cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Implicit application of polynomial filters in a k-step Arnoldi method

The Arnoldi process is a well-known technique for approximating a few eigenvalues and corresponding eigenvectors of a general square matrix. Numerical difficulties such as loss of orthogonality and assessment of the numerical quality of the approximations, as well as a potential for unbounded growth in storage, have limited the applicability of the method. These issues are addressed by fixing the number of steps in the Arnoldi process at a prescribed value k and then treating the residual vector as a function of the initial Arnoldi vector. This starting vector is then updated through an iterative scheme that is designed to force convergence of the residual to zero. The iterative scheme is shown to be a truncation of the standard implicitly shifted QR-iteration for dense problems and it avoids the need to explicitly restart the Arnoldi sequence. The main emphasis of this paper is on the derivation and analysis of this scheme. However, there are obvious ways to exploit parallelism through the matrix-vector ...
Angular distribution of photoelectrons from atomic oxygen at 736 Å and 584 Å

Abstract The angular distributions of photoelectrons ejected in the process O (2 p 4 3 P ) + hv → O + (2 p 3 4 S ) + e and O + (2 p 3 2 D ) + e have been measured at the 736 A NeI resonance line and at the 584 A HeI resonance line. The results show good agreement with theory.
Upward and downward transport of infectious particles of southern bean mosaic virus through steamed portions of bean stems.

Abstract Infectious particles of southern bean mosaic virus (SBMV) moved from living cells into the water stream of the tracheary system in Pinto bean stems, then upward or downward. Later, these particles established new infections in distant cells. Transport in the tracheary system apparently occurred upward more frequently and rapidly than downward and in most instances involved greater distances. Evidence is presented that virus detected beyond steamed regions was present as a result of transport of virus particles through the steam-treated regions, and not due either to chance introduction of virus from external sources or to multiplication of virus in cells of the steam-treated region. Discussion of the results presented here and elsewhere summarizes the basis for the authors' belief that it is possible for particles of SBMV to move long distances in tracheary elements as well as in sieve tubes of a local-lesion host (Pinto bean). With superficial mechanical inoculations of the same variety, infectious particles do not move long distances, but when the virus is introduced deeply into the host, particles may enter one or both of the rapid long-distance transport systems, i.e., the xylem or phloem.
Determination of non-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls in environmental Standard Reference Materials.

The concentrations of three non-ortho (“coplanar”) polychlorinated biphenyls, 3,3′,4,4′-tetrachlorobiphenyl (IUPAC PCB 77), 3,3′,4,4′,5-pentachlorobiphenyl (IUPAC PCB 126), and 3,3′,4,4′,5,5′-hexachlorobiphenyl (IUPAC PCB 169), were determined in five NIST Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) of environmental and biological interest. The measured levels were approximately between (0.2 to 1.3) ng/g in SRM 1588 a (Organics in Cod Liver Oil), (0.3 to 9) ng/g in SRM 1944 (New York/New Jersey Waterway Sediment), (0.2 to 0.4) ng/g in SRM 1945 (Organics in Whale Blubber), ¶(1 to 18) ng/g in SRM 2974 (Organics in Freeze-dried Mussel Tissue [Mytilus edulis]), and (0.1 to 0.4) ng/g ¶in candidate SRM 1946 (Lake Superior Fish Tissue). PCB 169 was present at < 0.1 ng/g in SRMs 1944 and 2974.
An automated method for the preparation of orthogonal arrays for use in Taguchi designed experiments

Abstract In the last several years, the use of designed experiments in manufacturing and engineering design environments has become increasingly popular through the introduction of the ideas of Dr. G. Taguchi. The Taguchi Method, a systematic technique for experimental design and analysis, employs team oriented solutions to analyze design and production problems and their causes. The Taguchi Method as provided a simplified approach to the design of statistically significant experiments. This has greatly increased the number of experimental design practitioners. This paper presents a computer program that addresses the need for an automated system able to design the experimental matrices for the orthogonal arrays that are required by Taguchi's Method. The program was written tode sign simple arrays as well as complex multi-level arrays with two-way interactions.
Pediatric cardiac intensivists: are enough being trained?

OBJECTIVE To determine both the number of cardiac intensivists being trained by member institutions of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society and the perceived need for these professionals. DESIGN Web-based survey of pediatric cardiac intensive care unit program directors. RESULTS A total of 54 directors completed the survey (41% response rate). Twelve pediatric cardiac critical care fellowship positions are offered each year among the responding Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society institutions in the United States and Canada-only six of the 12 positions were filled in the academic year 2002-2003. Cardiac intensivist recruitment was ongoing at 25 of the programs surveyed (46%). An additional 45 cardiac intensivists will be sought during the next 1-3 yrs and 36 during the subsequent 3- to 5-yr period. CONCLUSIONS There is a discrepancy between the current and growing need for trained pediatric cardiac intensivists and the graduation rate of these professionals from teaching programs.
Long-term treatment of spasticity in children with cerebral palsy

The author's clinical experience with the use of dantrolene in children with cerebral palsy is discussed. The medication is found to be the drug of choice for children with spastic cerebral palsy.
Cardiovascular MRI applications in congenital heart disease

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has become integrated into the routine care of individuals with congenital heart disease. Its strengths and limitations are being refined and CMR derived variables predictive of clinically important outcomes are being evaluated. This manuscript will focus on several congenital heart diseases commonly referred for CMR evaluation and review their clinical aspects, goals of the MRI evaluation, imaging protocol and current literature.
'OLAH: THE RHETORIC OF BURNT OFFERINGS

The 'ōlāh off ering receives pride of place in most lists of sacrifi ces in the Hebrew Bible, including the ritual rules of Leviticus. Its prominence in these texts suggests that the writers expected its mention to have an eff ect on their audience. This rhetorical eff ect must be evaluated and understood before the references to the 'ōlāh can be used to reconstruct ancient religious practices reliably. A comparative analysis of the rhetoric about the 'ōlāh suggests that its priority burnished the image of priests as devoted selfl essly to divine worship and drew attention away from their economic interests in the sacrifi cial system mandated in the Torah. The eff ect of this rhetoric in later Jewish and Christian traditions was to separate the ideal of "sacrifice" from any necessary connection to actual animal off erings.
Horton Medal presented to Hornberger

Two purposes are served in the presentation of our professional society awards, such as the AGU Hydrology Section Horton Award. First, we identify and recognize the best work of our colleagues. Second, we remind ourselves that this good work is being done by good people; people we are proud to know as more than ‘our colleague,’ but first, to know as ‘our friend.’ Our Horton awardee is George Hornberger of the Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Virginia. I have been entrusted to say a few words. about George's contributions, as he is both our colleague and our friend.
A secure kernelized architecture for multilevel object-oriented databases

The authors present a secure kernelized architecture for multilevel object-oriented database management systems. The architecture is based on the notion of a message filter. It builds upon the typical architecture of current object-oriented database management systems. Since the operations mediated by the message filter are arbitrarily complex operations (as opposed to primitive reads and writes), a secure message filter requires careful attention to potential timing covert channels. Although the overall computation is logically a sequential one, to be secure one must actually execute pieces of the computation concurrently. This raises a synchronization problem for which they give a secure multiversion protocol. The fundamental problem solved is how to securely and correctly 'write up' in terms of abstract operations. >
Temperature effects on energy optimization in sub-threshold circuit design

Sub-threshold circuits have emerged as a strong candidate for use in future energy-constrained applications. In a non-homogeneous design paradigm containing both sub-threshold and high power-density super-threshold blocks, it becomes imperative to examine the thermal effects on sub-threshold operation. In this paper, we investigate the thermal impact on sub-threshold current, delay and energy and develop analytical models of the same. Unlike super-threshold, the sub-threshold ION increases exponentially with temperature while the ION-to-IOFF ratio degrades by 0.52%°C. While delay decreases, energy increases with temperature due to relative increase in leakage power at the higher temperatures. Studies performed on noise-margins, current/delay variability and sub-Vth interconnects suggest that sub-Vth circuits can retain {power, delay, energy} optimality over a relatively high temperature range of 25?75°C.
Accelerated maximum likelihood parameter estimation for stochastic biochemical systems

Background: A prerequisite for the mechanistic simulation of a biochemical system is detailed knowledge of its kinetic parameters. Despite recent experimental advances, the estimation of unknown parameter values from observed data is still a bottleneck for obtaining accurate simulation results. Many methods exist for parameter estimation in deterministic biochemical systems; methods for discrete stochastic systems are less well developed. Given the probabilistic nature of stochastic biochemical models, a natural approach is to choose parameter values that maximize the probability of the observed data with respect to the unknown parameters, a.k.a. the maximum likelihood parameter estimates (MLEs). MLE computation for all but the simplest models requires the simulation of many system trajectories that are consistent with experimental data. For models with unknown parameters, this presents a computational challenge, as the generation of consistent trajectories can be an extremely rare occurrence. Results: We have developed Monte Carlo Expectation-Maximization with Modified Cross-Entropy Method (MCEM 2 ): an accelerated method for calculating MLEs that combines advances in rare event simulation with a computationally efficient version of the Monte Carlo expectation-maximization (MCEM) algorithm. Our method requires no prior knowledge regarding parameter values, and it automatically provides a multivariate parameter uncertainty estimate. We applied the method to five stochastic systems of increasing complexity, progressing from an analytically tractable pure-birth model to a computationally demanding model of yeast-polarization. Our results demonstrate that MCEM 2 substantially accelerates MLE computation on all tested models when compared to a stand-alone version of MCEM. Additionally, we show how our method identifies parameter values for certain classes of models more accurately than two recently proposed computationally efficient methods. Conclusions: This work provides a novel, accelerated version of a likelihood-based parameter estimation method that can be readily applied to stochastic biochemical systems. In addition, our results suggest opportunities for added efficiency improvements that will further enhance our ability to mechanistically simulate biological processes.
The etiology of porotic hyperostosis among the prehistoric and historic Anasazi Indians of Southwestern United States

Porotic hyperostosis was studied in 539 crania from maizegrowing prehistoric and historic groups who occupied two dissimilar ecological zones of the Plateau country of Arizona and New Mexico—canyon bottoms and sage plain. Defined as abnormal localized sieve-like structural changes involving the hematopoietic areas of the cranium, it was found in 185 (34.3%) of these skulls. More frequent in children than in adults, it shows significant frequency differences between both children and adults of the two ecological zones. The two ecological zones differ in the availability of iron in the diet; the canyon inhabitants depended heavily on maize (which interferes with iron absorption) while the sage plain people consumed more iron-rich animal products. We hypothesize that an increased dependence on maize produced more iron deficiency anemia and resulted in more porotic hyperostosis. Maize is known to have permitted a food surplus which in turn allowed for increased South-western population growth in marginal areas like the canyon bottoms. Heavy dependency on a single food type with consequent hematologic problems may have been an important reason for the subsequent abandonment of the Anasazi region.
Ways of Staring

This article considers how staring informs the ways we know each other and the world around us. Staring, a complex, nuanced, and meaning-laden social interaction, can take many forms: arrested, separated, or engaged. It is an intense encounter which is sometimes a random, idiosyncratic confrontation and at other times a highly structured social ritual driven by the collective impulse to look. This article argues that staring often defines the relationship between disabled and nondisabled individuals. More important, however, it seeks to redefine this relationship by imagining, perhaps counterintuitively, the object of the stare as determining the structure and outcome of the staring engagement. The staree may take charge of the encounter, in other words, using various strategies to both mediate and transform discomforting interaction into an unexpected opportunity for mutual transformation.
A Method for Extracting Temporal Parameters Based on Hidden Markov Models in Body Sensor Networks With Inertial Sensors

Human movement models often divide movements into parts. In walking, the stride can be segmented into four different parts, and in golf and other sports, the swing is divided into sections based on the primary direction of motion. These parts are often divided based on key events, also called temporal parameters. When analyzing a movement, it is important to correctly locate these key events, and so automated techniques are needed. There exist many methods for dividing specific actions using data from specific sensors, but for new sensors or sensing positions, new techniques must be developed. We introduce a generic method for temporal parameter extraction called the hidden Markov event model based on hidden Markov models. Our method constrains the state structure to facilitate precise location of key events. This method can be quickly adapted to new movements and new sensors/sensor placements. Furthermore, it generalizes well to subjects not used for training. A multiobjective optimization technique using genetic algorithms is applied to decrease error and increase cross-subject generalizability. Further, collaborative techniques are explored. We validate this method on a walking dataset by using inertial sensors placed on various locations on a human body. Our technique is designed to be computationally complex for training, but computationally simple at runtime to allow deployment on resource-constrained sensor nodes.
Non-Parametric Estimation and Doubly-Censored Data: General Ideas and Applications to AIDS

In many epidemiologic studies of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease, interest focuses on the distribution of the length of the interval of time between two events. In many such cases, statistical estimation of properties of this distribution is complicated by the fact that observation of the times of both events is subject to intervalcensoring so that the length of time between the events is never observed exactly. Following DeGruttola and Lagakos, we call such data doubly-censored. Jewell, Malani and Vittinghoff showed that, with certain assumptions and for a particular doubly-censored data structure, non-parametric maximum likelihood estimation of the interval length distribution is equivalent to non-parametric estimation of a mixing distribution. Here, we extend these ideas to various other kinds of doubly-censored data. We consider application of the methods to various studies generated by investigations into the natural history of HIV disease with particular attention given to estimation of the distribution of time between infection of an individual (an index case) and transmission of HIV to their sexual partner.
Direct, real-time measurement of shear stress-induced nitric oxide produced from endothelial cells in vitro

Abstract Nitric oxide (NO) produced by the endothelium is involved in the regulation of vascular tone. Decreased NO production or availability has been linked to endothelial dysfunction in hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. Shear stress-induced NO release is a well-established phenomenon, yet the cellular mechanisms of this response are not completely understood. Experimental limitations have hindered direct, real-time measurements of NO under flow conditions. We have overcome these challenges with a new design for a parallel-plate flow chamber. The chamber consists of two compartments, separated by a Transwell® membrane, which isolates a NO recording electrode located in the upper compartment from flow effects. Endothelial cells are grown on the bottom of the membrane, which is inserted into the chamber flush with the upper plate. We demonstrate for the first time direct real-time NO measurements from endothelial cells with controlled variations in shear stress. Step changes in shear stress from 0.1 dyn/cm 2 to 6, 10, or 20 dyn/cm 2 elicited a transient decrease in NO followed by an increase to a new steady state. An analysis of NO transport suggests that the initial decrease is due to the increased removal rate by convection as flow increases. Furthermore, the rate at which the NO concentration approaches the new steady state is related to the time-dependent cellular response rather than transport limitations of the measurement configuration. Our design offers a method for studying the kinetics of the signaling mechanisms linking NO production with shear stress as well as pathological conditions involving changes in NO production or availability.
Learning Abroad or Just Going Abroad? International Education In Opposite Sides of the Border

International education, particularly through study abroad experiences, has the potential of preparing students for a globally interconnected world. While challenging, it is necessary to translate aspirations of global citizenship into educational programs and assessing their effectiveness. A necessary step in such process consists in taking a close and critical look at the challenges and possibilities for the development of global citizenship through education abroad. In this paper, I follow a decolonizing autoethnographic approach to explore obstacles for the development of global citizenship through education abroad. If education abroad is to promote global citizenship and character development, I propose a more authentic engagement with the local cultures and a better understanding of globalization—before going abroad—is necessary. Keywords: Autoethnography, Study Abroad, Global Citizenship, Globalization
Hawaiian hotspot volcanism mainly during geomagnetic normal intervals

According to their airborne-detected magnetic anomalies, volcanoes forming the islands, banks, and seamounts along the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain erupted predominantly during intervals of normal polarity of Earth9s magnetic field. For the past 10 m.y. of hotspot activity, when the field was 50% normal and 50% reversed, 19 of 23 volcanic edifices from Hawaii to Necker Island were dominantly normal, one probably was normal, and three were dominantly reversed. Statistical probabilities, consideration of induction in the present normal field, and possibilities of field reversals during rapid edifice-building nevertheless show that eruptions were not random with respect to the magnetic field. Similar conclusions, where data are fewer, are good for the older Hawaiian Ridge (29 of 36 normal) and are fair for the Emperor Seamounts (3 of 3 known normal). The correspondence suggests that hotspot plumes are generated near the core-mantle boundary. Spreading-center and magmatic-arc volcanism, on the other hand, are mainly upper-mantle processes. The Jurassic and Cretaceous long normal invervals, however, were times of such high heat flux that sea-floor spreading as well as hotspot activity increased. Larger hotspots under continental lithosphere during those normal intervals may have initiated continental rifting.
Development of a Conceptual Model for Smoking Cessation: Physical Activity, Neurocognition, and Executive Functioning.

Purpose: Considerable research has shown adverse neurobiological effects of chronic alcohol use, including long-term and potentially permanent changes in the structure and function of the brain; however, much less is known about the neurobiological consequences of chronic smoking, as it has largely been ignored until recently. In this article, we present a conceptual model proposing the effects of smoking on neurocognition and the role that physical activity may play in this relationship as well as its role in smoking cessation. Methods: Pertinent published peer-reviewed articles deposited in PubMed delineating the pathways in the proposed model were reviewed. Results: The proposed model, which is supported by emerging research, demonstrates a bidirectional relationship between smoking and executive functioning. In support of our conceptual model, physical activity may moderate this relationship and indirectly influence smoking behavior through physical activity-induced changes in executive functioning. C...
Buying for a Better Tomorrow? – A Literature Review of Fair Trade Consumer Motivations

This research summarizes and analyzes the academic literature on motivations of consumers of Fair Trade products. Basic disciplinary, methodological approaches and thematic emphases are described. Ethical consumption, labeling, and the significance of meaning and identity in consumption of Fair Trade are the three main themes found to predominate in the literature. All three themes are found to be addressed across disciplines. Two major Fair Trade models, referred to in the paper as alternative and mainstream, found in the Fair Trade consumer literature, are shown to be linked to patterned variations in the central concerns of authors about ethical consumers, labeling and identity. The mainstream model favors incorporating Fair Trade products into the current global system in place on a larger mass-produced scale where economic solutions are going to push Fair Trade into a more sustainable path. This model was found to be more prevalent in literature in the Economic (Arnot (2010), Becchetti (2007), De Devitiis (2011), Loureiro (2005), Ozcaaglar-Toulouse (2006)), and Business disciplines (DePelsmacker (2005), Doran (2009), Ferran (2007), Gielissen (2011), Laine (2009), Morrell (2010), Nicholls and Opal (2004)). The alternative models are more concerned with finding different ways to sell and market Fair Trade products compared to the mainstream, and emphasize equity as well as economics as a solution for sustainability of the Fair Trade system. This model was found to be more prevalent in the Social Science litterature (Adams (2010), Brown (2009), Brown (2010), Clarke (2007), Howard (2010), Jaffee (2010), Low and Davenport (2009), Lyon (2006), Raynolds (2002), Soron (2010), Webb (2007), Zick Varul (2008)), Environmental Design and Politics (Fridell (2007)), Political Ecology (Bryant (2004)), Environmental Design and Politics (Political Science (Micheletti (2008)), and Design and Merchandising disciplines (Littrell (1999), Littrell (2010)). This paper contrasts the key differences in analysis of ethics, labeling, meaning and identity in consumer motivations within these two major Fair Trade models and suggests that better communication across disciplinary boundaries is needed. Also recommended is increased recognition and articulation of underlying assumptions of the different models of Fair Trade and acknowledgement of their influence on research questions and conclusions. This research makes evident the need for more empirical research on consumers of Fair Trade and increased integration of broader understandings derived from research across disciplines to increase the capacity of Fair Trade to deliver on its promises.
Consumer Attitudes toward Farm-Animal Welfare: The Case of Laying Hens

Concerns over laying hens’ welfare have led to many different labels for eggs and changes to state regulations. Consumer attitudes toward farm-animal welfare were examined using a national survey in the context of preferences for eggs differentiated by layer management practices. Most respondents perceived caged housing and other conventional management practices as reducing hens’ welfare and were willing to pay a premium for eggs produced in cage-free and other nonconventional production systems. Although participants responded to information about environmental consequences of management practices, they placed more weight on animal welfare issues than environmental issues in their egg-purchase decisions.
NEIGHBORHOOD PERCEPTION AND OBESITY IN AGED MEXICAN AMERICANS.

BACKGROUND: Hypotheses on the relationship between neighborhood perception and obesity (as measured by body mass index) seem to generally posit that a positive neighborhood perception may be related with behaviors that positively moderate body weight. OBJECTIVE: To determine if and how there is an association between positive neighborhood perception and obesity-while accounting for frailty- and disability-related factors. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study from Wave-5 of the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (HEPESE). SETTING: Data files housed by the Sociomedical Division in the department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 889, aged 75-90 community-dwelling Mexican Americans in the Southwest United States. MEASUREMENTS: Body mass index (BMI=Kg/m(2)), neighborhood perception, grip strength, gait speed, depression symptomatology, chronic conditions, presence of limitations with basic and instrumental basic activities of daily living (ADLs), and other health and demographic variables are used in logistic regressions predicting the likelihood of being obese (BMI > 30 Kg/m(2)) versus being of normal weight (BMI 18.5-25.4 Kg/m(2)). RESULTS: The odds of being obese increase: as the level of positive neighborhood perception increases; grip strength increases; and with having any limitations with basic-ADLs. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence that a positive neighborhood perception need not always be accompanied with a reduced risk of being obese. Because functional limitations in older ages may influence how positive neighborhood perception affects BMI, more research is needed. Language: en
Reinheitsgebot: Political and Economic Context

An examination of the political and economic context and effects of the "Reinheitsgebot", otherwise known as the "Bavarian Beer Purity Law".
Environmentally Induced Color Dimorphisms in Grasshoppers. Syrbula admirabilis, Dichromorpha viridis, and Chortophaga viridifasciata

The grasshoppers Syrbula admirabilis (Uhler), Chortophaga viridifasciata (De Geer), and Dichromorpha viridis (Scudder) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) occur in 2 color phases in the field; individuals either have extensive green areas (green morphs) or lack green entirely (brown morphs). In nature, males and females are green or brown in the nymphal stages; however, in S. admirabilis and C. viridifasciata green adult males are rare. Green morphs are more frequent in green habitats and brown morphs are more abundant in dry, brown habitats. The frequency of green morphs at a given locality increases and that of brown morphs declines when the habitat becomes greener. The opposite shift occurs as the habitat dries up. Fresh grass and high humidities favor the retention of green pigmentation in Syrbula and low humidities and dry grass result in color changes from green to brown within 2 weeks, or the retention of brown pigmentation. These results suggest that color changes are causally related to water uptake and water loss in this species. Chortophaga nymphs tended to turn brown under all laboratory conditions. Changes in the color of the background produced no significant changes in color of the insects. Observations in the field suggest that the tendency to remain motionless is greater in species which more closely resemble the vegetation background color.
The evolution of a fault-tolerant design - Contractor milestones andevaluation

This paper discusses the methodology for developing a highperformance fault tolerant computing system from the viewpoint of a project manager. The objective is to: (1) produce a prototype which will serve as the basis for a production version, (2) perform a thorough evaluation to determine its performance, dependability, and fault coverage at all stages of its operational life, (3) analyze the risks, costs, and shortcomings in its design and technology, and (4) establish the level of confidence needed to proceed with its production and deployment. The approach is to specify the various major design steps and the deliverables required, and to propose methods for evaluating contractor performance at each of the milestones.
Aminophylline and caffeine for reversal of adverse symptoms associated with regadenoson SPECT MPI

Aminophylline shortages led us to compare intravenous (IV) aminophylline with IV and oral (PO) caffeine during routine pharmacologic stress testing with SPECT MPI. We measured presence, duration, and reversal of adverse symptoms and cardiac events following regadenoson administration in consecutive patients randomized to IV aminophylline (100 mg administered over 30-60 seconds), IV caffeine citrate (60 mg infused over 3-5 minutes), or PO caffeine as coffee or diet cola. Of 241 patients, 152 (63%) received regadenoson reversal intervention. Complete (CR), predominant (PRE), or partial (PR) reversal was observed in 99%. CR by IV aminophylline (87%), IV caffeine (87%), and PO caffeine (78%) were similar (P = NS). Time to CR (162 ± 12.6 seconds, mean ± SD) was similar in treatment arms. PO caffeine was inferior to IV aminophylline for CR + PRE. IV aminophylline and IV caffeine provide rapid, safe reversal of regadenoson-induced adverse effects during SPECT MPI. Oral caffeine appeared similarly effective for CR but not for the combined CR + PRE. Our results suggest PO caffeine may be an effective initial strategy for reversal of regadenoson, but IV aminophylline or IV caffeine should be available to optimize symptom reversal as needed.
Analysis of a Tele-Operated MRI-Compatible Vane Actuator for Neuromuscular Facilitation in Hemiparetic Limbs

This paper analyzes the suitability of pneumatically driven, MRI-compatible vane actuators for stroke rehabilitation, particularly functional recovery of hemiparetic limbs. Hemiparesis patients suffer a sudden loss of motor skills in the upper-limb due to brain injury, such as stroke. As an emerging physio-therapy technique for hemiparesis, named repetitive facilitation exercise, or RFE, a therapist manually applies brief mechanical stimuli to the peripheral target muscles (e.g., tapping, stretching of tendon/muscle) followed by wrist pronation/supination immediately before a patient intends to produce a movement with the muscle. In an earlier study, a robotic system that replicates the mechanical tendon stimulation part of RFE procedure in MRI with the required timing precision has been developed and tested by the authors to investigate the underlying principles of functional recovery via RFE. This work presents the design of a vane actuator that fits into the tight space in MR-scanners, and analyzes its dynamic performance via a detailed pneumatic system model. The analysis indicates that a pneumatically driven, tele-operated vane actuator can satisfy the dynamic requirements of the targeted rehabilitation procedure.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Angiogenin Promotes Hematopoietic Regeneration by Dichotomously Regulating Quiescence of Stem and Progenitor Cells

Regulation of stem and progenitor cell populations is critical in the development, maintenance, and regeneration of tissues. Here, we define a novel mechanism by which a niche-secreted RNase, angiogenin (ANG), distinctively alters the functional characteristics of primitive hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) compared with lineage-committed myeloid-restricted progenitor (MyePro) cells. Specifically, ANG reduces the proliferative capacity of HSPC while simultaneously increasing proliferation of MyePro cells. Mechanistically, ANG induces cell-type-specific RNA-processing events: tRNA-derived stress-induced small RNA (tiRNA) generation in HSPCs and rRNA induction in MyePro cells, leading to respective reduction and increase in protein synthesis. Recombinant ANG protein improves survival of irradiated animals and enhances hematopoietic regeneration of mouse and human HSPCs in transplantation. Thus, ANG plays a non-cell-autonomous role in regulation of hematopoiesis by simultaneously preserving HSPC stemness and promoting MyePro proliferation. These cell-type-specific functions of ANG suggest considerable therapeutic potential.
Conclusion: Integrating Evaluation into the Intervention Process

The focus of the case studies in this book are specific intervention efforts in ethnic conflicts — not the conflicts themselves. The author of each case study was asked to describe the activities making up an intervention, to spell out each project’s criteria for success, and to analyse the assumptions underlying a project’s work. From each project’s goals and from the ways in which interveners discussed their activities, we believe one can learn about the theory of practice which informs particular conflict intervention efforts, and gain a clearer sense of how practitioners conceptualize their work. The idea here is that every action strategy has implicit criteria of success which can and should be articulated, and a key belief underlying our project is that more explicit goal articulation will improve both theory and practice.
Doing Moore with Less - Leapfrogging Moore's Law with Inexactness for Supercomputing.

Energy and power consumption are major limitations to continued scaling of computing systems. Inexactness, where the quality of the solution can be traded for energy savings, has been proposed as an approach to overcoming those limitations. In the past, however, inexactness necessitated the need for highly customized or specialized hardware. The current evolution of commercial off-the-shelf(COTS) processors facilitates the use of lower-precision arithmetic in ways that reduce energy consumption. We study these new opportunities in this paper, using the example of an inexact Newton algorithm for solving nonlinear equations. Moreover, we have begun developing a set of techniques we call reinvestment that, paradoxically, use reduced precision to improve the quality of the computed result: They do so by reinvesting the energy saved by reduced precision.
Contact-aware simulations of particulate Stokesian suspensions

We present an efficient, accurate, and robust method for simulation of dense suspensions of deformable and rigid particles immersed in Stokesian fluid in two dimensions. We use a well-established boundary integral formulation for the problem as the foundation of our approach. This type of formulation, with a high-order spatial discretization and an implicit and adaptive time discretization, have been shown to be able to handle complex interactions between particles with high accuracy. Yet, for dense suspensions, very small time-steps or expensive implicit solves as well as a large number of discretization points are required to avoid non-physical contact and intersections between particles, leading to infinite forces and numerical instability.Our method maintains the accuracy of previous methods at a significantly lower cost for dense suspensions. The key idea is to ensure interference-free configuration by introducing explicit contact constraints into the system. While such constraints are unnecessary in the formulation, in the discrete form of the problem, they make it possible to eliminate catastrophic loss of accuracy by preventing contact explicitly.Introducing contact constraints results in a significant increase in stable time-step size for explicit time-stepping, and a reduction in the number of points adequate for stability.
Utility of PCA3 and TMPRSS2: ERG urinary biomarkers to predict pathologic outcomes in African American men undergoing radical prostatectomy.

e547Background: Tremendous disparity exists between preoperative characteristics and pathologic outcomes in men electing radical prostatectomy (RP) for localized prostate cancer (PCa). We sought to determine the performance characteristics of urinary PCA3 andTMPRSS2:ERG (T2:ERG) to predict pathologic outcomes in a racially diverse group of men undergoing RP. Methods: Following IRB approval, post digital rectal exam (DRE) urine was prospectively collected in consecutive patients with known PCa prior to RP. PCA3 and T2:ERG RNA copies were quantified and normalized to PSA mRNA copies using the Progensa assay (Hologic, San Diego, CA). Nonparametric Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to determine the ability of PCA3 and T2:ERG to predict higher risk PCa and notable disease features. Results: The cohort consisted of 214 men with PCa who underwent RP, and 89 men (42%) were African American (AA). The men in the cohort generally had higher risk disease, with 75% having AUA risk stratification of intermediate/high...
Privacy and Security of Cardiovascular Implantable Electronic Devices: Applying a Contextual Integrity Analysis

Technological advancements in the treatment of heart patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) and remote monitoring systems (RMSs) are fundamentally changing the way physicians and patients relate to electronically shared personal health information. This paper applies a contextual integrity analysis using a nine-step decision heuristic to determine if and how new information flows present potential privacy risks. This analysis finds that the wireless transfer of patient health information from CIED to RMS poses safety and privacy threats to patients and violates contextual integrity. Suggestions for changes to HIPAA regulations and medical device design protocols are presented.
A synthetic stroma-free germinal center niche using material-surface driven polyvalent signaling efficiently induces antigen-specific humoral immunity ex vivo

B cells play a major role in the adaptive immune response by producing antigen-specific antibodies against pathogens and imparting immunological memory. Following infection or vaccination, antibody-secreting B cells and memory B cells are generated in specialized regions of lymph nodes and spleens, called germinal centers. Here, we report a fully synthetic ex-vivo system that recapitulates the generation of antigen-specific germinal-center (GC) like B cells using material-surface driven polyvalent signaling. This synthetic germinal center (sGC) reaction was effectively induced using biomaterial-based artificial follicular T helper cells (TFH) that provided both natural CD40-CD40L ligation as well as crosslinking of CD40; and by mimicking artificial follicular dendritic cells (FDC) to provide efficient, polyvalent antigen presentation. The artificial sGC reaction resulted in efficient B cell expansion, immunoglobulin (Ig) class switching, and expression of germinal center phenotypes. Antigen presentation during sGC reaction selectively enhanced the antigen-specific B cell population and induced somatic hyper-mutations for potential affinity maturation. The resulting B cell population consisted primarily of GC-like B cells (centrocytes) as well as some plasma-like B cells expressing CD138. With concurrent cell sorting, we successfully created highly enriched populations of antigen-specific B cells. Adoptive transfer of these GC-like B cells into non-irradiated isogeneic or non-lethally irradiated congenic recipient mice showed successful engraftment and survival of the donor cells for the 4 week test period. We show that this material-surface driven sGC reaction can be successfully applied to not only splenic B cells but also B cells isolated from more therapeutically relevant sources such as peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), thus making our current work an exciting prospect in the new era of personalized medicine and custom-immunotherapy.
Free volume enhanced proton exchange membranes from sulfonated triptycene poly(ether ketone)

Abstract A triptycene based poly(ether ketone) (tripPEEK) was synthesized and sulfonated to form proton exchange membranes. The increase in intrinsic free volume resulting from the incorporation of sterically bulky triptycene moiety, imparts high affinity to water at all levels of relative humidity (RH) from 10% RH to 90% RH. S-tripPEEK membranes showed proton conductivities of 334 mS/cm at 85 °C at 90% RH and 0.37 mS/cm at 85 °C at 20% RH. Membranes of similar ion exchange capacity (IEC) are compared to deconvolute the effect of free volume from IEC in enhancing proton conductivity. Increasing the free volume of the membranes increases the proton conductivity and decreases the activation energy for proton conduction between 10% RH to 90% RH.
Cogeneration of electricity and liquid fuels using a high temperature gas-cooled reactor as the heat source

Abstract A thermal-hydraulic model of high temperature gas-cooled reactor used for cogeneration of electricity and liquid transportation fuels was developed using Aspen HYSYS. The model transfers heat through: (1) a steam generator to a supercritical Rankine cycle producing electricity, and (2) an intermediate heat exchanger to a biomass gasifier and Fischer-Tropsch process producing gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas and/or naphtha. The individual systems and components in the cogeneration model are mature technologies and commercially available, because minimizing the need for additional innovation increases the overall probability of success for a new and unique hybrid system. Technical evaluations of cogeneration on the island of Oahu in the State of Hawaii, using eucalyptus and sugarcane as the biomass feedstock, indicated that high thermal efficiency was achievable and that the concept is technically viable. Economic evaluations of cogeneration, based on construction and finance costs and current electricity and liquid fuel prices, indicated that the cogeneration plant is economically viable. Additional analyses quantified the potential number of jobs created and the reduction in carbon emissions. Further analyses indicated that cogeneration would significantly enhance Hawaii’s energy security.
Research-based recommendations for creating an inclusive culture for diversity and equity in engineering education

The Research Institute for STEM Education (RISE) brings together a multi-disciplinary research team whose mission is to study the complex array of factors contributing to diverse students' successful academic experiences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors (STEM) in the United States (U.S.). Utilizing a combination of narrative and artifact analysis, RISE develops recommendations to educators and academic policy makers based on those factors. RISE also strives to promote a more equitable and diverse cultural climate within engineering education. This paper will review the recommendations made during fifteen years of research on equity in U.S. engineering education for consideration by engineering educators working in other cultural contexts. The recommendations can be loosely categorized into seven domains: communication, college culture, department culture, classroom culture, faculty-student interactions, student-peer interactions, and academic pathway.
Introducción a la lingüística hispánica actual: teoría y práctica / Introducción a la lingüística hispánica actual: guía didáctica y materiales de apoyo

The field of Hispanic linguistics has enjoyed the attention of an active and dedicated community of researchers over the last decades. While this discipline may be characterized by the far-reaching...
Neuroinformatics and Analysis of Connectomic Alterations Due to Cerebral Microhemorrhages in Geriatric Mild Neurotrauma: Microhemorrhages in Geriatric Neurotrauma

Connectomics alterations associated with subtle forms of cerebrovascular neuropathology-such as cerebral microbleeds (CMBs)-can result in substantial neurological and/or cognitive deficits in victims of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Quantifying CMB-related connectome changes in mild TBI (mTBI) patients requires ingenious neuroinformatics to integrate structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for patient-tailored profiling while preserving the data scientist's ability to implement population studies. Such solutions, however, can assist the refinement of rehabilitation protocols and streamline large-scale analysis while accommodating the heterogeneity of mTBI. This study describes a pipeline for the multimodal integration of sMRI/DWI/DTI to quantify white matter (WM) neural network circuitry alterations associated with mTBI-related CMBs. The approach incorporates WM streamline matching, topology-compliant streamline prototyping and along-tract analysis within a unified framework. When applied to the analysis of neuroimaging data acquired from both mTBI and healthy control volunteers, the approach facilitates the identification of patient-specific CMB-related connectomic changes while incorporating the ability to perform group analyses. This pipeline for the identification and profiling of connectopathies can assist the adaptation of clinical rehabilitation protocols to patients' individual needs.
Development of ultra-low volume, multi-bio fluid, cortisol sensing platform

The development of a non-faradaic electrochemical sensor for screening across multiple bio-fluids that demonstrate the expression of cortisol using a gold microelectrode-based sensor is reported in this paper. Room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL), BMIM[BF4] was used as the buffer to modulate the electrical double layer (EDL) to enhance the electrochemical signal response of the sensor. The sensor design and the surface chemistry was optimized using COMSOL Multiphysics software simulations and FTIR respectively. The sensor was designed so that it uses ultra-low volumes between 3–5 µL of bio-fluid for detection. Cortisol detection was achieved in the physiologically relevant ranges when tested in serum, blood, sweat, and, saliva using non-faradaic Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and performance parameters of the sensor were determined. Sensor’s response was tested against the only commercially available salivary cortisol point-of-care kit using regression analysis. Cross-reactive studies using prednisone indicated that the sensor is specific for cortisol. The sensor displayed a correlation value i.e. R2 > 0.95 between the signal response and the concentration of cortisol present in the system. Dynamic range of the sensor was across the physiologically relevant range of cortisol i.e. 50–200 ng/ml for serum/blood, 1–40 ng/ml for saliva, and 10–150 ng/ml for sweat. Limit of detection for serum and sweat was 10 ng/ml and 1 ng/ml for saliva.