cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Study of Linear Joint and Tool Models in Spindle-Holder-Tool Receptance Coupling

The dynamics of a spindle-holder-tool (SHT) system during high-speed machining is sensitive to changes in tool overhang length. A well-known method for predicting the limiting depth of cut for avoidance of tool chatter requires a good estimate of the tool-point frequency response (FRF) of the combined system, which depends upon the tool length. In earlier work, a combined analytical and experimental method has been discussed, that uses receptance coupling substructure analysis (RCSA) for the rapid prediction of the combined spindle-holder-tool FRF. The basic idea of the method is to combine the measured direct displacement vs. force receptance (i.e., frequency response) at the free end of the spindle-holder (SH) system with calculated expressions for the tool receptances based on analytical models. The tool was modeled as an Euler-Bernoulli (EB) beam, the other three spindle-holder receptances were set equal to zero, and the model for the connection with the tool led to a diagonal matrix. The main conclusion of the earlier work was that there was an exponential trend in the dominant connection parameter, which enabled interpolation between tip receptance data for the longest and shortest tools in the combined SHT system. Thus, a considerable savings in time and effort could be realized for the particular SHT system. A question left open in the earlier work was: how general is this observed exponential trend? Here, to explore this question further, an analytical EB model is used for the SH system, so that all four of its end receptances are available, and the tool is again modeled as a free-free EB beam that is connected to the SH by a specified connection matrix, that includes nonzero off-diagonal terms. This serves as the “exact” solution. The approximate solution is once again formed by setting all but one SH receptance equal to zero, and the connection parameters are determined using nonlinear least squares software. Both diagonal and full connection matrices are investigated. The main result is that, for this system, in the case of a diagonal connecting matrix, there is no apparent trend in the dominant connecting spring stiffness with tool overhang length. However, in the full connecting matrix case, a general constant trend is observed, with some interesting exceptions.© 2005 ASME
Effects of complexing treatment administered with the onset of methyl mercury neurotoxic signs.

Abstract Complexing therapy was tested in the rat for effectiveness by initiating d -penicillamine (DPA) or 2,3-dimercaptopropanol (BAL) 7 days after the first of three daily exposures to methyl mercury (MM) given po as 14.4 mg MMCl/kg/day. Therapy consisted of five daily doses sc of either 1200 mg/kg DPA or 60 mg/kg BAL. Distribution studies employing 203Hg-labeled MMCl indicated that, on the 7th day after the first dose, central and peripheral nervous system tissues had reached peak tissue concentrations of mercury. Treatment with BAL proved ineffective either in altering the typical MM-induced pattern of weight change and development of neurotoxic signs. DPA treatment, however, prevented the further development of signs and enhanced weight gain. β-Glucuronidase activity of spinal cord and sciatic nerve indicated degeneration beginning on or before the 14th day after the first MM dose. Treatment initiated just before degeneration or toxic signs have become severe will be effective.
Evaluation of the HOMME Dynamical Core in the Aquaplanet Configuration of NCAR CAM4: Rainfall

AbstractThe NCAR Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4), includes a new dynamical core option based on NCAR’s High-Order Method Modeling Environment (HOMME). HOMME is a petascale-capable high-order element-based conservative dynamical core developed on the cubed-sphere grid. Initial simulations have been completed in an aquaplanet configuration of the Community Atmosphere Model, version 4 (CAM4), the atmospheric component of CCSM4. The authors examined the results of this simulation and assessed its fidelity in simulating rainfall, which is one of the most important components of the earth’s climate system. For this they compared the results from two other dynamical cores of CAM4: the finite volume (FV) and Eulerian (EUL).Instantaneous features of rainfall in HOMME are similar to FV and EUL. Similar to EUL and FV, HOMME simulates a single-peak intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) over the equator. The strength of the ITCZ is found to be almost the same in HOMME and EUL but more in FV. It is ob...
Correlation analysis of ligand interactions with cycloamyloses

Abstract Correlation equations have been developed for the hydrolysis of phenyl acetates by cycloamyloses. These quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) for the enzyme-like activity of the polysaccharides are then compared with QSAR for synthetic “mini-enzymes” which have been studied in several laboratories. The physicochemical parameters determining activity of these “pseudo-enzymes” are similar to those determining activity with real enzymes.
A compilation of strategies for implementing clinical innovations in health and mental health.

Efforts to identify, develop, refine, and test strategies to disseminate and implement evidence-based treatments have been prioritized in order to improve the quality of health and mental health care delivery. However, this task is complicated by an implementation science literature characterized by inconsistent language use and inadequate descriptions of implementation strategies. This article brings more depth and clarity to implementation research and practice by presenting a consolidated compilation of discrete implementation strategies, based on a review of 205 sources published between 1995 and 2011. The resulting compilation includes 68 implementation strategies and definitions, which are grouped according to six key implementation processes: planning, educating, financing, restructuring, managing quality, and attending to the policy context. This consolidated compilation can serve as a reference to stakeholders who wish to implement clinical innovations in health and mental health care and can fac...
Annual and Daily Meteorological Cycles at High Altitude on a Tropical Mountain

Abstract An automated weather station was installed in October 1996 at the summit of Nevado Sajama, located in the western Andean Cordillera of Bolivia (6542 m, 18°06´S, 68°53´W). Meteorological conditions on the mountain are being observed to improve the calibration of geochemical variations within tropical ice cores. This article documents the design and operation of the station and presents a discussion of measurements made through the first annual cycle. Variables analyzed include pressure, incoming solar radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind, and snow accumulation. Large diurnal fluctuations were recorded in most variables, which is not unexpected given the location at 18°S; the data also reveal substantial day-to-day variability and rapid seasonal changes in weather and circulation. As a result, snowfall events and periods of evaporation are more episodic in nature than previously believed. Measurement of atmospheric conditions during and between snowfall events will therefore greatly facilitat...
First-order periodic error correction: validation for constant and non-constant velocities with variable error magnitudes

This paper provides experimental validation of the real-time, digital first-order periodic error reduction scheme described by Chu and Ray. Measurements are completed using a single-pass, heterodyne Michelson interferometer designed to minimize common error contributors such as dead path, Abbe and environment. Motion generation over a range of velocities is achieved using an air bearing stage. Periodic error magnitude and type is varied through independent rotations of a half wave plate and polarizer located in the measurement path; experimental magnitudes for constant velocity conditions are compared to the analytical model described by Cosijns et al. It is shown that the correction algorithm can successfully attenuate first-order error, and identify other error orders, to sub-nm levels for a wide range of frequency mixing conditions and constant/non-constant velocity profiles.
Perspective on assessment of vitamin D nutrition.

Abstract Although routine fortification of milk and a few other dairy products has been successful in preventing rickets in children, its impact on preventing vitamin D depletion in adults is less than satisfactory. The prevalence of vitamin D depletion in the elderly is on the rise again and appears to be more common than is currently appreciated. Several groups of individuals are at an increased risk of developing vitamin D depletion, and a significant minority of otherwise healthy individuals is vitamin D deficient. Unrecognized vitamin D depletion leads to secondary hyperparathyroidism, accelerates cortical bone loss, and increases the risk of hip fractures. With the availability of techniques to assess vitamin D nutrition, it is probably cost-effective to routinely measure 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in individuals at the greatest risk and in patients with various metabolic bone diseases to prevent vitamin D depletion. Early recognition and prompt treatment of vitamin D depletion improves functional well-being of the individual, reduces morbidity related to bone loss and fractures, and is associated with a highly favorable cost/benefit ratio.
Impact of ambulance diversion policies in urban, suburban, and rural areas of Central Maryland.

UNLABELLED As a method to control patient flow to overburdened hospitals, effective emergency medical services (EMS) systems provide policies for ambulance diversion. The Maryland state EMS system supports two types of alert for general hospital use: red alert, aimed at limiting the delivery of patients who may require intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and yellow alert, aimed at preventing further overload of already overtaxed emergency departments (EDs). OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of those alert policies in different geographical environments, urban, suburban, and rural. METHODS Alert data for 23 hospitals in Central Maryland and ambulance arrival data for approximately 138,000 ambulance calls during calendar year 1996 were combined and analyzed. The impacts of diversion practices in the geographic areas were compared. RESULTS Red alert reduced volume in all patient acuity levels in all geographic areas by a statistically significant 0.4 patient/hr. Yellow alert diverted low-acuity patients at the rate of 0.13 patient/hr (p<0.001) in urban areas and at the rate of 0.16 patient/hr (p<0.001) in suburban areas, but had minimal impact in the flow of patients in the rural environment. CONCLUSIONS The ED diversion policy has some limited effect in preventing further patient volume in urban and suburban areas, but has virtually no impact in rural areas. However, an ICU diversion policy diverts patients of all acuities uniformly and inordinately diverts patients not likely to require ICU admissions while having only minimal impact on patients who do require ICU resources. The impact of red alert is uniform in all geographic areas. The impact and efficacy of ambulance diversion policies should be evaluated to ensure they are having the intended effect. While perhaps initially effective, the impact of alert policies may change over time.
A proposal for integrated software engineering education

This paper describes a proposal to strengthen the coverage of software engineering within the undergraduate CS curriculum by integrating coverage of software tools, methodologies, and practices into core courses and by providing appropriate resources for instructors. The goal of the proposal is to improve technical readiness of CS graduates for the 21st-century software development workforce by providing an exposure throughout the CS curriculum to modern project management practices and tools, and by developing in students skills necessary to participate in software development projects.
The Value of Drains as a Fistula Mitigation Strategy for Pancreatoduodenectomy: Something for Everyone? Results of a Randomized Prospective Multi-institutional Study

A recent randomized, controlled trial investigating intraperitoneal drain use during pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) had a primary goal of assessing overall morbidity. It was terminated early with findings that routine elimination of drains in PD increases mortality and the severity and frequency of overall complications. Here, we provide a follow-up analysis of drain value in reference to clinically relevant postoperative pancreatic fistula (CR-POPF). Nine institutions performed 137 PDs, with patients randomized to intraperitoneal drainage (N = 68) or no drainage (N = 69). The Fistula Risk Score (FRS), a 10-point scale derived from four validated risk factors for CR-POPF, facilitated risk adjustment between treatment groups. There was no difference in fistula risk between the two cohorts. Overall, CR-POPF rates were higher in the no drain group compared to the drain group (20.3 vs. 13.2 %; p = 0.269). Patients with negligible/low FRS risk had higher rates of CR-POPF when drains were used (14.8 vs. 4.0 %; p = 0.352). Conversely, there were significantly fewer CR-POPFs (12.2 vs. 29.5 %; p = 0.050) when drains were used with moderate/high risk patients. Lastly, moderate/high risk patients who suffered a CR-POPF had reduced 90-day mortality (22.2 vs. 42.9 %) when a drain was used. The results of this analysis suggest that drains diminish the rate and severity of CR-POPF in patients with moderate/high risk, but they could possibly be avoided in the roughly one third of patients with negligible/low risk.
Does the design of the Sprotte spinal needle reduce the force needed to deform the tip

Study Objective: To determine whether the window design of pencil-point spinal needles leads to deformation under lateral or axial loading conditions. Design: Independent-measure, multigroup study of the force required to deform needles. Setting: Independent testing laboratory. Measurements and Main Results: The force necessary to bend 22- and 24-gauge Sprotte, 22- and 25-gauge Whitacre, and 22- and 25-gauge Quincke needles was measured using an Instron gauge (Instron Corp., Canton, MA) after microscopic verification of needle uniformity. Effects of lateral and axial forces were evaluated in separate experiments. The force needed to bend the Sprotte needles was less than that needed for the Whitacre and Quincke needles of similar size when lateral or axial pressure was applied. Microscopic inspection of the needles showed a marked variability in the window area placement in a single lot of Sprotte needles. Examination of the needle tips demonstrated that the Sprotte needles were most likely to bend at the needle window, while the Quincke and Whitacre needles deformed at the point of clamping. Conclusions: The Sprotte needles have an inherent design weakness to lateral and axial pressure, which may result in a greater number of needle tip deformations upon needle insertion. The nature of this deformation may result in difficulty in needle withdrawal and possibly fracture of the needle tip.
The Clinical and Physiological Effect of Whole-Lung Lavage in Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis: A Ten-Year Experience

Abstract We have utilized whole-lung lavage in the successful treatment of 18 patients with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. Our ten-year experience includes serial evaluations of patients with disabling lung dysfunction who had a total of 49 whole-lung lavages under general anesthesia. Clinical and physiological responses were documented both before and after each lavage. There were no complications or deaths. All patients were radiographically, physiologically, and symptomatically improved within hours after the procedures. Five patients required from two to four repeat lavages one to three years later. The treatment of this disorder has included a wide variety of techniques. We attribute our results to the use of a lung lavage technique that includes: (1) unilateral whole-lung lavages at two to three day intervals; (2) isotonic saline as the lavage solution; (3) use of a mechanical chest percussor during lavage; and (4) measuring the total thoracic compliance of each side in the immediate postlavage period as a guide for extubation. We conclude that whole-lung lavage is a safe, highly effective, repetitively applicable treatment for pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.
Cooperative learning and preservice elementary teacher science self-efficacy

(1995). Cooperative learning and preservice elementary teacher science self-efficacy. Journal of Science Teacher Education: Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 125-133.
Imaging Auditory Representations of Song and Syllables in Populations of Sensorimotor Neurons Essential to Vocal Communication

Vocal communication depends on the coordinated activity of sensorimotor neurons important to vocal perception and production. How vocalizations are represented by spatiotemporal activity patterns in these neuronal populations remains poorly understood. Here we combined intracellular recordings and two-photon calcium imaging in anesthetized adult zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to examine how learned birdsong and its component syllables are represented in identified projection neurons (PNs) within HVC, a sensorimotor region important for song perception and production. These experiments show that neighboring HVC PNs can respond at markedly different times to song playback and that different syllables activate spatially intermingled PNs within a local (∼100 μm) region of HVC. Moreover, noise correlations were stronger between PNs that responded most strongly to the same syllable and were spatially graded within and between classes of PNs. These findings support a model in which syllabic and temporal features of song are represented by spatially intermingled PNs functionally organized into cell- and syllable-type networks within local spatial scales in HVC.
Stage III epithelial ovarian cancer: The role of maximal surgical reduction

One hundred forty-two cases of ovarian cancer of epithelial origin treated at Georgetown University Hospital between 1974 and 1980 were analyzed. Seventy-five patients (52.8%) were found to have Stage III disease at the time of the initial laparotomy, and the purpose of this study was to assess the outcome of the management in this group of patients. In spite of an aggressive approach, complete tumor excision could only be affected in 13 of the 75 Stage III cases (17.3%). Residual disease of less than 2 cm was achieved in a further 8 cases (10.7%). The ability to perform complete tumor clearance bore no relationship to the grade of the tumor. The survival rate in the complete clearance group was 100% with a mean survival time of 45 months (range 10-90 months) and 10 of these patients have been shown to be free of disease by second-look laparotomy. The outcome in terms of survival and disease-free status in these two groups of patients was unaffected by various chemotherapy regimens and the only factor of importance appeared to be the success of the initial surgery in clearing the disease.
Design and Development of Electric-Bus Battery Swap Control System Based on Quantum Platform

It takes a long time to replenish energy for electric-bus by charging, while battery swap is an effective way with fast energy supplement ability. The process of electric-bus battery swap is complex, how to realize automatic, efficient and reliable battery swap is an urgent problem to be solved. This paper analyzed the electric-bus battery swap system, and then constructed the control model of battery swap according to state machine theory, finally developed a battery swap control system based on Quantum Platform framework. The battery swap control system has been applied to many electric-bus battery swap stations; it improves the station’s efficiency and reliability greatly, and provides a guarantee for the popularization and application of electric-bus.
Intraoperative high-dose-rate brachytherapy for the treatment of pediatric tumors : The Ohio State University Experience

Abstract Purpose: To determine whether intraoperative high-dose-rate brachytherapy (IO-HDRBT) can be used to decrease the dose of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in the treatment of children with soft-tissue sarcomas and, thereby, reduce morbidity without compromising local control. Methods and Materials: From March 1992 through April 1999, 13 pediatric patients were treated with IO-HDRBT, low-dose EBRT, chemotherapy, and radical surgery at 21 sites that were not amenable to intraoperative electron beam therapy. The IO-HDRBT dose at 5 mm depth was 10 to 12.5 Gy for close margins/microscopic disease at 14 sites and 12.5 to 15 Gy for gross disease at 7 sites. The treatment volumes ranged from 4 to 96 cm 3 (mean 27). The EBRT dose was limited to 27–30 Gy in most cases to minimize growth retardation and preserve normal organ function. Results: After a median follow-up of 47 months (range 12–97), 11 patients were alive and without evidence of disease (overall survival rate 85%, 4-year actuarial survival rate 77%). Of the 2 who died, 1 had Stage III pulmonary blastoma with a sacral recurrence; the other had Stage IV undifferentiated synovial sarcoma with a pulmonary recurrence. One local failure occurred in a patient with gross residual disease after incomplete resection for Stage IV pulmonary blastoma. The local control rate was 95%, and morbidity was observed in 3 patients (23%). One patient developed impaired orbital growth with mild ptosis. Another patient required orthopedic pinning of her femoral subcapital epiphysis and construction of a neobladder secondary to urethral obstruction. The third patient required reimplantation of her autotransplanted kidney secondary to chronic urinary tract infection and ureteral reflux. Conclusions: IO-HDRBT allowed for reduction in EBRT without compromising local control or disease-free survival in children with soft-tissue sarcomas. Tumor beds inaccessible to electron beam methods could be satisfactorily encompassed with IO-HDRBT techniques.
Tilting of radioactive plaques after initial accurate placement for treatment of uveal melanoma.

Objective To evaluate plaque movement as a potential factor in local failure using intraoperative ultrasonography at plaque insertion and removal. Methods Prospective study of 162 patients with uveal melanoma undergoing intraoperative B-scan ultrasonography at insertion and removal of iodine 125 plaques. Results Tilting of the posterior plaque edge more than 1.0 mm away from the sclera was detected in 15 patients (9%) at plaque insertion and in 85 patients (53%) at plaque removal ( P P = .009), decreased tumor distance to the fovea and optic disc ( P P = .001), and episcleral hematoma ( P = .009). Plaque tilt caused a reduction greater than 10% in actual radiation dose to the tumor apex in 37 patients (23%). Local failure occurred in only 3 patients (2%), all of whom had tilt of 1.95 mm or greater at plaque removal. Conclusions Plaque tilt after initial accurate placement occurs frequently during brachytherapy for uveal melanomas and may represent an important cause of local treatment failure. Recognizing and counteracting the effects of plaque tilt may reduce the risk of local failure. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT00459849
Dynamic intrinsic chip ID using 32nm high-K/metal gate SOI embedded DRAM

A random intrinsic chip ID method generates a pair of 4Kb binary strings using retention fails in 32nm SOI embedded DRAM. Hardware results show ID overlap distance mean=0.58 and σ=0.76 and demonstrate 100% authentication for 346 chips. The analytical model predicts > 99.999% unique IDs for 106 parts.
Carboxylate Anion Diminishes Chloride Transport through a Synthetic, Self-Assembled Transmembrane Pore

Six amphiphilic heptapeptides with the structure (C 18 H 37 ) 2 NCO-CH 2 OCH 2 CO-(Gly)3-Pro-(Gly) n -(Glx)-(Gly) m -O(CH 2 ) 6 CH 3 , in which Glx represents glutamic acid or its benzyl ester and n+m=2, have been studied. In addition, the glutamate residue in the GGGPGGE sequence was esterified by fluorescent 1-pyrenemethanol. These compounds insert into phospholipid bilayers and form anion-conducting pores. Hill plots based on carboxy-fluorescein release indicate that the pores are at least dimeric. Studies that involved ion-selective electrode techniques showed that transport of chloride varied with the position of glutamate within the peptide chain and whether glutamic acid was present as the free acid or its benzyl ester. Chloride transport activity was significantly higher for the glutamate esters than for free carboxylates irrespective of the glutamate position. Activity was highest when the glutamate residue in ∼(Gly) 3 -Pro-(Xxx) 3 ∼ was closest to the C terminus of the peptide. A fluorescent pyrene residue was introduced to probe the aggregation state of the amphiphile. The selectivity of the pore for Cl - over K + was maintained even when the carboxylate anion was present within it. Complexation of Cl - by the ionophoric peptides was confirmed by negative ion mass spectrometry. Planar bilayer voltage clamp experiments confirmed that pores with more than one conductance state may form in these dynamic, self-assembled pores.
The systemic mycoses in differential diagnosis of chronic pulmonary disease.

SUMMARY Tuberculosis control is yet to be achieved, and at the same time, fungus diseases are playing a greater role in chronic respiratory disease. Some of the important systemic mycoses with pulmonary involvement are mentioned, and particular reference is made to histoplasmosis and blastomycosis. These are endemic in the Ohio-Mississippi region of the United States and many cases have been reported in the last few years. These can at times present serious diagnostic problems, and can simulate tuberculosis or carcinoma. Specific examples of some of these problems are given including cases of pulmonary tuberculosis with histoplasmosis, tuberculosis with blastomycosis, exploratory thoracotomy in pulmonary histoplasmosis being complicated by histoplasmosis empyema. The importance of accurate diagnoses is re-emphasized, and the various procedures outlined. Increased awareness is essential as treatment can be beneficial in many of these patients.
Strain-softening bar and beam: Exact non-local solution

Using the recently developed imbricate non-local continuum approach. zones of strain softening (distributed micr~racking) which have a tinite size can be modeled. A differential approxi- mation of the averaging integrals for the non-lo4 continuum makes it possible to obtain exact analytical solutions for uniaxial softening in a hdr or for flexural softening in a beam. The ditforential equations of the problem along with the essential and natural boundary conditions and the con- ditions at the interface between the softening and non-softening regions are derived by a variational pro&me based on the principle of virtual work. The faiiure due to strain softening is analyzed as a stability problem. In contrapt to the blunt crack band mod& the si7e of the strain-softening region is treated as an unknown to be solved by stability anal>&. Numerical results show that the size of the strain-softening region is approximately constant. and so is the energy dissipated due to failure. Ductility diagrams. giving the strain :H failure as a function of beam sire and support stitfncss are also crtlculntrd and are found to bc quite similar to those ohlained previously by local analysis with an assumed six of.the snftcning r&n. These conciusion~ lend further support to the use of a blunt crack hand tnodcl for localircd cracking.
Dynamic characteristics and horizontal transports of internal solitons generated at the Columbia River plume front

Abstract River plume front-generated internal solitons play an important role in the interaction between the plume and coastal waters. The internal solitons drive a non-harmonic velocity field, resulting in a horizontal transport that carries plume water seaward and redistributes nutrients and sediments. In this study, we present observations of internal solitons generated at the Columbia River plume front that separates the new, tidal plume, older plume and coastal waters. Scale analyses suggest that the plume front-generated internal solitons are highly non-linear waves, and their dynamic properties do not conform to any weakly non-linear theory. Thus, a high-order Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) theory is used to analyze the internal solitons. The comparison between theoretical values and cruise data shows that the high-order KdV model is much better than the weakly non-linear theories for prediction of the soliton dynamic parameters. Based on the model, we develop theoretical and numerical solutions of the soliton-induced upper layer horizontal transport and Lagrangian water parcel transport distance, which shows that the water particle drift, during the internal soliton passage, is as far as 1 km, and demonstrates the role of the internal solitons on the exchange between the plume and ambient coastal water. Energy fluxes caused by the internal solitons are estimated using the high-order KdV theory. The leading soliton fluxes 2.0×10 3 W m −1 per unit crest length, and carries energy of 4.2×10 5 J m −1 . The total energy carried by the eight internal solitons is 1.6×10 6 J m −1 , about 70% of the total frontal energy.
Two Models of Deliberation: Oratory and Conversation in Ratifying the Constitution

In recent years, “deliberation” has become the byword of many political theorists, most of whom identify deliberation with reasoned conversation. Among the most forceful advocates of deliberation as conversation are Jurgen Habermas and, to a greater or lesser extent, his successors who style themselves “deliberative democrats.” For them, the more political decision-making approximates the ideal of a reasoned public conversation among free and equal individuals, the more legitimate and rational it will be. “Outcomes,” they say are democratically legitimate if and only if they could be the object of a free and reasoned agreement among equals. Their deliberative model produces more rational decision-making, they say, because it conveys information, impels individuals to order their preferences coherently, and by making persons articulate good reasons in public leads them “to think from the standpoint of all involved.”
A comparative study of radio frequency-based indoor location sensing systems

The growing popularity and use of the radio frequency (RF) in different applications, predominantly in the area of identification and location aware system, has driven many researchers. Versatile qualities, easy availability and simplicity of use have led a spate of development of different systems and technologies based on radio frequency identification (RFID). This paper is an attempt to survey the current research work and the commercially available indoor location aware systems using radio frequency. It compares the leading researches in this area and analyzes them on the four basic criteria.
Acceptance and Alignment, Misconception and Inexperience: Preservice Teachers, Representations of Students, and Media Culture

The author of this article examines student representations within the Dangerous Minds television series and further explores how preservice teachers perceive these representations. Applying a multiperspectival analysis, the author first looks at the political culture: the history behind the making of the Dangerous Minds television series. She then analyzes five specific episodes of the television series that embody the themes found within this formulaic narrative representation and the themes found within the complete television series: hero-teacher, teacher/student interactions, and angry and out-of-control adolescents. Finally, she inquires into preservice teachers' interpretations and wonderings of/about the Dangerous Minds television series. Specifically, this author explores how these media representations of students influence the perceptions preservice teachers have of their emergent teaching identity and of education to open up broader pedagogical discussions with regard to the ways media culture...
Formal analysis of a space-craft controller using SPIN

The paper documents an application of the finite state model checker SPIN to formally analyze a multithreaded plan execution module. The plan execution module is one component of NASA's New Millennium Remote Agent, an artificial intelligence-based spacecraft control system architecture which launched in October of 1998 as part of the DEEP SPACE 1 mission. The bottom layer of the plan execution module architecture is a domain specific language, named ESL (Executive Support Language), implemented as an extension to multithreaded COMMON LISP. ESL supports the construction of reactive control mechanisms for autonomous robots and spacecraft. For the case study, we translated the ESL services for managing interacting parallel goal-and-event driven processes into the PROMELA input language of SPIN. A total of five previously undiscovered concurrency errors were identified within the implementation of ESL. According to the Remote Agent programming team, the effort has had a major impact, locating errors that would not have been located otherwise and, in one case, identifying a major design flaw. In fact, in a different part of the system, a concurrency bug identical to one discovered by this study escaped testing and caused a deadlock during an in-flight experiment, 96 million kilometers from Earth. The work additionally motivated the introduction of procedural abstraction in terms of inline procedures into SPIN.
Changing Incident Diabetes Regimens A Veterans Administration cohort study from 2000 to 2005

Introduced in the mid-1950s, sulfonylureas have historically been the first line of treatment for type 2 diabetes (1). Metformin was introduced to the U.S. market in 1994 and has since experienced increasing market share (2). Metformin has many advantages over the sulfonylureas, including decreased weight gain and less risk of hypoglycemia (3). Despite some debate, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommended in 2006 that metformin be used as the first-line agent unless contraindicated (4). Whereas metformin use as a first-line agent was increasing before the ADA recommendations, no clear estimate of incident glycemic control regimens is available. A retrospective cohort of patients …
Influence of the Meridional Overturning Circulation on Tropical-Subtropical Pathways

Abstract An ocean GCM is used for idealized studies of the Atlantic circulation in a square basin. The subtropical, the tropical, and the equatorial gyres are produced by forcing the model with a wind stress profile having only latitudinal dependence. The goal is to understand the effect of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) on the Atlantic intergyre exchanges. The MOC is imposed by prescribing an inflow all along the southern boundary and an outflow at the northern boundary. The results indicate that the northward flow of the MOC has a crucial effect on the subtropical–tropical pathways. In this idealized configuration the North Atlantic wind field creates a basinwide potential vorticity barrier. Therefore, the water subducted in the North Atlantic has to flow to the western boundary before turning equatorward. This is shown by the trajectories of floats injected in a band of northern latitudes. The warm water return flow of the MOC inhibits this pathway and reduces the inflow of North Atlantic...
Transapical approach to myectomy for midventricular obstruction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Background Midventricular obstruction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is less common than subaortic obstruction, and there are few data on outcomes after surgical treatment. Methods We reviewed 56 consecutive patients (28 men) with HCM and midventricular obstruction who underwent myectomy between February 1997 and June 2012. Five patients had prior myectomy for subaortic obstruction. Mean age was 42 ± 17 years. Preoperatively, 51% of patients had dyspnea, and the remaining had palpitations (25%), angina (5%), or syncope (9%). Results Midventricular obstruction was relieved by means of a transaortic myectomy in 5 patients, a transapical approach in 32 patients, and combined transaortic and transapical incisions in 19 patients. In 13 patients, an apical aneurysm or pouch was repaired at the time of midventricular myectomy. There were no early deaths. Intraoperative intraventricular gradients were reduced from 64 ± 32 mm Hg before myectomy to 6 ± 12 mm Hg postoperatively ( p ≤ 0.0001). Early complications included atrial arrhythmias in 5 patients and reoperation for bleeding in 4 patients. Fifty patients had follow-up beyond 30 days (median, 1.6 years; range, 33 days to 13 years). Survival at 1 and 5 years was 100% and 95%, and average New York Heart Association class improved from 2.9 ± 0.7 preoperatively to 1.3 ± 0.6 postoperatively ( p = 0.0001). There were no aneurysms related to the apical incision; 2 patients had late reoperation, 1 for resection of right atrial mass to prevent embolus. Conclusions A transapical approach allows excellent exposure for midventricular myectomy and relief of intraventricular gradients and related symptoms. There were no complications unique to the apical incision, and 5-year survival was similar to expected survival (95% versus 97%).
Evaluation of the Abbott TDx for Determination of Phenobarbital in Forensic Blood Specimens

The Abbott TDx was evaluated for determination of phenobarbital (PB) levels in postmortem (PM) blood. Because hemolysis does not interfere with fluorescence polarization assays, the TDx could be a fast, efficient alternative to gas chromatography (GC). The linearity and precision of the TDx assay were evaluated using postmortem blood that was spiked with phenobarbital and serially diluted. The relationship between nominal and measured values was linear for phenobarbital concentrations up to 150 mg/L (r = 0.999) in two separate postmortem bloods. Precision was excellent with run-to-run coefficients of variation of 10% or less. The TDx results for phenobarbital in spiked PM blood were compared to those determined by GC. An excellent correlation (r = 0.999) between the TDx results and GC results was achieved. PM blood specimens from ten forensic cases were assayed for PB by GC and compared with PB results from the TDx. Comparison of these results also showed good correlation (r = 0.959). These data indicate that the Abbott TDx can be used reliably in the estimation of PB levels in postmortem whole blood samples.
Occupancy Modeling of Woodpeckers: Maximizing Detections for Multiple Species With Multiple Spatial Scales

Abstract Numerous forest birds benefit from woodpecker presence or have similar habitat requirements. Monitoring populations of forest woodpeckers can be useful for management decisions regarding these and other forest species. Usefulness of monitoring efforts depends on methods used and the quality of resulting parameter estimates. Estimating the proportion of area occupied by a species can be an attractive and affordable alternative to abundance or survival estimates. The purpose of this study was to assess the distribution and area of occupancy for pileated woodpeckers (Drycopus pileatus) and American three-toed woodpeckers (Picoides dorsalis) in north-central Idaho, and to compare occupancy estimates using silent point counts, playback surveys, and playback surveys that incorporated estimates of detection probability (p). We used a hierarchical multiscale framework that allowed estimation of occupancy at two spatial scales and applied a removal design such that repeat visits to sampling stations was n...
Difference in the response of neu and ras oncogene-induced rat mammary carcinomas to early and late ovariectomy.

Abstract Rat mammary carcinomas were induced by directly inserting activated neu or ras genes into in situ rat mammary ductal cells using replication-defective retroviral vectors. neu was over 200 times more potent than ras in inducing rat mammary carcinomas. Ovariectomy 2 days postinfection dramatically reduced the occurrence of carcinomas induced by neu and extended their latency. In general, early ovariectomy had much less effect on the occurrence of carcinomas induced by ras and had no significant effect on their latency. Carcinomas induced by neu in ovariectomized rats had down-regulated estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor, while those induced by ras had only down-regulated progesterone receptor. Fully progressed mammary carcinomas in intact rats induced by both neu and ras had a similar response to ovariectomy, with an approximate regression rate of 60%. These data suggest that the activation of ras , but not neu , can replace at least some functions performed by ovarian hormones in the early phases of mammary carcinogenesis. These data also suggest a role for antiestrogen drug therapy in the prevention of neu -associated breast cancer.
Digoxin: The Monarch of Cardiac Toxicities

The cardiac steroids (or glycosides) are a heterogeneous group of compounds that have been well recognized for both their clinical benefit and inherent toxicity. This review will primarily focus on digoxin because of its widespread clinical use, although the other cardiac steroids will be discussed in less detail. The cardiac steroids have a narrow therapeutic index and remain a significant source of toxicity, with nearly 5000 human exposures reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers in 2002. Digoxin reversibly binds to the α subunit of the Na+-K+ATPase pump and completely inhibits its enzymatic and transport functions. The cumulative effect on cardiac tissue is dependent on the number of Na+-K+ATPase pump sites that are occupied by cardiac steroid molecules. It is important to recall the pharmacokinetics of digoxin in that serum digoxin levels drawn prior to tissue distribution (<6 hours) do not accurately reflect acute toxicity. Signs and symptoms of toxicity vary between acute and ...
Impact of "sick" and "recovery" roles on brain injury rehabilitation outcomes.

This study utilizes a multivariate, correlational, expost facto research design to examine Parsons' “sick role” as a dynamic, time-sensitive process of “sick role” and “recovery role” and the impact of this process on goal attainment (H1) and psychosocial distress (H2) of adult survivors of acquired brain injury. Measures used include the Brief Symptom Inventory-18, a Goal Attainment Scale, and an original instrument to measure sick role process. 60 survivors of ABI enrolled in community reentry rehabilitation participated. Stepwise regression analyses did not fully support the multivariate hypotheses. Two models emerged from the stepwise analyses. Goal attainment, gender, and postrehab responsibilities accounted for 40% of the shared variance of psychosocial distress. Anxiety and depression accounted for 22% of the shared variance of goal attainment with anxiety contributing to the majority of the explained variance. Bivariate analysis found sick role variables, anxiety, somatization, depression, gender, and goal attainment as significant. The study has implications for ABI rehabilitation in placing greater emphasis on sick role processes, anxiety, gender, and goal attainment in guiding program planning and future research with survivors of ABI.
Habitat shifts and parasite loads of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens)

Responding to degradation in their original coastal habitat, increasing numbers of lesser snow geese are rearing their broods farther inland. Goslings collected in this inland, fresh water habitat have substantially lower loads of two species of caecal nematodes than do goslings collected in coastal, salt marsh habitat. This likely reflects differences between the habitats in the levels of infective stages of the parasites that are ingested by goslings during their summer foraging. In the spring, several million northward migrating adult lesser snow geese use the coast of Hudson Bay for staging and feeding rather than using more inland habitat because the latter is usually still snow- and icebound. The spring migrants leave behind copious amounts of feces in the coastal marshes that contain the eggs and larvae of the nematodes. By contrast, the inland habitat receives little fecal deposition until mid-summer and then only by the much smaller resident population of nesting lesser snow geese. There is some evidence that the infectious stages of these parasites survive the winter, but multi-year accumulations would only tend to amplify habitat differences in infective loads related to the spring deposition by migrants. The role of migrants in transmitting these nematodes highlights the important point that local host-parasite dynamics must be considered from a broader spatial scale.
Swarm Verification

Reportedly, supercomputer designer Seymour Cray once said that he would sooner use two strong oxen to plow afield than a thousand chickens. Although this is undoubtedly wise when it comes to plowing afield, it is not so clear for other types of tasks. Model checking problems are of the proverbial "search the needle in a haystack" type. Such problems can often be parallelized easily. Alas, none of the usual divide and conquer methods can be used to parallelize the working of a model checker. Given that it has become easier than ever to gain access to large numbers of computers to perform even routine tasks it is becoming more and more attractive to find alternate ways to use these resources to speed up model checking tasks. This paper describes one such method, called swarm verification.
Childhood sexual histories of women with somatization disorder.

The author interviewed 60 women with somatization disorder and 31 women with primary affective disorders who were matched for race, age at interview, and level of education to obtain their childhood sexual development histories. The two groups of women reported similar sexual experiences at similar ages, except that significantly more women with somatization disorder had been molested as children. Language: en
Men's Evaluation of Women's Speech in a Simulated Dating Context: Effects of Female Fertility on Vocal Pitch and Attractiveness

In a simulated speed dating context, 36 women were audio recorded as they verbally responded to an attractive male voice heard with its fundamental frequency (f0) electronically raised or lowered. Women’s responses, recorded during highand low-fertility phases of their menstrual cycles, were analyzed acoustically and evaluated for their attractiveness by 50 male listeners. As hypothesized, fertility increased ratings of attractiveness. Against our prediction, however, it lowered f0, and the raised and lowered male voice exerted no effect on women’s f0 or attractiveness ratings in either fertility phase. Results are discussed in relation to cycle-related changes in women’s mating preferences and behavior, context-induced changes in speech, and subtlety in potentially dual sexual strategies.
Teratoma of the tongue in a newborn.

A large teratoma of the tongue was removed from an infant 32 hours after birth. Microscopically the tumor contained elements of all three germ layers, with immature neural tissue predominating. There was no histologic evidence of malignancy. Serum markers, initially elevated, are negative two years later. Only four teratomas of the tongue that were present at birth have been reported, which we review here. No malignant teratomas of the tongue in the newborn have been reported; prognosis of teratoma of the tongue in the newborn is unknown.
Production and trapping of cold circular Rydberg atoms

Cold circular Rydberg atoms are produced and magnetically trapped. The trap is characterized by direct spatial imaging of ion distributions, ion counting, and state-selective field ionization. At room temperature, we observe about 70% of the trapped atoms remaining after 6 ms. We measure a trap oscillation frequency increase of the circular Rydberg atom trap relative to the ground-state atom trap due to the larger magnetic moment of the circular Rydberg atoms. Simulations of the center-of-mass and internal-state evolution of circular states in our magnetic trap are performed and results are in good agreement with experimental observations.