cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prospective cohort studies of bowel movement frequency and laxative use and colorectal cancer incidence in US women and men

The associations between bowel movement frequency, laxative use, and colorectal cancer incidence remain uncertain. No published studies have accounted for potential latency between these factors and colorectal cancer onset. We prospectively examined these associations among 88,173 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS, 1982–2010) and 23,722 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS, 2000–2010). Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate multivariable hazard ratios (HRs, 95 % CIs). We conducted time lagged analyses to evaluate the potential latency in the NHS. We documented 2,012 incident colorectal cancer cases. The HRs (95 % CIs) for infrequent bowel movement relative to daily were 0.86 (95 % CI 0.71–1.04) in women and 0.81 (95 % CI 0.48–1.37) in men. The HRs for weekly to daily relative to never laxative use were 0.98 (95 % CI 0.81–1.20) in women and 1.41 (95 % CI 0.96–2.06) in men. In women, the HRs for every 3 days or less bowel movement relative to daily were 0.87 (95 % CI 0.59–1.27) for colorectal cancers that developed within 10 years of assessment, 1.03 (95 % CI 0.85–1.26) for 11–18 years after assessment, and 0.73 (95 % CI 0.54–1.01) for 19–28 years after assessment. The corresponding HRs for weekly to daily relative to never laxative use were 0.93 (95 % CI 0.63–1.37), 1.03 (95 % CI 0.74–1.44), and 0.98 (95 % CI 0.71–1.35), respectively. Bowel movement frequency and laxative use appear not to be associated with colorectal cancer risk in this study.
Distribution, parabrachial region projection, and coexistence of neuropeptide and catecholamine cells of the nucleus of the solitary tract in the pigeon.

The chemical nature of the cells of the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) that project to the parabrachial nucleus (PB) was investigated in the pigeon by the use of fluorescent bead retrograde tracer and immunofluorescence for the detection of substance P (SP), leucineenkephalin (LENK), cholecystokinin (CCK), neurotensin (NT), somatostatin (SS), and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Cells immunoreactive for CCK were located in subnuclei lateralis dorsalis pars anterior (LDa) and medialis superficialis pars posterior, and caudal NTS (cNTS); 22–26.5% of these cells were double-labeled bilaterally. Immunoreactive SP cells were found in ventral NTS subnuclei; 24–25% of these cells were double-labeled bilaterally. Cells immunoreactive for LENK and NT were concentrated in the anterior NTS; 5.5–7.5% of the LENK cells were double-labeled bilaterally, while 11% (ipsilateral) and 21% (contralateral) of the NT immunoreactive cells were double-labeled. Many SS immunoreactive cells were found in peripherally located subnuclei; 5.5–6.5% of these cells were double-labeled bilaterally. Catecholamine cells were distributed in LDa, peripheral subnuclei, and cNTS; 23% of these cells were double-labeled ipsilaterally and 8.5% contralaterally. A two-color double-labeling immunofluorescence technique revealed many cells immunoreactive for both NT and LENK, only a rare cell immunoreactive for both SS and SP, and no cells immunoreactive for both TH and SP. Cells immunoreactive for SP, CCK, NT, and TH are major contributors to NTS projections to PB. The confinement of these substances to specific NTS subnuclei, which receive visceral sensory information from specific organs, may contribute to the chemical encoding of ascending visceral information. 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Salinity preferences in the stage I zoeae of three temperate zone fiddler crabs, genus Uca

Zoeae of three species of temperate zone fiddler crabs, Uca pugnax, U. minax, and U. pugilator, were reared in the laboratory. The zoeae of each species were placed individually in artificial salinity gradients and observed for specific salinity preferences. Each species of zoeae displayed a salinity preference that reflected the salinity patterns of the adult crabs of the same species. Zoeae of U. pugnax and U. pugilator, like the adult crabs, displayed a preference for higher salinities (i.e., 20.6‰±3.5 and 21.5‰±3.0, respectively). Zoeae of U. minax, like the adult crabs, displayed a preference for lower salinities (i.e., 9.8‰±2.9).
The Living Textbook and the K-12 Classroom of the Future

The Living Textbook creates a unique learning environment enabling teachers and students to use educational resources on multimedia information servers, supercomputers, parallel databases, and network testbeds. We have three innovative educational software applications running in our laboratory, and under test in the classroom. Our education-focused goal is to learn how new, learner-driven, explorative models of learning can be supported by these high bandwidth, interactive applications and ultimately how they will impact the classroom of the future.
Characterization of Extracellular Nucleotide-Induced Mac-1 (αMβ2Integrin) Surface Expression on Peripheral Blood Leukocytes

Abstract Extracellular nucleotides, released during vascular injury, stimulate hematopoietic cells resulting in various physiological responses. We have determined that nucleotides can stimulate the expression of Mac-1 on peripheral blood leukocytes. ATP stimulated the expression of Mac-1 in a time- and dose-dependent manner with maximum expression occurring in 5 min at 10 μM ATP. This increase in surface expression was observed in monocytes and granulocytes was dose-dependent and was comparable in extent to the increase induced by the chemotactic peptide, formyl-Met-Leu-Phe. Other nucleotides including 2-MeSADP, ADP, UTP, and 2MeSATP had similar effect. Nucleotide-mediated stimulation of Mac-1 expression in granulocytes was completely inhibited by Ro-31-8220, a specific inhibitor of protein kinase C, while variable inhibition was observed in monocytes. These results demonstrate the stimulation of peripheral blood leukocytes by nucleotides causing an increased surface expression of Mac-1 which may be mediated by the activation of protein kinase C.
Generalization and the interpretation of science and technology

In scientific and technical communication, intelligibility is primarily a cultural problem, to which carefully formulated generalizations, rather than streams of data, are the only solution. Preoccupation with simplicity, or clarity, or `correctness' is a poor substitute for a careful consideration of what the reader can and cannot be expected to understand. The writer who will overcome his prejudices against generalization in order to convey the concepts which his reader does not share with him should be able to communicate more effectively at three levels: (1) to his fellow specialists, (2) to specialists in other fields, and (3) to concerned laymen.
Acyl-CoA binding proteins: Multiplicity and function

The physiological role of long-chain fatty acyl-CoA is thought to be primarily in intermediary metabolism of fatty acids. However, recent data show that nM to μM levels of these lipophilic molecules are potent regulators of cell functionsin vitro. Although long-chain fatty acyl-CoA are present at several hundred μM concentration in the cell, very little long-chain fatty acyl-CoA actually exists as free or unbound molecules, but rather is bound with high affinity to membrane lipids and/or proteins. Recently, there is growing awareness that cytosol contains nonenzymatic proteins also capable of binding long-chain fatty acyl-CoA with high affinity. Although the identity of the cytosolic long-chain fatty acyl-CoA binding protein(s) has been the subject of some controversy, there is growing evidence that several diverse nonenzymatic cytosolic proteins will bind long-chain fatty acyl-CoA. Not only does acyl-CoA binding protein specifically bind medium and long-chain fatty acyl-CoA (LCFA-CoA), but ubiquitous proteins with multiple ligand specificities such as the fatty acid binding proteins and sterol carrier protein-2 also bind LCFA-CoA with high affinity. The potential of these acyl-CoA binding proteins to influence the level of free LCFA-CoA and thereby the amount of LCFA-CoA bound to regulatory sites in proteins and enzymes is only now being examined in detail. The purpose of this article is to explore the identity, nature, function, and pathobiology of these fascinating newly discovered long-chain fatty acyl-CoA binding proteins. The relative contributions of these three different protein families to LCFA-CoA utilization and/or regulation of cellular activities are the focus of new directions in this field.
SU‐FF‐T‐318: Peripheral Doses From Pediatric IMRT

Purpose: Peripheral dose (PD) data exists for conventional and IMRT delivery to standard adult sized phantoms. Pediatric PD reports are limited to conventional therapy and are model based. Our goal was to ascertain whether data acquired from full phantom studies and/or pediatric models, with IMRT modifiers, could predict Organ at Risk (OAR) dose for pediatric IMRT. As monitor units(MU) are greater for IMRT, it's expected IMRT PD will be higher, potentially compounded by smaller phantoms. Method and Materials: Five patients with cranial lesions were chosen. Conventional 3D plans for the same patient/target/dose(180cGy), were optimized without limitation to number of fields or wedge use. 6MV, 120‐leaf Varian axial beams were used. A “3‐year‐old” phantom was configured per CDC data. Micro(0.125cc) and cylindrical(0.6cc) ionization chambers were appropriated for the thyroid, breast, ovaries, and testes. PD were recorded by electrometers set to the 10−10 scale. Each system set was calibrated to the dose range. Attention was paid to field sizes and MU. Results: Thyroid dose was lower for IMRT delivery than predicted or for 3D, (ratio of IMRT/Conventional ranged from 0.47–0.94), doses ∼[0.4–1.8cGy]/[0.9–2.9cGy]/fraction, respectively. Prior reports are for fields 10cm or greater, while pediatric CNS fields range from 4 to 7cm and effectively much smaller for IMRT(2–3cm). This close proximity (∼ 7.5 cm from field edge) is dominated by internal scatter, therefore field size differences overwhelm phantom size affects and increased MU. Distant PD dominated by head leakage, were higher than predicted, even accounting for MU (∼factor of 3) likely due to the pediatric phantom size. The ratio of testes dose ranged from 3.3–5.3 for IMRT/Conventional. Conclusion: PD to OAR for Pediatric IMRT cannot be predicted from with large field, full phantom studies. For regional OAR, doses are likely lower than predicted by existing data, while distant PD are higher.
The effect of child labour in Africa on consumers of the cell phone industry

The ethical integrity of companies is important to assess as business faces challenges that arise from different social and environmental responsibility issues. Child labour is one such issue that is currently impacting children in the Democratic Republic of Congo as they mine for coltan. This conflict mineral is used in many consumer electronics, which raises the issue of what consumers and companies are doing to take action against this issue. This study uses the issue of child labour to mine coltan for cell phones to assess the ethical impact on consumers of the cell phone industry. Consumer awareness leads to an assessment of revised social features (Auger et al., 2003), which looks at the existence of price premiums and purchase intentions. The willingness-to-pay for social features leads to ethical consumerism, which positively reinforces the continued focus on corporate responsibility among businesses. Survey results analysing the issue are used to show that consumers identify child labour as socially unjust and consumers are willing to pay more for phones that can be certified as child labour-free.
The pair-quasiparticle interference current in superconducting junctions

Abstract The dissipative pair-quasiparticle interference current in a superconducting junction is shown to satisfy a Kramer-Kronig relation. The effects of the noise in this current on the current-voltage characteristics are determined.
The origin of the autoimmune disease-resistant LER rat : an outcross between the Buffalo and autoimmune disease-prone Lewis inbred rat strains

The Lewis (LEW) rat strain is highly susceptible to a large number of experimentally induced inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The Lewis resistant (LER) rat strain, which reportedly arose as a spontaneous mutation in a closed colony of LEW rats, is resistant to many of these disorders. The mechanism of resistance is not yet clear. We report the analysis of 19 simple dinucleotide repeat polymorphisms in 13 rat strains including the LEW/N and LER/N rat strains. The LEW/N and LER/N alleles were the same in only 42% of cases. For all of the other polymorphisms, the LER/N and Buffalo (BUF/N) rat strain alleles were identical. These data provide evidence that the LER strain did not arise as a spontaneous mutation in the LEW strain but is the result of an outcross between the LEW and BUF rat strains. The LER rat strain is now a recombinant inbred rat strain. This information should facilitate the genetic analysis of the loci responsible for resistance to experimental autoimmune disease in the LER rat.
Characteristic parsing: A framework for producing compact deterministic parsers, II*

A new version of LR(k) parsing is introduced here. The basic idea is to define the LR(k) parser in a table-driven fashion. These tables are derived from sets of items. By modifying the algorithm for generating sets of items by adding additional items, the choice of which depends on characteristics of the underlying grammar, it is shown that one still gets an “ LR -like” parser. Here, the parameterized algorithm is given and the way in which the table-driven parser works is analyzed. Notions of consistency need to be examined and it must be shown that one does indeed get a working parser. In a sequel to this paper, the technique introduced here is used to construct very small parsers which could not have been obtained by any other currently known technique. The improvements in size are very striking and can even be exponential.
Subsample ignorable likelihood for accelerated failure time models with missing predictors

Missing values in predictors are a common problem in survival analysis. In this paper, we review estimation methods for accelerated failure time models with missing predictors, and apply a new method called subsample ignorable likelihood (IL) Little and Zhang (J R Stat Soc 60:591–605, 2011) to this class of models. The approach applies a likelihood-based method to a subsample of observations that are complete on a subset of the covariates, chosen based on assumptions about the missing data mechanism. We give conditions on the missing data mechanism under which the subsample IL method is consistent, while both complete-case analysis and ignorable maximum likelihood are inconsistent. We illustrate the properties of the proposed method by simulation and apply the method to a real dataset.
Selenium speciation in wild-type and genetically modified Se accumulating plants with HPLC separation and ICP-MS/ES-MS detection

Some plants have the ability not only to grow in the presence of potential environmental contaminants, such as Se, but also to accumulate them (Se accumulators). As such, some of these plant species are excellent candidates for Se phytoremediation. One of the accumulation mechanisms for selenium tolerant plants is the formation of organoselenium compounds that cannot be incorporated into proteins, thereby avoiding toxicity. Brassica juncea (Indian mustard) accumulated selenium when grown hydroponically in the presence of selenite, selenate, and Se-methionine. Additionally, genetically modified Brassica juncea overexpressing the enzyme Se-cysteine methyltransferase (SMT) was grown under the same set of conditions as the wild type. Se speciation for the three different Se regimens was performed by ion-pairing reversed phase liquid chromatography using ICP-MS as the detector (RP-HPLC-ICP-MS). The overexpression of SMT leads to the formation of Se-methylselenocysteine, a non-protein amino acid that corresponds with increased Se tolerance in the transgenic plants. The total amount of Se accumulated and the species formed were determined by matching the observed retention times with available standards using HPLC-ICP-MS. Full characterization of Se species is done by ES-QTOF. The capability of ICP-MS to prescreen particular Se species as potential targets for ES-MS is demonstrated. ES-MS followed by CID gives strong evidence for the species proposed: Se-methylselenocysteine, Se-homocysteine and Se-cystathionine.
Serum creatinine predicts success in retrograde ureteral stent placement in patients with pelvic malignancies.

Objectives To evaluate serum hemoglobin, baseline serum creatinine, serum creatinine at the diagnosis of obstructive hydronephrosis, and the increase in serum creatinine greater than baseline to predict for success in retrograde ureteral stent placement in patients with pelvic malignancies. Methods In a retrospective chart review, we identified 57 patients at our institution with obstructive hydronephrosis secondary to pelvic malignancies in which retrograde ureteral stent placement was attempted from January 2002 to May 2005. The patient charts were reviewed for the baseline serum creatinine, preoperative serum creatinine and hemoglobin, and serum creatinine at presentation of obstructive hydronephrosis. This population was divided into group 1 (n = 31, 54%), in which retrograde stent placement was successful, and group 2 (n = 26, 46%), in which stent placement failed and subsequent percutaneous nephrostomy tube placement was required. The Student t test was used to determine whether a significant difference existed between the two groups for each laboratory parameter. Results The serum hemoglobin and baseline creatinine were not significantly different between the two groups and could not be used to predict for the success or failure of stent placement (P = 0.10 and P = 0.59, respectively). However, the average serum creatinine at presentation of obstructive hydronephrosis was significantly different between group 1 (2.4 ± 1.4 ng/dL) and group 2 (5.3 ± 6.3; P = 0.014), as was an increase in serum creatinine greater than baseline (P = 0.002). Conclusions The results of this study have shown that the serum creatinine level at the presentation of obstructive hydronephrosis can be used to predict for success in retrograde ureteral stent placement in patients with pelvic malignancies.
Hierarchical Apprenticeship Learning with Application to Quadruped Locomotion

We consider apprenticeship learning—learning from expert demonstrations—in the setting of large, complex domains. Past work in apprenticeship learning requires that the expert demonstrate complete trajectories through the domain. However, in many problems even an expert has difficulty controlling the system, which makes this approach infeasible. For example, consider the task of teaching a quadruped robot to navigate over extreme terrain; demonstrating an optimal policy (i.e., an optimal set of foot locations over the entire terrain) is a highly non-trivial task, even for an expert. In this paper we propose a method for hierarchical apprenticeship learning, which allows the algorithm to accept isolated advice at different hierarchical levels of the control task. This type of advice is often feasible for experts to give, even if the expert is unable to demonstrate complete trajectories. This allows us to extend the apprenticeship learning paradigm to much larger, more challenging domains. In particular, in this paper we apply the hierarchical apprenticeship learning algorithm to the task of quadruped locomotion over extreme terrain, and achieve, to the best of our knowledge, results superior to any previously published work.
Jejunal vasculitis with protein-losing enteropathy after bone marrow transplantation

Abstract A 37-yr-old white man experienced crampy abdominal pain beginning 21 days after successful bone marrow transplantation for chronic myelogenous leukemia. Generalized edema and hypoproteinemia developed. Symptoms persisted until 61 days posttransplant, when the patient developed an acute abdomen. At laparotomy, an edematous segment of jejunum was resected. Pathological examination showed submucosal vasculitis and necrotizing enteritis. Serum protein and albumin levels returned to normal within a few weeks after surgery. Vasculitis of the gastrointestinal tract should be considered in the differential diagnosis of protein-losing enteropathy after bone marrow transplantation.
ICD lead parameters, performance, and adverse events following continuous-flow LVAD implantation.

Background Ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) in the months following continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) implantation are common and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We sought to evaluate for changes in implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) performance following LVAD implantation. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the ICD interrogation reports and medical records of patients who received a continuous-flow LVAD at the University of Chicago Medical Center between January 2008 and December 2010. Patients who did not have an ICD prior to LVAD implantation were excluded. Results Forty-four patients were included. Median right ventricular lead sensing amplitude decreased from 10.0 (interquartile range 7.6–13.6) mV prior to LVAD to 7.9 (5.9–9.3) mV after LVAD implantation (P < 0.01). Significant reductions in sensing threshold were associated with smaller lead diameters, smaller pace/sense electrode surface areas, and Medtronic ICD leads (Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA). Lead impedance and capture threshold did not change significantly. ICD-related adverse events occurred in 30% of patients and led to ICD modification in 18% of patients. Conclusions Implantation of a continuous-flow LVAD is associated with changes in the performance of preexisting ICDs. ICD-related adverse events were encountered following LVAD implantation in this cohort, and at times resulted in invasive and noninvasive ICD system modification. Reductions in ICD sensing threshold after LVAD implantation may adversely affect ICD function. Formal ICD interrogation in addition to the regular follow-up testing is warranted post-LVAD.
Adaptive dynamic programming-based optimal control of unknown affine nonlinear discrete-time systems

Discrete time approximate dynamic programming (ADP) techniques have been widely used in the recent literature to determine the optimal or near optimal control policies for nonlinear systems. However, an inherent assumption of ADP requires at least partial knowledge of the system dynamics as well as the value of the controlled plant one step ahead. In this work, a novel approach to ADP is attempted while relaxing the need of the partial knowledge of the nonlinear system. The proposed methodology entails a two part process: online system identification and offline optimal control training. First, in the identification process, a neural network (NN) is tuned online to learn the complete plant dynamics and local asymptotic stability is shown under a mild assumption that the NN functional reconstruction errors lie within a small-gain type norm bounded conic sector. Then, using only the NN system model, offline ADP is attempted resulting in a novel optimal control law. The proposed scheme does not require explicit knowledge of the system dynamics as only the learned NN model is needed. Proof of convergence is demonstrated. Simulation results verify theoretical conjecture.
Information integration: a case study of air quality in chicago and st. louis

Government agencies are increasingly making raw data available to citizens, but merely having access to data is not sufficient to realize the potential of “big data”. Answering questions in science, business, and public policy requires data integration which is challenging when data from different sources are used for different reasons. This project provides a detailed case study of how to integrate public data to understand the relationship between demographic factors and air quality. Demographic factors from US Census and American Community Survey were collected for two major cities (Chicago and St. Louis) and then integrated with air quality from the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Results show that air quality has improved in both cities between 2000 and 2012. Determining correlations between ethnicity, education, level of income and air quality warrant further exploration.
Reducing cycle times in production networks with batching stations

Batching is an important system behaviour wherein several entities in a network are combined into a single entity in all further network flow. Total cycle time can be dramatically affected by an improper choice of batch sizes. In this paper, continuous-time Markov chains are used to represent the states corresponding to three common types of batching stations: single product batching stations with one-at-a-time arrivals, single product batching stations with bulk arrival distribution, and multiple product batching stations with one-at-a-time arrivals where a common batch-processing size is used. The associated Chapman-Kolmogorov equations are solved producing surprisingly simple steady-state predictions for the batch station's steady-state behaviour in each case. Although the resulting formulas are useful alone, they are used to produce a supplement to queueing network analysis (QNA) that we call QNA[B]. The formulas are orders of magnitude more efficient computationally than conducting the corresponding simulation studies. They are validated by comparing discrete event simulation to QNA[B] in the redesign of an existing real-world electronic circuit board repair facility using design of experiments. The recommended process design for that system (the number of servers at the bottleneck station(s) and the batch size(s) at the batch-processing step(s)) cuts the current cycle time by approximately 70%.
Sequence requirements for the recognition of tyrosine-based endocytic signals by clathrin AP-2 complexes.

We recently determined that fusion proteins containing tyrosine-based endocytic signals bind to the mu 2 subunit of AP-2, the complex that drives clathrin coat formation and mediates endocytosis from the plasma membrane. Here we analyze the selectivity of peptide recognition by mu 2 and by AP-2 using combinatorial selection methods and surface plasmon resonance. Both mu 2 and AP-2 are shown to interact with various sequences of the form tyrosine-polar-polar-hydrophobic (Yppo) found on receptors that follow the clathrin pathway. The optimal sequence for interaction with mu 2 and with AP-2 has tyrosine as an anchor and prefers arginine at position Y + 2 and leucine at position Y + 3. In contrast, no preferred sequence is detected surrounding the Yppo signal, indicating that recognition of the Yppo endocytic signal does not require a prefolded structure. We conclude that sorting into the endocytic pathway is governed by a surprisingly simple interaction between the mu 2 chain and a tyrosine-containing tetrapeptide sequence.
A scalable packet switch for distributed computing

To address the growing demands of distributed computing, the authors propose a new switch architecture called VIPER+ that is based on a self-routing nonblocking network design. VIPER+ can be designed from simple 2*2 switching elements, either electrical or photonic. The self-routing properties of the switch enable scalability with the technology of the switching devices employed. The switch architecture, targeted for optical implementation, relies on simpledistributed routing algorithms and uses cut-through switching to avoid buffering at the switch interface. The authors outline the switch architecture using VIPER+, and the projected performance based on analytical modeling. >
Reduction of Complexity and Automation of Parallel Execution through Loop Level Parallelism

SIMD (single instruction multiple data) is a processor architecture classification from Flynn's taxonomy. The concept is that a single instruction set operates on multiple units of data simultaneously. Computers use this processor architecture are known as array processors or vector processors. Most computers in use today are SISD (single instruction single data) though allowing a single instruction to operate on multiple data can also be applied to a virtual machine that is capable of parallel execution through the use of multi-threading/multi-core processors, or distributed parallel execution on a multi-computer grid. This paper proposes a language structure that applies the SIMD concept to the Java virtual machine. The motive is to reduce the complexity of the code and ease implementation of parallelization by running a single set of instructions concurrently on an entire collection of objects.
The G.I. Bill and U.S. Social Policy, Past and Future*

The fiftieth anniversary of the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt arrived only months after the 1994 U.S. elections brought to power conservative Republican congressional majorities determined to reverse key legacies of Roosevelt's New Deal. At this juncture of special poignancy for many of those assembled at the “Little White House” in Warm Springs, Georgia on April 12, 1995, President Bill Clinton offered remarks on “Remembering Franklin D. Roosevelt.” “Like our greatest presidents,” Clinton eulogized, Roosevelt “showed us how to be a nation in time of great stress” and “taught us again and again that our government could be an instrument of democratic destiny.”
Techniques for the measurement of Higgs boson branching fractions

We describe methods that can be employed at a [radical][ital s] =500 GeV [ital e][sup +][ital e[minus]] linear collider to measure the branching fractions of a Higgs boson. These methods select one Higgs-boson decay mode above all others with high purity, leaving measurable standard model backgrounds as the only source of contamination. Integrated luminosities of 50 fb[sup [minus]1] are required to obtain statistical error of 10--20 % on the branching fractions to [ital b[bar b]], [tau][sup +][tau][sup [minus]], and [ital WW][sup (*)]. For an intermediate-mass Higgs boson this is sufficient to distinguish the minimal supersymmetric standard model Higgs boson from the standard model Higgs boson over most of the supersymmetric parameter space.
Digital representations of operators on band-limited random signals

Sampling representations of bounded linear operators (BLOs) acting on extended classes of band-limited signals are derived. These are classes of deterministic signals that are not necessarily square-integrable and random signals with covariance functions that are not necessarily square-integrable on the plane. These classes consist of signals whose Fourier transforms, defined as generalized functions (or distributions), have supports that are subsets of compact sets. The merit of these representations lies in the fact that the image of a signal under an operator may be reconstructed from the samples of the original signal rather than the samples of the image. For example, the derivative of a signal, of any order, may be expressed in terms of the samples of the signal itself instead of the samples of the derivative.
A scalable and robust approach to collaboration enforcement in mobile ad-hoc networks

Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) have attracted great research interest in recent years. Among many issues, lack of motivation for participating nodes to collaborate forms a major obstacle to the adoption of MANETs. Many contemporary collaboration enforcement techniques employ reputation mechanisms for nodes to avoid and penalize malicious participants. Reputation in- formation is propagated among participants and updated based on complicated trust relationships to thwart false accusation of benign nodes. The aforementioned strategy suffers from low scalability and is likely to be exploited by adversaries. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to address these problems. With the proposed technique, no reputation information is propagated in the network and malicious nodes cannot cause false penalty to benign hosts. Nodes classify their one-hop neighbors through direct observation and misbehaving nodes are penalized within their localities. Data packets are dynamically rerouted to circumvent selfish nodes. As a result, overall network performance is greatly enhanced. This approach significantly simplifies the collaboration enforcement process, incurs low overhead, and is robust against various malicious behaviors. Simulation results based on different system configurations indicate that the proposed technique can significantly improve network performance with very low communication cost.
Kindness Is Society

Diane Ravitch, one of America’s foremost educational historians responds to a series of questions about social justice and public education posited by the coeditors of this book. Dr. Ravitch is known for her insightful commentary based on years of battling for teachers whether on the right or left of the argument.
Shelah's eventual categoricity conjecture in universal classes: Part I

We prove that a universal class categorical in a high-enough cardinal is categorical on a tail of cardinals. As opposed to other results in the literature, we work in ZFC, do not require the categoricity cardinal to be a successor, do not assume amalgamation, and do not use large cardinals. Moreover we give an explicit bound on the “high-enough” threshold:
Basilar skull fracture in U.S. Army aircraft accidents.

Of the 222 flight helmets retrieved from Army aircraft accidents during 1971-79 under the Aviation Life Support Equipment Retrieval Programs, 175 were SPH-4 helmets that were analyzed for physical damage and for the relationship of damage to injury sustained by the wearer. This analysis showed that lateral impacts resulted in a significantly higher rate of serious injury (AIS greater than or equal to 4) than impacts to other regions (68% versus 46%, p less than 0.001) Lateral impacts yielded a higher rate of basilar skull fracture than impacts to other areas of the helmet (46% versus 18%, p less than 0.001). It is concluded that lack of energy-absorbing material in the lateral portions of the helmet causes the high rate of basilar skull fracture and the increased prevalence of severe injury associated with lateral impacts. The incorporation of an energy-absorbing earcup design is recommended to reduce the high rate of severe injuries associated with lateral impacts.
Shame and institutional stability – or – change in healthcare

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to help introduce the empirical study of emotion within an institutional framework by examining shame and shaming as drivers of institutional stability and change, respectively. Design/methodology/approach – The author conducted a qualitative study of 101 US print media articles generated by major US news publications and trade magazines from 1999 to 2011 in the wake of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) 1999 report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Findings – This study resulted in two major findings. First, this research found that the institutions constituting the collective professional identity of physicians persisted via institutionalized shame inculcated in physicians during their extensive socialization into the medical profession. Potential shame over medical error served to reinforce institutionalized cultures which exacerbated medicine’s problems with error reporting. Second, this study reveals that field-level actors engage in shaming to aff...
Fiji: a country that loves family.

Despite the broad cultural diversity found in the South Pacific Fijian Islands a uniformly high value is placed upon family and children in the country. As such comprehensive high quality perinatal care is available to all Fijian women provided mainly by midwives. The author describes her visit to the maternal unit of Nadi Hospital in Nadi. The maternity unit includes a clinic and labor and delivery rooms located in a separate building adjacent to the hospital. In the clinic waiting room posters encourage breast-feeding in several languages with the women depicted on the posters reflecting the cultural variety of the pregnant clients waiting for service in the clinic. 3 midwives rotate duties at the unit with each day 1 midwife in the clinic 1 in labor and delivery and 1 in postpartum. Each woman making prenatal visits to the clinic is given prenatal vitamins iron supplements and when available fresh vegetables from the clinic garden. Additional clinic operations are described.
Abstract 1237: WT1, Wnt signaling and E-cadherin in prostate cancer

Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC Prostate carcinoma is the most common malignancy and second leading cause of death among American men. The molecular mechanisms that control the progression of this type of cancer are still poorly understood. Among the genes proposed to play a role in prostate cancer is the zinc finger transcription factor, WT1. Previous studies in our lab have shown WT1 protein in a majority of high grade prostate tumor sections with little or no WT1 staining in non-neoplastic or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissues. However, a mechanistic role for WT1 in prostate cancer has not been established. Recently, WT1 has been associated with the Wnt signaling pathway and Beta catenin, the central molecule in the pathway. The cytoplasmic levels of Beta catenin can be regulated through the canonical Wnt signaling or through the intracellular adhesion complex where it binds to E-cadherin. Importantly, E-cadherin has previously been identified as a WT1 target gene in NIH 3T3 cells. The objective of this study was to determine whether WT1 might regulate genes that, in turn, regulate the levels of Beta catenin in prostate cancer cells. First potential WT1 binding sites were identified in the promoters of two candidate genes, GSK3 Beta and E-cadherin, using a bioinformatics approach. Then the effect of transfection of LNCaP prostate cancer cells with GFP-tagged WT1 expression constructs was tested by quantitative real time PCR (QRT-PCR). In vivo evidence of direct binding of these gene promoters by WT1 protein was obtained by Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) of GFP/WT1 transfected LNCaP cells. Using evolutionary conservation analysis we identified two WT1 binding sites in the E-cadherin promoter conserved among primate species and one that was conserved among primates, rodents and dog. QRT- PCR results showed a decrease in E-cadherin transcripts in GFP/WT1 transfected LNCaP cells, compared with untransfected cells. ChIP was used to demonstrate that this effect on E-cadherin expression was direct and mediated by DNA binding to the E-cadherin promoter in vivo. Overall these results suggest that WT1 modulates E-cadherin and the Wnt signaling pathway in LNCaP cells. These findings suggest a novel mechanism for proliferation and migration of prostate cancer cells and ultimately may contribute towards an improved cancer therapy. This work was supported by NIHR15CA11360 (GF) and GSS KSU grant(AB) Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1237.
Using history to explain the present: The past as born and performed:

While ethnographers call for including temporal contexts in their studies, they do not closely consider how to accomplish this. Instead, they tend to treat the past as historical facts, collected by experts, and largely isolated from the understandings of their subjects. This study analyzes how residents being interviewed about their city invoked the past. As opposed to a past born from static historical sources, the past of interviewees was largely autobiographical, and it was actively performed through interactions that strategically critiqued or wistfully enhanced the present. These intimate, populist histories reflected and maintained community ideals and identities, and they defied elite, professional explanations, revealing conflicts between how researcher and researched define the world. Ethnographers and other researchers of the present should be sensitive to how their subjects construct the past, as well as their own representations of history and the dynamics of power underlying them.
Surveillance of hand,foot and mouth disease in Longgang District,Shenzhen City in 2012-2013

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of hand,foot and mouth disease(HFMD)in Longgang District,Shenzhen City so as to provide scientific evidence for HFMD prevention and control. Methods Monitoring data were retrospectively collected for descriptive analysis and multiple regression analysis. Results A total of30,160 HFMD cases were reported between 2012 and 2013,with an average annual incidence rate of 385.70/100,000.Scattered children,especially those 1year of age were at high risk for HFMD,and male cases were more than those of female,with a male to female ratio of 1.59:1.There were significant changes existed on the epidemic curve in 2012-2013 compared with previous years,and the severe incidence in 2013 was significantly lower than that in 2012(χ2=9.221,P=0.002).The laboratory monitoring results showed that other enterovirus infections(68.33%,233/341)except EV71 and CA16were predominant during 2012-2013,and CA6(56.22%,131/233)was the common virus.Most severe cases and death cases were caused by EV71.There were 18 outbreaks happened at child care institutions,and the duration time of the outbreaks were impacted by the disposal promptness of the outbreaks(X2),the total cases(X3)and the exposed population(X4),(Y=0.586+0.478X2+0.630X3-0.013X4,R2=0.503,F=10.113,P=0.000). Conclusions The changes of the epidemic curve of HFMD in Longgang District,Shenzhen City in 2012-2013 are correlated with the variation of the spectrum of pathogens,and the timely reporting and disposal of HFMD outbreaks,especially the outbreaks occurred in nurseries play the important roles in HFMD prevention and control.
Some early characteristics of peptic ulcer decedents.

A number of early characteristics were analyzed among 163 peptic ulcer decedents (79 gastric and 84 duodenal ulcer) and 163 age- matched control subjects. All men were measured and interviewed while they were at Harvard University, at a mean age of 20 years. Data were analyzed by matched pairs, the degree of association between the antecedent factor and the disease being evaluated by an odds ratio. Analysis of reporting of previous pulmonary diseases (bronchitis, pneumonia, pleurisy, and asthma) revealed no positive association with ulcer. Duodenal ulcer patients had lost more fathers and fewer mothers than their control subjects, supporting the findings of other studies. Reporting of certain somatic symptoms—palpitation, sleeplessness, and skin eruptions—was positively associated with both gastric and duodenal ulcer. The reporting of these somatic symptoms early in life could indicate differences in life experiences or basic personality between ulcer-prone men and comparable control subjects, but this requires additional study.
The Home Environments of Adolescents Whose Parents Legally Immigrated to the United States: Findings from the New Immigrant Survey

Adolescent well-being depends on the quality of their experiences at home. Data from the New Immigrant Survey were used to describe the home environments of 982 children ages 10–17 whose parents legally immigrated to the United States. Thirty-four indicators of home conditions were clustered into 5 domains: (1) discipline and socio-emotional support, (2) learning materials, (3) enriching experiences, (4) family activities, and (5) expectations. Results revealed variation in how frequently adolescents experienced each home environmental condition. As expected, there were differences in the likelihood an adolescent would have most—but not all—experiences connected with home life based on parents’ level of education. The home experiences documented for children of recent legal immigrants were similar to those documented for children of native-born families in other studies.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SUBURBAN SPACE ECONOMY

(1983). THE EVOLUTION OF THE SUBURBAN SPACE ECONOMY. Urban Geography: Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 95-121.
Computational analysis of diffuser performance for the Subsonic Aerodynamic Research Laboratory wind tunnel

AbstractImproving the efficiency of the Air Force Subsonic Aerodynamic Research Laboratory (SARL) wind tunnel with the use of alternative diffuser geometries is investigated. A previous analysis of head losses throughout the tunnel has shown that approximately thirty percent of losses through the tunnel occurred at the exit of the tunnel (Britcher, 2011). In the present work, two separate diffuser geometries, identified after precursory calculations made using SolidWorks, were computationally evaluated using the ANSYS FLUENT CFD code to determine their efficiency improvement with respect to the original tunnel geometry and with respect to each other. Computations were made on the full scale model of the fan duct and the diffuser sections with an average inlet velocity of sixty meters per second, using both uniform and fully developed velocity profiles at the entrance of the fan duct since the velocity profile in the SARL tunnel is not known. The results indicate that a 3.5° half-apex angle conical diffuse...
Troubleshooting and Common Issues

You have followed Oracle’s documentation to ensure that your environment meets a certified environment. Your operating system (OS) is up to date and the system requirements have been met. You run the installation software and things are looking good. All of a sudden the installer seems to hang. In the words of Douglas Adams, “Don’t panic.”
Robust visual fiducials for skin-to-skin relative ship pose estimation

This paper reports on an optical visual fiducial system developed for relative-pose estimation of two ships at sea. Visual fiducials are ubiquitous in the robotics literature, however none are specifically designed for use in outdoor lighting conditions. Blooming of the CCD causes a significant bias in the estimated pose of square tags that use the outer corners as point correspondences. In this paper, we augment existing state-of-the-art visual fiducials with a border of circles that enables high accuracy, robust pose estimation. We also present a methodology for characterizing tag measurement uncertainty on a per measurement basis. We integrate these methods into a relative ship motion estimation system and support our results using outdoor imagery and field data collected aboard the USNS John Glenn and USNS Bob Hope during skin-to-skin operations.
Observer Perceptions of Overall System Quality – the Lake Wobegon Effect:

Objective: For three different system categories—fabricated artifacts, built environments, and software interfaces, to compare and contrast observer rankings of the overall quality of a selected to...