cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
System Analysis Applied to Autonomy: Application to Human-Rated Lunar/Mars Landers

System analysis is an essential technical discipline for the modern design of spacecraft and their associated missions. Specifically, system analysis is a powerful aid in identifying and prioritizing the required technologies needed for mission and/or vehicle development efforts. Maturation of intelligent systems technologies, and their incorporation into spacecraft systems, are dictating the development of new analysis tools, and incorporation of such tools into existing system analysis methodologies, in order to fully capture the trade-offs of autonomy on vehicle and mission success. A "system analysis of autonomy" methodology will be outlined and applied to a set of notional human-rated lunar/Mars lander missions toward answering these questions: 1. what is the optimum level of vehicle autonomy and intelligence required? and 2. what are the specific attributes of an autonomous system implementation essential for a given surface lander mission/application in order to maximize mission success? Future human-rated lunar/Mars landers, though nominally under the control of their crew, will, nonetheless, be highly automated systems. These automated systems will range from mission/flight control functions, to vehicle health monitoring and prognostication, to life-support and other "housekeeping" functions. The optimum degree of autonomy afforded to these spacecraft systems/functions has profound implications from an exploration system architecture standpoint.
Nonmast-cell histamine kinetics I. Decline of 3H-histamine in tissues of the female rat

Abstract The kinetics of exogenous 3H-histamine decline in vivo has been examined in various tissues of the female rat. Based on previous data regarding amounts of firmly bound tissue histamine released by compound 48/80, steady-state levels of loosely bound “nonmast-cell” histamine have been estimated. On the assumption that the latter are accessible for equilibration with exogenous 3H-histamine, rates of synthesis of (“nascent”) nonmast-cell histamine have been calculated. Synthesis rates so derived are in good relative agreement with those indicated by in vitro histamine forming capacity (HFC) data for several tissues. It is suggested that in vivo isotopic results and the in vitro HFC or tissue histidine decarboxylase activity may reflect the same biochemical phenomenon -- presumably the synthesis of loosely bound histamine in dynamic endogenous pools.
Seasonal changes in component indices and chemical composition in Katharina tunicata

Abstract The biochemical composition of Katharina tunicata has been studied. Of the body components only the gonads and the digestive gland showed seasonal changes in size. The protein level of gonads was maximal in gravid and minimal in immature condition; the reverse was true of the carbohydrate level. Lipid level was highest in the gravid ovary. Water levels were highest in the tissues of head and radula, mantle, and gut and lowest in the digestive gland, foot, and gonad. The body component indices were found to vary little with size of specimens over a tenfold range.
Heart rate variability and the prone position under general versus spinal anesthesia

Abstract Study Objective: To evaluate heart rate (HR) variability in the prone position with power spectral heart rate (PSHR) analysis during spinal and general anesthesia. Design: Prospective, clinical evaluation of HR variability in the prone position. Setting: Tertiary care teaching hospital. Patients: 20 healthy, ASA physical status I and II patients scheduled for elective lumbar spine surgery in the prone position. Interventions: Anesthetic technique was either a standard general anesthetic or spinal anesthetic, based on the preference of the patient. Power spectral heart rate, HR, and blood pressure (BP) readings were determined prior to anesthetic intervention and as soon as a stable PSHR reading was available in the prone position. Measurements and Main Results: Heart rate and BP were recorded at baseline prior to anesthesia and at the time of stable PSHR data in the prone position. Power spectral heart rate data included low-frequency activity (LFa), high-frequency activity (HFa), and the ratio (LFa/HFa). Spinal anesthesia level was recorded by thoracic dermatome at complete onset. Data were collected from 20 patients; 12 patients chose spinal anesthesia and 8 chose general anesthesia. The prone position resulted in significant increase in HR in the spinal group and significant decrease in BP in the general anesthesia group. Low-frequency activity and LFa/HFa ratio were unchanged in the spinal anesthesia group and were significantly decreased in the general anesthesia group. Spinal level was T8.7. Conclusions: The association of less change in LFa activity and preservation of BP on assumption of the prone position in patients during low spinal anesthesia suggests better preservation of autonomic nervous system compensatory mechanisms during low spinal anesthesia than with general anesthesia.
The effect of superplasticizer molecular weight on its adsorption on, and dispersion of, cement

The effect of molecular weight of a superplasticizer on the adsorption on cement was investigated by microelectrophoresis and UV-absorption techniques. The purpose of the experiments was to investigate any differences in the magnitude of the Zeta Potential (ZP) and in the amount of superplasticizer adsorbed by using sulfonated polystyrenes of different molecular weight, MW = 4,000 g/mole, MW = 16,000 g/mole, MW = 31,000 g/mole, and MW = 70,000 g/mole. The results show that the superplasticizer with the largest molecular weight gives the largest negative ZP, and would therefore be assumed to have a higher dispersing capability. UV-absorption results have shown that the polymer of MW = 16,000 g/mole is the most adsorbed of the four superplasticizers, whereas the polymers of MW = 4,000 g/mole, MW = 31,000 g/mole, and MW = 70,000 g/mole are less adsorbed, with MW = 70,000 g/mole being the least adsorbed. That the polymer which is the least adsorbed gives the highest negative ZP is explained by the diffuse double-layer theory.
Integrating Parallel and Distributed Computing Topics into an Undergraduate CS Curriculum

We present changes to our undergraduate computer science curriculum for a small liberal arts college. The changes are designed to incorporate parallel and distributed computing topics into all levels of our curriculum, with the goal of ensuring that all graduating CS majors have exposure to, and experience with, parallel and distributed computing. Our effort is motivated by the ACM/IEEE Ironman Curriculum, which includes a increased focus on these important topics. In addition, we use the NSF/IEEE-TCPP model curriculum as a guide in our effort. Because of the small size of our department, and the breadth constraints of a liberal arts college, we face some unique challenges. Our multi-year effort involves at least six courses in our curriculum. Of these courses, one is a new introductory-level course, while the others are existing courses whose content has been modified to include more focus on these important topics. We present our curricular changes and we discuss an initial evaluation of the first implementation of these changes.
Declaring life at the crossroads of death: Victims’ anti‐death penalty views and prosecutors’ charging decisions

(1999). Declaring life at the crossroads of death: Victims’ anti‐death penalty views and prosecutors’ charging decisions. Criminal Justice Ethics: Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 41-57.
Land surface phenology, climatic variation, and institutional change: Analyzing agricultural land cover change in Kazakhstan

Abstract Kazakhstan is the second largest country to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Consequent to the abrupt institutional changes surrounding the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Kazakhstan has reportedly undergone extensive land cover/land use change. Were the institutional changes sufficiently great to affect land surface phenology at spatial resolutions and extents relevant to mesoscale meteorological models? To explore this question, we used the NDVI time series (1985–1988 and 1995–1999) from the Pathfinder Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Land (PAL) dataset, which consists of 10 days maximum NDVI composites at a spatial resolution of 8 km. Daily minimum and maximum temperatures were extracted from the NCEP Reanalysis Project and 10 days composites of accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD) were produced. We selected for intensive study seven agricultural areas ranging from regions with rain-fed spring wheat cultivation in the north to regions of irrigated cotton and rice in the south. We applied three distinct but complementary statistical analyses: (1) nonparametric testing of sample distributions; (2) simple time series analysis to evaluate trends and seasonality; and (3) simple regression models describing NDVI as a quadratic function of AGDD. The irrigated areas displayed different temporal developments of NDVI between 1985–1988 and 1995–1999. As the temperature regime between the two periods was not significantly different, we conclude that observed differences in the temporal development of NDVI resulted from changes in agricultural practices. In the north, the temperature regime was also comparable for both periods. Based on extant socioeconomic studies and our model analyses, we conclude that the changes in the observed land surface phenology in the northern regions are caused by large increases in fallow land dominated by weedy species and by grasslands under reduced grazing pressure. Using multiple lines of evidence allowed us to build a case of whether differences in land surface phenology were mostly the result of anthropogenic influences or interannual climatic fluctuations.
A tree-structured adaptive network for function approximation in high-dimensional spaces

Nonlinear function approximation is often solved by finding a set of coefficients for a finite number of fixed nonlinear basis functions. However, if the input data are drawn from a high-dimensional space, the number of required basis functions grows exponentially with dimension, leading many to suggest the use of adaptive nonlinear basis functions whose parameters can be determined by iterative methods. The author proposes a technique based on the idea that for most of the data, only a few dimensions of the input may be necessary to compute the desired output function. Additional input dimensions are incorporated only where needed. The learning procedure grows a tree whose structure depends upon the input data and the function to be approximated. This technique has a fast learning algorithm with no local minima once the network shape is fixed, and it can be used to reduce the number of required measurements in situations where there is a cost associated with sensing. Three examples are given: controlling the dynamics of a simulated planar two-joint robot arm, predicting the dynamics of the chaotic Mackey-Glass equation, and predicting pixel values in real images from pixel values above and to the left. >
German colonialism, visual culture, and modern memory

edited by Volker M. Langbehn New York: Routledge, 2010, 224 pages ISBN: 10: 0-415-99779-8 Price $95.00 Reviewed by Cyril Reade, Rochester Institute of Technology This volume presents selected paper...
Lithologic mapping in the Mountain Pass, California area using Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data

Abstract Evaluation of an Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) image of the Mountain Pass, California area indicates that several important lithologic groups can be mapped in areas with good exposure by using spectral-matching techniques. The three visible and six near-infrared bands, which have 15-m and 30-m resolution, respectively, were calibrated by using in situ measurements of spectral reflectance. Calcitic rocks were distinguished from dolomitic rocks by using matched-filter processing in which image spectra were used as references for selected spectral categories. Skarn deposits and associated bright coarse marble were mapped in contact metamorphic zones related to intrusion of Mesozoic and Tertiary granodioritic rocks. Fe-muscovite, which is common in these intrusive rocks, was distinguished from Al-muscovite present in granitic gneisses and Mesozoic granite. Quartzose rocks were readily discriminated, and carbonate rocks were mapped as a single broad unit through analysis of the 90-m resolution, five-band surface emissivity data, which is produced as a standard product at the EROS Data Center. Three additional classes resulting from spectral-angle mapper processing ranged from (1) a broad granitic rock class (2) to predominately granodioritic rocks and (3) a more mafic class consisting mainly of mafic gneiss, amphibolite and variable mixtures of carbonate rocks and silicate rocks.
Mineralogical characterization of Mars Science Laboratory candidate landing sites from THEMIS and TES data

Abstract Data from the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) and the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) instruments are used to assess the mineralogic and dust cover characteristics of landing regions proposed for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Candidate regions examined in this study are Eberswalde crater, Gale crater, Holden crater, Mawrth Vallis, Miyamoto crater, Nili Fossae Trough, and south Meridiani Planum. Compositional units identified in each region from TES and THEMIS data are distinguished by variations in hematite, olivine, pyroxene and high-silica phase abundance, whereas no units are distinguished by elevated phyllosilicate or sulfate abundance. Though phyllosilicate minerals have been identified in all sites using near-infrared observations, these minerals are not unambiguously detected using either TES spectral index or deconvolution analysis methods. For some of the sites, small phyllosilicate outcrop sizes relative to the TES field of view likely hinder phyllosilicate mineral detection. Porous texture and/or small particle size ( 15%, possibly up to ∼40%) of a high-silica phase such as amorphous silica or zeolite. High-silica phase abundance over phyllosilicate-bearing surfaces in Mawrth Vallis is higher than that of surrounding surfaces by 10–15%. With the exception of these high-silica surfaces in Mawrth Vallis, regions examined in this study exhibit similar bulk mineralogical compositions to that of most low-albedo regions on Mars; the MSL scientific payload will thus be able to provide important information on surface materials typical of low-albedo regions in addition to investigating the origin of phyllosilicate and/or sulfate deposits. With the exception of Gale crater, all of the landing sites have relatively low dust cover compared to classic high-albedo regions (Tharsis, Arabia and Elysium) and to previous landing sites in Gusev Crater, Utopia Planitia, and Chryse Planitia.
Probabilistic Vulnerability Scenarios for Horizontally Curved Steel I-Girder Bridges Under Earthquake Loads

Horizontally curved steel I-girder bridges are located in all seismic zones in the United States. Research has shown that damage can occur to steel bridge components under earthquake loads. Probabilistic-based techniques are one tool that can be used to assess more accurately the seismic vulnerability of curved bridges for various damage states and at various seismic hazard levels. To examine probabilistic-based vulnerability criteria efficiently, the study used response surface metamodels (RSMs) in conjunction with Monte Carlo simulations to generate horizontally curved steel I-girder bridge fragility curves. The generated curves were then used to evaluate bridge damage in terms of previously published structure damage states. The use of RSMs reduces the required number of computer simulations needed to generate the fragility curves. The paper summarizes the fragility curve generation procedure for a group of horizontally curved steel I-girder bridges using RSMs in association with Monte Carlo simulation. Probabilistic vulnerability scenarios are presented via application to existing horizontally curved steel bridges located in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland to estimate seismic demands for those bridges and to generate fragility curves.
Pronouns of address in Swedish: social class semantics and a changing system

One who has lived soon an entire century must learn to change all her habits, and habits of address surely are not the easiest. What comes simply and naturally in one place is wrong and ill-mannered in another (Former servant-girl, informant KU 2849).Even an ordinary simple worker has today became aware of the fact that he also is a human being, and that the great machinery would not function if he did not play his part. An old conservative postmaster's wife said once to my mother, who was the simple wife of a worker: ‘I think things now are not the way they should be; the workers' conditions are so good that they dress so well that nowadays one cannot tell the difference between workers and fine folk.’ This utterance from a woman who believed she belonged to the fine folk my mother never forgot, and I myself have also remembered it (Retired railroad worker, informant KU 2768)
Tracing ground-water evolution in a limestone aquifer using Sr isotopes: Effects of multiple sources of dissolved ions and mineral-solution reactions

Uplifted Pleistocene coral-reef terraces on Barbados, West Indies, constitute an aquifer that is built on low-permeability Tertiary pelagic rocks that overlie the Barbados accretionary prism. The downdip segments of the aquifer are composed of younger reef limestones that contain more aragonite and have higher 87Sr/86Sr and Sr/Ca ratios than the updip parts of the aquifer. Ground waters and host limestones display similar stratigraphic trends in 87Sr/86Sr and Sr/Ca. The ground waters have lower 87Sr/86Sr values, however, indicating that they acquire a significant fraction of their dissolved Sr through interaction with components of Tertiary rocks, which compose the underlying aquitard and parts of overlying soils. Geochemical modeling results indicate that ground-water evolution is controlled by (1) variations in the age and composition of the aquifer and aquitard rocks and (2) the relative roles of calcite dissolution, calcite recrystallization, and the transformation of aragonite to calcite. Sr isotopes can provide unique information for tracing ground-water evolution, which requires consideration of the multiple components and processes that make up even relatively simple limestone aquifer systems.
Delayed chromosomal instability induced by DNA damage

DNA damage induced by ionizing radiation can result in gene mutation, gene amplification, chromosome rearrangements, cellular transformation, and cell death. Although many of these changes may be induced directly by the radiation, there is accumulating evidence for delayed genomic instability following X-ray exposure. We have investigated this phenomenon by studying delayed chromosomal instability in a hamster-human hybrid cell line by means of fluorescence in situ hybridization. We examined populations of metaphase cells several generations after expanding single-cell colonies that had survived 5 or 10 Gy of X rays. Delayed chromosomal instability, manifested as multiple rearrangements of human chromosome 4 in a background of hamster chromosomes, was observed in 29% of colonies surviving 5 Gy and in 62% of colonies surviving 10 Gy. A correlation of delayed chromosomal instability with delayed reproductive cell death, manifested as reduced plating efficiency in surviving clones, suggests a role for chromosome rearrangements in cytotoxicity. There were small differences in chromosome destabilization and plating efficiencies between cells irradiated with 5 or 10 Gy of X rays after a previous exposure to 10 Gy and cells irradiated only once. Cell clones showing delayed chromosomal instability had normal frequencies of sister chromatid exchange formation, indicating that at this cytogenetic endpoint the chromosomal instability was not apparent. The types of chromosomal rearrangements observed suggest that chromosome fusion, followed by bridge breakage and refusion, contributes to the observed delayed chromosomal instability.
Mortars for Repair of Traditional Masonry

Repair mortars are needed for replacing mortar in damaged or severely weathered masonary mortar joints ~repointing!, for reconstruction of deteriorated masonry, and for renewal of rendering. The main components in a mortar mix are sand, binder, and water. Additional materials may be added to modify the properties or appearance of the mortar. The intention of this article is to raise awareness of issues involved in the choice of mortars for the repair of mortar joints in traditional masonry ~usually with thicker walls and weaker mortars than modern construction! by providing a brief overview of mortar binders, performance requirements, and mortar mix types. Work is ongoing to assess performance requirements and how to achieve them.
Multi-Sector Sustainability in Agroecosystem Environments: Using Value Function Iteration for Numerical Solutions

Using the numerical technique of value iteration, this paper imposes several sustainability constraints on a simple multi-sector agroecosystem model, and provides analysis of the costs tradeoffs within and between generations. Results show that internalization of a stock externality is insufficient for intergenerationally equitable welfare paths, while sustaining a physical resource over time in the interests of equitability can result in a less equitable distribution of welfare across generations. Furthermore, a value sustainability constraint imposed on the social welfare maximization problem acts as a welfare transfer mechanism from the productive sector to the sector affected by the externality, but implies growth in profits for the productive sector and declining utility for the non-productive sector.
Use of a finite-element method to interpret rheological effects in blade coating

Data and finite-element simulations are presented for the blade coating of a series of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. Numerical simulations for purely viscous fluids show good agreement with coating thickness data for Newtonian and relatively inelastic non-Newtonian liquids, including geometries for which lubrication theory is inaccurate. These simulations account for the shape of the free surface, with surface tension included, and incorporate realistic inflow and outflow boundary conditions. By comparing pressure distributions generated with the finite-element technique to those calculated using lubrication theory, it is shown that the simple lubrication theory analysis suffers from inadequate inflow and outflow boundary conditions. Comparison of these simulations with new experimental results for three well-characterized viscoelastic liquids, having nearly identical steady shear viscosities but different normal stress behavior, confirms speculations of earlier work with respect to the effect fluid rheology has on coating thickness.
Using cyclic genetic algorithms to evolve multi-loop control programs

Cyclic genetic algorithms were developed to evolve single loop control programs for robots. These programs have been used for three levels of control: individual leg movement, gait generation, and area search path finding. In all of these applications the cyclic genetic algorithm learned the cycle of actuator activations that could be continually repeated to produce the desired behavior. Although very successful for these applications, it was not applicable to control problems that required different behaviors in response to sensor inputs. Control programs for this type of behavior require multiple loops with conditional statements to regulate the branching. In this paper, we present modifications to the standard cyclic genetic algorithm that allow it to learn multi-loop control programs that can react to sensor input.
Son preference and its effects on Korean lactation practices.

Using retrospective data from Korea multivariate log-linear analyses were used to determine if the sex of a child influences the probability of it being breastfed or if it influences the number of months he/she was breastfed. In Korea the likelihood of a woman not breastfeeding a child is very small. The fact that a woman is without living sons increased the average odds of not breastfeeding by 1.55 times. The absence of living sons has the strongest effect of any of the predictor variables used. The highest predicted conditional odds of not breastfeeding are for women with female infants who live in rural areas have less than 3 children of which none are boys and who do not use oral contraceptives. The lowest predicted conditional odds of a woman not breastfeeding are for a city dweller with 3 or more children of which at least 1 is a boy who uses the pill and whose infant is a boy. Although oral contraceptive use is significant for deciding how long to breastfeed the direction of its effect is not what was expected had it affected lactation physiologically. Apparently social factors are operative which make pill users more likely to breast feed than non-users. 1 possible explanation for this is that Korean women are aware of the fertility-suppressing effects of lactation and are using breastfeeding as a deliberate form of birth control. The fact that the effect of pill use becomes progressively stronger the longer that women breastfeed lends further support to this explanation. The effect of sex of child is not significant in determining the duration he/she will be breastfed. This study indicates support for the contention that Korean women are aware of the contraceptive effects of lactation and that their decisions of breastfeed are affected by their preference for sons.
Breaking the reflectional symmetry of interlimb coordination dynamics

Abstract Interlimb rhythmic coordination is reflectionally symmetric when the left and right limb segments are identical in uncoupled frequencies and spatial orientation. In the present studies (4 experiments, with a total of 31 participants), when reflectional symmetry was broken through differences in timing (frequency), the resulting stable states were related by reflection and were identical for paired identically oriented limb segments behaving either as inverted or as ordinary pendulums. When reflectional symmetry was broken both temporally and spatially (coordinating inverted and ordinary pendular motions), the resulting stable states were different from those produced by identically oriented pendulums but nevertheless were related by reflection. In the Discussion, the authors focus on (a) symmetry breaking as leading to one of a number of symmetrically related states and (b) extending coordination dynamics with reflectional symmetry so that temporal and spatial asymmetries can both be accommodated.
Heart Field: From Mesoderm to Heart Tube

In this review we discuss the major morphogenetic and regulative events that control myocardial progenitor cells from the time that they delaminate from the epiblast in the primitive streak to their differentiation into cardiomyocytes in the heart tube. During chick and mouse embryogenesis, myocardial progenitor cells go through four specific processes that are sequential but overlapping: specification of the cardiogenic mesoderm, determination of the bilaterally symmetric heart fields, patterning of the heart field, and finally cardiomyocyte differentiation and formation of the heart tube. We describe the morphological and molecular events that play a pivotal role in each of these four processes.
Conservation outside of parks: attitudes of local people in Laikipia, Kenya

SUMMARY Conflict between wildlife and people can erode local support for conservation. Wildlife-based benefits are intended to offset costs and encourage tolerance or stewardship, but where the linkage between benefits and wildlife is not understood, benefits may be ineffective at bolstering conservation. In Laikipia, Kenya, wildlife and areas devoted to wildlife are on the increase, but most residents still suffer losses to wildlife and derive minimal benefits. The elephant situation is particularly problematic because elephants may compete with livestock for resources, raid people’s crops, and chase and kill livestock and people. Although most unprotected elephant range in East Africa is in semi-arid rangelands occupied by pastoralists, previous research has emphasized agricultural, not pastoral or agri-pastoral conflicts. Between 1999 and 2002, interviews were conducted in Laikipia District to examine whether pastoralists also experience conflict, and to determine whether
A Correlation-Based Transition Model Using Local Variables—Part I: Model Formulation

A new correlation-based transition model has been developed, which is based strictly on local variables. As a result, the transition model is compatible with modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approaches, such as unstructured grids and massive parallel execution. The model is based on two transport equations, one for intermittency and one for the transition onset criteria in terms of momentum thickness Reynolds number. The proposed transport equations do not attempt to model the physics of the transition process (unlike, e.g., turbulence models) but form a framework for the implementation of correlation-based models into general-purpose CFD methods. Part I (this part) of this paper gives a detailed description of the mathematical formulation of the model and some of the basic test cases used for model validation, including a two-dimensional turbine blade. Part II (Langtry, R. B., Menter, F. R., Likki, S. R., Suzen, Y. B., Huang, P. G., and Volker, S., 2006, ASME J. Turbomach., 128(3), pp. 423–434) of the paper details a significant number of test cases that have been used to validate the transition model for turbomachinery and aerodynamic applications. The authors believe that the current formulation is a significant step forward in engineering transition modeling, as it allows the combination of correlation-based transition models with general purpose CFD codes.
Transmethylation of Sterols in Aerobically Adapting Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract The transmethylation of methyl-14C-methionine and methyl-14C-adenosylmethionine into the nonsaponifiable lipids of anaerobically grown yeast during adaptation to aerobic conditions was investigated. The rate and extent of methyl transfer increased with aeration time and was dependent upon the presence of a fermentable carbon source and O2. Methionine and adenosylmethionine uptake rates increased in adaptation buffer but did not seem to be the rate-limiting factor for transmethylation under the conditions studied. Thinlayer chromatography of the nonsaponifiable fraction after exposure to label showed the labeled product to be ergosterol. Samples taken after short-term exposure to label were composed of two labeled steroidal products, one with kinetics of an ergosterol precursor.
Coloanal anastomosis: is a defunctioning stoma necessary?

The role of a temporary defunctioning stoma in patients undergoing coloanal anastomosis remains controversial. Previous experimental studies have shown that the defunctioned colon is more resistant to neoplasia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a defunctioning stoma was able to decrease complication rates and, also, to evaluate whether it had any impact on recurrence and survival rates in patients who underwent coloanal anastomosis. The records of 173 patients, 54 with benign rectal disease and 119 patients with cancer, operated on between 1980 and 1996, were retrospectively reviewed. Eighty-nine patients had a defunctioning stoma, 34 in the benign rectal disease and 55 in the cancer group. Mean age was 57.2 years (range 17–88). There were 126 men and 47 women. Follow-up was 57.2 month (range 17–88). There were 126 men and 47 women. Follow-up was done by clinical examination, telephone or mailed questionnaire. Mean time of follow-up was 3.8 years (range 0–13 years). There was no operative mortality. Non-stoma patients tended to have more early complications (pelvic sepsis and obstruction) and more probability of having a permanent stoma than the stoma group, but no significant differences could be found between the two groups (P > 0.05). The probability of being free of stricture was greater in the non-stoma group (stoma 62.6%; non-stoma 78.5%; P < 0.05). Probability of disease-free survival, at 5 years, for rectal cancer patients, was 73.7% for the stoma group and 53.6% for non-stoma group (P = 0.02). After coloanal anastomosis, defunctioning stomas may decrease postoperative complications, increase the likelihood of anastomosis structure and allow a greater disease-free survival.
Is Advertising Important in the Soviet Economy

In the Soviet Union's planned society where the means of production and distribution are government and Party monopolies, commercial advertising would appear to be superfluous. Official Soviet policy has always spurned advertising as economic waste and has at times denounced advertising and other "bourgeois capitalistic" devices as competition, production differentiation, and installment buying. Why, then, is commercial advertising "catching on" in the Soviet Union and changing established marketing practices? This article traces and evaluates the rise of this surprising new development in the leading Communist state.
Silicon nanopore membrane (SNM) for islet encapsulation and immunoisolation under convective transport.

Problems associated with islet transplantation for Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) such as shortage of donor cells, use of immunosuppressive drugs remain as major challenges. Immune isolation using encapsulation may circumvent the use of immunosuppressants and prolong the longevity of transplanted islets. The encapsulating membrane must block the passage of host’s immune components while providing sufficient exchange of glucose, insulin and other small molecules. We report the development and characterization of a new generation of semipermeable ultrafiltration membrane, the silicon nanopore membrane (SNM), designed with approximately 7 nm-wide slit-pores to provide middle molecule selectivity by limiting passage of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, the use of convective transport with a pressure differential across the SNM overcomes the mass transfer limitations associated with diffusion through nanometer-scale pores. The SNM exhibited a hydraulic permeability of 130 ml/hr/m2/mmHg, which is more than 3 fold greater than existing polymer membranes. Analysis of sieving coefficients revealed 80% reduction in cytokines passage through SNM under convective transport. SNM protected encapsulated islets from infiltrating cytokines and retained islet viability over 6 hours and remained responsive to changes in glucose levels unlike non-encapsulated controls. Together, these data demonstrate the novel membrane exhibiting unprecedented hydraulic permeability and immune-protection for islet transplantation therapy.
THE STUDY ON ECONOMIC LIMITATION ANALYSIS FOR OIL WELL OUTPUT ENHANCEMENT

In the middle-late stages of production, as the deepening of the oil field development, the marginal operation output decrease, the cost increases, and the investment increase, too. Through the analysis of the laws of the marginal operation output decreasing, the cost increasing, and the investment increasing in the middle-late stages, the operational cost is looked upon as a re-investment, by means of input and output analysis and economic limitation output calculation, the analytical model of oil well output enhancement limitation is worked out taking single well output enhancement as example, which provides alternations to economic effect analysis and shut down time of oil well production in the middle-late stages.
The obstacles and Countermeasures of the development of Consumer Finance Company in China

August 13,2009,in order to deal with the lack of consumption which was caused by global financial crisis,The Banking regulatory commission of China published "Consumer finance company test management methods".In the beginning of 2010,China gave permission to four Consumer finance companies:Bank of Beijing,Bank of China,Jiexin and Sichuan Jincheng in Beijing,Shanghai,Tianjin and Chengdu.The article stated the characteristics,obstacles,and Countermeasure of Consumer finance company in China.
Exploring the Specificities of Glycan-Binding Proteins Using Glycan Array Data and the GlycoSearch Software

The glycan array is a powerful tool for investigating the specificities of glycan-binding proteins. By incubating a glycan-binding protein on a glycan array, the relative binding to hundreds of different oligosaccharides can be quantified in parallel. Based on these data, much information can be obtained about the preference of a glycan-binding protein for specific subcomponents of oligosaccharides or motifs. In many cases, the analysis and interpretation of glycan array data can be time consuming and imprecise if done manually. Recently we developed software, called GlycoSearch, to facilitate the analysis and interpretation of glycan array data based on the previously developed methods called Motif Segregation and Outlier Motif Analysis. Here we describe the principles behind the software, the use of the software, and an example application. The automated, objective, and precise analysis of glycan array data should enhance the value of the data for a broad range of research applications.
Is it true that lightning never strikes the same place twice

The most common type of lightning discharge between a thundercloud and Earth's surface, which accounts for 90 percent of all lightning discharges involving ground, begins in the cloud. Before the brilliant lightning channel bridges the gap, a lightning process called a “leader” takes place. This process creates a downward branched, low-luminosity channel, not observable with a naked eye or with an ordinary photographic camera. The leader channel extends from the cloud in search for a termination point on the ground. If we consider a terrain that is essentially flat and geologically uniform, the lightning termination point on the ground can be viewed as random. In this case, the saying “lightning never strikes the same place twice” would be essentially true, as illustrated next. A small area of one square meter in an open field in Florida is struck by lightning on average once every 100 millennia. Thus, it is highly unlikely that one can see two lightning strikes to that 1 m 2 area; for all practical purposes this is equivalent to never. It is worth noting that each lightning flash is typically composed of three to five component strokes that usually retrace the same channel to ground. However, these component strokes occur within a second or less and can be detected by a naked eye only as the flickering in luminosity of the lightning channel. In reality, ground is not homogeneous and, as a result, the descending lightning leader will be attracted to some terrain features more than to others. Grounded metallic objects dominating the area are more likely to be struck by lightning than the surrounding ground or lower structures nearby (this is how lightning rods work). In general, the taller the object, the more often it is struck. For example, a 60 m tower located in Florida is expected to be struck by lightning roughly between once every other year and once every year. As the height of an object increases beyond 100 m or so, a different type of lightning discharge to this object can occur in addition to the type described above. This additional type of lightning also involves a leader process, but the leader channel originates on the object and extends toward the cloud.
Cultivating Disaster: Local and International Contexts Affecting the Provision of Food in Natural Disasters

Michael Doyle steps away from the organizational fracas that so frequently accompanies analyses of international disaster relief, and views the issue of preparedness from the perspective of one particular problem: the availability of food. Food has its own technical requirements as well as its own politics, a fact that was forcefully brought home during the major periods of shortage in the first half of the 1970s. Professor Doyle argues for a new look at relief and development priorities at both the national and international levels. However, consistent with the emphases of the New International Economic Order, the focus of his argument is upon a form of self-sufficiency that reaches more deeply into the economic fabrics of the developing countries than does an infrastructure adequate to manage imported relief commodities.
Toward a Culture of Solidarity: Reshaping the Arts Sector in Education

The Arts in Education Master’s program (AIE) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education now has almost twenty years’ experience in bringing students together across both artistic domains and educational settings (in and out of school, museums, community arts centers, etc.). Countering the various divides that have fragmented the arts education sector is challenging and requires the development of an entirely different culture in that sector—a culture of solidarity, not a culture of silos. This chapter examines those challenges—how they exist within the program and what happens when students are encouraged to create a culture of solidarity and connection.
Economic Policies of the Rocard Government

This chapter will examine the economic policies of the Rocard Government in the 1988–90 period. The first section will consider economic growth rates and the factors contributing to growth. The second section will examine the factors affecting investment activity. The third section will analyze French foreign trade and the current account. The fourth section will deal with the question if the current account deficit and, more generally, foreign capital needs represent a constraint for French economic growth. The fifth section will review recent changes in employment and unemployment. The sixth section will examine monetary and fiscal policies. The final section will analyze the prospects for the French economy and make recommendations for the future.
Methods of Inorganic Polyphosphate (PolyP) Assay in Higher Eukaryotic Cells

Experimental investigation of polyP in higher eukaryotic organisms is a very challenging task. Levels of polyP in higher eukaryotes have several orders of magnitude lower compared to the levels of polyP in bacteria. Although many methods that were developed for studies of polyP in bacteria can be adapted for eukaryotes, some important points need to be considered in order to allow investigation of polyP in low abundance situations. In this chapter, we present an overview of the experimental methods of polyP assays in higher eukaryotes that are currently available. These methods include the biochemical approaches of polyP extraction and quantification as well as fluorescent imaging approaches that are suitable for polyP assays in the live tissue culture cells. We discuss advantages and limitations of each of the approaches. Finally, we describe the use of bacterial polyP metabolising enzymes as a tool for studies of polyP in eukaryotic cells.
Trends in Hospitalizations Related to Invasive Aspergillosis and Mucormycosis in the United States, 2000–2013

BACKGROUND Invasive aspergillosis (IA) and mucormycosis contribute to substantial mortality, especially among immunocompromised persons, including those with hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), hematologic malignancy (HM), and solid organ transplant (SOT). METHODS Using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes available in the National Inpatient Sample, a hospital discharge database, we estimated IA-related hospitalizations (IA-RH), mucormycosis-RH (M-RH), HSCT-RH, HM-RH, and SOT-RH during 2000-2013. United States census data were used to calculate overall M-RH and IA-RH rates and present trends; estimated annual numbers of HSCT-RH, HM-RH, and SOT-RH served as denominators to calculate M-RH and IA-RH rates occurring with these conditions. Weighted least-squares technique was used to test for linear trends and calculate average annual percentage change (APC). RESULTS There were an estimated 169 110 IA-RH and 9966 M-RH during 2000-2013. Overall, IA-RH and M-RH rates per million persons rose from 32.8 to 46.0 (APC = +2.9; P < .001) and 1.7 to 3.4 (APC = +5.2%; P < .001), respectively, from 2000 to 2013. Among HSCT-RH, there was no significant change in M-RH rate, but a significant decline occurred in IA-RH rate (APC = -4.6%; P = .004). Among HM-RH, the rate of M-RH increased (APC = +7.0%; P < .001), but the IA-RH rate did not change significantly (APC = +1.2%; P = .073). Among SOT-RH, M-RH (APC = +6.3%; P = .038) and IA-RH rates (APC = +4.1%; P < .001) both increased. CONCLUSIONS Overall IA-RH and M-RH rates increased during 2000-2013, with a doubling of M-RH. Mucormycosis-related hospitalization occurring in conjunction with certain comorbidities increased, whereas IA-RH rates among patients with the comorbidities, decreased, remained stable, or increased to a lesser extent than M-RH.
OCHRATOXIN A, FUNGAL CONTAMINATION AND ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTY OF DEFECTIVE ARABICA COFFEE IN BENGUET, PHILIPPINES

In Benguet, Philippines, efforts have been made to improve the production of high quality Arabica coffee beans (Coffea arabica). However, defects in coffee beans may still occur during post-harvest processing. Since defective coffee beans decrease the quality of coffee brews, they are commonly consumed in the municipality as beverage and are not sold commercially. In this study, the incidence of fungal and ochratoxin A contamination, in green and roasted immature and black defective coffee beans were investigated. Furthermore, the antioxidant properties of defective coffee beans were evaluated using a radical scavenging assay and metal chelating assay. It was found out that green coffee bean samples were contaminated with ochratoxigenic fungi and ochratoxin A. Roasting the green coffee bean samples decreased their total phenolic content, but increased their radical scavenging and metal chelating activities. The antioxidant activities, however, were statistically lower than standard antioxidants such as L-ascorbic acid, gallic acid and ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (ρ<0.05). Ochratoxin A levels in defective green coffee beans also decreased after roasting. While phenolic compounds contribute to the antioxidant activities of the green coffee beans, the antioxidant activities of roasted coffee beans may be attributed to other antioxidant compounds formed during roasting. There is a need to further process contaminated defective coffee beans prior to utilization to isolate antioxidant compounds and remove ochratoxin A.