cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evidence of Negative Effects of Defect Size and Older Patient Age by Quantitative CT-Based 3D Image Analysis in Ultraporous Beta-Tricalcium Phosphate Grafted Extremity Bone Defects at One Year

Introduction. Synthetic bone graft materials are commonly used to fill defects after curettage of benign bone lesions. Ultraporous beta tricalcium phosphate (TCP) is a popular synthetic compound used in this situation. Prior clinical studies based on plain X-ray analysis suggest incorporation of TCP is incomplete, even when combined with bone marrow (BMA). Purpose. The purpose was to analyze volumetric CT-based changes in defects grafted with TCP with/without BMA in a completed prospective RCT to objectively determine (1) relationship between size and age versus TCP incorporation and (2) whether there is an advantage to addition of BMA. Methods. Twenty-one patients with CT scans at 1 year follow-up available for digital analysis (TCP=10, TCP w/BMA =11) form the study population. CT image stacks were evaluated by creating volumetric masks using MIMICS imaging software for total defect, graft remaining, and graft incorporated volumes graft incorporation endpoints. Results. Overall, there was significant (p=0.0029) negative correlation (r2 = 0.38) between defect size and ratio of incorporated bone to defect size. This relationship remained strong (r2 = 0.56) particularly for defects > 20 cc but not for smaller defects. Bone width was also a significantly related factor (r2 = 0.94), with less graft incorporation in larger bone sites, in part likely due to the linear relationship between defect size and bone width. Relationship with age was complex and closely tied to defect volume. For larger defect volumes, younger patients were more successful at graft incorporation. Although age itself was not an independently significant factor, as defect volume increased, advanced age more negatively impacted new bone formation. Conclusions. Larger size defect and affected bone and advancing age appear to be important negative factors in synthetic graft incorporation. Results showed no advantage to addition of BMA to TCP.
AxMemo: hardware-compiler co-design for approximate code memoization

Historically, continuous improvements in general-purpose processors have fueled the economic success and growth of the IT industry. However, the diminishing benefits from transistor scaling and conventional optimization techniques necessitates moving beyond common practices. Approximate computing is one such unconventional technique that has shown promise in pushing the boundaries of general-purpose processing. This paper sets out to employ approximation for processors that are commonly used in cyber-physical domains and may become building blocks of Internet of Things. To this end, we propose AxMemo to exploit the computation redundancy that stems from data similarity in the inputs of code blocks. Such input behavior is prevalent in cyber-physical systems as they deal with real-world data that naturally harbors redundancy. Therefore, in contrast to existing memoization techniques that replace costly floating-point arithmetic operations with limited number of inputs, AxMemo focuses on memoizing blocks of code with potentially many inputs. As such, AxMemo aims to replace long sequences of instructions with a few hash and lookup operations. By reducing the number of dynamic instructions, AxMemo alleviates the von Neumann and execution overheads of passing instructions through the processor pipeline altogether. The challenge AxMemo facing is to provide low-cost hashing mechanisms that can generate rather unique signature for each multi-input combination. To address this challenge, we develop a novel use of Cyclic Redundancy Checking (CRC) to hash the inputs. To increase lookup table hit rate, AxMemo employs a two-level memoization lookup, which utilizes small dedicated SRAM and spare storage in the last level cache. These solutions enable AxMemo to efficiently memoize relatively large code regions with variable input sizes and types using the same underlying hardware. Our experiment shows that AxMemo offers 2.64× speedup and 2.58 × energy reduction with mere 0.2% of quality loss averaged across ten benchmarks. These benefits come with an area overhead of just 2.1%.
Global poverty measurement when relative income matters

Abstract It is becoming well-recognized that relative measures are required for a complete picture of the extent of global poverty and its evolution. The standard assumption is that the national mean or median is the relevant comparison income for setting relative poverty lines. That assumption is questionable. The paper proposes a theoretical model of relative comparisons, which can be downward or upward in the distribution of income. On calibrating the approach to a new data-set on national poverty lines, the Gini-adjusted national mean emerges as the relevant comparison income. Calculations are provided of the implied global poverty measures since 1990. Both non-welfarist (capabilities-based) and welfarist interpretations are provided. Declining poverty incidence is indicated, but at a slower rate than the corresponding absolute measures suggest.
Real-world evaluation of the safety and tolerability of abacavir/dolutegravir/lamivudine in an incarcerated population:

A trend of increased adverse effects and laboratory abnormalities was observed in patients treated at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System (UIH) HIV Telemedicine Clinic af...
Prediction of cytomegalovirus infection: A single-center experience utilizing a newly available cell-mediated immunity assay by flow cytometry, a risk factor screening tool, and serologically demonstrated immunity.

Purpose Describe use and predictive potential of an intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) cytomegalovirus cell-mediated immunity (CMV CMI) assay and a risk factor screening tool on CMV reactivation in a real-world clinical setting and compare this to serologically demonstrated immunity by CMV IGG. Methods Adult transplant patients at our center with the ICS assay resulted between 10/1/2018 and 9/1/2019 were included. Assays were considered positive per manufacturer specifications. Results Twenty-five patients underwent ICS CMV CMI testing at our institution during the study period. The majority were kidney transplant recipients, 76% were D+/R-, and 76% were receiving CMV treatment. The positive predictive value (PPV) of the assay to predict lack of CMV was 87%; 93% when patients with antiviral resistance were excluded and 91% in only those receiving treatment. The presence of ≤2 clinical risk factors on the screening tool had a PPV of 92% in predicting lack of recurrence. In comparison, serologically demonstrated immunity by CMV IGG had a PPV of 62%. Conclusions In our study representing real-world clinical use, the ICS CMV CMI assay and the risk factor screening tool had predictive potential that was superior to serologically demonstrated immunity. The reliability of the assay seemed to decrease with higher degrees of clinical risk suggesting a multimodal screening approach is warranted.
Hidden conformal invariance of scalar effective field theories

We argue that conformal invariance is a common thread linking several scalar effective field theories that appear in the double copy and scattering equations. For a derivatively coupled scalar with a quartic $\mathcal{O}({p}^{4})$ vertex, classical conformal invariance dictates an infinite tower of additional interactions that coincide exactly with Dirac-Born-Infeld theory analytically continued to spacetime dimension $D=0$. For the case of a quartic $\mathcal{O}({p}^{6})$ vertex, classical conformal invariance constrains the theory to be the special Galileon in $D=\ensuremath{-}2$ dimensions. We also verify the conformal invariance of these theories by showing that their amplitudes are uniquely fixed by the conformal Ward identities. In these theories, conformal invariance is a much more stringent constraint than scale invariance.
Telehealth Use among Community Health Centers and Cardio-Metabolic Health Outcomes.

Public health interventions to manage the cardio-metabolic syndrome (CMS) have had modest success, necessitating the expansion of telehealth services to where people live. This effort analyzes the association between telehealth provision and the management of CMS-related quality measures (hypertension, diabetes, weight assessment and related counseling, lipid therapy for coronary artery disease, and antiplatelet therapy for ischemic vascular disease) using the Uniform Data System administrative database during the period 2016–2018. A total of 523, 600, and 586 community health centers (CHCs) were documented using telehealth, out of the 1367, 1373, and 1362 total CHCs, in the respective three years. Our primary analysis showed that there was no association between telehealth use and the outcomes. A difference in difference approach that compared the CHCs which transitioned from not using it to using it with those that did not use telehealth in two consecutive years also produced null results. However, among rural areas, the odds of better managing the outcomes were greater for certain outcomes. Our study provides limited support that the adoption of telehealth is potentially beneficial in improving certain outcomes in the CHCs setting that are based in rural areas. More specificity in data regarding the nature of telehealth implementation in the CHC setting could bring clarity in these associations.
Hands On! Part I: The Trilemma Facing the Federal Government During State and Local Budget Crises

The economic crisis that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic has left state and local budgets in tatters, with revenue falling quickly while demands for public services increase. The federal government responded in a number of ways, but the public debate over what it should do if there is an acute fiscal crisis – a state or a large city on the edge of default – has been theoretically confused and ahistorical. This is no accident. The academic literature on state fiscal crises, while very impressive in many ways, is also somewhat confused. It focuses on two contrasting problems: the moral hazard that a federal bailout of an insolvent state government would create and the macroeconomic harm that a failure to bailout an insolvent state government would create. What these two branches of the literature agree on is that the federal government, for good or ill, has since the 1840s taken a “hands off” approach to acute state and local fiscal crises. This Article and a companion piece will show that federal government simply does not have a history of “hands off” approaches to state and local defaults. While bailouts have been rare, officials from all three branches of the federal governments have intervened repeatedly in state and local fiscal crises to aid creditors and preserve confidence in the municipal bond market. These interventions are part of a long-running federal policy of encouraging states and local governments to borrow money to build civic infrastructure. Concern for the municipal bond market has led the federal government into all sorts of otherwise hard-to-explain policies, from President Ulysses Grant threatening to send troops to Iowa in 1870 to make a small town pay its debts to the Supreme Court’s radical transformation of the doctrine of Swift v. Tyson. Federal policy has been inconsistent, toggling between policies aimed at different and incommensurable goals, even during a fiscal crisis, perhaps most famously when it offered loans to New York City after the famous “Ford to City: Drop Dead” headline suggested aid would not be forthcoming. Recognizing their real concern for the municipal bond market changes our understanding of what is at stake for federal policymakers when they respond to acute state and local budget crises. Federal officials face a “trilemma.” Whether they promote and/or enable bailouts, austerity, or defaults on municipal debt, federal officials can avoid two of these harms, but not three: (1) moral hazard for state budgets; (2) worsening recessions; (3) reducing future state and local infrastructure investment. The companion piece will suggest how federal officials can navigate this trilemma in the current crisis.
Non-Destructive Luminescence-Based Screening Tool for Listeria monocytogenes Growth on Ham

Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne pathogen often associated with ready-to-eat (RTE) food products. Many antimicrobial compounds have been evaluated in RTE meats. However, the search for optimum antimicrobial treatments is ongoing. The present study developed a rapid, non-destructive preliminary screening tool for large-scale evaluation of antimicrobials utilizing a bioluminescent L. monocytogenes with a model meat system. Miniature hams were produced, surface treated with antimicrobials nisin (at 0–100 ppm) and potassium lactate sodium diacetate (at 0–3.5%) and inoculated with bioluminescent L. monocytogenes. A strong correlation (r = 0.91) was found between log scale relative light units (log RLU, ranging from 0.00 to 3.35) read directly from the ham surface and endpoint enumeration on selective agar (log colony forming units (CFU)/g, ranging from 4.7 to 8.3) when the hams were inoculated with 6 log CFU/g, treated with antimicrobials, and L. monocytogenes were allowed to grow over a 12 d refrigerated shelf life at 4 °C. Then, a threshold of 1 log RLU emitted from a ham surface was determined to separate antimicrobial treatments that allowed more than 2 log CFU/g growth of L. monocytogenes (from 6 log CFU/g inoculation to 8 log CFU/g after 12 d). The proposed threshold was utilized in a luminescent screening of antimicrobials with days-to-detect growth monitoring of luminescent L. monocytogenes. Significantly different (p < 0.05) plate counts were found in antimicrobial treated hams that had reached a 1 log RLU increase (8.1–8.5 log(CFU/g)) and the hams that did not reach the proposed light threshold (5.3–7.5 log(CFU/g)). This confirms the potential use of the proposed light threshold as a qualitative tool to screen antimicrobials with less than or greater than a 2 log CFU/g increase. This screening tool can be used to prioritize novel antimicrobials targeting L. monocytogenes, alone or in combination, for future validation.
Postcolonial revolutions and their afterlives: the theory and practice of the Lebanese New Left: Revolution and disenchantment: Arab Marxism and the binds of emancipation, by Fadi Bardawil, Durham, Duke University Press, 2020, 262 pp., US$ 99.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4780-0675-6, US$ 26.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-4780-0616-9

How are emancipatory projects theorized and lived in the heat of political struggle, and how are they dwelled upon, grieved, and repurposed in the wake of their dead ends? 1 Revolution and Disencha...
Highlights of Discoveries for $\delta$ Scuti Variable Stars From the Kepler Era

The NASA Kepler and follow-on K2 missions (2009-2018) left a legacy of data and discoveries, finding thousands of exoplanets, and also obtaining high-precision long time-series data for hundreds of thousands of stars, including many types of pulsating variables. Here we highlight a few of the ongoing discoveries from Kepler data on $\delta$ Scuti pulsating variables, which are core hydrogen-burning stars of about twice the mass of the Sun. We discuss many unsolved problems surrounding the properties of the variability in these stars, and the progress enabled by Kepler data in using pulsations to infer their interior structure, a field of research known as asteroseismology.
Thermal and optical simulation of InP on Si nanocavity lasers

Accurate prediction of thermal effects is important for scaled photonic devices as excessive heating may lead to device failure. This paper addresses numerical modeling of thermal properties of InP nanocavity lasers on Si combined with optical simulations in Lumerical and lasing threshold measurements. Different geometries with diameters ranging from 200 nm to 2 µm are studied, revealing an optimal diameter of around 1000 nm when considering both thermal effects and optical confinement. The temperature profile of the nanocavity lasers reveals that thinning the underlying SiO2 is the most efficient way to improve the thermal properties of the nanocavity lasers.
Three-Dimensional Electroanatomic Mapping and Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Ventricular Arrhythmia in a Dog without Structural Heart Disease

Abstract A 1.5-year-old, female-spayed mix breed dog was presented with recurrent episodes of shaking and excessive panting attributed to drug-refractory ventricular arrhythmia (VA) characterized predominantly by incessant periods of ventricular bigeminy. The VA had a narrow QRS morphology, suggestive of an origin near the His-bundle or fascicular system. Diagnostic evaluation found no structural heart disease or underlying etiology. Three-dimensional electroanatomic mapping and radiofrequency catheter ablation were pursued. Voltage mapping demonstrated normal bi-ventricular voltage (≥1.5 mV) without any fractionated or multi-component electrograms, indicating absence of ventricular myocardial scar. Pace mapping identified an endocardial origin of the VA at the basal anterior-septum of the left ventricle, distal to the His-bundle and near the left bundle branch. Two ablation lesions were delivered to this site, and a left bundle branch block was temporarily induced. The dog recovered uneventfully. One month later, the owners reported a remarkable improvement in clinical signs and follow up 48-hour Holter monitor found complete resolution of VA.
The experimental development and metabolism of thyroid gland tumors.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that the occurrence of spontaneous tumors of the thyroid gland in rats and mice is exceedingly rare. However, thyroid gland tumors have been produced in these laboratory animals by several different methods. There is ample indirect proof that such tumors occur when the thyroid gland tissue is subjected to continuous prolonged stimulation by increased amounts of thyrotropin evoked by a deficiency of circulating thyroid hormone. The chapter reviews that the conditions most favorable to the development of independent or autoiromous thyroid gland tumors have not yet been completely apprehended with the support of the available studies, the view that much variation occurs in experimentally produced thyroid tumors in both rats and mice. A long but also variable induction period exists. Although, the reasons for the decreased capacity to collect and bind iodine that occurs in experimentally produced thyroid gland tumors remain largely unknown and since, most cancers of the thyroid gland in man have also lost much of their ability to collect iodine compared to that of the normal thyroid gland it seems reasonable to conclude that quite similar explanations may exist for these functional changes of thyroid gland neoplasm's that occur during thyroid gland carcinogenesis in both animals and man.
Social Networks, Informal Accountability, and Public Goods Provision in Rural China: A Reassessment*

Few political scientists would deny the centrality of institutions in comparative political studies. Institutions, conceptualized as “the rules of the game in society” (North 1990, 3), impose constraints on people’s behavior and shape their strategies of interaction. These humanly devised constraints, according to North’s conceptualization (North 1990; Mantzavinos et al. 2004), can be either formal, such as written rules, or informal, such as shared conventions and customs. In this study, we focus on the informal institutions.
Electronic moving map of airport surface on electronic flight bag

Electronic flight bags (EFB) based on personal computers are finding increasing utility in the flight deck as replacements to paper charts, and are useful for additional services provided to the flight crew. This paper addresses the development of a prototype Electronic Display of a Moving Map with Traffic Information on the Airport Surface hosted and displayed on an EFB. The Electronic Moving Map with Traffic Information display integrates the airport surface map derived from an accurately surveyed, object-based airport database, with own-ship position, and provides situational awareness of other traffic using requirements similar to those of Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI). Traffic information is derived via Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Traffic Information Services -Broadcast (TIS-B) surveillance links. The Electronic Moving Map with Traffic Information display prototype that was developed was evaluated from a human factors perspective in order to identify display requirements. The benefit of a database driven map is to allow "smart" runway and taxiway labels that are visible irrespective of the zoom range, and to allow smart decluttering of displayed information. Some of the Electronic Moving Map with Traffic Information display features implemented include map centered and map offset (full rose and arc) orientation, range ring selection, selection of specific traffic and an associated data block, depiction of traffic velocity vectors, zoom and auto zoom capability, altitude filtering, surface map decluttering, surface traffic on/off selection, etc. While not currently implemented, Electronic Moving Map with Traffic Information display can also support the depiction of NOTAMS. Electronic Moving Map with Traffic Information display benefits include increased airport surface situational awareness for the flight crew of own-ship and traffic location. With ongoing enhancements, it also has the potential to add situational awareness in the approach phase. This situational awareness is expected to provide significant safety benefits by reducing errors associated with landing, takeoff and taxi operations (e.g., taxiway and runway incursions, aircraft departing the prepared surface). Functionality of Electronic Moving Map with Traffic Information display could be ported to any specific display device such as an integrated multi-function cockpit display. Architectural, integration and certification issues are not addressed in the paper and in the prototype development. The purpose of the project was to implement a PC based electronic moving map display with traffic information in order to evaluate its suitability and to identify issues related to its operational use.
[Review of] Robert C. Neville (ed.): The Human Condition: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project; Ultimate Realities: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project; Religious Truth: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project

Robert C. Neville (ed.), The Human Condition: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001, xxvi + 337 pages, Hb $74.50, pb $25.95 Robert C. Neville (ed.), Ultimate Realities: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001, xxvi + 363 pages, Hb $74.50, pb $25.95 Robert C. Neville (ed.), Religious Truth: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001, xxiv + 339 pages, Hb $79.50, pb $27.95
Renal Cell Carcinoma with Skin metastasis: A Case Report and Literature Review

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) comprises 80% of primary renal cancers in the USA. Most cases are discovered incidentally during imaging for other reasons. The majority of patients are asymptomatic upon diagnosis, yet 25% have advanced disease. The most common locations for metastasis include liver, lymph nodes, bone, and lungs. RCC presents as skin metastasis in 6% of cases. Here, we present an even rarer occurrence: of recurrent RCC presenting with cutaneous metastases following nephrectomy and immunotherapy. Case Report: A 75 year-old white male presented to his physician for a yearly exam. Routine urinalysis revealed microcytic hematuria. Ultrasound demonstrated a solid mass in the upper pole of the right kidney. CT scan of the chest revealed pulmonary nodules. Patient underwent a right radical cyto-reductive nephrectomy, biopsy of mesenteric mass, and left thoracotomy with biopsy. Final pathology revealed grade 4 RCC, clear-cell type. Patient had treatment with interferon Alpha and then interleukin-2. As third line treatment, patient was switched to bevacizumab. While on treatment, patient presented a lesion on his left back and diffuse bone pain. During physical exam, a 2 x 2.5 cm firm, immobile, subcutaneous nodule was noted. Pathological analysis revealed a tumor consistent with metastatic RCC. MRI of the brain revealed calvarial lesions with some break into the scalp soft tissue and into the epidural space. Erlotinib was added to bevacizumab. Conclusion: This case helps highlight the ubiquity of RCC metastasis. The most common locations for metastasis include lung, liver, local lymph nodes, bone, and brain. In RCC, skin lesions have been described in the literature more specifically as pustules, painful and painless nodules, and macular lesions. The differential diagnosis of a skin lesion include non-specific drug reactions, opportunistic skin infections, and metastatic disease. The definite diagnosis of metastasis is made through tissue biopsy.
The uncertain major element bulk composition of earth's mantle

We examine the bulk mantle composition generated by assuming that the mantle undergoes a transition (at some depth) to a geophysically feasible but usually geochemically disregarded composition: a nearly pure perovskite deep mantle. This composition yields a bulk chemistry of the mantle that approaches chondritic values, and can resolve the well-known discrepancy between chondritic Mg/Si ratios and those inferred for the Earth's upper mantle. The uncertainties in the major element concentrations generated by such a shift in deep mantle composition are large: The silica content of the mantle is raised from that inferred from upper-mantle-based determinations of bulk silicate Earth composition by as much as ∼5 wt%, while the MgO content is depressed by a roughly comparable amount. If the deep mantle is compositionally distinct from the overlying mantle, then the depth at which the mantle shifts composition becomes critically important for our understanding of the bulk composition of the planet. Experimental studies of the chemistry of high-pressure .melts in chondritic charges indicate that a complementary relationship might exist between primitive upper mantle compositions and a perovskite-enriched or near-chondritic deep mantle. Assessing whether such a complementary relationship exists hinges on the precise aluminum and, to a lesser extent, calcium content of the deep mantle. Inversions for bulk Earth composition that assume a primitive upper mantle composition describes the chemistry of the entire mantle are often highly precise yet, because of the assumption of a chemically homogeneous mantle, may be inaccurate at the 5 wt% level for MgO and SiO 2 . Subsidiary effects of oxidation state and volatile content on inversions for bulk silicate Earth composition are also noted.
Using visualization to locate rogue access points

Unauthorized access points on a wireless network, known as rogue access points, represent significant security vulnerabilities. Commercial and open source tools are available to detect and locate such devices. As part of a class project, students in our Computer Security course assisted in the development of a software tool, called WiVis, that uses interactive visualization to locate rogue access points. Distributed sensors are "profile mapped" to determine how they receive wireless signals from the environment around them. Visual displays of the maps as contour lines are overlaid onto a schematic of the office or lab space. When sensors detect an access point, contour line intersection visually show the predicted location of the device. The tool runs on standard platforms and requires no special hardware.
Teaching of first course on power electronics: a building-block approach

Summary form only given. This presentation describes a building-block approach to a power electronics curriculum that is pedagogical as well as practical for designers. This approach was developed with the help of over 250 leading faculty members in this field who attended four NSF-sponsored workshops at the University of Minnesota in 1991, 1994, 1997 and 1998. In this approach, the generic building-block is analyzed once, and then used systematically and repeatedly in converters of DC power supplies, power-factor-correction circuits, DC and AC motor drives, and UPS. There are several advantages: students learn the commonality between various converters, and the fundamentals are conveyed in a clear and concise manner thus allowing time for discussing design details of practical significance. As this presentation describes, another pedagogical impact of this approach is on teaching of electromechanical energy conversion. Students have come to expect electric machines courses to be staid, boring and old-fashioned. Instead, we can make this topic interesting and more relevant by examining in a single semester all of the subsystems that make up electric drives: electric machines, power-electronic-based converters, mechanical system requirements, feedback controller design, and the interaction of drives with the utility grid.
Systolic architectures for finite field inversion and division

This paper presents two classes of systolic architectures, suitable for VLSI implementation, for finite field inversion and division based on a modified Euclidean algorithm. These architectures involve O(m/sup 2/) area-time product and O(m) latency. One architecture class utilizes adder circuits in its centralized control mechanism and its critical path delay depends on the implementation of the adders. The other class implements the control mechanism in distributed fashion, does not use any adders, and achieves a critical path delay of two logic gate delays. These architectures achieve better overall performances when compared with previously proposed architectures.
Power of the linkage test for a heterogeneous disorder due to two independent inherited causes: a simulation study.

We have conducted a simulation study in small pedigrees to investigate the power to detect linkage and heterogeneity for a disorder due to either one of two independent disease loci. We have considered a highly polymorphic marker locus (PIC = 70%) linked to one disease locus and unlinked to the second. The power to detect linkage has been examined by using the admixture test. We have varied the mode of transmission of each disease locus, the ascertainment of families and the proportion of cases in the population due to the linked disease locus. Generally, for the multiplex ascertainments we have considered, the power to detect linkage is greater when the linked disease locus has a high penetrance, when the unlinked disease locus has a low penetrance, and when pedigrees with multiple affected are selected. When selecting families with multiple affected, the rate of "mixed" families (i.e., those segregating for both disease loci) increases. However, for the pedigree structure we have considered, the power of the linkage test is more affected by a decrease in the rate of "linked" families than by an increase in the rate of "mixed" families. Finally, the present study shows that detection of linkage in presence of heterogeneity is feasible with a realistic sample size of small pedigrees as long as the linked disease locus accounts for more than 25% of the cases.
Development of the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier to proteins and differentiation of cerebrospinal fluid in the chick embryo.

Abstract Blood plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected from chick embryos at 5–20 days of development. Protein concentrations of the samples were determined using Folin phenol reagent. During development plasma protein concentration increases from 4.79 mg/ml at 5 days to 7.07, 9.47, and 18.13 mg/ml by Days 10, 14, and 20, respectively. The protein concentration of CSF increases from 3.25 mg/ml at 5 days to 5.10 mg/ml on Day 10, representing approximately 68–72% as much protein as found in plasma at corresponding embryonic stages. This parallel increase in CSF and plasma protein is particularly significant from 6 to 10 days, when the average gain rates are 0.40 and 0.39 mg/ml/day, respectively. The protein level in CSF remains nearly stable from 10 to 12 days, with a moderate peak occurring on Day 11 (5.32 mg/ml). Thereafter, CSF protein concentration drops from 5.17 mg/ml at 12 days of development to 1.42 mg/ml on Day 20. This amounts to an average decrease of 0.47 mg/ml/day. It appears that the blood-CSF barrier to proteins begins to function by 10–12 days and that CSF protein concentration decreases to the normal definitive range by 20 days of development.
Reviews of Science for Science Librarians: Coal Science and Technology Research 1970–2010

A literature search utilizing the Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded) was used to examine historic and recent publication quantity for scientific and engineering-related coal research. Searches on the term “coal” in the title of English-language journal articles were conducted for the time spans of 1970–2000 for historic data and 2000–2010 for recent activity. The number of journal articles was 25,368 for the years 1970–2010 and 8,860 (35 percent) articles for 2000–2010. The Analyze Results tool was used to identify the most active countries, institutions, and journals.
Incorporating Consumer Price Expectations in Diffusion Models

In this paper the sensitivity of the optimal price path of a new durable product to the price expectations of consumers is examined. Consumers enter the market every period in a diffusion type framework. During the initial periods more consumers enter the market due to word of mouth influence, but in the latter periods saturation effects set in. The entering set of cohorts form expectations about future prices; and in a stable equilibrium, these expectations are fulfilled. It is shown that the price path is cyclical with the following properties: at the beginning of the cycle, the price is at its highest level; it falls monotonically over time reaching a low price at the end of the cycle equal to the reservation price of the consumers willing to pay less; the cycle lengths are not equal. The sensitivity of the optimal price path to model parameters is explored through a numerical procedure.
NOx adsorption on char in presence of oxygen and moisture

The char produced from a subbituminous coal is a cheap and effective adsorbent to remove nitrogen oxides (NOx) from flue gas. This paper addresses the NOx adsorption on char in the presence of oxygen and moisture since there are both water vapor and oxygen present in flue gas. The experimental results of this study show that nitric oxide (NO) is catalytically oxidized to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on the char surface. When the oxygen concentration in the feed gas is greater than 5% and H2O concentration is less than 1%, the moles of NOx removed from the feed gas per 100 moles of carbon are almost independent of concentrations of oxygen and water in the feed gas. The breakthrough time of NO increased and that of NO2 decreased slightly with an increase in the concentration of oxygen. When moisture is present, a part of the adsorbed NO2 is further converted into nitric acid which is adsorbed on char. The amount of NOx adsorbed as HNO3 increases as both oxygen and moisture concentration in the feed gas increase. The removal of NOx was almost independent of water vapor concentration in the feed gas (0.23–0.95% by volume) probably due to the fact that the promotion effect of water vapor on NOx adsorption was balanced by the inhibition effect.
Bunching in the production process

Abstract This paper demonstrates that the variance of flows within the production process declines as the products move downstream from raw material deliveries toward completion. Thus, the production process magnifies and transmits shocks within an industry to that industry's suppliers.
Growth of Crappies in South Dakota Waters

ABSTRACT We obtained age-and-growth data from 34 black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) samples from 25 water bodies and nine white crappie (P. annularis) samples from four water bodies in South Dakota from 1990 through 1993. Mean back-calculated length for black crappie was significantly different among water body type [i.e., small impoundments (< 40 ha), reservoirs (≥ 40 ha) and natural lakes] for all ages (P ≤ 0.01). Growth was slowest in small impoundments and fastest in natural lakes. Ultimate length (L.) was significantly correlated with mean back-calculated length at age (P ≤ 0.01). Mean length at time of capture varied monthly for white crappies. Age-2 white crappies completed 71% of their growth in length during July and August.
Evaluating whether velar lobe size indicates food limitation among larvae of the marine gastropod Crepidula fornicata.

Disproportionately large feeding structures have been used to infer food limitation in some marine invertebrate larvae, but few studies have investigated whether other factors alter larval morphology in similar ways. In this study, larvae of Crepidula fornicata were reared either at five different food concentrations of Isochrysis galbana (clone T-ISO) at a single temperature (22°C) (Experiments I and II); or on three different phytoplankton species (Isochrysis galbana, Dunaliella tertiolecta, and Pavlova lutheri) at both high and low concentrations at a single temperature (22°C) (Experiment III); or at high and low concentrations of Isochrysis galbana at four different temperatures between 16 and 25°C (Experiment IV). Shell lengths and velar lobe dimensions were determined for individual larvae at intervals to monitor relative rates of velar and shell growth. In addition (Experiment V), fast growing and slow growing larvae in Experiment I were examined separately to determine whether velar lobes developed at similar rates (relative to shell growth) for fast and slow growing larvae within individual cultures. In general, velar lobes grew significantly larger, relative to shell length, when larvae were reared at low food concentrations (P<0.0001); for larvae of similar shell length, the velar lobes of those fed 1×104 cells ml−1 were on average 17.7% larger than those of larvae fed 18×104 cells ml−1 of T-ISO. In contrast, larvae fed different phytoplankton species at equivalently high food concentrations did not differ in relative velum size (P=0.2666), even though shell growth rates differed significantly for larvae raised on the different diets, indicating substantial variation in food quality. We also found that relative rates of velum and shell growth differed among fast and slow growing individuals within treatments. Temperature had no significant effect on relative rates of velar and shell growth within the 16–25°C range tested (P=0.121), but may have altered the relationship between food concentration and relative velar growth. These results indicate that dramatically reduced food concentration induces disproportionate growth in the velar lobes of C. fornicata, but that interpretation of data from field-collected individuals of this species will be made difficult by the potentially confounding effects of temperature, food quality, and differences in individual growth potential. Assessments of food limitation using morphological measurements for field-collected larvae will need to be supplemented with other indicators before convincing conclusions about the extent of food limitation in C. fornicata can be drawn.
Role of the left amygdala and right orbital frontal cortex in emotional interference resolution facilitation in working memory

Previous research has shown that emotional information aids conflict resolution in working memory (Levens & Phelps, 2008). Using a Recency-probes working memory (WM) paradigm, Levens and Phelps found that positive and negative emotional stimuli reduced the amount of interference created when information that was once relevant conflicted with currently relevant information, suggesting that emotional information facilitates interference resolution in WM. To determine what regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and temporal lobes are critical to the influence of emotional stimuli on interference resolution, we conducted a Recency-probes emotion paradigm with right and left unilateral frontal and temporal lobe lesion patients. The frontal lobe lesion patient group comprised individuals with unilateral ventral and dorsal PFC lesions. The temporal lobe lesion patient group comprised individuals with lesions of the amygdala and surrounding structures. Results indicate that when the left amygdala is damaged, emotional facilitation of interference resolution is absent (equal emotional and neutral interference levels), when the right orbital frontal cortex (OFC) is damaged, in contrast, emotional interference resolution is impaired (emotional interference levels are higher than neutral levels are). Based on these unique patterns we propose specific contributions for these regions in the emotional facilitation of interference resolution in WM.
Effect of lace-up ankle braces on electromyography measures during walking in adults with chronic ankle instability.

Abstract Background Lace-up ankle braces reduce the incidence of ankle sprains and have been hypothesized to do so through both mechanical and neuromuscular mechanisms. Objective To determine the effect of lace-up ankle braces on surface electromyography (sEMG) measures during walking in adults with chronic ankle instability (CAI). Design Randomized crossover. Setting Laboratory. Participants Fifteen adults with CAI. Main outcome measures Surface EMG activity was recorded from the anterior tibialis, peroneus longus, lateral gastrocnemius, rectus femoris, biceps femoris and gluteus medius during treadmill walking with and without lace-up ankle braces. The dependent variables were sEMG amplitude 100 ms pre- and 200 ms post-initial contact, time of activation relative to initial contact, and percent of activation across the stride cycle. Results When compared to no brace, ankle bracing resulted in lower pre-contact amplitude of the peroneus longus ( p = 0.02). The anterior tibialis, peroneus longus, rectus femoris, and gluteus medius were activated later relative to initial contact ( p p Conclusion Braces cause a change in neuromuscular activity during walking. Clinicians should be aware of these changes when prescribing braces, as it may relate to the mechanism in which braces decrease sprains.
Josephson current-phase relationships with unconventional superconductors.

The current (energy)-phase relationships for Josephson coupling involving unconventional superconductors are investigated. It is shown that in general the energy can have minima at phase differences of neither 0 nor \ensuremath{\pi} even for superconductors that do not break time-reversal symmetry in the bulk.
Computational prediction of disease microRNAs in domestic animals.

The most important means of identifying diseases before symptoms appear is through the discovery of disease-associated biomarkers. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have become highly useful biomarkers of infectious, genetic and metabolic diseases in human but they have not been well studied in domestic animals. It is probable that many of the animal homologs of human disease-associated miRNAs may be involved in domestic animal diseases. Here we describe a computational biology study in which human disease miRNAs were utilized to predict orthologous miRNAs in cow, chicken, pig, horse, and dog. We identified 287 human disease-associated miRNAs which had at least one 100% identical animal homolog. The 287 miRNAs were associated with 359 human diseases referenced in 2,863 Pubmed articles. Multiple sequence analysis indicated that over 60% of known horse mature miRNAs found perfect matches in human disease-associated miRNAs, followed by dog (50%). As expected, chicken had the least number of perfect matches (5%). Phylogenetic analysis of miRNA precursors indicated that 85% of human disease pre-miRNAs were highly conserved in animals, showing less than 5% nucleotide substitution rates over evolutionary time. As an example we demonstrated conservation of human hsa-miR-143-3p which is associated with type 2 diabetes and targets AKT1 gene which is highly conserved in pig, horse and dog. Functional analysis of AKT1 gene using Gene Ontology (GO) showed that it is involved in glucose homeostasis, positive regulation of glucose import, positive regulation of glycogen biosynthetic process, glucose transport and response to food. This data provides the animal and veterinary research community with a resource to assist in generating hypothesis-driven research for discovering animal disease-related miRNA from their datasets and expedite development of prophylactic and disease-treatment strategies and also influence research efforts to identify novel disease models in large animals. Integrated data is available for download at http://agbase.hpc.msstate.edu/cgi-bin/animal_mirna.cgi .
Light-scattering fluctuations and thermal noise in photorefractive media.

A thermodynamic description of the photorefractive effect is developed and used to evaluate thermal fluctuations in the space-charge field of a photorefractive medium responsible for light-scattering noise. Equilibrium grating properties are obtained through minimization of the Helmholtz free energy and are found to be in agreement with results obtained by other methods. Thermal fluctuations in the space-charge field are obtained from the curvature of the free-energy surface. These fluctuations give rise to light-scattering fluctuations in the medium refractive index through the electro-optic effect and are the fundamental source of light-scattering noise. Light-scattering fluctuations associated with the optical Kerr effect are also examined. The signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range of a photorefractive medium are determined. Stochastic noise model calculations are presented for ${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$ under conditions for which the dominant noise contribution is associated with the photorefractive effect. Our results suggest a very large dynamic range for photorefractive materials (120--140 dB) that should prove useful for optical signal processing applications.
Influence of fasting-refeeding and dietary linoleate on liver glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and phospholipid fatty acid composition in rats adapted to a purified diet.

Responses to refeeding after fasting were studied in male rats fed a purified casein-sucrose diet containing 5% safflower oil. After a 48 hr fast, the rats were fed either the same diet or the same diet minus oil (fat-free diet). These experiments were designed to distinguish changes due to fasting and refeeding alone without a change of diet from those changes caused by refeeding a diet of different composition. In the first experiment, rats were refed for 3 or 7 days. In rats refed either diet, liver glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity was elevated above refasting levels, but after 7 days, activity in rats refed the 5% safflower oil diet was significantly lower than in those refed the fatfree diet. The amount of liver arachidonate in rats refed the safflower oil diet was the same during refeeding as before fasting. In the second experiment, rats were refed the fat-free diet for 1, 2, 3, or 7 days. Liver G6PD and fatty acid synthetase were measured, as well as fatty acids in liver total lipids and phospholipids. G6PD activity increased above prefasting levels after one day refeeding and continued to increase, for 7 days. Fatty acid synthetase activity increased for the first 3 days of refeeding, with no additional increase after 7 days. In all rats refed the fat-free diet, the proportions of arachidonate and linoleate in liver phospholipids diminished with time, and eicosatrienoate appeared. These results show that (a) maintenance of liver phospholipid arachidonate did not prevent increased G6PD activity in early refeeding, but the elevated G6PD activity later declined when phospholipid arachidonate was maintained by feeding a source of linoleate; (b) the metabolic state of fastedrefed rats had not returned to prefasting conditions even after 7 days of refeeding a linoleate-rich diet to which the rats were adapted before fasting.