cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The TPc, the avian substantia nigra: Pharmacology and behavior

Abstract The nucleus tegmenti pedunculo-pontinus, pars compacta (TPc) may be the avian analogue of the mammalian substantia nigra (SN). The analogy is suggested by both comparative neuroanatomical and neurohistochemical observations. To test the proposed analogy certain drugs (agonists or antagonists of putative transmitters that modulate the dopaminergic and GABAergic systems in rat) were injected into the TPc of the pigeon and the behavior effects observed. Muscimol (a GABA agonist) injected into the caudal TPc induced contralateral rotation and postural asymmetries. Pre-treatment with subcutaneous injections of apomorphine hydrochloride enhanced and haloperidol suppressed the rotatory response, while the postural asymmetries were not altered by either drug. Muscimol injected into the rostral TPc induced contralateral rotation, marked ataxia, and postural asymmetries, particularly the head and neck, legs and wings. Whereas apomorphine (subcutaneous injection) was without effect on the rotatory response to muscimol, haloperidol suppressed the rotatory response. Neither drug effected the postural asymmetry. Following drug injections into either the pigeon TPc or the rat SN the behaviors induced in both bird and rat suggest that the TPc and SN are analogous.
Wireless mesh networks based on CDMA

In this paper, we study hybrid contention-free/contention-based traffic management schemes in presence of delay-sensitive and delay-insensitive data in multihop CDMA wireless mesh networks. We suggest a greedy incremental contention-based ordering algorithm for contention-free schedules and also propose a time-scale-based framework for integration of contention and contention-free traffic management schemes. Further, for the contention-free phase, we propose a power control algorithm that gives an end-to-end throughput guarantee. With the aid of simulation, we observe the additional end-to-end throughput that can be achieved when scheduling and tight power control are applied.
Deep Sleep and Parietal Cortex Gene Expression Changes Are Related to Cognitive Deficits with Age

Background Age-related cognitive deficits negatively affect quality of life and can presage serious neurodegenerative disorders. Despite sleep disruption's well-recognized negative influence on cognition, and its prevalence with age, surprisingly few studies have tested sleep's relationship to cognitive aging.
A THEORETICAL TREATMENT OF THE SULFUR-CONTAINING ANALOGS OF CYCLOBUTADIENE, CYCLOOCTATETRAENE, BUTALENE, AND OCTALENE

Abstract Several coordination complexes of cyclobutadiene (I) have been prepared (e.g., cyclobutadiene iron tricarbonyl [1]) and cyclooctatetraene (II) is a well-known compound (for a potentially planar form of cyclooctatetraene, see [2]). Although butalene [3] (III) has not been synthesized so far, octalene (IV) has been obtained by Vogel and co-workers [4,5]. Recently we have carried out a theoretical study of the physical and chemical properties of butalene (III) and octalene (IV), and of the various annelated butalenes and octalenes [6,7] using the HMO and SCF-MO (PPP) quantum-chemical methods as well as the structure-resonance theory and graph theoretical methods. Numerous theoretical data are available in the literature on cyclobutadiene (I) and cyclooctatetraene (II).
Contractile filament and series elastic work and power--I. Mathematical development and application to left ventricular cineangiographic measurements.

Abstract A mathematical model of the left ventricle has been developed which describes the muscle element work and power including the contractile filament stress actually borne by the contractile element (CE) and series elastic element (SE). The muscle element work and power are then defined in terms of standard cineangiographic pressure and geometry measurements. For a normal left ventricle, the time variations of the CE and SE power for the circumferential direction at the mid-wall has been determined. There is a rapid initial rise of CE power coincident with isovolumic systole, due to the rapid contractile filament stress development. The SE is rapidly stretched during this period and energy is stored, resulting in a negative value of SE power. CE power falls away during systolic ejection and SE power falls away becoming slightly positive, due to (a) the fall in CE power and (b) circumferential fiber shortening. During diastole, CE power falls to zero and energy stored in the SE is released. Consequently, SE recoils with a rapid velocity of shortening and exhibits a peak positive power. The CE (which is now passive) is rapidly stretched during this period and exhibits a peak negative power value. Finally, both CE and SE return to their original lengths, velocities fall to zero and there is no further power produced during the latter phase of diastole.
FTIR imaging of polymer dissolution. 2. Solvent/nonsolvent mixtures

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic imaging employing focal plane array (FPA) detection is used to study the dissolution of poly(α-methylstyrene) (PAMS) by solvent solutions containing systematically varied amounts of a nonsolvent. Sequential images were acquired as dissolution proceeded and the samples were not disturbed during image acquisition. Qualitative spatial and chemical distribution of each species within the field of view was obtained by analyzing images based on the characteristic vibrational modes of each species, while quantitative information was gathered through the calculation of individual concentration profiles along the chemical gradient. The images and absorbance profiles showed selective solvent penetration in all cases. In general, the dissolution rate of the polymer decreased linearly with the weight-percent of nonsolvent present in the solution. Anomalously high dissolution rates were observed for solutions containing ∼5−10% nonsolvent. This increase was attributed to ...
Aging in Place or Relocation? Plans of Community-Dwelling Older Adults

This study examines the anticipated housing options of 416 community-dwelling older adults from a semi-rural upstate New York county using data from the first two data collections of the Pathways to Life Quality Study. Aging in place, either with or without home modifications to meet special needs as they arise, is seen as the most likely anticipated housing, followed by moving to a retirement community and living with others. Measures of psychosocial well-being, variables assessing resident satisfaction with current homes, health status, and moving intentions were entered into structural equation models in an effort to predict perceived likelihood of living in select housing arrangements. Our findings indicate that those who were considering a move were more likely to consider retirement communities rather than moving closer to relatives. Home satisfaction measures were related to the anticipation of remaining in one's home with modifications. Factors that can be predictive of ability to successfully age...
Supercritical CO2-based formation of silica nanoparticles using water-in-oil microemulsions

A novel method is proposed for the precipitation of silica nanoparticles using supercritical CO2, in which supercritical CO2 acts both as the antisolvent and as a reactant. A water-in-oil microemulsion of an aqueous sodium silicate solution in n-heptane or isooctane is injected into supercritical CO2 by means of a micronozzle, forming small droplets. Supercritical CO2 rapidly extracts the solvent from the droplets and reacts with the exposed surfactant-supported aqueous sodium silicate reverse micelles, forming silica nanoparticles sodium carbonate, byproduct and water. The precipitated silica nanoparticles are washed with water and the surfactant and sodium carbonate free particles are obtained using ultrafiltration. Process parameters affecting silica nanoparticle size such as water and surfactant concentrations, the type of solvent used in the microemulsion, and the CO2 pressure are investigated. Microstructure and size analyses of the precipitated silica nanoparticles are carried out using transmissio...
Design of a compact quarter wave coaxial cavity resonator for plasma ignition applications

Atmospheric and higher pressure RF and microwave plasma sources have numerous applications including material processing and spectroscopy. More recently, advantages in using such discharges for combustion ignition are being investigated. A particularly simple and compact microwave discharge generating device is the quarter wave coaxial cavity resonator (QWCCR). This paper presents a new, compacted design of such a device. A simple approximate analysis of the quality factor, Q, which is a measure of the resonant electromagnetic potential step-up capability is given, and compared to experimentally measured quality factors showing reasonable agreement. Analytic results indicate that the foreshortened folded cavity quality factors are comparable to tapered coaxial cavity designs.
Mass spectrometric evaluation of neuropeptidomic profiles upon heat stabilization treatment of neuroendocrine tissues in crustaceans

Tissue heat stabilization is a vital component in successful mammalian neuropeptidomic studies. Heat stabilization using focused microwave irradiation, conventional microwave irradiation, boiling, and treatment with the Denator Stabilizor T1 have all proven effective in arresting post-mortem protein degradation. Although research has reported the presence of protein fragments in crustacean hemolymph when protease inhibitors were not added to the sample, the degree to which post-mortem protease activity affects neuropeptidomic tissue studies in crustacean species has not been investigated in depth. This work examines the need for Stabilizor T1 or boiling tissue stabilization methods for neuropeptide studies of Callinectes sapidus (blue crab) pericardial organ tissue. Neuropeptides in stabilized and nonstabilized tissue were extracted using acidified methanol or N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and analyzed by MALDI-TOF and nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS platforms. Post-mortem fragments did not dramatically affect MALDI analysis in the range m/z 650-1600, but observations in ESI MS/MS experiments suggest that putative post-mortem fragments can mask neuropeptide signal and add spectral complexity to crustacean neuropeptidomic studies. The impact of the added spectral complexity did not dramatically affect the number of detected neuropeptides between stabilized and nonstabilized tissues. However, it is prudent that neuropeptidomic studies of crustacean species include a preliminary experiment using the heat stabilization method to assess the extent of neuropeptide masking by larger, highly charged molecular species.
Normal mouse kidneys contain activated and CD3+CD4−CD8− double-negative T lymphocytes with a distinct TCR repertoire

Healthy liver, intestine, lung, and skin harbor resident lymphocytes with conventional and unconventional phenotypes. Lymphocytes also have been detected in healthy mice kidneys; however, these cells have not been well studied and have been largely overlooked. To better characterize the intra-renal lymphocytes, we extensively perfused C57BL/6J mice with PBS and then isolated mononuclear cells for flow cytometry analysis. We observed T cells, B cells, and NK cells in normal mice kidneys after extensive perfusion. Approximately 50% of kidney T lymphocytes expressed intermediate levels of CD3 (CD3int T cells). Similar to liver and lung, a high percentage of unconventional CD3+CD4−CD8− double-negative T cells was observed in normal mice kidneys, from which 11% expressed B220 antigen. Unlike the spleen and blood, the classic CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes in the kidney had a high proportion of activated CD69+ and effector/memory CD44CD62L ligand phenotypes. Also, a small percentage of CD4+CD25+forkhead box p3+ and NKT cells was observed in perfused and exanguinated kidneys. In addition, a distinct TCR repertoire was found on intra-renal conventional and unconventional T cells compared with those from the spleen. Finally, after 24 h of renal ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI), increased production of cytokines IFN-γ and TNF-α by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, isolated from perfused kidneys, was observed. These data suggest that some of these cells harbored in the kidney could be implicated in the immune response of the IRI pathogenic process.
Effects of hypophysectomy, growth hormone, thyroxin and food intake on cathepsin activity of rat tissues.

SINCE growth and protein synthesis are intimately related, effects of hormones which alter the rate of growth on tissue enzymes involved in various aspects of protein metabolism are of obvious interest. That cathepsins may be implicated in the synthesis of protein by cells has been suggested, for they are the only known intracellular proteinases possessing the specificity of action required in elaboration of the complex protein molecule (Fruton, 1947). Thus, it appeared of interest to determine whether or not the cathepsin activity of liver, kidney, or spleen of rats changes when large variations in the rate of gain in weight are produced by hypophysectomy, treatment with growth hormone or thyroxin, or control of food intake.
Concentrated Disadvantage in Urban Neighborhoods: Psychopolitical Validity as a Framework for Developing Psychology-Related Solutions.

Psychology and community psychologists have been only peripherally involved in studying the sociopolitical factors including power differentials and resource inequities that are at the heart of the connection the between neighborhood conditions and individual well-being. In this article, the author describes how the concept of psychopolitical validity provides community psychologists a framework for reconceptualizing the research on the effects of low-income neighborhoods on well-being. Specific elements of this framework include (a) analyzing the role of power in societal conceptions of social problems and targets of intervention, (b) posing research questions that illuminate the connection between individual and neighborhood well-being, and (c) developing and implementing a range of techniques that both ameliorate an individual's symptoms and transform the neighborhood context. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Bayesian models for the analysis of genetic structure when populations are correlated

Motivation: Population allele frequencies are correlated when populations have a shared history or when they exchange genes. Unfortunately, most models for allele frequency and inference about population structure ignore this correlation. Recent analytical results show that among populations, correlations can be very high, which could affect estimates of population genetic structure. In this study, we propose a mixture beta model to characterize the allele frequency distribution among populations. This formulation incorporates the correlation among populations as well as extending the model to data with different clusters of populations. Results: Using simulated data, we show that in general, the mixture model provides a good approximation of the among-population allele frequency distribution and a good estimate of correlation among populations. Results from fitting the mixture model to a dataset of genotypes at 377 autosomal microsatellite loci from human populations indicate high correlation among populations, which may not be appropriate to neglect. Traditional measures of population structure tend to overestimate the amount of genetic differentiation when correlation is neglected. Inference is performed in a Bayesian framework. Contact: [email protected]
Gastric neuromodulation with Enterra system for nausea and vomiting in patients with gastroparesis.

Objective: Gastric electrical stimulation (GES) has been introduced for treating gastric motility disorders, such as gastroparesis, and obesity. A special method of GES using high frequency-short pulses, called Enterra® Therapy, has been clinically applied to treat nausea and vomiting in patients with gastroparesis. However, its mechanisms are not well understood. Materials and Methods: General methodologies of GES published in the literature are systematically reviewed and their main effects and application are presented. The major part of this review is focused on Enterra Therapy since this is the only method that has been used clinically. A number of different GES methods have been proposed. Results: GES with long pulses or dual pulses, but not short pulses, are able to alter (enhance or inhibit) such parameters of gastric motility as gastric slow waves and gastric emptying. Synchronized GES has been reported to improve antral contractions. GES with high frequency-short pulses, or Enterra Therapy, is known to improve nausea and vomiting in patients with gastroparesis and has a response rate of 50–70%. Improved gastric accommodation, direct enteric nervous system effects, enhanced vagal activity, and activation of central neurons are believed to be the underlying mechanisms involved in the antiemetic effect of this therapy. Conclusions: GES with high frequency-short pulses effectively reduces nausea and vomiting in patients with gastroparesis. This antiemetic effect could be mediated via enteric, autonomic, and/or central neural mechanisms. Further systematic and controlled studies are needed to improve the efficacy of Enterra Therapy and to understand its mechanisms of action.
Delay bounds of chunk-based peer-to-peer video streaming

Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems exploit the uploading bandwidth of individual peers to distribute content at low server cost. While the P2P bandwidth sharing design is very efficient for bandwidth-sensitive applications, it imposes a fundamental performance constraint for delay-sensitive applications: The uploading bandwidth of a peer cannot be utilized to upload a piece of content until it completes the download of that content. This constraint sets up a limit on how fast a piece of content can be disseminated to all peers in a P2P system. In this paper, we theoretically study the impact of this inherent delay constraint and derive the minimum delay bounds for P2P live streaming systems. We show that the bandwidth heterogeneity among peers can be exploited to significantly improve the delay performance of all peers. We further propose a conceptual snowball streaming algorithm to approach the minimum delay bound in a dynamic P2P networking environment. Our analysis and simulation suggest that the proposed algorithm has better delay performance and more robust than static balanced multi-tree-based streaming solutions. Insights brought forth by our study can be used to guide the design of new P2P systems with shorter streaming delays.
Optimization of the distributed detection system with data fusion

The optimal decision fusion with dissimilar local detectors is analyzed. Applying the central limit theorem, it is demonstrated that the asymptotic probability of false alarm is zero and the asymptotic probability of detection is one. In addition to the analysis on optimal data fusion rule, a computationally efficient solution for finding the optimal set of local thresholds is proposed. It is based on the concept of rate distortion. The optimal solution gives the minimum mean square of quantization error. This results in solving a set of O(N) nonlinear, coupled equations, where N is the total number of local detectors. In comparison with previous works, which require solving a set of O(2/sup N/) nonlinear equations, the authors' approach is expected to lead to savings in terms of computational time and complexity. >
Magnesium Sulfate Protects Against the Bioenergetic Consequences of Chronic Glutamate Receptor Stimulation

Extracellular glutamate is elevated following brain ischemia or trauma and contributes to neuronal injury. We tested the hypothesis that magnesium sulfate (MgSO4, 3 mM) protects against metabolic failure caused by excitotoxic glutamate exposure. Rat cortical neuron preparations treated in medium already containing a physiological concentration of Mg(2+) (1 mM) could be segregated based on their response to glutamate (100 µM). Type I preparations responded with a decrease or small transient increase in oxygen consumption rate (OCR). Type II neurons responded with >50% stimulation in OCR, indicating a robust response to increased energy demand without immediate toxicity. Pre-treatment with MgSO4 improved the initial bioenergetic response to glutamate and ameliorated subsequent loss of spare respiratory capacity, measured following addition of the uncoupler FCCP, in Type I but not Type II neurons. Spare respiratory capacity in Type I neurons was also improved by incubation with MgSO4 or NMDA receptor antagonist MK801 in the absence of glutamate treatment. This finding indicates that the major difference between Type I and Type II preparations is the amount of endogenous glutamate receptor activity. Incubation of Type II neurons with 5 µM glutamate prior to excitotoxic (100 µM) glutamate exposure recapitulated a Type I phenotype. MgSO4 protected against an excitotoxic glutamate-induced drop in neuronal ATP both with and without prior 5 µM glutamate exposure. Results indicate that MgSO4 protects against chronic moderate glutamate receptor stimulation and preserves cellular ATP following treatment with excitotoxic glutamate.
Making Learning Active with Interactive Whiteboards, Podcasts, and Digital Storytelling in ELL Classrooms

The purpose of this study was to examine effective ways to integrate an interactive whiteboard, podcast, and digital storytelling for language proficiency development in English language learners. Researchers integrated these three technologies into a 60-hour intensive summer English program and investigated their impacts on student vocabulary skill development. Researchers collected multiple data including daily video podcasts, vocabulary tests, a student survey, Photostory videos, and a teacher interview. The results showed that using an interactive whiteboard for (a) visual presentations, (b) interactive games, and (c) test reviews was useful for the English language learners to learn new vocabulary and engage in learning. The effects of a digital storytelling project and the video podcasts are also discussed.
Selection of Law Clerks and Polarization in the U.S. Supreme Court

Scholars have pointed to signs of growing polarization in American politics along partisan and ideological lines. This article probes for polarization in the Supreme Court by examining the role of ideological considerations in the selection of law clerks. For the 1975-1998 terms of the Court, we analyzed the relationship between the justices' ideological positions and the positions of the lower court judges from whom the justices drew their clerks. We found that this relationship became stronger over the course of that period, with a sharp increase in strength during the 1990s. This finding provides one significant piece of evidence that the Court has been changing as an institution.
Use of specific dental treatment procedures by dentate adults during a 24-month period.

– Objectives: To (a) describe the incidence of use of specific dental services; (b) test the hypothesis that certain predisposing, enabling, and need (PEN) factors are differentially predictive of service use; and (c) test the hypothesis that even with other PEN factors taken into account, race and household income are differentially predictive of certain dental services. Previously, this study identified PEN factors that predicted use of any care; herein we identify whether these same factors were differentially predictive of specific service use among users of at least one service. Methods: The Florida Dental Care Study was a longitudinal study of persons aged 45 years or older who had at least one tooth. Subjects participated for interviews and clinical examinations at baseline and 24 months later, with 6-monthly telephone interviews between those times. Results: Seventy-seven percent of subjects reported one or more visits. Results from a single multivariate multiple logistic regression suggested that even once analysis was limited to persons who used at least one dental service, at least one measure from each of the PEN domains was predictive of specific dental service use. Conclusions: Each PEN domain was predictive of service use, even once limited to persons with at least one visit. Even with differences in other PEN variables taken into account, African-Americans were much less likely to receive dental cleanings, restorative dentistry and fixed prosthodontic services, and were much more likely to have a tooth extracted. Household income was predictive of receipt of fixed prosthodontic services, but not other service categories.
Shift-invariant equivalents for a new class of shift-varying operators with applications to multi-rate digital control

A class of linear, shift-varying operators that generalizes the notion of N-periodicity is defined. It is shown that shift-invariant equivalents for these operators exist, and that the equivalence is in a strong sense, preserving both algebraic and analytic systems properties. It is shown that multi-rate sampled-data systems, though not generally periodic, fall into this class. Kranc vector switch decomposition and block filter implementations for single-input, single-output multi-rate systems are connected under the unifying framework of shift-invariant equivalents, and this framework is the way to extend them both to multi-input, multi-output systems. Possible applications include a parameterization of all stabilizing multi-rate controllers. >
Reaction of Cellulosic Fabrics to Air Contaminated with Sulfur Dioxide

Fabrics made from cotton, viscose rayon, or high-wet-modulus rayon were exposed to air or to air containing 0.1 ppm sulfur dioxide and simultaneously to light from a xenon arc lamp. The presence of sulfur dioxide caused an additional loss in the breaking strength of yarn taken from the cotton and regenerated cellulose fabrics, compared to the loss in light and air alone. The chemical modifications that occurred in the fabrics were followed by measuring copper numbers, carboxyl contents, and fluidities. The changes that were observed were compared to similar samples degraded by hy drolysis in dilute sulfuric acid.In a set of preliminary experiments, fabric made from cotton containing a durable-press finish was also exposed to the same conditions as the cotton and regenerated cellulose materials. There was no loss in strength of yarn from the resin- treated fabric, when exposed to light plus air or to light plus air containing sulfur dioxide. In fact, exposure to light and air caused a significant increase ...
Serological diagnosis of Besnoitia bennetti infection in donkeys (Equus asinus)

Besnoitiosis is an emerging infectious disease of donkeys (Equus asinus) in the United States for which there are currently no serologic methods of diagnosis. A study was performed to evaluate physical examination findings and 3 serologic assays for the detection of Besnoitia bennetti infection in donkeys. A prospective study of 416 donkeys from 6 privately owned herds across 5 U.S. states (New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Oregon, and Washington) was performed. Donkeys were examined for clinical lesions suggestive of besnoitiosis and evaluated for antibodies against B. bennetti using a fluorescent antibody test (FAT) and 2 immunoblot assays specific for bradyzoite and tachyzoite antigens, respectively. Donkeys were confirmed to be infected with B. bennetti by histology (cases; n = 32) and were compared to those with no clinical signs of besnoitiosis (controls; n = 384). Identifying clinical lesions in 2 or more locations correctly identified infected donkeys 83% of the time. Donkeys with besnoitiosis had significantly higher FAT titers (P < 0.001) and numbers of bradyzoite (P < 0.001) and tachyzoite (P < 0.001) immunoblot bands than control donkeys. The sensitivity and specificity of the serologic assays for detecting besnoitiosis was 88% and 96% for FAT, 81% and 91% for bradyzoite immunoblot, and 91% and 92% for tachyzoite immunoblot, respectively. Fluorescent antibody and immunoblot assays are effective at identifying donkeys with besnoitiosis and provide a more efficient and less invasive diagnostic alternative to histology.
Improving Search Using a Fault-Tolerant Overlay in Unstructured P2P Systems

Gnutella overlays have evolved to use a two-tier topology. However, we observed that the new topology had only achieved modest improvements in search success rates. Also, the new two-tier topology had not reduced the message routing overhead and bandwidth consumption. In this work, we used local information at each node to construct an overlay, Makalu, that improved search performance and reduced bandwidth consumption. The overlay maximized the expansion from each node's neighborhood while minimizing the latency to its neighbors. We show that for a 100,000 node system, wild card searches using flooding successfully resolved most queries within four hops for object replications ratios as lows as 0.05% (50 randomly distributed copies) with less than 3% duplicate messages. Using attenuated bloom filters to route messages for exact identifier searches, we show that Makalu resolved most queries with less than ten messages for networks as large as 100,000 nodes. The performance of this search is comparable to that of structured P2P systems. Finally, using data from traffic traces of Gnutella in 2003 and 2006, we demonstrated search success rates that were up to five times more successful and required 75% less bandwidth on a Makalu overlay than on a modern Gnutella overlay.
Bulk acousto-optic wavelength agile filter module for a wavelength-multiplexed optical scanner.

An acousto-optic tunable filter–based wavelength-selection module with features optimized for a wavelength-multiplexed optical scanner (W-MOS) is proposed and demonstrated. The W-MOS produces high-speed multiple scan beams if it is engaged with an agile tunable source with multiwavelength generation capability. In particular, the proposed fiber-connected module features high-speed, low-loss, narrow-linewidth, and single–multiple wavelength selection by means of radio frequency drive signal control for single- or multiple-beam scan operations. The unique module offers input laser beam power control that in turn delivers the desired scanned laser beam power shaping. Experimental results match module design theory and demonstrate a fast 5.4–µs wavelength selection speed, a low (1.53–dB) fiber-to-fiber optical insertion loss, a 5.55–nm 3–dB spectral width, and a 1500–1600–nm agile wavelength operational band.
Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation After Nonmyeloablative Conditioning for Advanced Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Purpose Patients with chemotherapy-refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have a short life expectancy. The aim of this study was to analyze the outcome of patients with advanced CLL when treated with nonmyeloablative conditioning and hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Patients and Methods Sixty-four patients diagnosed with advanced CLL were treated with nonmyeloablative conditioning (2 Gy total-body irradiation with [n = 53] or without [n = 11] fludarabine) and HCT from related (n = 44) or unrelated (n = 20) donors. An adapted form of the Charlson comorbidity index was used to assess pretransplantation comorbidities. Results Sixty-one of 64 patients had sustained engraftment, whereas three patients rejected their grafts. The incidences of grades 2, 3, and 4 acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease were 39%, 14%, 2%, and 50%, respectively. Three patients who underwent transplantation in complete remission (CR) remained in CR. The overall response rate among 61 patients with measurable dis...
Time dependence and unmeasured heterogeneity in administrative data analysis: application to adoption photolisting services data

Abstract Administrative data provide an excellent source of information about policy events and interventions. Use of administrative data presents challenges in estimation, however, due to incomplete spells, time dependency, and unobserved heterogeneity. Statistical models are needed to help discern these effects over time. To address the statistical problems inherent in administrative data this paper proposes two alternative empirical approaches, hazard model and matched-sample analysis. The hazard model provides a multivariate framework within which predictors of an event or length of spell can be examined. Matched-sample analysis allows researchers to focus on the impact of particular policy intervention strategies of interest using matched sets of individuals with identical measured characteristics and elapsed observation time. The approach allows for the most precise statistical controls possible and eliminates the problems posed by time dependency. To demonstrate both the appropriateness and usefulness of these models in addressing policy questions of interest an application example in the area of child welfare is used. Implications of study findings for administrative data analysis are discussed.
Gaucher's Disease: A Review

OBJECTIVE:To review the epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of Gaucher's disease, focusing on the role of enzyme replacement therapy.DATA SOURCES:a MEDLINE search (from 1984 to July 1995) of English-language literature pertaining to the treatment of Gaucher's disease was performed. Additional references were obtained by reviewing the references of pertinent articles identified through the search. Tertiary sources were also used.STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION:Articles with information on enzyme treatment were selected for review. Articles containing other interesting aspects of the disease or its treatment were also included.DATA SYNTHESIS:Gaucher's disease is the most common lipid storage disorder known and results from a genetic deficiency of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (glucosylceramidase). Enzyme deficiency results in accumulation of glucocerebroside within the reticuloendothelial system. If may present with hepatosplenomegaly, bone marrow suppression, and ...
Application of Modal Testing and Analysis Techniques on a sUAV

This paper’s focus is on experimental structural analysis using contemporary testing techniques for a small unmanned aerial vehicle (sUAV). Testing was performed to find the bending and torsional modes of the wings and tail utilizing multiple methods. Data acquisition and analysis were performed using ModalVIEW, a structural analysis program supported by LabVIEW. The aircraft was excited with random excitation using a single mechanical shaker. These techniques were applied in a case study on the BTE Super Hauler airframe, a small UAS operated by the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Engineering (UASE) Laboratory at the University of North Dakota. The aircraft is primarily used for flight testing of multiple payloads, including an antenna system designed for use in sense and avoid applications. This application requires the addition of wing pods to the current airframe to avoid electro-magnetic interference from the engine of the UAS. Therefore, the effects of the two wing pods on the structural dynamic behavior of the UAS, as well as flutter analysis, were performed on the aircraft and the results are presented and compared. In addition, a statistical method of critical sensor placement for accurate modal information with limited accelerometers is discussed.
Diversified cropping systems in semiarid Montana: Nitrogen use during drought

Abstract Improved nitrogen use efficiency would be beneficial to agroecosystem sustainability in the northern Great Plains of the USA. The most common rotation in the northern Great Plains is fallow–spring wheat. Tillage during fallow periods controls weeds, which otherwise would use substantial amounts of water and available nitrogen, decreasing the efficiency of fallow. Chemical fallow and zero tillage systems improve soil water conservation, and may improve nitrogen availability to subsequent crops. We conducted a field trial from 1998 through 2003 comparing nitrogen uptake and nitrogen use efficiency of crops in nine rotations under two tillage systems, conventional and no-till. All rotations included spring wheat, two rotations included field pea, while lentil, chickpea, yellow mustard, sunflower, and safflower were present in single rotations with wheat. Growing season precipitation was below average in 3 of 4 years, resulting in substantial drought stress to crops not following fallow. In general, rotation had a greater influence on spring wheat nitrogen accumulation and use efficiency than did tillage system. Spring wheat following fallow had substantially higher N accumulation in seed and biomass, N harvest index, and superior nitrogen use efficiency than wheat following pea, lentil, chickpea, yellow mustard, or wheat. Preplant nitrate-N varied widely among years and rotations, but overall, conventional tillage resulted in 9 kg ha −1 more nitrate-N (0–60 cm) for spring wheat than did zero tillage. However, zero tillage spring wheat averaged 11 kg ha −1 more N in biomass than wheat in conventional tillage. Nitrogen accumulation in pea seed, 45 kg ha −1 , was superior to that of all alternate crops and spring wheat, 17 and 23 kg ha −1 , respectively. Chickpea, lentil, yellow mustard, safflower, and sunflower did not perform well and were not adapted to this region during periods of below average precipitation. During periods of drought, field pea and wheat following fallow had greater nitrogen use efficiency than recropped wheat or other pulse and oilseed crops.
The use of reflective and permeable pavements as a potential practice for heat island mitigation and stormwater management

To help address the built environmental issues of both heat island and stormwater runoff, strategies that make pavements cooler and permeable have been investigated through measurements and modeling of a set of pavement test sections. The investigation included the hydraulic and thermal performance of the pavements. The permeability results showed that permeable interlocking concrete pavers have the highest permeability (or infiltration rate, ~0.5 cm s -1 ). The two permeable asphalt pavements showed the lowest permeability, but still had an infiltration rate of ~0.1 cm s -1 , which is adequate to drain rainwater without generating surface runoff during most typical rain events in central California. An increase in albedo can significantly reduce the daytime high surface temperature in summer. Permeable pavements under wet conditions could give lower surface temperatures than impermeable pavements. The cooling effect highly depends on the availability of moisture near the surface layer and the evaporation rate. The peak cooling effect of watering for the test sections was approximately 15–35?°C on the pavement surface temperature in the early afternoon during summer in central California. The evaporative cooling effect on the pavement surface temperature at 4:00 pm on the third day (25 h after watering) was still 2–7?°C lower compared to that on the second day, without considering the higher air temperature on the third day. A separate and related simulation study performed by the University of California Pavement Research Center (UCPRC) showed that full depth permeable pavements, if designed properly, can carry both light-duty traffic and certain heavy-duty vehicles while retaining the runoff volume captured from an average California storm event. These preliminarily results indicated the technical feasibility of combined reflective and permeable pavements for addressing the built environment issues related to both heat island mitigation and stormwater runoff management.
Close Human Interaction Recognition Using Patch-Aware Models

This paper addresses the problem of recognizing human interactions with close physical contact from videos. Due to ambiguities in feature-to-person assignments and frequent occlusions in close interactions, it is difficult to accurately extract the interacting people. This degrades the recognition performance. We, therefore, propose a hierarchical model, which recognizes close interactions and infers supporting regions for each interacting individual simultaneously. Our model associates a set of hidden variables with spatiotemporal patches and discriminatively infers their states, which indicate the person that the patches belong to. This patch-aware representation explicitly models and accounts for discriminative supporting regions for individuals, and thus overcomes the problem of ambiguities in feature assignments. Moreover, we incorporate the prior for the patches to deal with frequent occlusions during interactions. Using the discriminative supporting regions, our model builds cleaner features for individual action recognition and interaction recognition. Extensive experiments are performed on the BIT-Interaction data set and the UT-Interaction data set set #1 and set #2, and validate the effectiveness of our approach.
Commentary on David Sahner’s “Human Consciousness and Selfhood”

This is my brief Commentary on David Sahner’s “Human Consciousness and Selfhood: Potential Underpinnings and Compatibility with Artificial Complex Systems” in recent issue of JCER. My main point is that if a rich sensorium and extensive experiences are required for consciousness, machines will have, at least, those necessary conditions no less than humans do.
Characteristics of Individual Retirement Account Owners

Using Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data from the U.S. Census Bureau, characteristics of individual retirement account (IRA) owners ages 21 and over are examined. Approximately, 16 percent of Americans ages 21 and over owned an IRA early in 1997, with an average balance of $27,025. Furthermore, nearly 4 percent of those 21 and over contributed to an IRA in 1996, with the average contribution being $1,729 (almost 66 percent of those contributing contributed the maximum amount). Significant differences were found in ownership, balances, and contributions across various demographic and economic groups, e.g., age, family income, education race/ethnicity, etc.
Sequential Engagement of Distinct MLKL Phosphatidylinositol-Binding Sites Executes Necroptosis

Necroptosis is a cell death pathway regulated by the receptor interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3) and the mixed lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL) pseudokinase. How MLKL executes plasma membrane rupture upon phosphorylation by RIPK3 remains controversial. Here, we characterize the hierarchical transduction of structural changes in MLKL that culminate in necroptosis. The MLKL brace, proximal to the N-terminal helix bundle (NB), is involved in oligomerization to facilitate plasma membrane targeting through the low-affinity binding of NB to phosphorylated inositol polar head groups of phosphatidylinositol phosphate (PIP) phospholipids. At the membrane, the NB undergoes a "rolling over" mechanism to expose additional higher-affinity PIP-binding sites responsible for robust association to the membrane and displacement of the brace from the NB. PI(4,5)P2 is the preferred PIP-binding partner. We investigate the specific association of MLKL with PIPs and subsequent structural changes during necroptosis.
Holy Megabucks Batman! The Astounding Popularity of Superhero Movies

Scientists assume that facts, such as stars in the heavens, already exist and scientists achieve breakthroughs when they assemble a sufficient number of "fact bricks" to construct a new tower of knowledge, e.g., Copernican astronomy, Newtonian mechanics, Einsteinian relativity, etc.However, the process of problematic reasoning works differently. Instead of starting with facts, a problematic begins with a dream or a sci-fi fantasy and then backtracks by inventing the facts that are required to make the dream a reality. For example, Wilbur and Orville Wright dreamed of flying like birds and then invented new facts, such as the Wright Flyer, and thereby transformed humans from groundlings into aviators. John F. Kennedy experienced a similar process in the space race: JFK dreamed of landing on the moon and then tasked NASA with the challenge of creating the necessary facts to make his space fantasy a reality.
Comparative study of radio-frequency and microwave heating for phytosanitary treatment of wood

Radio-frequency (RF) and microwave (MW) heating for phytosanitary treatment of green wood in compliance with international standards for phytosanitary measures no. 15 (ISPM-15) were evaluated and compared to assess treatment time, depth of electromagnetic wave (EMW) penetration and heating uniformity. White oak (Quercus alba) cants (48 cm long with cross-section dimensions ranging from 10 × 10 cm2 to 25 × 25 cm2) were heated in a 19 MHz RF or 2.45 GHz MW laboratory oven using an equivalent heating power (3.4 kW). In each specimen, temperature was measured at different depths (distance from the upper face). Specimens were held in the treatment chamber for 2 min after the target temperature of 60 °C was achieved through the profile of the specimen to ensure compliance with the ISPM-15 treatment schedule. Thermal image analyses of treated specimens as well as theoretical depth of penetration for dielectric energy were explored. Wood specimens were also heated using RF at high power (9–11 kW) and results were compared with RF heating at 3.4 kW. For wood with cross-section dimensions of 10 × 10 cm2 to 15 × 15 cm2, heating rates for RF and MW were relatively similar. However, above 15 × 15 cm2, RF heating was more than 40 % faster with greater heating uniformity than MW. The theoretical values derived for depth of penetration and thermal image analyses indicate that RF (19 MHz) penetrates wood more uniformly and is better suited than MW (2.45 GHz) for bulk volume treatments of wood.
A Prospectus for Theory Construction in Marketing

This article addresses the question, “How should theories be constructed?” In doing so, two approaches are considered: the classic positivist paradigm and an emerging realist perspective. An attemp...
A sophomore design experience - Development of a portable device for aircraft skin inspection

The Engineering clinic is an 8-semester, 24credit course taken by all engineering students from each of the four departments in the College of Engineering at Rowan Universiv. The main focus of the g-semester sequence is design. Each course in the design sequence is team-taught by facul& from more than one department and the student work is accomplished via multidisciplinary student project teams. This paper describes a project that was recently conducted in Sophomore Engineering Clinic II wherein students and faculty from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering embarked on a I&week product development enterprise. In this project, students and faculty collaborated to design and develop a portable device that could be used to nondestructively inspect aircraft skin for cracks. The students were organized into two separate companies. In only 16 weeks, each company designed developed tested and manufactured a fully operational prototype. The prototypes were manufactured using stereolithography and rapid circuit proto@ping along with commercial-OR-the-shelf components.