cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hypothetical Breast Cancer Risk from Mammography

Studies concerning the relationship of radiation and breast cancer are of more than academic value: Their purpose is to determine if there is a health risk from mammography. This chapter will review and analyze these studies in order to quantitate the hypothetical risk. The chapter that follows will compare this risk to the expected benefit from mammography. These analyses are not abstract exercises. The conclusions they draw could influence the way we practice medicine.
Abstract TP333: Lactoferrin as Contributor to Beneficial Effect of Neutrophil After Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Background: Lactoferrin (LTF) is an essential, high-affinity iron-binding protein that is abundant in the secondary granules of neutrophils. After intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), circulating blood ...
Stable metal battery anodes enabled by polyethylenimine sponge hosts by way of electrokinetic effects

The cycle life and energy density of rechargeable metal batteries are largely limited by the dendritic growth of their metal anodes (lithium, sodium or zinc). Here we develop a three-dimensional cross-linked polyethylenimine lithium-ion-affinity sponge as the lithium metal anode host to mitigate the problem. We show that electrokinetic surface conduction and electro-osmosis within the high-zeta-potential sponge change the concentration and current density profiles, which enables dendrite-free plating/stripping of lithium with a high Coulombic efficiency at high deposition capacities and current densities, even at low temperatures. The use of a lithium-hosting sponge leads to a significantly improved cycling stability of lithium metal batteries with a limited amount of lithium (for example, the areal lithium ratio of negative to positive electrodes is 0.6) at a commercial-level areal capacity. We also observed dendrite-free morphology in sodium and zinc anodes, which indicates a broader promise of this approach. Metallic dendrite growth of metal anodes is a major concern in developing next-generation metal-ion batteries. Here the authors develop a cross-linked polyethylenimine as a metal host that enables electrokinetic effects for uniform metal deposition.
Does No Difference Really Mean No Difference

The most common statistical error in orthopedic research is a type II (or “beta”) error. This occurs when a study incorrectly concludes that there is “no difference” between the test and control treatment. Finding no difference does not always mean there is no difference. This chapter will review the different causes of type II errors and provide tips for avoiding these errors when conducting research and interpreting the literature. The prevalence of type II errors in orthopedic research underscores the necessity of more objective outcome measurements and randomized studies with large numbers of patients.
Development of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T Processes

Topic Significance & Study Purpose/Background/Rationale Chimeric antigen receptor therapy (CAR-T) is an autologous genetically engineered cell that can lead to dramatic responses in patients with refractory or relapsed leukemia and lymphoma. As a result, two new commercial products, Yescarta and Kymriah, were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2017 and May 2018, respectively. CAR-T cell therapy is also associated with a high risk of toxicities prompting many institutions to provide care to these patients on the blood and marrow transplant (BMT) unit. Incorporating this new therapy into existing BMT units presents both challenges and opportunities. The impact has created a dynamic process of change. The purpose of this abstract to describe our experience in developing the infrastructure for the safe administration of CAR-T therapies into an established BMT program. Carefully developing a comprehensive and dynamic approach to CAR-T cell therapies will serve as a foundation for other immune effector cell therapies that will arise in the future. Methods, Intervention, & Analysis To develop the infrastructure, consideration must be given to workflow, policy development, staff and patient education and developing quality metrics to monitor and improve patient care. We developed nursing policies and standards of care. Standards of care specify required assessments and interventions. A key component of the education included standardizing the grading of toxicities so that communication between team members is consistent. All members of the multidisciplinary team needed to complete Risk Evaluation and Mitigation System (REMS) education. New templates for the documentation were developed. We developed metrics for the quality management plan that included expected outcomes. Thresholds for metrics were developed to ensure that if standards are not met there is a plan to investigate. Collaboration with specialists, such as neurology and emergency room staff to inform our management of toxicities. Findings & Interpretation Incorporating a high-risk treatment on an established BMT unit, a thoughtful and comprehensive review of current practices must be performed to develop the infrastructure to ensure the safe and effective administration of the new therapy. Discussion & Implications To optimize the success of CAR -T therapy outcomes, collaboration, education and a comprehensive review of the programs infrastructure must be evaluated and revised.
It’s Who’s on the Inside that Counts: Campaign Practitioner Personality and Campaign Electoral Integrity

Candidates for public office (and the individuals who run their campaigns) are not a randomly selected subset of the general population. Individuals with certain personality traits are more likely to become involved in political campaigns, are more likely to harbor political ambition, are more likely to be recruited to run for public office, and are more likely to actually run for office. But what influence do differences in individual traits have on the behavior of political campaigns? Using a unique survey of staff and candidates working on congressional, senatorial, and gubernatorial campaigns in the 2016 election cycle, this research shows that individual personality traits influence the decisions that campaigns make during the election. Personality traits affect the acceptance of campaign negativity and unethical campaign behaviors.
Observations of Shear Stress Effects on Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm Formation

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria form biofilms and distinctive microcolony or "tower" structures that facilitate their ability to tolerate antibiotic treatment and to spread within the human body. The formation of microcolonies, which break off, get carried downstream, and serve to initiate biofilms in other parts of the body, is of particular interest here. It is known that flow conditions play a role in the development, dispersion, and propagation of biofilms in general. The influence of flow on microcolony formation and, ultimately, what factors lead to microcolony development are, however, not well understood. The hypothesis being examined is that microcolony structures form within a specific range of levels of shear stress. In this study, laminar shear flow over a range of 0.15 to 1.5 dynes/cm2 was examined. It was found that microcolony structures form in a narrow range of shear stresses around 0.6 dynes/cm2 Further, measurements of cell density as a function of space and time showed that shear dependence can be observed hours before microcolonies form. This is significant because, among other physiologic flows, this is the same shear stress found in large veins in the human vasculature, which, along with catheters of similar diameters and flow rates, may therefore play a critical role in biofilm development and subsequent spreading of infections throughout the body.IMPORTANCE It is well known that flow plays an important role in the formation, transportation, and dispersion of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms. What was heretofore not known was that the formation of tower structures in these biofilms is strongly shear stress dependent; there is, in fact, a narrow range of shear stresses in which the phenomenon occurs. This work quantifies the observed shear dependence in terms of cell growth, distribution, and fluid mechanics. It represents an important first step in opening up a line of questioning as to the interaction of fluid forces and their influence on the dynamics of tower formation, break-off, and transportation in biofilms by identifying the parameter space in which this phenomenon occurs. We have also introduced state-of-the-art flow measurement techniques to address this problem.
Workload Dependent Design and Power Modeling of Pattern Recognition Associative Memories

In this work, we analyze and model the most significant parameters for the power consumption of a content addressable memory (CAM) based Pattern Recognition Associative Memory (PRAM) chip. Content Addressable Memories (CAMs) provide fast pattern search which is useful in a variety of applications. Their high speed comes from their parallel operation, which also results in high power consumption. In this study, we focus on their potential use in high energy particle physics experiments like at the LHC, to find and fit the tracks expected at the hardware trigger level. We find that common CAM blocks used in other applications like IP lookup are not fit for track fitting in high energy particle physics experiments due to the immensely different workload requirements. We identify these workload differences, which guide the design of the CAM blocks for specific workloads like tracking triggers. We show with tests on our prototype chip the high dependence of associative memory power consumption with the workload. We observe that the power consumption in the matchlines is highly dependent on the hit-rate of the workload; whereas the searchline power is influenced by the average Hamming distance between successive input data and is independent of the hit-rate. We also see that the dominant power consumption of associative memories, when used for tracking trigger applications, is in the searchlines instead of the matchlines. We present a simple power modeling strategy for these associative memories along with a description of the expected workload at the hardware trigger level of LHC, to guide future research on pattern recognition associative memory chips.
Curve matching in the framework of Riemannian geometry

This paper addresses a fundamental problem in computer vision, curve matching. Curve matching and comparison play a key role in various applications. High-level vision problems usually require comparing curves, and the quality of tackling these problems relies much on the underlying curve matching techniques. Our goal is to define a distance on the space of plane (space) curves. The space of curves is taken as a manifold (topological space), and we consider Riemannian metrics on the manifold. The distance induced by a Riemannian metric is a metric, which, if not trivial, can be used as a similarity metric. This work also deals with the problem of partial curve matching given their starting points are known. Dynamic programming is used to implement partial matching, giving an efficient computational method. Experiments are conducted to test the distance invariant to translation and scaling.
Activating prior knowledge using multiple-choice question distractors.

CONTEXT A student's academic success in graduate and professional school may depend on prior knowledge. However, these students may not see important and necessary material for extended periods of time between their pre-requisites and their new course work. As such, they are more prone to being unable to access available information from memory when needed. This study investigated the use of multiple-choice (MC) question examinations in stabilising or reactivating these students' memories for material that is available in their memories, but currently inaccessible due to disuse. METHODS A total of 156 incoming first-year student-pharmacists were recruited. These student-pharmacists completed a baseline examination on physiology prior to coursework. This assessment contained fill-in-the-blank (FIB) questions followed by MC versions of the FIB questions. In the experimental sets, 10 questions had MC distractor answers that were answers to a future FIB question; in the other condition, the MC distractors were not answers to future FIB questions. The primary outcome was performance on future or target FIB questions in the context of whether the prior or priming MC questions contained the answer within the distractors. RESULTS Performance on target FIB questions improved when the distractors in the MC questions contained the relevant answer (29%) compared to when the distractors did not contain the correct answer (18%) (P < .001, d = 0.78). When students could not generate a correct response to the FIB question, the experimental condition outperforming the control condition (17% vs 30%, d = 0.76). CONCLUSIONS Multiple-choice questions that contained a correct response as a distractor to a future question, improved student performance. As such, the use of MC may be an inexpensive way to reactivate prior knowledge, especially knowledge that has become inaccessible due to disuse.
A privacy preserving scheme for vehicle-to-everything communications using 5G mobile edge computing

Abstract Recently much research has been carried out towards the road condition monitoring system for improving the road safety and moving towards modern intelligent transportation system (ITS). 5G-based vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication offers wider support and enhances the capabilities of road monitoring systems. The road monitoring systems utilizes the vehicles to report road conditions, traffic information or accidents to the roadside units (RSUs), which further relays such information to the cloud server for computing and processing. Then the cloud computing network redirects the necessary actions based on the these received reports. The major problem with this type of architecture is that it requires long computational time and causes high network latency. This also leads to poor utilization of bandwidth. As a result, in this paper a new network protocol has been proposed based on edge-based computing. In this paper, we present a new privacy preserving protocol to boost the security in vehicular network, by utilizing the concept of edge-based computing. The major concern in edge-based architecture is that all the data processing is performed at edge nodes which have various security holes. To secure the edge-based processing, we propose the idea of improved certificate-less aggregation sign-cryption scheme (iCLASC) with incorporating the information transmission protocol to formulate the road monitoring data. Confidentiality, integrity, joint authentication, privacy and anonymity are the key components of the security protocol. Lastly, we make the comparisons of the proposed work with the existing works in terms of computational cost, communication overhead and security feature analysis. Our scheme outperform all the previous methods and shows satisfactory security and communication performance requires for 5G-V2X Communication.
Th1/Th2 cytokines response to purified rabies vaccine for human use

Objective To study the effects of purified rabies vaccine for human use (RV) on specific Th1/Th2 cytokines in human. Methods Twenty cases were injected intramuscularly with 5 full doses of RV. PBMCs were isolated from the blood sample collected at day 0, 14, 45 after the RV inoculation. Neutralizing antibody was determined by ELISA, and the proliferation of lymphocyte by in vitro test. The levels of RV specific IFN-γ, TNF, IL-2,IL-4, IL-5, IL-10 in the culture supernatants were detected by cytometric bead array (CBA). Results The neutralizing antibody was tested positive in 19 cases 45 days after inoculation and 1 case after 60 days, with the positive rate reaching 100%. After stimulation with RV, the lymphocyte transformation index at day 14, 45 in cases were significantly higher than those day of 0 (P< 0.05), and similar results were confirmed with IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5 tested by CBA (P<0.05). Condusion The RV could induce humoral and antigen-specific cellular immune responses in human, tested by showing good protective effect on rabies virus. Key words: RV; Lymphacytes; Th1/Th2 cytokines; Cytometric bead array
Congenital Heart Disease and Pulmonary Hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is common in adults with congenital heart disease and carries fundamental implications for management and prognosis. A high index of suspicion, combined with knowledge of the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of PH, is required to achieve a timely, accurate diagnosis, and appropriate classification and treatment. This article provides a guide on how to approach the adult with congenital heart disease and suspected PH of different types, including current management.
Neurological Assessment Using a Physical-Virtual Patient (PVP):

Background. Simulation has revolutionized teaching and learning. However, traditional manikins are limited in their ability to exhibit emotions, movements, and interactive eye gaze. As a result, st...
The Effects of Interface Views on Performing Aerial Telemanipulation Tasks Using Small UAVs

This paper presents a human-robot interaction (HRI) study of a dedicated Mission Specialist interface for performing telemanipulation tasks using a small unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV). Current literature suggests that the successful completion of aerial manipulation tasks in real-world environments requires human input due to challenges in autonomous perception and control. Visual information of the remote environment in a telemanipulation interface can significantly affect performance under direct control; however, the effects of interface visualizations on task performance have not been studied for UAV telemanipulation. This work evaluated the effects of interface viewpoint on aerial manipulation task performance. The interfaces evaluated in this study included video streams from cameras located onboard the UAV, including: (i) a manipulator egocentric view, (ii) a manipulator exocentric view, and (iii) a combination of egocentric and exocentric views. A total of 36 participants completed three different manipulation tasks using all three interface conditions. The observations and results showed that both the exocentric and mixed view configurations contributed to improved task performance over an egocentric-only interface. Further, this study resulted in data regarding view use, view effectiveness, and task type that can be used for further developing interfacing for aerial manipulators that change and adapt to the environment and task.
Growth and Development of Special Libraries and Their Parent Bodies: A Case Study of Petroleum Training Institute Library Effurun Delta State

This study examined the roles of special libraries in the growth and development of their parent bodies. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of this study was made up of all the staff of the main library of Petroleum Training Institute (P.T.I.) in Effurun Delta State. The instruments that were used for the data collection were questionnaire and interview. For the analysis of the data for this study, the researcher used tables and simple percentages. The result revealed that the main library in PTI has some roles to play in the growth and development of her parent body, including provision of abstracting and indexing services, selective dissemination of information (SDI), Current awareness services (CAS) as well as helps in the general promotion of the parent body. The study revealed that technical reports, magazines and newspapers, computers, photocopying machines, abstracts, etc. are some of the information materials that are stocked by the library staff for their library users. The study also revealed that inadequate fund, insufficient well-trained professional librarians arid erratic power supply are some of the challenges faced by the special library. Based on the findings made in the study, the researcher recommended amongst others that the parent body of the special library should donate both enough financial and material resources to the special library.
REIT Operational Efficiency: Performance, Risk and Return

Relations between Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) efficiency and operational performance, risk, and stock return are examined. REIT-level operational efficiency is measured as the ratio of operational expenses to revenue, where a higher operational efficiency ratio (OER) indicates a less efficient REIT. For a sample of U.S. equity REITs from the modern REIT era, operational performance, measured by return on assets (ROA) as well as return on equity (ROE), is negatively associated with previous-year operational efficiency ratios, which suggests that more efficient REITs generate better operating results. Results further show that more efficient REITs have lower levels of credit risk and total risk. Perhaps most important, empirical evidence shows that the cross-sectional stock return of REITs is partially explained by operational efficiency and that a portfolio consisting of highly efficient REITs earns, on average, a higher cumulative stock return than a portfolio consisting of low efficiency REITs.
«Perú, madrastra de tus hijos» (Historia general del Perú, I, XXXVIII):una nota filológica y la fortuna de una frase en la cultura peruana

Este trabajo se propone explicar el sentido de una frase del Inca Garcilaso («Peru, madrastra de tus hijos y madre de los ajenos») en la Historia general del Peru (libro I, cap. XXXVIII), la cual ha sido desatendida y, a menudo, leida erroneamente por desconocimiento de los usos literarios de la lengua del Siglo de Oro. Luego de establecer el sentido y la funcion que cumple la frase en el texto de Garcilaso, el trabajo explora el significado que se le ha otorgado en el Peru contemporaneo a traves de varios usos que revelan pulsiones politicas y sociales.
Earth Rotation Information Derived from Merit and Polaris VLBI Observations

In September and October 1980, the National Geodetic Survey, jointly with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and several other agencies and institutions, conducted a series of astronomical radio interferometry (VLBI) observing sessions to support the IAU/IUGG MERIT short campaign. A total of 14 days of observations, organized into two 7-day sessions, was collected by three observatories in the United States (Harvard Radio Astronomy Station (HRAS), Haystack Observatory, and Owens Valley Radio Observatory) and the Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden. Chilbolton Observatory, England, and Effelsberg Observatory, West Germany, also participated on some days. Immediately following the MERIT campaign, NGS initiated a series of 24-hour observing sessions, spaced at approximately 2-week intervals, as a pilot program to project POLARIS. All of these sessions included two observatories, HRAS and Haystack, and Onsala participated in about half of the sessions. The MERIT and POLARIS observations were made with the third generation MARK III VLBI system using procedures and schedules designed to yield high quality geodetic information, including Earth rotation values. This paper briefly traces the planning, observing, and data processing activities, and presents the Earth rotation information thus far derived from the data.
Nowhere does it say that in the Bible

For lesbian women who marry in South Africa, religion is both a source of great opposition to their relationships and a tool that they can use to negotiate their belonging with family and friends, after deciding to exercise their citizenship through marriage. This article draws from qualitative research conducted in South Africa to explore the relationship between sexuality and religion in the context of legal same-sex marriage. Though religion has been previously implicated in the maintenance of oppressive regimes, such as colonialism and apartheid, it has also been one of the primary voices against such injustices. The article concludes by suggesting that lesbian women use their own understandings of religion and sexuality to actively participate in the formation of new opportunities for social, legal, and spiritual citizenship.
The implementation of a testable high performance display controller (diagnostic radiology equipment)

A description is given of the testability features of a VLSI implementation of a high-performance display controller for diagnostic radiology. The design-for-test features cover 100% of the silicon area at a modest overhead. Boundary-scan, partitioning, and structured control sequencing are used to enhance the verifiability and testability of the IC. >
Cartilage induction in vitro: Ultrastructural studies

Abstract When 19-day fetal rat triceps muscle was cultured for 7 to 14 days upon decalcified, sequentially extracted adult rat bone, cartilage formed within clefts and vascular spaces of the decalcified bone. The bone substrata were prepared by extracting tibias and femurs of Sprague-Dawley rats with 1:1 chloroform:methanol, 0.6 N HCl, 2 M CaCl2, 0.6 M EDTA, 8 M LiCl, and H2O at 56°C. The culture medium used was CMRL 1066 with 15% newborn calf serum. During cultivation, fibroblastic mesenchymal cells migrated out of muscle and into bone crevices where they secreted a cartilaginous matrix composed of thin, randomly dispersed collagen fibrils and proteoglycan granules. The latter are characteristic for cartilage matrix. Extracted bone matrix contained mature collagen fibrils, some of which retained their typical 640-A banding. Other collagen fibrils were partially disaggregated and expanded to reveal component 50-A-thick, beaded micro fibrils. Such an expansion of collagen fibrils is known to result from exposure to proteoglycan solvents such as 2 M CaCl2. The decalcified bone matrix contained many residual devitalized cells and cell fragments which often were seen in close proximity to chondrifying mesenchymal cells. This finding indicates the possibility that residual cellular material could play a role in stimulating cartilage development.
Effect of Diathermy on Concentration of Complement and Normal Opsonins.

SummaryDiathermy did not produce a significant change in complement concentration nor in opsonic index within the limits of this investigation. It is apparent that a complete report can come only from a large number of cases with frequent tests at selected times.
A Self-Calibrating Pressure Recorder for Detecting Seafloor Height Change

One method to detect vertical crustal deformation of the seafloor, where Global Positioning System (GPS) surveys are not possible, is to monitor changes in the ambient seawater pressure, whose value is governed primarily by depth. Modern pressure sensors based on quartz strain gauge technology can detect the pressure shift associated with subsidence or uplift of the seafloor by as little as 1 cm. Such signals can be caused by tectonic or volcanic activity, or by hydrocarbon production from an offshore reservoir. However, most gauges undergo a slow drift having unpredictable sign and magnitude, which can be misinterpreted as real seafloor height change. To circumvent this problem, we have developed an instrument that calibrates the pressure gauges in place on the seafloor. In this autonomous system, a pair of quartz pressure gauges recording ambient seawater pressure are periodically connected to a piston gauge calibrator. In a 104 day test off the California coast at 664-m depth, the contribution to the uncertainty in depth variation from gauge drift was 1.3 cm based on calibrations occurring for 20 min every ten days.
Taxonomy, Enzymes, and Clinical Relevance of Anaerobic Bacteria

Present systems for the classification of anaerobic bacteria have eliminated many of the problems of earlier systems. There are still a number of major problems that require attention, however. Anaerobic bacteria produce many different enzymes that are of importance in providing nutrients to the bacterial cell, as virulence factors, and in permitting organisms to colonize or survive under adverse conditions (including exposure to antimicrobial agents). Some enzymes effect several types of modifications to bile acids, neutral steroids, and corticosteroids. Anaerobes are clearly important in a variety of infections in humans and animals as well as in various other types of pathologic processes.
Mindfulness from the Bottom Up: Providing an Inductive Framework for Understanding Mindfulness Processes and their Application to Human Suffering

While mindfulness processes have been used for centuries, the scientific study of mindfulness is a very recent endeavor. We agree with the authors that the most challenging aspect of a scientific s...
Supporting Preemptive Task Executions and Memory Copies in GPGPUs

GPGPUs (General Purpose Graphic Processing Units) provide massive computational power. However, applying GPGPU technology to real-time computing is challenging due to the non-preemptive nature of GPGPUs. Especially, a job running in a GPGPU or a data copy between a GPGPU and CPU is non-preemptive. As a result, a high priority job arriving in the middle of a low priority job execution or memory copy suffers from priority inversion. To address the problem, we present a new lightweight approach to supporting preemptive memory copies and job executions in GPGPUs. Moreover, in our approach, a GPGPU job and memory copy between a GPGPU and the hosting CPU are run concurrently to enhance the responsiveness. To show the feasibility of our approach, we have implemented a prototype system for preemptive job executions and data copies in a GPGPU. The experimental results show that our approach can bound the response times in a reliable manner. In addition, the response time of our approach is significantly shorter than those of the unmodified GPGPU runtime system that supports no preemption and an advanced GPGPU model designed to support prioritization and performance isolation via preemptive data copies.
Green's function solutions for semi-infinite transversely isotropic materials

Abstract The Green's function problem of a semi-infinite transversely isotropic medium with the plane boundary parallel to the plane of isotropy is solved by using the potential function method. The Green's function solutions are expressed in terms of harmonic and bi-harmonic functions which are obtained by the separation of variables method. Closed form solutions for point forces applied in the interior of the medium are obtained. The present solution reduces to Sveklo's results when the point force is normal to the plane of isotropy and √(C 11 C 33 )-C 13 -2C 44 ≠ 0 . The Green's function solutions of Michell, Lekhnitzki and Hu, which deal with point forces applied at the free surface of a half-plane and √(C 11 C 33 )-C 13 -2C 44 ≠ 0 , can also be reproduced from the present approach. Furthermore, the present solution can be reduced to the results of Mindlin for semi-infinite isotropic materials by suitable substitutions of elastic constants.
Children’s Story (Water Dreaming for Two Children): Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula

Life in the Northern Territory of Australia is sustained by sedimentary aquifers accessed by remote wells, caves, and soaks. The indigenouspeople of theNorthern Territory have survived for millennia in this arid country by knowing how to find sources of water and by keeping the locations of water sources to themselves. These locations are often well hidden—a cave entrance may be covered with branches, and a usable soak may be no more than a depression in the ground filled with sand. Traditionally, the custodianof this knowledgewas theWaterMan, represented in the paintingChildren’s Story (WaterDreaming forTwoChildren)by the Indigenous Australian artist Johnny Warangkula (19252001) as a figurewearing body paint and gesturingwith ritual devices. The skills and spatialmemoryof theWaterManwere indispensable. He knew how to scoop sand from a soak until water seeped into the base of the hole and how to find water
Shrouded Probe Performance: Variable Flow Operation and Effect of Free Stream Turbulence

ABSTRACT Performance of a shrouded aerosol sampling probe, operated in accordance with the variable flow protocol of EPA Methods 5 and 17, was compared with its performance in a fixed flow rate mode. The effect of free stream turbulence intensity on the transmission ratio of the shrouded probe was also evaluated. Shrouded probes were developed for continuous emission monitoring of nuclear aerosols, which generally involves sampling at a constant flow rate even though the stack velocity may vary. However, this study shows that the sampling flow rate through a shrouded probe can be varied in proportion to the stack velocity, and representative samples can be obtained. This variable sampling flow rate protocol is appropriate to nonnuclear stacks and to nuclear stacks that have the potential to emit significant quantities of radioactive aerosol particles. A shrouded probe, designed for nominal conditions of 57 L/min at a stack velocity of 12 m/s was tested in a wind tunnel over a range of free stream velociti...
Immunocytochemical analysis of photoreceptors in the tiger salamander retina.

In the tiger salamander retina, visual signals are transmitted to the inner retina via six morphologically distinct types of photoreceptors: large/small rods, large/small single cones, and double cones composed of principal and accessory members. The objective of this study was to determine the morphology of these photoreceptors and their synaptic interconnection with bipolar cells and horizontal cells in the outer plexiform layer (OPL). Here we showed that glutamate antibodies labeled all photoreceptors and recoverin antibodies strongly labeled all cones and weakly labeled all rods. Antibodies against calbindin selectively stained accessory members of double cones. Antibodies against S-cone opsin stained small rods, a subpopulation of small single cones, and the outer segments of accessory double cones and a subtype of unidentified single cones. On average, large rods and small S-cone opsin positive rods accounted for 98.6% and 1.4% of all rods, respectively. Large/small cones, principle/accessory double cones, S-cone opsin positive small single cones, and S-cone opsin positive unidentified single cones accounted for about 66.9%, 23%, 4.5%, and 5.6% of the total cones, respectively. Moreover, the differential connection between rods/cones and bipolar/horizontal cells and the wide distribution of AMPA receptor subunits GluR2/3 and GluR4 at the rod/cone synapses were observed. These results provide anatomical evidence for the physiological findings that bipolar/horizontal cells in the salamander retina are driven by rod/cone inputs of different weights, and that AMPA receptors play an important role in glutamatergic neurotransmission at the first visual synapses. The different photoreceptors selectively contacting bipolar and horizontal cells support the idea that visual signals may be conveyed to the inner retina by different functional pathways in the outer retina.
Mixing, transport and combustion in sprays

Abstract Recent advances concerning analysis of sprays and drop/turbulence interactions are reviewed. Consideration is given to dilute sprays and related dilute dispersed flows, which contain well-defined dispersed-phase elements (e.g. spherical drops) and have dispersed-phase volume fractions less than 1%; and to the near-injector, dense spray region, having irregularly-shaped liquid elements and relatively-high liquid fractions. Early analysis of dilute sprays and other dispersed flows assumed either locally-homogeneous flow (LHF), implying infinitely-fast interphase transport rates, or deterministic separated flow (DSF) where finite interphase transport rates are considered, but interactions between dispersed-phase elements and turbulence are ignored. These limits are useful in some instances; however, recent evidence shows that both methods are deficient for quantitative estimates of the structure of most practical dispersed flows, including sprays. As a result, stochastic separated flow (SSF) methods have been developed, which treat both finite interphase transport rates and dispersed phase (drop)/turbulence interactions using random-walk computations for the dispersed phase. Evaluation of SSF methods for particle-laden jets; nonevaporating, evaporating and combusting sprays; and noncondensing and condensing bubbly jets has been encouraging, suggesting capabilities of current SSF methods to treat a variety of interphase processes. However, current methods are relatively ad hoc and many fundamental problems must still be resolved for dilute flows, e.g. effects of anisotropic turbulence, modification of continuous-phase turbulence properties by the dispersed phase (turbulence modulation), effects of turbulence on interphase transport rates, and drop shattering, among others. Dense sprays have received less attention and are poorly understood due to substantial theoretical and experimental difficulties, e.g. the idealization of spherical drops is not realistic, effects of liquid breakup and collisions are difficult to describe, spatial resolution is limited and the flow is opaque to optical diagnostics which have been helpful for studies of dilute sprays. Limited progress thus far, however, suggests that LHF analysis may provide a useful first-approximation of the structure and mixing properties of dense sprays near pressure-atomizing injectors. Since dense-spray processes fix initial conditions needed to rationally analyze dilute sprays, more research is this area is clearly warranted.
Special education and later academic achievement.

OBJECTIVES To determine whether grade at entry to special education is associated with improved reading achievement in children with reading disorders (RD) and whether the effect of grade at entry to special education differs by socioeconomic status (SES). METHODS The authors conducted a secondary data analysis using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a nationally representative cohort of children followed longitudinally from kindergarten through eighth grade (1998-2007). Using data from the fifth grade wave of ECLS-K, the authors identified children with RD (n = 290). The outcome of interest was change in score on the reading achievement test, which was developed by ECLS-K staff, between first and fifth grade. Using multiple linear regression, the authors modeled outcome as a function of a child's grade at entry to special education, controlling for several covariates. RESULTS Early entry to special education (by first grade vs second or third grade) was associated with larger gains in reading achievement between first and fifth grade (p < .0001). Children who entered special education by first grade versus second grade gained 4.5 more points on the reading achievement test (p < .0001). Children who entered special education by first grade versus third grade gained 1.7 more points on the reading achievement test (p < .0001). There was no difference in the magnitude of gains associated with early entry to special education between children from families of low and higher SES. CONCLUSION For children with RD, early entry to special education is associated with improved reading achievement during elementary school.
Durability-based design criteria for a chopped-glass-fiber automotive structural composite

This paper describes durability-driven design criteria developed for the use of a chopped-glass-fiber polymeric composite in automotive structural applications. The composite, which was made by a rapid molding process suitable for high-volume automotive applications, consisted of a chopped-fiber E-glass mat, made by the programmable powder preform process (P4), in a urea/urethane matrix. The durability issues addressed include the effects of cyclic and sustained loadings, temperature extremes, and automotive fluid environments. The paper briefly describes the laboratory tests, summarizes the results, and explains how the experimental information was used to formulate coherent and practicable design criteria. The criteria include design analysis guidance, a biaxial strength criterion, time-independent and time-dependent allowable stresses, and rules for assessing cyclic loadings. Environmental degradation factors and the degrading effects of prior loadings are included.
Building collaborative teams for multidisciplinary educational projects in optoelectronics

Multidisciplinary team-oriented research is an effective method for investigating systems spanning multiple knowledge areas. Building on cross-functional team strategies developed for highly competitive industries, experts from a variety of technical domains can be brought together in a team and focused toward a common set of goals. However, building and maintaining these teams is an art that combines technical, social, and management skills, and requires proactive, conscious attention to enable and achieve positive results. This paper explores some avenues toward effective multi-disciplinary team building, and explores the educational potential associated with team-oriented research.
Interleukin‐1α, interleukin‐2, and soluble interleukin‐2 receptors in polymyositis

Cell-mediated immunity has been implicated in the pathogenesis of polymyositis (PM). We conducted a prospective study in which serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptors (IL-2R), IL-1 alpha, and IL-2 were correlated with creatine kinase (CK) levels and clinical disease activity. Cytokines and IL-2R were quantitated in 133 serum samples from 14 patients by use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In patients with acute PM (9 patients), soluble IL-2R and IL-1 alpha levels were elevated initially, but declined rapidly with therapy. A significant linear relationship was found between soluble IL-2R levels and CK levels. IL-2 was initially detectable in only 3 patients, and it disappeared with therapy in all 3. The levels of cytokines and IL-2R were consistently normal in patients with inactive PM (2 patients). In patients with chronic PM (3 patients), the cytokines and soluble IL-2R levels were normal despite persistently abnormal CK levels and/or muscle weakness. Cellular IL-2R levels correlated positively with serum levels of soluble IL-2R. Our studies substantiate a pathogenic role for cellular immunity in PM, with the finding of activation of lymphocytes. The finding of increased levels of IL-1 alpha demonstrates for the first time that there is monocyte activation in PM. Persistent elevation of CK levels after normalization of the levels of cytokines and IL-2R may be prognostic of impending chronic disease. Serum soluble IL-2R appear to be a sensitive indicator of improvement or exacerbation of disease activity in patients with PM.
Propionic acid production by extractive fermentation. I. Solvent considerations.

Solvent selection for extractive fermentation for propionic acid was conducted with three systems: Alamine 304-1 (trilaurylamine) in 2-octanol, 1-dodecanol, and Witcohol 85 NF (oleyl alcohol). Among them, the solvent containing 2-octanol exhibited the highest partition coefficient in acid extraction, but it was also toxic to propionibacteria. The most solvent-resistant strain among five strains of the microorganism was selected. Solvent toxicity was eliminated via two strategies: entrapment of dissolved toxic solvent in the culture growth medium with vegetable oils such as corn, olive, or soybean oils; or replacement of the toxic 2-octanol with nontoxic Witcohol 85 NF. The complete recovery of acids from the Alamine 304-1/Witcohol 85 NF was also realized with vacuum distillation. ©1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 57: 454-461, 1998.
Approximations for the probability of misclassification

Abstract An algorithm which estimates the probability of classifying a multivariate normal observation into either of two classes is developed and evaluated. As part of the evaluation the algorithm is used to compare and evaluate maximum likelihood. Euclidean distance, linear discriminant and other classification rules.
The haptic position measurement of soft or compliant objects using the magnetic tracking system

Abstract A novel haptic position measurement system (HPMS) utilizing a hand-held magnetic sensor is developed to measure the position and shape of soft/compliant objects. The magnetic senor, serving as a touch probe, is guided by hand to contact with the object. The haptic feedback from the contact between the sensor and object provides the guidance to the user for measurement. The HPMS is validated by measuring the diameter of a soft silicone phantom and shown capable to achieve 0.2 mm accuracy level. This result demonstrated the feasibility for HPMS as a new approach to measure the shape of soft and compliant objects.
Prolonged extracorporeal support for nonneonatal respiratory failure.

Abstract Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is effective for newborns with pulmonary failure unresponsive to conventional therapy. However, ECMO for the older child and adult has been controversial and not widely utilized. Over 4 years, 24 patients (aged 4 months to 16 years; 11 boys, 13 girls) underwent venoarterial ECMO (duration, 7 to 19 days) for respiratory failure. The diagnoses were: viral pneumonia (7), hydrocarbon aspiration (6), sepsis with adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (2), bacterial pneumonitis (2), tracheal stenosis (1), bilateral pulmonary contusion (1), diaphragmatic hernia with ARDS (1), ketoacidosis with ARDS (1), pulmonary artery injection of hydrocarbon (1), drowning (1), and epiglottis with barotrauma (1). Pre-ECMO blood gas ranges (and means) were PO 2 18 to 65 (46), and PCO 2 47 to 112 (65). Nineteen patients received dopamine, dobutamine, or other inotrope for associated cardiac and/or renal failure. Cannulation for ECMO was through neck or groin vessels in 17, and sternotomy in 7. ECMO flow rates were 150 to 250 mL/kg/min, to maintain PO 2 > 100 and PCO 2
Interpretation of High-Q Scattering Experiments

A theoretical model has been developed for the calculation of the states of ionization of target atoms after impact by an energetic high charge state ion. The calculational method is based upon using the three-body classical-trajectory Monte Carlo approach combined with the independent electron model to determine the target ionization cross sections. Calculated cross sections for rare gas targets are in qualitative agreement with experimental values for incident ion charge states of q = +4 to +54 and energies in the 1 to 5 MeV/amu range. The calculations indicate that the "gross" ionization cross sections measured using the "condenser-plate" approach can be scaled to one reduced curve for each target species by plotting cross section divided by incident ion charge state versus energy per nucleon divided by incident ion charge state.
Negotiating through nature: The resistant materiality and materiality of resistance in Bolivia’s natural gas sector

Abstract Over the past two decades, the natural gas of Bolivia has been a point of international interest and internal contention. Materially and discursively using Bolivia’s natural gas to express their demands, transnational energy firms, the Bolivian state, and Bolivia’s social movements have made the country’s natural gas into an object of profit and protest. In this paper, I examine how these actors have used the country’s natural gas to both secure and disrupt processes of capital accumulation. Extending regulation approaches that take into account the materiality of nature, I argue that the differential abilities of transnational energy firms, the Bolivian state, and the country’s social movements to materially and discursively use Bolivia’s natural gas have provided each of these actors with differential mediums through which to express their often times contradictory interests, and thus to the challenge or stabilize existing regulatory frameworks. Within this context, the Bolivian state has been forced to continually balance the tensions surrounding its natural gas in an attempt to secure a stable regime of accumulation.