cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Constraints on the Control Benefits of Brokerage: A Study of Placement Agents in U.S. Venture Capital Fundraising

This paper theorizes about constraints on brokers' control benefits. I propose that brokers prefer to represent high-quality actors and that the value an actor places on representation is inversely related to the actor's perceived quality. But matching of more reputable brokers with higher-quality actors should mitigate these quality constraints. Empirical analyses of 1,028 venture capital funds raised by 745 firms from 2001 to 2006 support the theory. The likelihood that a firm's venture fund is represented by a placement agent first increases and then decreases with firm quality, measured as size, experience, and status. Neither those that value representation most (i.e., funds of low perceived quality) nor those that placement agents would most like to represent (i.e., funds of high perceived quality) are most likely to be represented by a placement agent. Results also show that more reputable placement agents represent funds raised by higher-quality firms, which indicates that a broker's reputation mi...
All-optical ultrasound transducer

Recent advances in fabrication techniques have accelerated development of optical generation and detection of ultrasound, a promising technology to construct high-frequency arrays for high resolution ultrasound imaging. A two-dimensional (2-D) gold nanostructure has been fabricated to optically generate high frequency ultrasound. The structure consists of 2-D arrangements of gold nanoparticles, sandwiched between a transparent substrate and a 4.5 mm thick PDMS layer. A pulsed laser beam is focused onto the optically absorbing gold nanostructure, and consequently, a localized volume is heated, and thermal expansion launches an acoustic wave into the overlying layer. The high optical extinction ratio of the gold nanostructure provides a convenient method to construct an integrated transmit/receive optoacoustic array. A thin polymer Fabry-Perot etalon is used for optoacoustic detection. The etalon is an active optical resonator, where the relatively low elasticity of the polymer and the high quality factor of the resonator combine to provide high ultrasound sensitivity. An integrated device combining the gold nanostructure and the etalon has been fabricated. Preliminary results demonstrate its promise as an all-optical ultrasound transducer.
Geometric effects on resistivity measurements with four-electrode probes in isotropic and anisotropic tissues

We studied via computer simulation the effects of electrode diameter, electrode length, interelectrode spacing, and tissue size on the accuracy of measured tissue resistivities and anisotropy ratios obtained with the widely used four-electrode technique. Such measurements commonly assume an ideal situation in which the four electrodes are infinitesimally small and the tissue is semi-infinite. Our study shows that these geometric factors can significantly affect measured resistivities, particularly for anisotropic tissues. The measured anisotropy ratio is decreased by either (1) increasing the electrode diameter or length relative to the interelectrode spacing of the probe or (2) decreasing tissue size. We have provided an equation for estimating errors in the measured anisotropy ratio from the parameters of electrode and tissue geometries. The simulation findings are supported by our in vitro experimental results.
Determinants of healthcare spending: a state level analysis

Within the high and rising level of healthcare spending for the US as a whole is substantial variation in spending across states. Yet relatively little attention has been given to the empirical analysis of interstate differences in aggregate healthcare expenditures, and therefore little empirical evidence exists at the state level to guide policymakers. Using data for all 50 states for the year 1998, we estimate an empirical model that includes structural and reduced-form healthcare spending equations and a health production function to assess the significance, size and relative importance of factors that prior research indicates, may play an important role in explaining interstate variation in medical care expenditures, and the main pathways through which they operate. Our results indicate higher levels of healthcare spending for state populations with higher income, less education, fewer uninsured residents, less healthy lifestyles, larger proportion of elderly residents, greater availability of medical...
Controversy surrounding the safety of cerivastatin

The noted myotoxicity and subsequent withdrawal of cerivastatin from the worldwide market in August 2001 has demonstrated that the safety of statins is not a class effect. The total rhabdomyolysis rate for cerivastatin was 16 - 80 times more frequent than with other statins without providing additional efficacy. Cerivastatin has a pharmacokinetic profile (high potency, bioavailability, lipophilicity and renal excretion) that is different from other statins, which may explain the high myotoxicity rate. The cerivastatin experience has also provided insights into high-risk populations (i.e., the elderly, women, those with renal impairment, co-administration of interacting drugs) that are more prone to statin-induced myopathy. Ultimately, the lessons learned from this experience may significantly improve the safety of statin use in the future.
Finite elements in fluids: Stabilized formulations and moving boundaries and interfaces

Abstract We provide an overview of the finite element methods we developed for fluid dynamics problems. We focus on stabilized formulations and moving boundaries and interfaces. The stabilized formulations are the streamline-upwind/Petrov–Galerkin (SUPG) formulations for compressible and incompressible flows and the pressure-stabilizing/Petrov–Galerkin (PSPG) formulation for incompressible flows. These are supplemented with the discontinuity-capturing directional dissipation (DCDD) for incompressible flows and the shock-capturing terms for compressible flows. Determination of the stabilization and shock-capturing parameters used in these formulations is highlighted. Moving boundaries and interfaces include free surfaces, two-fluid interfaces, fluid–object and fluid–structure interactions, and moving mechanical components. The methods developed for this class of problems can be classified into two main categories: interface-tracking and interface-capturing techniques. The interface-tracking techniques are based on the deforming-spatial-domain/stabilized space–time (DSD/SST) formulation, where the mesh moves to track the interface. The interface-capturing techniques were developed for two-fluid flows. They are based on the stabilized formulation, over typically non-moving meshes, of both the flow equations and an advection equation. The advection equation governs the time-evolution of an interface function marking the interface location. We also describe some of the additional methods and ideas we introduced to increase the scope and accuracy of these two classes of techniques. Among them is the enhanced-discretization interface-capturing technique (EDICT), which was developed to increase the accuracy in capturing the interface. Also among them is the mixed interface-tracking/interface-capturing technique (MITICT), which was introduced for problems that involve both interfaces that can be accurately tracked with a moving-mesh method and interfaces that call for an interface-capturing technique.
Facile CH Bond Formation by Reductive Elimination at a Dinuclear Metal Site

The electronically unsaturated dirhenium complex [Re2(CO)8(µ-AuPPh3)(µ-Ph)] (1) was obtained from the reaction of [Re2(CO)8{µ-η(2)-C(H)=C(H)nBu}(µ-H)] with [Au(PPh3)Ph]. The bridging {AuPPh3} group was replaced by a bridging hydrido ligand to yield the unsaturated dirhenium complex [Re2(CO)8(µ-H)(µ-Ph)] (2) by reaction of 1 with HSnPh3. Compound 2 reductively eliminates benzene upon addition of NCMe at 25 °C. The electronic structure of 2 and the mechanism of the reductive elimination of the benzene molecule in its reaction with NCMe were investigated by DFT computational analyses.
Property Taxes and Residential Rents

∗∗∗ Property taxes are a fundamental source of revenue for local governments, constituting 73% of local government tax revenue in the United States. In this article, we empirically investigate the impact of residential property taxes on residential rents. Using data from the American Housing Survey and the National League of Cities, we estimate numerous specifications of a hedonic rent equation with comprehensive unit-level, neighborhood-level and city-level controls. We find that a one standard deviation increase in the property tax rate raises residential rents by roughly $400 annually. Property taxes are a fundamental source of revenue for local governments, constituting 73% of local government tax revenue in the United States (United States Census Bureau 2006); an extensive literature examines their economic impacts. By extending and empirically testing the Tiebout (1956) model, much of this research investigates the extent to which property taxes and public services are capitalized into house prices and whether household mobility and local government competition can lead to an efficient provision of local public services. Dowding, John and Biggs (1994) and Zodrow (2001, 2006) provide excellent reviews of the literature and insights into the three views of property tax incidence: the traditional view, the capital tax view and the benefits view. Although the three views generate alternative predictions of who ultimately bears the economic incidence of the property tax, each view implies the possibility that property taxes may be capitalized into local house prices, residential rents and wages (Zodrow 2001). There is a large body of empirical research that examines the impact of property taxes in markets where the user of housing services and the property owner are one and the same: the owner-occupier. In particular, the extent of the capitalization of property taxes into house prices has been examined in numerous studies, and there is consensus that such capitalization occurs: if two communities have
Colluding injected attack in mobile ad-hoc networks

The growth of laptops, personal digital assistant (PDA) and 802.11/Wi-Fi wireless networking have made mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) and machine-to-machine (M2M) popular research topics recently. With more attention on M2M and MANETs lately, the security issues become more important and urgent for managing and deploying in such networks. The flexible deployment nature and the lack of fixed infrastructure make MANETs suffer from varieties of security attacks. In this paper, we show how an adversary can utilize a colluding attack in MANET by injecting malicious nodes in the network, while hiding their identities from other legitimate nodes. We will name this attack as the Colluding Injected Attack (CIA). These injected nodes will work together to generate a severe attack in the network, which aims to create a collision at an arbitrary node, which in turn will result in making the attacked node unable to receive or relay any packet. As a result this node could be wrongly reported as having a malicious behavior by any other node in the same neighborhood, or it might be reported as unreachable if it is a destination node. Our simulation results show that the existence of an adversary that launching the colluding injected attack (CIA) will mislead the decision of previous attack detection schemes.
Comparison of abdominal adiposity and overall obesity in predicting risk of type 2 diabetes among men

Background: Obesity is a strong risk factor for type 2 diabetes. However, few studies have compared the predictive power of overall obesity with that of central obesity. The cutoffs for waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) as measures of abdominal adiposity remain controversial. Objective: The objective was to compare body mass index (BMI), WC, and WHR in predicting type 2 diabetes. Design: A prospective cohort study (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) of 27 270 men was conducted. WC, WHR, and BMI were assessed at baseline. Covariates and potential confounders were assessed repeatedly during the follow-up. Results: During 13 y of follow-up, we documented 884 incident type 2 diabetes cases. Age-adjusted relative risks (RRs) across quintiles of WC were 1.0, 2.0, 2.7, 5.0, and 12.0; those of WHR were 1.0, 2.1, 2.7, 3.6, and 6.9; and those of BMI were 1.0, 1.1, 1.8, 2.9, and 7.9 (P for trend < 0.0001 for all). Multivariate adjustment for diabetes risk factors only slightly attenuated these RRs. Adjustment for BMI substantially attenuated RRs for both WC and WHR. The receiver operator characteristic curve analysis indicated that WC and BMI were similar and were better than WHR in predicting type 2 diabetes. The cumulative proportions of type 2 diabetes cases identified according to medians of BMI (greater than or equal to 24.8), WC (greater than or equal to 94 cm), and WHR (greater than or equal to 0.94) were 82.5%, 83.6%, and 74.1%, respectively. The corresponding proportions were 78.9%, 50.5%, and 65.7% according to the recommended cutoffs. Conclusions: Both overall and abdominal adiposity strongly and independently predict risk of type 2 diabetes. WC is a better predictor than is WHR. The currently recommended cutoff for WC of 102 cm for men may need to be reevaluated; a lower cutoff may be more appropriate.
MICROBEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS OF THE CHOICE REACTION TIME RESPONSE IN SENILE DEMENTIA

Microbehavioural analysis of the human button-press response in a choice reaction time task enabled us to observe the traditional components of reaction time performance and also several additional indicators of psychomotor organization. The principal finding reported here is that in normal subjects stimulus conditions of varying difficulty differentially affect segments of the button-press response not ordinarily associated with cognitive demands of the task. This observation suggested the presence of a certain interaction between cognitive demands of the task and the subsequent motor output control. In a comparison of normal elderly and demented subjects, we demonstrated that the slower reaction times of the demented represent a virtual psychomotor disintegration. The apparent disintegration is interpreted as an inability of demented subjects properly to prepare, organize, and execute the response. The degree of disintegration is most evident during the motor time, which represents a transition between resting state and actual response completion.
Real-time control of a manufacturing cell using knowledge-based simulation

The need for integrated simulation environments for modeling and analysis is advanced. A mathematical framework based on higher-level abstractions representing entities, attributes, constraints, and other components of manufacturing cells is presented. A manufacturing cell has been modeled to illustrate the framework and real-time control issues using knowledge-based simulation. A temporal knowledge base has been designed to synchronize the events and their times of occurrence in both the manufacturing cell and the simulation model. A dynamic knowledge base has been implemented using frame structures for storing the results of simulation. This feature provides a faster response to a control problem by reducing the number of resimulations conducted for evaluating various alternative policies in real time. The proposed real-time knowledge-based simulation system has been applied to a manufacturing cell connected to a variety of materials handling systems. >
A Pediatric Literacy Education Program for Low Socioeconomic, Culturally Diverse Families

Abstract The objective of this research project is to describe parent-child activities and literacy experiences of low-income families attending an urban pediatric clinic. These data were used to educate clinic pediatricians about the needs of their patients and to facilitate the implementation of a literacy education program. Two hundred twenty-four primary caregivers of children between the ages of 1 and 5 years who spoke Spanish or English participated in clinic interviews. These low-income, diverse families engaged in many everyday activities that could facilitate the language and literacy development of their children. Barriers to greater literacy orientation among families included lack of access to children's books and limited use of libraries. Families most at risk for low child literacy orientation were recent immigrants (primarily from Mexico) who spoke English as a second language and had not completed high school. The knowledge of everyday parent-child activities, barriers to literacy, and the...
Continuous flow infrared matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization with a solvent matrix

Continuous flow matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) was demonstrated with infrared laser desorption and an ethanol matrix. A capillary was used to deliver an analyte solution dissolved in ethanol to a metal frit embedded in a sample stage. Typical flow rates were 1.7mL/min. An optical parametric oscillator tuned to 2.8mm was used for desorption and ionization, and mass analysis was achieved with a 1 m linear time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Flow injection studies were performed with low picomolar quantities of insulin and myoglobin in solutions containing 0.1 to 1.0% glycerol in ethanol. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
High‐grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia is an independent predictor of outcome after radical prostatectomy

and > 12 months of follow-up were included in the analysis. Analysis of variance methods were used to evaluate the relationship between HGPIN and pathological stage, Gleason sum, perineural invasion, multifocality, extraprostatic extension, margin and nodal status. Kaplan-Meier analysis with the log-rank test and a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model fitted for preoperative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, Gleason sum and pathological stage were used to assess differences in bDFS. RESULTS
Attributions to God and Satan about life-altering events.

Shanna D. Ray, Jennifer D. Lockman, Emily J. Jones, and Melanie H. KellyOnline First Publication, September 22, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037884CITATIONRay, S. D., Lockman, J. D., Jones, E. J., & Kelly, M. H. (2014, September 22). Attributions toGod and Satan About Life-Altering Events. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Advanceonline publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037884
Magnetotransport in magnetic semiconductors and possible applications

Abstract This paper reviews magnetotransport properties of concentrated and diluted magnetic semiconductors, including rare earth chalcogenides, mixed valence manganite perovskites, and the magnetically doped III–V semiconductors. The dependence of resistivity on state of magnetization leads in several cases to greater than 12 orders of magnitude decreases in resistivity near the magnetic transition temperature. The concept of the magnetic polaron is introduced and offers a reasonable explanation for many of these effects. Limitations of these materials as magneto-resistive sensors will be discussed. Several novel device geometries based on non-magnetic semiconductors, which hold considerable promise for a wide variety of sensor applications will also be mentioned.
Oesophageal peristaltic transition zone defects: real but few and far between

This study analysed the association between oesophageal transition zone (TZ) defects [characterized by a delay and/or spatial gap between the terminus of the proximal oesophageal (striated muscle) contraction and the initiation of the distal oesophageal (smooth muscle) contraction] and dysphagia in a large patient cohort. Four hundred consecutive patients (178 with dysphagia) and 75 controls were studied with 36-channel high-resolution manometry (HRM). The resultant pressure topography plots were first analysed for impaired oesophagogastric junction (OGJ) relaxation, distal segment contractile abnormalities, and proximal contractile abnormalities using normal values from the 75 controls. If these aspects of oesophageal motility were deemed normal, the TZ was characterized by length and duration between the proximal and distal contractions using a 20 mmHg isobaric contour to establish the segment boundaries. Patients were then classified according to whether or not they exhibited TZ defects (spatial separation or delay) and the occurrence of unexplained dysphagia. Of the 400 patients, 267 were suitable for TZ analysis and of these 55 had a spatial or temporal TZ measurement exceeding the 95th percentile of the controls (2 cm, 1 s). Exactly 34.6% of the patients (n = 19) with spatial and/or temporal TZ defects had unexplained dysphagia, which was significantly more than seen with normal TZ dimensions (19.8%). Although far less common than distal peristaltic or OGJ abnormailites, TZ defects may be related to dysphagia in a minority of patients (<4% in this series) and should be considered a distinct oesophageal motility disorder.
An accurate 3D hybrid model for electromagnetic wave propagation in indoor wireless channels

A hybrid method to study the problem of wave propagation and scattering in an indoor environment in the presence of inhomogeneous periodic walls is proposed. The method makes it possible to accurately study the effects of inhomogeneous walls in a 3D environment and was validated withh both theory and measurement. Contrary to full-wave analysis, it is capable of handling large 3D structures.
Authoritarianism, Knowledge of AIDS, and Affect Toward Persons with AIDS: Implications for Health Education1

Four hundred sixteen undergraduate university students were asked to indicate their knowledge of AIDS and affect toward persons with AIDS and to take the California F-scale (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950, 1982). Results indicated a significant relationship between authoritarianism and affect toward persons with AIDS, r= .31 (p < .01). Knowledge of AIDS was very slightly related to affect toward persons with AIDS, but it did not moderate the relationship between authoritarianism and affect toward persons with AIDS. The findings are interpreted as having possible implications for health education.
Holograms in motion. I. Effect of fluid motion on volume holograms

The effect of flow motion on a volume hologram written in a fluid medium is studied. The hologram is written in a sensitized fluid by either thermal absorption or the photochromic effect or by other mechanisms. After being written, the hologram is deformed because of the motion of the supporting fluid. The effect of several representative fluid motions on the hologram deformation, i.e., a plane shear flow and a symmetric plane jet, is found by solving the associated convection-diffusion equation. The effect of diffusion on the fading of the hologram is also studied for several diffusion rates corresponding to different hologram-writing mechanisms. The result of the calculation is the determination of the new shape and intensity of the hologram as functions of time. The analysis is carried out entirely in the Fourier domain, where the convection–diffusion equation is solved more easily. The output is therefore given in terms of spatial Fourier components that represent the deformed and convected hologram. The use of volume holograms for the determination of velocity gradients corresponding to small-scale fluid motion is discussed. In this paper we describe the deformation process that the hologram undertakes under the effect of fluid motion. In part II of this series [ J. Opt. Soc. Am. A5, 1297 ( 1988)] we describe a method for predicting the diffracting characteristics of strained holograms. That method directly incorporates the results presented here.
A Numerical Study of Currents, Heat Advection, and Sea-Level Fluctuations in the Yellow Sea in Winter 1986

Abstract A vertically integrated model that incorporates horizontal temperature variations is used to study the circulation of the Yellow Sea in a wintertime period for which velocity and temperature measurements are available at several moorings locations along a central trough. The model features realistic bottom topography and is forced with wind stress and heat flux fields from 13 January to 22 February 1986. The model also incorporates, as a boundary condition, sea-level fluctuations derived from coastal and insular tide gauge stations along model boundaries in open waters. The model reproduces well sea level fluctuations along the coasts of both China and Korea. The hindcast velocity time series, particularly for the north–south component, track those obtained from direct measurements at the moorings. The model momentum balance indicates that the northward flow in the trough is driven by a sea level setup to the south in response to northerly wind bursts in the winter monsoon. The sea-level fluctuat...
Modeling patterns of activities using activity curves

Pervasive computing offers an unprecedented opportunity to unobtrusively monitor behavior and use the large amount of collected data to perform analysis of activity-based behavioral patterns. In this paper, we introduce the notion of an activity curve, which represents an abstraction of an individual's normal daily routine based on automatically-recognized activities. We propose methods to detect changes in behavioral routines by comparing activity curves and use these changes to analyze the possibility of changes in cognitive or physical health. We demonstrate our model and evaluate our change detection approach using a longitudinal smart home sensor dataset collected from 18 smart homes with older adult residents. Finally, we demonstrate how big data-based pervasive analytics such as activity curve-based change detection can be used to perform functional health assessment. Our evaluation indicates that correlations do exist between behavior and health changes and that these changes can be automatically detected using smart homes, machine learning, and big data-based pervasive analytics.
The Tight-Binding and the Nearly-Free-Electron Approach to Lattice Electrons in External Magnetic Fields

The energy structure for lattice electrons in an external magnetic field is treated by extension of either the tight-binding or the nearly-free-electron method. The secular problems resulting from both methods are identical, if the coupling integrals and the real lattice characterizing the tight-binding method are interchanged with the Fourier integrals and the orbit lattice characterizing the nearly-free-electron method. A Bloch-type transformation reducing these essentially two-dimensional secular problems to one dimension is performed, following the procedure introduced in a preceding paper. For rational fluxes $\frac{2\ensuremath{\pi}N}{M}$ per lattice cell, an even finite secular determinant is left, yielding a splitting of each zero-field band into $M$ subbands. Total agreement between the level structures resulting from the two approaches is found. The relation of these structures to the de Haas-van Alphen periods in the case of magnetic breakdown is discussed.
Inhibition of CD18 or CD11b attenuates acute lung injury after acid instillation in rabbits

Folkesson, Hans G., and Michael A. Matthay. Inhibition of CD18 or CD11b attenuates acute lung injury after acid instillation in rabbits. J. Appl. Physiol. 82(6): 1743–1750, 1997.—Acid-induced lung ...
Evaluating the Impact of Road Grade on Simulated Commercial Vehicle Fuel Economy Using Real-World Drive Cycles

Commercial vehicle fuel economy is known to vary significantly with both positive and negative road grade. Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles operating at highway speeds require incrementally larger amounts of energy to pull heavy payloads up inclines as road grade increases. Non-hybrid vehicles are then unable to recapture energy on descent and lose energy through friction braking. While the on-road effects of road grade are well understood, the majority of standard commercial vehicle drive cycles feature no climb or descent requirements. Additionally, existing literature offers a limited number of sources that attempt to estimate the on-road energy implications of road grade in the medium- and heavy-duty space. This study uses real-world commercial vehicle drive cycles from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Fleet DNA database to simulate the effects of road grade on fuel economy across a range of vocations, operating conditions, and locations. Drive-cycles are matched with vocation-specific vehicle models and simulated with and without grade. Fuel use due to grade is presented, and variation in fuel consumption due to drive cycle and vehicle characteristics is explored through graphical and statistical comparison. The results of this study suggest that road grade accounts for 1%-9% of fuel use in commercial vehicles onmore » average and up to 40% on select routes.« less
Castor ( Ricinus communis L.)

The castor plant has been cultivated for thousands of years, providing a useful source of medicine, lamp fuel, and lubricant long before petroleum came into wide use. The oil content of castor seed ranges from 45% to 60%, with most cultivars closer to 50% oil content. The presence of the hydroxy fatty acid ricinoleate [(9Z, 12R)-12-hydroxyoctadec-9-enoate] in the oil at a level of 90% imparts unique physical and chemical properties that give the oil value as a chemical feedstock. This midchain hydroxy group results in hydrogen bonding among the triacylglycerols that carry the 2 or 3 ricinoleoyl chains. The intermolecular interaction results in viscosity that is significantly greater than that of other commodity seed oils, providing superior properties for use in lubricants and greases. The susceptibility of the hydroxyl group to substitution or elimination provides a wide range of derivatives. The chemical interaction of the hydroxy group separated by one methylene from a carbon–carbon double bond supports several cleavage reactions that provide a collection of industrially useful chemicals. Products derived from castor oil have been in use for centuries, long before “biobased” was a buzzword or requirement for meeting sustainable product regulations.
Design of the Exercise in Plato’s Parmenides

In Part I of Parmenides, Socrates introduces a Theory of Forms to explain opposites compresent in ordinary things, and claims that Forms cannot have opposite features. In Part II, Parmenides relies on Socrates’ claim and derives unacceptable consequences—that the Form of Oneness does not exist, and if that is so, then nothing exists: a clearly false conclusion. To avoid it, Socrates must give up his thesis in Part I and find a way to preserve the explanatory role of Forms. This paper aims to articulate the structure of the exercise in Part II.
Managing Helicobacter pylori in college health, with special considerations for international students

ABSTRACTObjective: Helicobacter pylori infection is the major cause of dyspepsia, peptic ulcer disease, and gastric cancer. This paper will make specific recommendations for a diagnostic and treatment strategy tailored to the international student population. Participants/Methods: This paper is a case report and narrative review based on recent international epidemiologic studies and consensus conference recommendations identified in MEDLINE. Results: In the nations (mostly Asian) that send the largest number of students to the United States, the prevalence of H. pylori is generally 60% to 80%, whereas the prevalence in the United States is about 25%. The patterns of antibiotic resistance in those countries are also different than that in the general US population. Conclusions: Health care providers should have a higher index of suspicion for Helicobacter infection among international students with dyspepsia and need to use a different treatment regimen than is standard for the general US population.
Numerical Simulation of Surface Hardness Based on GA and RBF Neural Network in Point Grinding Engineering Ceramic

Inpoint grinding engineering ceramic,the relationship between surface hardness HV and cutting speed vc,feed speedf,cutting depth ap,inclining angleαanddeflecting angle β were univariate numerical fitting based on RBF neural network. Andfitting resultsare tested by the coefficient of determination,test results showthat the model has high credibility. Amultivariate modelissolvedbetween surface hardness with fiveprocess parametersbased on genetic optimization algorithmin point grinding. The orthogonal experiment was designed to test the model,the maximum error is less than 10%. The results indicated that the model has high reliability.
MR IMAGING OF IMPINGEMENT AND ROTATOR CUFF DISORDERS: A Surgical Perspective

SUMMARY The impingement syndrome and rotator cuff disorders present as diverse and overlapping complaints. The clinical examination can often lead to the correct diagnosis, but in many instances additional diagnostic studies are helpful. In the later 1990s MR imaging has contributed to the diagnosis and treatment of these patients. It clearly has a role in the nonoperative, preoperative, and postoperative evaluation of selected patients. Obviously, it is not ind icated for every case, but in those in which it is indicated, it has a proven clinical relevance. Surgical treatments have become less invasive, with resultant decreased morbidity and recovery time, coupled with improved results. The orthopaedic surgeon and the MR radiologist must work closely together to expand the role of MR imaging.
TU-H-CAMPUS-IeP3-02: Neurovascular 4D Parametric Imaging Using Co-Registration of Biplane DSA Sequences with 3D Vascular Geometry Obtained From Cone Beam CT

Purpose: To create 4D parametric images using biplane Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) sequences co-registered with the 3D vascular geometry obtained from Cone Beam-CT (CBCT). Methods: We investigated a method to derive multiple 4D Parametric Imaging (PI) maps using only one CBCT acquisition. During this procedure a 3D-DSA geometry is stored and used subsequently for all 4D images. Each time a biplane DSA is acquired, we calculate 2D parametric maps of Bolus Arrival Time (BAT), Mean Transit Time (MTT) and Time to Peak (TTP). Arterial segments which are nearly parallel with one of the biplane imaging planes in the 2D parametric maps are co-registered with the 3D geometry. The values in the remaining vascular network are found using spline interpolation since the points chosen for co-registration on the vasculature are discrete and remaining regions need to be interpolated. To evaluate the method we used a patient CT volume data set for 3D printing a neurovascular phantom containing a complete Circle of Willis. We connected the phantom to a flow loop with a peristaltic pump, simulating physiological flow conditions. Contrast media was injected with an automatic injector at 10 ml/sec. Images were acquired with a Toshiba Infinix C-arm and 4D parametric image maps of the vasculature were calculated. Results: 4D BAT, MTT, and TTP parametric image maps of the Circle of Willis were derived. We generated color-coded 3D geometries which avoided artifacts due to vessel overlap or foreshortening in the projection direction. Conclusion: The software was tested successfully and multiple 4D parametric images were obtained from biplane DSA sequences without the need to acquire additional 3D-DSA runs. This can benefit the patient by reducing the contrast media and the radiation dose normally associated with these procedures. Partial support from NIH Grant R01-EB002873 and Toshiba Medical Systems Corp.
POSTER: Pagoda: A Runtime System to Maximize GPU Utilization in Data Parallel Tasks with Limited Parallelism

Massively multithreaded GPUs achieve high throughput by running thousands of threads in parallel. To fully utilize the hardware, contemporary workloads spawn work to the GPU in bulk by launching large tasks, where each task is a kernel that contains thousands of threads that occupy the entire GPU.GPUs face severe underutilization and their performance benefits vanish if the tasks are narrow, i.e., they contain less than 512 threads. Latency-sensitive applications in network, signal, and image processing that generate a large number of tasks with relatively small inputs are examples of such limited parallelism. Recognizing the issue, CUDA now allows 32 simultaneous tasks on GPUs; however, that still leaves significant room for underutilization.This paper presents Pagoda, a runtime system that virtualizes GPU resources, using an OS-like daemon kernel called MasterKernel. Tasks are spawned from the CPU onto Pagoda as they become available, and are scheduled by the MasterKernel at the warp granularity. This level of control enables the GPU to keep scheduling and executing tasks as long as free warps are found, dramatically reducing underutilization. Experimental results on real hardware demonstrate that Pagoda achieves a geometric mean speedup of 2.44x over PThreads running on a 20-core CPU, 1.43x over CUDA-HyperQ, and 1.33x over GeMTC, the state-of-the-art runtime GPU task scheduling system.
Conclusion: How Far Can CEDAW Reach? Lessons for a Better Understanding of Norm Translation

In this book, I have asked how far the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) can reach. The detailed answer to this question is exposed in the preceding eight chapters; in this final reflection, I want to bundle the most important findings and reflect on the contribution of my work to the broader debate on the power and influence of norms. Finally, I propose a few areas for further research.
From Fractals and Probability to Lévy Processes and Stochastic PDEs

We present a few choice examples that showcase how the topics in the title are deeply interconnected. Although this is mainly a survey article, it is almost entirely self-contained with complete, albeit somewhat stylized, proofs.
Kallistatin Inhibits Endothelial Cell Proliferation, Migration and Adhesion in Vitro and Angiogenesis in the Ischemic Hindlimb of Rats

P76 Kallistatin is a serine proteinase inhibitor (serpin) which has multifunctions including regulation of tissue kallikrein activity, blood pressure, inflammation and neointima hyperplasia. In this study, we investigated the potential role of kallistatin in vascular biology by studying its effects on the proliferation, migration and adhesion of cultured primary human endothelial cells in vitro, and angiogenesis in the ischemic hindlimb of rats. Purified kallistatin significantly inhibits cultured endothelial cell proliferation, migration and adhesion induced by VEGF or bFGF. To further investigate the role of kallistatin in vascular growth in vivo, we prepared adenovirus carrying the human kallistatin gene under the control of the cytomegalovirus promoter/enhancer (Ad.CMV-cHKBP). Expression of recombinant human kallistatin in HEK 293 cells transfected with Ad.CMV-cHKBP was identified by a specific ELISA. The effect of adenovirus-mediated kallistatin gene delivery on angiogenesis was evaluated in a rat model of hindlimb ischemia. Adenovirus carrying the human kallistatin or green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene were injected locally into the ischemic adductor at the time of surgery. Histological and morphometric analysis at 14 days post injection showed that adenovirus-mediated kallistatin gene delivery significantly reduced capillary density in the ischemic muscle as compared to that of control rats injected with GFP. The anti-angiogenic effect of kallistatin was associated with reduced regional blood flow in the ischemic hindlimb measured by microsphere assays. Expression of human kallistatin was identified in the injected muscle and immunoreactive human kallistatin levels were measured in the muscle and in the circulation of rats following kallistatin gene delivery. These results demonstrate a novel role of kallistatin in the inhibition of angiogenesis and in vascular remodeling.
Zolpidem prescribing practices before and after Food and Drug Administration required product labeling changes.

Background:Women have higher morning serum zolpidem concentrations than men after taking an evening dose, potentially leading to increased risk of harm. On 19 April 2013, the United States Food and...
Hamilton's Electronics Services, Inc

David Hamilton has opened Hamilton's Electronics Services, Inc. During the first year, he was too busy to keep much in the way of accounting records. Early in January of the following year, he hired a local CPA to reconstruct, in summary form, all the transactions that had occurred in his business during the previous year. Excerpt UVA-C-2380 Sept. 19, 2016 Hamilton's Electronics Services, Inc. David Hamilton had worked as the senior technician at a large electronics sales and service company for more than 15 years. One day in early December, as he was driving to work, he came to the realization that he was tired of working for a big company. In fact, he decided that what he really wanted was to be self-employed. Knowing that if he gave himself time to think about all the risks and frustrations of starting a business, he would likely change his mind, he wasted no time in getting to work. Upon arriving at work, he handed in his resignation that would become effective in two weeks. About one month later, Hamilton announced the opening of Hamilton's Electronics Services, Inc. (Hamilton's), an electronics repair company servicing all makes and models of electronic equipment. Throughout that first year, Hamilton was extremely busy and never seemed to have the time to keep much in the way of accounting records. Early in January of the following year, Hamilton hired Janet Lucas, a local CPA, and asked her to reconstruct, in summary form, all the transactions that had occurred in his business during its first year of operations. Hamilton provided Lucas with four boxes full of invoices, bank statements, and a large quantity of miscellaneous business-related information. He hoped that she would eventually be able to provide him with an income statement for his first year of operations and a balance sheet at the end of that year. Lucas was somewhat skeptical regarding the outcome of her new engagement, and so she decided to spend the following weekend working on it. To her surprise, it appeared that the boxes contained everything she needed to complete a summary analysis of transactions, to transfer all the data into individual accounts, and to prepare an income statement and a balance sheet. . . .
Capturing Decisions and Rationale from Collaborative Design

Design is, at its heart, a decision-making process. The decisions, alternative ap-proaches considered, and the reasons behind the final choices are known as the Design Rationale (DR). The DR is usually not explicitly captured, at least not in an easily retrievable form. One way to reduce the effort in capturing rationale is to obtain the DR from unstructured documents and import it into a Rationale Man-agement System (RMS) that supports incremental formalization. In this paper, we describe how this capability has been added to the ORCA system and how it is used to import rationale from existing design information sources.
Ionizing radiation-induced senescence of breast tumor cells is dependent on p53 and associated with telomere dysfunction.

2412 p53 wild-type MCF-7 breast tumor cells arrested by exposure to 10 Gy of ionizing radiation strongly express β-galactosidase, a marker of cellular senescence. Radiation fails to suppress expression of either the catalytic (hTERT) or RNA (hTR) subunits of telomerase, or to alter telomerase activity. Senescence arrest after irradiation is also observed in MCF-7/hTERT cells, which have elongated telomeres due to the ectopic expression of hTERT. No telomere shortening is detected in either MCF-7 or MCF-7/hTERT cells by the terminal restriction fragment assay, consistent with a telomere length independent mechanism of senescence. However, both of these isogenic cell lines demonstrate a significantly increased frequency of chromosomal abnormalities after exposure to ionizing radiation, with end fusions being the most prevalent cytogenetic aberration. We propose that these chromosome end-associated abnormalities induced by irradiation are critical elements leading to the onset of accelerated senescence. Fluorescence in-situ hybridization using a telomere-specific probe was performed with irradiated MCF-7/hTERT cells to evaluate the involvement of the telomere in the observed chromosomal aberrations. Telomeric signals were detected at the junction site of chromosomes involved in end fusions; however, the majority (84%) of the end fusions lacked a telomeric signal. These data suggest that deprotection of the telomere may allow for chromosome fusions; however, in most cases, the end fusions are likely due to telomeric or subtelomeric breaks, allowing for the fusion of chromosome ends. In contrast to parental and hTERT infected MCF-7 cells, p53 mutant MDA-MB-231 breast tumor cells and MCF-7/E6 cells in which p53 function has been abrogated by the viral E6 protein, undergo a delayed wave of apoptotic cell death in response to irradiation. Collectively, these data indicate that the senescence response induced by ionizing radiation in breast tumor cells is independent of alterations in telomere length or telomerase activity but is mediated by p53 and associated with telomere dysfunction. Supported in part by the DOD Breast Cancer Research Program DAMD17-03-1-0414.
Leader, Government, and Market: The Economic Development of South Korea and Taiwan in the 70s and 80s

South Korea and Taiwan experienced the extremely rare type of high-level, sustained postwar economic growth. While it has attracted the attention of many scholars who found out the identical pattern of economic development between South Korea and Taiwan by focusing on the similar structural conditions, relatively less attention has been given to the development mechanism South Korea and Taiwan employed to develop their economy. Furthermore, few studies have highlighted the role of actors in the process of economic development in South Korea and Taiwan because most of previous studies have focused on the structural conditions. This study aimed to examine how South Korea and Taiwan have developed their economy by discovering the type of a development mechanism employed. Based on using the set of secondary data source, this study found out that South Korea and Taiwan achieved a phenomenal economic development based on the export-oriented industrialization. However, South Korean economy was developed by the government-led development mechanism, while Taiwanese economy was developed by the market-led development mechanism. And, the difference in the way of developing their economy was mainly caused by not only several structural conditions, such as the consensus between the government and private sector over the matter of economic development, the urgency of economic development, and the existence of vertical social system, but also the characteristics, such as the leadership style of key policy makers.
Perceived assortment and consideration of customized products

Customization in the marketplace has become much more commonplace as information technology and flexible manufacturing systems continue to evolve. Consumer research into customization decisions has...
Prevention of Adverse Effects of Food Browning

Amino-carbonyl Interactions of food constituents encompass those changes commonly termed browning reactions. Such reactions are responsible for deleterious post-harvest changes during processing and storage and may adversely affect the appearance, organoleptic properties, nutritional quality, and safety of a wide spectrum of foods. A growing area of concern is nutritipnal carcinogenesis, in which nutritionally linked cancer has been associated with amino-carbonyl reaction products.
Excipients activate peroxidases in specific but not in non-specific reactions in organic solvents

Co-lyophilization with ligands and lyoprotectants markedly activated horseradish and soybean peroxidases in the oxidation of guaiacol in organic solvents (Dai & Klibanov (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA96: 9475–9478). However, such excipients gave little or no activation of these enzymes in non-specific reactions, sulfoxidation of thioanisole and epoxidation of styrene, presumably because they do not require a precise fine tuning of the enzyme active site.