cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Indoor Occupancy Awareness and Localization Using Passive Electric Field Sensing

This paper introduces sparse low-power sensor networks using passive electric potential sensors for crowd-aware smart buildings. The proposed networks can detect human presence, track their positions, and estimate room occupancy by measuring the electric field disturbances caused by human movement. In addition, the proposed passive sensing system can remotely monitor human physiological signals of nearby stationary occupants (standoff ~1.5 m) when the ambient 60-Hz fields are filtered out. Based on an experimentally calibrated source range model, we further propose an improved multiple-occupant near-field indoor localization method using a maximum likelihood algorithm combined with dividing rectangular search. The tradeoff between search efficiency and localization accuracy is also discussed. Experimental results in two different rooms for 1 week duration show the effectiveness of our proposed sensing system: human identification with an accuracy of 98.3% on six participants, occupant localization methods with room occupancy estimation accuracy of 89.03%, and average localization error less than 0.3 m. These results open up new possibilities in security, indoor navigation or positioning systems, human–machine interfaces, and tele-health applications.
Efficient pH-gradient-enabled microscale bipolar interfaces in direct borohydride fuel cells

The disparate pH requirements for borohydride oxidation and peroxide reduction in direct borohydride fuel cells (DBFCs) currently hinder their performance and efficiency. Here we develop a pH-gradient-enabled microscale bipolar interface (PMBI) that facilitates sharply different local pH environments at the anode and cathode of a DBFC. Using a recessed planar electrode in conjunction with transmission electron microscopy, we show that the PMBI maintained a sharp local pH gradient (0.82 pH units nm–1 on average) at the electrocatalytic reaction site. The PMBI configuration enabled enhanced performance in a DBFC compared with either all-anion- or all-cation-exchange configurations (330 mA cm–2 at 1.5 V and a peak power density of 630 mW cm–2 at 1.0 V, respectively). The high power densities obtained at voltages well above 1.0 V—achieved by virtue of the effective separation of anolyte and catholyte locally at the electrocatalytically active sites by the PMBI—provide a pathway to reduce fuel cell stack size for autonomous propulsion applications. Maintaining a pH gradient across a fuel cell improves device efficiency and flexibility in device chemistry. Here the authors develop an efficient microscale bipolar interface for direct borohydride fuel cells, enabling sustained operations with a pH differential between the anolyte and the catholyte.
Transsynaptic Fish-lips signaling prevents misconnections between nonsynaptic partner olfactory neurons

Our understanding of the mechanisms of neural circuit assembly is far from complete. Identification of wiring molecules with novel mechanisms of action will provide insights into how complex and heterogeneous neural circuits assemble during development. In the Drosophila olfactory system, 50 classes of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) make precise synaptic connections with 50 classes of partner projection neurons (PNs). Here, we performed an RNA interference screen for cell surface molecules and identified the leucine-rich repeat–containing transmembrane protein known as Fish-lips (Fili) as a novel wiring molecule in the assembly of the Drosophila olfactory circuit. Fili contributes to the precise axon and dendrite targeting of a small subset of ORN and PN classes, respectively. Cell-type–specific expression and genetic analyses suggest that Fili sends a transsynaptic repulsive signal to neurites of nonpartner classes that prevents their targeting to inappropriate glomeruli in the antennal lobe.
Site and extent of digestion, duodenal flow, and intestinal disappearance of total and esterified fatty acids in sheep fed a high-concentrate diet supplemented with high-linoleate safflower oil

Our objective was to determine duodenal and ileal flows of total and esterified fatty acids and to determine ruminal fermentation characteristics and site and extent of nutrient digestion in sheep fed an 80% concentrate diet supplemented with high-linoleate (77%) safflower oil at 0, 3, 6, and 9% of DM. Oil was infused intraruminally along with an isonitrogenous basal diet (fed at 2% of BW) that contained bromegrass hay, cracked corn, corn gluten meal, urea, and limestone. Four crossbred wethers (BW = 44.3 +/- 15.7 kg) fitted with ruminal, duodenal, and ileal cannulas were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square experiment, in which 14 d of dietary adaptation were followed by 4 d of duodenal, ileal, and ruminal sampling. Fatty acid intake increased (linear, P = 0.004 to 0.001) with increased dietary safflower oil. Digestibilities of OM, NDF, and N were not affected (P = 0.09 to 0.65) by increased dietary safflower oil. For total fatty acids (free plus esterified) and esterified fatty acids, duodenal flow of most fatty acids, including 18:2c-9,c-12, increased (P = 0.006 to 0.05) with increased dietary oil. Within each treatment, duodenal flow of total and esterified 18:2c-9,c-12 was similar (P = 0.32), indicating that duodenal flow of this fatty acid occurred because most of it remained esterified. Duodenal flow of esterified 18:1t-11 increased (P = 0.08) with increased dietary safflower oil, indicating that reesterification of ruminal fatty acids occurred. Apparent small intestinal disappearance of most fatty acids was not affected (P = 0.19 to 0.98) by increased dietary safflower oil, but increased (P = 0.05) for 18:2c-9,c-12, which ranged from 87.0 to 97.4%, and for 18:2c-9,t-11 (P = 0.03), which ranged from 37.9% with no added oil to 99.2% with supplemental oil. For esterified fatty acids, apparent small intestinal disappearance was from 80% for 18:3c-9,c-12,c-15 at the greatest level of dietary oil up to 100% for 18:1t-11 and 18:1c-12 with 0% oil. We concluded that duodenal flow of 18:2c-9,c-12 was predominately associated with the esterified fraction, suggesting that the extent of ruminal lipolysis was decreased with increased dietary high-linoleate safflower oil. Furthermore, biohydrogenation intermediates observed in the esterified fatty acids indicated that some reesterification occurred, and the high level of apparent absorption of esterified fatty acids indicated that intestinal lipolysis did not limit overall digestion of the fatty acids fed to the sheep.
What Leads to Coordinated Attention in Parent-Toddler Interactions? Children's Hearing Status Matters.

Coordinated attention between children and their parents plays an important role in their social, language, and cognitive development. The current study used head-mounted eye-trackers to investigate the effects of children’s prelingual hearing loss on how they achieve coordinated attention with their hearing parents during free-flowing object play. We found that toddlers with hearing loss (age: 24 – 37 months) had similar overall gaze patterns (e.g., gaze length and proportion of face looking) as their normal hearing peers. In addition, children’s hearing status did not affect how likely parents and children attended to the same object at the same time during play. However, when following parents’ attention, children with hearing loss used both parents’ gaze directions and hand actions as cues, while children with normal hearing mainly relied on parents’ hand actions. The diversity of pathways leading to coordinated attention suggests the flexibility and robustness of developing systems in using multiple pathways to achieve the same functional end.
Locked up and locked down: multitude lingers in limbo: by J. George Walters-Sleyon, Morrisville, North Carolina Lulu.com, 2017,193 pp., $16.50, ISBN 978-1-3127-9175-6

Locked Up and Locked Down: Multitude Lingers in Limbo is an important book for a time when an American political regime targets Muslims through travel bans and uses detention centers to warehouse c...
Emerging Adults and Christian Faith: The Faith Experience of Emerging Adults in the Pacific Northwest:

A new life-cycle stage, emerging adulthood, has gained increasing traction. Since research shows intersectionality between life-cycle stage and religious experience, research is warranted on this q...
ClinicalKey E-Books

Elsevier ClinicalKey is one of the industry’s leading clinical search engines. Its database of diverse medical literature is informed by an e-book collection that forms a permanent part of its inte...
Social Indicators to Inform Community Evacuation Modeling and Planning

AbstractRecent research has emphasized the importance of social vulnerability in assessing overall community vulnerability. This is supported by the observation that socially marginalized groups te...
Towards Personalized Movie Selection for Wellness: Investigating Event-Inspired Movies

Movie recommender systems help users to navigate the magnitude and diversity of movies that people have easy access to nowadays, especially with online streaming services. However, current systems ...
A DIRECT-type global optimization algorithm for image registration

Image registration is an important component of many image processing problems which often require optimizing over some set of parameters. In the image registration problem, one attempts to determine the best transformation for aligning similar images. Such problems typically require minimizing a dissimilarity measure with multiple local minima. We describe a global optimization algorithm and apply it to the problem of identifying the best transformation for aligning two images.
Maternal safety: recent advances and implications for the obstetric anesthesiologist.

Purpose of review Recognition of the increasing maternal mortality rate in the United States has been accompanied by intense efforts to improve maternal safety. This article reviews recent advances in maternal safety, highlighting those of particular relevance to anesthesiologists. Recent findings Cardiovascular and other chronic medical conditions contribute to an increasing number of maternal deaths. Anesthetic complications associated with general anesthesia are decreasing, but complications associated with neuraxial techniques persist. Obstetric early warning systems are evolving and hold promise in identifying women at risk for adverse intrapartum events. Postpartum hemorrhage rates are rising, and rigorous evaluation of existing protocols may reveal unrecognized deficiencies. Development of regionalized centers for high-risk maternity care is a promising strategy to match women at risk for adverse events with appropriate resources. Opioids are a growing threat to maternal safety. There is growing evidence for racial inequities and health disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality. Summary Anesthesiologists play an essential role in ensuring maternal safety. While continued intrapartum vigilance is appropriate, addressing the full spectrum of contributors to maternal mortality, including those with larger roles beyond the immediate peripartum time period, will be essential to ongoing efforts to improve maternal safety.
Biomechanical Force Prediction for Lengthening of Small Intestine during Distraction Enterogenesis

Distraction enterogenesis has been extensively studied as a potential treatment for short bowel syndrome, which is the most common form of intestinal failure. Different strategies including parenteral nutrition and surgical lengthening to manage patients with short bowel syndrome are associated with high complication rates. More recently, self-expanding springs have been used to lengthen the small intestine using an intraluminal axial mechanical force, where this biomechanical force stimulates the growth and elongation of the small intestine. Differences in physical characteristics of patients with short bowel syndrome would require a different mechanical force—this is crucial in order to achieve an efficient and safe lengthening outcome. In this study, we aimed to predict the required mechanical force for each potential intestinal size. Based on our previous experimental observations and computational findings, we integrated our experimental measurements of patient biometrics along with mechanical characterization of the soft tissue into our numerical simulations to develop a series of computational models. These computational models can predict the required mechanical force for any potential patient where this can be advantageous in predicting an individual’s tissue response to spring-mediated distraction enterogenesis and can be used toward a safe delivery of the mechanical force.
An improved demand curve for analysis of food or drug consumption in animal experiments

Abstract The incorporation of microeconomics concepts into studies using preclinincal self-administration procedures has provided critical insights into the factors that influence consumption of a wide range of food and drug reinforcers. In particular, the fitting of demand curves to consumption data provides a powerful analytic tool for computing objective metrics of behavior that can be compared across a wide range of reward types and experimental settings. The results of these analyses depend crucially on the mathematical form used to fit the data. The most common choice is an exponential form proposed by Hursh and Silberberg, which is widely used and has provided fundamental insights into relationships between cost and consumption, but it also has some disadvantages. In this paper we first briefly review the use of demand curves to quantify the motivating effects of food and drugs, then we describe the current methodology and highlight some potential issues that arise in its application. To address these issues, we propose a new mathematical framework for the analysis of consumption data, including a new functional form for the demand curve. We show that this proposed form gives good fits to data on a range of reinforcers across different animals and different experimental protocols, while allowing for straightforward calculation of key metrics of demand, including preferred consumption level, maximum response, price at maximum response, and price elasticity of demand. We provide software implementing our entire analysis pipeline, including data fits, data visualization, and the calculation of demand metrics.
The role of tumor necrosis factor in triggering activation of natural killer cell, multi-organ mitochondrial dysfunction and hypertension during pregnancy.

Abstract Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy associated with chronic inflammation, mitochondrial (mt) dysfunction and fetal demise. Natural Killer cells (NK cells) are critical for the innate immune response against tumors or infection by disrupting cellular mt function and causing cell death. Although NK cells can be stimulated by Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), we don’t know the role of TNF-α on NK cell mediated mt dysfunction during PE. Our objective was to determine if mechanisms of TNF-α induced hypertension included activation of NK cells and multi-organ mt dysfunction during pregnancy. Pregnant rats were divided into 2 groups: normal pregnant (NP) (n = 18) and NP + TNF-α (n = 18). On gestational day 14, TNF-α (50 ng/ml) was infused via mini-osmotic pump and on day 18, carotid artery catheters were inserted. Blood pressure (MAP) and samples were collected on day 19. TNF-α increased MAP (109 ± 2 vs 100 ± 2, p
Elite response to protest in authoritarian settings: evidence from Russia

Scholars of contentious politics understand the critical role of opposition protests and the elite in influencing regime outcomes. What is less understood, however, is how opposition protest can im...
Prenatal Metal Mixtures and Birth Weight for Gestational Age in A Lower Income Predominately Hispanic Pregnancy Cohort

Background/Aim: Reduced fetal growth increases risk for adverse health outcomes. Growing evidence indicates that metal exposures contribute to reduced fetal growth, but little is known about the im...
Top Ten Uses of a pH Meter in Practice

A pH meter can be a useful tool to a bovine veterinarian. Small sturdy pH meters that require only a few drops of sample are available.
Quantifying and Understanding the Higher Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Among South Asian Individuals: Results From the UK Biobank Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Individuals of South Asian ancestry represent 23% of the global population, corresponding to 1.8 billion people, and have substantially higher risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular dis...
Immunogenomic determinants of tumor microenvironment correlate with superior survival in high-risk neuroblastoma.

BACKGROUND Tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells and neoantigens are predictors of a favorable prognosis and response to immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors in many types of adult cancer, but little is known about their role in pediatric malignancies. Here, we analyzed the prognostic strength of T cell-inflamed gene expression and neoantigen load in high-risk neuroblastoma. We also compared transcriptional programs in T cell-inflamed and non-T cell-inflamed high-risk neuroblastomas to investigate possible mechanisms of immune exclusion. METHODS A defined T cell-inflamed gene expression signature was used to categorize high-risk neuroblastomas in the Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET) program (n=123), and the Gabriella Miller Kids First (GMKF) program (n=48) into T cell-inflamed, non-T cell-inflamed, and intermediate groups. Associations between the T cell-inflamed and non-T cell-inflamed group, MYCN amplification, and survival were analyzed by Cox proportional hazards models. Additional survival analysis was conducted after integrating neoantigen load predicted from somatic mutations. Pathways activated in non-T cell-inflamed relative to T cell-inflamed tumors were analyzed using causal network analysis. RESULTS Patients with T cell-inflamed high-risk tumors showed improved overall survival compared with those with non-T cell-inflamed tumors (p<0.05), independent of MYCN amplification status, in both TARGET and GMKF cohorts. Higher neoantigen load was also associated with better event-free and overall survival (p<0.005) and was independent of the T cell-inflamed signature. Activation of MYCN, ASCL1, SOX11, and KMT2A transcriptional programs was inversely correlated with the T cell-inflamed signature in both cohorts. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that tumors from children with high-risk neuroblastoma harboring a strong T cell-inflamed signature have a more favorable clinical outcome, and neoantigen load is a prognosis predictor, independent of T cell inflammation. Strategies to target SOX11 and other signaling pathways associated with non-T cell-inflamed tumors should be pursued as potential immune-potentiating interventions.
PACMan: Performance Aware Virtual Machine Consolidation

Consolidation of multiple workloads, encapsulated in virtual machines (VMs), can significantly improve efficiency in cloud infrastructures. But consolidation also introduces contention in shared resources such as the memory hierarchy, leading to degraded VM performance. To avoid such degradation, the current practice is to not pack VMs tightly and leave a large fraction of server resource unused. This is wasteful. We present a system that consolidates VMs such that performance degradation is within a tunable bound while minimizing unused resources. The problem of selecting the most suitable VM combinations is NP-Complete and our system employs a practical method that performs provably close to the optimal. In some scenarios resource efficiency may trump performance and for this case our system implements a technique that maximizes performance while not leaving any resource unused. Experimental results show that the proposed system realizes over 30% savings in energy costs and up to 52% reduction in performance degradation compared to consolidation algorithms that do not consider degradation.
Lysosomal hyaluronidase from rat liver. I. Preparation.

Hyaluronidase isolated from the lysosomes of rat liver (1) was purified 1300-fold by ammonium sulfate precipitation, chromatography on hydroxylapatite, and chromatography on Sephadex G-100. The most purified fraction gave two peaks on sedimentation in the ultracentrifuge, the faster of the two being yellow and possessing no enzymic activity. The slower peak showed a single band on acrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight of the enzyme was calculated to be 89,000 based on sedimentation equilibrium data.
Maternal Sensitivity: Evidence of Stability across Time, Contexts, and Measurement Instruments

Although maternal sensitivity is widely understood as having a direct impact on the quality of the mother–child relationship, empirical evidence supporting this has been inconsistent, possibly because of varied definitions of the construct and limitations of measurements. The Maternal Behavior Q-Set (MBQS) appears to be a promising measure of sensitivity, showing associations with attachment security (r = .60) higher than those reported (r = .24) in a highly-regarded meta-analysis of other sensitivity measures. The present study aimed to further establish the validity and utility of the MBQS by exploring its consistency with a contingency-based measure of sensitivity, while also seeking evidence of stability across contexts and times. Seventy-two mothers and their 10-month-olds participated in a procedure that included two episodes of Floor Play and Reunions following maternal differential treatment. Mothers were scored on contingent responsivity and warmth. At 12 months, the dyads underwent the Strange Situation Procedure where sensitivity was assessed using a 72-item version of the MBQS. The findings revealed the stability of maternal sensitivity across times, contexts, and measures. However, linkages applied only to 10-month scores from reunion, not play, episodes, supporting Pederson and Moran's (1995) assertion that high-demand circumstances reveal more meaningful differences in maternal sensitivity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Comparison of Field and Current-Driven Hot-Carrier Reliability in NPN SiGe HBTs

We investigate and compare the hot-carrier degradation of SiGe HBTs under both traditional mixed-mode electrical stress conditions and high-current electrical stress conditions using measured stress data and an in-depth analysis of the underlying degradation mechanisms. While large electric fields are the driving force in mixed-mode hot-carrier degradation, the Auger recombination process is shown to be the hot-carrier source under high-current stress conditions. Auger hot-carrier degradation shows a positive temperature dependence, unlike mixed-mode degradation, due to the temperature dependence of Auger recombination and its energy distribution function. We also use calibrated TCAD simulations to explain an unexpected stress threshold behavior that occurs due to the formation of a potential well in the neutral base region, and to explore a field-compression effect at the collector/subcollector junction that contributes to trap formation at the shallow trench isolation oxide interface.
MOEAs in the design of network centric systems: abstract of invited talk

Advances in information and communications technology are changing network design techniques quantitatively and qualitatively. This technology is supporting the design of large scale network centric systems which are required in many contemporary real-world situations. These high-level robust centric systems by definition must provide improved information sharing and collaboration between network entities. Such systems enhance the quality of information awareness, improving sustainability, and mission effectiveness and efficiency. The hierarchical development of network centric systems includes all dynamic information elements and is applied so as to maximize the desired decision and action impact. Associated network information flow problems can have as objectives costs, delays, robustness, vulnerability, and reliability with related constraints of network flow capacities, rates, and quantities of information. The optimization of coupled complex capacitated network flow problems is therefore an integral and basic element of network centric systems design. Thus, the focus of the discussion is on the efficacy of multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) to solve effectively and efficiency variations of associated network flow problems, given sophisticated mathematical models. Also to be addressed are dynamic network environments where various information channels become nonavailable, change their characteristics, or information priorities are modified. Discrimination between possible MOEA operators (recombination, mutation, selection) and associated MOEA parameter values is discussed as related to solving effectively variations of multiobjective network centric information flow problems including real-time behavior. Example network flow applications provide insight to choosing appropriate MOEA characteristics. Included is a discussion of opportunities for future MOEA research in this arena.
Valproic acid reduces brain damage induced by transient focal cerebral ischemia in rats: potential roles of histone deacetylase inhibition and heat shock protein induction

Growing evidence from in vitro studies supports that valproic acid (VPA), an anti-convulsant and mood-stabilizing drug, has neuroprotective effects. The present study investigated whether VPA reduces brain damage and improves functional outcome in a transient focal cerebral ischemia model of rats. Subcutaneous injection of VPA (300 mg/kg) immediately after ischemia followed by repeated injections every 12 h, was found to markedly decrease infarct size and reduce ischemia-induced neurological deficit scores measured at 24 and 48 h after ischemic onset. VPA treatment also suppressed ischemia-induced neuronal caspase-3 activation in the cerebral cortex. VPA treatments resulted in a time-dependent increase in acetylated histone H3 levels in the cortex and striatum of both ipsilateral and contralateral brain hemispheres of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rats, as well as in these brain areas of normal, non-surgical rats, supporting the in vitro finding that VPA is a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor. Similarly, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) levels were time-dependently up-regulated by VPA in the cortex and striatum of both ipsilateral and contralateral sides of MCAO rats and in these brain areas of normal rats. Altogether, our results demonstrate that VPA is neuroprotective in the cerebral ischemia model and suggest that the protection mechanisms may involve HDAC inhibition and HSP induction.
Some aspects of band-pass filtering of surface waves

abstract Narrow band-pass filtering of multi-mode surface-wave signals can be used to extract information concerning the group velocities and spectral amplitudes of each mode. A detailed examination of narrow band-pass filtering shows the effect of epicentral distance and the shape of the group-velocity curve upon the filtered signal. With this knowledge, the filtered signal can be used to make accurate estimates of the spectral amplitudes of each mode. A rectangular and a Gaussian filter are considered in detail. A numerical example is provided to indicate the values and limitations of the technique for determining the spectral amplitudes of each mode.
Calcium Channel Currents in Acutely Dissociated Intracardiac Neurons From Adult Rats

With the use of the whole cell patch-clamp technique, multiple subtypes of voltage-activated calcium channels, as indicated by measuring Ba2+ currents, were pharmacologically identified in acutely dissociated intracardiac neurons from adult rats. All tested neurons that were held at -80 mV displayed only high-voltage-activated (HVA) Ca2+ channel currents that were completely blocked by 100 microM CdCl2. The current density of HVA Ca2+ currents was dependent on the external Ca2+ concentration. The Ba2+ (5 mM) currents were half-activated at -16.3 mV with a slope of 5.6 mV per e-fold change. The steady-state inactivation was also voltage dependent with half-inactivation at -33.7 mV and a slope of -12.1 mV per e-fold change. The most effective L-type channel activator, FPL 64176 (2 microM), enhanced the Ba2+ current in a voltage-dependent manner. When cells were held at -80 mV, the saturating concentration (10 microM) of nifedipine blocked approximately 11% of the control Ba2+ current. The major component of the Ca2+ channels was N type (63%), which was blocked by a saturating concentration (1 microM) of omega-conotoxin GVIA. Approximately 19% of the control Ba2+ current was sensitive to omega-conotoxin MVIIC (5 microM) but insensitive to low concentrations (30 and 100 nM) of omega-agatoxin IVA (omega-Aga IVA). In addition, a high concentration (1 microM) of omega-Aga IVA occluded the effect of omega-conotoxin MVIIC. Taken together, these results indicate that the omega-conotoxin MVIIC-sensitive current represents only the Q type of Ca2+ channels. The current that was insensitive to nifedipine and various toxins represents the R-type current (7%), which was sensitive to 100 microM NiCl2. In conclusion, the intracardiac neurons from adult rats express at least four different subtypes (L, N, Q, and R) of HVA Ca2+ channels. This information is essential for understanding the regulation of synaptic transmission and excitability of intracardiac neurons by different neurotransmitters and neural regulation of cardiac functions.
Geometric Ergodicity for Piecewise Contracting Processes with Applications for Tropical Stochastic Lattice Models

Stochastic lattice models are increasingly prominent as a way to capture highly intermittent unresolved features of moist tropical convection in climate science and as continuum mesoscopic models in material science. Stochastic lattice models consist of suitably discretized continuum partial differential equations interacting with Markov jump processes at each lattice site with transition rates depending on the local value of the continuum equation; they are a special case of piecewise deterministic Markov processes but often have an infinite state space and unbounded transition rates. Here a general theorem on geometric ergodicity for piecewise deterministic contracting processes is developed with full generality to apply to stochastic lattice models. A highly nontrivial application to the stochastic skeleton model for the Madden-Julian oscillation (Thual et al., 2013) is developed here where there is an infinite state space with unbounded and also degenerate transition rates. Geometric ergodicity for the stochastic skeleton model guarantees exponential convergence to a unique invariant measure that defines the statistical tropical climate of the model. Another application of the general framework is developed here for stochastic lattice models designed to capture intermittent fluctuation in the simplest tropical climate models. Other straightforward applications to models motivated by material science are mentioned briefly here. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Investigation of electronic coupling in semiconductor double quantum wells using coherent optical two-dimensional Fourier transform spectroscopy

We investigate electronic coupling in asymmetric semiconductor double quantum wells using a new spectroscopy method, optical two-dimensional Fourier transform (2D-FT) spectroscopy. Measurements on two samples with different barrier thicknesses show drastically different 2D-FT spectra. We compare these measurements to conventional one-dimensional four-wave-mixing measurements, highlighting the unique advantages of the 2D-FT spectroscopy. An oscillatory behavior in the intensity of the cross peaks as a function of the mixing time is observed. This oscillation is attributed to interference between different quantum mechanical pathways, and its features are determined by the non-radiative Raman coherence between dipole-forbidden states.
The history of the herring and with its decline the significance to health

For centuries Europe seems to have partaken of the herring. With the coming of steam drifters in 1900 trawling for white fish became easier and they substituted for the herring and the taste for herring has been lost. Illnesses thrombotic, immune and inflammatory seem to be associated with the dietary change and modern biochemical science is busy showing that certain essential fatty acids present in vegetable oils and oily fish can give rise to essences obviating the need to revert to diets that may now be difficult to resume.
Resource Oriented Composite Transactions

Composite transaction is a set of two or more related transactions managed in a coordinated logical unit of work. Composite transaction can span multiple data sources or multiple databases. Sometime, we use composite transaction only because we want to split long transactions into short transactions for less lock and more concurrency. In a very large scale distributed system, all of these are valid reasons to use composite transactions. There are different models for composite transaction. Distributed transaction model is widely used in practice since XA specification was released in 1991. However XA specification is notorious for heavy performance cost. To deal with internet scale transaction systems, we have to have some compromised solutions for both performance and consistency considerations. In this paper, we described the methodology and transaction programming model to simplify the system design and provide several guidelines for very large scale distributed transaction systems. We also described the differences between this design model and existing models for composite transaction including distributed transactions (XA 2PC), Sagas and federated transactions. Our design model is practicable and supports true concurrency. It targets at a special type of composite transactions named "Resource Oriented Composite Transaction" (ROCT) which is very common in banking systems, e-commerce systems, airline ticket-sale system, and etc. And our new transaction programming model can be widely used for this type of composite transactions.
Robust coordinated design of multiple and multi-type damping controller using differential evolution algorithm

A robust coordination scheme to improve the stability of a power system by optimal design of multiple and multi-type damping controllers is presented in this paper. The controllers considered are power system stabilizer (PSS) and static synchronous series compensator (SSSC)-based controller. Local measurements are provided as input signals to all the controllers. The coordinated design problem is formulated as an optimization problem and differential evolution (DE) algorithm is employed to search for the optimal controller parameters. The performance of the proposed controllers is evaluated for both single-machine infinite-bus power system and multi-machine power system. Nonlinear simulation results are presented over a wide range of loading conditions and system configurations to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed coordinated design approach. It is observed that the proposed controllers provide efficient damping to power system oscillations under a wide range of operating conditions and under various disturbances. Further, simulation results show that, in a multi-machine power system, the modal oscillations are effectively damped by the proposed approach.
Optimal dispatching strategies for emergency vehicles to increase patient survivability

A major focus of emergency medical service (EMS) systems is to save lives and to minimise the effect of an emergency health incident. The objective of this research is to determine how to optimally dispatch paramedic units to emergency calls to maximise patients’ survivability. We formulate the problem as Markov decision process to obtain the optimal dispatching policies. These dispatching policies are developed incorporating the degree of the urgency of the call. The optimal policy provides an ordered preference (priority) list of ambulances to dispatch. The performance of the proposed dispatching rules is evaluated in terms of patients’ survivability rather than measuring the response time thresholds, as survival probability more directly mirrors patient outcomes. Computational examples show that dispatching the closest vehicle is not always optimal and that dispatching vehicles considering the priority of the call leads to an increase in the average survival probability of patients.
Antagonism of botulinum toxin-induced muscle weakness by 3,4-diaminopyridine in rat phrenic nerve-hemidiaphragm preparations

The effects of the potassium channel inhibitor and putative botulinum toxin antagonist 3,4-diaminopyridine (3,4-DAP) were investigated in vitro on the contractile properties of rat diaphragm muscle. In the presence of 100 pM botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT/A), twitches elicited by supramaximal nerve stimulation (0.1 Hz) were reduced to approximately 10% of control in 3 hr at 37 degrees C. Addition of 3,4-DAP led to a rapid reversal of the BoNT/A-induced depression of twitch tension. In the presence of 100 microM 3,4-DAP, antagonism of the BoNT/A-induced blockade began within 30-40 sec and reached 82% of control with a half-time of 6.7 min. The beneficial effect of 3,4-DAP was well maintained and underwent little or no decrement relative to control for at least 8 hr after addition. Application of 1 microM neostigmine 1 hr after 3,4-DAP led to a further potentiation of twitch tension, but this action lasted for < 20 min. Moreover, neostigmine caused tetanic fade during repetitive stimulation. In contrast to the efficacy of the parent compound, the quaternary derivative of 3,4-DAP, 3,4-diamino-1-methyl pyridinium produced little or no twitch potentiation up to a concentration of 1 mM. The potassium channel blocker, tetraethylammonium, generated a transient potentiation followed by a sustained depression of twitch tensions. It is concluded that 3,4-DAP is of benefit in antagonizing the muscle paralysis following exposure to BoNT/A. Co-application of neostigmine or tetraethylammonium with 3,4-DAP, however, appears to confer no additional benefit.
An evaluation of the effectiveness of audio cassettes for CME

Medical teachers and practising doctors were surveyed by questionnaire and given pre- and post-tests to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of Practical Reviews in Cancer Management, a cassette tape programme of continuing medical education (CME). Doctors indicated a high degree of satisfaction with this approach; in particular the idea of keeping abreast of the current literature while commuting in their cars was appealing. The programme's effectiveness was measured by pre- and post-tests, and the data were analysed by the non-directional t-test for dependent groups. These tests indicated a significant (P less than 0.001) increase in knowledge from the pre- to post-tests.
GOING IT ALONE! FUNDRAISING WITHOUT A CONSULTANT

Consultants can be a welcome sight to beleaguered libraries seeking an outside expert opinion in matters from management to construction. However, it is the wise library staff that exercises discrimination about when to use the services of a consultant and how to select the right consultant for the job. Fundraising is an area where consultants can perform a vital service for the library with limited experience, staff, and resources.
Marrow studies with radiocolloids

Although the use of colloids to studybone marrow has gained some favor in clinical practice, their value in establishing a specific diagnosis is limited. Now and then scanning combined with other pieces of data can be of diagnostic aid (for example, in differentiating stress erythremia from polycythemia vera or primary myelofibrosis from other myeloproliferative states). It has potential for promoting better understanding of other disorders of the blood-forming tissue. One may assess the extent of marrow destruction after extended field, radiotherapy and sometimes detect in parts of the skeleton metastases that bear red marrow. Scanning sometimes illuminates a puzzling clinical situation and points to sites for the most informative sampling of marrow. Substantial pitfalls exist and the observer must be wary in his interpretation of scan images with present-day tools. In addition to using colloids for scans of marrow, they may prove to be valuable in directly measuring reticuloendothelial (RE) functions.
Community creation by means of a social media paradigm

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a case study from which a framework for the purposeful building of knowledge communities by means of social media is formulated.Design/methodology/approach – The approach first takes the form of a literature review. Based on a review of literature as well as on various data sets and surveys within the case study organisation, a social media tool is developed and implemented as a platform to build a knowledge community.Findings – That there is a need for more information by means of practical experimentation in the current literature. In addition to this, eight steering points for constructing a framework of best practice in the purposeful creation of knowledge communities are submitted.Research limitations/implications – The above‐mentioned points are still undergoing field evaluation and further analytics is been undertaken.Originality/value – The paper provides detail into a social media campaign. Further corporations will be able to build on the finding...
Coping with Conflict, Confronting Resistance: Fieldwork Emotions and Identity Management in a South Korean Evangelical Community

Methodological difficulties attendant to ethnographic fieldwork—such as gaining access, maintaining fieldwork relations, objectivity, and fieldwork stresses—are intensified for researchers working with “absolutist” religious group, groups that hold an exclusivist or totalistic definition of truth. Based on my fieldwork in a conservative South Korean evangelical community, I explore in this article two central and related methodological dilemmas pertaining to studying absolutist religious groups: identity negotiation and emotional management during fieldwork. Writing from my complex location as a feminist and a cultural/religious insider/outsider in relation to the South Korean evangelical community, I explore in particular the challenges posed by identity/role management in the field and its emotional dimensions, including the issue of the researcher’s power and vulnerability, the quandary of “conformity,” and the emotional costs of self-repression arising from the researcher’s fundamental value conflicts with the group. I conclude with a reflection on the implications of these experiences for ethnographic methodology, most centrally, how we manage our emotional responses in the field, including “inappropriate” ones, and how we can relate them to the research process.
Synapses on the Purkinje cell spines in the mouse. An electronmicroscopic study.

Abstract In the mouse Purkinje cell, as seen in the electron microscope, spines emerge from the soma (Ss), large dendrites (Ds) and branchlets (Bs). Bs and some Ds spines make synaptic contacts with parallel fibers, but Ss and most Ds spines receive other types of terminals filled with large, round vesicles. A quantitative analysis of the distribution of these terminals has shown a clear correlation with the distribution of climbing fibers on the Purkinje soma and dendrites observed by other investigators in Golgi impregnations. It has been concluded that, in the mouse at least, climbing fibers make synaptic contacts with the Purkinje cell on spines; consideration is given to species differences in the way climbing fibers make synaptic contacts upon the Purkinje cell. The distribution of basket-stellate terminals on the Purkinje cell is reported. The suggestion made by Uchizono that synaptic vesicles of excitatory and inhibitory synapses have different morphological characteristics has been confirmed.
Longitudinally-finned cross-flow tube banks and their heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics

Abstract Heat transfer and pressure drop experiments were performed for cross-flow tube banks in which the individual tubes were equipped with longitudinal fins. The investigated geometrical parameters included the placement of the fins (at the front of the tube, at the rear, and at the front and rear), the fin tip shape (blunt or contoured), and the fin thickness. For each tube bank geometry, the Reynolds number was varied by nearly an order of magnitude. The results showed that a high degree of heat transfer enhancement can be obtained by finning, and the enhancements for the various tube bank geometries were compared at fixed pumping power, fixed pressure drop, and fixed mass flow. The finning-related enhancements were also compared with those attainable by the use of increased diameter unfinned tubes. Finning was found to be especially advantageous when the comparison is made at fixed pressure drop. For an array with fixed tube centers, finning permits greater additions of surface area than are possible by increases in the tube diameter.
On the Wentzel-Brillouin-Kramers Approximate Solution of the Wave Equation

A discussion of the Wentzel-Brillouin-Kramers method of obtaining an approximate solution of the wave equation is given from the point of view that it forms a link between the quantum theory of Bohr and the new quantum mechanics. This becomes clear when one compares the probability distributions (see Figs. 2 and 3) and calculates the mean values $\stackrel{-}{{r}^{k}}$ (see Table I). It is shown that for high quantum numbers these become the classical values. The method leads also, as shown by Zwaan, to quantization by the classical phase integrals with the use of half-integer quantum numbers. In the last section the method is applied to the charged shell atom model. It is shown that the condition of smooth joining of the wave function is practically equivalent to half-integer quantization of the sum of the inner and outer phase integrals. Of course there is no longer a sharp distinction between penetrating and non-penetrating orbits. The Land\'e formula for the doublet separations is derived. The value of ${\ensuremath{\psi}}^{2}(0)$ (0), which occurs in the calculation of the hyperfine separations in $^{2}S$ states, is also given.
Radiological impact of the use of calcium hydroxylapatite dermal fillers.

Aim To report a case series in which the radiological features of the subcutaneous use of calcium hydroxylapatite (CaHa) dermal fillers are described for the first time. Materials and methods Five patients with facial hyperattenuating hypermetabolic subcutaneous lesions were identified on 2- [ 18 F]-fluoro-2-deoxy- d- glucose (FDG) positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), who gave a history of facial injections to augment physical appearance. Correlation with additional imaging studies was performed. Results All cases had subcutaneous high attenuation material on CT (range 280–700 HU), which was FDG avid on PET, with a standardized uptake value (SUV) range of 2.9–13.4. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a heterogeneous intermediate signal intensity subcutaneous lesion with enhancement post-gadolinium in one case. Conclusions CaHa dermal filler is hyperattenuating on CT, hypermetabolic on FDG-PET imaging, of intermediate signal intensity on MRI, and is a potential cause of a false-positive imaging study.
A walk over the shortest path: Dijkstra's algorithm viewed as fixed-point computation

Abstract We present a derivation of Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm [Numer. Math. 1 (1959) 83]. We view the problem as computation of a “greatest solution” of a set of equations. A UNITY-style computation [Chandy and Misra, Parallel Program Design: A Foundation, 1988] is then prescribed whose implementation results in Dijkstra's algorithm.