cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Magnesium supplementation in patients with congestive heart failure

To evaluate several potential clinical indicators of magnesium status (diet, blood, urine, 24-hour load retention) in patients with congestive heart failure before, during, and after oral magnesium supplementation.Twelve patients with New York Heart Association class II-III heart failure and 12 age and sex matched healthy control subjects were supplemented with 10.4 mmol oral magnesium lactate for 3 months. For the determination of magnesium status, samples of whole blood, serum, plasma, red blood cells, and urine (24-hour) were collected. Four-day dietary intake records were reviewed. A 4-hour IV magnesium load retention study was performed before and 3 months after magnesium supplementation. A non-supplemented control group was similarly studied.At baseline, magnesium intakes for all groups were below the RDA. No significant differences were seen in serum, plasma, ultrafiltrates of serum or plasma or red cell magnesium concentrations among groups over time. At baseline 5/27 subjects (19%) compared to 11...
Thermal Demagnetization of Some Precambrian Igneous Rocks of Missouri

The results of a deliberate search for stable secondary magnetization in Precambrian igneous rocks of St. Francois Mountains, Southeast Missouri, U. S. A., are described. These rocks, at least one billion years old, possess stable components of natural remanent magnetization, which are not always of thermoremanent origin. The results of thermal demagnetization and of some subsidiary experiments show that rhyolite porphyries of Flint Hill have been remagnetized by strong fields due to lightning and are of little use for paleomagnetic investigations. Similar experiments conducted on felsites and bedded tuffs of Johnson Shut-Ins area reveal the presence of stable and significant magnetization of a direction similar to that found by Scharon, Hayes, and Anderson for the whole of St. Francois Mountains. The granite porphyry from the same area carries a stable component of natural remanent magnetization, which is of secondary origin, but is of little significance for the paleomagnetic studies of the whole system of rock units.It is concluded that the rock units investigated carry no stable secondary magnetization which masks their original magnetization and leads to wrong conclusions about the direction of Precambrian geomagnetic field. From this it is inferred that the natural remanent magnetization of all other rock units of St. Francois Mountains is unlikely to be masked by stable secondary components.
A discipline for constructing multiphase communication protocols

Many communication protocols can be observed to go through different phases performing a distinct function in each phase. A multiphase model for such protocols is presented. A phase is formally defined to be a network of communicating finite-state machines with certain desirable correctness properties; these include proper termination and freedom from deadlocks and unspecified receptions. A multifunction protocol is constructed by first constructing separate phases to perform its different functions. It is shown how to connect these phases together to realize the multifunction protocol so that the resulting network of communicating finite state machines is also a phase (i.e., it possesses the desirable properties defined for phases). The modularity inherent in multiphase protocols facilitates not only their construction but also their understanding and modification. An abundance of protocols have been found in the literature that can be constructed as multiphase protocols. Three examples are presented here: two versions of IBM's BSC protocol for data link control and a token ring network protocol.
Making Connections: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Journal Writing in Enhancing Student Learning

Although journal writing has been extensively described and advocated in the teaching literature, little attention has been given to empirical assessment of its effectiveness in increasing student learning. Previous evaluations typically relied on student and faculty perceptions rather than performance measures. In this article, I describe journal writing as a way to actively engage students in learning about personality theories and include new criteria for instructor evaluation of journal entries. Analysis of student test grades indicated that a journal writing assignment increased student learning, and student evaluations supported the perceived usefulness of this exercise in fostering understanding. Examples from journals illustrate the ways in which students connected the course material to their own observations.
Animal models of drug-induced cardiomyopathy.

Abstract 1. Animal models of drug-induced cardiomyopathy relevant to clinical medicine have been difficult to produce. 2. Animal species commonly used to study cardiomyopathies include the rabbit, rat, and mouse of which none are completely satisfactory. 3. Recently, the turkey poult has been proposed as an attractive animal model for investigation of drug-induced cardiomyopathy
The specification of neuronal identity in the mammalian cerebral cortex.

The determination of neuronal fate in the developing cerebral cortex has been studied by tracking normal cell lineages in the cortex, and by testing the commitment of young cortical neurons to their normal fates. These studies together suggest that neuronal progenitors are multipotent during development and have the potential to produce neurons destined for many or all of the cortical layers. However, the laminar identity of an individual neuron appears to be specified through environmental interactions at the time of the cell's temrinal mitotic division, prior to its migration into the cortical plate.
Location of a semi-obnoxious facility with elliptic maximin and network minisum objectives

Abstract This paper considers the problem of locating a single semi-obnoxious facility on a general network, so as to minimize the total transportation cost between the new facility and the demand points (minisum), and at the same time to minimize the undesirable effects of the new facility by maximizing its distance from the closest population center (maximin). The two objectives employ different distance metrics to reflect reality. Since vehicles move on the transportation network, the shortest path distance is suitable for the minisum objective. For the maximin objective, however, the elliptic distance metric is used to reflect the impact of wind in the distribution of pollution. An efficient algorithm is developed to find the nondominated set of the bi-objective model and is implemented on a numerical example. A simulation experiment is provided to find the average computational complexity of the algorithm.
An energy allocation model for air pollution episode control

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study conducted at Argonne National Laboratory in which atmospheric dispersion analysis was linked with modern control theory. Its initial objective was to introduce comprehensive air pollution episode control planning into the electric utility operations. The planning activity was based on the assumption that the ability of the utility plants to switch from coal fuel to natural gas could be utilized for air resource management purposes. This study resulted in the formulation of a computerized optimal episode control system for a subset of the power plant network. The control system, which inputs standard meteorological parameters and power demand forecasts, generates a schedule of power load shifting and natural gas utilization for the duration of a pollution episode. This optimal control schedule represents a minimum cost, minimum gas use strategy which restricts the pollution levels produced by power plants to a maximum acceptable threshold level within the limits of the real-time system operational and economic constraints and the capacity of the power plant network to react to control measures. The strategy can be updated as rapidly as altered meteorological conditions, a changing power demand schedule or unforeseen equipment failures warrant. An actual episode was used to test this control model. Recorded meteorological data and operating conditions supplied by the local Chicago utility were employed in the experiment. The control model was used to computer an optimal operating schedule. An indication of the air quality resulting from the use of this schedule was based on an atmospheric diffusion model.
Improved specimen support cups and auxiliary devices for the Balzers high pressure freezing apparatus

A new design for interlocking specimen support cups that permits reliable and reproducible freezing under high pressures of a range of different biological specimens is described. A stronger holder in which the support cups are tightly held during pressurization and freezing, and a sliding wedge for separating the cups after freezing are also described. Used in conjunction with the Balzers HPM 010 high pressure freezing apparatus, these modifications permit routine freezing of tissue for freeze-fracture and freeze-substitution for electron microscopy.
The late great International Herald Tribune and The New York Times: Global media, space, time, print, and online coordination in a 24/7 networked world

This article provides an empirical, field-based study of the production processes of transnational media outlet, the International Herald Tribune, as it negotiates and coordinates workflow and content with The New York Times. Using Manuel Castells’ concept of the space of flows, the article provides additional nuance to understand the relationship between material constructs and networked information. Time zones and geolocation remain important; the biggest node in the network does direct information; and the coordinated capacity for 24/7 content is more difficult that perhaps imagined by networked scholars. Both people and product are considered here in an effort to bring added nuance to the tension between materiality and networks in the production of information. While the International Herald Tribune has now been rebranded as the International New York Times, the same considerations and questions remain.
Pathology of the liver.

Among the topics of recent investigation in liver pathology were an examination of normal portal tract structures in needle liver biopsies, computer reconstructions of the intrahepatic biliary tree, identification of oval cells (presumed progeny of hepatic stem cells) in a variety of biliary and non
A degree condition for spanning Eulerian subgraphs

Let p ≥ 2 be a fixed integer. Let G be a simple and 2-edge-connected graph on n vertices, and let g be the girth of G. If d(u) + d(v) ≥ (2/(g − 2))((n/p) − 4 + g) holds whenever uv ∉ E(G), and if n is sufficiently large compared to p, then either G has a spanning eulerian subgraph or G can be contracted to a graph G1 of order at most p without a spanning eulerian subgraph. Furthermore, we characterize the graphs that satisfy the conditions above such that G1 has order p and does not have any spanning eulerian subgraph. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Bioavailability of dietary urea nitrogen in the infant.

Because the human body has no enzymes capable of hydrolyzing urea, nitrogen from this source becomes bioavailable only by release of ammonia from urea by bacterial hydrolysis in the intestines, with subsequent absorption and utilization of ammonia. To explore extent to which urea ingested in milk becomes bloavailable, we fed di- 15 N-urea (both nitrogen atoms in the form of the stable isotope 15 N) and determined urinary excretion of di- 15 N-urea (excreted without having become bloavailable) and mono- 15 N-urea (urea containing only one atom of 15 N and therefore reflecting excretion of absorbed ammonia). The largest percentage of the ingested di- 15 N-urea was excreted promptly in the urine still in the form of di- 15 N-urea. We conclude that most of the urea ingested by a normal infant is not bloavailable.
Stabilization of Premixed Flames on Rotating Bunsen Burners

Abstract The effect of rotation on stabilization of methane-air premixed Bunsen flames is experimentally investigated. Both the flame blowoff and flashback contours are determined in the fuel mole fraction versus Reynolds number plane (XF-Re) with the rotational Reynolds number Rer as a parameter. It is found that rotation of the gas increases the flame stabilization area As = AB − AF defined as the difference between the flame blowoff AB and flashback AF areas in the (XF-Re) plane. The flame stabilization efficiency is defined as η s = 1− A F A B that approaches unity in either AB → ∝ or AF → 0 limit. The experimental results suggest that rotation decreases the flame stabilization efficiency. However, rotation is found to substantially increase the flame stabilization coefficient defined as β s = A s A st , where Ast is the stabilization area of the standard nonrotating burner. The parameters ηs and βs may be useful in combustion technology for quantitative evaluation of the stabilization performance of different types of flame holders. In addition, the local hydrodynamics near the center of rotating Bunsen burner is simulated by investigating stabilization of planar laminar premixed flames on rotating porous disks with uniform surface velocity. Physical concepts concerning mechanisms of flame stabilization are discussed in terms of three important parameters namely the translational Reynolds number Re, the rotation Reynolds number Rer, and the fuel mole fraction XF. The results of the experimental findings are shown to be in accordance with prior theoretical investigation.
Gastric emptying after gastric interposition for cancer of the esophagus or hypopharynx

Transhiatal esophagectomy with primary anastomosis to the stomach (gastric pull-up) is an attractive surgical alternative to colic interposition in patients with cancer of the esophagus and hypopharynx. However, the lack of intrinsic gastric peristalsis and complaints by patients ol postprandial regurgitation prompted us to measure the effect of body posture on the rates of gastric emptying in these patients. The rates of solid and liquid gastric emptying were measured in 14 patients who had undergone gastric interposition for esophageal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Rates of emptying were measured in both the supine and upright position using a dualisotope radiolabeling technique. In these patients, the rate of gastric emptying of both solids and liquids was significantly slower in the supine position than in the upright position. Emptying in supine patients was also prolonged when compared with supine normal volunteers. Conversely, the upright rate of solid and liquid emptying in the patients was accelerated when compared with published values for upright normal volunteers. We conclude that gastric emptying after gastric interposition is dependent on upright posture after meals.
The genealogy of diplomacy in classical Greece

In contrast to modern states, diplomacy remained rudimentary in language, personnel and method for the polis of classical Greece. Antiquity alone cannot explain this. Instead we must consider how both external and internal considerations shaped the dynamics of extra‐political relations. On the one hand, Greek cities fought wars and formed leagues and alliances to pursue strategic interests. On the other hand, internal constraints ‐ such as values and beliefs about participation and autonomy ‐ determined how the citizens collectively defined and pursued foreign policy. Sometimes internal concerns outweighed external concerns and even prevented cities from protecting themselves sufficiently from foreign threats. Any stability or instability which we attribute to classical Greece depended not so much on power politics of interstate relations as on the narrow interests of the various poleis which kept them fragmented and territorially compact.
Training, certification, and credentialing in gynecologic operative endoscopy.

Proper training, certification of competence, and credentialing are important to assure the highest quality of health care, maximizing success and minimizing morbidity. Furthermore, documentation of appropriate skills is essential for the medical-legal protection of the parent institution, the operating room personnel, and the surgeon. While complications are an accepted risk of endoscopic or any surgery, corroboration of a surgeon’s training and skill in these techniques will minimize his or her liability in the face of an eventuality.
Scopira: a pattern recognition application framework for biomedical datasets

Machine learning techniques are widely used in the analysis of biomedical datasets. Modern devices tend to produce voluminous, high-dimensional datasets for which medical practitioners require high-performance, user-friendly programs and researchers need effective algorithm development and testing platforms. Interactive development systems, such as MATIAB, provide for rapid prototyping of algorithms and visualization but at the cost of computational efficiency. We present Scopira, a C++, open source programming framework for the development of biomedical data analysis applications.
Miniaturized Dual-Band Directional Couplers Using Composite Right/Left-Handed Transmission Structures and Their Applications in Beam Pattern Diversity Systems

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of dual-band compact and bandwidth-enhanced directional couplers, including both 90deg and 180deg hybrids, using composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission structures. Novel and systematic design methodology leading to size miniaturization is proposed. By considering all possible dual-band phase transitions of the constituent transmission lines of the directional couplers, this design approach ensures the compactness of the hybrids and reduces footprint size significantly compared to the previously exhibited standard transmission-line- and CRLH-based hybrids. The proposed dual-band 90deg and 180deg hybrids achieve 10% and 43.7% size reduction, respectively, compared to conventional microstrip couplers in the lower band of the dual-frequency operation. In addition, the fabricated 180deg hybrid is shown to have enhanced bandwidth performance in both isolation and 3-dB magnitude balance. The combination of either of the proposed couplers with the proposed dual-band CRLH-based delay line enables antenna pattern diversity with distinct beam patterns in dual bands. This serves as an effective dual-band beam pattern diversity system when connected to the antenna array. Moreover, the isolation improvement by cascading the antenna array with this assembly was measured experimentally at two operational bands: 22.7 dB at 1 GHz and 10 dB at 2 GHz.
Mutation rates in cells at different ploidy levels.

Fluctuation tests of the Luria-Delbruck type have been used to examine the frequency of spontaneous variations in cultures of diploid, tetraploid, and octaploid Chinese hamster cells. Resistance to 8-azaguanine and altered response to thermal shock were chosen as marker systems. Mutation frequencies of approximately 10−6 and 10−5 have been estimated for heat resistance and azaguanine resistance respectively. Rates of mutation for these markers remain constant or decline slightly in cells with increasing numbers of chromosome sets. This trend is not in accordance with expectations based on the assumption of dominant, co-dominant, or recessive changes at gene or chromosome levels. It is suggested that at least some variations may arise in somatic cells by stable shifts in phenotypic expression rather than by changes in genetic information.
Children and evidence-based practice.

A brief overview, of the evidence base for diagnosis-specific interventions and comprehensive community-based interventions for children is provided. Exemplary initiatives supported by foundations, states, and the federal government to infuse evidence-based practice (EBP) into treatment settings are identified with their academic collaborators. In order to move child treatment forward so that it is relevant to child and family clients, practitioners, and organizations, a research development model which closes the gap between research and practice is proposed. Finally, an approach to reducing EBP to core practice components for efficient upgrading of clinical skills, treatment planning, and outcomes monitoring is presented for consideration.
The Nucleus Introduced

Now is an opportune moment to address the confluence of cell biological form and function that is the nucleus. Its arrival is especially timely because the recognition that the nucleus is extremely dynamic has now been solidly established as a paradigm shift over the past two decades, and also because we now see on the horizon numerous ways in which organization itself, including gene location and possibly self-organizing bodies, underlies nuclear functions.
Dopamine Receptor Antagonists as New Mode-of-Action Insecticide Leads for Control of Aedes and Culex Mosquito Vectors

Background New mode-of-action insecticides are sought to provide continued control of pesticide resistant arthropod vectors of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). We previously identified antagonists of the AaDOP2 D1-like dopamine receptor (DAR) from the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, with toxicity to Ae. aegypti larvae as leads for novel insecticides. To extend DAR-based insecticide discovery, we evaluated the molecular and pharmacological characteristics of an orthologous DAR target, CqDOP2, from Culex quinquefasciatus, the vector of lymphatic filariasis and West Nile virus. Methods/Results CqDOP2 has 94.7% amino acid identity to AaDOP2 and 28.3% identity to the human D1-like DAR, hD1. CqDOP2 and AaDOP2 exhibited similar pharmacological responses to biogenic amines and DAR antagonists in cell-based assays. The antagonists amitriptyline, amperozide, asenapine, chlorpromazine and doxepin were between 35 to 227-fold more selective at inhibiting the response of CqDOP2 and AaDOP2 in comparison to hD1. Antagonists were toxic to both C. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti larvae, with LC50 values ranging from 41 to 208 μM 72 h post-exposure. Orthologous DOP2 receptors identified from the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, the sand fly, Phlebotomus papatasi and the tsetse fly, Glossina morsitans, had high sequence similarity to CqDOP2 and AaDOP2. Conclusions DAR antagonists represent a putative new insecticide class with activity against C. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti, the two most important mosquito vectors of NTDs. There has been limited change in the sequence and pharmacological properties of the DOP2 DARs of these species since divergence of the tribes Culicini and Aedini. We identified antagonists selective for mosquito versus human DARs and observed a correlation between DAR pharmacology and the in vivo larval toxicity of antagonists. These data demonstrate that sequence similarity can be predictive of target potential. On this basis, we propose expanded insecticide discovery around orthologous DOP2 targets from additional dipteran vectors.
Personalized echocardiography: clinical applications of advanced echocardiography and future directions

Future cardiology practice will be increasingly individualized, and thus to maintain its central role, echocardiography must keep pushing to expand the boundaries of real-time data acquisition from tissue and fluid motion, and yet still provide efficient and timely data analysis that leads to succinct, clear clinical recommendations tailored to each person in our care. In this article, recent efforts to expand echocardiography techniques into an era of increasingly personalized cardiology, including advances in color-coded tissue Doppler, 3D echocardiography and complex exercise stress echocardiography are described. The common metric for success in each of these efforts is the development of robust and institutionally supportable echocardiography protocols for specific cardiology disease populations that currently may be underdiagnosed and/or undertreated. The common result in each case should be the creation of new guidelines that can supplement the current standard protocols advocated by professional e...
Multimodal MRI of Experimental Stroke

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death and the leading cause of long-term disability in USA. Brain imaging data from experimental stroke models and stroke patients have shown that there is often a gradual progression of potentially reversible ischemic injury toward infarction. Reestablishing tissue perfusion and/or treating with neuroprotective drugs in a timely fashion are expected to salvage some ischemic tissues. Diffusion-weighted imaging based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in which contrast is based on water motion can detect ischemic injury within minutes after onsets, whereas computed tomography and other imaging modalities fail to detect stroke injury for at least a few hours. Along with quantitative perfusion imaging, the perfusion–diffusion mismatch which approximates the ischemic penumbra could be imaged noninvasively. This review describes recent progresses in the development and application of multimodal MRI and image analysis techniques to study ischemic tissue at risk in experimental stroke in rats.
Two dimensional encrypted optical steganography based on amplified spontaneous emission noise

We demonstrate an optical steganography method with two dimensional encryption to dramatically improve the privacy of optical networks. The transmitted stealth signal carried by noise is secretly hidden under the public channel.
Can Nonprofit Management Help Answer Public Management’s “Big Questions”?

Are the fields of nonprofit management and public management naturally complementary, or are they substitutes? Briefly surveying the nonprofit literature on board governance, volunteer management, and performance measurement, the author shows that study of the third sector can help inform public management’s “big questions”. As such, nonprofit studies and scholarship should represent an improvement to public administration curricula and a fertile source of ideas for public managers.
Something fishy? News media presentation of complex health issues related to fish consumption guidelines.

Objective: The news media are an important source of dietary information. Understanding news content, particularly the portrayal of risks and benefits of certain foods, is relevant for effective public health communication. Fish consumption may reduce risk for CVD and aid neonatal development, but recent work shows public confusion about the benefits of fish, challenged by the evidence of mercury and other contaminants in fish. We present an analysis of the messages about fish in US news media over 15 years, identifying trends in coverage and highlighting implications of current messaging. Design: We conducted a descriptive text analysis and coded for manifest content: locality of focus, story frame, reference to studies, inclusion of government guidelines and portrayal of uncertainty. We identified chronological patterns and analysed the data for statistically significant relationships between media source and content. Setting: News stories were selected from five daily newspapers and five television networks (1993-2007). Subjects: We analysed 310 health-related news stories on fish. Results: Risk messages outweighed benefit messages four to one, and health benefits only became prominent after 2002. No difference existed in coverage topic by news source. Fish consumption has increasingly become a national issue. Conclusions: With the bulk of messages about fish consumption focused on risk, the benefits may be lost to consumers. This gap creates a need for public health to work with news media to more effectively communicate benefits and risks around fish consumption and health and to consider options for communicating tailored information where it can be more readily utilised.
Studies on the transfer of lymph node cells. III. Effects of variation in the interval between the injection of antigen into the donor and collection of its lymph node cells.

At various intervals, from 10 minutes to 21 days, after the injection of dysentery bacilli into the hind foot pads of rabbits the popliteal lymph nodes were excised. The cells of the lymph nodes were teased free, washed, and injected intravenously into normal rabbits. In each case aliquots of the same cell suspension were either incubated at 37°C. for 24 hours or heated at 52°C. for 20 minutes and then injected into other normal rabbits, as controls. In the case of lymph node cells obtained 4 or 3 days after the injection of antigen, antibody was found in the serum of recipients on the 1st day after the transfer of untreated cells. The titer increased until the 3rd day and then began to decline after the 5th or 7th day. In the sera of recipients of incubated cells antibody was not found, except on occasion after the 4th day and in low titer. This late appearance of antibody was attributed to the presence of small amounts of antigen in the original cell suspension. As the interval between injection of antigen and collection of cells was increased beyond 4 days the effectiveness of the transfer decreased progressively until at 14 days no transfer effect was obtained. When cells which were obtained 2 days after the injection of antigen were transferred, antibody appeared on the 2nd day after transfer and then followed the characteristic curve, whereas in the case of incubated cells antibody did not appear until the 3rd day after transfer. After the transfer of untreated 1 day cells antibody did not appear in the recipient until the 3rd day, and then followed the type of curve seen with 2, 3, and 4 day cells. Following transfer of incubated 1 day cells antibody also appeared on the 3rd day. To establish the possibility of eliciting the cell transfer effect as early as 1 day after the injection of dysentery bacilli, recipient rabbits were x-irradiated 24 hours prior to the injection of cells. It was found that in the sera of such recipients of untreated cells antibody appeared on the 3rd day following transfer, while irradiated recipients of incubated cells did not develop any measurable amounts of agglutinin for the first 10 days. It was concluded that a total of 3 days was required between the injection of antigen into the donor and the appearance of measurable antibody in the serum of the recipient, regardless of the fraction of that time spent by the cells in each of the animals involved, donor or recipient. Following the transfer of untreated cells removed from lymph node as early as 10 minutes after the injection of antigen distal to them, antibody could be found in the sera of x-irradiated recipients 4 days later, whereas antibody did not appear following the transfer of heated cells to such recipients.
Snodgrass hypospadias repair with vascularized dartos flap: the perfect repair for virgin cases of hypospadias?

ABSTRACTPurpose: Since its introduction, the Snodgrass hypospadias repair has been applied to virtually all forms of hypospadias repair. However, fistula rates have still been reported to be as high as 5% from large center, multiple surgeon studies and 16% from smaller center studies. We report on the use of the Snodgrass repair in conjunction with routine use of a vascularized dartos flap and 2-layer closure of the neourethra from multiple institutions.Materials and Methods: Records of patients who underwent a primary 1-stage hypospadias repair with the Snodgrass technique in conjunction with vascularized dartos flap coverage were reviewed. Nearly identical surgical technique was used by all 6 surgeons in each case, which included a 2-layer closure of the neourethra, preservation of the well vascularized periurethral tissue and routine use of vascularized dartos flap coverage. A total of 514 cases were identified, including 414 with distal and 100 with midshaft or proximal hypospadias. Stents were used i...
Freeway speed limits and traffic fatalities in Washington State.

Abstract Background: In 1987 individual states in the USA were allowed to raise speed limits on rural freeways from 55 to 65 mph. Analyses of the impact of the increased speed limits on highway safety have produced conflicting results. Objective: To determine if the 1987 speed limit increase on Washington State's rural freeways affected the incidence of fatal crashes or all crashes on rural freeways, or affected average vehicle speeds or speed variance. Design: An ecological study of crashes and vehicle speeds on Washington State freeways from 1974 through 1994. Results: The incidence of fatal crashes more than doubled after 1987, compared with what would have been expected if there had been no speed limit increase, rate ratio 2.1 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.6–2.7). This resulted in an excess of 26.4 deaths per year on rural freeways in Washington State. The total crash rate did not change substantially, rate ratio 1.1 (95% CI, 1.0–1.3). Average vehicle speed increased by 5.5 mph. Speed variance was not affected by the speed limit increase. Conclusions: The speed limit increase was associated with a higher fatal crash rate and more deaths on freeways in Washington State.
Unsupervised learning of sparse features for scalable audio classification

In this work we present a system to automatically learn features from audio in an unsupervised manner. Our method first learns an overcomplete dictionary which can be used to sparsely decompose log-scaled spectrograms. It then trains an efficient encoder which quickly maps new inputs to approximations of their sparse representations using the learned dictionary. This avoids expensive iterative procedures usually required to infer sparse codes. We then use these sparse codes as inputs for a linear Support Vector Machine (SVM). Our system achieves 83.4% accuracy in predicting genres on the GTZAN dataset, which is competitive with current state-of-the-art approaches. Furthermore, the use of a simple linear classifier combined with a fast feature extraction system allows our approach to scale well to large datasets.
A numerical study of magnetic resonance images of pulsatile flow in a two dimensional carotid bifurcation:A numerical study of MR images

A numerical method to simulate magnetic resonance angiographic images is proposed. The new method greatly simplifies the calculation of the average phase in a voxel, the bottleneck of previous simulations, and reduces the computation time by more than a factor of 5. Both the Navier-Stokes and the Bloch equations are solved on the same mesh to obtain the distributions of the modulus and phase of the magnetization. The data in the frequency domain are reordered according to the gating strategy to generate the final images. Pulsatile flow through a 2D normal carotid bifurcation is considered as a test case. Images for magnetic resonance angiography with an uncompensated gradient waveform, a velocity-compensated gradient waveform and an uncompensated short-TE gradient waveform are compared. Systolic gating images are shown to have degraded image quality. Images acquired with diastolic-gating have little variation in magnetization strength throughout the pulsatile cycle and provide a better representation of the vessel lumen.
Augmenting amyloid PET interpretations with quantitative information improves consistency of cerebral amyloid detection

James B. Leverenz, Osama Sabri, Ana M. Catafau, Henryk Barthel, John Seibyl, Bernardino Ghetti, James W. Ironside, Santiago Bullich, Walter J. Schulz-Schaeffer, Anja Hoffman, Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute, Cleveland, OH, USA; University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany; Piramal Imaging GmbH, Berlin, Germany; Molecular NeuroImaging, New Haven, CT, USA; Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland; Georg-August University G€ottingen, G€ottingen, Germany; Bayer Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany. Contact e-mail: leverej@ccf.org
The Benefits of College Athletic Success: An Application of the Propensity Score Design

Spending on big-time college athletics is often justified on the grounds that athletic success attracts students and raises donations. We exploit data on bookmaker spreads to estimate the probability of winning each game for college football teams. We then condition on these probabilities using a propensity score design to estimate the effects of winning on donations, applications, and enrollment. The resulting estimates represent causal effects under the assumption that, conditional on bookmaker spreads, winning is uncorrelated with potential outcomes. We find that winning reduces acceptance rates and increases donations, applications, academic reputation, in-state enrollment, and incoming SAT scores.
LOCAL VARIATION IN THE GENETIC BASIS OF PAEDOMORPHOSIS IN THE SALAMANDER AMBYSTOMA TALPOIDEUM.

The hypothesis that local isolated populations differed in the genetic basis for life-history traits was tested in the salamander Ambystoma talpoideum. Genetic basis was defined as the specific genetic architecture (additive and nonadditive) that contributes, along with maternal and environmental factors, to the phenotype. All crosses within and between three populations were made to produce nine F1 populations. Nine within-population crosses produced the F2 generation. This design does not permit an estimation of the exact nature of the genetic basis (e.g., additive, nonadditive) for any trait within populations. However, hybrid dissimilarity in the F2 generation was taken as evidence of a different genetic basis for a trait in each population. The genetic basis of life-history pathway (metamorphosis vs. paedomorphosis) and per capita fecundity differed between two populations. The genetic basis of life-history pathway, per capita fecundity, survival, and growth rate was similar between the remaining sets of populations. This study and related ones (Semlitsch and Wilbur, 1989; Semlitsch et al., 1990) suggest that a heterochronic shift that causes rapid morphological evolution between metamorphosis and paedomorphosis (a macroevolutionary pattern) can evolve independently and does not require a macromutation or other nonmicroevolutionary mechanisms.
Laboratory suggestion: a practical stain for routine use with the automatic hematology slide stainer.

A modification of the classical Wright’s stain which can be adapted for use with automatic hematology slide stainers is described. The stain is made with Wilson’s stain (dry powder) and it is used with a phosphate buffer (pH 6.4) and a buffered wash containing Tween 80 and alcohol. The staining solutions, which can be made easily and inexpensively, replace the more expensive commercial staining packs.
Experiments with X-rays on the Roles of Lymphocytes and Body Temperatures in the Resistance of Chicks to Salmonella Pullorum

Abstract EVIDENCE that body temperature and its related control mechanisms are largely responsible for differences in resistance of young chicks to S. pullorum has been presented by Scholes and Hutt (1942). Roberts, Severens, and Card (1939) found chicks from a strain comparatively resistant to S. pullorum to have a greater proportion of lymphocytes than chicks of a susceptible strain from the eighteenth day of incubation through the third day following hatching, and suggested that differences in the number of lymphocytes are responsible for differences in resistance to S. pullorum. As a confirmation of this hypothesis, chicks exposed either at one day or at six days of age to an X-ray treatment were found to have a reduction in the number of lymphocytes from the second to fourth day following exposure. The resistance of these chicks to S. pullorum was reduced. However, since the entire chick was exposed to X-ray treatment and . . .
Mentoring as Socialization for the Educational Leadership Professoriate: A Collaborative Autoethnography

In this study, we analyzed the experiences of an educational leadership doctoral student and aspirant to the professoriate (protege) and an educational leadership professor (mentor) during our two-year mentoring relationship. Collaborative autoethnography was employed, and our analysis relied primarily upon a process-oriented model of mentoring. Four main themes emerged: (a) reciprocal trust, (b) experiential learning, (c) stability and change, and (d) mutual benefit. Our relationship also was marked by several critical features, and we described the timing and sequence of the socialization experience. This productive mentoring relationship offers a detailed model for doctoral students and faculty members who wish to pursue a similar relationship. From our research, we also contribute to the broader mentoring literature, in which previous researchers have rarely delved simultaneously into mentor and protege experiences. Scholars who study mentoring will gain from insights into the manner in which anticipa...
Epistemics and Expertise in Peer Tutoring Interactions: Co-Constructing Knowledge of Spanish.

Peer tutoring is viewed as a valuable component of additional language learning due to the presence of a more knowledgeable interlocutor. Yet researchers and language program directors alike often ignore the linguistic and cultural differences that peer tutors possess, instead categorizing them homogeneously as 'experts' or 'native speakers.' In this article, I use a case study to closely examine how knowledge is negotiated in one peer tutoring cohort. Grounding my analysis in ethnomethodological and linguistic anthropological notions of epistemics and expertise, I show how one peer tutor drew from various embodied, artifactual, and historical resources in order to negotiate lexical gaps and position herself as an expert in the target language. At the same time, I demonstrate how essentialist ideologies help construct a language expert by highlighting the learners' alignments to the tutor's epistemic stance as knower, even when faced with conflicting information. These findings question the ways knowledge and expertise are traditionally perceived in peer tutoring and other additional language learning contexts, emphasize the need for training peer tutors in cooperative learning methods and articulating their knowledge with that from the classroom setting, and highlight the complex ideologies that surround the 'right to know' a target language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Regional differences in recommended cancer treatment for the elderly

Little is known about regional variation in cancer treatment and its determinants. We compare rates of adherence to treatment guidelines for elderly patients across Texas and whether local specialist supply is an important determinant of treatment variation. Previous literature reviewed indicated 7 recommended courses of treatment for colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer. We analyzed Texas Cancer Registry data linked with Medicare claims for the years 2004 to 2007 to study patients with these cancers. We tested for unadjusted and adjusted differences in treatment rates across 22 hospital referral regions (HRR). We tested whether variation in the local supply of specialists treating each cancer was an important determinant of treatment. We found significant differences in adjusted treatment rates across regions. For removal and examination of 12+ lymph nodes with colon cancer resection, 13 of 22 HRRs had rates significantly different from the median region. For adjuvant chemotherapy for regional colon cancer, five HRRs significantly differed from the median. For prostate cancer treatment with a favorable diagnosis, nine HRRs differed from the median HRR. Of the 7 treatments, only the local availability of surgeons was an important determinant for excision of lymph nodes for colon cancer patients. There are significant variations across Texas for seven recommended cancer treatments. No one region has consistently higher or lower treatments than other regions, and local specialist supply is not an important predictor of treatment. Different factors may be determining regional variation in treatment rates across cancer types and treatment options.
Cantor and Fatou dusts; self-squared dragons

Chapter foreword (2003). This chapter reproduces Chapter 19 of M 1982F, with a few additions clearly marked as such: Plate C5 of M 1982F (identical to its jacket) and a paragraph and a few illustrations from M 1985g that fit here better than they would elsewhere in this book.
2 Stifled Voice

Sorensen reads Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as an attempt to redress the exclusion of black women from folk authorship. In so doing he provides a new approach to the novel’s long-recognized thematization of the protagonist’s struggle for a voice. As in Kang’s work the protagonist’s search for voice and authorship gets conflated with a quest for love. Although the novel makes Janie’s act of storytelling its central action, Sorensen shows that her story remains contained and isolated, raising the troubling suggestion that such acts of storytelling do not have access to the conversation about modernity in which they seek to intervene.
Direct Numerical Simulation of Turbulence Collapse and Rebirth in Stably Stratified Ekman Flow

Direct numerical simulations of an Ekman layer are performed to study flow evolution during the response of an initially neutral boundary layer to stable stratification. The Obukhov length, L, is varied among cases by imposing a range of stable buoyancy fluxes at the surface to mimic ground cooling. The imposition of constant surface buoyancy flux , i.e. constant-flux stability, leads to a buoyancy difference between the ground and background that tends to increase with time, unlike the constant-temperature stability case where a constant surface temperature is imposed. The initial collapse of turbulence in the surface layer owing to surface cooling that occurs over a time scale proportional to $$L/u_*$$ , where $$u_*$$ is the friction velocity, is followed by turbulence recovery. The flow accelerates, and a “low-level jet” (LLJ) with inertial oscillations forms during the turbulence collapse. Turbulence statistics and budgets are examined to understand the recovery of turbulence. Vertical turbulence exchange, primarily by pressure transport, is found to initiate fluctuations in the surface layer and there is rebirth of turbulence through enhanced turbulence production as the LLJ shear increases. The turbulence recovery is not monotonic and exhibits temporal intermittency with several collapse/rebirth episodes. The boundary layer adjusts to an increase in the surface buoyancy flux by increased super-geostrophic velocity and surface stress such that the Obukhov length becomes similar among the cases and sufficiently large to allow fluctuations with sustained momentum and heat fluxes. The eventual state of fluctuations, achieved after about two inertial periods ( $$ft \approx 4\pi $$ ), corresponds to global intermittency with turbulent patches in an otherwise quiescent background. Our simplified configuration is sufficient to identify turbulence collapse and rebirth, global and temporal intermittency, as well as formation of low-level jets, as in observations of the stratified atmospheric boundary layer.
Potentially Prebiotic Synthesis of α-Amino Thioacids in Water

Although thioacids have been proposed as acylating agents and energy carriers in the context of prebiotic chemical evolution, there has been little exploration of their synthesis in an aqueous, abiotic setting. Here we report that α-amino thioacids are generated from α-amino acids in water in the presence of carbonyl sulfide (COS), a component of volcanic and deep sea vent emissions. Traces of thioacid are formed when amino acids react with COS alone in water, with the required sulfide presumably originating from COS decomposition. Higher yields of thioacid are observed when sulfide ions are added exogenously to the reactions. The proposed mechanism involves activation of the amino acid to an N-carboxyanhydride (NCA) mediated by COS. Our data shows that COS also catalyzes the hydrolysis of α-amino thioacids, so the observed yields are a net of thioacid synthesis and breakdown. Although the NCA has been a topic of research for decades, this is the first report to our knowledge of NCA-mediated thioacid formation in water. These findings broaden the scope of reactions mediated by COS, suggesting a mechanism by which peptide formation, phosphate activation and phosphorylation, and the syntheses of aminoacyl thioacids, could have shared a common pathway on the prebiotic Earth.