cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Establishing a Common Ground—Admiral Zheng He as an Agent of Cultural Diplomacy in Malaysia

Selective mining of history for examples of harmonious cooperation is one of the more pronounced features of China’s cultural diplomacy. In Southeast Asia the voyages of Zheng He, the world-famous eunuch admiral, are often invoked as a common ground on which to build new and beneficial relations with various countries of the region. Portrayed as an intrepid explorer as well as an envoy of peace bringing the know-how of an advanced Chinese culture, the admiral is ideally poised to embody the values the PRC government is eager to propagate. This is especially true in the case of Malaysia, where the Ming voyages coincided with the rise of Muslim political power and the founding of the first Malay state, the Sultanate of Malacca. In Malaysia the PRC’s message of friendly cooperation and peaceful contacts has been readily adopted and heartily promoted by government as well as certain non-governmental actors including members of the local Chinese community, who for various reasons contribute to the dissemination of the image the PRC would like to project. Focusing on selected sites of transnational societal spaces in Malaysia (The International Cheng Ho Society, Zheng He Museum in Malacca, and Malacca itself), the chapter analyses various ways in which the voyages are utilized, explaining why the idea of Zheng He’s voyages seen as a culture quest appeals to the respective actors involved in its promotion. Focus on the sites of interaction provides a much clearer, if more complicated picture of converging and overlapping interests and enables a better understanding of the various factors shaping and influencing cultural diplomacy in a complex relationship in which ethnic, social, and political conditions of the target country play an essential role.
Phytobiotics with Adsorbent to Mitigate Toxicity of Multiple Mycotoxins on Health and Growth of Pigs

Phytobiotics with a mycotoxin adsorbent were used to mitigate negative effects of multiple mycotoxins in diets fed to pigs. In experiment 1, 120 pigs (11.6 kg body weight; BW) were assigned to five treatments (three pigs/pen) and fed for 28 days. Treatments were CON (control), MTD (CON + 2.5 mg/kg of deoxynivalenol), DP (MTD + phytobiotics at 0.1%), and DPA1 and DPA2 (MTD + phytobiotics and adsorbent at 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively). In experiment 2, 96 pigs (28.5 kg BW) were assigned to four treatments (three pigs/pen) and fed for 26 days. Treatments were CON, MTAF (CON + 0.19 mg/kg of aflatoxin and 8 mg/kg of fumonisins), AFP (MTAF + phytobiotics at 0.1%), and AFPA (MTAF + phytobiotics and adsorbent at 0.1%). Growth performance was measured weekly, and blood was sampled at the end of study to measure hepatic function and inflammatory status (TNF-α). Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure. In experiment 1, pigs fed MTD, DP, DPA1, and DPA2 had smaller (p < 0.05) BW than CON. Pigs fed DPA2 had greater (p < 0.05) BW than MTD. Pigs fed DP and DPA2 tended to have lower (p < 0.1) serum total protein than CON. Pigs fed MTD and DPA2 tended to have higher (p < 0.1) alanine aminotransferase than CON. Similarly, pigs fed MTD, DP, and DPA2 tended to have higher (p < 0.1) urea nitrogen/creatinine than CON. In experiment 2, pigs fed MTAF, AFP, and AFPA had smaller (p < 0.05) BW than CON. Pigs fed MTAF, AFP, and AFPA had smaller (p < 0.05) ADFI than CON. Pigs fed AFPA had higher (p < 0.05) aspartate aminotransferase than CON and MTAF. Pigs fed AFP and AFPA had higher (p < 0.05) alanine aminotransferase than CON. Pigs fed MTAF, AFP, and AFPA had lower (p < 0.05) urea nitrogen/creatinine than CON. Pigs fed AFPA had higher (p < 0.05) TNF-α than CON and MTAF. In conclusion, feeding an additional 2.5 mg/kg of deoxynivalenol or 0.19 mg/kg of aflatoxin with 8 mg/kg of fumonisins reduced the growth of pigs. Deoxynivalenol compromised the hepatic function of pigs. Phytobiotics with adsorbent could partly overcome the detrimental effects of mycotoxins.
Deterministic Approximation of Random Walks via Queries in Graphs of Unbounded Size.

Consider the following computational problem: given a regular digraph $G=(V,E)$, two vertices $u,v \in V$, and a walk length $t\in \mathbb{N}$, estimate the probability that a random walk of length $t$ from $u$ ends at $v$ to within $\pm \varepsilon.$ A randomized algorithm can solve this problem by carrying out $O(1/\varepsilon^2)$ random walks of length $t$ from $u$ and outputting the fraction that end at $v$. In this paper, we study deterministic algorithms for this problem that are also restricted to carrying out walks of length $t$ from $u$ and seeing which ones end at $v$. Specifically, if $G$ is $d$-regular, the algorithm is given oracle access to a function $f : [d]^t\to \{0,1\}$ where $f(x)$ is $1$ if the walk from $u$ specified by the edge labels in $x$ ends at $v$. We assume that G is consistently labelled, meaning that the edges of label $i$ for each $i\in [d]$ form a permutation on $V$. We show that there exists a deterministic algorithm that makes $\text{poly}(dt/\varepsilon)$ nonadaptive queries to $f$, regardless of the number of vertices in the graph $G$. Crucially, and in contrast to the randomized algorithm, our algorithm does not simply output the average value of its queries. Indeed, Hoza, Pyne, and Vadhan (ITCS 2021) showed that any deterministic algorithm of the latter form that works for graphs of unbounded size must have query complexity at least $\exp(\tilde{\Omega}(\log(t)\log(1/\varepsilon)))$.
Specialized Nutrition Support

Summary Malnutrition is common in hospitalized patients and is associated with adverse clinical outcomes. A variety of factors commonly present in hospital patients contribute to protein–energy malnutrition and loss of essential vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes. Assessment of nutritional status requires comprehensive evaluation and integration of medical and surgical history, current clinical and fluid status, dietary intake patterns, body weight changes, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, physical examination, and selected biochemical tests. Current guidelines suggest that goals for caloric intake between 20 and 25 kcal/kg/day and protein/amino acids between 1.2 and 2.0 g/kg/day are appropriate for most adult hospital patients. Adequate vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, essential amino acids, and essential fatty acids must be provided based on recommended allowances for healthy individuals; however, true requirements in subtypes of hospital patients are unknown. The GI (enteral) route should be the first choice for specialized feeding in the hospital setting, with parenteral nutrition modalities, via peripheral or central vein, reserved for those patients in whom adequate enteral nutrition is not possible. Metabolic, infectious, and mechanical complications can occur with both enteral and parenteral feeding modalities and can be prevented or reduced with careful monitoring and adherence to current standards of practice. Relatively few rigorous, randomized controlled clinical trials have been conducted within the field of specialized feeding in the hospital setting, and many areas of uncertainty remain.
AVIATION MANAGEMENT JOB PLACEMENT: THE 2002 PERSPECTIVE

Successful job placement of aviation management graduates is highly beneficial to university aviation management programs as well as organizations that offer positions to aviation management graduates. A critical aspect of job placement involves understanding the preferences and perceptions of students and employers regarding jobs. This paper reports the results of a survey of undergraduate aviation management students from four universities regarding their preferences and perceptions vis-a-vis employment. Results provided include a demographic profile of the respondents, their organization/functional area preferences and their perspectives on selected job selection factors and issues.
An Overview of Composites

It has been estimated that in 1979 the composite industry used a sufficient quantity of resins, reinforcing agents, and fillers to produce 8 billion pounds of composites. Of this total, about 2 billion pounds employed fiberglass reinforcement, 2 billion pounds employed asbestos reinforcement, and 4 billion pounds employed such other reinforcements as cellulosic fiber, cotton, polyamide (nylon), and sisal. The total value of these composites to the industry was about 6 billion dollars.
Thrombospondin-1, -2 and -5 have differential effects on vascular smooth muscle cell physiology.

Abstract Introduction The thrombospondins (TSPs) are matricellular proteins that exert multifunctional effects by binding cytokines, cell-surface receptors and other proteins. TSPs play important roles in vascular pathobiology and are all expressed in arterial lesions. The differential effects of TSP-1, -2, and -5 represent a gap in knowledge in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) physiology. Our objective is to determine if structural differences of the TSPs imparted different effects on VSMC functions critical to the formation of neointimal hyperplasia. We hypothesize that TSP-1 and -2 induce similar patterns of migration, proliferation and gene expression, while the effects of TSP-5 are different. Methods Human aortic VSMC chemotaxis was tested for TSP-2 and TSP-5 (1–40 μg/mL), and compared to TSP-1 and serum-free media (SFM) using a modified Boyden chamber. Next, VSMCs were exposed to TSP-1, TSP-2 or TSP-5 (0.2–40 μg/mL). Proliferation was assessed by MTS assay. Finally, VSMCs were exposed to TSP-1, TSP-2, TSP-5 or SFM for 3, 6 or 24 h. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed on 96 genes using a microfluidic card. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA or t-test, with p Results TSP-1, TSP-2 and TSP-5 at 20 μg/mL all induce chemotaxis 3.1 fold compared to serum-free media. TSP-1 and TSP-2 induced proliferation 53% and 54% respectively, whereas TSP-5 did not. In the gene analysis, overall, cardiovascular system development and function is the canonical pathway most influenced by TSP treatment, and includes multiple growth factors, cytokines and proteases implicated in cellular migration, proliferation, vasculogenesis, apoptosis and inflammation pathways. Conclusions and relevance The results of this study indicate TSP-1, -2, and -5 play active roles in VSMC physiology and gene expression. Similarly to TSP-1, VSMC chemotaxis to TSP-2 and -5 is dose-dependent. TSP-1 and -2 induces VSMC proliferation, but TSP-5 does not, likely due conservation of N-terminal domains in TSP-1 and -2. In addition, TSP-1, -2 and -5 significantly affect VSMC gene expression; however, little overlap exists in the specific genes altered. This study further delineates TSP-1, -2 and -5's contributions to processes related to VSMC physiology.
An Agenda for Public Administration in the Postmodern Era: The Search for Order out of Chaos

AbstractMuch of the turbulence in the postindustrial and postmodern era (globalization, informatization of society, and diffusion of national boundaries) unfolds outside the mainstream, norm-oriented public administration. How might public administration scholars and practitioners better understand the current and anticipated turbulence in the postindustrial and postmodern era? The author argues that it is imperative to shift our mind from the Newtonian/Weberian rational-positivist paradigm because turbulent disorder defies common sense and rational expectations to the domain of chaos (as opposed to order) which us always with us but which we do not normally recognize. In an effort to draw some insights about the workings of chaos and paradox in public administration, the author takes an excursion through new science and examines three epistemological discoveries from quantum physics and the second law of thermodynamics: complementarity, unpredictability, and dissipative structures. The insights from this...
Reconfigurable analog-to-digital converter for implantable bioimpedance monitoring

This paper presents a pipelined analog-todigital converter (ADC) that is designed for implantable bioimpedance monitoring systems. For bioimpedance spectroscopy where the frequency of the excitation current is swept up to high frequencies, the ADC should be adaptable to improve the power efficiency of the system. The converter in this work can configure its resolution and sampling rate based on the input signal amplitude and frequency, respectively. Furthermore, it can automatically decide its configuration with the help of a novel, low-power automatic adaptation circuit. The converter has 10-bit resolution in high-resolution mode and 8-bit resolution in low-resolution mode. The bandwidth of the ADC is 100 kHz in low-speed mode and 20 MHz in high-speed mode. The SNDR, ENOB and power consumption of the converter in low-speed mode are 58.66 dB, 9.45, and 16 μW in 10-bit mode and 46.56 dB, 7.41, and 9 μW in 8-bit mode.
A Two-Pricing System for Exporting Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice

The Florida citrus industry is in the unique position of being both importer and exporter of frozen concentrated orange juice. On one hand, exports provide the industry with an additional outlet for concentrate. On the other, imports being brought into the U.S. market creates considerable controversy as to whether this imported juice is economically desirable for the industry. Two basic issues have evolved from these international trading activities. First, Florida exports concentrate on both Canadian and European markets. The former differs little from the domestic market. In contrast, the European market is expected to differ substantially from the U.S. market. Florida faces a number of competing suppliers in Europe. Often, the price of foreign concentrate exported to Europe is priced lower than Florida's export price. Recognizing that competition exists in the European market, how then should Florida price its product relative to the world price? Similarly, should the Florida export price be discounted to the domestic?
Integration of active pharmaceutical ingredient solid form selection and particle engineering into drug product design

This review seeks to offer a broad perspective that encompasses an understanding of the drug product attributes affected by active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) physical properties, their link to solid form selection and the role of particle engineering. While the crucial role of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) solid form selection is universally acknowledged in the pharmaceutical industry, the value of increasing effort to understanding the link between solid form, API physical properties and drug product formulation and manufacture is now also being recognised. A truly holistic strategy for drug product development should focus on connecting solid form selection, particle engineering and formulation design to both exploit opportunities to access simpler manufacturing operations and prevent failures. Modelling and predictive tools that assist in establishing these links early in product development are discussed. In addition, the potential for differences between the ingoing API physical properties and those in the final product caused by drug product processing is considered. The focus of this review is on oral solid dosage forms and dry powder inhaler products for lung delivery.
Achieving stability and fairness in mobile ad hoc networks

In this paper, we present an approach to stable and fair mobile ad hoc networks. Our approach targets desired quality features using customizable clustering algorithms. Simulation results show that significant improvement on network stability and fairness can be achieved using our approach.
Synchrophasor technology: Applications and benefits over conventional measurement

Synchrophasor technology is a growing area of interest for the electric power system. The technology is capable of fast, time-synchronized data that includes phase angles of the electrical measurements. When the energy management system (EMS) has access to the phasor representations of different electrical measurements, it opens the possibilities of more precise system monitoring. In the conventional measurement schemes, state estimation is dependent on magnitude measurements, power metering, low-resolution data, and physical estimates of grid facilities, such as transmission lines. It is not difficult to see that physical estimates of this expansive system can dramatically impact the accuracy of system monitoring. In this paper, data analysis and mathematical concepts are the primary methods of analysis. Measures for the evaluation involve frequency response, error measurements, and interference identification. In the analysis performed, it has been found that frequency can be directly linked to fault events. Also, the total vector error (TVE) of the synchrophasor data with respect to the conventional state estimations is near the compliant level of 1% for sufficient error tolerance. Although this is not a complete success, it does suggest that a synchrophasor-based state estimator scheme may very well support the compliance of the data. If the state estimator were supported by the high-resolution phasor measurements, this would conceivably satisfy the goals set forth by industry standards. Lastly, interference from storm conditions has also been analyzed, and some significant voltage disturbances were observed. These quick, detailed grid measurements could alleviate issues that have resulted from growing power system complexity. Synchrophasor technology has real potential for wide-area monitoring and system awareness.
Effects of Racial Prejudice on the Health of Communities: A Multilevel Survival Analysis

Objectives. We examined whether and how racial prejudice at both the individual and community levels contributes to mortality risk among majority as well as minority group members.Methods. We used data on racial attitudes from the General Social Survey (1993–2002) prospectively linked to mortality data from the National Death Index through 2008.Results. Whites and Blacks living in communities with higher levels of racial prejudice were at an elevated risk of mortality, independent of individual and community sociodemographic characteristics and individually held racist beliefs (odds ratio = 1.24; 95% confidence interval = 1.04, 1.49). Living in a highly prejudiced community had similar harmful effects among both Blacks and Whites. Furthermore, the interaction observed between individual- and community-level racial prejudice indicated that respondents with higher levels of racial prejudice had lower survival rates if they lived in communities with low degrees of racial prejudice. Community-level social cap...
Verification Technology Transfer

In the last quarter century computer-aided verification --- especially in the form of model checking --- has evolved from a research concept to a commercial product. While the pace of this technology transfer was anything but rapid, the new technology had almost insuperable hurdles to jump on its way to the market place. Hurdle number one was a required significant change in methodology. On account of its limited capacity, model checking must be applied only to design components (RTL blocks in the case of hardware) instead of the whole design as with simulation test. Thus, the functional behavior of these design components must be specified. Since component level functionality is often revealed at best obscurely in the design's functional specification, either designers must convey component functionality to those doing the testing or else testers must somehow fathom it on their own. The former was considered an unacceptable diversion of vaunted designer resources while the latter was often undoable. A second hurdle was uncertainty surrounding the quality of the new tools. Initially the tools were incomparable and required the user to create considerable tool-specific infrastructure to specify properties before a tool could be evaluated. Recreating the required infrastructure for several tools was infeasible. This meant choosing a tool without a head-to-head evaluation against other tools. With the high cost and uncertain outcome afforded by these hurdles, no circuit manufacturer was willing even to consider seriously this new technology. Not, that is, until the cost of testing-as-usual became higher than the cost of jumping these formidable hurdles. This essay is the saga of the transfer of computer-aided verification technology from research to the market place.
Consistency-Based Feature Selection

Feature selection, the job to select features relevant to classification, is a central problem of machine learning. Inconsistency rate is known as an effective measure to evaluate consistency (relevance) of feature subsets, and INTERACT, a state-of-the-art feature selection algorithm, takes advantage of it. In this paper, we shows that inconsistency rate is not the unique measure of consistency by introducing two new consistency measures, and also, show that INTERACT has the important deficiency that it fails for particular types of probability distributions. To fix the deficiency, we propose two new algorithms, which have flexibility of taking advantage of any of the new measures as well as inconsistency rate. Furthermore, through experiments, we compare the three consistency measures, and prove effectiveness of the new algorithms.
Differences between follicular waves 1 and 2 in patterns of emergence of 2-mm follicles, associated FSH surges, and ovarian vascular perfusion in heifers.

Abstract The emergence (first detection) of 2-mm follicles, FSH surges, and ovarian vascular perfusion for follicular wave 1 and surge 1 (n = 26) and wave 2 and surge 2 (n = 25) were studied daily in heifers. The day the future dominant follicle was closest to 5.5 mm was designated Day 0 for each wave. In wave 1, many 2-mm follicles (41%) emerged on Days −5 to −3, whereas FSH surge 1 did not begin until Day −3. Concentration of FSH increased abruptly in 1 day to a peak on the day of maximal number of emerging 2-mm follicles, although the day of maximal number relative to Day 0 differed among individuals. The first emergence of 2-mm follicles in wave 2 occurred concurrently with the first increase in the FSH of surge 2. In wave 1, ovarian resistance to vascular perfusion was negatively correlated ( r = −0.48, P
Remote delivery of unmanned systems technologies

By removing the war fighter from the area of risk when deploying autonomous underwater mine hunting vehicles, the RDUST system can greatly extend the reach and safety of the war fighter. The system extends mission reach and time on-site by transporting the mine hunter to the survey area, providing semi-autonomous positioning for launch of the mine hunter, and acting as a communications buoy to provide track and introduce new objectives while the mine hunter is underway.
Coding over a measurable cardinal

The purpose of this paper is to extend the coding method (see Beller, Jensen and Welch [82]) into the context of large cardinals. Theorem. Suppose μ is a normal measure on κ in V and 〈 V, A〉 ⊨ ZFC. Then there is a 〈V, A〉-definable forcing for producing a real R such that : (a) V[R] ⊨ ZFC and A is V[R]-definable with parameter R . (b) V[R] = L[μ*, R], where μ* is a normal measure on κ in V[R] extending μ . (c) V ⊨ GCH → is cardinal and cofinality preserving . Corollary. It is consistent that μ is a normal measure, R ⊆ ω is not set-generic over L[μ] and 0 + ∉ L[μ, R] . Some other corollaries will be discussed in §4 of the paper. The main difficulty in L[μ] -coding lies in the problem of “stationary restraint”. As in all coding constructions, conditions will be of the form belonging to an initial segment of the cardinals, where p ( γ ) is a condition for almost disjoint coding into a subset of γ + . In addition for limit cardinals γ in Domain( p ), 〈 p γ ′ ∣ γ ′ γ 〉 serves to code p γ . An important restriction in coding arguments is that for inaccessible for only a nonstationary set of γ ′ γ . The reason is that otherwise there are conflicts between the restraint imposed by the different and the need to code extensions of p γ below γ .
News media and new media: Strong coverage of AGU Fall Meeting

[1] As scientists at AGU's 2010 Fall Meeting engaged one another with talks, posters, and hallway chats last December, a steady stream of reporting and commentary about all things Fall Meeting spilled out from the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif., to audiences throughout the world. Some 150 journalists—representing print, online, and broadcast media outlets, plus freelancers—reported from the meeting. Other reporters not present at the meeting participated in press conferences and other press events via live webcasts. Writers for nearly 2 dozen Earth and space science blogs churned out Fall Meeting-related blog postings. Twitter users also busily commented from the meeting, generating more than 4500 tweets labeled with the meeting's #AGU10 hashtag (a Twitter identity code). The outpouring of meeting-related news and commentary added up to more than 3000 stories, of which many reached far-flung parts of the globe, according to an analysis made using Vocus, a media monitoring service.
MRI characteristics of familial and sporadic multiple sclerosis patients

Purpose:To investigate the MRI characteristics in a large cohort of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with and without a family history of MS.Methods:Enrolled in this prospective study were 758 consecutive MS patients (mean age 46.2 ± 10.1 years, disease duration 13.6 ± 9.2 years and EDSS 3.4 ± 2.1), of whom 477 had relapsing–remitting, 222 secondary-progressive, and 30 primary-progressive disease courses and 29 had clinically isolated syndrome. One hundred and ninety-six patients (25.9%) had a positive family history of MS. Patients were assessed using measurements of lesions, brain atrophy, magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and diffusion-weighted imaging.Results:The familial MS group had greater T1-lesion volume (p=0.009) and a trend for lower MTR of T1-lesion volume (p=0.047) than the sporadic MS group. No clinical differences were found between familial versus sporadic group, or by a degree of affected relative subgroups.Conclusions:While familial MS was associated with more severe T1-lesion volume an...
Oceanography: Cycling coloured carbon

The fate of dissolved organic carbon in the ocean interior is poorly constrained. Fluorescence measurements illuminate the relative roles of in situ production and riverine input of at least the coloured carbon fraction.
Infantile acropustulosis in internationally adopted children

Background Infantile acropustulosis (IA) is a recurrent, self-limited, vesicopustular disorder affecting young children. Most cases occur after scabies infestation. IA seems to be common in children adopted from orphanages overseas. Objectives We sought to demonstrate the prevalence of IA in internationally adopted children and to examine the number of doctors seen for IA before a diagnosis, the frequency of misdiagnoses, specialists most likely to make the diagnosis of IA, and features of IA. Methods An Internet-based survey was posted on international adoption forums. Parent participation was voluntary, and specific inclusion criteria existed. Follow-up telephone questionnaire was then conducted. Results Seventeen children had been given a diagnosis of IA and 21 had classic presentations but no IA diagnosis. Birth countries included Vietnam, China, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and Russia. Pediatric dermatologists and pediatricians affiliated with international adoption clinics were most likely to diagnose IA; 53% of diagnoses occurred after patient prompting. Frequent misdiagnoses were recurrent scabies and hand-foot-mouth disease. Feet were affected in 100% of cases and hands in 94%. Over 50% of children in both the diagnosed and undiagnosed groups had coexistent atopic dermatitis. Limitations Limitations are potential parent reporting bias, selection bias, recall bias, and low response rate. Electronic survey instrument requires technically savvy parents. Conclusions IA appears to be common in internationally adopted children, who spent early childhood in crowded, unclean living conditions with a high prevalence of scabies infestation. IA is frequently misdiagnosed as recurrent scabies, resulting in unnecessary use of permethrin. This study demonstrated a coexistence of atopic dermatitis in over 50% of IA cases.
Bent vs Linear Metallocenes Involving C5Me5 vs C8H8 Ligands: Synthesis, Structure, and Reactivity of the Triple-Decked (C5Me5)(THF)xSm(C8H8)Sm(THF)x(C5Me5) (x = 0, 1) Complexes Including a Formal Two-Electron Oxidative Addition to a Single Lanthanide Metal Center1

A new series of bimetallic triple-decked organometallic sandwich complexes involving Sm(II) can be prepared by reacting [(C5Me4R)Sm(μ-I)(THF)2]2 with 1 equiv of K2C8H8 in toluene to form [(C5Me4R)Sm(THF)]2(μ-η8:η8-C8H8) (R = Me, 1; R = Et, 2). The diglyme ([MeOCH2CH2]2O) adduct of 1, {[(C5Me5)Sm(diglyme)]2(μ-η8:η8-C8H8)}(THF)2 (3) crystallizes from THF with a bridging (C8H8)2- dianion sandwiched between two [(C5Me5)Sm(diglyme)]+ cations with a 137.6° (C5Me5 ring centroid)−Sm−(C8H8 ring centroid) angle. This bent triple-decked metallocene has 2.91(2) A Sm−C(C5Me5) and 2.96(5) A Sm−C(C8H8) average distances. 1 and 2 can be desolvated at 30−50 °C under high vacuum over several hours to yield [(C5Me4R)Sm]2(μ-η8:η8-C8H8) (R = Me, 4; R = Et, 5). It was of interest to determine if 4 and 5 had triple-decked metallocene structures with three parallel rings since previously characterized bis(cyclooctatetraenyl) lanthanide and actinide complexes such as uranocene, (C8H8)2U, and [(C8H8)2Ce]- have parallel rings where...
Medically unnecessary cesarean section births: introduction to a symposium.

Abstract Between 1965 and 1986, the United States cesarean section rate increased from 4.5 to 24.1%. Increasingly, childbearing women and their advocates, along with many others, have recognized that a large proportion of cesareans confers a broad array of risks without providing any medical benefit. A growing literature examines the diverse causes of medically unnecessary cesareans and the diverse effects of surgical birth on women, infants, and families. Various programs and policies have been proposed or implemented to reduce cesarean rates. In recent decades, many other nations have also experienced a sharply escalating cesarean section rate. It is reasonable to conclude that a largely uncontrolled international pandemic of medically unnecessary cesarean births is occurring . The level of political, analytic, and programmatic activity that has occurred in the U.S. regarding medically unnecessary surgical births does not seem to be paralleled in other nations with sharply escalating rates. This symposium was organized with the objective of presenting the U.S. experience with various dimensions of the problem of medically unnecessary cesareans to an international audience. Although preliminary and inadequate, it is hoped that this experience will encourage policy leaders and investigators throughout the world to recognize and address the problem of run-away cesarean section births. The first section of this introduction summarizes the U.S. experience with medically unnecessary cesareans from the perpective of trends, causes, consequences, and solutions. The second section covers the same topics, presenting selected material from various other nations throughout the world. In the course of these overviews, I introduce the symposium's seven contributions, most of which focus on circumstances in the U.S.
Logic Based Spatial Light Modulators

The role of fiber optics as an interconnection mechanism for optoelectronic programmable logic arrays (OPLA's) is critically examined. The effect of fundamental physical limitations on the computational capacity of OPLA's is considered. A comparison of OPLA technology to that of existing electronic logic arrays is presented, and scaling relations are derived. The role of higher order decoders in minimizing the requirements on computational capacity is delineated. A novel technique is proposed for effecting a reconfigurable equivalent to a spatial light modulator based logic system.
Acetylcholinesterase and Nissl staining in the same histological section

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme histochemistry and Nissl staining are commonly utilized in neural architectonic studies. However, the opaque reaction deposit produced by the most commonly used AChE histochemical methods is not compatible with satisfactory Nissl staining. As a result, precise correlation of AChE and Nissl staining necessitates time-consuming comparisons of adjacent sections which may have differential shrinkage. Here, we have modified the Koelle-Friedenwald histochemical reaction for AChE by omitting the final intensification steps. The modified reaction yields a non-opaque reaction product that is selectively visualized by darkfield illumination. This non-intensified darkfield AChE (NIDA) reaction allows clear visualization of Nissl staining in the same histological section. This combined AChE-Nissl method greatly facilitates detailed correlation of enzyme and cytoarchitectonic organization.
Optimal load following in power grids in the presence of battery-powered agents

We address the modeling and optimal control problems for load following in power grids in the presence of unconventional battery-powered agents. Compared to the traditional large-scale generators such as thermal and hydroelectric plants, these agents have significantly lower short-term response costs but higher long-term generation costs. Moreover, a battery-powered agent can act both as a supplier and as a load by operating in discharge or charge modes, respectively. In this work, we provide a tractable model that captures the multi-timescale and heterogeneous cost structures of conventional and unconventional systems, as well as the dual role of unconventional ones. Then, we pose and solve the problem of optimal finite-horizon control of the joint system to balance unpredicted fluctuations in the net load. The optimal controller takes a simple and intuitive form that is explicitly described in terms of cost parameters, the net load shift, and the time horizon of control. We further investigate numerically several characteristics of the controller to reveal the gains and dynamics associated with it under randomly changing net load.
Experimental Study of Natural Convection from Electrically Heated Vertical Cylinders Immersed in Air

Abstract An experimental study of laminar steady-state natural convection heat transfer from electrically heated vertical cylinders immersed in air has been undertaken. Three stainless steel (316 SS) test sections of different slenderness ratios were employed. Surface temperature profiles along the vertical cylinders were obtained using miniature thermocouples when the cylinders were heated with different power levels resulting in different total wall heat fluxes. After the mandatory corrections for the radiation heat fluxes were made, three correlation equations relating the local Nusselt number Nuy with the local modified Rayleigh number Ra* y and the position-to-cylinder diameter y/d were developed. The correlation equations are valid for Ra* y ≤ 2 × 1012.
Combined Approach for Extensive Maxillectomy: Technique Development and Cadaveric Dissection

Subsequently, an incision is performed at the level of the ipsilateral gingivobuccal sulcus. The incision is made from the contralateral central incisor to the ipsilateral third molar. Blunt subperiosteal dissection of the soft tissues is performed with a freer dissector along the anterior wall of the maxillary sinus, until locating the infraorbital nerve (ION) superiorly and the zigomaticomaxillary fissure laterally Fig. 1 A. Vertically oriented osteotomies along the intermaxillary (IMF) fissure or segment, zigomatomaxillary fissure (ZMF), ascending process of the maxilla (APM), and transversally along the superior or inferior margin of the infraorbital neurovascular bundle are performed with powered instrumentation, in order to detach the anterior aspect of the maxilla Figs. 1 B-D, 2. An incision is made sagitally along the mucosa of the hard palate, which is raised and reflected with a soft tissue elevator. A nasal floor / palate osteotomy is performed with a powered saw, from posterior to anterior. It is preferred to make this osteotomy as close as possible to the medial maxillary wall to preserve more palatal bone to facilitate reconstruction, if oncologically possible. The sphenopalatine artery (SPA) and foramen (Fig. 3 A) are identified at the level of the ethmoidal crest. The SPA is clipped and cauterized and the foramen is opened with a small Kerrison roungeour (KR) forcep (Fig. 3 B). This instrument is also used to remove the adjacent posterior wall of the maxillary sinus in a lateral fashion (Fig 4 A). Having this done, the ITF and the PPF are exposed. The IMA is identified and clipped (Fig. 4 B). A KR or and angled drill can be used to continue the posterior osteotomy as laterally and anteriorly as possible, connecting it to the osteotomy previously performed along the ZMF (Fig. 5 and 6). Depending on individual’s anatomy, it may be difficult to extend the posterior osteotomy laterally and anteriorly, however, angled drills and endoscopes (45-70 degree) can be used endonasally, or a drill can be used to connect them by using the gingivobuccal approach (Fig. 7). Another option is to gain working space by drilling additional bone from the posteromedial aspect of the ipsilateral ascending process of the maxilla. Lastly, the nasal floor / hard palate osteotomy and the posterior osteotomy are connected with an angled drill, with or without transecting the pterygopalatine canal or pterygoid plates. Alternatively, the attachment of the maxilla to the pterygoid plates can be thinned out with a drill, and the maxilla can be dow-fractured in a controlled fashion. Once all the ostetomies are connected and the IMA is ligated, the remaining soft tissues (eg. soft palate) are divided sharply or using electrocautery. The floor of the orbit, ION, lamina papyracea, and superior aspect of ascending process of the maxilla are preserved in a subtotal maxillectomy. However, these structures can be removed (for a total maxillectomy) using the same
The New Zealand gas-to-gasoline plant : an engineering tour de force

Abstract The New Zealand Gas-to-Gasoline plant has completed its 6th year of continuous operation. The plant converts natural gas to methanol, which is then converted to premium gasoline using the Mobil MTG (Methanol-to-Gasoline) Process. Widely acclaimed as the first major advance in synfuels technology since the Fischer- Tropsch Process, the MTG Process was conceived and developed in the 1970's in response to the Arab oil embargo. Engineers responsible for the design and construction of the New Zealand plant faced a unique set of problems, from archaeological to seismological, from environmental to logistical, in addition to the technical challenges of realizing totally new technology. How these issues were met and resolved is the main theme of this paper.
Stability Metrics for Simulation and Flight-Software Assessment and Monitoring of Adaptive Control Assist Compensators

Due to a need for improved reliability and performance in aerospace systems, there is increased interest in the use of adaptive control or other nonlinear, time-varying control designs in aerospace vehicles. While such techniques are built on Lyapunov stability theory, they lack an accompanying set of metrics for the assessment of stability margins such as the classical gain and phase margins used in linear time-invariant systems. Such metrics must both be physically meaningful and permit the user to draw conclusions in a straightforward fashion. We present in this paper a roadmap to the development of metrics appropriate to nonlinear, time-varying systems. We also present two case studies in which frozen-time gain and phase margins incorrectly predict stability or instability. We then present a multi-resolution analysis approach that permits on-line real-time stability assessment of nonlinear systems.
Critical Race Theory: Recognizing the elephant and taking action

Book reviewed in this article: Making Race Visible: Literacy Research for Cultural Understanding. Stuart Greene and Dawn Abt-Perkins (Eds.). 2003.
Contributions of subterranean termites to the "economy" of Chihuahuan desert ecosystems.

We examined the role of subterranean termites in decomposition of cattle dung, various herbaceous plant species and wood in a Chihuahuan desert ecosystem. From July-September, termites removed dung at a rate of 0.63 g day-1 accounting for a percent mass loss of 19.5-100%. During the autumn subterranean termites consumed more than 50% of the leaves of the shrub Larrea tridentata, the grass Erioneuron pulchellum and annual plant Lepidium lasiocarpum and Baileya multiradiata but used very little of two other annuals Eriastrum diffusum and Eriogonum trichopes. Yucca inflorescence stalks on plots with termites lost 23% of their original mass in 30 months while those on termite free soils lost 11%. Elimination of termites resulted in reduction of fluff grass, Erioneuron pulchellum biomass, thereby affecting the structure of the ecosystem.
Neutrophils and NADPH Oxidase Mediate Intrapancreatic Trypsin Activation in Murine Experimental Acute Pancreatitis

Abstract Background & Aims: Intrapancreatic activation of digestive enzymes is a key event in the parenchymal cell injury of pancreatitis. We hypothesized that neutrophils recruited to the pancreas during pancreatitis may contribute to such activation. Methods: To cause experimental pancreatitis, rats and mice were treated with high doses of cerulein. Activation of the digestive enzyme, trypsin, was measured in pancreatic homogenates using a fluorogenic assay and localized immunocytochemically with antibody to trypsin-activation peptide (TAP). Results: Compared with controls, rats depleted of neutrophils with antineutrophil serum exhibited a marked attenuation in intrapancreatic trypsin activation and acinar cell TAP labeling induced by high-dose cerulein. To examine the mechanism, mice deficient in either nicontinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase, or myeloperoxidase (MPO) were studied for trypsin activation. Mice deficient in NADPH oxidase exhibited attenuation of the cerulein-induced trypsin activation, but those deficient in MPO did not. Using measurements of Western blot analysis, generation of reactive oxygen species, and immunocytochemistry, we demonstrated the NADPH oxidase activity is in neutrophils and not pancreatic acinar tissue. Conclusions: The results demonstrate a novel role for neutrophils infiltrating the pancreas in pathologic activation of digestive enzymes in acute pancreatitis and indicate that this effect is mediated by products of NADPH oxidase. GASTROENTEROLOGY 2002;122:974-984
Giant platinum clusters: 2-nm covalent metal cluster labels.

Abstract A new class of covalently linkable platinum cluster reagents with core diameters close to 2 nm has been prepared. The new label offers the performance advantages and versatility of the 1.4-nm Nanogold in a larger label which is more clearly visualized against electron-dense regions of a specimen. Large platinum clusters were prepared by the reduction of platinum(II) acetate in the presence of 1,10-phenanthroline ligands which had been synthetically modified to include solubilizing and reactive cross-linkable functional groups. These were then conjugated site-specifically to antibody IgG molecules and to Fab′ fragments and visualized by scanning transmission electron microscopy. The resulting conjugates may be autometallographically enhanced and show sensitivity similar to that of Nanogold conjugates in immunoblotting experiments. In preliminary experiments, they have also exhibited labeling of tissue antigens and penetrate to access nuclear targets.
Structural Studies of cyclopentaarsines. Crystallographic Characterization of cyclo(PhAs)5 and cyclo(p-TolAs)∗5

From adventitious sources, single-crystal samples of the first aromatically substituted cyclopentaarsines, cyclo(C6H5As)5 and cyclo(p-CH3C6H4As)5, have been obtained and crystallographically characterized. In both cases, the structures are those expected of cyclopentane isolobal analogues, i.e., an essentially zero dihedral plane of four atoms with a fifth atom residing in a sharply angled flap plane. The flap angle is about 10° smaller for the phenyl-and p-tolyl-substituted rings than for two previously reported alkyl-substituted rings, but is 15–20° larger than the six-membered phenyl- and p- tolyl-substituted systems. For cyclo(PhAs)5: monoclinic, P21/n, a = 9.770(2)A, b = 10.385(2)A, c = 27.941(6)A, β = 91.85(2)°, V = 2833.5(10)A3, Z = 4, d(calcd) = 1.782 g cm−3, R(F) = 7.82%. For cyclo(p-TolAs)5: monoclinic, P21/c, a = 10.785(2)A, b = 8.798(1)A, c = 35.872(7) A, β = 92.52(2)°, V = 3400.4(11) A3, Z = 4, d(calcd) = 1.820 g cm−3, R(F) = 5.13%.
“Locked‐in” state following Reye's syndrome

A 12-year-old boy with Reye's syndrome had an initial course complicated by increased intracranial pressure and systemic hypotension. He subsequently developed brainstem damage producing permanent apnea and a "locked-in" state. Nevertheless, the normal architecture of sleep was retained, as was a high degree of intelligence.
TH-C-WAB-04: Atlas Ranking and Selection for Multi-Atlas Segmentation

Purpose: To improve multi‐atlas segmentation by ranking and selecting a subset of optimal atlas candidates resembling the image to be segmented in terms of local anatomy similarity. Methods: Thirteen planning CT images of head and neck cancer patients were acquired (resolution: 1.0×1.0×2.5mm3) and the esophagus were contoured manually by a head‐and‐neck oncologist. We randomly chose one of the 13 set of images as the test; the remaining 12 became the atlases. Deformable registration was first applied to transform each of the atlas esophagus contours to the test image. We used Kullback‐Leibler divergence to measure the similarity of local intensity histograms between the test image and each atlas, and the measurements were used to rank the atlases. Deformed contours from the most to least similar were added sequentially and the overlap ratio was examined. We identified a subset of optimal atlas candidates by analyzing the variation of the overlap ratio versus the number of atlases. The deformed contours from these optimal atlases were fused to produce the final segmentation. Results: The rank of the atlases determined by the Kullback‐Leibler divergence was consistent with the human visual observation. The overlap ratio analysis identified a subset of 5 optimal atlas candidates automatically. By comparing the segmentation generated from the 5 optimal atlases with the manual contour, it achieved a Dice similarity coefficient of 67.2% and a mean surface distance of 2.3mm, whereas the segmentation generated from all 12 atlases had these values of 31.4% and 4.0mm. Contour fusion relies on contour agreement. If more than half of the atlases produce incorrect deformed contours, it is necessary to identify the optimal atlases to improve the contour fusion process in the multi‐atlas segmentation. Conclusion: Ranking and selecting a subset of optimal atlas candidates using local anatomy similarity improves the multi‐atlas segmentation.