cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the prediction of toxic fumes from underground blasting operations and dilution ventilation. Conventional and numerical models

Abstract One of the techniques used to excavate tunnels and underground spaces is the drilling and blasting method. Blasting is an intermittent activity and the concentration of contaminants in the affected parts often greatly exceeds the maximum concentrations (Time-Weighted Average and Ceiling Limit) for a period of time until the fumes are diluted by the ventilation currents. There are different algorithms for calculation of gas clearance after blasting in development headings. As seen in Torno et al. (2013), these models are only appropriate when the area of the gallery, the auxiliary ventilation system and the mass of explosive used are very close to the characteristics of the tests conducted from which the mentioned algorithms were obtained. With re-entry time after blasting in a development heading of 30 min of difference between some models and others. The first aim of this study was to develop algorithms based on experimental measurements and to include the fundamental parameters of dilution directly in these algorithms: cross-sectional area of the drive (area of the face advance), mass of explosive used in the blast, time for the air to clear, distance from the end of the ventilation duct to the face and quantity of air sweeping the face (flow of the auxiliary ventilation). Models indicating re-entry times of 32 and 5 min for the particular conditions of the studied zone. The second aim of this study was to develop 4D models of gas behaviour by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). CFD model results were validated and compared with experimental measurements and with the mathematical algorithms developed in this study. Based on these CFD models, other dilution behaviour models of blasting gases can be developed for other cross-sectional areas, other mass of explosive and other ventilation parameters. These mathematical algorithms and CFD models represent powerful tools to be able to analyse dilution of fumes by the ventilation and re-entry of the workers after blasting in a development heading (third aim of this study). In the first two aims the test gallery had a section of 12 m2 and CO was the gas analysed. The third aim was carried out in a tunnel of 67 m2 and NO2 was the gas analysed. The results obtained prove the importance of the analysis by Computational Fluid Dynamics.
Design, simulation, and fabrication of three-dimensional microsystem components using grayscale photolithography

Grayscale lithography is a widely known but underutilized microfabrication technique for creating three-dimensional (3-D) microstructures in photoresist. One of the hurdles for its widespread use is that developing the grayscale photolithography masks can be time-consuming and costly since it often requires an iterative process, especially for complex geometries. We discuss the use of PROLITH, a lithography simulation tool, to predict 3-D photoresist profiles from grayscale mask designs. Several examples of optical microsystems and microelectromechanical systems where PROLITH was used to validate the mask design prior to implementation in the microfabrication process are presented. In all examples, PROLITH was able to accurately and quantitatively predict resist profiles, which reduced both design time and the number of trial photomasks, effectively reducing the cost of component fabrication.
Deep learning in clinical natural language processing: a methodical review.

Objective This article methodically reviews the literature on deep learning (DL) for natural language processing (NLP) in the clinical domain, providing quantitative analysis to answer 3 research questions concerning methods, scope, and context of current research. Materials and methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, the Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library, and the Association for Computational Linguistics Anthology for articles using DL-based approaches to NLP problems in electronic health records. After screening 1,737 articles, we collected data on 25 variables across 212 papers. Results DL in clinical NLP publications more than doubled each year, through 2018. Recurrent neural networks (60.8%) and word2vec embeddings (74.1%) were the most popular methods; the information extraction tasks of text classification, named entity recognition, and relation extraction were dominant (89.2%). However, there was a "long tail" of other methods and specific tasks. Most contributions were methodological variants or applications, but 20.8% were new methods of some kind. The earliest adopters were in the NLP community, but the medical informatics community was the most prolific. Discussion Our analysis shows growing acceptance of deep learning as a baseline for NLP research, and of DL-based NLP in the medical community. A number of common associations were substantiated (eg, the preference of recurrent neural networks for sequence-labeling named entity recognition), while others were surprisingly nuanced (eg, the scarcity of French language clinical NLP with deep learning). Conclusion Deep learning has not yet fully penetrated clinical NLP and is growing rapidly. This review highlighted both the popular and unique trends in this active field.
Katolickie szkolnictwo wyższe w dwudziestym pierwszym wieku. Spojrzenie z perspektywy Stanów Zjednoczonych

The research, scholarly synthesis, and teaching conducted in a Catholic university are crucial to the dialogue the Church conducts with the cultures of our time, which is essential to the future of the Church and of the world. Their fruitful pursuit depends on unconditional commitment to the truth, both on the immediate subject of study and at the deeper levels of human existence in which freedom, justice, and human dignity are grounded. A significant consequence of the worldwide Second Vatican Council for Catholic colleges and universities was a new understanding of the Christian calling of the laity, in light of diminishing numbers in the vowed religious congregations. To the extent that the Catholicity of the colleges had largely been seen as the charge of the sponsoring religious community, there was a widening gap between the profession of faith and available human resources. Further, a move from ownership of colleges and universities by religious congregations to the installation of lay boards of trustees—without requiring any special introduction of lay trustees to the church-related history and commitment intrinsic to the colleges—was at first not appreciated. Consequently, due to these and other factors, Catholic colleges and universities found that they could no longer take for granted the religious character of their institutions. They could no longer assume that the values and goals professed by the institutional mission were spontaneously implemented in practice. In response to these growing concerns, Pope John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae. This document identified the common characteristics of all Catholic colleges and universities. In the introduction to Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Pope John Paul II reflects personally on his own experience as a university professor of philosophy. He portrays the Catholic university as a place where the encounter of faith and reason is taken seriously and pursued into the great complexity of contemporary science, philosophy, social sciences, and so forth. He acknowledges that this involves creativity. Hence, there is bound to be some experimentation, some trial and error, some wrestling with the ways in which secular knowledge is incorporated into the way Catholics see everything by the light of faith.
The Continuing Relevance of Conventional Deterrence

This chapter examines the theoretical principles that underpin conventional deterrence and its evolution in practice over the past century. It disaggregates conventional deterrence approaches into four strategic categories based on their geographic scope and the nature of the threats they employ, and focuses in particular on strategies of punishment through resistance to an invader on the battlefield. It concludes with an assessment of the strengths and limitations of conventional and nuclear deterrence, and a set of summary principles for conventional deterrence strategy makers.
An Interpolation Method to Reduce the Computational Time in the Stochastic Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Modeling of Spatially Dense XCO 2 Retrievals.

A growing constellation of satellites is providing near-global coverage of column-averaged CO2 observations. Launched in 2019, NASA's OCO-3 instrument is set to provide XCO2 observations at a high spatial and temporal resolution for regional domains (100 × 100 km). The atmospheric column version of the Stochastic Time-Inverted Lagrangian Transport (X-STILT) model is an established method of determining the influence of upwind sources on column measurements of the atmosphere, providing a means of analysis for current OCO-3 observations and future space-based column-observing missions. However, OCO-3 is expected to provide hundreds of soundings per targeted observation, straining this already computationally intensive technique. This work proposes a novel scheme to be used with the X-STILT model to generate upwind influence footprints with less computational expense. The method uses X-STILT generated influence footprints from a key subset of OCO-3 soundings. A nonlinear weighted averaging is applied to these footprints to construct additional footprints for the remaining soundings. The effects of subset selection, meteorological data, and topography are investigated for two test sites: Los Angeles, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The computational time required to model the source sensitivities for OCO-3 interpretation was reduced by 62% and 78% with errors smaller than other previously acknowledged uncertainties in the modeling system (OCO-3 retrieval error, atmospheric transport error, prior emissions error, etc.). Limitations and future applications for future CO2 missions are also discussed.
Extraterritorial Damages in Copyright Law

A recurring fact pattern in U.S. copyright infringement litigation involves a defendant who makes an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted work, in the United States; exports it to another country, where it is used to generate additional copies; and then profits from the use or sale of these copies (outside the United States). Under these circumstances, the question sometimes arises whether a U.S. court can award damages or profits reflecting the foreign uses and sales, without overstepping traditional territorial limitations on the application of U.S. copyright law. Several courts, over the years, have concluded that the answer is yes, as long as the initial act of U.S. infringement is what enables the subsequent foreign exploitation. In this article, I argue that this “predicate act” doctrine is largely correct, both doctrinally and as a matter of policy, though subject to certain limitations. More specifically, I argue that, if the defendant proves that it could have exploited the work in another country by employing a cognizable noninfringing alternative to the predicate act of domestic infringement—for example, by acquiring a lawfully-made copy in the U.S. and exporting that copy for further use abroad—the only damages or profits that are properly attributable to the U.S. infringement are those that reflect the incremental loss or benefit occasioned by the defendant’s avoidance of this alternative. In such a case, consistent with the territoriality principle, the amount awarded specifically for the U.S. infringement may be minimal—though U.S. courts should be receptive to exercising jurisdiction over supplemental claims arising under foreign copyright law, and where appropriate awarding monetary relief under foreign law. In other cases, by contrast, where the defendant could not have engaged in the foreign activity without a predicate act of U.S. infringement, the courts are right to award damages or profits reflecting the foreign exploitation, albeit subject to traditional proximate cause principles and to the single recovery rule. Application of these standards will enable courts to abide by the territorial limitations of U.S. copyright law while at the same time ensuring full compensation, as the facts warrant.
Judicial Consensus: Why the Supreme Court Should Decide Its Cases Unanimously

Like Congress and other deliberative bodies, the Supreme Court decides its cases by majority vote. If at least five out of the nine justices come to an agreement, their view prevails. But why is that the case? Majority voting for the Court is not spelled out in the Constitution, a federal statute, or Supreme Court rules. Nor it is obvious that the Court should decide by a majority vote. When political decisions are made, it makes sense to follow the majority. The general will of the public ought to govern. But judicial decisions are not supposed to reflect popular sentiment. Rather, they must respect the rule of law. Thus, on many matters, courts override the preferences of the majority to protect the rights of the minority. Moreover, juries in the United States decide their cases unanimously. As the Supreme Court has recognized, it is important for jury decisions to emerge from a deliberative process that represents the views of the entire community. For the same reasons why it is important for juries to decide cases unanimously, so is it important for the Supreme Court, as well as other appellate courts, to decide cases unanimously. In particular, unanimous decisions would be better decisions, and they would be fairer decisions. They would be better because they would take into account a broader range of relevant perspectives, and they would be fairer because they would reflect the views of both sides of the ideological spectrum. Deciding cases by consensus would not be new for the Supreme Court. For most of its history, it operated under a norm of consensus, with dissenting opinions being written infrequently. This article will make several points, which have gone almost entirely unrecognized to date: (1) Majority voting does not make sense on an appellate court, (2) majority voting on an appellate court violates principles of due process, and (3) unanimous decisions promote the quality and fairness of judicial decision-making by ensuring that decisions reflect a broad range of perspectives. In addition, (4) unanimous decision making reflects the original intent of the Framers, (5) it is consistent with Supreme Court precedent, and (6) the experience of the Supreme Court, juries, and other decision-making bodies indicates that a rule of unanimity can work well.
CRISPR: Move beyond differences

Researchers and ethicists need to see past what can seem to be gendered debates when it comes to the governance of biotechnology, says Charis Thompson.
Analysis of dihydrocodeine in urine using Sep-Pak C18 cartridges for sample cleanup.

A rapid and precise method for the isolation and identification of dihydrocodeine from urine is reported. The narcotic is isolated from urine using Sep-Pak® C18 cartridges for cleanup, requiring less than 30 min for preparation. Identification is performed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.
Older adults' influence in family care: how do daughters and aging parents navigate differences in care goals?

Objective: This study seeks to address how older adults influence their daily care when their preferences conflict with those of their adult daughter caregivers.Method: Using a sample of 10 dyads (N = 20) of an older adult and adult daughter, we utilize content analysis strategies to analyze in-depth, semi-structured interview data with QSR NVIVO to investigate how older adults influence their care, how daughters respond to such efforts of influence, and how dyads navigate differences in care goals.Results: When there is agreement in goals, dyads report tasks going well and both individuals’ requests are honored. When there are differences in care goals, daughters most frequently reason with their older parents, while parents walk away or ‘let go’ of their requests. Daughters report making decisions for their parents for health or safety-related needs. However, all dyads discuss differences in care goals, whereby parents are perceived as insisting, resisting, or persisting in care.Conclusion: Findings ill...
The FELIX Experiments: Measurements of Electromagnetic Effects*

Three major series of experiments have been conducted with the FELIX facility at ANL. Experiments on the coupling between eddy currents and angular displacements of loops and plates in crossed constant and changing magnetic fields demonstrated that the coupling effects reduced the peak currents and deflections. These experiments were carried out by a team of investigators from Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and ANL and are reported elsewhere. Experiments measuring eddy current effects in flat plates provided data to validate 2-D and 3-D eddy current computer codes. Experiments measuring eddy current effects in hollow cylinders with different ratios of thickness to diameter explored the limitations of using 2-D codes to model 3-D geometries. The plate and cylinder experiments are described in detail.
Scale Space Technique for Word Segmentation in Handwritten Documents

Indexing large archives of historical manuscripts, like the papers of George Washington, is required to allow rapid perusal by scholars and researchers who wish to consult the original manuscripts. Presently, such large archives are indexed manually. Since optical character recognition (OCR) works poorly with handwriting, a scheme based on matching word images called word spotting has been suggested previously for indexing such documents. The important steps in this scheme are segmentation of a document page into words and creation of lists containing instances of the same word by word image matching. We have developed a novel methodology for segmenting handwritten document images by analyzing the extent of "blobs" in a scale space representationof the image. We believe this is the first application of scale space to this problem. The algorithm has been applied to around 30 grey level images randomly picked from Different sections of the George Washington corpus of 6,400 handwritten document images. An accuracy of 77-96 percent was observed with an average accuracy of around 87 percent. The algorithm works well in the presence of noise, shine through and other artifacts which may arise due aging and degradation of the page over a couple of centuries or through the man made processes of photocopying and scanning.
Thin, acoustic lenses applied in 64-beam, 750-kHz diver-held sonar

Divers and small submersibles often need to find and identify objects and sense the terrain in turbid water. This paper discusses a prototype, diver-held imaging sonar that uses aspherical lenses instead of an electronic beamformer. The lenses and transducer array acoustically form 64 fan beams. The central 32 beams are each 0.5/spl deg/ in azimuth and 10/spl deg/ in elevation. The outer 32 beams are 0.75/spl deg/ in azimuth and 10/spl deg/ in elevation. Each beam ensonifies a narrow stripe on the bottom; together they form a sector display covering a 40/spl deg/ field of view. The lenses are made of polymethylpentene plastic and RTV60 rubber selected for their acoustic refraction and absorption qualities. The sidelobes of the beams are down 20 dB, and the internal reverberation among the lens elements is down 35 dB. Divers record images digitally in the sonar's memory and with a video recorder patched to the sonar video output. The sonar, including batteries, weighs 16.4 kg in air and operates between 3 and 4 hours on a single charge. A color video display connected to the sonar and mounted on the diver's mask provides the diver with high-resolution acoustic images of objects out to a range of 60 m. The images are updated between six and nine times per second. The sonar also provides auxiliary information such as the diver's location, the locations of marked targets within a 1000 m by 1000 m grid, the water temperature, and the sonar's depth, altitude, and heading. The acoustic lenses allow a tremendous amount of processing to be done acoustically. This allows a smaller, slower, less power-consuming processor and electronics cards.
VoteBox nano: a smaller, stronger FPGA-based voting machine

This paper describes a minimal implementation of a cryptographically secure electronic voting system, built with a low-cost Xilinx FPGA board. This system, called VoteBox Nano, follows the same basic design principles as VoteBox, a full-featured electronic voting system. As with VoteBox, the votes are encrypted using Elgamal homomorphic encryption and the accuracy of the system can be challenged by real voters during an ongoing election. In order to fit within the limits of a minimal FPGA, VoteBox Nano eliminates VoteBox's sophisticated network replication and storage facilities. In return, VoteBox Nano runs without any operating systems or language runtime system, radically shrinking the implementation complexity. VoteBox Nano also integrates a hardware true random number generator, providing improved security for the ballot cryptography. In order to deter hardware tampering, which might be done to compromise the random number generator, the FPGA's native JTAG interface can be used to verify the FPGA's configuration. At boot-time, the proper FPGA configuration also displays a random number on the built-in display. Any interaction with the JTAG interface will replace the random number with another one, allowing poll workers to detect election-day tampering, simply by observing whether the number has changed.
The width of Θ+ for large Nc in chiral quark soliton model

Abstract In the chiral quark soliton model the smallness of Θ+ width is due to the cancellation of the coupling constants which are of different order in Nc. We show that taking properly into account the flavor structure of relevant SU(3) representations for arbitrary number of colors enhances the nonleading term by an additional factor of Nc, making the cancellation consistent with the Nc counting. Moreover, we show that, for the same reason, Θ+ width is suppressed by a group-theoretical factor O (1/N c ) with respect to Δ and discuss the Nc dependence of the phase space factors for these two decays.
Postnatal effects of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) on cardiac lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) isozymes in CD-1 mice.

Abstract Pregnant CD-1 mice were treated with hexachlorobenzene (HCB) by gavage at doses of 0, 1, 10 and 50 mg HCB/kg body weight on days 6–17 of gestation and studied on day 1 or 21 postpartum (pp). Hearts of the dams and pups were assayed for lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) activities and isozyme profiles. LDH and CK activities and CK isozyme profiles were not affected in the dams by HCB treatment, but isozyme LDH-5 was significantly depressed and isozyme LDH-3 significantly increased at the 50 mg/kg dose of HCB on day 1 pp. Hearts of the pups were studied on days 1, 8, 10, 15 and 21 pp. The 50 mg/kg dose level resulted in a statistically significant increased mortality in the pups. The mortality at the other doses showed a dose-related effect. LDH and CK activities and CK isozyme profiles were not affected by HCB exposure in utero. The only isozyme affected was LDH-5 with a statistically significant increase in the 50 mg/kg dose group on day 21 pp.
Single photon counting at telecom wavelength and quantum key distribution

Abstract A brief overview is given of single photon detector performance requirements for quantum cryptography applications. The analysis is made with respect to restrictions necessary to secure the quantum key distribution channel. InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode performance is analysed for single photon counting at 1550 nm. Quantum efficiency, dark current and afterpulsing probability (for times up to 100μs after an initial avalanche) are studied in a wider temperature range than previously reported (0deg; C to –80deg;C). We show that photon counting is a bottle-neck in current quantum key distribution systems and provides the source for future performance improvement.
A room-temperature semiconductor spaser operating near 1.5 μm

Room temperature spasing of surface plasmon polaritons at 1.46 μm wavelength has been demonstrated by sandwiching a gold-film plasmonic waveguide between optically pumped InGaAs quantum-well gain media. The spaser exhibits gain narrowing, the expected transverse-magnetic polarization, and mirror feedback provided by cleaved facets in a 1-mm long cavity fabricated with a flip-chip approach. The 1.06-μm pump-threshold of ~60 kW/cm2 is in good agreement with calculations. The architecture is readily adaptable to all-electrical operation on an integrated microchip.
Intestinal volvulus: aetiology, morbidity and mortality in Tunisian children.

Background: Intestinal volvulus (IV) can occur at various sites of the gastrointestinal tract. In Europe, IV in children is most frequently due to malrotation but in Asia Ascaris infestation is a common cause. This report reviews the experience with IV in children in Tunisia; analyzes the aetiologies as well as the clinical presentations and the benefits of the Ladd's procedure in the treatment of the IV. Patients and Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed the case records of all children with IV from January 2000 to December 2009 at the Tunis Children's Hospital. Results: There were 22 boys and nine girls with an age range of one day to four years. Twenty-five (80%) patients presented during the neonatal period. The most common presentation was bilious vomiting and dehydration. The aetiology was identified in all patients: Anomalies in rotation (n=22), omphalo-mesenteric duct (n=3), internal hernia (n=3), cystic lymphangioma (n=2), caocal volvulus (n=1). The bowel resection rate for gangrene was 16%. All patients with malrotation had Ladd's procedure performed. Five patients (19%) developed wound infections. One patient presented with adhesive small bowel obstruction. There were no recurrences following Ladd's procedure for malrotation. Two neonates (6%) died from overwhelming infections. Intestinal volvulus in our environment differs in aetiology from other reports. The resection rates are not similar, however. Conclusion: Early diagnosis reduced the high morbidity and mortality in our study.
Asymmetric hybrid composite: A design concept to improve flexural properties of Kevlar Aramid composites☆

Abstract Asymmetric hybridization is proposed as a mechnanism for improvement of flexural properties of composites reinforced with Kevlar∗ aramid fiber, where the compressive strength of the fiber is a limiting factor. A calculation based on a bi-material beam model is presented, which determines the placement and arrangement of fibers in a composite such that the stress developed on the tensile side of the composite equals the ultimate tensile strength of Kevlar. An experimental investigation was conducted with asymmetric hybrid composites of J-polymer reinforced with Kevlar and carbon fibers. In the best cases, the observed ultimate flexural and shear strengths were improved by 40% and 25% by comparison with values typically seen for composites of J-polymer and Kevlar.
An ultraviolet photoreceptor in a Dipteran compound eye

Intracellular recordings of the retinula cell receptor potential to flashes of monochromatic light demonstrate the presence of ultraviolet photoreceptors in the retina of the honeybee-mimic dronefly (Diptera, Syrphidae,Eristalis). Photoreceptors for visible light were also found. Hence, the dronefly has the neural capability for color vision. This is consistent with behavioral studies. Color vision would aid this animal in its natural habit of forraging with the honeybee.
Tetravalent americium and curium; the absorption spectra of the tri- and tetrafluorides of these elements

Abstract A technique has been developed for spectral examination of sub-milligramme amounts of solid compounds. The absorption spectra of curium(IV) fluoride and americium(IV) fluoride have been measured. A Cary Model 14M Recording Spectrophotometer was used to record the spectra over the region 3500–20,000 A.
Comparative thermal analysis study of two biopolymers, starch and cellulose

Abstract The degradation of cellulose and starch samples in air and nitrogen has been investigated by thermal analysis techniques. The techniques employed were differential thermal analysis, rising temperature and temperature jump thermogravimetry. Rate data were obtained from these experiments and Arrhenius parameters calculated from these values. This data was used to determine the mechanism by which the cellulose and starch samples degraded. The Arrhenius parameters were also calculated. The behavior of starch and cellulose upon thermal analysis were compared and are reported.E act for corn starch was found to be 474 kJ mol−1 and for a cellulose 242 kJ mol−1.
Typology of alcohol users based on longitudinal patterns of drinking.

Objective Worldwide, alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance. However, heterogeneity among alcohol users has been widely recognized. This paper presents a typology of alcohol users based on an implementation of idiographic methodology to examine longitudinal daily and cyclic (weekly) patterns of alcohol use at the individual level.
Tumor Cell Toxicity of Stable Gallium Nitrate: Enhancement by Transferrin and Protection by Iron*

The cytotoxicity of citrated gallium nitrate (NSC 15200) to EMT-6/UW mouse sarcoma cells growing in vitro was assayed as growth inhibition in treated cultures as well as cell survival (colony-forming ability) after acute or chronic exposure to graded doses. Gallium nitrate is both cytostatic and lethal to cells, with some growth inhibition occurring after chronic exposure to low doses (10 micrograms/ml) which kill essentially no cells. Cell kill and growth inhibition were both observed if cells were exposed for 24 hr or more to doses greater than 50 micrograms/ml. The growth inhibitory and lethal effects of gallium nitrate were enhanced by the addition of human transferrin to the medium. This enhanced toxicity was consistent with, and proportional to, the increased gallium uptake in the presence of transferrin rather than a direct effect of this iron transport protein. The addition of ferric citrate greatly reduced the toxic effect of the gallium salt. Cells in stationary plateau phase cultures appear to be as sensitive to gallium nitrate as exponentially growing cells. Ga3+ may mimic Fe3+ in some aspects of cellular metabolism, and competition between the two metals occurs at the initial uptake step, binding to transferrin, and possibly at other points in cell metabolism.
A challenge to contemporary management of prostate cancer

The report by Bill-Axelson et al. challenges current paradigms for diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Contemporary dogma based on 8-year outcomes holds that early diagnosis and treatment improve survival, but after 12 years' follow-up, this study showed no significant difference in overall survival between men randomly allocated radical prostatectomy and those managed with observation. A modest improvement in prostate-cancer-specific survival was only observed in men with a Gleason score of ≥7 who were 65 years old, are probably best served by active surveillance.
Bivalirudin versus heparin for percutaneous coronary intervention: an updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Abstract Aims Given controversy over anticoagulation regimens for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), we performed an updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to compare bivalirudin versus heparin. Methods and results Medline/Pubmed and Cochrane CENTRAL were searched for all RCTs comparing bivalirudin with provisional glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor (GPI) use versus heparin with provisional or routine GPI use for PCI. Pooled estimates of 30 day outcomes, presented as risk ratios (RR) [95% confidence intervals], were generated with random-effect models. Our analysis included 14 studies with 30,446 patients that were randomized to bivalirudin with provisional GPI use (n = 14,869) versus heparin with provisional (n = 6451) or routine GPI use (n = 9126). There was no significant difference between anticoagulation with bivalirudin compared with heparin for death (RR 0.95 [0.78–1.14]) or myocardial infarction (RR 1.10 [0.97–1.25]). Early stent thrombosis was significantly greater with bivalirudin compared with heparin (RR 1.61 [1.18–2.20], p = 0.003), especially in patients undergoing primary PCI (2.15 [1.15–4.03], p = 0.02). However, bivalirudin reduced the risk of major bleeding (RR 0.59 [0.51–0.70], p Conclusion Meta-analysis of 14 RCTs with 30,446 patients demonstrated that bivalirudin is associated with higher risk of stent thrombosis but lower risk of major bleeding compared with heparin.
Histopathologic Evaluation of Lupus Patients With Transient Renal Failure

Patients with lupus nephritis and severe renal failure progress to end-stage renal disease despite aggressive therapy to suppress immunologic function. Within this group is a small subset presenting with rapid progression of renal failure and requiring dialytic support. We reviewed the clinicopathologic data of four such patients who were able to terminate dialysis after acute renal failure due to lupus nephritis. Three of these patients have remained independent of dialysis up to 4 years, and one patient returned to dialysis 1 month following discontinuation. Although glomerular pathology was variable in the four patients, a lesion common to all at presentation was acute tubular necrosis. It is suggested that tubular necrosis may cause reversible renal failure when part of the nephropathy of disseminated lupus treated with corticosteroids.
Photoinduced electron transfer in a covalent benzo[a] pyrene diol epoxide—2′-deoxyguanosine complex

Abstract The fluorescence of the pyrenyl chromophore in a covalently linked benzo [a] pyrene diol epoxide-N22′-deoxyguanosine complex and in noncovalent 7,8,9,10-tetrahydroxytetrahydrobenzo[a] pyrene—deoxyguanosine complexes, is strongly quenched in aqueous solution by a photoinduced electron transfer mechanism. The results of transient absorption spectroscopy experiments with picosecond laser pulse excitation are consistent with the formation of a short-lived charge transfer exciplex (nanosecond time scale) in which the pyrenyl residue acts as an electron acceptor.
“To not hate”: reconciliation among victims of violence and participants of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (GTRC) was an intervention promoting reconciliation among the victims and community affected by the 1979 Greensboro Massacre in North Carolina. An exploratory qualitative research design was used, in which in‐depth, open‐ended interviews were conducted with victims of the Greensboro Massacre who subsequently participated in the GTRC (n = 17). Findings revealed a typology of reconciliation that includes cognitive–affective, behavioral and social reconciliation. Respondents displayed different orientations in how they prioritized reconciliation with the twin goals of seeking truth and justice. The GTRC did contribute to interpersonal reconciliation, and can be a useful model of communities working to recover from violence. The cognitive–affective, behavioral and social typology of reconciliation can be used to assess other interventions aimed at promoting reconciliation. Individuals’ personal orientations towards reconciliation can also be used to explain d...
Deterring Gang-Involved Gun Violence: Measuring the Impact of Boston’s Operation Ceasefire on Street Gang Behavior

The relatively weak quasi-experimental evaluation design of the original Boston Operation Ceasefire left some uncertainty about the size of the program’s effect on Boston gang violence in the 1990s and did not provide any direct evidence that Boston gangs subjected to the Ceasefire intervention actually changed their offending behaviors. Given the policy influence of the Boston Ceasefire experience, a closer examination of the intervention’s direct effects on street gang violence is needed. A more rigorous quasi-experimental evaluation of a reconstituted Boston Ceasefire program used propensity score matching techniques to develop matched treatment gangs and comparison gangs. Growth-curve regression models were then used to estimate the impact of Ceasefire on gun violence trends for the treatment gangs relative to comparisons gangs. This quasi-experimental evaluation revealed that total shootings involving Boston gangs subjected to the Operation Ceasefire treatment were reduced by a statistically-significant 31 % when compared to total shootings involving matched comparison Boston gangs. Supplementary analyses found that the timing of gun violence reductions for treatment gangs followed the application of the Ceasefire treatment. This evaluation provides some much needed evidence on street gang behavioral change that was lacking in the original Ceasefire evaluation. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that jurisdictions should adopt focused deterrence strategies to control street gang violence problems.
After Appomattox: The guerrilla war that never was

(1997). After Appomattox: The guerrilla war that never was. Small Wars & Insurgencies: Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 52-70.
Targeted lipidomics and drug abuse research

Abstract Contemporaneously with genomics and proteomics technologies, lipidomics may be recognized as the next important emerging technology. The emergence of this important area of “omics” could very well mark the beginning of “the decade of the lipids.” A workshop on lipidomics was held in Washington, DC, by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in April 2004. The goal of the workshop was to bring together scientists working at the frontier of lipid research, to discuss their findings in this area and to promote “lipidomics,” in general, but also with a special focus on its application to drug abuse research and development of therapies to treat addiction.
Bulk gold with hierarchical macro-, micro- and nano-porosity

Abstract Millimeter-sized, free-standing gold structures were created with three levels of multiscale porosity. First, macro- and microporosity, which are useful for mass and heat transport within the structure, are formed within an Ag–19 at.% Au alloy by salt powder replication during powder densification and by entrapped gas expansion during sintering, respectively. Nanoporosity, which provides high surface area, is then produced by silver dealloying of these Ag–19 at.% Au foams. The resulting hierarchical gold structures are annealed at 100–800 °C, thus coarsening the ligaments, increasing relative density, and healing cracks produced during dealloying. The first effect weakens the structure, while the other two make it stronger. A bulk Au sample with hierarchical porosity annealed at 600 °C shows good compressive ductility and a strength in agreement with models.
Engineering design of the TITAN-II divertor

The design of the toroidal-field divertor for the TITAN-II reversed-field-pinch reactor is described. Strong radiation from the core and edge plasma spreads the heat load over the first wall and divertor areas of the high-power-density reactor, and careful shaping of the divertor target plate restricts the maximum heat flux to ~7.5 MW/m2. A further feature leading to manageable heat fluxes is the “open” configuration for the divertor, in which the target plate is located close to the null point to take advantage of the expansion of magnetic flux. The divertor target is constructed from a single material, a tungsten-rhenium alloy, for both the armor and coolant tubes, to avoid stress concentrations which arise at the interface between different materials. This alloy was chosen for its high ductility and good thermal and mechanical properties, which are retained at high temperatures, and for its excellent resistance to erosion by sputtering in the anticipated divertor plasma conditions. Detailed finite-element modeling of the divertor target indicates a peak equivalent thermal stress in the armor of ~500 MPa. Fabrication of the divertor plate is based on brazing the bank of coolant tubes to the armor, all components being manufactured using powder metallurgy techniques. The coolant for the divertor plate ia an aqueous LiNO3 solution, with a lithium atomic percentage of 6.4%, as used throughout the fusion power core. Consideration of the thermal and physical properties of this solution allows coolant conditions to be chosen such that an adequate safety margin for critical heat flux is provided.
Optical and Wetting Properties of Femtosecond Laser Nanostructured Materials

We modify optical and wetting properties of solids using a femtosecond laser surface nanostructuring technique. We demonstrate that this technique allows creating black and color metals. Absorptance of black titanium created in our study is measured to be about 90-97% over a broad wavelength range from the ultraviolet to infrared. Moreover, our technique can be also used for modifying wetting properties of solids. Here, we create a novel surface structure that transforms regular silicon to superwicking. This surface structure makes water run vertically uphill in a gravity defying way. Our study of the liquid motion shows that the extraordinarily strong self-propelling motion of water is due to a capillary effect from the surface structures we created.
Evidence for a major premutagenic ethyldeoxythymidine-DNA adduct in an in vivo system: N-nitroso-N-ethylurea-treated Salmonella typhimurium

Mutagenesis induced by N-nitroso-N-ethylurea (NEU) was assayed in four strains of Salmonella typhimurium which are known to be reverted to histidine prototrophy by mutations at A-T base pairs and by extragenic suppression. NEU-induced revertants were characterized for the presence of extragenic suppressors by their sensitivities to the histidine analogue, thiazolealanine. In strains carrying the plasmid, pKM101, only a small percentage of the revertants was due to suppressors, indicating that NEU gives rise to a major premutagenic adenine or thymidine-DNA adduct. In strains without plasmid, mutagenesis was much less efficient and resulted mainly from suppressors. Apparently error-prone DNA-repair plays an important role in mutagenesis via the A or T-DNA adduct in the plasmid-containing strains. Ethylmethanesulfonate (EMS), a mutagen known to form ethyladenines but not ethylthymidines, induced mutagenesis that resulted mainly from suppressors in all strains, and there was little inter-strain difference in the sensitivity to EMS. Since NEU, but not EMS, forms ethylthymidines in appreciable yield, and only NEU induced high percentages of revertants with mutations at A-T base pairs, it appears that at least one ethylthymidine is a major premutagenic adduct in NEU-induced mutagenesis.
Selective enrichment and fractionation of phosphopeptides from peptide mixtures by isoelectric focusing after methyl esterification.

We have developed a new strategy to enrich and fractionate phosphopeptides from peptide mixtures based on the difference in their isoelectric points (pIs) after methyl esterification. After isoelectric focusing (IEF) of a methylated tryptic digest of a mixture of α-S-casein and β-casein, phosphopeptides were selectively enriched at acidic and neutral pHs while nonphosphopeptides left the focusing gel because their pIs are higher than the upper limit of the immobilized pH gradient. We wrote a web-based program, pIMethylation, to predict the pIs for peptides with and without methyl esterification. Theoretical calculations using pIMethylation indicated that methylated phosphopeptides and non-phosphopeptides can be grouped on the basis of the number of phosphate groups and basic residues in each peptide. Our IEF results were consistent with theoretical pIs of methylated peptides calculated by pIMethylation. We also showed that 2,6-dihydroxy-acetophenone is superior to 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid as a matrix for...
Active annular-beam laser autocollimator system.

An autocollimator using an axicon and a beam expander telescope to generate a 12.5-cm. o.d. annular beam of helium–neon laser light with high (25:1) diameter-to-width ratio has been developed. It is used with a two-axis, electromagnetically actuated mirror assembly to acquire automatically and maintain dynamically autocollimation from a nearby but separately mounted annular mirror. The servo system controls beam alignment even though angular vibratory motions of the annular mirror make it appear to tilt relative to the autocollimator as much as 7 mrad at frequencies below 300 Hz. This paper describes the optical system and the alignment sensing and control system.
Development of a solution adaptive unstructured scheme for quasi-3D inviscid flows through advanced turbomachinery cascades

The objective of the present research is to develop a general solution adaptive scheme for the accurate prediction of inviscid quasi-three-dimensional flow in advanced compressor and turbine designs. The adaptive solution scheme combines an explicit finite-volume time-marching scheme for unstructured triangular meshes and an advancing front triangular mesh scheme with a remeshing procedure for adapting the mesh as the solution evolves. The unstructured flow solver has been tested on a series of two-dimensional airfoil configurations including a three-element analytic test case presented here. Mesh adapted quasi-three-dimensional Euler solutions are presented for three spanwise stations of the NASA rotor 67 transonic fan. Computed solutions are compared with available experimental data.
A d-band bonding theory of the relative heats of solution of transition metal alloys and its relationship to solubility limits

The relative heats of solution of a transition metal in another and vice versa are derived within a Friedel d-band bonding model. The trend found in the heats parallels the trend observed previously in the experimental relative solubilities. The implication of the solubility trend for surface segregation is also discussed.
ZINC BALANCE IN VERY LOW BIRTH WEIGHT PRETERM INFANTS FED OWN MOTHER MILK

Results of zinc balance studies in VLBW preterm infants have been variable, but very negative balance has been reported in infants fed pooled pasteurized human milk (Dauncey et al, Peds Res 11:991-7, 1977). The aim of this study was to determine zinc balance during feeding of own mother's fresh or fresh-frozen milk (MM) and to compare this with balance during formula feeding (FF). Serial 3-day balance studies were conducted in 6 premature infants, 3 males, 3 females (gestational age 27.9 ± 1.9 wks, BW 942 ± 187 g, mean ± SD) on 21 occasions (13 MM, 8 FF) between 2-8 weeks postpartum age (MM 30 ± 13 days, FF 38 ± 14 days). Mean intake, fecal Zn, net absorption (milk Zn - fecal Zn) and balance (milk Zn - [fecal Zn + urine Zn])are expressed as μg Zn/kg body wt/day in the table. Fecal Zn was + correlated with Zn intake (r=0.97, p<0.001). Intake was higher in FF, but net Zn absorption and Zn balance were more negative especially prior to 28 days of age (MM (6) -69 ± 105, FF (2) -313 ± 93, p<0.05). Individual balance results ranged from -239 to +93 for MM and from -374 to +79 for FF. It is concluded that MM is advantageous with respect to Zn status in VLBW infants, especially prior to 1 month of postnatal age.
The changing conception of localism in U.S. public radio

The ambiguity of localism, which provides the rationale for much of U.S. communication policymaking, is highlighted by the increasing centralization of U.S. public radio. This article describes the changing conception of localism in U.S. public radio, from a spatial emphasis — based on traditional geographic notions of community — to a social conception in which community is defined in terms of shared interests, tastes, and values.
Juxtaglomerular cells in renal angiomyolipoma Ultrastructural observation

We have studied a case of renal angiomyolipoma by electron microscopy and found juxtaglomerular cells with typical rhomboid and spherical granules, in addition to smooth muscle cells, fat cells, and abnormal blood vessels. To our knowledge, this is the first ultrastructural demonstration of juxtaglomerular cells in renal angiomyolipoma.