cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Early outcome of in situ femorotibial reconstruction among patients with diabetes alone versus diabetes and end-stage renal failure: Analysis of 83 limbs

Abstract Purpose: Both end-stage renal disease and diabetes have been demonstrated to have a negative effect on the outcome of infrainguinal arterial reconstruction, primarily because of increased perioperative morbidity and wound complications. This study was undertaken to determine whether the combination of these comorbid factors affects the outcome of distal arterial reconstruction. Methods: Eighty-three distal lower extremity arterial bypasses originating from the femoral artery and terminating at the peroneal, anterior, or posterior tibial artery were performed on 76 patients over a 5-year period at a tertiary care medical center. Autogenous greater saphenous vein was used as the bypass conduit in all instances. Combined inflow and composite vein procedures were excluded. Results: There was one perioperative death, for a mortality rate of 1.2%. The diabetes mellitus (DM) plus end-stage renal disease (DM+ESRD) cohort displayed a significantly lower 1-year primary patency rate compared with the diabetes mellitus cohort, 53% versus 82% ( p p p Conclusion: Despite the use of the optimal autogenous conduit, the combination of diabetes and end-stage renal disease can be expected to significantly decrease primary graft patency without affecting limb salvage. The greatest effect of these comorbid factors is on patient survival.(J Vasc Surg 1998;27:1049-55.)
Proposal for using a studio format to enhance institutional advancement

Universities today need to become quicker on their toes. They must continually scan the environment and seize emerging opportunities – and institutional advancement must lead this effort. An unfortunate number of institutional advancement operations are ill equipped for the task at hand. Many suffer from high staff turnover and overly hierarchical systems that reflect excessive fragmentation and compartmentalization. They inadvertently perpetuate stifling and unnecessary bureaucracy. Organizing advancement efforts around the metaphor of the design studio or creative workshop promises to (a) pool talent, (b) cultivate collaboration, and (c) align diverse but related interests in order to promote fruitful advancement. By shifting the way personnel and leaders conceptualize their work, institutional advancement can overcome a number of challenges that currently hinder its efforts. The Institutional Advancement Atelier described in this paper can improve advancement's overall productivity and its ability to see and harness opportunities in a quickly changing environment – and increase employee satisfaction in the process.
The effect of desiccation and rehydration on the integrityof small subunit ribosomal RNAs in desiccation tolerantand intolerant plants

The integrity of small subunit rRNAs during a desiccation/rehydration event in desiccation tolerant and intolerant plants was determined. Ribosomal RNAs were stable in the fully tolerant Tortula ruralis, underwent ordered breakdown in the modified desiccation tolerant Sporobolus stapfianus, and were completely degraded in the desiccation sensitive S. pyramidalis.
Rejoinder: No, Still Too Many and Too Cheap

Iwant to thank Hudson and Lusk for their contributions to the ongoing debate about graduate agribusiness management programs. I am grateful for their response to my Commentary (Starbird), and for their obvious commitment to their students and to our profession. In my comment, I put forth several hypotheses about why there has been such a tremendous expansion in the number of publicly funded graduate agribusiness management programs. In their paper, Hudson and Lusk address the demand for agribusiness management education, the public vs. private supply of programs, and the role of agribusiness management in the agricultural economics profession. I have four points of contention with Hudson and Lusk; two related to their apparent misinterpretations of my paper; and two rebuttals of their arguments. Hudson and Lusk have somehow inferred that I equate the lack of private university participation in graduate agribusiness management programs with deterioration in program quality. I do not measure the quality of graduate agribusiness management programs by the level of private school adoption. Nowhere in my paper do I make such an outrageous statement. On the contrary, I believe that the quality of public versus private university programs is not significantly different, and so students make their decisions based on cost, not quality. Naturally, the subsidized tuition of Land Grant institutions makes it very difficult for private institutions to attract adequate numbers of students at a tuition level that makes the programs viable. On the other hand, I do think that the supply of programs has grown so rapidly that the overall quality of the students (not the programs or faculty) has deteriorated. When programs were in short supply, we could be more selective and charge more. As programs have become more abundant, I suspect that we may have relaxed our admissions standards in order to fill our classrooms. This phenomenon is as much a problem at private universities as it is at public universities.
P0 phosphorylation in nerves from normal and diabetic rats: Role of protein kinase C and turnover of phosphate groups

The effects of phorbol ester and forskolin on the net phosphorylation and turnover of P0 phosphate groups was studied in normal and exprimentally diabetic rats. In sciatic nerve segments isolated from normal rats and incubated with [32P]-inorganic phosphate, phosphorylation of the major peripheral myelin protein, P0, was increased 2–5 fold in a time and dose-dependent manner by phorbol 12,13 dibutyrate (PDB). This increase was blocked by the protein kinase inhibitors, H-7 and staurosporine. Both the basal and PDB-stimulated phosphorylation of P0 were significantly greater in segments of sciatic nerve from streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Prolonged exposure of nerve segments to PDB abolished the stimulated phosphorylation of P0 and immunoblots of nerve proteins revealed a decrease in the content of the protein kinase C α-isoform. The adenylate cyclase activator, forskolin, had no affect on the PDB-stimulated phosphorylation of P0 in normal nerve but decreased phosphorylation in diabetic nerve. To measure turnover of P0 phosphate groups, nerves were incubated with32P and incorporated label was then chased in radioactivity-free medium for up to 4 hours. P0 from normal nerve prelabeled under basal conditions lost 25% of its radioactivity during this time. In contrast, nearly all of the additional phosphate groups prelabeled in the presence of PDB disappeared after 2 hours of chase. P0 phosphate groups from diabetic nerve displayed similar turnover kinetics. When forskolin was added to the chase medium, the turnover of P0 phosphate moieties was accelerated in normal, but not in diabetic nerve. These findings clearly establish a prominent role for protein kinase C in P0 phosphorylation, provide evidence for heterogeneous turnover of P0 phosphate groups and suggest that cyclic AMP-mediated processes may modulate P0 phosphorylation. Further, these results indicate that the metabolism of P0 phosphate moieties is perturbed in nerve from diabetic animals.
An X-ray image of the violent interstellar medium in 30 Doradus

A detailed analysis of the X-ray emission from the largest H II region complex in the Local Group, 30 Dor, is presented. Applying a new maximum entropy deconvolution algorithm to the Einstein Observatory data, reveals striking correlations among the X-ray, radio, and optical morphologies of the region, with X-ray-emitting bubbles filling cavities surrounded by H-alpha shells and coextensive diffuse X-ray and radio continuum emission from throughout the region. The total X-ray luminosity in the 0.16-3.5 keV band from an area within 160 pc of the central cluster R136 is about 2 x 10 to the 37th ergs/sec.
Problems with packaged sources in foreign countries

The Global Threat Reduction Initiative’s (GTRI) Off-Site Source Recovery Project (OSRP), which is administered by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), removes excess, unwanted, abandoned, or orphan radioactive sealed sources that pose a potential threat to national security, public health, and safety. In total, GTRI/OSRP has been able to recover more than 25,000 excess and unwanted sealed sources from over 825 sites. In addition to transuranic sources, the GTRI/OSRP mission now includes recovery of beta/gamma emitting sources, which are of concern to both the U.S. government and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This paper provides a synopsis of cooperative efforts in foreign countries to remove excess and unwanted sealed sources by discussing three topical areas: 1) The Regional Partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency; 2) Challenges in repatriating sealed sources; and 3) Options for repatriating sealed sources.© 2010 ASME
Sub-100 nm lithography using ultrashort wavelength of surface plasmons

The development of a nanolithography technique utilizing ultrashort wavelength of surface plasmons (SPs) is presented in this article. The mask consists of silver thin film perforated with two-dimensional hole arrays exhibiting superior confinement due to SPs with a wavelength equal to 14 of that of the illuminating light (365 nm). This short wavelength of SPs can confine the field on an area much smaller compared to the excitation light wavelength, leading to the higher resolution lithography than conventional photolithography methods. Finite-difference time-domain simulations show significantly enhanced electric field and tight confinement of the near-field profile obtained from silver plasmonic masks, where features as small as 30 nm can be resolved. Furthermore, the lithography experiments have been performed with demonstration of sub-100 nm spatial resolution.
Prevention of graft-versus-host disease while preserving graft-versus-leukemia effect after selective depletion of host-reactive T cells by photodynamic cell purging process

In this study, we investigated the possibility of selective depletion of donor alloantigen-specific T cells from C57BL/6 (H-2b) mice to prevent graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). These cells were first activated with irradiated BALB/c (H-2d) host spleen cells in a 5-day mixed lymphocyte culture. Following this activation, a photoactive rhodamine derivative called 4,5-dibromorhodamine 123 (TH9402), was added. This compound is selectively retained in the mitochondria of activated host-reactive cells but not tumor- or third-party–specific resting cells. The treated cells were subsequently exposed to visible light (514 nm) to deplete the TH9402-enriched activated host-reactive cells. Treatment with photodynamic cell purging process (PDP) inhibited antihost responses measured by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) by 93%, and interferon-γ production by 66%. By contrast, anti-BCL1 (BALB/c-origin leukemia/lymphoma) and anti–third-party C3H/HeJ (H-2k) responses were preserved. PDP-treated primed C57BL/6 cells were further tested in vivo. All lethally irradiated BALB/c mice inoculated with BCL1 cells and T-cell–depleted bone marrow cells developed leukemia by day +30, with 50% mortality by 100 days. All mice died of GVHD after addition of 5 × 106untreated primed C57BL/6 cells. However, addition of same numbers of PDP-treated cells allowed 90% of the recipients to survive more than 100 days without detectable BCL1 tumor cells and free of GVHD. Moreover, PDP-treated primed C57BL/6 cells retained the ability to induce GVHD in the third-party C3H/HeJ mice. These data suggest that PDP can selectively deplete host alloantigen-specific T cells for GVHD prevention and immune and antileukemia function preserve.
Classifying Community Colleges Based on Students’ Patterns of Use

In this study, I draw on Bahr’s (Research in Higher Education 51:724–749, 2010; New Directions for Institutional Research S1:33–48, 2011) behavioral typology of first-time community college students to examine college-level variation in students’ patterns of use of 105 community colleges in California. I find that students’ patterns of use vary greatly across the colleges, and, further, these patterns tend to cluster in such a fashion that colleges may be classified based on dominant or disproportionate patterns of use. Using k-means cluster analysis, I identify five types of community colleges, including Community Education Intensive, Transfer Intensive, Workforce Development Intensive, High-Risk Intensive, and Mixed Use. I describe each of these community college types and then investigate whether the patterns of student use that characterize the identified types appear to be primarily a consequence of institutional policies and practices or, conversely, a product of localized community demand and the associated circumstances and choices of the students who attend a given college. The evidence, though limited, tends to support the latter: variation in patterns of student use across institutions appears to be primarily a product of localized community demand. Finally, I draw on established performance indicators to examine the implications of the identified patterns of student use for observed institutional performance. I find that institutions that differ in terms of dominant or disproportionate patterns of student use also differ significantly and systematically on a number of measures of institutional performance.
Comparison of regional lung deformation between dynamic and static CT imagery using inverse consistent registration

The mechanics of lung deformation is traditionally assessed at a whole-lung or lobar level. We submit that key aspects of lung mechanics maybe better understood by studying regional patterns of lung deformation by leveraging recent developments in tomographic imaging and image processing techniques. Our group has developed an inverse consistent registration technique for estimating local displacement distributions from paired lung CT volumes [1,2]. This facilitates the estimation of strain distributions and consequently, the regional patterns in volume change and its preferential directionalities (anisotropy in deformation). In this study, we use this novel method to compare regional deformation in the lungs between static and dynamic inflations in an adult sheep. Much of our research has focused on registration of static lung images at different positive end-expiratory pressures (PEEP). More recently, respiratory-gated CT scans of supine, positive-pressure inflated sheep lungs have been gathered in order to compare the displacement fields of a dynamically inflating lung to the static lung scans. The theory is that scanning a dynamically inflating lung will more accurately reflect natural deformation during breathing by realizing time-dependent mechanical properties (viscoelasticity). The downside to human dynamic lung imaging is the increased radiation dose necessary to acquire the image data across the respiratory cycle, though low-dose CT scans are an option [3]. This experiment observed the difference in strain distribution between dynamically inflated lungs versus static apneic lungs using the inverse consistent image registration developed in our lab.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Optical sensing of HCl with phenol red doped sol–gels

Abstract A dye doped sol–gel for the sensing of hydrochloric acid in solution and/or gaseous phase is described. The sol–gel is obtained by acidic hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and phenyltriethoxysilane (Ph-TriEOS) in the presence of phenol red (PR) and further spin-coating onto glass slides. The sensitive response is based on an increase of the absorption band at 510 nm of phenol red entrapped in the sol–gel casting when exposed to HCl solution or gas, due to protonation of the dye. The detection limit of the sol–gel response to moisturized gaseous HCl is below 12 ppm, and its response to HCl in solution falls in the range of 0.01–6 M. The sol–gel coating has a response time of less than 40 s in steady-state, and life-time of more than a year. Weak acids such as acetic acid, benzoic acid, salicylate acid, citrate acid, and carbonic acid do not interfere the response. The responses in acid solutions are completely reversible. In the gaseous phase, response of HCl appears to be moisture sensitive.
Hydraulic Conductivity and Anatomy for Lateral Roots of Agave deserti During Root Growth and Drought-induced Abscission

Hydraulic conductivity (L p ), radial conductivity (L R ), axial conductance (K h ), and related anatomical characteristics for lateral roots of Agave deserti were investigated during root growth and drought-induced abscission. The elongation rate of lateral roots averaged 5 mm d -1 under wet conditions and was reduced 95% by 17 d of drought (ψ soil <-0.5 MPa); 46% of such roots abscised at 21 d of drought. Under wet conditions, L p decreased with age up to 30 d, mainly reflecting suberization of endodermal cells
Creativity from Constraints: What Can We Learn from Motherwell? From Modrian? From Klee?.

This article presents a problem-solving model of variability and creativity built on the classic Reitman and Simon analyses of musical composition and architectural design. The model focuses on paired constraints: one precluding (or limiting search among) reliable, existing solutions, the other promoting (or directing search to) novel, often opposite, ones. The primary constraint pair precludes an existing goal criterion and promotes a novel one. Other constraints — source (elements for recombination), task (how materials are used) and subject (motif, theme) — are then strategically selected to realize the goal. A brief discussion of Abstract Expressionism introduces the model, which is then applied to the painting careers of Piet Modrian and Paul Klee.
Stigma and depression among primary care patients

We assessed stigma affecting employment, health insurance, and friendships in 1,187 depressed patients from 46 U.S. primary care clinics. We compared stigma associated with depression, HIV, diabetes, and hypertension. Finally, we examined the association of depression-related stigma with health services use and unmet need for mental health care during a 6-month follow-up. We found that 67% of depressed primary care patients expected depression related stigma to have a negative effect on employment, 59% on health insurance, and 24% on friendships. Stigma associated with depression was greater than for hypertension or diabetes but not HIV. Younger men reported less stigma affecting employment. Women had more employment-related stigma but this was somewhat mitigated by social support. Other factors associated with stigma included ethnicity (associated with health insurance stigma) and number of chronic medical conditions (associated with health insurance and friendship related stigma). Stigma was not associated with service use, but individuals with stigma concerns related to friendships reported greater unmet mental health care needs. In summary, stigma was common in depressed primary care patients and related to age, gender, ethnicity, social support and chronic medical conditions. The relationship between stigma and service use deserves further study in diverse settings and populations.
Spectroscopic measurements of single atom emission in an optical resonator

Abstract Experiments are described in which atoms are placed in a concentric optical resonator and probed by cw dye laser radiation. It is found that, depending on the tuning of the resonator, the radiative linewidth of the atomic transition may either increase or decrease and the observed resonance frequency may shift, relative to their respective free space values. A simple classical interpretation of these effects is given. We also present results of a semi-classical calculation which show that under appropriate conditions, stimulated emission may play a significant role in such experiments.
The emergence of “jingo” and “jingoism” as political terms in public debate in Great Britain (1878–1880)

Content analysis is the most common approach to exploring the use of specific words within media studies. This approach has significant limitations that can be addressed through the application of other related approaches to understanding mediated content, including sociolinguistics and conceptual history. The emergence of large databases of digitized newspapers opens the possibility of an integrated approach that draws on elements of each of those related paradigms. An analysis of the rise and fall of the terms “jingo” and “jingoism” in the British press from 1878 to 1900 demonstrates how this integrated research paradigm can be productively applied to gain insight into how newspapers serve to broadly distribute words attached to specific concepts.
Invariant Measures for NLS in Infinite Volume

We study Gibbs-measures and invariant dynamics for 1D-defocusing NLS iut+uxx−ρu−u|u|p−2=0 when the period L→∞. For all p<∞ weak solutions are typically Holder continuous on bounded space-time regions. If p≤ 4, uniqueness and continuous dependence on the initial data may be shown.
The Primary Process in the Photolysis of Hexafluoroacetone Vapour. II. The Fluoresence and Phosphorescence

The relative quantum yields for the total and for the fluorescent emissions were studied over a wide range of ketone pressures with excitation at 254, 265, 313 and 366 nm. A spectral area technique showed that the absolute value of the ratio of the quantum yield for phosphorescence to that for fluorescence was zero at zero ketone pressure, but increased to ca. 6.1 at infinite ketone pressure; the limiting high-pressure value did not depend on whether excitation was at 265 or 313 nm. Quinine sulphate actinometry was used to determine an absolute value of $\varphi^f\_\infty$ = 0.018$\_5$ for $\lambda\_{excit.}$ = 265 or 313 nm; thus $\varphi^p\_\infty$ was 0.11$\_3$. With $\lambda\_{excit.}$ = 254 nm a reasonable assumption was required to reach the same values. The quantum yield for the phosphorescence of biacetyl vapour was re-determined as 0.16$_8$ by the same technique. $\varphi^f$ did not extrapolate to zero at zero ketone pressure; hence emission must also occur from vibrationally excited molecules in the singlet n$\pi^*$ state. The detailed shapes of the plots of $\varphi^f$ and $\varphi^p$ against pressure are reported here but are discussed in part V, where the question of the mechanism of the vibrational relaxation in the excited singlet state is considered. Because the quantum yields obtained with excitation at 366 nm were independent of pressure, these data are qualitatively different from those obtained at shorter wavelengths and are discussed in the present paper.
Relationship Between California Mastitis Test Reaction and Bacteriological Analyses of Stripping Samples

Abstract Quarter stripping samples were examined to compare the relationship between the degree of inflammation as indicated by the leucocyte count or the California Mastitis Test reaction and the types and number of bacteria found in the sample. Both pathogenic and nonpathogenic isolations were made on 1,036 quarter milk samples. The percentage of quarters from which a pathogen or nonpathogen was isolated was determined for each individual test reaction. At least one type of potential pathogen was found in 6.0, 6.5, 27.3, 64.7, and 71.3% of the quarters showing negative, trace, one, two, and three mastitis test reactions, respectively. The nonpathogens were found more frequently in quarters with low mastitis test reactions (negative, trace, and one) than in quarters with high mastitis test reactions (two and three). Thus, there appears to be a relationship between the California Mastitis Test reaction of a particular quarter and the types of bacteria isolated from that quarter. Comparisons also were made between bacterial counts and leucocyte counts. A general relationship appeared to exist, but only a small portion of the leucocyte variation was associated with variation in bacterial numbers.
Toward the development of machine: independent systems programming languages

One of the reasons for developing high level languages has been the desire for program portability from one type of machine to another. To achieve the high degree of machine independence necessary for program portability, these languages have included general features such as arithmetic expressions, arrays, and subroutine calls which can be implemented on many machines. Facilities such as the interrupt mechanism, program status word, and device dependent input/output which are available to the assembly language programmer are hidden from the high level programmer. Unfortunately, the code generated by compilers for these high level languages is often very inefficient compared to that produced by experienced assembly language programmers. However, the added expressiveness and the ability to leave details to the compiler usually offset the inefficiency of generated code, particularly for non-systems applications. For such applications, the facilities which the high level programmer cannot use are not needed anyway.
Do nutrition labels improve dietary outcomes

The disclosure of nutritional characteristics of most packaged foods became mandatory in the United States with the implementation of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) in 1994. Under the NLEA regulations, a ‘Nutrition Facts’ panel displays information on nutrients such as calories, total and saturated fats, cholesterol, and sodium in a standardized format. By providing nutrition information in a credible, distinctive, and easy-to-read format, the new label was expected to help consumers choose healthier, more nutritious diets. This paper examines whether the disclosure of nutrition information through the mandatory labels impacted consumer diets. Assessing the dietary effects of labeling is problematic due to the confounding of the label effect with unobserved label user characteristics. This self-selection problem is addressed by exploiting the fact that the NLEA exempts away-from-home foods from mandatory labeling. Difference-in-differences models that account for zero away-from-home intakes suggest that the labels increase fiber and iron intakes of label users compared with label nonusers. In comparison, a model that does not account for self-selection implies significant label effects for all but two of the 13 nutrients that are listed on the label. Published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Preparation and electrocatalytic applications of a multilayer nanocomposite consisting of phosphomolybdate and poly(amidoamine)

Abstract Deposition of alternating layers of phosphomolybdic acid, PMo12, and generation-4 polyamidoamine dendrimer, PAMAM, on a gold electrode is demonstrated. The gold is first coated with a self-assembled monolayer of 4-aminothiophenol. Based on the charge under cyclic voltammetric peaks, at least 12 layers of PMo12 are deposited with an estimated quantity of 5.2×10−11 mol cm−2 in each. The voltammetry of PMo12 is consistent with that for solution studies, in that three two-electron processes are observed with formal potentials of 0.381, 0.238 and 0.012 V. However, the dependence of peak current on scan rate is indicative of redox surface-confined species. The PAMAM provided a spacer that led to a multilayer assembly with high conductivity and, because of its size, apparently high permeability. Regarding the latter, efficient catalysis of the reduction of nitrite and the oxidation of arsenite is achieved.
HTR2A variation and sudden infant death syndrome: a case–control analysis

Aim: The serotonergic (5-HT) system functions in central autonomic regulation with homeostatic roles in cardiorespiratory control, thermoregulation, arousal and sleep-wake cycling. Altered function and development of this system in cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have been established, but the aetiology of these disturbances remains unclear. The serotonin receptor, HTR2A, functions within this system with roles in the homeostatic response to hypoxia including excitatory effects on respiration, gasping and rhythm generation, all functions potentially compromised in SIDS. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between SIDS risk and HTR2A variation. Methods: All coding regions, intron‐exon boundaries and the promoter region of HTR2A were PCR amplified and analysed by standard sequencing in 96 SIDS cases and 96 matched controls. Results: Twenty-one HTR2A variations were identified in this case‐control cohort, including four novel variations (c.C-1185A, c.T-923C, c.T-17C and c.C50T). None of the variations identified showed a significant association with SIDS. Conclusion: This report provides evidence that despite known alterations of the 5-HT system in SIDS, and the logical role for the HTR2A receptor, genetic variation of HTR2A as studied in our cohort is not responsible for these alterations. These results represent a further step in the investigation of the aetiology of the altered serotonin system in SIDS cases.
Modeling vibratory damage with reduced-order models and the generalized finite element method

Abstract This paper investigates a coupled computational analysis framework that uses reduced-order models and the generalized finite element method to model vibratory induced stress near local defects. The application area of interest is the life prediction of thin gauge structural components exhibiting nonlinear, path-dependent dynamic response. Full-order finite element models of these structural components can require prohibitively large amounts of processor time. Recent developments in nonlinear reduced-order models have demonstrated efficient computation of the dynamic response. These models are relatively insensitive to small imperfections. Conversely, the generalized finite element method provides the ability to model local defects without geometric dependency on the mesh. A more robust version of the method, with numerically built enrichment functions, provides a multiple-scale modeling capability through direct coupling of global and local finite element models. Replacing the component finite element model with a reduced-order model allows for efficient computation of dynamic response while providing the necessary information to drive local, solid analyses which can zoom in on regions containing stress risers or cracks. This paper describes the coupling of these approaches to enable fatigue and crack propagation predictions. Numerical/experimental examples are provided.
An OpenACC-based unified programming model for multi-accelerator systems

This paper proposes a novel SPMD programming model of OpenACC. Our model integrates the different granularities of parallelism from vector-level parallelism to node-level parallelism into a single, unified model based on OpenACC. It allows programmers to write programs for multiple accelerators using a uniform programming model whether they are in shared or distributed memory systems. We implement a prototype of our model and evaluate its performance with a GPU-based supercomputer using three benchmark applications.
Detection of Metabolites Produced by Psychrotrophic Bacteria Growing in Milk

Abstract The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the use of gas-liquid chromatography for the detection of metabolites produced by psychrotrophic bacteria in milk. Alcaligenes viscolactis, Pseudomonas fragi, Pseudomonas perolens , and Bacillus pumilus were inoculated into pasteurized milk or raw milk which had been "cold sterilized" with hydrogen peroxide. The milk samples were incubated at 7C, and plate counts were determined at intervals. Samples of the headspace vapors were analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography. Chromosorb W coated with 10% Carbowax 20M gave clearer separation of the volatiles than Gas Chrom Z coated with 4% Apiezon L. In general, chromatograms contained peaks representing acetaldehyde, acetic acid, acetone, ethanol, and an unidentified compound. Acetaldehyde was the best indicator of high numbers of psychrotrophic bacteria in milk. Direct analysis of headspace vapors of milk by gas-liquid chromatography appears to have the potential for providing a rapid means of detecting metabolites produced by bacteria in milk.
The Effect of Remittances on Domestic Capital Formation in Select African Countries: A Comparative Empirical Analysis

Remittances are expected to affect domestic investment, among others, through induced rise in savings and easing of financial constraints. However, the empirical evidence on the relationship between the two variables is rather thin, especially in the context of Africa. This study investigates the short-run and long-run effects of remittances on domestic investment in four African countries using the bounds testing approach to cointegration analysis. The findings of the study indicate that whether remittances spur domestic capital formation varies by country and the time horizon considered, highlighting, among others, the importance of identifying the factors that tend to condition their relationship. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Persuasion and economic efficiency. The cost-benefit analysis of banning abortion.

How do economists persuade their readers that one policy is superior to another? A glance at the literature on welfare economics quickly provides the answer to this question: Economists enter policy debates armed with mathematical models, evaluating options on the basis of their consequences. Economists typically classify a policy change as a welfare (or “potential Pareto”) improvement with respect to the status quo if the gain realized by the winners exceeds the harm sustained by the losers. The best policy becomes the one that generates the highest net benefit.
The Effect of Tropospheric Jet Latitude on Coupling between the Stratospheric Polar Vortex and the Troposphere

AbstractA dry general circulation model is used to investigate how coupling between the stratospheric polar vortex and the extratropical tropospheric circulation depends on the latitude of the tropospheric jet. The tropospheric response to an identical stratospheric vortex configuration is shown to be strongest for a jet centered near 40° and weaker for jets near either 30° or 50° by more than a factor of 3. Stratosphere-focused mechanisms based on stratospheric potential vorticity inversion, eddy phase speed, and planetary wave reflection, as well as arguments based on tropospheric eddy heat flux and zonal length scale, appear to be incapable of explaining the differences in the magnitude of the jet shift. In contrast, arguments based purely on tropospheric variability involving the strength of eddy–zonal mean flow feedbacks and jet persistence, and related changes in the synoptic eddy momentum flux, appear to explain this effect. The dependence of coupling between the stratospheric polar vortex and the ...
Pathophysiology of migraine--new insights.

Current theories propose that the primary dysfunction in migraine occurs within the CNS and that this evokes changes in blood vessels within pain-producing intracranial meningeal structures that give rise to headache pain. Migraine is now thought of as a neurovascular disorder. It has been proposed that genetic abnormalities may be responsible for altering the response threshold to migraine specific trigger factors in the brain of a migraineur compared to a normal individual. The exact nature of the central dysfunction that is produced in migraineurs is still not clear and may involve spreading depression-like phenomena and activation of brain stem monoaminergic nuclei that are part of the central autonomic, vascular and pain control centers. It is generally thought that local vasodilatation of intracranial extracerebral blood vessels and a consequent stimulation of surrounding trigeminal sensory nervous pain pathways is a key mechanism underlying the generation of headache pain associated with migraine. This activation of the 'trigeminovascular system' is thought to cause the release of vasoactive sensory neuropeptides, especially CGRP, that increase the pain response. The activated trigeminal nerves convey nociceptive information to central neurons in the brain stem trigeminal sensory nuclei that in turn relay the pain signals to higher centers where headache pain is perceived. It has been hypothesized that these central neurons may become sensitized as a migraine attack progresses. The 'triptan' anti-migraine agents (e.g. sumatriptan, rizatriptan, zolmitriptan naratriptan) are serotonergic agonists that have been shown to act selectively by causing vasoconstriction through 5-HT1B receptors that are expressed in human intracranial arteries and by inhibiting nociceptive transmission through an action at 5-HT1D receptors on peripheral trigeminal sensory nerve terminals in the meninges and central terminals in brain stem sensory nuclei. These three complementary sites of action underlie the clinical effectiveness of the 5-HT1B/1D agonists against migraine headache pain and its associated symptoms.
Using Balanced and Interactive Writing Instruction to Improve the Higher Order and Lower Order Writing Skills of Deaf Students

This article reports the findings of balanced and interactive writing instruction used with 16 deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Although the instruction has been used previously, this was the first time it had been modified to suit the specific needs of deaf children and the first time it had been implemented with this subpopulation of students. The intervention took place in two elementary classrooms (N = 8) and one middle school classroom (N = 8) for a total of 21 days. A comparison of pre- and posttest scores on both writing and reading measures evidenced that students made significant gains with use of genre-specific traits, use of contextual language, editing/revising skills, and word identification. Students showed neither gains nor losses with conventions and total word count. In addition, a one-way multiple analysis of variance was used to detect any school-level effects. Elementary students made significantly greater gains with respect to conventions and word identification, and middle school students made significantly greater gains with editing and revising tasks.
Brand Blanshard's Philosophy of Education

What is needed is a tradition in our universities and educated public as to what education means. It is not information; it is not skill; it is disciplined and flexible intelligence, ready to apply itself anywhere with clarity and precision1.
A New Approach to the Forming of Thermoplastic-Matrix Continuous-Fiber Composites - Part 1: Process and Machine

Conventionally, large components made of thermoplastic matrices and continuous fibers are manufactured in autoclaves using dies. "Die-less forming" is a new concept, intended to manufacture long components of continuous-fiber thermoplastic- matrix composites. This process is based on using movable rollers, which are computer controlled, to incrementally form the shape by local heating.The concept of "kinematically admissible bending" is central to the die-less forming process. The concepts behind die-less forming have been tested in experiments on a two- roller demonstration machine. Induction heating was used to locally heat the composite component as it moved into the forming zone, where it was bent using a specially designed cluster roller. Induction heating combined with a variable velocity profile was successful in establishing a uniform heating profile.
Random-tree Diameter and the Diameter-constrained MST

A minimum spanning tree (MST) with a small diameter is required in numerous practical situations such as when distributed mutual-exclusion algorithms are used, or when information retrieval algorithms need to compromise between fast access and small storage. The Diameter-Constrained MST (DCMST) problem can be stated as follows: given an undirected, edge-weighted graph, G , with n nodes and a positive integer, k , find a spanning tree with the smallest weight among all spanning trees of G which contain no path with more than k edges. This problem is known to be NP-complete, for all values of k ; 4 h k h ( n m 2). In this paper, we investigate the behavior of the diameter of an MST in randomly generated graphs. Then, we present heuristics that produce approximate solutions for the DCMST problem in polynomial time. We discuss convergence, relative merits, and implementation of these heuristics. Our extensive empirical study shows that the heuristics produce good solutions for a wide variety of inputs.
Thermodynamic and kinetic basis for the relaxed DNA sequence specificity of "promiscuous" mutant EcoRI endonucleases

Promiscuous mutant EcoRI endonucleases produce lethal to sublethal effects because they cleave Escherichia coli DNA despite the presence of the EcoRI methylase. Three promiscuous mutant forms, Ala138Thr, Glu192Lys and His114Tyr, have been characterized with respect to their binding affinities and first-order cleavage rate constants towards the three classes of DNA sites: specific, miscognate (EcoRI*) and non-specific. We have made the unanticipated and counterintuitive observations that the mutant restriction endonucleases that exhibit relaxed specificity in vivo nevertheless bind more tightly than the wild-type enzyme to the specific recognition sequence in vitro, and show even greater preference for binding to the cognate GAATTC site over miscognate sites. Binding preference for EcoRI* over non-specific DNA is also improved. The first-order cleavage rate constants of the mutant enzymes are normal for the cognate site GAATTC, but are greater than those of the wild-type enzyme at EcoRI* sites. Thus, the mutant enzymes use two mechanisms to partially bypass the multiple fail-safe mechanisms that protect against cleavage of genomic DNA in cells carrying the wild-type EcoRI restriction-modification system: (a) binding to EcoRI* sites is more probable than for wild-type enzyme because non-specific DNA is less effective as a competitive inhibitor; (b) the combination of increased affinity and elevated cleavage rate constants at EcoRI* sites makes double-strand cleavage of these sites a more probable outcome than it is for the wild-type enzyme. Semi-quantitative estimates of rates of EcoRI* site cleavage in vivo, predicted using the binding and cleavage constants measured in vitro, are in accord with the observed lethal phenotypes associated with the three mutations.
Transgenic analysis reveals that thyroid hormone receptor is sufficient to mediate the thyroid hormone signal in frog metamorphosis

Thyroid hormone (T3) has long been known to be important for vertebrate development and adult organ function. Whereas thyroid hormone receptor (TR) knockout and transgenic studies of mice have implicated TR involvement in mammalian development, the underlying molecular bases for the resulting phenotypes remain to be determined in vivo, especially considering that T3 is known to have both genomic, i.e., through TRs, and nongenomic effects on cells. Amphibian metamorphosis is an excellent model for studying the role of TR in vertebrate development because of its total dependence on T3. Here we investigated the role of TR in metamorphosis by developing a dominant positive mutant thyroid hormone receptor (dpTR). In the frog oocyte transcription system, dpTR bound a T3-responsive promoter and activated the promoter independently of T3. Transgenic expression of dpTR under the control of a heat shock-inducible promoter in premetamorphic tadpoles led to precocious metamorphic transformations. Molecular analyses showed that dpTR induced metamorphosis by specifically binding to known T3 target genes, leading to increased local histone acetylation and gene activation, similar to T3-bound TR during natural metamorphosis. Our experiments indicated that the metamorphic role of T3 is through genomic action of the hormone, at least on the developmental parameters tested. They further provide the first example where TR is shown to mediate directly and sufficiently these developmental effects of T3 in individual organs by regulating target gene expression in these organs.
3D conflict resolution of multiple aircraft via dynamic optimization

Free flight is an emerging paradigm in Air Trac Management (ATM). In this paper, we focus on the problem of cooperative 3D conflict resolution among multiple aircraft by posing it as an optimal control problem of finding trajectories that minimize a certain objective function while maintaining safe separation between each aircraft pair. We assume the origin and destination of the aircraft are known and consider aircraft models with detailed nonlinear point-mass dynamics. The protection zone around the aircraft is modeled to be cylindrical in shape. We also extend the modeling framework to accommodate no-fly zones of finite height or otherwise. A novel formulation of the cylindrical protection zone using continuous variables. We address the solution of this problem using rigorous numerical trajectory optimization methods. The optimal control problem is converted to a finite dimensional NonLinear Program (NLP) using collocation on finite elements. We solve the NLP using an Interior Point algorithm that incorporates a novel line search method. We also propose a reliable initialization strategy that yields a feasible solution on simple models and is also adapted to detailed models. Resolution scenarios including cases with no-fly zones are illustrated.
Effect of the Drug Price Competition Act on Market Exclusivity of New Drugs: A Simulation

We undertook a comprehensive retrospective analysis of already-approved drugs to assess the likely impact of the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act on market exclusivity of future new drugs. We analyzed data for new drugs approved between 1962 and 1984 and applied the new law's exclusivity and patent restoration formulas to each drug. Our simulation suggests that new drugs approved in the first years following enactment will gain 2 to 3 years of additional product protection, while those approved later will gain 3 to 4 years of product protection. In either case, the effective patent life will be considerably less than the 17-year statutory patent period. The full impact of the law will not be known for at least a decade, but study and analysis should begin now.
From industry to culture: leftovers, time and material transformation in four contemporary museums

Contemporary western cities are, to differing degrees, populated by derelict, dirty and toxic architecture resulting from prior manufacturing activities. Leftover places of industrial production ha...
Blast threats and blast loading

Abstract: This chapter provides a background on explosive substances and some of their important properties and describes a generic explosive device. Explosive effects – blast waves in free air, blast loading categories, and blast-induced load types – and considerations for threat determination are then covered to set the stage for practical blast load computation appropriate for initial design. Simple numerical examples are presented for the more common explosive threat scenarios that civil or mechanical engineers may face. Finally, additional resources are provided to assist the designer in achieving a satisfactory design.
Cardiac Anesthesia and Oxygen Delivery and Uptake in The Critically Ill

This chapter will include a discussion of anesthetic agents used in cardiac anesthesia, as well as a discussion on oxygen transport in the critically ill patient. Other specific aspects such as cardiopulmonary bypass will be found elsewhere.