cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Problems with Continuous Spliced Posttensioned–Prestressed Concrete Bulb-Tee Girder Center Spans at West Point, Virginia

The Lord Delaware and Eltham Bridges carry traffic on US-33 over the Mattaponi and Pamunkee Rivers in Virginia. Completed in 2006 and 2007, respectively, the bridges are similar in that they have prestressed, precast tee-beam approach spans and two four-span continuous spliced posttensioned–prestressed precast bulb-tee girder center spans. Constructed with the latest prestressed–posttensioned precast technologies, the structures were expected to provide relatively maintenance-free performance for more than 100 years. In May 2015 during a biannual inspection, a spall that exposed a tendon duct was reported in the web of an exterior girder of the Lord Delaware bridge, raising concerns about the life of the of the posttensioned lightweight concrete girders. The tendon grout was a high-performance prepackaged mixture. In-depth inspections identified cracking, leaking, and spalling in the webs of the beams and problems with the grouted tendons that included voids, soft grout, water, and corroding strands. Grou...
Tongue- and Jaw-Specific Contributions to Acoustic Vowel Contrast Changes in the Diphthong /ai/ in Response to Slow, Loud, and Clear Speech

Purpose This study sought to determine decoupled tongue and jaw displacement changes and their specific contributions to acoustic vowel contrast changes during slow, loud, and clear speech. Method ...
Técnicas de fusión de imagen en los procedimientos intervencionistas

Resumen El area de las intervenciones percutaneas en la cardiopatia estructural ha crecido de manera exponencial en los ultimos anos. Ello ha estimulado en paralelo el desarrollo de nuevos protocolos y tecnologias en el campo de la imagen para facilitar los procedimientos percutaneos. La fusion de imagen es una atractiva nueva tecnologia que combina las posibilidades de 2 modalidades de imagen, lo cual tiene el potencial de mejorar la planificacion y la seguridad de muchos de los procedimientos transcateter habituales. En esta revision se discuten conceptos basicos de fusion de imagen y se comentan las fortalezas y debilidades de las modalidades de fusion dinamica y estatica. Se centra prioritariamente en la fusion de imagenes de ecocardiografia y fluoroscopia y en su aplicacion a los procedimientos transcateter.
Questions on Assessing the Evidence Linking Religion/Spirituality to Health

This chapter describes background and methods used in a set of 13 empirical review chapters contained in Part I of this volume (chapters “ Model of Individual Health Effects from Religion/Spirituality: Supporting Evidence”, “ Religious/Spiritual Effects on Physical Morbidity and Mortality”, Social and Community-Level Factors in Health Effects from Religion/Spirituality”, “ Social Identity and Discrimination in Religious/Spiritual Influences on Health”, “ Environmental Health Sciences, Religion, and Spirituality”, “ Infectious Diseases, Religion, and Spirituality”, “ Public Health Nutrition, Religion, and Spirituality”, “ Maternal/Child Health, Religion, and Spirituality”, “ Health Policy and Management, Religion, and Spirituality”, “ Public Health Education, Promotion, and Intervention: Relevance of Religion and Spirituality”, “ Mental Health, Religion, and Spirituality”, “ Clinical Practice, Religion, and Spirituality” and “ Weighing the Evidence: What is Revealed by 100+ Meta-Analyses and Systematic Reviews of Religion/Spirituality and Health?”).
Einstein goes east

The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein: The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922-1923 is a substantially revised version of the 2012 translation that comes with an illuminating introduction and astonishingly comprehensive end-notes by Ze9ev Rosenkranz, senior editor of the Einstein Papers Project and author of Einstein Before Israel .
Active Opinion Maximization in Social Networks

Influence maximization (IM) targets at maximizing the number of users being aware of a product by finding a set of seed users to expose in a social network. Previous IM models mainly focus on optimizing the spread of product consumption, which assumes that all users are potential customers and more exposures lead to better profit. However, in the real-world scenario, some people may not like the product and may express negative opinions after consuming, which damage the product reputation and harm the long-term profit. Only a portion of users in the social network, called the target user, is the potential customer that likes the product and will spread positive opinion. In this paper, we consider a problem called AcTive Opinion Maximization (ATOM), where the goal is to find a set of seed users to maximize the overall opinion spread toward a target product in a multi-round campaign. Different from previous works, we do not assume the user opinion is known before consumption, but should be derived from user preference data. The ATOM problem has essential applications in viral marketing, such as reputation building and precision advertising. Given its significance, ATOM problem is profoundly challenging due to the hardness of estimating user opinion in a multi-round campaign. Moreover, the process of opinion estimation and influence propagation intertwine with each other, which requires the model to consider the two components collectively. We propose an active learning framework called CONE (aCtive OpinioN Estimator) to address above challenges. Experimental results on two real-world datasets demonstrate that CONE improves the total opinion spread in a social network.
Monitoring Responses to Therapy in Oncology

Image-based, quantitative response assessment methods play an increasingly important role in monitoring tumor response to therapy in oncology clinical trials. The fate of a new drug should not be wrongfully determined because of imprecise assessment methods used in the clinical trial. Therefore, it is crucial to select the most appropriate response assessment method, which considers the mechanisms of interactions between drugs and cancers as well as drug-induced tumor changes as they are captured by the imaging modalities and associated response assessment methodologies. This chapter addresses the role and progress of the widely accessible imaging modality of computed tomography (CT) and advanced image analysis techniques in monitoring tumor response to therapy in oncology clinical trials and clinical care.
The Polynomial Interpolation Technique

A standard view of mathematical statements is that they should be accompanied by succinctly written, easily verifiable certificates. To wit, open one of your favorite mathematics or theoretical computer science textbooks (if you have one; if not, perhaps the present text will become your favorite). You’ll see that all the formal statements there are accompanied by strings of text called proofs, which the author believes to be easily verifiable by anyone with enough background.
Chronic disease management for diabetes: Baylor Health Care System's coordinated efforts and the opening of the Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute

Diabetes: it's the seventh leading cause of death, a major cause of heart disease and stroke, and the leading cause of adult blindness, kidney failure, and nontraumatic lower-extremity amputations, responsible for $116 billion in direct medical costs in the United States and $58 billion more in indirect costs, such as disability. Diabetes is an epidemic, with 23.6 million people affected—5.7 million of whom are undiagnosed—and rates that continue to grow. Moreover, diabetes is not a disease that affects all equally: African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, and Alaska Natives are twice as likely as white adults to have diabetes. Further, diabetes is more common among those with less education, with disease rates of 15.8% among those without a high school diploma compared with 6.9% among those who attended college. A quarter of all adults aged 60 and older have the disease, and a third of all US children born in 2000 could develop it during their lifetime (1). Statistics for the state of Texas are even worse than the national average: The prevalence of diabetes in Texans aged 18 and older rose to 10.3% in 2007. More than 1.8 million adults in Texas are diabetic, and 460,000 are believed to be undiagnosed. Diabetes rates were 12.9% among African Americans, 12.2% among Hispanics, 11.8% among other minorities, and 8.5% among whites (1). These latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (1) reinforce the need to prevent diabetes and manage it to avoid the worst outcomes for patients. This article provides a brief overview of the patient empowerment model promoted by Baylor Health Care System (BHCS). It then describes BHCS's coordinated efforts for disease management, as well as its new community outreach program and Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute—both projects of the BHCS Office of Health Equity.
CE: Original Research: The Experience of Transitioning to a Caregiving Role for a Family Member with Alzheimer's Disease or Related Dementia.

Background: Alzheimer's disease is a chronic, debilitating disease that currently affects an estimated 5.5 million Americans. The majority are being cared for at home by family caregivers, who are known to have higher levels of burden than any other group of caregivers.Purpose: The purpose of this p
Efficient demand-driven evaluation. Part 2

In Part 1 of this paper [5], we presented a scheme whereby a compiler could propagate demands through programs in a powerful stream language L. A data-driven evaluation of the transformed program performed exactly the same computation as a demand-driven evaluation of the original program. In this paper we explore a different transformation, which trades the complexity of demand propagation for a bounded amount of extra computation on some data lines.
2-Isopropoxyphenyl-N-methylcarbamate

2-Isopropoxyphenyl-N-methylcarbamate, commonly known as propoxur, is a reversible carbamate acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that is used worldwide as an insecticide.
Dibenzothiophene Sulfone Derivatives as Plasma Membrane Dyes.

Dibenzothiophene 5,5-dioxide (DBTOO) derivatives have recently been shown to processes utility as fluorescent cell dyes. In an effort to extend the functionality of DBTOO-based dyes to include the visualization of cellular membranes, two lipophilic DBTOO were synthesized and their ability to incorporate into the plasma membrane of HeLa cells was examined by fluorescent microscopy. The photophysical properties of the two new DBTOO derivatives were determined and both have good fluorescent quantum yields and a visible blue emission. Due to agreeable wavelengths of excitation and emission, a standard 4',6-diamindino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) filter set worked well with these dyes. After co-staining, it was confirmed that both DBTOO dyes localized in the plasma membrane. The quality of the overlap was quantified using Pearson correlation coefficient, which indicated a strong overlap between the DBTOO dyes and the standard plasma membrane dye. The novel dyes also displayed relatively low toxicity to the HeLa cells with IC50 between 10 and 100 µm. Thus, this work reports a new use of DBTOO derivatives as fluorescent microscopy stains.
Risk Factors for Acute Kidney Injury in Hospitalized Non-Critically Ill Patients: A Population-Based Study.

Abstract Objective To develop and validate an acute kidney injury (AKI) risk prediction model for hospitalized non–critically ill patients. Patients and Methods We retrospectively identified all Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents admitted to non–intensive care unit (ICU) wards at Mayo Clinic Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota, in 2013 and 2014. The cohort was divided into development and validation sets by year. The primary outcome was hospital-acquired AKI defined by Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes criteria. Cox regression was used to analyze mortality data. Comorbid risk factors for AKI were identified, and a multivariable model was developed and validated. Results The development and validation cohorts included 3816 and 3232 adults, respectively. Approximately 10% of patients in both cohorts had AKI, and patients with AKI had an increased risk of death (hazard ratio, 3.62; 95% CI, 2.97-4.43; P Conclusion Hospital-acquired AKI is common in non-ICU inpatients and is associated with worse outcomes. Patient data at admission can be used to identify increased risk; such patients may benefit from more intensive monitoring and earlier intervention and testing with emerging biomarkers.
Dose‐dependent structural and immunological changes in the placenta and fetal brain in response to systemic inflammation during pregnancy

Problem Systemic maternal inflammation is associated with adverse neonatal sequelae. We tested the hypothesis that IL-1β is a key inflammatory regulator of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Method of study Pregnant mice were treated with intraperitoneal injections of IL-1β (0, 0.1, 0.5, or 1 μg) from embryonic day (E)14 to E17. Placenta and fetal brains were harvested and analyzed for morphologic changes and IL-1β signaling markers. Results As compared with non-treated dams, maternal injections with IL-1β resulted in increased p-NF-κB and caspase-1 in placentas and fetal brains, but not consistently in spleens, suggesting induction of intrinsic IL-1β production. These findings were confirmed by increased levels of IL-1β in the placentas of the IL-1β-treated dams. Systemic treatment of dams with IL-1β suppressed Stat1 signaling. Maternal inflammation caused by IL-1β treatment reduced fetal viability to 80.6% and 58.9%, in dams treated with either 0.5 or 1 μg of IL-1β, respectively. In the placentas, there was an IL-1β dose-dependent distortion of the labyrinth structure, decreased numbers of mononuclear trophoblast giant cells, and reduced proportions of endothelial cells as compared to placentas from control dams. In fetal brains collected at E17, there was an IL-1β dose-dependent reduction in cortical neuronal morphology. Conclusion This work demonstrates that systemic IL-1β injection causes dose-dependent structural and functional changes in the placenta and fetal brain.
A Workflow for Non-linear Load Parameter Estimation Using a Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop Experimental Testbed

Low-inertia microgrids may easily have a single load which can make up most of the total load, thereby greatly affecting stability and power quality. Instead of static load models, dynamic load models are presented here for constant current loads (CILs) and constant power loads (CPLs). Next, a flexible Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop (PHiL) testbed is employed for the experiments in this work. The PHiL testbed consists of a real-time computer working with a power amplifier in order to perturb its voltage and frequency. A connected load serves as the device under test (DUT). Using the captured experimental data as a reference, a parameter estimation algorithm is then implemented. The resulting parameter estimates are used to define simulation models. Both the CIL and CPL dynamic models are simulated to produce waveforms that closely resemble experimental waveforms. The algorithm, referred to as an enhanced monte carlo algorithm (EMCA), is explained in this work. Finally, the EMCA’s resulting parameter estimates are presented.
Organizational and Partisan Brokerage of Social Benefits: Social Policy Linkages in Mexico

Abstract The expansion of large-scale non-discretionary social policy has been one of the most important policy innovations in Latin America in recent decades. While these benefits have reduced the political manipulation of low-income citizens, discretionary social programs—whose distribution follows opaque criteria and are often allocated according to political considerations—continue to exist. Employing an original survey in Mexico, we explore how citizens, both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, experience and perceive access to discretionary social programs. While the literature on clientelism emphasizes the distribution of discretionary benefits by party agents in exchange for electoral support, a number of recent studies have found that access to discretionary social benefits can also operate through community associations or interest organizations. We conducted a list experiment in our survey to detect whether in the experience or perception of the respondent social benefits are allocated on the basis of partisan campaign support or organizational participation. Our findings reveal that organizational brokerage is at least as important as the much-studied role of party-mediated clientelism for access to discretionary benefits.
Cryogenic Temperature Induced Instability of 200MHz CMOS Operational Amplifier

This work investigates the electrical performance of a high speed general purpose operation amplifier, OPA2356, operating under cryogenic temperature -180°C. Evidence of cryogenic-induced instability of OPA2356 was experimentally observed and repeated using different hardware setups — a subtle increase in OPA2356's I supply current variations after extended -180°C cold dwell for 24 hours. The monitored I supply current revealed increased random fluctuation of I supply , characterized by its standard deviation σ, as compared to its initial room temperature current (σ 25C-initial ). This is exemplified by ~2σ 25C-initial at −180°C/24hrs and ~1.8σ 25C-initial at 25°C/post-cold. This work also suggests using the static supply current (I supply ), also commonly known as DC quiescent current, of the analog chip as a good monitor of analog chip's instability operating under cryogenic conditions. This is demonstrated using another hardware setup where the OPA2356 was implemented as a unity-gain amplifier. We also found that increasing voltage headroom by maximizing the allowable V DD in analog chips will enable proper cryogenic operation of analog chips, which can be a critical trade-off for a space electronic system to consider between long term reliability and operating window.
A brief whole-body vibration intervention to avoid weight gain in college students: A randomized controlled pilot trial.

Over one-third of college students are overweight or obese and rates are rising. Whole body vibration (WBV) training could prevent weight gain but has not been tested in college students. Methods: ...
On Anti-Bullying Programs and Gender Inclusion Policies: How One Writer's Argument (Mis)Appropriates the Format and Forum of Professional Research in the Service of Truth Decay

The current state of U.S. political and civil discourse is described by Jennifer Kavanagh and Michael D. Rich as being in a state of Truth Decay, in which the “shift away from facts and data in political debate and policy decisions has far-reaching implications” (Kavanagh and Rich ix). My project contributes to the study of Truth Decay by revealing how particular rhetorical strategies can be employed to create false narratives. Using Kavanagh and Rich’s Truth Decay report as a framework, my analysis highlights how Truth Decay shapes the way one writer articulates and defends a particular claim about anti-bullying programs. My analysis furthermore shows how that articulation and defense engages in all four of the strategies attributed to Agents of Truth Decay -- providing misleading information, spreading false information, manipulating the context or framing of information, and withholding information (Kavanagh and Rich 176). The claim I examine both encourages Truth Decay and functions as an Agent of Truth Decay, and in doing so violates many standards of academic and professional research in terms of ethics, evidence, and rhetoric.
Advanced heart failure and heart transplantation in adult congenital heart disease in the current era.

Background Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) may undergo heart transplantation (HTx) despite increased risk of poor short-term outcomes due to factors including surgical complexity and antibody sensitization. We assessed the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with ACHD in the current era referred for HTx at a single high-volume transplant center. Methods From 2010-2020, 37 ACHD patients were evaluated for HTx. ACHD HTx recipients were compared to non-ACHD HTx recipients matched for age, sex, listing status, and prior cardiac surgery. Results Of the 37 patients with ACHD, 8 (21.6%) were declined for HTx. Of 29 ACHD patients listed, 19 (65.5%) underwent HTx. Compared with non-ACHD HTx controls, the ACHD HTx recipients had more treated cellular (21.1% vs 15.8%, p = 0.010) and antibody-mediated (15.8% vs 10.5%, p = 0.033) rejection. There was no difference in hospital readmission or allograft vasculopathy at 1 year. There was a nonsignificant higher 1-year mortality in ACHD HTx recipients (21.1% vs 7.9%, p = 0.21). Conclusion At a high-volume transplant center, ACHD patients undergoing HTx appear to have a marginally higher risk of rejection, but no significant increase in 1-year mortality. With careful selection and management, HTx for patients with ACHD may be feasible in the current era. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Anti-plane shear deformations in compressible transversely isotropic materials

Anti-plane shear deformations in a compressible, transversely isotropic hyperelastic material are under investigation. The displacement is assumed to be along the direction of the symmetry axis and is independent of the axial position. The resulting equations of equilibrium form an overdetermined system of partial differential equations for which solutions do not exist in general. Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for such materials to sustain anti-plane shear deformations in the sense that every solution to the axial equation automatically satisfies the other two in-plane equations. Comparison is made with results for isotropic materials. A weaker version of the conditions specialized to axisymmetric anti-plane shear deformations is also obtained.
Anatomical Bases for Auditory Projections to Suprasylvian Visual Areas in the Cat Cerebral Cortex

ANATOMICAL BASES FOR AUDITORY PROJECTIONS TO SUPRASYLVIAN VISUAL AREAS IN THE CAT CEREBRAL CORTEX
General Reactions of Organoboranes

This chapter provides a brief overview of organoborane reaction types. Reaction mechanisms are discussed, particularly with reference to whether they may or may not allow stereocontrol, but stereocontrolled applications are deferred to later chapters. Reactions that replace boron by atoms other than carbon are discussed first (Section 3.2), followed by boron substituted carbanions (Section 3.3) and reactions that have the net effect of replacing boron—carbon bonds by carbon—carbon bonds (Section 3.4). However, β-eliminations, which also create a carbon—carbon bond at the expense of a boron—carbon bond, are deferred to Section 4.2. Finally, a variety of reactions of organoboranes that leave the boron—carbon bond intact and affect other functionality are described in Section 3.5.
Response: Implicit Racial Bias and the Perpetrator Perspective: A Response to Reasonable But Unconstitutional

In their article, “Reasonable but Unconstitutional: Racial Profiling and the Radical Objectivity of Whren v. U.S.,” Professor Chin and Mr. Vernon not only provide a withering critique of the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Whren v. U.S. but they also present novel doctrinal arguments for reversing its problematic dicta that racial discrimination is constitutionally reasonable. Their arguments are compelling and require no extension of current doctrine. For instance, Chin and Vernon embrace Whren’s endorsement of pretextual traffic stops as long as those stops do not involve racial profiling. Additionally, the authors implicitly embrace a central premise of the Courts’ current race jurisprudence, which is that only conscious racism violates the Constitution. Thus, their framework allows the Court to reach the identical outcome in Whren, without sanctioning race-based policing. However, this Response argues that there are some disadvantages to relying upon the Court’s existing jurisprudence when questions of race are concerned. First, their defense of pretextual policing is troubling because the practice likely will exacerbate the racial burdens that non-Whites experience at the hands of the police, even if conscious racial bias is non-existent. Furthermore, focusing solely on officers’ subjective racial motivations to determine whether discrimination has occurred ignores the victims’ experiences of profiling. In sum, the Court’s current conception of race discrimination is anemic and in urgent need of reform. Chin and Vernon’s arguments increase the likelihood that the Court will condemn racial discrimination as unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. This would mark an important first step towards moving the Court to adopt a more realistic and broader conception of the harms of race discrimination.
Resistance on Aisle Three?: Exploring the Big Curriculum of Consumption and the (Im)Possibility of Resistance in John Updike’s “A&P”

AbstractIn this article, we examine John Updike’s short story “A&P” and its depiction of the grocery store as a curricular space re/presenting consumption and resistance to it. We position Updike’s fictional A&P as a space where the “big curriculum” (Schubert, 2006a) of consumption is enacted in everyday life and explore both how the curriculum of consumption works and how resistance to consumerism might operate. We argue that this story provides insight into how consumption works as educational practice—one that teaches us how to be consumers, how to operate within consumer capitalism, and how to accept consumerism as natural—and also raises more specific questions about consumptive resistance by pointing toward the ways in which our particular positions within cultural narratives determine our individual perceptions of consumption-focused counterhegemonic action. Through an analysis of the fictional A&P in Updike’s story, we examine how physical spaces of consumption such as grocery stores embody partic...
Locality Optimizations for Parallel Machines

This paper focuses on the problem of locality optimizations for high-performance uniprocessor and multiprocessor systems. It shows that the problems of minimizing interprocessor communication and optimizing cache locality can be formulated in a similar manner. It outlines the algorithms to optimize for the various levels of the memory hierarchy simultaneously.
Nuclear transplantation with mammalian cells.

Early microsurgical nuclear transplantation experiments with nonmammalian systems suggested that cytoplasmic elements participate in the regulation of nuclear gene expression and replication. With cells from Rana pipiens (Briggs and King, 1960), Xenopus leavis (Gurdon, 1962), and Drosophila melanogaster (Okada et al., 1974), it was shown that egg cell cytoplasm could redirect the differentiative pathway of nuclei from cells at much later stages of development. Moreover, in Stentor coeruleus, for example, nuclear DNA synthesis likewise appeared to be regulated, at least in part, by cytoplasmic factors (deTerra, 1967). With mammalian cells, numerous somatic cell hybridization experiments demonstrated that the patterns of gene expression of two parental cell types could be stably altered when a hybrid cell containing a mixed genome was constructed [reviewed by Ringertz and Savage (1976); Lucas (1982)]. For example, rat hepatoma cells that secreted albumin were fused to mouse fibroblasts that did not. Some hybrid clones secreted only mouse or rat albumin, while others secreted both rat and mouse albumin (Peterson and Weiss, 1972). Results of this and other similar experiments showed that a complex array of interactions is possible when two very different cell types are fused. They also suggested the existence, in animal cells, of elements which can interact functionally with a foreign nucleus and either positively or negatively regulate the expression of certain genes.
POSTRADIATION PELVIC FIBROSIS SIMULATING RECURRENT CARCINOMA.

Abstract A series of 5 cases has been presented to illustrate that all of the classical clinical findings usually considered indicative of recurrent cancer can be caused by radiation fibrosis. If this is not recognized before proceeding with a new step in management, the outcome can be disastrous. The exact diagnosis can be made only by biopsy. If therapy is necessary it must be individualized and requires experience and judgment. The majority of cases will be prevented by proper execution of therapy with careful appraisal of dosages between radium applications and external beam irradiation.
Electrons as Anions

In most materials, electrons are either associated with specific atoms or molecules, or are delocalized as in a metal. In his Perspective, Dye discusses recent insights into materials in which electrons behave very differently: They take the place of negatively charged ions. Most of these so-called electrides are only stable at very low temperatures. Matsuishi et al . report a new inorganic electride that is stable at room temperature. Materials of this kind may find application in electron emission, catalysis, and refrigeration.
Resolving the Puzzle of the W Serpentis Stars

The W Serpentis subclass of interacting binaries is characterized by strong effects of circumstellar matter on their spectra, light curves, and radial velocity curves. In this work, they are perceived as extreme cases of the semidetached binaries of the Algol type. An attempt is made to get an insight into their structure by studying emission lines in their spectra. Ultraviolet emission lines have been detected by the author in 11 Algols and 6 Serpentids. Evidence is indicated that the lines are formed predominantly by scattering in an induced stellar wind. Relative intensity of Fe II and Fe III emissions appears to be correlated with the spectral type of the gainer. It is suggested that in the Serpentids we see a thick disk nearly edge-on, but that the emission lines indicate the nature of the gainer inside.
Chemical Enrichment of Mercury Isotopes by Neutron Irradiation of Diphenylmercury in Solution

Radiomercury has been obtained by means of the Szilard-Chalmers effect with enrichment factors in excess of one thousand for short irradiations. The mercury activity is deposited on polyethylene su...
Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: location means everything.

Background and Objectives Head and neck basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC) is increasingly recognized as a malignancy with an evolving duel behavior. Our objective was to describe the site-specific presentation and prognosis of head and neck BSCC in comparison to conventional-type squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) using population-based data. Methods A total of 1,083 BSCC patients and 66,929 conventional-type SCC patients, diagnosed between 2000 and 2008, were identified using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Clinicopathologic data were compared using χ2 analysis. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to estimate site-stratified disease-specific survival (DSS). BSCC's independent effect on DSS was assessed by multivariable regression analysis. Results The oropharynx (61.9%) was the most frequent BSCC site; compared to the larynx (33.3%) in conventional-type SCC. More BSCC patients presented with advanced-stage disease (78.4% vs. 60.1%, P < 0.001). On multivariable analysis, DSS was significantly better in the BSCC group when tumors were located in the oropharynx. Conversely, DSS was worse for BSCC patients with laryngeal tumors. DSS was similar among patients with sinonasal, nasopharyngeal, hypopharyngeal, and oral tumors. Conclusions BSCC's propensity for advanced-stage presentation was confirmed in this study. However, BSCC appears to carry a paradoxically similar, or better, prognosis compared to conventional-type SCC in most cases. J. Surg. Oncol. 2014 109:616–622. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Hippocampal Astrocytes In Situ Respond to Glutamate Released from Synaptic Terminals

A long-standing question in neurobiology is whether astrocytes respond to the neuronal release of neurotransmitters in vivo. To address this question, acutely isolated hippocampal slices were loaded with the calcium-sensitive dye Calcium Green-1 and the responses of the astrocytes to electrical stimulation of the Schaffer collaterals were monitored by confocal microscopy. To confirm that the responsive cells were astrocytes, the slices were immunostained for the astrocytic marker glial fibrillary acidic protein. Stimulation of the Schaffer collaterals (50 Hz, 2 sec) resulted in increases in the concentration of intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) in the astrocytes located in the stratum radiatum of CA1. The astrocytic responses were blocked by the sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin, the voltage-dependent calcium channel blocker omega-conotoxin-MVIIC, and the selective metabotropic glutamate receptor antagonist alpha-methyl-4-carboxyphenylglycine (MCPG). These results suggest that the astrocytic responses were induced by stimulation of metabotropic glutamate receptors on the astrocytes by neuronally released glutamate. The astrocytic responses to neuronal stimulation were enhanced in the presence of the K+ channel antagonist 4-aminopyridine (4-AP). Inhibition of the astrocytic responses in the presence of 4-AP required the presence of both MCPG and the ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonist kynurenic acid. These results suggest that higher levels of neuronal activity result in stimulation of both metabotropic and ionotropic glutamate receptors on the astrocytes. Overall, the results indicate that hippocampal astrocytes in situ are able to respond to the neuronal release of the neurotransmitter glutamate with increases in [Ca2+]i.
An anomaly in the amplitude ratio of SKKS/SKS in the range 100–108° from portable teleseismic data

We have examined the amplitude ratio SKKS/SKS from two deep focus events recorded by the APT89 portable seismic experiment. For one of the events (beneath the Solomon Islands), we obtain a profile of 18 stations in the distance range 99–108°. We observe large systematic variations in this ratio as a function of distance. From 99° to 106° the ratio is fairly constant and in the range 0.1 to 0.5, but it then rapidly increases to the range 0.5–3.5 between 106° and 108°. Such variations are in fact predicted by standard earth models, such as PREM, although this feature of the wavefield has not previously been observed. It is due to the momentary drop in SKS amplitude at the ray parameter where the reflected phase ScP is critically reflected. Because ray theory is not valid in this distance range, we use Full Wave theory to model the amplitudes. We have been able to match the distance pattern reasonably well if we use a model with the P-velocity at the base of the mantle reduced by 1.5% compared to PREM. Although fewer stations are available, the second event shows the same basic distance pattern, except that the abrupt increase in the ratio occurs at a closer distance. This suggests an even lower P-velocity for this region (about 3.5% slower than PREM) and is consistent with lateral heterogeneity at the base of the mantle of a few percent.
Segmental organization of rat lateral longissimus, a muscle involved in lordosis behavior: EMG and muscle nerve recordings

Abstract Following stimulation of lumbar cutaneous and high threshold muscle afferents in urethane-anesthetized ovariectomized rats, polysynaptic multi-unit responses were recorded from muscle nerves to lateral longissimus (LL) at a mean latency of 9.5 ms. These responses could be reciprocally evoked between segments with no apparent rostro-caudal asymmetry. Polysynaptic responses habituated to repeated stimulation within 0.5–1.5 min but could be evoked again after several minutes rest. In estradiol-treated rats, 60% of the 9.5 ms responses were followed by late discharges (> 40 ms) as compared to 24% in untreated control animals (P = 0.05). Following stimulation to the L3 and L4 motor nerves to lateral longissimus, EMG responses were recorded from overlapping fields of innervation. The conduction velocity of the fast muscle fibers was determined to be 7 m/s. The short length of most of the LL muscle fibers and the intersegmental recruitment of LL motoneurons by cutaneous afferents is compatible with the integrated action of axial muscles in the performance of lordosis behavior.
Variability in opium dosage: Observations from Laos, 1965–1975

Opiate addicts are generally believed to consume a fairly constant level of drug. These data indicate that, for most addicts over time, there is considerable variability in dosage. This variability occurs not only amongst addicts, but also in most individual addicts over time. Extreme constancy in dosage does prevail for some addicts over prolonged periods, but this is not the norm. Factors influencing dosage include age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, duration of addiction, drug cost and drug availability. Distributions in dosage patterns are presented in this report.
Protective activity of nicotinic acid derivatives and their 1-alkyl-2- and 1-alkyl-6-pyridones against selected neurotoxic agents.

Abstract Of twenty-one nicotinic acid analogs assayed against tri- o -cresyl phosphate-induced ataxia in hens, five provided partial relief of the syndrome. These were nicotinamide, nikethamide, phenyl nicotinate, 3-picoline, and 3-acetylpyridine. Almost all of those assayed in mice against tri- n -butyl phosphate provided some relief of the paralysis, under the conditions of test, but 1-methylnicotinamide and nicotinamide-1-oxide were inactive. 1-Methyl-2-oxo-1,2-dihydronicotinamide and 1-methyl-6-oxo-1,6-dihydronicotinamide delayed the knockdown due to TBP, as did the ethyl and phenyl esters of 1-methyl-6-oxo-1,2-dihydronicotinic acid. Compounds with other 1-alkyl substituents were not very active or were inactive. The structure-activity requirements for the TBP or tubocurarine assays were almost parallel, indicating that the action of TBP is at the same site as tubocurarine, that is, at the neuromuscular junction. Protective activity was obtained with phenyl 1-methyl-6-oxo-1,6-dihydronicotinate against only those toxicants which block impulse transmission at this junction, but the fact that the decamethonium-induced block was relieved was interpreted to mean that the protective action is probably not due to inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. These results indicate, but do not establish, that the protective activity of nicotinic acid analogs against TBP and tubocurarine is derived from a pyridone metabolite. In any case, the potential usefulness of these pyridone derivatives as anticurare agents warrants further investigation.
A Comparison of Two Simple, Low-Cost Ways for Local, Pro-Poor Organizations to Measure the Poverty of Their Participants

The poverty scorecard and the Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT) are two simple, low-cost ways for local, pro-poor organizations to measure the expenditure-based poverty of their participants and thus to report on (and manage) their social performance. How do the two tools differ? For estimating a group’s poverty rate, both are unbiased, and the scorecard has smaller standard errors. For targeting individual households, the PAT correctly classifies about one more household per 100. The scorecard has had greater up-take due to its edge in availability, recentness, and transparency.
Low temperature emission spectra of trapped tetracene pairs from ditetracene

Abstract Interacting pairs of tetracene molecules are prepared in a PMMA host matrix by photodecomposition of ditetracene at 15 K. Excitation and emission spectra of these pairs are red-shifted and broadened relative to those of isolated tetracene molecules under the same conditions. No differences are seen in the spectra of pairs formed from syn-ditetracene and from anti-ditetracene. The results suggest that these pairs of tetracene molecules are not in the parallel (sandwich) configuration and that a distribution of intermolecular distances and orientation is obtained. A large geometry change in the excited state, akin to excimer formation, is postulated to explain the fluorescence spectrum.
Citizenship, Knowledge, and the Limits of Humanity

When the idea of "citizenship" came into view-and was linked to the materialization and formation of the nation-state in secular north Europe-it enforced the formation of communities of birth instead of communities of faith. But at that time, the imperial and colonial differences were already in place, and both were recast in the new face of Western empires. The figure of the "citizen" presupposed an idea of the "human" that had already been formed during the Renaissance and was one of the constitutive elements of the colonial
Radial keratotomy in fresh human cadaver eyes.

Abstract Radial keratotomy in fresh human cadaver eyes produced corneal flattening varying from 6 to 11 diopters (0). There was no significant difference in the effectiveness of the incisions to the limbus compared to incisions through the limbus. Eighty to ninety percent of the flattening effect was obtained after the first eight incisions. The preoperative keratotomy reading was not helpful in predicting the final result. Histopathology of the incised corneas revealed considerable variation in incision depth and demonstrates the difficulty in achieving deep incisions safely.
"Single-step" orthodontic bonding systems: possible mutagenic potential.

Six commercially available orthodontic direct-bonding resin systems used to attach orthodontic brackets to tooth enamel were tested for bacterial mutagenicity by means of the Ames test. Components of two systems were found to yield positive spot test results with strains of Salmonella typhimurium . Positive spot test results were also obtained on the components applied to orthodontic brackets. Dose response curves for components of these systems were determined for aqueous and DMSO extracts using strain TA-100.
EXAFS study of uranyl nitrate dimer at high and low temperature.

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) has become an increasingly important technique for the study and characterization of metal species in materials, heterogeneous catalysts, and bioinorganic substrates. More recently, a number of environmental applications have also been reported in which information concerning the local coordination sphere around transuranium elements has been obtained from both near edge (XANES) and fine structure (EXAFS) studies. This paper describes EXAFS studies on the hydroxy-bridged uranyl nitrate dimer HIm{sub 2}[{l{underscore}brace}UO{sub 2}({mu}-OH)(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}{r{underscore}brace}{sub 2}] (1) (HIm = imidazolium (C{sub 3}H{sub 5}N{sub 2})), which are used to model possible species found in vitreous glasses used in the safe, long-term storage of transuranic wastes. A pronounced temperature effect on the U{hor{underscore}ellipsis}U feature in the XAS spectrum of 1 was observed. Complete interpretation and analysis of the EXAFS observed for this complex are described.
Ultra-broadband absorption in metallic gratings at the ‘plasmonic Brewster angle’

Summary form only given. In this talk we review the recently proposed concept of `plasmonic Brewster angle' [A. Alu, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 123902 (2011)] and apply it to the design of ultrabroadband absorbers for THz and infrared radiation. Particular emphasis will be given to these energy harvesting potentials and interesting directional thermal emission properties. We will demonstrate that it is possible to realize ultra-broadband funneling, concentration and absorption of the impinging radiation within a one-dimensional (1D) subwavelength plasmonic grating, which is followed by an elongated adiabatically tapered plasmonic waveguide which can absorb light over a broad wavelength range. This effect is achieved in an angular range near the Brewster funneling condition, in analogy to the well-known Brewster transmission for ordinary dielectric etalon interfaces. Compared to conventional Brewster transmission, the plasmonic grating provides more degrees of freedom in patterning the angular response and the addition of elongated plasmonic tapers may extend this mechanism to almost omnidirectional broadband absorption at THz, infrared (IR) and optical frequencies with several interesting potential applications. These concepts will be generalized to two-dimensional (2D) plasmonic screens and analytical, numerical and experimental results will be demonstrated.
A test of a crime and justice infotainment measure

Abstract In recent years, a new term which combined aspects of both news and entertainment into a single format had been introduced into the crime and justice media vocabulary— infotainment . Media history reflected information and entertainment as usually presented separate and distinct. Early television programming, for example, could easily be recognized and classified as news or entertainment, but recently, the line between news and entertainment had become blurred. Beginning in the late 1980s, contemporary infotainment programs like Geraldo or Unsolved Mysteries began to appear on television and the genre had increased steadily in popularity. Since the 1980s, it had become more difficult for television viewers and media consumers in general to identify what was news and what was entertainment. This article presents a brief history of crime and justice infotainment and develops and tests a measurement refinement of crime and justice infotainment programming. Additionally, it offers research directions for exploring the impact of such programming.
Leveraging microarchitectural side channel information to efficiently enhance program control flow integrity

Stack buffer overflow is a serious security threat to program execution. A malicious attacker may overwrite the return address of a procedure to alter its control flow and hence change its functionality. While a number of hardware and/or software based protection schemes have been developed, these countermeasures introduce sizable overhead in performance and energy, thus limiting their applicability to embedded systems. To reduce such overhead, our goal is to develop a low-cost scheme to "filter out" potential stack buffer overflow attacks. Our observation is that attacks to control flow will trigger certain microarchitectural events, such as mis-predictions in the return address stack or misses in the instruction cache. We therefore propose a hardware-based scheme to monitor these events. Only upon detecting any suspicious behavior, a more precise but costly diagnosis scheme will be invoked to thoroughly check control flow integrity. Meanwhile, to further reduce the rate of false positives of the security filter, we propose three enhancements to the return address stack, instruction prefetch engine and instruction cache, respectively. The results show that these enhancements effectively reduce more than 95% of false positives with almost no false negatives introduced.
A Biocompatible Arginine-Based Polycation

Self assembly between cations and anions is ubiquitous throughout nature. Important biological structures such as chromatin often use polyvalent assembly between a polycation and a polyaninon. Biomedical importance of synthetic polycations arises from their affinity to polyanions such as nucleic acid and heparan sulfate. However, the limited biocompatibility of synthetic polycations hampers the realization of their immense potential. By examining biocompatible cationic peptides, we hypothesize that a biocompatible polycation should be biodegradable and made from endogenous cations. We designed an arginine-based biodegradable polycation and demonstrated that it was orders of magnitude more compatible than conventional polycations in vitro and in vivo. This biocompatibility diminishes when L-arginine is substituted with D-arginine or when the biodegradable ester linker changes to a biostable ether linker. We believe this design can lead to many biocompatible polycations that can significantly advance a wide range of applications including controlled release, tissue engineering, biosensing, and medical devices.