cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biomass production and nutrient accumulation in seedling and coppice hardwood plantations

Abstract Total biomass and contents of N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Mn in above-ground tree components of five deciduous species were determined in closely-spaced (0.9 × 0.6 m) 5-year-old plantations of seedling origin and 5-year-old coppice stands regenerated after the seedling harvest. Species evaluated were: a Populus hybrid, Platanus occidentalis L., Alnus glutinosa L., Betula nigra L., and Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh. In seedling stands, total biomass of Alnus glutinosa and the Populus hybrid was significantly greater than for the other species. In coppice stands, total biomass of Alnus glutinosa was significantly greater. The proportion of total biomass in bole components increased and in crown components decreased in coppice stands as compared to seedling stands. This resulted in relatively more Ca and less N, P, and K in above-ground tree components of the coppice stands. Leaf area index for each species in the seedling stands generally ranked in the same order as total biomass.
LEARNING FROM EXPORTING: EVIDENCE FROM INDONESIA.

We examine firm innovation from public knowledge stocks by measuring the adoption of technology brought with foreign direct investment (FDI). We add to the literature by asking not only if local fi...
Aging Parents of Adults With Disabilities: The Gratifications and Frustrations of Later-life Caregiving

Using a stress process model, we investigated the impact of later-life caregiving on 105 mothers of adult children with mental illness and 208 mothers of adult children with mental retardation. As hypothesized, mothers of persons with mental illness reported higher levels of frustrations and lower levels of gratifications. Whereas the adult child's behavior problems were the strongest predictor of maternal gratifications, the adult child's diagnosis was the strongest predictor of maternal frustrations once all other factors were controlled. In addition, the size of the mother's social network, the family social climate, and the child's participation in an out-of-home program were associated with the effect of caregiver stress.
Terahertz Fourier transform characterization of biological materials in solid and liquid phases

Significant progress has been achieved during the last several years relating to experimental and theoretical aspects of Terahertz (or Sub-millimeter wave) Fourier transform spectroscopy of biological macromolecules. Multiple resonance due to low frequency vibrational modes within biological macromolecules have been unambiguously demonstrated. However till now only solid films of bio-materials have been used for experimental characterization in this spectral range since it was common opinion that high water absorption will prevent from receiving the information on bio-molecules in a liquid phase. At the same time, all biological function of DNA and proteins take place in water solutions. In this work spectra of DNA samples and proteins have been measured in liquid phase (gel) in a spectral range 10-25 cm-1 and compared with spectra obtained from solid films. The results demonstrate that there is almost no interference between spectral features of material in test and water background except for the band around 18.6 cm-1. Much higher level of sensitivity and higher sharpness of vibrational modes in liquid environment in comparison with solid phase is observed with the width of spectral lines 0.3-0.5 cm-1. Gel samples demonstrate effects of polarization. The ability of THz spectroscopy to characterize samples in liquid phase could be very important since it permits to look at DNA interactions, protein-protein interactions in real (wet) samples. One demonstrated example of practical importance is the ability to discriminate between spectral patterns for native and denaturated DNA.
Evaluation of voice by patients and close relatives following different laryngeal cancer treatments.

The purpose of this study was to assess perception of life style change among laryngeal cancer patients. Seventy-five patients (total laryngec-tomy 35, supraglottic laryngectomy 15, hemilaryngectomy 12, radiotherapy eight, laser cordectomy five) and close relatives responded to a questionnaire and interview eliciting perception of: 1) posttreatment voice quality; 2) side effects of treatment vocationally and socially; and 3) degree of vocal or communicative change associated with vocational or social change. Whereas 43% of the patients reported vocational change and 37% reported social change, 88% expressed satisfaction with their posttreatment voices. This may have been due to the perceptions of the relatives, who generally had a more positive view of the patients' voices. Although laryngeal cancer had an impact on patient life style, patients seldom related this to vocal dysfunction.
Recent advances in extra-wide-band polarimetry, interferometry and polarimetric interferometry in synthetic aperture remote sensing and its applications

The development of radar polarimetry and radar interferometry is advancing rapidly, and these novel radar technologies are revamping 'synthetic aperture radar imaging' decisively. The successive advancements are sketched eginning with the fundamental formulations and highlighting the salient points of these diverse remote sensing techniques. Whereas with radar polarimetry the textural fine-structure, target orientation and shape, symmetries and material constituents can be recovered with considerable improvements above that of standard 'amplitude-only polarisation radar'; with radar interferometry the spatial (in depth) structure can be explored. In 'polarimetric-interferometric synthetic aperture radar (POL-IN-SAR) imaging' it is possible to recover such co-registered textural plus spatial properties simultaneously. This includes the extraction of 'digital elevation maps (DEM)' from either 'fully polarimetric (scattering matrix)' or 'interferometric (dual antenna) SAR image data takes' with the additional benefit of obtaining co-registered three-dimensional 'POL-IN-DEM' information. Extra-wide-band POL-IN-SAR imaging - when applied to 'repeat-pass image overlay interferometry' - provides differential background validation and measurement, stress assessment, and environmental stress-change monitoring capabilities with hitherto unattained accuracy, which are essential tools for improved global biomass estimation and also for wetland assessment and monitoring. More recently, by applying multiple parallel repeat-pass EWB-POL-D(RP)-IN-SAR imaging along stacked (altitudinal) or displaced (horizontal) flight-lines will result in 'tomographic (multi-interferometric) polarimetric SAR stereo-imaging', including foliage- and ground-penetrating capabilities. In addition, various closely related topics of (i) acquiring additional and protecting existing spectral windows of the 'natural electromagnetic spectrum (NES)' pertinent to remote sensing; and (ii) mitigation against common 'radio frequency interference (RFI)' and intentional 'directive jamming of airborne and spaceborne POL-IN-SAR imaging platforms' are appraised.
A developmental study of the auditory stroop effect

Abstract A pediatric auditory version of the Stroop procedure was developed and administered to 48 normal children from 3 to 6 years of age. Our purpose was to define the developmental course characterizing interaction between auditory and semantic speech dimensions in young children. The procedure was a reaction time (RT) task that required children to respond as quickly and as accurately as possible to words spoken by a male or a female voice. Children were instructed to ignore what was said and to push the “Mommy” button if Mommy was talking or the “Daddy” button if Daddy was talking. Performance was obtained for words with neutral, congruent, and conflicting semantic content. Preschool children manifested processing dependencies that were similar to those observed in adults on the visual Stroop procedure. Conflict between semantic and auditory dimensions significantly increased RT and congruence between the two dimensions significantly decreased RT relative to the neutral condition. The pattern of results indicated that the meaning of words was processed automatically in the normal children. The magnitude of the Stroop effect reflected developmental change with increasing age.
Topiramate blocks perinatal hypoxia‐induced seizures in rat pups

Neonatal seizures caused by hypoxia can be refractory to conventional anticonvulsants. Currently, there is no effective postnatal intervention for newborn infants with hypoxic encephalopathy to prevent brain injury and long-term neurologic sequelae. We previously developed a rat model of perinatal hypoxia-induced seizures with subsequent long-term increases in seizure susceptibility and showed that these epileptogenic effects are selectively blocked by the alpha-amino-3-hydoxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptor antagonist 6-nitro-7-sulfamoylbenzo(f)quinoxaline-2,3-dione. Using this model of perinatal seizures, we evaluated the efficacy of topiramate, a structurally novel anticonvulsant drug recently shown to attenuate AMPA/kainate currents. Topiramate effectively suppressed acute seizures induced by perinatal hypoxia in a dose-related manner with a calculated ED50 of 2.1 mg/kg, i.p. Furthermore, in animals that had seizures suppressed by topiramate during acute hypoxia, there were no long-term increases in susceptibility to kainate-induced seizures and seizure-induced neuronal injury. Our results suggest that topiramate may have clinical potential as a therapeutic agent for refractory seizures in human neonates.
Latitudinal dependence of the radial IMF component: Coronal imprint

Measurements by Ulysses have confirmed that there is no significant gradient with respect to heliomagnetic latitude in the radial component, B(sub r,) of the interplanetary magnetic field. In the corona, the plasma, beta is much less than 1, except directly above streamers, so longitudinal and latitudinal gradients in field strength will relax due to the transverse magnetic pressure gradient force as the solar wind carries magnetic flux away from the Sun. This happens quickly enough so that the field is essentially uniform by 5 - 10 solar radius, apparently remaining so as it is carried to beyond 1 AU. Here, we illustrate the coronal relaxation with a qualitative physical argument and by reference to a detailed Magneto HydroDynamics (MHD) simulation.
Corrigendum to “Development of a novel antibody to Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide for the treatment of osteoarthritis-related pain” [Osteoarthritis Cartilage 22 (2014) 578–585]

Corrigendum to “Development of a novel antibody to Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide for the treatment of osteoarthritis-related pain” [Osteoarthritis Cartilage 22 (2014) 578e585] R.J. Benschop y , E.C. Collins y, R.J. Darling y, B.W. Allan z, D. Leung z, E.M. Conner z, J. Nelson z, B. Gaynor z, J. Xu z, X.-F. Wang z, R.A. Lynch y, B. Li y, D. McCarty y, E.S. Nisenbaum y, J.L. Oskins y, C. Lin y, K.W. Johnson y, M.G. Chambers y
Approximate tensor decomposition within a tensor-relational algebraic framework

In this paper, we first introduce a tensor-based relational data model and define algebraic operations on this model. We note that, while in traditional relational algebraic systems the join operation tends to be the costliest operation of all, in the tensor-relational framework presented here, tensor decomposition becomes the computationally costliest operation. Therefore, we consider optimization of tensor decomposition operations within a relational algebraic framework. This leads to a highly efficient, effective, and easy-to-parallelize join-by-decomposition approach and a corresponding KL-divergence based optimization strategy. Experimental results provide evidence that minimizing KL-divergence within the proposed join-by-decomposition helps approximate the conventional join-then-decompose scheme well, without the associated time and space costs.
Water as a Commodity in International Trade

International trade in water has been pioneered by coastal or island city-states, by areas subject to boundary revision after a water supply system had been established, by informal accommodations among good neighbors, and by co-riparians agreeing to negotiate on compensation as an element in water allocation. Specific examples are described. Formulations of criteria for an equitable agreement for possible transfers of Canadian water to the United States have been published by Laycock and by Kuiper. Many other Canadians have expressed serious concern over the long-range implications of water export and have frequently proposed restrictions which they believe that Canada should insist upon in any negotiations. Explicitly or implicitly in nearly all Canadian discussion of water export is the conviction that international transfer, should it be permitted at all, should occur at some mutually satisfactory point or points on the border with all questions or sources and routes within Canada being left to the agencies within Canada selected by the Canadians for the task.
Comparative and functional morphology of hominoid fingers

Comparisons of hominoid metacarpals and phalanges reveal differences, many of which are closely linked to locomotor hand postures. The African apes display features of the metacarpals and phalanges which distinguish them from the other Hominoidea. These features are most evident in digits III and IV. The orangutan hand is demonstrably less well adapted to knuckle-walking and is distinctive in its adaptation to power and hook grasping of vertical and horizontal supports, respectively. Orangutan fingers possess a "double-locking" mechanism (Napier, '60), and a slight ulnad shift in the axis of the hand which results in lengthened phalanges of ray IV. Hylobatid apes are more like orangutans in their finger morphology than any of the other Hominoidea, but exhibit unique features of their own. These include elongate phalanges of fingers II-V. Human metacarpals II-V form two sets composed of II-III, and IV-V. The heads of both metacarpals II and III are characterized by axial torsion. This reflects the enhanced manipulatory role of the third finger in humans. Human distal phalanges are unique in the development of pronounced apical tufts. Multivariate analysis of metacarpal III and proximal III yields variables that array the extant apes along an arboreal-terrestrial axis, from hylobatid apes to male gorillas. The positions of taxa on this discriminant concur with observations on the locomotion of free-ranging apes.
Semantic Networks in the Divided Cerebral Hemispheres

Hemispheric differences in the recognition and manipulation of meaning may be based on distinctions in size, composition, or organization of the right and left semantic networks The present study describes these features of pictorially based semantic networks in 3 subjects with complete forebrain commissurotomy Stimuli were presented for prolonged viewing to the left and right visual hemifields For each trial, the subjects chose from a 20-choice array all pictures that were associated with a target, then indicated the member of each pair of chosen associates that was more closely related to the target The hemispheres' networks were found to be of similar size and composition, but were organized differently The right hemisphere more often produced linear rankings of semantic associates to a target than did the left, and rankings by the two hemispheres were not strongly correlated Hemispheric differences in semantic organization mirror differences in perceptual organization, with the right hemisphere specia...
Studies on the etiology of trace metal-induced porphyria: effects of porphyrinogenic metals on coproporphyrinogen oxidase in rat liver and kidney.

Abstract Studies were conducted on the etiology of trace metal-induced porphyria in rats, with particular emphasis on the action of metals on hepatic and renal coproporphyrinogen oxidase. Prolonged exposure of rats to methyl mercury hydroxide or sodium arsenate at subtoxic dose levels in drinking water resulted in a progressive coproporphyrinuria, reaching highest rates of coproporphyin excretion 5 weeks after initiation of exposure. The development of coproporphyrinuria was accompanied by substantial metal accumulation in the kidney and a significant decrease in renal, but not hepatic, coproporphyrinogen oxidase activity. During prolonged exposure to either metal, the rates of coproporphyrin excretion and metal accumulation by the kidney continued to increase for 2 to 3 weeks following maximal inhibition of renal coproporphyrinogen oxidase. Acute treatment studies and studies in vitro support the conclusion that the kidney is the principal source of excess urinary coproporphyrin during metal exposure. These observations demonstrate that metal-induced coproporphyrinuria is predominantly of renal etiology and that impairment of renal coproporphyrinogen oxidase is a principal cause of this effect.
Increased Retention of Early Computer Science and Software Engineering Students Using Pair Programming

An important problem faced by many Computer Science and Software Engineering programs is declining enrollment. In an effort to reverse that trend at Mississippi State University, we have instituted pair programming for the laboratory exercises in the introductory programming course. This paper describes a study performed to analyze whether using pair programming would increase retention. An important goal of this study was not only to measure increased retention, but to provide insight into why retention increased or decreased. The results of the study showed that retention significantly increased for those students already majoring in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or Computer Engineering. In addition, survey results indicated that the students viewed many aspects of pair programming to be very beneficial to their learning experience.
Mistreatment and Psychological Well-being Among Older Adults: Exploring the Role of Psychosocial Resources and Deficits

Objectives. To examine the relationships between psychosocial resources and deficits, elder mistreatment, and psychological well-being. Methods. We used a representative sample of 2,744 older adults aged 57–85 years in the United States from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project. We examined reports of any mistreatment (verbal, financial, or physical) and multiple types of mistreatment. Results. Lower levels of positive support, higher levels of criticism from close relationships, and feelings of social isolation are positively associated with self-reported mistreatment experience. As suggested by the stress process theory, those who reported mistreatment experience also reported lower levels of global happiness and higher levels of psychological distress. There is also some evidence for the buffering hypothesis—levels of global happiness are higher and levels of psychological distress are lower for older adults who reported any mistreatment if they also reported more positive social support, social participation, and feelings of social connection. Discussion. Older adults with fewer psychosocial resources or more psychosocial deficits seem to be more vulnerable to mistreatment, and mistreatment seems particularly detrimental to psychological well-being for these people.
FGF signaling is required for pulmonary homeostasis following hyperoxia.

To assess the role of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling in pulmonary function in the postnatal period, we generated transgenic mice in which a soluble FGF receptor (FGFR-HFc) was conditional...
Modulation of radiation-induced life shortening by systemic intravenous MnSOD-plasmid liposome gene therapy.

Abstract Epperly, M. W., Dixon, T., Wang, H., Schlesselman, J., Franicola, D. and Greenberger, J. S. Modulation of Radiation-Induced Life Shortening by Systemic Intravenous MnSOD-Plasmid Liposome Gene Therapy. Radiat. Res. 170, 437–443 (2008). To determine whether systemic administration of MnSOD-PL protected mice from the acute hematopoietic syndrome and delayed death after total-body irradiation (TBI), C57BL/ 6J mice were injected intravenously with 100 μl liposomes containing 100 μg of human MnSOD-transgene plasmid 24 h prior to irradiation with 9.5 Gy or 1.0 Gy. The dose of 9.5 Gy was lethal to 42% of irradiated control female mice and 74% of irradiated control male mice at 30 days, with bone marrow hypocellularity consistent with the hematopoietic syndrome. A statistically significant increase in survival was observed in MnSOD-PL-treated female mice out to 400 days and in male mice out to 340 days. The incidence of tumors was similar between surviving groups. Between 350 and 600 days, the outcome was...
Characterization and utilization of ocean quahog (Arctica islandica) clam juice as a liquid and dehydrated flavoring agent.

Ocean quahog (Arctica islandica) juice produced from mechanical shucking operations was vacuum evaporated, freeze-dried, or spray-dried for use as a natural clam flavoring agent. The flavorings were judged‘equal or superior to several commercially available flavors when used in prepared dishes. Gas chromatographic profiles indicated high volatile concentrations in the effluent from the heat shocking and first washing process. Almost no volatiles were present in successive washings. The use of dextrins was not required since the natural chloride salts of potassium and sodium aided in obtaining powders of acceptable quality.
Cellular localization of simian immunodeficiency virus in lymphoid tissues. II. In situ hybridization

Lymph nodes and spleens were collected at autopsy and by biopsy from 29 rhesus monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). Lymph nodes were classified morphologically into stages of follicular hyperplasia, follicular involution, follicular depletion with normal or expanded paracortices, follicular and paracortical depletion, granulomatous lymphadenitis, or normal. The distribution of SIV RNA was determined by in situ hybridization using a nick translated, 35S labeled, SIVmac DNA probe. Numbers of SIV-infected cells were rare during follicular hyperplasia, numerous during follicular and paracortical expansion, and rare during follicular and paracortical depletion. The splenic morphology reflected that of the lymph nodes; however, the numbers of SIV-positive cells were uniformly lower. SIV RNA was frequently restricted to a single nucleus within multinucleate syncytial cells in two cases of granulomatous lymphadenitis. These results, combined with those of a previous study, provide evidence for antigen trapping in SIV-infected hyperplastic lymph nodes and for widespread viral infection of macrophages and lymphocytes during paracortical expansion.
Psychiatric Symptoms as a Predictor of Outcome in Patients with Post-Concussive Syndrome (P7.174)

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the presence of psychiatric manifestations following a concussion is a reliable predictor of time to recovery. BACKGROUND: There has been a recent heightened awareness of the neurological sequelae of concussion, with post-concussive symptoms causing significant impairment in daily functioning for many patients. DESIGN/METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 436 concussion or post-concussive syndrome cases seen in our general neurology or sports medicine clinics from January 2012 - April 2014. Patients 16-75 years old who suffered a concussion within 4 months of their clinic visit were included. Patients with a previous diagnosis of a psychiatric illness were excluded, as were those who sustained an intracranial hemorrhage or skull fracture at the time of their concussion. Patients with psychiatric symptoms (defined as irritability, depression, anxiety or mood changes) at different time intervals within 1 month after their concussion were compared to those without psychiatric symptoms. RESULTS: 77 patients met our inclusion criteria and were not lost to follow-up. 26 patients displayed psychiatric symptoms 7-30 days after their concussion while 51 patients did not. 15 of these 51 patients (29.4[percnt]) without psychiatric symptoms recovered from their concussion within 1 month, as opposed to only 2 of the 26 patients (7.7[percnt]) with psychiatric symptoms (p=0.03). On multivariate analysis, after adjusting for age and gender, this relationship was still statistically significant (OR=0.19,95[percnt] CIs=[0.04, 1], p=0.05). When we included patients with psychiatric symptoms in the first 7 days post-concussion, there was a trend towards prolonged recovery but this was not statistically significant (p=0.11). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with psychiatric symptoms during the first month after a concussion (especially after post-concussion day 7) were more likely to have a prolonged recovery (>1 month). Patients with concussion should be evaluated for psychiatric symptoms, as their presence could be a risk factor for prolonged morbidity from concussion. Disclosure: Dr. Chhabra has nothing to disclose. Dr. Weathers has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for the American Academy of Neurology Test Your Knowledge work group. Dr. Ouyang has nothing to disclose.
Parallel and distributed computing issues in pricing financial derivatives through quasi Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo (MC) techniques are often used to price complex financial derivatives. The computational effort can be substantial when high accuracy is required. However, MC computations are latency tolerant, and are thus easily parallelize even with high communication overheads, such as in a distributed compacting environment. A drawback of MC is its relatively slow convergence rate, which can be overcome through the use of quasi Monte Carlo (QMC) techniques which use low discrepancy sequences. We discuss the issues that arise in parallelizing QMC, especially in a heterogeneous computing environment, and present results of empirical studies on arithmetic Asian options, using three parallel QMC techniques that have recently been proposed. We expect the conclusions to be valid for other applications too.
Luck and Free Will

This essay sketches a problem about luck for typical incompatibilist views of free will posed in Alfred Mele, Free Will and Luck (2006), and examines recent reactions to that problem. Reactions featuring appeals to agent causation receive special attention. Because the problem is focused on decision making, the control that agents have over what they decide is a central topic. Other topics discussed include the nature of lucky action and differences between directly and indirectly free actions.
Estimating effective paternity number in social insects and the effective number of alleles in a population

Estimating paternity and genetic relatedness is central to many empirical and theoretical studies of social insects. The two important measures of a queen's mating number are her actual number of mates and her effective number of mates. Estimating the effective number of mates is mathematically identical to the problem of estimating the effective number of alleles in population genetics, a common measure of genetic variability introduced by Kimura & Crow (1964). We derive a new bias-corrected estimator of effective number of types (mates or alleles) and compare this new method to previous methods for estimating true and effective numbers of types using Monte Carlo simulations. Our simulation results suggest that the examined estimators of the true number of types have very similar statistical properties, whereas the estimators of effective number of types have quite different statistical properties. Moreover, our new proposed estimator of effective number of types is approximately unbiased, and has considerably lower variance than the original estimator. Our new method will help researchers more accurately estimate intracolony genetic relatedness of social insects, which is an important measure in understanding their ecology and social behaviour. It should also be of use in population genetic studies in which the effective number of alleles is of interest.
MHD intermediate shock discontinuities. Part 1. Rankine—Hugoniot conditions

Recent numerical investigations have focused attention once more on the role of intermediate shocks in MHD. Four types of intermediate shock are identified using a graphical representation of the MHD Rankine-Hugoniot conditions. This same representation can be used to exhibit the close relationship of intermediate shocks to switch-on shocks and rotational discontinuities. The conditions under which intermediate discontinuities can be found are elucidated. The variations in velocity, pressure, entropy and magnetic-field jumps with upstream parameters in intermediate shocks are exhibited graphically. The evolutionary arguments traditionally advanced against intermediate shocks may fail because the equations of classical MHD are not strictly hyperbolic.
Plasmonic nanogels with robustly tunable optical properties

Low viscosity fluids with tunable optical properties can be processed to manufacture thin film and interfaces for molecular detection, light trapping in photovoltaics and reconfigurable optofluidic devices. In this work, self-assembly in wormlike micelle solutions is used to uniformly distribute various metallic nanoparticles to produce stable suspensions with localized, multiple wavelength or broad-band optical properties. Their spectral response can be robustly modified by varying the species, concentration, size and/or shape of the nanoparticles. Structure, rheology and optical properties of these plasmonic nanogels as well as their potential applications to efficient photovoltaics design are discussed.
Granular Cell Tumor on the Chest of a 9-Year-Old Female Case Report and a Retrospective Analysis

BACKGROUND Granular cell tumor is a benign tumor originating from Schwann cells. Children and adolescents are rarely affected. We report a 9-year-old female who presented with a cutaneous granular cell tumor on the chest. OBJECTIVE To determine the incidence of granular cell tumor and proportion of tumors seen in the pediatric population at our center. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the surgical pathology records from 1997 to 2014 at our center. RESULTS The incidence of granular cell tumor is five cases per million person-years (95% CI 3-8). Of the 18 cases, 9 cases occurred in the pediatric population. CONCLUSION Fifty percent of granular cell tumor cases diagnosed at our center occurred in the pediatric population. Granular cell tumor may not be as rare as we expect in the pediatric population.
A data mining algorithmic approach for processing wireless capsule endoscopy data sets

Wireless Capsule Endoscopy (WCE) has been a breakthrough in recent medical technology. It is used to view the gastrointestinal tract and detect abnormalities such as bleeding, Crohn's disease, peptic ulcers, and colon cancer. In this paper data mining techniques are utilized to extract useful information from a dataset of abnormal regions and non-abnormal regions. More specifically, the dataset contains polyps regions, ulcers regions and healthy regions. A number of features (shape descriptors, texture descriptors and color information) has been extracted for these regions and using a data mining toolbox useful conclusions are given on various relationships between these regions.
Ependymin as a substrate for outgrowth of axons from cultured explants of goldfish retina

Ependymin, a prominent protein of the brain's extracellular fluid (ECF) was previously implicated in the consolidation of memory and in the activity-driven sharpening of the retinotectal projection. Because both these phenomena probably involve the growth and elaboration of appropriate synapses, we have tested whether ependymin can serve as a substrate for the growth of axons from goldfish retinal ganglion cells in a culture assay. Ependymin (Ep), laminin (LAM), polylysine (PL), and Concanavalin A (Con A) were plated on glass coverslips either uniformly or in striped patterns. Ep alone, either soluble or partly polymerized (by dropping calcium concentration and pH), was a good substrate for axonal outgrowth, as good or better than PL and Con A, but not as good as LAM. Neurites grew faster on LAM (71 microns/h) than on Ep (32 microns/h) or on PL (22 microns/h). Fasciculation was low on LAM, intermediate on Ep, and highest on PL. In exclusive side-by-side stripe assays, axons preferred LAM over Ep, but gave weak or no preference for Ep over Con A or PL. With stripes of LAM + Ep alongside pure LAM, the axons preferred the mixture of LAM + Ep. When antibodies to Ep were plated in stripes over continuous Ep substrate, the axons avoided the antibody-blocked stripes and grew on the Ep stripes. Antibodies to Ep did not, however, block growth on laminin substrates, nor did antibodies to LAM block growth on Ep. Dot blots and western blots showed very little cross recognition between the antibodies. Ependymin is a good substrate for neurite outgrowth, which is normally present in ECF, and adhesion to Ep is independent of LAM and possibly additive to it.
A further analysis of small firm stock returns

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare recent performance of small firms with that of large firms in developed and emerging stock markets.Design/methodology/approach – T‐tests as well as Wilcoxon Signed Rank test statistics are utilized to test the differences in returns between stock indices. Additionally, ANOVA and median test statistics were conducted to test differences in size premiums over years. Finally, t‐tests as well as Mann‐Whitney U test statistics were conducted to examine the differences in size premiums by market conditions and January over non‐January months.Findings – It was found that small firms did not generate significantly different returns than large firms in recent years. More specifically, size premiums were not sensitive to market conditions and were not significantly higher in January over non‐January months. These results indicate stock markets no longer exhibit a size effect or a reverse size effect.Originality/value – The paper contributes to the finance literature...
Clinical Characteristics of 104 Children Referred for Evaluation of Precocious Puberty

There is controversy over the age of onset of puberty in normal children and the risk of missing pathology if the recently proposed revised age guidelines for referring patients are followed. However, there is little recently published information on the frequency of different diagnoses in children referred for signs of early puberty. The purposes of this study were 1) to analyze the spectrum of diagnoses made in a consecutive group of children referred to a single clinician for signs of early puberty; 2) to see whether certain patient groups were more likely to be obese; and 3) to estimate the incidence of endocrine pathology in this sample. The charts of all children referred to the author for evaluation of signs of early puberty between October 1999 and October 2002 were reviewed. Criteria were developed to assign patients to one of seven diagnostic categories based on age, growth, and clinical findings, and differences from the population mean for height and percentage of ideal body weight in the different groups were determined. Most of the patients referred (87%) were female, and the two most common diagnoses made were premature adrenarche (46%) and premature thelarche (18%). Only 9% (all girls) were thought to have true precocious puberty. Two conditions not well described in the literature, pubic hair of infancy and premature menses, were found in 8 and 5%, respectively. Patients with premature adrenarche were significantly taller and more overweight than the general population; a subgroup had evidence of accelerated growth and bone maturation but no worrisome endocrine findings. Acanthosis nigricans was found in 13% of the girls in this study, but the incidence of true endocrine pathology was very low. The majority of children being referred for precocious puberty have benign normal variants, with a very low incidence of endocrine pathology. Most girls presenting with minimal breast or pubic hair development and normal growth velocity may be managed with observation and without a full endocrine evaluation.
Reflexive photography: an alternative method for documenting the learning process of cultural competence.

Purpose: This qualitative descriptive study used reflexive photography to evaluate the learning process of cultural competence during an international service-learning project in Guatemala. Reflexi...
A synchronous control system for a totally implanted circulatory assist device

Abstract This paper has been prepared with the point of view that rehabilitative circulatory assist devices or heart replacements must not require permanent attachment of the patient to an external power and control system through percutaneous tubes. The Artificial Heart Program recently conducted a series of experiments designed to evaluate the problems of integrating the components of a circulatory assist device into a totally implantable system (including pump, controls and a source of power). This paper describes the work on 2 such systems, with reference to physiologic variables and the problem of control. A control method is described for a left ventricle to aorta pump. It produced synchronous operation, required no sensors in the blood stream, did not use the electrocardiogram and required no percutaneous leads. Evidence is presented which suggests that a single, fixed, best setting can be made which results in achieving the secondary goals: maximal reduction in peak left ventricular pressure and normal aortic pressure as a function of time (though shifted in phase with respect to pressure in the pulmonary artery). Evidence is presented which suggests that achievement of the secondary goals achieves the primary goal: support of the entire body in the presence of a failing heart. Finally, it is shown that information gained from developing an optimal control system for an assist device can, in turn, be valuable in improving and fixing the design of the device, subject to constraints of reliability, efficiency, materials, size, weight, cost and effectiveness. The systems described (including the control approach) were developed by a team effort of personnel in the Artificial Heart Program and many investigators working under contract; they should not be identified with the authors.
An extension of the Shannon theory approach to cryptography

Shannon's information-theoretic approach to cryptography is reviewed and extended. It is shown that Shannon's random cipher model is conservative in that a randomly chosen cipher is essentially the worst possible. This is in contrast with error-correcting codes where a randomly chosen code is essentially the best possible. The concepts of matching a cipher to a language and of the trade-off between local and global uncertainty are also developed.
Antipredator deception in terrestrial vertebrates

Deceptive antipredator defense mechanisms fall into three categories: depriving predators of knowledge of prey's presence, providing cues that deceive predators about prey handling, and dishonest signaling. Deceptive defenses in terrestrial vertebrates include aspects of crypsis such as background matching and countershading, visual and acoustic Batesian mimicry, active defenses that make animals seem more difficult to handle such as increase in apparent size and threats, feigning injury and death, distractive behaviours, and aspects of flight. After reviewing these defenses, I attempt a preliminary evaluation of which aspects of antipredator deception are most widespread in amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds (Current Zoology 60 (1): 16 25, 2014).
In-situ plasma processing to increase the accelerating gradients of superconducting radio-frequency cavities

Abstract A new in-situ plasma processing technique is being developed at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) to improve the performance of the cavities in operation. The technique utilizes a low-density reactive oxygen plasma at room temperature to remove top surface hydrocarbons. The plasma processing technique increases the work function of the cavity surface and reduces the overall amount of vacuum and electron activity during cavity operation; in particular it increases the field emission onset, which enables cavity operation at higher accelerating gradients. Experimental evidence also suggests that the SEY of the Nb surface decreases after plasma processing which helps mitigating multipacting issues. In this article, the main developments and results from the plasma processing R&D are presented and experimental results for in-situ plasma processing of dressed cavities in the SNS horizontal test apparatus are discussed.
Alcohol use in the Army: patterns and associated behaviors.

The authors assessed by questionnaire the alcohol use of 1,873 U.S. soldiers in the United States and Viet Nam. According to operational definitions based on total ethyl alcohol consumption and several behaviors associated with drinking, 7 percent were classed as alcoholics, 5 percent as borderline alcoholics, and 24 percent as potential alcoholics. Contrary to popular stereotypes, there was a disproportionate number of younger and lower ranking soldiers in these three groups; there was also a positive relationship between drinking and use of illicit drugs across groups. The authors state that future studies of alcohol use should include determinations of total ethyl alcohol intake to permit generalizability of their results. Language: en
The possibilities and perils of academic social networking sites

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: the first aim is theoretical – to review extant literature on academic social networks, while considering current limitations and potential avenues for future research; the second objective is practical – to introduce an illustrative comparison guide that researchers can use to identify and distinguish between the functionalities of popular academic social networking sites (ASNSs), including Academia.edu, Mendeley.com, ResearchGate.net, Zotero.org, and Google Scholar. Design/methodology/approach – The review of research is descriptive and conceptual. Findings – The overarching outcomes of the review suggest that research on academic social networks falls into two primary arenas – promises (i.e. potential benefits to the academic community) and perils (i.e. reservations expressed by scholars). The authors recommend that a greater focus on the unique characteristics and utilities of specific sites and a more robust understanding of scholars’ use preferences an...
High-energy total cross-sections and the adler-weisberger relation

The Adler-Weisberger relation and other similar relations are re-examined without assuming unsubtracted dispersion relations. The results are essentially unchanged for any reasonable behavior of the high-energy cross-sections, even if that behavior would cause the original dispersion integrals to diverge.
Integrated Plant and Controller Design of a Combine Harvester System

This article proposes a plant and controller design method based on performance analysis of a header height control problem on a combine harvester. The achievable bandwidth was found to be limited by the under-actuated and noncollocated features of the mechanical structure, and a parameter optimization is then applied to solve this problem by improving the property of open loop zeros and poles. H∞ controller design is used to achieve the best performance with the considerations of tracking bandwidth, disturbance rejection and control energy. The simulation results show that this approach can obtain relatively high closed loop bandwidth which surpasses the bandwidth limitation of the original plant. The simulation of tracking comparison also shows that the integrated plant and controller design generate a superior system response. NOMENCLATURE com m
Discriminating nanoparticle dimers from higher order aggregates through wavelength-dependent SERS orientational imaging.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) orientational imaging is a recently developed all-optical technique able to determine SERS-active silver nanoparticle dimer orientations by observing lobe positions in SERS emission patterns formed by the directional polarization of SERS along the longitudinal axis of the dimer. Here we extend this technique to discriminate nanoparticle dimers from higher order aggregates by observing the wavelength dependence of SERS emission patterns, which are unchanged in nanoparticle dimers but show differences in higher order aggregates involving two or more nanoparticle junctions. The ability of SERS orientational imaging to identify stacked nanoparticles in higher order aggregates is also demonstrated. The shape of the SERS emission patterns originating from trimers labeled with low and high concentrations of dye is investigated, showing that the emission pattern lobes become less defined as the dye concentration increases. Dynamic fluctuations in the SERS emission pattern ...
A Structural Approach to Sexual Attitudes: Interracial Patterns in Adolescents' Judgments about Sexual Intimacy

This article evaluates the utility of cultural and structural perspectives in accounting for interracial patterns in sexual values and attitudes, as reflected in anticipated responses to and definitions of both consensual and nonconsensual sexual behavior, drawn from interviews with 932 adolescents. There were no racial differences in attitudes toward rape or toward male-female relationships. The responses of black and white women to a “classic rape” were very similar, while differences were found in responses to a less stereotypic nonconsensual sexual assault and to a consensual sexual incident. Blacks anticipated more negative reactions from the police and expressed greater distrust of other institutional agencies than did whites. Accordingly, black women were more likely to anticipate turning to their parents or other family members for support. The results are interpreted as supportive of a structural perspective.
MATLAB mapping by object-oriented programming

Visual C++ and Visual Basic are both mighty visual programming language. In engineering applications, we often use them to write applied programs, implement intercommunicating interface, data collecting, ports operation and so on. MATLAB is an efficient mathematical software, not only can implement numerical processing and analysis, but also has incomparable advantage in drawing data figure correctly and conveniently aspect. But MATLAB cannot implement ports operation and real-time control, which is the disadvantage of MATLAB. So if MATLAB can be called in our own Visual C++ and Visual Basic programs, it will reduce our workload greatly, ensure veracity of programs and inherit the friendly interface of Visual C++ and Visual Basic, which can make use of the advantages of each other and are beneficial to the users. This paper introduces a simple method to call MATLAB in Visual C++ and Visual Basic programs to draw figures by means of COM automation. Principles of the method are illustrated and source code is provided.