cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An overview of automatic speaker recognition technology

In this paper we provide a brief overview of the area of speaker recognition, describing applications, underlying techniques and some indications of performance. Following this overview we will discuss some of the strengths and weaknesses of current speaker recognition technologies and outline some potential future trends in research, development and applications.
Spontaneous coronary dissection resulting in acute myocardial infarction: successful treatment with primary angioplasty.

Spontaneous coronary dissection is an unusual cause of acute myocardial infarction for which the optimal therapy has not been established. We report the case of a 63-year-old man with acute lateral wall myocardial infarction resulting from spontaneous dissection of the major diagonal branch of the left anterior descending artery in whom acute and long-term patency was restored by primary PTCA. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The Malone Antegrade Continence Enema Procedure in the Management of Patients with Spina Bifida

Abstract Background: In patients with spina bifida, traditional bowel management programs such as suppositories, retrograde enemas, and manual disimpaction have been largely unsatisfactory. The Malone antegrade continence enema (ACE) procedure has largely changed our approach to bowel management in this patient group. Study Design: Over a 3-year period between January 1994 and January 1997, 27 patients with spina bifida underwent the Malone ACE procedure at our institutions. At the time of their ACE procedure, four patients underwent simultaneous continent urinary diversion and three had simultaneous small-bowel bladder augmentation. All the patients were evaluated for 9 months or more after their procedure, and 10 of the patients have been followed for more than 2 years. Results: Postoperatively, predictable bowel control and continence were achieved in 19 of the 27 patients, but 6 had some rectal soiling requiring a sanitary pad. All patients were out of diapers and none reported stomal leakage. Eighteen of the 27 patients were able to manage independently and 9 required assistance. Two patients had stopped using their ACE stoma despite good technical results. The appendix was used as a catheterizable stoma in 15 of the 27 patients. The appendix was not available in 12 patients, so a tubularized cecal flap was used in 9 and a small-bowel neoappendix was created in 3. Complications included stomal stenosis in 5 patients, cecal-flap necrosis in 1, and stomal granulations in 3. Conclusions: We believe that the ACE procedure provides reliable colonic emptying and avoids fecal soiling in the majority of individuals, and we find it widely and enthusiastically accepted by patients with spina bifida.
Large-scale parallel programming: experience with BBN butterfly parallel processor

For three years, members of the Computer Science Department at the University of Rochester have used a collection of BBN Butterfly™ Parallel Processors to conduct research in parallel systems and applications. For most of that time, Rochester's 128-node machine has had the distinction of being the largest shared-memory multiprocessor in the world. In the course of our work with the Butterfly we have ported three compilers, developed five major and several minor library packages, built two different operating systems, and implemented dozens of applications. Our experience clearly demonstrates the practicality of large-scale shared-memory multiprocessors, with non-uniform memory access times. It also demonstrates that the problems inherent in programming such machines are far from adequately solved. Both locality and Amdahl's law become increasingly important with a very large number of nodes. The availability of multiple programming models is also a concern; truly general-purpose parallel computing will require the development of environments that allow programs written under different models to coexist and interact. Most important, there is a continuing need for high-quality programming tools; widespread acceptance of parallel machines will require the development of programming environments comparable to those available on sequential computers.
Formation, magnetic properties and structures of copper(II) levulinates

Abstract The syntheses and characterizations of a series of copper(II) levulinic acid complexes are reported. The structure of [ Cu 2 ( O 2 C(CH 2 ) 2 COCH 3 ) 4 ] n ( − O 2 C(CH 2 ) 2 COCH 3 = lev ) , 1, and the products of its reaction with pyridine, 2,2′-dipyridine and triphenylphospine have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The reaction with pyridine leads to [Cu(H2O)(O2 CCH2CH2COCH3)2(NC5H5)2], 2. Reaction with 2-2′-dipyridine leads to [Cu(O2CCH2CH2COCH3)2(N2C10H8)], 3. When Cu2(lev)4 is reacted with PPh3 the product is [Cu2(O2CCH2CH2COCH3)4{ν-O2CCH2CH2COCH3)(Cu(PPh3)2}], 4. Solid-state magnetic susceptibility studies are described for 1 and 4 from 5–300 K, which suggests the system is similar to the known copper(II) acetates. Fitting parameters are −J/k =410(10) K and g = 2.10(5) for 1 and 2J/k = 425(20) K and g = 2.25(10) for 4. Compounds 1, 2, 3 and 4 have been studied by single crystal X-ray crystallography.
Role of inflammation in atherosclerotic calcification, metaplasia and osteoporosis

Abstract It is not unusual for atherosclerotic lesions to contain ectopic tissue, including bone, cartilage, fat and marrow. It is also common for patients with atherosclerosis to have osteoporosis. Thus, in many elderly patients, bone is forming in their artery walls at the same time as bone is being permanently lost from their skeleton. The stimuli and mechanisms underlying these reciprocal processes are not understood. One clue is that adult tissues, such as bone marrow stroma and adipose tissue, contain mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) with the potential to form bone, cartilage, muscle and fat as well as the potential for self-renewal. We previously found that a subpopulation of cells harvested from normal aortic tunica media have the capacity for differentiation along the osteogenic lineage, which is enhanced by inflammatory factors including cytokines, oxidized lipids, and lipoproteins. But true osteoblasts derived from bone were inhibited by treatment with these same factors, and adipogenesis was favored over osteogenic differentiation in the marrow precursor cells of hyperlipidemic animals. The same inflammatory factors enhanced bone resorptive osteoclastic activity. These findings suggest mechanisms for simultaneous atherosclerotic calcification and osteoporosis. We have now investigated whether the subpopulation of cells with osteogenic potential has the potential to differentiation along other lineages. The findings have important therapeutic implications for use of stem cells in regenerative therapy and tissue bioengineering.
A Modern Apparatus for Performing Flash Chromatography: An Experiment for the Organic Laboratory

A modern apparatus for performing flash chromatography using commercially available, prepacked silica cartridges has been developed. The key advantage of this system, when compared to traditional flash chromatography, is its use of commercially available silica cartridges, which obviates the need for students to handle silica gel. The apparatus has been tested for its ability to perform separations that are commonly found in organic chemistry teaching laboratories, and a laboratory module that combines the techniques of thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography, and flash chromatography is described. The performance of this new chromatography apparatus was comparable to a traditional flash chromatography column.
Work, Well-being and Vocational Education: The Ethical Significance of Work and Preparation for Work

David Carr's account of the nature of professional work is described and examined. It is argued that Carr's criteria for distinguishing between professional and non-professional work are not adequate. The criteria are as follows: the professions' essential role in promoting human flourishing; their contestability; their direct concern for the well-being of clients; their provision of a high degree of autonomy for practitioners. They do not mark out a qualitative difference between professions and other occupations. Carr's notion of civic necessities applies to what he describes as non-professional as well as to professional work. The role of commercial considerations in the usefulness of some kinds of work is considered and a distinction is made between technical and occupational virtues. Carr treats professional virtues as occupational virtues without appreciating that nearly all occupations have both occupational and technical virtues. A significant part of the wouthwhileness of work is bound up with practice of the relevant occupational virtues.
Is your software usable

Abstract ‘Ease-of-use…comes from conducting systematic usability engineering activities throughout the project lifecycle.’
Tandem duplication of proximal 22q: A cause of cat‐eye syndrome

A boy with bilateral colobomas, preauricular pits, and developmental delay had a 46, XY, 22q + karyotype. His parents had normal chromosomes. The abnormality of 22q was interpreted as a de novo tandem duplication of 22q11.1 q11.2. Although no anal abnormality was identified, his manifestations are otherwise consistent with those of the cat-eye syndrome. Blood marker results and the levels of galactosidase-2, galactosidase-B and arylsulfatase-A, which are known to be coded on 22q, are normal.
The Experiences of Black Master's Counseling Students: A Phenomenological Inquiry

This phenomenological study investigated the experiences of 8 Black students enrolled in a master's-level counseling program. Five themes central to participant experiences were identified: (a) isolation as a Black student, (b) tokenization as a Black student, (c) lack of inclusion of Black counselor perspectives within course work, (d) differences between support received by faculty of color and support received by White faculty, and (e) access to support from people of color and White peers. Implications for counselor educators and study limitations are discussed.
Finite element modeling for microwave tomography

This paper presents a Finite Element Modelling for Microwave Imaging tomography based on edge basis functions. In particular a new technique is used to compute the antenna parameters. This novel procedure will provide a general method to enforce the excitation as a specific modal distribution, and to extract the voltage from the employed antenna. We show the model for the Microwave Imaging system including the antennas and we report a comparison between measured and simulated data.
Identification of gp120 Regions Targeted by a Highly Potent Neutralizing Antiserum Elicited in a Chimpanzee Inoculated with a Primary Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Isolate

We have previously reported that a chimpanzee infected with a primary human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolate (HIV-1 DH12 ) developed an extremely potent virus-neutralizing antibody. Immunoglobulin G purified from this animal conferred sterilizing immunity following passive transfer to macaques which were subsequently challenged with simian immunodeficiency virus/HIV-1 chimeric virus strain DH12. In addition to being highly strain specific, the chimpanzee antiserum did not bind to the V3 loop peptide of HIV-1 DH12 , nor did it block the interaction of gp120 with the CD4 receptor. When neutralization was examined in the context of virus particles carrying chimeric envelope glycoproteins, the presence of all five hypervariable regions (V1 to V5) was required for optimal neutralization. Virions bearing chimeric gp120 containing the V1–V2 and V4 regions of HIV-1 DH12 could also be neutralized, but larger quantities of the chimpanzee antiserum were needed to block infection. These results indicate that the HIV-1 gp120 epitope(s) targeted by the chimpanzee antiserum is highly conformational, involving surface elements contributed by all of the hypervariable domains of the envelope glycoprotein.
A high-resolution speleothem record of climatic variability at the Allerød–Younger Dryas transition in Missouri, central United States

Stable isotopic analysis and 234 U/ 230 Th mass spectrometry dating of a single calcite stalagmite from Onondaga Cave, east-central Missouri, reveal climatic variability between 13 200 and 12 400 yr BP coincident with the Aller÷d^ Younger Dryas transition in the GISP2 Greenland ice cores. N 18 O values of speleothem calcite mark decreasing temperatures between 13 200 and 13 000 yr BP while more rapidly decreasing N 13 C values record a sharp shift toward C3 vegetation at approximately 13 100 yr BP. Because of uncertainties in the chronological control of both this speleothem and the GISP2 record and the brevity of this speleothem record (V800 years), direct comparison of the two sequences is difficult. The interval preserved by this speleothem may span the inter-Aller÷d cold period (IACP) alone, both the IACP and the start of the Younger Dryas, or only the first half of the Younger Dryas. In any case, these data demonstrate that the climate of the North American interior deteriorated significantly and rapidly during the interval associated with the Aller÷d^Younger Dryas transition. fl 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
The Implications for Democracy in a Networked Bureaucratic World

Dwight Waldo wrote nearly fifty years ago that democracy is very much more than the political context in which public administration is carried out. Public administration is now less hierarchical and insular and is increasingly networked. This has important implications for democracy, including changing responsibilities for the public interest, for meeting public preferences, and for the enhancement of political deliberation, civility, and trust. Networked public administration can pose a threat to democratic governance and it can open possibilities for strengthening governance, depending on the values and actions of public administrators.
A noise robust variant of context extraction for local fusion

Context extraction for local fusion (CELF) is a local approach that combines multiple classifier outputs with the help of feature space information. CELF is based on an objective function that integrates context extraction and decision fusion. Context extraction divides the feature space into homogeneous regions; decision fusion combines multiple classifier outputs in each region or context. Although CELF is a generalization of previous fusion methods, it has some problems and noise sensitivity is one of them. The noise sensitivity problem comes from the fact that there are large number of parameters that should be optimized. Some variants of CELF were propose to mitigate the noise sensitivity problem and they showed better results than CELF. However, they also have their own shortcomings. In this paper, we proposed another variant of CELF to reduce the noise sensitivity and to overcome the shortcomings in the variants of CELF. The proposed method, CELF with regularization (CELF-R), uses regularization, which is a well-known method to reduce noise sensitivity by smoothing solution space. The noise robustness in CELF-R helps it to achieve better results than CELF and its variants. Experiments using landmine data sets also support this.
USING THE BRACKEN BASIC CONCEPT SCALE AND BRACKEN CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM IN THE ASSESSMENT AND REMEDIATION OF YOUNG CHILDREN'S CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

This article presents a historical description of and research related to the development, validation, and combined use of the multiple editions of the Bracken Basic Concept Scale and its companion curriculum, the Bracken Concept Development Program. In tandem, the scale and curriculum were designed to assess and teach more than 300 basic language concepts that are fundamental to understanding and describing the world in which young children live. Basic concepts are represented in early childhood educational standards across all 50 states, and this article provides the theoretical and practical basis for understanding conceptual domains, subcategories, and the manner in which psychologists and early childhood educators can effectively assess and teach these concepts. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Nanomechanical architecture of semiconductor nanomembranes.

Semiconductor nanomembranes are single-crystal sheets with thickness ranging from 5 to 500nm. They are flexible, bondable, and mechanically ultra-compliant. They present a new platform to combine bottom-up and top-down semiconductor processing to fabricate various three-dimensional (3D) nanomechanical architectures, with an unprecedented level of control. The bottom-up part is the self-assembly, via folding, rolling, bending, curling, or other forms of shape change of the nanomembranes, with top-down patterning providing the starting point for these processes. The self-assembly to form 3D structures is driven by elastic strain relaxation. A variety of structures, including tubes, rings, coils, rolled-up “rugs”, and periodic wrinkles, has been made by such self-assembly. Their geometry and unique properties suggest many potential applications. In this review, we describe the design of desired nanostructures based on continuum mechanics modelling, definition and fabrication of 2D strained nanomembranes according to the established design, and release of the 2D strained sheet into a 3D or quasi-3D object. We also describe several materials properties of nanomechanical architectures. We discuss potential applications of nanomembrane technology to implement simple and hybrid functionalities.
Further evidence of an engagement-achievement paradox among U.S. high school students.

Achievement, engagement, and students’ quality of experience were compared by racial and ethnic group in a sample of students (N = 586) drawn from 13 high schools with diverse ethnic and socioeconomic student populations. Using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), 3,529 samples of classroom experiences were analyzed along with self-reported grades. Similarities and differences in achievement, engagement, and quality of experience among white, black, Latino, and Asian students were examined. The most marked differences found were between black and white students. Consistent with several previous studies, an engagement–achievement paradox was found in which black students reported higher engagement, intrinsic motivation, and affect in classrooms, but lower GPA relative to white students. A similar engagement–achievement paradox was found for students from low SES communities compared to those from high SES communities. Analyses also revealed racial and ethnic differences in the relationship of engagement with on-task behavior and contextual factors. Being on-task when in classrooms had a more positive effect on the engagement of black students relative to white students. The contextual effect of being in school versus home or in public on engagement was also more positive for black students than white students. Contextual factors and measurement issues are emphasized in the interpretation of findings and suggestions for future research.
Second variation and stabilities of minimal lagrangian submanifolds in Kähler manifolds

First, we derive a new second variation formula which holds for any minimal lagrangian submanifold in K~ihler manifolds. Using this, we prove that any minimal lagrangian submanifold in Kfihler manifolds with nonpositive Chern class is stable. We also prove that in Kfihler manifolds with positive Chern class, any stable minimal lagrangian submanifold L satisfies that H~(L, ~) = {0} . Next, we introduce the notion of hamiltonian stability (either local or global) of minimal lagrangian submanifolds in Einstein-Kfihler manifolds. Using our second variation formula, we find a general criterion for the local hamiltonian stability for minimal lagrangian submanifolds in Einstein-K/ihler manifolds. This criterion is satisfied for all real forms which are Einstein, of irreducible Hermitian symmetric spaces, e.g, the cannonical RP" c CP". It is also satisfied by the Clifford torus T" c CP".
High efficiency transformerless photovoltaic inverter with wide-range power factor capability

Photovoltaic (PV) inverter is the most important part for energy conversion, and the current research focus for PV inverter is high efficiency, high reliability, and low-output ac-current distortion. With considerable grid-connected PV installation in last few years, high penetration PV system is desired, which requires integrating PV inverter into grid regulation. New code in Germany already requires PV inverter providing system regulation and service for low voltage distribution system. One of obvious impact on PV inverter is reactive power generation requirement. Most state-of-the-art high-efficiency PV inverters that adopt single-stage topology only allow unity power generation but none of them are able to generate reactive power. This paper proposes a high-efficiency dual-buck full-bridge PV inverter for a wide range power factor operation. Additionally, a novel hybrid bipolar PWM method is proposed to achieve low ground leakage current and low output current distortion in the PV system. At last, simulation and experiment demonstrate that the proposed PV inverter system can provide a wide-range power factor operation with high efficiency, low ground leakage current, and low output current distortion.
Testing and Refining a Consequence Model of Jealousy Across Relational Contexts and Jealousy Expression Messages

An empirically tested model of an individual's cognitive and emotional consequences to a close relational partner's jealousy expression is described and tested. Specifically, general partner uncertainty, relational uncertainty, negative jealousy-related emotion, and rumination are examined in concert with one another as consequences of partner jealousy expression. Path modeling techniques reveal that one of two competing consequence models of jealousy fit the data: Upon partner jealousy expression, the jealous target first experiences general partner uncertainty, which leads to relational uncertainty, which leads to rumination, which finally leads to negative jealousy-related emotion. This model spans both close relationship types and specific methods of jealousy expression. Implications of this model for the theoretical pursuit of jealousy research are discussed.
Tacrolimus Without Antilymphocyte Induction Therapy Prevents Pancreas Loss From Rejection in 123 Consecutive Patients

In this series, antilymphoid induction therapy did not appear to be necessary to prevent early graft loss from rejection. In addition, we have followed cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigenemia (pp65) for CMV infection. Although some patients developed a positive antigenemia in the seropositive to negative donor-recipient combinations, only one patient had a prolonged febrile course for 1 week.
Characterizing functional α6β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in vitro: mutant β2 subunits improve membrane expression, and fluorescent proteins reveal responsive cells.

α6* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are highly expressed in mesostriatal and nigrostriatal dopaminergic systems, and participate in motor control, reward, and learning and memory. In vitro functional expression of α6* nAChRs is essential for full pharmacological characterization of these receptors and for drug screening, but has been challenging. We expressed eGFP-tagged-α6 and β2 nAChR subunits in Neuro-2a cells, leading to functional channels. Inward currents were elicited with 300 μM ACh in 26% (5/19) of cells with evenly expressed α6-eGFP in cytoplasm and periphery. We dramatically increased chances of detecting functional α6-eGFPβ2 nAChRs by (i) introducing two endoplasmic reticulum (ER) export-enhancing mutations into β2 subunits, and (ii) choosing cells with abundant Sec24D-mCherry-labeled ER exit sites. Both manipulations also modestly increased α6-eGFPβ2 nAChR current amplitude. α6-eGFPβ2 nAChRs were also activated by nicotine and by TC-2403. The α6-eGFPβ2 currents were desensitized by 1 μM nicotine, blocked by α-conotoxin MII, partially inhibited by dihydro-β-erythroidine, and potentiated by extracellular Ca^(2+). Single-channel recordings showed that α6-eGFPβ2 nAChRs had similar single-channel conductance to, but longer open time than, α4-eGFPβ2 nAChRs. These methods provide avenues for developing cell lines expressing subtypes of α6* nAChRs for both pharmacological study and drug screening.
Antiprotease function of airway secretions in purulent tracheobronchitis.

Study objectives: Unopposed activity of the serine protease, human leukocyte elastase (HLE), is detectable in the airways of patients with purulent tracheobronchitis. The aim of this study was to assess the compartmentalization of HLE activity in the liquid sol phase and the solid gel phase of airway secretions. Design: Seventy samples of tracheobrochial aspirates were obtained from patients who had hypersecretion and were receiving mechanical ventilation. Methods: Samples were separated into sol and gel (“mucous pellet”) phases, and HLE activity was measured using chromogenic substrate degradation. HLE was eluted from the mucous pellet using hypertonic saline solution, 1 mol/L, or bovine pancreatic deoxyribonuclease (DNase), 16 μmol/L. Results: HLE activity partitioned between the sol and gel phases of the secretions, with most of the activity present in the gel phase (32:1 ratio of gel to sol HLE activity). The activity of HLE was 95% inhibited when bound to the gel phase, but activity appeared to be largely restored after elution from the gel phase. The gel phase was capable of binding additional exogenous HLE, and its binding capacity for exogenous HLE was not saturated by concentrations that exceeded the highest clinically relevant HLE levels (1.1 mg/mL). Hypertonic saline solution and DNase I efficiently liberated endogenous and exogenous gel phase-bound HLE activity, suggesting that electrostatic bonds and DNA, respectively, play important roles in binding HLE to the gel phase. Conclusions: The solid phase of airway secretions is a more important modulator of elastase-antielastase balance than has been previously recognized.
New Results on Robust Quantization

In this paper we consider the design of robust block quantizers when the number of quantization levels is large. The r th power distortion measure is utilized through the convenient expression developed by Bennett and Gersho. The robust design is formulated as a two-person game, and it is shown that for convex families of signal probability density functions there is a saddle point solution. The evaluation of the robust solution amounts to determining the maximum s -norm element in the class of signal densities. We then develop specific solutions for three classes of pdf: a) the class specified by generalized moment contraints, b) the class of econtaminated densities, which has been a popular model in robust signal detection, and c) the class specified by upper and lower bounds to the probability density function of the signal. For high-quality quantization under fixed output entropy, the quantizer is uniform and the resulting distortion is an increasing function of the source entropy. The least favorable distribution is then the one having maximum entropy. For the e-contaminated family and the "banded" family (c) , we derive the maxentropic distributions.
The Legal Status of Affirmative Action Past Developments, Future Prospects

One of the most controversial areas of personnel management m the latter part of the 20th century has been affirmative action. In particular, the legal status of affirmative action is currently und...
Therapeutic RNA aptamers in clinical trials

RNA aptamers can fold into complex structures and bind with high affinity and selectivity to various macromolecules, viruses, and cells. They are isolated from a large pool of nucleic acids by a conceptually straightforward iterative selection process called SELEX. Aptamers have enormous potential as therapeutics due to their ability to bind to proteins and specifically inhibit their functions with minimal or no harmful side-effects. The first aptamer therapeutic was FDA approved in 2005 and a number of novel aptamer-based therapeutics are currently undergoing clinical trials for treating diseases such as macular degeneration, choroidal neovascularization, intravascular thrombus, acute coronary syndrome, von Willebrand factor related disorders, von Hippel-Lindau syndrome (VHL), angiomas, acute myeloid leukemia, renal cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, and several others. In this review, we present aptamers in on-going, completed, and terminated clinical studies highlighting their mechanism of action as well as the inherent challenges of aptamer production and use.
Scattering solution of three-dimensional array of patches using the recursive T-matrix algorithms

The recursive T-matrix algorithms are used to solve for the vector electromagnet scattering problem of a three-dimensional array of patches. The formulation uses only the E/sub x/ and E/sub y/ components of the electromagnetic field wherein the three-dimensional scalar addition theorem can be used. The coefficients for the scalar addition theorem are calculated with an efficient recurrence relation. This results in reduced memory requirements and computation time. When the addition theorem is violated, a generalized recursive T-matrix algorithm is used to mitigate the problem caused by the violation of the addition theorem. The scattering solutions are validated by comparison with the method of moments, and the reduced computational complexity of the solution is demonstrated. >
Are circulating CD133+ cells biomarkers of vascular disease?

Single cell bone marrow transplantation leaves no doubt as to the ability of bone marrow cells to differentiate and integrate into the endothelium, though the physiological significance of this remains controversial. Reported rates of bone marrow cell integration into the endothelium after injury vary widely, ranging from almost no cells to large percentages. Bone marrow cell maintenance of the quiescent (ie, nongrowing) vasculature has been less well studied, but at least one mouse study suggests it could be significant.1 Whether or not large numbers of circulating cells integrate into the vessel wall, a consensus seems to be emerging that circulating bone marrow–derived cells can promote vascular growth. Exactly how this is accomplished is not clear, though it is presumably due to release of proangiogenic factors. See page 296 Mobilization of various circulating endothelial cell progenitor (CEP)–containing populations correlates with increased vascularization in tissues undergoing neovascularization, and vascular trauma including burns, coronary artery bypass graft, and myocardial infarct all mobilize CEPs.2–6 In light of these findings, the loss or dysfunction of CEPs could impact on vascular health. Hence, over the past several years a number of studies have begun to examine whether there is a relationship between CEP function and vascular disease. Of course, to do this, one must define a CEP. Therein lies the rub. No consensus has …
Muti-criterion Optimization Algorithm for X-ray Phase Contrast CT imaging

X-ray phase contrast imaging method is able to show microstructure inside soft tissues with weak absorption in a radiograph mode. X-ray phase contrast CT is being under study. We propose a multi-criterion optimization approach to reconstruct the object from phase contrast images. Our reconstructed results show that the method can differentiate boundary of microstructure of fly very clearly. Comparison of the reconstructed images indicates that this algorithm gives finer resolution and better smoothness over the conventional ones
Mold and metallization: nanocontact molding for the fabrication of metal structures.

Plating up: A new fabrication technique for the creation of patterns of metal or circuitization on a substrate is demonstrated. Nanocontact molding allows for the reproduction of features ranging from millimeter to subnanometer features into a functional polymer layer (see image). Through the facile electroless plating of metallic copper directly from the surface of functional polymeric patterns, conductive metal features can be constructed at nanoscale dimensions.
Abstract T P237: Alpha-4 Integrin Mediates Inflammatory Monocyte Trafficking to the Brain After Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) triggers an immune response leading to leukocyte recruitment to the brain and secondary injury. Inflammatory monocytes traffic to the brain over the first 3 days after ICH in murine models, and genetic knock-outs that lack these cells have improved functional outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the adhesion molecules used by monocytes to enter the brain, and whether antagonism of candidate adhesion molecules could be a new therapeutic target. Methods: ICH was modeled via injection of collagenase into the right striatum of wild type mice. Mice were sacrificed 1 and 3 days post-ICH. Brain and blood were harvested for leukocyte quantification by flow cytometry. Cells were stained with antibodies for CD45, CD3, Ly6G, Ly6C, CD11b, CD49d (alpha-4 integrin), CD11a/CD18 (LFA-1), and CD31 (PECAM). Inflammatory monocytes were identified as CD45high+CD3-Ly6G-CD11b+Ly6C+. Adhesion molecule expression on inflammatory monocytes in brain and blood were compared by t-test. To block leukocyte trafficking, anti-mouse alpha-4 integrin blocking antibody (or IgG control) was administered intraperitoneally 4 hours prior to ICH. Blinded behavioral testing using the cylinder and beam walking tests were used to quantify neurological deficit. Results: Alpha-4 integrin is significantly increased on inflammatory monocytes in the brain after ICH compared to blood on days 1 and 3 (Day 1: 22.7 ±3.4% vs 0.9±0.5%, p<0.001, n=3/group, Day 3: 19.1±4.9% vs 2.9±0.5%, p<0.001, n=5/group). On days 1 and 3 after ICH, the majority of mice could not perform behavioral testing. However, on day 3 mice treated with anti-alpha-4 integrin antibody were more likely to be able to complete 20 rears in the cylinder within 15 minutes compared to controls (50% vs. 0%, p<0.05, n=6/group). Conclusions: Alpha-4 integrin appears to be important for inflammatory monocyte trafficking into the brain after ICH and may be a new potential therapeutic target to prevent the early phase of immune-mediated injury. Importantly, there is a monoclonal antibody therapy approved for use in humans, which could be studied for ICH if further experimental work supports a benefit.
Numerical Investigation of Scale Factor in Composites Applying Extended Finite Element Method

In recent years, composite materials have been widely used in several applications due to their superior mechanical properties including high strength, high stiffness and low density. Despite the remarkable advancements in developing theoretical and computational methods for analyzing composites, investigating the effect of scale factor on the strength and damage behavior of composites still remains an active field of research. Some computational efforts has been reported to investigate how composites strength change relative to scale factor. Conventional continuum mechanic methods are not able to calculate the effect of scale factor on composites strength. Applying continuum damage mechanic methods can incorporate this factor. In this paper, it is shown that combining extended finite element and cohesive zone modeling methods leads to developing an efficient numerical framework to study the scale factor for composites strength. The procedure is starting from a two plies laminate and then increasing the laminate thickness to investigate how strength changes with the scale factor. Prediction of composites failure strength has always been an essential study in aerospace research areas. Defining this innovative combination of extended finite element and cohesive zone modeling methods can help researchers to reduce expensive experiments by replacing reliable results from computational analyses.
A descriptive analysis of film music enthusiasts’ purchasing and consumption behaviors of soundtrack albums: An exploratory study

While a substantial body of research has explored purchasing and consumption behaviors of music consumers, relatively less attention has been devoted toward understanding these behaviors among specific populations of music enthusiasts and sound recording collectors. Using a researcher-designed survey, this exploratory study examined film music enthusiasts’ purchasing and consumption behaviors regarding soundtrack albums. This research indicated no significant differences on whether soundtrack albums were purchased before or after viewing the film of the soundtrack (p > .05). Specifically, some of the most frequent factors reported for purchasing soundtrack albums among film music enthusiasts were based on the composer, watching the film, desire of owning the newly expanded/extended/remastered/reissued edition, and limited pressings/low quantities available for purchase. Findings suggest that film music enthusiasts seem to base soundtrack purchasing decisions on a variety of factors. These purchasing attri...
Seed-mediated co-reduction: a versatile route to architecturally controlled bimetallic nanostructures.

Gold–palladium octopods and new concave and shape-controlled alloy nanostructures are synthesized by seed-mediated co-reduction, wherein two metal precursors are reduced in the presence of seeds that serve as preferential sites for the growth of the larger nanostructures. Here, the first comprehensive study of this technique is presented in a model Au–Pd system and provides insight into the mechanism of formation for these architecturally distinct nanocrystals. A systematic evaluation of synthesis conditions decoupled the roles of (i) Au:Pd precursor ratio, (ii) reaction pH, and (iii) capping agent concentration in morphology development. These factors provide control of growth kinetics and ultimately the morphology and composition of the final nanostructures. Significantly, elucidating the overgrowth processes during seed-mediated co-reduction will lead to the synthesis of other architecturally controlled bimetallic nanocrystals.
Pharmacokinetics of single cefuroxime and cefuroxime compound preparation in Beagle dogs

Objective To study the pharmacokinetics of single cefuroxime and cefuroxime compound preparation in Beagle dogs and their mutual influences.Methods Single cefuroxime and cefuroxime compound preparations were given to six Beagle dogs separately.The concentration of cefuroxime in plasma was determined by HPLC,the concentration-time curve was drawn and the main pharmacokinetics parameters were calculated.Results After intravenous injection three dosages cefuroxime compound preparations to six Beagle dogs,the t1/2 values of cefuroxime were(1.1±0.2)h,(1.1±0.1)h,and(1.2±0.3)h,respectively.The ke values of cefuroxime were(0.693±0.119)h-1,(0.707±0.094)h-1 and(0.591±0.117)h-1,respectively.The ρmax and AUC0-t of cefuroxime were directly proportional to the dosage of intravenous injection.Six Beagle dogs were given single cefuroxime,the t1/2 and ke of cefuroxime were(1.2 ± 0.3)h and(0.615 ± 0.133)h-1,respectively.Conclusions The plasma drug concentration-time course in Beagle dogs is conformed to the two-compartment model and cefuroxime′s pharmacokinetics appeared to be linearity.The main pharmacokinetics parameters show no significant after intravenous injection single cefuroxime and cefuroxime compound preparation.
Change of Renal Function in Neonates Born to Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Mothers

Objective To investigate the change of renal function in neonates born to gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM) mothers,and increase awareness of the complication of the neonates born to GDM,so as to improve the quality of life. Methods All the cases involved in this study were neonates born in Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University,whose mothers had GDM.Forty-five neonates born by GDM mothers were enrolled into the observation group,in which 23 were boys,22 girls,or 25 cases were premature infants,20 cases term infants,or 20 cases were the macrosomia,25 cases newborns whose birth weight were less than or equal to 4 kg.The control group included 45 healthy neonates born in the same period as the observation group,consisting of 21 boys,24 girls,in which 18 cases of premature infants,27 cases of term infants,or 22 cases of the macrosomia,23 cases of newborns whose birth weight were less than or equal to 4 kg.Fasting peripheral blood test was used to measure the levels of cystatin C(Cys-C),β2-microglobulin(β2-MG),blood urea nitrogen(BUN) and creatinine(CREA) within 72 hours after birth.Data were analyzed between the 2 groups. Results Compared with the control group,neither BUN nor CREA levels had significant change in the observation group(Pa0.05),while levels of Cys-C and β2-MG increased significantly in the observation group(Pa0.05).For both the premature infants and the term infants in the observation group,the levels of Cys-C and β2-MG were higher than those of the control group(Pa0.05).Compared with the control group,in both the macrosomia and the normal birth weight infants,the Cys-C and β2-MG increased in the observation group(Pa0.05).There was no significant difference between the macrosomia and the normal birth weight infants in the observation group(Pa0.05).Also no significant difference was found between the premature infants and the term infants in the observation group(Pa0.05). Conclusions Cys-C and β2-MG levels in neonates with GDM mothers are higher than those with normal mothers,which predict that there is renal damage in neonates born by GDM mothers,and the damage is no obviously relevant to the weight and gestational age.
Motion state of coal-gas flow in the process of outburst

Applying classic gas dynamics theory,carried on the one-dimensional analysis to the motion parameters of coal-gas flow in the outburst hole,and deduced the relational expression between the motion parameters(containing of velocity,current capacity and density etc.) of bursting coal-gas flow and gas pressure in the hole,then discussed the critical state and the sound velocity theory in coal-gas flow.In the process of coal and gas outburst,the flow state of coal-gas flow has intimate relationship with several factors,such as hole shape,gas pressure,coal break velocity,gas content and so on.The normal nozzle shape of outburst hole restricts the complete expansion of gas flow,and the critical velocity of coal-gas flow at the mouth of outburst hole is the sound velocity in two phase flow.The very state is called critical state,and the coal-gas flow bursting out is underexpanded.Once the coal-gas flow exceeds the critical state and the critical pressure is much greater than the roadway pressure,the fast expansion of high-volume under-expanded coal-gas flow will make a high-intensity dynamic effect and severely destruct mining production and ventilation facility.The critical state has the very tremendous significance on both controllability and destructiveness of the entire coal and gas outburst system.
Childhood Participation in Organized School Sports and Physical Education as Precursors of Adult Physical Activity

Increased levels of physical activity are associated with improved health. However, the determinants of an active lifestyle are unknown. Participation in school sports and physical education during childhood and adolescence are frequently mentioned as factors likely to promote more active lifestyles in adulthood. If this is true, public policy should more vigorously promote broad participation in school sports and physical education. However, review of the available literature reveals only six papers that address this issue directly, and all six have important methodological limitations. The study that provides the strongest support provides information only on sports participation during college, an age at which behavior patterns may already be firmly established. Therefore, more research in this area is needed. Future studies must consider definitions, confounding variables, recall bias, selection bias, content, and quality of school sports and physical education programs.
Secondhand Marijuana Smoke Is Not Benign

Although most people know that secondhand tobacco smoke can be harmful,[1][1] the perception is that marijuana smoking is less harmful to health, less addictive, and more socially acceptable than tobacco use.[2][2] In fact, we have heard from parents here in Colorado that they have quit smoking
Providing Consulting Experiences Through Role Playing in a Graduate Statistics Course

Summary An effective method for improving the communication skills of graduate students in statistics and biostatistics is to provide consultations with non-statistical researchers. Unfortunately, those experiences can be difficult to arrange or occur too infrequently to be reliable. The current study sought to help students develop both written and oral communication skills within an existing graduate biostatistics course by having students partake in role-playing consultations. Though the class size was small, the students felt these activities helped improve their oral and written communication skills, and made them more aware of a biostatistician's role in consulting. There was also modest improvement in the students perceived function as a consulting biostatistician. Simulated consultations can be an effective educational tool for promoting the development of soft skills necessary for developing successful statisticians, can be implemented in existing courses, and do not require reliance upon external collaborators. Embedding these types of exercises within an existing curriculum can also be a cost-effective alternative for programs that do not have formal consulting training.
Urea Anions: Simple, Fast, and Selective Catalysts for Ring-Opening Polymerizations.

Aliphatic polyesters and polycarbonates are a class of biorenewable, biocompatible, and biodegradable materials. One of the most powerful methods for accessing these materials is the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic monomers. Here we report that the deprotonation of ureas generates a class of versatile catalysts that are simultaneously fast and selective for the living ring-opening polymerization of several common monomers, including lactide, δ-valerolactone, e-caprolactone, a cyclic carbonate, and a cyclic phosphoester. Spanning several orders of magnitude, the reactivities of several diaryl urea anions correlated to the electron-withdrawing substituents on the aryl rings. With the appropriate urea anions, the polymerizations reached high conversions (∼90%) at room temperature within seconds (1–12 s), yielding polymers with narrow molecular weight distributions (Đ = 1.06 to 1.14). These versatile catalysts are simple to prepare, easy to use, and exhibit a range of activities that can be tuned ...
Building a surface atlas of hippocampal subfields from high resolution T2-weighted MRI scans using landmark-free surface registration

The hippocampus is widely studied in neuroimaging field as it plays important roles in memory and learning. However, the critical subfield information is often not explored in most hippocampal studies. We previously proposed a method for hippocampal subfield morphometry by integrating FreeSurfer, FSL, and SPHARM tools. But this method had some limitations, including the analysis of T1-weighted MRI scans without detailed subfield information and hippocampal registration without using important subfield information. To bridge these gaps, in this work, we propose a new framework for building a surface atlas of hippocampal subfields from high resolution T2-weighted MRI scans by integrating state-of-the-art methods for automated segmentation of hippocampal subfields and landmark-free, subfield-aware registration of hippocampal surfaces. Our experimental results have shown the promise of the new framework.