchicine) to establish MT network density as critical for the mechano-activation of X-ROS. We now interrogate critical upstream pathways and use new pharmacological and molecular approaches to explore the role of endogenous modulators of MT stability and how they may contribute to the enhanced X-ROS in dystrophic skeletal muscle.1. Khairallah RJ, Shi G, Sbrana F, Prosser BL, Borroto C, Mazaitis MJ, Hoffman EP, Mahurkar A, Sachs F, Sun Y, Chen YW, Raiteri R, Lederer WJ, Dorsey SG, Ward CW (2012) Microtubules underlie dysfunction in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Sci Signal 5: ra56.
Late Cretaceous tectonic history of the Sierra-Salinia-Mojave arc as recorded in conglomerates of the Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene Gualala Formation, northern California

[1] Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene conglomerates in the Gualala basin of northern California likely preserve the westernmost record of sedimentation in California during the interval between cessation of Sierran batholith magmatism and inception of Neogene transform activity on the San Andreas fault system. Detailed chemical and H, O, Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope analyses of conglomerate clasts, as well as U/Pb zircon ages, identify two source types: (1) evolved granite, like those found in the Salinian block or eastern Sierra Nevada batholith, and (2) primitive oceanic arcs that were restricted to the western portions of the Mesozoic arc system. The provenance of the Gualala clasts can be entirely explained through derivation from the Sierra-Salinian-Mojave portion of the Mesozoic Cordilleran arc, and do not support models for extensive large-scale translation of the basin from low latitudes along a pre-Neogene transform fault system. Contemporaneous deposition of the contrasting lithologies in the Gualala basin is interpreted to reflect tectonic juxtaposition of the source terranes approximately 80 m.y. ago. Tectonic processes responsible for juxtaposition of the two source regions in the Late Cretaceous most probably involved zones of lithospheric weakness that later localized the San Andreas fault system in the Neogene. Chemical, isotopic, and age data tie the Gualala basin to North American continental basement in the Mojave-Salinian segment of the Mesozoic Cordilleran arc and imply minimal pre-Neogene translation of the basin contrary to the low latitude origin for the basin inferred from previous paleomagnetic and paleontologic studies.
User-Identified Gel Characteristics: A Qualitative Exploration of Perceived Product Efficacy of Topical Vaginal Microbicides

Research has demonstrated that certain vaginal gel products—microbicides containing antiretroviral drugs—may reduce HIV infection risk among women. But for vaginal gels to avert HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), at-risk women must be willing to use them as directed. These products must therefore be “acceptable” to women and an important component of acceptability is users’ perception that the product will work to prevent infection. We sought to understand how women’s perceptions of vaginal gel properties may shape their understanding of product efficacy for HIV and STI prevention. Sixteen women completed two in-depth qualitative interviews (k = 32) to identify the range and types of sensory perceptions they experienced when using two vaginal gels. We identified emergent themes and linkages between users’ sensory perceptions and their beliefs about product efficacy. Users’ predictions about product efficacy for preventing infection corresponded to measurable physical properties, including gel volume, location in the vagina, coating behavior, sensation of the gel in the vagina, leakage, and gel changes during coital acts. Although the women described similar sensory experiences (e.g., gel leaked from the vagina), they interpreted these experiences to have varying implications for product efficacy (e.g., leakage was predicted to increase or decrease efficacy). To improve microbicide acceptability, gel developers should investigate and deliberately incorporate properties that influence users’ perceptions of efficacy. When a microbicide is approved for use, providers should educate users to anticipate and understand their sensory experiences; improving users’ experience can maximize adherence and product effectiveness.
Biofuels for transport in developing countries: socioeconomic considerations

The manufacture of biofuels for use in transportation can be commercially viable in developing countries. However, the conditions under which this can occur without long-term government support are likely to be limited. In the near term, ethanol production from sugarcane offers the best chance of commercial viability, with Brazil demonstrating that it can produce ethanol competitively with gasoline. This article discusses some of the underlying conditions needed for other developing countries to benefit from the Brazilian experience and move down the ethanol production cost curve. Where a domestic biofuel program requires sustained government support, the article considers possible justifications for government interventions in biofuel manufacture, including rural development, externalities, and energy source diversification.
Student development and ownership of ethical and professional standards.

Ethics and professional conduct are vital to civil engineering undergraduate curricula. Many programs struggle to ensure that students are given an adequate exposure to and appreciation of ethical and professional conduct issues. This paper describes a two-part ethics/professionalism project used in a senior-level course taught at the University of Arkansas. Initially, students scruitinize ethical canons and standards of professional conduct published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), and prepare an essay concerning the applicability of these standards. The second part of the project builds on the first: based on the opinion(s) generated in Part 1, students are asked to develop a set of canons or standards targeted specifically to the undergraduate student, and suggest processes for implementing those standards within the department. Project objectives include: (1) exposure to nationally-recognized ethical canons and standards of professional conduct; (2) personal formulation of ethical and professional standards; (3) skill enhancement for non-technical written communications. Feedback by students prior to and after the project indicates success in meeting all objectives. The feedback also indicates that for some students, definitions and applications of ethics and professionalism are being broadened to include more than academic honesty issues.
Hypernatremia in the geriatric population

Hypernatremia in the geriatric population is a common disorder associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Older people are predisposed to developing hypernatremia because of age-related physiologic changes such as decreased thirst drive, impaired urinary concentrating ability, and reduced total body water. Medications may exacerbate this predisposition. Hypernatremia and dehydration occurring in nursing homes are considered indicators of neglect that warrant reporting, but there are other nonavoidable causes of hypernatremia, and consideration at time of presentation is essential to prevent delay in diagnosis and management. We describe a case illustrating the importance of the consideration of alternate explanations for hypernatremia in a nursing home resident, followed by a review of hypernatremia in the elderly population, to underscore that neglect is the etiology of exclusion after alternatives have been considered.
Gaining access to the sterically occluded CD4-induced epitopes

Background A preventive vaccine is potentially the most effective way to control the HIV pandemic. Such a vaccine needs to successfully harness humoral immunity and produce crossreactive anti-envelope antibodies that mediate direct virus neutralization and/or Fc receptor-dependent killing. The targeted HIV envelope spikes are covered by a glycan shield, which masks most of the surface from the humoral immune system, leaving very few sites that are antigenic. Among the vulnerable sites of HIV Env are intermediate structures formed after gp120 interaction with target CD4 + cell. The capacity of these CD4i antibodies to carry out their functions in clearing HIV infection is dependent on the timing, duration and extent of cognate epitope exposure during the attachment and entry processes. Methods We employed confocal microscopy to visualize the temporal appearance and disappearance of CD4i epitopes during HIV-1 JRFL – TZM-bl cell interaction. We also examined the location of these exposed epitopes with ~20nm precision using super resolution microscopy. Results We find that CD4i epitopes recognized by A32, 17b, and C11 were exposed on HIV-1JRFL within 5 minutes of interaction with TZM-bl cells, and persisted up to 60 minutes. 3D examination of confocal images revealed that these epitopes were exposed at sites distal to the virus – cell interface. CD4i epitope exposure was greatly reduced on mutant HIV-1 JRFL with a defective virus matrix (MA) as it interacts with TZM-bl cells. Conclusion CD4i antibodies are thought to be sterically occluded from the virus – cell interface. Our results show that these epitopes appear distal to this site, where they can be accessed by antibodies involved in humoral and/or cell-mediated immunity. HIV Env gp120 engagement of target cell CD4 led to perturbations of virus MA that resulted in CD4i epitope exposure on other spikes of the virus away from gp120 – CD4 contact points.
A Taxonomy of Passive Behaviors in People with Alzheimer's Disease

Purpose: To construct a taxonomy of passive behaviors for understanding people with Alzheimer's disease. Passive behaviors are those associated with decreased motor movements, decreasing interactions with the environment, and feelings of apathy and listlessness. Little is known about behaviors associated with passivity, and these behaviors have not been categorized. Organizing Construct: Taxonomy construction. Passive behaviors in people with Alzheimer's disease were conceptualized as disturbing behaviors, patterns of personality change, and negative symptoms. Methods: The taxonomy was developed using critical reviews of 15 empirical studies published 1985 through 1998. Procedures included listing behaviors; clustering behaviors into inductively derived groupings; conducting an expert panel-review, making revisions, and conduting a second review; establishing global and category-by-category reliability using Cohen's Kappa. Findings: The nonhierarchic, natural taxonomy indicated five categories of behaviors associated with passivity in Alzheimer's disease: diminutions of cognition, psychomotor activity, emotions, interactions with people, and interactions with the environment. Analysis indicated substantial agreement beyond chance and showed statistically significant agreement among the six nurse-expert raters. Areas of synchrony between the taxonomy and the Need-Driven Dementia Compromised Behavior Model were identified. Conclusions: This taxonomy of passive behaviors in patients with Alzheimer's disease showed empirical rigor and compatibility with a middle-range theory and can be viewed as a sensitizing analytic scheme to guide future practice, research, and theory development.
Yields of H+ and He+ at the energy for elastic scattering from H2+3He+ incident on Ag and Pd

Abstract Yields, Y, of H + and He + emerging specularly with the energy for single binary elastic collisions have been measured from polycrystalline Ag and Pd surfaces bombarded with mixed monoenergetic (300 E 0 2 + 3 He + impinging at an angle of 45° from the surface normal. The surfaces were exposed to H 2 + at a dynamic pressure of 8 × 10 −3 Pa (6 × 10 −5 Torr) during the measurements. The He + yields from Pd are slightly larger than from Ag, and the H + yields from Pd are 10 to 40 times as large as those from Ag. These results suggest that differences between Pd and Ag in the amount of hydrogen adsorbed and in the character of the hydrogen-metal bond may be responsible for the yield differences through shadowing by, and possibly the sputtering of, adsorbed hydrogen. The Y versus E 0 curves for all four systems have qualitatively the same singly peaked shape which implies that reactive and noble gas ions undergo similar neutralization processes during elastic surface collisions. The ratios of the yields from Ag and Pd do not exhibit the theoretically expected exponential dependence on collision time over the entire range studied, but at the lowest energies the ratios lead to estimates of the difference of neutralization constants which do agree with theory. The potential utility of the large difference in proton yields from Ag and Pd for studying the Ag-Pd alloy system is noted.
UNIFYING ASPHALT RHEOLOGICAL DATA USING THE MATERIAL'S VOLUMETRIC-FLOW RATE

The material's volumetric-flow rate (MVR) (cm3/10 min) through a predefined die under conditions of constant temperature and stress has been used for obtaining unified curves of fundamental rheological properties such as |G*|, G″, and |G*|/sin δ versus frequency in the case of six unmodified asphalts. It has been shown that there is a theoretical basis for the unification and that the unified curves have far-reaching implications. Because MVR is so simple to determine quite accurately on a relatively inexpensive, easy-to-use flow measurement device, this parameter can be generated on paving sites or at refineries, rather than in research laboratories as is the case with fundamental rheological parameters. The MVR can then be used as an excellent indicator of the fundamental rheological parameters through the use of the unified curves.
The impact of capacity expansion on the market value of the firm

Abstract This paper empirically investigates the impact of capacity expansion decisions on the market value of the firm. Event study methodology is used to estimate the abnormal change in stock prices around capacity expansion decision announcements. On the day of the announcement, the magnitude of the price change is abnormally high, evidenced by a significantly positive mean standardized square of the abnormal change (Beaver's U-statistic). We also analyze factors that we could affect the direction and magnitude of the abnormal change in the stock prices. We find that the change in price on the day of the announcement is positively and significantly related to the real growth rate of the industry, and negatively and significantly related to the variability of demand. A negative relationship between the price change and industry capacity utilization is also found which can have important implications for companies which follow the wait-and-see approach to capacity expansion decisions. We also find management ownership to be a significant predictor in explaining stock price changes around these announcements.
Design by extrapolation: an evaluation of fault-tolerant avionics

Over the past 30 years, safety-critical avionics systems such as fly-by-wire (FBW) flight controls, full-authority digital engine controls, and other systems have been introduced on many commercial and military airplanes and spacecraft. Early FBW systems, such as on the F-16 and Airbus A320, were considered revolutionary and were introduced with extreme caution. These early systems and their successors all make use of redundant and fault-tolerant avionics to provide the required dependability and safety, but have used significantly different architectures. This paper examines the different levels of criticality and fault tolerance required by different types of avionics systems, establishes architectural categories of fault-tolerant architectures, and identifies the discriminating features of the different approaches. Examples of discriminators include the level of redundancy, methods of engaging backup systems, protection from software errors, and the use of dissimilar hardware and software. The strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches are identified. The paper concludes with some speculation on trends for future systems based on this evaluation of previous systems.
Age, Sex, and APOE ε4 Effects on Memory, Brain Structure, and β-Amyloid Across the Adult Life Span

Importance Typical cognitive aging may be defined as age-associated changes in cognitive performance in individuals who remain free of dementia. Ideally, the full adult age spectrum should be included to assess brain imaging findings associated with typical aging. Objective To compare age, sex, and APOE e4 effects on memory, brain structure (adjusted hippocampal volume [HVa]), and amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) in cognitively normal individuals aged 30 to 95 years old. Design, Setting, and Participants Cross-sectional observational study (March 2006 to October 2014) at an academic medical center. We studied 1246 cognitively normal individuals, including 1209 participants aged 50 to 95 years old enrolled in a population-based study of cognitive aging and 37 self-selected volunteers aged 30 to 49 years old. Main Outcomes and Measures Memory, HVa, and amyloid PET. Results Overall, memory worsened from age 30 years through the 90s. The HVa worsened gradually from age 30 years to the mid-60s and more steeply beyond that age. The median amyloid PET was low until age 70 years and increased thereafter. Memory was worse in men than in women overall ( P P APOE e4 status at any age. From age 70 years onward, APOE e4 carriers had significantly greater median amyloid PET than noncarriers. However, the ages at which 10% of the population were amyloid PET positive were 57 years for APOE e4 carriers and 64 years for noncarriers. Conclusions and Relevance Male sex is associated with worse memory and HVa among cognitively normal individuals, while APOE e4 is not. In contrast, APOE e4 is associated with greater amyloid PET (from age 70 years onward), while sex is not. Worsening memory and HVa occur at earlier ages than abnormal amyloid PET. Therefore, neuropathological processes other than β-amyloidosis must underlie declines in brain structure and memory function in middle age. Our findings are consistent with a model of late-onset Alzheimer disease in which β-amyloidosis arises in later life on a background of preexisting structural and cognitive decline that is associated with aging and not with β-amyloid deposits.
Clinical experience with paraspinal mapping. I: Neurophysiology of the paraspinal muscles in various spinal disorders.

Abstract Objective: To assess the extent of denervation of the paraspinal muscles in spinal disorders. Design: Nonrandomized prospective trial. Setting: Electrodiagnostic laboratory of a university spine center and of a private practice in a small community. Subjects: One hundred fourteen consecutive persons referred for electrodiagnosis of spinal or lower extremity disorders. Intervention: The paraspinal mapping (PM) electromyography (EMG) protocol along with codified history, physical examination, extremity EMG, and in 44 cases, radiologic imaging results. Main Outcome Measures: PM scores compared with recently established norms (95% of normal subjects scoring less than Results: Fifty-eight subjects had normal PM scores; 62 were abnormal. Compared to imaging studies, false positive rate was 8% (1/13). False negative rate (normal PM with definite nerve involvement on imaging) was 33% (6/18), but this decreased to 5% when PM was combined with LE EMG. Four of 4 high lumbar lesions were detected by PM. Of 14 apparent false negatives (13%) compared to LE EMG, 6 had S1 root lesions and 5 had nonspinal lesions. All 7 subjects with isolated S1 radiculopathy had PM scores within normal limits. Occasional polyneuropathies presented with normal PM and abnormal distal findings or with abnormal PM but normal distal findings. No patient with isolated paraspinal findings had evidence of malignancy on follow-up. This report also describes the distribution of denervation in the multifidus, longissimus, and iliocostalis in various disorders. Conclusions: PM relates well to imaging studies and LE EMG. It detects uncommon high lumbar root lesions. S 1 may not innervate the paraspinal muscles. There are isolated paraspinal findings in persons without malignancy. The effects of specific muscle denervation on biomechanics, rehabilitation exercise, and prognosis are not known.
Prediction of Sire Effects for Probability of Survival to Fixed Ages with a Logistic Linear Model

Abstract A logistic linear model was used to predict sire effects on the underlying continuous scale for observed daughter survival rates to fixed ages. Results were compared with linear model prediction without logistic transformation. Fixed age categories of 41 and 54 mo had 720 and 615 sires with 18,941 and 16,437 sampling daughters. Sire variances were estimated on the underlying continuous scale from a data subset. The logistic linear model accounts for unequal subclass variances due to different mean survival rates in herd-year-seasons. Results with logistic linear model give heritabilities of .28 and .26 for 41 and 54 mo on underlying scale, corresponding to .12 and .15 on phenotypic scale. Genetic trend for daughter survival in sires was found for both fixed ages. Rank correlations between logistic and linear predictions were .61 and .70. Comparing top and bottom 5% of sires in each ranking indicated substantial differences; a few sires differed by 300 ranks out of a possible 615 for 54 mo.
Route optimized nested mobility solution using PAT

Mobile computing is becoming increasingly important due to the rise in the number of portable computers and the desire to have continuous network connectivity to the Internet, irrespective of the physical location of the node. Mobile IP is an extension to IP that attempts to delineate the physical location of a mobile node with its assigned IP address. With the extension of mobility from a host to a network, the need to provide foreign agent services within a mobile network is gaining importance. Provision of foreign agent services within the mobile network is termed as nested mobility. With the use of normal Mobile IP, each level of nesting introduces additional overhead, thereby wasting network resources. In addition, nested mobility introduces routing issues known as "pinball routing". The authors propose a route optimization based solution to address the pinball routing problem and reduce the tunneling overhead over the Internet cloud. The proposed solution uses the concepts of port redirection to route traffic to a node within the mobile network. The proposed solution eliminates the need for tunneling between the nested mobile devices and their respective home network. Initial analysis carried out by the authors indicates a significant improvement in overall performance for the participating nodes.
On Delay Performance Gains From Network Coding

This paper analyzes the gains in delay performance resulting from network coding. We consider a model of file transmission to multiple receivers from a single base station. Using this model, we show that gains in delay performance from network coding with or without channel side information can be substantial compared to conventional scheduling methods for downlink transmission.
Techniques for Conducting Research with Quadriplegic Adults Residing in the Community

Conducting research with difficult-to-access populations presents unique challenges, but at the same time provides valuable knowledge and insight into the special health care needs of the people within the population. This article presents a discussion of techniques for recruitment of subjects and collection of data from people with quadriplegia. Strategies for increasing subject numbers and for designing research tools specific for this population are discussed, as are considerations for enhancing the effectiveness of group meetings. The strategies included in this article may also be useful when conducting research with other populations who are difficult to access or who have motor or sensory deficits.
Toward a Model of Congressional Elections

Previous research on congressional elections has focused on either national or local events as explanations of vote choice. National forces consist of partisan identification, issue proximity, and retrospective evaluations. Research on local forces has stressed the candidates themselves, particularly with regard to the advantages of incumbency, challenger quality, and the comparative evaluation of candidates. Research in each of these areas has been extensive and has paved the way for a more comprehensive model of congressional elections, a model that combines these elements into a general framework. We have constructed and estimated a comprehensive covariance structure model that brings together these theories on national and local forces to explain voting behavior in the 1978 House elections. The model provides an excellent fit for the data and explains a large percentage of the variance in the structural equations. In addition, we are able to confirm several long-standing findings, as well as shed some...
The Long-Run Impact of Corn-Based Ethanol on the Grain, Oilseed, and Livestock Sectors: A Preliminary Assessment

The ongoing growth of corn-based ethanol production raises some fundamental questions about what impact continued growth will have on U.S. and world agriculture. Estimates of the long-run potential for ethanol production can be made by calculating the corn price at which the incentive to expand ethanol production disappears. Under current ethanol tax policy, if the prices of crude oil, natural gas, and distillers grains stay at current levels, then the break-even corn price is $4.05 per bushel. A multi-commodity, multi-country system of integrated commodity models is used to estimate the impacts if we ever get to $4.05 corn. At this price, corn-based ethanol production would reach 31.5 billion gallons per year, or about 20% of projected U.S. fuel consumption in 2015. Supporting this level of production would require 95.6 million acres of corn to be planted. Total corn production would be approximately 15.6 billion bushels, compared to 11.0 billion bushels today. Most of the additional corn acres come from reduced soybean acreage. Wheat markets would adjust to fulfill increased demand for feed wheat. Corn exports and production of pork and poultry would all be reduced in response to higher corn prices and increased utilization of corn by ethanol plants. These results should not be viewed as a prediction of what will eventually materialize. Rather, they indicate a logical end point to the current incentives to invest in corn-based ethanol plants.
Thermodynamics of dehydration in analcime: Absorption calorimetry and equilibrium observations

Analcime forms in a wide range of geologic environments from alkaline lakes to primary igneous occurrences in Si-undersaturated lavas and pegmatites and is present in many radioactive waste repository settings. To evaluate its hydration state in these environments, calorimetric-hydration heat measurements, equilibrium observations, and thermodynamic modeling were performed. The enthalpy of hydration of analcime determined by isothermal adsorption calorimetry was found to be independent of degree of hydration and relatively insensitive to temperature. Equilibrium hydration states of analcime as a function of temperature and vapor pressure were assessed by isothermal thermogravimetry. In light of the lack of excess enthalpy of mixing in this solution, an ideal solution model was applied to the equilibrium observations along with previously determined heat capacities hydration to retrieve the standard Gibbs energy of hydration from water vapor (-47.29 ± 0.56 kJ/ mol H 2 O), standard enthalpy of hydration (-85.10 ± 1.03 kJ/mol H 2 O), and entropy of hydration (-126.81 ± 1.60 J/mol H 2 O·K) at 298.15 K, 1 bar. The standard enthalpy of hydration at 298.15 K, 1 bar regressed from the calorimetric data are consistent with these results (-86.4 ± 1.9 kJ/mol H 2 O). Calculations of the hydration state of analcime as a function of temperature and pressure indicate that analcime is essentially fully hydrated at temperature and pressure conditions attending its formation in geologic and experimental systems. Dehydration of analcime under water-undersaturated conditions (as during heating in a radioactive waste repository) may contribute significantly to thermal budgets in systems where this phase is important.
Maternal height and prepregnancy body mass index as risk factors for selected congenital anomalies

Previous studies have observed an increased risk of approximately twofold or more for neural tube defects (NTD) associated with maternal obesity before pregnancy based on a body mass index (BMI) of > 29 kg/m2. No additional maternal factor appeared substantially to influence this association. Here, we explore further the association between BMI and NTD risk by considering the separate contributions of maternal prepregnant BMI and height. We also explore whether selected congenital anomalies, in addition to NTDs, were associated with maternal height or prepregnant BMI. Data were derived from two California population-based case-control studies. One study comprised 538 NTD cases and 539 non-malformed control infants. The other study included an additional 265 NTD cases, as well as 207 conotruncal cases, 165 limb anomaly cases, 662 orofacial cleft cases and 734 non-malformed controls. Maternal interviews in both studies elicited information on maternal height and prepregnant weight. Anomaly risk was described using additive linear logistic regression models. Results revealed increasing NTD risk with increasing maternal prepregnant BMI, controlling for maternal height. These patterns were observed overall as well as for most race/ethnic groups. Increasing NTD risk for decreasing height controlling for maternal BMI was also observed in one NTD study, but was not as evident in the other. Elevated risks for increasing maternal BMI and decreasing maternal height were not observed consistently for the other studied anomalies. The mechanisms underlying the association between maternal weight, or possibly maternal height, and NTD-affected pregnancy risk are unknown. Exploration of other data sets will be needed to determine whether similar patterns of NTD risk or lack of risk for other anomalies are associated with the two maternal anthropometric variables, height and prepregnant weight.
Modeling of Motor Mediated Microtubule Bending

Microtubules are often viewed as mechanically rigid compressive struts that help maintain cell shape and aid in the transport of cellular cargo by serving as tracks for the molecular motors. However, individual microtubules in living cells are often highly bent, and even though the different force mechanisms that contribute to microtubule deformations are known, it is not clear how all these mechanisms act together in a given cell type. Recent experiments on LLC-PK1 epithelial cells strongly suggest that F-actin dynamics and polymerization of microtubules play a minor role, and that the dominant mechanism is anterograde transport via molecular motors. Surprisingly, quantitative analysis of these deformations using curvature distributions exhibit striking similarities to in vitro gliding assays. Motivated by these experiments, both in vivo and in vitro, we have modeled the deformation of microtubules under the influence of molecular motor forces by coarse-grained simulations. In the simulations, microtubules are modeled as semi-flexible polymers with rigid bond constraints embedded in a solvent. Molecular motors exert forces on the microtubules, and walk along microtubule tracks according to their known force-velocity relations, bind and unbind stochastically. Simulation results support our experimental findings and further elucidate on the interplay between molecular motors and passive cross-linkers. Our results suggest that molecular motors are not necessarily just cargo carriers, but can play a dynamic role in the deformation and positioning the microtubule array.