cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Solid State and Solution Structural Studies of Chiral Phosphoramide- Tin Complexes Relevant to Lewis Base Catalyzed Aldol Reactions †

Abstract Complexes of chiral phosphoramides 4 and 5 with tin-based Lewis acids were studied by both X-ray crystallography and low temperature 119Sn NMR spectroscopy. The structure of a ternary complex between 5, SnCl4 and benzaldehyde was also obtained and provided a detailed view of the binding of both aldehyde and phosphoramide to Lewis acids. 119Sn NMR, spectroscopy indicated that a 2 1 stoichiometry of phosphoramide to tin is favored in solution as well.
Anti-Vel 2, a new antibody showing heterogeneity of Vel system antibodies.

Summary Anti-Vel 2 is a newly recognized antibody in the Vel system. Two anti-Vel sera have been shown to contain anti-Vel 2, while 4 others have anti-Vel 1 plus anti-Vel 2. The new phenotype Vel: 1, -2 is twice as common (frequency about 0.00053) as Vel: -1, -2 (frequency about 0.00025). Tests with the original Vel serum of Sussman and Milleh [8] show that the phenotype Vel: -1, -2 corresponds to the original Vel-negative type.
Feature normalization for speaker verification in room reverberation

The performance of a typical speaker verification system degrades significantly in reverberant environments. This degradation is partly due to the conventional feature extraction/compensation techniques that use analysis windows which are much shorter than typical room impulse responses. In this paper, we present a feature extraction technique which estimates long-term envelopes of speech in narrow sub-bands using frequency domain linear prediction (FDLP). When speech is corrupted by reverberation, the long-term sub-band envelopes are convolved in time with those of the room impulse response function. In a first order approximation, gain normalization of these envelopes in the FDLP model suppresses the room reverberation artifacts. Experiments are performed on the 8 core conditions of the NIST 2008 speaker recognition evaluation (SRE). In these experiments, the FDLP features provide significant improvements on the interview microphone conditions (relative improvements of 20–30%) over the corresponding baseline system with MFCC features.
Sharing natural resource management responsibility: Examining the New Zealand rock lobster co-management experience

Co-management, in which government and resource users share responsibility for managing a natural resource, is attracting considerable attention in both public policy and common pool resource research. However, little is understood about how this approach arises in a mature regulatory setting, or about its strengths and weaknesses. This study uses the experience of the New Zealand rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii and Sagmariasus verreauxi) industry to illustrate what co-management is and how it develops. This is followed by an assessment of co-management in this regime. Development of co-management is an evolutionary process that requires commitment from both government and industry. Strengthened property rights and management expertise provide the incentives and tools to develop a robust co-management regime. However the characteristics of the property rights bundle must be carefully matched to the regime’s biological, social, and regulatory setting.
A Facile Method for the Preparation of Poly(4-vinylpyridine) Nanoparticles and their Characterization

Submicron size particles were synthesized from 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) using an oil-in-water emulsion system. Divinyl benzene (DVB) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) were utilized as crosslinkers for the synthesis of p(4-VP) hydrogel nanoparticles in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant systems. Characterization of the particles was made by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) methods. To render a positive charge, p(4-VP) particles were reacted with 1-bromo butane (1-BB).
LL p metric based robust clustering

This paper introduces the generalized Cauchy distribution derived LL p metric. We analyze the properties of the metric from the point of view of robust statistics and relate the metric to the L p metric, comparing the robustness of the metrics according to their influence functions. The derived metric is employed in robust clustering. To implement the proposed robust clustering method, a robust centroid updating algorithm based on maximum likelihood estimation theory is introduced. Simulations are performed to evaluate the validity of the algorithm and demonstrate its robustness compared with classical robust clustering methods.
Hypertension and the Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis: Oxidative Stress and the Mediation of Arterial Inflammatory Response: A New Perspective

Hypertension is a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis, although the mechanisms have not been well elucidated. As the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and the effects of hypertension are being more clearly defined, it becomes apparent that the two processes have certain common mechanisms. The endothelium is a likely central focus for the effect of both diseases. There is increasing evidence that atherosclerosis should be viewed fundamentally as an inflammatory disease. Atherogenic stimuli such as hyperlipidemia appear to active the inflammatory response by causing expression of mononuclear leukocyte recruiting mechanisms. The gene for one of these, the vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, is controlled at least in part by transcriptional factors regulated by oxidative stress, which modifies the redox state of the endothelial cell. Alterations in the redox state of the arterial wall also may contribute to vascular smooth muscle cell growth. In a somewhat parallel fashion, there is evidence that hypertension may also exert oxidative stress on the arterial wall. This article reviews evidence that leads to the postulate that hypertension predisposes to and accelerates atherosclerosis at least in part because of synergy between elevated blood pressure and other atherogenic stimuli to induce oxidative stress on the arterial wall.
Continuing to Work toward US Manhood: Contemporary Performance-photographer Kerry Skarbakka’s The Struggle to Right Oneself

For his large-scale, color series The Struggle to Right Oneself (begun in 2002), contemporary performance-photographer Kerry Skarbakka depicts himself falling in order to discuss personal and broader social instabilities, such as the “falling” reputation of the United States and the politics of identity. Although his white, male body in this precarious act suggests the potential loss of control of white masculinity, I argue that his work reinstates ideals of manhood in numerous ways. By analyzing the performative making of the series, the images themselves, and Skarbakka’s presentations after he has made them, I examine how white masculinity continues as a highly operative, but un(der)examined, position in the contemporary United States. In particular, the construction of white masculinity in this series is furthered through the long-established tropes of “work” and failure while the myth that certain bodies circulate without embodied particularities—a dangerous myth cultivated by, and necessary for, neol...
Using Maintainability Based Risk Assessment and Severity Analysis in Prioritizing Corrective Maintenance Tasks

A software product spends more than 65% of its lifecycle in maintenance. Software systems with good maintainability can be easily modified to fix faults. We define maintainability-based risk as a product of two factors: the probability of performing maintenance tasks and the impact of performing these tasks. In this paper, we present a methodology for assessing maintainability-based risk in the context of corrective maintenance. The proposed methodology depends on the architectural artifacts and their evolution through the life cycle of the system. In order to prioritize corrective maintenance tasks, we combine components' maintainability- based risk with the severity of a failure that may happen as a result of unfixed fault. We illustrate the methodology on a case study using UML models.
The importance of monophasic Doppler waveforms in the common femoral vein: a retrospective study.

Objective. The purpose of this study was to assess the importance of monophasic waveforms encountered in the common femoral vein during deep venous thrombosis evaluation by a retrospective review of lower extremity venous Doppler (VD) sonography and correlative studies, such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging. Methods. A retrospective review was conducted of lower extremity VD studies performed from September 1, 2000, through September 1, 2005. All satisfactory VD studies, which were in compliance with the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories standard protocol, were evaluated for the presence of monophasic waveforms and correlated with CT of the abdomen and pelvis. Studies were evaluated for the causes of monophasic waveforms. Patients younger than 18 years were excluded. Results. A total of 2963 VD examinations were reviewed. One hundred twenty-four of 2963 showed monophasic waveforms. Eighty-nine of the 124 had additional CT examinations within 1 week; 19 had CT within 2 months; and 16 had no additional examinations. Forty-seven of 124 cases revealed deep venous thrombosis extending into the iliac veins, of which 23 were identified by VD sonography; 26 were due to extrinsic compression; 6 showed a hypoplastic or stenosed common iliac vein; and the remaining 45 had no apparent causes for the monophasic waveforms. Conclusions. Monophasic waveforms in the common femoral veins are reliable indicators of proximal venous obstruction. Because iliac vein thrombosis is clinically important, we recommend routine sonographic evaluation of external iliac veins in the presence of
Differential Diagnosis of Bullous Skin Lesions in the Pediatric Population

We present a case of a male infant born to a 21 year-old mother without significant past medical history. Clinically, he presented with diffuse bullae and thickened patches of yellow to brown skin exhibiting Darier’s Sign. This condition affected the infant’s entire integument. There was also mild hepatosplenomegaly, detected radiologically. Blood tests and a bone marrow biopsy were normal. The differential diagnosis, clinically, included diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis, bullous genodermatosis, epidermolysis bullosa, epidermolytic hyperkeratosis, incontinentia pigmenti, and staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome. Histologically, there was a proliferation of mast cells within the papillary and reticular dermis, which exhibited positivity with Leder staining, thereby confirming the diagnosis of diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis. Mastocytosis is a condition characterized by mast cell hyperplasia in the bone marrow, liver, spleen, lymph nodes, gastrointestinal tract, and skin. Diffuse cutaneous matocytosis is a rare subset limited to the skin. It occurs in about two percent of cases of mastocytosis and usually affects children before the age of three. This case, although extremely rare, gives an excellent overview of the differential diagnosis of bullous lesions in the pediatric population.
Changing Conceptions of Time Implications for Educational Research and Practice

The construct of time influences student learning in and out of school and consequently pervades educational discourse. Yet the integration of information and communication technologies into contemporary society is changing how people perceive and experience time. Traditional theoretical and methodological approaches to time research no longer capture the nuances of digital, temporal realities. This article offers a theoretical analysis of three temporal perspectives: (a) clock time, measured in objective, linear units; (b) socially constructed time, experienced subjectively according to social and cultural context; and (c) virtual time, a new category that synthesizes emergent temporal theory in the digital age. Implications for educational research and practice are discussed. The authors initiate discourse around new theoretical approaches to educational time research in an era characterized by great sociocultural and temporal transformations.
Inheritance and explicit coercion

A method is presented for providing semantic interpretations for languages which feature inheritance in the framework of statically checked, rich type disciplines. The approach is illustrated by an extension of the language Fun of L. Cardelli and P. Wegner (1985), which is interpreted via a translation into an extended polymorphic lambda calculus. The approach interprets inheritances in Fun as coercion functions already definable in the target of the translation. Existing techniques in the theory of semantic domains can then be used to interpret the extended polymorphic lambda calculus, thus providing many models for the original language. The method allows the simultaneous modeling of parametric polymorphism, recursive types, and inheritance, which has been regarded as problematic because of the seemingly contradictory characteristics of inheritance and type recursion on higher types. The main difficulty in providing interpretations for explicit type disciplines featuring inheritance is identified. Since interpretations follow the type-checking derivations, coherence theorems are required, and the authors prove them for their semantic method. >
The Role of Dehydroepiandrosterone in Diabetes Mellitus

Much has been written in the lay literature regarding potential benefits of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Although it was removed from the over-the-counter market in 1985, the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act of 1994 allowed the drug to be marketed as a food supplement. Because DHEA no longer falls under the scrutiny of the Food and Drug Administration, many unverified claims have been put forth in the press espousing its therapeutic value. This barrage of "infomercials" has left the average American consumer (and health care professional) curious about DHEA and its possible therapeutic utility. One focus of recent research is to define the role of DHEA in diabetes mellitus. Although it has been claimed that decreased levels of endogenous DHEA are associated with diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance, much of the information is based on cross-sectional studies. Other claims correlate decreased endogenous DHEA levels with adverse cardiovascular effects. Some information is contradictory and indicates high doses of exogenous DHEA may produce adverse cardiovascular effects, an undesirable outcome in patients with diabetes mellitus. At this time, its administration in patients with diabetes is not warranted. Long-term trials evaluating the role of exogenous DHEA and its effect on patients with diabetes should be conducted.
Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 Is a Regulator of Ovarian Cancer Peritoneal Metastasis

Ovarian cancers metastasize by attaching to and invading through the mesothelium, a single layer of mesothelial cells lining the peritoneal cavity. The presence of invasive peritoneal metastases is associated with a poor prognosis for ovarian cancer (5-year survival <25%). Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) is a cell surface receptor that mediates leukocyte attachment and extravasation across endothelial and mesothelial monolayers at sites of inflammation. Membranous VCAM-1 expression was observed on the mesothelium of 13 of 14 women with ovarian cancer compared with 6 of 15 who were cancer-free. Using a cell culture model system of mesothelial invasion, highly tumorigenic SKOV-3 and ES-2 cells were 2.5 to 3 times more efficient in transmigration through the mesothelial monolayer compared with poorly tumorigenic OVCAR-3 cells. Blocking antibodies to, or small interfering RNA knockdown of, VCAM-1 or its ligand alpha(4)beta(1) integrin significantly decreased, but did not completely inhibit, transmigration of SKOV-3 cells through mesothelial monolayers. Furthermore, using a mouse model of ovarian cancer metastasis, treatment with VCAM-1 function-blocking antibodies decreased tumor burden and increased survival. Together, these observations implicate VCAM-1-alpha(4)beta(1) integrin interactions in the regulation of ovarian cancer cell mesothelial invasion and metastatic progression and offer the possibility of novel therapeutic targets.
Understanding the role of buildings in a smart microgrid

A ‘smart microgrid’ refers to a distribution network for electrical energy, starting from electricity generation to its transmission and storage with the ability to respond to dynamic changes in energy supply through co-generation and demand adjustments. At the scale of a small town, a microgrid is connected to the wide-area electrical grid that may be used for ‘baseline’ energy supply; or in the extreme case only as a storage system in a completely self-sufficient microgrid. Distributed generation, storage and intelligence are key components of a smart microgrid. In this paper, we examine the significant role that buildings play in energy use and its management in a smart microgrid. In particular, we discuss the relationship that IT equipment has on energy usage by buildings, and show that control of various building subsystems (such as IT and HVAC) can lead to significant energy savings. Using the UCSD as a prototypical smart microgrid, we discuss how buildings can be enhanced and interfaced with the smart microgrid, and demonstrate the benefits that this relationship can bring as well as the challenges in implementing this vision.
In Utero Smoke Exposure, Glutathione S-Transferase P1 Haplotypes, and Respiratory Illness–Related Absence Among Schoolchildren

BACKGROUND. The GSTP1 Ile105Val variant and secondhand tobacco smoke exposure have been independently associated with acute respiratory illness; however, susceptibility to in utero and secondhand tobacco smoke has yet to be examined in relation to variation across the GSTP1 locus. OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this work was to determine whether variation across the GSTP1 locus is associated with respiratory illness–related school absences and to determine whether this relationship varies by in utero and secondhand tobacco smoke exposure. METHODS. Tobacco smoke exposure status, incident respiratory-related school absence records, and DNA samples was ascertained for 1132 Hispanic and non-Hispanic white elementary school children as part of the Children’s Health Study. RESULTS. Four GSTP1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms were selected that accounted for 93% of the variation across the locus. Individual single-nucleotide polymorphism analyses showed a protective effect for the minor alleles in single-nucleotide polymorphisms 1 (rs6591255), 3 (GSTP1 Ile105Val: rs1695), and 4 (rs749174) for respiratory illness. The haplotype, which includes a minor allele for single-nucleotide polymorphisms 1, 3, and 4 (h1011), was associated with a decreased risk of respiratory illness. The protective effect of GSTP1 variants was lost among individuals exposed to in utero and secondhand tobacco smoke. CONCLUSIONS. A common GSTP1 haplotype, which includes the functional Ile105Val polymorphism, was associated with respiratory-related school absences. The protection afforded by this haplotype was lost in children exposed to involuntary tobacco smoke. The paradigm of loss of genetic protection among those exposed to tobacco smoke has clinical and public health implications that warrant broader consideration in research and practice. Pediatrics 2009;123:1344–1351
Wide-View MVA-LCDs With an Achromatic Dark State

A multi-domain vertical alignment liquid crystal display (MVA LCD) using a negative C-plate and a biaxial film is proposed to obtain an achromatic dark state. In comparison to conventional approach which uses a negative C-plate and a positive A-plate, the maximum light leakage over entire viewing cone is reduced by ~ 6X at lambda = 450 nm and ~ 4X at lambda = 650 nm. The achromatic dark state is essential for improving the contrast ratio, viewing angle and color saturation of MVA LCDs.
METRICS: a tool for the display and analysis of mappings in message-passing multicomputers

METRICS is a software tool for the static (compile time) analysis of mappings. METRICS is designed for use in the mapping of parallel computations consisting of a set of communicating parallel processes which communicate through explicit message passing. The target architectures currently supported include the mesh and hypercube as well as user-defined topologies. The underlying routing schemes include store-and-forward, virtual cut-through, and wormhole routing. METRICS is designed to display the mapping in a clear, logical, and intuitive format so that the user can evaluate it quantitatively as well as visually. The contributions of METRICS include its rich underlying formalism, the temporal communication graph, a hybrid between the static task graph and the DAG; its mechanisms for handling massive parallelism using subviews, scrolling, and hierarchical grouping; and the broad spectrum of mapping metrics used in the analysis of each mapping. >
An algorithm for learning maximum entropy probability models of disease risk that efficiently searches and sparingly encodes multilocus genomic interactions

Motivation: In both genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and pathway analysis, the modest sample size relative to the number of genetic markers presents formidable computational, statistical and methodological challenges for accurately identifying markers/interactions and for building phenotype-predictive models. Results: We address these objectives via maximum entropy conditional probability modeling (MECPM), coupled with a novel model structure search. Unlike neural networks and support vector machines (SVMs), MECPM makes explicit and is determined by the interactions that confer phenotype-predictive power. Our method identifies both a marker subset and the multiple k-way interactions between these markers. Additional key aspects are: (i) evaluation of a select subset of up to five-way interactions while retaining relatively low complexity; (ii) flexible single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) coding (dominant, recessive) within each interaction; (iii) no mathematical interaction form assumed; (iv) model structure and order selection based on the Bayesian Information Criterion, which fairly compares interactions at different orders and automatically sets the experiment-wide significance level; (v) MECPM directly yields a phenotype-predictive model. MECPM was compared with a panel of methods on datasets with up to 1000 SNPs and up to eight embedded penetrance function (i.e. ground-truth) interactions, including a five-way, involving less than 20 SNPs. MECPM achieved improved sensitivity and specificity for detecting both ground-truth markers and interactions, compared with previous methods. Availability: http://www.cbil.ece.vt.edu/ResearchOngoingSNP.htm Contact: djmiller@engr.psu.edu Supplementary information:Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Assisted keyword indexing for lecture videos using unsupervised keyword spotting

Created a completely unsupervised within-speaker keyword spotting system to create accessible index.Average Precision at 10 of 71.5% and 79.5% for laptop recorded and in-lecture queries for RIT lectures.Whitening is used to reduce variance in MFCC feature vectors (performance increase of 58%).In Table?1 and the accompanying text we explicitly define our criteria for defining 'valid' search hits.MIT lectures recorded on lapel microphone have the average Precision at 10 of 89.5%. Many students use videos to supplement learning outside the classroom. This is particularly important for students with challenged visual capacities, for whom seeing the board during lecture is difficult. For these students, we believe that recording the lectures they attend and providing effective video indexing and search tools will make it easier for them to learn course subject matter at their own pace. As a first step in this direction, we seek to help instructors create an index for their lecture videos using audio keyword search, with queries recorded by the instructor on their laptop and/or created from video excerpts. For this we have created an unsupervised within-speaker keyword spotting system. We represent audio data using de-noised, whitened and scale-normalized Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) features, and locate queries using Segmental Dynamic Time Warping (SDTW) of feature sequences. Our system is evaluated using introductory Linear Algebra lectures from instructors with different accents at two U.S. universities. For lectures produced using a video camera at RIT, laptop-recorded queries obtain an average Precision at 10 of 71.5%, while 79.5% is obtained for within-lecture queries. For lectures recorded using a lapel microphone at MIT, using a similar keyword set we obtain a much higher average Precision at 10 of 89.5%. Our results suggest that our system is robust to changes in environment, speaker and recording setup.
Adolescents' Self-Reported Recall of Anticipatory Guidance Provided During Well-Visits at Nine Medical Clinics in San Diego, California, 2009–2011

Abstract Purpose Anticipatory guidance (AG) is recommended for adolescent well care. AG recall is important in the event sequence that might lead to behavioral change, reduced health risk, and improved health. We assessed factors influencing adolescents' self-reported recall of specific AG topics. Methods Through convenience sampling of nine clinics in San Diego, California, 872 adolescents (429 aged 11–13 years; 443 aged 14–17 years) who had received well visits completed standardized surveys between 2009 and 2011. Adolescents were asked to report recall of either 17 or 23 age-appropriate AG topics that were analyzed in five categories (health maintenance; social/emotional, safety/violence; smoking/substance abuse, and puberty/sexual health); a summary score for all categories was developed. Summary scores' associations with demographic variables, visit characteristics (including having time without parents present [private time]), clinic procedures, and lead physician attitudes were assessed. Results AG recall was independently associated with adolescents having private time with clinicians, completing previsit questionnaires, reporting the well visit was helpful, and the well visit lasting at least 10 minutes. Higher summary recall scores were observed among adolescents who received care in clinics providing AG at both sick and well visits and having policies encouraging private time. Clinic electronic medical record use for AG prompts was associated with recall of fewer topics. Conclusions To increase adolescents' AG recall and potentially foster behavior change, our results suggest medical providers should adopt procedures advocated by professional societies, including assuring adolescents receive private time during visits, increasing visit time during well visits, using patient-completed questionnaires, and providing AG during all visits.
High-throughput methods for electron crystallography.

Membrane proteins play a tremendously important role in cell physiology and serve as a target for an increasing number of drugs. Structural information is key to understanding their function and for developing new strategies for combating disease. However, the complex physical chemistry associated with membrane proteins has made them more difficult to study than their soluble cousins. Electron crystallography has historically been a successful method for solving membrane protein structures and has the advantage of providing the natural environment of a lipid membrane. Specifically, when membrane proteins form two-dimensional arrays within a lipid bilayer, images and diffraction can be recorded by electron microscopy. The corresponding data can be combined to produce a three-dimensional reconstruction which, under favorable conditions, can extend to atomic resolution. Like X-ray crystallography, the quality of the structures are very much dependent on the order and size of the crystals. However, unlike X-ray crystallography, high-throughput methods for screening crystallization trials for electron crystallography are not in general use. In this chapter, we describe two alternative and potentially complementary methods for high-throughput screening of membrane protein crystallization within the lipid bilayer. The first method relies on the conventional use of dialysis for removing detergent and thus reconstituting the bilayer; an array of dialysis wells in the standard 96-well format allows the use of a liquid-handling robot and greatly increases throughput. The second method relies on detergent complexation by cyclodextrin; a specialized pipetting robot has been designed not only to titrate cyclodextrin, but to use light scattering to monitor the reconstitution process. In addition, the use of liquid-handling robots for making negatively stained grids and methods for automatically imaging samples in the electron microscope are described.
Autocatalytic activities of intron 5 of the cob gene of yeast mitochondria.

Abstract The terminal intron of the mitochondrial cob gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae can undergo autocatalytic splicing in vitro. Efficient splicing of this intron required a high concentration of monovalent ion (1 M). We found that at a high salt concentration this intron was very active and performed many of the reactions described for other group I introns. The rate of the splicing reaction was dependent on the choice of the monovalent ion; the reaction intermediate, the intron-3' exon molecule, accumulated in NH4Cl but not in KCl. In addition, the intron was more reactive in KCl, accumulating in two different circular forms: one cyclized at the 5' intron boundary and the other at 236 nucleotides from the 5' end. These circular forms were able to undergo the opening and recyclization reactions previously described for the Tetrahymena rRNA intron. Cleavage of the 5' exon-intron boundary by the addition of GTP did not require the 3' terminus of the intron and the downstream exon. An anomalous guanosine addition at the 3' exon and at the middle of the intron was also detected. Hence, this intron, which requires a functional protein to splice in vivo, demonstrated a full spectrum of characteristic reactions in the absence of proteins.
Flexible, open-source programmes and estimating projections of urban tree benefits: A case study in Amherst, MA

Inventories of urban tree populations and affiliated analysis software are valuable, contemporary tools in use by municipalities across the globe. While software that allows users to explore the values and benefits of discrete urban tree populations may be readily available, capacity to model and project tree growth is limited. Using existing urban street tree inventory data from Amherst, MA (USA), a generic platform for tree growth modelling was developed to be implemented by the user at the source code level, called “Xylem”. Agile programmes like this provide a fast-working, extensible platform to generate tree growth projection data that can be delivered efficiently to the end user. The Amherst case study offers an example of how programmes written in Python 2.7 have application and can be readily customisable, to add value to existing tree inventory data.
Addressing a Neighboring-Channel Interference From High-Powered Radar

This paper investigates the scenario in which a weak desired signal reaches a poorly selective receiver along with a high-powered pulsed radar occupying a neighboring channel. Traditionally, an automatic gain control (AGC) is used to fit the high-powered radar into the dynamic range of the receiver. However, this approach desensitizes the receiver because it also sacrifices the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the desired signal. We propose the use of an auxiliary receive path to address this problem of strong neighboring channel signals. In this method, receiver gain is not lowered to avoid clipping. Instead, the strong signal is allowed to clip and distort the desired signal. This paper shows that only a subset of the symbols contained in the desired signal will be distorted; hence, redundancy within the desired signal (due to forward error correction) can be exploited to “fill the gaps” created by the distortion. The auxiliary path samples the envelope of the strong neighboring-channel signal and informs the decoder about which symbols are distorted (or “bad”) and which symbols are not distorted (or “good”). This additional information is shown to improve the estimation performance of the decoder in the presence of high-powered neighboring-channel radar. Using simulation and hardware-based experiments, it is shown that auxiliary-path-based receivers can obtain a significantly better throughput performance than AGC-based receivers.
Diagnosis and staging of bladder cancer.

SUMMARY The need for prompt diagnosis and accurate staging of bladder cancer cannot be overemphasized, as delays in diagnosing the tumor are clearly associated with a poor prognosis. Accurate staging using the American Joint Committee system is essential if clinicians are to compare the results of different therapies.
Molecular imaging in alcohol dependence

The cellular mechanisms of alcohol's effects in the brain are complex, targeting multiple transmitter systems. Molecular imaging has been used to study the effects of alcohol and alcohol use disorders on these various systems. Studies of dopaminergic indices have provided robust evidence for deficits in D2-mediated transmission in the striatum of chronic recently detoxified alcoholics. Their presence in the at-risk state prior to excessive drinking, and their recovery after long-term sobriety, are unclear and represent an active area of current research. Investigations of the GABAergic system have shown generalized deficits in various brain regions in the chronic abstinence phase. Studies of the opiate system have suggested alterations in some subtypes in discrete brain regions, including the ventral striatum, while studies of serotonin have been negative and those of the cannabinoid system have been inconclusive. Future investigations should target the glutamatergic system, which plays an important role both in the acute intoxicating effects of alcohol as well as in the long-term effects associated with dependence.
Revascularization of Totally Occluded Renal Arteries

AbstractTwo cases of total renal artery occlusion are presented. The clinical durations of occlusion were 10 days and 6 months. Revascularization procedures were successful in both patients, resulting in return of renal function and alleviation of hypertension. Our 2 cases and a review of 30 othercases demonstrate that the maximum duration of main renal artery occlusion with subsequent return of renal function is unknown.
Hostile Relations with the Byzantines

Mhile Mu‘āwiyah was still insecure in his new position and had his hands full with domestic affairs he found it expedient to purchase (658 or 659) a truce from the Emperor Constans II (641–68) at the price of a yearly tribute mentioned by Theophanis1 and referred to in passing by al-Balādhuri.2 But soon afterward the tribute was repudiated and hostilities against the Byzantine possessions both by land and sea were pressed more zealously and persistently than by any of Mu‘āwiyah’s immediate successors. Twice did Mu‘āwiyah stretch out his mighty arm against the enemy capital itself. The main object of these raids into Bilād al-Rūm (the territory of the Romans, Asia Minor) was of course the acquisition of booty, though the dim spectacle of Constantinople may have beckoned beyond in the distant background. Gradually the razzias became annual summer affairs and served the purpose of keeping the army physically fit and well trained. Yet the Arabs never succeeded in establishing a permanent foothold in Asia Minor. Their main energy was directed eastward and westward along the lines of least resistance. Otherwise the story of Arab-Byzantine relations in Asia Minor and even across the Hellespont might have been different. On the north the lofty ranges of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus seem to have been eternally fixed by nature as the boundary line, and the Arabic language appears to have frozen upon their southern slopes. Though brought later by Saljūq and by Ottoman Turks within the political orbit of Islam, no part of Asia Minor ever became Arabic speaking. Its basic population from earliest antiquity, beginning with Hittite days, has always been non-Semitic, and its climate has proved too rigorous for Arab civilization to strike deep root in its soil.
Medical evaluation of the pregnant patient requiring nonobstetric surgery

This article provides a summary of currently available information from a broad range of disciplines aimed at guiding the physician caring for the pregnant patient who requires nonobstetric surgery. An understanding of the anatomic and physiologic alterations that occur during pregnancy will allow such procedures to be accomplished with morbidity and mortality approaching those of nonpregnant surgical patients. The presence of the fetus does impose some restraint; however, this should rarely impair appropriate diagnosis and treatment of maternal disease. This obtains from the broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic alternatives available, and from the fact that what is beneficial for maternal health is generally best for the fetus. 64 references.
NavCog: turn-by-turn smartphone navigation assistant for people with visual impairments or blindness

NavCog is a novel smartphone navigation system for people with visual impairments or blindness, capable of assisting the users during autonomous mobility in complex and unfamiliar indoor/outdoor environments. The accurate localization achieved by NavCog is used for precise turn-by-turn way-finding assistance as the first step, but the ultimate goal is to present a variety of location based information to the user, such as points of interest gathered from social media and online geografic information services.
Abstract A87: Variations in renal cancer in blacks and whites

Introduction: The incidence and/or mortality rates for the major cancers in the U.S. are significantly higher for African Americans (AA) than they are for whites. This difference has been observed primarily in cancers of the prostate gland, lung, breast (premenopausal only), and large intestine. These most prevalent cancers account for 53% of all malignant tumors in blacks and 50% in whites. In this study, we report a descriptive epidemiologic analysis of the black-white variations seen in the trends, incidence, age specific rates, and survival of renal cancer. Methods: Data were obtained from NCI9s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) for the years 1973–2005. Using SEER Registry 9, there were 6,495 cases of renal cell carcinoma reported in AA and 57, 222 reported in whites. Cases were compared by linear and by log-log plots of the age of diagnosis and age specific incidence rates. The two main histological types of renal cancer clear cell carcinoma and papillary carcinoma_were considered. Rates are expressed as number of cases per 100,000 persons. Results: The overall incidence rate of renal cancers was significantly higher in AA men (15.9) and women (7.7), respectively, than in White men (13.5) and women (6.5). The mean age of diagnosis for AA and whites was 58.9 and 63.3 years, respectively. In both AA and whites, the trend in renal cancers has been consistently increasing since 1973 at the same rate. The annual increase was statistically significant in both men and women in the two groups. However, in both AA and whites, the increasing trend was limited to the clear cell type, the most common type in all groups. In contrast, the rates of papillary and non-clear cell tumors have remained constant since 1973 in both AA and whites. The age specific rates of renal cell carcinomas were higher in AA men than in white men, but were similar in AA and White women. These rates were significantly greater in men than in women. The 5-year relative survival rate was 64% for men and 66% for women, independent of racial group. Consequently, there was no difference in relative survival when AA were compared to whites in the SEER Program. Conclusions: In both men and women, renal cell cancer is more common in AA than in whites. The incidence rate of renal cancer has consistently increased since 1973 in both AA and in whites, although this increase has affected only the clear cell histological type. This progressive increase in clear cell but not in the papillary type suggests that subtypes of renal cancer represent different populations with respect to carcinogenic pathways. Cancers of the kidney need to be considered in any analysis of health disparities because of their higher incidence in AA. Incident and susceptibility differences in renal cancers among racial and gender groups may have biologic and non-biologic factors and are unresolved.
Thirteen-Year Follow-up of Optic Disc Hemorrhages in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study.

Purpose To determine the cumulative incidence of optic disc hemorrhage (ODH) before and after development of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG); determine the prognostic significance of ODH for the development of POAG; and identify predictive factors for ODH. Design Prospective cohort study. Methods ODHs were evaluated in 3236 eyes of 1618 Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) participants annually using stereoscopic optic disc photographs. The incidence of ODH before and after the development of POAG, the risk of ODH for POAG, and risk factors for ODH were determined using a multivariate proportional hazards regression model. Results After a median follow-up of 13 years, 1 or more ODHs were detected in 179 eyes of 169 participants. The incidence of ODH was 0.5% per year during an average of 13 years before the development of POAG and 1.2% per year during an average of 6 years after the development of POAG. The cumulative incidence of POAG in eyes with ODH was 25.6% compared with 12.9% in eyes without ODH. The occurrence of an ODH increased the risk of developing POAG 2.6-fold in the multivariate analysis (95% confidence interval, 1.7–4.0; P Conclusion ODH is an independent predictive factor for the development of POAG in patients with ocular hypertension (OHT) and the predictive factors for ODH are very similar to those for POAG in OHT patients.
Tibial Nerve Block Using an Ultrasound‐Guided Inframalleolar Medial Plantar Nerve Perineural Injection: A Technical Note

Sonographic-guided tibial nerve block allows for rapid anesthetization of the heel and plantar regions of the foot. We describe a variant technique for tibial nerve regional anesthesia utilizing perineural injection of the medial plantar nerve proximal to the sustentaculum tali where the nerve is superficial and readily accessed, with resultant retrograde flow of local anesthetic proximally. Perineural injection of the medial plantar nerve at the inframalleolar level provides a simple, safe, and effective alternative method to achieve tibial nerve block for regional anesthesia in a variety of procedures. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2017
Building energy-efficient multi-level cell STT-RAM caches with data compression

Spin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-RAM) technology has emerged as a potential replacement of SRAM in cache design, especially for building large-scale and energy-efficient last level caches. Compared with singlelevel cell (SLC), multi-level cell (MLC) STT-RAM is expected to double cache capacity and increase system performance. However, the two-step read/write access schemes incur considerable energy consumption and performance degradation. In this paper, we propose two techniques using data compression to optimize MLC STT-RAM cache design. The first technique tries to compress a cache line and fit it into only the soft-bit region of the cells, so that reading or writing this cache line takes only one step which is fast and energy-efficient. We introduce a second technique to increase the cache capacity by enabling the left hard-bit region to store another compressed cache line, which can improve the system performance for memory intensive workloads. The experimental results show that, compared with a conventional MLC STT-RAM last level cache design, our overhead minimized technique reduces the dynamic energy consumption by 38.2% on average with the same system performance, and our capacity augmented technique boosts the system performance by 6.1% with 19.2% dynamic energy saving on average, across the evaluated multi-programmed benchmarks.
Ten-year Outcomes of a Prospective Randomized Trial of Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass Versus Laparoscopic Gastric Banding.

Objective:The primary endpoints of this study were long-term weight loss, morbidity, and changes in comorbidities and quality of life.Background:Bariatric surgery is an effective option for the treatment of severe obesity and its related comorbidities. However, few studies have reported on the long-
On Determining Stationary Periods within Time Series

AbstractA novel approach is constructed for determining both the occurrence and the duration of stationary periods within time series. After reviewing four statistical techniques that provide stationarity measures invariant to applying a constant offset to the variable of interest, the reverse arrangement test is selected as the basic statistical operation to construct the approach. The probability distributions of the starting and ending points of stationary intervals are used to determine the nonstationary location at which a period should be split into two subperiods and nonstationary samples that should be discarded from analysis of time-averaged statistics. The approach provides efficient analysis of long-term datasets and is capable of relating data sampled at multiple locations. Applying the approach to data obtained within a walnut orchard canopy during the defoliated phase of the Canopy Horizontal Array Turbulence Study (CHATS) yields periods with stationary within-canopy velocities required by a...
Space Exploration: Assessing Designed Spaces as Visual Persuasion

The design of spaces within buildings is a basic element of architecture. This paper proposes a theory of spatial design in architecture and demonstrates the role of designed spaces in visual persuasion or influence. It also extends the theory to spaces outside of buildings, such as gardens, parks, ponds, fountains, and even cities, and assesses the visual impact of these surroundings. The paper applies the theory to the evaluation of designed spaces such as the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia; the gardens of Versailles; the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew near London; and the Royal Botanic Gardens in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Abstract 190: Prediction of Intracranial Aneurysm Growth Based on Morphology

Introduction: Recent studies have strongly associated intracranial aneurysm growth with increased risk of rupture. To plan more effective monitoring and intervention strategies, it would be benefic...