cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sodium chloride sensitivity and electrochemical effects in a Lorenzinian ampulla.

IN the course of experiments on effects of polarizing currents on Lorenzinian ampullae, in which current pulses were applied to the receptor with electrodes filled with sodium chloride, we found accidentally that the receptor is sensitive to very small amounts of sodium and chlorine ions. This prompted us to examine the chemosensitivity of the ampulla.
Low-threshold ZnO random lasing in a homojunction diode with embedded double heterostructure

An electrically pumped random laser diode was fabricated with a MgZnO/ZnO/MgZnO double heterostructure embedded in a ZnO pn junction. Gain can be achieved at very low-threshold current owing to exciton processes. Light closed loops are formed by random multiple scattering on vertical column boundaries in the thin film. The tilted and rough mesa edge planes serve as refraction mirrors, giving rise to surface emission.
Extracellular matrix degradation by metalloproteinases and central nervous system diseases.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a gene family of neutral proteases involved in normal and pathological processes in the central nervous system (CNS). Normally released into the extracellular space, MMPs break down the extracellular matrix (ECM) to allow cell growth and to facilitate remodeling. Proteolysis becomes pathological when the normal balance between the proteases and their inhibitors, tissue inhibitors to metalloproteinases (TIMPs), is lost. Cancer cells secrete neutral proteases to facilitate spread through the ECM. MMPs increase capillary permeability, and they have been implicated in demyelination. Neurological diseases, such as brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre, ischemia, Alzheimer's disease, and infections, lead to an increase in the matrix-degrading proteases. Two classes of neutral proteases have been extensively studied, namely the MMPs and the plasminogen activators (PAs), which act in concert to attack the ECM. After proteolytic injury occurs, the process of ECM remodeling begins, which can lead to fibrosis of blood vessels and gliosis. TIMPs are increased after the acute injury and may add to the fibrotic buildup of ECM components. Thus, an imbalance in proteolytic activity either during the acute injury or in recovery may aggravate the underlying disease process. Agents that affect the proteolytic process at any of the regulating sites are potentially useful in therapy.
Familial transmission of substance dependence: alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and habitual smoking: a report from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism.

Background Alcoholism and substance dependence frequently co-occur. Accordingly, we evaluated the familial transmission of alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine dependence and habitual smoking in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. Methods Subjects (n=1212) who met criteria for both DSM-III-R alcohol dependence and Feighner definite alcoholism and their siblings (n=2755) were recruited for study. A comparison sample was also recruited (probands, n=217; siblings, n=254). Subjects were interviewed with the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism. The familial aggregation of drug dependence and habitual smoking in siblings of alcohol-dependent and non–alcohol-dependent probands was measured by means of the Cox proportional hazards model. Results Rates of alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine dependence and habitual smoking were increased in siblings of alcohol-dependent probands compared with siblings of controls. For siblings of alcohol-dependent probands, 49.3% to 50.1% of brothers and 22.4% to 25.0% of sisters were alcohol dependent (lifetime diagnosis), but this elevated risk was not further increased by comorbid substance dependence in probands. Siblings of marijuana-dependent probands had an elevated risk of developing marijuana dependence (relative risk [RR], 1.78) and siblings of cocaine-dependent probands had an elevated risk of developing cocaine dependence (RR, 1.71). There was a similar finding for habitual smoking (RR, 1.77 in siblings of habitual-smoking probands). Conclusions Alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine dependence and habitual smoking are all familial, and there is evidence of both common and specific addictive factors transmitted in families. This specificity suggests independent causative factors in the development of each type of substance dependence.
Gelling properties of sepiolite versus montmorillonite

Abstract The gelling properties of sepiolites from four different sources are compared with a Na-montmorillonite from Wyoming. The comparison was made on the basis of ease of gel preparation, gel viscosity and yield stress, and the modulus of rupture of slip cast bars made with kaolinite for the purpose of demonstrating that sepiolite could be used as a replacement for montmorillonite in ceramic bodies. Aqueous sepiolite gels (2 wt.% clay) were more quickly and easily prepared and had a greater viscosity and yield stress than a comparable montmorillonite gel. Also, the structure of critical-point dried sepiolite gels was examined by scanning electron microscopy and was found to be composed of interconnecting fibers in three dimensions. Slip cast bars made with sepiolite-kaolinite were weaker than those made with montmorillonite-kaolinite, but at optimum casting conditions the modulus of rupture of the sepiolite-kaolinite bars was near that of the montmorillonite-kaolinite bars.
Solubility near the solvent's critical point

Abstract The thermodynamic properties of dilute solutions near the critical point of the solvent — such as phase equilibria, critical lines, partial molar properties, Henry constants, K factors, and solubility — are all shown to be determined by the critical value of one thermodynamic derivative, (ϖP/ϖχ)V,Tc, which we call the Krichevskii parameter. This parameter also governs the linear increase of In χx with density in supercritical solvents. We relate the derivative to direct correlation function integrals. We make some remarks about the nature of the divergence of total correlation function integrals. Contrary to statements we made in the literature, the divergence of the partial molar volume of the solute does not lead to an additional increase of solubility in dilute supercritical solutions, as we will show here.
Analysis of jet flames and unignited jets from unintended releases of hydrogen

Abstract A combined experimental and modeling program is being carried out at Sandia National Laboratories to characterize and predict the behavior of unintended hydrogen releases. In the case where the hydrogen leak remains unignited, knowledge of the concentration field and flammability envelope is an issue of importance in determining consequence distances for the safe use of hydrogen. In the case where a high-pressure leak of hydrogen is ignited, a classic turbulent jet flame forms. Knowledge of the flame length and thermal radiation heat flux distribution is important to safety. Depending on the effective diameter of the leak and the tank source pressure, free jet flames can be extensive in length and pose significant radiation and impingement hazard, resulting in consequence distances that are unacceptably large. One possible mitigation strategy to potentially reduce the exposure to jet flames is to incorporate barriers around hydrogen storage equipment. The reasoning is that walls will reduce the extent of unacceptable consequences due to jet releases resulting from accidents involving high-pressure equipment. While reducing the jet extent, the walls may introduce other hazards if not configured properly. The goal of this work is to provide guidance on configuration and placement of these walls to minimize overall hazards using a quantitative risk assessment approach. The program includes detailed CFD calculations of jet flames and unignited jets to predict how hydrogen leaks and jet flames interact with barriers, complemented by an experimental validation program that considers the interaction of jet flames and unignited jets with barriers. As a first step in this work on barrier release interaction the Sandia CFD model has been validated by computing the concentration decay of unignited turbulent free jets and comparing the results with the classic concentration decay laws for turbulent free jets taken from experimental data. Computations for turbulent hydrogen free jet flames are also presented and compared with experimental data for the temperature profile in lab-scale turbulent free hydrogen jet flames. Finally, preliminary results of calculations of hydrogen jet flame impingement on barriers are presented and compared with images of large-scale hydrogen jet flame deflection from barrier wall experimental tests.
Non-Standard Log-Linear Models for Orthogonal Prediction Configural Frequency Analysis†

The paper discusses LAUTSCH, LIENERT. and VON EYE'S (1992) orthogonal prediction configural frequency analysis (PCFA). Problems with this approach result from a lack of rules for specification of orthogonal comparisons, and because it is not obvious which comparisons are orthogonal. As an alternative it is proposed estimating non-standard log-linear models. These models specify orthogonal PCFA comparisons via orthogonal effect coding variables. This approach kadvantageous in that it allows researchers to simultaneously test orthogonal comparisons and PCFA parameter estimates.
Iron chelation: an update.

Purpose of reviewThis review provides an update on advances in the area of iron chelation therapy, including new indications and uses of currently available agents, and preliminary data on potential new agents in development.Recent findingsTwo new oral agents, deferasirox and deferiprone, have becom
Hydrogenated vegetable oils as candle wax

Partially hydrogenated soybean oil, referred to as soywax, is gaining attention as a renewable and biodegradable alternative to paraffin wax for use in candles. However, current soywax candles suffer from several problems, especially poor melting and solidification properties. Fully hydrogenated soybean oil exhibits improved melting properties but owing to its fragile texture, it is not yet acceptable in most candle applications. In the present work, KLXTM (a wax composed of fractionated hydrogenated soy and cottonseed oils) was used as a base material for candles, and the effects of additives such as hydrogenated palm oil (HPO), FFA, and paraffin on the textural and combustion properties were evaluated. Melting and solidification profiles of KLX were better than those of fully hydrogenated soy oil. Adding FFA improved the solidification properties of KLX candles. Adding paraffin improved the compressibility of the wax, while HPO addition decreased hardness and compressibility. Changing the candle diameter and/or wick size along with changing the wax composition resulted in candles with desirable quality attributes.
Ternary diffusion formulation for diffusiophoresis

A ternary diffusion formulation for diffusiophoresis, the migration of a particle in a solute gradient, is suggested. The formulation, derived from irr contributions in the D12 “cross-term” diffusivity. The ternary diffusion formulation allows both measurement of the magnitude of diffusioph transport situation. Measured coefficients of diffusiophoresis agree reasonably well with previous electrohydrodynamic theories.
Inhibition of neutrophil-mediated cytotoxicity by exogenous adenosine 5′-triphosphate

Human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) obtained from normal donors kill human tumor cells in vitro. However, if adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) is added to the neutrophil tumor cell suspensions in micromolar concentrations (10-100 microM), there is marked inhibition of neutrophil-mediated cytotoxicity. The inhibitory activity resulted from an effect of ATP on both the effector cells as well as the target cells. When either the effector cells or target cells were preincubated with ATP they became resistant to the effects of the cytotoxic neutrophils. In addition, inhibitory activity was specific to ATP; as it was not demonstrated with GTP, UTP, or CTP. However, when the other adenosine compounds (AMP and ADP) were tested, both AMP and ADP had some inhibitory activity. Cytotoxicity was also inhibited when 100 microM of ATP were added to the neutrophil monolayers either at the time of addition of the tumor cells or 15-60 min after addition of the tumor cells whereas no inhibition of cytotoxicity occurred when ATP was added more than 1 hr after the initiation of the cytotoxic reaction.
Some disconjugacy criteria for self-adjoint linear differential equations

1. In this paper we obtain disconjugacy criteria for 2nth-order selfadjoint scalar differential equations by methods based on the relationship which exists between disconjugacy of self-adjoint equations and certain features of eigenvalue problems. This relationship was first mentioned and used in [8] to study the disconjugacy of second-order equations. Its use was later extended to the particular case of the fourth-order equation [3] and to second-order vector-matrix equations [12]. In Section 2 of the present paper, this relationship is established for the equations with which we are concerned, and it is then used in Section 3 in conjunction with the classical minimum properties of eigenvalues to obtain disconjugacy criteria involving arbitrary functions (of certain classes). By appropriate choice of these functions these criteria lead to explicit disconjugacy conditions. Although conditions in the literature [4, 5, IO, 1 I] are similar to some of these, the present conditions are new results or strengthened versions of known results. It is of interest to note that, in spite of the equivalence of the scalar boundary value problems considered in this paper to a system of two first-order matrix-matrix equations [4], the criteria which we shall obtain are not special cases of results in [I21 concerning disconjugacy problems for second-order vector-matrix differential equations. Indeed, the transformation of such scalar systems into vector-matrix form leads to boundary value problems which are quite different from those considered in [12].
Posttreatment assessment of response using FDG-PET/CT for patients treated with definitive radiation therapy for head and neck cancers

Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate coregistered [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)–positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for the detection of persistent disease after definitive radiation therapy in head and neck cancer. Methods and Materials: Posttreatment FDG-PET/CT was performed in 28 patients on average 8 weeks (range, 4 to 15.7 weeks) after completing definitive radiation therapy. FDG-PET/CT was visually analyzed for the entire patient group and at two time points (4–8 and >8 weeks) after treatment. The contrast-enhanced CT portion of PET/CT was separately analyzed blinded to the results of coregistered FDG-PET/CT and classified as negative or positive for residual locoregional disease. Pathologic findings and clinical follow-up served as the reference standard. Results: Follow-up data were available for all 28 patients (median, 17.6 months). Regarding the detection of residual disease, the overall sensitivity and specificity of FDG-PET/CT was 76.9% and 93.3%, respectively, compared with 92.3% and 46.7% for contrast-enhanced CT. The accuracy of FDG-PET/CT was 85.7%, compared with 67.9% for CT alone. All false-negative (n = 3) and false-positive (n = 1) FDG-PET/CT results occurred between 4 and 8 weeks after treatment. At 8 weeks or later after treatment, the specificity of CT was 28%, compared with 100% for FDG-PET/CT. Conclusions: The metabolic-anatomic information from coregistered FDG-PET/CT provided the most accurate assessment for treatment response when performed later than 8 weeks after the conclusion of radiation therapy. FDG-PET/CT excelled by a higher specificity and overall diagnostic performance than CT imaging alone. These results support a potential clinical role of FDG-PET/CT in the early assessment of therapy response after definitive radiation therapy.
Comment on "Contributions of anthropogenic and natural forcing to recent tropopause height changes".

Santer et al. ([ 1 ][1]) concluded that an observed increase in tropopause height from 1979 to 1999 resulted, in part, from tropospheric warming due to increased greenhouse gases. They further showed that the largest increases in tropopause height occurred towards the poles, particularly in the
The Effect of a Woman's Significant Other on her Breasifeeding Decision

The infant feeding preferences of significant others have been shown to influence a pregnant woman's breastfeeding decision. Many researchers and policy makers are calling for the inclusion of a woman's significant other in the counseling and education of pregnant women regarding breastfeeding. This study reports on the impact of the significant other's infant feeding preferences and beliefs on a woman's intention to breastfeed, her initiation and successful initiation (longer than seven days) of breastfeeding. "Significant other" was defined as the person whom the pregnant woman reported as the one whose opinion "mattered the most to her" regarding feeding her infant. A randomly selected sub-sample of 133 women and their significant others was chosen from a larger infant feeding study. This sub-sample was heterogeneous with respect to age, education, and marital status. The women were interviewed during their third trimester of pregnancy and again at 7-10 days postpartum. Their significant others (71 per...
Telomere shortening does not occur during postmaturational aging in situ in normal human oral fibroblasts

Abstract We investigated whether the telomere length, i.e. mean terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length, decreases during in situ aging in normal human oral fibroblasts (NHOF). For this purpose, NHOF cultures were established from 50 different donors and tested after 14 population doublings (PD) when the cells were replicating exponentially. Telomere-specific Southern blotting and digital quantitation showed that the mean (±standard error (S.E.)) TRF length of all tested cultures was 7.72±0.17 kbps. The plot of TRF mean length versus donor age showed high variability in individual length with an apparent average decline of −7.8 bp per year of age, which was not statistically significant (r=0.11; P>0.1). These data indicate that telomere shortening does not occur during donor aging in situ, and therefore, is not physiologically relevant for NHOF.
Food chain chaos due to junction-fold point.

Consideration is given to a basic food chain model satisfying the trophic time diversification hypothesis which translates the model into a singularly perturbed system of three time scales. It is demonstrated that in some realistic system parameter region, the model has a unimodal or logistic-like Poincare return map when the singular parameter for the fastest variable is at the limiting value 0. It is also demonstrated that the unimodal map goes through a sequence of period-doubling bifurcations to chaos. The mechanism for the creation of the unimodal criticality is due to the existence of a junction-fold point [B. Deng, J. Math. Biol. 38, 21–78 (1999)]. The fact that junction-fold points are structurally stable and the limiting structures persist gives us a rigorous but dynamical explanation as to why basic food chain dynamics can be chaotic.
Commercial, Legal, and Medical Spanish

Many foreign language departments have revised their offerings to include options to literature courses. This article presents a non-literary language course at the advanced level. The one-quarter course was successful because it was practical and useful to the students. It was suggested that the course be expanded to several quarters or that a separate course be given on each topic. The basic idea—to teach content courses in the foreign language being studied—can be adapted to high school classes.
The four-peg Tower of Hanoi puzzle

We discuss a version of the Tower of Hanoi puzzle in which there are four pegs rather than three. The fourpeg puzzle provides a rich source of exercises (samples of which are included) for students after the familiar three-peg version has been presented. We give an algorithm that solves the four-peg puzzle in the claimed minimum number of moves (see [2, 4]). Our algorithm solves the four-peg puzzle in O-(4√n) moves whereas the best algorithm for the three-peg puzzle requires 2n - 1 moves. As far as we know, the minimum number of moves required to solve the four-peg puzzle is an open question.
Modeling soil erosion on steep sagebrush rangeland before and after prescribed fire

Fire in sagebrush rangelands significantly alters canopy cover, ground cover, and soil properties which influence runoff and erosion processes. Runoff can be generated more quickly and in larger volume following fire resulting in increased risk of severe erosion and downstream flooding. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model was developed to predict erosion on cropland, forest, and rangeland. WEPP is a tool that has potential to model the effect of fire on hillslope hydrological processes and help managers address erosion and runoff risks following fire. Experimental results on a steep (35 to 50% slope) sagebrush site suggest that rill erosion is the dominant erosion process following fire and the WEPP parameterization equations related to the rill erosion process need improvements. Rill detachment estimates could be improved by modifying regression-estimated values of rill erodibility. Also, the interactions of rill width and surface roughness on soil shear stress estimates may also need to be modified. In this paper we report the effects of prescribed fire on runoff, soil erosion, and rill hydraulics and compare WEPP estimated erosion for several modeling options with measured erosion. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Cytotoxic T cell targeting of TRP-2 sensitizes human malignant glioma to chemotherapy

Tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-2 is not only expressed on glioma cells, but is naturally processed and presented by their surface MHC molecules and is recognized by TRP-2-specific cytotoxic T cells. After active immunotherapy, we detected TRP-2-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity in patients' peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Tumor cells from postvaccination resections showed significantly lower TRP-2 expression and higher sensitivity to carboplatin and temozolomide than those autologous cell lines from prevaccination resections in two patients who demonstrated CTL response to TRP-2. One of two patients underwent treatment with temozolomide after recurrence and responded dramatically. TRP-2-transfected cell line (TRP-2-U373) resulted in significant drug resistance to carboplatin and temozolomide compared to wild-type U-373 (W-U373). There was no significant difference, however, in the mRNA expression of other common drug resistance related proteins, such as BCRP-1, MGMT, MDR-1, MRP-1 and MRP-3, after TRP-2 transfection. TRP-2-U373 tumor cells were immunoselected by a TRP-2-specific CTL line. The immunoselected cells (IS-TRP-2-U373) demonstrated significantly increased sensitivity to carboplatin and temozolomide compared to TRP-2-U373. For the first time, we provide evidence that immunological targeting of tumor-associated antigen TRP-2 significantly increases sensitivity to chemotherapy.
Dielectric Enhancement of the Resistivity of n-Type Degenerately Doped Germanium at Low Temperature

By employing Kohler's principle, an upper bound to the electrical resistivity has been calculated for unstressed $n$-type degenerately doped germanium at $T=0$ \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, assuming Brooks-Herring scattering. The observed resistivity, however, is found to be 5-7 times larger than the theoretical estimate. We find that the usual corrections to Brooks-Herring scattering for semiconductors originally discussed by Moore and Ehrenreich for isotropic bands are not sufficient to account for this discrepancy. Instead, we show that the use of dielectric screening instead of that due to Thomas-Fermi leads to a significant decrease in the intervalley contribution to the screening in many-valley semiconductors with highly anisotropic band structure. When this effect is taken into consideration, we find good agreement between theory and experiment for the resistivity of arsenic-doped germanium.
Peak aortic blood acceleration reflects the extent of left ventricular ischemic mass at risk

Abstract Peak aortic blood velocity (Vel), peak acceleration (Acc), stroke volume (SV), and left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) have been used as noninvasive indicators of global LV performance. The purpose of this study was to determine which of these indices of LV performance relates best to the extent of LV ischemic mass at risk. Studies were performed in 24 open-chest anesthetized dogs. Acute ischemia was produced by occlusion of various levels of the left anterior descending and circumflex coronary arteries. LV ischemic mass, measured as a percent of total LV mass, was delineated by injection of Evans blue dye into the nonischemic zone. Acc and Vel were measured with continuous-wave Doppler ultrasound. EF was measured anglographically. All parameters were measured during a control period and within 6 minutes of coronary occlusion. The percent change during ischemia of each parameter relative to control (%Δ) was calculated. The correlation coefficient between the percent ischemic mass at risk and %Δ Acc was 0.88. It was 0.84 for %Δ EF, 0.77 for %Δ Vel, and 0.17 for %Δ SV. These results indicate that among the various global indices of LV performance that have been used noninvasively, Acc correlates most closely with the extent of LV ischemic mass at risk.
Determining Near-Optimal Policies for Markov Renewal Decision Processes

Two types of recurrence equations arise in finite-horizon Markov renewal decision processes. One gives expected return when the goal is to maximize return per transition (transition optimal); the other gives expected return when the goal is to maximize return per unit time (time optimal). Previous work [1]-[3] has shown how the transition-optimal equations can solve the infinite-horizon problem by providing near-optimal policies and bounds on the gains of these policies and the optimal policies. This correspondence obtains analogous results with the time-optimal equations.
An Approach to Optimal Threshold Selection on a Sequence of Two-Dimensional Echocardiographic Images

In our laboratory, thresholding has been found to have a remarkable effect on the detection of moving boundaries in two-dimensional echocardiographic images (2D echo). In this note, a technique for selection of an optimum threshold for a sequence of 2D echo frames by means of counting the maximum number of moving points in two consecutive frames is explored. This threshold is applied to the sequence of images to convert them to binary form prior to dynamic scene analysis. Experimental results of threshold images are shown with 2D echos obtained from two patients.
Multiscale diffusion Monte Carlo simulation of epitaxial growth

We present an accelerated kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulation algorithm for molecular beam epitaxial growth during step flow. The acceleration is achieved by allowing adatoms far from the step edges to execute larger jumps with correspondingly reduced rates. The computational complexities of a number of different algorithmic implementations are analyzed and compared. The scaling of the accelerated algorithms are verified by test runs performed on a one-dimensional model. Both performance and accuracy are evaluated. One to two orders of magnitude increases of efficiency are achieved while preserving physical accuracy.
Forming Limit and Fracture Mode of Microscale Laser Dynamic Forming

The microscale laser dynamic forming (LDF) process is a high strain rate microfabrication technique, which uses a pulse laser to generate high pressure by vaporizing and ionizing an ablative coating, and thus produces complex 3D microstructures in thin foils. One of the most important features of this technique is ultrahigh strain rate (typically 10 6―7 s ―1 ), which is theoretically favorable for increasing formability. However, due to the lack of measurement techniques in microscale and submicroscale, the formability of workpieces in LDF is hardly studied. In this article, experiments were carried out on aluminum foils to study the forming limits and fracture of thin films in LDF. The deformation depth was measured by an optical profilometer and the formed feature was observed using a focused ion beam and a scanning electron microscope. Meanwhile, a finite element model based on a modified Johnson―Cook constitutive model and a Johnson― Cook failure model was developed to simulate the mechanical and fracture behaviors of materials in LDF. Experimental results were used to verify the model. The verified model was used to predict the forming limit diagram of aluminum foil in LDF. The forming limit diagrams show a significant increase in formability compared with other metal forming processes.
Breast Metastasis from Non-Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma

Development of metastasis to the breast from lung cancer is very rare and the prognosis for such patients is poor. We present a patient who had metastasis to breast from non-small-cell lung cancer. It is important to distinguish a primary breast cancer from metastasis to the breast, as the therapy offered would be markedly different, with considerably different outcomes.
Medical and Surgical Management of the Fetus at Risk for Central Nervous System Dysfunction

This review of antenatal treatment approaches includes discussion of (1) the antenatal treatment of erythroblastosis fetalis by intrauterine transfusion in human fetuses; (2) the management of respiratory distress syndrome through maternal administration of corticosteroids in humans, and by pulmonary conditioning in fetal lambs; (3) maternal and fetal nutritional supplementation therapy to prevent and treat intrauterine growth retardation; (4) antenatal fetal shunting for hydrocephalus in animals and humans; and (5) preliminary animal work on in utero treatment of bony defects. Where information is available, the discussions include historical information on the techniques, technological considerations, survival rates and data on the outcome of survivors. The review concludes with a brief discussion of some of the ongoing problems associated with intrauterine therapy, its ethical dilemmas, and its potential benefits, as contrasted with postnatal treatment.
The modeling and analysis of rotten kids

Becker's “Rotten Kid Theorem” has recently been examined in the context of public good contributions. We clarify several misconceptions that appear in the literature and establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of welfare maximizing sequential equilibria. Our results are presented without the imposition of convexity, differentiability, or even continuity constraints on the preferences of decision-makers.
Upper-extremity and mobility subdomains from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) adult physical functioning item bank.

Objective: To create upper-extremity and mobility subdomain scores from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) physical functioning adult item bank. Design: Expert reviews were used to identify upper-extremity and mobility items from the PROMIS item bank. Psychometric analyses were conducted to assess empirical support for scoring upper-extremity and mobility subdomains. Setting: Data were collected from the U.S. general population and multiple disease groups via self-administered surveys. Participants: The sample (NZ21,773) included 21,133 English-speaking adults who participated in the PROMIS wave 1 data collection and 640 Spanish-speaking Latino adults recruited separately. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: We used English- and Spanish-language data and existing PROMIS item parameters for the physical functioning item bank to estimate upper-extremity and mobility scores. In addition, we fit graded response models to calibrate the upper-extremity items and mobility items separately, compare separate to combined calibrations, and produce subdomain scores. Results: After eliminating items because of local dependency, 16 items remained to assess upper extremity and 17 items to assess mobility. The estimated correlation between upper extremity and mobility was .59 using existing PROMIS physical functioning item parameters (rZ.60 using parameters calibrated separately for upper-extremity and mobility items). Conclusions: Upper-extremity and mobility subdomains shared about 35% of the variance in common, and produced comparable scores whether calibrated separately or together. The identification of the subset of items tapping these 2 aspects of physical functioning and scored using the existing PROMIS parameters provides the option of scoring these subdomains in addition to the overall physical functioning score. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2013;94:2291-6 a 2013 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
A novel flexible on-die decoupling scheme using package interconnects

Power supply noise induced jitter (PSIJ) is one of the critical bottlenecks for I/O signal performance. Good power distribution network (PDN) is a must for high-end system designs. Due to design limitation in die and package, providing sufficient on-die capacitor (ODC) or on-package capacitor (OPD) is a very challenging task. This paper presents a novel on-die decoupling scheme which places decoupling caps in core area and connects to I/O area by package interconnects. The presented method is applied to DDR interface in med-end FPGA devices. Excellent SSN improvement is achieved by implementing this scheme.
Secure control of transit internetwork traffic

Abstract When independent administrative domains (ADs) interconnect their networks, usage control mechanisms are needed to preserve the autonomy of each AD. Neither traditional network access control methods nor current internetwork routing protocols are well-suited to the enforcement of network usage policies. Consequently, new policy sensitive inter-domain routing protocols are under development. While these protocols are designed to enforce network policies, they raise new security-related concerns. This paper explores the design of transit control mechanisms for sensitive environments and investigates the performance overhead of the proposed mechanisms. After evaluating the application of stub-network access control and policy routing techniques, we describe and evaluate a secure policy routing protocol for transit ADs.
Pneumomediastinum in heroin and marijuana users

During the past three years, more than 500 patients were seen with mediastinal or cervical emphysema or both the Ben Taub General Hospital Emergency Center. In all but 15 there was a history of recent trauma or antecedent respiratory conditions with repeated sustained intrabronchial pressure, such as asthma. These 15 patients had a common history of repeated sustained Valsalva's maneuvers during marijuana smoking or during intravenous injections of heroin. The results of esophagography, bronchoscopy, and esophagoscopy were normal in these 15 patients. Conservative management consisted of close observation and re-evaluation for possible causes of secondary pneumomediastinum. All recovered without sequelae with resolution of the pneumomediastinum within 2 to 5 days. Radiographic and physical findings in primary pneumomediastinum resulting from prolonged intraalveolar hyperpressure are similar to those seen in patients with trauma or spontaneous rupture of the esophagus.
Degradation of vinylidene chloride/methyl acrylate copolymers in the presence of amines '

Abstract Because of the prominence of vinylidene chloride/methyl acrylate copolymers in barrier plastic packing applications the degradation of these materials continues to be the focus of much interest. The prominent degradation process at moderate temperatures (less than 200°C) is dehydrochlorination. This reaction is a typical radical chain process with distinct initiation, propagation and termination phases. A principal defect structure responsible for the initiation of degradation is unsaturation along the polymer backbone. Although most stabilization packages for these polymers contain basic components to absorb hydrogen chloride as it is generated, materials sufficiently basic to abstract hydrogen chloride might actually enhance the rate of degradation by introducing double bonds into the polymer structure. That this is the case has been established by the thermogravimetric examination of the degradation of a methyl acrylate (5 mol.%)/vinylidene chloride copolymer in the presence of amines of varying base strength. In general, the initiation rate constant k i , for the degradation process is enhanced in the presence of amine.
Automatic and user-assisted test generation: a rough set approach

Rough set theoretical concepts have been applied to numerous applications in order to better model the uncertainty and imprecision prevalent in the real world. Enhancements to databases, improved knowledge discovery algorithms, and uncertainty management for spatial data and expert systems are some of the many applications that have benefited from rough set techniques. Rough set techniques can also be incorporated into automatic and user-assisted test generation. This paper discusses the relevant concepts from rough set theory, introduces a test generation system incorporating these rough set concepts, and discusses the benefits that such a system offers in the design and maintenance of tests and test banks.
Molecular-dynamics simulation of crystalline trans-polyacetylene.

Constant-pressure molecular-dynamics simulations of rigid, infinitely long polyacetylene chains were performed for various temperatures and pressures. The experimentally observed anisotropic lattice thermal expansion and compressibility were qualitatively well reproduced by the simulations. The model lattice exhibits considerable jump diffusion along chain axes already at room temperature, with the onset of liquidlike diffusion above 400 K accompanied by orientational disorder of chain projections in the ab plane. The polarized vibrational density of states for E\ensuremath{\le}25 meV is in good agreement with G(E) spectra derived from inelastic incoherent neutron-scattering experiments. By analyzing different contributions to chain motions, peaks in G(E) at 3.5, \ensuremath{\sim}8, and \ensuremath{\sim}20 meV can be assigned to rigid-chain vibrations along the chain axis, vibrations in the ab plane, and chain librations, respectively.
Restorative Justice and Collective Responsibility: Lessons for and from the Rwandan Genocide

Genocide struck Rwanda in 1994. Since then, national and international trials have endeavored to promote reconciliation, deterrence, peace, justice, and human rights. This article posits a disconnect between these trials and the attainment of their avowed goals. This disconnect emerges in part from the influential agendas of international lawyers who equate selective criminal prosecution with the "rule of law" and espouse criminal prosecution as the preferred and uniform response to mass atrocity. Creating a presumption in favor of criminal prosecution has dampened the need to explore whether such trials actually are suitable for the particular afflicted society. A socio-legal analysis suggests that Rwanda is precisely a place where constructed notions of what "rule of law" ought to be are supplanting the need to implement reconstructive policies that may be best for Rwanda. In particular, the populist nature of the Rwandan genocide, coupled with the vast level of victimization, suggest that a shame-based...
Producing high-quality visualizations of large-scale simulation

This paper describes the work of a team of researchers in computer graphics, geometric computing, and civil engineering to produce a visualization of the September 2001 attack on the Pentagon. The immediate motivation for the project was to understand the behavior of the building under the impact. The longer term motivation was to establish a path for producing high-quality visualizations of large scale simulations. The first challenge was managing the enormous complexity of the scene to fit within the limits of state-of-the art simulation software systems and supercomputing resources. The second challenge was to integrate the simulation results into a high-quality visualization. To meet this challenge, we implemented a custom importer that simplifies and loads the massive simulation data in a commercial animation system. The surrounding scene is modeled using image-based techniques and is also imported in the animation system where the visualization is produced. A specific issue for us was to federate the simulation and the animation systems, both commercial systems not under our control and following internally different conceptualizations of geometry and animation. This had to be done such that scalability was achieved. The reusable link created between the two systems allows communicating the results to non-specialists and the public at large, as well as facilitating communication in teams with members having diverse technical backgrounds.
Evolutionary history and the strength of species interactions: testing the phylogenetic limiting similarity hypothesis

A longstanding concept in community ecology is that closely related species compete more strongly than distant relatives. Ecologists have invoked this "limiting similarity hypothesis" to explain patterns in the structure and function of biological communities and to inform conservation, restoration, and invasive-species management. However, few studies have empirically tested the validity of the limiting similarity hypothesis. Here we report the results of a laboratory microcosm experiment in which we used a model system of 23 common, co-occurring North American freshwater green algae to quantify the strength of 216 pairwise species' interactions (the difference in population density when grown alone vs. in the presence of another species) along a manipulated gradient of evolutionary relatedness (phylogenetic distance, as the sum of branch lengths separating species on a molecular phylogeny). Interspecific interactions varied widely in these bicultures of phytoplankton, ranging from strong competition (ratio of relative yield in polyculture vs. monoculture 1). Yet, we found no evidence that the strength of species' interactions was influenced by their evolutionary relatedness. There was no relationship between phylogenetic distance and the average, minimum (inferior competitor), nor maximum (superior competitor) interaction strength across all biculture communities (respectively, P = 0.19, P = 0.17, P = 0.14; N = 428). When we examined each individual species, only 17% of individual species' interactions strengths varied as a function of phylogenetic distance, and none of these relationships remained significant after Bonferoni correction for multiple tests (N = 23). Last, when we grouped interactions into five qualitatively different types, the frequency of these types was not related to phylogenetic distance among species pairs (F4,422 = 1.63, P = 0.15). Our empirical study adds to several others that suggest the biological underpinnings of competition may not be evolutionarily conserved, and thus, ecologists may need to re-evaluate the previously assumed generality of the limiting similarity hypothesis.
Absorption coefficients of ice from 250 to 400 nm

Absorption coefficients for pure bubble-free ice are a critical element in theoretical efforts to determine levels of ultraviolet radiation reaching marine biota in and under a sea ice cover. A 3-m block of ice was used to measure these coefficients from 250 to 400 nm. Absorption coefficients were found to increase from 0.092m−1 at 400 nm to 0.665m−1 at 250 nm. Values in the ultraviolet were shown to be comparable to visible results from 580 to 720 nm. This suggests that existing data on the interaction of visible light with snow and sea ice can be used as a first-order estimate of ultraviolet optical properties.
Fathering, Class, and Gender A Comparison of Physicians and Emergency Medical Technicians

Using a multimethod approach (including a survey, interviews, and observations), this article examines the link between class and masculinities by comparing the way two groups—professional men (physicians) and working-class men (emergency medical technicians, or EMTs)—practice fatherhood. First, the authors show that these two groups practice different types of masculinity as they engage in different kinds of fatherhood. Physicians emphasize “public fatherhood,” which entails attendance at public events but little involvement in the daily care of their children. In contrast, EMTs are not only involved in their children's public events but also emphasize “private fatherhood,” which entails involvement in their daily care. Second, the authors suggest that these differing types of involvement can be explained by the contrasting employment conditions of each group as well the gender order of their families, especially the divergent labor market positions of spouses and the division of parenting. The authors c...
A technique for rapid elimination of microbubbles for photochemical filter startup

In semiconductor manufacturing processes, bubbles (often referred as microbubbles) can be contaminants that reduce manufacturing yield. In photolithography processes, a Point-of-Use filter is used on a clean track system to ensure lower wafer defect level by providing particle and bubble free photochemicals. However, filter changeout often results in significant chemical consumption and tool downtime due to purging of air from the system. This paper describes a technique developed to rapidly eliminate microbubbles during filter startup in a two stage dispense system. The experimental results suggest that by providing a constant pressure to the fluid after wetting the filter, we were able to effectively eliminate microbubbles in the fluid. Therefore, the filter startup process was significantly improved.
Multiscale wedgelet image analysis: fast decompositions and modeling

The most perceptually important features in images are geometrical, the most prevalent being the smooth contours ("edges") that separate different homogeneous regions and delineate distinct objects. Although wavelet based algorithms have enjoyed success in many areas of image processing, they have significant shortcomings in their treatment of edges. Wavelets do not parsimoniously capture even the simplest geometrical structure in images, and as a result wavelet based processing algorithms often produce images with ringing around the edges. The multiscale wedgelet framework is a first step towards explicitly capturing geometrical structure in images. The framework has two components: decomposition and representation. The multiscale wavelet decomposition divides the image into dyadic blocks at different scales and projects these image blocks onto wedgelets - simple piecewise constant functions with linear discontinuities. The multiscale wedgelet representation is an approximation of the image built out of wedgelets from the decomposition. In choosing the wedgelets to form the representation, we can weigh several factors: the error between the representation and the original image, the parsimony of the representation, and whether the wedgelets in the representation form "natural" geometrical structure. We show that an efficient multiscale wedgelet decomposition is possible if we carefully choose the set of possible wedgelet orientations. We also present a modeling framework that makes it possible to incorporate simple geometrical constraints into the choice of wedgelet representation, resulting in parsimonious image approximations with smooth contours.