cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Direct Aerosol Radiative Forcing on Surface Insolation and Spring Snowmelt in the Southern Sierra Nevada

Abstract To understand the regional impact of the atmospheric aerosols on the surface energy and water cycle in the southern Sierra Nevada characterized by extreme variations in terrain elevation, the authors examine the aerosol radiative forcing on surface insolation and snowmelt for the spring of 1998 in a regional climate model experiment. With a prescribed aerosol optical thickness of 0.2, it is found that direct aerosol radiative forcing influences spring snowmelt primarily by reducing surface insolation and that these forcings on surface insolation and snowmelt vary strongly following terrain elevation. The direct aerosol radiative forcing on surface insolation is negative in all elevations. It is nearly uniform in the regions below 2000 m and decreases with increasing elevation in the region above 2000 m. This elevation dependency in the direct aerosol radiative forcing on surface insolation is related to the fact that the amount of cloud water and the frequency of cloud formation are nearly unifor...
EFFECT OF ADRENALECTOMY ON THE LACTOGENIC HORMONE AND INITIATION OF LACTATION1,2

IT is a well established fact that the adrenals are essential for normal lactation (1–4). Animals adrenalectomised during pregnancy may deliver normal litters, but they rarely lactate sufficiently to raise them (3, 5). Adrenalectomy is known to result in the upset of several important body functions, such as the maintenance of electrolyte and water balance and carbohydrate metabolism. These deficiencies alone might be considered sufficient to account for the failure of lactation following adrenalectomy. However, there is some evidence which indicates that adrenalectomy may also exert an adverse effect on the secretory activity of the anterior pituitary. It is this latter problem which will be considered here, and specifically, as it relates to the lactogenic function of the pituitary. It is generally agreed that in Addison's disease, which is characterised by a dysfunction of the adrenal cortex, there is a degranulation and degeneration of the basophil cells of the anterior pituitary (6-8).
Nuclear Activation Analysis.

The importance of the minor and trace elements in mineral chemistry is becoming more widely recognized with advances in technology and inter pretation. The characteristics of many materials can be influenced by the trace-element impurities found in various systems. For example, the quality of steel is altered by its trace oxygen content1; the presence of trace vanadium in crude-oil poisons the platinum catalysts used in the cracking process by the oil industry2; sodium and chloride concentrations in sweat are used for the detection of cystic fibrosis in children today3; and the concentration of trace pesticides in foodstuffs have importance.4 Numerous other practical applications of trace-element determinations have been investigated and reported on in the literature5 in virtually all of the sciences.
Algebraic preconditioners for the Fast Multipole Method in electromagnetic scattering analysis from large structures: trends and problems

The Fast Multipole Method was introduced by Greengard and Rokhlin in a seminal paper appeared in 1987 for studying large systems of particle interactions with reduced algorithmic and memory complexity [60]. Developments of the original idea are successfully applied to the analysis of many scientific and engineering problems of practical interest. In scattering analysis, multipole techniques may enable to reduce the computational complexity of iterative solution procedures involving dense matrices arising from the discretization of integral operators from O(n2) to O(n log n) arithmetic operations. In this paper we discuss recent algorithmic developments of algebraic preconditioning techniques for the Fast Multipole Method for 2D and 3D scattering problems. We focus on design aspects, implementation details, numerical scalability, parallel performance on emerging computer systems, and give some minor emphasis to theoretical aspects as well. Thanks to the use of iterative techniques and efficient parallel preconditioners, fast integral solvers involving tens of million unknowns are nowadays feasible and can be integrated in the design processes. Keywords: algebraic preconditioners, Fast Multipole Method, Krylov solvers, electromagnetic scattering applications, Maxwell's equations.
Effects of High Dietary Calcium and Phosphorus on Calcium, Phosphorus, Nitrogen and Fat Metabolism in Children

effects of high dietary phosphate on dental caries,’0 a group of children became available who presumably had been receiving diets high in calcium and phosphorus for periods of from one to two years. The present report is concerned with the effects of these diets on metabolic balances of minerals and nitrogen in eighteen children from this study. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
ELISA Methodology for Detection of Modified Osteoprotegerin in Clinical Studies

Osteoprotegerin (OPG), also known as osteoclast inhibitory factor, is a soluble receptor of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily. The protein is secreted as a covalent, disulfide-linked homodimer, which is the predominant extracellular form (1), and is expressed in multiple tissues (1)(2)(3). OPG-mediated pathways might have a role in osteoporosis (3)(4)(5)(6) because estrogen increases OPG gene expression (4)(5). OPG maintains the structure of healthy bone and inhibits osteoclast activation and differentiation (3)(7). In the vascular system, OPG inhibits pathological calcification in the media intima (3). OPG has been proposed for therapy of osteopenic disorders, such as postmenopausal osteoporosis, Paget disease, rheumatoid arthritis, hypercalcemia, and lytic bone metastases (8). Initially, we developed an antibody-based ELISA method with an anti-human OPG monoclonal antibody for capture and an anti-human OPG polyclonal antibody for detection. Yano et al. (9) raised the concern for us that we may not detect the active dimeric OPG with antibody capture because they reported that serum OPG increased with age and that the monomer was the predominant form of OPG in human serum. Although they used a different antibody-dependent ELISA method (monoclonal capture and detection), the results reported by Yano et al. (9) do not correspond with the work performed at Amgen (1)(3)(4)(5)(7)(8)(10)(11)(12). We reasoned that OPG ligand (OPGL) (2)(7)(8)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16), also …
Harris v. New York: Some Anxious Observations on the Candor and Logic of the Emerging Nixon Majority

When Chief Justice Burger announced the decision in Harris v. New York2-holding that statements elicited in violation of Miranda v. Arizona3 may be used to impeach-he reportedly characterized it as a matter "of interest mostly to members of the bar" and not worth describing from the bench.4 On the surface, his opinion for the Courtjoined by Justices Blackmun, Harlan, Stewart and White5-does indeed give an impression of little general interest or importance. It is very short-just eleven paragraphs-and is written in the flat, descriptive style typical of simple and uncontroversial cases. The initial six paragraphs set out the facts; the seventh argues that Miranda cannot be regarded as controlling; and the remainder of the opinion consists of four arguments-really assertions-in support of the Court's result. There is no indication that important considerations of policy have been weighed or that significant practical results may flow from the decision. Rarely, however, has so short an opinion concealed so much.
Health Care Quality and Ethics: Implications for Practice and Leadership

This article proposes that ethics is the framework that supports quality and that nurses are central in this interdependence. As Nelson and colleagues maintain, “Quality care is built on ethical standards and ethical practices foster quality care.” The requisites of quality care described by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (patient-centered, safe, effective, timely, efficient, and equitable) embody ethical principles and elements of both virtue and care ethics. To practice ethically and deliver quality care, nursesmust work in amoral, caring environment that also reflects the same principles and qualities. A brief history of the nursing profession’s concern with quality and ethics is presented. A discussion of ethical principles, virtue ethics, and the ethics of care is provided, with examples of how they are manifested in the IOM quality aims. In addition, implications of the principles and virtue/care approaches for practice and leadership and their impact on quality care are suggested. An example is presented of ongoing collaboration between staff nurses and leadership to improve quality care through development of a nursing ethics council and unit-based ethics steward program.
Using biodegradation kinetics to measure availability of aged phenanthrene to bacteria inoculated into soil

The rate of biodegradation of pollutants in soil can be limited by the pollutant's availability to microorganisms. We have developed a bioassay for the availability of phenanthrene to bacteria that degrade phenanthrene in soil. The assay uses a soil in which phenanthrene is degraded very slowly. The rate of phenanthrene mineralization in this soil may be increased substantially through bioaugmentation with a bacterial inoculum. By delaying inoculation, it is possible to manipulate the time phenanthrene is present in soil before accelerated biodegradation begins. A phenanthrene concentration much lower than the affinity constant of the inoculum is added; thus, biodegradation kinetics approach first order. Because the phenanthrene first-order rate constant for the inoculum is the same regardless of the phenanthrene residence time in soil, the change in phenanthrene availability to the inoculum can be measured over time. The availability of phenanthrene to bacteria declined in a biphasic double exponential pattern with time. The initial rapid decline in availability resembled the change in amount of phenanthrene extracted from soil with hexane-water. However, after phenanthrene had been present in the soil longer than 300 h, the fraction extracted with hexane-water declined faster than the substrate available to the bacterial inoculum, suggesting that the bacteria are able to access a pool of phenanthrene unavailable to hexane.
Sparse Gaussian Conditional Random Fields: Algorithms, Theory, and Application to Energy Forecasting

This paper considers the sparse Gaussian conditional random field, a discriminative extension of sparse inverse covariance estimation, where we use convex methods to learn a high-dimensional conditional distribution of outputs given inputs. The model has been proposed by multiple researchers within the past year, yet previous papers have been substantially limited in their analysis of the method and in the ability to solve large-scale problems. In this paper, we make three contributions: 1) we develop a second-order active-set method which is several orders of magnitude faster than previously proposed optimization approaches for this problem, 2) we analyze the model from a theoretical standpoint, improving upon past bounds with convergence rates that depend logarithmically on the data dimension, and 3) we apply the method to large-scale energy forecasting problems, demonstrating state-of-the-art performance on two real-world tasks.
Nibble-serial arithmetic processor designs via unfolding

The author proposes dedicated high-speed architectures for nibble-serial implementation of arithmetic operations (such as addition, multiplication, division, and square root) using a two's-complement fixed-point number system (all numbers assumed to lie between -1 and +1). Nibble-serial circuits are obtained by systematically applying the unfolding transformation on the corresponding bit-serial circuits. Nibble-serial arithmetic circuits input W/sub 1/-b of a word or sample in a single cycle, and the complete word is input in W/sub 2/ cycles, where W=W/sub 1/W/sub 2/ is the word length. W/sub 1/ need not be 4 in a nibble-serial implementation, but can be any divisor of the word length. >
Intensive care: problems of over- and undersedation

Abstract The goal of sedation therapy is to make patients rousable, calm, comfortable, co-operative and communicative. A careful control of analgesia, anxiety and hypnosis can achieve this goal. Integral to any sedation protocol is a sedation scoring system so that the infusion is targeted towards a sedation level rather than a set dose. A continual assessment of the patient is essential, together with regular adjustments to the infusion rate. Following these guidelines, the clinician can avoid the hazards of undersedation—patient self-injury, increased catecholamine production with increased oxygen consumption and haemodynamic instability, severe anxiety and the development of post-traumatic stress disorder—and of oversedation—an increased time on mechanical ventilation, a prolonged stay in the intensive care unit and cerebral or cognitive complications. Severe respiratory depression, which may result in hypoxia, hypercarbia and cardiac arrest, can also be avoided. Effective sedation therapy results in enhanced patient safety, a better quality of care and more cost-effective management.
Balanceable assembly lines with dynamic tool sharing and best matching decisions—a collaborative assembly framework

A Collaborative Assembly Framework (CAF), inspired by the design principles of the Collaborative Control Theory, is developed in this article to enhance the extent of balancing of assembly lines. The notion of the CAF lies in the dynamic utilization of idle resources to eliminate bottlenecks. The CAF is composed of two modules: the first one, the Tool Sharing Protocol (TShP), makes dynamic tool-sharing decisions among fully loaded (i.e., bottleneck) and partially loaded Work Stations (WSs), and the second one, the Best Matching Protocol (BMP), dynamically matches tasks and WSs (BMP-1) and partially and fully loaded WSs for tool sharing (BMP-2). A Multi-Objective Mixed-Integer Programming model is developed for mathematical representation and a Fuzzy Goal Programming approach is applied for optimization purposes. The objectives are to minimize (i) the number of WSs, (ii) cycle time, and (iii) the total collaboration cost. The developed CAF is proven to guarantee the relative extent of balancing of assembly...
Characteristics of the Pupillary Light Reflex in the Alert Rhesus Monkey

This study investigated the static and dynamic characteristics of the pupillary light reflex (PLR) in the alert rhesus monkey. Temporal characteristics of the PLR were investigated with Maxwellian ...
WebNeg: A Genetic Algorithm Based Approach for Service Negotiation

Automated negotiation among Web services not only provides an effective way for the services to bargain for their optimal customizations, but also allows the discovery of overlooked potential solutions. A number of negotiation supporting techniques have been used to find solutions that are acceptable to all parties in the negotiation. However, employing these solutions for automated negotiations among Web services has its own challenges. In this paper, we present the design of a Negotiation Web service that would be used by both the consumers and providers of Web services for conducting negotiations. This negotiation service uses a genetic algorithm(GA) based approach for finding acceptable solutions in multi-party and multi-objective negotiations. In addition to the traditional genetic operators of crossover and mutation, the search is enhanced using anew operator called the Norm. Norm operator represents the cumulative knowledge of all the parties involved in the negotiation process. GA performance with the new Norm operator is compared to the traditional GA, hill-climber and random search techniques. Experimental results indicate the practicality of our approach in facilitating the negotiations involved in a Web service composition process. Specifically, the proposed GA with Norm operator performs better than other approaches.
Percutaneous Ethanol Sclerotherapy for Vascular Malformations in the Head and Neck

Vascular malformations are frequent in the head and neck. In addition to the occasional devastating cosmetic effects of large vascular malformations, some may cause significant functional impairment by encroaching on the eye, tongue, or throat. Large lesions may produce a breakdown of skin or mucosa, with resultant leakage of blood or fluid and possible infection in the lesions and surrounding tissues. Arteriovenous malformations, in particular, may develop massive bleeding spontaneously or with minor trauma. Numerous treatment options are available for treatment of these lesions. Surgical excision is the traditional treatment for vascular malformations in the head and neck. However, some lesions may be difficult to remove when they permeate and envelop normal structures, such as the facial nerve, and a less invasive mode of therapy may prevent damage to these normal structures. Percutaneous sclerotherapy was developed as a minimally invasive treatment modality for these lesions. It has also proved helpful as a preoperative adjunctive treatment of these lesions to reduce surgical blood loss and to delineate the surgical extent of resection.
The Project Approach to Teaching the Capstone Marketing Course

The benefits of teaching the undergraduate capstone marketing management course with a project approach are reviewed, and a detailed example of a project involving building a marketing plan for a c...
Open HW, open design SW, and the VC ecosystem dilemma

The open model for solutions development is quickly extending from software to other technology areas, such as hardware and services. Specifically, just as open source has spawned a revolution in the technical, business, and legal model for software, open hardware will provide a swell of collaborative innovation that will create entirely new markets and provide significant business benefits to the most creative, most reliable, and most adaptable semiconductor, EDA, system-on-chip (SoC) and systems houses. The open-source software stack with Linux as its cornerstone is increasingly the preferred choice for newly venture-funded companies. Open hardware will also change the world of SoC venture investing. While the degree of openness and the business model may vary, SoC products have to be increasingly developed through a collaborative model that helps assemble IP blocks and services from multiple sources. In this paper we describe the open standards model for hardware, chip, and tool innovation, and we argue the a systematic IP valuation methodology will help the success of this environment, in that it will allow each member of the value chain - especially small VC-backed companies - to capture enough value to desire to participate.
Bone graft harvest site options in orthopaedic trauma: A prospective in vivo quantification study

Abstract Purpose We compare autologous bone graft volume from three different harvest sites and the associated pain levels at one and four weeks post-harvest. Methods We prospectively collected a total of 47 consecutive autologous bone grafts in our level I trauma centre between July 2010 and September 2010 – 12 from the anterior iliac crest (AIC), 19 from the olecranon and 16 from the lateral aspect of the proximal tibia. Results The mean ages for each group were 44.8, 41.9 and 42.1, respectively, with no statistically significant differences for age or gender. The mean quantities harvested were, respectively, 6.2 cm3 (cubic centimetres) from the AIC, 5.7 cm3 from the olecranon and 7.3 cm3 from the proximal tibia, with a statistically superior quantity from the proximal tibia when compared to the olecranon and no differences between the other sites. Analysis of the visual analogue scale (VAS) at one week and four weeks post-harvest confirmed statistically that pain was more severe at the AIC site when compared to both the olecranon and proximal tibia sites. There were no infections or neurovascular complications. Conclusions We conclude that the proximal tibia and olecranon are acceptable alternatives to the anterior iliac crest for autologous bone graft and may be preferred when the location of the primary injury permits.
Does Education Cause Spiritual Belief Change

Currently, little is known about the influence classroom learning has on the spiritual beliefs of students. Despite this fact, decisions on educational policy, parental home schooling, and even whether to bring legal actions against school districts, often rest on the assumption that education can induce spiritual belief change. To begin the process of filling the current gap in academic knowledge, this qualitative interview study centers on the personal accounts of educational and religious histories of sixteen participants. The interview data collected suggests that education has a limited role in beginning the process of spiritual belief change, but that education is often relied on once an episode of belief revision begins to occur. Instead, major life events, such as the death of a family member, were often described as being the catalyst for spiritual belief change. The importance of emotion in both education and belief change is discussed.
Prolegomenon to a Structural Human Ecology of Human Well-Being

There is a growing dissatisfaction with using standard measures of affluence, such as gross domestic product, as the sole conceptualization of human well-being. Experiments are underway with alternative metrics of well-being as ways of informing both research and policy. It is thus important to develop a theory of the production of human well-being to parallel theories of economic development and growth. The traditions of work in growth theory, sustainability theory, and household production functions provide the basis for an emerging structural human ecology of human well-being. Structural human ecology emphasizes the use of manufactured, natural, and human resources in producing well-being but is also attentive to the ways social structure shapes the production of well-being. While this approach is promising, several conceptual issues need to be addressed for it to realize its potential. In particular, we need greater clarity regarding measures of well-being and the ethical theory that underpins them and clearer thinking about the relationship between resources and capital.
Thyroid and glucocorticoid hormone regulation of specific protein abundance in cultured human skin fibroblasts.

Effects of 3,3′,5-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) and dexamethasone (Dex) on the abundance of proteins resolvable by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis were examined in cultured human skin fibroblasts. Confluent cultures were incubated in medium supplemented with thyroidectomized calf serum and were treated with either T3 (100 nM), Dex (100 nM) or both hormones for 2 days and then labelled with [3] leucine for 1 day. Most of the > 100 resolvable radiolabelled proteins were unaffected by hormone treatment. However, both hormones could increase or decrease the abundance of a limited number (∼ 10) of specific proteins. Some of these affected proteins appear to be coregulated. This result is consistent with effects demonstrated previously in pituitary adenoma cultures and suggests that both hormones regulate protein metabolism in human fibroblasts. This may be an ideal model for studying the nature of resistance to thyroid and glucocorticoid hormones.
Determining the Paleoclimate and Elevation of the Late Eocene Florissant Flora: Support from the Coexistence Approach

Published estimates on the paleoclimate of the Florissant fossil beds site of Colorado (34.1 Ma) have led to extremely different estimates of paleoelevation. The purpose of this paper is to review ...
"Medical effectiveness" in Canadian and U.S. health policy: the comparative politics of inferential ambiguity.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To compare Canadian and U.S. policymaking to determine how different health care systems may use health services research differently in responding to the common problem of ineffective medical care. DATA SOURCES/STUDY DESIGN/DATA COLLECTION: Not applicable. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The United States and Canada are making surprisingly divergent responses to the problem of medical ineffectiveness: reinforcement of the solidarity principle and deprivatization in Canada, and reinforcement of market competition and privatization in the United States. In doing so, Canadian policymakers overstate the societal applicability and U.S. policymakers the individual applicability of outcomes research findings. CONCLUSIONS: Probabilistic findings of medical effectiveness are fundamentally ambiguous as they relate to action. They therefore invite divergent policy responses from different policy regimes. Health services researchers must not imagine that research findings are sufficient to determine the course of health policy.
Three Attitudes Toward Astrology: Rabelais, Montaigne, and Pontus de Tyard

Burckhardt has remarked that during the Renaissance culture and enlightenment were almost powerless against astrology, kept alive as it was by the ardent imagination of the people, and their passionate wish to penetrate the future. But what he calls the “delusion” of astral influence charmed even the cultured and enlightened, and for rather more complex reasons than he suggests. The modern scholar, in analyzing Renaissance trends, tends to denounce the mind that surrenders to such influences in a rationalist atmosphere. A belief in the occult powers of the stars over Man did not, however, necessarily betray intellectual backwardness, nor was disbelief a proof of great enlightenment. Astrology, though often tolerated by princes of the Church, generally incurred the censure of theologians, and such a fatalistic belief, denying free will and granting powers of revelation to stars named for pagan dieties, appeared to the clerical mind as an incitement to idolatry. In many cases, then, the opponents of the art were conformists, not rebels—nor were they immune to superstition. Even so formidable an enemy of the stars as Pico della Mirandola toyed with magic and the cabala, and often directed his attack at science in general. On the other hand, such a champion of astrology as Mellin de Saint-Gelays argued that Man should remain unhindered in his desire to fathom the mysterious forces of the universe. If man remains earthbound, never lifting eyes or mind heavenward, wrote Mellin, he will sink to a level beneath all earthly creatures instead of becoming their master. For the French poet, prediction by the stars is not the chief purpose of the true astrologer, but a mere accessory of his earthly and heavenly researches. Such a defense of astrology as this stems from a reluctance to forbid any phase of Man's activity in the search for truth, an attitude which, though uncritical, remains consistent with the rationalistic spirit.
Neuzeitliche Tuberkulosebekämpfung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Röntgenreihenuntersuchungen

Wenn ich heute am Weltgesundheitstag 1958 die Ehre habe, vor diesem Gremium hervorragender Fachkollegen uber dieses Thema sprechen zu durfen, so verdanke ich dies einer weise vorausschauenden Programmgestaltung fur diese 64. Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur innere Medizin, welche u.a. damit ein Thema von besonderer Aktualitat zur Diskussion stellt.
Experimental observation of the dark spatial soliton collisional shift

Dark spatial soliton propagation phenomena have been the subject of intense interest recently, in part because of their potential application to optical switching. Previously, we reported observing the excitation of fundamental dark spatial solitons and transversely counter-propagating pairs of nonfundamental dark spatial solitons, excited by odd and even initial conditions, respectively. These observations were made in bulk, single-crystal ZnSe by using 30-ps, 532-nm optical pulses. In this paper, we extend that work to show quantitative agreement between our experimental measurements of the collisional shift and the Zakharov and Shabat 2-D theory. Such collisional shifts will be important in most proposed optical switching applications.
Analysis of Strain Variation in Xanthomonas Campestris Pv. Phaseoli

Xanthomonascampestris pv. phaseoli isolates (105) from different parts of the world were analyzed for strain heterogeneity. Bacteriophage typing with a panel of 11 bacteriophages enabled the division of strains into 14 phage sensitivity groups. All strains were tested for bacteriocin production and sensitivity, with less than 5 percent producing a bacteriocin. Plasmid profiles and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were examined. Results indicate marked heterogeneity among Xanthomonas campestris pv. phaseoli strains, with groupings independent of geographic origin. Knowledge of such diversity should be useful in epidemiology and in plant breeding for resistance of dry beans to this pathogen.
IP Address Consolidation and Reconfiguration in Enterprise Networks

Private IP addressing is commonly used in enterprise networks. Different enterprises or even different locations/business units of the same enterprise may use the same IP address ranges as long while those networks are separate. Consequently, during mergers and acquisitions, or network consolidations within an enterprise, overlapped and conflicted IP segments (subnets) arise frequently. These must be identified and resolved to allow communication between any pair of source and destination hosts in the merged networks. Furthermore, the combined network may unnecessarily use many disparate IP address ranges which increases the size of the routing tables and makes routing integrity verification difficult. In this paper, we identify different conflict scenarios and consider ways of resolving those conflicts to minimize manual changes and to minimize the routing table sizes. The problem turns out to be NP-hard and rather complex, and we devise effective heuristics to solve the problem. By taking some real-world examples, we show that by changing 6-8% of the subnet addresses the outlined method can effectively resolve the subnet conflicts. The scheme also reduces the number of subnet entries by 80-90% by consolidating the subnet entries, which significantly reduces the routing table sizes.
CO 2 Outgassing from Spring Waters

CO2 released from lakes, rivers, and estuaries has been included in estimates of the global CO2 budget; however, CO2 released from carbonate springs has not been routinely included in the estimate of the global CO2 budget. The omission of carbonate spring water as a source of CO2 might result in an underestimation of the overall flux of CO2 from surface waters to the atmosphere. In this study, the flux of CO2 from carbonate springs was calculated and compared to the rate of outgassing of CO2 reported in the literature for other surface water bodies. The calculated fluxes of CO2 from carbonate springs ranged 280–380,000 mmol m−2 d−1. A range that is larger than the range of CO2 fluxes reported for estuaries (100–1900 mmol m−2 d−1), headwater streams and rivers (100–1600 mmol m−2 d−1), freshwater lakes (−300 to 3200 mmol m−2 d−1), and saline lakes (−300 to 9900 mmol m−2 d−1). This work demonstrates that the outgassing of CO2 from springs should be included in the global CO2 budget.
Modeling and Simulation: How Everything Seems to Form and Grow

The ideas in this article resulted from many years of research in engineering, physics, computer, and cognitive sciences, as well as teaching experience in college and secondary schools. While its main purpose is to discuss the universality of modeling and simulation process and its pedagogical use in teaching, there are several conclusions to be drawn.
Fabrication and Testing of Mo-Re Heat Pipes Embedded in Carbon/Carbon

Refractory-composite/heat-pipe-cooled wing and tail leading edges are being considered for use on hypersonic vehicles to limit maximum temperatures to values below material reuse limits and to eliminate the need to actively cool the leading edges. The development of a refractory-composite/heat-pipe-cooled leading edge has evolved from the design stage to the fabrication and testing of heat pipes embedded in carbon/carbon (C/C). A three-foot-long, molybdenum-rhenium heat pipe with a lithium working fluid was fabricated and tested at an operating temperature of 2460 degrees F to verify the individual heat-pipe design. Following the fabrication of this heat pipe, three additional heat pipes were fabricated and embedded in C/C. The C/C heat-pipe test article was successfully tested using quartz lamps in a vacuum chamber in both a horizontal and vertical orientation. Start up and steady state data are presented for the C/C heat pipe test article. Radiography and eddy current evaluations were performed on the test article.
Implementation of pitch detection algorithms for pathological voices

Pitch detection algorithm is important feature in the speech processing algorithms. It can be used for speaker recognition, speech instruction of the hearing impaired ones, vocoder systems, discriminate normal and pathological voice etc. Hence robust and accurate determination of pitch is necessary. The paper involves determining pitch of the speech signal by the pitch detection algorithm — 1) Autocorrelation method, 2) Cepstrum Method, 3) Simplified Inverse Filtering Method 4) Data Reduction Method. A measurement is made on the pitch contours to explore how voice/acoustic parameter like fundamental frequency can determine person's health. The paper attempts to identify and classify the pathological voices from the normal voices using k-NN algorithm. The relative performance comparison is done in terms of accuracy and speed of operation of the above mentioned algorithms.
Analysis of the Vicious Circle of Poverty and Social Exclusion of the Gypsy Woman in the Neighbourhood of Los Rosales, Murcia

Abstract Poverty and social exclusion circle theory, based on the reproduction of causes and effects of poverty and social exclusion, above all, of the gypsy woman ( Caselles, 2008 ), leads us to approach, taking histories of life as starting point, the reality of three gypsy women who belong to the same family and from distinct generations resident in the neighbourhood of Los Rosales, in El Palmar (Murcia), in order to know to what extent the theory is real, and if it was, to what level is presented and how can be fought from quotidian routine. The reality of these women is presented with the aim of knowing and letting know not only the problems of a badly structured neighbourhood, but also the community and individual capacities and strengths of the neighbourhood from the gypsy woman point of view.
Prevalence of pre-high blood pressure and high blood pressure among non-overweight children and adolescents using international blood pressure references in developed regions in China

AbstractBackground: There is a lack of data on the prevalence of pre-high blood pressure (PreHBP) and high blood pressure (HBP), based on recent international blood pressure references, in non-overweight children and adolescents.Aim: To describe the prevalence of PreHBP and HBP in non-overweight children and adolescents in developed regions of China.Subjects and methods: In total, 588 097 non-overweight children and adolescents aged 6–17 years from the National Surveys on Chinese Students’ Constitution and Health in 2015 were included.Results: The prevalence of PreHBP was 13.41% and subjects in urban areas had a higher prevalence of PreHBP (14.14%) than those in rural areas (12.92%). Subjects in regions with a high (13.56%) or moderate (13.61%) socioeconomic status showed a higher prevalence of PreHBP than those in regions with a relatively low socioeconomic status (12.76%). A similar pattern was found for the prevalence of HBP, and the prevalence of HBP was 18.25% for all participants, 20.55% for subject...
Regional quantification of myocardial mechanics in rat using 3D cine DENSE cardiovascular magnetic resonance

Rat models have assumed an increasingly important role in cardiac research. However, a detailed profile of regional cardiac mechanics, such as strains and torsion, is lacking for rats. We hypothesized that healthy rat left ventricles (LVs) exhibit regional differences in cardiac mechanics, which are part of normal function. In this study, images of the LV were obtained with 3D cine displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) cardiovascular magnetic resonance in 10 healthy rats. To evaluate regional cardiac mechanics, the LV was divided into basal, mid-ventricular, and apical regions. The myocardium at the mid-LV was further partitioned into four wall segments (i.e. septal, inferior, lateral, and anterior) and three transmural layers (i.e. sub-endocardium, mid-myocardium, and sub-epicardium). The six Lagrangian strain components (i.e. Err , Ecc , Ell , Ecl , Erl , and Ecr ) were computed from the 3D displacement field and averaged within each region of interest. Torsion was quantified using the circumferential-longitudinal shear angle. While peak systolic Ecl differed between the mid-ventricle and apex, the other five components of peak systolic strain were similar across the base, mid-ventricle, and apex. In the mid-LV myocardium, Ecc decreased gradually from the sub-endocardial to the sub-epicardial layer. Ell demonstrated significant differences between the four wall segments, with the largest magnitude in the inferior segment. Err was uniform among the four wall segments. Ecl varied along the transmural direction and among wall segments, whereas Erl differed only among the wall segments. Erc was not associated with significant variations. Torsion also varied along the transmural direction and among wall segments. These results provide fundamental insights into the regional contractile function of healthy rat hearts, and form the foundation for future studies on regional changes induced by disease or treatments.
Managing Software Project in a Paradigm Transition Environment 1

Abstract With the increasing interest in applying object oriented technology, more and more software developers are shifting from the procedural to the object oriented paradigm. This paper presents an incremental build framework to software development during the paradigm transition. The incremental build model has been found to be a practical and effective approach in managing software projects. This paper also summarizes the experience and lessons learned in an industrial application of the incremental build framework. The incremental build framework also proves to be effective in facilitating phased programming paradigm transition.
Emu: engagement modeling for user studies

Mobile technologies that drive just-in-time ecological momentary assessments and interventions provide an unprecedented view into user behaviors and opportunities to manage chronic conditions. The success of these methods rely on engaging the user at the appropriate moment, so as to maximize questionnaire and task completion rates. However, mobile operating systems provide little support to precisely specify the contextual conditions in which to notify and engage the user, and study designers often lack the expertise to build context-aware software themselves. To address this problem, we have developed Emu, a framework that eases the development of context-aware study applications by providing a concise and powerful interface for specifying temporal- and contextual-constraints for task notifications. In this paper we present the design of the Emu API and demonstrate its use in capturing a range of scenarios common to smartphone-based study applications.
Coblation versus microdebrider in pediatric adenoidectomy.

Abstract Objective To compare and contrast coblation and microdebrider with touch-up electrocautery (ME) for adenoidectomy in children. Methods Patients Results 50 patients were enrolled in the coblation group and 51 were enrolled in the ME group. There was no significant difference in mean age between the coblation (4.96 years) and ME groups (4.58 years) (p = 0.525). The mean time (in minutes) for coblation (5.50) was significantly lower than ME (9.47) when controlling for the confounder: surgical site exposure (p Conclusion In our study we found that coblation demonstrated significantly less intraoperative time and less blood loss, as well as a shorter duration of postoperative pain, when compared to ME for adenoidectomy.
Chemical Burns of the Eye: The Role of Retinal Injury and New Therapeutic Possibilities.

Purpose To propose a new treatment paradigm for chemical burns to the eye - in the acute and chronic phases. Methods Recent laboratory and clinical data on the biology and treatment of chemical burns are analyzed. Results Corneal blindness from chemical burns can now be successfully treated with a keratoprosthesis, on immediate and intermediate bases. Long term outcomes, however, are hampered by early retinal damage causing glaucoma. New data suggest that rapid diffusion of inflammatory cytokines posteriorly (TNF-α, etc) can severely damage the ganglion cells. Prompt anti-TNF-α treatment is markedly neuroprotective. Long term profound reduction of the intraocular pressure is also vital. Conclusion A new regimen, in addition to standard treatment, for severe chemical burns is proposed. This involves tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) inhibition promptly after the accident (primarily for retinal neuroprotection), prophylactic maximal lowering of the intraocular pressure (starting immediately), and keratoprosthesis implantation in a later quiet state.
Photocatalytic hydrogen production: A solar energy conversion alternative?

Abstract Since the beginning of earth, ultra-violet rays from the sun have been splitting water molecules in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, producing hydrogen and oxygen. At the same time, photosynthesis has been sustaining life on earth by utilizing the longer wavelengths of sunlight to split carbon and water molecules forming carbohydrates and oxygen. Attempts are being made to imitate these processes for the purpose of harnessing solar energy for man's use. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of photolysis of water by sunlight with consequent energy storage in the molecular bonds of hydrogen and oxygen. The photocatalytic solar energy conversion methods reviewed are classified according to the photosensitizer type. That includes catalysts such as compound salts, compound semi-conductor crystals and photosynthetic dyes. An assessment of these methods concludes that photolysis of water as a solar energy conversion process does not seem feasible at present or for the immediate future. On the other hand, efficiency estimates indicate that with research emphasis this unconventional energy conversion method may prove to be a long-term alternative in harnessing solar energy for man's use.
Cost and cost-effectiveness studies in urologic oncology using large administrative databases

Abstract Objective Urologic cancers are not only among the most common types of cancers, but also among the most expensive cancers to treat in the United States. This study aimed to review the use of CEAs and other cost analyses in urologic oncology using large databases to better understand the value of management strategies of these cancers. Methods A literature review on CEAs and other cost analyses in urologic oncology using large databases. Results The options for and costs of diagnosing, treating, and following patients with urologic cancers can be expected to rise in the coming years. There are numerous opportunities in each urologic cancer to use CEAs to both lower costs and provide high-quality services. Improved cancer care must balance the integration of novelty with ensuring reasonable costs to patients and the health care system. Conclusion With the increasing focus cost containment, appreciating the value of competing strategies in caring for our patients is pivotal. Leveraging methods such as CEAs and harnessing large databases may help evaluate the merit of established or emerging strategies.
Mechanisms of ventricular tachycardias in experimental animal models of ischemic heart disease

Since 1970 there has been a progressive accumulation of evidence in experimental animal models [1–7] and in man [8–11] of the important role of the mechanism of reentry in the initiation and maintenance of malignant ventricular tachycardias. In particular, there has been much interest in the electrophysiological properties of the substrate for sustained ventricular tachycardia occurring in the context of myocardial ischemia and infarction.
A pilot randomized study evaluating nivolumab (nivo) or nivo + bevacizumab (bev) or nivo + ipilimumab (ipi) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (MRCC) eligible for cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN), metastasectomy (MS) or post-treatment biopsy (Bx).

4501Background: Cytoreductive surgery (CS) including cytoreductive nephrectomy and metastasectomy provides clinical benefits to patients with MRCC. However, CS has not been evaluated in the setting...
Assessment of endocrine disruptors: approaches, issues, and uncertainties.

This paper focuses on the quantitative risk assessment of environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) to human health. An EDC can be defined as an exogenous agent that interferes with the normal endocrine signaling and communication mechanisms. The normal feedback control system of natural hormones is responsible for regulatory mechanisms that maintain homeostasis. Hormones deliver their message to target cells by interacting with receptors, initiating signal transduction, gene transcription, and mRNA translation, and ultimately leading to cellular response. Because effects of EDCs include diverse disease endpoints such as cancer, reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity, immune system effects, acute toxicity, and neurotoxicity, risk assessment of EDCs is necessarily endpoint-specific. From the quantitative viewpoint, it is best to model the normal endocrinology and then extend the model to include impacts attributable to a particular exogenous agent. A practical approach to such a complex process is to break the spectrum of biochemical and biological events into modular components: e.g., pharmacokinetics, biochemical/molecular (including cellular signaling), and cellular response/dynamics. A flexible mathematical procedure that is capable of modeling each of these components is suggested. However, a real biologically based model is not yet feasible because of a lack of necessary biological information. A challenge to risk assessors is how to develop a hybrid risk assessment approach that can use the limited biological information available for a specific agent and avoid relying on a default approach that incorporates no biological information. The USEPA's default approach is to derive benchmark dose (BMD) or benchmark concentration (BMC) on the basis of a predetermined empirical dose-response model. BMD (or BMC) is the highest dose (or concentration and duration) of exposure that is considered unlikely to cause adverse effects in a human population, including sensitive subgroups. Data from two studies are used to stimulate discussion of issues and the needs for new quantitative approaches and data for assessing endocrine disruptors. Statistical concepts about threshold effect and the U-shaped dose-response relationship are also discussed. This report is a condensed version of the one to be published in the monograph of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Endocrine Disrupters and Carcinogenesis Risk Assessment" held May 8-12, 2001, in Bialystok, Poland.