cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaporation Dynamics in Buried Nanochannels with Micropores.

Cross-connected buried nanochannels of height ~728 nm, with micropores of ~2 µm diameter present at each intersection, is used in this work to numerically and experimentally study droplet-coupled-e...
Scalable structural index construction for JSON analytics

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and its variants have gained great popularity in recent years. Unfortunately, the performance of their analytics is often dragged down by the expensive JSON parsin...
Determination of Smarter Reflow Profile to Achieve a Uniform Temperature Throughout a Board

Uneven temperature distribution poses a big challenge on reflow soldering of surface mount components. Particularly, when components with different thermal mass are mounted on a large size of PCB, temperature gradient across the board can cause various assembly defects. Formation of a robust solder joint is closely associated with solder temperature profile which is hard to be measured experimentally. numerical simulation is an effective method to predict the solder joint temperatures which can be used as a reference to optimize the reflow profile.In this study, CFD modeling was developed to simulate solder joint temperature profile in reflow process. The profile is not a single line, but a band or process window. to achieve a good soldering quality, the non-uniformity of the solder temperatures should be within the recommended temperature profile band. The optimized thermal profiles and corresponding temperature setting of reflow oven can contribute to actual experiment and production.
Hemodynamic Changes Associated With Transcervical Laryngeal Injection of Botulinum Toxin

Summary Purpose Laryngeal dystonia is a chronic neurologic disorder characterized by intention-induced spasms of the vocal folds driven by aberrant central motor processing. The use of in-office transcervical botulinum toxin injection for the treatment of laryngeal disorders, such as laryngeal dystonia, has been deemed safe and efficacious. There is, however, no available data outlining the hemodynamic changes experienced by patients undergoing this frequently performed procedure. Methods One hundred and one patients diagnosed with laryngeal dystonia were enrolled in this prospective study. These patients underwent transcervical laryngeal botulinum toxin injection to address their dysphonia. Vital signs where acquired prior to, and at the time of injection. Alterations in these parameters were then evaluated for statistical significance. Results Statistically significant increases in mean heart rate (5.8 ± 10.8 bpm, P Conclusions Though these findings may not have related to clinically significant complication, our study demonstrates the importance of understanding potential stressors in a procedure routinely performed by laryngologists. This may result in more careful patient selection, alterations in procedure, and improved safety by acting in a timely fashion if alarming changes in hemodynamic parameters are noted.
ORAL HEALTH STATUS OF CHILDREN IN THE CHILD HEALTH INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP (CHIP) PROGRAM

ORAL HEALTH STATUS OF CHILDREN ENROLLED IN THE CHILD HEALTH INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM By Latrice Rochaun Foster, D.D.S., M.P.H. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Dentistry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010 Major Director: Tegwyn H. Brickhouse D.D.S., Ph.D Associate Professor, Department of Pediatric Dentistry Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe children’s dental disease status and functional health literacy of families enrolled in the Child Health Investment Partnership program in Roanoke Valley. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of children (n=166) enrolled in the Child Health Investment Partnership of Roanoke Valley, Virginia (CHIP). The parents of the 166 children completed the Life Skills Progression (LSP) survey at enrollment between September 2004 and September 2008 to assess their functional health literacy levels. Their LSP scores were used to determine their subsequent health care literacy (HCL), personal health literacy (PHL), and dental-child utilization (LSP22) scores. Descriptive statistics were recorded and a paired t-test was used to determine a relationship between the three
Overview of Grid Computing Environments

Geoffrey Fox, Dennis Gannon, Mary Thomas Community Grid Computing Laboratory, Indiana University 501 N Morton Suite 224, Bloomington IN 47404 Computer Science Department, Indiana University School of Informatics and Physics Department, Indiana University Texas Advanced Computing Center, The University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758 gcf@indiana.edu, ,mthomas@tacc.utexas.edu gannon@cs.indiana.edu
The suit suits whom

SUMMARY This paper is an excerpt from a larger cultural study that reads the figure of a woman wearing a suit with pants as a “text” that functions discursively to reveal the production of our sex/gender/desire system. There I argue that the woman-in-a-suit isolates the power of the heterosystem and offers a subject position for making visible, contesting, and producing new meanings and relations of power. Here, I use the contemporary cultural figure of a woman-in-a-suit as a testing ground for asking questions about how current conceptualizations of lesbian gender and female masculinity affect and prescribe our reading of women ranging in genders and sexualities.
Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Workshop on Cyber Security and Information Intelligence Research

The energy industry is embarking upon an infrastructure transformation that will result in a national power grid that is more intelligent, robust, resilient, and secure. While the final form will not be known for quite some time, clearly a smarter grid will make better use of information. Whether an electric utility is making real-time adjustments in response to changing load conditions, or commercial and private consumers are making better choices, the timely availability of this information will become increasingly critical. Ultimately, the overall efficiency, reliability, and resilience of the grid is inextricably linked to information. Unfortunately, "the electric power sector is second from the bottom of all major U.S. industries in terms of R&D spending as a percentage of revenue, exceeding only pulp and paper [Amin2011]." Moreover, U.S. officials worry that cyber-spies could use their [demonstrated] access to shut down the grid or take control of power plants during a time of crisis or war [CIO09, WSJ09]. Moreover, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released the results of a two-year study, The Future of the Electric Grid.
Prosecuting the Use of Anti-Personnel Mines by Illegal Armed Groups: The Colombian Situation

Colombia is among the most heavily mined nations in the world. The mines are deployed by illegal armed groups waging an internal armed conflict against the Colombian state going back many decades. Many of the mines are of Eastern European origin or improvised explosive devices, and poor documentation by the offending groups on where land mines are deployed has created a situation throughout Colombian territory where innocent civilians and livestock wander into unmarked or forgotten minefields and detonate the devices. This article examines the problem of landmines in Colombia and the challenges of holding illegal armed groups responsible for the deployment of deadly “silent sentinels.”
Quantification and Analysis of Large Multimodal Clinical Image Studies: Application to Stroke

We present an analysis framework for large studies of multimodal clinical quality brain image collections. Processing and analysis of such datasets is challenging due to low resolution, poor contrast, misaligned images, and restricted field of view.We adapt existing registration and segmentation methods and build a computational pipeline for spatial normalization and feature extraction. The resulting aligned dataset enables clinically meaningful analysis of spatial distributions of relevant anatomical features and of their evolution with age and disease progression. We demonstrate the approach on a neuroimaging study of stroke with more than 800 patients. We show that by combining data from several modalities, we can automatically segment important biomarkers such as white matter hyperintensity and characterize pathology evolution in this heterogeneous cohort. Specifically, we examine two sub-populations with different dynamics of white matter hyperintensity changes as a function of patients' age. Pipeline and analysis code is available at http://groups.csail.mit.edu/vision/medical-vision/stroke/ .
Quantitative Growth of Naegleria in Axenic Culture

A strain of Naegleria gruberi, isolated from a Vero cell culture and designated TS-1, was axenically cultivated in monolayer and mass aerating suspension culture. Cultural conditions for constant growth parameters and high-exponential cell densities were defined. Serum or other supplemented fractions were found essential in both Trypticase-yeast extract-glucose (TYG) and Casitone (CAS)-based media. Monolayer cultures grown in the CAS medium required lower levels of serum to reach maximum stationary densities of amoebae than cultures grown in the TYG medium. Heat-killed (121 C, 10 min) whole cell and cell lysate bacterial fractions were capable of replacing the serum in both the TYG and CAS media. Heat-killed bacterial fractions provided the same levels of growth as attained with serum in TYG medium, whereas the bacterial lysate supported only minimal growth in the same medium. In the CAS medium, both bacterial fractions resulted in the same level of growth which was equal to that obtained in reduced serum content. Strain TS-1 was established in suspension culture with the CAS medium used in monolayer culture. The addition of sheep red blood cells (RBC) or RBC lysate greatly enhanced growth responses. Further modifications resulted in a final medium for suspension culture consisting of Casitone-yeast extract-glucose-vitamin base, supplemented with serum and RBC lysate. This medium supported growth with a mean generation time of 9 h at 30 C and a stationary phase yield of greater than 5 x 10(6) amoebae per ml.
Understanding SPKI/SDSI using first-order logic

SPKI/SDSI is a language for expressing distributed access control policy, derived from SPKI and SDSI. We provide a first-order logic (FOL) semantics for SDSI, and show that it has several advantages over previous semantics. For example, the FOL semantics is easily extended to additional policy concepts and gives meaning to a larger class of access control and other policy analysis queries. We prove that the FOL semantics is equivalent to the string rewriting semantics used by SDSI designers, for all queries associated with the rewriting semantics. We also provide a FOL semantics for SPKI/SDSI. This reveals some problems. For example, the standard proof procedure in RFC 2693 is semantically incomplete. In addition, as noted before by other authors, authorization tags in SPKI/SDSI are algorithmically problematic, making a complete proof procedure unlikely. We compare SPKI/SDSI with RT/sub 1//sup C/, which is a language in the RT role-based trust-management framework that can be viewed as an extension of SDSI. The constraint feature of /sub 1//sup C/, based on constraint datalog, provides an alternative mechanism that is expressively similar to SPKI/SDSI tags, semantically natural, and algorithmically tractable.
Cetacean brain evolution: Multiplication generates complexity.

Over the past 55-60 million years cetacean (dolphin, whale, and porpoise) brains have become hyperexpanded so that modern cetacean encephalization levels are second only to modern humans. At the same time, brain expansion proceeded along very different lines than in other large-brained mammals so that substantial differences between modern cetacean brains and other mammalian brains exist at every level of brain organization. Perhaps the most profound difference between cetacean and other mammalian brains is in the architecture of the neocortex. Cetaceans possess a unique underlying neocortical organizational scheme that is particularly intriguing in light of the fact that cetaceans exhibit cognitive and behavioral complexity at least on a par with our closest phylogenetic relatives, the great apes. The neurobiological complexity underlying these cognitive capacities may involve the extreme multiplication of vertical structural units in the cetacean neocortex. The origin and evolutionary history of cetaceans (dolphins, whales, and
Spherical Navigator Echoes for Full 3-D Rigid Body Motion Measurement in MRI

A 3-D spherical navigator (SNAV) echo technique for MRI that can measure rigid body motion in all six degrees of freedom simultaneously by sampling a spherical shell in k-space is under development. Rigid body 3-D rotations of an imaged object simply rotate the k-space data, while translations alter phase in a known way. A computer controlled motion phantom was used to execute known rotations and translations to evaluate the technique. Accurate detection was possible with a double SNAV echo acquisition following a 3-D helical spiral trajectory. Motion detection for retrospective or prospective correction in MRI with spherical navigator echoes is thus feasible and practical.
A Technique for Estimating Signal Activity in Logic Circuits

In this paper an efficient technique for estimating the average number of signal transitions in CMOS logic circuits is presented. A logic signal is modeled as a two state, discrete-time Markov chain, that is characterized by two parameters. The steady-state average number of transitions on a signal is expressed as a function of the Markov chain parameters. Formulas for the two parameters associated with the gate output as a function of the corresponding parameters associated with the gate input are derived. This allows estimation of signal transitions at all gates by local propagation of the parameters. For circuits without reconvergent, the local propagation provides very accurate estimates and the time to obtain the estimates is a negligible fraction of the time required to perform logic simulation. For circuits with reconvergent fanout, the estimation procedure is based on the (local) use of OBBDs. This scheme has the exibility of trading off between speed and accuracy by allowing the user to specify the number of levels of reconvergent fanout that are to considered. Results of experiments carried out on a large number of benchmark circuits are given. The theoretical estimates of switching activity are compared with those obtained via simulation. The experiments also examine the number of levels of logic that need to be examined in the presence of reconvergent fanout.
Role of vascular density and normalization in response to neoadjuvant bevacizumab and chemotherapy in breast cancer patients

Preoperative bevacizumab and chemotherapy may benefit a subset of breast cancer (BC) patients. To explore potential mechanisms of this benefit, we conducted a phase II study of neoadjuvant bevacizumab (single dose) followed by combined bevacizumab and adriamycin/cyclophosphamide/paclitaxel chemotherapy in HER2-negative BC. The regimen was well-tolerated and showed a higher rate of pathologic complete response (pCR) in triple-negative (TN)BC (11/21 patients or 52%, [95% confidence interval (CI): 30,74]) than in hormone receptor-positive (HR)BC [5/78 patients or 6% (95%CI: 2,14)]. Within the HRBCs, basal-like subtype was significantly associated with pCR (P = 0.007; Fisher exact test). We assessed interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) and tissue biopsies before and after bevacizumab monotherapy and circulating plasma biomarkers at baseline and before and after combination therapy. Bevacizumab alone lowered IFP, but to a smaller extent than previously observed in other tumor types. Pathologic response to therapy correlated with sVEGFR1 postbevacizumab alone in TNBC (Spearman correlation 0.610, P = 0.0033) and pretreatment microvascular density (MVD) in all patients (Spearman correlation 0.465, P = 0.0005). Moreover, increased pericyte-covered MVD, a marker of extent of vascular normalization, after bevacizumab monotherapy was associated with improved pathologic response to treatment, especially in patients with a high pretreatment MVD. These data suggest that bevacizumab prunes vessels while normalizing those remaining, and thus is beneficial only when sufficient numbers of vessels are initially present. This study implicates pretreatment MVD as a potential predictive biomarker of response to bevacizumab in BC and suggests that new therapies are needed to normalize vessels without pruning.
Mode-expansion method for predicting radar signature above rough ocean surfaces at low-grazing angle

The mode-expansion method (MEM) is introduced to calculate the electromagnetic (EM) waves scattered by 2D rough water surfaces at low-grazing angles. The electric field integral equation (EFIE) is used in defining the problem and is simplified by using the impedance boundary condition (IBC). The surface currents are expressed as the sum of modes expanded as a Fourier series with the incident wave as the dominant mode. It is shown that, by the MEM and for the geometry with transmitting and receiving waves at low-grazing angles, very few modes are needed in solving the forward scattering field with reasonable accuracy.
NailQoL: a quality-of-life instrument for onychomycosis.

BACKGROUND: The disease burden onychomycosis is not trivial. The aim is to develop a quality of life instrument to measure the onychomycosis burden. METHODS: 402 patients with mycologically-confirmed onychomycosis completed a baseline questionnaire of 39 quality of life items (modified Skindex-29 questions and 10 additional nail-specific questions). Internal consistency, reproducibility and responsiveness of the final instrument, NailQoL were measured. RESULTS: 15 items consisting of symptom (3), emotion (10), and functional (2) domains were retained in NailQoL. Symptom and emotion subscales = 0.80-0.92. Administration alpha demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's of the instrument to 46 patients at one month after baseline revealed good reproducibility (ICC 0.88-0.91). Responsiveness was measured in 292 patients at 18 months; statistically significant better NailQoL scores were found in individuals with complete cure (mycological and clinical) (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: NailQoL represents a new concise, valid, reliable, and responsive instrument for measuring burden of skin disease for patients with onychomycosis.
The Historical Maya and Maya Histories: Recent Trends and New Approaches to Reconstructing Indigenous Pasts in Guatemala

The Maya of Guatemala have long been the subject of scholarly study and popular fascination. They have also contributed valuable insights to ethnographic studies, historical research, and archaeological excavations while working alongside and for foreign scholars. But seldom were they recognized as the primary authors of Maya histories. Indeed, such initiative was deemed subversive during Guatemala’s civil war (1960–1996). As the historical record demonstrates, Mayas have always been protagonists of their history, but only since the 1996 Peace Accords have cultural and intellectual spaces opened for Mayas to assume more public leadership roles in reconstructing indigenous pasts. As their recent efforts to claim, control, and convey Maya histories reveal, Mayas are not only adeptly interpreting but also creatively disseminating their own histories.
Large-dose propofol alone in adult epileptic patients: Electrocorticographic results

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the electrophysiologic effects of large-dose propofol, used as the sole anesthetic in patients with epilepsy. Nine patients with medically intractable complex partial epilepsy undergoing a three-stage approach to the surgical management of epilepsy
Success in introductory college physics: The role of high school preparation

High school teachers and college physics professors differ in their beliefs concerning the extent to which a high school physics course prepares students for college physics success. In this study of 1,933 introductory college physics students, demographic and schooling factors account for a large fraction of the variation in college physics grades at 18 colleges and universities from around the nation. Controlling for student backgrounds, taking a high school physics course has a modestly positive relationship with the grade earned in introductory college physics. More rigorous preparation, including calculus and 2 years of high school physics, predicts higher grades. Students who had high school courses that spent more time on fewer topics, concepts, problems, and labs performed much better in college than those who raced through more content in a textbook-centered course. College professors should recognize that a substantial fraction of the variation observed in the performance of students they teach can be explained by the range in effectiveness of their pre-college preparation, not simply innate ability. Although students without a high school physics course often do well in college physics, they are more likely to be academically stronger, with more educated parents, having previously taken calculus, and taking physics in their sophomore or junior year in college. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed85:111–136, 2001.
Learning with the knowledge of an upper bound on program size

Abstract Two learning situations are considered: machine identification of programs from graphs of recursive functions (modeling inductive hypothesis formation) and machine identification of grammars from texts of recursively enumerable languages (modeling first language acquisition). Both these learning models are extended to account for situations in which a learning machine is provided additional information in the form of knowledge about an upper bound on the minimal size program (grammar) for the function (language) being identified. For a number of such extensions, it is shown that larger classes of functions (languages) can be algorithmically identified in the presence of upper bound information. Numerous interesting relationships are shown between different models of learning, number of anomalies allowed in the inferred program (grammar), and number of anomalies allowed in the upper bound information.
Shock wave consolidation of an amorphous alloy

Irregular flakes prepared from ∼ 50 μm thick melt spun ribbons of an amorphous Markomet 1064 alloy (Ni_(55•8)Mo_(25•7)B_(8•8)) were consolidated by shock waves produced from stainless steel flyer plate impact in the 0.9 to 1.4 Km/s velocity range. Recovered samples were observed to have a bulk density of 8.9±.2 g/cm^3. The compacts remained amorphous for shock energies of less than 450 KJ/Kg. Metallographs indicate that moderately good interparticle bonding can be achieved with shock waves at stress levels below those which can induce recrystallization from shock heating.
Cardiac chemical constant. Part II: Application to normal and abnormal left ventricular function.

A physiochemical parameter has been defined as KD, the cardiac chemical equilibrium dissociation constant, and represents the ratio of long units (extended sarcomeres) to short units (contracted sarcomeres) of a hypothetical mid-wall circumferential fibre. KD has been separately identified for three specific points in the cardiac cycle: end-diastole (KDED), mid-cycle of systole (KDMC) and end-systole (KinDES). These three values of KD have been computed for 15 normal patients (N), 6 patients with compensated volume overload (CVO), 9 patients with decompensated volume overload (DVO), 3 patients with compensated pressure overload (CPO) and 6 patients with congestive cardiomyopathy (CC). The average for the N group was KDED = 2.47, KDMC = 0.67 and KDES = 0.24. The majority of the long-to-short unit interconversions were calculated to occur during the first half of systole. The phenomenological model does not predict any significant parameter changes between the CVO group and the N group. The ratio KDMCKDED is significantly reduced (P < 0.05) for the DVO group compared to the N group and indicates a greater extent of long-to-short unit interconversion during the first half of systole for the DVO group average (compared to the N group average). For the CPO group, KDED averages around 45% higher than the average normal (P < 0.005) and KDES averages about 33% lower than the average of the N group (P < 0.005). As a compensatory process in CPO, the myocardium is transferring a larger percentage of its total units (sarcomeres) to long units at end-diastole and interconverting a larger percentage of its long units to short units during systole. For the CC group, KDED averages about 50% below the N group average (P < 0.005) and KDES averages around 70% higher than the N group average (P < 0.005). For the CC group, at end diastole, there are approximately as many units in the long state (extended sarcomeres) as in the short state (contracted sarcomeres). There is also a reduced rate of interconversion from long units to short units during systolic ejection. It is concluded that cardiac chemical constants appear to provide additional information on the energetic state of the normal and abnormal left ventricle.
Ruminations on Ruse and religion

. I am in general agreement with Ruse on most religious and scientific issues but find little justification in his partial return to Christianity. His rejection of the literal interpretation of certain “Jewish myths,” once started, can logically end only with the rejection of all the important content of both Old and New Testaments. His recognition that religious establishments have been responsible for much personal stress and many of history's great tragedies is understated.
Associations Between Multiple Environmental Exposures and Glutathione S-transferase P1 on Persistent Wheezing in a Birth Cohort

Objective To determine the impact of environmental exposures (diesel exhaust particle [DEP], environmental tobacco smoke [ETS], and mold) that may contribute to oxidative stress on persistent wheezing in the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS) birth cohort and to determine how the impact of these exposures is modified by the GST-P1 Ile105Val polymorphism. Study design A land-use regression model was used to derive an estimate of each child's DEP exposure. ETS exposure was determined by questionnaire data. Each child's home was evaluated for visible mold by a trained professional. Children in the CCAAPS cohort were genotyped for the GST-P1 polymorphism (n = 570). Persistent wheezing was defined as wheezing at both 12 and 24 months. Results High DEP exposure conferred increased risk for wheezing phenotypes but only among the Val 105 allele carriers. Infants with multiple exposures were significantly more likely to persistently wheeze despite their genotype. Conclusion There is evidence for an environmental effect of DEP among carriers of the GST-P1 Val 105 allele in the development of persistent wheezing in children. The protective effect of the GST-P1 Ile 105 genotype may be overwhelmed by multiple environmental exposures that converge on oxidative stress pathways.
Regional enteritis in childhood

Abstract This report is a clinical review of 28 children with Crohn's disease hospitalized at the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles during the past 12 yr. In addition to the usual reasons for surgery, growth failure was a common indication. Surgical resection was performed on 18 patients with a follow-up ranging from 1 to 10 yr, and encouraging early results. The importance of close medical follow-up, with surgical intervention when necessary, is emphasized.
Recreation Demand Equations: Functional Form and Consumer Surplus

The subject of recreation demand has increasingly attracted the attention of economic research. The demand equations resulting from this research follow the Hotelling-Clawson model of recreation demand, in which occasions (or days) recreated is specified as a function of average cost and average distance traveled per occasion and various combinations of other explanatory variables. Linear, quadratic, and semilog functional forms have been used widely in empirical applications of this model. Linear specifications have been employed often for computational or analytical ease (Burt and Brewer; Brown, Singh, and Castle; Cicchetti, Fisher, and Smith; Clawson and Knetsch). Other functional forms have been chosen frequently on the basis of statistical significance and consistency of the coefficients with theoretical expectations. Examples of a semilog form are Batie, Jensen, and Hogue; and Sawyer and Shulstad. A quadratic expression was chosen by Gum and Martin. A fourth functional form, log-log, also has appeared (Kalter and Gosse; Smith; Wetzstein and Green), but will not be considered here for reasons to be developed later. As the results of this study will demonstrate, the choice of functional form can have a significant effect on consumer surplus values derived from recreation demand equations. This paper presents a set of decision criteria for the choice between three popular functional forms that have been employed previously in recreation demand equations. The choice between linear and quadratic forms can be made via conventional hypothesis-testing procedures. The Box and Cox transformation procedure often allows choice between linear, semilog, and other power transformations of the dependent variable. The consequences of the choice of a particular functional form on consumer surplus also are investigated. The plan of the paper is first, to specify an appropriate set of regressors; second, to choose an appropriate functional form; and, finally, to demonstrate the effect of functional form on consumer surplus estimates derived from regression cost coefficients of recreation demand equations. The Choice of Regressors
Thymoma-associated chronic diarrhea: A case of autoimmune enteropathy

Abstract Thymomas are tumors arising from thymic epithelial cells that are frequently associated with autoimmune conditions. One such disorder, autoimmune enteropathy, is an uncommon autoimmune process found in patients with thymoma that is characterized by chronic diarrhea (>6 weeks duration), malabsorption, and characteristic small intestinal histopathology. The presence of anti-enterocyte or anti-goblet cell antibodies supports the diagnosis of autoimmune. As this is a relatively uncommon disorder, treatment options have not been well studied. We report the case of a 35-year-old Caucasian male with recurrent thymoma that subsequently developed autoimmune enteropathy as confirmed by symptoms, biopsy and serologies. Prednisone and octreotide, which have previously been shown to treat recurrent thymoma, were used to successfully treat his autoimmune enteropathy and recurrent thymoma, leading to resolution of diarrhea, subsequent weight gain, and radiographic confirmation of regression of metastatic thymoma. Autoimmune enteropathy should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with thymoma presenting with intractable diarrhea and weight loss. The use of prednisone and octreotide may be helpful in treating both conditions.
Embedded-cluster study of Cu+-induced lattice relaxation in alkali halides.

We use an embedded-cluster approach to study the lattice relaxation induced by a substitutional ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{+}$ impurity in alkali halides. The crystalline lattice is modeled as a quantum-mechanical molecular cluster embedded in a classical lattice. The cluster is treated by using the unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation and the embedding lattice is described by the shell model. The relaxations are obtained by comparing the equilibrium configurations of the pure and ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{+}$-doped clusters. We found that, when the ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{+}$ ion is introduced into the alkali halides, the lattice relaxes in accordance with the free-ion size difference between the ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{+}$ ion and the host cation. The correlation correction does not make a significant contribution to the lattice relaxation.
Maternal pregnancy loss, birth characteristics, and childhood leukemia (United States).

Objective: The authors evaluated the relation between maternal pregnancy loss, birth characteristics, and childhood leukemia in the Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study. Methods: Incident cases of childhood leukemia (age 0–14 years) were rapidly ascertained, and controls were randomly selected from birth records and individually matched to cases. A total of 366 cases [313 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 53 acute myeloid leukemia (AML)] and 460 controls were included in this analysis. The biological mothers of all subjects provided detailed reproductive history and birth characteristics of the index children during a personal interview. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using conditional logistic regression. Data on maternal pregnancy loss and birth characteristics were also available from the birth certificates of 96.3% of all subjects. Results: History of miscarriage was associated with a significantly increased risk of AML (OR = 2.94, 95% CI: 1.03, 8.34), but not ALL. Neither birth weight, birth order, or parental ages appeared to be an important predictor of the risk of ALL or AML. A comparison between data from two different sources (interview versus birth certificate) indicated good reproducibility and offered some evidence against recall bias. Conclusion: Maternal history of miscarriage is associated with an increased risk of childhood AML.
The effect of magnesium deficiency on serum aldosterone in rats fed two levels of sodium.

Abstract Rats were fed 47 (deficient) and 606 ppm (adequate) magnesium with either 2,100 or 14,000 ppm sodium. Serum corticosterone and aldosterone levels were determined by randoimmunoassay in six rats from each treatment group killed on days 7, 14, and 28 of consumption of the experimental diets. Serum corticosterone levels were moderately, but not significantly, decreased in magnesium deficient animals. Serum aldosterone levels increased over time in the rats fed the lower sodium diet with adequate magnesium and were further elevated in magnesium deficient animals. In sodium loaded rats the increase in aldosterone levels in magnesium deficiency was less and occurred later. Retention and urinary excretion of sodium and potassium did not appear to be affected by magnesium status or the serum concentration of aldosterone. Possible mechanisms underlying the changes in aldosterone levels of magnesium depleted animals are discussed with reference to the known effects of magnesium deficiency on physiological functions.
Asymptotic properties of a two sample randomized test for partially dependent data

We are concerned with an issue of asymptotic validity of a non-parametric randomization test for the two sample location problem under the assumption of partially dependent observations, in which case the validity of the usual permutation t-test breaks down. We show that a certain modification of the permutation group used in the randomization procedure yields an unconditional asymptotically valid test in the sense that its probability of Type I error tends to the nominal level with increasing sample sizes. We show that this unconditional test is equivalent to the one based on a linear combination of two- and one-sample t-statistics and enjoys some optimal power properties. We also conduct a simulation study comparing our approach with that based on the Fisher's method of combining p-values. Finally, we present an example of application of the test in a medical study on functional status assessment at the end of life.
Kinetic studies with a sulfur-tolerant methanation catalyst

Abstract The kinetics of methane formation by the molybdenum disulfide-catalyzed reaction of hydrogen and carbon monoxide are examined. The stoichiometry of the reaction is found to be given by 2CO + 2H2 → CH4 + CO2. The reaction rate is of first order in carbon monoxide and of half order in hydrogen. Carbon dioxide, one of the reaction products, causes some inhibition in methanation rate. The activation energy for the molybdenum disulfide-catalyzed reaction is 31 kJ mol−, considerably less than observed for transition-metal catalyzed methanation. The thermodynamic sulfur activity of the catalyst influences the reaction kinetics by governing the defect structure of molybdenum disulfide. High S Mo ratios in the solid phase enhance the dissociative chemisorption of hydrogen.
Intravaginal Flux Controlled Pump for Sustained Release of Macromolecules

Purpose To design a flux controlled pump (FCP) capable of 30-day, controlled release of macromolecules to the vaginal mucosa.
Evolution of the solar energy industry: Strategic groups and industry structure

This paper discusses the structure of the worldwide solar energy industry. It focuses on sets of firms that follow similar competitive strategies (i.e., strategic groups). The dimensions of their competitive strategies include choice of market (residential, commercial, government, utilities), and type of application (on-grid /off-grid, centralized/decentralized location, retrofit/new construction); other dimensions are also relevant (e.g., cost, differentiation, technology choice, technology leadership). The evolution of this industry depends on projected demand, e.g., government mandates, feed-in tariffs, tax incentives, rebates, price of conventional energy and supply (e.g., production capacity, availability of raw materials, process innovation, rate of learning, economies of scale). Some of these factors affect all firms in this industry equally, while others affect strategic groups differently, and thus their current and future market share and profitability. The performance of firms in the solar energy industry also depends on strategic choices (e.g., preemptive moves, vertical integration, rate of capacity expansion). This paper provides an overview of current and projected structure in the solar energy industry, and speculates on the direction in which this emerging industry might develop.
A Velocity Dealiasing Technique Using Rapidly Updated Analysis from a Four-Dimensional Variational Doppler Radar Data Assimilation System

Abstract A Doppler velocity dealiasing algorithm is developed within the storm-scale four-dimensional radar data assimilation system known as the Variational Doppler Radar Analysis System (VDRAS). The innovative aspect of the algorithm is that it dealiases Doppler velocity at each grid point independently by using three-dimensional wind fields obtained either from an objective analysis using conventional observations and mesoscale model output or from a rapidly updated analysis of VDRAS that assimilates radar data. This algorithm consists of three steps: preserving horizontal shear, global dealiasing using reference wind from the objective analysis or the VDRAS analysis, and local dealiasing. It is automated and intended to be used operationally for radar data assimilation using numerical weather prediction models. The algorithm was tested with 384 volumes of radar data observed from the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) for a severe thunderstorm that occurred during 15 June 2002. It showed that the ...
Forming Future Teachers of French.

I have never taught a Methodology class, even though I have been teaching all levels of French language and literature for more than a quarter of a century. Yet, I want to believe that these students of mine who chose the teaching profession-as teacher of French, another foreign language or any other discipline-have to some extent been somewhat "shaped" as teachers by the techniques, approaches, idiosyncrasies, etc., to which I subjected them class after class and which they have adopted, adapted and even rejected. Whether we like it or not, we are all equally involved in teacher training. In fact, one could even argue that more Methodology is done through the many classes (foreign language and others) in which the student enrolls during his college career than in the single Methods classa class which, furthermore, comes rather late in the student's career and thus at a time when
IM midazolam for status epilepticus in the emergency department

A 71-year-old man presented with a continuous generalized tonic-clonic seizure of 80 minutes duration. Multiple attempts to establish an IV line failed. Ten milligrams of midazolam hydrochloride was administered IM and was followed by prompt termination of seizure activity. This report discusses the pharmacokinetic and anticonvulsant properties of midazolam as an alternative to diazepam for the initial treatment of status epilepticus.
An ultraviolet Raman spectroscopic study of coke formation in methanol to hydrocarbons conversion over zeolite H-MFI

The formation of retained hydrocarbons or coke in the conversion of methanol and dimethylether to hydrocarbons over zeolite H-MFI was studied using ultraviolet Raman spectroscopy. Polyolefin, cyclopentadienyl species, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons have been identified among the retained hydrocarbons from the Raman spectra. The results strongly support a reaction mechanism, proposed previously, where cyclopentadienyl species are identified as a key intermediate in the formation of aromatic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons by ring expansion. The spectra also suggest that the polyaromatic hydrocarbons have a chain-like topology, similar to polycenes, rather than a two-dimensional, sheet-like topology, similar to pyrene or coronene.
Philosophy as News: Bioethics, Journalism and Public Policy

News media accounts of issues in bioethics gain significance to the extent that the media influence public policy and inform personal decision making. The increasingly frequent appearance of bioethics in the news thus imposes responsibilities on journalists and their sources. These responsibilities are identified and discussed, as is (i) the concept of "news-worthiness" as applied to bioethics, (ii) the variable quality of bioethics reportage and (iii) journalists' reliance on ethicists to pass judgment. Because of the potential social and other benefits of high quality reporting on ethical issues, it is argued that journalists and their bioethics sources should explore and accommodate more productive relationships. An optimal journalism-ethics relationship will be one characterized by "para-ethics," in which journalistic constraints are noted but also in which issues and arguments are presented without oversimplification and credible disagreement is given appropriate attention.
Wafer-Level Transfer of Thermo-Piezoelectric Si 3 N 4 Cantilever Array on a CMOS Circuit for High Density Probe-Based Data Storage

In this research, a wafer-level transfer method of cantilever array on a conventional CMOS circuit has been developed for high density probe-based data storage. The transferred cantilevers were silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) cantilevers integrated with poly silicon heaters and piezoelectric sensors, called thermo-piezoelectric Si 3 N 4 cantilevers. The thermo-piezoelectric Si 3 N 4 cantilever arrays were fabricated with a conventional p-type silicon wafer instead of a SOI wafer. Furthermore, we have developed a wafer-level cantilever transfer process, which requires only one step of cantilever transfer process to integrate the CMOS circuit with the cantilevers. Using this process, we have fabricated a single thermo-piezoelectric Si 3 N 4 cantilever, and recorded 65nm data bits on a PMMA film. And we have successfully applied this method to transfer 34X34 thermo-piezoelectric Si 3 N 4 cantilever arrays on a CMOS wafer. Finally, We obtained reading signals from one of the cantilevers.
Recent Advances In Optical Measurement Methods In Physics And Chemistry

Measurement tools are at the roots of science and optics form the basis of a vast array of scientific measurement tools that offer unique capabilities. Advances in optical measurement methods used in physics, chemistry, and related technologies are being made at an enormous pace. In many instances, optical measurement techniques have resulted in new capabilities beyond the reach of any other method. Some examples where very significant advances in measurement capability have recently been made include trace-specie density measurement in gases (often quantum-level specific), adlayer characterization, magnetic- and electric-field intensity measurements, chemical sensors, high-spectral-resolution spectroscopy, semiconductor physics, crystal-quality measurements, data transmission and recording, and studies of fast dynamical processes in gases, liquids, and solids. In this paper I will review some recent Sandia accomplishments in the development of advanced optical measurement methods and their applications to important problems in science and technology.
Molecular Signature Analysis: Using the Myocardial Transcriptome as a Biomarker in Cardiovascular Disease

With the emergence of microarray technology, it is now possible to simultaneously assess the expression of tens of thousands of gene transcripts, providing a resolution and precision of phenotypic characterization not previously possible. In the field of cardiomyopathy, microarray studies have largely focused on gene discovery, identifying differentially expressed genes characteristic of diverse disease states, through which novel genetic pathways and potential therapeutic targets may be elucidated. However, gene expression profiling may also be used to identify a pattern of genes (a molecular signature) that serves as a biomarker for clinically relevant parameters. One study thus far does demonstrate that a molecular signature can accurately identify etiology in cardiovascular disease, supporting ongoing efforts to incorporate expression-profiling-based biomarkers in determining prognosis and response to therapy in heart failure. Microarray research in cardiomyopathy is still in its earliest stages. Nevertheless, the ultimate potential application of transcriptome-based molecular signature analysis is individualization of the management of patients with heart failure, whereby a patient with a newly diagnosed cardiomyopathy could, through molecular signature analysis, be offered an accurate assessment of prognosis and how individualized medical therapy could affect his or her outcome.
Eschatology Sacred and Profane: The Effects of Philosophy on Theology in Pannenberg, Rahner and Moltmann

This article compares theology and philosophy in relation to eschatology, identifying the negative effects of theological adoption of philosophical teaching on the nature of time and history. These negative effects stem from insufficient theological critique of generalist eschatology in secular philosophy. Three sample relations are examined: Hegel and Pannenberg, Heidegger and Rahner, and Bloch and Moltmann. The examples indicate the need for authentically Christian dogmatic description of church practices of hope.
Homogenization and applications of ferromagnetic Nano-wires based metamaterials

A numerical homogenization method for extracting the equivalent electromagnetic parameters, in particular the dispersive and nonreciprocal permeability tensor, of ferromagnetic nanowire (FMNW) based metamaterials is presented herein this paper. With the effective material property obtained, the performance of FMNW microwave devices, such as integrated, double-band isolators and phase shifters, are analyzed using a full-wave simulation based on a domain decomposition method (DDM). Numerical examples validate the proposed homogenization method and illustrate the integration of the multi-physics solution strategy to characterize the effects of FMNWs employed in RF devices.
Approximating Fredholm operators on a nonseparable Hilbert space

This paper obtains a simple formula for the distance from a given operator to the set of invertible operators without requiring the underlying space to be separable. That formula is used to compute the distance to the Fredholm operators with a given index. These results require the further study of the concepts of essential nullity and essential deficiency, which permitted us to characterize the closure of the invertible operators. We also introduce a parameter called the modulus of Fredholmness.