cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PULLOUT BEHAVIOR OF POLYPROPYLENE FIBERS FROM CEMENTITIOUS MATRIX

A comprehensive experimental investigation was performed to understand the pullout behavior of polypropylene fibers from a cementitious matrix. The effect of embedded length on the pullout characteristics, the development of the interfacial bond with age of curing of matrix and the effect of exposure to degrading environments, like seawater and salt water, on the interfacial bond between the fibers and cementitious matrix were studied. The aim of these experiments was to understand the properties of fiber/matrix interface, which are of primary significance in predicting the overall behavior of fiber-reinforced cement-based composites. Polypropylene fibers have a weak bond with cementitious matrix because of smooth surface of fibers, which does not allow for sufficient friction to develop between the two. In this study a new method to improve the frictional bond by means of mechanical indentations of fibers was also proposed. The bonding performance was characterized by means of pullout tests of the plain and modified fibers from a cementitious matrix. An optimum level of fiber modification for maximization of bond efficiency was determined experimentally.
Wildfire in the Taiga of Alaska

The taiga of Alaska consists of a vegetation mosaic resulting primarily from past wildfires. Today, both lightning- and man-caused wildfires burn an average of 400,000 hectares annually, creating vast areas of successional ecosystems. However, although the number of reported fires is increasing, fire control is becoming more effective in limiting the average size of fires and the total area burned. One of the important influences of fire in the taiga ecosystem is its effect on permafrost and the soil nutrient cycle. Construction of firelines in permafrost areas has a greater effect on soil erosion and siltation than does the fire itself. Some wildlife species, such as moose and snowshoe hare, depend upon fire and its resultant successional plant communities, whereas fire may have deleterious effects on caribou winter range. Fire has both positive and negative effects on esthetic and recreational values. Fire has always been a part of the Alaskan taiga ecosystem; if it is totally excluded from the environment, some major ecological changes will result. Fire-suppression alternatives are discussed and additional research on fire effects suggested.
Computer processing of echocardiographic images

Systems for direct computer acquisition of the echo signal and subsequent computerized echocardiogram image processing were constructed. Such systems were used to generate images unobtainable by other techniques and to automatically perform quantitative measurements of cardiac structures (5,6,7). The techniques used in analyzing echocardiograms are discussed, and the complexity of the problems involved is illustrated. A description of how these problems may be solved is included.
Proton affinities of sulfate and bisulfate ions

The decomposition of (NH4)2SO4(s) has been studied by DSC. The decomposition takes place in two steps to produce NH3(g) and NH4HSO4(s) in the first and NH3(g) and H2SO4(g) in the second. Enthalpies for these reactions are 195 and 169 kJ/mole, respectively. These values permit calculation of the proton affinities of SO 4 2− and HSO 4 − , and the values found are 1847 and 1338 kJ/mole, respectively.
The Autoregressive Influence of Social Network Political Knowledge on Voting Behaviour

Social networking has a powerful influence on voters, but we do not know enough about the mechanisms of network influence. Recent research shows that one network member's influence is highly dependent on the others in the network, i.e. autoregressive. I test whether the influence of social network political knowledge is also autoregressive. I show that a strong predictor of vote choice similarity is the level of knowledge of the discussant, but greater knowledge of the other network members lessens dyadic agreement. Data from the American National Election Study collected in 2000 show that in the presidential election of 2000 having a knowledgeable discussant increases the chance of vote similarity with that discussant by 5 percentage points, but vote similarity decreases by 10 percentage points for each level of residual network knowledge. This research confirms the autoregressive influence of social network political knowledge.
The Importance of Prompt Blood Pressure Control

Hypertension affects almost one-third of adults in the United States, but blood pressure is adequately controlled in only about 50% to 60% of persons with treated hypertension. Abundant clinical trial evidence has shown that antihypertensive therapy significantly reduces the risk of vascular events, and meta-analyses of observational and clinical trials have shown that greater reductions in blood pressure are associated with greater reductions in risk. Recent trials have also suggested that prompt control of blood pressure is beneficial in high-risk patients with hypertension. A post hoc analysis of a trial comparing an angiotensin II receptor blocker-based program with a calcium channel blocker-based treatment regimen found that the blood pressure response after 1 month (regardless of the drug used) predicted the risk of vascular events and survival. Therapy with ≥2 medications given separately or as a fixed combination is more likely than monotherapy to lower blood pressure to goal in part because drugs from different classes target different mechanisms that regulate blood pressure. Moreover, the likelihood of achieving blood pressure goals is greater if the time to achieve control is shortened, and prompt control of blood pressure is more likely with multiple-drug therapy than with monotherapy.
Mutations in steroid 21-hydroxylase (CYP21).

The inherited inability to synthesize cortisol is termed congenital adrenal hyperplasia. More than 90% of cases are caused by 21-hydroxylase deficiency. This syndrome is characterized by signs of androgen excess and often mineralocorticoid deficiency. Steroid 21-hydroxylase (P450c2l) is a microsomal enzyme expressed in the adrenal gland that catalyzes conversion of 17-hydroxyprogesterone and progesterone to 11-deoxycortisol and deoxycorticosterone respectively. In man, this enzyme is encoded by the CYP21 (CYP21B) gene which is located in the HLA major histocompatibility complex along with a pseudogene, CYP21P (CYP21A). Mutations in CYP21 causing congenital adrenal hyperplasia are almost all generated by recombinations between CYP21 and CYP21P. These recombinations either delete CYP21 or transfer deleterious mutations from CYP21P to CYP21, a process termed apparent gene conversion. The degree of enzymatic compromise caused by each mutation is correlated with the clinical severity of the deficiency observed in patients carrying that mutation. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
On phonetic convergence during conversational interaction.

Following research that found imitation in single-word shadowing, this study examines the degree to which interacting talkers increase similarity in phonetic repertoire during conversational interaction. Between-talker repetitions of the same lexical items produced in a conversational task were examined for phonetic convergence by asking a separate set of listeners to detect similarity in pronunciation across items in a perceptual task. In general, a listener judged a repeated item spoken by one talker in the task to be more similar to a sample production spoken by the talker’s partner than corresponding pre- and postinteraction utterances. Both the role of a participant in the task and the sex of the pair of talkers affected the degree of convergence. These results suggest that talkers in conversational settings are susceptible to phonetic convergence, which can mark nonlinguistic functions in social discourse and can form the basis for phenomena such as accent change and dialect formation.
Networking of HF Radio Transmission

A potentially valuable implementation of a computer communication network is one which is survivable, and distributed. That is, a system which dynamically adapts to changing network element connectivities, changing interconnections of users, and is not dependent on any central unit for its own internal command and control (i.e., there is no critical central node). A laboratory prototype of such a system has been constructed of a group of computers which when given communication circuits between them will, acting autonomously, create a computer communication network and which will continually adapt to changes in connectivity. This network has been described in previous papers. In this paper, a modification of the adaptive computer communication algorithm, is described which permits the network to function on HF radio, a media which exhibits those characteristics for which adaptive networking is mandatory.
Noninvasively induced postextrasystolic potentiation of ischemic and infarcted myocardium in patients with coronary artery disease

Abstract To evaluate noninvasively-induced postextrasystolic potentiation (PESP) of ischemic or apparently infarcted regions of myocardium, an external mechanical cardiac stimulator (develoepd by Zoll) was used to induce ventricular extrasystoles during M-mode echocardiography in 29 patients with coronary artery disease and in four control subjects. Twenty-five patients had > 75 per cent stenosis of the left anterior descending artery including 13 with ECG evidence of anteroseptal myocardial infarction; 21 patients had > 75 per cent stenosis of the right coronary and/or left circumflex arteries, including 11 with ECG evidence of inferior and/or posterior myocardial infarction. Twenty-four regions with reduced wall excursion showed varying effects of PESP: eight regions improved to the normal range, while 16 did not. Twelve of the latter had ECG evidence of prior infarction. Similarly, regions of asynergy that did not respond at all to PESP were usually, but not always, seen in patients with infarctions. Based on prior ventriculographic-histopathologic correlates, non-responding regions are probably totally scarred with irreversible contraction abnormalities, whereas regions with evidence of contractile reserve are potentially viable. Because the ECG and resting echocardiogram are not totally accurate predictors of contractile reserve, noninvasively induced PESP may be a useful adjunct technique in delineating local contractile reserve in patients with echocardiographic evidence of hypocontractile myocardium of uncertain viability.
Addressing challenges to sustainable development with innovative energy technologies in a competitive electric industry

Radical change in the energy system is essential in the decades immediately ahead in order to address effectively the multiple economic, social, environmental, and insecurity challenges posed by conventional energy. This can come about only through a concerted international effort to speed up the rate of technological innovation worldwide for technologies that offer promise in addressing sustainable development objectives – with particular attention given to developing countries, which account for much of the world's energy demand growth and where problems posed by conventional energy are severe. The effort should be aimed at channeling some of the enormous private-sector financial and technological resources to the development and widespread deployment of such new energy technologies. In the industrialized countries, public policies supportive of innovation directed to the needs of the developing world as well as domestic needs are called for. Developing country governments should strive to make their countries favorable theaters for energy technological innovation that is supportive of their development needs. There is a need to complement such national policy measures with establishment at the multilateral level of a framework for channeling vast private-sector financial resources to this process, with emphasis on developing countries. Either new multilateral institutions should be created to carry out the needed activities or some existing institutions might be transformed to take on these new responsibilities. It is suggested that if the latter approach is taken, the Global Environment Facility might be given this responsibility. The ongoing process of reform to improve the economic efficiency of electricity markets can assist the needed transition to the needed new energy technologies – if reforms include measures to promote energy technological innovation in ways that would serve sustainable development objectives. The combination of rapid energy demand growth plus environmental and energy market reforms could potentially transform developing country energy markets into favorable theaters for energy technological innovation. Under these conditions, developing country governments would have considerable market power to direct the course of this innovation – including the power to induce the private sector to provide those new energy technologies that they believe are well-suited to their development needs. With large internal markets, large rapidly industrializing countries in particular have an opportunity to become market leaders for selected sustainable energy technologies, with eventual export capability. It is desirable to put the needed innovation policies in place soon. Fundamental policy changes such as those proposed are typically easier to introduce when institutions are in ferment, as is the case with ongoing power sector reforms. Once power sector reforms have been put into place the policy arena will become quiescent, and it will be more difficult to bring about fundamental change.
Response functions and collective modes of 3He in strong magnetic fields: Determination of material parameters from experiments.

This is the second of two papers on the response functions and collective modes of /sup 3/He-B in a strong magnetic field. Here we compare the theory developed in the first paper (R. S. Fishman and J. A. Sauls, Phys. Rev. B 33, 6068 (1986)) with the susceptibility data of Scholz and Hoyt et al. and with the collective-mode data of Shivaram et al. at the lowest pressures, where strong-coupling corrections to the BCS free energy are known to be negligible. In principle this comparison yields new results for some of the material parameters of liquid /sup 3/He. Determinations of these material parameters are important for testing the consistency of quasiclassical theory and the interpretation of different measurable properties of /sup 3/He, and perhaps future microscopic theories of quantum liquids. The material parameters extracted from these two different data bases are in serious disagreement, and cannot be reconciled even with radically different empirical temperature scales. We do, however, find that our determination of the f-wave interaction at papprox. =0 bar agrees with that obtained by Meisel et al. who analyze the zero-field squashing-mode data.
The Touch Discrimination Component of Sexual Abuse Prevention Training Unanticipated Positive Consequences

The potential negative impact of sexual abuse prevention programs on children remains a central concern in the field of sexual abuse prevention. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of two prevention programs in improving children's abilities to discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate types of touching. Two hundred sixty-four kindergarten through third-grade children from three public schools in San Diego were randomly assigned by classroom to one of three treatments: (1) a role-play-based sexual abuse prevention program, (2) a multimedia child abuse prevention program, or (3) a control group receiving fire prevention training. The results indicated greater pre- to posttest improvement for the role-play group than for the control group on total correct touch discriminations. Although there is concern that sexual abuse prevention programs may make children suspicious of appropriate touch, the present study found children in the role-play group better able to discriminate ap...
Mitochondrial function after acute alteration of the endogenous insulin-to-glucagon ratio.

Mannoheptulose (2g/kg i.p.) increases serum glucagon and decreases serum insulin via its effect on pancreatic islet cells. These changes in endogenous hormone status had effects on rat liver mitochondria that were comparable to the effects of injecting porcine glucagon (0.5 mg/kg i.p.). Mitochondrial adenine nucleotide content was increased 38 or 39% by mannoheptulose or glucagon respectively, citrulline synthesis by 165 or 193%, pyruvate carboxylation by 113 or 135%, coupled respiration by 34 or 42%, and uncoupled respiration by 40 or 54%. We conclude that the reciprocal changes in endogenous insulin and glucagon brought about by mannoheptulose offer a useful and interesting alternative to glucagon injection for studying the effects of these pancreatic hormones on liver mitochondria.
Improving Pain Management in Community Health Care Settings: The Role of the Advanced Practice Nurse

Advanced practice nurses can play a key role in reducing or removing barriers to effective pain management in a variety of ways: as clinicians role modeling best practice pain management, as educators providing continuing education in pain management, as researchers incorporating evaluation research methods into pain management improvement projects, and as consultants to leaders of health care organizations and communities working to improve pain management. This article describes a unique collaboration of advanced practice nurses from the Medical College of Wisconsin Palliative Care Program, the Wisconsin Pain Initiative, and the Missoula Demonstration Project titled The Quality of Life’s End working together to improve pain management in home health and long-term care agencies in western Montana.
Visualization as a tool for understanding QCD evolution algorithms

In this paper we present a project of visualizing topological charge in Lattice QCD in order to understand its evolution under the Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms and how to maximize its equilibration. Lattice QCD is a very computationally expensive technology for computing properties of composite particles from a few fundamental parameters such as quark masses. Our research plays an important role in validating these computations by showing that the autocorrelation length is small and it can eventually lead to even more efficient algorithms.
Amino acid utilization during total parenteral nutrition in the surgical neonate.

Abstract Amino acids, urea nitrogen, and creatinine in plasma and urine, and total urinary nitrogen were determined in five neonates during prolonged parenteral feeding. A fibrin hydrolysate-dextrose or a crystalline amino acid-dextrose solution was infused for periods as long as 33 days. These solutions supplied essential amino acids and total nitrogen (mostly as glycine) in excess of that available to infants on oral diets. Despite weight gain, positive nitrogen balance, and the absence of excessive amino aciduria, several biochemical abnormalities were detected. Plasma lysine, leucine, and glycine were consistently elevated and in one low birth weight infant, plasma phenylalanine and valine were also markedly raised. The excessive supply of glycine and nitrogen resulted in elevated urea levels in the blood and urine. The capacity to transform phenylalanine to tyrosine and methionine to cystine required by infants fed the tyrosine-cystine-free crystalline amino acid solution may be deficient in low birth weight premature infants and others with impaired liver function. These findings suggest that a more precise tailoring of the amino acid content of infusates for parenteral feeding is indicated. Such individually tailored solutions would decrease the metabolic and excretory load on the liver and kidneys.
Significance of macrolide resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Sir, We wish to comment on the paper by Van Kerkhoven et al., 1 to dispel certain misconceptions that may arise from a cursory review of their study. The authors present a 3 year retrospective chart review of patients hospitalized with pneumococcal bacteraemia at a single hospital. Of the 136 patients identified, 14 (10.3%) and 33 (24.3%) had isolates non-susceptible to penicillin and erythromycin, respectively. Of the erythromycin-resistant isolates, 94% had an MLSB-resistance
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Responses to the Everyday Discrimination Scale: A Differential Item Functioning Analysis

The authors examined the impact of race/ethnicity on responses to the Everyday Discrimination Scale, one of the most widely used discrimination scales in epidemiologic and public health research. Participants were 3,295 middle-aged US women (African-American, Caucasian, Chinese, Hispanic, and Japanese) from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) baseline examination (1996-1997). Multiple-indicator, multiple-cause models were used to examine differential item functioning (DIF) on the Everyday Discrimination Scale by race/ethnicity. After adjustment for age, education, and language of interview, meaningful DIF was observed for 3 (out of 10) items: "receiving poorer service in restaurants or stores," "being treated as if you are dishonest," and "being treated with less courtesy than other people" (all P's < 0.001). Consequently, the "profile" of everyday discrimination differed slightly for women of different racial/ethnic groups, with certain "public" experiences appearing to have more salience for African-American and Chinese women and "dishonesty" having more salience for racial/ethnic minority women overall. "Courtesy" appeared to have more salience for Hispanic women only in comparison with African-American women. Findings suggest that the Everyday Discrimination Scale could potentially be used across racial/ethnic groups as originally intended. However, researchers should use caution with items that demonstrated DIF.
Posterior cingulate cortex activation by emotional words: fMRI evidence from a valence decision task

Functional imaging studies consistently find that emotional stimuli activate the posterior cingulate cortex, a region that appears to have memory-related functions. However, prior imaging studies have not controlled for non-emotional stimulus features that might activate this region by engaging memory processes unrelated to emotion. This study examined whether emotional words activated the posterior cingulate cortex when these potentially confounding factors were controlled. Sixty-four pleasant and 64 unpleasant words were matched with neutral words on non-emotional features known to influence memory. Eight subjects underwent block-designed functional magnetic resonance imaging scans while evaluating the valence of these words. The posterior cingulate cortex was significantly activated bilaterally during both unpleasant and pleasant compared to neutral words. The strongest activation peak with both unpleasant and pleasant words was observed in the left subgenual cingulate cortex. Anteromedial orbital and left inferior and middle frontal cortices were also activated by both pleasant and unpleasant words. Right amygdala and auditory cortex were activated only by unpleasant words, while left frontal pole was activated only by pleasant words. The results show that activation of the posterior cingulate cortex by emotional stimuli cannot be attributed to the memory-enhancing effects of non-emotional stimulus features. The findings are consistent with the suggestion that this region may mediate interactions of emotional and memory-related processes. The results also extend prior findings that evaluating emotional words consistently activates the subgenual cingulate cortex, and suggest a means of probing this region in patients with mood disorders.
Prehistoric seal carcass exploitation at the Shag Mouth site, New Zealand

Seal populations in New Zealand declined dramatically during the prehistoric period. The loss of this important resource significantly affected the foraging practices at the Shag River Mouth site. Previous research documented substantial changes to the diet with the decline of seals and the corresponding decline in foraging efficiency. In this study, I examine how New Zealand foragers altered their use of seal carcasses as the availability of these marine mammals declined. Otariid seal data from the Shag River Mouth site in southern New Zealand are analyzed to test changes in butchery/transport and skeletal element breakage patterns expected with resource depression and declining foraging efficiency. This research shows that at Shag Mouth, seal carcasses were used more intensively over time. However, bone breakage patterns showed little change in the exploitation of within-bone nutrients.
Integrated Palmer Amaranth Management in Glufosinate-Resistant Cotton: II. Primary, Secondary and Conservation Tillage

A three year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the role of soil inversion, cover crops and spring tillage methods for Palmer amaranth between-row (BR) and within-row (WR) management in glufosinate-resistant cotton. Main plots were two soil inversion treatments: fall inversion tillage (IT) and non-inversion tillage (NIT). Subplots were three cover treatments: crimson clover, cereal rye or none (i.e., winter fallow); and the sub subplots were four secondary spring tillage methods: disking followed by (fb) cultivator (DCU), disking fb chisel plow (DCH), disking fb disking (DD) and no tillage (NT). Averaged over years and soil inversion, the crimson clover produced maximum cover biomass (4390 kg ha −1 ) fb cereal rye (3698 kg ha −1 ) and winter fallow (777 kg ha −1 ). Two weeks after planting (WAP) and before the postemergence (POST) application, Palmer amaranth WR and BR density were two- and four-times less, respectively, in IT than NIT. Further, Palmer amaranth WR and BR density were reduced two-fold following crimson clover and cereal rye than following winter fallow at 2 WAP. Without IT, early season Palmer amaranth densities were 40% less following DCU, DCH and DD, when compared with IT. Following IT, no spring tillage method improved Palmer amaranth control. The timely application of glufosinate + S-metolachlor POST tank mixture greatly improved Palmer amaranth control in both IT and NIT systems. The highest cotton yields were
Transaction costs and predictability: some utility cost calculations

We examine the loss in utility for a consumer who ignores any or all of the following: (1) the multi-period nature of the consumer’s portfolio-choice problem, (2) the empirically documented predictability of asset returns, or (3) transaction costs. Both the costs of behaving myopically and ignoring predictability can be substantial, although allowing for intermediate consumption reduces these costs. Ignoring realistic transaction costs ("xed and proportional) imposes signi"cant utility costs that range from 0.8% up to 16.9% of wealth. For the scenarios that we consider, the presence of transaction costs always increases the utility cost of behaving myopically, but decreases the utility cost of ignoring predictability. ( 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved. JEL classixcation: G11; G12
A Broken Heart—The Physician's Role: Bereaved Parents' Perceptions of Interactions with Physicians

This survey study provides pediatricians the opportunity to hear directly from surviving parents and caretakers and is an initial step in developing training curricula for doctors and other health care professionals who wish to improve the effectiveness of their interactions with grieving families. A privately maintained listserve, originating in Kentucky, of bereaved parents and guardians was used to send written surveys via the U.S. Postal Service to those individuals living in Kentucky. Survey results include thematic concerns identified by the bereaved parents about physician interaction and actions at the time of a child's death. Although published guidelines are available for physicians attending to bereaved parents at the time of a child's death, these results suggest that the availability of guidelines alone may be insufficient and that more in-depth physician training and education are needed.
Transient and steady state, free and natural convection, numerical solutions: Part I. The isothermal, vertical plate

Numerical values are presented for the transient velocity field, temperature field, and local heat transfer coefficient. These results were obtained by solving the partial differential equations describing the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy on an IBM-704 computer with finite difference methods in time-dependent form. The computed values for short times agree very well with the analytical solution for conduction only, and the limiting values for long time agree well with previous solutions for the steady state. The existence of a temporal minimum in the heat transfer coefficient is confirmed. The time required for the heat transfer coefficient to approach its steady state is shown to be less than previously predicted.
Technology Mapping and Cell Merger for Asynchronous Threshold Networks

A key challenge in using timing-robust asynchronous circuit styles is the lack of automated optimization techniques. In this paper, technology mapping and cell merger algorithms for asynchronous threshold networks are introduced. The cell merger problem is a restricted form of technology mapping where only adjacent cells are merged. The two algorithms can each target either delay or area, or a combined delay-area cost function. Experiments were performed on substantial industrial design examples (DES and GCD circuits) that had already been optimized by an existing commercial asynchronous synthesis tool flow. Average delay improvements of 31.6% for basic technology mapping and 29.6% for basic cell merger were obtained. Average area improvements of 9.5% for basic technology mapping and 8.5% for basic cell merger were also obtained. Additional experiments were performed on the largest MCNC combinational benchmarks with similar results. Finally, targeting a hybrid cost function, area minimization under specified hard timing constraints, a further area reduction of up to 10.7% on average in technology mapping was recovered without compromising the overall system performance. The new algorithms are the first systematic and general mapping approach for asynchronous threshold networks, targeting delay or area, which preserve the timing-robustness properties of the initial unoptimized circuits.
The approach of a vortex pair to a plane surface in inviscid fluid

It is shown that a symmetrical vortex pair consisting of equal and opposite vortices approaching a plane wall at right angles must approach the monotonically in the absence of viscous effects. An approximate calculation is carried out for uniform vortices in which the vortices are assumed to be deformed into ellipses whose axis ratio is determined by the local rate of strain according to the results of Moore & Saffman (1971).
Gene Targeting Approaches to Analyzing Hypertension

Abstract. Essential hypertension probably results from combinations of small genetic variations that are partly normal variations and may not be appreciably harmful individually. Strategies to identify genes contributing to hypertension are discussed in this review. Gene targeting approaches, especially gene titration, have been used in these studies of hypertension. Gene titration experiments vary the expression of a chosen gene product by generating animals having different numbers of copies of the gene coding for the product. Gene titration is powerful for analyzing quantitative variations seen in common polygenic disorders, such as kidney diseases, diabetes mellitus, and atherosclerosis, as well as hypertension, because it allows tests of causation by determining the effects on a phenotype by changes in expression of the altered gene and because it matches normal quantitative variations more closely than is possible with classic transgenic mice. The use of zero-copy (gene “knockout”) animals generated by gene disruption for studies of qualitative gene effects is also discussed. These various gene targeting experiments help identify genes regulating BP, promote a better understanding of the pathophysiology of the condition, and help identify potential targets for therapies.
Fair Value Accounting: A Historical Review Of The Most Controversial Accounting Issue In Decades

Historically, there have been many disputes in the area of corporate financial reporting. However, one of the primary issues of disagreement between practitioners, regulators, and theoreticians is that of valuation of financial statement components. The latest twist in the evolution of valuation is the push for (and against) the use of a fair value approach. The purpose of this paper is to examine the history and evolution of how the most critical elements of an entity’s financial statements are valued. We provide a history of valuation of financial statement components, and identify the issues involved. Further, we examine the criticisms of actions taken by the regulatory bodies in their efforts to standardize and advance accounting practices. Particularly, we focus on the evolution of fair value measurements. Arguments both for and against the implementation of fair value accounting are provided.
The structure and energetics of midlatitude disturbances accompanying cold-air outbreaks over East Asia

The evolution of extratropical transient waves as they propagate eastward from the Eurasian land mass toward the Pacific during selected cold surge events in the winter Monsoon Experiment (MONEX) is studied. The outstanding cold surge episodes during MONEX are first identified, and the salient synoptic features related to these events are described using composite streamline charts. The structure of rapidly varying disturbances accompanying the cold surges and the associated energetics are examined, and the behavior of those fluctuations over relatively longer time scales is addressed.
Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a chronic condition that involves a maladaptive pattern of excessive perfectionism, preoccupation with orderliness and details, and the need for control over one’s environment. It is one of the most common personality disorders in the general population, with an estimated prevalence ranging from 2.1 to 7.9 %. Despite the fact that OCPD patients often present for treatment, there is a relative paucity of empirical research on treatments for OCPD, and there is no definitive empirically supported treatment for the condition. This chapter describes the limited treatment research and then focuses in detail on a case report of a male with OCPD who underwent a novel therapeutic intervention which consists of two established cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) modules: CBT for clinical perfectionism/rigidity preceded by skills training in emotion regulation and relationship flexibility. These modules of this 14-week treatment were specifically selected to address core aspects of OCPD that directly impact functioning in these patients. The patient was adherent and highly engaged in the treatment. He showed clinically significant improvement, which was maintained 2 months post treatment. While this pilot offers a promising lead for further study, much more systematic research is needed to further develop treatment of this disorder.
Gastrostomy Complications in Pediatric Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Single-Institution Review.

Background Complications in pediatric cancer patients after a gastrostomy (GT) placement have not been widely investigated. We aimed to evaluate the complication rate and nature of complications in this specific population. Procedure Medical records of pediatric cancer patients having a GT placed at our institution from 1998 to 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. Variables analyzed included gender, age, diagnosis, surgical procedure, GT device, duration of GT usage, absolute neutrophil count (ANC) level at surgery, and complications. Results One hundred seventy-one patients (92 males, 79 females), median age of 6 years (range, 0.2–21), who underwent 181 procedures (110 open, 59 endoscopic, and 12 laparoscopic) were identified. Diagnosis included central nervous system tumor (n = 101), solid tumor (n = 45), and leukemia/lymphoma (n = 25). A GT tube was used in 139 procedures and a GT button in 42. Median ANC level at procedure was 3,300/mm3 (range, 0–38,988). Median duration of GT usage was 8 months (range, 0.2–142). One hundred seventy-seven complications occurred in 106 patients (61.9%) and were categorized as perioperative ( 1 month after surgery, 79.7%). Major complications included 42 (23.7%) GT site infections and four (2.2%) intrabdominal complications. The most common minor complication was granulation tissue (28.8%). Younger age at procedure was associated with complications (P = 0.048) and an open technique was associated with GT site infection (P = 0.003). No statistical significance was observed between complications and gender, diagnosis, GT device, duration of GT usage, and ANC at procedure. Conclusions Younger patients were more likely to have complications, and GT site infections were more common after open GT procedures.
An experimental and computational analysis of the thermal interface filler material Calgraph

The heat transfer capability of Calgraph was determined experimentally using a physical configuration that represented an electronic box in a vacuum environment. The heat transfer across two plates with a sheet of Calgraph between them and compressed with screws around the periphery was examined at hot and cold extreme temperatures and different screw torques. A thermal model was developed and used with the test data to gain insight into the heat transfer process in four regions that characterize the plates. It was found that Calqraph increased the heat transfer coefficients in and adjacent to the flange region by the mounting screws by factors of two to three over those for a bare interface. In the center reuion where the heat transfer can be very poo; for a bare interface, Calqraph provided no improvement.
Alteration of Hepatic Storage of Radiolabeled Vit. B12.

SummaryRadioactivity measurements were made over the liver, spleen and precordium for 7 1/2 months after oral administration of test doses of radioactive vit. B12. One subject was given a large series of parenteral injections of nonradioactive vit. B12, while another subject served as a control. The disappearance rate of radioactivity was much faster with the repeated parenteral injections. Radioactivity was lost in the urine. These observations showed that massive parenteral doses of vit. B12 exchanged with cyanocobalamin stored in the liver.
Characterization of Vaporization Rates on SOFC Interconnect Alloys

Ferritic stainless steels are an attractive option for interconnect applications in solid oxide fuel cells due to their low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and potentially low cost. However, a key problem with ferritic stainless steels (and other high chromium materials) in these applications is the vaporization of chromium bearing species(1-6). This vaporized chromium poisons the cathode, which can significantly impact cell performance(1,6-9). In order to understand this problem we have incorporated a solution-based ionic conductivity method into the more traditional transpiration measurement method. Using this novel, hybrid method the vaporization rates of chromia, Crofer 22 APU, E-brite, ZMG-232, Haynes 230, and 441 have been determined. Good agreement was found with literature values; however, large variation was discovered in literature values.
Use of Folk Medicine by Elderly Mexican-American Women

There is a vast anthropological/sociological literature on the use of folk healers in Hispanic (Mexican - American) communities. While the use of folk healers has decreased with urbanization, acculturation, and increased education, recent studies done in Dallas, Texas, show that elderly Hispanic women are familiar with, and use a variety of informal healing methods and substances for a variety of illnesses, both physical and mental. The folk-healing system is used to supplement the formal scientific one, rather than replace it. Informants seemed to have a clear idea about the point at which one or the other should be consulted. There are a variety of herbs readily available for use and sold in boticas or botanicas.
Flavor changes during rice wine starter(Xiao Qu) preparation

Flavor changes during rice wine starter(Xiao Qu) preparation were discussed and the varieties and quantities of microorganisms in the starter were detected and analyzed in this paper.
Generative Models for Clustering: The Next Generation.

Clustering social information is challenging when both attributes and relations are present. Many approaches commonly used today ignore one aspect of the data or the other. Relation-only algorithms are typically limited because the sparseness of relations in social information makes finding strong patterns difficult. Feature-only algorithms have the limitation that the most interesting (and useful) aspect of social information is the set of relations between objects. Recently, there has been a surge in interest in simultaneously considering both features and relations in the operation of a clustering algorithm. Several of these approaches are based on a generative model, which corresponds to an assumption that the data exists as part of some unobserved probability distribution. Each of the approaches discussed in this paper have good initial results. After discussing each in turn, we discuss in broad terms what has been accomplished thus far with generative models, what open problems remain, and how the development of generative models for relational data can contribute to the field of social information processing.
Intracellular Immunization against SIVmacUtilizing a Hairpin Ribozyme

Abstract A hairpin ribozyme targeting the 3′ LTR region (9456) of SIV mac239 was cloned into a murine retroviral vector. This target sequence is conserved among various SIV, as well as most HIV-2, strains. The ribozyme cassette is driven from a polymerase III promoter, that of the human tRNAval gene. Hybrid human B-/T-cell lines (CEM/174) were transduced with the retroviral constructs and selected for G418 resistance. Cells stably expressing the 9456 ribozyme exhibited long-term resistance to infection by a pathogenic molecular clone of SIV and two strains of HIV-2. The ribozyme was also able to effectively reduce the proviral DNA burden. Its efficient protection against SIV/HIV-2 infection constitutes an important step toward evaluating ribozyme gene therapy in a primate model.
A Novel and Formaldehyde-Free Preparation Method for Lignin Amine and Its Enhancement for Soy Protein Adhesive

In this work, a novel two-step process to prepare primary lignin amine was developed. The lignin used in this study was obtained from the residue of cellulosic sugar fermentation for bioethanol (referred as “lignin”). The lignin was initially oxidized through Fenton oxidation. The oxidized lignin was further converted to lignin amine by reductive amination. Ammonia was used in the second step leading to give the highly active primary lignin amine. The oxidation and reduction exhibited relatively high yields of 80.0 and 91.2 % respectively. For comparison, lignin was partially depolymerized via mild hydrogenolysis and then the partial depolymerized lignin was also converted to lignin amine using the same method. The obtained lignin amines were characterized in detail using elemental analysis, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Further, modification of soy protein adhesive by lignin amine was exemplified in wood bonding, and the results indicated that addition of lignin amine greatly increased water resistance of soy protein adhesives.
Is Corporate Political Activity a Field

This article focuses upon answering the following question: Does corporate political activity (CPA) stand as an academic field? Following Hambrick and Chen, we consider three elements of the emerge...
A Dash of Color

A great portion of the literature on SPDEs is concerned, in one form or another, with stochastic partial differential equations that are driven by noises showing some form of correlations. As of this time, there seems to be no unified theory of nonlinear SPDEs driven by correlated (henceforth, “colored”) noise, except in certain special cases; see, for example, Carmona–Molchanov [5] and Hu–Lu– Nualart [24] and their combined bibliography. By contrast, there is a very general approach to linear SPDEs, thanks to a rich theory of Gaussian processes. I will conclude these notes by describing, very briefly, the theory of linear SPDEs that are driven by quite general Gaussian noises.
Fusing multiple existing space‐time land cover products

Land cover (LC) is a critical variable driving many environmental processes, so its assessment, monitoring, and characterization are essential. However, existing LC products, derived primarily from satellite spectral imagery, each have different temporal and spatial resolutions and different LC classes. Most effort is focused on either fusing a pair of LC products over a small space‐time region or on interpolating missing values in an individual LC product. Here, we review the complexities of LC identification and propose a method for fusing multiple existing LC products to produce a single LC record for a large spatial‐temporal grid, referred to as spatiotemporal categorical map fusion. We first reconcile the LC classes of different LC products and then present a probabilistic weighted nearest neighbor estimator of LC class. This estimator depends on three unknown parameters that are estimated using numerical optimization to maximize an agreement criterion that we define. We illustrate the method using six LC products over the Rocky Mountains and show the improvement gained by supplying the optimization with data‐driven information describing the spatial‐temporal behavior of each LC class. Given the massive size of the LC products, we show how the optimal parameters for a given year are often optimal for other years, leading to shorter computing times.
Storm-Lite: An Inexpensive Tool to Demonstrate Stochastic Super Resolution Microscopy Techniques in the Classroom

Studying sub-cellular structures is central to biophysics research. However, diffraction limits the resolution in light microscopy to a few hundred nanometers and the finest structures of interest can no longer be resolved. To address this obstacle, a variety of “super-resolution” microscopy techniques have been developed. These techniques make use of the photophysics of fluorescent molecules to increase the resolution to several tens of nanometers.We describe here a device that will allow classrooms worldwide to easily simulate super-resolution microscopy techniques such as photoactivation localization microscopy (PALM) and stochastic reconstruction microscopy (STORM). These techniques are extremely expensive and cumbersome to demonstrate in a classroom setting, limiting students’ exposure to them. By contrast, our device is inexpensive, lightweight, and portable, using only an LED array to simulate the fluorophores, frosted glass to simulate the resolution limit, and a camera and user interface developed for the Raspberry Pi to process the images. All aspects of the device and software design will be made publically available in the hopes that others will build and use this setup in their teaching of super resolution techniques at colleges and universities worldwide.
$delta$I = 1/2 rule in a gauge model

We present a formulation of the schizon scheme of Lee and Yang which is within the framework of a renormalizable gauge theory and which yields the full octet rule at the SU(3) level. The model contains six massive gauge fields, two charged and four neutral.