cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Human leukocyte antigen class I supertypes and HIV-1 control in African Americans

The role of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I supertypes in controlling human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection in African Americans has not been established. We examined the effects of the HLA-A and HLA-B alleles and supertypes on the outcomes of HIV-1 clade B infection among 338 African American women and adolescents. HLA-B58 and -B62 supertypes (B58s and B62s) were associated with favorable HIV-1 disease control (proportional odds ratio [POR] of 0.33 and 95% confidence interval [95% CI] of 0.21 to 0.52 for the former and POR of 0.26 and 95% CI of 0.09 to 0.73 for the latter); B7s and B44s were associated with unfavorable disease control (POR of 2.39 and 95% CI of 1.54 to 3.73 for the former and POR of 1.63 and 95% CI of 1.08 to 2.47 for the latter). In general, individual alleles within specific B supertypes exerted relatively homogeneous effects. A notable exception was B27s, whose protective influence (POR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.94) was masked by the opposing effect of its member allele B*1510. The associations of most B supertypes (e.g., B58s and B7s) were largely explained either by well-known effects of constituent B alleles or by effects of previously unimplicated B alleles aggregated into a particular supertype (e.g., B44s and B62s). A higher frequency of HLA-B genotypic supertypes correlated with a higher mean viral load (VL) and lower mean CD4 count (Pearson's r = 0.63 and 0.62, respectively; P = 0.03). Among the genotypic supertypes, B58s and its member allele B*57 contributed disproportionately to the explainable VL variation. The study demonstrated the dominant role of HLA-B supertypes in HIV-1 clade B-infected African Americans and further dissected the contributions of individual class I alleles and their population frequencies to the supertype effects.
Primary biliary cirrhosis

Primary biliary cirrhosis is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease of the liver with a striking female preponderance. It has an insidious onset and typically affects middle-aged women. The disease manifests gradually with symptoms of fatigue, pruritis, and increased alkaline phosphatase levels on laboratory evaluation. The hallmark of the disease is the circulating antimitochondrial antibody. Histology is characterized by inflammation of the bile ducts, destruction of cholangiocytes, and subsequent cholestasis, progressing to biliary cirrhosis. The standard treatment for primary biliary cirrhosis is ursodeoxycholic acid, which improves survival, but the disease can still lead to cirrhosis and liver failure over decades.
"Mirror, Mirror On The Wall": Reflections Of A "Third-Culture" American

As mainstream speech pathologists in the United States, we are providing services to increasing numbers of multicultural clients. We need to be aware of our unconscious mainstream attitudes and values that might be affecting our service delivery to these clients. In this column, eight basic mainstream American values/beliefs are examined and discussed: the importance of time; the need for directness in communication; the appropriateness of informality in communication; the belief in equality of all people (regardless of age or gender); the necessity and efficacy of rehabilitation, including use of technology; the impor tance of independence and self-reliance; the necessity of family involvement in therapy/rehabilitation; and controlling one's own destiny.
Multiple Concurrent Stressors in Chicks.1. Effect on Weight Gain, Feed Intake, and Behavior

Abstract Effects of multiple concurrent stressors on Hubbard × Hubbard chicks (Days 10 to 17 posthatch) were studied in a 26-factorial experiment that employed as treatments aerial ammonia (A, 0 or 125 ppm), beak trimming (B, sham handled or beak trimmed/cauterized), coccidiosis (X, gavage with 0 or 6 × 105 sporulated Eimeria acervulina oocysts), intermittent electric shock (E, 0 or between 2.9 and 8.7 mA), heat stress (H, 30.4 or 34.8 C), and continuous noise (N, 80 or 95 dB). All stressors, except noise, decreased weight gain (G), increased coefficient of interindividual variation in gain (CV-G), and decreased feed intake (F) and feed conversion efficiency (G/F). Of a possible 57 interactions, only four were significant for G, two for CV-G, and of a possible 26 interactions, only two were significant for F, none for G/F. As number of simultaneous stressors (“order”) increased, G, F, and G/F decreased and CV-G increased, all linearly. Time chicks spent standing was increased by X; time spent eating increased by X; and time spent drinking decreased by H. No effect of order and few stressor interactions were detected for the behaviors. Although behavior results were inconclusive with respect to synergism, antagonism, or additivity of stressors’ effects, performance results indicated that chicks responded to each stressor in the same fashion regardless of whether a stressor occurred singly or concurrently with up to five others. The results suggest that in practical production situations, where ordinarily poultry experience more than one stressor at the same time, effects of multiple concurrent unrelated stressors on performance may be estimable to a first approximation by summing effects of respective stressors when acting alone.
A programmable BIST for embedded SDRAM

The BIST (Built-In-Self-Test) provides a cost-effective solution in testing an embedded DRAM. This project develops a programmable BIST in support of a variety of test algorithms and SDRAM operation modes. The Verilog BIST modules are parameterized such that an SDRAM BIST circuit can be generated for a given SDRAM configuration. Also developed is software supporting mapping between physical and logical addresses and data, as well as translation from assembly programs to machine code used directly by the BIST. The result is an easy-to-use BIST generator for testing embedded SDRAMS.
Curcumin, a natural plant phenolic food additive, inhibits cell proliferation and induces cell cycle changes in colon adenocarcinoma cell lines by a prostaglandin-independent pathway

Curcumin, the active ingredient of the rhizome of the plant turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn), a commonly used spice, prevents cancer in animal tumor models. Its mechanism of action is unknown; curcumin may act by inhibiting arachidonic acid metabolism. To explore the mechanism of curcumin's chemopreventive effect, we studied its role in proliferation and apoptosis in the HT-29 and HCT-15 human colon cancer cell lines. Curcumin dose-dependently reduced the proliferation rate of both cell lines, causing a 96% decrease by 48 hours. No apoptosis was detected. The antiproliferative effect was preceded by accumulation of the cells in the G2/M phase of cell cycle. The effect of curcumin was similar in both cell lines, which, however, differ in their ability to produce prostaglandins. We conclude that curcumin inhibits colon cancer cell proliferation in vitro mainly by accumulating cells in the G2/M phase and that this effect is independent of its ability to inhibit prostaglandin synthesis. The role of curcumin's antiproliferative effect in human colon cancer remains to be established.
Fred W Rankin, MD: a man of medicine during a time of war and change.

C o Fred Rankin was a man of medicine and of firm opinions. Born in 1886, he lived through the Great Depression and both world wars. He married into one of the great families of American medicine when Edith Mayo became his wife. He served as a field surgeon during World War I and rose to the rank of brigadier general during World War II, serving as chief surgical consultant to the Surgeon General. The surgical consultant system during World War II resulted in a survival rate among our wounded unequalled in the history of warfare. As a civilian, he was president of the Southern Surgical Association in the 1930s and a founding member of the American Board of Surgery. When elected president of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) in 1952, he became only the third person to be elected president of 3 outstanding medical societies: the American Medical Association (AMA; 1942 to 1943), the American Surgical Association (1948), and the ACS; his predecessors were William Mayo and his father-in-law, Charles Mayo. It is easily recognized throughout our archived collection that Dr Rankin was a man of strong opinions, often eloquently delivered. His Presidential Address to the ACS still holds great meaning for today’s surgeon and indeed all practitioners of medicine. In his Presidential Address to the Southern Surgical Association in 1937, he compared surgery with art, stating, “Artists . . . . . display on canvas or in marble the anatomic outlines of the human form, but the surgeon uses the body of his fellowman for his canvas.” On he canvas of Dr Rankin’s life is painted a story of great nterest in the history of medicine. On arrival at the University of Kentucky (May 2007) as he fifth chairman of the Department of Surgery since 964, I began the task of occupying my “new” office. Each f the 4 previous chairmen (Ben Eiseman, Ward Griffin,
A Direct Injection HPLC Procedure for the Quantitation of Theophylline in Blood and Saliva

A rapid and sensitive method for determination of theophylline In serum or saliva specimens utilizing high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) is described. The analysis is performed on 2 /~L of specimen which does not require chemical manipulation prior to analysis. Studies comparing spiked aqueous samples of theophylline to spiked serum samples Indicate that total theophylllne Is determined by this procedure. The method was used to compare capillary and venous blood and saliva theophylllne concentration In healthy adult volunteers after administration of 200 mg theophylllne every six hours for two days. The small sample size required makea the determination Ideal for neonatal and pediatric use.
Improved Positioning Accuracy of the PA10-6CE Robot with Geometric and Flexibility Calibration

Accurate determination of robot geometric and flexibility parameters permits significant reduction of systematic errors and improved end-effector positioning accuracy. We apply a 30-parameter flexible geometric model to the Mitsubishi PA10-6CE robot and reduce mean/peak positional errors from 1.80/2.45 mm to 0.33/0.71 mm while loaded at 44 N.
Confined crystallization in polymer nanolayered films: A review

Recent advances utilizing forced assembly multilayer coextrusion have led to the development of a new approach to study the structure–property relationships of confined polymer crystallization. Confinement of crystalline polymer materials in layer thicknesses ranging from hundreds to tens of nanometers thick, resulted in multilayer films possessing enhanced gas barrier properties. The enhanced gas barrier has been attributed to nanolayer confinement of the crystalline polymer resulting in a highly ordered intralayer lamellae orientation extending over micron or larger scale areas. Research into the confined crystallization mechanism of the multilayered polymer films has resulted in several material case studies as well as an understanding of the chemical and thermodynamic parameters that control the degree and rate of the confinement in multilayer polymer systems. This review highlights our recent studies on the confinement of poly(ethylene oxide), poly(e-caprolactone), polypropylene, and poly(vinylidene fluoride) polymers in multilayered films.
Price Appreciation, Bargaining Power, and the Determinants of Corporate Leasing Policy

This study uses price appreciation and bargaining power measures to determine whether current accounting standards are effective at classifying leases by ownership risk. I use a regression model, and find that there is a positive and significant relationship between changes in capital leases and my proxies for price appreciation and the interaction between price appreciation and bargaining power. I also find, however, that it’s possible that operating leases may be increasing faster, which would discount the theory that these standards are operating properly. These results should be cause for further study on the subject and should be interesting to regulators. Daniel Stone University of Tennessee Advised by: James A. Chyz University of Tennessee May, 2011
Experimental Verification and Full-Scale Deployment of Global Positioning Systems to Monitor the Dynamic Response of Tall Buildings

The Civil Engineering community has long needed methods of accurate global displacement measurement for use in construction and more recently in the areas of structural health monitoring. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) provide one answer to this challenge, with rapid advancements in the available sampling rates and tracking resolution. However, as a relatively new dynamic sensing technology, GPS performance must be thoroughly validated before its application in full scale. This paper details an experimental program with this aim, documenting the performance of a high-precision GPS in terms of its background noise and dynamic tracking ability, while providing position quality thresholds suitable for qualifying the accuracy of tracking in full scale. Given the performance observed in these studies, considerations for full-scale deployment are offered as well as an assessment of its efficacy in monitoring the dynamic motions of a tall building through the Chicago full-scale monitoring project.
Observations on the Fate of Ingested Cholesterol in Man

Tritium-labeled Cholesterol has been used to study several aspects of exogenous cholesterol metabolism in man. The rate and magnitude of the appearance of ingested cholesterol in the various blood compartments has been followed. Fecal excretion of the labeling material was measured. Cholesterol of dietary origin was demonstrated in a human atherosclerotic aorta.
ROOF BOUNDARY EXTRACTION USING MULTIPLE IMAGES

L'extraction des bâtiments en zone urbaine reste l'un des problemes les plus epineux en photogrammetrie. Et pourtant une extraction correcte de ces bâtiments est necessaire pour toutes sortes d'applications comme la cartographie, la constitution de bases de donnees SIG en ville et l'urbanisme. On decrit dans cet article une nouvelle methode pour extraire les contours filde-fer en 3D des bâtiments, a l'aide d'un algorithme d'appariement des lignes traitant des images multiples. S'il est certes suffisant d'avoir un seul couple d'images pour determiner la position 3D de details visiblement homologues sur les images, ce ne l'est pas pour resoudre le probleme plus general d'extraction des bâtiments en presence d'elements sombres ou occultes sur ces bâtiments. C'est pourquoi on utilise quatre images dans cette recherche. On commence par segmenter les images en regions. Puis on classe ces regions selon qu'il s'agit de regions contenant des toits ou sans toits en se basant sur les formes, les dimensions et les valeurs de densite. On identifie la position des pixels qui delimitent les regions pourvues de toits, ce qui en definit les pourtours. On etablit la correspondance entre regions homologues en operant par couples associant toutes les images, en se basant sur les valeurs de densite, la forme et les dimensions des regions et la contrainte d'epipolarite. On apparie les segments de droites-images dans les regions homologues par un traitement simultane de toutes les images et en identifiant des plans qui contiennent tous ces segments. On intersecte ensuite tous ces plans simultanement et l'on ne retient que les solutions compatibles geometriquement. On fournit les resultats obtenus a partir d'images aeriennes a forts recouvrements longitudinal et lateral et on les evalue. Ces resultats montrent la precision et l'exhaustivite que permet cette methode dans l'extraction de bâtiments complexes en zone urbaine. La precision moyenne sur les coordonnees est d'environ 0.80 metre pour des photographies aeriennes au 1:4000 scannees a 30 μm. Sur six bâtiments etudies, le taux de reussite dans la detection des segments est de 98%.
Distillers dried grains with solubles in pullet diets

SUMMARY A study was conducted to test the effects of dietary inclusion rate of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) in Single Comb White Leghorn pullet diets. Four hundred twenty Hy-Line W-36 Single Comb White Leghorn pullet chicks were fed diets containing 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0, or 12.5% DDGS from 1 d to 16 wk of age. Starter, grower, developer, and prelay diets were formulated to meet the bird requirements and were fed from 1 d to 6 wk, 7 to 9 wk, 10 to 15 wk, and 16 wk of age, respectively. Distillers dried grains with solubles was provided by Dakota Gold and contained 2,798 kcal/kg of ME and 26.7% CP. Average feed intake was similar among treatments regardless of DDGS levels, with a feed intake comparable with that in the Hy-Line W-36 manual. The overall pullet BW were also similar among dietary levels of DDGS. A time × treatment interaction approached significance (P = 0.07) for pullet BW; pullets fed 12.5% DDGS had greater BW than birds in the other dietary treatments at 14, 15, and 16 wk of age. Dietary treatments had no effect on mortality rate, resulting in only 0.07% total mortality. In summary, feeding up to 12.5% DDGS had no negative effect on growth performance and N and P retention levels. Nitrogen output increased at low levels of DDGS (2.5 and 5.0%), and P output decreased as DDGS levels increased. Feeding 12.5% DDGS had an economic benefit compared with feeding a corn-soybean meal diet.
Preliminary crystallographic studies of the regulatory domain of response regulator YycF from an essential two‐component signal transduction system

YycGF is a crucial signal transduction system for the regulation of cell-wall metabolism in low-G+C Gram-positive bacteria, which include many important human pathogens. The response regulator YycF receives signals from its cognate histidine kinase YycG through a phosphotransfer reaction and elicits responses through regulation of gene expression. The N-terminal regulatory domain of YycF from Bacillus subtilis was overproduced and purified. The protein was crystallized and X-ray data were collected to 1.95 A resolution with a completeness of 97.7% and an overall R merge of 7.7%. The crystals belonged to space group P3121, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 59.50, c = 79.06 A.
Fully automated large form factor (2′ X 3′) four-port differential 20 Ghz vector network analyzer test system with real time link characterization

We present the hardware, software, and operational details of a fully automated robotic flying head tester capable of measuring 4-port S-parameters on large (up to 2'times3') printed wiring boards (PWBs). The system features real-time complex compliance testing based on frequency domain analysis, time domain analysis, and/or a Fourier-transform-based technique enabling very rapid time domain link simulation of measured nets in a complete system environment. The system is equipped with a flexible, compliant-pin, differential probe design that supports frequencies up to 6 GHz. The system employs a corresponding SOLT-based calibration method that places the calibration references plane at the probe tips.
Vancomycin Treatment's Association with Delayed Intestinal Tissue Injury, Clostridial Overgrowth and Recurrence of Clostridium difficile Infection in Mice

Antibiotic treatment, including vancomycin, for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has been associated with recurrence of disease in up to 25% of infected persons. This study investigated the effects of vancomycin on the clinical outcomes, intestinal histopathology, and anaerobic community during and after treatment in a murine model of CDI. C57BL/6 mice were challenged with C. difficile strain VPI 10463 after pretreatment with an antibiotic cocktail. Twenty-four hours after infection, mice were treated daily with vancomycin, nitazoxanide, fidaxomicin, or metronidazaole for 5 days. Mice were monitored for either 6 or 12 days postinfection. Clinical, diarrhea, and histopathology scores were measured. Cecal contents or stool samples were assayed for clostridial or Bacteroides DNA and C. difficile toxins A and B. Vancomycin treatment of infected mice was associated with improved clinical, diarrhea, and histopathology scores and survival during treatment. However, after discontinuation of the drug, clinical scores and histopathology were worse in treated mice than in untreated infected controls. At the end of the study, 62% of the vancomycin-treated mice succumbed to recurrence, with an overall mortality rate equivalent to that of the untreated infected control group. Fidaxomicin-treated mice had outcomes similar to those of vancomycin-treated mice. C. difficile predominated over Bacteroides in cecal contents of vancomycin-treated mice, similar to findings for untreated infected mice. Decreasing the duration of vancomycin treatment from 5 days to 1 day decreased recurrence and deaths. In conclusion, vancomycin improved clinical scores and histopathology acutely but was associated with poor outcome posttreatment in C. difficile-infected mice. Decreasing vancomycin exposure may decrease relapse and improve survival in CDI.
Identification and localization of a sea urchin Notch homologue: insights into vegetal plate regionalization and Notch receptor regulation

The specifications of cell types and germ-layers that arise from the vegetal plate of the sea urchin embryo are thought to be regulated by cell-cell interactions, the molecular basis of which are unknown. The Notch intercellular signaling pathway mediates the specification of numerous cell fates in both invertebrate and vertebrate development. To gain insights into mechanisms underlying the diversification of vegetal plate cell types, we have identified and made antibodies to a sea urchin homolog of Notch (LvNotch). We show that in the early blastula embryo, LvNotch is absent from the vegetal pole and concentrated in basolateral membranes of cells in the animal half of the embryo. However, in the mesenchyme blastula embryo LvNotch shifts strikingly in subcellular localization into a ring of cells which surround the central vegetal plate. This ring of LvNotch delineates a boundary between the presumptive secondary mesoderm and presumptive endoderm, and has an asymmetric bias towards the dorsal side of the vegetal plate. Experimental perturbations and quantitative analysis of LvNotch expression demonstrate that the mesenchyme blastula vegetal plate contains both animal/vegetal and dorsoventral molecular organization even before this territory invaginates to form the archenteron. Furthermore, these experiments suggest roles for the Notch pathway in secondary mesoderm and endoderm lineage segregation, and in the establishment of dorsoventral polarity in the endoderm. Finally, the specific and differential subcellular expression of LvNotch in apical and basolateral membrane domains provides compelling evidence that changes in membrane domain localization of LvNotch are an important aspect of Notch receptor function.
Slow Crack Growth in Dental Composites

The fracture properties of selected commercial composite dental restorative materials and a model composite system were studied to determine the influences of the reinforcing phase, exposure to water, and particle/polymer adhesion on crack propagation. The content of inorganic fillers ranged from 36 to 62 volume percent. In the model system the polymer phase approximated that of the commercial products, a constant size distribution of quartz fillers was used, and polymer/particle adhesion was varied. The double torsion test method was employed to measure relationships between applied stress intensity factor and velocity of crack propagation during stable crack growth. In all systems, cracks propagated through regions of high stress concentration at the low end of the velocity range studied (10 −7 m/sec to 10 −3 m/sec). Wet materials fractured at lower stress intensities than dry materials at all velocities. At high velocities unstable (stick-slip) growth occurred in dry materials with strong filler/matrix interfaces and in wet specimens with initially strong interfaces and less than 41 volume percent filler. In wet conditions, materials with poorly bonded fillers fractured by slow crack growth at stress intensities 10% to 30% below the levels of composites with strong interfaces.
Implementation of a Multi-threaded Framework for Large- scale Scientific Applications

The CMS experiment has recently completed the development of a multi-threaded capable application framework. In this paper, we will discuss the design, implementation and application of this framework to production applications in CMS. For the 2015 LHC run, this functionality is particularly critical for both our online and offline production applications, which depend on faster turn-around times and a reduced memory footprint relative to before. These applications are complex codes, each including a large number of physics-driven algorithms. While the framework is capable of running a mix of thread-safe and "legacy" modules, algorithms running in our production applications need to be thread-safe for optimal use of this multi-threaded framework at a large scale. Towards this end, we discuss the types of changes, which were necessary for our algorithms to achieve good performance of our multithreaded applications in a full-scale application. Finally performance numbers for what has been achieved for the 2015 run are presented.
Coulomb disorder in three-dimensional Dirac systems

In three-dimensional materials with a Dirac spectrum, weak short-ranged disorder is essentially irrelevant near the Dirac point. This is manifestly not the case for Coulomb disorder, where the long-ranged nature of the potential produced by charged impurities implies large fluctuations of the disorder potential even when impurities are sparse, and these fluctuations are screened by the formation of electron/hole puddles. In this paper, I present a theory of such nonlinear screening of Coulomb disorder in three-dimensional Dirac systems, and I derive the typical magnitude of the disorder potential, the corresponding density of states, and the size and density of electron/hole puddles. The resulting conductivity is also discussed.
Foliage Consumption and Development of the Fall Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) as Affected by the Interactions of a Parasitoid, Campoletis sonorensis (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), and Resistant Corn Genotypes

Larval weights and leaf-area consumption for the fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), were significantly reduced by feeding on resistant corn genotypes. Parasitism of FAW by Campoletis sonorensis (Cameron) resulted in further reductions in FAW weights and leaf-area consumption. Differences in parasitoid pupation, pupal weight, and time to adult emergence were not significantly affected by host FAW feeding on the resistant corn genotypes.
The genus Ecpantheria (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae)

The present paper is primarily to call attention to certain structural characters in the genus Ecpantheria, which have escaped the attention of previous revisers.
Human Plasma and Amino Acids as Moderators of Uptake and Metabolic Consequences of Antifolates in WIL-2 and Human Leukemia Cells

Plasma and medium composition significantly affect cellular association of the lipid-soluble antifolate 2,4-diamino-5-(3',4'-dichlorophenyl)-6-methylpyrimidine (DDMP). This was demonstrated by measuring association of labeled drug with cells and by assaying the antimetabolic effect of DDMP on incorporation of deoxyuridine into DNA. Uptake of both aqueous and lipid-soluble antifolates was substantially reduced in the human lymphoblastoid cell line WIL-2 when Eagle's minimum essential medium (EMEM) was substituted for a basal salts solution containing glucose [DDMP approximatley 50%, methotrexate (MTX) approximately 30%]. Uptake of DDMP, however, was inhibited by the amino acid fraction of EMEM or glutamine alone, whereas MTX uptake was unaffected by amino acids. Further studies with human leukemia cells showed that DDMP was only about 25% as effective an inhibitor of deoxyuridine incorporation in autologous human plasma when compared to its inhibitory effect in RPMI-1640 medium MTX inhibition of deoxyuridine incorporation in these cells was essentially unaffected by substitution of autologous human plasma for RPMI-1640 medium. Replacing EMEM with pooled human plasma resulted in a 60-70% decrease in DDMP uptake but had only a marginal effect upon MTX uptake. Thus the choice of medium is important in studies of lipid-soluble antifolates such as DDMP that have a high affinity for cellular and medium lipoprotein components.
Experimental Study on the Wastewater Treatment of Medium-Density Fibreboard Production of Fenton Reagent

The removal mechanisms of COD and formal dehyde in the wastewater of medium-density fibreboard production by Fenton reagent is discussed.The best reaction condition and the experiment by combined Fenton reagent and biochemical process are studied.When the addition of 30.0% H2O2 is 1.50 mL/L,the addition of Fe2+ is 200 mg/L,pH=3.5,and the reaction time is 20 min,the removal rate of COD and formaldehyde in the wastewater are up to 98.0% and 99.7% respectively.
Research on High Performance AC/DC Switching Converters

This paper analyzes and discusses topology of two-stage PFC converters,and the objective of the research is to development a new converter topology i.e.AC/DC two-stage PFC schemes to produce a new class of AC/DC converter with high performance and higher efficiency and increased reliability.This is achieved by analysis,design and circuit ex-periments,as well as combining the advantages of existing single-stage and two-stage AC/DC converters.
The standard of care in oncology is unacceptable.

In medicine today, we all promise to offer the best medical care available to each of our patients, and I would argue that most of us believe we are delivering on this promise. But how do we know that we are living up to that promise? Outside of board exams and CME requirements, there is virtually no internal scoring of our performance. The legal community has been happy to judge us, and they created a legal termstandard of careagainst which we are all to be compared. The original intent of this term was to define a minimum level of care, a lowest common denominator. If we at least offered the standard of care, we were delivering acceptable care. We would not be committing malpractice. This is nothing to brag about, but at least we were not dangerous.
Craniosynostosis and Congenital Craniofacial Disorders

Craniosynostosis refers to the premature fusion of cranial sutures and is often associated with ophthalmologic comorbidities. These associations include, but are not limited to, significant refractive errors, strabismus, ocular adnexal and orbital malformations, and structural abnormalities of the globe. Diagnosis and treatment of the various craniosynostoses and related syndromes can be difficult and is often managed by utilizing a team of physicians who specialize in craniofacial disorders. The role of the ophthalmologist in monitoring the visual development of these patients is extremely important. He or she must be knowledgeable of the common and potentially sight-threatening ocular findings in craniosynostosis.
Design of a high power, wideband power amplifier using AlGaN/GaN HEMT

A wideband Gallium Nitride (GaN) HEMT power amplifier (PA) achieving 7.6W output power over 1.1 GHz bandwidth at f o = 2.75 GHz is presented. A systematic design and synthesis of wideband low-pass matching networks realizing optimal fundamental impedance is applied. These techniques have produced amplifiers with increased output power, efficiency and very large fractional bandwidth. Additionally, the PA can achieve a maximum 61% power added efficiency. This work seeks to maximize the usable bandwidth of the GaN HEMT PA to the maximum possible operating frequency.
Business models and dynamic capabilities

Abstract Business models, dynamic capabilities, and strategy are interdependent. The strength of a firm's dynamic capabilities help shape its proficiency at business model design. Through its effect on organization design, a business model influences the firm's dynamic capabilities and places bounds on the feasibility of particular strategies. While these relationships are understood at a theoretical level, there is a need for future empirical work to flesh out the details. In particular, studies that provide a better understanding of business model innovation, implementation, and change will also shed light on important aspects of dynamic capabilities.
Organizational Issues in Development and Implementation of Interactive Systems

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the effect of organizational differences on system and application implementation—the process of bringing systems into organizations, including adoption and use—and on development, which also takes place in a broad range of settings. The organizational context of computer use is often clear. Even in an apparently organization-free setting, group and organizational influence is felt. The organizational context affects the implementation of computer systems—their introduction and use. The chapter argues that understanding the organizational context of use is critical for designers and developers. In addition organizational context affects interactive system development because development takes place in different kinds of organizations. Small software start-up companies provide certain possibilities, constraints, priorities, and pressures. Development labs that employ thousands of people are a very different context. Other experiences are still encountered in the systems group of a large user organization such as a hospital, bank, or government agency. Organizational differences affect all aspects of development, including the design of human-computer dialogues and interfaces.
Heuristically initialized motion planning in a low cost consumer robot

In this paper we address the problem of designing a consumer robot capable of manipulating objects typically present in a home. One reason for lack of consumer adoption of manipulator robots is that planning for grasps while negotiating obstacles is costly in terms of time, power, and computational resources. Also, robot arms are generally expensive, thus confining their usage to research labs and the industry. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First we present the hardware design of robot arms resulting in an order of magnitude reduction in cost over the state of the art. Second, we propose an efficient motion planning algorithm which is able to generate motion plans for grasping consistently within 1s everytime using heuristic initialization. We evaluate the algorithm on a challenging task of grasping objects in a cluttered home environment, using a proprietary physical system using two low-cost 7 DoF arms, 3 fingered underactuated hands, and a 1 DoF torso and neck on a holonomic drive base.
Primary care providers' discussion of fall prevention approaches with their older adult patients-DocStyles, 2014

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults. The American and British Geriatric Societies recommend a fall risk assessment to identify risk factors and guide interventions to prevent these falls. This study describes the self-reported discussion of fall prevention approaches used by primary care providers (PCPs)-family practitioners, internists and nurse practitioners-who treat older adults. Results are described overall and by PCP type. We analyzed a sample of 1210 U.S. PCPs who participated in the 2014 DocStyles survey. PCPs reported on their recommendation of fall prevention approaches including general exercise, Tai Chi, medication adjustments, home safety modifications, vitamin D supplements, assistive devices, alarm systems, and referral to physical therapy, foot specialist, or vision specialist. Frequencies and adjusted odds ratios for fall prevention approaches were assessed by provider and practice characteristics. Self-reported discussion of any fall prevention approaches was 89.3%. Controlling for provider and practice characteristics, there were significant differences for some approaches by provider type. Family practitioners were more likely to suggest home modification [adjusted Odds Ratio: 1.8 (1.3-2.4)], exercise [aOR: 2.0 (1.5-2.5)], and Tai Chi [aOR: 1.5 (1.0-2.2)] than internists. Nurse practitioners were more likely to suggest home modification [aOR: 2.1 (1.3-3.4)] and less likely to suggest vitamin D [aOR: 0.6 (0.4-1.0)] than internists. Fall prevention suggestions vary by type of PCP. Dissemination of geriatric guidelines should include all PCPs who routinely see older adults.
Does the Road Traveled Matter? Natural Versus Prematurely Induced Arousal from Torpor

Although hibernating animals spontaneously arouse from torpor at regular intervals, the practice of prematurely inducing arousal is common. Herein we review the many differences between natural and prematurely induced arousal to address the question of whether these two paths to euthermy are truly synonymous events. We present data demonstrating that the duration of the interbout arousal (IBA) is significantly reduced following a prematurely induced arousal and that the time required to respond to the induction stimulus is influenced by the duration of time spent in torpor. There are numerous alterations in intracellular and whole animal physiology when arousal is prematurely induced; thus we recommend that careful consideration be given to experiments utilizing this type of arousal mechanism.
Minimal Assumptions for Efficient Mercurial Commitments.

Mercurial commitments were introduced by Chase et al. [8] and form a key building block for constructing zero-knowledge sets (introduced by Micali, Rabin and Kilian [27]). Unlike regular commitments, which are strictly binding, mercurial commitments allow for certain amount of (limited) freedom. The notion of [8] also required that mercurial commitments should be equivocable given a certain trapdoor, although the notion is interesting even without this condition. While trivially implying regular (trapdoor) commitments, it was not clear from the prior work if the converse was true: Chase et al. [8] gave several constructions of mercurial commitments from various incompatible assumptions, leaving open if they can be built from any (trapdoor) commitment scheme, and, in particular, from any one-way function. We give an affirmative answer to this question, by giving two simple constructions of mercurial commitments from any trapdoor bit commitment scheme. By plugging in various (trapdoor) bit commitment schemes, we get all the efficient constructions from [27, 8], as well as several immediate new constructions. Our results imply that (a) mercurial commitments can be viewed as surprisingly simple variations of regular (trapdoor) commitments (and, thus, can be built from one-way functions and, more efficiently, from a variety of other assumptions); and (b) the existence of zero-knowledge sets is equivalent to the existence of collisionresistant hash functions (moreover, the former can be efficiently built from the latter and trapdoor commitments). Of independent interest, we also give a stronger and yet much simpler definition of mercurial commitments than that of [8] (which is also met by our constructions). Overall, we believe that our results eludicate the notion of mercurial commitments, and better explain the rational following the previous constructions of [27, 8]. ∗This is an independent part of the joint paper with Dario Catalano and Ivan Visconti from TCC’06 [6]. †Department of Computer Science, New York University, 251 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10012, USA. Email: dodis@cs.nyu.edu
PASTIS-3D — A Parallel Finite Element Projection Code for the Time- Dependent Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations

PASTIS-3D (Projection Algorithm Solver for Time-dependent Incompressible flow Simulations in 3 Dimensions) is a computer program for the solution of the incompressible time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations. It uses the implicit projection-2 algorithm [9], which is 2nd order accurate [16] for the velocities. It works with a data parallel variant of the conjugate gradient method [13], [10] to run efficiently on parallel systems such as workstation clusters and the IBM Scalable POWERparallel Systems (9076 SPx). The parallel data structure is familiar from domain decomposition. But, we use a parallel implementation of a sequential algorithm and hence obtain the desired sequential results.
Facing up to the hard question of consciousness

The so-called hard problem of consciousness is a chimera, a distraction from the hard question of consciousness, which is once some content reaches consciousness, 'then what happens?'. This question is seldom properly asked, for reasons good and bad, but when asked it opens up avenues of research that promise to dissolve the hard problem and secure a scientifically sound theory of how the human brain produces the (sometimes illusory) convictions that mislead us.This article is part of the theme issue 'Perceptual consciousness and cognitive access'.
The effect of gubernatorial political parties on monitoring and enforcement of federal environmental regulation: evidence from the Clean Water Act

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, states should inspect each of their major water polluters at least once a year. However, studies have shown that the frequency and stringency of inspections depend on factors such as state budgets, state employee costs, and Congressional voting patterns and committee memberships. This paper adds to this literature by examining the effect of gubernatorial political party affiliation on Clean Water Act monitoring and enforcement. Using a regression discontinuity design approach, we find evidence that states with Democratic governors inspect a smaller percentage of their major water polluters, and that they inspect less stringently, compared to states with Republican governors; enforcement actions, however, are similar across states. We find no evidence that these differences in inspections lead to differences in compliance, suggesting that Democratic and Republican governors use different methods to generate compliance with the Clean Water Act.
Measurement of the Rydberg Constant with Trapped Rydberg Atoms

A measurement of the Rydberg constant using cold circular Rydberg atoms is proposed. Since these atoms have long lifetimes, negligible quantum electrodynamics and no nuclear-overlap corrections, the measurement can shed new light on the “proton radius puzzle”. The atoms are trapped in an optical lattice. Transitions are driven using a lattice-modulation technique to perform Doppler-free sub-THz spectroscopy; the transition frequencies yield the Rydberg constant. The selected transitions are free of first-order Zeeman and Stark shifts. Systematic uncertainties due to lattice-induced shifts, core-polarization, second-order Zeeman and Stark shifts, etc are estimated.
Virtual Music Scores, Copyright and the Promotion of a Marginalized Technology

Virtual music scores are produced from highly manipulable instructions about the location and other attributes of digitally rendered musical symbols and sounds. These instructions, compiled in one of the hundreds of codes developed for the graphical representation of music, direct the arrangement of pixels into a sequence of characters of symbolic music notation. They typically also comprise MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) instructions that enable sound producing machinery to recreate cfonsistently, across audio platforms, an audible rendition of the visual score. Over seventy percent of professional quality music scores are now produced using virtual score technology yet very few of these are distributed in any format other than printed scores. This is regrettable because virtual scores offer musicians remarkable new creative freedoms and efficiencies. They are also, however, more susceptible to unauthorized copying than are hardcopy scores; hence publishers are reluctant to distribute their scores in this format. Publishers of editions of public domain musical works - that comprise most of the Classical music canon - are particularly chary of distribution of virtual scores. This is because their copyright interest in these editions tends to be attenuated, extending only to original information that editors may have added, but not to the considerable “sweat of the brow” they may have invested in producing scores that reflect the original author’s intentions. This article suggests that to ensure a future for music scores publishers of public domain and copyrightable music scores alike might find that the best means to capitalize upon their publications - while also promoting more widespread adoption of virtual score technology - are contractual restrictions and access and copy controls managed by aggregators of virtual music scores.
On the Impact of Instruction Address Translation Overhead

Even on modern processors with their ever larger instruction translation lookaside buffers (TLBs), we find that a variety of widely used applications, ranging from compilers to web user-interface frameworks, suffer from high instruction address translation overheads. In this paper, we explore the efficacy of different operating system-level approaches to automatically reducing this instruction address translation overhead. Specifically, we evaluate the use of automatic superpage promotion and page table sharing as well as a transparent padding mechanism that enables small code regions to be mapped using superpages. Overall, we find that the combined effects of these different approaches can reduce an application's total execution cycles by up to 18%. Surprisingly, we find that improving address translation performance in the first-level instruction TLB can significantly reduce the address translation overhead for data accesses. The overall reduction in execution cycles is more than double the instruction address translation overhead on stock FreeBSD, demonstrating that data address translation and access synergistically benefit from less contention in the caches and TLBs that might be shared across instruction and data.