cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Genome structural variation and sporadic disease traits.

Many submicroscopic genomic rearrangements have been robustly associated with well-defined clinical syndromes. Three papers in this issue once again illustrate how underlying genomic architecture can catalyze rearrangement causing sporadic disease, and they further suggest that widespread clinical implementation of high-resolution genome analysis may identify the cause of traits previously intractable to conventional genetic analyses.
Exact results for the problem of a hollow sphere subjected to hydrostatic tension and made of micromorphic plastic porous material

Abstract We report an exact, analytical solution to the problem of a hollow sphere subjected to hydrostatic tension and made of ideal-plastic porous material, obeying a micromorphic model developed by Gologanu, Leblond, Perrin and Devaux (GLPD). The motivation is to find analytical solutions for simple problems that might be of interest to assess the robustness of the numerical implementation of the micromorphic model into finite element codes. We provide the details of the analytical calculations of the deformation, stress and moment distributions. We demonstrate the validity of our analytical results by comparing them to the solution of the classical problem of a hollow sphere whose matrix obeys the von Mises model, subjected to hydrostatic tension.
Niobium resonator development for high-brightness ion beam acceleration

Two niobium resonant cavities for high-brightness ion beam acceleration have been constructed and tested. The first was based on a coaxial quarter-wave geometry and was optimized for phase velocity beta /sub 0/=0.15. The cavity, which resonates at 400 MHz in the fundamental mode, operated at an average (wall-to-wall) accelerating gradient at 12.9 MV/m under continuous-wave (CW) fields. At this gradient, a cavity Q of 1.4*10/sup 8/ was measured. The second was based on a coaxial half-wave geometry and was optimized for beta /sub 0/=0.12. This cavity, which resonates at 355 MHz in the fundamental mode, operated at an average accelerating gradient of 18.0 MV/m under CW fields. This is the highest average accelerating gradient achieved to date in low-velocity structures designed for CW operation. At this gradient, a cavity of 1.2*10/sup 8/ was measured.
1560 NORMAL ARTERIAL BLOOD PRESSURES IN THE VERY PREMATURE INFANT

Hypotension is a frequent diagnosis in the very premature infant and it may be associated with neurological sequellae. Due to the absence of base line data on normal blood pressure in premature infants beyond the first 12 hrs after birth, we designed our study to provide these important clinical data. To facilitate decision making in this important aspect of neonatal intensive care, we used the Hewlett-Packard neonatal monitor model #78205D to hourly record the direct arterial blood pressure on 145 premature infants. The infants were divided into two groups. 79 patients were between the gestational ages of 24-29 wks with a mean birth weight of 1.04 kilo. 66 patients were between the gestational ages of 30-34 wks with a mean birth weight of 1.6 kilo. In each patient group, the blood pressures were blocked into small increments of time thru the sixth postnatal day. The first two days were blocked into eight 6 hr intervals. Days three and four were blocked into six 8 hr intervals. Days five and six were blocked into four 12 hr intervals. These detailed descriptive data on blood pressures should facilitate the diagnosis of hypotension in the very premature infant.
Aging and Repetition Priming for Targets and Distracters in a Working Memory Task

A combined working memory/repetition priming task was administered to 13 young (mean age 23) and 13 elderly (mean age 69) adults. Each participant memorized a sample target face at the beginning of a trial and then determined whether each of 13 serially presented test faces matched the sample target. In each trial, both the target and one particular distracter face were repeated during the test phase. Within-trial repetition priming effects indicated the contribution of implicit memory to task performance. Response times decreased as items were tested repeatedly within a trial, but this decrement was greater for distracters than for targets. Young and older participants were equally accurate at identifying targets, but elderly were slightly less accurate for distracters. Elderly participants showed repetition priming effects for both targets and distracters, while the young showed such effects only for distracters. The results suggest that active maintenance in working memory, but not inhibition or rejection of distracters, may suppress implicit memory systems.
On the role of gravitational fields in some elementary particle processes

With the aid of a suitable perturbation formalism, the effect of an external gravitational field on elementary particle processes is investigated. Electromagnetic bremsstrahlung by charged scalar particle waves is treated and the dependence of the result on the inserted data and their empirical limits is analised. Application of the results to gravitational bremsstrahlung by particles of vanishing rest-mass is made. On the basis of these results, gravitational radiation from elementary particle processes is shown to be negligible. Some quantum electrodynamic processes of higher order, with closed loop diagrams are treated in curved space and the removal of their infinities by renormalization is discussed. Part of the matrix element for the process of photon trisection into three photons, has been evaluated and an upper limit for the cross-section of this process has been obtained in first order approximation in the external gravitational field. The magnitude of certain contributions from higher order terms has been estimated, but complete conclusions have not yet been obtained. A number of other processes, involving particles with spin and their radiative corrections are treated or discussed. Among the cross-sections of these processes, in first order perturbation only that for the trisection of photons becomes significant at the empirical energy limit: these theoretical results at present deny experimental possibilities. The role of terms of higher order is not yet known. Experimental possibilities for obtaining improved knowledge of the empirical upper limit of the energy losses produced on photons are suggested. General empirical aspects of the theoretical results are discussed. The Appendix contains an auxiliary theorem on a relation between the second derivatives of the metric tensor and the Riemann-Christoffel tensor at points, where geodesic co-ordinates are introduced.
Dengue Virus Modulates the Unfolded Protein Response in a Time-dependent Manner

Flaviviruses, such as dengue virus (DENV), depend on the host endoplasmic reticulum for translation, replication, and packaging of their genomes. Here we report that DENV-2 infection modulates the unfolded protein response in a time-dependent manner. We show that early DENV-2 infection triggers and then suppresses PERK-mediated eIF2α phosphorylation and that in mid and late DENV-2 infection, the IRE1-XBP1 and ATF6 pathways are activated, respectively. Activation of IRE1-XBP1 correlated with induction of downstream targets GRP78, CHOP, and GADD34. Furthermore, induction of CHOP did not induce apoptotic markers, such as suppression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, activation of caspase-9 or caspase-3, and cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. Finally, we show that DENV-2 replication is affected in PERK−/− and IRE1−/− mouse embryo fibroblasts when compared with wild-type mouse embryo fibroblasts. These results demonstrate that time-dependent activation of the unfolded protein response by DENV-2 can override inhibition of translation, prevent apoptosis, and prolong the viral life cycle.
Perplexities and provocations of eating disorders

Background: Etiological hypotheses of eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa have not produced informative research for predictably effective treatment. Methods: The rationale for applying a model of allostasis, a dysregulation of reward circuits with activation of brain and hormonal stress responses to maintain apparent stability, is developed for eating disorders. Results: The neurotransmitter systems involved in the allostatic state of a reward system in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa may be similar to those present in drug addiction. Conclusion: The biological vulnerabilities underlying the unique features of eating disorders should be intensively investigated with the advancing techniques in genetics and neuroimaging. Preventing chronicity with early diagnosis and adequate treatment before age 18 is necessary.
Optimization of Composite Laminates for Robust and Predictable Progressive Failure Response

Increasing robustness of structures with nonlinear history-dependent behavior requires their response to be very predictable. Predictability is made difficult by lack -of good physical models (e.g., material failure), inaccurate analysis models, and insufficient resolution used in the discretized solutions. In complex structures, the problem is compounded by the complex interactions between the various individual failure events that happen at different scales. The systems that are highly nonlinear and exhibit competing failure paths are sensitive to small design variations and exhibit poor failure predictability. Small design variations significantly alter the failure paths in designs having competing failure modes, reducing predictability. Progressive failure of a composite laminate resembles complex systems with many failing components (plies) and multiple failure modes (plies can fail by shear, matrix, and/or fiber failure) that exhibit problems in failure predictability. In this paper, we investigate the robustness of energy absorption and predictability of the failure sequence of composite laminates in progressive failure response. This investigation demonstrates that deterministic optimization makes predictability poor due to the coalescence in failure modes. A traditional reliability optimization was performed to improve failure predictability. Analyzing designs obtained revealed that robust and predictable progressive failure requires the elimination of competing modes. Strain separation between successive failure modes was identified as a surrogate deterministic measure to eliminate competing failures. A deterministic optimization for maximizing energy absorption with a constraint for strain separation between successive failures in different modes was performed. The deterministic design obtained with the surrogate measure for predictability was comparable to the nondeterministic design in performance and predictability, indicating that this is a sufficient condition for improving predictability. The paper demonstrates an approach for investigating the mechanics that affect progressive failure predictability and developing simple and efficient surrogate measures to use in deterministic optimization to maximize performance and predictability.
Finite element solution of multi-dimensional two-phase flow through porous media with arbitrary heating conditions

Abstract Mechanistic models for flow regime transitions and drag forces proposed in an earlier work are employed to predict two-phase flow characteristics in multi-dimensional porous layers. The numerical scheme calls for elimination of velocities in favor of pressure and void fraction. The momentum equations for vapor and liquid then can be reduced to a system of two partial differential equations (PDEs) which must be solved simultaneously for pressure and void fraction. Solutions are obtained both in two-dimensional cartesian and in axi-symmetric coordinate systems. The porous layers in both cases are composed of regions with different permeabilities. The finite element method is employed by casting the PDEs in their equivalent variational forms. Two classes of boundary conditions (specified pressure and specified fluid fluxes) can be incorporated in the solution. Volumetric heating can be included as a source term. The numerical procedure is thus suitable for a wide variety of geometry and heating conditions. Numerical solutions are also compared with available experimental data.
Detection of anti-Lea in Le(a-b+) individuals by kinetic ELISA.

. Utilizing a kinetic enzyme-linked antiglobulin binding assay, eight examples of anti-Lea were detected in individuals whose Lewis phenotype is Le(a-b+). These antibodies were not detectable by routine hemagglutination techniques, but were indistinguishable from anti-Lea made by Le(a-b-) individuals in terms of their immunologic fine specificity. However, unlike most anti-Lea antibodies from Le(a-b-) individuals, none of the anti-Lea antibodies had an IgG component. Anti-Lea antibodies in Le(a-b+) individuals may represent immune responses on the continuum between autoimmunity and alloimmunity.
Localization leads to improved distributed detection under non-smooth distributions

We consider a detection network of sensors that measure intensity levels due to a source amidst background inside a two-dimensional monitoring area. The source intensity decays away from it possibly in discrete jumps, and the corresponding sensor measurements could be random due to the nature of source and background, or due to sensor errors, or both. The detection problem is to infer the presence of a source based on sensor measurements. In the conventional decision/detection fusion approach, detection decisions are made at the individual sensors using Sequential Probability Ratio Test (SPRT), and are combined at the fusion center using a Boolean fusion rule. We show that better detection can be achieved by utilizing sensor measurements at the fusion center, by first localizing the source and then utilizing a more effective SPRT. This approach leads to the detection performance superior to any Boolean detection fuser, under fairly general conditions: (i) smooth and non-smooth source intensity functions and probability ratios, and (ii) a minimum packing number of the state-space. We apply this method to improve the detection of (a) low-level point radiation sources amidst background radiation under strong shielding conditions, and (b) the well-studied Gaussian source amidst Gaussian background.
Choice of approximator and design of penalty function for an approximate dynamic programming based control approach

Abstract This paper investigates the choice of function approximator for an approximate dynamic programming (ADP) based control strategy. The ADP strategy allows the user to derive an improved control policy given a simulation model and some starting control policy (or alternatively, closed-loop identification data), while circumventing the ‘curse-of-dimensionality’ of the traditional dynamic programming approach. In ADP, one fits a function approximator to state vs. ‘cost-to-go’ data and solves the Bellman equation with the approximator in an iterative manner. A proper choice and design of function approximator is critical for convergence of the iteration and the quality of final learned control policy, because an approximation error can grow quickly in the loop of optimization and function approximation. Typical classes of approximators used in related approaches are parameterized global approximators (e.g. artificial neural networks) and nonparametric local averagers (e.g. k-nearest neighbor). In this paper, we assert on the basis of some case studies and a theoretical result that a certain type of local averagers should be preferred over global approximators as the former ensures monotonic convergence of the iteration. However, a converged cost-to-go function does not necessarily lead to a stable control policy on-line due to the problem of over-extrapolation. To cope with this difficulty, we propose that a penalty term be included in the objective function in each minimization to discourage the optimizer from finding a solution in the regions of state space where the local data density is inadequately low. A nonparametric density estimator, which can be naturally combined with a local averager, is employed for this purpose.
M-level ionic-channel signal processing using neural network

A neural network model based on the backpropagation training algorithm is used to process M-level steplike signals. The method is constructed in three main stages: the normalization stage, the neural network main body, and the output interpretation stage. Results on simulated examples are presented and are comparable to those of the traditional algorithms. The Walsh-Hadamard transformation used for input representation shows higher performance than the original data. It is also demonstrated that a single-layer network is capable of classifying a steplike signal. >
Polyaniline Morphology and Detectable Intermediate Aggregates

Formation of detectable intermediate aggregates is found to affect the morphologies of PANI nanomaterials, leading to either tubular or rod structures with striated growth and rough surfaces. By simply varying the ratio of initial proton and aniline concentration, a wide range of product morphologies can be synthesized. The intermediates form visible aggregates that can be separated by centrifugation or filtration. In addition to UV-Vis monitoring of the intermediate aggregates, OCP and pH measurements are used to monitor the reaction process. GPC measurements show that the corresponding final products formed typically are not homogeneous. The correlation of intermediates formation and aggregation with product morphology suggests a route to controlled synthesis of PANI nanomaterials.
Randomly coloring graphs of girth at least five

We improve rapid mixing results for the simple Glauber dynamics designed to generate a random k-coloring of a bounded-degree graph.Let G be a graph with maximum degree Δ = Ω(log n), and girth ≥ 5. We prove that if k > Α Δ, where Α ≈ 1.763 then Glauber dynamics has mixing time O(n log n). If girth(G) ≥ 6 and k > Β Δ, where Β ≈ 1.489 then Glauber dynamics has mixing time O(n log n). This improves a recent result of Molloy, who proved the same conclusion under the stronger assumptions that Δ=Ω(log n) and girth Ω(log Δ). Our work suggests that rapid mixing results for high girth and degree graphs may extend to general graphs.Analogous results hold for random graphs of average degree up to n¼, compared with polylog(n), which was the best previously known.Some of our proofs rely on a new Chernoff-Hoeffding type bound, which only requires the random variables to be well-behaved with high probability. This tail inequality may be of independent interest.
Motor Behavior in Children Exposed Prenatally to Drugs

The motor behavior of 35 children with a documented history of prenatal exposure to opioid drugs and 41 comparison children with no history of prenatal substance exposure was assessed from birth to approximately ten years of age using a clinical neurological examination and electronically quantified tests of motor steadiness. There were no opioid exposure effects on the skills assessed by the clinical neurological examination. An interaction was found between prenatal opioid-exposure and age of child on the motor steadiness tasks with deficits related to opioid exposure only observable before the tenth birthday. In discussion emphasis is placed on the range of motor skills in opioid-exposed children and on implications for clinical practice.
Metacognition and Medication Adherence: How Do Older Adults Remember?

Fifty-one older adults (M age = 75.9 years, SD = 6.9) reported their use of memory strategies for taking of medication using the Prospective Memory for Medication Questionnaire. Older adults used internal strategies more often when the domain was restricted to medication taking but used external strategies more often when queried across a variety of everyday situations. Surprisingly, the hypothesis that medical factors would be the primary determinants of older adults' reports of memory strategy use and perceived adherence was not supported. Metamemorial variables of non-domain-specific memory self-efficacy and memory anxiety in everyday life were significant predictors of strategy use and perceived adherence over and above variables related to the domain of health.
Glucocorticoid reduction of bronchial epithelial inflammation during cardiopulmonary bypass.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is released in inflammatory lung conditions, raising airway nitric oxide (NO) concentrations through the cytokine-mediated induction of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) creates an inflammatory state, characterized by the release of TNF-alpha, that may result in lung injury following CPB. This study measured plasma levels of TNF-alpha and interleukin-6 (IL-6) as well as airway NO concentrations during CPB, and the effect of methylprednisolone (MPSS) on the levels of these inflammatory products. Twenty adult males scheduled for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) were anesthetized and randomized to a group given MPSS at 1 gm intravenously 5 min before CPB (Group S) or a group not given MPSS (Group N). Plasma levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the airway NO concentration by chemiluminescence. TNF-alpha was significantly (p < 0.05) increased at 30 min after the termination of CPB, while...
Prevalence of predisposing factors for endocarditis among an elderly institutionalized population

The charts of 100 nursing home patients in a Veterans Affairs skilled nursing facility were reviewed to identify the need for endocarditis prevention prior to dental procedures. Forty-two (42%) had identifiable needs. Systolic murmurs, documented in 38% of the residents, were the most prevalent abnormality. Five patients had other indications for antibiotic coverage (history of rheumatic heart disease, previous endocarditis, artificial heart valve), which added four unique patients (those not already identified by murmurs) to the total. The dental implications of these findings are discussed.
In aged mice, low surrogate light chain promotes pro‐B‐cell apoptotic resistance, compromises the PreBCR checkpoint, and favors generation of autoreactive, phosphorylcholine‐specific B cells

In aged mice, new B-cell development is diminished and the antibody repertoire becomes more autoreactive. Our studies suggest that (i) apoptosis contributes to reduced B lymphopoiesis in old age and preferentially eliminates those B-cell precursors with higher levels of the surrogate light chain (SLC) proteins (λ5/VpreB) and (ii) λ5(low) B-cell precursors generate new B cells which show increased reactivity to the self-antigen/bacterial antigen phosphorylcholine (PC). Pro-B cells in old bone marrow as well as pro-B cells from young adult λ5-deficient mice are resistant to cytokine-induced apoptosis (TNFα; TGFβ), indicating that low λ5 expression in pro-B cells is sufficient to cause increased survival. Transfer of TNFα-producing 'age-associated B cells' (ABC; CD21/35(-) CD23(-)) or follicular (FO) B cells from aged mice into RAG-2 KO recipients led to preferential loss of λ5(high) pro-B cells, but retention of λ5(low), apoptosis-resistant pro-B cells. In old mice, there is increased reactivity to PC in both immature bone marrow B cells and mature splenic FO B cells. In young mice, absence of λ5 expression led to a similar increase in PC reactivity among bone marrow and splenic B cells. We propose that in old age, increased apoptosis, mediated in part by TNFα-producing B cells, results in preferential loss of SLC(high) pro-B cells within the bone marrow. Further B-cell development then occurs via an 'SLC(low)' pathway that not only impairs B-cell generation, but promotes autoreactivity within the naive antibody repertoires in the bone marrow and periphery.
Use of endotoxin as a positive (toxic) control in the mouse embryo assay

Purpose : The mouse embryo assay (MEA) is used to test media used for in vitro fertilization (IVF). Negative controls usually consist of previously tested media known to support growth of embryos to the blastocyst stage by 72 h. Often, no concurrent positive (toxic) controls are reported. Thus, any unusually hardy cohort of embryos may go undetected. Endotoxin was tested for its suitability as a positive control in the MEA. Results : Female mice were stimulated with gonadotropins mated with males, and embryos flushed from their oviducts 36 h after HCG injection. Two-cell embryos were pooled and randomly distributed to culture dishes containing media without protein supplement. Endotoxin inhibited blastocyst growth beginning at 50 μg/ml, with complete suppression of development at 5000 μg/ml. With 500 μg/ml endotoxin, an average of 34.8% of the embryos developed to the blastocyst stage for eight separate assays. The interassay coefficient of variation (CV) was 76%, while the intraassay CV was 9.4%. At 48 h the zona pellucida was absent from all of the embryos exposed to the endotoxin. A large difference was found between two lots of endotoxin with the same claimed potency. Conclusions : These studies demonstrate the importance for inclusion of a well-defined positive control when performing the mouse embryo assay.
Experiments with query acquisition and use in document retrieval systems

In some recent experimental document retrieval systems, emphasis has been placed on the acquisition of a detailed model of the information need through interaction with the user. It has been argued that these “enhanced” queries, in combination with relevance feedback, will improve retrieval performance. In this paper, we describe a study with the aim of evaluating how easily enhanced queries can be acquired from users and how effectively this additional knowledge can be used in retrieval. The results indicate that significant effectiveness benefits can be obtained through the acquisition of domain concepts related to query concepts, together with their level of importance to the information need.
Comparison of the Perdew–Wang exchange with the Dirac exchange†

Recently, Perdew and Wang presented an expression for the exchange energy of a many-electron system. This functional has been adapted in the present work in variational density functional calculations of the total atomic binding energy of the Ne atom. For this atom similar calculations have been done earlier using the Dirac expression for the exchange energy. Three different total energy functionals have been considered: (1) the Thomas-Fermi-Perdew-Wang functional, (2) the above functional augmented by (1/9) of the original Weizsacker correction to the Thomas-Fermi kinetic energy, and (3) the same functional as in 1 augmented by (1/5.3) of the original Weizsacker correction to the Thomas-Fermi kinetic energy. The electron (number) density of the Ne atom has been constructed from hydrogen-like one-electron wave functions containing three variational parameters. Each of three total energy functionals have been minimized with respect to these parameters. Comparison of the Perdew-Wang and Dirac exchange energies shows that, in each of the three model pairs, the Perdew-Wang exchange energy is larger in magnitude than the Dirac exchange energy. It is also found that the exchange energy obtained by 2, -12.31 a.u., is in excellent agreement with the value of -12.22 a.u. calculated by Perdew and Wang with the Clementi and Roetti near-Hartree-Fock density.
Subsonic flow around the leading edge of a thin aerofoil with a parabolic nose

Subsonic potential flow around the leading edge of a thin two-dimensional general aerofoil with a parabolic nose at small angles of attack is analysed. Asymptotic expansions of the velocity potential function are constructed at a fixed Mach number in terms of the thickness ratio of the aerofoil in an outer region around the aerofoil and in an inner region near the nose. These expansions are matched asymptotically. The outer expansion consists of linearized aerofoil theory and its second-order problem, where the leading-edge singularity appears. The inner expansion accounts for the flow around the nose, where a stagnation point exists. A boundary-value problem is formulated in the inner region for the solution of a compressible uniform flow with the same Mach number, past a semi-infinite two-dimensional parabola. The analysis shows that the drag of any general aerofoil with a round nose is zero for every subsonic Mach number below the critical Mach number, where the drag component that is calculated by the integration of the outer pressure distribution over the aerofoil is cancelled exactly by the drag of the parabolic nose. The numerical solution of the flow field in the inner region results in the pressure distribution on the parabolic nose. The stagnation point tends to shift toward the leading edge due to the compressibility effects as the Mach number is increased at a fixed angle of attack and camber of the aerofoil. Good agreement is found in the leading edge region between the present asymptotic solution and numerical solutions of the Euler equations. Using the outer linearized solution and the nose solution a uniformly valid pressure distribution on the entire aerofoil surface in a subsonic flow is derived.
Thromboprophylaxis in spinal trauma surgery: consensus among spine trauma surgeons.

Abstract Background context Although there are several studies evaluating the necessity and efficacy of thromboprophylaxis after spinal trauma with or without spinal cord injury (SCI), to date there is no established standard of practice pertaining to this specific patient population with regards to venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis. Purpose To reach a consensus opinion in the administration of thromboprophylaxis in both preoperative and postoperative care in the settings of spinal trauma and SCI. Study design A live survey on thromboprophylaxis after spinal surgery in the setting of trauma was conducted at a meeting among spine trauma surgeons. Methods Twenty-five spine surgeons (Neurosurgeons and Orthopedic surgeons), all members of the Spine Trauma Study Group, participated in a live survey in which they attempted to reach consensus pertaining to the management of deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis in patients with spine fractures (with and without a concomitant SCI). The consensus survey consisted of a 10-item questionnaire. Chi-square test was used for group comparisons in questionnaire responses. Results Complete agreement was reached for the need of postoperative pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis in cervical spine injuries with SCI and anterior thoracolumbar procedures with or without SCI. Postoperative pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis after cervical spine injuries without SCI was agreed not to be needed. In cases of delayed surgery for patients with SCI, pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis was recommended to be started as soon as possible in the presurgical period. The optimal duration of pharmacologic VTE prophylaxis was determined to be 3 months. Only 53% agreement was noted for the withholding of preoperative chemical prophylaxis in cervical or thoracolumbar spinal injuries with SCI (and 68% without SCI). Only 80% of the surgeons agreed that postoperative pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis is needed after posterior thoracolumbar procedures in patients with or without SCI. The use of vena cava filter after SCI was not universally recommended. Conclusions Postoperative pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis was opined to be unnecessary in patients with cervical spine injuries without SCI, however, it is recommended for cervical spine trauma with SCI or anterior thoracolumbar procedures irrespective of SCI. Pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis was recommended to start preoperatively as soon as possible in SCI cases or in cases with surgical delay. Pharmacologic prophylaxis was recommended to be administered for at least 3 months postinjury. Although these recommendations met complete consensus by this group, individual patient factors should also be considered in determining optimal thromboprophylaxis in this patient population. Future research recommendations on thromboprophylaxis in spinal trauma are proposed.
Adelic conformal field theory

Abstract We stress the use of modular forms in obtaining adelic formulations of field theoretical problems. Supersymmetry then appears in the real section with the p -adic parts as arithmetic completions. We first show how the Casimir effect is naturally interpreted adelically and the coefficient arises from dimensional analysis. We then suggest looking at the zero slope limit of adelic string amplitudes. Finally, we interpret the rationality of the critical exponents for conformal field theories in terms of p -adic analyticity of correlation functions.
Theoretical values of various parameters in the Gummel–Poon model of a bipolar junction transistor

Various parameters in the Gummel–Poon model of a bipolar junction transistor are expressed in terms of the basic structure of a transistor. A consistent theoretical approach is used which facilitates an understanding of the foundations and limitations of the derived formulas. The results enable one to predict how changes in the geometry and composition of a transistor would affect performance.
Identification and expression of the Drosophila adipokinetic hormone gene.

Abstract Drosophila adipokinetic hormone (DAXH) is an eight amino acid member of a large arthropod neuropeptide family. The gene encoding the peptide precursor has been identified and sequenced providing an inferred precursor structure of 79 amino acids including a 46 amino acid carboxy-terminal fragment of unknown function. In situ hybridization identifies sites of DAKH synthesis towards the base of the third larval instar ring gland. Like other RPCH (red pigment concentrating hormone)/AKH family peptides, DAKH can act as a cardioaccelerator at least in prepupae. Peptide levels measured in wildtype and mutant flies possessing one or three copies of the DAKH gene suggest that the amount of neuropeptide per fly is tightly regulated.
The Effects of Coach Training on Fear of Failure in Youth Swimmers: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis from a Randomized, Controlled Trial.

Abstract The present study was a randomized trial of the efficacy of psychosocial and injury prevention-based coach training programs for reducing fear of failure (FF) among youth swimmers aged 7 to 18 years. Results revealed that (a) psychosocial training increased coaches' use of reward/reinforcement, (b) the FF measure demonstrated strong factorial invariance over three measurement occasions in a 7-week period, (c) significant variability existed in intercepts, and (d) the type of training coaches received did not predict the slope of youth FF over the season after the variability in intercepts was modeled (i.e., the coach training program did not reduce youth FF significantly). This finding stands in contrast to previous research showing that a similar psychosocial coach training program reduced performance anxiety among 10- to 12 year-old boys. Despite the equivocal nature of the coach training literature, there is no evidence that these programs are harmful and psychosocial coach training may provide some benefits while the necessary conditions for consistent positive youth development effects are being determined.
Orientation of Measurement Sensors for Optimum End-of-Life Performance

Relative orientations of on-board measurement sensors are found that ensure the best possible measurement accuracy in the end-of-life situation when all but three sensors have failed. For five and six sensors, the optimum orientations are, respectively, the single cone and dodecahedron configurations. For seven and eight sensors, new configurations are found that are, respectively, 25 and 20 percent more accutate than previously proposed configurations. In general, there is a tradeoff between performance at end-of-life and performance earlier in a configuration's lifetime.
Expert system development methodology and the transition from prototyping to operations - Fiesta, a case study

A major barrier in taking expert systems from prototype to operational status involves instilling end user confidence in the operational system. The software of different life cycle models is examined and the advantages and disadvantages of each when applied to expert system development are explored. The Fault Isolation Expert System for Tracking and data relay satellite system Applications (FIESTA) is presented as a case study of development of an expert system. The end user confidence necessary for operational use of this system is accentuated by the fact that it will handle real-time data in a secure environment, allowing little tolerance for errors. How FIESTA is dealing with transition problems as it moves from an off-line standalone prototype to an on-line real-time system is discussed.
Internal Models and the Human Instrument Monitor

A general structure for the quantitative modeling of human operator behavior is discussed. The primary features of this structure are 1) the mathematical description of the updating of operator information state by an internal model of the environment, and 2) the assumption of optimal behavior on the basis of current state of information.
Algorithmic and visual analysis of spatiotemporal stops in movement data

Analyzing the occurrence of stops in transportation systems is an important challenge to better understand traffic congestion problems and find corresponding solutions. We propose an efficient system to analyze stop occurrences. It consists of two major parts: (1) an efficient clustering algorithm to partition the stops into groups based on strongly connected components (2) an interactive visual representation of the results to provide insights to domain experts.
The Uniqueness of Software Errors and their Impact on Global Policy

The types of errors that emerge in the development and maintenance of software are essentially different from the types of errors that emerge in the development and maintenance of engineered hardware products. There is a set of standard responses to actual and potential hardware errors, including: engineering ethics codes, engineering practices, corporate policies and laws. The essential characteristics of software errors require new ethical, policy, and legal approaches to the development of software in the global arena.
Toward Conceptualization, Discriminant Validation, and Coherent Nomenclature for Inter-Disciplinary Theoretical Transfer:

Beyond calling attention to Lee, Cho, Seo, Lee, and Choi's (2014) worthy construct validation regimen, the purpose of this brief note is to extend the study's effect by interpreting the broader than usual empirical and theoretical connections in a way that may not be obvious.
The need to modify physical activity messages to better speak to older African American women: a pilot study

Background Combating the physical inactivity crisis and improving health and quality of life is a challenge and a public health priority, especially in underserved populations. A key role of public health consists of informing, educating, and empowering individuals and communities about health issues. Researchers have found that mass communication messages often have limited effectiveness in reaching and impacting the health of underserved populations. The present pilot study was designed to explore perceptions of older African American women (AAW) in response to widely disseminated public information pertaining to physical activity (PA) and aging.
Changing frameworks in attitudes toward abortion

For more than two decades, legal abortion has been the subject of heated political debate and adversarial social movement activity; however, national polls have shown little change in aggregate levels of support for abortion. This analysis examines how the determinants of abortion attitudes have changed between 1977 and 1996, using data from the General Social Surveys. While in early time periods, whites were more approving of abortion than blacks, that pattern had reversed by the late 1980s. After controlling for other factors, older people are more accepting of abortion throughout the two decades, while gender is generally unrelated to abortion views. Catholic religion weakens slightly as a predictor of abortion attitudes, while religious fundamentalism and political liberalism increase in explanatory power. The associations between attitudinal correlates and abortion approval also change over this time period. Religiosity becomes a less powerful predictor of abortion attitudes, while respondents' attitude toward sexual freedom and belief in the sanctity of human life increase in their predictive power. Support for gender inequality remains a weak but stable predictor of abortion attitudes. This pattern of results suggests that the public is influenced more by the pro-life framework of viewing abortion than by the pro-choice perspective.
MCP: Few Bits for Fairing and Small Queues in the Stable State

Interactive and other delay-sensitive applications are interested in keeping end-to-end delays of their packets minimal. Unfortunately, congestion control offered by transmission control protocol (TCP) and other existing protocols inflates the end-to-end delays by building up queues at bottleneck links. In this paper, we investigate multimodal control protocol (MCP) designed to maintain low queues after converging to the stable state where MCP flows utilize shared bottleneck links efficiently and fairly. To achieve this goal, MCP incorporates multiple modes of operation and allocates few bits in each packet header for explicit communication between hosts and routers. An innovative aspect of the explicit communication mechanism is an ability of a flow to urge all flows on its bottleneck links to switch temporarily into a fairing mode and thereby improve fairness of the bottleneck sharing. To make the fair sharing independent of round-trip times and packet sizes, MCP uses the sending bitrate as a control parameter and employs uniform adjustment timing for all flows. Our evaluation of MCP demonstrates its efficient fair operation and significantly shorter stable-state queues than under existing congestion control protocols.
The Chk1 protein kinase and the Cdc25C regulatory pathways are targets of the anticancer agent UCN-01

A checkpoint operating in the G2 phase of the cell cycle prevents entry into mitosis in the presence of DNA damage. UCN-01, a protein kinase inhibitor currently undergoing clinical trials for cancer treatment, abrogates G2 checkpoint function and sensitizes p53-defective cancer cells to DNA-damaging agents. In most species, the G2 checkpoint prevents the Cdc25 phosphatase from removing inhibitory phosphate groups from the mitosis-promoting kinase Cdc2. This is accomplished by maintaining Cdc25 in a phosphorylated form that binds 14-3-3 proteins. The checkpoint kinases, Chk1 and Cds1, are proposed to regulate the interactions between human Cdc25C and 14-3-3 proteins by phosphorylating Cdc25C on serine 216. 14-3-3 proteins, in turn, function to keep Cdc25C out of the nucleus. Here we report that UCN-01 caused loss of both serine 216 phosphorylation and 14-3-3 binding to Cdc25C in DNA-damaged cells. In addition, UCN-01 potently inhibited the ability of Chk1 to phosphorylate Cdc25C in vitro. In contrast, Cds1 was refractory to inhibition by UCN-01in vitro, and Cds1 was still phosphorylated in irradiated cells treated with UCN-01. Thus, neither Cds1 nor kinases upstream of Cds1, such as ataxia telangiectasia-mutated, are targets of UCN-01 action in vivo. Taken together our results identify the Chk1 kinase and the Cdc25C pathway as potential targets of G2 checkpoint abrogation by UCN-01.
Health Information Technology to Guide Pediatric Obesity Management

The purpose of this study was to examine pediatricians’ familiarity with expert committee recommendations on the management of childhood obesity and their use of health information technology for obesity-related care. The authors interviewed 35 pediatricians from 17 primary care practices using an electronic health record; immersion crystallization facilitated analysis of the qualitative data. Nearly all pediatricians were unfamiliar with expert recommendations; however, all participants reported using growth charts and providing nutrition and physical activity counseling. Most participants wanted easy access to educational materials they could print for patients. The majority of participants were in favor of an electronic alert to identify obese patients, remind clinicians of current guidelines, and facilitate ordering, believing it would help standardize care. Concerns included “alert fatigue,” distraction, and disruption of workflow. Suggestions for future electronic functions included tailored educati...
Profit Split, the Future of Transfer Pricing? Arm's Length Principle and Formulary Apportionment Revisited from a Theoretical and a Practical Perspective

This article compares the Profit Split Method (“PSM”), one of the transfer pricing methods for the application of the arm’s length principle, with Formulary Apportionment (“FA”) which is discussed as an alternative to the arm’s length principle as such. In the course of this article, we analyze and compare both approaches, in particular by considering compliance costs, resource allocation, and transition costs. Even though at a first glance FA might be viewed as similar to the PSM (or even more advanced), we demonstrate that there are crucial differences between both approaches. Based on our analysis, we conclude that FA is not an alternative to the application of the PSM. In contrast, we believe that the PSM will gain more and more importance in future. Therefore, we present our proposals to further improve the institutional framework for the application of the arm’s length principle in general and the PSM in particular. Our proposals will help to decrease double taxation, and it will lead to lower compliance costs for the taxpayers as well as for the tax authorities.
Gender Difference or Parallel Publics? The Dynamics of Defense Spending Opinions in the United States, 1965–2007

Gender is now recognized as an important dividing line in American political life, and scholars have accumulated evidence that national security issues are an important reason for gender difference...
Identification and characterization of cancer initiating cells from BRCA1 related mammary tumors using markers for normal mammary stem cells.

It is hypothesized that cancer stem cells arise either from normal stem cells or from progenitor cells that have gained the ability to self-renew. Here we determine whether mammary cancer stem cells can be isolated by using antibodies that have been used for the isolation of normal mammary stem cells. We show that BRCA1 mutant cancer cell lines contained a subpopulation of CD24+CD29+ or CD24+CD49f+ cells that exhibited increased proliferation and colony forming ability in vitro, and enhanced tumor-forming ability in vivo. The purified CD24+CD29+ cells could differentiate and reconstitute the heterogeneity found in parental cells when plated as a monolayer. Under low-attachment conditions, we detected “tumorspheres” only in the presence of double positive cells, which maintained their ability to self-renew. Furthermore, CD24+CD29+ cells could form tubular structures reminiscent of the mammary ductal tree when grown in three-dimensional cultures, implying that these cancer cells maintain some of the characteristics of the normal stem cells. Nevertheless, they could still drive tumor formation since as low as 500 double positive cells immediately after sorting from BRCA1 mutant primary tumors were able to form tumors with the same heterogeneity found in the original tumors. These data provide evidence that breast cancer stem cells originate from normal stem cells and advance our understanding of BRCA1-associated tumorigenesis with possible implications for future cancer treatment.
Roberts, Geoffrey. Stalin's General: The Life of Georgy Zhukov.

General Georgy Zhukov was the man who many believe turned the tide of the struggle against the Nazi war machine and ultimately forged the most memorable and historically significant victories of th...