cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Uncommon Cause of Shock: Acute Thrombosis of the Inferior Vena Cava.

Abstract Background Obstructive shock is an uncommon presentation to the emergency department (ED) and is most often caused by an acute pulmonary embolism. A very rare cause of obstructive shock is extensive deep venous thrombosis, otherwise known as phlegmasia cerulea dolens. We present a case of obstructive shock caused by placement of an inferior vena cava filter complicated by acute occlusion with extensive deep venous thrombosis. Case Report A 57-year-old man presented to the ED with hypotension, lethargy, and chronic leg pain. The day prior he had an inferior vena cava filter placed and was taken off his anticoagulation approximately 1 week prior. Massive pulmonary embolism was excluded as the cause based on point-of-care ultrasound showing absence of right heart strain. His initial resuscitation and evaluation did not determine the cause of his shock and he was empirically treated for sepsis. After adequate blood pressure was achieved with norepinephrine, his lower extremities were noted to be cyanotic and an ultrasound revealed the diagnosis of phlegmasia cerulea dolens. The shock state resolved after catheter-directed thrombolysis. Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This? Although unique, this case highlights an alternative cause of obstructive shock and informs emergency physicians about a potential deadly complication of a common procedure.
The 2018 Danish “Burqa Ban”: Joining a European Trend and Sending a National Message

In May of 2018, the strategy of law-making was utilized in the Kingdom of Denmark to respond to or, more to the point, respond against full-face garments along the lines of a democratic and secular society in which values like transparency inform and guide interaction, dialogue, and communication. The new legal norm and measure, law L 219, does not refer expressly to the veil, nor to women, or to Islam. Nevertheless, the national Parliament in the Kingdom of Denmark proceeded on the basis of premises that reveal, upon scrutiny, why the particular provision that prohibits full-face veils is widely known and referred to as the “burqa ban”.Like the niqab, the burqa is a full-face veil. Numerically speaking, between 50 and 200 Muslim women wear such a veil, a fact that enters them into a minority within a minority statistics of 0.1 or 0.2 percent. However, to trivialize the burqa ban would be an error. This point applies to all sides, including the stakeholders who assumed the responsibility of drafting the new norm and measure. As the Danish legislators see things, law 219 is not an instance of “shooting sparrows with a cannon”. After this, the need to legislate appears to be an instance of following a trend in Europe and, at the same time, sending a message about the prevailing (Danish) ideology in contradistinction to “political Islam” that gives rise to unwanted phenomena like gender inequality, religious extremism, and terrorism. The authors of The 2018 Danish “Burqa Ban”: Joining a European Trend and Sending a National Messageattempt to give an in-depth account of the burqa ban and the political context for this, as provided by the negotiations that led up to the ban’s final adoption. One objective is to identify the various variables in the legal equation and, as another objective, capture the wider prescriptively-proscriptive direction of the Danish case, thereby also establishing a platform for further discussion, reflection, and response. (This part of the project – an intended component and outcome since the formulation of the original research task, labor division, and methodology – is published in the concurrent but separate article, The Burqa Ban: Legal Precursors for Denmark, American Experiences and Experiments, and Philosophical and Critical Examinations.)
The Impact of Right-to-Carry Laws and the NRC Report: Lessons for the Empirical Evaluation of Law and Policy

For over a decade, there has been a spirited academic debate over the impact on crime of laws that grant citizens the presumptive right to carry concealed handguns in public— so-called right-to-carry (RTC) laws. In 2005, the National Research Council (NRC) offered a critical evaluation of the ‘‘more guns, less crime’’ hypothesis using county-level crime data for the period 1977–2000. Seventeen of the eighteen NRC panel members essentially concluded that the existing research was inadequate to conclude that RTC laws increased or decreased crime. The final member of the panel, though, concluded that the NRCs panel data regressions supported the conclusion that RTC laws decreased murder. We evaluate the NRC evidence and show that, unfortunately, the regression estimates presented in the report appear to be incorrect. We improve and expand on the reports county data analysis by analyzing an additional six years of county data as well as state panel data for the period 1977–2006. While we have considerable sympathy with the NRCs majority view about the difficulty of drawing conclusions from simple panel data models, we disagree with the NRC reports judgment that cluster adjustments to correct for serial correlation are not needed. Our randomization tests show that without such adjustments, the Type 1 error soars to 40–70%. In addition, the conclusion of the dissenting panel member that RTC laws reduce murder has no statistical support. Finally, our article highlights some important questions to
Coding and Billing for Procedures

Having a concept and understanding of coding and billing for procedural services is important to the advanced practice provider (APP). Reimbursement for services delivered is important to the financial stability of practices and organizations. Billing and coding also hold legal obligations to the provider of such services and require understanding of concepts of waste, abuse, and fraud. Understanding reimbursement practices to local regions and the nuances of billing and coding is crucial to showing the value of the APP to the practice.
Chronobiology

Several fundamental principles of chronobiology are discussed. The importance of biological rhythmicity in (1) the every day interpretation of data, both descriptive and experimental, and (2) the design of scientifically accurate experiments, is the main theme of this presentation. Examples of circadian rhythms in a variety of physiological, psychological, and biochemical variables of the rodent and man are given.
Initiating GPS & VHF Telemetry Studies on Mountain Ungulates in the Greater Yellowstone Area

Telemetry studies on bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) and mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) in the greater Yellowstone area (GYA) are relatively rare, especially in comparison to other large mammals. There is therefore a significant dearth of detailed information on mountain ungulate demographic and spatial ecology as well as competition dynamics between the non-native mountain goat and the native bighorn sheep. The Mountain Ungulate Research Initiative is seeking to gain this valuable management and conservation information by initiating GPS and VHF radio telemetry studies across the GYA. We have selected ten study sites that represent the varying ecological settings of this ecosystem with differences in climate, geology, herd size, disease history, land use and management, migratory and non-migratory herds, sympatric and allopatric herds, and high and low elevation ranges. In addition, we have developed a dual collar, multiple deployment strategy to efficiently maximize collection of ecological data and support long-term research goals. This includes the deployment of a GPS collar simultaneously with a VHF collar for each animal instrumented. After two years of fine spatial- and temporal-scale data collection the GPS collars will release for recovery while the VHF collars will remain on animals to obtain an additional five years of demographic data. The recovered GPS collars will then be refurbished and redeployed with new VHF collars on additional animals. The presentation will describe these telemetry studies and strategies, as well as report on the progress of current and planned telemetry study efforts.
Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know

Lawrence R. Jacobs is an award-winning author and professor at The University of Minnesota and Chair for Political Studies at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute and Department of Political Science. H...
The outcome of voiding dysfunction managed with clean intermittent catheterization in neurologically and anatomically normal children

Objective To describe the tolerability and efficacy of clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) in the management of dysfunctional voiding in patients who are neurologically and anatomically normal. Patients and methods The medical records were reviewed in 23 patients (16 girls, mean age 9 years, range 6–14.5, and seven males, mean age 8 years, range 5–20.5) with urinary incontinence and/or urinary tract infection (UTI) who were offered CIC because they had a large postvoid residual urine volume (PVR). All had extensive instruction before starting CIC. All patients underwent urodynamic studies, and urinary and fecal elimination habits were recorded. Detrusor hyperactivity, when present, was treated with anticholinergic medication. The follow-up evaluation included tolerance of CIC, continence status and the incidence of UTI. Behavioural modification or biofeedback training was not used in any patient. Results Of the 23 patients, 13 presented with both UTI and urinary incontinence, five with incontinence only, four with UTI only, one with frequency and no incontinence, and one with haematuria. Associated symptoms included frequency/urgency, constipation or soiling, and straining to void or incomplete emptying (in nine each), and infrequent voiding in six. CIC was performed within 2 days by 15 patients, while four others required up to 2 weeks to master CIC. However, three of the four patients (all older girls) who needed 2 weeks to learn the technique did not tolerate CIC and discontinued it within 3 weeks. Four other adolescents (three girls and one boy) refused to learn CIC. Of the 16 patients remaining on CIC only three had cystitis; no patient had a febrile UTI. Once successfully instituted, all patients became continent while on CIC. Six boys (mean follow-up 4 months) had a marked decrease in their PVR. CIC was discontinued in three girls who voided normally to emptiness within 6 months of starting CIC; they remained dry and infection-free 16 months (two) and 6 years later. Conclusion CIC is a viable therapeutic option for the treatment of dysfunctional voiding, associated with a large PVR, in the absence of any neurological abnormality. CIC is well tolerated in the sensate patient and provides a means for expeditiously achieving continence and improving bladder emptying cost-effectively.
The self-tuning of stochastic adaptive pole placement controllers

Considers the problem of the convergence of adaptive pole placement control for linear stochastic systems. Under the assumption of the controllability of the estimated model, it is found that the adaptive pole placement controller always self-tunes, regardless of external excitation. In addition, the author determines the order of external excitation for parameter consistency. It is shown that for the white noise case the parameter consistency occurs when the order of external excitation is equal to or greater than 2-d, where d is the a priori known lower limit of the plant delay. >
Basic Data Structures — II. Sets

This chapter is primarily concerned with methods for handling information that needs to be broken into categories for processing. PASCAL’s SET and several related concepts are introduced.
Fundamental studies of the sampling process in an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer-I: Langmuir probe measurements

Abstract Langmuir probe measurements were performed in the first vacuum stage of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer as source and interface conditions were adjusted. Space and floating potentials were found to increase with first-stage backing pressure, inner-gas flow rate, and solvent load. When the probe was located at the skimmer-cone-orifice position (with the skimmer cone removed), the space and floating potentials were found to be positive, which indicates that the plasma is no longer quasi-neutral. Additional experiments involved spatial mapping of the floating potentials in the expansion zone. In this zone, measured electrostatic potentials followed the geometrical features of a free-jet expansion expected for a neutral gas. This correlation indicates that neutral flow influences the electrostatic features in the shockwave structure of the expansion.
Compression color space estimation of JPEG images using lattice basis reduction

Given a color image that was quantized in some hidden color space (termed compression color space) during previous JPEG compression, we aim to estimate this unknown compression color space from the image. This knowledge is potentially useful for color image enhancement and JPEG re-compression. JPEG quantizes the discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients of each color plane independently during compression. Consequently, the DCT coefficients of such a color image conform to a lattice. We exploit this special geometry using the lattice reduction algorithm used in cryptography to estimate the compression color space. Simulations verify that the proposed algorithm yields accurate compression space estimates.
Changes in stroke volume with β-blockade before and after 10 days of exercise training in men and women

Mier, Constance M., Melissa A. Domenick, and Jack H. Wilmore. Changes in stroke volume with β-blockade before and after 10 days of exercise training in men and women.J. Appl. Physiol. 83(5): 1660–1...
The impact of working part-time on measures of academic productivity among general internists.

Abstract Background: There is increased interest in part-time (PT) positions at academic medical centers (AMCs). Faculty and institutional leaders may have concerns about the potential for academic advancement among PT faculty. Our objective was to determine the impact of working PT on measures of academic productivity. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was mailed to PT and full-time (FT) physicians in U.S. divisions of general internal medicine. Outcome measures included publications and funding. We used multivariate analysis to identify factors associated with academic productivity. Results: The response rate was 63% (176 of 279); 91% of respondents were women (160 of 176). Compared with FT faculty, PT faculty were more often clinicians (Cs) or clinician-educators (CEs) (78% vs. 96%, p < 0.001), were less likely to be fellowship trained (44% vs. 23%, p < 0.001), and reported less academic support, including administrative assistance (84% vs. 67%, p = 0.008), mentoring (71% vs. 54%, p = 0.02), and resear...
Enrichment of genistein in soy protein concentrate with hydrocolloids and β-glucosidase.

: The effects of hydrocolloid (propylene glycol alginate, K-carrageenan, citrus pectin, and xanthan gum) additions in soy protein concentrate (SPC) preparation on genistin and genistein retentions were investigated. Additions of xanthan, alginate, pectin, and carrageenan in SPC prepared with the acid leach method gave 0.711, 0.760, 0.792, and 0.825 mg/g genistein, respectively, whereas control SPC prepared without hydrocolloid gave 0.721 mg/g genistein. SPC prepared under optimum conditions for (β-glucosidase hydrolytic activity with xanthan, alginate, carrageenan, and pectin had 0.943, 0.975, 1.015, and 1.132 mg/g genistein, respectively, compared to genistein in control SPC (0.845 mg/g) under the optimum conditions. Combined (β-glucosidase and pectin treatment in SPC preparation resulted in high genistein SPC (1.551 mg/g).
Tissue distribution and temperature of xenobiotic hydrolysis in the dungeness carb (Cancer magister)

Abstract Homogenized samples (10 μg) from the hepatopancreas, gill, muscle, and cardiac stomach or the dungeness crab (Cancer magister) were exposed in vitro to [1-14C]methyl palmitate at 8, 13 and 18°C to determine the distribution of xenobiotic hydrolytic activity and its temperature dependence. Methyl palmitate was chosen to provide an ester for hydrolysis and represent the many fatty add esters in commonly used chemical oil spill cleanup agents. Metabolites were identified and quantified by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), fraction collection, and liquid scintillation counting. Palmitic acid was the only product; no oxidized or conjugated products were detected, and efficient hydrolysis of [1-14C]methyl palmitate occurred only in the hepatopancreas. Also, variation between individual crabs was significant (all, p
Transformation zones, crack shielding, and crack-growth resistance of Ce-TZP/alumina composite in mode II and combined mode II and mode I loading

Crack-tip transformation zones, crack shielding and crack-growth-resistance (R-curve) behaviors of a transformation-toughened ceria-partially stabilized zirconia–alumina (Ce-TZP/alumina) composite were studied in mode II and combined mode I and mode II loading using compact-tension-shear (CTS) specimens. The mode II and mode I stress intensities for both the initial straight cracks and the subsequent kinked cracks were assessed by the method of caustics using geometrically equivalent specimens of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The angle of formation of the transformation zones as well as of extension of the cracks increased systematically with increasing ratio of the mode II and the mode I stress intensities and approached a value of h � ¼� 72 in pure mode II loading. This angle was close to the angle for maximum hoop tension in the stress field of a mode II crack (h � ¼� 70:5). A crack-initiation toughness envelope was constructed on a KI–KII diagram using the critical loads for incremental crack extension. The crackinitiation toughness in pure mode II loading was less than the corresponding toughness in mode I loading. This result was consistent with calculations that indicated no shielding from the asymmetric and elongated zones developed in mode II loading. The fracture toughness measured for the kinked cracks at long kink lengths approached the maximum fracture toughness measured for a mode I crack. 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Denitrification and mixing in a stream—aquifer system: effects on nitrate loading to surface water

Ground water in terrace deposits of the South Platte River alluvial aquifer near Greeley, Colorado, USA, had a median nitrate concentration of 1857 μmol l−1. Median nitrate concentrations in ground water from adjacent floodplain deposits (468 μmol l−1) and riverbed sediments (461 μmol l−1), both of which are downgradient from the terrace deposits, were lower than the median concentration in the terrace deposits. The concentrations and δ15N values of nitrate and N2 in ground water indicated that denitrifying activity in the floodplain deposits and riverbed sediments accounted for 15–30% of the difference in nitrate concentrations. Concentrations of Cl− and SiO2 indicated that mixing between river water and ground water in the floodplain deposits and riverbed sediments accounted for the remainder of the difference in nitrate concentrations. River flux measurements indicated that ground-water discharge in a 7.5 km segment of river had a nitrate load of 1718 kg N day− and accounted for about 18% of the total nitrate load in the river at the downstream end of that segment. This nitrate load was 70% less than the load predicted on the basis of the median nitrate concentration in the terrace deposits and assuming no denitrification or mixing in the aquifer. Water exchange between the river and aquifer caused ground water that originally discharged to the river to reenter denitrifying sediments in the riverbed and floodplain, thereby further decreasing the nitrate load in this stream—aquifer system. Results from this study indicated that denitrification and mixing within akluvial aquifer sediments may substantially decrease the nitrate load added to rivers by discharging ground water.
Methods for Space-Time Analysis and Modeling: An Overview

With increasing availability of spatio-temporal data and the democratization of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), there has been a demand for novel statistical and visualization techniques which can explicitly integrate space and time. The paper discusses the nature of spatio-temporal data, the integration of time within GIS and the flourishing availability of spatial and temporal-explicit data over the Internet. The paper attempts to answer the fundamental question on how these large datasets can be analyzed in space and time to reveal critical patterns. The authors further elaborate on how spatial autocorrelation techniques are extended to deal with time, for point, linear, and areal features, and the impact of parameter selection, such as critical distance and time threshold to build adjacency matrices. The authors also discuss issues of space-time modeling for optimization problems.
SnapShot: Histone Readers

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of histone proteins and methylation of DNA are major components of the epigenetic machinery that regulates the structure and dynamics of chromatin, gene transcription, DNA replication, DNA recombination, and DNA repair. The PTMs alter direct interactions between histones and DNA and serve as docking sites for epigenetic effectors. A number of PTMs have been identified in the flexible histone tails that protrude from the nucleosomal core and are readily accessible to histone acetyltransferases (HATs), histone deacetylases (HDACs), histone lysine methyltransferases (HKMTs), kinases, phosphatases, and other enzymes capable of depositing or removing PTMs. The list of PTMs is rapidly growing and includes acetylation, methylation, ubiquitination, and SUMOylation of lysine residues, methylation and citrullination of arginine residues, phosphorylation of serine and threonine residues, and ADP-ribosylation of glutamate and arginine residues. The histone PTMs are recognized by protein modules, referred to as epigenetic effectors, histone-binding domains, or simply “readers” of PTMs. Binding of the effectors recruits or stabilizes various transcription factors, chromatin remodeling complexes, and other components of the transcriptional network at chromatin. Many chromatin-associating proteins contain multiple copies of an effector or several different effectors, often specific for distinct PTMs. This provides a multivalent mechanism for targeting to a particular genomic site and ensures the proper biological outcome. Furthermore, the effectors are commonly found in macromolecules that either possess catalytic activities or act as scaffolding proteins that tether multisubunit enzymatic complexes to chromatin. These, in turn, further modify the epigenetic landscape by “erasing” PTMs, “writing” new epigenetic marks, or cleaving off the entire tail. This SnapShot shows the histone-binding effectors, their atomic-resolution structures, and the reported specificities for PTMs.
The SAGA project: A system for software development

The SAGA (Software Automation, Generation, and Administration) project is investigating formal and practical aspects of computer-aided support for the software lifecycle [Campbell and Richards, 81]. The goal of the project is to design a practical software development environment that supports and aids management of all major phases of the lifecycle. This paper presents requirements for a software development environment and shows how they are guiding the specification and design of the SAGA project. We review the goals of the project, and give an overview of the organization, design, and status of the major components of the SAGA software development system for which prototypes have been built. These components include a table-driven LR parser-based language-oriented editor, a discussion forum, a source code control system, and an incremental compilation facility.
In situ infrared spectroscopic investigations of sulfate adsorption at the Ag(111) electrode surface

Abstract Cyclic voltammetry and in situ infrared spectroelectrochemistry were employed to study the ionic adsorption on the Ag(111) electrode surface in sulfate-containing solutions of different pH. It has been concluded that the sulfate anion is the predominant species adsorbed at the electrode surface in acidic and neutral medium. The adsorption of sulfate in alkaline solutions is inhibited by the more strongly specifically adsorbed OH − ions. The potential dependence of surface coverage, estimated on the basis of spectroelectrochemical data, indicates that a considerable repulsion exists among the adsorbed sulfate species. The spectral data were compared to those obtained for sulfate adsorption on Pt(111) and on underpotentially deposited Ag on the Pt(111) surface.
Studies on the pathway of cyclic electron flow in mesophyll chloroplasts of a C4 plant

1. Cyclic photophosphorylation driven by white light, as followed by 14CO2 fixation by mesophyll chloroplast preparations of the C4 plant Digitaria sanguinalis, was specifically inhibited by disalicylidenepropanediamine (DSPD), antimycin A, 2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone (DBMIb), 1-ethyl-3(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDAC), and KCN suggesting that ferredoxin, cytochrome b563, plastoquinone, cytochrome f, and plastocyanin are obligatory intermediates of cyclic electron flow. It was found that 0.2 μM DCMU and 40 μM o-phenanthroline blocked noncyclic electron flow, stimulated cyclic photophosphorylation, and caused a partial reversal (40–100%) of the inhibition by DBMIB and antimycin A, but not DSPD. 2. Cyclic photophosphorylation could also be activated using only far-red illumination. Under this condition, however, cyclic photophosphorylation was much less sensitive to the inhibitors DBMIB, EDAC and antimycin A, but remained completely sensitive to DSPD and KCN. Inhibition in far-red light was not increased by preincubating the chloroplasts with the various inhibitors for several minutes in white light. 3. The striking correspondence between the effects of photosystem II inhibitors, DCMU and o-phenanthroline, on cyclic photophosphorylation under white light and cyclic photophosphorylation under far-red light (in the absence of photosystem II inhibitors) suggests that electrons flowing from photosystem II may regulate the pathway of cyclic electron flow.
Recent progress in interband cascade lasers with separate confinement layers

ABSTRACT Interband cascade lasers are efficient and compact semiconductor mid-infrared (3-6 P m) light sources with low-power consumptions. We report our recent prog ress in the development of interband cas cade lasers with separate confinement layers. Broad-area (0.1mm x1mm) lasers have been operated in cw m ode at temperatures up to 213K near 3.36 P m. For narrow ridge-waveguide (0.01mm x1.5mm) lasers, cw operation has been achieved at temperatures up to 266K near 3.43 P m, 260K near 3.7 P m, and 238K near 4.04 P m. The results on both broad-area and narrow-ridge IC lasers are discussed in comparison with previous regular IC lasers without separate confinement layers. Keywords: mid-infrared, lasers, semiconductors, quantum wells 1. INTRODUCTION Interband cascade (IC) lasers [1] are efficien t semiconductor laser sources in mid-IR (3-6 P m) wavelength region for practical applications owing to their unique features. Similar to intraband quantum cascade (QC) lasers [2], each electron is reused for generating multip le photons in IC lasers with high quantum efficiency, as shown in Fig. 1. Consequently, the carrier concentration required for threshold is lower than in conventional diode lasers, due to many serially connected stages with uniform carrier injection over every stage. However, unlike intraband QC lasers, IC lasers use optical transitions between the conduction and valence bands with opposite dispersion curvatures (as shown in Fig. 1) without involving fast phonon scattering. Furthermore, based on type-II quantum well (QW) structures with possibly suppressed Auger recombination, non-radiative losses are reduced in IC lasers, making it possible to significantly lower threshold current density. Additionally, due to a large conduction-band offset and type-II band-edge alignment in the nearly lattice-matched InAs/GaSb/AlSb III-V material system that is used, excellent carrier confinement can be achieved in IC lasers and their emission wavelengths can be tailored in a wide wavelength range, in principle from the mid-IR (as short as 2.5 P m) to the far-IR. Following the proposal of IC lasers in 1994 [1] and be ing stimulated by the theoretically projected high performance of IC lasers [3-4] and remarkable early successes in developing intraband QC lasers [5-6], significant progress has been achieved in the development of IC lasers with the use of molecular beam epitaxy
A Fracture Probability Integral for Pressure Vessel Life Estimate and Accident Analysis

A multiple integral representation has been developed to analytically model the probability of failure of reactor vessel. The probability of fracture is a basic methodology for projecting for the life of a new vessel as well as to estimate the remaining life of an existing vessel. The integral representation for the probability of fracture calculation is based on the number count of critical cracks across the whole section of a vessel, based on a given calibrated crack distribution function, obtained by experimental examination of the vessel cross section. Multiple integral is implemented because of the degraded, or variable, fracture toughness and other factors representing the variable facture toughness. For example, the nuclear reactor vessel that is subjected to neutron radiation, will increase the reactor vessel steel brittleness. The effect of neutron irradiation can be calibrated by its increase in ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) in fracture toughness versus temperature curve. Higher DBTT implies a decrease in fracture toughness and an increase in the chance of vessel fracture in brittle fracture mode. The extent of degradation that the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) vessel has experienced is characterized by its probability of fracture in this paper. The fracture probabilities under the accident pressure conditions against possible HFIR operating life are calculated for the safety analysis of the reactor vessel. Conventional numerical methods of fracture probability calculation such as that adopted by the NRC-sponsored PRAISE CODE and the FAVOR CODE developed in this Laboratory are based on Monte Carlo simulation. Heavy computations are required. The present method of Probability Integral has been used to verify numerical results of approximately 8–10 reports on HFIR remaining-life calculations by Cheverton using FAVOR CODE for the installation of HFIR new cold neutron source. The numerical result based on the method of Probability Integral confirms almost exactly as compared with that obtained by Monte Carlo Method adopted by FAVOR CODE. This Method of Probability Integral, because of its analytical structure, shows the clear physical interpretation of the fracture probability. It provides simple and expedient procedure to obtain numerical values of fracture probability. Moreover, it retains all possible features that the Monte Carlo Method of simulation can accomplish.© 2010 ASME
Rapid detection of Staphylococcus aureus using a membrane fiber optic biosensor

A simple, sensitive and rapid chemiluminescent fiber optic biosensor utilizing monoclonal antibodies to S. aureus was developed to detect the pathogen in food. The S. aureus cells were selectively labeled with a monoclonal-horseradish peroxidase (POD) conjugate, collected by membrane filtration, and detected with a luminometer and an enhanced chemiluminescent luminol reagent. Two different diameter membranes, 25 mm and 13 mm, were first tested in a luminometer tube format assay. A hand operated syringe filtration unit was used to capture cells and the membrane was then transferred to a luminometer tube for the chemiluminescent reaction. An improved system utilized a simple but efficient microwell plate vacuum filtration unit with an 8 mm membrane sealed at the bottom of the sample well. The sample was concentrated on the membrane and positioned directly in front of a fiber optic light guide to effectively collect and transmit the signal to the luminometer. Labeling S. aureus in solution proved to be much more effective than on the membrane surface. Using the microwell plate filtration system resulted in less sample handling, better reproducibility, and dramatically reduced assay time. The variability for 25 mm and 13 mm assays were 24.7% and 13.3%, while the microwell plate assay reduced this to 4.0%. The ability of the fiber optic probe to effectively collect the signal meant the sensitivity of the assay was not compromised with smaller membrane and sample size. The sensitivity of the biosensor was 3.8 X 104 CFU/ml, adequate to detect the organism at concentrations lower than the level that could result in food poisoning. The performance of the biosensor was not effected by the food materials and by the presence of other bacteria.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Substituted benzamides with potential CNS-depressant and hypotensive activity.

A series of 14 N-alkyl, N-aryl, and N-aralkyl analogs of N-cyclohexyl nitrobenzamide has been synthesized and characterized. The compounds have been studied for their ability to depress the spontaneous motor activity of mice and for their hypotensive activity in rats. Four of the compounds, which are structurally characterized by small alkyl groups attached to the amide nitrogen and a p-nitro group, showed the greatest CNS-depressant activity. The hypotensive action of these compounds paralleled their depressant action.
A New Therapy Approach to Movement Organization

This article describes a new therapeutic perspective to normal and abnormal movement organization and to the treatment of neurologically based movement disorders as developed by the Tscharnuter Akademie for Movement Organization (TAMO). While traditional therapy approaches relate developmental changes almostly exclusively to the maturation of the central nervous system, this new therapy approach emphasizes environmental forces and conditions that exert an organizing influence on motor patterns. These include gravitational torque, load, support surface and task, all of which can be directly manipulated by therapists in order to optimize conditions for the spontaneous organization of adaptive motor patterns. This leads to treatment objectives and handling techniques that differ from presently practiced therapy approaches. Rather than correcting movement patterns directly, the therapist applies forces and torques which contribute to the spontaneous formation of adaptive motor patterns. In contrast to neuro-d...
Nodule polarity effects on detection and localization performance in liver CT images

Performance accuracy for detecting and localizing small nodules on liver CT images depends on whether an observer is required to find dark nodules or bright nodules on those images. We investigated these asymmetric polarity effects using simulated nodules of varying sizes placed on spiral CT scans of clinical patients acquired with intravenous contrast material, which made blood vessels appear brighter than liver background on the displayed CT images. A concurrent analysis of each observer's detection-rating and scored-localization data estimated separate perceptual effects for the nodules of different sizes, and for locations of the dark or bright hepatic findings that observers regarded as most suspicious on the CT images. The results were consistent with equal visibility for dark and bright nodules of identical size and CT-contrast, and a linear increase in visibility with nodule signal-to-noise ratio for a non-prewhitening matched-filter calculation (NPW-SNR). The substantial lower accuracy for detecting and localizing the bright nodules, compared to the dark nodules, was a polarity effect apparently produced by the non- stationary liver CT backgrounds -- i.e., the presence of stronger confusing signals from the bright hepatic findings on these (contrast-enhanced) CT images than from the dark hepatic findings.
Violence and Warfare in Precontact Melanesia

Levels of interpersonal violence and warfare for 30 Melanesian societies at the time of contact with Europeans are estimated based on ethnographic and historical records. While violence was common in indigenous Melanesia, it was not ubiquitous and some societies experienced extended periods of internal and external peace. Interpersonal violence and warfare were correlated-when one occurred there was a high probability of finding the other. Violence was not dependent on total population. It was, however, higher for population density greater than 50 persons per square kilometer. Violence in Melanesia may have been stimulated by the large number of relatively small polities, many of which competed with one another for prestige and, in some cases, land.
India: In Search of the Drivers of the Next Wave of Growth

India’s unprecedented growth since the mid-1990s and increased macroeconomic resilience has been against the backdrop of wide-ranging reforms, growing trade and financial integration, buoyant external demand, and ample global liquidity. Looking ahead, like most emerging markets, India is likely to face stronger headwinds, with less buoyant external financing conditions, and potentially lower growth in advanced markets. This raises questions about the sustainability of growth, sources of future growth, and reform priorities for restoring the momentum of convergence to higher income levels. Using the “distance to frontier” approach, the analysis in this article finds that the sizeable convergence gaps with respect to advanced and other emerging market economies imply considerable opportunities for catch-up. But structural transformation and convergence to higher living standards in India will be conditional on policy and institutional reforms to alleviate market and government failures, as well as on the ab...
DNA superhelical structures with non-constant helical pitch:

We develop an elastic–isotropic rod model for superhelical DNA structures where the helical angle is varying as a function of the arc-length. Our motivation for a variable helical angle comes from some experiments and simulations on DNA braids where complex superhelical structures have been observed. The helical solutions are minimizers of a free energy consisting of elastic, entropic and electrostatic terms. These minimizers are obtained within a variational framework where the end-points of the helices are allowed to be variable so that the length of the superhelix is computed as part of the solution. Considering variable curvature solutions brings up the possibility of finding more complex DNA structures because for two (or more) interwound helices there is a geometrical lock-up helical angle which puts a limit on the length of a superhelix. We perform calculations with different ionic concentrations and study the effects of lock up for braided structures. We also extend the variable curvature model to...
Susceptibility of Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum), and rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson, to infection with Vibrio anguillarum following sublethal copper exposure*

. Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum), and rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson, were used to determine if sublethal copper exposure would increase their susceptibility to Vibrio anguillarum infection. Fish were pretreated with copper at fractional levels of the 96 h copper LC50 before exposure to the pathogen. Mortality by vibriosis was greater among fish exposed to 9% of the copper LC50 for 96 h than unexposed fish. Peak susceptibility to vibriosis depended in part on the interaction of exposure time and copper concentration. The higher copper concentrations produced peak susceptibility to infection in shorter time periods. After the peak of susceptibility, sensitivity to infection declined to near control levels in those fish where exposure was continued. Rainbow trout stressed by copper required about 50% fewer pathogens to induce a fatal infection than non-copper exposed fish.
Stem Cell Lineage Specification: You Become What You Eat

Nutrient availability and intermediate metabolism are increasingly recognized to govern stem cell behavior. Oburoglu et al. (2014) now demonstrate that glutamine- and glucose-dependent nucleotide synthesis segregate erythroid versus myeloid differentiation during hematopoietic stem cell specification, implicating a metabolism-centric regulation of lineage choices.
The Mercier Criterion in Reversed Shear Tokamak Plasmas

A recent numerical study has found that, contrary to conventional theoretical and experimental expectations, reversed-shear plasmas are unstable primarily because the term proportional to the shear in the Mercier criterion is destabilizing. In the present study, the role of the magnetic shear, both local and global, is examined for various tokamak configurations with monotonic and non-monotonic safety factor profiles. The enhancement of the local shear due to the outward shift of the magnetic axis suggests that the latter are less susceptible to interchanges. Furthermore, by regrouping the terms in the criterion, the V´´ term when differentiated instead with respect to the toroidal flux, is shown to absorb the dominant shear term. No Mercier instability is found for similar profiles as in the previous study.
Expanding Room for Tetrazine Ligations in the in vivo Chemistry Toolbox

There is tremendous interest in developing and refining methods to predictably perform chemical reactions within the framework of living systems. Here we review recent advances in applying tetrazine cycloadditions to live cell and in vivo chemistry. We highlight new syntheses of the tetrazine and dienophile precursors useful for in vivo studies. We briefly overview the use of this reaction in combination with unnatural amino acid technology and discuss applications involving the imaging of glycans on live cells. An emerging area is the use of tetrazine ligations for the development of in vivo imaging probes such as those used for positron emission tomography. We summarize recent applications involving tetrazine cycloadditions performed in live mice for pretargeted imaging of cancer cell biomarkers.
Critical embedded automotive networks

Designing automotive computer systems involves satisfying stringent cost requirements and providing highly reliable operation in adverse environments. Despite this cost/performance challenge, electronic and computer-based features continue proliferating in vehicles, leading to widespread use of embedded real-time control networks.In the next few years, networked control will reach such a sophistication level that using additional performance and safety features will require giving up mechanical linkages between the driver and the vehicle. Networked computers will control vehicle operation just as they do today in fly-by-wire aircraft designs.
Aspects of the Biology of the Tortugas Pink Shrimp, Penaeus duorarum

Abstract On the Tortugas grounds, off southern Florida, the female pink shrimp (Penaeus duorarum) had an estimated winter growth of 5 counts per pound per month (number of shrimp per pound with heads off). The males grew 7 counts per pound per month. The shrimp were tagged with Petersen disc tags. A general tendency was noted for the adult shrimp to move in a northwesterly direction. Female shrimp attain larger size than males in the Tortugas grounds and growth of the carapace, which is more easily measured than total length, is related linearly to total length. Size-frequency distributions suggest that small shrimp move from shallow water at the end of the Florida peninsula to the Tortugas grounds. Some salinity and temperature data are given.
Using the Expressive Writing Program to Improve the Writing Skills of High School Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract. The complex nature of written expression presents difficulty for many students, particularly those with learning disabilities (LD). The literature in the area of written expression and students with learning disabilities indicates that explicit, rule-based instruction can enhance the writing skills of struggling students. Research in Direct Instruction (DI) writing programs is promising, but limited at this time to a small number of group design studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the DI writing program, Expressive Writing, for high school students with learning disabilities using a single-subject design methodology. Results indicated that the Expressive Writing program improved the writing skills of the students in this study. Students also were able to generalize and maintain the writing skills learned during intervention.
Absolute-frequency measurement of the narrow-linewidth 24-THz D–D transition of a Single laser-cooled barium ion

A single (138)Ba(+) ion, trapped in a rf trap and cooled to 15 mK by 493- and 650-nm dye-laser radiation, was probed by 24-THz radiation from an optically pumped ammonia laser. The absorption lines corresponding to two Zeeman components of the 5d(2)D(3/2)-5d(2)D(5/2) transition, symmetrically located about the line center, were scanned while the laser frequency was being simultaneously measured relative to a Cs primary frequency standard by the National Research Council phase-locked frequency chain. The frequencies of the Zeeman components were obtained, and the transition line center was determined to be 24012 048319 +/- 1 kHz.
Self-Calibrated Warping for Mass Spectra Alignment

With recent advances in mass spectrometry (MS) technologies, it is now possible to study protein profiles over a wide range of molecular weights in small biological specimens. However, MS spectra are usually not aligned or synchronized between samples. To ensure the consistency of the subsequent analysis, spectrum alignment is necessary to align the spectra such that the same biological entity would show up at the same m/z value for different samples. Although a variety of alignment algorithms have been proposed in the past, most of them are developed based on chromatographic data and do not address some of the unique characteristics of the serum or other body fluid MS data. In this work, we propose a self-calibrated warping (SCW) algorithm to address some of the challenges associated with serum MS data alignment. In addition, we compare the proposed algorithm with five existing representative alignment methods using a clinical surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) data set.
Metabolic Profiling Reveals PAFAH1B3 as a Critical Driver of Breast Cancer Pathogenicity

Many studies have identified metabolic pathways that underlie cellular transformation, but the metabolic drivers of cancer progression remain less well understood. The Hippo transducer pathway has been shown to confer malignant traits on breast cancer cells. In this study, we used metabolic mapping platforms to identify biochemical drivers of cellular transformation and malignant progression driven through RAS and the Hippo pathway in breast cancer and identified platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase 1B3 (PAFAH1B3) as a key metabolic driver of breast cancer pathogenicity that is upregulated in primary human breast tumors and correlated with poor prognosis. Metabolomic profiling suggests that PAFAH1B3 inactivation attenuates cancer pathogenicity through enhancing tumor-suppressing signaling lipids. Our studies provide a map of altered metabolism that underlies breast cancer progression and put forth PAFAH1B3 as a critical metabolic node in breast cancer.